Seven Children of Cruithne facts for kids

Seven Children of Cruithne (Old Irish: Mórseiser do Chruithne claind) is a quatrain written in Old Irish that forms the earliest known record of one of the origin myths of the Picts. In this myth, the Pictish kingdom's legendary founder Cruithne divides his territory into seven districts for each of his seven sons, each of which succeed him sequentially in ruling the entire kingdom.

Background

The verse is written in Old Irish and has four lines, each of seven syllables, grouped into two rhyming pairs.

It exists as part of a detached section of the Lebor Bretnach called "Concerning Pictish Origins" (Old Irish: Do Bunad Cruithnech) that was added to the main text at the same time as the related list of Pictish Kings was extended forward to include Causantín son of Cinaed, and backward to include the mythical Cruithne and his seven sons described in the poem. It was therefore probably added to the text during Causantín's reign between 862 and 876, and probably dates as a verse from a short time before 850.

The mid 9th century was a period when the Picts were repeatedly raided by Vikings, weakening royal power and threatening the very concept of Pictish overkingship through its failure to provide protection. Seven Children of Cruthne is probably intended to emphasise an image of a single Pictish kingdom, uniting its various districts in a single primordial territory stretching from the Firth of Forth to the Pentland Firth.

Text

Gaelic

Mórseiser do Cruithne claind
Raindset Albain i seacht raind
Cait Ce Círig cetach clann
Fíb Fidach Fotla Fortrenn

English translation

Seven of Cruithne’s offspring
Divided Alba into seven shares
Cait, Ce, Círig, children with hundreds,
Fife, Fidach, Fotla, Fortriu.