The Northern Tapestry

Exploring the sagas and stories that link medieval Iceland, Scandinavia and the northern British Isles

Ortelius Map reproduced with permission from Vintage Maps

Blog

  • Bad Weather, Bad Omens

    In the years following the death of Onuist, King of Picts, in 761, the sources contain much less about Pictish affairs than we saw in the first half of the century. However any gaps seem to be filled with descriptions of the weather – and particularly bad weather – along with astrological and natural or Read more

  • A Very Short Interlude Across the North Sea

    In the early 8th century the kingdoms of Norway, Denmark and Sweden did not exist as they do now. The area we refer to as Scandinavia consisted of various groups of people, with perhaps the bulk of then falling into a category which has been labelled as Norse and Danish. The languages they spoke would Read more

  • Picts, Britons and Anglo-Saxons: The Supremacy of Onuist, Part II

    By the year 741, the land north of the Forth-Clyde line, including that of the Dal Riadan Scots, was under the authority of Onuist, King of the Picts. To the south lay the territories of the two other powers of the time: the Northumbrian English and the Strathclyde Britons. This post will take a brief Read more

  • Picts and Gaels: The Supremacy of Onuist, Part I

    In 723, finally successful after years of striving to become overking of Dal Riada, Selbach had been the latest ruler to enter a clerical life. We last mentioned him in the post Nechtan mac Derilei: King Naiton of the Picts just as he handed over power to his son Dungal, before moving on to events Read more

  • “Tearful and Miserable”: The End of the War

    The Pictish Civil War Part IV At the start of the year 728, the leader with the most authority in the Pictish nation(s) appears to have been Elpin. As we saw at the end of the last post, the previous King Naiton had retired to a religious life in 724 and the kingship passed to Read more

  • Did King Naiton jump into the monastery, or was he pushed?

    The Pictish Civil War Part III The last post ended with the abdication of Naiton, King of the Picts in 724 and with the question: did he jump or was he pushed? To answer that we need to look at his successor (or successors). First we are introduced to someone known as Drust (or Drest) Read more