In The Last Pictish Kings: Part 2 – Kenneth, Brude, Drust… and Kenneth, I posed the question: was Kenneth MacAlpin a Gael or a Pict? I was grateful to receive a number of comments and suggestion in various social media groups where I shared the link to the blog, and it confirmed my suspicion that the origins of the (not quite accurately) so-called “first king of Scots” continue to be the subject of much debate.
In that post, I showed how the meagre early sources (i.e. the Irish annals) refer to Kenneth’s year of death and the fact that he was called the king of the Picts and later the king of Alba, but tell us nothing else. It is to the later texts where we must look to learn more about him, but have to accept that as time passes, their reliability and objectivity become more suspect, albeit with the hope that the later sources are derived from earlier, no-longer-existing works.
Kenneth’s Origins
Nevertheless, the earlier sources do at least tell us that he was the son of Alpin[1], whom I suggested was perhaps indeed some sort of king in Dal Riada (I accept that there are other views), although the earlier sources do not say this.
In William Forbes Skene’s unrivalled and magnificent sourcebook “Chronicles of the Picts, chronicles of the Scots, and other early memorials of Scottish history”, first published in the late 19th century, he comments:
“It seems strange that Alpin, the last Scottish king of Dalriada, should have borne a peculiarly Pictish name… We have his designation, even in the oldest lists, as the son of Echach, which was as peculiarly a Scottish name. It raises the presumption that, if his father was a Scot, his mother must have been Pictish, and that he had been adopted into her tribe.”[2]
The question is still being addressed in academic circles over a century later and looks no closer to being definitively answered. Alex Woolf in a section of his 2007 work[3] which is entitled “Cinaed son of Alpín or Ciniod son of Elphin” notes that history only records the first, Gaelic form of his name, but that both Ciniod and Elphin were names which had been associated with previous Pictish kings.
Other than his father, some later sources add a bit more information about Kenneth’s family background.
Skene’s suggestion above that his mother was Pictish (and which can be found in almost any reference these days), seems to derive from the same tradition as the 15th century Boece which suggests that Achaius, the father of Alpin and grandfather of Kenneth, married the sister of the two Pictish kings Constantine and Onuist II as part of a peace treaty between the two peoples:
“The Scottis, irkit with frequent injuris of Pichtis, as the line of all weris is, set ane convention with Pichtis to redres all skaithis, sa far as micht be, on every side ; in the quhilk, thay war finaly agreit on al debaitis : and that the samin suld perpetually endure, Hungus, King of Pichtis, gaif his sister, Fergusiane, in mariage to King Achaius ; quhilk had ane sonne to him, namit Alpine.” [4]
Alpin’s mother, named here is Fergusiane is also called by the variant name Urgusia in George Charles 1810 work “Caledonia.”[5]
The much earlier Poppleton Manuscript states – as we saw in The Last Pictish Kings: Part 2 – Kenneth, Brude, Drust… and Kenneth – that Kenneth ruled Pictavia “happily” for sixteen years and also that he “destroyed” its inhabitants. If both statements are true then the happiness can only be his own and presumably not that of the Picts! Unless of course there were no Picts left. This leads us on to the “genocide” theory which has some backing in later sources.
The Destruction of the Picts
Bower’s Scotichronicon[6], dating from the first half of the 15th century, tells us that soon after his coronation, Kenneth had summoned his commanders and tried to persuade them to attack the Picts, presenting four reasons for this. These were:
- To seek vengeance for the death of his father and other kinsmen who had been killed in battle with the Picts
- To punish them for the theft of one hunting dog – a breach of the peace that had existed between the two peoples for 500 years (apparently)
- Payback for the Picts’ alliance with the pagan Saxons which had been intended to “exterminate the Scots”
- Failure to adhere to the promise that according to the law laid down in an ancient covenant, whereby the Scots had given their daughter to the Picts, then “when the succession of the kingdom was in doubt, they would choose kings from the female rather than the male line.”
The first of these reasons may seem obvious while the second seems a bit over the top, and the third does not quite tally with the facts that the Saxons (presumably the Northumbrians) were Christian by this stage – unless Keneth was referring to an incident from the past. However the fourth grievance is more interesting and would support the proposal that Kenneth’s mother was Pictish (whether in reality or invented subsequently to bolster his case), especially when we note the next sentence: “This they had refused to do a little before the time of Alpin.”
What follows is one of the more bizarre tales from Scottish history.
His commanders, terrorised by the thought of fighting the enemy, refused to comply. “Even if an angel sent down by God from heaven made this pronouncement to us, we should perhaps fear to consent,” they said, adding that they were as afraid as baby hares.
This however gave Kenneth an idea:
“He carefully took some scaly fish skins which shine with a kind of brilliance in the darkness of the night and used them cunningly to adorn a cloak which sparkled as if with the shining feathers of angels. He put it on so that it completely covered the appearance of his whole body.”[7]
He then went into see his commanders and somehow managed to fool them into believing that what they were seeing was in fact an angel sent by God who unsurprisingly told them to obey their king, particularly regarding the request to destroy the “kingdoms of the Picts.” The invasion began, followed by the requested destruction. Neither women nor small children were spared. Men of holy orders were also included in the slaughter which took place at the same time as attacks on the Picts by the vikings. Although Kenneth thus “acquired sole rule over both kingdoms,” he faced a further four years of battle against the Picts (and their English allies), and it wasn’t until the 12th year of his reign that he joined battle seven times in one day to achieve full and final victory.
Twelve years would perhaps take the timeline to 854, a little later than the scenario I set out in The Last Pictish Kings: Part 2 – Kenneth, Brude, Drust… and Kenneth but if that period also took into account his father’s three years[8], then it makes more sense (assuming we wanted to rely in any way on the dating accuracy of the later sources).
Bowyer’s version derives from the earlier Chronicles compiled by John of Fordun[9], although Fordun does not include all of the four reasons which made up Kenneth’s casus belli. Both versions however stress the simultaneous viking threat to the Picts.
The Annals of the Four Masters report that in the year 835:
“Gofraidh, mac Fęrghusa, toiseach Oirghiall do imthęcht go h-Albain do nęrtughadh Dhail Riada, tré fhorchongradh Chionathe mic Ailpin”
(Gofraidh, son of Fergus, chief of Oirghialla, went to Alba, to strengthen the Dal Riada, at the request of Cinaeth, son of Alpin)
This suggest that as well as having some authority in Dal Riada, six years before his father (and eight or nine years before he himself) took the throne, Kenneth had some links to the Hiberno-Norse. The Annals are referring to Airgíalla (sometimes known in English as Oriel) which was a confederation of nine minor kingdoms in the north of Ireland at the time. Its leader had a name which was part Norse (deriving from Guðfrið) and part Gaelic (Fergus). Can we read anything into an ongoing alliance between the Scots and the Scandinavians which would later aid Kenneth’s takeover of the Picts? Actually, this does seem a bit of a stretch and it is worth remembering that the chronicle known as the Annals of the Four Masters is one of the later sets of annals, and the only one to mention this character. The best that could be said about it is that it might help show that Kenneth and his father were a force in the politics stretching across the sea in the decade leading up to his “conquest.”
Neither Bowyer (1440s?) nor Fordun (1380s?) mention the most infamous episode in Kenneth’s battle with the Picts which we find in two earlier sources.
The first of these comes from Gerald of Wales[10] who lived approximately between 1146 and 1223. In his book “De instructione principum” (Instruction for a Ruler) he relates the grisly story of how the Dal Riadans invited the Pictish nobles to a feast during which the seats in which the Picts were sitting suddenly gave way and dropped them into a dug-out pit. The Picts were caught out by with their own gluttony, having had too much food and drink. The Scots embarked on a massacre, much to the surprise of the rapidly diminishing number of Picts who simply did not expect “anything of the kind from their relatives and allies, and from their benefactors and allies in war.”[11]
This event, according to Gerald, led to the Pictish nation – which he says was “bellicosior et validior” (more warlike and stronger) of the two – disappearing completely.
Although Kenneth is not mentioned in this text, another source – the Prophecy of Berchan – does mention that the event took place in Scone and links it to Kenneth, Giving him the name Ferbasach (the Conqueror), the poem continues:
Ba iar nert gai is claoidheimh
Iar n-dian bhas, iar n-dian aoidhedh.
Is lais brectair thair- na buirb,
Tochlait talmhan, tren an chard,
Brodlainn bodhbha, bas, n-airgne,
For lar Scoine sciath-airde.
Seacht m-bliadhna deag, dingnaibh gal,
In airdrighe na h -Alban,
Iar nar Cruithnech, iar ccradh Gall,
Adbail for bruinnibh Eirenn.
(It was by the strength of darts and swords.
By violent deaths, by violent fates.
By him are deceived in the East the fierce ones,
He shall dig in the earth, powerful the art,
Dangerous goad blades, death, pillage,
On the middle of Scone of high shields.
Seventeen years of warding valour
In the sovereignty of Alba,
After slaughtering Cruithneach (i.e. the Picts), after imbittering Galls (the Scandinavians?),
He dies on the banks of the Earn (Forteviot).)[12]
These references should also be looked at alongside yet another text with the title “Chroncile of the Picts and Scots”, this time written in early French and contained in the manuscript known as MS CORPUS. CHRIST. COLL. CANT. SCALACRONICA. Quoted and translated in Skene, it refers to the Pictish king before Kenneth, whom we met as Drust son of Ferat/Uurad in The Last Pictish Kings: Part 2 – Kenneth, Brude, Drust… and Kenneth. The source says:
“the Scots contrived a conspiracy, and at a general council were privately armed, and in the council-house slew the aforesaid king and all the great lords of the Picts, who did not think of evil. They sent afterwards for such others as they wished, and slew them as they came, so that they did as they desired ; and from that time henceforth the kingdom of the Picts failed.”[13]
Other Events in the Reign of Kenneth
As well as Kenneth’s story featuring as one of the main reasons why the Picts disappeared from history, we also have some other scraps of information about his reign. Returning to the Pictish Chronicle as set out in the Poppleton Manuscript[14], we are told how he attacked the Saxons six times, burned down Dunbar and captured Melrose. Meanwhile his new kingdom faced a continuing threat from the Strathclyde Britons (who burned down Dunblane) and the “Danes”, as mentioned above. Woolf notes the significance of the reference to Dunblane,[15] suggesting that this was the first reference to independent north British activity since the middle of the 8th century, perhaps even taking war into Pictish territory.
Other information about Kenneth comes from the later sources. John of Fordun tells us about his place as a law-giver, imbuing the kingdom with “law and peace,”[16]. This is embellished a little in Matthew Duncan’s 1722 History[17] which relates that after defeating the Picts, Kenneth distributed their land among his soldiers and changed the names of the counties and Lordships of Scotland. “He renewed the old laws and made new ones to prevent Licentiousness, the Product of War, and Luxury, the Effect of Peace; so that the Government of Scotland was for many Years after, as much supported by his Laws, as by Arms.”
Duncan also mentions another story which has become attached to Kenneth – that he moved the Stone of Destiny to Scone from Dal Riada. This stone had been allegedly used as the coronation seat for the Dal Riadan kings and would now perform the same role for all subsequent Scottish (and United Kingdom) monarchs. Before it was removed by Edward I of England in 1296 and moved to Westminster, it could be found at Scone. There are many legends around this stone, including that it had originally been the biblical Jacob’s pillow[18] and that it came to Scotland via Moses, an Egyptian princess called Scota, and Ireland. Duncan calls it “the Marble Chair” writes and says that it “brought from Spain into Ireland as some say, by Simon Breccus and thence into Argyle by Fergus. Kenneth translated it to Scone and therein all his Successors were crowned, till the Time of Edward I. of England who took it away.” The French Chronicle of the Picts and Scots mentioned earlier also states that “Fergus brought it out of Ireland… and placed it where is now the Abbey of Scone.[19]” Contradicting all of these tales is the geological evidence that shows the stone is not marble from Egypt or Ireland, but is in fact lower Old Red Sandstone and had been quarried near to Scone. It is possible that Kenneth was the first to set such a stone up of course and that he has been added to existing legends around its origin. These days, after a 700-year spell in London (1296-1996), then a further 28 years in Edinburgh Castle, it can be found in the new Perth Museum where it was moved in 2024. It is planned that it will continue to be used as part of the coronation of future UK monarchs.
Conclusion
The lack of contemporary sources for a significant character in early medieval history is nothing new. However the legends which have grown up around Kenneth MacAlpin are important for what they are attempting to tell us about him and his place in Scottish history. Most likely these entertaining tales are later additions to the meagre evidence we have for someone who certainly existed, and possibly with some modicum of original truth to each. Known at the time as king of the Picts, he developed into a figure who is said to have had some responsibility for their disappearance. The truth will be somewhat different from what we have been left with but, as the son of Alpin, the founder of a dynasty that would rule Scotland for nearly 200 years, there is no doubt that his story deserves the attention it has received – whether good or bad, truth, half-truth or fiction. In the next, and final article about Kenneth, I will indulge myself in looking at a more modern version of his life.
[1] Annals of Ulster 858.2: “Cinaedh m. Ailpin rex Pictorum” See also the Fragmentary Annals of Ireland 285 (858): “Cionaodh mc. Ailpin, rex Pictorum, m.”; and the Annals of Inisfallen 858.3: “Cináed macc Alpín, ri Alban.”
[2] Chronicles of the Picts, chronicles of the Scots, and other early memorials of Scottish history : Skene, W. F. (William Forbes), 1809-1892, ed : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Preface clxxxv.
[3] Woolf, Alex (2007). From Pictland to Alba, 789-1070 page 93ff
[4] The history and chronicles of Scotland: Boece, Hector, 1465?-1536 :
[5] Caledonia : or, a historical and topographical account of North Britain, from the most ancient to the present times with a dictionary of places chorographical & philological
[6] D.E.R Watt (ed): “A History Book for Scots: Selections from Scotichronicon, by Walter Bower” (2012), page 34ff
[7] Ibid, page 36
[8] Alpin does seem to have broken away from Pictish overlordship too
[9] Available here: John of Fordun’s Chronicle of the Scottish nation
[10] Giraldus Cambrensis De instructione principum : Libri III : Giraldus, Cambrensis,
[11] “nec ab affinibus et confoederatis suoque beneficio confeodatis et bellorum sociis quicquam tale timentes”
[12] Quoted in Chronicles of the Picts, chronicles of the Scots, and other early memorials of Scottish history. p83. Translation by Skene
[13] “lez Escoces ietterent couyne, et a vn counsail general estoient priuement armez, et dedenz la mesoun du counsaille tuerent lyauaunt dit roy et lez grantz seignours dez Picys touz, qi ne pensoient si bien noune. Si enuoierent apres aiitres qi lour plust, et, com ils venoient, toutdice lez tuerent, tanque ils auoint fait ceo qils desiroint, et de eel hour en auaunt faUly le regne dez Picys.” Quoted in Skene, page 202:
[14] Quoted in Skene here, page 8
[15] From Pictland to Alba 789-1070, page 101
[16] Book IV, Chapter 8 – available here
[18] Genesis 28.11
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