From Pictland to Alba: Scotland, 789-1070 (The New Edinburgh History of Scotland)

401 Pages·2007·2.09 MB·English

by  Alex Woolf

2160 pictland 29/8/07 15:47 Page 1
THE NEW EDINBURGH HISTORY OF SCOTLAND THE NEW EDINBURGH HISTORY OF SCOTLAND
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GENERALEDITOR: ROGER A. MASON
FROM PICTLAND TO ALBA
FROM PICTLAND TO ALBA
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789–1070 789–1070
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ALEX WOOLF I
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ALEX WOOLF
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In the 780s northern Britain was dominated by two great kingdoms – D
Pictavia, centred in north-eastern Scotland, and Northumbria, which
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straddled the modern Anglo-Scottish border. Within a hundred years both
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of these kingdoms had been thrown into chaos by the onslaught of the

Vikings and within two hundred years they had become distant memories. A
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This book charts the transformation of the political landscape of northern A
Britain between the middle of the eighth and the middle of the eleventh ,

centuries. Central to this narrative is the mysterious disappearance of the 7
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Picts and their language and the sudden rise to prominence of the Gaelic-
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speaking Scots who would replace them as the rulers of the North. –
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From Pictland to Alba pays close attention to the fragmentary sources 7
which survive from this darkest period in Scottish history and guides 0
readers past the pitfalls which beset the unwary traveller in these
dangerous times. Many of the sources are presented in full and their value
as witnesses are thoroughly explored and evaluated. Unlike most other
volumes dealing with this period, this is a book which ‘shows its workings’
and encourages readers to reach their own conclusions about the origins
of Scotland.
Alex Woolf is Lecturer in Early Scottish History at the University of
St Andrews.
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Series cover design: River Design, Edinburgh
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Cover illustration: Photograph of the Hunterston Brooch,
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made around AD700 and discovered in Hunterston,
Ayrshire in the 1830s.
© The Trustees of the National Museums of Scotland.
Edinburgh University Press E
22 George Square d
Edinburgh EH8 9LF in
www.eup.ed.ac.uk b
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ISBN 978 0 7486 1234 5 rg
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The New Edinburgh History of Scotland
 
From Pictland to Alba
The New Edinburgh History of Scotland
General editor:Roger Mason,University ofSt Andrews
Advisory editors:Dauvit Broun,University ofGlasgow;Iain Hutchison,University of
Stirling;Norman Macdougall,University ofSt Andrews;Nicholas Phillipson,University
ofEdinburgh
 From Caledonia to Pictland to 
James Fraser,University ofEdinburgh
 From Pictland to Alba –
Alex Woolf,University ofSt Andrews
 Domination and Lordship –
Richard Oram,University ofStirling
 The Wars ofScotland –
Michael Brown,University ofSt Andrews
 The First Stewart Dynasty –
Steve Boardman,University ofEdinburgh
 Scotland Re-formed –
Jane Dawson,University ofEdinburgh
 Empire,Union and Reform –
Roger Mason,University ofSt Andrews
 Nation,State,Province,Empire –
Ned Landsman,State University ofNew York,Stony Brook
 Industry and Unrest –
Iain Hutchison,University ofStirling
 Impaled upon a Thistle –present
Ewen Cameron,University ofEdinburgh
From Pictland to Alba
‒
Alex Woolf
Edinburgh University Press
© Alex Woolf,
Edinburgh University Press Ltd
George Square,Edinburgh
Typeset in /Ehrhardt
by Servis Filmsetting Ltd,Manchester,and
printed and bound in Great Britain by
Antony Rowe Ltd,Chippenham,Wilts
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN (hardback)
ISBN (paperback)
The right ofAlex Woolf
to be identified as author ofthis work
has been asserted in accordance with
the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act .
Publisher’s acknowledgement
Edinburgh University Press thanks Mercat Press,publishers of
the Edinburgh History ofScotland,forpermission to use TheNew
Edinburgh History ofScotlandas the title for thisten-volume series.
Contents
MapsandGenealogicalTables vi
Acknowledgements vii
GeneralEditor’sPreface ix
NoteonSpellingandPronunciation xi
Introduction LandandPeople:NorthernBritain
intheEighthCentury 
 :  (–)
Chapter TheComingoftheVikings 
Chapter TheScaldingiandtheTransformationofNorthumbria 
Chapter LastDaysofthePictishKingdom(–) 
Chapter TheGrandsonsofCinaedandtheGrandsonsofÍmar 
Chapter TheLaterTenthCentury:ATurmoilof
WarringPrinces 
Chapter TheFalloftheHouseofAlpínandtheMorayQuestion 
 : 
Chapter ScandinavianScotland 
Chapter PictaviatoAlbania 
TableofEvents 
GuidetoFurtherReading 
ThePrincipalMedievalChroniclesusedinthisVolume 
Bibliography 
Index 
Maps and Genealogical Tables
Map I. Northern Britain and Ireland c. 
Map I. Northumbria and its principal churches 
Map I. Dál Riata 
Map . Scandinavia in the Viking age 
Map . The wanderings of St Cuthbert’s body in the late
ninth century 
Map . Southumbria 
Map . Æ(cid:1)elstan’s campaign of  
Map . Suggested locations for the battle of Brunanburh, 
Map . The central transit zone of the Alpínid kingdom in
the tenth and eleventh centuries 
Map . Gaelic Cenéla in the Alpínid kingdom 
Map . Anglo-Scottish relations c. 
Table . Some Northumbrian kings of the later eight century 
Table . The Dál Riatan origins of the men of Alba 
Table . The Moray dynasty 
Table . Scandinavian kings of the early eleventh century 
Table . Cumbrian kings of Strathclyde 
Table . The descent of Gospatric son of Maldred 
Table . Congalach of Knowth and the kingship of Tara 
Table . The relationship between Magnus Haraldsson of
Norway and Ingibjorg of Orkney 
Table . Comparison of generation lengths in
Viking Age dynasties 
Table . The relationship of Thorsteinn to Sigur(cid:1)r 
Table . Thorfinnr the Mighty and his kinsmen 
Acknowledgements
I was first asked to write this book, volume two in a projected series,
shortly after I had arrived in Scotland nearly a decade ago.As the new boy
on the block, and a foreigner, I felt both flattered and overawed by the
commission. Since then I have taught myself the history of Scotland in
the early and central middle ages through the process ofteaching others,
principally undergraduates first in the University of Edinburgh and,
since ,in the University ofSt Andrews.I owe a great deal to the gen-
erosity and professionalism of my immediate colleagues in both these
universities.Above all,however,I owe my introduction to and education
in early Scottish history to my friends Dauvit Broun, Thomas Clancy,
Stephen Driscoll, Katherine Forsyth and Simon Taylor who have
encouraged and helped me at every stage ofthe way.Over the years all of
them have been drawn,one by one,into the employ of the University of
Glasgow. To this list of ‘usual suspects’ can be added my successor at
Edinburgh, James Fraser. Since moving to St Andrews I have gained a
great deal from the friendship and support of Barbara Crawford of the
Strathmartine Centre, whose knowledge of Scandinavian Scotland is
second to none and who,perhaps unusually for an academic,finds it easy
to agree to differ.Furth ofScotland,mention must be made ofCatherine
Swift and Colmán Etchingham who for some years have been the main
organisers of the Irish Conference of Medievalists at which many of the
ideas presented in this volume were first aired; as both facilitators and
critics Cathy and Colmán deserve thanks. Conversations with Lesley
Abrams and David Parsons have, over the years, greatly enhanced my
understanding of many aspects of the early middle ages but especially
those relating to Scandinavian settlement.
In the closing stages ofthe work mention must be made ofthe Arts and
Humanities Research Council, who funded a period of leave during
viii    
which much of the final draught of the book was completed. My
colleagues Roger Mason, the general editor of the series, and Michael
Brown, author of the only volume in the series to have appeared at the
time ofwriting,have given invaluable guidance as to the final shape ofthe
book.Dauvit Broun and Simon Taylor have read the entire text in manu-
script and contributed enormously to the finished product. Finally, I
must make mention oftwo people who were involved at the beginning of
the project. John Davey, lately retired, conceived the project and per-
suaded Edinburgh University Press to take it up.Throughout his career
in publishing he was a great supporter of serious works on Scottish
history and cultural heritage. The late Patrick Wormald was one of the
original publisher’s readers for my initial proposal for this volume. His
support and encouragement at this time and at another very difficult
point in my career deserve my enduring gratitude.I am truly sorry that
he did not live to see this book.
General Editor’s Preface
The purpose ofthe New Edinburgh History ofScotland is to provide up-
to-date and accessible narrative accounts ofthe Scottish past.Its authors
will make full use of the explosion of scholarly research that has taken
place over the last three decades, and do so in a way that is sensitive to
Scotland’s regional diversity as well as to the British, European and
transoceanic worlds of which Scotland has always been an integral part.
Chronology is fundamental to understanding change over time and
Scotland’s political development will provide the backbone of the narra-
tive and the focus of analysis and explanation. The New Edinburgh
History will tell the story ofScotland as a political entity,but will be sen-
sitive to broader social,cultural and religious change and informed by a
richly textured understanding of the totality and diversity of the Scots’
historical experience.Yet to talk ofthe Scots – or the Scottish nation – is
often misleading. Local loyalty and regional diversity have more fre-
quently characterised Scotland than any perceived sense of‘national’sol-
idarity. Scottish identity has seldom been focused primarily, let alone
exclusively,on the ‘nation’.The modern discourse of nationhood offers
what is often an inadequate and inappropriate vocabulary in which to
couch Scotland’s history.The authors in this series will show that there
are other and more revealing ways of capturing the distinctiveness of
Scottish experience.
Ofno period is this more true than ofthe three centuries between 789
and 1070 tackled in this volume by Alex Woolf,a period when Scotland
as we know it did not exist, when Northern Britain was peopled by at
least five distinct linguistic groups, and when Viking invasions sparked
intense and often violent competition between rival ethnic groups for
political and territorial dominance.Moreover,the scarcity of contempo-
rary sources makes all the more challenging the task of constructing a