House of Alpin

The House of Alpin is a dynasty of Scottish kings that ruled Scotland from 843 to 1058. Its name derives from Alpin of Kyntire, king of Dalriada, the first ruler to unify Scotland, shortly before his death. His descendants would be Alpin kings of Scotland.

The history of the House of Alpin in punctuated by endemic civil war and unrest, as well as conflicts with the neighbouring Picts and England. Of the 19 kings of the House, only the first two died natural deaths in control of the kingdom. The rest were deposed and, the great majority killed, either in battles or assassinated during coups. A possible explanation for the violence observed in this period is the tanistry rule of succession. With this laws, the king was elected from the pool of nobles of the royal family, instead of the automathic inheritance of the eldest son. The system ultimately resulted in continuous conspiracy and intrigue for power. William Shakespeare's play Macbeth was loosely inspired in this period characterized by unrest, particularly in the rule of Macbeth I of Scotland.

The following dynasty of Scottish kings was the House of Dunkeld, which started with Malcolm III of Scotland, a son of Duncan I.

Kings of the House of Alpin

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DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:840 till:1060 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:840

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  shift:(25,-5) # shift text to right side of bar

 # there is no automatic collision detection,
  # so shift texts up or down manually to avoid overlap

 from:843  till:858  text:Kenneth I
  from:858  till:862  text:Donald I
  from:862  till:877  text:Constantine I
  from:877  till:878  text:Aedh
  from:878  till:889 shift:(25,10) text:Eochaid~&~Giric
  from:889  till:900  text:Donald II
  from:900  till:943  text:Constantine II
  from:943  till:954  text:Malcolm I
  from:954  till:962  text:Indulf
  from:962  till:966  text:Dubh
  from:966  till:971  text:Culen
  from:971  till:995  text:Kenneth II
  from:995  till:997  text:Constantine III
  from:997  till:1005 text:Kenneth III
  from:1005 till:1034 text:Malcolm II
  from:1034 till:1040 text:Duncan I
  from:1040 till:1057 text:Macbeth
  from:1057 till:1058 text:Lulach

</timeline>

See also: History of Scotland - Scottish monarchs family tree

House of Alpin

Kings of the House of Alpin

See also: House of Alpin, 1005, 1034, 1040, 1057, 1058, 843, 858, 862