Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

STRATHCLYDE

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 1000 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

STRATHCLYDE , the name given in the 9th and loth centuries to the See also:

British (Welsh) See also:kingdom, which from the 7th See also:century onwards was probably confined to the See also:basin of the See also:Clyde, together with the adjacent See also:coast districts, See also:Ayrshire, &c., on the See also:west of See also:Scotland. Its See also:capital was See also:Dumbarton (fortress of the Britons), then known as Alclyde. On the See also:south this kingdom bordered on the territories of the Niduari Picts of See also:Galloway, including the See also:modern counties of See also:Wigtown and See also:Kirkcudbright, a region which from the See also:middle of the 7th century seems to have been in the See also:possession of the Northumbrians. Strathclyde is also sometimes called Cumbria, or See also:Cumberland, and the survival of the latter name on the See also:English See also:side of the border preserves the memory of a See also:period when the territories of the See also:northern Welsh were of much greater extent, though it is perhaps not certain that the See also:race possessed See also:political unity at that See also:time. Of the origin of the kingdom of the See also:North Britons we have no See also:information, but there seems little See also:reason to doubt that they were the dominant See also:people in See also:southern Scotland before the See also:Roman invasion, After the withdrawal of the See also:Romans in the 5th century-the northern Britons seem to havetshown greater determination in maintaining their See also:independence than any' of the southern kingdoms and, according to Welsh tradition, Cunedda, the ancestor of the See also:kings of Gwynedd, had himself come from the north. In the Historic brittonum we read of several princes of the northern Britons. The See also:chief of these appear to have been Urien, who is said to have fought against, the Northumbrian See also:king See also:Theodoric, and Rhydderch See also:Hen who is mentioned also in See also:Adamnan's See also:Life of S. See also:Columba. Rhydderch Hen appears to have secured the supremacy amongst these Welsh princes after the See also:great See also:battle of Ardderyd fought about the See also:year 573, to which frequent reference is made in See also:early Welsh See also:poetry. His See also:death seems to have taken See also:place in 603. A See also:late authority states that he was succeeded by his son See also:Constantine, but the subsequent kings were descended from another See also:branch of the same See also:family.. . Such notices as we have of the See also:history of Strathclyde in the 7th and 8th centuries are preserved only in the See also:chronicles of the surrounding nations and even these See also:supply us with little more than an incomplete See also:record of See also:wars with the neighbouring Scots, Picts and Northumbrians.

It is probable that the Britons were allied with the Scots when See also:

Aidan, the king of the latter, invaded See also:Northumbria in A.D. 597. In 642, however, we find the two See also:Celtic peoples at See also:war with one another, for in that year the Britons under their king See also:Owen defeated and slew the Scottish king Domnall Breac. In the same year they came into conflict with the Northumbrian king See also:Oswio. In 649 there appears to have been a battle between the Britons and the Picts, but about this time the former must have become subject to the Northumbria4 kingdom. They recovered their independence, however, after the defeat of See also:Ecgfrith by the Picts in 685. In 711 and again See also:ill 717 we hear of further wars between the Britons and the Spots of See also:Dalriada, the former being defeated in both years. Towards the middle of the 8th century Strathclyde was again threatened by an See also:alliance between the Northumbrians and Picts, and in 750 the Northumbrian king Eadberht wrested from them a consider-able See also:part of their territories in the west including Kyle in See also:Ayr-See also:shire. In 756 the North Britons are said to have been forced into submission and from this time onwards we hear very little of their history, though occasional references to the deaths of their kings show that the kingdom still continued to exist. In 87o Dumbarton was attacked and destroyed after four months' See also:siege by the Scandinavian king See also:Ivarr, and for some time after this the See also:country was exposed to ravages by the Norsemen. It is believed that the native See also:dynasty came to an end early in the loth century and that the subsequent kings belonged to a branch of the Scottish royal family. At the end of the reign of See also:Edward the See also:Elder (925) the Britons of Strathclyde submitted to that king together with all the other princes of the north.

In the reign of his successor ./Ethelstan, however, they joined with the Scots and Norwegians in attempts to overthrow the English supremacy, attempts which were ended by their defeat at the battle of Brunanburh in 937. In 945-46 Strathclyde was ravaged by King See also:

Edmund and given over to the Scottish king See also:Malcolm I. The fall of the kingdom was only temporary, for we hear of a defeat of the Scottish king Cuilean by the Britons in 971. In the rrth century Strathclyde appears to have been finally incorporated in the Scottish kingdom, and the last time we hear of one of its kings is at the battle of Carham in 1018 when the British king Owen fought in alliance with Malcolm II. The following is a See also:list of kings whose names are mentioned in the chronicles: Rhydderch Hen d. 603 Constantine son of Rhydderch (?) Iudruis (?) d. 633 Owain (Eugein) d. 642 Gwraid (Gureit) d. 658 Dyfnwal (Domhnall), son of Owain d. 694 Beli, son of Elphin d. 722 Tewdwr (Teudubr), son of Beli d. 750 Dyfnwal (Dannagual), son of Tewdwr d.

76o Cynan, son of Ruadrach d. 816 Artgha d. 872 Run, son of Artgha d. before 878 (?) Dyfnwal (Donevaldus) . d. 908 Dyfnwal (Donevaldus), son of Ede (Aedh) Owain d. 934 Dyfnwal (Domhnall), son of l oghain (on See also:

pilgrimage) d. 975 Malcolm, son of Dyfnwal d. 997 Owain (See also:Eugenius) 1 o 18 See Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, edited by W. F. See also:Skene (See also:Edinburgh, 1867); W. F. Skene, Celtic Scotland (Edinburgh, 1876); and See also:Sir See also:John Rhys, Celtic See also:Britain (See also:London, 1904). (F.

G. M.

End of Article: STRATHCLYDE

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
STRATHAVEN (locally pronounced Strays) 		[next]
STRATHCONA AND MOUNT ROYAL, DONALD ALEXANDER SMITH,...

Site © 2006 - Net Industries