The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

i66 THE HIGHLANDERS [PART i
previous to the Scottish conquest
that event produced upon the system. Subsequent to this
: let us now see what effect
event, we have strong reason for thinking that some representation
of the Pictish nation as separate and distinct from
the Scots still continued, for in the reign of Donald, the
successor of Kenneth Mac Alpin, we find a solemn contract
entered into between the Goedili on the one hand, and the king
of the Scots on the other, by which the laws and customs of
the Dalriadic Scots were introduced, including of course the
rule of hereditary succession to the throne.
The second list of the seven provinces contained in Giraldus,
applies unquestionably to some period subsequent to the Scottish
conquest. The principal variation between this- list and the
previous one, is the addition of Argyll as a province, and the
omission of Caithness. The former would be produced by the
union of the Dalriadic territories to those of the Picts ; the
latter by the acquisition of Caithness by the Norwegians. The
six years' forcible occupation of the district by Thorstein in the
end of the ninth century would not be sufficient to exclude it
from among the provinces, for that pirate king likewise possessed
Moray and Ross, which certainly continued as a Scottish
province ; and it is apparent from this fact that no conquest
would be sufficient to account for the omission of one of the
provinces. It must be recollected, however, that Caithness was
in the possession of the Norwegian Earl of Orkney in the tenth
century, when no conquest whatever of that district is recorded,
and the fact that one of the previous earls of Orkney is stated
by the Sagas to have married the daughter of Duncan, Jarl or
Maormor of Caithness, affords a strong presumption that he
acquired that district by succession. The entire separation of
Caithness from Scotland, and its annexation to the Norwegian
possessions as an integral part, will appear from a curious
document printed by Sir Francis Palgrave in his valuable work
on the Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth. This
document, in giving a description of Danelaghe, mentions that
it included " Albania tota qua; modo Scotia vocatur, et Morovia,
usque ad Norwegiajii et usque Daciam, scilicet, Kathenesia,
Orkaneya, Enthegal (Inchegall or the Hebrides) et Man,"i &c.
'
Vol. I., p. 572,