Official Clan MacTavish Society

                                    since 1997

Little is known about his father Alpin although, according to tradition, he took advantage of the Viking raids of early 830's to lead a revolt against the Caledonians. (More on this in Scottish Origins). In 836, after some early success during which he possibly destroyed Galloway, Alpin son of Eochaid the Venomous , virtually the last of the Dalriadic Scottish kings, fell near Laicht Castle, on the ridge which separated Kyle from Galloway, supposedly killed by a single man who lay in wait in a thick wood overhanging the entrance of the ford of a river. He was succeeded by his son Kenneth.

The Picts victory over Alpin MacEochaid only earned them the right to face the Vikings in battle. A battle they had to be somewhat concerned about, for the Vikings had suffered very few defeats in this century to anyone. They were defeated by the Norsemen in a fierce battle but had not been destroyed. After Kenneth had ruled his father's land for only a few years, the Vikings struck at the Picts and Scots in 839. It was an odd battle. The Scots were engaged in a losing battle against a branch of the southern Picts still resisting the Scoto-Pictish union; the Vikings watching to see the outcome. When the Scots withdrew the Vikings promptly attacked the Picts delivering a serious defeat to the Southern Picts. The Scots managed to escape to fight another day. The outcome was a disaster for the Picts. This was described by the Irish annalists as a battle between the Gentiles and the men of Fortren. According to tradition, Fortren was the new name given to the combined kingdoms of the Scots and Picts. In the great slaughter that ensued, Eoganan son of Oengus, his brother and successor, and many others were killed. After this battle, the warrior and royal class of the Picts was so severely depleted that they never again offered any serious threat to Vikings or Scots for control of their country.

By Pictish marriage custom, inheritance passed through female and Kenneth's maternal ancestry probably provided some claim to the Caledonian throne, to which now he applied himself.  Though a marriage to the daughter of Constantine (his second cousin) increased his standing, his petition was not accepted during the next four ascensions of the Caledonian Crown. Now Kenneth's sovereignty of Dalriada was regarded as an obstacle to his becoming Ard-righ (High King) of Alban just as there is was sometimes a tendency to prevent the merging of two ancient noble families or houses. The Pictish nobles seem to have resisted his claim and it appears to have taken several years for Kenneth to gain rule over all of the Picts. In the reign of Drust, the last Pictish King of Caledonia, it is said that Kenneth planned and executed an episode that is now known as 'MacAlpins treason'.

Less than eight years had passed since the disastrous defeat by the Vikings in c. 839 and Caledonian rule was still greatly weakened. The country was largely occupied by Viking forces, and he could not mount any serious challenge to their forced authority. It was in those conditions, c. 847 AD, that Kenneth invited the seven remaining Mormaers (Earls) of Caledonia to court to discuss his claim to the throne. According to legend, a great banquet was held at Scone which had become the sacred centre of Pictavia, and the guests were plied with food and wine. Late in the evening, after the guests - including Drust the King - were sufficiently inebriated, they were attacked and slaughtered by Kenneth's men in a scene right from a Shakespearean tragedy and treachery. But, such was the way of Kings of Scotland in this era.

Kenneth cleared the way for his claim to the throne of Caledonia and was crowned not long after in the Pictish monastery of Scone on the ancient Stone of Destiny - to the present day the Coronation Stone for all the British monarchs - becoming King of the Picts as well as the Dalriada Scots. The Stone of