Kingdom of Strathclyde
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Looking north at Dumbarton Rock chief fort of Strathclyde from the 6th century to 870. The fort of Alt Clut was on the right hand summit. |
Strathclyde (
Gaelic:
Srath Chluaidh), also known as
Alt Clut, the
British name for
Dumbarton Rock, was one of the kingdoms of the
Britons in southern
Scotland during the
post-Roman,
Early and
High Medieval periods. It may have had its origins in the
Damnonii of
Ptolemy's
Geographia.
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Simple relief map of Scotland and nearby parts of Ireland and England. |
Place-name and
archaeological evidence points to some settlement by
Norse or
Norse-Gaels in the
Viking Age, although to a lesser degree than in neighbouring
Galloway. A small number of
Anglian place-names show some limited settlement by incomers from
Northumbria prior to the Norse settlement. Due to the series of language changes in the area, it is not possible to say whether any
Goidelic settlement took place before
Gaelic was introduced in the High Middle Ages.
After the sack of Dumbarton Rock by a
Viking army from
Dublin in 870, the name Strathclyde comes into use, perhaps reflecting a move of the centre of the kingdom to
Govan. In the same period, it was also referred to as Cumbria, and its inhabitants as Cumbrians. During the High Middle Ages, the area was conquered by the
kingdom of Alba, becoming part of the new kingdom of Scotland. It remained a distinctive area into the 12th century.
Ptolemy's
Geographia - a sailors' chart, not an ethnographical survey
[The description is Ã" Corráin's, in R. Foster (ed.), The Oxford History of Ireland, p. 4.] - lists a number of tribes, or groups of tribes, in southern Scotland at around the time of the
Roman invasion and the establishment of
Roman Britain in the first century AD. As well as the Damnonii, Ptolemy lists the
Otalini, whose capital appears to have been
Traprain Law; to their west, the
Selgovae in the
Southern Uplands and, further west in
Galloway, the
Novantae. In addition, a group known as the
Maeatae, probably in the area around
Stirling, appear in later Roman records. The capital of the Damnonii is believed to have been at Carman, near to Dumbarton, but around 5 miles inland from the
river Clyde.
Although the northern frontier was
Hadrians Wall for most of the history of Roman Britain, Roman forts existed north of the wall, the frontier was three times moved north. Twice it was advanced to the line of the
Antonine Wall, when the wall was built and again under
Septimius Severus, and once further north, beyond the
river Tay, during
Gnaeus Julius Agricola's campaigns, although it was soon withdrawn each time. In addition to these contacts, Roman armies undertook punitive expeditions north of the frontiers. Natives certainly travelled south of the wall, to trade, to raid and to serve in the Roman army. Roman traders may have travelled north, and Roman subsidies, or bribes, were sent to useful tribes and leaders. The extent to which Roman Britain was
romanised is debated, and if there are doubts about the areas under close Roman control, then there must be even more doubts over the degree to which the Damnonii were romanised.
[For a brief survey of Rome and southern Scotland see Hanson, "Roman occupation".]The final period of Roman Britain saw an apparent increase in attacks by land and sea, the raiders including the
Picts,
Scotti and the mysterious
Attacotti whose origins are not certain.
[The home of the Attacotti has been variously identified. Ireland is the most favoured location, and an association with the Déisi is plausible. A few authors have suggested the Outer Hebrides or the Northern Isles.] These raids will have also targeted the tribes of southern Scotland. The final withdrawal of Roman forces around 410 is unlikely to have been of immediate impact on the Damnonii.
No historical source gives any firm information on the boundaries of the kingdom of Alt Clut, but suggestions have been offered on the basis of
place-names and
topography. Near the north end of
Loch Lomond, which can be reached by boat from the Clyde, lies Clach nam Breatann, the Rock of the Britains, which is thought to have gained its name as a marker at the northern limit of Alt Clut. The
Campsie Fells and the marshes between Loch Lomond and
Stirling may have represented another boundary. To the south, the kingdom extended some distance up the valley of the Clyde, and along the coast probably extended south towards
Ayr.
[Alcock & Alcock, "Excavations at Alt Clut"; Koch, "The Place of Y Gododdin". Barrell, Medieval Scotland, p. 44, supposes that the diocese of Glasgow established by David I in 1128 may have corresponded with the late kingdom of Strathclyde.]The Old North
Although often referred to as the
Dark Ages, the period after the end of Roman rule in southern Scotland, while poorly understood, is considerably less dark than the Roman period. Archaeologists and historians have offered varying accounts of the period over the last century and a half. The written sources available for the period are largely Irish and Welsh, and very few indeed are contemporary with the period between 400 and 600.
Irish sources report events in the kingdom of Dumbarton only when they have an Irish link. Excepting the 6th century
jeremiad by
Gildas and the poetry attributed to
Taliesin and
Aneirin, in particular
Y Gododdin, thought to have been composed in Scotland in the 7th century, Welsh sources generally date from a much later period. Some are informed by the political attitudes prevalent in Wales in the 9th century and after.
Bede, whose prejudice is apparent, rarely mentions Britons, and then usually in uncomplimentary terms.
Two kings are known from near contemporary sources in this early period. The first is the tyrant Coroticus or
Ceretic, known as the recipient of a letter from
Saint Patrick, and stated by a 7th century biographer to have been king of the Height of the Clyde, Dumbarton Rock, placing him in the second half of the 5th century. From Patrick's letter it is clear that Ceretic was a
Christian, and it is likely that the ruling class of the area were also Christians, at least in name. His descendant
Riderch Hael is named in
Adomnán's
Life of Saint Columba. Riderch was a contemporary of
Ãedán mac Gabráin of
Dál Riata and
Urien of
Rheged, to whom he is linked by various traditions and tales, and also of
Æthelfrith of
Bernicia.
The Christianisation of southern Scotland, if Patrick's letter to Coroticus was indeed to a king in Strathclyde, had therefore made considerable progress when the first historical sources appear. Further south, at
Whithorn, a Christian inscription is known from the second half of the 5th century, perhaps commemorating a new church. How this came about is unknown. Unlike Columba,
Kentigern, the supposed
apostle to the Britons of the Clyde, is a shadowy figure and Jocelyn of Furness's 12th century
Life is late and of doubtful authenticity.
The Kingdom of Alt Clut
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Possible language zones in southern Scotland, 7th-8th centuries (after Nicolaisen, Scottish Place-Names and Taylor, "Place Names"). |
After 600, information on the Britons of Alt Clut becomes slightly more common in the sources. However, historians have disagreed as to how these should be interpreted. Broadly speaking, they have tended to produce theories which place their subject at the centre of the history of north Britain in the Early Historic period. The result is a series of narratives which cannot be reconciled.
[Smyth, Warlords and Holy Men represents a work where the Britons are given prominence, others have concentrated on Dál Riata. At present, the division appears to be between Scots, Irish and "north British" scholars and Anglo-Saxonists. Leslie Alcock, Kings and Warriors, could be taken as representing a "north British (and Irish)" perspective.] More recent historiography may have gone some way to addressing this problem.
At the beginning of the 7th century, Ãedán mac Gabráin may have been the most powerful king in northern Britain, and Dál Riata was at its height. Ãedán's byname in later Welsh poetry, Aeddan Fradawg (Ãedán the Treacherous} does not speak to a favourable reputation among the Britons of Alt Clut, and it may be that he seized control of Alt Clut. Ãedán's dominance came to an end around 604, when his army, including Irish kings and Bernician exiles, was defeated by Æthelfrith at the
battle of Degsastan.
It is supposed, on rather weak evidence, that Æthelfrith, his successor
Edwin and Bernician and Northumbrian kings after them expanded into southern Scotland. Such evidence as there is, such as the conquest of
Elmet, the wars in north
Wales and with
Mercia, would argue for a more southerly focus of Northumbrian activity in the first half of the 7th century. The report in the
Annals of Ulster for 638, "the battle of Glenn Muiresan and the besieging of Eten (Din Eidyn, modern
Edinburgh)", has been taken to represent the capture of Din Eidyn by the Northumbrian king
Oswald, son of Æthelfrith, but the Annals mention neither capture, nor Northumbrians, so that this is rather a tenuous identification.
[The Annals of the Four Masters associate Domnall Brecc of Dál Riata with these events.]In 642, the Annals of Ulster report that the Britons of Alt Clut led by
Eugein son of
Beli defeated the men of Dál Riata and killed
Domnall Brecc, grandson of Ãedán, at Strathcarron, and this victory is also recorded in an addition to
Y Gododdin. The site of this battle lies in the area known in later Welsh sources as Bannawg, the name
Bannockburn is presumed to be related, which is thought to have meant the very extensive marshes and bogs between Loch Lomond and the
river Forth, and the hills and lochs to the north, which separated the lands of the Britons from those of Dál Riata and the Picts, and this land was not worth fighting over. However, the lands to the south and east of this waste, were controlled by smaller, nameless British kingdoms. Powerful neighbouring kings, whether in Alt Clut, Dál Riata, Pictland or Bernicia, would have imposed tribute on these petty kings, and wars for the overlordship of this area seem to have been regular events in the 6th to 8th centuries.
There are few definite reports of Alt Clut in the remainder of the 7th century, although it is possible that the
Irish annals contain entries which may be related to Alt Clut. In the last quarter of the 7th century, a number of battles in Ireland, largely in areas along the
Irish Sea coast, are reported where Britons take part. It is usually assumed that these Britons are mercenaries, or exiles dispossessed by some Anglo-Saxon conquest in northern Britain. However, it may be that these represent campaigns by kings of Alt Clut, whose kingdom was certainly part of the Irish Sea province. All of Alt Clut's neighbours, Northumbria, Pictland and Dál Riata, are known to have sent armies to Ireland on occasions.
[The Northumbrians in 684, the Picts in the 730s and the Dál Riata on many occasions.]The Annals of Ulster in the early 8th century report two battles between Alt Clut and Dál Riata, at "Lorg Ecclet" (unknown) in 711, and at "the rock called Minuirc" in 717. Whether their appearance in the record has any significance or whether it is just happenstance is unclear. Later in the 8th century, it appears that the Pictish king
Ã"engus made at least three campaigns against Alt Clut, none successful. In 744 the Picts acted alone, and in 750 Ã"engus may have cooperated with
Eadberht of Northumbria in a campaign in which Talorgan, brother of Ã"engus, was killed in a heavy Pictish defeat at the hands of
Teudebur of Alt Clut, perhaps at Mugdock, near
Milngavie. Eadberht is said to have taken the plain of Kyle in 750, around modern
Ayr, presumably from Alt Clut.
Teudebur died around 752, and it was probably his son
Dumnagual who faced a joint effort by Ã"engus and Eadberht in 756. The Picts and Northumbrians laid siege to Dumbarton Rock, and extracted a submission from Dumnagual. It is doubtful whether the agreement, whatever it may have been, was kept as Eadberht's army was all but wiped out, whether by their supposed allies or recent enemies is unclear, on its way back to Northumbria.
After this, little is heard of Alt Clut or its kings until the 9th century. The "burning", the usual term for capture, of Alt Clut is reported in 780, although by whom and what in what circumstances is not known. Thereafter
Dunblane was burned by the men of Alt Clut in 849, perhaps in the reign of
Artgal.
The Viking Age
In 870 an army led by the Viking chiefs AmlaÃb Conung and Ãmar laid siege to Alt Clut, a siege which lasted some four months and led to the destruction of the citadel and the capture of a very large number of captives. The siege and capture are reported by Welsh and Irish sources, and the Annals of Ulster say that in 871, after overwintering on the Clyde:
"AmlaÃb and Ãmar returned to Ãth Cliath (Dublin) from Alba with two hundred ships, bringing away with them in captivity to Ireland a great prey of Angles and Britons and Picts."
King Artgal map Dumnagual, called "king of the Britons of Strathclyde", was among the captives, and it is reported that he was killed in Dublin in 872 at the instigation of
CausantÃn mac Cináeda. He was followed by his son
Run of Alt Clut, who was married to CausantÃn's sister.
Eochaid, the result of this marriage, may have been king of Strathclyde, or of the
kingdom of Alba.
From this time forward, and perhaps from much earlier, the kingdom of Strathclyde was subject to periodic domination by the kings of Alba. However, the earlier idea, that the heirs to the Scots throne ruled Strathclyde, or Cumbria as an
appanage, has relatively little support, and the degree of Scots control should not be overstated. This period probably saw a degree of Norse, or Norse-Gael settlement in Strathclyde. A number of place-names, in particular a cluster on the coast facing
the Cumbraes, and monuments such as the
hogback graves at Govan, are some of the remains of these newcomers.
A Welsh tradition, claimed that upon Eochaid's deposition: "[t]he men of Strathclyde, those that refused to unite with the English, had to depart from their country and go into Gwynedd." This seems confused, to say the least, as
Edward the Elder was not master of his own kingdom of
Wessex in 890, let alone a force north of the
river Humber, and still less in Strathclyde. None the less, later in Edward's reign and in that of
Athelstan, the kings of Wessex did extend their power far north, Athelstan defeating the men of Strathclyde in 934, and again, together with the Scots and the Norse-Gaels of Dublin, at the
battle of Brunanburh in 937.
[Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 320ff., in particular the claim at p. 322 that the first ten years of Edward's reign, say 899–902, saw no advances against the Danelaw.]Following the battle of Brunanburh,
Domnall mac Eógain became king of Strathclyde, perhaps reigning from c. 937 until 971. It has been supposed that Domnall was installed as king by
Máel Coluim mac Domnaill to whom
Edmund of Wessex had "let" the kingdom of Strathclyde, but again, as with earlier ideas of an appanage, this is probably to overstate the case and to follow
John of Fordun's version of history more closely than the facts merit. Domnall died, on pilgrimage in
Rome, in 975. In this period, the kingdom of Strathclyde may have extended far to the south, perhaps beyond the
Solway Firth into modern English Cumbria, although this is far from certain.
If the kings of Alba imagined, as John of Fordun did, that they were rulers of Strathclyde, the death of
Cuilén mac Iduilb and his brother Eochaid at the hands of
Amdarch of Strathclyde in 971, said to be in revenge for the rape or abduction of his daughter, shows otherwise. A major source for confusion comes from the name of Amdarch's successor,
Máel Coluim, now thought to be a son of the Domnall mac Eógain who died in Rome, but long confused with later the king of Scots
Máel Coluim mac Cináeda.
[Duncan, Kingship of the Scots, pp. 23–24.] Máel Coluim appears to have been followed by
Eógan II of Strathclyde, sometimes known as Owen the Bald, who is thought to have died at the battle of Carham in 1018. It seems likely that Eógan had a successor, although his name is unknown.
Some time after 1018 and before 1054, the kingdom of Strathclyde appears to have been conquered by the Scots, most probably during the reign of Máel Coluim mac Cináeda who died in 1034.
[No King of Strathclyde is named by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle when Máel Coluim mac Cináeda, Mac Bethad and Echmarcach mac Ragnaill met with Canute in 1031.] In 1054, the English king
Edward the Confessor dispatched Earl
Siward of Northumbria against the Scots, ruled by
Mac Bethad mac Findláich, to reinstall
Máel Coluim, "son of the king of the Cumbrians", in Strathclyde. The name Máel Coluim again caused confusion, some historians later supposing that this was the later king of Scots
Máel Coluim mac Donnchada (Máel Coluim Cenn Mór). How long Máel Coluim remained as "king of the Cumbrians" is unknown.
[For this episode see Duncan, Kingship of the Scots, pp. 40–41.] By the 1070s, if not earlier in the reign of Máel Coluim mac Donnchada, it appears that the Scots again controlled Strathclyde. It is certain that Strathclyde did indeed become an appanage, for it was granted by
Alexander I to his brother
David, later David I, in 1107.
* Alcock, Leslie,
Kings and Warriors, Craftsmen and Priests in Northern Britain AD 550–850. Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2003. ISBN 0-903903-24-5
* Barrell, A.D.M.,
Medieval Scotland. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000. ISBN 0-521-58602-X
*
Barrow, G.W.S.,
Kingship and Unity: Scotland 1000–1306. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, (corrected edn) 1989. ISBN 0-7486-0104-X
* Duncan, A.A.M.,
The Kingship of the Scots 842–1292: Succession and Independence. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2002. ISBN 0-7486-1626-8
* Foster, Sally M.,
Picts, Gaels, and Scots: Early Historic Scotland. Batsford, London, 2nd edn, 2004. ISBN 0-7134-8874-3
* Hanson, W.S., "Northern England and southern Scotland: Roman Occupation" in Michael Lynch (ed.),
The Oxford Companion to Scottish History. Oxford UP, Oxford, 2001. ISBN 0-19-211696-7
* Higham, N.J.,
The Kingdom of Northumbria AD 350–1100. Sutton, Stroud, 1993. ISBN 0-86299-730-5
*
Jackson, Kenneth H., "The Britons in southern Scotland" in
Antiquity, vol. 29 (1955), pp. 77–88. ISSN 0003598X.
* Koch, John, "The Place of 'Y Gododdin' in the History of Scotland" in Ronald Black, William Gillies and Roibeard Ã" Maolalaigh (eds)
Celtic Connections. Proceedings of the 10th International Congress of Celtic Studies, Volume One. Tuckwell, East Linton, 1999. ISBN 1-989410-77-1
* Lowe, Chris,
Angels, Fools and Tyrants: Britons and Anglo-Saxons in Southern Scotland. Canongate, Edinburgh, 1999. ISBN 0-86241-875-5
* Smyth, Alfred P.,
Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland AD 80–1000. Edinburgh UP, Edinburgh, 1984. ISBN 0-7486-0100-7
* Woolf, Alex, "Britons and Angles" in Lynch (2001).
*
List of Kings of Strathclyde*
The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba*
The Rolls edition of the Brut y Tywyssogion (pdf) at
Stanford University Library*
CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts at
University College Cork including the
Annals of Ulster, the
Annals of Tigernach and the
Chronicon Scotorum.
*The
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Mss. D and E, various editions including
an XML version by Tony Jebson.
*
Wyntoun's Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland in
Middle English and
Latin, at the
University of Texas*
Google Books includes the
Chronicon ex chronicis attributed to Florence of Worcester and James Aikman's translation (
The History of Scotland) of George Buchanan's
Rerum Scoticarum Historia
