The days of Scotland and England spilling blood over the right to land and self-determination have been consigned to the history books.

Wars have given way to the debating chamber and it is from these latter-day battlegrounds that the wheel has spun part-circle to the point where Scotland is about to regain its own Parliament. Total independence is not returning - that option was not part of the 1998 devolution vote.

That was lost in 1296, when Edward I annexed Scotland and took the Coronation Stone - the Stone of Destiny - to Westminster Abbey.

The Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 restored independence and a Scottish Parliament met for the first time 12 years later.

The two nations fought constantly then came another major turning point in Scottish history. The crowns of England and Scotland were united in 1603 when James VI of Scotland became James I of England.

The Reformation in the 16th and 17th centuries gave Scotland a distinctive religion and from this turmoil can be traced, for example, a national system of parish schools and a new sense of nationhood.

The Calvinist-inspired John Knox brought the highly democratic form of Presbyterian worship to Scotland. Knox's religion was totally at odds with the 17th century Stuart monarchy which still held to the "Divine Right of Kings".

Despite its increasing harshness in this period, Presbyterianism was accepted by the majority of Scots. When Charles I tried to impose the Anglican form of worship on Scotland in the 1630s, the resistance it inspired was one of the causes of the English Civil Wars.

Crowns united

Scotland was keen to see the establishment of its form of government in England but the Puritans were ultimately rejected and the monarchy restored.

The Act of Union of 1707 united the two Parliaments, but Scotland retained its own church, the Kirk, and a separate legal system.

The tobacco trade with the English colonies in North America turned Glasgow into a boom town and the stability which British troops provided in the aftermath of the 1745 Jacobite rebellion, in which Bonnie Prince Charlie failed to take the British throne, allowed Edinburgh to expand beyond its unhealthy and protective huddle around the castle.

Both cities became "hotbeds of genius" during the Scottish Enlightenment, which gathered pace as the 18th century progressed.

After the failure of the final Jacobite rebellion, nationalism declined among the aristocracy and Scots law moved towards increased political convergence with England.

Liberal support

In the 19th century, Scots faithfully returned the Liberal Party to Westminster at General Elections. But by the end of the century, there was significant momentum in the Home Rule movement.

By 1885, the Liberal leader William Gladstone had become converted to the idea and the post of Secretary for Scotland was created, supported by a Scottish Office. It became a Cabinet position in 1926.

A Scottish Home Rule Association was founded in 1886 and in 1895, a Scottish Grand Committee was established with powers to discuss Scottish legislation.

Between 1889 and 1914, Scottish Home Rule was debated 15 times in Parliament, including the introduction of four Bills. In 1913 a Home Rule Bill passed its second reading.

World War I intervened and the idea was dropped but support for Home Rule had been waning, as campaigning for it meant associating with the more outspoken Irish Home rule activists.