Here we take a look back to the first Gaelic kingdom in Scotland and their tribal origins.  I discuss the leading kindreds of Dal Riata: Cenel nGabrain, Cenel Loairn, Cenel nOengusa, and Cenel Comgaill.  How do the clans of Scotland that we are familiar with tie back to these tribes?  Is it from these kindreds that Scotland was to inherit their kin-based society?

Dal Riata occupied the territory that today is called Argyll, Lorne, and the Inner Hebrides.  Their kings were centered on Dunadd.  Their kin-based society may have been the source for that characteristic in the later kingdom of Scotland.  The Vikings were probably the cause of the end of this kingdom.  Rather than just give up, the leading kindreds of Dal Riata moved east.  They had already intermarried with the Pictish royal families.  This combined lineage produced the kings of the kingdom of Alba. 

The MacDuffs claim descent from this fusion of royal houses.  Clans that claim descent from the MacDuffs include several from Clan Chattan (Macintosh, MacThomas, Shaw of Rothiemurchus, and Farquharson), Wemyss, and Scrymgour.