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Dalriads (Dalriada)
DALRIADS, a name given to the Scoto-Irish, a
branch of the
great Celtic family, who are generally supposed to have
found their way into Ireland from the western shores of
North Britain, and to have established themselves at a
very early period in the Irish Ulladh, the Ulster of
modern times. They appear to have been divided into two
tribes or clans, the most powerful of which was called
Cruitlne or Cruithnich; a term said to mean eaters of
corn or wheat, from the tribe being addicted to
agricultural pursuits. The quarrels between these two
rival tribes were frequent, and grew to such a height of
violence, about the middle of the third century, as to
call for the interference of Cormac, who then ruled as
king of Ireland ; and it is said that Cairbre-Riada, the
general and cousin of king Cormac, conquered a territory
in the north-east corner of Ireland, of about thirty miles
in extent, possessed by the Cruithne. This tract was
granted by the king to his general, and was denominated
Dal-Riada, or 'the Portion of Riada,'over which Cairbre
and his posterity reigned for several ages, under the
protection of their relations, the sovereigns of Ireland.
[See O'Flaherty's Ogygia; Ogygia vindicated, pp. 163, 4
and 5. and O'Connor's Dissertation, pp. 196, 7.] The
Cruithne of Ireland and the Picts of North Britain being
of the same lineage and language, kept up, according to
O'Connor, a constant communication with each other; and it
seems to be satisfactorily established that a colony of
the Dalriads or Cruithne of Ireland, had settled at a very
early period in Argyle, from which they were ultimately
expelled and driven back to Ireland about the period of
the abdication by the Romans, of the government of North
Britain, in the year 446. In the year 503, a new colony
of the Dalriads or Dalriadini, under the direction of
three brothers, named Lorn, Fergus, and Angus, the sons of
Ere, the descendant of Cairbre-Riada, settled in the
country of the British Epidii, near the Epidian promontory
of Richard and Ptolemy, named afterwards by the colonists
Ceantir or 'Head-land,' now known by the name of Cantyre
or Kintyre. History has thrown but little light on the
causes which led to this settlement, afterwards so
important in the annals of Scotland; and a question has
even been raised whether it was obtained by force or
favour. In proof of the first supposition it has been
observed, [Chalmers' Caledonia, Vol. i. p. 275,] that the
headland of Kintyre, which forms a very narrow peninsula
and runs far into the Deucaledonian sea, towards the
nearest coast of Ireland, being separated by lofty
mountains from the Caledonian continent, was in that age
very thinly peopled by the Cambro-Britons; that these
descendants of the Epidii were little connected with the
central clans, and still less considered by the Pictish
government, which, perhaps, was not yet sufficiently
refined to be very jealous of its rights, or to be
promptly resentful of its wrongs; and that
Drest-Gurthinmoch then reigned over the Picts, and
certainly resided at a great distance beyond Drum-Albin.
It is also to be observed, in further corroboration of
this view, that Lorn, Fergus, and Angus, brought few
followers with them; and though they were doubtless joined
by subsequent colonists, they were, for some time,
occupied with the necessary but uninteresting labours of settlement
within their
appropriate districts. Ceantir was the portion of
Fergus, Lorn possessed Lorn to which he gave his name, and
Angus is supposed to have colonized Ila, for it was enjoyed
by Muredach, the son of Angus, after his decease. Thus
these three princes or chiefs had each his own tribe and
territory, according to the accustomed usage of the Celts;
a system which involved them frequently in the miseries of
civil war, and in questions of disputed succession.
There is no portion of history so obscure or so perplexed
as that of the Scoto-Irish kings and their tribes, from
their first settlement, in the year 503, to their
accession to the Pictish throne in 843. Unfortunately
no contemporaneous written records appear ever to have
existed of that dark period of our annals, and the efforts
which the Scotch and Irish antiquaries have made to
extricate the truth from the mass of contradictions in
which it lies buried, have rather been displays of
national prejudice than calm researches by reasonable
inquirers. The annals, however, of Tigernach and of
Ulster, and the useful observations of O'Flaherty and
O'Connor, along with the brief chronicles and historical
documents, first brought to light by the industrious
Innes, in his 'Critical Essay' — a work praised even by
Pinkerton — have thrown some glimpses of light on a subject
which had long remained in almost total darkness, and been
rendered still more obscure by the fables of our older
historians. Some of the causes which have rendered this
part of our history so perplexed are thus stated by
Chalmers in his Caledonia. "The errors and confusion
which have been introduced into the series, and the
history, of the Scottish kings, have chiefly originated
from the following causes:—
1st. The sovereignty was not
transmitted by the strict line of hereditary descent.
There were, as we shall see, three great families, who, as
they sprung from the royal stock, occasionally grew up
into the royal stem; two of these were descended from
Fergus I. by his grandsons, Comgal and Gauran; the third
was descended from Lorn, the brother of Fergus. This
circumstance naturally produced frequent contests and
civil wars for the sovereignty, which, from those causes,
was sometimes split; and the representatives of Fergus
and Lorn reigned independently over their separate
territories at the same time. The confusion which all
this had produced can only be cleared up by tracing, as
far as possible, the history of these different families,
and developing the civil contests which existed among
them.
2nd. Much perplexity has been produced by the
mistakes and omissions of the Gaelic bard, who composed
the Albanic Duan, particularly in the latter part of the
series, where he has, erroneously, introduced several
supposititious lungs, from the Pictish catalogue. These
mistakes having been adopted by those writers, whose
object was rather to support a system, than to unravel the
history of the Scottish monarchs, have increased, rather
than diminished the confusion."
Although the Dalriads
had embraced Christianity before their arrival in Argyle,
they do not appear to have been anxious to introduce it
among the Caledonians or Picts. Their patron-saint was
Ciaran, the son of a carpenter. He was a prelate of
great fame, and several churches in Argyle and Ayrshire
were dedicated to him. The ruins of Kil-keran, a
church dedicated to Ciaran, may still be seen near
Campbellton in Kintyre. At Kil-kiaran in Ilay,
Kil-kiaran in Lismore, and Kil-keran in Carrick, there were
chapels dedicated, as the names indicate, to Ciaran.
Whatever were the causes which prevented the Dalriads
from attempting the conversion of their neighbours, they
were destined at no distant period from the era of the
Dalriadic settlement, to receive the blessings of the true religion,
from the teaching of St.Columba, a monk of high family descent, and
cousin of Scoto-Irish kings. See ICOLMKILL.
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