In the 780s northern Britain was dominated by two great kingdoms; Pictavia, centred in north-eastern Scotland and Northumbria which straddled the modern Anglo-Scottish border. Within a hundred years both of these kingdoms had been thrown into chaos by the onslaught of the Vikings and within two hundred years they had become distant memories. This book charts the transformation of the political landscape of northern Britain between the eighth and the eleventh centuries. Central to this narrative is the mysterious disappearance of the Picts and their language and the sudden rise to prominence of the Gaelic-speaking Scots who would replace them as the rulers of the North. From Pictland to Alba uses fragmentary sources which survive from this darkest period in Scottish history to guide the reader past the pitfalls which beset the unwary traveller in these dangerous times. Important sources are presented in full and their value as evidence is thoroughly explored and evaluated.

Ulwencreutz's Royal Families in Europe V - A brief history of the ruling houses during the last 2000 years. From the house of La Tour d'Auvergne to the house of Zahringen.

Margaret, saint and 11th-century Queen of the Scots, remains an often-cited yet little-understood historical figure. Keene's analysis of sources in terms of both time and place – including her Life of Saint Margaret , translated for the first time – allows for an informed understanding of the forces that shaped this captivating woman.

Macbeth was not the monstrous caricature created by Shakespeare; he was a real man who was born in Moray, part of the Kingdom of Alba, in the early 11th century. From early childhood Macbeth fought real-life treachery to protect his birthright to the throne and ruled successfully from 1040 to 1057. Travel what is now Scotland with a touring itinerary as you follow On the Trail of the Real Macbeth, King of Alba.

__________________ THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'A deep dive into one of the murkiest periods of our national history ... Splendid' DAN JONES, Sunday Times 'Beautifully written, incredibly accessible and deeply researched' JAMES O'BRIEN 'An absolute masterpiece' DAN SNOW 'Illuminates England's weird and wonderful early history with erudition and wit' IAN HISLOP __________________ Sixteen hundred years ago Britain left the Roman Empire and swiftly fell into ruin. Grand cities and luxurious villas were deserted and left to crumble, and civil society collapsed into chaos. Into this violent and unstable world came foreign invaders from across the sea, and established themselves as its new masters. The Anglo-Saxons traces the turbulent history of these people across the next six centuries. It explains how their earliest rulers fought relentlessly against each other for glory and supremacy, and then were almost destroyed by the onslaught of the Vikings. It explores how they abandoned their old gods for Christianity, established hundreds of churches and created dazzlingly intricate works of art. It charts the revival of towns and trade, and the origins of a familiar landscape of shires, boroughs and bishoprics. It is a tale of famous figures like King Offa, Alfred the Great and Edward the Confessor, but also features a host of lesser known characters - ambitious queens, revolutionary saints, intolerant monks and grasping nobles. Through their remarkable careers we see how a new society, a new culture and a single unified nation came into being. Drawing on a vast range of original evidence - chronicles, letters, archaeology and artefacts - renowned historian Marc Morris illuminates a period of history that is only dimly understood, separates the truth from the legend, and tells the extraordinary story of how the foundations of England were laid. __________________ 'A rich trove of ancient wonders' IAN MORTIMER 'A fascinating journey into the world of Anglo-Saxon Britain' THE TIMES, Best Books to Read for Summer 'A much-needed book - accessible, eminently readable ... It's a gripping story, beautifully told' BERNARD CORNWELL, author of The Last Kingdom 'This is top-notch narrative history ... A big gold bar of delight' SPECTATOR 'A vivid, sharply drawn story of seven centuries of profound political change ... Superbly clear and evocative' THOMAS PENN 'A thorough and accessible account of this important period' ELEANOR PARKER, FINANCIAL TIMES 'Morris guides the reader with aplomb ... Rounded and nuanced' LITERARY REVIEW '[A] compelling narrative of this turbulent time' PIPPA BAILEY, NEW STATESMAN

The first full-length study of Scottish royal government in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, detailing how, when, and where the kings of Scotland started ruling through their own officials, developing their own system of courts, and fundamentally extending their power over their own people.

This volume centres upon the era conventionally labelled the 'Making of the kingdom', or the 'Anglo-Norman' era in Scottish history. It seeks a balance between traditional historiographical concentration on the 'feudalisation' of Scottish society as part of the wholesale importation of alien cultural traditions by a 'modernising' monarchy and more recent emphasis on the continuing vitality and centrality of Gaelic culture and traditions within the twelfth- and early thirteenth-century kingdom. Part I explores the transition from the Gaelic kingship of Alba into the hybridised medieval state and traces Scotland's role as both dominated and dominator. It examines the redefinition of relationships with England, Gaelic magnates within Scotland's traditional territorial heartland and with autonomous/independent mainland and insular powers. These interrelationships form the central theme of an exploration of the struggle for political domination of the northern mainland of Britain and the adjacent islands, the mechanisms through which that domination was projected and expressed, and the manner of its expression.Part II is a thematic exploration of central aspects of the society and culture of late eleventh- to early thirteenth-century Scotland which gave character and substance to the emerging kingdom. It considers the evolutionary growth of Scottish economic structures, changes in the management of land-based resources, and the manner in which secular power and authority were acquired and exercised. These themes are developed in discussions of the emergence of urban communities and in the creation of a new noble class in the twelfth century. Religion is examined both in terms of the development of the Church as an institution and through the religious experience of the lay population.

The central argument of The Formation of the English Kingdom in the Tenth Century is that the English kingdom which existed at the time of the Norman Conquest was defined by the geographical parameters of a set of administrative reforms implemented in the mid- to late tenth century, and not by a vision of English unity going back to Alfred the Great (871-899). In the first half of the tenth century, successive members of the Cerdicing dynasty established a loose domination over the other great potentates in Britain. They were celebrated as kings of the whole island, but even in their Wessex heartlands they probably had few means to regulate routinely the conduct of the general populace. Detailed analysis of coins, shires, hundreds, and wapentakes suggests that it was only around the time of Edgar (957/9-975) that the Cerdicing kings developed the relatively standardised administrative apparatus of the so-called 'Anglo-Saxon state'. This substantially increased their ability to impinge upon the lives of ordinary people living between the Channel and the Tees, and served to mark that area off from the rest of the island. The resultant cleft undermined the idea of a pan-British realm, and demarcated the early English kingdom as a distinct and coherent political unit. In this volume, George Molyneaux places the formation of the English kingdom in a European perspective, and challenges the notion that its development was exceptional: the Cerdicings were only one of several ruling dynasties around the fringes of the former Carolingian Empire for which the late ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries were a time of territorial expansion and consolidation.

Shortlisted for the 2009 Saltire Society History Book of the Yea. rFrom Caledonia to Pictland examines the transformation of Iron Age northern Britain into a land of Christian kingdoms, long before 'Scotland' came into existence. Perched at the edge of the western Roman Empire, northern Britain was not unaffected by the experience, and became swept up in the great tide of processes which gave rise to the early medieval West. Like other places, the country experienced social and ethnic metamorphoses, Christianisation, and colonization by dislocated outsiders, but northern Britain also has its own unique story to tell in the first eight centuries AD.This book is the first detailed political history to treat these centuries as a single period, with due regard for Scotland's position in the bigger story of late Antique transition. From Caledonia to Pictland charts the complex and shadowy processes which saw the familiar Picts, Northumbrians, North Britons and Gaels of early Scottish history become established in the country, the achievements of their foremost political figures, and their ongoing links with the world around them. It is a story that has become much revised through changing trends in scholarly approaches to the challenging evidence, and that transformation too is explained for the benefit of students and general readers.

This illuminating and insightful guide offers a comprehensive overview of Scottish history, from the kingdom's genesis in the ninth century to the independence debates of the present day. Considering both internal dynamics and international horizons, Allan Macinnes asserts Scotland's heritage as significant and compelling in its own right, rather than reducing it to an offshoot of England's past. Rigorous and wide-ranging, this textbook is an essential companion for undergraduate and postgraduate students of History. Its lively and accessible style makes it suitable for anyone with an interest in Scotland's national development.