The House of MacAlpin
Dark Age Scotland
Dark age Scotland was occupied by a number of races. The Picts, the aboriginal inhabitants of the country, occupied the north-east of Scotland, they were a short race of Celtic stock and were reported to have arrived in Britain from Europe during the Celtic migrations in the first millennium B.C. The Scots, who were Gaelic Celts, arrived later, they crossed the sea from Northern Ireland in the third and fourth centuries A.D. taking over the area of the West Highlands, which they termed Dalraida.
The Britons of Strathclyde, another Celtic race, known as Brythonic Celts, controlled the south-west from the Clyde to the Solway and into Cumbria. To this melting pot was added the Vikings, of Norway and Denmark, originally raiders who became settlers, who largely occupied the islands of Shetland and Orkney and lastly the Angles, who came north across the border from England to inhabit the Scottish lowlands.
The MacAlpin dynasty, which ruled Scotland throughout the Dark Ages, united the warring races of Picts and Scots as one nation. Early Scottish Kings were appointed by the Celtic system of tanistry, a tanist or tanaise (literally the expected one) the successor to the King, was not neccesarily his eldest son, but was designated from among a group of his kindred, chosen during the life of the reigning King. This pattern of succession can be previously discerned amongst the ancient Kings of Dalraida. The House of MacAlpin continued to occupy the Scottish throne for the next two hundred years, which was marked by bitter dynastic conflict over tanist successors between rival branches of the dynasty.
| Monarch | Birth and Reign | Married | |
| Kenneth MacAlpin |  |
b. around 810 son of Alpin mac Echdach r. 843-858 |
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| Donald I | c. 812 son of-Kenneth MacAlpin |
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| Constantine I | son of- son of Kenneth MacAlpin, r. 862-877 |
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| Aodh | b. before 858 son of- Kenneth MacAlpin, r. 877-878 |
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| Giric | b. c 832 possible son of - Dúngal r. 878-889 |
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| Donald II | b. 1284 son of- Constantín I r. 899-900 |
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| Constantine II | b. before 879 son of- Áodh, King of the Picts r. 900-943 |
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| Malcolm I | son of- Donald II r. 943-954 |
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| Indulf | son of Constantine II r. 954-962 |
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| Dubh | son of- Malcolm I r. 962-967 |
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| Colin | son of- Indulf r 967-971 |
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| Kenneth II | son of Malcolm I, r. 971-995 |
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| Constantine III | son of- Colin r. 995-997 |
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| Kenneth III | b. before 967 son of- Dubh r. 997-1005 |
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| Malcolm II | son of Kenneth II, r. 1005-1034 |
Additional Information on the era
| The Picts | The Scots | Dunadd Hillfort | The Stone of Destiny |
| Iona Abbey | Monymusk Reliquary | Battle of Carham |