| 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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810 - 858 (48 years)
[1] 
