During this period, Scotland first emerged on the stage of history. Beginning with the Christian kingdoms of Northumbria and Pictavia, which dominated northern Britain, Alex Woolf describes the collapse of the Old Order under the Vikings, the rise of Alba, the Gaelic-speaking kingdom, and first contact with the kingdom of England.
"From Caledonia to Pictland" examines the earliest phases of Scottish history at a time when "Scotland" hadn't yet come into existence. It charts the transformation of the Celtic-speaking tribes of Iron Age Caledonia into the multi-lingual Christian kingdoms of Early Medieval northern Britain, peopled by Picts, Britons, Angles and Gaels. Major factors in this process include the direct and indirect influence of the Roman Empire, the profound impact of Christianisation, and the influx of Germanic settlers to the east and of Gaelic settlers to the west.
