The Cruthin were a people of early medievalIreland. 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 Priteni, an ancient name for the Celtic Britons, and was sometimes used to refer to the Picts. However, there is a debate among scholars as to the relationship of the Cruthin with the Britons and Picts. The Cruthin comprised a number of túatha, which included the Dál nAraidi of County Antrim and the Uí Echach Cobo of County Down. Early sources distinguish between the Cruthin and the Ulaid, who gave their name to the over-kingdom, although the Dál nAraidi would later claim in their genealogies to be na fír Ulaid, "the true Ulaid". 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 stopped using the term Cruithne in favour of the term Dál nAraidi, who had secured their over-kingship of the Cruthin.
Etymology
In medieval Irish writings, the name is variously spelt Cruthin, Cruithin, Cruthini, Cruthni, Cruithni or Cruithini. It is thought to relate to the Irish word cruth, meaning "form, figure, shape". The name is believed to derive from *Qritani, a Goidelic/Q-Celtic version of the Brittonic/P-Celtic *Pritani. Pytheas referred to the old P-Celtic name as 'Pretannia', which was later latinized as Britanni, the Roman name for the Celtic Britons. It is suggested that Cruthin was not what the people called themselves, but was what their neighbours called them. The name Cruthin survives in the placenames Duncrun and Drumcroon in County Londonderry, and Ballycrune and Crown Mound in County Down. These placenames are believed to mark the edges of Cruthin territory.
Relationship to the Picts
Early Irish writers used the name Cruthin to refer to both the north-eastern Irish group and to the Picts of Scotland. Likewise, the Scottish Gaelic word for a Pict is Cruithen or Cruithneach, and for Pictland is Cruithentúath. It has thus been suggested that the Cruthin and Picts were the same people or were in some way linked. Professor T. F. O'Rahilly wrote that the Qritani/Pritani were "the earliest inhabitants of these islands to whom a name can be assigned". It has also been suggested that Cruthin was a name used to refer to all the Britons who were not conquered by the Romans – those who lived outside Roman Britain, north of Hadrian's Wall. Other scholars disagree, pointing out that although Cruthin was used to translate Picti into Irish, Picti was never used to translate Cruthin into Latin. 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 has said 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.
was a Gaelic kingdom that included parts of western Scotland and northeastern Ireland. The Irish part of the kingdom lay in the middle of Cruthin territory. Historian Alex Woolf has suggested that the Dál Riata were a part of the Cruthin, and that they were descended from the Epidii.
Modern culture
In modern times, some Unionist writers in Northern Ireland—in particular Ian Adamson—have seen the Cruthin as an ancient reflection of their own northern separatism and affinity with Britain. In his 1974 book Cruthin: The Ancient Kindred, Adamson argues that the Cruthin settled Ireland before the Gaels; that the two groups were at war for centuries, seeing the tales of the Ulster Cycle as representations of this; and that many of the Cruthin were driven to Scotland after their defeat in the battle of Moira, only for their descendants to return to Ireland in the 17th centuryPlantation of Ulster. Historians reject his interpretations, with some accusing him of creating a sectarian narrative in which Ulster Protestants have a prior to claim to Ireland. Adamson denies this, claiming his interpretation of history offers "the hope of uniting the Ulster people at last". The asteroid 3753 Cruithne was named after the group. Robert E. Howard's pulp heroBran Mak Morn was characterised as "chief of the Cruithni Picts".
