House of Alpin
BETHÓC, PRINCESS OF SCOTLAND belonged to the HOUSE OF ALPIN. She was the grandmother of MALDRED OF WINLATON, who was hisself an ancestor of WILLIAM MEDECALFE DE DENT, forefather of David Walker's grandmother, Jane Metcalfe.
The HOUSE OF ALPIN
is the name given to the kin-group, which ruled in Pictland and then, the kingdom of Alba from the advent of KENNETH mac ALPIN (Cináed mac Ailpín) in the 840s until the death of MALCOLM II (Máel Coluim mac Cináeda) in 1034, who was the father of Béthòc.
Alpin's descent is uncertain, but he was most likely a son of EOCHAID (lat. Achaius) mac ÁED FIND, king of Dál Riata (modern western Scotland) between 787 and c. 826. It is disputed though if EOCHAID was married to either a daughter of Charlemagne sealing an alliance between both royal courts or rather to Pincess Urgusia, daughter of Urguis, king of the Picts, in whose right her grandson, Kenneth mac Alpin, shall have laid claim to the Pictish throne in 843.
Echoaid's primary residence was at what is shall be referred to as 'Early Inverlochy Castle'. There is little information regarding the exact date of the construction or demise of this fortress, but many scholars do accept the facts of his rule and the its whereabouts, noting the destruction by Danish invaders.
Note: "The painting shows ruins of Inverlochy Castle, painted by Horatio McCulloch in 1857. It was built c. 1270-1280 on the site of a Pictish fortification originally constructed in the 8th Century, which the historian Hector Boece (1465-1536) records as a 'city' that was destroyed by Vikings."
Inverlochy has strategic significance, as it was accessible by sea, via Loch Linnhe and the River Lochy. The site of Early Inverlochy Castle was ideal, as it was bordered along one side by a river, and the remaining sides by a moat. The moat has since filled with silt and then dirt, but its placement is obvious when viewing the site.
Roads leading away from Inverlochy Castle carried visitors, troops, and residents in one direction to a smallish settlement, later to be founded as Fort William, and in the opposite direction, towards present day Inverness.
King Echoiad is most widely known for his alliance with Charlemagne. Scotland, under Echoiad and France, Germany, Italy, under Charlemagne, were under constant siege from the Saxons. Word of Echoiad ability to repel, and defeat, the invaders spread across Europe. Because of this notoriety, Charlemagne visited Echoiad, and proposed a treaty.
The treaty, signed in Echoiad's second year of rule, was an agreement stating that should either ruler be attacked by England, the other would come to his aid.
As a showing of solidarity between Scotland and France, King Echoiad took for his standard a yellow background featuring the Red Lion Rampant in the fore (photo: window in Parliament Hall, Edinburgh). Rampant means the lion is standing upright, on its back legs. Two circles of fleurs-de-lis, the French emblem, surround the red lion. This combination of Scottish and French symbols represented the alliance between Charlemagne and Echoiad.
ECHOAID was succeeded by Dungal, the son of Selvach II. of the race of Lorn, being the last of that powerful family, which swayed the Dalriadic sceptre. After a feeble reign of seven years, he died in 833.
The HOUSE OF ALPIN
is the name given to the kin-group, which ruled in Pictland and then, the kingdom of Alba from the advent of KENNETH mac ALPIN (Cináed mac Ailpín) in the 840s until the death of MALCOLM II (Máel Coluim mac Cináeda) in 1034, who was the father of Béthòc.
Alpin's descent is uncertain, but he was most likely a son of EOCHAID (lat. Achaius) mac ÁED FIND, king of Dál Riata (modern western Scotland) between 787 and c. 826. It is disputed though if EOCHAID was married to either a daughter of Charlemagne sealing an alliance between both royal courts or rather to Pincess Urgusia, daughter of Urguis, king of the Picts, in whose right her grandson, Kenneth mac Alpin, shall have laid claim to the Pictish throne in 843.
Echoaid's primary residence was at what is shall be referred to as 'Early Inverlochy Castle'. There is little information regarding the exact date of the construction or demise of this fortress, but many scholars do accept the facts of his rule and the its whereabouts, noting the destruction by Danish invaders.
Note: "The painting shows ruins of Inverlochy Castle, painted by Horatio McCulloch in 1857. It was built c. 1270-1280 on the site of a Pictish fortification originally constructed in the 8th Century, which the historian Hector Boece (1465-1536) records as a 'city' that was destroyed by Vikings."Inverlochy has strategic significance, as it was accessible by sea, via Loch Linnhe and the River Lochy. The site of Early Inverlochy Castle was ideal, as it was bordered along one side by a river, and the remaining sides by a moat. The moat has since filled with silt and then dirt, but its placement is obvious when viewing the site.
Roads leading away from Inverlochy Castle carried visitors, troops, and residents in one direction to a smallish settlement, later to be founded as Fort William, and in the opposite direction, towards present day Inverness.
King Echoiad is most widely known for his alliance with Charlemagne. Scotland, under Echoiad and France, Germany, Italy, under Charlemagne, were under constant siege from the Saxons. Word of Echoiad ability to repel, and defeat, the invaders spread across Europe. Because of this notoriety, Charlemagne visited Echoiad, and proposed a treaty.The treaty, signed in Echoiad's second year of rule, was an agreement stating that should either ruler be attacked by England, the other would come to his aid.
As a showing of solidarity between Scotland and France, King Echoiad took for his standard a yellow background featuring the Red Lion Rampant in the fore (photo: window in Parliament Hall, Edinburgh). Rampant means the lion is standing upright, on its back legs. Two circles of fleurs-de-lis, the French emblem, surround the red lion. This combination of Scottish and French symbols represented the alliance between Charlemagne and Echoiad.
ECHOAID was succeeded by Dungal, the son of Selvach II. of the race of Lorn, being the last of that powerful family, which swayed the Dalriadic sceptre. After a feeble reign of seven years, he died in 833.
ALPIN mac ECHOAID now mounted the throne. Historical sources suggest that he was married to a Pictish princess. Alpin was killed in 836, near the site of Laicht castle, on the ridge, which separates Kyle from Galloway. Having landed with a force on the coast of Kyle, within the bay of Ayr, he laid waste the country between the Ayr and the Doon, before the native chiefs could assemble a suficient force to oppose him; but being met by them near the spot just mentioned, he met his fate, from the weapon of an enraged chief, who beheaded him. The fiction that Alpin fell in a battle with the Picts, when asserting his right to the Pictish throne, has long been exploded.
Unfortunately, there is not much more known about Alpin and it is disputed if he was ever king of Dalriada. It is only certain though that he was the father of King Kenneth I. and the progenitor of seven Scottish Clans that make up 'Siol Alpin'.
The belief in their Alpinian descent is shown in the clan badges of the seven clans.
Clan badges were worn in the bonnets of highlanders to distinguish friend from foe, and all seven clans share Scots Pine as their clan badge. In addition to the clan badges, the mottoes used within the crest badges of several of the clans allude to the 'Siol Alpin ' tradition.
For instance, Clan Gregor: 'S Rioghal Mo Dhream (translation from Gaelic: "Royal is My Race");Clan Macfie: Pro Rege (translation from Latin: "For the King").While the slogan of Clan Mackinnon is Cuimhnich bas Alpein (translation from Gaelic: "Remember the death of Alpin").
Clan badges were worn in the bonnets of highlanders to distinguish friend from foe, and all seven clans share Scots Pine as their clan badge. In addition to the clan badges, the mottoes used within the crest badges of several of the clans allude to the 'Siol Alpin ' tradition.
For instance, Clan Gregor: 'S Rioghal Mo Dhream (translation from Gaelic: "Royal is My Race");Clan Macfie: Pro Rege (translation from Latin: "For the King").While the slogan of Clan Mackinnon is Cuimhnich bas Alpein (translation from Gaelic: "Remember the death of Alpin").
KENNETH MacALPIN 'the Hardy', was born around 810 on the Island of Iona at a time when the Gaels were dominated by the more powerful Pictish kingdom. Following the death of his father, Kenneth took up his standard and occupied the Pictish strongholds of Fortriu and Forteviot in Perthshire.In the confusion and terror caused by the ferocious ninth century Viking raids, the Pictish kingship was almost completely destroyed. Wrad, a Pictish warlord, eventually became King of the Picts at the same time as Kenneth became King of Dal Riata.
When Wrad died in 842 his kingship was contested. Wrad’s sons believed they were the rightful heirs, whilst Kenneth, through royal Pictish descent on his mother’s side, claimed the kingship for himself. The matter was settled seven years later. It is said that at a banquet at Scone, Kenneth murdered the seven Earls of the Scot's kingdom of Dalriada, who might have lead opposition to his claim to be King of Scots and Picts, marking what was hoped to be the end of the conflict. The murder is popularly known as 'MacAlpin's treason'. Some accounts allude to Kenneth killing Pict rivals for the throne though this account is of dubious origin.
What is fairly clear is that at some point between 839 and 848 AD Kenneth (with blood claims to both thrones) claims the kingdoms of the Picts and the Gaels. In the reign of Kenneth II (Cináed mac Maíl Coluim), when the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba was compiled, the annalist wrote:
"So Kinadius son of Alpinus, first of the Scots, ruled this Pictland prosperously for 16 years. Pictland was named after the Picts, whom, as we have said, Kinadius destroyed. ... Two years before he came to Pictland, he had received the kingdom of Dál Riata."
In the 15th century Andrew of Wyntoun's Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland, a history in verse, added little to the account in the Chronicle:
"Quhen Alpyne this kyng was dede, He left a sowne wes cal'd Kyned,
Dowchty man he wes and stout, All the Peychtis he put out.
Gret bataylis than dyd he, To pwt in freedom his cuntre!"
Kenneth macAlpin was made King on the Moot Hill at Scone, seated upon the famous 'Stone of Scone'. The stone's origins are obscured by the mists of time, but according to a legend the 'Stone of Destiny' was probably brought to Argyll from Antrim by Fergus MacErc of the Dal Riata Gaels, which it had reached by way of Spain and Egypt from the Holy Land. It's Gaelic name was 'Lia Fail' meaning the speaking stone. Scone itself was seen as the sacred centre of Pictavia.In 849, Kenneth had relics of Columba, which may have included the Monymusk Reliquary, transferred from Iona to Dunkeld. Other than these bare facts, the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba reports that he invaded Saxonia six times, captured Melrose and burnt Dunbar, and also that Vikings laid waste to Pictland, reaching far into the interior.
The reign of Kenneth also saw an increased degree of Norse settlement in the outlying areas of modern Scotland. Shetland, Orkney, Caithness, Sutherland, the Western Isles and the Isle of Man, and part of Ross were settled; the links between Kenneth's kingdom and Ireland were weakened, those with southern England and the continent almost broken. In the face of this, Kenneth and his successors were forced to consolidate their position in their kingdom, and the union between the Picts and the Gaels, already progressing for several centuries, began to strengthen. By the time of Donald II, the kings would be called kings neither of the Gaels or the Scots but of 'Alba'.
Kenneth died from a tumour on 13. February (?) 858 at the palace of Cinnbelachoir near Scone. The annals report the death as that of the "king of the Picts", not the "king of Alba". The title "king of Alba" is not used until the time of Kenneth's grandsons, Donald II (Domnall mac Causantín) and Constantine II (Constantín mac Áeda). The Fragmentary Annals of Ireland quote a verse lamenting Kenneth's death:
"Because Cináed with many troops lives no longer
there is weeping in every house;
there is no king of his worth under heaven
as far as the borders of Rome."
Kenneth macAlpin was buried in Iona Abbey (photo). Situated on the Isle of Iona on the West Coast of Scotland, the abbey is one of the oldest and most important religious centres in Western Europe. The abbey was a focal point for the spread of Christianity throughout Scotland and marks the foundation of a monastic community by St. Columba, when Iona formed part of the Kingdom of Dál Riata.An inventory of 1549 recorded 48 kings buried there in total, from Kenneth MacAlpin to MacBeth, made famous by Shakespeare, and his victim, Duncan, all made their final journey there, across the sound to Iona, onto the harbour, and up the Street of the Dead to the burial ground.
The tradition of royal burial at Iona was broken only twice, firstly by Constantine II, who was buried St Andrews and secondly by Malcolm Canmore, who lies at Dunfermline. The last king to be buried on Iona was Malcolm III's brother, Donald Bane, before Malcolm's son, King Edgar, surrendered the island to Magnus, King of Norway in 1098 AD.Kenneth left at least two sons, Constantine and Áed, who were later kings and at least two daughters. One daughter married Run, king of Strathclyde, Eochaid being the result of this marriage. Kenneth's daughter Máel Muire married two important Irish kings of the Uí Néill. Her first husband was Aed Finliath of the Cenél nEógain. Niall Glúndub, ancestor of the O'Neill, was the son of this marriage. Her second husband was Flann Sinna of Clann Cholmáin. As the wife and mother of kings, when Máel Muire died in 913, her death was reported by the Annals of Ulster, an unusual thing for the male-centred chronicles of the age.