Yes, yes, I know, second post of the day, how abhorrent etc etc

I have important news of happenings in Britain and Scotland/Pictland in the 4th and 5th centuries AD.

The Pictish Wars (actually important wars, not just random but constant raids) began c. AD 305-6 under the emperor Constantius Chlorus, who ordered a campaign against the “Caledonians and other Picts”.

In AD 315, Constantius assumed the title “Britannicus Maximus”, maybe because of his successful campaigns in the north. In 343 his son Constans campaigned against the Picts; this may have been followed by a peace treaty, since there is a report of a broken agreement in 360 when the Picts, allied with the Scots of Ireland, raided the frontier and were apparently driven back.

AD 364-5 the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus indentified Dicalydones, Verturiones, Scots, Attacotti and Saxons for the first time. Although the Saxon raids almost certainly had nothing to do with it, the other peoples were probably working together - Dicalydones looks like a mangling of Caledones, and there is constantly an idea of division by two among the Picts in Roman sources.

In AD 367-9 the Picts allied with the Scots and Attacotti, causing Count Theodosius to be sent out to Britain to sort things out.

In AD 382, Picts and Scots invaded Brittania and were driven back by Magnus Maximus. This was followed by the 396-8 raid on the province by Picts, eventually beaten by the general Stilicho.

The last Pictish war (and last alliance of the Picts and Scots until the 9th century and Kenneth mac Alpin) is dated to AD 454. The Britons appealed to the consul Aetius for help somewhere between his becoming consul for the 3rd time in 446, and his death in 454.


From The Picts and the Scots, Lloyd and Jenny Laing, Sutton Publishing, Gloucestershire, 1993.

Good stuff, eh? Certainly very interesting and right up rp464’s street, as it were.