Kenneth MacAlpin. Kenneth I Feature Page on Undiscovered Scotland. Kenneth I (a.k.a.Cináed mac Ailpín, Kenneth Mac Alpin, and Kenneth the Hardy) lived from 810 to 858 and was arguably the first King of the Kingdom of Scotland, which he ruled from 843 to 858. At the time he was referred to as King of the Picts. The wider picture in Scotland at the time is set out in our Historical Timeline. He was son of King Alpin II of Dalriada and succeeded his father to the crown of Dalriada in 839. This effectively made him King of the Scots, whose territory roughly covered modern-day Argyll. Meanwhile, also in 839, the Picts, who until then had controlled all of Scotland north of the Forth and Clyde except for Argyll, suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of the Vikings. Most of the Pictish nobility was wiped out in the defeat, including King Bridei VI.
Kenneth Mac Alpin had a claim to the Pictish crown through his mother. The alcohol flowed freely at the meeting. Kenneth I died at Forteviot in 858. apparently of natural causes. Kenneth Mac Alpin - Making the Nation - Scotlands History. King Kenneth MacAlpin. Books & Posters House of MacAlpin Family Tree English King or Queen at the Time Name: King Kenneth MacAlpinFather: King AlpinMother: sister of Constantine King of the PictsRelation to Elizabeth II: 33rd great-grandfatherHouse of: MacAlpinAscended to the throne: 834Married: unknownChildren: Constantine, Aedh and 3 daughtersDied: 859, at Forteviot, PerthshireBuried at: Isle of IonaSucceeded by: his brother Donald Kenneth Mac Alpin was the son of Alpin and generally regarded as the founder of medieval Scotland.
Battling against Norse (Viking) raids, he brought some unification between the Gaels and the Picts to found a united kingdom of Alba or Scotia. The Picts had been weakened by incursions from the Vikings and Irish tribes who under Fergus Mor (AD498-501) had settled in the area of Argyll. The term Scots came from the Latin Scotti which was Latin for Irish. Kenneth transferred of some of St. Kenneth MacAlpin, "the Hardy" Kenneth Mac Alpin is generally considered the first king the united Scots of Dalriada and the Picts, and so of Scotland, north of a line between the Forth and Clyde rivers.
Ancient Gaelic-speaking people of northern Ireland settled in western Scotland sometime in the 5th century AD. Originally (until 10th century) "Scotia" often denoted Ireland, and the inhabitants Scotia were Scoti. [This is of course based upon the area of Ireland where the Scoti dwelt]. This ancient Dalriadic land, later the area of Argyll and Bute, where these Scots settled, became known as the kingdom of Dal Riada the counterpart to Dal Riata in Ireland. St. Columba introduced them to Christianity and helped raise one person, Aidan, to the kingship Scottish Dalriada in 574.
Footprint in Stone, Dunadd The original seat of the Scottish Dalriada is thought to be Dunadd, in north Lochgilphead, Argyll. Map of Scottish Dalriada Mac Alpin Moot Hill Map of Ancient Alba ©Skye-Net, R.M. Kenneth I MacAlpin. Cinaeth, known to history as Kenneth MacAlpin or Kenneth the Hardy, was born around 810 on the Island of Iona. He was the son of the Scots chieftain Alpin, who had lead his countrymen in the struggle against the Picts and the invading Vikings. Alpin, the son of Eochaid the Venomous, was an obscure character but tradition states that he won a victory over the Picts, who later killed him, displaying his severed head in their camp.
Following the death of his father, Kenneth took up his standard and occupied the Pictish strongholds of Fortriu and Forteviot in Perthshire. The Picts, reputed to be fierce warriors, were engaged in fighting the invading Vikings, who had previously killed the Pictish king, Eagan. Following victory in battle Kenneth became accepted as King of the Picts also. Kenneth itself was a Pictish name.
Kenneth I sought repeatedly to conquer the Angles of Lothian, but did not meet with success in this area. MacAlpin genealogy. Kenneth mac Alpin. The House of Alpin was founded around 500AD by Fergus, the chief of the Scots of Dalriada who became established in Argyll. Their capital was at Dunadd, near Crinan. The illustration here is of Dunadd, with a footprint carved in the rock in the foreground where the kings were proclaimed.
While king lists have survived, little is known about them as individuals until the 36th king, Kenneth, son of Alpin, burst upon the pages of history. His name is variously written as Kenneth mac Alpin or Kenneth MacAlpin or King Kenneth I. Kenneth Macalpine. It was under Kenneth MacAlpin that Scotland was united. Prior to this unification, Scotland had been a country divided with the area known as Dalriada under the control of the Scots (which had originally arrived from Ireland) and the Picts, which were the native inhabitants. Kenneth MacAlpin was born ca 810 in Dalriada, son of Alpin, King of Kintyre and wife, unknown. It is believed that this wife was Queen of the Picts and that through her (and the matrilineal succession practiced by the Picts) that Kenneth MacAlpin in 845 received the crown of Alba and the title Rex Pictorum.
It may be important here to back up and include a little history of these two important groups: the Picts and the Scots. The Picts were the indigeous peoples of Alba (Scotland). These were the fierce warrirors whom the Romans were unable to conqueor, deferring instead to the building of Hadrian's Wall in an effort to control the Picts entry into Britain. It is believed that the Picts had 69 kings.
Kenneth MacAlpin. Me on Dunadd Hillfort, where Kings of Dalriada were anointed Kenneth MacAlpin was born in Iona, possibly around 810. His father, Alpin of clan Gabhran, founded the first dynasty of Scottish monarchs, but was not himself a King of Dalriada. Alpin was killed in August 1834 fighting the Picts under Oengus II. Oengus had split his men into two, and whilst Alpin defeated the southern army, he in turn was routed by the main body of the Pictish forces, and was captured and beheaded.
Kenneth succeeded to his father's throne of Galloway immediately, and later became King of Dalriada in 841, after the death of Eoganan and his brother at the hands of the Vikings in 839. It seems likely that this throne was gained only after a struggle. MacAlpin went on to be accepted as King of the Picts in 843, uniting two of the four major power blocks in Scotland (the other two being the Angles in what is now Lothian and the Britons in Strathclyde). The Picts then appear to die out. Sources: Mac Alpin's Treason.
Kenneth MacAlpin. Kenneth MacAlpin. Scotland's History - Kenneth MacAlpin (Cináed mac Ailpín) Mac Alpin's Treason. The Gael warrior king whose bloody sword enthroned a Scottish line of kings which eventually created modern Scotland is perhaps one of the most mysterious figures of ancient history. His is a life surrounded by treacherous myths, dark stories and unproved allegations of shameful deeds and sinful accomplishments. That the first true Scottish king of the various peoples of Scotland is smeared with the stain of treason and backstabbing is as much a product from lack of knowledge as it is from the terrible bits and pieces from a story of treason which has survived for over a thousand years. There is very little fact upon which to base a story; indeed there is a lot of falsified or embellished documents from later Scottish Churchmen and Church historians, eager to create a Church approved version of how the Gael line of kings (and its Church) came to conquer Alba, completely erase Pictish culture and destroy the Pictish Church.
Mac Alpin, the King This page sponsored by So far, Alba. Alba and the United Scotland Alba is the ancient and modern Gaelic name for the country of Scotland. Kenneth MacAlpin (c. 810 - 858; Cinaed mac Ailpin) was king of the Picts and the first king of Scotland. The myth called 'MacAlpin's Treason' tells how Alba was born when the Dalriadan Kenneth MacAlpin conquered the Picts. However, modern studies dispute Kenneth's Dalriadan roots and consider Kenneth and his successors to be Pictish Kings. Kenneth's son Constantine had the 'Series Longoir' written to show his family's claim to the throne of a united Pictland.
The triumph of Gaelic over Pictish and the change from Pictland to Alba is placed in the half-century reign of Constantine mac Aeda. At first this new kingdom corresponded to Scotland north of the Rivers Forth and Clyde. Scotland, in the geographical sense it has retained for nearly a millennium, completed its expansion by the gradual incorporation of the Britons' kingdom of Strathclyde into Alba.
The Black Scots. 20 Most Evil People of the 11th Century CE | Kenneth MacAlpin. Background Born around 948 in Ireland, a relation of the Uí Néill clann. The history of Kenneth MacAlpin has long since been re-written into myth through such forgeries as the geneologies and histories of John of Fordun. In 997, Holly King Causantín mac Cuiléain, Son of Cuiléain mac Iduilb, grandson of Ildulb mac Causantín, great grandson of Causantín mac Áeda was murdered by the commander of the Royal guard, Kenneth MacAlpin.
Kenneth MacAlpin immediately made treaties with Uí Néill king Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill Of the Clann Cholmáin of the southern Uí Néill Of Ireland and a relative of him. He also made an alliance with Waltheof the King of Bernicia and Earl of Northumbria. John of Fordun wrongly wrote his heritage as Cináed mac Duib. Around 1002, Kenneth MacAlpin declared himself Emperor of the Celts. The story of his death and brief reign as an Emperor was later reborn as Later to be reborn as Brian Boru by Muircheartach Ua Briain to strengthen his claim to High Kingship.