Kenneth MacAlpin (Kenneth
I) - Ruled 841 - 849
Born:? Died: 859 Marriage: ? c 830 Iona Children: Constantine
I, Aed, Gregor and 3 daughters
MacAlpin means "son of Alpin". Almost nothing is known of Alpin,
first of Scottish Monarchs. Kenneth, although never actually crowned King is
generally given credit for uniting the Scots of Dalriada and the Picts in 844.
In fact, there had been many intermarriages and alliances between the various
Scot and Pictish tribes and kingdoms for centuries before that. However, the
result of Kenneth's reign was a nation often known as Scotia but more commonly
as Alba (still the Gaelic word for Scotland).
At the time, the Picts were weak due to raids for Scandinavians, but it also the
case that Kenneth had a claim to the Pictish throne through matrilineal
succession. The fate of the Pictish Kingdom is a mystery, but legend has it that
Kenneth invited the various Pictish kings and nobles to banquets then
slaughtered them, usually by pushing them into a concealed pit dug behind their
seats at the dining table. If so, it was a major breach of the rules of
hospitality. Some historians argue that there was more likely a
process of acculturation whereby the Picts (or at least their Celtic
aristocracy) adopted the Gaelic language and culture from the Scots and simply
became part of the greater whole.
Kenneth moved the centre of his new kingdom into the heart of Pictland, possibly
Forteviot. He also moved the relics of St Columba from Iona to Dunkeld,
emphasising its importance as the main religious centre. He also established
Scone as the site of coronation for all Scottish kings thereafter. He is
credited with installing the Stone of Destiny there, although this is not
certain.
Kenneth I waged a series of wars against Saxons, Britons, Danes and Vikings and
made and broke a variety of alliances in the process of forging the Scottish
nation. He died (it is said of cancer) in 859, leaving his new kingdom to his
Brother Donald.
Donald I - Ruled 859 -
863
Born: ? Died: 863 - Marriage: ? Children: Giric
Donald was the other son of Alpin, and
Kenneth I's brother. It was not always clear in those days who was to rule after
the death of the king. The right of birth had not been fully established. The
Pictish tradition was possibly matrilineal. Amongst the Scots, anyone close to
the King could take over but it was the custom for a king to name his successor.
This was often not honoured after his death and if often took a war to decide.
Donald's rule was short, but before his rather suspicious death at Scone
in 863, he furthered Kenneth's aims in establishing the
rule of law and across Scotland, applying Dalriadic law to Pictland. Despite
this, ten of the 14 Kings who ruled Alba from 943 - 1097 were murdered. Only
then was the birth right of rule accepted, possibly in recognition of the
trouble it would save.
Constantine I -
Ruled 863 - 877
Born: ? Died: 877 Inverdovat, Forgan, Fife Marriage: ?
Children: Donald II
Constantine I wasn't really the first
Constantine - there had been a Pictish king of that name
who ruled from 789-820 and for a time had authority over Dalriada. However,
Constantine I was the son of Kenneth I and took the throne after his uncle,
Donald. He was a warlord king and spent most of his reign fighting off Vikings
or trying to expand Scotland to the south. In 872 he assassinated his
brother-in-law King Run of the neighbouring Strathclyde Britons (he had married
his sister to Run) and incorporated the region into Alba.
He was constantly trouble by the Vikings from Ireland and based in Fife. In 864
Olaf the White led his Vikings from Dublin in a series of raids. But Constantine
defeated the Norsemen and they withdrew until their new leader, Thorsten the
Red, started again. He was also defeated by Constantine.
Although good in battle, Constantine wasn't above bribery and diplomacy to
ensure his rivals kept the peace. Eventually, a raiding party of Dublin Norsemen
known as the Black Strangers launched a series of attacks from their base in
Fife where they launched their attacks. Constantine lost heavily to them at
Dollar and died during another engagement at Forgan. He was buried at Iona. His
brother Aed succeeded him, himself replaced by Eochaid,
the son of Run and Constantine's sister.
Aed - Ruled 877 - 878
Born: ? Died: 878 - Marriage: ? Children: Constantine
II and Donald
Aed succeeded his brother Constantine I for a year
or so before being killed by his cousin Giric
(also known as Gregory the Great and the son of Donald I)
at Maiden Stone, Strathallan, Aberdeen. Not much more is known of Aed - it is
not even clear that he was named by Constantine to rule after him.
Eochaid and Giric
- Ruled 878 - 889
Some historians believe that Giric was
the son of Donald I, while others claim that his father
was a man called Dungal. After Giric killed his cousin Aed,
he held the throne jointly with Kenneth's grandson
Eochaid (the son of the sister of Constantine I and
Aed by her marriage to King Run of the Strathclyde Britons).
It is tempting to see an echo of Pictish matrilineal succession here, or else it
was an acknowledgement of a dynastic tussle - Eochaid was himself King of the
Britons at the time. Giric invaded Northumbria at least once. Very little more
is known about them, except that in 889 they were both deposed. Giric was
killed at Dundurn in Perthshire in battle with Donald II.
Donald II - Ruled 889
- 900
Born: c 862 Died: 900 Forres, Moray Marriage: ? Children: Malcolm
I
After the removal of Giric and Eochaid,
the throne became a sort of football between two parts of the Alpin House
descended from Constantine I and Aed,
the two sons of Kenneth MacAlpin. Constantine's son Donald
II ruled first, and was the first to be referred to as ri alban (King
of Alba). But he reigned at a bad time, continually harried by the Norsemen. The
Danish Sigurd the Mighty had conquered the whole of the north of Scotland (still
called Sutherland today) and claimed the lands. But Sigurd got his comeuppance -
after killing his rival Melbrigda Tonn he cut off his head and hung it from his
saddle, where it bounced around and a tooth punctured Sigurd's leg. He died of
blood poisoning. The lately-departed Melbrigda Tonn was afterwards known as 'The
Tooth' in honour of his posthumous revenge. Donald II fended off the Danish from
the north (Sigurd's people) and the from the south (led by the Dane Guthrum). He
died near Forres in 900, either in battle at Dunottar or, some say, from
poisoning, to be replaced by his cousin, Constantine
II.
Constantine II -
Ruled 900 - 943
Born: ? Died: 952 - Marriage: ? Children: Indulf,
Cellach, and a daughter
Constantine II enjoyed one of the longest
reigns in early Scottish history. The eldest son of Aed (and
the only one to rule), he fended off the Danish invaders who had killed his
predecessor Donald II, secured his hold on Alba and extended it past the Clyde.
This incursion into southern Scotland brought the Scots hard up against the
English Anglo-Saxons of Northumbria for the first time. This started the
Anglo-Scottish rivalry and the centuries of disputes as both sides constantly
raided each other and Borders families regularly switched allegiances.
In 904 he defeated the Norsemen and they ceased to be a threat. His
brother Donald gained the throne of Strathclyde after the death of their last
British King in 908. At last the House of Alpin had secured its grip on the
whole of Scotland.
In 912 Constantine turned to face the Scandinavians in the south, but was forced
back north in 915. The fighting stopped in 927 when the English managed to unite
everyone against the Danish. In the process, Constantine II recognized a border
between Scotland and England.
He was a considerable diplomat and a religious man. He was the first Scottish
king to acknowledge the king of England (in this case Edward the Elder, son of
Alfred the Great) as his overlord and held an ecclesiastical court at Scone to
settle the rule and discipline of the Celtic Church. Constantine married his
daughter to Olaf III Guthfrithsson in the 930s.
There followed a period of relative peace and Anglo-Scottish alliance against
the Danes until King Athelstan of England invaded Scotland and took
Constantine's son hostage. Constantine fought back for over three years, but it
was not enough - in 937 the Scots were massacred by the Northumbrians at
Brunanburgh on the Solway Firth, even though he had forged san uneasy alliance
with the Dublin Vikings. Constantine himself survived.
In 942 or 943, his armies defeated and his kingdom smaller, he abdicated in
favour of his second cousin Malcolm I and spent his
declining years in the monastery at St Andrews, possibly not at his own
choosing. However, he continued to have influence.
Malcolm I - Ruled 943
- 954
Born: 897 Died: 954 Marriage: ? Children: Dubh
and Kenneth II
Malcolm, son of Donald
II and named heir of Constantine II,
understood the need to stamp his authority on the Kingdom and its neighbours by
waging war and claiming territory. Eric Bloodaxe and his Norsemen constantly
threatened the northern Isles and Caithness. An able politician, he astutely
allied with England to eradicate once and for all the Scandinavian threat from
Ireland. He was granted Cumbria by Edmund in return for an acknowledgement of
English overlordship. But in 950, with some encouragement from Constantine in
his monastery, Malcolm moved on the north of England.
However, when he returned in 954, Malcolm found his own northernmost regions had
revolted. He was killed in a brief but bloody conflict with his own subjects
from Moray, at Fordoun in the Mearns and was succeeded by his nephew, Indulf.
Indulf - Ruled 954 - 962
Born: ? Died: 962 - Marriage: ? Children: Culen,
Olaf and Eochaid
The throne passed from Malcolm
I to his nephew Indulf, son of Constantine II.
The usual English-Danish-Scottish skirmishes carried on but Indulf managed to
capture the fortress at Dun Edyn - Edinburgh - after defeating Edwin the
Anglian. By 962 he was no longer King, but whether he died in battle or
abdicated in favour of Dubh and became a monk like his
father is not known. He died at St Andrews and was laid to rest on Iona,
suggesting he ended his life wearing the habit.
Dubh - Ruled 962 - 967
Born: ? Died: 967 - Marriage: ? Children: Kenneth
III and Malcolm
King Dubh (or Duff, meaning
"black", and the originator of the MacDuff
lineage, thereafter kingmakers) was the son of Malcolm I,
but is otherwise a mysterious figure. We know that Culen,
son of Indulf, challenged him twice for the right to be
the king and fought two battles, the first unsuccessfully in Atholl, and the
second in Forres in 967. Dubh was killed and Culen ascended
the throne.
Culen - Ruled 967 - 971
Born: ? Died: 971 - Marriage: ? Children: Constantine
III and Malcolm
Culen (or Cuilean Finn, "White
Colin") had a short reign which saw him try to recover Strathclyde from the
English territory. He killed king Rhiderch's brother and abducted a daughter,
claiming the land as Scottish. Rhiderch faced Culen in Lothian and killed him.
Dubh's brother Kenneth II took the throne.
Kenneth II - Ruled
971 - 995
Born: 932 Died: 995 - Marriage: ? Children: Dungal and Malcolm
II
Kenneth II, son of Dubh,
also tried to regain Strathclyde and to avenge the death of Culen,
but was defeated. For the next 20 years he mostly ruled by diplomacy rather than warfare -
for instance, he
recovered Lothian by swearing fealty to Edgar, king of England. But he wasn't
above violence when thought necessary - in 973 he murdered Culen's brother Olaf
before Olaf struck first - and in 994 he decided to attack the south again. This
crusade failed and was also curtailed to deal with a revolt in his absence.
In the process of keeping the peace, he slew the son of Finella, the wife of a
local Earl. One story tells how Finella set a trap for him at Fettercairn,
Perthshire. She built a room in a tower lined with beautiful tapestries, each
one concealing a loaded crossbow aiming at a statue in the middle of the room.
The statue was holding a golden apple which, when dislodged - fired the crossbow
bolts. Finella invited King Kenneth to a feast, showed him the room and offered
the apple as a symbol of friendship. Kenneth plucked the apple and was killed by
a hail of arrows. Culen's son, Constantine III,
took the throne but Kenneth's own son later became Malcolm
II.
Constantine III
- Ruled 995 - 997
Born: ? Died 997 - Marriage: ? Children: Not Known
Constantine III, son of Culen,
reigned for only two turbulent years and was probably killed at Rathinveramon by
Dubh's son Kenneth (later Kenneth III,
avenging the murder of Kenneth II two years before) or
an illegitimate son of Malcolm I. In any event, Kenneth
prevailed.
Kenneth III - Ruled
997 - 1005
Born: ? Died: 1005 - Marriage: ? Children: Gillacomean, Giric
and Bodhe
If Dubh's son Kenneth
III did indeed kill Constantine III, he lost
the throne in much the same way - killed by his cousin, who would rule next as
Malcolm II, at Monzievaird on the river Fearn (near Loch Earn, Perth). His son Giric
II, with whom he had ruled jointly in an attempt to secure his succession,
also died. Malcolm may have subsequently arranged the murder of Kenneth
III's grandson, to enable a clear succession for his own grandson, Duncan
I. Kenneth III had lost Lothian, England was now governing the land
south of the Clyde and only the Highlands was more or less loyal. This left the
stage clear for a decent king to reunite Scotland. Kenneth may well have been
the grandfather of Gruach, later second wife of Macbeth.
Giric II - Ruled 997 -
1005
Born: ? Died: 1005 - Marriage: ? Children: ?
Giric ruled jointly with his father Kenneth III
until both were killed by Malcolm II in battle at Monzievaird.
Malcolm II - Ruled
1005 - 1034
Born: 954 Died: 1034 Marriage: Aelgifu Children: Bethoc
(Beatrice), Donada and another daughter
The last of the House of Alpin, Malcolm
II was the son of Kenneth II and only one year old
when his father died. By the time he was 50 he was ready to take over from his
cousins, Kenneth III and Giric II, both of whom he had killed in battle at
Monzievaird. He was possibly Scotland's greatest king thus far. By virtue of
good stewardship he rebuilt the Scottish Kingdom. But in his early rule he was
much the same as his predecessors - he had murdered Kenneth III and his son, and
possibly a grandson as well, waged war to reclaim back the south and defeated,
sallied unsuccessfully at the Scandinavians in Moray and failed.
Now he tried to forge alliances by marrying his daughters to the Scandinavians
but instead of consolidating the north, it led mainly to more in-fighting. Earl
Sigurd of Orkney had been defeated and killed by Brian Boru at Clonarf in
Ireland in 1014 and his son Thorfinn (see Macbeth)
became a vassal of Scotland along with his lands in Sutherland and Caithness.
Once more he turned to the lands south of the Clyde and Lothian. He tried
to annexe Bernicia and raided Northumbria, and beat the Angles of Earl Uhtred at
Carham on the Tweed in 1018 (with the help of vassal king Owen the Bald of
Strathclyde who died that year). This reinstituted the full kingdom of Alba
(including Sutherland, Caithness, Lothian and Strathclyde, now under his
control) and reinstated the original border between Scotland and England which
remains today. In gaining Lothian, Malcolm struck a bargain with the English
that he would not change the traditions and language of the area. This
entrenched the distinction - still in existence - between the Gaelic-speaking
Highlanders and Lowlanders who speak Scots.
Malcolm II sired no sons so he named the grandson Duncan
- son of his eldest daughter Bethoc and Crinan, Abbot of Dunkeld and Mormaer of
Atholl - to be king after his demise then set about slaughtering all the male
descendants of Kenneth III. His daughter Donada may
have been the mother of Macbeth, or Macbeth's
mother may have been another daughter of Kenneth II.
Aged 80 when he died after a reign of almost 30 years - both incredible for the
time - Malcolm II ensured that Duncan was proclaimed King of Alba, from the
Tweed in the south to Moray in the north, a suitable send-off for the last Alpin
monarch.
Duncan was the first king of the House
of Dunkeld.
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