A Brief History & Evolution of Sìol Alpin
The history of the Royal Alpin is ancient, and claims the distinction of being the most ancient and the most purely Celtic of the Highland peoples. MacAlpine reached its peak of power and influence at a time when no written record was kept, leaving only the vague history of tradition.
Much of what has been written is in error due to misunderstand, mistranslation, misinformation, and even misdirection in the rewriting of history. Also, clan traditions may be founded on either false conclusions or through long-time embellishments or diminishments according to desired outcomes. In any event, such is human nature.
Cinaed mac Ailpin (Kenneth MacAlpin) became the first King of Scotland in AD 843 when he united the Scots and the Picts. He was the son of Alpin, King of Scots and Picts, and the descendant of a long line of Dalriadic kings. His direct male descendants ruled Scotland for the next 200 years and every Sovereign of Scotland since. Even Queen Elizabeth II, although of the line of the Hanovarians, through her mother has the royal blood of ancient Scots kings coursing through her veins.
As king, Scottish monarchs were know as Righ Art - High King and Chief of Chiefs. From Alpin and Kenneth MacAlpine, several powerful branches emerged, eventually becoming formidable clans in their own right. This group or family of related clans is known as Sìol Alpin.
The history of Clan MacAlpine is shrouded in Scotland's distant past; it is debated by scholars and will likely never be clear. The written history of the Clan is currently a work in-progress.
It was that King Kenneth’s brother, Domnal (Donald), was the next chief, to be followed by the succeeding Scottish monarchs of the MacAlpin dynasty through Malcolm II (1034 AD.) The line might then have vested with a distant male cousin that history has left unrecorded. Did they continue to exist as a family of power for a period of time? If so, there was no trace left by 1300 AD.
Kenneth undoubtedly brought many of his family advisors and Clansmen with him when he moved his capital from Argyllshire, the traditional seat of the clan, to Scone in Perthshire, leaving behind others to look after the interests in Argyll. Perhaps thusly was ultimately created a Chiefship of Clan Alpin separate from the Kingship of Scotland. The clan seat in Argyll may have become an outpost on the old frontier of a new kingdom.
Potential successors to the throne were sent to Argyll as a Clan Chief, in order to sharpen their skills by managing the family interests there, before taking their successive turns as King. If so, it may have been that many were involved in the assassinations of sitting Kings, or the revenge thereof, as the history of MacAlpin descendants is littered with murder after murder, by one family member against another, in order to secure the throne. It may have been that several of these plots were launched from Argyll. After one such exchange, the Argyll Chief and his supporting clansmen were decimated in battle by a relative from Scone who sought to ensure that the Clan would be unable to pose a future threat but, also leaving it “broken.”
Disenfranchised potential successors were sent to Argyll by the sitting King to keep them at a safe distance, busy defending against Viking raiders with little support from the Palace in Scone, in an attempt to minimize threats from his competitors. The position of Chief of the Clan Alpine seat in Argyll may have come to be known as an undesirable assignment. As such, the powers in Scone had viewed the Clan’s holdings there merely as a source from which to repay local clan Chiefs for political favors. With the lands exhausted and the Chiefship unwanted, the MacAlpine clansmen and their families would have had no choice but to offer allegiance to other local clan Chiefs.
It might be that the Argyll Clan became broken as, at the urging of the MacAlpin king in Scone, powerful family branches separated from the original line to establish strategic strongholds throughout the new kingdom, each one, in turn, taking with it a share of clansmen. This may have been how the Sìol Alpin family of clans was formed. MacAlpine clansmen would have had to choose which faction to follow. As surnames were not in popular use in Scotland during ancient times, it is no surprise that it is the given names of the progenitors of the various Clan Alpine branches that have survived to the present; each distinguishing a branch among the Sìol Alpine Clans.
Whatever the actual use of the old clan seat, it seems clear that with the move of the capital to Scone, the stage was set for the ultimate breakdown of the clan in Argyll. As time went on, power shifted and the clan lost its members to other, sometimes related, more powerful clans in the region, ultimately becoming landless with no recognized chief. This condition has persisted
for the past five hundred years, or more.
The following is a collection of some of what now makes up the written history of Clan MacAlpine: Writings of experts and old Gaelic sayings. These are presented here to give an understanding of just how deeply these legends permeate Scottish history, remembering that most legends are based on fact. There is an old Gaelic saying: Cnuic is uillt is Ailpeinich, which in English is rendered, “Hills and Streams and MacAlpine” signifying the origin of the MacAlpines is as "old as the hills."
"This Royal Clan is the most ancient in the Highlands. Clan MacAlpine is Celtic
and that records indicate that, for 25 generations, the Kings of Scotland were of
MacAlpine lineage.... The ancient crest was a boar’s head, the war cry being
Cumbrich Bas Ailpein, or 'Remember the death of Alpin' and that the traditional
home of the MacAlpines was Dunstaffnage, near Oban, Argyll."
“The Scottish Tartans” by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney
Lord Lyon King of Arms
"Tradition claims MacAlpin or MacAlpine as the oldest and most purely Celtic
of the Highland Clans, of royal descent from the dynasty of Kenneth MacAlpin
who united the Picts and Scots into one kingdom from the year 850, and transferred
his capital to Perthshire from Dunadd in Dalriada (beside Loch Crinan.)”
From “Scots Kith & Kin”
"MacAlpine: One of the chief branches of the royal clan Alpin. Their seat is said
to have been at Dunstaffnage in Argyll though they are now landless and without
a recognized Chief. Siol Alpine is a name given to a group of clans that claim
descent from Kenneth MacAlpin. They are the ancient clans MacAulay, MacDuff,
MacFie, Gregor (MacGregor), MacKinnons, the MacNabs and the MacQuarries."
"Regarding the name MacAlpine, one of the earliest records of an early form of
the name appears when John MacAlpyne witnessed a charter by Malise, earl of
Stratherne, of the lands of Cultenacloche and others in Glenalmond, c. 1260.
Monaghe fitz Alpyn of the county of Perth rendered forced homage to Edward I
of England in 1296."
From "The Surnames of Scotland"
by George F. Black
~ Please also see Pictish Alpin for more pespectives on the History of Siol Alpin ~
