The Viking Siege of Dumbarton Rock (870 AD) - Viking Invasion of Scotland
Channel: Celtic History Decoded
Date: 09/10/2021

The Viking Siege of Dumbarton Rock (870 AD) - Viking Invasion of Scotland

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After attacking and capturing York in 866 AD, Ivar the Boneless turned his attention north, to a 350-million-year-old volcanic plug that rises 240ft above the river Clyde: known as Dumbarton Rock. This rock was the capital of the Alt Clut – meaning ‘the rock of the Clyde,’ which was an early Kingdom of what later was referred to as the Kingdom of Strathclyde, which was largely made up of Celtic Britons. 

The region in which they occupied was known as the Hen Ogledd in old Welsh, meaning Old North, and the people spoke Cumbric, a variant of the common Brythonic language, thought to be closely related to modern Welsh. This led to these people often being referred to as Cumbrians over the centuries, who occupied the south-west region what we call Scotland today.

Dumbarton, meaning fort of the Britons, was a defensive strong hold of the Alt Clut, with Dumbarton Rock allowing them to control the shipping trade along the river Clyde. Long considered a prized fort, Dumbarton Rock has been attacked several times before, including by a coordinated attack by the Picts and Angles a century or so prior to the Vikings. 
Ivar the Boneless was not alone in his Viking assault on Dumbarton Rock, as he teamed up with the Viking ruler of Dublin, Olaf the White. At this point, it’s important to note that is some debate about who exactly these Viking leaders were. Some sources say that the two leaders of the Viking campaign in Dumbarton were Ímar and Amlaíb Conung, although Ímar may simply be a different name for Ivar and Amlaíb Conung just another name for Olaf. 

With this being said, Ivar marched his army north from York, whilst Olaf sailed from Ireland and along the river Clyde. Hebridean Vikings were also likely to have fought alongside Ivar and Olaf. The ensuing siege lasted for four months, and eventually resulted in the Britons of Dumbarton being starved into surrender. Norse sagas claim that the only Alt Clut water well eventually dried up, leaving them no choice but to surrender.  

The Vikings then stormed and plundered the fort, taking every valuable treasure they could get their hands on. This treasure was then put on a fleet of 200 ships along with captured slaves, and set sail for Ireland.  The king of Alt Clut, Artgal mac Dumnagual, was taken prisoner, and potentially killed in Dublin in 872 AD as a favour to the Picts, who looked to exert their influence over the Kingdom of Strathclyde. 

The Alt Clut did survive however, with Govan becoming an important center of the Kingdom of Strathclyde for a century or so, until the Kingdom of Strathclyde was absorbed into the Gaelic speaking Kingdom of Alba in the 11th century AD.  After all this epic history, you’ll never think the same way about little old Dumbarton ever again. 

Sources:

Scotsman - Ivar the Boneless and a brutal Viking invasion of Scotland https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/ivar-boneless-and-brutal-viking-invasion-scotland-1460905 

Siege of Dumbarton  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Dumbarton 

The Kingdom of the Britons https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/scottishhistory/darkages/trails_darkages_britons.shtml 

Kingdom of Strathclyde https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Strathclyde 

Hen Ogledd, Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hen_Ogledd 

Creative Commons Imagery:

Para - Photographer - Alan Hughes Looking north across the River Clyde towards Dumbarton Castle https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scotland_Dumbarton_Castle_bordercropped.jpg 
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/deed.en 

Jakednb https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Strathclyde-940-AD.png Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en 

#Vikings #Scotland #ScottishHistory