Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland

GALLOWAY
surrounded in their little corner by a natural girdle of
sea and mountain, this people long retained their
individuality. They were known as the Picts of
Galloway centuries after the word Pict had disappeared
elsewhere from the country ; and they appeared under
that name as a division of the Scottish army at the
Battle of the Standard in 1138. We know little con-
cerning Galloway in Roman times. Agricola, overrun-
ning it in 79 a.d., added it to the Roman province in
Britain, and Roman military remains are tolerably
frequent in certain districts. In 397 it is related that
St Ninian built a church at Candida Casa, formerly
Lucopibia, dedicated it to St Martin of Tours, and
began the conversion of the Picts. After the departure
of the Romans from Britain, Galloway appears, from
the evidence of topographical names and old chronicles,
to have been governed by a series of Pictish kings ; but
probably early in the 7th century the Northumbrian
rulers of Bernicia brought it under their sovereignty,
and for several centuries remained the nominal superiors
of its lords. There is no authority for the common
narrative of immigrations of Irish Celts into Galloway
during the 8th and following centuries. It is at this
period that the modern name emerges. The district
was known to the Irish as Gallgaidel or Gallgaidhel,
and to the Welsh as Galwyddel, from the Celtic gall, ' a
stranger ; ' and the name, besides indicating the land of
strangers, seems to have some reference also to the fact
that the Gaelic population was under the rule of the
Anglian Galle or strangers. From the above terms
came Gallweithia, Galwethia, and many other forms,
Latinised as Gallovidia, and appearing now as Galloway.
Towards the end of the 8th century the power of the
Angles began to decline. Bede, who gives to the
Gallowegian Picts the alternative name of Niduari from
Nid or Nith, like Novantse from Novius, the name
under which Ptolemy knew the same river, relates that
one of the four bishoprics into which Northumbria was
divided had its seat at Candida Casa. The first bishop
was appointed in 727 ; the Angles appear to have been
too weak to appoint another after Beadulf about 796.
The Northmen, who first appeared in England in this
century, did not overlook Galloway j and there is some
ground for believing that the Gallowegians themselves
partly adopted a piratical life. During the next two
or three centuries Galloway was probably ruled by
native rulers in tolerably complete independence ; and
it had the honour of being the locality whence Kenneth
mac Alpin emerged to obtain the throne of Scotia.
About the middle of the 11th century the name Galweya
was used to include the whole country from Solway to
Clyde. In the Orkneyinga Saga, which narrates the
history of the Norwegian Jarl Thorfinn, a contemporary
of Macbeth, Galloway is referred to under the name of
Gadgeddli ; and it probably formed one of the nine
earldoms that Thorfinn possessed in Scotland. Malcolm
Ceannmor, who succeeded to the throne of Scotia in
1057, recovered Galloway from the Norse supremacy,
though it is probable that many Northmen remained in
the district. In 1107, David, youngest son of Malcolm
Ceannmor, received Scotland S of the Forth and Clyde
as an earldom ; and in the charter which he granted in
1113 to the newly-founded monastery of Selkirk, he
assigned to the monks the tenth of his ' can ' or dues
from Galweia. David's ascent of the Scottish throne in
1124 may be regarded as the date of the union of
Galloway with Scotland.
Various attempts have been made to furnish Galloway
with a line of independent lords during the earlier parts
of its obscure history, and we even hear of a certain
Jacob, Lord of Galloway, as having been one of the
eight reguli who met Edgar at Chester in 973. But all
these efforts are entirely unauthentic, and are based
upon comparatively modern authorities. From the
reign of David I. we are on more historical ground.
After the death of Ulgric and Duvenald, described as
the native leaders of the Galwenses, at the Battle of the
Standard in 1138, Fergus, who may possibly have been
of Norwegian connections, was appointed first Earl of
030
GALLOWAY
Galloway. This powerful noble married Elizabeth, a
natural daughter of Heury I. of England. In 1160 he
joined Somerled, Norse ruler of Argyll, in a revolt
against Malcolm IV., but was subdued after three
battles and compelled to resign his lordship to his sons.
He retired as canon regular to Holyrood, where he died
in the following year. His gifts and endowments to
Holyrood Abbey were very extensive ; and that house
possessed more lands in the stewartry than any other.
Uchtred and Gilbert, sons and successors of Fergus,
accompanied King William the Lyon on his expedition
to England in 1173 ; but when he was taken prisoner
they hurried home, expelled with cruel slaughter the
English and Norman inhabitants of Galloway, and
attempted to establish their independence of the Scottish
government, even offering to swear fealty to England.
William, on his release in 1174, marched at once to
Galloway, where, however, Gilbert, who had cruelly
murdered his brother at Loch Fergus, made humble
submission and gave hostages. Gilbert died in 1185,
and Roland, son of the murdered Uchtred, succeeded,
after first quelling a revolt under Gilpatrick, and sub-
duing Gilcolm, a powerful freebooter, who had invaded
Galloway. Duncan, the son of Gilbert, received the
earldom of Carrick. Roland married Elena, daughter
of the Constable of Scotland, and eventually succeeded
to his father-in-law's high office. It is said that Roland
swore allegiance to Henry II. of England for the lands
of Galloway, and that the English monarchs continued to
look upon that district as part of their lawful dominions.
Alan succeeded his father in 1200 as Lord of Gallo-
way. He assisted King John in his Irish expedition in
1211, and appeared as one of the barons who extorted
the Magna Charta from that king. Later, however, he
returned to his Scotch allegiance, and succeeded to his
father's office of constable. He died in 1234, leaving
three daughters and an illegitimate son. On the king's
refusal either to accept the lordship himself or to pre-
vent the partition of the land among the Norman hus-
bands of the three heiresses, the Gallowegians rose in
fierce revolt, and were with difficulty reduced to
obedience in 1235. Roger de Quincy, husband of Elena,
Alan's eldest daughter, received the lordship. This
strict enforcement of the rule of legitimate succession
marks the transition in Galloway from the Brehon law
to feudalism. From that date lands began to be held by
charter and lease, the rights of property began to be
more secure, and agriculture began to be attempted.
De Quincy died in 1264. In 1291, when the Scot-
tish succession was disputed after the death of the
Maid of Norway, one-half of the lordship of Galloway
belonged to John Baliol, a son of Alan by Margaret,
granddaughter of David I. ; the other half was shared
by William de Ferrers, Alan de Zouch, and Alexander
Comyn, Earl of Buchan, husbands of the three daughters
of De Quincy. Of the three last Comyn alone is of im-
portance in the history of Galloway. The Gallowegians,
during the wars of the succession, naturally sided with
the Comyns and the Baliols, and speedily shared in
their disasters. AVhen John Baliol was obliged to resign
his dependent crown, Edward I. considered Galloway as
his own ; and he immediately appointed over it a
governor and a justiciary, disposed of its ecclesiastical
benefices, and obliged the sheriffs and bailiffs to account
for the rents and profits of their bailiwicks in his ex-
chequer at Berwick. In 1296 he granted to Thomas of
Galloway all the lands, etc. , that had been granted to
him there by his father Alan ; and at the same time he
restored all their former liberties and customs to the
men of Galloway. In 1297, Wallace is said to have
marched into the west ' to chastise the men of Gallo-
way, who had espoused the party of the Comyns, and
supported the pretensions of the English ; ' and a field
in the farm of Borland, above the village of Minnigaff,
still bears the name of Wallace's camp. During his
campaign of 1300, Edward I. marched from Carlisle
through Dumfriesshire into Galloway ; and though
opposed first by the remonstrances, and next by the
warlike demonstrations of the people, he overran the