The Rise of the Mac Alpin Dynasty & The Norse Scots
Kenneth, referred to as 'a man who will feed ravens - Ferbasach' or the Slayer in Berchan's Prophecy, would seem to have had an eye on the Pictish throne and was prepared to draw on his new Norse kindred as well as his own Gaelic forces to take it. Nothing less than the annihilation of the royal house of Pictland would guarantee that. This also included the removal of Aed, presumably a rival in Dalriada.
Skjaldborg: Shield Wall
© Thormod Morrisson 2009
If Kenneth grew up in Dalriada then his relationship with the Norse would have been a constant one in alliance and war. His father Alpin ruled Pictland until ousted by rivals. Alpin is said to have had another son, Domnall, to a Norse wife. It is clear however that allying oneself with one Norse grouping obviously did not secure friendship with all, as Alpin was later to fall in battle in Galloway, possibly against the Norse there. Tradition has it that his head was impaled.
That Kenneth's take-over of Pictland was not an easy one is suggested by The Chronicle of the Canons of Huntingdon, which states that he fought the Picts 'seven times in one day'. It would seem that the Picts made a stout resistance throughout the conflict. A certain Wrad (Uurad) mac Bargoit and his son Brude appear to have taken power in Pictland for several years after the defeat of Eoganan, but whether this was over one part of Pictland or all is unclear. Nevertheless in Berchan's Prophecy it goes on to say that Kenneth came to rule in the east: 'after use of the strength of spears and of swords, after violent deaths, after violent slaughter.'
His chief supporters would have recieved key positions and lands in the newly conquered territories. His forces are likely to have been mixed. As well as Norse and Gael there is a strong probability of an Anglian element, given the frequent presence of Angles in Dunadd.
Those that assume ancient Scotland was dominated by war between Celt and German need to let go of this cliche, as the various elements were all too often made up of both. There is doubt as to whether the original Picts belonged to either grouping. Northumbrian royalty fleeing from the power of rivals often put themselves under the protection of Pictish and Gaelic rulers. Aldfrith son of Oswiu, King of Northumbria from 685 - 705 for example was related to the Cenel nEogain, a branch of the northern Ui Neill through his mother. His Gaelic name was Flann Fina mac Ossu. Oswiu himself had grown up among the Irish Gael. Aldfrith even composed texts of Gaelic wisdom in Irish Gaelic.
As Kenneth's father Alpin would have been at least half if not full Pict to have ruled in Fortriu, Kenneth's bloodline would have given him a claim on the Pictish throne and Pictish supporters among his followers.
Some early historians wrongly assumed that the entire Pictish nation was wiped out during this war, but the vast majority of the population in Pictland would still have been Pictish. Indeed it is possible that Wrad (Uurad) mac Bargoit and Brude may have made more than one attempt to wrest power from Kenneth. After he took the throne Kenneth was referred to as King of the Picts, as were a number of his successors. Kenneth was still referred to as such at the time of his death in 858. The Picts made up a significant element in the future Scottish nation, and the blood is still with us today. Gaelic and Norse tongues would eventually come to dominate however.
A major factor that must have made many Picts and Gaels close ranks was the realisation that they had to combine their forces against the Norse, Danes and those Gall Gael not in direct alliance with them.
There is an intriguing entry in the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba with regard to Kenneth's victory and rise to power, claiming rather piously that the Picts came to be ruled by him because they had spurned the Lord's mass and precept, which suggests that a significant proportion of the population may have been pagan.
The Pictish warrior elite was well armed. Archaeology has revealed broadswords not unlike Norse ones, domed helmets with nose (and sometimes cheek) guards, and the quilted linen war shirts that offered excellent protection against sword strokes, while allowing the wearer to be very mobile. Chain mail was also used. The common warriors were armed with spears and knives. A type of short hafted broad bladed axe was also unearthed during an archaeological dig. In addition bows and crossbows were used.
Pictish hunts, mounted or on foot, would have provided good preparation for war, involving tracking skills, stealth, accuracy with the bow against stationary and moving targets and strength of character to face bear and wild boar with a spear.
The Picts had strong cavalry as well as footsoldiers. Their horsemen are shown often enough on the famous carved stones. The animals depicted are also fine, graceful and clean-limbed, and it would appear that Kenneth had cavalry forces at his disposal for swift cross-border attacks. The early Irish annalist Duald MacFirbis claims that he was a man of many stables. His warband of shipmen and footsoldiers would have included a good proportion of Norse Gael.
Kenneth is said in the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba to have reigned prosperously for sixteen years, a remarkably long time for a king of that particular era. Yet his reign was not without further conflict. The Frankish chronicle Annales Bertiniani has the Norsemen taking the Inner Hebrides in 849. The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba goes on to say that the Britons burned Dunblane and the Danes 'wasted Pictland as far as Cluny and Dunkeld.' Donald A. Mackenzie suggests that the Danes might have been after the treasure that went with the relics of Colum Cille, transferred by Kenneth from Iona to Dunkeld, though they failed to secure it. According to Berchan's Prophecy, Kenneth then 'harassed the gaill'. In other words, he attacked the Danes.
In 851 the Annals of Ulster state that the Danes descended on the Dublin Norse and wreaked a significant slaughter among them. They then sailed against the Hebridean Norse. It is possible that the raid on Pictland was part of this assault.
The war was to continue the following year, with large war fleets of Irish Norse and Danes battling fiercely in Carlingford Lough. The Danes emerged as the victors after three days and nights of fighting and took over Dublin and the power of the Gall Gael in Ireland. They were however not to reign long.
In 853 the Annals of Ulster has this:
'Olaf, son of the king of the Norse, came to Ireland, and the northmen of Ireland submitted to him and tribute was paid to him by the Gael'.
This was Olaf the White, son of the Irish Norse warlord Ingjald Helgasson. Establishing himself as king of Dublin, he ruled over Norse and Dane alike, and as the annals state, a proportion of the Gael also. He is said to have married Aud the Deep Minded, daughter of Ketil Flat Neb, king of the Hebrides, as mentioned in Laxdæla saga.
Whether or not he effected an alliance with Kenneth, there are no further significant chronicle entries of raids on Pictland by Norse or Dane. However Kenneth does appear to have found it necessary to attack the Angles. The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba has this:
'And he invaded Saxonland six times; and he siezed Dunbar and burned Melrose.'
By taking Dunbar (Dynbaer in Anglian), Kenneth deprived the Northumbrians of a major stronghold that had for too long threatened the border of Pictland, as John Marsden points out. Kenneth's further aggression suggests a firm determination to stamp his authority. A later chronicle by Randolph Higden states that Kenneth subdued the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia from the Forth to the Tweed.
Kenneth's effectiveness as a warlord may have been equalled by his ability to forge alliances. One of his daughters, Mael Muire, married Aed Finnliath king of Ireland and another married Mael Mithigh, an Irish prince. Aed's son from Kenneth's daughter was Niall Glundubh, a future king of Ireland, while Mael Mithigh's son through this match was Conghalach, who also later rose to the throne. Another daughter of Kenneth married Rhun, prince of Strathclyde, thus forging an alliance with the Britons. According to the Chronicles of the Kings of Alba their son Eochaid ruled Pictland for eleven years, possibly under the initial guardianship of Giric mac Dungaill. Skene claims that another daughter married Olaf the White, but there is some dispute over this. He was married to Aud the Deep Minded, who survived him. But he may simply have taken two wives, especially if it gave him the advantage of an influential political alliance. There is also a claim that he had a split with Ketil Flat Neb and sent Aud back to him, together with their son Thorstein the Red.
Whatever the case, it would be difficult to imagine that an alliance with a major Norse power in Argyll or Ireland would not have been secured, considering Kenneth's ability to wage an aggressive war against the Angles undisturbed to any notable degree by anyone else.
Kenneth died at the palace of Forteviot in 858, having forged Pictland once again into a powerful kingdom. He founded a dynasty of such enduring impact that his successors have come to be known as the Mac Alpin kings and his line was to rule for two hundred years.
Kenneth was succeeded by his half Norse brother Domnall. When Domnall died in 862 Castantin (Constantine) son of Kenneth took the throne.
OLAF THE WHITE, IVAR THE BONELESS AND CASTANTIN KING OF PICTS
By 866 Aed Finnliath the High King had won major victories over the Norse in Ireland and made it difficult for them to operate there. Olaf the White still reigned in Dublin along with a Danish warlord known as Ivar inn beinlausi (the Boneless), Imar in the Gaelic chronicles. There has been much speculation as to why he got this nickname. Theories include having some sort of bone disease, though that being the case, it does not appear to have affected his vigour in war. Ivar may have been a berserk.
In 865 Ivar invaded England and occupied East Anglia, which lost no time in submitting. The locals gave Ivar food supplies and horses, which he used in his capture of York from the Northumbrians the following year. The Anglian warlords Osberht and Aelle raised an army and tried to take it back, but were beaten and killed. According to Icelandic sources, Ivar's father Ragnar Lodbrok had been captured by Aelle and thrown into a pit of venomous snakes. Ragnar is said to have declared: 'How the little pigs would grunt if they knew how the old boar suffers'. By little pigs he was referring to his sons Ivar, Halfdan, Ubbe, Bjorn Ironside, Hvitserk and Sigurd Snake-In-The-Eye.
To avenge the death of his father Ragnar at Northumbrian hands, Ivar had King Aelle tortured and killed. A victim of the blood eagle, Aelle had his back cut open, the ribs cut off the spine and the lungs pulled out. Northumbria was now controlled by Danes from Dublin.
In 869 Ivar is said to have had King Edmund of East Anglia tied to a tree and shot full of arrows, according to AElfric, because he would not become the vassal of a heathen. Ivar then took East Anglia.
If an alliance existed between Kenneth and Olaf, it was not to last into Castantin's reign. Olaf and his brother Audgisl (Auisle in Gaelic) led a force into Pictland in 866 and siezed hostages in Fortriu for ransom. They spent some time reiving and generally making a nuisance of themselves. Aed Finnliath burned their longphorts or shore fortresses in Ireland while they were gone.
In 867 Olaf and Audgisl are supposed to have fallen out over Olaf's wife, the daughter of Kenneth mac Alpin, according to Duald MacFirbis. When Audgisl offered Olaf a dowry for her, Olaf is said to have drawn his sword and struck Adgisl over the head with it, killing him.
By the year 870 Ivar had moved back north to join Olaf in an attack on Dumbarton, chief stronghold of the Strathclyde Britons. It fell after a siege of four months. Olaf and Ivar returned to Dublin the following year with a large fleet of plunder and many Britons, Picts and Angles as captives. One of the unsavoury sides of the Dublin vikings is that they ran a very lucrative trade in slaves. The port of Dublin was reckoned as the main trading centre of the Viking Age, exporting human captives, animal hides and other merchandise. Imports included French wines, Baltic amber and Byzantine silks.
Back in Pictland Castantin mac Kenneth appears to have taken advantage of Strathclyde's sudden weakness and in 872 had Ardgal king of the Britons killed. He had been at war with Ardgal and the Britons of green mantles for some time. This left Strathclyde open for Rhun, Ardgal's son and Castantin's brother-in-law, to take the throne.
In the same year Olaf returned to Pictland for the purpose of collecting more tribute, but must have been refused it, for according to the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba he fell in battle against Castantin. His ally Ivar died in 873 of old age.
Castantin was nicknamed An Finn-Shoichleach in Gaelic (the Wine-Plenty). Berchan's Prophecy describes him as cowherd of the cattle-fold of the Picts, which suggests a protector of the nation's wealth. He was tall and fair haired. He appears to have been an able king, taking on the Gall Gael in several battles. And it was in battle that he fell.
In 875 the Annals of Ulster report an invasion of Pictland by Norse Gael, followed by a great slaughter of the Picts. The invaders established a base from which to mount plundering raids through Fife, the richest part of the kingdom. In 877 Castantin rode against them with an army, but was beaten and beheaded at Fife Ness near Crail, though Skene claims it was Inverdovat.
Aed White Foot then took the throne, but unlike his father Kenneth, his reign was a short one. The Annals of Ulster has this:
'Aed mac Cinaeda (Kenneth), king of the Picts, was slain by his associates'. This was in 878, an extremely short rule. His young son Castantin escaped to Ireland, where he was raised by monks.
The warlord who killed Aed and who subsequently took over the kingdom was one Giric, nicknamed Mac Rath (Son of Fortune).
GIRIC MAC DUNGAILL
Giric seems to have come to power as the foster father and guardian of Eochaid, son of Rhun and grandson of Kenneth. In addition there are claims that Giric was the son of Domnall and therefore a nephew of Kenneth mac Alpin.
Berchan's Prophecy has this:
'...the Son of Fortune shall come -- he shall rule over Alba as one lord. The Britons will be low in his time -- high will be Alba of the melodious boats. Pleasant to my heart and my body is what my spirit tells me: the rule of the Son of Fortune in his land in the east will cast misery from Alba. Seventeen years (in fortresses of valour) in the sovereignty of Alba. He will have in bondage in his house Saxons, Norse and Britons'.
Clearly Giric is being honoured as an outstanding leader, ruling Pictland during the years of Eochaid's minority. The Irish annals refer to Pictland here as Alba (the mountainous).
The name Giric was to give rise to Gregor. The clan Mac Gregor are descended from him. There is a theory that Dungaill may be a scribal error for Domnall, the half Norse brother of Kenneth. The derivation of the name Dungaill would be Brown (Haired) Outlander, definitely suggesting Norse blood.
Berchan's Prophecy suggests that he may have taken hostages from Angles, Norse and Britons to ensure that they stayed on peaceful terms with him. This was a common practice, and usually involved high ranking individuals from each royal house.
According to the Poppleton MS, he subdued all Ireland and almost all of the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia. If most of Bernicia fell to him, then he was continuing a policy started by King Kenneth to secure the southern borders of Pictland against the Northumbrians. But by this time the target was probably the Dublin Danes, who clearly posed a threat.
In 885 there was a solar eclipse and both Giric and Eochaid were driven from the kingdom by the forces of Domnall Dasachtach and his cousin Castantin, back to avenge the death of his father, King Aed.
The chronicle says that Giric died in Dundurn and was buried in Iona, possibly in 889.
DOMNALL DASACHTACH AND THE DANES
Domnall mac Castantin is given the epithet Dasachtach (the Madman) by Berchan's Prophecy. This goes on to describe him as 'the rough one who will think relics and psalms are of little worth'.
The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba has this:
'Domnall son of Castantin held the kingdom for eleven years. The Northmen wasted Pictland during this time. In his reign a battle occurred between Danes and Scots at Innisibsolian where the Scots had victory. He was slain at Opidum Fother by the Gentiles (Danes)'.
In Early Irish Law Fergus Kelly includes a definition of the term dasachtach: 'The dasachtach is the person with manic symptoms who is liable to behave in a violent and destructive manner'.
Whether Domnall was indeed mentally deranged or just subject to the odd manic tantrum, he held the throne for eleven years (889 - 900), obviously in constant conflict with the Northmen. It is possible that the expulsion and death of Giric had made the Dublin Danes bold, and they must have given Domnall plenty of reason to throw a fit. He may have extended his power over areas occupied by the Britons.
At this time Harald Harfagr, King of Norway, attacked Shetland and Orkney with a fleet to punish the exiled Norse lords who had been raiding his coasts. He targeted the vikings of the Hebrides and Man, and also harried Pictland. If he attacked the latter, Domnall had his hands full.
Harald took over Shetland and Orkney and appointed Rognvald Jarl of Møre as ruler of the islands. Rognvald however handed their rule over to his brother Sigurd Eysteinsson, the Powerful.
As it says in the chronicle, Domnall's forces defeated the Danes at a place called Innisibsolian. He was later slain in battle at Opidum Fother (Dunnottar). The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba claims he was killed by Danes, but Berchan's Prophecy suggests his enemies at the end were Gael.
Castantin mac Aed then took the throne.
SIGURD THE POWERFUL, THORSTEIN THE RED & MAELBRIGTE TOOTH
Sigurd Eysteinsson, the new Jarl of Orkney, joined forces with Thorstein the Red, son of Olaf the White and Aud the Deep Minded. According to Orkneyinga saga, they invaded the mainland of the Picts and Scots and conquered Caithness, a large part of Argyll, Moray and Ross. Sigurd ordered a stronghold built in the south of of the province of Moray. Conflict must have continued, as a meeting was arranged at Oykel bank (Norse Ekkjasbakki) between Sigurd and Maelbrigte Tooth, the local mormaer, ostensibly to discuss a truce.
Each leader was to have forty men, but Sigurd was neither trusting nor trustworthy and arrived with eighty men on forty horses.
When Maelbrigte noticed this, he addressed his men and said that although Sigurd had made fools of them, each of them must try to kill at least one of the enemy before they died themselves.
Seeing the determined resolve of Maelbrigte and his men, Sigurd ordered half of his force to dismount and hit them on the flank while the rest were to scatter their ranks with a cavalry charge. The fight was ferocious, but the upshot was that Maelbrigte and his followers were slain.
Sigurd had the dead men's heads hung from the saddles of the horses and set off from the battlefield, pleased at the result. The jarl had the head of Maelbrigte Tooth. The reason Maelbrigte got his nickname was because he had a sharp tooth that poked out of his mouth. According to the saga, the tooth gave Sigurd a bad scratch on the leg as the severed head swung around with the horse's running motion. The wound became badly infected, aching and swelling, and Sigurd came to die of it. He was buried in a howe or mound near the River Oykel.
Guthorm, Sigurd's son also died without issue after a year ruling Orkney. Jarl Rognvald, Sigurd's brother, then sent his own son Hallad to rule, with the title of jarl bestowed by King Harald.
He proved pretty useless however, as vikings kept raiding the Orkneys and Caithness with scant opposition. When his subjects complained about it, he seemed to be at a loss as to what to do. He eventually got fed up and went back to Norway as a laughing-stock.
Meanwhile Thorstein the Red had set himself up as king of northern Pictland, but he died in battle a year later in Caithness, probably at the hands of the Picts. This was one of many conflicts between the Norse and the Pictish Gaelic house of Caithness, as jarl and mormaer battled over their right to rule this province just over the sea from Orkney. Caithness (Norse Katanes) was said to be named after Cat, a son of Cruithne, the legendary first King of the Picts. The seven provinces of Pictland were named after his seven sons. Caithness was also referred to as the Land of the Cats, possibly in reference to a tribe whose totem was the cat.
Barbara Crawford points out that one of the attractions of northern Pictland for the Orkney Norse was the forest timber that could be had for ship building in areas such as Moray. Orkney had no such resources.
Thorstein's mother Aud the Deep Minded married her daughter Groa to Donnchadh (or Duncan), mormaer of Caithness, presumably as part of a truce. She then took ship to Orkney, finally settling in Iceland with her Norse-Gaelic and Pictish household.
Donald A. Mackenzie suggests that the violent visit of King Harald to the Orkneys and Hebrides made a lot of the Gall Gael decide to emigrate to Iceland.
CASTANTIN MAC AED, RAGNALL, THE UI IMAR, AND AETHELSTAN
The new King of Pictland (or Alba as it was now being called) was Castantin (Constantine) mac Aed, known as An Midhaise (the Middle Aged). He was a grandson of Kenneth mac Alpin. Castantin reigned for a remarkable forty three years, much of which was notable for battles and then alliance with the Dublin Norse and war with the Saxons.
Castantin was a champion of the cult of Colum Cille (the famous saint Columba) and encouraged the spread of Gaelic culture through Pictland. As a result he took the title King of Alba, while the national term Scot (from the Irish tribal term Scotti) began to be used for both Gael and Pict.
Duald MacFirbis states that it was customary for the king's men to offer prayers to Colum Cille and to give to the poor. The staff of Colum Cille, the Cathbuaid, was carried as a battle standard before the armies, and Castantin appears to have credited the saint for providing him with frequent victories.
In 903 vikings pillaged Dunkeld, but in 904 the Dublin Norse were soundly beaten in Strathearn. This would appear to be Castantin's first triumph over the grandsons of Ivar the Boneless, known as the Ui Ímar in Gaelic, in which one of them, named Ivar after his grandfather, perished. As Duald Mac Firbis said, it was long after that before any vikings attacked Alba again.
In 879 Aed Finnliath, High King of Ireland had died. His stepson Flann Sinna then took the throne and led a mixed army of Irish Gael and Norsemen against Armagh.
In 887 Flann's forces were beaten by the Norse Irish, but unrest seems to have been rife in the camp of the Foreigners and there is the suggestion of a power struggle. The Annals of Ulster state that 'Sigfrith, son of Ímar, king of the Norsemen, was deceitfully slain by his kinsman.'
In 897 Amlaíb (or Olaf) son of Ivar was also killed after having fallen out with another Sigfrith, each having led opposing factions amid 'great dissension' since 892. Weakened by internal strife, 'the heathen were expelled from Ireland' by the men of Leinster under Cerball, Flann's son-in-law and the men of Brega under Máel Finnia son of Flannacán.
Driven out of Dublin and Ireland in this way, the Norse Gael came to focus their attention on the Kingdom of Alba in the early reign of Castantin mac Aed. That he was vigorous and ambitious appears to be without doubt. When Dyfnwal King of Strathclyde died, Castantin's brother Domnall was elected in his place. Again the house of Alpin was exerting its power in Strathclyde. A desire to do so would appear to originate from the time of Áedán mac Gabráin, King of Dalriada in the late 500's. The Welsh Bonedd Gwyr y Gogledd traces Aedan's descent from a daughter of Dyfnwal Hen, King of Alt Clut or Dumbarton, the capital of Strathclyde. Aedan fought Rhydderch Hael, a later king of the Britons, and plundered Alt Clut. This rivalry may well have stemmed from a claim on the throne of Strathclyde through Welsh royal descent bestowed upon Aedan through his mother.
In 910 the West Saxons under Edward the Elder broke the power of the Northumbrian Danes, leaving York up for grabs.
The Ui Ímar or Clan Ivar under Ragnall (or Rognvaldr Guðrøðarson) lost little time in moving in from Dublin to grab York along with his kinsmen Gofraidh and Sihtric Caich. They sent the Bernician ruler Ealdred fleeing for safety to King Castantin. Professor Smyth suggests that the King of Scots had become the overlord of the Bernicians, who now sought his aid.
A newly recovered Norse Gael flexing muscle from Dublin to York made both the Scots and the West Saxons nervous. In addition more Norse Irish had siezed territory in North Wales, advancing to Merseyside. Ragnall's forces harried the Northumbrian coasts, according to the Chronicle of the Diocese of Durham, and in 914 Ragnall won a battle in the Irish Sea against Barðr Ottarsson, a rival for power. This victory must have strengthened Ragnall's position significantly.
In 915 Castantin decided to take action, and with Ealdred's Bernicians as allies, met Ragnall in battle at Corbridge on the Tyne. The Ui Ímar defeated the Scots and Anglian forces and added insult to injury, according to the Durham Chronicle, by raiding the land north of the River Tees for the next two years. The Norse Gael from Dublin were thumbing their noses at both Scots and English.
In 917 two of their jarls, Ottar and Hroald, after an expedition to Brittany, raided deep into England. According to The Anglo Saxon Chronicle, the jarls led a great army by ship into the mouth of the Severn and plundered Wales wherever they pleased. In Herefordshire they took the bishop of Archenfield captive and ransomed him back to King Edward for a significant sum. They then mounted a raid against Archenfield, but were met by the combined forces of Hereford and Gloucester and other strongholds and were routed. Hroald was killed, as well as Ottar's brother and a substantial part of the raiding army. Ottar was forced to retreat after giving hostages.
In 917 Ragnall and Sihtric were back in Ireland, strengthening their hold there by securing Dublin and Waterford. Ragnall returned to Northumbria the next year, raiding Dunblane in Scotland on the way. This was too much of a provocation for Castantin, who mustered his army, together with his Bernician allies and again met Ragnall in battle at Corbridge.
According to the Annals of Ulster:
'The foreigners of Loch dá Chaech, that is the foreigners of Ragnall, together with the jarls Oitir and Gragabai, left Ireland and went against the men of Scotland. The Scots met them on the bank of the Tyne in northern Saxonland (Northumbria). The heathens formed up in four battalions: a battalion with Gothfrith grandson of Ímar, a battalion with the two jarls, and a battalion with the young lords. There was also a battalion in ambush with Ragnall, which the men of Scotland did not see. The Scotsmen routed the three battalions which they saw, and made a very great slaughter of the heathens, including Oitir and Gragabai. Ragnall, however, then attacked in the rear of the Scotsmen, and made a slaughter of them, although none of their kings or earls was slain. Nightfall caused the battle to be broken off.'
With three of his four battalions defeated by the Scots and two of his most powerful allies, Jarl Ottar and Crowfoot, slain, this proved an extremely narrow escape for Ragnall. None of the Scots leaders were killed, and only the darkness of night brought the conflict to an undecided end, though it would appear to have been judged unsurprisingly as a victory for the Scots.
Ragnall proclaimed himself King of York in 919, but perhaps because of the damage sustained in this second battle with Castantin, seems to have been suddenly inclined to come to terms with his powerful neighbour to the north.