Cultural contacts and ethnic origins in Viking Age Wales and northern Britain: the case of Albanus, Britain's first inhabitant and Scottish ancestor

Evans, Nicholas J.

Abstract

Albanus, an eponymous ancestor for the kingdom of Alba, provides an example of the extent to which the creation of an ethnic identity was accompanied by new ideas about origins, which replaced previous accounts. Through an analysis of the Historia Brittonum’s textual tradition and Welsh knowledge of early Roman history and medieval ethnic groups, this article establishes that Albanus was added to the Historia Brittonum in the late ninth or early tenth century as an ancestral figure for the new kingdom of Alba in northern Britain. This was potentially a result of shared political situations in Gwynedd, Alba (formerly Pictland) and Strathclyde in relation to Scandinavian power at this time, which encouraged contacts and the spread of Alba-based ideology to Gwynedd. The later development of this idea and its significance in Alba itself, Geoffrey of Monmouth's account and English claims to supremacy over Scotland are also traced.

Citation

Evans, N. J. (2015). Cultural contacts and ethnic origins in Viking Age Wales and northern Britain: the case of Albanus, Britain's first inhabitant and Scottish ancestor. Journal of Medieval History, 41(2), 131-154. https://doi.org/10.1080/03044181.2015.1030438

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 13, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Apr 7, 2015
• Publication Date: Apr 3, 2015
• Deposit Date: Apr 11, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 11, 2016
• Journal: Journal of medieval history
• Print ISSN: 0304-4181
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 41
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 131-154
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03044181.2015.1030438
• Keywords: Early medieval; Scotland; Wales; Origin-legends; Historiography; Identity; Ethnicity
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/435692
• Publisher URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03044181.2015.1030438
• Additional Information: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of medieval history on 07/04/2015, available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03044181.2015.1030438
• Contract Date: Apr 11, 2016