... ascertained the rule of Kenneth MacAlpine c.839, these people cannot be traced in any firm way. A popular origin myth is that the Scottish gens established in Argyll and later as overlords were part of a mass-migration from Ireland however there is no archeological evidence for this3. Many early historical texts make mention of this descent and it is only by the time of the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320 that this particular story is dropped as the origin myth of the Scottish kingdom 'proper'. And of this process Broun states that the "Scottish literati during the first war of independence to [re-write] the story of Scottish origin to make sure that a sense of the Scots as a distinct people, inhabitants of an independent kingdom, was properly articulated.4" The structure of Caledonian kingship was obviously based on authority as warlord rather than as administrator5. The structure of Irish kingship and especially ...

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