The Kingdom of , AD 400­1100

Timeline

410 The end of . With the Roman army gone, the native Britons have to defend themselves against raids by and Scots. They continue the Roman policy of hiring Anglo­Saxon mercenaries from Germany and Denmark to guard the coasts.

400­450 Small kingdoms emerge among the Britons. One of these is centred on the fortress of Alt Clut ('Rock of Clyde') at . c.470 Coroticus, king of Alt Clut, sends his soldiers on slave­raiding expeditions to . Many young Irish Christians are captured, and sold to the pagan Picts.

500 Local Christians are burying their dead at , which probably has a small church at this time.

550 The Anglo­Saxon mercenary colonies along the coasts of Britain have become the centres of new, English­speaking kingdoms. Two of these are in the North: (in Yorkshire) and (in Northumberland).

550­600 The Anglo­Saxon kingdoms expand at the expense of the Britons. King ('the Generous') is ruling Alt Clut at this time. c.612 Deaths of Rhydderch Hael and his chief bishop St Kentigern (Mungo) of .

642 (or 643) Battle of Strathcarron, near Falkirk. King Owain of Alt Clut defeats the Scots of Kintyre whose king ('Freckled Donald') is killed.

655 Bernicia and Deira are united under one king as the Anglo­Saxon (English) realm of .

685 The Picts win a major victory over the Northumbrians at the Battle of Dunnichen in Angus.

750 Battle of Mugdock, where King Teudubur of Alt Clut defeats an invading Pictish army.

756 The Pictish king Oengus and his English ally Eadberht, king of Northumbria, launch a combined attack on Alt Clut. On 1st August, the Britons surrender. Nine days later, the Northumbrian army is ambushed on its way home from Govan (where the formal surrender ceremony probably took place).

780 The burning of Alt Clut at the beginning of January.

793 First Viking raid on Britain: the Northumbrian monastery of is attacked.

858 Death of Cinaed mac Ailpin (‘Kenneth MacAlpine’), king of the Picts. In his time, the lands of the Picts and Scots are ruled as a single realm. 867 The last English kings of Northumbria are slain by , who seize control of the kingdom. Its capital, York, becomes the seat of a new Scandinavian dynasty.

870 Siege of Alt Clut by Olaf and Ivar, rulers of the Viking kingdom of . After four months, the well on the summit of the Rock runs dry, and the defenders surrender. The Vikings plunder and destroy the fortress, capturing King Artgal and many of his people.

871 Olaf and Ivar return to Dublin with a great number of captives ­ English, Picts and Britons ­ in a fleet of 200 ships.

872 Artgal, king of Alt Clut, is slain by Olaf and Ivar at the instigation of Constantin, king of the Picts. Artgal is succeeded by his son Rhun, brother­in­law of Constantin. The royal dynasty of the Britons moves away from Alt Clut in the Firth of Clyde to a new capital further up the river, around an ancient ford between Govan and . This is the beginning of the kingdom of Strat Clut (Strathclyde), also known as '' and '' (i.e. the land of the Cumbri or North Britons).

875 The Viking warlord Healfdene (Halfdan the Black) goes from (the English midlands) to Northumbria, from where he attacks the Picts and Strathclyde Britons.

878 Death of Aed, king of the Picts. He is succeeded by his nephew , son of King Rhun of Strathclyde. Eochaid seems to have ruled Pictland jointly with a mysterious figure called .

900 Around this time, the Pictish kingdom becomes known by a new name: . Its inhabitants ­ Picts and Scots ­ are now one people, a united Gaelic­speaking nation known simply as 'Scots'. Also, around this time, the Strathclyde Britons extend their territory south to the , and even further beyond . Their new southern border is probably the River Eamont near Penrith. c.914 The English war­leader Aethelflaed, ruler of Mercia and daughter of King , makes an alliance with Alba and Strathclyde against the Vikings. The Scots and Britons attack Viking settlements in Northumbria. The Vikings retaliate by ravaging Strathclyde but are unable to overwhelm it.

920 Aethelflaed's brother Edward, the king of (in Southwest ), receives oaths of allegiance from various rulers, including the kings of Alba and Strathclyde.

924 Edward dies and is succeeded by his son Athelstan.

927 Athelstan expels the Viking kings of Northumbria to become the first king of England (i.e. ruler of all English­speaking territories). In July he comes north to the River Eamont to seal a peace treaty with a number of powerful rulers, including King Constantin of Alba and King Owain of Strathclyde.

934 The treaty of 927 breaks down. King Athelstan returns to the North with a land­army and a naval force. He defeats the kings of Alba and Strathclyde and ravages their lands. Afterwards, both Constantin and Owain pledge allegiance to him, but revert to hostility within a couple of years. 937 The great , in which Athelstan defeats the combined armies of Olaf of Dublin, Constantin of Alba, and Owain of Strathclyde.

939 Death of Athelstan. He is succeeded as king of the English by his brother Edmund. Around this time King Owain is succeeded in Strathclyde by his son Dyfnwal.

941 The monk St Cathroe, travelling on pilgrimage from his home in Alba, passes through Strathclyde. There he receives hospitality from his kinsman, King Dyfnwal, who gives him safe passage to the Northumbrian frontier.

945 King Edmund with an army of English and Welsh soldiers attacks 'Cumberland' [i.e. Strathclyde]. An orgy of slaughter is unleashed upon the Britons. Two of King Dyfnwal's sons are captured and blinded. Then Edmund gives overlordship of Strathclyde to Malcolm I, king of Alba, in exchange for a military alliance.

952 Northumbria, having briefly reverted to Scandinavian rule, is attacked ­ without success ­ by an alliance of Scots, English and Strathclyde Britons.

970 Around this time, Dyfnwal abdicates the kingship of Strathclyde to his son Malcolm.

971 Death of King Cuilen of Alba at the hands of the Strathclyde Britons. It is said that he was slain by Rhydderch, a son of King Dyfnwal, because he had raped Rhydderch's daughter.

973 Dyfnwal, the former king of Strathclyde, accompanied by his son and successor Malcolm, attends a meeting with Edgar, king of the English, at Chester. With other rulers, including the king of Alba, they pledge loyalty to Edgar.

975 Dyfnwal of Strathclyde dies while on pilgrimage to Rome.

997 Death of Malcolm, king of Strathclyde.

1000 The English king Aethelred the Unready launches a raid on Strathclyde by land and sea. His army ravages the kingdom but his fleet is blown off course by a storm and steers instead towards the Isle of Man, where the English soldiers attack Viking settlements.

1018 Owain the Bald, king of Strathclyde, and Malcolm II, king of Alba, defeat an English army at Carham­on­Tweed.

1054 , king of England, sends Earl Siward of Northumbria into Alba to depose Macbeth, king of Alba. Siward replaces Macbeth with a Strathclyde prince called Malcolm, described as 'son of the king of the Cumbrians'.

1055 Death of Earl Siward. Macbeth takes back the kingship of Alba.

1066 The Norman conquest of England brings the line of Anglo­Saxon kings to an end. 1070 By now, Strathclyde is no longer an independent kingdom, having been conquered by Malcolm III ('Malcolm Canmore'), king of Alba.

1113 Malcolm Canmore's son King Alexander I appoints his brother David as ruler of the former , with the title 'Prince of the Cumbrian region'.

1117 David establishes a new Scottish bishopric at Glasgow on the site of an ancient church founded by Saint Kentigern.

1124 David becomes king of Alba. c.1130 King David gives the church of Govan, once the premier church of the kings of Strathclyde, to the Bishop of Glasgow. The bishop sets up residence at the old royal estate across the river in Partick.

1136 Consecration of Glasgow Cathedral. The church of Govan fades into obscurity.

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TC 12/07/13