The North Britons are the least-known among the inhabitants of early
medieval Scotland. Like the Picts and Vikings they played an important
role in the shaping of Scottish history during the first millennium AD
but their part is often neglected or ignored. This book aims to redress
the balance by tracing the history of this native Celtic people through
the troubled centuries from the departure of the Romans to the arrival
of the Normans. The fortunes of Strathclyde, the last-surviving kingdom
of the North Britons, are studied from its emergence at Dumbarton in the
fifth century to its eventual demise in the eleventh. Other kingdoms,
such as the Edinburgh-based realm of Gododdin and the mysterious Rheged,
are examined alongside fragments of heroic poetry celebrating the valour
of their warriors. Behind the recurrent themes of warfare and political
rivalry runs a parallel thread dealing with the growth of Christianity
and the influence of the Church in the affairs of kings. Important
ecclesiastical figures such as Ninian of Whithorn and Kentigern of
Glasgow are discussed, partly in the hope of unearthing their true
identities among a tangled web of sources. The closing chapters of the
book look at how and why the North Britons lost their distinct identity
to join their old enemies the Picts as one of Scotland's vanished
nations.
