Page:Chronicles of the Picts, chronicles of the Scots, and other early memorials of Scottish history.djvu/122

 CXIV PEEFACE. capital of Dalriada, and many a stone obelisk in the moss around it bears silent testimony to the con- tests of which it was the centre. The picturesque position of Dunolly Castle, on a rock at the entrance of the equally sheltered bay of Oban, afforded another fortified summit, which was the chief stronghold of the tribe of Lorn. Of Dunstaffnage, as a royal seat, history knows nothing. DURING THE CENTURY SUB- SEQUENT TO 634. Eelativb posi- Such, then, were the four kingdoms which, in TION OF THE O ' FOUR NATIONS thc ycar 634, when Oswald ascended the throne of Northumbria, are found within the limits of the territory of the subsequent kingdom of Scotland. The kingdom of Bernicia, with its Anglic popu- lation, and its chief seat Bamborough, extending from the Tyne to the Firth of Forth ; the kingdom of Cumbria, with its British population, extending from the Firth of Clyde far into Westmoreland, and on the banks of the Firth of Clyde, the striking rock of Dumbarton, with the fort of Alclyde on the summit, its chief seat. North of the Firth of Forth, the great monarchy of the Picts, extending over the whole of the northern and eastern districts of Scot- land, and embracing within its compass all the east flowing waters from their sources, with its capital near the town of Inverness ; and on the west the small Scottish kingdom of Dalriada, corresponding, with the exception probably of Ardnamurchan, very nearly to the modern county of Argyle, with the