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The Royal House of MacAlpin

© Matthew White

Kenneth MacAlpin or Kenneth I of Alba had five children. His two sons later became kings of Alba while his three daughters each married into other royal families thus consolidating the influence of the MacAlpins in the politics of the day. One of the daughters married King Run of Strathclyde thereby laying the foundation for the incorporation of this area into Scotland. Another married the Norwegian king of Dublin while the third wed the High King of Ireland, Aedh Finnlaich.

During his reign, Kenneth extended the boundaries of Alba to the area south of the River Forth almost as far as the River Tweed, although Strathclyde in the West still remained independent. After his death at Forteviot in Perthshire in 859 AD, Kenneth MacAlpin was buried on the Holy Isle of Iona. He was succeeded by his brother, Donald, who ruled form circa 859 to 862 AD.

King Donald I is credited with instituting the system of tanistry to determine the succession to the throne. Previously the king had named his successor. Tanistry was a custom whereby the king or clan chief was elected by an assembly of family heads. The king had to be an adult, of sound mind and body and of noble birth. An heir was often appointed by the same system. Of course, this led to many feuds and the system was replaced by that of primogeniture (first birth) by James I (1406 –1437)

Donald died, of natural causes, at the Rath of Inver-amon and was interred at Hy. Apart from these few details, little is known about Donald I, who was succeeded by his nephew and Kenneth’s son, Constantine I.

Constantine’s reign was one of constant battles with the Vikings, who by this time occupied much of Scotland. In 864, from his base in Dublin, the Viking, King Olaf the White, led a number of raids into Donald’s territory. He was followed by Thorsten the Red but Constantine defeated them both. In 872 Constantine also assassinated King Run of Strathclyde, his brother-in-law, and incorporated Strathclyde into Alba.

However a party of Danes, known as the ‘Black Raiders’ made their base in Fife and from there attacked King Constantine and his forces, leading to Constantine’s death in 877 AD. He was buried on Iona.

Kenneth’s other son, Aedh ‘Swift-Foot’ then became king. The name ‘Aedh’ was anglicised as ‘Hugh’. Aegh only ruled for about a year before his murder by his cousin Giric, Donald I’s son, in 878.

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