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Dalriada: The Land of the First Scots |
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© SCRAN |
One reason was the monastery at Iona. Iona, off the west coast of Mull, was the spiritual centre of the Celtic Church, which was dominant throughout the country, and was the pre-eminent seat of learning in the British Isles at that time. Columba's successors at Iona were the men who converted the Picts and Angles to Christianity. The fact that the conversion of the other Celtic nations was led by the Gaelic monks of Dalriada undoubtedly spread more than just Christianity across the country. Gaelic cultural influence must also have travelled with the monks.
However, it was the actions of another group of seaborne raiders that was to prove the paramount factor in bringing Scot and Pict together. 
© SCRAN |
By the turn of the Ninth Century, Viking raids had forced the Celtic Church to centre itself in Dunkeld. The Viking raids also cut sea communication between Dalriada and Ireland, forcing the Scots to focus entirely on their Scottish territories (the primary Dalriadan relic, the Stone of Destiny, was smuggled over from Ireland just prior to this, later to become one of the most prominent symbols of Scottish identity).
The Vikings killed the Pictish King Eoganan in battle in 839, thus throwing the country into turmoil. Eoganan had served not only as King of Picts, but also as King of Dalriada, since the Picts had acted as overlords to the Scots since the smiting of 741. However, this was not a union as such, but merely one tribe ruling another.
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