
On this day, 13 February 858, Cináed mac Ailpín (Kenneth MacAlpin), died. He was my 36th great-grandfather through one line and a multi-times (still trying to unravel this one) great-grandfather through another.
Cináed mac Ailpín was born in 810 in Iona, Scotland. The son of Ailpín, he is regarded by many as the founder of medieval Scotland.
By 843, at roughly the same time that the people of Wales were separated from the invading Saxons by Offa’s Dyke, Cináed mac Ailpín was creating the Kingdom of Alba (Scotia) by unifying the warring societies of the Anglos, Britons, Picts, and Scots.
His success was due in part to the continued threat of Viking raids. In 872, Harald Fairhair seized control of Norway, causing many of the jarls to seek out new lands. Norse settlements grew in Caithness, the Isle of Man, Orkney, Ross, Shetland, Sutherland, and the Western Isles.