The History of Dundee,
1874 History by James Thomson

James Thomson's 1874 work

INTRODUCTION

This work has been transcribed - verbatim - from the 1874 edition. Much about the history of Dundee has been changed, revised and updated by Historians over the years - So please refer to those new histories of Dundee for a more modern understanding of the History of Dundee.
This exercise is to just to make available the original source material from the 1875 Book.

Iain D. McIntosh, Friends of Dundee City Archives

CHAPTER 2

From the death of Alpin we find nothing remarkable occurring, in which Dundee was concerned, until the year 1012, when Malcolm II., defeated the Danes, under Camus their general, at Barrie or Carnoustie, about ten miles to the eastward of the town. Not long before this [1010], Malcolm had overthrown the Danes with great slaughter at Mortlach, in Aberdeenshire; which untoward event being related to Sweyn, King of Denmark, instead of deterring him from any farther attempt on Scotland, encouraged him more; the rather that, having recently reduced England, he was determined to reduce Scotland also. For this purpose he fitted out two fleets, one in Norway, the other in England, and placed both under the command of Camus, one of the ablest of his officers. Disappointed in effecting a landing in the Firth, Camus bore away northwards, and, anchoring in Lunan Bay, landed his troops in the vicinity of the Red-head, a few miles beyond Arbroath. (Another account makes one portion of the Northmen land at the mouth of the Southesk, near Montrose, a second at Lunan Bay. and a third detachment at Barrie. — ed.)

Proceeding to Brechin, he laid siege to the Castle; but not being able to reduce it, in the true spirit of northern barbarism, he set fire to the town and church, and reduced them to ashes. Leaving this scene of blazing desolation, he proceeded south­ward across the country towards Balbride, or Panbride — plundering and burning every place in his route, among which, tradition says, was the church of Aberelliot or Arbirlot. Pitching his camp at Carnoustie, he waited the approach of Malcolm, who, he learned, was approaching with his army from Dundee, where he had rested a few days. Malcolm took up his position at Barrie, in front of, and about a mile distant from the lines of the invaders. Both armies prepared for battle — a battle of the highest moment to Scotland, as upon the issue of it her fate depended. Effectually to rouse the Danish soldiers, it is said, that on disembarking Camus destroyed or sent away his ships, thus showing his troops that they were to rely wholly upon their swords. The morning of the day of battle at length dawned, and the Danes confidently expected to gain the victory; but, instead of Scotland becoming a feudatory or dependent of the Danish crown, victory sat on the helmet of her monarch, and hurled defeat and overwhelming disgrace upon the arms of the north. The Danish lines were broken; and complete disarray, disorganization, confusion, and flight were the results. An old local rhyme preserves the tradi­tion of the great slaughter that attended this conflict —

"Lochty, Lochty, is red, red, red,
"For it has run three days wi' bluid."

Camus himself was overtaken, and slain on the summit of Downie hill, near Monikie, where a tumulus received his remains, and a stone cross, sculptured with rude figures, was erected, which still points out the spot.(About 1620, the tumulus was opened by order of Sir Patrick Maule, in the presence of a number of gentlemen, when a large skeleton was found, with a part of the skull cut away; also a rude clay urn, and bracelet of gold, which are pre­served at Brechin Castle. These are figured in Mem. Any. p. 22.—ed.)

Cairns were heaped over the gathered bodies of those who fell in the low plain, whence the name Carnoustie—the Cairn or Tomb of the Host — is derived.
Malcolm, improving his victory, pursued the flying Danes, and overtaking them at Aberlemno, gave them a second overthrow, and erected commemorative memorials of his victory, which, with several tumuli, are still existing, The shattered remains of these two battles, still pursuing their route northwards, were followed by Malcolm, breathing nothing but destruction, and finally put to the sword in a third battle, at Cruden in Aberdeenshire; which name is an abbrevia­tion of Oruor Danorum, that is, the Blood of the Danes, and was so called by the ecclesiastical writers of the time.

Notwithstanding the numerous, and almost incessant, invasions of Scotland by the northern nations, it does not appear that Dundee was ever a sufferer by these irruptions. If it ever did experience any damage from them, it has escaped record; and it is not likely, if an enemy had reduced it, that such an incident would have been over­looked, — the more so, that places of comparatively inferior importance are particularly specified, as well as the occurrences which imparted the little importance that distinguishes them. There are only two instances recorded of the Norsemen having been at all near Dundee — the one when they were defeated at Luncarty, to which they advanced from the south by Perth; the other when, as above, they advanced from the north and east towards Panbride, which is only about eleven or twelve miles distant. Some accounts, indeed, state that those Danes who were defeated at Luncarty landed at Montrose, and proceeded westward, plundering and burning every place in their progress. It is stated that they besieged Perth; but as no mention is made of Dundee, we must conclude it to have been too strong for them to reduce, or that it must be added to those places which were plun­dered and burned. As it was the only place of importance, wealth, and strength between Montrose, where the invaders disembarked, and Perth, where their progress was arrested, if it had been invested or reduced, this doubtless would have been recorded, hence we are rather authorized to conclude either that it resisted successfully the attacks of the Danes, or that the march of the invaders from Montrose to Perth was through Strathmore—a supposition which derives probabi­lity from the alleged burning of Brechin in their progress.

Nothing further of importance occurred in which Dundee had any share until the year 1057, when Malcolm III. mounted the throne of his father, which had been unjustly withheld from him by the usurpa­tion of Macbeth. The marriage of Malcolm to the English princess, Margaret, sister of Edgar Atheling (who, on the demise of Edward the Confessor, ought to have been King of England), took place about 1069, and was the occasion of a palace being erected in Dundee, if indeed, there had not been one before, which is probable from the court not being permanently fixed at one place, but ambulatory. This arose from the rents of the Crown demesnes being paid in kind before the introduction of metallic currency, and which continued in part after money was coined. This method of paving rents rendered it necessary for the monarch to remove from place to place with his attendants, to use his rents where they were produced; and for this purpose residences would be erected for these perambulatory visita­tions, which would of course vary in duration at the different places, according as there was a greater or lesser extent of down lands near them. Here we are led to conclude that then had been a royal house at Dundee before the accession of Malcolm occupied, in the absence of the monarch, by his thane or steward, the Maormor (The derivation seems to be from the Gaelic maor steward and mhor, great. The Maormor has been confounded with the Thane: but the former, besides being more ancient, of strictly Celtic origin, and hereditary descent, had a dignity and jurisdiction next to the sovereign himself, and in the progress of the feudal system, took the title of Earl. The thane on the other hand, was a title introduced at a much later period (with the Anglo-Saxons), to the Eastern district of Scotland, to which it was confined. The thane's duties were very much those of a land-steward upon a barony, and he is supposed to have ranked only with an Earl's son. While it is historically certain that thanes were unknown in Scotland in the time of Macbeth, it is well observed that "sober enquiry resists in vain the overpower­ing magic of Shakespere, which will for ever convince the eye and the understand­ing that' the thane of Cawdor lives." (Caledonia vol i. p. 716). The Maormor — royal deputy or high steward — of Angus is supposed to have had a residence about four miles west from Arbroath, where, in a commanding situation over­looking a fine stretch of country, the two farms of "Balmirmer" may mark the locality of the house or town of the Maormor. — ed.).

This house we consider to have been the palace called after Queen Margaret, because she had resided in it. Margaret was pious, and a generous benefactress to the clergy, who, in gratitude to her memory, placed her name in the calendar after her death; and in commemoration of her virtues, the place where the palace stood still bears her name (his is pure conjecture; and it is rather negatived by the fact that the locality pointed at is a considerable distance from the most ancient part of the town—the cast side and immediate neighbourhood of the Castle.—ed.).

Though the favourite residence of Malcolm Canmore was Dunfermline, yet lands in the neighbourhood of Forfar were set apart for the dowry of the queen; and it is tolerably certain that a royal residence or castle existed in that town. It is natural to suppose that she would frequently visit what was peculiarly her own, by free gift and act of the crown, and it is also likely that the royal pair would sometimes visit Dundee.

[King Malcolm Canmore, after a prosperous reign of thirty-six years, fell at the siege of Alnwick Castle, Nov. 13, 1093. His brother, Donald Bane, Maormor or Earl of Gowrie, whose lands extended almost to the walls of Dundee, returned from exile in the Western Isles, and usurped the kingdom. He was dethroned in the following year by Duncan II. (elder son of Malcolm by his first marriage with Earl Thorfin's widow); but Duncan himself was treacherously slain in 1095 by Maolpeder, Maormor of the Mearns. Donald Bane a second time seized the throne, but, being attacked in 1098 by a southern army led by Edgar Atheling and his nephews, he was a second time overthrown. Having been taken prisoner, his eyes were put out, and he, who had been twice a king, was doomed to end his days a helpless captive in the Castle of Rescobie. Edgar, son of Mal­colm and Margaret, now assumed the government.]

The state of the country at this period was such that the most vigorous exertions of authority were necessary to preserve the public peace, and repair the disorders which had occurred during the contest for the succession. Robberies and murders were so frequent that it became imperative on the government to adopt some method to repress them, and bring the perpetrators to justice. With a view to effect this, fortresses were erected and garrisoned at different places; and to restrain the freebooters that infested the Carse of Gowrie and the mountainous district adjacent, a castle was founded at Bal-Edgar-no — the house of Edgar, so named from the king. Baledgarno is about eight miles west of Dundee, close to the west wall of Rossie Priory park. While superintending the erection of this fortress, Edgar fell sick, and being carried to the regium donum in Dundee, died on the 10th January, 1106-7, after a peaceable reign of nine years, and was buried at Dunfermline.

[He was succeeded by his brother Alexander I., who also appears to have identified himself with Dundee, for it is related that in 1107 he was surprised in his castle of Invergowrie by a party of rebels from Morayshire and the Mearns. The site of this stronghold has been referred to the ruins called Hurley Hawkin, situated near the Church of Liff.]

Thus we have seen that one prince at least resided in Dundee, and that others occasionally visited it may be easily supposed. These incidental visits of royalty bespeak its consequence and importance, and would contribute to make it more important and more opulent. Although these sojournings were temporary, and the springs of wealth opened by their occurrence would cease with their cause, the effect they would have upon the growing wealth, extent, and progressive improvement of the town, would undoubtedly be considerable. To­wards the end of the twelfth century, Dundee owed its farther progress to a circumstance which, trivial and absurd in itself, was attended with the most beneficial and durable consequences.
During the course of the twelfth century, the idea of recovering Palestine from the thraldom of the followers of Islamism was started; and, though fraught with danger, folly, and absurdity, such was the effect of fanatic zeal, that thousands, including kings, princes, and nobles, embraced it. Estates were sold and sovereignties pawned to enable those who disposed of them to carry their pious design, of exterminating the infidels and recovering the Holy Sepulchre, into execution. It is not to be denied that the infidels — that is, the pro­fessors of Islamism — treated the superstitious Christians, in their pilgrimages to Jerusalem, with the most sovereign contempt, and that this folly operated powerfully to irritate them; for, be it observed, that the votaries of fanaticism are never remarkable for humility or reverence to any of a different faith. They retorted accordingly, and thus brought persecution upon themselves with all its train of humi­liating sufferings; for how were the Saracens to allow superstitious wanderers, entering by mere sufferance within their confines, to dictate to them, the occupiers of the country and lords of the soil?

The idea of recovering the Holy Land out of the hands of the infidels took like a contagion; and as the Church affixed a high value on human merit, it seemed the most meritorious deed that man could perform, and one worthy of the best rewards of Heaven, to subjugate Palestine, drive out its infidel possessors, and plant the banner of the Cross upon the walls of the ancient metropolis of Israel. Besides the novelty of the thought, there was something in it so accordant with the romantic spirit of chivalry which then prevailed, that all ranks eagerly enrolled themselves in the crusade, which their spiritual direc­tors assured them was the immediate service of Heaven, and as such, could not fail in accomplishing its object. Error and disaster were the consequences; for although, during the first and second crusades, Jerusalem was taken and erected into a kingdom (the capital of which it continued for ninety years), in the end it was finally and irrecover­ably lost, as were all the Asiatic acquisitions of the Christians.

In the year 1189 Richard I. of England was induced to join Philippe of France and Frederick of Germany in the third Crusade for the recovery of Palestine, in which David, Earl of Huntingdon, Prince of Scotland, and brother to King William the Lion, took part. The history of this scion of our royal house is a remarkable one, and forms the groundwork of Scott's brilliant story, "The Talisman." Shortly after his marriage with Matildia, daughter of Ranulph, Earl of Chester, he joined the Crusaders, who, arriving in the Levant, met with nothing but barren successes for a time, followed by disunion among them­selves, and ending in defeat and destruction to their followers. Ulti­mately a treaty was concluded between Richard and Saladin, and the scattered remnants of the crusaders turned homewards. Earl David found the retreat as hazardous as the advance; he was shipwrecked on the coast of Egypt, taken prisoner, and sold as a slave to a Vene­tian merchant, who carried him to Constantinople. In that city the Prince was recognized by some English merchants, who procured his freedom, and provided the means of conveying him to Scotland. In prosecution of his voyage, David met with more misfortunes, among which a narrow escape from shipwreck on the coast of Norway was not the least. In his distress, we are told, he supplicated the aid of Heaven; and, according to the practice of the times, vowed to build a church in honour of the Virgin Mary, if he should reach his native shore in safety. Thereupon the raging sea subsided, and the wind becoming favourable, he soon beheld the summit of Dundee Law, and entering the Tay, he resolved to build near that hill, the sight of which "gave him the comfortable assurance that his prayers were heard;" and accordingly he landed at the rock or craig afterwards called St Nicolas' Craig. Soon after his arrival it is said that David, in fulfilment of his vow, built a magnificent church and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary, who thus became the tutelary saint of the town (Henry de Brechin, natural son of Earl David, is a witness to the gift of a toft of land in Dundee to the Abbey of Arbroath, in which deed David calls the town meo lurgi de Dundee. The Earl was by birth and inheritance, as well as by his adventures, a prominent noble. The grandson of King David I., he possessed in early life the earldom of Lennox; he was also created Earl of Garioch by his brother the King, and held the Lordship of Strathbogie, with the lands of Inverbervie, Lindores, Longforgan, and Inchmartiue. He was the father of the two princesses from whom Bruce and Baliol were descended—the nuptials of Margaret, the elder daughter, with Allan Lord of Galloway having been celebrated at Dundee about 1209. Earl David died in England in 1219.)

King William hearing of the safe arrival of his brother, to whom he was affectionately attached, hastened to meet him at Dundee, after adventures so various and unfortunate; religious processions were ordered, and celebrated all over the kingdom to signalise the event; and Dundee, erected at this time [about 1174] into a burgh, with all the immunities pertaining thereto, was conferred upon the Earl by his royal brother (These incidents are related by Fuller (Holy Warre, p. 268), but evidently on the authority of Boece, who, being himself a native of Dundee, is supposed by Mr Jervise to have given the story as told and believed in his youthful days. The lapse of three centuries, however, may justify us in receiving it with much of that. reserve which other stories of the old chronicler have evoked. Pennant (Tour, vol. iii. 125) tells us that Earl David, being unable to erect the church himself, obtained a Papal mandate recommending a collection throughout Christendom but there is no evidence of this having been done. Apart from these traditions what we learn from trustworthy sources is, that Earl David founded the Abbey of Lindores (circa 1178), dedicating it to the Virgin Mary; that he granted to this abbey the church of Dundee; and that the latter is not found mentioned as St Mary's in any writing until about 1406 (Reg. Brechin, i. 24; Liber. S de Lundoris, 38; Cardonnei i. 12; Anderson's Scot. Nation i. 28.).

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