
The Picts
PICTS (THE). Many conjectures have been hazarded as to
the derivation of the term Pict; but of this there can be
no doubt, that the Picts were Celts, and that they were
no other than a part of the race of the ancient
Caledonians under another name. Of the twenty-one
distinct tribes which inhabited Korth Britain, at the
time of the Roman invasion, the most powerful was that of
the Caledonii, or Caledonians, who inhabited the whole of
the interior country, from the ridge of mountains which
separates Inverness and Perth on the south, to the range
of hills that formed the forest of Balnagowan in Ross on
the north, comprehending all the middle parts of
Inverness and of Ross; but in process of time the whole
population of North Britain were designated by the
generic appellation of Caledonians, though occasionally
distinguished by some classic writers, proceeding on
fanciful notions, by the various names of Mæatæ,
Dicaledones, Vecturiones, and Picti. At the time of the
Roman abdication, the Caledonians, or Picts were under
the sway of a chieftain, named Drust, the son of Erp,
who, for his prowess in his various expeditions against
the Roman provincials, has been honoured by the Irish
Annalists, with the name of 'Drust of the hundred
battles.' History, however, has not done him justice, for
it has left little concerning him on record. In fact,
little is known of the Pictish history for upwards of one
hundred years, immediately after the Roman abdication.
Although some ancient chronicles afford us lists of the
Pictish kings, or princes, a chronological table of whom,
according to the best authorities, is here subjoined:
TABLE OF THE PICTISH KINGS.
|
Names and Filiations |
Period of their Deaths. |
1 |
Drust, the son of Erp |
451 |
2 |
Talore, the son of Aniel |
455 |
3 |
Naeton Morbet, the son of Erp |
480 |
4 |
Drest Gurthinmoch |
610 |
5 |
Galanau Etelich |
522 |
6 |
Dadrest |
523 |
7 |
Drest, the son nf Girom |
524 |
|
Drest, the son of Wdrest, with the
former |
529 |
|
Drest, the son ot Girom, alone |
534 |
8 |
Gartuarch, the son of Girom |
541 |
9 |
Gealtraim, the son of Girom |
542 |
10 |
Talorg, the son of Muircholaich |
553 |
11 |
Drest, the son of Munait |
554 |
12 |
Galam, with Aleph |
555 |
|
Galam, with Bridei |
556 |
13 |
Bridei, the son of Maileon |
586 |
14 |
Gartnaich, the son of Domelech |
597 |
15 |
Nectu, the nephew of Verb |
617 |
16 |
Cineoch, the son of Luthrin |
636 |
17 |
Garnard, the son of Wid |
640 |
18 |
Bridei, the son of Wid |
645 |
19 |
Talorc, their brother |
657 |
20 |
Tallorcan, the son of Enfret |
661 |
21 |
Gartnait, the son of Donnel |
667 |
22 |
Drest, his brother |
674 |
23 |
Bridei, the son of Bili |
695 |
24 |
Taran, the son of Entifidich |
699 |
25 |
Bridei, the son of Dereli |
710 |
26 |
Nechton, the son of Dereli |
725 |
27 |
Drest, and Elpin |
730 |
28 |
Ungus, the son of Urguis |
761 |
29 |
Bridei, the son of Urguis |
763 |
3O |
Ciniod, the son of Wredech |
775 |
31 |
Elpin, the son of Bridei |
779 |
32 |
Drest, the son of Talorgan |
784 |
33 |
Talorgan, the son of Ungus |
786 |
34 |
Canaul, the son of Tarli |
791 |
35 |
Constantin, the son of Urguis |
821 |
36 |
Ungus (Hungus), the son of Urguis |
833 |
37 |
Drest, the son of Constantin, and Talorgan, the son of Wthoil |
836 |
38 |
Uen, the son of Ungus |
839 |
39 |
Wrad, the son of Bargoit |
842 |
40 |
Bred |
843 |
We have already observed that little is known of Pictish
history for more than a hundred years after the Roman
abdication; but at the time of the accession of Bridei in
556 to the Pictish throne, some light is let in upon that
dark period of the Pictish annals. The reign of that
prince was distinguished by many warlike exploits, but
above all by his conversion and that of his people to
Christianity, which indeed formed his greatest glory. His
chief contests were with the Scoto-Irish or Dalriads,
whom he defeated in 557. Passing over a domestic
conflict, at Lindores in 621, under Cineoch the son of
Luthrin, and the trifling battle of Ludo-Feirn in 663
among the Picts themselves, we must notice the important
battle of Dun-Nechtan, fought in the year 685, between
the Picts under Bridei; son of Bili, and the Saxons under
the Northumbrian Egfrid. The Saxon king, it is said,
attacked the Picts without provocation, and against the
advice of his court. Crossing the Forth from Lothian —the
Bernicia of that age -he entered Strathearn and
penetrated
through the defiles of the Pictish kingdom, leaving fire
and desolation in his train. His career was stopped at
Dun-Nechtan, 'the hill-fort of Nechtan,' the Dunnichen of
the present times; and by a neighbouring lake long known
by the name of Nechtan's mere, did Egfrid and his Saxons
fall before Bridei and his exasperated Picts. The Picts
were, however, finally defeated by the Saxons, in 710,
under Beorthfryth, in Mananfield, when Bridei, the
Pictish king, was killed. The wars between the Picts and
Northumbrians were succeeded by various contests for
power among the Pictish princes, which gave rise to a
civil war. Ungus, honoured by the Irish Annalists with
the title of Great, and Elpin, at the head of their
respective partisans, tried their strength at Moncrib, in
Strathearn, in the year 727, when the latter was
defeated. The conflict was renewed at Duncrei, when
victory declared a second time against Elpin, who was
obliged to flee from the hostility of Ungus. Nechtan next
tried his strength with Ungus, in 728, at Moncur, in the
Carse of Gowrie, but he was defeated, and many of his
followers perished. Ungus, who was certainly by far the
most powerful and ablest of the Pictish monarchs, died in
761. A doubtful victory was gained by Ciniod the Pictish
king over Aodh-fin, the Scottish king, in 767. Up to this
period, the pirate kings of the northern seas —or the
Vikingr, as they were termed —had confined their ravages
to the Baltic; but, in the year 787, they for the first
time appeared on the east coast of England. Some years
afterwards they found their way to the Caledonian shores,
and during the 9th century they ravaged the Hebrides. In
839, the Vikingr entered the Pictish territories. A
murderous conflict ensued between them and the Picts
under Uen their king, in which both he and his only
brother Bran, as well as many of the Pictish chiefs,
fell. This event hastened the downfall of the Pictish
monarchy: and as the Picts were unable to resist the arms
of Kenneth, the Scottish king, he carried into execution,
in the year 843, a project he had long entertained, of
uniting the Scots and Picts, and placing both crowns on
his head.(1)
{1 The ridiculous story about the total extermination of
the Picts by the Scots has long since been exploded. They
were recognised as a distinct people even in the 10th
century, but before the 12th they lost their
characteristic nominal distinction by being amalgamated
with the Scots, their conquerors.}
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