Forgotten History of the Ancient Picts

foreign this is the history of the world podcast with me chris hasla now of course last week we had a special episode we did something that we've never done before and we ventured off the beaten track and we rewarded one of our patrons uh with a special episode on the house of vassa the royal house of vassar which ruled over sweden and poland lithuania if you haven't listened to it please do go back and listen to it and if you did listen to it i'd love to know what you thought of it what you whether you thought it was a good thing to do um considering that we're putting off our journey into ancient rome well this week we've got another special episode and it's for one of our great patrons who's really helped support the podcast it's the man who creates all the wonderful videos on youtube for the history of the world podcast it's the man behind the study of antiquity and the middle ages the channel on youtube and it's the man himself nick barksdale and for him this week we're going to be talking about the pics the story of the picts is a mysterious story and one that exists strictly in the first millennium and one that exists in the modern country of scotland the pictish people were celtic in origin the celts are thought to have originated in central europe during the second millennium bce and over the course of the next thousand years the celts would spread out across the whole of central europe from the modern country of portugal in the west all the way to the modern country of bulgaria in the east as we discovered during our ancient greece series a faction of gaelic celts migrated into anatolia and established a cultural center called galatia but also we know that the celts crossed the english channel and occupied both britain and ireland it would only be the expansion of the empire of the romans that would take most of the lands back from celtic governance and leave them in a small area of northwest europe mainly the british isles with the celtic peoples covering such an expansive area over such a long amount of time the celtic tribes of europe would become more distinguished from each other over time so when the romans invaded britain they would have already been familiar with the celtic peoples but none quite like the ones that they encountered in britain those scholars who have studied celtic cultures very closely can even distinguish between the different celtic tribes of the british isles through linguistics they can determine that the celtic languages are indo-european in origin and that's because of the way that they pronounced particular consonant sounds there were two groups of celtic languages one group of celtic languages were called p celtic and the other q celtic the celts who lived in the north of britain favored using the q sound instead of the p sound on particular words and therefore their languages are called q celtic the distinguishing things about the celtic people of the british isles was the fact that they painted their faces and bodies with dyes their clothes and hair were dyed in bright colours and they referred to themselves as the painted people now this is interesting because of the rather more well-known story of how the picts got their name it's because of the romans the romans came across these painted people and called them the pikti pikti has the same etymological root as the word picture which is derived from the latin word for painting this is interesting because of where we believe the etymological origin of the name britain comes from the romans called the british island britannia believed to have originated from the celtic word pritani that could have been the celtic way to describe themselves as the painted ones if the original p celtic word was pruinya then the original cue celtic word was cruenya and corina was supposedly the name of the first pictish king the picts as the romans called them are the people described as occupying lands where the romans had previously described as being the home of the caledonia people which is really in the northern portion of great britain and so the story of depicts as a distinct group of the celtic residents of britannia is the story of the inhabitants of the modern country of scotland [Music] agriculture agricola was born in gallia narbonensis which is in the modern country of france in the year 40 and he would become an important official of the roman empire upon coming of age he would be sent to britain as a military official to learn more so throughout his career he would stay close to british politics and he would come and go throughout his life in the year 79 agricola would embark on a campaign of northern britain it was a very highly considered campaign with roads being laid down and forts being built the pictish peoples would have surely been among the caledonian confederacy reported to have opposed the romans under agricola at the battle of mons graupius in which the romans scored a big victory but with reports of the caledonians fleeing into the woods and disappearing from the roman radar the romans would have to just be satisfied with the military victory the rugged terrain of scotland just wasn't a place favorable for open battlefield conflict and so eliminating the caledonians completely was going to be virtually impossible the lowlands of modern scotland were secured by the romans under agricola and the pictish peoples would have been pushed further north into the highlands of caledonia agricola's campaigns were deemed to be successful and he would be recalled in the year 85 and seemed to go into a condition of retirement although he would end up dying at the young age of 53 in the year 93 septimius severus we know that throughout the second century that the romans would be in conflict with those tribal societies of northern britain and the legacy of these conflicts were preserved by the construction of hadrian's wall and the antonine wall which were both designed to represent the northernmost border of the roman empire and a place by which they could look north and subdue the british tribes however when septimius severus became the roman emperor he decided that caledonia should be conquered and he would prepare an army of 40 000 people to get the job done both hadrian's wall and the antonine wall were re-fortified before severus would endeavor to go one step further than agricola and completely conquer the island and although he was the emperor he would be doing it in person the romans marched into the caledonian lands with purpose and although it was originally thought that the roman fort of carpo was built during this period the beginning of the third century it is now actually thought that carpo was originally a second century construction that severus recommissioned and improved capo has been identified as a pictish word and the picts are identified as having their own pictish language which is most likely a brethonic language which is a form of celtic so severus was able to establish himself as a viable threat to the modern scottish lands possibly on the verge of subjugating these lands of northern britain in the same way as they did to the modern english and welsh lands however there were rebellions among the natives before severus would have to return south to the city of eboricum the modern city of york due to illness severus actually died from this illness in 211 and his sons who had accompanied him were far more interested in going back to rome to compete for the roman throne than they were in fighting caledonians the end of the romans the celtic peoples of the british owls did nothing to document their history and so we have to rely on the romans to tell us anything about these indigenous people the longer that the romans occupied great britain the more that they understood the people of great britain by the 4th century bce the celtic britons who lived alongside the border of rome and britain had got somewhat used to living on a roman border close to roman people because it is all that they ever knew in their own lifetimes to them having roman neighbours was quite normal however in the far north of the island were celtic britons who didn't have any real relationship with the romans and just saw them as an aggressive threat it seems that these were the picts with their distinct attitude and their distinct language now we always have to be speculative about who was epict and whether societies were integrating into and out of pictish ethnicity but we believe that we can generally consider the picts to be those societies in the far north of scotland by this time and that they were the ones who resisted roman integration longer than most other celtic societies of great britain the picts were generally much more of a concept largely linked by a similar language so we mustn't think of them as a nation-state but as a group of societies with cultural links such as their language ermenius the roman scribe referenced the pikti in his writings late in the 3rd century and also referenced the hiberni who were believed to have originated in ireland and were likely ancestral or synonymous with the scotty who would migrate across the irish sea to scottish lands during the first millennium these outlying celts who had not become accustomed to roman presence and culture on the british isles appear to have frequently challenged the romans and the intensity and solidarity of these societies appeared to intensify during the 4th century with repeated allied attacks from the pity and the scotty allied with other celtic britons and saxon pirates who have been shown an interest in the british holes themselves the saxons were seafarers from germanic lands who were raiding the lands of the north sea and the english channel but they were certainly no friends of the romans going into the 5th century the romans had to recall all of their resources to defend their continental interests and this meant that because the north of great britain was pretty much on the extremities of the roman empire that these lands were among the first to be abandoned so the roman threats of pictish lands gradually diminished and eventually disappeared [Music] christianity the roman legacy of britain includes the encouragement of writing especially the recording of events and how this could immortalize culture to inspire the culture to prosper with those who referred to the writing as a means to understand and take pride in their own identity it is thanks to those writings that we can even have some form of story about the picts as we see points of reference dotted around in first millennium british and irish annals and chronicles pictish king lists exist although many historians would suggest that the earliest records refer to mythological kings only such as huitneya mentioned as the first pitish king earlier in the episode also we find that some sources mention alternative names for particular time periods which supports a theory of there being multiple kings for multiple tribes or societies which further supports the notion of their not being a united pictish nation of people but more likely numerous pictish societies acting as a confederation if it suited them to do so one of the pictish kings mentioned in the first millennium scriptures is a man called bridae bridae was a pictish king and likely to be of a proportion of pictish people who ruled at the same time as other pictish kings over other societies of pictish peoples bride is believed to have received his crown in a patrilineal manner so after the death of his father but briday's reign was significant because we believe that this was during a very important period of british history christian missionary work in the british isles had been going on certainly during the 5th century bce with the work of saint patrick being iconic of this king bridae was alive during the lifetime of columba columba was ordained in 551 and bridee became a pictish king in 554. britain's kingdom was based around the town of inverness in the north of the modern country of scotland and columba reached inverness while touring the scottish lands carrying out his missionary work when he met buday he successfully converted him to christianity and the pictish people of the kingdom dutifully followed their king so the picts were now a christian society from this point onwards into the seventh century there is a strong reference to christian monks living among and working alongside societies peacefully the christian church of scottish lands took on a distinctly celtic character which distinguished it in its style the celtic christian church was a humble church where monks lived in poverty alongside their wives which is unlike some of the chaste traditions of other christian society monasteries the churches and chapels were small and the apparent absence of a modern secular society structure in pictish lands was echoed by the church which did not have the kind of parish structure that we may be more familiar with in more civilized christian societies the societies of the british isles the political makeup of the british isles was ever changing during the first millennium and it can be difficult to distinguish societies due to the fluid movement and the integration of peoples so we have to go against our instincts to categorise everyone and everything and remember that these societies did not have a modern structure with borders and identities like the modern nations that we know today however through language and culture you can describe roughly what was going on we spoke of the p celtic and q celtic societies distinguished by the diversification of the celtic language on the british isles and we have identified that the pictish peoples of the far north of great britain were speaking a cue celtic form of celtic language which distinguished them from the p celtic speaking britonic people of the modern southern scottish lands of the ancient kingdom of strathclyde the picts may have spoken an earlier form of language before it was influenced by goydelic language-speaking celtic people of ireland such as the scotty who were migrating into the western isles of scotland and the western coasts of the modern country of scotland in the lands of the modern country of england germanic peoples who are historically referred to as the anglo-saxons had landed and colonized the lands and had started to spread out their range of influence so the modern lands of scotland were starting to become distinguishable according to the cultures that were settling the lands so let's have a quick tour of 7th century scotland in the far north were the picts living in the lands often referred to as picked land the lands of the picts could be broken down further into smaller societies but it doesn't serve us well at this stage to try and further describe it to the west was the kingdom of del rioda which covers the lands of the sea to the west of scotland including coastal lands the western isles and lands in the north of ireland which was the home of the migrating scotty who are the people we just mentioned in the lands to the south west were the britonic speaking britons of the kingdom of strathclyde and in the southeast were the people who had migrated northwards and established the kingdom of northumbria inhabited by angles the northumbrians were by far the most powerful of all the kingdoms and the others were to some degree subservient to them we briefly mentioned how the celtic catholic church differed in its traditions from the roman catholic church and there was a king of northumbria called osw who famously ruled that northumbria would honour the roman catholic dates for easter over the celtic suggestion and this decision was made at the famed synod of whitby osw was quite a powerful monarch so it was a bit of a blow when he died in 670 and he was succeeded as the king of northumbria by his son edgefrith it would not take long for the picts to try their luck against the fresh king and they invaded in 671 the north ambiance would be equal to the threat but this would not prevent the picts from being a continuous pest at the northumbrian's northern borders the culmination of this situation was at the battle of dunectain where the picts led by their king bridai iii lured the northumbrian army led by king edgefrith into a battle where the exact location remains unknown however we do know that the picts scored an important victory and king edgefrith of northumbria was killed not only could the pits now escape from the hegemony of the northumbrians but the kingdoms of strathclyde and del rioda could now escape the overbearing north ambiance who would not try to expand northwards again both pitland and del riada would actually follow the northumbrian lead into the roman catholic traditions leaving behind the celtic catholic annals referred to an 8th century pictish king called angus who took the throne sometime at the end of the 720s or the beginning of the 730s angus's reign was significant because he was able to take control of the lands of del rioda putting the scots of dalryada under pictish rule some claim that angus himself had some scottish blood which meant that a takeover of del rioda may have been somewhat acceptable to the scots but there is evidence that dalviarda is somewhat disjointed with a lack of cohesion which angus took advantage of pillaging the kingdom of its wealth although angus had created an understanding with the northumbrians early in his reign when king edward became the king he was concerned with the growing power of king angus of pitland fortunately for angus the new frosty relationship between pickland and northumbria really didn't escalate much beyond cross-border raiding which is typical behaviour of the medieval societies of northern britain king angus would turn his attention to the kingdom of strathclyde but he would find that despite his successes in expanding the power and influence of the picts that strathclyde would be able to defend themselves quite capably against angus's aggressions source i read suggested that angus was able to subjugate strathclyde but others suggest that this was a change in fortune for angus his brother was killed in battle against the britons of strathclyde and king edward of northumbria formed a new alliance with angus which may have been motivated by the strengthening of their neighbours there is also evidence of an uprising against angus in dowry arda so in the final years of angus's reign there is still no doubt that pickland was the dominant force of scottish lands and there is no doubt that angus influenced his neighbouring kingdoms and societies but pictish domination did not extend much beyond his lifetime norsemen when you talk about the british isles towards the end of the first millennium you cannot avoid talking about norse invasions not only had northumbria been subdued by its neighbours but now it was facing invasion from the sea and this would surely have been good for the picts and the scots who would have been looking to profit from the misfortune of the north ambrians however the first viking invasion of northumbria in 793 would have sent shockwaves throughout great britain as societies would have slowly realized the sheer magnitude of the threat to everybody after the vikings heartlessly destroyed the religious community at lindisfarne it was a true massacre with the church destroyed and the residents of the monastery slaughtered the vikings were quick to raid and occupy the islands around northern britain no mercy was given to anyone and all valuables were plundered whether sacred or not the shetlands the orkneys the hebrides the western isles and the isle of man were all taken by the vikings and this was not a welcome act for the scots of daoriada especially when the vikings started landing in their land of origin ireland this would give them a power base in the british olds and the vikings were now here to stay all of the british kingdoms would now have the threat of the norsemen on their doorstep strathclyde looked out to the viking occupied islands the scotlands of del riota were confined to their mainland possessions and the pictish kingdoms had occupied islands to the west and the north this is what brought the picts and the scots into a union the actual nature of the union remains unknown but we can be sure that the mainland societies were very concerned about the viking presence and knew that they would need to stick together to deal with it early in the 9th century a man called alpin was the king of dariada and he consolidated the union between the scots and the picts by marrying a pictish princess they would have a son and that son would become a major icon in scottish history his name was kinae the son of alpine and so his name comes down to us today somewhat anglicized as kenneth mcalpin kinayed may have become the king of dariada in around 841 when his father alpin died it is possible that the pictish throne could have been matrilineal and that could explain how would have qualified to have been the pictish king also there is a chronicle that describes viking invasions of pickland but it suggests that it wasn't necessarily vikings from modern norwegian lands but possibly danish pirates the chronicle describes how many picts were slaughtered now with kinate likely considering himself of scots origin as opposed to pictish there is a suspicion of kinaith marching from delriata to pitland and taking the pictish throne without much opposition there is suspicion of a battle where kinaid killed many pigs but this could have just been kenneth battling against local earls who were rivals for the pictish throne what's happened next is something that puzzles historians to this very day it seems that during the reign of kenneth mcalpin that the animals and chronicles fall somewhat silent about events from 8 44 and then when the stories re-emerge describing the later years of kinnaith reign there is no mention of depicts there is no mention of the picts ever again the picts totally disappeared in the middle of the 9th century legacy so what happened to the pigs well in my opinion i simply believe that they were absorbed into the kingdom of kenneth mack alpin and due to the aggressions of the vikings venturing into caithness in the far north those pictish people that were left were probably squashed into the area of murray if kenneth macau pin did kill the rival elves then the culture of the pits may have been compromised as there was a pictish aristocracy ruling over the classes of agricultural peasants and slaves the peasants and slaves would have had little influence over their destiny with the aristocracy put down by the scottish king kinate and so pictish culture may have been simply diluted down to nothing and simply become part of an amalgamated kingdom of scots and picts which would be the embryo of the modern country of scotland the mystery of the pics is further accentuated by around 200 incised stone slabs that date between the 4th and 7th centuries and have been found in the east of scotland in an area undoubtedly pictish we described how the picts became christianized and the later stones definitely relate to the christian culture of depicts the earlier ones were before the christianization of the pits and these are the most mysterious with strange imagery of humans and animals which appear to be distinct to pictish culture with nothing else quite like it discovered elsewhere in the british holes pictures place names are very distinguishable one of the easily recognizable place name prefixes is pit as in the town name pit lockery and it's often referenced as characteristic of pictish town names however a more interesting picture prefix is abba as in the town aberdeen abba means river and can be compared to the abba used in welsh town names such as aberystwyth which points towards the celtic connection some historians actually believe that bittish cultural origins predate the celtic migration to the british olds but there is no strong evidence for this theory however if the scots migrated over from ireland then the original scottish people were depicts and we could have very easily have been calling scotland today picked land instead so there we go that's the end of the picks a fascinating story and a very mysterious story as well where um the origins of the pics is very hazy but we do get some nice stories of uh of different kings of that era who were gallivanting around the countryside looking for the odd battle or skirmish here and there so a very interesting period in british history in a very interesting period of scottish history um and there's plenty of stuff out there you can find out about the pits and the scots uh the northumbrians uh who were angles and the viking invasions of uh the british olds are always always fascinating so a great episode choice by nick barksdale of the study of antiquity and the middle ages and nick has supported the history of the world podcast for some time now for well over a year i believe and uh nick this is my gift to you so i hope you enjoyed it and thank you very much for all of your support now if you do want to support the podcast we do give out rewards this is a reward for accumulative uh contributions towards the podcast so it has been earned and you can to earn things such as gift packs you can earn uh commissioned episodes just by becoming a patron of the podcast now how you do that you just go to the history of the world podcast.com website and uh you just click on the patreon link and it will uh you will just take you to the the web pages for the history of the world podcast and you can decide to contribute as much or as little as you like so even from one dollar a month you can donate and believe me all of those one dollar contributions they soon add up into something 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Channel: Study of Antiquity and the Middle Ages

Views: 390,851

Keywords: Picts, Pictish, Celtic, Celt, Celtic History, Celtic DNA, Ancient Scotland, Celtic Christianity, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman Empire, Caledonia, roman conquest of britain, Ancient History, Ancient Britian, Ancient Rome, Ancient ireland, Medieval Scotland, ancient scottish, Ancient Scottish Religion, pictish language, Celtic Myths, Celtic Religion, Celtic Britain, Indo European, Celtic Scotland, celts vs vikings, picts of scotland, Scottish DNA, Irish DNA, ancient britons

Id: k67EztRAH20

Length: 39min 23sec (2363 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 20 2021