Earliest Scotland

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Earliest Scotland

• The foundations of a nation

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• The word Scotland will not be used until the
  Middle Ages.
• Before other names are attached to northern
  Britain Alba, Caledonia.
• The first peoples of Scotland that we know
  about belong to the Celtic Iron Age.

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• Iron age Scotland
• At this time all of Britain is Celtic in speech,
  and has various forms of Iron Age La Tène
  culture.
• These names come from Ptolemy the Geographer

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The CaledonesThe Noblest in All Britain

• Tacitus is the only source for Caledonian
  warfare.
• War-trumpets
• nudi sont Brittones
• Chariots (scythed axled covinnus)

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CRANNOG
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Broch
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Tribal territories (Lowlands)

• Between the Tyne-Solway and the Clyde-Forth lines
  (later the frontiers constructed by Hadrian and
  then Antoninus), we have four tribes
• Votadini (Uotadini, Gododdin)-Traprain Law.
• Novantae
• Selgovae (Eildon Hill)
• Damnonii

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Tribal territories (Highlands)

• Homeland of the Caledones.
• Eastern coastal region
• Venicones, Vacomagi, Taezali
• . Western and northern
• Epidiii, Creones, Smertae etc
• North and Western Isles- occupied by about 500
  families inhabiting broch towers.

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Roman Campaigns 43-83AD

• The campaign of Agricola (the emperor was
  Vespasian).
• The leader of the Caledones was Calgacus
  (confederacy with 30,000 warriors).

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Agricolas Campaigns 82AD

• In 82AD Agricola pushed north establishing camps
  as far as the river Spey.
• The enemy in this case is described as being
  Caledonii (Caledonians), who harass the Romans
  and their camps.
• Finally in 83AD Agricola brought his troops
  accompanied by British allies to a spot called
  Mons Graupius.

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Agricolas Campaigns 83AD

• The exact location ismost probably close to
  Bennachie.
• Most locate it on the northern edge of the
  Grampian Mountains.
• The leader of the confederated Caledonii is one
  Calgacus (Calgacos, Galgacus)who among many
  leaders was preeminent in bravery and ancestry.

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Agricolas Campaigns the battle of Mons Graupius

• The Caledonians like the southern Britons used
  chariots to bring the warrior class to the
  battlefield.
• Agricola led a large contingent of cavalry and
  infantry on foot.
• As the British army descended down the slope, the
  Roman horses broke through their ranks and
  encircled them. Tacitus claims 10,000 casualties
  on the British side and 360 on the Roman.

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Mons Graupius
Mons Graupius or Mons Cripius
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September AD 83
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The battle AD83

• First phase was a cavalry action.
• The small Caledonian cavalry were defeated and
  their chariots.
• The Romans had c8000 troups.
• Celtic troups descended from the two sides to
  attack the rear of the Roman force.
• Romans broke up these warbands, they were
  defeated by Roman cavalry.

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The Battle AD83

• By nightfall (September, c8pm), hundreds of the
  Caledones fled.
• It was a cheerful night for the victors with
  rejoicing and plunder.
• it would not be inglorious to die at the very
  place where the world and nature end.

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Aftermath of the battle

• they make a desert and call it peace
• Calgacus (according to Agricola referring to the
  Roman victory.

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Aftermath of the Battle

• The Roman historian Tacitus adds, Britain was
  completely conquered and immediately neglected.
• http//www.thelatinlibrary.com/imperialism/reading
  s/agricola.html
• It was then, for the first time, that a Roman
  fleet, circumnavigating this coast of the
  remotest sea, established that Britain was an
  island.

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After the Romans (c410AD), the peoples of
Scotland in the early Middle Ages

• The Picts
• The Britons
• The Dal Riata/The Scotti (Irish Gaels)
• The Angles (Germanic speaking)

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The Picts

• The Strathmartine Castle Stone

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The Britons

• Dumbarton Rock, nr Glasgow

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The Britons

• The Gododdin
• Kingdom of Altclut
• The Govan Sarcophagus

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The Govan Sarcophagus c850AD
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The Dal Riata

• Dunadd, Kilmartin, Argyll and Bute

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The Early Irish in Scotland

• The Dal Riata
• The Scotti
• The Gaels

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Dal Riata/Strathclyde Britons

• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC3A1l_Riata
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Strathclyd
  e

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The Picts

• An eastern Scottish people

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The Pictish Carvings 6th-9th centuries
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Meaning of the stones

• Personal memorials
• Tribal territories
• Lineage territories

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The symbols

• Some 60 different symbols

• outline pictures of animals (such as the adder,
  salmon, wolf, stag, eagle and the mythical
  Pictish Beast).2 There are also representations
  of everyday objects such as the mirror and comb,
  which could have been used by high-status males.
  The symbols are almost always arranged in pairs
  or sets of pairs, sometimes with the mirror and
  comb below, hence the thinking they could
  represent lineage or kindred (such as two
  parents/clans). According to Anthony Jackson the
  symbol pairs represent matrilineal marriage
  alliances.3

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The double disk

• Double disk and Z-rod symbols

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Pictish carvings
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The Pictish Carvings
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Pictish carvings
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Pictish cross
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The tallest Pictish stone

• Based on the time period there are three possible
  occasions for it to commemorate.
• Kenneth MacAlpins's grim victory over the Pictish
  nobles.
• Confrontation between the Pictish force and the
  Norsemen at Burghead
• The death of Scottish King Dubh during a battle
  in 966 at Forres. The body of the king lay
  beneath the bridge at Kinloss

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The Whitecleuch Chain

• Found in Lanarkshire on 1869
• 400-800AD

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The Drosten Stone
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Aberlemno Stone
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The Knocknagael Boar Stone
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Picts

• There has been a tendency to see the Picts as a
  peculiar and special people.
• This idea goes back to Bede (7th century).
• But possibly we should see them as a typical NW
  European barbarian nation.

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Picts

• The Picts probably saw their territory as
  comprising the whole of eastern Scotland (where
  most of the population lived).
• Division between the Northern and Southern Picts.
• The first reference to Picts (Picti) by this name
  comes from Eumenius in the year 297AD.

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Picts

• However, their long-seated occupation of the
  territories in which they lived is reflected in
  the native names given to them.
• The Irish called them cruithne. This word comes
  from the Celtic word borrowed by the Romans-
  Priteni (Pritani)- ie Britons.
• To distinguish them from the southern Britons,
  the later were called Britanni (Britons).
• In early Welsh, the Picts were called Prydyn.

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Picts

• The Picts are obviously the descendants of the
  various Iron-Age peoples who mainly occupied the
  east of Scotland, and who may have extended their
  power into the Lowlands.
• Language of the Picts.

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Picts

• The Pictish Chronicle is the most important
  source for the history of the Picts to have
  survived.
• A list of kings with the duration of each king.
• Here are some of the names Breidei, Nectan,
  Tallorcen, Drest, Taran, Elpin, Constantin,
  Kinart.

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Picts

• It is difficult to plot the progress of the
  tribes of Caledonia towards Pictish nationhood.
• The Maeatae and the Caledonians.

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The Pit- place-names.

• The element Aber- in Scottish place-names will
  mostly come from Pictish sources (compare
  Welsh/Breton Aber-).
• Also Pit- such as Pitlochry and Pittenweem,
  Pitcairn.
• Originally pett- piece of land (compare Welsh
  peth, Breton pezh).
• 300 pit-names,

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Place-names with the Element pitt-
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Pict

• This tells us the the Pictish language was
  closely related to the Celtic language of the
  rest of Britain (Brittonic which became Welsh,
  Cumbrian, Cornish and Breton,).

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End of the Pictish rule

• Kenneth Mac Alpin (-c858)
• By 900AD the Picts were no longer an independent
  force.

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Next time

• Scots, Britons and Northumbrians.