Picts A large cultural group of peoples living in Scotland since prehistoric times were the Picts. They inhabited the territory of the Central and Northern Highlands, which was not affected by Romanization. About the prehistoric Picts, or protopicts, almost

Peoples of Alba. Part 1. Picts and Scots

Scotland. The ancient homeland of the Picts, a disappeared people who completely assimilated into the Scottish people, from whom the country got its name. A country in which the no less mysterious people of the Celts left a very noticeable mark, dissolving into linguistic traditions, ancient buildings and the DNA of the local population, becoming the spirit of Scotland.

A country of militant highlanders and peaceful lowlanders. Country of kilts, whiskey and bagpipes. The country of the wind - it blows constantly, sometimes gently, sometimes harshly, not knowing tired. Scotland is a country that will stay in your heart if your heart is open enough for it. Anyone who has visited Scotland, whether in reality or thanks to books, forever leaves a piece of his heart in it.

It is impossible to describe Scotland in a nutshell. It needs to be heard, felt, understood. Listen to the sound of bagpipes, taste real Scotch whiskey with a touch of peat smoke and plunge into the warlike past of this country.

Picts

The king of Scotland has come

Ruthless towards enemies.

He drove the poor Picts

To rocky trees.

R.L. Stevenson

Translation by S.Ya.Marshak

Even as a child, when we “passed” this poem at school, I was very interested in: who are these Picts, who, judging by the text, are local residents, and the Scots are invaders. And why did the ruthless king so need a recipe for heather honey. With the advent of the computer and the Internet, it became possible to get answers to all questions.

My article is not some kind of serious research, I just tried to summarize all the most interesting things that I found on the Internet.

The Romans called this people Pictii, that is, "colored". It is not known whether the Picts tattooed their bodies, or simply painted them before the battle.

“We are the most distant inhabitants of the earth, the last of the free, were protected by our remoteness and the obscurity that surrounds our name. Behind us there are no nations, nothing but waves and rocks. These are the words of the Pictish leader Kalgak, recorded by Tacitus. It can be seen that already in those days this tribe was mysterious.

There are several versions about the origin of the Picts.

Version 1. Indigenous people

There is an assumption that the Picts were the indigenous, pre-Celtic, population of Britain and were direct descendants of the builders. Naturally, this hypothesis is not supported by anything, because it is completely unknown who these builders of megaliths were.

Version 2. Scythians

The Anglo-Saxon monk and chronicler Bede the Venerable wrote in 731 that the Picts were Scythians who landed in the north of Ireland and demanded land. The Irish sent them to Scotland and gave all men Irish wives, but with the condition that inheritance be passed down the female line. If there were only men on the Pictish ships, without women, then this is more like the retreat of one of the detachments of the defeated army than the resettlement of the people.

Neighboring peoples marveled at the Pictish custom of covering their bodies with numerous colorful tattoos. That is why the Picts were called "painted people." Tattoos were not just decoration. They carried information - for example, about the social status of their owner - they symbolically depicted various representatives of the animal world or fantastic creatures - the same as on the surviving Pictish stone slabs. In these images it is quite possible to catch a certain resemblance to the Scythian animal style.

Contemporaries were also amazed by the sexual freedoms that existed among the Picts. The Roman writer Dio Cassius said that Empress Julia Domna, wife of Emperor Septimius Severus, reproached a certain Pictish woman for depravity, but she replied that Roman women secretly become mistresses of the most miserable men, while Pictish women openly converge with the best husbands of their people by your own choice. This custom is also very similar to the Scythian.Or maybe the Picts had some kind of local custom of polygamy?

Version 3. Iberians

The Iberians lived on the east coast of Spain, and later settled throughout the Iberian Peninsula.

The Picts who fought against the army of the Roman general Julius Agricola were described as tall and blond. However, the Romans then met another tribe of barbarians, whom they described as swarthy and similar to the Iberians whom they had conquered in Spain.

In the physical appearance of the Scots, who are mostly of the light Caucasoid type, there are sometimes individuals with dark hair and swarthy skin, such as British actor Sean Connery. Probably, these are the descendants of a part of the Picts, whose ancestors were Iberians.

The connection of this ancient population of Scotland with their Iberian ancestors can be found in the many spiral patterns carved into the stones and rocks of the northern lands of Britain, which can also be found in Spain, France and Ireland.

But there are also enough arguments against this version. For example, the names of Iberia (Spain) and Ibernia (the medieval name of Ireland) - Iberia and Hybernia - are spelled differently, but pronounced similarly. It is possible that they did not mean the Iberians, but the Irish.

Version 4. Basques

Modern Basques live in northern Spain and southwestern France. The Basque language resembles the language of the Iberians. Recent genetic studies have confirmed that many Western Europeans, including a significant number of Spaniards, Portuguese, English, Irish and French, have common roots with modern Basques.

In the book "Basques" by the Spanish explorer Julio Caro Baroja, there is a link where it is said that the French traveler of the XII century Aymeric Pico cites the fact of a curious connection between Basque and Scottish men's clothing. But it is not specified exactly what details are involved.

Version 5. Celts

The British Isles received several invasions by the Celtic tribes who occupied most of Central and Western Europe. Their invasion began around the 10th century. BC. The most intensive migration of the Celts took place in the 6th century BC. BC. As a result of this migration, two branches of the Celtic group of peoples were entrenched in the British Isles - the Britons, who settled in Britain, and the Goidels (Gaels), who settled mainly in Ireland. The Britons came from the south to Scotland. Perhaps the Picts were the descendants of the first Celtic settlers.

Version 6. All together

Most scholars consider the Picts to be a people who appeared as a result of a mixture of the Celts who came to the north and the local aboriginal population (for example, the Caledonian tribe). The Celts came to these places (north of the line of Forth - Clyde) in about 100 AD. This happened, apparently, as a result of the salvation of the Celtic tribes from Roman rule. In turn, this local element was not ethnically united. One of its constituents was possibly Iberian.

Version 7. Unknown who

Whether the Picts were actually called Picts, or is it just a Roman nickname, is not very clear. Actually, the Scots called them cruitney. Appeared on the historical arena also some shade, but whether these are Picts, and if they are Picts, then all, or a separate part, is also not very clear.

The language of the Picts was somewhat similar to the Celtic, but the Scots needed an interpreter to communicate with them. That is, either the Celtic language, veryь far removed from related Scottish and British, or not Celtic at all, but having many borrowings.

Writing. A list of Pictish kings has come down to us in chronological order, written in Latin, and in addition - some obscure fragmentary records that do not make it possible to decipher them properly. That is, there was definitely a written language, but it has not been preserved.

One of the main proofs of the non-Celtic origin of the Picts is considered to be their rare custom for Western societies of inheritance through the female line. None of the Celtic tribes had such a custom. Women were not the rulers of the throne, but the supreme power did not pass from father to son, but, for example, from brother to brother, or sister's son. Apparently, the royal crown was inherited by members of the seven royal houses within which marriages took place. However, it was this rare form of inheritance that brought the crown of Pictia to the Scots by blood in 843, who massacred the remaining members of the seven ruling houses. After that, an extraordinary disappearance from the history of both the Pictish people and their culture took place. In fact, after three generations of kings of the MacAlpin dynasty, their name became legendary.

But this custom of inheritance leads us to the most curious version of the origin of the Picts.

Version 8. Semites

So, among the Picts, the inheritance of power occurred through the female line, unlike all neighboring peoples. But among other Semites, Jews, nationality is still transmitted through the maternal line.

In the 7th century, an active resettlement of Semitic tribes to neighboring lands began from the Armenian Highlands. Significantly ahead in knowledge of other tribes and peoples of the world who still lived in the material culture of the Bronze Age, using iron weapons and advanced technologies for those times, the newcomers were able to capture large areas of Western Asia, North Africa and Europe in a short period of time. An attentive reader will immediately detect a temporary discrepancy. And here it is time for us to turn to an alternative version of the history of mankind.

The history of Britain begins in 55 BC. e. Traditional history names this date on the basis of the established chronology, where all Roman rulers are lined up in a single chronological chain, and events are scheduled by year. That is, if we recognize the year 2 BC. year of the birth of Jesus Christ, we get that 53 years before his birth, Roman troops invaded Britain, led by Julius Caesar. But let's not forget that the traditional chronology was compiled only in the Middle Ages on the basis of reports from various ancient authors, who often turn out to be only medieval historians or writers who fantasized about historical themes.

Albert Maksimov, ohone of the authors of alternative history, believes that Jesus Christ was born in 720 AD. e., and was crucified in 753. Julius Caesar conquered Britain 53 years before the birth of Christ. According to an alternative version, the year 667 is obtained. So we come to the same 7th century, when the Semitic hordes went through Celtic Europe with fire and sword, eventually destroying the Great Roman Empire. And then, according to version No. 2, the Semitic detachment, battered in battles, ended up off the coast of Ireland, where the aliens took wives and set off to settle on the coast of Caledonia.

Interesting piece this alternative history! According to this version, world history turned out to be younger by as much as 6 centuries! But this is another topic, those who are interested can read the relevant literature themselves.

And what other peoples lived on the territory of ancient Scotland?

Map showing the approximate areas of the Pictish kingdoms Fortriou(800 AD) and Alba(AD 900)

Historically attested (albeit quite late, on the eve of the end of its existence) the Pictish kingdom occupied a rather limited territory in the segment between the Moray Firth in the north and the Firth of Forth in the south - about two of its northeastern thirds.

In the west it bordered on the Gaelic kingdom Dal Riada, in the southwest - with the British kingdom Strathclyde, and in the south - with the possessions of the Angles in Northumbria.

It is assumed that at an early stage of their existence there were several independent Pictish kingdoms - from two to six. However, by name it is confidently called only Fortriou. But by the middle of the 6th century, a single kingdom of the Picts was fixed with the first more or less historical king - Bride I, the son of Maelkon. However, this is where geography ends and history begins.

It is generally accepted that for the first time the Picts appear in the famous "Geography" of Ptolemy and on the map he compiled of the whole world known to the ancient Greeks. But the title picts it is not mentioned at all. And they appear on the territory where the Picts are later fixed (we will conventionally assume that this is Scotland) Caledonia, who gave the name to the country, and three more tribes, about which nothing more is known.

But the information of Tacitus can be dated quite accurately: they date back to the three British campaigns of his father-in-law Julius Agricola, which took place in the 70s and 80s. The population of the future Scotland Tacitus calls in a generalized way - Caledonians without division into tribes.

Roman period

Rome, turning along the way into the Empire, began an active expansion. Caesar did not reach the region of interest to us, he was stuck somewhere in Wessex. The Britons offered resistance, cleverly organized: war chariots and coordinated actions of small detachments. The legions, well trained and equipped, with the support of the cavalry, were still able to cross the Thames, they were not enough for more.

90 years later, in 1943, the Romans took Britain seriously. They landed a large army, conquered almost all of England, invaded Wales. True, they fiddled with Wales for 10 years, but they managed. However, nothing stronger than the legions at that time had yet been invented, so in the mid-60s the southern half of the island became completely Roman.

In the 77th consular legate (viceroy) of Britain, Gnaeus Julius Agricola was appointed. In 82, Agricola decided it was time to invade Pictavia. The Romans beat the Picts a little, the Romans a little Picts, all as reconnaissance in battle. The main battle took place in the next, 83rd year.

The Picts at that time were about a dozen tribes. But by and large, they were united in two tribal unions (if you like - kingdoms) - Meatia (Veniconia) and Caledonia. Apparently, everyone participated in the Battle of the Grampian Mountains. How else could a 30,000-strong army be assembled?

True, it was Agricola and his beloved son-in-law Tacitus who counted so much, by what method is unknown. The Romans defeated the Picts. And they had better training, and weapons, and Agricola was a talented commander in everything. But it is clearly seen that they did not fight with an armed crowd, but with an army controlled by a single will and not without tactical frills. And the Picts retreated in an orderly manner. In addition, a very inspiring speech by the commander of the Pictish army, Calgacus, delivered by him before the battle and, apparently, recorded by Tacitus from the words of the prisoners, has been partially preserved. “We are the most distant inhabitants of the earth, the last of the free. Behind us there are no nations, nothing but waves and rocks.

Roman soldiers later said that the Picts fought naked and painted. Maybe they lied, but the fact is that a Pictish warrior, even in trousers and a shirt, is legally considered naked compared to a Roman in bronze armor.

The Caledonians and other Meats retreated. The Romans occupied most of the lowlands of Scotland, built seven fortresses from Stirling to Perth, and left garrisons. However, middle Scotland was honestly not included on the then maps of Roman Britain. The Picts did not give a quiet life, the newly built fortifications were periodically set on fire.

Having won a glorious victory at the Battle of the Grampian Mountains (especially glorious in the description of Tacitus), the Romans got an interesting logical problem on their heads. Keeping an army in Pictavia is expensive, inconvenient and completely pointless. To leave everything and go south - on the one hand, it is somehow indecent, but on the other hand, the Picts can show up in Northumbria, and even in Mercia (Mercia and Northumbria have not yet been, but somehow these territories need to be called). The warrior emperors could not solve this problem, but the purely peaceful man Adrian did not give a damn about all the conventions, led the army out and ordered to build a chain of fortifications in a narrow place, sit behind them and not let the Picts go.

Hadrian's Wall was a fairly serious structure, mostly stone, 5-6 meters high, with towers, forts and garrisons. Another emperor would be shy, it turns out that the Romans, who conquer everyone and everything, built such a colossus with the aim that the Picts would not offend them very much. The shaft was built in 122-126.

But after 16 years, in 142, it was decided to snatch another piece of Pictland. It is unlikely that Emperor Antoninus Pius himself thought of this, but the new fortification was called rampart Antonina. Shaft cut off for Roman Britain Lothian with adjacent territories, incl. and Edinburgh (the city and the castle may not have existed yet, but the rock was definitely there). They did it in vain: on the new border, the fortification was not really completed, and the quality was worse, and the one on the old one is no longer being repaired or guarded. It was then that the Picts pulled back. Val Antonina(earthen) overcame without any problems, Hadrian's Wall(stone) - in desolation, you can terrorize the Roman garrisons in the future Northumbria. In general, the Romans kept 3 (three!) Legions on the rampart of Antoninus for forty years, without any effect. The Picts roamed wherever they wanted, and to their shame, of course, plundered as much as they saw fit.

In the year 193, problems with the imperial throne began in Rome, i.e. everyone who is not lazy declared himself emperor. The Caledonians decided that it was time for the Romans to show their place. In alliance with the Meats and Brigantes (this is already the Britons), they drove the Roman garrisons from Hadrian's Wall, not to mention Antonin's. The Roman governor managed, however, somehow to agree with them all, since he had the money. The border was again established along the Hadrian's Wall and became more or less peaceful.

Hadrian's Wall Val Antonina

In the year 209, Roman troops under the command of Emperor Septimius Severus invaded the Picts, as it was proclaimed, in search of a glorious victory and subjugation of the barbarians. It all resulted, however, tritely in robberies and devastation of the territory.

ATIn the year 297, when the next list of the enemies of Rome was compiled, the Picts and Scots took pride of place in it. It seems that all these gentlemen periodically caused trouble to the Romans to the best of their ability. Probably, they still got it, in the year 306 Constantius Chlorus and his son Constantine, the future Great Emperor, undertook a punitive campaign to the north, in the direction of modern Aberdeenshire. The Romans do not mention any glorious victories in this connection.

In the 4th century, the Romans had enough other problems, the legions from Britain began to slowly withdraw. The Picts were not particularly embarrassed by the presence of Hadrian's Wall if it became necessary to plunder Northumbria (in Roman - Britain the Second).

In 367, a strategic, perfectly coordinated operation was carried out by the Romans, however contemptuously called the "Conspiracy of the Barbarians." True, in modern Wikipedia it is already called the "Great Conspiracy". Picts, Scots and Saxons simultaneously attacked Roman Britain, went through it all with fire and sword all the way to London. London, however, failed to take, the Romans were still not as weak as we would like. To gain a foothold in the conquered territories also did not burn out, although, most likely, there were no such plans. The Roman commander Theodosius pushed back the Picts (burdened with trophies) right behind the Antonin shaft. The territory between the ramparts was once again proclaimed a Roman province. The Picts, it seems, did not know about the new status of this area, and the Antonin Wall (if there was still something left of it) did not put anything into it.

In 383, the Duke of Britain (there were already such titles then) Magnus Maximus declared himself emperor and left to fight for a great goal on the continent, taking with him more or less combat-ready troops. He did not achieve the imperial crown, he was executed in 388 in Rome. But he gained extraordinary popularity in British legends. It is believed, among other things, that Magnus Maximus was the first owner of Excalibur, the sword of the great Arthur.

In 396-398, the regent of the Western Empire, Stilicho, organized a long-distance campaign to Pictavia, for which a real legion was even sent to Britain. What he achieved is not clear, but it was the last expedition of this kind. In the 401st, the legion was in demand on the continent, and within a decade all Roman units and subdivisions went there. In 410, Emperor Honorius officially announced to the leaders of the Britons that Rome had abandoned interests in Britain. The Britons were forced to independently repel raids from the north.

Forced to defend themselves against the barbarian Pictish and Scottish hordes, the Britons, who spoke a Celtic language very similar to the language of their kindred Celts in Wales, created a new kingdom Strathclyde.

Scotts (Gaels)

By the end of the 3rd century AD. In northern Scotland began to penetrate detachments of the Irish - Scots. This word in Irish means a warrior who went on a campaign to plunder and conquer new lands.

From Ireland to Scotland - only 15 miles by sea. Some of the Scots, for various reasons, moved to the other side of the strait and lived there quietly.

At the very end of the 5th century, the ruler of one of the small kingdoms of Northern Ireland Dal Riads Fergus Mor MacErk (Fergus Mor mac Earca) decided to include these colonies in his possessions. And take some territory away from the Pictish kingdoms. The Picts were not a single nation. To conquer Caledonia, one must have an army more abruptly than that of the Roman Empire, and in order to marry a Caledonian princess, the Scots did not come out with a snout. The small Pictish kingdom of Epidia is a different matter. Both methods work here. Epidia became part of the Dal Riada. The metropolis was at that time still in Ireland. This is the 498th year.

Fergus More entrenched himself on the banks of the Firth of Clyde securely, one might say, forever. In the year 501, his son already rightfully inherited the territory on the island of Great Britain, in addition to the domain in Ireland. By the way, all subsequent rulers of Scotland, up to the now living queen (through the MacAlpins, Bruces and Stuarts), are considered (and were proud of it) to be the descendants of Fergus.

The Germanic tribes of the Angles and Saxons begin to penetrate from the south. The Anglo-Saxon state appears in the southeast of Scotland in the 7th century Northumbria. The Anglo-Saxons fought wars to seize land for settlement. On some they settled and eventually moved on to a peaceful life - as far as it was possible in that not very peaceful time. The Picts, on the other hand, did not pursue predatory goals, but they did not show any inclination to pacification either.

Entering the arena of history at the turn of the 3rd and 4th centuries as a gang of thugs, they amazed all the surrounding peoples with their ferocity. Including colleagues in the craft - Scots, Anglo-Saxons and Franks, who themselves did not differ in angelic character. Their predatory raids covered almost all of Britain: remember that in 367 they, together with the mentioned comrades, reached London.

Moreover, judging by the sources, these were precisely predatory raids - they did not pursue any predatory or resettlement goals. And they continued for centuries: the Christianization of the Picts in the 6th century did not change anything.

The pressure of the Scots on the Picts led to armed conflicts between them, as a result, the Picts won. Dal Riada became a vassal possession of the Picts.

The Picts fought the Scottish invasion in the west, the Britons and Angles in the south, and the Vikings in the north. Sometimes they lost great battles and lost huge territories, only to gain them back in the terrible wars of the Dark Age. In the 7th century, the Scots pushed their frontiers far to the north, and a victorious Celtic army marched in half a day to the Pictish capital of Inverness in the north, destroying it.

In the south, the Angles led their German armies north, captured the southern Pictish lands and owned them for 30 years. On May 20, 685, the united Pictish army led by King Bride III met with a huge army of Anglo-Saxon invaders on the plains of Dunnichen in Angus. The ensuing battle, known to the English as the Battle of Nechtansmeer, and to the Caledonians as Battle of Dunnichen, became one of the most significant turning points in ancient history and determined the character of the country for the next 1300 years. What happened under Nekhtansmer made the name of Brides III great. The Picts destroyed the Anglo-Saxon army, along with the king, killing or enslaving the remnants of the Northumbrians who settled in Pictia. Lose to Brida this great battle, and Scotland would not exist now, and all of Britain would be English.

After the adoption of Christianity by the Picts around the 6th century, they began to marry Scots more often. In addition, the main preachers of Christianity among the Picts were Irish monks, which means that the Pictish kingdom was under the strong influence of the Irish. This allowed the Irish to settle in northern Scotland almost without obstacles. And yet, the battles between the Scots and the Picts continued.

As a result of all these wars, robberies and migrations, by the 8th century, a status quo was established between the four kingdoms - the British Strathclyde, Gaelic (or, if you like, Scottish) Dal Riadoy, Northumbria Angles and the Pictish kingdom Fortriou.

The aforementioned status quo, not excluding all sorts of border robberies and other disgrace, also implies some kind of peaceful relationship, as they would say today - diplomatic. And the main form of diplomatic relations at that time was dynastic marriages between kings, princes and princesses.

What were the aims of the Picts? Probably the same as the beks of the Turkic nomadic tribes, passing off their daughters as the rulers of neighboring states - that is, introducing their agents of influence. But with regard to the Picts, we can only guess about this.

But the goals of the second marriage party, that is, the rulers of the surrounding kingdoms, are clearly visible. The fact is that the Picts established the inheritance of royal power through the maternal line. It seems that this was not so much a law as an established practice. But, in any case, in a line of about fifty Pictish kings who ruled according to the so-called Pictish Chronicle, a monument presumably of the 10th century, from the 5th to the middle of the 10th century, the facts of the inheritance of the royal title of the father by the son are noted literally a few times.

In the kingdoms of the Scots, Britons and Angles, the patrilineal tradition of succession to power has long been established - if not de jure (the legal justification of the dynastic principle was still far away), then de facro. So for their rulers, marriage to Pictish princesses was a real opportunity to attach younger sons to power. Indeed, most of the Pictish kings were, from the point of view of their neighbors, Gaels or Britons in origin. And Pictish blood flowed in the veins of all the dynasties of the north of Britain.

Mixed marriages have become the order of the day, this applies not only to kings and princes, but to all the inhabitants of the future Scotland. Moreover, such a scheme emerges - the son of a Scott and a Pictish woman is the heir of both clans, if the parents of the royal family are the king of two kingdoms. The son of a Pict and a Scottish woman is nobody.

The end of the Pictish kingdom was caused precisely by dynastic reasons: one fine day in 843, the king of the Gaelic Dal Riada turned out to be Kenneth McAlpin, grandson of a Pictish princess. Which gave him reason to claim power in the kingdom of the Picts after the death of their king. Having won victories over other applicants for the royal title, he realized something like a personal union of the two kingdoms: together they received the name Alba. "n'Alban" is roughly how it sounds in Gaelic. Perhaps the Britons and Angles were a little swarthy, in contrast to the white-skinned Picts and Scots.

Kenneth moved the administrative center to the east, to (near Perth) - the place where the Pictish kings were crowned. The result of the territorial unification of the two ethnic communities was the spread of the Gaelic language and Celtic culture in areas long inhabited by historical Picts.

However, if Kenneth himself were asked about his title, he would first of all say that the king of the Picts, and then everything else. And the next heirs of Kenneth were called primarily the kings of the Picts.

That is, there was no conquest of the Picts by the Gaels, and no genocide of the Picts either. The ruthless King of Scotland did not exterminate the poor Picts in the moorland, did not drive them to the ends of the earth to the rocky shores. The most common assimilation took place. The Pictish language, already authentically Celtic at that time, was gradually supplanted by Gaelic. Both peoples made up the population of a single state. Contrary to the statements found in the literature, the Picts in it occupied by no means an underestimated position. Many noble families of Alba traced their origin to the Picts, and this was remembered centuries later after the disappearance of a separate kingdom. So, the Pictish line is recorded in the genealogy of Macbeth and his wife Gruoh - moreover, it was she who determined his rights to the throne, contrary to Shakespeare, much more significant than those of King Duncan. However, the true, not Shakespearean, story of Macbeth - a noble man, a fearless fighter and a wise ruler, is.

The name "Picts" was used only until the end of the 9th century. However, certain features of the public administration of the Picts passed into the state system of Alba. Thus, the term "mormaer" was still used in relation to those representatives of the tribal nobility who headed the districts on the territory of the former Pictish state.

Something in the customs of the Scots is reminiscent of their Pictish past. This, for example, is a more equal position of a woman compared to the British. Women had equal inheritance rights with men. Until the 19th century, a woman could not change her surname upon marriage. Until 1939, the Scots retained a peculiar form of marriage. To do this, it was enough to announce the desire to marry, and after a handshake, the marriage became valid.

heather ale

Everyone knows only Marshak's translation. But the ballad of R. L. Stevenson "Heather Ale" (ale, not honey at all) was first translated by N.K. Chukovsky in 1935.The modern translation of the ballad belongs to Andrey Korotkov.

All translations are good in their own way, but Marshak's version is clearly adapted for children. Little mead-makers drink honey instead of beer, and most importantly, they don’t get drunk on home-made alcohol until the whole family loses consciousness.

Aleksey Fedorchuk in his study "The Picts and Their Ale" reconstructed the events that formed the basis of Stevenson's ballad. This reconstruction seemed very plausible to me.

The Picts throughout their history, most likely, adhered mainly to their beliefs, customs and rituals - regardless of whether they were considered by those around them to be pagans or Christians. We can only guess about beliefs. But some customs and rituals can be reconstructed by analogy with the Celts, from whom they descended, and with the Germans, who throughout their early history were under strong Celtic influence.

So, an integral part of all religious rites of both the Celts and the Germans was ... a very big booze. On it they drank for peace and harvest, drank in memory of their ancestors, drank for the health and good luck of the king or other representative of power. who, in fact, led this booze.

They drank with horns and other hefty containers, each container brought up was supposed to be emptied. Otherwise, the table conversation turned into a plane of disrespect for the gods and rulers. That is, it was interpreted as blasphemy and high treason. And on the other hand, if the ruler skimped on his duties as the organizer and head of the booze, this could well serve as a basis for his overthrow, and such cases in the history, for example, of ancient Scandinavia, are known.

In general, the Scandinavian sagas have preserved very colorful descriptions of such sacred drinking parties, sometimes, like all crowded drinking parties, which led to serious political consequences. For example, in "The Saga of Egil Skallagrimson" the undesirable participation of the latter in a sacred feast with abundant libations leads to the murder of the owner of the feast by him and, in the future, to his enmity with the Norwegian kings that stretched for decades.

By the way, if highly moral Slavophiles believe that our ancestors differed in this respect from the Celts and Germans, they are deeply mistaken. It is not for nothing that the chronicle ascribes to Prince Vladimir, the future Saint, the words: "The joy of Rus' is drinking" .

So what did they drink during such sacred booze? There was no wine in the northern countries due to the lack of grapes. The notorious old-fashioned honeys required both raw materials, which were not in abundance everywhere, and complex manufacturing technology, and the duration of the process, which was calculated in decades, with a very small yield of finished products. That is, they were not suitable in any way as a mass popular drink.

There remained alcoholic beverages obtained by fermenting grains - primarily barley, as the most common crop in the north at that time, sometimes with the addition of rye or wheat. In Scandinavia, most of the cereals were not used at all for baking bread, but for preparing such drinks.

In Russian translations of primary sources, such drinks are often referred to as beer. However, this is wrong. Real beer (beer) is necessarily made with the addition of hops. And it became widespread in Europe not earlier than the 12th century, first - in Southern Germany and Bohemia, since then the glory of Bavarian and Czech brewers has been going on.

Throughout the rest of Europe, since ancient times, alcoholic beverages were obtained by simple fermentation of grain or, at best, malt. It was behind them that the names - braga and ale - were entrenched.

Modern ale is made from the same material as beer - barley malt and hops, differing only in fermentation technology. And even then ale differs quite distinctly from beer in taste. And in order to imagine what that ancient ale (or mash) was like, it’s enough to try a semi-finished product for making high-quality, as they say, “for yourself”, village moonshine. The taste, I must say, is specific ...

Another thing is that this semi-finished product is not intended for ingestion - only for distillation. But the distillation process in the days of the Picts, Scots and other Vikings in the north was not yet known ...

So the above-named citizens used ale and mash, the taste is far from refined and the benefits for the body are dubious. And they were supposed to be used in large quantities, so that subjects would not be suspected of disloyalty to the gods and rulers, and the latter - to avoid reproaches of disrespect for comrades-in-arms and breadwinners.

In ancient Norway, the amount of beer that each full-fledged bond had to brew for religious holidays, such as (Midwinter Festival), was regulated by law. And, according to the sources that have come down to us, this number was exceedingly large.

So the problem of developing a technology for preparing high-quality alcoholic beverages from improvised materials at the dawn of the Northern Middle Ages was very relevant. And isn't that where the legend of the heather ale of the Picts originated?

I can hardly imagine what kind of drink can be made from heather. Moreover, heather, regardless of its properties, is a very common plant in the Scottish wastelands. And if it could be used as "ennobling" additives to ale (which, I repeat, was an ordinary grain mash), this technology would be quickly mastered by the Scots, the Angles, and later the Norwegians. And there would be no mystery in it.

But it is easy to assume that the servants of the Pictish gods, responsible, along with the rulers, for organizing sacred feasts, being experts in the flora of their native land, found some herbs that could perform the functions of continental hops. And it was these ingredients that formed the subject of their secret knowledge, passed down from generation to generation.

As for the name - "heather ale" , then this is most likely nothing more than a symbol: an ale made not from heather, but originating from the Land of the Moorlands. A kind of trademark, like cognac, armagnac or champagne.

It is also impossible to exclude the moment of deliberate misinformation on the part of the Pictish priests in relation to hostile neighbors, designed to hide the true technology of preparing the drink and its ingredients.

Further, the fate of heather ale could develop in this way. Living in an environment of peoples, albeit superficially, but Christianized, the Picts could not help but be exposed to Christian influence. Moreover, most of their kings were Picts only on the maternal side and were brought up at the courts of the Christian rulers of Dal Riada, Strathclyde or Northumbria. The secret of "heather" ale belonged to the bearers of the traditions of the old faith, and most likely did not go beyond their circle.

With the unification of Dal Riada and the kingdom of the Picts into a single state, the Christian tradition finally prevailed. The Pictish nobility joined the ranks of the Christianized Gaelic nobility, and lost the secret knowledge of their ancestors. Just as King Kenneth, although a descendant of a Pictish princess, did not have access to her, but he was a Christian.

Of course, the bearers of the pagan tradition, in particular, and experts in the technology of "heather" ale, continued to exist. And, most likely, for obvious reasons, they were in opposition to the central government. What the latter, just as obviously, did not want to put up with.

And although there was no genocide against the Picts by the Scots, an irreconcilable war with the pagan opposition seems quite real. And it was she who was reflected in the very legend in which

Dashed into the Scottish mountains

King, merciless and dashing.

He slew the Picts in battle,

The raid went on them.

The position of King Kenneth is clear:

The edge obeyed him,

But he did not bring gifts.

And he, apparently, had a chance to try “heather” ale, and he understood the difference with the swill that the Scots prepared. And therefore, having caught the last surviving carriers of technology,

He ordered them to be taken to the sea,

On a terrible steep cliff:

"Save life, bastards,

Revealing the secret of ale to me.

However, it didn't break off. The eldest of the Picts, having provoked the murder of the boy, says:

"And I'm not afraid of your torture -

Burn, burn with fire.

Sweet Ale Mystery

Will die in my heart."

Having lost everything, including the meaning of life, he takes revenge on the enemy, dooming him to slurp lousy barley mash all his life ...

To be continued...

I’ll answer right away: the ancestors of modern Scots. Is it right? It seems like the ancestors of the Scots should be Scots. Well, yes, Scotts. And Britons from the Wotadin tribe and the kingdom of Alt Klut. The descendants of the Norwegian Vikings, who simply settled on the islands, in the Kingdom of the Islands and not only on the islands.

And yet - the Flemish artisans, who were recruited by the thousands by King David I to populate the newly founded cities. Norman and Breton knights, who became the founders of at least a quarter of the Scottish clans. Angles who remained in Lothian after Indulf the Aggressor conquered the area.

Representatives of many peoples had a hand in the creation of the Scottish nation. And not just the hand. But all those mentioned, including the Scots, appeared in these parts in quite historical times. And the Picts - earlier.

Various theories have been put forward about the origin of the Picts. So they remain theories. It is very likely that the Picts are not Celts, and perhaps not even Indo-Europeans. And if they are Celts, then they are terribly distant relatives of their neighbors, Britons and Scots.

It is not known exactly how the people of this people called themselves. It is believed that the name "Picts" is Latin, given by the Romans. The Romans distorted the self-name or invented it themselves - it is not clear. The name recorded by the Irish chroniclers of the early Middle Ages is "cruitney". There is also the name "shadow".

In all cases, it is not known how the name of this people given in the source correlates with the self-name.

What did they call themselves anyway? I'm afraid not. At least at first.

The territory that later became Pictavia was inhabited by at least twelve related tribes, and each had its own name. And the general for all - it seems like it is not necessary.

Cornelius Tacitus, son-in-law of the commander Agricola, the first of the Romans to invade the lands of the Picts, calls them the Caledonians. But he himself notices that this is only one of the tribes, the composition of the coalition that opposed the Romans - Caledonia, Meats and others.

The name "caledonia" is also kind of like Latin, but still it is unlikely that Tacitus invented it from scratch. Most likely, this is a distorted (Latinized) self-name. But, again, not all the Picts en masse, but one of the tribes.

The Picts were short, painted and fought naked.

Our era had not yet begun, and Gaius Julius Caesar had already noted that British soldiers used to paint their faces before battle. Caesar did not meet with the Picts, he did not even contact the horse Britons, only with the Belg tribes that relatively recently moved to the Island.

It turns out that the war paint was inherent in most of the inhabitants of the then Britain. How could the Picts stand out in this regard?

The fact that, in addition to coloring, they also applied a tattoo to their faces and bodies? There are some vague allusions to this - “the iron-painted face of a dying Pict”. Of course, a Pict who was mortally wounded in battle could still paint his face - opponents, during the battle, with a sword or spear.

Another option. By the beginning of the 4th century, all the Britons were already more or less Romans and they stopped painting their faces. And the independent Picts continued. And the Latins called them artists for this - pict. Even - what else is there to get into Latin, bother. It is easier to derive the name of this people from the modern English "picture" - a picture.

The Picts fought naked. Not in the sense, of course, that in general - it is very inconvenient, and the climate is not conducive. But, of course, a Pictish warrior in trousers and a shirt - even in a suit and tie - was legally considered naked compared to a Roman legionnaire in iron armor or chain mail.

Archaeologists with anthropologists have unearthed several old Pictish cemeteries and found that the average height of an adult male is 170 centimeters. Indeed, not giants. Could have been higher. But the average height of the inhabitants of Europe has changed greatly in different periods of time. So understand, 170 - a lot or a little.

And if you trust Tacitus - please: "The high growth of the inhabitants of Caledonia."

Veterans who fought in Britain told stories about naked (unarmored) decorated Picts, whom they scratched their faces with their swords and who, of course, were much lower than the citizens of Great Rome. Chroniclers wrote down, rewrote, compiled. They contributed their share of creativity - to make it more interesting.

All this allowed in 1588 the artist Theodore de Bry to draw a pict - completely naked, with a body densely painted with highly artistic images, cut and combed in the latest Parisian fashion. In order not to be boring, he also depicted a Pictish woman - also naked, painted with flowers and stars, and in addition, still armed.

Alas for me, alas - it is really impossible to refute the myths about the Picts with the provision of iron evidence. As, however, and any other myths.

The Picts themselves did not leave explanations on this matter. They knew how to write. But the gentlemen of the Picts used the Ogham letter. Complicated thing. First you need to translate an ordinary word into a special secret language and only then write it down. More graceful to them, you see, it seemed. How did the Pictish rulers, with this approach, expect to achieve universal literacy? Only the mysterious Pictish gods know this. Or did they consider it normal that the ability to write was only for priests and aristocrats?

It becomes clear why all the records in Pictish discovered so far are very short. They are all carved on stone pillars for all to see. People will somehow be able to read two or three commonly used words, but more is not necessary. About forty such pillars with inscriptions were found. Most of them are generously decorated with drawings or ornaments, in addition - a short phrase. But the most famous monument of Pictish writing is still on paper. In the sense that it has come down to us already in a copy of the XIV century and in Latin. Does not matter.

Pictish chronicle. By and large - a list of kings with a few comments. Beginning in the 5th century and ending with Kenneth II (reigned 971–995). Kenneth was already called the King of Alba, a mostly Gaelic state, but considered himself the heir and successor of the Pictish kings.

The Pictish Chronicle is corroborated by other sources from at least the 6th century onwards, so it can be considered a reliable document and not a collection of tales and legends.

Pictish stone depicting the Battle of Nechtansmer

The Romans conquered Britain for forty years (43-83). It seems like they won. The Picts sat on the edge of the earth, beyond which there were only waves, and listened to the stories of numerous refugees from the south: the Romans are cruel and lustful, greedy unbridled savages for whom nothing is sacred.

Roman Britain

In 82 Gnaeus Julius Agricola, the governor of Britain, subjugated Northumbria and led his legions further north.

The next, 83, is the Battle of the Graupia Mountains. Despite the fact that the Pictish army was a militia, moreover, of different tribes, its commanders managed to organize a regular system and implement some tactical moves. But the Romans were stronger and won. They won, announced the complete and final conquest of the Island and withdrew their troops to the south.

Agricola was soon recalled to Rome. Purely formally, Caledonia was considered Roman territory, but none of the Romans dared to appear there.

However, the story of the complete annihilation, or even the disappearance with the ends of the Ninth Legion, is a multiple exaggeration, like the Song of Roland. Back in 82, the Picts severely punished the Ninth Spanish for the disgusting guard duty, but the matter still did not come to a complete defeat.

In 123, Emperor Hadrian was forced to recognize the real state of affairs and designate clear boundaries for the Empire. The remains of Hadrian's Wall can still be seen today, it passed from sea to sea through the current Newcastle and Carlisle.

Twenty years later, the Romans decided to snatch another piece. They built the Antonine Wall, from the Forth to the Clyde. But soon the troops were again withdrawn to Hadrian's Wall.

Several times the Roman emperors came to Britain and made campaigns in Caledonia. It seems to be victorious, but without a visible effect.

Troops of Picts regularly penetrated the territory of Roman Britain, despite the ramparts and the legions sitting on them. They took walks in Northumbria (it was then called Britannia the Younger) and, to their shame, were engaged in robberies. Sometimes the Picts indulged in this reprehensible occupation in the company of adventurers from Ibernia (Ireland). It is believed that it was the Romans who called the Ibernians, who plundered their cities, Scots.

At the end of 367, the Picts, Scots, Attacotts and Saxons invaded Roman Britain with large forces and reached almost as far as Londinium. At the same time, the Franks and also the Saxons invaded Roman Gaul. For almost a year they all wandered around the Roman provinces, but did not particularly try to gain a foothold. There is no doubt that the simultaneous attack was prepared in advance and carefully coordinated. It is likely that the Roman legionnaires also participated in the conspiracy - an uprising broke out suspiciously in the garrisons of Hadrian's Wall. This incident is called, depending on one's point of view, the "Conspiracy of the Barbarians" or the "Great Conspiracy".

The Picts and Scots terrorized Roman Britain for a long time, even after it was no longer Roman. Of course, the story of how in 445 Vortigern called in the Jutes to defend Britain from the Picts and Scots is sewn with white thread. But if objectively, then the warlike Angles, located (starting from 500) in the center of Britain, forced the Picts to be more modest.

True, then it was the Picts of the Angles who shortened. In 685, the Angles suffered a severe defeat from the Picts at the Battle of Nechtansmer and lost their leading positions on the Island. If not for Nechtansmer, the current inhabitants of England would not be called Anglo-Saxons, but simply Angles, and it’s generally not clear how history would have turned.

In general, the medieval Picts won many different battles - with the Scots, with the Britons, with the same Angles. Lost too. But this is not a topic for an article, and not even for a series.

Christianity

Even Saint Ninian (360-432) quite successfully preached Christianity among the Picts. There were converts, otherwise who would build churches? And churches were built.

For about two hundred years, there was freedom of religion among the Picts, if you want - be a Christian, if you want - worship the ancient Pictish gods.

Sometime between 570 and 580, Saint Columba persuaded Bride, the most powerful and probably supreme king of the northern Picts, to make Christianity the state religion. From these times, the Picts are already quite real Christians.

Real ones, but not really.

While Rome and Constantinople worked out principles and creeds, preachers preached. They preached without knowing which theories would be recognized as orthodox and which would be declared heresy. So it turned out that the Celtic, and after it the Pictish churches were strikingly different from the orthodox Catholic. This subsequently caused many problems and backfired many times.

Great Pictavia

Roman historians name twelve Pictish tribes. Of course, they can make mistakes, tribes can unite and separate, be destroyed and re-formed. So maybe not twelve. But about that.

Sometimes these tribes fought with each other and captured the lands of their neighbors. However, overall, there was something that held them together. Among the leaders of the tribes, and then the kings, there was one who was considered the main one, or at least the coolest. From the beginning of time (as far as written sources allow us to look), the leaders of the community were the northern Picts, the Caledonians and their descendants.

At the end of the 7th century, the kingdom of Fortri comes to the fore. Or Fortriu (not very audible unstressed U at the end).

The territory of Fortriu is somehow moved by historians on the map, from Perthshire to Moray, depending on the views of the researcher, there is such a thing. In historical science, this is a common occurrence. Fortriu - southern Picts, or more or less northern, or even renamed Caledonians - the question is still open. Although, here is still the royal palace, traces of which were found in Forteviot, near Perth - for the southern version.

Under the auspices of Fortriu at the end of VII, practically, after the victory at Nechtansmer in 685, the process of centralization began (or sharply intensified). Pictavia of the 8th century is a strong medieval kingdom, rather big - from sea to sea and from sea to Fort.

Of course, the formation of statehood was not without a civil war that began in 724 and lasted until 732, when the cunning and aggressive Angus mac Fergus finally seized power. Under him and his successors, Pictavia (or Fortriou) grew and grew stronger. Until the Vikings showed up.

And what about Scotts?

Shores of Kintyre

How did the newcomers from Ibernia (Ireland) first manage to tear off a piece from the Pictish possessions, and then generally subjugate the entire territory? Yes Easy.

Dalriada

In 498 (the traditional date of foundation of Dalriada, a few years back and forth do not play a role) Great Pictavia did not yet exist. There were about a dozen independent kingdoms, somehow connected with each other and recognizing the authority of the supreme king. The Scotts, led by Fergus the Great, captured the kingdom of Epidia - the peninsula of Kintyre and several islands, that's all. However, there are also doubts about the “captured”, more on that below.

Fergus and his successors tried to expand Dalriada as much as they could, mainly also at the expense of small Pictish kingdoms. As soon as the interests of Dalriada collided with the interests of Caledonia (or whatever the Northern Kingdom was called), the Scots were regularly beaten. The kings of Dalriada managed to privatize some additional lands, but it cannot be said that there are many.

When Pictavia began to strengthen, and the process of centralization began, the Scots became very ill. A couple of years before Nechtansmer, in 683, the army of Dalriada was defeated by the Picts, and she lost her independence. Further, Dalriada existed either as a vassal principality, or in general, as a province of Great Pictavia. However, the title of king of Dalriada was retained, even if it was carried by a protege of the king of the Picts.

Now about the rules of inheritance.

Pictish princesses.

That's what's true about the Picts, it's true - their crown(s) were inherited through the female line. There is not enough information to judge other, lesser rank, titles and possessions, but the king of the Picts had to be the son or grandson of a Pictish princess.

To whom is it proper to marry a princess? Of course, for the prince. At least for a member of the royal house. For princes and issued. For Irish, British, English. For the Dalriadians, of course.

Was the mother of Fergus the Great the daughter of the king of the Epidiae? Then it would be clear that Kintyre was not even captured by him at all, but was taken into possession by right. This is, however, just a version.

I'll try to beat the stats. Kings of the Picts by nationality (by father). From 560, from Bruide I, to 787, to Drest VIII, there are twenty-three High Kings of the Picts. Of these, three Britons, two Angles, four Irish and four Scottish.

It could well happen (and did happen) that the same person was entitled to the crown of Dalriada through his father and the crown of the Picts through his mother. Here is Kenneth Mac Alpin (in this case, Unuistika's grandmother).

If the mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, great-great-grandmother, great-great-great-grandmother and great-great-great-great-grandfather of Nicholas II were from Germany, this does not mean that all Russians became Germans.

At the beginning of the 9th century, the royal houses of the Picts and Scots were practically one family. However, this does not at all mean a mixture of peoples, much less the absorption of one people by another.

But gradually mixing still went on. When, at what moment, the last Pict, who did not speak Gaelic, died - I'm afraid that I can't find out. Somewhere in a distant remote village.

And at the top there was a struggle between the systems of inheritance - the old and the new. Of course, specific contenders for the throne fought among themselves, but from a distance it looks like systems.

In 780, the first time that the king's son, Talorcan, the son of Angus, became king. He died suspiciously quickly, in 782, but soon (not immediately) his son Drest put on the crown.

Then, after the death of Drest VIII, it seems like the old system returns. In 842, the sons of King Furad tried to seize the throne, but they were defeated by Kenneth mac Alpin, heir to his grandmother. The last time, in accordance with the old tradition, the son of a Pictish princess (daughter of Kenneth the Bold) was crowned in 878. Eochaid, who, by the way, was the king of Strathclyde, the kingdom of the Britons in the region of present-day Glasgow, by his father. In 889 Cousin Donald urged Eochaid to resign, and the male descendants of Kenneth mac Alpin took over. It is Donald II the Mad (raised taxes) who is called the last king of the Picts and the first king of Alba.

Apparently, it makes sense to go back a little and talk about the circumstances of the accession to the throne of Kenneth I.

In 839 the Pictavia army suffered a crushing defeat from the Vikings. The Pictish king Eoghan, his brother Bran, and many more noble Picts died. As a vassal of Eoghan, the king of Dalriada Ael mac Boanta participated in the battle. Also died. Almost all representatives of the senior lines of both royal houses were destroyed.

The younger ones put on the crowns. Kenneth mac Alpin - Dalriad, Fuard (about whom very little is known) - Pictavia.

After the death of Fuard in 842, Kenneth became the legitimate heir to the throne according to the rules of the Picts (grandmother of Unuistic). But the sons of Fuard seized power - a blatant usurpation. How they ruled, in turn, or tried to tear the kingdom of the Picts to pieces is somehow not very clear in the chronicles. But Kenneth had at his disposal some military force in order to defend his legal rights. And in 843 he became king of the Picts.

He was not the first to wear two crowns at once. This has happened before. But it was Kenneth who finally united the two states into one, Pictavia (Fortry) and Dalriada became a single kingdom.

To tell this story, the author rummaged through everything that could be found on the topic online and offline. Of course, some sources contradict others, this is generally even normal. Clearly, some nuances require a deeper study. The story remains incomplete and unfinished.

And such, complete and complete, do they even exist in history?

No, no, yes, and there are people on the Internet who say “Picts”, but you hear “We”. Does a person have real reasons or is simply passionate about the topic - go and figure it out. Few people can trace their lineage back to the 9th century, except for kings.

But. But what if?

Anatoly Rogozin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Picts(or from lat. picti- “painted”, or from self-name) - the oldest known people who inhabited Scotland.

Story

According to one point of view, the Picts were descended from the Celts, but the Pictish branch separated from the Celtic family very early, probably at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. According to another hypothesis, the Picts are the heirs of the first waves of Proto-Indo-European migrants who penetrated the territory of Britain as early as the Early Bronze Age and were not particularly close linguistically related to any of the language groups of the Indo-European language family that exist today. Proponents of this version compare the Picts with the Iberian Lusitanians - representatives of the first wave of Indo-European migration that penetrated the Iberian Peninsula long before the arrival of the Celts. Finally, according to the most common hypothesis, the Picts were the remnants of the pre-Indo-European population of Europe. Thus, some British researchers, following Julius Caesar, believe that the origin of the Picts is close to the indigenous inhabitants of Iberia. The petroglyphs of Galicia (northwest Spain) have much in common in style with the petroglyphs found in Britain. However, this fact testifies only in favor of a possible relationship (or close contacts) between the pre-Indo-European population of Iberia and Britain, but does not indicate the origin of the Picts themselves.

Akin to the Picts were the Kruitni ( Cruthin, Cruithnig, Cruithni) who lived in Ireland.

The Picts inhabited the areas of central and northern Scotland, north of the Firth of Forth. The Picts were constantly raiding the south of Britain; reached London in the 360s. Initially, the Picts were a union of tribes; by the 6th century, several state entities were formed, which later united into the Kingdom of the Picts. In the 6th century, the Picts were converted to Christianity by the Irish missionary Columba. The heyday of the Pictish state came in the 8th century, after the Picts managed to stop the advance of the Angles to the north (the battle of Nekhtansmer), and later repel the onslaught of the Scots from the west.

A feature of the Pictish state system was the transfer of the throne not through the male, but through the female line. As a result, in different periods of time, the kings of the Picts were representatives of the royal dynasties of Gaelic Dal Riada, British Strathclyde, English Northumbria, descendants of Pictish princesses. In the city, King Dal of Riada Kenneth I became king of the Picts. He succeeded in uniting the states of the Picts and Scots into the Kingdom of Scotland. Gradually, the Gaelic language of the Scots replaced the Pictish dialect (the genetic origin of which is disputed), and soon, as a result of assimilation, the Picts ceased to exist as a separate people.

Picts are called in Welsh literature Pryden, and the British Isle - in a word Prydain. Thus, the names "Britain", "Britons" could originally refer to the Picts and only then go to the whole island and its inhabitants.

In literature

• One of R. L. Stevenson's ballads is dedicated to the Picts "Heather Ale"(verbatim: "Heather Ale") (1890), the translation of which into Russian by S. Ya. Marshak under the title "Heather honey" became very popular. According to this translation, the cartoon Heather Honey was released.
• Rudyard Kipling in his cycle of stories "Pack from the Hills" writes about a centurion who served on the Great Pictish Wall and got acquainted with the customs of the Picts. He also owns the poem "Song of the Picts".
• The Picts are characters in some of the fantastic stories by the American writer Robert Howard, notably in the cycle about the fictional Pictish king Bran Mac Morn; also appear in his works on Kull and Conan and many others.
• The Pictish people are also mentioned in the third book Taltos of the Mayfair Witches series of books by American writer Ann Rice.
• In the work of Wilhelm Hauff "Steenfall Cave. The Scottish saga" mentions a Pictish altarpiece.

In cinema

• "King Arthur" () - Antoine Fuqua's feature film in the historical action genre. The film describes the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table in terms of a theory that identifies Arthur with the Roman general Lucius Artorius.
• Centurion () - a feature film by Neil Marshall in the genre of a historical thriller about the death of the IX Spanish Legion, who went north to destroy the Picts and their leader.
• "Eagle of the Ninth Legion" () - a feature film in the genre of historical action film, dedicated to the expedition to the lands of the Picts of the Roman centurion, who was looking for the symbol of the legion of his deceased father. Directed by Kevin McDonald and based on the novel of the same name by Rosemary Sutcliffe.

In music

• The English rock band Pink Floyd has the song "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict" on their album Ummagumma. Several individuals of small furry creatures gathered in a cave and goofing along with a pict).
• The Russian folk-rock groups The Hobbit Shire, Wallace Band and Melnitsa have the songs Heather Honey translated by S. Ya. Marshak.
• Scottish prog rock band Writing on the Wall recorded their only studio album, The Power of the Picts» (1969) (Power of the Picts).

In computer games

see also

• The Pictons are a Gallic tribe.

Write a review on the article "Picts"

Notes

Links

An excerpt characterizing the Picts

- Well, honey? No, brother, my pink charm, and Dunyasha's name is ... - But, looking at Rostov's face, Ilyin fell silent. He saw that his hero and commander were in a completely different line of thought.
Rostov looked angrily at Ilyin and, without answering him, quickly walked towards the village.
- I'll show them, I'll ask them, the robbers! he said to himself.
Alpatych with a floating step, so as not to run, barely caught up with Rostov at a trot.
- What decision would you like to make? he said, catching up with him.
Rostov stopped and, clenching his fists, suddenly moved menacingly towards Alpatych.
– Decision? What's the solution? Old bastard! he shouted at him. - What were you watching? BUT? The men are rioting, and you can't handle it? You yourself are a traitor. I know you, I'll skin everyone... - And, as if afraid to waste his ardor in vain, he left Alpatych and quickly went forward. Alpatych, suppressing the feeling of insult, kept up with Rostov with a floating step and continued to tell him his thoughts. He said that the peasants were stagnant, that at the present moment it was imprudent to oppose them without having a military team, that it would not be better to send for a team first.

“For quite a long time, the ancient people of the Picts were undeservedly forgotten. Only occasionally, his name, in a romanized form, appeared on the pages of works of art, such as R. L. Stevenson's Heather Honey, or R. Kipling's Pack from the Hills. Official science, on the other hand, relied entirely on the testimonies of Roman authors, who were far from having the best opinion of the Picts. And they all say in the same way that the Picts were the worst and wildest of all the barbarians that the Romans ever met. But, despite such unflattering epithets, it is difficult to accuse them of bias - they saw mostly warriors who really shocked with their appearance, and did not know anything about the lifestyle of this people.

And so it is not surprising that not so long ago, the only thing we knew about picts, is that they were ferocious warriors, going into battle naked, having previously been painted from head to toe with blue paint. But what was perceived by the Romans as evidence of extreme savagery was in fact a psychological element of combat organization. picts. And, based on what they remember most of all, it can be assumed that more than one battle-hardened legionnaire lost their nerves at the mere sight of this, to put it mildly, strange army. Throughout their history, the Picts terrified all the peoples who settled in Britain. It was to protect against their attacks that the Romans erected Adrian's shaft, only occasionally daring to move further north. And the harsh Angles of Bernicia and Deira lived in constant fear, being in close proximity to the borders of the Kingdom of the Picts.

The Picts, as the name of the people, by which they are now known, were given to them by the Romans - picti(colored). There is a version that they themselves called themselves as Pryden, but be that as it may, in history, at the suggestion of the Romans, this people entered as picts, and will remain so, even if some new details, hitherto unknown to science, are discovered sometime. Regarding their ethnicity, there are now three main versions:

1) The Picts are of Celtic origin, but separated into an independent branch at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e.;

2) They were descendants of the Indo-European tribes that penetrated the British Isles in the 4th-3rd millennium BC. e.;

3) The Picts were an indigenous people Britain.

The latest version finds some confirmation, in particular that the language spoken by the Picts has nothing to do with Celtic. And even more so, it has no family ties with any of the groups of Indo-European languages ​​known to linguists. In addition, traces of Pictish activity in Britain date back to the middle of the 9th millennium BC. e., by this time, the beginning of the construction of stone burial grounds on Orkney, which later arose on the territory of the entire island of Britain. And this was long before the beginning of the Indo-European migration, and especially the appearance of Celtic tribes in these parts, which happened no earlier than 500 BC. e. Based on this evidence, it can be argued that even if the Picts were not the indigenous people of Britain, then, in any case, the most ancient. And it is quite possible to call them natives, and not only Scotland, and all of Britain, and perhaps even Europe, along with the Basques.

It is all the more obvious that of all the peoples that have ever inhabited Europe, the Picts are closest to the Iberians and Lusitanians, who are considered the indigenous population. Iberian Peninsula. It is not known whether it is possible to speak of some degree of kinship between these peoples, but the spiral petroglyphs Picts and Iberians are very similar in style. And here we can talk about at least fairly close contacts that took place between them even in ancient times. The same is true with the mysterious the people of the cups”, who settled in the Orkney Islands in the middle of the 4th millennium BC. with whom the Picts maintained close ties. This, in turn, gave rise to some scholars to argue that assimilation occurred between them, the result of which was the emergence of a fully formed Pictish people. It is unlikely, but undoubtedly, that the “people of the cups” had a strong influence on the culture of the Picts, who, after meeting them, began to build stone circles similar to Sanhani(c. 3300 BC). Shortly before this, apparently also under the influence of newcomers, the Picts, who had previously been a nomadic people, switched to a settled way of life and took up agriculture.

As for the Celts who migrated to British Isles in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e., then the Picts did not develop relations with them from the very beginning. It is not known what the area of ​​​​settlement of the Picts was at the time of the arrival of the Celtic tribes, but after that it was constantly shrinking, and by 100 BC. e. they were forced into the territory beyond the Firth of Forth. But, despite the fact that since that time, they were actually locked in Central Scotland, constantly made trips to the south, sometimes reaching the Thames itself.

Romans first "met" with the Picts in 83 AD, when they met with them in the battle of the Grampian Mountains. At that time, all of Britain, except for Pictavia, was completely conquered, the then governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola decided to correct this oversight, and in 82 The advance to the north began.The Picts, by that time, were united in two tribal unions - Veniconia and Caledonia, after whom the Romans subsequently named all of Scotland. According to Tacitus, son-in-law of Agricola, both "kingdoms" fielded 30,000 warriors (in fact, there were no more than 8,000) and they were led by the leader of the Caledonians Kalgak. In this battle, the Picts were defeated, because. the Romans were better organized and armed, but it was difficult to call it a defeat, because the Picts, without any stampede, retreated in an organized manner. After that, the Romans captured almost all of Southern Scotland, where they built 7 fortresses, along the Stirling-Perth line, but they occupied the territory of Pictavia proper only partially.

Soon the Romans realized that this acquisition did them more harm than good, because. this region was rather poor, it was inconvenient and very expensive to maintain garrisons so far north. On top of that, the Pictish attacks kept these garrisons under constant strain, their fortifications periodically burned down, and as they rebuilt, the attacks became even more intense. Being in the territory of Southern Scotland, the Romans constantly suffered significant losses, and their justification was called into question. This place became a real nightmare for the Roman soldiers. Despite harsh measures, desertions were becoming more and more frequent, which had never happened before in the Roman army. Realizing the senselessness of this enterprise, and fearing an open revolt in the army, the emperor Adrian ordered the legions to withdraw to the south. Here, in the narrowest place, between Tyne and Solway in 122-126. built a chain of fortifications now known as Adrian's shaft. It was a rather imposing structure: a stone wall that reached 6 meters in height, with towers, and forts built at an equal distance from each other, in which garrisons were located in relative safety.

In 142 Antonin Pius considered such a decision reckless and the Romans again occupied the territory of Lothian, moving further north into the lands of the Picts. In the area of ​​present-day Edinburgh, between the Forth and the Clyde, along the narrow Scottish Isthmus, they began to build a new fortification, called rampart Antonina. But it was not even possible to complete it due to constant attacks from the Picts. Just 2 years later, in 144, the Romans were driven back to their original positions - behind the walls Hadrian's Wall, which, without repair, gradually deteriorated, and some of its sections completely fell into disrepair. And, despite the fact that the Romans constantly kept 3 legions on the rampart, the Picts penetrated the territory of Roman Britain almost without hindrance and robbed and burned their settlements with impunity. And the wall, powerful at first, soon lost all significance as a defensive object, becoming useless against the incessant invasions from the north.

By the end of the II century. attacks picts took on such an intense and fierce character that the 2nd, 6th, and 20th legions defending Hadrian's Wall were forced to leave their positions in 193 and withdraw far to the south. Well-organized Pictish detachments devastated Northern Britain for 15 years, indiscriminately plundered and burned Roman villas and Briton villages, and the waves of their outrages rolled almost to the very Londinium. The situation became catastrophic, and in 208 the governor Ulpius Marcellus had to directly pray to the emperor for help. Next year Septimius Sever personally arrived in Britain with a fleet and an army of 40,000 soldiers. Having landed at the mouth of the Firth of Forth, the emperor staged a real terror for the inhabitants of Caledonia. All the Pictish armies he encountered were defeated and dozens of tribal leaders beheaded. But conquer Pictia he never succeeded, and in one of the campaigns, in 211, Septimius Severus died.

Nevertheless, the Picts for a long time learned the cruel lesson presented to them by the Roman emperor, the raids into Northern Britain ceased, and peace and silence reigned in Caledonia for almost a century. The Roman garrisons returned to Adrian's shaft, repaired and thoroughly strengthened. In 305 the invasion picts resumed, moreover, now they acted not alone, but in conjunction with Scotts who became their allies. Attacks were repeated in 343 and 367 when the allies broke through the wall, devastated northern and central Britain, and tried to capture Londinium. But the city was heavily fortified and had a large garrison, the attack was repulsed, and the Picts and Scots loaded with booty returned to Caledonia. In 383, the allies tried again, but they did not succeed in advancing far, and they were stopped and driven back by Magnus Maximus. In the same year, the Romans left the wall, as a result of the last invasion, it was so destroyed that they did not restore it. And in 409, the last Roman legions left Britain forever, abandoned to its fate.

After the departure of the Romans, the Picts had a new sworn enemy - the Scots, who had previously been their allies, who took part in all predatory campaigns on Roman territory. And here, the proverb: There is no worse enemy than yesterday's friend, fully justified itself. In 498, the Scots, who had already settled in Argyle, led by Fergus Mor Mac Erk, attacked the western lands of the Picts and captured the area of ​​\u200b\u200bEpidia, which belonged to the latter. In 501 Fergus More became the ruler of the kingdom he formed Dal Riada, Epidia became part of it. In response to this, the Picts in 508 united all their lands into a kingdom Fortriou led by Drest Gurdinmokh, son of Nekhton Morbet. As a result of the outbreak of war, Dal Riada was defeated and disintegrated into small kingdoms of Lorne, Gebren and Angus, which became vassals of the Pictish king.

In the middle of the VI century. south of the borders of Fortriu, the kingdoms of the Angles were formed Bernicia and Deira, united soon into the kingdom Northumbria, which immediately began to expand to the north. The Picts repelled all attempts to seize their lands, but then the Scots intervened in the war, who treacherously hit them in the back, destroyed the capital of the Picts inverness and pushed them far to the north. But the fruits of their victory fell into the hands English who captured South Pictia, and at the same time almost the entire Dal Riada. The new Pictish king Drest, son of Gartneith, tried to regain the lost territories, but was defeated by the Northumbrian army led by King Ecgfrith and, returning to the north, was displaced by Brude, son of Beli.

King Brude III the Great began his reign with the capture in 681 of the ancient fortress of his people dunnotar, which at that time was held by the Scots. In 682, he sailed at the head of a Pictish fleet to the Orkney Islands, where he utterly defeated the Orkneys, who were allies of the Angles, and either sank or burned almost all of their ships. Returning to Fortriu, the next year he went to the southwest, where he captured and destroyed the capital of the Scots to the ground. Dunnat, thus avenging them for their deceit. In 685, at the battle of Nekhtansmere, Brude the Great defeated the army of the Angles. The Northumbrian army was completely destroyed, King Ecgfrith was killed, the Angles, who had already settled down in the lands of Southern Pictia, were killed without any mercy, their remnants fled south in horror. For Northumbria, it was a crushing blow from which she never recovered. Pictia, for a short time, became the most powerful state in Scotland.

In 847, Drest, son of Ferah, died, and since among the Picts the right to inherit passed through the female rather than the male line, the crown pictians passed to Kenneth Mac Alpin, whose grandmother was a Pictish princess. Kenneth was at that time, also king Dal Riads, in 848 both kingdoms were united on the basis of a personal union, a new state formation called Alba arose. Scone became the capital of the new kingdom, where the kings of the Picts were crowned. The Gaelic language became official, the Gaelic culture quickly supplanted the Pictish, and there was no oppression or violence from the Scots. After 150 years, Alba became known as Scotland (Land of the Scots), by this time everyone had forgotten about the Picts, and not only in the name of the state. And it is completely incomprehensible how, within just three generations, the Picts on their own land turned into a ghost people.