Cruthin

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The Cruthin (Template:IPA) or Cruithne (Template:IPA) were a people of early medieval Ireland. Their heartland was in Ulster and included parts of the present-day counties of Antrim, Down and Londonderry. Although the evidence is that they were Gaels, their name is believed to be the Irish equivalent of *Pritanī, the reconstructed native name of the Celtic Britons, and Cruthin was sometimes used to refer to the Picts, but their relationship to these peoples is unclear.<ref name="EMI"/>

The Cruthin comprised several túatha (tribal territories), which included the Dál nAraidi of County Antrim and the Uí Echach Cobo of County Down. These were part of the kingdom of Ulaid (Ulster). Early sources distinguish between the Cruthin and the Ulaid folk, although the Dál nAraidi later claimed in their genealogies to be Template:Lang, "the true Ulaid".<ref name="400-800">Ó Cróinín 2005, pp. 182-234.</ref> The 17th century Leabhar na nGenealach claims that the Conaille, the Loígis and the Sogain are also of Cruthin descent.<ref>Byrne 2001, pp. 39, 236.</ref>

By 773 AD, the annals had stopped using the term Cruthin in favour of the term Dál nAraidi,<ref name="EMI"/> who had secured their over-kingship of the Cruthin.

For political reasons, some modern Ulster Scots unionists claim descent from the Cruthin and argue they were the original British inhabitants of Ulster. This has been rejected by historians and archaeologists (see #Modern politics and culture).

Name

In medieval Irish writings, the plural form of the name is variously spelt Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang or Template:Lang (modern Irish: Template:Lang<ref name="Dinneen">Template:Cite book</ref>). The singular form is Template:Lang<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (modern Irish: Template:Lang<ref name="Dinneen"/>). The adjectival form is Template:Lang<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (modern Irish: Template:Lang<ref name="Dinneen"/><ref name="Ó Dónaill">Template:Cite book</ref>), which is also used as a noun.<ref name="Dinneen"/><ref name="Ó Dónaill"/> It is thought to relate to the Irish word Template:Lang, meaning "form, figure, shape". The name is believed to derive from *Qritani, a reconstructed Goidelic/Q-Celtic version of the Brittonic/P-Celtic *Pritani.<ref name="Chadwick">Template:Cite book</ref> Ancient Greek geographer Pytheas called the Celtic Britons the Pretanoí, which became Britanni in Latin.<ref name="Koch Britons">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Daibhi">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Chadwick"/>

It is suggested that Template:Lang was not what the people called themselves, but was what their neighbours called them.<ref name=woolf>Template:Cite web</ref>

The name Template:Lang survives in the placenames Duncrun (Template:Lang, "fort of the Cruthin") and Drumcroon (Template:Lang, "ridge of the Cruthin") in County Londonderry,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Ballycrune (Template:Lang, "pass of the Cruthin")<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Crown Mound (Template:Lang, "ford of the Cruthin") in County Down.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> These placenames are believed to mark the edges of Cruthin territory.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In the Irish annals

At the start of the historical period in Ireland in the 6th century, the kingdom of Ulaid largely lay to the east of the River Bann in north-eastern Ireland.<ref name="ANHOI212"/> The Cruthin also held territory west of the Bann in County Londonderry, and their emergence may have concealed the dominance of earlier tribal groupings.<ref name="ANHOI212"/>

A Cruthin king of Ulster, Áed Dub mac Suibni, is said to have killed the High King, Diarmait mac Cerbaill, in 565. Another Cruthin king, Dubsloit Ua Tréna, is said to have killed Diarmait's son Colmán Mór.<ref>Byrne 2001, pp. 94-95.</ref>

In 563, according to the Annals of Ulster, an apparent internal struggle amongst the Cruthin resulted in a Cruthin chief Báetán mac Cinn making a deal with the rival Northern Uí Néill, promising them the territories of Ard Eólairg (Magilligan peninsula) and Fir Lí (Coleraine barony).<ref name="ANHOI212"/> As a result, the Battle of Móin Daire Lothair (Moneymore) was fought between them and an alliance of Cruthin kings, in which the Cruthin suffered a devastating defeat.<ref name="ANHOI212"/> Afterwards the Northern Uí Néill settled their Airgíalla allies in the Cruthin territory of Eilne, which lay between the River Bann and the River Bush.<ref name="ANHOI212"/> The defeated Cruthin alliance meanwhile consolidated itself within the Dál nAraidi dynasty.<ref name="ANHOI212"/>

Their most powerful historical king was Fíachnae mac Báetáin, King of Ulster and effective High King of Ireland in the early 7th century.

Under their king, Congal Cláen, the Cruthin were routed by the Uí Néill at Dún Ceithirn (Sconce Hill, near Articlave)<ref>Smyth 1989, p. 101</ref> in 629, although Congal survived. The same year, the Cruthin king Mael Caích defeated Connad Cerr of the Dál Riata at the Battle of Fid Eoin.<ref name="400-800" />

The decisive Battle of Mag Rath was fought in 637. An alliance between Congal Cláen and Domnall Brecc of the Dál Riata was defeated, and Congal was killed, by Domnall mac Aedo of the Northern Uí Néill. This established the supremacy of the Uí Neill in the north.<ref name="400-800" />

The Annals record a battle between the Cruthin and the Ulaid at Belfast in 668.<ref name="400-800" />

In 681 another Dál nAraide king, Dúngal Eilni, and his allies were killed by the Uí Néill in what the annals call "the burning of the kings at Dún Ceithirn".<ref name="400-800" />

By the 8th century, the ethnic term "Cruthin" was giving way to the dynastic name of the Dál nAraide. The last use of the term is in 773, when the death of Flathruae mac Fiachrach, "rex Cruithne", is noted.<ref name="400-800" /> By the twelfth century it had fallen into disuse as an ethnonym, and was remembered only as an alternative name for the Dál nAraide.<ref>O'Rahilly 1946, p. 345</ref>

Possible relationship to other groups

Early Irish writers used the name Template:Lang to refer to both the north-eastern Irish group and to the Picts of Scotland.<ref name="Daibhi"/> Likewise, the Scottish Gaelic word for a Pict is Template:Lang or Template:Lang, and Pictland is Template:Lang.<ref>Pict and related words at In Dúin Bélrai</ref> The Pictish Chronicle names the first king of the Picts as the eponymous "Cruidne filius Cinge".<ref>Skene 1867, p. 5</ref> It has thus been suggested that the Cruthin and Picts were the same people or were in some way linked.<ref name="400-800" />

Other scholars disagree. Historian Francis John Byrne notes that although in Irish both groups were called by the same name, in Latin they had different names, with Template:Lang being reserved for the Picts.<ref name="Byrne 2001, p. 8, 108">Byrne 2001, p. 8, 108.</ref> Professor Dáibhí Ó Cróinín says the "notion that the Cruthin were 'Irish Picts' and were closely connected with the Picts of Scotland is quite mistaken",<ref name="EMI">Template:Cite book</ref> while Professor Kenneth H. Jackson wrote that the Cruthin "were not Picts, had no connection with the Picts, linguistic or otherwise, and are never called Template:Lang by Irish writers".<ref>Jackson 1956, pp. 122-166</ref> There is no archaeological evidence of a Pictish link and in archaeology the Cruthin are indistinguishable from their neighbours in Ireland.<ref name="LHS">Warner 1991</ref> The records show that the Cruthin bore Irish Gaelic names, spoke Irish and followed the Irish Template:Lang system of inheritance.<ref name="Byrne 2001, p. 8, 108"/>

Historian Alex Woolf suggested that the Dál Riata were a part of the Cruthin and that they were descended from the Epidii. Dál Riata was a Gaelic kingdom that included parts of western Scotland and northeastern Ireland. The Irish part of the kingdom was surrounded by Cruthin territory.<ref name=woolf/>

The 17th century Leabhar na nGenealach claims that the historical Conaille of County Louth, the Loígis of County Laois, and the Sogain of Connacht, are also of Cruthin descent.<ref>Byrne 2001, pp. 39, 236.</ref>

Modern politics and culture

In the 1970s, Unionist politician Ian Adamson proposed that the Cruthin were a British people who spoke a non-Celtic language and were the original inhabitants of Ulster and Scotland. He argues that they fought against the Irish Gaels for centuries, who invaded Ulster from the south, and sees the story of the Táin Bó Cúailnge as representing this. Adamson believes that most of the Cruthin were driven to Scotland after their defeat in the Battle of Moira (637), only for their descendants to return 1,000 years later in the Plantation of Ulster. Adamson thus suggests that the Gaelic Irish are not really native to Ulster and that the Ulster Scots have merely returned to their ancient lands.<ref name="NicCraith">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Gallaher">Template:Cite book</ref> His theory has been adopted by some Ulster loyalists and Ulster Scots activists to counter Irish nationalism and Irish Gaelic culture.<ref name="NicCraith"/> It was promoted by elements in the Ulster Defence Association (UDA).<ref name="Smithey">Template:Cite book</ref> They saw this new 'origin myth' as a way to justify their territorial claim to Ulster and the partition of Ireland.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Prof. Stephen Howe of the University of Bristol argues it was designed to provide ancient underpinnings for a militantly separate Ulster identity.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Historian Peter Berresford Ellis likens it to Zionism.<ref name="Gallaher"/>

Historians, archaeologists and anthropologists have widely rejected Adamson's theory.<ref name="Gallaher"/><ref name="Smithey"/> There is no evidence of a "Gaelic invasion", and from the historical evidence "it seems that the language and social structure of the Cruthin was identical with that of the rest of the Irish".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Archaeologists such as J. P. Mallory and T. E. McNeil note that the Cruthin are "archaeologically invisible" and "there is not a single object or site that an archaeologist can declare to be distinctly Cruthin".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Much of Adamson's theories are based on the historical model put forward by Irish linguist T. F. O'Rahilly in 1946. O'Rahilly argued that "the Cruthin or Priteni are the earliest inhabitants of these islands to whom a name can be assigned", and that the Gaels did not arrive until much later.<ref>O'Rahilly 1946, pp. 15-16 341-342</ref> Where Adamson differs is his claim that the Cruthin were not Celtic, but pre-Celtic. However, this model has also since been rejected by archaeologists and other experts.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> There is no evidence of large migrations to Ireland after the Bronze Age, either archaeologically or genetically.<ref name="Mallory 2023">Template:Cite book</ref> The intrusive (non-native) artifacts in Iron Age Ireland are La Tènian and Romano-British, and came from regions which were not Gaelic.<ref name="Koch 1991">Template:Cite journal</ref> Adamson's and O'Rahilly's theories are refuted by the 2017 publication of the "Irish DNA Atlas",<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> which sets out in great detail the genealogical history and modern day makeup of the British Isles.

The asteroid 3753 Cruithne was named after the group.<ref>Cruithne: Asteroid 3753 Template:Webarchive. Western Washington University Planetarium. Retrieved January 27, 2011.</ref>

Robert E. Howard's pulp hero Bran Mak Morn was characterised as "chief of the Cruithni Picts".<ref>Howard, Robert E. (2005-05-31). Bran Mak Morn: The Last King (Kindle Locations 3037-3039). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.</ref>

References

Template:Reflist

Sources

Template:Gaels Template:Dál nAraidi

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