The events of 1000-1130 were crucial to the successful emergence of the medieval kingdom of the Scots. Yet this is one of the least researched periods of Scottish history. We probably now know more about the Picts than the post-1000 events that underpinned the spectacular expansion of the small kingdom which came to dominate north Britain by the 1130s.

This expansion included the defeat and absorption of other significant cultural and political groups to the north and south of the core kingdom, and was accompanied by the introduction of reformed monasticism. But perhaps the most momentous process amongst all these political and cultural changes was the move towards the domination of the kingship by just one segment of the royal kindred, the sons of King Mael Coluim mac Donnchada's second marriage to Queen Margaret. The story of how these sons managed to achieve political supremacy through machination, murder and mutilation runs like an unsavoury thread throughout this book.

The book also investigates the building blocks from which the kingdom was constructed and the various processes which eventually allowed the kings of the different peoples of north Britain to describe themselves as Rex scottorum. It is a hugely rewarding voyage of discovery for anyone interested in the formation of the kingdom of the Scots.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Tables
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Maps
• Introduction
• 1 The Rising Sun: Environment and Landscape, c.1000–c.1130
  • Assessing the environment and economy of north Britain
  • Landscape division and assessment
  • Redefining the davoch: the building blocks of Pictland and Alba?
• 2 Defining Alba and the Albanaig, Post-c.900
  • Historiography
  • Mormaer, Toísech, Cro, and Kelchyn: the structure of Albanian society
  • The Church
• 3 Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer? North Britain, c.1000 to c.1130
  • Defining eleventh-century Moray
  • Usurpers, rebels, and malcontents?
  • Alba and Moray: two kingdoms or one?
  • Moray, Fortriu, and Alba: two kingdoms or three?
  • Pannonians, pirates, and Pictish wives: the medieval origin legend of the people of Moray
  • King MacBethad mac Findláich: the view from Scotia
  • King Lulach mac Gilla Comgáin and his kin
  • Strathclyde/Cumbria
• 4 King Máel Coluim Mac Donnchada
  • Enemies, domestic and foreign
  • Durham, St Cuthbert, and the Church
• 5 Civil War within Clann Custantín Meic Cináeda, 1093–1097
  • The sons and grandsons of Ingibjorg
  • The wicked uncle? King Domnall bán mac Donnchada, November 1093–May 1094
  • King Donnchad mac Máel Coluim, May/June to November 1094
  • The return of the king(s): King Domnall bán mac Donnchada and Edmund, 1094–1097
• 6 The Beginnings of a New Order, 1097–1124?
  • King Edgar mac Máel Coluim, 1097–8 January 1107
  • King Alexander mac Máel Coluim, 1107–1124
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index
• Plates