Editing Constantine II of Scotland (section)

== Sources ==
Compared to neighbouring [[Ireland]] and [[Anglo-Saxon England]], few records of 9th and 10th century events in Scotland survive. The main local source from the period is the ''[[Chronicle of the Kings of Alba]]'', a list of kings from Kenneth MacAlpin (died 858) to [[Kenneth II]] ([[Cináed mac Maíl Coluim]], died 995). The list survives in the [[Poppleton manuscript]], a 13th-century compilation. Originally simply a list of kings with reign lengths, the other details contained in the Poppleton manuscript version were added in the 10th and 12th centuries.<ref>Woolf, ''Pictland to Alba'', pp. 87–93; Dumville, "Chronicle of the Kings of Alba".</ref> In addition to this, later king lists survive.<ref>Anderson, ''Kings and Kingship'', reproduces these lists and discusses their origins.</ref> The earliest [[Genealogy|genealogical records]] of the descendants of [[Kenneth MacAlpin]] may date from the end of the 10th century, but their value lies more in their context, and the information they provide about the interests of those for whom they were compiled, than in the unreliable claims they contain.<ref>Broun, ''Irish Identity'', pp. 133–164; Woolf, ''Pictland to Alba'', pp. 220–221.</ref>

For narrative history, the principal sources are the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' and the [[Irish annals]]. The evidence from [[charter]]s created in the [[Kingdom of England]] provides occasional insight into events in Scotland.<ref>Woolf, ''Pictland to Alba'', pp. 2–3, 87–88, 357–359.</ref> While [[Scandinavia]]n [[sagas]] describe events in 10th century Britain, their value as sources of historical narrative, rather than documents of social history, is disputed.<ref>Woolf, ''Pictland to Alba'', pp. 277–285; Ó Corrain, "Vikings in Scotland and Ireland"; Sawyer and Sawyer, ''Medieval Scandinavia'', pp. 21–26.</ref> Mainland European sources rarely concern themselves with affairs in any part of the [[British Isles]], and even less commonly with events in Scotland, but the life of Saint [[Cathróe of Metz]], a work of [[hagiography]] written in [[Germany]] at the end of the 10th century, provides plausible details of the saint's early life in north Britain.<ref>MacQuarrie, ''Saints of Scotland'', pp. 199–210.</ref>

While the sources for north-eastern Britain, the lands of the [[kingdom of Northumbria]] and the [[Picts|former Pictland]], are limited and late, those for the areas on the [[Irish Sea]] and Atlantic coasts — the modern regions of north-west England and all of northern and western Scotland — are non-existent, and [[archaeology]] and [[toponymy]] are of primary importance.<ref>Woolf, ''Pictland to Alba'', p. 12.</ref>