There were
further risings, in Moray in 1214 (on the accession of Alexander II),
and in Galloway in 1235. The chronicler, Walter of Coventry, tells us
that these revolts were occasioned by the fact that recent Scottish
kings had proved themselves Frenchmen rather than Scots, and had
surrounded themselves solely with Frenchmen. This is the real
explanation of the support given to the Celtic pretenders. A new
civilization is not easily imposed upon a people. Elsewhere in Scotland,
the process was more gradual and less violent. In the eastern Lowlands
there were no pretenders and no rebellions, and traces of the earlier
civilization remained longer than in Galloway and in Moray. "In Fife
alone", says Mr. Robertson, "the Earl continued in the thirteenth
century to exercise the prerogatives of a royal Maor, and, in the reign
of David I, we find in Fife what is practically the clan MacDuff."[96]
Neither in the eastern Lowlands, nor in the more disturbed districts of
Moray and Galloway, is there any evidence of a radical change in the
population. The changes were imposed from above. Mr. Lang has pointed
out that we do not hear "of feuds consequent on the eviction of prior
holders.... The juries, from Angus to Clyde, are full of Celtic names of
the gentry. The Steward (FitzAlan) got Renfrew, but the _probi
homines_, or gentry, remain Celtic after the reigns of David and
William."[97] The contemporary chronicler, Aelred, gives no hint that
David replaced his Scottish subjects by an Anglo-Norman population; he
admits that he was terrible to the men of Galloway, but insists that he
was beloved of the Scots.
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