Domnall mac Ailpín (Modern Gaelic: Dòmhnall mac Ailpein), ^[1] anglicised as Donald MacAlpin, and known in most modern regnal lists as Donald I (died 13 April, 862), was king of the Picts from 858 to 862. He followed his brother Kenneth MacAlpin (Cináed mac Ailpín) to the throne.

The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba says that Donald reigned for four years, matching the notices in the Annals of Ulster of his brother's death in February 858 and his own in April 862.^[2] The Chronicle notes:

The laws of Áed Find are entirely lost, but it has been assumed that, like the laws attributed to Giric and Constantine II (Causantín mac Áeda), these related to the church and in particular to granting the privileges and immunities common elsewhere.^[3] The significance of Forteviot as the site of this law-making, along with Kenneth's death there and Constantine's later gathering at nearby Scone, may point to this as being the heartland of the sons of Alpín's support.

The Chronicle of Melrose says of Donald, "in war he was a vigorous soldier ... he is said to have been assassinated at Scone."^[4] No other source reports Domnall's death by violence.

The Prophecy of Berchán may refer to Donald in stanzas 123–124:

Although Donald is generally been supposed to have been childless, it has been suggested that Giric was a son of Donald, reading his patronym as mac Domnaill rather than the commonly supposed mac Dúngail.^[5] This, however, is not widely accepted.^[6]

Donald died, either at the palace of Cinnbelachoir (location unknown), or at Rathinveralmond (also unknown, and may be the same place, presumed to be near the junction of the Almond and the Tay, near Scone).^[7] He was buried on Iona.

Notes

References

• Anderson, Alan Orr, Early Sources of Scottish History A.D 500–1286, volume 1. Reprinted with corrections. Paul Watkins, Stamford, 1990. ISBN 1-871615-03-8
• A.A.M. Duncan,The Kingship of the Scots 842–1292: Succession and Independence. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-7486-1626-8
• Smyth, Alfred P., Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland AD 80–1000. Edinburgh UP, Edinburgh, 1984. ISBN 0-7486-0100-7

External links

• Annals of Ulster, part 1, at CELT
• The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba

See also

• Kingdom of Alba
• Origins of the Kingdom of Alba

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