CausantÃÂn mac Cináeda (Modern Gaelic: ; 836 â 877) was King of the Picts from 862 until his death in 877. He is often known as Constantine I in reference to his place in modern lists of Scottish monarchs, but contemporary sources described only as a Pictish king. A son of ("Kenneth MacAlpin"), he succeeded his uncle as Pictish king following the latter's death on 13 April 862. The reign of CausantÃÂn likely saw increased activity by Vikings, based in Ireland, Northumbria and northern Britain. He died fighting one such invasion.
Very few records of 9th century events in northern Britain survive. The main local source from the period is the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba, a list of kings from Cináed mac AilpÃÂn (died 858) to Cináed mac MaÃÂl Coluim (died 995). The list survives in the Poppleton Manuscript, a 13th century compilation. Originally simply a list of kings with reign lengths, the other details contained in the Poppleton Manuscript version were added from the tenth century onwards. In addition to this, later king lists survive. The earliest genealogical records of the descendants of Cináed mac AilpÃÂn may date from the end of the tenth century, but their value lies more in their context, and the information they provide about the interests of those for whom they were compiled, than in the unreliable claims they contain. The Pictish king-lists originally ended with this CausantÃÂn, who was reckoned the seventieth and last king of the Picts.
For narrative history, the principal sources are the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the Irish annals. While Scandinavian sagas describe events in 9th century Britain, their value as sources of historical narrative, rather than documents of social history, is disputed. If the sources for north-eastern Britain, the lands of the kingdom of Northumbria and the former Pictland, are limited and late, those for the areas on the Irish Sea and Atlantic coasts â the modern regions of north-west England and all of northern and western Scotland â are non-existent, and archaeology and toponymy are of primary importance.
Writing a century before CausantÃÂn was born, Bede recorded five languages in Britain. Latin, the common language of the church; Old English, the language of the Angles and Saxons; Irish, spoken on the western coasts of Britain and in Ireland; Brythonic, ancestor of the Welsh language, spoken in large parts of western Britain; and Pictish, spoken in northern Britain. By the ninth century a sixth language, Old Norse, had arrived with the Vikings.
Viking activity in northern Britain appears to have peaked during CausantÃÂn's reign. Viking armies were led by a small group of men who may have been kinsmen. Among those noted by the Irish annals, the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle are ÃÂvarr â ÃÂmar in Irish sources â who was active from East Anglia to Ireland, Halfdán â Albdann in Irish, Healfdene in Old English â and AmlaÃÂb or ÃÂláfr. As well as these leaders, various others related to them appear in the surviving record.
Viking activity in Britain increased in 865 when the Great Heathen Army, probably a part of the forces which had been active in Francia, landed in East Anglia. The following year, having obtained tribute from the East Anglian King Edmund, the Great Army moved north, seizing York, chief city of the Northumbrians. The Great Army defeated an attack on York by the two rivals for the Northumbrian throne, Osberht and ÃÂlla, who had put aside their differences in the face of a common enemy. Both would-be kings were killed in the failed assault, probably on 21 March 867. Following this, the leaders of the Great Army are said to have installed one Ecgberht as king of the Northumbrians. Their next target was Mercia where King Burgred, aided by his brother-in-law King ÃÂthelred of Wessex, drove them off.
While the kingdoms of East Anglia, Mercia and Northumbria were under attack, other Viking armies were active in the far north. AmlaÃÂb and Auisle (ÃÂsl or AuðgÃÂsl), said to be his brother, brought an army to Fortriu and obtained tribute and hostages in 866. Historians disagree whether the army returned to Ireland in 866, 867 or even 869. Late sources of uncertain reliability state that Auisle was killed by AmlaÃÂb in 867 in a dispute over AmlaÃÂb's wife, the daughter of Cináed. It is unclear whether, if accurate, this woman should be identified as a daughter of Cináed mac AilpÃÂn, and thus CausantÃÂn's sister, or as a daughter of Cináed mac Conaing, king of Brega. While AmlaÃÂb and Auisle were in north Britain, the Annals of Ulster record that ÃÂed Findliath, High King of Ireland, took advantage of their absence to destroy the longphorts along the northern coasts of Ireland. ÃÂed Findliath was married to CausantÃÂn's sister Máel Muire. She later married ÃÂed's successor Flann Sinna. Her death is recorded in 913.
In 870, AmlaÃÂb and ÃÂvarr attacked Dumbarton Rock, where the River Leven meets the River Clyde, the chief place of the kingdom of Alt Clut, south-western neighbour of Pictland. The siege lasted four months before the fortress fell to the Vikings who returned to Ireland with many prisoners, "Angles, Britons and Picts", in 871. Archaeological evidence suggests that Dumbarton Rock was largely abandoned and that Govan replaced it as the chief place of the kingdom of Strathclyde, as Alt Clut was later known. King Artgal of Alt Clut did not long survive these events, being killed "at the instigation" of CausantÃÂn son of Cináed two years later. Artgal's son and successor Run was married to a sister of CausantÃÂn.
AmlaÃÂb disappears from Irish annals after his return to Ireland in 871. According to the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba, he was killed by CausantÃÂn either in 871 or 872 when he returned to Pictland to collect further tribute. His ally ÃÂvarr died in 873.
In 875, the Chronicle and the Annals of Ulster again report a Viking army in Pictland; the Annals of Ulster say that "a great slaughter of the Picts resulted". No name is given to the battle in which the slaughter occurred, yet the Chronicle notes a battle fought between Danes and Scots near Dollar but notes a subsequent "annihilation" at Atholl. In 877, shortly after building a new church for the Culdees at St Andrews, CausantÃÂn was captured and executed (or perhaps killed in battle) after defending against Viking raiders. Although there is agreement on the time and general manner of his death, it is not clear where this happened. Some believe he was beheaded on a Fife beach, following a battle at Fife Ness, near Crail. William Forbes Skene reads the Chronicle as placing CausantÃÂn's death at Inverdovat (by Newport-on-Tay), which appears to match the Prophecy of Berchán. The account in the Chronicle of Melrose names the place as the "Black Cave" and John of Fordun calls it the "Black Den". CausantÃÂn was buried on Iona.
CausantÃÂn's son Domnall and his descendants represented the main line of the kings of Alba and later Scotland.