Kingdom of Strathclyde
The kingdom of Strathclyde ( Gaelic Srath Chluaidh , original British name Ystrad Clud ("Valley of the Clyde")) also mentioned in the sources under the name Alt Clut , the British name for Dumbarton Rock , was a kingdom in southern Scotland in the post-Roman and early medieval periods Period. Its origins were probably in the Damnonii tribe mentioned by Ptolemy in his Geographia .
Results of place name research and archaeological research suggest that Scandinavian settlements were established by Vikings from both Norway and Ireland in the Strathclyde area during the Viking Age , but less so than in neighboring Galloway . A small number of place names that can be traced back to Old English roots attest to the, albeit limited, settlement activity due to Anglish immigration from Northumbria before the Viking Age. Due to a number of language changes, it is not possible to determine whether Goidelic immigrants were settled in the Kingdom of Strathclyde before the High Middle Ages when the Scottish Gaelic language was introduced.
After the sack of Dumbarton Rock by a Viking army from Dublin in 870, the name Strathclyde came into use, reflecting the shift of the power center of the kingdom to Govan (now a district of Glasgow ). During this period Strathclyde was also referred to as Cumbria, its inhabitants accordingly as Cumbrian, which does not necessarily have to be synonymous with the Kingdom of Strathclyde, but could also have meant other empires in southwest Scotland or the entirety of all British rulers there. In the High Middle Ages, Strathclyde was conquered by the Kingdom of Alba, from which the Kingdom of Scotland emerged . The formerly independent Strathclyde was able to retain a certain degree of independence into the 12th century.
origin
Ptolemy's Geographia contains a list of tribes or groups of tribes in southern Scotland from the time of the Roman conquest of Britain in the 1st century AD. Ptolemy names the Damnonii, whose capital is believed to be in Carman near Dumbarton , the Otalini , whose headquarters appears to have been Traprain Law in East Lothian , the Selgovae in the Scottish Borders and in the southwest the Novantae in Galloway. In later sources a group called Maeatae is also mentioned in the area around Stirling .
For most of the time Britain was part of the Roman Empire, Hadrian's Wall formed the northern boundary of the Roman-controlled area. It is unclear to what extent permanent Roman influence was also noticeable beyond the wall. Roman forts were located north of the wall up to what is now Edinburgh , although some of these fortifications were also occupied for a longer period of time. The Roman army undertook punitive expeditions to the areas that were not directly under the Roman administration. In more peaceful times there was a trade exchange, with Roman traders on the one hand going to the north and locals going to the south on the other. In addition, Roman funds were paid to tribes or their leaders as bribes or support. How far the Roman influence made itself felt on the population of northern Britain and to what extent there were also influences in the opposite direction is controversial.
In the late period of the Roman occupation of Britain, incursions on land and at sea by the Picts , Scotti and Attacotti , whose origins are disputed, increased. The tribes of southern Scotland will also have been affected by these incursions. It is unlikely that the withdrawal of the Roman forces around 410 had any military impact on the Damnonii; the failure of the permanent garrison of Hadrian's Wall to make payments will, however, have had a considerable economic effect.
In the sources no clearly definable borders of the kingdom of Alt Clut are given, but based on findings from place name research and the topography, clues can be given. At the northern end of Loch Lomond is Clach nam Breatann , the rock of the British which is believed to owe its name to the fact that it marked the northern boundary of the kingdom of Alt Clut. The Campsie Fells and the moorland between Loch Lomond and Stirling appear to have been a different frontier. Farther south, Alt Clut stretched along the Clyde to Ayr .
The old north
For the history of the centuries that immediately followed the end of Roman rule, one is largely dependent on Irish and Welsh sources, of which only the smallest part can be called contemporary. Irish sources name the kingdom centered around Dumbarton only when it had reference to Irish events. The available Welsh sources dealing with the events in southern Scotland were written at a later date, assuming Gildas ' Jeremiade De Excidio Britonum of the 6th century and the poems of Taliesin and Aneirin , particularly his Y Gododdin , by whom that it was written in Scotland in the 6th or 7th century, exceptions. In the works of the Anglo-Saxon monk Beda († 735), the British are hardly mentioned, and if they are, they are not very flattering.
In sources to be dated a little later, the names of two kings are mentioned. Coroticus or Ceretic , who is known to be the recipient of a letter from Saint Patrick and who is referred to in a 7th century source as King of the Heights of Clyde, i.e. H. Dumbarton Rock, and is dated to the 5th century. From the letter of Saint Patrick it is clear that Ceretic was a Christian and that the members of the upper classes in the kingdom were at least nominally Christians. His descendant Rhydderch Hael , who lived in the 6th century, is mentioned in Adomnán's Life of Saint Columban . Contemporaries of Rhydderch were Áedán mac Gabráin from Dalriada and Urien from Rheged , with whom traditions and stories bring him in connection. So Rhydderch (approx. 580–618) is identified as one of the four kings who unsuccessfully besieged Lindisfarne under the leadership of Urien's King Theodric of Bernicia in the 1970s . Further south in Whithorn , an inscription from the second half of the 5th century was found commemorating the consecration of a new church. The exact circumstances of this consecration are not known. Unlike Columban , little is known about Saint Kentigern , the presumed apostle of the British at Strathclyde; his biography of Jocelyn of Furness from the 12th century is written too late and its authenticity is therefore doubtful.
The kingdom of Alt Clut
The events of northern Britain after 600 and thus the British of Alt Clut are a little better documented. Historians, however, disagree on how to interpret the sources, and various conflicting theories have emerged.
At the beginning of the 7th century, Áedán mac Gabráin was the most powerful king in northern Britain and the kingdom of Dalriada was at the height of its power. The nickname Fradawg (the faithless) given to him in later Welsh poetry indicates that he enjoyed a bad reputation among the British. It appears that he had taken control of Alt Clut. His reign ended in 603 when he and his army, which included other Irish kings and exiles from Bernicia, were defeated by the Northumbrian king Æthelfrith at the battle of Degsastan .
Æthelfrith and his successor Edwin are believed to have extended their influence into southern Scotland afterwards, although the main direction of northumbrian expansion, the conquest of Elmet , campaigns in Wales and against Mercia, was more likely for southern expansion efforts in the first half of the 7th century . Century speak. The annals of Ulster mention a battle at Glenn Muiresan and the siege of Etin (meaning Din Edyn, later Edinburgh ) in 638 , from which it was concluded that Din Edyn was taken by the Northumbrian king Oswald . In the annals, however, neither the taking of Din Edyn nor the involvement of Northumbria is mentioned, so that the acceptance of this entry as an indication of the expansion of Northumbria into Scotland is at least questionable.
In the entry in the Annals of Ulster for the year 642 it is reported that the British of Alt Clut, led by Eugein I , defeated an army of Dalriada at Strathcarron and killed his king Domnall Brecc . This victory is also mentioned in an inset in Y Gododdin . In later Welsh sources the place of this battle is as Bannawg reproduced, a name which is believed he was named Bannockburn related and call the extensive marsh and wetlands between the Loch Lomond and the River Forth and the hills and the hole in North that separated the territory of the British from that of the Kingdom of Dalriada and the Picts.
For the remainder of the 7th century, Alt Clut is hardly mentioned in the sources. However, it seems possible that there are entries in various Irish annals referring to Alt Clut. For example, in the last quarter of the 7th century a number of battles took place in Ireland, mostly along the Irish Sea , in which the British took part. It is believed that these British were mercenaries who lost their possessions as a result of the Anglo-Saxon conquests of northern Britain. However, these entries may also reflect military operations by the Alt Cluts kings, whose territory was part of the region linked by the Irish Sea. All of the neighbors Alt Cluts, Dalriada, the Picts and Northumbria are known to have sent armies to Ireland now and then.
The annals of Ulster tell of two battles between Alt Clut and Dalriada in the early 8th century, 711 at Lorg Ecclet and 717 at the rock called Minuic , a sign that the existence of the kingdom of Alt Clut was permanently in danger, the urge to expand To fall prey to Dalriadas. The Picts under their king Óengus I also invaded the area of Alt Clut several times. While the Picts acted alone in 744, they appear to have collaborated with King Eadberht of Northumbria in 750 . In the course of this campaign, Talorgan, the brother of Óengus, fell when the Picts were defeated by Teudebur near Mugdock near Milngavie . But Eadberht was able to take possession of the Ayr 750 Plains, probably at Alt Clut's expense. Teudebur died around 752, and it is likely that it was his son Dumnagual III. who faced a joint venture between Óengus and Eadberht in 756. The Picts and Northumbrians besieged Dumbarton Rock and forced the submission of Dumnagual. While this act of submission had no immediate consequences, as Eadberht's army was destroyed on the way back to Northumbria, possibly by Mercia's army invading Northumbria, it does make it clear that the kingdom of Alt Clut was not a dominant factor in southern Scotland at the time was, but was on the defensive.
For the next hundred years, the sources report little about Alt Clut. In 780 Alt Clut is conquered, but by whom and under what circumstances it is not specified. The conquest of Dunblane by an army of Alt Cluts under King Artgal map Dumnagual is mentioned for 849.
The Viking Age (800-1050 AD)
In 870 a Viking army from Dublin , led by Olaf the White , besieged Dumbarton , the main castle of Alt Clut , for four months , destroyed the fortress and returned with a large number of prisoners, including King Artgal, who was known as the “King of the British by Strathclyde ”. He was murdered at the instigation of Constantine I the following year. Artgal's successor was Run , who was married to a sister of Constantine and whose son Eochaid ruled parts of Scotland together with Giric . To what extent Run was completely independent of his Scottish overlords is unclear. In any case, his son Eochaid is named King of the British in the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba , suggesting that his rulership was centered on the Kingdom of Strathclyde and that his influence on other areas of Scotland was marginal. In 875 Strathclyde, like the Pict territory, suffered frequent raids by Halfdan Ragnarsson's army of Northumbria.
From this point on, the Kingdom of Strathclyde was under periodic rule by the Scottish kings, although the degree of control must not be overestimated. Around this time, the number of Scandinavian and Irish-Scandinavian settlers in Strathclyde increased. A number of place names, concentrated on the coast south of Largs , and the so-called Hogback tombstones in Govan are evidence of this settlement activity .
According to a later Welsh tradition, recorded in Brut y Tywysogion , in 890 all men of the Kingdom of Strathclyde who did not want to submit to the "English" were forced to leave their country and emigrate to Gwynedd . The dating seems to be inaccurate, however, as no Anglo-Saxon kingdom at the time was able to extend its rule to the Clyde. Presumably, from the point of view of the Cumbrian (brythonian) -speaking Welsh, the English mean all foreigners, including the Gaelic-speaking immigrant Scots. So some of the inhabitants moved to Wales, the remaining inhabitants were Gaelicized after 870 as subjects of the Kingdom of Alba. The Gaelic immigrants also introduced the name "Strathclyde" (Strath Cluaith). However, the family of the previous rulers of Strathclyde may have occupied the royal throne of Alba for a period.
The strengthening of the Wessex rule led to the weakening of the Vikings, so that Strathclyde regained strength and expanded southwards. During the reign of Edward the Elder and Æthelstan, however , the regained kings of Wessex were able to expand their sphere of influence to the north. So Æthelstan in 934 plundered through Scotland and defeated a united army of the Vikings, Scots and Strathclydes in the battle of Brunanburh in 937 , with King Eógan I of Strathclyde losing his life.
After the Battle of Brunanburh Domnall III. King of Strathclyde and ruled from 937 to 971. The English King Edmund ceded Strathclyde to the Scottish King Malcolm I in 945, after he had invaded and devastated it, on condition that Malcolm should help him on land and sea. From this it is clear that Strathclyde was under the rule of the Scottish kings at this time. However, whether this led to the complete loss of independence is doubtful, as the Ulster annals refer to Domnall as ri Bretan , King of the British at the time of his death . Domnall died in 975 on a pilgrimage to Rome . The territory of the Kingdom of Strathclyde at this time appears to have stretched far south as far as the Solway Firth and possibly as far as Cumbria .
The end of the Kingdom of Strathclyde
If the Scottish kings claimed supremacy in Strathclyde, the assassination of King Culen and his brother Eochaid in 971 by King Amdarch of Strathclyde in retaliation for the rape or kidnapping of Amdarch's daughter clearly shows that this supremacy was fragile and relatively easy could be shaken off. King Strathclydes after Amdarch became Máel Coluim I , who succeeded Eógan the Bald . Eógan was believed to be killed in the Battle of Carham in 1018 . Eógan's immediate successor is not known.
Between 1018 and 1054, the Kingdom of Strathclyde was conquered by the Scots, probably during the reign of Malcolm II , who died in 1034.
1054 sent the English King Edward the Confessor Earl Siward of Northumbria to Scotland, which was ruled by Macbeth , to fight against him and to reinstate Máel Coluim II , the "son of the King of the Cumbrians" in Strathclyde. How long Máel Coluim II stayed as king is not known, but by 1070 Strathclyde was again under the rule of the Scottish kings. From this point on, Strathclyde became an integral part of the Kingdom of Scotland, albeit with its own identity, because as early as 1107 Alexander I of Scotland left the formerly independent kingdom to his brother David . At the same time, however, the pressure from England increased; the Gaelicisation of the region from the north was gradually replaced by the Anglicisation from the south. Dumbarton Rock became a backward farming village. Cumbrian died out at Strathclyde in the 13th century.
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ P. Hunter Blair, Roman Britain and Early England , p. 153; K. Dark, Britain and the End of the Roman Empire , p. 209
- ^ RF Foster, The Oxford History of Ireland , p. 4
- ^ WS Hanson, Northern England and southern Scotland: Roman Occupation
- ↑ The home of the Attacotti is unsecured. Most historians suspect this to be in Ireland and equate the Attacotti with the Déisi . The Déisi were a class of society in early Ireland. The old Irish term is derived from "this", which originally means "vassal" or "subject", ie tenant or vassal of landowners. Déisi later became the name for groups in different clans. The Déisi had hardly any family relationships, although they were thought to be genetically uniform. During the early Middle Ages, some deisi groups had great political influence in parts of Ireland. The Dal gCais des Brian Boru from County Waterford became famous . However, the Outer Hebrides and the Orkney and Shetland Islands are also discussed as the place of origin.
- ↑ ADM Barrell, Medieval Scotland , p. 44, assumes that the area of the Diocese of Glasgow , which was founded by David I of Scotland in 1128, coincides with the area of the Kingdom of Strathclyde.
- ↑ Quoted in Norman Davies, p. 64
- ↑ Nennius, HB , 63; N. Higham, The Kingdom of Northumbria, pp. 98f
- ↑ Alfred Smyth focuses in Warlords and Holy Men on the northern British and says that they formed the most influential element in post-Roman northern Britain. Others assign this role to the Irish Kingdom of Dalriada or emphasize the influence of the Anglo-Saxons, particularly the Kingdom of Northumbria, while Leslie Alcock seeks a middle ground in Kings and Warriors .
- ↑ Beda, HE , I, 34; ASC , s. a. 603
- ↑ Annals of Ulster , p. a. 638
- ↑ In the annals of the four masters , King Domnall Brecc of Dalriada is associated with these events.
- ↑ Annals of Ulster , p. a. 642
- ↑ Aneirin , Y Gododdin , lxxx
- ↑ Northumbria 684, the Picts between 730 and 740, Dalriada frequently.
- ↑ Annals of Ulster , p. a. 711, 717
- ^ N. Higham, The Kingdom of Northumbria , p. 140
- ^ K. Forsyth, "Evidence of a lost Pictish source in the Historia Regum Anglorum," p. 29
- ↑ Annals of Ulster , p. a. 780
- ^ The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba , in: Early Sources of Scottish History , p. 352
- ↑ Annals of Ulster , p. a. 871
- ↑ Annals of Ulster , p. a. 872
- ^ The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba , in: Early Sources of Scottish History , pp. 363f
- ↑ ASC , see also 875; The Ulster Annals , p. a. 875
- ^ Norman Davies, p. 85
- ↑ ASC , s. a. 934
- ↑ ASC , s. a. 937; FM Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England , p. 343; Symeon of Durham, Historia Dunelmensis Ecclesiae in: Scottish annals from English chroniclers AD500 to 1286 , pp. 70f
- ↑ Annales Cambriae , p. a. 945
- ↑ ASC , s. a. 945
- ↑ Annals of Ulster , p. a. 975
- ^ F. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England , p. 332; N. Higham, The Kingdom of Northumbria , pp. 181f
- ^ The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba , in: Early Sources of Scottish History , pp. 475f
- ^ AAM Duncan, Kingship of the Scots , pp. 23f
- ^ A. MacQuarrie, The Kings of Strathclyde , pp. 16–16
- ↑ In the entry of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 1031, no king of Strathclyde is mentioned when Canute the Great met the local kings Malcolm II, Macbeth and Echmarcach mac Ragnaill in Scotland to receive their submission.
- ↑ ASC , s. a. 1054; Annals of Ulster , p. a. 1054
- ^ AAM Duncan, Kingship of the Scots , pp. 40f
- ↑ Norman Davies, pp. 95 f.
literature
Primary literature
- Aneirin: Y Gododdin , AOH Jarman (ed.), Gomer, Llandysul 1988, ISBN 0-8638-3354-3 .
- The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: MS A v. 3 , Janet Bately (Ed.), Brewer, Rochester (NY) 1986, ISBN 0-8599-1103-9 .
- Annales Cambriae , John Williams (Ed.), London 1860
- The Annals of Ulster to AD 1131 , Seán Mac Airt & Gearóid Mac Niocaill (Eds.), Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin 1983, ISBN 0-9012-8277-4 .
- Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People , B. Colgrave & RAB Mynors (Eds.), Clarendon, Oxford 1969, ISBN 0-1982-2202-5 .
- Early Sources of Scottish History: AD 500-1286 , vol. I, Alan Orr Anderson (Eds.), Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh 1922.
- Nennius: Historia Brittonum , David Dumville (eds.), Brewer, Cambridge 1985, ISBN 0-8599-1203-5 .
- Scottish annals from English chroniclers AD500 to 1286 , (new edition), Alan Orr Anderson (ed.), Paul Watkins, Stamford 1991, ISBN 1-8716-1545-3 .
Secondary literature
- Leslie Alcock: Kings and Warriors, Craftsmen and Priests in Northern Britain AD 550-850, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Edinburgh 2003, ISBN 0-9039-0324-5 .
- ADM Barrell: Medieval Scotland, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2000, ISBN 0-521-58602-X .
- GWS Barrow : Kingship and Unity: Scotland 1000-1306, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 1989, ISBN 0-7486-0104-X .
- Ken Dark, Britain and the End of the Roman Empire, Tempus, Stroud 2002, ISBN 0-7524-2532-3 .
- Norman Davies : Vanished Empires: The History of Forgotten Europe. 3rd, revised and corrected edition. Theiss, Darmstadt 2017, ISBN 978-3-8062-3116-8 , pp. 45–100 (= 2nd Alt Clud: The Kingdom of Strathclyde (5th – 12th centuries) ).
- AAM Duncan: The Kingship of the Scots 842-1292: Succession and Independence, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2002, ISBN 0-7486-1626-8 .
- Robert Fitzroy Foster (Ed.): The Oxford History of Ireland, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1992, ISBN 0-1928-5271-X .
- Katherine Forsyth , "Evidence of a lost Pictish source in the Historia Regum Anglorum". In: Simon Taylor (ed.): Kings, clerics and chronicles in Scotland, 500–1297: essays in honor of Marjorie Ogilvie Anderson on the occasion of her ninetieth birthday, Four Courts Press., Dublin 2000, ISBN 1-8518-2516 -9
- Sally M. Foster: Picts, Gaels, and Scots: Early Historic Scotland, 2nd ed., Batsford, London 2004, ISBN 0-7134-8874-3 .
- William S. Hanson: "Northern England and southern Scotland: Roman Occupation" in Michael Lynch (Ed.): The Oxford Companion to Scottish History, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001, ISBN 0-1921-1696-7 .
- Peter Hunter Blair: Roman Britain and Early England. 55 BC - AD 871 . Nelson, Edinburgh 1963, ISBN 0-1771-1044-9 .
- Nicholas J. Higham: The Kingdom of Northumbria AD 350-1100, Sutton, Stroud 1993, ISBN 0-8629-9730-5 .
- Kenneth H. Jackson: The Britons in southern Scotland in Antiquity , vol. 29: 77-88 (1955). ISSN 0003-598X .
- John T. Koch: The Place of 'Y Gododdin' in the History of Scotland in Ronald Black, William Gillies and Roibeard Ó Maolalaigh (Eds.) Celtic Connections. Proceedings of the 10th International Congress of Celtic Studies, Volume One, Tuckwell, East Linton 1999, ISBN 1-8984-1077-1 .
- Chris Lowe: Angels, Fools and Tyrants: Britons and Anglo-Saxons in Southern Scotland, Canongate, Edinburgh 1999, ISBN 0-8624-1875-5 .
- Alan MacQuarrie, The Kings of Strathclyde , in: Alexander Grant & Keith J. Stringer (Eds.), Medieval Scotland: Crown, Lordship and Community, Essays Presented to GWS Barrow , Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 1993, ISBN 0-7486-0418 -9 .
- Alfred P. Smyth: Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland AD 80-1000, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 1984, ISBN 0-7486-0100-7 .
- Alex Woolf: "Britons and Angles" in Michael Lynch (Ed.): The Oxford Companion to Scottish History, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001, ISBN 0-1921-1696-7 .