Origins of the Picts and Scots

A whimsical, late 16th century,
representation of a Pict by John White.

origins of the

PICTS AND SCOTS

The Picts (Picti) were the dominant power in northern Britain for more than five hundred years, but remarkably little is known about them. The earliest, extant, mention of the Picts is in a panegyric on Constantius Chlorus (western Caesar 293-305, western Augustus 305-306). The panegyric (delivered in 297, and usually attributed to Eumenius) makes a poetic reference to "the hitherto semi-naked Picts and Hibernians [Irish]". In 310, another panegyric, written on Constantine by an unknown author, mentions "the Caledones and other Picts".

Marjorie O. Anderson, in 'Kings and Kingship in Early Scotland', writes: "This is the only reading for which there is manuscript authority. The often-cited "alternative reading" ... "Caledones, Picts and others", seems to have originated as a quite unnecessary emendation by Franz Eyssenhardt in 1867. It was adopted in the edition by Emil Baehrens (father of W. Baehrens) in 1874, which was unfortunately followed by Holder in his article Picti... Holder's influence still perpetuates the idea that Caledones and Picti were the names of two distinct though related peoples."

The reliable Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus, while writing about the so called Barbarian Conspiracy, mentions two tribes of Picts: the Dicalydones and the Verturiones. Traditionally, the name Pict is said to mean 'painted people' (having the same Latin root as the English word 'picture'). The poet Claudian (Claudius Claudianus), writing at the very beginning of the fifth century, talks of Britain "dressed in the skin of a Caledonian beast, her cheeks tattooed [literally 'iron-marked'], a sea-blue mantle sweeping over her footsteps like the surge of Ocean", and of "the lifeless patterns tattooed on dying Picts". Spanish bishop and encyclopedist, Isidore of Seville (c.560-636) claims that:

"The race of the Picts has a name derived from the appearance of their bodies. These are played upon by a needle working with small pricks and by the squeezed-out sap of a native plant, so that they bear the resultant marks according to the personal rank of the individual, their painted limbs being tattooed to show their high birth."

However, the more sceptical suggest that, since it is unlikely that such comments were founded on first hand knowledge, they were perpetuating myths, based on the general perception of 'barbarian' practices, allied to Julius Caesar's observation that the inhabitants of Britain used woad as blue war paint. Certainly, the British monk Gildas, writing in the 540s, makes no mention of tattoos in his disparaging references to the Picts. The current consensus of opinion is that the Latin word 'Picti' is actually derived from their own native name, and that they were a federation of preexisting tribal groups occupying territory north of the Forth/Clyde line. However, their origins have attracted much legend, and are still the subject of a great deal of speculation. Bede recorded that:

"... the nation of the Picts, from Scythia [by which it is generally agreed that Bede means Scandinavia], as is reported, putting to sea, in a few long ships, were driven by the winds beyond the shores of Britain, and arrived on the northern coast of Ireland, where, finding the nation of the Scots, they begged to be allowed to settle among them, but could not succeed in obtaining their request... The Scots answered that the island could not contain them both; but "We can give you good advice," said they, "what to do; we know there is another island, not far from ours, to the eastward, which we often see at a distance, when the days are clear. If you will go thither, you will obtain settlements; or, if they should oppose you, you shall have our assistance." The Picts, accordingly, sailing over into Britain, began to inhabit the northern parts thereof, for the Britons were possessed of the southern... In process of time, Britain, besides the Britons and the Picts, received a third nation the Scots, who, migrating from Ireland ... either by fair means, or by force of arms, secured to themselves those settlements among the Picts which they still possess."

Edward Gibbon, in the 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' (published 1776-88), was of the opinion that:

"The inhabitants of that northern region were divided, as early as the reign of Constantine, between the two great tribes of the Scots and of the Picts ... The former were the men of the hills, and the latter those of the plain... the love of arms and rapine was still the ruling passion of the Picts, and their warriors, who stripped themselves for a day of battle, were distinguished, in the eyes of the Romans, by the strange fashion of painting their naked bodies with gaudy colours and fantastic figures... The highlanders were condemned to the occupations of shepherds and hunters; and as they seldom were fixed to any permanent habitation, they acquired the expressive name of Scots, which, in the Celtic tongue, is said to be equivalent to that of wanderers, or vagrants... It is probable that in some remote period of antiquity the fertile plains of Ulster received a colony of hungry Scots; and that the strangers of the North, who had dared to encounter the arms of the legions, spread their conquests over the savage and unwarlike natives of a solitary island. It is certain that, in the declining age of the Roman empire, Caledonia, Ireland, and the Isle of Man were inhabited by the Scots, and that the kindred tribes, who were often associated in military enterprise, were deeply affected by the various accidents of their mutual fortunes. They long cherished the lively tradition of their common name and origin: and the missionaries of the Isle of Saints, who diffused the light of Christianity over North Britain, established the vain opinion that their Irish countrymen were the natural, as well as spiritual, fathers of the Scottish race. The loose and obscure tradition has been preserved by the venerable Bede, who scattered some rays of light over the darkness of the eighth century. On this slight foundation a huge superstructure of fable was gradually reared by the bards and the monks; two orders of men who equally abused the privilege of fiction. The Scottish nation, with mistaken pride, adopted their Irish genealogy ..."

However, in a footnote, Gibbon admits that:

"The Irish descent of the Scots has been revived, in the last moments of its decay, and strenuously supported, by the Rev. Mr. Whitaker."

It was actually the theory that the Scots (Scoti) originated in Ireland which prevailed - it is thought that the name may mean something along the lines of 'raiders' or 'pirates'. In any event, people who would have been recognised as Scots may have been living in Argyll as early as c.300.

Translations:
Claudian by S. Ireland
Bede 'Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum' probably by L.C. Jane