The Picts! - an Overview of Scotland's Ancient Ancestor Tribe

a young centurion patrols hadrian's wall having just arrived from the south the rain is cold the fog is dark but worst of all he's heard stories stories of mysterious people north of the wall savage men who have burnt roman forts and raided settlements little is known about these strangers except for these raids and the fact that they dye their skin with intricate blue patterns hence the name he's heard other troopers call them the painted people these mysterious enemies are depicts a group of celts from northern britain who would fight non-stop against roman rule and go on to help form the nation that would one day be called scotland called savages and brutes by their would-be conquerors the picks were actually far more complex unfortunately the picks did not keep extensive written records of their history we therefore have to rely on outside historians and storytellers to piece together an idea of who they were and how they lived the first mention of the term picts or pikti in some cases comes to us from a late third century roman poet eumenius the term picked coming from the latin word panguere translates roughly to painted or painted folk the epithet referred to the swirling dark blue paint or tattoos that adorned the bodies of pictish warriors what the pics called themselves however we don't know though used generally by the romans to refer to any peoples north of hadrian's wall pics specifically describes the celtic people dwelling in what is now northern and eastern scotland originally a disorganized group of tribes the pics united into a confederation in the face of roman expansion as their conquest of britain expanded in the first century ce romans established basic relations with the picts however as rome continued to push further north war with these tribes was pretty inevitable conflicts first broke out in 105 ce after picks burned a series of roman forts that had encroached on their land following these attacks rome pulled back from its northernmost frontier and established themselves in land they more firmly controlled the point they pulled back to would eventually become the site of hadrian's wall which began construction in 122 ce with the construction of the wall a formal border was established between rome and the wildlands outside of their control this line in the sand would later evolve into the modern border between england and scotland roman and pictish fighting was mostly limited to raids for the majority of the time the romans were there however there were times when larger engagements broke out for instance in 367 ce picked actively allied with different tribal groups coming over from ireland these were the progenitors of what would become the kingdom of dalryata which straddled the sea between northeastern ireland and southwestern scotland this so-called barbarian conspiracy started off a low-intensity war that lasted right up until the roman withdrawal at one point the picks actually breached hadrian's wall together with their allies they even established temporary control of the roman province this was a sophisticated strategic campaign that would have required extensive knowledge of the roman defenses it was clearly not the work of simplistic brutes rome's control in britain continued to wane until the early 5th century when they finally pulled out entirely during the post-roman period various powers fought to establish themselves in what would become england while the pics thrived in the isolated areas of what is now northern scotland by the 7th century several pictish kingdoms appeared the most powerful was the kingdom of fortrio in northeastern scotland this kingdom exercised coherent control over the smaller pictures territories and during this period the pigs were forced to become vassals of the southern kingdom of northumbria the newest and most powerful hegemon in the island pictish wars for independence would begin in the mid 7th century and culminate in the battle of nectunsmere on may 20th 685 ce king edgefrith of northumbria led an army into pictures territory against the recommendations of his advisors fiktis forces led by king bride met him in modern day donaiken the pics initially feigned a retreat early on in the fight after the northumbrian forces were pulled into rough terrain they were suddenly ambushed and destroyed and king edgeford himself lay among the slain this battle secured picturesque independence for the remainder of their existence and also brought about the beginning of northumbria's decline the last recorded evidence of the pics comes from around 250 years after this battle in the end though it wasn't warfare but religion that dissolved pictish culture christianity was sweeping across europe and the british isles sometime in the 8th century fortreu and the other picturesque kingdoms converted over this conversion is largely credited to the work of the irish saint columba who conducted missions all across scotland with the adoption of christianity came closer relations between the picts and the scottie the gaelic people settled in western scotland a common religion allowed for increased trade and an exchange of ideas between the two cultures as relations normalized various noble families intermarried leading to the further gallicizing of the pits after a series of holy gallic kings ruled pictish kingdoms picked land faded away by 900 ce the amalgamated nation would be known as the kingdom of alba without their own written history much of our knowledge of the pics is subject to speculation and misconceptions romans northumbrians and others all viewed the pics as militant violent and basically primitives but in reality picture society was largely agrarian centered around small villages not unlike other celtic peoples of the time most recorded pictish wars were against invading armies not each other they did engage in some piracy but for the most part they kept to themselves now we do know they had their own language a unique dialect of the celtic language group that was predominantly used across britain the picks were also accomplished artists most of what we know about their material culture comes from silver jewelry artifacts that we found and carved standing stones and crosses that show pictish warriors and hunters surviving by the hundreds most of these stones seem to be memorial markers several include names or short phrases written in either latin or in oam the linear script which began in ireland and flourished from the 4th through the 6th centuries the most tantalizing mystery surrounding these stones by the way is the symbolic art you see on them the stones feature repeating motifs that are common to the whole area of picture inscriptions researchers believe they belong to a kind of standardized pictorial vocabulary or formulary a little like hieroglyphics i guess you could say but nobody knows what they actually represent scholars have assigned names to each of the motifs such as the double disk and the z-rod and then there's this fella the so-called pictish beast this figure doesn't seem to represent any known animal most people think it looks kind of like a seahorse or maybe a dolphin as with most episodes in history there are multiple sides to the story of the pics known as accomplished warriors the pics were obviously much more a complex people with a rich unique culture in a sense though they never really died out rather they simply merged into the multi-ethnic nation of the sculte the picts the britons the angles and later the vikings which we now call scotland and we should all be very grateful for their contribution thank you for watching hopefully that was edifying is obviously a very very brief overview of pictish history and culture if you'd like to learn more about the pics and how they influenced what became scotland check the description below for some book recommendations in the meantime have fun doing your own research look at some ancient art and get inspired by it and have a great day

Channel: USA Kilts & Celtic Traditions

Views: 22,077

Keywords: where to buy a kilt, usa kilts, #usakilts, famous Scottish landmarks, famous Scottish monuments, Scottish history, Irish history, Celtic history, Celtic tribes, Iron age Ireland, Iron age Scotland, Bronze age Scotland, Bronze age Ireland, ancient ireland, ancient Scotland, Highland culture, famous Irish landmarks, ancient celts, european tribal societies, standing stones, Pictish art, Pictish design tattoo, ancient warriors, enemies of Rome

Id: RnCOmoypH7c

Length: 8min 32sec (512 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 15 2022