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Alpin, his father, of whom nothing is known, was the first in the line of Scottish Monarchs. Kenneth, although never truly crowned a king of Scotland, was more responsible for the creation of Scotland by uniting the Scots and the Picts, which was often known as simply SCOTIA but more commonly as ALBA.
What happened to the Pictish Kingdom is still a mystery, but legend would have it that Kenneth spent many an evening inviting the Pictish Royals to huge feasts of wine and meat, and then killing them off as they ate. Historians may argue though, that the Picts actually demised due to the warring nature of the Scots, and that the Gaelic Language from then took over, and the Picts slowly became part of what is now Scotland.
Kenneth 1 died of Cancer in 859, leaving his new Scottish Kingdom to his Brother Donald.
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Who would rule after the death of a King, in those days, was confusing. Anyone close to the King could take over as the right of birth had not been established. It was custom for a King to 'name' the next in line, but this was not always convenient, and bloody and jealous wars would usually decide who would become King.
Donald's short rule was not in vain, and before his suspicious death in 863, he managed to further Kenneth's attempts at enforcing law, and helped secure future rule across the land. Despite his attempts, no less than 10 of the 14 Kings who ruled ALBA during the period 943 - 1097 were murdered, and only then was the birth right of rule accepted.
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Constantine was a warring King. During his reign he spent most of his days fighting off the Vikings, or trying to expand his kingdom to the south. In 872 his assassination of 'Run', King of Strathclyde, his brother-in-law, caused the southern regions of what is now Scotland, to become part of his own ALBA.
864 saw the rampage of the Norsemen, led by 'Olaf the White' from Dublin. Swiftly defeated by Constantine the Norsemen relaxed their threats on him, until led by 'Thorsten the Red' , they were again defeated by King Constantine.
Although very confident in battle, Constantine often resorted to tactics of bribes and pay-off's to his rivals, in order to keep the peace, a method later employed by the English Royals, namely King 'Ethelred the Unready' in the year 1000. Constantine finally met his match, when a raiding party of Norsmen, from Dublin, known as the 'Black Strangers', (eventually known as the MacDougall) made a base for themselves in Fife, from which they launched their attacks. It was during one of these attacks that Constantine was killed.
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Aed succeeded Constantine 1, but had only held the throne for about a year when he was killed by his cousin Giric, also known as Gregory the Great, at Strathallan.
Not much is known of Aed, or even if he was actually the one named by Constantine to hold the throne.
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After Giric had killed his cousin Aed, he assumed the thrown alongside Eochaid, and the two ruled jointly. There is very little detail about these two Kings, and nothing is known of their personal lives.
How these two managed and ruled the land is a mystery, but in 889 they were both deposed and Giric was killed at Dundurn in Perthshire.
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After the death of Eochaid and Giric, the care-taking of the throne see-sawed between two descendants of the sons of Kenneth MacAlpin, Constantine I and Aed. Constantine's son Donald II emerged as ruler, and he didn't pick the best time to be King. The Danish, led by 'Sigurd the Mighty', had conquered the whole of the north of Scotland . Sigurd claimed the lands, slew his adversary 'Melbrigda Tonn', cut off his head, and ceremoniously hung it from his saddle. This proved to be a fatal mistake. The severed head bounced against Sigurds leg, a tooth from the head cut his leg, and caused him to die from blood poisoning. From then on, ' Melbrigda Tonn' was known as 'The Tooth'.
Donald II, spent most of his reign fending off the Danish, from the north (formerly led by Sigurd), and the from the south (led by the Danish leader 'Guthrum'), and died near Forres in 900. Some say he was poisoned.