Picts and Ancient Britons: An Exploration of Pictish Origins

146 Pages·2017·2.336 MB·English

by  Paul Dunbavin

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Copyright © Paul Dunbavin
First published in 1998
by Third Millennium Publishing
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Long Eaton
Nottingham
NG10 5BN
Distributed by Gazelle Book Services Ltd
The right of Paul Dunbavin to be identified as the author
of the work has been asserted by herein accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the
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Introduction vii
The Traditions of Pictish Origins 1
History and the Sources 8
The Pictish Language 15
The Proto-Picts 19
Place Names 26
Ethnic Origins 30
The Pictish King Lists 32
Oghams and Symbol Stones 35
The Pagan Religion of the Picts 41
Conclusions 43
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A - A ‘Scythian’ Homeland for the Picts? 93
B - A Note on the Finno-Ugrian Languages 103
C - The Brochs of the Maeatae 105
D - The Pre-historical Pictish King Lists 109
E - Previous Interpretations of the Pictish Names
and Places 113
Bibliography 119
Index 129
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Introduction
Few problems in British history have proved as intractable as
that of the origin and ethnic associations of the Picts. For
although we find numerous references to these early
inhabitants of Scotland in Roman, Irish, Welsh and English
sources, they have left us no historical texts of their own. So
often we find the early Picts mentioned, almost as an aside, in
histories of Roman Britain and the few references that we do
have can be frustratingly vague. So who were these people: the
tattooed barbarian enemies of Rome?
Perhaps a typical summary of modern opinion on the Picts
would be that of the late Dr John Morris, in Arthurian Period
Sources (1995). He was in left in no doubt that the historical
Picts were Celts, confidently announcing, “The language of the
Picts was a form of Gaulish, akin to British”. When highly
respected historians make such statements they can take on
the aura of fact. Morris cites the earlier authority of Professor
K H Jackson in Wainwright’s 1955 volume, The Problem of the
Picts, which has itself become something of a landmark in
Pictish studies.
Yet it remains far from proven that the Picts were Celts. It
must be admitted by all that the historical sources are few and
contradictory. The reality is that if one seeks out those few
references that supply some hard information about the early
Picts then they amount to very little; and the archaeological
evidence is equally mute. The Celtic hypothesis therefore rests
more upon the eminence of the various scholars who have
proposed it than upon the strength of the underlying evidence.
As a student of myth and legend, it seems to me that the
evidence of native tradition has been much neglected hitherto,
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in favour of the opinions of linguists and archaeologists. It is
my dissatisfaction with so much that I have read which has
moved me to undertake this investigation.
The present study will therefore focus upon the origins of
the Picts, and of the various tribes who came together under
that name; as such, it will not pursue the origins of their
neighbours the Scots, nor the history of Roman Britain, nor of
any other nation who may be mentioned in passing. Neither
shall I dwell upon the details of the source manuscripts, which
have been discussed by many able authorities. The nature of
the evidence is such that numerous conflicting strands have
to be unravelled. I have therefore drawn a boundary at the
point where the Picts emerge into history in the mid-sixth
century; this coincides with their conversion to Christianity,
which effectively destroyed any cultural evidence of origins.
The reader should be warned that the present study will
offer a view of the Picts that is certainly not the current text
book standard. It will concentrate on the oldest traditions of
Pictish origins, together with early historical sources, which
suggest that the Picts were not Celts, as most scholars now
believe, but “Scythians”. It will put an alternative case that
the Picts (or at least one of their dominant tribes) were
Finno-Ugrian immigrants from the Baltic. It is my hope that
this little investigation will give the traditions of Pictish origins
a fair hearing and by offering a viewpoint that does not
commence from a Celtic bias, thereby offer some new ideas
on a tired subject.
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The Traditions of Pictish Origins
The ecclesiastical historian Bede, writing in the eighth century,
tells us that Britain was home to five distinct languages: Church
Latin, English, Welsh, Gaelic and Pictish. By the twelfth century
the Picts had been assimilated into the kingdom of Scotland
and the Pictish language was probably extinct. Bede also relates
a legend about the origin of the Picts. He says that they
descended from a colony of seafarers from Scythia who took
possession of Northern Britain, whereas the Britons had already
claimed the southern part at some earlier time. It is quoted
here in full, as it is central to the discussion that follows:
When they (the Britons) had spread northwards and
occupied the greater part of the island, it is said that
some Picts from Scythia put to sea in a few longships
and were driven by storms around the coasts of Britain,
arriving at length on the north coast of Ireland…
…These Pictish seafarers, as I have said, asked for a
grant of land so that they too could make a settlement.
The Scots replied that there was not room for them
both, but said: “We can give you good advice. We know
that there is another island not far to the east, which
we often see in the distance on clear days. If you choose
to go there, you can make it fit to live in; should you
meet resistance, we will come to your help”. So the
Picts crossed into Britain, and began to settle in the
north of the island, since the Britons were in possession
of the south. Having no women with them, these Picts
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