Kenneth 1

MacAlpin was considered the first king of the united Scots of Dalriada and the Picts and so of Scotland north of a line between the Forth and Clyde rivers. Ancient Gaelic-speaking people of northern Ireland who settled in Scotland sometime in the 5th century AD. Originally (until the 10th century) "Scotia" denoted Ireland, and the inhabitants of Scotia were Scotti. The area of Argyll and Bute, where the migrant Scots settled, became known as the kingdom of Dalriada, the counterpart to Dalriada in Ireland. St. Columba inaugurated Christianity among them and helped raise Aidan to the kingship of Scottish Dalriada in 574. The Scots then expanded eastward into what came to be known as the Forest of Atholl and Strath Earn (valley of the River Earn) and northward into the area of Elgin. The union of the lands of modern Scotland began in 843, when Kenneth I MacAlpin, king of the Scots (Dalriada), became also king of the Picts and, within a few years, joined "Pict-land" to "Scot-land" to form the kingdom of Alba. By 1034, by inheritance and warfare, the Scots had secured hegemony over not only Alba but also Lothian, Cumbria, and Strathclyde--roughly the territory of modern  mainland Scotland. In 1305 the kingdom was divided into Scotland, Lothian, and Galloway; in the 14th century Scotland came to be the name for the whole land, and all its inhabitants were called Scots, whatever their origin.  

Little is known about his father Alpin, though tradition credits him with a victory over the Picts who killed him three months later, displaying his severed head at their camp. (c.834). Kenneth succeeded him in Dalriada and ruled in Pictavia also, ruling for 16 years. This period is obscure but the gradual union of the two kingdoms from 843 is no doubt due to much intermarriage. By the Pictish marriage custom, inheritance passed through the female. Nevertheless, Kenneth probably made some conquests among the eastern Picts and possibly invaded Lothian and burned Dunbar and Melrose. After attacks on Iona by Vikings he removed relics of St. Columba, probably in 849 or 850, to Dunkeld, which became the headquarters of the Scottish Columban church. He died at Forteviot, not far from Scone in Pictish territory, and was buried on the island of Iona.  

King of Alba, the united kingdom of the Picts and Scots (858-862), brother and successor of Kenneth I MacAlpin. Donald established an ancient corpus of laws and rights (known as the laws of Aed, or Aedh) that apparently included the custom of Tanistry. According to this custom, the successor of a king was elected during his lifetime from the eldest and worthiest of his kin, often a collateral (brother or cousin) in preference to a descendant (son). The next king, Donald's brother Constantine I, succeeded in accordance with this custom.  

Constantine succeeded the reign of his uncle Donald I, as ruler of the united Picts and Scots(862-877) His reign was occupied with many conflicts with the Norsemen. Olaf the White, the Danish king of  Dublin, laid waste the country of the Picts and Britons year after year. In the south the Danish leader Halfdan devastated Northumberland and Galloway. Constantine was slain at a battle at Inverdovat in Fife, at the hands of another band of northern marauders. His heir was his brother Aed, who was killed by the Scots after a year and was succeeded by a nephew, Eochaid.  
  

Aed (Aodh) - (877-878)  

Succeeded the reign of his brother Constantine I. His reign was short lived as he was killed after a year by his Cousin Giric. Aodh was succeeded by , Eochaid and Giric in 878.  

Eochaid (Eocha) and Giric (Ciric) (878 - 889)  

Little is known of this reign.  Eochaid may have been a minor and Giric his guardian; or Giric may have been a usurper. Both appear in the lists of kings for the period.  After Giric had killed his cousin Aed, he assumed the thrown alongside Eochaid and the two ruled as one. There is very little detail about these two Kings, and nothing is known of their personal lives. 

How these two managed and ruled the land is a mystery, but in 889 they were both deposed and Giric was killed at Dundurn in Perthshire. 

King of the Scots (from 889), son of Constantine I and successor to Eochaid and Giric (reigned 878-889). His reign coincided with renewed invasions by the Danes, who came less to plunder and more to occupy the lands bordering Scotland and the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. He was also embroiled in efforts to reduce the highland robber tribes. By one account he was slain at Dunnottar, meeting a Danish invasion; by another he died of infirmity brought on by his campaigns against the highlanders. He was succeeded by his cousin Constantine II.