Connections
between the Scots and the Irish and the Britons go back centuries, even before
the rise of the Roman Empire.
In
medieval times, even as late as negotiations between Brian O’Neill, King of Tir
Eoin, and Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, for the latter’s brother Edward to
take the throne as High King of Ireland, Ireland and Scotland were referred to
as Scotia Major and Scotia Minor respectively.
Recent
genetic research has determined that, genetically speaking, the people of the
British Isles predominantly descend from immigrants out of northwest Iberia
(with a 75-95% genetic match), with their closest genetic relatives outside the
area being the Galicians and the Basque.
This is
more true in some parts than others, say western and northern Ireland and
northwestern Scotland versus southern England, but even the latter on average
are genetically more Insular (75%) than they are Northwest European (25%).
In the
most ancient times, geographers in the Mediterranean called the British Isles
by the name Pretanic Isles, after the dominant Celtic people who lived there,
the Pretani. From Pretani comes not only
the Latin word Britannia and the English words Britain and Britons, but the
later P-Celtic words Prydain and Brithwyr as well as the Q-Celtic word
Cruithin, by which the Goidels referred to those whom the Romans called the
Picts, groups of whom could be found on both islands.
In the
days of Julius Caesar, many of the tribes in Gaul moved at least parts of their
numbers to the south of Britain to escape the Roman legions, which proved
futile after the invasion and conquest of the isle by the Empire.
Only one
part of the island remained unconquered, and near the end of the 3rd century,
Roman writers began to refer to these peoples as the Pictii, and distinguished
between two confederations: the Caledonii (Coille Daon) and the Maetae
(Miathi).
The only
time Scotland north of the Firths (of Forth and of Clyde) came under Roman
domination was during Agricola’s campaign of 80-84 CE. This included beginning of the largest
legionary fortress in the Imperium Romanum, Pinnata Castra, at Inchtuthil and
forts as far north as Cawdor. After
retiring south, the general gave the name Vespasiana to the area in honor of
the Imperator Augutus at Rome. His
gains, however, fell apart when he was recalled to Rome in 85 CE. Septimus
Severus attempted to repeat Agricola’s gains in the 3rd century,
even giving himself the title Britannicus, but these too were short-lived.
In later
decades, there were also two confederations, referred to by classical writers
as the Di-Caledones and the Uerturiones, the latter of which became known to
the Irish as Fortriu. These two tribes or groups were to dominate the politics
of the island north of the Firths (Clyde and Forth) for centuries as the
kingdoms of Circinn (later Alba) and Moireabh.
A clue to
their origins, culture, and language can be seen in one of the pejorative names
the Romans used for them, Brittunculi, or Little Britons.
There were
also many tribes of the Picts, or Cruithne, in Ireland, surviving into the
Middle Ages as the Dal nAraidi, the Ui Eachach Cobo, the Connaill Muirtheimhne,
the Cenel Foghartaigh, the Loigis, the Sogain, and the Fothairt. In
modern times these families have “conventional” family names such as O’Lynch,
MacCartan, MacGenis, O’Mannin, O’More, O’Nolan, O’Doran, O’Lawlor, O’Dowling,
others.
In the
latter half of the Roman Empire, several tribes had groups on both
islands.
The
Dumnonii of southwest Britain had a branch in Ireland (originally in Leinster
but moved to Connacht) called the Fir Domnann. The Fir Domnann were said by
some to have come to Ireland from the area of Gwynedd (formerly
Caernarfonshire) in Wales.
Another
branch were the Damnonii of later southwest Scotland who formed the core of the
post-Roman kingdom of Alt Clud, called Ystrad Clud after its seat moved to
Govan. Its Gaelic name was Strath Cluid, anglicized as Strathclyde.
At one
time, this kingdom extended all the way down to the southern borders of the
former kingdom of Rheged (present-day Cumbria) after that kingdom had been
absorbed. It also extended farther north than is usually assumed, bordering the
Strath Eireann, or Ystrad Aeron, the “valley of the Irish” now commonly called
Strathearn.
The
Wallaces and the Galbraiths certainly descend from its gentry, and the Olivers,
Buchanans, and possibly Campbells may have some connection as well. Strathclyde
was itself absorbed by the kingdom of Alba in the 12thcentury under
David I of Scots, whose title before ascension was Prince of the
Cumbrians.
The
Galeion were another early invading tribe from the east according to the early
legends, and survived as the Galenga of the north of Leinster.
The
Gangani of Munster were a branch of the Gangani in North Wales.
Likewise, the Brigantes (Ui Bairrche of Leix), the Corieltauvi (Coraind of Sligo, Cuirenrige and Dal Cuirind of Wexford), the Manapii (Fir Manach of Fermanagh), and Belgae (Builg, or Fir Bolg, of Cork) of Britain all had branches in their neighbor to the west.
Likewise, the Brigantes (Ui Bairrche of Leix), the Corieltauvi (Coraind of Sligo, Cuirenrige and Dal Cuirind of Wexford), the Manapii (Fir Manach of Fermanagh), and Belgae (Builg, or Fir Bolg, of Cork) of Britain all had branches in their neighbor to the west.
Others
have noted the similarity of the tribal names of the Vennicnii (Fineachan) of
west Ulster and the Venicones of southeast Alba, i.e. the area of Fife and
Strathearn, which Ptolemy placed on his map of the Pretanic Isles in 140 CE.
It’s not
unthinkable that the Cornovii of the Midlands, the Cornovii of the Cornish
peninsula, and the Cornovii of Caithness were related also.
Several
tribes in Britain were branches of groups on the Continent, such as the
Parisii, the Suessoines, the Redones, the Atrebates, the Belgae, and the
Menapii, the latter two of which also having branches in Ireland.
Incidentally,
the autonomous Ducatas Noviodunum (aka Domain of Soissons; 457-486) that
existed in northern Gaul during the time of Vortigern, his son Vortimer, and
Aurelius Ambrosius, ending about the same time Arthur became supreme commander
of the Britons, was seated at the city of the same name that earlier served as
the seat of the Suessoines. More on that below.
The
earliest settlement of the Gaelic Irish in the isle to the east mentioned in
legends was supposedly led by Cairpre Riata himself, founder of the Dal Riata.
He was supposedly one of four sons of Conaire Mor, according to legend High
King of Ireland, c. 100-40 BCE.
The
kingdom was established in what is now Co. Antrim, then spread to what is now
Argyll. Since the kingship was seated in Ireland until Fergus Mor mac Erc
migrated across the Hebridean Sea at the end of the 5th century,
we can assume Cairpre eventually returned west.
The next
mention of a colony from the west in the east is by Lugaid mac Con of the Corco
Loigde in Munster, later High King of Ireland (195-225 CE). According to
legend, he fled to Alba with most of his warriors and their families after
losing a war for the kingship of southern Ireland to the forces of Eogan mac
Ailill Ollamh mac Mog Nuadat (ancestor of the Eoganachta).
When the
“King of the Picts”, probably at Inverness, learned who Lugaid really was, he
raised a group of warriors from among his own people and sent them with Lugaid
and his warriors to fight his enemies. After killing Eogan during the Battle of
Maigh Mucruimhe, Lugaid became High King since Art mac Cuinn had also died
there. In the meantime, he left a colony in the Hebrides under his son, Fothaid
Canan.
Upon
becoming High King, Lugaid fostered Cormac mac Art, son of the man whose place
he’d taken.
Cormac
later succeeded to the High Kingship, after a brief reign by Lugaid’s immediate
successor, Fergus Dubdetach, ruling 226-266 CE. It was during his reign that
Demna Fionn mac Cumhail served as head of the Fianna of Ireland.
After the
power of the Fianna was broken by the High King at the Battle of Gabhra in 284,
the survivors, according to legends told in Argyll down to the 19th century,
retreated across the Sea of the Hebrides as others had done before.
One story even tells of how the warriors of the Fianna, including Fionn himself, sleep in the hills surrounding Glen Etive awaiting their call to return.
One story even tells of how the warriors of the Fianna, including Fionn himself, sleep in the hills surrounding Glen Etive awaiting their call to return.
Archaeological
evidence discovered recently indicates that German warriors may have been
imported into Roman Britannia as foederati as early as the late 3rd century.
Certainly Dumfries, from Dun Phris or Fort of the Frisians, would indicate
this, since it is an area held by Brythonic kingdoms long after the mass invasions
began in the 5th century.
The main
reason for the establishment of these colonies of foederati was an attempt to
supplement legionaires to stop raiding by the Irish (called Scotti, the word
from whence “Scot” comes), the Picts, the Attacotti, and other Saxons. Small
groups of Sarmatians, Saxons, Frisians, Angles, Franks, Jutes, and possibly
even Irish took part.
Some of
the earliest reports of Irish settlement in the southern parts of the island of
Britain were probably of groups of just such foederati. In addition to the
well-known extension of the territory into northwest Scotland by the Dal Riata
of Ulster, who then held land on both sides of the Hebridean Sea, other groups
in Ireland also planted colonies in Britain beginning in the 4th century.
The Lleyn peninsula of northwest Wales is named for the Laighin from Leinster who colonized it, at least for a time, while Gwynedd gets its name from Feni, one of several names for the people of Ireland.
A group of
Ui Laithin from Munster settled in Dumnonia, while a group of Eoganachta led by
a chieftain named Cairbre from the vicinity of Kerry settled in the Pictish
region of Circinn.
Supposedly
about this same time, the Ui Bairrche, the Irish branch of the British
Brigantes, are also supposed to have begun colonizing what later became
Scotland.
Not long
afterward, in approximately 326 CE, Cairill mac Cairbre, aka Colla Uais, High
King of Ireland, was overthrown by his uncle, Muiredach Tirech, son of the
previous High King, and expelled to Alba. A previous king of Alba had been
their mother’s father.
Colla
Uais, fled there along with his two brothers, Aed, aka Colla Menn, and
Muiredach, aka Colla Fo Crith, and three hundred warriors. A year or two later,
thirty returned, including the Three Collas, and in 331 CE, defeated the last
Ulaidh high king of Ulster, destroyed Emain Macha, and established the kingdom
of Airghialla out of part of it.
Other
areas of the north colonized by Irish immigrants or ruled by Irish dynasties
include Angus (Oengus), The Mearns (Magh Geighinn, or “Plain of Circinn”),
Atholl (Ath Fodhla, or “New” Ireland), Strathearn (Strath Eireann, “Valley of
the Irish”, in Brythonic, Ystrad Aeron), Gowrie (Gabhrain), and Lennox, so
named for the dynasty who ruled there, the Lemnaig, who had previously held Ath
Fodhla.
A group of
the Deisi, who also named Desmond (Deisi Mumha), settled in what is now
southwest Wales under a king named Ilan and gave their name to Dyfed. The son
of a later Dyfed king called Brychan (Briocan in Irish) gained the neighboring
rival Brythonic kingdom of Garth Madrun by marriage to the king’s daughter and
left it with his name as Brycheiniog.
The
earliest post-Roman ruler of Dumnonia is called Conor Mor, obviously Irish, at
least in name.
Even
Arthur the Soldier, in later legend “King” Arthur, may himself have been Irish;
the earliest mention of him calls him not king, but “dux bellorum”, meaning,
literally, “commander of the battles”, and says specifically that he was a
military commader, not one of the kings.
While
there is no record of anyone in Roman or previous post-Roman Britain with the
name Arthur or its equivalent, examples of men named Art in Ireland go back to
at least the 2nd century CE; Art mac Cuinn, High King of
Ireland, for example.
The Ui Echach
Cobo, previously mentioned as one of the Cruithne tribes of Ireland, invaded
and colonized the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea.
A group of
the Ulaidh (or Dal Fiatach, aka MacDonlevys, as they were later known), for
whom Ulster is named, settled in the southwest part of Scotland called Galloway
for the later Norse-Gaelic invaders who conquered them called the
Gall-ghaidheal, or Stranger Gaels.
The Dal
Riata previously mentioned were fully active in the politics and tribal warfare
of Ulster, with some of the monarchs dying in battle there. The kingdom
declined after the middle 8th century CE when they were
conquered by the armies of Oengus I mac Fergus. They never regained a position
of real power after that, though the early decades of the 8th century
saw them temporarily regain a measure of independence; they did, however, leave
their name on their territory as Earr a’ Gaidheal, or Seacoast of the Gaels.
Of all
these groups of Irish/Scotti invaders, the Eoganachta Maigi Dergind (Magh
Geirginn), are probably the most important since one of their members, Oengus I
mac Fergus, was the first to dominate all of Scotland north of the Firths, the
area later called Alba.
The
kingdom which formed the base of his power was Fortriu, previously thought to
have been centered on Strathearn between Atholl and Lennox but now known to be
the area later called Moray, or Moireabh (meaning the Mormaerdom of the Early
Middle Ages rather than the greatly reduced later county of the High Middle
Ages).
In
addition to Oengus I, mention should also be made of an earlier Gael who ruled
Fortriu, Bridei mac Dargart, son of a Pictish princess named Der-Ilei and
Dargart mac Finnguinne of the Cenel Comghall of Dal Riata. Bridei succeeded to
the throne in 696 CE and was succeeded by his brother Nechtan in 706. Nechtan
ruled until 732 (except for an interregnum where a usurper ruled from 724-728),
when he died and was succeeded by the afore-mentioned Oengus mac Fergus.
Meaning,
that the throne of Inverness (Inbhir Nis) was in the hands of Gaelic rulers
from 696 CE.
The
reasons Bridei couldn’t become king over both the Picts and the Scots were
twofold.
First, his
kindred, the Cenel Comghall of Cowall and Knapdale, were, by the time of his
ascension, one of the minor kindreds of Dal Riata, the others being the Cenel
Baodan (Clan Gillean) of Morvern, the Cenel nOengusa of Islay and Mull, and the
Cenel Choncride (or Conraig) of Islay. The major powers were the Cenel
nGabhrain of Kintyre (Ceann Tir) and the Cenel Loairn of Argyll (Earr a’
Gaidheal) and Lorn.
Second,
Oengus I became ruler of all the north by conquest, not by succession, an
accomplishment of which Bridei apparently was incapable.
By the
way, Bridei mac Dargart was also grandson of Bili ap Nechtan, King of Alt Clud.
Nor was he the first king of Fortriu from the ruling family of Strathclyde
(Ystrad Clwd); the brothers Garnait, Bridei, and Talorg, sons of Gwid son of
Nechtan (d. 630) of Strathclyde, had earlier held the throne of
Inverness.
The three
brothers were in turn succeeded by the son of the Earl of Beornicia, Talorcan,
who was succeeded by Garnait and Drest (both Brythonic names), both sons of one
Dungal; while Dungal is not identified, his name is Gaelic.
The
Britons of Alt Clud/Strathclyde, and their cousins in Manaw, Eidyn, Gododdin,
Rheged, Argoed, Dent, Peak, Bryneich, Deifr, Elmet, and Ebrauc (York), were
known to the Welsh, or Cyrmry, as the Gwyr y Gogledd, or Men of the North, and
their lands the Y Hen Gogledd.
Alt Clud,
renamed Ystrad Clud after the capital was moved to Govan, was the longest
surviving of these kingdoms, including the territory of Rheged for a time, only
losing its identity on the succession of David I mac Malcolm III to the throne
of Alba, by which time it also included most of Lothian and Scottish
Bernicia.
Yet even
then they did not entirely lose their identity; as late as the reign of
Alexander III, Scotland’s monarch was using the title “Rex Scotorum et
Britanniarum” on official documents. A century and a half before that,
David I upon his accession to the throne promulgated a codification of Scottish
law called Leges inter Brettos et Scottos (Laws of the Brets and Scots) that
lasted until they were discontinued by Edward I after his victory in the First
War of Scottish Independence.
In the
early records, the kingship of Dal Riata did alternate back and forth between
the descendants of Comgall, the elder son of Domangart mac Fergus Mor, and
those of his younger brother Gabran. By the 7th century, the
Cenel Comghall’s fortunes had apparently receded and the Cenel Loairn moved
much more to the forefront, more often occupying the seat of kingship than
Cenel nGabhrain.
However,
only a few chiefs in Dal Riata were strong and capable enough to be recognized
as sovereign over all the various Cenels, the first being Aedan mac Gabhrain
(574-606) and the next being Ferchar Fada of Cenel Loairn (680-697) although it
is possible that Fergus Mor mac Erc (d. 501) also achieved this recognition;
these were, in fact, the only overkings to achieve that goal in any realistic
definition.
Even the
alleged member of that dynasty who Middle Age geneaologists claimed was the
first king of the Scots and Picts, Kenneth I (Cinaed) mac Alpin, reigned as Rex
Pictorum from 848 CE, as did his successors until 900 CE.
Constantine (Causantin) mac Aeda, who took the throne that year, ruled as “King of Alba” ”, the Pictish name for the country, rather than “King of Picts”, as did his own successors to the time of David I.
And
speaking of David I, contrary to popular belief it was neither he nor his
father Malcolm III who first introduced Norman lords into the Lowlands and
Highlands of Scotland, but the reputed last of the Gaelic kings himself,
MacBethad mac Findlaech, predecessor of Malcolm III.
Around
this time, the title of Mormaer appeared, probably of Pictish rather than
Gaelic origin, since the word itself is not Gaelic. Mormaers appear to be
roughly the equivalent of Anglo-Saxon Earls at the time when the kingdom of
England was composed of four earldoms: Northhumbria, Mercia, Wessex, and East
Anglia.
Mormaerdoms
of the kingdom of Alba included: Moray (Moireabh, sometimes still called
Fortriu), Fife (Fibh), Buchan, Marr, Angus (Oengus), Mearns (Magh Geighinn, or
Circinn), Atholl (Ath Fodhla), Caithness (Cait), Strathearn (Strath Eireann),
Lennox (Lemnaig), Menteith (Teadhaich), and Ross (Ros), even the later Carrick
(Carraig) and Dunbar (Din Baer); the title is still used in Irish annals for
Robert the Bruce as Earl of Carrick in the 14thcentury.
Other provinces
mentioned, without giving the men who ruled them the title of Mormaer, include
Forthriff, Gowrie, Galloway (Gall-ghaidheal), the Isles, and Orkney, the latter
of which may have had a Mormaer separately from Caithness.
The reason
I mention the Mormaers is because Irish annals cite three of them as dying in
battle during a war between rival kings in the north of Ireland. In addition,
Malcolm (Maelcoluim) II, king of Alba at the time, sent a sizable contingent to
fight with Brian Borumha, High King of Ireland, (to whose daughter he was
married) at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014.
Brian
styled himself in Latin “Imperator Scotorum”, or Emperor of the Irish, Scotorum
being the name by which the inhabitants of both Alba and Ireland were known at
the time.
Among
those Malcolm sent were Domnall, his son and heir, and several Mormaers, two of
whom died along with his son; the heads of all three served as part of the
honour guard on the High King’s bier carried from the battlefield to Armagh
(Ard Macha) for the funeral and were subsequently buried with him, in the style
of ancient Irish kings.
After
Malcolm II, with the death of his son at Clontarf, the Cenel Connaill came to
power as Kings of Alba in the person of Duncan (Donnchaidh) mac Crinan, his
son-in-law. The Cenel Connaill, called the Kindred of St. Columba in Scotland,
had first come to that country when St. Colmcille, or Columba (Crimthann mac
Felimid of Cenel Connaill), established the great abbey of Iona in the 6th century.
Colmcille
was held as the patron saint of Alba, as well as of Dal Riata, until the
Pictish king Nechtan mac Dargart of 696-706 changed the patron to St. Peter,
which was changed to St. Andrew in 820 by Oengus II mac Fergus, brother of the
Causantin who founded the church at Dunkeld (Dun Chaillean) and moved Alba’s
share relics of St. Colmcille there, the remainder going to Kells.
The Cenel
Connaill shared an ancestor with some of the kings of Dal Riata, the Cenel
Loairn, for Loarn himself was great-grandfather to St. Colmcille as much as
Conall Gulban, his daughter having married the latter’s son, Feidlim.
The Cenel
Connaill and the Dal Riata remained close allies until 637, when the king of
Dal Riata, Domnall Brecc (629-642), crossed the Irish Sea to fight alongside
the Cruithnic Dal nAraide against the forces of the High King, who also
happened to be head of the Cenel Connaill.
After the
primacy was moved from Iona to Dunkeld, the abbot became more and more a
temporal lord as well as an abbot. By the time of Duncan’s father Crinan, the
comarbha of St. Colmcille, head of the Kindred of St. Columba in Scotland, was
Abbot of Dunkeld, Mormaer of Atholl, Abthane of Dull, Kirkmichael, &
Madderty, and Seneschal of the Isles.
After
Duncan was killed in battle near Inverness, the throne of Alba was assumed by
MacBethad mac Findlaech of Moray, who previous to this was referred to as King
of Moray and King of Fortriu in Irish annals of the time.
The rulers
of Moray had broken from the kings of Alba at Scone in the time of Malcolm I
(942-954) and held their territory more or less independently since that time,
and may have even held sway over Buchan and Marr.
There was, however, apparently still some acknowledgement of the king at Scuin since MacBethad received Duncan at Inverness, the capital of Fortriu and of Moray since ancient times, at least back to the days of Bridei mac Maelchon, to whom Columcille travelled to get permission for his abbey to remain.
There was, however, apparently still some acknowledgement of the king at Scuin since MacBethad received Duncan at Inverness, the capital of Fortriu and of Moray since ancient times, at least back to the days of Bridei mac Maelchon, to whom Columcille travelled to get permission for his abbey to remain.
Macbethad
was the great-grandson of the Morgan who initiated the break. His father,
Findlaech mac Ruadri (d. 1020) and his father’s successor, Malcolm mac
Maelbride (1020-1029), as rulers of Moray were both called King of Alba in the
Irish annals; Gillecomgan mac Maelbride (1029-1032), who succeeded Malcolm, was
called merely Mormaer of Moray; Macbethad (King of Moray 1032-1057) was his
successor; Lulach mac Gillecomgan (1057-1058) was also called King of Alba;
Maelsnechtai mac Lulach (1058-1085), his immediate successor in Moray, King of
Moray, as are his successors down to Oengus, grandson of Maelsnechtai, who died
in 1130 during the invasion of the south.
Traditionally,
Kenneth I mac Alpin, who, until recently, was held to be the first king of the
Scots and the Picts, was thought to be a member of the Dal Riata dynasty of the
Cenel nGabhrain, and was said to have moved the seat of the Picts from
Inverness to Scone because of the depredations of the Norse.
However,
since the rulers of Moray continued with Inverness as their seat, this
explanation, while still possible, seems more and more implausible, especially
in light of the fact that claims he moved St. Colmcille’s relics to Dunkeld
have been shown to be false.
Furthermore,
given the existence of the historical district of Gowrie between Perth and
Dundee, belonging to Atholl but just across the Firth of Tay from Fife, it’s
possible that either the Cenel nGabhrain by the time of Kenneth I had moved
east, or even that the Cenel nGabhrain always
existed in the east.
The annals
do, in fact, identify the "sons of Connad Cerr (mac Connaill; d.
629)" of Cenel nGabhrain with the men of (Fife) Fibh, in contrast to the
main line of Cenel nGabhrain, whose territory lay in Kintyre. What’s more, all
of the locations identified with Kenneth I mac Alpin—Scone, Forteviot, St.
Andrews, Dunkeld—are within Atholl.
It is
entirely possible that the junior line of Cenel nGabhrain, having married into
the dynasties which ruled Atholl and Fife separately or together, stepped into
the vacuum left by the deaths of so many leading men of Fortriu and Dal Riata
in the northern battle against the Vikings in 839.
The story
about how Kenneth I invited all the Pictish nobles to a banquet and massacred
them has been so disproven by so many and so well that only its falsehood needs
to be mentioned here.
Pictish
dynasties ruled Mormaerships and smaller territories well into the High Middle
Ages; indeed, Garnait of Mar was one of Robert the Bruce’s strongest
supporters. The families of Brodie, MacRae, MacMillan, Buchan, Erskine,
Rattray, Forbes, Urquhart, Mackenzie, Nicholson, Matheson, MacLaren,
Balquhidder, Tyrie, Logie, Glencairie, Burie, Strathearn, and MacLeish all have
Pictish roots.
The Cenel
nGabhrain and their rivals the Cenel Loairn had long fought over the kingship
of Dal Riata. According to legend, the Cenel nGabhrain married into the
southern Pictish royal house while the Cenel Loairn moved north up Glen Mor and
married into the house of the rulers of Fortriu/Moray.
Given the
proven falsehood of the other stories, it seems possible a member of a relatively
minor Dal Riatan dynasty may have have married into a southern Pictish dynasty
and that upon his succession Kenneth I switched the seat of the kingdom of the
Picts to Scone because that was his base of power already.
The power of Fortriu had been shattered at the battle against the Norse in which both Eoghan mac Oengus of the Picts and Aed mac Boanta of Dal Riata, along with a large part of their forces, had been killed in 839, leading to ten years of civil strife that allowed Kenneth I to seize power.
The
possibility of this conclusion becomes more likely when you take into account
the fact that the latest reliable reference in the annals to a King of Dal
Riata from the Cenel nGabhrain is of the death of Eochaid mac Eochaid in 733
CE, which, by some coincidence, is the very year that Dal Riata were allegedly
divided into two separate kingdoms, the western of which fell under the
dominion of Indretach, king of the Cruithni tribe Dal nAraide, who later took
the surname O’Lynch.
The Dal
Riata in Antrim were ruled directly by the O’Quinns of Cary in the Glens of
Antrim. The O’Quinns later lost their claims by marriage to a Scoto-Norman
exile named John Bisset, whose heirs became MacKeown, who in turn and by the
same way lost to the MacDonnells of Antrim, a branch of the great Clan Donald
of the Isles.
If true, this might explain the long-standing rivalry between the kings in the south and the rulers of the north, which continued until the time of David I, who killed the remaining members of the dynasty and broke up the territory.
The claims
of the northern line, by the way, were continued by MacWilliams claimants, who
were descended from a daughter of Oengus, King of Moray, married to William
fitz Duncan, son of Malcolm III Ceannmor mac Duncan, until the last of their
number, an infant girl, had her brains bashed out publicly in 1230 by the head
of the Scoto-Norman House of Comyn.
Godfraidh
mac Fergus, of the southern Ui Neill Clann Cholmain of Midhe (rivals of their
cousins, Sil Aeda Slaine of Brega) and likely part Norse himself, became about
this time Ri Innes Gall, or King of the Foreigners’ Isles (the Hebrides, or
Eilean na Bride).
Godfraidh
was the probable ancestor to the Kings of Man and the Isles who ruled the
Hebrides until the time of Somerled, who married the daughter of the heiress of
Kintyre (Ceann Tir), and used that as a platform to conquer their
kingdom.
Somerled
became the ancestor, in the male line, of the Clan Donald, the Clan Dougall,
and the Clan Ruari.
The Cenel
Connaill families in Scotland include Wemyss (senior line of Clan Duff),
Camerons, Dunbars, Moncreiffes, Robertsons, MacDuffs, Mackintoshes,
Scrymgeours, Spens, Abernethys, Bannermans, Syrases, Scotts of Balweary, Duffs
of Muldavit, Shaws, Farquharsons, McCombies, and MacThomases.
The Cenel nEoghan are represented in the Clan Rose, who are connected to the O’Cahans of Tyrone, the Clan Ross (who descend from the O’Beolains of Cenel nEoghan, abbots of Applecross and comharbas of St. Maelrubha), and the O’Briodys of the Isles, who are a branch of the ecclesiastical O’Brollaghans of Cenel nEoghan.
The Cenel nEoghan are represented in the Clan Rose, who are connected to the O’Cahans of Tyrone, the Clan Ross (who descend from the O’Beolains of Cenel nEoghan, abbots of Applecross and comharbas of St. Maelrubha), and the O’Briodys of the Isles, who are a branch of the ecclesiastical O’Brollaghans of Cenel nEoghan.
There are
claims that the Cenel nGabhrain survives in the groups of clans known as the
Siol Alpin (Clan Gregor, Clan Grant, Clan na Aba or Macnabs, Clan Ferguson of
Strachur, Clan Kersey, Clan Fingon or Mackinnons, Clan t’Saoir or Macintyres,
Clan Duffie or Macfie, and Clan Guaire or Macquarrie). However, strong claims
have lately been made that these clans descend from the Pictish inhabitants of
the western Highlands and/or the Cenel Loairn.
From the
Cenel Loairn are supposedly descended the Ui Duibhne/Campbells (who are
demonstrably a Scoto-Norman house in the male line), MacArthurs, MacGillivrays,
MacInneses, MacNachtans, Clan Chattan (MacPhersons, Davidsons, Cattanachs,
MacBeans), Camerons, MacMartins, MacGillonies, and MacSorleys.
The chiefs
of the Camerons, also a branch of Clan Duff, married into the Cenel Loairn clan
descended from Gilleoin of the Aird which also includes the MacMartins,
MacGillonies, and MacSorleys.
The Ui
Duibhne, into which the Scoto-Norman Campbells (de Campo Bello) married, were
the junior branch of the Siol Diarmid, of which the MacArthurs were the senior
branch, though their premier position had already been lost to the O’Duins
before the coming of the Campbells.
According
to the Senchus fer n-Alban, Cenel Loairn was further subdivided
into Cenel Shalaig, Cenel Cathbath, Cenel nEchdach, and Cenel Murerdaig.
The Clan
Aodh, or Clan Morgan, i.e. the Mackays, descend directly from the MacHeths and
MacWilliams of the High Middle Ages whose ancestor of the Clan Duff (from
Alexander, or Aodh, first Abbot of Abernethy) had married into the old House of
Moray, making them descendants of both the Cenel Connaill (in Scotland) and the
Cenel Loairn.
The Cenel
Comghall survive as the Siol Gillivray, and are descended from the marriage of
Aedh Androdhan O’Neill of Airghialla to the heiress of Cenel Comghall around
the year 1100 CE. The Cenel Comghall/Siol Gillivray includes MacLachlan,
Lamont, MacSorley, MacNeill of Barra, McNeill of Gigha, MacEwen, MacSweeney of
Donegal, MacSween of Skye, MacQueen of Strathdearn, and Macleay/Livingstone.
The Cenel
Baodan of Morvern, descended from a younger son of Cenel Loairn, became known
as Clan Gilleoin from the 13th century after Gille Eoin of the
Battle Axe, and moved from Morvern to Mull, with branches in Duart, Lochbuie,
and Urquhart (the latter of which joined the Clan Chattan confederation).
Of the Cenel nOengusa, supposedly descended from Oengus Mor mac Erc, nothing is known other than that they had lands in Islay and Mull; perhaps Godfraidh mac Fergus was one of their number.
The Cenel Conchride also lived on Islay, descended from Conchriath mac Bolc mac Setna mac Fergus Bec mac Erc.
The Scots
in the east also migrated west prior to the Plantations, including entire clans
being set up, most notably in the MacKeowns (descended from the Bissets of
Scotland) and MacDonnells of Antrim (a branch of Clan Donald), the MacSweeneys
of Donegal (one of the Siol Gillivray clans), the MacSheehys of Desmond in
Munster (another branch of Clan Donald), the MacCoys of Moylurg in Connaught (a
branch of Clan Aodh/Clan Morgan), and a MacGuaire clan related to the
Macquarries of Ulva.
Individuals
and small groups no doubt also made the move, all before the 1600’s.
Interestingly,
Ranald the Wise, Jarl of More, was father of both Rolf the Granger, Count of
Rouen, ancestor of the Dukes of Normandy, and Einar, ancestor of the Norse
Jarls of Orkney and Earls of Caithness who were closely related to the Kings of
Dublin and Kings of Man and the Isles.
Therefore
the Normans rulers, at least, were closely related to at least a part of the
people whom they later subjugated, though the greater part of the Viking
invaders who settled Normandy were Danes as opposed to Norse, with a few Swedes
in the mix, even some Orcadians and Hiberno-Norse. The colonization, however,
was spread thin over a population mostly of local origin.
The region
of France that later became Normandy had been a quasi-independent state ruled
from Noviodunum (Soissons), by two successive Roman magisters militum of Gaul,
Aegidius and Syragius, from 457 to 486 CE. Saxons raiders and Frankish invaders
had only sparsely settled Normandy, and most inhabitants were descendants of
the original Gaulish tribes who lived in the area, with some spillover from
Armorica (Gaulish: Aremorica), which came to be known as Brittany.
Under the
Franks, the area of the later Normandy was called Neustria. Before the Roman
conquest, the area had been the seat of the kingdom of the Suessoines which
straddled the English Channel.
Speaking
of Brittany, two of its traditional provinces bear witness to its immigrants of
the Early Middle Ages: Dumnonie and Cornouaille. In addition, another of its
traditional regions, Vannetais, is called Gwened in Breton.
In modern
times, Irish immigrants to Scotland are Irish-Scots. Conversely, Scottish
immigrants to Ireland may be called Scots-Irish, but this term is usually
reserved for those who immigrated to Ireland during the Plantation period, at
first meaning strictly the Scots, but later including English and Welsh too, if
they fell under the Dissenter (non-Anglican) umbrella.
The
Protestant Ascendancy, or Anglican Ascendancy in later terms, wore the term
Anglo-Irish, meaning those who came over during the Plantations. The earlier
wave of invaders/immigrants from the island to the east fall in the category of
Hiberno-Normans, though many were of Flemish or Welsh origin as well as
Cambro-Norman.
In
Northeast Ulster, many now prefer the term Ulster-Scots to Scots-Irish, and
both are used colloquially to refer to Protestants there as a group.
“Green
Irish” is a term sometimes used for Catholics and/or nationalists/republicans,
while “Orange Irish” is a term sometimes used for Protestants and/or
unionists/loyalists. “Black
Irish” is a term originating in Canada, the designation “Black” being a
diminuitive form of “Blackfeet”, the term given by the Catholic terror group
Whiteboys to fellow Catholics who did not boycott Anglo-Irish business and/or
the Ascendancy government. It is a pejorative reference in the same vein as the
epithet “souper” for those converted to Protestantism during the Great Potato
Famine in order to be fed.
Prior to
the large influx during the Potato Famine, all newcomers in America from the
island of Ireland were simply referred to as “Irish”, regardless of their
origin or religion in the home country. Even later this was often the case, so
the Protestant John Henry “Doc” Holliday of post-bellum West fame was regarded
as much Irish as his cousin and love interest the very Catholic Mattie
Holliday, who later became Sister Mary Melanie of the Sisters of Mercy.
The
star-crossed Doc and Mattie were the inspirations respectively for Margaret
Mitchell’s Rhett Butler and Melanie Hamilton Wilkes in her epic novel,Gone
With The Wind. Both were Mitchell’s cousins by marriage.
Many today
lament the partition of Northeast Ulster (aka Six Counties, aka Northern
Ireland) from the Republic, but historically Ulster has never really been a
part of the rest of Ireland at any time, at least not in the past two
millennia.
At one
time, the area (as well as Connacht) was literally and physically separate from
Ireland: along with the north part of the island of Britain from the mouth of
the River Tyne to the Solway Firth, it was once part of the Laurentian craton
that now forms most of North America.
The
afore-mentioned Attacotti were most likely dispossessed tributary tribes
(Aithechthuatha in Irish), mostly from Munster, referred to in some annals as
the Deisi (Deisi Mumhan, Deisi Tuisceart, Deisi Becc, & Deisi Temro, not to
mention the group who bequeathed their name to Dyfed).
Anthropologists once thought that the modern Irish Travellers (Pavees in Shelta) are the
direct descendants of these Attacotti/Deisi, In fact, DNA analysis shows that the Irish Travellers originated as a population from different groups in the mid-17th century, around the time of or just after the Confederation Wars. The nearly identical in
culture Tinkers/Travellers/Summer Walkers of the Scottish Highlands (Ceardannan in
Gaelic) are similarly descended from likewise dispossessed crofters and
clansmen. The name Tinker, also applied sometimes to Irish Travellers, is
derived from the Gaelic word “tincuer”, which literally means “craftsman”, and
is also the English translation of “Ceardannan”, their name in Scottish Gaelic.
“Irish”
groups in Britain
Ulaidh in
Novant (Rhinns of Galloway) & Mann
Dal Riata
(Earra Gaidheal)
Ath Fodhla
Eoghanachta
Magh Geirginn
Strath
Eireann
Gowrie
(Cenel
n)Oengus(a)
Lemnaig
Laighin in
Lleyn
Feni in
Gwynedd
Deisi in
Dyfed & Brycheneoig
Eoghanachta
in Dumnonia
Ui Liathin
in Dumnonia
Cenel
Eoghan
Cenel Connaill
Airghialla
Corcu
Loigde (in Alba; aka Dairine, of Ptolemy)
Ui
Bairrche (Irish Brigantes) in Alba
“British”
groups in Ireland
Galeion/Galenga
of northern Leinster
Gangani of
Munster (Gangani in North Wales)
Ui
Bairrche of Leix (Brigantes)
Coraind of
Sligo (Corieltauvi)
Cuirenrige
of Wexford (Corieltauvi)
Dal
Cuirind of Wexford (Corieltauvi)
Fir Manach
of Fermanagh (Manapii)
Builg/Fir
Bolg of Cork (Belgae)
Fir Domnan
of Connachta (rel. to Damnonii & Dumnonii)
“Pictish”
groups in Ireland
Fineachan of Ulster (Venicones)
Dal
nAraidi of Ulster
Ui Eachach
Cobo
Connaill
Muirtheimhne
Cenel
Foghartaigh
Loigis
Sogain
Fothairt
Caerini
“Belgae”
in the Pretanic Isles
Atrebates
Menapii
Ambiani
Suessiones
Belgae
Kingdoms
of Y Hen Gogledd
Ystrad
Aeron/Strath Eireann (?-?)
Gododdin (420-638)
Gododdin (420-638)
Din Eidyn
(545-638)
Manaw (?-?)
Manaw (?-?)
Alt
Clut/Ystrad Clud (410-1124)
Novant/Wyr
Enouant (535-1025)
Caer
Guendoleu (505-573)
Rheged
(450-616)
Argoed
(535-613)
Ebrauc
(420-580)
Bryneich
(420-c. 600)
Deifr
(420-559)
Pennines
(470-525)
Dunoting
(525-595)
Peak
(525-590)
Elmet
(470-617)
Urban centers of Y Hen Gogledd
Urban centers of Y Hen Gogledd
Din Eidyn
(Edinburgh)
Caer Eidyn
(Carriden)
Din Guardi
(Bamburgh)
Dinas y
Brython (Dunbarton)
Din
Paladur (Traprain Law)
Din Baer
(Dunbar)
Din Gefron
(Yeavering Bell)
Caer
Ligualid (Carlisle)
The
Delbhna
At one
time a major power in the island, this population was broken into several parts
and scattered across central Ireland. What makes this group interesting to me
is (1) the MacConroys are my ancestors and (2) the Dealbhna are according to
legend descended from Delbaeth mac Ogma of the Tuatha De Danaan, the race of
gods driven underground, literally, by the Milesians.
Delbaeth
mac Ogma is the same as Tuireann, the Irish god of thunder, and Ogma, his
father, is/was god of eloquence, inspiration, language, magic, music, physical
strength, poets, and writers.
1.
Delbhna Tir Dha Locha (of
the Two Lakes), or Delbhna Feadha (of the Heather), were based
in the area of Co. Galway between Lough Corrib and Lough Lurgan (Galway
Bay). Their chiefs took the surname MacConraoi, or MacConroy, later
Anglicized to King. The MacConraoi held Gno Mor while their cadets,
O'hEanna or O'Heney, held Gno Beg, but in the annals MacConraoi is always
styled Ri (King of) or Tighearna (Lord of) Thira Da Locha. As chiefs of
the name they were styled Mac Mheic Con Raoi.
2.
Delbhna Cuile Fabhair once
held Maigh Seóla, the area east of Lough Corrib in County Galway, until
conquered by the Ó Flaithbertaighs/O’Flahertys (and who were in turn later driven
into Connemara, where they became known as Kings of Iar Connacht). Their chiefs
took the surname O'Fathairtaigh or Faherty
3.
Delbhna Nuadat,
or Delbhna Ui Maine, were lords of a large section that is now
Athlone in Co, Roscommon, situated between the Suck and Shannon Rivers. From
the early historic era they were a subject people of the Ui Maine. Their
chiefs took the surname O'Flannagain or Flannagan
4.
Delbhna bEthra may
have once formed a single kingdom with the Delbhna Nuadat until subjugated by
the Ui Maine. By the late 5th century they had fallen under the control of the
Uà Néill. Their chiefs took the surname MacCochluinn or Coughlan, and
their territory was what is now Garrycastle in Co. Offaly
5.
Delbhna Mor were
located in what is now Devlin in Co. Westmeath. Their chiefs took the
surname O'Finnallain or Fenelon.
6.
Delbhna Bheag,
or Delbhna Bec, were based in what is now Demifore in Co,
Westmeath. Their chiefs took the surname Ua Maoilchallan, or Mulholland.
7.
Delbhna Sith Neannta ruled
over the area now called Fairymount in Co. Roscommon. Their chiefs took
the name O'Laoghog or Logue.
8.
Delbhna Teannmhagh,
or Delbhna Iarthair Mhidhe, at one time controlled what is now
Rathconrath in Co. Westmeath. Their chiefs took the surname Ua Scolaidhe
or O'Scully.
The
Dal Riata dynasties/tribes in Argyll
Corcu Reti
Cenel nGabhrain (Kintyre)
Cenel Comgaill (Cowall)
Clann Connad Cerr (Fibh)
Cenel nGarnait (Skye)
Cenel Conaing (Mull)
Cenel
Chonride (Islay; short-lived)
Cenel
nOengusa (Islay; poss. Dal Fiatach related to Ui Ibdaig)
Cenel
Loairn (later Fortriu/Moireabh)
Cenel Shalaig (Nether Lorn)
Cenel Cathboth (Mid Lorn)
Cenel nEchdach (Upper Lorn)
Cenel Baetain (Morvern; aka Clann
Gilleion)
Cenel Murerdaig
Fortuatha:
The
Fortuatha were descended from older populations dominant in Ireland in pre- and
proto- historic times. Many of these,
like the Debhna above, were themselves divided into a number of sub-groups,
often widely dispersed. They were “kingdoms
not ruled directly by members of the dominant dynasty of a province” (Francis
John Byrne) and/or “people belonging to a different stock from that of the
rulers of the territory” (T.F. O’Rahilly).
Their fortunes varied, some being classed as Aithechthuatha.
- Calraige, found mostly in northern Connacht but also in
Cos. Westmeath and Longford
- Ciannachta, originally from Mumha, found in Brega, Tir
Eoghain, and Co. Louth
- Ciarraige, several branches in Laighin, Connacht, and Mumha
- Conmaicne, several branches, all in Connacht
- Corca Fhir Tri, found in northern Connacht
- Dal Messin Corb, former rulers of Laighin
- Dartraighe, found in Co. Monaghan
- Delbhna, several branches, see their section above
- Deisi, mentioned briefly above, there were several
branches
- Forthairt, found under this name in several branches in
Laighin
- Gailenga, found in Connacht and Brega
- Grecraige, found in coastal Co. Clare and Coolavin in
Co. Sligo
- Luighne, originally from Brega, migrated to north
central Connacht
- Masraige, from Magh Slecht in Co. Cavan
- Osraighe, a small semi-independent kingdom between Laighin and Mumha
4 comments:
Actually, new genetic tests carried out "recently" by welcome trust, show most of us english do have much of our ancestry from invading angles jutes etc...
Ramble on
The travelers do not appear to be in any way linked to the Deisi, recent dna testing shows them for the most part to be M222 and that is not the Deisi.
Thanks, I'll do some research and change it accordingly.
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