Picts, Gaels and ScotsEarly historic Scotland from the fifth to the tenth century AD was home to a variety of diverse peoples and cultures, all competing for land and supremacy. Yet by the eleventh century, it had become a single, unified kingdom, known as Alba, under a stable and successful monarchy. How did this happen, and when? At the heart of this mystery lies the extraordinary influence of the Picts and of their neighbours, the Gaels originally immigrants from