The Role of lordship centres in Pictish society

The Role of lordship centres in Pictish society by Marian Youngblood

Duffus Castle, Gordonstoun, Moray: one of the great Pictish strongholds to survive and change with the times. Its present form shows mediaeval battlements, built on top of Pictish ramparts which, like neighbouring Burghead, may date to the first century A.D.

‘He held his household . . .

Sometyme at Edinburgh, sometyme at Striveline,

In Scotlande, at Perthe and Dunbrytain,

At Dunbar, Dunfrise, and St. John’s Toune,

All worthy knights more than a legion,

At Donydoure also in Murith region’

Jhon Hardyng, 1465

The subject of royal lineage brings out the romantic in the scholar and the scholar in the romantic. Lordship

or kingship in a Pictish context has been given both treatments over centuries of scholarship, each with its

version of history. Increased tolerance between disciplines allows students of literature, language and art

history to communicate with archaeologists and pre-historians in renewed attempts to investigate the role of

royal centres in the Pictish kingdom. Pictish kings and sub-kings ruled a nation which grew from a loose

confederation of tribal groups in the third century to become a major political and landowning force at the

time of their takeover by the Scots in the ninth. To describe them as a lost society is to ignore the sources.

An effort is made here to demonstrate that the ethos of those early Historic royal centres, far from being

lost, has become incorporated within our culture and has meaning for us today.

As much as it is aided by modern techniques, our perspective can be clouded by modern thinking. Fealty,

faith, heroism and violence are not fashionable concepts. Yet they were an integral part of a power centre, as

important as glitter of armies or riches in landholding. Early Celtic neighbours held mutual respect for oral

recitation of lineage, bravery, protection of one’s people and hospitality. Anyone reading the 6thC Welsh

Gododdin of Aneurin, an heroic poem glorifying the last battle of king and nobles of Traprain, cannot but

marvel at the imagery of that aristocracy whose lineage hailed from 5thC Christian Votadini of treasure-hoard

fame. It is, however, difficult to gain an understanding of Pictish hierarchy in the kingdoms North of the

Mounth, because historical documentation was hindered by remoteness from clerical centres. Physical and

literary evidence is still slight; but recent scholarship accepts a correlation between Irish sources such as the

Annals of Ulster (AU), Annals of Tighernach and fragments carefully compiled by Skene (1867) as more

accurate than previously supposed, albeit with an Irish slant (Clancy, 1996; Wormald, 1996).

In the time of Bede, (AD673-735), the Pictish nation was geographically divided by the Mounth into those

southern Picts living on ‘this side of the steep and desolate mountains which separate them from the

provinces of the northern Picts’ (HE III, 4). While we may never know more about early land divisions,

confederations and system of leadership than the mythology of the Pictish creation legend (‘Irish and Pictish

Additions to the “Historia Britonum”’, Skene, 1867), later Pictish kingship (500-800) at times held power

greater even than that of the Scots. Early 7th century kings of Fortriu controlled from a lordly centre near the

Earn allegiance, agriculture, and armies with impressive force. They also had access to skilled labour - artists,

masons, carpenters, architects, even military engineers (Alcock, 1988). In this respect they were no different

from their Dalriatan neighbours across Druimalban, the spine of Britain (Adomnan V.C. II 46), except in

exploitation of fertile land. But no Scots king ever commandeered the Columban Church in quite the same

way as Nechtan, son of Derilei (706-729), controlled the Church in Pictland. After gleaning all necessary

detail from Anglian Jarrow on ecclesiastic propriety, ritual and usage, and borrowing skilled architects to help

him build a stone church (HE V, 21), Nechtan expelled the resident familia of Iona in 717. Royal control

persisted for the next 170 years until the time of northern king Giric, son of Donald son of Alpin (878-889)

who, according to Chronikil of Kings, ‘first gave freedom to the Scottish Church which was under servitude

until that time after the custom and manner of the Picts’ (Mackenzie 1830).

From mid-6thC until final assimilation by Scots, c. 843, Pictish aristocrats administered land tenure - exacting

tithes or allegiance through kinship in exchange for protection - while fostering a thriving industry in decorative

and domestic materials from the centre of an all-powerful local lord.

He in turn was subservient to the next in rank, sub-king or High King, whose central fortress would have

been rich in trappings of authority, controlling fertile agricultural ground, also with highly-skilled masons,

metalworkers and woodcarvers at his call. Bridei son of Maelchon (d.585), ‘powerful’ king of the Picts north

of the Mounth lived in such a fortress, Brudei munitio (V.C II 35) near Inverness It had obvious wealth in its

size (Alcock, 1992), impenetrable position, its great wooden doors barred against Columba when visiting on

his first mission; Adomnan describes Bridei’s other powerful asset: his personal Druid, Broichan, wise-man in

chief, consulted on augury, keeper of knowledge and laws, magician-in-residence who could raise and still

storms (V.C II 34). Not only was Bridei’s stronghold large enough for royal family, retinue, advisors and

slaves (V.C II 33), but it housed hostages taken as a means of insuring the loyalty of an Orcadian sub-king

(V.C II 42).

Such northern fortresses, like Burghead, (Small, 1969) Dundarg (AU, 729) and Dunnottar (AU, 681, each

sited within reach of a fertile plain, were prime targets for siege-and-burn raids because of wealth, real or

imagined, which could be carried off as booty. As neither side paid its army, the promise of treasure hoards

in exchange for military allegiance was an important factor in maintaining a functioning force (Wormald,

1996)

Lordship centres had to access surplus food supplies in order to feed workers temporarily removed from

agricultural production in peacetime or soldiers during siege; this implies rich landholdings immediately

adjacent, land in a wider radius, or, in time-honoured fashion, plundering one’s neighbours. Terraces on the

slopes of Dundurn indicate immediate access to a food harvest, albeit outside the walls (Ralston, 1997).

Records indicate Dunnottar, on the Mounth’s eastern extremity, was besieged more than once (AU, 681,

694?). Its fortified position, set on towering cliffs, bounded on three sides by the North Sea and defended on

the remaining narrow strip to mainland fields by bank and ditch enclosures (Alcock, 1992), is perhaps the

most dramatic of northern warlord centres. It may have been a much-prized potential conquest for Bridei son

of Bile, southern Pictish ‘King of Fortrenn (genitive of Fortriu) in his siege of Fothair in 681. Under him great

armies fought the battle of Nechtansmere near Dunnichen in 685, resulting in Pictish independence from

Northumbria (Anderson, M. 1973/80). Northern warrior aristocrats may have had just as powerful armies at

their disposal marshalled from equally impressive royal seats. Dubhtalorc, 8thC ‘rex Pictorum citra Monoth’

(d.782, AU) probably ruled from just such a fortress ‘on this side of’ the Mounth.

Status and wealth were directly related. The larger the citadel, the more land it controlled; but it had the

burden of producing more to feed its dependents. Food had to be grown in abundance to stock a royal town

(urbs or civitas of Bede, (HE I1). Whereas for a small dun crops could be grown locally, in a larger province

centred on a major fortress a higher proportion would be tithed and collected as tribute from widespread

tenantry (Clancy, 1996).

The chief seat of a district while heavily fortified, ritually protected in the 5/6thC (multivallate Burghead was

ringed on the landward side with circa 30 carved bull stones), may by the 9thC not have needed such

fortification. It would still, however, have administered all surrounding landholdings, including that of the

church - not ‘given liberty’ until the reign of Giric (878-889), above; Henderson, 1967). Jewellers and

metalworkers working full-time produced rich adornment for aristocratic overlords both local and, through

gift-giving and hospitality, in distant kingdoms. Generosity appears as a mark of status (MacQueen,

1961/90). Hospitality was a key feature of tribute given and received among princely equals. But feasting was

appreciated by all: the best way in which a warlord could thank his warriors in advance for services to be

rendered in battle was to ‘feast them all for a year’ (Song of Taliesin, Matthews, 1991).

After all, they might not return.

As law-giving and government became sophisticated, so negotiation between noble confederacies changed

from violent bloody encounters to political and matrimonial alliances sealed over the feasting table with

Mediterranean wine (Alcock, 1988).

Forteviot, an elite capital of later kings of Fortriu, seems to have centred on a glorious palace - palisaded, but

not as formidable as neighbouring Dundurn, (AU 683) - with feasting hall, royal church of decorated stone,

and Christian burial ground. Strategically set in lush Strathearn on the Water of May, its landscaping is more

relaxed than iron-nailed ramparted Dundurn: suggesting perhaps fewer raids in more enlightened times. It is

possible, however, that it could afford to show affluence, as protection came from a line of fortresses,

Dundurn among them, similar to the line of promontory forts as coastal guardians of Banffshire. It was

spiritually guarded from above by 8/9thC Class II (Christian) carved stones , of which Dupplin and

Invermay crosses are only two (Alcock, 1992). From the reign of Bridei son of Bile, d.693, kings of

Fortriu seem to have enjoyed overkingship, as the term Fortrenn is used in annals with dual meaning

denoting kingship as well as head of a dynasty (Smyth, 1984).

carved arch from Forteviot

The Dupplin cross, in particular, may demonstrate the importance of Fortriu as supreme kingdom. Its

inscription celebrates Constantine, among the last of the Pictish kings, (Forsyth, 1995). ’Custatin filius

Forcus’ (Urgust) ruled Pictland from Fortriu in 789, assumed kingship of DalRiata by 811, and retired to

monastic St. Andrews (Cillrighmont) where he died, 820.

Forteviot had prestige and precedent. Pictish capital at the height of its power, it ministered to an orderly

nation accustomed to hierarchy based on allegiance developed over a millennium. No wonder to the Scots

who subsequently ruled there - at least for a time - it was the ultimate prize.

The bard was asked who of the kings of Prydein

is most generous of all

‘And I declared boldly

That it was Owain’

The Gorhoffedd, 12thC heroic poem

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