SSNS Seminar – Dr Nicholas Evans – ‘Scandinavian Raiding, Conquest and Settlement in the Kingdoms of the Picts and Alba’

The SSNS Seminar Series continues on 24 August with a talk by Dr Nicholas Evans (University of Aberdeen), titled ‘Scandinavian Raiding, Conquest and Settlement in the Kingdoms of the Picts and Alba’.

This is a free, ticketed event; please register below.

Abstract:

Scandinavian settlement in Scotland predominately took place on territory inhabited by Picts and Gaels and controlled by the Pictish overkingdom. The end result was a transformation of language and culture, yet many facets of the processes involved are uncertain, especially the date and nature of transitions. Moreover, the responses of local inhabitants, regional leaders, and of the kings of the Pictish kingdom are rarely considered, since Scandinavian conquest and settlement are usually perceived as single, irreversible events. This paper will discuss the textual evidence for regarding the transition to a Scandinavian society in parts of Scotland as a longer process, with key stages of transition potentially dated to the post-Pictish era, long after Scandinavians first raided in the region. It will also explore the nature of Pictish political interactions with the Norsemen, to try to discern what might have happened when Scandinavians became active in the region and the Pictish leaders had to respond.

Bio:

Dr Nicholas Evans is a Research Fellow in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Aberdeen. Currently a historical and place-names researcher for the ‘Comparative Kingship: the Early Medieval Kingdoms of Northern Britain and Ireland’ and ‘The Southern Picts: Power and Place in Tayside and Fife c.500-1100 AD’ projects, he specialises in the history and textual sources of Celtic-speaking peoples in the first millennium A.D. He has published a number of articles and books, including The Present and the Past in Medieval Irish Chronicles (2010), The King in the North. The Pictish Realms of Fortriu and Ce (edited with Gordon Noble) (2019), and (also with Gordon Noble) Picts: Scourge of Rome, Rulers of the North (2022).

Registration below. Details for the Zoom meeting will be emailed in advance of the seminar.