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"Pict" redirects here. For other uses, see Pict (disambiguation).
The Aberlemno Serpent Stone, Class I Pictish stone, showing (top to bottom) the serpent, the double disc and Z-rod and the mirror and comb
Silver plaque from the Norrie's Law hoard, Fife, with double disc and Z-rod symbol

The Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Medieval Celtic people living in ancient eastern and northern Scotland.[1] We know something about where they lived and what their culture was like from the geographical distribution of brochs, Brythonic place name elements, and Pictish stones. Picts are attested to in written records from before the Roman conquest of Britain to the 10th century, when they are thought to have merged with the Gaels. They lived to the north of the rivers Forth and Clyde, and spoke the now-extinct Pictish language, which is thought to have been related to the Brythonic languages spoken by the Britons who lived to the south of them. Picts are assumed to have been the descendants of the Caledonii and other tribes that were mentioned by Roman historians or on the world map of Ptolemy. Pictland, also called Pictavia by some sources, gradually merged with the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata to form the Kingdom of Alba (Scotland). Alba then expanded, absorbing the Brythonic kingdom of Strathclyde and Bernician Lothian, and by the 11th century the Pictish identity had been subsumed into the "Scots" amalgamation of peoples.

Pictish society was typical of many Iron Age societies in northern Europe, having "wide connections and parallels" with neighbouring groups.[2] Archaeology gives some impression of the society of the Picts. While very little in the way of Pictish writing has survived, Pictish history since the late 6th century is known from a variety of sources, including Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, saints' lives such as that of Columba by Adomnán, and various Irish annals.

Etymology

What the Picts called themselves is not yet known.[nb 1] The Latin word Picti first occurs in a panegyric written by Eumenius in AD 297 and is taken to mean "painted or tattooed people" (from Latin pingere "to paint";[3] pictus, "painted", cf. Greek "πυκτίς" - pyktis, "picture").[4] As Sally M. Foster noted, "Much ink has been spilt over what the ancient writers meant by Picts, but it seems to be a generic term for people living north of the Forth-Clyde isthmus who raided the Roman Empire."[5]

Their Old English name[6] gave the modern Scots form Pechts and the Welsh word Fichti.[citation needed] In writings from Ireland, the name Cruthin, Cruthini, Cruthni, Cruithni or Cruithini (Modern Irish: Cruithne) .[7] It is generally accepted that this is derived from *Qritani, which is the Goidelic/Q-Celtic version of the Britonnic/P-Celtic *Pritani.[8] From this came Britanni, the Roman name for those now called the Britons.[7][8][9] It has been suggested that Cruthin referred to all Britons not conquered by the Romans—those who lived outside Roman Britannia, north of Hadrian's Wall.[9]

History

The so-called Daniel Stone, cross slab fragment found at Rosemarkie, Easter Ross

A Pictish confederation was formed in Late Antiquity from a number of tribes—how and why is not known. Some scholars have speculated that it was partly in response to the growth of the Roman Empire.[10]

Pictland had previously been described by Roman writers and geographers as the home of the Caledonii.[11] These Romans also used other names to refer to tribes living in that area, including Verturiones, Taexali and Venicones.[12] But they may have heard these other names only second- or third hand, from speakers of Brythonic or Gaulish languages, who may have used different names for the same group or groups.[13]

Pictish recorded history begins in the Dark Ages. It appears that Picts were not the dominant power in Northern Britain for that entire period. The Gaels of Dál Riata controlled their own region for a time, although they suffered a series of defeats in the first third of the 7th century.[14] The Angles of Bernicia overwhelmed the adjacent British kingdoms, one of which, the Anglian kingdom of Deira, later became the most powerful kingdom in Britain. (Deira and Bernicia together were called Northumbria).[15] The Picts were probably tributary to Northumbria until the reign of Bridei mac Beli, when, in 685, the Anglians suffered a defeat at the Battle of Dun Nechtain that halted their northward expansion. The Northumbrians continued to dominate southern Scotland for the remainder of the Pictish period.

The Whitecleuch Chain, high status Pictish Silver chain, one of ten known to exist, dating from between 400 and 800 AD

Dál Riata was subject to the Pictish king Óengus mac Fergusa during his reign (729–761), and though it had its own kings beginning in the 760s, does not appear to have recovered its political independence from the Picts.[16] A later Pictish king, Caustantín mac Fergusa (793–820), placed his son Domnall on the throne of Dál Riata (811–835).[17] Pictish attempts to achieve a similar dominance over the Britons of Alt Clut (Dumbarton) were not successful.[18]

The Viking Age brought great changes in Britain and Ireland, no less in Scotland than elsewhere. By the middle of the 9th century, when Ketil Flatnose is said to have founded the Kingdom of the Isles, the Vikings had destroyed the kingdoms of Dál Riata and Northumbria, greatly diminished the power of the Kingdom of Strathclyde, and founded the Kingdom of York. In a major battle in 839, the Vikings killed the king of Fortriu Eógan mac Óengusa, the king of Dál Riata Áed mac Boanta, and many others.[19] In the aftermath, in the 840s, Cínaed mac Ailpín (Kenneth MacAlpin) became king of the Picts.[citation needed]

During the reign of Cínaed's grandson, Caustantín mac Áeda (900–943), outsiders began to refer to the region as the kingdom of Alba rather than the kingdom of the Picts, but we do not know whether this was because a new kingdom was established or Alba was simply a closer approximation of the Pictish name for the Picts. However, though the Pictish language did not disappear suddenly, a process of Gaelicisation (which may have begun generations earlier) was clearly underway during the reigns of Caustantín and his successors. By a certain point, probably during the 11th century, all the inhabitants of Alba had become fully Gaelicised Scots, and Pictish identity was forgotten.[20] Later, the idea of Picts as a tribe was revived in myth and legend.[21]

Pictish Tribes

See also: List of Celtic tribes

Kings and kingdoms

See also: List of Kings of the Picts
Approximate location of Pictish kingdoms, based on the information given here

The early history of Pictland is unclear. In later periods multiple kings existed, ruling over separate kingdoms, with one king, sometimes two, more or less dominating their lesser neighbours.[22] De Situ Albanie, a late document, the Pictish Chronicle, the Duan Albanach, along with Irish legends, have been used to argue the existence of seven Pictish kingdoms. These are as follows; those in bold are known to have had kings, or are otherwise attested in the Pictish period:

More small kingdoms may have existed. Some evidence suggests that a Pictish kingdom also existed in Orkney.[29] De Situ Albanie is not the most reliable of sources, and the number of kingdoms, one for each of the seven sons of Cruithne, the eponymous founder of the Picts, may well be grounds enough for disbelief.[30] Regardless of the exact number of kingdoms and their names, the Pictish nation was not a united one.

Map showing the approximate areas of the kingdom of Fortriu and neighbours c. 800, and the kingdom of Alba c. 900

For most of Pictish recorded history the kingdom of Fortriu appears dominant, so much so that king of Fortriu and king of the Picts may mean one and the same thing in the annals. This was previously thought to lie in the area around Perth and the southern Strathearn, whereas recent work has convinced those working in the field that Moray (a name referring to a very much larger area in the High Middle Ages than the county of Moray), was the core of Fortriu.[31]

The Picts are often said to have practised matrilineal kingship succession on the basis of Irish legends and a statement in Bede's history. In fact, Bede merely says that the Picts used matrilineal kingship succession in exceptional cases.[32][33] The kings of the Picts when Bede was writing were Bridei and Nechtan, sons of Der Ilei, who indeed claimed the throne through their mother Der Ilei, daughter of an earlier Pictish king.[34]

In Ireland, kings were expected to come from among those who had a great-grandfather who had been king.[35] Kingly fathers were not frequently succeeded by their sons, not because the Picts practised matrilineal succession, but because they were usually followed by their own brothers or cousins, more likely to be experienced men with the authority and the support necessary to be king.[36]

The nature of kingship changed considerably during the centuries of Pictish history. While earlier kings had to be successful war leaders to maintain their authority, kingship became rather less personalised and more institutionalised during this time. Bureaucratic kingship was still far in the future when Pictland became Alba, but the support of the church, and the apparent ability of a small number of families to control the kingship for much of the period from the later 7th century onwards, provided a considerable degree of continuity. In much the same period, the Picts' neighbours in Dál Riata and Northumbria faced considerable difficulties, as the stability of succession and rule that previously benefited them ended.[37]

The later Mormaers are thought to have originated in Pictish times, and to have been copied from, or inspired by, Northumbrian usages.[38] It is unclear whether the Mormaers were originally former kings, royal officials, or local nobles, or some combination of these. Likewise, the Pictish shires and thanages, traces of which are found in later times, are thought to have been adopted from their southern neighbours.[39]

Society

The harpist on the Dupplin Cross, Scotland, c. 800 AD

The archaeological record provides evidence of the material culture of the Picts. It tells of a society not readily distinguishable from its similar Gaelic and British neighbours, nor very different from the Anglo-Saxons to the south.[40] Although analogy and knowledge of other Celtic societies may be a useful guide, these extended across a very large area. Relying on knowledge of pre-Roman Gaul, or 13th century Ireland, as a guide to the Picts of the 6th century may be misleading if analogy is pursued too far.

As with most peoples in the north of Europe in Late Antiquity, the Picts were farmers living in small communities. Cattle and horses were an obvious sign of wealth and prestige, sheep and pigs were kept in large numbers, and place names suggest that transhumance was common. Animals were small by later standards, although horses from Britain were imported into Ireland as breed-stock to enlarge native horses. From Irish sources it appears that the élite engaged in competitive cattle-breeding for size, and this may have been the case in Pictland also. Carvings show hunting with dogs, and also, unlike in Ireland, with falcons. Cereal crops included wheat, barley, oats and rye. Vegetables included kale, cabbage, onions and leeks, peas and beans and turnips, and some types no longer common, such as skirret. Plants such as wild garlic, nettles and watercress may have been gathered in the wild. The pastoral economy meant that hides and leather were readily available. Wool was the main source of fibres for clothing, and flax was also common, although it is not clear if they grew it for fibres, for oil, or as a foodstuff. Fish, shellfish, seals, and whales were exploited along coasts and rivers. The importance of domesticated animals argues that meat and milk products were a major part of the diet of ordinary people, while the élite would have eaten a diet rich in meat from farming and hunting.[41]

No Pictish counterparts to the areas of denser settlement around important fortresses in Gaul and southern Britain, or any other significant urban settlements, are known. Larger, but not large, settlements existed around royal forts, such as at Burghead, or associated with religious foundations.[42] No towns are known in Scotland until the 12th century.[43]

The technology of everyday life is not well recorded, but archaeological evidence shows it to have been similar to that in Ireland and Anglo-Saxon England. Recently evidence has been found of watermills in Pictland.[44] Kilns were used for drying kernels of wheat or barley, not otherwise easy in the changeable, temperate climate.[45]

Reconstructed crannóg on Loch Tay

The early Picts are associated with piracy and raiding along the coasts of Roman Britain. Even in the Late Middle Ages, the line between traders and pirates was unclear, so that Pictish pirates were probably merchants on other occasions. It is generally assumed that trade collapsed with the Roman Empire, but this is to overstate the case. There is only limited evidence of long-distance trade with Pictland, but tableware and storage vessels from Gaul, probably transported up the Irish Sea, have been found. This trade may have been controlled from Dunadd in Dál Riata, where such goods appear to have been common. While long-distance travel was unusual in Pictish times, it was far from unknown as stories of missionaries, travelling clerics and exiles show.[46]

Brochs are popularly associated with the Picts. Although these were built earlier in the Iron Age, with construction ending around 100 AD, they remained in use into and beyond the Pictish period.[47] Crannóg, which may originate in Neolithic Scotland, may have been rebuilt, and some were still in use in the time of the Picts.[48] The most common sort of buildings would have been roundhouses and rectangular timbered halls.[49] While many churches were built in wood, from the early 8th century, if not earlier, some were built in stone.[50]

The Picts are often said to have tattooed themselves, but evidence for this is limited. Naturalistic depictions of Pictish nobles, hunters and warriors, male and female, without obvious tattoos, are found on monumental stones. These stones include inscriptions in Latin and ogham script, not all of which have been deciphered. The well known Pictish symbols found on stones, and elsewhere, are obscure in meaning. A variety of esoteric explanations have been offered, but the simplest conclusion may be that these symbols represent the names of those who had raised, or are commemorated on, the stones. Pictish art can be classed as Celtic, and later as Insular.[51] Irish poets portrayed their Pictish counterparts as very much like themselves.[52]

Religion

An early 20th century depiction of Saint Columba's miracle at the gate of King Bridei's fortress, described in Adomnán's late 7th century Vita Columbae
Animal head from St Ninian's Isle Treasure

Early Pictish religion is presumed to have resembled Celtic polytheism in general, although only place names remain from the pre-Christian era. When the Pictish elite converted to Christianity is uncertain, but traditions place Saint Palladius in Pictland after he left Ireland, and link Abernethy with Saint Brigid of Kildare.[53] Saint Patrick refers to "apostate Picts", while the poem Y Gododdin does not remark on the Picts as pagans.[54] Bede wrote that Saint Ninian (confused by some with Saint Finnian of Moville, who died c. 589), had converted the southern Picts.[55] Recent archaeological work at Portmahomack places the foundation of the monastery there, an area once assumed to be among the last converted, in the late 6th century.[56] This is contemporary with Bridei mac Maelchon and Columba, but the process of establishing Christianity throughout Pictland will have extended over a much longer period.

Pictland was not solely influenced by Iona and Ireland. It also had ties to churches in Northumbria, as seen in the reign of Nechtan mac Der Ilei. The reported expulsion of Ionan monks and clergy by Nechtan in 717 may have been related to the controversy over the dating of Easter, and the manner of tonsure, where Nechtan appears to have supported the Roman usages, but may equally have been intended to increase royal power over the church.[57] Nonetheless, the evidence of place names suggests a wide area of Ionan influence in Pictland.[58] Likewise, the Cáin Adomnáin (Law of Adomnán, Lex Innocentium) counts Nechtan's brother Bridei among its guarantors.

The importance of monastic centres in Pictland was not, perhaps, as great as in Ireland. In areas that have been studied, such as Strathspey and Perthshire, it appears that the parochial structure of the High Middle Ages existed in early medieval times. Among the major religious sites of eastern Pictland were Portmahomack, Cennrígmonaid (later St Andrews), Dunkeld, Abernethy and Rosemarkie. It appears that these are associated with Pictish kings, which argues for a considerable degree of royal patronage and control of the church.[59] Portmahomack in particular has been the subject of recent excavation and research, published by Martin Carver.[60]

The cult of Saints was, as throughout Christian lands, of great importance in later Pictland. While kings might patronise great Saints, such as Saint Peter in the case of Nechtan, and perhaps Saint Andrew in the case of the second Óengus mac Fergusa, many lesser Saints, some now obscure, were important. The Pictish Saint Drostan appears to have had a wide following in the north in earlier times, although all but forgotten by the 12th century. Saint Serf of Culross was associated with Nechtan's brother Bridei.[61] It appears, as is well known in later times, that noble kin groups had their own patron saints, and their own churches or abbeys.[62]

Art

The Rogart brooch, National Museums of Scotland, FC2. Pictish penannular brooch, 8th century, silver with gilding and glass. Classified as Fowler H3 type.[63]
The Aberlemno Kirkyard Stone, Class II Pictish stone

Pictish art appears on stones, metalwork and small objects of stone and bone. It uses a distinctive form of the general Celtic Early Medieval development of La Tène style with increasing influences from the Insular art of 7th and 8th century Ireland and Northumbria, and then Anglo-Saxon and Irish art as the Early Medieval period continues. The most conspicuous survivals are the many Pictish stones that are located all over Pictland, from Inverness to Lanarkshire. An illustrated catalogue of these stones was produced by J. Romilly Allen as part of The Early Church Monuments of Scotland, with lists of their symbols and patterns. The symbols and patterns consist of animals including the Pictish Beast, the "rectangle", the "mirror and comb", "double-disk and Z-rod" and the "crescent and V-rod," among many others. There are also bosses and lenses with pelta and spiral designs. The patterns are curvilinear with hatchings. The so-called cross-slabs are carved with Pictish symbols, Insular-derived interlace and Christian imagery, though interpretation is often difficult due to wear and obscurity. Several of the Christian images carved on various stones, such as David the harpist, David and the lion, or scenes of St Paul and St Anthony meeting in the desert, have been influenced by the Insular manuscript tradition.[64]

Pictish metalwork is found throughout Pictland and also further south; the Picts appeared to have a considerable amount of silver available, probably from raiding further south, or the payment of subsidies to keep them from doing so. The very large hoard of late Roman hacksilver found at Traprain Law may have originated in either way. The largest hoard of early Pictish metalwork was found in 1819 at Norrie's Law in Fife, but unfortunately much was dispersed and melted down (Scottish law on treasure finds has always been unhelpful to preservation). Two famous 7th century silver and enamel plaques from the hoard, one shown above, have a "Z-rod", one of the Pictish symbols, in a particularly well-preserved and elegant form; unfortunately few comparable pieces have survived.[65] Over ten heavy silver chains, some over 0.5m long, have been found from this period; the double-linked Whitecleuch Chain is one of only two that have a penannular ring, with symbol decoration including enamel, which shows how these were probably used as "choker" necklaces.[66]

In the 8th and 9th centuries, after Christianization, the Pictish elite adopted a particular form of the Celtic brooch from Ireland, preferring true penannular brooches with lobed terminals. Some older Irish pseudo-penannular brooches were adapted to the Pictish style, for example the Breadalbane Brooch (British Museum). The St Ninian's Isle Treasure contains the best collection of Pictish forms. Other characteristics of Pictish metalwork are dotted backgrounds or designs and animal forms influenced by Insular art. The 8th century Monymusk Reliquary has elements of Pictish and Irish style.[67]

Language

Main article: Pictish language

The Pictish language has not survived. Evidence is limited to place names, the names of people found on monuments, and the contemporary records. The evidence of place-names and personal names argues strongly that the Picts spoke Insular Celtic languages related to the more southerly Brythonic languages.[68] A number of Ogham inscriptions have been argued to be unidentifiable as Celtic, and on this basis, it has been suggested that non-Celtic languages were also in use.[69]

The absence of surviving written material in Pictish - if we discount the ambiguous "Pictish inscriptions" in the Ogham script - does not indicate a pre-literate society. The church certainly required literacy in Latin, and could not function without copyists to produce liturgical documents. Pictish iconography shows books being read, and carried, and its naturalistic style gives every reason to suppose that such images were of real life. Literacy was not widespread, but among the senior clergy, and in monasteries, it would have been common enough.[70]

Place-names often allow us to deduce the existence of historic Pictish settlements in Scotland. Those prefixed with the Brythonic prefixes "Aber-", "Lhan-", or "Pit-" (=? "peth", a thing) are claimed to indicate regions inhabited by Picts in the past (for example: Aberdeen, Lhanbryde, Pitmedden, etc.). Some of these, such as "Pit-" (portion, share), may have been formed after Pictish times, and may refer to previous "shires" or "thanages".[71]

The evidence of place-names may also reveal the advance of Gaelic into Pictland. As noted, Atholl, meaning New Ireland, is attested in the early 8th century. This may be an indication of the advance of Gaelic. Fortriu also contains place-names suggesting Gaelic settlement, or Gaelic influences.[72] A pre-Gaelic interpretation of the name as Athfocla meaning 'north pass' or 'north way', as in gateway to Moray, suggests that the Gaelic Athfotla may be a Gaelic misreading of the minuscule c for t.[73]

Legacy

Medieval Welsh tradition credited the founding of Gwynedd to the Picts[74] and traced their principal royal families – the Houses of Aberffraw and Dinefwr – to Cunedda Wledig, said to have invaded northern Wales from Lothian.

A Caledonian or Pict, as represented in a 19th-century history book
A Young Daughter of the Picts, attributed to Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, ca. 1585
  • Pulp fiction author Robert E. Howard wrote extensively about his romanticized version of the Picts, especially in his short stories revolving around the fictional character Bran Mak Morn, but also in many other of his stories.

On the road coming, five days' travel, a Pict woman
  (big mouth and small bones) gave me shelter, and
  laughed (part scorn, part pity) at my journey.

  • Matthew Stover's Bronze Age fantasy novels Iron Dawn and Jericho Moon chronicle the adventures of Barra Coll Eigg Rhum, a Pictish princess.
  • The 1982 film Conan The Barbarian features bodybuilder Franco Columbu in a cameo as a blue-tattooed Pictish scout.
  • The 2004 film King Arthur depicts Celts and Picts (called "Woads" in the film) as tattooed and painted savage forest people, led by the dark magician Merlin. Originally enemies to Arthur and his knights, they later unite to defeat the Saxons at Badon Hill.
  • Neil Marshall's 2010 film Centurion features a conflict between a band of Picts and the Roman Ninth Legion.
  • Duncan Kenworthy's 2011 film The Eagle depicts the quest of a Roman officer, portrayed as the son of the commander of the Ninth Legion, into the country of the Picts to retrieve the Ninth's standard along with his Brigantian slave, whom he frees during their journey.
  • In Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, particularly those featuring the Lancre witches, the Picts are an obvious influence on the Nac Mac Feegle, a race of tiny wood-fairies whose speech is influenced by Scottish Gaelic and who are tattooed with blue war-paint. In Carpe Jugulum, they are called "Pictsies."
  • Arthur Ransome, celebrated author of the classic Swallows and Amazons series of books, titled the eleventh book of the series "The Picts and the Martyrs". Published in 1943, it features the adventures of a group of children holidaying in the Lake District. In the book, two of the children are unexpectedly forced to live secretly in a ruined house in the woods, and they become "Picts". Another two must endure the unwanted presence of their Great Aunt, thus becoming "Martyrs". A general description of historical Picts is given by one of the children when they first take that name, and a somewhat more detailed explanation is given later by a parent in a letter.
  • Jack Dixon's The Pict,[79] historical fiction, is told from the point of view of the 1st century Picts who resisted invasion by two Roman legions, the Ninth and the Twentieth, led by Gnaeus Julius Agricola in 83 C.E. The main character (Calach) is the Caledonian leader (Calgacus) who united the twenty Pictish tribes against the Roman invasion. The antagonist (Agricola) is sent by the emperor to conquer the whole of the British Isles or not return to Rome. The story offers an alternative to Tacitus's account of the battle of Mons Graupius, and it credits the unified Pictish resistance with a pivotal role in the development of the Scottish nation.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ It has been proposed that they called themselves albidosi, a name found in the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba during the reign of Máel Coluim mac Domnaill, but this idea has been disputed. See: Broun, "Alba", p. 258, note 95; Woolf, Pictland to Alba, pp. 177–181.

References

Footnotes
  1. ^ Foster 1996. p. 11-13.
  2. ^ Foster 1996. p. 17.
  3. ^ pingo, Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, on Perseus Digital Library
  4. ^ πυκτίς, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library
  5. ^ Foster 1996. p. 11.
  6. ^ The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle has pihtas and pehtas.
  7. ^ a b Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí. A New History of Ireland: Prehistoric and Early Ireland. Oxford University Press, 2008. Page 213.
  8. ^ a b Chadwick, Hector Munro. Early Scotland: the Picts, the Scots & the Welsh of southern Scotland. CUP Archive, 1949. Page 66-80.
  9. ^ a b Dunbavin, Paul. Picts and ancient Britons: an exploration of Pictish origins. Third Millennium Publishing, 1998. Page 3.
  10. ^ See the discussion of the creation of the Frankish Confederacy in Geary, Before France, chapter 2.
  11. ^ e.g. by Tacitus, Ptolemy, and as the Dicalydonii by Ammianus Marcellinus. Ptolemy called the sea to the west of Scotland the Oceanus Duecaledonius.
  12. ^ e.g. Ptolemy, Ammianus Marcellinus.
  13. ^ Caledonii is attested from a grave marker in Roman Britain.
  14. ^ At Degsastan in the first decade of that century, and several times under Domnall Brecc in its third and fourth decades.
  15. ^ For more on Bernicia and Northumbria, see e.g. Higham, The Kingdom of Northumbria.
  16. ^ Broun, "Pictish Kings", attempts to reconstruct the confused late history of Dál Riata. The silence in the Irish Annals is ignored by Bannerman in "The Scottish Takeover of Pictland and the relics of Columba".
  17. ^ According to Broun, "Pictish Kings"--but the history of Dál Riata after that is obscure.
  18. ^ Cf. the failed attempts by Óengus mac Fergusa.
  19. ^ Annals of Ulster (s.a. 839): "The (Vikings) won a battle against the men of Fortriu, and Eóganán son of Aengus, Bran son of Óengus, Aed son of Boanta, and others almost innumerable fell there."
  20. ^ Broun, "Dunkeld", Broun, "National Identity", Forsyth, "Scotland to 1100", pp. 28–32, Woolf, "Constantine II"; cf. Bannerman, "Scottish Takeover", passim, representing the "traditional" view.
  21. ^ For example, Pechs, and perhaps Pixies. However, Sally Foster quotes John Toland in 1726: "they are apt all over Scotland to make everything Pictish whose origin they do not know." The same could be said of the Picts in myth.
  22. ^ Broun, "Kingship", for Ireland see, e.g. Byrne, Irish Kings and High-Kings, and more generally Ó Cróinín, Early Medieval Ireland.
  23. ^ Forsyth, "Lost Pictish Source", Watson, Celtic Place Names, pp. 108–109.
  24. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotland_in_the_Middle_Ages#Minor_kingdoms
  25. ^ http://irvinemclean.com/peerage/moray.htm
  26. ^ http://irvinemclean.com/peerage/ross.htm
  27. ^ Bruford, "What happened to the Caledonians", Watson, Celtic Place Names, pp. 108–113.
  28. ^ Woolf, "Dun Nechtain"; Yorke, Conversion, p. 47. Compare earlier works such as Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots, p. 33.
  29. ^ Adomnán, "Life of Columba", editor's notes on pp. 342–343.
  30. ^ Broun, "Seven Kingdoms".
  31. ^ Woolf, "Dun Nechtain".
  32. ^ Bede, I, c. 1
  33. ^ The Female Royal Line: matrilineal succession amongst the Picts?
  34. ^ Clancy, "Nechtan".
  35. ^ Byrne, Irish Kings and High-Kings, pp. 35–41 & pp. 122–123, also p. 108 & p. 287, stating that derbfhine was practised by the cruithni in Ireland.
  36. ^ Byrne, Irish Kings and High-Kings, p. 35, "Elder for kin, worth for rulership, wisdom for the church." See also Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots, pp. 32–34, Smyth, Warlords and Holy Men, p. 67ff.
  37. ^ Broun, "Kingship", Broun, "Pictish Kings"; for Dál Riata, Broun, "Dál Riata", for a more positive view Sharpe, "The thriving of Dalriada"; for Northumbria, Higham, Kingdom of Northumbria, pp. 144–149.
  38. ^ Woolf, "Nobility".
  39. ^ Barrow, "Pre-Feudal Scotland", Woolf, "Nobility".
  40. ^ See, e.g. Campbell, Saints and Sea-kings for the Gaels of Dál Riata, Lowe, Angels, Fools and Tyrants for Britons and Anglians.
  41. ^ Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots, pp. 49–61. Fergus Kelly, Early Irish Farming: a study based mainly on the law-texts of the 7th and 8th centuries AD (School of Celtic Studies/DAIS, Dublin, 2000. ISBN 1-85500-180-2) provides an extensive review of farming in Ireland in the middle Pictish period.
  42. ^ The interior of the fort at Burghead was some 12 acres (5 hectares) in size, see Driscoll, "Burghead"; for Verlamion (later Roman Verulamium), a southern British settlement on a very much larger scale, see e.g. Pryor, Britain AD, pp. 64–70.
  43. ^ Dennison, "Urban settlement: medieval".
  44. ^ Carver (2008)
  45. ^ Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots, pp. 52–53.
  46. ^ Trade, see Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots, pp. 65–68; seafaring in general, e.g. Haywood, Dark Age Naval Power, Rodger, Safeguard of the Sea.
  47. ^ Armit, Towers In The North, chapter 7.
  48. ^ Crone, "Crannogs and Chronologies", PSAS, vol. 123, pp. 245–254.
  49. ^ Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots, pp. 52–61.
  50. ^ See Clancy, "Nechtan", Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots, p. 89.
  51. ^ For art in general see Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots, pp. 26–28, Laing & Laing, p. 89ff., Ritchie, "Picto-Celtic Culture".
  52. ^ Forsyth, "Evidence of a lost Pictish Source", pp. 27–28.
  53. ^ Clancy, "'Nennian recension'", pp. 95–96, Smyth, Warlords and Holy Men, pp. 82–83.
  54. ^ Markus, "Conversion to Christianity".
  55. ^ Bede, III, 4. For the identities of Ninian/Finnian see Yorke, p. 129.
  56. ^ Mentioned by Foster, but more information is available from the Tarbat Discovery Programme: see under External links.
  57. ^ Bede, IV, cc. 21–22, Clancy, "Church institutions", Clancy, "Nechtan".
  58. ^ Taylor, "Iona abbots".
  59. ^ Clancy, "Church institutions", Markus, "Religious life".
  60. ^ See Carver, Portmahomack.
  61. ^ Clancy, "Cult of Saints", Clancy, "Nechtan", Taylor, "Iona abbots"
  62. ^ Markus, "Religious life".
  63. ^ Youngs, no. 111, with a plate showing the decoration much better; Laing, 310
  64. ^ Henderson, Isabel,‘"The "David Cycle" in Pictish Art.' Early Medieval Sculpture. Ed. J.Higgitt. Oxford, 1986. pp. 87-113., ‘The Meeting of Saint Paul and Saint Anthony: Visual and Literary Uses of a Eucharistic Motif.' Keimelia. Eds. P. Wallace and G. M. Niocaill. Galway, 1989. pp 1-58.
  65. ^ Youngs, 26-28; Poor image of 19th-century illustration
  66. ^ Youngs, 28
  67. ^ Youngs, 109-113
  68. ^ Forsyth, Language in Pictland, Price "Pictish", Taylor, "Place names", Watson, Celtic Place Names. For K.H. Jackson's views, see "The Language of the Picts" in Wainwright (ed.) The Problem of the Picts.
  69. ^ Jackson, "The Language of the Picts", discussed by Forsyth, Language in Pictland.
  70. ^ Forsyth, "Literacy in Pictland".
  71. ^ For place names in general, see Watson, Celtic Place Names; Nicolaisen, Scottish Place Names, pp 156–246. For shires and thanages see Barrow, "Pre-Feudal Scotland".
  72. ^ Watson, Celtic Place Names, pp. 225–233.
  73. ^ James E. Fraser, The New Edinburgh History Of Scotland Vol.1 - From Caledonia To Pictland, Edinburgh University Press(2009) ISBN 978-0-7486-1232-1.
  74. ^ The statement Nid oedhynt y Picteit onyd yr hen Gymry. ("The Picts were none other than the old Cymry" (i.e., Welsh) is recorded in Peniarth MS. 118. Op. cit. Wade-Evans, Arthur. Welsh Medieval Law. "Introduction". Oxford Univ., 1909. Accessed 30 Jan 2013.
  75. ^ http://www.julietmarillier.com/books/brideihistoricalnotes.html
  76. ^ http://www.nancyfarmerwebsite.com/trolls-trilogy.html
  77. ^ Turnbull, Gael (1992). "An Irish Monk on Lindisfarne". While Breath Persist. Erin, Ontario: The Porcupine's Quill, Inc. p. 12ff. ISBN 0-88984-133-0.
  78. ^ Turnbull, Gael. "An Irish Monk on Lindisfarne" (misspelled on Web page) read by Gael Turnbull. Audio recording. Recorded in Geneva by Peter McCarey. Accessed 2013-04-09.
  79. ^ Freiert, Jeff (2008). Best New Writing 2008. Hopewell Publications. p. 195. ISBN 9781933435268.
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Further reading

  • James E. Fraser, The New Edinburgh History Of Scotland Vol.1 - From Caledonia To Pictland, Edinburgh University Press(2009) ISBN 978-0-7486-1232-1
  • Fraser Hunter, Beyond the Edge of Empire: Caledonians, Picts and Romans, Groam House Museum, Rosemarkie (2007) ISBN 978-0-9540999-2-3
  • Alex Woolf, The New Edinburgh History Of Scotland Vol.2 - From Pictland To Aba, Edinburgh University Press,(2007) ISBN 978-0-7486-1234-5
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