before the eleventh century. The scribe should have written rex Alo Chluaide, ‘the
king of the Rock of the Clyde [Dumbarton]’ (Stokes 1993 , vol. 1 : 253 and n. 1 ).(c) Annales Cambriae and Brenhinoedd y Saeson, 850 :
AC (B) Cengen a Gentilibus occisus est.
‘Cyngen was killed by Heathens.’
ByS (P).. .laðawð y paganyeid Gyngen.
‘... the pagans killed Cyngen.’
ByS (R) Ac y tagwyt Kyngen y gan y <K>enedloed.
‘And Cyngen was strangled by the Heathens.’
ByS (S).. .y llas Kyngen y gan y wyr ehun.
‘... Cyngen was killed by his own men.’The Latin source-text makes the meaning plain (Dumville 2002 b: 10 – 11 ). It
was translated into Welsh (Dumville 2005 : 22 – 3 ) with stylistic freedom in P.
The redactor of R preferred a different verb (a literal translation of iugulauit)
and a closer rendering of Gentilibus. The redactor of S misunderstood kenedloed as
‘kinsmen’ (an analogous example is in 903 / 901 : Dumville 2002 b: 14 – 15 ; 2005 :
32 – 3 ) and altered the wording to make the abandonment of heathen vikings
explicit (as he also tried, but then failed, to do in 950. 2 ; Dumville 2005 : 40 – 1 ). By
this last version, the vikings in question had escaped blame by a few strokes of the
pen.(d) ‘The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba’ (extending from the 840 s to the 970 s) contains
examples of annal-entries where vikings remain but where kings of Alba whom they
probably killed have disappeared from the text (Dumville 2000 : 81 ).
In sum, textual corruption over centuries of copying the chronicle-record could lead
to various distortions of vikings’ activities, with no certain indication that this led to a
better or a worse press for them. Slogans and twisted syllogisms cannot usefully be
extracted from the overall evidence of Insular chronicles.
BIBLIOGRAPHYAbegg, D. ( 1894 ) Zur Entwicklung der historischen Dichtung bei den Angelsachsen, Strassburg:
Karl J. Truebner.
Abrams, L. ( 1997 ) ‘The conversion of the Scandinavians of Dublin’, Anglo-Norman Studies,
20 : 1 – 29.
Ahlqvist, A. ( 2005 ) ‘Is acher in gaíth... úa Lothlind’, CSANA Yearbook, 3 – 4 : 19 – 27.
Albrectsen, E. (trans.) ( 1986 ) To tidlige engelske Krøniker, Odense: Odense Universitetsforlag.
Amory, F. ( 1980 ) ‘The dönsk tunga in early medieval Normandy: a note’, in K. Klar et al. (eds)
American Indian and Indoeuropean Studies. Papers in Honor of Madison S. Beeler, The Hague:
Mouton.
Ashdown, M. ( 1919 – 27 ) ‘The attitude of the Anglo-Saxons to their Scandinavian invaders’,
Saga-book of the Viking Society for Northern Research, 10 : 75 – 99.
Bolton, T. ( 2005 ) ‘English political refugees at the court of Sveinn Ástríðarson, king of Denmark
( 1042 – 76 )’, Mediaeval Scandinavia, 15 : 17 – 36.
–– chapter 26: Vikings in Insular chronicling––