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The Disappearance of the PictsBy Matthew White
One of history’s greatest mysteries is the disappearance of the Picts. They had been the dominant force in the north of Britain for hundreds of years but nobody is sure exactly what caused their demise. The Picts seem to have had matrilinear succession and this may have partly contributed to their fading from the records, at least as the ruling class. If a Scots king married a Pictish ‘queen’, their children would be the rightful rulers of both the Scots and Pictish tribes, but were probably identified as Scots. Some of the legends bear this out. Not only were the Picts facing encroachments on their territory by the Scots, they also had to contest with the Angles, Britons and Welsh. Life sure was tough in those days! The Angles, Jutes and Saxons had arrived in England from Northern Germany around 450 AD. The Angles took control in Northumbria which bordered much of the territory of the Picts. They conquered the area of Scotland now known as the Lothians and were determined to advance further north. This led to the Battle of Nechtansmere in 685 AD. The Pictish King Bredei (or Brude) reigned from around 681 AD. He led successful campaigns against the inhabitants of Orkney in 682 AD and the Scots in 683 AD. His rule must have extended over much of the area of present-day Scotland. The Angles had been undefeated in battle since their arrival in Britain. In early 685 AD, their King Ecgfrith led an invasion into Pictish lands. Bredei and his forces appeared to retreat under this onslaught until they reached the district near Forfar, Angus on May 20th. They made their stand in an area between the hill fort of Dun Nechtan and a swamp known as Nechtans Mire. This was a predetermined tactic. The Angles were trapped in a narrow region and were no match for the men who suddenly ambushed them. King Ecgfrith and most of his army were killed. Bredei then forced the rest of the Angles to forsake their lands in the south of Scotland and retreat further into what is now England (named, of course, after the Angles). This left the Scots and the Picts to contest for the control of Scotland, with the occasional Viking raid thrown in. But the Picts themselves were subject to internal squabbling. Various battles between contentious Pictish princes took place over the next hundred years. In addition in 795 AD the Vikings made their first attack on Scotland, on the sacred island of Iona, where St Columba had established his monastery. In 839 AD, the fighting between the Vikings and the Picts took a terrible toll on the Pictish monarchy, with the loss of King Uen, his brother Bran and many of the Pictish leaders. A scant four years later, the Scots’ King Kenneth was able to claim the Pictish crown. The Battle of Nechtansmere 685 AD The Battle of Nechtansmere took place in Dunnichen, a small village located near the town of Forfar, Angus on May 20th, 685 AD. The participants were the Angles and the Picts in what was a simple battle over territory. The consequences, however, would be much more dramatic, and affect the history of England and Scotland to a great degree over the next millennia and a half. After the Romans left England, many groups who wished to occupy the territory filled the void left behind. The Irish, Scots and Picts who battled the Romans, along with the native Celtic tribes of England vied for the territory. But it was an outside group that actually took control of England and became the power in the land. This was a tribe called the Angles, which arrived around 450 AD with the Jutes and Saxons from Northern Germany. The Angles took control of the region of England called Northumbria and quickly started dominating the other tribes in the area. By the start of the 7th Century, they had conquered Lothian and were continuing to pressure northward in their demand for territory. But the other countries in the area were also vying for territory: these included the Welsh speaking Britons of Strathclyde, the Scots of Dalriada, and the Picts of Southern Caledonia. The Angles discovered that they had their greatest success against the Picts, and slowly advanced in Southern Caledonia and small portions of Dalriada over time. This continued for many years, until a new King of the Picts began to show his power. King Bridei came to power circa 681 AD, and promptly took control of the Pict fortress at Dunnotar. He quickly followed this up with a victory over the Orcadians in 682 and over the Scots at Dunnadd in 683. With most of his borders now secure, he focused on the main threat to his kingdom. In the South, the Northumbrians under their King Ecgfrith, continued to hold a large portion of the Southern Caledonian Kingdom. Bridei started small at first with harassing, guerilla-type raids against the Angles. At the same time he was building his forces and waiting for the eventual Angle response, an invasion. The Angles were undefeated in battle since arriving in England, and this may have caused overconfidence, which was to become their undoing. The Angle host under the command of King Ecgfrith attacked into Caledonia in early 685, apparently in an attempt to conquer Caledonia once and for all. But Bridei was ready and retreated to the ground of his choice to fight. When the Angles were between the hill fort of Dun Nechtan and an area of swamp known as Nechtans Mire he attacked. Little is actually known about the battle itself, but the choice of ground makes it apparent that the Angles were hemmed in and slaughtered during an apparent surprise attack. The victory was total for the Picts, as King Ecgfrith and almost all of his army were killed. Bridei then 'cleansed' Caledonia of the remaining Angles who had occupied the land for around 30 years. After this battle, the Scots and the Picts largely fought over the territory among themselves, with the occasional incursion by the Vikings. This eventually lead to the union of the two countries of Dalriada and Caledonia into the country of Alba. Within another two centuries they had also incorporated Strathclyde and defeated the remaining Angles again, taking Lothian and creating Scotland. This battle was extremely important for two reasons. First, this victory by the Picts shifted the balance of power among the Germanic tribes occupying Britain from the Angles to the Saxons, thus setting up the later wars between Scotland and England. Secondly, the power of the Angles in Britain was forever broken, leaving them unable to conquer what is now Scotland. If they had done so, Scotland, in all probability, would have never existed, and all of the Island would have eventually been under the control of one master, the Angles. See also: Royal House of McAlpin |
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