Pictland
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Forteviot, Palace of Kings
Although there is little evidence of it today, the tiny village of Forteviot with its population of around 200 was once the centre of the Pictish and newly-emerging Scottish kingdoms in the 9th century. Around 15 miles south-west of Perth, and situated in the Strathearn valley, close to the River Earn, we first heard of Continue reading
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Kenneth MacAlpin Part III – a modern interpretation
In the last two blog posts (The Last Pictish Kings: Part 2 – Kenneth, Brude, Drust… and Kenneth and Kenneth MacAlpin Part II ) I looked at the story of Kenneth MacAlpin, the man who is often described as the first king of the Scots. The earlier sources call him king of the Picts, but Continue reading
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Kenneth MacAlpin Part II
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 Continue reading
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Who were the Picts? – Views from abroad
As there are no original Pictish literary sources surviving[1] – or at least, none which have yet been discovered – the portrayal of the Pictish people which has been passed down the centuries comes from others. This inevitably means that any such portrait will have an element of bias. Stories of the Picts were sometimes Continue reading
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Constantin, son of Uurguist/son of Fergus
My recent article, Kings in the North, noted that at the time of the first “Viking” onslaught (see also Arrival of the Northmen), Constantin son of Uurguist was the king of Picts while there was less certainty around what was happening in Dal Riada. A little further south in Northumbria, Aethelred, son of Aethelwald Moll, Continue reading
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Kings in the North
The Northern Monarchies in the late 8th Century. In the last article I looked at some of the descriptions of bad weather and bad omens from the second half of the 8th century in northern Britain. This post will look at the political landscape during that time, not an easy task with the Irish Annals Continue reading
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“Tearful and Miserable”: The End of the War
The Pictish Civil War Part IV At the start of the year 728, the leader with the most authority in the Pictish nation(s) appears to have been Elpin. As we saw at the end of the last post, the previous King Naiton had retired to a religious life in 724 and the kingship passed to Continue reading
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Journeys in Pictland 1: Three Stones
A short “family and friends” trip to Perthshire provided the opportunity to visit three Pictish Stones last weekend. All of these were Class II monuments – i.e. 8th or 9th century where Pictish symbols are accompanied by Christian designs. 1: Around one and half miles south of Pitlochry centre, and on the other side of Continue reading
The Northern Tapestry 