"The MacAlpin dynasty and the consolidation of the ..." Topic

…kingdom of Alba.

"In the years when Vikings were first raiding along the northern and western sea routes, the eastern mainland was enjoying a new stability under the dynasty of Urguist (Fergus). The culture of Pictland and its openness to outside influences in this period is reflected in the magnificent cross erected by Custantin (Constantine), son of Urguist, at Dupplin, beside the Pictish royal centre at Forteviot, Perthshire. The Pictish artists have incorporated the latest styles from Northumbria and Ireland to create a unique and distinctive monument to faith and royal power. Traditionally, Custantin is credited with the foundation or refoundation of Dunkeld, which, by the middle of the ninth century, had replaced Abernethy as head church of the kingdom. In 820 Custantin was succeeded by his brother Onuist (Oengus) whose patronage was directed more at St Andrews. Both brothers are also recorded as prominent benefactors of the Church in Northumbria. Their family monopolized the kingship until 839 when the dynasty was dealt a mortal blow with the slaying of the king, Uuen (Eógannán) son of Onuist, and his brother in battle against the Norse along with others `beyond counting'.

At the beginning of the ninth century there were kings of Picti and of Scotti, but by the end of the ninth century both had disappeared, and instead the sources speak of a king of the people of Alba. There is still considerable disagreement among historians as to the reasons for this change in terminology. One thing is clear, however: the Norse were prime catalysts. The old regime was crushed by the events of 839 and the kingship lay open to whomever could take control of a desperate situation. The opportunity was seized by one Cinaed son of Alpín (Kenneth mac Alpín). Later sources claimed him for the Cenél nGabráin but his origins are obscure, and quite how he came to power remains unclear. Historians have traditionally seen his reign as a major break in Scottish history, crediting him with the `Conquest' of the Picts and the `Union' of their kingdom and the kingdom of the Scots. The later kings and queens of Scotland traced their ancestry back to Cinaed and it is from him that their reigns are traditionally numbered, but whatever happened in the mid-ninth century, a close reading of the texts suggests that Cinaed's reign was not the vital watershed that his descendants' historians tried to present. It is clear that a Pictish identity endured till the time of his grandsons in the years around 900.
Cinaed died in 858 and was succeeded first by his brother Domnall (Donald) and then by his son Custantin (Constantine I). The kingdom was by now under Viking threat from all sides. The Anglian kingdom of Northumbria had been destroyed by the Scandinavian capture of York in 866, and in the west, Olaf `the White', king of Dublin, was vigorously extending his control over Scandinavians in both Scotland and Ireland. He defeated his father-in-law Ketil `Flatnose', ruler of the Hebridean Vikings, in 857, and in the 860s campaigned in Pictland. Vital to Olaf's ambition was control of the Firth of Clyde and to that end he laid siege to Dumbarton. It took a gruelling four months before the stronghold of the Britons was finally sacked in 870. With the ancient power centre destroyed, a replacement was created further up the river at Govan. The Norse connections of the new Strathclyde regime are there exemplified in the remarkable collection of tenth- and eleventh-century sculpture which survives in the old parish church. By the late 870s rival groups of York-based Vikings were once again devastatingly active in central Scotland. History appeared to be repeating itself, as political and social dislocation of the kind which had brought down the Pictish dynasty of Urguist threatened to destabilize the kingship of Cinaed's sons. Custantin died in 877, killed in a massacre of Picts by Hálfdan of York. He was succeeded by his brother Áed, but within months Áed was murdered by his own followers and for more than a decade the family lost control of the kingdom…"
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