GAL'LOWAY, an ancient province, in the s.w. of Scotland, now 'mostly comprised in the shire of Wigtown and stewartry of Kirkcudbright. The extent and early history of G. are alike obscure. By some historians, it has'bcen asserted to have comprehended, in addition to Kirkcudbright and Wigtown, Nithsdalc, Annandale, Teviotdale, Carrick, Kyle, Cunningham, and lienfrewshire; but the evidence for such assertion is not satis factory. Gallwegia is mentioned in 1124, in a charter granted by David I. of Scotland to the monks of Selkirk, and at that time its dimensions appear to have been no larger than those the modern application of the name implies. Of the eight tributary princes who are said to have waited upon Edgar king of England at Chester, in 973, one was "Jacobus rex Galwallim." The name, however, must have come into use after the time of Bede the historian (d. 735), for in speaking of the province, ,which then formed part of the Bernician or Northumbrian kingdom, he makes no mention of it. Its origin is doubtful, but has obvious reference to the Gaelic people by whom it was possessed. The original inhabitants of the country appear to have been of Celtic origin; they are believed to have formed two distinct tribes, the Selgovw and Novantes—the former holding the country e. of the Dee, along with a portion of Dumfriesshire, while the latter held the
portion lying to the west. • After the departure of the Romans, in the first half of the 5th c., G. was overrun by the Anglo-Saxons of Northumbria, by whom, however, the native Celtic inhabitants do not appear to have been ever thoroughly subdued. About the 12th c„ G. is spoken of by English writers as " the land of the Picts," and its inhabi tants as "the Picts." In Scottish charters, the inhabitants were called simply Gallo vidienses," or men of Galloway. • G. was ruled by its own princes, the kings of Scot land only exercising a nominal sovereignty over it and it was not until the reign of Alexander II. that the power of these great chieftains was completely broken by the crown. The last of them, Alan of Galloway, constable of Scotland, d. in 1233, when his great possessions were divided among his three daughters. See Skene's Celtic Scotland (1870). For the extent, population, natural productions, etc., of G., see KIRKCUDBRIGHT SIIIRE and WtoTowNstnnE.