Medieval Scotland The Making of an Identity

The Scots originally came from Ireland and settled in a remote part of what is now 'Scotland'. They found a land divided by geography: mountainous, a land of river valleys and separate coastal plains, and settled by 'Picts', Britons and Angles. Within a couple of centuries, it was to be invaded by the Norse. There was no such place as Scotland, only a collection of warring peoples. How, from this unpromising beginning, did there emerge a nation of Scots? It was partly the work of the kings of Scots from Malcolm Canmore to Alexander III who brought the country together under their rule; but also of the Scottish Church in a long struggle against the archbishops of York who claimed that Scotland was part of their province.