kingdom · British Isles

Kingdom of Atholl

600 CE – 900 CE (approx.)

A Pictish kingdom in the central Highlands whose name, 'New Ireland', hints at Gaelic influence, later a Scottish earldom.

Origins

Atholl, Athfotla, appears in Irish annals from the 8th century, when a king of Atholl was drowned by Oengus son of Fergus, king of the Picts, in 739. The name is usually interpreted as 'New Ireland', suggesting Gaelic settlement or influence in the Pictish highlands of Perthshire. Fotla is also one of the seven Pictish provinces.

Rule and society

Atholl seems to have had its own kings within the Pictish overkingship. Its lands in the valleys of the Tay, Tummel and Garry were pastoral and thinly peopled. Dunkeld, on its edge, became a major church centre in the 9th century.

Decline and legacy

Atholl was absorbed into the Kingdom of Scotland as a mormaerdom and later an earldom. Crinan, abbot of Dunkeld and father of King Duncan I, is sometimes linked with Atholl, and its later earls descended from Duncan's family.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Lineage

Kingdom of AthollKingdom of Scotland 843 CE – 1707 CE

Connections (1)

More states of British Isles →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Kingdom of Atholl. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-atholl
MLA
“Kingdom of Atholl.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-atholl. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Kingdom of Atholl.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-atholl.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Kingdom of Atholl’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-atholl (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻