Medieval Gaelic in the context of "Kenneth I"

Kenneth MacAlpin (Medieval Gaelic: Cináed mac Ailpin; Scottish Gaelic: Coinneach mac Ailpein; 810 – 13 February 858) or Kenneth I was King of Dál Riada (841–850), and King of the Picts (848–858), of likely Gaelic origin. According to the traditional account, he inherited the throne of Dál Riada from his father Alpín mac Echdach, founder of the Alpínid dynasty. Kenneth I conquered the kingdom of the Picts in 843–850 and began a campaign to seize all of Scotland and assimilate the Picts, for which he was posthumously nicknamed An Ferbasach ("The Conqueror"). He fought the Britons of the Kingdom of Strathclyde and the invading Vikings from Scandinavia. Forteviot became the capital of his kingdom and Kenneth relocated relics, including the Stone of Scone from the abandoned abbey on Iona, to his new domain.

Kenneth I is traditionally considered the founder of Scotland, which was then known as Alba in Gaelic, although like his immediate successors, he bore the title of King of the Picts. It was Donald II that first bore the title of King of Alba as recorded by the Annals of Ulster and the Chronicon Scotorum. One chronicle calls Kenneth the first Scottish lawgiver but there is no information about the laws he passed.

William the Lion (Scottish Gaelic: Uilleam an Leòmhann), sometimes styled William I (Uilleam MacEanraig; Medieval Gaelic: Uilliam mac Eanric) and also known by the nickname Garbh, 'the Rough' (c. 1142 – 4 December 1214), reigned as King of Alba from 1165 to 1214. His almost 49-year-long reign was the longest for a Scottish monarch before the Union of the Crowns in 1603.

Malcolm IV (Medieval Gaelic: Máel Coluim mac Eanric; Scottish Gaelic: Maol Chaluim mac Eanraig), nicknamed Virgo, "the Maiden" (between 23 April and 24 May 1141 – 9 December 1165) was King of Scotland from 1153 until his death. He was the eldest son of Henry, Earl of Huntingdon and Northumbria (died 1152) and Ada de Warenne. The original Malcolm Canmore, a name now associated with his great-grandfather Malcolm III (Máel Coluim mac Donnchada), he succeeded his grandfather David I, and shared David's Anglo-Norman tastes.

Called Malcolm the Maiden by later chroniclers, a name which may incorrectly suggest weakness or effeminacy to modern readers, he was noted for his religious zeal and interest in knighthood and warfare. For much of his reign, he was in poor health and died unmarried at the age of twenty-four.