‘Tumult among the Nations’ (Psalm 2:1)

Following the collapse of Roman imperial rule in Britain, a considerable amount of romanitas remained in the local communities: there was some Latin writing and a degree of spoken Latin in some parts of Scotland; a sense among a now Christian society that their faith made them Romani. It is during this period that various polities begin to appear with more clarity. Bede – a hugely important source for our period – offers a picture of Gaels, Britons, Picts and Angles with their own languages and political structures, which he seeks to explain by reference to a ‘migration-and-settlement’ view of ethnogenesis. But closer examination reveals a much more complex, fragmentary and fluid pattern of ethnic and political identity. The chapter traces some of the key conflicts and alliances, defeats and conquests, and the political processes out of which early national entities emerged, and how some of these nations (particularly the Picts) identified themselves. Chief among the transformations of this period is the gradual Gaelicisation of eastern Scotland or Pictland.

‘The just man will never waver’ (Psalm 111:6)

Adomnán is the only individual person in the nine centuries of Scotland’s history covered by this book for whom we have enough evidence to form a picture of a real human being, through his writings, the writings of his monastery, and writings about him. We can identify key moments in his life, and examine his writings (the Life of Columba, a book On the Holy Places, a law for the protection of women, children and clergy (non-combatants) called Cáin Addomnáin or Lex Innocentium, some minor canons or rules, and a short poem. His years as abbot of Iona also suggest that we should take other texts associated with Iona during his abbacy as indicative of Iona’s intellectual culture and ideology. Among these concerns are the protection of the vulnerable, the promotion of a new ideology of kingship, the place of Iona in hierarchies of ecclesiastical authority, the promotion of monastic life and scholarship, the resolution of the Easter dating dispute, the understanding of the liturgy.

‘Happy the people whose God is the Lord’ (Psalm 32:12)

This chapter examines the evidence for very early Christianity among British, Gaelic and Pictish societies, and the conversion of Anglo-Saxons. It explores the limited evidence for the beliefs and practices that preceded Christianity – the notion of ‘paganism’ is examined and rejected. Christianity grew in a process of both continuity and change with respect to pre-Christian practices and beliefs. The process of ‘conversion’ (or ‘conversions’) is discussed through the writings of early medieval Christians who sought to ‘save’ the pre-Christian past, or aspects of it. Some aspects of pre-Christian thought shaped early Christianity in ways that distinguished it from Christianity elsewhere. The respective roles of monastic (abbatial) and pastoral (episcopal) authority in the Church are explored, rejecting the idea that there was something unusually monastic about ‘Celtic’ Christianity. Indeed, the idea of a distinctive ‘Celtic church’ or ‘Celtic Christianity’ is also found to be an illusion. Christianity brought about changes in the understanding of space, and time itself was re-imagined, making the dispute over the date of Easter of profound significance – a dispute treated here in new ways.

‘Justice and Peace have embraced’ (Psalm 84: 11)

It is possible to identify and compare elements of laws from Gaelic, British and Anglo-Saxon traditions - though the laws themselves are not all from Scotland itself, the legal traditions were all represented here to varying degrees. (Nothing survives of Pictish law.) The nature of these early medieval laws is discussed – laws created in the absence of a legislature, and where enforcement is worked out through the negotiations of a community. Legal processes and their rationales are described, including compensation and its variation according to gravity of offence and the status of the victim of crime. Hierarchy and status are key to understanding the lives of communities, and are discussed in the different legal traditions, examining the range of status from lordship to slavery. Laws rooted in kinship and inheritance are also important, and kinship (both natural and artificial) is discussed. Finally, while women are very poorly represented in most historical sources of our period, the laws enable us to form some picture of their lives and their place in society.

‘I will give you nations as your heritage’ (Psalm 2:8)

Scotland’s first appearance in the historical record comes through its international trading links, and is seen initially through the eyes of those who write about it: traders, and then Roman writers in the context of Roman invasion and imperial administration. This chapter stresses the ambiguities of the experience of Empire among native societies of Scotland, negotiating ‘between fear and desire’. We therefore cannot present this period as a straightforward conflict between ‘Celt’ and ‘Roman’. The various processes of ‘Romanisation’ (or acquisition of romanitas) by native societies are discussed, not merely in terms of the ebb and flow of colonial reach, but in terms of the active agency of native communities in taking what they wanted from the repertoire of romanitas – which in itself was a soup of very varied cultural practices from all over the Empire (including, ultimately, Christianity). The motives and perceptions of all participants in this process are examined critically.

‘Gird your sword upon your thigh’ (Psalm 44: 3)

This chapter traces developments of the ninth century. We examine the Viking raids, and subsequent Norse occupation and settlement in some parts of the country. This process happened in different ways in different places, and archaeology, place-names and historical sources can help us to see some of the finer detail. An argument is made for a mid-ninth century turn to Christianity by some Norse settlers, along with their Gaelicisation in some areas and their alliances with native rulers in Scotland and Ireland. Other Norse polities – in Scotland, Ireland and northern England – remained a serious threat. Following destruction of the British kingdom of Alclud (Dumbarton) by the Dublin Norse, the re-location of Strathclyde power to Govan may witness a new British-Norse cohabitation and possible alliance. Meanwhile, the Gaelicisation of Pictland continued throughout the Viking period, until by the end of the ninth century ‘Pictland’ had become the Gaelic-speaking kingdom of Alba/Scotia – a re-branding exercise rather than a conquest. The implications of this new Gaelic identity are discussed through new readings of the sources for the ninth century (especially Pictish king lists and the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba).