1. Kenneth MacAlpin fought the Britons of the Kingdom of Strathclyde and the invading Vikings from Scandinavia.
13 Facts About Kenneth MacAlpin
1. 2.
Forteviot became the capital of his kingdom and Kenneth MacAlpin relocated relics, including the Stone of Scone from an abandoned abbey on Iona, to his new domain.
3.
Kenneth MacAlpin I is traditionally considered the founder of Scotland, which was then known as Alba in Gaelic, although like his immediate successors, he bore the title of King of the Picts.
4.
Kenneth MacAlpin's grandmother, is said to have been a Pictish princess, the sister of Constantine I and Oengus II.
5.
Kenneth MacAlpin I had at least one brother, Donald I, who succeeded him as king.
6.
Kenneth MacAlpin is believed to have been born around 810 on the island of Iona, which is part of modern-day Scotland.
7.
Kenneth MacAlpin's realm lay between the powerful Kingdom of Strathclyde in the south and the Druim Alban mountain ridge in the east.
8.
Kenneth MacAlpin's grandmother, was said to have been a Pictish princess, the sister of Constantine I and Oengus II.
9.
Kenneth MacAlpin is retroactively listed in the royal lists dating to later periods as the first King of Scotland; modern historians argue the final unification of the kingdom took place half a century later and that Kenneth MacAlpin's main political achievement should be considered the creation of a new dynasty.
10.
Kenneth MacAlpin moved relics from an abandoned abbey on Iona, where Viking raids made life untenable, to Dunkeld, which was the centre of the Church of Scotland, in 848 or 849, according to the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba.
11.
Kenneth MacAlpin invaded Lothian in the Kingdom of Northumbria six times, and captured the towns of Melrose and Dunbar, and razed them.
12.
Kenneth MacAlpin strengthened his power by arranging royal marriages with neighbouring states, marrying his daughters to the kings of Strathclyde and Ireland.
13.
Succession in the kingdom was carried out in the form of tanistry so Kenneth MacAlpin's successor was his brother Donald I rather than his eldest son.