A History of Scotland - S1 Ep1 - The Last of the Free

I've spent years as an archaeologist, unearthing all sorts of treasures from her past

For me, it's an ancient and magical place. And I always find the beauty of this country overwhelming, even humbling

I've often thought that Scotland's popular history is a bit like that landscape

Always changing, impossibly romantic, often hidden by mists and low cloud. And above all, packed with legends and heroic characters

But that's not history. It's mythology. And it's cursed Scotland's past and present

How we think about the past shapes our view of today. So I want to look beyond the legends to find the real story of Scotland

And it's every bit as thrilling. This first episode is about the birth of Scotland

A birth that was far from inevitable. For many centuries, the mountains and lochs behind me

were home to a patchwork of disparate peoples and tongues. It was a land invaded again and again

So how was it that a loose collection of tribes living in the northern third of Britain

came together and built a kingdom with its own distinct culture and identity

A kingdom that would change the shape and the destiny of Britain forever

So, where to begin

The first people of Scotland to be described in the written record are the tribes of the Caledonians

Two thousand years ago, they joined forces to defend their homeland from a Roman invasion

In the shadow of a great glen, they faced the Roman army

The Caledonians fell silent

From their ranks outstrode the earliest named character of Scottish history, Calgacus, the swordsman

He is the first to speak to us from the past. Calgacus was the Chosen One

He was the warrior whom the Caledoni tribes of northern Britain hoped would lead them to victory

Defiant, proud, unbowed, he struck the first blow against Roman tyranny. He made a speech

We, the choicest flower of Britain's manhood, were hidden away in her most secret places

Out of sight, we were kept from the defilement of tyranny. We, the most distant dwellers upon earth, the last of the three

There's just one problem. They're not his words. They were put into his mouth by a Roman historian, Tacitus, writing 20 years later

Even if someone like Calgacus ever existed, he would have spoken a language similar to Welsh

and certainly not in the measured Latin phrases of a Roman. This is where the mythologising of Scottish history starts

Be warned, almost everything recorded from those early times is seen through the eyes of others

Tacitus had an agenda. General Agricola and his three Roman legions had marched into North Britain in the late summer of AD 84

But to make Agricola appear as brave and heroic as possible, it was important to give him a formidable foe, which Tacitus duly did

At a battle site in the Grampian Mountains, he described the Roman encounter with the Caledonian hordes and their fierce leader, Calgacus

the fighting began with exchanges of missiles

and the britons showed both steadiness and skill in parrying our spears with their huge swords

or catching them on their little shields while they themselves rained volleys on us

He called it the Battle of Mons Graupius Though beyond his account, there's no other record of it ever taking place

But I think there was a battle in the Scottish Highlands Because of one telling detail that Tacitus couldn't have invented

Agricola was given a triumph back in Rome The bombastic welcome for a victorious general

And one other thing we know for certain The Caledonians lost The next day, an awful silence reigned on every hand

The hills were deserted, houses smoking in the distance, and our scouts did not meet a soul

Most of the Caledonians, including Calgacus, survived and escaped into the trackless mountains

The Romans failed to tame the elusive warriors of North Britain

Frustrated by their hit-and-run tactics, the Roman legions withdrew to the south

By the next century, Hadrian's Wall, built from coast to coast, had become the line in the sand

To the south lay Romanised Britain roads towns villas

To the north, a myriad of tribes like the Caledonians. The wall wasn't just a simple stone boundary

It was an ideological frontier. It was the end of the world. It drew the line where civilisation ended and barbarism began

Not that the Caledonians were very interested in the so-called benefits of Roman rule

To them, it represented tyranny. They had their own civilisation. For over three centuries, the Caledonians kept their independence secure and the Romans at bay

Then, in AD 409, as the empire collapsed, they helped expel them from British shores altogether

The Romans left behind crumbling ruins and a new name for the Caledonians

The Picti. We know them better as the Picts. The word means the painted ones

for these were the last of the peoples of Britain to cover their bodies with tattoos

The term started as a nickname but came to mean much more

a powerful northern people, synonymous with pride. The Picts tattooed themselves with the same designs and symbols

used on their jewellery and stones. artistic skills that showed them to be no wild barbarians

More evidence of early Pictish culture has come from the peaty waters of Loch Tay

Here, four metres down, archaeologists came across the remains of an ancient stronghold

fragments of a thatched roof and stumps. They were the stilts of a building that once stood above the water

A dwelling in which people loved, lived and fought. By reconstructing the Cranog, as it's called

archaeologists realised just how skilled and well-organised Pictish society must have been

How do you build one of these? We had to learn from scratch

because obviously we hadn't got a tradition of building like this handed down to us from generation to generation

So you've got to line up your supplies, you've got to know how to cut down the trees

you've got to know how to get them in the right place, you've got to have the right manpower and skilled labour workforce

The people who built crown logs like this were affluent, they enjoyed a great diet

probably communicating and trading further afield Some of the little objects that we found do not come from here

such as jet, which is commonly found from Whitby, north-east England. So one of the theories is it's a big house

This house could sustain maybe a family of 20 or even up to 40 people. So maybe if there were times of trouble

any other people supporting the community who were living on the shore in less secure housing

could all come in and be secure in what effectively is a water castle

Cranogs have been found all over Scotland many from the Pictish period

their civilisation had put down roots but then, centuries later

the Picts become the subject of one of the most intriguing mysteries

of Dark Age Europe they seem to disappear from history forever This vanishing act has given the Picts an aura of romance

They've become a legendary, almost alien people inhabiting a limbo world part historical and part mythological

But like any good mystery story, there's a twist The Picts seem to disappear at the exact moment

when the Kingdom of Scotland is born Understanding why the Picts vanished

will give us the answer to how Scotland was created. Back in the 5th century, this is what Scotland looked like

a patchwork of disparate ethnic groups. The Picts dominated the north and east

Welsh-speaking tribes called the Britons lived along the River Clyde and the South

and to the west a new people had arrived, the Gales. They were seafarers, originally from Ireland, who stayed and carved out their own territory

The Gales are the other key player in the birth of Scotland

The turbulent relationship between them and the Picts, sometimes allied but more often at war

form the backbone of our saga. Right at the heart of the Gallic Kingdom

was the spectacular hill fort of Dunad, rising up out of the great flatness of Moniavor

which means the big bog. Brooding, menacing Dunad provided the perfect site

for defending against attacks from the sea. This is the entrance to the fort

and once upon a time this place was defended by walls 10 metres thick

It wasn't just one wall. There was a ring of four, each protecting the rising tiers of the fort

up to a stone citadel at the top. Though the Gales were as warlike as the Pips

there were clear differences. They had a separate culture and spoke a different language

And something even more striking. Gaelic art had a distinctive and delicate beauty all of its own

At Dunad, crucibles for melting gold have been unearthed, along with the moulds to cast brooches

The abundance of such fine jewellery could mean just one thing. Dunad was home to the kingdom's elite

The Gallic kingdom was run from here and its kings were inaugurated in this place

in a ceremony that literally married them to the land they ruled

For the crowds gathered below, the king would appear in silhouette against the sky

and then at the appointed moment, he would place one foot into this rock-cut footprint

demonstrating to his subjects that this land was both his servant and his master

It the end of the 6th century and this royal inauguration is unlike any that have gone before

Although the Picts continue to worship pagan gods, the Gales have turned to Christianity

a spiritual invasion driving a wedge between them. And the monk who ordains the king

Columba. Columba, son of an Irish chieftain, had travelled from Ireland ten years earlier

For his support of the Gaelic leaders, Columba was gifted a small but very beautiful island to the west of Dunad

It's called Iona, and here, Columba was to found a monastery. Saint Columba is widely credited as the first missionary

to bring Christianity to Scotland. And from here, on his new base, on Iona

he's supposed to have converted all the peoples of this land and beyond to the new religion

But was it really that simple? what we know about Columba has come down to us from a later abbot of Iona

a Thovnan who wrote a hagiography entitled The Life of Saint Columba

about a hundred years after his subject died his book is more fairy tale than history

and it has to be taken with a very large pinch of salt

The Gales were Christian long before Columba arrived

The hard graft had been done by numerous missionaries who travelled from Ireland and the Roman Empire

They remain unheralded and largely anonymous. But Columba's monastery on Iona, then just a collection of timber huts

soon became one of the most important Christian beacons in the whole of Dark Age Europe

The stability that he brought to the region

the fact that Christianity began to spread quite quickly through Scotland, I think was testament to the fact that he had friends in high places

and he could also convey to the king and to other clan chiefs

not just that his new religion was important, but the benefits of it were worth having

the benefits of writing, this new technology, the benefits of scholarship, and that if the king embraced this, then there was something in it for him

So you think the pure ability to write would have been a magic

that would have been central to what they were able to do? Well, it might have attracted your clan chief

Yes, OK, here is this guy wanting to talk about the new religion, but if you've got writing, if you can actually articulate in a more permanent way

what you've said or what you've agreed. You've got the basis of a legal system

You've got the basis of treaties with neighbouring clans or kingdoms. You've got a clarity about thought and about what you want

And again, it's about a power thing. If you say something, here it is. It's in writing

So I don't think it's quite as simple as simply saying that he was going on a penitential journey

There was something in it for Colombo, but there was something in it for the people of this part of the world as well

It sounds so opportunist in a way. I think it was. I think it was

Far from being an isolated island on the fringe of Europe, Iona lay at its spiritual heart

At its zenith, the monks of Iona created the Book of Kells

The workmanship was exquisite. Over 10,000 tiny red dots around a single capital letter

And the dyes came from halfway around the world. The blue of lapis lazuli from Afghanistan

yellow orpiment from the Mediterranean. A 12th century scholar praised the artistry of the Book of Kells

He wrote, You might believe it was the work of an angel rather than a human being

Not everyone was so impressed by the word of God. While the Gales had embraced Christianity even before Columba

their Pictish neighbours had remained resolutely pagan. They put their faith in druids rather than monks

and relied on an oral tradition rather than the written word. Cue the most famous of Adovnan's tales

the account of St Columba's epic journey into the heart of darkness

to convert the Picts. The Picts were notorious for head hunting

Columba must have known he was risking his Undeterred, he made the perilous journey up the Great Glen and Loch Ness

To meet one of the Pictish kings Adhavnan notes that Columba needed an interpreter even to speak with them

A battle of supernatural wills followed. On one side, Columba and his powerful voice set to sound like thunder

In opposition, the druid of the Pictish king. It proved to be an uneven contest

Columba brought the Druid close to death and then in true Christian fashion, relented

Adovnan tells us that the Druid lived. What he doesn't make explicit

was that the Picts stubbornly clung to their pagan beliefs. It would take many decades and many more missionaries

before the Picts would begin to accept Christianity. The progress of their conversion can be read in their stones

Some of the best Pictish carvings have been taken to a research building in Edinburgh

Here they're being preserved and studied using the latest technology. Individual marks on the stone can be isolated telling us more about how they were carved the technique and the tools used

The symbols on one stone are particularly fascinating for what they reveal about their changing beliefs

You can see how the stone carver has taken tremendous care, not just in the accurate modelling of the animals

but the way that they're coming out at us in sharp relief as well

So he's done this. This is by working away at the stones to reduce the background

and to bring the figures out into the front. Just look at this hind here with the fawn interwoven through the legs

He didn't have to do that. He made it very difficult for himself in doing that

but it gives it a little bit of perspective and this is something that they were very skilled at doing

and they obviously took great pleasure in doing it. And what about the other side then

Well, this is... This carver didn't confine his work to the secular

He also demonstrated his love of God. Well, this is really, to my mind, this is the front

the cross representing the embodiment of Christ, the promise of salvation as the key central messages of Christianity being broadcast

So we have this wonderful interlaced decoration decoration filling the body of the cross. How unusual is it to get a stone that has

everything in one package? You know, there's the classic Pictish symbols, there's the hunting scenes

and all the rest, and the cross. By this period, we're getting into the later Pictish period

we've had maybe three or even four generations of large-scale conversion to Christianity by this

time. Christianity was reasonably well embedded, so we do see this quite happy combination of

yes, the pure central message of Christianity in the cross, coupled with the everyday scenes

with the animal scenes, with the images of people and symbols as well, of course

Christianity was the one invader that not only succeeded, but that outstayed all the others

The Gallic religion now spanned northern Britain and acted as glue, bringing together disparate peoples under the umbrella of the Christian religion

St Columba's biographer, Adhovan, spotted an opportunity. He succeeded in winning agreement from over 50 kings

from Pictland to Ireland for an ambitious new law called the Law of the Innocents

It was a Geneva Convention for the Dark Ages, protecting women, children and monks in times of war

Women may not be killed by a man in any way, neither by slaughter nor by any other death

nor by poison, nor in water, nor in fire, nor by any beast, nor in a pit, nor by dogs

but shall die in their own lawful bed. Life remained nasty, brutish and short

but Adovnan's rules on warfare were proof of the civilising influence of Christianity

For the first time, the Picts had embraced written laws within their society

The Pictish tribes had it all A sophisticated culture, powerful trade links

and the breadbasket of North Britain Their fertile, low-lying homeland provided better harvests and more fighting men

but it also attracted the attention of others By this time, the Angles dominated Middle Britain

They were a Germanic people who'd carved out a powerful kingdom between the Humber and the Forth Rivers

But now the Angles decided to push north. Rather than confront them immediately

the Pictish army drew the Angles further and further into hostile territory

The two forces clashed at Dun Echten along the River Spey. The battle is commemorated here on this Pictish stone

It's a sort of Bayou tapestry. The fight was between bare-headed, long-haired Pictish warriors

and Angles wearing distinctive metal helmets. It was a one-sided encounter. The ranks of Pictish spearmen drove the Angles into a loch and slaughtered them

The final relief shows a raven pecking at the dead face of a fallen prince of the Angles

To defeat this new enemy from the south, the Pictish tribes had been forced to unite under the leadership of one king

The confederation also had a new name, Pictland. By pinpointing the location of all the Pictish stones, it's possible to map out the territory of this young kingdom

The Picts had successfully driven the Angles back south, and one by one they defeated their other neighbours

In the west, both the Britons and the Gaels were overwhelmed. Although they retained their identity, they were forced to pay homage to the Pictish king

By the middle of the 8th century, Pictland was the dominant kingdom of northern Britain

It seemed invincible. But the next wave of aggressors was a league apart

warriors with no time for Christian niceties. They worshipped the gods of war, Odin and Thor

There's a trend among some modern historians

to portray the Vikings as a misunderstood bunch. Instead of bloodthirsty killers, think peaceful traders

and farmers in search of new lands to colonise. But I don't think so

Not all of them, and certainly not all of the time. Accounts by British survivors of Viking attacks are unequivocal

These guys were after treasure and slaves. The pagans came with a naval force to Britain

and spread on all sides like dire wolves, robbed, tore and slaughtered

not only beasts of burden, sheep and oxen, but even priests and deacons and companies of monks and nuns

That description was a contemporary account of a Viking attack on a monastery in England

but the Vikings weren't tuned They went wherever the treasure was, and although the monastery here on Iona was looted on three separate occasions

it was the Northern Isles that bore the brunt. There's a treasure trove from AD 800 that tells its own story

These beautiful pittish bowls and brooches were found under the floor of a medieval church

on St Ninian's Island Shetland Archaeologists believe that monks probably buried the silver in haste

to hide it from a Viking raid That no one returned to retrieve them

is a sobering clue to what befell the monks Vikings shipped their captives back to Scandinavia

and then on to Constantinople where the slaves were exchanged for silver

As the Vikings' grip tightened there were fewer smash and grab raids

They came to stay They colonised parts of Ireland, Northumbria and further north, the Hebrides and the territory of the Gales

On Orkney and Shetland, it's believed they exterminated the Pictish men. This was ethnic cleansing, 9th century style

Many of Shetland's inhabitants are proud descendants of the Vikings. At an annual boat-burning ritual called Up Hellyar

they still celebrate their bloody heritage. This is what people living in Shetland today

like to imagine their Viking ancestors look like. Fire-wielding pagan barbarians. And, of course, if you believe the words of the Viking sagas

it's clear to see where they got that impression. But take away the air of celebration and the pageantry

and consider the horror of waking up one morning and watching this howling horde unload themselves

from their dragon-headed longships onto the beach below your little stone cottage

this is what the end of the world looks like this is the end of everything you've ever known or held dear

unless of course somebody somewhere can find a way to stop it

In rides Kenneth McAlpin

he's one of Scottish history's great heroes the champion who in AD 840 is supposed to have driven off the Vikings

This brave war leader appears to come from nowhere, stepping into the power vacuum created after the existing royal line is massacred by the Vikings

So it is that Kenneth MacAlpin unifies Scotland and is famously crowned her first king

If only history was that simple. The idea that Kenneth Macalpin was the first king of Scotland

is a myth that's persisted for centuries and it's certainly one that I remember hearing at school when I was a wee boy

But the historical records tell a different story. At the time of Kenneth Macalpin

Scotland did not exist. It remained five separate peoples, the Angles, the Vikings, the Gales, the Britons and the Picts

Each retained their own distinctive culture. What is more, records tell us that Kenneth McAlpin and his immediate successors were described as kings of Pictland, not Scotland

It's not until 40 years after Kenneth died that we find the first mention of the Kings of Scotland

So how did we get from Pictland to Scotland? There's one document that reveals the secret

It's one of the most precious manuscripts of Scottish history and it's the only contemporary Scottish chronicle that covers the period

Historians feel that much of the document can be trusted because it can be cross-referenced with chronicles from other kingdoms

I'd expected to find it in an archive in Scotland, but I was wrong

Why is the manuscript here in Paris? The archivist, Madame Lafitte, told me that a French courtier brought a collection of important historical papers back from London in the 17th century

Is it widely known that the manuscript is here? No, the manuscript is not very known. It is known as specialists of the history of Ecosse

It's not very well known that only people who come and search for this topic matter specifically come

and she says it's even been put on slides so people can look at it

I see. What are the chances of it going to Scotland? Oh, absolutely no

The Chronicle is basically a list, a list of 12 kings of the House of Alpen from the 9th to the 11th centuries

It's a complex document because it's been compiled and copied and added to over the years by several unknown hands

It's important because it covers the moment of transition, the 10 or so years from 878 to 889

when all references to Pictland disappear and the kingdom of Scotland appears

This is Scotland's lost decade. Look at these two names Aeth and Curricium or Geric These characters are going to be key to the formation of Scotland

Aeth was Kenneth MacAlpin's youngest son. He'd inherited a kingdom in crisis

At the point he became king, the Vikings conquered Pickland. For two years they took cattle, slaves and tribute

Aeth did little to stop them. When there was no more booty to be had, the Vikings moved on

Aeth's kingdom lay in ruins. The writer of the Paris Chronicle described his short reign as bequeathing nothing memorable to history

A damning indictment indeed. So, no surprise then when his own followers took action

This is where Giric comes into the story. Giric was one of a number of Gallic refugees

who'd fled from the Vikings and headed east into Pictland Now he'd climbed his way up into Aeth's favour

Giric was not of royal stock but what he lacked in blue blood

he made up for in ambition Events come to a head at a sacred site in Perthshire

The year is 878 Athe is slain by his own henchmen. All the evidence points to Giric as the killer

Giric was on the make. His goal, the takeover of the Pictish kingdom

And if that meant taking out the useless Athe, then so be it

Giric instigated a regime change. He rid the court of his Pictish rivals and replaced them with his own men

Then he took control of the Pictish church by appointing a Gallic bishop to reform it

This was a coup. Giric, a Gael, was turning the kingdom of the Picts into a Gallic kingdom

To reinforce his political takeover, he rewarded his Gaelic followers with Pictish land

But Giric's position was far from secure. Although he'd eliminated Eyre, the two legitimate heirs

Eyre's six-year-old son Constantine and his teenage cousin Donald still lived. Giric knew his kingship was unsafe while the two young boys remained potential rivals

But Constantine and Donald were far beyond the reach of Geric

The protectors had escorted them safely to Fort Uliac in the north of Ireland

It might seem strange to send two Pictish princes to a Gaelic country like Ireland

especially given Gyrick's Gaelic connections. But they met a warm welcome at Uliac from their aunt

She was married to a powerful Irish king, and for her, this was a matter not of politics, but of kin

They grew up in the royal household

It was a Gaelic court and they became steeped in its culture and language

They were educated at a nearby monastery and attended the Gaelic church

Too young to challenge Geric, too young to be king of the Picts

The changes taking place in their homeland must have felt like a world away to the cousins

But as each year passed and adulthood approached, the moment to avenge the murder of Constantine's father edged ever closer

In the year 889, after a decade in exile, the two cousins were finally old enough to challenge Geric

Donald and Constantine sailed homeward. Revenge was in their hearts. To win back their kingdom, they knew they'd have to depose the usurper

Geric had seen it coming. So had his supporters. He fled to his stronghold here at Dundurn in Perthshire

In its day, this was a mighty hill fort with huge fortifications

but not enough to deter the cousins. The chronicle tells of an eclipse, an ill omen of the times

Typically, the historical records are vague on what happened next. One Chronicle reveals in Dundurn the upright man was taken by death

The archaeological evidence suggests a more violent end for Giric. Burnt timbers and arrowhead were found here in Dundurn

and it's tempting to imagine that Giric died here in that moment killed by Donald and Constantine

The kingdom was at a crossroads. It could have gone either way, Pictish or Gaelic

Culture, language and church, everything was at stake. The Picts must have expected Donald and Constantine to reverse the Gaelic takeover

After all, Gyrick's rule had lasted just ten years. But the royal heirs had changed

Donald and Constantine left as Pictish boys They returned as Gaelic princes Now Donald and Constantine viewed their homeland through different eyes

The Chronicle of the Kings shows us which way the wind is blowing

This word here is Albanium, a Gaelic word meaning Scotland, a brand new name for the kingdom and of immense significance

with this one word right here, Scotland is created. This is Scotland's birth certificate

This crucial moment of transition is backed up by the Chronicle from Ireland

In the year 900, it has an entry recording Donald's death. He is King of Alba, the first king ever to be described as such

and he's followed by Constantine, also described as a Scottish king. Scotland became a Gaelic kingdom

Over the next few generations, the Pictish way of life, the way they practised their religion, the stone carvings

and even their language, fell out of favour. Gaelic was the new language of power

There was no sudden genocide, but the cultural takeover was just as complete

In 906, Constantine arrived in Skoun, near Perth, for an important new ceremony

Scun's a Gaelic word and what happened here would form the basis of all future coronations

Blessed by a Gaelic bishop Constantine sat on a block of stone

It no doubt harked back to the footprint ceremony of Dunad from long before

It's better known as the Stone of Destiny For centuries afterwards and right up to the present day

it's been used in the inauguration of monarchs Now the original is on display in Edinburgh Castle

It's just a simple block of red sandstone and yet it's been fought over, mythologised and romanticised

and it will crop up again and again in Scotland's story Although Constantine now appeared to hold sway over most of North Britain

the Young Kingdom's survival was touch and go from the outset. For just as Scotland was forming

another power block to the south had come of age at almost exactly the same time

This kingdom would prove to be Scotland's most persistent foe of all

Angleland was ruled by an Anglo-Saxon king called Athelstan. He'd driven the Vikings out of Northumbria

and by incorporating this territory had secured a new northern boundary. but Angleland or England as it became known was not enough for Athelstan

admirer of the Romans he aspired to rule the whole of Britain

he decided to carry on where the Romans left off he marched north

like Calgacus nearly 900 years before Constantine faced a stark choice

tackle Athelstan in battle and risk annihilation or surrender the kingship of Scotland

neither outcome was acceptable but Constantine came up with a third option

and this is it, the awesome rock fortress of Dunauta. Here, Constantine and his warband were hemmed in

but Athelstan couldn't capture the stronghold itself and so he and Constantine came to terms

Constantine could keep his status as King of Scotland, but Athelstan would be his overlord

In agreeing to this, Constantine saved Scotland and his own neck, but to the young aspiring leaders at his court, he'd sold out

So the next time Athelstan commanded him to submit, he refused to obey

Subservience wasn't Constantine's style, particularly when both he and the young kingdom of Scots had come so far. What he did next would have been unthinkable a few decades

previously. He made peace with the pagan Vikings. Partly motivated by a sense of united we stand

divided we fall, more importantly the Viking king had lost territories to Athelstan and he wanted

them back. Together, they forged a northern alliance. And in 937, Constantine headed south

for a decisive confrontation. At stake was the very future of the island of Britain

On one side advanced Athelstan, the Anglo-Saxon ruler of all England. On the other, the northern

alliance. The king of the Britons, the king of the Vikings from across the Irish Sea and

the king of Scotland, Constantine. The many armies, tens of thousands of warriors, clashed

at a site known as Brunnenborough, where the Mersey estuary enters the sea. For decades

afterwards it was simply called the Great Battle. This was the mother of all Dark Age bloodbats and would define the shape of Britain into the modern era An Anglo account of the battle reads They clove the shield wall hewed the war lindens with hammered blades

The foe fell back. The folk of the Scots and the ship fleet fell death-doomed

The field was slippery with the blood of warriors. The West Saxons, in companies, hewed the fugitives from behind

cruelly with swords mill-sharpened. The fighting went on from dawn until dusk

When it was over, the field was littered with the dead and the dying, picked over by wolves and carrion crows

Vikings, Saxons, Britons and Welshmen Gales from Ireland, Northumbrians, even Icelanders

Amid the corpses of the men of Scotland was Constantine's eldest son

all slain to settle the matter of Britain Although Athelstan emerged victorious

the resistance of the Northern Alliance had put an end to his dream of conquering the whole of Britain

Constantine, meanwhile, escaped back to his homeland with the remains of his battered army

This had been a battle for Britain

one of the most important battles in British history comparable to Hastings

and yet today few people have even heard of it 937 doesn't quite have the ring of 1066

and yet Brunenborough was about much more than just blood and conquest

this was a showdown between two very different ethnic identities a Norse-Celtic alliance versus Anglo-Saxon

It aimed to settle once and for all whether Britain would be controlled by a single imperial power

or remain several separate independent kingdoms, a split in perceptions which, like it or not, is still with us today

And as for King Constantine

from exile to Ireland as a young boy, the murder of Giric at Dundurn

his crowning at Scone, his short subservience to the English king, the Battle of Brunenborough and the saving of Scotland

There was much for the battle-scarred warrior to reflect upon. Kenneth Macalpin founded the Scottish royal line as an opportunistic Pictish warlord

but it was his grandson, Constantine, who secured the kingdom, and during his long reign of 43 years ensured its survival

Scotland stands as testament to Constantine's political astuteness and staying power. And then, remarkably, he relinquished his kingship

In an age characterised by brutal murders and takeovers, he retired. Religion had always played an important part in his life as king

Now Constantine, sharing the name of the Roman emperor who'd first embraced Christianity, moved at centre stage

St Andrews had become the religious capital of his new kingdom, and so he came here in AD 943, just six years after the greatest battle of his life

HE SINGS HE SINGS He ended his days leading a humble, almost hermit-like existence

in a cave near St Andrew's as a holy man. And what of the pits

An English historian, the Archdeacon of Huntingdon, writing just 200 years later in 1140

commented that, We see that the pits have now been wiped out

and their language also is totally destroyed so that they seem to be a fable we find mentioned in old writings

The Archdeacon was wrong. As we've seen all along, so much of these early years

were seen through the eyes of others. The pits weren't wiped out

With the Gales, they fused together in the fires of adversity and rebranded themselves as Scots

The hybrid kingdom of Alaba was now home to our restless people

And as for the fully formed country we would recognise as Scotland, the story had only just begun

Thank you