Kingdom of Strathclyde | ||||||||||
Teyrnas Ystrad Clut | ||||||||||
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The core of Strathclyde is the strath of the River Clyde. The major sites associated with the kingdom are shown, as is the marker Clach nam Breatann (English: Rock of the Britons), the probable northern extent of the kingdom at an early time. Other areas were added to or subtracted from the kingdom at different times. Some areas, such as in Cumberland in what was to become England, may have been cooperative alliances rather than dominated areas.
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Capital | Dumbarton and Govan | |||||||||
Languages | Common Brittonic, Cumbric, Old English, Old Norse, Scottish Gaelic | |||||||||
Government | Monarchy | |||||||||
Historical era | Middle Ages | |||||||||
• | Established | 450 AD | ||||||||
• | Incorporated into the Kingdom of Scotland | 1093 AD | ||||||||
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Today part of |
United Kingdom ∟ Dumfries and Galloway ∟ East Ayrshire ∟ South Ayrshire ∟ South Lanarkshire ∟ North Lanarkshire ∟ East Renfrewshire ∟ Renfrewshire ∟ City of Glasgow ∟ Inverclyde ∟ East Dunbartonshire ∟ West Dunbartonshire ∟ Argyll and Bute ∟ Stirling |
Strathclyde (lit. "Strath of the River Clyde"), originally Cumbric: Ystrad Clud or Alclud (and Strath-Clota in Anglo-Saxon), was one of the early medieval kingdoms of the Britons in Hen Ogledd ("the Old North"), the Brythonic speaking parts of what is now southern Scotland and northern England. The kingdom developed during the post-Roman period. It is also known as Alt Clut, a Brittonic term for Dumbarton Castle, the medieval capital of the region. It may have had its origins with the Brythonic Damnonii people of Ptolemy's Geography.
The language of Strathclyde, and that of the Britons in surrounding areas under non-native rulership, is known as Cumbric, a dialect or language closely related to Old Welsh, and in modern terms to Welsh, Cornish and Breton. Scottish toponymy and archaeology points to some later settlement by Vikings or Norse–Gaels (see Scandinavian Scotland), although to a lesser degree than in neighbouring Galloway. A small number of Anglian place-names show some limited settlement by Anglo-Saxon incomers from Northumbria prior to the Norse settlement. Due to the series of language changes in the area, it is not possible to say whether any Goidelic settlement took place before Gaelic was introduced in the High Middle Ages during the 11th century.