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Individual:
Kenneth's origins are obscure, and his fame rests more on the subsequent development of his dynasty than any significant actions during his own reign. Although he must have come from some branch of the ruling Cenél Gabhrán faction, his exact antecedents have never been satisfactorily identified, though a twelfth-century genealogy makes him the great-grandson of AED FIND, through his Son EOCHAID. This is, of course, possible, but it is surprising that someone who shot to power so quickly had not otherwise already featured in the activities prevalent during the previous decade where a high ranking and ambitious prince is bound to have made his mark. The story that he succeeded his father as a subking of Galloway is again possible, but unlikely. What seems more likely is that Kenneth was a prince of the Cenél Gabhrán but was not necessarily resident in Dál Riata for all of his early life. He may have lived part of the time in Ireland, or elsewhere amongst the Western Highlands. It has been suggested that his father married not only a Pictish princess (Kenneth's mother) but a Norse princess, and that Kenneth thus already had strong connections with the Vikings. The Irish annals record that in 836, Gothfrith macFergus, a Gaelo-Norse half-breed, who had established himself as king of Oriel in northern Ireland and who apparently also had dominion over some of the Hebrides, visited Kenneth in Argyll in order to discuss the Viking attacks on western Scotland. Could Kenneth have negotiated some form of treaty with the Vikings which worked to their mutual benefit? In 839 the Vikings advanced through Dál Riatan territory into the heart of the land of the Picts and, in the ensuing battle at Forteviot, killed many of the Scots' and Picts' nobility. In the chaos that followed Kenneth claimed the kingship of Dál Riata. Kenneth held power by his own strength and cunning. There must have been others who believed they had a greater right to the throne or who, for whatever reasons, distrusted Kenneth, and his first few years must have been bloodthirsty, as he rid himself of his enemies and secured his right to the throne. None of this is recorded, because Kenneth subsequently became such a revered ruler that his past and origins were whitewashed to an extent, but some of his character comes through in the tale about how he deceived the Picts. Apparently he invited the Pictish nobility, then ruled by DRUST MAC FERAT, to a feast. Kenneth had already dug pits around the benches and weakened the bolts holding the benches together, so that once the Picts had become drunk it was easy to release the bolts, cast the Picts into the hidden trenches and slaughter them. Whatever the real events, tradition records that Kenneth conquered the Picts by deceit and slaughter. By 847 he had united the old kingdoms, establishing them as a single entity. To do this he must have considerably subdued any remaining Pictish nobility for never again did they lay claim to their throne. Kenneth called his combined kingdom Alba, or Albany, and by the time of his grandson DONALD II, thirty years later, it was already being called Scotland. Kenneth not only established his capital at Forteviot, the previous capital of the Picts, but he also established Dunkeld as the spiritual capital of Alba by removing there some of the relics of St Columba from lona. æKenneth's reign was violent but successful. Having taken over control of the Picts he still warred against the Angles to the south and the British of Strathclyde, and he retained an uneasy peace with the Vikings. He relied heavily on his own strength of character, though he also cemented his authority with neighbours and allies by inter-dynastic marriages through his daughters. One married OLAF, the King of Dublin; another married Aed Findliath, who became High King of Ireland in 862, whilst a third married RHUN, prince of Strathclyde. Kenneth's violent life evidently took its toll for he died of an illness, in February 858. His age is uncertain but he was probably in his late forties. He was succeeded by his brother DONALD.
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