TheCruthin (Old Irish:[ˈkɾuθʲinʲ]) orCruithne (Irish:[ˈkɾˠɪ(h)nʲə]) were a people of early medievalIreland. Their heartland was inUlster and included parts of the present-daycounties ofAntrim,Down andLondonderry. Although the evidence is that they wereGaels, their name is believed to be the Irish equivalent of*Pritanī, the reconstructed native name of theCeltic Britons, andCruthin was sometimes used to refer to thePicts, but their relationship to these peoples is unclear.[1]
The Cruthin comprised severaltúatha (tribal territories), which included theDál nAraidi of County Antrim and theUí Echach Cobo of County Down. These were part of the kingdom ofUlaid (Ulster). Early sources distinguish between the Cruthin and theUlaid folk, although the Dál nAraidi later claimed in their genealogies to bena fír Ulaid, "the true Ulaid".[2] The 17th centuryLeabhar na nGenealach claims that theConaille, theLoígis and theSogain are also of Cruthin descent.[3]
By 773 AD, the annals had stopped using the term Cruthin in favour of the term Dál nAraidi,[1] who had secured their over-kingship of the Cruthin.
For political reasons, some modernUlster Scotsunionists claim descent from the Cruthin and argue they were the original British inhabitants of Ulster. This has been rejected by historians and archaeologists (see#Modern politics and culture).
In medieval Irish writings, the plural form of the name is variously speltCruthin,Cruithin,Cruthini,Cruthni,Cruithni orCruithini (modern Irish:Cruithne[4]). The singular form isCruithen[5] (modern Irish:Cruithean[4]). The adjectival form isCruithnech[6] (modern Irish:Cruithneach[4][7]), which is alsoused as a noun.[4][7] It is thought to relate to the Irish wordcruth, meaning "form, figure, shape". The name is believed to derive from*Qritani, a reconstructedGoidelic/Q-Celtic version of theBrittonic/P-Celtic*Pritani.[8] Ancient Greek geographerPytheas called theCeltic Britons thePretanoí, which becameBritanni in Latin.[9][10][8]
It is suggested thatCruthin was not what the people called themselves, but was what theirneighbours called them.[11]
The nameCruthin survives in the placenames Duncrun (Dún Cruithean, "fort of the Cruthin") and Drumcroon (Droim Cruithean, "ridge of the Cruthin") in County Londonderry,[12] and Ballycrune (Bealach Cruithean, "pass of the Cruthin")[13] and Crown Mound (Áth Cruithean, "ford of the Cruthin") in County Down.[14] These placenames are believed to mark the edges of Cruthin territory.[15]
At the start of the historical period in Ireland in the 6th century, the kingdom ofUlaid largely lay to the east of theRiver Bann in north-eastern Ireland.[16] The Cruthin also held territory west of the Bann in County Londonderry, and their emergence may have concealed the dominance of earlier tribal groupings.[16]
A Cruthin king of Ulster,Áed Dub mac Suibni, is said to have killed theHigh King,Diarmait mac Cerbaill, in 565. Another Cruthin king, Dubsloit Ua Tréna, is said to have killed Diarmait's son Colmán Mór.[17]
In 563, according to theAnnals of Ulster, an apparent internal struggle amongst the Cruthin resulted in a Cruthin chief Báetán mac Cinn making a deal with the rivalNorthern Uí Néill, promising them the territories of Ard Eólairg (Magilligan peninsula) and Fir Lí (Coleraine barony).[16] As a result, theBattle of Móin Daire Lothair (Moneymore) was fought between them and an alliance of Cruthin kings, in which the Cruthin suffered a devastating defeat.[16] Afterwards the Northern Uí Néill settled theirAirgíalla allies in the Cruthin territory ofEilne, which lay between the River Bann and theRiver Bush.[16] The defeated Cruthin alliance meanwhile consolidated itself within the Dál nAraidi dynasty.[16]
Their most powerful historical king wasFíachnae mac Báetáin, King of Ulster and effective High King of Ireland in the early 7th century.
Under their king,Congal Cláen, the Cruthin were routed by the Uí Néill at Dún Ceithirn (Sconce Hill, nearArticlave)[18] in 629, although Congal survived. The same year, the Cruthin king Mael Caích defeatedConnad Cerr of theDál Riata at theBattle of Fid Eoin.[2]
The decisiveBattle of Mag Rath was fought in 637. An alliance between Congal Cláen andDomnall Brecc of the Dál Riata was defeated, and Congal was killed, byDomnall mac Aedo of the Northern Uí Néill. This established the supremacy of the Uí Neill in the north.[2]
The Annals record a battle between the Cruthin and the Ulaid atBelfast in 668.[2]
In 681 another Dál nAraide king,Dúngal Eilni, and his allies were killed by the Uí Néill in what the annals call "the burning of the kings at Dún Ceithirn".[2]
By the 8th century, the ethnic term "Cruthin" was giving way to the dynastic name of the Dál nAraide. The last use of the term is in 773, when the death of Flathruae mac Fiachrach, "rex Cruithne", is noted.[2] By the twelfth century it had fallen into disuse as anethnonym, and was remembered only as an alternative name for the Dál nAraide.[19]
Early Irish writers used the nameCruthin to refer to both the north-eastern Irish group and to thePicts of Scotland.[10] Likewise, theScottish Gaelic word for a Pict isCruithen orCruithneach, and Pictland isCruithentúath.[20] ThePictish Chronicle names the first king of the Picts as the eponymous "Cruidne filius Cinge".[21] It has thus been suggested that the Cruthin and Picts were the same people or were in some way linked.[2]
Other scholars disagree. HistorianFrancis John Byrne notes that although in Irish both groups were called by the same name, in Latin they had different names, withPicti being reserved for the Picts.[22] ProfessorDáibhí Ó Cróinín says the "notion that the Cruthin were 'Irish Picts' and were closely connected with the Picts of Scotland is quite mistaken",[1] while ProfessorKenneth H. Jackson wrote that the Cruthin "were not Picts, had no connection with the Picts, linguistic or otherwise, and are never calledPicti by Irish writers".[23] There is noarchaeological evidence of a Pictish link and in archaeology the Cruthin are indistinguishable from their neighbours in Ireland.[24] The records show that the Cruthin bore Irish Gaelic names, spoke Irish and followed the Irishderbfine system of inheritance.[22]
HistorianAlex Woolf suggested that theDál Riata were a part of the Cruthin and that they were descended from theEpidii. Dál Riata was a Gaelic kingdom that included parts of western Scotland and northeastern Ireland. The Irish part of the kingdom was surrounded by Cruthin territory.[11]
The 17th centuryLeabhar na nGenealach claims that the historicalConaille ofCounty Louth, theLoígis ofCounty Laois, and theSogain ofConnacht, are also of Cruthin descent.[25]
In the 1970s,Unionist politicianIan Adamson proposed that the Cruthin were a British people who spoke a non-Celtic language and were the original inhabitants of Ulster and Scotland. He argues that they fought against the IrishGaels for centuries, who invaded Ulster from the south, and sees the story of theTáin Bó Cúailnge as representing this. Adamson believes that most of the Cruthin were driven to Scotland after their defeat in theBattle of Moira (637), only for their descendants to return 1,000 years later in thePlantation of Ulster. Adamson thus suggests that the Gaelic Irish are not really native to Ulster and that theUlster Scots have merely returned to their ancient lands.[26][27] His theory has been adopted by someUlster loyalists and Ulster Scots activists to counterIrish nationalism and Irish Gaelic culture.[26] It was promoted by elements in theUlster Defence Association (UDA).[28] They saw this new 'origin myth' as a way to justify their territorial claim to Ulster and thepartition of Ireland.[29] Prof. Stephen Howe of the University of Bristol argues it was designed to provide ancient underpinnings for a militantly separate Ulster identity.[30] HistorianPeter Berresford Ellis likens it toZionism.[27]
Historians, archaeologists and anthropologists have widely rejected Adamson's theory.[27][28] There is no evidence of a "Gaelic invasion", and from the historical evidence "it seems that the language and social structure of the Cruthin was identical with that of the rest of the Irish".[31] Archaeologists such asJ. P. Mallory and T. E. McNeil note that the Cruthin are "archaeologically invisible" and "there is not a single object or site that an archaeologist can declare to be distinctly Cruthin".[32]
Much of Adamson's theories are based on the historical model put forward by Irish linguistT. F. O'Rahilly in 1946. O'Rahilly argued that "the Cruthin or Priteni are the earliest inhabitants of these islands to whom a name can be assigned", and that the Gaels did not arrive until much later.[33] Where Adamson differs is his claim that the Cruthin were not Celtic, butpre-Celtic. However, this model has also since been rejected by archaeologists and other experts.[34][35][36] There is no evidence of large migrations to Ireland after theBronze Age, either archaeologically or genetically.[37] The intrusive (non-native) artifacts inIron Age Ireland areLa Tènian andRomano-British, and came from regions which were not Gaelic.[38] Adamson's and O'Rahilly's theories are refuted by the 2017 publication of the "Irish DNA Atlas",[39] which sets out in great detail the genealogical history and modern day makeup of theBritish Isles.
Theasteroid3753 Cruithne was named after the group.[40]
Robert E. Howard's pulp heroBran Mak Morn was characterised as "chief of the Cruithni Picts".[41]
The idea of a Gaelic invasion pushing the aboriginal 'Irish Picts' into the north-east corner has no support either historically or archaeologically. From the contemporary historical evidence it seems that the language and social structure of the Cruthin was identical with that of the rest of the Irish.
T. F. O'Rahilly, whose historical conclusions have been questioned by archaeologists and historians ... consequently, as explained in more detail below, his views on the ethnic makeup of early Ireland are no longer accepted.
