page_title: Cuilén
section_title: Reign and death
hierarchical_section_title: Cuilén / Reign and death
caption_attribution_description: English: An excerpt from folio 15r of Oxford Bodleian Library MS Rawlinson B 488 (the Annals of Tigernach): "Amlaim mac Illuilb". The excerpt concerns Amlaíb mac Illuilb, King of Scotland (died 977).
context_page_description: Cuilén was an early King of Alba.
  He was a son of Illulb mac Custantín, King of Alba, after whom he is known by the patronymic mac Illuilb of Clann Áeda meic Cináeda, a branch of the Alpínid dynasty.
  During the 10th century, the Alpínids rotated the kingship of Alba between two main dynastic branches. Dub mac Maíl Choluim, a member of a rival branch of the kindred, seems to have succeeded after Illulb's death in 962. Cuilén soon after challenged him but was defeated in 965. Dub was eventually expelled and slain in 966/967. Whether Cuilén was responsible for his death is uncertain.
  Following Dub's fall, Cuilén appears to have ruled as undisputed king from 966–971. Little is known of Cuilén's short reign other than his own death in 971. According to various sources, he and his brother, Eochaid, were slain by Britons. Some sources identify Cuilén's killer as Rhydderch ap Dyfnwal, a man whose daughter had been abducted and raped by the king. Rhydderch was evidently a man of eminent standing, and seems to have been a son of Dyfnwal ab Owain, King of Strathclyde, and could have possibly ruled the Cumbrian Kingdom of Strathclyde at the time of Cuilén's death.
context_section_description: Cuilén's undisputed reign seems to have spanned from 966 to 971. As far as surviving sources record, Cuilén's reign appears to have been relatively uneventful. His death in 971 is noted by several sources. According to the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba, Cuilén and his brother, Eochaid (died 971), were killed by Britons. The Annals of Ulster also reports that Cuilén fell in battle against Britons, whilst the twelfth-century Chronicon Scotorum specifies that Britons killed him within a burning house. The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba locates Cuilén's fall to "Ybandonia". Although this might refer to Abington in South Lanarkshire, a more likely location may be preserved by the twelfth–thirteenth-century Chronicle of Melrose. This source states that Cuilén was killed at "Loinas", a placename which seems to refer to either Lothian or the Lennox, both plausible locations for an outbreak of hostilities between Scots and Britons. In fact, "Ybandonia" itself could well refer to Lothian, or the Lennox. The account of Cuilén's demise preserved by the Prophecy of Berchán is somewhat different. According to this source, Cuilén met his end whilst "seeking a foreign land", which could indicate that he was attempting to lift taxes from the Cumbrians. The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba reports that Cuilén's killer was a certain Rhydderch ap Dyfnwal (fl. 971), a man who slew Cuilén for the sake of his own daughter. The thirteenth-century Verse Chronicle, the Chronicle of Melrose, and Chronica gentis Scotorum likewise identify Cuilén's killer as Rhydderch, the father of an abducted daughter raped by the king.
  There is reason to suspect that Cuilén's killer was a son of Dyfnwal ab Owain, King of Strathclyde (died 975). Although there is no specific evidence that Rhydderch was himself a king, the fact that Cuilén was involved with his daughter, coupled with the fact that his warband was evidently strong enough to overcome that of Cuilén, suggests that Rhydderch must have been a man of eminent standing. At about the time of Cuilén's demise, a granddaughter of Dyfnwal could well have been in her teens or twenties, and it is possible that the recorded events refer to a visit by the King of Alba to the court of the King of Strathclyde. Such a visit may have taken place in the context of Cuilén exercising his lordship over the Britons. His dramatic death suggests that the Scots severely overstepped the bounds of hospitality, and could indicate that Rhydderch was compelled to fire his own hall. Certainly, such killings are not unknown in Icelandic and Irish sources. The Lothian placename of West Linton appears as Lyntun Ruderic in the twelfth century. The fact that the place name seems to refer to a man named Rhydderch could indicate that this was the place where Cuilén and Eochaid met their end. Another way in which Cuilén may have met his end concerns the record of his father's earlier seizure of Edinburgh preserved by the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba. The fact that this conquest would have likely included at least part of Lothian, coupled with the evidence locating Cuilén's demise to the same area, could indicate that Cuilén was slain in the midst of exercising overlordship of this contested territory. If so, the records that link Rhydderch with the regicide could reveal that this wronged father exploited Cuilén's vulnerable position in the region, and that Rhydderch seized the opportunity to avenge his daughter.
  Although the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba reports that Dub's brother, Cináed mac Maíl Choluim (died 995), was the next King of Alba, Irish sources—such as royal genealogies, the fourteenth-century Annals of Tigernach, and the Annals of Ulster—appear to reveal that Amlaíb possessed the kingship before his death at Cináed's hands. Whilst Cináed may well have initially succeeded to the kingship, it seems that Amlaíb was able to mount a successful—if only temporary—bid for the throne. Certainly, the aforesaid annal-entries style Amlaíb a king and accord Cináed a mere patronymic name. Amlaíb's tenure is not attested by any Scottish ki
caption: The name of Cuilén's brother, Amlaíb mac Illuilb, as it appears on folio 15r of Oxford Bodleian Library MS Rawlinson B 488 (the Annals of Tigernach): "Amlaim mac Illuilb".[68] Amlaíb seems to have held the kingship between 971/976–977.[69]
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