This chapter examines the development of Scotland as an independent state strong enough to withstand external pressures for a unified Britain until the beginning of the eighteenth century. The emergence of the idea of a separate state in north Britain remains somewhat mysterious. Most conventional explanations seem inadequate.However, there is no doubt about Scotland's resolve to defend her independence through the introduction of a feudal system on the Anglo-Norman model. The modernisation of government was essential for survival although the price was a heavy one, not simply in terms of conflict with England but equally as a result of debilitating strife within Scotland due to the regional problem of Highland separatism. The growth of industry and commercial agriculture was inevitably stunted by these harsh strategic realities; yet there is evidence of an accelerating rhythm of growth in the seventeenth century. The border and lowlands were peaceful and social change was creating a climate where economic expansion was accepted, except in the Highlands where traditional values could still be asserted through military activity.

The formation of Scotland

About a thousand years after the Romans had first built Hadrian's Wall, the southern boundary of a northern state was drawn along the river Tweed as the result of the battle of Carham (Berwickshire) in 1018. This line, which eventually became the accepted boundary between England and Scotland, remained unstable for centuries. The whole area between the Forth–Clyde line in the north and the Tees in the south became a zone of bitter contention with the struggles of the two states mirrored by the feuds of local families, in whose hands lay much of the responsibility for administering the border.