Is it Scotland or Pictland? The historians join battle
IAN JOHNSTON AND RAYMOND HAINEY
THEY were supposed to have disappeared after being vanquished by the Scots in battle.
But the Picts may actually have been the "winners" of their encounter with the Scots, suggesting that the name of this country is a misnomer.
According to the traditional history, Kenneth MacAlpin, king of Scots, took over the kingdom of the Picts in 843 to form the country that grew into modern day Scotland.
But a new interpretation of ancient texts suggests that in fact the Scots kingdom of Dalriada was absorbed by a more powerful Pictish state.
This completes an about-turn in understanding of how Scotland - perhaps more accurately "Pictland" - first emerged.
Historians now believe Kenneth was a Pict and that a claim he led the Scots to victory over the Picts in a battle at Stirling in 843 is a much later fabrication.
In addition to historical evidence, recent work by geneticists suggests that about half the present day Scottish population is descended from the Picts, double the number whose ancestry can be traced back to the early Scots.
Dr Dauvit Broun, a Glasgow University historian, said: "According to the standard narrative, Kenneth I, king of the 'Scots', succeeded in taking over Pictland because the Picts had been weakened at the hands of the Vikings - suffering a notable defeat in 839 - and/or because the 'Scots' had been pushed out of Argyll.
"The significance of Kenneth's achievement in creating Scotland was, and is, institutionalised in the custom of numbering kings as if he was the first."
However, Dr Broun said that "key elements" of this story were now being challenged. "There has been a deepening unease about the very idea that Kenneth founded Scotland," he said.
"It has been suggested that Kenneth was a Pict and, more confidently, that Alba was not created in the mid-ninth century as a 'union of Scots and Picts', but was simply a Gaelic word for 'Pictland.'"
The traditional version of history is undermined by contemporary sources which make no mention of the dramatic news that Kenneth, King of Scots, has taken over Pictland in 843.
"The key point is everything that has a claim to offer a contemporary perspective presents Alba as Pictland," Dr Broun said.
Dr James Fraser, an expert in early Scottish history at Edinburgh University, said that early Scots historians relied on "literature-driven" sources and did not have the scientific resources available today.
What did the Picts do for us?
* The Picts were named by the Romans - Picti, after the habit of northern tribes of painting their bodies blue.
* Mel Gibson's smash hit movie Braveheart played fast and loose with history. Gibson's William Wallace painted his face blue before battle as Picts did, but Scots of Wallace's era most definitely did not.
* Some believe that the Scots tradition of "the little people" stems from the Picts. The legends could stem from glimpses of the remnants of the race, who were smaller than the invading Irish Scots.
* Scotland's Gaelic name - Alba - might be a last fragment of the Pictish language and what the mystery tribe called what is now Scotland.
