The History Of The Scots Picts And Britons

This document is the result of approx. 4 years of hard study. It is mainly designed for those individuals researching early Scottish history, though it should also be of interest to others studying pre-Roman and post-Roman British prehistory, particularly of an Arthurian nature.

This is an in-depth study of the origins of the Scots, the Picts, the Britons (and even some Anglo-Saxon history) in the Dark Age period. It is a little bit controversial, but I think it is a reasonable assessment. Even if you don't accept the conclusions, hopefully you will appreciate the work that has gone into it, and the presentation of the evidence from their own legends and testimonies - you are not likely to find many of them in other history books. At the very least I hope it will be a starting point for many people to revisit the past

During the first millennium AD the most northerly part of Britain evolved into the country known today as Scotland. The transition was a long process of social and political change driven by the ambitions of powerful warlords. At first these men were tribal chiefs, Roman generals or rulers of small kingdoms. Later, after the Romans departed, the initiative was seized by dynamic warrior-kings who campaigned far beyond their own borders. Armies of Picts, Scots, Vikings, Britons and Anglo-Saxons fought each other for supremacy. From Lothian to Orkney, from Fife to the Isle of Skye, fierce battles were won and lost. By AD 1000 the political situation had changed for ever. Led by a dynasty of Gaelic-speaking kings the Picts and Scots began to forge a single, unified nation which transcended past enmities. In this book the remarkable story of how ancient North Britain became the medieval kingdom of Scotland is told.

Few problems in British history have proved as intractable as that of the origin and ethnic associations of the Picts. For although we may find numerous references to them within Roman and Celtic sources they have left us no historical texts of their own. So often we find the early Picts mentioned within histories of Roman Britain as mere opponents of Roman arms -- but who these tattooed barbarians were remains a mystery.Modern opinion holds that the Picts were Celts, like the Scots and Welsh. This book seeks to demonstrate the scarcity of evidence for this common assumption and follows instead the evidence of native tradition.In a stimulating new study the author offers a view of the Picts that is certainly not the current text book standard. It concentrates on the very oldest traditions of Pictish origins, which together with early historical sources, would suggest that the Picts were not Celts at all, but 'Scythians'. It will put an alternative case that the Picts were Finno-Ugrian immigrants from the Baltic coast.The author provides an investigation which subjects the traditions of Pictish origin to thorough scrutiny and by offering a viewpoint that does not commence from a Celtic bias, thereby offers some new ideas on a much neglected subject. Originally published in 1998 and for some years out of physical print, this new edition will make this unique research available once again to researchers who are looking both for a source book of the earliest literary references to the people of Scotland and wish to take the research further. Equally interesting to Scots who just want to understand their own past.

The North Britons are the least-known among the inhabitants of early medieval Scotland. Like the Picts and Vikings they played an important role in the shaping of Scottish history during the first millennium AD but their part is often neglected or ignored. This book aims to redress the balance by tracing the history of this native Celtic people through the troubled centuries from the departure of the Romans to the arrival of the Normans. The fortunes of Strathclyde, the last-surviving kingdom of the North Britons, are studied from its emergence at Dumbarton in the fifth century to its eventual demise in the eleventh. Other kingdoms, such as the Edinburgh-based realm of Gododdin and the mysterious Rheged, are examined alongside fragments of heroic poetry celebrating the valour of their warriors. Behind the recurrent themes of warfare and political rivalry runs a parallel thread dealing with the growth of Christianity and the influence of the Church in the affairs of kings. Important ecclesiastical figures such as Ninian of Whithorn and Kentigern of Glasgow are discussed, partly in the hope of unearthing their true identities among a tangled web of sources. The closing chapters of the book look at how and why the North Britons lost their distinct identity to join their old enemies the Picts as one of Scotland's vanished nations.

L. A. Waddell’s captivating volume explores Britain’s origins and presents new historical evidence from ancient Phoenician and Sumerian civilisations. First published in 1924, this work is an exploration of the early history of Britain’s ancestry. Exploring the Britons, Scots, and Anglo-Saxons in the pre-Roman periods, L. A. Waddell transports his readers back to 3000 BC with new historical evidence. The writer presents his historic interpretation of the Newton Stone inscription, found in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in this fascinating analysis of Anglo-Saxon origin. Despite being a well-known archaeologist, Waddell’s various works on the history of civilisation have caused much controversy and he never gained recognition as a Sumerologist.