The picts a history, p.1
The Picts: A History, page 1
The Picts
This eBook edition published in 2012 by
Birlinn Limited
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Newington Road
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Copyright © Tim Clarkson 2010
First published 2008 by Tempus Publishing
This revised edition first published in Great Britain in 2010 by John Donald, an imprint of Birlinn Ltd
The moral right of Tim Clarkson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form without the express written permission of the publisher.
ISBN: 978-1-906566-25-8
eBook ISBN: 978-1-907909-03-0
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Contents
Preface
Genealogical Tables
1 A People Apart
2 Caledonia and Rome
3 The Painted People
4 Into the Sixth Century
5 Maelchon’s Son
6 Neighbours and Kinsmen
7 Brude and Ecgfrith
8 Reformers and Rivals
9 The Warlord
10 East and West
11 Twilight of the Picts
12 Legends and Legacies
Appendix A Kings of the Picts
Appendix B Pictish Timeline
Appendix C Some Pictish Puzzles
Places to Visit
Further Reading
Index
Preface
The first edition of this book appeared in early 2008. Since its publication my views on several aspects of Pictish history have changed, particularly with regard to relations between Picts and Scots during the ninth century. By the end of 2008, the final chapters were already at odds with my altered perception of Cináed mac Ailpín and his ‘conquest’ of the Picts. It was with this new perception in mind that I made reference to Cináed in my recently-published book The Men of the North: the Britons of Southern Scotland. At the same time an opportunity arose to produce a new edition of The Picts: a History. It seemed an appropriate moment to bring the two books in line with one another.
In the case of The Picts, the changes relating to the end of the Pictish period have been accompanied by a geographical shift regarding the location of Fortriu. The 2008 edition adopted an older belief, now generally regarded as mistaken, that this region lay in Perthshire. Historians now prefer to locate it further north, in Moray, and the growing consensus is duly reflected here. In revising and updating The Picts I have retained the character of the 2008 edition which was, after all, intended to be a non-academic work. The various changes have not caused a major disruption to the style of the original narrative.
The bibliography has been expanded in this new edition to include a wider range of literature grouped by subject. It now lists a larger selection of books and journal articles but remains a fairly informal guide to further reading. The equally informal appendix of ‘Pictish puzzles’ is little changed, except in the sections relating to Cináed mac Ailpín, Fortriu and the Gaelicisation of the Picts. One visual difference between the two editions is the presentation of illustrations, the photographs having been reduced in number to make way for maps, drawings and genealogical tables. This reorganisation has, I believe, enhanced the aesthetic appeal and overall usefulness of the book.
Tim Clarkson
June 2010
The Scottish Highlands: a selection of modern territorial divisions.
CHAPTER 1
A People Apart
‘Picts’ was the name given to a people who inhabited a large part of what is now Scotland during the first millennium AD. Together with their neighbours – Scots, Britons and English – they played an important role in the early history of the British Isles. They make their first appearance in the historical record at the end of the third century when their raiding activities troubled the authorities of Roman Britain. After less than 600 years, they seem to vanish from the pages of history, leaving behind no written records of their own nor any significant trace of their language. In the wake of their apparent disappearance a fictional tale was created to explain it, and a shroud of myth enveloped the true story of their fall from power. From these legends there emerged a belief that the Picts were a mysterious race whose history was unknown: a strange, almost alien nation who were very different from their neighbours. They became, in other words, a people apart.
The modern visitor to the Highland areas of Scotland usually encounters the Picts through their spectacular artistic legacy. This is most vividly represented by several hundred finely carved stones, many of which are still visible in the landscape. A large number of these stones bear esoteric designs which are repeated and replicated with remarkable consistency across a wide geographical area, from Skye to Aberdeen and from Shetland to Fife. The meaning of these symbols defies interpretation and, despite numerous attempts to decipher them, their original purpose remains an enduring puzzle. It is perhaps ironic that the symbol stones – the most impressive legacy of the Picts – make this ancient people seem even more mysterious.
This book seeks to venture behind the myths and legends to find the real history of the Picts, to ‘de-mystify’ them in so far as it is possible to do so. It does not take a themed approach, in which aspects of society and culture are discussed as separate topics, but adopts instead a linear structure guided by a simple chronological framework. The span of this chronology is the era of the historical Picts, covering the years 300–850, with some leeway at the beginning and end. This span includes much of the so-called Dark Ages, a term applied rather loosely to the centuries of transition between the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the end of the eleventh century. The phrase ‘Dark Age Scotland’ certainly has a dramatic impact and conjures an image of mist-shrouded hills brooding in a Celtic twilight, but it also carries negative overtones of ignorance and gloom. As an alternative to ‘Dark Age’, the more neutral term ‘Early Historic’ is therefore used throughout this book.
Documentary Sources
This is not meant to be an academic textbook, nor a scholarly investigation, but a narrative history presented as an unfolding sequence of events. The chronological framework guiding the narrative is a list of Pictish kings. This ‘king-list’ survives in a number of medieval manuscripts which differ slightly from each other in the information they provide. They ultimately derive from an original text that is now lost. This was written at an unknown Pictish monastery and later came into the hands of medieval Scottish monks, whose own versions of it are seen in the surviving manuscripts. In the interests of simplicity the various versions are treated throughout this book as a single source referred to here as ‘the king-list’. In reality, the manuscripts fall into two groups, each of which incorporates variant versions of the list together with additional notes relating to the Picts. The basic format of each version is a sequence of some sixty kings giving their reign-lengths and their fathers’ names. Based on the chronology of the reigns it becomes apparent that the line of kings begins in the fourth century and ends in the ninth. Recent analysis of the manuscripts has shown the value of the list as a source of data for Scotland’s early history, but it has also revealed its shortcomings. Thus, although early versions existed in written form as early as the eighth century, the oldest surviving manuscript is a product of some six centuries later. This means that the text needs to be treated with caution if it is to be employed as a signpost to the Early Historic period. Fortunately, the information it provides for people and events from AD 550 to 850 is frequently corroborated by other sources. This kind of cross-referencing makes the king-list a fairly trustworthy source for the main era of Pictish history between the sixth and ninth centuries.
Among the reliable sources whose testimony corroborates the data in the king-list is the Ecclesiastical History of The English People, a book written by the Venerable Bede and completed in 731. Bede spent almost his whole life as a monk at the monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow in Northumbria and became a scholar of high repute. His Ecclesiastical History is an important source of information for the early history of Anglo-Saxon England, but it is also a valuable contemporary source on the Picts. Despite its title, the book deals with secular as well as religious topics and provides a fascinating window on Early Historic society. The nature of kingship was of particular interest to Bede, and it is through his eyes that the modern reader sees how ambitious kings rose to power by defeating their rivals and waging war on their enemies. Bede was not, however, a historian in the modern sense of the term. For him, the course of history was pre-determined by a divine scheme in which the English were a chosen people appointed by God to conquer the native Celtic inhabitants of Britain.
Bede’s interest in the Celts was limited to their contact with the English, especially where such contact impinged on religious matters, so the information he provides for political events in Scotland is rather patchy. To learn what was happening in the Pictish regions, historians turn instead to sources of Celtic origin, some of which are far less trustworthy than Bede. The most informative Celtic sources are the Irish annals, a group of texts whose creators noted historical events as brief entries in a year-by-year format. Sometimes these entries were written contemporaneously, as th
More controversial than the annals are the vitae or ‘lives’ of early saints whose missionary activities brought them into contact with the Picts. These vitae look like biographies, but their purpose was not to give a factual account of their subjects. On the contrary, their authors sought to prove the holiness of a particular saint by describing him or her as a successful performer of miracles. Truth and historical accuracy were secondary considerations or were sometimes dismissed altogether. The vitae are therefore difficult to use and need to be treated with caution, although some examples are more trustworthy than others. The most valuable in the context of Pictish history is the Vita Columbae, the Life of Saint Columba, written by an abbot of Iona called Adomnán. Iona was founded by Columba in the sixth century and played an important role in bringing Christianity to the Picts. Adomnán was a later successor of Columba as abbot of the monastery in the late seventh and early eighth centuries. He was therefore a contemporary of Bede and almost certainly met him during a visit to the monastery at Jarrow. Because of Iona’s status as the mother-church of the Picts, Adomnán had many contacts among their clergy and had dealings with at least two of their kings.
Other sources are more esoteric and include legendary material presented as genuine history. Some of their data on the Picts is reliable, but much of it is based on folklore, myth and other ‘traditions’ of doubtful origin. An example is the rather odd Prophecy of Berchan which probably dates from the twelfth century, although the oldest surviving manuscript was written 600 years later. It contains a number of ‘prophecies’ which purport to foresee the deeds of 24 Scottish kings but which were in fact made retrospectively. In many instances the prophecies were created several centuries after the lifetimes of these kings. The entire work is essentially a king-list which gives for each monarch his reign-length, his place of death and other information, but not his name. Identifying who is being described in a particular prophecy is not always easy. To make matters even more frustrating, most of the prophecies are so cryptic that their context is barely intelligible, while some incorporate legends and folk-tales. Berchan nevertheless contains interesting nuggets of information which can be cautiously added to the general picture presented by the main Pictish king-list, the Irish annals and other sources. It is one example of the many pseudo-historical texts that historians are obliged to consult when searching for information on the Picts. Various sources of similar type are referred to throughout this book at particular points where their testimony becomes relevant.
The Problem of the Picts
A brief glance at the Irish annals shows that the Picts were not regarded as ‘a people apart’ by their contemporaries. Geographical factors alone ensured that the Pictish lands were caught up in the affairs of northern Britain as a whole. The territory of the Picts was travelled, trampled and invaded by their neighbours – Scots, English, Britons and Vikings – at various times during the Early Historic period. Pictish armies usually returned the favour by launching rampages of their own. When not engaged in warfare, Pictish kings communicated with other kings to shape the political landscape of what eventually became the medieval kingdom of Scotland. To writers such as Bede and Adomnán there was nothing different or special about the Picts beyond the fact that they were a distinct group like the English or the Scots. It is curious, then, that there has arisen in modern times a belief that the Picts were a strange or enigmatic people.
The enigma of the Picts exists because some aspects of their society and culture are indeed controversial. Unlike most of their neighbours, they disappeared from history to become a ‘lost’ people. Their language – in so far as any trace of it survives – looks like an odd sort of gibberish. Their royal inheritance laws apparently relied on a system of matrilineal succession in which kingship was passed through the female line. Some contemporaries regarded them as a barbarous race, a view seemingly supported by their slowness in converting to Christianity. Most enigmatic of all are the arcane symbols that they carved on standing stones. Other groups may have used a selection of these symbols, but only the Picts employed them as a kind of hieroglyphic alphabet. To a Pictish observer the symbols had special meaning and communicated specific information. Today, in spite of many ingenious attempts to solve the mystery, nobody really knows what the symbols actually mean. This alone would be sufficient to isolate the Picts, to make them seem markedly different from other groups. When added to the other enigmas listed above, it becomes part of a larger puzzle, the so-called ‘Problem of the Picts’. Together, the various components of the ‘Problem’ are responsible for modern perceptions – and misconceptions – of just how mysterious the Picts really were.
Interpreting the Evidence
Perceptions have, however, started to change in recent years, and most of the misconceptions are now in retreat. Interest in the Picts is currently running at its highest level, not only in academic circles but also in the Scottish tourism sector and among the visitor community. More and more Pictish sites are being identified and excavated by archaeologists. Material evidence unearthed by these excavations allows historians to gain new perspectives on the information in the documentary sources. This does not mean that everyone agrees on how the archaeological and documentary evidence should be interpreted. There is much disagreement and debate on many aspects of Pictish history, chiefly because the sources themselves frequently contradict each other’s testimony on particular points. The resulting uncertainty breeds a lack of consensus among historians and is another part of the ‘Problem’.
The documentary sources and the archaeological data offer a large amount of information on the Picts. Despite the debates about how a particular item of data should be interpreted, there is more than enough data to reconstruct a broad outline of Pictish history. Using this outline to create a more detailed narrative is rather more difficult and less straightforward. It requires the use of sources deemed unreliable or controversial, together with a measure of informed speculation, to bridge the gaps in the framework and so produce a more coherent account. Such an approach is not to everybody’s taste and is likely to draw criticism from those who argue that the sources are not suited to the purpose. It is true that the available data does not give a crystal-clear view of the course of events in northern Britain during the Early Historic period, and it is equally true that there are many gaps and uncertainties. Nevertheless, the necessary components of a narrative account are available, and they are retrievable from the sources. By weaving these components together it should be possible to present a coherent, chronological history of the Picts. This is the approach adopted here and is the raison d’etre of this book.
Land of the Picts: the Highlands of Scotland.
CHAPTER 2
Caledonia and Rome
On, then, into action; and as you go, think of those that went before you and of those that shall come after.
Words attributed by Tacitus to the Caledonian chieftain Calgacus, AD 84
Before the Picts made their first appearance in history, their territory in what is now Scotland was inhabited by an earlier population. These were the ancestors of the Picts and were the people encountered by Roman armies during the Empire’s attempt to conquer the northern parts of Britain. Theirs was a typical Iron Age society of farmers, fishermen and craftsmen grouped into tribes and ruled by a landowning aristocracy. They spoke a dialect of Brittonic, the Celtic language used in most parts of mainland Britain in pre-Roman times. Like other ancient Celtic peoples, the ancestors of the Picts lived in well-organised communities within a hierarchical society ruled by a minority upper class. Most of the population lived in small settlements scattered across the landscape, owing their primary allegiance to local chiefs who in turn acknowledged the authority of greater chiefs or kings. The economy was based on livestock – sheep, pigs and cattle – and on crops such as oats and barley. The majority of houses were built of timber, but some were of stone. Kings and chiefs built fortified residences on prominent hilltops, in valleys or in coastal locations. In some areas prosperous lords constructed large stone towers around which smaller dwellings were clustered. These towers are known today as ‘brochs’ and a few still survive in ruinous form. They are the most visible and impressive reminder of the prehistoric forefathers of the Picts.
