medieval-atlas/events-to-about-850/52

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Pictish territorial divisions The most authentic version ofthe list ofPictish kings begins with the names ofthe seven sons ofCruithne (the Irish for Piel). Three afthe sons appear as names ofdistricts in entries relating to events of the seventh and eighth centuries in contemporary Lrish annals: so it is reasonable to assume that all seven are eponyms referring 10 names of regions in the Pictish part of north Britain. In the manuscript containing the king list. there is also a tract known as D~Situ Albanie _ a collection of topographical surveys of Scotland written in the twelfth ceolUry. One survey refers to the ancient division ofthe land into seven regions by seven brothers. and adds that each region was divided into two parts ruled by a k.ing and a sub-king. Another survey defines the geographical boundaries of the seven regions not all of which are consistent with the pairs of districts attributed to the ancient sevenfold division. The administrative pairs may be reflected in Adomnoin of Iona's description. written about 700. of Columba's contemporary. the Pictish king Bridei as a rf!X who controlled Orkney through a local regulus. AdomnAn had Bridei ruling over a regio or provincia. whereas Bede. writing about 730. has his contemporary. the Pictish king Nechtan. ruling over a nUlio with provincial!. It is uncertain whether this change oftenninology implies a centralisation of power. Bede and late classical writer.. thought ofthe Picts as having once been divided into confederacies on either side of the Mounth. 1be single lineage represented by the king list. and the homogeneity of Pictish sculpture suggest that most of the time from the sixth to the ninth century the Picts enjoyed cultural unity and attempted to maintain political unity. References in AdomnAn's Ufe of Calumba make it clear that by the end ofthe seventh ~

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