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. The Picts also slaughtered the Angles at Nechtansmere in Angus, thwarting their attempt to subjugate these fierce warriors. Again, the Picts also defeated the Viking Danes attempts to enter their homeland. Who were these people? No one knows. Supposition has been made that they were descendants of the ancient Basques of Northern Spain once known as Pictones or that they may have been the descendants of the dark tribes of ancient Stygia and the European steppes. The Romans referred to them as "painted" or tattooed. Traces of their civilization are left throughout Scotland in strange carvings upon stone, which have yet to be read as the Pictish language has become extinct.

We first hear of them in the third century when the Romans first encountered these fierce, tattooed warriors. The Roman historian, Tacitus quotes the chief or king of the Picts, Calgacus as saying: "We, the most distant dwellers upon the earth, the last of the free, have been shielded...by our remoteness and by the obscurity which has shrouded our name...Beyond us lies no nation, nothing but waves and rocks" We do not know if Picts is a name which was first used by the Romans or if it was a name which the Picts used for themselves. The Celts called the Pictish people by the name Cruithne. Many historians believe that the Picts were also a Celtic race and describe their language as P-Celtic, similar in many ways to Welsh.

Pictish carving representation

Though the Romans defeated the Picts many times, they were never able to take their land, nor make headway into their homeland. The Picts, under Calgacus, were defeated at Mons Grampius with much slaughter, perhaps as many as 10,000 Pictish fatalities to the Roman's 347. These Picts were described as tall and fair headed. However, the Romans also encountered a Pictish tribe which was short and swarthy, which the Romans compared to the Iberians they had encountered in southern Spain. In an attempt to hold the advances made by Agricola, the Romans built forts throughout the area, yet within thirty years the Picts had destroyed these forts and once again regained their lands.

It is believed that the Picts had 69 kings. The first king mentioned in the "Pictish Chronicles" is Cruithne. The Picts were a matrilineal society, that is, the bloodlines were passed through the mother, therefore a son rarely succeeded his father. In the mid 700's, Bede records that the Pictish Kingdom was divided into a Southern and a Northern portion.

The clan of MacNaughton (McKnight) claims descent from Nechtan, one of the Pictish kings as many of the Scottish clans would claim Pictish descent.

One of the great Pictish fortresses was at Dunnotar in 681.The great Pictish king, Bridei, defeated the Angles at Nechtansmere in 685, slaughtering the entire Angle army including their king, Ecgfrith. It was this battle which prevented the Anglo Saxons from entering Scotland and preserving Scotland as a nation independent from that of Britain by establishing the southern border of Scotland. This battles was called the battle of Nechtansmere by the Angles and the battle of Dunnichen by the Picts and was fought on the plains of Dunnichen in Angus.

Dunnotar as it exists today

It was the Pictish king, Bridei IV who, along with 51 other tribal kings of Britain, signed the "Law of the Innocents" in which women, children and ecclesiastical clergy were protected from the viciousness of war and which also forbid women to engage in battle, a habit practiced by the Picts throughout their history.

In 741, the Pictish king Oengus (Angus) defeated the Dalriadic Scots, captured the king of Atholl and became the first King of the Scots and Picts after beheading the Scottish king. Aed Finn raised the Scottish forces against the Picts and by the time of his death in 768, Dalriada was independent again. The last king mentioned in the Pictish Chronicles is Drust IX who is said to have been killed by Kenneth MacAlpin.

The Roman general, Hadrian, first built Hadrian's Wall, which was thirty-nine miles wide and encompassed twenty forts. The Picts never ceased attacking it and it was finally abandoned. In the late third century, the Picts unite with the Scots of Ireland and make a joint attack upon the Roman Britain northern border.

The Scots arrived in Alba from Ireland in 409, describing themselves as Milesians, descended from the Celtic king of Spain, Milesius. It is important to note that these Celts from Ireland called themselves Scots which would later become the basis for the name, Scotland or land of the Scots. These Celts were tall, fair headed and fierce warriors. They often dyed their hair with lye adding to the description of their fair hair. As the Scots and Picts together make war upon the Romans, the Romans create Strathclyde, a Celtic speaking border area to protect themselves from the assault. It is in 450 that we last hear of a Pictish-Scot union.

The Scots were a warlike people who invaded western Scotland north of the Clyde under the leadership of Fergus Mor. They established Dunadd in Argyll as the capital of their kingdom known as Dalriada (Dal Riata) or Scotia. By the seventh century Dalriada was under the leadership of seven leaders or kings.

To return to Kenneth MacAlpin, it is this king who defeated the Picts, already weary and decimated by continual Viking attacks, in 841. A story is told of this Kenneth MacAlpin then inviting Drust IX and the nobles of Picts to a feast in which the Scots, using concealed weapons slew the entire host of Picts and thereby obtained the throne of Scotland. This story is strongly suspect. We do know that the Picts continued warfare against MacAlpin for another 12 years into MacAlpin's reign. Again there is Pictish resistance noted after the short reign of MacAlpin's son, Aedh when the Picts try to restore matrilineal succession bringing to the throne Eochaidh Mac Run, son of one of MacAlpin's daughters and her husband, king of the Britons. This Eochaidh became joint ruler of Scotland with Giric, son of Dongal, but their reign only lasted ten years before MacAlpin's grandson, Donald, assumed the throne.

It is believed that MacAlpin based his claim to the throne of Alba through his mother, said to have been a Pictish princess. His succession was challenged by at least many of the Pictish nobles and he was not immediately recogninzed as the King of Scots and Picts for some years. MacAlpin was crowned at Scone in 843.

Stone of Scotland Said to be the stone which Jacob used as a pillow according to the OT and Scottish legend.

It was Kenneth MacAlpin who moved the Scottish coronation site to Scone in the heart of Pictish land where the Scottish kings accept the crown over the Stone of Destiny, which Scottish legend claims was brought with them from Spain, once rested in Ireland at Tara and thence brought to Scone. MacAlpin made Scone his capital. Kenneth's first capital was at Dunstaffnage in Argyll but not long after his accession, he moved it to Scone where Moot Hill became the legal center in Scotland. Removing the capital from Dunstaffnage served a twofold purpose, to move the capital from the danger of Viking attack as well as to show MacAlpin's authority by moving the capital to the heart of Pictish land.

Dunstaffnage as it exists today.

Prior to defeating the Picts in 841, MacAlpin defeated the Vikings in Dalriada, driving them from the land. The Viking invasion of Britain and Ireland left Scotland isolated as Scotland too continued to fight of the Viking horde that had beset the British Isles. Kenneth's authority resed upon his wit and skill as a fighter.

The fate of the Picts is unknown; they simply disappear from history. Caught between the Scots and the Norsemen, they were simply absorbed by their neighbors. Due to their matrilineal laws of succession, they were simply bred out of existence. Binding the two peoples into one within the common blood of MacAlpin was also the faith which the two cultures shared. The Northern Picts had been converted to Christianity by Columba. The common faith led the two peoples to Iona where they shared a common education as well as common places of worship.

Once the warfare had ended between Scot and Pict, the job of wise legislation sealed the union. MacAlpin turned his attention to reforming laws, repressing and punishing crime, as well as improvements in the administration of justice. MacAlpin is credited with a code of laws known as "Code MacAlpin". These laws established certain penalties for particular crimes such as hanging in the crime of theft, beheading in the instance of murder. Women convicted of these crimes were to be drowned or buried alive. Blasphemy was a crime worthy of having one's tongue cut out while those that lied about their neighbor were to suffer the loss of their sword and be shunned. A jury of seven men was determined, or any odd number above that. There were laws to protect agriculture, laws concerning the churches and clergy.

Perhaps MacAlpin's greatest achievement were the influential marriages he arranged for his daughters. It is believed that MacAlpin's daughter, Richardus married Charles III, Holy Roman Emperor; at the very least, each of his daughters married kings; two marrying kings of Strathclyde. In the 9th century the Scots only composed about 10% of the country's population. It was through strategic marriages and skilled warfare that the Scots were able to assume the crown in Scotland.

It is unknown whom MacAlpin married. His children were: Aedh and Constantine and three daughters as mentioned above. Perhaps the names of two of them were Richardus and Maelmure.

Kenneth MacAlpin died in his palace at Forteviot of a malady known as fistula, a form of cancer. MacAlpin's death was mourned throughout Scotland. Multitudes gathered at the gate of the palace with their respective clans, both Scot and Pict. Kenneth's body was transported from Forteviot to Iona where it passed upon the "Street of the Dead", the road which had borne the bodies of many of Scotland's king's to the vault of burial.