Kenneth I of Scotland
Encyclopedia
Cináed mac Ailpín commonly Anglicised
as Kenneth MacAlpin and known in most modern regnal lists as Kenneth I (died 13 February 858) was king of the Picts and, according to national myth, first king of Scots, earning him the posthumous nickname of An Ferbasach, "The Conqueror". Kenneth's undisputed legacy was to produce a dynasty of rulers who claimed descent from him and was the founder of the dynasty which ruled Scotland for much of the medieval period.
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:
In the 15th century Andrew of Wyntoun
's Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland, a history in verse, added little to the account in the Chronicle:
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 Giraldus Cambrensis
, 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.
Modern 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:
Many other historians could be quoted in terms similar to Woolf.
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, 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.
. 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:
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:
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.
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. 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 latin
ised name of the Pictish king Caustantín son of Fergus, on the Dupplin Cross
.
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".
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 that 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. 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:
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.
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:
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.
Anglicisation
Anglicisation, or anglicization , is the process of converting verbal or written elements of any other language into a form that is more comprehensible to an English speaker, or, more generally, of altering something such that it becomes English in form or character.The term most often refers to...
as Kenneth MacAlpin and known in most modern regnal lists as Kenneth I (died 13 February 858) was king of the Picts and, according to national myth, first king of Scots, earning him the posthumous nickname of An Ferbasach, "The Conqueror". Kenneth's undisputed legacy was to produce a dynasty of rulers who claimed descent from him and was the founder of the dynasty which ruled Scotland for much of the medieval period.
King of Scots?
The Kenneth of myth, conqueror of the PictsPicts
The Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval people living in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. There is an association with the distribution of brochs, place names beginning 'Pit-', for instance Pitlochry, and Pictish stones. They are recorded from before the Roman conquest...
and founder of the Kingdom of Alba
Kingdom of Alba
The name Kingdom of Alba pertains to the Kingdom of Scotland between the deaths of Donald II in 900, and of Alexander III in 1286 which then led indirectly to the Scottish Wars of Independence...
, was born in the centuries after the real Kenneth died. In the reign of Kenneth II
Kenneth II of Scotland
Cináed mac Maíl Coluim was King of Scots...
(Cináed mac Maíl Coluim), when the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba
Chronicle of the Kings of Alba
The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba, or Scottish Chronicle, is a short written chronicle of the Kings of Alba, covering the period from the time of Kenneth MacAlpin until the reign of Kenneth II . W.F...
was compiled, the annalist wrote:
In the 15th century Andrew of Wyntoun
Andrew of Wyntoun
Andrew Wyntoun, known as Andrew of Wyntoun was a Scottish poet, a canon and prior of Loch Leven on St Serf's Inch and later, a canon of St...
's Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland, a history in verse, added little to the account in the Chronicle:
When humanist
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
scholar George Buchanan
George Buchanan (humanist)
George Buchanan was a Scottish historian and humanist scholar. He was part of the Monarchomach movement.-Early life:...
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
MacAlpin's treason
MacAlpin's treason is a medieval legend which explains the replacement of the Pictish language by Gaelic in the 9th and 10th centuries.The legend tells of the murder of the nobles of Pictavia...
, a story from Giraldus Cambrensis
Giraldus Cambrensis
Gerald of Wales , also known as Gerallt Gymro in Welsh or Giraldus Cambrensis in Latin, archdeacon of Brecon, was a medieval clergyman and chronicler of his times...
, who reused a tale of Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
treachery at a feast in Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth was a cleric and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur...
's inventive Historia Regum Britanniae
Historia Regum Britanniae
The Historia Regum Britanniae is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written c. 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It chronicles the lives of the kings of the Britons in a chronological narrative spanning a time of two thousand years, beginning with the Trojans founding the British nation...
.
Later 19th century historians such as William Forbes Skene
William Forbes Skene
William Forbes Skene , Scottish historian and antiquary, was the second son of Sir Walter Scott's friend, James Skene , of Rubislaw, near Aberdeen....
brought new standards of accuracy to early Scottish history, while Celticists such as Whitley Stokes and Kuno Meyer
Kuno Meyer
Kuno Meyer was a German scholar, distinguished in the field of Celtic philology and literature. His pro-German stance at the start of World War I while traveling in the United States was a source of controversy.-Biography:...
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
Bede
Bede , also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede , was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria...
and apparently the only way to make sense of the list of Kings of the Picts found in the Pictish Chronicle
Pictish Chronicle
The Pictish Chronicle is a name often given by historians to a list of the kings of the Picts beginning many thousand years before history was recorded in Pictavia and ending after Pictavia had been enveloped by Scotland...
, advanced the idea that Kenneth was a Gael
Gaël
Gaël is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department of Brittany in north-western France.It lies southwest of Rennes between Saint-Méen-le-Grand and Mauron...
, and a king of Dál Riata
Dál Riata
Dál Riata was a Gaelic overkingdom on the western coast of Scotland with some territory on the northeast coast of Ireland...
, who had inherited the throne of Pictland through a Pictish mother. Other Gaels, such as Caustantín
Caustantín of the Picts
Causantín or Constantín mac Fergusa was king of the Picts , in modern Scotland, from 789 until 820. He was until the Victorian era sometimes counted as Constantine I of Scotland; the title is now generally given to Causantín mac Cináeda...
and Óengus
Óengus II of the Picts
Óengus mac Fergusa was king of the Picts , in modern Scotland, from about 820 until 834. Tradition associates him with the cult of Saint Andrew and the Flag of Scotland....
, the sons of Fergus, were identified among the Pictish king lists, as were Angles
Angles
The Angles is a modern English term for a Germanic people who took their name from the ancestral cultural region of Angeln, a district located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany...
such as Talorcen son of Eanfrith
Eanfrith of Bernicia
Eanfrith was briefly King of Bernicia from 633 to 634. He was the son of Æthelfrith, a Bernician king who had also ruled Deira to the south before being killed in battle around 616 against Raedwald of East Anglia, who had given refuge to Edwin, an exiled prince of Deira.Edwin became king of...
, and Britons such as Bridei
Bridei III of the Picts
King Bridei III was king of Fortriu and overking of the Picts between 671 and his death in 693....
son of Beli.
Modern historians would reject parts of the Kenneth produced by Skene and subsequent historians, while accepting others. Medievalist Alex Woolf
Alex Woolf
Alex Woolf is a medieval historian based at the University of St Andrews. He specialises in the history of the British Isles and Scandinavia in the Early Middle Ages, especially in relation to the peoples of Wales and Scotland. He is author of volume two in the New Edinburgh History of Scotland,...
, interviewed by The Scotsman
The Scotsman
The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
in 2004, is quoted as saying:
Many other historians could be quoted in terms similar to Woolf.
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, starting with Kenneth, and rounded off in the reign of Constantine II
Constantine II of Scotland
Constantine, son of Áed was an early King of Scotland, known then by the Gaelic name Alba. The Kingdom of Alba, a name which first appears in Constantine's lifetime, was in northern Great Britain...
. The Pictish institution of kingship provided the basis for merger with the Gaelic Alpin dynasty. The meeting of King Constantine and Bishop Cellach
Cellach I of Cennrígmonaid
Cellach I is traditionally said to have been the first Bishop of the Scots , the bishopric later based at St. Andrews. He is mentioned in the historical writings of Walter Bower and Andrew of Wyntoun as a bishop of St. Andrews, but no pre-15th century sources say anything more than merely "Bishop"...
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 ScotlandMalcolm II of Scotland
Máel Coluim mac Cináeda , was King of the Scots from 1005 until his death...
. 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 AlpínAlpín mac EchdachAlpín mac Eochaid may refer to two persons. The first person is a presumed king of Dál Riata in the late 730s. The second is the father of Kenneth MacAlpin...
son of EochaidEochaid mac Áeda FindEochaid mac Áeda Find is a spurious King of Dál Riata found in some rare High Medieval king-lists and in older history books.Supposedly a son of Áed Find and successor to Áed's brother Fergus mac Echdach, Eochaid is now thought to represent a misplacing of the reign of Eochaid mac Echdach...
son of Áed FindÁed FindÁed Find or Áed mac Echdach was king of Dál Riata . Áed was the son of Eochaid mac Echdach, a descendant of Domnall Brecc in the main line of Cenél nGabráin kings....
son of DomangartDomangart mac DomnaillDomangart mac Domnaill was a king in Dál Riata and the son of Domnall Brecc. It is not clear whether he was over-king of Dál Riata or king of the Cenél nGabráin....
son of Domnall BreccDomnall BreccDomnall Brecc was king of Dál Riata, in modern Scotland, from about 629 until 642...
son of Eochaid BuideEochaid BuideEochaid Buide was king of Dál Riata from around 608 until 629. "Buide" refers to the colour yellow, as in the colour of his hair.He was a younger son of Áedán mac Gabráin and became his father's chosen heir upon the death of his elder brothers...
son of ÁedánÁedán mac GabráinÁedán mac Gabráin was a king of Dál Riata from circa 574 until his death, perhaps on 17 April 609. The kingdom of Dál Riata was situated in modern Argyll and Bute, Scotland, and parts of County Antrim, Ireland...
son of GabránGabrán mac DomangairtGabrán mac Domangairt was king of Dál Riata in the middle of the 6th century. He is the eponymous ancestor of the Cenél nGabraín.The historical evidence for Gabrán is limited to the notice of his death in the Irish annals...
son of Domangart son of Fergus MórFergus MórFergus Mór mac Eirc was a legendary king of Dál Riata. He was the son of Erc.While his historicity may be debatable, his posthumous importance as the founder of Scotland in the national myth of Medieval and Renaissance Scotland is not in doubt...
...
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
Eochaid mac Echdach
Eochaid mac Eochaid was king of Dál Riata from 726 until 733. He was a son of Eochaid mac Domangairt.Eochaid came to power as king of Dál Riata in 726, presumably deposing Dúngal mac Selbaig. Selbach may have tried to restore his son to power, and fought against Eochaid's supporters at Irros...
, father of Áed Find, who died c. 733, and his father Eochaid
Eochaid mac Domangairt
Eochaid mac Domangairt was a king of Dál Riata in about 697. He was a member of the Cenél nGabráin, the son of Domangart mac Domnaill and father of Eochaid mac Echdach; Alpín mac Echdach may also be a son of this 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
Duan Albanach
The Duan Albanach is a Middle Gaelic poem found with the Lebor Bretnach, a Gaelic version of the Historia Brittonum of Nennius, with extensive additional material ....
, which provides the following sequence of kings leading up to Kenneth:
It is supposed that these kings are the Constantine son of Fergus
Naoi m-bliadhna Cusaintin chain, The nine years of Causantín the fair;, a naoi Aongusa ar Albain, The nine of Aongus over Alba; cethre bliadhna Aodha áin, The four years of Aodh the noble; is a tri déug Eoghanáin. And the thirteen of Eoghanán. Tríocha bliadhain Cionaoith chruaidh, The thirty years of Cionaoth the hardy,
Caustantín of the Picts
Causantín or Constantín mac Fergusa was king of the Picts , in modern Scotland, from 789 until 820. He was until the Victorian era sometimes counted as Constantine I of Scotland; the title is now generally given to Causantín mac Cináeda...
and his brother Óengus II
Óengus II of the Picts
Óengus mac Fergusa was king of the Picts , in modern Scotland, from about 820 until 834. Tradition associates him with the cult of Saint Andrew and the Flag of Scotland....
(Angus II), who have already been mentioned, Óengus's son Uen
Uen of the Picts
Uuen [Wen] or Eogán in Gaelic was king of the Picts, or of Fortriu , in what is now Scotland....
(Eóganán), as well as the obscure Áed mac Boanta
Áed mac Boanta
Áed mac Boanta is believed to have been a king of Dál Riata.The only reference to Áed in the Irish annals is found in the Annals of Ulster, where it is recorded that "Eóganán mac Óengusa, Bran mac Óengusa, Áed mac Boanta, and others almost innumerable" in a battle fought by the men of Fortriu...
, 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.
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
Bridei IV of the Picts
Bruide mac Der-Ilei was king of the Picts. He became king when Taran was deposed in 697.He was the brother of his successor Nechtan. It has been suggested that Bruide's father was Dargart mac Finguine of the Cenél Comgaill, a kingroup in Dál Riata who controlled Cowal and the Isle of Bute...
son of Der-Ilei, his brother Nechtan
Nechtan IV of the Picts
Nechtan mac Der-Ilei or Nechtan mac Dargarto was king of the Picts in the early 8th century. He succeeded his brother Bridei in 706. He is associated with significant religious reforms in Pictland. He abdicated in 724 in favour of his nephew and became a monk...
as well as Óengus I
Óengus I of the Picts
Óengus son of Fergus , was king of the Picts from 732 until his death in 761. His reign can be reconstructed in some detail from a variety of sources.Óengus became the chief king in Pictland following a period of civil war in the late 720s...
son of Fergus and his presumed descendants were all at least partly Gaelicised. The idea that the Gaelic names of Pictish kings in Irish annals
Irish annals
A number of Irish annals were compiled up to and shortly after the end of Gaelic Ireland in the 17th century.Annals were originally a means by which monks determined the yearly chronology of feast days...
represented translations of Pictish ones was challenged by the discovery of the inscription Custantin filius Fircus(sa), the latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
ised name of the Pictish king Caustantín son of Fergus, on the Dupplin Cross
Dupplin Cross
The Dupplin Cross is a carved, monumental Pictish stone, which dates from around 800A.D. It was first recorded by Thomas Pennant in 1769, on a hillside in Strathearn, a little to the north Forteviot and Dunning...
.
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
Atholl
Atholl or Athole is a large historical division in the Scottish Highlands. Today it forms the northern part of Perth and Kinross, Scotland bordering Marr, Badenoch, Breadalbane, Strathearn, Perth and Lochaber....
, a name used in the Annals of Ulster
Annals of Ulster
The Annals of Ulster are annals of medieval Ireland. The entries span the years between AD 431 to AD 1540. The entries up to AD 1489 were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrí Ó Luinín, under his patron Cathal Óg Mac Maghnusa on the island of Belle Isle on Lough Erne in the...
for the year 739, has been thought to be "New Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
", and Argyll
Argyll
Argyll , archaically Argyle , is a region of western Scotland corresponding with most of the part of ancient Dál Riata that was located on the island of Great Britain, and in a historical context can be used to mean the entire western coast between the Mull of Kintyre and Cape Wrath...
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 FortriuFortriu
Fortriu or the Kingdom of Fortriu is the name given by historians for an ancient Pictish kingdom, and often used synonymously with Pictland in general...
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
Columba
Saint Columba —also known as Colum Cille , Colm Cille , Calum Cille and Kolban or Kolbjørn —was a Gaelic Irish missionary monk who propagated Christianity among the Picts during the Early Medieval Period...
, which may have included the Monymusk Reliquary
Monymusk Reliquary
The Monymusk Reliquary is an eighth century Scottish reliquary made of wood and metal characterised by an Insular fusion of Gaelic and Pictish design and Anglo-Saxon metalworking, probably by Ionan monks. It has been said to be the Brecbennoch of St...
, transferred from Iona
Iona
Iona is a small island in the Inner Hebrides off the western coast of Scotland. It was a centre of Irish monasticism for four centuries and is today renowned for its tranquility and natural beauty. It is a popular tourist destination and a place for retreats...
to Dunkeld
Dunkeld
Dunkeld is a small town in Strathtay, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is about 15 miles north of Perth on the eastern side of the A9 road into the Scottish Highlands and on the opposite side of the Tay from the Victorian village of Birnam. Dunkeld and Birnam share a railway station, on the...
. Other that these bare facts, the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba reports that he invaded Saxonia
Saxonia
Saxonia may refer to:* Saxonia, the Latin name of Saxony* Saxonia , the allegorical representation of Saxony* Saxonia , first locomotive built in Germany in 1838, more than one passenger ship of the Cunard Line...
six times, captured Melrose
Melrose, Scotland
Melrose is a small town and civil parish in the Scottish Borders, historically in Roxburghshire. It is in the Eildon committee area.-Etymology:...
and burnt Dunbar
Dunbar
Dunbar is a town in East Lothian on the southeast coast of Scotland, approximately 28 miles east of Edinburgh and 28 miles from the English Border at Berwick-upon-Tweed....
, and also that Vikings laid waste to Pictland, reaching far into the interior. The Annals of the Four Masters
Annals of the Four Masters
The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland or the Annals of the Four Masters are a chronicle of medieval Irish history...
, 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 FergusaGofraid mac FergusaGofraid mac Fergusa was said to be a ruler in Hebrides and perhaps the Isle of Man in the 9th century. His existence, at least in the form presented in the Irish annals, is questionable....
, chief of AirgíallaAirgíallaAirgíalla or Airgialla was the name of an Irish federation and Irish kingdom which first formed around the 7th century...
, went to Alba, to strengthen the Dal Riata, at the request of Kenneth MacAlpin.
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.
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
Donald II of Scotland
Domnall mac Causantín , anglicised as Donald II was King of the Picts or King of Scotland in the late 9th century. He was the son of Constantine I...
(Domnall mac Causantín) and Constantine II
Constantine II of Scotland
Constantine, son of Áed was an early King of Scotland, known then by the Gaelic name Alba. The Kingdom of Alba, a name which first appears in Constantine's lifetime, was in northern Great Britain...
(Constantín mac Áeda). The Fragmentary Annals of Ireland
Fragmentary Annals of Ireland
The Fragmentary Annals of Ireland are a Middle Irish combination of chronicle from various Irish annals and narrative history. They were compiled in the kingdom of Osraige, probably in the lifetime of Donnchad mac Gilla Pátraic , king of Osraige and of king of Leinster.The Fragmentary Annals were...
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.
Kenneth left at least two sons, Constantine
Constantine I of Scotland
Causantín or Constantín mac Cináeda 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, though contemporary sources described Causantín only as a Pictish king...
and Áed
Áed of Scotland
Áed mac Cináeda was a son of Cináed mac Ailpín . He became king of the Picts in 877 when he succeeded his brother Constantín mac Cináeda. He was nicknamed Áed of the White Flowers, the Wing-footed or the white-foot .The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba says of Áed: "Edus [Áed] held the same [i.e....
, who were later kings, and at least two daughters. One daughter married Run, king of Strathclyde
Kingdom of Strathclyde
Strathclyde , originally Brythonic Ystrad Clud, was one of the early medieval kingdoms of the celtic people called the Britons in the Hen Ogledd, the Brythonic-speaking parts of what is now southern Scotland and northern England. The kingdom developed during the post-Roman period...
, Eochaid
Eochaid of Scotland
Eochaid mac Run, known in English simply as Eochaid, may have been king of the Picts from 878 to 889. He was a son of Run, King of Strathclyde, and his mother may have been a daughter of Kenneth MacAlpin...
being the result of this marriage. Kenneth's daughter Máel Muire
Máel Muire ingen Cináeda
Máel Muire ingen Cináeda, a daughter of Kenneth MacAlpin, King of the Picts, married two important Irish kings of the Uí Néill. Her first husband was Aed Finliath of the Cenél nEógain, King of Ailech and High King of Ireland. Niall Glúndub, ancestor of the O'Neill, was the son of this marriage...
married two important Irish kings of the Uí Néill
Uí Néill
The Uí Néill are Irish and Scottish dynasties who claim descent from Niall Noigiallach , an historical King of Tara who died about 405....
. Her first husband was Aed Finliath
Aed Finliath
Áed mac Neíll , called Áed Findliath to distinguish him from his paternal grandfather Áed Oirdnide, was king of Ailech and High King of Ireland...
of the Cenél nEógain
Cenél nEógain
Cenél nEóġain is the name of the "kindred" or descendants of Eógan mac Néill , son of Niall Noígiallach who founded the kingdom of Tír Eoghain in the 5th century...
. Niall Glúndub
Niall Glúndub
Niall Glúndub mac Áedo was a 10th century Irish king of the Cenél nEógain and High King of Ireland. While many Irish kin groups were members of the Uí Néill, tracing their descent from Niall of the Nine Hostages , the O'Neill dynasty took their name from Niall Glúndub rather than the earlier Niall...
, ancestor of the O'Neill
O'Neill dynasty
The O'Neill dynasty is a group of families that have held prominent positions and titles throughout European history. The O'Neills take their name from Niall Glúndub, an early 10th century High King of Ireland from the Cenél nEógain...
, was the son of this marriage. Her second husband was Flann Sinna
Flann Sinna
Flann Sinna was the son of Máel Sechnaill mac Máele Ruanaid of Clann Cholmáin, a branch of the southern Uí Néill. He was King of Mide from 877 onwards and is counted as a High King of Ireland...
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.
Further reading
- Sally Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots (revised edition, 2005) - a broad and accessible introduction
- Leslie Alcock, Society of Antiquaries of ScotlandSociety of Antiquaries of ScotlandThe Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is the senior antiquarian body in Scotland, with its headquarters in the National Museum, Chambers Street, Edinburgh...
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
- Kenneth by Nigel TranterNigel TranterNigel Tranter OBE was a Scottish historian and author.-Early life:Nigel Tranter was born in Glasgow and educated at George Heriot's School in Edinburgh. He trained as an accountant and worked in Scottish National Insurance Company, founded by his uncle. In 1933 he married May Jean Campbell Grieve...
- fictional interpretation of Kenneth's life
External links
- Annals of Ulster, part 1, at CELT (translated)
- 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
- The Pictish Chronicle
- Scotland Royalty