[23] and Govan which straddle the River Clyde,[24] The realm's new hinterland appears to have encompassed the valley and the region of modern Renfrewshire, which may explain this change in terminology.

[45] The name of Dyfnwal's son Máel Coluim is Gaelic, and may be evidence of a marriage alliance between his family and the neighbouring royal Alpínid dynasty of the Scottish Kingdom of Alba.

[47] Although Dyfnwal's father may well be identical to the Cumbrian monarch recorded to have fought at the Battle of Brunanburh in 937,[48] the sources that note this king fail to identify him by name.

According to this source, when Cathróe left the realm of Custantín mac Áeda, King of Alba at about this time, he was granted safe passage through the lands of the Cumbrians by Dyfnwal because the two men were related.

[68][note 7] In 945, the "A" version of the eleventh- to thirteenth-century Annales Cambriæ,[73] and the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Brut y Tywysogyon reveal that the Cumbrian realm was wasted by the English.

[87] The close working relationship between Edmund and Máel Coluim mac Domnaill suggests that Amlaíb Cúarán was unlikely to have been harboured by the Scots during this period.

[88] Edmund's strike upon Dyfnwal's realm, therefore, seems to have been undertaken as a means to break a Cumbrian-Scandinavian alliance,[89] and to limit the threat of an insular Scandinavian counter offensive from the Forth-Clyde region.

[90] The southward expansion of the Cumbrian realm—an extension possibly enabled by the insular Scandinavian power—may have also factored into the invasion, with the English clawing back lost territories.

[105] Edmund was assassinated in 946, and succeeded by his brother Eadred, a monarch who soon after made a show of force against opposition in Northumbria,[107] and received a renewal of oaths from his Scottish counterpart.

[120] The fact that the acta of Edmund, Eadred, and Edgar fail to record the presence of Dyfnwal could be evidence of English rule over the Cumbrians, who may have been in turn administered by English-aligned agents.

[123] At some point during the latter's reign, the Scots permanently acquired Edinburgh from the English,[124] as partly evidenced by the ninth- to twelfth-century Chronicle of the Kings of Alba.

[125] Confirmation of this conquest seems to be preserved by the twelfth-century Historia regum Anglorum, a source which states that, during the reign of Edgar, King of the English, the Northumbrian frontier extended as far as the Tinæ, a waterway which seems to refer to the River Tyne in Lothian.

[127] Illulb's attack may be evidenced by passages preserved by the twelfth-century Prophecy of Berchán which not only note "woe" inflicted upon the Britons and English, but also the conquest of foreign territories by way of Scottish military might.

[136] The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba reports that the killer was a certain Rhydderch ap Dyfnwal, a man who slew Cuilén for the sake of his own daughter.

[142] According to the Prophecy of Berchán, Cuilén met his end whilst "seeking a foreign land", which could indicate that he was attempting to lift taxes from the Cumbrians.

[150] In any event, Cináed's invasion ended in defeat,[151] a fact which coupled with Cuilén's killing reveals that the Cumbrian realm was indeed a power to be reckoned with.

[155] According to the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba, Cináed constructed some sort of fortification on the River Forth, perhaps the strategically located Fords of Frew near Stirling.

[160] By the twelfth century, the eight kings began to be named and were alleged to have rowed Edgar down the River Dee, as evidenced by sources such as the twelfth-century texts Chronicon ex chronicis,[161] Gesta regum Anglorum,[162] and De primo Saxonum adventu,[163] as well as the thirteenth-century Chronica majora,[164] and both the Wendover[165] and Paris versions of Flores historiarum.

[166] One of the names in all these sources—specifically identified as a Welsh king by Gesta regum Anglorum, Chronica majora, and both versions of Flores historiarum—appears to refer to Dyfnwal.

[174][note 10] Although the latter accounts allege that the kings submitted to Edgar, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle merely states that they came to an agreement of cooperation with him, and thus became his efen-wyrhtan ("co-workers", "even-workers", "fellow-workers").

According to the same source, when Edmund let Cumbria to Máel Coluim mac Domnaill, he had done so on the condition that the latter would be his mid-wyrhta ("co-worker", "even-worker", "fellow-worker", "together-wright").

[177] Less reliable non-contemporary sources such as De primo Saxonum adventu,[178] both the Wendover[179] and Paris versions of Flores historiarum,[180] and Chronica majora allege that Edgar granted Lothian to Cináed in 975.

[181] If this supposed grant formed a part of the episode at Chester, it along with the concord of 945 could indicate that the assembly of 975 was not a submission as such, but more of a conference concerning mutual cooperation along the English borderlands.

[187] Considering the fact that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle numbers the kings at six, if Cináed was indeed present, it is unlikely that his rival, Cuilén's brother Amlaíb mac Illuilb, was also in attendance.

[188] Maccus and Gofraid are recorded to have devastated Anglesey at the beginning of the decade,[194] which could indicate that Edgar's assembly was undertaken as a means to counter the menace posed by these energetic insular Scandinavians.

[198] Edgar may have wished to not only rein in men such as Maccus and Gofraid, but prevent them—and the Scots and Cumbrians—from affiliating themselves with Amlaíb Cúarán, and recognising the latter's authority in the Irish Sea region.

[208] These sources are corroborated by Welsh texts such as the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Brenhinedd y Saesson,[209] and Brut y Tywysogyon, with the latter stating that Dyfnwal died in Rome having received the tonsure.

In fact, the upheaval caused by the absence of the English and Cumbrian kings could well have contributed to Cináed's final elimination of Amlaíb mac Illuilb in 997.

[217][note 13] If Máel Coluim was indeed king in 973, Dyfnwal's role at the assembly may have been that of an 'elder statesman' of sorts—possibly serving as an adviser or mentor—especially considering his decades of experience in international affairs.

[231] By the end of the seventeenth century, it was claimed that the place name marked the site of "a great heap of Stones call'd Dunmail-Raise-Stones, suppos'd to have been cast up by Dunmail K. of Cumberland for the Bounds of his Kingdom".