Proc Soc Antiq Scot 141 (2011), 145–158 DÁL RIATIC MIGRATION TO SCOTLAND FROM ULSTER | 145 ‘. and they won land among the Picts by friendly treaty or the sword’: How a re-examination of early historical sources and an analysis of early medieval settlement in north Co. Antrim confirms the validity of traditional accounts of Dál Riatic migration to Scotland from Ulster Cormac McSparron* and Brian Williams† ABSTRACT Much recent scholarship has been critical of the concept of a Dál Riatic migration to, or colonisation of, Argyll. Scepticism of the accuracy of the early medieval accounts of this population movement, arguing that these are late amendments to early sources, coupled with an apparent lack of archaeological evidence for such a migration have led to its rejection. It is argued here, however, that this rejection has been based on too narrow a reading of historical sources and that there are several early accounts which, while differing in detail, agree on one point of substance, that the origin of Scottish Dál Riata lies in Ireland. Also, the use of archaeological evidence to suggest no migration to Argyll by the Dál Riata is flawed, misunderstanding the nature of early migrations and how they might be archaeologically identified, and it is proposed that there is actually quite a lot of evidence for migration to Argyll by the Dál Riata, in the form of settlement and artefactural evidence, but that it is to be found in Ireland through the mechanism of counterstream migration, rather than in Scotland. The question of the origins of Scottish Dál the actual events they recount, the product Riata has taxed historians for centuries. of pseudohistorical speculation connected Traditionally two main origin traditions of with the dynastic intrigues of the 10th to 13th the Dál Riata in Scotland, both of which have century (Campbell 2001). However, even a number of variants, have existed. Each of when all the later, reworked and rewritten these traditions take as their starting point accounts have been peeled away, there the concept of a migration from Antrim to remains a solid body of early material which Scotland. In recent years, the Irish origin of is compatible with the concept of a settlement Scottish Dál Riata has been questioned. The of Scottish Dál Riata, from Ireland, in the mid- medieval narratives of this migration have, 1st millennium ad. Archaeological evidence, rightly, been subjected to scrutiny and many or rather its absence, has also been invoked have been dismissed as being much later than as an argument against migration from Antrim * Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork, School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 INN † Northern Ireland Environment Agency, 33 Hill Street, Belfast BT1 2LA 146 | SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND, 2011 to Argyll, with the converse argument, that must have had a Gaelic informant (Dumville there was settlement of Antrim from Argyll, 2002: 185) and he was personally acquainted being proposed by Campbell (ibid) based on with Adomnán, Abbott of Iona and biographer the distribution of some artefact types. It is of Colm Cille (Colgrave & Mynors 1969: suggested here, however, that this is based 255n). In time, this tradition accrued various on an incomplete understanding of how extra dimensions with later documents migrations functioned in early societies and it detailing an origin of the Dál Riata in Munster is proposed that the presence of a new class of (Gwynn 1912) but the essential migratory monuments – Fortified Outcrops – which are core of the story remained unchanged. found within a narrow area of north Antrim, A second origin tradition, the ‘descendants and similar in many respects to Scottish duns, of Erc’ tradition, while accepting the name of are evidence of an influence on the settlement the kingdom as Dál Riata, and by implication pattern of Co. Antrim caused by Dál Riatic the existence of the eponymous ancestor, migration to Scotland. promotes the sons of Erc, specifically Fergus, One tradition of Irish migration to Argyll, as the main actors in the Dál Riatic settlement the ‘Reuda Tradition’, recounted at an early in Scotland. This story is recounted in stage by Bede, attributes this migration to a numerous texts, including the Annals of leader from which the Dál Riata took their Ulster, Annals of Tighernach, Senchus Fer name: ‘They came from Ireland under their nAlban and the Tripartite life of St Patrick, leader Reuda and won lands among the Picts which collectively recount the story of the either by friendly treaty or by the sword. personage of the king of Irish Dál Riata, These they still possess. They are still called Fergus Mac Erc, and his success at taking and Dalreudini after this leader’ (Colgrave & holding land in Britain late in the 5th century Mynors 1969: 19). It is suggested that Bede ad (Bannerman 1974: 74–5). No Key rth Dunshammer C h a Fortified Outcrop Doonmore n Possible Fortified Outcrop n e Baronial boundary Cary Drumadoon l ? Baronial name Cary Land above 500 feet Dunluce County boundary Lower River Dunshammer Sites mentioned in text Glenarm Lower Dunluce Upper 5 km Illus 1 Fortified Outcrops in north Co. Antrim DÁL RIATIC MIGRATION TO SCOTLAND FROM ULSTER | 147 This traditional view of the movement Early Irish and Scottish histories and of the Dál Riata from Antrim into Scotland geneaologies were, as with modern history, has, in recent years, been challenged by competing narratives written within a Ewen Campbell (2001). He postulates that political context. There were certainly the historical sources implying an Irish origin competing narratives even with the earliest for Dál Riata reflect the political concerns accounts of the Dál Riatic migration. The of Ireland and Scotland in the 10th to 13th ‘Reuda tradition’ can be demonstrated to centuries and are an invented origin myth have been in circulation at an early stage. for certain lineages in competition for the Bede, that early promulgator of the ‘Reuda Scottish kingship (Campbell 2001: 288). tradition’, was writing in the early 8th Campbell suggests that there is a lack of century. Also Adomnán, while not directly archaeological evidence for a migration to discussing colonisation of Scotland, in an Argyll from Ireland. He proposes that what aside, implies that the tradition of a leader little archaeological evidence for migration called Reuda is an ancient one. In his Vita there is, points in the other direction and that Sancta Columbae Tripartita Adomnán (as a Dál Riatic colonisation of Scotland did not we have seen above, a contemporary and happen but that instead there was a Gaelic- acquaintance of Bede) refers to a prophecy speaking kingdom of Dál Riata in Argyll made by Colm Cille about a peasant who emerging in the early centuries ad and that lived amongst the ‘people of the Korkureti’. it extended its influence into Ireland, creating This tribal name is essentially the same as Irish Dál Riata, rather than the other way Dál Riata, Korku being a synonym for Dál around. There is some merit in Campbell’s and reti a 7th-century form of the genitive of analysis; he takes a long-standing tradition, Riata (Dumville 2002: 186). Adomnán, by subjects it to scrutiny, and comes to different using the 7th-century form of the name reti in conclusions about the nature and sequence the tribal name ‘Korkureti’, indicates that in of events. He correctly emphasises, as have the 7th century a certain Riata (Reuda) was writers since Kelleher (1963), the difficulty remembered as a person of significance, after of using early medieval texts, noting that whom a tribal grouping was named. many references to a Dál Riatic settlement The most satisfying and complete accounts in Scotland, including some of the most of the alternative ‘sons of Erc’ tradition of explicit, are late (Campbell 2001: 288). There colonisation of Scotland are, as Campbell has are, however, key aspects of Campbell’s noted, problematic. He correctly points out that historiographic analysis and archaeological the entry in the Annals of Tighernach stating reasoning which weaken his argument to the ‘Fergus Mor, macErc, with the nation of Dal point of making it untenable. Riada, took (or held) part of Britain, and died Central to an analysis of Campbell’s there’ was composed in the 10th century and thesis is the dating of the various elements therefore cannot be relied upon as an account of the accounts of Dál Riatic settlement in of late 5th- or 6th-century events (Campbell Scotland; and while some variants of the 2001: 208). He also notes difficulties with the traditions of Dál Riatic migration story can Senchus Fer nAlban suggesting, in general be demonstrated to be late, there still appear agreement with Bannerman (1974: 130–2), to be core elements which can be shown that it likewise had been subject to 10th- to have existed in, at least, the 7th and 8th century rewriting (ibid). However, there are centuries. several much earlier, if rather more laconic, 148 | SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND, 2011 KEY Fortified Outcrop Possible Fortified Outcrop N Rath ort Promontory Fort h Ch Bi-vallate Rath a n Raised Rath Cary n ? e Crannog l Cashel Baronial boundary Dunluce Baronial name Cary Lower Land above 500 feet County boundary River Glenarm Lower Dunluce Upper 5 km Illus 2 Early medieval secular settlement in north Co. Antrim references to the ‘sons of Erc’ tradition which Senchus is a bilingual piece which is based demonstrate that it is one of great antiquity, on one, or more, earlier works in Latin, some and is not simply the product of 10th-century as early as the 7th century, which have been pseudo-historians. subject to piecemeal translation and revisions The earliest reference to Erc in the context in the 10th century, essentially changing a of Scotland is a brief reference in the Tiugraind 7th-century geneaeological document into a Bhécáin, a poem about Columb Cille which, 10th-century political document of the Cenél while only existing as a 16th-century copy, nGabráin (Dumville 2002: 205).