The
Scotti were an Irish tribe who became known to the Romans from the later 3rd century AD.
However, the celtic tribes of Scotland, together known as the 'Picti' (painted people) remained the dominant culture in what is today Scotland until the 9th century. The Irish Scots, under our great king Fergus, eventially settled permanantly and formed the Scottish kingdom of Dalriada, in what is now western Scotland, from the 6th century AD, and for several centuries, competed with the Picts for dominance.
It used to be thought that the Picts were somehow 'pre-celtic' but this idea is now invalid. The Picts were just as celtic as the Scots, they just formed a unique branch with their own distinctive culture.
However, from
Kenneth McAlpine (Anton's 33rd Great Grandfather) and onward (860s AD) the Scots gained dominance over the Picts, and over the next couple of generations Pictish culture disappeared, replaced by Scottish culture. By 900 AD this process was largely complete.
From Kenneth McAlpin onwards, the Scottish-controlled dominion was still refered to as 'the kingdom of the Scots and Picts'. However, by the time of
King Domnall mac Causantín (Anton's 31st Great Grandfather) who reigned from 890 to 900 AD, this title vanished and was replaced by 'Kingdom of Alba' or in Latin 'Regia Scottorum'- 'The Kingdom of Scotland'.
Its seems that in around 50 years, Pictish culture vanished, replaced by the Scottish.
However, this might lead people to believe that this was some kind of genocide. The majority of Scots were former Picts. Its was just that Scottish culture replaced Pictish culture, not an actual physical replacement.
It is remarkable how quickly this cultural assimilation took place. Scholars are amazed how complete it was. To this day, we know nothing of what the enigmatic
Pictish symbolic script found on Pictish stones actually means. The "Picti" (or "Pretani" or "Priteni") apparently spoke some form of Brittonic (which at the time was apparently not much different from Gaulish), and are likely to have also spoken a pre-Celtic, non-Indo-European language like Basque.
There were Scots in Alba during at least part of the Roman occupation of Britannia. The "
Senchus Fer n-Alban" records reveal that the Dál Riata (aka "Scotti") had been colonising western Alba for 10 generations before
Fergus Mór mac Eirc (or "mac Erca," aka "mac Nisse") and his brothers established their dynasty in Scotland circa 500 AD.
According to folklore, Anton's 48th Great Grandfather is the
Irish King Niall Noígíallach. According to later tradition, during one of his many raids on Britain, Niall captured the future
Saint Patrick and brought him in bondage to Ireland. Many years later Patrick succeeded in escaping to Britain, but he eventually returned to Ireland and played an important early role in the conversion of the Irish to Christianity.