Provincial lordships facts for kids
Provincial lordships were big areas of land in Scotland during the 1100s and 1200s. Kings gave these lands to their loyal supporters. This helped the kings control parts of Scotland that were far from their main kingdom, called the Kingdom of Alba. The Kingdom of Alba was mostly between the River Forth and the River Spey. But the kings wanted to control more land, especially in the Highlands and other distant areas.
Historians today use the term "provincial lordships." It wasn't an official title back then. Because of this, different historians might list different areas as lordships.
What Were Provincial Lordships Like?
These lordships were large, separate areas of land. They were often similar in size and purpose to "earldoms." Earldoms were lands controlled by powerful leaders called mormaers in the original Provinces of Scotland. Some provincial lordships were even older land areas that were simply updated to fit the new feudal system.
Just like with earldoms, the people who held provincial lordships were in charge of running their territories. They owned most of the land within these areas. These lordships were often placed between earldoms. This helped the king keep control in areas where royal sheriffdoms (areas controlled by a sheriff) were not yet fully set up.
All provincial lords had powers similar to a sheriff. Some lords even had "regalities," which gave them more power than a sheriff. This included the right to choose their own justiciars, who were like judges.
How They Started and Grew
The first provincial lordships were created by King David I. This happened in the early 1100s. Some of these early lordships included Annandale, Cunningham, Eskdale, Kyle Stewart, Lauderdale, Liddesdale, and Strathgryfe.
Other large areas that existed before the feudal system, like Argyll, Galloway, and Nithsdale, also became provincial lordships around the same time.
Later, in the late 1100s and early 1200s, more lordships were created north of Alba. These included Badenoch, Garioch, Strathbogie, and Sutherland. Many of these lands were given to Anglo-Normans, who were people from England and France allied with the Scottish kings.
However, three lordships in the west of Scotland were different. Garmoran, Islay, and Lorne were held by the descendants of Somerled. He was a powerful Norse-Gaelic leader and a former Lord of the Isles.
Changes Over Time
By around the year 1400, some earldoms and provincial lordships had become much smaller. But even then, they still covered about two-thirds of what is now modern Scotland. They included 425 out of the kingdom's 925 parishes (small local areas).
The size of individual provincial lordships varied a lot. Galloway was very large, with 55 parishes. But Liddesdale and Eskdale each had only 2 parishes. In comparison, earldoms like Moray had 46 parishes, while Buchan had only 3.
During the early 1400s, under the reigns of King James I and King James II, many earldoms and provincial lordships were taken back by the crown. This happened through a process called escheat, where land went back to the king. If the lands were given back, they were usually much smaller. Because of this, most of the major provincial lordships had largely disappeared by the late 1400s.
By 1450, the way Scottish nobility worked had changed. Being a "peer" (a noble) became more about personal honor and rank, rather than being tied to a specific piece of land. The landholdings of earls and major lords often became spread out and not connected to one main territory. This was different from the earlier earldoms and provincial lordships, which were very much linked to specific areas.
Even so, the private authority of provincial lords technically continued for a long time. It wasn't until the Heritable Jurisdictions (Scotland) Act 1746 that these old powers were finally ended.
