Picts
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Iona and the Vikings
The island of Iona lies on the edge of Scotland. Its eastern side is less than a mile from the south-western tip of the isle of Mull, and if you were to sail due west from the other side, the next piece of land would not be encountered for some 2,000 miles (one of the Continue reading
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Constantin, son of Uurguist/son of Fergus
My recent article, Kings in the North, noted that at the time of the first “Viking” onslaught (see also Arrival of the Northmen), Constantin son of Uurguist was the king of Picts while there was less certainty around what was happening in Dal Riada. A little further south in Northumbria, Aethelred, son of Aethelwald Moll, Continue reading
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Arrival of the Northmen
The portentous weather and astronomical events we looked at in Bad Weather, Bad Omens continued into the last decade of the 8th century with what is perhaps the most infamous of all happening in the year 793. Recounted in a number of sources[1] the gist is that there were flashes of fire in the skies Continue reading
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Kings in the North
The Northern Monarchies in the late 8th Century. In the last article I looked at some of the descriptions of bad weather and bad omens from the second half of the 8th century in northern Britain. This post will look at the political landscape during that time, not an easy task with the Irish Annals Continue reading
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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 Continue reading
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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 Continue reading
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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 Continue reading
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“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 Continue reading
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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) Continue reading
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Nechtan mac Derilei: King Naiton of the Picts
The Pictish Civil War Part II As set out in last post on here, the figure generally known as Nechtan became in 706 the second of Derilei’s sons to sit on the Pictish throne. Unlike his brother, Bridei, he is described in the sources as king of Picts (not Fortriu)[1]. The name Nechtan is the Continue reading
The Northern Tapestry 