Q 01/05

The Roman name Picti, first recorded in 297 for the tribes north of the Forth, is usually explained as meaning what?

A) Painted people

B) Hill people

C) Northern people

D) Horse people

Answer · why

A) Painted people

Painted people is the usual reading of Picti, from the Latin pingere, 'to paint', probably a Roman soldiers' nickname for tattooed warriors, though a ...

Q 02/05

Unlike in Shakespeare, the real Macbeth killed which king in battle in 1040 rather than murdering a sleeping guest?

A) Malcolm II

B) Duncan I

C) Kenneth III

D) Lulach

Answer · why

B) Duncan I

Duncan I was the aggressor rather than a sleeping guest: he died in action after marching into Moray, Macbeth's own territory. Macbeth then ruled seve...

Q 03/05

Malcolm III, who killed Macbeth at Lumphanan in 1057, carried the Gaelic nickname Canmore, meaning literally what?

A) Long arm

B) Red beard

C) Big head

D) Iron hand

Answer · why

C) Big head

Big head is the literal sense of ceann mòr, though it was understood as 'great chief', and the Canmore dynasty it named ruled Scotland into the thirte...

Q 04/05

Scotland's succession crisis began in 1286 when Alexander III, hurrying to join his new queen at Kinghorn, died how?

A) Drowning in the Forth

B) Struck by lightning

C) Struck by an arrow

D) Falling from his horse

Answer · why

D) Falling from his horse

Falling from his horse on a stormy night near the shore at Kinghorn killed Alexander III as he rode to join his new queen. His only direct heir was an...

Q 05/05

A captain from which clan led the troops lodged as guests in Glencoe before the massacre of 13 February 1692?

A) Cameron

B) Campbell

C) MacGregor

D) Fraser

Answer · why

B) Campbell

Campbell was the name of Robert Campbell of Glenlyon, who commanded the troops billeted on the MacDonalds of Glencoe, and the breach of hospitality ma...