Alba Historical

 The first Gaelic King to rule over the Picts He is Scotland's Alfred the Great, our forgotten hero king who repelled the Viking invaders, founded the kingdom of Alba, and fought off England's first attempt at conquest. He is Constantine II, known in Gaelic as Constantin MacAed, one of Scotland's greatest Medieval kings. He reigned from 900 to 943 and his achievements may even outstrip those of Robert the Bruce. Yet he is little known today, probably because he has never attracted the attention of a great storyteller like Walter Scott or Robert Louis Stevenson. But Constantine can be seen, in many ways, as the founder of the Scottish nation. King Constantine II was the grandson of Kenneth MacAlpin, the first Gaelic king to rule over the Picts. Kenneth died at Forteviot in 858 and his brother Domnall took over the kingship. It was Domnall who introduced Gaelic Law to the Pictish kingdom. Domnall died in 862 and was succeeded by his nephew, Kenneth's son, Constantine. Thi...

 King of Scotland Kenneth MacAlpin came out of relative obscurity to found a royal line that ended with Bonnie Prince Charlie almost a thousand years later. Famed for uniting the Picts and the Gaels, many legends have grown up about him. These produced a contradictory series of tales – few of which can be taken at face value. Kenneth – or in Gaelic, Cináed mac Ailpín was born about 800AD, in Dál Riata - which, despite the prestige of lona, had become a backwater. Most of the kings who ruled in this period paid tribute to the Picts, who were the regional superpower. The first Viking raids upon Britain and Ireland were taking place at this time. Lindisfarne was burned in 793 and Iona was attacked half a dozen times before 826. The Pictish heartland escaped serious attack from these early raiders, but the smaller and less well organised kingdom of the Gaels of Dál Riata where Kenneth was growing up – was thrown into disarray. The one spirited king, Aed the White, had died in 778 and n...

 Battle of Dunnichen This piece is a follow-up to  King Bidei The Picts have left a unique record of the battle in the form of a magnificent piece of sculpture.  The so-called Battle Stone in Aberlemno kirkyard - about four miles north of Dunnichen-is a Pictish stone, 2.3 metres high. It has a cross in heavy relief on one side and Pictish symbols on the other, above a vivid portrayal of warriors in battle. There are several good reasons for thinking that the scenes on the Aberlemno Stone depict the Battle of Dunnichen. Experts date it to the early 8th century, within a few decades of the event. It is not far from the site of the battle. And one set of warriors on the stone is wearing helmets with long nose-guards of a type known to have existed among the Anglo-Saxons. It is a remarkable record of the battle, showing superb details of weapons and methods of fighting – the Pictish equivalent of the Bayeux Tapestry. The Aberlemno Battle Stone has four separate images from th...

 Our forgotten Pictish King The Battle of Dunnichen If the Pictish army led by King Bridei had lost to the invading Angles at the Battle of Dunnichen, then Scotland as we know it today simply would not exist. It was one of the most important battles of our early medieval history, and this is reflected in the fact that we know more about it than any other single event in 7th century Scotland. The Picts destroyed King Egfrith's Anglian army from Northumbria on May 20, 685, and their resounding victory helped form the political landscape of northern Britain for 200 years. They recovered territory, including Fife, which the Angles had occupied for almost 30 years. There had been a Pictish rebellion. against Northumbrian control in 672, which had ended in bloody defeat. Northumbrian sources luridly, though probably with exaggeration, tell us that the victors were able to cross dry-shod over two rivers, so full were they of the bodies of slain Picts. These rivers were the Carron and the ...

  The massive Pictish chains are our most striking examples of post-Roman jewellery. These precious and weighty symbols of power were made using recycled Roman silver. Just 10 of these chains have been found, mostly in Southern Scotland . They belonged to the tribal rulers, worn around their necks on important occasions. The heaviest, found in 1809 Caledonian Canal near Inverness, d uring the construction. It originally weighed just over 3 kg (6% lb). These marvellous objects, Scotland's earliest Crown Jewels, can be admired in the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. Both Photos : The Whitecleuch chain,  was found in Whitecleuch, Lanarkshire, Scotland in 1869.

 Turning the Tide The north-west frontier of the Roman Empire for 50 years from the 160s AD was Hadrian's Wall. To the north, forts stretched as far as Newstead on the Tweed, which extended Roman surveillance, while treaties with the Caledonians brought their influence to the edge of the Highlands and even into that great wilderness. The tribes had submitted reluctantly to Roman domination, and the peace of the northern frontier was broken on several occasions. In 208, the situation was so serious the presence of Emperor Septimius Severus himself was required as the Caledonians and the Macatae (whose name appears to survive in Dum Myot and Myot Hill near Stirling) fought a guerrilla campaign. Although eventually the Caledonians were forced to sue for peace it was not long before they were rebelling again. Severus, now terminally ill, sent his elder son, Caracalla, to bring the northern tribes to heel, but with the announcement of his the death in York, on February 4, 211, Gialla br...

 Calgacus: Recorded Tacitus dramatises the battle of Mons Graupius with the address to his army by the Caledonian general Calgacus.  His name means The Swordsman, and he is the first native of Scotland whose name has been recorded. "We are the last people on earth and the last to be free. Our very remoteness in a land known only by rumour has protected us up till this day. "Today the furthest bounds of Britain lie open and everything unknown is given an inflated worth. But now there are no people beyond us, nothing but tides and rocks and, more deadly than these, the Romans. "It is no use trying to escape by submission or good behaviour. They have pillaged the world: when the land has nothing left for men who ravage everything, they scour the sea. If an enemy is rich, they are greedy, if he is poor, they crave glory. "Neither East nor West can sate their appetite. They are the only people on earth to covet wealth and poverty with equal craving. They plunder, they bu...