The name Kingdom of Alba pertains to the Kingdom of Scotland between the deaths of Donald II (Domnall mac Causantin) in 900, and of Alexander III in 1286 which then led indirectly to the Scottish Wars of Independence. The name is one of convenience, as throughout this period the elite and populace of the Kingdom were predominantly Pictish-Gaels or later Pictish-Gaels and Scoto-Norman, and differs markedly from the period of the Stuarts, in which the elite of the kingdom were for the most part speakers of Middle English or Lowland Scots. The article concerns only the political history of the Kingdom of Scotland in the High Middle Ages, rather than the culture or society of the country.
There is no precise Gaelic equivalent for the English terminology 'Kingdom of Alba' as Gaelic Rìoghachd na h-Alba means 'Kingdom of Scotland'. Here, English speakers are adapting the use of the Gaelic name for Scotland by applying it to a particular political period.
Read more about Kingdom Of Alba: Royal Court
Famous quotes containing the words kingdom of and/or kingdom:
“Then he looked up at his disciples and said: Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.
Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.”
—Bible: New Testament, Luke 6:20-22.
“He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.””
—Bible: New Testament, Matthew 13:31,32.