Constantine I

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Constantine I (d. 877), ‘king of the Picts’ (862–76), anachronistically regarded as third king of Scotland. Son of Kenneth I, he succeeded his uncle Donald I. Only for the second time in Pictish history had a family retained the kingship without a break beyond one generation. Constantine's ancestry in the male line was Gaelic, like most Pictish kings in the 9th cent. His career was chiefly consumed in a desperate struggle for survival against Scandinavian incursions. In 866 the Norwegian king of Dublin devastated Pictland (probably concentrating on Perthshire), and in 870–1 returned and took away many, including Picts, as slaves. In 875 Halfdan the Danish king of York inflicted a crushing defeat on Constantine at Dollar (9 miles east of Stirling), driving him back to the Highlands. Constantine was killed two years later by the Danes at ‘Inverdufata’ (unidentified). The only record of Constantine as an aggressor beyond his kingdom was as sponsor of the assassination of Arthgal, king of Strathclyde, in 872.

Dauvit Broun

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Constantine I

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