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Scotland of medieval period (James 1-5, Edward the First, William Wallace).
Medieval period
Main articles: Picts, Scotland in the High Middle Ages, Scotland in the Late Middle Ages, and Scottishclan

The Kingdom of the Picts (based in Fortriu by the 6th century) was the state which eventually became known as "Alba" or "Scotland". The development of "Pictland", according to the historicalmodel developed by Peter Heather, was a natural response to Roman imperialism. Another view places emphasis on the Battle of Dunnichen, and the reign of Bridei m. Beli (671–693), with another period ofconsolidation in the reign of Óengus mac Fergusa (732–761).

The Kingdom of the Picts as it was in the early 8th century, when Bede was writing, was largely the same as the kingdom of the Scots inthe reign of Alexander (1107–1124). However, by the tenth century, the Pictish kingdom was dominated by what we can recognise as Gaelic culture, and had developed a traditional story of an Irishconquest around the ancestor of the contemporary royal dynasty, Cináed mac Ailpín (Kenneth MacAlpin).

From a base of territory in eastern Scotland north of the River Forth and south of the River Oykel,the kingdom acquired control of the lands lying to the north and south. By the 12th century, the kings of Alba had added to their territories the English-speaking land in the south-east and attainedoverlordship of Gaelic-speaking Galloway and Norse-speaking Caithness; by the end of the 13th century, the kingdom had assumed approximately its modern borders. However, processes of cultural andeconomic change beginning in the 12th century ensured Scotland looked very different in the later Middle Ages.

The impetus for this was the reign of King David I and the Davidian Revolution. Feudalism,government reorganisation and the first legally defined towns (called burghs) began in this period. These institutions and the immigration of French and Anglo-French knights and churchmen facilitated...