Vikings in Scotland: Picts and the Dál Riata

If you thought we had finally gotten away from crazy Irish people, you were sadly mistaken. Yet, although the Irish did nose their way into Scotland, there were indeed other people that were there before them, and they were called the Picts.¹ Thus, we once again have the makings for a wonderfully chaotic concoction of identities and cultures! For such a reason, we must refrain from our jolly good raiding excitement and discuss the poor lads that are about to be disturbed by the pretty boys of the medieval period: Vikings.

CONTENTS:
0. A Map of Scotland and a Brief Introduction
I. ‘The Painted Ones’
II. Gallic Settlement in Scotland

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0. A MAP OF SCOTLAND AND A BRIEF INTRODUCTION:

It is always good to begin with a bit of visual guidance, so here is a map from the period to be discussed, which should be looked over before reading (and while reading, perhaps) the potential chaos that awaits.

In my attempts to make this lesson a bit more entertaining, I have perhaps misguidedly simplified the situation in Scotland during this time (ca. 800 CE). I have only mentioned the Picts and the Dál Riata, and those are the two groups that this lesson focuses on in particular. These were not, however, the only groups that occupied what would soon become Scotland. In fact, there are five different (major) groups to consider, with four of them being illustrated above by various blocks of color:

1. Blue – Picts
2. Green – Dál Riata (aka Irish)
3. Orange – Britons (pretty much the Welsh)
4. Brown – Anglo-Saxons
5. (Not on this Map) – Vikings

As can now be seen, this is what I meant by “the makings for a wonderfully chaotic concoction of identities and cultures.” In fact, this is, and has been, a troublesome aspect for the Scots in forming a strong and distinctive ‘Scottish’ identity. Take the words of Magnus Magnusson into consideration:

“Any desire to express Scottish identity as a form of ethnicity has an inherit weakness: there is not any one set of ‘people’ who form the backbone of a group which can be identified as modern Scots. Even in the tenth century this was so, and notions of Scottish ethnicity had to be carefully blended into a constructed notion of Scottish nationality. In the twentieth century, too, the range of peoples and cultures one might mix together when trying to construct a notion of Scottish identity or national characteristics is as broad as ever. but the one culture in existence today in Scotland, and the one with the longest track record, is that of the Gaels, who have the strongest claim to being the indigenous people of Scotland.”²

It is for that reason that this lesson follows our discussion of Vikings in Ireland, as well as having a heavy focus on the Dál Riata, those Gaels who ‘first’ came to Scotland. Yet, there is still the question of the large amount of blue presented on the map above. The Picts have often been subject to popular fantasy and far-strung theories. Unfortunately, our conversation will be far less mystifying, but likely quite informative!

I.‘THE PAINTED ONES’:

The first thing to know, other than that these people were not a mysterious presence in Scotland, is that their name, Picts, comes from a roman nickname meaning “painted ones”, or pictī.³ This name was applied to them by the Roman poet Eumenius in 297 CE,⁴ though a Greek author by the name of Herodian of Syria wrote this of the picts even before that:

“They tattoo their bodies not only with the likeness of animals of all kinds, but with all sorts of drawings.”⁵

I have to wonder, though, what animals tattoo themselves? I would really be delighted to know which animals actually make up this category of “in the likeness of animals of all kinds.”

Anyway, to further clear the mist of their alleged mysteriousness, here is a quote from Anna Ritchie on the matter:

“The Picts were Celts. Their ultimate ancestors were the people who built the great stone circles like Calanais on the Isle of Lewis in the third millennium BC in Neolithic times, and the broths in the early Iron Age from about 600 BC to AD 200. We have no evidence of any major invasions of Scotland after the initial colonisation by farming peoples soon after 4000 BC – there seems to have been very little fresh blood coming in during the Bronze Age.”⁶

Also, here is a short five minute video about the Picts from the Pictavia museum in Brechin, Angus:

(Unfortunately embedding is disabled for this video, but it is definitely worth a watch if you are interested!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qTTCcacDfk

In short, the thing to know about the Picts (for this lesson and in the context of Viking History) is that they existed in this area for quite a long time before the Dál Riata came into the picture. Furthermore, the Picts “were a cultured society ruled by a sophisticated warrior aristocracy which could afford employed learned men and, more particularly, craftsmen of all kinds.”⁷ Hence the famous ‘Pictish Stones’ that may or may not sound familiar. Yet, their early presence alone does not make them ‘Scottish’, as will shortly become more evident. The reason little is known about the Picts is because of the lack of sources available from that period of time.

II. GALLIC SETTLEMENT IN SCOTLAND:⁸

The people that I have been referring to as the Dál Riata were known to the Romans as the Scotī,⁹ and originally came from Ireland.¹⁰ Yet, more specific detail is that the Dál Riata was a tribe of the Ulaid from northern Ireland (Ulster). I am going to keep this discussion a bit brief, since it is mostly Celtic history and not Viking history (I will get on to such a project another day), but it should give a good enough background to understand the process by which Scotland became Gallic.

The settlement began in 500 CE under Fergus Mór mac Erc. Their original center of power and authority in this new region of settlement was a place called Dunadd. In this region there was a single king who rules over both Irish and natives, one of which being the Gallic king Aedán mac Gabréin (d.608). Around 637, the Dál Riata shattered their alliance with the Uí Néill (another tribe of the Ulaid, the most powerful, in fact), after the battle of Mag Rath.

In the eighth century, Pictish power was very significant. In 736, the Pictish king Oengus subjugated the Dál Riata, incorporating them into the Pictish kingdom. Yet, the tables turned by the 840′s, by which time the viking had greatly weakened the Pictish kingdom, thus allowing the Dál Riata to rise above and reassert their authority. As a result, the Gallic king Cináed mac Alpín merged the Dál Riata with Pictland during this time, which is often regarded as the birth of Scotland. It was also at this time when the center of authority was moved to Bunkeld, which was further inland (more central to their large territorial sphere).

In the Annals of Ulster, Cináed is still referred to as ‘Rex Pictōrum’¹¹ upon his death:

U858.2:
“Cinaed son of Ailpín, king of the Picts, and Ethelwulf, king of the Saxons, died.”¹²

By 900 CE, the Picts were no longer referred to as ‘Pictī’, nor was their country called the kingdom of the Picts. By this time, the Gaels and the Picts had merged to such an extent that they were no longer separately Irish and Pictish, but Scottish, and so their land was now called Scotland (or Alba, a name for Scotland inspired by Albanaig or Fir Alban who ruled in 900 CE). Such is made evident in the Annals of Ulster as well:

U900.6:
“Domnall son of Constantine, king of Scotland, dies.”¹³

As well as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:

924 CE:
“This year Edward was chosen for father and for lord by the king of the Scots, and by the Scots, and King Reginald, and by all the Northumbrians, and also the king of the Strath-clyde Britons, and by all the Strath-clyde Britons.”¹⁴

CONCLUDING REMARKS:

Now that I have pummeled your poor head with a condensed package of a couple hundred years of history, you should be a bit more comfortable learning about the Vikings and their role in this mess in the next lesson. In general, there were Picts and there were Irish who came to settle Scotland. Although not the only two group in Scotland at this time, they were indeed the major influences (at least the two powers shifting back and forth in terms of authority in this region). The vikings, as we will see in the next lesson, held considerable power in the north, and perhaps were responsible for the decline of Pictish authority that allowed the Dál Riata to regain authority, thus guiding the merging of cultures that would result in Scotland.

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Footnotes

1. But not only Picts. See section ‘0.’ of this lesson for more information. ↩︎
2. Magnus Magnusson, Scotland: The History of a Nation. (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2000), 43. ↩︎
3. For those language dorks out there like myself, that’s the first declension masculine nominative plural of the Latin adjective pictusmeaning “decorated” or “painted.” Latin didn’t use articles, so the ‘the’ is supplied in English translation. This is also an example of an adjective being used as a substantive, in that it ‘stands in’ for a noun. ↩︎
4. Magnus Magnusson, 24 (Footnote 1). ↩︎
5. Ibid. I cite Magnusson because I quoted it from his text (footnote), but he indicates that this quote comes from Herodian’s history of the Roman emperors from 180 to 238 CE. ↩︎
6. Ibid. Again, I cite Magnusson because I quoted it from his text, but he indicates that the original comes from Anna Ritchie’s Picts(Historical Scotland, 1989). ↩︎
7. Ibid., 25. ↩︎
8. Most of the information for this portion of the lesson comes from my expense in two separate classes. In other words, they come from my notes rather than from academic books. To support the information thus presented in that section, here are the citations for both lectures. In doing so I am providing the name of a a professor with actual credibility on this subject: Dr. Jennifer Dukes-Knight, “Vikings in Scotland,” Lecture, Viking History, University of South Florida, Spring 2015; and Dr. Jennifer Dukes-Knight, “Scotland,” Lecture, Celtic History, University of South Florida, Fall 2015. ↩︎
9. Again, here’s to fellow language dorks: scotī is the second declension masculine nominative plural form of the Latin noun scotus, meaning “Gael” or “Scot. ↩︎
10. Magnus Magnusson, 32. ↩︎
11. Latin for “King of the Picts.” ↩︎
12. Annals of Ulster, U858.2. ↩︎
13. Ibid., U900.6. ↩︎
14. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: Tenth Century, entry under 924 CE. ↩︎