Celtic Scotland

by W. F. Skene

Kingdom of Bernicia.

Of Aedilfrid, who at this time ruled over Bernicia, and soon after extended his sway over Deira also, it is told us by Bede that he ‘conquered more territories from the Britons, either making them tributary, or expelling the inhabitants and planting Angles in their places, than any other king;’ and to his reign we attribute the greatest extension of the Anglic power over the Britons. He appears to have added to his kingdom the districts on the west between the Derwent and the Mersey, thus extending Deira from sea to sea, and placing the Northumbrian kingdom between the Britons of the north and those of Wales. The river Tees appears to have separated Deira from Bernicia, and the Angles of Bernicia, with whom we have more immediately to do, were now in firm possession of the districts extending along the east coast as far as the Firth of Forth, originally occupied by the British tribe of the Ottadeni and afterwards by the Picts, and including the counties of Berwick and Roxburgh and that of East Lothian or Haddington, the rivers Esk and Gala forming here their western boundary. The capital of Deira was York, and that of Bernicia the strongly-fortified position on the coast nearly opposite the Farne Islands, crowning a basaltic rock rising 150 feet above the sea, and accessible only on the south-east, which was called by the Britons Dinguayrdi, by the Gael Dunguaire, and by the Angles Bebbanburch after Bebba the wife of Aedilfrid, now Bamborough. About half-way along the coast, between Bamborough and Berwick-on-Tweed, lay, parallel to the shore, the long flat island called by the Britons Ynys Medcaud, and by the Angles Lindisfarne.[^[296]]

The debateable lands.

In the centre of Scotland, where it is intersected by the two arms of the sea, the Forth and the Clyde, and where the boundaries of these four kingdoms approach one another, is a territory extending from the Esk to the Tay, which possessed a very mixed population, and was the scene of most of the conflicts between these four states. Originally occupied by the tribe of the Damnonii, the northern boundary of the Roman province intersected it for two centuries and a half, including part of this tribe and the province, and merging the rest among the barbarians. On the fall of the Roman power in Britain, it was overrun by the Picts, and one of the earliest settlements of the Saxons, which probably was composed of Frisians, took place in the districts about the Roman wall. It was here that during the sixth century the main struggle took place. It falls naturally into three divisions. The first extends from the Esk and the Pentland Hills to the Roman wall and the river Carron. This district we find mainly peopled by Picts, the remains probably of those who once occupied the eastern districts to the southern wall, and preserved a kind of independence, while the rest were subjected by the Angles.

From the Picts the Angles give the hills which formed its southern boundary the name of the Pehtland, now Pentland hills. Near its south-eastern boundary was the strong natural position called by the Britons Mynyd Agned and also Dineiddyn, and by the Gael Dunedin. Nine miles farther west, the Firth of Forth is narrowed till the coast approaches within two miles of that of Fife, and affords a ready means of access; and on the south shore of the upper basin of the Forth, and near the termination of the Roman wall, was the ancient British town of Caeredin, while in the Forth itself opposite this district was the insular town of Giudi. The western part of this territory was known to the Welsh by the name of Manau Guotodin, and to the Gael as the plain or district of Manann, a name still preserved in Sliabhmanann, now Slamanan, and this seems to have been the headquarters of these Picts.

Between them and the kingdom of the Picts proper lay a central district, extending from the wall to the river Forth, and on the bank of the latter was the strong position afterwards occupied by Stirling Castle; and while the Angles of Bernicia exercised an influence and a kind of authority over the first district, this central part seems to have been more closely connected with the British kingdom of Alclyde. The northern part, extending from the Forth to the Tay, belonged to the Pictish kingdom, with whom its population, originally British, appears to have been incorporated, and was the district afterwards known as Fortrenn and Magh Fortrenn.

Galloway.

Finally, on the north shore of the Solway Firth, and separated from the Britons by the lower part of the river Nith, and by the mountain range which separates the counties of Kirkcudbright and Wigtown from those of Dumfries and Ayr, were a body of Picts, termed by Bede, Niduari; and this district, consisting of the two former counties, was known to the Welsh as Galwydel, and to the Irish as Gallgaidel, from which was formed the name Gallweithia, now Galloway.

A.D. 606.
Death of Aidan, king of Dalriada; Aedilfrid conquers Deira, and expels Aeduin.

Three years after the great battle in which Aidan was defeated at Dawstone in Liddesdale, he died, leaving his throne to his son Eocha Buidhe, or the yellow-haired, whom Saint Columba had named as his successor;[^[297]] and in the same year Aedilfrid, king of Bernicia, attacked Aeduin, who had succeeded his father Aella in Deira when a child, and had barely attained majority, and drove him from his throne, thus uniting Deira to Bernicia, over which he reigned twelve years. A change likewise soon took place among the Pictish kings, and in the year 612 Nectan appears to have been displaced by Cinioch or Cinadon, son of Luchtren, who from the Gaelic form of his name probably belonged to the northern Picts.[^[298]] Five years afterwards Aeduin, who, after wandering as a fugitive in different parts of Britain, had finally taken refuge with Redwald, king of the East Angles, succeeded in persuading him to assist him to recover his throne.