Richard Oram

Last updated

Professor Richard D. Oram F.S.A. (Scot.) is a Scottish historian. He is a professor of medieval and environmental history at the University of Stirling. He is also the director of the Centre for Environmental History and Policy at the University of Stirling.

Contents

He received his undergraduate training at the University of St. Andrews, where he also carried out his doctoral research, on medieval Galloway. In 2000 he published The Lordship of Galloway (Birlinn). He has since written three royal biographies: two of King David I of Scotland (Tempus, 2004; John Donald, 2020), and one of Alexander II of Scotland (John Donald, 2012); as well as the High Medieval volume, volume 3, in the New Edinburgh History of Scotland series, entitled Domination and Lordship: Scotland, 1070-1230 (Edinburgh University Press, 2011).

In June 2014, Oram was appointed president of the Scottish Castles Association, a registered charity. [1] [2]

Selected works

Collaborations

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malcolm IV of Scotland</span> King of Alba from 1153 to 1165

Malcolm IV, nicknamed Virgo, "the Maiden" was King of Scotland from 1153 until his death. He was the eldest son of Henry, Earl of Huntingdon and Northumbria and Ada de Warenne. The original Malcolm Canmore, a name now associated with his great-grandfather Malcolm III, he succeeded his grandfather David I, and shared David's Anglo-Norman tastes.

Edmund or Etmond mac Maíl Coluim was a son of Malcolm III of Scotland and his second wife, Margaret of Wessex. He may be found on some lists of Scottish kings, but there is no evidence that he was king. Although Edmund was probably Malcolm and Margaret's second son, he was passed over in subsequent successions as a result of betraying his siblings by siding with their uncle, Donald III.

Margaret of Huntingdon was the eldest daughter of David, Earl of Huntingdon and his wife, Maud, sister of Ranulf III, Earl of Chester, and daughter of Hugh II, Earl of Chester. Margaret was the second wife of Alan, Lord of Galloway. She and Alan married in 1209, and had a family of a son and two daughters. The elder daughter, Christiana, married William de Forz. The younger daughter, Dervorguilla, married John de Balliol, Lord of Barnard Castle. Margaret and Alan's son, Thomas—Alan's only legitimate son—may have lived into the 1220s, but died young.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson (fl. 1164)</span> King of the Isles

Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson was a twelfth-century King of the Isles, succeeding the warrior Somerled. He was a son of Óláfr Guðrøðarson, King of the Isles and a member of the Crovan dynasty. In the 1153, Óláfr was assassinated by three nephews, before his son, Guðrøðr, was able to overcome them and succeed his father as king. By 1158, Guðrøðr was forced from power by his brother-in-law, Somairle mac Gilla Brigte, who was married to Óláfr's daughter Ragnhildr. In 1164, when Somairle was killed in an invasion of Scotland, and while Guðrøðr was away in exile overseas, Rǫgnvaldr briefly seized the kingship for himself, before being overcome by Guðrøðr, who had him blinded and mutilated.

Alan of Galloway was a leading thirteenth-century Scottish magnate. As the hereditary Lord of Galloway and Constable of Scotland, he was one of the most influential men in the Kingdom of Scotland and Irish Sea zone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fergus of Galloway</span> Lord of Galloway (d. 1161)

Fergus of Galloway was a twelfth-century Lord of Galloway. Although his familial origins are unknown, it is possible that he was of Norse-Gaelic ancestry. Fergus first appears on record in 1136, when he witnessed a charter of David I, King of Scotland. There is considerable evidence indicating that Fergus was married to an illegitimate daughter of Henry I, King of England. It is possible that Elizabeth Fitzroy was the mother of Fergus's three children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donnchadh, Earl of Carrick</span> Mormaer or Earl of Carrick

Donnchadh was a Gall-Gaidhil prince and Scottish magnate in what is now south-western Scotland, whose career stretched from the last quarter of the 12th century until his death in 1250. His father, Gille-Brighde of Galloway, and his uncle, Uhtred of Galloway, were the two rival sons of Fergus, Prince or Lord of Galloway. As a result of Gille-Brighde's conflict with Uhtred and the Scottish monarch William the Lion, Donnchadh became a hostage of King Henry II of England. He probably remained in England for almost a decade before returning north on the death of his father. Although denied succession to all the lands of Galloway, he was granted lordship over Carrick in the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of Alba</span> Medieval kingdom in Scotland

The Kingdom of Alba was the Kingdom of Scotland between the deaths of Donald II in 900 and of Alexander III in 1286. The latter's death led indirectly to an invasion of Scotland by Edward I of England in 1296 and the First War of Scottish Independence.

Mormaer Beth is a name of a Mormaer mentioned in an unreliable charter granted to Scone Priory, later Scone Abbey, by king Alexander I of Scotland.

The Battle of Renfrew was fought between the Kingdom of the Isles and the Kingdom of Scotland in 1164, near Renfrew, Scotland. The men of the Isles, accompanied by forces from the Kingdom of Dublin, were commanded by Somerled. The identity of the Scottish commander is unrecorded and unknown. Herbert, Bishop of Glasgow, Baldwin, Sheriff of Lanark/Clydesdale, and Walter fitz Alan, Steward of Scotland are all possible candidates for this position. The battle was a disaster for the Islesmen and Dubliners. Somerled was slain in the encounter, apparently by local levies, and his forces were routed.

The Meic Uilleim (MacWilliams) were the Gaelic descendants of William fitz Duncan, grandson of Máel Coluim mac Donnchada, king of Scots. They were excluded from the succession by the descendants of Máel Coluim's son David I during the 12th century and raised a number of rebellions to vindicate their claims to the Mormaerdom of Moray and perhaps to the rule of Scotland.

Aonghus mac Somhairle was a leading member of Clann Somhairle. He was a son of Somhairle mac Giolla Brighde, King of the Isles and Ragnhildr Óláfsdóttir. Other sons of Somhairle and Ragnhildr include Dubhghall, Raghnall, and possibly Amhlaoíbh. Aonghus' father was the common ancestor of Clann Somhairle. The succession of this kindred upon Somhairle's death is uncertain. The Clann Somhairle imperium appears to have spanned from Glenelg in the north, to the Mull of Kintyre in the south. It is possible that Aonghus came to rule in the north, with Dubhghall centred in Lorne, and Raghnall in Kintyre and the southern islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clann Ruaidhrí</span> Medieval Scottish clan

Clann Ruaidhrí was a leading medieval clan in the Hebrides and the western seaboard of Scotland. The eponymous ancestor of the family was Ruaidhrí mac Raghnaill, a principal member of Clann Somhairle in the thirteenth century. Members of Clann Ruaidhrí were factors in both the histories of the Kingdom of the Isles and the Kingdom of Scotland in the thirteenth- and fourteenth centuries. The family appears to have held power in Kintyre in the thirteenth century. By the fourteenth century, the family controlled an extensive provincial lordship stretching along the north-western Scottish coast and into the Hebrides. As a leading force in the Kingdom of the Isles, the family fiercely opposed Scottish authority. With the collapse of Norwegian hegemony in the region, the family nimbly integrated itself into the Kingdom of Scotland.

Waltheof of Allerdale was an 11th- and 12th-century Anglo-Saxon noble, lord of Allerdale in modern Cumbria. Brother of Dolfin of Carlisle and Gospatric of Dunbar, Waltheof was son of Gospatric, Earl of Northumbria. Both Waltheof and his brother Gospatric witness Earl David's Glasgow Inquest 1113 x 1124, and Waltheof also attests some of David's charters as king of the Scots later. The account of Waltheof and his family in Cumbrian monastic cartularies, says that he gave land in Allerdale to his three sisters, Octreda, Gunhilda and Maud.

Coleraine Castle was a castle situated at Coleraine, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

Ailéan mac Ruaidhrí was a leading figure in the thirteenth-century kingdoms of the Isles and the Scotland. He was a son of Ruaidhrí mac Raghnaill, and thus a member of the Clann Ruaidhrí branch of Clann Somhairle. Ailéan was a brother of Dubhghall mac Ruaidhrí, King of Argyll and the Isles, a significant figure who held power in the mid thirteenth century. At the time, the rulers of the Isles were fiercely independent of the Scottish Crown, and owed nominal allegiance to the distant Norwegian Crown. In 1259, Dubhghall's daughter married the son of King of Connacht, and Ailéan is recorded to have commanded the woman's tocher of one hundred and sixty gallowglass warriors.

Thomas of Galloway, known in Gaelic sources as Tomás Mac Uchtraigh, was a Gall-Gaidhil prince and adventurer. The son of Lochlann, king of Galloway, Thomas was an active agent of his brother Alan of Galloway as well as the English and Scottish kings. When King John, the English monarch, decided that central and western Ulster were to be added to his dominions, he conscripted Thomas and Alan of Galloway to his aid, offering them much of later counties Antrim, Londonderry and Tyrone as incentive.

The Battle of the River Dee or the Battle of the River Cree, was fought on 29 June 1308 during the Scottish Wars of Independence near Buittle, on the banks of the River Dee or River Cree, Galloway, Scotland.

Baldwin of Biggar was a mid-12th century Scottish magnate. He was granted the lordship of Biggar, and was made Sheriff of Lanark/Clydesdale by David I, King of Scotland.

The Scottish expedition into Argyll (1221–1222) was a Scottish expedition into Argyll and the surrounding region. The expedition led by King Alexander II of Scotland, appears to have been undertaken to counter the threat of Clann Somhairle and alliances created between the Crovan dynasty of the Isle of Man and Ailean mac Lachlainn, Lord of Galloway and Constable of Scotland and old alliances with the Meic Uilleim and MacHeths. The sub kingdom of Argyll was brought into the Kingdom of Scotland, after expelling Ruaidhrí mac Raghnaill from the area and the submission and swearing of fealty given by Donnchadh of Argyll. Alexander II set about formalising Norman feudal law and Scottish administration of the area and ordered the building of royal castles at Dunoon, Cowal and Tarbet, Kintyre.

References

  1. "A new President for SCA". Scottish Castles Association. 12 June 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  2. "Scottish Castles Association, SC029654". Scottish Charity Register. Retrieved 24 March 2015.