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Kingdom
of Dal Riata - Factsheet
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The
Gaels
- The
Gaels gave Scotland its name from
‘Scoti’, a racially derogatory
term used by the Romans to describe
the Gaelic-speaking ‘pirates’
who raided Britannia in the 3rd and
4th centuries. They called themselves
‘Goidi l’, modernised today
as Gaels, and later called Scotland
‘Alba’.
- For
centuries historians have debated
the Gaels’ origin. The earliest
historical source we have comes from
around the 10th century and held that
the Gaels came from Ireland in around
500 AD, under King Fergus Mor, and
conquered Argyll from the Picts (See
Above).
- Recently
archaeologists have challenged this
idea. If the Gaels did invade from
Ireland then new objects and differing
types of building style could be expected
to appear. What archaeologists point
to is the continuity in building styles
of crannogs and forts found in Argyll
and Ireland, suggesting the Gaels
had lived in Argyll for many centuries
before Fergus Mor and shared a common
Gaelic culture with Ireland.
- All this contradicts
the historical sources, but other
peoples had similar origin myths:
The Picts claimed to come from Scythia;
the Britons from the Roman Brutus
- all quite absurd.
The
Kings of Dál Riata
- From
Dunadd kings like Aedan mac Gabrann
(574-608 AD), set out on campaign.
A successful warlord, he extended
the power of Dál Riata from
Orkney to the Isle of Man. In campaigns
against Picts, Britons and fellow
Gaels in Ireland he triumphed until
he was finally stopped by the Angles
at the Battle of Degsastan in 603
AD.
- What
Aedan had achieved his grandson Donald
Brecc (Domnall Brecc, 629- 642) lost
in a disastrous reign. He led the
Gaels’ war band to defeat followed
by defeat. He was forced to surrender
Dál Riata’s Irish lands
before he eventually suffered his
final defeat at the hands of Owen
of Dumbarton at the Battle of Strathcarron
in 642 AD. Donald Brecc died on the
field of battle with the bardic epitaph:
‘And crows pecked, at the
head of Domnall Brecc.’
- After
Donald’s defeat his kindred faced
challenges for the kingship. Civil
war raged between the rival kindreds
until Fercher Fota (c697 AD) established
a new royal line. They didn't rule
for long but it’s an interesting
historical footnote that 450 years
later Macbeth was supposed to be descended
from Fercher Fota. The kindred of
Aedan and Donald Brecc went on to
reassert their control of Dál
Riata founding a line Scottish kingship
that stretched to Bonnie Prince Charlie.
The
Smiting of Dál Riata
- In
the early 8th century, the Gaels were
confronted with the rising power of
the Picts. In 736 AD the Picts stormed
Dunadd. Their leader, Unust, may have
been of Gaelic parentage, but in 741
AD the annals record his ‘smiting
of Dál Riata’. After his
conquest Dál Riata became a
back water, except for the prestige
of the monastery of Iona, with its
kings subservient to the Picts.
Then from 794 AD a series of Viking
raids finally dimmed even Iona’s
light.
- It
was from this background of decline
that Kenneth MacAlpine emerged. In
849 AD he conquered the Pictish kingship
and restored the Gaels’ fortunes
as they moved east to take over Pictland.
- Kenneth’s
triumph was Dunadd’s end as the
Kingdom Dál Riata vanished
from history and the lands of Argyll
fell under Norse control. However,
along with Pictland, Dal Riata became
the essential ingredient in the new
Kingdom of Alba.
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