Page:Chronicles of the Picts, chronicles of the Scots, and other early memorials of Scottish history.djvu/179

 PREFACE. clxxi kingdom of Dalriada, omitting the fictitious kings introduced ; and when we examine the list of kings in this chronicle, we find that it commences with the kings of Dalriada, from Fergus, son of Erth, to Alpin, the last king of them. Then follows the ex- pression, " et tunc trauslatum est regnum Scotorum " in regnum Pictorum ;" and this is succeeded by the Pictish kings from Cniithne, the eponymus of the nation, to Drust, son of Ferat, their last king, who was followed by Kenneth Mac Alpin. In this form of the chronicle, the Scottish kings are re- moved from their position as the immediate pre- decessors of Kenneth Mac Alpin, and placed bodily before the kings of the Picts, so as to give them a high antiquity, and make the Scottish kingdom commence 443 years before the Incarnation. In the year 1251, Alexander the Third did homage to the king of England for his English possessions. Henry demanded homage also for the kingdom of Scotland, " prout evidenter in cronicis locis multis " scribitur;" but Alexander excused himself on the ground that he could not take a step so important without the knowledge and approbation of his Par- liament. If the King of England referred to chro- nicles, similar documents were soon provided in Scotland to meet them, and we find one of them in the chronicle transcribed from the register of the priory of St. Andrews. It bears to have been com- piled in the year 1251. It commences with the names of the kings who first reigned in Scotland ;