kingdom of Dalriada

Dalriada, or Dal Riata, started as an Irish kingdom on the coast of Antrim, but migrated to the west coast of Scotland in the 5th cent. This brought it into contact with the kingdom of the Picts to the north-east and Strathclyde to the south-east. Ædan of Dalriada clearly had wide ambitions, raiding in Orkney and Man, and waging war against Picts and Northumbrians. An attack on the Northumbrians c.603 ended in severe defeat for Ædan at Degsastan. Norse pressure to the west in the early 9th cent. might have squeezed Dalriada, but the reverse happened. The line of advance was apparently perceived as eastwards and in 843 Kenneth MacAlpin, king of Dalriada, took over Pictland. Dalriada henceforth merged into the kingdom of Alba.