Cruthin
Encyclopedia
The Cruthin were a people of early Ireland
, who occupied parts of Counties Down
, Antrim
and Londonderry
in the early medieval period.
Their ruling dynasties included the Dál nAraidi
in southern Antrim and the Uí Echach Cobo
in western Down. Early sources preserve a distinction between the Cruthin and the Ulaid
, who gave their name to the province
of Ulster
, although the Dál nAraide claimed in their genealogies to be na fir Ulaid, "the true Ulaid". The Loígis, who gave their name to County Laois
in Leinster
, and the Sogain of Connacht
are also claimed as Cruthin in early Irish genealogies.
It is generally accepted that this is derived from *Qritani or *Qriteni, which is the Goidelic
/Q-Celtic version of the Britonnic
/P-Celtic *Pritani or *Priteni. From the latter came Britanni, the Roman
name for those we now call the Britons
.
Professor
T. F. O'Rahilly
proposes that the Qritani/Pritani were the first Celt
ic group to inhabit Britain
and Ireland, and describes them as "the earliest inhabitants of these islands to whom a name can be assigned".
writers used the name to refer to both the Picts
and to the group of people who lived in part of northeast Ireland. It has thus been suggested that the Cruthin and Picts were the same people or were in some way linked. It has also been suggested that Cruthin was a name used to refer to all the Britons who were not "conquered" by the Romans – those who lived outside Roman Britannia
, north of Hadrian's Wall
.
However, the Cruthin cannot be distinguished by archaeology
, Irish Latin writers never use Picti to refer to the Irish Cruthin, and in historical times the Cruthin followed the Irish derbfhine
system of inheritance, rather than the matrilineal system used by the Picts, and spoke Irish. Professor Dáibhí Ó Cróinín
believes that the "notion that the Cruthin were 'Irish Picts' and were closely connected with the Picts of Scotland is quite mistaken"; and Professor Kenneth H. Jackson
has said that the Cruthin "were not Picts, had no connection with the Picts, linguistic or otherwise, and are never called Picti by Irish writers".
in modern times, Unionist
writers, in particular Ian Adamson
, have seen the Cruthin as an ancient reflection of their own northern separatism and affinity with Britain
. Some holders of the Scottish surname Ferguson claim a descent from the founder of Carrickfergus
. The Cruthin, like the Dál Riata
clans, moved to and fro between Scotland and the north of Ireland long before the kingdoms of Scotland and Ireland came into existence.
The asteroid
3753 Cruithne
was named after the group.
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, who occupied parts of Counties Down
County Down
-Cities:*Belfast *Newry -Large towns:*Dundonald*Newtownards*Bangor-Medium towns:...
, Antrim
County Antrim
County Antrim is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 2,844 km², with a population of approximately 616,000...
and Londonderry
County Londonderry
The place name Derry is an anglicisation of the old Irish Daire meaning oak-grove or oak-wood. As with the city, its name is subject to the Derry/Londonderry name dispute, with the form Derry preferred by nationalists and Londonderry preferred by unionists...
in the early medieval period.
Their ruling dynasties included the Dál nAraidi
Dál nAraidi
Dál nAraidi was a kingdom of the Cruthin in the north-east of Ireland in the first millennium. The lands of the Dál nAraidi appear to correspond with the Robogdii of Ptolemy's Geographia, a region shared with Dál Riata...
in southern Antrim and the Uí Echach Cobo
Uí Echach Cobo
Uí Echach Cobo were a branch of the Dál nAraidi in Ulster . They gave their name to the early medieval Kingdom of Coba located in the baronies of Upper and Lower Iveagh in modern County Down...
in western Down. Early sources preserve a distinction between the Cruthin and the Ulaid
Ulaid
The Ulaid or Ulaidh were a people of early Ireland who gave their name to the modern province of Ulster...
, who gave their name to the province
Provinces of Ireland
Ireland has historically been divided into four provinces: Leinster, Ulster, Munster and Connacht. The Irish word for this territorial division, cúige, literally meaning "fifth part", indicates that there were once five; the fifth province, Meath, was incorporated into Leinster, with parts going to...
of Ulster
Ulster
Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...
, although the Dál nAraide claimed in their genealogies to be na fir Ulaid, "the true Ulaid". The Loígis, who gave their name to County Laois
County Laois
County Laois is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Midlands Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It was formerly known as Queen's County until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. The county's name was formerly spelt as Laoighis and Leix. Laois County Council...
in Leinster
Leinster
Leinster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the east of Ireland. It comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Mide, Osraige and Leinster. Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the historic fifths of Leinster and Mide gradually merged, mainly due to the impact of the Pale, which straddled...
, and the Sogain of Connacht
Connacht
Connacht , formerly anglicised as Connaught, is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the west of Ireland. In Ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for...
are also claimed as Cruthin in early Irish genealogies.
Etymology
Variations of the name include Cruthen, Crutheni, Cruthin, Cruthini, Cruthne, Cruthni, Cruithni and Cruithini.It is generally accepted that this is derived from *Qritani or *Qriteni, which is the Goidelic
Goidelic languages
The Goidelic languages or Gaelic languages are one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic languages, the other consisting of the Brythonic languages. Goidelic languages historically formed a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland through the Isle of Man to the north of Scotland...
/Q-Celtic version of the Britonnic
Brythonic languages
The Brythonic or Brittonic languages form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family, the other being Goidelic. The name Brythonic was derived by Welsh Celticist John Rhys from the Welsh word Brython, meaning an indigenous Briton as opposed to an Anglo-Saxon or Gael...
/P-Celtic *Pritani or *Priteni. From the latter came Britanni, the Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
name for those we now call the Britons
Britons (historical)
The Britons were the Celtic people culturally dominating Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages. They spoke the Insular Celtic language known as British or Brythonic...
.
Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
T. F. O'Rahilly
T. F. O'Rahilly
Thomas Francis O'Rahilly was an Irish scholar of the Celtic languages, particularly in the fields of Historical linguistics and Irish dialects. He was a member of the Royal Irish Academy.-Biography:He was born in Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland...
proposes that the Qritani/Pritani were the first Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
ic group to inhabit Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and Ireland, and describes them as "the earliest inhabitants of these islands to whom a name can be assigned".
Cruthin and the Picts
Early IrishIrish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
writers used the name to refer to both the Picts
Picts
The Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval people living in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. There is an association with the distribution of brochs, place names beginning 'Pit-', for instance Pitlochry, and Pictish stones. They are recorded from before the Roman conquest...
and to the group of people who lived in part of northeast Ireland. It has thus been suggested that the Cruthin and Picts were the same people or were in some way linked. It has also been suggested that Cruthin was a name used to refer to all the Britons who were not "conquered" by the Romans – those who lived outside Roman Britannia
Britannia
Britannia is an ancient term for Great Britain, and also a female personification of the island. The name is Latin, and derives from the Greek form Prettanike or Brettaniai, which originally designated a collection of islands with individual names, including Albion or Great Britain. However, by the...
, north of Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall was a defensive fortification in Roman Britain. Begun in AD 122, during the rule of emperor Hadrian, it was the first of two fortifications built across Great Britain, the second being the Antonine Wall, lesser known of the two because its physical remains are less evident today.The...
.
However, the Cruthin cannot be distinguished by archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
, Irish Latin writers never use Picti to refer to the Irish Cruthin, and in historical times the Cruthin followed the Irish derbfhine
Derbfine
The derbfine was an Irish agnatic kinship group and power structure as defined in the law tracts of the eighth century. Its principal purpose was as an institution of property inheritance, with property redistributed on the death of a member to those remaining members of the derbfine...
system of inheritance, rather than the matrilineal system used by the Picts, and spoke Irish. Professor Dáibhí Ó Cróinín
Dáibhí Ó Cróinín
Dáibhí Ó Cróinín is an academic Irish historian, the current Professor of History at the National University of Ireland, Galway . M.Phil., Ph.D. , and Member of the Royal Irish Academy. He is a grandson of Elizabeth Cronin , an Irish traditional singer...
believes that the "notion that the Cruthin were 'Irish Picts' and were closely connected with the Picts of Scotland is quite mistaken"; and Professor Kenneth H. Jackson
Kenneth H. Jackson
Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson was an English linguist and a translator who specialised in the Celtic languages. He demonstrated how the text of the Ulster Cycle of tales, written circa AD 1100, preserves an oral tradition originating some six centuries earlier and reflects Celtic Irish society of the...
has said that the Cruthin "were not Picts, had no connection with the Picts, linguistic or otherwise, and are never called Picti by Irish writers".
Modern culture
In Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
in modern times, Unionist
Unionism in Ireland
Unionism in Ireland is an ideology that favours the continuation of some form of political union between the islands of Ireland and Great Britain...
writers, in particular Ian Adamson
Ian Adamson
Cllr Ian Adamson OBE is a former Lord Mayor of Belfast. He is a member of the Ulster Unionist Party and is a retired medical doctor.A serving Councillor on Belfast City Council from 1989 until 2011, Adamson was Lord Mayor in 1996....
, have seen the Cruthin as an ancient reflection of their own northern separatism and affinity with Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
. Some holders of the Scottish surname Ferguson claim a descent from the founder of Carrickfergus
Carrickfergus
Carrickfergus , known locally and colloquially as "Carrick", is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is located on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,201 at the 2001 Census and takes its name from Fergus Mór mac Eirc, the 6th century king...
. The Cruthin, like the Dál Riata
Dál Riata
Dál Riata was a Gaelic overkingdom on the western coast of Scotland with some territory on the northeast coast of Ireland...
clans, moved to and fro between Scotland and the north of Ireland long before the kingdoms of Scotland and Ireland came into existence.
The asteroid
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
3753 Cruithne
3753 Cruithne
3753 Cruithne is an asteroid in orbit around the Sun in approximate 1:1 orbital resonance with the Earth. It is a periodic inclusion planetoid orbiting the Sun in an apparent horseshoe orbit. It has been incorrectly called "Earth's second moon", but it is only a quasi-satellite. Cruithne never...
was named after the group.
Sources
- Byrne, Francis J. Irish Kings and High Kings. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2001 (2nd edition). First published in 1973.
- Jackson, Kenneth H. "The Pictish language." In The problem of the Picts, ed. F.T Wainwright. Edinburgh, 1956. pp. 122–166.
- Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí. "Ireland, 400-800." In A New History of Ireland, ed. Dáibhí Ó Cróinín. Vol 1. 2005. pp. 182–234.
- O'Rahilly, T.F. Early Irish History and Mythology. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1946.
- Smyth, Alfred P. Warlords and Holy Men. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1989.
- Warner, Richard. "The Lisburn Area in the Early Christian Period Part 2: Some People and Places." Lisburn Historical Society Journals Vol 8. 1991
External links
- Ulster by Dennis Walsh
- The Cruithne at Electric Scotland