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Chapter
Three The Valley of Kings
The story is told in the March, 1968 issue of
National Geographic, that in the sixth century an ancient kingdom
was founded in part of Scotland, which is now southern Argyle, by
an invasion of Irish, called Scots. Throughout history men of the
Irish shore crossed over into the northern land. One such wave,
about 500 AD, brought the Christian Scots from Scotia (as the
Romans called Ireland). They created their own Kingdom of
Dalraida. In 563 AD, the slaughter was slowed by the coming of
St. Colums out of Ireland. The other great Saints after him and
the Picts became Christian. As Norse attacks on the northern
islands weakened them, they turned more to their Scot Kin and
fellow Christians. In 843 AD, Kenneth MacAlpin, half Scott and
half Pict, merged the Celtic Moieties (special word) and became
the first king of Gaelic Alba (Scotland was not yet Scotland in
name). The name of the villages here echoed an earlier age
(Kilrunner, Kilmichael, Kilbride, Kil referring to a monk’s
cell of medieval times). When the author came to Kilmartin, he
stopped, its graveyard contained burial slabs of the 14th
to the 18th centuries. It was the site of the
coronation when Kenneth MacAlpin united both peoples, and became
King of Alba, now called Scotland. This place is called the
"Valley of Kings". This place, called Kilmartin, still
teaches the Gaelic language after many years of suppression. I
have searched the files, and no recorded names of
Kilmartin’s have been found. However, it is nice to know
that the name was known a long time ago and marks a place in the
evolving Gaelic nostalgic inclinations, living in the soft
afterglow of antiquity.
Chapter 4
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