This is the third of a trilogy of Dark Age and early Medieval Scottish history by Dr MacPhee. In it she uncovers the Irish origins of the Scots of Dalriada and describes their eventual union with the other three early kingdoms of fledgling Scotland, that of the Picts, the Britons and the Angles. By the time that the three princes of the royal MacErc dynasty of Scots from Irish Dal Riata had crossed the North Channel to found the new colony of Scottish Dal Riata in 501AD, the latter was beginning to overtake its Irish counterpart in importance, and was soon to become the beautiful independent kingdom of Scottish Dalriada --- an integral part of the widespread province of ancient Argyll. It is from this Dalriadic Irish culture, with its Gaelic Celtic language, that Scotland's identity originally sprang. Great names abound in this enthralling account, among them Dunadd Fort, the sacred isle of Iona, the charismatic Saint Columba, the warlord King Kenneth MacAlpin, Somerled "Hammer of the Norse", Glencoe, Culloden Moor and many others. The story of Dalriada is the very essence of the race and the land of the Scots.