An gaidheal - National Library of Scotland

;;250 THE GAEL.and pointed stakes placed in theg-rouiid below the floor add to theconfusion. lu this position, andwholly unsuspecting-any evil from theScots, they are savagely butchered.''Thus," sa^'s the annalist, " of thethe two nations the more valiant andwarlike were annihilated." The verysame account of the event is givenby Hidgen in the " Scalachronica,"in the " Chronicle of the Scots," andthe " Chronicle of the Picts andScots." The " Prophecy of St.Berchan," written in the 7th centuiy,alludes to the circumstance in the following-words:— "By him (KennethMacAlpin the Ferbasach) the wild onesare deceived in the East ; he shall digin the earth, dangerous good bladesdeath and destruction, in Scone ofnoble shields."The next account of this event iswhat may be called the Alpiu Conquest.This version of the legendis at least more honourable to theScottish name and arms. The" Chronicle of Huntingdon " gives itthus— " In the year of our Lord 834the Scots give battle to the Picts onEaster Day, when many of thePictish nobles were slain, and Alpin,king of the Scots, was declared victor.On the 13th of the Kalends of August,of the same year, while he is still rejoicingin the successful issue of thisbattle, he is attacked by the Picts,defeated, and slain. His son Kennethreigns in his stead. In the seventhyear of his reign, when the coastswere occupied by the Danish pirates,he defeated the Picts with greatslaughter. On this he passed intothe remainder of their territories, andafter having killed many of themcompelled them to fly. In this manheobtained the monarchy of allAlban, which is now called Scotland,and was the first king of the Scotsto reign over it. In the twelfth yearof his reigu he engaged the Picts inbattle seven times in one day, andhaving slain mau}^ of them he confii-medhis kingdom, over which heruled for twenty-eight years." Thisis the only record of the Alpin Conquest which gives prominence to thevictories of Alpin as bringing aboutthe entire subjugation of the Picts toiihe Scottish rule, Avhich afterwardstook place in the reign of his sonKenneth. The author of the chroniclejust quoted no doubt saw theinconsistency of imagining that KennethMacAlpin, with his small armyof Scots, effected a conquest overthe populous and war-loving Pictsand to give plausibility to the suppositionthat the union of the twokingdoms in the time of Kennethwas brought about by means of aconquest he makes the Scots ofGalloway pla}'^ a part in the afiair.Now it is a pretty well establishedfact that Alpin, the father of Kennethrepaired to Galloway with his DalriadicScots when he was defeatedby the Pictish king Angus Mac-Fergus in 741. It is, therefore, notat all unnatural that the Scots ofGalloway should be made to assistKenneth—the son of their king—inobtaining possession of the Pictishthrone.It will be observed in the quotationfrom the " Chronicle of Huntingdon"that mention is made of thefact that the Britisli shores wereoccupied by the Danish pirates. Thishas reference to the great battle b}''which the Danes devastated thewhole of Pictlaiid, killed EoghanMac Angusa its king. Bran hisbrother, all the direct heirs to thethrone, and many others. This occurredin the time of Kenneth, sothat it is mentioned as one of thoseevents which helped him to obtain avictory over the Picts.There is another legend in connectionwith Kenneth MacAlpin'g