Royal burgh
A
Royal Burgh is a type of
Scottish burgh (town or city), used today for ceremonial purposes only.
A royal burgh is a burgh which has been founded by, or subsequently granted, a royal charter.
Most royal burghs were sea ports, and each was either created by
the crown, or upgraded from another status, such as
burgh of barony. An important document for each burgh was its burgh
charter, creating the burgh or confirming the rights of the burgh as laid down (perhaps verbally) by a previous
monarch. Each royal burgh (with the exception of four 'ineffective burghs') was represented in the
Parliament of Scotland and could appoint
magistrates, called
bailies with wide powers in civil and
criminal justice. By
1707 there were 70 royal burghs.
The
Royal Burghs Act 1833 reformed the election of the town councils that governed royal burghs. Those qualified to vote in parliamentary elections under the
Reform Act 1832 were now entitled to elect burgh councillors.
Today the title is only of ceremonial status, with royal burghs losing their local government functions in
1975 by virtue of the
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. However, article XXI of the
Act of Union 1707 which states "That the Rights and Privileges of the Royal Boroughs in Scotland as they now are Do Remain entire after the Union and notwithstanding thereof", is still extant.
Before the reign of
David I Scotland had no towns. The closest thing to towns were the larger than average population concentrations around large monasteries, such as
Dunkeld and
St Andrews, and regionally significant fortifications. Scotland, outside Lothian at least, was populated by scattered hamlets, and outside that area, lacked the continental style nucleated village. David I established the first burghs in Scotland, initially only in
Middle-English-speaking Lothian (note:
Tain claims a charter dating from 1066 under Malcolm III). The earliest burghs, founded by
1124, were
Berwick and
Roxburgh. However, by
1130, David had established burghs in Gaelic areas:
Stirling,
Dunfermline,
Perth and
Scone, as well as
Edinburgh, were burghs by 1130. The conquest of Moray in that same year led to the establishment of burghs at
Elgin and
Forres. Before David was dead, St Andrews,
Montrose, and
Aberdeen were also burghs. In the reigns of Máel Coluim IV and William, burghs were added at
Inverness,
Banff,
Cullen,
Auldearn,
Nairn,
Inverurie,
Kintore,
Brechin,
Forfar,
Arbroath,
Dundee,
Lanark,
Dumfries and (uniquely for the west coast)
Ayr. New Lothian burghs also came into existence, at
Haddington,
Leith and
Peebles. By
1210, there were 40 burghs in the Scottish kingdom.
Rosemarkie,
Dingwall and
Cromarty were also burghs by the
Scottish Wars of Independence.
David I established the first burghs, and their charters and
Leges Burgorum (rules governing virtually every aspect of life and work in a burgh) were copied almost verbatim from the customs of
Newcastle upon Tyne. He essentially imported the burgh into his "Scottish" dominions from his English ones. Burghs were for the most part populated by foreigners, rather than native Scots or even Lothianers. The predominant ethnic group were the
Flemings, but early burgesses were also English, French and
German. The burgh's vocabulary was composed totally of either Germanic terms (not necessarily or even predominantly English) such as
croft,
rood,
gild,
gait and
wynd, or French ones such as
provost,
bailie,
vennel,
port and
ferme. The councils that governed individual burghs were individually known as
lie doussane, meaning the dozen.
[, based on the maps in McNeill & MacQueen, Atlas, pp. 196-8, supplemented with Rosemarkie and Leith, which the Atlas omits for unknown reasons; there seems to be two missing, if Barrow's account of things (40) is correct.]By 1153 (royal)
*
Aberdeen (has since had royal burgh status revoked when
city status was conferred)
*
Berwick-Upon-Tweed*
Edinburgh (has since had royal burgh status revoked when
city status was conferred)
*
Dunfermline*
Elgin*
Forres*
Linlithgow*
Montrose*
Peebles*
Perth*
Rutherglen*
Roxburgh (has since had royal burgh staus revoked: the original settlement no longer exists as more than a hamlet)
*
Stirling (has since had royal burgh status revoked when
city status was conferred)
By 1153 (Burghs passing between the king and other lords)
*
Haddington*
RenfrewBy 1153 (Burghs controlled by other lords)
*
Canongate (now part of Edinburgh)
*
St AndrewsBy 1214 (royal)
*
Ayr*
Auldearn*
Banff*
Cullen*
Dumfries*
Forfar*
Inverkeithing*
Inverness (has since had royal burgh status revoked when
city status was conferred)
*
Jedburgh*
Kinghorn*
Kintore*
Leith (has since had royal burgh staus revoked; now part of Edinburgh)
*
NairnBy 1214 (Burghs passing between the king and other lords)
*
CrailBy 1214 (Burghs controlled by other lords)
*
Annan*
Arbroath*
Brechin*
Dundee (the only Scottish city to also still retain royal burgh status)
*
Glasgow (has since had royal burgh status revoked when
city status was conferred)
*
Kirkintilloch*
PrestwickBy 1300 (royal)
*
Auchterarder*
Cromarty*
Dingwall*
Dumbarton*
Fyvie*
Kilrenny*
Lanark*
Rosemarkie*
Selkirk*
South Queensferry*
WigtownBy 1300 (Burghs controlled by other lords)
*
Crawford*
Dunbar*
Inverurie*
Irvine*
Kelso*
Lochmaben*
Newburgh, Aberdeenshire*
Newburgh, Fife*
Urr* Barrow, G.W.S.,
Kingship and Unity: Scotland, 1000-1306, (Edinburgh. 1981)
* Lynch, Michael,
Scotland: A New History, Pimlico 1992; page 62 re origin of burgh charters
* McNeill, Peter G.B. & MacQueen, Hector L. (eds),
Atlas of Scottish History to 1707, (Edinburgh, 1996)
*
Scotland in the High Middle Ages*
List of UK place names with royal patronage
