Notes:

Donald II

King of the Picts, or of Alba
Reign 889–900
Predecessor Giric
Successor Constantine II
Died 900 Forres or Dunnottar
Burial Iona
Issue Malcolm I, King of Alba
House Alpin
Father Constantín mac Cináeda, King of the Picts

Donald II of Scotland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Domnall mac Causantín (Modern Gaelic: Dòmhnall mac
Chòiseim),[1] anglicised as Donald II (died 900) was King of
the Picts or King of Scotland (Alba) in the late 9th century.
He was the son of Constantine I (Causantín mac Cináeda).
Donald is given the epithet Dásachtach, "the Madman", by
the Prophecy of Berchán.[2]
Contents
1 Life
2 See also
3 Notes
4 References
5 External links
Life
Donald became king on the death or deposition of Giric
(Giric mac Dúngail), the date of which is not certainly
known but usually placed in 889. The Chronicle of the Kings
of Alba reports:
Doniualdus son of Constantini held the kingdom
for 11 years [889–900]. The Northmen wasted
Pictland at this time. In his reign a battle
occurred between Danes and Scots at
Innisibsolian where the Scots had victory. He
was killed at Opidum Fother [modern
Dunnottar] by the Gentiles.[3]
It has been suggested that the attack on Dunnottar, rather than being a small raid by a handful of pirates, may be
associated with the ravaging of Scotland attributed to Harald Fairhair in the Heimskringla.[4] The Prophecy of
Berchán places Donald's death at Dunnottar, but appears to attribute it to Gaels rather than Norsemen; other
sources report he died at Forres.[5] Donald's death is dated to 900 by the Annals of Ulster and the Chronicon
Scotorum, where he is called king of Alba, rather than king of the Picts. He was buried on Iona. Like his father,
Constantine, he died a violent death at a premature age.
The change from king of the Picts to king of Alba is seen as indicating a step towards the kingdom of the Scots,
but historians, while divided as to when this change should be placed, do not generally attribute it to Donald in
view of his epithet.[6] The consensus view is that the key changes occurred in the reign of Constantine II
(Causantín mac Áeda),[7] but the reign of Giric has also been proposed.[8]
The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba has Donald succeeded by his cousin Constantine II. Donald's son Malcolm
(Máel Coluim mac Domnall) was later king as Malcolm I. The Prophecy of Berchán appears to suggest that
another king reigned for a short while between Donald II and Constantine II, saying "half a day will he take
sovereignty". Possible confirmation of this exists in the Chronicon Scotorum, where the death of "Ead, king of
the Picts" in battle against the Uí Ímair is reported in 904. This, however, is thought to be an error, referring
perhaps to Ædwulf, the ruler of Bernicia, whose death is reported in 913 by the other Irish annals.[9]
See also
Kingdom of Alba
Origins of the Kingdom of Alba
Notes
1. Domnall mac Causantín is the Mediaeval Gaelic form.
2. ESSH, p. 358; Kelly, Early Irish Law, pp. 92–93 & 308: "The dásachtach is the person with manic symptoms who is
liable to behave in a violent and destructive manne."r The dásachtach is not responsible for his actions. The same word
is used of enraged cattle.
3. ESSH, pp. 395–397.
4. ESSH, p 396, note 1 & p. 392, quotingS t Olaf's Saga, c. 96.
5. ESSH, pp. 395–398.
6. Smyth, pp. 217–218, disagrees.
7. Thus Broun and Woolf, among others.
8. Duncan, pp.14–15.
9. ESSH, p. 304, note 8; however, the Annals of Ulster, s.a. 904, report the death of Ímar ua Ímair (Ivar grandson of Ivar)
in Fortriu in 904, making it possible that Ead (Áed ?) was a king, if not the High King.
References
Anderson, Alan Orr, Early Sources of Scottish History A.D 500–1286, volume 1. Reprinted with corrections. Stamford:
Paul Watkins, 1990. ISBN 1-871615-03-8
Anderson, Marjorie Ogilvie, Kings and Kingship in Early Scotland .Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, revised
edition 1980. ISBN 0-7011-1604-8
Broun, Dauvit, "National identity: 1: early medieval and the formation of Alba" in Michaely Lnch (ed.) The Oxford
Companion to Scottish History. Oxford UP, Oxford, 2001. ISBN 0-19-211696-7
Duncan, A. A. M., The Kingship of the Scots 842–1292: Succession and Independenc,e E. dinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-7486-1626-8
Kelly, Fergus (1988). A Guide to Early Irish Law. Early Irish Law Series 3. Dublin:D IAS. ISBN 0901282952.
Smyth, Alfred P., Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland AD 80-1000. Reprinted, Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 1998. ISBN 0-
7486-0100-7
Sturluson, Snorri, Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway, tr. Lee M. Hollander. Reprinted University of Texas
Press, Austin, 1992. ISBN 0-292-73061-6
Woolf, Alex, "Constantine II" in Michael Lynch (ed.) op. cit.
External links
CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts at University College Cork includes the Annals of Ulster, Tigernach,
the Four Masters and Innisfallen, the Chronicon Scotorum, the Lebor Bretnach (which includes the Duan
Albanach), Genealogies, and various Saints' Lives. Most are translated into English, or translations are in
progress.
(CKA) The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba
Donald II of Scotland
House of Alpin
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Giric
with Eochaid ?
King of Scots
889–900
Succeeded by
Constantine (Causantín) II
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Donald_II_of_Scotland&oldid=784179553"
Categories: 9th-century births 900 deaths House of Alpin 9th-century Scottish monarchs
Burials at Iona Abbey
This page was last edited on 6 June 2017, at 22:29.
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apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered
trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. of Scotland, King of Alba Malcolm I was born in 900 in Fordoun, Kincardineshire, Scotland; died in 954 in Fordoun, Kincardineshire, Scotland.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Between 862 and 877; King of Picts

Notes:

Causantín mac Cináeda
18th century depiction of Causantín, son of Kenneth
MacAlpin. The depiction is highly anachronistic.

King of the Picts
Reign 862–877
Predecessor Donald I
Successor Áed
Died 877 Atholl?
Burial Iona
Issue Donald II, King of the Picts/of Alba
House Alpin
Father Kenneth I, King of the Picts

Causantín mac Cináeda
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Causantín or Constantín mac Cináeda (in Modern Gaelic:
Còiseam mac Choinnich; died 877) was a king of the Picts.
He is often known as Constantine I in reference to his place
in modern lists of kings of Scots, but contemporary sources
described Causantín only as a Pictish king. A son of Cináed
mac Ailpín ("Kenneth MacAlpin"), he succeeded his uncle
Domnall mac Ailpín as Pictish king following the latter's
death on 13 April 862. It is likely that Causantín's
(Constantine I) reign witnessed increased activity by
Vikings, based in Ireland, Northumbria and northern Britain.
He died fighting one such invasion.
Contents
1 Sources
2 Languages and names
3 Amlaíb and Ímar
4 Last days of the Pictish kingdom
5 Aftermath
6 Notes
7 References
Sources
Very few records of ninth century events in northern Britain
survive. The main local source from the period is the
Chronicle of the Kings of Alba, a list of kings from Cináed
mac Ailpín (died 858) to Cináed mac Maíl Coluim (died
995). The list survives in the Poppleton Manuscript, a
thirteenth-century compilation. Originally simply a list of
kings with reign lengths, the other details contained in the
Poppleton Manuscript version were added from the tenth century onwards.[1] In addition to this, later king lists
survive.[2] The earliest genealogical records of the descendants of Cináed mac Ailpín may date from the end of
the tenth century, but their value lies more in their context, and the information they provide about the interests
of those for whom they were compiled, than in the unreliable claims they contain.[3] The Pictish king-lists
originally ended with this Causantín, who was reckoned the seventieth and last king of the Picts.[4]
For narrative history the principal sources are the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the Irish annals. While
Scandinavian sagas describe events in 9th century Britain, their value as sources of historical narrative, rather
than documents of social history, is disputed.[5] If the sources for north-eastern Britain, the lands of the
kingdom of Northumbria and the former Pictland, are limited and late, those for the areas on the Irish Sea and
Atlantic coasts—the modern regions of north-west England and all of northern and western Scotland—are nonexistent,
and archaeology and toponymy are of primary importance.[6]
Languages and names
Writing a century before Causantín was born, Bede recorded five languages in Britain. Latin, the common
language of the church; Old English, the language of the Angles and Saxons; Irish, spoken on the western
coasts of Britain and in Ireland; Brythonic, ancestor of the Welsh language, spoken in large parts of western
Britain; and Pictish, spoken in northern Britain. By the ninth century a sixth language, Old Norse, had arrived
with the Vikings.
Amlaíb and Ímar
Viking activity in northern Britain appears to have reached a peak during Causantín's reign. Viking armies were
led by a small group of men who may have been kinsmen. Among those noted by the Irish annals, the
Chronicle of the Kings of Alba and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle are Ívarr—Ímar in Irish sources—who was
active from East Anglia to Ireland, Halfdán—Albdann in Irish, Healfdene in Old English— and Amlaíb or
Óláfr. As well as these leaders, various others related to them appear in the surviving record.[7]
Viking activity in Britain increased in 865 when the Great Heathen Army, probably a part of the forces which
had been active in Francia, landed in East Anglia.[8] The following year, having obtained tribute from the East
Anglian King Edmund, the Great Army moved north, seizing York, chief city of the Northumbrians.[9] The
Great Army defeated an attack on York by the two rivals for the Northumbrian throne, Osberht and Ælla, who
had put aside their differences in the face of a common enemy. Both would-be kings were killed in the failed
assault, probably on 21 March 867. Following this, the leaders of the Great Army are said to have installed one
Ecgberht as king of the Northumbrians.[10] Their next target was Mercia where King Burgred, aided by his
brother-in-law King Æthelred of Wessex, drove them off.[11]
While the kingdoms of East Anglia, Mercia and Northumbria were under attack, other Viking armies were
active in the far north. Amlaíb and Auisle (Ásl or Auðgísl), said to be his brother, brought an army to Fortriu
and obtained tribute and hostages in 866. Historians disagree as to whether the army returned to Ireland in 866,
867 or even in 869.[12] Late sources of uncertain reliability state that Auisle was killed by Amlaíb in 867 in a
dispute over Amlaíb's wife, the daughter of Cináed. It is unclear whether, if accurate, this woman should be
identified as a daughter of Cináed mac Ailpín, and thus Causantín's sister, or as a daughter of Cináed mac
Conaing, king of Brega.[13] While Amlaíb and Auisle were in north Britain, the Annals of Ulster record that
Áed Findliath, High King of Ireland, took advantage of their absence to destroy the longphorts along the
northern coasts of Ireland.[14] Áed Findliath was married to Causantín's sister Máel Muire. She later married
Áed's successor Flann Sinna. Her death is recorded in 913.[15]
In 870, Amlaíb and Ívarr attacked Dumbarton Rock, where the River Leven meets the River Clyde, the chief
place of the kingdom of Alt Clut, south-western neighbour of Pictland. The siege lasted four months before the
fortress fell to the Vikings who returned to Ireland with many prisoners, "Angles, Britons and Picts", in 871.
Archaeological evidence suggests that Dumbarton Rock was largely abandoned and that Govan replaced it as
the chief place of the kingdom of Strathclyde, as Alt Clut was later known.[16] King Artgal of Alt Clut did not
long survive these events, being killed "at the instigation" of Causantín son of Cináed two years later. Artgal's
son and successor Run was married to a sister of Causantín.[17]
Amlaíb disappears from Irish annals after his return to Ireland in 871. According to the Chronicle of the Kings
of Alba he was killed by Causantín either in 871 or 872 when he returned to Pictland to collect further
tribute.[18] His ally Ívarr died in 873.[19]
Last days of the Pictish kingdom
In 875, the Chronicle and the Annals of Ulster again report a Viking army in Pictland. A battle, fought near
Dollar, was a heavy defeat for the Picts; the Annals of Ulster say that "a great slaughter of the Picts resulted". In
877, shortly after building a new church for the Culdees at St Andrews, Causantín was captured and executed
(or perhaps killed in battle) after defending against Viking raiders.[20] Although there is agreement on the time
and general manner of his death, it is not clear where this happened. Some believe he was beheaded on a Fife
beach, following a battle at Fife Ness, near Crail. William Forbes Skene reads the Chronicle as placing
Causantín's death at Inverdovat (by Newport-on-Tay), which appears to match the Prophecy of Berchán. The
account in the Chronicle of Melrose names the place as the "Black Cave," and John of Fordun calls it the
"Black Den". Causantín was buried on Iona.
Aftermath
Causantín's son Domnall and his descendants represented the main line of the kings of Alba and later Scotland.
Notes
References
The Annals of Ulster, AD 431–1201, CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts, 2003, retrieved 2007-10-02
Chronicon Scotorum, CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts, 2003, retrieved 2007-10-29
Lebor Bretnach (The Irish version of the Historia Britonum of Nennius), CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts, 2002,
retrieved 2008-10-04
Anderson, Alan Orr (1990), Early Sources of Scottish History A.D. 500 to1 286, I (2nd ed.), Stamford: Paul Watkins,
ISBN 1-871615-03-8
Anderson, Alan Orr (1908), Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers A.D. 500 to 1286, London: D. Nutt
Anderson, M. O. (1980), Kings and Kingship in Early Scotland (2nd ed.), Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, ISBN 0-
7011-1604-8
Bannerman, John (1999), "The Scottish Takeover of Pictland and the relics of Columba", inB roun, Dauvit; Clancy,
Thomas Owen, Spes Scotorum: Hope of Scots. Saint Columba, Iona and Scotlan,d Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, pp. 71–94,
ISBN 0-567-08682-8
Broun, Dauvit (1999), "Dunkeld and the origins of Scottish Identity", iBn roun, Dauvit; Clancy, Thomas Owen, Spes
Scotorum: Hope of Scots. Saint Columba, Iona and Scotlan,d Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, pp. 96–111, ISBN 0-567-08682-
8
Broun, Dauvit (1999), The Irish Identity of the Kingdom of the Scots in the wTelfth and Thirteenth Centuries,
Woodbridge: Boydell Press, ISBN 0-85115-375-5
Broun, Dauvit; Clancy, Thomas Owen (1999), Spes Scotorum: Hope of Scots. Saint Columba, Iona and Scotlan,d
Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, ISBN 0-567-08682-8
Costambeys, Marios (2004), "Hálfdan (d. 877)"O, xford Dictionary of National Biography, retrieved 2007-10-25
1. Woolf, Pictland to Alba, pp. 87–93; Dumville, "Chronicle of the Kings of Alba".
2. Anderson, Kings and Kingship, reproduces these lists and discusses their origins, further discussed by BrounIr, ish
origins.
3. Broun, Irish Identity, pp. 133–164; Woolf, Pictland to Alba, pp. 220–221.
4. Broun, Irish Identity, p. 168–169; Anderson, Kings and Kingship, p. 78
5. Woolf, Pictland to Alba, pp. 277–285; Ó Corrain, "Vikings in Scotland and Ireland"...
6. Woolf, Pictland to Alba, p. 12.
7. Downham, Smyth, Woolf.
8. Check Nelson.
9. Downham, Keynes, Woolf.
10. Downham, Higham, Keynes, O Corrain, Smyth, Woolf.
11. Keynes ...
12. Downham, O Corrain, Smyth, Woolf, AU 866.1.
13. Downham, ??, FAA.
14. Byrne? O Corrain? AU 866.4
15. Woolf, AU 913.1, Byrne p. 857, poss. same as Amlaíb's wife.
16. AU 870.6, AU 871.2, Woolf, Downham, Smyth.
17. AU 872.5, Smyth, Woolf.
18. Woolf, Downham.
19. Woolf, Downham, AU 873.3
20. Raymond Lamont-Brown, St Andrews: City by the Northern Sea (Edinburgh: Berlinn, 2006), 9.
Costambeys, Marios (2004), "Ívarr (d. 873)"O, xford Dictionary of National Biography, retrieved 2007-10-25
Crawford, Barbara (1987), Scandinavian Scotland, Studies in the Early History of Britain, Leicester: Leicester
University Press, ISBN 0-7185-1282-0
Downham, Clare (2007), Viking Kings of Britain and Ireland: The Dynasty of Ívarr to A.D. 1014, Edinburgh: Dunedin,
ISBN 978-1-903765-89-0
Dumville, David (2000), "The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba", in Taylor, Simon, Kings, clerics and chronicles in
Scotland 500–1297, Dublin: Four Courts Press, pp. 73–86,I SBN 1-85182-516-9
Duncan, A. A. M. (1978), Scotland: The Making of the Kingdom, The Edinburgh History of Scotland, 1 (2nd ed.),
Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 0-901824-83-6
Duncan, A. A. M. (2002), The Kingship of the Scots 842–1292: Succession and Independenc, eEdinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press, ISBN 0-7486-1626-8
Foster, Sally M. (2004) [1996], Picts, Gaels and Scots: Early Historic Scotland, London: Batsford, ISBN 0-7134-8874-
3
Herbert, Máire (2000), "Ri Éirenn, Ri Alban: kingship and identity in the ninth and tenth centuries", in aTylor, Simon,
Kings, clerics and chronicles in Scotland 500–1297 (PDF), Dublin: Four Courts Press, pp. 62–72,I SBN 1-85182-516-9
Higham, N. J. (1993), The Kingdom of Northumbria AD 350–100, Stroud: Sutton, ISBN 0-86299-730-5
Hudson, Benjamin (2004), "Óláf the White (fl. 853–871)",O xford Dictionary of National Biography, retrieved
2007-10-25
MacQuarrie, Alan (1997),T he Saints of Scotland: Essays in Scottish Chucrh History AD 450–1093, Edinburgh: John
Donald, ISBN 0-85976-446-X
Murphy, Dennis, ed. (1896), The Annals of Clonmacnoise, being annals of Ierland from the earliest period to A.D. 1408,
Dublin: Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, retrieved 2007-12-01
Ó Corráin, Donnchadh (1997), "Ireland, Wales, Man and the Hebrides", in Sawye,r Peter, The Oxford Illustrated History
of the Vikings, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 83–109I, SBN 0-19-285434-8
Ó Corráin, Donnchadh (1998)," The Vikings in Scotland and Ireland in the Ninth Century "(PDF), Peritia, 12: 296–339,
retrieved 2007-12-01
Radner, Joan N., ed. (1975), Fragmentary Annals of Ireland, CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts, retrieved 2007-02-10
Sawyer, Peter, ed. (1997), The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings, Oxford: Oxford University Press,I SBN 0-19-
285434-8
Smyth, Alfred P. (1984), Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland AD 80–100, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press,
ISBN 0-7486-0100-7
Swanton, Michael (1996), The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, New York: Routledge, ISBN 0-415-92129-5
Taylor, Simon, ed. (2000), Kings, clerics and chronicles in Scotland 500–1297, Dublin: Four Courts Press, ISBN 1-
85182-516-9
Woolf, Alex (2007), From Pictland to Alba, 789–1070, The New Edinburgh History of Scotland, 2, Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 978-0-7486-1234-5
Causantín mac Cináeda
House of Alpin
Died: 877
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Domnall
King of the Picts
(traditionally King of Scots)
862–877
Succeeded by
Áed
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Causantín_mac_Cináeda&oldid=767632749"
Categories: Pictish monarchs Scottish pre-union military personnel killed in action House of Alpin
9th-century Scottish monarchs Monarchs killed in action 877 deaths Burials in Iona
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apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered
trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Between 843 and 13 Feb 858; King of the Picts

Notes:

Kenneth MacAlpin

King of the Picts
Reign 843 – 13 February 858
Predecessor Drest X
Successor Donald I
Born 810 Iona, Scotland
Died 1 3 February 858 Scotland
Burial Iona

Issue among possible others
Pictish: Constantín, King of the Picts
Áed, King of the Picts
Máel Muire
Full name Kenneth MacAlpin
Pictish: Cináed mac Ailpín
House Alpin
Father Alpín mac Echdach

Kenneth MacAlpin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pictish: Cináed mac Ailpín (Modern Gaelic: Coinneach mac
Ailpein),[1] commonly anglicised as Kenneth MacAlpin and
known in most modern regnal lists as Kenneth I (810 – 13
February 858), was a king of the Picts who, according to
national myth, was the first king of Scots. He was thus later
known by the posthumous nickname of An Ferbasach, "The
Conqueror".[2] The dynasty that ruled Scotland for much of
the medieval period claimed descent from him, and the
current British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II is descended
from him through King James, Robert the Bruce and
Malcolm III.
Contents
1 Disputed kingship
2 Background
3 Reign
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
7 Further reading
8 External links
Disputed kingship
The Kenneth of myth, conqueror of the Picts and founder of
the Kingdom of Alba, was born in the centuries after the real
Kenneth died. In the reign of Kenneth II (Cináed mac Maíl
Coluim), when the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba was
compiled, the annalist wrote:
So Kinadius son of Alpinus, first of the Scots,
ruled this Pictland prosperously for 16 years.
Pictland was named after the Picts, whom, as we
have said, Kinadius destroyed. ... Two years
before he came to Pictland, he had received the
kingdom of Dál Riata.
In the 15th century, Andrew of Wyntoun's Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland, a history in verse, added little to the
account in the Chronicle:
Quhen Alpyne this kyng was dede, He left a sowne wes cal'd Kyned,
Dowchty man he wes and stout, All the Peychtis he put out.
Gret bataylis than dyd he, To pwt in freedom his cuntre!
Painting of Kenneth.
When humanist scholar George Buchanan wrote his history Rerum Scoticarum Historia in the 1570s, a great
deal of lurid detail had been added to the story. Buchanan included an account of how Kenneth's father had
been murdered by the Picts and a detailed, and entirely unsupported, account of how Kenneth avenged him and
conquered the Picts. Buchanan was not as credulous as many and he did not include the tale of MacAlpin's
treason, a story from Gerald of Wales, who reused a tale of Saxon treachery at a feast in Geoffrey of
Monmouth's inventive Historia Regum Britanniae.
Later 19th-century historians, such as William Forbes Skene, brought new standards of accuracy to early
Scottish history, while Celticists, such as Whitley Stokes and Kuno Meyer, cast a critical eye over Welsh and
Irish sources. As a result, much of the misleading and vivid detail was removed from the scholarly series of
events, even if it remained in the popular accounts. Rather than a conquest of the Picts, instead, the idea of
Pictish matrilineal succession, mentioned by Bede and apparently the only way to make sense of the list of
Kings of the Picts found in the Pictish Chronicle, advanced the idea that Kenneth was a Gael, and a king of Dál
Riata, who had inherited the throne of Pictland through a Pictish mother. Other Gaels, such as Caustantín and
Óengus, the sons of Fergus, were identified among the Pictish king lists, as were Angles such as Talorcen son
of Eanfrith, and Britons such as Bridei son of Beli.[3]
Later historians would reject parts of the Kenneth produced by Skene and subsequent historians, while
accepting others. Medievalist Alex Woolf, interviewed by The Scotsman in 2004, is quoted as saying:
The myth of Kenneth conquering the Picts – it’s about 1210, 1220 that that’s first talked about.
There’s actually no hint at all that he was a Scot. ... If you look at contemporary sources there are
four other Pictish kings after him. So he’s the fifth last of the Pictish kings rather than the first
Scottish king."[4]
Many other historians could be quoted in terms similar to Woolf.[5]
A feasible synopsis of the emerging consensus may be put forward,
namely, that the kingships of Gaels and Picts underwent a process of
gradual fusion,[6] starting with Kenneth, and rounded off in the reign of
Constantine II. The Pictish institution of kingship provided the basis for
merger with the Gaelic Alpin dynasty. The meeting of King Constantine
and Bishop Cellach at the Hill of Belief near the (formerly Pictish) royal
city of Scone in 906 cemented the rights and duties of Picts on an equal
basis with those of Gaels (pariter cum Scottis). Hence the change in
styling from King of the Picts to King of Alba. The legacy of Gaelic as
the first national language of Scotland does not obscure the foundational
process in the establishment of the Scottish kingdom of Alba.
Background
Kenneth's origins are uncertain, as are his ties, if any, to previous kings of the Picts or Dál Riata. Among the
genealogies contained in the Rawlinson B 502 manuscript, dating from around 1130, is the supposed descent of
Malcolm II of Scotland. Medieval genealogies are unreliable sources, but many historians still accept Kenneth's
descent from the established Cenél nGabráin, or at the very least from some unknown minor sept of the Dál
Riata. The manuscript provides the following ancestry for Kenneth:
...Cináed son of Alpín son of Eochaid son of Áed Find son of Domangart son of Domnall Brecc
son of Eochaid Buide son of Áedán son of Gabrán son of Domangart son of Fergus Mór ...[7]
Naoi m-bliadhna Cusaintin chain,
a naoi Aongusa ar Albain,
cethre bliadhna Aodha áin,
is a tri déug Eoghanáin.
Tríocha bliadhain Cionaoith chruaidh,
The nine years of Causantín the fair,
The nine of Aongus over Alba,
The four years of Aodh the noble,
And the thirteen of Eoghanán.
The thirty years of Cionaoth the hardy,[8]
Leaving aside the shadowy kings before Áedán son of Gabrán, the genealogy is certainly flawed insofar as Áed
Find, who died c. 778, could not reasonably be the son of Domangart, who was killed c. 673. The conventional
account would insert two generations between Áed Find and Domangart: Eochaid mac Echdach, father of Áed
Find, who died c. 733, and his father Eochaid.
Although later traditions provided details of his reign and death, Kenneth's father Alpin is not listed as among
the kings in the Duan Albanach, which provides the following sequence of kings leading up to Kenneth:
It is supposed that these kings are the Constantine son of Fergus and his brother Óengus II (Angus II), who
have already been mentioned, Óengus's son Uen (Eóganán), as well as the obscure Áed mac Boanta, but this
sequence is considered doubtful if the list is intended to represent kings of Dál Riata, as it should if Kenneth
were king there.[9]
That Kenneth was a Gael is not widely rejected, but modern historiography distinguishes between Kenneth as a
Gael by culture and/or in ancestry, and Kenneth as a king of Gaelic Dál Riata. Kings of the Picts before him,
from Bridei son of Der-Ilei, his brother Nechtan as well as Óengus I son of Fergus and his presumed
descendants were all at least partly Gaelicised.[10] The idea that the Gaelic names of Pictish kings in Irish
annals represented translations of Pictish ones was challenged by the discovery of the inscription Custantin
filius Fircus(sa), the latinised name of the Pictish king Caustantín son of Fergus, on the Dupplin Cross.[11]
Other evidence, such as that furnished by place-names, suggests the spread of Gaelic culture through western
Pictland in the centuries before Kenneth. For example, Atholl, a name used in the Annals of Ulster for the year
739, has been thought to be "New Ireland", and Argyll derives from Oir-Ghàidheal, the land of the "eastern
Gaels".
Reign
Compared with the many questions on his origins, Kenneth's ascent to power and subsequent reign can be dealt
with simply. Kenneth's rise can be placed in the context of the recent end of the previous dynasty, which had
dominated Fortriu for two or four generations. This followed the death of king Uen son of Óengus of Fortriu,
his brother Bran, Áed mac Boanta "and others almost innumerable" in battle against the Vikings in 839. The
resulting succession crisis seems, if the Pictish Chronicle king-lists have any validity, to have resulted in at least
four would-be kings warring for supreme power.
Kenneth's reign is dated from 843, but it was probably not until 848 that he defeated the last of his rivals for
power. The Pictish Chronicle claims that he was king in Dál Riata for two years before becoming Pictish king
in 843, but this is not generally accepted. In 849, Kenneth had relics of Columba, which may have included the
Monymusk Reliquary, transferred from Iona to Dunkeld. Other than these bare facts, the Chronicle of the Kings
of Alba reports that he invaded Saxonia six times, captured Melrose and burnt Dunbar, and also that Vikings
laid waste to Pictland, reaching far into the interior.[12] The Annals of the Four Masters, not generally a good
source on Scottish matters, do make mention of Kenneth, although what should be made of the report is
unclear:
Gofraid mac Fergusa, chief of Airgíalla, went to Alba, to strengthen the Dal Riata, at the request of
Kenneth MacAlpin.[13]
The reign of Kenneth also saw an increased degree of Norse settlement in the outlying areas of modern
Scotland. Shetland, Orkney, Caithness, Sutherland, the Western Isles and the Isle of Man, and part of Ross were
settled; the links between Kenneth's kingdom and Ireland were weakened, those with southern England and the
continent almost broken. In the face of this, Kenneth and his successors were forced to consolidate their
position in their kingdom, and the union between the Picts and the Gaels, already progressing for several
centuries, began to strengthen. By the time of Donald II, the kings would be called kings neither of the Gaels or
the Scots but of Alba.[14]
Kenneth died from a tumour on 13 February 858 at the palace of Cinnbelachoir, perhaps near Scone. The
annals report the death as that of the "king of the Picts", not the "king of Alba". The title "king of Alba" is not
used until the time of Kenneth's grandsons, Donald II (Domnall mac Causantín) and Constantine II (Constantín
mac Áeda). The Fragmentary Annals of Ireland quote a verse lamenting Kenneth's death:
Because Cináed with many troops lives no longer
there is weeping in every house;
there is no king of his worth under heaven
as far as the borders of Rome.[15]
Kenneth left at least two sons, Constantine and Áed, who were later kings, and at least two daughters. One
daughter married Run, king of Strathclyde, Eochaid being the result of this marriage. Kenneth's daughter Máel
Muire married two important Irish kings of the Uí Néill. Her first husband was Aed Finliath of the Cenél
nEógain. Niall Glúndub, ancestor of the O'Neill, was the son of this marriage. Her second husband was Flann
Sinna of Clann Cholmáin. As the wife and mother of kings, when Máel Muire died in 913, her death was
reported by the Annals of Ulster, an unusual thing for the male-centred chronicles of the age.
See also
Website Clan Netherlands: http://www.macalpin.nl/index.htm
Siol Alpin, the kindred group of clans widely considered to be the descendants of Cináed and the House
of Alpin at large.
Scotland in the Early Middle Ages
Scotland in the High Middle Ages
Notes
1. Cináed mac Ailpín is the Mediaeval Gaelic form. A
more accurate rendering in modern Gaelic would be
Cionaodh mac Ailpein since Coinneach is historically a
separate name. However, in the modern language, both
names have converged.
2. Skene, Chronicles, p. 83.
References
For primary sources see under External links below.
Further reading
Sally Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots (revised edition, 2005) – a broad and accessible introduction
Leslie Alcock, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland monograph Kings and Warriors, Craftsmen and
Priests in Northern Britain AD 550–750 (2003) – more detail
Alex Woolf, Pictland to Alba: Scotland, 789–1070, in the New Edinburgh History of Scotland series,
published in 2007.
The Oxford Companion to Scottish History (2001) – articles by expert contributors
3. That the Pictish succession was matrilineal is doubted.
Bede in the Ecclesiastical History, I, i, writes: "when
any question should arise, they should choose a king
from the female royal race, rather than the male: which
custom, as is well known, has been observed among
the Picts to this day." Bridei and Nechtan, the sons of
Der-Ilei, were the Pictish kings in Bede's time, and are
presumed to have claimed the throne through maternal
descent. Maternal descent, "when any question should
arise" brought several kings of Alba and the Scots to
the throne, including John Balliol, Robert Bruce and
Robert II, the first of the Stewart kings.
4. Johnston, Ian. "First king of the Scots? Actually he was
a Pict" (http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id
=1149902004).The Scotsman, October 2, 2004.
5. For example, Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots, pp. 107–
108; Broun, "Kenneth mac Alpin"; Forsyth, "Scotland
to 1100", pp. 28–32; Duncan, Kingship of the Scots,
pp. 8–10. Woolf was selected to write the relevant
volume of the new Edinburgh History of Scotland, to
replace that written by Duncan in 1975.
6. After Herbert, Rí Éirenn, Rí Alban, kingship and
identity in the ninth and tenth centuries, p. 71.
7. Genealogies from Rawlinson B 502:¶ 1696 Genelach
Ríg n-Alban (http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G10500
3/text026.html).
8. "The Duan Albanach" (http://sejh.pagesperso-orange.f
r/keltia/alba/albanic-en.html).
9. See Broun, Pictish Kings, for a discussion of this
question.
10. For the descendants of the firstÓ engus son of Fergus,
again see Broun, Pictish Kings.
11. Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots, pp. 95–96; Fergus
would appear as Uurgu(i)st in a Pictish form.
12. Regarding Dál Riata, see Broun, "Kenneth mac Alpin";
Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots, pp. 111–112.
13. Annals of the Four Master, for the year 835 (probably
c. 839). The history of Dál Riata in this period is
simply not known, or even if there was any sort ofD ál
Riata to have a history. Ó Corráin's Vikings in Ireland
and Scotland, available as etext, and Woolf, Kingdom
of the Isles, may be helpful.
14. Lynch, Michael, A New History of Scotland
15. Fragmentary Annals, FA 285.
John Bannerman, "The Scottish Takeover of Pictland"
in Dauvit Broun & Thomas Owen Clancy (eds.)S pes
Scotorum: Hope of Scots. Saint Columba, Iona and
Scotland. T & T Clark, Edinburgh, 1999. ISBN 0-567-
08682-8
Dauvit Broun, "Kenneth mac Alpin" in Michael Lynch
(ed.) The Oxford Companion to Scottish History.
Oxford: Oxford UP, ISBN 0-19-211696-7
Dauvit Broun, "Pictish Kings 761–839: Integration
with Dál Riata or Separate Development" in Sally
Foster (ed.) The St Andrews Sarcophagus Dublin: Four
Courts Press, ISBN 1-85182-414-6
Dauvit Broun, "Dunkeld and the origins of Scottish
Identity" in Dauvit Broun and Thomas Owen Clancy
(eds), op. cit.
Thomas Owen Clancy, "Caustantín son of Fergus" in
Lynch (ed.), op. cit.
A.A.M. Duncan, The Kingship of the Scots 842–1292:
Succession and Independence. Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-7486-1626-8
Katherine Forsyth, "Scotland to 1100" in Jenny
Katherine Forsyth, "Scotland to 1100" in Jenny
Wormald (ed.) Scotland: A History. Oxford: Oxford
UP, ISBN 0-19-820615-1
Sally Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots: Early Historic
Scotland. London: Batsford, ISBN 0-7134-8874-3
Máire Herbert, "Ri Éirenn, Ri Alban: kingship and
identity in the ninth and tenth centuries" in Simon
Taylor (ed.), Kings, clerics and chronicles in Scotland
500–1297. Dublin: Fourt Courts Press, ISBN 1-85182-
516-9
Michael A. O'Brien (ed.) with int.r by John V. Kelleher,
Corpus genealogiarum Hiberniae. DIAS. 1976. /
partial digital edition: Donnchadh Ó Corráin (ed.),
Genealogies from Rawlinson B 502. University
College, Cork: Corpus of Electronic Texts. 1997.
Donnchadh Ó Corráin, "Vikings in Ireland and
Scotland in the ninth century" inP eritia 12 (1998),
pp. 296–339. Etext (pdf)
Alex Woolf, "Constantine II" in Lynch (ed.), op. cit.
Alex Woolf, "Kingdom of the Isles" in Lynch (ed.), op.
cit.
Kenneth by Nigel Tranter – fictional interpretation of Kenneth's life
External links
Annals of Ulster, part 1, at CELT (translated)
A poem by Robert Louis Stevenson – Heather Ale
Annals of Tigernach, at CELT (no translation presently available)
Annals of the Four Masters, part 1, at CELT (translated)
Duan Albanach, at CELT (translated)
Genealogies from Rawlinson B.502, at CELT (no translation presently available)
The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba
Kenneth MacAlpin
House of Alpin
Born: after 800 Died: 13 February 858
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Drest X
King of Picts
(traditionally King of Scots)
843–858
Succeeded by
Donald (Domnall) I
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kenneth_MacAlpin&oldid=786356488"
Categories: 858 deaths 9th-century births 9th-century Scottish monarchs Founding monarchs
House of Alpin Burials at Iona Abbey
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Notes:

Alpín mac Echdach
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alpín mac Echdach was a supposed king of Dál Riata included in a pedigree created in the 10th century to connect the kings of Alba to legendary Dál Riatan and Irish ancestors. In this pedigree Alpín's father is Eochaid, an Irish name, yet he becomes the father of Cináed i.e. Kenneth MacAlpin. Cináed and Alpín are the names of Pictish kings in the 8th century: the brothers Ciniod and Elphin who ruled from 763 to 780. Alpín's alleged father Eochaid IV is not mentioned in any contemporary source.[1] Alpín's mother was Fergusa, daughter of Fergus of Dalriada.

References
1. Alex Woolf, From Pictland to Alba 789-1070 (Edinburgh University Press 2008), pp. 96, 220-1.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alpín_mac_Echdach&oldid=765482564"
Categories: Kings of Dál Riata Medieval Gaels from Scotland Scottish people stubs Scottish history stubs
This page was last edited on 14 February 2017, at 17:15.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.