The
Kingdom of Strathclyde -
Govan Parish Church, Glasgow
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Govan
was the most important religious site in the Britonnic Kingdom
of Strathclyde. Archaeological digs have revealed that a curved
side of the graveyard follows the line of a Dark Age boundary
ditch that would have marked out an ancient monastic enclosure.
Inside
the church is the Govan Sarcophagus, believed to belong to
St Constantine, but probably belonging to a king called Constantine
who ruled Strathclyde in the 9th Century. Originally 3 sarcophagi
were discovered but the others have now vanished.
Detail
from the Govan Sarcophagus
A fine example of the art work from the dwindling Kingdom
of the Britons of Strathclyde.
Kingdom
of Strathclyde Factsheet
- After
the collapse of the Kingdom of Dumbarton
in the 870s the Britons started to
fill the vacuum that the Vikings had
left in their wake. The Britonnic
king, Artgal, had been murdered by
Constantine, the son of Kenneth MacAlpine,
but the Britons replaced him with
Rhun and started to rebuild a new
kingdom known as Strathclyde. It stretched
along the Clyde valley and from Govan
in Glasgow down to Penrith in Cumbria.
Its royal centre was at Cadzow, near
Hamilton, with Partick, in Glasgow,
serving as a royal hunting forest.
- In
878 the Britons may have gained revenge
on the house of MacAlpine when Eochaid,
son of Rhun, and his foster father,
Giric, forced the house of MacAlpine
from the Kingship of Pictland, however,
in 889 they returned and expelled
Giric and Eochaid.
- For
the Britons this may have been a disaster.
The following year, Welsh sources
note, the men of Strathclyde who didn’t
accept the new order, went into exile
and settled in Gwynedd (or Wales).
Following this exodus, Strathclyde
seems to have become a sub-kingdom
of the new Pictish and Gaelic Kingdom
of Alba, with its royal line related
to the Kings of Alba.
- The
last king of Strathclyde, Owein the
Bald, died fighting for Malcolm II,
King of Alba, at the Battle of Carham.
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