[Celtic history]
Among the first peoples encountered by the Romans in Britian (3rd cent.)
were most likely the picts, who made successful raids against
the Romans on the Yorkshire coast. The Romans
referred to Pict territory as
"Albany" (Alba) and built two walls , the Antonine & the Hadrian,
(probably) to hold the Picts at bay.
: ancient inhabitants of central and northern Scotland and of northern Ireland.
Of uncertain origin, they were probably decendants of late Bronze Age and early Iron Age
invaders of Britain (arrival in Scotland
probably around 1000 BC and in Ireland about AD 200).
Their language is thought to have been a super-imposition of Celtic on a pre-Celtic
and non-Indo-European language, but there is no undisputed interpretation of it
or their culture.
The first recorded mention of the Picts was by the Roman writer Eumenius in A.D. 297, who described them
as northern invaders of Roman Britain.
The Picts were probably converted to Christianity in the 4th and 5th centuries.
The Saxons, when they invaded Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries A.D. with the Angles and Jutes,
at first avoided the Picts, but as the Saxons pushed northward, continuous border warfare ensued.
122 - 126 A.D.
Hadrian's Wall goes up in Britain following the arrival in the spring of the emperor
Hadrian on a tour of military inspection.
The 72-mile wall from the Tyne to the Solvay is built mostly of stone with at least
16 forts and will provide a defensive barrier against the Picts and other tribesmen
to the north.
297 A.D.
First mention we can find of the Picts, by a Roman writer.
400's A.D.
To the southwest of the Picts, Gaelic/Scottish invaders from Ireland est.
the kingdom of Dalriada
in West Scotland.
449 A.D.
Britain is conquered by Angles and Saxons who have been invited to the British Isles to fight against Pict
(Caledonian) and Scottish foes of the Britons'
King Vortigern, but who have wound up fighting the Britons as well.
The conquest has been facilitated by an epidemic that weakened the country 5 years earlier.
563 A.D.
The Irish missionary Columba (Colum), 42, founds a monastery on the island of Iona in the Hebrides and
begins to convert the Picts with 12 of his disciples.
early 600's
A unified Pictish kindom north of a line from the Clyde to the Forth rivers is established.
685 A.D.
Picts defeat Northumbrians May 21 in the Battle of Nechtansmere, thwarting their efforts to gain control of Scotland.
843 - 850 A.D.
The Picts are defeated(?) by Kenneth I, founder and 1st king of Scotland.
Between 843 and 850, Kenneth I, king
of Dalriada, established himself also as king of the Picts, although
how and why is not clear. The kingdom of Alba thus formed became
the kingdom of Scotland.
