The House of Alpin, also known as the Alpínid dynasty, Clann Chináeda, and Clann Chinaeda meic Ailpín, was the kin-group which ruled in
Pictland
The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland (north of the Firth of Forth) during Sub-Roman Britain, Late Antiquity and the Scotland in the Early Middle Ages, Early Middle Ages. Where they lived an ...
, possibly Dál Riata, and then the
kingdom of Alba
The Kingdom of Alba ( la, Scotia; sga, Alba) was the Kingdom of Scotland between the deaths of Donald II in 900 and of Alexander III in 1286. The latter's death led indirectly to an invasion of Scotland by Edward I of England in 1296 and the ...
from the advent of
Kenneth MacAlpin
Kenneth MacAlpin ( mga, Cináed mac Ailpin, label=Medieval Gaelic, gd, Coinneach mac Ailpein, label=Modern Scottish Gaelic; 810 – 13 February 858) or Kenneth I was King of Dál Riada (841–850), King of the Picts (843–858), and the King ...
(Cináed mac Ailpín) in the 840s until the death of
Malcolm II
Máel Coluim mac Cináeda ( gd, Maol Chaluim mac Choinnich, label=Modern Scottish Gaelic; anglicized Malcolm II; c. 954 – 25 November 1034) was King of Scots from 1005 until his death. He was a son of King Kenneth II; but the name of his mot ...
(Máel Coluim mac Cináeda) in 1034.
Kings traced their descent from Kenneth MacAlpin (and not from his father,
Alpín mac Echdach
Alpín mac Echdach was a supposed king of Dál Riata, an ancient kingdom that included parts of Ireland and Scotland.
Alpín was included in a pedigree chart created in the 10th century to supposedly connect the kings of Alba (Scotland) to legen ...
), and Irish genealogies in the
Book of Ballymote
The ''Book of Ballymote'' (, RIA MS 23 P 12, 275 foll.), was written in 1390 or 1391 in or near the town of Ballymote, now in County Sligo, but then in the tuath of Corann.
Production and history
This book was compiled towards the end of th ...
and the
Book of Lecan
The (Great) Book of Lecan (Irish: ''Leabhar (Mór) Leacáin'') (RIA, MS 23 P 2) is a medieval Irish manuscript written between 1397 and 1418 in Castle Forbes, Lecan (Lackan, Leckan; Irish ''Leacán''), in the territory of Tír Fhíacrach, n ...
refer to the kindred as ''Clann Cináeda meic Ailpín'' by prioritising descent from Kenneth.
The origins of the family are uncertain. Later genealogies make Kenneth a descendant of
Áed Find. While plausible, such claims are unprovable and appear only in the late tenth century. The associated idea that Kenneth had been a king in
Dál Riata
Dál Riata or Dál Riada (also Dalriada) () was a Gaelic kingdom that encompassed the western seaboard of Scotland and north-eastern Ireland, on each side of the North Channel. At its height in the 6th and 7th centuries, it covered what is now ...
before he contended successfully for power in Pictland in the 840s, following the death of
Eóganán mac Óengusa, is supported by nearly contemporary evidence.
Early kings of ''Clann Cináeda meic Ailpín'' are described as
kings of the Picts
The list of kings of the Picts is based on the Pictish Chronicle king lists. These are late documents and do not record the dates when the kings reigned. The various surviving lists disagree in places as to the names of kings, and the lengths of ...
, and the third king, Kenneth's son
Constantine I
Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...
(Causantín mac Cináeda), appears to have been regarded as the last of the 70 Pictish kings soon after his death. The descendants of Kenneth were ousted in 878, when Constantine I's brother,
Áed mac Cináeda
Áed mac Cináeda ( Modern Scottish Gaelic: ''Aodh mac Choinnich''; ; Anglicized: Hugh; died 878) was a son of Cináed mac Ailpín. He became king of the Picts in 877, when he succeeded his brother Constantín mac Cináeda. He was nicknamed Áe ...
, was killed by
Giric mac Dúngail, but they returned in 889, when Constantine I's son
Donald II
Domnall mac Causantín ( Modern Gaelic: , IPA: �t̪oːvnəɫ̪ˈmaʰkˈxoːʃɪm, anglicised as Donald II (died 900), was King of the Picts or King of Alba in the late 9th century. He was the son of Constantine I (Causantín mac Cináeda). Donald ...
(Domnall mac Causantín) ascended the throne upon the death or deposition of Giric. Donald II and his successors are described as kings of Alba.
During the tenth century, succession alternated between the descendants of Constantine I and those of Áed. Internecine strife in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries left the descendants of Constantine I unchallenged by male-line descendants of Kenneth MacAlpin, but Malcolm II left no male heirs. On Malcolm's death, the line of kings descended from Kenneth came to an end.
Future kings, while still tracing their descent from Kenneth, were descended from Malcolm's daughter
Bethóc
Bethóc ingen Maíl Coluim meic Cináeda was the elder daughter of Máel Coluim mac Cináeda, King of Scots, and the mother of his successor, Duncan I.
Biography
Bethóc was the eldest daughter and heir of Malcolm II of Scotland, who had no kn ...
and her husband
Crinan of Dunkeld Crinan is a name of Gaelic origin and it has a number of contexts:
* Crinan, Argyll
Crinan ( gd, An Crìonan) is a small village located on the west coast of Scotland in the region known as Knapdale, which is part of Argyll and Bute.
Before the ...
.
[Woolf, ''Pictland to Alba'', pp. 225–230.]
See also
*
Scottish monarchs' family tree#House of Alpin
*
Siol Alpin
Siol Alpin (from Gaelic, Sìol Ailpein: Seed of Alpin) is a family of seven Scottish clans traditionally claiming descent from Alpin, father of Cináed mac Ailpín, King of the Picts, of whom the Scots tradition considered the first King of Scots ...
Notes
References
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{{Royal houses of Britain and Ireland
843 establishments
Alpin
1030s disestablishments in Europe
Alpin
9th-century establishments in Scotland