Ildulb mac Causantín, anglicised as Indulf or Indulph,[1] nicknamed An Ionsaighthigh, "the Aggressor"[2] (died 962) was king of Alba from 954 to 962. He was the son of Constantine II; his mother may have been a daughter of Earl Eadulf I of Bernicia, who was an exile in Scotland.[3]
Biography
Indulf was probably baptised in 927. According to William of Malmesbury, Æthelstan stood godfather to a son of Constantine at the Church of Dacre. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle dates the meeting of Æthelstan with the northern kings at Eamont to the 12 July 927. So, it is likely that this baptism occurred on, or around, the Feast of St Hildulf, which Alex Woolf suggests may be the source of his uncommon name. [4]
The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba says: "In his time oppidum Eden", usually identified as Edinburgh,[6] "was evacuated, and abandoned to the Scots until the present day." This has been read as indicating that Lothian, or some large part of it, fell to Indulf at this time. However, the conquest of Lothian is likely to have been a process rather than a single event, and the frontier between the lands of the kings of Alba and Bernicia may have lain south and east of Edinburgh many years before Indulf's reign.[7]
Indulf was succeeded by Dub (Dub mac Maíl Coluim), son of his predecessor. His sons Cuilén and Amlaíb were later kings. Eochaid, a third son, was killed with Cuilén by the men of Strathclyde in 971.
References
^"Ildulb" is an Old Irish name derived from either the Old Norse name Hildulfr or the Old English name Eadwulf. It occurs in various contemporary Gaelic forms, such as Iondolbh, found in the Duan Albanach. The LatinChronicle of the Kings of Alba uses Indolf and Idulfus. "Ildulb" was later rendered "Indulf" under Old French influence. Ildulb is used because by some historians because it correctly represents the name Hildulfr in Gaelic orthography; Eadwulf would perhaps be Idulb, hence that form is also used sometimes. The name never came into wider use in the Scottish world, or the Gaelic world more generally, and has no modern form. Walker, p. 97.
^It is known a sister of Indulf married Olaf III Guthfrithson (Amlaíb mac Gofraidh) of the Uí Ímair and one of Indulf's sons was named Amlaíb. Walker suggests that Indulf's mother may have been a daughter of Earl Eadwulf, who was an exile in Alba. Eadwulf is rendered Ettulb in the Annals of Ulster, s.a. 913, where his death is reported. Walker, p. 97
^Early Sources, pp. 468–471; Duncan, p. 20 follows the Chronicle.
Sources
Anderson, Alan Orr; Early Sources of Scottish History AD 500–1286, volume 1. Reprinted with corrections. Paul Watkins, Stamford, 1990. ISBN1-871615-03-8
Duncan, A. A. M.; The Kingship of the Scots 842–1292: Succession and Independence, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2002. ISBN0-7486-1626-8
Smyth, Alfred P.; Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland AD 80–1000, Reprinted, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 1998. ISBN0-7486-0100-7
Walker, Ian W.; Lords of Alba: The Making of Scotland, Sutton, Stroud, 2006. ISBN0-7509-3492-1
External links
CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts at University College Cork includes the Annals of Ulster, Tigernach, the Four Masters and Innisfallen, the Chronicon Scotorum, the Lebor Bretnach (which includes the Duan Albanach), Genealogies, and various Lives of Saints. Most are translated into English or translations are in progress.
