INTRODUCTION:

     Subject matter on the Pictish people is pretty thin on the ground.  The Romans, so useful in telling us of the situation in southern Britain (which of course they completely conquered & subdued) tell us very little about the mysterious people who dwelt mainly behind the Antonine wall, when finally they plucked up the courage to attempt conquest here.  What I will attempt to do over the course of these articles is shed some light on who these people were & where they came from.  I will talk briefly in the course of these articles about the 2 greatest battles the Picts were involved in.  The disasterous battle of Mons Graupius when the Picts were given a good seeing to & the battle of Nechtansmere in 685AD when the Picts were the victors.

     I have used the following subject matter in researching this subject in the event that you may like to look them up:

SCOTTISH GHOSTS by DANE LOVE

THE STORY OF SCOTLAND (VOLUME 1)

THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE BRITISH ISLES by GEOFFREY ASHE

FOLKLORE OF THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS by DR. ANNE ROSS (for Pictish tribal names)

     In this article I will attempt to give you an overview of what is known about the Picts. 

THE PICTS (AN OVERVIEW):

     As said previously in the introduction very little is known about the Picts whose kingdom was the largest in Dark Ages Scotland.  More often than not they are considered to be the aboriginal Scots people & it is perfectly feasible that they first came to this land when the glaciers from the ice age began to recede around 6000BC.

     The Picts would originally have dwelt in tent like structures not unlike the Native American peoples or other ancient peoples around the world.  It is most unlikely with Scotlands climate that they ever went around naked, but there was a wealth of furs to be worn - the Giant Elk (extinct), the Caledonian Bear (extinct - much favoured by the Romans in their arenas), the European Beaver (extinct in Scotland though they hope to reintroduce them & the Wolf).  At this time Scotland was covered in one huge forest called The Forest of Caledon.

     In actual fact, the Romans are quite unhelpful when it comes to gleaning any form of information on this people.  In fact they lumped all the Pictish tribes together under the name of the most powerful of them, the Caledonii.  Other tribes from the northern area of what is now Scotland were: the Taezali of the far north east; the Lugi (possibly from the Celtic god Lugh?) of Sutherland; the Orcades of Orkney; the Decantae of Easter Ross; the Smertae & Caereni in north west Sutherland sandwiched between the Lugi.  The territory the Caledonii inhabited lay between Dunkeld (the fort of the Caledonii) & Schiehallion (the fairy mountain of the Caledonii).

     The Language the Picts used is unknown, though more than likely they spoke a language which is the ancestor of modern p-celtic languages such as Welsh & Breton - ie, the tongue of the Britons.

     In Irish Gaelic they were known to the settlers of that island as "Cruithini," (Painted men) which became in Scots Gaelic "Cruithne" (also the name of one of their Kings).  The Irish however also applied this name to the settlers of Britain who, of course, were the Britons.  It is known that these  Britons also used to paint themselves in war, but the custom seems to have been abandoned gradually from south to north.  Picts were described, as well as being painted (possibly tattooed), as having powerful limbs & long sweeping hair.

     The Picts were a strange people.  They could be warlike, indeed they fought the Romans, Britons, Scots, Angles (much later) & each other.  Indeed one description of them has them dyeing their skin red with the blood of their enemies.  They also used to carry the severed heads of their victoms into battle.  This seems to have been a fairly widespread practice.  As much as they were warlike though they were also an eloquent & artistic people with a strong sense of community.

     The religion they followed is alas lost, but would no doubt include some form of ancestor worship & like the Gaels & Britons would no doubt be a nature based religion, quite like the main pagan religions of the world & maybe not unlike the Native Americans. 

     It is known that the Romans originally built Hadrians wall to keep out these Pictish tribes, therefore it can be assumed that their range was once greater than it became.  After the Romans made peace with the Votadini & they in turn accepted their military help in protecting them from the more hostile northern tribes, another wall was built & this wall was the Antonine wall.  The main range of the Picts was from the Pentland (or Pictland) Firth in the north down to the Pentland hills in the south.

     In time they joined forces with the Scotti (who gave their name to Scotland) who came over from what is now Ulster & launched joint attacks on the area south of the Antonine wall.  In 847AD Kenneth MacAlpin, King of Scots also became King of the Picts.  According to one legend MacAlpin invited all the heads of the Picts to a predetermined place for a great feast.  When they were all seated, a signal was given & trapdoors were opened letting the Pictish leaders fall into pits, were the waiting Scots dispatched them.  This to me seems completely unlikely.  The reason behind this being simply that the Scots had a patrilinnear line of descent & the Pictish line of descent was matrinicular, that is, the bloodline was passed down through the female line.  It is known of MacAlpin that he had a Pictish grandmother & it is through her that he had a valid claim to the Pictish throne.  Intermarriage between the 2 people was rife & it would seem that the Scots culture prevailed & Gaelic then became the main language of Scotland thereafter, at least for a little while.  The Pictish stones were still created after 847AD.  Indeed they became, if anything, more elaborate than before.

     The people of Scotland today are a mongrel race as are most nations in the world.  A mixture of Angle, Briton, Pict & Scot.  Much later of course other peoples came to Scotland in the form of the Vikings & the Normans & these people too would leave their mark on the country & provide the elements that would shape Scotland into becoming the country it is today.

PICTISH SYMBOL STONES - CLASS I & II:

     As I told you previously, not much is known about the Picts, apart from what other peoples have told us of course. It would seem however, that the Picts were originally arranged into 2 kingdoms, the Northern Picts & the Southern Picts.

     The original range of the Southern Picts would appear to have been from Hadrians wall up to the Firth of Forth, and later the Pentland (Pictland) Hills south of Edinburgh to the Firth of Forth. The range of the Northern Picts extended from the Northern shores of the Forth right up to the far North of Scotland, with their capital based at Scone in what is today Perthshire.

     Although we don't know the language the Picts spoke, though a fair assumption would be that it was a form of the ancient tongue of the Britons, we do know a little about them from the many strange symbol stones that they left behind. These stones can be seen to belong to two distinct classes, namely the class I & class II stones.

     So what is the difference between class I & Class II stones? The answer is simple. Something that class I & II stones have in common is the detailed mythological scenes inscribed on them both. It can be said however without much dispute, that the class I stones predate the conversion of the Picts to Christianity by the great Highland saint, Columba.

     Class II stones would appear to date from after this time & also the union of the Dalriadic & Pictish royal houses by Kenneth MacAlpin.  Whilst one side of these still shows the mythological scenes which are the mainstay of class I, the other shows elaborate Celtic cross designs.

SYMBOLS ON THE STONES:

     So what were these symbols inscribed on the stones? The Picts were obviously fond of nature as many of the stones show various forms of wildlife.  All the symbols are carved in outline & the animals represented show the creatures the Picts encountered in everyday life - Bull, Boar, Horse, Deer, Wolf, Eagle, Goose, Salmon, Otter, Snakes, a strange dog-headed beast sometimes known as the "S" Dragon. The most widely found beast to be found is often called "The Pictish Elephant."  This beast had ears, long snout & rolled up feet. Some people have interpreted this as being a Dolphin, but my guess would be that it is perhaps more representative of a Grey Seal. It should be noted that the horse represents the Celtic pony, the bull is the archetypal Aberdeen Angus, the deer is the Reindeer (of the Rudolf the red nosed variety) which died out in Scotland in the mid 12th century, though it has since been reintroduced, and the eagle represents the White Tailed variety & not the Golden Eagle.

     Of course apart from these animal symbols others are also known. These designs range from simple geometric shapes such as discs, crescents, rectangles & pentagrams. Still other symbols are more recognizable to archaeologists & would represent real things such as hammers, anvils, pincers, mirrors, combs, swords, wheels & ring handled cauldrons. More complicated designs are often called "V" & "Z" rod designs. It would appear that if these were drawn in a straightened line they would appear to represent pictures of a feathered arrow & a bulbous-butted spear with streamers respectively.

     The pre-Christian Picts were an illiterate people & some put forward the theory that the animal representations would appear to indicate a particular tribal name, but the fact is we may never know the truth for sure.

THE PICTS AT WAR:

     The first real adversary the Picts had to face was none other than the might of the Roman empire. The tribes of Southern Scotland, namely the Votadini of the Lothians, the Selgovae of the Upper Tweed & the Novantae of Dumfries & Galloway had been launching attacks for years on the Romans of the south, who in turn had set up Hadrians wall to keep them out, as much as protecting themselves from what they saw as "rat-faced savages."

     In time however peace of a sort was made with these tribes who thereafter became clients tribes of Rome. They were coming under attack from more hostile tribes in the north. In return for making peace with the Romans, the Romans in turn provided defence for these tribes.

     At this point I think I have to point out that most of the Roman army in this part of the world had never seen Rome in all their born days.  Many were recruited from the client tribes of Southern Britain, as well as the newly created client tribes I have just mentioned.  Indeed a legend states that Pontious Pilate was born in Perthshire.

     The leader of the Roman thrust into the unknown was Gnaeus Julius Agricola who was commanding General of the invasion & governor of the province of Britannia.  In one season alone their campaign brought them as far as the Tay in Perthshire.  According to his biographer Cornelius Tacitus, Agricola campaigned in Scotland for five years between 78 & 83AD. His programme culminated in a great battle of the united Pictish tribes, of which the Caledonii were the leaders it would appear, & would result in the first recorded battle on Scottish soil. Tacitus gives the name of the battle site as Mons Graupius (the Graupian mountain).  The united Pictish tribes were led by the war leader of the Caledonii, Calgacus.  They massed on the side of the mountain with some chariots on the level ground in front of them. After a very short stand-off fierce fighting soon broke out between the Romans who had begun to advance up the slopes & the Picts who threatened to turn their flanks; but Agricola had held his cavalry in reserve & now dispatched them in full. This surprised the Picts & they broke & fled.

     During the battle & subsequent pursuit some 10,000 of the united tribes fell with the loss of only 360 on the Roman side. The site of the battle has never been fully identified, though Tacitus does say that it lay close to the sea & in the far North of Britain. Tacitus was actually quite free with the tributes that he paid to the natives bravery & fierceness in battle, though Calgacus it seems was less enamoured of his foe. In fact he had this to say about them:

"In them is an arrogance which no submission or good behaviour can escape.  Pillagers of the world, they have exhausted the land by their plunder & now they ransack the sea. A rich enemy excites their cupidity, a poor one their lust for power. To robbery, butchery & rapine they give the lying name of Government; they create a desolation & call it peace."

     One legion of the Romans was retained in Scotland & made their base at Inchtuthil in Perthshire were they began work on a great fort.  The fort however was never completed & by 100AD they had retired from Scotland completely.

     The tribes which had previously been client tribes were once again free to do as they pleased & indeed in 122AD when the emperor Hadrian visited Britain, he had the famous wall which is named after him erected, thus marking the first national boundary between what would become Scotland & England.

     We next get to hear about the Picts in war from the Battle of Nechtansmere. 

                                                      NECHTANSMERE:

     In the afternoon of May 20th in the year 685AD, a decisive battle was fought at Dunnichen, situated just to the west of Letham.  

     The protagonists were the Angles, later known as English, of the Kingdom of Northumberland and the local inhabitants, known historically as Picts. The Northumbrians had been gradually pushing northwards, capturing Dun Eidyn (Edinburgh) in 638AD and putting aggressive military pressure on their neighbours, the Welsh-speaking Britons of Strathclyde to the West, the Scots of Dalriada to the North-west, and the Picts to the North of the river Forth.   Over the following decades, the Southern Picts came more and more under Northumbrian control.

     In 685AD, King Ecgfrith of Northumbria invaded unoccupied Pictland in response, it would seem; to guerrilla-type raids by the warriors of Brudei, King of the Picts.  In the words of the English historian Bede, the Picts pretended to flee, and lured the Northumbrians into a trap between the hill fort of Dun Nechtan and an area of swamp known as Nechtans Mire (Mere).  Little is known of the actual battle, except the outcome. 

     Brudei, King of the Picts was victorious. King Ecgfrith and his bodyguard were killed, and the Northumbrian army was routed, most of them killed or enslaved. Thus the "English influence" retreated south of the River Forth and in both military and political terms, the Battle of Nechtansmere was a triumph for the Picts.

     Phantom warriors of the battle have been seen many times but most notably in 1950 by a Miss E. F. Smith. The woman was forced to walk home late one night to Letham after her car skidded off the road. Through the darkness she spotted some flaming torches in the distance, carried by figures wearing primitive dress. Some walked in a curve round the field & this night indicate that they were following the shores of Nechtansmere which had long since been drained.  The woman sensed that the men were looking for their fallen comrades, for as she watched some bent down & turned over corpses to examine their faces, if they were not known to them they were left to die.  Interestingly enough the woman's dog began to growl at the very moment the woman saw the menacing sight.