Mid-Argyll Theme
- 15
Dál Riata
The Emergence of
a Kingdom
The western seaboard of Scotland, together with
its islands, formed a part of the Gaelic speaking
world together with Ireland and some corners of
what is now Wales, before written records began. We
don't know exactly how Gaelic
came to be spoken here, nor when.
The character of the land here, full of inlets
and islands, narrow sea passages and long lochs,
allows rapid communication by sea. The area may
look fragmented from a land-bound point of view,
but from the point of view of sea-going warriors
and traders it was a network of connections. It
thus lent itself naturally to the creation of a
single political territory.
The sea-roads of Argyll -
the Kingdom of Dál Riata
As in Ireland, the basic unit of social and
political life was the túath, the tribe or
people, with its own king, the rí
túaithe. But single kingdoms were
unstable units and were in constant conflict with
their neighbours. Each sought to exercise authority
over its neighbours, or to free itself from
interference and control by its neighbours.
Warfare, cattle raiding, taking of hostages,
negotiated settlements and payments of tribute to
avoid violence all contributed to the overall nexus
of inter-tribal relations.
As one tribe became more powerful than its
neighbours, patterns of domination and submission
appeared. Over-kings became rulers over several
túatha, and the consolidation of
larger units, eventually of provinces, created a
more hierarchical political map of the Gaels.
We can see this pattern in Dál Riata on
the west coast of Scotland.
The Cenéla of
Dál Riata, with Dunadd
The several cenéla or kin-based groups
were united under one overking, usually the ruler
of the Cenél nGabráin, though for a
while Cenél Loairn held dominance. The
kingdom spanned both sides of the North Channel,
but in the sixth century the centre of political
gravity seems to have shifted to the east, to
Scottish Dál Riata. There in the mid-sixth
century, Aedán mac Gabráin held the
overkingship of
all the Dál Riata cenéla. He not only
held authority over his own people, but sought to
extend his power and influence in Ireland and
Orkney, in Pictland and even Northumbria. We do not
know with any certainty where his power base was,
the caput regionis as Adomnán calls
it - (the chief seat of the kingdom,) but the fort
of Dunadd is the
most likely candidate.
Aedán's aggressive expansionism was not
to be maintained by his successors, however. His
grandson, Domnall Brecc, was a less successful
ruler of Dál Riata, losing several battles
and finally allowing his kingdom to become so weak
that the Scottish part was made subject to the
power of Northumbrian kings, while he probably lost
the Irish part altogether. Dál Riata's
subjection to Northumbria seems to have lasted from
the 630s until the year 685, when the Northumbrian
forces were destroyed by the Pictish army at the
battle of Nechtansmere.
Perhaps it was during this period of subjection
to the English that the Senchus Fer nAlban
was written, 'the Account of the Men of Scotland' -
a survey of the houses of Dál Riata with a
view to the right of their overlord to raise taxes
and military-naval levies from them. This may have
made done for the king of Dál Riata himself,
or it may have been for a Northumbrian overlord.
Either way, it manifests the emerging
centralisation and control which literacy and a
state administration allowed. A king could rule
ever more extensive domains by utilising the
services of his client lords, of the church, and of
the efficient administration of laws, dues and
armed levies.
In the year 729 the annals mention Pictish
officials called exactatores, presumably
royal officials whose job was to enforce the
payment of such dues. They were killed in battle by
the king's enemies, so clearly such exactions met
with resistance occasionally. We must imagine
similar officials in Dál Riata, lords in
their own right who served their king by exacting
wealth from their own clients, taking a cut
themselves, and passing the remainder up to the
king. Through such exactions of wealth (trickling
up) and royal power (trickling down) a king might
establish his authority, and perhaps an increasing
stability in matters of rule and succession.
Something approaching a monarchical state begins to
emerge.
In the year 736, King Ungus son of Uurgust
(Angus son of Fergus) of the Picts seized Dunadd
and devastated Dál Riata. This may have been
a terminal blow to the kingdom, weakening it beyond
recovery. Little more is heard of Dál Riata
in the annals thereafter. By the end of that
century the Vikings would come and devastate the
area further, destroying much of what remained of
the kingdom.
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