Strongholds of the Picts The fortifications of Dark Age Scotland

by Konstam, Angus; Dennis, Peter

• ISBN13: 9781846036866
• ISBN10: 1846036860
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-02-16
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing

Summary

When the Romans withdrew from Britain, the north of the country was ruled by the most mysterious of the ancient British races, the Picts. Much of what is known about these "painted" warriors, comes from the remains of the fortifications that they left scattered around Scotland. Although the Picts are famous as sea raiders, they were also subjected to attacks from a number of opponents. To their south, the Romano-British reoccupied the abandoned Roman fortifications and hired Saxon mercenaries to strike against the Picts. Meanwhile, from the west a new group, the Scoti, attacked from Ireland. This book covers the fortification of the ancient Picts in all their conflicts and discusses the importance of these sites as religious centres and seats of power, while using the latest archeological evidence to help unravel the mystery of this ancient race.

Author Biography

Angus Konstam hails from the Orkney Islands, and is the author of over 50 books, 30 of which are published by Osprey. This acclaimed and-+widely published author-+has written several books on piracy, including The History of Pirates. His most recent work is a full-length piratical biography: Blackbeard: America's Most-+Notorious Pirate.-+-+A former naval officer and museum professional, he worked as the Curator of Weapons at the Tower of London and as the Chief Curator of the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West, Florida. He now works-+as a full-time author and historian, and lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. The author lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 4
The Picts
The Scots of Dal Riata
The post-Roman Britons of southern Scotland
Chronology	p. 9
The Early Historic Forts of Scotland	p. 10
Fortified homesteads: brochs and ring forts
Reoccupied hill forts
Promontory forts
Citadel forts and nuclear forts
Dundurn and Dunadd: A Tour of Two Great Strongholds	p. 28
Dundurn
Dunadd
The Principles of Defence	p. 41
The Living Sites	p. 45
Strongholds in the political landscape
Strongholds as royal bastions
The Sites in War	p. 50
Aftermath	p. 56
The Sites Today	p. 57
Forts
Museums
Further Reading	p. 62
Glossary	p. 63
Index	p. 64
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