Орта ғасырдағы Ирландия халқы: Крутин тайпасының тарихы

People of medieval Ireland

the asteroid named for this people

The Cruthin (; or Cruithni; label=[[Irish language ) were a people of early medieval Ireland. Their heartland was in Ulster and included parts of the present day counties of Antrim, Down and Londonderry. They are also said to have lived in parts of Leinster and Connacht. Their name is the Irish equivalent of *Pritanī, the reconstructed native name of the Celtic Britons, and Cruthin was sometimes used to refer to the Picts, but there is a debate among scholars as to the relationship of the Cruthin with the Britons and Picts. The Loígis, who gave their name to County Laois in Leinster, and the Sogain of Leinster and Connacht, are also claimed as Cruthin in early Irish genealogies. By 773 AD, the annals had stopped using the term Cruthin in favour of the term Dál nAraidi,). The singular form is Cruithen (modern Irish: Cruithean (modern Irish: Cruithneach), which is also used as a noun. Ancient Greek geographer Pytheas called the Celtic Britons the Pretanoí, which became Britanni in Latin. The name Cruthin survives in the placenames Duncrun (Dún Cruithean, "fort of the Cruthin") and Drumcroon (Droim Cruithean, "ridge of the Cruthin") in County Londonderry, and Ballycrune (Bealach Cruithean, "pass of the Cruthin") and Crown Mound (Áth Cruithean, "ford of the Cruthin") in County Down. These placenames are believed to mark the edges of Cruthin territory.

By the start of the historic period in Ireland in the 6th century, the over kingdom of Ulaid was largely confined to the east of the River Bann in north eastern Ireland. In 563, according to the Annals of Ulster, an apparent internal struggle amongst the Cruthin resulted in Báetán mac Cinn making a deal with the Northern Uí Néill, promising them the territories of Ard Eólairg (Magilligan peninsula) and the Lee, both west of the River Bann in County Londonderry. in 629, although Congal survived. The same year, the Cruthin king Mael Caích defeated Connad Cerr of the Dál Riata at Fid Eóin, but in 637 an alliance between Congal Cláen and Domnall Brecc of the Dál Riata was defeated, and Congal was killed, by Domnall mac Aedo of the northern Uí Néill at Mag Roth (Moira, County Down), establishing the supremacy of the Uí Neill in the north. In 681 another Dál nAraide king, Dúngal Eilni, and his allies were killed by the Uí Néill in what the annals call "the burning of the kings at Dún Cethirnn". The ethnic term "Cruthin" was by this stage giving way to the dynastic name of the Dál nAraide. The Annals record a battle between the Cruthin and the Ulaid at Belfast in 668, but the last use of the term is in 773, when the death of Flathruae mac Fiachrach, "rex Cruithne", is noted. The Pictish Chronicle names the first king of the Picts as the eponymous "Cruidne filius Cinge".

Early Irish writers used the name Cruthin to refer to both the north eastern Irish group and to the Picts of Scotland. It has thus been suggested that the Cruthin and Picts were the same people or were in some way linked. Other scholars disagree. Historian Francis John Byrne notes that although in Irish both groups were called by the same name, in Latin they had different names, with Picti being reserved for the Picts. Professor Dáibhí Ó Cróinín says the "notion that the Cruthin were 'Irish Picts' and were closely connected with the Picts of Scotland is quite mistaken", while Professor Kenneth H. Jackson wrote that the Cruthin "were not Picts, had no connection with the Picts, linguistic or otherwise, and are never called Picti by Irish writers". There is no archaeological evidence of a Pictish link and in archaeology the Cruthin are indistinguishable from their neighbours in Ireland. The records show that the Cruthin bore Irish names, spoke Irish and followed the Irish derbfine system of inheritance rather than the matrilineal system sometimes attributed to the Picts. His theory has been adopted by some Ulster loyalists and Ulster Scots activists to counter Irish nationalism, and was promoted by elements in the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). They saw this new 'origin myth' as "a justification for their presence in Ireland and for partition of the country". Historians, archaeologists and anthropologists have widely rejected Adamson's theory. Historian Peter Berresford Ellis likens it to Zionism. Much of Adamson's theories are based on the historical model put forward by Irish linguist T. F. O'Rahilly in 1946. Where Adamson differs is his claim that the Cruthin or Priteni were pre Celtic as opposed to Celts themselves. However, this model has since been refuted by authors such as Kenneth H. Jackson and John T. Koch. There is a lack of archaeological evidence for O'Rahilly's theory, and it was conclusively shown to be false in the landmark 2017 publication of the "Irish DNA Atlas", which sets out in great detail the genealogical history and modern day makeup of the British Isles. The asteroid 3753 Cruithne was named after the group. Robert E. Howard's pulp hero Bran Mak Morn was characterised as "chief of the Cruithni Picts".