After Cuilén's assassination, the kingship of Alba may have been assumed by another member of Clann Áeda meic Cináeda, Cináed mac Maíl Choluim, a man who appears to have launched a retaliatory raid against the Cumbrians.

[15] Illulb was, in turn, a son of Custantín mac Áeda, King of Alba (died 952), a man who possessed strong connections with the Scandinavian dynasty of Dublin.

[24] Further evidence of Scandinavian influence on the contemporary Scottish court may be a possible epithet accorded to Cuilén by the ninth to twelfth century Chronicle of the Kings of Alba.

[30] Cuilén and his immediate family were members of the ruling Alpínid dynasty, the patrilineal descendants of Cináed mac Ailpín, King of the Picts (died 858).

[33] For example, Illulb's father – a member of the Clann Áeda meic Cináeda branch of the dynasty – succeeded Domnall mac Causantín (died 900) – a member of the Clann Custantín meic Cináeda branch – and following a reign of forty years resigned the kingship to this man's son, Máel Coluim mac Domnaill (died 954).

[36] The record of Illulb's fall at the hands of an invading Scandinavian host is the last time Irish and Scottish sources note Viking encroachment into the kingdom.

Unlike English monarchs who had to endure Viking depredations from the 980s to the 1010s, the kings of Alba were left in relative peace from about the time of Illulb's fall.

[56] According to the so-called "X" group of king lists, Dub was killed at Forres and his body was hidden under a bridge at Kinloss during a solar eclipse.

[57] The account of Dub's death preserved by the fifteenth century Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland,[58] and Chronica gentis Scotorum also associate the king's fall with an eclipse.

[62] There is reason to suspect that the inscriptions displayed upon Sueno's Stone, alongside the Kinloss road at Forres, commemorate the final defeat and death of Dub.

This source states that Cuilén was killed at "Loinas",[77] a placename which seems to refer to either Lothian or The Lennox,[78] both plausible locations for an outbreak of hostilities between Scots and Britons.

According to this source, Cuilén met his end whilst "seeking a foreign land", which could indicate that he was attempting to lift taxes from the Cumbrians.

His dramatic death suggests that the Scots severely overstepped the bounds of hospitality,[91] and could indicate that Rhydderch was compelled to fire his own hall.

[93] Another way in which Cuilén may have met his end concerns the record of his father's earlier seizure of Edinburgh preserved by the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba.

[71] Although the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba reports that Dub's brother, Cináed mac Maíl Choluim (died 995), was the next King of Alba,[95] Irish sources – such as royal genealogies,[96] the fourteenth century Annals of Tigernach,[97] and the Annals of Ulster – appear to reveal that Amlaíb possessed the kingship before his death at Cináed's hands.

The fact that Amlaíb reigned after his brother's death likewise appears to indicate that he too played an important part in Cuilén's regime.

[108][note 8] In any event, Cináed's invasion ended in defeat,[109] a fact which coupled with Cuilén's killing reveals that the Kingdom of Strathclyde was indeed a power to be reckoned with.

[114] After an apparent two decade lull in the aforesaid Alpínid kin-strife,[115] Cuilén's son, Custantín (died 997), eventually became king after Cináed's assassination in 995.

[123][note 10] If Máel Coluim mac Cuiléin was indeed a son of Cuilén, this attestation could reveal that he represented Clann Áeda meic Cináeda for a time during Cináed's reign (971–995).

[125] The rotating succession of the Alpínid dynasty was similar to that practiced in Ireland by the Cenél nEógain and Clann Cholmáin branches of the Uí Néill, a dominant Irish kindred that monopolised the kingship of Tara between the eighth and tenth centuries.

[136] That the latter kindred was hostile to the men of the north may be evidenced by the record of Máel Coluim mac Domnaill's invasion of Moray preserved by the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba.

[139] On the other hand, the fact that king lists locate Dub's demise to Forres might indicate that Clann Custantín meic Cináeda was instead based in the north.

[140] Such a location may also be evidenced by the aforesaid deaths of the Abbot of Dunkeld and the satrap of Atholl, men who seem to have fallen supporting the cause of Cuilén against Dub.