Kenneth MacAlpin

Kenneth MacAlpin, or Cináed mac Ailpín, was a ninth-century ruler traditionally regarded as the first king of a united Scotland. Modern historians more cautiously describe him as king of the Picts and an important founder of the dynasty that ruled the emerging kingdom of Alba.

Later national histories greatly expanded his achievements and portrayed him as the conqueror who united Picts and Scots. The evidence instead suggests a gradual political transformation shaped by Viking pressure, dynastic succession and control of Pictish territory.