Atholl or Athole () is a district in the heart of the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands (; , ) is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Scottish Lowlands, Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Scots language, Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gae ...

, bordering (in clockwise order, from north-east) Marr,

Gowrie Gowrie () is a region in central Scotland and one of the original provinces of the Kingdom of Alba. It covered the eastern part of what became Perthshire. It was located to the immediate east of Atholl, and originally included the area aroun ...

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

Strathearn Strathearn or Strath Earn (), also the Earn Valley, is the strath of the River Earn, which flows from Loch Earn to meet the River Tay in the east of Scotland. The area covers the stretch of the river, containing a number of settlements in ...

, Breadalbane,

Lochaber Lochaber ( ; ) is a name applied to a part of the Scottish Highlands. Historically, it was a provincial lordship consisting of the parishes of Kilmallie and Kilmonivaig. Lochaber once extended from the Northern shore of Loch Leven, a distric ...

, and

Badenoch Badenoch (; ) is a district of the Scottish Highlands centred on the upper reaches of the River Spey, above Strathspey. The name Badenoch means the drowned land, with most of the population living close to the River Spey or its tributaries ...

. Historically it was a

Pictish Pictish is an extinct Brittonic Celtic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from late antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geog ...

kingdom, becoming one of the original

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

of the

Kingdom of Alba The Kingdom of 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 First War of Scotti ...

before being incorporated into the

sheriffdom A sheriffdom is a judicial district in Scotland, led by a sheriff principal. Since 1 January 1975, there have been six sheriffdoms. Each sheriffdom is divided into a series of sheriff court districts, and each sheriff court is presided over by a r ...

and later

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Perthshire Perthshire (Scottish English, locally: ; ), officially the County of Perth, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore, Angus and Perth & Kinross, Strathmore ...

. Today it forms the northern part of

Perth and Kinross Perth and Kinross (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. It is bordered by Highland (council area), Highland and Aberdeenshire to the north, Angus, Scotland, Angus, Dundee, and F ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Etymology

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

the name is , which traditionally has been interpreted as deriving from the

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...

, or "New Ireland" ( being a traditional name for Ireland). The explanation given for this relates to the Gaelic settlement of Scotland, which was previously inhabited by the

Picts The Picts were a group of peoples in what is now Scotland north of the Firth of Forth, in the Scotland in the early Middle Ages, Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and details of their culture can be gleaned from early medieval texts and Pic ...

. James E. Fraser has called the "New Ireland" interpretation into question. On the basis of the early spelling , the first element has been proposed as representing , meaning "ford, way through'" and the second , "north", thus giving a full meaning "way to the north" (exactly as in the English name for

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

). may have represented a Gaelic equivalent of a Pictish name (cf.

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

History

Pictish kingdom

The first documented record of Atholl is an 8th-century mention in the ''

Annals of Ulster The ''Annals of Ulster'' () are annals of History of Ireland, medieval Ireland. The entries span the years from 431 AD to 1540 AD. The entries up to 1489 AD were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrí Ó Luin� ...

'', but three placenames in Atholl – the town of

Dunkeld Dunkeld (, , from , "fort of the Caledonians") is a town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The location of a historic cathedral, it lies on the north bank of the River Tay, opposite Birnam. Dunkeld lies close to the geological Highland Boundar ...

and the mountains

Schiehallion Schiehallion (; , ) is a prominent cone-shaped mountain in the Breadalbane, Scotland, Breadalbane region of the Scottish Highlands, in the county of Perthshire. It rises to and is classed as a Munro. Schiehallion has a rich flora, interesting ...

and

Rohallion Rohallion Estate (pronounced roh-HAL-ee-on, Scottish Gaelic: ''Ràth Chailleann'', 'The Fort of the Caledonians' ) is an estate in Rumson, New Jersey. The estate house was built in 1887 on a lot originally . The property owner, Edward Dean Adams, w ...

– preserve the name of the

Caledonians The Caledonians (; or '; , ''Kalēdōnes'') or the Caledonian Confederacy were a Brittonic-speaking (Celtic) tribal confederacy in what is now Scotland during the Iron Age and Roman eras. The Greek form of the tribal name gave rise to the ...

, a tribe or tribal confederation recorded by

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

writers including

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...

and

Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history of ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

. Atholl is listed in the 9th century poem ''

Seven Children of Cruithne ''Seven Children of Cruithne'' () is a quatrain written in Old Irish that forms the earliest known record of one of the origin myths of the Picts. In this myth, the Pictish kingdom's legendary founder Cruithne divides his territory into seven ...

'' and the longer Pictish King Lists as one of the seven Pictish territories founded by eponymous children of the mythical Pictish founder Cruithne son of Cinge. Atholl is the only one of these territories, apart from the dominant northern kingdom of

Fortriu Fortriu (; ; ; ) was a Pictish kingdom recorded between the 4th and 10th centuries. It was traditionally believed to be located in and around Strathearn in central Scotland, but is more likely to have been based in the north, in the Moray and ...

, to be historically documented as having its own king. The Northumbrian

Bede Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ...

, writing in the early 8th century, described how the Picts were divided by the

Mounth The Mounth ( ) is the broad upland in northeast Scotland between the Highland Boundary and the River Dee, at the eastern end of the Grampians. Name and etymology The name ''Mounth'' is ultimately of Pictish origin. The name is derived from ...

and the

Grampian Mountains The Grampian Mountains () is one of the three major mountain ranges in Scotland, that together occupy about half of Scotland. The other two ranges are the Northwest Highlands and the Southern Uplands. The Grampian range extends northeast to so ...

into northern and southern groupings, with the southern Picts having their "seats among the mountains". It is therefore possible that Atholl was the dominant royal region of the southern Picts, as Fortriu was in the north, before coming firmly under the grip of Fortriu during the 8th century Verturian Hegemony.

Province and earldom

Atholl emerged as one of the core

of the early

. The first known

Mormaer of Atholl In early medieval Scotland, a mormaer was the Gaelic name for a regional or provincial ruler, theoretically second only to the King of Scots, and the senior of a '' Toísech'' (chieftain). Mormaers were equivalent to English earls or Continental ...

was

Dubdon of Atholl Dubdon of Atholl (fl. 960s) was Mormaer of Atholl (''satrapas Athochlach'') during the reign of King Dub of Scotland. The ''Chronicle of the Kings of Alba'' says that Dubdon was killed along with Abbot Dúnchad of Dunkeld in the battle of Dorsum ...

, recorded in the ''

Chronicle of the Kings of Alba The ''Chronicle of the Kings of Alba'', or ''Scottish Chronicle'', is a short written chronicle covering the period from the time of Kenneth MacAlpin (Cináed mac Ailpín) (d. 858) until the reign of Kenneth II (Cináed mac Maíl Coluim) (r. 971� ...

'' as having been killed during the battle between King Dub and his challenger

Cuilén Cuilén (also ''Culén, Cuilean'', anglicised Colin; died 971) was an early King of Alba (Scotland). He was a son of Illulb mac Custantín, King of Alba, after whom he is known by the patronymic mac Illuilb (also ''mac Iduilb'', ''mac Ilduilb ...

at Dorsum Crup in 965. The first recorded

Earl of Atholl The Mormaer or Earl of Atholl was the title of the holder of a medieval comital lordship straddling the highland province of Atholl (''Ath Fodhla''), now in northern Perthshire. Atholl is a special Mormaerdom, because a King of Atholl is repor ...

was

Matad, Earl of Atholl Matad of Atholl was Mormaer of Atholl, 1130s–1153/59. It is possible that he was granted the Mormaerdom by a King of Scotland, as suggested by Roberts, rather than merely inheriting it. However, this is unlikely. If he did inherit it, he ...

sometime in the 12th century. In 1703 the title was made a Dukedom by Queen Anne. The title also holds numerous subsidiary titles. These include: ''Marquess of Atholl'' (created 1676), ''Marquess of Tullibardine'' (1703), ''Earl of Atholl'' (1629), ''Earl of Tullibardine'' (1606 and 1676), ''Earl of Strathtay and Strathardle'' (1703), ''Viscount of Balquhidder'' (1676), ''Lord Murray of Tullibardine'' (1604), ''Lord Murray, Balvenie and Gask'' (1676) and ''Baron Percy'' (1722). The Barony of Percy forms part of the

peerage A peerage is a legal system historically comprising various hereditary titles (and sometimes Life peer, non-hereditary titles) in a number of countries, and composed of assorted Imperial, royal and noble ranks, noble ranks. Peerages include: A ...

of Great Britain; all other titles belong in the peerage of Scotland. The right of the Earls of Atholl to hold courts for the area were ended in 1746 by the

Heritable Jurisdictions Act The Heritable Jurisdictions (Scotland) Act 1746 ( 20 Geo. 2. c. 43) or the Sheriffs Act 1747 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed in the aftermath of the Jacobite rising of 1745 abolishing judicial rights held by Scots her ...

, and the province was subsequently only subject to the jurisdiction of the sheriff of Perth. In the mid 19th century, local government reforms replaced the ancient provinces by new Counties (''shires''), aligned to

boundaries; hence, Atholl formed the northern portion of the new

. Towns and villages in Atholl include Aberfeldy,

Ballinluig Ballinluig (Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic: ''Baile an Luig'') is a village in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It lies on the banks of the River Tummel in Logierait Parish, and is approximately southeast of Pitlochry. It developed with the building of th ...

Blair Atholl Blair Atholl (from the Scottish Gaelic: ''Blàr Athall'', originally ''Blàr Ath Fhodla'') is a village in Perthshire, Scotland, built about the confluence of the Rivers Tilt and Garry in one of the few areas of flat land in the midst of the G ...

, Kirkmichael, Logierait,

Pitlochry Pitlochry (; or ) is a town in the Perth and Kinross council area of Scotland, lying on the River Tummel. It is historically in the county of Perthshire, and has a population of 2,776, according to the 2011 census.Scotland's 2011 census. (n.p. ...

and Weem.

Notable residents

John Small (British Army officer) Major-General John Small (13 March 1726 – 17 March 1796) was a British Army officer who played a key role in raising and leading the 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants) during the American Revolutionary War. After the war, ...

* Alexander Mackenzie, born at Logierait in 1822, politician and second Prime Minister of Canada.

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{coord, 56.704, -3.794, display=title, region:GB_scale:100000 Geography of Perth and Kinross Pictish territories Provinces of Scotland