CLAN CARRUTHERS CCIS -SELBACH MAC FERCHAR – SELBACH OF DALRIATA

Selbach mac Ferchar

Selbach of DálRiata

Dál Riata was the Gaelic-speaking kingdom that straddled Argyll and Antrim, taking in the southern Hebrides and most of the western half of Scotland at one time. It had a number of kings who were heads of cenéla, or ‘kin groups’. These leaders in turn recognised the supremacy of an over-king.  King William “The Lion” reigned when this area was mainly an Irish Gaelic speaking area. The King traditionally drawn from southern regions such as Kintyre. One of the most notable men to break this tradition was Selbach mac Ferchar.

Selbach hailed from Lorn in the north. It lay at the opposite end of the Great Glen from Fortriu, chief kingdom of the Picts. Lorn’s royal centre was probably Dunollie (Dún Ollaigh), near present-day Oban. Here was also an important trading site, where merchants from Gaul rubbed shoulders with Gaels and Picts.

Lorn was home to Cenél Loairn, ‘the kindred of Loairn’, which was divided into three smaller cenéla: Cenél Salaich, Cenél Cathboth and Cenél nEchdach. At the opening of the eighth century Cenél Cathboth probably held Dunollie for in 701/702 the kindred was slaughtered and Dunollie destroyed. The culprit was Selbach, a Cenél nEchdach dynast. His father Ferchar Fota, ‘Ferchar the Tall’, had enjoyed power in Lorn and possibly over Dál Riata as a whole. Upon Ferchar’s death in 696/697 his son, Ainbcellach, had succeeded him. His reign lasted but a year before he was driven into Irish captivity, probably by Cenél Cathboth. So through one act of aggression Selbach had reclaimed his birthright and avenged his brother.

Dál Riata seems to have been engaged in intermittent warfare with the Britons during this time. They were likely the Britons of the Clyde whose kingdom, Alt Clut, was centred on Dumbarton Rock. In 705 a Dalriadan war-band was massacred in Glen Leven, possibly around Inverarnan at the northern tip of Loch Lomond. Selbach probably led the fightback that toppled the Britons at the unidentified Lorg Ecclet in 711. Victory may also have subdued Alt Clut’s Dalriadan allies – Cenél Comgaill, of Cowal.

Capitalising on this, Selbach led what must have been a major invasion of Kintyre the following year. Here he crushed the powerful Cenél nGabráin, laying siege to the probable royal seat of Dunaverty (Aberte) at the penisula’s southern tip, and burning the strategic site of Tarbert (Tairpert Boiter). Here he must surely have won supremacy over the ruling class the Corcu Réti: the Cenél nGabrain and Cenél Comgaill kindreds of Kintyre and Cowal. If he hadn’t been king of Dál Riata before, he was now.

Dál Riata.

Two years later he rebuilt Dunollie. Perhaps he needed a royal site that matched his stature and high walls to keep his family safe.

In 717 the annals record another Dalriadan victory over Britons at the obscure ‘stone that is called Minuirc’. James E Fraser speculates Selbach may now have subjugated Beli son of Elphin, king of Alt Clut. Such a feat had not been equalled since the days when Aedán mac Gabrán had been at the peak of his powers more than 100 years before. Subjugation would have entailed Beli making regular payments of tribute in cattle to Selbach.

Two years later Selbach’s brother, Ainbcellach, was back in Lorn with the kingship on his mind. The siblings clashed at Finglen (Findglen) on Lorn’s rugged southern frontier. Ainbcellach was slain and his men defeated. Selbach’s luck ran out the following month, October, when he faced Donnchad Becc of Cenél nGabráin – a man the chronicles call rex Cind Tire (king of Kintyre). Donnchad bested his enemy in a sea battle where, presumably, boats were lashed together to enable men to fight.

In 721 Donnchad died and was succeeded by a man named Eochaid. Selbach retired to a monastery in 723 but probably maintained an interest in politics. Eochaid usurped Selbach’s son Donngal as king of Dál Riata in 726, prompting the grizzled veteran to abandon the cloister the following year. In renouncing his vows and returning to war, Selbach would have been labelled a ‘son of perdition’ by monastic writers of the time. An afterlife of punishment and torment would await.

There was a battle at Ros Foichnae, possibly another sea battle, whose result may have been indecisive. James E Fraser argues, however, that Cenél nEchdach eventually gained the upper hand. Selbach had not become a son of perdition for nothing.

He died in 730.

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CLAN CARRUTHERS CCIS -King Kenneth MacAlpin

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Kenneth MacAlpin: King of the Picts and Legendary Founder of Scotia

CARRUTHERS ANCESTOR

There is scarcely any concrete information about the man widely credited with the foundation of medieval Scotia, the precursor to today’s Scotland. There are facts about battles that occurred and kingdoms that were defeated. Yet about the man himself, there is little more than legend. In the 1200 years since the reign of Cináed mac Ailpín (anglicized to Kenneth MacAlpin), his legend has only grown. The King of the Picts now seems to have been caught up in the Stone of Destiny also known as the Holy Grail. Yet beneath all of the extraordinary claims about the 9th century Scot, there is a real-life man who faced impossible odds to save his people and found a country.

Quhen Alpyne this kyng was dede, He left a sowne wes cal’d Kyned,
Dowchty man he wes and stout, All the Peychtis he put out.
Gret bataylis than dyd he, To pwt in freedom his cuntre!

This short verse, taken from Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland by the 15th-century author Andrew of Wyntoun, is one of the earliest accounts of Kenneth’s noble deeds. Most of what is known today has been pieced together by historians. It is known that throughout much of the 8th and 9th centuries, the coastlines and northern interior of the British Isles and Ireland were relentless assaulted by the Vikings. The fear and confusion of their raids produced a sense of chaos and anarchy. Into this vacuum of power stepped Kenneth MacAlpin.

Alpin

Kenneth was born sometime between 800 and 810 AD. His father was King Alpin II of Dalriada (Dál Riata), a Gaelic kingdom founded in 500 AD by Irish invaders led by Fergus Mor. At the time of Kenneth’s birth, the Gaels were dominated by the powerful Pictish Kingdom. Kenneth’s mother was, according to legend, a Pictish Princess of extraordinary beauty. Alpin II was ultimately beheaded by the Gaels for fighting on the behalf of a Pictish King, the second most hated enemy of the Gaels (after the Vikings). Little is known about Kenneth’s parents but there is reason to suspect that Alpin abandoned his comrades for love of the unnamed Pictish Princess, an act that cost him his life.

Bearded Pictish warrior from the Bullion Stone, Angus, now in the National Museum of Scotland. 

Around the same time that Alpin was killed in the battles between the Picts and the Gaels, the Viking raids became increasingly frequent and ferocious, perhaps because they knew many of the land’s men were otherwise engaged.  By 839 AD the Pictish kingship was almost entirely wiped out by Viking warriors. It is here that Kenneth enters the story. Many fighters sought to fill the vacuum of power and become the next king. Kenneth sought to claim the Gaelic and the Pictish throne, both of which he had some right to. However, according to legend, he was challenged by the seven royal houses of the Picts, especially the Pict Drust X.

The Viking invaders almost entirely wiped out the Picts. ‘Vikings Heading for Land’ by Frank Dicksee 

MacAlpin’s Treason

Caught between the Gaels and the Vikings, the Picts knew that they needed a strong leader so a great meeting was called at Scone at which all of the claimants to the Crown were to attend, including Kenneth. The story goes that “the alcohol flowed freely at the meeting. Then, in what has since been referred to as Mac Alpin’s treason, Drust and the Pictish nobles were all killed by the Scots: allegedly (and improbably) by having their booby-trapped benches collapsed so Kenneth’s rivals plunged into pits in the floor and impaled themselves on spikes set there for the purpose” (Undiscovered Scotland, 2016).

This probably did not happen – the engineering feats alone seem hard to believe – but Kenneth most likely did kill, one way or another, all of his rivals to the throne. “What is fairly clear is that at some point between 839 and 848 AD Kenneth (with blood claims to both thrones) claims the kingdoms of the Picts and the Gaels” (BBC, 2014).

The First King

Kenneth became the first king of the House of Alpin, named after his father. His lands included the Pictish Fortrio region and the Gaelic Dál Riata kingdom. Kenneth dubbed his new kingdom Scotia (in Gaelic, Alba). Yet, just because he was now the undisputed king did not mean peace was anywhere near in sight. Young Scotia was surrounded by hostile enemies: to the north were the highlanders, called the Men of Moray; to the west were the Irish, lying in wait to reclaim Fergus Mor’s conquest; to the south was the Anglo-Saxon realm of North Umbria; and at all times in all places, especially on the coasts and the islands, there was the threat of a Viking invasion.

Map showing the approximate areas of the kingdoms. 

It was this last threat that was most worrisome for King Kenneth MacAlpin. Legend has it that a huge fleet of 140 Viking ships was headed toward Dál Riata, intend on destroying the Gaels once and for all. With surprising speed and foresight, Kenneth order to Gaels to collect all of their religious relics (including the treasured remains of St. Columba) and move them to the safety of the interior Pict lands, once enemy territory but now unified. Scotia’s ecclesiastical capital was thus transferred from the coastal Iona to the interior Dunkeld. At this time, “Dál Riata vanishes from the chronicles and we only hear of Pictland from this point” (BBC, 2014).

Kenneth’s Death

The Gaels took a risk in trusting the Pictish king and Kenneth made certain to reward them for their faith in him. He distributed among his Gaelic supporters’ lands that had been taken from his defeated rivals. The Pictish commoners may have resented their new Gaelic landlords but Kenneth did not give anyone the chance to rekindle old ethnic rivalries. What was needed now was unity, “something the Picts and Gaels had in common, to define them as a single people, and, as is so often the case throughout history, this came in the form of a common enemy” (BBC, 2014). Fortunately for nascent Scotland, Kenneth had this in spades. He rallied his people to fend off the Viking attacks and even launched a raid or two of his own across Hadrian’s Wall into Anglican North Umbria.

Kenneth died in 858 A.D. of natural causes (most likely a tumorous cancer). He was buried on the island of Iona and succeeded by his brother, Donald I. The Kingdom of Alba lasted until 1296 when the English invaded. Kenneth MacAlpin is the 33rd great-grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II. King Kenneth carries the Carruthers CTS genome .  If you are a Carruthers, one of the 1200 spellings, you will have this same gene.

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CLAN CARRUTHERS-DO YOU HAVE THE HEART OF A PICT?

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The Picts: The Ancient Blue Wildmen Who Protected Scotland From The Roman Empire

Much of what we know about the Picts comes from the Romans, who praised the military prowess of these ancient people from Scotland and Ireland (mainly northern).

( This is a picture they label as a Pict Warrior, but we know that this is from the family or clan of Dal Riata)

Some 2,000 years ago, Scotland was home to a group of people known as the Picts. To the Romans who controlled much of Britain at the time, they were but mere savages, men who fought completely naked, armed with little more than a spear. But the Picts were fearsome warriors.

Every time the Roman Empire tried to move into their territory, the Picts successfully fought back. The Roman legions were the greatest military force the world had ever seen and the only people they couldn’t conquer were this wild clan.

Yet despite their formidable warrior culture, the Picts mysteriously vanished during the 10th century. The wild men the Romans could not conquer faded away and barely left behind a trace of their existence. Today, historians still struggle to piece together a glimpse into who the Picts were and what happened to their mighty culture.

Picts: “The Painted People”

The Picts were so named by the Romans who observed and record them, but as was the case with many ancient peoples, the Picts did not refer to themselves that way. “Pict” is believed to be a derivation of “The Painted,” or “Tattooed People,” which described the blue tattoos with which the Picts covered their bodies.

Julius Caesar himself was fascinated by the culture. Upon meeting them in battle, he recorded that they “dye themselves with woad, which produces a blue color, and makes their appearance in battle more terrible. They wear long hair, and shave every part of the body save the head and the upper lip.”

According to other Roman sources, the only clothing the Picts wore were iron chains around their waists and throats. Iron was considered to them a sign of wealth and a material more valuable than gold. In addition, iron also served a practical use, the Picts could use these chains to carry swords, shields, and spears.

Their bodies were otherwise adorned head to toe with colored tattoos, designs, and drawings of animals. Indeed, these designs were so so intricate and beautiful that the Romans believed the reason the Picts didn’t wear clothes was to show them off.

**  The flowery colorful tattoos are from the Dal Riata, who intermingled with the Scottish Picts, and inter – married also. ***

The Romans Against The Picts

( A Pictish stone tells of a battle scene, presumably the Battle of Nechtansmere of 685 AD.)

When the Romans invaded Britain, they were accustomed to winning. They had conquered every powerful civilization they had yet come into contact with and destroyed any armed opposition with a flash of armor and steel that knew no equal. But they had never faced an enemy like the Picts.

The Romans expected another easy victory against the Picts, a primarily land-based people, going into their first battle. Indeed, the Picts retreated nearly as soon as they’d started fighting, and the Romans declared: “Our troops proved their superiority.”

But the victory proved to be an illusion. While the Romans were setting up camp, the Picts returned pouring out of the woods and seemingly out of thin air. They caught the Romans completely unaware and massacred them.

An Undefeatable Opponent

                                                     A Pictish rider drinking on horseback.

Time and time again, the Picts would lure the Romans into a false sense of security before striking when their guard was down. For instance, they would often charge the Romans on horseback and immediately retreat, luring the Roman cavalry away from their infantry. Then, a second squad of Picts would leap out of the woods and slaughter any Romans that had been foolish enough to give chase.

“Our infantry,” Julius Caesar wrote, “were but poorly fitted for an enemy of this kind.” Indeed, when the Romans took over a Pict village, the clans would move on to another one and prepare to strike back. Much like Napoleon could not pin down the enemy and force them to fight on his terms during his invasion of Russia, the Picts continuously frustrated the seemingly-superior Roman forces by their refusal to fight in the Roman way.

The Picts were faster, knew the land better, and had they more to fight for. By Roman counts, some 10,000 Picts died fighting against their forces — but Scotland never fell to them.

This story, though, is one told by an invading force. It’s a Roman version of the Picts, which is likely far from the whole truth.

It’s hard to say what life among the Picts was really like. Little Pict writing has survived to this day. The only hints we have come from a scattered handful of relics uncovered in British archaeological digs.

What we’ve found, though, bears little resemblance to the Roman version of the story. The Picts, historians believe, weren’t a particularly war-like people. With the exception of a few cattle raids between neighboring tribes, they lived in relative peace only taking up arms when the Romans forced them to defend their homes.

There is little proof even that they really fought naked. Most of what archaeologists have discovered about the Picts comes from the 5th century or later, but by then, at least, the culture had taken to using linen, wool, and silk. They drew themselves dressed in tunics and coats in pictures.

Interestingly enough, the Picts seem to have been farmers and were a peaceful people who focused their faith on nature. They believed a goddess had walked through their lands and that every place where her foot had landed was sacred. Their fierce commitment to their ancestral land is likely what motivated them to become fearsome protectors of it and a dangerous enemy to the Romans.                      Mark Oliver

Above is a Picture of Kenneth Alpin:

The last Pictish kings died in 843 AD — killed, depending on who you believe, by either the Vikings of the Scots. Then, the King of the Scots, Cinaed Mac Alpin or Kenneth MacAlpin, crowned himself as their ruler and formally united the Picts with the Scots.

How does this affect the Carruthers Clan? 

Kenneth Alpin carries the Carruthers DNA Marker.  You could say we are Alpins,  but the DNA Marker is now named the Carruthers DNA Marker, so he is now a Carruthers.

We also know that:

Eochaid IV mac Aeda Find”The Venomous” King of the Dal Riata Ri na Dal Riatawas King Alpins’ Grandfather, and also has the Carruthers DNA Marker, was the King of the Picts and Dal Riata.   Dal Riata were the painted people with all the different colors used for tattoos.   The Picts were mainly just a black or a blue colored tattoos.

When you think of the Romans coming into Scotland and trying to conqueor the land, they did not know, but we do now, that The Picts , the DalRiata and the Vikings from Gutland, all had the Carruthers DNA Marker, and were all related.

This is the same group of men and women, that the Romans hired and paid to fight along side of them, mainly on the eastern europe front.

If you have genealogical DNA testing, then you  may find markers linking you to Romania, Austria and even Turkey, because our ancestors were paid to fight there.

So yes, these are your ancestors, and we have been tested for many more to come.

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