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Picts

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: British History 1500 and
before (including Roman Britain); Peoples

   A replica of the Hilton of Cadboll Stone.
   Enlarge
   A replica of the Hilton of Cadboll Stone.
   Clach an Tiompain, a Class 1 Pictish symbol stone in Strathpeffer.
   Enlarge
   Clach an Tiompain, a Class 1 Pictish symbol stone in Strathpeffer.

   The Picts were a confederation of tribes in central and northern
   Scotland from Roman times until the 10th century. They lived to the
   north of the Forth and Clyde. They were the descendants of the
   Caledonii and other tribes named by Roman historians or found on the
   world map of Ptolemy. Pictland, also known as Pictavia, became the
   Kingdom of Alba during the 10th century and the Picts became the
   Albannach or Scots.

   The name by which the Picts called themselves is unknown. The Greek
   word Πικτοί (Latin Picti) first appears in a panegyric written by
   Eumenius in AD 297 and is taken to mean "painted or tattooed people"
   (Latin pingere "paint"). This may, however, be due to early folk
   etymology and the term likely has a Celtic origin, perhaps Pehta,
   Peihta (meaning "fighters"). The Gaels of Ireland and Dál Riata called
   the Picts Cruithne, ( Old Irish cru(i)then-túath), presumably from
   Proto-Celtic *k^writeno-toutā. There were also Cruithne in Ulster, in
   particular the kings of Dál nAraidi. The Britons (later the Welsh and
   Cornish) in the south knew them, in the P-Celtic form of "Cruithne", as
   Prydyn; the terms "Britain" and "Briton" come from the same root. Their
   Old English name gave the modern Scots form Pechts.

   Archaeology gives some impression of the society of the Picts. Although
   very little in the way of Pictish writing has survived, Pictish
   history, from the late 6th century onwards, is known from a variety of
   sources, including Saints' lives, such as that of Columba by Adomnán,
   and various Irish annals. Although the popular impression of the Picts
   may be one of an obscure, mysterious people, this is far from being the
   case. When compared with the generality of Northern, Central and
   Eastern Europe in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, Pictish
   history and society are well attested.

Society

   The harper on the Dupplin Cross, Scotland, circa 800 AD
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   The harper on the Dupplin Cross, Scotland, circa 800 AD

   The archaeological record provides evidence of the material culture of
   the Picts. It tells of a society not readily distinguishable from its
   similar Gaelic and British neighbours, nor very different from the
   Anglo-Saxons to the south. Although analogy and knowledge of other
   "Celtic" societies may be a useful guide, these extended across a very
   large area. Relying on knowledge of pre-Roman Gaul, or 13th century
   Ireland, as a guide to the Picts of the 6th century may be misleading
   if analogy is pursued too far.

   As with most peoples in the north of Europe in Late Antiquity, the
   Picts were farmers living in small communities. Cattle and horses were
   an obvious sign of wealth and prestige, sheep and pigs were kept in
   large numbers, and place names suggest that transhumance was common.
   Animals were small by later standards, although horses from Britain
   were imported into Ireland as breed-stock to enlarge native horses.
   From Irish sources it appears that the élite engaged in competitive
   cattle-breeding for size, and this may have been the case in Pictland
   also. Carvings show hunting with dogs, and also, unlike in Ireland,
   with falcons. Cereal crops included wheat, barley, oats and rye.
   Vegetables included kale, cabbage, onions and leeks, peas and beans,
   turnips and carrots, and some types no longer common, such as skirret.
   Plants such as wild garlic, nettles and watercress may have been
   gathered in the wild. The pastoral economy meant that hides and leather
   were readily available. Wool was the main source of fibres for
   clothing, and flax was also common, although it is not clear if it was
   grown for fibres, for oil, or as a foodstuff. Fish, shellfish, seals
   and whales were exploited along coasts and rivers. The importance of
   domesticated animals argues that meat and milk products were a major
   part of the diet of ordinary people, while the élite would have eaten a
   diet rich in meat from farming and hunting.

   No Pictish counterparts to the areas of denser settlement around
   important fortresses in Gaul and southern Britain, or any other
   significant urban settlements, are known. Larger, but not large,
   settlements existed around royal forts, such as at Burghead, or
   associated with religious foundations. No towns are known in Scotland
   until the 12th century.

   The technology of everyday life is not well recorded, but
   archaeological evidence shows it to have been similar to that in
   Ireland and Anglo-Saxon England. Recently evidence has been found of
   watermills in Pictland. Kilns were used for drying kernels of wheat or
   barley, not otherwise easy in the changeable, temperate climate.

   The early Picts are associated with piracy and raiding along the coasts
   of Roman Britain. Even in the Late Middle Ages, the line between
   traders and pirates was unclear, so that Pictish pirates were probably
   merchants on other occasions. It is generally assumed that trade
   collapsed with the Roman Empire, but this is to overstate the case.
   There is only limited evidence of long-distance trade with Pictland,
   but tableware and storage vessels from Gaul, probably transported up
   the Irish Sea, have been found. This trade may have been controlled
   from Dunadd in Dál Riata, where such goods appear to have been common.
   While long-distance travel was unusual in Pictish times, it was far
   from unknown as stories of missionaries, travelling clerics and exiles
   show.
   Reconstructed crannog on Loch Tay
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   Reconstructed crannog on Loch Tay

   Brochs are popularly associated with the Picts. Although these were
   built earlier in the Iron Age, with construction ending around 100 AD,
   they remained in use into and beyond the Pictish period. Crannogs,
   which may originate in Neolithic Scotland, may have been rebuilt, and
   some were still in use in the time of the Picts. The most common sort
   of buildings would have been roundhouses and rectangular timbered
   halls. While many churches were built in wood, from the early 8th
   century, if not earlier, some were built in stone.

   The Picts are often said to have tattooed themselves, but evidence for
   this is limited. See Legends of the "Painted People" below.
   Naturalistic depictions of Pictish nobles, hunters and warriors, male
   and female, without obvious tattoos, are found on monumental stones.
   These stones include inscriptions in Latin and Ogham script, not all of
   which have been deciphered. The well known Pictish symbols found on
   stones, and elsewhere, are obscure in meaning. A variety of esoteric
   explanations have been offered, but the simplest conclusion may be that
   these symbols represent the names of those who had raised, or are
   commemorated on the stones. Pictish art can be classed as Celtic, and
   later as Insular. Irish poets portrayed their Pictish counterparts as
   very much like themselves.

Religion

   Early Pictish religion is presumed to have resembled Celtic polytheism
   in general, although only place names remain from the pre-Christian
   era. The date at which the Pictish elite converted to Christianity is
   uncertain, but there are traditions which place Saint Palladius in
   Pictland after leaving Ireland, and link Abernethy with Saint Brigid of
   Kildare. Saint Patrick refers to "apostate Picts", while the poem Y
   Gododdin does not remark on the Picts as pagans. Bede wrote that Saint
   Ninian (that is Saint Finnian of Moville, who died c. 589), had
   converted the southern Picts. Recent archaeological work at
   Portmahomack places the foundation of the monastery there, an area once
   assumed to be among the last converted, in the late 6th century. This
   is contemporary with Bridei mac Maelchon and Columba, but the process
   of establishing Christianity throughout Pictland will have extended
   over a much longer period.

   Pictland was not solely influenced by Iona and Ireland. It also had
   ties to churches in Northumbria, as seen in the reign of Nechtan mac
   Der Ilei. The reported expulsion of Ionan monks and clergy by Nechtan
   in 717 may have been related to the controversy over the dating of
   Easter, and the manner of tonsure, where Nechtan appears to have
   supported the Roman usages, but may equally have been intended to
   increase royal power over the church. Nonetheless, the evidence of
   place names suggests a wide area of Ionan influence in Pictland.
   Likewise, the Cáin Adomnáin (Law of Adomnán, Lex Innocentium) counts
   Nechtan's brother Bridei among its guarantors.

   The importance of monastic centres in Pictland was not perhaps as great
   as in Ireland. In areas which had been studied, such as Strathspey and
   Perthshire, it appears that the parochial structure of the High Middle
   Ages existed in early medieval times. Among the major religious sites
   of eastern Pictland were Portmahomack, Cennrígmonaid (later St
   Andrews), Dunkeld, Abernethy and Rosemarkie. It appears that these are
   associated with Pictish kings, which argues for a considerable degree
   of royal patronage and control of the church.

   The cult of Saints was, as throughout Christian lands, of great
   importance in later Pictland. While kings might patronise great Saints,
   such as Saint Peter in the case of Nechtan, and perhaps Saint Andrew in
   the case of the second Óengus mac Fergusa, many lesser Saints, some now
   obscure, were important. The Pictish Saint Drostan appears to have had
   a wide following in the north in earlier times, although all but
   forgotten by the 12th century. Saint Serf of Culross was associated
   with Nechtan's brother Bridei. It appears, as is well known in later
   times, that noble kin groups had their own patron saints, and their own
   churches or abbeys.

History

   The means by which the Pictish confederation formed in Late Antiquity
   from a number of tribes are as obscure as the processes which created
   the Franks, the Alamanni and similar confederations in Germany. The
   presence of the Roman Empire, unfamiliar in size, culture, political
   systems and ways of making war, should be noted. Nor can we ignore the
   wealth and prestige that control of trade with Rome offered.

   Pictland had previously been described as the home of the Caledonii.
   Other tribes said to have lived in the area included the Verturiones,
   Taexali and Venicones. Except for the Caledonians, the names may be
   second- or third-hand: perhaps as reported to the Romans by speakers of
   Brythonic or Gaulish languages.

   Pictish recorded history begins in the so-called Dark Ages. It appears
   that they were not the dominant power in Northern Britain for the
   entire period. Firstly the Gaels of Dál Riata dominated the region, but
   suffered a series of defeats in the first third of the 7th century. The
   Angles of Bernicia overwhelmed the adjacent British kingdoms, and the
   neighbouring Anglian kingdom of Deira (Bernicia and Deira later being
   called Northumbria), was to become the most powerful kingdom in
   Britain. The Picts were probably tributary to Northumbria until the
   reign of Bridei map Beli, when the Anglians suffered a defeat at the
   battle of Dunnichen which halted their expansion northwards. The
   Northumbrians continued to dominate southern Scotland for the remainder
   of the Pictish period.

   In the reign of Óengus mac Fergusa (729–761), Dál Riata was very much
   subject to the Pictish king. Although it had its own kings from the
   760s, it appears that Dál Riata did not recover. A later Pictish king,
   Caustantín mac Fergusa (793–820) placed his son Domnall on the throne
   of Dál Riata (811–835). Pictish attempts to achieve a similar dominance
   over the Britons of Alt Clut ( Dumbarton) were not successful.

   The Viking Age brought great changes in Britain and Ireland, no less in
   Scotland than elsewhere. The kingdom of Dál Riata was destroyed,
   certainly by the middle of the 9th century, when Ketil Flatnose is said
   to have founded the Kingdom of the Isles. Northumbria too succumbed to
   the Vikings, who founded the Kingdom of York, and the kingdom of
   Strathclyde was also greatly affected. The king of Fortriu Eógan mac
   Óengusa, the king of Dál Riata Áed mac Boanta, and many more, were
   killed in a major battle against the Vikings in 839. The rise of Cínaed
   mac Ailpín (Kenneth MacAlpin) in the 840s, in the aftermath of this
   disaster, brought to power the family who would preside over the last
   days of the Pictish kingdom and found the new kingdom of Alba, although
   Cínaed himself was never other than king of the Picts.

   In the reign of Cínaed's grandson, Caustantín mac Áeda (900–943), the
   kingdom of the Picts became the kingdom of Alba. The change from
   Pictland to Alba may not have been noticeable at first; indeed, as we
   do not know the Pictish name for their land, it may not have been a
   change at all. The Picts, along with their language, did not disappear
   suddenly. The process of Gaelicisation, which may have begun
   generations earlier, continued under Caustantín and his successors.
   When the last inhabitants of Alba were fully Gaelicised, becoming
   Scots, probably during the 11th century, the Picts were soon forgotten.
   Later they would reappear in myth and legend.

Pictish kings and kingdoms

   Map showing the approximate areas of the kingdom of Fortriu and
   neighbours c. 800, and the kingdom of Alba c. 900
   Enlarge
   Map showing the approximate areas of the kingdom of Fortriu and
   neighbours c. 800, and the kingdom of Alba c. 900

   The early history of Pictland is, as has been said, unclear. In later
   periods multiple kings existed, ruling over separate kingdoms, with one
   king, sometimes two, more or less dominating their lesser neighbours.
   De Situ Albanie, a late document, the Pictish Chronicle, the Duan
   Albanach, along with Irish legends, have been used to argue the
   existence of seven Pictish kingdoms. These are as follows, those in
   bold are known to have had kings, or are otherwise attested in the
   Pictish period:
     * Cait, situated in modern Caithness and Sutherland
     * Ce, situated in modern Mar and Buchan
     * Circinn, perhaps situated in modern Angus and the Mearns
     * Fib, the modern Fife, known to this day as 'the Kingdom of Fife'
     * Fidach, location unknown
     * Fotla, modern Atholl (Ath-Fotla)
     * Fortriu, cognate with the Verturiones of the Romans; recently shown
       to be centered around Moray

   More small kingdoms may have existed. Some evidence suggest that a
   Pictish kingdom also existed in Orkney. De Situ Albanie is not the most
   reliable of sources, and the number of kingdoms, one for each of the
   seven sons of Cruithne, the eponymous founder of the Picts, may well be
   grounds enough for disbelief. Regardless of the exact number of
   kingdoms and their names, the Pictish nation was not a united one.

   For most of Pictish recorded history the kingdom of Fortriu appears
   dominant, so much so that king of Fortriu and king of the Picts may
   mean one and the same thing in the annals. This was previously thought
   to lie in the area around Perth and the southern Strathearn, whereas
   recent work has convinced those working in the field that Moray (a name
   referring to a very much larger area in the High Middle Ages than the
   county of Moray), was the core of Fortriu.

   The Picts are often said to have practised matrilineal succession on
   the basis of Irish legends and a statement in Bede's history. In fact,
   Bede merely says that the Picts used matrilineal succession in
   exceptional cases. The kings of the Picts when Bede was writing were
   Bridei and Nechtan, sons of Der Ilei, who indeed claimed the throne
   through their mother Der Ilei, daughter of an earlier Pictish king.

   In Ireland, kings were expected to come from among those who had a
   great-grandfather who had been king. Kingly fathers were not frequently
   succeeded by their sons, not because the Picts practised matrilineal
   succession, but because they were usually followed by their brothers or
   cousins, more likely to be experienced men with the authority and the
   support necessary to be king.

   The nature of kingship changed considerably during the centuries of
   Pictish history. While kings had to be successful war leaders to
   maintain their authority, kingship became rather less personalised and
   more institutionalised during this time. Bureaucratic kingship was
   still far in the future when Pictland became Alba, but the support of
   the church, and the apparent ability of a small number of families to
   control the kingship for much of the period from the later 7th century
   onwards, provided a considerable degree of continuity. In the much same
   period, the Picts' neighbours in Dál Riata and Northumbria faced
   considerable difficulties as the stability of succession and rule which
   they had previously benefitted from came to an end.

   The later Mormaers are thought to have originated in Pictish times, and
   to have been copied from, or inspired by, Northumbrian usages. It is
   unclear whether the Mormaers were originally former kings, royal
   officials, or local nobles, or some combination of these. Likewise, the
   Pictish shires and thanages, traces of which are found in later times,
   are thought to have been adopted from their southern neighbours.

Language

   The Pictish language has not survived. Evidence is limited to place
   names and to the names of people found on monuments and the
   contemporary records. The evidence of place-names and personal names
   argue strongly that the Picts spoke Insular Celtic languages related to
   the more southerly Brythonic languages. A number of inscriptions have
   been argued to be non-Celtic, and on this basis, it has been suggested
   that non-Celtic languages were also in use.

   The absence of surviving written material in Pictish does not mean a
   pre-literate society. The church certainly required literacy, and could
   not function without copyists to produce liturgical documents. Pictish
   iconography shows books being read, and carried, and its naturalistic
   style gives every reason to suppose that such images were of real life.
   Literacy was not widespread, but among the senior clergy, and in
   monasteries, it will have been common enough.

   Place-names often allow us to deduce the existence of historic Pictish
   settlements in Scotland. Those prefixed with "Aber-", "Lhan-", or
   "Pit-" indicate regions inhabited by Picts in the past (for example:
   Aberdeen, Lhanbryde, Pitmedden, Pittodrie etc). Some of these, such as
   "Pit-" (portion, share), were formed after Pictish times, and may refer
   to previous "shires" or "thanages".

   The evidence of place-names may also reveal the advance of Gaelic into
   Pictland. As noted, Atholl, meaning New Ireland, is attested in the
   early 8th century. This may be an indication of the advance of Gaelic.
   Fortriu also contains place-names suggesting Gaelic settlement, or
   Gaelic influences.
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