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THE  PICTISH  NATION 

ITS  PEOPLE  &  ITS  CHURCH 


THE  PICTISH 
NATION 

ITS  PEOPLE  &  ITS 
CHURCH     •     BY 

ARCHIBALD  B.  SCOTT 

B.D.  AUTHOR  OF  S.  NINIAN 
APOSTLE  OF  THE  BRITONS 
PICTS,  ^c. 


T.  N.  FOULIS,  PUBLISHER, 
EDINBURGH  &  LONDON 


This' 

T.  N.  FOULIS 

LONDON  :  91  Great  Russell  Street,  W.C. 
EDINBURGH  :  15  Frederick  Street 

BOSTON  :  15  Ashburton  Place 

(Z.«  Ray  Phillips,  Agent) 

And  may  also  be  ordered  through  the  following  agencies, 

where  the  work  may  be  examined 

AUSTRALASIA  :  Messrs.  G.  J.  Hicks  &  Company,  Wellington, 

New  Zealand 

CAPE  COLONY  :  Markhams  Buildings,  Adderley  Street,  Cape  Town 

(C.  R.  Mellor) 

TORONTO  :  25  Richmond  Street  West 

iOx/ord  University  Press) 


First  edition  published  September  nineteen  hundred  and  eighteen 


Printed  in  Scotland  by 
R.  &  R.  Clark,  Ltd.,  Edinburgh 


10 
MY  FATHER  AND  MY  MOTHER 

AND    TO    THE    MEMORY    OF    MY    YOUNGEST    BROTHER 

WHO  DIED,  IN  1 916,  OF  WOUNDS  RECEIVED  IN  ACTION 

AND   SLEEPS    IN    FRANCE   WITH   OTHER  COMRADES  OF 

THE    1ST   CAMERON   HIGHLANDERS 


PREFACE 

A  HISTORY  of  the  Nation  and  Church  of  the 
Picts  is  centuries  overdue.  Others  have  contem- 
plated the  task;  but  they  shrank  from  it  almost  as 
soon  as  they  began  to  enter  the  maze  of  deliber- 
ately corrupted  versions  of  ancient  manuscripts, 
of  spurious  memoranda  introduced  into  ancient 
documents,  of  alleged  donations  to  Gaidheals  or 
Scots  of  what  had  been  Pictish  property,  and  of 
fabulous  claims  to  great  antiquity  made  for  pre- 
tended missions  of  the  Church  of  Rome  to  the 
Britons,  the  Picts,  and  the  Scots.  To  these  the 
late  Dr.  Wm.  F.  Skene  referred  when  he  stated, 
in  spite  of  his  regard  for  the  Scotic  ecclesiastics, 
that  'the fictitious  antiquity'  given  by  Roman  ec- 
clesiastics to  the  settlement  of  the  Scots  is  ac- 
companied hy'a  supposed  introduction  of  Christi- 
anity, by  Roman  ^g&nts,equally  devoid  of  historic 
foundation.'  Several  mediaeval  fabricators  of 
early  history  are  now  known  and  have  been  ex- 
posed. The  late  Bishop  Forbes  timidly  drew  at- 
tention to  the  fabulists  employed  by  the  prelates 
of  Armagh,  York,  and  Glasgow,  in  the  interests 
of  their  Sees  and  the  claims  of  their  Churches 
to  antiquity  and  primacy.  These  fabulists  were 
sometimes  more  honest  under  one  employer  than 
under  another.  When  Jocelinewrote  up  the  Life 
of  S.  Partick  for  Armagh,  he  was  much  less 
scrupulous  than  when  he  elaborated  the  ancient 
Life  of  S.  Kentigern;  because  in  the  latter  in- 

vii 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

stance  he  retained  much  that  is  valuable  from 
the  original  which  was  before  him. 

Consequently,  in  writing  an  Introduction  to 
the  H  istory  of  the  N  ation  and  Church  of  the  Picts, 
the  research  and  patience  have  at  times  been  ex- 
acting. 1 1  has  not  only  been  necessary,  where  poss- 
ible, to  get  back  to  ungarbled  original  sources, 
or  fragments  of  sources;  but,  where  these  have 
perished,  to  collect  and  to  compare  versions 
drawn  up  from  motives  not  often  historical,  and 
then  by  critical  examination,  and  elimination  of 
what  might  turn  out  to  be  mutually  destructive, 
or  unconfirmed,  to  get  close  up  to  what  had  been 
before  the  author  of  the  version.  Although,  for 
example,  there  is  more  than  one  version  of  the 
original  Pictish  Chronicle;  it  is  not  difficult  for  an 
equipped  and  experienced  student  to  isolate  what 
now  remains  of  the  original,  or  at  least  of  the 
oldest  versions,  and  even  to  tell  the  dialects  of 
Celtic  in  which  the  latter  were  written.  The 
mediaeval  hands  that  wrote  introduction  oradded 
information  to  this  Chronicle  have  not  always  re- 
vealed their  actual  identity  like  the  York  copyist 
of  the  most  valuable  of  the  manuscripts,  Robert 
de  Popilton;  but  it  is  nearly  always  possible  to 
tell  where  they  wrote,  with  what  motive  they 
wrote,  and  to  identify  the  source  or  sources  of 
their  additions,  when  they  had  any. 

In  connection  with  the  critical  examination 
and  comparison  of  documents,  and  the  identific- 
viii 


PREFACE 

ation  of  places,  referred  to  under  their  ancient 
names,  the  author  is  indebted  to  many  corre- 
spondents and  librarians  both  at  home  and  abroad. 

The  history  of  the  Pictish  Nation  and  Church 
does  not  provide  a  mere  pastime  for  antiquaries. 
It  has  a  modern  interest  and  value,  especially  to 
a  world  which  in  these  past  years  has  been  com- 
pelled to  contrast  the  spirit  of  the  Teutons  with 
the  soul  of  the  Celtic  peoples,  and  to  ask  the  ex- 
planation of  the  moral  gulf  between.  Men  have 
learned  in  these  latter  days  that  Culture  and 
Civilization  devoted  to  materialistic  ideals,  though 
wearing  Christianity  hypocritically  as  a  mask, 
may  suddenly  plunge  back  into  primeval  savag- 
ery. The  appreciation  of  the  Celtic  soul  is  more 
likely  to  grow  than  to  wane,  because  it  has  a 
natural  affinity  for  the  spiritual  and  moral  ideals 
of  decent  men  and  women. 

The  Picts  cherished  Culture  and  Civilization 
as  means  to  attain  moral  ideals.  They  believed 
in  the  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of 
men,  and  strove  that  personal  and  communal 
righteousness  should  be  recognized  as  necessities 
of  life  and  progress.  The  memories  of  the  heroic 
Pictish  Christian  leaders  proclaim  to  the  modern 
Church  that  it  is  false  to  Christ,  if  it  does  not  take 
pains  to  secure  that  His  Spirit  pervades  human 
life  and  governs  human  action.  Put  another  way, 
neither  sincerity  of  assent  to  theological  dogmas 
nor  abject  submission  to  alleged  apostolic  tradi- 

ix 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

tions  can  take  the  place  of  individual  conformity  to 
the  moral  standard  of  life  set  up  by  Jesus  Christ 
in  Himself  as  the  abiding  rule  for  all  mankind.  A 
study  of  the  Pictish  Church  cannot  but  have  a 
rousing  effect  on  the  modern  Church  with  its 
materialistic  ideals  of  success;  calling  it  back  from 
the  idolatry  of  Mammon,  and  from  theological  to 
ethical  and  evangelical  standards. 

At  the  time  when  the  Picts  ceased  to  continue 
as  an  undiluted  people,  independent,  organized, 
under  their  own  native  sovereigns,  they  were  no 
effete  and  decadent  nation.  They  were  the  same 
indomitable  soldiers  that  their  fathers  had  been 
when  freedom,  home,  and  country  were  assailed. 
They  knew  that  their  ancestors  had  thwarted  and 
baffled  the  legions  of  Imperial  Rome,  and  had 
swept  them  behind  the  Wall  of  Antonine  which 
remained  a  standing  monument  to  their  triumph. 
They  remembered  '  Dun-Nechtain,'  and  how 
their  fathers  had  smashed  the  last  great  army 
which  the  first  Teutons  sent  into  Pictland  that 
they  might  complete  the  conquest  of  Britain,  and 
how  they  had  left  but  a  handful  of  fugitives  to 
reach  the  safe  side  of  the  same  Wall  of  Antonine. 
That  liberty  and  the  maintenance  of  their  own 
nation  were  still  Pictish  ideals  in  the  eighth  cen- 
tury is  seen  in  the  way  that  the  Pictish  people  arose 
to  throw  back  into  the  sea  the  second  Teuton 
inrush,  known  as  the  Viking  invasions.  If  they 
failed,  it  was  through  no  cowardice,  and  no  sec- 


PREFACE 

tional  cry  of '  safety  first '  on  the  part  of  individual 
clans.  Their  clan-organization  was  broken ;  be- 
cause it  had  been  penetrated  simultaneously  in 
several  places  from  the  sea,  and  the  clans  were 
isolated  from  helping  one  another,  and  were  sub- 
dued singly.  '  Fortrenn,'  the  Pictish  kingdom  of 
the  Earn,  heroically  as  on  other  occasions  to  save 
Pictland,  lost  her  leaders  and  the  flower  of  the 
Pictish  army  in  a  vain  attempt  to  stem  the  con- 
centrated onrush  of  the  Teutons  in  mass.  Lead- 
ers, and  rank  and  file,  fell  fighting  like  brave 
men ;  there  was  no  effort  to  buy  off  the  Vikings 
in  the  humiliating  fashion  set  by  Constantine  II. 
Mac  Kenneth,  of  the  Scotic  dynasty.  Leaderless 
and  politically  disorganized,  the  Men  of  Earn 
might  have  saved  their  throne  for  native  rulers 
by  a  final  rally,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  results 
of  the  treacherous  rebellion  of  Alpin,  grandson  of 
Aed  Finn,  and  the  later  felon  blow  '  in  the  rear  ' 
of  the  national  Pictish  army  by  Kenneth  who,  to 
win  the  title  '  King  of  the  Picts,'  betrayed  the 
interests  of  the  Celtic  race.  In  those  days,  as  the 
following  pages  show,  the  Picts  lost  their  own 
leaders,  lost  their  system  of  clan-organization,  lost 
their  separate  existence ;  but  as  a  people  they 
continued  to  occupy  Pictland,  although  diluted 
by  the  incomers,  both  Teutons  and  Gaidheals  or 
Scots.  Their  national  name  became  eclipsed  by 
the  name  of  the  Scotic  ruling  caste.  That  they 
strove  to  leaven  Teutonic  savagery  is  evident 

b  jci 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

from  the  devoted  labours  of  the  Pictish  Cele  De, 
who  struggled  to  continue  the  ancient  Church, 
To  the  Pictish  blood  in  our  people,  in  spite  of 
Teutonic  dilution,  we  owe  the  love  of  freedom,  the 
love  of  Country,  and  the  love  of  Church,  as  much 
as  we  owe  it  to  the  blood  of  the  Gaidheals  or 
Scots.  That  is  why,  until  the  era  of  railways,  fam- 
ilies, villages,  and  even  small  towns  on  the  east 
coast,  or  in  the  midland  counties  of  Scotland,  were 
distinguished  by  strong  and  well-marked  Celtic 
characteristics,  although  their  speech  for  centuries 
had  been  the  Lowland  tongue. 

It  is  not  without  interest  at  the  present  time, 
that  after  the  ihird  westward  march  of  the  Teu- 
tons began  in  1 9 1 4,  Britain  again  being  one  of  the 
ultimate  objectives,  the  British  divisions  that 
most  gallantly  stemmed  and  threw  back  the  Teu- 
tonic armies  numbered  thousands  of  men  with 
Pictish  blood  in  their  veins,  in  Lowland  as  well  as 
in  Highland  regiments,  who  fought  with  the 
ancient  Pictish  spirit  like  their  ancestors  who, 
twice  before,  opposed  themselves  to  Teutonic 
savageryindefence  of  freedom,  civilization,  home, 
and  Christianity.  This  time,  they  did  not  stand 
alone  ;  but  were  federated  in  a  great  array  of  the 
descendants  of  Celtic  peoples,  their  kin  and  allies 
— the  Britons  of  the  west  of  Britain,  the  Scots 
or  Gaidheals  both  of  Dalriada  and  Ireland,  exiled 
Celts  from  Canada  and  beyond  the  Seven  Seas, 
the  Belgae,  the  Gauls  and  Bretons  of  France,  and 
xii 


PREFACE 

soldiers  of  mixed  Moorishand  Celtic  blood,  living 
reminiscences  of  the  ancient  Celtic  migration 
into  the  north-western  corner  of  Africa. 

Amazing  as  Teutonic  'frightfulness'  has  been 
to  the  civilized  people  of  the  present  day;  it  is 
not  a  new  phase  of  Teutonic  brutality.  The  Picts 
saw  it,  suffered  from  it,  survived  it,  during  the 
invasions  of  the  Teutonic  Vikings.  The  Kultured 
Germans  of  the  twentieth  century  have  been 
scientific,  but  slavish  imitators  of  the  eighth- 
century  Viking  sea-sots.  The  gallant  descendants 
of  the  Belgae  have  seen  and  suffered  no  novelty 
in  savagery  that  was  not  seen  andsuffered  by  a 
large  section  of  the  ninth-century  Picts.  These 
Picts  witnessed  the  same  drunken,  Teutonic  fero- 
city, heard  the  same  declaration  '  Wot  an  mit  uns,' 
saw  the  same  murder  of  non-combatants,  viewed 
the  same  brutalizing  of  women  and  violation 
of  children,  watched  the  same  systematic  burn- 
ing of  Churches,  schools,  and  manuscripts,  from 
Bangor  of  the  Irish  Picts  to  Isle  of  May  in  Pict- 
land  of  Alba,  and  from  Kingarth  to  the  Orkneys ; 
and,  under  Olaf  the  Fair,  they  were  subjected 
to  the  same  deportations  and  bondage.  Yet  the 
spirits  of  the  Pictish  people  and  their  descend- 
ants were  neither  cowed  nor  broken.  They  con- 
tinued to  cherish  the  ancient  passion  for  freedom. 
Although,  by  the  falseness  of  the  Gaidheals  or 
Scots,  they  were  not  able  to  revenge  themselves 
under  their  own  pure-blooded  leaders,  they  were 

xiii 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

content  to  strike  once  and  again  under  kings  of 
the  Scotic  dynasty;  and  they  struck  so  hard  and 
often  that  Teutonic  domination  was  restricted  to 
the  northern  Islands  and  toaverysmall  partof  the 
Pictish  mainland.  The  movement  for  '  Scottish 
Independence  '  in  the  thirteenth  century  is  only 
half-explained  until  it  is  recognized  that  it  was 
the  revival  of  the  ancient  freedom-loving  spirit 
of  the  Picts,  asserting  itself  in  favour  of  nation- 
ality under  a  native  leader,  William,  whose  sur- 
name, '  Wallace,'  indicates  that  he  was  in  name, 
as  in  fact,  a  true  and  worthy  Briton  with  the 
same  blood  in  his  veins  as  the  Picts. 

A.  B.  S. 

The  Manse  of  Kildonnan, 
Helmsdale,  19 17. 


CONTENTS  OF  CHAPTERS 

I.   PERIOD  AND  ORIGIN  OF  THE  PICTISH 

CHURCH ■Page  i 


II.  PICTLANDOFALBA    ....  „     6 

III.  THE  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  PICTS         .  ,,15 

IV.  THE  LITERATURE  OF  THE  PICTS     .  ,,41 
V.   HOW  THE  PICTS  LIVED      ...  ,,63 

VI.  THE  BEGINNING  AND  GROWTH  OF  THE 

PICTISH  CHURCH     ....        page  Tj 

VII.   C^A^Z?/Z?^  C.^ 5^  (WHITHORN)  .  .  ,,90. 

VIII.  THE  MEN  WHO  CONTINUED  S.  NINIAN'S 
MISSION-WORK,  AND  ORGANIZED  THE 
CHURCH  OF  THE  PICTS  .  .  .     page  loy 

IX.   RACIAL,  POLITICAL,  AND  OTHER  CHANGES 
IN  BRITAIN  IN  THE  SIXTH  CENTURY. 
THE  EFFECT  ON  THE  CHURCH  OF  THE 
PICTS,  THE  ORGANIZING  OF  THE 
THREE  CELTIC  NATIONS         .  .      page  lyi 

X.   BANGOR  OF  THE  IRISH  PICTS,  AND  GLAS- 
GOW OF  THE  BRITONS,  GIVE  HELP  TO 
CANDIDA  CASA  IN  CONTINUING  AN 
EDUCATED  MINISTRY  TO  THE  CHURCH 
OF  THE  PICTS  OF  ALBA  .  .      page  n 2, 3 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

XI.   S.  DAGAN  OF  CANDIDA  CASA  ;  AND  THE 

ATTEMPTS  OF  THE  ROMAN  MISSION  TO 

ABSORB  THE  BRITO-PICTISH  CHURCH 

page  275 

XII.  THE  LEADERS  OF  THE  CHURCH  IN  PICT- 

LAND  IN  THE  SEVENTH  CENTURY/a^<?  291 

XIII.  THE  FIRST  ENGLISH  ATTEMPT  AT  CON- 

QUEST IN  PICTLAND  NORTH  OF  THE 
FORTH  AND  CLYDE  LINE;  AND  THE 
INCIDENT  OF  TRUMWINE'S  EPISCO- 
PATE         page  3 1 1 

XIV.  THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

OF  THE  PICTS  COMPLETE  EVERY- 
WHERE IN  PICTLAND  AT  THE  BEGIN- 
NING OF  THE  EIGHTH  CENTURY    page  332 

XV.   CHURCH  AND  KING  IN  PICTLAND  DUR- 
ING THE  PUBLIC  LIFE  OF  NECHTAN  THE 

SOVEREIGN  OF  PICTLAND  A.D.  706-724 

page  360 

XVI.   STATEANDCHURCH  IN  PICTLAND  DUR- 
ING THE  REIGN  OF  ANGUS  I.  MAC  FER- 
GUS, SOVEREIGN  OF  THE  PICTS,  12 
AUGUST  A.D.  729-761      .  .  .     page  396 

XVII.  THE  PROGRESS  OF  UNION,  BY  ABSORP- 
TION, BETWEEN  THE  PICTS  AND  SCOTS. 
THE  EFFECT  OF  THE  COMING  OF  THE 
VIKINGS,  AND  ALSO  OF  KENNETH 
MACALPIN page  i^li 


CONTENTS  OF  CHAPTERS 

XVIII.  THE  SCANDINAVIAN  VIKINGS  :  THEY 
DISORGANIZE  EXTENSIVELY  THE 
PICTISH  SOVEREIGNTY  AND  PICTISH 
CHURCH : THEY  DESTROY  CULTURE 
AND  REVIVE  PRIMEVAL  SAVAGERY  IN 
MANY  PARTS  OF  PICTLAND  .     page  447 

XIX.  AN  ANTICIPATION  OF  THE  DEVICES  BY 
WHICH  KENNETH  MAC  ALPIN  AND 
HIS  SUCCESSORS  PENETRATED  THE 
CHURCH  OF  THE  PICTS  WITH  ROMAN 
AND  SCOTIC  INFLUENCES  .     page  468 

XX.   KENNETH  MAC  ALPIN'S  EFFORT  TO  SET 
UP  ROMAN  MONARCHIC  AND  DIO- 
CESAN EPISCOPACY  IN  PICTLAND. 
THE  TRANSFERENCE  OF  THE  SOLE 
BISHOP  OF  '  FORTRENN  '  TO  ABER- 
NETHY.     KING  GIRIC'S  GIFT  OF 
'  LIBERTY '  TO  THE  ROMANIZED 
SCOTIC  CHURCH  IN  PICTLAND.    ITS 
EFFECT  ON  THE  ANCIENT  CHURCH 
OF  THE  PICTS        ....     page  ^yy 

XXI.   CONSTANTINEIII.MACAEDHANDCEL- 
LACH  THE  BISHOP  OF  ALBA  MOCK 
THE  PICTISH  CHURCHMEN  WITH  A 
PROMISE  OF  RELIGIOUS  EQUALITY 
WHICH  IMPLIED  CONFORMITY  TO 
THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME        .  .      page  ^iy 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

XXII.   CORRECTIVE  OBSERVATIONS  CONCERN- 
ING THE  CE'Z£'Z>.£'('CULDEES')OF 
PICTLANDOF  ALBA       .  .  .     page  i,()b 

XXIII.  HOW  THE  C^'Z.fi' /)£•  ADAPTED  THEM- 

SELVES   IN    ORDER   TO   CONTINUE 
THE  CHURCH  OF  THE  PICTS  IN  ALBA 
AND  FAILED.     THEIR  GRADUAL  AB- 
SORPTION INTO  THE  CHURCH  OF 
ROME page  505 

XXIV.  THE  SPIRITUAL  AND  ETHICAL  VALUE 

OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  THE  PICTS  TO 
CHRISTENDOM      ....     page  ^K) 

Index  ......     page  545 


PRINCIPAL  SOURCES 

I.  Those  collated  and  critically  analysed.  Used  in  so 
far  as  byinternal  evidence  theyremain  true  to  the 
ancient  original  sources;  or  where  theyare wholly 
or  partly  confirmed  by  external  documentary  evid- 
ence, by  the  inscribed  stones,  or  by  the  ancient 
Church-sites  of  Pictland. 

Version  of  Cronica  de  Origine  Antiquorum  Pictorum  (Col- 
bertine  MS.),  discarding  the  Isidorean  preface;  but,  for  the 
kings  of  the  Scotic  dynasty,  retaining  the  confirmed  Addi- 
tions of  the  Scottish  Continuator. 

The  other  Versions  olXh^Pictish  Chronicle,  including  that 
added  to  Historia  Britonum,  '  Do  Bunadh  Cruithneach.' 

The  historical  matter  in  the  Fragment  relating  to  the  Irish 
Ficts,  especially  the  Picts  of  Dalaraidhe  and  Uladh  (MSS. 
Rawlinson  B.  506  Bodleian;  &x\A  Book  of  Lecain). 

The  F>e  Excidio  of  Gildas,  and  the  Historia  Britonum 
(Nennius).  The  Additions  to  Historia  Britonum,  for  the 
early  Anglian  kings;  and  for  the  names  and  pedigrees  of  the 
chiefs  and  kings  of  the  Britons. 

The  Synchronisms  of  Flann  Mainistreach  (MSS.  Rawlin- 
son, Book  of  Lecain,  and  Kilbride),  checked  by  the  Duan  Al- 
banach  and  the  Irish  Annals  for  the  Scotic  kings  of  Dalriada, 
and  for  the  kings  of  the  Pictish  dynasty  of  Dalriada,  after 
Angus  I.  Mac  Fergus. 

The  historical  part  of  the  pedigrees  of  the  Saints  of  the 
Britons  and  Iro-Picts  as  recorded  by  the  genealogists  and  in 
the  Senchus;  YCymmrodor,  9,  173;  Bonedd  Saint  Ynys  Fry- 
dain,  Myvrian  Archaiology  (Morris). 

The  Life  and  Acts  of  S.  Martin  of  Tours  as  related  by  Sul- 
picius  Severus,  Fortunatus,  and  Gregory. 

The  fragments  relating  to  S.  Ninian  and  Candida  Casa, 
and  S.  Ninian's  successors  there,  in  Bede's  History,  in  the 
ancient  Irish  Kalendars  and  Lives,  and  in  the  basic  matter 
from  the  '■Old Life'  in  the  Vita  S.  Niniani of  Ailred. 

The  Versions  of  the  Old  Lives  of  the  Saints  of  the  Britons 
including  fragments  from  Irish  sources  relating  to  Caranog, 
Pawl  Hen  ('Pauldoc'),  Servanus,  Nidan,  and  others. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

The  Versions  of  the  Old  Lives  of  the  Iro-Pictish  Saints, 
the  fragments  belonging  to  S.  Finbar's  Life  scattered  under 
the  Irish,  the  Britonic,  and  the  Pictish  forms  of  his  name,  the 
references  to  him  in  the  Vita  S.  Comgalli  and  in  the  Vita  S. 
Columbae,  and  other  Lives. 

The  Tract  Oft  the  Mothers  of  Saints  in  Ireland,  and  especi- 
ally the  reference  to  the  historical  S.  Servanus. 

The  Confession  of  S.  Patrick  and  the  Epistle  to  Coroticus. 

The  Papyrus,  No.  417  British  Museum,  and  other  frag- 
ments referring  to  the  Papas. 

The  Chronicle  of  St.  Mary's  Huntingdon,  for  the  account 
of  the  rebellion  of  Alpin  grandson  of  Aed  Finn,  and  his  clan. 

The  Spelman  Fragment  dealing  with  the  Paschal  date. 

The  Geographike  of  Ptolemy,  and  the  Versions  of  the 
Latin  translators. 

Vita  S.  Comgalli,  Vita  S.  Cainichi,  various  Versions  and 
Texts. 

Vita  S.  Columbae,  Adamnan  at  Cumine,  various  Texts; 
and  the  'Old Life'  or  Eulogy  (three  Texts). 

The  Black  Book  of  Molaga,  and  the  preface  to  '  Altus  Pro- 
sator,'  Leabhar  Breac. 

Vita  S.  Columbani,  by  Jonas  of  Bobbio. 

Rerum  Hibemicarum  Scriptores,  ed.  O'Conor. 

Fragments  relating  to  S.  Kentigern  in  the  ancient  Kalen- 
dars  and  Lives;  and  the  basic  matter  from  the  Old  Celtic  Life 
in  the  Vita  Xentiger ni  ol  JoceWne. 

De  Mensura  Orbis  Terrae,  Dicuil ;  ed.  Letronne. 

Annales  Cambriae,  checked  by  other  sources,  and  com- 
pilation by  J.  W.  ab  Ithel. 

Annals  of  Tighernac,  Annals  of  Ulster,  Annals  by  the 
Four  Masters,  (checked  by  various  sources,  and  corrected 
where,  especially  in  the  latter,  place-names  belonging  to  Alba 
have  been  confused  with  similar  names  in  Ireland.  The 
author  has  found  the  verified  dates  compiled  by  the  late  Dr. 
Reeves  of  great  use).  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle,  ed.  Thorpe. 

The  Chronicon  Scotorum,  W.  M.  Hennessy. 

Fragments  of  Annals,  MS.  5301,  Burgundian  Library, 
Brussels. 

Vita  S.  Malachi,  S.  Bernard. 


PRINCIPAL  SOURCES 

S.  Maelrubha,  Reeves,  Proc.  Soc.  Antiq.  Scot.  vol.  iii. 

Texts  of  Bede's  Historia  Ecclesiastica  gentis  Anglorum, 
and  his  Continuator. 

Extracts  in  Councils  and  Ecclesiastical  Documents  relating 
to  Great  Britain  and  Ireland;  ed.  Haddan  and  Stubbs. 

Versions,  in  Chronicles  of  Picts  and  Scots;  ed.  by  Skene. 

The  Martyrology  of  Tallagh  (MS.  in  possession  of  the 
Franciscans). 

Thesaurus  Palaeohibernicus,  Stokes  and  Strachan. 

The  ^Antiphonary'  of  S.  Comgall's  Bangor. 

Books  of  Bally  mote  and  Lecain. 

Feilire  of  Aengus  and  Glosses. 

Liber  Hymnorum  and  Glosses,  ed.  Todd. 

Saltair  na  Rann,  ed.  Stokes. 

Amra  Cliolumckille,  by  Dalian  Forgall. 

The  Martyrology  of  Donegal,  ed.  Reeves  and  Todd. 

The  Entries  in  the  Book  of  Deer. 

The  Martyrology  of  Aberdeen. 

ITie  Breviary  of  Aberdeen. 

Kalendar  of  Fearn. 

'■Litany  of  Dunkeld.' 

Rerum  Orcadensium  Historia,  Torfaeus. 

Statistical  Account  of  Scotland,  comp.  Sir  John  Sinclair. 

The  Inscribed  Stones  of  the  Britons  and  Picts. 

II.  Authors  whose  works  contain  matter  belonging  to 
the  history  of  the  Picts  of  Alba  or  to  the  Church 
of  the  Picts;  noted,  quoted,  or  considered.  In 
several  instances  authors  have  not  taken  pains  to 
relate  this  matter  correctly  to  the  proper  division 
of  the  Celtic  people,  or  to  the  proper  branch  of 
the  Celtic  Church. 

For  early  references  to  the  Picts — 

Tacitus,  Agricola ;  Summary  of  Dion  Cassius  by  Xiphili- 

nus;  Eumenius;  Ammianus  Marcellinus. 
For  the  period  covering  the  reorganization  of  the  Britons 
after  the  departure  of  the  Roman  legions — 
Prosper  of  Aquitaine's  Chronicle. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

The  works  of  Gildas,  Nennius,  and  Bede's  H.E.G.A. 

Skene,  Four  Ancient  Books  of  Wales. 

Skene,  Preface  to  the  Chronicles  oft/ie  Picts  and  Scots. 

Skene,  Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  ii. 

Ussher,  Britannicarum  Ecclesiarum  Antiquitates ;  and  the 

earlier  De  Primordiis. 
Forbes,  Lives  of  SS.  Ninian  and  Kentigern. 
Forbes,  Kalendars  of  Scottish  Saints. 
Camerarius,  De  'Scotorum'  Fortitudine. 
Simeon  of  Durham,  Historia  Regum. 
Migne,  Patrologiae  Cursus. 
Mabillon,  Annales  ordinis  S.  Benedicti. 
Innes,  Civil  and  Ecclesiastical  History,  (Spalding  Club). 
Chalmers,  Caledonia. 
Lanigan,  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Ireland. 
Whitley  Stokes,  Tripartite  Life  of  Patrick,  etc. 
Whitley  Stokes,  Lives  of  Saints  from  Book  of  Lismore. 
Reeves,  Antiquities  of  Down  and  Connor. 
Reeves,  Culdees  of  the  British  Islands. 
Reeves,  Adamnan's   Vita  S.  Columbae,  Appendices  and 

Notes. 
Rees,  W.  J.,  Lives  of  the  Cambro-British  Saints. 
O'Hanlon,  Lives  of  the  Irish  Saints. 
Maxwell,  Early  Chronicles  Relating  to  Scotland. 
Keller,  Bilderund  SchriftszUge  indenlrischenManuscripten. 
Zimmer,  Celtic  Church  in  Britain  and  Ireland. 
Zimmer,  Irish  Element  in  Mediaeval  Culture. 
Zimmer,  'Nennius  Vindicatus. 
Muratori,  Antiquitates  Italicae. 
Hefele,  Konziliengeschichte. 
Carmichael,  Carmina  Gadelica. 
Carmichael,  Customs  of  the  Outer  Hebrides. 
Watson,  Place-Names  of  Ross  and  Cromarty. 
MacLure,  British  Place-Names. 
Blaeu,  Le  Grand  Atlas,  vol.  vi. 
Nicholson,  Keltic  Researches. 
View  of  the  Diocese  of  Aberdeen. 
Collection  on  the  Shires  of  Aberdeen  and  Banff,  (Spalding 

Club). 


PRINCIPAL  SOURCES 

Mackay,  Urquhart  and  Gknmoriston;  Saints  of  the  Ness 
Valley. 

Macbain,  Examination  of  the  Book  of  Deer  (Inverness 
Gaelic  Society). 

O'Curry,  Lectures  on  MS.  Materials  for  Irish  History. 

Romilly  Allen,  Early  Christian  Mo?mntents  of  Scotland. 

Scott,  ^l  Ninian  or  the  Founding  of  the  Church  among  the 
Britans  and  Picts. 

Scott,  5.  Moluag.  (Printed  from  Transactions  of  the 
Scottish  Ecclesiological  Society,  19 12). 

Publications  of  Spalding  Club,  Bannatyne  Club,  Scottish 
Ecclesiological  Society,  Royal  Commission  on  Ancient 
Monuments  (Scotland),  Society  of  Antiquaries  of 
Scotland,  and  the  Gaelic  Society  of  Inverness.  Timothy 
Pont's  maps  of  Scotland,  Longnon's  map  of  Gaul,  the 
Tabulae\>2i%e.A.  on  Ptolemy  relating  to  Britain  and  Henry 
Bradley's  map  in  Archaeologia,  vol.  xlviii. 


MAPS 


I.  SHOWING  PICTLAND  ACCORDING  TO 

PTOLEMY    ....  To  face  page  80 

II.  SHOWING  DISTRIBUTION  OF  BRITONS, 

PICTS,  AND  GAIDHEALS  OR  SCOTS  WITH 
TRUE  POSITION  OF  DRUM-ALBAN 

To  face  page  171 

III.  SHOWING  RANGE  OF  THE  CHURCHES  OF 

THE  PICTS.  .  .  .  To  face  page  lid 


INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTERS 
PERIOD    ^    ORIGIN    OF    THE 

PICTISH    CHURCH 
CHAPTER  ONE 

The  Church  of  the  Picts  originated  from  the 
great  mission  *  conducted  along  the  east  f  coast 
of  Alba  (Pictland)  by  S.  Ninian.l  a  Briton,  dur- 
ing some  period  between  the  years  400  and  432 
A.D.  §  While  a  native  ministry  was  being  reared, 
the  ministry  of  the  Church  thus  founded  was 
supplied  from  the  muinntirs\  or  religious  com- 
munities of  the  Celtic  Britons  who  lived  south  of 
the  Wall  of  Antonine;  and,  also,  from  the  relig- 
ious communities  of  the  Irish  Ficts.lT  particu- 
larly from  the  overflowing  community  of  the  Picts 
of  Ulster  at  Bangor  where  S.  Comgall  the  Great 
ruled  as  Ab.  It  continued  to  be  the  sole  Church 
of  the  Picts  of  Alba  until  a.d.  842,  when  Kenneth 

*  Cf.  v.  Bede's  H.E.  G.A.  lib.  iii.  cap.  iv.,  and  his  reference  thereto, 
which  will  be  explained  afterwards  in  these  pages. 

+  Owing  to  the  geographical  ideas  of  the  time,  Bede's  '  Southern 
Picts'  would  be  our  Eastern,  i.e.  east  oiDrum-Albain. 

\  For  a  full  discussion  of  S.  Ninian's  work,  see  the  author's  S.  Ninian 
and  the  Founding  of  the  Celtic  Church  among  the  Britons  and  the  Picts. 

§  S.  Ninian  died  in  432.  He  began  his  work  about  397  at  the  place 
then  called  Candida  Casa,  now  Whithorn,  in  Galloway. 

II  Muinntir  was  the  Celtic  name  for  a  clerical '  family,'  or  community. 

IT  The  Northern  Irish  Picts  ( '  CruithniV),  at  the  end  of  the  fifth  century, 
occupied  most  of  Antrim,  Down,  Louth,  and  Armagh.  Their  chief  king- 
dom was  Dal-Araidhe.    The  kings  were  descended  from  Fiacha  Araidhe. 

The  Southern  Irish  Picts,  who  included  Manapians  and  Brigantes, 
occupied  Dublin,  Wexford,  Wicklow,  and  Waterford  with  their  hinter- 
lands. Spike  Island  in  Cork  harbour  was  'Innis  Pict.'  Originally  the 
Picts  occupied  the  whole  east  coast  of  Ireland;  but  the  southern  branch 
of  the  Gaidhealic  Nialls  drove  a  wedge  through  them  at  Meath. 

B  I 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Mac  Alpin,  king  of  the  Gaidheals,*  or  Scots  f  of 
Dalriada,  seated  himself  on  the  throne  of  the  Picts 
in  Fortrenn(Kingdomof  Earn),  and  assumed  the 
sovereignty.  By  this  act,  the  Kingship  of  the 
GaidheaHc  colony  of  Dalriada  became  merged  in 
the  High-kingship|of  Pictland.  The  Gaidheals, 
or  Scots,  had  a  Church  of  their  own,  founded  at 
Hy  (lona)  a.d.  563  by  S.  Columba,  a  Gaidheal. 
Clerics  of  this  Church  naturally  followed  their 
king  and  his  court  into  his  new  realm;  and  we 
possess  a  record  of  their  presence  there,  in  Fort- 

*  Gaidheal  is  the  name  owned  by  the  Q-using  Celts.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  the  sixth  century  they  occupy  the  West,  the  Upper  Midlands,  and 
the  North-west  of  Ireland.  They  were  descendants  of  Cairbre  Righfeda, 
and  claim  to  have  migrated  northward  by  the  west  coast  from  Munster. 
Their  north-eastward  pressure  drove  the  Picts  to  the  eastern  sea-fringe 
in  Ulster.  The  Gaidheals  of  the  North  and  Upper  Midlands  were  the 
race  of  Niall;  those  on  the  West  the  race  of  Brian;  the  Gaidheals  who 
emigrated  to  Scotland  and  founded  the  colony  of  Dalriada  (Argyll)  were 
the  race  of  Ere ;  and  related  to  the  Nialls. 

t  This  name  occurs  in  Claudian  (fourth  century)  referring  to  certain 
Irish  Allies  of  the  Picts  of  Alba.  Continental  Latin-speaking  people 
applied  the  name  to  all  natives  of  Ireland.  S.  Columbanus  and  S.  Gall, 
although  both  were  Picts,  are  '  Scots '  to  the  people  on  the  Continent. 
The  Vikings  {c.  800)  restrict  the  name  '  Scot '  to  the  Gaidheals  of  Dal- 
riada and  the  name  Pict  to  the  Picts  of  Alba.  In  the  Leabhar  na 
h-  Uidhre  the  Gaidheals  of  Scotland  are  Albanaich — men  of  Alba.  After 
the  tenth  century,  Latin  writers  begin  to  restrict  the  name  '  Scot '  to  the 
Gaidheals  of  Scotland;  and  ultimately  these  Gaidheals  monopolized  this 
name  entirely. 

X  At  first  the  Gaidhealic  kings  followed  Kenneth's  example  and  were 
styled  'rex  Pictorum';  but  in  a.d.  900  there  is  a  sudden  change,  and 
they  begin  to  be  styled  '  rex  Alban,'  which  was  a  return  to  the  pretentious 
title  which  the  Annalists  dropped  after  the  disastrous  defeat  of  the  Gaidh- 
eals by  Brude  Mac  Maelchon  in  560.  ^igh  Alban  was  then  changed  to 
High  Dalriada.  When  the  style  of  '  rex  Alban '  was  revived  after  goo 
we  find  that  it  began  to  be  translated  '  King  of  Scotland'  and  also  'King 
of  Scots, ' 


THE  PICTISH  CHURCH 

renn,*aboutacentury after  Kenneth  Mac  Alpin's 
time,  trying  to  adjust  their  claims  with  the  in- 
terests of  the  clerics  of  the  native  Pictish  Church. 
Although,  in  name,  Kenneth  united  the  two  dom- 
inions of-Gaidheal  and  Pict  at  once,  he  did  not 
unite  the  two  peoples,  or  the  twoChurches.  Union 
of  the  peoples  and  Churches  was  a  gradual  pro- 
cess which  continued  through  centuries.  It  was 
effected,  district  by  district, sometimes  by  absorp- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  Picts,  sometimes  by  sup- 
pression and  penetration  on  the  part  of  the  Scotic 
dynasty.  For  example,  the  people  in  the  districts 
once  ruledby  thePictishmormaorsof  Moray  with- 
held recognition  from  the  Gaidheals  until  com- 
pelled by  the  terrors  of  the  sword;  and  the  old 
native  Church  was  still  represented  at  St.  Andrews 
in  the  tenth  century.  \  Again,  the  ancient  Pictish 
Churches  at  DeerJ  and  Turriff  §  were  not  taken 
over  by  Gaidheals  until  the  early  part  of  the 
twelfth  century,  after  the  Roman  episcopate  had 
been  organized  with  the  help  of  the  Ceanmor 
group  of  Scottish  kings.  Although  the  Gaidh- 
ealic  intrusionists  had  the  countenance  of  the 
Crown,  they  required  some  sort  of  title  with  which 
to  soothe  the  local  sentiment  before  entering  into 

*  Chronicles  of  the  Picts  and  Scots,  Skene,  p.  9. 

t  C.  906  attempts  were  made  apparently  by  Cellach,  first  Roman 
bishop  at  St.  Andrews  under  the  Scotic  kings,  to  bring  the  clerics  of  the 
Pictish  Church  into  communion  with  the  new  Gaidhealic  clerics. 

X  In  Buchan ;  founded  by  S.  Drostan,  a  Briton,  and  dealt  with  later. 

§  Also  in  Buchan;  founded  by  S.  Comgan,  a  fugitive  Pictish  prince 
from  Erin. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

possession  of  these  old  native  establishments. 
They  were  equal  to  the  situation,  however,  here 
as  elsewhere,  and  proceeded  to  edit  in  their  own 
interest  the  history  of  the  origin  of  Deer,  sub- 
ordinating S.  Drostan,  the  founder,  to  their  own 
Saint  Columba,  thus  creating  what  is  known  as 
'  The  Legend  of  Deer.'*  Although  they  could  use 
Columba's  name  to  influence  the  Celtic  sentiment 
of  local  officials,  they  show  nevertheless  that,  by 
that  time,  this  Saint  had  been  deposed  from  his 
once  high  place  in  the  esteem  of  Gaidhealic  ecclesi- 
astics; because  in  the  memorandum  of  a  genu- 
ine dedication  of  property  made  after  the  Gaidh- 
ealic intrusion  was  complete,  '  Petir  Abstoil,' 
that  is  Peter  the  Apostle,  is  added  to  'Columcille 
and  Drostan'  and  takes  precedence  of  both. f  We 
thus  learn  that  the  Gaidheals  who  took  posses- 
sion of  Deer  in  the  twelfth  century  had  already 
been  romanized.  Farther  north,  in  the  diocese  of 
Caithness,  the  clerics  who  represented  the  very 
ancient  Pictish  foundation  of  S.  Finbar  at  Dor- 
noch \  continued  to  survive  into  the  early  thir- 
teenth century  in  spite  of  and  apart  from  Gilbert 
Murray,  thefourth  prelate  but  the  first  Gaidhealic 
bishop  who  had  been  able  to  secure  a  footing  in 
that  part  of  the  diocese.  The  community  of  S. 
Finbar  worked  undisturbed;  but  Saint  Gilbert 

*  Cf.  The  Book  of  Deer. 

t  See  Entry  iii.  fol.  4,  first  side,  Book  of  Deer. 

X  Now  the  county  town  of  Sutherland. 


THE  PICTISH  CHURCH 

required  to  import  a  colony  of  Murrays  to  insure 
his  security. 

These  are  merely  three  widely  separated  ex- 
amples of  survivals  of  the  ancientPictish  Church, 
indicating  the  long  period  that  elapsed  before  the 
churchmen  of  the  Gaidheals  gained  effective  con- 
trol of  the  congregations  that  gathered  affection- 
ately to  the  sacred  centres  of  the  ancient  native 
Church.  Incidentally,  we  learn  that  the  Celts  of 
Scotland  have  never  been  for  long  without  a  dis- 
senting minority  somewhere.  Most  interesting, 
however,  it  is  to  note  that  altogether,  apart  from 
isolated  survivalslater  than  the  reigns  of  Kenneth 
Mac  Alpin  and  King  Giric  or  Grig  {c.  889),  the 
Church  anciently  founded  by  S.Ninian,  the  Briton, 
flourished  as  the  soleChurch  of  the  Pictishpeople 
iorfour  hundred  and  seventy  years  {c.  4.20-c.  890), 
that  is,  roughly,  one  hundred  and  ninety  years 
longer  than  the  period  in  Dalriada  of  the  Church 
of  the  Gaidheals,  or  Scots,  founded  by  S.  Columba 
(563-A  842),  and  two  hundred  and  five  years 
longer  than  the  period  of  the  mixed  Church  of 
Alba  {c.  842-1107)  which  was  partially  roman- 
ized,  and  recognized  by  the  Scotic  dynasty  of 
Pictish  sovereigns;  and,  roughly,  twenty  years 
longer  than  the  period  in  Scotland  of  the  organ- 
ized and  conformed  Roman  Catholic  Church  of 
the  Scots  ( 1 109-1560),  and,  roughly,  nearly  one 
hundred  and  thirteen  years  longer,  to  date,  than 
the  period  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  Scotland. 

5 


PICTLAND  OF  ALBA* 
CHAPTER  TWO 

Albion\  is  the  name  of  Britain  preserved  by  the 
Greek  writers;  probably  it  was  taken  down  from 
the  early  shipmasters  of  the  Mediterranean. 
Ptolemy's  spelling  {c.  127)  is  Aloufon,  due,  very 
likely,  to  a  copyist's  error.  Pliny  also  gives  the 
name  as  Albion.  The  early  literary  Irish  use  the 
forms  Alba  and  Alban,  and  ultimately  apply  the 
name  to  what  is  now  Scotland,  that  beingthe  part 
of  Britain  with  which  they  had  most  traffic. 

When  the  Vikings  {c.  800)  landed  on  the 
northern  part  of  Britain  they  called  the  country 
'  Pictland.'  This  is  exactly  the  name  which  is 
applied  to  that  part  of  the  country  in  the  Annals 
of  Ulster  {a.  866)  in  the  Celtic  form  '  Cruitin- 
tuait,'  where  Cruitin  stands  for  Pict,  and  ttiath  \ 
for  land  or  nation. 

Cruithne,  a  Pict,  comes  to  us  in  the  spelling 
of  the  C-using  Gaidheals.  1 1  was  the  name  which 
the  Gaidheals  of  northern  Ireland  applied  to  the 
Picts  of  Ulster.  Adamnan,  Abbot  of  lona,  also 
a  Gaidheal,  latinizes  it  into  'Cruiiknn,'\  and 
uses  it  in  referring  to  the  same  people. 

This  short  excursus  among  national  names 
brings  us  round  in  a  circle  to  the  point  from  which 

*  Latinized  as  Pictavia,  and  the  people's  name  as  Picti  or  PUtottes. 
There  was  also  Pictland  of  Erin,  namely  the  east-coast  districts  of  Ireland. 
The  Gaidheals  called  these  districts  CrUh-na-Cruithne,  that  is,  Bounds 
of  the  Picts.    Cf.  Reeves,  V.  S.  Columba,  p.  94,  note  h. 

t  Whiteland.  J  Not /«aM  meaning  north,  as  Dr.  Skene  states. 

§   V.  S.  C.  lib.  i.  cap.  vii. 

6 


PICTLAND  OF  ALBA 

we  started.  The  P-using  Britons  spelt  'Cruitin 
(Pict)  as  Priten*  and  Pryden.  This  the  Teu- 
tonic Angles  transformed  into  Briton,  There- 
fore, Cruithne  or  Cruitin^  on  the  one  hand,  and 
Priten  (or  Briton)  on  the  other,  are  one  and  the 
same  name,  meaning  Pict,  and  taken  from  two 
different  Celtic  dialects. 

An  early  Greek  name  for  the  British  Isles  is 
Pretanikai  Nesoi.  This  is  based  on  the  native 
name  for  Britain,  '  Ynys  Prydain,'  which  means, 
literally,  Picts'  Island. f  Britain  takes  its  name 
from  the  Picts ;  and  the  use  of  this  name  stamps 
the  fact  in  every  literature  throughout  the  world. 

It  is  manifest  to  any  patient  inquirer  that,  so 
far  as  Britain  is  concerned,  the  Picts  who  sub- 
mitted to  Imperial  Rome,  and  who  took  on  some- 
thing of  Roman  manners  and  Roman  culture, 
came,  through  Latin  usage,  to  have  the  name 
'Britons'  reserved  for  themselves  alone;  where- 
as the  Picts  who  had  spurned  Roman  power  and 
culture,  and  who  had  retired,  independent,  north 
of  the  Wall  of  Antonine,  came,  through  the  in- 
fluence of  Gaidhealic  writers,  to  be  distinguished 
as  'Cruitnick'  or  'Cruithnii.' 

After  the  Roman  general,  Lollius  Urbicus, 
had  driven  the  powerful  Pictish  tribe  known  as 
the^r2^a«^ej'beyondtheWallofAntonine(f.  139) 
this  wall  became  the  southern  boundary  of  Pict- 

*   Y.  Cymmrodor,  ix.  179. 
t  Keltic  Researches,  E.  W.  B.  Nicholson,  pp.  25,  173. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

land.  From  this  frontier-line,  stretching  between 
the  Firths  of  Forth  and  Clyde,  Pictland  extended 
northwards  to  the  remotest  island  of  Shetland; 
and  the  Hebrides,  outer  and  inner,  were  included 
in  the  country. 

This  was  the  territorial  extent  of  Pictland 
when  S.  Ninian  led  his  mission  along  the  whole 
east  coast,  and  crossed  the  sea  as  far  as  Shetland 
between  400  and  432  a.d.  This  also  represents 
the  territory  over  which  Brude  Mac  Maelchon, 
the  Sovereign  of  Pictland,  reigned  at  his  capital 
in  I  n verness  from  5  5  4  to  5  84  A.  D.  Cantyre  with 
its  colony  of  Gaidheals  or  Scots  was  at  this  time 
within  the  lordship  of  Mac  Maelchon;  because 
A.D.  560  this  sovereign  had  expelled  many  of  the 
encroaching  Gaidheals  from  South  Argyll,  had 
shut  up  a  remnant  in  Cantyre,  and  after  slaying 
their  righ,  or  king,  Gabhran,  in  battle,  had  left 
their  new  chief  with  the  title  of  a  mere  tributary 
'toiseach,'*  or  military  magistrate. 

It  was  into  the  Pictish  dominions  thus  defined, 
and  to  this  sovereign,  Brude  Mac  Maelchon,  that, 
A.D.  563,  SS.  Comgall  and  Cainnech,  the  Pictish 
ecclesiastical  leaders,  introduced  S.  Columba  the 
Gaidheal,  outcast  f  from  the  Gaidheals  of  Ire- 
land who  had  turned  to  the  Dispersed  among 
the  Picts  of  Argyll.     Columba  was  discreetly 

*  Conall,  Gabhran's  successor,  is  so  termed  by  the  authorities  on  which 
the  Four  Masters  drew. 

t  S.  Columba  was  exiled  from  Ireland  after  561,  the  year  of  the  battle 
of  Cul-Drtimhne  which  he  provoked. 

8 


PICTLAND  OF  ALBA 

angry*  at  the  broken  state  of  his  race-brothers, 
the  colonists  in  Cantyre;  but  he  restrained  him- 
self enough  to  crave  from  Brude,  the  Sovereign, 
an  island  in  the  West,  where  he  could  dispense 
the  consolations  of  Religion  to  the  children  of  the 
Captivity  who  wept  among  the  Isles  to  the  moan 
of  the  Atlantic;  and  where,  afar  from  the  super- 
vision of  the  monarch,  he  could  exercise  warily 
his  aggressive  diplomatic  genius  to  restore  free- 
dom and  progress  to  the  conquered  Gaidheals. 

In  the  I  rish  additions  to  the  Historia  Britonum 
the  mainland  of  the  Picts  is  described  as  '  O  chrich 
Chat  CO  Foirciu,'  that  is,  from  Caithness  to  the 
Forth.  Within  this  stretch  of  territory  Ptolemy 
of  Alexandria  places  ten  tribes  or  provinces.  The 
Epidioi,  Horsemen, inhabited^?fl!i'M»«,|  Cantyre 
and  South  Argyll.  The  Kerdnes,\  Shepherds, 
occupied  the  whole  West  Coast  from  about  Loch 
Linnhe  to  Cape  Wrath.    The  Kornavioi,  People 

*  '  Woe  to  the  Picts  to  whom  he  will  go  East, 
He  knew  the  thing  that  is, 
It  gave  him  no  pleasure  that  a  Gaidheal 
Should  reign  in  the  East  under  the  Picts. ' 
The  explanation  of  S.  Columba's  mission  in  the  Prophecy  of  S.  Berchan. 
\  This  name  not  only  indicates  Ptolemy's  accuracy;  but  the  P  in  the 
name  indicates  one  of  the  distinctive  features  of  the  Pictish  dialect  of  Celtic. 
Professor  KunoMeyer  discovered  the  form  of  this  name  used  by  theGaidh- 
eals,  namely  Echidium. 

X  The  best  authorities  regard  Kreones,  Karini,  Karndnes,  and  Karndn- 
aiaias  copyists'  variants  of  this  name. 

The  writer  considers  that,  as  the  Aar/jiCKa^aj  were  flanked  on  both  sides 
by  Kerones,  Karndnaki  wasmerelyasectionalnameforapartofthe  Kerones 
who  were  distinguished  by  their  prominent  burial  Karns,  Celtic  Carn. 
At  the  present  time  '  Ciman  CruithneachcV  is  a  place-name  in  the  locality 
of  the  Karndnakai. 

9 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

of  the  Horn  of  Pittland,  dwelt  in  the  parts  repre- 
sented by  the  present  county  of  Caithness.  The 
Lou£'ot  occupied  the  arable  coast-land  of  Suther- 
land between  the  Ord  of  Caithness  and  the  Dor- 
noch Firth.  A  large,  chambered  burial-cairn  on 
the  left  bank  of  the  Ilidh  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
of  Helmsdale  is  still  called  Carn-Lougie.  The 
Smeriat*  the  Quick-people,  lived  in  the  interiors 
of  Sutherland  and  north  Ross.  One  of  their  sur- 
viving burial-cairns  is  situated  on  the  bank  of  the 
eastern  Carron,  and  still  bears  the  name  Cam 
Smeirt.  f  The  Dekantai  dwelt  on  the  fertile  coast- 
lands  that  extend  from  the  Dornoch  Firth  to 
Moray.  The  Taizaloiwere  on  thecoasts  of  Banff 
and  Aberdeen.  The  Vernikones,  or  Vernikomes, 
occupied  the  plains  by  the  sea,  from  Kincardine, 
through  Forfar  and  across  the  Tayinto  Fife.  As 
F"  in  Ptolemaic  names  sometimes  represents  Celt- 
ic MkX  as  well  as  FA^  and  U,\\  it  is  possible  that 

*  With  this  name  Dr.  Watson  compares  the  Gaulish  Ro-Smerta,  Deep- 
thinking. 

t  Discovered  by  Dr.  Watson  in  the  parish  of  Kincardine,  Ross-shire. 

I  As  in  Ptolemy's  '  Varar,'  which  is  an  attempt  to  render  the  Celtic 
accusative  for  the  sea.  ' 

§  As  in  Ptolemy's  F2>-,  which  is  an  attempt  to' render  the  Celtic  ^jia?--, 
over,  in  the  sense  of  towering  aw?-,  or  projecting  (wsr. 

II  Compare  Ptolemy's  Tame-  with  the  old  British  Taru,  Cornish  Tarow 
which  he  was  striving  to  represent;  and  also  the  first  part  of  his  '  Vol-sas' 
with  its  Celtic  antecedent  t5ll-  in  the  hybrid,  Ullapool.  Ullapool  is  in  the 
safe  anchorage  of  Loch-Broom,  which  is  believed  to  be  Ptolemy's  '  Vblsas 
sinus.'  Loch-Broom  agrees  better  with  Ptolemy's  data  than  Loch-Alsh, 
and  the  charting  of  the  anchorage  of  Loch-Broom  would  be  a  greater  testi- 
monial to  the  Massilian  sailors  than  the  charting  of  treacherous  Loch-.Msli 
with  its  incessant  squalls  and  want  of  sea-room. 

ID 


PICTLAND  OF  ALBA 

the  variant  Vernikones  contains  the  antecedent 
oi'Mearns!  Throughout  the  eastern  half  of  the 
Pictish  midlands  from  theTay  to  Moray  were  the 
Vakomagoi;  and  throughout  the  western  half  were 
t\iQ  Kaledonioi,  whose  capital  was  Dunkeld. 

On  the  east  coast,  south  of  the  Forth,  were  the 
Otadinoi;  and  still  farther  south,  occupying  the 
country  from  sea  to  sea, were  the  Brigantes.  When 
about  A.D.  139  LoUiusUrbicuSjgeneral  of  Anton- 
inus Pius,  drove  the  Brigantes  and  the  Otadinoi 
north  of  the  Roman  Wall,  there  was  a  fusion  of 
tribes,  and  new  names  appear  in  the  South.  From 
Xiphiline's  summary  of  Dion  Cassiuswelearn  that 
during  the  campaign  of  the  Emperor  Septimius 
Severus  {c.  a.d.  211)  the  two  chief  tribes  of  south- 
ern Pictland  were  the  Miathi*  Midlanders,  and 
the  Kaledonioi.  The  Miathi  appear  out  of  the 
fusion  of  the  unyielding  Brigantes  with  the  Ota- 
dinoi in  the  southern  territories  of  the  Vakomagoi 
and  Vernikones;  and  they  were  still  surviving  as 
a  distinct  Pictish  clan  in  the  sixth  century,  j 

InareferencebyAmmianusjtothe  tragic  cam- 
paign of  theRomangeneralFullofaudes,A.D.  365, 
the  Kaledonioi  are  called  '  Dicalydones,'  and  the 
fused  tribes  between  the  Roman  Wall  and  the 
Tay  are  roughly  summed  up  as  '  Verturiones,'^ 

*  Thename  occurs  in  the  midlands  ofthe  Irish  Picts,  now  Af«a//^.  The 
word  is  the  Britonic  medd,  central  point;  and  the  Irish  med,  later  meidh. 
An  old  spelling  oiMeath,  in  Ireland,  is  '  Midhi.' 

t  When  Aedhan,  King  of  the  Gaidheals  of  Dalriada,  fought  against  them . 

%  Ammianus  Marcellinus,  xxvii.  8.  i. 

§  Corrected  by  Rhys  from  Vecturiones.    Initial  Khere  equals  F. 

II 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

that  is,  Men  of  Fortrenn  (Earn),  whose  centres 
were  at  Dun(d)  Earn,  Forteviot,  and  Scone. 

Beyond  these  mainland  tribes  were  the  Picts 
of  Orkney,  the  Orkades  of  Ptolemy  and  Innis  h- 
Ork  of  the  Picts;  and,  also,  the  Picts  of  Sketis 
(Skye)  and  of  Z'wwwa  (Lewis).* 

Some  time  before  the  ninth  century  the  Picts 
were  organized  into  seven  provinces.    From  an 
early  Gaidhealic  pen  we  learn  that  these  \  were 
'Cait,  Ce,  Cirigh, 
Fibh,  Fidach,  Fotla,  Fortrenn.'  % 
Cat  is  Caithness  proper,  that  is,  including  Suther- 
land.   Cirigh  isthe  \dX.^r  Magh-Chircin,x!ae.  name 
of  the  plain  along  the  coasts  of  Forfar  and  Kin- 
cardine; and  'Mearns'  is  regarded  as  a  surviving 
corruption  of  this  compound  name.    Fotla  is  the 
later  Ath-Fodla  now  Athole.    Fib  is  Fife;  and 
/^or^r^««,the  kingdom  of  the  fused  tribes  between 
Forth  and  Tay,  whose  centres  were  as  just  stated. 

These  provinces  were  governed  by  chiefs  or 
petty  kings;  but  all  were  ruled  byone  'high-king' 
or  sovereign  elected  from  the  previous  king's 
brothers,  whom  failing,  from  the  sons  of  the  pre- 
vious king's  sister;  and,  if  these  failed,  from  the 
sons  of  the  daughters  of  the  previous  king.  The 
elected  sovereign  reigned  from  the  capital  of  his 
own  clan. 

These  particulars  show  that  the  Picts  were  not 

*  The  islands  are  put  out  of  true  position  by  Ptolemy's  data, 
t  Represented  in  the  Book  ofBallymott  as  the  '  Sons  ofCruithu. ' 
t  These  names  are  all  in  the  genitive  case. 
12 


PICTLAND  OF  ALBA 

the  unorganized  hordes  of  many  histories.  On  the 
contrary,  they  were  carefully  organized  as  distinct 
clans  in  separate  provincesenjoyinglocalgovern- 
ment  under  a  chief  whose  rule  was  patriarchal; 
and  all  the  clans  with  their  chiefs  were  federated 
under  one  supreme  government  directed  by  the 
sovereign.  The  Draoidhean,  who  were  seers  and 
orators,  were  also  counsellors  of  the  sovereign; 
and  the  clan-chiefs  formed  the  Executive  through- 
out the  realm.  The  people  were  homogeneous, 
and  united  by  a  true  national  spirit;  because  not 
only  did  theyrepel  theadvance  of  Imperial  Rome 
as  one  man;  but  also  the  attempted  encroachment 
of  the  Gaidheals  led  by  Gabhran  Mac  Domongairt 
in  A.  D.  5  60,  and  under  the  Pictish  sovereign  Angus 
I.  Mac  Fergus  they  almost  shattered  the  power  of 
the  Gaidheals  or  Scots. 

The  effective  occupation  of  all  Pictland  by  the 
Picts  is  confirmed  by  many  place-names  conferred 
either  by  the  Gaidheals  or  Vikings,  and  still  in 
use.  Forexample,  in Shetlandthereare Pettidale, 
Picts' valley;  Pettwater,  Picts' Water;  Pettgarths- 
fell,  H  ill  of  the  Picts'  Walled  I  nclosure,  or  Town.  * 
At  Orkney,  the  Pdttlands  Fiord  is  the  Firth  of 
Pictland,  the  '  Pentland  Firth 'of  common  speech. 
In  Stoer  on  the  north-west  of  Sutherland  there  is 
Clais  nan  Cruitneack,  Hollow  or  Ditch  of  the 
Picts,  referringeithertoaboundary  between  them 
and  Gaidhealic  settlers,  or  to  the  cuttings  from 

*  The  Varangians  and  the  Viking  Jerusalem-pilgrims  called  Constant- 
inople the  Big  Garth. 

O 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

which theydugtheir fuel.  InAbercrossan('Apple- 
cross ')  in  Ross,  where  the  Pictishsaint  Maelrubha 
established  his  community  of  clerics,  there  is  Air- 
igh  nan  Cruitneachd,  that  is,  The  Summer-past- 
ure among  the  hills,  whither  the  Picts  led  their 
cattle  and  where  they  sojourned  in  shielings  to 
make  the  cheeses  for  the  winter  stores.  In  Kin- 
tail,  also  in  Ross,  there  is  Cdrnan  Cruitneachd, 
that  is,  The  Cairns  of  the  Picts,  the  reference  be- 
ing to  the  Cairns  in  which  theyburied  their  dead. 
Doubtless,  this  name  reaches  hi.cktothe Karnon- 
akai,  a  section  of  the  Kerones,  who  in  Ptolemy's 
time  inhabited  this  very  locality.  In  Moray  the 
Abbots  of  Kinloss  Abbey  possessed  a  thirteenth- 
century  charter  containing  the  bounding  descrip- 
tion, 'ad  rune  Pictorum,'  which  is  explained  as 
Picts'  Fields.  Rune  is  still  used  colloquially  in 
Moray  as  'Run,'  meaning  aborder-stretch  of  field, 
or  path.*  In  Aberdeenshire,  at  Turriff,  the  stretch 
of  land  between  the  haugh  and  the  heights  on 
which  the  old  Pictish  Church  of  S .  Comgan  stands- 
is  Cruithen-righe,\  that  is.  Pasture-stretch  of  the 
Picts.  In  Lochaber,  Inverness-shire,  is  Cruith- 
neachan,  that  is,  Picts'  places. 

Wherever  foreigners  crept  into  Pictland  they 
bore  unconscious  testimony,  in  the  names  which 
they  conferred,  to  thehold  which  the  Picts  had  and 
kept  of  their  own  country. 

*  See  Place-names  of  Ross,  p.  xlvi,  where  Dr.  Watson  equates  '  Rune ' 
with  Gaelic  Raon,  a  field,  or  road, 
t  The  later  Celtic  form  is  ruighe. 

14 


THE  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  PICTS 
CHAPTER  THREE 

It  is  desirable  to  think  of  the  speech  which  the 
Picts  used — the  speech  in  which  Christianity  was 
taught  to  them.  All  the  scholars  who  have  a  pract- 
ical acquaintance  with  the  topographical  names 
of  Pictland  are  now  agreed  that  the  speech  of  the 
Picts  was  a  dialect  of  Celtic,  that  it  differed  con- 
siderably from  Scottish  Gaelic  and  other  Celtic 
dialects  of  the  Gaidhealic  group;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  it  agreed  closely  with  the  Celtic  speech 
of  the  Britons,  now  represented  by  Welsh.  Pro- 
fessor Watson  puts  it  thus:* '  Linguistic  evidence 
goes  to  showthat  the  Pictish  language  was  Celtic, 
and  belonged  to  the  Cymric  branch  represented 
now  by  Welsh  and  Breton,  and  until  recent  times 
by  Cornish.'  AsstatedbyDr.  Macbainf  the  main 
difference  between  Pictish,  or  other  Britonic 
tongues,  and  the  dialects  of  the  Gaidhealic  group 
is  that  Aryan  ^,  when  labialized  by  association  with 
u  or  w,  making  qu,  becomes  in  Pictish,  or  other 
Britonic  speech, a  simple/;  but  in  the  Gaidhealic 
dialects  it  becomes  c,  qu,  or  k.  The  standing  il- 
lustration is  the  word  for  the  number  'five,' which 
in  Welsh  is  pump,  in  Cornish  pymp,  in  Breton 
pemp,  in  Gaulish /^^^/e;  but  in  Scottish  Gaelic 
it  is  c6ig,  in  Manx  queig,  and  in  Irish  ciiig. 

Venerable  BedeJ  stated  that  besides  Latin. 
there  were  four  'languages'  in  Britain,  namely, 

*  Place-names  of  Ross,  p.  xlvii.' 
t  Cf.  Etymological  Gaelic  Dictionary ,  p.  jii.  %  d.  A.D.  735. 

15 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

English,  British,  Scottish,  and  Pictish.  Bede  was 
quite  untravelled* and  his  workshowsthathehad 
little  personal  knowledge  of  the  Celts,  and  was 
not  in  a  position  to  distinguish  between  a  dialect 
and  a  language.  Nevertheless,  he  hasbeenmuch 
relied  on  by  those  who,  as  Dr.  Macbain  expressed 
it,  with  'wasted  ingenuity'  theorized  that  Pictish 
was  non- Aryan  and  pre-Celtic. 

We  have  seen  that  the  'Cruitin'(Pict)  and  the 
Briton  were  one  in  name;  it  would  have  been  con- 
trary to  expectation  if  they  had  differed  in  speech 
otherwise  than  dialectically.  Nevertheless,  how- 
ever similar  the  dialects  of  the  British  tribes,  in- 
cluding the  Picts,  were  at  the  time  of  the  Roman 
occupation;  it  is  well  not  to  forget  that  between 
the  days  of  the  Roman  colony  and  the  eighth  cent- 
ury, when  Bede  wrote.the  speech  of  the  conquered 
Britons  would,  owing  to  the  influenceof  the  Gaul- 
ish Legions  and  Latin  culture,  diverge  markedly 
from  the  speech  of  the  unconquered  Britons  or 
Picts  which  for  a  long  time  was  preserved  from 
foreign  influences. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  expulsion  of  the  Brig- 
antes  to  the  north  of  Antonine's  Wall,  a.d.  139, 
before  the  legionsof  Lollius  Urbicus,  would  only 
intensify  the  Britonic  nature  of  Pictish  speech. 
These  Brigantes  were  the  most  numerous  and 

*  'In  this  Community  (Jarrow)  Bede  spent  his  whole  life'  (Adolf  Ebert). 

'  Except  for  a  few  short  absences,  such  as  the  visits  to  York  and  Lindis- 
farne,  we  may  fairly  assume  that  his  whole  life  was  spent  in  the  monastery ' 
(Miss  Sellar's  sketch  of  Bede's  Life,  E.H.E.  p.  xxxvi). 

16 


THE  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  PICTS 

powerful  people  among  the  Britons.  They  occu- 
pied the  country  from  the  Humber  and  Mersey 
line  to  the  Firth  of  Forth,  that  is,  all  the  ground 
that  became  the  province  'Maxima  Caesariensis,' 
and  the  eastern  half  of  Valentia;  and  with  their 
relatives  the  Manapian  Picts  they  also  occupied 
the  south-eastern  coasts  of  Ireland.  Pausanias 
tells  us  that  the  Brigantes  were  deprived  of  their 
lands.*  Julius  Capitolinus  adds  to  this  that  they 
were  expelled  from  the  province  by  Lollius,  that 
is,  driven  with  the  Otadinoi  north  of  the  Forth 
and  Clyde  line,  behind  the  new  Wall  which  the 
Romangeneral  hadmade;and,as  we  have  already 
noticed,penned  up  inPictland  among  the  southern 
Vakomagoi  and  the  Vernikones  making  a  mixture 
of  peoples  that  unite  and  emerge  later  as  Miathi, 
Midlanders,  out  of  whom,  still  later,  emerge  the 
Verturiones  or  Men  of  Fortrenn.  The  expulsion  of 
iheseBriganles,  not  to  mention  the  Oiadinoijrom 
their  far-stretching  territories,  and  their  with- 
drawal behind  the  Wall  before  the  Roman  drive 
must  have  turned  Pictland  into  a'  Congested  Dis- 
trict' for  the  first  time  in  history.  This  event 
must  also  have  increased  the  Britonic  character- 
istics of  the  Picts,  if  that  were  possible,  and  ac- 
centuated the  Britonic  features  of  Pictish  speech 
to  an  extent  that  ought  to  have  enlightened  the 
sceptics  who  doubted  the  close  original  affinity 
of  the  Cruitin  (Pict)  and  the  Briton. 

*  Cf.  Sir  Herbert  Maxwell's  Chronicles  relatingto  Scotland,  p.  19. 

c  17 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

The  close  affinity  between  the  speech  of  Pict 
and  Briton  is  further  indicated  in  the  ease  and 
speed  with  which  the  British  Christians  occupied 
the  mission-fields  of  Pictland.  HardlyhadS.  Nin- 
ian,  a  Briton,  completed  the  foundation  of  Can- 
didaCasa  in  Gallowayas  a  centre  of  the  Christian 
religion  when  he  set  out*  with  a  number  of  his 
community  to  found  Churches,  and  to  place  min- 
isters all  along  the  east  coast  of  Pictland. f  From 
the  then  border-town  of  Glasgow  the  line  of  his 
Churches  extended  to  S.  Ninian's  Isle  in  Shet- 
land. Ailred,whodrewhisfactsaboutNinianfrom 
the  0/dLt/e,sta.tes  that  the  saint  taught  the  Picts 
'the  truth  of  the  Gospel  and  the  purity  of  the 
Christian  faith,  God  working  with  him  and  "con- 
firming the  Word  with  signs  following."  'J  There 
is  not  the  slightest  hint  that  either  S.  Ninian  or 
his  helpers  had  the  least  difficulty  with  the  langu- 
age. Even  Bede  lays  stressonS.  Ninian's  preach- 
ing-^ as  the  means  by  which  he  converted  the  Picts 
of  the  East  coast.  1| 

In  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century  S.  Fin- 
bar  of  Maghbile  and  Dornoch,  a  pupil  at  Can- 
dida Casa  but  an  Irish  Pict  by  birth,  took  up  and 

*  Between  A.  D.  400  and  432. 

t  See  the  Author's  S,  Ninian,  Apostle  of  the  Britons  and  Picts. 

X  Vita  Niniani,  Ailred,  cap.  vi. 

§  /f.£.G.^.,Bede,  lib.  iii.  cap.  iv. 

II  Bede  calls  these  particular  Picts  'Southern.'  The  Picts  were  not 
divided  into  'Northern'  and  'Southern'  either  politically  or  geographic- 
ally. Bede's  geography  was  Ptolemaic,  as  he  indicates.  His  '  South'  was 
our  East,  and  his  '  North '  our  West,  so  far  as  Pictland  is  concerned. 

18 


THE  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  PICTS 

continued  S.  Ninian's  work  in  Sutherland,  Ross, 
and  elsewhere.  H  e,  of  course,  would  have  no  diffi- 
culty with  the  Pictish  tongue. 

About  the  same  time  S.  Drostan,*  another 
Briton,  established  a  missionary-base  at  Deer  in 
the  lowlands  of  Aberdeenshire,  from  which  he 
worked  with  the  members  of  his  community  and 
strengthened  the  Faith  in  Buchan  and  Caithness. 
Later,  in  the  same  century,  S.  Kentigern,  an- 
other Briton,  with  his  base  at  Glasgow,  led  a  mis- 
sion to  the  uplands  of  Aberdeenshire,  and  sent 
members  of  his  community  'towards  the  Ork- 
neys.'! Joceline,  his  biographer,  who  also  drew 
his  facts  from  an  old  Celtic  Life,  emphasizes  the 
effect  oiVxs preaching,  'the  Lord  working  with 
him,  and  giving  power  to  the  voice  of  his  preach- 
ing.' Again,  there  is  no  suggestion  that  preach- 
ing to  the  Picts  was  other  than  easy  to  a  Briton. 

About  the  same  time  that  S,  Kentigern  was 
in  the  Pictish  mission-field  S.  Comgall  the  Great,  % 
another  Irish  Pict,  friend  of  S.  Finbar  and  neigh- 
bour to  him,  was  teaching  the  Western  Picts;  S. 
Cainnech  of  Achadh-Bo.also  aPict,  was  teaching 
the  Pictsof  Fife;  and  S.  Moluag,yet  another  Pict, 
a  relative  of  S.  Comgall,  was  joining  up  his  mis- 
sionary community  at  Lismore  in  Argyll  with  his 
other  community  at  Rosemarkie  in  Ross,  and  link- 
ing this  in  turn  to  the  missionary-communities 

•  See  the  history  of  S.  Drostan's  mission  in  the  body  of  this  book. 

t  V.  Kentigemi,  Joceline,  cap.  xxxiv. 
X  See  the  history  of  S.  Comgall's  work  in  the  body  of  this  book. 

19 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

ofthe  Britons  in  Aberdeenshire.  Here.oncemore, 
we  have  no  sign  that  the  Britons  were  divided 
from  the  Picts  by  any  difficulties  of  language. 

The  first  outstanding  Celtic  ecclesiastic  who 
appears  in  history  as  having  difficulties  with  the 
speech  of  Pictland  was  a  Gaidheal;  and  he,  none 
other  than  S.  Columba  of  Hy.  He  stands  in  hist- 
ory, written  too  by  a  Gaidheal,*  to  confirm  all  that 
philologists  and  historians  have  discovered  in 
the  way  of  indicating  that  the  speech  of  Pictland 
though  closely  akin  to  the  speech  of  the  Britons 
was  decidedly  different  from  the  Celtic  dialect 
spoken  by  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots. 

Thrice  we  hear  of  S.  Columba  depending  on 
interpreters  in  his  conversations  with  the  Picts. 
When  he  went  to  Brude  Mac  Maelchon  to  seek 
permission  to  settle  in  Hy,  or  lona,  for  his  work 
among  the  Gaidhealic  colonists,  he  required  to 
attach  himself  to  the  company  of  two  Picts,  S. 
Comgall  the  Great  and  S.  Cainnech.  This  fact 
is  only  hinted  at  by  Adamnan,  but  is  suppressed 
altogether  in  the  Old  Life  of  S.  Columba,  which 
was  of  Gaidhealic  origin.  Dr.  Reeves,  on  the  other 
hand,  candidly  directs  attention  to  it.f  Again, 
when  S.  Columba  was  visitingthePictish  island  of 
Skye  an  old  chief  called  Artbrannan  was  brought 
to  him  for  baptism.  When  the  Saint  proceeded 
to  give  the  necessary  preliminary  instruction  he 

*  See  his  biography  by  Adamnan. 
t  Adamnan's  V.S.C.,  Reeves,  p.  152,  noterf. 
20 


THE  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  PICTS 

could  only  convey  the  'Word  of  God  through  an 
interpreter.'*  Once  more,  an  interpreter  appears 
in  connection  with  an  incident  which  Adamnan 
associates  with  S.  Columba's  second  journey  to 
Brude.  S.  Columba  had  halted  in  some  Pictish 
district  when  'a  certain  rustic,  with  all  his  house- 
hold, heard  the  Word  of  Life  through  an  interpre- 
ter when  the  holy  man  (Columba)  preached.  As 
a  result  he  believed;  and  believing  was  baptized, 
the  husband  with  his  wife  and  children  and  ser- 
vants.'f  Yet  this  is  the  man  to  whom  is  credited 
the  Christianizing  of  Pictland,  \  although  he  had 
beenpreceded  there  by  distinguished  British  and 
Pictish  teachers;  and  although  in  S.  Columba's 
own  time  famous  missionaries  like  S.  Moluag,  S. 
Kentigern,  and  S.  Cainnech  were  at  work  in  the 
very  heart  of  Pictland  where  no  enemy  Gaidheal 
would  have  beenallowed  to  travel  onanypretext. 
The  plea  has  been  put  forward  that  S.  Columba 
only  required  an  interpreter  'twice,'  and  at  a  time 
when  he  was  imparting  the  Gospel. §  It  would 
have  been  more  accurate  to  say  that  Adamnan 
onlygives  two  instances  to  his  Gaidhealic  readers 

*   K5.aUb.  i.  cap.  33. 

t  Ibid.  lib.  ii.  cap.  32. 

%  Bede's  reference  to  S.  Columba  converting  the  Northern  (our  West- 
ern) Picts  is  dealt  with  elsewhere  in  this  volume. 

§  The  most  puerile  attempts  have  been  made  by  the  Exaggerators  of 
Columba,  and  by  the  Gaelic-every  where-and-from  -all-time  philologists  to 
explain  away  S.  Columba's  need  of  an  interpreter  in  Pictland.  'On  two 
occasions  only,'  pleads  Skene,  'does  S.  Columba  require  an  interpreter.' 
Adamnan,  who  wrote  for  Gaidheals,  did  not  require  to  be  continually  men- 
tioning what  they  knew,  that  Pictish  was  a  different  tongue  fromGaidhealic. 

21 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

of  what  to  them  was  an  obvious  necessity;  and, 
surely,  if  S.  Columba  could  not  give  simple  in- 
struction in  Pictish  to  an  adult  candidate  for  bapt- 
ism, or  to  a  rural  family  interested  in  hearing  the 
Gospel,  he  could  not  make  any  effective  use  of 
the  speech  of  the  Picts  whom  some  writers  allege 
that  he  converted;  and  his  work  among  the  Picts 
cannot  for  a  moment  be  compared  with  the  work 
of  Pictish  teachers  such  as  S.  Comgall  the  Great, 
S.  Moluag,  or  S.  Cainnech,  not  to  mention  the 
missionaries  from  the  Church  of  the  Britons. 

Beyond  what  has  been  stated,  some  ancient 
names  in  our  present-day  speech  witness  to  the 
differences  between  Gaidhealic  and  Pictish;  and 
show  the  Britonic  character  of  the  latter  tongue. 
For  example,  the  name  of  S.  Maelrubha  of  Aber- 
crossan,*  a  Pict,  means  Red  Cleric. f  In  the  dis- 
tricts of  Pictland  where  he  laboured  the  tradi- 
tional pronunciation  of  his  name,  still  used,  is 
'Malruf,'  'Maruf,'  or  'Maruve.'|  The  b  in  his 
name  is  clearly  aspirated.  Among  the  descend- 
ants of  the  Gaidhealic  Colonists  in  the  West, 
however,  his  name  is  spelt  Maolruadha.  It  has 
the  same  meaning;  and  in  colloquial  Gaelic  has 
frequently  been  translated  Sagart  Ruadh,  '  Red 
Priest.'  The  Gaidhealic  form  is  seen  in  the  west- 
country  names,  'Kil-Molruy,'  'Kil-Marow,'  and 

*  NowApplecrossinRoss. 
t  Literally  Red  Tonsured-one. 

t  As  in '  Keth-Malruf '  for  Keith  in  Banffshire  and  in  '  Sa-MarUve'  for 
Sanct  Malrubh. 

22 


THE  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  PICTS 

'Kil-Maree.'  The  important  point  is  that  the 
name  gives  us  the  Pictish  rubk  and  the  Gaidh- 
ealic  ruadh,  both  meaning  red. 

Again  the  Landnamabdk  of  Iceland  informs 
us  of  certain  place-names  ^Papeya  and  'Papyli' 
The  places  so  designated  wereoccupied  by  Clerics 
called  'Pdpas,'  before  the  Scandinavians  went  to 
Iceland.  Dicuil,*  the  Irish  geographer,  knew  of 
these  Clerics  being  in  Iceland  about  a.d.  725. 
But  the  names  are  in  everyday  use  among  our- 
selves designating /*a^fl!  Stourin  Shetland, /*«/« 
Westra  inOrkney,/'«^-^e  inthe  outer  Hebrides; 
and  other  places.  'Pdpa'  came  into  the  child- 
speech  of  Greece  with  Phrygian  nurses,  took  the 
{orva.pdpas;  andneedlessto  state  meant '  father,'  or 
later, 'grandfather.'  The  Greek-speaking  Christ- 
ians applied  the  namef  to  ministers  of  the  Church, 
regarded  as  'fathers'  of  their  congregations.  It 
came  into  Gaul  on  the  lips  of  various  bodies  of 
Christian,  Greek-speaking  exiles,  not  to  mention 
traders  and  professional  men.  Having  been  al- 
ready applied  to  monks  in  Greek-speaking  dis- 
tricts, the  name  was  naturally  transferred  to  S. 
Martin  and  other  presidents  of  Celtic  monastic 
communities  who  were  imitating  the  Greek- 
speaking  monks.  The  president  of  the  monastic 
community  generally  spoke  of  the  members  as  his 
'children'  or  'family,'  or  to  use  the  Celtic  word, 

*  He  wrote  A.D.  825. 

t  Kaor,  Papa  of  Hermopolis,  is  the  writer  of  a  letter  preserved  [in 
Papyrus ^iT,  British  Museum,  dated  <■.  A.D.3S0. 

23 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

his  'muinntir,'*  a  name  which  still  survives  at  S. 
Martin's  establishmentat Tours,  in  'Marmoutier' 
or  Mormuinntir,  that  is  'Magnum  Monasterium,' 
Great  Monastery.  'Papa'  found  its  way  to  the 
daughter  'Magnum  Monasterium'  in  Galloway 
with  S.  Martin's  disciples,  Ninian  the  Briton  and 
his  followers.  It  is  a  word  that  no  Gaidheal  ever 
popularized;  because  no  Gaidheal  could  easily 
pronounce  it.  In  fact  the  Gaidheals  rejected  it, 
and  adopted  the  Syriac  'Ab,'  the  title  of  the  pre- 
siding monk  in  certain  communities  of  the  East. 
On  the  other  hand,  'Papa  with  its  /-sounds  is 
such  a  word  as  Britons  and  Picts  would  welcome. 
It  occurs  in  early  documents,  in  the  Epistle 
wrongly  attributed  to  Cumine  of  Hy,  and  is  ap- 
plied to  S.  Patrick,  a  Briton.  The  survival  of  the 
name  in  Iceland  goes  to  confirm  Joceline's  state- 
ment that  S.  Kentigern  sent  his  missionaries 
'towards  Iceland.'  The  use  of  the  word  at  all  by 
the  Picts  and  Britons  reveals  to  any  one  who 
knows  the  early  history  of  the  Church  in  Gaul 
that  their  missionaries  had  been  in  touch  with 
S.  Martin's  monasticism  and  its  nomenclature 
among  the  Celts  of  Gaul  while  the  Roman  Church 
was  still  looking  askance  at  monasticism,  and 
while  the  Bishop  of  Rome  had  little  influence 

*  Dr.  Macbain  stated  that  Stokes,  Zimmer,  and  Giiterbock  regarded 
this  word  as  an  early  borrowing  from  Latin.  The  early  nomenclature  of 
monasticism,  with  which  the  Celts  of  Gaul  were  familiar,  was  mostly  from 
Greek  and  slightly  from  Chaldaic  and  Coptic.    The  Latin  Church  was 

at  first  opposed  to  monasticism. 

24 


THE  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  PICTS 

among  the  Gallic  bishops.  Although  monasticism 
and  its  nomenclature  were  brought  to  Gaul  from 
Greek-speaking  centres  the  name  Papa  disap- 
peared and  Ab  or  Abbas  took  its  place  there  and 
elsewhere  in  the  West  as  soon  as  the  Bishop  of 
Rome  won  control;  because  with  clever  humility- 
he  had  chosen /•«/«  as  his  own  particular  title,  r&- 
jecting Pairiarckes  or  other  namesequallygrand. 
Papa  survived  only  in  places  where  it  had  been 
firmly  rooted  in  the  speech  of  the  people  before 
the  influence  of  Rome  overtook  it,  as  on  the  coasts 
of  Pictland;  or  throughout  the  Eastern  Church 
where  the  influence  of  Rome  was  never  felt,  and 
where  it  still  designates  the  humbler  clergy. 

Other  borrowed  words  seen  in  the  place-names 
of  the  Picts  are — 

Q7/*(EnglishKil-),dativeofOa!//(EarlyIrish 
Ce//),  from  Latin  Ce/la,  a  cell.  The  name  now 
means  Church.  Originally  it  was  attached  to  the 
founder's  name.  The  cell  of  the  Ab  was  the  centre 
of  the  monastic  settlement,  and  close  by  stood 
the  Church  of  the  community.  The  great  Pictish 
monastery  of  Bangor  was  a  town  of  detached  cells 
within  a  guarded  rampart.  The  missionaries  from 
Bangor  and  other  centres  of  the  Irish  Picts  in- 

*  In  this  and  other  words  the  current  Scottish  Gaelic  is  given  for  con- 
venience even  when  it  does  not  represent  the  present  or  the  old  vernacular 
pronunciation. 

It  is  not  clear  how  inital  Latin  C  was  articulated;  but  the  Gaidhealic 
scribes  reproduced  as'Circ'  and  'Ciric'  the  names  which  in  Pictland  were 
pronounced  'Grig,'  for  example,  'Ecdes-Grig'  in  Kincardine;  and  'Mc 
Giric '  and  'Mai-  Giro '  in  the  Book  of  Deer. 

25 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

troduced  the  detached  bee-hive  cell  intoPictland, 
just  as  S.  Columba,  the  Gaidheal,  introduced  it 
into  Dalriada  according  to  the  examples  which 
all  had  seen  atClonardand  Glasnevin.  It  is  worth 
noting,  in  this  connection,  that  S.  Columba's 
teacher  at  Clonard  was  educated  among  the  Brit- 
ons, and  that  his  teacher  at  Glasnevin  was  an  I  rish 
Pict.  'Cill'  was  not  applied  originally  to  Churches 
founded  by  missionaries  from  the  Britons ;  Llan 
was  common.  Among  the  Picts  andGaidhealsthe 
Church  frequentlygrewout  of  the  Cell;  amongthe 
Britons  the  Church  and  Cell  were  contemporane- 
ous. S.  Ninian's  Cell  was  Casa,  a  hut;  because  it 
was  an  effort  to  keep  true  to  the  type  of  Bothy  at 
whichS.  Martin  introduced  and  began  to  organize 
monasticism  in  Gaul,  on  the  farm  which  S.  Hilary 
gave  to  him  for  his  great  experiment.  Here  S. 
Martin  began  in  the  'Logo-Tigiac'*  or  White- 
Hut  which  was  the  original  of  Candida  Casa. 
'Casula'  was  the  name  applied  to  the  Cells  of  S. 

*  Mr.  Nicholson,  Keltic  Researches,  p.  145,  gives  this  as  a  sixth-century 
form  of  the  name.    The  place  is  now  Ligug^,  Poictiers. 

Gregory  of  Tours  and  Fortunatus  preserve  the  name  as  '  Loco-ciacum' 
and  ' Logotegiacum'  zxA  ' Logotigiacum.'  Longnon  gives  'Loco-diacus'  of 
which  there  is  a  variant '  Lucoteiac-.'  The  latterpart  of  the  name  is  clearly 
the  diminutive  of  the  Celtic  Tigh  ( Teach)  or  Ty,  a  House.  The  root  of  the 
first  part  of  the  name  is  seen  in  the  Greek  prefix  leuko-  which  means  Bright- 
white;  and  in  the  ancient  Celtic  prefix  Leuce  (Leucetios,  God  of  Lightning). 
TheCeltic  root  alsosurvives  in  the  personal  name  'Luag'  which  Angus  the 
Culdee  paraphrases  as  'clear  and  brilliant ';  or  in '  Cat-luan, '  Light  of  Battle. 
It  is  seen  also  in  the  current  Gaelic  word  luachair  (rush),  the  light-maker. 
The  whole  name  means  literally  Bright- white  Hut,  and  is  correctly  trans- 
lated hy'Candida  Casa.'  Compare  with  the  last  partof  the  name  'Mogun- 
liacum,'  House  of  the  god  Mogun,  the  ancient  name  of  Mainz. 
26 


THE  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  PICTS 

Kentigern's  settlement,  showing  that  in  his  time 
the  'little  houses'  were  maintained.  In  an  old 
Irish  manuscript,  'Botha'*  is  the  name  applied 
to  the  cells  at  Glasnevin.  Both-  was  also  used  in 
Pictlandof  Alba. 

Eaglais,  formerly  eclais  (Brit,  eglwys),  is  the 
Greek  ekklesia,  Assembly  or  Church.  It  occurs 
throughout  Pictland,  and,  when  associated  with 
the  Ancient  Church-foundations,  is  attached  to 
the  ecclesiastical  founder's  name.  It  is  seen  in 
such  names  as  Eccles-Machan,  West  Lothian;  in 
'  Egglis,'  the  short  name  recorded  in  the  early 
twelfth  century  for  the  ancient  Eccles-Ninian, 
now  S.  Ninian's  near  Stirling;  in  Eccles-Grig, 
Kincardineshire;  and  in  Egilshay,  Church-island, 
Orkney. 

Tempul {^nX.  tempel)  is  a  name  that  abounds 
in  Pictland;  and,  indeed,  wherever  Celts  were 
settled.  It  came  to  mean  Church.  In  the  preface 
X.oth&HymnofMugent,yjhovi2LSon&oiS.Wim?Ln's 
successors  and  presided  at  Candida  Casa  at  the 
end  of  the  fifth  century  and  the  beginning  of  the 
sixth,  the  scholiast  calls  the  Church  at  Candida 
Ca^a'templum.'  The  Church-site  which  S.  Ninian 
onhisnorthernmissionmarkedoffat  Glen  Urqu- 
hart.and  where  his  Church  stood  for  centuries,  is 
still  called  '  Tenipul!\  Notwithstanding  the  later 
use  of '  Tempul '  and  its  application  to  the  Church 

*  Quoted  by  Dr.  Reeves,  V.S.C.  (Adamnan),  p.  360,  note  r. 
t  Saintsof  the  Valley  of  the  Ness  (fix.  W.  Mackay),  p.  5. 

27 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

at  Candida  Casa,  there  is  evidence  that  in  Pict- 
land  the  name  was  not  restricted  to  buildings  but 
sometimes  was  used  in  itsoriginalsenseofaplace 
marked  off  and  enclosed  for  a  sacred  purpose. 
The  name  had  been,  apparently,  first  applied  in 
Pictland  to  the  sacred  enclosures  of  the  heathen 
Picts;  and,  afterwards,  bestowed  upon  the  Christ- 
ian Churches  erected  there.  When  Ailred,  doubt- 
less following  the  Old  Life,  relates  concerning 
S.  Ninian's  northern  mission  'temples  are  cast 
down  and  Churches  erected,'  he  means  no  more 
than  that  the  templum  proper,  the  inclosed  space, 
was  broken  into  by  the  Christian  pioneer,  and 
the  ceremonial  standing  stones  laid  flat. 

Seipeal  {\r.  S6p61),  Chapel,  is  an  interesting 
name.  It  has  been  applied  in  Pictland,  in  the 
vernacular,  to  the  most  ancient  Church-sites, 
foundations  not  dedications,  where therehasbeen 
nothingbut  dry-built  stone  foundations  timeout  of 
mind,  and  perhapsadisused  Churchyard.  Thus  we 
have  in  the  north  of  S  cotland,  where  ancient  names 
have  been  little  displaced,  such  examples  as  Sdpdl- 
Ninian,  Sdpdl-Finbar,  Sdpd-Drostan,Sdpd-Don- 
nan,  and  the  like.  Yet  the  philologists  declare 
that  Sdpdl,  because  of  the  initial  5"  which  is  artic- 
ulated as  Sk,  was  imported  from  English  after  the 
tenthcentury  when  extra  apses  with  an  altar  came 
to  be  added  to  the  main  structures  and  were  called 
'Chapels.'  The  Gaidheals,  for  example,  had  no 
need  to  borrow  from  English;  because  they  took 
28 


THE  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  PICTS 

their  word  Caibeal,  Chapel,  direct  from  the  Latin 
Capella;  and  it  is  seen  in  such  a  name  as  Portin- 
caple,  Port  of  the  Chapel,  reproduced  in  the  iouv- 
t&G.nth.c&nt\xry  ?iS'Porikebbil.'  Manifestly  the  ini- 
tial Sk-  sound  in  S^p^lvfas  due,  not  to  English, 
but  to  the  influence  of  a  tongue  which  disliked 
simple  initial  S  as  much  as  initial  C.  Both  the 
BritonsandPicts  had  these dislikes.henceinPict- 
land  there  still  survives  in  the  native  pronuncia- 
tion of  place-names  sdpdliox  capella;  'shantor*ior 
cantor,a.  choirmaster;  'shant'\  for  sanct,a.ndi  even 
'Shanonry  ior  Canonry,Jthe  place  where  Canons 
resided.§  There  is  a  further  indication  that  's^pd,' 
a  chapel,  was  used  by  the  Celts  long  before  its 
application  in  the  tenth  century  to  extra  apses. 
The  name  goes  back  to  the  period  of  the  true 
capella,  that  is,  little  capa  or  covering.  The  true 
'chaplain'  was  the  minister  who  dispensed  the 
sacraments  under  the  capella,  which  was  an  ex- 
temporized canopy  of  thatch-work  raised  over  the 
field  Communion-table  of  a  minister  accompany- 
ing the  Christian  legions  of  the  Emperor,  or  of  a 
pioneer  missionary  sealing  his  converts. 

As  Ailred,with  the  Old  Life  before  him,  states 
that  S.  N  inian  in  his  northern  mission  throughPict- 

*  '  Ach-na-Shantor,'  the  Precentor's  glebe,  is  at  Dornoch. 

t  'Shant'sCross'isinBuchan. 

J  '  Canonries '  were  in  Aberdeen,  Ross,  and  Moray  and  elsewhere. 

§  To  these  may  be  added :  '  Giltrioh '  for  '  Gilchrist,'  where  both  the  C 
and  the  i' are  avoided — a  pronunciation  which  has  been  foolishly  explained 
as  a  desire  to  avoid  pronouncing  the  sacred  name  of  Christ. 

29 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

land  joined  his  converts  'to  the  body  of  Believers, 
by  faith,  by  confession,  and  by  the  S  acraments, '  the 
Capella  would  be  a  feature  of  his  field-services; 
and  it  is  only  natural  that  the  dry-stone  building 
with  heather-thatched  roof  which  succeeded  it  as 
a  permanent  shelter  for  the  Holy  Table,  should 
continue  to  possess  the  name  Sdpd,  Capella,  or 
Chapel.  In  the  early  Celtic  Church  'Capella'  ^rvA. 
'Casula'  became  interchangeable  names,*appar- 
ently  because  of  the  thatch-work  covering  com- 
mon to  both;  for,  of  course,  while  the  Casula  had 
walls,  the  early  Capella  was  supported  on  poles. 

Disert  is  from  the  Latin  afej^r/o:,  waste-places; 
but  the  meaning  was  enlarged.  There  is  a  recorded 
Churchof  S.  Ninianat'Disert'in  Moray, believed 
to  be  at  Dyke.  The  place  is  no  longer  known  by 
its  first  name.  Disert,  originally,  meant  any  soli- 
taryplace  where  the  cleric  might  retire  forashort 
time  from  the  community  for  meditation  and  de- 
votion. S.  Martin  had  his  Casa  some  miles  away 
from  Poictiers;  and  his  cave  on  the  Cher,  well 
outside  Tours;  S.  Ninian  had  his  cave  on  the  sea- 
shore some  distance  from  the  'Magnum  Monast- 
erium  at  Candida  Casa;  S.  Servanus  had  his  cave 

*  Thisusage  was  even  applied  to  the  Cuculla  or  Hooded  Garment  which 
covered  the  Cleric.  Sometimes  it  was  called  Ca/a,  sometimes  CaaWa.  The 
hood  of  the  Capa  was  the  only  head-covering  of  the  Celtic  Clerics ;  and  it 
was  used  only  in  cold  or  storm.  Those  who  seek  an  explanation  of  the  un- 
explained word  Cap  should  note  this.  Those,  also,  who  wish  a  further  ex- 
ample of  how  initial  C  was  avoided  in  Pictland,  should  note  the  word 
'  Hap'  still  applied  there  to  any  garment  like  the  ancient  Capa  or  Cuculla 
which  was  a  wrap  for  the  day  and  a  blanket  for  the  night. 

30 


THE  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  PICTS 

atDysartinFife;  S.  Kentigern  retired  'addeserta 
loca'  where  his  dwelling  was  a  cave;  S.  Finbar 
and  S.  Comgall  had  retreats  in  the  'Holy- Wood'; 
S.  Cainnech  had  a  solitude  on  an  island  in  a  loch. 
In  these  solitary  places  these  leaders  of  men  med- 
itated on  God  and  rejoiced  in  Nature.  They  made 
friends  with  the  wild  creatures  around  them;  the 
wild  swans  came  toS.  Comgall  at  his  call;  S.  Kenti- 
gern had  a  wolf  and  a  stag  for  companions;  and 
S.  Cainnech  was  followed  by  a  hind,  Intheir  mon- 
astic organizations  the  Picts  and  Britons  left  room 
for  the  anchoret  as  well  as  the  cenobite.  The  Irish 
Christians  at  a  later  period  recognized  Diserts 
specially  intended  for  men  who  had  no  external  in- 
terests, religious  or  otherwise,  who  had  imprisoned 
themselves  ar  Dia,  '  for  God,'  that  is,  for  con- 
tinued devotional  exercises.  The  I  rish  also,  in  the 
late  period,  used  Dithreabh,  Wilderness,  for  Di- 
sert.  Disert  is  still  in  use  in  Pictland,  but  only 
in  secular  place-names. 

BackalKfinX..  bagl),  from  Latin  baculum,  was 
the  pastoral  staff  of  an  Ab  or  bishop.  When  sent 
by  a  messenger  who  was  the  bearer  of  a  verbal 
order  from  the  Ab;  the  staff  was  a  sign  that  the 
order  had  been  authorized.  The  pastoral  staves 
of  SS.  Moluag  and  Fillan  are  still  preserved.  The 
staff  of  S.  Donnan  the  Great  vanishedatAuchter- 
less  Church  at  the  Reformation.  Certain  lands 
at  Kilmun  went  with  the  custody  of  S.  Mund's 
staff;  and  the  property  called '  Bachul'  in  Lismore  is 

3» 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

still  held  by  the  hereditary  keepers  of  S.  Moluag's 
staff.  After  the  period  of  the  Celtic  Church  the 
Bachalls  of  the  saints  were  venerated  as  relics, 
used  in  healing  the  sick,  and,  to  bring  victory, 
were  carried  in  front  of  the  fighting-men  as  they 
marched  into  battle,  which  explains  why  the 
'Bachul'  of  S.  Moluag  was  in  the  custody  of  the 
standard-bearer  of  the  lords  of  Lorn. 

Cathair  is  a  name  associated  with  the  sites  of 
many  cities  and  muinntirs  in  the  territories  of  the 
Britons  and  Picts.  Etymologists  insist  that  it 
represents  two  words — (i)  Cathair  (Brit.  Caer, 
Latin  Castrum),  a  fort;  seen  in  'Caerleon,'  Forti- 
fied camp  of  the  Legions;  and  in  'CaerPkeris,' 
the  thirteenth -century  Dun-Fres  (Dumfries), 
Fort  of  the  Frisians.  (2)  Cathair  (Welsh  Cadair, 
Latin  Cathedra),  a  chair,  particularly  a  bishop's 
Cathedra  or  Chair.  If  the  etymologists  are  right; 
mediaeval  Latin  translators  of  Celtic  documents 
would  be  wrong;  because  they  call  early  monas- 
tic settlements  'cities,'  not  seats,  and  indicate, 
what  is  correct,  that  as  a  rule  they  were  fortified. 
'Car-Budde'  near  Forfar,  for  example,  is  known 
to  be  'Castrum  Boethii,'  *Fort  of  S.  Buidhe;  not 
Chair  of  S.  Buidhe.  J  oceline  writes  'ad  Cathures '  f 
in  the  sense  of  'ad  castra,'  that  is,  to  the  place 
that  became  known  as  the  camp  of  S.  Kentigern's 
community.    On  the  other  hand,  there  are  places 

*  It  was  a  gift  from  Nectan,  the  Sovereign  of  Pictland. 
t  The  first  name  of  the  City  of  Glasgow. 

32 


THE  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  PICTS 

in  Pictland  connected  with  the  early  Celtic  mis- 
sionaries called  'Suidke,'  a  seat,  and  an  altern- 
ative name  among  the  people  is  'Cathair'  The 
Suidhe-Donnan*  in  Sutherland,  for  example,  is 
a  deeply  concave  rock,  associated  with  the  field- 
preaching  of  S.  Donnan  the  Great.  It  is  also 
called  'Cathair;  and  it  is  in  a  protected  position. 
These  stones  called  Cathair  or  Suidhe  are  not 
all  associated  with  saints,  the  best  known  is  the 
Lia  Fail  no-w  in  Westminster.  'Cathair,'  if  equi- 
valent to  Suidhe,  appears  in  Pictland  to  have  the 
simple  sense  of  the  original  Greek  kathddra,  a 
seat.  There  seems,  however,  to  have  been  but 
one  word  'Cathair'  which  in  course  of  time  took 
a  secondary  meaning,  designating  not  the  fort 
but  the  seat  protected  by  the  fort.  In  neither 
sense  was  'Cathair'  an  episcopal  word.  It  was 
used  in  Pictland  centuries  before  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  monarchic  or  diocesan  bishop  with  his 
official  'cathedra.'  It  was  not  the  Chair  of  the 
bishop,  but  the  Chair  of  the  Ab  which  was  the  seat 
of  authority  in  Pictland  for  many  long  centuries. 
The  writers  who  interpreted  Ca/^^eV,  when  linked 
to  a  saint's  name,  as  referring  to  his  'city'  rather 
than  to  an  episcopal  chair  were  conforming  to 
historical  truth. 

Bangor.  I  n  Pictland  this  name  takes  the  forms 

*  Apart  from  the  fact  that  it  was  one  of  S.  Donnan's  preaching, 
places ;  the  tradition  is  that  at  the  Suidhe  Donnan  he  'judged '  the  people. 
In  Ireland  the  Suidhe  is  frequently  associated  with  some  Brehon  or  Law- 
giver. 

D  33 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Bangor,  Banchor-y,  Banagher.  Among  the  Bri- 
tons are  'Bangor  Padarn,'*  'Bangor y  Ty  Gwyn 
ar  Dav'\  and  many  others.  Among  the  Irish  are 
the  'Bangor  Mar'  of  S.  Comgall,  'Lis- Banagher^ 
and  Church  of  'Ross  Bennchuir,'  besides  many 
others.  One  Irish  writer  refers  to  'BenndairBrit- 
onum,' that  is,Bangor  of  the  Britons.  Also,  among 
the  Britons  were  the  famous  'Cdr  Temdws,'  de- 
stroyed in  the  fifth  century  during  a  raid  from  the 
Irish  coast  and  restored  by  S.  Illtyd;  J  and.besides 
others,  'CSr  Tathan'  which  originated  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  sixth  century,  and  sometimes  call- 
G^Bangor  Tathan.%  Associated  with  many  of  the 
Bangors  among  the  Britons  were  the  houses  bear- 
ing the  name  'Ty  Gwyn,'  that  is,  White  House, 
a  name  already  noticed  at  S.  Ninian's  Candida 
Casa,  Whithorn. 

Legends  have  been  invented,  and  etymologi- 
cal analyses  applied  to  explain  'Bangor' as  a  topo- 
graphical name.  The  results  have  been  amazing. 
The  name  has  been  discussed  at  length  in  this  work 
in  connection  with  S.  Comgall's  labours.  It  is 
sufficient  to  state  here  that' Bangor 'was  the  name 
of  an  organization  or  institution.  All  the  features 
of  a  'Bangor'  were  present  in  S.  Martin's  Mag- 
num Monasterium,  and  in  the  daughter-house  at 

*  Padarn  ap  Pedredin.  This  place  is  now  Z/aw/arfarw  Kawr  in  Cardi- 
ganshire. 

t  Now  Whitland  Abbey,  Caermarthenshire. 

t  NowZ/aw-ZZ/jryrfraror,  Glamorganshire.   S.  Illtyd  died  A.  D.  512. 

§  In  Caer  Went. 

34 


THE  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  PICTS 

Candida  Casa,  namely,  the  monastic  community 
with  means  for  training  and  discipline;  a  Church; 
Schoolsforthetraining  of  outsiders  not  intending 
the  Church.  Only  in  two  features  did  the  Bangors 
improve  on  S.  Martin's  or  S.  Ninian's  establish- 
ments; the  communities  were  more  numerous, 
and  the  Laus  perennis,*  the  continuous  course 
of  Divine  praise,  was  more  perfectly  celebrated 
by  huge  choirs,  which  were  divided  into  large 
groups  I  who  took  regular  turns  of  the  duty  and 
sang  with  a  refinement  not  possible  when  S. 
Martin  was  organizing  his  choir  out  of  the  raw 
converts  in  Gaul.  So  far  as  dates  can  be  compar- 
ed, they  are  in  favour  of  the  view  that  the  name 
'Bangor'  was  carried  from  the  Britons  to  Ireland 
along  with  the  perfected  organization  of  the  Laus 
perenms,  which  was  afeature  of  S.  Comgall's  Ban- 
gor, I  by  men  educated  among  the  Britons  like  S. 
Finian  of  Clonard  and  others  who  were  Britons 
by  birth  as  well  as  education.  Just  as  the  monastic- 
ism  of  S.  Martin  in  Gaul  was  for  a  long  time  re- 
garded with  disfavour  by  certain  authorities  in  the 
Western  Church,  so  in  the  Eastern  Church  the 
cenobiteswhogavethemselves  to  the  celebration 
oiLausperenmswereregarded  as  a  sect  and  were 
called  'Acoimeiae.'    Their  great  centre  in  the 

*  Mabillon  states  that  S.  Martin's  Marmoutier  was  one  of  the  first  places 
in  Western  Europe  to  adopt  the  celebration  of  the  'Lausferennis.' 

t  At  Bangor  liltyd  each  group  numbered  one  hundred,  according  to 
the  Triads. 

\X  Columbanus  also  made  it  a  feature  of  the  daughter-house  at  Luxeuil. 

35 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

East  was  at  Constantinople,  in  the  famous  Studion 
founded  c.  a.d.  460. 

The  following  names  are  Celtic,  most  of  them 
are  Pictish  or  Brito-Pictish. 

Andat  or  Annat  meant  a  Church  whose  staff 
ministered  to  outlying  congregations,or  a  Church 
which  provided  ministerial  supply  to  other  small- 
er Churches  when  required.  The  word  has  been 
happily  translated,  Mother-Church.  'Andat'  is 
still  the  name  of  the  site  of  a  Church  at  Methlick 
in  Aberdeenshire  founded  by  S.  Ninian  on  his 
northern  mission.  The  name  alone  indicates  the 
antiquity  of  this  place.  'Andat'  and  'Annat'  are 
found  throughout  Pictland,  and  mostly  at  sites 
dating  from  before  the  Roman  Catholic  period. 
In  Ireland  one  of  theChurches*founded  there  by 
the  earliest  British  missionaries  was  called  'An- 
do6it.'  Afters;.  727,  when  veneration  of 'Relics' 
began  among  the  Irish  Celts  under  Roman  influ- 
ence, the  relics  were  enshrined  at  the  Andat  or 
Mother-Church.  Relics  were  not  venerated  in  the 
Church  of  Pictland  until  it  had  been  overtaken  by 
Roman  influence  in  the  eighth  century.  The 
original  meaning  of 'i?e/z^'  in  Ireland  was  Ceme- 
tery. 

Nemhidh  is  a  name  that  came  to  be  applied 
to  a  place  rendered  sacred  by  the  existence  of  a 
Church  orothersacred  institution.  Itis, however, 

•  TheChurchof  acertain  Earnan  regarded(<:.  8oo)asoneof  S.  Patrick's 
disciples. 

36 


THE  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  PICTS 

a  pre-Christian  name,  and  is  one  of  the  oldest 
names  in  Pictland.  It  was  originally  applied  to 
a  sanctuary  in  a  grove.  The  people  pronounce 
it  'Nevie  and  Navie.  Professor  Watson  equates 
it  with  the  Gaulish  Nemeton,  and  quotes  Zeuss, 
'de  sacris  silvarum  quae  nimidias  vacant.'*  The 
Indo-European  root  of  the  word  is  seen  in  the 
name  of  the  famous  Nemioi\}s\.^  Alban  mount  in 
Italy,the'sanctuaryofZ?m«(3!iVl?»«oy(?«j'wor  Diana 
of  the  wood.'  The  wood  where  S.  Comgall  and 
S.  Finbarhadtheir'retreats,'nowHolywood,was 
called  'Nemus  sacrum.'  There  is  a  parish  Nevay 
in  Forfarshire,  and  the  name  is  frequent  in  Pict- 
land. 

Dair,  genitive  darach,  means  Oak.  It  is  the 
original  of  the  place-names  Deer,  Darra,  and 
'Tear,'  the  Caithness  pronunciation  of  a  Church 
founded  from  and  named  after  Deer.  Z?«?Vcame 
to  mean  Oak-grove,  as  we  know  from  the  place 
where  the  Celtic  fort  of  Derry  originally  stood. 
'Derteach'  and  ' Deartaighe'  meant  Oak-house, 
and  also  an  oak-built  prayer-house.  Drostan,  the 
anchoret  of  the  heights  of  Brechin,  was  known  as 
'Drostan  Dairtkaigke,']  that  is,  Drostan  of  the 
Oak-house  cell. 

Gomrie,  Comrie,  and  in  Ireland  'Innis-Coim- 
righi.'  S.  Maelrubha's,  Abercrossan  (Apple- 
cross),  is  'Combrick'  Maelrubha.    Irish  has  also 

*  See  Prof.  Watson's  full  discussion  of  the  name  in  Place-names  of  Ross, 
p.  Ixii. 

t  Died  719. 

2>7 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

'Comairche.'  Modern  Gaelic  is  C<?wnj:eV^.  The 
Comraichvi^s  the  defined  area  around  the  Church 
where  the  shedder-of-blood  could  claim  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Church  and  fair  trial.  It  was  the 
Pictish'City  of  Refuge,'  and  restricted  the  range 
of  the  blood-feud,  I  f  a  refugee  reached  the  com- 
raich  of  a  daughter-Church;  he  could  claim  the 
intervention  of  the  Ab  of  the  Mother-Church 
however  distant  he  might  be;  and  this  ensured 
trial  away  from  local  prejudices.  An  Irish  ruler's 
son  slew  a  man  who  had  claimed  sanctuary  at  the 
Church  of  one  of  S,  Columba's  monks,  for  which 
actS.Columbaorganizedarmedhostility*against 
him. 

Garth,  seen  in  'Girth-Cross,'  Kingarth,  and 
other  names,  is  the  Scandinavian  rendering 
of  Comraich.  Garth  originally  meant  an  inclo- 
sure.  '  Girth-cross 'f  is  one  of  the  Cross-marked 
stones  that  marked  the  boundaries  of  the  Com- 
raich. 

Llan  is  a  Britonic  word.  It  originally  meant 
a  place  marked  off  and  inclosed,  then  it  came 
to  mean  the  fortified  inclosure  of  the  Church,  and 
was  finally  applied  to  the  Church  itself,  Llan  is 
seen  in  Lamlash,  the  Church  of  S.  Mo- Lias;  in 
Lumphanan  (Llan-Fhinan)the  Church  of  Finan; 

*  This  was  the  battle  of  Cuil-Feadha,  organized  by  S.  Columba  against 
Colman  mac  Diarmid  because  Cuimin,  son  of  the  latter,  slew  Baedan  mac 
Ninnidh. 

t  One  of  the  Girth-crosses  of  Kildonnan,  Sutherland,  was  on  a  rock- 
face  at  Suisgill. 

38 


THE  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  PICTS 

in  Lhanbride,  Church  of  Britd.  This  name  has 
nothingtodowithS.Brigit.Thetwo latter  names, 
referring  to  a  certain  Finan  and  a  certain  Brit^, 
are  in  the  area  of  Pictland  worked  by  the  British 
missionaries.  The  first  name,  Lamlash,  is  in  the 
old  territory  of  the  Britons. 

Lis  (Britonic  llys,  Breton  lis)  also  originally 
meant  an  inclosure  with  a  rampart.  1 1  afterwards 
came  to  be  applied  to  the  Church-inclosure,  and 
in  modern  times  to  a  garden.  In  Ireland //ojmeans 
a  fortification.  The  name  is  seen  in  S.  Moluag's 
'Lismore'  and  in  many  minor  places  throughout 
Pictland.  The  ramparts  of  S.  Donnan's  lis  at  the 
Church  of  Auchterless  used  to  be  visible.  The 
fortifying  ditch  and  wall  can  still  beseenat  some  of 
the  early  Church-sites  in  Pictland  where  they  have 
not  been  disturbed.  The  sites  of  the  Churches 
founded  by  S.  Ninian  on  his  northern  mission 
at  Dunottar,  Navidale,  and  Wick  Head  were  on 
sea-washed  cliffs  protected  on  the  land  side  by 
ditches  or  natural  ravines  and  approachable  only 
by  narrow  footways.  S.  Ninian's  'Tempul'  in  the 
Great  Glen  at  Glenurquhart  was  inclosed  in  the 
' Lis-ant-Rinian,'  S.  Ninian's'inclosure. 

Dabhach,s&&n  in'Doch-Fin,'  S.  Finbar'sDav- 
ach  at  Dornoch,  and  in  'Doch-Moluag,'  S.  Mol- 
uag's Davach,  was  a  measure  of  land  in  Pictland. 
Wherever  it  is  used  with  a  Celtic  saint's  name  it 
indicates  the  old  benefices  and  endowments  of 
the  Pictish  Church. 

39 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Examples  of  secular  names  drawn  from  Pict- 
ish  speech  are — 

Pit  as  a  prefix.  Originally  it  meant  Portion 
or  share.  From  'share  of  land,'  it  came  to  mean 
homestead  and  town. 

Pen,  Head.  Seen  in  Caer-pen-tulach  now 
'  Kirkintilloch.'  Tulach  is  Gaelic  duplicate  of/^«. 

Dol,  in  Pictland  as  in  Britanny,  is  Flat-ground 
on  a  higher  plane  than  the  mackair  or  plain-land, 

Oykel  and  Ochil,  High.  The  Pictish  pronun- 
ciation of  the  original  word  is  indicated  in  the 
'  Uxella'  of  the  early  Greek  geographers. 

Rhos  is  Moor. 

Pefr  is  Clear  (applied  to  water). 

Preas  (-fhreas)  is  Bush. 

Cardenn  is  a  Thicket. 

Gwydd'is  a  Wood,  seen  in  '  Keith.' 

Gwaneg  is  a  Wave  of  sea  or  loch,  seen  in '  Fan- 
nich.' 

/*«2yr  (-fhawr)  is  Pasture,  seen  in  Bal-four.* 

*  For  these  last  and  other  unquoted  examples  see  Place-names  of  Ross, 
Prof.  Watson,  p.  Hi. 


THE  LITERATURE  OF  THE 
PICTS         CHAPTER  FOUR 

'No  scrap  of  Pictish  literature  ever  existed.'* 
Such  was  the  ill-founded  decision  of  an  accepted 
Scottish  historian.  It  was  an  audacious  deliver- 
ance to  make  to  a  generation  which  had  seen  the 
literary  treasures  of  Europe  greatly  enriched  by 
the  manuscripts  from  the  libraries  of  the  famous 
Celtic  monasteries  founded,  one  at  Bobbio  in  Lom- 
bardy  by  S.  Columbanus,|  the  other  at  St.  Gall  in 
Switzerland  by  S.  Gall.J  Both  founders  were 
Pictish  scholars  educated  by  S.Comgall  the  Great 
at  Bangor  in  Ulster,  the  chief  centre  of  learning 
among  the  Irish  Picts.  Both  were  born  in  the 
ancient  territories  of  the  northern  Irish  Picts  in 
the  north  of  Leinster,  S.  Gall  in  the  north  of  Louth 
on  the  Ulster  border;  and  S.  Columbanus,  also 
on  the  border-land,  in  the  district  lying  between 
Louth  and  southern  Loch  Erne.  S.  Columbanus 
surveyed  the  localityabout  Lake  Constance  with- 
in the  two  years  of  his  wanderings  after  his  ban- 
ishment from  Luxeuil,  a.d.  6io;  and  there  he 
left  S.  Gall  to  settle.    S.  Columbanus  then  made 

*  Yet  in  the  Irish  Nennius  reference  is  made  to  the  Books  of  the  Picts, 
'  As  it  is  written  in  the  Books  of  the  Cruitneach. ' 

t  BomA.D.543.  HisfirstinstructorwasS.  Sinell,  whohadbeenapupil 
of  Finnian  of  Clonard,  who  was  educated  in  Britain.  S.  Sinell's  cell  was  on 
Cluain  Innis,  Loch  Erne. 

t  Hewasbom<:.545.  In  an  old  MS.  from  the  St.  Gall  library  his  father's 
name  is  given  as  'Kethernac  Mac  Unnchun.'  His  own  name  means 
Stranger.  'Kethem' was  the  name  of  one  of  the  early  Pictish  heroes.  Dr. 
Reeves  states  that  he  was  of  the  race  of  Ir,  progenitor  of  one  branch  of  the 
Irish  Picts.    Ir  was  a  sovereign  of  Ireland. 

41 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

his  way  into  Lombardy,  and  in  a.d.  6 1 2  he  settled 
at  Bobbio  in  the  Apennines. 

The  catalogues  of  the  libraries  of  Bobbio  and 
St.  Gall  have  been  published.*  The  tenth-cent- 
ury catalogue  used  by  the  students  at  Bobbiojhas 
been  reproduced;  and  the  catalogue  of  St.  Gall, 
compiled  there  for  the  convenience  of  readers  in 
the  ninth  century,  is  still  accessible.  I n  the  ninth 
century  St.  Gall  possessed  five  hundred  and  thirty- 
three  volumes;  and  in  the  tenth  century  Bobbio 
contained  seven  hundred.  From  the  Bobbio  col- 
l&ctioncdLmQXho.  AntiphonaryX  of  Bangor.  It  con- 
tains prayers,  canticles,  hymns,  especially  an  al- 
phabetical Hymn  in  honour  of  S.  Comgall,  the 
founder  of  Bangor,  and  rules  as  to  the  order  of 
prayer.  It  is  a  purely  Pictish  'Liber  Ojfficialis'; 
and  it  enables  us  to  have  an  idea  of  the  service 
which  S.  Moluag  introduced  from  Bangor  among 
the  Picts  of  Alba,and  to  realize  that  the  same  order 
of  worship  was  followed  in  Alba  that  was  followed 
at  Bangor,  and  at  its  daughter-houses  at  Luxeuil, 
Bobbio,  and  St.  Gall.  Bobbio  naturallypossessed 
the  manuscript  of  the  Gospels  which,  as  we  know 
from  his  Life,  S.  Columbanus  carried  with  him 
wherever  he  went.  It  bore  the  inscription 'Ut  tra- 
ditum  fuit  illud  erat  idem  liber  quem  Beatus  Col- 

*  The  Catalogue  of  Bobbio,  by  Muratori  and  Peyron.  For  St.  Gall  see 
Ferdinand  Keller's ^zVafe?"  und Schriftszuge  in  den  irischen  Manuskripten. 

t  See  Muratori,  Antiquitates  Italicae,  vol.  i.  pp.  493-505. 

X  The  MS.  is  now  in  the  Ambrosian  Library  at  Milan.  It  was  edited 
in  1893  by  Dr.  Warren. 

42 


LITERATURE   OF    THE    PICTS 

umbanus  Abbas  in  pera  secum  ferre  consuevat.' 
In  the  University  library  at  Turin  are  fragments 
of  a  Commentary  on  S.  Mark's  Gospel  with  notes 
in  Celtic.  In  the  Ambrosian  Library  at  Milan  is 
a  complete  Commentary  on  the  Psalms,*  also  with 
Celtic  notes.  Both  works  belonged  to  Bobbio;  and 
both  are  ascribed  to  S.  Columbanus.  The  latter 
is  regarded  as  the  'Commentary  on  the  Psalter^ 
catalogued  in  the  tenth  century  as  part  of  the 
Bobbio  collection.  To  this  library  founded  in  a 
Pictish  monastery  we  owe  the  only  surviving 
Canon  of  the  New  Testament,  the  famous  Mura- 
torian Fragment.  Among  its  manuscripts,  as  frag- 
ments in  the  Imperial  Library  at  Vienna  indicate, 
confirming  the  old  catalogue,  were  most  of  the 
Apostolic  Epistles,  texts  of  Aristotle,  Demo- 
sthenes, Cicero,  Virgil,  Horace,  Juvenal,  Martial, 
andmanyotherGreek  and  Latin  authors.  These 
texts  were  copiously  annotated,  often  in  Celtic,  f 
The  library  of  St.  Gall  was  more  than  once  pill- 
aged by  scholars  who  entered  it  as  borrowers  and 
left  it  thieves.  A  certain  Poggio  of  Florence,  who 
was  interested  in  the  works  of  Cicero.arrived  at  St. 
Gall  in  141 6  with  two  confederates,  and  on  his  de- 
parture toConstance  took  with  him  two  cart-loads 
of  priceless  manuscripts  which  included  Texts  of 
Cicero,  Quintilian,  Lucretius,  Priscian,  the  un- 
finished Argonautica  of  C.  V.  Flaccus,  and  other 

*  Codex  Ambrosianus,  C.  301. 
\  Cf.  Dr.  Heinrich  Zimmer's  Irish  Element  in  Mediaeval  Culture. 

43 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

writings.  These  manuscripts  were  taken  to  I  taly 
ultimately.  An  'Oecumenical' Council  receives 
much  blame  for  these  thefts.  To  this  library  of 
a  monastery  founded  by  a  Pictish  scholar  came 
secretaries  from  the  most  Catholic  Council  of 
Constance  *  to  borrow  books  which  would  rein- 
force any  inspiration  or  knowledge  that  this  de- 
spised Synod  presumed  to  possess.  One  sign  of 
knowledge  in  the  borrowers  was  that  they  knew 
something  of  the  value  of  the  manuscripts;  be- 
cause they  never  returned  them.  It  is  not  out  of 
harmony  with  other  acts  of  this  Council  that  the 
members  apparently  sought  authority  for  their 
doings  in  the  works  of  pagan  orators  and  poets 
while  they  left  excellent  copies  of  the  Gospels  and 
Epistles  unconsulted. 

Europe  owes  to  St.  Gall  the  Dresden  Codex 
Boernerianus  which  has  S.  Paul's  Epistles  in 
Greek;  various  Fragments  of  the  Gospels;  a  pal- 
impsest of  Virgil;  a  thirteenth-century  iW<5^/«<«^- 
enlied;  and  certain  books  with  unread  glosses 
in  Celtic,  together  with  the  'iron-bound  book' 
ascribed  to  S.  Gall  himself  There  was  also  atSt. 
Gall  what  from  old  descriptions  appears  to  have 
been  another  copy  oith&Antiphonary  of  Bangor.] 

Of  the  thirty  volumes  written  in  Celtic  script, 
which  were  in  the  library  of  St.  Gall  in  the  ninth 
century,  according  to  the  surviving  catalogue  of 

*  A.D.  I414-I418. 
t  From  a  reference  by  Notker  Balbulus. 

44 


LITERATURE   OF    THE    PICTS 

that  period.only  one  volume  remained  twenty-five 
years  ago. 

Continental  scholars  are  generally  very  wary  in 
referring  to  the  Celtic  glosses  in  the  manuscripts 
that  belonged  to  Bobbio  and  St.  Gall.  They  are 
usually  satisfied  to  call  the  language  '  Celtic';  but 
some  British  writers  have  boldly  pronounced  it 
'  Goidelic';  although  they  candidly  admit  that  it  is 
often  difficult  to  interpret,  except  through  known 
Britonic  words  and  orthography.  Gaidhealic 
scholars  doubtless  wandered  to  the  Continent  of 
Europe  as  well  as  Picts,  especially  after  the  Vik- 
ings began  their  ravages;  but  the  organized  mis- 
sions from  Bangor  and  the  communities  of  the 
Britons  in  the  sixth  century,  which  founded  Lux- 
euil,  Bobbio,  St.  Gall,  and  other  Celtic  monasteries 
in  the  European  uplands,  were  led  and  staffed  by 
men  who  were  born  Picts,  or  Britons,  educated  at 
Pictish  orBritish  monasteries,who  spoke  a  Pictish 
or  Britonic  dialect  of  Celtic  when  they  did  not 
speak  Latin  or  Greek.  M  any  writers  have  followed 
the  Gaidheals  in  assuming  that  the  continental 
designation '  Scot '  signified  aGaidhealic  Celt;  but 
from  early  times  on  the  Continent  'Scot'  was  ap- 
plied to  a  native  of  'Scotia,'  that  is  Ireland,  with- 
out consideration  as  to  whether  he  belonged  to 
the  Pictish  or  Gaidhealic  branch  of  the  Celts.* 
No  scholar  has  yet  applied  himself  seriously  to 

V 

•  Among  others,  Columbanus  was  called  a  Scot  on  the  Continent,  and 
he  spoke  of  himself  as  a  native  of '  Scotia,'  i.e.  Ireland. 

45 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

the  Continental  Celtic  writings  for  the  purpose  of 
separating  what  is  Pictish  or  British  dialect  from 
what  is  Gaidhealic  dialect.  In  like  manner  no 
scholar  has  yet  attacked  the  Celtic  manuscripts  of 
Britain  and  Ireland  for  the  purpose  of  separating 
the  literature  which  originated  among  the  Picts  of 
Alba  or  Ireland  from  the  literature  which  origin- 
atedamongtheGaidheals.  AfterthedelugeofVik- 
ing  barbarism  had  subsided  in  the  Pictish  terri- 
tories of  Alba  and  Ireland,  the  Gaidheals  gradu- 
ally served  themselves  heirs  to  Pictish  lands  and 
heritages;  and,  when  they  had  secured  control  of 
education,  served  themselves  heirs  to  Pictish 
literature.  The  memory  of  Pictish  scholars  like 
Cainnech  and  Columbanus  was  revived;  but  in  a 
Gaidhealic  atmosphere.  S.  Comgall,  the  greatest 
Pictish  Abbot,  was  represented  as  a  prot^g6  of  S. 
ColumbatheGaidheal.The  motive  fortheGaidh- 
ealic  usurpation  of  all  Celtic  greatness  that  had 
preceded  the  rise  of  the  Gaidheals  was  at  first  pol- 
itical, and  was  also  designed  in  view  of  the  Pictish 
properties.  The  romanized  Church  of  the  Gaidh- 
eals, too,  saw  and  seized  its  own  opportunity  of 
forwarding  its  own  claims  to  primacy,  and  to  the 
property  of  the  old  Celtic  Church.  It  exalted  the 
Gaidhealic  claims  into  a  system,  and  applied  it 
everywhere  without  scruple.  In  Ireland  the  old 
Pictish  territory  of  Armagh  was  represented  as 
having  been  Gaidhealic  from  all  time.  When 
the  inventions  of  the  Irish  Churchmen  were  ex- 
46 


LITERATURE    OF    THE    PICTS 

hausted  Latin  Churchmen  were  brought  from 
England*  to  rewrite  the  Lives  of  the  old  Celtic 
Churchmen,  in  the  professed  interests  of  elegant 
Latin  and  orthodoxy;  but,  really,  to  ground  the 
claims  of  the  new  Church.The  saints  of  the  ancient 
Pictish  Church  are  put  into  the  background  to 
show  up  the  figure  of  an  unhistorical  S.  Patrick. 
Although  the  Gaidheals  and  their  king  Laeghaire 
were  hostile  to  the  historical  S.  Patrick  and  the 
king  died  an  'obstinate  pagan';  |  the  S.  Patrick  of 
fable  is  represented  as  rising  into  power  through 
the  favour  of  the  Gaidheals  of  the  race  of  Niall 
who  in  course  of  time  became  the  patrons  and  pro- 
tectors of  Armagh,  the  seat  of  the  primacy.  The  'ob- 
stinate pagan,' Laeghaire,  is  also  passed  through 
history  as  S.Patrick's  convert.  Again,  the  histori- 
cal S.Bridget,  who  belonged  to  the  Pictish  dis- 
trict of  Louth,  is  transformed  into  the  slave  of  a 
Gaidhealic  bard,  and  exalted  to  later  ages  as  the 
'Mary  of  the  Gaidheal.'  Other  pre-Gaidhealic 
saints  and  heroes  are  treated  in  similar  fashion. 

Many  fragments  of  history,  poems,  and  stories 
now  presented  to  the  world  as  Gaidhealic  litera- 

*  JocelineofFurness  and  others.  Joceline  re-wrotethei^/isofKentigern 
from  a  Celtic  original.  At  the  request  of  Thomas  of  Armagh,  John  de 
CouTcy,  and  others,  he  re- wrote  the  Life  of  S.  Patrick.  He  gave  both  Lives 
abundance  of  Roman  colouring.  John  de  Courcy  had  a  political  purpose 
in  getting  the  Life  of  Patrick  garbled ;  just  as  the  purpose  of  Thomas  was 
ecclesiastical. 

t  Another  of  the  old  Lives  states  that  Laeghaire  had  vowed  to  his 
father  that  he  would  never  receive  Christianity.  His  brother  Cairbre  led  S. 
Patrick's  followers  naked  into  a  cold  river,  and  ordered  them  tobe  flogged 
there. 

47 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

ture  can  be  detected  by  internal  as  well  as  exter- 
nal evidence  as  having  been  altered  from  their  or- 
iginal form.  They  are  merely  Gaidhealic  versions, 
bearing  traces  of  the  Gaidhealic  editor,  of  works 
composed  where  Pictish  was  the  dialect  of  Celtic 
in  general  use.  In  various  Gaidhealic  vocabula- 
ries, many  words  marked  'early  Irish'  and  'old 
Irish'  are  word-forms  current  among  the  Picts. 

As  an  example  of  a  Gaidhealic  version  of  a 
work  originally  written  in  a  different  dialect  of 
Celtic  there  survives  the  lorica  called  Feth-Fia- 
dha,  'Cry  of  the  Deer,'  S.  Patrick's  well-known 
Celtic  hymn.  There  are  various  editions;  but 
one  often  figures  as  a  specimen  of  'Gaidhealic 
literature.'*  The  matter  may  be  little  changed 
from  the  original;  but  the  form  is  certainly  much 
changed.  The  author,  S.  Patrick,  was  a  Briton, 
his  dialect  was  Britonic,  his  historical  work  was 
performed  in  the  territories  of  the  northern  and 
southern  Irish  Picts  where  his  Britonic  dialect 
would  be  understood.  The  pagan  Gaidheals 
were,  as  we  have  seen,  hostile  to  him,  and  did 
not  allow  him  to  do  more  than  touch  the  fringes 
of  their  clan  settlements.  Once,  he  visited  their 
king  after  the  Gaidheals  had  begun  to  wedge 
themselves  in  between  the  Picts  of  the  north 
and  south  in  Ireland.  He  and  his  disciples,  who 
were  Britons  and  Picts,  approached,  chanting  this 
hymn.    In  the  strange  dialect  it  was  so  unintel- 

*  '  Gaelic  Composition,'  Dr.  Magnus  MacLean  calls  it. 
48 


LITERATURE    OF   THE   PICTS 

ligible  to  the  Gaidheals,  that  it  sounded  with  no 
more  meaning  than  the  'Cry  of  the  Deer'  on  the 
hill-slope,  so  they  expressed  it,  and  thus  the  lorica 
received  its  popular  name. 

Another  work  frequently  represented  as  a 
'  Gaelic  composition '  is  the  metrical  memoir  of  S. 
Patrick  known  as  the  'Hymn, 'ascribed  to  S.  Fiac 
or  Flag  of  Sleibhte  in  Leinster.  The  work  is 
partly  Celtic  and  partly  Latin  with  extensive 
Scholia.  If  S.  Fiac  really  composed  the  work,  and 
if  the  surviving  manuscript  is  'Gaelic,'  then  it  is 
merely  a  version;  because  S.  Fiac  lived  and 
laboured  in  Leinster  among  the  Manapian  Picts 
and  the  Brigantes  who  were  Britons.  It  is  safe  to 
assumethathewroteforhisown clerics  and  people 
in  their  own  dialect  of  Celtic,  and  not  for  their 
enemies  the  Gaidheals,  who  had  little  interest  in 
Patrick  while  he  lived,  and  only  took  up  his  name 
many  long  years  after  S.  Fiac's  time,  when  the 
romanized  Gaidheals  were  seeking  to  centre  the 
primacy  in  Armagh ;  and  when  they  required  a 
saintly  founder  who  could  more  easily  be  set  up 
as  in  communion  with  Rome,  and  as  of '  Catholic' 
ways  than  any  of  the  Pictish  or  Gaidhealic  Saints. 
The  P  icts  of  Leinster  (where  S.  F  iac  laboured)  had 
even  more  reason  to  keep  clear  of  the  Gaidheals 
than  the  Picts  of  Ulster;  because  the  Picts  of  the 
north-east  sought  only  to  keep  their  lands  against 
the  covetous  Gaidheals,  when  at  the  end  of  long 
intervals  they  came  out  for  an  increase  of  terri- 

E  49 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

tory ;  but  the  Picts  of  Leinster  required  to  contend 
with  the  yearly  fever  of  blood-lust  which  seized 
the  Gaidhealic  Nialls  of  the  Midlands,  who  tried 
to  wedge  them  apart  from  their  kin  in  the  north- 
east under  the  excuse  of  collecting  the  notorious 
Boromhe*  It  was  not  hymns  about  Patrick  that 
the  Gaidheals  tookfrom  Leinster  in  S.  Fiac's  time, 
or  long  after,  but  tribute,  when  they  were  able  to 
collect  it. 

The  authenticity  of  S.  Fiac's  'Hymn'  has  been 
doubted  becauseof  the  reference  in  it  to  the  desola- 
tion of  Tara,  the  old  capital.  That  reference,  on 
the  contrary,  might  be  a  sign  of  genuineness;  be- 
cause, in  the  eyes  of  a  Pict,  Tara  was  desolated 
when  the  Gaidheals  took  it  and  hoisted  their  flag 
there  early  in  the  fifth  century,  long  before  it  was 
cursed,  and  made  desolateafter  the  deathof  King 
Diarmait,theGaidheal,A.D.565.  The  correct  criti- 
cism of  the  Fiac  manuscript  is,  that  if  S.  Fiac  was 
the  author  of  the  hymn,  the  manuscript  is  a  Gaidh- 
ealic version  of  a  Pictish  work  which  was  written 
by  a  Pict  for  Picts  in  the  Pictish  dialect  of  Celtic. 
Once  more,  therefore,  we  may  have  an  item  of 
Pictish  literature ;  but  it  has  come  to  us  through  a 
Gaidhealic  editor,  like  many  another  Pictish  work. 

It  is  asked  why  Pictish  compositionshave  come 
downtous  through  Gaidhealic  hands. The  answer 
is,  that  the  turn  of  historical  events  towards  the 

*  The  Gaidheals  wished  the  Picts  to  bribe  them  with  this  payment  to 
let  them  alone,  but  the  Picts  steadily  refused. 

50 


LITERATURE    OF   THE    PICTS 

close  of  the  first  millennium  gave  the  Gaidheals 
the  hegemony  of  the  Celts  in  Ireland  and  Scot- 
land, and  the  control  of  education  and  literature. 

The  Viking  invasions  laid  the  Pictish  colleges 
of  Ireland  and  Scotland  in  ashes.  Pictish  libraries 
were  burned.or  their  contents  were  scattered  and 
mostly  lost.  The  scholars  who  escaped  massacre 
fled  to  the  Continent,  some  of  them  to  the  Pictish 
communities  already  securely  established  there. 
At  a  few  places  in  Pictland  of  Alba  (Scotland), 
units  of  the  scattered  forces  of  the  Pictish  Church 
managed  to  survive;  but  they  represented  rem- 
nants doomed  to  ultimate  decay.  Their  controlling 
and  supplying  monasteries,  both  in  Ireland  and 
in  their  own  land,  were  'burned,'  as  the  Annalists 
put  it.  Bangor,  the  mother  of  Churches,  was  left 
desolate.  WhentheChurchwas,in  course  of  time, 
revived  there,  and  at  other  centres,  it  was  a  new 
Church,  Gaidhealicnot  Pictish,  Roman  not  Celtic. 

The  Vikings  paralysed  Pictish  power,  and 
shattered  Pictish  organization  in  Church  and 
State.  The  Picts  fell  a  comparatively  easy  prey 
to  the  Vikings;  because,  while  they  fought  the 
Vikings  on  their  front,  they  were  assailed  in  the 
rear  by  Gaidheals;  and  both  in  I  reland  and  in  S  cot- 
land  the  Gaidheals  never  relaxed  thejr  pressure 
on  their  possible  lines  of  retreat  from  the  easily 
accessible  and  much  devastated  East  Coasts  of 
both  countries.  As  the  Viking  deluge  subsided, 
it  became  plain  that  the  Gaidheals  would  possess 

51 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

the  future.  They  had  been  able  to  keep  their 
government,  their  organization,  and  some  ele- 
ments of  culture;  because  their  lines  of  retreat  to 
inaccessible  mountains  and  quiet  islands  had  re- 
mained open.  The  Gaidheals  possessed  also  either 
a  power  or  opportunity  of  absorbing  the  Vikings 
which  was  not  given  to  the  Pict.  In  Shetland, 
Orkney,  and  Caithness,  the  Viking  absorbed  the 
Pict,  putting  it  broadly;  but  in  the  Southern  Heb- 
rides and  in  North-western  Ireland  the  Gaidh- 
eal  absorbed  the  Viking. 

The  resurrection  of  Celtic  power  from  the 
grave  of  Viking  barbarism  was  a  Gaidhealic  re- 
surrection. Everywhere  in  the  Celtic  territories 
of  Great  Britain,  except  among  the  remnant  of 
Britons  penned  up  in  Wales,  Gaidhealic  lords  or 
Gaidhealic  ecclesiastics  began  to  dominate.  The 
P  icts  gradually  ceased  to  exist  as  a  separate  people 
and  became  merged  among  the  other  Celts.  They 
lost  most  of  their  ancestral  lands  in  Alba,  some- 
times by  force  under  the  excuse  of  exacting  tribute 
for  the  sovereign,  sometimes  by  the  high  hand  of 
the  Gaidhealic  provincial  rulers,  sometimes  by 
intermarriage  with  Gaidheals.  After  a.d.  842, 
in  Alba,  their  clan-organizations,  their  system  of 
monarchy,  their  Church  organization,  and  their 
central  monastic  communities  began  to  disappear 
or  to  change  by  degrees  as  each  new  Gaidhealic 
king  stepped  to  the  throne.  InA.D.851  theGaidh- 
ealic  clerics  forsook  lona,  which  like  the  Pictish 
52 


LITERATURE    OF    THE   PICTS 

monasteries  had  been  repeatedly  desolated  by 
Vikings,  and  tried  to  centre  themselves  at  Dun- 
keld  within  the  borders  of  the  old  Pictish  kingdom. 
Each  succeeding  half-century  sees  their  tentacles 
seizing  the  ancient  Pictish  Church-centres  one 
by  one.  First  it  is  Abernethy,  then  St.  Andrews, 
byand  by  Brechin,  and  later  Deer.  Mortlachwas 
left  to  itself,  but  new  centres  were  fixed  at  Birnay 
and  Aberdeen.  The  Gaidhealic  propaganda  was 
persistent  but  slow,  in  spite  of  special  missions 
conducted  at  refractory  Pictish  centres  like  Dor- 
noch by  such  men  as  S.  Dubthac,  a  much-lauded 
saint  of  theGaidheals.who  came  from  theGaidh- 
ealicized  Church  of  Armagh  to  establish  a  mis- 
sion at  Tain  in  Ross  about  the  beginning  of  the 
eleventh  century.  Before  the  Gaidheals  had  com- 
pleted the  control  of  the  religious  and  educational 
centres  of  Pictland,  the  Roman  Church,  under 
political  influence,  threatened  to  undo  much  of 
their  work  by  sending  into  the  Highlands  Norman 
or  Anglo-Saxon  prelates.  This  policy  reanimated 
the  few  scattered  details  of  the  ancient  Pictish 
Church  thatsurvived  in  oddplaces;butthe  Roman 
Churchmen  soon  saw  their  error,  and  took  up  the 
Gaidheals  anew, sending  to  the  Highlands, as  far 
as  possible,  only  those  who  could  speak  what  they 
called 'Irish.' 

The  result  of  these  carefully  calculated  efforts 
was  that  if  the  Picts  did  not  consent  to  be  Gaidh- 
ealicized,  they  were  left  outside  education  and 

53 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

power,  and  tended  to  become  hewers  of  wood  and 
drawers  of  water  to  the  Gaidhealic  and,  later,  to 
the  Saxon  incomers.  The  Gaidheals  thus  con- 
trolled education  and  the  care  of  the  literature  of 
past  and  present. 

This  Gaidhealic  control  of  power  and  education, 
which  continued  slowly  to  extend  from  a.d.  842  on- 
wards, is  the  reason  why  what  remained  of  Ptctish 
literature  after  the  Vikings,  has  come  down  to  us 
through  Gaidhealic  editors.  They  were  the  most 
unscrupulous  editors  that,  perhaps,  the  world  has 
known.  Everything  was  altered  in  favour  of  their 
own  interests  and  their  own  race.  There  is  one 
document,  typical  of  many,where '  Scoti '  is  substi- 
tutedfor '  Picti.'  *  The  Gaidheals  were  overween- 
ingly  vain,  and  loved  to  exalt  the  age  and  exploits 
of  their  race  to  the  Anglo-Saxons,  whohad  emerg- 
ed from  barbarism  before  their  eyes.  1 1  helped  their 
political  and  ecclesiastical  claims  too.  For  this 
reason  they  represented  themselves  as  older  than 
the  Picts  or  Britons,  or  any  other  Celts.  They 
did  not  hesitate  to  garble  versions  of  the  Pictish 
Chronicle  in  their  own  favour,  apart  from  the  cor- 
ruptions due  to  Gaidhealic  orthography.  They 
traced  the  origin  of  the  Gaidheals  to  the  Greeks, 
the  Hebrews,  and  the  Egyptians,  and  repudiated 
a  half-hearted  romancer  who  was  content  to  start 
the  race  from  the  Trojans.  Although  two  Picts 
and  a  scholar  of  the  Britons  had  educated  and 

*  One  of  the  Fragments  of  the  Pictish  Chronicle. 

54 


LITERATURE    OF    THE    PICTS 

trained  S.  Columba,  the  greatest  ecclesiastic  of 
the  Gaidheals,  the  Gaidhealic  writers  regularly 
refer  to  the  Picts  as  'ravenous,'  'savage,'  or  'bar- 
barous,' descriptions  hailed  by  many  historical 
writers  down  to  Mr.  Andrew  Lang.  Although  the 
Gaidhealic  writers  annex  S.  Patrick  in  face  of  the 
historical  truth  that  their  forefathers  spurned  him 
they  have  verylittle  to  sayabout  S.  Ninian,  whose 
community  at  Candida  Casa  sent  out  many  of  the 
most  successful  missionaries  to  Ireland.  If  the 
world  depended  on  Gaidhealic  writers,  men  would 
believe  thatthe  Picts,  S.Comgall  the  Great  and  S. 
Cainnech,  had  been  humble  followers  and  depend- 
ents of  S.  Columba  the  Gaidheal.  With  similar 
historical  recklessness  thehistoricalS.Servanus* 
is  lifted  away  from  his  true  period  and  associated 
with  S.  Adamnan,aromanized  Gaidheal. 

That  there  was  a  Pictish  literature  in  Alba 
(Scotland)  before  the  Vikings  is  beyond  doubt. 
The  evidence  is  too  strong  even  for  cynical  his- 
torical writers.  That  some  of  this  literature  sur- 
vives to  the  present  time  in  Gaidhealic  versions 
which  wait  the  critical  analyses  of  some  competent 
Celtic  scholar  is  apparent.  The.  Pictish  Chronicle 
at  least  had  a  Pictish  original.  The  confusing 
efforts  of  the  Gaidhealic  copyists  torender  Pictish 
proper  names  is  evidence  of  that,  apart  from  other 
considerations. 

*  A  version  of  the  fabulized  Life,  with  all  its  extravagances,  is  printed 
by  Skene,  Chronicles  of  Picts  and  Scots,  p.  412. 

55 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

One  of  our  oldest  native  Latin  hymns  is  the  work 
of  a  Pictish  author.  It  was  written  by  Mugent,* 
the  Ab,  a  successor  of  S.  Ninian  in  the  presidency 
of  the  Brito-Pictish  monastery  at  Candida  Casa 
(Whithorn).  In  passing,  let  us  not  forget  that 
Latin  was  a  living  tongue  to  the  early  Picts,  S, 
Ninian's  flock  heard  the  Roman  legions  drilled  in 
the  Imperial  tongue;  traded  with  them  in  the  regi- 
mental market  in  Latin;  actually.as  we  know  from 
remains,  helped  the  Roman  colonists  to  erect 
headstones  on  their  family  graves,  graven  with 
Latin  inscriptions;  and  when  the  Imperial  armies 
were  retreating,  said  'Good-bye'  to  them  in  their 
own  Latin  speech,  colder  than  Celtic.  It  was, 
therefore,  not  merely  ecclesiastical  fashion  that 
moved  Mugent  to  write  his  dignified  prayer  in 
the  Latin,  so  restraining  to  the  deeply-moved 
Celt.  Mugent's  prayer  is  usually  called  Mugent' s 
Hymn,  sometimes  it  is  referred  to  by  the  opening 
words,  'Parce,  Domine,  parce  populo  Tuo  quern 
redimisti.'  It  is  a  remarkable  devotional  appeal. 
It  dates  from  the  first  years  of  the  sixth  century. 
Incidentally  we  learn  from  the  ancient  scholi- 
ast's preface  to  the  'Parce,  Domine,'  concerning 
the  schools  which  at  this  early  period  were  at 
Candida  Casa  for  young  men  and  women,  other 
than  those  who  intended  the  Church.  Two  of 
these  pupils  are  named,  Talmag,  a  Pict,  and  Drus- 

*  a.LiberHymnorum,toiL&,V^x\.\.^.ofj,   See  also  Bishop  Forbes' 
Notes  to  S.  Ninian,  p.  292. 

56 


LITERATURE    OF   THE   PICTS 

ticc,  daughter  of  Drust,  sovereign  of  Pictland  of 
Alba.  The  schools  for  laity  and  clerics  imply  a 
literature:  and Drusticc* indicates  that  there  was 
a  Library  at  Candida  Casa;  because,  as  a  bribe  to 
gain  a  certain  end,  she  offers  to  one  of  the  masters, 
S.  Finbar,  'all  the  books  which  Mugent  has.' 

This  is  S.  Finbar  of  Maghbile  and  Dornoch 
who  continued  S.  Ninian's  mission-work  in  what 
is  now  Ayrshire, and  theEast  and  North  of  Scot- 
land. We  know  from  his  Life  that  he  was  a  lover 
of  manuscripts  and  very  jealous  of  thosewhich  he 
possessed.  He  made  his  own  manuscript  copy 
of  the  Gospels,  the  Psalter,  and  other  parts  of 
Holy  Scripture.  The  Scholiast  in  the  Kalendar 
of  Angus  states  that  he  brought  \hQ  first  com- 
plete manuscript  of  the  Gospel'vs\\.o  Ireland,  when 
he  returned  from  Pictland.  The  Kalendar  of 
Cas^el  goes  further  and  states  that  he  brought 
the  manuscript  of  the  Mosaic  Law  and  the  com- 
plete Gospel  into  Ireland.  The  uniqueness,  in 
Ireland,  of  S.  Finbar's  Gospel  is  confirmed  by 
the  account  of  how  it  was  stolen  for  a  time  by 
strategy  in  order  that  S.  Fintan  might  have  a 
copy  of  it.  S.  Columba,  while  a  pupil  of  S.  Finbar, 
also  secretly  copied  this  same  Gospel  ox  Psalter] 
with  disastrous  consequences;  because  a  royal 

*  DaughterofDrustGurthinmoCjKingofPictland,  diedf.  A.D.  510. 

t  One  account  states  that  it  was  the  '  Gospel,'  another,  that  it  was  the 
'  Psalter'  which  S.  Columba  copied.  The  explanation  probably  is  that 
'Gospel'  is  used,  in  the  not  uncommon  Celtic  fashion,  to  include  the 
Psalter  as  well  as  the  Gospels  proper. 

57 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

demand  that  he  should  give  up  the  copy  to  S. 
Fiiibar  helped  to  bring  on  the  sanguinary  battle 
of  Cul  Dreimhne.  The  early  Gaidheals  called 
this  version  'S.  Martin's  Gospel,'*  indicating 
clearly  that  S.  Ninian  had  brought  the  manu- 
script from  S.  Martin's  community  at  Tours  to 
Candida  Casa,  and  that  through  S.  Finbar  it 
came  into  use  in  Ireland. 

The  mention  of  the  School  at  Candida  Casa 
brings  to  mind  the  Schools  founded,  later,  in  the 
sixth  century  and  after,  throughout  Pictland  of 
Alba  (Scotland)  by  missionaries  from  the  Britons; 
and  also  by  S.  Moluag  and  other  Picts  from  Ire- 
land. The  names  of  these  schools  remain  attached 
to  the  sites  until  the  present  time.  Wherever 
in  Scotland  the  names  'Bangor,'  'Banchory,'  or 
'Banagher'  survive,  we  have  the  locality  of  one 
of  the  schools  that  was  attached  to  a  community 
of  Pictish  or  British  Clerics.  It  is  safe  to  assume 
that  these  schools  were  not  conducted  without 
the  aid  of  native  literature.  One  feature  of  the 
Bangors  was  that  the  Psalms  were  learned  and 
sung  with  artistic  care. 

Another  Pictish  manuscript  which  long  sur- 
vived in  Ireland  was  the  famous  'Glas  Cainic 
written  by  S.  Cainnech  of  Achadh-Bo  and  St. 
Andrews.   It  was,apparently,a  manuscript  of  the 

*  TheGaidhealicfabulistsofalater  period  invented  a  story  that  Colum- 
cille  went  to  Tours,  opened  S.  Martin's  grave,  and  took  from  it  tlie  actual 
manuscript  which  S.  Martin  used. 

58 


LITERATURE   OF    THE   PICTS 

G^oj^^/y  with  expositions.  S.Cainnech's  powers  as 
an  expositor  were  so  widely  admitted  that  even 
S.Columba's  admiration  was  freely  given  to  him.* 
The  Picts  had  their  bards  as  well  as  the  other 
Celts.  One  of  their  widely  known  compositions 
was  the  Brito-Pictish  historical  romance,  Llallo- 
gan.\  The  characters  are  historical,  but  they  are 
brought  together  without  regard  to  their  correct 
places  intime.  Vortigern,the  leader  of  the  Brito- 
Pictish  confederation,  Llalloganthebard,S.  Ken- 
tigern  the  Briton  and  missionary  to  the  Picts,  all 
appear  together.  Historically,  Llallogan  was  the 
twin-brother  of  Gwendyddand  kinsman  of  Urien 
Rheged  of  the  Strathclyde  Britons.  His  life  was 
a  weird  one.  He  went  mad  after  he  had  gazed  on 
the  horrible  slaughter  of  the  Brito-Pictish  hosts 
at  the  close  of  a  battle  which  had  been  instigated 
by  his  own  perfervid  verses.  Demented  he  fled 
to  the  wilds,  lived  in  the  recesses  of  the  woods 
like  a  wild  beast  among  wild  beasts,  and  fed  on 
the  roots  and  herbs  of  the  forests.  It  happened 
on  a  day  when  S.  Kentigern  was  in  his  retreat 
in  the  woods  near  Glasgow  that  he  encountered 
this  wild  creature.  After  hearing  the  madman's 
storyofhislifetheSaintgavehimhis  blessing,  and 
the  outcast  came  to  himself,  and  was  re-admitted 
to  Christian  fellowship. 

*  Cf.  V.S.KyniciAbbatis,c2.^.'AV\\\.'^.  155. 

t  '  Llallogan '  was  his  pet  name.  He  Is  Myrdinn,  otherwise  '  Merlinus 
Caledonicus. ' 

59 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Joceline  in  the  twelfth  century  was  acquainted 
with  someversion  of  this  story,  because  he  refers 
to  Llallogan  as  'homo  fatuus,'*  who  was  kept  by 
theKingof  the  Britons.  Walter  Bower  hadalsoa 
version  of  this  romance  before  him  inthefifteenth 
century,  and  he  quotes  the  main  part'of  the  story,  f 
Incidentally  he  indicates  that  the  acquisitive 
Gaidhealic  editor  hadnot  disappeared  in  his  time; 
because  not  only  is  the  British  name  Gaidhealic- 
ized  to  'Lailocen,'  but  he  candidly  avows  that 
some  people  regarded  the  bard  as  a  'wonderful 
prophet  of  the  Scots'  (Gaidheals).  How  little  of 
the  Gaidheal  was  about  Llallogan  can  be  seen 
from  the  Avellanau  in  the  verses  ascribed  to 
him,  where  his  friends  and  the  localities  named 
are  British  and  Pictish. 

Ah  me  J  Gwendydd  shuns  me,  loves  me  not! 
The  chiefs  of  Rhydderch  hate  me. 
After  Gwenddolen  no  princes  honour  me 
Although  at  Ard'eryd  I  wore  the  golden  torques. 

***** 
Long  used  to  solitude,  no  demons  fright  me  now; 
Not  at  the  dragon  presence  do  I  quake 
Of  the  lord  Gwenddolen,|  and  all  his  clan 
Who  have  sown  death  within  the  woods  of  Celyddon. 

A  fragment  of  another  purely  Pictish  poem§ 

*   V.  S.  Kentigemi,  cap.  xlv. 

t  In  the  continuation  of  the  Scotichronicon, 

X  Gwenddolen  apCeidian,  who,  along  with  Saxon  allies  and  S.  Colum- 
ba'sfriend,  King  Aedhan  'the  False.'fought  against  Rhydderch  the  Briton 
and  were  defeated  at  Ard'eryd,  c.  573. 

§  Quoted byReevesfrom^»»o/j-«/iWa«/i»i«.r,MS. Brussels530l,p.8o. 

60 


LITERATURE   OF   THE   PICTS 

has  come  down  to  us  through  Gaidhealic  hands. 
It  is  known  by  the  opening  lines: 

'■Iniuferas  Bruide  cath 
Imforba  a  shenathar' 

(To-day  Bruide  fights  in  battle  * 
For  the  land  of  his  ancestor). 

This  poem  was  written  in  Pictland  of  Alba, 
A.D.  686,  by  Riaghuil,  titular  Abbot  of  Bangor  in 
Ulster.  Riaghuil  had  fled  for  safety  to  Pictland 
of  Alba;  because  the  Gaidheals  of  the  race  of 
N  iall  had  invaded  the  kingdoms  of  the  I  rish  Picts. 
The  Gaidheals  burned  Dungal  the  Pictish  King, 
Suibhne.thePictishlordofKianachta.Glengiven, 
and  captured  the  great  border-fortress  of  Dun 
Ceithern.  They  then  wasted  the  Pictish  king- 
doms with  fire  and  sword.  Apparently  the  clerics 
of  Bangor  and  the  other  religious  houses  of  S. 
Comgall  took  flight  for  a  time  to  the  daughter- 
churches  of  Bangor  in  Pictland  of  Alba.  Ria- 
ghuil was  hospitably  received  by  Brude  Mac  Bil6, 
theSovereign  of  Pictland  of  Alba(Scotland).  He 
repaid  Brude  by  becoming  his  laureate  and  inter- 
cessor, and  in  this  surviving  fragment  champions 
him  in  verse  against  Egfrid  the  Anglian  invader. 

This  is  not  a  history  of  Pictish  literature.  That 
subject  still  awaits  the  competent  Celtic  scholar 
who  can  divest  himself  of  Gaidhealic  and  Anglo- 
Saxon  prejudices.  Enough  has  been  written  to 
show  that  thePictishChurchmen  did  not  minister 

*  The  Battle  of  Dunnichen  ('Nechtansmere'),  20th  May  a.d.  686. 

61 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

to  a  people  without  a  literature;  and  also  to  show 
that  the  Picts  did  not  derive  their  love  and  prac- 
tice of  literature  from  the  Gaidheals.  On  the  con- 
trary it  is  apparent  that theGaidhealswere taught 
and  schooled  by  Britons  and  Picts.  S.  Columba, 
the  greatest  of  the  Gaidheals,  was  instructed  by 
Pictish  and  British  masters. 


HOW  THE  PICTS  LIVED 
CHAPTER  FIVE 

A  STORY  used  to  be  current  at  a  southern  uni- 
versity of  a  student,  fresh  from  the  works  of  a 
certain  historian,  who  declared  that  Pictland  of 
Alba  was  a  '  land  of  lakes  and  shallow  estuaries 
where  the  people  lived  in  crannogs.'  In  Pictland 
certain  fishing  communities  did  live  in  crannogs 
amid  the  shallow  waters  of  lakes  and  estuaries ; 
andartificial  islands,  planned  with  much  engineer- 
ing skill,  were  constructed  as  defendable  habit- 
ations in  the  same  areas;  but  the  majority  of  the 
Picts  had  no  special  affection  for  the  marshes 
where  ague  and  rheumatism  prevailed. ThePicts, 
considered  as  a  whole,  were  a  pastoral  people  as 
is  indicated  by  the  wide  range  of  the  name  Ker- 
ones,  shepherds.  These  pastoral  folk  owned  three 
precious  possessions — their  dog,  their  flocks,  and 
their  pasture.  The  Celtic  names  for  these  enter 
into  the  three  expressions  of  intense  love  which 
still  survive  in  colloquial  speech.  Mynghu*  (S. 
Kentigern's  pet  name),  my  dear  one,  means, 
literally,  my  dog ;  nieudail,  my  kind  one,  means 
my  little  cattle;  m'ullie,  my  treasure  or  my  precious 
one,  means  my  pasture.  The  Picts  supplemented 
their  pastoral  work  by  agriculture  and  hunting. 
Stone  querns,the  hand-mill  for  grinding  corn  still 
used  in  Eastern  countries,  have  been  recovered 
from  hut-circles,  lake-dwellings,  brochs,  and  even 

*  Mochu  in  Gaelic.    Myn  is  the  British  form  of  the  pronoun  mo,  and 
among  the  Britons  and  Pic  ts  ^  took  the  place  of  cA,  giving  the  form  Mungo. 

63 


THE  FlUi ISH  JNAllUM 

from  the  earth-houses  and  caves.  These  querns 
are  constructed  with  wonderful  mechanical  bal- 
ance. The  upper  stone  revolves  sunwise  with 
perfect  smoothness ;  but  jams  if  revolved  in  the 
opposite  direction,  just  as  the  shaped,  Pictish, 
stone-weapons  and  implements,  when  laid  on  a 
smooth  surface,  can  be  spun  sunwise  successfully; 
but  if  turned  contrary  to  the  sun  they  wobble  and 
refuse  to  revolve.  Indeed,  this  is  a  test  of  the 
genuineness  of  Pictish  stone  weapons  and  imple- 
ments; and  the  most  skilled  modern  forgers  have 
not  yet  discovered  the  secret  of  this  feature. 

The  Picts  were  enthusiastic  sportsmen.  On 
foot  they  hunted  the  deer  and  wild  cattle  with 
dogs  and  weapons.  They  fought  the  wolves  in 
their  dens.  They  knew  the  best  salmon-pools 
in  rivers;  and^in  banks  on  which  they  watched 
for  their  prey  the  flint  heads  of  their  fish-spears 
are  frequently  found  embedded.  They  were  ac- 
quainted with  the  fishing  net,  and  could  make 
fish-traps  of  woven  willow- wands  which  they  set 
at  the  head  of  streamy  parts  of  rivers.  They 
marked  the  haunts  ofdoran,  the  otter,  whom  other 
Celts  called  the  'fish-hound.'  The  number  of 
Pictish  names  signifying  Otters'  Bank  or  Otters' 
Burn  indicate  how  carefully  the  Picts  followed  the 
ways  of  this  fisher ;  doubtless  because  they  knew 
his  habit  of  leaving  an  acceptable  salmon  on 
the  bank  minus  his  favourite  mouthful.  In  the 
kitchen-middens  of  the  brochs  remains  of  nearly 
64 


HOW  THE  PICTS  LIVED 

all  our  common  animals,  birds,  and  fishes  are 
found,  together  with  the  remains  of  creatures 
now  extinct.  In  a  grave  within  the  area  of  S. 
Ninian's  Churchyard,  Sutherland,  were  found, 
along  with  human  bones,  a  flint  implement  and 
part  of  a  palmated  antler  of  one  of  the  larger,  ex- 
tinct, deer.  That  the  Picts  were  prouder  of  their 
prowess  in  the  chase  than  in  battle  may  be  inferred 
from  their  carved  stones  which  oftener  show  fights 
with  beasts  than  with  men.  Their  beasts  of  bur- 
den were  the  horse  and  the  ox.  For  transport 
they  used  a  two-wheeled  cart  of  which  a  sketch 
has  survived  on  one  of  their  incised  stones. 

The  Picts  were  acquainted  with  the  working 
of  iron  and  bronze.  Charcoal  and  slag-heaps  have 
been  discovered  deep  in  the  peat  at  the  sites  of 
primitive  iron-furnaces.  Flint  weapons  and  im- 
plements continued  in  use  among  the  Picts  long 
after  they  had  learned  to  work  metals.  A  per- 
fectly constructed  bronze  swivel,  which  various 
modern  artificers  could  imitate  but  badly,  was 
found  in  Sutherland  on  the  gravel,  beneath  the 
peat,  beside  a  flint  hide-scraper  and  a  flint  spear- 
head. The  smith  ranked  almost  as  a  noble  among 
the  Picts  as  among  other  Celts.  His  professional 
name  is  linked  with  many  Pictish  place-names. 
The  capital*  of  one  of  the  principalities  of  Pict- 
landwas  called 'The  Smith's  Mount.'  Thisworker 

*  Dr.Carmichael's  Barra  Gowan  or  ^«?-«^»2«OT,capitalofthe Western 
Picts  before  the  coining  of  the  Dalriad  Gaidheals. 

F  65 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

might  be  called  on  to  make  any  metal  article  from 
a  sword  or  spade  to  a  golden  torque  for  a  lady,  a 
chief,  or  a  poet.  One  of  the  Pictish  saints  had 
learned  the  smith's  craft,  and  one  of  his  'miracles' 
was  the  makingof  charcoalfromreedsfortheforge 
fire.  He  was  brazing  the  plates  of  a  Celtic  hand- 
bell, and  probably  'miracle'  was  the  popular  de- 
scription of  some  special  flux  which  he  had  dis- 
covered for  uniting  the  metals.  The  remains  of 
wood-charcoal  heaps  have  been  found  in  the  W«»« 
of  brochs  near  the  excavated  fire-places;  although, 
a  mile  or  so  away,  there  was  an  outcrop  of  coal 
on  the  sea-beach. 

The  Pictswereexceedingly  fond  oftheprecious 
metals,  which  they  worked  into  torques,  brooches, 
and  other  ornaments  of  simple  but  artistic  de- 
signs. Amulets  of  pebble  and  serpentine,  and 
necklaces  of  shale  have  been  recovered  from 
Pictish  burial-cairns.  Bronze  armlets  were  used 
by  men  to  reinforce  the  biceps  in  a  thrust  blow 
from  the  hand,  or  in  a  lightning  sword-stroke. 

The  Picts  knew  the  use  of  the  potter's  wheel. 
Food-vessels  as  well  as  urns  associated  with  the 
dead  have  been  found  on  the  sites  of  dwellings 
and  in  graves.  The  pottery  is  usually  of  a  heavy 
type,  due  more  to  the  coarse  nature  of  the  clay 
and  inferior  kilns  than  to  want  of  skill  on  the  part 
of  the  potter;  because  the  latter  frequently  at- 
tempted to  atone  for  coarse  material  by  skilful 
and  symmetrical  ornamentation.  The  genuine 
66 


HOW  THE  PICTS  LIVED 

'  Barvas  pottery'  of  comparatively  recent  times  is 
primitive  compared  with  some  of  the  food- vessels 
and  urns  dug  up  on  the  west  coast,  and  dating 
back  more  than  a  thousand  years  earlier.  Frag- 
ments of  Samian  ware,  found  in  forts  and  brochs, 
point  back  to  Mediterranean  and  Gaulish  traders, 
or  to  the  Pictish  raids  into  the  Imperial  Roman 
colony  in  Britain.  Recently,  while  a  foundation 
was  being  dug  in  what  was  formerly  part  of 
Caithness,  an  early  Greek  coin  was  found  four 
feet  from  the  surface  beside  encisted  burials  in 
an  ancient  Pictish  burial-ground.  If  it  were  not 
for  Ptolemy's  GeographyaxA  certain  references  of 
early  ecclesiastical  writers,  we  would  forget  that 
Mediterranean  and  Gaulish  merchants  visited 
Pictland. 

Spinning,  weaving,  and  dyeing  were  practised 
by  the  Picts.  The  carding-comb,  which  also  may 
have  been  a  dressing-comb,  is  theleast  mysterious 
of  the  symbols  carved  on  the  stones  of  Pictland. 
Although  the  Pictish  warriors,  according  to  Latin 
and  Greek  authors,  loved  to  expose  the  cruits  or 
figures  tattooed  upon  their  bodies,  and  so  fought 
with  the  minimum  of  clothing,  knowing  the  benefit 
of  laying  aside  every  weight;  they  also  knew  how 
to  clothe  themselves  comfortably,  and  even  gaily, 
in  time  of  peace.  The  Picts  of  Alba  do  not  appear  to 
have  differed  from  the  Picts  of  Ireland,  who  came 
to  the  battle-ground  clothed,  but  they  divested 
themselves  of  their  garments  before  entering  the 

67 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

fight.  A  king  of  the  Gaidheals  when  entering  a 
battle  refused  to  wear  a  short  cape  although  it 
had  been  given  to  him  by  S.  Columba,  and  to 
this  was  ascribed  his  defeat.  The  Pictish  clerics, 
although  they  denied  themselves  all  luxuries, 
wore  woollen  garments  of  native  make.  We  learn 
of  an  undergarment,  apparently  a  long  shirt, 
reaching  below  the  knees,  and  of  an  outer  gar- 
ment reaching  equally  far  down,  and  having  wide 
sleeves  and  a  capacious  hood.  The  colour  was  ap- 
parently the  native  shade  known  as  'moorag! 
The  Picts  could  also  weave  vegetable  fibres. 
Part  of  what  appeared  to  be  a  woman's  skirt  made 
of  coarse  fibrous  material  was  unearthed*  from  a 
deep  bed  of  dry  peat  which  had  acted  as  a  pre- 
servative. 

The  Picts  understood  the  dressing  and  curing 
of  pelts.  The  flint  flaying-knife,  the  flint  hide- 
scraper,  and  the  stone  for  smoothing  the  inside  of 
thehidearecommonrelicsinPictland.  Fleece  and 
fur  furnished  clothing,  and  hides  and  skins  were 
spread  out  to  sleep  on  within  the  huts.  Slaves  and 
furs,  secured  apparently  by  raids,  are  understood 
to  have  been  the  attractions  which  brought  the 
tradingshipsofMarseillesf  to  Pictlandfrom  before 
the  time  of  Christ.  There  was  also  considerable 
intercourse  between  the  Celts  of  northern  Gaul 

*  In  Sutherland,  and  was  in  the  care  of  the  late  Rev.  J.  M.  Joass, 
LL.D. 

t  The  traders  of  this  port  sent  an  expedition  to  Pictland  before  the 
Christian  era,  which  sailed  as  far  as  the  Orkneys. 

68 


HOW  THE  PICTS  LIVED 

and  the  Celts  of  Pictland,  until  the  'migrations  of 
the  barbarians'  in  the  fifth  century  interrupted 
communications.  The  Britons  and  Picts  have  not 
been  regarded  as  sea-going  folk  for  the  extra- 
ordinary reason  that  manyof  the  nautical  terms  in 
modernScottishGaelicareofScandinavian  origin. 
As  a  matter  of  historical  fact,  when  the  ships  of 
Caesarmetthefleetofthe  Britons,  the  British  ships 
werelarger  and  ofbetter  build;  S.Ninian'sCa«(a!'?fl?« 
Casa  in  the  early  fifth  century  possessed  a  fleet 
which  sailed  on  regular  voyages;  and  there  was 
sea-borne  traffic  between  the  Picts  of  Ireland  and 
the  Britons  and  the  Picts  of  Alba.  The  Picts 
organized  warlike  expeditions  by  sea;  and  even 
the  Gaidheals,  in  spite  of  the  Scandinavian  terms 
in  Gaelic,  were  no  mean  sailors.  The  Irish  Gaidh- 
eals organized  a  raid  by  sea  on  the  island  of  Islay 
while  it  was  still  Pictish;  and  the  Gaidheals  of 
Scottish  Dalriada  in  the  sixth  century  sent  their 
battle-fleet  from  Argyll  in  the  direction  of  the 
Pictish  Orkneys. 

The  Picts  did  not  excel  in  architecture.  Almost 
all  their  erections  were  circular.  In  districts  like 
Sutherland,  where  the  face  of  the  land  has  been 
little  changed  by  agriculture,  the  sites  of  Pictish 
villages  may  still  be  seen.  Groups  of  hut-circles 
with  adjacent  groups  of  burial-cairns  occupy  sun- 
ny slopes  on  the  sides  of  valleys,  or  comfortable 
situations  on  plateaux  where  once  there  were 
clearings  in  the  original  forest.  It  is  evident  from 

69 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

remains  that  exist  that  the  machair,  or  plain-land 
by  the  sea,  and  the  flat  stretches  by  the  rivers 
were  also  occupied  by  these  villages,  although  the 
modern  road-boards  and  cultivators  have  within 
recent  years  competed  in  removing  the  last  traces 
of  them.  The  Pict  evidently  built  on  the  principle 
that  here  we  have  no  continuing  city.  His  dwell- 
ing was  of  the  simplest.  His  finished  hut  was  like 
a  hollow  cone,  the  apex  being  slightly  open  to 
draw  away  the  smoke.    This  cone-like  structure 
was  made  with  the  trunks  of  forest  trees  and 
thatched  with  branches,  reeds,  or  heather.    The 
heavy  ends  of  the  trunks  were  firmly  bedded  at 
the  desired  angle  in  a  thick  circular  retaining 
wall,  the  remains  of  which  are  known  to-day  as  a 
'hut  circle.'  The  doorway  was  made  through  this 
retaining  wall  and  faced  invariably  towards  the 
south.     Frequently  it  was  defended  by  mas- 
sive stone  outworks  which  concealed  a  short 
angular  passage  with  one  or  even  two  guard- 
rooms.   Sometimes  huts  contained  underground 
chambers  with  a  tunnelled  exit  into  the  open 
beyond  the  circle  of  the  hut-wall.   The  sides  of 
these  chambers  and  of  the  passage  were  built  up 
with  irregular-shaped  stones;  and  all,  roofed  over 
with  heavy  flat  undressed  stones.     Inclosures 
with  wide  entrances,  as  if  for  cattle,  oblong  in 
shape,  square  in  a  few  instances,  are  found  in  or 
near  the  hut  villages. 

The  Pictish  towns  and  villages  were  situated 
70 


HOW  THE  PICTS  LIVED 

on  some  naturally  strong  site,  or  close  to  a  brock.* 
From  S.  Ninian's  time,  the  first  Churches  were 
planted  near  these  strong  places,  which  reminds 
us  how  old  the  proximity  of  Church  and  Castle 
is.  Some  of  the  Pictish  settlements  were  within 
earthen  ramparts  still  clearly  defined.  A  Pictish 
brock  was  constructed  by  raising  two  massive 
concentric  walls  tied  together  by  long  stones 
winding  round  the  outer  circumference  of  the 
inner  wall  and  ascending  gradually  to  the  top, 
forming  steps  to  the  summit  for  the  defenders 
or  watchers.  There  was  no  opening  in  the  outer 
wall  except  one  low  and  narrow  doorway  lead- 
ing, through  a  narrow  passage  easily  blocked  and 
indented  with  guard-chambers,  into  the  circular 
area  within  the  inner  wall.  The  structure  was 
roofless.  Chambers  on  the  ground  level  were 
opened  out  in  the  inner  wall  and  entered  from 
the  interior.  Windows  also  opened  through  the 
inner  wall,  letting  in  light  from  the  interior  to  the 
stairways  between  the  walls.  Very  often  these 
brocks  were  accessible  by  only  one  narrow  foot- 
way. They  are  believed  to  have  been  places  of 
refuge  for  women  and  children  and  their  de- 
fenders, in  time  of  sudden  attack.  Although 
some  brocks  had  wells  others  had  none,  and  these 
could  not  have  sustained  long  sieges.  Weapons 
and  implements  of  stone,  bronze,  and  iron  have 

*  Called  also  Caer  (Cathair),  Ditn,  Tor,  and  Caisteal.    To  different 
brochs  within  the  single  parish  of  Kildonnan  these  names  are  applied. 

71 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

been  found  in  the  brocks,  as  well  as  women's 
ornaments,  combs,  bone  hair-pins,  and  bone 
needles  threaded  by  the  side  of  the  eye.  Built 
hearths  have  been  uncovered  in  the  inner  area; 
and,  in  one  case,  bones  broken  for  the  sake  of 
marrow,  were  found  beside  two  grease-stained 
stones  that  had  served  as  hammer  and  anvil. 

Some  have  thought  that  the  Picts  learned  the 
art  of  broch-buildingfrom  the  Phoenician  traders 
and  slave-raiders  who  visited  the  coasts;  because 
structures  nearly  akin  in  type  have  been  found 
in  Sardinia  and  North  Africa.  Towers  resembling 
them  in  many  features  have  been  noted  as  part  of 
the  remarkable  buildings  at  the  Phoenician  gold- 
workings  at  Zimbabwe.  Whatever  the  origin  of 
the  brocks  they  agree  with  the  Pictish  preference 
for  circular  buildings.  In  what  is  now  the  main- 
land and  islands  of  northern  Scotland  we  see  them 
arranged  in  such  relation  to  one  another  that  fire- 
signals  lighted  on  the  summit  of  one  would  con- 
vey information  to  another,  and  so  to  every  brock 
over  an  extensive  area.  The  site  of  one  of  the  best 
known  brocks  bears  a  Celtic  name  meaning.  Rock 
of  the  signal-fire.  When  the  Vikings  came  to  the 
locality  of  this  brock  they  found  it  necessary  to 
erect  a  fort  to  watch  it,  and,  in  the  old  Icelandic, 
continued  the  name,  calling  their  stronghold, 
'Town  of  the  signal-fire.' 

The  Churches  of  the  Picts  were  at  first  con- 
structed of  oak-logs  on  stone  foundations.  One 
72 


HOW  THE  PICTS  LIVED 

of  the  native  colloquial  names  for  them  was  Datr- 
teach,  the  oak-house,  and  among  the  Celts  this 
name  came  in  time  to  mean  prayer-house  or 
Church.  The  Churches  were  apparently  rectang- 
ular and  for  a  long  time  represented  an  innov- 
ation upon  the  circular  building  favoured  by  the 
Picts.     In  storm-swept  districts  like  the  north 
coast  of  Caithness,  where  wood  was  scarce,  the 
whole  Church  appears  to  have  been  of  stone, 
roofed  with  logs  and  heather-thatch,  as  was  the 
case  into  the  early  Roman  Catholic  period.  The 
high  Round  Towers  associated  with  rectangular 
Pictish  Churches  emphasize  the  Pictish  partiality 
for  circular  building.  They  were  used  as  watch- 
towers  to  anticipate  foreign  raiders ;  ecclesiastical 
valuables  and  manuscripts  were  carried  into 
them  in  time  of  danger.  The  only  entrance  was  at 
a  considerable  height  from  the  ground,  and  was 
reached  by  a  ladder  which  was  hoisted  inside  and 
thedoor  locked,  while  theenemycontinuedtolurk 
about.  The  doorwaycould  be  defended  with  mis- 
siles from  above,  and  the  tower  was  proof  against 
fire  laid  to  it.  Examples  of  these  Pictish  towers 
are  seen  at  S.  Cainnech's,  Kilkenny,  at  Aber- 
nethy,  Brechin,  and  Deerness,  the  headland  of 
the  Daire,  or  Oak- Church. 

Venerable  Bede  is  responsible,  through  mis- 
interpreting his  information,  for  the  impression 
that  stone  buildings  were  unknown  to  the  Britons 
and  Picts  until  S.  Ninian  built  Candida  Casa. 

n 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

This  of  course  is  incorrect,  because  wherever  the 
Imperial  Roman  colonists  settled,  or  the  legions 
formed  permanent  camps,  stone  buildings  were 
erected,  before  the  date  of  Candida  Casa.  The 
Picts  in  their  many  successful  raids  were  only 
too  familiar  with  these  buildings  and  with  their 
contents.  Archaeologists  have  shown  that  after 
the  Romans  departed  the  Picts  occupied  the 
Roman  structures,  although  they  do  not  appear 
to  have  imitated  them,  except  in  the  construc- 
tion of  a  few  of  their  churches. 

The  Picts,  like  many  other  fighting  nations 
who  gave  their  enemies  a  bad  time,  were  wanton- 
ly libelled  by  their  foes.  Roman  historians  of  the 
minor  order  accepted  the  slanders  of  the  mercen- 
aries, and  stated  that  the  Picts  were  cannibals,  and 
that  they  offered  human  sacrifices.  They  allege 
that  their  women  submitted  to  polyandry.  The 
Gaidheals  called  the  Picts  'savage'  and  'cruel.' 
The  Angles  spoke  of  them  as  'vile.'  There  is  not 
a  word  in  the  story  of  the  dealings  of  the  Pictish 
missionaries  with  their  converts  which  indicates 
that  these  charges  were  true,  or  that  the  Picts 
were  worse  than  their  unscrupulous  assailants. 
Domestic  infelicities  with  which  S.  Comgall,  S. 
Kentigern  and  others  were  called  upon  to  deal,  in- 
dicate that  a  woman's  unfaithfulness  to  her  own 
husband  was  regarded  as  a  serious  breach  of  the 
tribal  as  well  as  of  the  moral  law.  The  wives  of 
kings,  chiefs,  and  commoners  are  always  repre- 
74 


HOW  THE  PICTS  LIVED 

sented  as  living  in  family  with  their  own  hus- 
bands. 

Certain  historians  have  professed  to  see  con- 
firmation of  the  charge  of  polyandry  in  the  pecul- 
iar law  regulating  the  Pictish  sovereignty,  by 
which  a  sovereign's  brother,  or  his  sister's  son, 
or,  in  certain  circumstances,  his  elder  daughter's 
son,  was  preferred  before  the  sovereign's  son. 
These  historians  have  failed  to  make  clear  that 
the  Pictish  sovereign  acceded  from  the  royal  race 
after  election  and  approval  by  the  petty  kings 
and  chiefs  of  Pictland.  The  story  that  the  Gaidh- 
eals  supplied  wives  from  time  to  time  for  the 
Pictish  kings  so  that  their  children  only  might 
claim  the  throne  of  Pictland  is  a  stupid  fable  pro- 
mulgated by  the  Gaidheals  to  justify  the  acces- 
sion of  Kenneth  Mac  Alpin  and  the  continuation 
in  line  of  his  dynasty  to  the  Pictish  sovereignty; 
an  accession  which  the  Picts  considered  illegal, 
because  won  by  treachery;  and  a  continuation 
which  they  disputed  and  which  was  only  main- 
tained by  force  of  the  Gaidhealic  soldiery  when 
the  Picts  had  been  weakened  by  repeated  Viking 
onslaughts. 

Although  the  system  of  Pictish  succession 
offers  no  room  for  the  moral  reflections  of  some 
historians;  its  practical  advantages*  should  be 

*  Mr.  Andrew  Lang  regarded  succession  in  the  direct  line  of  the  father 
as  a  sign  of  superior  civilization.  It  may  have  been  so ;  but  it  had  serious 
practical  disadvantages  when  a  nation  depended  on  unity  and  strong 
leadership. 

75 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

noted.  It  bound  those  chiefs  whousedtheirvotes 
in  favour  of  the  sovereign  to  support  him  on  the 
throne,  a  very  important  result  among  a  people 
organized  in  clans  any  one  of  which  was  some- 
times more  powerful  than  the  clan  of  the  success- 
ful nominee.  Again,  the  election  of  a  grown-up 
member  of  the  ruling  caste  to  the  supreme  power 
always  saved  the  Picts  from  the  rule  of  a  minor, 
with  a  consequent  regency  and  the  intrigues  and 
abuses  connected  therewith.  The  succession  of 
a  minor  or  incompetent  king,  apart  from  the  will 
of  the  people,  simply  because  he,  or  she,  was 
nearest  heir  in  direct  line  from  a  royal  father  was 
the  cause  of  some  of  the  greatest  woes  that  befell 
Pictland  after  it  came  under  the  rule  of  the  Scotic 
dynasties.  Science,  forethought,  and  adaptation 
to  the  needs  of  a  nation  of  clans,  were  all  in  the 
Pictish  system  of  succession;  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  certain  historians  have  been  able  to  see  only 
signs  of  moral  laxity  and  want  of  moral  progress. 


THE  BEGINNING  AND 
GROWTH  OF  THE  PICTISH 
CHURCH  CHAPTER  SIX 

Between  the  years  400  and  432  a.d.  the  Church 
OF  THE  PiCTS,  as  we  have  noted,  was  founded,  and 
gradually  extended,  by  S.  Ninian*  the  bishop,  a 
Briton,  working  from  the  Brito-Pictish  mother- 
Church  which  he  had  established  at  CandidaCasa 
(Whithorn)  about  a.d.  397-  S.  Ninian  had  been 
a  pupil  of  S.  Martin  who  laboured  among  the  Celts 
of  Poictiers,  and  who  also  ministered  as  bishop  at 
the  Celtic  military  city  of  Tours  from  the  year  372. 
S.  Martin  was  regarded  as  the  inventor  of  a  new 
organization  for  the  Christian  ministry;  although, 
inreality.he  only  revived  the  old  apostolic  organ- 
ization and  multiplied  it.  He  embodied  active, 
ascetic,  missionary  ministers  in  small  clans  called 
muinntirs  under  a  president  or  father,  known,  at 
first,  amongthe  Celts  by  the  Greek  title  oiPdpa\ 
and,  later,  by  the  Syrian  title  of  Ab.  These  re- 
ligious clans  S.  Martin  fitted  into  the  clan-system 
of  the  Celts  of  Gaul. 

S.  Ninian  imitated  his  master  S.  Martin  to  the 
smallest  detail  in  method  and  organization.  When 
he  returned  from  Gaul  to  Britain,  shortly  before 
A.D.  397,  he  settled  at  Candida  Casa  in  Galloway 
with  certain  companions.  Ailred,  who  had  the  Old 
Life  of  S.  Ninian  to  guide  him,  but  interpreted  it 

*  The  history  of  S.  Ninian  andhis  Mission  will  befoundin  the  Author's  S. 
NinianandtheFoundingof  the  Celtic  ChurchamongtheBritonsandPicts. 

t  This  name,  lifted  from  the  Greek  nurseries,  was  in  S.  Martin's  time  a 
current  title  among  the  Greek  Christians  for  a  Christian  minister. 

n 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

by  his  own  mediaeval  ideas,  assumed  that  these 
companions  were  'masons.'*  They  were,  with- 
out doubt,  his  muinntir  or  'family'  including 
artisan  brethren  such  as  accompanied  S.  Martin's 
other  missionaries,  and  all  the  Celtic  missionaries 
after  them,  for  the  purpose  of  helping  to  organize 
and  build  up  congregations;  because  to  the  Celts 
the  Church  was  the  Christian  people  rather  than 
the  Christian  buildings.  S.  Ninian  imported  even 
thenamesof  S.  Martin's  houses  from  Gaul  to  Gal- 
loway. CandidaCasa,^\\\X.&  Hut,issimplyatrans- 
lation  oS.'Logo-Tigiac'\  or  Leuko-Teiac,  Bright- 
White  Hut,  the  name  of  the  bothy  on  S.  Hilary's 
farm  near  Ligugd  where  S.  Martin  first  organized 
his   'family'   or  community.    The   use   of  the 
A.\m\n\itiv&teiacor  casa^re.we.nt.s\xs  from  thinking 
of  Candida  Casa  as  the  conspicuous  stone  build- 
ing which  Ailred  implies.   It  was  more  likely  to 
have  been,  like  the  buildings  which  were  after- 
wards modelled  from  it,  a  modest  house  suited  for 
prayer  and  the  dispensation  of  the  sacraments  to 
small  gatherings.  This  view  is  supported  by  the 
references  to  Candida  Casa  when  Paulinus  of 
York  and  F.  A.  Alcuin  gave  help  to  prevent 
its   dilapidation.    These    'White   Houses'   are 
found  associated  with  Celtic  Churches  from  Dor- 
noch in  the  north  of  Pictland  to  Ty  Gwyn  ar  Dav 
among  the  Britons,  in  Wales. 

*  Vita  Nyniani,  ii,  iii. 

t  For  the  various  forms  of  this  name  in  'L3Xm,Logotigiacum,Locotegiacum, 
Lucoteiac,  cf.  Gregory  of  Tours,  Fortunatus,  and  Longnon's  map  of  Gaul. 

78 


PICTISH  CHURCH  GROWS 

Again,  S.  Martin's  community  were  housed, 
like  S.  Ninian's  followers  who  imitated  them,  in 
hutlets  or  cells.  The  whole  community  at  Tours 
was  called,  and  the  name  still  survives,  'Marmo- 
utier,'  Magnum  Monasterium,  the  big  muinntir 
or  community.  S.  Ninian'scommunityat  Candida 
Casa  was  called  'Magnum  Monasterium'  by  the 
Latin  writers,  indicating  that  he  had  also  im- 
ported the  name  Mormuinntir. 

J  ust  as  S.  Martin  had  his  Cave  or  Retreat  in  the 
sandstonerocks  2XMarmoutier\  so  S.  Ninian  had 
his  Retreat  at  the  Cave  in  the  rocks  on  the  shore 
atGlaston,*  nowGlasserton,aplace  much  vener- 
ated of  yore,  which  has  yielded  many  interesting 
sculptured  stones,  and  whose  traditions  and  anti- 
quity have  been  ascribed  by  the  fabulists  and 
ignorant  writers  of  the  middle  ages  to  Glaston  of 
Somerset,  now  Glastonbury. 

In  describing  S.  Ninian's  mission- work  in  Pict- 
land  of  Alba,  now  Scotland,  Ailred.f  drawing  on 
the  Old  Life,  writes:  'The  holy  bishop  began  to 
ordain  presbyters,  consecrate  bishops,  distribute 
the  other  dignities  of  the  ecclesiastical  ranks,  and 
divide  the  whole  land  into  distinct  districts.  H  av- 
ing  confirmed  in  faith  and  good  works  the  sons 
whom  he  had  begotten  in  Christ,  and  having  set 
in  honour  all  things  that  referred  to  the  honour  of 
God  and  the  welfare  of  souls,  S.  Ninian  bade  the 

*  "Ssix  Candida  Casa. 
t  Ailred's  dates  are  1 109-1 166. 

79 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

brethren  farewell  and  returned  tohisown  Church 
(Candida  Casa).'  This  description,  allowing  for 
Ailred's  rather  grand  way  of  expressing  himself, 
appears  to  be  taken  from  the  Old  Life;  because 
theprocedure  ascribed  to  S.Ninian  and  the  nature 
of  the  work  accomplished  were  contrary  to  the 
rules  and  claims  of  the  Roman  Church  in  whose 
interest  Ailred  was  re-writing  the  Saint's  Life. 

Venerable  Bede,*  as  Ailred  knew,  had  previ- 
ously in  the  eighth  century,  incidentally,  and  with- 
out details,  described  S.  Ninian's  mission  into 
Pictland.  Bede,  however,  was  quite  untravelled, 
and  drew  his  geographical  details  from  the  library 
at  Jarrow.with  the  result,  as  his  writings  indicate, 
that  he  fell  a  victim  to  Ptolemy's  Geography  and 
its  famous  errorf  with  regard  to  Scotland.  If  a 
map  be  sketched  according  to  the  measurements 
given  by  Ptolemy;  Pictland,  or thegreater  part  of 
what  is  now  S  cotland,  is  thrown  into  the  North  Sea 
at  right  angles  to  England.  Consequently,ourzf  e.f^ 
of  Pictland  (Scotland)  was  Ptolemy's  and  Bede's 
north,  and  our  east  of  Pictland  was  Ptolemy's  and 
Bede's.y<?«^^.Thepersistentfailureofhistoriansto 
translate  Bede'sgeographical  terms  into  harmony 
with  modern  geography  has  led  to  the  falsification 
of  the  localities  and  the  extent  both  of  S.  Ninian's 
and  of  S.  Columba's  work  in  Pictland.  To  bolster 

*  Bede'speriod  was  <:.  673-735. 

t  Ptolemy  was  wonderfiilly  accurate  in  the  data  which  he  tabulated. 
The  error  in  this  instance  was  due  to  a  mistake  in  the  distance  from  his 
initial  meridian  line  to  the  coast  of  Pictland  or  Scotland. 
80 


BRITAIN    AND     IRELAND 
AccoRomd  TO  PTOLEMJ  . 


Sfctarir  (OU  Nlaps  «»i  MapTivalctTs) 

WTttis.'ll  IS  wtU  io  state  cltoTly 

iko-t  PtoUm>('5  malt  mUcli  u>" 

knoiuTb  lo  tkrctuUi'iii  "loTlcL 

to-niliivaeA  lo  kian  aulhoTit>| 

ti'l  about    1500  *.Df 


ilti  iHa]i  associaud  uiilfr  lit  lucrln   »f 
lloUlteu)  vaTis  c.i!l5Q;U  tlUstTalt  Wit, 
toultnii/aivct.  of  tht  fioltmaic  inJLatnti . 
Tki  wisjilaanff  sf  iouni!;  onttfiuiT^  i»l(it 
vimk  ojIKt,  taTtj   EnglisK   av-lkor  . 


To  face  p.  80. 


PICTISH  CHURCH  GROWS 

up  the  blunder,  the  'Grampians,'  which  were  never 
either  a  political  frontier  or  a  name*  in  ancient 
Pictland.wereinventedftoplaythepartof'Drum- 
Alban.'  Drum-Alban  was  the  chain  of  mountains 
which  runs,  roughly,  northwards  from  the  head  of 
Loch  Lomondto  Ben  Hee  in  Sutherland,  dividing 
the  rivers  of  Scotland  and  sending  some  to  the 
East  and  some  to  the  West.  The  southern  end 
of  Drum-Alban  corresponds,  roughly,  to  the  line 
of  the  border  between  Argyll  and  Perthshire.  It 
was  the  true  historical  divide  between  the  con- 
solidated nation  of  the  Picts  who  lay  to  the  East, 
and  the  diluted  Picts  who  lay  to  the  West,  whose 
territory  had  been  penetrated  by  the  Gaidheals 
of  the  Dalriad  Colony,  and  actually  overrun  by 
them,  for  a  time,  between  the  death  of  Brude 
Mac  Maelchon,A.D.  584,andthereign  of  Angus  I. 
Mac  Fergus,^,  a.d.  729-761. 

With  regard  to  the  ^;irif^;«^  of  S.  Ninian's  mission 
to  the  Picts,  Ailred  confirms  Bede's  account.  Bede 
makeS|it  clear  that  S.Ninian  evangelized  the  whole 
Pictish  nation,  as  Bede  knew  it,  namely,  Pictland 
east  (Bede's  south)J  of  Drum-Alban,  the  Gaidh- 
ealic  or  Scotic  border. 

*  The  true  name  really  belongs  to  Perthshire,  and  is,  correctly,  with 
Latin  termination,  Graupius  (Stokes).  The  Gaidheals  varied  it  to  'Dor- 
sum Crup'  and  'MonidChroibk,'  to  accommodate  their  dislike  of  initial  G. 

t  yi.&cLate,\a'iiis  British  Place  Names,  ■vi'citesX.raXy:  'The  Grampian 
mountains  are  an  antiquary's  invention  of  the  sixteenth  century. ' 

X  Distinct  from  this,  Bede  states  that  the  conversion  of  the  Picts  west 
(Bede's  north)  of  Drum  Alban  was  due  to  S.  Columba,  that  is  to  say  all 
the  Picts  in  the  area  ultimately  occupied  by  the  Gaidhealic  Colonists  until 
the  kingdoms  of  the  Picts  and  Gaidheals  were  united. 

G  81 


THE  PI^^  1  lajn  rM  A 1  iupm 

Bede's  statement  is — 'For  the  Southern  (our 
Eastern)  Picts  themselves,  whohave  settlements 
uptotheinner  side  of  the  samemountains(Drum- 
Alban),  long  before,  as  is  told,  having  left  theerror 
of  idolatry ,  had  received  the  faith  of  the  Truth  from 
the  preaching  to  them  of  the  Word  by  Ninian  the 
Bishop,  amost  reverend  and  most  holy  man  of  the 
nation  of  the  Britons.'* 

Archaeological  examinations  of  the  actual 
surface  of  eastern  Scotland  have  confirmed  these 
accounts  of  S.  Ninian's  work.  A  chain  of  S.  Nin- 
ian's  Church-sites  has  been  traced  northwards 
from  Candida  Casa,  passing  through  the  former 
border-city  of  Glasgow  on  the  old  Brito-Pictish 
frontier,  and  extending  to  S.  Ninian's  Isle,  Dun- 
rossness,  Shetland.  At  this  last  site  an  ancient 
stonef  was  dug  up  bearing  the  inscription  in 
Ogham,  'The  lisX  (or  inclosure)  of  the  son  (or 
disciple)  of  Ninian  the  Baptizer.' 

The  ancient  Church-sites  that  represent  S. 
Ninian's  actual  foundations  among  the  Britons 
and  Picts  were,  or  are: 

at  Candida  Casa,  the  mother-establishment,  Whit- 
horn, Galloway; 
at  S.  Ninian's,  Colmonell,  Ayrshire; 
at '  Kil  Sanct  Ninian,'  Ardmillan,  Ayrshire; 

*  H.E.G.A.  lib.  iii.  cap.  iv.  Bishop  Moore's  MS. 

t  Discovered  by  Mr.  Goudie,  and  now  in  the  Scottish  National  Museum 
of  Antiquities,  Edinburgh.  The  stone  is  fully  discussed  in  the  author's  S. 
Ninian,  etc. ,  Chap.  x. 

t  Lis  was  a  regular  ecclesiastical  word  meaning  inclosure,  of  the  Church, 
etc.  It  is  seen  in  Lismore  which  is  the  Big  Inclosure  of  S.  Moluag. 

82 


PICTISH  CHURCH  GROWS 

at  'Cathures'*  on  the  Molendinar.nowthe  site  of 

S.  Kentigern's  Cathedral,  Glasgow; 
at  'An  Eaglais,'  the  Church,  now  the  Church  of 

St.  Ninian's,  Stirling; 
at  Coupar  in  Angus,  where  are  S.  Ninian's  lands; 
at  Arbirlot,  Forfarshire,  where  S.  Ninian's  Well 

remains. 
Here  the  memory  of  the  locality  of  S.  Ninian's 
muinntir  was  preserved  in  the  name  'the  Col- 
lege,'! which  was  on  the  north  bank  of  the  'Rot- 
tenrow'  burn,  about  a  mile  north-west  of  the  pre- 
sent Church  of  Arbirlot.  Over  twenty  years  after 
the  dedication,  in  a.d.  i  i  78,  of  the  Roman  Abbey 
of  Arbroath,  the  ancient  Celtic  community  of 
Arbirlot  was  still  represented  by  a  lay  Ab  and  a 
clerical  chaplain,  evidently  his  vicar.  J 

Another  site  was  at  'S.  Ninian's  Inch,'  Ar- 
broath, Forfarshire.  The  Celtic  'Inch'  or  Innis 
is  no  longer  current  in  Arbroath  speech.  The 
'  Inch'  was  apparently  the  pasture-stretch  on  the 
shore  at  Seaton,  where  S.  Ninian's  Well  is,  and 
where  there  was  an  ancient  Churchyard.  The 
Churchyard  was  on  the  high  ground  of  Whiting- 
Ness  headland  above  the  Well.    Here  several 

*  Thenameisjoceline's.  It  is  apparently  a  bad  reproduction  of  CaM- 
air,  a  fortified  city  or  seat. 

t  The  authority  is  Rev.  R.  Watson,  minister  of  Arbirlot,  1792.  There 
are  three  sites  of  ancient  Pictish  muinntirs  remembered  by  the  name  '  Col- 
lege,' one  at  Kildonnan,  Sutherland,  one  in  Buchan,  Aberdeenshire,  and 
this  one. 

X  '  Mauricius,  Abbe  of  Abereloth,'  witnessed  four  charters  of  Gilchrist, 
Earl  of  Angus,  between  1201  and  IZ07. 

83 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

ancient  burials  were  opened  out.  The  original 
Church  was,  of  course,  also  at  this  spot.  The 
situation  of  the  ancient  Churchyard,  and  the  pos- 
ition of  the  Well,  with  all  the  surroundings,  are 
strikingly  duplicated  at  S.  Ninian's,  Navidale, 
Sutherland.  The  whole  district  is  rich  in  remains 
of  the  Pictish  Church,  including  the  sites  of  the 
Churches  of  S.  Vigean,*  S.  Muredoc,  and  the 
graven  crosses  dug  up  thereat.  George  de  Brana 
erected  a  new  Church  here  in  1483,  and  dedic- 
ated it  to  S.  Ninian,  the  original  founder. 

Tracing  S. Ninian's  actual  foundations  farther 
north,  there  are  sites  : 

at  Dunottar,  Kincardineshire,  where  Earl  Maris- 
chal,  extending  the  Castle  about  1380,  in- 
vaded the  inclosure  of  the  ancient  Church  of 
S.  Ninian,  then  in  ruins; 
at  Andat,\   Methlick,   Aberdeenshire.    Andat 

means  a  Mother-Church; 
at  S.  Ninian's,  Pit  Medan,  Aberdeenshire.  A. 
S.  Medan  was  nearly  contemporary  with  S. 
Ninian; 
at  S.  Ninian's,  Morayshire,  'near  where  Spey 
enters  the  sea,'  apparently  the  pre-Roman 
Catholic  Church  of  Fochabers; 
at  S.  Ninian's, '  Diser,'  %  in  Moray,  believed  to  be 

*  The  local  pronunciation  is 'S.Vigean's' or  Figean's.  TheGaelicform 
of  the  name  would  probably  be  Fechin.  The  Pictsused  C  where  the  Gaidh- 
ealsusedC     Krepresents^or^/5. 

t  OMCeMic Andoit, \aoisin  GaeXic Annat. 

X  The  Celtic  Disert.  Compare  Dysart.  A  Retreat  for  the  clerics  of  a 
Celtic  Church. 

84 


PICTISH  CHURCH  GROWS 

at  Dyke; 
at  'An  TeampuW  or  '  Tempul  Rinian,'  Loch 

Ness,  Inverness-shire; 
at  Fearn,  Edderton,  Ross-shire,  the  original  site 
ofthe  Celtic  Abbey  of  Fearn;  and,  for  a  short 
time,  the  site  ofthe  Roman  Catholic  Abbey  of 
Fearn. 
The  Roman  Abbey  was  moved  to  Nova  Farina, 
the  present  Fearn,  south  of  Tain,  ^.  1238.  The 
Abbey  of  Fearn  remained  a  daughter-house  of 
Candida  Casa,  from  the  Celtic  Church  period  until 
about  the  time  of  the  Reformation.  Part  of  the 
memorial  cross,  dating  eighth  century,  of  Reo- 
datius,  Ab  of  the  Celtic  Abbey,  has  been  re- 
covered, and  the  uncial  inscription  has  been  read, 
'In  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ.  A  cross  of 
Christ,  in  memory  of  Reodatius.  May  he  rest 
(in Christ).'*  Reodaidhe,  Ab  of  Fearna,  accord- 
ing to  the  Annals  of  Ulster,  died  a.d.  762. 

Tracing  S.  Ninian's  foundations  still  farther 
northward  there  are  sites : 

at  S.  Ninian's,  'Ha.vi6.2\t.{'Ni'andal'),  Sutherland, 
where  in  one  ofthe  graves  of  the  Churchyard 
were  found  a  bronze  knife,  a  flint  implement, 
and  the  palmated  antler  of  one  ofthe  extinct 
deer.  His  well,  'Tober  'inian,'  flows  in  the 
gorge  near  the  Churchyard. 
At  S.  Ninian's,  Head  of  Wick,  where  the  inlet  be- 

*  Fearn  Abbey  and  this  stone  have  been  fully  treated  in  the  author's  S 
Ninian,  etc..  Chap.  x. 

85 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

low  is  known  as  Papigoe,the/'0/«V(Cleric's) 
inlet, 
at  S.  Ninian's,  Orkney,  now  North  Ronaldshay; 
at  S.  N  inian's  I  sle,  Dunrossness,  Shetland,  where 
the  stone  with  Ogham  characters  was  re- 
covered, which  indicates  that  the  site  was  occu- 
pied by  members  of  S.  Ninian's  ecclesiastical 
'family.' 

This  chain  of  Church-sites,  almost  prehistoric, 
and  the  Church-sites,  bearing  later  native  names, 
that  historically  were  linked  on  to  it,  and  the  anci- 
ent stones  with  Pictish  symbols  whose  meaning 
has  been  forgotten,  which  these  sites  have  yielded, 
confirm  decidedly  and  accurately  Bede's  inform- 
ation that  S.  Ninian  christianized  the  Southern 
(our  Eastern)  Picts;  and  also  Ailred's  statement, 
drawn  doubtless  from  the  Old  Life,  that  he 
divided  the  whole  land,  namely  Pictland,  into 
distinct  districts.* 

When,  further,  weconsiderthischainofancient 
Church-sites  bearingS.  Ninian's  name  in  the  light 
of  the  historical  canon  \  that  early  Celtic,and  espe- 
cially Pictish,  Churches  took  their  names  from 
their  founders,  the  confirmation  of  Bede  and 
Ailred  is  conclusive.  Historians  have  seldom 
troubled  to  diflferentiatebetweenChurcheswhich 
wereactualfoundationsby a  missionary-saint, and 
late  Churches  which  were  merely  dedications  to 

*  'Totam  terrain  per  certas  parrochias  dividere,'  V.N.  cap.  vi. 
t  Haddan  and  Stubbs. 

86 


PICTISH  CHURCH  GROWS 

his  memory,  or  dedications  under  his  supposed 
protection.  Even  the  Roman  Church  did  not 
dedicate  its  Churches  for  some  centuries;  and,  at 
first,  to  martyrs  only.  The  Celts  did  not  dedicate 
their  Churches  until  the  eighth  century  when 
they  began  to  be  romanized.  The  Pictish  Church, 
as  a  Church,  did  not  dedicate  at  all.  The  attempts 
todedicate Churches  in  the  eighth  century,  under 
the  Sovereigns  Nechtan  and  Angus  I.,  and  later, 
when  the  Pictish  Church  was  closing  its  exist- 
ence, were  the  efforts  of  individuals  who  had 
come  under  Roman  Catholic  influences. 

Such  few  dedications  as  were  made  in  Pict- 
land  during  the  last  period  of  the  Pictish  Church 
were  made  by  Roman  Catholics  to  Roman,  not 
to  native  saints.  Wherever  the  Roman  mission- 
aries were  able  to  assert  anypower  theysystema- 
tically  sought  to  displace  the  original  and  native 
saint  who  had  founded  the  Church  of  a  town,  and 
tried  to  substitute  a  Roman  saint.  At  St.  Andrews 
they  displaced  S.  Cainnech  by  S.  Andrew ;  at 
Rosemarkie  they  tried  to  displace  S.  Moluag  by 
S.  Peter;  at  Deer  they  tried  to  displace  S.  Drostan 
by  S.  Peter;  at  Dornoch  they  tried  to  displace  S. 
Finbar  by  S.  Mary;  at  Arbroath,  somewhat  later, 
William  the  Lion,  who  betrayed  so  many  of  his 
country's  interests,  set  up  a  shrine  and  stately 
abbey  dedicated  to  Thomas  a  Becket,  in  an  at- 
tempt to  supersede  the  neighbouring  Churches  of 
S.  Ninian  and  S.  Vigean,  men  to  whom  the  district 

87 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

owed  a  real  debt  of  veneration.  Frequently  when 
the  native  clerics  did  not  themselves  resist,  the 
people  refused  to  allowthe  ancient  Celtic  founda- 
tions to  be  superseded.  At  Arbroath  Thomas  a 
Becket's  Abbey  became  a  melancholy  desecrated 
ruin;  but  in  the  original  parish  of  S.  Vigean's.into 
which  the  Abbey  was  intruded,  one  of  its  two  an- 
cient Churches,  namely,  S.  Vigean's,  still  survives 
with  someof  its  ancient  Pictishstonecrosses;  and 
it  has  happened  similarly  elsewhere  in  Pictland. 
There  was  more  resentment  at  the  Reformation 
against  the  Roman  Church  because  it  was  foreign 
than  has  been  allowed.  The  people,  frequently, 
steadily  insisted  on  burying  their  dead  around  the 
spots  where  the  Pictish  missionaries  had  first 
preached  the  Gospel  to  their  forefathers,  even 
when  the  Roman  and  post-Reformation  clergy 
had  withdrawn  their  patronage  from  these  Pictish 
pioneers.  The  efforts  of  the  Roman  mission  to 
blot  out  such  names  as  S.  Ninian's  from  local 
memory  often  resulted  in  imprinting  them  more 
deeply;  and  so  indicating  clearly  to  later  gener- 
ations the  older  and  native  missionaries  of  the 
Christian  Church. 

After  S.  Ninian  had  established  his  Mission- 
Churches,  in  Pictland  and  had  put  them  in  charge 
of  'brethren,'  as  Ailred  tells  us,  'he  bade  the  bre- 
thren farewell  and  returned  to  his  own  Church'  at 
Candida  Casa.  At  this  point  the  historians  usu- 
ally take  farewell  of  S.  Ninian  and  drop  all  notice 
88 


PICTISH  CHURCH  GROWS 

of  his  Pictish  mission,  as  if  it  had  been  'left  in  the 
air.'  S.  Ninian,  however,  had  organized  his  great 
mission  to  christianize  the  Picts  that  there  might 
be  abiding  protection  to  the  interests  of  the 
growing  Christianity  and  civilization  of  the  Brit- 
ons. .  He  was  an  ecclesiastical  statesman  too 
thorough  in  his  methods  to  leave  his  chief  mission 
'in  the  air.'  The  existence  of  the  names  of  his 
successors  in  connection  with  Pictish  Churches 
that  owed  their  origin  to  Candida  Casa  ought  to 
have  warned  historians  that  S.  Ninian's  Mission- 
Churches  survived  and  continued  in  communion 
with  Candida  Casa;  and  that  they  were  supplied 
with  a  ministry  therefrom,  or  from  daughter- 
houses,  long  after  S.  Ninian  had  passed  away. 
Fortunately  there  are  fragments  in  the  Lives 
of  the  Irish  Pictish  missionaries  which  settle  this 
beyond  dispute. 


CANDIDA  CASA  (WHIT- 
HORN)     CHAPTER     SEVEN 

It  is  now  hardly  realized  that  Candida  Casa,  be- 
sidesbeingagreat  ecclesiastical  communityunder 
S.  Ninian,  became, like  its  prototype  S.  Martin's, 
Tours,  a  great  school  and  training  centre  for  Celtic 
missionaries.  S .  N  inian,  as  we  have  seen,  brought 
the  nucleus  of  a  community  with  him  from  Tours; 
and  by  the  importation  of  the  institutional  names 
belongingtothe  parent  community  seems  tohave 
desired  to  be  regarded  as  presiding  over  one  of 
the  outposts  of  the  novel  missionary  system  which 
S.  Martin  had  set  up  in  Christendom.  One  of  the 
early  Irish  names,  therefore,  besides  those  already 
mentioned,  for  Candida  Casa  was  TaighMartain, 
that  is.  House  of  Martin;  and,  indeed,  the  first 
'White-Hut'  on  S.  Hilary's  farm  which  was  given 
by  the  latter  for  S.  Martin's  experiment  in  com- 
munal asceticism  and  culture  became '  Taigh  'Mar- 
iain,a.  'house'asdistinctfromaChurch.  We  have 
forgotten  now  that  S.  Martin  was  an  innovator,* 
suspected  by  the  orthodox  clergy  in  Gaul ;  that  no 
recognized  ecclesiastical  names  fitted  his  novel- 
ties; and  that  muinniir (family)  and  iaigA{house) 
were  taken  from  common  secular  speech  and  ap- 
pHed  to  his  institutions.  To  the  Christians  of  the 
Imperial  Roman  garrison  and  colony  among  the 
Britons,  S.  Ninian,  also,  would  appear  an  intro- 
ducer of  strange  methods.  His  use  of  S.  Martin's 
own  name  and  of  S.  Martin's  institutional  names 

*  Sulp.  Sev.,  CAron.  ii.  50- 
90 


CANDIDA  CASA 

to  cover  his  work  was  designed  to  throw  the  re- 
sponsibility on  S.  Martin  for  any  departure  from 
usual  methods. 

The  Irish  sources  inform  us  that  S.  Ninian, 
besides  his  mission  to  the  Picts  of  Alba  (Scot- 
land), conducted  a  mission  to  the  Pictsof  I  reland.  * 
This  mission  cannot  be  treated  in  detail  here; 
but  it  is  necessary  to  refer  to  it,  because  from  the 
converts  which  it  produced,  or  from  their  suc- 
cessors, came  some  of  the  most  famous  of  the 
pupils  of  Candida  Casa,  and  some  of  the  most 
zealous  of  the  missionaries  who  took  up  and  con- 
tinued S.  Ninian'swork  in  Pictland  of  Alba(Scot- 
land). 

Across  the  North  Channel,  nearly  opposite 
Candida  Casa,  in  the  shelter  of '  Loch  Cuan,'  now 
Strangford  Loch,  in  the  territory  of  the  Irish  Picts, 
a  mission-community  was  organized  in  the  fifth 
century  at  'n-Aondruim,  corrupted  into  'Nen- 
drum.'  Thefirst  resident  presidentof Aondruim, 
towards  the  end  of  the  same  century,  was  S. 
Mochaoi,  son  of  Bronag,  daughter  of  Maelchon, 
the  man  to  whom  S.  Patrick  was  a  slave  for  six 
years.  The  community  of  Aondruim  was  depend- 
ent on  Candida  Casa;  because  we  find  that  the 
'ships'l  of  S.  Ninian's  house  were  in  the  habit  of 

*  The  Irish  have  preserved  S.  Ninian's  name  in  its  original  Britonic 
form,  namely,  Nan  or  Nen.  They  add  the  honorific  prefix  Mo-.  The 
name  becomes  Monann  or  Monenn. 

t  Brit.  Ecc.  Antiq.  (Ussher)  vol.  vi.  cap.  xvii.  p.  494,  and  A.SS. 
(Colgan),  p.  438. 

91 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

calling  there;  and  also  that  S.  Finbar,  by  order 
of  S.  Caolan,  his  master,  who  was  second  Ab  of 
Aondruim,  took  passage  on  one  of  them  to  Can- 
dida Casa  for  the  purpose  of  completing  his  educ- 
ation. In  the  same  Pictish  district  as  Aondruim, 
S.  Finbar  in  the  sixth  century  organized  his  own 
community  at  Maghbile ;  and  S.  Comgall  the 
Great  organized  the  most  famous  of  allthePictish 
communities  at  Bangor.  The  relations  of  these 
Pictish  communities  with  one  another  and  with 
the  communities  among  the  Southern  Irish  Picts, 
on  the  one  hand,  and  with  the  parent  community 
at  Candida  Casa  on  the  other,  explain  why  so  many 
Irish  Picts  figure  among  the  pupils  of  Candida 
Casa,  and  why  so  many  of  the  same  people  took 
up  and  continued  S.  Ninian's  mission-work  in 
Pictland  of  Alba  (Scotland). 

One  of  the  first  of  S.  Ninian's  pupils  to  follow 
his  master's  example  and  to  organize  missions 
under  his  own  leadership  was  Caranogap  Ceredig, 
a  Briton,  more  easily  recognized  under  the  later 
spelling  of  his  name,  Caranoc  ap  Ceretic*  He 
was  of  the  family  of  Ceredig,  'Guletic,'  who  ac- 
ceded to  the  supremacy  of  the  British  chiefs  in 
the  districts  between  Severn  and  Clyde  after  the 
Imperial  Roman  legions  had  retired.  His  name 
will  appear  again  in  connection  with  S.  Ninian's 

*  See  author's  S.  Ninian,  etc. ,  Chap.  xii.  Caranoc  is  not  to  be  confused 
with  Carnech,  son  of  Saran,  a  Gaidheal  who  belonged  to  a  much  later 
period,  and  with  whom  he  had  nothing  in  common  but  similarity  of 
name. 

92 


CANDIDA  CAS  A 

work  in  Pictland  of  Alba;  but  his  missions  ex- 
tended to  all  the  Celts,  to  his  fellow- Britons,  to 
the  Irish  Picts  across  the  North  Channel,  and  to 
the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  of  Ireland,  at  that  time 
dwelling  nearer  the  Atlantic  seaboard  than  a  cen- 
tury later.  The  Gaidheals  regarded  S.  Caranoc 
as  the  first  evangelist  to  visit  them.  He  baptized 
his  fellow-Briton  the  historical  S.  Patrick.  The 
Gaidheals  also  declared  that  he  bequeathed  to 
them  his  'Miosach,'  which  the  Nialls  carried  at 
the  head  of  their  armies.  In  one  of  their  ancient 
books  it  is  stated  that  he  belonged  to '  Taigh  Mar- 
tain'  among  the  Britons,  that  is,  Candida  Casa. 
He  is  designated  as  'Ab,'  and  so  must  have  filled 
the  presidency  for  a  time  between  S.  Ninian's 
death  and  the  appointment  of  S.  Ternan.  Hewas, 
however,  constantlyengagedon  mission  journeys 
until  his  martyrdom.  He  had  communities  which 
he  himself  had  organized,  and  a  settled  place  for 
rest  and  'retreat'  at  the  Cave  'Edilg.'*  He  kept 
S.  Ninian's  most  distant  converts  in  touch  with 
the  parent  community  at  Candida  Casa,  and  ex- 
tended S.  Ninian's  mission  enterprises  both  in 
Pictland  of  Alba  (Scotland)  and  in  Ireland.  One 
of  the  Pictish  Church-sites  bearing  his  name  is 
as  far  north  as  the  banks  of  the  Deveron,  near 
Turriff.  He  is  regarded  as  having  introduced  the 
Celtic  monastic  system  into  Ireland,  as  being  the 

*  Cf.  Skene,  Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  ii.  p.  46,  and  Ovien's  Sanctorale 
Catholicum,  and  their  authorities. 

93 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

first  Christian  Brehon,  and  as  the  first  martyr.* 
Inthe  ancient  Irish  poem  whichdeals  with  S.  Y^X.- 
nck'smuinniirit  is  stated  that  Caranocf  baptized 
S.  Patrick.  This,  according  to  the  Life  of  the 
historical  Patrick,  must  have  taken  place  some 
considerable  time  after  he  was  fifteen  years  of 
age;  because  in  the  Confession  Patrick  writes :  'I 
know  not,  God  knoweth,  whether  at  that  time  I 
was  fifteen  years  old,  but  I  believed  not  in  the 
living  God,  neither  had  I  from  infancy,  I  remained 
in  death  and  unbelief  The  fabulists  forgot  Pat- 
rick's testimony  about  himself;  and  also  that  in- 
fant baptism  was  not  a  practice  of  the  time.  When 
S.  Patrick  began  to  work  in  Ireland,  Caranoc  and 
he  agreed  that  the  one  (Patrick)  should  work  to 
'the  left,'  that  is,  the  southward,  and  the  other 
(Caranoc)  would  continue  to  work  to  'the  right,' 
in  the  northward  part.J  The  range  and  influence 
of  S.  Caranoc's  work  in  Pictland  (Scotland), 
among  the  Britons,  and  among  the  Picts  and  part 
of  the  Gaidheals  of  Ireland,  show  that  he  con- 
sidered Candida  Casa  adequately  equipped  to 
furnish  a  steadysupply  of  ministers  to  occupyand 
hold  the  spheres  of  work  which  he  was  opening 
up  to  the  Church. 

*  Cf.  Preface  to  Senchus  Mor,  Harleian  MSS. ,  vol.  i.  p.  xxvii;  vol. 
ii.  p.  viii. 

t  'Carniuch  (Caranoc)  was  the  presbyter  that  baptized  him  (Patrick).' 
The  baptism  apparently  took  place,  as  we  know  from  other  information, 
during  one  of  Caranoc's  early  missions  while  he  was  yet  a  presbyter. 

t  Cf.  Brit.  Ecc.  Antiq.  (Ussher)  cap.  xvii.  p.  441. 

94 


CANDIDA  CASA 

Although  no  connected  history  of  Candida 
Casa  hassurvived,*weareabletosecure  glimpses 
of  it  after  S.  Caranoc's  time  in  the  Lives  of  its 
various  pupils.  The  names  of  two  other  Abs  who 
ruled  between  S.  Ninian's  death,  a.d.  432,  and 
the  early  years  of  the  sixth  century  have  been 
preserved  from  oblivion,  namely,  'Tervanus,'  a 
scribe's  error  for  Ternanus,  and  'Nennio,'  or 
'Monen,'  a  bishop. f  Nennio,  to  distinguish  him 
from  his  namesake  the  founder,  S.  Ninian  'the 
Old,'  or  'the  Great,'  was  called  in  Latin  'Man- 
cenus,'  and  in  native  speech  'Manchan,'  which 
is  Manach,^  monk  with  the  diminutive  of  endear- 
ment. He  is  also  referred  to  as  'Manchan,  the 
Master'  of  the  community. 

One  of  the  features  of  the  pa.rent-muinniira.t 
S.  Martin's,  Tours,  had  been  that  education  was 
provided  for  highandlow,thepeoplewere  trained 
in  agriculture,  and  gifts  of  seed  distributed  to 
encourage  them.  S.  Ninian,  and  his  community 
after  him,  faithfully  followed  S.  Martin's  example. 

One  of  the  pupils  who  went  to  'Rosnat.'J  the 
name  given  by  the  Irish  sailors  to  the  locality  of 
Candida  Casa,  was  S.  Endeus  or  Eany.  He  was 

*  Alcuin,  in  the  eighth  century,  by  his  remarks  of  appreciation,  indic- 
ates that  he  knew  about  its  early  history. 

t  Cressy  and  his  authorities,  who  give  A.D.  520  as  the  approximate 
date  of  Nennio's  rule.  This  is  apparently  about  the  date  when  he  ceased 
to  rule.  Colgan  and  others  carelessly  confuse  Nennio  with  S.  Ninian,  the 
founder  of  Candida  Casa. 

\  This  is  evidently  Ros-Nan(t),  the  promontory  of  Ninian,  and  applied 
to  the  'Isle-head'  at  Whithorn, 

95 


THE  F1(J1  ISH  NATION 

there  in  the  latter  half  of  the  fifth  century.  He 
belonged  to  the  district  evangelized  by  S .  Caranoc 
and  the  community  at  Aondruim.  His  devoted 
sister  Fanchea  had  been  converted  first,  and  in 
her  enthusiasm  moved  her  brother  to  train  for  a 
religious  life.  S.  Eany  was  a  man  of  influence, 
an  Irish  Pict,  son  of  ConallDerg,  Prince  of  Oriel, 
his  mother,  Aebhfhinn,  being  daughter  of  Ain- 
mire  Mic  Ronan,  king  of  the  Ards  (Ulster). 
After  finishing  his  education  at  Candida  Casa  he 
organized  a  community  of  his  own  and  settled 
at  Aranmhor  in  Ireland.  'Thrice  fifty'  was  the 
number  of  his  'family'  there.  Through  him 
the  influence  of  Candida  Casa  and  its  methods 
reached  to  his  pupils  S.  Ciaran  of  Clonmacnoise, 
S.  Finian  of  Clonard,  and  S.  Kevin  of  Glenda- 
lough ;  and  through  them  again  to  some  of  the 
most  distinguished  missionary  saints  of  Ireland. 
S.  Eany  died  on  the  21st  of  March  a.d.  540. 

While  N  ennio,  known  as  the '  little  monk, '  was 
'Master'  at  Candida  Casa,  two  Pictish  boys  were 
kidnapped  from  their  homes  in  Ireland,  probably 
to  be  detained  as  hostages,  and  they  were  carried 
into  the  territory  of  the  Britons.  The  queen  of 
the  Britons  pitied  them,  and,  at  her  entreaty,  the 
king  sent  them  to  be  educated  at  the  monastery 
of 'Rosnat,'  called  'Alba  or  the  White,'  that  is,  to 
Candida  Casa.  These  boys  were  called  respect- 
ively Tighernac  and  Eogan.  Tighernac  was  son 
of  a  Leinster  captain  who  had  married  Dearfra- 
96 


CANDIDA  CASA 

oich,  daughter  of  the  king  of  Oriel.  Eogan  was 
son  of  Cainech  Mac  Cuirp  of  Leinster,  who  had 
married  Muindecha,  who  belonged  to  the  district 
now  called  Down.  After  they  had  been  educated 
at  Candida  Casa  both  these  men  organized  com- 
munities and  settled  with  them  in  Ireland.  S. 
Tighernac's  headquarters  were  at  Cluain-Eois 
in  Monaghan,  where  still  exists  the'Cloichteach' 
or  Bell-house,  similar  to  the  Round-towers  of 
Eastern  Scotland.  Angus  the  Culdee  records  of 
Tighernac,  'Out  of  him  burst  a  stream  of  know- 
ledge.' He  died  on  the  4th  of  April  a.d.  548. 
Eogan,  with  his  Community,  settled  first  at  Kil- 
na-manach  in  Cualann,  in  East  Wicklow,  and 
afterwards  at  Ardsratha,  on  the  river  Dearg  in 
Tyrone., He  died  on  the  23rd  of  August  ^.a.d.  570, 
in  extreme  old  age.  At  Candida  Casa  one  of  S. 
Eogan's  other  fellow-students  was  Coirpre,  who 
settled  at  Coleraine  among  the  Irish  Picts,  and 
was  ordained  a  'bishop.' 

We  have  noted  a  '  bishop '  at  Candida  Casa 
and,  in  this  instance,  at  Coleraine;  but  it  is  necess- 
ary to  remember  that  at  this  time  there  were  no 
monarchic  or  diocesan  bishops  among  the  Celts. 
The  bishop  might  be  an  Ab,but  more  frequently 
he  was  simply  a  member  of  a  'family'  or  commun- 
ity, and  subordinate  to  an  Ab.  The  only  preced- 
ence which  he  was  sometimes  allowed  was  that 
he  dispensed  the  Sacraments  before  a  presbyter. 

About  A.D.  520  S.  Finbar  came  as  a  scholar 
H  97 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

to  Candida  Casa.  He  had  been  a  pupil  at  Aon- 
druim  in  the  territory  of  the  Irish  Picts  under 
S.  Caolan,  the  second  Ab,  When  the  'ships'  of 
Nennio'thelittle  monk 'came  to  Strangford  Loch 
from  Candida  Casa,  S.  Caolan  directed  Finbar 
to  sail  with  them  in  order  to  complete  his  educ- 
ation at  the  parent-house.  Finbar  was  at  Can- 
dida Casa,  orconnected  with  its  work,  for  'twenty 
years.'  Calculating  back  from  his  settlement* 
at  Maghbile,  this  period  must  have  been  from 
about  A.D.  5  20  until  a.d.  540.  The  scholars  at  Can- 
dida Casa  when  Finbar  was  a  teacher,  we  learn  in- 
cidentally, included  Rioc,  who  afterwards  became 
one  of  the  most  popular  missionary-saints  in  Ire- 
land; Talmag,  a  layman;  and  Drusticc,  daughter 
of  Drust,  sovereign  of  the  Picts.  Another  lady, 
Brignat,|  one  of  the  'family'  of  S.  Mo'ennaJ  was 
educated  at  Candida  Casa,  and  S.  Mo'enna  her- 
self worked  in  communion  with  the  same  house. 
During  S.  Finbar's  period  at  Candida  Casa, 
Nennio  'the  little  monk'  ceased  to  rule;  and 
Mugent,  who  is  also  referred  to  as  'Master  in 
the  city  called  Candida,'  became  Ab. 

Documentary  testimony  which,  thus  far,  has 
been  comparatively  full  with  regard  to  the  mis- 
sionaries who  went  from  Candida  Casa  to  Ireland 
becomes  scant  with  regard  to  many  of  the  mis- 

*  In  A.D.  540.  t  In  the  minds  ofthe  Scottish  people, 

and  by  some  writers,  she  is  confused  with  S.  Brigid. 

J  Her  name  of  endearment  is  sometimes  varied  to  Moninne.  Her 
proper  name  was  Darerca, 

98 


CANDIDA  CAS  A 

sionaries  who,  befpre  and  after  S.  Finbar's  time, 
maintained  S.  Ninian's  Mission-Churches  in  the 
east  and  north  of  Pictland  of  Alba  (Scotland). 
We  frequently  require  to  appeal  to  the  face  of 
Scotland  for  traces  of  journeys;  and  when  we 
find  ancient  Church-sites  in  the  south-west,  that 
is  in  the  Candida  Casa  district,  bearing  the  names 
of  SS.  Ternan,  the  historical  Servanus,  Pauldoc 
{'Pawl  Hin),  Rum  map  Urbgen,  Donnan  the 
Great,  Earnoc.Vigean, and  Walloc,  the  foreigner 
or  Welshman,  with  a  score  of  others  not  ac- 
counted for  from  the  Irish  houses;  and,  again, 
other  ancient  Church-sites  in  the  east  and  north 
of  Pictland  bearing  the  same  names;  we  are  con- 
firmed in  the  knowledge  that  Candida  Casa  was 
the  spiritual  home  and  starting-place  of  these 
founders.  As  we  have  seen,  Ternan  is  recorded 
as  Ab  of  Candida  Casa  after  S.  Ninian  the  Great 
and  before  Nennio  'the  little  monk';  S.  Donnan 
is  known  to  have  gone  from  Candida  Casa  and 
to  havevisited  S.  Ninian's  Churches  in  the  north- 
east of  Pictland,  and  he  and  his  disciples  are  known 
to  have  founded  new  Churches  in  extension  of 
S.  Ninian's  work  at  the  various  localities  where 
they  laboured  c.  a.d.  580. 

At  the  time  when  S.  Donnan,  with  the  unusu- 
ally large  number  of  'fifty-two'  disciples,  left  Gallo- 
way, Candida  Casa  must  have  become  a  rather  in- 
secure place  to  some  of  the  inmates.  The  Angles, 
who  were  pagans,  had  begun  in  the  sixth  cent- 

99 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

ury  to  spread  themselves  across  the  island  from 
the  North  Sea  to  the  coasts  of  the  North  Channel 
and  Solway.  Their  aim  was  to  drive  a  Teutonic 
wedge  through  the  heart  of  the  Celts,  to  separate 
the  Britons  of  Strath-Clyde  from  the  Britons  of 
what  is  now  Wales;  and  to  force  back  the  Picts 
of  the  east  coast  to  the  north  of  the  Tay.  S. 
Kentigern  of  Glasgow  found  his  fellow- Britons 
driven  into  the  uplands  of  Lanarkshire,  Galloway, 
and  Cumberland,  partly  as  a  result  of  the  aggres- 
sion of  the  barbarian  Angles,  and  partly  by  pres- 
sure from  Brito-Pictish  clans  expelled  from  their 
own  domains  by  the  Angles.  These  disturbances 
of  the  native  population  and  the  savagery  of  the 
Teutons  brought  a  temporary  check  to  the  pro- 
gress of  Christianity.  Very  likely  at  this  time 
the  documents  of  Candida  Casa  were  scattered, 
lost,  or  destroyed.  Some  of  them  survived  in  the 
hands  of  the  Angles,  because  there  was  an  ancient 
Life  of  S.  Ninian  translated  into  Saxon  to  which 
Ailred  had  access.  It  was  at  this  time  that  S. Kenti- 
gern was  moved  to  lead  a  mission  southward 
from  Glasgow  to  preserve  the  Faith  in  districts 
where  S.  Ninian,  or  the  workers  of  his  house,  had 
longbefore planted  Churches  andorganized  Com- 
munities; and,  incidentally,  to  make  some  effort 
to  Christianize  the  pitiless  Angles. 

By  the  advance  of  the  Angles,  Candida  Casa 
was,  at  times,  surrounded  on  the  land  side  by  un- 
sympathetic foreigners;  and  cut  off  for  periods 

lOO 


CANDIDA  CASA 

from  safe  communication  with  its  Churches  in 
Pictland.  However,  the  great  Pictish  community 
of  S.  Comgall  the  Great  at  Bangor  in  Ireland 
arose  to  help,  and  continued  to  supply  a  ministry 
and  supervision  to  the  Churches  in  Pictland 
which  owed  their  being  directly  or  indirectly  to 
Candida  Casa. 

Although  Candida  Casa  was  thus  obstructed 
in  its  work,  it  was  not  overwhelmed  by  the  intru- 
sion of  the  pagan  Angles  into  Galloway,  because 
Paulinus,  Roman  Archbishop  of  York  {c.  627), 
showed  interest*  in  the  Church  and  community 
of  Candida  Casa,  during  his  stay  at  York. 

It  is  important  to  note  this;  because  Venerable 
Bede  who  wrote  the  Life  of  S.  Cudberct  (Cuth- 
bert)  knew  that  Cuthbert  visited  the  Picts  of 
Galloway  f  when  he  was  Ab  of  Mailros  (Melrose) 
shortly  after  a.d,  661.  Cuthbert  was  a  pupil  of 
the  Celts  who  had  gone  over  to  the  Roman  Mis- 
sion, He  laboured  among  the  Angles  who  had 
been  formally  'converted'  to  Christianity  by 
the  Roman  missionaries  a.d.  627,  although  the 
Celtic  missionaries  under  Rum  map  Urbgen, 
a  Briton,  had  made  Christians  of  the  whole  Ang- 
lian tribe  called  '  Ambrones '  at  an  earlier  date.J 

*  Some  of  the  mediaeval  scribes,  in  ignorance,  have  transferred  this 
interest  in  Innis  Wytrin,  Isle  of  Whithorn,  away  from  the  diocese  of 
Paulinus  to  Glastonbury  of  Somerset.  They  knew  nothing  of  Glaston  of 
Whithorn  apparently. 

t   Vita  S.  Cudbercti,  Bede,  cc.  x,  xi. 

X  Cf.  Chron.  Picts  and  Scots,  Skene, 'p.  13. 

lOI 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Cuthbert  was  not  only  zealous  to  convert  Angles ; 
but  to  romanize  the  Celts  who  adhered  to  the 
methods  and  usages  of  the  monastic  Church  of 
the  Britons  and  Picts.  It  was  in  the  interests  of 
Rome,  therefore,  that  Cuthbert  journeyed  to  the 
gates  of  Candida  Casa.  It  is  not  without  in- 
terest that  Venerable  Bede  gives  no  particulars 
concerning  Cuthbert's  reception  at  the  mother- 
Church  of  British  missions.  His  silence  is  no 
accident.  Does  it  mark  one  of  the  places  in  his 
manuscript,  where,  as  Bede  himself  candidly  tells 
us,  he  excised  historical  information  at  the  re- 
quest of  those  critics  who  could  tolerate  no  in- 
formation about  Christian  work  which  preceded 
the  Roman  Mission  and  detracted  from  its 
claims  ?  Or  is  it  simply  one  of  the  many  instances 
in  which  a  Roman  author  refrains  from  due  refer- 
ence to  the  mother-Church  of  the  Britons  and 
Picts,  because  the  ancient  date  of  its  foundation 
and  the  wide  radius  of  its  missions  rendered  ridi- 
culous the  pretensions  to  primacy  of  the  growing 
Church  of  the  Angles,  and  conflicted  with  the 
claims  of  the  See  of  York  to  jurisdiction  wher- 
ever the  Angles  had  penetrated?  Cuthbert's 
mission  was  earnest  enough;  because  across  the 
bay  from  Candida  Casa  he  planted  the  rival 
Roman  Church  of  'Kirkcudbright,'  where  we 
see  a  R.oma.n  foundation,  as  distinct  from  a  de- 
dication, with  the  Saxon  'Kirk'  attached  to 
the  founder's  name  instead  of  the  older  Celtic 

I02 


CANDIDA  CAS  A 

'  CUV  It  looks  an  unimportant  difference;  but  it 
indicates  that  wherever  a  romanizing  agent  suc- 
ceeded, his  centre  of  influence  was  a  Church  in 
charge  of  a  presbyter  in  some  secular  township, 
instead  of  the  Casa  or  CeUofan  Ab  in  the  midst 
of  a  religious  'family'  with  Churches,  Schools, 
places  of  Retreat,  and  other  peculiar  pertinents 
of  the  Celtic  religious  clan. 

Some  have  inferred  from  Bede's  strange 
silence  regarding  S.  Ninian's  establishment  that 
Candida  Casa  had  ceased  to  exist  in  Cuthbert's 
time;  but  this  was  not  the  case,  because  c.  a,d. 
785  F.  A.  Alcuin  aided  and  honoured  Candida 
Casa  'because  of  the  holy  men  who  had  laboured 
there.'*  The  truth  manifestly  is  that  in  Cuth- 
bert's time  the  Celtic  brethren  of  Candida  Casa 
had  no  dealings  with  the  representatives  of  the 
Roman  Mission,  and  there  is  no  indication  that 
they  had  been  specially  enthusiastic  over  the 
kindly  patronage  of  Archbishop  PauHnus. 

However,  the  steady  pressure  of  the  Roman 
missionaries,  reinforced  by  the  civil  power  of  the 
converted  Angles,  brought,  in  course  of  time,'the 
desired  change  to  Candida  Casa.  In  the  third 
decade  of  the  eighth  century  it  conformed  to 
Rome.  From  being  the  mother-Church  of  the 
Britons  and  Picts  it  was  degraded  to  be  the 
Church  of  a  local  diocese,  subordinate  to  York. 
Even  then,  some  memory  of  its  former  position 

*  Councils,  Haddan  and  Stubbs. 

103 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

adhered  to  it;  because  its  first  monarchic  bishop, 
A.D.  730-735,  is  called  Pechthelm,  Protector  of 
the  Picts,  and  its  third  Roman  bishop  bears  the 
name  Pechtwine,  Friend  of  the  Picts. 

The  Roman  Church  did  not  treat  Candida 
Casa  with  due  respect  as  the  years  passed  by. 
Complaint  has  been  made  by  the  modern  Roman- 
ist and  Anglican  that  the  Protestant  reformers 
after  a.d.  1560  esteemed  it  not.  The  Protestant 
only  allowed  its  walls  to  decay,  and  its  hallowed 
stones  to  sink  into  the  dust  to  be  trodden  by 
irreverent  feet;  but  the  Roman  innovators  from 
the  eighth  century  onwards,  although  they  knew 
the  facts,  obscured  its  true  origin  and  character, 
misrepresented  S.  Ninian,  its  great  founder,  and 
his  work,  in  the  interests  of  a  foreign  Church  with 
monarchic  forms  of  government  that  suited  the 
barbarous  Angle,  but  proved  irksome  to  the 
Celt  with  his  democratic  clan-life  and  patriarchal 
chiefs.  Moreover,  the  prelates  of  York  belittled 
Candida  Casa  in  the  interests  of  the  precedence 
of  that  growing  metropolis  of  the  Angles  ;  just 
as,  in  a  later  period,  the  prelates  of  Glasgow 
belittled  it  in  the  interests  of  the  precedency  of 
the  See  of  Glasgow,  although  they  were  not 
above  putting  forward  the  historical  priority  of 
Candida  Casa  when  it  was  necessary  for  the 
See  of  Glasgow  to  resist  the  pretensions  of  the 
prelates  of  York  to  spiritual  jurisdiction  in 
Scotland. 
104 


CANDIDA  CAS  A 

Nevertheless,  Candida  Casa  under  Roman 
control  did  not  forget  all  her  ancient  daughter- 
Churches  in  Pictland  with  their  possessions  and 
interests.  About  a.d.  i  223-7,  Candida  Casa  sent 
out  two  of  her  Canons  in  the  footsteps  of  her  early 
Celtic  missionaries.  One  was  a  Celt  called  Maol- 
Choluim  or  Malcolme.  His  object  was  to  win 
control  for  Rome  over  those  Celtic  Commun- 
ities and  Churches,  some  of  them  founded  by  S. 
Ninian,  which  in  the  isolated  and  conservative 
North  still  adhered  to  the  old  ways,  and  steadily 
resisted  the  innovations  of  the  romanized  clergy. 
Maol-Choluim,  probably  without  a  thought  of 
his  inconsistency,  actually  carried  with  him  al- 
leged bones  of  S.  Ninian  to  re-sanctify  Churches 
which  the  living  Ninian  had  consecrated.  Fer- 
quhar  of  Ross,  a  western'Celt,who,by  his  sword, 
was  carving  a  way  to  favour  with  the  king  and 
to  an  earldom  in  the  east,  found  Maol-Choluim 
wandering  in  the  vicinity  of  S.  Ninian's  Celtic 
abbey  at  Fearn,  Edderton,  which  S.  Finbar  had 
visited  when  he  was  at  Candida  Casa,  and  where 
Reodatius  had  been  Ab  in  the  eighth  century. 
Ferquhar  diplomatically  gave  his  support  to 
Maol-Choluim,  and  established  him  at  Fearn  in 
the  old  daughter-house  of  Candida  Casa,  which 
was  thus  romanized.  The  recovery  of  the  old 
house  was  not  followed  by  peace.  The  native 
Celts  resented  the  presence  of  the  romanized 
intruders.  About  a.d.  1238-42,  in  the  time  of  the 

105 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

second  Roman  abbot,  'owing  to  the  hostility  of 
the  natives,'  the  abbey  was  transported  to  Nova 
Farina,*  the  present  site,  where  it  remained 
under  the  control  of  Candida  Casa  until  near 
the  Reformation, 

*  Now  Fearn,  south-east  of  Tain,  East  Ross. 


THE  MEN  WHO  CONTINUED 
S.  NINIAN'S  MISSION  -  WORK 
AND  ORGANIZED  THE 
CHURCH  OF  THE  PICTS 
CHAPTER  EIGHT 

Owing  to  the  loss  or  destruction  of  records  and 
the  indifference  or  jealousy  of  the  Roman  clergy 
of  the  middle  ages,  the  names  and  history  of 
hundreds  of  Celtic  clerics  who  left  Candida  Casa, 
or  its  daughter-houses,  to  carry  on  the  work  of 
the  Church  in  Pictland  have  passed  into  ob- 
livion. Some  of  the  names  of  these  missionary 
clerics  who  regarded  Candida  Casa  as  their 
mother-Church  have,  however,  been  preserved, 
attached  to  the  Church-sites  which  they  them- 
selves selected,  and  at  which  they  ministered; 
but  for  this  we  are  indebted  more  frequently  to 
the  people  than  to  the  Roman  clergy.  There 
are  instances  in  which  the  Roman  clergy  actu- 
allyinhibited  the  parishioners  from  burying  their 
dead  in  the  Churchyards  of  these  ancient  Celtic 
Church-sites;  in  order  that  they  might  turn  the 
people  to  the  Roman  Churches.*  Fortunately 
the  ordinary  folk  of  a  district  refused  to  with- 
draw their  veneration  from  the  names  and  sites 
of  the  earlier  Church.  Although  the  personal 

*  Some  of  the  clergy  of  the  powerful  Roman  abbey  of  Aberbrothoc 
were  not  well-disposed  to  the  Celtic  Church-sites.  One  notable  exception 
was  George  de  Brana,  who  actually  protected  them  and  even  restored  a 
Church  to  the  site  of  S.  Ninian's  ancient  Church  near  Arbroath.  He  also 
restored  a  Church  to  the  site  of  S.  Vigean's  original  Church. 

107 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

names  borne  by  Church-sites  of  the  Celts,  even 
when  taken  along  with  their  associated  trad- 
itions, do  not  provide  much  information  by  them- 
selves; they  frequently  provide  enough  to  en- 
able us  to  distinguish  the  Brito-Pictish  clerics 
whoweretrainedat  Candida Casa,or\\.^ daughter- 
houses,  from  those  trained  at  the  centres  of  the 
Irish  Picts;  and  in  instances  where  these  Brito- 
Pictish  clerics  happened  to  be  connected  with 
places  outside  Pictland  of  Alba,  where  inform- 
ation was  preserved,  we  are  enabled  to  procure 
dates  for  their  work,  and  particulars  about  them- 
selves more  or  less  full.  A  selection  from  the 
personal  names  borne  by  Brito-Pictish  Church- 
sites  indicates  how  S.  Ninian's  work  was  carried 
on  continuously  after  his  death  in  a.d.  432. 

S.  Caranoc  the  Great,  called  also  'the 
Elder,'  a  Briton  who  lived  c.  433,*  who  was  of 
the  family  of  Ceredig  '  Guletic,'  was  one  of  S. 
Ninian's  first  group  of  missionaries  to  Pictland. 

*  His  day  is  the  l6th  May.  His  name  in  the  various  dialects  takes  the 
forms  Caranog,  Carantoc,  Caranoc,  Carnoch,  Carnech,  Carniuch,  and 
one  scribe  has  achieved  '  Gornias. ' 

There  is  a  manuscript  Life  of  S.  Carantoc  in  the  British  Museum,  and 
another  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin. 

S.  Caranoc  is  introduced  in  the  tales  relating  to  Muircheartach  mac 
Erca  the  Gaidheal.  The  hero  goes  to  Britain  to  S.  Caranoc  to  get  his  arms 
blessed,  and  invokes  his  help  in  punishing  certain  rebellious  clansmen. 

The  Gaidheals  claimed  S.  Caranoc  as  their  patron  before  the  rise  of 
S.  Columba.   See  the  author's  S.  Ninian,  etc. ,  Chap.  xii. 

According  to  the  tale  MuircertacKs  Death  (MS.,  H2,  l6,  Col.  312, 
Trin.  Coll.  Dublin),  it  is  claimed  that  the  'miosach'  of  Caranoc  or  Car- 
nech vi^as  given  to  the  Gaidhealic  Nialls  of  the  north  as  a  standard  to  be 
carried  in  battle. 

108 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

A  hand  in  the  Book  of  Ballymote  has  preserved 
the  information  that  he  belonged  to  the  'iaigh 
Martain,'  house  of  Martin,  among  the  Britons, 
that  is  the  later  Gaidhealic  way  of  referring  to 
Candida  Casa.  S.  Caranoc  is  designated  'Ab.' 
Apparently  he  only  held  the  presidency  of  Can- 
dida Casa  until  Ternan  was  appointed  to  S. 
Ninian's  seat;  because,  apart  from  seasons  of  re- 
treat at  the  cave  'Edilg,'  he  spent  most  of  his 
life  on  mission  journeys  in  Britain  and  Ireland, 
where  he  organized  various  communities  of  con- 
verts. He  was  only  a  presbyter;  but  he  baptized 
the  historical  S.  Patrick,  when  the  latter  had 
grown  up,  as  is  recorded  in  the  ancient  poem 
enumerating  S.  Patrick's  friends  which  is  pre- 
served in  the  Books  of  Ballymote  and  of  Lecan. 
He  was  martyred,  and  is  referred  to  as  '  the  first 
martyr  of  Erin.'  His  most  northerly  Church- 
site  in  Pictland  of  Alba  is  on  the  banks  of  the 
Deveron,  near  Turriff,  Aberdeenshire. 

One  of  S.  Caranoc's  contemporaries  was 
S.  Ternan*  who  founded  the  Bangor,  which 
afterwards  took  his  name,  at  Banchory-Ternan 
in  Aberdeenshire.     The  early  Roman  Catholic 

*  His  day  is  the  1 2th  June.  Angus  the  Culdee  writing  in  Ireland  refers 
to  him  as  'Toranan  long-famed  for  exploits  across  the  broad  ship-laden 
sea.'  By  an  early  scribe's  error  Ternan's  name  was  sometimes  written 
'Tervan.'  Lesley  among  others  adopted  the  misspelling.  Inthe-OeOn- 
gine,  lib.  iv.  p.  137,  among  other  fables  invented  to  give  a  Roman  origin 
to  the  Brito-Pictish  Church,  it  is  stated  that  Palladius  destined  '  S.  Ter- 
van to  be  Archbishop  of  the  Picts,'  and  S.  Servan  to  be  apostle  to  the 
'  Orkneys,'  the  latter  is  a  misreading  of  a  contraction  for  Ochils. 

109 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

writers,  especially  those  of  the  Aberdeen  hist- 
orical group,  had  access  to  information  about  S. 
Ternan  which  is  now  no  longer  available.  Un- 
fortunately they  glossed  that  information  in  the 
interests  of  their  own  Church.  Knowing  that  S. 
Ternan  succeeded  to  the  control  of  S.  Ninian's 
work  in  Alba,  they  began  their  perversions  by 
bestowing  on  him  the  unwarranted  and  anachron- 
istic title  'Archbishop  of  the  Picts.'  Cressy,  a 
later  and  different  historian,  was  more  careful 
when  he  referred  to  S.  Ternan  *  as  second  Ab  of 
Candida  Casa,  although  he  was  strictly  the  third, 
if  S.  Caranoc's  short  term  be  reckoned.  Camer- 
arius,  discarding  the  early  Roman  glosses,  notes 
S.  Ternan  thus,  'Sanctus  Ternanus  Episcopus  et 
Confessor  et  post  Ninianum  Sanctum  Pictorum 
australium  (recte,  orientalium)  veluti  Apostolus.' 
The  following  details  came  from  the  original 
sources.  He  was  a  Pict  of  Mearns  in  Alba,  he 
was  converted  during  S.  Ninian's  Pictish  mis- 
sion, he  was  educated  at  Candida  Casa,  he  was 
baptized  in  early  manhood  by  that  disciple  of  S. 
Ninian  whom  the  Roman  Catholic  writers  con- 
fused with  Palladius,  whose  native  name,  pre- 
served in  Perthshire  and  the  Mearns,  was  'Pal- 
doc'  or  'Paldy,'  whose  historical  name  is  'Pawl 
Hin'  or  Paul  the  Aged,  a  missionary  who  was 
a   Briton,  who  worked   with  S.   Ninian,   who 

*  Cressy,  as  quoted  in  Chronicles  of  the  British  Church,  is  made  to 
adopt  the  misspelling  '  Tervan.' 

I  lO 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

survived  into  the  early  years  of  the  sixth  cen- 
tury, who  lived  long  enough  to  meet  S.  David  in 
his  childhood;  he  could  not  see  him  because  he 
was  blind  through  great  age.  S.  Ternan's  manu- 
script of  the  Gospels  in  a  case  ornamented  with 
gold  and  silver  was  preserved  at  Banchory- 
Ternan  into  the  Roman  Catholic  period,  and  his 
bell '  Ronnecht '  until  the  Reformation.  Some  of 
the  writers  of  the  Aberdeen  group  were  more 
candid  than  others.  One  hand  in  the  Martyro- 
logy  of  Aberdeen,  which  bears  evidence  of  Moray 
origin,  viewing  S.  Ternan's  position  as  S.  Nin- 
ian's  successor  calls  him  '  Archipraesul'  which  in 
this  instance  means  president  of  the  chief  and 
parent  community  at  ^Candida  Casa.  Besides 
Banchory-Ternan,  S.  Ternan  had  Church-sites 
at  Slains,  Arbuthnot,  and  Findon,  where  is  also 
his  well.  If  any  one  wishes  to  understand  how 
culture  in  Pictland  suffered  from  the  Viking 
invasions,  he  has  only  to  visualize  Banchory 
and  other  like  places  in  the  fifth  century  with 
their  schools,  manuscripts,  and  active  missionary 
teachers,  spreading  the  Gospel  and  Christian 
civilization;  and  then  to  think  of  the  state  of  these 
places  five  hundred  years  later. 

S.  Erchard  or  M'erchard*  a  Pict, also  a  nat- 
ive of 'Mearns' Alba,  was  one  of  S.  Ternan's  con- 
verts and  became  his  disciple.   Erchard's  birth- 

*  Cf.  Dr.  William  Mackay  and  his  authorities  in  Saints  associated  with 
the  Ness  Valley,  p.  7. 

Ill 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

place  was  near  Kincardine  O'Neil,  Aberdeen- 
shire. In  course  of  time  S.  Ternan  ordained  him 
a  presbyter.'and  Erchard  resolved  to  devote  him- 
self to  continuing  S.  Ninian's  mission-work  a- 
mong  the  Picts  of  Alba.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  he  settled  near  a  Church  which  S.  N  inian  had 
founded  during  his  northern  mission  at  Temple 
on  Loch  Ness.  His  headquarters  were  in  Glen- 
moriston.ofifthe  Great  Glen  of  Alba,  now  the  line 
of  the  Caledonian  Canal.  In  silent  testimony  toS. 
Erchard's  establishment,  there  are  still  in  Glen- 
moristontheSutdAeM'ercAatrd,S.Erchard'sseat, 
his  well  called  Fuaran  M'erchaird,  the  ancient 
Churchyard  known  as  Cladh  M'erchaird,  and  S. 
Erchard's  Church-site.  S.  Erchard,  like  his  mas- 
ter, left  a  famous  bell.* 

S.  '  Paldy,'  so  well  known  through  his  connec- 
tion with  Mearns,  falls  to  be  noticed  with  this 
group  of  missionary  workers.  His  name  will  ap- 
pear again,  at  a  period  when  he  was  blind  through 
great  age,  in  connection  with  the  boyhood  of  S. 
Dewi  (David)  of  Wales.  In  Perthshire  his  name 
appears  with  the  uncorrupted  diminutive  in  the 
form  'Paldoc'  Among  the  Britons  he  came  to  be 
known  as  PawlHSn,  and  Peulan  Hin,  that  is,  S. 
Paul  the  Aged.  The  early  Irish  Picts,  judging 
from  the  Martyrology  of  Tallagh,  knew  him  as 
' Polan,'  that  is '  Paul '  with  the  diminutive  an.  H e 

*  Dr.  Mackay's  translation  of  S.  Erchard'swarningis — 'lamMerchard 
from  across  the  land,  keep  ye  my  sufferings  deep  in  yourremembrance;  see 
that  ye  do  not  for  a  test  place  this  bell  in  the  pool  to  swim. ' 
112 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

was  the  founder,  among  other  centres,  of  Candida 
Casa  on  Tav  among  the  south  Britons.  He  was 
also  associated  with  S.  Ninian's  foundation  at 
Dunottar  in  the  Mearns;  and  in  the  Martyrology 
of  Tallagh  he  and  Nennio  the  fourth  Ab  of 
Candida  Cai'a (Whithorn)  arecommemorated  to- 
gether at  the  2 1  St  day  of  May.  In  parts  of  South 
Wales  he  is  commemorated  on  the  22nd  day  of 
November. 

In  the  early  Roman  Catholic  period  the  Aber- 
deen group  of  historical  writers  confused*  this  S. 
'Paldy'  or  'PMdoc'  with  Palladius  who  was  sent 
on  a  mission  to  the  Irish  a.d.  430 by  PopeCelest- 
ine.  Palladius,  we  are  told,  was  rejected  by  the 
'rude  and  savage'  Irish.  As  he  did  not  wish  to 
spend  time  in  a  land  not  his  own,  but  desired  to 
return  'to  him  who  sent  him,'  that  is  to  Celestine; 
he  crossed  to  the  territory  of  the  Britons,  which 
lay  opposite  to  Ireland,  where  he  was  seized  with 
illness  and  died.*  In  passing,  it  may  be  well  to 
recollect  that  some  authorities  consider  that  the 
historical  Palladius  is  one  and  the  same  with  the 
historical  Patrick;  and  that  the  name  'Palladius' 
is  nothing  more  than  an  exact  Latin  translation  of 
S.  Patrick's  original  native  name,  Sucat.  Whether 
or  not,  it  is  clear  about  the  historical  Palladius  that 

*  Murchu's  Life  of  Patrick  and  the  annotations  to  Tirechan.  See  also 
Skene  and  his  authorities,  Celtic  Scotland,  book  ii.  chap.  i.  p.  27.  The 
confusion  of  S.  'Paldy'  with  Palladius  threatened  to  become  continuous 
after  David  de  Bemham  in  1244  dedicated  a  new  Church  to  'Paldy'  at 
Fordun  but  gave  him  the  name  '  Palladius. ' 

I  113 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

he  was  unsuccessful  in  his  mission  to  the  Irish; 
that,  having  retired,  he  died  on  the  way  back  'to 
him  who  sent  him,'  somewhere  amongthe  Britons 
to  the  south-west  of  Pictland ;  that,  therefore,  he 
could  not  have  conducted  a  mission  in  Pictland  of 
Alba  subsequent  to  the  Irish  one,  or  have  taken 
any  part  in  continuing  S.  Ninian's  work  there. 
When,  therefore,  a  scholiast  on  the  Hymn  of  Fiac 
of  Sletty  declares  that  Palladius  'reached  the  ex- 
treme part  of  the  Monaid  *  towards  the  south, 
where  he  founded  the  Church  of  Fordun  and 
"  Pledi"  is  his  name  there';  it  is  evident  that  he  is 
confusing  two  different  men,  and  is  transferring  a 
fragment  of  biography  to  Palladius  which  belongs 
to  S.  'Paldy'  of  Fordun  (Paul  Hdn) ;  because 
Auchinblae  and  Fordun,  where,  among  other 
places,  S.  'Pildy'  laboured,  lie  slightly  to  the 
south  of  the  extreme  end  of  the  'Monad'  (the 
correct  name  of  the  eastern  end  of  the  'Gram- 
pians'); and  within  sight  of  the  Cairn  o'  Mont 
which  preserves  the  original  name.  Moreover, 
we  can  trust  certain  definite  scraps  of  history 
preserved,  by  one  of  the  hands,  in  the  Breviary 
of  Aberdeen  and  by  Fordun  himself,  which  tell 
how  S.  Ternan  was  a  native  of  the  Mearns  and 
that  his  baptizer  was  the  native  saint  whom 
they  confused  with  Palladius.  Consequently  this 
'Pawl,'  or  'Pildoc,'  or  'Paldy'  who  baptized  the 
man  who  became  third  Ab  of  S.  Ninian's  Candida 

*  By  the  error  of  a  scribe  ^  Modhaid'  is  a  reading. 
114 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

Casawasnot  the  ecclesiastical  foreigner  Palladius 
who  never  came  to  Mearns  or  to  anywhere  else 
in  Pictland  of  Alba;  but  a  native  minister,  a 
member  of  one  of  the  earlier  missionary  groups 
whichS.  Ninianhad  arranged  alongthe  east  coast 
of  Pictland.  One  of  those  groups  was,  at  the  time, 
in  this  very  locality.  S.  Ninian  on  his  northern 
mission  had  organized  a  missionary  community 
and  founded  a  Church  at  the  fortress  of  Dunottar 
on  the  sea,  about  ten  miles  from  Auchinblae  and 
Fordun,  where  S.  'Paldy's'  name  survives  in  con- 
nection with  a  Church-site  and  a  fair. 

The  names  of  S. '  Paldy'and  Fordun  recall  the 
daring  series  of  Romano-Gaidhealic  fables  which 
long  passed  for  history  in  Scotland.  These  fables 
are  generally  connected  with  the  Aberdeen  group 
of  historical  writers,  and  frequently  with  John  of 
Fordunalone,oneofthegroup.  Itisfairtoremem- 
ber  that  John  of  Fordun  simply  took  a  hand  in 
a  scheme  which  began  before  he  was  born  and 
which  did  not  end  when  hedied.  Historical  critic- 
ism, even  when  it  has  been  unrelenting,  has  been 
directed  more  at  the  system,  into  which  he  had 
to  fit  himself  and  his  writings,  than  at  the  man. 

John  of  Fordun,  priest  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  who  wrote  before  a.d.  1385,  garbled  his- 
tory, in  the  interests  of  the  Romano-Gaidhealic 
Church  and  theScots,*whohadwonecclesiastical 

*  Chron.  bk.  iii.  cc.  8,  9.    The  Cronica  Gentis  Scotorum  and  the  Gesta 
Annalia  were  Fordun's  contributions. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

and  political  ascendency  in  Pictland,  with  the 
object  of  obliterating  the  history  of  the  ancient 
Celtic  Church  of  the  Picts  and  the  history  of  the 
ancient  and  independent  Kingdom  of  Pictland, 
by  what  the  late  Dr.  Skene  called  his  'fictitious 
and  artificial  scheme.'  The  fictions  of  Fordun* 
and  the  Aberdeen  group  of  historians  make  the 
historical  mind  reel.  They  alleged  that  the  Scots 
or  Gaidheals  had  colonized  Alba,  that  is  Pictland 
as  well  as  Dalriada,  several  centuries  before  the 
beginning  of  the  Christian  era;  that  the  Scots  had 
been  converted  to  Christianity  c,a.d.  203  by  Pope 
Victor  I.;  that,  nevertheless,  in  a.d.  430,  Pope 
Celestine  sent  S.  Palladius  to  these  Gaidheals  or 
Scots  to  be  their  'first'  bishop;  that  S.  Palladius 
arrived  in '  S  cotia '  (which  at  that  time  was  not  Alba 
but  Ireland)  with  a  great  company  in  the  eleventh 
year  of  King '  E ugenius '  (whom  Fordun  invents) 
who  gave  him  a  place  of  abode  where  he  desired 
it.  Mearns  is  indicated,  because  Fordun  addsthat 
the  'holy  bishop'  Ternan  became  the  disciple  of 
Palladius,  or  '  Pildy.'  Incidentally  he  states,  too, 
that  Servanuswasafellow-workerandbishop  with 
Palladius.  It  is  thus  manifest  that  Johnof  Fordun 
hesitated  at  nothing  in  his  effort  to  create  a  belief 
in  the  antiquity  of  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots,  and  in 
the  antiquity  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in 

*  It  is  due  to  Fordun's  memory  to  state  that  Bower,  his  continuator, 
not  only  mishandled  the  Gesta  Annalia,  but  garbled  the  main  text  of  the 
Cronica. 

xi6 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

Alba  or  Pictland;  but  even  in  his  falseness  he  has 
bornewitnessto  the  ancient  activities  of  the  earli- 
est Pictish  missionaries.  By  using  the  name  of 
Palladius,  the  unsuccessful  Roman  missionary  to 
Ireland  (Scotia),  to  eclipse  the  work  of  S.  Ninian 
and  hisdiscipleswho  truly  initiated  theChristian- 
ization  of  Pictland,  and  who  founded  the  Celtic 
Church  of  the  Picts;  by  confusing  Paul  H^n, 
locally  S.  'Paldy'  of  Fordun,  with  this  same 
Palladius;  and  by  representing  that  S.  Ternan 
and  the  historical  S.  Servanus  continued  the 
work  of  Palladius,  instead  of  stating  that  they  were 
associated  with  Paul  Hen,  or  S.  '  Paldy,'  in  con- 
tinuing the  work  of  S.  Ninian;  John  of  Fordun 
has  unwittingly  confirmed  that  these  disciples  of 
S.  Ninian  were  as  old,  or  about  as  old,  as  the  time 
of  Palladius,  namely  a.d.  430.  Apart  from  local 
traditions,  John  knew  that  others  besides  himself 
had  access  to  ungarbled  historical  documents,  and 
that  he  would  defeat  his  purpose  unless  he  kept 
historical  ministers  of  the  early  Church  in  their 
correct  historical  periods.  He  was  astute  enough 
to  realize  that  he  could  not  remove  them  from 
history;  although  he  might  belittle  them  and  con- 
fuse them  with  the  Roman  missionaries  to  whom 
he  wished  to  give  pre-eminence.  John's  inven- 
tions were  long  accepted  as  genuine  history. 
Many  followed  him  in  ante-dating  the  Christian- 
ization  of  Pictland  by  about  two  hundred  years, 
in  ante-dating  the  first  attempt  to  romanize  the 

117 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Celtic  Church  of  Pictland  by  over  four  hundred 
years,  in  ante-dating  the  Gaidhealic  or  Scotic 
ascendency  throughout  Pictland  by  over  four 
hundred  years,  and  in  placing  the  Gaidheals  or 
Scots  in  Pictland  several  hundreds  of  years  be- 
fore a  single  Gaidheal  or  Scot  had  settled  in 
Dalriada,  to  which  they  first  came  from  Ireland 
(Scotia).  Johnof  Fordun's  fables  were  not  isolated 
efforts.  They  make  one  series  among  many  which 
issued  at  different  periods  from  the  Scotic  eccle- 
siastical centres.  S.  Servanus  was  lifted  away 
from  his  true  historical  period  in  the  Pictish 
Church,  and  represented  as  a  subordinate  and 
contemporary  of  the  romanized  Gaidheal,  Adam- 
nan;  S.  Columba(Columcille)  was  substituted  for 
S.Colm  of  Deer  and  exalted  over  S.  Drostan,the 
Briton,  who  lived  and  laboured  at  Deer  before  Col- 
umcille's  day;  S.  Riaghuil  (Rule)  of  St.  Andrews 
was  represented  as  a  Roman  delegate,  and  his 
name  used  to  obscure  the  name  and  work  of  S. 
Cainnech,a  Pict;  and  the  Roman  monks  of  Fearn 
transformed  S.  Bar  of  Cork  into  another  Roman 
delegate,  and  used  his  name  to  obscure  the  name 
and  work  of  S.  Finbar*of  Dornochjand  Maghbile. 
As  we  have  seen,  the  earliest  continuators  of 
S.  Ninian's  work  in  Alba  were  Britons  like  S. 
Caranoc,  or  native  Pictslike  Ternanand  Erchard. 

*  The  Breviary  of  Aberdeen  entered  him  correctly  as  '  Fynberr  epi,' 
Finbar  the  bishop,  to  distinguish  him  from  S.  Barfhionn,  the  hermit  of 
Cork.  The  Mariyrology  of  Aberdeen  also  makes  the  confusion  of  the  two 
men  impossible. 

ii8 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

S.  Ninian,  however,  by  his  Irish  mission,  and 
favoured  by  the  proximity'of  Candida  Casa  to  the 
north-east  coast  of  Ireland,  had  attracted  many 
pupils  to  his  monastery  from  among  the  Irish 
Picts.*  In  the  latter  half  of  the  fifth  century,  the 
century  in  which  S.  Ninian  died,  these  pupils 
began  to  appear  in  Pictland  of  Alba  continuing 
S.  Ninian's  work.  Some  of  them  served  their 
apprenticeship  to  mission  work  in  Pictland  be- 
fore returning  to  Ireland  to  settle  as  heads  of 
clerical  communities;  others  remained  labouring 
there  until  the  end  of  their  days. 

The  historical  I  S.  Ailbhe  of  Emly  would 
have  been  found  in  the  former  group,  if  he  had 
not  been  prevented  from  leaving  Ireland  by  a 

*  'n- Aondruim  on  Mahee  Island,  Strangford  Loch,  was  one  of  the  first 
communities  organized  by  the  Irish  Picts  for  themselves.  It  was  in  com- 
munion with  Candida  Casa,  and  sent  its  advanced  pupils  there.  The 
'  ships '  of  Candida  Casa  visited  it.  S.  Finbar  of  Maghbile  and  Dornoch 
was  sent  from  'Aondruim  to  Candida  Casa  on  one  of  these  ships  that 
he  might  complete  his  training  with  the  bigger  community.  S.  Mochaoi, 
son  of  Bronag,  daughter  of  Maelchon,  to  whom  S.  Patrick  was  a  slave, 
was  first  Ab  of  'Aondruim.  S.  Mochaoi  is  stated  to  have  visited  western 
Pictland  before  the  Gaidheals  occupied  it.  One  of  his  Church-sites  is  at 
Kilmoha,  on  the  western  shore  of  Loch  Awe.  The  churchyard  here  was 
for  centuries  the  burial-ground  of  the  Campbells  of  Inverlevir.  (Cf. 
The  Duke  of  Argyll's  paper  to  the  Scottish  Ecclesiological  Society  at 
Glasgow,  25th  Oct.  1915.) 

t  There  is  a  fanciful  S.  Ailbhe  of  the  mediaeval  Latin  fabulists  who  is 
represented  as  having  been  brought  up  by  a  wolf,  as  having  gone  to  Rome 
to  a  Pope  Hilarius,  as  having  become  a  disciple  of  S.  Patrick. 

It  is  worth  noting  that  the  historical  S.  Ailbhe  is  given  first  in  the  Pas- 
chal Epistle  of  Cummian ;  and  that  he  is  represented  in  the  earliest  sources 
as  opposing  S.  Patrick. 

Bishop  Forbes  puts  the  death  of  Ailbhe  of  Senchus  at  the  date  of  the 
deathof  Ailbhe  of  Emly,  a.d.  526. 

119 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

chief  who  loved  him.  S.  Ailbhe,  however,  sent 
deputies  to  Pictland.  S.  Ailbhe  was  an  Irish 
Pict  and  died  a.d.  526.  His  father  was  Olcnais, 
of  the  family  of  Fertlachtga,  of  the  clan  Rudh- 
raighe  of  Dal-Araidhe.  His  mother  was  a  slave, 
and  her  master  took  the  infant  Ailbhe  from  her 
arms  and  exposed  him  in  the  wilds.  The  child 
was  found  by  a  kind-hearted  heathen  called 
Lochan,  who  carried  him  to  his  own  house,  and 
afterwards  gave  him  to  certain  'Christian  Bri- 
tons,'* who  apparently  were  missionaries.  The 
authentic  Acts  ofS.  Ailbhe,  as  known  to  Ussher, 
did  not  mention  where  among  the  'Christian 
Britons'  S.  Ailbhe  was  educated  and  trained  as 
a  missionary.  But  when  in  manhood  he  re- 
emerges  into  the  light  of  history,  he  is  an  ex- 
perienced Christian  missionary  co-operating  | 
with  S.  Endeus  or  Eany,  J  one  of  the  most  vener- 
ated pupils  of  Candida  Casa,  who  had  set  out 
from  Candida  Casa  at  the  head  of  a  strong  mis- 
sion, which  contained  one  hundred  and  fifty 
workers  whom  he  wished  to  settle  on  the  island 
of  Aranmhor,  west  of  Galway.  S.  Ailbhe  suc- 
cessfully pleaded  with  Angus  the  chief  of  Cashel 
that  S.  Eany  should  be  allowed  to  settle  in 
Aran.  S.  Ailbhe's  interest  in  this  big  mission 
from  Candida  Casa  is  significant, 

*  Britannicarum  Ecclesiarum  Antiquitates,  cap.  xvi.  p.  409. 
t  Ibid.  cap.  xvii.  p.  451. 
X  His  day  is  the  2ist  of  March. 

120 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

When  S.  Ailbhe  had  secured  Aranmhor  for 
S.  Eany's  community,  he  contemplated  a  farther 
extension  of  S.  Ninian's  work.  He  proposed  to 
settle  a  community  of  his  own  in  'Tile.'*  This 
name  represents  a  scribe's  error.  Either  one  of 
the  northern  islands  of  Pictland  is  indicated,  or 
Tiree  in  Western  Pictland,  where  Findchan  the 
presbyter  and  S.  Comgall  the  Great  laboured  in 
after  years,  Angus  of  Cashel,  who  wished  to 
keep  S.  Ailbhe  at  Emly,  intervened,  and  forcibly 
prevented  the  saint  from  sailing.  Thereupon  S. 
Ailbhe  sent  twenty-two  of  his  disciples  oversea 
as  his  deputies.  Two  of  these  deputies  who 
went  into  '  exsilium '  in  Pictland  were  a  S. 
CoLM,f  or  CoLMOcJ  and  S.  Fillan§  or  Faolan, 
called  '/a^ar.'ll  This  epithet  is  manifestly  the 
Britonic  word  llafar,  meaning,  vocal  one,  al- 
though it  has  been  treated  as  Gaidhealic  and 

*  'Tile'  occurs  once  elsewhere  as  a  scribe's  error  for  Tiree.  If  it  is 
meant  for '  Thule '  it  may  indicate  Shetland  or  Iceland. 

t  The  mediaeval  scribes  confused  him  with  S.  Colman  Ela,  with  Col- 
man  of  Lindisfarne,  and  others.  He  is  S.  Colman  of  Dromore  in  Down. 
He  was  an  Irish  Pict  of  the  race  of  Conall  Cearnach.  He  was  educated  at 
'Aondruim  under  S.  Caolan,  the  second  Ab,  before  he  became  attached 
to  S.  Ailbhe.  (See  note*,  p.  119.)  His  day  is  the  7th  of  June. 

t  With  the  diminutives  and  prefix,  the  name  takes  the  forms  Colman, 
Colmoc,  and  Mocholmoc. 

§  Cf.  Skene's  Celtic  Scotland,  book  ii.  p.  33,  and  Forbes,  Kalendars, 
p.  341.  This  S.  Fillan  or  Faolan  of '  Rath-Erann '  has  been  confused  with 
S.  Fillan,  son  of  Kentigerna.  He  was  in  reality,  according  to  the  scholi- 
ast in  the  Feillre,  son  of  Angus  Mac  Natfraech,  S.  Ailbhe's  friend  and 
patron.   S.  Fillan's  day  is  the  20th  of  June. 

II  Dr.  Whitley  Stokes  translates  Hntam  lobar  ansin'  as  'that  splendid 
mute.'  It  is  more  likely  to  mean,  splendid  in  utterance.  Labar  meant, 
gifted  in  speech. 

121 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

translated  as  'leper,'*  and  also  as  'stammerer. 
It  doubtless  arose  from  S.Fillan's  open-air  chant- 
ing of  the  Psalmody  courses  which  was  a  marked 
accomplishment  of  the  Brito-Pictish  clerics.  S. 
Ailbhe's  own  community  in  Ireland  was  settled  at 
the  ancient  loch  of  Emly,  and  S.  Colm  followed 
his  master's  example  and  settled  on  Innis-na- 
Oo/»«,now'Inchmaholm'or '  Inchmacholmoc.'in 
the  Loch  of  Menteith.  He  laboured  northward 
as  far  as  Kirriemuir,  and  southward  along  the 
Forth  valley.  He  returned  to  Ireland  c.  a.d. 
5I4.-]-  His  fellow-worker  S.  Fillan,  'labar,'  like 
other  earlymissionariesestablishedhimself  under 
the  protection  of  one  of  the  great  forts  of  Alba. 
He  is  referred  to  as  'of  the  Rath  of  Erann  in 
Alba,'  which  was  in  'Fortrenn,'  near  the  modern 
St.  Fillans  at  the  east  end  of  Loch  Earn  in  Perth- 
shire. SS.  Colm  and  Fillan  J  are  commemorated 
together,  but  out  of  chronological  order,  among 
the  Celtic  abbots  named  in  the  Liturgy  of  Dun- 
keld.  S.  Fillan  also  laboured  along  the  Forth 
valley.  His  chief  establishment  was  the  one  at 
Loch  Earn,  and  an  old  Church-site  there  still 
bears  his  name.  S.  Fillan's  bachall  is  one  of  the 
two  Pictish  pastoral  staves  which  have  been  pre- 

*  One  saint  who  was  truly  called  '  the  leper '  was  Finian  Ab  of '  Suird. ' 
He  died  c.  A.  D.  680.  The  Martyrology  of  Tallagh  refers  to  him  as  '  Finan 
i  lobhar  Suird.'  His  day  is  the  i6th  of  March. 

t  The  date  when  he  settled  at  Dromore. 

{  Both  these  saints  are  noticed  by  Skene  in  Celtic  Scotland,  book  ii. 
chap.  i.  pp.  32,  33. 

122 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

served.  Part  of  his  reputed  relics,  an  arm-bone, 
was  carried  in  front  of  the  Scottish  army  at  Ban- 
nockburn  by  the  Abbot  of  Inchaffray.  The  medi- 
aeval Roman  clergy  confused  this  S.  Fillan  with 
S.  Fillan  of  Houston,*  and  S.  Colm,  his  fellow- 
worker,  they  confused  with  S.  Columba  (Colum- 
cille).  The  two  disciples  of  S.  Ailbhe  were  much 
earlier  than  either. 

About  this  same  period  a  wave  of  missionary 
enthusiasm  stirred  the  Britons  and  Irish  Picts 
who  were  in  actual  touch  with  Candida  Casa  and 
its  activities,  resulting,  among  other  things,  in 
the  extensive  missions  of  SS.  Buidhe,  Servanus, 
Finbar,  and  Drostan.  S.  Buidhe  crossed  the 
Forth  and  Clyde  line  and  entered  Pictland  of 
Alba  at  the  head  of  sixty  workers  about  a.  d.  480.  f 
Buidhe  Mac  Bronach|  of  the  family  of  Tadhg 
was  an  Irish  Pict.  His  clan  occupied  Kian- 
naght  in  Ulster  while  that  territory  was  still 
Pictish.  It  was  in  this  district  that  S.  Cainnech  of 
Achadh-Bo  and  St.  Andrews  presided  at  a  later 

*  S.  Fillan  ofHouston  was  an  Irish  Pict.  He  wassonofS.  Kentigerna 
who  came  a  fugitive  to  Inch-cailleach,  Loch  Lomond,  and  nephew  of  S. 
Comgan,  who  came  a  fugitive  to  Turriff.  This  S.  Fillan's  father  was 
Feredach,  an  Ulster  chief.  Camerarius  varies  the  name  to  Feriath.  Fere- 
dach  was  of  the  race  of  Fiatach  Finn.  S.  Fillan  was  born  towards  the 
close  of  the  seventh  century.   His  mother  died  in  A.D.  734. 

t  The  time  when  Nectan  his  patron  ceased  to  reign. 

t  In  the  Bodleian  there  is  a  MS.  Life  of  a  S.  Boethius,  which  is 
meant  to  be  a  Life  of  this  saint.  It  is  by  a  Roman  Catholic  fabulist  who 
transforms  S.  Buidhe  into  a  Roman  miracle  worker.  The  fabulist  excels 
some  of  his  kind  in  boldly  representing  that  the  saint  was  turned  out  of 
his  native  territory  at  Kiannaght  because  he  was  '  a  foreigner. ' 

123 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

time  over  the  community  of  Drumachose.  S. 
Buidhe  was  a  bishop.  He  died  at  Mainister  in 
the  Pictish  district  of  Louth  in  a.d.  521  as  head 
of  a  community  which  he  had  organized  there, 
after  his  return  from  Pictland  of  Alba.  S.  Buidhe 
established  his  workers  in  what  is  now  Forfar- 
shire, near  the  fort  of  Nectan,  sovereign  of  the 
Picts,  namely,  Dunnichen,  in  the  same  district 
as  S.  Ninian's  foundation  at  Whiting  Ness,  Ar- 
broath, and  not  far  from  'the  College'*  of  the 
Celtic  monastery  of  'Aber-Eloth,'  which  arose 
out  of  S.  Ninian's  foundation  at  what  is  now  Ar- 
birlot.f  Among  the  members  of  S.  Buidhe's 
muinntir  were  ten  men  who  were  brothers,  and 
ten  who  were  'virgins.' J  King  Nectan  gave  a 
Cathair  or  fortified  settlement  to  the  saint,  and 
there  he  built  a  Church.  For  this  reason  the  site 
became  known  as  Caer-Budde,  corrupted  in  after 
centuries  by  the  Scandinavian  element  in  the 
east  coast  population  into  'Kirk-Budde.'§  The 
establishment  of  S.  Buidhe's  powerful  and  well- 
staffed  mission  resulted  in  a  wide  extension  of 
the  work  which  had  been  begun  by  S.  Ninian  at 
the  Ness  of  Arbroath  and  at  'the  College'  of 

*  On  the  north  bank  of  the  Rottenrow  burn,  about  one  mile  N.W.  of 
the  present  Church  of  Axbirlot  ('Aber-Eloth'). 

t  The  Celtic  Abbey  of  Aber-Eloth  was  still  represented  by  a  layman, 
one  Galfridus,  in  1214.  Mauricius  was  Abbe  of  Aber-Eloth  c.  1207. 

{  Revelation  xiv.  4. 

§  Cf.  Chronicle  Picts  and  Scots,  p.  410,  and  Celtic  Scotland  (Skene), 
bk.  ii.  ch.  i.  p.  32.  After  the  Reformation  the  parsonage  of  Caer-Budde 
was  suppressed,  and  the  teinds  added  to  the  income  of  Guthrie  Parish. 

124 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

Aber-Eloth  or  Arbirlot.  In  the  district  now 
represented  roughly  by  Angus  and  the  north 
of  Fife,  Churches  were  founded  and  muinntirs 
organized  at  every  centre  of  population.  Within 
the  next  century  and  a  half  the  following  became 
active  and  important  centres  of  the  Pictish 
Church:  the  muinntirs  (known  later  as  Celtic 
'abbacies'*)  of  Aber-Eloth  (Arbirlot);  of  Aber- 
nethy;f  of  MonifodJ  (Monifieth);  of  Scone;  of 
Bangor§  on  the  Isla  near  the  Imperial  Roman 
remains  at  Meikleour;  of  Brecain  (Brechin);  of 
S.  BriocatMun-Ros||  (Old  Montrose);  of  Eglis- 
GirigTfor  Grig(St.  'Cyrus').  Besides  these,  and 
the  old  Churches  of  S.  Ninian  at  Arbroath  Ness 
and  of  S.  Buidhe  at  Caer-Budde;  the  Church 
called  'Temple'**  at  the  northern  base  of  Foth- 
ringham  Hill,  Inverarity;  the  Church  of  S. 
Medan,  Airlie;  the  original  Church  at  Fearn  of 


*  The  lands  of  these  communities  were  in  later  times  called  the  '  Ab- 
thein. ' 

t  On  the  borders  of  Perth  and  Fife.  Founded  by  consent  of  Nectan, 
sovereign  of  Pictland  (456-480),  the  same  who  consented  to  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Church  at  Caer-Budde. 

{  Still  known  about  1220  as  the  'Abthein  of  Monifod. ' 

§  The  name  survives  locally  in  Easter  and  Wester  Banchory. 

II  Originally  simply  called  'Abthein.'  In  later  times  the  Roman 
Catholics  restored  the  Church  here,  received  the  lands  of  the  old  Celtic 
Abthein,  and  dedicated  their  Church  to  the  B.  V.  Mary. 

\  The  name  varies  from  Girig  to  Giric,  and  finally  becomes  corrupted 
to  'Cyrus.' 

**  Not  to  be  confused  with  'Templeton  of  Kinblethmont,'  which  re- 
ceived its  name  from  the  Knights  Templars  of  St.  German.  To  their  pro- 
perty Alexander,  lord  of  Spynie,  was  served  heir  in  1621. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Angus;  the  Church  of  S.  Cainnech  the  Great* 
(known  in  Angus  as  in  Ireland  as  'Cainnach'- 
or  'Connach-Mhor')  at  Back-Both,f  Carmylie, 
near  which  place  S.  Vigean  occupied  a  casulal 
apart  from  his  principal  Church  at  St.  Vigeans,§ 
Arbroath;  the  Church  called  'Both-Ma'Rubh' 
at  Barry;  the  Church  called  Both||-Mernoc,  S. 
Mernoc's  hut  at  Both  in  Panbride ;  1|  the  Church 
called  S.  'Fink's'  in  Bendochy,  not  far  from  Ban- 
gor on  the  Isla;  the  Church  called  S.  Skaoc's** 
at  Bodden  of  Usan;  the  Church  called  S.  Brioc's 
at  Craig,  Old  Montrose;  and  the  Church  called 
S.  Muredac'sff  of  Ethie.  Connected  with  these 
three  last-named  Churches  was  the  ancient 
'DiserV  or  Retreat  north  of  the  Old  Muir  of 
Lunan.  These  various  foundations  were  not 
made  all  at  once  after  S.  Ninian's  and  S.  Buidhe's 
time,  but  gradually,  as  the  evangelization  of 
Pictland  proceeded.  Apart  from  the  connection 

*  S.  Cainnech  the  Great  of  Fife  and  Achadh-Bo.  Also  known  in 
Angus  as  '  Mo-Chainnoc,'  of  which  the  charter  spelling  is '  Makonoc' 

t  That  is  the  Church  behind  the  hill.  S.  Vigean's  casula  was  in  front. 
'Both'  was  superseded  in  1250  by  a  dedication  to  S.  Laurence,  and  the 
lands  of '  the  Church  of  Connan-Mor '  given  as  an  endowment. 

t  In  1788,  beside  the  present  Chapel  ruins,  remains  of  an  earlier  build- 
ing were  discovered. 

§  OnthebanksoftheBrothoc. 

II  Note  this  name  which  belongs  to  the  period  of  the  Casa. 

H  In  1359  in  the  Roman  Catholic  period  this  Church  was  restored,  put 
under  Roman  control,  and  the  old '  lands  of  Both-mernok '  confirmed  to  it 

**  This  Church  in  later  times  came  into  the  possession  of  the  Roman 
house  of  Restennot. 

tt  Not  to  be  confused  with  S.  Muiredach,  brother  of  S.  Cairril  the 
Gaidheal  whose  Church  is  at  Kilmorich  on  Loch  Fyne. 

126 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

of  these  Churches  with  S.  Ninian's  own  found- 
ations in  the  same  district,  it  is  interesting  to  find 
in  Angus  the  useof  the  name 'Temple,' which  was 
applied  to  Candida  Casa  itself,  and  to  S.  Ninian's 
foundations  elsewhere;  the  name  '  Both'  which 
was  applied  to  Churches  originating  from  a  Casa 
or  Casula;  the  place-name  '  Fearn  '  common  to 
Candida  Casa,  and  to  S.  Ninian's  at  Fearn  of 
Edderton;  and  the  institutional  name  'Disert' 
given  to  one  of  the  features  of  S.  Ninian's  estab- 
lishment and  the  establishments  that  originated 
from  Candida  Casa  both  in  Pictland  and  in  Ire- 
land. 

While  S.  Buidhe  was  continuing  S.  Ninian's 
work  in  Angus,  the  historical  S.  Servanus  or 
Serf,  even  better  known,  by  the  classical  shorten- 
ing of  the  Latinname,as  S.  SlR.continued  it  along 
the  left  bank  of  the  Forth  into  Fife.  He  also 
taught  among  the  Britons  of  Strath-Clyde,  and 
put  himself  into  personal  touch  with  the  mission 
conducted  by  S.  Drostan  the  Briton  in  what  is 
now  Aberdeenshire.  S,  Servanus  died  c.  a.d.  543 
a  frail  old  man,  as  we  learn  from  the  Life  of  S. 
Kentigern.  His  mother  was  Alma*  daughter  of 
a  prince  of  the  Irish  Pictsf  and  his  father  Proc, 
prince  of  a  British  tribe  whose  name  the  copy- 
ists changed  to  'Canani'  from  some  such  form  as 
Cenomani.  This  name  was  too  suggestive  for  the 

*  According  to  the  ancient  Tract  on  the  mothers  of  the  Irish  Saints. 
t  '  Cruithne '  is  the  word  used. 

127 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

fabulists, whoatonce  transformed  it  into'Canaan' 
and  invented  a  legend  to  suit  this  scriptural 
name.  S.  Servanus  lived  in  the  time  of  Owain  ap 
Urien  the  prince  of  the  Britons,  who  was  father 
of  S.  Kentigern.  The  saint  had  a  Church  at  Dun- 
barton,  the  capital  of  the  Britons.  The  well  of  this 
Church  existed  until  recent  times  and  was  known 
as  S.  Ser's,  the  form  of  his  name  which  still  con- 
tinues in  Aberdeenshire.  The  younger  brother 
of  Rhydderch,  champion  of  the  Christians  and 
sovereign  of  the  Britons,  bore  the  saint's  name.* 
The  following  names  of  places  where  Servanus 
settled  communities  or  planted  Churches  show 
the  range  of  his  activities,!  Dunbarton,  Culross, 
Abercorn  on  the  opposite  shore  of  the  Forth, 
Dysart,  Alva  (Stirlingshire),  Dunning  and  Mon- 
zievaird  in  Strathearn,  Monkege  ( Keith-hall),  and 
Culsalmond  in  Aberdeenshire.  His  presence  in 
Strathearn  and  the  Forth  valley  shows  that  he 
was  in  touch  with  the  workers  left  by  S.  Colm  of 
Inchmaholm  when  he  returned  to  Ireland  c.  a.d. 
514.  No  foundation  by  S.  Servanus  appears  now 
between  Perthshire  and  Aberdeenshire,  which  is 
accounted  for  by  what  we  have  seen,  namely  that 
Angus  and  Mearns  were  occupied  byS.  Buidhe's 
workers. 

*  Given  in  the  Bonked  Gwyr  y  Gogledd.  When  Chastelain  in  his 
Martyrology  gave  this  saint's  home  as  among  the  Britons  he  was  not  wrong 
as  some  have  thought.  Those  who  founded  on  the  Legend  of  Servanus  by 
Gaidhealic  fabulists  were  wrong. 

t  An  extended  account  is  given  in  the  separate  chapter  onS.  Kentigern 
in  this  work.  S.  Serfs  Fair  was  celebrated  at  Abercorn. 

128 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

The  principal  muinntir  of  S.  Servanus  was 
at  Culross.*  Here  he  acted  as  foster-father  and 
teacher  to  the  boy  Kentigern,  better  known  by  his 
pet  name  'Mungo.'  When  Kentigern  was  fifteen 
yearsof  age.orthereby.he  departed  from  Culross 
to  the  casu/aoiS.  Fergusf  at  Carnochnear  Airth. 
From  the  fact  that  this  S.  Fergus  attracted  Kenti- 
gern, he  was  manifestly  a  more  important  teacher 
than  Joceline,  in  his  rather  restricted  reference, 
indicates.  It  is  certainlynot  without  interest  that 
when  S.  Fergus  died,  Kentigern  took  much  pains 
to  bury  him  at  S.  Ninian's  foundation  J  on  the 
Molendinar  at  Glasgow,  where  he  then  proceed- 
ed to  organize  a  fuuinniir  of  his  own. 

At  the  time  when  S.  Servanus  was  still  act- 
ively engaged  in  Pictland  of  Alba,  another  mis- 
sionary, who  was  destined  to  leave  a  great  name 
among  the  Irish  Picts,  visited  various  districts  in 
Alba  where  S.  Ninian  had  organized  communi- 
ties. This  was  S.  Finbar,  the  Irish  Pict  who, 
as  noted,  became  Ab  of  Maghbile  (Moyville) 
in  Ulster.  The  mediaeval  Latin  writers  have 
created  much  confusion  about  him  by  attaching 

*  As  the  ancient  authority  says — 'He  is  the  venerable  man  who 
possessed  Cuilenros.'  Just  as  the  Scotic  fabulists  misread  'Ternan'  as 
'Tervan,'  so  they  misread  a  contraction  of  'Ochils'  as  a  contraction  for 
'  Orcades. '  With  these  misread  names  when  inventing  a  Roman  origin  for 
the  Church  of  Pictland,  they  represent  their  'Tervanus'  as  'Archbishop' 
of  the  Picts !  and  Servanus  as  'Apostle'  of  the  'Orkneys,' 

t   V.  S.  Kentigemi  QocAmt),  cap.  ix. 

J  NowS.  Mungo'sChurchyardandthesiteoftheCathedralof  Glasgow. 
Joceline  fortunately  preserved  a  note  of  S.  Ninian's  earlier  foundation. 

K  129 


THE  Pl^llbtl  JNAllUJN 

fragments  of  his  biography  to  nearly  everyone 
of  the  various  variants  given  to  his  name  in 
the  several  dialects  spoken  where  he  was  wont 
to  minister.  His  composite  name  was  Fin-Bar. 
With  the  aid  of  the  suffixes  of  endearment  the 
Irish  varied  this  to  Finnian  and  Finnioc.  The 
Britons  gave  the  first  of  these  the  form  of  Gwy- 
nan,  which  the  present  Lowlanders  have  pre- 
served as  Winnan.  The  Picts  of  Alba  retained 
the  complete  form  Findbar,  shortened  in  com- 
pounds to  Find.  In  later  times  the  descend- 
ants of  the  Vikings  in  Alba  showed  preference 
for  the  shortened  form  'nBar*  from  which  some 
of  their  Roman  Catholic  teachers  evolved  the 
Latin  genitive  'Barri,'  which  happens  to  be  the 
shortened  form  of  the  name  of  a  different  and 
later  Irish  saint.  Fortunately  the  early  Roman 
Catholic  scholars  who  preserved  the  annals  of 
the  Church  in  the  dioceses  of  Moray  and  Aber- 
deen kept  his  correct  name  in  the  Latinized  form 
of  the  local  pronunciation  'Finberrus.'f  S.  Fin- 
bar  was  born  towards  the  end  of  the  fifth  century, 
and  died  in  extreme  old  age  at  Maghbile  on  the 
loth  of  September  a.d.  578J  according  to  the  old 
Irish  annals.  As  already  noted,  he  was  sent  in 
'  the  ships '  of  Candida  Casa  from  the  muinntir  at 
Aondruim  in  Strangford  Loch  to  complete  his 

*  That  is  Fhinbar  shortened  by  aspiration  and  fondness  for  the  shorter 
form. 

t  Cf.  the  Breviary  and  the  Martyrology  of  Aberdeen. 
%  Ecc.  Hist.  /r«/(i«af  (Lanigan),  vol.  ii.  p.  25. 

130 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

education  at  Candida  Casa.  He  remained  at- 
tached to  Candida  Casa  for  'twenty  years,'  and 
was  successively  pupil,  master,  and  missionary 
there.  After  his  return  to  Ireland,  and  after  he 
had  founded  Maghbile  a.d.  540,  he  led  a  highly 
equipped  mission  which  sailed  in  his  own  ships 
to  what  is  now  Ayrshire.  He  strengthened  the 
Church  among  the  Britons  there,  founded  certain 
new  Churches,  among  them  being  Kilwinning 
('Kil-Gwynan,'also  'Kil-Fhinian').  One  author- 
ity indicates  that  during  his  stay  at  Candida  Casa 
he  visited  various  parts  of  the  east  coast  of  Pict- 
land;  but  it  was  on  the  east  of  the  three  northern 
counties,  Ross,  Sutherland,  and  Caithness,  that 
his  most  enduring  work  was  done.  He  concen- 
trated his  attention  on  the  district  between  S. 
Ninian's  Edderton,  the  original  Celtic  Abbey  of 
Fearn,  and  S.  Ninian's  foundation  at  Wick.  He 
established  a  muinntir  at  Dornoch  where,  in 
course  of  time,  the  Roman  Church  placed  the 
seat  of  the  bishops  of  Caithness,  after  failure  at 
Halkirk.  He  planted  a  Church  at  Geanies  in 
Easter  Ross,  known  as  S.  Finbar's  Chapel,  and 
among  other  Church-sites  that  bore  his  name, 
one  was  at  Berriedale  ('Barudal'),  about  eight 
miles  beyond  S.  Ninian's  at  Navidale,  Helms- 
dale. In  the  Roman  Catholic  period  an  attempt 
was  made  to  supersede  S.  Finbar's  foundation 
at  Dornoch  by  a  dedication  to  SS.  Mary  and 
Gilbert;  but  the  parishioners  refused  to  follow 

131 


THE  PlL.i IbH  NATION 

the  clergy.  The  people  of  the  diocese  of  Caith- 
ness persisted  in  their  veneration  for  the  saint 
of  the  older  Church,  and  until  recent  times  S. 
Finbar  was  as  much  honoured  in  Caithness  as  in 
Ulster.  S.  Finbar  became  the  neighbour  and 
intimate  friend  of  his  distinguished  fellow-Pict 
S.  Comgall  the  Great  of  Bangor;  and  it  was  un- 
doubtedly through  S.  Finbar's  practical  acquaint- 
ance with  Pictland  of  Alba,  and  by  his  inspir- 
ation, that  S.  Comgall  was  moved  to  use  the  inex- 
haustible resources  of  his  community  at  Bangor 
to  feed  the  needs  of  the  growing  Church  of  the 
Picts,  at  that  time  becoming  isolated  more  or 
less  from  Candida  Casa  by  the  incursions  of  the 
pagan  Angles  into  south  western  Alba. 

Contemporary  with  S.  Finbar  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  sixth  century  was  S.  Drust,  Trust, 
or  Drostan,*  of  Deer,  in  Aberdeenshire.  He  is 
referred  to  by  Angus  the  Culdee  as '  Trustus  cona 
thriur,' \h^t  is  'Drostan  with  his  three'  disciples, 
who  wereSS.CoLM|orCoLMAN,MEDAN,  and  Fer- 
gus. J  S.  Drostan's  exact  dates  have  not  been  pre- 
served, but  his  period  is  clearly  established  by 
certain  definite  particulars  about  him.  He  was  a 


•  The  initial  letter  of  the  name  is  T'in  some  of  the  old  documents,  and 
in  some  districts  the  name  is  pronounced  as  if  written  with  initial  T. 

t  Referred  to  by  some  authorities  as  'Colm,  bishop'  in  the  Orkneys, 
to  which  islands  his  labours  extended. 

t  He  lived  '  in  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  age, '  we  are  told.  That  is,  the 
beginning  of  the  sixth  century.  Not  to  be  confused  with  Fergus,  a  Gaidh- 
eal  who  conformed  to  Rome  c.  a.d,  717. 

132 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

Briton.  His  father  was  prince  of  Demetia*  (the 
DemStae),  now  part  of  South  Wales.  The  saint 
was  an  elder  brother  of  the  mother  of  Aedhan 
'the  false.'  When  Aedhan  had  proved  himself 
a  military  leader  of  ability,  S.  Columba  of  lona 
ordained  him  king  of  the  Dalriad  Scots  or  Gaidh- 
eals,  against  the  wishes  of  many  of  the  people,  in 
spite  of  the  rights  of  Duncan  (Donnchadh),  son 
of  the  previous  king,  and  in  defiance  of  Scotic 
law.  Aedhan  behaved  treacherously  to  the  Brit- 
ons, hence  the  epithet  by  which  he  is  known,  and 
he  became  the  steady  foe  of  the  Picts  of  Alba. 
The  Buchan  authorities  give  S.  Drostan's  date 
as  c.  A.D.  500,  and  the  date  of  his  fellow-worker 
S.  Fergus  is  given  in  the  View  of  the  Diocese  of 
Aberdeen  as  'the  beginning  of  the  sixth  age,'  c. 
A.D.520.  Sofar  it  has  not  been  discovered  at  what 
British  or  Pictish  school  S.  Drostan  was  trained. 
All  that  is  authentic  is  that  he  came  off  the  sea 
with  his  disciples,  landed  at  Aberdour  in  Aber- 
deenshire, and  after  a  time  went  inland  and  settled 
with  his  muinntir  at  Deer  under  the  sanction  of 
Bede.j  who  was  then  Pictish  mormaor  of  Buchan. 
Bede  had  at  first  been  hostile  to  the  saint's  settle- 
ment. Centuries  after  S.  Drostan's  time,  during 
the  Gaidhealic  ascendencyinPictland,the  names 
of  SS.  Drostan,  Colm,  and  Fergus  were  removed 

*  Now  Dyfed.    In  Monmouthshire  there  was  a  Llan-Trostroc,  now 
'Trosdre.' 

\  Book  of  Deer,  fol.  3,  first  side,  mid. 

^11 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

from  their  proper  historical  setting,  and  woven 
into  legends  intended  to  create  a  belief  in  the 
priority  of  the  Roman  mission  in  Pictland,  and  to 
support  the  romanized  Gaidheals  in  the  usurp- 
ation of  the  property  of  the  old  Pictish  Church.  In 
the  famous  legend,*  entered  in  the  Book  of  Deer 
by  an  eleventh-century  Gaidhealic  hand,  S.Colm 
is  boldly  transformed  into  S.  Columba  (Colum- 
cille)  the  Gaidheal;  and  S.  Drostan  the  Briton, 
and  head  of  a  mission  in  Pictland,  is  subordin- 
ated to  him.  The  reckless  fabulist  was  probably 
unaware  that  S.  Drostan  laboured  in  Buchan 
before  S.  Columba  began  his  work  even  in  Ire- 
land, that  in  S.  Columba's  time  the  Gaidheals  re- 
garded the  Picts  as  implacable  foes,  and  were 
meditating  to  get  back  the  parts  of  Dalriada  out 
of  which  they  had  been  hunted  by  the  Pictish 
sovereign,  and  that,  to  this  end,  S.  Columba  had 
ordained  to  the  Gaidhealic  or  Scotic  throne  of 
Dalriada,  Aedhan,  the  arch-enemy  of  the  Picts, 
and  the  man  who  betrayed  the  very  Britons  who 
had  helped  him  to  repair  his  broken  fortunes  when 
he  was  a  wanderer  from  his  own  people.  Another 
legend,  the  Legend  of  Fergusianus,\  gives  the 
credit  of  the  missionary  work  of  S.  Fergus  of 
Buchan  and  Caithness  to  a  certain  romanized 
Celt  of  late  date  bearing  the  same  name.  The 
object  of  this  fabulist  was  evidently  to  make  it 

*  Book  of  Deer,  first  entry  by  Scribe  I. 
t  Cf.  Skene's  Celtic  Scotland,  book  ii.  chap.  vi.  p.  232. 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

appear  that  the  beginnings  oi the  lioman  mission 
in  Pictland  were  much  earlier  than  was  actually 
the  case.  S.  Drostan  and  his  fellow-workers  in- 
creased the  churches  on  the  south  of  the  Moray 
Firth,  and  afterwards  crossed  the  Firth  to  Caith- 
ness and  the  Orkneys,  where  they  brought  many 
outlying  Pictish  tribes  under  the  influence  of  the 
Gospel.  South  of  the  Moray  Firth  the  following 
ancient  Church-sites  represent  S.Drostan's foun- 
dations: Aberdour  in  Buchan;  the  site  of  the 
muinntir  of  Deer*  in  Buchan ;  the  Church-sites 
at  Insch  in  the  Garioch,  at  Rothiemay  on  the 
Deveron,at  Aberlour  on  Spey,  at  Alvie  on  Spey, 
at  Glen  Urquhart,  where  SS.NinianandErchard 
had  previously  prepared  a  way  for  the  Church. 
S.  Colm's  foundations  are  at  Inzie  Head,  Lon- 
may;  Alvah  on  the  Deveron;  Oyne;  Daviot,  Aber 
deenshire ;  Belhelvie ;  f  and  Birse  on  the  Dee, 
Aberdeenshire.  S.  Medan's  foundations  are  at 
Fhilorth,  near  Faithlie  ( Fraserburgh),  with  which 
was  connected  the  site  occupied  by  a  muinntir, 
and  now  called  'the  College,'  at  'Achyseipel,' 
Field  of  the  Chapel,  Fingask,  near  Fraserburgh. 
Also  the  chapel-site,  Pitmedan  of  Udny.  S.  Fer- 
gus's sites  are  at  Kirktonhead,  formerly  Lung- 

*  From  this  community,  at  a  later  period,  the  community  of  'Tur- 
bhruad,'  now  Turriff,  was  organized.  When  S.  Comgan  (brother  of  S. 
Kentigerna,  and  uncle  of  S.  Fillan,  arrived  at  Turriff,  he  became  Ab  of 
the  community.  This  was  some  years  before  a.d.  734,  the  year  of  S. 
Kentigerna's  death. 

f  That  is,  Bal-Cholume,  Monycabo. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

ley,  described  in  documents  as  'near  Inverugie.' 
The  following  are  the  Church-sites  of  S.  Dros- 
tan  and  his  fellow-workers  in  Caithness,  across 
the  Moray  Firth  from  Buchan.  S.Drostan's  found- 
ations are  Kirk  o'  'Tear,'*  that  is  the  Caithness 
pronunciation  of  'Deer.'   The  saint  carried  the 
name  of  his  Buchan  muinntir  into  this  new  field. 
Also  'S.  Drostan's,'  the  site  of  the  Church  of 
Canisbay;  'S.  Drostan's,'  Church-site  at  Brab- 
stermire;  S.  Drostan's,  'Trothan's,'  Castletown 
ofOlrig;  a  Church-site  and  churchyard  at  Wester- 
dale  on  the  Thurso  river;  and  the  Church-site  and 
churchyard  at  'S.  Trostan's,'  Westfield,  Caith- 
ness.   S.  Colm's  foundations  are  at  the  sand- 
buried  township  of  Old  Tain,  Caithness,  and  at 
Hoy,  Orkney. I    S.  Medan's  foundations  are  at 
Freswick  and  'Bower-Madan,'  that  is,  House  of 
Medan.   This  name  is  regarded  as  the  Viking 
equivalent  of  the  earlier  Both-Medan.  Found- 
ations of  S.Fergus  are  at  Wick,  where  his  church, 
after  the  town  had  extended  in  that  direction, 
superseded  the  earlier  foundation  of  S.  Ninian 
at  'the  Head';  and  at  Halkirk  (High  Church), 
which,  in  later  centuries,  became  the  first  seat  of 

*  The  D  of  Drostan  and  of  Deer  became  a  7"  in  this  part  of  Pictland. 
Mr.  Mackay,  of  Westerdale,  recovered  the  charter  which  disclosed  the  ori- 
ginal name  of  this  church,  and  also,  that  into  the  Roman  Catholic  period 
the  Abbot  of  Deer  still  held  its  lands.  A  popular  legend  turned  the  name 
into  'Kirk  of  Tears,'  and  connected  it  with  a  celebration  of  Innocents' 
Day,  which  was  really  a  celebration  of  S.  Drostan's  Day,  Old  Style. 

t  Camerarius,  founding  on  an  authority  no  longer  available,  refers  to 
him  as  '  bishop,'  and  states  that  he  laboured  throughout  Orkney. 

136 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

the  Roman  Catholic  bishops  of  Caithness. 

While  S,  Drostan  and 'his  three 'were  extend- 
ing the  Church  in  the  northern  parts  of  Pictland 
of  Alba,  other  Britons,  and  certain  I  rish  Picts  were 
maintaining  a  ministry  in  the  southern  parts,  or 
in  the  Brito-Pictish  border  districts.  The  names 
of  many  of  these  workers  have  been  forgotten 
within  a  comparatively  recent  period.  Some 
names  have  been  corrupted  beyond  identification 
by  foreign  scribes  of  charters.  Other  names,  how- 
ever, still  associated  with  ancient  Church  found- 
ations in  the  south  are  noteworthy.  For  example, 
Mochaoi  or  Mochai,  Kessoc,  Cadoc,  Gildas, 
Dewi  (David),  Machan,  Llolan,  and  Brioc.  Re- 
membering the  canon  of  Celtic  Church  history, 
that  the  early  Celts  gave  to  a  Church  the  name  of 
its  actual  founder  and  did  not  dedicate,  the  affili- 
ation of  ancient  Church-sites  to  these  men  is  a 
guarantee,  apart  from  any  records,  of  personal 
work  at  the  site  in  time  bygone.  Moreover,  the 
locality  of  these  men's  activities  in  the  late  fifth 
or  the  early  sixth  century  shows  clearly  that  the 
historical  S.  Patrick's  denunciation  of  the  Picts 
as  'apostatae'*  was  either  an  embittered  cleric's 
wrathful  exaggeration,  or  a  reference  to  a  very 
local  declension  from  orthodox  ways. 

As  early  as  the  latter  half  of  the  fifth  century 
S.  Mochaoi  or  Mochai  had  taken  part  in  S.  Nin- 
ian's  evangelization  of  the  western  Britons  and 

*  In  the  Epistle  to  Coroticus. 

^Z1 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

the  Picts  to  the  north  of  them.  S.  Mochaoi  was 
an  Irish  Pict.  He  died  c.  a.d.  496.*  He  was  the 
son  of  Bronag,  daughter  of  Maelchon,  S.  Patrick's 
taskmaster.  It  is  not  told  where  he  was  trained; 
but  he  became  first  Ab  of  Aondruim  on  Mahee 
Island,  Strangford  Loch.  The  religious  com- 
munity at  Aondruim  worked  in  concert  with  the 
greater  community  organized  by  S.  Ninian  at 
Candida  Casa.  The  pupils  of  Aondruim  after  a 
certain  stage  of  progress  were  sent  to  Candida 
Casa  to  complete  their  training,  the  best-known 
example  being  S.  Finbar  of  Maghbile  and  Dor- 
noch. S.  Mochaoi's  foundations  in  Alba  are  still 
indicated  at  Kirkmahoe  f  in  Dumfriesshire, '  Kil- 
mahew' J  at  Cardross  in  Lennox,  and '  Kilmoha'§ 
on  the  western  shore  of  Loch  Awe  in  Argyll. 

This  field  as  opened  up  by  S.  Mochaoi  was 
effectively  occupied  in  the  early  years  of  the  sixth 
century  by  S.  Kessoc  or  Mokessog,  who  chris- 
tianized the  ancient  district  of  Lennox  while  its 
inhabitants  were  Brito-Pictish.  S.  Kessoc  was 
one  of  the  sons  of  the  ruler  of  Munster  who  had 
his  capital  at  Cashel.  He  was  educated  and  train- 
ed in  Munster,  throughout  which  S.  Ailbhe,  whose 

*  The  ylBKfl/jfl/'OTj-^^?- give  the  date  ofhis  death  as  493. 

t  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  superseded  this  Church  by  a  dedication 
to  S.  Quintin. 

X  This  Church  was  rebuilt  by  the  Roman  Catholics  in  1467.  The  re- 
built Church  was  dedicated  to  the  original  founder  '  S.  Mohew '  by  George, 
bishop  of  Argyll. 

§  See  Duke  of  Argyll's  paper  to  the  Scottish  Ecc.  Soc.  at  Glasgow,  25th 
Oct.  1915. 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

community  was  at  Imleach,  taught  under  the 
king's  protection.  The  date  of  S.  Kessoc's  ac- 
tivities is  given  as  from  c.  a.d.  520.*  This  is  con- 
firmed by  the  date  of  S,  Ailbhe's  death  which 
took  place  a.d,  526.f  The  following  historical 
items  are  all  more  or  less  related  to  one  another, 
and  to  S.  Kessoc's  work.  S.  Mochaoi  was  the 
first  Ab  of  the  community  of  Aondruim,  which 
was  one  of  the  earliest  religious  communities  in 
Ireland,  and  which  was  also  in  commun  ion  with  the 
greater  and  older  community  which  was  founded 
by  S.  Ninian  at  Candida  Casa.  Before  settling  at 
Aondruim  heconductedamission  which  extended 
from  the  Nith  into  Lennox  and  what  afterwards 
became  Argyll  while  these  two  last  districts  were 
Brito-Pictish.  Among  others  sent  to  occupy  the 
field  opened;'up  by  S.  Mochaoi,  S.  Kessoc  came  in 
the  course  of  a  few  years.  He  not  only  particip- 
ated in  religious  work  among  the  Britons  but 
completed  theconversion  of  the  Picts  of  Lennox. 
While  S.  Kessoc  was  gathering  converts  in  Len- 
nox two  other  missionaries  were  engaged  in  like 
work  on  the  borders  of  that  district.  One  was  S. 
Fillan  or  Faolan  who,  as  we  have  noticed,  was  a 
member  of  the  royal  family  of  Munster,  like  S. 
Kessoc  himself,  and  so  related  to  him ;  and  both 
S.  Fillan  and  S.  Kessoc  had  been  attracted  to  re- 

*  A  Scottish  Kalendar  puts  his  death  40  years  later, 
t  Annals  of  Ulster  and  Innisfallen  quoted  by  Ussher.  The  Chronicum 
Scotorum  enters  the  'rest'  of  Ailbhe  at  531. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

ligious  work  through  the  efforts  of  the  mission 
composed  of  Irish  Picts  which  S.  Ailbhe  led  into 
Munster,  and  which  he  established  there  by  the 
goodwill  of  the  king.  The  other  missionary  was 
S.  Colm  or  Colman  or  Colmoc,  first  of  Inchma- 
holm  in  Menteith,  and  afterwards  of  Dromore  in 
Ulster,  like  S.  Ailbhe,  an  Irish  Pict.  S.  Ailbhe, 
who  had  a  working  intercourse  with  both  Can- 
dida Casa  and  Aondruim,  selected  S.  Colm  from 
the  latter  community  while  S.  Caolan,  S.  Moch- 
aoi's  successor,  was  Ab,to  accompany  himself  and 
his  Pictish  fellow- workers  in  the  mission  which 
resulted  in  the  conversion  of  Munster.  When  S. 
Ailbhe  was  inhibited  from  going  to  Alba  by  the 
king  of  Munster,  SS.  Fillan  and  Colm  were  mem- 
bers of  the  missionary  band,  as  we  have  already 
noted,  who  went  in  his  stead.  It  is  evident  that 
S.  Kessoc  also  went  with  them,  or  joined  them 
later,  because  we  find  one  Church-site  bearing  S. 
Kessoc's  name  at  Comrie  near  S.  Fillan  s  head- 
quarters, and  another  at  Callander  *  near  S.  Colm's 
headquarters.  S*  Colm  was  Ab  and  bishop,  S. 
Fillan  an  Ab,  S.  Kessoc  an  Ab  and  bishop.  Church- 
sites  bearing  S.  Kessoc's  name,  besides  those 
mentioned,  are,  or  were,  at  Auchterarder,  at  Luss, 
at  'Bal-mokessaik,'S.  Kessoc's  town,  on  the  lands 
of  Ardstinchar  in  Carrick,  and ' Kessoktoun'  in  the 
old  parish  of  'Senwick'  now  merged  in  Borgue, 

*  The  traditional  site  is  '  Tom-na-Kessoc. '  The  chief  local  fair  was  the 
'Feil  Kessoc' 

140 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

Galloway.  S.  Kessoc's  muinntiryfas  accommod- 
ated on  ^Innis  na  mhannock'  in  Loch  Lomond. 
There  is  a  Lennox  tradition  that  the  saint  was 
buried*  in  Carn-mokessoc  at  Bandry,  Luss,  in 
Lennox.    S.  Kessoc  was  venerated  as  a  martyr 
by  the  people,  although  martyrs  were  most  rare 
in  early  times  among  the  Celtic  saints  of  Alba. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  this  veneration  had  a  hist- 
orical foundation;  and  there  is  something  sus- 
picious in  the  fact  that  the  details  of  his  martyr- 
dom have  not  been  preserved.  From  an  early 
period  S.  Kessoc  was  honoured  as  the  soldier's 
saint.   His  name  was  a  rallying  cry  in  battle.   In 
old  sketches  he  is  depicted  as  a  soldier  with  his 
bow  and  arrow  at  'the  ready.'  All  that  is  known 
about  him  in  this  connection  is  that  the  saint  was 
a  soldier-prince  before  he  became  a  missionary. 
A  biographical  fragment  states  that  he  died  among 
aliens,  and  that  his  body  was  carried  to  Luss  for 
burial.  The  traditional  year  of  his  death  is  a.  d.  5  60. 
It  illuminates  this  occurrence  to  remember  that 
the  year  560  was  the  one  in  which  Brude  Mac 
Maelchon,  sovereign  of  Pictland,  began  the  war 
which  ended  in  the  great  drive,  'inmirge,'{n  which 
the  Gaidheals  or  Scots,  who  had  begun  to  intrude 
toofarintoPictland,wereexpelledfromthePictish 
dominions,  except  a  broken  remnant  which  was 
shut  up  in  Cantyre.  S.  Kessoc's  mission-area  was 
partly  involved  in  this  drive;  and  it  is  known  that 

*  His  day  is  lOth  March. 

141 


THE  PlunSH  NAliON 

the  region  of  his  headquarters  was  devastated  by 
the  embittered  fugitives,  anticipating  the  ven- 
geance which  twenty  odd  years  later  Aedhan  'the 
false'  was  to  exact  from  that  same  district,  after 
S.  Columba  had  ordained  him  head  of  the  Gaidh- 
eals  or  Scots.  It  is  more  than  likely  that  in  king 
Brude'swar  topreservethe independence  of  Pict- 
land,  which  incidentally  included  the  independ- 
ence of  the  Pictish  Church,  S.  Kessoc  laid  aside 
his  staff  and  resumed  the  weapons  of  his  youth, 
took  part  in  the  struggle,  and  fell  in  the  territory 
of  Dalriada  from  whence  his  body  was  returned 
to  Luss.  The  Gaidheals,  or  Scots,  who  supplied 
almost  the  sole  editors  of  our  earliest  records, 
would  naturally  take  care  that  the  details  of  such 
a  martyrdom  did  not  filter  through  to  history; 
although  popular  tradition,  as  in  other  instances, 
could  not  be  silenced.  It  was  in  no  inconspicuous 
military  enterprise  that  S.  Kessoc  fell;  and  it  must 
have  been  in  a  cause  regarded  as  sacred  and  na- 
tional before  the  descendants  of  the  Brito-Pictish 
tribes  in  the  Clyde  area  would  have  persisted  in 
remembering  him  as  the  only  soldier-saint  and 
soldier-martyr  in  our  history. 

S.  Cadoc,  who  also  laboured  in  the  Brito- 
Pictish  borderland,  was  a  Briton;  and  he  falls  into 
direct  succession  to  S.  Ninian,  S.  Caranoc  the 
Great,  Paul  H^n,  the  historic  S.  Servanus,  and 
S.  Drostan.  Only  a  few  historical  facts  about  S. 
Cadoc  are  recoverable.  The  versions  substituted 
142 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

for  the  Old  Life  by  the  mediaeval  Latin  fabulists 
are  shameless  perversions*  of  the  original.  S. 
Cadoc  was  active  in  maintainingS.  Ninian'swork 
among  the  Strathclyde  Britons  in  the  first  half 
of  the  sixth  century.  The  authorities  who  give 
the  approximate  time  of  his  death  as  c.  a.d.  57of 
are  correct.  This  is  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  S. 
Cadoc  was  a  great-grandson  of  that  Brychan  of 
South  Wales, who  was  grandfather  to  S.  Drostan 
of  Buchan  and  Caithness.  S.  Cadoc  was  baptized 
by  S.  Tathan  of  Bangor,  Caer  Went  (Benevent- 
um),  where  he  received  the  first  part  of  his  educ- 
ation. S.  Cadoc's  muinntir  contained  twenty- 
four  disciples.  For  seven  yearsj  he  lived  with 
his  disciples  near  the  mount  called  'Bannauc'  in 
what  afterwards  became  Scotland.  'Bannauc'  is 
an  attempt  to  give  the  genitive  case  oi  Manach% 
representing  the  earlier  Britonic  Mynach.  The 

*  S.  Cadoc'sheadquartersinhislaterdayswereatLlancarvanin Glamor- 
gan. This  place  was  not  far  from  the  market-town  called  ' Beneventum' 
which  had  been  named  originally  by  the  Imperial  Roman  garrison.  This 
town  has  been  identified  with  Venta  of  the  Silures  (Caer  Went),  S.  Tathan's, 
In  the  Old  Life  it  was  said  that  S.  Cadoc  was  in  the  habit  of  visiting  Bene- 
ventum. The  fabulists  turned  this  into  Benevento  in  Italy.  They  next 
invented  a  story  of  miraculous  flights  on  a  cloud  from  Llancarvan  to 
Italy.  This  gave  opportunity  for  a  visit  to  the  Pope  and  favours  from  the 
See  of  Peter  which  the  historical  S.  Cadoc  neither  sought  nor  received. 
Other  hands  represented  him  as  bishop  of  the  Italian  Benevento,  and  con- 
fiised  him  with  a  Continental  bishop  who  bore  a  slightly  similar  name. 

t  Ferrarius  was  misled  by  the  fabulists  into  putting  his  death  a  century 
earlier.  The  object  of  this  ante-dating  was  to  give  an  earlier  date  to  the 
Roman  mission  in  Britain, 

%  V.  S.  Cadoci,  c.  22,  and  Rees'  Lives,  p.  57.  Brychan  died  c.  450. 

§  That  is  Mhannaich,  pronounced  Vannach. 


THE  PICTIHhNATION 

place  indicated  is  now  Carmunnock  on  the  Cath- 
kin  hills  near  Glasgow.  The  elements  of  this 
name  are  Caer  and  Mynach  ;  and  the  complete 
name  means  Monk's  'City.'  S,  Cadoc's  Life  in- 
forms us  that  his  settlements  were  fortified  Gz^yj. 
A  Church-site  representing  a  foundation  of  S. 
Cadoc  was  at  Cambuslang,  also  near  Glasgow. 
After  he  had  completed  seven  years  of  mission- 
work  in  Alba,  S.  Cadoc  organized  a  nesnmuinntir 
with  which  he  settled  at '  Nantcarvan'  now  Llan- 
carvan.*  This  place  is  in  Glamorgan  ;  and  not 
far  away  was  a  market-town  used  in  the  days  of 
the  Roman  occupation  by  the  Imperial  garrison, 
and  called  by  the  soldiers  'Beneventum,' Good- 
market.  Beneventum  is  identified  as  Caer  Went 
in  Monmouthshire.  In  this  market-town  also,  S. 
Cadoc  had  some  spiritual  responsibility  which 
has  not  been  particularized;  but  it  is  known  that 
there  he  was  taught,  baptized,  and  partly  trained 
at  'C6r  Tathan,'  that  is,  'Bangor  Tathan.'  Prob- 
ably it  was  indicated  in  the  Old  Life  that  at 
S.  Tathan's  death  S.  Cadoc  assumed  responsi- 
bility for  his  work;  because  the  fabulists  call 
him  '  bishop  of  (at)  Beneventum.'  At  Llancar- 
van  S.  Cadoc  successfully  established  a  great 
Christian  training  centre.  From  particulars  that 
have  come  down,  it  was  organized  like  Candida 
Casa.  There  was  a  Church,  education  was  ar- 

*  This  form  of  the  name  may  be  due  to  a  Church  of  'Gnavan,'  pro- 
nounced Gravan.  He  is  one  of  the  recorded  disciples  of  S.  Cadoc. 

144 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

ranged  for  the  people  and  for  those  intending 
the  ministry,  and  provision  was  organized  for 
the  poor.  Llancarvan  was  one  of  the  Bangors  of 
the  Britons,  and  was  known,  for  a  time,  as  'Ban- 
gor Catog.'  S.  Cadoc  was  martyred  by  Saxons 
at  Beneventum,  South  Wales,  c.  a.d.  570,  and  his 
work  was  continued  by  his  disciple  S. '  EUi,'  who 
succeeded  him  as  Ab. 

S.  Machan  was  one  of  S.  Cadoc's  workers  in 
Alba.*  Judging  from  the  number  of  his  own 
foundations  he  was  evidently  one  of  those  left 
to  carry  on  the  work  when  S.  Cadoc  departed  for 
South  Wales.  S.  Machan  is  not  only  a  link  with 
S.  Cadoc  but  a  link  with  the  historical  Servanus. 
One  of  his  foundations  was  at  Dalserf  on  the 
Clyde,  a  parish  which  has  resumed  the  name  which 
indicates  its  first  missionary,  S.  Serf  or  Servanus, 
although  it  had  been  known  for  many  years  as 
Machan -shire.  Another  foundation  is  Eccles- 
Machan  in  Linlithgowshire,  near  to  Abercorn 
where  there  used  to  be  a  Church-foundation  and 
Fair  of  S.  Servanus.  This  and  many  other  ex- 
amples show  how  the  supply  of  ministers  among 
the  Britons  was  not  allowed  to  fail.  The  muinntir 
of  an  Ab  existed  not  only  for  its  own  president 
and  for  itself;  but  for  supply  of  a  ministry  to 
Churches  founded  before  its  time.  S.  Machan  is 
another  saint  who  carried  his  work  into  Lennox 
insupportof  the  Churches  already  founded  there. 

*  O'Hanlon  and  his  authorities. 

L  145 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

The  Church  of  Campsie  is  one  of  his  Lennox 
foundations ;  and  there  is  an  age-long  tradition 
that  he  was  buried  there,*  He  died  in  the  sixth 
century;  but  the  yearof  hisde^thisnowunknown. 
Adam  King  following  the  practice  of  the  Gaidh- 
ealic  or  Scotic  editors  seeks  to  date  him  by  a 
Scotic  king  whom  he  calls 'Donalde';  but  Domh- 
nall,  prince  of  Dalriada.whowasS.  Machan's  con- 
temporary, never  ascended  any  throne,  not  even 
in  Dalriada;  and  S.  Machan  did  not  labour  in 
Dalriada  but  among  the  Strathclyde  Britons  and 
among  the  Picts.  This  practice  of  dating  British 
and  Pictish  men  and  events  of  note  by  the  reigns 
of  Dalriad  kings  or  their  sons,  who  were  only  local 
chiefs,  was  a  device  of  the  Gaidhealic  or  Scotic 
editors  and  annalists  to  create  a  belief  among  the 
ignorant  of  the  middle  ages  that  the  Gaidhealic 
or  Scotic  ascendency  in  Alba  began  centuries 
before  the  accession  of  Kenneth  Mac  Alpin,  a.d. 
842,  to  the  Pictish  throne. 

S.  GiLDAS,  the  Briton,  was  born  in  a.d.  5i6| 

*  The  writer  of  Origines  Parochiales  was  misinformed  about  a  'dedic- 
ation' to  S.  Machan  in  'Clyne.'  Clyne  was  probably  read  for  Clyde.  In 
the  Roman  Catholic  period  an  altar  was  dedicated  to  S.  Machan  in  Glas- 
gow Cathedral.  S.  Machan's  day  is  the  28th  of  September. 

t  As  he  himself  informs  us 'in  the  year  of  the  battleofBadon,'  516  is 
the  date  in  the  Annates  Cambriae.  See  also  Skene,  Chronicles  P.  andS. 
p.  14. 

The  original  Lives  of  Gildas  were  by  S.  Caradoc  and  an  unknown 
author  who  lived  in  the  monastery  of  Rhuys  in  the  later  diocese  of  Vannes, 
Brittany. 

Bede  gives  the  approximate  date  of  Badon  in  the  last  decade  of  the  fifth 
century.  Mommsen,  Zimmer  and  other  Germans  give  c.  504  to  fit  in  with 

146 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

at  Dunbarton,  the  capital  of  Lennox,  when  the 
city  was  still  the  capital  of  the  Britons  of  Clyde 
and  called  '  Alcluyd.'  For  part  of  his  life,  he  was 
a  fellow-worker  with  S.  Cadoc  who  laboured  in 
the  Clyde  district,  as  we  have  seen.  He  departed 
with  S.  Cadoc  when  the  latter  returned  to  the 
territories  of  the  southern  Britons ;  and  for  a 
short  time  he  taught  in  one  of  S.  Cadoc's  schools 
at  Llancarvan.  He  transcribed  a  famous  manu- 
script of  the  Gospels  which  was  kept  in  a  case 
bound  with  gold  and  ornamented  with  gems. 
Caradoc  saw  this  manuscript  at  Llancarvan  in 
the  twelfth  century.  S.  Gildas  came  to  be  known 
as  'Badonicus,'  to  distinguish  him  from  others 
bearing  the  same  name  but  belonging  to  later 
times,  because  the  battle  of  BadonHill*  in  which 
king  Arthur  led  the  victorious  Britons  was  fought 
in  the  year  of  his  birth.  Being  a  Briton  of  Alba, 
he  was  also  known  on  the  Continent  as  Gildas 
'  Albanius.'  f  Latin  andGaidhealic  scribes  of  the 
middle  ages  have  mangled  the  names  connected 
with  Gildas  almost  beyond  recognition.  How- 
ever, this  is  certain,  that  while  Gildas  was  still 

certain  speculations.  Unless  the  date  516  in  the  Annales  Cambriae  can 
be  proved  to  be  a  scribe's  error  for  506  the  date  516  should  stand. 

*  Skene  locates  Badon  Hill  at  Bowden  Hill  between  Stirling  and 
Edinburgh.  Arthur's  Warriors  were  'Gwyr  y  Gogledd' — men  of  the 
North. 

t  The  Gaidheals  or  Scots  in  later  times  considered  themselves  'Alban- 
aich.'  On  the  strength  of  this  surname  the  Gaidhealic  fabulists  of  the 
middle  ages  appropriated  Gildas  the  Briton  and  presented  him  as  a  Gaidh- 
eal  or  Scot. 

147 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

alive,  the  chiefs  of  the  Britons  of  the  North  and 
their  allies  who  steadily  resisted  the  encroach- 
ment of  the  Angles  under  Hussa,  from  A.D.567on- 
wards,were  Morcant; Gua/lauc;U rhgen{\Jnen), 
S.  Kentigern's  paternal  grandfather;  and  Rhyd- 
derch,*  who  became  King-paramount  of  Strath- 
clyde  and  S.  Kentigern's  protector, 

S.  Gildas  was  the  son  of  a  chief  of  the  Britons, 
and  his  eldest  brother  was  one  of  their  military 
leaders.  This  brother's  name  was  Hywel,  latin- 
ized as  'Howelus'f  and  'Cuillus.'J  Manifestly 
he  is  the  same  as  Rhydderch's  ally  {G)uall  or 
(G)uall-auc§  who  helped  to  lead  the  Britons 
against  Hussa  the  Angle,  as  is  told  by  one  of  the 
contributors  ioNennius.  The  name  of  the  father 
of  Gildas  is  given  as  'Nau'||  by  S.  Caradoc  which 
agrees  with  the  name  of  the  father  of  Hywel  or 
'Guallauc'whichis  given  in  Nennius  as '  Laenauc,' 
that  is,  Lae-Nau-oc.  The  latter  was  of  the  race 
of  Hywel,  or  'Coyl  h6n,'  the  old.  S.  Gildas  had  a 
younger  brother  called '  S.  M  ael-oc'  H  e  followed 
the  example  of  Gildas  and  became  a  cleric.  H  e  or- 
ganized a  muinntir  in  the  district  called  '  Luihes' 
or  'Leuihes,'  evidently  an  attempt  to  reproduce 

*  See  Additions  to  Historia  Britonum. 

t  ByJohnofTeignmouth. 

\  By  the  Monk  of  Rhuys. 

§  Cf.  Skene,  Chronicles  P.  andS.  pp.  12,  16.  Compare  the  other  royal 
name  'Gust'  which  was  written  '  Uist.' 

II  John  Bale  ( 149 5-1 563)  latinizes  it  as '  Nauus, '  and  designates  him '  rex 
Pictorum.'  Considering  that  he  reigned  in  ancient  Lennox,  his  subjects 
would  be  part  Britons  and  part  Picts, 

148 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

the  Britonic  name  of  his  native  Lennox.  U  in 
Brito-Pictish  names  sometimes  represents  F.* 
The  root  of  the  district  name  is  in  the  name  of  its 
river, '  Leven.'  The  latest  hand  in  the  Annals  of 
Ulster  called  the  province  'Lemhnach'  (Lev- 
nach);  and  the  Scottish  barons  in  their  letter  to 
the  Pope  call  it  'Leuenax.'  It  is  of  some  import- 
ance to  be  sure  of  Maeloc's  field  of  work;  because 
he  sometimes  occupied  a  'retreat'  in  it,  near  the 
township  called  'El-mael'or  'Almail.'  In  other 
words.part  of  M  aeloc's  establishment  was  a  'disert ' 
such  as  was  possessed  by  the  historic  S.  Serf  or 
S.  Servanus  who  laboured  in  Alcluyd  or  Dun- 
barton,  in  Maeloc's  time,  and  who  extended  his 
activities  to  another  'Leven'  in  Fife.  On  the 
northern  border  of  ancient  Lennox  is  Dal-Mally, 
the  original  name  of  which  is '  Dysart.'  | 

S.  Gildas  himself  preached  the  Gospel  among 
the  Britons,  according  to  the  biographer  of  Rhuys, 
'  in  the  northern  part '  of  their  country ,  which  would 
point  to  his  labours  with  S.  Cadoc  inStrathclyde. 
As  we  have  seen,  he  went  with  S.  Cadoc  to  Llan- 
carvan.  In  this  locality  these  two  saints  also 
possessed  retreats  or  disert s  at  'Ronech'  and 
'Echni,  'now  Barry  Isle  and  the  Flat  Holm  J  in 
the  Bristol  Channel.  When  S.  Gildas  was  about 

*  For  example,  Uip  for  Veip. 

t  An  ancient  Church-foundation  called  'Kilmalyn,'  1296,  and  'Kil- 
male,'  1 532,  is  Kilmallie,  Fort  William.  The  diminutive  -an  instead  of  -oc 
would  give  'Kilmalyn.' 

I  Identified  by  Rees. 

149 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

thirty  years  of  age,*  that  is  about  a.d,  546,  Saxon 
raiders  burst  in  among  the  South  Britons  and 
'devastated  and  profaned 'f  their  provinces  and 
Churches.  Hundreds  of  Britons  fled  to  the  sea- 
coasts  and  took  ship  to  their  fellow-Celts  in 
Armorica.  SS.  Cadoc  and  Gildas  joined  in  the 
flight.  J  During  his  exile,  S.  Cadoc  organized 
another  religious  community,  and  settled  on  an 
islet,  in  what  afterwards  came  to  be  called  the 
'Morbihan'  or  Big  Bay.  Chastelain  states  that 
the  isle  became  known  as  Innis  Caidoc.  S.  Cadoc 
did  not  lose  touch  with  the  remnant  that  had 
rallied  at  his  headquarters  among  the  Britons  of 
South  Wales.  After  a  period  in  Brittany  he  re- 
visited Llancarvan;  but,  during  a  raid,  he  was 
seized  by  the  pagan  Saxons,  and  martyred  at 


*  According  to  the  biographer  of  Rhuys. 

t  According  to  Caradoc. 

%  M.  le  Moyne  de  la  Borderie  has  been  criticized  for  his  statement  that 
fugitive  Britons  began  to  seek  an  asylum  in  Armorica  or  Brittany  after  the 
Saxon  victory  at  Crayford  in  457.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  many  Britons 
sought  refuge  in  Brittany  in  the  early  sixth  century.  Wurdestan,  who  wrote 
before  a.d.  884,  confirms  this  as  well  as  Caradoc.  Gildas  is  quite  clear  on 
the  matter.  Writing  f.  557,  he  states  that  part  of  the  Britons  perished  by  the 
sword  or  famine,  some  gave  themselves  up  to  be  slaves  to  the  Saxons;  and 
some  'passed  beyond  the  sea.'  Armorica  received  many  detachments  of 
Britons  from  Alba  from  the  Romano-British  auxiliariesto  the  last  band  of 
fugitives  from  Saxon  brutality.  The  idea  of  certain  English  writers  that 
Brittany  was  celtiched  by  British  fugitives  from  Cornwall  and  the  west 
country  is  not  only  unhistorical  but  absurd.  Brittany  and  all  Gaul  was 
Celtic  before  the  Teutonic  barbarians  moved  west  in  A.  D.  406.  The  Celts 
among  whom  SS.  Cadoc  and  Gildas  and  their  fellow-fugitives  settled  had, 
owing  to  the  poverty  of  their  country,  been  saved  from  penetration  by  the 
Teutonic  hordes.  Moreover,  they  were  off  the  direct  line  of  the  barbaric 
migrations. 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

Beneventum  (Caer  Went)t.  a.d,  570.*  He  fore- 
saw his  fate  as  is  shown  by  his  saying,  'If  you 
wish  for  glory,  march,  faithful  to  death.'  S. 
Gildas,  his  fellow-worker,  remained  in  Brittany. 
Apart  from  the  dangers  of  Saxon  raids  in  the 
district  which  he  had  left  on  the  northern  shores 
of  the  Severn  estuary,  he  had  made  enemies  of 
the  petty  kings  of  the  Britons  by  his  fierce  de- 
nunciations in  his  tract  De  Excidio  Britanniae. 
After  the  departure  of  S.  Cadoc  for  Alba,  S. 
Gildas  retired  from  the  personal  control  of  his 
community  at  Rhuys,  and  settled  on  one  of  the 
Morbihan  islands  near  Innis  Caidoc.  The  name 
of  his  island  is  given  as'Horat'  and  '  Houat.'  He 
made  it  his  disert  or  retreat,  and  died  there  a.d. 

57o.t 

S.  Gildas|was  one  of  the  earliest  of  our  native 
writers  to  make  a  critical  review  of  historical 
events.    He  wrote  the  De  Excidio  Britanniae;^ 

*  Pitseus.  TheEnglishmartyrologistsante-datehismartyrdombyput- 
ting  it  about  the  year  of  his  birth;  and  they  shift  the  scene  of  his  martyrdom 
from  England  to  Benevento  in  Italy.  The  early  English  writers  appear  to 
have  had  no  desire  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  infamies  of  their  Saxon 
ancestors. 

t  Many  causes  that  needed  the  support  of  inventions  have  appropri- 
ated S.  Gildas  or  have  presented  garbled  versions  of  his  biographies  to  make 
it  appear  that  he  appropriated  them.  The  claims  of  Armagh  to  primacy 
and  to  be  the  chief  original  centre  of  Irish  Christianity;  the  pretensions  of 
Glastonbury  to  great  antiquity;  the  apologists  fortheAnglo-Saxon  brutal- 
ities to  the  Britons,  all  lurk  behind  the  falsifications  of  the  Lives  of  S.  Gildas. 

X  Several  works  have  been  wrongly  ascribed  to  Gildas.  His  name  was 
also  put  upon  the  title-page  of  manuscripts  penned  long  after  his  time. 

§  Printed  at  London  by  Polydore  Virgil,  1525.  Gildas  wrote  this  tract 
before  A.D.  560. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

and  certain  historical  fragments  are  ascribed  to 
him.  The  texts  which  we  now  possess  are  not 
entirely  ungarbled;  but  they  are  purer  than  the 
versions  of  some  manuscripts  much  younger.  S. 
Gildas,  judged  by  his  tract,  was  a  moody,  medita- 
tive Celt  who  sought  peace  and  pursued  it,  at  one 
time  on  the  banks  of  Clyde,  at  another  on  the 
holms  of  Severn,  and  at  still  another  on  the  is- 
lets of  the  Morbihan.  He  was  embittered  and 
disappointed  by  the  political  follies  of  the  tribal 
kings,  and  by  certain  sections  of  his  flighty, 
disunited,  wrangling  fellow- Britons.  His  fierce 
satire  was  lauded  by  the  Anglo-Saxons  after 
they  became  civilized;  and  frequently  it  was 
misquoted  or  emphasized  to  justify  their  own 
excesses  against  the  Britons;  although  these 
excesses  were  mainly  responsible  for  reviving 
among  the  Britons  the  spirit  of  destruction  and 
barbarism  which  Christianity  had  done  much  to 
lay.*  S.  Gildas,  contemplating  the  past,  had  a  de- 
cided conviction  of  the  political  shortsightedness 
of  Vortigern,  the  prince  of  a  British  tribe  which 
inhabited  what  is  now,  roughly,  central  England, 
who  about  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  invited 
the  Angles  and  Saxons  from  the  sea-swamps  of 
Friesland  and  the  Elbe  that  they  might  help  him 
to  crush  other  Brito-Pictish  tribes.  Brothers  and 

*  Bede  with  unconcealed  delight  suggests  that  the  Saxon  terror  was 
introduced  into  Britain  '  by  the  Lord's  will  that  evil  might  fall  on  them 
(the  Britons)  for  their  wicked  deeds. ' 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

cousins  of  the  first  guests  came  uninvited,  and 
turned  their  swords  against  their  hosts;  and  Gil- 
das,  reflecting  over  the  sufferings  of  the  Britons, 
writes  of  'the  Saxons,  of  execrable  name,  most 
ferocious  of  peoples,  filling  God  and  men  alike 
with  hate.'  Continuing  his  reflections,  Gildas 
appears  to  have  thought  that  the  Saxons  hav- 
ing been  allowed  to  settle,  the  British  Christians 
should  have  converted  them.  In  this  he  showed 
a  disposition  to  overrate  the  powers  of  Christ- 
ianity and  the  patience  of  his  fellow-countrymen. 
The  Saxons  gave  little  encouragement  to  the 
missionary  efforts  of  his  fellow- worker  S.  Cadoc, 
seeing  that  they  martyred  him.  Only  when  their 
lust  was  sated,  their  eyes  sick  of  the  sight  of 
blood,  and  their  homesteads  planted  on  the  best 
land  in  the  country,  did  the  Saxons  turn  their 
materialistic,  lumbering  minds  to  a  superstitious 
acceptance  of  the  Gospel.  Few  subjects  have  ever 
dealt  more  candidly  with  kings  than  Gildas  with 
the  kings  of  the  various  British  tribes.  He  de- 
mands that  Constantine,  king  of  the  Dumnonii,* 
'despising  the  vile  food  of  swine,'  should  return 
to  his  most  loving  Father.  He  was  very  severe 
towards  the  kings  in  whose  dominions  he  had 
lived.  He  charges  Vortipor,  king  of  the  Demg- 
tae,f  with  vice  and  cruelties;  and  exhorts  him  not 
to  be  'old  in  sin,'  not  to  spend  his  few  remaining 

*  In  the  district  now  Devon  and  Cornwall, 
t  In  what  is  now  S.  W.  Wales. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

days  in  vexing  God.  Maelgon  or  Maelgwyn,* 
whose  ancestral  dominions  were  near  the  home 
of  Gildas  at  Alcluyd,  he  denounces  with  a  vehe- 
mence that  seems  to  have  a  memory  of  personal 
suffering  behind  it.  The  saint  calls  this  king  'a 
monster'  who  had  deprived  other  kings  both  of 
their  territories  and  their  lives.  Whatever  the 
personal  feelings  of  Gildas,  he  succeeds  in  leav- 
ing the  impression  that  the  Britons,  disunited  by 
clan  jealousies  and  tribal  divisions,  and  ill  ruled 
by  their  incompetent  kings,  were  utterly  unfitted 
to  present  an  organized  and  sustained  resistance 
to  the  Teutonic  invaders. 

Alcuin  referred  to  Gildas  as  'the  wisest  of  the 
Britons,'  At  the  time  of  the  revival  of  learning 
on  the  Continent  of  Europe,  the  resurrection  of 

*  Maelgon  or  Maelgwyn  was  king  of  Czey»da!<j?('6%(;««<fe/«'and  Vene- 
dotia)  that  is  properly  what  is  now  North  Wales.  But  the  dominions  of 
his  ancestors  were  from  the  Forth  southwards,  through  whatis  now  central 
Scotland.  He  is  called  '  Magnus  Rex'  in  the  Historia  Britonum,  and  it  is 
evident  that  he  was  High-King  or  Sovereign  overlord  of  the  petty  Brito- 
Pictish  kings  a  long  way  north  of  North  Wales.  He  is  generally  referred 
to  as  a  king  of  the  Britons.  It  would  be  more  accurate  to  call  him  a 
Brito-Pictish  king.  He  was  descended  from  the  Pictish  kings  of  'Manau 
Guotodin,'  that  is  the  Otadinoi  of  the  Forth  area.  By  a  scribe's  error  in 
the  Annales  Cambriae  the  beginning  of  his  reign  in  Gwynedd  is  given  as 
the  end  at  547.  Bishop  Forbes,  Lives  of  Ninian  and  Kentigem,  p.  Ixx, 
says  547  '  was  in  reality  the  beginning  of  his  reign  and  he  was  alive  in  560 
when  Gildas  wrote.'  Maelgon  or  Maelgwyn,  as  the  late  Mr.  Nicholson  of 
the  Bodleian  pointed  out,  is  the  same  as  Maelchon  whose  son  Brude  Mac 
Maelchon  was  elected  sovereign  of  Pictland  and  who  reigned  there  as 
King-paramount  from  554  to  584. 

The  Historia  Britonum  indicates  that  Maelgwyn  was  contemporary 
with  Ida,  the  Angle,  who  reigned  over  an  eastern  section  of  England 
north  of  the  Humber  from  547  to  559.  On  authority  cited  by  Humphrey 
Lhuyd,  Maelgwyn  was  made  King-paramount  of  the  Britons  about  560, 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

the  De  Excidio,  and  the  part  oi  Nennius  ascribed 
to  Gildas,  evoked  surprised  admiration  at  the  en- 
lightenment of  the  Celtic  religious  communities 
in  Alba  from  the  end  of  the  fifth  century  onwards. 
The  scholar's  lamp  had  burned  in  Alba  and  Ire- 
land when  it  had  almost  flickered  out  elsewhere 
in  the  West.  Apart  from  what  he  learned  from 
S.Cadoc,  the  foundation  of  the  learning  of  Gildas 
was  laid  at  Candida  Casa.*  If,  as  is  indicated, 
he  went  there  in  his  boyhood  from  Dunbarton, 
when  Nennio  'the  little  monk  was  Ab,  one  of  his 
contemporaries,  as  senior  pupil  and,  later,  as  a 
master,  would  be  S .  Finbar  of  Maghbile  and  Dor- 
noch; and  he  would  complete  his  studies  under 
Mugent who  succeeded  Nennio,  also  called  'Man- 
chan  the  Master.'  Many  early  references  to  Can- 
dida Casa  were  displaced  by  inventions  from 
the  pens  of  the  professional  mediaeval  Roman 
Catholic  fabulists  who  canvassed  the  claims  of 
Armagh  and  York  to  primacy,  f  One  hand  inter- 
polates astatement  that  S. Gildas  wasa'professor' 
at  Armagh;  but  Armagh  was  not  a  centre  of  or- 
ganized Christian  teaching  when  S.  Gildas  lived. 
Another  hand  introduces  a  story  that  S.  Gildas 
was  educated  at  Caer  Worgorn  now  Llanilltyd 
Vawr'Wi  Glamorgan  by  S.  Illtyd  or  Iltutus;  but, 

*  See  Civil  and  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Scotland  (Innes),  book  ii. 
p.  154. 

t  Archbishop  Ussher  became  utterly  confused  especially  in  his  dates 
when  treatingof  S.  Gildas.  He  was  unwilling  to  throw  over  the  fabulists, 
but  his  efforts  to  reconcile  them  failed. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

apart  from  the  fact  that  the  home  of  Gildas  was 
in  Strathclyde,  S.  Illtyd*  was  dead  some  years 
before  Gildas  was  born. 

S.;DEWit  (David)  of  Mynyvt  (St.  David's) 
was  also  associated  with  the  Church  of  Northern 
Alba.  The  competition  for  primacy  which  raged 
in  the  Roman  Catholic  period  between  Caerleon, 
St.  David's, and  Llandaffhas  left  its  taint  inevery 
surviving  version  of  S.  Dewi's  Life.  Every  form 
of  interested  fable  has  been  devised  to  vitiate  the 
life-storyof  this  Celtic  bishop.  Evenhis  birth  and 
death  have  been  ante-dated;  and  the  places  where 
he  grew  up  or  ministered  have  been  misrepre- 
sented almost  out  of  recognition.  The  date  of  his 
death  requires  to  be  taken  from  the  Irish  annals; 
because  they  were  not  affected  by  the  particular 
pens  that  corrupted  the  history  of  S.  Dewi's  mis- 
sion. According  to  the  Chronicum  Scotorum^  S. 
Dewi  died  a.d.  589.  He  was  born  earlyin  the  six- 
th century,  and  was  ordained  a  monastic  bishop 
f.  540.11  S.  Kentigern  or Mungo visited  himabout 
567.  Maelgon  or  Maelgwyn,  who  was  a  Celtic 
pagan,  was  elected  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  Brit- 
ons c.  560;  If  and  when  S.  Dewi  died,  Maelgon 
requested  that  the  saint  should  be  buried  in  his 

*  His  death  took  place  A.D.  512. 
t  Now  patron  saint  of  the  Welsh. 

t  In  Pembroke.  There  is  an  Old  Mynyvl/rew^CTjj/w)  near  Aberaeron, 
in  Cardigan.  The  Irish  call  S.  David's  Cill  Muine. 

§  Hennessy's  edition,  corrected.     The  Annals  of  Innis fallen,  589. 

II  According  to  Lanigan. 

f  According  to  Lhuyd  and  Lanigan. 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

own  Church  at  Menevia.  These  dates  recall 
S.  Dewi's  name  from  the  fabulists,  and  set  it  in 
sober  history.  Although  in  Scotland  there  is  now 
only  the  bare  tradition  that  S.  Dewi  himself  under- 
took missionary  work  in  northern  Alba;  there  is  a 
statement  in  one  of  his  biographies  that  his  dis- 
ciples iX'Mynyv'-<NQnt  forth topreach  and  to  teach 
both  in  Ireland  and  in  Alba.  The  best-remem- 
bered of  these  disciples  both  in  Pictland  of  Alba 
and  in  Ireland  is  'Maidoc,'  more  formally  known 
as  S.  Aidan  of  Ferns  in  Wexford  [c.  555*-625).f 
The  Breviary  of  Aberdeen  calls  him  'Modoc,' 
which  corresponds  to  the  Pembrokeshire  form  of 
his  name,  Modog,  with  the  honorific  prefix.  His 
Church-sites  in  Alba  were,  among  the  Britons,  at 
Cambusnethan,  Lanarkshire,  andamong  the  Picts 
at  'Kilmadock,'  Doune,  and  at  Kenmore,  Perth- 
shire. This  last  site  was  formerly  known  as  'Innis 
Aidhan.'  At  Weem,J  in  the  same  district,  was  an 
old  Church-foundation  associated  with  the  name 
of  S.  Dewi,  whose  Feilvfas  formerly  celebrated 
here.  The  name  '  Weem'  is  itself  ecclesiastical, 
and  suggests  a  cave-retreat  such  as  SS.  Ninian 
andServanus  used;  and  such  a  retreat  appears  to 
have  existed.  S.  Dewi  is  moreover  linked  to  Alba 
through  his  education  and  training.  This  is  seen 

*  Rev.  Dr.  Reeves. 

t   Chronicum  Scotorum.    Bishop  Forbes  gives  628. 

%  There  is  a  foolish  folk-story  current  among  the  clan  Menzies  con- 
necting Father  David  Menzies  (1377-1449),  Master  of  St.  Leonard's  Hos- 
pital, Lanark,  with  this  ancient  Celtic  foundation. ' 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

from  the  following  basic  facts  in  S.  Dewi's  life  tak- 
en from  the  ancient  Celtic  Life,  and,  incidentally, 
perverted  or  misinterpreted  by  Ricemarc,*  Gir- 
aldus,]-  and  others.  S.Dewiwasthesonof 'Non,'| 
which,  by  the  way,  is  the  same  name,  without  the 
diminutive,  that  was  borne  by  S.  Ninian  the 
Great.  This  Non  was  a  chiefwho  became  a  cleric; 
because  his  Church-foundations,  called  'Llan- 
Non,'  stood  beside  the  older  and  later  Churches 
of  S.Dewi  in  the  counties  of  Cardigan  and  Pem- 
broke. The  celibate  fabulists  of  the  mediaeval 
Roman  Catholic  period  were  so  offended  by  the 
emergence  in  a  saintly  biography  of  this  clerical 
parent  §  that  they  invented  a  fictitious  father,  to 
whom  they  gave  the  name  'Sanctus.'  They  then 
transferred  his  father's  name  to  his  mother,  mod- 
ifying it  to  'Nonna,'  which  they  interpreted  as 
Monacha;  and  they  represented  thatthe  Churches 
called  Llan-Non  were  the  Churches  of  the  moth- 
er, who,  they  pretended,  became  a  nun.  Dewi 
went,  in  his  childhood,  for  some  slight  teaching  || 
and  a  blessing  toPaulJI^n,that  is,  Paul  the  aged. 

•  His  date  is  <■.  1090.  f  He  wrote  <;.  1200. 

i  Cf.  Prof.  Anwyl's  communications  to  Nicholson,  Ktltic  Researches, 
p.  172. 

§  Married  clerics  were  not  uncommon  throughout  the  history  of  the 
Celtic  Church.  If  they  entered  a  religious  community  after  marriage  they 
were  not  allowed  to  correspond  with  their  wives.  Angus  the  Culdee  and 
other  writers  frequently  emphasize  the  distinction  of  the  clerics  who  were 
'Virgins.'  Writers  in  the  middle  ages,  misled  by  this  appellation,  fre- 
quently represent  men  as  women-saints. 

II  The  fabulists  state  also  that  S.  Dewi  went  to  school  under  S.  lUtyd ; 
but  S.  lUtyd  was  dead  before  S.  Dewi  was  born. 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

At  this  time  Paul  was  sightless  and  frail;  but  the 
most  venerated  cleric  among  the  Britons,  He  is, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  same  Paul  the  Briton  whose 
name,  with  the  diminutivesof  honour  and  endear- 
ment, takes  the  forms  'Peulan'  among  the  later 
Welsh,  'Polan'  among  the  Irish  Picts,  'Pdldoc' 
in  Perthshire,  and  'Pdldy'  in  the,  Mearns.  The 
Scottish  fabulists  confused  Palladius  with  him,  as 
has  been  noted.  Paul  the  aged  was  the  living  link 
between  S.  Ninian  the  Great  and  S.  David.  He 
had  taken  part  in  the  missions  sent  from  Candida 
Casa  into  Pictland  of  Alba.  When  he  organized 
and  settled  his  own  chief  community  on  the  Tav 
in  Caermarthen,  a.d.  480,*  he  named  it  Candida 
Casa,  or,  in  the  vernacular,  Ty  Gwyn ;  and  it  be- 
came one  of  the  many  'White  Houses'  named 
after  S,  Ninian's  Candida  Casa,  just  as  the  latter 
had  been  named  after  the  original  White-Hut  of 
the  master  S.  Martin,  the  ' Louko-teiac'  at  Poic- 
tiers.  Paul  the  Briton  continued  to  visit  and  to 
sustain  some  of  the  communities  which  he  had  or- 
ganized in  his  early  manhood,  at  a  time  of  life  when 
most  men  retire  from  strenuous  work.  He  was 
about  seventy  years  of  age  when  he  organized  his 
best-known  community  at  TyGwynarDav;\  but 
he  at  once  handed  over  the  care  of  the  new '  family ' 
to  Flewyn  ap  Ithel,  a  continental  Celt  from  'Civi- 
tatibus  Armoricis,'  because  of  his  Churches  and 

*  The  author  of  Chronicles  of  the  Ancient  British  Church. 
t  Known  later  as  'Bangor  Ty  Gwyn  ar  Dav.' 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Communities  elsewhere,  to  which  he  was  required 
to  minister.  His  untiring  vitaHty accounts  forthe 
range  of  his  Church-foundations  from  the  terri- 
tories of  the  Britons  to  the  territories  of  the  Picts 
of  Alba,  where  SS.  Servanus,  Mailoc,  Dewi,  Mai- 
doc,  and  other  Britons,  or  British-trained  mis- 
sionaries, laboured  in  his  day  and  afterwards. 
His  foundations  are  found  in  the  straths  of  the 
Lyon,  the  Tay,  and  the  Earn.  On  the  Lyon  is 
Beinn  na  Mhanach,  the  monk's  mountain,  and 
Ruighe  Phdl'oc,  or,  as  locally  pronounced,  Ruighe 
Phdldoc,  and  interpreted  as  Paul's  shieling-site, 
that  is,  where  his  casula  stood.  One  of  the  little 
waterfalls  on  a  burn  flowing  into  the  Lyon  was 
'Eas  Phdldoc^  and,  what  is  more  significant,  an- 
other was  Eas  'Inian,  that  is,  S.  Ninian's  water- 
fall or  water.  In  the  Den  of  Moness  at  Aberfeldy 
on  Tay  was  Cathair  Phdroc,  which  in  Gaelic  is 
correctly  translated  by  the  present  natives  as'Caj- 
tail Phdldoc'"^  It  indicates  the  site  of  Paul's  or 
PcLldoc's  muinntir,  which,  like  the  early  Celtic  re- 
ligious settlements,  was  fortified,  f  At  Dunning, 
one  of  the  foundations  of  the  historic  S.  Servanus 

*  These  details  about  the  Lyon  and  Tay  localities  I  owe  to  my  session- 
clerk,  Mr.  Jas.  Campbell,  F.  E.  I.  S. ,  late  schoolmaster  at  Helmsdale.  He 
died  at  the  age  of  ninety-four  in  1915.  He  knew  every  yard  of  the  Lyon 
and  upper  Tay  valleys,  which  he  ranged  in  his  boyhood.  He  was  bom 
in  Glenlyon,  and  was  filled  with  old  memories  of  the  places  and  the  people. 

t  When  we  find  Christianity  established  in  this  district  at  this  period, 
we  can  understand  how  the  presence  of  S.  Columba,  the  Gaidheal,  on 
his  political  missions  was  resented  in  the  locality,  and  can  comprehend 
Dalian's  boast  that  the  Saint  required  'to  shut  the  mouths  of  the  fierce 
ones  at  Tay.' 

160 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

or  Serf,  the  Briton,  on  the  Burn  of  Dunning,  was 
S.  Paldoc's  Linn,  where  the  local  tradition  is 
maintained  that  there  S.  Servanus  or  Serf  bap- 
tized* the  converts.  Incidentally,  therefore,  it  is 
revealed  in  a  flash,  through  the  light  from  the 
Welsh  annalists  and  the  testimony  of  the  face  of 
Scotland,  that  the  bishop  who  made  the  historical 
Servanus  his  '  assistant 'f  at  Dunning  and  else- 
where was  neither  the  mythical '  Palladius'  of  John 
of  Fordun  and  Hector  Boece,|  nor  the  histor- 
ical Palladius  whom  Prosper  of  Aquitaine  states§ 
that  the  Roman  bishop  Celestine  sent  on  an  un- 
successful mission  to  the  Irish;  but,  as  we  have 
seen,  Paul  Hin,  the  Briton,  Ab  and  bishop, 
founder, among  other  ^\a.c&s,oi Candida  Casa,  on 
Tav  in  Caermarthen,  first  teacher  of  S.  Dewi 
(  David  of  Wales),  continuator  of  S .  N  inian's  work 
in  Pictland,  whose  name,  given  according  to  the 
various  languages  or  dialects,  is,  as  we  have  al- 
ready noted,  'Pawl  Hin,'  'Peulan  Hin,'  'Paldy,' 
'  Paldoc,'  and  '  Paul  the  Aged.'H  In  the  Litany  of 
Dunkeld  and  in  the  list  of  early  Celtic  Abbots 

*  Adult  baptism,  of  course,  and  historically  more  correct  than  the 
stories  of  infant  baptism  at  this  period  which  the  fabulists  give. 

t  Cf.  Forbes,  KaUndars,  p.  445. 

t  Cf.  Bellenden's  Boece,  H.  C.S.,  vol.  i.  book  vii.  cap.  18,  p.  286. 

§  In  his  Chronicle. 

II  He  is  also  described  as  '  0  Fanau,'  that  is,  native  of  Manau,  now 
Mannan.  The  old  province  name  is  preserved  in  '  Slamannan. '  The 
English  fabulists  who  make  him  a  disciple  of  Germanus  are  not  far  behind 
the  Scotic  and  other  fabulists. 

In  the  Martyrology  of  Tallagh,  at  the  21st  of  May  there  is  this  entry, 
'Monind  ocus  Polan,'  that  is,  Monenn  or  Nennio  and  Paul. 

M  161 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

and  Bishops  the  name  of  the  unhistorical  '  Pal- 
ladius'has  been  put  in  the  placeof  Paul  the  Aged, 
that  is,  between  S.  Ninian  and  S.  Serf.  It  cannot 
however  be  other  than  evident  that '  Pildy'  of  the 
Mearns  or ,'  Pildoc'  of  Perthshire  is  not  different 
from  the  name  of  Paul  the  Briton,  with  the  Brit- 
onic  suffixof  endearment  ocand  the  af  of  euphony. 
When  S.  Dewi  (David)  was  a  boy  sojourning 
with  Paul  the  Aged  in  the  early  years  of  the  sixth 
century,  the  venerable  saint  was  unable  to  see 
him  with  his  failing  eyes,  which  fact  gives  oppor- 
tunity to  the  fabulists  to  interpolate  a  miracle  in 
which  the  boy  Dewi  revives  his  teacher's  sight 
so  that  he  is  able  to  look  'once  upon  his  pupil.' 
After  spending  some  time  with  Paul  the  Aged, 
Dewi  set  out  for  the  monastery,  'Rosnat.'  It  is 
now  known,  what  S.  Dewi's  mediaeval  biogra- 
phers did  not  know,  that  'Rosnat'*  was  the  name 
given  by  the  Irish  to  Isle  of  Whithorn  in  Gallo- 
way, where  S.  Ninian's  community  was  estab- 
lished. The  Irish  also  knew,  as  their  annalists 
state,  that  'the  other  name'  for  the  monastery  of 
Rosnat  was  'A /da  or  White.'  But  Dewi's  biog- 
raphers make  quite  clear,  although  they  did  not 
know  it,  that  the  Rosnat  to  which  Dewi  went  was 
Candida  Casa;  because  they  state  that  Dewi's 
father  was  warned  in  a  dream  at  Cardigan  to  send 
an  offering  of  honey,  fish,  and  the  dressed  car- 

*  The  name  has  been  already  explained  as  Ros-Nan(t),  the  promontory 
or  Headland  of  Ninian,  otherwise  the  'Isle-head'  at  Isle  of  Whithorn. 

162 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

case  of  a  stag  to  the  'monastery  of  Manchan' 
on  behalf  of  his  son.  Now  '  Manchan,'  the  Little 
Monk,  was  the  surname  of  Nennio,  who  was 
'Master'  at  Candida  Casa  in  the  early  part  of  the 
sixth  century  when  Dewi  went  there.  Among  the 
pupils  of  Nennio  or  'Manchan'  at  Candida  Casa 
was  the  much  venerated  S.  Endeus  or  Eany,* 
and  many  others  already  noticed.  It  is  further 
confirmed  that  Candida  Casa  was  the  school  for 
which  S.  Dewi  set  out,  and  also  that  the  mediaeval 
biographers  possessed  this  information  accur- 
ately, although  they  could  not  interpret- it;  be- 
cause one  of  them  states  that  the  place  to  which 
S.  Dewi  made  his  way  was  'the  Isle  of  White- 
land.' ■]•  This  is  of  course  Isle  of  Whithorn.  In 
their  geographical  ignorance,  some  of  the  medi- 
aevalists  proceeded  from  blunder  to  blunder. 
They  decided,  in  order  to  get  themselves  out  of 
the  maze,  that '  Rosnat '  must  mean  S .  Dewi's  own 
monastery  in  'the  hollow'  at  S.  David's,  Pem- 
broke, the  only  site  connected  with  S.  David  of 
which  they  had  apparently  heard ;  and  they  sug- 
gested that  this  hollow  had  borne  of  yore  the 
name  'Ros-nant,'  which,  in  course,  they  varied 
to  'Ros-dela,'  interpreting  this  'Vale  of  Roses.' 
All  this  is  characteristic  mediaeval  nonsense ; 
the  only  good  which  came  out  of  it  was  the  pre- 
servation of  the  correct  form  'Ros-Nan(t)' for  the 

*  He  is  believed  to  have  died  on  the  2ist  of  March  540. 
t  Alban  Butler,  with  greater  opportunities  than  the  mediaevalists, 
turns  this  into  'Isle  of  Wight ' ! 

163 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

headland  of  S.  Ninian,  Isle  of  Whithorn.  More- 
over, when  S.  Dewi  did  set  out  to  organize  a  Com- 
munity of  his  own,  he  did  not  settle  at  once  at 
S.  David's,  Pembroke.  He  went  first  to  a  place 
which  one  of  the  saint's  biographers  gives  as 
'Vetus  Mynyv!  This  is  Old  Mynyv,  still  '  Hin 
Fenyv,'  near  Aberaeron  in  Cardigan,  four  miles 
from  which  is  a  Church  bearing  S,  David's  fath- 
er's name,  'Llan-Non.'  Another  place  at  which 
S.  Dewi  was  during  his  training  at  Candida  Casa 
was  'Glaston,'  close  to  Whithorn,  and  the  site 
where  S.  Ninian's  cave-retreat  was  and  is.  The 
fabulists  treat  this  as  Glastonbury  of  Somerset, 
and  construct  elaborate  myths  in  which  S.  Dewi 
is  made  to  reside  at  Glastonbury,  and,  among 
other  things,  to  dedicate  there  a  Church  to  the 
'Virgin  Mary.'  The  facts  are  that,  in  spite  of  the 
multiplied  fables  of  this  religious  house,  there 
was  no  organized  community  at  Glastonbury  in 
S.  Dewi's  time;  nor  did  the  Britons  dedicate  their 
Churches  at  this  period  to  the  Virgin  Mary  or  to 
any  other  saint.  The  fabulists  also  represent  S. 
Dewi  as  a  monarchic  bishop  and  'primus';  he 
was  in  fact  an  Ab  and  bishop  of  the  Celtic  type, 
presiding  over  a  missionary  muinntirMvhxch  had 
branch  organizations  throughout  the  territories 
of  the  Britons  and  Brito-Pictish  tribes.  This  is 
fully  confirmed  by  a  note  in  an  old  transcript  of 
the  laws  of  Hwyl  Dha,  which  conveys  that  S. 
Dewi  organized  'twelve'  muinntirs  in  the  Brito- 
164 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

Pictish  territories,  and  those  among  the  Deme- 
tae  were  exempt  from  the  king's  tax. 

S.  Llolan,  another  Briton  who  laboured  in  the 
Forth  area,  is  represented  by  the  Scotic  Church- 
men of  the  fourteenth  century  as  'a  nephew'  of 
the  unhistorical  Servanus.  He  certainly  took  up 
the  work  of  the  historical  Servanus  or  Serf,  and 
taught  and  died  at  Kincardine-on-Forth.  The 
true  story  of  his  life  had  been  almost  completely 
forgotten,  and  the  fabulists  invented  a  biography 
for  him.  A  hand  in  the  Breviary  of  Aberdeen  at- 
taches such  absurd  fables  to  his  name  that  even 
a  Bollandist  editor*  was  shocked,  and  wished 
them  erased  from  the  Breviary.  The  Scotic  an- 
nalists dated  him,  after  their  manner,  by  the  reign 
ofoneoftheir  own  princes,  '  Duncan,  ffilius  Con- 
aiir  king  of  Dalriada,  who  was  slain  by  Aedhan  a.  d. 
576.  Aedhan  had  usurped  the  Dalriad  throne 
under  the  patronage  of  S.  Columba,  and  disposed 
of  his  rival,  Duncan,  at  the  battle  of 'Telocho'  in 
Cantyre.  Challoner  Jhad  some  information  which 
indicated  that  S.  Llolan  was  one  of  the  bishops 
who  came  from  Candida  Casa.%  The  lands  of  his 
muinntir  C2!A.&^  '  Croft  Llolan'  were  at  Kincard- 

*  ASS.  tomus  vi.  sept.  xxii. 

t  Duncan  (Donnchadh)  was  grandson  of  ComghaH,fourth  King  of  Dal- 
riada, and  tried  to  maintain  himself  on  the  throne  in  face  of  Aedhan :  but 
unsuccessfully. 

{  He  makes  the  mistake  of  imagining  that  Llolan  lived  in  the  timeof  the 
later  King  Duncan,  d.  Memorial  of  British  Piety, -g.  133. 

§  One  edition  has  ' Whitern,'  another  'Whithorn.'  It  is  stated  that  S. 
Llolan  had  a  Church-foundation  near  Broughton,  Tweed-dale. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

ine  on-Forth, where  his  bachul&r\A  bell  were  pre- 
served. The  old  Earls  of  Perth  were  the  custod- 
ians. The  bell  was  still  in  existence  in  A.D.  1675. 

S.  Brioc,  a  Briton,  falls  into  this  group  of  Brit- 
ons, because  he  laboured  among  the  Britons  and 
Picts  in  the  early  sixth  century,  before  the  Celtic 
population  of  the  south-west  of  what  is  now  Scot- 
land had  been  penetrated  by  Anglian  raiders  and 
settlers.  His  known  Church-foundations  were  at 
Dunrod,*  Kirkcudbright;  Rothesay;  and '/««zV 
Brayoc,'  Montrose.  He  ought  not  to  be  confused 
withthatotherBriton.S.BriocofBrieuxin  France. 
When  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  became  dominant 
in  the  Church  of  Pictland  their  pronunciation 
and  spelling  ofhis  name  caused  some  of  his  found- 
ations to  be  confused  in  later  years  with  dedic- 
ations to  S.  Brigid. 

Two  other  missionaries  in  Pictland,  whose 
names  are  still  conspicuous  in  the  Church,  fall  to 
be  noted  here,  although  it  is  now  impossible  to 
give  exact  dates  for  them.  One  is  '  Mochrieha,' 
whose  work  lay  along  the  rivers  Don  and  Dee  in 
Aberdeenshire;  the  other  is  thesaintwhosename 
is  contained  in  the  thirteenth-century  spelling 
'  Lesmahago,'that  is,  Lesmahagow,  Lanarkshire. 
S. '  Mochrieha,'  to  take  his  name  as  preserved  by 
the  Celts  of  Deeside,  founded  one  Church,  among 
others,  opposite  Crook  o'  Don,  near  what  after- 

*  In  the  Roman  Catholic  period  his  foundation  at  Dunrod  was  dedic- 
ated to  the  Virgin  Mary. 

166 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

wards  became  the  city  of  Aberdeen ;  and  the  site 
of  this  Church  became  in  later  centuries  the  site 
of  the  Cathedral  of  Aberdeen.  S.  Mochrieha's 
Cross* — a  conical  stone  with  a  primitive  incised 
Greek  cross  similar  to  an  example  taken  from  S. 
Ninian's  Cave  at  Glasserton — stands  on  the  top 
of  a  tumulus  among  the  hut  circles  and  cairns  of 
an  ancient  Pictish  settlement,  about  two  miles 
north-west  of Aboyne.  Herealsois  S. Mochrieha's 
Well ;  and,  before  it  was  broken  up  and  removed, 
stood  the  '  Cathair  Mochrieha. '  The  name  of  this 
ancient  Pictish  settlement  has  been  completely 
forgotten.  It  is  overgrown  with  thick  wood.  The 
high  ground  behind  is  '  Baragowan,'and  the  wood 
'Balnagowan  Wood.'  If  there  is  any  grain  of 
historic  truth  in  the  folk-tale  f  of  the  miraculous 
bag  of  seed  which  S.  Mochrieha  received  from  S. 
Ternan  of  Banchory,  it  probably  lies  in  the  indic- 
ation of  a  working  fellowship  between  the  two 
saints.  Every  authentic  detail  relating  to  S.  Mo- 
chrieha was  garbled  by  the  conformed  Gaidheals 
or  Scots  of  the  early  Roman  Catholic  period,  pro- 
bably to  secure  precedence  for  Aberdeen  over  the 
ancient  centre  of  the  Pictish  Church  at  Mortlach. 
Just  as  S.  Drostan  of  Deer,  a  Briton,  who  lived 

*  An  account  of  this  Cross  is  given  by  the  minister  of  Aboyne  in  the 
N.S.A.  Scot. ;  and  a  shrewdly  written  paper  on  the  Cross  and  its  situation 
is  contributed  by  Professor  Ogston  to  the  Transactions  Scot.  Ecc.  Society, 
1912.  This  paper  indicates  most  careful  and  accurate  observation. 

t  A  version  of  this  tale  is  among  the  fables  relating  to  S.  'Machar'  in  the 
Breviary  of  A  berdeen. 

167 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

before  S.Columba,  was  transformed  into  adisciple 
of  S.  Columba;  so,  also,  S.  Mochrieha  was  repre- 
sented by  the  Gaidheals  as  one  of  S.  Columba's 
followers;  and  their  legends  proceed  to  add  that 
he  led  a  mission  into  Pictland,  The  scribe  who  in- 
vented that  legend  of  a  mission  of  Gaidheals  was 
probably  not  aware  that  even  S.  Columba  was  pre- 
vented by  the  language  difficulty  from  undertak- 
ing missions  into  Pictland;  that  when  he  visited  the 
Pictish  sovereign  his  interpreter  was  the  great- 
est Pictish  ecclesiastic  of  the  period;  that  when  he 
ministered  to  a  Pict  in  the  Dalriad  area,  he  requir- 
ed the  assistance  of  an  interpreter;  that  the  politic- 
al relations  between  the  Gaidheals  and  Picts  in 
S.  Columba's  time  precluded  friendly  intercourse 
and  religious  missions;  and,  finally, that  Pictland, 
including  the  stretch  of  the  Dee,  had  been  more 
thoroughly  christianized  than  S.  Columba's  own 
Dalriada,  in  his  own  time,  by  S.  Ninian  and  his 
successor  S.  Ternan,  whohad  establishedhis  Ban- 
gor on  the  Dee  with  its  Church,  its  manuscript 
of  the  Gospels,  and  its  school,  at  a  time  when  S. 
Caranoc,  S.  Ninian's  other  pupil,  was  striving  in 
Columba's  native  Donegal  to  win  from  paganism 
the  very  tribes  of  the  Nialls  from  whom  S.  Col- 
umba in  another  and  later  century  was  born.  S. 
Columba's  disciples  are  known,*  and  S. Mochrie- 
ha is  not  among  them,  not  even  when  we  look  for 

*  They  will  be  found  conveniently  in  the  notes  of  Dr,  Reeves  to  Adam- 
nan's  y.S.C.  p.  245. 

168 


MEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  NINIAN 

him  under  the  name  '  Machar,'  which  the  Latin 
Churchmen  from  the  Lowlands  gave  him  when 
they  mistook  the  name  of  his  Church-site  on  the 
'Machair  of  Don  for  the  saint's  personal  name, 
and  latinized  it  as  'Macharius'  and  z.s' Mauritius' 
The  late  Dr.  Reeves,  who  in  this  matter  has  even 
misled  many  who  were  in  a  position  to  know 
better,  never  entered  on  a  more  hopeless  quest 
than  when  he  set  out  to  identify  the  saint  of 
Aberdeen  in  the  preserved  list  of  S.  Columba's 
disciples.  His  decision  lighted  on  TochannuMac- 
U-Fircetea,  whose  surname  he  broke  up,  to  suit 
his  predilection,  into  the  amazing  form  '  Mocufir- 
cetea';  and  he  \A&[i\\^^di' Machar' v^\\}a.' Mocufir.' 
Apart  from  the  absurdity  of  this  name,  if  the 
identification  had  held,  it  would  have  resulted 
in  this  saint  being  commemorated  by  a  formal 
surname  instead  of  by  the  Christian  name,  which 
was  the  constant  practice  of  the  Picts;  although, 
in  the  case  of  S.  Kentigern,the  people  substituted 
the  pet  name  for  the  stately  'Kentigern'  which 
had  more  befitted  the  civil  dignity  which  he  had 
rejected.  The  actual  result  of  the  hypothesis  of 
Dr.  Reeves  has  been  that  certain  writers  now 
make  confusion  worse  confounded  by  referring 
to  S.  'Machar'  of  Aberdeen  as  'Tochannu'  or 
'  Dockannu,'  a  name  which  belonged  to  a  man  of 
alien  race  in  an  alien  Church. 

Lesmahagow  marks  the  site  of  a  Muinntir 
which  was  governed  by  an  Ab.  The  community 

169 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

dates  back  to  atime  when  this  part  of  Lanarkshire 
was  still  Brito-Pictish,  that  is,  before  the  north- 
ward advance  of  the  Angles.  The  site-name  sug- 
gests the  foundation  of  an  Irish  Pict  as  in  the 
instance  of  Lismore.  The_^  in  the  second  section 
of  the  place-name,  which  is  also  the  name  of  the 
founder  oftheZw.is  Britonic,andrendersthesaint 
difficult  of  identification.  In  a.d.  i  144  the  Rom- 
an Churchmen  glossed  the  saint's  name  as  'Mac- 
hutus,'  presumably  S.  Brendan's  disciple;  but  he 
certainly  was  not  this  S.  Machute.  Neither  was 
he  S.  Maclou  or  Malo  with  whom  he  hasalsobeen 
identified.  Extraordinary  as  it  may  seem,  to  any- 
one but  a  Celt,  the  saint's  name  was  probably 
AeMocwhichwiih  the  honorific w£»  becomes  Mo- 
aedhoc;  giving  the  phonetics,  with.the  euphonic 
h,  MoAae£-o' ,vfh.ich  agrees  with  the  locally  accent- 
ed pronunciation,  and  the  forms  '  Lesmahago'  (c. 
1 130)  and  'Lismago'  (1298).  The  modern  equi- 
valent of  the  Celtic  Aedis  Hugh,  and  it  is  signifi- 
cant that  at  farms  in  the  uplands  of  Lanarkshire, 
and  certain  districts  of  Ayrshire,  the  diminutive 
of  Hugh  still  takes  the  form '  Hugoc'  Where  the 
saint  of  Lesmahagow  came  from  is  nowhere  indi- 
cated. Like  many  other  British  and  Pictish  mis- 
sionaries of  his  period,  whose  names  only  are  left, 
he  remains  to  later  generations,like  Melchizedec, 
'without  father,  without  mother,  without  genea- 
logy.' 


To  fact  p.  171. 


RACIAL,  POLITICAL,  AND 
OTHER  CHANGES  IN  BRITAIN 
IN  THE  SIXTH  CENTURY. 
THE  EFFECT  ON  THE  CHURCH 
OF  THE  PICTS,  THE  ORGANIZ- 
ING OF  THE  THREE  CELTIC 
NATIONS  CHAPTER    NINE 

When  S.  Ninian, between  a.d.  400  and  a.d.  432, 
began  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  Picts  and  to 
organize  a  Church,  it  would  have  been  possible 
on  a  map  to  represent  the  political  divisions  of 
Britain  by  a  single  cross-country  line.  South  of 
Antonine's  Wall,  the  Forth  and  Clyde  line,  were 
the  Celtic  *  Britons  who  had  submitted  to  the 
control  of  Imperial  Rome;  and  who  even  after 
the  legions  had  departed  showed  that  they  had 
assimilated  something  of  the  Imperial  organiz- 
ation and  culture.  North  of  the  Forth  and  Clyde 
line  were  the  remainder  of  the  Celtic  Britons, 
organized  in  tribes  or  clans  under  chiefs  or  kings, 
all  being  federated  under  a  Sovereign.  These 

*  The  adjective  is  not  used  to  imply  that  there  were  other  Britons  who 
were  not  Celts.  It  is  used,  in  view  of  certain  German  and  other  argu- 
ments, to  emphasize  that  the  Britons  were  Celts  and  not  'Teutons.'  If 
we  ignore  the  aboriginal  elements  in  Britain,  it  is  clear  to  all  save  a  few 
faddists  and  cranks  that  the  Britons  were  Celtic  speaking,  Celtic  in  body, 
mind,  and  soul.  They  were  sportsmen  and  fought  like  sportsmen,  they 
were  irrepressible  talkers,  they  were  fickle,  jealous,  and  disunited.  They 
were  also  reverent  and  chivalrous.  'They  had  little  likeness  to  those  silent, 
dour,  cohesive,  'pitiless  pagans'  who  entered  the  Humber  about  the 
middle  of  the  fifth  century,  who  were  not  content  to  fight  with  fighting 
men ;  but  murdered  the  unarmed  and  defenceless,  especially,  as  Bede  tells 
us,  the  presbyters,  bishops  and  Abs  of  the  Celtic  muinntirs. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Britons  north  of  the  wall  were  mostly  pastoral 
folk,  hunters  and  fishers,  sportsmen  to  a  man,  and 
invincible  soldiers.  They  entered  battle  stripped, 
and  from  the  emits,  or  figures,  tattooed  on  their 
smeared  bodies,  the  C-using  Celts  called  them 
'Cruiikne,'  and  with  this  designation  the  Latin 
writers  equated  the  name  'Pict.'  As  'Picts.'the 
Britons  who  rejected  the  government  and  cul- 
ture of  Imperial  Rome  are  best  known. 

The  first  sign  that  this  political  division  would 
be  disturbed  was  given  shortly  after  a.d.  449, 
when  three  'ships  of  war'  arrived  on  the  east 
coast  of  Britain,  about  the  H umber,  with  Teu- 
tonic Angles  from  the  swamps  of  the  Elbe  who 
had  come  to  settle  in  the  island.  Soldiers  of  these 
Angles  had  already  been  invited  to  Britain,  and 
had  been  hired  by  Vortigern,  a  Celtic  Chief  who 
was  fighting  for  his  own  interests,and  apparently 
for  supremacy  among  the  Celts.  These  mercen- 
aries had  found  the  land  good,  and  the  Celtic  in- 
habitants weak,  because  disunited,  as  was  their 
wont ;  so  they  sent  for  their  kin  to  Schleswig,  who 
steadily  obeyed  the  summons  until,as  Bede  states, 
that  part  of  the  Danish  peninsula  was  'deserted.' 

The  second  sign  was  the  arrival  from  Ireland 
in  A.D.  498*  on  the  coast  of  Cantyre,in  the  west 
of  Britain,  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  Gaidheals  or 

*  Calculated  by  Skene  from  the  note  of  Flann  Mainistreach.  Tigher- 
nac  notices  the  colonization  under  501,  in  connection  with  the  death  of 
Fergus  Mor,  the  Gaidhealic  Chief. 

172 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

Scots,  under  the  sons  of  Ere  mac  Muinreamhar, 
who  proceeded  to  found  the  Gaidhealic  or  Scotic 
colony  and  kingdom  which,  afterwards,  came  to 
be  known  as '  Dalriada. '  These  Gaidheals  or  Scots 
carved  out  a  place  for  themselves  in  the  Cantyre 
limbof  Pictland.notapparentlywithoutdifficulty; 
because  one  of  their  pioneers  and  their  second 
chief  or  'king,'  Fergus  Mor,  died  in  the  third 
year  of  the  colony.  The  colonists  had  left  Ire- 
land, because  they  had  been  crushed  out.  They 
had  tried  to  find  a  resting-place  on  the  shore- 
lands  between  the  estuary  of  the  Foyle  and  Fair 
Head  ;  but  the  pressure  on  the  south  and  west 
from  their  fellow-Gaidheals,  and  on  the  south  and 
east  from  the  Irish  Picts.into  whose  Antrim  ter- 
ritories they  had  intruded,  was  unbearable ;  and 
so  on  a  momentous  day  they  took  ship  for  Can- 
tyre,  which  they  could  see  from  their  own  shore 
through  the  sea-mist.     These  colonists  did  not 
at  this  time  denounce  their  tribal  or  federal  oblig- 
ations in  Ireland;  but  remained  liable  for  tribute, 
for  military  service  in  Ireland, and  subject  to  their 
tribal  chief,  or  king,  of  the  Gaidhealic  family  of 
Niall,  who  happened  also,  at  the  time,  to  be  high- 
king,  or  sovereign,  of  Ireland.   Their  position 
in  Cantyre  also  rendered  them  subject,  whether 
they  liked  it  ornot,  to  the  high-king,  or  sovereign, 
of  Pictland  of  Alba.  This  double  allegiance  was 
obviously  destined  to  bring  trouble  in  the  future, 
especially  as  these  colonists  of  a  proud  aggress- 

^7Z 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

ive  race  were  planning  to  be  independent  both  of 
their  Gaidhealic  kin  in  Ireland,  and  of  the  Pictish 
sovereign  whose  uninvited  guests  they  were. 

The  effect  of  these  two  invasions  was  that 
both  flanks  of  Pictland  of  Alba  were  menaced. 
The  Angles  and  Gaidheals  began  independently, 
and  for  a  time  acted  unconsciously,  the  one  of 
the  other ;  and  their  methods  were  different.  As 
the  Angles  expanded  northwards  from  the  H um- 
ber they  smote  down  whoever  obstructed  them. 
The  insidious  Gaidheals  advanced  slowly,  in- 
truding themselves,  peacefully  where  possible, 
into  possession  and  power  among  the  Picts  of 
Argyll,  and  of  the  Southern  Hebrides,  without 
unduly  alarming  their  hosts.  The  pressure  of  the 
Angles  forced  the  Eastern  Britons  westward  to- 
wards the  Cambrian  Mountains,  the  Pennine 
Hills,  the  mountains  of  south-western  Scotland, 
and  northward  towards  the  Forth.  The  conges- 
tion thus  set  up  was  felt  not  only  among  the 
Britons  of  the  west,  but  also,  through  reaction, 
among  the  Picts  of  the  Forth  and  Clyde  line. 
While  the  pressure  of  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  on 
the  Picts  was  at  first  indirect;  the  pressure  of  the 
Angles  was  always  direct  and  patent. 

The  expansion  of  the  Angles  towards  Pict- 
land in  the  sixth  century  may  thus  be  summed 
up.  Ida  the  Angle  organized  his  fellow-pagans 
A.D.  547  and  founded  an  Anglian  kingdom  in  Ber- 
nicia,  with  its  capital  at  Bamborough.  This  dis- 
174 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

trict  the  Britons  had  called  '  Breenych.'  The 
Bernician  Kingdom  stretched,  on  the  east,  from 
the  H umber  northwards,  with  an  insecure  shift- 
ing frontier  towards  the  Firth  of  Forth.  On  the 
west*  the  frontier  varied  according  to  the  re- 
sistance of  the  Britons.  Sometimes  the  Angles 
reached  to  the  sea,  and  held  the  stretch  of  coast 
between  the  mouth  of  the  Mersey  and  the  head 
of  Morecambe  Bay;  in  order  to  cut  off  the  Brit- 
ons of  Strathclyde  and  Cumbria  from  the  Brit- 
ons in  what  afterwards  came  to  be  known  as 
Wales.  From  Morecambe  theline  of  the  Anglian 
frontier  turned  inland  and  followed  the  chain  of 
the  Pennines,  crossed  the  Cheviots,  skirted  the 
eastern  flanks  of  Hart  Fell,  Broad  Law,  and  the 
Pentlands.  Ida  was  slain  in  battle,  a.d.  559,  by 
Owain,  father  of  S.  Kentigern.  Before  Ida's 
time,  however,  in  a.d.  537,  f  Angles  as  well  as 
Gaidheals,  the  latter  under  a  certain  '  Gwydyon,' 
had  been  engaged,  apparently  as  mercenaries, 
by  Loth,  otherwise  Llewddyn  Lueddag,  and  his 
rebel  son  Medraut  J  in  the  battle  of  Camlann^gu- 

*  Not  to  complicate  this  description  the  kingdom  of  Deira  is  ignored. 
It  was  not  founded  until  after  Ida's  death,  and  later  on  it  was  reunited 
with  Bernicia. 

t  Saxon  and  Welsh  Additions  to  Historia  Britonum.  Cf.  Skene, 
Chronicles  P.  andS.  p.  14. 

t  This  man  headed  a  rebellion  against  the  historical  Arthur ;  although 
Arthur  had  rescued  Loth  and  his  lands  in  Lothian  from  an  invasion  of 
Angles  and  Saxons  from  the  sea.  Cf  Forbes,  Life  ofS.  Kentigern,  Intro- 
duction, Ixxv.     Loth  had  married  Arthur's  sister. 

§  This  is  now  the  unromantic  Camelon  near  Falkirk.  Not  only  were 
Arthur's  opponents  Loth  and  Medraut  who  ruled  the  Brito-Pictish  tribes 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Otadin*  that  is,  Cdmelon  in  the  district  of  the 
Otadinoi'm.  Pictland  of  Alba,  where  the  historical 
Arthur  and  Medraut  fell  together  in  a  fight  to  the 
death.  The  end  of  these  men,  who  have  figured 
in  so  many  romances,  is  simply  entered  by  Nen- 
nius,  under  a.d.  537,  thus,  '  Gueith  Camlann  in 
qua  Arthur et Medraut  corruere.'  Vortigernwas 
thus  not  the  only  Chief  in  Britain  who  had  called 
in  the  Angles  or  their  Saxon  kin  as  mercenaries. 
Like  him,  the  Brito-Pictish  tribes  in  southern 
Pictland  were  to  find  them  returning  uninvited 
as  conquerors.  When  Hussa,  son  of  Ida,  was  rul- 
ing the  Angles,  a.d.  567-5  74,  and  directing  them 
northward  between  Tweed  and  Forth,  the  Brito- 
Pictish  tribes  were  thoroughly  aroused  against 
the  Teutonic  danger.  Hussa  was  opposed  by 
four  tribal  kings,  Urien  (Urbgen),  grandfather 
of  S.  Kentigern,  Rhydderch  (H^n),  both  Britons, 
Guallauc  and  Morkan  ('Morcant,  grandson  of 
Morcant  Bulg').  Again, between  a.d.  580  and  5 87, 
when  Deodric,  'the  Fire-spreader,'  another  son 

of  the  Lothians;  but  we  are  distinctly  told  that  Arthur's  soldiers  were 
Gwyry  Gogledd,  i.e.  Men  of  the  North.  Camelon  is  at  the  Roman  Wall. 
Arthur  was  'Gwledig'  or  'Guletic,'  that  is,  war-lord  or  sovereign  of  the 
tribes  of  the  Britons,  who  in  other  matters  were  ruled  by  their  chiefs  or 
kings.  Arthur's  name  was  M?-^«?-ma/t  CM/-.'  Skene  identifies  Dunipace 
(Dun y  bass,  in  the  same  locality  as  Camelon),  noted  for  its  twin  'Basses,' 
as  the  scene  of  that  other  battle  which  Arthur  fought  called  '  Bassos. '  Cf. 
The  Bass  of  Urie,  Inverurie. ) 

*  The  Otadinoi  were  a  British  tribe  which  in  Ptolemy's  time  lay  be- 
tween the  Firth  of  Forth  and  the  Tyne,  and  were  neighbours  of  the 
Brigantes.  In  the  fifth  and  early  sixth  century  they  had  been  pushed  into 
the  districts  now  represented  by  West  Lothian  and  S.  E,  Stirlingshire. 

176 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

of  Ida,  was  leading  the  Angles  northward,  he  was 
opposed  by  Urien  and  his  sons,  one  of  the  latter 
was  Owain,  who  vanquished  Ida.  Some  differ- 
ence had  arisen  between  Urien  and  his  former 
confederates,  because  he  and  his  family  fought 
alone  against  the  Angles.  The  expedition  led 
him  as  far  as  the  island  'Medcaut,'  which  was  one 
of  the  Fame  group,  a  short  distance  south-east  of 
Tweedmouth.  Either  on  the  island,  or  returning 
from  it,  U  rien  was  slain  by  his  former  ally  M  orkan 
who,  as  Nennius  states,  struck  at  Urien  through 
envy,  and  because  of  the  distinction  which  he  had 
won  in  throwing  back  the  Angles.  This  tragedy 
throws  light  upon  Morkan's  persecution  of  S. 
Kentigern  at  Glasgow.  What  the  Angles  Hussa 
and  Deodric  had  aimed  at,  their  nephew  Ethel- 
frid,  grandson  of  Ida,  accomplished.  He  ravaged 
more  of  the  territories  of  the  Britons  and  of  the 
tribes  on  the  Brito-Pictish  border  than  any  Ang- 
lian raider  before  his  time.  He  made  good  the 
subjugation  of  the  Angles  of  Deira,  and  reigned 
over  Bernicia  and  Deira  from  a.d.  594  to  6  i  7.  He 
fixed  the  northern  border  of  the  Bernicians  at 
the  Firth  of  Forth  and  extended  it  to  the  west 
into  Pictland  as  far  as  the  present  borders  of 
West  Lothian  and  Stirlingshire.  Here  he  had  to 
think  of  his  rearguard.  He  evidently  had  aimed 
at  driving  a  wedge  of  Angles  behind  Alcluyd 
(Dunbarton)  to  cut  off  the  Strathclyde  Britons 
from   the   Picts   to  the   northward,   and   from 

N  177 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  to  the  westward,  thus 
threatening  Lennox  and  Argyll.  This  movement 
brought  into  the  field  Aedhan,  king  of  the  Dal- 
riad  Gaidheals  or  Scots,  who  was  S.  Columba's 
friend,  whose  mother  was  the  daughter  of  a  chief 
of  the  Britons  in  the  south,  who  were  at  this 
time  being  persecuted  by  Ethelfrid's  subjects. 
Aedhan  had  no  desire  to  have  a  powerful  neigh- 
bour like  Ethelfrid  on  the  eastern  borders  of 
Argyll.  Besides,  the  presence  of  Angles  on  the 
eastern  side  of  Drum-Alban  meant  that  his  own 
ambitions  for  territorial  extension  at  the  expense 
of  the  Picts  would  be  frustrated.  Aedhan  offered 
no  frontal  opposition  (he  would  have  had  the 
watchful  Picts  on  his  lines  of  communication), 
but,  cunningly,  with  the  aid  of  the  fleet  which  he 
is  known  to  have  possessed,  transported  his  army 
from  Cantyre  to  the  northern  side  of  the  Solway. 
He  knew  that  region  well.  In  a.d.  573  he  had 
fought  with  certain  Britons  against  Rhydderch 
of  Strathclyde  and  Maelgon  or  Maelgwyn.  His 
object  was  apparently  to  cross  the  territoryof  the 
Britons,  to  enter  Bernicia  far  in  the  rear  of  Ethel- 
frid, and  to  strike  at  the  very  heart  of  the  Anglian 
kingdom.  It  does  not  appear  that  Aedhan  re- 
ceived any  authorized  assistance  from  the  Strath- 
clyde Britons,  who  had  painful  memories  of  him, 
and  knew  him,  like  the  other  Britons,  as  Aedhan 
'the  False.'  Aedhan's  expedition,*  like  other  ex- 

*  Bede  calls  it '  This  war '  which  Ethelfrid  brought  to  an  end  in  603. 
178 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

peditions  of  the  time,  meant  a  campaign,  not  a 
single  battle.  Consequently  the  Gaidhealic  anna- 
lists date  it  a.d.  600;  but  the  battle  of  Degsa- 
stane  which  ended  the  campaign  is  dated  in  the 
Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle  a.d.  603.*  The  Gaidh- 
ealic annalists  claim  that  Aedhan  won.  Bede 
states  that  at  Degsa-stane,  Theobald,  Ethelfrid's 
brother,  was  killed  with  almost  all  the  forces 
which  he  commanded;  but  that  Aedhan  fled  from 
the  field  with  only  'a  few  followers,'  leaving  his 
third  son  Domhangart  among  the  slain.  Degsa- 
stane  is  now  Dawstane  Rig  in  Liddesdale.  This 
expedition  exhibits  Aedhan  as  a  most  competent 
and  enterprising  military  leader.  He  had  also 
sufficient  political  insight  to  realize  that  the  un- 
checked advance  of  Ethelfrid  and  his  Angles  into 
Pictland  meant  the  death  of  all  Gaidhealic  or 
Scotic  hopes  that  the  Gaidheals  themselves 
would  one  day  penetrate  and  dominate  Pictland. 
Ethelfrid  and  Aedhan  were  well  matched.  Both 
were  foreign,  pitiless,  blood-thirsty  savages,  and 
it  is  difficult  to  say  which  the  Britons  and  Picts 
regarded  as  the  worse.  Ethelfrid  had  been  a 
brutal  foe  from  the  beginning  of  his  career;  but 
Aedhan  had  once  received  protection  from  the 
Britons,  and  had  grown  up  amid  their  friendship 
and  hospitality.  Bede,  adopting  the  view  of  his 
Roman  Catholic  predecessors,  thoroughly  ap- 

*  The  Phillipps  MS.  of  the  Chronicles  of  the  Picts  and  Scots,  as  edited, 
also  gives  the  date  603. 

179 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

proved  of  Ethelfrid's  treatment  of  the  Britons 
and  Picts;  and  regarded  him  as  an  instrument  of 
the  Lord,  'like  Saul  of  old,  save  only  in  this, 
that  he  was  ignorant  of  Divine  religion,'*  whose 
mission  was  to  murder  and  pillage  among  the 
Britons.  Aedhan  also  had  been  regarded  as 
the  Lord's  instrument  by  S.  Columba,  who  had 
anointed  and  blessed  him  in  his  mission,  to  rein- 
state the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  in  the  west  of  Pict- 
land,  and  to  hew  down  Briton,  Pict,  or  Angle 
who  should  dare  to  block  the  way. 

Ethelfrid  is  responsible,  along  with  his  instig- 
ators, for  a  massacre  of  Celtic  clerics  belonging  to 
the  Church  of  the  Britons  which  is  still  regarded 
with  horror.  About  ten  years  after  the  campaign 
which  finished  at  Degsa-stane,  he  set  out  to  do 
among  the  Britons  on  the  west  of  what  is  now 
England  what  he  had  tried  to  do  in  the  north. 
He  planned  to  separate  the  Britons  to  the  south- 
ward from  those  on  the  northward.  With  this  ob- 
ject in  view,  he  determined  to  make  effective  the 
settlement  of  Angles  from  Deira,  in  the  region 
between  the  Mersey  and  the  head  of  Morecambe 
Bay.  This  resulted  in  a  battle  between  the  Britons 
and  himself  at  'Legacaester'  (Chester)  a.d.  613.I 
The  Britons  were  led  by  Brocmael,  about  whom 

*  Bede's  H.E.  G.A.  book  i.  cap.  xxiv.  and  lib.  ii.  cap.  ii. 

f  This  is  the  date  in  the  Annales  Cambriae.  Bede  gives  no  exact  date, 
but  indicates  that  it  was  some  time  after  the  death  of  Augustine  of  Kent 
which  took  place  about  604  or  605.  Others  give  the  date  of  this  battle  as 
6i6. 

180 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

nothing  is  known.  In  a  place  of  comparative 
safety,  'apart'  from  the  British  host,  an  assembly 
of  British  clerics  gathered  to  encourage  the  Brit- 
ish soldiers.  They  were  mostly,  as  Bede  states, 
from  the  Celtic  muinniiroithe  Bangor  of  S.  Dun- 
od(Donatus).  This  was 'Bang'or  Vawr y  Maelor 
situated  on  the  Dee  between  Malpas  and  Wrex- 
ham. Itwasalso^inovfnaiS' Bangor Iscoed.'*  This 
muinntir,  in  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  century, 
numbered  two  thousand  one  hundred,  all  conse- 
crated to  a  simple  life  of  Christian  devotion  and 
learning,  with  a  view  to  keeping  alive  the  Faith 
of  Christ  among  the  Britons,  and  helping  to  keep 
up  the  supply  of  a  ministry  to  the  numerous  mis- 
sion outposts  in  the  island.  This  goodlycompany 
was  governed  by  seven  Abs  or  superintendents 
who  ruled  groups  of  three  hundred  each.  Before 
the  battle  of  Legacaester  these  clerics  had  fasted 
three  days,  and  in  their  anxiety  many  went  to  the 
battle  area;  and,  standing  away  from  the  fighting 
men,  prayed  for  the  success  of  the  British  arms. 
Theyknewthat  continued  safety  to  alarge  section 
of  the  Church  of  the  Britons,  and  continued  in- 
dependence to  many  of  the  British  tribes  depend- 
ed on  the  battle.  When  the  cynical  Ethelfrid  saw 
these  men  trembling  and  interceding  before 
Heaven,  for  home,  and  Church,  and  freedom; 
he  inquired  who  they  were.  Being  told  that  they 

*  It  was  founded  by  S.  Dunod  map  Pabo,  Deiniol  Cynwyl,  and  Gwar- 
than,  on  lands  granted  by  Cyngen,  Chief  of  Powis. 

i8i 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

were  the  Christian  ministers  of  the  Britons,  en- 
gaged in  intercession,  he  replied,  in  words  that 
Bede  has  preserved,  'Seeing  they  entreat  their 
God,  though  they  are  unarmed;  they  in  truth 
war  against  us,  because  they  invoke  curses  upon 
us.'  Probably  Ethelfrid  slandered  those  gentle 
Churchmen  who  belonged  to  a  Church  which  poss- 
essed hardly  a  single  martyr  until  the  Angles,  Sax- 
ons, Frisians,  and  Scandinavians  made  them  in 
battalions,  after  they  had  established  themselves 
in  Britain.  Ethelfrid,  on  this  occasion,  gave  the 
Church  of  the  Britons  about  twelve  hundred  mar- 
tyrs in  one  day.  Bede  puts  it,  'about  twelve  hun- 
dred who  came  to  pray  on  that  day  were  killed, 
as  is  related,  and  only  fifty  escaped  in  flight.' 
When  Ethelfrid  had  drawn  up  his  men  in  battle 
array  he  kept  enough  to  contain  the  British  sol- 
diers and  detached  a  section  to  hack  and  stab 
among  the  unarmed  clergy.  Thedismayand  panic 
which  this  horror  created  among  the  soldiers  of 
the  Britons  lost  them  the  battle,  and  Brocmael 
fled  defeated.* 

Something  more  than  suspicion  rests  upon  the 
Anglican  Roman  Catholic  Mission  with  respect 
to  this  massacre  of  Christian  ministers.  When 
Augustine  of  Kent  had  arranged  the  conference 
with  the  Celtic  clergy,  c.  a.d.  603,  at  'the  Oak'  on 
the  borders  of  'the  Hwiccas  and  West  Saxons'; 
it  was  from  this  same  Bangor  of  S.  Dunod  that 

*  Bede's  H.E.  G.A.  lib.  ii.  cap.  ii. 
182 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

'sevenbishops  of  the  Britons,  men  of  great  learn- 
ing,' went  forth  to  hear  what  the  Roman  bishop 
wished  to  say.  Augustine  demanded  that  the 
Celtic  Church  should  keep  Easter  at  the  Roman 
date,  that  the  clergy  should  administer  the  sacra- 
ment of  baptism  in  the  Roman  manner,  that  the 
CelticClergy  should  join  the  Romanmissionaries 
in  preaching  to  their  ferocious  foes  the  Angles; 
and,  as  a  reward,  he  offered  to  tolerate  any  other 
differences.  Before  the  Celtic  deputies  from  S. 
Dunod's  set  out  from  their  community,  they  had 
gone  to  their  Disert  where  'acertain  holy  and  dis- 
creet superior,'  probably  S.  Dunod  himself,  was 
living.  They  asked  how  they  should  treat  Augus- 
tine's overtures.  'If  he  is  a  man  of  God;  follow 
him,'  said  their  adviser.  'How  shall  we  know 
that  ? '  they  asked.  He  replied :  '  Our  Lord  saith. 
Take  my  yoke  upon  you  and  learn  of  Me,  for  I  am 
meek  and  lowly  in  heart:  if, therefore,  Augustine 
is  meek  and  lowly  in  heart,  it  is  to  be  believed 
that  he  bears  the  yoke  of  Christ  himself,  and 
offers  it  to  you  to  bear.  But,  if  he  is  harsh  and 
proud  ;  it  is  plain  that  he  is  not  of  God,  nor  are 
we  to  regard  his  words.'  'Arrange,'  continued 
their  adviser,  'that  Augustine  should  arrive  first 
with  his  company  at  the  place  of  the  Synod. 
If,  at  your  approach,  he  rises  up  to  greet  you|; 
hear  him  submissively,  being  assured  that  he  is 
the  servant  of  Christ;  but  if  he  despises  you, 
and  does  not  rise  to  greet  you,  although  you 

183 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

represent  the  majority ;  let  him  be  despised  by 
you.'* 

Augustine  enthroned  on  a  chair  received  the 
Celtic  bishops  and  presbyters  without  rising;  and 
made  a  bad  impression.  When  he  had  presented 
his  demands,  the  Celtic  Churchmen  refused  as- 
sent. Whereupon  Augustine,  according  to  Bede's 
information,  'prophesied,'  or  threatened,  that  as 
they  would  not  accept  peace  in  the  Church  on  his 
terms  they  must  be  prepared  for  war;  and  as  they 
would  not  preach  'the  way  of  life,'  he  meant  the 
Roman  Catholic  way,  to  the  savage  Angles,  they 
would  receive  death  at  their  hands.  These  clerical 
prophecies  or  threats  had  always  a  way  of  fulfil- 
ling themselves,  whether  made  to  the  continental 
Celts  and  fulfilled  by  the  savage  Merovingian 
instruments  of  Rome;  or  made  in  Britain  and 
fulfilled  by  the  equally  savage  Angles  and 
Saxons.  Bede  exhibits  the  view  that  his  prede- 
cessors in  the  Roman  Mission  took  of  the  mar- 
tyrdom of  the  clergy  of  the  Bangor  of  S.  Dunod, 
who  had  refused  Augustine's  demands,  when  he 
vigorously  libels  and  castigates  the  whole  Celtic 
Church,  referring  to  Ethelfrid's  massacre  as  'the 
slaughter  of  that  heretical  nation,' and  to  the  Brit- 
ish soldiers  as  their  'impious  army.'  But  Bede 
actually  knew  better.  He  knew  how  the  Celtic 
ministers  lived,  and  taught,  and  preached  to  all 
who  would  receive  them  in  peace.   He  could  not 

*  BtAe&H.E.G.A.  lib.  ii.  cap.  ii. 
184 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

but  know  of  the  conversion  of  a  whole  'nation' 
of  the  Angles,  'Ambrones,'  that  is  Umbrones  or 
Umbrians  by  Rum  map  Urbgen,  a  Briton.  He 
himself  has  preserved  for  us  a  sacred  description 
of  the  holy  life  oi2iCQ[iic  muinntir,  and  its  bishop, 
Colman  the  Gaidheal,  which  takes  the  mind  back 
to  the  sanctity,  simplicity,  and  reality  of  the  re- 
ligious life  of  the  first  apostles.*  Yet  he  rounds 
off  his  reference  to  the  tragic  massacre  by  Ethel- 
frid  with  this  apparently  pious  reflection,  'Thus 
was  fulfilled  the  prophecy  of  the  holy  bishop 
Augustine  (of  Kent),  though  he  himself  had, 
some  time  before,  beentakenup  into  the  heavenly 
kingdom,  namely  that  the  heretics  should  suffer 
also  the  vengeance  of  temporal  death;  because 
they  had  despised  the  offer  of  life  eternal.'  More 
accurately,  the  British  Christians  had  refused  to 
conform  to  the  ways  of  the  Roman  mission  on 
the  demand  of  Augustine,  or  to  alter  times  and 
seasons,  or  to  give  up  methods  or  organization, 
Church  government,  and  administration  of  the 
Sacraments,  all  of  which  had  been  regular  and 
orthodox  before  the  Church  which  Augustine 
represented,  so  often  itself  unorthodox,  had  arro- 
gated to  itself  the  power  to  demand  uniformity 
in  non-essentials  from  Churches  that  had  been 
influencing  the  western  world  before  the  Roman 
Church  was  other  than  parochial. 

It  is  now  possible  to  trace  the  movements  on 

*  Bede's^.^.  G.A.  lib.  iii.  cap.  26. 

185 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

the  British  side  which  led  to  the  isolation  of  the 
Britons  of  the  north  from  those  in  the  south,  and 
to  the  organization  in  the  sixth  century  of  the 
kingdom  of  the  Britons  of  Strathclyde  with 
its  capital  at  Alcluyd,*  now  Dunbarton.  Its 
northern  border  was  the  south-western  border  of 
Pictland  along  the  line  of  the  Lennox  hills,  its 
southern  border  was  near  the  head  of  Morecambe 
Bay,  its  eastern  border  was  the  Anglian  frontier- 
line  from  the  Pentlands  to  the  Pennines,  and,  on 
the  west,  it  touched  the  sea.  It  is  necessary  to 
keep  continually  in  mind  that  the  isolation  of  this 
kingdom  was  the  successful  result  of  Anglian 
strategy;  and  that  this  isolation  was  followed  by 
Anglian  tactics  which  aimed  at  weakening,  raid- 
ing, and  piercing  the  British  territory  whenever 
opportunity  offered,  so  that  it  could  be  annexed 
piece  by  piece.  These  Anglian  manoeuvres  also 
resulted  in  the  cutting  of  direct  communications 
between  the  mother-Church  at  Candida  Casa 
and  its  daughter-Churches,  and  also  separated  it 
from  sister-Churches  among  the  Britons,  in  what 
afterwards  became  Wales,  and  South  Cornwall. 
Moreover,  as  the  isolation  of  the  Strathclyde 
Britons  left  them  to  a  great  extent  at  the  mercy 
of  the  political  aggression  of  the  Angles;  so,  also, 
after  the  Roman  mission  had  put  the  seal  of 
Roman  baptism  and  the  name  'Christian'  upon 

*  That  is  the  Rock  of  Clyde.  'Dunbarton'  is,  of  course,  a  corruption 
oi  Dun-Briton,  Fortress  of  the  Britons. 

i86 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

the  Angles  by  the  hand  of  Paulinus  of  York, 
A.D.  625-627,  twelve  years  after  Ethelfrid  and 
the  Angles  had  massacred  the  British  saints  at 
Chester,  Candida  Casa  and  some  of  its  daughter- 
Churches  were  at  the  mercy  of  the  propaganda  of 
these  new  Anglian  Roman  Catholics  supported 
by  Anglian  soldiers. 

When  the  last  of  the  Imperial  Roman  legions 
retired  from  Britain  a.d.  410,  the  Britons  had 
been  left  without  rulers  and  administrators.  They 
were  left  with  empty  forts  in  garrison  cities,  and 
law-courts  from  which  the  judges  had  fled.  They 
still  had  the  market-towns,  the  Roman  and  native 
coinage,  excellent  roads,  the  spas  and  health  re- 
sorts, most  of  the  comforts,  and  many  of  the 
luxuriesof  Latin  civilization.  Someof  the  Britons, 
as  the  Roman  soldiers  knew  to  their  cost,  had  re- 
tained the  old  Celtic  military  spirit,  and 'worried 
the  garrisons.  Others,  in  the  occupied  districts, 
who  refused  to  settle  down  to  the  arts  of  peace, 
had  been  taken  into  the  Imperial  army  and  sent 
abroad.  The  greater  part  of  the  British  Celts, 
however,had.  been  transformed  into  cit;y-d wellers, 
traders,  and  farmers.  Let  any  one  look  at  Ptol- 
emy's list  of  towns  in  Britain,  or  at  the  city  names 
given  in  the  Antonine  Itinerary,  the  Notitia  Dig- 
nitatum,  or  by  the  Ravenna  Geographer,  and  he 
will  realize  at  a  glance  the  extent  to  which  the 
Britons  of  the  Imperial  territory  had  become 
dwellers  in  cities;  and  it  will  also  be  borne  in  upon 

187 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

him  how  completely  the  Romans  had  shattered 
the  ancient  clan  organizations  of  the  Britons, 
and  had  substituted  the  control  of  the  pro-consul 
for  the  patriarchal  government  of  the  British 
chiefs.  He  will  also  understand  how  helpless 
the  Britons  were  left,  with  respect  to  protection 
against  external  enemies,  enforcement  of  law 
and  order  within,  or  the  setting  up  of  authority 
that  would  be  universally  respected,  when  the 
Roman  authority  ceased  with  the  recall  of  the 
legions,  a.d.  410.  In  a.d.  368  the  Picts  of  Alba, 
and  the  recalcitrant  British  tribes  whom  the 
Romans  had  driven  in  upon  them  had  march- 
ed to  the  gates  of  London.  After  a.d.  410,  they 
again  began  to  press  steadily  southward.  The 
shadows  of  the  Teuton  savages  in  their  ceols  had 
already,  before  a.d.  449,  been  thrown  on  the  east 
coasts  of  Britain  by  the  rising  sun.  The  Gaidh- 
eals  or  Scots  had  not  then  crossed  to  Cantyre; 
but, congested  behind  the  Irish  Picts,  their  clans- 
men were  ready  to  sell  their  swords  to  any  ad- 
venturer; and,  besides,  about  this  time  they  were 
looking  out  for  territory  beyond  Ireland  in  which 
their  surplus  population  could  settle.  Surely 
there  could  not  be  a  more  melancholy  indication 
of  how  trade  and  luxury  and  tutelage  can  emas- 
culate even  a  martial  people,  who  had  once  taxed 
the  utmost  power  of  the  Caesars,  than  the  pitiful 
letter  from  the  Britons,  c.  a.d.  446,  to  the  Roman 
consul  Aetius,  the  destined  victor  of  Chilons, 
188 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

while  he  was  in  Gaul,  shepherding  back  Attila 
and  his  Huns  beyond  the  sources  of  the  Marne. 
Bede  has  preserved  the  lamentation  that  was 
expected  to  wring  help  from  the  consul  of  their 
former  masters.  'The  barbarians  drive  us  into 
the  sea;  the  sea  drives  us  back  to  the  barbarians: 
between  them  we  are  faced  with  two  formsof  death; 
we  are  either  slaughtered  or  drowned.'  Already 
in  the  first  half  of  the  fifth  century  these  feeble 
Britons  were  driven  from  the  Roman  cities  back 
to  the  wildernesses  in  which  their  fathers  had 
been  made  strong.  The  former  garrison  towns, 
market  towns,  and  grain-store  towns  were  left 
desolate,  and  the  fine  Roman  roads  took  on  the 
dust  and  grass  that  have  never  since  been  scraped 
from  some  of  them. 

In  this  extremity  certain  northern  Britons 
came  forward  who  were  made  of  sterner  stuff 
than  the  writers  of  the  letter  to  Aetius.  They 
had  a  clear  idea  that  unity  as  well  as  valour  was 
necessary  to  save  the  British  people.  They  con- 
sented to  the  election  of  a  chief  who  would  be 
over  all  the  clan  chiefs  and  who  would  act  as  war- 
lord and  sovereign.  This  ruler  was  known  by  the 
native  title,  Gwledig;  or,  as  the  Gaidheals  wrote 
it,  'Guletic,'*  which  indicates  sovereignty.  One 
of  the  first  aspirants  to  the  sovereignty  of  the 
Britons  in  these  leaderless  days  was  Vortigernj 
(Great-lord),  the  chief  of  the  Britons  in  the  mid- 

*  It  was  the  title  which  the  Britons  gave  in  Roman  times  to  the  usurper 
Maximus  (383).  f  '•  a.d.  449- 

189 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

lands  of  what  is  now  England,  who  invited  the 
Angles  from  across  the  North  Sea  to  help  him 
against  the  more  virile  British  and  Pictish  clans- 
men of  the  north.  His  aspirations  were  clearly- 
disappointed;  because  the  first  name  in  the  His- 
toria  Britonwn  associated  with  the  title  '  Guletic' 
is  Ceredig.  He  is  the  Coroticus  to  whom  the  his- 
torical S.  Patrick  addressed  his  querulous  and 
wrathful  letter.  Itis  important  to  note,  as  has  been 
pointed  out,  because  it  indicates  the  part  of  Bri- 
tain with  which  Patrick  was  acquainted,  that  the 
friends  of  Coroticus  or '  Ceretic '  are  of  British  and 
Roman  descent,  as  is  but  natural,  and  his  army 
'Picti,'  *  living  to  the  north  and  east  of  the  Clyde, 
whom  Patrick  in  his  orthodox  wrath  calls  'apos- 
tatae.'  This  letter  was  written  between  432  and 
459  A.D.  and  indicates  the  period  of  Ceredig. 
That  Ceredig  ruled  the  Pictish  and  British  tribes 
from  the  Forth  and  Clyde  area  southwards  is  put 
beyond  all  doubt  by  what  is  told  about  his  suc- 
cessor in  the  sovereignty,  Cuned-og,  or  'Cinuit,' 
his  son.  I  n  the  reliable  genealogies  of  the  Britons 
in  the  Historia  Britonum  he  is  entered  '  Cinuit 
map  Ceretic  Guletic'  In  another  entry  it  is  ex- 
plained how  he  migrated  from  Manau  gu-Ota- 
din,  that  is,  from  the  district  now  represented 

*  Prof.  Zimmer  brackets  Scotti  with  Picti  in  the  Clyde  region  in  the 
time  of  Coroticus.  They  did  not  settle  in  the  Clyde  region  until  498.  In 
the  time  of  Coroticus  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  were  in  Ireland,  but  always 
ready  to  send  armed  men  over  to  the  British  mainland  when  fighting  or 
plunder  or  both  were  possible. 

190 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

by  the  south-east  corner  of  Stirlingshire,  West 
Lothian  and  the  Edinburgh  area,  into  what  is 
now  North  Wales,*  in  the  fifth  century.  He 
found  on  his  arrival  that  a  colony  of  Gaidheals 
or  Scots  from  Ireland,  taking  advantage  of  the 
leaderless  state  of  the  Britons,  had  settled  there. 
Cunedog  with  his  sons  immediately  drove  them 
out  of  Wales,  with  great  slaughter ;  and  the  nar- 
rator states  'on  no  occasion  did  they  return  a 
second  time  for  the  purpose  of  settling.'  This 
definite  historical  note  deserves  the  attention  of 
those  who,  basing  on  the  fabulists  of  Glaston- 
bury, believe  that  Gaidheals  or  Scots  settled  in 
Wales  in  numbers  sufficient  to  influence  its  his- 
tory. Cunedog  was  the  second  of  his  family  to 
hold  the  sovereignty  of  the  British  chiefs.  Some 
time  after  a.d.  449,  as  Bede  states,  a  Briton 
of  Roman  descent,  Ambrosius  Aurelianus  had 
been  chosen  sovereign  of  the  Britons;  and,  for 
a  short  time,  led  his  countrymen  with  success 
against  the  invading  Angles.  In  the  beginning 
of  the  sixth  century  Arthur  map  Uthr,  the  his- 
torical Arthur,  led  the  Britons  as  sovereign  until 
he  fell,  A.D.  537,  at  the  battle  of  Cdmelon  in  Stir- 
lingshire, in  combat  with  the  'traitor  and  rebel' 
Medraut  ('  Modred').  In  connection  with  Arthur, 
the  locality  of  his  death  goes  to  confirm  the 
British  annalists  who  state  distinctly,  in  opposi- 

*  Called  'Gwendote,'  that  in  the  ~BxiXomc;ioxra_is'_Gmynedd.  Latin 
writers  put  it  as  Venedotia_ 

191 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

tion  to  the  indications  of  the  Romances,  that 
Arthur's  soldiers  were  drawn  from  the  Gwyr  y 
Gogledd,  Men  of  the  North,  who  were  of  the 
same  tribes,  and  from  the  same  localities,  as  the 
fighting  men  of  his  predecessors  Ceredig  and 
Cunedog.  It  is  certain  that  they  did  not  come 
from  the  spiritless  Britons  of  the  South  who 
wrote  to  Aetius.  Medraut  was  a '  rebel' ;  because 
the  rising  which  he  headed  was  mainly  directed 
against  Arthur's  position  as  Guletic  to  which 
Medraut's  father  Loth  or  'Llewddyn  Lueddag' 
as  king  of  the  Brito-Pictish  tribes  in  Lothian 
had  presumably  consented.  He  was  Arthur's 
brother-in-law,  and  although  he  pretended  to 
stand  aloof  from  his  son's  rebellion,  he  allowed 
his  people  to  take  the  field.  Medraut  was  also  a 
'traitor,'  because  he  had  called  to  his  assistance 
the  Angles,  the  enemies  of  the  Britons,  whom 
Arthur  was  beating  back. 

Theoretically  the  position  of  Guletic  was 
given  by  election;  but  after  Arthur  fell,  a.d.  537, 
the  sovereign,  so  long  as  the  office  continued, 
required  to  assert  his  control  by  force  of  arms. 
This  was  certainly  the  experience  of  'Maelgon  ' 
or  Maelgwyn.  *  The  earlier  authorities  possessed 
some  information  indicating  that  after  Arthur's 
death  Constantine,  king  of  the  Z?Mw«o«?V  (Devon 

*  There  are  other  dialectal  variants.  The  Latin  writers  actually 
achieved  'Maglocunus.'  Cf.  Forbes,  Lives  of  .J^.  Ninianand  Kentigerti, 
p.  Ixx. 

192 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

and  Cornwall),  was  called  to  the  sovereignty  of 
the  Britons.  Although  Matthew  of  Westmin- 
ster credits  him  with  disposing  of  the  two  sons 
of  Medraut  of  Lothian,  who  had  continued 
their  father's  rebellion,  his  control  of  the  British 
league  could  only  have  been  nominal,  because 
he  resigned  after  'three  years.'  Maelgon,  on 
the  other  hand,  enforced  control,  even  depos- 
ing factious  chiefs,  as  Gildas  indicates.  Mael- 
gon was  one  of  the  descendants  in  the  direct 
line  from  Ceredig  and  Cunedog,  and  was  one  of 
their  successors  in  the  kingdom  of  North  Wales, 
which  suggests  that  this  Brito-Pictish  family  re- 
garded themselves  as  possessing  a  preference  to 
the  sovereignty.  Gildas  calls  Maelgon  'insularis 
Draco'  which  was  a  title,  veiling,  in  this  instance, 
a  sneer.  The  insula,  of  course,  was  Britain.  The 
'Draco'  was  a  poetical  way  of  referring  to  the 
sovereigns  who  claimed  succession  to  the  Im- 
perial Roman  control  and  military  leadership;  and 
so  the  right  to  have  carried  before  them  in  battle, 
the  purple  draco  of  Caesar's  generals.  But  as 
Gildas  was  upbraiding  Maelgon  that  he  had  de- 
prived other  chiefs  of  the  Britons  of  their  terri- 
tories and  lives,  and  had  abused  his  position  as 
sovereign;  the  sting  of  this  poetical  title  in  satir- 
ical prose  was  that  Maelgon  was  exhibited  as  an 
island-monster  to  his  fellow-countrymen.  True, 
Maelgon*  was  a  pagan;  but,  in  spite  of  Gildas,  he 

*  By  a  not  unusual  type  of  copyist's  blunder  in  the  MS.  of  the  Anncdes 

o  193 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

was  far-seeing,  tolerant,  firm,  the  type  of  ruler 
needed  by  a  people  who  so  frequently  refused  to 
sink  their  tribal  jealousies  and  to  unify  against 
the  implacable  Angles.  Maelgon's  tolerance  and 
interest  in  good  work  are  seen  in  his  confirmation 
of  Llan-ElwytoS.  Kentigern  during  the  saint's 
exile  c.  567;  his  statesmanship  in  the  assistance 
which  he  gave  to  the  victorious  Christian  chief  of 
the  northern  Britons,  Rhydderch  of  Strathclyde, 
during  the  campaign  which  ended  at  Ard'eryd 
(Arthuret)  near  Carlisle  a.d.  573,*  even  allowing 
for  the  fact  that  Rhydderch  like  himself  was  one 
of  the  descendants  of  Ceredig  Guletic.  Maelgon 
knew  that  the  policy  of  the  Angles  to  wedge  the 
Britons  apart  necessitated  the  maintenance  of  a 
powerful  ruler  in  Strathclyde.  He  alsoknewhow 
to  meet  the  desires  of  his  Christian  subjects, 
when  he  decided  that  S.  David  [Dewi)  on  his 
death,  a.d.  589,  should  be  buried  in  his  own 

Cambriae  Maelgon's  death  is  entered  at  the  year  when  he  began  to  reign 
in  his  own  kingdom,  namely,  547.  Bishop  Forbes  has  already  pointed 
out  this,  in  his  Life  of  Kentigern,  p.  Ixx. 

According  to  Lhuyd,  Lanigan,  and  others,  Maelgon  became  sovereign 
oiall  the  Britons  c.  560.  There  is  evidence  that  his  claims  had  been  put 
forward  when  he  entered  into  his  own  kingdom ;  although  they  were  not 
recognized  until  later.  Maelgon's  predecessor,  Caswallawn,  was  evident- 
ly Constantine's  rival  for  the  sovereignty  when  the  latter  resigned  c.  540. 

Maelgon's  death  took  place,  according  to  the  best  authorities,  c.  590; 
and  he  appears  to  have  died  an  unusually  old  man  for  a  British  chief. 
This  period  certainly  agrees  with  the  statement  in  the  Historia  Britonwn 
that  Cunedog,  Maelgon's  ancestor.'left  the  Firth  of  Forthregiontotake 
over  the  rule  of  North  Wales  146  years  before  the  end  of  Maelgon's  reign. 

*  This  is  the  date  in  the  Harleian  MS.  Chronicle.  Dr.  Reeves  puts 
this  battle  in  577  to  support  his  idea  that  it  took  place  after  Aedhan  be- 
came king  of  Dalriada. 
194 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

Church  at  Mynyv. 

The  campaign  of  Ard'eryd,  just  alluded  to, 
brought  about  political  rearrangements  that  were 
most  favourable  to  the  Christians  among  the 
Britons;  and  settled  who, under  Maelgon's sove- 
reignty, was  to  hold  the  hegemony  of  the  Britons 
between  Lennox  and  Morecambe.  The  war  was 
reallya  civil  war  among  Britons.  Theclansofthe 
Britons  on  theEast  had  been  driven  inupon  their 
brethren  on  the  west  by  Hussa  and  his  Angles. 
The  jurisdiction  of  various  British  chiefs  was 
confused  on  the  West,  all  the  way  from  the  Pen- 
nines  to  the  Pentlands.  The  struggle  first  arose 
over  a  trivial  dispute  about  boundaries  which 
gave  rise  to  the  ancient  satire  that  the  cause  of 
Ard'eryd  was  a  quarrel  about  'the  ownership  of  a 
lark's  nest.'*  The  war  became  serious  enough. 
The  following  chiefs  of  the  Britons  were  con- 
cerned in  it:  Rhydderchf  map  Tudgual.J  known 
as^(«^/,  the  Liberal,aChristian,  who  ruledat  Dun- 
barton;  Urien  (Urbgen  map  Cinmarc),  paternal 
grandfather  of  S.Kentigern,  whose  territory  con- 
tained parts  of  Kyle,  Clydesdale,  Nithsdale,  An- 
nandale,  and  extended  eastwards  to  the  territory 
of  the  Angles  who  constantly  harassed  him;  Mor- 

*  So  it  is  stated  in  the  Triads. 

t  The  Welsh  state  that  he  also  possessed  lands  between  the  Towy  and 
the  Neath  in  S.  Wales.  Rhydderch  in  later  years  was  also  known  as 
'Hhi;  \htO\&. 

%  Tudgual's  uncle  was  Cinbelin,  the  original  of  Shakespeare's  Cym- 
beline, '  King  of  Britain.'  Outside  poetry,  he  was  a  king  of  the  Britons. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

kan  (Morcant  map  Coledauc)  who,  c.  a.d.  567, 
when  he  persecuted  S.  Kentigern,  ruled  at 
Glasgow,  and  to  the  northward  and  eastward; 
Guallauc  {'Hywel')  map  Laenauc,  brother  of  S. 
Gildas.  Guallauc  had  fought  with  Rhydderch 
against  Hussa  and  the  Angles.  Urien,  Guallauc, 
and  Morkan  were  all  descended  from  Coyl  Hgn, 
a  local  king  of  the  Britons,  of  whose  territories 
Ayrshire  had  formed  part;  whereas  Rhydderch 
was  descended  from  Ceredig  and  Cunedog  who 
both  had  been  sovereigns  of  all  the  Britons. 
Clinog  Eitin,  that  is,  of 'Eiddyn'  (Eid-dun),  now 
Edinburgh,  a  relation  of  Rhydderch,  was  also 
contemporary  with  him ;  and  about  the  time  of 
Ard'eryd  had  been  much  pressed  by  Hussa  and 
his  Angles.  Finally,  there  was  Gwenddolen  map 
Ceidian  who  ruled  in  the  Solway  region  and 
southwards.  He  adhered  to  the  paganism  of  the 
Celts,  encouraged  the  native  bards,  and  was  osten- 
tatiously anti-Christian.  He,  however,  does  not 
appear  to  have  imposed  any  sufferings  on  the 
clerics  of  the  Britons.  The  trivial  border  dispute 
which  led  to  Ard'eryd,  grew  until  the  contest 
became  a  life  and  death  struggle  between  Celtic 
paganism  supported  by  the  rulers  and  bards  of 
one  section  of  the  Britons;  and  Christianity  sup- 
ported by  the  most  distinguished  of  the  British 
chiefs,  Rhydderch  the  Liberal  and  his  people. 
Selfish  political  considerations  attracted  some 
Christians  to  the  pagan  side;  and  some  pagans 
196 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

to  the  Christian  side.  Rhydderch  had  assisted 
the  chiefs  of  his  own  house,  and  the  chiefs  of  the 
other  British  house  of  Coyl  H^n,  already  named, 
against  Hussa  the  Angle;  they  in  return  now- 
assisted  him  against  his  internal  enemies,  and  are 
referred  to  by  the  bards  as  'the  chiefs  of  Rhyd- 
derch.' Gwenddolen  the  pagan  and  his  forces 
were  assisted  by  the  Angles,  who  were  delighted 
to  take  a  hand  in  helping  the  Britons  to  destroy 
one  another;  and  by  A^dhan,*  the  Gaidheal  or 
Scot,  a  professed  Christian,  and  his  clansmen. 
Aedhan  was  at  this  time  an  exile  from  Dalriada 
and  a  guest  of  the  Britons.  He  was  considered 
to  have  dishonoured  his  sword,  and  to  have  dis- 
graced his  Christian  name  at  Ard'eryd;  and  for 
his  ingratitude  then,  and  his  hostility  to  Rhyd- 
derch, the  Christian  champion, f  at  a  later  time, 
even  the  bards  stigmatized  him  as  'the  False,'  or 
'the  Traitor.' J  Rhydderch's  success  at  Ard'eryd 
was  not  what  Aedhan  had  expected;  and  at  the 
close  of  the  campaign  he  found  it  prudent  to  flee 
from  the  people  who  had  adopted  him,  and  he 
became  once  more  a  wanderer.    It  was  in  this 

*  Cf.  Reeves,  Adamnan's  V.S.C.  p.  44,  notee. 

t  The  bards  honour  him  as  Rwyfadur  Ffydd,  i.e.  Champion  of  the 
Faith. 

X  Bishop  Forbes,  with  perversity  hard  to  explain,  represents  Aedhan 
as  the  'Christian  champion,'  and  states  that  Aedhan  'conquers Gwenddo- 
len.' (See  his  Life  of  S.  Kentigern,  p.  Ixxvii).  On  pp.  360  and  361,  he 
holds  up  Cai\xD.zi?,  (Caledonia)  to  derision,  and  charges  him  with  pervert- 
ing the  Welsh  annals,  because,  like  Dr.  Reeves,  he  pointed  out  that  Aedhan 
was  opposed  to  Rhydderch.  Chalmers  on  this  matter  was  right,  and  Bishop 
Forbes  wrong,  and  several  have  followed  him  in  his  error. 

197 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

plight  that  S.  Columba  received  him  in  Dalriada; 
and  when  the  throne  of  Dalriada  became  vacant, 
A.D.  574,  the  year  after  Ard'eryd,  S.  Columba 
broke  the  law  of  succession,  ignored  king  Don- 
nchadh  ('Duncan')*  andthe  other  sons  of  the  de- 
ceased king  Conaill  of  the  senior  royal  house  of 
Comghall;  and,  at  the  cost  of  civil  war  among  his 
fellow-Gaidheals  or  Scots  ordained  Aedhan  'the 
False,'  of  the  house  of  Gabhran,  to  the  Dalriad 
throne.  Aedhan  fared  better  than  many  with 
whom  he  was  allied,  in  escaping  from  Ard'eryd, 
Gwenddolen  was  slain.  Myrdinn  (Llallogan)  the 
bard,  his  counsellor,  who  wore  the  'golden 
torques' f  of  royal  favour  at  the  battle,  went 
mad.  Gwenddolen's  clan  continued  to  fight  after 
their  allies  had  accepted  defeat,  keeping  up  the 
struggle  for  forty-six  days  in  a  vain  effort  to  re- 
venge their  master.  There  had  been  one  critical 
period  in  the  main  action  when  the  struggle 
looked  ill  for  Rhydderch;  but  the  forces  of  Mael- 
gon,  the  sovereign,  suddenly  appeared  on  the 
scene  coming  to  the  aid  of  Rhydderch.  The  duet 
of  the  bards  in  the  Black  Book  of  Caermarthen 
has  the  lines — 

Fortunate  was  it  that  the  host  of  Maelgon  came 

Hewing  down  the  fighting  men,  ploughing  the  bloody  field 

Of  Ard'eryd's  fight. 

The  political  results  of  the  campaign  of  Ar- 

,*  Donnchadh  fell  in  the  war,  raised  to  keep  him  on  the  throne,  in  576. 
t  In  the  Avellatiau. 

198 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

d'eryd  were,  the  constitution  of  the  federated  clans 
and  chiefs  of  the  Britons  of  the  north,  not  con- 
quered by  the  Angles,  into  one  kingdom  under 
the  sovereign  control  of  Rhydderch  of  Strath- 
clyde  who  became  independent,  except  for  the 
nominal  suzerainty  of  Maelgon  of  North  Wales, 
sovereign  of  all  the  Britons;  the  acquisition  by 
Rhydderch  of  the  lands  of  Gwenddolen  in  the 
Galloway-Cumbria  region  which  became  an  ex- 
tension of  the  Strathclyde  kingdom,  although  as 
early  as  the  end  of  the  sixth  century  it  had  been 
liable  to  raids  by  the  Angles  on  the  east;  the  est- 
ablishment of  a  united  people  in  the  Clyde  region 
who  barred  the  westward  progress  of  the  Angles, 
and  the  eastward  progress  of  the  Gaidheals  or 
Scots  from  Cantyre  and  the  southern  Hebrides. 
The  ecclesiastical  results  of  Ard'eryd  were  that 
centres  of  Christian  activity  at  Candida  Casa  and 
Glasgow,  and  the  territorial  daughter-Churches 
founded  by  the  missionary  Britons,  came  to  be  in- 
cluded together  in  the  dominions  of  a  confessed 
Christian  king;  and  one  of  the  earliest  acts  of 
Rhydderch  as  sovereign  was  to  recall  S.  Kenti- 
gern  from  Llan-Elwy,  in  Maelgon's  kingdom,  to 
his  own  kingdom,  where  he  reinstated  him,  first 
at  'Holdelm,'  now  Hoddam,  in  Dumfriesshire, 
and  finally  at  Glasgow,  S.  Kentigern's  original 
seat.  Rhydderch  was  thus  the  Jirst  Christian 
sovereign  in  the  island  of  Britain  who  regarded 
the  Christian  Church  in  his  dominions  as  national; 

199 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

and  the  first*  to  establish  this  national,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  a  tribal  Church,  under  the  pro- 
tection of  a  sovereign  monarch  and  his  govern- 
ment. The  date  of  these  events  is  also  that  of 
Rhydderch's  accession  to  the  enlarged  kingdom 
which  he  ruled  from  his  capital  of  Alcluyd  or 
Dunbarton,  a.d,  5  73  to  6oi. 

Joceline  introduces  into  his  version  of  the 
Life  ofS.  Kentigern  a  statement  that  Rhydderch 
was  baptized  in  Ireland  'by  the  disciples  of  S. 
Patrick. 'f  The  disciples  of  the  historical  Patrick, 
of  whom  a  list  survives,  were  dead  before  Rhyd- 
derch was  born.  But  the  statement  bears  signs 
on  its  face  that  it  is  precisely  one  of  those  inven- 
tions which  Joceline  was  employed  by  the  Roman 
Catholic  prelates  of  Armagh  and  Glasgow  to 
introduce  into  the  old  biographies;  in  order  that 
the  Churchmen  of  the  Britons  might  be  brought 
into  apparent  harmony,  on  piper,  with  Roman 
Catholic  orthodoxy.  Rhydderch  was  baptized, 
writes  Joceline,  'in  the  most  Christian  manner,' 
that  is  Joceline's  way  of  saying,  not  according 
to  the  practice  of  the  Celtic  Church,  which  dif- 
fered from  the  practice  of  the  Roman  Catholic 

•  Other  kings  of  the  Britons  had  been  unofficially  kind  to  the  Church 
of  the  Britons  long  before  Rhydderch's  time.  S.  Caranoc,  a  prince  of  the 
house  of  Ceredig.the  sovereign, became  a  pupil  and  successorof  S.  Ninian. 
Nectan,  the  Pictish  sovereign,  helped  S.  Buidhe.  Bede,  the  chief  of 
Buchan,  helped  S.  Drostan.  The  historical  Arthur  was  a  Christian.  These 
kindnesses,  however,  were  personal  and  local,  and  granted  at  a  time  when 
many  of  the  rulers  were  still  pagans. 

t   V.S.K.  cap.  xxix. 

200 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

Church.   The  early  prelates  of  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic See  of  Armagh,  in  promoting  their  claims  to 
primacy,  systematically  connected  every  possible 
ecclesiastical  event  with  that  See,  and  the  early 
Roman  Catholic  prelates  of  Glasgow,  in  promot- 
ing the  claims  of  their  See  over  Candida  Casa  and 
against  York,  strove  to  erase  from  history  all 
memory  of  the  organized  Church  of  the  Britons 
before  S.  Kentigern,  whom  they  represented  as 
a  Roman  Catholic.  Joceline  was  one  of  their 
known  literary  agents  in  this  manipulation  of 
history,  and  his  handiwork  survives  in  a  Life 
of,  the  unhistorical,  S.  Patrick,  and  in  a  Life  of 
S.  Kentigern,  which  is  a  garbled  and  elabor- 
ated form  of  the  Old  Life,  which  he  held  in  his 
hands.   The  historical  truth  about  Rhydderch  is 
that  there  was  no  need  whatever  that  he  should 
go  to  Ireland  to  seek  baptism.    The  Church  of 
the  Britons  and  Picts  was  organized  in  Lennox, 
as  has  been  stated,  long  before  Rhydderch  was 
born,  by  the  workers  sent  thither  by  S.  Ailbhe 
the  Irish  Pict.  The  Britons,  SS.  Cadoc,  Machan, 
and  Gildas,  were  ministering  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Alcluyd  or  Dunbarton,  when  Rhydderch 
was  young;  and  S.  Gildas  was  actually  a  citizen 
of  Alcluyd,  at  the  service  of  Rhydderch's  father, 
as  well  as  a  fellow- worker  with  S.  Cadoc.  More- 
over, the  historical  Servanus,  S.   Kentigern's 
foster-father,  had  been  labouring  in  the  city  of 
Alcluyd,  had  founded  a  Church  there,  and  Rhyd- 

20I 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

derch's  brother*  bore  this  saint's  name,  in  the 
fashion,  frequent  among  all  Christian  Celts  from 
the  earliest  times,  of  bestowing  the  baptizing 
saint's  name  upon  his  spiritual  son.  These  par- 
ticulars were  deliberately  suppressed,  or  as  in  the 
case  of  S.  Servanus,  perverted  by  the  Gaidhealic 
or  Scotic  Churchmen  of  the  early  Roman  Catholic 
period. 

In  tracing  the  displacement  of  the  native 
Britons  during  the  sixth  century,  and  the  expan- 
sion of  the  Teutonic  Angles,  glimpses  have  oc- 
curred of  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots.  These  Celts 
crossed  the  North  Channel  to  Cantyre,  as  has 
been  noted,  a.d.  498,  from  Ireland  (the  original 
'Scotia').  They  had  moved  up  from  the  north- 
west of  Ireland,  and  had  tried  to  get  a  settlement 
in  Irish  Dalriada  before  they  embarked  for  their 
new  home,  which,  through  their  presence,  came 
also  to  be  called  Dalriada.  The  ancient  Pictish 
name  of  Cantyre  was  'Epidium, '  which  the  Gaidh- 
eals or  Scots  pronounced  Echidium,\  because 
they  spelled  it  so.  Earlier  in  the  fifth  century  the 
Gaidheals  or  Scots  had  nearly  effected  a  settle- 
ment in  North  Wales,  but  Cunedog,J  who  be- 
came 'Guletic'  of  the  Britons,  left  the  Forth  re- 

*  See  the  pedigree  in  the  HengwrtMSS. 

t  Prof.  ;Kuno  Meyer's  discovery. 

I  Although  this  powerful  leader  and  his  men  issued  from  the  Forth 
region  in  Pictish  territory,  it  ought  not  to  be  forgotten  that  they  were  re- 
turning to  their  own  ancestral  regions.  Their  ancestors  were  the  powerful 
Brigantes,  who  with  the  Otadinoi  had  been  driven  north  of  Antonine's 
wall  by  the  Romans. 

202 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

gion  of  Pictland  of  Alba,  and  he  and  his  sons 
drove  them  out,  and  regained  possession  of  that 
part  of  Britain.  When  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots 
made  good  their  footing  in  Cantyre, '  Drust  Gurt- 
hinmoc*  (480-5 10)  was  sovereign  of  Pictland  of 
Alba.  It  is  not  clear  how  his  subject  clans  of  the 
western  (Bede's  northern)  Picts  received  the  in- 
vading Gaidheals  or  Scots,  of  whom  at  first  there 
were  only  'three  times  fifty  men.'f  The  Chron- 
icle of  the  Scots\  states  that  the  Gaidheals  'took '§ 
land  for  a  'kingdom.'  It  is  significant  of  local 
Pictish  opposition  that  Loam  Mor,  their  first 
chief  or  'king,'  disappears  from  history  after  the 
seizure,  and  Fergus  Mor,  their  second  chief, 
meets  his  death  in  the  third  year  of  his  leader- 
ship. The  Gaidheals  or  Scots,  however,  under- 
stood their  precarious  position,  even  with  the 
support  of  their  Irish  kin  behind  them;  and  so 
they  aimed  at  peaceful  penetration  of  western 
(Bede's  northern)  Pictland  as  far  as  possible. 
Before  many  years  had  passed  they  had  control 
of  what  is  now  Knapdale,  as  well  as  Cantyre,  and 
their  capital  was  a  strongly  fortified  site  at  Dun- 
Add,  just  north  of  the  isthmus  which  separates 
Lochs  Crinan  and  Gilp.  While  the  colony  was 
expanding,  the  colonists  were,  according  to  Scotic 
law,  liable  to  be  called  on  to  render  military  ser- 

*  Chronicle  of  the  Picts,  Cf.  Skene's  Chronicles,  p.  7. 

t  The  Irish  Tract  on  the  Men  of  Alba,  Cf.  Reeves'  Adamnan,  p.  433. 

t  The  Colbertine  MS.  §  '  Susceperunt.' 

203 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

vice  to  the  supreme  chief  of  the  Gaidheals  in  Ire- 
land; and,  if  they  were  in  danger,  they  in  turn 
were  entitled  to  call  for  military  support  from 
the  supreme  chief  of  the  northern  Gaidheals 
in  Ireland.  The  consciousness  of  this  reserve, 
and  the  constant  augmentation  of  their  ranks 
from  Ireland  gave  the  colonists  a  sense  of  power, 
which  though  they  exercised  it  cautiously,  fired 
their  ambitions.  Although  they  were  on  Pictish 
ground  and  subject  to  the  Sovereign  of  Pictland 
of  Alba,  their  petty  kings  are  called,  in  anticip- 
ation, by  the  proud  title  '  Righ  Alban,'  King  of 
Alba.  After  Fergus  Mor,  and  up  to  a.d.  560, 
three  of  these  petty  kings  ruled  in  Dalriad  Argyll, 
over  the  Scots:  Domangart  Mac  Fergus,  a.d.  501- 
505;  Comghall  Mac  Domangart,  a.d.  505-538; 
Gabhran  Mac  Domangart,A.D.  538-560.*  In  a.d. 
560  Gabhran  was  slain  in  battle  by  the  Picts,  and 
the  eyes  of  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  were  opened 
to  the  might  of  the  Pictish  sovereign,  as  will  be 
told.  Conaill  Mac  Comghall  now  became  ruler  of 
the  Scots,  no  longer  designated  by  the  usurped 
title,  'King  of  Alban';  but  by  the  '  fourth-grade '-j- 
title  oi'toiseach,'  imposed  upon  him  by  his  over- 
lord the  sovereign  of  Pictland.   In  a.d.  563,  dur- 
ing the  rule  of  toiseach  Conaill,  S.  Columba, 
exiled  from  his  own  people  in  Ireland,  appear- 
ed in  Dalriada  and  settled  with  his  muinntir  of 

*  All  these  dates  are  from  Tigemac. 
t  Dr.  Ketyes,  Adamnan' s  V.S.C.  p.  435. 

204 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

twelve  at  I  or  Hy  (lona)  with  the  permission  of 
the  Pictish  sovereign.  Conaill  governed  until  his 
death  in  a.d.  574.  In  the  same  year  S.  Columba 
solemnly  ordained  Aedhan  Mac  Gabhran  'the 
False'  to  be  'King'  of  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots, 
in  succession  to  Conaill  the  toiseach.  In  those 
Gaidhealic  adventurers,  who  had  attached  them- 
selves to  the  limb  of  a  great  kingdom,  there  was 
a  strange  mixture  of  piety  and  moral  indifference, 
of  high  profession  and  mean  intrigue,  which  is 
scarcely  paralleled  outside  the  stories  of  the 
Spanish  Main.  They  were,  at  this  stage,  the  dis- 
owned children  of  the  Gaidheals.  Their  brethren 
in  Ireland  had  failed  to  fulfil  their  obligations  to 
proceed  to  their  rescue,  when  the  Picts  swept 
them  out  of  upper  Argyll  in  a.d.  560,  and  left  only 
a  toiseach's  following  in  Cantyre,  Aedhan,  their 
new  king,  had  been  twice  a  fugitive.  First  he  had 
fled  from  his  own  home  in  Cantyre  to  the  Britons 
who  became  his  hosts;  then,  after  Ard'eryd,  be- 
cause he  had  turned  his  sword  against  his  pro- 
tectors, he  had  fled  to  Cantyre.  Even  S.  Columba 
was  an  exile.  For  the  fratricidal  'war'  of  Cul- 
Dreimhne  A.D.  56i,*which  he  had  instigated,  his 
fellow-clansmen  of  the  northern  Nialls  had  re- 
jected him,  and  a  majority  of  the  Celtic  clergyf 

*  Cf.  The  quotation  from  Keating's  History,  and  the  extract  from  the 
Black  Book  of  Malaga,  Reeves,  Adamnan's  V.S.C.  p.  248. 

f  Cf.  Adamnan's  version  of  the  Synod,  V.S.C.  lib.  iii.  cap.  iii. 
And  the  ancient  poem,  ' Oibind  beii  ar  Beind Edair,'  where  Columba 
declares  that  he  would  not  have  permitted  disease  and  distemper  in  Ire- 

205 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

in  Ireland  had  recommended  him  to  deport  him- 
self beyond  the  sea.  They  were  all  Ishmaelites; 
their  hands  were  against  every  man,  and  every 
man's  hand  against  them.  But  they  believed  in 
themselves.  The  rank  and  file  knew  that  no  one 
wanted  them,  and  that  they  were  fighting  for 
existence.  Aedhan  was  a  skilled  military  leader, 
vindictive,  unscrupulous,  daring,  and  ambitious, 
S.  Columba  loved  the  simple  things  of  nature, 
human  life,  and  religion,  and  he  pitied  his  fellow- 
exiles  in  their  precarious  homelessness,  but  at  the 
recollection  that  they  were  Gaidheals  his  pity 
became  fierce  anger,  and  bitter  hatred  of  their 
opponents.  He  was  insensible  to  the  sufferings 
of  the  Picts  whose  lands  had  been  seized,  hostile 
to  the  Pictish  clergy*  who  sought  to  protect  their 
own  kin,  and  he  appeared  to  believe  that  the 
Picts  should  reckon  it  an  honour  to  be  command- 
ed by  men  of  Gaidhealic  or  Scotic  blood.  All 
these  strangely  collected  seekers  after  a  better 
country  than  Ireland  thought  that  they  were  an 
elect  people,  and  S.  Columba  hastened  to  put  the 
seal  of  ordination  on  the  lucky  Aedhan  whom  he 
presented  to  be  their  king.as  a  defiance  on  the  one 
hand  to  the  Pictish  overlord,  that  he  might  never 
again  reduce  to  the  rank  of  toiseach  the  anointed 
of  the  Lord;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  a  defiance  to 

land,  but  for  S.  Molaise's  words  (of  excommunication)  at  the  Cross  of  the 
Fordoflmlais. 

*  The  Lives  of  S.  Columba  and  S.  Comgall  the  Pict  are  dealt  with 
elsewhere,  and  these  matters  are  reviewed  in  detail. 

206 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

the  supreme  chief  of  the  Irish  Gaidheals,who  hap- 
pened to  be  sovereign  of  Ireland,  that  he  might  be 
warned  off  from  interfering  in  the  interest  of  the 
Clan  Comghall  (the  senior  branch  in  Cantyre  of 
the  family  of  Ere,  whose  chiefs  by  Scotic  law  had 
the  first  claim  to  the  throne)  with  this  solemnly 
sanctioned  appointment.  S.  Columba's  solemn- 
ities over  Aedhan  were  followed  by  civil  war 
among  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  of  Cantyre.  The 
Clan  Comghall,  under  Donnchadhor  Duncan,  son 
of  Aedhan's  predecessor,  took  the  field  against 
the  Clan  Gabhran,  to  assert  the  right  of  the  Clan 
Comghall  to  furnish  the  king.  Donnchadh  fell  at 
the  battle  of  Teilcho  in  Cantyre  a.d.  576,*where 
there  was  a  great  loss  on  both  sides,  and  with  him 
fell  the  precedency  of  the  family  of  Comghall.  S. 
Columba  had  lost  no  time  after  Aedhan's  ordin- 
ation in  proclaiming  to  the  world  that  he  meant 
to  reorganize  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  of  Argyll  as 
an  independent  people.  His  first  step  was  to  attack 
and  reduce  the  overlordship  exercised  by  the 
supreme  chief  of  the  Clan  Niall,  the  sovereign  of 
Ireland.  He  seized  the  opportunity  of  a  legislat- 
ive Convention  held  at  Drumceatt  in  Ireland, 
A.D.  5  75,  by  the  clans  of  the  Irish  Gaidheals  under 
the  presidency  of  Aedh,  sovereign  of  Ireland, 
to  present  his  demands.  How  his  reappearance 
among  his  kin  in  Ireland  was  resented;]'  how  the 

*  See  Annals  of  Ulster,  under  this  year. 

t  See  the  Old  Irish  Life  of  S.  Columba,  Leabhar  Breac  MS.,  and 
Advocates'  Library  MS. ,  where  the  details  are  candidly  given. 

207 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

sovereign  threatened  anyone  who  might  connive 
at  his  coming;  how  the  members  of  the  royal 
family  (except  a  younger  son  whom  S.  Columba, 
with  his  wonderful  dexterity,  detached  from  the 
king,  his  father)  tried  violence  and  used  insult 
upon  the  saint;  how  S.  Columba  took  the  control 
of  the  Convention  out  of  the  sovereign's  hands, 
and  dictated,  through  a  young  disciple,  an  agree- 
ment securing  the  independence  of  the  Scots  of 
Cantyre  from  the  parent  clan  and  country,  and 
the  recognition  of  his  new-made  king,  Aedhan, 
is  all  told  in  the  Old  Irish  Life  and  elsewhere. 
Aedhan  died  in  a.d.  606  when  he  was  seventy- 
four  years  of  age.  The  military  genius  of  this 
king  saved  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  for  a  long  time 
from  degenerating  into  a  mere  clan,  obscured  by 
the  mass  of  the  Picts.  Through  the  individuality 
that  he  gave  them,  they  contrived,  in  time,  to 
provide  a  ruling  caste  in  what  is  now  Scotland, 
until  men  of  Anglo-Saxon  and  Norman  blood 
superseded  them  in  various  parts  of  that  country. 
Having  traced  as  far  as  the  end  of  the  sixth 
century  the  organization  and  development  of  the 
two  hosts.  Angles  and  Gaidheals  or  Scots,  who 
invaded  the  northern  parts  of  Britain,  and  having 
followed  the  reorganization  and  readjustment  of 
the  Britons  south  of  Antonine's  Wall,  who  had 
formerly  been  subject  to  Imperial  Rome,  it  is  nec- 
essary to  complete  the  review  by  considering,  as 
far  as  the  same  period,  the  political  position  of 
208 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

the  Britons  north  of  the  Wall,  the  natives  of  the 
country  who  are  known  as  the  Picts  of  Alba, 
and  who  occupied  as  their  native  land  the  whole 
country  from  the  Forth  and  Clyde  line  to  the 
farthest  isle  of  Shetland. 

The  Picts  of  Alba  left  a  skeleton  record  of 
their  sovereigns  in  what  is  known  as  the  Pictish 
Chronicle,  and  from  it  we  can  trace  the  political 
development  of  their  federated  clans  and  petty 
kings  or  chiefs  under  a  king-paramount.  In  days 
when  the  Celtic  records  were  unstudied,  \h^ Pict- 
ish Chronicle  was  regarded  as  an  arbitrary  list  of 
sovereigns  who  never  existed.  Most  names  in  it, 
however,  have  been  confirmed  from  the  Irish 
annals;  and  all  might  be,  if  other  contemporary 
records  had  survived.  The  copy  of  the  Pictish 
Chronicle,  least  tampered  with,  which  has  come 
down  to  our  day,  is  that  written  in  Latin  and  form- 
ing part  of  the  Colbertine  MS.  The  part  of  the 
manuscript  beyond  folio  j^Ty  was  evidently  tran- 
scribed at  York,  c.  a.d.  i  316,  by  a  certain  cleric, 
Robert  of  Popilton,  who  endorses  the  manu- 
script with  a  statement  and  a  petition ;  but  the 
folios  relating  to  the  Picts  are  in  a  different  hand.* 
The  manuscript,  as  known  to  us,  is  considered, 
from  internal  evidence,  to  be  a  compilation  of  the 
tenth  century  from  various  sources,  on  some  of 
which  other  versions  of  the  Pictish  Chronicle  are 
based.  There  is  internal  evidence  in  the  spelling 

*  See  Nicholson's  remarks  and  note  in  Keltic  Researches,  p.  44. 

P  209 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

that  there  were  both  Britonic  and  Gaidhealic 
versions.  One  of  the  Latin-writing  editors  or 
transcribers  had  a  most  imperfect  knowledge  of 
these  Celtic  dialects,  as  is  shown  byhis  treatment 
of  Celtic  prepositions  and  contractions  for  Celtic 
numerals.  Another  hand  in  the  document  is  that 
of  an  early  Roman  Catholic  who  added  one  or 
two  notes  to  certain  of  the  entries.  These  notes, 
which  are  not  all  quite  accurate,  were  intended  to 
be  for  the  interests  or  honour  of  his  own  Church  ; 
but  they  have  proved  useful  in  confirming  the 
dates  of  two  sovereigns,  Drust,  son  of  Erp  or 
Wirp,  and  Brude,  son  of  Maelchon  (Maelgon), 
enabling  the  intervening  reigns  to  be  dated  by 
years,  and  the  recorded  totals  of  the  reigns  in  the 
manuscript  to  be  checked  from  itself  and  from 
other  sources.  As  the  late  Mr.  Nicholson  of  the 
Bodleian  pointed  out,  the  numerals  in  the  manu- 
script within  the  above  period  have  been  vindi- 
cated, and  work  out  with  'practical  correctness.' 
The  list  of  Pictish  sovereigns  was  headed  with 
Cruithne,  the  eponymous  of  the  people,  and  the 
names  of  the  seven  original  Pictish  clans,  all  of 
which  some  zealous  editor  took  for  the  names 
of  kings,  and  affixed  arbitrary  numbers  to  their 
names  to  represent  the  duration  of  their  reigns.* 

*  This  piece  of  editorial  zeal  was  surpassed  by  a  Latin  copyist  at  the 
point  where  the  Brudes  emerge.  Nicholson  says  the  Brudes  were  the 
'  Speakers '  in  the  Council  of  the  Chiefs.  The  original  Pictish  list  ran — ur 
Gest  brude  Pant  ur  Pant  brude  Leo,  in  which  ur  is  the  Celtic  preposition, 
over,  beyond,  and  Brude  is  a  title.  The  Latin  copyist  transcribes  this  Gest, 
2IO 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

From  the  fact  that  at  the  stage  when  the  Pict- 
ish clans  had  multiplied,  fourteen  sovereigns  bear 
the  title  Brude  (Speaker),  which  afterwards  be- 
came a  royal  name,  it  is  apparent  that  the  sove- 
reigns of  the  Picts  developed  from  the  presidents 
of  the  assembly  of  clan-chiefs.  Even  as  late  as  S. 
Columba's  time,  among  the  Gaidheals,  we  find 
the  sovereign  presiding  over  a  national  assem- 
bly of  the  clan-leaders  to  determine  decisions  of 
national  importance.  It  is  also  apparent,  from 
certain  early  names  in  the  list  of  the  Pictish  sove- 
reigns, that  their  control  reached  south  of  Anto- 
nine's  Wall  to  tribes  that  afterwards  became  fed- 
erated with  the  reorganized  Britons.  The  late  Mr. 
Nicholson  has  stated  a  plea  for  the  identification 
of  Brude  Grid  with  'Cridius,'*  Caesar's  oppon- 
ent, and  for  the  identification  of  the  sovereign 
Gilgidh  (Gilgig)  with  Galgac,  who  fought  Agri- 
cola  A.D.  82,  and  is  represented  by  Tacitus  |  as 
the  Brude  or  Speaker.  Tacitus  also  represents 
Galgac  as  calling  his  people  'Britanni,'  which  is 
commended  to  the  notice  of  those  who  think  that 
the  Picts  were  other,  in  race,  than  the  Britons 
who  refused  Roman  rule  and  culture.  It  has  to  be 
borne  in  mind  that  the  original  of  the  list  of  the 
sovereigns  of  Pictland  was  a  Pictish  document. 

Vrgest,  Brude  Pant,  Bnide  Urpant,  and  so  on,  duplicating  tlie  sovereigns 
on  about  fourteen  occasions  by  creating  new  names  with  the  aid  of  the 
preposition  that  signified  who  came  next  on  the  list, 

*  Mentioned  by  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  writing  before  1 140. 

t  Agricola,  Tacitus,  par.  29. 

211 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

The  concluding  words  of  an  old  list  transcribed 
into  the  Leabhar  Gabhala  after  a.d.  1580  were 
'ut  est  a  leabharach  na  Cruitknech,'  that  is,  As  it 
is  in  the  Books  of  the  Picts.  Apart  from  this,  the 
meanings  of  the  personal  names  in  the  list  and 
the  spellings,  in  spite  of  translation  and  re-trans- 
lation, bear  witness  to  a  Pictish  or  Brito-Pictish 
original.  Although  the  list  of  the  Pictish  sove- 
reigns begins  with  men  who  reigned  before  the 
beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  at  a  period  dated 
226-211  B.C.,  it  is  sufficient  for  the  purposes  of 
this  work  to  give  the  names  of  the  sovereigns  in 
order,  with  the  years  during  which  they  ruled, 
beginning  with  the  monarch  who  was  reigning 
when  S.  Ninian  introduced  Christianity  to  the 
Britons  at  Candida  Casa,  afterwards  spreading  it 
throughout  the  East  of  Pictlandof  Alba.  The  list 
is  as  follows : 

Talorg  son  of *  reigned  as  sovereign 

from  c.  A.D.  388  to  c.  413.!  His  name  is  distinct- 
ively Pictish,  and  means  Bright-browed.  He  was 
ruling  Pictland  of  Alba  when  S.  Ninian  returned 
to  Britain,  and  founded  Candida  Casa  c.  a.d.'397. 

*  It  is  not  easy  to  make  out  his  father's  name.  The  Latin  copyist  has 
plainly  blundered  the  whole  entry.  He  was  working  from  a  Gaelic  version 
and  writes  Achivir;  but  the  initial  <k  is  the  end  of  a  preceding  mac,  son  of. 
The  St.  Andrews  MS.  gives  the  name  as  KeotherixA  the  Phillipps  MS.  as 
Keocher. 

t  The  copyist,  or  perhaps  an  earlier  hand,  has  also  blundered  the  date 
by  writing  Ixxv  as  the  number  of  years  of  his  reign ;  through  taking  the 
preposition  trwi  (Brit. )  or  tri  (O.  G. )  for  three,  and  adding  25  three  times. 
The  suggestion  is  Mr.  Nicholson's. 

212 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

He  would  be  leader  of  the  Picts  in  a.d.  396, when 
they  invaded  the  Romano- British  provinces  of 
Valentia  and  Maxima  Caesariensis,  and  were 
turned  northwards  again  by  the  forces  sentagain- 
st  them  by  Stilicho  the  minister  of  the  Emperor 
Honorius.  Talorg  before  the  end  of  his  reign 
would  hear  with  joy,  c.  a.d.  410,  that  the  last  of 
the  hated  legions  of  Imperial  Rome  had  retired 
from  the  shores  of  Britain.  The  Picts  after  their 
long  defiance  had  triumphed. 

Drust  son  of  Erp  (variants  Yrb  and  Wirp) 
reigned*  as  sovereign  from  c.  a.d.  413  to  c.  453, 
I  n  the  Bodleian  Fragment  of  the  Pictish  Chronicle 
there  is  the  entry  against  his  name,  V.  catha 
rogni,'  he  fought  a  hundred  battles.  Evidently 
this  c.  which  is  a  contraction  for  cet  (ceud),  one 
hundred,  misled  the  translator  of  the  Gaelic  ver- 
sion into  taking  another  'c'  as  equal  to  one  hun- 
dred when  it  represented  ceiraca,  forty.  This 
moved  a  Latin  scribe  to  assign  one  hundred  years 
for  this  king's  reign.  The  transcriber  of  the  St. 
Andrews  manuscript  of  the  Chronicle  attempts 
to  correct  the  obvious  blunder  by  stating  that 
Drust  'lived'  one  hundred  years.  But  as  his  suc- 
cessor entered  into  power  a.d.  453;  and  as  one  of 
the  old  editors  states  that  S.  Patrick  f  entered 

*  Throughout  the  list,  'reigned '  means  that  the  ruler  reigned  as  sove- 
reign. Frequently  the  sovereigns  reigned  as  petty  kings  over  their  own 
clans  before  being  elected  to  be  sovereign  of  the  federated  clans. 

t  We  have  pointed  out  that  the  Colbertine  version  of  the  Pictish 
Chronicle  was  edited  by  York  ecclesiastics.   Although  the  arrival  of  S. 

213 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

into  Ireland  in  the  'nineteenth  year'*  of  Drust's 
reign,  it  is  clear  that  he  reigned  during  the  forty 
years  between  a.d.  413  and  453.  That  Drust 
would  be  under  the  necessity  of  fighting  the 
'hundred  battles'  is  comprehensible  when  we 
realize  that  to  him  fell  the  task  of  retrieving  the 
original  Pictish  territories  south  of  the  Wall  which 
the  Romans  had  vacated;  and  of  reorganizing  a 
new  frontier  for  the  south  of  Pictland,  During 
his  reign,  also,  the  Angles  came  in  force  to  settle 
in  the  Humber  region. 

Talorg  son  of  Aniel  reigned  from  a,d.  453  to 
456.  Nectanf  Morbet  son  ofErp  or Wirp reigned 
from  A.D.  456  to  480.  He  is  called  'the  Great.' 
His  clan-lands  were  in  the  region  of  Tay,  embrac- 
ing parts  of  Forfarshire,  Perthshire,  and  Fife. 
Tradition  represents  that  he  was  a  Christian. 
He  certainly  favoured  the  Christian  mission- 
aries. In  his  reign  S.  Buidhe  Mac  Bronach,  an 
Irish  Pict,  as  has  been  noticed,  entered  the 
Tay  area  with  sixty  followers  to  continue  S. 

Patrick  in  Ireland  is  noted  in  it  rather  irrelevantly,  the  relevant  arrival  in 
Britain  of  S.  Ninian  the  Apostle  of  the  Picts  is  suppressed.  We  have  in 
this  one  of  many  tokens  of  how  unscrupulously  the  early  Roman  Catholics 
of  York  promoted  their  claims  to  primacy  by  keeping  the  antiquity  of 
Candida  Casa  and  the  great  work  of  S.  Ninian  out  of  sight, 

*  From  other  sources,  this  was  A.  D.  432. 

t  Evidently  a  younger  brother  of  Drust  son  of  Erp.  Nectan  is  dis- 
tinguished in  other  versions  of  the  Chronicle  by  the  untranslated  word 
'  Telchamoth'  which  is  varied  to  '  Celchamoth '  and  'Celtaniech.'  These 
forms,  with  the  confusion  of  T  and  C,  strongly  suggest  that  in  the  original 
MS.  of  the  Chronicle  the  uncials  used  on  the  Pictish  stones  were  the  initisJ 
letters. 

214 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

Ninian's  work;  and  Nectan  established  him  near 
his  own  fort  at  Dunnichen.  A  member  of  this 
early  missionary  band  was  a  certain  S.  Brigh 
or  Brioc;  and  his  name  still  lingers  in  the  Tay 
region*  attached  to  old  Church  foundations.  The 
early  Roman  Catholics  confused  him  with  S. 
Brigid.as  they  confused  others  of  like  name  else- 
where. 

One  early  Roman  Catholic  cleric  who  anno- 
tated the  Colbertine  MS.  of  the  Pictish  Chronicle 
interpolated  a  fable  into  the  Chronicle,  based  on 
some  charter  from  which  extracts  are  given,  to 
the  effect  that  Nectan  the  Great  gave  Abernethy 
(on  Tay)  to  God  and  S.  Brigid  f  'till  the  day 
of  judgment'  in  the  presence  of  Darlugdach  (a 
young  member  of  S.  Brigid's  sisterhood),  who 
had  been  exiled  from  Ireland,  and  Darlugdach 
thereupon  sang  a  Hallelujah  for  the  offering. 
The  charter  which  inspired  this  interpolation 
was  evidently  one  of  those  spurious  writs  by 
which  the  Gaidhealic  or  Scotic  clerics  of  the  ear- 
ly Roman  Catholic  period  sought  to  serve  them- 
selves heirs  to  the  propertyofthePictish Church. 
It  is  as  clumsy  an  invention  as  the  similar  entry 
in  the  Book  of  Deer,  where  the  Pictish  ruler  of 
Buchan  is  represented  as  bestowing  the  monast- 
ery of  S.  Drostan  the  Briton  on  S.  Columba  the 

*  From  Kingennie  westward  to  Abernethy  in  Perthshire. 

t  One  wonders  what  the  Gaidheal  who  invented  this  story  would  have 
felt  if  he  had  known  that  the  so-called  '  Mary  of  the  Gael '  was  really  a 
Pictish  slave  held  by  a  Gael. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Gaidheal  who  probably  was  not  born  at  the  time. 
There  are  manifest  impossibilities  in  the  story. 
Nectan  the  Great  was  dead  in  a.d.  480,  before  S. 
Brigid  had  collected  her  sisterhood  and  founded 
Kildare.  Darlugdach,  S.  Brigid's  favourite,  was 
still  young  when  she  succeeded  her  mistress  a.d. 
525,  so  that  she  was  not  even  born  when  Nectan 
the  Great  died.  This  fable,  "apart  from  its  use  in 
supporting  Gaidhealic  or  Scotic  claims  to  the 
property  of  the  Pictish  Church,  served  also  to 
obscure  the  true  origin  of  Christianity  in  Eastern 
Pictland  through  theworkof  SS.  Ninian,  Buidhe, 
Brigh,  and  Cainnech. 

Drust,  called  by  the  Latin  copyist '  Guorthin- 
moc,'*  reigned  from  a.d.  480  to  510.  During  his 
sovereignty, in  a.d. 498,  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  of 
the  Irish  Dalriada  intruded  their  colonists  into 
Pictland  at  Cantyre.  This  event,  the  beginning 
of  important  political  changes,  appears  to  have 
received  only  local  attention.  There  is  no  indic- 
ation that  the  sovereign  as  protector  of  the  Pict- 
ish territories  took  any  action  at  the  time. 

Galan,  designated  by  the  untranslated  word 
'arilith,'  varied  to  'erilich,'  reigned  from  a.d.  510 
to  522.    In  his  reign  the  historical  Arthur,  sove- 

*  The  variant  in  the  St.  Andrews  MS.  is  'Gemot'  and  in  the  Phillipps 
MS.  '  Gocinetfi,'  an  evident  blunder  for  Gorineth  or  some  such  form.  The 
St.  Andrews  form  suggests  that  the  original  Pictish  entry  was  Drust  guar 
Neht,  i.e.  Drust  (the  King)  beyond  Nect,  or  Nectan.  In  Y Cymmrodorihe 
Britonic  pedigrees  are  'g^mr  Cein,  Doli.  Guar  Dolt,  Dumm. '  Guor  is  the 
Britonic  preposition,  beyond.  It  is  quite  apparent  that  one  of  the  originals 
oit\is  Pictish  Chronide'ha.i  this  preposition^«»r  in  this  place. 
216 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

reign  of  the  Britons,  led  the*' Men  of  the  North,' 
and  won  the  victory  of  Badon  H  ill*  on  the  Pictish 
borders  in  a.d.  516.  The  enemy  were  certain 
Saxons  f  (aided  apparently  by  Humber  Angles), 
who  had  first  raided  the  northern  islands  of  Pict- 
land;  and,  afterwards,  had  attempted  to  settle  on 
the  shores  of  Forth.  J 

From  A.D.  522  to  a.d.  527  there  was  a  joint 
sovereignty  in  Pictland.  Drust  son  of  Gyrom 
and  Drust  '  filius  Udrost '  §  reigned  together. 
Each  would  keep  his  seat  in  the  capital  of  his 
clan;  but  in  affairs  that  concerned  all  the  clans 
they  would  lead  together.  From  a.d.  5  2  7  to  5 3 2 , 
Drust  son  of  Gyrom  reigned  alone. 

From  A.D.  532  to  A.D.  539  Gartnaidh,  another 
son  of  Gyrom,  reigned.  During  his  reign,  in  a.d. 
537,  the  historical  Arthur  fell  at  the  battle  of" 
Camelon  in  Stirlingshire,  on  Pictish  territory, 
in  combat  with  the  rebel  Medraut,  son  of  Loth 
or  Llew  ||  of  'Dinas  Eiddyn  (Edinburgh),  in  the 
North.'  Celtran,  still  another  son  of  Gyrom, 
reigned  from  a.d.  539  to  540.  This  family  of  Gy- 
rom furnishes  an  example  of  one  of  the  features  of 

*  Bowden  Hill  (Torphichen)  between  Edinburgh  and  Stirling. 

t  Led  by  Octha  and  Ebussa.  The  former  is  said  to  have  been  Hengist's 
son,  the  latter,  Hengist's  nephew. 

%  SeeSkeae's  Four  Ancient  Books  of  Wales, vo\.  i.  p.  58. 

§  'Films'  is  a  gratuitous  insertion  by  the  Latin  editor ;  and  '  Wdrosi' 
is  a  blundered  reading.  The  fF attached  to  the  genitive  Drost  was  a  con- 
traction in  the  original  Pictish  document  representing  later  Welsh  wyr  or 
(J>)ua,  that  is,  grandson  or  descendant  of. 

II  Called  also  in  the  Boneddy  Saint '  Llewddy n  Lueddag. ' 

217 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

the  Pictish  succession.  Although  the  monarchy 
was  elective  so  far  as  the  individual  was  con- 
cerned, yet  so  long  as  one  eminent  matro-regal 
family  could  furnish  suitable  candidates,  these 
appear  to  have  had  preferable  claims  to  the 
sovereignty. 

Talorg,  son  of  Murtholoic,*  reigned  from  a.d. 
54010551.  During  his  reign  f.  547 f  the  'Yellow 
Plague'  raged  throughout  Britain.  The  Britons 
called  it  'Vdd  Velen';  the  Irish  called  it  'Galar 
buidhe,'  'Chron  Chonaill,'  and  'Buidhe  Chonaill.' 
From  references,  it  appears  to  have  been  a 
virulent,  rapidly-spreading  fever  with  intestinal 
symptoms,  and  characterized  by  jaundice.  It  dis- 
located social  life.  It  was  in  Ireland  as  early  as 
A.D.  544,  and  broke  up  S.  Mobhi's  muinntirsbont 
that  time.  Many  kings,  abs,  and  chiefs  perished 
from  the  pestilence.  J  Probably  Talorg  and  his 
successor,  who  reigned  only  one  year,  were  among 
the  victims. 

Drust,  son  of  Munaith,  reigned  from  a.d.  551 
to  552.  Galan,  designated  by  the  untranslated 
name  'Cennaleph,'§  succeeded  him  and  reigned 
alone  one  year,  from  552  to  553.  In  a.d.  553 
Brude  son  of  Maelchon  (Maelgon)  was  associ- 
ated with  him  in  the  sovereignty ;  and  they  reign- 

*  This  is  the  form  of  the  name  in  the  Chronicle  annexed  to  Nennius. 
The  Latin  Chronicle  gives  "■  Muircholaich.'  f  Amiales  Cambriae. 

X  c.  664  it  again  visited  Britain  and  depopulated  great  districts. 
§  The  Gaidheals  or  Scots  translated  this  into  one  of  their  dialects  as 

*  Cendaeladh, ' 

218 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

ed  together  for  one  year.  In  a.d.  554  Brude  Mac 
Maelchon  received  the  sovereign  control  of  Pict- 
land  into  his  own  hands ;  although  Galan  Cen- 
naleph  remained  alive.  How  Galan  relinquished 
the  joint  occupancy  of  the  throne  is  not  told;  but 
we  know  that  he  died  a.d.  580,  in  the  same  year 
that  Aedhan,  king  of  Dalriada,  S.  Columba's 
friend,  was  conducting  a  naval  expedition  to- 
wards the  Orkneys  and  against  the  Picts.   From 
the  fact  that  in  the  notice  of  Aedhan's  expedition 
and  Galan  Cennaleph's  death  the  latter  is  styled 
'rex  Pictorum,'  it  has  been  inferred  that  the 
clan-territories  over  which  he  reigned  as  chief, 
or  petty  king,  were  on  the  northern  or  north- 
western coasts  of  Pictland.  Brude  Mac  Maelchon 
reigned  as  undisputed  sovereign  of  Pictland  for 
thirty  years,  a.d.  554  to  a.d.  584.   His  father  has 
been  identified  as  Maelgon  or  Maelgwyn,  whose 
name  varies  to  'Mailcun'  and  'Melcondus,'  who 
was  king  of  Gwynedd*  and  sovereign  of  all  the 
Britons  at  this  time,  and  also  the  most  powerful 
ruler  in  the  island.   He  was  a  pagan ;  the  home  of 
his  ancestors  had  been  among  the  Brito-Pictish 
tribes  of  the  Forth  region,  and  they  had  pre- 
vented the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  from  colonizing 
North  Wales.   Brude  displayed  great  tact  as  a 
ruler,  and  all  the  military  genius  of  his  ancestors. 
When  Brude  was  appointed  sovereign,  one  of 
his  subject  chiefs,  the  petty  king  of  the  Western 

*  Gwendote,  or  North  Wales. 

219 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

(Bede's  Northern)  Picts,  could  hardly  have  been 
comfortable.  His  authority  and  territories  were 
being  steadily  disturbed  by  the  Gaidhealic  or 
Scotic  colonists  who  had  intruded  into  Cantyre, 
and  had  been  persistently  pushing  northward  and 
spreading  over  Argyll.  Very  little  is  known  of 
these  Western  Picts  or  their  chiefs  except  what 
remains  in  weird  Celtic  tales  and  laments.  Their 
capital  was  at  Barr-an-Rigk*  better  located 
through  the  name  of  the  adjoining  (ortBarr-nan- 
Gobhan,\  George  Buchanan's  '  Beregonium.' J 
They  buried  their  dead  at  the  Cladh  nan  Righ- 
rean,  burial-place  of  the  kings,  on  Lismore,  the 
holy  island  of  the  Western  Picts,  soon  to  be  made 
famous  by  the  Pictish  missionary  S.  Moluag. 

Brude,  with  the  same  antipathy  to  the  Gaidh- 
eals  as  his  ancestor  Cunedog,  determined  that 
the  menace  and  encroachment  of  the  Gaidheals 
or  Scots  on  the  west  of  Pictland  should  come  to 
an  end.  In  a. d.  560  he  attacked  the  Gaidheals  or 
Scots,  when  led  by  Gabhran  their  king,  and  de- 
feated them  with  great  slaughter.  The  survivors 
were  hunted  southward  from  Lorn  and  the  bor- 
ders of  Lennox ;  and  those  who  did  not  flee  from 
Pictland  were  shut  up  in  Cantyre.  Gabhran  their 
king  was  slain.   Conaill,  son  of  Comghall,  who 

*  The  King's  (fortified)  height.  It  is  one  of  a  series  of  vitrified- forts. 

t  The  (fortified)  height  of  the  Armourers. 

X  By  the  northern  shore  of  Lower  Loch  Etive,  on  the  precipitous  height 
which  ends  Beinn  Laoire.  Dr.  Carmichael,  author  of  Carmina  Gadelica, 
describes  it  in  his  notes  to  Deirdere,  p.  143. 
220 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

represented  the  direct  line  of  the  house  of  Ere  in 
Dalriada,  was  made  chief  of  the  vassal  remnant 
with  the  much  reduced  title  of  toiseach  under 
Brude  the  sovereign.  It  was  in  this  broken  state 
that  S.  Columba  the  Gaidheal  found  his  fellow- 
Gaidheals  or  Scots  when  he  settled  on  I,  or  lona, 
A.D.  563.  He  had  already  visited  Brude,  as  the 
LifeofS.  Comgall the  Great  states.under  the  care 
of  the  Irish  Picts,  S.  Comgall  and  S.  Cainnech, 
who  at  that  time  were  consulting  Brude  with  a 
view,  doubtless,  to  receive  his  sanction  to  the 
missions  which  they  both  contemplated  initiat- 
ing in  Pictland.  The  Gaidheals  of  a  later  time, 
forgetting  that  S.  Columba  could  not  make  him- 
self understood  in  the  Pictish  dialect,  even  to 
Brude's  subjects,  tried  to  leave  the  impression  in 
history  that  S.  Columba  introduced  SS.  Comgall 
and  Cainnech,  both  Picts,  to  the  Pictish  sovereign. 
Dr.  Reeves  has  pointed  out  that  this  impression 
is  prevented  by  the  Life  of  S.  Comgall.*  S.  Col- 
umba's  sympathies  were  aroused  by  the  plight  of 
his  fellow-Gaidheals;  but  he  kept  his  thoughts  to 
himself,  and  secured  a  settlement  on  lona,  where 
he  began  to  scheme  for  the  revival  and  re-exten- 
sion on  Pictish  territory  of  Gaidhealic  power.  He 
found  a  ready  and  unprincipled  agent  in  Aedhan 
whom,  on  the  death  of  Conaill  a.d.  574,  he  or- 
dained to  be  ruler  over  the  Scots  with  the  revived 
title  of  king.  Brude  from  his  relationships  with 

*  V.  S.  ComgaUi,  c.  44. 

221 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

the  Britons  would  know  Aedhan  and  all  his  'false- 
ness.' Moreover,  Aedhan  had  taken  the  field 
against  Brude's  father  ayear  before;  so  that  Brude 
would  watch  him  with  an  alert  eye.  It  was  more 
difficult  to  watch  the  subtle  S.  Columba.  Even 
the  pagan  Celtic  sovereigns  were  never  ready  to 
provoke  a  cleric,  although  they  might  know  him 
to  be  disloyal.  S.  Columba  by  his  commanding 
ability  stood  to  gain  for  his  people  by  diplomacy 
what  Aedhan  would  have  failed  to  win  by  arms. 
Aedhan  during  his  reign  conducted  four  cam- 
paigns against  the  Picts.  In  a.d.  580*  he  sent  a 
naval  expedition  against  the  northern  islands  of 
the  Pictish  Kingdom.  InA.D.  582  hethrewaforce 
across  Drum  Alban,  his  frontier,  into  what  is  now 
Stirlingshire,  and  was  not  halted  until  he  reached 
the  Moor  of  'Manann'  (Slamannan),  where  he 
received  battle.  In  a.d.  590  he  again  crossed  as 
far  as  the  same  district,  and  fought  a  battle  at 
' Leitkreid.' ]  Adamnan  indicates  that  Aedhan 's 
opponents  were  the  Pictish  'Miati'  J(Midlanders) 
who  occupied  the  southern  central  district  north 
from  Antonine's  Wall.  He  also  gives  us  a  pic- 
ture§  of  S.  Columba  summoning  the  community 
at  lona  to  pray  for  Aedhan  in  this  hostile  act 
against  Brude  and  his  people.  The  saint  calls  the 
Picts  'barbarians who  turn  in  flight';  but  belittles 

*  The  dates  are  from  Reeves'  ICalendar,  V.S.  C.  (Adamnan),  p.  37a 

t  The  Cat h  Lett hrigoiTi^e^msLC. 

X  The  '  MaiataV  of  the  summary  of  Dion  Cassius. 

§  f'.S.C.  lib.i.  cap.  viii. 

222 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

the  'victory'  and  calls  it  'unhappy,' because  Ae- 
dhan  lost  three  hundred  and  three  men.  I  n  a.  d.  5  96 
Aedhan  was  across  Drum  Alban,  and  into  Pict- 
land  once  more.  On  this  occasion  he  was  held  up 
at  the  line  of  the  Wall,  on  the  Brito-Pictish  bor- 
der at  a  place  which  the  Gaidheals  called  '  Chir- 
cind'*  but  the  Britons  'Caer pen,']  which  Dr. 
Reeves  has  identified  with  Kirkintilloch  ('Caer 
pentalloch').  H  ere  he  was  severely  punished,  and 
his  first,  second,  and  sixth  sons,  Artur,  Eochaidh 
Fion,  and  Bran,  were  slain. 

Yet  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  of  the  early  Roman 
Catholic  period,  among  other  pretensions,  wished 
to  represent  S.  Columba,  the  maker,  councillor, 
and  chaplain  of  this  relentless  foe  of  the  Picts,  as 
the  man  who  christianized  V[ct\3.nd,  and  baptized 
Brude  mac  Maelchon.  The  clerical  annotator  of 
the  St.  Andrews  MS.  of  the  Pictish  Chronicle 
states  that  S.  Columba  'converted'  Brude.  The 
clerical  annotator  in  the  Cambridge  MS.  im- 
proves on  this  with  the  extraordinary  statement 
that  the  Roman  missionary  S.  Palladius  was  as- 
sociated with  S.  Columba  in  converting  Brude. 
The  clerical  annotator  in  the  earlier  Colbertine 
MS.  states  that  S.  Columba  'baptized'  Brude. 
The  truth  is,  that  Brude,  like  his  father,  adhered 
to  the  old  native  pagan  religion,  and  maintained 
a  pagan  court,  as  Adamnan  shows,  although,  also 
like  his  father,  he  tolerated  and  could  even  be 

*  Tighernac  under  596.  t  In  'he  C  and  L  Manuscripts  oiNennius. 

223 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

kind  to  the  Christians,  of  whom  there  were  many 
among  his  subjects.  Bede,  indeed,  states  that 
S.Columba'  converted '  the  nation  of  vfhich  Brude 
was  the  'powerful  king.'  But  that  is  to  be  inter- 
preted by  his  earlier  statement  that  the  'North- 
ern (our  Western)  Picts  are  separated  from  the 
'Southern'  (our  Eastern)  Picts  by  steep  and  rug- 
ged mountains,  and  the  Southern  (Eastern)  Picts 
had  'long  before  forsaken  the  errors  of  idolatry, 
and  received  the  true  faith  by  the  preaching  of 
Bishop  Ninias'  (Ninian).*  Plainly,  V.  Bede  re- 
stricted S.  Columba's  Pictish  converts  to  the 
area  of  the  'Northern'  (Western)  Picts,  over 
which  Brude  was  over-lord.  Bede's  geography 
was  Ptolemaic,  and  so  far  as  Pictland  was  con- 
cerned, the  Ptolemaic  North  was  our  West,  and 
the  Ptolemaic  South  our  East.  Consequently 
V.  Bede's  statement  amounts  to  this,  that  S.  Col- 
umba  converted  the  Picts,  west  of  the  boundary 
mountains  called  Drum  Alban,  which  means  the 
Picts  of  Argyll,  who,  under  Aedhan,  had  become 
directly  subject  to  the  intruding  Gaidheals  or 
Scots,  although,  of  course,  these  Picts,  as  well  as 
Aedhan  and  his  Scots,  were  under  the  para- 
mountcy  of  Brude  as  sovereign  of  all  Pictland, 
with  this  difference,  that  the  Picts  acknowledged 
the  paramountcy  while  the  Scots  sought  to  abol- 
ish it.  That  S.  Columba's  ministry  followed  the 
Gaidhealic  or  Scotic  flag  as  it  advanced  from 

*  Bede,  H.E.G.A.Xxh.  iii.  cap.  iv. 
224 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

Cantyre  through  Argyll,  on  the  western  side  of 
Drum  Alban,  is  undeniable.  To  what  extent  he 
'converted'  the  Western  (Bede's  Northern)  Picts 
is  another  matter;  because,  even  in  S.  Columba's 
time,  S.  Moluag,  an  IrishPict  whose  missions  ex- 
tended over  most  of  Pictland,  controlled  a  mu- 
inntir  and  mission-centre  on  the  island  of  Lis- 
more,  where  the  Western  Picts  buried  their  kings. 
Adamnan  gives  glimpses  of  S.  Columba,  with  the 
aid  of  an  interpreter,*  striving  to  instruct  one  or 
two  Western  Picts;  but  it  is  clear  that  the  Picts, 
possessing  a  well -organized  ministry  of  their 
own,  showed  no  special  enthusiasm  to  take  their 
teaching  from  an  ecclesiastic  who  was  an  alien, 
and  hostile  to  their  nation.  Cumine  and  Adam- 
nan,  who  were  S.  Columba's  earliest  biographers, 
and  near  successors,  make  no  claim  that  S.  Col- 
umba ' baptized 'Brude  or  'converted'  the  Pictish 
nation.  The  utmost  that  Adamnan  asks  his  read- 
ers to  believe  is,  that  the  saint  'affrighted  Brude 
greatly,'  and  the  latter  conciliated  the  saint,  and 
treated  him  'with  very  great  honour  all  his  re- 
maining days,  as  was  due.'  The  Old  Irish  Life 
of  S.  Columba,  which  was  specially  composed  to 
eulogize  him,  claims  merely,  and  that  only  in  an 
interpolated  passage,  that  the  names  of  'God  and 
Columcille'  were  magnified  before  Brude.  The 
beginning  of  the  Columban  fable  is  however  in 
that  same  Life,  where  it  is  stated  that  after  the 

*  V.S.C.  lib.  i.  cap.  xxxiii. ;  etlib.  ii.  cap,  xxxii. 

Q  225 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

saint  settled  in  lona  he  went  on  'a  circuit  of  in- 
struction' among  'the  Men  of  Alba,  and  the  Brit- 
ons and  Saxons,  until  he  brought  them  to  Faith 
and  Religion.'  Apart  from  S.  Columba's  lin- 
guistic shortcomings,  the  fabulist  probably  did 
not  knowthat  Christianity  was  taught  and  organ- 
ized among  the  Britons,  and  many  of  the  Picts, 
long  before  the  saint  was  born,  and  that  S.  Col- 
umba  never  went  among  the  pagan  Saxons.* 
'Men  of  Alba' was  an  early  wayof  speaking  about 
the  Gaidheals  of  Dalriada,  among  whom  he  did 
work  very  zealously.  Adamnan,  so  far  from  reveal- 
ing a  'converted'  Brude,  gives  a  very  distinct  im- 
pression of  the  sovereign  presiding  over  a  pagan 
court  at  Inverness,  with  pagan  Draoidhean  in 
attendance,  all  ready  and  willing  to  discomfit 
S.  Columba.  Brude  Mac  Maelchon  died  a.d.  584. 
Surely  no  monarch  in  Britain  has  ever  been 
more  persistently  misrepresented  in  history  than 
Brude  Mac  Maelchon.  He  was  a  capable  ruler 
and  successful  military  leader.  The  traditions  of 
his  father's  family  were  hostile  to  the  Gaidheals 
or  Scots.  He  was  the  first  sovereign  of  the  Picts 
to  take  the  measure  of  their  aggressive  tend- 
encies ;  and  to  foresee  the  danger  of  their  estab- 
lishment in  strength  on  the  right  flank  of  the 
Picts.  By  his  victorious  sweep  through  Dalriada 
in  A.D.  560  he  threw  back  their  attempt  to  pene- 

*  Many  years  after  the  saint's  time,  some  of  the  most  distinguished  of 
the  disciples  at  lona  did  go  among  the  Angles. 

226 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

trate  Pictland,  for  at  least  a  century.  Aedhan, 
S.  Columba's  nominee,  had  a  wholesome  fear  of 
him;  and,  except  by  sea,  never  attacked  Pictland 
in  the  North  where  Brude  had  his  headquarters. 
Brude,  like  his  ancestors,  adhered  to  the  old 
native  paganism;  but  he  tolerated  the  Christians 
and  their  ministers,  although  he  gave  them  no 
enthusiastic  encouragement.  He  allowed  S.  Col- 
umba  to  settle  at  lona  near  his  fellow-Gaidheals, 
Even  for  S.  Comgall  the  Great  or  S.  Moluag, 
his  deputy  in  Pictland,  both  Irish  Picts,  he  had  no 
very  special  privileges.  At  the  famous  interview 
at  Inverness  he  evidently  satisfied  S.  Comgall 
that  he  might  send  his  missionaries  to  Pictland 
with  safety;  but  there  was  no  permission  to  settle 
at  Inverness  his  capital.  S.  Moluag  organized 
his  central  community  on  the  sacred  Pictish  island 
of  Lismore,  and  organized  a  powerful  branch- 
community  at  Rosemarkie ;  but  the  latter  was 
separated  from  Brude's  court  by  an  arm  of  the 
sea.  Yet  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots,  whose  church- 
men, after  they  had  conformed  to  Roman  Catho- 
licism, got  command  of  a  large  part  of  the  native 
literature,  misrepresent  this  monarch  as  a  sort  of 
tame  king,  like  the  'sair  sanct,'  moved  about  at 
the  will  of  S.  Columba,  an  alien  and  an  enemy. 
Their  first  motive  was  the  glorification  of  the 
great  Scotic  ecclesiastic  and  the  insinuation  of  an 
ancient  dominance  of  the  Gaidheals.  The  misre- 
presentation, amplified  as  the  years  passed,  play- 

227 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

ed  its  part  during  the  early  Roman  Catholic 
period  in  supporting  the  Scots  against  the 
'English  Claims,'  and  in  keeping  alive  a  false  im- 
pression of  the  antiquity  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  in  Pictland. 

Gartnaidh,sonofDomneth,*succeededBrude 
Mac  Maelchon,  and  reigned  as  sovereign  from 
A.D.  584  to  599.  Brude's  home-territories  and 
capital  were  in  the  Inverness  district;  Gartnaidh's 
were  on  the  east  of  Scotland  in  the  Tay  region. 
He  was  a  Christian.  While  he  led  the  Picts, 
Aedhan  and  his  Gaidheals  or  Scots  invaded  the 
south  of  Pictland.  The  Picts  caught  up  the  in- 
vaders at '  Chircind'  ('  Caer  pen')  with  disastrous 
results  to  Aedhan,  as  has  been  noted.  About  six 
years  before  Gartnaidh  had  been  called  to  the 
sovereignty,  when  he  was  a  local  chief  in  the 
Tay  region,  S.  Cainnech  of  Fife  and  Achadh- 
Bo  was  ministering  and  teaching  in  the  same 
locality,  where  Christianity  had  been  organized 
for  a  long  time.  Gartnaidh  was  succeeded  by 
Nectan  of  the  race  of  Erp,  who  reigned  as 
sovereign  from  a.d.  599  to  621.  He  also  was 
a  Christian,  and  his  home-territory  was  also  on 
the  east  coast  in  the  Tay  region,  mainly  in  what 
is  now  Forfarshire.  The  St.  Andrews  MS.  of 
the  Pictish  Chronicle  ascribes  to  him  the  build- 

*  The  Latin  Chroniclehss,  'Domekh';  the  St.  Andrews  MS.  'Damp- 
neth' ;  and  the  Chronicle  in  the  Historia  Britonum  'Domech.'  As  the  St. 
Andrews  Chronicleyms  compiled  in  Gartnaidh'shome-territory  it  is  likely 
to  be  correct. 

228 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

ing  of  the  Church  of  Abernethy.  The  copyist 
and  translator  of  the  Cambridge  MS.  of  the 
Chronicle  used  in  the  Scalacronica  ascribes  the 
same  work  to  his  predecessor  Gartnaidh  with 
very  definite  time  notes,  intended  to  bring  outthe 
priority  of  Abernethy  to  the  Pictish  foundation 
at  Dunkeld.  The  explanation  probably  is  that 
as  both  were  east  coast  chiefs  and  both  Chris- 
tians, both  were  interested  in  the  Church  of 
Abernethy,  and  the  building  of  a  stone  Church 
was  begun  in  the  reign  of  Gartnaidh  and  finished 
in  the  reign  of  Nectan.* 

The'names  of  manyofthesePictish  sovereigns 
are  names  with  few  biographical  details  attached. 
Yet  they  stand  for  the  political  and  military  or- 
ganization of  the  Picts  who  defied  successfully,  in 
turn,  the  Imperial  Romans,  the  Teutonic  Angles 
and  Saxons,  and  also  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  un- 
til the  time  when  the  Pictish  clan-organizations 
all  along  the  east  coast  were  wrecked  by  the 
pagan  Vikings,  and  a  claimant  with  Scotic  sym- 
pathies crept  into  power  in  Pictland,  through 
treachery,  by  attacking  the  Pictish  army  in  the 

*  The  following  gives  the  succession  and  dates  of  the  Pictish  sovereigns 
from  the  death  of  Brude  Mac  Maelchon  to  the  reign  of  Brude  Mac  Bil^. 
The  dates  are  from  the  Irish  Annals,  and  are  checked  by  the  lists  of 
Reeves,  Macbain,  and  the  author.  Brude  Mac  Maelchon  died  in  584. 

Gartnaidh  son  of  Domneth,  584-599.  Nectan  son  of  Canonn  of  the 
race  of  Erp,  599-621.  Ciniath  son  of  Luthrenn,  621-631.  Gartnaidh 
son  of  Wid  ('Foith'),  631-635.  Brude  son  of  Wid,  635-641.  Talorg  their 
brother,  641-653.  Talorgan  son  of  Enfred,  653-657.  Gartnaidh  son  of 
Doimel,  657-663.  Drust  his  brother,  663-672.  Brude  Mac  Bil6,  672-693. 

229 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

rear  when  it  was  fully  occupied  with  the  Vikings 
in  front.  The  Britons  from  the  time  of  their  re- 
organization under  Rhydderch,  being  the  close 
kin  of  the  Picts,  were  generally  allied  with  the 
Picts;  and  it  was  the  reserve  of  the  Pictish  power 
which  enabled  the  Britons  to  prolong  their  in- 
dependent existence  for  so  many  generations  in 
face  both  of  Anglian  and  Gaidhealic  or  Scotic 
encroachment. 

The  frequent  strugglesof  the  Four  Nations  for 
mastery  in  what  is  now  Scotland,  which  began  to 
be  serious  about  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century, 
retarded  the  advance  of  the  Pictish  Church  and 
demolished  much  of  the  previously  organized 
work  of  the  Church  of  the  Britons.  Candida  Casa, 
the  mother-community,  especially  suffered.  Not 
only  was  the  existence  of  this  community  threat- 
ened by  the  waves  of  Anglian  barbarism  during 
the  frequent  raids  of  the  Teutons  into  the  terri- 
tory of  the  Britons;  but  the  clergy  of  Candida 
Casa  felt  that  the  conversion  of  the  barbarians  at 
their  own  door  was  as  imperative  an  obligation 
as  the  maintenance  of  a  ministry  to  the  daughter- 
Churches  of  Pictland.  These  tasks  apparently 
became  too  great  for  Candida  Casa  unaided.  It 
was  at  this  juncture  that  two  other  great  Com- 
munities were  organized  in  safer  areas  whose 
members,  along  with  other  work,  began  to  take 
up  the  spiritual  care  of  the  Christian  congreg- 
ations in  Pictland.  One  was  the  greatcommunity 
230 


CHANGES  IN  SIXTH  CENTURY 

of  the  Irish  Picts  at  Bangor,  in  the  Ards  of  Ulster, 
organized  by  S.  Comgall  the  Great,  an  Irish  Pict; 
the  other  was  the  community  at  Glasgow,  organ- 
ized, at  the  site  of  the  ancient  foundation  of  S. 
Ninian  on  the  Molendinar,  by  S.  Kentigern  the 
Briton. 

Another  danger  of  a  more  subtle  kind  began 
to  form,  about  this  time,  behind  the  Teutonic  in- 
vaders, so  far  as  Candida  Cai'a  was  concerned.  The 
Roman  Mission  which  entered  E  ngland  c.  5  9  7'un- 
der  S.  Augustine  made  slow  headway  among  the 
Celtic  Britons,  who  possessed  their  own  Church 
with  its  own  organizations  and  traditions.  The 
Roman  clergy  realized,  therefore,  that  their  sole 
hope  of  hastening  the  conformity  of  the  Brit- 
ons to  Roman  ways  was  to  take  the  Teutonic  bar- 
barians under  their  care  and  to  organize  them  as 
a  Church  on  the  Roman  model.  Such  a  Church, 
when  once  organized,  could  push  its  methods  and 
usages  under  the  political  protection  of  the  An- 
gles and  Saxons.  Opportunity  and  working  room 
could  be  refused  to  the  Celtic  clergy,  and  the 
brethren  of  Candida  Casa  themselves  could  be 
made  so  uncomfortable  under  the  political  and 
military  pressure  of  the  dominant  Teutons  that 
they  would  either  have  to  forsake  their  ancient 
Church-centre  or  conform  to  Rome.  Thus  while 
the  clergy  of  Candida  Casa  were  exerting  them- 
selves to  assist  in  converting  the  Angles  to  Chris- 
tianity, the  clergy  of  the  Roman  mission  were  ex- 

231 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

erting  themselves  to  force  the  clergy  of  Candida 
Casa  to  conform  to  the  Church  of  Rome.  The 
determination  of  the  community  of  Candida  Casa, 
or  rather  that  section  which  remained,  to  be  loyal 
to  the  Celtic  Church,  and  the  efforts  of  the  Ro- 
man mission  to  absorb  the  community,  were  con- 
tinued into  the  early  part  of  the  eighth  century. 


BANGOR  OF  THE  IRISH  PICTS, 
AND  GLASGOW  OF  THE 
BRITONS,  GIVE  HELP  TO  CAN- 
DIDA CASA  IN  CONTINUING 
AN  EDUCATED  MINISTRY  TO 
THE  CHURCH  OF  THE  PICTS 
OF  ALBA  CHAPTER  TEN 

The  energies  of  those  Christians  who  were  Irish 
Picts  by  nationality  were,  as  has  been  shown, 
directed  at  a  very  early  period  to  mission-work 
among  the  Picts  of  Alba{Scotland).  When,  there- 
fore, S.  CoMGALL  THE  Great,  the  most  distin- 
guished Irish  Pict  of  his  time,  resolved  to  guide 
part  of  the  ministerial  power  of  his  great  com- 
munity at  Bangor  in  Ulster  into  Pictland  of  Alba, 
he  was  not  initiating  a  new  movement,  but  con- 
tinuing that  begun  by  S.  Ninian  himself  over  one 
hundred  years  before.  S.  Comgall  had  greater 
resources  to  draw  upon,  and  more  widespread 
missionary  enthusiasm  to  help  him  than  S.  Nin- 
ian, and  also  an  unique  opportunity  of  showing 
his  nation's  gratitude  to  its  first  teacher  by  tak- 
ing up  his  most  conspicuous  work,  and  by  reliev- 
ing to  some  extent  the  strain  upon  Candida  Casa, 
burdened  with  the  maintenance  of  a  ministry  to 
Alba,  and  with  anxiety  as  to  how  to  deal  with  the 
terror  of  pagan  Teutonism  creeping  westward 
from  the  shores  of  the  North  Sea. 

233 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

S.  Comgall  founded  the  College  of  Bangor 
A. D.  558,  at  a  place  originally  known  as  Aber-Beg. 
From  the  presence  of  S.  Comgall's  community 
it  received  the  name  '  Bangor,'  and  it  came  to  be 
distinguished  from  the  other  Bangors  as '  Bangor 
in  the  Ards  of  Ulster,'  Bangor  was  quite  near 
to  Maghbile,  where, S.  Finbar,  an  earlier  worker 
in  Pictland,  presided  over  his  own  community, 
and  not  far  from  'nAondruim,a  community  which 
regarded  itself  as  dependent  on  Candida  Casa. 
S.  Bernard  describes  Bangor  in  S.  Comgall's  time 
as  a  most  noble  institution,  the  nurse  of  many 
thousands  of  monks,  the  parent  of  many  monas- 
teries, a  centre  truly  sacred,  the  home  of  saints. 
One  of  its  sons, '  Luanus,'  *  went  forth  from  it  and 
founded  one  hundred  communities  elsewhere; 
and  another,  S.  Columbanus,  journeyed  to  the 
continent  of  Europe  and  penetrated  into  Gaul, 
where  he  founded  Luxeuil,  and  there  'organized 
a  great  multitude.'  This  great  centre  of  religion 
and  learning  continued  at  Bangor  as  a  commun- 
ity of  the  Celtic  Church  until  a.d.  822,  when  the 
pagan  Vikings  pillaged  it  and  burned  it,  and 
martyred  ninety  of  the  brethren.  A  remnant 
appears  to  have  continued  S.  Comgall's  work, 
because  in  a.d,938  Muircertach  of  the  daughter- 
house  of  Cambus,  bore  the  founder's  title  'Ab  of 

*  The  latinized  form  of  the  aspirated  contraction  Lua  for  Luaghadh, 
the  name  of  S.  Moluag  of  Lismore  and  Rosemarlcie  in  Pictland  of  Alba. 
He  was  related  to  S.  Comgall. 


BANGOR  &>  GLASGOW 

Bangor.' 

S.  Comgall  was  one  of  the  most  successful 
organizers  of  Christian  missions  in  history.  The 
missionaries  inspired  and  taught  by  him  ranged 
from  between  the  mountains  of  Mar  in  Pictland 
to  the  Apennines  in  Italy.  His  workers  were  a 
living  denial  of  the  insinuation,  promulgated  after 
their  time  by  Bede,  to  the  effect  that  the  spirit 
of  Brito-Pictish  Christianity  was  exclusive  and 
parochial.  About  a.d.  558  S.  Comgall  had  inten- 
tions of  leaving  Ireland  to  take  part  in  the  mis- 
sion-work in  Pictland  of  Alba ;  but  his  kinsman 
S.Moluag*  prevailed  upon  him  to  found  Bangor 
and  to  train  others  for  the  work,  and  S.  Moluag 
became  one  of  his  first  pupils.  In  a.d.  562  S. 
Comgall  detached  S.  Moluag  from  Bangor;  and 
sent  him  with  a  group  of  workers  to  take  up  the 
work  which  he  himself  had  intended  in  Pictland. 
In  order  that  his  deputy's  work  might  not  be 
impeded,  he  set  out  himself  as  the  leader\  of  a 
deputation,  according  to  his  own  Life,  to  inter- 
view Brude  Mac  Maelchon  the  Pictish  sover- 
eign, at  Inverness.  His  object  was  manifestly 
to  obtain  sanction  for  his  missions,  protection 
for  his  missionaries,  and  respect  for  any  settle- 

*  The  early  Latin  writers  latinized  his  name  as  ' Luanus';  the  later 
as  ' Mo-Luacus'  and  ' Mo-Luocus.' 

^  V.  S.  Comg.  cap.  44.  Dr.  Reeves,  knowing  that  Adamnan  repre- 
sented S.  Columba  as  the  leader  of  this  deputation,  writes :  'The  Life  of 
S.  Comgall  represents  S.  Columba  as  only  one  of  the  agents  on  this 
occasion.' 

235 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

merits  that  the  subordinate  chiefs  might  grant 
them.  S.  Cainnech,  another  Pictish  ecclesias- 
tic, afterwards  of  Fife  and  Achadh-Bo,  accom- 
panied S.  Comgall,  and  they  were  joined  by  S. 
Columba,  a  Gaidheal  or  Scot,  soon  to  be  leading 
ecclesiastic  of  the  Gaidhealic  or  Scotic  colonists 
in  Dalriada.  The  interview  was  followed  by 
the  unrestricted  advance  of  S.  Moluag  and  his 
workers  into  the  Pictish  Islands  of  the  Hebrides; 
among  the  Picts  of  the  western  mainland,  includ- 
ing those  dispersed  among  the  Gaidheals ;  and 
into  the  central  and  northern  parts  of  Pictland. 
S.  Columba  settled  on  lona  near  his  fellow- 
Gaidheals;  and  S.  Cainnech  established  himself 
in  due  course  in  Fife. 

S.  Moluag's  plan  for  working  Pictland  was  to 
organize  three  great  muinntirs  or  communities 
to  be  the  centres  of  education  and  ministerial 
supply  for  the  Churches  in  their  respective  dis- 
tricts; and,  of  course,  for  the  maintenance  of 
these  central  communities  he  had  the  reserves  of 
Bangor.  He  first  organized  the  great  community 
of  Lismore  in  Lorn.  This  island  was  the  sacred 
island  of  the  Western  (Bede's  'Northern')  Picts, 
and  contained  the  burial-place  of  their  kings  who 
reigned  at  'Beregonium.'  The  Churches  depend- 
ent on  Lismore,*  still  traceable,  are  Teampul 

*  S.  Moluag  founded  two  Churches  in  southern  Argyll,  evidently  for 
the  Picts  dispersed  among  the  Gaidheals ;  one  was  in  Glen  Barr,  Cantyre; 
and  the  other  in  South  Knapdale  at  Loch  Killisport. 

236 


BANGOR  ^  GLASGOW 

Mdr  in  Lewis;  the  Ciiurch  of  Pabbay,  tiiat  is, 
Isle  of  tile  pdpa;  Cill  Moluag  in  Raasay;  Cill 
Moluag  in  Skye ;  Cill  Moluag  in  Tiree ;  Cill 
Moluag  m  Mull;  'Kilmalu"  in  Morvern;  'Kil- 
malu' '  of  Inverary;  and  Cill  Moluag*  at  Balla- 
gan,  Inverfarigaig. 

S.  Moluag's  second  central  community  was 
organized  at  Rosemarkie  on  the  northern  shore 
of  the  Inverness  Firth.  Many  of  the  Churches 
founded  from  this  centre  were  afterwards,  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  period,  dedicated  to  Roman 
saints,  and  they  cannot  now  be  definitely  dis- 
tinguished as  S.  Moluag's;  but  there  was  an  old 
Church  in  the  strath  of  the  Peffray  (Strath- 
peffer)  whose  temporalities  are  still  designated 
as  Davoch-Moluag,  and  the  submerged  Church 
of  Cromarty  was  evidently  one  of  S.  Moluag's 
foundations.  His  third  central  community  was  at 
Mortlach  in  Banffshire.  Dependent  upon  it  was 
the  smaller  community  at  Clova  or  Cloveth  near 
Lumsden  village.  The  foundations  that  still  bear 
S.  Moluag's  name  in  this  quarter  are  at  '  Maol- 
Moluag's,'  now  New  Machar,  at  Clatt  in  the 
Garioch,  and  at  Migvie  and  Tarland.  Another 
of  S.  Moluag's  known  foundations  was  at  Alyth  in 
Perthshire.  S.  Moluag  continued  to  labour  in 
Pictland  until  his  death  on  the  25th  June  592  a.d. 
According  to  the  old  tradition  he  died  while  visit- 

*  See  Dr.  Wm.  Mackay's  Saints  of  the  Ness  Valley, 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

ing  his  Churches  in  the  Garioch*  and  was  buried 
at  Rosenaarkie.  It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the 
trained  clergy  from  Bangor  or  from  S.  Moluag's 
own  centres  kept  themselves  apart  from  the 
Britonic  and  the  native  Pictish  clergy  who  were 
at  work  in  Pictland  at  this  time;  because  there 
is  evidence  that  the  Bangor  clergy  assisted  in 
manning  Churches  founded  long  before  their 
arrival  as  well  as  looking  to  the  care  of  congre- 
gations gathered  by  themselves.  The  only  sign  of 
want  of  co-operation  between  the  Celtic  clergy, 
as  might  be  expected  from  the  political  relations, 
was  between  the  Picts  and  the  Gaidheals  or 
Scots,  in  the  territory  occupied  by  the  Scotic 
colonists  in  Dalriada.  There  was  certainly  no 
co-operation  between  the  Pictish  ecclesiastics 
and  the  Gaidhealic  ecclesiastics  in  the  island  of 
Tiree. 

In  A.D.  565, 1  three  years  after  S.  Moluag  had 
led  his  mission  into  Pictland,  S.  Comgall  himself 
set  out  from  Bangor  to  revisit  Pictland.  It  is 
stated  that  his  object  was  to  visit  'certain  ecclesi- 
astics' and  incidentally  it  is  noted  that  he  'con- 
stituted' a  monastery  in  the  granary  island  Tir 

*  There  is  a  reference  to  S.  Moluag  on  the  Shevack  stone  now  at 
Newton,  Insch.  The  writing  is  in  debased  uncials.  His  name  is  written 
'Maohuoeg  i  h-innsi  Loaoaruin ' ;  that  is,  Moluag ...  he  was  of  the  Island 
of  Lorn,  namely  Lismore.  Lismore,  Rosemarkie,  and  Mortlach  became 
in  the  Roman  period  the  seats  of  the  diocesan  bishops  respectively  of 
Argyll,  Ross,  and  what  afterwards  became  the  See  of  Aberdeen. 

t  'Septimo  anno  postquam  monasterium  Bennchor  fundatura  est.' 
V.  S.  Comg.  p.  307, 

238 


BANGOR  &•  GLASGOW 

E^A,  that  is,  Tiree.  An  ancient  Church  found- 
ation there  still  bears  S.  Comgall's  name.  In  this 
little  island.important  because  of  its  food-supplies, 
four  ecclesiastics  had  interests  to  protect.  Two 
of  them  were  Irish  Picts,  S.  Moluag  who  was  S. 
Comgall's  deputy  and  relative;  and  Findchan,  Ab 
of  the  Pictish  monastery  of  Ardchain,  who  was 
evidently  subject  to  S.  Comgall.  The  other  two 
were  Gaidheals  or  Scots,  Baithene,  Ab  of  Magh 
Luinge,  cousin  of  S.  Columba,  and  S.  Columba 
himself,  his  superior.  Baithene  was  a  practical 
farmer,  and  at  one  period  of  his  life  grew  the  corn- 
supplies  for  S.  Columba's  community,  and  this 
doubtless  accounts  for  his  settlement  on  Tiree, 
the  'barley  island.'  The  two  Gaidhealic  leaders 
set  up  a  quarrel  with  the  two  Pictish  leaders. 
Apart  from  national  differences,  all  the  potenti- 
alities of  quarrel  were  already  latent  in  the  needs 
of  the  large  ever-growing  clerical  communities, 
and  the  consequent  scramble  for  the  limitedcorn- 
supplies  of  Tiree.  But  in  a.d.  565,  when  S.  Com- 
gall set  out  for  Tiree,  a  political  event  of  the  first 
magnitude  made  friendly  relations  between  the 
Picts  and  Gaidheals  of  Tiree  impossible.  In  the 
centre  of  the  storm  was  Aedh  Dubh,  ruler  of  the 
Pictish  Kingdom  of  Uladh  (Ulster).  Diarmait 
Mac  Cerbhaill,  a  Gaidheal  of  the  southern  Nialls 
and  the  sovereign  against  whom  S.  Columba  had 
raised  the  civil  war  of  Cul-Dreimhne,  was  King- 
paramount  of  all  Ireland  in  Aedh's  time.  Diar- 

239 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

mait  had  killed  Aedh's  father,*  and  while  Aedh 
was  still  a  lad  had  taken  him  as  his  ward;  but  had 
treated  him  badly.  After  Aedh  had  ascended  the 
throne  of  Uladh,  Diarmait,  on  the  excuse  of  his 
paramountcy,  presented  himself  in  the  Pictish 
territory  over  which  Aedh  ruled.  The  two  mon- 
archs  held  an  unfriendly  interview  at  the  fort  of 
Magh-line  near  Antrim,  withthe  result  that  Aedh 
in  hot  blood  slew  Diarmait.  Aedh  immediately 
repented,  and  to  atone  for  his  crime  went  with 
Findchan,  a  presbyter  of  the  Picts,  to  his  monas- 
tery inTiree;  where,  to  give  reality  to  his  repent- 
ance, he  assumed  the  garb  and  work  of  a  humble 
cleric,  and  was  ordained.  The  name  of  the  bishop 
who  ordained  Aedh  has  been  suppressed;  al- 
though Adamnan  states  that  he  had  been  specially 
summoned.    Findchan  himself  took  part  in  the 
laying  on  of  hands.   When  S.  Columba  heard  of 
Aedh's  reception  at  Ardchain  and  his  ordination, 
his  rage  was  unbounded.  He  pronounced  a  fierce 
curse  I  on  all  concerned,  declared  that  the  ordin- 
ation was  irregular,  that  Findchan's  hand  which 
had  been  laid  on  Aedh's  head  would  rot  J  and  be 
interred  before  the  rest  of  his  body,  that  Aedh 
would  return  to  murder  as  a  dog  to  his  vomit,  and 

*  He  was  called  '  Suibhne  the  mild -judging. ' 

t  This  curse  and  other  details  are  given  in  a  way  that  makes  Aedh 
Dubh  much  blacker  than  he  really  was,  and  they  will  be  found  in  Adam- 
nan's  V.  S.  C.  lib.  i.  cap.  xxxvi. 

t  Adamnan  tells  us  that  Findchan's  hand  did  rot:  but  it  is  significant 
that  it  required  a  blow  to  fulfil  Columba's  prophecy. 

240 


BANGOR  &>  GLASGOW 

would  in  the  end  have  his  throat  pierced  with  a 
spear,  and  be  cast  into  water  to  die  from  drowning. 
Adamnan  describes  Aedh's  crime  as  the  slaying 
of  Diarmait,  'ordained,  by  God's  will,  ruler  of  all 
Ireland.'  On  this  and  on  other  occasions  S.  Col- 
umba's  prophecies  hadaway  of  being  quickly  ful- 
filled. It  is  not  therefore  to  be  wondered  at  that 
S.  Comgall  hastened  to  Bangor  to  protect  Find- 
chan  and  his  penitent  king;  and  'to  visit  certain 
saints,  and  to  remain  in  Tiree  for  some  time.' 
During  his  sojourn  he  founded  the  Church  which 
former! ybore his  name.  S. Comgall  interveningon 
behalf  of  his  maligned  and  persecuted  presbyter, 
and  Findchan,guiding  the  miserable  and  remorse- 
ful king  to  salvation,  place  themselves  into  line 
with  the  best  judgments  of  the  Church;  but  S. 
Columba,  who  had  striven  to  destroy  both  Diar- 
mait and  his  kingdom  at  Cu/  Dreimhne,  indicat- 
ing where  Findchan  should  receive  the  wound 
that  lamed  him,  and  how  Aedh's  enemies  should 
revenge  themselves  upon  him,*  places  himself 
into  line  with  the  worst.  His  attitude  turned  the 
friendship  of  S.  Comgall  into  watchful  civility, 
which  owing  to  S.  Columba's  continued  aggres- 
sion was,  at  a  later  time,  changed  to  open  hostil- 
ity; f  and  it  boded  ill  for  any  Pictish  ecclesiastics 

*  Aedh  returned  to  Ireland  f.  581.  Onthedeathof  BaedanMacCairill, 
who  had  filled  the  throne  of  Uladh  during  his  penitential  stay  in  Tiree, 
Aedh  resumed  his  throne.  He  reigned  until  587,  when  he  was  slain  and 
thrown  from  a  boat  by  Fiachna,  Baedan's  son. 

t  When,  after  S.  Columba's  return  to  power  in  Ireland,  he  called  out 

R  241 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

who  might  be  unprotected,  and  over  whom  the 
Gaidheals  could  exercise  political  control. 

After  a  sojourn  in  Tiree,  which  the  community 
of  Bangor  considered  too  prolonged,  the  brethren 
recalled  their  master  to  themselves.  The  little 
muinntiral  Bangor  which  S.  Comgall  had  first 
organized  was  being  rapidly  augmented.  The 
numbers  were  rising  from  a  few  score  to  thousands 
— 'many  thousands,'  says  S.  Bernard.  In  the 
ancient  Celtic  writings  the  site  is  called  '  Bangor 
of  the  hosts.'  The  author  of  the  Spelman  Frag- 
ment states  the  number  of  S.  Comgall's  commun- 
ity at  'three  thousand.'  Picts,  Britons,  Gauls, 
and  even  a  few  men  with  Teutonic  names,  were 
attracted  to  S.  Comgall's  teaching.  Besides  the  ■ 
education  and  ministerial  training  which  these 
brethren  received,  they  were  all  compelled  by  S. 
Comgall's  Rule  to  take  part  in  the  agricultural 
work  for  the  maintenance  of  the  community;  and 
to  take  turn  in  keeping  up  the  service  of  choral  de- 
votion whichnever  ceased  day  or  night.  Hebrew, 
Greek,  and  Latin  were  taught  and  read.  The  copy- 
ing of  manuscripts  was  a  definite  part  of  each 
cleric's  education.  T\\&  Antiphonary  of  Bangor  ^V^ 
exists  at  Milan.  Ifa  record  waskept  of  the  various 
missions  sent  out  from  Bangor,  it  must  have  per- 
ished when  the  Vikings  ravaged  the  monastery 

his  fellow-clansmen  to  fight  the  Picts  of  Dalaraidhe  and  Uladh,  for  posses- 
sion of  S.  Comgall's  Church  at  Ros  Torathair.  The  battle  took  place  at 
Cul-Rathain  (Coleraine). 

242 


BANGOR  &>  GLASGOW 

A.D.  822.  Happily-sufficient  information  was  pre- 
served outside  Bangor  concerning  S.  Moluag's 
great  mission  to  Pictland.  The  unknown  author 
of  the  Spelman  Fragment  knew  of  some  source, 
now  lost,  which  told  how  another  mission-leader, 
'blessed  Wandeloc  was  sent  by  S.  Comgall  the 
Ab,  on  a  ministry  of  preaching,'  but  whither,  he 
states  not.  One  hand  in  the  Breviary  of  Aber- 
deen drew  from  a  source,  now  untraceable,  that  S. 
'  Myr'an,'  commonly  called  'Mirran,'*  Ab  of  the 
first  Celtic  muinntir  at  Paisley,  was  trained  at 
Bangor  by  S. Comgall.  Through  the  preservation 
of  many  of  the  books  belonging  to  the  libraries 
of  St.  Gall  and  Bobbio,  and  especially  the  Life  of 
S.  Columbanus  by  Jonas,  and  the  ancient  anony- 
mous Life  ofS.  Gall;  it  is  possible  to  gain  a  very 
full  knowledge  of  the  missions  which  S.  Comgall 

*  In  one  particular,  a  story  connected  with  S.  Finbar  of  Maghbile,  the 
Breviary  has,  probably  through  a  copyist's  error,  confused  Mirran  with 
Meldan,  another  of  S.  Comgall's  disciples.  S.  Mirran  was  evidently  a 
Briton,  his  chief  house  was  at  Paisley,  and  his  other  foundations  were 
at  Kelton,  Kilsyth,  Innis  Mirran,  Loch  Lomond,  among  the  Britons  or 
on  their  borders.  It  is  said  that  remains  connected  with  his  name  were  on 
the  Burn  of  Mirran  at  Edzell.  It  is  stated  that  he  co-operated  with  S. 
Kentigem.  His  day  is  the  l  Jth  September.  A  further  confirmation  of  his 
British  birth  is  that  he  had  working  relations  with  his  neighbour  S.  Con- 
stantine,  Ab  of  Govan,  who  was  a  British  king,  whose  day  is  the  i  ith  of 
March.  S.  Constantine  also  went  to  Ireland  to  train  as  a  cleric ;  where,  is 
not  clear.  He  also  is  stated  to  have  associated  himself  with  S.  Kentigem. 
His  'conversio'  which  apparently  means  his  death,  because  ^ad  Domi- 
num '  is  added,  occurs  in  the  Annates  Camiriae  at  A.  D.  589.  Constantine 
had  been  king  of  the  Britons  of  Cornwall,  and  it  is  important  to  note  that 
there,  his  and  S.  Mirran's  names  are  associated.  At  the  ancient  village 
of  S.  Mirran,  called  by  the  Cornish  Har-Llan-  Wirran,  there  was  also  a 
Church  of  S.  Constantine.  Cf.  Lyson's  Cornwall,  p.  226. 

243 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

sent  into  Gaul,  and  to  learn  the  stories  of  the 
founding  of  Anagrates,*  Luxeuil.f  St.Gall.J  and 
Bobbio.§  From  the  particulars  furnished  con- 
cerning these  ancient  Celtic  monasteries  it  is 
possible  to  get  a  very  clear  idea  of  the  organiza- 
tion, government,  discipline,  and  education  at  the 
parent  institution  in  Bangor;  because  again  and 
again  S.  Columbanus  defended  himself  against 
the  Roman  clergy  by  the  declaration  that  he 
had  learned  what  he  practised  from  S.  Comgall 
and  other  fathers  of  the  Church  at  Bangor.  The 
names  of  twenty-eight  regular,  resident,  Celtic 
Abs  of  Bangor  have  been  preserved,  besides  S. 
Comgall.  The  twenty-fifth  Ab  in  the  succession, 
Mac Oigi,waspromotedfrom  the  daughter-house 
of  Abercrossan  in  Ross,  Pictland.  He  died  a.d. 
802.  After  Mac  Oigi's  time||  the  Abs  of  Bangor 
were  sometimes  unable  to  reside  at  the  parent- 
settlement  owing  to  the  ravages  of  the  Vikings. 
In  A.D.  938  Muircertach  was  'Ab  of  Bangor,' 
but  he  resided  at  Cambus,  a  branch-community, 
also  among  the  Irish  Picts,  which  S.  Comgall  had 
organized  in  his  lifetime.  In  a.d.  i  i  20  S.  Malachi 
o'  Morgair,  a  Celt  belonging  to  the  Church  of 
Rome  and  the  friend  of  S.  Bernard,  sought  to 

*  Now  Faucogney  in  Haute-Sa8ne. 

t  Roman  Lexovium  in  Burgundy.  %  Switzerland. 

§  Near  the  Trebbia  on  the  slopes  of  the  Apennines. 

II  Among  the  later  Abs  were  Robhartach,  died  80S;  Maeltuile,  died 
8185  Maelgamhridh  'togaidhe,'  Ancorite,  and  Ab  of  Bangor,  died  838. 
Earnan,  Ab  of  Bangor,  died  847. 

244 


BANGOR  &>  GLASGOW 

revive  the  glories  of  ancient  Bangor  by  founding 
a  monastery  of  Roman  type  on  S.  Comgall's  site. 
The  first  community  of  Bangor,  the  one  which 
began  the  missions  that  won  the  unqualified  ad- 
miration of  Christian  Europe,  was  governed  by  S. 
Comgall  until  his  death  on  the  loth  MayA.D.  602 
in  the  forty-fourth  year  third  month  and  tenth 
day  of  his  presidency.  He  was  succeeded  in  the 
presidency  by  Beogna,  one  of  the  seniors  of  the 
community.  The  missionary  energy  of  Bangor 
continued  to  be  regarded  as  a  tradition  of  the 
community  to  be  maintained ;  and  her  missionary 
scholars  persevered  in  supplying  the  Faith  to 
Pictland,  Britain,  and  Gaul,  or  wherever  their 
ministrations  were  required.  There  were  some 
among  the  missionaries  who  had  their  days  of  de- 
pression, owing  perhaps  to  faint  hearts  or  feeble 
bodies.  Autiernus,  for  example,  wished  to  return 
even  to  the  stern  discipline  and  restricted  meals 
of  Bangor  rather  than  to  continue  amid  the  hard- 
ships and  destitution  of  the  desert  of  the  Vosges. 
There  is  humour  as  well  as  pathos  in  the  cure 
which  S.  Columbanus  gave  to  this  home-sick 
fellow-Celt  and  another  brother  called  Sonichar. 
He  went  with  the  two  downcast  brethren  to  a 
lonely  corrie  in  the  mountains,  and  passed  the 
time  in  prayer  and  meditation  with  only  one  loaf 
to  feed  them  for  twelve  days.  At  the  close  of  the 
retreat,  he  sent  them  to  one  of  the  rivers  below, 
where  they  procured  a  supply  of  fish  which  made 

245 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

a  rich  feast  to  the  famished  pupils,  causing  them 
'  to  praise  the  providence  of  God.'* 

S.Kentigern  (Mungo)  was  recalled  from  his 
exile  at  Llan-Elwy  to  Strathclyde  shortly  after 
Ard'eryd,  a.d.  573,  by  Rhydderch,  It  has  been 
noted  that  when  S.  Kentigern  took  charge  of  the 
body  of  S.  Fergus  of  Carnoch  and  buried  it  at  S. 
Ninian's  foundation  at  Glasgow,  he  thereafter 
organized  a  muinntir  of  his  own.  This  was  the 
saint's  first  settlement  at  Glasgow.  After  a  time, 
owing  to  his  family  connections,  the  local  author- 
ity considered  him  a  dangerous  political  factor. 
He  was  the  son  of  Owain,  son  of  Urien  Rheged, 
one  of  the  neighbouring  kings  of  the  Britons. 
Some  time  between  a.d.  567  and  5  74  another  local 
king,  Morkan,  who  had  once  been  an  ally  of  Urien 
the  saint's  grandfather,  quarrelled  with  him. 
Morkanj  extended  his  hostility  to  the  saint,  and 
carried  his  violence  as  far  as  assault  to  his  person. 
The  saint  thereupon  fled  to  the  territories  of  the 
southern  Britons,  where  he  organized  andgovern- 
ed  a  community,  at  Llan-Elwy,  from  which  he  was 
recalled  by  Rhydderch  the  British  sovereign,  to 
his  earlier  community  at  Glasgow. 

After  S.  Kentigern  had  re-established  himself 
at  Glasgow,  he  not  only  reorganized  the  com- 
munity there  to  supply  the  local  spiritual  needs 

*  Jonas,  V.  S.  Columb.  cap.  ii. 

t  Morkan  ultimately  slew  Urien  while  on  or  returning  from  an  expedi- 
tion to  Medcaut  (Lindisfarne)  sometime  between  580  and  587. 

246 


BANGOR  &>  GLASGOW 

of  the  Britons  of  northern  Strathclyde;  but  he 
took  measures  to  make  Glasgow  a  centre  of  min- 
isterial supply  and  control  for  the  Congregations 
of  Pictland,  in  co-operation  with  the  Clerics  of 
Bangor. 

S.  Kentigern  conducted  several  distinct  mis- 
sions. Apart  from  fugitive  scraps  of  information 
and  the  local  remains  of  his  Church-foundations, 
the  chief  authority  for  his  work  is  Joceline.  Joce- 
line  wrote  with  an  ancient  CelticZ?/"^  of  the  Saint 
before  him  which  is  now  lost.  He  is  an  untrust- 
worthy guide  unless  steps  are  first  taken  to  elim- 
inate the  garbling  matter  from  his  biographies  so 
as  to  isolate  the  basic  matter  of  his  original  docu- 
ments. This  is  easily  done  in  the  case  of  S.  Ken- 
tigern's  Life,  where  he  steadily  lets  the  original 
Life  shine  through;  as  whenhe  tells  of  the  ordin- 
ation of  S.  Kentigern  byanointing  at  the  hands  of 
a  single  bishop,  as  customary  among  the  Britons; 
although  he  interpolates  at  a  later  stage  the  fable 
of  a  visit  to  Rome  to  rectify  this,  in  his  eyes,  grave 
irregularity.  Joceline  is  known  to  have  beenonly 
an  employee.  He  wrote  under  the  direction  of 
certain  early  Roman  Catholic  prelates  whose  de- 
sires were  to  bring  the  Lives  of  the  Celtic  saints 
into  harmony  with  Roman  Catholic  notions,  to 
link  up  the  Celtic  clergy  into  some  sort  of  con- 
nection with  Rome,  and  to  throw  back  the  age  of 
certain  Roman  Catholic  Sees  in  Britain,  so  as  to 
sustain  their  claims  to  primacy.  Although  Joce- 

247 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

line  invented  lavishly  to  satisfy  his  employers, he 
was,  fortunately,  frequently  content  to  make  ex- 
tracts from  the  ancient  authorities  before  him  ; 
and,  as  in  the  instance  of  S.  Kentigern's  Life,  to 
strive  to  explain  them  away,  or  to  give  them  a 
touch  of  Roman  Catholic  colouring.  There  need 
be  no  difificulty  to  the  critical  historian  acquaint- 
ed with  the  special  characteristics  of  the  Celtic 
Church,  in  distinguishing  where  Joceline  is  work- 
ing on  what  he  learned  from  the  ancient  originals. 
This  is  speciallythe  case  inthe  description  which 
Joceline  gives  of  the  extent  of  S.  Kentigern's 
work  which  is  verified  by  local  remains.  Indeed, 
it  was  the  range  of  S.  Kentigern's  surviving 
British  and  Pictish  foundations  which  directed 
modern  researchers,  towards  the  close  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  to  a  more  careful  scrutiny  of 
all  documentary  references  to  the  saint's  life. 

S.  Kentigern's  first  mission  was  accidental. 
It  was  undertaken  in  the  course  of  his  flight  from 
Glasgow  to  Llan-Elwy.  Neither  Joceline  nor  his 
source  seem  to  have  understood  why  S .  Kentiger  n 
was  moved,  amid  his  own  trials,  to  undertake  this 
mission-tour.  It  was  no  journey  to  the  heathen; 
butavisitand  ministryof  consolation  to  hisfellow- 
Britons  who  had  been  pushed  into  the  hills  of 
Cumberland  by  the  westward  pressure  of  the 
Angles,  and  the  southward  pressure  of  the  de- 
ranged Brito-Pictish  tribes  between  the  Cheviots 
and  the  Forth.  It  is  to  this  mission  that  we  owe 
248 


BANGOR  &>  GLASGOW 

his  eight*  foundations  in  the  old  British  territory 
of  the  Cymri  in  the  north-west  of  England. 

After  the  return  to  Glasgow  S.  Kentigern 
organized  four  distinct  missions.  The  first  mis- 
sion j  was  'to  correct  the  condition  of  his  own 
diocese'  as  Joceline  calls  it.  'District'  would  be 
a  more  accurate  word,  because  S.  Kentigern  was 
not  a  diocesan  or  monarchic  bishop.  Joceline 
makes  it  clear  that  this  mission  was  into  a  district 
where  Christianity  had  been  already  established; 
but  he  takes  no  pains  to  explain  that  political 
convulsions  had  caused  much  injury  to  the  organ* 
ization  of  the  Christians,  necessitating  just  such 
a  circuit  as  S.  Kentigern  undertook.  The  second 
mission!  was  into  what  Joceline  describes  as 
'  Pictorum  patriam,  que  modo  Galwiethia  dicitur, 
etcircumjacentiaejus.'  Joceline  undoubtedly  con- 
veys the  impression  that  this  mission  was  into  the 
whole  of  Galloway,  the  district  of  Candida  Casa. 
If  his  statement  is  tested  by  S.  Kentigern's  sur- 
viving foundations  it  will  be  found  that  he  ex- 
aggerates; because  all  these  foundations  lie  not 
in  Galloway  proper  but  on  its  borders.  However, 
Joceline  makes  quite  clear  that  this  mission  also 
was  conducted  in  a  region  which  had  already 
been  christianized.   Again  he  takes  no  pains  to 

*  Represented  by  the  old  Churches  of  Aspatria,  Bromfield,  Caldbeck 
of  Allerdale,  Crosthwaite,  Grinsdale,  Irthington,  Sowerby,  Muiigriesdale 
in  Greystock.  These  Teutonic  names  are  eloquent  of  the  change  that 
afterwards  came  over  these  once  British  localities. 

t   V.S.K.  cap.  xxxiv.  sec.  i.  %   V.S.K.^z.-^.  xxxiv.  sec.  ii. 

249 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

point  out  that  the  Christian  organization  in  this 
locality  had  been  much  disturbed  and  injured  by- 
political  changes,  and  that  masses  of  fugitive 
Britons  had  been  crushed  into  it  by  pressure  due 
to  the  advancing  Angles.  Joceline  nevertheless 
spares  no  effort  to  convey  that  in  this  mission  S. 
Kentigern  corrected  whatever  he  found  contrary 
to '  the  Christian  Faith  and  wholesome  education '; 
and,  also,  that  he  rooted  out  'vile  idolatry  and 
pestilential  heresy.'  The  historian  is  not  per- 
turbed for  the  theological  reputation  of  Candida 
Casa  bythis  motive-statement,  especially  coming 
from  Joceline.  The  latter  had  to  meet  the  wishes 
of  his  employers,  and  to  indicate  somehow  that 
in  the  far  past  the  pastoral  and  teaching  activity 
of  Glasgow  superseded  the  pastoral  and  teaching 
activity  of  the  ancient  Candida  Casa.  Only  thus 
could  the  Roman  Catholic  prelates  of  Glasgow 
press  their  claims  for  precedence  over  Candida 
Casa,  andagainst  the  pretensions  of  York.  More- 
over, 'pestilential  heresy'  to  Joceline's  mind  was 
nothing  worse  than  the  adherence  of  the  Celts  to 
the  ancient  mode  of  calculating  Easter,  certain 
differences  between  them  and  the  Roman  Ca- 
tholics in  the  administration  of  Baptism,  and  the 
absence  of  monarchic  bishops.  The  important 
point  is  that  Joceline  testifies  to  S.  Kentigern's 
mission  on  the  eastern  fringe  of  Galloway  which 
has  been  confirmed  by  surviving  foundations 
that  still  bear  S.  Kentigern's  name.  The  motive 
250 


BANGOR  &>  GLASGOW 

of  the  Latin  Churchman  is  seen  in  this  that  al- 
though earlier  he  had  recorded  that  the  Picts  first 
received  the  Faith  'chiefly  by  S.  Ninian';  yet  he 
has  not  one  word  to  say  either  about  S.  Ninian  or 
Candida  Casa  in  his  reference  to  S.  Kentigern's 
visit  to  the  borders  of  Galloway.  From  these  two 
missions,  in  the  Glasgowdistrict  and  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Galloway,  arose  the  ancient  Church 
foundations  of  Lanark,  Borthwick  (Lochwer- 
weth),  Penicuik,  Currie,  Peebles,  Hassendean, 
Polwarth,  and  St.  Mungo.  With  this  last,  falls  to 
be  associated  Holdelm  or  Hoddam  in  Dumfries- 
shire where  Rhydderch,  the  sovereign  of  the 
Britons,  halted  the  saint  on  his  return  from  Llan- 
Elwy  until  his  old  seat  at  Glasgow  was  made 
quite  secure. 

The  saint's  third  mission*  from  Glasgow  was 
into  '  Alban'  which  in  this  instance  means  Pict- 
land  of  Alba.  The  line  of  his  route,  as  disclosed  by 
his  foundations,  followed  the  Churches  founded 
byhisearly  master,  S.Servanus,  beside  the  Ochils 
and  in  Perthshire.  From  this  journey  arose  S. 
Kentigern's  Churches  at  Alloa  and  Auchterarder. 
From  Perthshire  he  held  northwards  into  the  up- 
landsof  Aberdeenshire  where  hecouldjoinhands 
with  the  workers  from  S.  Drostan's  foundations 
at  Deer,  and  with  S.  Moluag's  fellow-workers 
from  Bangor.  His  surviving  foundations  in  this 
district  are  the  old  Church  of  Glengairn,  and 

*  V.S.K.  cap.  xxxiv.  sec.  3. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

the  'Annat'  or  'Andat,'  that  is,  Mother-Church, 
of  Kynor  near  Huntly.  Among  the  native  titles 
of  S.  Kentigern  (Mungo)  few  are  older  than 
'Apostol  Kynoir,'  Apostle  of  Kynor.  S.  Kenti- 
gern's  master,  the  historical  Servanus,  had  been 
at  work  in  this  district  many  years  before,  and 
S. '  Ser's'  foundation  at  Culsalmond  is  about  eight 
miles  from  Kynor.  S.  Kentigern's  zeal  is  com- 
memorated by  the  local  proverb,  expressed  in 
nativeCeltic  until  thebeginningofthe  nineteenth 
century,  'Like  S.  Mungo's  work,  never  done.' 
S.  Nidan,  'grandson  of  Pasgen,  son  of  Urien 
Rheged,'  the  cousin  of  S.  Kentigern,  was  a  mem- 
ber of  this  mission  and  founded  the  old  Churches 
of '  Invernochty'  and  Midmar.  Among  the  part- 
ners of  the  Brito-Pictish  activities  in  this  district, 
besides  S.  Nidan,  are  S.  Finan*  of  Llan-Finan 
(Lumphanan),  S.  Brite  of  Llan-Brit6  (Lhan- 
bryde),  S.  Walloc  of  Dunmeth  in  Glass  and  of 
Logie-Mar,  S.  Fumoc  of  Botriphnie  and  Din- 
net,!  ^-  Monire  of  Crathie  and  Balveny,  and  S. 
Fiacroc  J  of  Nigg,  Aberdeen.  S.  Monire  was  ap- 
parently one  of  S.  Drostan's  successors  at  Deer, 
and  had  a  foundation  in  that  district  near  Aber- 
dour.  If  wedivest  Joceline's  account  of  this  third 

*  S.  Nidan's  day  is  30th  Sept.  SS.  Nidan  and  Finan  appear  to  have 
been  members  of  S.  Kentigern'sff2«z'»«?«>at  Llan-Elwy  because  in  Angle- 
sey the  old  foundations  of  Llan-Nidan  and  Llan-Finan  are  also  together. 

t  Not  Dunnet  in  Caithness  but  Dinnet  in  Mar.  Various  writers  have 
substituted  the  former  place. 

I  Now  corrupted  locally  into  'Fittoc,'  but  the  old  spelling  is  given  in 
one  of  the  Arbroath  Abbey  Charters. 

252 


BANGOR  &>  GLASGOW 

mission  from  Glasgow  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
colouring  which  he  gave  to  it;  and  of  his  at- 
tempt to  convey  that  S.  Kentigern  was  apioneer- 
missionary  in  the  north-east  of  Pictland;  we  get 
the  following  particulars  which  doubtless  re- 
present his  Celtic  source:  'There  S,  Kentigern 
erected  many  Churches*  ,  .  .  and  consecrated 
many  of  his  disciples  bishops.  He  also  founded 
many  monasteries  in  these  parts,  and  placed 
over  them  as  fathers  the  disciples  whom  he  had 
instructed.'  This  is  a  description  of  Church  organ- 
ization quite  unlike  the  organization  with  which 
Joceline  was  acquainted;  and  it  is  also  a  generally 
accurate  description  of  how  the  Celtic  Church 
was  organized.  The  multiplied  muinntirs  under 
the  'father'  or  papa;  and  the  multiplied  bishops 
who  were  resident  or  missionary  members  of 
the  muinntirs  under  the  president,  who  might 
not  be  a  bishop,  were  unfamiliar  types  to  Joce- 
line's  Church.  Joceline  is  also  candid  enough  to 
let  us  see  that  the  natives  of  Mar  and  the  Gari- 
och  had  previously  some  acquaintance  with  re- 
ligion; because  in  his  zeal  to  depict  S.  Kentigern 
as  a  Roman  bishop,  he  not  only  credits  him 
with  reclaiming  the  natives  to  the  customs  of  the 
Roman  Church  and  the  observance  of  the  Roman 
canons;!  ^^^  ^'^°  "^Ixh.  reclaiming  them  from 

*  Joceline  states  that  the  saint  ^dedicated'  the  Churches  when  erected; 
but  at  this  period  the  Celts  did  not  dedicate  to  saints,  the  Churches  were 
named  after  the  actual  founders. 

t  V.S.K.  cap.  xxxiv.  sec.  3. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

'profane  rites  almost  equal  to  idolatry.'  Joceline 
in  his  Celtic  source  doubtless  found  indications 
of  rites  that  were  strange  to  his  Roman  Catholic 
mind;  that  they  were  profane  is  most  unlikely; 
that  they  were  cured  through  the  teaching  of 
Roman  Catholic  customs  and  canons  by  S.  Kenti- 
gern  is  pure  invention;  because  S.  Kentigern 
was  innocent  of  the  knowledge  of  these.  The 
true  S.  Kentigern  would  have  been  as  great  a 
heretic  to  Joceline's  fellow-Churchmen'  as  S. 
Dunod  was  to  S.  Augustine  of  Canterbury. 

S.  Kentigern's  fourth  mission  from  Glasgow 
was  not  conducted  by  himself  in  person.  He  had 
become  'silicernus'  and  unfit  for  the  hardships  of 
younger  days.  'Therefore  he  sent  forth  those  of 
his  own,  whom  he  knew  to  be  strong  in  faith  and 
fervent  in  love  to  the  islands  that  are  afar,  to- 
wards the  Orkneys,  Norway,  and  Iceland.'*  This 
is  one  of  the  most  interesting  passages  in  Joce- 
line's biography.  Along  with  what  is  known  of 
the  work  of  S.  Ninian  and  S.  Ailbhe  it  indicates 
that  Glasgow  contributed  its  men  to  the  pro- 
cession of  daring  missionaries  who  went  forth 
from  the  muinntirs  of  the  Britons  or  Picts  to  the 
most  distant  northern  islands.  When  M.  Let- 
ronne  made  known  the  contents  of  the  De  Men- 
sura  Orbis  Terrae,\  it  was  found  that  Dicuil  the 
Celtic  geographer  had  conversed  with  monastic 

*  V.S.K.  cap.  xxxiv,  sec.  4. 
t  De  Mensura  (Ed.  Letronne),  p.  39. 


BANGOR  ^  GLASGOW 

clerics  of  the  Celtic  Church  who  had  sojourned 
in  Iceland  before  the  end  of  the  eighth  century. 
In  the  Landnamabdk*  of  Iceland  it  is  stated  that 
when  the  Norsemen  arrived  on  that  island  in  the 
ninth  century,  they  found  bells,  books,  and  pas- 
toral staves  such  as  the  Celtic  clerics  used.  The 
clergy  who  used  these  relics  bore  the  name  'pd- 
pa'\]  and  their  island  homes  in  Iceland  and  the 
Hebrides  bear  this  old  ecclesiastical  title  in  their 
names  to  the  present  day.  Pcipa  is  Joceline's 
'father,'  the  ' praepositus'  of  a  Celtic  muinntir  or 
family.  Even  at  coast  settlements  in  Norway,  to 
vindicate  Joceline,  relics  of  the  Celtic  clergy 
have  been  recovered.  The  title /^a  fell  out  of 
use  in  Britain.  Its  use  had  been  confined  to  the 
Churches  of  the  Britons  and  Picts  as  being  P- 
using  Celts.  No  Gaidheal  could  have  pronounced 
the  name.  It  occurs  once  in  surviving  literature 
in  an  early  Epistle  wrongly  attributed  to  Cumine, 
and  is  there  used  of  a  cleric  of  the  Britons. 
The  modern  historian  is  grateful  to  Joceline  that 
in  spite  of  his  motives  and  prejudices  he  pre- 
served so  much  in  S.  Kentigern's  biography 
from  the  original  Celtic  Life;  and  that  he  has 
been  supported  from  most  unexpected  quarters. 
Besides  the  accounts  of  S.  Kentigern's  mis- 
sions, Joceline  has  preserved  the  account  of  S. 
Columba's  visit  J  to  the  saint  on  the  Molendinar 

*  Antiqq.  Celt-Scand.  (Johnstone),  p.  14, 

f  This  name  has  been  fully  dealt  with  on  p.  23. 

X  V.S.K.  capp.  xxxix.  xl. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

at  Glasgow.  Some  writers  have  treated  this  as 
one  of  Joceline's  inventions;  but  Joceline  did  not 
invent  anything  that  exalted  the  Celtic  Church. 
Moreover,  Joceline  had  before  him  the  old  Celtic 
Life  of  S.  Kentigern  in  which  such  an  incident 
would  certainly  appear.  Two  internal  evidences 
of  truth  are  in  the  narrative,  namely,  the  appear- 
ance to  meet  S.  Columba  of  the  great  companies 
who  took  their  turns  in  chanting  the  'perpetual 
praise' — one  of  the  features  of  the  monasteries 
of  the  Britons  at  this  time,  and  the  exchange  of 
bachalls  or  pastoral  staves  when  the  saints  parted. 
Both  these  ceremonials  were  foreign  to  Joce- 
line's experience,  although  practised  by  the  Celts. 
The  exchange  oi  bachalls  was  no  sentimental  act 
but  signified  the  ratification  of  some  agreement. 
Joceline  describes  these  incidents  in  a  way  which 
shows  that  he  could  not  explain  them.  He  did  not 
know  that  no  Celtic  Ab  or  bishop  ever  parted  with 
his  bachall,  except  to  a  person  to  whom  he  had 
delegated  his  authority  to  carry  out  some  parti- 
cular act,  or  as  a  pledge  of  his  authority  to  some 
agreement.  Then,  also,  after  one  of  king  Aedhan's 
successful  eastward  thrusts,  S.Columbahad come 
and  had  organized  a  congregation  in  a  district 
that  had  been  christianized  long  before,  at  Dry- 
men  in  Lennox,  the  only  foundation  of  S.  Col- 
umba east  of  Drum-Alban  in  the  region  of  the 
Britons.  Having  travelled  as  far  as  Drymen, 
there  was  no  reason  why  he  should  not  continue 
256 


BANGOR  &>  GLASGOW 

on  to  Glasgow,  especially  as  he  was  following 
his  Scots  or  Gaidheals  into  territory  that  had 
always  belonged  either  to  the  Britons  or  Picts. 
But  apart  from  the  possibilities,  there  were  high 
necessities  of  State  for  such  an  interviewbetween 
the  saints,  and  there  are  actual  indications  else- 
where of  negotiations  between  the  leaders  of  the 
Britons  and  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots.  Aedhan,the 
king  of  Dalriada,  had  been  obnoxious  to  Rhyd- 
derch,the  sovereign  of  the  Britons,  before  S.Col- 
umba  set  him  on  the  throne.  He  had  not  been  long 
enthroned  until  he  began  to  lead  raids  into  the 
territory  of  the  Britons,  and  into  Pictland  along 
the  British  border,  not  always  with  happy  results 
to  himself  These  expeditions  into  the  realm  of 
Rhydderch — who  was  regarded  as  the  Protector 
of  the  Christians — by  the  nominee  of  S.  Columba 
were  evidently  not  considered  becoming,  because 
Rhydderch  secured  as  an  ambassador  one  of  S. 
Columba's  intimate  friends  called  Lugbe  Mocu- 
min,*  and  sent  him,  not  to  Aedhan,  whom  he  and 
the  Britons  hated  for  his 'falseness,'  but  to  S.  Col- 
umba himself  Lugbe  was  commissioned  to  get 
an  explanation  of  Aedhan's  hostile  attitude,  and, 
if  possible,  guarantees  for  his  future  conduct.  He 
was  able  to  extract  this  declaration  from  S.  Col- 
umba concerning  Rhydderch,  '  Never  will  he  be 
given  into  the  hands  of  his  foes;  but  he  will  die 
within  his  own  house  upon  a  bed  of  down.'  As 

*  Adamnan's  version  of  this  embassy  is  given  V.S.C.  lib.  i.  cap.  xv. 

s  257 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Rhydderch,owingto  his  nation's  hatred  of  Aedh- 
an,  would  never  have  consented  to  treat  with  a 
man  whose  word  few  Britons  trusted,  it  was 
manifestly-necessary,  negotiations  having  already- 
been  opened  up  with  S.  Columba,  that  the  lead- 
ing clerics  of  the  two  peoples  should  meet  to 
allay  the  mutual  hostility,  and  to  arrange  that  the 
ministers  of  religion  belonging  to  lona  and  Glas- 
gow should  not  aggravate  it  by  operating  out- 
side their  respective  kingdoms.  The  Church  of 
the  Britons  had  as  much  interest  as  Rhydderch 
in  keeping  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  within  their 
own  frontiers,  in  view  of  the  tradition  that  the 
Scots  had  martyred  S.  Kessoc,  the  Irish  Pict, 
who  worked  in  Lennox,  and  had  also  martyred 
S.  Constantine,  a  Briton. 

S.  Cainnech,  or  Kenneth,  Ab  of  Achadh- 
Bo,*  sometimes  called  the  'Apostle  of  Fife,'  en- 
tered Pictland  of  Alba  after  the  end  of  the  year 
A.D.  562  at  the  head  of  his  own  muinntir.  Along 
with  S.Comgall  the  Great  he  interviewed  Brude, 
the  sovereign  of  Pictland.  He  is  carelessly  repre- 
sented as  a  Gaidheal  or  Scot  by  certain  writers, 
but  he  was,  in  fact,  one  of  the  leading  Pictish  eccle- 
siastics of  his  time.  He  was  born  in  the  territory 
of  the  Irish  Picts,  near  the  border  fort  of  Dun- 
Gimhen,  a.d.  516.  He  was  educated  under  a 
British-trained  teacher,  S.  Finian  the  Wise,  at 

*  Near  the  head- waters  of  the  Nore  in  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Ossory 
in  Ireland,  the  hinterland  of  the  Manapian  Picts, 

258 


BANGOR  &>  GLASGOW 

Clonard,  and  afterwards  at  S.  Mobhi's  College 
at  Glasnevin.  After  S.  Mobhi's  community  had 
been  broken  up  by  the  'Yellow  Plague,'  in  a.d. 
544,  he  'went  to  Doac  among  the  Britons,'  that  is, 
to  the  community  and  school  founded  at  Llancar- 
van  in  Glamorganshire  by  Cattwg  Doeth,  better 
known  as  S.  Cadoc,  whose  College  came  to  be 
called  'Bangor  Catog.'  After  S. Cainnech's  return 
to  Ireland  he  organized  a  community  in  the  terri- 
tory of  the  Irish  Picts  at  Drumachose,  in  his 
native  district  of  Kiannaght  in  Ulster,  about  eigh- 
teen miles  east  from  the'  Black  Church' of  Derry, 
where  in  Gaidhealic  or  Scotic  territory  S.  Col- 
umba  ministered  to  the  clansmen  of  Aedh,  the 
Gaidhealic  chief.  Towards  the  end  of  a.d.  562  he 
left  his  muinntir  dX  Drumachose  under  a  deputy, 
and  went  to  Pictland  of  Alba.  For  a  time  he 
laboured  among  the  Western  (Bede's  Northern) 
Picts.  He  was  present  at  Tiree  with  the  Pictish 
ecclesiastical  group  of  which  the  leading  mem- 
bers were  S.  Comgall  the  Great,  S.  Moluag,  and 
Findchan.  One  of  his  Church-foundations  is  in 
Tiree.  According  to  one  Life  he  visited  'Eninis 
or  'Avium  Insula,'  now  'Eun  Innis'  near  the 
entrance  to  Loch  Buie  in  Mull.  He  had  a  com- 
munity on  Inch-Kenneth  in  the  mouth  of  Loch- 
na-Cille  Mull— 

'Voce  ubi  Cennethus  populos  domuisse  feroces, 
dicitur.' 
The    ancient    Church -site  near  the  parish 

259 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Church  of  Coll  is  Cill  Chainnech.  1 1  is  stated  also 
that  he  had  foundations  in  Islay,  and  at  Kilchen- 
zie  in  Cantyre. 

After  he  had  organized  his  work  in  the  west  of 
Pictland,  S.  Cainnech  crossed  to  Fife.  In  the 
Franciscan  Manuscript  of  the  Latin  Life,  it  is  re- 
corded that  S.  Cainnech  worked  at  a  place  which 
is  given  as  'Ibdone.'  This  is  a  Latin  scribe's 
attempt  to  reproduce  from  the  old  Celtic  Life  a 
Celtic  genitive  or  locative,  of  which  the  parts  are 
'ib  {Fkib),  that  is,  'Fib'  or  Fife,  and  Diin,  that  is, 
Dun,  a  fortified  height.  This  eminence  is  like- 
wise referred  to  as  'monadh.'*  The  locality  of 
this  Dun  or  Monadh  is  put  beyond  doubt  by  the 
ancient  entry  in  the  Feilire  of  Aengus  at  the  1 1  th 
October  with  respect  to  S.  Cainnech,  'Cainnech 
mac  h-Ui  Daland;  Achadh-Bo  a  prim  Chell,  ocus 
ata  Redes  do  k-i  Cill  Rig-Monaidh  i  nAlbain.' 
The  last  words  are  altered  by  Tighernac  into 
'Cind  righ  Monaidh,'  which  is,  The  head  of  the 
hill-slope;  the  former  is  The  Church  of  the  king's 
Mount.  The  whole  entry  reads,  'Cainnech,  son 
of  the  family  of  Dalann;  his  chief  Church  is  at 
Achadh-Bo,  and  he  has  a  Regies  at  Cill  Rig-Mo- 
naidh,'or  according  toTighe.rn3.c' Cind  Righ  Mo- 
naidh,' which  is  now  St.  Andrews  in  Fife.  It  is 
possible  that  after  S.  Cainnech's  time,  ecclesi- 
astics, influenced  by  the  locality  of  his  Church  at 
the  king's  castle,  turned  Cind  Righ  Monaidh  into 

*  F.i'.A^cap.  XX.  p.  148. 
260 


BANGOR  &>  GLASGOW 

cm Rig-Monaidh,-axidi  as'Kilrymont'  the  ancient 
name  of  St.  Andrews  continues.  S.  Cainnech's 
Church  is  here  called  "^ Redes'  A  Regies  was  a 
Church  with  a  muinntir  or  community  of  clerics 
whose  Ab  directed  and  supplied  its  daughter- 
Churches.  Itwas  the  seat  of  the  Ab,  and  he  ruled 
there  personally  or  through  a  deputy  nominated 
by  himself  In  the  Kalendar  of  Gorman  S.  Cain- 
nech  is  called  'Ardabb,'  sovereign  Ab,  which  ap- 
pears to  have  been  fixed  upon  by  certain  writers 
to  vindicate  the  pretended  ancient  supremacy  of 
the  See  of  St.  Andrews;  but  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  S.  Cainnech  helps  little  with  these 
claims,  because  he  was  not  a  bishop  but  only  a 
presbyter-Ab.  The  early  Roman  Catholic  pre- 
lates felt  that  the  name  of  S.  Cainnech  was  of  so 
little  use  to  their  claims  and  pretensions thattheir 
fabulists  invented  the  daring  'Legend  of  S.  An- 
drew,'m'wh.ich.  either  the  Celt,  Riaghuil,who  was 
associated  with  S.  Cainnech  at  Muc  Innis  and  at 
'Cill-Rule,'*  St.  Andrews,  or  Riaghuil,  a  titular 
Ab  of  Bangor,  who  was  an  exile  in  Pictland  c.a.d. 
685,  was  tricked  out  as  'S.  Rule'  and  latinized 
as  'S.  Regulus.'  This  S.  'Rule'  or  'Regulus'  is 
placed  by  the  fabulists  at  Patras  in  Greece,  where 
the  Legend  represents  that  S.  Andrew  had  been 
buried.  Moved  bya revelation,he  rescued  partof 
the  relics  of  S.  Andrew,  and,  as  the  result  of  an 

*  In  Celtic  '  riagul '  means  rule,  Latin,  regula,  hence  '  Regulus,'  the 
name  of  the  hero  in  the  '  Legend  of  S.  Andrew. ' 

261 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

angelic  command,  set  out  with  them  to  Pictland, 
where  a  certain  king  of  the  Picts  with  all  hi's 
nobles  received  and  venerated  the  relics,  taking 
them  to  Kilrymont,  where  he  dedicated  a  great 
part  of  the  place  to  God  and  S.  Andrew.   In  one 
of  the  versions  of  the  Legend  li  is  stated  that  the 
king  gave  Kilrymont  'to  God  and  S.  Andrew' 
that  it  might  be  the  'head  and  mother  of  all  the 
Churches  in  the  Pictish  Kingdom.'  The.  Legend 
not  only  obscures  the  historical  S.  Riaghuil  or 
Rule,  but  ignores  S.  Cainnech,  S.  Servanus  and 
S.  Ninian,  and  many  who  had  been  associated 
with  them.  The  first  purpose  of  the  Legend  ^2lS 
to  support  the  early  Roman  Catholic  claims  for 
the  primacyof  theSee  of  St.  Andrews  in  Pictland. 
It,  however,  was  used  in  latertimes  by  the  Roman 
Catholic  Scots.jealous  of  their  national  andeccle- 
siastical  independence,  as  a  menace  to  the  Pope, 
and  as  an  answer  to  the  pretensions  of  the  English 
Archbishops.  A  people  who  could  write  to  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  asfoUowswere  not  going  to  take 
any  second ^\2iC&.  'Jesus  Christ  brought  the  na- 
tion of  the  Scots,  settled  in  the  confines  of  the 
world,  almostyfrj^  to  His  most  holy  Faith.  Itwas 
His  desire  to  confirm  them  in  the  Faith  by  no 
other  than  His  first  apostle,  Andrew;  and  him  the 
nation  desires  to  be  always  over  the  people  as 
their  protector.'*   Perhaps  nowhere  else  in  his- 
tory have  Roman  Catholic  fables  been  used  so 

*  Skene's  Chronicles  of  the  Picts  and  Scots,  p.  292. 
262 


BANGOR  &>  GLASGOW 

audaciously  to  humble  the  claims  of  their  own 
Bishop  of  Rome.  The  Scots  barons,  who  wrote 
thus  to  the  Pope,  were  all  the  time  unaware  that 
the  hero  oi  the  Leg-end  onwhich.  they  founded  was 
the  historical  S.  Riaghuil  or  Rule,  a  Pict. 

Except  for  the  'temple  of  blessed  Kenneth,' 
which  stood  near  'Maiden  Castle 'in  Fife,  and  the 
memory  of  Ct/l  Riaghuil  or  'Cill-Rule'  at  St. 
Andrews,  the  foundations  laid  by  S.  Cainnech 
and  the  workers  from  his  Regies  or  mother- 
Church  at  St.  Andrews  have  been  largely  oblit- 
erated throughout  Fife  by  dedications  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  period.  While  S.  Cainnech 
laboured  in  Fife,  Gartnaidh  mac  Domneth,  a 
Christian,  who  afterwards  became  sovereign  of 
Pictland,  was  the  local  king.  One  of  his  seats 
was  at  Abernethy-on-Tay,  where  S.  Cainnech 
and  his  workers  would  take  their  part  in  supply- 
ing the  ministry  of  the  royal  Church.  The  Church 
of  Abernethy  and  S.  Cainnech's  Church  at  Ach- 
adh-Bo  were  both  noted  for  their  ancient '  Round 
Towers.' 

S.  Cainnech,  in  a  dream  duringhis  earlier  days 
in  Britain,  had  been  warned  that  in  Ireland  would 
be  'the  place  of  his  resurrection.'  Consequently 
he  returned  to  his  native  land  a.d.  578  to  make 
his  headquarters  at  Achadh-Bo  in  the  modern 
Queen's  County.  H  ere  he  organized  a  community 
of  which  some  particulars  are  given  in  his  Life, 
which  indicate  that  its  members  were  trained  to 

263 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

go  out,  as  from  Bangor,  to  supply  and  help  the 
earlier  communities  which  he  had  organized.  He 
died  on  the  i  ith  day  of  October  a.d.  600,  in  the 
eighty-fourth  year  of  his  age.  The  work  which  he 
organized  in  Fife,  on  ground  that  had  already 
been  prepared  by  the  historical  S.  Servanus  and 
others,  continued  to  grow  until  in  the  course  of 
time  his  Regies  at  St.  Andrews  became  not  only 
the  mother-Church  of  Fife,  but  the  central  Church 
of  a  large  part  of  the  Pictish  realm.  This  shifting 
of  the  chief  religious  centre  of  the  Picts  from  the 
territory  of  the  Britons  was  due  partly  to  the 
gradual  absorption  oiCandida  Ca.yaby  the  Angles, 
and  partly  to  the  political  dominance  exercised 
by  the  Picts  of  Fife  and  their  chiefs  who,  from  the 
time  of  Gartnaidh  mac  Domneth,  continued  to 
give  active  support  to  the  Christian  Church.  S. 
Cainnech's  Regies  and  its  Community  were  still 
maintained  in  a.d.  747,  because  at  that  year  the 
Annals  of  Ulster  x&cor 6.  the  death  of  'Tuatalan' 
the  Ab. 

Contemporaneously  with  the  coming  to  Pict- 
land  of  Alba  of  SS.  Comgall,  Cainnech,  and  Mol- 
uag  an  innocent-looking  event  took  place  which 
was  destined  in  later  centuries  to  affect  the  de- 
velopment and  character  of  the  whole  Church  of 
the  Picts.  This  was  the  settlement  at  I  (lona) 
among  the  Western  ( Bede's  Northern)  Picts  of  S, 
CoLUMBA,  CoLUMCiLLE,  a  Gaidheal  or  Scot,  with 
a  mumnlir  oi  twelve  clerics.  When,  at  the  Inver- 
264 


BANGOR  &>  GLASGOW 

ness  interview,  Brude  MacMaelchon,the  Pictish 
sovereign,  in  the  presence  of  the  Pictish  ecclesi- 
astics, SS.  Comgall  and  Cainnech,  conceded  a 
settlement  on  I(Iona)to  S.Columba,the  avowed 
purpose  of  the  latter  was  tominister  to  his  fellow- 
Gaidheals  or  Scots,  who  as  colonists  had  pene- 
trated Cantyre  and  some  of  the  southern  islands 
under  their  own  chiefs.  But  no  sooner  had  S. 
Columba  ordained  Aedhan  to  be  the  king  of 
these  colonists  than  it  became  apparent  that  the 
designs  of  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  were  to  pene- 
trate and  occupythe  whole  of  what  is  now  Argyll, 
from  the  Atlantic  to  Drum-Alban  on  the  east,  and 
such  other  parts  of  Pictland  towards  the  north  as 
they  could  secure.  From  the  days,  in  a.d.  560, 
when  Brude  Mac  Maelchon  and  the  Pictish  Army 
slew  Gabhran,  the  king  of  Dalriada,  and  drove 
his  Gaidheals  or  Scots  out  of  Argyll,  except  a  rem- 
nant that  was  allowed  to  survive  in  Cantyre,  the 
hostility  between  Pict  and  Scot  became  a  chronic 
trouble  in  the  western  part  of  north  Britain.  As 
Gaidhealic  or  Scotic  aggression  increased,  the 
enmity  between  the  two  peoples  became  deeper 
rooted.  The  Gaidheals  or  Scots  were  striving 
for  elbow-room,  and  seeking  to  maintain  it;  the 
Picts  were  striving  to  preserve  their  wives  and 
children,  their  homes,  and  their  native  land.  As 
the  political  relations  of  the  two  peoples  wid- 
ened, their  Churches  and  Clergy  drifted  further 
and  ever  further  apart.  The  extent  of  the  breach 

265 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

can  be  seen  in  S.  Columba  successfully  instigat- 
inghis  fellow-clansmen  in  I  reland  to  take  up  arms, 
and  to  fight  the  Irish  Picts  for  the  possession  of 
S.  Comgall's  Church  at  Ros-Torathair.  It  can  be 
seen  again  in  the  haughty  contempt  with  which 
Adamnan,  S.  Columba's  eighth  successor,  refers 
to  the  Pictish  people.  No  reader  would  ever 
think  that  he  was  referring  to  a  nation  which  had 
been  politically  organized  and  also  widely  Chris- 
tianized before  his  own  people.  The  Gaidheals 
or  Scots  are  to  him  as  they  had  been  to  S. 
Columba,  God's  elect  people.  The  Picts,  on  the 
other  hand,  are  to  him  'barbarians,'  or  taking  his 
language  from  the  Scriptures,  'Gentiles.'  The 
hostility  of  the  two  peoples  began  definitely  with 
Brude  Mac  Maelchon's  'drive'  and  the  death  of 
the  Scotic  king  in  a.d.  560.  The  communion 
between  the  Churches  received  a  shock  when, 
in  A.D.  565,  S.  Columba  denounced  Findchan 
and  the  Pictish  ecclesiastics  at  Tiree  over  Aedh 
Dubh,  king  of  Uladh;  and  it  was  utterly  broken 
off  before  a.d.  582  and  590,  when  Aedhan,  king 
of  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots,  raided  Pictland  and 
fought  the  battles  of  'Manann'  and  'Leith- 
reid,'  on  the  occasion  of  which  S.  Columba  and 
the  Community  of  lona  prayed  for  victory  to 
Aedhan,  which  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
very  complete.  As  the  Church  of  S.  Columba 
and  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  grew,  it  developed 
apart  from  the  Church  of  Pictland,  and  along  the 
266 


BANGOR  &>  GLASGOW 

lines  of  the  political  interests  of  the  Gaidheals 
or  Scots.  The  history  of  its  growth,  the  story  of 
its  famous  mission  to  the  Angles,  and  notices  of 
its  numerous,  forceful  but  fascinating  ecclesias- 
tics do  not  fall  within  the  scope  of  this  work, 
except  in  so  far  as  they  have  affected  the  Pictish 
Church. 

While  Bangor,  Glasgow,  and  the  Regies  at  St. 
Andrews,  with  Achadh-Bo  behind  it,  had  been 
providing  an  organized  ministry  to  Pictland  dur- 
ing the  last  forty  years  of  the  sixth  century,  Can- 
dida Casa,  in  spite  of  nearer  demands,  had  not 
been  negligent.  The  lastof  thebig  missions  asso- 
ciated with  this  ancient  Community  of  S.  Ninian, 
while  it  still  remained  part  of  the  Celtic  Church, 
left  its  gates,  c.  a.d.  580,  under  'Donnan  Mor,' 
S.  DoNNAN  THE  Great,  an  Irish  Pict.  The  story 
of  the  life  and  sufferings  of  S.  Donnan,  which 
were  known  to  the  early  scholiasts  on  the  ancient 
Irish  Kalendars,  has  been  lost;  but  various  ex- 
tracts indicate  the  range  of  his  work,  and  many 
of  his  Church-foundations  survive  to  speak  for 
themselves.  His  itinerary  is  clearly  traced  by 
these  foundations  stretching  from  the  doors  of 
Candida  Casa  to  Caithness,  and  then  across  Pict- 
land to  the  island  of  Eigg,  where  he  and  his  fol- 
lowers were  martyred.  It  is  of  some  importance 
to  note  that  the  first  and  intermediate  Churches 
which  he  founded  on  his  journey,  except  where 
he  turned  aside  to  visit  lona,  are  all  near  to 

267 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Churches  originally  founded  by  S.  Ninian,  a  de- 
cided indication  in  itself  of  his  interest  in  the 
charges  of  Candida  Casa.  His  foundations  are 
Cill-Donnan  in  Kirkmaiden(now  part  of  a  farm), 
Cill-Donnan,two  miles  west  of  Kirkcolm,  both  in 
the  same  district  as  Church-foundations  of  S.  N  in- 
ian,  and  in  the  same  county  as  Candida  Casa;  Cill- 
Donnan  in  Colmonell,  and  another  Cill-Donnan 
in  Carrick,  both  near  to  foundations  of  S.  Nin- 
ian; Cill-Donnan  in  Arran,  and  Cill-Donnan  in 
Cantyre;  Cill-Donnan  on  the  Inverness-shire 
Garry,  not  far  away  from  Tempul  Ninian  on  Loch 
Ness;  Cill-Donnan  in  Sutherland,  in  the  same 
parish  as  S.  Ninian's  Church,  Navidale.  This  is 
the  place  described  by  the  scholiast  as  'Alda- 
fain  Cattaibh  in  boreali  Albania.'*  The  name 
has  been  blundered  by  some  other  copyist  tran- 
scribing from  a  Celtic  document.  'Aldafain'  is 
simply //«'«%  afon,\  Ilidh  river,  that  is,  the  Helms- 
dale, formerly  the  Ilidh;  and  Cattaibh  is  the  old 
name  of  Caithness,  of  which  Sutherland  is  the 
southern  part.  The  original  Celtic  description 
probably  ran  like  this:  'Cill  Donnan  on  the  river 
Ilidh,  in  the  territory  of  the  Catti  in  the  north  of 
Alba.'   Where  the  Alt-Donnain  joins  the  Ilidh, 

*  This  is  the  transcript  made  from  a  MS.  by  Thomas  O'Sheerin 
of  Louvain  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  ftirnished  to  Henschenius. 
'  Aldafain, '  itself  corrupt,  has  been  found  even  more  corrupt.  Dr.  Whitley 
Stokes  selected  the  reading  'Alsasain'  from  one  copyist,  and,  consider- 
ing the  context,  gave  it  the  extraordinary  interpretation,  'Old  Saxons.' 

t  This,  be  it  noted,  is  the  Britonic  form,  pointing  to  a  manuscript  of 
Britonic  origin. 

268 


BANGOR  &'  GLASGOW 

stand  S.  Donnan's  Church  and  Churchyard. 
About  a  mile  away,  on  land  where  are  abundant 
hut  circles  and  burial-cairns,  marking  Pictish  vil- 
lages, is  the  locality  called  'the  College,'  where 
his  muinntir  settled;  and,  in  the  background,  the 
mountain  which  in  its  name  preserves  the  nation- 
ality of  some  of  the  ancient  Clerics,  'Cnoc-an- 
Erinach,'  Hill  of  the  Irishman.  In  Kildonnan 
parish  is  also  S.  Donnan's  sanctuary  marked  off 
by  Girth -crosses,  and  the  Cathair  Donnan  or 
Suidhe  Donnan.  The  old  stagnwn  by  the  Church 
is  called  'Loch-an-Ab,'  although  now  quite  dry. 

S.  Donnan's  Church  at  Auchterless  was  prob- 
ably founded  by  a  voyage  across  the  Moray  Firth 
from  H  elmsdale,  1 1  is  near  an  'Annat '  or  mother- 
Church,  founded  by  S.  Ninian. 

S.  Donnan's  foundations  among  the  Western 
(Bede'sNorthern)PictsareatCill-Donnan,Little 
Loch  Broom;  at  Eilan  Donnan,  Kintail;  Cill- 
Donnanat  Lyndale.Skye;  Cill- Donnan  on  Little 
Bernera  (Uig),  Lewis ;  Cill-Donnan  in  South 
Uist;  and  Cill-Donnan  in  Eigg,  where  he  and 
his  mmnnitr  perished.  Many  ancient  foundations 
from  Caithness  to  Aberdeenshire,  and  from  the 
North  Sea  to  the  Atlantic,  bear  the  names  of  his 
known  disciples;  and  one  of  his  disciples,  Tarlog, 
founded  a  Church  and  laboured  in  Ross  close  to 
the  Celtic  Abbey  of  S.  Ninian  at  Edderton, 
where  S.  Finbar,  another  pupil  of  Candida  Casa, 
had  also  laboured. 

269 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

An  interesting  effort  of  S.  Donnan  on  his 
northward  journey  was  his  attempt  to  renew 
communion  between  the  Pictish  Church  and  S. 
Columba,  as  representing  the  Church  of  the 
Gaidheals  or  Scots.  One  district  of  Pictland  had 
been  left  practically  uninfluenced  by  the  many 
missions  that  had  entered  Pictland  under  Brito- 
Pictish  leaders,  namely,  the  district  on  the  north- 
west between  Cape  Wrath  and  Loch  Moidart. 
It  is  evident  from  what  afterwards  happened  to 
S.  Donnan  that  he  had  contemplated  organizing 
a  muinntir  there,  to  minister  to  the  Picts  of  that 
long  stretch.  Such  a  design  would,  of  course, 
have  been  obnoxious  to  the  political  designs  of 
the  Gaidheals  or  Scots,  owing  to  their  ambition 
to  extend  their  power  and  influence  northward 
from  Argyll.  With  this  purpose  in  view,  S.  Don- 
nan went  to  S.  Columba  at  Zona  to  secure  his 
friendship  and  mutual  communion  between  his 
own  and  S.  Columba's  clerics.  S.  Columba's  re- 
cognition would  also  have  meant  protection  for 
himself  and  his  workers  against  Aedhan,  the  king 
of  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots.  When  the  Pictish  and 
Gaidhealic  Abs  met,  S.  Columba  refused  S.  Don- 
nan's  request,  indicating  that  there  was  to  be  no 
communion  between  the  Churches.  The  story 
of  the  interview  and  its  result  is  best  told  in  a 
translation  of  the  quaint  account  in  Celtic:*  'It 
is  this  Donnan  who  went  to  Columcille  to  get  him 

*  By  the  early  scholiast  in  the  Feilire  of  Aengus. 


BANGOR  &>  GLASGOW 

to  be  a  soul-friend  {"anmcharait").  Columcille 
replied  to  him,  "I  shall  not  be  soul-friend  to  folk 
destinedto  red-martyrdom";*  says  he,  "thou  shalt 
go  to  red-martyrdom,  thou  and  thy  muinntir  with 
thee";  and  so  it,  afterwards,  happened.'  Thus 
ended  one  of  the  earlier  attempts  to  renew  com- 
munion with  the  Church  of  the  Gaidheals  or 
Scots  after  S.  Columba's  denunciation  of  Find- 
chan,  his  quarrel  with  S.  Comgall,  and  the  de- 
clared hostility  of  Aedhan,  his  nominee,  against 
the  Pictish  sovereign  and  people. 

S.  Donnan  perished  with  fifty-twof  members 
of  his  muinntir,  in  the  refectory  adjoining  his 
Church  on  the  island  of  Eigg,  on  the  1 7th  day|  of 
April  A.D.  6i7,§  after  celebrating  the  sacrament 
of  the  Lord's  Supper.  The  Kalendar  of  Donegal 
calls  the  authors  of  the  massacre  'bergaigh,'  rob- 
bers. The  scholiast  in  the  Kalendar  of  Gorman 
calls  them  'pioraiti  nafairgi,'  pirates  of  the  ocean, 
which  would  indicate  the  early  Frisian  Vikings 
who  were  on  the  coasts  of  Scotland  long  before 
the  Scandinavian  Vikings.  The  later  scholiast  in 
the  Feilire  gives  this  account  of  the'.martyrdom: 
'  Donnan  then  went  with  his  muinntir  into  Gall- 
gaedelaib.^  And  (in  course  of  time)  they  settle 
where  the  chief-lady  of  the  district  was  wont  to 

*  There  was  'white  martyrdom'  among  the  Celts.   'Red  martyrdom' 
was  when  life  was  taken. 

f  The  original  Irish  authority  was  read  both  as  'lii'  and  as  'liv'. 

I  Feilire  of  Aengus.  §   Tighemac,  Annals  of  Ulster,  Reeves. 

II  ' Gallgaedelaib'  is  not  'Galloway,'  as  some  writers  translate  it,  nor 

271 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

keep  her  sheep.  This  was  told  to  the  lady.  "  Let 
them  all  be  killed."  "  Thatwould  be  impious,"  re- 
plied everyone.  But,  at  length,  men  come  to  slay 
them.  The  Cleric  was  now  at  the  "Oifrend"  (the 
celebration  of  the  Eucharist).  "  Let  us  have  re- 
spite till  the  Oifrend  is  ended,"  asked  Donnan. 
"It  will  be  granted,"  replied  they.  Afterwards, 
the  whole  company  were  martyred  together.' 
Tighernac  and  the  Annals  of  Ulster  designate 
the  tragedy  as  a  'combustio,'  which  would  indic- 
ate that  the  buildings  were  set  on  fire,  and  such 
clerics  as  came  forth,  slain  by  the  sword.  Up  to 
this  time  the  Pictish  Church  had,  so  far  as  is 
known,  only  one  martyr*  on  its  roll  of  honour. 

The  ancient  notes  concerning  S.  Donnan's 
Churches  are  historically  most  valuable.  Con- 
sidered along  with  the  particulars  of  S.  Moluag's 
mission  in  Western  Pictland,  they  reveal  that 
c.  A.D.  617  the  northern  Hebrides  and  the  north- 

the  'Hebrides,'  as  Reeves  translates  it.  It  was  a  name  applied  after  the 
Viking  invasions  to  several  districts  of  Ireland  and  Scotland,  where  there 
was  a  population  bred  from  a  mixture  of  the  Gall  and  the  Gaidheal.orfrom 
the  Gall  and  the  Picts  either  of  Erin  or  Alba.  The  Gall  in  this  instance 
were,  of  course,  the  Scandinavians.  '  Gallgaedelaib,'  as  here  used,  indicates 
Caithness,  which  is  still  currently  referred  to  by  Celts  as  Gallaibh  (the 
shortened  form)  which  displaced  Cattaibh,  the  Pictish  name  for  Caithness 
and  Sutherland.  'Gallgaedelaib'  is  a  misnomer  at  best.  It  shows  that 
the  scholiast  had  a  very  imperfect  idea,  not  uncommon  after  the  Viking 
invasions,  of  how  much  of  the  north  of  Scotland  the  Gaidheals  had  pene- 
trated ;  and  how  much  the  Vikings  had  occupied.  He  appears  also  to 
have  had  the  impression  that  Donnan  was  martyred  at  Cill-Donnan, 
Sutherland. 

■•  Namely  S.  Kessoc.    S.  Cadoc  and  S.  Constantine  belonged  really  to 
the  Church  of  the  Britons. 

272 


BANGOR  &>  GLASGOW 

west  of  the  mainland,  where  both  laboured,  con- 
tained a  population  in  which  the  Picts  predomin- 
ated. They  also  show  how  the  way  was  opened 
up  for  S.  Maelrubha  in  his  later  and  more  wide- 
spread operations  in  north-western  Pictland. 
They  help  to  vindicate  Nennius,  and  they  indic- 
ate that  'pirates  of  the  ocean'  raided  parts  of 
the  coast  of  Pictland  many  years  before  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  Scandinavian  Vikings,  They  ex- 
pose Joceline's  manoeuvres  in  the  interests  of 
the  Roman  See  of  Glasgow  by  showing  that  S. 
Donnan  was  engaged  in  Galloway,  in  the  active 
care  of  the  Churches  of  Candida  Casa,  at  the  very 
time  when  Joceline  wished  the  world  to  believe 
that  these  Churches  and  their  districts  had  fallen 
to  the  care  of  Glasgow.  Further  it  is  to  be  noted 
that  while  S.  Donnan  was  busily  employed  as  the 
deputy  of  Candida  Casa  in  extending  the  Church 
in  the  north-west  of  Pictland,  and  in  ministering 
to  congregations  at  earlier  foundations  of  Can- 
dida Casa  elsewhere  in  the  North;  S.  Dagan* 
bishop  and  Ab,  another  Irish  Pict,  who  had  been 
trained  at  S.  Comgall's  Bangor,  was  actually  the 
ruling  Cleric  and  President  of  Candida  Casa.  In 
passing,  the  presence  of  these  and  other  Irish 
Picts  occupying  leading  ecclesiastical  positions 
in  the  Galloway  of  this  period  suggests  how  this 
province  came  to  be  considered  Pictish.  Origin- 
ally it  had  been  part  of  Roman  Britain,  and,after- 

*  He  is  referred  to  in  Bede's  H.E.G.A.  lib.  ii.  cap.  iv. 

T  273 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

wards,  it  became  part  of  the  revived  kingdom  of 
the  Britons.  But  it  lay  opposite,  and  close  to  the 
territory  of  the  northern  Irish  Picts  whom  the 
Irish  Gaidheals  or  Scots  were  continually  press- 
ing into  the  sea.  It  is  certain  that  ecclesiastics 
like  SS.  Dagan  and  Donnan  were  not  the  only 
Irish  Picts  who  had  crossed  into  Galloway;  and 
it  is  hardly  likely  that  they  would  have  taken  the 
positions  there  which  they  did,  if  there  had  not 
been  a  considerable  Iro-Pictish  element  and  in- 
fluence among  the  original  Britonic  population. 
Even  in  Bede's  time,  when  Galloway  was  subject 
to  the  Angles  of  Bernicia,  the  leading  clergy  of 
the  new  Church  of  the  Roman  Mission  bear 
names  like  'Pechthelm'  and  'Pechtwine'  which 
indicate  Pictish  owners. 


S.  DAGAN  OF  CANDIDA 
CASA;  AND  THE  ATTEMPTS 
OF  THE  ROMAN  MISSION  TO 
ABSORB  THE  BRITO-PICTISH 
CHURCH    CHAPTER    ELEVEN 

The  Roman  missionaries  under  the  leadership 
of  Augustine,  who  entered  Kent  c.  a.d.  597,  had 
taken  the  invading  Teutons  as  their  particular 
charge.  Wherever  the  military  or  political  power 
of  Angle  or  Saxon  prevailed,  they  took  advant- 
age of  it  to  push  forward  the  ecclesiastical  or- 
ganization of  the  Roman  Church.  Across  the 
Saxon  or  Anglian  borders,  however,  they  always 
came  up  against  the  older  organization  of  the 
Church  of  the  Britons  which  had  ministered 
throughout  the  island  long  before  their  arrival. 
1 1  has  already  been  noted  that,  c.  a.d.  603 ,  August- 
ine aspired  to  impose  the  authority  and  or- 
ganization of  the  Roman  Church  upon  thisbranch 
of  the  Celtic  Church  among  the  Britons;  and,  to 
this  end,  secured  a  conference  with  the  British 
clergy  who  came  mostly  from  the  Bangor  of  S. 
Dunod.  It  has  also  been  noted  that  Augustine's 
aspirations  were  defeated  by  his  own  arrogance 
and  pretensions,  by  the  fact  that  the  clergy  of 
the  British  Church  were  fully  conscious  of  the 
authority  and  history  of  their  own  Church,  and 
regarded  the  Roman  clergy  as  innovators  and 
foreigners  whose  aggression  rested  on  the  secu- 

275 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

lar  power  commanded  by  the  national  foes  of  the 
Britons.  The  failure  of  the'Roman  clergy  on  this 
occasion  was  followed  by  threats  which  even  the 
pious  Bede  saw  fulfilled  in  the  ghastly  massacre 
of  the  brethren  of  S.  Dunod's  community  on  the 
eve  of  the  rout  of  Legacaester  (Chester)  a,d.  613, 
of  which  the  hero  was  Ethelfrid,  the  most  savage 
of  the  Teuton  invaders,  whom  Bede  admiring- 
ly but  most  unjustly  likened  to  Saul,  king  of 
Israel,  except  that  he  declared  him  ignorant  of 
'Divine  religion.'  About  a.d.  6o6,after  the  death 
of  Augustine,  and  when  Laurentius  occupied  his 
precarious  seat  at  Canterbury,  the  new  prelate 
and  two  other  members  of  the  Roman  Mission, 
Mellitus,  bishop  of  London,  and  Justus,  bishop 
of  Rochester,  made  a  second  attempt  to  brin^ 
the  Celtic  clergy.  Church,  and  people,  into  the 
Roman  fold.  Although  Augustine  at  the  time  of 
hisdeathhad  onlyan  insecure  hold  of  the  Kentish 
corner  of  the  Saxon  possessions  with  the  good- 
will of  Ethelbert,  one  of  the  Saxon  kings,  whose 
subjectswere  reallypagan;  hehad,if  the  compos- 
ite version  of  Bede  can  be  trusted,  with  the  recog- 
nition of  Rome,  arrogated  to  himself  the  title  of 
'Archbishop  of  Britain,'*  By  the  promulgation 
of  this  title  Rome  refused  consideration  to  the 
Church  of  the  Britons,  and  denied  it  the  respect 
due  to  the  daughter  of  the  ancient  Church  of  Gaul. 
Laurentius  directed  his  attempt  at  the  control 

*  Bede,  lib.  ii.  cap.  iii. 
276 


ROME  &>  CANDIDA  CAS  A 

of  the  Celtic  Church  through  S.  Dagan*  of  Can- 
dida Casa,  in  the  first  instance.  No  details  are 
given,  and  nothing  would  be  known  of  the  effort 
if  Bede  had  not  referred  to  it  in  the  preface  to  a 
letter  which  Laurentius  and  his  two  colleagues 
addressed  to  the  bishops  and  presbyters  of  the 
Celtic  Church  in  Ireland. f  They  also  addressed 
a  similar  letter  to  the  bishops  of  the  Church  of 
the  Britons  which,  as  Bede  indicates,  had  no 
effect.  The  letter  to  the  Irish  was  superscribed 
as  follows:  'Laurentius,  Mellitus,  and  Justus, 
Bishops,  servants  of  the  servants  of  God;  to  the 
lords  Bishops  and  Abbots  throughout  all  the 
countryof  the  Irish.'  The  letter  proceeds  to  state 
that  before  they  came  to  Britain  they  had  held 
both  the  Britons  and  Irish  in  great  esteem  for 
sanctity;  and  had  believed  that  they  walked  ac- 
cording totheusage  of  the  universal  Church,  they 
meant  the  Church  of  Rome  as  they  knew  it.  They 
had  been  disappointed  with  the  Britons,  however, 
but  continued  to  hope  better  conduct  on  the  part 
of  the  Irish.  'Now,'  the  letter  continues  sadly, 
'we  have  learned  from  Bishop  Dagan,  who  has 
come  into  this  aforesaid  island(Britain),and  from 
the  Abbot  Columban  (S.  Columbanus  from  Ban- 

*  Bede,  lib.  ii.  cap.  iv. 

t  Referred  to  as  'Scots,'  the  usual  designation  on  the  Continent  of  the 
Irish  generally,  at  that  time.  This  name  is  now  the  current  designation 
of  the  Gaidheals,  and  is  usually  restricted  to  the  Gaidheals  of  Scotland. 
The  two  Celtic  ecclesiastics  referred  to  in  the  letter  of  Laurentius  were, 
however,  pupils  of  the  great  Pictish  College  of  Bangor  in  Ulster,  and 
were  Pictish  ecclesiastics. 

277 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

gor)  in  Gaul,  that  the  Irish  in  no  way  differ  from 
the  Britons  in  their  walk;  because  when  Bishop 
Dagan  came  to  us,  not  only  did  he  refuse  to  eat 
at  the  same  table,  but  refused  even  to  eat  in  the 
same  guest-house.'  Evidently  there  had  been  a 
conference  at  some  convenient  centre  like  that 
arranged  by  Augustine  at  'the  Oak  on  the  border 
of  the  Hwiccas,'  The  Celts,  never  destitute  of 
humour,  could  hardly  help  being  amused  by  this 
letter.  The  Celtic  bishops,  bound  by  a  strong 
rule  to  humility,  taking  their  turn  of  menial  work 
with  the  humblest  brother  in  the  muinntir,  living 
under  the  rule  and  authority  of  the  Ab,  clad  in 
coarse  garments,  subsisting  on  the  plainest  fare, 
holding  no  gifts  and  no  property  for  themselves, 
aspiring  to  the  severest  apostolic  simplicity,  must 
have  marvelled  to  find  themselves  addressed  as 
'lords  Bishops.'  It  was  in  extreme  contrast  to  the 
ways  of  their  own  people,  who  the  greater  that 
their  clergy  happened  to  be,  only  loaded  their 
names  with  diminutives  of  affection ;  and  even 
though  they  were  the  sons  of  kings,  addressed 
them  in  the  terms  that  they  applied  to  their  pet 
children,  and  even  to  their  pet  animals.  The 
letter  of  the  prelates,  so  far  as  quoted  by  Bede, 
mentions  that  S.  Dagan  had  come  into  Britain; 
but  whence  or  whither  is  suppressed.  S.  Dagan 's 
name  is  the  last  in  the  list  of  Celtic  bishops*  in 

*  They  are  not  in  chronological  order.  Some  names  are,  others  are 
arranged  by  groups. 

278 


ROME  &>  CANDIDA  CASA 

the  Litany  of  Dunkeld.  Camerarius*  has  pre- 
served the  information  that  he  was  bishop  in 
'Galloway,'  the  later  diocesan  name  of  Candida 
Casa,  and  that  he  had  been  trained  at  Bangor, 
Bangor  of  Ulster  is  meant.  In  the  letter  he  is 
bracketed  with  S.  Columbanus,  another  of  S. 
Comgall's  pupils  at  Bangor  of  Ulster.  It  is  plain 
that  the  Roman  missionaries  wished,  in  this  in- 
stance, to  rope  in  the  Irish  Celts  by  the  agency  of 
the  Pictish  ecclesiastics  of  Bangor,  the  training- 
centre  which  at  this  time  {c.  a.d.  606)  was  send- 
ing into  Britain  and  over  the  continent  of  E urope 
the  most  learned  and  most  influential  men  of  the 
Celtic  world.  When  the  Roman  bishops  in  Gaul 
first  assailed  S.  Columbanus  (c.  a.d.  585),  it  was 
not  regarding  any  essential  of  the  Faith  nor  any 
point  of  morals,  then  so  lax  among  the  Prankish 
clergy,  but  simply  that  he  might  adopt  Rome's 
latest  method  of  calculating  Easter,  and  that  he 
might  allow  himself  and  his  muinntirs  to  be  ab- 
sorbed into  the  Roman  ecclesiastical  system. 
Among  the  Galilean  clergy  there  was  sympathy 
with  S.  Columbanus,  because  all  bore  witness  to 
his  irreproachable  life;  but  the  poorly-educated, 
domineering,  prankish  clergy,  who  were  the  cor- 
rupt creatures  of  an  immoral  court,  persecuted 

*  As  late  as  the  sixteenth  century  Camerarius  had  access  to  some  MS, 
of  Britonic  origin  which  has  since  disappeared,  because  to  him  we  owe 
our  knowledge  of  Euchad  of  Candida  Cam,  whom  Colgan  knew  of  as  an 
'  Apostle  to  the  Picts,'  of  certain  acts  of  S.  Finbar,  pupil  at  Candida  Casa, 
and  of  S.  Dagan,  the  last  of  its  prominent  Abbot-bishops. 

279 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

him.  He  was  summoned  to  Synods  which  he 
never  attended.  One  of  his  letters  still  survives 
which  is  believed  to  have  been  written  to  the 
second  Council  of  Micon,  a.d.  585.  The  biting 
ironyand  laughing  humility  whichitcontainswere 
probably  wasted  on  the  gross  Teutonic  minds  of 
the  Franks  and  Burgundians.  Intellectually  he 
was  as  a  giant  among  these  men;  morally,  as  an 
angel  of  light.  But  the  superscription  of  his  letter 
is,  from  'Columbanus,  a  sinner,'  to  the  bishops 
'his  holy  lords.'  He  expresses  thanks  that  so 
many  'holy  men'  convene  to  judge  him.  He 
hopes  that  'assembled  in  Christ'  they  would  con- 
cern themselves  not  merely  with  the  Paschal  date; 
but  with  discipline  in  the  interests  of  the  moral 
purity  of  the  Church,  a  condition  for  which  he  had 
already  denounced  some  of  the  bishops  as  being 
responsible.  He  points  out  that  he  came  to  Gaul 
for  the  cause  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  he  pleads  that 
he  be  left  unmolested.  He  declares  that  he  did 
not  originate  the  difference  about  Easter;  but  in- 
dicates, as  afterwards  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome,* 
that  it  began  in  the  method  of  Anatolius,  whowas 
approved  by  S.  Jerome.  He  indicates  also  that 
he  was  loyal  to  the  traditions  of  the  Celtic  Church 
and  the  ways  of  S.  Comgall  the  Great,  his  teacher. 
He  then  closes  his  letter  with  a  noble  appeal: 
'Let  all  follow  the  Gospel  and  Jesus  Christ  our 
Head.'    'Fathers  of  the  Church,'  he  continues, 

*  In  his  letter  to  Gregory. 
280 


ROME  &>  CANDIDA  CASA 

'pray  for  us,  as  we,  though  vile  mortals,  pray  for 
you.  Do  not  cast  us  out  from  you  as  aliens.  We 
are  joint  members  of  the  one  Body  whether  we  be 
Gauls,  Britons,  or  Irish,*  or  of  whatsoever  other 
nation.  Forgive  my  prolonged  epistle  and  firm- 
ness, as  of  one  struggling  beyond  his  strength. 
Do  not  forget  that  you,  most  holy  and  most  patient 
fathers,  are  also  our  brothers.' 

The  Celtic  Church  had  developed  out  of  S. 
Martin's  revolt  against  the  luxury,  moral  laxity, 
and  hankering  after  temporal  power  which  char- 
acterized the  Church  of  the  West  in  the  fourth 
century  when  the  influence  of  the  bishopric  of 
Rome  was  limited  by  the  character  of  its  bishops. 
In  the  interval  between  S.  Martin  and  S.  Col- 
umbanus  the  Roman  Church  had  aggrandized 
itself  by  giving  countenance  to  the  'barbarians,' 
after  they  had  settled,  in  return  for  their  support. 
The  'barbarians'  in  the  time  of  S.  Columbanus 
were  still  only  nominal  Christians.  There  was 
some  outward  polish  to  the  vice  of  the  decaying 
Roman  civilization  which  S.  Martin  denounced; 
but  the  public  lewdness  of  the  Prankish  barbar- 
ians which  roused  S.  Columbanus  was  brutally 
coarse  and  disgusting.  Many  of  the  clergy  had 
compromised  with  their  Teutonic  masters,  with 
the  result  that  the  moral  obligations  and  ideals 
of  the  Church  were  thrust  aside  in  many  quarters. 
Many  of  her  ministers  cared  only  for  centralizing 

*  The  reading  has  been  taken  as  '  Ivernian '  and  as  '  Iberian. ' 

281 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

the  control  of  the  Church  in  the  Bishop  of  Rome, 
for  unquestioning  submission  to  the  recent  mon- 
archic type  of  bishop,  for  formal  adherence  to  ap- 
proved dogma,  and  evenness  of  organization.  S. 
Columbanus  showed  that  he  fully  comprehend- 
ed the  deteriorated  condition  of  the  Church,  he 
stood  for  purity  and  cleanness  of  life,  for  human- 
ity in  thought  and  action,  for  honest  adhesion  to 
Christ's  example;  and  he  held  that  there  was  as 
much  need  in  his  own  time  as  there  had  been 
in  the  fourth  century  to  maintain  the  tradition  of 
S.  Martin,  his  spiritual  father,  and  to  manifest 
within  the  Church  the  apostolic  pattern  of  its 
ministry,  and  to  demand  Christ's  own  require- 
ments from  His  converts.  S.  Dagan  acted  exactly 
like  S.  Columbanus.  As  President  of  Candida 
Casa,  the  treasury  in  Britain  of  the  traditions  that 
S.  Ninian  had  brought  direct  from  S.  Martin,  he 
fearlessly  stood  aloof  from  the  Roman  mission- 
aries. The  attitude  of  both  these  great  pupils  of 
Bangor  was  the  attitude  of  Bangor  itself,  and  of 
all  its  dependent  communities,  both  among  the 
Picts  of  Erin  and  the  Picts  of  Alba.  The  whole 
of  the  Northern  Picts  of  Ireland  still  held  out 
against  the  dictation  of  Rome  in  a.d.  64 1 ,  because 
in  that  year  John  IV.,  Bishop  of  Rome,  wrote 
once  more  to  the  Irish  clergy  trying  to  attract 
them  into  the  Roman  organization,  and  under 
Roman  discipline,  that  is  if  certain  versions  of 
Bede's  original  can  be  trusted.  Part  of  the  super- 
282 


ROME  &>  CANDIDA  CASA 

scription  of  the  letter,  however,  is  suspect,  and 
the  part  of  it  relating  to  an  abbot  and  bishop 
of  Armagh  in  a.d.  641  is  certainly  an  interpol- 
ation in  the  interests  of  the  claims  of  that  See  to 
primacy.  However,  among  the  clergy  alleged  to 
have  been  addressed  by  Bishop  John  are  Lais- 
ranusor  Mac  Laisre,  presbyter-abbot  of  Bangor 
in  Ulster,  who  died  i6th  May  a.d.  646,  and 
Cronan,  bishop  and  abbot  of  the  neighbouring 
smaller  but  more  ancient  community  of  Aond- 
ruim  which  had  been  dependent  on  Candida 
Casa.  S.  Dagan's  behaviour  in  refusing  to  eat 
with  Laurentius  and  the  bishops  of  London  and 
Rochester  has  generally  been  represented  as  a 
contemptible  example  of  Celtic  pettiness,  but 
this  is  due  to  historical  ignorance.  S.  Dagan  lived 
under  the  very  strict  Rule  of  S.  Comgall  which 
was  observedwherever  the  pupilsof  Bangor  ruled 
or  ministered.  Laurentius  and  his  fellow-bishops 
were  hindered  by  no  such  Rule.  S.  Dagan  was 
not  allowed  to  feast;  but  was  restricted  to  a  min- 
imum quantity  of  the  simplest  food,  to  be  eaten 
only  in  the  evening.  He  was  not  allowed  to  enter 
into  contentious  conversations,  which  was  the 
reason  assigned  by  S.  Columbanus,  another  Ban- 
gor pupil,  for  not  meeting  the  bishops  of  Gaul  in 
Council.  He  was  compelled  to  avoid  worldly  am- 
bition and  temptation,  and,  therefore,  the  honours 
held  out  by  the  Roman  missionaries  to  those  who 
would  submit  to  Rome.   Moreover,  S.  Dagan, 

283 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

used  not  only  to  a  strict  life, but  to  demand  a  high 
moral  standard  from  his  disciples,  could  not  ap- 
prove of  the  Church  represented  by  Laurentius 
which,  as  is  visible  from  the  pages  of  Bede  him- 
self, tolerated  the  greatest  moral  laxity  in  its  secu- 
lar supporters.  We  see  the  state  of  public  life  and 
ignorance  among  the  Teutonic  Saxons  of  Kent 
in  the  paganism  and  immorality  of  the  prince 
Eadbald*  under  the  eyes  of  the  professedly  Chris- 
tian king  Ethelbert  and  his  chief  bishop;  and 
among  the  princes  and  people  of  the  East  Sax- 
ons who,  during  the  life  of  a  professedly  Christian 
king,  Sabert,  openly  practised  the  coarse  idolatry 
of  the  Teutons;and  as  they  looked  on  at  Mellitus, 
the  Roman  bishop  of  London,  celebrating  the 
Holy  Eucharist,  demanded  of  him,  'Why  do  you 
not  give  also  to  us  that  white-bread  which  you 
used  to  give  to  our  father  Saba? '  Is  it  possible  to 
imagine  a  sensitive,  reverent  Celt  like  S.  Dagan, 
brought  up  in  an  atmosphere  of  impressive  de- 
votion, giving  countenance  to  those  who  were 
content  with  such  a  condition  of  public  morals  and 
manners;  or  to  think  of  him  accepting  an  invit- 
ation to  enter  a  Church  supported  by  these  gross 
Teutons  who  were  the  hated  foes  of  his  nation? 
However,  there  was  humour  as  well  as  pain  in  the 
whole  situation.  While  Laurentius  and  his  fel- 
low-bishops were  calling  upon  the  Britons,  Picts, 
and  other  Celts  to  submit  to  Rome  and  to  re- 

*  Bede,  lib.  ii.  cap.  v. 
284 


ROME  &>  CANDIDA  CASA 

cognize  the  new  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  as 
their  Archbishop,  they  had  actually  not  secured 
their  own  foothold  in  England.  In  a.d.  6i6  the 
East  Saxons  revived  idolatry,  and  Mellitus,  the 
bishop  of  London,  and  Justus,  the  bishop  of 
Rochester,  fled  to  Gaul.  Laurentius  the  Arch- 
bishop was  about  to  follow  their  example  when 
he  was  restrained  by  a  change  in  the  affections 
of  the  king,  who  suddenly  put  away  his  father's 
wife,  his  stepmother,  with  whom  he  had  been  liv- 
ing, and  professed  sympathy  for  the  sufferings  of 
his  chief  cleric.  Justus  was  recalled  to  Rochester; 
but  the  people  of  London  refused  to  receive  Mel- 
litus theirbishop,  preferring  their  heathen  priests. 
Yet  the  attitude  of  S.  Dagan,  S.  Columbanus,  and 
other  Pictish  and  British  ecclesiastical  leaders 
towards  the  overtures  of  these  foreign  ecclesias- 
tics, hardly  able  to  keep  their  heads  above  the 
flood  of  Teutonic'paganism,  has  been  contented- 
ly described  by  historians  as  a  typical  example  of 
Celtic  ignorance  and  obstinacy.  The  truth  is  that 
the  Celtic  Church  had  inherited  a  tradition  as  to 
the  necessity  of  moral  as  well  as  theological  purity 
in  the  Church  to  which  its  ministers  refused  to 
prove  false.  S.  Dagan's  day  in  the  Kalendars  is 
the  29th  May,  but  the  year  of  his  death  in  the 
seventh  century  has  not  been  preserved. 

Some  time  after  S.  Dagan's  death  the  milit- 
ary power  of  the  Angles  opened  a  way  for  Rome 
into  Galloway,  where  ecclesiastical  diplomacy 

285 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

had  failed.  The  Anglian  domination  of  the  an- 
cient British  district,  so  closely  associated  with 
S.  Ninian  and  his  work,  was  not  brought  about 
by  sudden  conquest  and  extermination,  but  by 
gradual  penetration.  No  precise  dates  can  be 
given  for  it ;  but  it  certainly  began  after  the  battle 
of  Legacaester  (Chester),  a.d.  613,  when  Ethel- 
frid  attempted  to  secure  the  separation  of  the 
Strathclyde  Britons  from  those  to  the  southward 
by  a  wedge  of  Anglian  settlers.  The  domination 
was  becoming  effective  in  the  reign  of  Edwin  the 
Angle, slain  A.D.633,  whose  control  reached  from 
the  North  Sea  across  to  the  Irish  waters;*  and 
it  appears  to  have  been  complete  in  the  reign  of 
Oswy,  who  died  a.d.  670.  During  this  period  the 
place  names  began  to  change,  which  has  been  a 
source  of  much  confusion  in  later  times.  Candida 
Casa  was  translated  into  early  English,  and  it 
became  Hwit-Erne,  now  Whithorn.  The  Celts 
gave  the  district  a  name  which  the  Latin  scribes 
reproduce  as  'Galweya,'  that  is,  the  province  of 
the  Gall  or  Strangers  (Angles).  Part  of  the  local- 
ity of  Candida  Casa  received  the  hybrid  name, 
'Glaston,'f  still  so  pronounced,  but  spelled 'Glas- 
serton.'  Another  part  was  known  by  another  hy- 
brid name, '  Ynswitrin,'that  is,  Innis|- Whithorn, 

*  According  to  Bede. 

t  The  fabulists,  who  wrote  in  the  interests  of  the  antiquity  of  Glaston- 
bury, deliberately  transferred  much  historical  matter  that  applied  to  '  Yns- 
witrin'  of  '  Glaston'  in  Galloway  to  Glastonbury  of  Somerset. 

I  The  Pictish  /nm's  is  not  always  applied  to  a  complete  island. 

286 


ROME  &>  CANDIDA  CASA 

still  known  as  'Isle  of  Whithorn.'  During  the 
reign  of  King  Edwin,  just  mentioned,  the  king's 
chief  cleric,  the  tactful  Roman  missionary,  Paul- 
inus,  in  the  time  of  his  uncertain  tenure  of  the 
new  bishopric  of  York,  between  a.d.  626  and  633, 
visited  'the  first  church  in  Britain,  built  at  Yns- 
witrin,'*  that  is,  of  course,  the  church  founded  at 
Candida  Casa  by  S.  Ninian,  and  'Ynswitrin'  is 
Isle  of  Whithorn  to  the  present  day.  The  bene- 
volent bishop,  finding  the  hurdle-work  of  the 
building  dilapidated,  strengthened  the  Church 
with  wood  and  metal-sheathing. 

That  kindness  of  Paulinus  was  an  act  of  true 
Christian  charity;  because, though  Candida  Casa 
was  in  his  nominal  diocese,  there  is  no  indication 
that  its  clergy  had  yet  conformed  to  Rome.  The 
visit,  however,  was  ominous  for  the  future  of  Can- 
dida Casa;  because,  if  the  mother-Church  of  the 
Britons  was  going  to  fall  under  the  care  of  the 
chief  cleric  of  the  Angles,  it  was  manifest  that 
York,  from  its  geographical  position  and  its  im- 
portance as  a  political  centre,  would  become  the 
ecclesiastical  centre  of  the  future,  and  not  Can- 
dida Casa.  After  the  flight  of  Paulinus  from  his 
bishopric  at  York  in  a.d.  633,  the  Celts  of  Gallo- 
way were  left  to  the  undisturbed  ministry  of  their 

*  Cf.  Reeves,  Adamnan's  V.S.C.  p.  io6,  and  authorities.  Even  the 
careful  Dr.  Reeves  makes  no  protest  against  the  fabulists  who  transferred 
this  act  of  Paulinus  away  from  his  own  diocese  to  distant  Glastonbury, 
whither,  at  the  time,  Paulinus  could  not  have  gone  except  at  the  risk  of 
his  life. 

287 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

own  clergy.  In  a. d.  635  the  mission,  headed  by 
Aidan  from  the  Columban  Church  of  the  Gaidh- 
eals  or  Scots  of  lona,  came  among  the  Angles 
at  the  request  of  king  Oswald ;  but  even  then 
Candida  Casa  was  undisturbed,  because  it  was  in 
close  touch  with  Bangor,  and  the  centre  of  Aidan's 
activities  was  far  away  at  Lindisfarne  on  the 
eastern  coast  of  the  Angles.  In  a.d.  664  Ceadda, 
a  disciple  of  Aidan,  was  ordained  'bishop  of  the 
church  of  York.'*  This  wise  and  good  bishop, 
who  declined  to  adopt  the  grand  manners  of  the 
Roman  'lord  bishops,'  applied  himself 'to  humil- 
ity, self-denial,  and  study,  travelling  about,  not  on 
horseback,  but  on  foot,  and  preaching  the  Gospel 
in  towns,  the  open  country,  villages,  cottages,  and 
castles,  after  the  manner  of  the  Apostles.'  Bede 
indicates  that  through  his  teaching 'the  Scots  who 
dwelt  among  the  Angles' — by'Scots.'f  of  course, 
he  means  Irish,  whether  Gaidheals  or  Picts — 
conformed  to  the  ways  of  the  Roman  Church  or 
returned  'to  their  own  country.'^ 

After  the  Roman  bishops,  John,§  Wilfrid  II.,|| 
and  Egbert, Tf  had  by  their  administrative  abilities 
restored  York  to  be  a  centre  of  control,  Candida 
Casa  again  comes  into  the  light.  This  time  it  is 

*  Bede,  lib.  iii.  cap.  xxviii. 

t  Such  was  the  meaning  of  the  name  at  this  time. 
X  Bede,  lib.  iii.  cap.  xxviii. 

§  Transferred  to  York,  705 ;  retired  and  died,  721. 
II  Succeeded  John,  718;  resigned,  732;  died,  745.   Highly  praised  by 
Alcuin. 

TI  Received  the  pallium  as  Archbishop  of  York,  735. 

288 


ROME  &>  CANDIDA  CASA 

as  a  diocesan  bishopric  of  the  Roman  Church,  and 
it  is  governed  by  a  monarchic  bishop,  who  is  a 
suffragan  of  the  Archbishop  of  York.  Two  of  the 
first  four  Roman  bishops  bear  Anglian  names 
that  indicate  their  Pictish  origin  and  Pictish  sym- 
pathies. Pechthelm  was  bishop  a.d.  730,  and 
Pechtwine  a.d.  776. 

Thus  Candida  Casa,  the  mother- Church  of  the 
Britons  and  Picts,  cut  off  from  her  own  children 
by  an  unsympathetic  secular  power,  passed  into 
the  organization  and  service  of  the  Church  of  a 
foreign  invader,  controlled  from  an  alien  State. 
Even  then  she  did  not  forget  her  former  glory, 
but  by  the  jealousy  of  the  Sees  of  York  and  Glas- 
gow she  was  kept  humble.  In  later  times,  when 
a  fresh  inflow  of  Celtic  blood  into  Galloway  re- 
vived the  old  Celtic  spirit  of  the  bishopric,  she 
insisted  on  renewing  her  former  interest  in  the 
Celts.  It  is  to  her  honour  that,  after  the  Viking 
period,  she  sent  out  her  missionary  'Malcolme' 
with  a  companion,  who,  c.  a.d.  1223-27,  occupied 
and  revived  S.  Ninian's  ancient  foundation  at 
Fearn  of  Edderton,*  in  Ross,  on  territory  also  hal- 
lowed by  the  work  of  SS.  Finbar  and  Donnan, 
both  connected  with  Candida  Casa.  About  a.d. 
1238-42,  this  interesting  house  was  transported 
to  Nova  Farina*  (Fearn),  south  of  Tain,  where  it 

*  The  Celtic  remains  of  Fearn  of  Edderton,  and  the  story  of  the 
later  house  at  Nova  Farina,  are  fully  given  in  the  author's  S.  Ninian, 
chapter  x, 

U  289 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

continued  to  maintain  its  connection  with  Can- 
dida Casa  until  the  Reformation  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  in  Scotland. 


THE  LEADERS  OF  THE 
CHURCH  IN  PICTLAND  IN 
THE  SEVENTH  CENTURY 
CHAPTER  TWELVE 

Of  therankandfileofthe  ministers  of  the  Church 
of  the  Picts  sent  out  in  the  seventh  century  from 
Candida  Casa,  Glasgow,  and  Bangor,  little  is 
known  except  their  bare  names  attached  to  some 
cross-marked  stone,  well,  pool  in  a  stream,  or 
disused  Churchyard,  with,  perhaps,  a  chance 
contirmationof  their  existence  in  th^Life  or  Acts 
of  some  Celtic  Ab  or  bishop.  Fortunately  some- 
thing more  is  recoverable  concerning  some  of 
the  leaders.  While  S.  Donnan  the  Great  was  still 
active  in  the  north  and  north-west  of  Pictland  S. 
Blaan*  took  up  the  work  of  his  uncle,  S.  Catan, 
and  concentrated  his  attention  on  the  south-west 
and  south. 

S .  Blaan  was  born  in  the  island  of  Bute,  trained 
at  the  great  Pictish  school  of  Bangor  in  Ulster, 
and  associated  afterwards  with  his  master  S. 
Comgall  and  the  latter'sfriendS.Cainnech(Ken- 
neth)  of  Fife  and  Achadh-Bo  in  their  work  in 
Pictland.  His  mother  was  Ertha,f  sister  of  S, 
Catan, I  who  had  gone  in  her  youth  with  her 

*  See  Vita  Catani,  notes,  AA.  SS.  Hib.  Colgan.  S.  Blaan's  Life  was 
written  by  Newton,  Archdeacon  of  Dunblane.  Cf.  also  Aberdeen  Brevi- 
ary. His  story  was  much  garbled  by  the  fabulists. 

t  The  Gaidheals  or  Scots  spelled  her  name  'Erca,'  a  favourite  name 
with  them,  because  an  Erca  had  been  daughter  of  Loam  Mor. 

X  Not  to  be  confused  with  S.  Cadan  of  Magilligan  in  Derry.  S.  Catan's 

291 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

brother  from  Ulster  to  Bute,  where  S.  Catan 
organized  a  muinntir  some  years  after  the  found- 
ing of  Bangor,  a.  D.  5  5  8.  1 1  is  out  of  the  ungarbled 
particulars  about  S.  Catan  that  most  information 
aboutS.  Blaan  is  recovered.  S. Catan wasthe  son 
of  Madan,  descended  from  I  rial  the  son  of  Conall 
Cearnach,  and  was  thus  a  member  of  the  great 
Clan  Rudhraighe  of  the  Ulster  Picts.  He  was 
consequentlyrelated  toS.  Comgall  theGreat  and 
to  S.  Moluag,  which  determined  S.  Blaan's 
interest  in  the  work  of  these  leading  Pictish  ec- 
clesiastics. The  husband  of  S.  Catan's  sister  is 
described  as  a  'man  of  that  country'*  where  she 
had  settled,  indicating  that  he  was  either  a 
Briton  or  Pict  of  Alba.  S.  Catan  is  referred  to 
as  the  foster-father  and  teacher  of  S.  Blaan;  and 
the  Martyrology  of  Donegal  is  careful  to  explain 
that  this  is  'Blaan  of  Cinn-Garadk.'  From  the 
fact  that  S.  Blaan  was  able  to  get  his  early  educ- 
ation in  Bute,  it  is  apparent  that  the  newer  and 
later  muinntirs  continued  to  make  the  education 

day  in  Scotland  was  17th  or  i8th  May.    In  certain  Irish  Kahndars\^  is 
noted  at  ist  February. 

*  The  Scotic  fabulists,  with  a  view  to  appropriating  S.  Blaan  as  a 
Gaidheal  or  Scot,  state  that  Aedhan  Mac  Gabhran,  king  of  Dalriada, 
was  S.  Blaan's  father.  Apart  from  the  grossness  of  the  suggestion,  it  is 
known  to  be  untrue.  Aedhan's  wife  and  children  are  known ;  and,  of 
course,  Blaan  is  not  among  the  latter.  Another  phase  of  the  fable  which 
makes  S.  Blaan  to  be  uncle  of  S.  Molais  or  Molaisren  of  Lamlash  is  there- 
fore untrue  also;  because  this  Molaisren  was  son  of  Maithgemm,  daughter 
of  Aedhan.  The  Molaisren  to  whom  S.  Blaan  was  related  was  Ab  of 
Bangor  and  died  on  the  i6th  of  May  646.  Both  were  relatives  of  S.  Com- 
gall the  Great. 

292 


SEVENTH  CENTURY  LEADERS 

of  the  young  a  feature  of  their  work  as  at  Candida 
Casa  and  the  Bangors.  S.  Catan's  muinntir  of 
Pictish  clergy  was  organized  within  a  Lis  at  the 
south  end  of  Bute.  The  place  took  its  name 
from  it,  and  came  to  be  known  as  '  Cinn-garadh,' 
Head  of  the  Inclosure.  Near  it,  on  Kilchattan 
Bay,  was  the  Church  founded  by  the  saint*  and 
bearing  his  name.  A  Suidke,  a  feature  of  the 
locality  of  so  many  Pictish  muinntirs,  called  after 
S.   Catan,   is  in    Kingarth  parish  behind  the 
ancient  Lis,  while  the  Suidke  Blaan  is  opposite. 
The  date  of  S.  Catan's  death  has  not  been  pre- 
served; but  it  occurred  about  the  end  of  the  sixth 
century,  because   he   was  still   alive  when  S. 
Blaan  returned  from  completing  his  training  at 
Bangor.     S.   Catan's  connection   with   Bangor 
and  its  distinguished  president,  and  his   filial 
appreciation  of  the  advantages  of  that  great 

*  S.  Catan  also  founded  Churches  in  Pictland  and  the  western  islands. 
His  known  foundations  on  the  islands  are  in  Gigha,  Colonsay,  Luing,  and 
at  Stornoway  in  Lewis.  Scarinch  chapel,  if  the  Macleod  tradition  can  be 
trusted,  is  a  dedication  of  the  Roman  Catholic  period  at  the  instigation  of  a 
chief  of  Macleod.  S.  Catan's  foundations  on  the  mainland  were  at  Kilchat- 
tan, Southend,  Cantyre ;  Ardchattan  in  Lorn ;  and  Aber  Ruthven. 

As  S.  Catan  was  a  contemporary  and  relative  of  S.  Moluag  and,  like 
him,  related  to  S.  Comgall,  and  as  all  were  Irish  Picts,  it  is  interesting  to 
find  them  working  in  the  old  Pictish  territory  of  Argyll  and  the  islands,  in 
spite  of  the  Gaidhealic  or  Scotic  colonists  and  their  ecclesiastical  leader  S. 
Columba.  It  is  plain  from  this:  (i)  that  the  Dalriads  took  a  long  time  to 
make  their  penetration  of  the  Pictish  territories  in  the  west  effective;  (2) 
that  in  Cantyre  itself  and  elsewhere  in  Argyll,  S.  Columba's  act  of  enthron- 
ing Aedhan  at  the  expense  of  the  royal  clan  of  Comghall  MacDomangart, 
which  produced  civil  war,  gave  many  of  the  Dalriads  political  reasons  for 
remaining  detached  from  the  Columban  clergy. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

college  of  the  Picts,  naturally  moved  him  to  send 
S.  Blaan  thither.  There  the  young  man  spent 
the  greater  part  of  seven  years.  It  is  stated  also 
that  S,  Blaan  was  for  a  time  with  the  other 
eminent  Pictish  Ab  S.  Cainnech;  but  whether 
this  was  in  Fife,  or  after  S.  Cainnech  had  organ- 
ized Achadh-Bo,  a.d.  578,  is  not  made  clear.  S. 
Blaan  eventually  succeeded  his  uncle,  and  he 
became  Ab  and  bishop  of  the  Pictish  community 
at  Kingarth.  It  is  instructive  that  the  scholiast 
in  the  Feilire  of  Aengus*  indicates  the  district 
in  which  Kingarth  is  situated  as  '  Gallgaedelaib.' 
Once  more,  this  is  not  Galloway,  nor  was  it  so 
understood  in  the  earlier  Kalendars.  The  use  of 
'Gallgaedelaib'  to  cover  Bute  indicates  that  the 
note  was  made  subsequent  to  the  Viking  inva- 
sions, at  a  time  when  the  Norsemen  had  inter- 
married with  Briton,  Pict,  or  Gaidheal  along  the 
coasts,  and  when  a  breed  half-Teutonic  and  half- 
Celtic  occupied  and  ruled  the  island  of  Bute. 
This  was  actually  the  situation  in  the  tenth 
century,  j  The  Feilire  refers  to  '  Blaan  of  beauti- 

*  Leabhar  Breac  yiS. 

t  '  Gallgaedelaib' ytai  an  inaccurate  name  from  a  national  point  of  view; 
because  the  Celtic  side  of  the  cross-breed  was  represented  by  Britons  and 
Picts  as  often  as  Gaidheals.  The  Scotic  clerics  gave  the  name  currency. 

In  1034  'Gallgaedelaib'  was  correctly  used  of  a  large  part  of  the  west 
">ast,  including  the  Islands.  Once  it  is  used  of  Caithness  and  Sutherland. 

In  1034  the  dominions  of  the  Galls,  under  Thorfinn  the  Jarl,  included 
the  Northern,  Western,  and  Southern  Islands,  Caithness,  paits  of  Suther- 
land, Ross,  Argyll,  and  Galloway,  not  to  mention  coast  settlements  in 
Moray,  Buchan,  Mearns,  and  Angus. 

After  the  death  of  Olaf  of  Man  in  1 1 53,  Godred  his  son  and  Somerled, 

294 


SEVENTH  CENTURY  LEADERS 

fulCennGarady'vfhich  inthisinstance  is  not  poet- 
ical licence.  Few  more  beautiful  Church-sites 
exist  in  Britain.  The  Feilire  also  describes  the 
community  as  spiritually  healthful,  fair,  and  'as- 
sertive.' S.  Blaan  also  founded  a  Church  at '  Kil- 
blain'  near  Kilchattan  Cantyre.  He  carried  his 
work  into  'Levinia'  (Lennox)  and  Stirling.  He 
was  the  founder  of  the  Church  of  Dunblane,  and 
this  site,  in  later  centuries  during  the  Roman 
Catholic  period,  became  the  seat  of  the  bishops 
of  that  diocese.*  This  accident  gave  a  promin- 
ence to  the  name  of  S.  Blaan  which  threatened 
to  eclipse  the  earlier  work  of  his  predecessor  S. 
Catan.  The  yearof  S.Blaan's  death  isnot  known, 
but  his  next  recorded  successor  was  Daniel,  Ab 
and  bishop,  who  died  at  KingarthA.D.  660.  lolan, 
the  next  Ab  and  bishop  at  Kingarth,  died  a.d. 
689.  The  community  was  very  ably  led  during 
S.  Ronan's  presidency.  At  a.d.  ']2)']  Tighernac 
records  the  death  of  Ronan,  Ab  of '  Cind-Garadh. ' 
Maelmanach,  a  successor  of  S.  Ronan,  died  a.d. 
776.  This  and  the  other  dates  are  confirmed  by 

lord  of  Argyll,  his  son-in-law,  quarrelled  over  the  Islands.  Following  a 
naval  battle  fought  on  the  night  of  the  Epiphany  1 1 56  it  was  settled  that 
Godred  should  take  Man  and  Arran  and  the  Outer  Isles,  while  Somerled's 
people  received  Bute,  and  the  Islands  clinging  to  the  Argyll  coast  south  of 
Ardnamurchan. 

*  In  the  Breviary  of  Aberdeen  it  will  be  seen  howthe  fabulists  invented 
for  him  a  journey  to  Rome,  and  the  miracle  of  raising  a  dead  boy,  for  which 
he  received  four  lordships  in  England.  The  whole  fable  was  invented  to 
justify  the  possession  by  the  Roman  See  of  Dunblane  of  the  revenues  of 
Appleby,  Troclyngham,  Congere,  and  Malemath. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

the  corrected  Annals  of  Ulster* 

Angus  the  Culdee  began  to  write  at  the  end 
of  the  century  in  which  S.  Ronan,|  Ab  and 
bishop,  and  Ab  Maelmanach  died.  The  epi- 
thet 'assertive,'  which  he  applies  to  the  com- 
munity at  Kingarth,  was  amply  justified  by 
S.  Ronan's  own  activities.  This  Ab  founded 
Churches  J  not  only  in  the  districts  where  his 
predecessors  SS.Catan  and  Blaanhad  ministered 
but  on  lona,  the  sanctuary  of  the  Gaidheals  or 
Scots.  More  has  to  be  said  about  this  hereafter. 
Associated  with  the  community  and  work  of  Kin- 
garth  at  this  period  was  the  later  S.  Mo-'dan,§ 
distinguished  as  'of  Rosneath.'  He  also  laboured 
in  Argyll,  Lennox,  and  Stirling,  and  has  founda- 
tions at  Yi\\moda.n{'  Kilmhodkan')\n  Glendaruel; 

*  Cf.  corrected  j^a/itKator  by  Dr.  Reeves. 

t  Skene  { Celt.Scot.W.  vii.  282),  by  referringtohim  along  with  the  Anglo- 
Celtic  Easter  controversy,  has  misled  someof  his  followers;  and  has  caused 
them  to  confuse  this  Ronan  with  '  Ronan  the  Irishman,'  who  championed 
the  Roman  party  against  Finan  of  lona  (Bede,  lib.  iii.  cap.  xxv. ).  Bede's 
Ronan  had  travelled  on  the  Continent  and  was  a  man  of  experience  c.  664, 
whereas  Ronan  of  Kingarth  died  as  late  as  737. 

X  His  Church-foundations  were  Kilmaronock  in  Lennox,  Kilmaronog 
in  Muckairn,  Teampull  Ronan  in  lona,  at  Eoroby  in  Ness,  Lewis,  where 
S.  Catan  had  already  been.  The  islands  called  '  Ronay  or  Rona'  (Rough 
Island),  although  they  have  ecclesiastical  remains,  are  doubtful;  because 
Ronan  was  not  a  recluse.  S.  Ninian's  Island,  Shetland,  popularly  called 
'  Rinan's  Ey,'  has  been  wrongly  associated  with  his  name. 

§  He  has  been  confused  with  the  very  early  S.  Medan,  with  Aidan 
(Moaidan)  and  others  of  like  name.  He  was  certainly  not  the  founder  of 
Dryburgh.  His  work  is  confined  to  the  districts  visited  by  SS.  Catan, 
Blaan,  and  Ronan.  His  Church-foundations  were  at  Falkirk,  Stirling, 
Fintry  in  Lennox,  Rosneath,  Kilmodan  Argyll,  and  Ardchattan  in  the 
same  county. 

296 


SEVENTH  CENTURY  LEADERS 

in  Ardchattan.where  m 'BalmModkan'*  his  name 
displaced  for  a  time  the  name  of  his  predecessor 
S.  Catan;  at  Stirling  in  S.  Blaan's  territory;  and 
at  'Eclais  Breac'  or  Falkirk.  He  retired  from 
the  active  ministry  to  Rosneath,|  where  he  died. 
The  year  of  hisdeath  has  not  been  preserved, but 
it  was  during  the  eighth  century,  and  probably 
the  old  tradition  that  he  accompanied  S.  Ronan 
on  his  journeys  is  correct.  Their  Church-found- 
ations are  never  far  apart.  J 

Another  leading  Pict  of  the  seventh  century 
is  S.  Ithernan  or  Ethernoc,§  Ab  and  bishop. 
His  community  was  settled  on  the  May  Island]] 
in  the  Firth  of  Forth.  He  was  a  native  of  Alba. 
The  range  of  his  work  included  the  modern 
counties  of  Fife,  Perth,  Forfar,  and  Aberdeen. 
His  Church-foundations  are  on  May  Island,  at 
Kilrenny,  Fife,  where  the  saint's  name  takes  the 
form  '  Irenie'  for  Fernie.  There  are  traces  of  him 
at  Madderty  in  Perthshire,  and  at  Forfar.  In 
Buchanlf  he  founded  the  Church  of  Rathen,  near 

*  A  form  which  shows  that  his  unmodified  name  was  regarded  as  Aed 
or  Aedan. 

t  Which  means  the  Promontory  of  the  Sanctuary. 

%  For  example,  Fintry,  Rosneath,  and  Kilmaronock,  and,  again, 
'  Balmhaodhan '  Ardchat  tan,  and  Kilmaronog  on  the  opposite  side  of  Loch 
Etive. 

§  His  name  takes  the  form  Ethernac  in  the  ZzVaMjc  o/'Z'awfe/i^.  He  is 
not  to  be  confused  with  Ernan,  the  president  of  Hinba,  S.  Columba's  uncle. 
Cf.  Bishop  Forbes,  Kalendars. 

II  This  Church  became  associated  in  a  later  century  with  S.  'Adrian 
whose  name  and  work  became  the  prey  of  the  fabulists. 

If  Alexander  Cumyn,  Earl  of  Buchan,  gifted  by  charter  a  stone  of  wax  or 

297 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

which  on  the  east  of  Mormond  is  'S.  Ithernan's 
Den.' 

Associated  with  S.  Ithernan's  work  was  S. 
Caran  or  Coran.  His  fair  used  to  be  celebrated 
at  Anstruther  in  Fife  on  the  23rd  of  December. 
Traces  of  his  work  are  at  Fetteresso*  in  the 
Mearns.andat  Premnayin  Aberdeenshire.  Tigh- 
ernac  and  the  Annals  of  Ulster  chronicle  the 
death  of  'Itharnan'  and  'Corindu'  (Coran-dhu) 
A.D.  699  'among  the  Picts.'  The  entry  follows  that 
of  Critan,  Ab  of  Bangor,  who  died  in  the  same 
year. 

Three  seventh-century  ministers  maybe  men- 
tioned together;  although  one  belongs  to  the 
first  part,  and  the  other  two,  to  the  latter  part  of 
the  century.  These  three  have  this  in  common 
that  their  Churches  on  the  east  coast  were  of  the 
casa  or  casula  type,  and  bear  the  designation  of 
'  Both.'  S.  Marnoc'sj  or  S.  Marnan's  death  has 
been  given  as  a.d.  625.  J  He  was  a  bishop.  The 
Scotic  clerics  who  secured  control  of  the  surviv- 
ing Pictish  sources  follow  their  usual  device  and 
date  him  by  the  reigns  of  two  of  their  own  kings 
who  died  respectively  in  a.d.  609  and  629.  They 

forty  shillings  yearly  to  the  monks  who  served  God  at  S.  Ethernan's  on  the 
Isle  of  May.  The  house  became  a  cell  of  the  Priory  of  St.  Andrews. 

*  His  well  is  at  Drumlithie. 

t  The  unmodified  name  is  Earnoc  or  Earnan.  His  fair  was  on  the 
second  Tuesday  in  March;  but  this  is  not  always  a  guide,  as  the  Fairs  and 
Saints'  days  were  so  frequently  changed  by  statute,  and  at  caprice. 

X  The  ultimate  authority  is  not  now  traceable.  Cf.  Forbes,  Kalendars. 

298 


SEVENTH  CENTURY  LEADERS 

have  also  deliberately  confused  him,  at  one  time 
with  Ernaan  the  uncle  of  S.  Columba  who  was 
president  of  the  small  Gaidhealic  or  Scotic  com- 
munity on  Hinba;  and,  at  another,  with  Mernooc 
Mac  Decill,*son  of  S.Columba's  sister  Cuman.  S. 
Marnoc  or  Marnan  was  not  a  missionary  among 
the  Gaidheals  or  Scots,  but  among  the  Britons 
and  Picts.  His  foundations  are  conspicuously 
connected  with  districts  that  had  been  occupied 
from  Bangor  of  Ulster  before  his  time.  They 
are  at  Inch  Marnoc,  off  Bute,  near  a  daughter- 
house  of  Bangor;  at  Kilmarnock,  Ayrshire,  in  a 
district  formerly  ministered  to  by  S.  Finbar;  at 
Paisley,  I  which  had  been  opened  up  by  a  pupil 
of  Bangor.  At  Glasgow  is  'Dalmarnock,'J  and 
also  at  Little  Dunkeld.  Other  Church-found- 
ations are  at  Foulis  Easter  in  Perthshire;  '  Both- 
Mernoc'  in  Angus;  at  Leochel  in  Alford;  at  S. 
Marnoc's,  the  old  Church  of  the  suppressed  par- 
ish, named  after  him,  and  now  part  of  Aboyne; 
at  the  Church  of  Marnoch  on  the  Deveron§  near 
Aberchirder.    Here  the  saint,  it  is  stated,  died. 

*  See,  for  these  names,  the  names  entered  by  a  later  hand  in  Codex 
B  of  Adamnan's  V.  S.  C.  Dempster  and  Adam  King  have  arbitrarily  dated 
him  at  a  period  when  his  Churches  were  empty  and  the  surrounding 
country  desolated  by  heathen  Vikings. 

t  Here  also  was  his  Fair. 

X  Part  of  this  property  was  ancient  Church  lands,  according  to  Dr. 
Marwick. 

§  Some  old  account  evidently  connected  S.  Marnoc  with  Candida 
Casa;  because  one  martyrologist  locates  the  place  of  his  death  in  '  Ann- 
dia  (copyist's  error  for  Candida)  not  far  from  Anglia. ' 

299 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

His  relics  were  certainly  exposed  at  this  Church 
after  the  veneration  of  relics  had  been  introduced 
into  Pictland.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in 
visiting  Aberdeenshire,  S.  Marnoc  closed  his 
tour  of  ministerial  duty  in  contact,  once  more, 
with  daughter-Churches  of  Bangor,  namely  those 
founded  previously  by  S.  Moluag  and  his  dis- 
ciples. 

S.  Walloc,*  Ab  and  bishop,  who  also  labour- 
ed in  Aberdeenshire  and  who  came  from  Candida 
Casa,  had,  it  is  definitely  stated,  a  Church  or  casula 
woven  together  with  reeds  and  wattles.  This,  as 
we  know  from  the  account  of  the  repairs  effected 
by  Bishop  Paulinus,  on  his  visit,  was  how  part  at 
least  of  Candida  Casa  was  constructed.  S.  Walloc 
worked  in  Mar  from  towards  the  end  of  the 
seventh  century  until  a.d.  733.!  He  is  described 
as  'a  foreigner';  and,  indeed,  his  name  without 
the  diminutive  is  simply  Wala,  the  name  given  by 
the  Angles  and  Saxons  to  foreigners;  but  especi- 
ally to  the  Britons,  whom  they  called  Welsh.J 
1 1  is  interesting  to  have  the  date  given  by  Camer- 
arius  confirmed  by  this  name,  because  it  is  known 
that  Anglian  influence  had  begun  to  affect  Can- 

*  He  has  been  arbitrarily  and,  of  course,  quite  wrongly  identified  with 
Faelchu.  Garbled  references  to  him  are  in  the  Martyrology  and  Breviary 
of  Aberdeen. 

t  According  to  Camerarius,  who,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  gives  par- 
ticulars of  various  pupils  of  Candida  Casa  that  others  ignored  or  sup- 
pressed. 

X  That  is,  IValas  or  Wy Use.  Cf.  the  name  Wallace. 

300 


SEVENTH  CENTURY  LEADERS 

dida  Casa  at  the  time  when  S.  Walloc  would  be 
there.  S.  Walloc's  foundations  are  at  Dunmeth 
of  Glass,  and  at  Logie-Mar.  Two  miles  below 
Beldornie  in  Glass  are  S.  Walloc's  Well,  'Wal- 
loc's Baths,'  and  an  ancient  Church-foundation 
bearing  the  saint's  name.* 

Another  saint  whose  Church  bore  the  name 
'  Both'  is  S.  Nathlan,  j  Ab  and  bishop.  He  was 
a  native  of  Pictland  and  belonged  to  TuUich 
in  Mar.  He  died  in  the  seventh  century,  but  the 
date  given  for  his  death  is  that  oi' Nechtan  neir,' 
with  whom  he  has  been  wrongly  identified.!  He 
founded  the  Church  oi'Both-elnie'  which  is  now 
Meldrum,  Aberdeenshire.  'Both-elnie' is  simply 
a  form  evolved  by  va&t^.th.GSishomBoth-Nathlan, 
in  this  instance.  Church  of  Nathlan.  Beside  the 
old  foundation,  about  three  miles  from  Meldrum, 
is  S.  Nathlan's  Well.  His  festival  was  celebrated 
by  a  market-day  in  J  anuary  until  a  recent  date.  H  e 
also  founded  Churches  at  Tullich  and  'Colle.'§ 

How  little  the  Picts  of  Alba  or  of  Ireland 
gauged  the  dimensions  of  the  yet  distant  Viking 
peril,  of  which  they  had  received  more  than  one 
hint  from  beyond  the  North  Sea,  is  seen  in  the 

*  An  old  Aberdeenshire  rhyme  is — 

'  Waloc  Fair  in  Logie-Mar 
Thirtieth  day  of  Januar.' 

t  A  fabulized  sketch  of  his  life  is  in  the  Breviary  of  Aberdeen.  He  has 
been  confused  with  'Nechian  anairde  Attain,'  -viiXhoVii  any  justification. 

X  By  modern  Scottish  and  Irish  writers. 

§  See  View  of  the  Diocese  of  Aberdeen,  p.  6'i'i.  'CoUe' has  been  under- 
stood of  the  old  Church  of  Cowie,  and  also  of  CouU,  Aboyne. 

301 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

enthusiasm  with  which  the  Irish  Picts  launched 
what  proved  to  be  the  last  of  the  missions  on  a 
big  scale  sent  into  Pictland  of  Alba  from  Bangor 
of  Ulster.  With  that  affection  for  the  sea-coast 
shown  by  so  many  of  the  Pictish  ecclesiastics, 
which  was  destined  to  provide  so  many  human 
hecatombs  to  Viking  savagery,  the  headquarters 
of  this  new  enterprise  were  fixed  at  'Aber- 
Crossan,'  now  Applecross,  in  Wester  Ross.  In 
A.D.  671  S.  Maelrubha,  whose  name  was  varied 
by  the  Gaidheals  to  Maolruadh  and  translated 
Sagart  Ruadh,  the  Red  Priest,  sailed  from  the 
harbour  of  the  great  Pictish  College  at  Bangor 
along  with  a  muinntir,  and,  after  visiting  certain 
localities  and  founding  Churches,  he  settled  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Crossan  river  in  north-west 
Pictland,  a.d.  673.*  His  object  was  to  establish 
a  centre  of  Christian  religion  and  teaching  in 
a  part  of  Pictland  which  up  until  this  date  had 
been  less  favoured  than  the  east  coast  and  parts 
of  the  midlands.  In  choosing  this  centre  for  his 
workers,  he  kept  well  north  of  the  northern 
frontiers  of  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  of  Dalriada. 
The  nearest  Pictish  muinntir  to  him  on  the 
same  coast,  apart  from  isolated  Churches,  was 

*  Dr.  Reeves  {Proc.  Scot.  Antiq.  vol.  iii.)  revived  the  knowledge  of 
S.  Maelrubha,  and  so  far  as  he  founds  on  the  ancient  Irish  authorities 
may  be  followed.  Other  information  provided  for  him  by  the  then  minister 
of  Loch  Carron  and  Dr.  Skene  is  largely  inaccurate,  some  of  it  foolish. 
Reeves  suffered  from  his  want  of  local  knowledge.  Cf.  Author's  Article  on 
S.  Maelrubha,  Scottish  Historical  Review,  vol.  vi.  3.  p.  260. 

302 


SEVENTH  CENTURY  LEADERS 

the  one  on  Eigg  which,  as  is  known,  sprang  into 
Hfe  from  the  ashes  of  S.  Donnan  and  his  fellow- 
martyrs.  Like  S.  Ronan,  at  a  later  period,  S. 
Maelrubha,  in  consequence  of  his  sympathies 
with  western  Picts  dispersed  among  the  Scots, 
also  laboured,  among  other  places,  in  territories 
belonging  to  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots.  Although 
his  father  had  been  a  Gaidheal,  the  saint  did 
not  connect  himself  with  the  Gaidhealic  centre 
at  lona.  The  name  'Maelrubha'  is  a  purely 
Pictish  form.  Its  recorded  phonetics  in  the  Keith 
charter  show  that  the  Picts  aspirated  the  b  and 
pronounced  it  v  ox  f,  producing  the  forms  'Ma- 
ruv'  ^nd'Maruf'*;  whereas  the  Gaidheals  some- 
times translated  the  latter  half,  and,  sometimes, 
the  whole  name;  but  always  kept  to  the  mean- 
ing. The  tonsured  one  with  red  hair. 

S.  Maelrubha  was  born  on  the  third  day  of  Jan- 
uary a.d.  642. -j-  His  father  was  an  Irish  Gaidheal  or 
Scot,Elganach  mac  Garbh  of  the  Binnigh  branch 
of  the  great  Clan  Niall.  Before  S.  Maelrubha's 
birth  the  Clan  Binnigh  had  seized  and  occupied 
the  former  Pictish  territory  in  South  Tyrone.  J 
The  saint's  mother,  who  left  the  impress  of  her 
personality  and  her  nationality  upon  his  whole 
life,  was  an  Irish  Pict,Subtan,  daughter  of  Sedna, 
and  niece  or  grand-niece  of  S.Comgall  the  Great. 

*  This  form  led  the  scribes  of  the  Roman  Catholic  period,  and  certain 
moderns,  to  try  to  identify  him  with  S.  Rufus  of  Capua! 

t  Tighernac.  %  Northwards  from  TuUaghoge. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

S.  Maelrubha,  as  a  result  of  this  relationship,  was 
educated  and  trained  at  Bangor  in  Ulster,  under 
the  Abbots  Baithene  and  Critan,  When  he  left 
Bangor  with  a  muinntir  under  his  own  control 
to  found  Abercrossan,  he  spent  two  years  in  a 
leisurely  journey  up  the  west  coast  of  Alba  (Scot- 
land), and  during  its  course  founded  the  follow- 
ing Churches: 

'Kilmarow'  (spelling  of  1697),  in  Killean  and 
Kilchenzie; 

'Kilarrow'  ('Kilmolrew,'  1500),  in  Islay. 

'Kilmalrew'  (old  charter  spelling),  in  the  pen- 
insula of  Craignish. 

The  ancient  Church-site  in  Stra'lachlan,  Loch 
Fyne. 

'Cill  Mha'ru,'  Eilean-an-t-sagairt,'  Muckairn; 

'Cill  Mha'ru,'  the  ancient  Church  of  Arisaig. 

The  founding  of  these  Churches  between  the 
years  a.d.  671  and  673,  by  a  relative  of  S.  Corn- 
gall  and  a  pupil  of  the  Pictish  College  of  Bangor, 
indicates  that  at  that  time  the  Picts  still  possessed 
interest  and  influence  in  the  area  occupied  by  the 
Gaidheals  or  Scots. 

From  Arisaig  S.  Maelrubha  still  held  north- 
ward, until  at  last  he  halted  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Abhain  Crossan,  where  he  fixed  his  chief  Church 
and  settled  his  muinntir.  The  district  came  to 
be  known  as  '«'  Chomraich,'  the  sanctueiry.  In 
the  Churchyard  of  Abercrossan  stands  a  cross- 
marked  stone  called  '  Clack  Ruadkri mac  Aoigen.' 

304 


SEVENTH  CENTURY  LEADERS 

This  is  the  memorial  cross*  of  'Mac  Oigi,'  who 
was  promoted  from  Abercrossan  to  the  presid- 
ency of  the  parent  community  at  Bangor,  and 
died  thereA.D.  802, |  or  of  one  of  the  clerical  mem- 
bers of  the  family  to  which  he  belonged.  From 
his  headquarters  at  Abercrossan  S.  Maelrubha 
attended  first  to  the  Christian  congregations  of 
Skye  and  the  adjacent  islands.  At  Portree  J  he 
continued  the  ministry  which  S.  Tarlagan,  a  dis- 
ciple of  S.  Donnan,  had  begun.  KV  AiseagMarui' 
was  his  Church  and  Ferry.  By  the  rock,  'Craig- 
na  Leabkair,'^  he  was  wont  to  read  the  Gospel. 
This  Church  at  Aiseag  also  possessed  a  sanctuary 
for  refugees.  Another  of  his  Churches  was  at 'Cill- 
Marui,'|l  on  the  Strath-Aird  side  of  Loch  Slapin; 
and  another  at  the  head  of  Loch  Eynort.  Only 
one  of  his  Church-sites  in  Lewis  is  known,  and  it 
is  still  pointed  out  on  the  Harris  side  of  Loch  Sea- 
forth. 

Eastwards  from  Abercrossan  a  line  of  Church- 
foundations  mark  the  route  by  which  S.  Maelrubha 
put  himself  into  touch  with  the  earlier  Churches 
of  his  predecessor  and  relative,  S.  Moluag.  These 

*  It  is  nine  feet  four  inches  in  height. 

t  See  Annals  of  Ulster  at  date. 

{  The  ' FHll  Mharui,'  his  festival,  used  to  be  celebrated  here  early  in 
September.  Its  original  date,  27th  August,  indicates  that  the  clergy  of  the 
Roman  period  knew  nothing  about  the  history  of  S.  Maelrubha,  or  that 
they  deliberately  changed  his  day  to  that  of  S.  Rufus  of  Capua. 

§  Here  also  his  bell  was  hung,  the  bell  which,  when  removed  to  Cill- 
Chriosd,  became  dumb  for  ever. 

II  The  Vikings  called  the  place  'Kirkabost,'  Kirktown. 

X  305 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

are  at  Lochcarron,*  Contin,-|-  UrquhartJ  on  the 
Cromarty  Firth,  Forres,§  Rafford,  and  'Keth 
Mal-Ruf,'  now  Keith  in  Banffshire. 

After  his  visit  to  the  Churches  in  the  east  of 
Pictland,  S.  Maelrubha  made  a  tour  northwards. 
On  this  journey  he  was  martyred.  The  Church- 
sites  which  mark  his  line  of  march  are: 

The  Chapel  on  Eilean  Ma-rui'  in  Loch  Ma- 

ree;|| 
The  foundation,  now  untraceable,  at  the  head 

of  the  Easter  Carron; 
Thecell  on Innis Ma-rui' , in  Loch  Shin, Lairg; 

and  the  original  Church; 
The  ancient  Church-site  of  Durness^l  in  north- 
ern Sutherland; 
The    ancient    Chapel -site    at    Farr    Parish 

Church**  in  Sutherland; 
'Tempul'  at  Skail  m  Strathnaver,  formerly 
'  Stra'  Nawarn,' ff  now  '  Strd  Nair,'  also  in 

*  Suidhe  Ma-RuH  is  near  the  manse.  The  old  church  called  'Team- 
pulV  is  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Burn  of  the  Waterfall. 

t  Here  is  Preas  Ma-RuC,  and  here  the  F^ill  Ma-Rui  was  celebrated 
before  transference  to  Dingwall. 

%  Geographically  in  Easter  Ross;  but  from  1476,  and  for  some  time 
before,  reckoned  to  be  in  Nairn  for  administrative  purposes,  which  fact 
misled  the  Aberdeen  Breviarist  in  recognizing  the  place  of  S.  Maelrubha's 
death. 

§  S.  Maelrubha'sfestivalwascelebrated  hereon the27th  Augustas 'Sa- 
marive's  Fair. '  The  name  shows  the  local  corruption  of '  Sand  Maelrubha. ' 

II  Formerly  Zo<:A.£a)(Blaeu). 

11  Said  to  have  been  at  Bal-na-  Chille. 

**  In  this  Churchyard  stands  one  of  the  most  beautifiil  of  the  ancient 
Celtic  sculptured  stones. 

tt  In  1427  'Strath  Nawarne.'  In  1499  'Straith  Nevern,^  v=u'.  In 
1794,  Lieutenant  Campbell's  A«-z'«_j',  'LochNavern.' 

306 


SEVENTH  CENTURY  LEADERS 

Sutherland,  where  the  saint  was  martyred. 

Very  accurate  particulars  regarding  S.  Mael- 
rubha's  death  were  still  available  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  period;  but  the  Roman  clergy,  who  were 
frequently  foreigners,  through  a  deficiency  in 
geographical  knowledge,  or  for  some  less  obvious 
reason,  represented  the  scene  of  the  martyrdom 
at  a  place  very  different  from  the  right  one,  al- 
though it  came  to  bear  a  similar  name,  and  was 
in  a  district  where  S.  Maelrubha  had  laboured. 
The  entry  of  Camerarius  concerning  him  is,  July 
19,  670*  (rede  722).  'Coe/o  ipsum  dedit  Strath 
Nawernia  Scotiae  provincia  sub  Christi  annufn 
6'jo(r.j22)'  The  actual  spotof  the  saint's  martyr- 
dom was  known  to  the  Picts  as  '  Ur-ghard'  or 
' Ar-ghard.'  In  recent  times  under  Gaelic  influ- 
ence this  became  '■Air-Gharadh.'  Both  names 
mean,  Woodside.  Some  of  the  fifteenth-century 
Scottish  writers  thought  that  the  place  thus  named 
was  Urquhart  in  East  Ross,  which  used  to  be  part 
of  the  administrative  area  of  the  Q,o\xa.\.yQi  Nairn. 
Butthis'Urquhart'only  dates  asaplace-name  from 
the  coming  thitherofthefamilyofConacher,  keep- 
er of  Urquhart  Castle  |  on  Loch  Ness,  after  the 

*  Either  Camerarius  or  the  Printer  of  his  text  blundered  this  entry. 
July  19  is  one  of  the  days  in  which  S.  Maelrubha's  feast  was  celebrated. 
670  was  the  date  frequently  given  for  Maelrubha's  departure  from  Bangor 
in  671.  Strath-Naver  is  the  known  place  of  his  martyrdom.  But  Camer- 
arius by  a  lapse  (or  the  Printer)  has  placed  the  entry  opposite  the  name  of 
'Dunanis'  (S.  Donnan)  whose  Church  is  in  the  Strath  of  the  llidh  which 
leads  to  Strathnaver.  It  is,  however,  quite  clear  that  the  information  of 
Camerarius  referred  to  S.  Maelrubha. 

t  Cf.  Urquhart  and  Glemnoriston  {by  T>x.  Wm.  Mackay),  p.  ii. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

twelfth  century,  and  the  place  itself  did  not  fall 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  Nairn  until  that  county 
area  was  created,  later  even  than  that  date.  How- 
ever, the  positive  evidence  disposes  of  all  guesses 
and  speculation  as  to  which  '  Nawarn'  was  meant 
in  the  original  accounts;  because  'Ur-ghard'  or 
Air-gharadh'*  is  an  old  Strath-Naver  name, 
covering  the  area  at  Skail,\  where  are  the  ruins 
of  Tempul,  and  the  very  grave,  with  its  ancient 
cross-marked  stone,  of  S.'Maelrubha,  known 
wherever  the  men  of  Ross  or  Sutherland  wander 
as  the  'Red  Priest.'  The  old  source,  from  which 
the  Scottish  authorities  drew,  stated  that  S.  Mael- 
rubha  was  martyred  by  'Danes, 'J  which  doubt- 
less points  to  Frisian  Vikings  who  have  left  traces 
of  early  visits  along  the  eastern  and  northern 
coast  of  Britain.  Further,  it  is  stated  that  the 
body  of  the  saint  'was  dragged  by  the  pagan  for- 
eigners into  the  thickets,'  which  agrees  with  the 
spot  called  'At  the  side  of  the  thickets'  where  the 
martyrdom  actually  took  place.§  S.  Maelrubha's 

*  A  cottage-site  near  '  Tempul'  still  bears  the  name  'Woodhead.'  A 
piece  of  land  some  distance  below  is  'Ach  Airgaraidh,'  Field  of  Wpod- 
side  or  Woodfront.  The  whole  wood  was  known  by  the  name  of  a  part, 
'  Sron- Airgaraidh. '  Cf.  Font's  form  of  this  name  in  Blaeu's  Atlas  '  Slron- 
ckergarry.' 

t  Skail='iiis.\\,  and  was  evidently  the  Viking  equivalent  of  Tevipiil. 

X  Dr.  Reeves  objected  to  ascribing  this  act  to  '  Danes'  in  722;  because 
the  first  Danish  invasion  of  England  is  dated  787.  But  the  late  Mr.  Lang 
asked,  Did  Dr.  Reeves  imagine  that  the  Danes  were  only  making  acquaint- 
ance with  the  British  harbours  on  the  occasion  of  their  first  full-dress  in- 
vasion ?  Dr.  Skene  has  already  dealt  fully  vnth  very  early  traces  of  Frisian 
Vikings  at  the  inlets  on  the  East  coast  of  Scotland. 

§  A  garbled  account  of  S.  Maelrubha's  death  will  be  found  in  the 
308 


SEVENTH  CENTURY  LEADERS 

day  was  celebrated  at  his  Churches  in  Pictland  as 
suited  local  convenience;  but,  generally,  in  July 
or  August.  The  Irish  adhered  to  his  correct  day 
on  the  2 1st  April.  Tighernac  records  his  death 
very  carefully  at  a.d.  722,  ' Maelrubka  in  Apur- 
croson,anno  Ixxxe talis,  tribus  mensibus,xix  diebus 
peraciis;  in  xi  kl.  Mai,  tercieferie  diepausat.  He 
had  left  Bangor  as  Ab  of  his  own  community 
when  he  was  twenty-nine  years  of  age,  he  had 
directed  them  for  fifty-one  years,  and  had  held 
the  presidency  of  Abercrossan  for  forty-nine. 
The  Feilire  of  Angus  has  the  Celtic  verse  which 
not  only  indicates  his  'white  martyrdom';  but 
his  love  for  his  mother,  to  whom  he  is  known  to 
have  been  devoted: 

In  Alba  in  shining  purity, 
Having  relinquished  all  happiness. 
Went  from  us  to  his  mother. 
Our  brother  Maelrubha. 

By  reason  of  its  northern  position,  Abercrossan 
was  one  of  the  first  of  the  Pictish  monasteries  to 
be  ravaged  and  weakened  by  the  Scandinavian 
Vikings.  It  was  founded  from  a  community  rich 
in  manuscripts,  some  of  which  found  their  way 

Breviary  of  Aberdeen.  There  it  is  stated  that  the  body  of  S.  Maelrubha 
was  carried  to  Abercrossan  for  burial.  This  is  manifestly  a  faked  account; 
and  one  of  its  motives  was  to  explain  the  two  places  called  '  Suidhe  Ma-rui,' 
one  at  Loch  Chroisg  the  other  between  Torridon  and  Kinlochewe,  as  so 
named, '  because  the  saint's  corpse  was  rested  on  them. '  A  saint's  suidhe 
was  a  place  where  he  read  or  preached  the  Gospel  to  the  people,  or  where 
he  sat  in  judgment  and  settled  local  disputes.  Every  Celtic  saint  had  a 
suidhe  near  his  headquarters. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

to  the  Continent;  but  not  one  jot  of  written  matter 
originally  belonging  to  Abercrossan  is  known  to 
be  extant  now.  In  the  Irish  annals,  at  a.d.  T-^l^ 
it  is  noted  that  Failbhe  *  Mac  Guaire,  S.  Mael- 
rubha's  successor,  was  drowned  in  the  open  sea 
with  twenty-two  of  his  sailors,  a  tragedy  which 
must  have  deprived  Bangor  of  much  information 
about  the  daughter-community.  Again,  at  a.d. 
802  the  death  of  'Mac  Oigi,  Ab  of  Bangor,'  is 
recorded.  This  Ab,  as  stated,  was  promoted  to 
the  parent-community  from  Abercrossan.  About 
his  period  came  the  pagan  Viking  raiders  to  the 
coasts,  in  unwonted  strength.  The  source  from 
which  the  Aberdeen  Breviary  drew  much  of  its 
information,  which  unfortunately  does  not  now 
exist,  stated  that  on  one  occasion,  after  a  raid  on 
Abercrossan  from  the  sea,  the  Vikings  were  sail- 
ing away  with  their  plunder,  when  they  suddenly 
sank,  booty  and  all,  in  calm  water. 

*  Tighemac. 


THE  FIRST  ENGLISH  ATTEMPT 
AT  CONQUEST  IN  PICTLAND 
NORTH  OF  THE  FORTH  AND 
CLYDE  LINE;  AND  THE 
INCIDENT     OF     TRUMWINE'S 

EPISCOPATE 
CHAPTER  THIRTEEN 

It  has  already  been  noted  that  the  earlier  kings 
of  the  Angles  pushed  their  northern  frontier  to 
the  Brito-Pictish  territories  on  the  Firth  of  Forth. 
Bede,  in  a  passage  which  it  is  fair  to  state  has 
been  regarded  as  an  interpolation,  conveys  that 
Oswald,  king  of  the  Angles  a.I).  635-642,  who 
had  been  befriended  by  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots 
while  in  exile  at  lona,  'brought  under  his  domin- 
ion all  the  nations  and  provinces  of  Britain,  which 
are  divided  into  four*  languages,  namely,  those 
of  the  Britons,  of  the  Picts,  of  the  Scots  and  of 
the  English. 'I  Whether  interpolated  or  not  the 
passage  is  audacious  fable.  Not  to  mention  the 
Britons  of  the  south-west,  or  the  Saxon  invaders 
of  the  South  of  Britain;  the  Strath-Clyde  Britons 
were  at  this  time  independent  and  were  ruled  by 
GureitJ  who  died  a.d.  658;  and  Pictland  was  in- 
dependent and  was  ruled  by  Brude  Mac  Wid  who 

•  He  should  have  said  two  languages,  namely  Celtic  and  English,  or 
three  dialects  of  Celtic  and  one  language,  English. 

t  Lib.  iii.  cap.  vi. 

%  Cf.  Skene's  Preface  to  Chronicles  of  the  Picts  and  Scots,  where  he 
gives  the  dates  of  the  kings  of  Strathclyde  from  the  Annals. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

died  A.  D.  64 1 ,  and  by  Talorg  his  brother*  who  died 
A.D.  653,  according  to  the  Irish  annals.  Bede, 
however,  shows  that  the  statement  was  untrue  f 
by  a  later  passage  where  he  claims  that  Os- 
wald's successor  Oswy,  king  of  the  Angles,  A.D. 
c.  642-c.  670,  'governed  the  Mercians;  and  like- 
wise subdued  the  greater  part  of  the  Picts  to 
the  dominion  of  the  English.' J  This  diminished 
claim  falsifies  the  former;  but  is  itself  a  gross  ex- 
aggeration. The  simple  historical  truth,  so  far  as 
the  Britons  of  the  North  and  the  Picts  are  con- 
cerned, is  that  Oswy  completed  and  made  secure 
the  Anglian  occupation  of  the  territory  of  the 
Britons  between  the  Solway  and  the  Mersey;  he 
exercized  sovereign  control  of  the  native  Britons 
and  the  emigrated  Irish  Picts,  who  are  found  at 
this  time  in  Galloway  ;§  and  for  military  and  pol- 
itical reasons  he  seized  and  occupied  a  narrow 
strip  of  Pictish  territory  running  along  the  banks 
of  Forth  from  the  neighbourhood  of  Edinburgh 
to  the  fords  of  the  Forth  about  Stirling.  One 
side  of  this  strip  was  secured  by  the  tidal  marshes 
and  waters  of  the  Forth.  The  other  side  was 
open  to  the  Britons  of  Strath-Clyde  from  their 

*  Fiais/i  Chronicle.  The  Gaidheals  write  '  Wid'  as  'Fooith.' 

t  The  Gaidheals  or  Scots  were  of  course  also  independent  under  Eoch- 
aidh  Buidhe,  d.  629;  Conadh  Cerr,  d.  629-30;  Ferchar;  and  Domhnall 
Breac,  slain  642  by  Hoan,  king  of  the  Britons  of  Strath-Clyde.  These 
were  all  kings  of  Dalriada. 

X  Lib.  iii.  cap.  xxiv. 

§  Consider  S.  Dagan ;  and  also  the  Roman  Catholic  bishops  of  Can- 
dida Casa,  with  their  Pictish  names,  after  that  community  had  conformed. 
312 


ENGLISH  FAIL  AND  FLEE 

capital  at  Dunbarton;  open  to  the  Gaidheals  or 
Scots  who,  somewhat  earher,  had  in  raiding 
expeditions  crossed  Drum-Alban  and  pushed 
through  the  Lennox;  and,  most  serious  of  all, 
open  to  the  Picts  of  Perthshire  who  were  liable  to 
break  out  through  the  hills  of  Menteith,  Oswy's 
apparent  scheme,  which  the  Picts  would  not 
allow  the  Angles*  to  work  out,  was  to  ascend 
the  southern  side  of  the  Forth  Valley  to  the  head 
waters  of  that  river,  so  that  the  Angles  might 
join  hands,  if  necessary,  across  Drum-Alban  with 
the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  to  whom  at  this  period 
they  were  inclined  to  be  friendly,  owing  to  the 
influence  of  the  lona  missionaries!  in  Northum- 
bria.  If  this  scheme  had  been  successful  the  Picts 
of  Alba  would  have  been  effectively  isolated 
from  their  kindred,  the  Britons  of  Strath-Clyde; 
and  both  these  nations  would  have  been  weak- 
ened, and  Oswy  would  probably  have  beaten 
them  singly  in  turn.  The  Picts  were  wise  enough 
to  see  that  the  Anglian  scheme  could  not  be  al- 
lowed to  materialize ;  and  the  hour  and  the  man 
for  the  task  were  approaching.  Meanwhile,  it  is 
possible  to  judge  how  English  history  has  been 
made,  and  to  mark  the  very  slender  foundation 

*  About  the  time  of  Oswy's  death  the  local  Picts  had  taken  action 
against  the  English  outposts.  Egfrid's  first  expedition  in  672  was  partly  a 
counteraction  to  these  movements,  and  partly  an  attempt  to  prevent  Brude 
Mac  Bile's  election  to  the  sovereignty  of  Pictland. 

t  Most  of  them  retired  from  Northumbria  in  a.d.  664,  leaving  the  field 
to  Wilfrid  and  the  Roman  Catholics,  who,  under  the  patronage  of  Alch- 
frid,  won  over  Oswy  on  the  Easter  question  and  to  Roman  usage  generally. 

3^3 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

on  which  certain  historians  based  the  absurd 
story  of  the  subjugation  of  the  Celtic  nations  of 
Britain  to  the  English  'in  the  time  of  their  king 
Oswy.' 

The  counterpart  of  this  unblushing  exagger- 
ation is  seen  in  the  pretensions  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  clergy  who  had  made  the  Teutonic  in- 
vaders of  Britain  their  peculiar  care.  There  is  the 
instance  of  Wilfrid,*  bishop  of  York  at  times,  a 
Roman  Catholic  zealot  whose  self-will  and  im- 
perious ways  kept  him  in  continuous  conflict  with 
his  fellow-prelates  and  with  the  kings  of  the 
Angles.  After  a.d.  664,  when,  with  his  shrewd 
knowledge  of  human  nature  and  out  of  his  nimble 
intellect,  he  had  called  up  the  spectre  of  S.  Peter, 
had  frightened  the  superstitious  king  Oswy,  and 
had  caused  him  to  turn  his  back  upon,  and  to  reject 
bishop  Colmanf  and  the  other  clerics  from  lona 
of  the  Church  of  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots,  men  of 
Christ-like  life  and  apostolic  simplicity;!  he,  about 
A.D.  669,  for  one  of  his  short  terms,  worked  him- 
self into  the  bishopric  of  York.  Bede,  describing 
him  at  this  time,  states,  'Wilfrid  administered 
the  bishopric  of  York,  and  of  all  the  Northum- 

*  Eddius  provides  an  account  of  his  life.  Bede  whitewashes  him,  as  a 
set-off  to  his  treatment  by  Canterbury.  He  was  son  of  a  Northumbrian 
noble,  educated  under  the  saintly  Aidan  the  Scot.  He  conceived  a  violent 
antipathy  to  the  Celts  and  their  simple  life.  He  loved  luxury  and  magnifi- 
cence. He  was  hated  in  England  and  Gaul,  beloved  at  Rome ;  and  he  be- 
came the  unscrupulous  instrument  of  Roman  aggression. 

t  Bede,  lib.  iii.  capp.  xxv.  xxvi. 

{  See  Bede's  own  testimony  to  Bishop  Aidan,  lib.  iii.  capp.  v.  xvii. 


ENGLISH  FAIL  AND  FLEE 

brians,  and  likewise  of  the  Picts,  as  far  as  king 
Oswy  was  able  to  extend  his  dominions.'*  In- 
cidentally, let  it  be  noted  that  there  is  here  no 
mention  of  the  other  Celts  that  Oswy  was  al- 
leged to  have  incorporated  into  his  dominions.  It 
is  certain  that  not  one  Celtic  Ab,  bishop,  or  pres- 
byter within  the  sovereignty  of  the  Picts  of  Alba, 
north  of  the  Forth  and  Clyde  line,  or  in  the  Brit- 
ish kingdom  of  Strath-Clyde,  recognized  either 
Wilfrid's  jurisdiction  or  his  authority.  It  is  un- 
necessary to  state  that  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots 
regarded  Wilfrid  with  scornful  sorrow;  because 
he  had  destroyed  the  greatest  mission  of  their 
Church  and  was  hostile  to  their  nation,  all  because 
their  clergy  believed  in  adhering  to  the  apostolic 
model  of  the  Church,  and  differed  from  him  as  to 
the  calculation  of  the  date  for  celebrating  Easter. 
But  this  same  Wilfrid  was  at  Rome  for  a  second 
time  in  a.d.  680  defending  his  conduct  in  Britain 
before  Pope  Agatho.  He  appears  to  have  influ- 
enced his  ecclesiastical  superiors  as  easily  as  he 
had  influenced  king  Oswy.f  The  Bishop  of 
Rome  called  Wilfrid  to  a  Council  |  which  was 
preparing  to  deal  with  the  Monothelites.  At  that 
Council,  before  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 

*  Lib.  iv.  cap.  iii. 

t  Oswy  appears  to  have  become  weary  of  his  presence,  as  he  got  him 
away  from  Northumbriafor  his  ordination  in  664;  and  then,  in  his  absence, 
filled  the  chair  on  which  he  had  set  his  eyes  by  appointing  Ceadda. 

I  It  was  a  local  Council  held  at  Rome  in  680  to  determine  the  attitude 
of  the  Roman  delegates  in  the  Council  of  Constantinople  called  for  680- 
681. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

other  bishops,  Wilfrid,  according  to  Bede,  'made 
confession  of  the  true  and  catholic  faith';  and 
with  magnificent  effrontery  characteristic  of  all 
his  actions, '  confirmed  the  same  with  his  subscrip- 
tion, in  the  name  of  all  the  northern  part  of  Brit- 
ain and  Ireland,  and  the  islands  inhabited  by  the 
nations  of  the  English  and  Britons,  as  also  by  the 
Scots  and  Picts,'*  This  extraordinary  declar- 
ation, we  learn  from  Bede,  became  part  of  the  re- 
cords of  the  Council.-]-  Except  the  few Gaidhealic 
or  Scotic  missionaries  who  had  suffered  divorce 
from  their  flocks  through  Wilfrid's  intrigues,  who 
were  acquainted  with  his  unscrupulous  methods 
in  conference,  and  with  his  wresting  of  the  letter 
of  the  sacred  Gospel  to  suit  his  own  purposes; 
the  thousands  of  other  Christians  in  the  Celtic 
nations  would  have  staggered  in  amazement  to 
learn  that  they  had  such  a  sponsor,  and  at  such  a 
place  as  Rome,  with  which  they  associated  most 
innovations  on  the  ancient  practice  and  usage  of 
the  Church,  and  with  which  they  had  repeatedly 
refused  to  join  in  fellowship.  Even  the  unhappy 
Anglican  bishopric,  of  short  duration,  which  was 
established  by  the  Roman  clergy  for  Trumwine 

*  Bede,  lib.  v.  cap.  xix. 

t  On  Wilfrid's  return  from  this  Council  he  was  charged  with  having 
obtained  his  acquittal  at  Rome  by  bribery  and  was  imprisoned,  first  at 
'  Bromnis '  and  after  at  Dunbar.  On  his  release  from  the  latter  place  he 
went  to  Mercia  and  then  to  Wessex.  He  was  expelled  from  both  places. 
Bede  omits  all  this.  Wilfrid  was  also  hated  on  the  Continent,  and  Win- 
frid  being  mistaken  for  him,  owing  to  the  similarity  of  name,  w.is  mur- 
dered, '  through  one  syllable '  as  an  old  author  put  it. 
316 


ENGLISH  FAIL  AND  FLEE 

the  Angle  among  the  Picts,  in  the  strip  of  terri- 
tory which  had  been  occupied  by  Oswy  on  the 
banks  of  Forth,  was  designed  not  merely  to 
proselytize  the  nonconforming  Picts,  but  very 
specially  to  weaken  Wilfrid  and  the  regal  epis- 
copal control  which  he  had  been  striving  with 
much  show  to  centre  in  himself  at  York.  In  a.d. 
678,  before  Wilfrid  set  out  for  Rome,  Egfrid,* 
who  had  succeeded  Oswy  as  king  of  the  Angles, 
unceremoniously  ejected  f  him  from  the  bishop- 
ric of  York  and  from  his  kingdom,  although 
he  had  once  been  Wilfrid's  friend.  The  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  at  the  time  was  Theodore, 
an  Asiatic,  formerly  a  monk  at  Rome  of  unas- 
sured orthodoxy,  J  whose  tonsure  had  been  as  un- 
Roman  as  that  of  the  Celts.  He  had  been  estab- 
lished at  Canterbury  as  Archbishop  under  the 
watchful  tutelage  of  Hadrian,  an  African,  Abbot 
of  a  monastery  near  Naples,  an  astute  man.  He 
himself  had  been  twice  offered  the  See  of  Canter- 
bury, and  twice  had  refused.  He  had  previously 
travelled  extensively  among  the  Franks,  and 
knew  what  it  meant  to  live  among  Christians  of 
the  Teutonic  type.  During  the  interregnum, 
which  preceded  the  coming  of  Theodore  §  to  Can- 
terbury, Wilfrid  had  taken  upon  himself  to  per- 

*  Wilfrid  wished  to  control  Egfrid's  domestic  affairs  while  his  first 
queen  lived.  Eormenburg,  Egfrid's  second  wife,  could  not  suffer  Wilfrid's 
power  and  show. 

t  Bede,  lib.  iv.  cap.  xii.  |  Bede,  lib.  iv.  cap.  i. 

§  He  was  ordained  in  668  at  Rome  and  came  to  Canterbury  in  669. 

2>^7 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

form  the  ordinations  necessary  for  the  working 
of  the  dioceses  of  Kent.   It  was  at  this  time  that 
Hadrian  and  Theodore  had  taken  the  measure 
of  Wilfrid  and  his  arrogance.     Consequently, 
when  king  Egfrid  evicted  Wilfrid  from  York, 
the  latter   received  little   sympathy   from   the 
Archbishop.    Although,  on  Wilfrid's  departure, 
Theodore  knew  that  he  had  gone  to  lay  his  case 
before  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  he  treated  him  as  a 
fugitive  from  his  diocese,  and  promptly  took  ad- 
vantage of  the  situation  to  break  up  the  diocese 
of  York,  and,  consequently,  to  prevent  in  the 
future  the  monarchic  control  that  Wilfrid  had 
tried  to  centre  there.  Theodore,  to  achieve  his 
purpose,  created  a  bishopric  of  Deira  with  its 
seat  at  York,  and  revived  the  bishopric  of  the 
Bernicians  with  its  seat  at  Lindisfarne  or  Hex- 
ham, and  he  ordained  bishops.*  A  little  later,  in 
68 1 ,  Archbishop  Theodore  took  a  farther  step, 
he  disjoined    Hexham   from    Lindisfarne   and 
placed  a  bishop  there ;  and  ordained  Trumwine 
to  be  bishop  of  that  Anglian  territory  in  the 
Forth  region  which  Oswy  had  taken  from  the 
Picts.  Trumwine's  seat  was  at  Abercorn.  Here 
he  ministered  for  five  short  years  to  the  sentries 
at  the  Anglian  outposts  which  stretched  from  the 
fords  of  Forth  at  Stirling  to  the  Pentland  Hills. 
This  is  the  complete  foundation  for  the  Roman 

*  Bosa  and  Eata,  the  former  at  York,  the  latter  at  Lindisfarne  or  Hex- 
ham. 


iliN<ji.lSrt    TAIL   AJNU    Jt^LyJiJi 

Catholic  and  Anglican  fables  which  claimed  a 
diocese  in  Pictland,  subject  sometimes  to  York, 
sometimes  to  Canterbury,  whose  holder  bore  the 
empty  title  'bishop  of  the  Picts.'  Trumwine  was 
little,  if  anything,  better  than  a  garrison  chaplain, 
intruded  with  a  hated  Teutonic  soldiery  among 
the  Pictish  Celts  who  despised  both  him  and 
them.  During  the  very  years  when  he  was  cred- 
ited with  the  care  of  the  Cis-Forthian  Picts  these 
were  being  quietly  and  unostentatiously  minis- 
tered to  by  their  own  unmonarchic  bishops  and 
simple-living  presbyters  from  the  local  centres 
of  the  Celtic  Church  at  Glasgow,  Kingarth,  Inch- 
maholm,and  Dunblane.  Theylittle  knew  or  cared 
that  the  crafty  oriental  Theodore  had  created, 
under  Canterbury,  a  so-called  Pictish  bishopric 
to  empty  the  pretensions  of  his  impetuous,  over- 
driving Teutonic  brother  at  York,  who  had  been 
claiming  to  be  spiritual  spokesman,  not  only  for 
the  English,  but  for  the  Celts  of  Alba  and  of 
Ireland. 

While  these  foreign  ecclesiastics  schemed  at 
Canterbury,  or  intrigued  at  Rome ;  a  Celtic  sol- 
dier was  sharpening  the  claymore  that  was  soon 
to  end  their  manoeuvres,  and  to  dissipate  the 
Teutonic  menace,  in  the  shape  of  the  Angles, 
from  the  Celts  of  Northern  Alba.  This  soldier 
accomplished  in  a.d.  686  what  William  Wallace 
repeated  some  centuries  later  when  he  roused 
the  Celtic  soul  of  Northern  Britain  against  the 

319 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

English.    He  also  achieved  a  similar  decisive 
triumph  to  that  of  Robert  Bruce  at  Bannockburn 
when  Anglo-Norman  tyranny  in  the  North  was 
crushed.    The  deliverer  in  a.d.  686  was,  like 
William  Wallace,  a  Briton,  the  son,  by  a  British 
prince,  of  a  Pictish  princess  from  the  little  Pict- 
ish  kingdom  whose  capital  was  in  Strath-Earn, 
Perthshire,  which  came  to  be  called  'Fort-chernn' 
or  'Fort-renn';*  although  its  people  were  better 
known  in  ancient  times  as  '  Verturiones.']  He 
was  born  among  the  Strath-Clyde  Britons,  He  is 
known  in  history  as  BrudeJ'Mac  Bil6.'§  His 
race  was  royal,  because  Taudar,  another  of  Bill's 
descendants,  who  died  a.d.  752,  was  king  of  the 
Strath-Clyde  Britons.  We  do  not  know  the  date 
of  Brude's  birth.  Through  his  mother, '  Mac  Bile' 
became  Brude  or  chief  of  the  Men  of  the  Earn, 
whose  territory  was  most  directly  threatened  by 
the  English  outposts  at  the  fords  of  Forth  at 
Stirling.  If  that  had  not  been  enough  to  rouse  his 
freedom-loving  soul;  he  had  only  to  remember 
his  paternal  home  among  the  Britons  of  Strath- 
Clyde  whose  kingdom  had  suffered  mutilation, 
and  whose  homes  had  been  subjected  to  intoler- 
able outrages  by  Anglian  raiders.  In  a.d.  672, 
the  year  in  which  he  was  making  good  his  claim 

♦  This  name  is  simply  a  later  gloss  on  the  Pictish  name  'Rath-Erann 
in  Albain'  (Strath-Earn)  where  S.  Fillan  laboured.  Tighernac's  spellings 
are  ' Fortrend'  a.nA  'Fort-Chertm.' 

t  Itself  regarded  as  meaning  Men  of  the  Earn.  %  The  Speaker. 

§  Pictish  Chronicle,  Tiglurncu,  and  the  other  Irish  sources. 
320 


ENGLISH  FAIL  AND  FLEE 

to  be  Sovereign  of  Pictland,  he  had,  with  little 
preparation, faced  the  English,  but  without  much 
apparent  success.  *  From  a. d.  685  he  was  less  im- 
pulsive. The  initial  steps  in  this  campaign  have 
not  all  come  down  to  our  time.  We  can  infer 
enough  to  realize  that  he  was  a  military  leader 
of  the  best  Celtic  type.  The  power  which  he  con- 
trolled and  the  extent  of  his  sovereignty  can  be 
estimated  from  the  successful  expedition  by  which 
he  reduced  the  Picts  of  Orkney,  a.d.  682,  in  con- 
sequence of  rebellion  against  his  authority.  The 
accumulated  anger  of  years  was  shut  up  until  the 
opportune  moment  for  its  explosion.  He  refused 
to  be  tempted  into  easy  action  from  the  territory 
of  the  Britons,  where  he  would  have  required  to 
meet  the  full  military  strength  of  the  Angles  on 
ground  of  their  own  choosing.  He  began  oper- 
ations from  his  own  kingdom  in  Strath-Earn, 
With  uncanny  patience  he  persistently  teased 
the  English  into  angry  action  by  attacks  on  their 
advance  guards  at  Stirling.  His  tactics  were 
meant  to  madden  the  English,  already  jumpy 
through  proximity  to  the  weird  mountains  that 
disturbed  their  ancestral  affinity  for  swamps  and 
flats,  inbred  by  Germanic  estuaries.  The  English 
line  of  communications  too  was  thin,  and  open  in 
the  extreme  rear  to  the  Britons,  who  were  Brude's 
relations  and  fellow-citizens,    Egfrid  was  still 

*  The  English  authorities  describe  it  as  a  'rising.'  Their  effort  was 
apparentlyan  attempt  to  prevent  the  sovereignty  of 'Mac  Bil^'  in  Pictland. 

Y  321 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

king*  of  the  English.  He  was  possessed  by  the 
Teutonic  lust  to  exterminate  his  neighbours. 
He  sent  a  wanton  expedition  under  his  general, 
Beret,  among  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  of  Ireland, 
although  they  and  their  kin  in  Dalriada  had 
been  conspicuous  benefactors  to  the  English; 
he  wasted  their  territories,  took  captive  their 
women,  "j"  and  wrecked  their  Churches  and  muinn- 
tirs.  Even  Bede  charges  him  with  crime  in  lay- 
ing waste  an  unoffending  nation.  Hewas  the  first, 
but  not  the  last,  king  of  the  English  whom  the 
Irish  Gaidheals  cursed  'with  constant  imprec- 
ations, invoking  the  vengeanceof  Heaven.'J  The 
instrument  of  Heaven  on  this  occasion  was  the 
Army  of  the  Picts.to  whom  the  Gaidhealsor  Scots 
themselves  had  given  trouble  and  caused  suffer- 
ing on  almost  every  occasion  that  the  Picts  were 
occupied  in  repelling  the  Angles.  Egfrid  had  so 
often  found  the  Celts  an  easy  prey  that  Brude 
Mac  Bild  was  soon  gladdened  to  find  him  ex- 
pectant, like  Edward  'the  Hammer'  in  later  days, 
of  decisive  action.  Egfrid  marched  into  Pictland 
with  his  entire  army,  and  crossed  the  Forth  near 

*  Egfrid  succeeded  Oswy  his  father  in  670,  and  was  slain  in  686, 
according  to  Tighernac,  and  68$  according  to  Bede's  data. 

Aldfrid,  said  to  be  a  brother  of  Egfrid,  Oswy  having  been  claimed  as 
his  father,  succeeded  Egfrid. 

Aldfrid  was  a  scholarly  man  who  had  been  brought  up  among  the 
Gaidheals.  William  of  Malmesbury  gives  the  impression  that  Egfrid  was 
responsible  for  his  exile. 

t  Adamnan  had  to  go  from  lona  to  secure  the  release  of  these  women. 

X  Bede,  lib.  iv.  cap.  xxvi. 

322 


ENGLISH  FAIL  AND  FLEE 

Stirling,  bent  on  smashing  Brude  in  his  own 
province  of '  Fortrenn,'  Strath-Earn.  But  Brude 
had  no  intention  of  giving  Egfrid  battle  where 
he  desired  it,  or  while  his  communications  were 
entire.  He  'feigned  retreat,'*  as  the  old  accounts 
put  it;  and,  as  he  retired,  ever  lured  the  enemy 
on.  Egfrid,  with  his  lust  of  conquest,  perhaps  saw 
visions  of  the  subjugation  of  all  Pictland  which 
had  been  the  dream  of  his  predecessors,  and  of 
their  Roman  Catholic  prelates.  Brude  with  ad- 
mirable strategy  drew  his  enemy  across  the  Tay, 
and,  at  last,  beyond  the  Sidlaw  Hills,  far  away 
from  his  base.  There  he  halted  the  Pictish  army 
near  Dunnichen  in  Forfarshire.  This  was  the 
capital  of  the  Picts  of  Angus,  and  the  place  where 
Nectan  the  Great,f  Sovereign  of  the  Picts  c. 
A.D.  456-480,  had  bestowed  a  fort  on  S.  Buidhe 
in  which  he  built  his  Church,  in  days  when  the 
Angles  had  hardly  cleared  from  the  German  mud- 
flats. Fortune  had  favoured  Brude  in  the  choice 
of  his  rallying  place.  It  insured  the  support  of  the 
petty  king  of  the  Pictish  province  of  Angus  with 
his  always  powerful  clan.  The  slow  retreat  had 
given  time  for  the  Picts  of  Mearns,  Mar,  Buchan, 
and,  perhaps,  Moray  to  come  to  the  aid  of  their 
sovereign,  as  they  were  bound  to  do  by  the  Con- 
stitution. Brude's  flanks  were  safe  from  any  trea- 

*  Cf.  Bede,  lib.  iv.  cap.  xxv. 

t  Nectan  reigned  as  Sovereign  of  the  Picts  at  his  own  stronghold  as 
capital. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

chery  on  the  part  of  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  from 
across  Drum-Alban,  which  they  would  not  have 
been  in  Strath-Earn,  if  the  Gaidheals  had  been 
treacherously  inclined,  which  can  hardly  be  con- 
ceived considering  the  foe.  But  Brude  took  no 
risks.  Bede  explains  that  Egfrid  was  'drawn 
into  a  narrow  pass  among  remote  mountains.' 
As  the  'mountains'  were  the  Sidlaws,  it  looks  as 
if  the  main  army  of  Brude  had  retired  by  Strath- 
more,  while  an  enticing  force  had  affected  to  fall 
back  on  the  strong  capital  of  Angus  rounding  the 
Sidlaws  by  the  Carse  of  Gowrie  road,  Egfrid 
and  his  army  following  hard.  As  soon  as  Egfrid 
and  his  men  were  thoroughly  involved  between 
the  surrounding  hills  and  the  marshes,  which  at 
that  time  fed  the  tributaries  of  the  Lunan  and  the 
Dean,  Brude  attacked.  The  day  was  'Sabbath,' 
our  Saturday,  20th  May  a.d.  686.*  The  battle  re- 
sulted in  crushing  disaster  to  the  English  army, 
Bede  states  that  king  Egfrid  and  'the  greater 
part  of  the  forces  that  he  had  led  thither  were 
slain.'  I  This  glorious  and  well-merited  triumph 
produced  great  joy  in  Pictland.  Riaghuil  (Rule), 
Abbot  of  Bangor  of  the  Irish  Picts,  who  was  in 
Pictland  of  Alba  at  the  time,  sang  Brude's  praise 

*  This  is  the  year  in  Tighemac,  and  in  the  other  Irish  Annals.  Bede 
gives  685  ;  but  he  is  uncertain  as  to  the  dates  at  this  time.  He  had  given 
the  date  of  king  Oswry's  death  as  670,  which  Plummer  has  corrected  to 
671.  He  also  calls  685  the  '  fifteenth '  year  of  king  Egfrid's  reign ;  but  if 
he  succeeded,  as  Bede  indicates,  in  February  670,  then  May  685  was  the 
sixteenth  year  of  his  reign. 

t  Lib.  iv.  cap.  xxvi. 


ENGLISH  FAIL  AND  FLEE 

in  verse,  a  fragment  of  which  has  already  been 
quoted.  S.  Cuthbert,  who  had  tried  to  dissuade 
Egfrid  from  this  unhappy  campaign,  received 
early  intimation  of  the  disaster,  and  broke  the 
news  to  Eormenburg,  the  English  queen,  with 
whom  he  was  staying  at  Carlisle.*  One  can 
imagine  the  utter  despair  of  the  few  fugitives 
from  that  stricken  field  as  they  headed  towards 
England — the  frowning  Grampians  on  one  side, 
the  inhospitable  Sidlaws  on  the  other;  the  Pict- 
ish  army  flushed  with  decisive  victory  in  com- 
mand of  the  main  road  and  southward  passes ; 
and  beyond,  miles  and  miles  of  Pictish  territory 
with  villages  full  of  outraged  and  angry  Picts. 
The  only  chance  for  fugitives  was  flight  into  the 
Braes  ofAngus,a  dash  through  Atholl  and  across 
Drum-Alban  into  Dalriada,  to  throw  themselves 
on  the  mercy  of  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots,  their  ill- 
treated  benefactors.  This  course  was  the  more 
attractive;  because  Aldfrid  the  Scholar,  illegiti- 
mate son  of  Oswy  by  a  Scottish  woman  called 
Fina,  only  heir  to  the  English  throne,  was  in 
Dalriada,  having  been  exiled  to  lona  by  king 
Egfrid.  Apparently  this  was  the  road  taken  by 
the  survivors  and  the  released  captives;  because 
the  body  of  Egfrid  was,  by  grace  of  the  Picts, 
allowed  to  be  recovered  from  the  battlefield  and 
carried  to  lona,  where  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  per- 
mitted Aldfrid  their  guest  to  bury  it  among  the 

*  Bede's  Life  ofS.  Cuthbert. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

dust  of  Scotic  saints  and  kings.  It  is  difficult  to 
know  which  most  to  admire,  the  chivalry  of  the 
Picts  in  allowing  royal  honours  to  the  remains  of 
a  wanton  and  unrelenting  enemy;  or  the  forgive- 
ness of  the  Dalriad  Gaidheals  or  Scots  in  re- 
ceiving to  the  sacred  precincts  of  their  mother- 
Church  the  body  of  a  king  who  had  repaid  them 
with  basest  ingratitude  for  unstinted  kindnesses 
to  himself  and  family ;  and  who  had  sent  his 
soldiers  to  ravish,  plunder,  and  murder  their!  Irish 
kin.  The  battle  is  called  'Cath  Dun  'Nechtain 
in  the  Irish  sources,  while  the  Anglo-Saxons 
refer  to  it  as  the  battle  of  'Nechtan's-mere.' 

The  political  results  of  Egfrid's  ill-starred 
campaign, and  his  defeat  at  'Dun  Nechtain,' were 
far-reaching.  Southern  Pictland  was  freed  of  the 
English  garrison  that  had  lain  along  the  southern 
bankof  the  Forth  harassing  the  frontier  clans;  and 
the  Angles  retired  beyond  the  Pentland  Hills 
into  what  afterwards  became  the  south-eastern 
corner  of  Scotland,  continuing,  of  course,  into 
Northumbria.  The  Britons  of  Strath-Clyde  were 
left  alone  by  the  Anglian  tribes  on  their  eastern 
borders;  and  the  Anglian  raiders  sought  less 
dangerous  occupations.  The  English  power  had 
been  beaten  until  it  shrank.  From  the  known  ex- 
postulations of  S.  Cuthbert,  it  is  evident  that 
strong  feeling  had  been  growing  among  the  native 
Anglican  clergy  against  wanton  war  for  the  sake 
of  territorial  expansion,  these  native  pastors 
326 


liJNCiLlbhl  i^AlL  AJNU  tLEE 

realizing,  what  their  continental  brethren  of  the 
Roman  Church  were  slow  to  comprehend,  that 
the  Picts  were  least  dangerous  when  left  alone. 
Bede  sums  up*  the  situation  in  words  sad  enough 
to  him,  'From  that  time,'  that  is  the  date  of  the 
battleof'Dun-Nechtain,"thestrengthof  the  An- 
glian kingdom  "began  to  ebb  and  fall  away";"]" 
for  the  Picts  recovered  the  territory^  which  the 
English  had  held;  and  so  also  did  the  Scots§  that 
were  in  Britain;  and  some  of  the  Britons ||  re- 
gained their  liberty,  which  they  have  nowT[  en- 
joyed for  about  forty-six  years.' 

No  consequent  event  better  emphasizes  the 
shattering  effect  of  the  victory  of  the  Sovereign 
of  Pictland  on  the  English,  and  the  exotic  char- 
acter of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  the  terri- 
tory occupied  by  the  Angles  on  the  Forth,  than 
the  headlong  flight  of  Trumwine  the  bishop,  and 
the  other  Anglican  clergy;  the  upsetting  of  the 

*  Lib.  iv.  cap.  xxvi. 

t  Phrase  from  Virgil,  .<4«».  II.  169. 

+  The  territory  along  the  river  and  firth  of  Forth. 

§  The  Scots  of  Dalriada  (Argyll).  The  Angles  occupied  no  territory 
of  theirs;  although  by  sitting  along  the  south  bank  of  Forth  they  prevented 
their  raids  into  Pictland  through  the  Lennox. 

II  The  Britons  of  Strath-Clyde.  This  indicates  that  the  Angles  had  held 
the  western  parts  of  Lanarkshire,  Ayrshire,  and  Dumfriesshire  in  thrall. 
They  certainly  raided  these  parts  frequently.  The  'liberty'  which  Bede 
refers  to  did  not  extend  to  Kirkcudbright  or  Galloway,  because  Bede  says 
that  in  731  Candida  Casa  was  part  of  the  Anglian  province  of  the  Bemi- 
cians.  There  had,  however,  as  others  have  pointed  .out,  been  no  com- 
plete extennination.of  the  Britons  here;  because  Britons  and  Irish  Picts 
occupied  Galloway  at  this  date,  and  took  a  lead  in  affairs. 

Tf  Namely  in  731  when  Bede  was  completing  his  ^/rfory. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

five -years  old  episcopal  chair  established  by 
Canterbury  at  Abercorn-on- Forth,  and  the  dis- 
appearance of  the  usurped  title  '  Bishop  of  the 
Picts,'  a  people  who  in  the  seventh  century  had 
no  desire  for  monarchic,  'regional,'  or  diocesan 
bishops ;  although  they  honoured  and  loved  the 
bishopswho  lived  with  the  presbyters  under  their 
Abs  in  the  Pictish  w«i««/fm,dispensing  the  Sacra- 
ments, teaching,  ministering  to  the  poor,  study- 
ing, and  helping  to  keep  their  communities  by 
toiling  with  their  own  hands  in  the  fields,  working 
the  nets  in  the  rivers  and  the  sea,  sewing  clothes 
or  sandals,  and  all  the  while  taking  turn  in  main- 
taining the  praise  of  God  which  ceased  not  night 
or  day.  When  Trumwine  reached  Northumbria 
he  'commended  his  followers  wheresoever  he 
could'  to  the  charity  of  friends;  he  himself,  with 
a  few  of  his  own  brethren,  found  what  appears  to 
have  been  a  comfortable  asylum  at  Sron-na-solis,  * 
the  Promontory  of  the  beacon-light,  in  Hilda's 
'monastery,'  where  he  acted  as  chaplain  to  the 
English  princess  Elfled,f  who  was  abbess  at  the 
time.  One  obvious  lesson  from  the  ejection  of 
Trumwine  from  Abercorn  was  that  if  the  Roman 
Catholics  wished  to  succeed  in  introducing  their 
hierarchy  into  Pictland,  it  would  have  to  be  done 

♦  Bede  spells  it  '  Streanaeshakh,'  which  he  interprets  as  Bay  of  the 
Lighthouse,  lib.  iii.  cap.  xxv. 

t  She  was  dedicated  to  holy  virginity  by  her  father,  king  Os\vy,  when 
she  was  a  year  old  as  a  thankoffering  for  victory  over  the  pagan  Angle 
Penda  and  the  Mercians. 

328 


ENGLISH  FAIL  AND  FLEE 

by  peaceful  suasion  and  penetration,  after  the 
manner  which  they  finally  adopted  in  Galloway 
to  capture  Candida  Casa,  and  not  by  bullying,  and 
pretensions  of  superiority  at  the  points  of  the 
swords  of  English  battalions. 

Until  the  time  of  Angus,  another  of  the  great 
soldier  sovereigns  of  Pictland,  who  became  a  new 
terror  to  the  English,  the  national  army  of  the 
Angles  avoided  the  Picts.  Even  Adamnan,  the 
spiritual  chief  of  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots,  sought 
the  patronage  and  goodwill  of  the  hero  of '  Dun- 
Nechtain.'*  Brude  Mac  Bild  died  in  a.d.  6g^.\ 
The  chiefs  of  Pictland  appointed  Taran  Mac  Enti- 
fidich  to  succeed  him.  He  was  apparently  a  weak 
sovereign,  and  wasdeposedafterrulingfouryears. 
Two  of  those  years  were  nominal,  the  real  power 
during  that  time  being  in  the  hands  of  Brude,  chief 
of  the  powerful  house  of  Derelei,  who  eventually 
was  called  to  the  sovereign's  place.  During  his 

*  The  Gaidheals  or  Scots  forged  his  name  to  the  'Lex  Adamnani,'  and 
style  him  '  King  of  the  Region  of  the  Picts.' 

t  The  Pictish  sovereigns  between  Ciniath  Mac  Luthrenn  and  Erode 
Mac  Bil^  are:  Gartnaidh  Mac  Wid  (G.  Foith),  died  635;  Brude  Mac 
Wid,  died  641 ;  Talorg  Mac  Wid,  died  653;  Talorgan  Mac  'Enfred,'  son  by 
a  Pictish  mother  of  the  fugitive  Angle  Eanfrid  son  of  Ethelfrid,  followed. 
Eanfrid  had  been  banished  from  England,  and  had  found  asylum  among 
the  Picts  (cf.  Bede,  lib.  iii.  cap.  i. ).  He  was  recalled  to  England,  and  died 
the  apostate  king  of  the  Bernicians.  Talorgan  his  son,  whose  right  of  elec- 
tion to  the  sovereignty  of  the  Picts  arose  from  his  mother,  died  in  657. 
Gartnaidh  son  of  Donnel  followed  him,  and  died  in  663.  Drust  his  brother 
succeeded  him,  and  was  sovereign  until  672,  when  he  was  deposed,  and 
Brude  Mac  Bile  was  appointed.  The  Pictish  Chronicle  gives  the  duration 
of  his  reign  as  21  years;  and  Tighemac  confirms  by  giving  his  death  at 
693- 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

reign, in  A.D.698,theEnglishgeneral,Berct,*  who 
had  been  Egfrid's  pitiless  instrument  in  ravaging 
the  territory  of  the  Irish  Gaidheals  or  Scots,  and 
who,  under  king  Aldfrid,  had  been  living  as  a 
rural  'ealdorman,'  essayed  on  his  own  account  to 
find  out  what  the  new  sovereign  of  the  Picts  was 
like,  and  took  the  field.  The  Picts,  who  had  a  long 
account  against  him,  made  him  pay  with  his  life, 
Brude  Derelei  died  in  a.d.  706, f  He  was  suc- 
ceeded in  the  sovereignty  by  a  second  member 
of  the  family,  Nechtan  Derelei.  This  sovereign 
was  destined  to  make  trouble  for  his  subjects. 
The  knowledge  that  Brude  Derelei  had  practi- 
cally wrested  the  sovereignty  from  the  elected 
monarch ;  and  that  he  was  the  second  member  of 
the  clan  Derelei  to  hold  the  supreme  power,  evid- 
ently made  him  irresponsible  and  careless  to- 
wards the  feelings  of  his  subjects.  Hewas  drawn 
into  friendly  intercourse  with  the  English  over 
matters  relating  to  the  government  and  usages 
of  the  Church  of  Pictland,  which  fall  to  be  con- 
sidered later.  This,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  inA.D. 
71 1|  the  English  showed  their  feelings  towards 
him  and  the  people  whom  he  ruled  by  appearing 
in  force  on  the  Moor  of  Mannan,§  on  the  borders 

*  His  full  name  was  '  Berctred.'  ( Cf.  Bede  v.  xxiv. ) 

t  The  date  is  Tighernac's.  The  Pictish  Chronicle  states  that  he  reigned 
'xi.'  years.  This  is  a  transposition  of  'ix.'  However,  if  two  of  the  four 
years  credited  to  the  weak  Taran  be  reckoned,  he  reigned  xi.  years. 

X  Bede,  lib.  v.  cap.  xxiv. 

§  This  is  the  'Campus  Mannand'  of  the  Irish  sources.  Bede  mentions 
this  fight  in  his  summary,  but  it  is  kept  out  of  the  narrative. 


liMLfLlbhl  tAlL  AND  tLEE 

of  Stirlingshire  and  East  Lothian,  under  king 
Osred's  chief  ealdorman,  Bertfrid.  Both  sides 
suffered  severely.  The  Anglican  historian  re- 
cords no  victory,  and  in  the  Irish  sources  no  vic- 
tory is  claimed;  but  the  annalists  confess  that,  to 
the  disappointment  of  the  Picts,  a  chief,  Findgane 
Mac  Deleroith,  was  slain.  These  incidents  show 
that  Nechtan's  subjects  were  not  being  very 
tactfully  prepared  for  the  international  and  inter- 
ecclesiastical  relations  into  which  their  sove- 
reign was  soon  to  be  drawn. 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE 
CHURCH  OF  THE  PICTS  COM- 
PLETE EVERYWHERE  IN  PICT- 
LAND  AT  THE  BEGINNING 
OF  THE  EIGHTH  CENTURY 
CHAPTER  FOURTEEN 

At  the  beginning  of  the  eighth  century  the  or- 
ganized Pictish  Church  was  the  sole  ministering 
body  throughout  every  corner  of  the  Pictish  do- 
minions, excepting  a  few  square  miles  at  one  or 
two  different  points  on  the  eastern  borders  of 
Dalriada,  on  the  line  of  Drum-Alban,  where  the 
Gaidheals  or  Scots  had  intruded  their  clergy  from 
I  (lona).  As  Dicuil*  and  others  show,  confirm- 
ing the  passage  paraphrased  by  Joceline  from  the 
Old  Life  of  S.  Kentigern,  the  Pictish  clergy  had 
occupied  the  field  not  only  to  its  verge  in  Caith- 
ness, in  the  Orkneys,  and  in  the  Shetlands,  but 
as  far  north  as  Iceland.f  It  is  well  to  grasp  not 
only  how  these  Pictish  clerics  were  organized  in 
their  wide  operations;  but  how  and  from  whence 
they  were  directed.  They  were  not  independents; 
they  were  all  members  of  some  religious  clan 
which  itself  might  be  a  branch  of  some  great  cen- 
tral community  like  Candida  Casa  or  Bangor. 
Even  if  a  single  cleric  desired  only  to  go  into 

*  Cf.  De  Mensura  Prov.  Orbis  Terrae;  Edd.  Letronne  and  Parthey. 
Dicuil  wrote  a.d.  825. 

t  Cf.  V.  S.  Kent.,  Joceline,  cap.  xxiv.,  and  the  Landnamabok,  Ari 
Frodi,  who  came  to  Iceland  c.  1075. 


CHURCH  ORGANIZATION 

temporary  'retreat'  on  a  lonely  island,  or  into  a 
'diseri,'  he  asked  the  sanction,  or  took  the  direc- 
tion, of  his  Ab.*  All  the  Celtic  clergy,  wherever 
they  might  go,  remained  loyal  to  their  Ab,  and 
subject  to  the  discipline  of  the  central  commun- 
ityin  which  they  had  been  trained,  or  to  the  branch 
with  which  they  had  been  affiliated.  Even  S. 
Columbanus,  among  the  Vosges  mountains,  far 
away  from  his  parent-community  at  Bangor  of 
the  Irish  Picts,  although  he  refused  to  submit  to 
the  episcopal  jurisdiction  of  the  Roman  bishops, 
or  to  regard  himself  as  subject  to  the  discipline 
of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  made  no  claim  to  be  an 
independent;  but  declared,  on  the  contrary,  that 
he  was  loyal  to  the  rules  and  discipline  authorized 
by  his  Ab,  S.  Comgall  the  Great  of  Bangor.  He 
made  clear  too  that  he  considered  the  govern- 
ment and  usage  under  which  he  had  been  trained 
at  Bangor  as  in  accordance  with  the  teaching  and 
practice  of  the  Apostles.  Monarchic.diocesan  epis- 
copacy he  regarded  as  an  innovation;  and  he  was 
not  slow  in  indicating  that  the  opulence  and  mag- 
nificence of  the  monarchic  clergy,  and  their  con- 
sequent relations  with  a  corrupt  court,  were  injuri- 
ous to  the  whole  Christian  Church  and  to  Society. 
In  striving  to  explain  the  organization  and 
government  of  the  Celtic  Churches,  historians 
have  as  a  rule  not  been  able  to  prevent  them- 

•  Sometimes  '  Retreat'  was  enforced  as  a  matter  of  discipline;  as  when 
an  Abbot  of  lona  retired  to  a  'disert'  and  a  junior  official  took  his  place 
among  the  brethren. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

selves  from  reading  into  them  the  formsof  Church 
government  familiar  to  themselves.  Episcopal- 
ians have  persisted  in  regarding  the  Celtic  bish- 
ops as  monarchic  and  diocesan,  which  they  were 
not.  They  were  members  of  their  muinntirs,  and 
were  under  the  government  of  the  Abs,  and  they 
had  no  dioceses;  but  they  had  power  to  refrain 
from  an  ordination,*  even  though  the  candidate 
were  the  Ab's  nominee.  Presbyterians,  on  the 
other  hand,  have  professed  to  see  in  the  Celtic 
bishop  living  in  subordination  to  the  Ab  only  a 
simple  presbyter  with  a  special  duty  relating  to 
the  Sacraments,  and  to  solemnities  like  ordin- 
ation. But  though  the  bishop  was  less  in  authority 
than  the  Ab,  he  was  more  in  the  administration  of 
ordinances  than  the  presbyter,  because  no  pres- 
byter was  expected  to  dispense  any  Sacrament 
if  a  bishop  happened  to  be  present.  |  Sometimes, 
of  course,  an  Ab  was  also  an  ordained  bishop; 
but  some  of  the  greatest  Abs  deliberately  re- 
mained presbyters.  The  relations  of  bishop  and 
Ab  were  much  like  those  of  the  chaplain  of  a 
modern  British  regiment  to  his  battalion  com- 
mander. At  divine  services  the  chaplain  is  senior 
officer,  but  in  all  other  work  and  service  he  is  sub- 
ject to  his  battalion  commander;  so  in  the  Celtic 

*  S.  Columba  expected  the  unnamed  bishop  to  exercise  this  right  when 
Findchan  called  him  to  ordain  king  Aedh  of  the  Picts  of  Uladh. 

t  No  bishop  would  dispense  the  Sacrament  in  the  Church  of  Kildare 
when  a  presbyter  was  present.  The  story  was  that  on  a  bishop  insisting 
on  his  right  to  dispense  the  Sacrament  rather  than  the  resident  presbyter, 
the  latter  in  a  moment  of  temper  murdered  him. 

334 


CHURCH  ORGANIZATION 

muinntirs,  at  sacramental  services  the  bishop,  if 
invited  to  act,  *  was  for  the  time  being  in  command 
of  the  community;  but  in  all  other  work  and  ser- 
vice he  was,  with  the  rest  of  the  community,  sub- 
ject to  the  Ab. 

Consequently  diocesan  bishops  or  bishops 
with  monarchic  powers  f  are  not  to  be  found  in 
the  Church  of  the  Picts  before,  or  at,  the  begin- 
ning of  the  eighth  century;  though  they  be  looked 
for  never  so  imaginatively. 

As  has  already  been  pointed  out,  the  executive 
ministry  of  the  Church  of  the  Picts  throughout  all 
Pictland  and  the  Pictish  Islands  was  organized  in 
small  ecclesiastical  clans  in  which  the  Ab  was  sub- 
stituted for  the  chief.  In  the  early  period  these 
»«Mz««^zWor  families  consisted  of  twelvemembers 
on  the  model  of  the  Apostolic  band;  but  later,  the 
Abs,like  S.Comgall  or  S.  Dunod,who  led  in  mis- 
sionary enterprise,  or  who  aimed  at  making  their 
colleges  centres  of  education,  presided  over  mui- 
nntirs numbering  hundreds  and  even  thousands. 

So  soon  as  S.  Maelrubha  had  established  his 
muinntir  at  Abercrossan,  Pictland  was  supplied 
with  efficient  communities  under  governing 
Abs  throughout  its  entire  length  and  breadth. 
Some  early  communities  like  S.  Ninian's,  Stir- 

*  There  is  on  record  the  instance  of  a  presbyter-Ab  who  was  greatly 
annoyed  because  he  dispensed  the  Lord's  Supper  in  the  presence  of  a 
visiting  bishop  who  did  not  reveal  his  office. 

t  Unless,  of  course,  they  were  Abs  who  had  been  ordained  as  bishops; 
and  then  they  were  monarchic  not  as  bishops  but  as  Abs. 

335 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

ling,*  and  the  Banchoriest  of  SS.  Ternan  and 
Demhanoc  had  become  diminished  at  this  period, 
or  were  staffed  like  collegiate  Churches.  Some, 
on  the  other  hand,  like  S,  Ninian's  Glasgow.^  S. 
Ninan's  Loch-Ness,§  and  S,  Ninian's  Fearn  of 
Edderton,  had  increased  in  strength  and  useful- 
ness. Even  solitary  cells  and  Diserts,  which  ori- 
ginally had  been  places  of  retreat,  had  become, 
or  were  becoming,  associated  with  active  com- 
munities, as,  for  example,  Abthein  of  Kinghorn, 
Z?ij^r^of  Angus,  Cloveth.and  Isleof  Loch-Leven. 
Tribal  Churches  like  Abernethy,  Dunblane,  and 
Brechin,  which  at  first  had  been  dependent  on  the 
big  communities,  had  now  become  centres  of 
training,  government,  and  supply.  The  following 
tables  show  at  a  glance  the  distribution  of  the 
Pictish  muinntirs  throughout  Pictland  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  eighth  century  so  far  as  these  are 
known.   The  tables  are  not  exhaustive.   Some 
communities  like  Banchory  on  the  Isla  have 
hardly  left  a  memory  behind  them;  others  like  S. 
Findomhnan's  at  the  buried  town  of  Forvie  in 
Buchan,  and  S.  Fergus's  at  Dalarossie,  have  left 
little  more  than  the  bare  names  of  the  founders, 
and  remains  that  tease  the  antiquary. 

*  This  community  was  disturbed  by  the  Anglian  invasion  of  the 
southern  bank  of  the  Forth. 

t  These  suffered  through  proximity  to  the  later  central  community  at 
Mortlach,  and  the  branches  at  Cloveth  and  Dunmeth. 

%  Which  became  S.  Kentigern's  (Mungo). 

§  Following  Dalriad  penetration,  taken  over  by  clerics  of  the  Gaidh- 
eals  or  Scots  in  Adamnan's  time. 

2>l^ 


CHIEF 

PICTISH  AND 

BRITO-PICTISH 

iCHURCH  CENTRES 


Ta/acef.  336. 


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S.  CAranoc  the  Great,  S.  Ter- 
NAN,  S.  Nennio  'Manchan,* 
Mugent,  and,  later,  S.  Dagan 
and  apparently  S.  Comgan. 

The  names  of  30  Abs,  besides 
other  officials,  are  extant,  and 
their  dates  stretch  from  the 
year  of  foundation  in  a.d.  558 
until  A.D.  938. 

Libran,  Ab  of  Achadh-Bo,  d.  618. 

Seannal,  Ab  of  Achadh-Bo,  d. 
782. 

S.  Ferghil  'the  Geometer,'  re- 
signed ;  and  died  bishop  of 
Salzburg  in  789. 

Fearadach,  scribe  and  Ab  of 
Achadh-Bo,  d  813. 

Ailill,  Ab  of  Achadh-Bo,  d.  853. 

Suirleach,  Ab  of  Achadfa-Bo, 
d  857. 

S.  Conval  who  founded  the 
Church  of  Eastwood.    At  a 
later  period  Balthere  of  Tyn- 
ingham  was  a  pupil. 

S.  Constantine  the  Briton.    This 
royal  Ab  was  associated  also 
with  S.  Mirran.   S.  Constantine 
founded  churches  at  Crawford; 
and  in  the  Valley  of  the  Stin- 
char. 

4 

"J 

White-Hut  ON  S. 
Hilary's  Farm 

AT  LlGUG^,  AND 

'  Magnum  M  ON- 
asterium' 
'  Mormoutier,' 
Tours. 

Magh8ILe(S.  Fin- 
bar's);  Clonard 
(S.  Finian,  train- 
ed among  the 
Britons). 

S.  Fin  I  an's  Clon- 
ard. 

S.  Servanus  of 
CuLROSS  and  S. 
Fergus  of  the 
Diserta.tCa.r- 
noch. 

Glasgow. 

S.  Comgall's  Ban- 
gor. 

z 

1..  o 
u  < 

"1 

Between  a.d.  397 
and  399. 

A.D.  558. 
a.d.  578. 

c.  A.-D.  553.    He 
returned  to  Strath- 
Clyde  c.  573 ;  and 
to  Glasgow  c.  581 
(Forbes). 
Before  A.D.  590. 

Between  a.d,  560 
and  590. 

D 

S.  Ninian  called 
'the  Great' 
AND 'the  Old.' 

S.  Comgall  the 
Great. 

S.CaINNECH,  ORIN 

PiCTLAND,  'Ken- 
neth.' 

S.  Kentigern 

'MuNGO.' 
S.  MiRRAN. 

3 

Territory  of  the 
Strath-Clyde 
Britons;  AFTER- 
WARDS Whit- 
hern  OF  THE 
Angles,  still 
later,  Gal- 
loway. 

Ards  OF  Ulster, 
in  Pictish  king- 
dom of  Ulster, 
Ireland. 

Achadh-Bo  in  what 
is  now  Queen's 
County;  but  for- 
merly in  the  hin- 
terland of  the 
Manapian  Picts. 
His  first  commun- 
ity was  at  Drum- 
achose  among  the 
Northern  Irish 
Picts. 

S.  Ninian'sonthe 
Molendinar, 
Glasgow. 

On  THE  Clyde, 
Glasgow. 

On  THE  Cart,  Ren- 
frewshire. 

O 
< 

Britons,  but  after 
the  middle  of  the 
sixth  century 
Brito-Iro-Pict- 

ISH. 

Iro-Pictish. 
Iro-Pictish. 

Britons  of 
Strath-Clyde. 

Brito-Pictish. 
Iro-Pictish. 

6.^ 
^1 

Candida  Casa 
(White  Hut). 

Bangor  distin- 
guished as  '  Ban- 
gor-Uladh,'of 
the  Irish  Picts. 

Achadh-Bo  Cai- 

NNECH. 

Glasgow, 

including  the  small- 

er  community  at 

Govan. 

Paisley. 

2>?>7 


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Fillan  of  Fife  was  Ah  here. 
He  founded  Forgan  and  Aber- 
dour  on  Forth.     Before  he 
died  he  retired  to  the  disert 
of  *  Tyrus,'  that  is  Tyrie  near 
where  the  Pictish  muinntir 
of  Abthein,  Kinghom,  was 

organized.    Here  also  was 
a  foundation  of  S.  Ninian. 
About  the  seventh  century  Pit- 
tenweem  aijd  Isle  of  May  he- 
came  connected. 

he  historical  S.  Riaghuil 
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Rule'  of  the  fabulists  was  the 
literary*  ghost  of  the  above, 
uatalan  Ab  oiCind  Rigk 
Monaidh  (St.  Andrews),  d. 
A.D.  747. 

he  names  of  the  Pictish  acting 
Abs  have  not  survived ;  but 
some  of  their  '  heirs '  who  in- 
herited the  Pictish  Churchland, 
retaining  the  title  Ab,  and  min- 
istering by  a '  Chaplain '  are 
known,  Martcius   Abbe  Aber- 
Eloth.'  c.  iaoi-1207 ;  Galfridus 
was  'heir'  in  z a  14. 

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351 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

A  short  study  of  the  foregoing  tables  will  re- 
veal that  the  greater  centres  of  culture,  control, 
and  supply  which  had  educated  and  supplied  a 
continuous  ministry  to  the  Church  of  the  Picts, 
Candida  Casa,  Bangor,  and  Glasgow  among 
them,  were  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighth  cent- 
ury actually  outside  the  dominions  of  the  Pictish 
State  and  sovereignty.  This,  however,  did  not 
prevent  the  Church  from  being  national,  and  it 
saved  it  from  being  insular  in  its  culture  and  re- 
ligious views.  Incidentally,  also,  this  saved  the 
Church  of  Pictland  from  local  political  control, 
and  from  becoming  an  instrument  in  the  hands 
of  the  Pictish  sovereigns. 

In  this  respect,  it  presents  a  striking  contrast 
to  the  Church  of  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  of  Dal- 
riada.  That  Church  from  its  origin  continued  to 
be  one  of  the  chief  political  factors  in  the  Dalriad 
kingdom.  S.  Columba  had  found  Dalriada  a  tribu- 
tary province  and  had  made  it  a  kingdom.  He  not 
only  created  the  Church  of  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots; 
but  he  created  the  State  of  Dalriada,  and  from 
his  time  onwards  every  Gaidhealic  or  Scotic  con- 
gregation continued  to  be  a  political  outpost  and 
centre  of  propaganda  on  behalf  of  the  Gaidhealic 
or  Scotic  State.  It  was  this  which  caused  one  of 
the  Pictish  sovereigns  to  allow  the  expulsion  of 
the  few  communities  which  the  Gaidheals  or 
Scots  had  intruded  into  Pictland  along  the  line 
of  the  Drum- Alban  frontier.  The  Picts  objected 
352 


CHURCH  ORGANIZATION 

to  have  their  independence  sapped  under  cover 
of  religion.  Besides,  a  political  Church  hanker- 
ing after  temporal  power  and  interference  was 
obnoxious  to  the  Picts  whose  own  Churchmen 
had  adhered  to  the  ideal  of  teaching  the  citizens 
the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  and  the  morality 
of  the  Gospel,  demanding  only  from  the  State 
freedom  and  protection  while  prosecuting  their 
work. 

At  its  origin,  after  a.d.  399,  the  Church  of 
Pictland  of  Alba  had  been  Celto- Catholic.  As  it 
grew,  it  kept  up  communion  with  the  Church  of 
Celtic  Gaul  and  the  christians  among  the  Britons 
and  Irish.  When  the  barbarian  migrations  into 
Gaul  had  cut  it  off  from  S.  Martin's,  Tours,  the 
mother-Church  of  all  the  Celts,  Candida  Casa 
continued  to  be  the  repository  of  S.  Martin's 
ideals,  a  new '  Taigh-Martain,'  ■axA  foster-mother 
to  the  Brito-Celtic  christians.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  eighth  century  the  Church  of  Pictland  of 
Alba  was  still  Celto- Catholic;  but  it  was  on  the 
eve  of  being  cut  off  from  Candida  Casa.  The 
Angles  at  this  time  had  at  last  succeeded  in 
bringing  the  greater  part  of  Galloway  within  the 
Anglian  kingdom.  This  meant  not  only  that 
Candida  Casa  came  under  the  authority  of  the 
EngHsh  king;  but  that  it  would  be  compelled  to 
conform  to  the  Church  of  the  Angles,  which  was 
Roman  Catholic,  and  to  accommodate  itself  to 
a  place  in  the  system  and  organization  of  the 

2  A  353 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Roman  Catholic  Church,  The  absorption  of 
Candida  Casa  into  the  Roman  Catholic  organiz- 
ation toolc  place  c.  a.d.  730.  Its  first  Roman 
Catholic  bishop  was  a  Pict;  but  as  he  was  an 
Anglian  prelate  his  jurisdiction  was  restricted, 
under  York,  to  the  portion  of  Galloway  ruled  by 
the  English.  The  English  prelates  tactfully  re- 
frained from  disestablishing  the  old  muinntir; 
but  the  conforming  members  were  changed  into 
Canons.  Bangor  of  Ulster,  which  had  been  co- 
operating with  Candida  Casa  for  a  long  time,  now 
became  the  chidf  fostering  centre  of  the  Pictish 
Church  outside  the  realm  of  Pictland.  The 
change  at  Candida  Casa  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  accomplished  without  dissent.  There  was, 
however,no  room  for  dissenters  under  thegovern- 
ment  of  the  English.  Those  who  adhered  to  the 
ancient  ideals,  and  to  the  Church  government  of 
the  Celto-Catholics,  were  forced  to  betake  them- 
selves to  Bangor,  in  the  kingdom  of  the  Irish 
Picts,  or  to  some  of  the  muinntirs  in  Pictland  of 
Alba. 

At  this  time  S.Comgan*  (Cowan)  severed  his 
connection  with  Galloway  and  betook  himself  to 
Pictland  of  Alba  where  he  ultimately  became  Ab 
of  the  Pictish  Community  at  Turriff,  a  branch  of 
Deer  in  Buchan,  Before  his  departure,  among 
other  works  in  Galloway,  he  founded  the  Church 

*  By  aspiration  after  a  preceding  word  the  name  becomes '  Comhghan, ' 
pronounced  '  Cowan. ' 

354 


CHURCH  ORGANIZATION 

of  Kirk*- Cowan  in  Wigtownshire,  northward 
from  Candida  Casa.Wxs  nephew.S.  Fillan,  Ifound- 
ed  Kilfillan  also  in  Wigtownshire,  and  Kil'illan 
(Houston)  in  the  territory  of  the  Strath-Clyde 
Britons.  S.  Comgan  was  the  son  of  Ceallaigh  Cual- 
ann,  a  petty  king  of  the  Picts  of  Leinster,  who  died 
A,D.  715.  His  sister  was  Kentigerna  one  of  the  few 
authentic  early  religious  women  who  laboured  in 
Pictland.  H  er  '  retreat '  was  Innis  na  Cailleach  in 
Loch  Lomond  and  her  death  is  recorded  a.d.  734. 
The  fabulists  as  usual  have  garbled  the  Lives  of  S. 
Comgan  and  his  relations,  and  have  added  some 
members  to  the  family  group  who  had  no  histor- 
ical connection  with  it.  The  established  facts  are 
as  follow.  Previous  to  c.  a.d.  715,  S.  Comgan 
laboured  in  Galloway  as  one  of  the  community 
of  Candida  Casa  to  which  he  had  come,  like  other 
Irish  Picts,  from  Bangor.  Meanwhile  his  nephew 
Fillan  was  being  trained  at  the  'muinntir  'inbat'X 
near  the  home  of  his  father  Feredach§  who  was 
a  Pict  of  Ulster.  In  course  of  time  Fillan  joined 
his  uncle  at  Candida  Casa,  as  is  apparent  from 
the  proximity  of  their  Church-foundations  in 

*  The  extension  of- English  power  and  speech  to, Galloway  is  seen  in 
the  use  of  Teutonic  'ICirk'iox  Latino-Celtic  '  Cill. ' 

t  Not  to  be  confused  with  'S.  Faolan  "Uafar"  of  Rath-Erann'  Perth- 
shire; nor  with  S.  Fillan  of  Pittenweem,  Aberdour,  and  Forgan,  who  died 
at  the  diseri  of  '  Tyrus,'  Tyrie,  near  the  Abthein  of  Kinghorn.  The  early 
Scottish  Roman  Catholics  failed  to  distinguish  one  from  the  other. 

X  This  is  the  only  intelligible  interpretation  of  the  account  corrupted  by 
the  Scottish  fabulists  that  he  was  educated  at  Muinntir '  Ibar. '  'Muinn- 
tir 'inbar'  is  the  uttered  form  of  Muinntir  Fhiniar. 

%  He  wasoftheraceofFiatachFinn. 

355 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Wigtownshire.  Shortly  after  S.  Fillan's  arrival  in 
Galloway  the  English  Roman  Catholics,  taking 
advantage  of  the  penetration  and  occupation  of 
Galloway  by  the  Angles,  annexed  Candida  Casa, 
and  absorbed  it,  with  those  Celts  who  are  known 
to  have  conformed  like  Pechthelm,  into  the 
Roman  Catholic  organization.  Among  those  who 
did  not  conform  and  went  elsewhere  were  SS. 
Comgan  and  Fillan.  They  set  out  for  the  west 
of  Pictland  of  Alba  to  the  same  locality*  into 
which  S.  Donnan  the  Great,  from  Candida  Casa, 
had  journeyed  about  one  hundred  years  earlier, 
and  they  founded  Churches  quite  near  to  Eilan 
Donnan  in  Kintail.  Here  S.  Comgan  founded 
the  Church,  which  still  bears  his  name,  at  Kirk- 
ton  Lochalsh,  and  S.  Fillan  founded  'Cill  'illan 
near  Dornie,the  churchyard  of  which  is  still  used. 
During  their  stay  here,  Kentigerna,  the  mother 
of  S.  Fillan,  who  had  been  recently  widowed  and 
had  resolved  to  devote  herself  to  religious  work 
and  meditation,  joined  her  son  and  her  brother. 
Her  recorded  presence  with  them  is  confirmed 
by  the  existence  of  the  site  of  her  cell  at  'Kil- 
Kinterne'  f  in  Glenshiel,  across  Loch  Duich  from 
her  son's  foundation  at  Cill  'illan  at  the  head  of 
Loch  Long.    Other  Church-foundationsJ  of  S. 

*  S.  Comgan  and  S.  Fillan  would  find  themselves  in  touch  also  with 
their  fellow- Pict  S.  Maelrubha  from  Bangor  who  at  this  time  was  at  Aber- 
crossan. 

t  Spelling  of  1543.  Cf.  Prof.  Watson's /'/3«-«am<;ji?/"i?oj-j,  p.  172. 

t  The  other  Church- foundations  called  'Kilquhoan'  in  Sale  and 
Ardnamurchan  were  within  the  kingdom  of  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots,  and 


CHURCH  ORGANIZATION 

Comgan  are,  S.  Comgan's  in  Glendale,  Duirinish, 
Teampull  Choan  in  Strath,  both  in  Skye;  Kil- 
choan  in  Knoydart,  and  Kilchoan  in  Kiltearn, 
Ross.  From  Ross-shire  S.  Comgan  passed  east 
to  the  Pictish  community  at  Turriff  and  became 
their  Ab.  The  old  parish  Church  of  Turriff  still 
stands  on  the  picturesque  site  of  the  Church  which 
S.  Comgan  founded.  This  muinntir,  which  he 
ruled  in  the  eighth  century  after  his  retreat  from 
Roman  Catholic  aggression  at  Candida  Casa, 
had  itself  conformed  to  Rome  by  a.d.  1132.  At 
that  date  its  members  were  clerics  of  Celtic  race; 
but  they  are  found  acting  along  with  the  prelates 
of  the  new  Roman  hierarchy,  as  can  be  seen  from 
the  entries  in  the  Book  of  Deer,  when  a  certain 
Cormac  was  Ab.  S.  Comgan  died  at  Turriff  but 
the  year  of  his  death  in  the  eighth  century  is  not 
now  known.  On  S.Comgan's  translation  toTurriff 
S.Fillan  returned  toStrath-Clyde,and  connected 
himself  with  the  daughter  establishment  of  Ban- 
gor at  Paisley.  He  died  at  his  Church  of  Kil- 
'illan  Houston,  a.d.  749.*  Kentigerna  went  south 

probably  belong  to  S.  Comgan  Mac  Degill  a  relation  of  S.  Columba.  Dr. 
Reeves  does  not  think  so;  but  at  this  date  there  was  little  chance  of  a 
Brito-Pictish  minister  being  allowed  to  found  Churches  in  Dalriada;  al- 
though after  Angus  Mac  Fergus  overran  Dalriada,  he  evidently  tried  to 
force  the  Pictish  clergy  upon  the  Scots.  It  must  not  be  overlooked  either 
that  Kentigerna  and  her  family  had  been  disinherited  by  the  Irish  Gaidh- 
eals  or  Scots. 

*  This  is  the  corrected  date  of  Camerarius.  In  his  early  printed  work 
'  649 '  is  given  along  with  several  obvious  misspellings.  749  is  meant  as  is 
evident  from  the  date  of  the  death  of  his  mother,  which  is  confirmed.  She 
died  before  him. 

357 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

also  to  be  near  S.  Fillan,  and  she  established  her- 
self not  far  away  from  him  on  Innis  na  Cailleach 
where  she  died  a.d.  734. 

The  incident  of  Kentigerna*  and  her  devotion 
to  S.  Fillan  get  behind  the  historical  imagination 
to  the  heart.  She  lived  up  to  the  meaning  of  her 
name,  perhaps  title,  'Lady  of  Grace.'  Widowed, 
disinherited  by  the  pitiless,  everlasting  lust  of 
conquest  on  the  part  of  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots, 
homeless,  a  ministry  of  goodness  in  Pictland  of 
Alba  was  preferable  to  a  life  of  idle  humiliation 
in  Erin.  She  sought  out  her  son  in  the  wilds  of 
far  Kintail.  Barred  from  living  with  him  by  his 
vows.underwhichhe  had  agreed  to  ministerwith- 
out  luxuries — without  even  the  comforting  at- 
tentions of  a  tender  mother — she  could  yet  live 
near  him,  take  part  in  the  same  work,  and  cheer- 
fully endure  similar  hardships.  It  sufficed  her 
that  he  was  near  by,  and  that  sometimes  she  could 
speak  to  him.  And  when  S.  Comgan  was  called 
eastwards  to  the  duties  of  a  bigger  'family'  and 

*  She  had  a  sister  called  Muirenn  who  died  a.d.  748.  Muirenn  be- 
came the  wife  of  Irgalach,  a  Gaidheal  or  Scot  on  his  father's  side  and  chief 
of  Bregia  in  Meath.  Through  his  mother  he  became  lord  of  the  Pictish 
territory  of  Kiannaght.  He  slew  his  cousin  at  Inis  mac  Nesan,  which 
roused  the  Scotic  Abbot  Adamnan  against  him.  Adamnan  stood  in  the 
waters  of  the  Boyne  on  the  borders  of  Irgalach's  territory  and  'cursed' 
him.  He  afterwards  secured  his  excommunication  at  a  Synod  of  Scotic 
clerics.  Irgalach  defied  Adamnan.  Certain  writers,  owing  to  a  similarity 
of  names,  have  imagined  that  the  big  island  in  Loch  Lomond  next  to  Kenti- 
gerna's  wastheresidenceofMuirenn,  Irgalach'swife;but  Muirenn  resided 
in  Ireland.  The  isles  of  Loch  Lomond  were  'retreats'  for  the  Brito-Pictish 
clerics  long  before  Kentigerna's  time.  S.  Mirran  of  Paisley  had  a  '  retreat ' 
at  Loch  Lomond. 


CHURCH  ORGANIZATION 

a  more  responsible  charge;  and  when  S.  Fillan 
resolved  to  return  to  his  former  field  among 
the  Britons;  Kentigerna,  once  more,  took  up  her 
pilgrimage,  through  difficult  mountains,  that  she 
might  continue  to  breathe  the  same  air  as  her  son. 
From  the  highgroundbeside  her  island-retreat, in 
the  intervals  of  work,  she  could  often  look  across 
the  intervening  Clyde  to  the  plains  of  Renfrew, 
and  assure  herself  that  at  Kil'illan  the  one  soul 
she  held  dearest  was  responding  to  her  tenderest 
thoughts. 


CHURCH  AND  KING  IN  PICT- 
LAND  DURING  THE  PUBLIC 
LIFE  OF  NECHTAN  THE 
SOVEREIGN  OF   PICTLAND 

A.D.   706-724 
CHAPTER  FIFTEEN 

During  the  first  half  of  the  eighth  century  two 
aggressive  movements,  that  had  threatened  to 
disturb  Pictland  of  Alba  for  some  time,  suddenly 
became  violentlyactive,  and  shook  up  the  old  life 
and  organization  of  the  people  from  the  depths. 
One  movement  was  native,  internal,  and  political; 
the  other  was  foreign,  external,  and  ecclesiastical. 
The  POLITICAL  MOVEMENT  was  directed  at  the 
sovereigntyof  Pictlandof  Alba,  and  was  designed 
toeffectthatonavacancythe  successful  candidate 
should  always  be  selected  from  one  or  other  of  the 
powerful  regal  clans  controlling  Angus,  Earn 
(Fortrenn),*  or  Fife.  This  involved  dispensing 
with  formal  election  by  the  convened  chiefs  of  all 
Pictland,  as  required  by  Celtic  law.  It  required 
that  the  successful  candidate  should  possess 
sufficient  political  and  militarypower  to  overawe 
the  minor  chiefs  who  had  not  been  consulted.  It 
also  involved  the  risk  of  the  accession  to  the 
sovereignty  being  settled  by  battle  between 
candidates  with  nearly  equal  claims  and  power, 

*  This  form  is  simply  a  gloss  on  the  older  Pictish  name  Rath-Erann 
which  is  connected  with  the  still  older  Verturiones  and  also  with  theoriginal 
of  the  modern  name  '  Earn. ' 

360 


CHURCH  &>  KING 

while  the  chiefs  of  Pictland  supported  neither 
one  nor  the  other.  In  this  connection  one  word 
of  caution  is  necessary.  The  names  Angus,  Earn, 
and  Fife  must  not  be  interpreted  at  this  time 
geographically  but  politically;  because  it  is  evid- 
ent that  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighth  century 
the  chiefs  of  these  places  held  possessions  and 
exercised  control  far  beyond  the  geographical 
areas  of  their  respective  clan-kingdoms.  For  ex- 
ample, Nechtan  whose  lordship  was  Angus  had  a 
fortress  in  Strathspey,  and  owned  property  in  the 
vicinity  of  Inverness;  Brude  mac  Bile  by  the 
success  of  his  arms  added  to  the  petty  kingdom 
of  Earn  (Fortrenn)  all  the  old  Pictish  territory 
that  he  hadretrieved  from  the  Angles,  an  addition 
which  pushed  forward  the  frontier  of ' Fortrenn' 
far  to  the  south  of  Stirling;  and  there  are  indic- 
ations that  all,  or  the  greater  part  of  Fife  became 
merged  about  this  time  in  the  kingdom  of  the 
Earn.  Again,  however,  the  Celtic  tendency  to 
divide  up  a  wide  property  between  a  number  of 
sons  was  as  strong  among  the  Pictish  chiefs  as 
among  other  Celts.  Hence,  one  property  might 
be  associated  with  another  in  one  chiefs  life-time; 
but  entirely  separated  from  it  in  the  life-time  of 
his  successor;  although  still  held  by  a  member  of 
the  first  chiefs  family  or  clan.  In  this  respect  the 
ownership  of  parts  of  Fife,  especially  the  north- 
west corner,  is  a  continual  puzzle.  In  the  reign 
of  one  sovereign  the  north-west  of  Fife  may 

361 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

appear  to  belong  to  the  chiefs  of  Angus;  but  in 
the  reign  of  the  next  sovereign  it  will  appear  to 
belong  to  the  chief  of  Earn  (Fortrenn).  The  ex- 
planation probably  is  that,  as  among  the  Gaidh- 
eals  or  Scots  of  Ireland,  certain  lands  were 
owned  and  controlled  by  the  sovereign  during 
his  tenure  of  office. 

The  ECCLESIASTICAL  MOVEMENT  aimed  at  the 
conversion  of  the  ministers  and  members  of  the 
Church  of  the  Picts  to  Romanism  which  meant 
ultimately  for  them,  among  other  things,  sub- 
mission to  the  rule  of  the  foreign  Bishopof  Rome; 
the  introduction  into  Pictland  of  a  Roman  hier- 
archy under  an  alien  archbishop  who  had  his 
seat  in  England,  in  the  midst  of  the  steady 
enemies  of  the  Picts;  conformity  to  Roman 
usage,  especially  the  acceptance  of  Rome's  re- 
vision of  the  old  Catholic  date  for  celebrating  the 
Resurrection  of  the  Lord;  and  the  adoption  by 
the  Pictish  clergy  of  the  coronal  tonsure,  instead 
of  the  frontal  tonsure,  as  worn  in  certain  parts  of 
the  East  andby  the  Celtic  ministers.  Onehundred 
years  before  this  time  the  Roman  archbishop  of 
the  English  had  stated  the  conditions*  on  which 
he  would  welcome  the  Celto-Catholics  into  the 
Roman  Communion, although  no  Celt  had  sought 
for  them.  The  Celts  were  invited  to  keep  the 
Paschal  celebrations  at  the  Roman  date;  to  ad- 
minister Baptism  according  to  the  Roman  prac- 

*  Bede,  H.E.G.A.  lib.  ii.  cap.ii. 
362 


CHURCH  &>  KING 

tice,  accepting  the  dogma  of  Baptismal  regener- 
ation; and  to  put  the  highly  successful  missionary 
organizations  of  the  Celtic  Church,  and  the  in- 
comparable preaching  and  teaching  ability  of  the 
Celtic  clergy  under  Roman  control  for  the  en- 
lightening of  the  Teutonic  invaders  of  Britain  in 
the  Anglian  and  Saxon  kingdoms.  If  the  Celtic 
clergy  had  agreed  to  all  this,  the  Roman  arch- 
bishop was  prepared  to  '  gladly  suffer'  the  many 
other  practices  and  usages  in  the  Celtic  Church 
that  differed  from  Roman  order.  The  archbishop, 
however,  had  spread  the  Roman  net  in  vain  for 
the  Celts  in  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  century. 
The  romanized  Angles  then  resorted  to  the 
method  foreshadowed  in  Augustine's  threat*  of 
carrying  fire  and  sword  among  the  Celts,  achiev- 
ing extermination  and  calling  it  'conversion,' 
establishing  a  bishop  for  a  Teutonic  garrison, 
like  the  unfortunate  Trumwine,  and  calling  his 
charge  a  'bishopric  of  the  Picts.'  This  sort  of 
missionary  enterprise  had  been  effectively  dis- 
credited and  defeated  by  the  military  genius  of 
Brude  mac  Bi\6  the  sovereign  of  Pictland.  This 
is  why,  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighth  century, 
the  Roman  prelates  were  preparing  a  new  plan 
of  campaign  for  the  capture  of  the  Church  of  the 
Picts;  and  the  first  move  in  the  new  scheme  was 
to  secure  the  goodwill  and  co-operation  of  Nech- 
tan  the  sovereign  of  Pictland. 

*  Bede,  lib.  ii.  cap.  ii. 

3^3 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

The  Chequered  Reign  of  Nechtan  Derelei, 
Sovereign  of  Pictland 

Nechtan  became  chief  of  the  Pictish  clan  Der- 
elei in  A.D.  706,  on  the  death  of  his  kinsman 
Brude,  the  sovereign  of  Pictland.  Nechtan  also, 
at  the  same  date,  assumed  the  sovereignty  of 
Pictland,  as  would  appear  from  the  sequel,  with- 
out having  taken  the  formal  consent  of  the  chiefs 
of  the  Pictish  clans.  The  territories  of  the  clan 
Derelei,  at  this  time,  included  Angus,  Stormont, 
Atholl,  as  far  as  the  western  frontier  of  Pictland 
at  Drum-Alban,  Badenoch  to  the  same  western 
frontier,*  and  thence  northward  to  both  shores 
of  the  Inverness  Firth.  Nechtan's  brother,  or 
half-brother  Talorg  Mac  Drostain,  as  Dr.  Skene 
has  pointed  out,  was  chief  of  Atholl.  Nechtan 
himself  possessed  a  fortress  in  Strath-Spey  near 
Loch  Insh,  the  ruins  of  which  still  bear  his  name. 
Bede  states  that  'Naiton'was  king  of  the  Picts 
who  inhabit  the  northern  parts  of  Britain. f 
But,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  Bede's  geography 
was  Ptolemaic,  and  his  north  of  Pictland  is  our 
west.  This  agrees  with  the  fact  that,  excepting 
Angus  and  Stormont,  which  are  on  the  east,  the 
greater  part  of  the  Derelei  territories  stretched 
along  the  western  borders  of  the  Pictish  sove- 
reignty; and  Nechtan's  fortified  seat  was  also  in 

*  The  Gaidheals  or  Scots  of  Dalriada  had  for  a  time  at  this  period 
pushed  their  frontier  east  as  far  as  Glen  Urquliart. 
t  Bede,  H.E.  G.A.  lib.  v.  cap.  xxi. 


CHURCH  &>  KING 

this  area.  Bede  indicates  that  Nechtan  possessed 
considerable  education, and  'meditated  on  the  ec- 
clesiastical writings.'  It  is  interesting  to  notice  in 
this  connection  that  one  of  the  Pictish  Bangors, 
with  its  combined  religious  and  educational  work 
had  been  established,  near  his  fortress  in  Strath- 
spey, on  the  Calder,  beside  the  modern  Newton- 
more. The  locality  still  bears  the  name  '  B an- 
chor.' Nechtan  developed  a  fondness  for  ecclesi- 
astical affairs  and  an  extraordinary  interest  in 
Paschal  cycles,  clerical  tonsures,  and  the  fatal 
ambition,  for  a  king,  to  introduce  innovations 
into  the  Church  of  the  Picts.  In  trying  to  explain 
to  ourselves  how  a  Pictish  chief  could  raise  this 
strange  interest  in  the  by-products  of  Roman  ec- 
clesiasticism,  leading  inevitably  to  unpopular  re- 
lations with  both  sets  of  the  national  enemies, 
the  English  and  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots,  it  is  not 
necessary  to  look  for  all  the  explanation  among 
the  Roman  propagandists  in  England.  It  is  ad- 
visable not  to  overlook  the  probability  that,  in  his 
youth,  Nechtan  was  educated  in  one  of  the  Scotic 
muinntirs  under  Adamnan,  while  the  lad  was  a 
hostage  among  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots,  in  pledge 
of  the  peace  that  subsisted  between  the  Picts  of 
Atholl  and  Badenoch,  on  one  hand,  and  their 
neighbours,  the  Scots  of  Lorn,  on  the  other,  at 
the  time  when  Ferchar  Fada*  the  Scotic  chief 

*  He  died  king  of  Dalriada,  A.D.  697.    He  was  15th  king  of  Dalriada 
and  first  king  from  the  clan  Lorn  since  the  time  of  Loam  Mor,  c.  503. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

was  wresting  supremacy  in  Dalriada  to  the  clan 
Lorn  from  the  clan  Gabhran,  whose  chiefs  had 
been  an  abiding  curse  alike  to  their  kinsmen  in 
Lorn  and  to  the  Picts  across  Drum-Alban.  There 
is  clear  evidence  that  Adamnan  was  the  master- 
operator  behind  the  defection  of  Nechtan.  He 
was  Abbot  of  Zona  from  a.d.  679  until  23rd  Sep- 
tember 704.  He  had  no  control  over,  and  no  com- 
munion with  the  Pictish  Church;  and,  judging 
from  his  expressions,  he  possessed  the  current 
Gaidhealic  or  Scotic  hatred  of,  and  contempt  to- 
wards the  Pictish  people.  In  spite  of  his  limit- 
ations he  deserved  the  epithets  'good  and  wise' 
bestowed  upon  him  by  Bede.  He  won  distinct 
places  in  literature  and  diplomacy,  and  attained 
considerable  success  as  a  legislator.  He  was  the 
trusted  counsellor  of  the  liberal-minded  Fin- 
nachta  Fledach,  sovereign  of  Ireland.  He  re- 
nounced the  doctrines  and  usages  of  the  Celtic 
Church,  and  adopted  the  doctrines  and  usages  of 
the  Church  of  Rome  while  adhering  to  his  office 
as  presbyter- Abbot  of  lona,  an  action  which  cre- 
ated a  Celto-Catholic  and  a  Roman-Catholic 
party  in  lona;  and  ultimately  rent  the  commun- 
ity in  twain,  resulting  in  rival  Abs  within  the  one 
little  island.  Adamnan  was  fond  of  public  life, 
and  for  seven  years  absented  himself  from  his 
post  in  lona,  being  taken  up  with  Irish  affairs. 
He  was  credulous,  superstitious,  and  extremely 
susceptible  to  foreign  influence.  In  his  desire  to 
366 


CHURCH  &>  KING 

further  the  extension  of  the  Church  of  Rome  to 
include  the  Celto-Catholics,  he  displayed  all  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  pervert  and  the  unwearied  toil 
and  intolerance  of  a  zealot.  There  are  indic- 
ations in  his  Life  that  he  intrigued  with  Brude 
Mac  Bild  to  gain  access  to  Pictland.  His  master- 
stroke in  this  direction,  which  gave  him  opport- 
unity to  influence  Nechtan  and  his  clansmen, 
was  his  taking  advantage  of  the  peace  which 
reigned  between  the  Scots  of  Lorn  and  the  sec- 
tion of  the  Derelei  Picts  in  Atholl,  Badenoch,and 
part  of  Lochaber,  to  intrude  a  community  of  the 
Scotic  Church  from  lona  to  Dull,  within  the  Pict- 
ish  frontier,  and  near  the  southern  bounds  of 
Nechtan's  clansmen,  and  to  intrude  a  staff  of 
Scotic  clerics  into  the  ancient  Pictish  foundation 
of  S.  Ninian's,  Loch  Ness,  on  the  north-west- 
ern borders  of  Nechtan's  home-territories,  to 
which  the  clan  Lorn  had  at  this  time  penetrated. 
Adamnan,from  his  known  sympathies  and  policy, 
would  take  very  good  care  that  Dull  was  staffed 
with  Celtic  clerics  who  had  conformed  to  Roman- 
ism; and,  indeed,  Cairell,*  a  monastic  bishop 
who  appears  at  this  time  at  S.  Ninian's  Tempul, 
Loch  Ness,  was  of  the  conformed  group  in 
Ireland.  Nechtan  was  thus,  from  his  youth  up, 
before  and  after  he  became  Sovereign,  subjected 
within  his  home-territories  to  the  near  influence 

*  The  Duke  of  Argyll  deals  with  his  foundations  in  Lorn  in  Trans- 
actions of  the  Scottish  Ecclesiological  Society ,  vol.  V.  parti.,  1915-16. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

not  only  of  the  proselytizing  Adamnan,  but  to  the 
attentions  of  two  groups  of  his  agents.  But  there 
is  more  to  connect  Adamnan  with  Nechtan  than 
these  arrangements  for  diluting  the  Christianity 
of  the  clan  Derelei  and  their  chiefs.  Bede  informs 
us  that  during  Adamnan's  diplomatic  mission, 
c.  687,  to  Aldfrid,*  king  of  the  Northumbrian 
Angles,  the  English  Roman  Catholics  of  'the 
more  learned  sort'j  utilized  the  opportunity  to 
press  Adamnan  to  conform  to  Rome.  Ceolfrid, 
Abbot  of  the  Roman  monasteries  of  Wearmouth 
and  Jarrow,  unhesitatingly  claims  the  chief 
credit  J  for  influencing  Adamnan  to  enter  the 
Roman  fold,  and  even  repeats  some  of  the  ex 
hortations  and  arguments  that  he  uttered  to 
him.§  Therefore,  when  c.  a.d.  710,  six  years  after 
Adamnan's  death,  Nechtan,  the  Sovereign  of 
Pictland,  writes  to  this  same  Ceolfrid,  Roman 
Abbot  of  Wearmouth  and  Jarrow,  asking  for 
more  exact  particulars  regarding  the  Roman 
date  for  celebrating  the  time  of  the  Lord's  Re- 
surrection, and  also  particulars  concerning  the 
Roman  tonsure,  '  notwithstanding  that  he  him- 
self already  possessed  no  small  knowledge  of 

*  Formerly  a  pupil  at  lona. 

t  Bede,  H.E.G.A.  lib.  v.  cap.  xv. 

t  About  this  time  Adamnan  had  been  greatly  impressed  by  the  Gaul- 
ish bishop  Arculf,  who  was  shipwrecked  in  the  west  and  reached  lona  on 
his  way  home  from  Palestine.  From  him  he  learned  about  the  veneration 
of  relics  and  dedication  of  churches — practices  unknown  to  the  Celtic 
Church. 

§  Bede,  lib.  v.  cap.  xxi. 

368 


CHURCH  &  KING 

these  things,'*  it  is  clear  that  the  sovereign's  in- 
spiration had  arisen  from  the  earlier  associations 
with  Adamnan,  or  from  the  two  communities 
that  he  had  left  to  proselytize  among  his  clans- 
men. Ceolfrid  the  Angle  was  unknown  to  the 
Picts,  and  was  shut  off  from  them  by  racial  anti- 
pathy; and  no  Pictish  sovereign  would  have 
thought  of  appealing  to  him  except  under  exter- 
nal direction  with  some  special  end  in  view.  In 
his  letter,  Ceolfrid  exposes  his  dealings  with 
Adamnan  as  one  with  whom  Nechtan  is  already 
familiar.  Nechtan  candidly  confesses  that  he  had 
found  the  way  of  an  ecclesiastical  innovator  hard, 
because  he  begs  a  written  reply  from  Ceolfrid, 
'by  the  help  of  which  he  might  the  better  con- 
fute those  who  presumed  to  celebrate  the  Resur- 
rection out  of  due  time.'l  meaning  the  clergy  and 
people  of  the  Church  of  his  own  realm  of  Pictland. 
After  Ceolfrid's  reply  had  been  delivered,  in 
A.D.  710,  Nechtan  summoned  a  Synod  at  which 
he  presided,  and  the  letter  was  read  in  the  sove- 
reign's presence.  The  Synod  was  composed  of 
Pictish  clergy,  chiefs  of  the  Pictish  clans,  and 
contained  'many  learned  men,'  a  note  for  which 
the  shades  of  the  Picts  must  be  grateful  to  Bede, 
in  view  of  the  contemptuous  references  to  them 
as  'the  tribes'  and  'the  barbarians'  by  the  Gaidh- 
eals  or  Scots.  The  letter  of  Ceolfrid  is  given  at 
length  in  Bede's  history.  The  spectacle,  which 

*  Bede,  lib.  v.  cap.  xxi.  \  Bede,  lib.  v.  cap.  xxi. 

2  B  369 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

he  also  describes,  of  Nechtan  the  sovereign  of 
Pictland  kneeling  on  the  ground  before  the  As- 
sembly as  the  reading  finished,  'giving  thanks  to 
God  that  he  had  been  found  worthy  to  receive 
suchablessing  from  the  land  of  the  English.'must, 
as  the  sequel  shows,  have  roused  contempt  and 
scorn  in  the  Men  of  Earn  (Fortrenn);  and  in  the 
other  Picts  whose  forefathers  for  generations  had 
interposed  their  bravest  and  best  to  stem  the  un- 
ending waves  of  Teutonic  savagery  that  had  rolled 
in  from  England  upon  the  territories  of  the  more 
southerly  clansmen.  Was  it  for  this  that  twenty- 
four  years  earlier  the  Men  of  the  Earn  and  their 
sovereign-king,  under  the  walls  of  the  Angus 
capital  of  Nechtan's  clan  at  Dun-Nechtain,  had 
crushed  Egfrid  and  his  army  of  butchers  who  set 
out  to  treat  the  Picts  of  Alba  as  they  had  treated 
the  Gaidheals  of  Ireland  a  few  months  before, 
sickening  even  their  own  clergy  with  horror,  and 
rousing  them  to  protest  ?  Bede's  picture  of  Nech- 
tan reveals  a  royal  fanatic,  such  as  became  too 
common  in  Alba,  mad  with  zeal  for  forms  and 
ceremonial,  and  times  and  seasons;  but  icily  un- 
appreciative  of  the  Christ-like  example  and  apos- 
tolic faith,  fervour,  and  manner  of  life  of  the  Brito- 
Pictish  clergy  who  had  founded  and  maintained 
the  Church  of  his  realm;  and,  elsewhere,  had 
evoked  reverence  and  admiration,  from  the  Apen- 
nines to  Hecla.  When  Nechtan  had  closed  his 
thanksgiving,  he  solemnly  affirmed  and  declared 

370 


CHURCH  &>  KING 

that  henceforward  he  would  observe  the  Roman 
Paschal  date;  and  then  and  there  decreed  that 
the  clerics  of  his  kingdom*  should  be  tonsured  in 
Roman  fashion.  Up  to  this  time  the  Church  of 
the  Picts  did  not  venerate  the  relics  of  the  holy, 
did  not  dedicate  their  Churches  to  saints,  did  not 
hold  the  doctrine  of  patron  saints,  and  did  not 
esteem  one  Apostle  above  another.  But  Ceolfrid 
in  his  letter  to  Nechtan  lays  stress  upon  S.  Peter, 
and  Bede  informs  us  that  the  nation  of  the  Picts 
'reformed'  by  Nechtan's  decree,  'rejoiced  as  be- 
ing newly  put  under  the  guidance  of  Peter,  the 
most  blessed  chief  of  the  Apostles,  and  committed 
to  his  protection.' f  If  Bede,  as  seems,  wishes  to 
convey  that  the  christians  within  the  Pictish 
sovereignty  at  once  turned  romanist  in  type  he 
is  indulging  in  pious  exaggeration  and  historical 
inaccuracy.  The  events  following,  in  the  reigns  of 
Nechtan  and  his  successors,  show  that  Nechtan 
had  merely  introduced  a  romanizing  party  into 
the  Pictish  Church  whose  watchword  was  'S. 
Peter';  and  whose  labours  in  proselytizing  and 
usurping  the  earlier  Churches  of  the  Picts  were 
restricted  to  a  few  sites  in  the  clan-territories  of 
Nechtan's  family.  Nechtan's  party  were  soon  to 

*  This  was  of  course  his  own  petty  kingdom.  This  sovereign  had  no 
power  to  make  such  a  decree  for  the  whole  sovereignty  without  the  assent 
of  a  majority  of  the  chiefs.  This  appears  not  to  have  been  given,  and  Bede 
is  silent  on  the  point;  although  he  states  that  Nechtan's  decree  was  sent 
throughout  'all  the  provinces'  of  the  Picts.  We  know  that  it  was  un- 
heeded in  many  of  them. 

t  Bede,  lib.  v,  cap.  xxi. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

be  weakened  and  discredited  by  another  party  of 
Roman  prosely  tizers  whose  watchword  was  to  be 
'S.  Andrew.'  Doubtless  Nechtan  had  a  shrewd 
notion  that  although  royal  edicts  had  been  the 
English  instruments  for  converting  Angles  in  the 
mass;  more  than  edicts  would  be  required  for  his 
conservative  Celtic  subjects,  with  their  inborn 
love  of  freedom  in  thought,  and  their  peculiar  ten- 
acity to  first  religious  knowledge. 

The  Arrival  of  S.  Curitan  (Bonifacius),  a 

FRIEND  OF  S.  AdAMNAN,  IN  AlBA  AS  NeCHTAN's 
CLERICAL  AGENT 

In  support  of  Nechtan's  edict  and  the  royal 
policy,  S.  Curitan,  who  received  the  Latin  name 
'Bonifacius,'  was  brought  into  Pictland.  He  was 
also  called  'Albanus,'  which  in  his  time  meant 
a  native  of  Alba,  that  is,  a  Briton  or  Pict;  al- 
though later  in  history,  when  the  Scottish  mon- 
archs  usurped  the  title  'king  of  Alba,'  the  Gaidh- 
ealic  or  Scotic  scribes  gave  this  designation  to 
Dalriad  Gaidheals,  to  distinguish  them  from  the 
Gaidheals  of  Ireland.  S.  Curitan's  Acts  are  no 
longer  available,  or  rather  they  are,  but  fabu- 
lized  at  least  twice  over  by  Roman  Catholic 
scribes  of  the  thirteenth  or  fourteenth  centuries, 
until  what  remains  is  the  stupid  and  grotesque 
story  known  as  the  Legend  of  Bonifacius.  This 
Legend  not  only  shames  the  intelligence  of  those 
who  constructed  it;  but  it  must  have  insulted  the 
372 


CHURCH  ^  KING 

intelligence  of  those  who  supported  the  'English 
Claims,'*  to  defeat  which,  this  bit  of  fiction  and 
other  literary  monstrosities  were  manufactured. 
Certain  valid  details  about  S.  Curitan  are,  how- 
ever, recoverable.  Judging  from  his  reception  at 
the  Bangor  foundation  at  Rosemarkie,  S.  Curitan 
had  probably  been  trained  at  Bangor  of  the  Irish 
Picts,  or  at  one  of  the  daughter-houses  in  Alba. 
Although  Bangor  had  not  conformed  to  Rome; 
Cennfaeladh,  Ab  of  Bangor,  and  S .  Curitan  joined 
S.  Adamnan  in  his  eiTorts  to  humanize  the  milit- 
ary laws  of  Ireland,  c.  a.d.  697,  when  the  Gaidh- 
eals  or  Scots  both  of  Ireland  and  Dalriada  left 
him  unsupported. f  This  confirms  Bade,  and 
helps  further  to  show  that  S.  Curitan  was  not 
a  Gaidheal  or  Scot;  because  Bede  states  that 
Adamnan  drew  no  supporters  in  his  ecclesiastic- 
al and  civil  policy  from  his  own  community  in 
lona,  and  also  takes  pains  to  show  that  in  Ireland 
he  attracted  supporters  only  from  communities 
that  were  not  Columban,  or  as  he  puts  it,  'those 
that  were  free  from  the  dominion  of  lona. 'J 
Again,  S.  Curitan  was  not  expelled  from  Pictland, 

*  The  'English  Claims'  took  literary  form,  A.D.  1300,  through  Pope 
Boniface  VIII.  and  Edward.  The  unblushing  audacity  of  the  Scotic 
Churchmen  is  nowhere  better  manifested  than  in  that  version  of  the 
Legend  which  transforms  Curitan  into  a  Pope  of  Rome,  whom  they  call  by 
Boniface's  name,  and  then  tell  the  world  how  this  Boniface  of  fiction 
behaved  in  the  Papal  Chair. 

t  Even  the  minutes  garbled  in  the  interests  of  the  primacy  of  Armagh 
show  that  the  clergy  were  from  Leinster  and  the  south  of  Ireland. 

X  Bede,  H.E.G.A,  lib.  v.  cap.  xv. 

Z1Z 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

in  A.D.  717,  when  the  Gaidhealic  or  Scotic  com- 
munities intruded  within  the  Pictish  border  were 
banished  furth  of  Pictland.  Besides  his  I  rish  con- 
nections, S.  Curitan  was  also  in  touch  with  the 
English  Roman  Catholics.  He  and  the  Anglo- 
Roman  zealot  Egbert*  were  present  with  Adam- 
nan  in  the  Synod  atTara  which  exempted  women 
from  military  expeditions  organized  within  the 
Irish  sovereignty.  In  the  garbled  copyf  of  the 
original  minutes  his  name  is  retained  as  'Curitan 
epscop.'  He  was  an  Ab  as  well  as  bishop. J  In  the 
ancient  Mariyro/ogy  of  Tallagh  his  entry  appears 
as  'Curitani  set  epi  agus  ab  ruts  m  bainnd.'\ 
The  copyist  blundered  the  entry.  It  should  have 
ended  at  'w.'  'bairind'  belongs  to  the  entry 
that  should  have  followed  which  related  to  'S. 
Bar-find.' II  The  corrected  entry  would  mean  'of 

Curitan  hh  and  bishop  in  Ros .'  As  a  matter 

of  local  knowledge,  the  place  which  the  copyist 
ought  to  have  designated  was  '  Ros-mhaircm\ 

*  In  the  Synod  minutes  his  name  is  written  'Ichirxil'  the  Irish  for 
Egbert.  Through  the  dream  of  a  companion  he  drew^back  from  a  mission 
to  Germany  in  order  that  he  might  go  into  residence  with  the  Scotic  com- 
munity at  lona  with  a  view  to  influencing  them  to  conform  to  Rome.  His 
mission  to  lona  had  the  same  aim  as  Curitan's  mission  to  Pictland. 

Egbert  worked  so  well  in  lona  that  he  split  the  community  of  Columba 
into  two  parlies  with  rival  Abs. 

t  The  O'Clery  MS.  at  Brussels. 

I  Monastic,  not  diocesan.  §  The  Franciscan  MS. 

II  Cf.  Kalendars  of  O'Gorman  and  Donegal.  In  the  MS.  of  that  of 
Marianus  O'Gorman  is  written  ' Rosmeaii'  and  then,  apart,  'Barudi 
Ep.'  Elsewhere  the  latter  saint  appears  as  '  Bnr-FianH'  and  'Bar-'indus.' 

%  Spelling  in  Book  of  Clan  Rattald.  Cf.  Watson,  Place-mimes  of  Rks 
and  Cromarty,  p.  1 28. 

374 


CHURCH  &>  KING 

in  Ross  of  Pictland,  now  'Rosemarkie.'* 

It  is  now  possible  to  make  use  of  certain  state- 
ments that  are  contained  in  the  least  fabulized  of 
the  old  accounts ■]•  of  S.  Curitan;  because  they 
are  confirmed  by  local  remains.  When  '  Albanus 
Kiritinus'  (S.  Curitan)  sailed  to  Pictland,  prob- 
ably from  a  port  of  the  Northumbrian  Angles, 
he  landed  on  the  northern  shore  of  the  firth  of 
Tay.  This  was  in  Angus,  the  eastern  portion  of 
Nechtan's  clan-territory.  He  was  bent  on  found- 
ing Roman  Churches,  dedicating  them  to S.  Peter, 
under  whose  'protection'  Nechtan  had  decided 
to  place  the  kingdom.  He  was  accompanied  by 
followers  whom  he  could  detach  to  minister  in 
the  new  Churches.  As  he  is  at  this  time  desig- 
nated '  Ab  and  bishop,'  it  is  plain  that  he  adhered 
to  the  Celtic  form  of  organization;  and  was  not 
beginning  diocesan  episcopacy.  After  landing, 
Curitan  proceeded  to  the  mouth  of  the  river 
'Gobriat'  in  Pictland  and  there  founded  the  first 
Roman  Catholic  Church  in  Pictland.  'Gobriat' 
is  Invergowrie  near  Dundee;  and  there  in  the 
seventeenth  century  a  Church-site  still  remained 
called  Kil-Curdy,%  Church  of  Curitan.  He  then 
went  to  Restennot,  near  the  modern  capital  of 

*  The  blundered  entry  has  caused  much  vain  speculation  that  local 
knowledge  of  Pictland  would  have  saved.  Probably  the  copyist  was  writ- 
ing to  dictation;  and  there  is  not  much  difference  to  a  careless  ear  in  the 
enunciation  of '  mhaircin '  and  '  bhar-fhin. ' 

t  For  this  account  see  Skene's  Celtic  Scotland,  Book  II.  chap.  vi. 
p.  230. 

{  Since  corrupted  into  '  Kin- Curdy '  and  'Kincuddy.' 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Angus,  and  founded  another  Church  which  he 
dedicated  to  S.  Peter.  Apparently  he  had  dedic- 
ated the  former  Church  to  S.  Peter  also,  but  the 
Picts  of  Invergowrie  adhered  to  the  native  cus- 
tom of  calling  a  Church  after  its  founder.  Evid- 
ently, even  with  the  sovereign's  help,  Curitan 
could  not  establish. his  working-centre  in  Angus 
where  the  Pictish  Church  had  always  been  strong- 
ly organized.    He  was  therefore  moved  on  to 
Rosemarkie  where  there  was  the  muinntir  and 
Church  originally  established  by  S.  Moluag  of 
Bangor  and  Lismore  between  a.d.  562  and  a.d. 
592.  Whether  he  succeeded  in  influencing  all  the 
community  of  Rosemarkie  to  conform  to  Rome  is 
not  told;  but  as  late  as  the  thirteenth  century  there 
was  still  a  Celtic  religious  community  at  Rose- 
markie which  had  remained  outside  the  Roman 
episcopal   organization.     Curitan   dedicated  S. 
Moluag's  old  Church  to  S.  Peter;  and  the  sur- 
rounding earlier  Celtic  Churches  were  also,  in 
certain  instances,  dedicated  to  saints  in  the  Roman 
Kalendar;  and  their  founders'  names,  which  they 
had  borne  over  a  century  and  a  half,  ignored  by 
the  Roman  party.  The  zealot  and  the  pervert 
are  often  destitute  of  conscience ;  and  the  name 
of  Simon  Peter  has  seldom  been  so  outraged  as 
when  used  to  insult  the  memory  of  S.  Moluag, 
of  'the  hundred  communities,'  to  whose  work 
S.   Bernard  of  more  charitable  mind  testified 
handsomely.  As  if  in  scorn  of  S.  Curitan's  efforts 
376 


CHURCH  &>  KING 

to  silence  the  testimony  of  the  stones  to  the  men 
who  had  personally  evangelized  the  Picts  of  Ross, 
the  folk  of  Ross  not  only  preserved  the  names 
of  the  old  saintsabove  S.  Peter's  and  othereastern 
saints;  but  adhered  to  the  old  ways,  and  even 
named  the  Churches  which  S.  Curitan  founded 
and  dedicated,  by  his  own  name.  The  site  of 
the  Church  at  Rosemarkie  which  he  dedicated 
to  S.  Peter  is  still  called  Kil-Curdy,^  Curitan's 
Church.  S.  Curitan  also  founded  Churches  at 
Bona  near  Inverness,  Corrimony  off  the  Great- 
Glen,  Struy  in  Strath-Glass,  Farnuaf  in  Kirk- 
hill,  a  Church  at  Assynt  of  Novar,  and  Cill-Chur- 
daidh  in  Avoch.  All,  in  pursuance  of  S.  Curitan's 
and  Nechtan's  programme  were  probably  dedi- 
cations to  S.  Peter;  but  their  sites  still  carry 
Curitan's  name.  Even  the  Churchyards  of  Bona 
and  Corrimony  a.re.  still  'Cladh  Churitain.'  Nech- 
tan's and  his  cleric's  efforts  had  resulted  not  only  in 
ecclesiastical.butin  political  schism. The  king's  in- 
ability to  establish  Curitan  in  Angus,  or  anywhere 
in  the  southern  provinces  where  the  muinntirs 
of  the  Church  of  the  Picts  were  numerous  and 
strongly  manned;  the  indicated  restriction  of  S. 
Curitan'sactivities,on  the  northward, tothe  shores 

*  A  church  still  stood  here  in  1641.  The  present  form  of  the  name 
here  as  in  Gowrie  is  'Kincurdy.'  When  the  seat  of  the  bishop  of  Ross  was 
transferred  to  Fortrose  c,  1309,  the  Cathedral  was  dedicated  to  SS,  Peter 
and  Boniface  (Curitan). 

t  Called  by  the  author  of  the  Wardlaw  MS.  Church  of  'Corridon.' 
Cf,  Saints  associated  with  the  Valley  of  the  Ness,  p.  14. 

m 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

of  Cromarty  Firth,  and  southward,  to  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Inverness;  show  that  the  Pictish 
clergy  stood  aloof  from  Nechtan's  Roman  mis- 
sionaries. The  Menofthepowerfulpetty  kingdom 
of  the  Earn  ( Fortrenn)  were,  as  after  events  show- 
ed, moving  against  the  sovereign;  and  were  mak- 
ing up  their  minds  that  if  protecting  saints  were 
available  for  Pictland;  they  would  choose  one  for 
themselves,  and  certainly  not  the  same  one  as 
the  hated  English.  These  sturdy  clansmen,  who 
had  so  long  been  a  wall  of  flesh  and  blood  against 
the  Teutonic  invaders,  failed  to  see  how  S.  Peter 
could  be,  at  once,  Protector  of  the  Picts  and  of 
their  immemorial  enemies. 

Nechtan  left  nothing  undone  that  would  keep 
his  reign  from  being  dull.  As  if  to  quicken  the 
coming  liveliness,  in  the  year  after  Nechtan  had 
taken  action  on  Ceolfrid's  letter,  Bertfrid,  thechief 
ealdormanoftheEnglish,letloose,asnoted,araid- 
ing  army  into  what  is  now  the  Lothians  and  part 
of  Stirlingshire.  The  raiders  were  checked,  and 
turned,  on  the  Moor  of  Mannan;  but  not  with- 
out loss  to  the  Men  of  the  Earn  (Fortrenn),  and 
regret  to  the  nation  in  the  untimely  fall  of  a  chief 
of  the  leading  clan  in  the  south-east,  the  Dele- 
roith.  Clearly,  this  was  neither  a  happy  way  of 
commending  S.  Peter  to  these  clansmen,  nor  a 
likelymethod  of  popularizing  Nechtan  the  Sove- 
reign, S.  Peter's  latest  champion.  Two  years 
after  this,  in  a.d.  713,  Kenneth  Derelei,  a  chief 

378 


CHURCH  &>  KING 

of  Nechtan's  own  clan  was  slain  in  a  movement 
not  described;  but  that  popular  dissatisfaction 
with  Nechtan  was  active  is  seen  in  the  '  obligat- 
ing' of  Tolarg  Mac  Drostain,  his  brother  or  half- 
brother  and  the  chief  of  Atholl,  to  a  share  in  the 
government.*  The  promotion  of  Tolarg  was 
connected  with  the  next  important  event,  be- 
cause it  was  his  clan-territories  that  had  been 
chiefly  affected  by  the  intrusions  of  the  Scotic 
clergy. 

The   Gaidhealic   or  Scotic  Clergy  under 

lONA,  are  driven  OUT  OF  PiCTLAND  FROM  THE 

Border  Stations  into  which  they  had  in- 
truded ON  the  Western  Frontier 
In  A.D.  717,  within  four  years  after  Tolarg 
had  become  Nechtan's  deputy,  the  Gaidhealic 
or  Scotic  clergy  under  lona  who  had  intruded 
into  Pictland,  just  within  the  western  frontier, 
were  'expelled.'  The  action  was  neither  of  the 

*  There  is  some  difficulty  as  to  the  exact  position  of  Tolarg  at  the 
Court  of  Nechtan  the  Sovereign.  One  reading  of  the  word  used  to  de- 
scribe that  position  is  'le^atus'  which  would  describe  a  lieutenant- 
governor,  a  position  occupied  by  the  near  relatives  of  other  chiefs. 

The  Pidish  Chronicle  does  not  recognise  Tolarg's  joint  authority; 
but  neither  does  it  recognise  Cennaleph's,  Brude  Mac  Maelchon's  col- 
league for  a  short  time. 

Two  printed  copies  of  the  Irish  Annals  give  the  describing  word  as 
'ligaius,'  and  this  is  varied  to  'ligatur'  in  a  third  copy.  But  Tolarg  was 
an  extremely  difficult  person  to  'bind.'  He  was  'king  of  Atholl,'  and 
binding  Tolarg  would  not  have  restrained  the  Men  of  Atholl  who  re- 
sented the  presence  of  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  within  their  borders. 

Unless  Tolarg  and  the  Men  of  Atholl  and  the  Men  of  Fortrenn  had 
been  parties  to  the  expulsion  of  the  Gaidhealic  or  Scotic  clergy,  that 

379 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

magnitude  nor  importance  that  certain  writers 
have  stated.  It  only  affected  the  muinntirs  of 
Dull,  'Kailli  an  Find,'  S.  Ninian's,  Loch  Ness, 
and  Drymen,  all  on  the  border  at  that  time. 
Nechtan  as  titular  sovereign  receives  credit 
for  the  expulsions  from  the  Annalists;  but  the 
policy  was  manifestly  Tolarg's,  backed  by  the 
Picts  of  Atholl  and  the  Picts  of  Fortrenn;  be- 
cause these  two  provinces  were  most  affected 
by  Gaidhealic  or  Scotic  aggression,  especially 
by  the  activities  of  the  principal  intruded  com- 
munity at  Dull,  which  Adamnan  had  founded. 
It  is  certain  that  the  expulsion  could  not  have 
been  effected  without  the  consent  and  active 
participation  of  Tolarg  and  his  Men  of  Atholl, 
along  with  the  Men  of  Fortrenn. 

The  historians  who  followed  the  misinter- 
pretation of  Bede's  geographical  references  to 
Pictland  have  treated  the  expulsion  of  the  Scotic 
clergy  from  the  Pictish  borders  as  a  national 
upheaval.  Having  interpreted  Bede's  reference 
to  S.  Columba's  work,  not  of  the  Picts  in  the 
modern  west,  but  of  the  Picts  in  the  modern 
north;  they  were  shut  up  to  the  conclusion  that 

expulsion  could  not  have  taken  place ;  because  it  was  into  their  terri- 
tories that  the  Scotic  clergy  had  intruded,  and  the  expulsion  had  to  be 
carried  out  by  them. 

The  connection  of  Nechtan  and  his  family  with  Angus  and  Atholl  is 
seen  in  the  Legend  of  'Triduana'  where  'the  tyrant  Nechtan  neamh' 
(S.  Nechtan)  is  her  lover ;  and  pursues  her  from  Rescobie  in  Angus  to 
Dunfallandy  in  Atholl  {cf.  Aberdeen  Breviary). 

380 


CHURCH  ^  KING 

the  expulsion  by  Nechtan  meant  the  emptying 
out  of  all  the  religious  communities  in  northern 
Pictland,  at  least,  and  the  leaving  unmanned  of 
all  the  northern  Churches.  A  little  local  know- 
ledge of  the  face  of  Pictland  would  have  saved 
these  historians  from  the  unhistorical  speculations 
and  huge  blunders  in  which  they  became  utterly 
mazed.  Apart  from  what  is  known  and  related 
of  the  actual  ministries  in  Pictland  of  the  native 
clergy,  and  of  clergy  from  the  Britonsand  from  the 
Irish  Picts;  the  following  considerations  ought 
to  have  guided  the  historians  to  correct  conclu- 
sions about  the  Pictish  Church  on  the  one  hand, 
and  regarding  the  Gaidhealic  or  Scotic  clergy 
on  the  other.  Dalian,  the  contemporary  pane- 
gyrist of  S.  Columba  (Columcille),  knew  noth- 
ing of  any  settled  or  acceptable  ministry  among 
the  christians  of  Pictland,  east  of  the  frontiers 
of  Dalriada,  by  S.  Columba;   but  he  tells  of 
the  hostility  with  which  S.  Columba  was  re- 
ceived on  the  upper  reaches  of  the  Tay,  and  how 
the  saint  'silenced  the  fierce  ones.'  Yet  at  that 
very  time,  when  S.  Columba  was  being  treated 
with  hostility,  S.  Cainnech,  the  great  Pictish 
teacher,  a  former  fellow-student  with  S,  Col- 
umba, was  conducting  a  peaceful  and  accept- 
able ministry  on  the  shores  where  that  same 
river  enters  the  sea.  Adamnan  the  great  Scotic 
Ab  of  lona,  and  chief  authority  about  S.  Col- 
umba, knew  nothing  of  Scotic  establishments  in 

381 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Pictland  remote  from  the  frontiers  of  Dalriada. 
His  picture  of  S.  Columba  shows  a  wary  dip- 
lomat taking  journeys  to  the  Pictish  sovereign 
across  Drum-Alban  on  behalf  of  the  Gaidhealic 
or  Scotic  kingdom  of  Dalriada.  He  gives  us 
glimpses  of  the  saint's  kindly  attentions  to 
Pictish  folk  whose  paths  he  crossed  on  his  jour- 
neys; but  takes  pains  to  show  that  S.  Columba 
was  helpless  when  trying  to  teach  in  the  Pictish 
dialect  of  Celtic.  It  isAdamnan,also,whomakesit 
plain  that  S.  Columba's  master-hand  set  Aedhan 
'the  False'  on  the  broken  throne  of  Dalriada. 
Not  only  does  he  enable  us  to  trace  the  steps  by 
which  Aedhan  extorted  the  independence  of 
Dalriada  from  his  suzerain  and  clan-chief,  the 
sovereign  of  Ireland;  but  he  shows  us  S.  Col- 
umba, in  defiance  of  Brude  his  host,  ordaining 
Aedhan  to  kingship  instead  of  to  the  Toiseach- 
ship  fixed  by  Brude;  and,  moreover,  shows 
Aedhan  challenging  the  Pictish  sovereignty  with 
every  soldier  that  he  could  mobilize.  Adamnan 
also  candidly  exhibits  S.  Columba,  and  the  whole 
community  at  lona,  offering  special  intercessory 
prayer  for  the  success  of  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots, 
who  were  fighting  in  one  of  the  Pictish  provinces, 
and  only  desisting  when  they  could  congratulate 
themselves  that  'the  barbarians,'  the  Picts,  were 
in  flight.  These  praying  Gaidheals  or  Scots  had 
manifestly  no  spiritual  interest  in,  or  respons- 
ibility for  the  Picts,  and  the  hard  terms  of  the 
382 


CHURCH  ^  KING 

biographer  show  that  he  had  no  affinity  for  the 
non-conformingsubjects  of  Nechtan.  Moreover, 
if  there  had  been  any  Gaidhealic  or  Scotic  re- 
ligious communities  in  Pictland,  away  from  the 
intruded  border  communities,  in  Adamnan's 
time;  Adamnan  himself  would  have  ruled  them 
and  directed  them  to  carry  out  his  policies. 
Consequently,  he  would  not  have  required  to  in- 
trude a  Scotic  community  into  Pictland  through 
a  side  door  at  Dull,  in  extension  of  his  romaniz- 
ing  schemes;  and  he  would  not  have  left  the 
Angle  Ceolfrid  to  expound  the  designs  of  the 
romanizing  party  to  Nechtan;  he  could  have 
done  all  himself,  and  more  efficiently,  because 
more  directly,  and  through  numerous  local 
agencies.  But  the  fact  was,  neither  Adamnan,  nor 
any  other  Scotic  Ab  before  the  ninth  century, 
controlled  any  religious  communities  within  Pict- 
land, apart  from  the  few  already  mentioned  on 
the  frontier  line. 

This  is  remarkably  confirmed  by  the  testimony 
of  the  face  of  Pictland,  Professor  Watson*  has 
stated  that  in  the  great  Pictish  district  repre- 
sented by  the  county  of  Ross,  there  is  not  on  the 
mainland  one  single  Church-foundation  by  S. 
Columba  (Columcille).  In  the  town  of  Inverness 
where  S.  Columba  had  interviews  with  the  Pict- 
ish sovereign  there  is  also  not  one  Church  found- 
ation by  S.  Columba.    The  same  is  true  of  the 

*  Place-names  of  Ross  and  Cromarty,  p.  Ixvii, 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

former  Pictish  districts,  now  known  as  Suther- 
land,* Caithness,  f  Orkney,  J  and  Shetland.  In  the 
county  of  Inverness  there  are  two,  perhaps  three,§ 
places  on  the  roads  where  S.  Columba  journeyed 
at  which  the  saint  is  commemorated.  On  the  east 
of  I  nverness,  there  is  not  an  old|Church  or  Church- 
site  bearing  the  name  of  S.  Columba  (Columcille) 
which  cannot  be  shown  to  be  a  dedication  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  period  to  S.  Columba,  and  not 
■a.  foundation  during  a  mission  in  Pictland;  the 
truth  being  that  the  alleged  mission  of  the  Scotic 
saint  in  Pictland  is  as  much  a  creation  of  the  imag- 
ination as  the  '  Myth  of  Deer,'  by  which  the  rom- 
anized  Scotic  clerics  who  usurped  that  ancient 
monastery,  after  the  Scotic  ascendency,  wished 
the  world  to  think  that  it  had  been  founded  by 
S.  Columba  (Columcille).  The  very  stones  of 
these  ancient  so-called  Columban  Church-sites  of 
Pictland  cry  out  the  names  of  their  true  founders, 
the  Colms.ll  Colmans,  and  Colmocs  with  whom 

*  Sir  Robert  Gordon's  'Kilcalmkill'  in  Strath-Brora  was  his  ovm  in- 
vention. It  is  not  a  Church-site,  but  a  property  by  a  ravine.  On  14th  Nov- 
ember 1456  the  Laird  of  Dunbeath  gives  the  name  as  '  Gillyecallomgil ' 
which  is  the  Gil  or  ravine  of  the  servant  of  Columba.  'Gillyecallom'  was 
the  name  of  an  early  Sutherland  family,  and  the  whole  name  was  a  pro- 
perty-name in  Strath-Brora. 

t  S.  Columba's  Dirlot  is  a  dedication  of  the  Roman  Catholic  period. 

%  The  Church  in  Hoy,  like  other  Churches  of  S.  Colm,  has  been  as- 
cribed to  Columcille.  In  this  case  by  the  author  of  the  Statistical  Account. 
The  natives  always  called  it  S.  Colra's. 

§  The  old  Church  of  Invermoriston,  perhaps  Kingussie,  possibly  Petty, 
but  there  is  strong  charter  indication  that  Petty,  like  Auldearn,  is  a  dedi- 
cation of  the  Roman  Catholic  period. 

II  There  are  places  that  a  Colm  occupied  in  Pictish  times  where  the 


CHURCH  &>  KING 

the  fabulists,  for  S.  Columba's  glory,  deliberate- 
ly confused  his  name.   Even  the  stones  of  the 
Church-sites  within  the  Scotic  kingdom  of  Dal- 
riada  witness  against  the  fabulists;  because  they 
keep  S.  Columba's  true  designation,  and  in  the 
abundant  'Kil-Columcilles'  of  Argyll  and  the 
Western  Isles  leave  no  possible  doubt  as  to  the 
original  founder,  S.  Columba(CoIumcille).  Much 
that  in  this  respect  is  true  of  S.  Columba  is  also 
true  of  S.  Adamnan.  Great  and  powerful  as  S. 
Adamnan  was  among  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots, 
there  is  not  one  old  Church  or  Church-found- 
ation in  Pictland,  Dull  excepted,  which  bears  his 
name,  that  cannot  be  shown  to  be  a  dedication  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  period.  This  would  not  have 
been  the  case  if  there  had  been  Gaidhealic  or 
Scotic  communities  in  the  interior  of  Pictland 
under  this  distinguished  Ab  and  zealous  prosel- 
ytizer.    He  would  have  had  numerous  found- 
ations,* 

When  therefore  Nechtan's  subjects  expelled 
the  Scotic  clergy,  the  greatest  exodus  would  be 


Gaidheals  or  Scots,  after  their  ascendency,  actually  dedicated  Churches  to 
S.  Columba,  if  Fordun  can  be  trusted,  and  Inchcolm  in  Forth  is  an  ex- 
ample. 

*  Dr.  Reeves  and  Dr.  Skene  felt  the  need  of  showing  something  for 
Adamnan  in  Pictland. 

Forvie  ascribed  to  him  is,  unfortunately  for  them,  'St.  Findomhnan's.' 

'Teunon'  (Forglen)  is  a  dedication  of  the  Roman  Catholic  period  after 
the  property  fell  to  Aberbrothoc. 

S.  Skeulan's  Aboyne  and  S.  Arnty's  in  the  Mearns  have  been  arbitrarily 
referred  to  S.  Adamnan.  It  is  true  that  the  aspirated  form  of  his  name 
varies,  but  it  is  always  recognizable  between  'Adamnan'  and  'Abnan.' 

2C  385 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

from  the  strong  muinntir  oi  Dull,  on  the  Pictish 
side  of  the  western  frontier.  Certainly  Dull  was 
the  disturbing  community  in  theeyesof  thePicts. 
Having  been  founded  and  staffed  by  Adamnan,it 
became  of  necessitypart  of  the  romanizing  organ- 
ization, and  could  hardlyhelp  being  aggressive.  A 
foreign  Church  can  seldom  be  aggressive  without 
abusing  hospitality,  and  rousingpoliticalhostility. 
The  Gaidheals  or  Scots  had  not  only  abused  the 
hospitality  of  the  Picts  from  the  first  days  that 
they  entered  Pictland;  but  S.  Columba  in  abus- 
ing Brude's  hospitality  on  lona  had  challenged 
the  whole  political  interests  of  Pictland  when  he 
set  Aedhan  'the  False'  on  the  Dalriad  throne. 
Adamnan  was  just  as  unscrupulous,  and  penetra- 
tive at  the  expense  of  the  Picts,  as  S.  Columba. 
Both  had  regarded  the  world  as  made  for  the 
Gaidheal  or  Scot.  Wherever  theScoticclericwas 
able  to  establish  himself  the  Scotic  flag  was  sure 
to  follow  sooner  or  later.  The  reasons  for  the  ex- 
pulsion of  the  alien  clergy  were  political.  It  was 
the  menace  to  the  Pictish  State  of  these  hostile 
propagandists  within  the  Pictish  frontier-line  that 
roused  the  Picts  of  Atholl  and  Fortrenn  to  compel 
Nechtan  and  Tolarg  to  drive  them  out.  Dalriada 
could  do  nothing  to  help  her  clergy;  because  her 
people  were  in  the  midst  of  civil  war,  with  two 
kings,  Duncan  Becc  reigning  in  Cantyre  possess- 
ing the  support  of  Clan  Gabhran,  and  Selbac 
reigning  in  Lorn  with  the  support  of  the  Clan 
386 


CHURCH  &>  KING 

Lorn,  and  recognized  as  the  rightful  king.  This 
state  of  affairs  existed  until  a.d.  719  when  after  a 
decisive  naval  battle  at  Ard- Anesbi  *  the  power  of 
Selbac  of  Lorn  began  to  wane. 

Certain  writers  have  confidently  stated  that 
Nechtan's  reason  for  expelling  the  Scotic  clergy 
was  'because  they  would  not  conform  to  Rome 
at  his  decree.'  This  would,  indeed,  have  been  a 
curious  position  in  which  to  find  the  chief  Scotic 
community  at  Dull,  which  had  been  established 
by  S.  Adamnan,  seeing  that  Adamnan  had  been 
an  earlier  and  keener  Roman  propagandist  than 
Nechtan  who,  in  seeking  conformity,  was  Adam- 
nan's  pupil.  However,  such  a  reason  does  not  har- 
monize with  historical  facts;  because  in  a.d.  716, 
a  year  before  the  expulsion  of  Adamnan's  com- 
munity from  Dull,  certain  clergy  of  lona,  who  had 
rebelled  against  Adamnan,  had  begun  to  conform. 
One  authority  f  states  that  in  this  year  the  Paschal 
celebrations  were  entirely  changed,  another  that 
they  had  been  moved,  namely,  to  the  Roman 
date.  Bede  also  states  that  in  this  same  year  Eg- 
bert, the  zealot,  was  at  work  proselytizing  in  lona 
with  success;  J  indeed,  under  the  year  a.  d.  716  he 
enters,  'The  man  of  God  Egbert  brought  the 
monks  of  Hi  to  observe  the  Catholic  Easter  and 
the  ecclesiastical  tonsure.'§  Tighernac  dates  the 

*  On  the  west  coast,  but  not  known  now  by  this  name, 
t  Cf.  Annals  of  Ulster  aad.  Tighernac, 
.     \  Bede,  H.E.  G.A.  Ub.  v.  cap.  xxii. 
§  Bede,  lib.  v.  cap.  xxiv. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

adoption  of  the  Roman  tonsure  at  lona  in  a.d, 
7 1 8.  This  slight  difference  does  not  alter  the  fact 
that  the  Gaidhealic  or  Scotic  clergy  were  con- 
forming to  Rome  with  great  rapidity,  and  no  one 
could  reasonably  have  quarrelled  with  them  on 
that  ground,  which  all  goes  to  confirm  that  the 
reasons  why  the  Scotic  clergy  were  barred  out  of 
Pictland  lay  in  the  old,  well-grounded,  political 
suspicion  and  antipathy  with  which  theGaidheals 
or  Scots  were  regarded  by  the  Pictish  people, 

lona,  or  even  Dalriada,  was  comparatively 
small,  and  full  conformity  to  Roman  usage  should 
soon  have  been  complete,  if  it  had  been  pressed; 
but,  at  this  time,  there  is  no  sign  that  the  Roman 
party  urged  the  alteration  of  the  organization  of 
the  Scotic  Church,  or  the  introduction  of  mon- 
archic and  diocesan  episcopacy.  The  same  re- 
strained policy  was  observed  by  the  Roman  party 
inthecircumscribeddistrict  occupied  by  S.Curitan 
within  the  wider  area  of  the  Church  of  Pictland, 
S.  Curitan's  position  as  Ab  and  monastic  bishop 
at  Rosemarkie  indicates  that  there  was  still  no 
attempt  to  set  up  monarchic  and  diocesan  epis- 
copacy in  Pictland. 

By  A.D.  724,  Nechtan's  foreign  relations,  his 
ecclesiastical  innovations,  his  evident  desire  to 
keep  the  supreme  power  in  his  own  family,  and 
popular  dissatisfaction  with  his  colleague  Tolarg, 
who  was  at  this  time  in  exile,  had  roused  political 
forces,  against  which  he  declined  to  make  a  stand. 
388 


CHURCH  &>  KING 

The  Annalists  state  that  in  this  year  Nechtan  be- 
came a  cleric,  but  are  silent  as  to  the  community 
which  he  joined.  They  content  themselves  by 
stating  that  Drust*  became  sovereign  on  his  re- 
tiral.  Nechtan  apparently  still  continued  to  inter- 
fere in  the  realm;  because  two  years  later,  in  a.d. 
726,  Drust  still  reigning,  Nechtan  was  put  under 
restraint.  In  the  same  year,  however,  Drust  was 
ejectedfromthePictishthronebyAlpinorElphin. 
Alpin  was  a  Gaidheal  or  Scot  by  birth  and  training, 
and,asappears  from  certain  incidents  in  his  career, 
possessed  a  claim  to  the  Pictish  sovereignty 
through  his  Pictish  mother.  His  sudden  leap  into 
the  midst  of  the  troubled  political  life  of  Pictland 
has  all  the  appearance  of  an  attempt  to  avenge 
the  expulsion  of  the  Scotic  clerics  from  their  bor- 
der settlements;  and,  probably,  if  Alpin  had  been 
allowed  to  continue  in  power,  he  would  have  re- 
stored them;  but  the  Picts  refused  to  tolerate  a 
sovereign  with  Gaidhealic  or  Scotic  sympathies. 
Once  again  in  their  history  the  Picts  produced  a 
great  military  leader  and  born  ruler,  Angus  I .  Mac 
Fergus,  who  was  destined  to  rank  with  their 
greatest  soldiers  and  sovereigns,  and  to  be  named 
along  with  Brude  Mac  Maelchon  and  Brude  Mac 
Bile.  In  a.d.  728,  after  Alpin  had  ruled  less  than 
two  years,  Angus  took  the  field  and  challenged 
his  whole  power.  In  the  first  battle  he  routed  the 

*  His  own  province  or  clan  is  not  given,  but  he  was  evidently  of  British 
descent  on  his  father's  side. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

army  which  Alpin  sent  against  him.  In  the  same 
year  Alpin  reorganized  a  second  army  against 
Angus.  An  unexpected  feature  of  this  expedition 
is  the  dramatic  re-appearance  of  Nechtan,  ex- 
sovereign,  cleric,  and  prisoner,  at  the  head  of  his 
mobilized  and  marshalled  clan,  allied  as  usual  with 
an  outlander,  Alpin.  Alpin  was  driven  from  the 
field;  but  although  the  honour  of  victory  went  to 
Angus,  the  chief  prize,  namely  the  throne,  was 
seized  by  Nechtan,  who  had  fought  on  the  side  of 
the  vanquished.  It  is  the  one  touch  of  comedy  in 
a  tragic  battle.  Nechtan  had  kept  his  wits,  and 
enough  men,  ready  for  immediate  action,  no  mat- 
ter how  the  battle  might  go;  and,  while  Angus  was 
proceeding  leisurely  to  take  over  the  complete 
spoils,  the  old  sovereign  had  reseated  himself  on 
the  throne,  and  taken  up  the  familiar  reins  of 
power.  This  meant  another  campaign  for  Angus. 
In  A.D.  729,  before  Nechtanhad  been  many  months 
in  his  old  seat,  Angus  and  his  army  were  again  in 
the  field.  He  and  his  forces  encountered  Nechtan 
and  his  army  at  'Monith-Carno,'*  near  a  loch 
called  'Loogdae.'f  Nechtan  was  defeated,  and 
the  'ExactatoresJ  Nechtain'  fell  in  the  action, 
namely,  Biceot  Mac  Moneit  and  his  son,  and  Fin- 
guine  Mac  Drostain,  and  Feroth  Mac  Finguine. 

*  MynydA  Cam,  Mountain  o{  the  Cuixn.   Locality  not  known. 

t  These  places  were  somewhere  in  what  is  now  central  Scotland,  and 
with  sufficient  local  knowledge  might  yet  be  identified. 

t  A  difficult  word  in  connection  with  Nechtan.  Probably  the  collectors 
of  the  sovereign's  share  of  the  produce  of  certain  lands.  Cf.  '  the  king's 
share'  in  Booi  of  Deer. 


CHURCH  &>  KING 

Nechtan  himself  escaped,  but,  on  his  flight,  Angus 
became  sovereign.  NechtandiedinA.D.  732,  about 
three  years  after  his  defeat;  whether  he  returned 
to  the  seclusion  of  his  monastic  retreat,  or  retired 
to  his  fortress  in  Strath-Spey,  is  not  told,  and 
when  the  Annalists  record  his  death,  it  is  as  'Nech- 
tan "mc"  Derelei'  without  the  proud  title  'Rex 
Pictorum.' 

Nechtan  in  his  time  had  played  many  parts. 
He  was  the  first  ruler  in  the  northern  part  of 
Britain,  so  far  as  is  known,  but  not  the  last,  to  dis- 
cover the  variety  of  adventure  which  lies  open  to 
the  leader  of  a  Celtic  people  who  wishes  to  innov- 
ate upon  the  accepted  religion.  All  his  intrigues, 
persistence,sacrifices,andsufferingswerereward- 
ed  by  the  establishment  of  only  one  romanizing 
community,  namely  S.  Curitan's  at  Rosemarkie. 
There  is  no  sign  of  any  attempts  on  S.  Curitan's 
part  to  do  more  than  alter  the  Paschal  date,  to 
popularize  the  Roman  tonsure,  and  to  secure 
veneration  for  S.  Peter.  Outside  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Rosemarkie  the  muinntirs  and  Churches 
of  Pictland  were  antagonistic  to  this  Roman 
mission.  At  Nechtan's  death  his  innovations  had 
resulted  in  a  great  deal  of  confusion  within  the 
realm,  and  much  faction.  If  Nechtan  had  ever 
contemplated  introducing  a  Roman  hierarchy,* 

*  strenuous  efiforts  have  been  made  by  Roman  Catholic  and  Anglican 
writers  to  show  that  Nechtan  would  not  have  introduced  his  Roman  in- 
novations without  also  introducing  Roman  pielates.  They  have  no  sup- 
port in  history,  and  seeing  S.  Curitan  remained  an  Ab  and  monastic  bishop 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

and  clergy  who  would  be  independent  of  the  muin- 
ntirs  of  the  Pictish  Church,  he  ended  his  work 
without  accomplishing  his  designs.  Even  S.  Curi- 
tan,  his  agent,  adhered  to  the  old  organization  and 
government  of  the  Pictish  Church;  and,  in  spite 
of  his  innovations,  died  Ab  of  Rosemarkie  and 
monastic  bishop  in  the  community  there — not 
'bishop  of  Ross'  as  some  have  carelessly  stated. 
In  A.D.  732,  when  Nechtan  died,  there  was  still 
not  a  single  monarchic  and  diocesan  bishop  in 
Pictland. 

Leading  Clergy  of  the  Pictish  Church 

WHO  WERE  ACTIVE  IN  NeCHTAn's  ReIGN 

During  the  first  sixteen  years  of  Nechtan's 
reign,  S.  Maelrubha  and  his  community  at  Aber- 
crossan  were  diligently  taking  their  part  in  man- 
ning the  Pictish  Church  over  an  extensive  part 
of  northern  Pictland  and  the  Islands.  Although 
neither  Abercrossan  nor  the  parent  community 
at  Bangor  had  conformed  to  Rome;  that  did  not 
keep  S.  Maelrubha  out  of  S.  Curitan's  district.  It 
probably  attracted  him  thither;  and  S.  Maelrubha's 
Church-foundations  are  found  close  to  the  Rose- 
markie district,  and  as  far  east  of  Rosemarkie  as 
Keith  in  Banffshire.   If  the  Church-foundations 

it  is  vain  to  go  beyond  him.  Besides,  the  Roman  plea  from  Augustine 
downwards  was  for  uniformity  at  Easter  and  in  the  tonsure.  Doubtless 
they  had  the  hierarchy  in  the  back  of  their  minds;  but  they  were  too  far- 
seeing  to  insist  on  it  until  uniformity  in  other  matters  had  been  secured. 


CHURCH  &>  KING 

of  S.  Maelrubha  and  those  of  S.  Curitan  be  marked 
into  the  same  map  of  Pictland;  it  will  be  seen  at  a 
glance  that  the  Church  of  Pictland  as  represented 
by  S.  Maelrubha  shows  signs  of  much  greater 
activity  and  acceptance  than  the  romanizing 
mission  intruded  by  Nechtan,  even  although  S. 
Curitan  survived  S.  Maelrubha  many  years,  when 
the  work  from  Abercrossan  was  being  continued 
by  Failbhe  Mac  Guaire. 

The  muinntir,  first  organized  by  S.  Donnan 
the  Great,  was  actively  operating  from  the  Island 
of  Eigg  in  Nechtan's  time;  and  for  the  first  nine- 
teen years  of  Nechtan's  public  life  it  was  govern- 
ed by  Oan*  who  was  succeeded  by  Cumine  Ua 
Becce.f 

SS.  Comgan  and  Fillan  were  colleagues  with 
S.  Maelrubha  in  the  work  of  the  Pictish  Church 
in  Ross;  and  sometime  previous  to  a.d.  734  when 
Nechtan  was  still  alive,  S.  Comgan  became  Ab 
of  the  muinntirax  Turriff,  Aberdeenshire. 

In  one  of  the  territories  of  Nechtan's  wide- 
spread clan,  at  Brechin  in  Angus,  S.  Drostan 
DairtaigheJ  helped  to  carry  on  the  work  of  the 

*  DiedA.D.  725.  t  Died  A.D.  751. 

X  His  retreat  and  '  Oakhouse'  (oratory)  were  in  Glen-Esk  at  Ard-Brec- 
cain.  The  Irish  Annalists  have  treated  him,  and  certain  others,  as  belong- 
ing to  the  monastery  of  Ard-Brecain  in  Ireland.  However,  S.  Drostan's 
work  was  at  Breccain  (Brechin)  in  Pictland.  His  cell-site  in  Glen-Esk, 
where  his  name  is  preserved,  used  to  be  known.  His  ancient  memorial 
cross,  with  its  well-known  uncial  inscription,  still  survives  and  is  now  at  S. 
Vigean's  Church  in  Angus.  Cf.  Aberdeen  Breviary  as  to  his  retreat  in 
Glen-Esk. 

393 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Pictish  Church  for  thirteen  years  after  Nechtan 
became  sovereign. 

Before  Nechtan  died,  Tuatalan  was  Ab  of  S. 
Cainnech's  Regies  and  community  at  Cind  Righ 
Monaidh  (St.  Andrews),  still  a  centre  of  the  old 
Church. 

During  Nechtan's  term  of  public  life  and  be- 
yond it,  S.  Ronan  was  Ab  of  the  Pictish  Com- 
munity at  Cinn-Garadh  in  Bute;  and  contem- 
porary with  S.  Ronan  was  Mac  Coigeth,  Abof  the 
Pictish  Community, first  organized  byS.  Moluag, 
in  Lismore. 

Two  years  before  Nechtan's  death, Pechthelm, 
Protector  of  the  Picts,  became  in  a.d.  730  the  first 
monarchic  and  diocesan  bishop  north  of  what 
afterwards  became  the  border-line  between  Scot- 
land and  England.  His  seat  was  at  Candida  Casa, 
and  his  diocese  also  tookthis  name,  although  more 
frequently  referred  to  as  'Galloway.'  Sometime 
previous  to  Pechthelm's  consecration  the  section 
of  the  community  of  CaWe'flSa!  Ca^a  which  adhered 
to  the  site,  under  English  protection,  had  con- 
formed to  Rome. 

The  great  I  ro- Pictish  Community  of  Bangor 
in  Ulster  which  had  co-operated  with  Candida 
Casa  in  fostering  the  Churches  of  Pictland  of 
Alba  had  not  conformed  to  Rome  at  this  time; 
and,  so  far  as  can  be  perceived,  was  as  cold  to- 
wards the  Paschal  controversy  and  the  change  of 
tonsure  as  the  other  Communities  in  the  north 
394 


CHURCHY  KING 

of  Ireland.  During  Nechtan's  public  lifetime 
Bangor  was  governed  successively  by  Cenn- 
faeladh,*  who  had  helped  Adamnan  in  his  efforts 
to  reform  the  military  law  of  Ireland,  and  by  S. 
Flannf  of  Antrim. 

*  He  died  8th  April  704.  t  He  died  in  722, 


STATE  AND  CHURCH  IN  PICT- 
LAND  DURING  THE  REIGN 
OF  ANGUS  I  MAC  FERGUS, 
SOVEREIGN     OF    THE    PICTS, 

12  AUGUST  A.D.  729-761 
CHAPTER  SIXTEEN 

Angus  I.MAcFERGUSwaschiefoftheMenofthe 
Earn  (Fortrenn);  and,  at  first, ruled  in  Fortrenn* 
which,  in  his  time,  through  Brude  Mac  Bill's  re- 
conquests,  had  become  the  most  important  divi- 
sion of  Pictland.  In  a.d.  729,  after  defeating 
Nechtan,  he  assumed  the  sovereignty  of  all  Pict- 
land. He  will  always  be  remembered  as  the  man 
who  enthroned  S.  Andrew,  'first  of  the  Apostles,' 
as  the  Protector  of  Pictland,  while  he  deposed  S. 
Peter.  S.  Andrew  is  frequently  referred  to  as  the 
patron  saint  of  'Scotland';  but  it  need  not  be 
forgotten  that  he  was,  at  first,  patron  saint  of 
Pictland,  and  the  Scots  in  later  days  took  him 
over  with  much  else  that  was  Pictish.  Other  acts 
of  Angus  were  not  so  harmless  toPictland.  Even 
more  violently  than  Nechtan  he  ignored  the  Cel- 
tic law  which  required  that  the  sovereign  should 
be  elected  at  a  convention  of  the  chiefs.  There 
is  this  to  be  said  for  the  chiefs  of  the  southern  clans 
of  Pictland;  they  had  suffered  most  of  the  hard- 
ships, and  provided  most  of  the  resistance  de- 
manded by  the  invasions  of  the  English  of  North- 

*  According  to  the  Transcript  of  the  iMjc£'^an^««a/j.  Fragment  No. 
5301  in  the  Brussels  collection  of  MSB. 


ANGUS  I  MAC  FERGUS 

umbria,  and  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  from  Argyll; 
consequently,  they  felt  that  the  sovereign,  who  by 
his  ofifice  was  Commander-in-chief,should  be  chos- 
en from  among  themselves  as  being  nearest  to  the 
enemy,  and  as  having  most  to  lose  through  the 
selection  of  a  weak  ruler.  Nevertheless,  by  dis- 
pensing with  election,  Nechtan  and  Angus  left  the 
supreme  power  at  the  mercy  of  the  chief  whose  mili- 
tary power  was  strongest  and  most  far-reaching. 
This  political  blunder  endangered  the  unity  and 
integrity  of  Pictland.  It  facilitated  civil  war ;  and 
it  invited  any  alien  Gaidheal  or  Scot,  or  Angle, 
who  could  provide  an  excuse,  to  take  part  in  set- 
tling the  accession  to  the  supreme  power  while, 
at  the  same  time,  it  afforded  him  a  chance  to  wrest 
it  to  himself.  Again,  Angus,  in  carving  a  way  to 
the  supreme  control  of  Pictland,  had  been  greatly 
aided  by  Nechtan 's  unpopular  foreign  policy, 
especially  his  relations  with  the  English;  and  the 
consequent  efforts  to  introduce  the  doctrines  and 
usages  of  the  Church  of  Rome;  but  Angus  him- 
self became  friendly  with  the  English,  after  he  had 
beaten  them, and  gave  his  support  to  a  new  effort 
to  romanize  the  Church  of  the  Picts. 

The  Campaigns  by  which  Angus  secured  him- 
self IN  the  Supreme  Power,   Alpin  Mac 

Eachaidh  the  Half-Pict 
The  military  activityof  Angus  I.  Mac  Fergus  in 

so  far  as  it  affected  Nechtan  has  been  noticed.   It 

397 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

is  necessary,  however,  to  deal  with  it  as  it  affected 
the  position  of  his  country  and  the  development 
of  his  own  political  life  and  power. 

After  Nechtan  became  a  cleric  in  a.d.  724, 
Drust  assumed  the  sovereignty  of  Pictland.  The 
Pictish  Chronicle  indicates  that  he  and  Alpin 
were  joint-sovereigns ;  but  it  is  apparent  from  the 
Irish  Annals  that  Drust  reigned  alone  from  a.d. 
724until726,  when  he  was  driven  from  power  and 
Alpin  became  sovereign.  Then,  instead  of  the 
joint-sovereignty  which  the  Pictish  Chronicle  in- 
dicates, there  was  a  competition  for  the  supreme 
power  which  could  not  avoid  disturbing  Angus's 
kingdom  of  Fortrenn,  and  exasperating  Angus 
himself  and  his  people.  According  to  the  Annals 
of  Ulster,  Angus  intervened,  probably  as  much  in 
the  interests  of  the  peace  of  his  own  province  as 
in  the  interests  of  the  sovereignty.  He  met  the 
army  of  Alpin,  the  half-Pict  and  nominal  sove- 
reign, at  'Monith-Craebh'*  in  a.d.  728.  Alpin's 
forces  were  apparently  led  by  his  son  who,  along 
with  many  of  his  men,  fell,  and  left  Angus  to  en- 
joy the  first  of  a  series  of  victories.  Alpin  lost  no 
time  in  trying  to  avenge  his  loss,  and  to  check 
the  growing  power  of  Angus.  In  the  same  year, 
with  a  new  army,  he  sought  out  the  forces  of 
Angus  at  'Caislen  Craebhi,'  called  'Credhi'\  by 

*  Believed  to  be  Moncrieff  in  Perthshire. 

t  The  'Castellum  Credi'  had  not  been  so  named  at  this  date.  The 
correct  name  is  without  doubt '  Craebhi,'  and  indicates  one  of  the  various 
places  in  Perthshire,  named  with  '  Crieff'  as  a  second  element. 


ANGUS  I  MAC  FERGUS 

playing  on  the  name  or  by  a  copyist's  blunder. 
The  resulting  battle  was  disastrous  to  Alpin.  His 
army  was  captured,  his  territories  in  Pictland  were 
seized  by  Angus,  and  he  fled  from  the  field.  This 
was  the  battle  at  which  Nechtan  reappeared,  and 
slipped  into  the  throne  while  Angus  was  complet- 
ing the  punishment  of  Alpin.  Alpin  retreated  to 
his  paternal  country;  among  the  Gaidheals  or 
Scots,  destined toreappearin  a  more  distant  field. 
One  would  like  to  know  what  were  Angus's  feel- 
ings as  he  turned  back  in  his  victorious  pursuit 
towards  the  centre  of  affairs,  to  find  Nechtan,  the 
old  sovereign,  snugly  settled  on  the  throne  from 
which  he  had  just  driven  Alpin.  Angus's  next  ac- 
tion shows  that  he  had  not  meant  to  clear  a  way  for 
thereturnof  the  sovereign  whose  rule  had  caused 
an  upheaval  in  Pictland,  and  also  that  he  aimed  at 
exercising  the  supreme  power  himself  In  the  fol- 
lowing year,  a.  d.  729,  before  Nechtan  had  time  to 
secure  himself  in  his  old  seat,  Angus  and  his  clan 
— that  is,  the  Men  of  Fortrenn — marched  against 
Nechtan,  and  encountered  him  and  his  army,  as 
has  been  noticed,  at  the  Mountain  of  the  Cairn, 
near  the  loch '  Loogdae. '  The  old  monarch  was  de- 
feated, many  of  his  supporters  were  slain,  he  him- 
self fled,  and  when  he  left  the  victory  to  Angus 
he  also  left  the  way  open  to  the  sovereign's 
throne.  Angus,  however,  was  not  allowed  to  take 
that  way  at  once,  or  unchallenged.  Drust,  who 
had  been  sovereign  of  Pictland,  a.d.  724,  when 

399 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Nechtan  became  a  cleric,  and  who  had  been 
ejected  from  the  supreme  power  by  Alpin  in  a.d. 
726,  suddenly  appeared  in  the  field  with  an  army 
against  Angus.  Drust  doubtless  thought,  like 
Nechtan,  that  having  once  filled  the  throne,  he 
had  preferable  claims  to  Angus.  In  a.d.  729  the 
two  armies  met  at  ' Drum-derg  Blathmig,'  the 
Red  Ridge  of  Blathmig,  which  is  believed  to  be 
Drum-derg  on  the  western  side  of  the  Forfar- 
shire Isla.  In  the  battle  Drust  fell,  and  his  army 
wasdefeated.  Angus  I.MacFerguswasnow,from 
the  date  of  the  battle,  12th  August  729,*  the  un- 
challenged sovereign  of  Pictland.  To  win  the 
supreme  power  he  had  fought  four  great  battles, 
all  against  former  sovereigns.  For  two  weary 
years  Pictland  had  suffered  the  horrors  of  civil 
war,  because  one  or  two  of  the  more  powerful 
chiefs  had  chosen  to  break  away  from  the  old  con- 
stitutional law  of  the  Celts  that  the  sovereign 
should  be  duly  elected  at  a  convention  of  the 
chiefs.  The  Ficts  had  honoured  this  law  longer 
and  more  consistently  than  any  other  branch  of 
the  Celts; I  but  the  hankering  of  leaders  for  ab- 
solute power  was  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  time, 
and  was  apparently  due  to  the  example  of  the 
kings  of  the  Teutonic  Angles,  and  the  fostering 
of  romanist  intriguers  who  hated  the  democratic 
clan-system  of  the  Celts,  because  an  absolute 

*  Tighernac's  date. 

t  In  Ireland  the  sovereignty  was  early  monopolized  by  the  clan  Niall, 
although  election  was  reverted  to,  even  in  the  late  period,  in  times  of  crisis. 

400 


ANGUS  I  MAC  FERGUS 

ruler  served  their  purposes  better  than  a  group 
of  chiefs,  or  a  sovereign  who  was  limited  by  his 
chiefs.  The  idea  that  the  sovereign  should  be 
limited  by  the  chiefs,  which  was  so  often  asserted 
during  the  later  history  of  northern  Alba,  was  im- 
bedded in  the  original  political  organization  of 
the  Picts. 

Some  incidents  of  this  period  deserve  passing 
notice.  The  Picts  have  not  usually  been  regarded 
as  a  maritime  people;  but  after  Angus  had  dis- 
posed of  Nechtan.the  Pictish  fleet  to  the  number 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty  ships  was  wrecked  on  a 
headland  called  ' Ros-Cuissine'  (not  identified),  in 
A.D.  729. 

The  Gaidheals  or  Scots  of  Dalriada  were  at 
this  time,  and  had  been  for  a  long  time  previous, 
divided  among  themselves.  From  the  year  a.  d. 
689,  when  the  crown  of  Dalriada  passed  from  the 
clan  Gabhran  to  the  clan  Lorn,  the  former  clan 
persistently  tried  to  recover  the  supremacy  from 
the  latter.  Just  before  Angus  became  sovereign 
of  Pictland,  the  Scots  were  ruled  by  two  kings, 
one  in  Lorn  and  the  other  in  south  Argyll;  and 
each  claimed  and  sought  to  assert  supremacy 
over  all  Dalriada.  This  strife* among  the  Gaidh- 

*  The  Gaidhealic  or  Scotic  kings  of  Dalriada,  showing  their  clan  and 
title  in  the  Annals,  are,  after  the  death  of  Maelduin  of  clan  Gabhran,  king 
of  Dalriada,  who  died  689,  as  follow — 

Ferchar  Fada  of  Lorn,  claimed  to  reign  over  all  Dalriada,  d.  697. 

Eochaidh  Rineaval  of  the  clan  Gabhran  (claimant),  d.  697. 

Ainbh-cellach  of  Lorn,  expelled  from  the  'kingdom'  in  698  by  help 
from  Ireland.  Killed  in  war  with  his  brother  in  7 1 9  while  still  dethroned. 

2D  401 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

eals  or  Scots  was  a  constant  menace  to  Pictland, 
because  the  border  Picts  were  in  danger  of  being 
unwillingly  involved,  or  willingly  attracted  to- 
wards the  Scotic  quarrels  for  the  sake  of  their  own 
interests.  After  Angus  had  become  sovereign  of 
Pictland,  the  chief  of  the  clan  Gabhran,  Eochaidh 
Mac  Eachaidh,  occupied  the  throne  of  Dalriada 
for  about  six  years;  but  Muredach,  grandson  of 
Ferchar  Fada,  chief  of  Lorn,  was  also  claimant 
to  Eochaidh's  seat  and  to  the  supremacy  among 
the  Scots. 

This  king  of  Dalriada,  Eochaidh  Mac  Each- 
aidh, who  died  a.d.  733,  has  more  than  passing  in- 
terest in  connection  with  the  reign  of  Angus  Mac 
Fergus  over  the  Picts.  Alpin  the  half-Pict,  who 
inA.D.  726  ejected  Drust  from  the  supreme  power 

In  7 14  Selbac  of  Lorn  was  rising  to  power.  He  was  of  the  family  of 
Ferchar  Fada,  and  claimed  the  crown  of  Dalriada.  In  7 19  Selbac  defeated 
his  brother  and  began  to  reign.  In  the  same  year  he  was  in  action  against 
the  clan  Gabhran  under  Duncan  Becc,  who  died  in  721  as  'king  of  Can- 
tyre.'  Selbac  became  a  Cleric  in  723.  He  died  in  730.  Dungal,  son  of 
Selbac,  now  became  king  in  723.  He  was  ejected  from  power  c.  726 
by  Eochaidh  Mac  Eachaidh,  and  the  latter  began  to  reign.  Eochaidh 
died  'king  of  Dalriada'  in  733.  Alpin  Mac  Eachaidh  now  claimed  the 
crown,  and  persisted  until  736-7.  Dungal  meanwhile  had  become  a  free- 
booter. He  was  wounded  in  734,  and  put  in  chains,  in  736,  by  Angus, 
sovereign  of  the  Picts.  In  the  year  733  Muredach  Mac  Ainbhcellach, 
grandson  of  Ferchar  Fada,  became  king  of  Lorn.  For  a  time,  the  Scotic 
monarchy  of  Dalriada  ceased  to  exist  after  a.d.  737.  When  Angus  Mac 
Fergus  died  'king  of  the  Picts'  in  761,  he  is  styled  by  one  authority '  Ri 
Alban ' ;  that,  in  this  instance,  meant  all  northern  Britain. 

Flann  and  the  Albanic  Duan  displace  certain  of  the  above  kings,  but 
the  above  dates  are  from  the  Irish  Annals.  The  Latin  editors  begin  their 
deliberate  falsifications  with  certain  kings  in  the  above  list,  and  put  four 
of  them  about  a  century  away  from  their  correct  dates.  This  was  to  hide 
the  effects  of  Angus's  occupation  of  Dalriada. 

402 


ANGUS  I  MAC  FERGUS 

inPictland,  seizing  it  for  himself,  and  who  in  turn 
was  defeated  in  battle  and  driven  out  of  Pictland 
by  Angus,  is  regarded  by  the  best  authorities  as 
Eochaidh's  brother.*  As  Dr.  Skenef  pointed  out, 
his  designation  in  the  oldest  lists  is  '  Alpin  Mac 
Eachaidh.'  The  compilers  of  the  later  Latinlists  of 
Scotic  kings,  with  a  view  to  hiding  the  exploits  of 
Angus  I.  Mac  Fergus  in  Dalriada.and  also  for  the 
purpose  of  strengthening  Kenneth  Mac  Alpin's 
claim  to  the  Pictish  supremacy  in  the  ninth  cent- 
ury, have  deliberately  falsified  the  position  of  this 
Alpin  in  the  lists  of  the  Scotic  chiefs,  and  have  dat- 
ed him  about  one  hundred  years  later  than  his  real 
period.^  Nevertheless,  Alpin  was  a  very  active 
agent  in  shaping  the  events  of  Angus's  reign. 
He  had  tried  to  prevent  the  rise  of  Angus  to 
power.  No  sooner  was  he  ejected  from  Pictland 
in  A.D.  728  than  he  began  to  seek  power  among  his 
father's  people  in  Dalriada;  and  after  his  brother's 
death  in  'J2)2>  he  became  a  claimant  to  the  throne 
of  Dalriada.  According  to  the  eleventh-century 
list  of  Scotic  kings,  he  actually  reigned  in  the 
south  of  Dalriada  for  four  years,  which  would 
be  A.D.  7 2,2,-7 Z7,  disputing  the  throne  of  all  Dal- 
riada with  Muredach,  chief  of  Lorn,  just  as 
Muredach  had  disputed  it  with  Alpin's  brother 
Eochaidh. 

*  One  writer  calls  him  his  'son,'  due  to  the  fact  that  their  father  was 
also  Eochaidh  (Gen.  Eachaidh). 

t  Chronicles  P.  andS.  pp.  clxxxv-clxxxvii. 

t  Cf.  Skene's  remarks.  Chronicles  P.  andS.  p.  cxxviii. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Angus  and  the  Picts  conquer  the  Gaidheals 
OR  Scots  of  Dalriada 

Revenge  was  certainly  not  the  ruling  motive  in 
Angus  I.Mac  Fergus;  but  incidentally  he  aveng- 
ed the  Picts  most  thoroughly  for  what  they  had 
suffered,  especially  in  the  western  Pictish  pro- 
vinces of  Lennox,  Fortrenn,  and  AthoU,  from 
long  repeated  and  vindictive  aggression  by  the 
Gaidheals  or  Scots.  To  a  masterful  soldier  and 
swift-acting  ruler  like  Angus,  the  anarchic  fer- 
ment among  the  Scots  on  the  right  flank  of  his 
sovereignty  was  an  unendurable  danger  and  pro- 
vocation. Alpin  the  half-Pict,  his  rival,  whom  he 
had  ousted  from  the  Pictish  sovereignty,  was  in 
Dalriada  and  was  related  to  one  of  the  ruling 
clans  there;  and  at  any  hour  he  might  spring  a  sur- 
prise on  Angus.   Dungal,  also,  the  son  of  Selbac 
andgrandsonofFercharFada,wasthere,andafter 
his  dethronement  in  a.d.  726-7,  had  turned  free- 
booter and  raider.   In  a.d.  733  he  organized  two 
expeditions  'for  plunder,'  attacking  first  'Innis 
Cumennraighe*  and  then  'Toraidk,'  both  attacks 

*  Clearly  these  two  places  were  not  only  in  Angus's  dominions,  but  in 
his  clan  territories.  The  names  have  been  corrupted  by  the  copyists  of  the 
Annals.  Tighernac  gives  '  Cumennraighe,'h\it\ht  Annals  of  Ulster,  'Cul- 
renrigi. '  To  make  matters  more  confused  the  various  Irish  editors  tried  to 
locate  the  places  in  Ireland.  Toraidh,  the  place  of  towers,  is  given  as '  Tor- 
aigh'  and  as  '  Toraic'  The  Irish  editors  have  identified  it  with  Tory  Island! 
Thesequel  shows  that  both  places  were  in  the  dominions  of  Angus.  '  Innis' 
in  Pictland  is  as  often  as  not  an  island  in  a  river  or  loch.  I  offer  as  an  inter- 
pretation of  both  places  Comrie  and  Turret,  both  near  Dundurn  (Dun-d- 
Earn),  Angus's  stronghold  on  the  Earn. 

404 


ANGUS  I  MAC  FERGUS 

in  Angus's  absence.  Brude,  Angus's  son,  who 
had  been  left  in  charge,  was  evidently  surprised 
during  the  raid  on  'Toraidh,'  because  he  sought 
'sanctuary.'  This  sanctuary  Dungal  violated,  and 
he  laid  violent  hands  on  Brude.  The  violation  of 
ecclesiastical  or  royal  sanctuary*  was  a  capital 
crime  among  all  the  Celts;  and,  in  I reland,  had  not 
only  been  followed  by  instant  punishment,  but, 
sometimes,  by  grievous  war,  if  the  culprit  was 
protected.  In  this  instance,  as  Dungal  was  a 
subject  of  Dalriada,  which  at  the  time  was  in  a 
lawless  state,  his  crime  necessitated  an  expedi- 
tion by  Angus  against  him  and  against  the  clan 
Lorn,  which  harboured  him.  Angus  located  him 
at  his  fort  ' Dun-Leithfinn,' \  on  the  northern 
modern  border  of  Lorn,  and  engaged  him.  This 
was  in  a.d.  734.  Dungal  was  wounded,  but  escap- 
ed, and  fled  to  Ireland  from  '  the  power  of  Angus. ' 
It  is  quite  evident  that  Dungal  had  not  been 
without  confederates,  because,  while  his  army  was 
in  Lorn,  Angus  distributed  other  punishments. 
Talorg  Mac  Congusa,  a  Pictish  chief  from  the 
north,  who  had  shown  disaffection  to  the  house  of 
Angus  in  a.d.  73  i,  and  who  had  been  punished  by 
the  same  Brude  whom  Dungal  attacked,  was  now 
in  A.D.  734  seized  by  his  own  brother,  and  deliv- 

*  Comrie  owes  its  name  to  its  sanctuary.  Near  the  neighbourhood  of 
the  sovereign's  seat  there  was  always  a  sanctuary,  where  people,  though  at 
feud,  could  have  access  to  his  person  for  redress. 

t  The  last  part  of  the  name  is  'Leven,'  and  is  now  preserved  in  the 
river  and  loch  of  the  name  which  divides  the  counties  of  Inverness  and 
Argyll. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

ered  to  Angus's  men,  by  whom  he  was  drowned. 
Tolarg  Mac  Drostain,  chief  of  Atholl,  brother  or 
half-brother  of  Nechtan,  the  former  sovereign, 
who  had  been  in  exile  in  Lorn,  was  now  fettered 
and  imprisoned  near  Dunolly,  the  fortress  of 
the  chief  of  Lorn,  evidently  to  restrain  him  from 
annoying  Angus.  It  is  also  a  sign  that  Mure- 
dach,  the  chief,  professed  to  be  friendly  to  Angus. 
What  movement  occurred  to  break  the  peace 
we  are  not  told;  but  in  a.d.  736  Angus,  at  the 
head  of  the  Pictish  army,  marched  into  the  very 
heart  of  Dalriada.  Eochaidh  Mac  Eachaidh,  the 
'  king  of  Dalriada'  who  ruled  the  clan  Gabhran 
and  the  other  southern  Dalriad  clans,  had  died 
in  A.D.  733,  just  before  Angus's  expedition  into 
Lorn  against  Dungal.  The  man  who  claimed  to 
succeed  Eochaidh  was  Alpin,  his  brother,  the 
half-Pict,  Angus's  rival;  and,  according  to  one 
authority,  he  did  succeed,  and  reigned  in  south 
Dalriada  'four  years,'*  which,  as  already  noted, 
were  from  a.d.  733  to  736-7.  It  is  manifest  from 
Angus's  line  of  march,  and  from  consideration  of 
the  earlier  history  of  Alpin,  that  Angus  was  out 
in  A.D.  736  mainly  to  strike  at  Alpin  and  the 
Gabhran  clan,  or  such  others  as  might  be  inclin- 
ed to  support  them.  On  his  march  Angus  laid 
waste  Dalriada  as  far  as  Knapdale.  He  assaulted 
and  captured  the  Scotic  capital  at  Dun-Add-,\ 

•  Cf.  the  D-uan  Albanaich. 

t  On  the  river  Add  at  Crinan.  Here  the  ruins  still  exist.  They  have 
been  examined  and  described  to  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  Scotland. 
406 


ANGUS  I  MAC  FERGUS 

and  he  burned  Creich.*  He  appears  then  to  have 
wheeled  about,  and  having  marched  towards 
Lorn,  he  encountered  Dungal  the  freebooter  and 
his  brother  Feradach,  both  sons  of  Selbac  and 
grandsons  of  Ferchar  Fada  and  so  of  the  royal 
line  of  the  Scots,  and  these  he  fettered  and  made 
prisoners.  Angus's  own  son,  Brude,  succumbed 
after  this  campaign.  Alpin,  his  chief  adversary, 
escaped.  Angus,  in  putting  Dungal  and  Feradach 
in  chains,  thought  that  he  had  robbed  Lorn  of 
leaders  who  were  hostile  to  him;  but  he  over- 
looked their  kinsman,  Talorgan  Mac  Fergus,  a 
great-grandson  of  Ferchar  Fada  formerly  head 
of  the  clan  Lorn  and  king  of  Dalriada.  Talorgan 
was  a  mere  youth.  He  thought  that  the  sooner 
Angus's  attention  was  diverted  from  his  country 
the  better.  He  raised  the  clan  Lorn,  and  with 
sound  but  daring  strategy  cut  through  Angus's 
line  of  communications,  and  took  a  line  that 
threatened  Angus's  capital  at  Dun-d-Earn,  and 
the  road  to  the  south.  T\i&  Annals  make  clear  that 
he  struck  directly  at  Fortrenn,  and  did  not  waste 
his  small  force  on  the  rearguard  of  Angus'spower- 
ful  army  occupying  Dalriada.  His  enterprise  is 
called  an  invasion  {bellum),  not  a  raid.  It  took  its 
name  from  '■Cnoc  Coirpri,'  now  'Cnoc  Cophair,'\ 

*  This  name  abounds  in  Pictland  and  in  Dalriada,  In  this  instance  the 
place  is  to  be  sought  in  Argyll. 

t  From  this  point  Talorgan  had  the  choice  of  the  road  through  Glen 
Gyle  and  Strath  Gartney  in  Angus's  dominions  with  its  facilities  for  sur- 
prise, or  the  more  exposed  road  by  Balquhidder. 

407 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

near  the  head  of  Glen  Gyle.    It  covered  the  dis- 
trict '  Calatros'  as  far  as  ' Etar  Linndu.'  The  Be- 
tween ofLinddu  is  the  Pass  of  Leny.  The  student 
of  place-names  will  find  an  historical  parallel  for 
equating  'Ca/a^wj'*  with  the  modern  Callandert 
at  the  south  end  of  this  Pass,  which  commanded 
the  road  to  and  from  Angus's  capital  on  the  Earn. 
Talorgan,  in  spite  of  his  well-devised  strategy, 
failed  to  get  his  blow  home  to  the  heart  of  Fort- 
renn.  Angus  had  not  left  his  home  territories 
without  a  sufficient  garrison.  Talorgan's  army 
was  turned,  and  put  to  flight,  and  was  pursued 
through  the  passes,  and  many  chiefs  fell.  Angus 
took  one  significant  step  at  the  close  of  these  deal- 
ings with  the  Scots.  In  a.d.  734  he  had  left  Tolarg 
Mac  Drostain,  brother  or  half-brother  of  Nechtan 
and  chief  of  Atholl,  in  captivity  at  the  capital 
of  Lorn,  Dunolly.   In  a.d.  739  this  Tolarg,  who 
had  rarely  been  out  of  trouble  with  his  fellow- 
Picts,  was  seized  by  Angus  and  drowned.  In  a.d. 
74 1  the  Scots  of  Dalriada  made  one  more  attempt 
to  rid  themselves  of  the  dominance  of  Angus,  but 
the  attempt  was  in  vain,  and  Dalriada  was  once 
more  'smitten'  by  the  conqueror. 

The  early  fabulists  and  certain  modern  his- 
torians who  follow  them  have  wasted  much  in- 
genuity in  explaining  away  the  result  of  Angus's 

*  Certainly  not  Culross  on  Forth  as  offered  by  Dr.  Reeves.  'Cardross' 
on  the  upper  Forth  would  have  been  better.  Even  the  'Trossachs'  may 
contain  an  element  of  the  old  district  name. 

t  For  the '  Calatria '  at  Falkirk  compare  the  Glasgow  Charter  of  1 1 36. 

408 


ANGUS  I  MAC  FERGUS 

campaigns  in  Dalriada.  He  conquered  Dalriada; 
but  he  did  not  exterminate  its  male  inhabitants. 
Unlike  the  Teutonic  English  in  southern  Pict- 
land,  he  did  not  make  a  wilderness  and  call  it 
peace.  He  broke  the  regal  power  of  the  clans 
Gabhran  and  Lorn,  and  cut  them  off  from  succes- 
sion to  the  Dalriad  monarchy.  So  effectively  was 
this  accomplished  in  the  case  of  the  clan  Lorn 
that  not  until  the  time  of  Maelcoluim,  who  died 
in  A.D.  1034,  did  that  clan  furnish  a  candidate  to 
royal  power.  The  Picts  recovered  sole  control  of 
the  territories  in  the  south  and  west  of  what  is 
now  Inverness-shire,  which  the  Gaidheals  or 
Scotsof  Lorn  had  penetrated.  These  districtsand 
the  original  Lorn  fell  under  the  sway  of  Pictish 
chiefs,  connected  with  the  family  of  Angus;  and 
these  chiefs  styled  themselves  'kings  of  Dalri- 
ada,'* and  were  so  recognized.  As  regards  the 
clan  Gabhran,  the  most  powerful  among  the 
Gaidheals  or  Scots,  and  the  most  aggressive  to- 
wards the  Picts,  because  they  inherited  the  trad- 
itions of  Aedhan  Mac  Gabhran,  'the  False,'  S. 
Columba's  nominee  to  the  throne,  Angus  and  the 
Pictish  army  awarded  them  extreme  punishment. 

*  The  names  of  some  of  them  will  be  found  preceding  Kenneth  Mac 
Alpin's  name  in  the  Synchronisms  of  Flann;  and  in  the  JDuan  Albanaich. 
Both  these  documents  are  eleventh  century.  Their  fault  is  that  in  one  or 
two  instances  they  have  entered  a  clan  chief  who  was  claimant  to  the 
crown  as  having  actually  reigned.  Their  entries  are  supported,  almost 
wholly  as  to  this  period,  from  the  Irish  Annals.  The  twelfth-century  Latin 
lists  of  the  Scotic  kings,  as  regards  this  period,  were  deliberately  falsified 
in  the  interests  of  the  Scotic  ascendency,  and  are  quite  untrustworthy. 

409 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Alpin  the  half-Pict,  who  was  related  to  the  clan 
Gabhran  through  his  father,  again  succeeded  in 
making  his  escape.  While  Angus  lived,  not  one  of 
their  other  leaders  dared  to  lift  his  head.  After  his 
death,  Aed  Finn  Mac  Eachaidh  and  his  brother 
set  up  to  rule  from  Cantyre;  but  they  were  quickly 
displaced  by  the  Pictish  chiefs  of  the  family  of 
Angus,  who  at  this  time  figure  in  the  lists  as 
'kings'  of  Dalriada;  although  they  were  really 
the  lieutenant-governors  of  the  Pictish  sovereign. 
In  the  two  oldest  documents,  witness  is  borne  to 
the  humbled  position  of  the  chiefs  of  the  clan 
Gabhran  in  the  title  ' Ardfhlaith,'*  high  chief, 
instead  of  R{,  king,  which  is  bestowed  on  Aed 
Finn.  Some  recent  historians,  while  compelled 
by  completer  knowledge  of  the  old  Celtic  docu- 
ments to  admit  the  conquest  of  Dalriada  by  An- 
gus, are  nevertheless  still  so  swayed  by  the  inven- 
tions of  the  Scotic  fabulists  regarding  Kenneth 
Mac  Alpin's  origin  that  they  declare  that  An- 
gus's occupation  produced  no  'fusion'  of  the  two 
nations  of  Picts  and  Scots.  Doubtless  there  was 
not  much  fusion  between  the  regal  families  of  the 
two  nations;  but  already,  especially  in  Lorn,  there 
had  been  a  great  deal  offusion  among  the  masses. 
Before  Angus's  time  the  Dalriad  colonists  had 
already    fused    extensively   with   the   western 

*  Soinihe  DuanAlbanaich.  Flann's  copyists  have  mangled  the  word, 
varying  in  the  three  MSS.  from  'Airgnech'  to  'Aireatec'  It  should  be 
noted  that  this  Aed  Finn  and  his  brother  Fergus  were  sons  of  Eachaidh, 
consequently  brothers  of  Alpin,  and  so  half- Picts. 

410 


ANGUS  I  MAC  FERGUS 

(Bede's  'northern')  Picts;  and  the  clan  Lorn  had 
absorbed  the  Picts  of  'Beregonium'  and  their 
power  so  completely  that  little  was  afterwards 
left  to  mark  the  difference  between  them  and  the 
Gaidheals  or  Scots,  apart  from  the  laments  and 
relics  associated  with  their  capital. 

The  Reappearance  of  Alpin  the  half-Pict 

The  chief  disappointment  of  Angus's  cam- 
paigns in  Dalriada  had  been  the  escape  of  Alpin 
Mac  Eachaidh,  the  half-Pict,  ex-Sovereign  of 
Pictland,  and,  according  to  Flann  and  the  Duan 
Albanaich,  ex-king  of  Dalriada.  Until  recently 
he  eluded  the  historians  as  completely  as  he  had 
eluded  Angus.  His  career  in  Dalriada,  and  after, 
is  left  out  of  the  Irish  Annals,  for  reasons  not  ap- 
parent; but  he  appears,  after  his  brother,  among 
the  kings  of  Dalriada  in  the  two  eleventh-century 
documents  mentioned.  Alpin's  reign,  or  attempt 
to  reign,  in  Dalriada  began  on  the  death  of  his 
brother,  Eochaidh,  in  a.d.  733.  He  reigned  three* 
or  fourf  years,  according  to  the  Chronicles, 
Three  is  the  accurate  number,  because  his  de- 
thronement and  flight  from  his  seat  took  place  in 
A.D.  736,  when  Angus  I.  Mac  Fergus  and  the 
Pictish  army  entered  Dalriada,  laid  it  waste,  and 
stormed  and  seized  Dun-Add,  the  fortified  capital. 
As  Angus  entered,  Alpin  left.  Once  before,  when 


*  Gray's  transcript  of  the  (twelfth  century)  Chronicle  of  the  Scots. 
t  Duan  Albanaich. 


411 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

he  had  been  ejected  by  Angus,  he  left  the  crown 
of  Pictland  behind  him;  on  this  occasion  he  left 
the  crown  of  Dalriada.  With  his  flight  the  Gaidh- 
ealic  or  Scotic  kingdom  of  Dalriada  came  to 
an  end,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  Aed  Finn, 
'the  high-chief,'  and  his  brother,  of  the  same 
family  as  Alpin,  made  attempts  to  revive  it. 
Their  failures  only  emphasized  how  completely 
the  sceptre  had  passed  from  the  Gaidhealic  or 
Scotic  clans  to  the  Pictish  family  of  Mac  Fergus, 
Angus's  people. 

But  Alpin  was  determined  to  have  a  kingdom. 
Where  he  found  it  is  told  in  the  ' Short  Chronicle' 
of  the  twelfth  century,  transcribed  in  the  time  of 
James  V.  by  James  Gray,  priest  of  Dunblane. 
The  manuscript  from  which  Gray  copied  must 
have  been  badly  torn  or  badly  faded;  because 
no  scribe,  even  if  partially  illiterate,  could  have 
achieved  the  blunders  in  spelling  which  James 
accomplished  unless  his  original  had  been  worn 
and  dim.  N  evertheless  the  original  was  clear  con- 
cerning Alpin.  It  preserved  the  duration  of  his 
reign  correctly  as  three  years.  It  knew  the  full 
designation  of  Alpin  as  'Alpin  filius  Eachaidh 
Anghbaidh,'  the  last  epithet  being  applied  to  his 
father  by  Flann  also,  in  a  still  earlier  manuscript. 
It  states  with  strict  historical  accuracy  that  after 
Alpin's  reign  ceased,  the  kingdom  of  the  Scots 
passed  into  the  kingdom  of  the  Picts.*   But  con- 

*  '  tunc  translatum  est  regnum  Scotorum  in  regnum  Pictorum. ' 
412 


ANGUS  I  MAC  FERGUS 

cerning  Alpin  himself  this  manuscript  tells  that 
he  was  killed  in  Galloway  after  he  had  wasted  and 
made  havoc  in  it.  One  of  the  tainted  Chronicles* 
describes  the  actual  manner  of  his  death:  'Hewas 
killed  by  a  single  man  who  lay  in  wait  for  him 
among  thick  wood  at  the  entrance  to  a  river-ford, 
and  at  the  time,  he  was  riding  at  the  head  of  his 
followers.'  Dr  Skenef  has  identified  the  scene 
of  Alpin's  death  at  'Laicht '-Alpin, f  near  a  stream 
which  falls  into  Loch  Ryan.  Unfortunately  the 
Annalists  give  no  clue  to  the  length  of  time  which 
intervened  between  Alpin's  flight  from  Dalriada 
and  his  death  in  Galloway.  All  that  is  clear  is  that 
some  years  had  passed,  because  before  Alpin  came 
to  his  end  he  had  succeeded  in  subduing  part  of 
Galloway. 

This  GallowayJ  enterprise  brought  Alpin  into 
conflict  with  theEnglish  of  Northumbria;  because, 
before  this  time,  as  has  been  noted,  the  Brito- 
Pictish  population  of  Galloway  had  submitted  to 
the  kings  of  Northumbria;  and  the  English  had 
not  only  penetrated  into  parts  of  the  province  but 
had  superimposed  the  Anglo-Roman  ecclesiasti- 
cal system  on  the  native  Church. 

*  That  in  the  Sra/acnwijVa. 

t  ChronicUs,Puts  and  Scots,  f.clxxxv.  'Laicht '-Alpin  means  Alpin's 
stone. 

X  Incidentally,  Alpin's  occupation  of  Galloway  helps  to  explain  the  un- 
doubted traces  of  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  in  that  province  which  appear 
alongside  remains  of  the  original  Brito-Pictish  population. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

The  Campaigns  of  Angus  against  the  Eng- 
lish. PicTS  and  English  come  to  Terms;  and 

TURN  THEIR  ArMS  AGAINST  THE  BrITONS  OF 

Strathclyde.  Alpin  in  Galloway 

The  Scottish  writers,  through  whose  hands 
most  of  the  old  documents  passed,  have  not 
allowed  us  to  know  much  about  the  English 
campaign  of  Angus  I,  Mac  Fergus.  The  English 
writers  have  been  only  a  little  less  reticent.  In 
the  days  of  the  'English  Claims,'  and  the  con- 
sequent Scotic  pretensions,  the  Scottish  writers 
kept  Angus  the  Pict  out  of  the  national  story; 
and  the  English  writers  had  no  wish  to  enlarge 
upon  his  exploits  in  their  country. 

The  chief  authority  now  for  Angus's  English 
campaign  is  the  memorandum,  by  the  continuator 
of  Bede's  history,  that  in  a.d.  740  Northumbria 
was  'cruelly  and  unjustifiably  wasted  by  Ethel- 
bald,  king  of  Mercia,  while  Eadbert,  the  English 
king,  and  his  army  were  absent  and  employed 
against  the  Picts.'  An  echo  of  this  campaign  ap- 
pears to  be  contained  in  the  words,  also  by  Bede's 
continuator,  that  Angus,  king  of  the  Picts,  con- 
tinued to  the  end  of  his  reign  to  be  'a  blood- 
stained and  tyrannical  butcher.'  Fierce  enough 
words,  but  inappropriate  to  an  Annalist  of  the 
Teutonic  English  who  had  recreated  brutality 
in  the  midst  of  Celtic  civilization ;  and,  in  their 
frequent  aggressions,  had  pitilessly  heaped  the 
414 


ANGUS  I  MAC  FERGUS 

valleys  of  the  Britons  and  of  south  Pictland  with 
slain,  and  caused  the  streams  to  run  blood.  What 
happened  when  Eadbert  and  his  Angles  met 
Angus  and  his  army  has  been  dropped  out  of 
history.  The  sequel  shows  that  it  was  not  Angus 
and  his  Picts  who  suffered  or  were  driven  back, 
but  Eadbert  and  his  Angles.  From  one  of  the 
fragments  of  real  history  woven  into  the  Legends 
of  S.  Andrew,  it  is  seen  that  on  this  expedition 
Angus  camped  at  an  ancient  Roman  camp  called 
'  Kartinan'*  (Caer  Ttnan),nea.r  the  mouth  of  the 
Northumbrian  Tyne,  and  at  some  period  in  his 
operations 'wintered 'in  theMerse,  Berwickshire, 
where, of  course.food  would  be  abundant.  Angus's 
army  had  the  blood  of  the  ancient  Brigantes  in 
them,  because  it  was  into  Angus's  territory  that 
this  great  Celticpeople  had  retired  when  centuries 
before,  c.  a.d.  139,  Lollius  Urbicus  had  driven 
them  out  of  the  very  country  where  Angus  en- 
camped. It  was  something  that,  t.  a.d.  740,  Angus 
could  plant  his  triumphant  flag  on  a  former  camp 
of  the  enemiesof  his  people;  and  also  in  the  realm 
of  the  later  Teutonic  invaders  who,  unlike  the 
Romans,  possessed  no  culture  to  offer  as  a  con- 
solation for  conquest. 

Eadbert,  king  of  Northumbria,  when  he  went 
forth  against  the  Picts  suddenly  found  himself 
between  the  hammer  and  the  anvil.  Defeated  by 

*  The  Legend  m  the  Colbertine  MS.  In  the  amplified  Legend  oi  fiit 
Harleian  MS.  this  is  explained  as  'ad  ostium  fluminis  Tyne.' 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Angus  and  the  Pictish  army  somewhere  between 
Forth  andTyne.he  could  not  fall  back  on  his  own 
kingdom  because  it  had  been  overrun  by  his 
Saxon  neighbours  in  the  interval;  and  there 
Ethelbald  and  his  army  waited  to  annihilate  him. 
J  udging  from  what  followed,  he  made  terms  with 
Angus,  and  entered  into  alliance  with  him  that 
both  might  join  up  their  forces  and  march  to 
crush  Ethelbald.*  It  was  just  as  important  to 
Angus  to  get  rid  of  an  aggressive  Saxon,  like 
Ethelbald  on  his  southern  frontier,  as  an  aggres- 
sive Angle  like  Eadbert.  Again  we  are  not  told 
what  happened  when  the  armies  of  Angus  and 
Ethelbald  met;  but  these  leaders  also  came  to 
terms  and  operated  together;  because  the  con- 
tinuator  of  Bede  states  that  in  the  year  a.d.  750 
— ten  years  after  Eadbert,  king  of  Northumbria, 
had  brought  Angus  into  the  field  against  him — 
'Cuthred,  king  of  the  West  Saxons,  rose  up 
against  Ethelbald  and  Angus';  so  that  Angus 
must  have  lent  his  name  and  troops  to  the  Mer- 
cian king. 

What  reasons  Angus  had  for  helping  the 
Mercian  king  are  not  apparent  now;  but  he  had 
good  reasons  for  accepting  an  alliance  with  Ead- 
bert in  A.D.  740,  after  he  had  defeated  him.  Alpin 
the  half-Pict  was  hovering  about  the  west  looking 

*  The  scribe  in  the  Harleian  MS.  Legend  of  S.  Andrew  calls  him 
'Athelstan,'  in  error.  The  earlier  Colbertine  MS.  of  the  Z«^«k/ states 
that  Angus  marched  against  the  British  nations  inhabiting  the  south- 
eastern part  of  the  island.  This  is  quite  right. 

416 


ANGUS  I  MAC  FERGUS 

for  his  opportunity.  It  was  in  the  year  after  Angus 
had  defeated  Eadbert  that  he  gave  Dalriada  its 
decisive  'smiting.'  After  this,  Alpin  andhis  force 
of  Scots  invaded  and  subdued  part  of  Galloway 
which  was  then  in  Eadbert's  kingdom.  The 
subsequent  events  show  that  Alpin  must  have 
had  some  encouragement  and  perhaps  assistance 
from  Taudar  Mac  Bil6,  king  of  the  Strath-Clyde 
Britons.  1 1  was  against  the  tradition  of  the  Britons 
and  Picts  that  they  should  take  the  field  against 
one  another;  and,  moreover,  this  king  of  the  clan 
Bil6  was  probably  related  to  Angus.  He  was  cer- 
tainly related  to  part  of  the  royal  stock  in  Angus's 
kingdom.  Alpin's  subjugation  of  part  of  Gallo- 
way, and  his  association  with  the  king  of  the  Bri- 
tons, menaced  the  power  of  Angus  and  obliter- 
ated all  Pictish  ties.  Consequently  in  a.d.  750 
Angus  and  the  Pictish  army,  with  whom  Eadbert 
was  associated,  met  the  Britons  under  Taudar  on 
the  field  of  'Catoc'*  or  Maes-y-dawc.\  The  bat- 
tle ended  in  victory  for  Angus  and  some  spoil  to 
Eadbert.  Tolarg  the  brother  of  Angus  fell  in  the 
action.  What  happened  to  Alpin  and  Galloway 
we  are  again  not  told;  but  Bede's  continuator 
states  significantly  that  the  'plain  of  Kyle'  in 
Ayrshire  was  added  to  Eadbert's  kingdom.  Tau- 
dar died  A.D.  752.     One  not  very  trustworthy 

*  Spelling  in  Annals  of  Ulster  is  'Catohic'  (genitive).    Reeves  gives 
'Cato.' 

t  I'o.ifsit  Annates  CambriaecaXLti  Mocetaut.   'Maes' means  field. 

2E  417 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

source  reports  that  Angus  took  Taudar's  sub- 
mission at  the  castle  of  Dunbarton  after  the  lat- 
ter's  defeat.*  We  are  left  to  infer  that  the  death 
of  Alpin,  as  noted,  followed  closely  on  this  battle 
oiMaes-y-dawc. 

It  is  to  be  regretted,  in  spite  of  the  'English 
Claims,'  that  the  Scotic  fabricators  and  editors 
did  not  allow  Alpin's  fate  in  relation  to  this  de- 
feat to  remain  in  the  originals,  on  which  the  An- 
nalists drew,  and  also  the  exact  date  of  his  tragic 
death.  It  is  equally  to  be  regretted  that  they  have 
not  told  us  whether  Alpin's  Scots  maintained 
their  hold  on  Galloway,  or  whether  Eadbert's 
garrison  was  established  in  Kyle  to  keep  them 
and  the  Britons  apart.  These  essential  details 
would  have  fully  established  the  account  which 
is  given  by  Giraldus  and  others,  that  the  Scotic 
forces  which  supported  Kenneth  Mac  Alpin  when 
he  acceded  to  the  Pictish  sovereignty  in  the  ninth 
century  came  'out  of  Galloway.'  If  they  so  came, 
they  were  the  descendants  of  Alpin's  clansmen; 
because  Galloway  had  not  been  peopled  by  Scots 
until  Alpin  seized  it. 

The  undisturbed  continuity  at  this  time  of  one 
Galloway  institution  strongly  suggests  that  al- 
though the  effects  of  Alpin's  occupation  may  have 
been  felt  throughout  Galloway,  the  Scotic  colony 
which  resulted  became  restricted  to  the  Rhynns 

♦  The  original  authority  is  said  to  be  an  English  or  Britonic  MS.,  but 
if  so  I  have  not  been  able  to  trace  it. 

418 


ANGUS  I  MAC  FERGUS 

and  the  districts  on  the  Ayrshire  border.*  The 
institution  that  was  unaffected  by  Alpin  and  his 
Scots  was  the  Anglo- Roman  diocesan  bishopric 
set  up  A.D.  c.  730  under  Pechthelm  at  Candida 
Casa,  the  mother- Church  of  the  Britons  and 
Picts.  In  Alpin's  time  this  bishop  was  no  longer 
the  simple  member  or  president  of  a  Celtic  muin- 
ntir,\iiw\.  wasmonarchic  and  diocesan.  Manifestly 
if  Alpin  had  disorganized  all  Galloway  for  any 
length  of  time  he  would  have  disorganized  the 
bishopric,  f  especially  as  the  bishop  was  a  Teuton, 
Frithwald,  with  little  sympathy  for  Alpin  or  any 
of  his  race.  But,  as  Bede's  continuator  shows,  the 
bishopric  was  not  disorganized,  because  he  states 
that  Frithwald  was  ordainedj  a.d.  735,  and  he 
died  in  his  chair  at  Candida  Casa  a.d.  764.  The 
bishop  who  succeeded  him  was  not  a  Gaidheal 
or  Scot  but  Pechtwine,§  whose  name  speaks  for 
itself 

*  This  is  also  indicated  by  the  death  of  Alpin  at  Loch  Ryan. 

t  The  succession  of  Anglo-Roman  bishops  over  this  period  were — 
Pechthelm,  730-735;  Frithwald,  735-764;  Pechtwine,  764-776.  Richard 
of  Hexham  erred  in  suggesting  that  Acca  came  into  this  succession. 

%  "Srj  Archbishop  Nothelm. 

§  Or  'Pictuine,'  which  means  Friend  of  Picts.  Cf.  Historia  Regum,  S. 
of  D.  pp.  22,  28. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

By  English  Inspiration  Angus  also  takes  a 

Hand  in  the  Veneration  of  Saints  and 

Relics;  and  makes  way  for  S.  Andrew  to 

BE  Patron  and  Protector  of  Pictland 

In  deference  to  the  association  of  S.  Andrew 
with  modern  Scotland,  and  to  the  new  romanizing 
movement  which  began  in  Pictland  under  Angus, 
with  the  prestige  of  S.  Andrew's  name;  it  may  be 
permissible  to  turn  from  the  historical  memor- 
anda of  the  Annals  to  the  scrap  of  valid  history 
on  which  the  Legend  of  S.  Andrew  is  founded,  be- 
cause there  is  a  fragment  of  history  in  the  midst 
of  the  grotesque  fables  of  the  three  versions  of 
the  Legend. 

It  has  been  noted  that  in  his  first  English 
campaign  Angus  Mac  Fergus  the  Pictish  sove- 
reign encamped  with  his  army  at  Caer-Tinan 
near  the  Newcastle  end  of  Hadrian's  Wall.  This 
camp  was  also  close  to  the  Roman  monastery  at 
J  arrow  and  Wearmouth,  formerly  ruled  by  Ceol- 
frid,  from  whence  the  Roman  Catholic  influence 
had  been  exerted  on  Nechtan  that  brought  him 
into  trouble  with  many  of  his  Pictish  subjects, 
Angus  among  the  rest.  Angus's  hostility  to 
Nechtan  and  S.  Peter  would  be  well  known  to 
the  united  brethren  of  J  arrow  and  Wearmouth. 
Angus's  camp  was  also  near  Hexham  ('Hagus- 
tald')  where  there  was  a  Cathedral-Church  which 
had  been  dedicated  not  long  before  to  the  '  bles- 
420 


ANGUS  I  MAC  FERGUS 

sed  Apostle  Andrew  with  manifold  decorations 
and  wonderful  craftsmanship.'  Its  dismissed  bis- 
hop, Acca,  was  a  fanatic  about  relics,  especially 
relics  of  the  Martyrs  and  Apostles;  and  as  he  had 
travelled  extensively  in  Europe  with  Wilfrid  he 
had  gathered  a  considerable  stock  of  the  alleged 
sacred  remains,  and  had  built  altars  for  them  in 
the  side  chapels  which  he  arranged  within  this 
Cathedralof  S.Andrew.*  Now  Acca  had  learned 
great  veneration  for  S.  Andrew  from  Wilfridj 
who  was  the  ambitious  and  aggressive  Anglian 
prelate  who  had  once  gone  to  Rome,  and  before 
the  uninformed  hierarchy  there,  with  character- 
istic audacity,  had  confirmed  his  subscription  to 
Roman  doctrine  in  the  name,  among  others,  'of 
the  Picts.'  Sometime  before  Angus's  expedition, 
in  731,  Acca  had  been  driven  from  his  episcopal 
chair.  Bede's  continuator  does  not  say  why;  al- 
though he  certainly  knew.  Like  other  bishops, 
in  like  plight,  Acca  was  probably  residing  among 
the  monks  of  Jarrow  and  Wearmouth.t.  a.d.  740, 
when  Angus  was  in  the  vicinity.  This  monastery 
was  in  the  diocese  of  St.  Andrews  of  Hexham, 
and  'S.  Andrew'  was  in  the  atmosphere  of  the 
whole  district.  These  proselytizing  monks  had 
caught  Nechtan  in  the  net  of  S.  Peter;  but  the 

*  See  Bede, -ff.£.  G.^.  lib.  V.  cap.  XX.  This  Church  was  built  between 
672  and  678. 

t  Wilfrid  believed  that  he  got  his  persuasive  eloquence  through  inter- 
cession to  S.  Andrew.  He  had  gone  over  to  Rome  after  being  a  pupil  of  the 
Scotic  clerics  at  Lindisfarne. 

421 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

same  instrument  had  failed  with  the  Pictish  peo- 
ple; and,  especially,  with  Angus.  Why  should 
they  not  try  the  net  of  S.  Andrew  upon  Angus, 
seeing  that  they  had  such  a  tempting  opportun- 
ity? The  'real'  relics  of  an  actual  Apostle  might 
appeal  to  the  reverent  spirits  of  the  Celts  of  Pict- 
land;  although  relics  were  not  yet  venerated 
there. 

As  Angus  walked  in  broad  daylight  with  his 
seven  chiefs*  in  his  camp  at  Caer-Tinan,f  amid 
surroundings  suffused  with  S.  Andrew,  a  divine 
lightj  shone  round  them,  and  the  king  heard 
a  'heavenly  voice'  calling  'Angus,  Angus,  give 
heed,  I  am  Andrew  the  Apostle  of  Christ  come  to 
defend  thee  and  to  take  thee  into  my  care.  Be- 
hold the  sign  of  the  Cross§  elevated  in  the  skies, 
preceding  thee  against  thine  enemies ;||  and  take 
care  to  dedicate  a  tenth  of  thine  inheritance  to 
God  Almighty  and  his  Apostle  S.  Andrew.' 
Such  is  the  oldest  version  of  the  tale  that  can 

*  Evidently  representative  of  the  seven  provinces  of  Pictland. 

t  Of  the  three  versions  of  the  Legend  which  we  possess  two  are  com- 
posite documents,  and  different  accounts  of  the  same  incidents  have  been 
thrown  together  without  any  attempt  to  reconcile  them.  In  one  account 
the  vision  appeared  at  Caer-Tinan  (near  Newcastle),  and  in  another  in  the 
Merse. 

t  The  details  here  are  borrowed  from  the  Acts  of  tin  Apostles. 

§  Cf.  Constantine's  Vision. 

II  Who  were  Angus's  enemies  at  that  moment?  Not  the  Angles  or  the 
Saxons,  because  he  had  come  to  terms  with  them ;  but  Alpin  and  the 
Gaidheals  or  Scots.  He  did  march  against  them  in  the  following  year, 
741,  and  gave  them  their  final  'smiting.'  When  the  Scots,  therefore,  took 
over  '  S.  Andrew '  in  the  ninth  century,  they  took  over  the  saint  who  is 
alleged  to  have  led  in  their  greatest  punishment  as  a  nation. 

422 


ANGUS  I  MAC  FERGUS 

now  be  got.  The  closing  exhortation  is  in  the 
true  Roman  ecclesiastical  style;  and  if  it  formed 
part  of  the  original  exhortation  to  Angus,  it  would 
not  be  irreverent  to  suggest  that  it  was  originally 
framed,  and,  it  may  be,  uttered,  by  one  of  the  zeal- 
ous proselytizers  of  Ceolfrid's  monastery  on  Tyne 
who  had  already  tried  to  secure  the  conformity  of 
the  Church  of  the  Picts  to  Rome. 

Whatever  experience  of  Angus  on  Tyneside 
is  hidden  under  this  part  of  the  Legend,  it  is  his- 
torically true  that  with  the  approval  of  certain 
members  of  Angus's  family  a  new  romanizing 
effort  began  in  Pictland.  The  Scottish  trans- 
lation of  a  still  older  Chronicle  is  relating  an  actual 
event  in  the  entry,  'The  zeire  of  God  sevyn  hun- 
dir  Ixi  ye  relikis  of  Sanct  Andrew  ye  Apostle  com 
in  Scotland.'*  a.d.  761  was  the  year  in  which 
Angus  I.  the  Sovereign  of  the  Picts  died.  The 
relics  were  in  all  probability  brought  from  St. 
Andrews,  Hexham.  The  legend  of  their  removal 
from  Patras  is  doubtless  an  echo  of  the  story 
given  by  the  credulous  Acca  to  the  worshippers 
on  Tyneside.  On  the  arrival  of  the  relics  in  Pict- 
land they  found  a  resting-place  near  the  Regies 
or  mother-Church  founded  by  S.  Cainnech  of 
Achadh-Bo  at  CindRighMonaidh  in  Fife.  In  due 
course,  after  a.d.  761,  a  new  Church  was  built, 
and  dedicated  to  S.  Andrew  the  Apostle.  From 

*  From  internal  evidence  the  earlier  part  of  this  Chronicle  was  tran- 
scribed about  1530. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

that  time  Cind  Righ  Monaidh*  became  the  city 
of  S.  Andrew;  and  as  'St.  Andrews'  it  is  still 
known.  The  muinntir  attached  to  the  Regies  of 
S.  Cainnech,  which  in  Angus's  time  was  under 
the  presidency  of  the  Ab  Tuatalan,  was  appar- 
ently ignored  by  the  Roman  pioneers,  or  allowed 
to  lead  a  separate  existence ;  because  at  a  much 
later  time  it  is  found  represented  by  dissenting 
Cde  Dd\  who  cling  to  some  of  the  ancient  pro- 
perty of  the  Church  of  the  Picts. 

Leading   Celtic    Clergy   and  their   known 

Activities  in  the  Church  of  the  Picts 

IN  THE  Time  of  Angus 

One  striking  feature  of  the  Celtic  Chronicles 
is  that  though  the  originals  were  compiled  by 
clerics,  these  clerics  have  comparatively  little  to 
say  about  the  activities  of  the  great  religious  com- 
munities. Sometimes  there  is  nothing  more  than 
the  recorded  death  of  some  leading  Ab  to  indic- 
ate to  the  world  that  some  ancient  community 
continued  the  work  for  which  it  had  been  or- 
ganized. 

*  The  Latin  Chronicle  which  was  the  original  source  of  Sibbald's  tran- 
script was  falsified  in  the  interests  of  the  priority  of  Dunkeld,  and  to  ob- 
scure the  exploits  of  Angus  I.  It  therefore  ascribed  the  founding  of  '  Kil- 
remont'  to  Angus  II.  It  ought  to  be  noted  that  it  was  not  'Kilremont' 
that  had  been  founded,  but  St.  Andrews.   '  Kilremont'  was  already  old. 

f  It  was  into  the  monastery  of  the  Cile  Di  of  Cind  Righ  Monaidh  (ac- 
cording to  5.  Berchan)  that  Constantine,  second  of  the  name  who  ruled 
the  Scots,  retired  in  his  old  age  A.D.  940.  His  retiral  was  really  the  result 
of  his  defeat  by  Athelstan  at  Brunanburg  a.d.  937.  The  PiMsh  Chronicle 
says,  'feeble  with  age,  he  took  to  himself  the  "bachul"  (staft"),  and  served 
the  Lord.' 

424 


ANGUS  I  MAC  FERGUS 

The  outstanding  Pictish  clerics  during  part  of 
the  reign  of  Angus  I.  Mac  Fergus  were  S.  Ronan, 
Abof  the  YicHshmuinntiroiCinn-Garadh  (Kin- 
garth),  Bute;  and  Tuatalan,  Ab  of  Cind  Righ 
Monaidh  (St.  Andrews). 

In  A.D.  729,  the  year  that  Angus  took  up  the 
sovereignty  of  the  Picts,  Egbert  the  EngHsh 
zealot  died.  His  later  proselytizing  activities  were 
carried  on  among  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots;  and 
consequently  outside  the  Pictish  Church.   For 
thirteen  of  his  latter  years  he  devoted  himself  in 
lona  to  secure  conformity  to  Rome,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  creating  a  Celto-Catholic  and  a  Roman 
Catholic  party  in  the  island.  In  a  sentence  which, 
in  view  of  the  work  of  S.  Columba,  every  Scot 
must  regard  as  audacious,  Bede  states  that  by 
Egbert's  thirteen  years'  work  in  lona  he  'conse- 
crated the  island  to  Christ,  as  it  were,  by  a  new 
ray  of  the  grace  of  fellowship  and  peace  in  the 
Church.'  Bede  regards  as  a  remarkable  dispens- 
ation of  Divine  Providence  that  Egbert  ceased 
from  his  labours  after  he  had  celebrated  the  Pas- 
chal feast  on  the  Roman  date,  which  he  had 
striven  so  hard  to  introduce,  on  this  occasion 
24th  day  of  April  729.* 

During  the  first  eight  years  of  Angus's  sove- 
reignty, Failbhe  Mac  Guaire  presided  over  the 
distant  Pictish  muinntir  established  by  S.  Mael- 
rubha  at  Abercrossan  in  the  west  of  Ross,  main- 

*  Cf.  Bede,  H.E.  G.A.  lib,  v.  cap.  xxii. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

taining  a  ministry  to  the  numerous  Churches 
founded  by  S.  Maelrubha  in  Banff,  Moray,  Ross, 
Sutherland,  and  the  Hebrides.  Failbhe  and 
twenty-two  of  his  sailors  were  drowned  in  the 
deep  sea  in  a.d.  'ji'j,  very  likely  during  a  voyage 
to  the  outer  islands  where  some  of  S.  Maelrubha's 
Churches  had  been  planted. 

During  Angus's  reign  the  muinntir  at  Fearn 
of  Edderton  in  Ross,  founded  by  S.  Ninian,  and 
visited  by  S.  Finbar  while  he  was  attached  to 
Candida  Casa,  was  still  active.  I  ts  Ab,  'Reoddaidhe 
('Reodatius'),  died  in  a.d.  762,*  one  year  after 
the  end  of  Angus's  reign.  Part  of  the  memorial 
cross  •}•  of  Reodatius  was  recently  recovered  from 
the  garden  wall  of  Tarbat  manse  in  the  Fearn 
district,  and  not  far  from  New  Fearn,  J  the  site 
chosen  for  the  monastery  after  the  community 
had  been  reorganized  by  Roman  clerics  from 
Candida  Casa  c.a.  d.  i  223-7.§  The  translation  of 
the  uncial  inscription  on  the  cross  of  Reodatius 
is,  'In  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ:  a  cross  of  Christ: 
in  memory  of  Reodatius:  may  he  rest  (in  Christ).' 

*  Four  Masters  give  T ^S.  The  Irish  Annalists  thought  that  Reodatius 
was  Ab  of  Ferns  in  Ireland;  but,  as  his  memorial  cross  shows,  this  is  an- 
other of  their  frequent  blunders  in  crediting  clerics  of  Pictish  muinntirs 
to  Irish  communities  of  similar  name. 

t  '  No.  10'  of  the  Tarbat  Stones.  Conveniently  described  by  Romilly 
Allen  in  Sculptured  Stones  of  Scotland.  Some  of  his  particulars  concerning 
the  reading  of  the  stone  are  inaccurate. 

X  Whither  the  romanized  community  was  transported  about  1238. 
Fearn  remained  a  daughter-house  of  Candida  Casa  until  the  Reformation. 

§  For  a  full  account  of  Fearn,  the  inscribed  cross,  and  other  details,  see 
the  author's  .S.  Ninian,  Apostle  of  the  Britons  and  Picts,  pp.  86-103. 

426 


ANGUS  I  MAC  FERGUS 

Farther  south  S.  Curitan,  and  the  romanized 
community,  intruded  by  Nechtan  at  Rosemarkie, 
continued  their  efforts  to  popularize  S.  Peter  and 
Roman  usage.  S.  Curitan  lived  *  through  most  or 
all  of  Angus's  reign. 

On  the  west  the  native  Church  of  the  Picts 
possessed,  besides  Abercrossan,  the  still  active 
community  of  Eigg.  Nine  years  before  Angus's 
death,  Cumineof  the  family  of  Becce,  'religiosus'  of 
Eigg,diedA.D,  751.  The  designation 'religiosus' 
deserves  to  be  noted  at  this  date.  It  is  differenti- 
ated from  'ancorite.'  The  anchoret  was  a  solitary; 
the  'religiosus'  might,  as  in  this  instance,  live 
in  a  community.  The  'religiosus'  was  a  rigorist 
in  doctrine  and  discipline.  His  appearance  in 
the  Pictish  Church  is  contemporaneous  with  the 
Romanist  proselytizers  who  exalted  uniformity 
above  personal  sanctity. 

In  the  east  of  Pictland,  at  Turriff  in  Aberdeen- 
shire, S.  Comgan  presided  over  his  Pictish  com- 
munity during  part  of  Angus's  reign.  In  a.d.  734 
Kentigerna,  S.  Comgan's  sister,  died  at  her  re- 
treat in  Loch  Lomond  while  her  son  S.  Fillan 
was  still  labouring  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Paisley. 

For  eighteen  years  during  Angus's  reign 
Tuatalan  presided  over  the  Pictish  community 
founded  by  S.  Cainnech  at  Cind  Righ  Monaidh 

*  The  year  of  his  death  is  not  recorded;  but  it  is  stated  that  he  taught 
among  the  Picts  '  sixty  years, ' 

427 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

(St.  Andrews).  Tuatalan  died  a,d.  747.  This 
community  must  have  grown  to  be  one  of  the 
most  influential  in  Pictland  as,  indeed,  the  traces 
of  its  ramifications  on  the  east  coast  of  Pictland 
indicate;  and  this  doubtless  explains  why  the 
Roman  agents  who  aimed  at  exalting  S.  Andrew 
and  popularizing  Roman  usage  decided  to  estab- 
lish themselves  there  shortly  before  Angus's 
death.  I f  they  had  captured  the  Pictish  muinntir 
at  Cind  Righ  Monaidh  on  their  arrival,  or  im- 
mediately after,  their  success  in  romanizing  Pict- 
land might  have  been  speedier  and  more  accept- 
able than  S.  Curitan's  efforts.  At  Cind  Righ 
Monaidh,  however,  as  at  Rosemarkie,  and  as 
at  lona  among  the  Scots,  the  Roman  mission 
created  two  parties.  The  Pictish  Celto-Catholics 
took  up  an  attitude  of  opposition  and  adhered  to 
their  property;  while  the  Roman  Catholics,  fav- 
oured by  the  family*  of  Angus,  pushed  ahead 
and  tried  to  assert  themselves  above  the  native 
Church.  The  Ab  of  the  mother-Churchf  of  Cind 
Righ  Monaidh  in  Tuatalan's  time  was  the  vener- 
able Seannal  Ua  Taidhg  who  ruled  his  muinntir 
at  Achadh-Bo  forty-three  years,  and  died  there 

*  According  to  the  possible  scrap  of  history  in  one  of  the  versions  of  the 
Legend  of  S.  Andrew,  where  the  Roman  mission  goes  to  one  of  Angus's 
seats  at  Forteviot  and  receives  favours  from '  Owen,  Nectan,  and  Finguine,' 
sons  of  Angus,  and  from  Finchem,  queen  of  Angus  I.  Mac  Fergus.  This 
version  of  the  Ze^e«rf  ascribes  the  work  of  Angus  I.  to  Angus  II. 

t  Cind  Righ  Monaidh  was  not  founded  from  Achadh-Bo;  but  Achadh- 
Bo  superseded  the  Regies  of  Cind  Righ  Monaidh  as  S.  Cainnech's  chief 
community  and  centre  of  supply. 

428 


ANGUS  I  MAC  FERGUS 

on  the  festival  of  S.  Comgall  the  Great,  loth  May 
A.D.  782. 

An  interesting  and  informing  figure  during 
the  early  part  of  Angus's  reign  is  S.  Ronan,*  Ab 
of  Cinn-Garadk  (Kingarth),  Bute.  This  Iro- 
Pictish  community,  founded  from  Bangor,  in  this 
island  of  the  Britons,  a.d.  558-578,  had  been 
under  S.  Ronan's  care  before  Angus  became 
sovereign  of  Pictland;  but  the  saint  was  contem- 
porary with  Angus,  after  he  had  assumed  the 
supreme  power,  for  eight  years.  Bute  was  in  the 
kingdom  of  the  Strath-Clyde  Britons,  and  Bil^ 
Mac  Eilpin  and  Taudar,  son  of  the  former,  were 
the  kings  who  reigned  at  Dunbarton  in  S.  Ronan's 
time.    S.  Ronan  died  at  Kingarth  a.d.  737. 

S.  Ronan  did  not  restrict  his  ministry  to  the 
Britons  and  the  Picts.  He  was  enabled  by  the 
events  of  his  time  to  take  a  most  unusual  step, 
and  to  carry  his  ministry  into  lona  among  the 
Gaidheals  or  Scots.  There  were  two  reasons 
for  this.  Egbert's  romanizing  propaganda  had 
split  the  community  of  the  mother-Church  of  the 
Scots  at  lona  into  two  bodies.  Cilline  Droicteach, 
'  Ab'  of  Iona,A.D.  726-752,  who  held  the  appoint- 

*  As  has  been  stated  already,  S.  Ronan  is  not  to  be  confused,  as  by 
Skene  and  others,  with  'Ronan  the  Scot'  and  romanizer  who  already  in 
664,  seventy-three  years  before  S.  Ronan's  death,  was  a  man  of  ripe 
ecclesiastical  experience  with  residence  in  Italy  and  Gaul  behind  him. 

'  Ronan  the  Scot '  (Irishman)  championed  Roman  usage  in  Northumbria 
against  Finan,  bishop  at  Lindisfarne,  and  the  other  Gaidheals  or  Scots  from 
lona.  Finan  resisted  this  innovator  vrith  much  spirit,  Bede  calls  it  bad 
temper.  See  H.E.  G.A.  lib.  iii.  cap.  xxv. 

429 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

ment  according  to  the  rule  which  restricted  the 
succession  to  members  of  S.  Columba's  clan, 
adopted  the  Roman  cult  of  relics,  and  ruled  over 
the  group  which  had  conformed  to  Rome.  On 
the  other  hand,  Fedhlimidh,*  'Ab'  of  lona,  a.d. 
722-759,  an  outsider,  ruled  the  group  which  had 
refused  to  conform  to  Rome.  These  evidently 
looked  for  support  to  the  Iro-Pictish  community 
at  Kingarth  among  the  Britons.  Consequently 
S.  Ronan,  president  of  an  Iro-Pictish  community 
among  the  Britons,  was  able  to  extend  his  minis- 
try to  the  very  gates  of  the  chief  Church  of  the 
Gaidheals  or  Scots.  S.  Ronan's  Church-found- 
ations are  found  not  only  at  Kingarth  over  which 
he  presided,  and  at  'Kilmoronoc'  in  the  Brito-Pic- 
tish  territory  of  Lennox;  but  at  'Kilmoronog'  on 
Loch  Etive,  in  the  very  heart  of  Dalriada;  and, 
most  remarkable  of  all,  at  Tempul Ronoc  or  Ron- 
ain\  in  lona,  the  site  of  which  was  occupied  by 
the  old  parish  Church  of  lona.  The  landing 
place  of  S.  Ronan,  near  by,  is  still  known  as  Port 
Ronain.  Few  people  to-day  realize  that  the  base 
of  the  present  Christian  work  in  lona  is  not  the 

*  He  was  '  Ab'  of  lona  during  part  of  the  time  that  Faelcu  was  'Ab,' 
and  during  all  the  time  of  Cillene  Fada  and  Cilline  Droicteach,  and  part 
of  the  time  of  Slebhine.  These  were  '  Abs'  of  the  group  which  had  con- 
formed to  Rome.  Fedhlimidh  died  in  759  at  the  age  of  eighty-seven. 
Dr.  Reeves  with  absence  of  his  usual  candour  calls  Fedhlimidh  'coadjutor 
Abbot.'  Skene  was  historically  correct  when  he  wrote,  'Egbert  did  not 
see  entire  conformity  (at  lona)  during  his  life;'  and  the  schism  was  in  full 
vigour  up  to  the  day  of  his  death.' 

t  Ruinous  in  1796, 


ANGUS  I  MAC  FERGUS 

site  occupied  by  S.  Columba  and  his  muinntir; 
but  the  site  occupied  by  S.  Ronan  the  president 
of  an  Iro-Pictish  community  established  in  Bute 
from  Bangor.  The  work  of  S.  Ronan  and  his 
fellow- workers  in  Dalriada  was,  of  course,  facili- 
tated by  the  reopening  of  this  kingdom  to  the 
Picts  through  the  extension  of  the  power  of 
Angus  Mac  Fergus.  It  was  in  a.d.  736,  the  year 
before  S.  Ronan's  death,  that  Angus  and  the 
Pictish  army  entered  Dun-Add,  the  capital  of 
Dalriada,  as  conquerors. 

S.  Ronan's  contemporary  in  the  parent  com- 
munity at  Bangor  was  Fidhbhadach,  Ab,  who  died 
A.D.762.  During  his  rule  Bangor  suffered  through 
an  accidental  outbreak  of  fire.  At  this  time,  so 
far  as  the  Annals  show,  Bangor  still  remained 
aloof  from  the  cult  of  relics  and  other  Roman 
innovations. 

Across  the  Irish  sea  from  Bangor,  Candida 
Casa  had  now  firmly  adapted  itself  to  Roman 
ways.  Before  S.  Ronan's  death,  Frithwald  had 
become  bishop  in  a.d.  735,  and  he  ministered 
to  the  Angles  and  the  Picts  of  Galloway  until 
A.D.  764. 

With  the  transportation,  about  the  close  of 
Angus's  reign  in  a.d.  761,  of  the  alleged  relics  of 
S.  Andrew  to  Cind  Righ  Monaidk,  the  Roman 
cult  of  relics  began  in  Pictland  among  those  Celts 
who  had  conformed.  About  a.d.  697  relics  had 
been  venerated  bytheromanized  Celts  in  various 

431 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

parts  of  southern  Ireland.  InA.D,  727  the  cult 
of  relics  was  practised  by  the  romanized  group 
of  the  Gaidhealic  or  Scotic  clerics  of  lona.  The 
spurious  sanctity  through  alleged  relics  of  the 
saints  was  a  poor  substitute  for  the  real  sanctity, 
that  had  emanated  from  the  personal  holiness  of 
the  ministers,  which  had  formerly  hallowed  the 
Churches. 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  UNION, 
BY  ABSORPTION,  BETWEEN 
THE  PICTS  AND  SCOTS.  THE 
EFFECT  OF  THE  COMING  OF 
THE  VIKINGS,   AND   ALSO   OF 

KENNETH  MAC  ALPIN 
CHAPTER  SEVENTEEN 

The  realms  of  Pictland  and  Dalriada  were  first 
unitedafterA.D.  741*  when  Angus  I.Mac  Fergus 
had  subjugated  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots.  The 
union  aimed  at  was  union  by  absorption.  Dal- 
riada now  took  a  place  among  the  federated  petty 
kingdoms  of  Pictland;  and,  after  its  subjugation, 
was  ruled  by  the  petty  kings  whom  Angus  set 
over  the  Scots,  from  his  own  family.  These  Pict- 
ish  rulers  naturally  became  members  of  the  col- 
lege of  Pictish  chiefs,  and  so  eligible  for  the 
supreme  power  in  Pictland.  This  is  the  reason 
that,  after  Angus's  death,  some  of  these  Pictish 
chiefs  who  ruled  Dalriada  are  found  acceding  to 
the  sovereignty  of  Pictland. 

As  noticed,  Angus  had  left  a  remnant  of  Scots 
in  Cantyre,  responsible  to  him,  under  Aed|  Mac 
Eachaidh  'high-chief.'  As  also  noticed,  Aed  and 
the  Mac  Eachaidh  family  had,  after  Angus's 
death,  attempted  to  assert  their  own,  and  the  in- 

*  The  year  of  Angus's  last  campaign  against  the  Scots,  and  the  date 
of  the  '  Percussio  Dalraiti'  by  Angus. 

t  Brother  of  Alpin  the  Half-Pict  ejected  (i)  from  the  sovereignty  of 
Pictland,  {2)  from  the  throne  of  Dalriada  by  Angus  I.  Mac  Fergus. 

2F  433 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

dependence  of  southern  Dalriada.  It  was  out  of 
this  remnant,  or  from  their  fellow-clansmen  forced 
over  to  the  Galloway  coast,  that  Kenneth  Mac 
Alpin  emerged  when  he  acceded  to  the  supreme 
power  in  Pictland  in  a.d,  842.  Of  Pictish  descent 
on  the  female  side,  which  furnished  his  claims  to 
the  Pictish  throne,  Kenneth  was  on  the  male  side, 
and  by  education  and  sympathy,  a  Gaidheal  or 
Scot.   His  rise  resulted  in  the  displacing  of  An- 
gus's Pictish  dynasty  and  clan;  but  his  accession 
confirmed  and  continued  the  Union  of  the  realms, 
withthisdifference,  that  the  ruling  caste,  although 
partly  of  Pictish  descent,  and  claiming  power  on 
account  of  that  descent,  was  violently  Gaidhealic 
or  Scotic  in  sympathies,  and  worked  for  the  dom- 
inance of  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  in'the  State  and 
in  the  Church.  Just  as  Angus  and  his  family  had 
been  annoyed  by  a  Scotic  remnant  who  refused 
them  complete  recognition;  so  Kenneth  Mac 
Alpin  and  his  family  were,  in  turn,  annoyed  by  a 
section  of  the  Picts,  in  the  localities  undisturbed 
by  the  Vikings,  who  did  not  recognize  either  their 
claims  or  their  position.   It  was  not  until  c.  889, 
after  the  expulsion  of  the  joint-sovereigns  of  Pict- 
land— Eochaidh  Run,  a  Brito-Gaidheal  son  of 
Kenneth's  daughter,  and  Giric  or  Grig,  a  Pict 
of  Fortrenn — by  Donald  II.  Mac  Constantine, 
who  took  the  title  'king  of  Alba,'  that  the  people 
of  the  two  realms  acquiesced,  more  onless  content- 
edly, in  the  inevitable  union.  The  sovereign's 
434 


UNION  BY  ABSORPTION 

change  of  title  marks  not  only  a  change  on  the 
part  of  the  two  peoples,  and  a  desire  to  live  at 
peace;  but  it  marks  a  change  in  outlook  on  the 
part  of  the  ruling  caste  who  no  longer  regarded 
the  ruler  as  the  sovereign-chief  of  the  chiefs  of 
federated  clans;  but  as  the  king  of  apeople  united 
in  spite  of  tribal  divisions.    The  change  in  the 
sovereign's  title,  and  his  assumption  of  direct 
authority  over  the  people  as  his  subjects  were  fol- 
lowed by  a  change  in  the  method  of  providing  the 
sovereign's  successor.    The  Celtic  principle  of 
electing  the  king's  successor  was  preserved  by 
Donald  II. ;  but  the  successor  was  neither  pre- 
ferred from  the  sons  of  royal  females,  as  among 
the  Picts,  nor  elected  from  the  deceased  king's 
own  sons,  as  among  the  later  Gaidheals  or  Scots; 
he  was  selected  from  the  sons  of  the  deceased 
king's  predecessor  and  he  might,  or  might  not  be 
the  eldest.*  The  benefits  of  this  method  of  ar- 
ranging the  royal  succession  were  that  the  king 
always  knew  his  successor,  the  people  were  re- 
lieved, as  under  the  Pictish  system,  from  the 
dread  of  a  minority  and  a  regency;  and,  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  Gaidhealic  or  Scotic  section 
of  the  subjects,  a  continuance  of  the  Scotic  line 
of  kings  was  assured.  Apparently,  owing  to  the 
intrusion  ofGiric  or  Grig  the  Pict,  aboutA.D.  878, 

*  A  reference  to  the  list  of  'the  kingsofAlban,' as  they  were  now  called, 
given  at  the  end  of  this  chapter  will  show  how  this  method  worked  out  in 
practice. 

435 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

the  ruling  caste,  with  its  Scotic  sympathies,  de- 
vised this  new  arrangement  to  exclude  any 
member  of  the  ancient  royal  clans  of  Pictland 
from  the  throne  of  the  united  realms. 

Angus  I ,  Mac  Fergus  had  designed  to  keep  the 
succession  to  the  supreme  power  in  Pictland  in  his 
own  family;  and  he  was  succeeded  by  his  brother, 
Brude*  of  the  clan  Fergus;  but  on  Brude's  death 
the  Picts  reverted  to  their  own  peculiar  method  of 
election  which,  however,  did  not  exclude  Angus's 
familyfrom  their  chanceof  election  to thesupreme 
power.  The  following  table  of  Pictish  sovereigns, 
with  its  parallel  list  of  the  'kings'  of  Dalriada,  is 
designed  to  show  both  the  succession  of  the  Pict- 
ish sovereigns,  and  the  occasions  on  which  the 
Pictish  petty  kings  of  Dalriada  were  elected  to 
the  supreme  power  in  Pictland,  between  the 
reigns  of  Angus  Mac  Fergus  and  Kenneth  Mac 
Alpin.  It  will  also  be  possible  from  this  list  to 
perceive  at  a  glance  the  inter-relations  of  the 
Picts  with  the  subjugated  Gaidheals  or  Scots. 

*  Brude,  Angus's  son,  had  died  before  this  time  during  the  campaigns  in 
Dalriada. 


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THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Kenneth  Mac  Alpin 

With  the  foregoing  parallel  list  before  us  it  is 
now  possible  to  clear  up  the  mysteries  connected 
with  Kenneth  Mac  Alpin, his  alleged  conquest  of 
Pictland,  and  the  alleged  'extermination' of  the 
Pictish  people.  After  all,  there  are  really  no 
mysteries;  but  much  falsification  and  garbling  of 
ancient  documents  by  Latin  Churchmen,  to  sup- 
port the  usurpation  of  ecclesiastical  positions  and 
property,  in  the  Pictish  Church,  by  the  Gaidhealic 
or  Scotic  clerics  who  had  conformed  to  the  Roman 
Church;  and,  at  a  later  time,  to  support  the  pre- 
tensions ofthe Scots  against  the  'English Claims' 
which  were  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  political. 

There  is  still  extant  in  a  manuscript  dating 
earlier  than  a.d,  1372  an  ungarbled  genealogy,* 
belonging  to  a  much  earlier  period,  which  in  giv- 
ing the  pedigree  of  Constantine  IV.  Mac  Cuillen 
reveals  clearly  who  Kenneth  Mac  Alpin  was.  He 
was  'sonof  Alpin,  son  of  Eachaidh,  sonof  Aed  Fin,' 
' ardfhlaith^  'high  chief  of  the  Scots,  after  their 
conquest  by  Angus,  sovereign  of  Pictland.  This 
Aed  Finn  is  also  known  as  'Mac  Eachaidh'  todis- 
tinguish  him  from  another  chief,  and  to  mark  his 
membership  ofthe  family  ofthe  eldest  Eochaidh. 
Aed  was  thus  a  younger  brother  of  Alpin  the  half- 
Pict  who  set  up  a  Scotic  kingdom  in  part  of  Gallo- 

*  There  are  three  versions:  (l)  Book  of  Ballymote;  (2)  Book  of  Lecain, 
and  (3)  MS.  H.  2. 7. ,  Trinity  College,  Dublin.  The  last  is  considered  the 
best  transcript. 


UNION  BY  ABSORPTION 

way  after  he  had  been  dethroned  and  driven  out 
successively  from  Pictland,  and  from  Dalriada  by 
Angus  I.  Mac  Fergus,  the  Pictish  sovereign.  Aed 
is  the  same  who  with  diminished  power  and  title, 
along  with  his  brother  Fergus,  held  on  precari- 
ously to  Can  tyre,  from  which  they  doubtless  kept 
in  touch  with  the  exiled  Alpin  in  Galloway  or  his 
men,  keeping  alive  their  claims  to  be  kings  of 
the  Scots  of  Dalriada;  although,  throughout  both 
their  lives,  Dalriadawas  ruled  from  Lorn  to  Knap- 
dale  by  Domnall  Mac  Constantine,  lieutenant- 
governor  there,  and  relation  to  Angus  the  Pictish 
conqueror.  Kenneth  M  ac  Alpin  was  therefore  the 
great-grandson  of  Aed  Finn  Mac  Eachaidh,  and 
the  great-grand-nephew  of  Alpin,  the  half-Pict, 
ejected  sovereign  of  Pictland,  and  ejected  king  of 
Dalriada.  Keeping  in  mind  the  respective  peculi- 
arities of  succession  in  Dalriada  and  Pictland,  it 
is  evident  that  Kenneth  Mac  Alpin  grounded  his 
claims  to  the  throne  of  Dalriada  on  the  follow- 
ing facts:  ( I )  on  his  father's  side  he  was  a  member 
of  the  royal  Gaidhealic  or  Scotic  clan  Gabhran 
which  had  furnished  most  of  the  Dalriad  kings; 
(2)  his  ancestor  Eochaidh*  had  been  king  of 
Dalriada,  and  also  the  latter's  son  Alpin  Mac 
Eachaidh;  and  Kenneth'sgreat-grandfather  Aed, 
and  his  great-grand-uncle  Fergus  had  both  been 
claimants  to  the  Dalriad  crown. 

With  regard  to  the  sovereignty  of  Pictland, 

*  In  the  Genitive  Eachaidh. 

439 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Kenneth  could  ground  his  claims  on  the  following 
facts:  (i)  on  the  female  side,  the  side  that  usually- 
determined  the  eligibility  of  the  candidate,  he 
was  descended  from  the  royal  house  of  Fortrenn; 
(2)  his  great-grand-uncle,  Alpin  Mac  Eachaidh, 
had  actually  been  sovereign  of  Pictland,  until  his 
ejection  by  Angus  I.  Mac  Fergus,  which  gave  the 
family  of  Mac  Eachaidh  rights  of  their  own  that 
theyhadpersistentlytriedtoassert.  Over  against 
these  claims  and  rights  was  the  fact  that  Ken- 
neth Mac  Alpin's  sympathies  were  Gaidhealic  or 
Scotic;  and,  like  his  great-grand-uncle,  he  sought 
to  intrude  the  Scots  into  Pictland  at  the  expense 
of  the  native  Picts. 

The  Latin  fabulists,  the  Roman  Catholic  garb- 
lers  of  Scottish  History,  and  the  transcribers  and 
continuators  of  some  of  the  early  Celtic  docu- 
ments have  vied  with  one  another  in  loading  the 
life  of  Kenneth  Mac  Alpin  with  every  variety  of 
myth.  They  have  placed  him  years  before  his 
time;  they  represent  him  as  a  mighty  conqueror; 
they  tell  a  story  which  implies  the  extermination 
of  the  whole  Pictish  people;  they  exalt  him  as  the 
king  who  made  religion,  by  which  is  meant  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  possible  in  Pictland. 

The  exact  truth  is  neither  so  grand  nor  so 
heroic.  About  a.d.  834  the  pagan  Teutonic  Vik- 
ings, who  had  already  gained  a  footing  in  the 
northern  islands  of  Pictland,  began  to  descend 
into  the  heart  of  Pictland  from  their  settlements, 
440 


UNION  BY  ABSORPTION 

and  also  to  swarm  in  from  across  the  North  Sea. 
The  Picts  once  more  in  their  history  began  a  long 
fight  for  home,  and  existence,  such  as  aforetime 
they  had  fought  against  the  Romans,  and  against 
the  Teutonic  Angles.  The  horrors  associated 
with  the  savagery  of  the  Scandinavian  invaders 
staggered  the  thoughts,  and  paralysed  the  pens 
even  of  the  descendants  of  the  kindred  Angles. 
But  the  Picts  steadily  set  their  faces  to  the  tidal 
inrush  of  men  maddened  with  blood-lust.  They 
were  defending  the  Christian  religion,  and  Celtic 
civilization,  as  well  as  home  and  life.  It  was  at 
this  moment  that  one  of  their  Christian  fellow- 
Celts,  instead  of  joining  up  with  them,  took  ad- 
vantage of  the  preoccupation  of  the  Picts  to  rise 
in  rebellion  against  Angus  II.  Mac  Fergus,  Pict- 
ish  king  of  Dalriada  and  sovereign  of  Pictland. 
According  to  the  chronicler  of  Huntingdon,  who 
had  access  to  authorities  now  lost,  this  rebel  was 
Alpin  the  father  of  Kenneth.  He  succeeded  in 
defeating  a  body  of  the  Picts  with  considerable 
slaughter  on  Easter  day  a.d.  834,  the  year  in 
which  ihe/risAAnna/srecord  the  death  of  Angus 
II.  He  tried  to  follow  up  this  success;  but  in 
August  of  the  same  year  he  came  into  touch  with 
the  main  army  of  the  Picts,  and  was  defeated, 
captured,  and  beheaded. 

In  A.D.  839  the  pagan  Vikings  had  entered 
Fortrenn  (the  kingdom  of  Earn),  the  principal 
division  of  Pictland.    Then  began  the  life-and- 

441 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

death  struggle  for  Celtic  freedom  in  face  of  Teu- 
tonic savagery.  The  pagans  won  their  first  great 
triumph.   Ewen  Mac  Angus  II.,  Pictish  king  of 
Dalriada  and  sovereign  of  the  Picts,  Bran  his 
brother,  Aed  Mac  Boanta,  a  former  king  of  Dal- 
riada, and  'numberless  others'  were  left  dead  upon 
the  field.  1 1  was  the  Flodden  of  the  Picts;  but  they 
continued  to  resist  stoutly,  although  bereft  of 
their  most  experienced  leaders.  In  a.d.  841,  at  this 
criticaltime,whenthenationalPictisharmieswere 
making  their  undismayed  stand  defending  their 
native  shores,  Kenneth  Mac  Alpin,  'the  Scot,' 
attacked  the  Picts  Hn  the  rear  and  defeated  them. 
The  narrative  continues,  'so  the  king  of  Scots  ob- 
tained the  monarchy  of  the  whole  of  Alba,  which 
is  now  called  Scotland.'  It  came  to  that  in  the 
time  of  Kenneth's  descendants,  but  the  chroni- 
cler was  anticipating.    What  Kenneth  actually 
gained  by  his  treachery  was  the  Pictish  kingdom 
of  Fortrenn.    The  other  provinces  of  Pictland 
were  being  devastated  by  the  Vikings,  and  al- 
though Kenneth  assumed  the  title  'king  of  the 
Picts,'  the  sovereignty  was  for  the  time  being 
nominal.    The  hands  that  wrote  history  under 
the  title  of  the  Prophecy  of  S.  Berchan  were  not 
Pictish.  Theylaud  Kenneth  as  the  'raven-feeder' 
who  'disordered  battles';  and  even  praise  him  for 
his  second  great  act  of  treachery  at  'Scone  of  the 
noble  shields,'  where  he,  having  inveigled  the  sur- 
viving Pictish  leaders  to  a  conference,  and  during 
442 


UNION  BY  ABSORPTION 

the  time  that  they  were  hisguests,  'plunged  them 
in  the  pitted  earth,  sown  with  deadly  blades';  on 
which,  while  the  Pictish  nobles  writhed,  Kenneth 
Mac  Alpin  and  his  Gaidheals  or  Scots  subjected 
them  to  cowardly  massacre.  The  old  writer  is 
careful  to  emphasize  the  resulting  'plunder,'  which 
means  that  the  bodies  were  stripped  of  their  orna- 
ments and  clothing.  But  the  utmost  that  even 
this  Scotic  chronicler  claims  for  Kenneth  Mac 
Alpin  is  that 

'He  was  the.  first  king  of  the  men  of  Erin  in  Alba 
Who  possessed  {land)  in  the  East  (Pictland).' 
This  is  rather  a  disconcerting  avowal  for  the 
modern  historians  who  have  asserted  that  Gaidh- 
ealic  or  Scotic  power  and  culture  were  'ancient' 
influences  within  the  realm  of  the  Picts;  and  the 
writer  in  6'.  Berchans  Prophecy  is  fully  support- 
ed, outside  the  writings  of  the  fabulists.  The  mass- 
acre of  the  Pictish  nobles  at  Scone  by  Kenneth 
is  the  foundation  of  the  story,  in  the  Latin  con- 
tinuators  and  fabulists,  that  the  Picts  were  'ex- 
terminated.' The  betrayal  of  the  Celtic  cause  by 
Kenneth,  in  face  of  the  Teutonic  peril,  and  the 
treachery  at  'Scone  of  the  noble  shields,'  indicate 
that  there  is  a  very  ancient  tradition  behind  the 
inborn  belief  of  the  East-Coast  man  that  the  Celt 
of  the  West-Coast  is  treacherous  and  untrust- 
worthy, a  belief  that  had  practical  results  as  late 
as  A.D.  1745. 

It  is  one  of  the  curiosities  of  history  that  no 

443 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

people  have  lamented  longer  or  more  bitterly 
than  the  Scots,  both  of  Dalriada  and  Ireland,  the 
savagery  and  tyranny  of  the  Teutonic  elements 
in  Britain;  yet  no  people  did  more  than  the  Scots 
of  Alba  to  help  Teutonic  ascendency  in  Britain. 
The  earlier  Scots  of  Dalriada,  as  has  been  noticed, 
were  ever  eager  and  ready  to  strike  at  the  rear 
of  the  armies  of  the  Picts  and  Britons  when  they 
were  fighting  for  their  freedom,  their  homes,  and 
their  Church,  against  the  Teutonic  Angles;  and 
when  the  Teutonic  Vikings,  in  this  later  period, 
surged  in  on  the  coasts  of  Pictland,  it  was  the 
swords  of  Kenneth  Mac  Alpin's  Scots  'in  the 
rear'  of  the  Pictish  armies  that  made  victory  easy 
to  the  Vikings,  and  made  many  of  their  island 
and  coastal  colonies  possible. 

When  Kenneth  Mac  Alpin  by  right  of  his 
Pictish  blood,  and  by  the  massacre  of  candidates 
of  purer  Pictish  origin,  seated  himself  on  the 
throne  of  Pictland,onlyFortrennandMearns  and 
Dalriada  were  comparatively  free  of  the  Viking 
invaders;  and  that  did  not  continue.  Kenneth, 
on  his  accession,  adhered  to  the  title  'sovereign 
of  the  Picts';  and  this  was  borne  by  his  successors 
until  the  end  of  the  ninth  century,  when  Donald* 
Mac  Constantine  took  the  title  'RiAlbain,'  which 
meant  that  Pictland  and  Dalriada  had  become 
united,  without  challenge,  under  one  monarch; 
although  this  is  not  indicated  by  the  incorrect 

*  Died  A.  D.  900. 

444 


UNION  BY  ABSORPTION 

translation  of  this  title  as  'king  of  Scots,'  which 
soon  became  current  among  the  Latin  writers. 

Kenneth  Mac  Alpin  and  his  family  aimed  at 
keeping  the  succession  to  the  Pictish  throne  in 
the  direct  male  line  of  Kenneth,  although  this 
was  a  contravention  of  Pictish  law.  Nothing 
better  indicates  the  surviving  political  power  of 
the  Picts  than  the  fact  that  for  a  long  time  Ken- 
neth's family  were  obstructed  in  their  efforts.  At 
the  close  of  the  short  reign  of  Kenneth's  second 
son,  Aedh,  an  attempt  was  made  to  revive  the 
Pictish  system  of  succession  in  bringing  to  the 
throne  Eochaidh  Mac  Run,  son  of  Kenneth's 
daughterby  a  king  of  the  Britons,  with  whom  was 
associated  as  joint  ruler  Giric  or  Grig,  son  of  Dun- 
gal.  The  real  power  was  in  the  hands  of  Giric, 
who  was  a  Pict.  In  a  little  over  ten  years  both 
were  expelled  from  power;  and  Donald,  the  son 
of  Kenneth's  elder  son,  was  placed  on  the  throne. 

Although  the  Union  of  the  Kingdoms  of  the 
Picts  and  Scots  was  continued  by  the  accession 
of  Kenneth  Mac  Alpin,  there  was  still  no  Union 
of  the  Churches.  That  Union  came  gradually 
and  later. 

The  following  listof  rulers  of  Pictland  is  given 
for  reference  in  connection  with  events  after  Ken- 
neth's time.  Where  the  title  'Rex  Pictorum' 
ceases,  and  that  of ' Ri  Albain'  begins,  is  marked. 
Dates  are  mostly  from  the  Annals  of  Ulster. 
The  Latin  lists  are  frequently  untrustworthy. 

445 


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THE  SCANDINAVIAN  VIKINGS: 
THEY  DISORGANIZE  EX- 
TENSIVELY THE  PICTISH 
SOVEREIGNTY  AND  PICTISH 
CHURCH:  THEY  DESTROY 
CULTURE  AND  REVIVE 
PRIMEVAL  SAVAGERY  IN 
MANY  PARTS  OF  PICTLAND 
CHAPTER  EIGHTEEN 

It  does  not  come  within  the  limits  of  this  work 
to  give  a  complete  account  of  the  Viking  inva- 
sions of  Alba;  because  these  continued  after  the 
Pictish  kingdom  and  Church  had  come  under 
the  dominance  of  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots,  who 
furnished  the  rulers  and  teachers;  but  it  is  neces- 
sary to  note  the  success  of  the  invaders,  and  the 
effect  of  the  invasions  on  the  political  and  ec- 
clesiastical organizations  of  Pictland. 

Teutonic  raiders,  Frisians  and  others,  had 
appeared  on  the  coasts  of  Pictland  very  early. 
Octha  and  Ebussa,  son  and  nephew  of  Hengist 
respectively,  'laid  waste  the  Orkneys,  and  took 
possession  of  much  land  even  to  the  Pictish 
boundary  beyond  the  Frisian  Sea,'*  in  the  fifth 
century.  The  regions  indicated  are  the  north- 
eastern coast  of  Pictland  and  the  district  inland 
from  the  northern  shore  of  the  Firth  of  Forth. 

*  Nenntus. 

447 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

In  the  seventh  century  S.  Donnan  the  Great  was 
martyred  by  Vikings  who  came  to  Eigg  on  the 
west  coast.  In  the  eighth  century  the  inrush  of 
the  Vikings  in  force  began  to  be  felt  all  over  Pict- 
land.  These  Vikings  were  pagans  and  savages 
of  the  most  unrestrained  and  pitiless  type.  They 
were  composed  of  Finn-Gall  or  Norwegians,  and 
of  Dubh-Gall  or  Danes.  The  latter  were  a 
mixed  breed,  with  a  Hunnish  strain  in  them;  but 
both  were  possessed  by  the  Teutonic  blood-lust, 
in  even  greater  intensity  than  the  Angles  who 
had  preceded  them.  Man  for  man,  they  were  no 
match  as  soldiers  for  the  agile  and  nimble-witted 
Celts — Picts,  Britons,  or  Scots;  but  in  a  moun- 
tainous and  loch-broken  country  like  Pictland 
the  Scandinavians  had  the  advantage  of  speedy 
means  of  communication  by  well-sailed  ships, 
and  their  strategy  was  to  select  a  district,  con- 
centrate on  it  in  overwhelming  numbers  before 
the  defenders  could  be  assembled,  bear  down  the 
defence  by  sheer  mass,  and  strike  terror  by  un- 
restrained plunder,  burning,  and  carnage.  They 
spared  no  fighting  man,  massacred  the  old  men 
and  boys,  seized  the  grown  women,  and  made 
slaves  and  worse  of  the  female  children.*  ByA.D. 
794 1  they  had  overrun  'all  the  islands  (on  the 
coasts)  of  Britain.'  On  every  island  which  was 
suitable  to  their  purposes,  as  in  the  Orkneys, 

*  Cf,  the  Chronica  Majora  of  Matthew  Paris, 
t  Annals  of  Ulster. 

448 


THE  SCANDINAVIAN  VIKINGS 

Lewis,  Isle  of  Man,  May,  or  the  Fames  they 
established  colonies,  depots,  and  bases  for  or- 
ganizing attacks  on  the  mainlands  of  Britain  and 
Ireland.  In  the  north  of  Pictland,  somewhat 
later,  they  established  settlements  along  the 
valley-roads  which  communicated  between  the 
North  Sea  and  the  Atlantic;  because  they  found 
it  more  economical  in  men  to  march  them  across 
country  than  to  risk  overladen  troopships  in  the 
treacherous  Pictland  Firth,  or  in  the  strong-run- 
ning narrows  of  the  Orkneys.  From  the  rape 
of  the  Pictish  and  Scotic  women  and  the  women 
of  the  Britons,  and  the  enslavement  of  their 
daughters,  arose  a  mixed  breed  that  the  later 
writers  inaccurately  call  'Gall-Gael,'*  because 
in  the  west  of  northern  Britain,  and  in  parts  of 
Ireland  those  that  were  Gaidhealic-blooded  pre- 
dominated. Certain  notes  in  a  fragment  f  of  a 
copy  of  the  lost  Book  of  Mac  Egan  reveal  the  sav- 
agery to  which  the  passionate  Celts  reverted  in 
imitation  of  their  Teutonic  and  half-breed  foes. 
Chivalry  had  been  ousted  by  the  wild-beast  fer- 
ocity of  the  Teuton.  The  Christian  Celts  follow- 
ing their  pagan  enemies  took  to  mutilating  the 
slain  and  collecting  the  heads  of  the  fallen.  In 
repelling  a  landing  of  Gall-Gaidheal,  in  a.d.  852, 
a  certain  Irish  chief  called  Niall,  ally  of  Aedh 
king  of  Ailech,  collected  and  carried  off  the 

*  Another  spelling  is  'Gall-Goidhel.' 
t  Transcribed  by  Mac  Firbis. 

2  G  449 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

heads  of  the  Gall-Gaidheal  left  slain  upon  the 
beach ;  and,  most  serious  of  all,  the  original 
writer,  apparently  a  cleric,  conscience-pricked  by- 
memories  of  the  Christian  chivalry  of  the  Celts, 
excuses  this  horror  by  the  remark  that  the  Celts 
were  'justified,'  because  these  Gall-Gaidheal 
whose  bodies  had  been  outraged  'were  wont  to 
act  like LocAlanns' (Norsemen).  The  same  source 
enables  us  to  realize  how  the  Celtic  women  had 
been  brutalized  by  their  Teutonic  captors  when 
they  could  bring  up  an  offspring  of  whom  the 
following  is  written.  Referring  to  a  Celtic  cham- 
pion, Maelsechlan,  who  led  an  expedition  into 
Munster,  in  a.d.  858,  to  punish  certain  Gall- 
Gaidheal  who  had  settled  there,  the  annalist  in- 
dicates that  no  quest  of  territory  brought  Mael- 
sechlan to  Munster,  but  'rightly  he  came  to  wipe 
out  the  Gall-Gaidheal  whom  he  slew  there.' 
'These,'  the  annalist  continues,  'were  regarded 
as  Norsemen  (that  is,  not  to  be  treated  with  the 
consideration  due  to  Celtic  soldiers) ;  for  they  had 
been  fostered  by  the  Teutons,  and  had  adopted 
their  customs;  and  as  a  people  they  had  re- 
nounced their  baptism'  (reverted  to  paganism). 
Moreover,  although  the  Teutonic  Vikings  'were 
bad  to  the  Churches,  these  Gall-Gaidheal  were 
worse  by  far  in  whatever  part  of  Erin  they  hap- 
pened to  be.' 

It  is  necessary  to  write  one  word  of  caution 
here.  The  late  Celtic  terms  'Gall-Gaidhealaibh' 
450 


THE  SCANDINAVIAN  VIKINGS 

' Lochlannaibk'  and  the  shorter  'Gallaibk'  have 
been  strangely  misinterpreted  mostly  by  early 
Latin  and  English  writers;  but  sometimes  by 
modern  historians.  'Zoc^/«««,' generally  means 
Norway;  but '  Lochlannaibh'  usually  refers  to  the 
men  of  a  Scandinavian  colony  intruded  on  the 
British  coast.  It  was  used  of  no  particular  colony; 
but  of  any  colony  that  happened  to  be  under  con- 
sideration. '  Gall-Gaidhealaibh,'  ^  Gallaibk,'  ^.n^. 
their  variants,  do  not  refer  always,  or  often,  to 
the  later  inhabitants  of  Galloway,  although  they 
have  been  so  translated.  The  events  in  con- 
nection with  which  these  names  appear  occur 
sometimes  far  from  Galloway,  in  the  south  and 
west  of  Ireland,  in  the  west  of  Scottish  Dalriada, 
or  in  the  centre  and  north  of  Pictland.  Both  the 
Lochlanns  (pure  Vikings)  and  the  Gall-Gaid- 
heal  (the  half-breeds)  were  steadily  assailed  and 
raided,  and,  in  some  instances,  almost  annihilated 
by  the  Celts;  but  whenever  one  district  became 
too  uncomfortable  for  them,  the  survivors  de- 
parted in  their  ever-present  ships  to  fasten  on 
new  territories.  Newcomers  too  were  arriving 
periodically  and  organizing  colonies  in  places 
undisturbed  by  the  early  Galls.  Consequently 
all  those  terms  can  only  be  localized  by  the  con- 
text. 'Gallaibk'  is  still  in  current  use,  but  is 
restricted  to  the  men  of  the  modern  county  of 
Caithness,  who  do  not  regard  it  as  a  compliment. 
The  following  notes  of  events  in  the  eighth 

451 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

and  ninth  centuries  show  where  and  how  the 
Finn-Galls,  the  Dubh-Galls  and  all  the  Teutonic 
hordes  of  pagan  Vikings,  along  with  the  half- 
breed  Gall-Gaidheals,  operated,  in  what  is  now 
S  Gotland,  to  destroy  the  ripening  Christian  civiliz- 
ation of  Pictland;  and  how,  through  their  upheaval 
of  the  political  and  military  organizations  of  Pict- 
land and  their  destruction  of  the  organization  of 
the  Church  of  the  Picts,  the  Scots  and  the  Roman 
Church,  which  had  won  control  over  the  Picts, 
were  left  free,  gradually,  as  the  Vikings  were 
localized  in  definite  areas  or  absorbed,  to  reor- 
ganize the  State,  the  soldiery,  and  the  Church  on 
national  instead  of  tribal  lines.  If  it  had  been 
within  the  scope  of  this  work,  it  would  have  been 
possible  also  to  show  that  as  the  Roman  Church 
allied  itself  with  the  savage  Teutonic  Franks, 
and  with  the  equally  savage  Angles  and  Saxons, 
to  force  its  usages  and  superstitions  on  the  Celts 
of  the  Continent  and  England;  so,  in  course  of 
time,  this  same  Church  raised  a  wondrous  affec- 
tion for  the  Teutonic  elements  that  survived  in 
what  is  now  Scotland;  and  used  them  to  extend 
its  power,  and  to  enforce  all  its  usages  and  gov- 
ernment upon  the  descendants  of  the  Picts  and 
Scots,  a  policy  which  provoked  a  Celtic  spirit  of 
independence  more  unyielding  than  the  similar 
'Galilean'  spirit  in  France. 

The  Viking  terror  extended  gradually.  It 
came  first  to  the  coasts  of  the  Pictish  mainland  by 
452 


THE  SCANDINAVIAN  VIKINGS 

way  of  small  bases  in  the  Shetlands  and  Orkneys. 
The  hordes  had  collected  for  their  dash  across 
the  North  Sea  on  the  coasts  of  Denmark  and 
Norway.  Their  places  of  origin  were  much  far- 
ther east.  They  were  the  tail  and  residue  of  the 
Hunno-Teutonic  savages  that  surged  into  west- 
ern Europe  when  the  many-named  barbarian 
multitudes  set  out  on  New  Year's  Day  a.d.  400 
to  substitute  the  culture  of  the  Neolithic  period 
for  the  Christian  culture  that  had  been  slowly 
transforming  the  old  pagan  civilization  of  Im- 
perial Rome.  The  North  Sea  had  held  up  part 
of  these  pagans  for  generations.  It  forced  them 
to  become  Vikings.  They  were  so  designated, 
because  they  made  themselves  acquainted  with 
every  wick,  inlet,  and  harbour  in  Britain;  but 
they  were  absolutely  at  home  on  the  open  sea, 
they  were  better  sailor-men  than  any  others  of 
their  time  who  used  the  sea,  and  they  had  learned 
more  shipcraft  than  the  Romans  and  Celts  had 
deemed  possible.  When  the  Celts  discovered 
these  'Gall,'  or  strangers,  making  themselves 
familiar  with  their  anchorages  and  harbours,  and 
scouting  their  territories,  and  found  that  they 
were  unscrupulous  fighters,  they  hired  them  for 
work  that  their  own  Christian  soldiers  refused; 
and  when  they  had  no  use  for  their  services,  ap- 
parently ignored  them,  instead  of  increasing  their 
own  fleet  and  strengthening  their  land-forces. 

453 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Acts  of  the  Vikings  noted  in  the  Old 
Manuscripts 

In  April  a.d.  617,*  at  Eigg  in  the  Western 
Isles,  Vikings,  stated  to  have  been  hired  by  a  fe- 
male Celtic  ruler,  martyred  S.  Donnan  the  Great 
and  all  his  community. 

In  A.D.  y 22  at 'Air  Gharadh '  in  the  valley  of 
the  Naver  {'Nawarn'),  in  what  is  now  Suther- 
land, S.  Maelrubha  of  Abercrossan  was  martyred 
by  Vikings  and  his  body  thrown  'into  the  under- 
wood.' His  Church,  near  his  grave  in  Strath- 
Naver,  became  a  'Skat/,'  or  hall,  where  the  Vik- 
ings emptied  their  horns  of  strong  liquor,  and 
hoched  to  their  god  Wotan;  and  the  place  is 
'  Skail'  to  this  day. 

About  the  same  date  in  the  eighth  century  the 
Vikings  began  to  appear  in  strength,  and  with 
violence,  in  the  Shetlands  and  Orkneys;  and  the 
'papas,'  or  Brito-Pictish  clerics  began  to  retreat, 
or  waited  for  coveted  martyrdom.  Those  who 
fled  southward  buried  the  bells  and  other  furni- 
ture— items  of  which  have  been  resurrected  since 
— but  they  carried  with  them,  when  they  could, 
the  precious  manuscripts  of  the  Gospels,  and 
other  works  which  belonged  to  the  muinntirs. 

Shortly  after  a.d.  776  the  new  Anglo-Roman 
bishopric  established  at  Candida  Casa,  the  ancient 

*  The  dates  in  the  rest  of  this  chapter  are  taken  mostly  from  the  /risk 
Annals. 

454 


THE  SCANDINAVIAN  VIKINGS 

mother-Church  of  the  Picts,  became  disorganized 
owing  to  the  confusion  introduced  by  the  Vikings, 
and  was  discontinued  for  a  period. 

In  A.D.  793  the  community  at  the  old  Scotic 
foundation  of  Lindisfarne  was  harried  by  the 
Vikings;  and,  according  to  Simeon  of  Durham, 
the  north  of  what  is  now  England  was  wasted  from 
sea  to  sea  and  the  people  of  the  Anglian  king- 
dom of  Northumbria  subjected  to  cruelties  that 
provoked  dismay. 

In  the  following  year,  a.d.  794,  'all  the  islands 
of  Britain'  were  devastated  by  the  Vikings;  and 
the  plundering  oi'Hy  Columcille'  (lona)  is  speci- 
ally mentioned. 

About  this  time,  Mac  Oigi  had  prudently  ac- 
cepted promotion  from  Abercrossan  to  Bangor, 
where  he  died  Ab  in  a.d.  802. 

In  A.D.  806  the  Vikings  burned  lona  and 
butchered  forty-eight  clerics. 

In  A.D.  822  the  great  Iro-Pictish  community 
of  Bangor,  which  had  helped  to  foster  the  Church 
of  the  Picts  of  Alba,  was  attacked  and  the  settle- 
ment sacked.  The  Church  was  desecrated,  and 
the  bones  of  S.  Comgall  the  Great,  the  founder, 
'were  scattered  from  their  shrine,'  which  is  the 
first  intimation  that,  at  length,  this  important 
religious  centre  of  the  Picts  had  begun  to  conform 
to  Roman  usage;  and  that,  against  previous 
Celtic  ideas,  the  brethren  had  disinterred  the 
bones  of  their  famous  founder,  and  had  enshrined 

455 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

them  for  veneration. 

In  A.D.  823,  while  Flann-Abhra  was  Ab,  the 
Vikings  attacked  theclerical  community  of  Magh- 
bile,  one  of  the  oldest  fostering  communities  of 
the  Picts;  and,  in  devastating  S.  Finbar's  found- 
ation, they  burned  the  old  oak-built  oratories.  On 
this  occasion  theydid  not  go  unpunished,because, 
shortly  after,  the  Irish  Picts  defeated  them;  and 
four  years  later,  in  a.d.  827,  Leathlobhair  Mac 
Loingseach,  at  the  head  of  the  forces  of  the  old 
Pictish  kingdom  of  Ulster,  received  the  Vikings 
on  the  coast,  and  drove  them  to  their  ships  with 
much  loss. 

In  A.D.  825  the  Vikings  again  visited  Iona,and 
Blathmac*  Mac  Flann  paid  with  his  life  for  hiding 
the  reliquary  of  S.  Columba,  coveted  for  its  mount- 
ings of  precious  metal.  Diarmat  who  succeeded 
Blathmac  as  Ab  did  not  risk  settling  on  lona.  He 
took  the  reliquary  with  its  relics  of  S.  Columba  to 
Alba  in  A.D.  829,  when  Angus  1 1.  Mac  Fergus  was 
sovereign  of  Pictland  and  supreme  ruler  over 
Dalriada.  Whether,  the  Pictish  authorities  de- 
clined to  allow  the  veneration  of  the  great  Scotic 
saint  to  be  set  up  in  territory  under  their  juris- 
diction is  not  told;  but  Diarmat  two  years  after, 
in  A.D.  831,  fled  with  the  relics  of  S.  Columba  to 
Ireland,  and  deposited  them  in  one  of  the  Colum- 
ban  houses  there.    Even  Irish  retreats  were  not 

*  A  metrical  Life  of  Blathmac  was  written  by  Walafrid  Strabo,  who 
died  A.D.  849. 


THE  SCANDINAVIAN  VIKINGS 

quite  safe;  because  in  a.d.  836  the  Vikings  defeat- 
ed the  guardians  of  certain  Columban  houses,  the 
southern  Nialls,  at  the  battle  of  Inbher;  and  the 
slaughter  of  the  Nialls  was  such  'as  had  never 
before  been  heard.'  The  Vikings  then  took  Ath- 
Cliath  and  laid  the  foundation  of  their  kingdom 
of  Dublin,  and  from  this  base  began  to  menace 
all  Britain.* 

In  A.D.  838  the  Churches  and  lands  of  the 
Picts  in  Ulster  were  wasted  anew  by  Vikings, 
and  there  was  no  Ab  resident  in  this  decade  at 
Bangor. 

In  A.D.  839  the  Vikings  appeared  with  dire  re- 
sults in  the  centre  of  Pictland.  They  were  met  by 
the  men  of  Fortrenn;  but  in  the  battle  the  sove- 
reign, Ewen  Mac  Angus  II.,  Bran  his  brother, 
Aed  Mac  Boanta,  who  had  been  Pictish  ruler  of 
Dalriada,  and  others  'almost  innumerable'  were 
left  dead  on  the  field.  This  battle  was  a  crushing 
blow  for  the  Picts  of  Fortrenn.  It  was  followed 
by  the  heroic  efforts  to  revive  the  Pictish  power 
in  Fortrenn  which  Kenneth  Mac  Alpin  rendered 
unavailing  by  betraying  his  fellow- Celts. 

In  A.D.  856  the  brood  that  had  sprung  from 
the  unions  between  the  Vikings  and  their  Celtic 
women-captives  begin  to  appear  as  'Gall-Goid- 
hel'  They  moved  about,  organized  under  their 
own  leaders,  in  force.  They  had  no  principle;  and 

*  The  British  Admiralty  were  aware  before  1914  that  the  present 
German  Emperor  had  commented  appreciatively  on  this  historical  fact. 

457 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

were  out  for  gain.  Sometimes,  owing  to  local  ties, 
they  aided  the  native  Celts;  but  more  frequently 
they  joined  up  with  the  Vikings. 

In  A.D.  856-7  Munster  and  other  parts  of  Ire- 
land were  seethed  in  blood  owing  to  the  aggres- 
sions of  the  Vikings  and  Gall-Gaidheal. 

In  A.D.  865  there  was  an  expulsion  of  Britons 
from  Strath-Clyde  by  ^ Saxanacaibh,'  by  which 
apparently  Vikings  not  Saxons  are  meant. 

In  A.D.  866  Olaf  the  Fair,  Viking  king  of 
Dublin,  assisted  by  the  Vikings*  of  Erin  and 
Alba,  laid  waste  the  whole  of  'Cruitintuait,'  that 
is  the  country  of  the  Picts.  It  was  the  son  of  this 
Olaf,  Thorstein  the  Red,  who,  according  to  the 
Landnamabok,  conquered  Caithness  (including 
Sutherland),  Ross,  and  more  than  half  of  Alba, 
while  Haldane  subdued  the  north  of  what  is  now 
England. 

In  A.D.  869-71  Olaf  turned  his  attention  once 
more  to  Alba.  Inguar  and  Hubba  attacked  Eng- 
land. By  butchery  and  burning,  they  'tried  to  de- 
populate England.' 

In  A.D.  870  Olaf  and  Ivar  with  their  Viking 
forces  attacked  the  Britons  of  Strath-Clyde. 
They  captured  the  capital,  Dunbarton,  cut  the 
water  supply  of  the  Castle  garrison,  and  put  them 
to  the  sword  after  a  four  months'  siege,  and  then 
they  destroyed  the  Castle  itself.  In  a.d.  87 1,  with 
a  fleet  of  200  keels,  they  made  the  Clyde  a  base 

*  'Gallaibh: 


THE  SCANDINAVIAN  VIKINGS 

for  the  general  harrying  of  Britain;  and  returned 
in  that  year  to  the  Viking  headquarters  at  Dublin 
with  a  host  of  captives,  'Angles,  Britons,  and 
Picts.'  There  is  a  significant  absence  from  this 
enumeration,  of  Gaidheals  or  Scots.  The  explana- 
tion is  to  be  found  in  one  of  the  copyist's  frag- 
ments of  the  Mac  Egan  manuscript,  itself  a  copy 
of  an  ancient  authority.  Its  acquaintance  with 
details  of  events  is  evident  from  the  extended 
account  of  how  Olaf  reduced  the  garrison  of 
Dunbarton  Castle. 

Under  a.d.  869  there  is  this  entry — ^Fortrenn 
was  plundered  and  ravaged  by  the  Lochlannaibh 
(Norse  Vikings),  and  they  carried  off  many  host- 
ages with  them  as  pledges  for  tribute,  and  they 
were  paid  tribute  for  a  long  time  after. '  These 
Norse  Vikings  were  under  the  leadership  of  Olaf 
the  Fair.  Fortrenn  was  at  this  time  ruled  by 
Kenneth  Mac  Alpin's  son  Constantine,  known 
as  Constantine  II.  Mac  Kenneth.  Therefore, just 
as  his  father  Kenneth  had  won  the  Pictish  king- 
dom of  Fortrenn  by  aid  of  the  Viking  hordes; 
Constantine  was  in  a.d.  869  holding  on  to  it  by 
paying  tribute  to  Olaf,  the  Viking  king  of  Dublin; 
and  not  only  so,  but  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  con- 
tinued to  pay  tribute  to  the  Norse  Vikings  'for  a 
long  time  after.'  The  writer  makes  it  clear  that 
Olaf  took  hostages  as  security  for  his  tribute;  but 
another  annalist  describes  the  hostages  from 
Fortrenn  as  'Pictorum';  so  that  Constantine  de- 

459 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

ceived  his  over-lord,  and  betrayed  his  subjects 
by  giving  hostages  from  the  Pictish  section  of  his 
people  who,  as  the  original  holders,  would  poss- 
ess the  most  valuable  property  in  Fortrenn. 
Again,  just  as  Kenneth  had  been  prepared  to  be- 
tray the  Celtic  cause  for  power,  so  we  find  that 
the  'son  of  Kenneth'  was  ready  to  betray  his 
fellow-Celts,  the  Britons,  to  buy  Olaf's  favour; 
because  when,  after  the  departure  of  Olaf  and  his 
ships  laden  with  plunder  to  Ireland,  Artgha, 
king  of  the  Britons,  began  to  reassert  his  author- 
ity he  was  opposed  by  Constantine  II.  Mac  Ken- 
neth and  slain,  in  a.d.  872. 

In  A.D.  873  Ivar,  who  had  become  over-lord 
of  the  Norse  Vikings  of  Ireland  and  Britain,  died. 
The  affection  of  the  garbling  editors  of  the  later 
Roman  Catholic  period  for  the  Teutonic  section 
of  the  British  population  is  strikingly  illustrated 
by  the  Latin  chronicler  who,  not  content  with 
'  vitam  finivit,'  substituted  concerning  this  blood- 
stained, pagan  pirate,  'in  Christo  quievit.' 

In  A.D.  875  the  Dubh-Galls  or  Danish  Vikings 
appeared  in  Pictland,  and  the  Picts  were  de- 
feated, and  many  slain. 

In  the  same  year  Austin  the  son  of  Olaf  the 
Fair  was  slain  by  Gaidheals  or  Scots;  and  in 
view  of  the  previous  references  to  their  depend- 
ence and  tribute  to  the  Norsemen,  the  narrator 
adds  significantly, '  by  treachery. ' 

In  A.D.  878  the  'shrine  of  Columcille  and  all 
460 


THE  SCANDINAVIAN  VIKINGS 

his  relics'  were  moved  once  more  to  Ireland  to 
be  safe  from  the  Vikings  (Gallaibh). 

C.  A.D.  888  a  pagan  kingdom  ruled  by  Vikings 
was  set  up  in  the  once  Christian  and  Pictish  isl- 
ands of  Orkney  and  Shetland.  This  was  the  first 
effort  to  organize  and  consolidate  the  Norse  king- 
dom of  the  Isles.  In  a.d.  904  the  Picts  of  Fort- 
renn,  under  the  leadership  of  Constantine  III. 
Mac  Aedh,  defeated  the  Vikings,  somewhere  in 
Fortrenn,  with  great  slaughter,  and  among  the 
dead  was  their  leader  Ivar  of  the  race  of  Ivar. 

About  A.D.  9 1 8*  a  mixed  host  of  Vikings,  who 
had  been  driven  out  of  Ireland,  resolved  to  trans- 
plant themselves  in  what  is  now  northern  Eng- 
land and  southern  Scotland.  They  were  resisted 
by  Constantine  III.  Mac  Aedh,  'king  of  Alba.'and 
Elfrith,  king  of  the  Angles.  The  Viking  leaders 
were  Ranald,  chief  of  the  Z^wM  Galls  ( Danish  Vik- 
ings); andthejarlsOttirand  Gragabai.  The  main 
forces  met  in  battle  in  a.d.  918.  'By  what  sinful 
influence  I  know  not,'  writes  Simeon  of  Durham, 
'  the  heathen  Ranald  was  victorious,  putting  Con- 
stantine to  flight,  routing  the  army  of  the  Scots, 
and  killing  Elfrith  with  all  the  best  of  the  Angles.' 
The  annalist  in  the  Annals  of  Ulster  describes 
exactly  what  happened.  The  Vikings  divided 
themselves  into  four  battalions.  The  first  was 
under  Godfrey  of  the  race  of  Ivar,  !the  second 
was  under  Ottir  and  Gragabai,  the  third  under 

*  SimeonofDurhamindicatesthedateasgiS. 

461 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

certain  young  commanders,  and  the  fourth  went 
into  ambush  under  Ranald  himself.  The  Scots 
broke  the  first  three  battalions  and  'there  was 
great  slaughter  of  the  Danes  round  Ottir  and 
Gragabai';  then  Ranald  sprang  from  his  hiding- 
place  at  the  head  of  his  force,  took  the  Scots  in 
the  rear,  and  drove  their  king  and  the  mormaors 
from  the  field  in  headlong  flight. 

The  result  of  this  battle  was  that  all  the  country 
from  the  Pictland  Firthtothe  H  umber  threatened 
to  become  a  Scandinavian  kingdom.  Constantine 
III.,  'king  of  Alba,'  now  followed  the  example  of 
his  Scotic  predecessors.  He  allied  himself  with 
the  Vikings.  He  gave  his  daughter  in  marriage 
to  Olaf  Cuaran  son  of  Sitriuc,  Ranald's  brother 
and  successor  in  the  leadership  of  the  Vikings. 
He  took  steps  to  help  these  Danish  Vikings  to 
retain  their  hold  of  England  against  the  opposi- 
tion of  Athelstan  the  Saxon  king,  for  which  he 
was  punished  by  a  humiliating  invasion  of  Alba 
in  which  a  land  army  operated  with  a  fleet,  and 
made  havoc  as  far  as  Angus. 

About  A.D.  9  3  7  Olaf  Cuaran  the  Dane  and  Con- 
stantine III.,  his  father-in-law,  appeared  in  the 
Humber  with  a  battle-fleet  and  transports  num- 
bering6i  5  ships.  Across  England  from  the  north- 
west, co-operating  with  them,  marched  Olaf  son 
of  Godfrey,  Viking  king  of  Dublin,  with  an  army 
composed  of  Danes,  and  half-breeds  from  the  con- 
quered territories  of  the  Britons.  In  a.d.  937 
462 


THE  SCANDINAVIAN  VIKINGS 

Athelstan  and  his  army  met  the  combined  forces 
at  Brunanburg  and  inflicted  on  them  decisive  de- 
feat. Constantine  III.,  Olaf  Cuaran,  and  Olafof 
Dublin  fled  to  their  ships;  but  the  field  was  piled 
with  dead,  and  Constantine  left  his  son  there. 

He  had  no  cause  to  boast, 
That  grey-haired  warrior. 
That  old  deceiver. 
He  had  no  cause  to  exult 
In  the  clash  of  swords. 
Here  were  his  kindred  bands 
Of  friends  o'erthrown; 
And  his  son  he  left 
On  the  bloody  field, 
Torn  with  sword-thrusts. 
Young  in  battle. 

These  are  stinging  words  from  a  version  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle;  but  Constantine  III.  de- 
served them.  He  had  immolated  his  daughter 
to  the  pagan  Olaf  He,  a  professedly  Christian 
king,  had  been  prepared  to  sacrifice  Christianity 
to  paganism.  He  had  subordinated  the  interests 
of  all  the  Picts,  whose  crown  his  caste  had  usurped; 
to  save  the  kingdom  of  the  Picts  of  Fortrenn  to 
the  dynasty  of  Alpin,  the  clan  Mac  Eachaidh, 
and  their  following  of  Scots.  It  is  hard  to  compre- 
hend how  this  monarch  who  ignored  every  moral 
and  Christian  sanction  was  reckoned  as  Chris- 
tian.* Under  the  Roman  usage,  to  which  these 
Scots  had  conformed,  the  high  ideals  of  Christian- 

*  Some  time  later  he  resigned  the  crown  and  entered  a  religious  com- 
munity. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

ity  which  the  Pictish  Church  had  maintained  were 
being  displaced  by  formal  and  insincere  profes- 
sions. 

It  is  beyond  the  scope  of  this  work  to  follow 
the  Viking  ravages,  to  trace  the  ultimate  settle- 
ments of  the  Scandinavians  in  Pictland  and  the 
islands;  or  to  deal  with  the  gradual,  partial  absorp- 
tion of  the  Vikings  by  the  Celts.  Enough  has 
been  written  to  show  how  the  Vikings  shattered 
the  political  and  ecclesiastical  organizations  of 
the  Picts,  how  they  destroyed  Celtic  civilization, 
how  they  burned  and  desolated  the  centres  of  re- 
ligion and  culture  within  the  Pictish  sovereignty, 
and  how  they  cut  off  the  Pictish  clergy  from  such 
homes  of  learning  as  Bangor  of  the  Irish  Picts. 
The  repeated  burning  of  the  monastic  settle- 
ments, and  the  unceasing  martyrdom  of  the  Pict- 
ish clergy  involved  the  loss  of  many  of  the  orig- 
inals of  the  earliest  Celtic  records,  and  the  de- 
struction of  those  copies  of  sacred  and  other  books 
on  which  the  Picts,  like  other  Celts,  lavished  the 
Celtic  penman's  art.  If  it  had  not  been  for  the 
revelations  of  such  libraries  as  Bobbio  and  St. 
Gall;  and  the  Lives  of  such  men  as  SS.  Comgall, 
Moluag,  Columbanus,  and  Gall,  the  world  would 
have  forgotten  that  the  Picts  had  been  a  cultured 
people. 

The  Scots  resident  on  the  Dalriad  coast  and 
islands,  especially  the  Scotic  clerics,  also  suffered 
grievously  at  the  hands  of  the  Vikings.  Their 
464 


THE  SCANDINAVIAN  VIKINGS 

leaders,  however,  and  their  mobile  army  had  bet- 
ter fortune.  With  that  uncanny  foresight  of  the 
Scots,  which  seemed  to  be  quickened  in  their 
darkest  days,  Kenneth  Mac  Alpin  perceived  the 
chance  of  saving  the  remnant  of  his  own  people 
when  the  Pictish  rulers  of  Dalriada  had  been 
stricken  down  or  paralysed  by  the  oncoming  Vik- 
ing swarms.  By  helping  the  royal  Pictish  army 
to  its  fate  at  the  hands  of  the  Vikings,  c.  a.d.  839- 
841,  he  was  able  to  remove  the  headquarters  of 
the  Scots  into  Fortrenn,  so  long  the  Promised 
Land  to  the  Gaidheal;  and,  because  of  its  moun- 
tainous and  inland  character,  so  comparatively 
sheltered  from  Viking  inroads,  during  the  rule  of 
Kenneth  and  his  brother.  The  Scots  had  thus 
peace  to  establish  themselves  in  the  new  king- 
,dom.  Insinuating  in  speech,  tireless,  though 
often  unscrupulous,  in  diplomacy;  the  Scots  fre- 
quently succeeded  by  their  statecraft  where  they 
had  failed  by  the  sword.  On  the  strength  of 
almost  forgotten  claims  their  leader,  Kenneth, 
with  their  army  at  his  back,  negotiated  himself 
into  the  government  of  leaderless  Fortrenn, 
Once  in  control  of  the  government,  these  Gaidh- 
eals  or  Scots  hedged  in  the  succession  to  the 
Crown,  so  that  only  a  Scot  of  the  ruling  caste 
could  reach  the  sceptre,  and  then  they  proceeded 
to  fill  the  State  and  the  Church  with  Gaidhealic 
or  Scotic  nominees;  so  that  their  law,  learning, 
language,  and  ecclesiastical  usages  might  gradu- 

2H  465 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

ally  be  imposed  on  the  whole  Pictish  people,  ex- 
cept where  the  Picts  had  been  almost  swamped 
by  the  Vikings,  as  in  Shetland,  the  Orkneys,  or 
in  Caithness.  The  entries  in  the  Book  of  Deer, 
and  copied  fragments  of  old  formal  grants  or  re- 
grants  of  property,  still  indicate  how  the  State 
and  the  ecclesiastical  machinery  were  all  gradu- 
ally directed  towards  obliterating  all  trace  of  the 
ancient  Pictish  sovereignty,  or  the  ancient  rights 
of  the  original  Pictish  chiefs  and  sub -chiefs. 
Some  of  the  campaigns  of  the  Scotic  kings  of 
the  Alpin  dynasty  against  local  chiefs  are  plainly 
instances  of  the  king  asserting  himself,  by  force 
of  arms,  against  Pictish  chiefs  who  refused  to  be 
dispossessed  of  their  power  or  territory.  The 
best-known  example  is  the  attempt,  in  a.d.  995, 
on  the  part  of  Kenneth  IV.  Mac  Maelcoluim  to 
make  his  claims  to  sovereignty  over  all  Pictland 
effective.  This  effort  brought  him  into  conflict 
with  Findl6  Cunchar  who  ruled  the  old  Pictish 
petty  kingdom  of  Angus;  and  Kenneth  paid  for 
his  interference  with  his  life.  Nevertheless,  by 
negotiation  or  by  direct  resort  to  arms,  the  Scotic 
statesmen  and  ecclesiastics  gradually  pushed 
themselves  into  control  over  most  of  Pictland, 
and  laid  the  foundations  of  the  Scotic  State  and 
Church,  except  where  Scandinavian  power  re- 
fused either  to  be  controlled  or  absorbed.  Yet, 
though  the  State,  and  the  official  Church,  and  the 
court  language,  in  the  period  of  the  Alpin  dyn- 
466 


THE  SCANDINAVIAN  VIKINGS 

asty,  were  Scotic,  the  great  majority  of  the  popul- 
ation were  Pictish,  except  in  places  like  Shetland, 
Orkney,  Caithness,  and  Lewis,  where  the  migra- 
tion  of  Scandinavian  women,  in  course  of  time, 
almost  obliterated  all  traces  of  Pictish  blood. 

No  historical  note  is  more  eloquent  of  the 
thoroughness  with  which  paganism  superseded 
Christianity  wherever  the  Scandinavian  Vikings 
had  settled  than  this:  'c.  a.d.  iooo,  the  Orkneys 
converted  to  Christianity.'  The  annalist  means 
that  the  pagan  Scandinavians  who  had  settled 
there  and  the  mixed  breed  which  had  sprung  from 
their  occupancy  were  'converted.'  After  all,  the 
fact  is  suppressed  that  it  was  only  a  'conversion' 
by  order  of  the  civil  ruler,  and  it  is  not  stated 
that  the  earlier  representatives  of  these  converts 
had  wiped  out  the  Pictish  Christians  and  mis- 
sionary organizations  which  had  made  the  Ork- 
neys one  of  the  most  interesting  of  the  Celtic 
missionary  bases. 


AN  ANTICIPATION  OF  THE 
DEVICES  BY  WHICH  KENNETH 
MAC  ALPIN  AND  HIS  SUC- 
CESSORS PENETRATED  THE 
CHURCH  OF  THE  PICTS  WITH 
ROMAN  AND  SCOTIC  INFLU- 
ENCES   CHAPTER    NINETEEN 

After  Kenneth  Mac  Alpin  had  acceded  to  the 
throne  of  Fortrenn  and  had  claimed  the  sover- 
eignty of  the  Picts,  he  restricted  membership  of 
his  court  to  Scotic  chiefs,  and  kept  command  of 
the  soldiery  and  control  of  politics  in  Scotic  hands, 
a  policy  which  the  kings  of  his  dynasty  jealously 
pursued.  This,  however,  was  not  enough  for  the 
maintenance  of  his  power;  it  was  also  necessary 
to  penetrate  the  Church  of  the  Picts  with  Scotic 
influence.  In  the  train  of  Kenneth  there  had 
come  into  Pictland  many  of  the  clergy  of  his  own 
people,  men  of  Gaidhealic  or  Scotic  origin  with 
perfervid  Scotic  sympathies.  Many  ways  were 
taken  to  work  these  clerics  into,  or  over  the 
Church  of  the  Picts,  Kenneth  himself  began  by 
setting  up  new  ecclesiastical  centres,  manned  en- 
tirely by  Scotic  ecclesiastics  to  whom  the  recog- 
nition and  support  of  the  king  was  given.  Again, 
when  a  vacancy  occurred  in  the  headship  of  a  Pict- 
ish  muinniir,  no  effort  was  spared  in  attempting 
to  negotiate  the  appointment  of  a  Scotic  instead 
of  a  Pictish  Ab.  Yet  again,  much  zeal  was  spent 
468 


ROMAN  &  SCOTIC  INFLUENCES 

in  extending  the  Scotic  ministry  wherever  a  sec- 
tion of  Scots  might  penetrate  among  the  Pictish 
population.  To  a  small  extent  a  way  was  open 
even  for  Scotic  ministers  in  districts  that  were 
purely  Pictish.  There  were  places  like  Rose- 
markie  and  St.  Andrews  where,  as  a  result  of 
Nechtan's  attempt  to  popularize  S.  Peter  in  the 
one  instance,  and  Angus's  attempt  to  popularize 
S.  Andrew  in  the  other,  parties  of  Picts  had  con- 
formed to  Rome.  To  these  the  Scotic  clerics 
could  join  themselves,  not,  of  course,  as  Scots  but 
as  Roman  Churchmen.  Such  quiet  penetration 
of  the  Church  of  the  Picts  was  slow;  but  it  was 
effectual.  Time  was  on  the  side  of  the  Scots,  if 
they  could  show  patience,  rarely  one  of  their 
virtues;  although  they  often  made  up  for  the  want 
of  it  by  refusing  to  be  defeated,  and  by  persist- 
ency. Doubtless,  however,  Kenneth  meant  to 
profit  by  Nechtan's  experiences,  and  realized 
that  violent  handling  of  an  ancient  institution 
would  mean  tumult,  and,  perhaps,  resistance  that 
would  break  his  new-found  power.  And,  besides, 
the  Vikings  were  doing  the  violent  work,  and 
thus  helping  Kenneth.  What  a  people  are  to  be 
to-morrow  is  determined  by  their  education  to- 
day. The  Vikings  were  taking  pains  to  deprive 
the  Picts  of  all  education.  They  were  burning 
Bangor,  Maghbile,  Kingarth,  Lismore,  Aber- 
crossan,  besides  most  of  the  east-coast  religious 
and  educational  centres,  on  which  the  Picts  and 

469 


THE  PIGTISH  NATION 

their  Church  had  depended.  These  brave  Pictish 
clerics  who  had  lived  for  their  Churches  and 
schools,  betrayed  by  hope  that  the  Viking  terror 
would  pass,  frequently  proceeded  to  reconstruct, 
before  the  ashes  of  their  sanctuaries  had  cooled 
after  the  first  fires;  but  the  pagans  returned  and 
burned  again,  and  the  heroic  reconstructors  were 
fortunate  when  they  escaped  being  caught  and 
thrown  into  the  fires.  Some  grew  old  and  weak 
in  the  work  of  reconstruction  and  elected  to  be 
burned  at  their  posts.  Younger  ministers  fled 
across  the  sea  to  Bobbio,  or  St.  Gall,  or  to  other 
establishments  of  their  own  missionaries  and 
scholars.  Whether  they  went  to  Heaven  or  to 
the  Continent  of  Europe,  their  departure  meant 
that  the  Picts  were  left  without  the  only  men  who 
cared,  and  who  were  able  to  keep  before  them 
the  spiritual  and  intellectual  achievements  of 
their  race  in  past  days,  and  who  cared  and  were 
able  to  unfold  ideals  for  the  future.  These  men 
carried  in  their  souls  and  in  their  records,  the 
tradition  of  Pictish  progress  above  the  brute- 
stage  of  human  development;  and  that  tradition 
was  made  glorious  by  the  memory  of  lives  of  im- 
perishable devotion  to  God  and  humanity.  The 
young  Pict  might  grow  up  in  the  days  to  be;  but 
he  would  grow  up  unblessed  by  the  hands  of  the 
saints  of  his  race,  without  a  vision  of  the  Soul  of 
the  Picts,  which  had  elected  to  go  to  and  fro  on 
the  earth  rather  than  to  suffer  the  polluting  touch 
470 


ROMAN  &  SCOTIC  INFLUENCES 

of  the  Teutonic  beast,  or  the  formal  courtship 
of  the  materialistic  Scot  whose  eyes  were  fascin- 
ated by  her  dowry.  The  Vikings  spared  neither 
the  agents  nor  the  sources  of  Pictish  education 
for  the  Pictish  people. 

Although  the  Vikings  also  destroyed  the  chief 
educational  and  ecclesiastical  institution  of  the 
Scots,  at  lona,  the  Scots  were  compensated, 
through  their  political  position,  by  gradually  ab- 
sorbing the  few  Pictish  ecclesiastical  centres  in 
theSouththatthe  Vikings  failed  to  ruin.  Besides, 
the  Scots  had  conformed  to  Rome;  and  were  re- 
warded with  access  to  every  Roman  training- 
school  in  the  West.  Thus,  as  educated  Pictish 
teachers  and  ministers  died  out,  Roman-trained 
Scotic  clerics  increased;  and,  with  every  political 
advantage  on  their  side,  pressed  their  services 
upon  the  Picts  who  had  either  to  reject  them, 
which  was  not  always  wise  in  view  of  the  force 
behind,  or  to  accept  them,  which  was  not  always 
pleasant  to  a  proud  and  patriotic  people.  Re- 
jection left  the  rejectors  entirely  dependent  on 
St.  Andrews,  Abernethy,  Brechin,  Deer,  Turriff, 
and  certain  other  Pictish  ecclesiastical  centres 
on  the  east  coast  which  succeeded,  in  impaired 
efficiency,  in  surviving  the  Vikings;  but  these 
places  were  sometimes  cut  off  from  one  another, 
and  sometimes  from  the  world,  by  blockading 
wedges  of  Viking  colonists.  Moreover,  part  of 
the  Pictish  clergy  of  Fife  had  conformed  to  Rome; 

471 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

and  these  were  no  help  to  those  fellow-country- 
men who  refused  to  follow  their  examples. 
Naturally  the  advances  of  the  Scotic  clerics  pro- 
voked dissent  among  the  Picts.  Like  all  Celtic 
dissent  it  was  stubbornly  maintained.  By  the 
necessities  of  human  fellowship  the  Scotic  clerics 
speedily  overcame  this  dissent  in  Fife,  Perth, 
and  Angus;  but  round  the  outlying  centres,  like 
Turriff,  Fearn  of  Ross,  Dornoch,  and  various 
other  places  less  known,  the  Scotic  clergy  did 
not  gain  a  secure  footing  among  the  Picts,  or 
their  kindred  of  mixed  blood,  until  the  twelfth 
and  thirteenth  centuries. 

One  law  of  the  Picts,  however,  threatened  for 
a  time  to  block  the  efforts  of  Kenneth  Mac  Alpin 
and  his  successors  to  Scoticize  the  Church  of  the 
Picts.  It  was  a  law  of  the  Pictish  Church,  as  of 
the  old  unconformed  Scotic  Church,  that  the  suc- 
cessor to  the  Ab  of  a  Pictish  muinntir  should  be 
a  member  of  the  family  or  clan  of  the  Ab  who  had 
first  organized  the  community ;  or  if  the  muinn- 
tir was  the  daughter-community  of  a  greater 
house,  the  Ab  required  to  be  taken  from  the 
parent-community,  or,  failing,  from  the  leaderless 
community,  but  with  the  parent-community's 
consent.  Sometimes  the  parent-community  was 
outside  the  Pictish  realm,  as  in  the  instances  of 
Bangor  of  Ulster,  and  Kingarth  of  the  Britons. 
Obviously  if  the  Pictish  muinntirs  continued  to 
conform  to  Pictish  law  in  filling  up  the  vacant 
472 


ROMAN  &  SCOTIC  INFLUENCES 

chairs  of  deceased  Abs,  Pict  would  succeed  Pict; 
and  the  Scoticizing  designs  of  Kenneth  and  his 
dynasty  would  be  obstructed  or  defeated,  so 
far  as  the  most  important  positions  were  con- 
cerned. Therefore  the  Scots  legalized  a  scheme 
which  was  not  more  nor  less  than  a  simoniacal 
bribe;  and  this  scheme  is  found  in  course  of  time 
operating  throughout  all  Pictland.  On  the  occur- 
rence of  a  vacancy  in  the  presidency  of  a  Pictish 
muinntir,  the  successor,  according  to  Pictish  law, 
from  the  founder's  clan,  or  from  the  parent-com- 
munity, was  allowed  to  take  up  the  title  of  Ab 
and  the  control  of  the  landed  property  of  the 
muinntir;  but  he  received  permission,  and  evid- 
ently encouragement,  to  engage  a  Scotic  vicar 
to  dispense  the  sacraments,  to  control  the  teach- 
ing, and  to  direct  all  the  spiritual  work  of  the  com- 
munity. This  legalized  fraud,  and  robbery  of  the 
muinntirs,  for  whom  the  Abs  held  all  lands  in 
trust,  was  grievously  detrimental  to  the  honour, 
efficiency,  and  spiritual  life  of  many  of  the  Pictish 
ecclesiastical  families.  It  led  to  the  rise  of  the  lay 
abbot  who,  in  course  of  time,  forgot  his  oblig- 
ations to  the  muinntir;  and,  sometimes,  his  pay- 
ments to  his  Scotic  vicar.  The  titular  muinntir- 
chiefs  grew  to  be  secular  lairds,  began  to  found 
families,  and  some  of  them,  in  course  of  time, 
became  powerful  'Scottish'  barons.  It  has  been 
stated  that  the  secular  clan-chiefs,  who  were 
fighting-lords  and  not  land-lords,  first  showed 

473 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

the  way  to  robbing  the  clansmen  of  their  land; 
but  centuries  before  the  secular  chiefs  were  in- 
dependent enough  of  their  clansmen  to  attempt 
this  breach  of  trust,  some  of  the  muinniir-chiefs 
had  successfully  accomplished  it,  with  the  aid  of 
the  Scotic  kings  and  the  Roman  clergy.  This 
cunning  Scotic  scheme  for  the  strengthening  of 
the  Scotic  kings  and  the  Roman  Church  was  as 
successful  as  the  authors  could  have  expected. 
It  operated,  in  course  of  time,  over  all  Pictland, 
and  its  effects  can  be  traced  from  Kinghorn-on- 
Forth  to  Abercrossan  in  West  Ross.  If  in  some 
instances  the  proselytizing  success  and  impa- 
tience of  the  Scotic  vicars  brought  grief  to  their 
royal  patrons,  in  other  instances  it  gave  uncon- 
cealed joy.  At  the  Pictish  'college'  of  Brechin 
Kenneth  IV.  Mac  Maelcoluim  was  tempted  to 
make  a  premature  display  of  this  Scoticizing  pol- 
icy by  planting  a  Roman  Church  staffed  with  Scot- 
ic clerics,  although  he  was  superseding  the  Pict- 
ish clergy  in  their  own  ancient  petty  kingdom  of 
Angus,  and  was  endowing  aliens  at  the  expense 
of  the  natives;  but  he  paid  for  his  zeal  with  his  life 
at  the  hands  of  Findl^  Cunchar  the  chief  of  Angus, 
and  the  court  had  no  reason  to  bless  the  Scotic 
vicars  at  Brechin.  An  instance,  later,  but  more 
favourable  to  the  Scotic  rulers,  is  furnished  by  the 
O'  Beollans.  These  became  secular  lairds  in  West 
Ross,  through  possessing  the  lands  of  S.  Mael- 
rubha's  community  at  Abercrossan  and  district. 
474 


ROMAN  &  SCOTIC  INFLUENCES 

They  devoted  themselves  so  whole-heartedly  to 
the  Scotic  kings  that  on  several  occasions  they 
saved  the  Scotic  power,  and  established  the 
Roman  Church  securely  in  Ross,  their  descend- 
ants becoming  Earls  of  Ross. 

One  other  innovation  was  legalized  by  the 
Scotic  kings  in  Pictland  to  advance  the  power  of 
the  Roman  Church,  which  had  adopted  them,  and 
to  cripple  and  denationalize  the  ancient  Church 
of  the  Picts.  They  took  this  final  step  towards 
conforming  to  Rome  by  setting  up  monarchic  and 
diocesan  bishops  in  Pictland.  They  had  never 
dared  to  take  this  step  in  their  home-kingdom  of 
Dalriada,  although  it  is  clear  that  by  Egbert's  in- 
spiration it  had  been  considered.  It  indicates 
that  the  Scotic  dynasty  used  their  new  position  in 
Pictland  to  shake  themselves  free  of  the  incon- 
venient control  of  their  own  Scotic  clansmen. 
The  setting  up  of  Scotic  clergy  as  Roman  mon- 
archic and  diocesan  bishops  meant  the  begin- 
ning of  an  episcopal  State  Church  in  Pictland, 
the  beginning  of  a  Roman  hierarchy  in  Pict- 
land composed  of  alien  clergy,  and  it  also  meant 
that  these  Scotic  episcopal  officials,  co-operating 
with  the  State,  would  claim  and  insist  upon  con- 
trol of  the  Scotic  vicars  acting  for  the  simoniacal 
abbots,  and  would  claim  and  assert  authority  over 
the  minority  of  Pictish  clergy  who  had  the  care  of 
those  who  had  conformed  to  Rome  through  the 
missions  which  had  sought  to  popularize  the 

475 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

veneration  of  S.  Peter  and  S.  Andrew, 

In  legalizing  the  monarchic  and  diocesan  bis- 
hop of  the  Roman  type,  Kenneth  Mac  Alpin  not 
only  introduced  an  innovation  into  the  Church  of 
the  PictSjbut  he  alsointroduced  an  innovation  in- 
to the  organization  of  his  own  Church,  the  Church 
of  the  Scots.  It  was  this  act  which  marked  Ken- 
neth's final  renunciation  of  the  ancient  system 
of  ecclesiastical  government  favoured  by  all  the 
Celto-Catholics.  It  meant  that  he  had  broken 
with  lona,  and  that  he  no  longer  recognized  the 
supremacy  of  the  Columban  Ab  of  lona  over  the 
organized  religious  communities  of  the  Scotic 
Church,  including  the  numerous  bishops  who 
were  simple  members  of  the  muinntirs  with  spec- 
ial duties  connected  with  ordination,  but  in  their 
ecclesiastical  life  and  work  wholly  under  the  juris- 
diction of  the  local  Ab  under  whose  presidency 
they  served. 

It  cannot,  therefore,  be  too  clearly  set  forth 
that  it  was  Kenneth  who,  in  spite  of  his  Scotic 
sympathies,  turned  his  back  on  the  ancient  sys- 
tem of  government  within  his  own  Church;  and 
turned  his  back  on  the  system  of  Church  govern- 
ment practised  formerly  by  all  the  Celts,  sub- 
stituting for  it  the  episcopal  system  of  the  Roman 
Church  with  its  prelates  who  claimed  to  legislate 
for  the  Churches  of  the  kingdom,  and  actually  did 
legislate,  along  with  the  king,  in  name  of  the 
foreign  Bishop  of  Rome. 
476 


KENNETH  MAC  ALPIN'S 
EFFORT  TO  SET  UP  ROMAN 
MONARCHIC  AND  DIOCESAN 
EPISCOPACY  IN  PICTLAND. 
THE  TRANSFERENCE  OF  THE 
SOLE  BISHOP  OF  'FORTRENN' 
TO  ABERNETHY.  KING 
GIRIC'S  GIFT  OF  'LIBERTY' 
TO  THE  ROMANIZED  SCOTIC 
CHURCH  IN  PICTLAND.  ITS 
EFFECT    ON     THE    ANCIENT 

CHURCH  OF  THE  PICTS 
CHAPTER  TWENTY 

With  the  contents  of  the  preceding  chapter  in 
mind  it  is  easy  to  understand  the  recorded  ecclesi- 
astical events  which  originated  in  the  reign  of 
Kenneth  Mac  Alpin,  and  to  comprehend  the 
very  natural  ecclesiastical  developments  which 
followed,  in  the  reigns  of  his  successors. 

In  A.D.  849,*  owing  to  the  Vikings,  Innrech- 
tach,  Ab  of  lona,  fled  to  Ireland  with  the  relics  of 
S.  Columba.  The  year  849  was  the  seventh  year 
of  Kenneth  Mac  Alpin's  reign  as  king  of  Fort- 
renn  and  titular  sovereign  of  the  Picts.  This 
was  the  second,  perhaps  the  third,  flight  of  an 
Ab  of  lona.    On  this  occasion  it  is  clear  that  the 

*  This  date  is  from  the  Annals  of  Ulster. 

477 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

government  of  the  Scotic  Church  was  being  con- 
ducted not  from  lona,  but  from  one  of  the  Colum- 
ban  monasteries  in  Ireland.  Kenneth  Mac  Alpin 
forthwith  took  advantage  of  this  flight,  and  vacant 
chair*  at  lona,  the  mother-Church  of  the  Scots, 
to  erect  a  new  mother-Church  which,  he  evid- 
ently hoped,  would  be  regarded  as  the  chief  ec- 
clesiastical centre  of  his  new  kingdom  by  both 
Picts  and  Scots.  He  planned  his  effort  with  great 
tact;  and  tried  to  please  both  nationalities.  The 
continuator  of  the  Pictish  Chronicle  states  that 
Kenneth  in  the  seventh  year  of  his  reign,  that  is, 
in  A.D.  849,  the  year  that  Innrechtach  left  lona 
derelict,  transported  to  the  Church  which  he  had 
constructed  the  relics  of  Columcille.  These  relics 
now  become  suspiciously  abundant;  but  their 
transportation  to  a  new  Church  indicates  that  it 
was  to  be  regarded  as  a  mother-Church,  because, 
at  this  period  of  Celtic  history,  relics  were  de- 
posited only  in  Churches  at  governing  centres. 
The  continuator  does  not  name  the  locality  of 
this  new  Church;  but  it  is  stated  in  a  Saxon 
document!  that  it  was  'in  loco  Duncahan  juxta 
flumen  Tau' — Dunkeld  is  meant. 

In  choosing  Dunkeld,  Kenneth  fixed  on  a 
centre  accessrble  both  to  the  Scots  of  Dalriada 
and  to  the  Picts  of  Fortrenn.  This  centre  had  al- 

*  Ceallach  mac  Ailella,  Ab  of  Kildareand  titularAb  of  lona,  who  died 
A.D.  865,  was  not  able  to  take  up  his  duties  in  lona,  owing  to  the  Vikings, 
and  died  '  in  the  country  of  the  Picts.' 

I  Thesaurus  (Hickes),  vii.  117. 

478 


LIBERTY  TO  ROMAN  AGENTS 

ready  Scotic  ecclesiastical  memories,  because  it 
was  near  the  site  of  the  old  intruded  Scotic  mu- 
tnniir  knovfn  as  ' Muinntir  Kailli  an  Find,'  from 
which,  among  other  places,  Nechtan's  subjects 
had  evicted  the  Scotic  clerics.  The  Scots  would 
be  pleased  to  recover  their  lost  Church.  But 
Dunkeld  was  also  the  site  of  a  noted  Church 
which  had  been  built  by  Constantine*  I.  Mac 
Fergus,  sovereign  of  the  Picts,  and  doubtless 
Kenneth  hoped  that  the  recollection  of  this  fact 
would  attract  his  Pictish  subjects  to  the  new 
centre. 

Kenneth  intended  his  new  Church  to  be  a 
Cathedral ;  because  he  was  setting  up  the  first 
Roman  monarchic  and  diocesan  bishop  that  had 
ever  been  legally  set  up  either  in  Pictland  or  in 
Dalriada.  But  he  acted  very  warily,  and  com- 
promised between  the  Roman  and  Celtic  systems 
of  ecclesiastical  government  by  appointing  as 
first  Roman  monarchic  bishop  an  Ab  of  the  Celtic 
Church.  The  Celts  had  been  used  to  leading 
clerics  who  were  bishops  as  well  as  Abs;  but  none 
of  these  had  ever  administered  dioceses,  and  if 
an  Ab-bishop  had  been  monarchic  in  the  rule  of 
his  muinntir,  it  was  because  he  was  the  Ab,  and 
not  because  he  was  a  bishop, 

Tuathal  Mac  Artguso  was  appointed  by  Ken- 
neth to  the  new  Church;  and  his  diocese  was  the 

*  The  authority  is  the  'Chronicle  of  Lochleven'  quoted  in  the  Scala- 
cronica. 

479 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

whole  of  Kenneth's  new  kingdom  of 'Fortrenn,' 
which  at  this  time  included  Dalriada,  Tuathal 
died  in  a.d.  865,  seven  years  after  Kenneth;  and 
it  is  of  some  interest  to  reproduce  the  entry  of 
his  death:  'Tuathal  Mac  Artguso primus  Epis- 
copus  Fortrenn,  Abbas  Duin  Caillen  dormivit.' 
With  their  strange  love  of  inappropriate  ecclesi- 
astical titles,  and  with  equally  strange  perversity 
in  interpretation,  the  modern  Scottish  Episco- 
palians have  taken  the  word  'primus'  from  this 
entry,  have  treated  it  as  a  title  instead  of  a 
numeral,  have  interpreted  it  ^^  first  in  dignity  in- 
stead of  first  in  line,  and  have  applied  it  to  the 
elected  life-president  of  their  college  of  bishops. 

Kenneth's  attempt  to  make  Dunkeld  the  seat 
of  the  Roman  monarchic  and  diocesan  bishop  of 
Fortrenn  failed;  because  when  the  annalist  enters 
the  death  of  Tuathal's  successor,  in  a.d.  873,  he 
designates  him 'Princeps*  Duin-Caillden.'  'Prin- 
ceps'  in  this,  as  in  other  instances,  means  the 
President  or  Ab  of  a  Celtic  muinntir. 

Where  the  next  Roman  monarchic  bishop  of 
Fortrenn  was  set  up  would  not  have  been  known, 
if  it  had  not  been  for  information  preserved  by 
Bowerf  from  some  source  now  lost.  He  states 
that,  at  the  time  when  there  was  but  one  bishop 
in  'Scotia, 'there  were  three  (successive)  appoint- 

*  873 — Flaithbertach  Mac  Murcertaigh,  Princeps  Duin-Caillden obiit 
{An.  Ulst.). 

t  Scotichronicon,  iv.  12,  and  Bower's  addition. 

480 


LIBERTY  TO  ROMAN  AGENTS 

ments  of  bishops  at  Abernethy,  which  at  that  time 
was  for  awhile  'the  principal  royal  and  episcopal 
seat  of  the  whole  kingdom  of  the  Picts.'  The 
time  when  there  was  'one  bishop  for  Scotia,'  and 
when  it  was  possible  for  that  one  bishop  and  two 
of  his  successors  to  have  their  seat  at  Abernethy, 
was  immediately  after  the  breakdown  of  Ken- 
neth's effort  to  set  up  the  episcopal  chair  of  Fort- 
renn  at  Dunkeld.  Bower's  statement  is  verified  to 
this  extent  that  it  is  now  known  that  'the  palace' 
of  Kenneth  Mac  Alpin,  in  which  he  resided  and 
died,  was  at  Forteviot,  close  to  Abernethy.  A 
note  preserved  in  the  composite  Chronicle  known 
as  the  Chronicle  of  Lochleven  gives  support  to 
Bower.  Dealing  with  Gartnaidh  Mac  Domneth, 
sovereign  of  Pictland,  the  original  hand  wrote: 
'He  built  the  Church  of  Abernethy  two  hundred 
and  twenty-five  years  and  eleven  months  before 
the  Church  of  Dunkeld  was  built  by  king  Con- 
stantine,  sovereign  of  the  Picts.'  Now,  however 
innocent  that  note  may  look  in  the  thirteenth- 
century  chronicle  which  preserves  it,  its  insertion 
carries  us  back  to  a  time  when  Abernethy  was 
insisting  on  its  rights,  as  one  of  the  oldest  Pictish 
ecclesiastical  centres,  to  take  precedence  of  Dun- 
keld. The  Church  of  Abernethy  in  Kenneth's 
time  was  the  successor  of  that  royal  Chapel  which 
Gartnaidh,  the  patron  of  S.  Cainnech  of  Cind 
Righ  Monaidh  (St.  Andrews)  founded.  It  is 
therefore  not  stretching  the  evidence  that  has 

2 1  481 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

survived  to  conclude  that  the  opposition  of  the 
Pictish  clergy  of  Abernethy  prevented  Dunkeld 
from  becoming  the  seat  of  the  first  Roman  bishop 
of  Fortrenn,  The  Pictish  Church  was  still  strong 
enough  in  the  reigns  of  Kenneth's  nearer  suc- 
cessors to  keep  the  romanized  Scotic  clergy  from 
getting  their  own  way  in  arranging  ecclesiastical 
affairs  within  Pictland,  which  accounts  for  the 
next  event. 

As  has  been  stated,  c.  a.d.  878,  after  the  short 
reign  of  Kenneth  Mac  Alpin's  second  son  Aedh, 
an  attempt  was  made  to  revive  the  Pictish  system 
of  succession.  As  a  compromise  two  kings  ruled 
jointly,  one  was  Eochaidh,  son  of  Kenneth's 
daughter,  and  the  other  was  Giric,  a  Pict,  who 
resided  at  the  old  stronghold  of  the  Pictish  kings 
of  Fortrenn  at  Dun(d)Earn.  Eochaidh  was  a 
mere  figure-head  to  appease  the  Scotic  popul- 
ation, the  real  power  was  in  the  hands  of  Giric. 

While  Giric  was  ruling,  the  romanized  Scotic 
clergy  became  restive  and  apprehensive.  They 
had  apparently  not  recovered  from  the  failure  of 
the  Dunkeld  episcopal  scheme;  and  the  trans- 
ference of  episcopal  power  to  the  ancient  Pictish 
Church  at  Abernethy.  They  were  also  finding  it 
difficult  to  surmount  the  laws  and  usages  of  the 
ancient  Church  of  the  Picts,  which  have  been  in- 
dicated in  the  previous  chapter.  This  much  can  be 
gathered  from  their  representations  to  Giric,  the 
Pictish  sovereign.  Through  Gray's  transcript  of 
482 


LIBERTY  TO  ROMAN  AGENTS 

a  twelfth -century  manuscript  Chronicle  the  fol- 
lowing important  information  concerning  Giric 
is  preserved:  '  This  is  he  who  first  gave  ''liberty" 
to  the  Scotic  Church  which  until  then  had  been 
under  servitude  according  to  the  law  and  custom  of 
the  Picts.'  Incidentally,  the  name  'Ecclesia  Scoti- 
cana  occurs  for  the  first  time. 

This  note  has  been  a  surprise  revelation  to 
certain  historians;  at  least,  they  have  affected 
difficulty  in  understanding  why  the  Scotic  Church 
required  'liberty'  inPictland.  It  required  liberty,, 
because  at  this  time  it  was  an  alien  Church;  and 
this  note  records  only  a  very  natural  develop- 
ment. The  Church  of  the  Scots  was  alien  to  the 
Picts,  because  it  had  become  Roman  instead  of 
Celto-Catholic.  It  was  also  alien  because  it  was 
manned  by  Scots,  and  because  its  organization 
was  used  by  the  Scots  to  extend  Scotic  power  and 
influence.  Almost  every  step  that  the  Scotic 
Church  took  in  Pictland  carried  it  into  contact, 
and  often  into  conflict,  with  the  ministers  and  the 
organization  of  the  ancient  Celtic  Church  of  the 
Picts,  the  native  Church.  The  Picts  had  no  idea 
of  allowing  their  Church  to  be  readily  absorbed; 
and,  indeed,  were  much  more  willing  to  absorb 
the  incomers.  What  more  natural,  than  that  the 
romanizing  Scotic  clerics  should  take  alarm, 
and  become  apprehensive  at  what  they  consid- 
ered Pictish  prejudice  and  legal  obstacles;  and 
should  set  up  a  grievance  in  true  Scotic  fashion, 

483 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

and  declare  themselves  'enslaved'  by  the  Pictish 
law  and  usage,  because  they  could  not  force  their 
own  particular  ecclesiastical  methods  on  their 
fellow-subjects. 

Giric  had  a  pressing  motive  for  making  a  con- 
cession to  these  agitating  Scotic  clerics.  He  was 
a  ruler  of  considerable  power  and  apparently 
wished  to  add  to  his  triumphs.  It  had  been  no 
mean  feat  to  break  through  the  family  line  of 
Kenneth  and  to  reach  the  throne,  even  although 
he  had  to  submit  to  a  nominal  colleague  belonging 
to  Kenneth's  family.  Giric  had  also  won  fame  in 
Ireland  as  a  soldier;  and  had  wrested  territory 
from  the  Angles.  He  undoubtedly  wished  to  be 
in  name,  as  well  as  in  fact,  sole  ruler  of  Fortrenn. 
Therefore  he  was  willing  to  buy  the  support  of 
the  Scotic  clergy  by  allowing  them  to  push  their 
plans  for  proselytizing  and  absorbing  the  Picts, 
agreeably  to  the  canon  law  of  the  Roman  Church; 
but  unhampered  by  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
laws  of  the  Picts.  Coming  from  a  ruler  of  Pictish 
origin,  Giric's  concession  could  not  be  challenged 
by  the  Picts  in  the  same  way  that  it  would  have 
been  challenged  if  it  had  come  from  a  ruler  of 
Scotic  origin. 

What  the  old  chronicler,  from  his  point  of 
view,  calls  Giric's  'gift  of  liberty  to  the  Scotic 
Church'  was,  therefore,  a  legislative  act  of  the  first 
magnitude,  and  opened  the  way  for  the  trans- 
formation of  the  ecclesiastical  and  national  life  of 
484 


LIBERTY  TO  ROMAN  AGENTS 

Pictland.  The  Celtic  Church  of  the  Picts  had 
never  been  formally  established  by  the  State;  al- 
though it  had  grown  up  with  the  growth  of  the 
State,  and  had  been  honoured  and  considered  by 
the  State  as  the  Church  of  the  Picts.  If  the  Vik- 
ings had  never  come  with  their  ravages;  it  is 
doubtful  if  that  relationship  could  have  been  seri- 
ously disturbed.  The  Pictish  clergy  would  then 
have  been  able  to  hold  their  own. 

Kenneth  Mac  Alpin's  efforts  to  advance  the 
Roman  Scotic  Church  had  been  acts  of  royal 
partiality,  in  the  interests  of  his  dynasty  and  the 
Scotic  section  of  his  subjects.  Giric's  'gift  of  free- 
dom' to  this  Church  was,  on  the  other  hand,  a 
formal  legislative  act  by  a  Pictish  sovereign  legal- 
izing and  establishing  it  in  a  privileged  position, 
and  giving  to  it  the  freedom  of  the  whole  realm 
of  Pictland.  The  act  said  nothing  about  abolish- 
ing the  ancient  Church  of  the  Picts;  but  it  auto- 
matically forced  that  Church  into  an  attitude  of 
dissent  in  self-defence.  It  was  a  mortal  blow  at 
the  continuance  of  the  already  crippled  Church 
of  the  Picts  as  a  national  Church.  All  that  the 
aggressive  Roman  Scotic  Church  required  to  do 
in  its  own  interests  was  to  hold  firmly  by  the  privi- 
leges conceded  by  Giric,  work  them  for  all  they 
were  worth,  backed  by  those  Scotic  kings  and 
their  courts  who  were  to  follow  Giric;  and  it  was 
only  a  question  of  time  when  the  Scotic  clergy 
would  secure  ascendency  throughout  all  Pictland. 

485 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

The  Church  of  the  Picts,  with  its  organization 
greatly  shattered  by  the  Vikings,  and  cut  off  from 
its  former  sources  of  training  and  culture,  was  too 
weakened  to  stand  out  indefinitely  against  the 
Scotic  Church,  with  all  the  resources  and  organiz- 
ation of  the  Roman  Church  behind  it. 

It  is  not  told  what  effectGiric's  'gift  of  liberty' 
to  the  Scotic  Church  produced  upon  the  Picts;but 
it  is  significant  that,  shortly  afterwards,  he  and 
his  nominal  colleague  were  expelled*  from  the 
throne; and  Donald  II.  Mac  Constan tine, another 
king  of  the  line  of  Kenneth,  was  called  to  reign; 
and  he  was  the  first  to  rule  as  'king  of  Alban' — 
a  title  which  was  maintained,  and  which  ignored 
the  two  peoples,  Picts  and  Scots.  Donald  had 
evidently  made  up  his  mind  to  treat  the  two 
nations  as  one  people;  and  his  Pictish  subjects 
had  evidently  decided  that  it  was  better  to  sub- 
mit to  another  king  of  Kenneth's  line  than  to 
continue  under  a  king  of  their  own  blood  who  had 
betrayed  their  ancient  Church  to  Rome  and  to 
the  Scots. 

*  S.  Berchan  indicates  that  Giric  or  Grig  was  ilain  by  his  fellow-Picts 
of  Fortrenn. 


CONST ANTINE  III  MAC  AEDH 
AND  CELLACH  THE  BISHOP 
OF  ALBA  MOCK  THE  PICTISH 
CHURCHMEN  WITH  A 
PROMISE  OF  RELIGIOUS 
EQUALITY  WHICH  IMPLIED 
CONFORMITY     TO     THE 

CHURCH  OF  ROME 
CHAPTER  TWENTY-ONE 

That  the  Roman  Scotic  Churchmen,  exulting  in 
Giric's  'gift  of  Hberty,'  and  supported  by  the  Scotic 
kings,  had  at  once  begun  to  assert  themselves 
as  the  representatives  of  the  only  Church  that,  in 
their  eyes,  counted  in  the  kingdom  of  'Alban,'  is 
evident  from  the  chief  ecclesiastical  event  of  the 
reign  of  the  second  king  after  Giric.  The  Picts 
and  Scots  were  now,  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name, 
politically  united;  and  their  national  divergences 
were  to  be  considered  as  forgotten  in  the  interests 
of  'Alban.'  But  the  Pictish  Churchmen  clearly 
felt  that  the  Scotic  Churchmen  had  outmanoeuvr- 
ed them,  and  had  gained  a  position  and  privileges 
in  the  kingdom,  through  Giric's  gift,  which  had 
affected  their  status  before  the  people,  and  was 
laying  disability  upon  them  in  carrying  on  their 
work.  It  was  now  the  Pictish  Churchmen  who 
announced  a  grievance  and  began  to  agitate. 
How  far  the  agitation  reached,  or  how  great  it 

487 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

was,  has  not  been  disclosed;  but  it  caused  Con- 
stantine  III.  Mac  Aedh,  the  second  monarch  to 
bear  the  title  'king  of  Alban,'  to  summon  an  Ec- 
clesiastical Council,  the  only  national  Ecclesiasti- 
cal Council  since  the  time  of  Nechtan  Derelei. 
The  minutes  of  Constantine's  Council  have  not 
been  preserved;  butthecontinuatorofthe/'^V^w^ 
Chronicle  sums  up  what  was  decided.  Constan- 
tine  ascended  the  throne  c.  a.d.  900.  The  con- 
tinuator  states,  'In  the  sixth  year  of  Constantine, 
on  the  Hill  of  Faith  near  the  royal  city  of  Scone, 
Constantine  the  king  and  Cellach  the  bishop 
solemnly  vowed  to  protect  the  laws  and  discipline 
of  the  Faith,  and  the  rights  of  the  Churches*  and 
of  the  Gospel,  equally  with  the  Scots.'  Cellach, 
who  figures  as  legislating  along  with  the  king,  was 
first  Roman  monarchic  and  diocesan  bishop  at 
St.  Andrews;  and  is  regarded  as  the  first  to  bear 
the  title  'epscop  Albain,'  that  is,  bishop  of  Alba. 
Some  have  made  difficulty  over  the  phrase  in  the 
above  summary  'equally  with  the  Scots.'  The 
phrase  is  certainly  part  of  an  elliptic  sentence;  but 
if  it  be  remembered  that  the  passage  in  which  it 
occurs  is  from  the  Pictish  Chronicle,  dealing  with 
the  history  and  the  interests  of  the  Picts;  it  is 
obvious  that  Constantine  and  Cellach  were  pledg- 
ing themselves  to  treat  the  Picts '  equally  with  the 
Scots'  in  all  religious  and  ecclesiastical  legislation; 

*  The  plural  refers  to  the  ancient  Church  of  the  Kcls  and  the  new 
Church  of  the  Scots. 

488 


'  RELIGIOUS  EQUALITY ' 

or,  in  other  words,  to  act  impartially  in  all  that 
concerned  the  religious  interests  of  the  people. 

It  is  apparent  that  the  Council  of  Scone  was 
a  final  despairing  effort  on  the  part  of  the  Pictish 
Churchmen  to  put  an  end  to  the  special  favours 
and  privileges  which  the  Scotic  kings,  along  with 
Giric,  had  bestowed  on  the  Scotic  Churchmen. 
The  Pictish  clergy  gained  nothing  from  the  Coun- 
cil. 'Equally  with  the  Scots'  was  a  phrase  that 
sounded  impartial  and  consoling;  but  Cellach 
the  Roman  bishop  could  not  treat  the  uncon- 
formed  Pictish  clergy  'equally  with  the  Scots' 
who  had  conformed  to  Rome,  because  the  Roman 
Church  refused  to  recognize  the  Pictish  Church, 
and  in  practice  excommunicated  it.  The  only 
Picts  who  could  benefit  from  the  Council's  prom- 
ise were  the  Pictswho  had  conformed.  Inpractical 
effect,  the  Council's  decision  meant  that  the  Pict- 
ish Churchmen  would  be  treated  equally  with  the 
Scotic  Churchmen,  if  they  put  themselves  into 
the  attitude  of  the  Scotic  Churchmen,  that  is, 
submitted  to  Rome  and  adopted  Roman  usages 
and  Roman  discipline.  Even  if  the  Roman  Scotic 
Churchmen  could  have  relaxed  the  discipline  of 
their  own  Church  so  far  as  to  tolerate  the  uncon- 
formed  Picts,  and  to  bear  with  their  discipline, 
usages,  and  organization;  the  civil  power,  which 
the  Scots  controlled,  showed  no  tendencies  that 
way.  In  a  State  where  the  rulers  were  selected  for 
their  Scotic  sympathies,  and  where  the  executive 

489 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

was  fully  charged  with  Scotic  sentiment;  the 
favouring  of  the  interests  of  the  Scotic  Church- 
men and  the  Scotic  Church  was  inevitable,  Scotic 
human  nature  being  what  it  was.  As  the  years 
passed  this  is  clearly  demonstrated.  The  practic- 
al worthlessness  of  the  vows  which  Constantine 
and  Cellach  made  at  Scone  is  seen  before  the 
end  of  the  century  in  which  they  were  made,  in 
the  treatment  of  the  Pictish  Church  and  the  Pict- 
ish  people  by  Kenneth  IV.  Mac  Maelcoluim,king 
of  Alba.  This  monarch,  fired  by  zeal  to  Scoticize 
the  Church  and  people  of  the  province  of  Angus, 
which  had  formerly  been  a  petty  kingdom  of  the 
Picts  containing  a  venerable,  active,  and  highly 
organized  part  of  the  ancient  Pictish  Church, 
carried  war  into  this  part  of  his  kingdom  of  Alba 
and  fought  his  own  subjects.  As  has  been  noted, 
his  Scotic  zeal  cost  him  his  life.  But  he  had  suc- 
ceeded in  dedicating  'to  the  Lord,  the  great  city 
of  Brechin,'  as  the  continuator  of  the  Pictish 
Chronicle  puts  it.  The  continuator  of  the  Pictish 
Chronicle  suppresses  the  fact  that  in  order  to 
bestow  this  great  Pictish  ecclesiastical  city  on 
the  Lord,  he  had  required  to  steal  it  from  the  Pict- 
ish Church,  The  Pictish  'college'  and  clergy 
of  Brechin  had  evidently  refused  to  conform,  or 
had  been  too  slow  in  conforming  to  Rome,  and 
the  Picts  of  Angus  had  been  looking  coldly  on  the 
uniforming  passion  of  the  Scotic  kings;  therefore, 
by  force  of  arms,  Kenneth  gave  their  ecclesiasti- 
490 


'  RELIGIOUS  EQUALITY ' 

cal  heritage  to  Rome,  and  intruded  a  detachment 
of  Scotic  clergy  who  set  up  a  new  Church  which  in 
course  of  time  was  dedicated  to  the  Holy  Trinity. 
The  native  Picts  who  stood  aloof  from  the  new 
establishment  were  ministered  to  by  a  remnant 
of  Pictish  clergy  who  succeeded  somehow  in  hold- 
ing on  to  a  fragment  of  the  old  lands  of  the 
muinntiroY  'college'  of  Brechin. 

The  Council  of  Scone,  with  its  mocking  prom- 
ise to  the  Picts  of  religious  equality,  on  condition 
of  conformity  to  the  romanized  Scotic  Church, 
serves  to  emphasize  how  completely  the  Pictish 
Church  had  been  deprived  of  power  to  influence 
the  State,  or  to  extort  an  acknowledgment  of  its 
rights.  Such  was  the  effect  of  Giric's  concession 
to  the  alien  Church  and  its  continued  monopoly 
of  royal  and  State  favour.  The  Picts  were  still 
in  a  majority,  even  within  the  realm  of  Fortrenn, 
and  still  adhered  to  their  native  Church;  but 
they  had  no  way  of  making  their  strength  felt  in 
that  age  when  force  was  the  deciding  factor;  be- 
cause their  leaders  did  not  occupy  the  seats  of 
the  mighty,  and  the  Scotic  ruling  caste  kept  con- 
trol of  the  army  and  the  law. 

After  the  Council  of  Scone  the  Scots  showed 
that  they  had  decided  that  there  was  no  future 
for  the  Church  of  the  Picts,  apart  from  absorption 
into  the  romanized  Church  of  the  Scots;  because 
they  changed  the  designation  of  the  sole  mon- 
archic bishop,  then  at  St.  Andrews,  from  'bishop 

491 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

of  Fortrenn'  into  'bishop  of  Alban,'  making  the 
new  episcopal  title  parallel  with  the  new  royal 
title  'king  of  Alban';  and  indicating  that  as  the 
Picts  and  Scots  had  become  politically  united,  so 
the  Scots  expected  the  two  Churches  to  become 
one. 

Therefore,  when  king  Constantine  and  Cel- 
lach  offered  the  Pictish  Church  equality  with 
conformity;  they  sentenced  the  ancient  Church  of 
the  Picts  to  death — to  a  lingering  death.  The 
brain  died  slowly,  within  the  century  that  saw  the 
Council  of  Scone;  but  the  extremities  died  more 
slowly  still,  and  there,  life  continued  to  palpitate 
for  almost  two  more  centuries.  Isolated  Celts 
change  with  difficulty.  Those  Picts  who  had  con- 
formed became  absorbed  into  the  Roman  Scotic 
Church  and  their  national  identity  became  lost 
in  the  name  of  the  dominant  caste,  'Scots  of  Al- 
ban.' Those  who  did  not  conform,  and  those  who 
conformedonly  partially  by  accepting  the  ministry 
of  the  romanized  Scotic  clerics,  while  clinging  to 
the  property  of  the  ancient  Church  of  the  Picts, 
continued  to  figure  in  the  history  of  the  Scots 
for  a  long  time  after  the  tenth  century.  The  suc- 
cessors of  those  who  did  not  conform  at  first,  sur- 
vive in  history  among  the  much  misunderstood 
'Cele  D^,'  although  they  did  not  originate  the  Cele 
De.  The  successors  of  those  who  conformed 
only  partially,  survived  as  the  dishonoured,  and, 
it  must  be  added  of  some,  degenerate  lay  abbots 
492 


« RELIGIOUS  EQUALITY ' 

whose  names  are  most  widely  preserved  as  wit- 
nesses to  charter  signatures,  or  as  creatures  of 
the  Scotic  kings  and  the  episcopal  supplanters 
of  the  Picts. 

This  Constantine,  who  dismissed  the  Pictish 
Churchmen  at  the  Council  of  Scone  with  his  pro- 
mise of  sham  protection,  was  the  same  who  after- 
wards intrigued  to  betray  Christianity  and  Celtic 
civilization  to  the  Viking  savages;  in  order  that 
he  might  keep  the  Scotic  throne  and  maintain  the 
Scotic  power.  It  was  he  also  who  left  his  allies, 
the  Angles  of  Northumbria,  in  their  helplessness, 
to  the  ferocity  of  the  barbarians;  he  who  bought 
a  new  alliance  with  the  Vikings  by  his  baptized 
christian  daughter;  he  who,  before  Athelstan, 
at  Brunanburg,  was  defeated,  dishonoured,  and 
discredited;  he  who,  compelled  to  resign  the 
Scotic  crown,  sought  retreat  from  the  wrath  of 
the  men  of  Alba,  but  found  it  not  in  the  Scotic 
branch  of  the  Roman  Church,  which  had  with- 
drawn countenance  from  him  because  of  the  rage 
of  the  brethren  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  clergy.  At 
last,  in  pity  such  as  he  himself  had  never  shown, 
Constantine  was  received,  aged,  broken,  clad  in 
poor  raiment,  leaning  on  a  pilgrim-staff,  by  the 
Cele  De  of  St.  Andrews,  who,  at  the  time,  repre- 
sented the  ancient  Pictish  muinntir,  organized 
at  Cind  Righ  Monaidh  centuries  before  by  S. 
Cainnech.  That  the  Roman  Scotic  Church  should 
have  fostered  for  the  greater  part  of  his  life  this 

493 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

royal  anarchist  who  spurned  every  religious  and 
moral  law  that  safeguarded  righteousness  and  the 
foundations  of  civilization,  is  a  grave  exposure 
both  of  the  formality  of  the  profession  required 
from  its  baptized  members,  and  of  its  own  in- 
difference to  the  morals  of  the  time. 

In  a  fragment  of  Annals  there  is  a  glimpse  of 
what  the  Roman  Scotic  christian  considered  re- 
ligion at  this  date.  S.  Columba  receives  divine 
honours,  and  his  name  is  joined  to  the  name  of 
God  in  Scotic  intercessions.  The  Divine  powers 
are  tribal.  The  second  and  third  Persons  in  the 
Trinity  are  not  named.  The  patrons,  S.  Peter, 
or  S.  Andrew,  are  not  invoked,  although  the  oc- 
casion is  a  battle  in  Fortrenn.  There  is  decided 
veneration  for  the  relics  of  S.  Columba.  Merit  is 
bought  by  acceptance  of  the  rites  of  the  Church, 
and  obedience  to  the  clergy.  Nothing  is  said 
about  the  prayers  of  the  Picts  of  Fortrenn,  who 
were  fighting  alongside  the  Scots  at  the  time.  It 
is  the  Scots  with  the  aid  of  their  tribal  deities  and 
tribal  relics  who  win  the  battle.  Religion  has  been 
degraded  into  a  superstition.  But  the  extract 
speaks  for  itself. 

'About  the  same  time,'  c.  a.d.  909,  when  the 
same  Constantine  was  king,  'the  men  of  Fortrenn ' 
(Picts)  fought  against  Norse  Vikings  {'Locklan- 
naigk'). 

'  Valiantly  also  in  this  battle  did  the  men  of 
"Alban"  (Scots)  fight;  because  Columcille  was 
494 


'  RELIGIOUS  EQUALITY ' 

assisting  them,  for  they  had  fervently  invoked  his 
help,  seeing  that  he  had  been  ihir  apostle,  and 
that  through  him  they  had  received  the  Faith. 
On  a  former  occasion  when  I var  Conung  (Viking) 
was  a  young  man  he  came  to  plunder  "  Alban  " 
with  three  large  divisions.  What  the  men  of 
"Alban"  (Scots),  both  laity  and  clergy,  did  was 
to  remain  fasting  and  praying,  until  dawn,  to  God 
and  to  Columcille.  They  cried  aloud  to  the  Lord, 
and  gave  much  alms  of  food,  and  clothing,  to  the 
Churches  and  to  the  poor;  and  they  received  the 
body  of  the  Lord  from  the  hands  of  the  priests, 
making  promise  to  do  whatever  good  the  clergy 
might  order,  and  they  were  to  have  as  their  stand- 
ard in  thevan  of  every  battle  the  6ackal/oiColum- 
cille,  for  which  reason  it  is  called  "Cathbuaidh." 
This  was  a  befitting  name  for , it,  because  they  have 
often  attained  victory  through  it,  as  they  did  at 
this  time  when  they  put  their  trust  in  Columcille. 
The  battle  was  fought  fiercely  and  strenuously. 
The  "Albanaigh"  (Scots)  gained  victory  and  tri- 
umph.'* 

*  Transcribed  by  Mac  Firbis  from  the  Book  of  Mac  Egan. 


CORRECTIVE  OBSERVATIONS 
CONCERNING  THE  CELE  DE 
('CULDEES')  OF  PICTLAND  OF 

ALBA 
CHAPTER  TWENTY-TWO 

The  British  people  are  even  now  hardly  eman- 
cipated from  the  historical  errors  of  Hector  Boece 
and  those  who  followed  him;  consequently,  many 
do  not  understand  that  the  Cele  De  were  not  the 
Celtic  Church,  but  merely  represented  a  feature 
of  its  activity.  It  is  correct,  however,  that  the 
earlier  Cele  De,  singly  and  organized,  were  left  to 
represent  the  teaching,  and  to  maintain  the  wor- 
ship of  the  Celtic  Churches  of  Alba  and  Ireland, 
in  many  districts,  after  the  main  organizations  of 
these  Churches  had  been  smashed  by  the  Vik- 
ings. In  the  time  of  Kenneth  Mac  Alpin  and  his 
earlier  successors  the  attitude  of  the  Cele  De  of 
Pictland  towards  the  favoured  and  aggressive 
Roman  Scotic  Church  was  an  attitude  of  dissent 
and  opposition.  Very  nobly  did  these  Cek  De,  at 
the  utmost  personal  risk  in  many  places,  keep 
alive  not  only  the  law  and  testimony  of  the  Celtic 
Churches,  but  the  very  essentials  of  the  Christian 
religion  itself.  There  was  one  period  in  the  hist- 
ory of  St.  Andrews,  and  of  several  other  places 
in  Alba  and  Ireland,  when  Christian  prayer  and 
worship  would  have  died  out,  and  when  the  es- 
sentialsofthe  Christian  religion  itself  would  have 
496 


THE  CELE  DE  OF  ALBA 

been  forgotten,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  faithful 
and  undismayed  Cele  De.* 

A  full  history  of  the  Cele  De  belongs  properly 
to  a  history  of  the  Church  of  the  Scots  of  Alba; 
because  the  work  of  the  Cele  De  was  brought 
most  fully  into  the  light,  and  their  organizations 
were  most  widely  developed  during  the  period  in 
which  the  romanized  Church  of  the  Scots  was 
slowly  and  warily  striving  to  absorb  the  Church 
of  the  Picts.  Nevertheless,  as  the  majority  of  the 
Cele  De  of  Pictland,  after  the  coming  of  the 
Vikings,  represented  the  men  who  wished  to  pre- 
serve and  to  continue  the  Church  of  the  Picts, 
they,  so  long  as  that  effort  continued,  belong  to 
the  history  of  the  Pictish  Church.  Many  of  them 
were  the  straggled  Pictish  clergy  or  their  succes- 
sors who,  living  singly  or  in  groups  apart  from  the 
ordinary  muinntirs,  in  secluded  and  inaccessible 
retreats,  had  succeeded  in  evading  both  the  mur- 
dering Viking  pagans,  and  the  Roman  Church- 
men, with  their  rage  for  absorbing  everything 
ecclesiastical  that  moved  outside  themselves. 

Throughout  their  middle  and  closing  period 
in  Pictland,  the  Cele  De  had  two  sets  of  steady 
assailants.  The  first  were  the  pagan  Vikings  who, 
where  they  could,  disputed  their  access  to  the 
burned  or  disorganized  centres  of  the  Pictish 
Church.  The  second  were  the  zealots  of  the 

*  Cf.  one  of  the  historical  passages  in  the  \s.rgtx  Legend  of  S.  Andrew. 
See  Chronicles,  Picts  and  Scots,  p.  190. 

2  K  497 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Church  of  Rome  who  from  their  places  of  power 
among  the  Scots  could  not  tolerate  the,  to  them, 
irresponsible  Cele  De  who  refused  to  be  brought 
under  Roman  discipline  and  organization.  The 
original  Cele  De  had  been  saved  from  the  first 
Vikings  by  their  isolation  in  poverty,  in  caves, 
wooded  glens,  and  diserts;  their  successors  could 
always  preserve  themselves  from  fresh  Viking 
hostility  by  flight  to  the  same  inaccessible  retreats 
until  the  hate  of  their  persecutors  spent  itself 
The  persistent  aggression  of  the  Roman  clergy, 
on  the  other  hand,  required  to  be  baffled  by  or- 
ganization; and  the  organization  of  the  Cele  De, 
in  Pictland  at  least,  grew  stronger  as  the  Roman 
Church  became  more  powerful  and  aggressive. 
When,  at  the  close  of  their  period,  the  Cele  De 
were  being  gradually  absorbed  into  the  organiz- 
ation of  the  Church  of  Rome,  as  regular  canons; 
it  was  accomplished  by  negotiation  between  the 
prelates  and  the  Cele  De,  and  was  facilitated  by 
the  fact  that  through  the  lapse  of  time  the  Cele 
De  had  degenerated,  and  old  differences  had 
become  forgotten  or  regarded  as  not  worth  em- 
phasizing. 

Attempts  have  been  made  to  explain  the  Cele 
De  by  the  monastic  institutions  of  the  Church 
of  Rome;  but  these  are  anachronistic  so  far  as 
Pictland  is  concerned.  Besides,  although  there 
was  contrast,  there  was  no  similarity  between 
the  institutions  of  the  Church  of  Rome  and  the 
498 


THE  CELE  DE  OF  ALBA 

organized  Cele  De.  Rome's  organizations  grew 
out  of  her  determination  to  secure  submission, 
mechanical  order,  and  discipline,  while  the  or- 
ganization of  the  Cele  De  developed  from  a 
determination  to  defend  themselves  against  ex- 
ternal restriction,  and  the  limitation  of  that  free- 
dom of  individual  action  so  dear  to  the  Celtic 
spirit.  The  Roman  monk  entered  his  order  to 
limit  his  personal  freedom;  the  Celtic  cleric  ori- 
ginally became  a  Cele  De,  in  order  to  attain  the 
utmost  freedom  compatible  with  the  service  of 
God. 

Another  anachronism  perpetrated  by  early 
Roman  Catholic  writers,  which  has  misled  many 
modern  writers,  was  to  carry  back  the  name  'Cele 
De  beyond  the  period  when  it  arose,  and  apply  it 
to  sections  of  the  Celtic  Church  to  which  it  did 
not  correctly  belong.  Thus  Joceline,  writing  of 
the  members  of  S.  Kentigern's  muinntiraX  Glas- 
gow as  living  in  separate  casulae,  adds,  '  There- 
fore these  solitary  clerics  were  called  in  common 
speech  "Calledei. " '  *  The  CeleDe  originally  were 
solitaries,  but  at  a  later  stage  in  their  history 
many  of  them  lived  in  groups;  however,  the  point 
is  that  the  name  'Cele  De'  was  not  current  in  S. 
Kentigern's  time  to  mark  off  the  solitaries  as  a 
distinct  class  within  the  Celtic  Church;  and,  more- 
over, Joceline  has  misapplied  the  name,  because 
S.  Kentigern's  'family'  were  not  solitaries,  but 

*  V.S.K.  (Joceline)  cap.  xx. 

499 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

members  of  a  community.  They  certainly  lived 
in  separate  casulae,  as  did  the  members  of  all  the 
Celtic  muinntirs,  thus  preserving  even  in  a  com- 
munal life  much  of  that  personal  freedom  of 
which  the  Celt  was  ever  jealous.  The  solitary, 
on  the  other  hand,  always  left  the  vicinity  of  his 
muinntir  and  the  direct  control  of  his  Ab,  and 
chose  his  retreat  in  the  wilds. 

The  Chartulary  of  St.  Andrews  contains,  in 
a  summary  of  early  grants,  a  reference  to  the 
earliest  organized  group  of  Cele  De  in  Pictland. 
'  Brude  Mac  Dergart,  who  is  said  byold  tradition 
to  have  been  the  last  of  the  kings  of  the  Picts, 
gives  the  island  of  Lochlevine  to  the  omnipotent 
God  and  S.  Servanus,  and  to  the  Keledei  her- 
mits dwelling  there  who  are  serving  and  shall 
serve  God  in  that  island.'  Macbeth  Mac  Finn- 
loech,  too,  in  spite  of  his  reputation  in  literature, 
was  a  generous  king,  and  it  is  interesting  to  find 
him  favouring  the  successors  of  the  Pictish  clergy. 
He  and  Gruoch,  his  queen,  gave  'Kyrkenes'  to 
these  same  'Keledei.'  Later  on,  according  to  the 
summary,  'Macbeth  gives  "Bolgyne"  to  God 
and  S.  Servanus  of  Lochlevyne  and  to  the  her- 
mits there  serving  God.'* 

Macbeth  was  killed  at  Lumphanan,  a.d.  1057; 
and  Brude,  the  last  of  the  kings  of  the  regular 
Pictish  line,  whose  name  closes  the  original  list  of 
kings  in  the  Pictish  Chronicle,  reigned  a.d.  841- 

*  Jiegistrum  P.  S.  Andreae,  pp.  113- Ii8. 
500 


THE  CELE  DE  OF  ALBA 

842.  It  is  necessary  to  make  this  note  to  show, 
what  will  be  obvious  to  many,  that  the  words  'to 
God  and  S.  Servanus'  are  merely  the  usual  form- 
ula of  the  drawer  of  a  deed  where  the  name  of  the 
founder  of  the  Church  concerned  is  joined  with 
the  name  of  God.  Certain  writers  render  it 
necessary,  but  one  feels  almost  foolish  in  having 
to  point  out  that  the  formula  does  not  mean  that 
S.  Servanus  was  living  either  in  the  reign  of 
Brude  (841-842),  or  in  the  reign  of  Macbeth 
(1040-1057). 

These  Pictish  clerics,  according  to  another 
account,  had  come  from  Culross,  the  chief  muin- 
ntir  founded  by  S.  Servanus,  to  Lochleven.  The 
date  of  their  migration  was  in,  or  just  before,  the 
year  a.d.  841.  What  apparently  happened  was 
that  when,  in  a.d.  839,  the  Vikings  devastated 
the  Pictish  kingdom  of  Fortrenn,  defeating  the 
Pictish  army,  slaying  the  king  and  many  other 
leaders,  the  Pictish  clergy  found  Culross  on  the 
exposed  bank  of  the  Forth  untenable;  and  those 
who  survived  fled,  to  collect  again  at  Lochleven, 
where,  in  a. d.  841-2,  Brude  established  them  in  a 
comparatively  safe  and  unobtrusive  retreat  on 
one  of  the  islands,  and  there  they  and  their 
successors  came  to  be  known  as  the  '  Cele  De  of 
Lochleven.' 

It  is  evident  that  the  Scotic  fabulist  who  con- 
structed the  grotesque  Life  of  the  unhistorical  S. 
Servanus,  making  him  a  dependent  of  the  Scotic 

501 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Adamnan,  abbot  of  lona,  not  to  mention  'son  of 
a  king  of  Canaan,  and  priest  of  Alexandria,'  was 
acquainted  with  the  original  information  sum- 
marized later  in  the  Chartulary  of  St.  Andrews; 
because  he  perverts  the  friendship  of  king  Brude 
for  these  Cele  De  into  hostility,  which  is  over- 
come by  a  stock  miracle.  Ignorant,  probably,  of 
the  real  causes  which  drove  these  Cele  De  to 
Lochleven,  he  makes  them  go  thither  with  the  S. 
Servanus  of  his  imagination,  who  is  represented 
as  receiving  the  island  retreat  from  Adamnan  of 
lona,  who,  he  professes,  was  dwelling  at  that  time 
by  this  Loch.  No  Gaidheal  or  Scot,  ecclesiastic 
or  layman,  held  any  position  of  authority  or 
ownership  in  this  part  of  Pictland  at  the  period 
concerned. 

This  impudent  piece  of  fiction  falls  to  be 
classed  along  with  the  'Myth'  of  Deer,  and  the 
efforts  of  the  Roman  monks  of  Fearn,  against  the 
testimony  of  their  own  records,  to  substitute  Bar- 
FhianofCorkfor  S.  Finbar  of  Maghbile;  and, ob- 
viously, was  framed  for  a  similar  purpose,  namely, 
to  justify  the  Roman  usurpation  of  property  be- 
longing to  the  Pictish  Church.  Manifestly  the 
Lochleven  fabulist  concocted  the  biography  of 
the  unhistorical  Servanus  and  the  story  of  his 
dependence  on  Adamnan  at  some  date  after  the 
death  of  Macbeth  in  a.d.  105  7,  togive  a  semblance 
of  legality  to  the  Scotic  clergy  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  when  they  took  possession  of  the  property 
502 


THE  CELE  DE  OF  ALBA 

of  the  Cele  De  of  Lochleven,  in  enjoyment  of 
which  they  are  afterwards  found. 

Yet,  the  late  Dr.  Skene  adopted  this  fabulist's 
fictions  concerning  S.  Servanus  and  S.  Adamnan; 
and  in  face  of  the  testimony  of  the  Pictish  Chron- 
icle, which  he  himself  edited  and  published,  ig- 
nored the  clear  meaning  of  the  words  of  the  St. 
Andrews  charter  summary, '  Brude,  who  is  said  by 
old  tradition  to  have  been  the  last  of  the  kings  of 
the  Picts.'  It  ought  to  have  been  apparent  that 
this  did  not  mean  the  last  sovereign  of  the  Picts, 
but  the  king,  last  of  the  regular  Pictish  line,  who 
reigned  over  the  Picts.  Such,  indeed,  Brude  was; 
whether  he  was  '  Mac  Dergart'  or  not,  cannot  be 
verified  from  the  oldest  Pictish  Chronicle,  as  he  is 
entered  simply  as  '  Brude,'  at  the  end  of  the  list 
of  the  regular  Pictish  sovereigns,  thus  confirm- 
ing the  St.  Andrews  charter  reference.  Skene, 
however,  boldly  suggested  that  this  Brude  might 
be  taken  as  Brude  Derelei,  who  was  reigning 
during  the  last  eight  years  of  Adamnan's  life;  be- 
cause he  thereby  would  gain  some  apparent  cred- 
ence for  the  fabulist,  and  also  support  for  his  own 
blundering  conclusions  concerning  the  Church 
of  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots. 

Attempts  have,  further,  been  made  to  explain 
the  Cele  De  of  Pictland  by  the  ^Colidet  of  Eng- 
land, and  the  'Deicolae  of  the  continent  of  Europe. 
There  is  here  a  similarity  of  name,  but  aconsider- 
able  etymological  difference.  It  is  not  improb- 

503 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

able  that  the  Deicolae  of  the  Continent  were  the 
successors  of  the  isolated  ascetic  clergy  who 
multiplied  out  of  the  Celtic  Church  of  Gaul;  and 
although  it  is  true  that  the  same  religious  tend- 
encies in  human  nature  produced  i]\&  Deicolae  and 
the  Cele  De,  the  former  do  not  explain  the  latter; 
because  the  Deicolae  set  up  closer  relations  with 
the  Roman  Church  than  the  Cele  De,  while  the 
Cele  De,  owing  to  the  peculiar  ecclesiastical  situ- 
ation in  Pictland,  and  their  feeling  that  they  were 
called  upon  to  preserve  the  traditions  of  the 
Church  of  the  Picts,  to  which  they  mostly  be- 
longed, developed  along  linesof  their  own.  There 
were  marked  differences  even  between  Cele  De 
and  Cele  De.  Although  the  Cele  De  of  Ireland 
maintained  fellowship  of  a  sort  with  the  Cele  De 
of  Pictland,  the  former  had  characteristics  in  life 
and  work  which  do  not  appear  in  the  latter. 


HOW  THE  CELE  DE  ADAPTED 
THEMSELVES  IN  ORDER  TO 
CONTINUE  THE  CHURCH  OF 
THE  PICTS  IN  ALBA,  AND 
FAILED.  THEIR  GRADUAL 
ABSORPTION   INTO  THE 

CHURCH  OF  ROME 
CHAPTER        TWENTY-THREE 

Fortunately  there  is  no  longer  need  to  fear  the 
wrath  of  modern  Celtic  etymologists  when  oflfer- 
ing  to  explain  the  name  '  Cele  De.'  The  first  part 
of  the  name  used  to  provoke  bitter  disputes;  the 
second  part  is  simply  the  genitive  of  the  Celtic 
Dia,  the  word  for  God.  'Cele'  originally  meant 
one  who  had  devoted  himself  to  attendance,  ser- 
vice, or  companionship  to  another.  Cuchullin, 
the  hero  of  the  Celts  of  the  West,  who  was  the 
henchman  and  friend  of  Conchobar,  is  made  to 
call  himself'  Cele  Conchobair!  There  is,  however, 
a  decisive  gloss  in  a  Commentary  on  the  Psalter 
which  was  removed  from  the  library  of  the  Pict- 
ish  foundation  at  Bobbio  to  the  Ambrosian  Col- 
lection at  Milan,  a  work  credited  to  S.  Columb- 
anus  himself.  Discussing  the  Latin  phrase  'cuius 
dei  iste  ^j^,'the  commentator  states  \}aa.Viste  illius 
est'  is  equivalent  to  'iste  ad  ilium pertinet' ;  and 
the  later  added  Celtic  gloss  is, '  Amal  asmberaris 
C^le  De  in  fer  kisin,'  that  is,  As  the  saying  goes, 

50s 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

this  man  is  Cele  De.  Thus  a  Cele  De  was  one  who 
devoted  himself  to  attendance,  service,  or  com- 
panionship with  God — God's  man. 

The  name  first  appears  in  Pictland  about  a.d. 
841,  and  was  applied  to  those  Pictish  clergy  who 
had  fled  from  Culross  and  secluded  themselves 
in  the  island  of  Lochleven,  if  we  can  trust  that 
the  author  of  the  summary  of  early  grants  in  the 
Chartulary  of  St.  Andrews  is  not  throwing  back 
the  name.  At  anyrate,  thename  '  Cele  De'  C2LnnoX. 
be  traced  back  beyond  the  end  of  the  eighth  cent- 
ury among  other  Celts.  But,  although  that  be 
the  date  of  the  name,  the  type  of  cleric  so  desig- 
nated had  existed  in  the  Celtic  Church  from  the 
beginning.  The  life  of  the  Cele  De  had  always 
been  an  ideal  of  the  Celtic  clergy.  Few  of  the 
early  Celtic  clergy  could  devote  themselves  to 
that  life;  because  the  missionary  demands  on  the 
Celtic  Church  were  so  great  that  the  clergy  were 
always  called  back  from  a  life  of  comparative 
seclusion  and  freedom  to  the  communal  life  of  the 
muinntirs,  and  to  the  maintenance  of  the  Chris- 
tian ministry  among  the  people.  The  secluded 
life  in  the  wilds  where  the  cleric  was  alone  with 
his  pen,  his  writing  material,  his  manuscripts  of 
the  Psalter  and  of  the  Gospels,  free  for  prayer, 
meditation,  and  works  of  self-denial,  appealed  to 
the  mystical,  brooding,  romantic  Celt,  and  placed 
him  where  he  loved  to  be,  near  to  the  very  soul 
of  Nature,  amid  her  mountains  and  waters,  her 
506 


ABSORPTION  OF  THE  CELE  DE 

forests  and  wind-swept  moors,  her  wild  creatures 
and  freedom,  and  far  from  men  with  their  jeal- 
ousies, competitions,  and  strifes.  All  the  great 
Christian  leaders  of  the  Celts  from  S.  Martin  to 
S.  Comgan  possessed  retreats  in  which  they  peri- 
odically isolated  themselves,  and  they  encour- 
aged the  members  of  their  communities  to  follow 
their  examples.  S.  Martin  had  his  cave,  S.  Ninian 
had  his  cave,  the  historical  S.  Servanus  had  his 
disert,  S.  Kentigern  had  his  retreat  in  the  forest, 
S.  Cainnech  had  his  retreat  on  an  island,  the  Pict- 
ish  clergy  of  Old  Munros  and  of  Moray  had  their 
diseris,  S.  Donnan  had  his  isolated  cell,  away  from 
his  muinntir  and  shut  off  from  men,  except  for 
a  narrow  footway  by  two  rivers  and  a  loch ;  and 
there  are  numberless  other  examples.  But  these 
men,  owing  to  the  needs  of  their  communities  and 
the  needs  of  their  congregation,  always  returned 
from  their  retreats  to  take  their  share  of  the  gen- 
eral work  of  the  Church. 

It  was  different  about  the  middle  of  the  eighth 
century  when  the  numbers  of  the  Celtic  clergy 
had  greatly  multiplied,  and  when  many  could  be 
spared  to  take  their  own  way.  The  cleric  who 
preferred  the  life  of  a  solitary,  giving  himself  to 
prayer,  study  of  the  Scriptures,  and  works  of  in- 
struction and  benevolence  to  those  who  might 
visit  his  retreat,  was  encouraged  and  even  ad- 
mired. He  remained  subject  to  the  Ab  of  the  m?«- 
innitr  mwhich  he  had  been  trained  and  ordained, 

507 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

wherever  he  might  wander;  but  as  most  of  the 
Cele  De  wandered  to  remote  places,  sometimes 
even  to  foreign  lands,  the  control  was  nominal. 
One  of  the  best-known  examples  of  a  Cele  De  in 
practice,  although  he  did  not  bear  the  name,  be- 
cause apparently  in  his  time  it  had  not  come  into 
vogue,  was  Drostan  of  the  Oak-cell,  whose  re- 
treat was  in  Glen-Esk  'in  the  height  of  Brechin,' 
who  died  a.d.  719.  The  sacrifices  and  sanctity  of 
these  solitaries  brought  them  esteem  and  fame 
about  this  period ;  and  the  Annals  give  to  some  of 
them  as  much  notice  as  to  the  Abs  of  muinntirs. 
At  Cinn  Garadh  (Kingarth)  a  certain  Teimnen 
died  in  a.d.  732.  The  name  Cele  De  had  not, 
even  then,  become  current  in  Pictland;  because 
the  Latin  annalist  calls  him  'clericus  religiosus.' 
In  the  Church  of  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots  at  lona, 
in  A.D.  752  Cilline  Droicteach  the  Ab  died.  There 
was  this  peculiarity  about  him  that  he  lived  the 
life  of  a  Cele  De,  and  dwelt  away  from  the  muinn- 
tir;  but  even  to  him  the  name  *Cele  De'  is  not 
applied  and  he  is  called  'ancorite.'  Sometime  be- 
tween the  death  of  Teimnen  in  a.d.  732,  and  the 
settlement  of  the  Pictish  clerics  at  Lochleven  in 
A.D.  841,  the  designation  'Cele  De'  obtained  cur- 
rency in  Pictland. 

The  precise  date  at  which  the  Cele  De  of  Pict 
land  began  to  forsake  an  absolutely  solitary  life, 
and  to  organize  themselves  in  small  groups,  is  not 
known;  but  it  was  between  a.d.  794  and  a.d.  839, 
508 


ABSORPTION  OF  THE  CELEDE 

when  the  Vikings  were  making  repeated  inroads 
into  Pictland,  and  when  they  had  begun  the  sys- 
tematic destruction  of  the  settlements  of  the  great 
muinntirs  of  the  Pictish  Church,  and  the  slaughter 
or  scattering  of  the  members. 

The  folly,  apart  from  the  anachronism,  of  try- 
ing to  explain  the  early  Cele  De  by  the  brethren 
of  the  Roman  monastic  orders  becomes  more 
apparent  the  more  that  the  Cele  De  of  this  period 
are  understood.  The  Roman  monks  were  some- 
times men  of  keen  intellectual  ability  with  deep 
spiritual  fervour  who  believed  that  righteousness 
could  be  promoted  by  the  extension  of  ecclesiast- 
ical machinery  and  the  organization  of  all,  in  sub- 
mission to  the  Church;  sometimes  they  were  pes- 
simists, shrunken  human  weaklings  who  saw  no 
opportunity  for  a  holy  life  away  from  the  seclusion 
and  enforced  rule  of  the  cloister;  sometimes  they 
were  sated  voluptuaries  who  sought  peace  in  pen- 
itence, out  of  sight  of  the  men  and  women  whom 
they  had  wronged  and  outraged.  Those  early 
Cele  De,  on  the  other  hand,  though  also  men  of 
intellectual  strength,  possessed  sensitive  Celtic 
souls  which  at  times  seemed  ablaze  with  Divine 
fire  that  flamed  up  in  ecstasies  of  prayer,  ex- 
hortation, or  self-denying  toil  for  others,  which 
impressed  the  people  near  them,  and  attracted 
the  onlookers  while  they  wondered.  The  Cele 
De  possessed  no  affection  for  ecclesiastical  or- 
ganization or  machinery.  He  was  God's  man,  and 

509 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

needed  no  earthly  master  to  whip  him  up.  To 
know  the  will  of  God  was  meat  and  drink ;  to  do  it 
was  life.  The  appetites  were  subordinated  to  the 
longings  of  the  soul,  and  the  Cele  De  had  disci- 
plined their  bodies  to  endure  the  severest  hard- 
ships. They  possessed  no  personal  property,  ex- 
cept the  clothes  they  wore,  a  scanty  store  of  food, 
and  the  area  of  ground  covered  by  their  hut  or 
cave.  They  lived  on  the  simplest  fare,  and  often 
procured  and  prepared  it.  No  woman  was  per- 
mitted near  their  dwellings.  They  had  not  fled 
from  mankind  with  the  selfish  motive  of  winning 
their  own  personal  salvation;  but  to  testify,  in 
their  open  examples,  to  the  blessedness  of  the 
simple,  righteous,  divinely  guided  life.  As  they 
asked  no  man's  gifts ;  they  courted  no  man's  fav- 
our. The  penitents,  or  those  who  aspired  to  do 
well,  always  found  among  them  an  anamcaraidh* 
or  soul-friend.  They  were  always  ready  to  teach 
those  who  were  attracted  to  their  retreats.  Some- 
times when  deeply  stirred  by  some  message  in 
the  soul,  they  sallied  forth  among  men,  voices 
from  the  wilderness,  and  having  uttered  their 
burning  words,  disappeared  as  dramatically  as 
they  had  come.  They  loved,  out  of  their  scanty 
store  and  abundant  sympathy,  to  minister  to  the 
poor;  and  in  certain  cases  this  tenderness  won  for 
them  special  names  of  endearment  by  which  the 
people  commemorated  them. 

*  This  duty  was  embodied  in  the  rule  of  Maelruain. 


ABSORPTION  OF  THE  CELE  DE 

In  all  this  the  Cele  De  stood  for  the  type  of  life 
lived  and  demanded  by  the  great  Celto-Catholic 
Abs,  S.  Ninian,  S.  Comgall,  S.  Kentigern,  and  S. 
Moluag.and  all  the  clergy  whom  they  had  trained. 
Thus  far  the  Cele  De  were  the  conservatives  in 
the  Pictish  Church.  In  another  aspect  they  were 
dissenters  and  protesters;  because  their  fidelity 
to  the  ideals  of  apostolic  Christianity,  their  de- 
mand for  personal  righteousness,  and  their  self- 
denying  lives  were  open  censures  of  the  lay  suc- 
cessors of  the  Abs  of  the  Celtic  muinntirs  who, 
taking  advantage  of  the  political  and  ecclesiast- 
ical confusion  of  theperiod,  held  on  to  the  property 
of  the  muinntirs  for  their  own  benefit  without 
maintaining  an  adequate  Christian  ministry  in 
their  districts.  The  lives  of  these  Cele  De  were 
also  a  protest  against  the  innovating  Roman 
clergy  who  sought  to  substitute  the  merits  of  the 
saints  for  personal  righteousness,  the  sacramental 
seals  of  the  Church  for  the  tokens  of  a  practical 
faith,  and  churchmen  who  hankered  after  temp- 
oral power  and  influence  and  endowments  in  place 
of  ministers  who  lived  and  laboured  in  apostolic 
simplicity  and  poverty. 

Even  as  late  as  the  time  of  queen  Margaret, 
as  her  biographer  tells,  there  were  Cele  De  in  the 
kingdom  of  Alba  worthy  of  the  Pictish  Church 
with  its  apostolic  virtues.  'They  lived  in  various 
places,'  writes  the  author  of  the  biography,*  'in 

*  V.  S.  Margaritae,  c.  ix. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

the  flesh  but  not  according  to  the  flesh,  inhabiting 
separate  cells,  practising  great  self-denial;  and, 
even  on  earth,  lived  the  life  of  angels.  In  her  re- 
gard for  them  the  queen  did  her  best  to  love  and 
venerate  Christ;  she  frequently  visited  them  and 
conversed  with  them,  commending  herself  to 
their  prayers;  and  although  she  could  not  induce 
them  to  accept  any  material  gifts  from  her,  she 
earnestly  besought  them  to  give  to  her  some  op- 
portunity for  works  of  charity  or  mercy.  What- 
ever they  desired  she  devoutly  fulfilled,  either 
in  recovering  the  poor  from  their  poverty,  or  in 
relieving  the  afflicted  from  the  miseries  that 
oppressed  them.  As  the  religious  devotion  of 
the  people  brought  many  from  all  parts  to  the 
Church*  of  St.  Andrews,  she  constructed  dwell- 
ings on  both  sides  of  the  Firth  of  Forth,  in  order 
that  the  pilgrims  and  the  poor  might  find  refresh- 
ment and  lodgings  on  their  way  thither;  and  she 
also  provided  free  ferry-boats.' 

Two  glimpses  of  the  gentle  Saxon  lady  who 
became  'queen  of  Alban,'  and  her  relations  with 

*  Namely,  the  Church  that  represented  the  ancient  Pictish  Church. 
According  to  the  historical  allusions  in  the  larger  Legend  of  S.  Andrew 
there  were  two  Churches  in  St.  Andrews  at  this  time — the  Church  that 
represented  the  old  foundation  of  S.  Cainnech  at  Cind  Righ  Motuadh; 
and  the  Roman  Church  dedicated  to  S.  Andrew. 

At  this  time  the  Church  of  S.  Andrew  was  not  the  popular  Church ; 
because  we  learn  that  there  was  no  provision  for  service  there  except  when 
the  king  and  bishop  visited  the  city. 

The  Church  that  represented  the  old  native  Church  was  at  this  time 
served  by  thirteen  Cele  De.  Many  of  the  'pilgiims'  referred  to  would  be 
visiting  Cele  De. 


ABSORPTION  OF  THE  CELE  DE 

the  Celtic  clergy,  are  given  by  her  biographer. 
One  in  which  she  wrangles  with  them  at  a  confer- 
ence, over  practices  which  differed  from  the  us- 
ages of  the  Church  of  Rome  at  that  time,  as,  for 
instance,  where  the  Celtic  Churchmen,  following 
the  Lord's  example,  kept  a  continuous  forty  days' 
fast  at  Lent,  where  they  adhered  to  Saturday 
as  the  Sabbath  of  rest  and  to  the  Sunday  as  a 
Christian  festival,  and  where  they  blessed  and  set 
apart  the  bread  and  wine  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 
but  refrained  from  general  communion  out  of 
dread  that  they  might  eat  and  drink  unworthily. 
The  other  glimpseofthequeen  is  theone  already 
noticed,  where  with  ready  honesty  she  bears 
testimony,  and  manifests  sincere  respect  for  the 
clean,  honourable,  and  holy  lives  led  by  the  Cele 
De  who  held  to  the  early  practices  of  their  ancient 
Church,  in  spite  of  the  threats  and  blandishments 
of  a  time  so  corrupt  that  even  Margaret's  son 
Ethelred  had  been  made  in  his  boyhood  lay  Ab 
of  Dunkeld,  in  order  that  he  might  enjoy  the 
benefit  of  the  endowments  that  Kenneth  Mac 
Alpin  had  tried  to  wrest  for  the  Roman  bishopric 
that  failed.  The  early  Roman  Catholic  writers 
have  done  much  to  discredit  the  early  Cg/^  De  by 
their  references  to  'barbarous  rites,'  giving  the 
impression  that  paganism  had  somehow  mingled 
with  Pictish  Christianity;  whereas  it  was  not 
the  rites  that  were  'barbarous'  but  their  celebra- 
tion in  the  native  Celtic  speech,  which  was  'bar- 

2L  513 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

barous '  only  to  those  who  affected  the  Latin 
tongue,  or  who  held  the  belief  that  culture  and 
religion  were  inseparable  from  Latin.  Margaret 
was  much  nobler  than  the  clergy  of  the  Church 
of  Rome  to  which  shebelonged;  because,  although 
she  was  fully  aware  that  the  Celtic  Churchmen 
disregarded  the  forms  of  the  Roman  Church  of 
her  time,  she  recognized,  nevertheless,  that  they 
adhered  to  what  was  greater,  the  essentials  of 
Christian  belief  and  practice;  and,  if  she  had  only 
known,  to  many  of  the  observances  of  the  Apos- 
tolic and  Catholic  Church  which  Rome  had  abo- 
lished or  forgotten. 

The  decline  of  the  Cele  De  and  their  final  fail- 
ure to  continue  the  Church  of  the  Picts  is  a  story 
that  belongs  to  the  period  of  the  rise  of  the 
romanized  Scotic  Church,  into  which  the  Cele 
De  were  gradually  but  completely  absorbed  at 
length.  Apart  from  the  paganizing  influences  of 
the  Vikings,  and  the  difficulty  of  keeping  alive 
special  national  or  ecclesiastical  differences  in  the 
face  of  their  continued  menace;  two  influences 
operated  to  deteriorate  the  tone  and  quality  of  the 
Cele  De.  One  influence  was  from  among  them- 
selves, and  began  after  they  had  begun  to  group 
and  to  organize  themselves  for  protection.  Their 
new  position  made  it  necessary  to  accept  and  to 
hold  property;  and,  sometimes, to  put  themselves 
under  the  stronger  lay  chiefs  who  became  pro- 
tectors and  patrons.  The  care  of  this  world  and 
514 


ABSORPTION  OF  THE  CELE  DE 

the  deceitfulness  of  riches  choked  their  spiritual 
life,  and  they  became  unfruitful.  Theymarried,  to 
preserve  a  succession  to  the  ministry  and  to  the 
benefices,  because,  the  Pictish  clans  in  many  in- 
stances having  been  broken  up  by  the  Vikings,  or 
by  the  influx  of  the  Scots,  it  became  impossible 
otherwise  to  observe  the  old  Pictish  law  of  keep- 
ing the  succession  to  an  ecclesiastical  position 
within  the  founder's  clan.  The  Cele  De,  however, 
it  ought  to  be  told,  were  not  forgetful  of  their 
original  rigorist  observances;  and  barred  them- 
selves from  associating  with  their  wives  during 
their  periods  of  duty  at  the  Church.  The  Cele 
De  of  St.  Andrews  whom  queen  Margaret  es- 
teemed so  highly  were  married  men. 

The  second  influence  that  operated  to  deteri- 
orate the  Cele  De  was  the  steady,  unrelenting 
pressure  and  undermining  influence,  over  a  long 
period,  of  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 
How  they  operated  is  seen  in  the  attempt  of 
Fothad  I.*  Mac  Bran,  Roman  bishop  of '  Alban' 
from  about  a.d.  943  until  his  expulsion  about  a.d. 
954.  He  drew  Ronan,  the  head  of  the  Cele  De  of 
Lochleven,  into  an  agreementf  whereby  Fothad 
engaged  himself  to  find  food  and  clothing  for  the 
Cele  De,  on  condition  that  they  conveyed  the 

*  He  died  A.D.  963. 

t  The  agreement  was  apparently  cancelled  by  the  expulsion  of  Fothad 
from  his  bishopric ;  because  after  this  event  the  Cele  De  were  still  firmly 
established  in  possession  of  the  island,  and  were  blessed  with  additions  to 
their  property. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

large  island  on  Lochleven,  where  they  lived,  to 
him.  Although  this  effort  failed  through  the  ejec- 
tion of  Fothad  from  power,  it  was  manifestly 
an  attempt  to  gain  control  of  one  of  the  most 
popular  centres  of  the  Cele  De.  About  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  later,  the  bishop  of  'Alban' 
at  St.  Andrews  did  at  last  assert  an  undisguised 
claim  to  control  the  whole  Cele  De  of  Alba.*  It  is 
not  said  how  or  why,  but  this  claim  was  supported 
by  a  royal  warrant.  There  was  no  agreement 
with  the  Cele  De;  and  so  far  as  certain  groups  of 
Cele  De  were  concerned  the  bishop's  claim  was 
ignored.  B  ut  the  appearance  of  the  royal  warrant 
or  royal  charter  was  ominous  for  the  Cele  De. 
It  became,  in  course  of  time,  an  unscrupulous 
instrument  in  the  hands  of  the  Roman  Church 
for  the  transference  of  the  property  of  the  Cele 
De  to  the  Roman  monastic  orders,  and  for  the 
absorption  of  the  Cele  De  themselves  into  the 
Roman  Church  as  Canons-regular. 

As  late  as  the  thirteenth  century,  according  to 
the  list  at  the  end  of  the  Chronicle  of  Henry  of 
Silgrave,  the  Cele  De  continued  to  hold  out, 
with  more  or  less  independence,  in  the  following 
provinces,  or  ecclesiastical  centres  of  the  ancient 
Church  of  the  Picts — 

St.  Andrews; 

Dunkeld; 

*  When  Turgot,  prior  of  Durham,  queen  Margaret's  director,  became 
bishop  in  A.  D.  1 107.   Councils,  Haddan  and  Stubbs,  p.  1 78. 


ABSORPTION  OF  THE  CELE  DE 

Brechin; 

Ross; 

Dunblane; 

Caithness  (at  Dornoch  in  Sutherland); 
and  in  the  following  district,  and  ecclesiastical 
centre  of  the  original  Church  of  the  Scots — 

Argyll; 

The  island  of  lona. 
As  showing  the  gulf  that  still  separated  the 
Pictish  clergy  from  the  clergy  of  the  Gaidheals 
or  Scots,  as  late  as  a.d.  1055,  Tighernac  has 
preserved  an  unusually  candid  memorandum. 
In  entering  the  death  of  Maelduin  at  that  year, 
he  describes  him  as  Maelduin  Mac  Gillaodran, 
bishop  of  'Alban/  and  the  giver  of  orders  to  the 
Gaidheal  from  {among)  the  clergy.  The  infer- 
ence is  clear  that  the  Pictish  clergy  did  not  re- 
ceive their  orders  from  this  sole  diocesan  bishop 
of  the  romanized  Church  of  the  Scots  in  Alba. 
Nevertheless,  that  the  orders  of  the  Pictish 
clergy,  even  in  this  distracted  period,  were  con- 
sidered regular  is  also  clear;  because  at  the 
Council  in  which  queen  Margaret  and  her  clergy 
were  on  one  side,  and  the  Cele  De  on  the  other, 
no  aspersion  was  cast  upon  the  orders  of  the 
clergy  of  the  Cele  De.  As  the  earlier  Cele  De  had 
among  their  number  Abs,  bishops  of  the  Celtic 
type,  and  presbyters,*  it  is  apparent  that  the  two 

*  In  966  Finghin,  a  Cele  De,  and  a  bishop  of  the  monastic  type,  was 
titular  Ab  of  lona. 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

latter  grades  persisted  until  the  end;  but  when 
the  Cele  De  began  to  organize  themselves  in 
groups,  a  new  official  arose,  corresponding  to  the 
Ab  of  the  great  muinntirs  of  earlier  and  more 
peaceful  times,  and  his  title,  which  appears  both 
in  Ireland  and  Alba,  was  '  Cenn  na  Cele  De,' 
Head  of  the  Cele  De.  The  creation  of  this  chief 
official  completed  the  organized  opposition  of  the 
Cele  De  to  the  inroads  of  the  Roman  Church,  and 
he  was  expected  to  defeat  the  effisrts  of  the  mon- 
archic bishop  of  'Alban'  to  usurp  control  over 
the  Cele  De  anywhere  in  Alba. 


THE  SPIRITUAL  AND  ETHICAL 
VALUE  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF 
THE  PICTS  TO  CHRISTENDOM 
CHAPTER  TWENTY-FOUR 

There  is  an  opinion  current  among  certain  his- 
torians that  the  spiritual  and  ethical  contribu- 
tions of  the  nation  and  Church  of  the  Picts 
to  mankind  and  Christendom  were  completely 
effaced  in  the  devastating  inundations  of  pagan 
Viking  savagery,  or  in  the  octopus-like  absorp- 
tions of  the  Church  of  Rome.  It  is  true  that  the 
organized  nation  and  the  organized  Church  were 
broken  up  or  absorbed;  but  the  Soul  of  the  Pict- 
ish  people  and  the  ideals  in  State  and  in  Church, 
for  which  it  had  striven,  survived;  they  were  in- 
destructible and  immortal.  Israel  ceased  to  be  a 
kingdom  on  earth,  but  its  revelation  of  the  King- 
dom of  God  continued,  and  attracted  the  affection 
of  the  enlightened  world;  the  artists  of  Greece 
were  succeeded  by  a  race  of  traders,  but  the  in- 
telligent world  saved  the  Greek  ideals  of  beauty 
from  being  vulgarized,  and  the  soul  of  the  Greece 
that  was,  still  educates  the  aesthetic  faculties  of 
men ;  the  sceptre  of  imperial  Rome  passed  into 
the  hands  of  the  barbarians,  but  the  spirit  of 
Roman  law  and  order  still  dominates  the  organ- 
ized life  of  Europe;  so,  in  similar  manner,  after 
the  Pictish  sovereignty  ended,  the  people  of 
northern  Britain  continued  to  cherish  the  Pictish 
passion  for  freedom;  and  after  the  Church  of  the 

519 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Picts  ceased,  there  still  lingered  about  the  ruins 
of  her  walls  remembrance  of  her  noble  ethics, 
her  devotion  to  education,  her  faith  in  preach- 
ing emphasized  by  example,  and  her  missionary 
genius  which  enabled  her  to  colonize  without 
lust  of  territory  or  quest  for  mines  or  markets, 
but  solely  for  the  extension  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God  on  earth.  When,  from  time  to  time,  a  cry 
arises  for  a  free  Church,  instead  of  a  Church  en- 
slaved to  power  and  money  and  the  ideals  of 
the  trader,  or  for  a  Church  which  will  demand 
personal  Christlikeness  in  the  individual  mem- 
ber, instead  of  the  formal  seal  of  some  ecclesiasti- 
cal authority  bestowed  or  continued  without  re- 
gard to  the  quality  of  the  member's  life;  or  for  a 
Church  which  will  be  a  brotherhood  of  men  and 
women,  loving  one  another  as  Christ  loved,  in- 
stead of  a  Church  which  is  a  mechanical  con- 
course of  groups  operated  by  fear  and  friction  ; 
then  is  heard  the  voice  of  the  soul  of  the  British 
Celt  craving  to  be  re-embodied;  in  order  to  live 
and  to  act  amid  modern  activities,  as  once  it  lived 
and  acted  in  the  Brito-Pictish  Church. 

Certain  historians  who  have  not  gone  beyond 
the  period  of  the  Mac  Alpin  and  Ceanmor 
dynasties,  when  the  Scotic  Church  had  become 
romanized  and  was  assiduously  engaged  in 
efforts  to  romanize  the  survivals  of  the  Church 
of  the  Picts  in  Pictland,  have  declared  that  they 
can  find  no  difference,  in  essentials,  between  the 
520 


VALUE  OF  CHURCH  OF  PICTS 

Celto- Catholic  Church  as  represented  in  Pict- 
land  and  the  Church  of  Rome.  To  give  plausi- 
bility to  their  attitude  they,  for  example,  refer  to 
the  jotted  rubric  in  the  Book  of  Deer  m  which  the 
elements  of  the  Lord's  Supper  are  called  '  the 
sacrifice  ' ;  without  pointing  out  that  this  jotting 
was  entered  by  a  late  Scotic  hand  after  Deer  had 
come  under  the  control  of  the  romanized  Scots 
in  the  twelfth  century.  Again  they  quote  from 
the  recast  or  garbled  Lives  of  the  Brito-Pictish 
or  Iro-Pictish  Church  leaders,  written  even  later 
in  the  Roman  period  than  the  memorandum  of 
the  Book  of  Deer,  where  the  terminology  of  the 
Roman  Church  is  used  of  these  men's  utterances 
and  actions,  without  pointing  out  that  these 
Lives,  as  Professor  Zimmer  justly  wrote,*  had 
been  deliberately  falsified  in  the  interests  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  and  that  only  by  critical  re- 
editing  and  elimination,  in  the  light  of  the  known 
usages  of  the  Celtic  Church,  can  a  comparatively 
accurate  estimate  be  formed  of  the  nature  of  the 
contents  of  the  original  documents  which  these 
literary  fabulists  mishandled.  Even  the  Bol- 
landists  have  denounced  this  bygone  abuse  of 
literary  ability. 

The  easiest  reply  to  those  who  state  that 

*  'The  spirit  of  deliberate  falsification  in  the  interests  of  the  Church 
only  appears  in  the  Irish  Church  after  her  union  with  that  of  Rome.' 

'  Through  the  following  centuries  (after  the  eighth)  deliberate  forgeries 
are  to  be  found  by  the  side  of  harmless  inventions  by  imaginative  minds.' 
(Zimmer,  Early  Celtic  Church,  pp.  117-18.) 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

there  was  no  difference  in  essentials  between  the 
Celto-Catholic  Church  and  the  Church  of  Rome, 
is  to  draw  attention  to  the  bitter  opposition* 
which  the  Roman  Church  had  to  overcome,  and 
the  long  centurieswhich  she  had  to  wait  through, 
before  she  finally  absorbed  the  Church  of  the 
Picts.  It  was  not  sameness  but  difference  that 
prevented  union. 

The  full  truth  is  that  the  Church  of  the  Picts 
from  her  foundation  by  S.  Ninian,  in  the  early 
part  of  the  fifth  century,  until  Nechtan  the  sover- 
eign intruded  his  small  detachment  of  Roman 
clergy  into  Pictland,  in  the  early  part  of  the 
eighth  century,  and  even  until  king  Giric  or  Grig 
threw  Pictland  open  to  the  agents  of  the  Roman 
Church  towards  the  end  of  the  ninth  century, 
differed  completely  from  the  Church  of  Rome  in 
government,  in  ideals,  in  ethos,  and  in  spirit,  f 

The  Church  of  the  Picts,  until  the  Viking 
period,  was  the  continuation  and  extension  of  a 
colony  from  the  monastic  section  of  the  Western 
Church  in  Gaul,  organized  by  S.  Martin  of  Poic- 
tiers  and  Tours,  while  Gaul  was  still  Celtic.    S. 

*  The  Scotic  continuator  who  added  the  kings  of  the  Alpin  dynasty  to 
the  original  list  of  Pictish  sovereigns  in  the  Pictish  Chronicle  accounts  for 
the  misfortunes  of  the  Picts  by  stating,  '  quia  illi  non  solum  Domini  mis- 
sam  ac  preceptum  spreverunt ;  sed  et  in  jure  equitatis  aliis  equi  parari 
noluerunt '  {Pictish  Chronicle). 

t  See  note  above.  Not  only  did  the  Pictish  clergy  refuse  to  give  the 
romanized  clergy  of  the  Scots  a  foothold  alongside  tliemselves:  but  they  re- 
jected their  celebration  of  the  Sacraments,  and  their  teaching,  and  disci- 
pline. 

522 


VALUE  OF  CHURCH  OF  PICTS 

Martin's  muinntirs  represented  an  organized 
protest  and  revolt  against  the  corruption,  ineffic- 
iency, and  lax  morals  of  the  bishops  and  clergy  in 
many  of  the  Gaulish  cities ;  but  these  muinntirs  Aid 
not  represent  a  schism.  Thecity-dwelling  bishops, 
however,  had  no  control  over  S.  Martin's  re- 
ligious clans,  not  even  when  these  were  settled 
quite  near  to  the  cities  where  the  bishops  pre- 
sided over  those  who  were  afterwards  called  the 
'secular'  clergy.  The  muinntirs  possessed,  with- 
in themselves,  bishops  of  their  own  whose  work 
was  simply  to  bestow  orders,  to  take  part  in  ad- 
ministering the  sacraments;  and  in  all  their  work 
to  submit  to  the  president  of  the  muinntir,  who 
might  or  might  not  be  a  bishop  himself.  Several 
generations  passed  away  before  the  Western  city 
bishops  gained  a  control  over  the  muinntirs;  and 
the  sort  of  conflict  that  arose  can  be  studied  in 
the  case  of  Lerins, 

When  S.  Ninian  left  Gaul  for  Britain,  to  found 
the  Christian  Church  in  that  island,  S.  Martin's 
muinntirs  had  not  been  brought  under  external 
episcopal  control,  and  they  had  no  thought  of  such 
subjection.  That  is  how  it  came  about  that  S. 
Ninian  founded  and  organized  the  Church  of  the 
Britons  and  Picts  by  little  religious  clans  which 
were  free  of  external  episcopal  jurisdiction,  and 
which  required  no  episcopal  offices  except  those 
that  could  be  supplied  by  brethren  of  the  com- 
munity who  were  ordained  bishops  of  the  Celtic 

523 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

type.  An  accident  helped  to  perpetuate  this  form 
of  ecclesiastical  organization  in  Britain.  Not  long 
after  S.  Ninian  had  begun  to  organize  the  new 
'Church,  Britain  was  cut  off  from  Gaul  and  its 
Church  for  over  a  century  and  a  half  by  the  migra- 
tions of  the  barbarians.  Thus  S.  Martin's  and  S. 
Ninian's  type  of  organization  was  established 
and  extended  into  Brito-Pictish  life,  without  in- 
terference from  non-monastic  bishops,  because 
there  were  none. 

That  the  members  of  the  Church  of  the  Picts 
regarded  this  type  of  ecclesiastical  organization 
as  apostolic;  and  that  they  were  determined  to 
preserve  it  from  the  interference  of  non-monastic 
bishops,  when  they,  at  length,  came  upon  the 
scene,  is  shown  in  the  attitude  of  S.  Columbanus 
in  the  sixth  century,  after  he  had  left  Bangor  of 
the  Irish  Picts  and  had  settled  in  Gaul.  He  not 
only  resisted  the  efforts  of  the  bishops  of  Gaul, 
who  by  that  time  had  become  violently  monarch- 
ic, to  intrude  their  authority  within  his  muinntir; 
but,  writing  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome  as  his  equal, 
he  challenged  even  his  growing  pretensions  to 
universal  ecclesiastical  power. 

Those  who  have  been  brought  up  to  mon- 
archic and  diocesan  episcopacy,  and  who  believe 
that  it  is  inseparable  from  the  organization  of  the 
Christian  Church,  looking  back  on  Pictish  leaders 
like  S.  Columbanus,  consider  that  these  men  were 
either  eccentric  or  mad.  •  On  the  contrary,  they 
524 


VALUE  OF  CHURCH  OF  PICTS 

were  striving  to  assert  a  highly  intelligent  and 
most  importantprinciple,  namely,  thatthe  Church 
of  Christ  could  be  preserved  in  Apostolic  form 
and  organization,  and  yet  be  accommodated  to 
the  social  and  communal  clan-organizations  of 
the  freedom-loving  Picts  with  their  Celtic  belief 
in  democratic  power.  The  Church  of  Rome, 
working  on  the  barbarians,  after  they  had  settled, 
organized  itself  on  the  model  of  the  Imperial 
Roman  government;  but  substituted  ecclesi- 
astical designations  for  the  old  civil  titles,  claim- 
ing, as  an  afterthought,  that  the  whole  arrange- 
ment of  monarchic  and  diocesan  officials,  with 
their  usurpation  of  temporal  power,  was  divine. 
The  Church  of  the  Picts,  on  the  other  hand,  like 
the  Churches  of  the  other  Celts,  organized  itself 
on  the  model  of  the  college  of  Twelve  Disciples 
under  an  acknowledged  leader,  and,  as  it  grew, 
fitted  its  colleges  into  the  clan-systemof  the  Irish 
Picts  and  the  Picts  of  Alba.  The  Pictish  Church- 
men abjured  temporal  power,  and  wealth,  and 
show.  They  could  claim  for  their  organization 
that  it  adhered  not  only  in  form  but  also  in  spirit 
to  the  Apostolic  example.  They  could  claim  that 
it  suited  the  life  and  genius  of  a  democratic 
people  who  hated  absolute  rule  and  who  were 
always  ready  to  exert  popular  control.  Just  as  the 
civil  clan-chiefs,  and  even  the  sovereign  of  Pict- 
land,  were  theoretically,  and  generally  actually 
elected;  so  the  Abs  or  chiefs  of  the  religious  clans 

525 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

or  colleges,  although  they  might  be  in  the  line  of 
the  founder,  were  also  subject  to  the  approval  of 
the  members  of  the  colleges,  and  even  the  mem- 
bers of  the  civil  clan.  The  interests  of  the  people 
were  fully  guarded  in  the  Pictish  Church.  The 
Church  of  the  Picts,  therefore,  stands  in  history  as 
a  branch  of  the  Church  of  Christ  which,  adhering 
to  the  simple  life  and  simple  organization  and 
government  of  the  earliest  Apostolic  Church, 
fitted  itself  into  the  national  life  of  a  free  people 
who  delighted  to  exercise  a  control  in  their  own 
government  and  education. 

The  motives  and  aims  of  the  Church  of  the 
Picts  were  also  Apostolic.  Over  unknown  seas 
and  into  unknown  regions  with  persistent  daring, 
invincible  courage,  and  unfaltering  faithfulness, 
the  Pictish  ministers  obeyed  their  Lord's  com- 
mand to  preach  His  Gospel  to  every  creature; 
and  in  all  their  efforts  they  sought  first  and  only 
the  Kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteousness. 
Such  other  things  as  they  considered  needful 
were  restricted  to  the  simplest  wants  of  the  body 
and  mind.  The  Roman  clergy  do  not  bear  com- 
parison with  them,  although  they  make  a  striking 
contrast.  On  the  one  hand,  there  is  the  Roman 
Churchman  with  the  imitated  pomp  and  trap- 
pings of  temporal  power,  whose  aim  is  the 
aggrandizement  of  his  Church,  content  with  a 
formal  acceptance  of  a  formal  Christianity,  par- 
ticular about  conformity  to  his  system  and  com- 
526 


VALUE  OF  CHURCH  OF  PICTS 

plete  submission  to  his  authority,  intolerant  of  all 
unmarked  by  the  Church's  brand,  and  ready, 
where  he  has  the  power,  to  call  in  the  aid  of  the 
sword  of  the  military  to  cut  down  all  opponents. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  is  the  Pictish  Church- 
man modelled  by  S.  Ninian,  S.  Comgall,  S. 
Kentigern,  or  S.  Columbanus,  clad  in  hooded 
cloak  of  brown-coloured  wool,  helped  along  by  a 
plain  bachall  of  thorn  or  hazel,  carrying  a  wallet 
with  a  few  pieces  of  bread,  and  a  manuscript  of 
the  Gospel  rolled  in  a  waterproof  casing  of  hide, 
demanding  a  clean,  honest,  just,  and  merciful  life 
as  the  first  condition  of  admission  intothenumber 
of  Christ's  flock,  and  as  an  earnest  of  intention  to 
receive  and  apply  the  law  of  Christ  as  revealed  in 
His  Gospel.  Let  any  one  read  the  authentic 
details  of  the  lives  of  humble,  but  continuous  and 
effective  service  spent,  that  the  seed  of  the  Word 
should  be  liberally  sown,  by  Pictish  ministers  like 
S.  Columbanus,  S.  Cainnech,  and  S.  Comgall,  or 
Brito-Pictslike  S.  Kentigern,  and  S.  Ninian;  and 
let  him  compare  these  details  with  the  remark- 
ably honest  description  which  Venerable  Bede 
gives  of  S.  Aidan  of  Lindisfarne,  a  Scot  of  the 
unconformed  Celtic  Church;  and  he  will  realize 
that  Bede,  although  he  did  not  know  it,  was  de- 
scribing the  type  of  minister  which  was  charac- 
teristic of  the  whole  Celtic  Church  of  S.  Aidan's 
time.  'His  zeal  for  peace  and  charity,'  writes 
Bede;  'his  continence  and  humility;  his  spirit 

527 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

triumphant  over  bad-temper  and  greed,  and  con- 
temptuous towards  pride  and  vain-glory;  his  in- 
dustry alike  in  living  and  in  teaching  the  divine 
commandments;  his  diligence  in  reading  and  in 
vigils;  his  authority  appropriate  to  his  sacred 
office  in  reproving  the  proud  and  powerful;  and, 
at  the  same  time,  his  sympathetic  ability  to  put 
new  life  into  the  poor  or  to  defend  them  from 
their  oppressors — in  short,  to  summarize  all  that 
we  learned  from  those  who  knew  him,  he  took 
pains  to  omit  none  of  those  things  which  he  found 
in  the  writings  of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  but 
to  the  utmost  of  his  power  endeavoured  to  per- 
form them  all.'*  Bede  knew  that  this  candid  but 
unexaggerated  testimony  would  be  unpalatable 
to  his  own  less  noble  brethren  of  the  Church  of 
Rome,  who  hated  the  unconformed  Celts;  and  he 
knew  that  the  praise  of  S.  Aidan  meant,  by  con- 
trast, severe  censure  of  many  of  them;  so  he  ex- 
cused himself,  in  a  way  that  enhanced  the  tribute, 
by  stating  that  he  would  neither  praise  nor  blame 
S.  Aidan  but  simply  give  the  facts  as  a  faithful 
historian  should. "j- 

This  arresting  picture,  with  its  ample  detail, 
of  the  Celtic  type  of  Christian  minister  helps  us  to 
understand  the  similar  but  more  general  pictures 
of  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  the  Picts;  and  helps 
to  reveal  the  spirit  and  quality  of  the  ministers 

*  Bede,  H.E.G.A.  lib.  iii.  cap.  17. 
t  Ibid.  lib.  iii.  cap.  25. 

528 


VALUE  OF  CHURCH  OF  PICTS 

taught,  trained,  and  fashioned  into  this  likeness 
at  Candida  Casa,  Bangor  of  the  Irish  Picts,  Glas- 
gow of  the  Britons,  and  their  daughter-colleges. 
To  some  it  might  seem  that  these  Celtic  ministers 
were  foredoomed  to  uselessness,  by  the  apostolic 
reality  of  their  Christ-like  lives  and  teaching,  in  a 
world  which  has  popularized  the  accommodating 
Christian  agent,  the  eased  law  of  God,  the  diluted 
Gospel,  and  the  compromised  conscience.  On  the 
contrary,  their  far-stretched  missions  show  how 
successful  they  were.  Until  the  pagan  Teutons 
came,  men  hardly  ever  thought  of  hurting  them 
even  when  they  were  impelled  to  resist  them. 
The  Church  of  the  Picts  possessed  fewer  martyrs 
than  any  Christian  Church.  The  moral  majesty 
of  S.  Columbanus,  from  the  Pictish  college  of 
Bangor,  carried  him  safely  beyond  Prankish  an- 
tagonism and  Roman  ecclesiastical  hate.  Bede's 
testimony,  in  the  face  of  his  hostile  fellow- Church- 
men, to  the  practical  power  of  S.  Aidan's  life, 
shows  that  the  Celtic  ministers  attracted  the  hom- 
age of  all  generous  minds;  and  the  hundreds  upon 
hundreds  of  Celts  who  thronged  to  Bangor  and 
kindred  houses  for  teaching,  prove  that  the  Pict- 
ish ministers  had  won  the  hearts  and  consciences 
,of  the  Celtic  nations.  These  men  could  preach 
the  Gospel  with  the  unmatched  eloquence  of  the 
Celt;  but  they  did  more,  they  lived  the  Gospel; 
and,  without  doubt,  their  lives  were  more  con- 
vincing than  their  words,  and  won  the  people. 

2  M  529 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

The  Church  of  the  Picts,  therefore,  for  herself 
and  the  other  branches  of  the  unconformed  Celtic 
Church,  testifies  out  of  history  that  an  educated 
ministry  on  the  Apostolic  model,  crowned  with 
honour  and  success,  is  no  enthusiast's  dream;  but 
has  already  been  a  proved  and  tested  way  of  man- 
ning the  Church.  These  ministers,  of  Apostolic 
type,  were  beset  with  similar  temptations  to  those 
of  to-day,  to  compromise  with  power,  with  posi- 
tion, and  with  wealth;  but  they  resisted  them 
with  scorn,  in  the  interests  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  on  the  wonder  and 
romance  of  the  missions  and  missionaries  of  the 
Church  of  the  Picts.  The  Pictish  Church  pro- 
duced the  most  brilliant  missionaries  of  any 
Church  in  the  West;  and  left  their  names  and 
examples,  for  all  time,  as  warnings  against  a  self- 
centred  or  exclusiveChurch.  These  missionaries 
possessed  the  secret  of  effective  mission  work. 
Their  converts  were  Christians,  not  institutional- 
ists.  They  dealt  soul  with  soul  until  the  reason 
and  affection  of  the  convert  were  won;  and,  once 
won,  these  converts  were  taught  that  a  Christ- 
like life  is  a  bigger  and  more  essential  mark  of  a 
Christian  than  a  place  in  an  official  Church,  or  the 
formal  rites  by  which  they  had  been  sealed.  There 
is  no  parallel  within  the  Pictish  Church  to  the 
mass  conversions  recognized  by  the  Church  of 
Rome,  where  men  and  women  steeped  in  pagan- 
530 


VALUE  OF  CHURCH  OF  PICTS 

ism  were  herded  together  and  labelled  with  the 
Roman  Church's  label,  as,  for  example,  when  the 
pagan  Viking  invaders  of  the  Orkneys  were  con- 
verted in  mass,  c.  a.d.  iooo,  at  the  order  of  their 
Scandinavian  chief,  and  the  event  entered  in 
history  as  'the  conversion  of  the  Orkneys  to 
Christianity.'  The  Picts  were  saved  from  such 
travesties  of  Christianity  bythe  high  moral  stand- 
ard which  they  taught  to  be  an  essential  of  the 
Christian  life. 

The  Pictish  Church  laid  no  emphasis  on  phil- 
osophical or  theological  dogmas,  because  her 
ministers  required  to  combat  no  heresies.  S. 
Columbanus  shows  that  he  was  acquainted  with 
much  that  had  been  written  to  explain  the  Faith; 
but  when  he  requires  to  appeal  to  authority  it  is 
to  the  teaching  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles,  or  to 
the  example  of  S.  Comgall  and  the  other  fathers 
of  his  Church.  On  examining  what  is  known 
about  the  teaching  of  the  fathers  of  the  Pictish 
Church,  it  is  evident  that  they  too  based  both 
doctrine  and  practice  on  the  Holy  Scriptures  as 
final  authority.  It  was  to  the  Scriptures  that  the 
Britons  forced  S.  Augustine.  It  was  by  the 
Scriptures  that  the  wily  Wilfrid  confounded  the 
unconformed  Scots.  It  was  to  the  Scriptures  that 
Margaret  and  her  Roman  advisers  were  com- 
pelled to  go  for  their  authority  at  the  Council  of 
St.  Andrews.  Probably  not  before  or  since,  out- 
side the  Apostolic  Church,  was  more  emphasis 

531 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

laid  on  the  authority  of  Holy  Scripture  by  any 
Church  than  was  laid  by  the  Pictish  and  other 
branches  of  the  Celto- Catholic  Church.  And  the 
parts  of  the  Scriptures  on  which  most  emphasis 
was  laid  were  the  Gospels  and  the  Psalms.  The 
Gospels  appealed  to  the  Celts  because  they  con- 
tained in  an  Example  of  dazzling  moral  excel- 
lence the  Revelation  of  the  love  and  mercy  of 
God;  and  the  Psalms  appealed  to  them  because 
they  were  themselves  poets  and  musicians  by 
nature,  and  loved  the  divine  song  as  an  exercise 
of  cheer  amid  the  isolation  of  the  mountains,  the 
awe  of  the  wastes,  and  the  sadness  and  sorrow  of 
suffering  men  and  women.  If  there  was  one 
article  of  Faith  in  which  the  Pictish  Churchmen 
exulted  more  than  in  another,  it  was  in  enthusi- 
astic belief  in  the  Resurrection  from  the  grave 
and  from  the  state  of  the  dead.  They  contem- 
plated their  resurrection  with  impatient  hope, 
and  even  the  place  where  they  expected  it  to 
occur.  They  spoke  of  a  minister's  final  charge  as 
the  'place  of  his  resurrection,'  and  S.  Cainnech 
of  Achadh-Bo  would  have  probably  spent  his  life 
at  St.  Andrews,  but  for  his  dream  'in  Britain' 
that  Achadh-Bo  would  be  the  'place  of  his  resur- 
rection.' Their  whole-hearted  belief  in  the  re- 
surrection required  no  further  declaration  of  the 
essentials  of  the  Faith;  because  it  implied  all. 
And,  indeed,  the  Roman  Churchmen  with  all 
their  critical  and  sophistic  subtlety  never  charged 
532 


VALUE  OF  CHURCH  OF  PICTS 

the  Picts,  or  for  that  matter  any  British  section  of 
the  Celtic  Church,  with  lacking  any  of  the  essen- 
tials of  the  Apostolic  Faith;  although  they  did 
find  fault  with  the  manner  in  which  they  ad- 
ministered the  sacraments  of  Baptism  and  the 
Lord's  Supper;  their  adherence  to  the  old  reckon- 
ing of  the  Paschal  Feast,  and  their  resistance  to 
monarchic  episcopacy. 

IfthePictishChurchmenhadeverbeengather- 
ed  in  Council  to  devise  a  Confession  of  Faith 
for  their  people,  it  is  probable  that  they  would 
have  formulated  a  standard  ethical  rather  than 
theological;  that  was  the  whole  trend  of  their 
practice.  Awed  by  the  sense  of  the  power  and 
presence  of  the  eternal  God,  attracted  beyond 
the  description  of  words  by  the  historical  Christ, 
conscious  of  the  effect  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  they 
were  yet  too  reverent,  although  naturally  specul- 
ative, to  attempt  to  describe  the  Eternal  Unity, 
or  to  explain  the  relations  of  the  Holy  Trinity. 
They  accepted  the  teaching  of  the  Gospels,  and 
apparently  found  no  difficulties.  At  anyrate, 
these  are  not  apparent  in  the  utterances  or 
actions  of  such  teachers  as  S.  Cainnech,  S.  Col- 
umbanus,  or  S.  Comgall.  Pelagius  was  a  Celt, 
but  it  was  among  foreigners,  not  at  home,  that  he 
was  lured  from  mystical  peace  and  native  rever- 
ence. 

The  Pict,  living  in  the  golden  age  of  clan-life 
under  a  chief  who  was  expected  to  act  as  father 

533 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

and  provider,  as  well  as  leader  to  his  clan,  put  a 
very  real  and  practical  interpretation  on  the  Gos- 
pel revelation  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God.  Again, 
the  Pict  living  in  social  clan-life,  where  every 
neighbour  was  his  brother  or  sister,  possessed 
a  natural  appreciation  of  the  Gospel  revelation 
of  the  Brotherhood  of  Man.  Indeed,  he  had  dis- 
covered this  doctrine  of  the  Gospel  before  the 
Gospel  had  discovered  him.  By  the  very  organ- 
ization of  Pictish  life,  as  well  as  by  the  divine 
teaching  and  the  warmth  of  a  generous  nature, 
the  Pictish  Church  was  specially  fitted  to  take  up 
and  to  emphasize,  as  no  other  Church  outside  the 
Celto-Catholic  Church  has  emphasized, the  moral 
obligations  rather  than  the  theological  assents  of 
the  professing  Christian.  Zimmer  stated  a  strik- 
ing fact  about  the  Celtic  Churchmen  when  he 
wrote  :  'The  Celt  emphasizes  a  Christianity  per- 
vading life  and  deeds,  while  with  the  Roman 
Catholic  the  observance  of  a  formal  Christianity 
is  the  chief  and  foremost  aim,  as  Aldhelm  so 
frankly  proclaims.  The  life  of  the  representatives 
of  the  Celtic  Church,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
seventh  century,  comes  nearer  the  picture  that 
we  draw  for  ourselves  of  the  Apostolic  era  than 
the  Christianity  displayed  by  their  rivals,  the  re- 
presentatives of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.'* 

Apart  from  the  difference  in  government  be- 
tween the  Church  of  the  Picts  and  the  Church  of 

*  Early  Celtic  Church,  p.  130. 

534 


VALUE  OF  CHURCH  OF  PICTS 

Rome,  there  were  some  significant  differences  in 
the  celebration  of  the  two  sacraments,  and  in 
worship  generally.  Infant  baptism  was,  for  a  time, 
unknown;  and,  later,  was  apparently  neither  fre- 
quent nor  usual  in  the  Church  of  the  Picts.  The 
garbling  of  the  ancient  Lives,  by  later  Roman 
Catholic  editors,  prevents  a  definite  statement  on 
the  matter;  but  although  there  are  instances  oi 
infants,  foundlings  and  others,  being  brought  to 
the  Pictish  muinntirs  to  be  brought  up  and  educ- 
ated, because  they  had  been  dedicated  to  God, 
there  is  no  indication  that  infants  generally  were 
baptized.  I n  certain  cases,  thehistorical  S.  Patrick 
among  the  number,  men  whom  the  later  Roman 
Catholic  editors  represent  to  have  been  baptized 
in  infancy  were  baptized  in  maturer  years.  The 
Church  of  the  Picts  was  logically  compelled  by 
its  insistence  on  morality  and  character,  and  by 
its  long  career  as  a  missionary  Church,  to  demand 
a  reasoned  and  personal  acceptance  of  the  obliga- 
tions of  the  Christian  life  from  its  members. 
When  S.  Augustine  offered  to  tolerate  many  of 
the  practices  ofthe  clergy  ofthe  Britons,  if  among 
other  things  they  would  conform  to  formal  Roman 
practice  in  the  administration  of  Baptism,  he  was 
striving  to  eliminate  some  more  essential  differ- 
ence, from  the  Celtic  point  of  view,  than  a  mere 
detail  ofthe  Sacrament. 

Again,  to  those  who  know  the  modern  Celt 
it  is  interesting  to  observe  that  although  the 

535 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  celebrated 
in  the  Pictish  Churches  on  the  Festival  of  the 
Resurrection,  queen  Margaret  and  her  Roman 
Catholic  counsellors  challenge  the  Pictish  clergy 
of  the  Cele  De  period  to  explain  why  there  was 
no  general  participation  in  the  Sacrament.  Ac- 
cording to  the  Roman  Catholic  authority  they 
offered  the  excuse, '  As  we  feel  that  we  are  sinners, 
we  are  afraid  to  partake  of  that  Sacrament,  lest 
we  eat  and  drink  judgment  to  ourselves.'  This 
attitude  indicates  first  the  imperative  nature 
of  the  moral  standard  of  life  which  the  Pictish 
Church  required  from  the  professing  Christian, 
and  secondly  that  in  the  eyes  of  the  Cele  De, 
Baptism  alone  constituted  a  man  or  woman  a 
member  of  the  body  of  the  Christian  Church. 

Again,  in  the  Pictish  Church,  although  they 
honoured  their  great  and  good  men  and  marked 
their  anniversaries,  there  was  no  invocation  of 
saints,  and  no  belief  in  the  sanctifying  or  protect- 
ing power  of  their  bones  or  relics,  until  the  period 
when  the  Roman  clergy  entered  Pictland  and 
began  gradually  to  romanize  the  people.  The 
veneration  of  relics  began  first,  in  Alba,  at  lona, 
the  mother-Church  of  the  Scots,  after  Adamnan 
the  abbot  had  conformed  to  Rome;  and  after- 
wards, in  Pictland,  when  Angus  I.  Mac  Fergus 
countenanced  the  effort  to  popularize  S.  Andrew 
throughout  Alba.  The  cultus  of  relics  became 
rapidly  general  in  Ireland  and  lona  in  the  eighth 
536 


VALUE  OF  CHURCH  OF  PICTS 

century;  but  it  took  much  longer  to  find  accept- 
ance throughout  Pictland. 

The  adoration  of  the  mother  of  Christ  with 
divine  honours  was  an  innovation  in  Pictland  by 
the  later  Roman  clergy;  and,  indeed,  so  was  the 
veneration  of  every  saint  in  the  early  Roman 
Kalendar,  except  S.  Martin  of  Tours,  whose  con- 
nection with  the  Celtic  Church  had  caused  him  to 
be  honoured  and  referred  to,  but  only  as  an  ex- 
ample and  as  a  source  of  authority.  The  difficulty 
which  the  Roman  Clergy  found  in  popularizing 
the  saints  of  the  Roman  Kalendar  in  Pictland  is 
seen  in  the  list  of  saints  honoured  at  Dunkeld  in 
the  early  Roman  period;  and,  so  far  as  the  Scots 
are  concerned,  in  the  recorded  persistency  with 
which  they  set  S.  Columba  above  all  saints  and 
angels. 

The  cross  was  a  favourite  symbol  among  the 
Pictish  Christians;  but,  most  significantly,  re- 
presentations of  the  Crucifixion  are  not  associat- 
ed with  their  crosses.  It  is  said  that  there  are  cer- 
tain late  stones  in  Alba  with  a  '  Calvary '  upon 
them ;  but  these  are  much  later  than  the  date  of 
the  Church  of  the  Picts.  The  crosses  of  the  Brito- 
Pictish  Church  are  found  all  the  way  from  the 
peculiar  and  well-executed  stone  crosses  of  Can- 
dida Casa  to  the  wonderfully  elaborate  'Cross 
of  Farr.'  Here  a  word  of  caution  is  needed  to  the 
theorist  who  judges  the  age  of  stones  by  the  prin- 
ciple of  evolution,  making  the  most  primitive  art 

537 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

indicate  the  oldest  stones.  The  oldest  stone 
crosses  are  at  Candida  Casa;  and  they  possess 

i     the  early  '  CM  jRo'-symhol  which  did  not  become 

■  general  in  Pictland.  These  crosses  are  skilfully 
carved,  because  they  were  executed  at  a  date 

V  when  the  Imperial  Roman  craftsman,  or  his 
)  pupils,  and  his  excellent  tools  had  not  become  ex- 
tinct. But  there  are  stones  with  the  simplest  in- 
cised crosses,  that  can  be  dated  at  least  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  later,  in  the  remote  northern 
parts  of  Pictland,  where  the  outline  of  the  cross  is 
irregular  and  rude,  and  the  space  between  the 
lines  chipped  roughly  out  on  an  undressed  stone. 
Yet,  again,  in  the  same  district,  belonging,  of 
course,  to  a  later  period,  is  the  much  admired  and 
most  elaborate  Cross  of  Farr.  These  crosses  of 
the  Picts  were  erected  like  the  Cross  of  Reodatius 
to  commemorate  the  dead,  or  like  one  of  the  lona 
Crosses  to  commemorate  the  favourite  meditat- 
ing place  of  a  saint,  or  like  the  'girth  crosses'  of 
Kildonnan  to  mark  the  bounds  of  the  'city  of  Re- 
fuge.' It  is  not  lack  of  art  or  of  power  of  execu- 
tion which  explains  theabsence  of  the  Crucifixion 
from  Celtic  stones;  but  the  mentality  of  the  Picts. 
The  Pictish  mind  did  not  advertise  the  Cross  as 
associated  with  the  Saviour's  travail  and  suffering 
or  with  the  savagery  of  his  persecutors,  but  as 
associated  with  the  ground  which,  in  their  work 

^^  for  Christ,  they  had  won  and  hallowed,  with  the 
commemoration  of  the  blessed  dead,  and  with 
538 


VALUE  OF  CHURCH  OF  PICTS 

the  Church's  assurance  of  protection  and  justice 
to  fugitives  from  the  rage  and  hate  of  men.  The 
carved  crosses  of  Pictland,  in  many  instances, 
besides  showing  the  Cross  associated  with  the 
peculiar  Celtic  interlacing  like  the  symbol  of  In- 
finity, without  beginning  or  end,  show  it  associ- 
ated with  beasts  and  birds  of  the  Pictish  forests 
and  with  creatures  of  the  Pictish  imagination — a 
combination  amazing  enough  to  modern  eyes,  but 
natural  enough  to  a  clergy,  who,  though  they 
toiled  among  men,  set  their  own  habitations 
among  the  wild  creatures  that  they  loved. 

In  trying  to  understand  or  to  explain  the 
Church  of  the  Picts  with  its  distinct  and  peculiar 
characteristics,  it  is  necessary  to  visualize  the 
ancient  pre-Christian  life  and  religion  of  the 
Celtic  people.  It  is  futile  to  attempt  to  under- 
stand or  to  explain  this  Church  of  a  Celtic  people 
out  of  the  materialistic  mentality  of  the  Teuton, 
or  through  the  m,achine-made  clergy  and  religion 
of  the  mediaeval  Church  of  Rome.  The  Picts, 
like  all  the  Celts,  were  an  emotional,  imaginative, 
romantic,  and  chivalrous  people.  They  imparted 
into  their  practice  of  Christianity  all  the  inherited 
vivacity  of  their  race;  and  the  points  in  the  Chris- 
tian faith  to  which  they  held  most  strongly  were 
similar  to  the  points  to  which  they  had  attached 
themselves  in  the  ancient  pre-Christian  religion 
of  the  Celts. 

As  Professor  Anwyl  has  pointed  out,  the 

539 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

Britons,  and  this  term  includes  the  Picts,  reck- 
oned Time  by  nights,  instead  of  days;  because, 
according  to  the  ancient  Celtic  religion.  Time 
began  for  them  in  the  night  of  the  underworld* 
out  of  which  they  grew  to  Light  and  activity  after 
God  the  Father  {Dis)  had  given  them  life.  A 
people  thus  taught  were  already  prepared  for 
the  Hebrew  revelation  of  God  the  Creator  and 
Father,  for  the  origin  of  Light,  and  for  the  rise  of 
conscious  life  in  a  beautiful  and  ordered  world,  as 
told  in  Holy  Scripture,  The  call  of  Jesus  for  dis- 
ciples who  would  convert  the  world  was  peculiarly 
suited  to  the  Pict  who  was  reared  to  live  in 
brotherhood  and  to  follow  a  leader;  and  it  ap- 
pealed strongly  to  his  romantic  and  daring  nature 
which  inclined  to  enterprise,  and  grudged  no 
sacrifice  which  gave  the  exhilaration  of  advent- 
ure. In  the  old  Celtic  religion  the  doctrine  of  re- 
birth was  taught,  which  accounts  for  the  tenacity 
and  enthusiasm  with  which  the  Picts  seized  the 
Christian  teaching  relating  to  immortality  and 
the  resurrection. 

The  angels  of  Scripture  captured  the  Celtic 
imagination.  This  was  natural  to  a  people  whose 
ancient  religion  had  taught  them  to  look  for 
spirits  on  mountain  and  moor,  in  tree  and  forest, 
in  well  and  river,  in  lake  and  sea.  The  attach- 
ment of  the  names  of  Pictish  saints  to  cr^s  and 

*  Not  to  be  equated  with 'Hell' as  some  have  done.  The  Celtic  under- 
world was  not  a  place  of  destruction  and  death. 


VALUE  OF  CHURCH  OF  PICTS 

trees,  and  wells,  river-pools  and  lochans  in  Pict- 
land  is  not  fully  explained  by  the  fact  that  they 
were  associated  with  preachings  and  baptisms. 
The  name  of  a  saint  often  displaced  the  name  of 
a  supposed  spirit  that  the  Christian  teachers  de- 
sired to  be  forgotten. 

The  ancient  Pict,  like  other  Celts,  loved  his 
native  land.  The  Brito-Picts  who  went  south  to 
occupy  what  is  now  North  Wales,  in  the  time  of 
Cunedog,  never  forget  the  forests  of  Pictland; 
and  in  their  songs  pictured  the  spirits  of  the  de- 
parted as  wandering  in  the  woods  of  Celyddon 
(Caledonia).  But,  apart  from  scraps  of  literature, 
the  Pictish  place-names  suffice  to  show  how  care- 
fully the  Pict  marked  and  named  the  features  of 
his  country.  All  these  place-names  were  artistic- 
ally,   accurately,    and    often    fondly  bestowed. 
The  only  loveless  and  unlovely  land  known  to 
the  pre-Christian  Pict  was  where  the  unblest 
went,  behind  the  gates  of  death.    His  paradise 
was  just  beyond  mortal  sight,  beyond  the  hori- 
zon, and  it  was  a  fair  land  like  his  own,  only 
fairer;  and  youth  continued,  joy  abounded,  and 
beauty  was  universal.     He  exulted  so  sincerely 
in  the  beauty  of  the  earth  that  he  transferred  all 
the  delightful  features  of  this  world  to  heaven. 
So  when  he  named  the  detailsof  his  environment 
on  earth,  it  was  with  appreciation  and  love;  and 
he  named  them  as  if  he  had  been  naming  his 
favourite  children.  It  was  the  prosaic  Teutonic 

541 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

mind,  at  a  later  time,  that  vulgarized  the  place- 
names  of  Pictland,  and  robbed  them  of  their 
poetry  and  suggestiveness. 

It  is  this  love  of  home  and  country  which  re- 
veals the  full  heroism  of  the  Pictish  Christian 
teachers.  Much  as  they  loved  their  beautiful  land, 
they  consented,  under  the  influence  of  Christi- 
anity, to  confessing  that  the  Presence  of  God 
with  its  unfading  light,  its  moral  beauty,  and 
dazzling  sanctity,  was  the  ideal  home  of  man. 
They  declared  themselves  pilgrims  and  sojour- 
ners prepared,  when  God  called,  to  say  '  Good- 
bye '  with  a  will,  to  the  scenes  that  they  loved  so 
intensely.  Other  Christians  took  the  staff  pre- 
scribed to  the  Apostles  in  their  hands,  and  to 
them  it  was  the  symbol  of  settled  rule  on  earth 
over  a  defined  flock;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  when 
the  Pict  took  up  the  bachall  it  was  a  sign  that  he 
looked  elsewhere  for  a  continuing  city,  and  that, 
as  he  expressed  it,  he  was  deoradh,  pilgrim,  and 
his  resting-place  the  Presence  of  God. 

Nevertheless,  these  Pictish  teachers  were  not 
rapt,  abstracted,  and  oblivious  of  the  land  and 
people  about  them  in  their  temporary  home.  By 
their  complete  self-consecration,  and  the  high 
moral  standard  which  they  demanded  from  all 
who  sought  to  ally  themselves  with  religion  and 
the  work  of  God,  they  taught  that  this  life  should 
be  clean  and  holy  as  a  preparation  for  God,  and 
that  this  fair  world  should  be  made  fairer  by  the 
542 


VALUE  OF  CHURCH  OF  PICTS 

elimination  of  all  that  defiled  or  made  a  lie,  as  be- 
fitted the  passage-way  to  Heaven.  Though  they 
saw  a  new  heaven;  they  did  not  cease  to  labour 
for  a  new  earth. 

The  earnestness  and  the  zeal  of  these  Pictish 
workers  were  sublime.  Few  scenes  in  historyare 
more  worthy  of  the  painter's  pencil  than  the  in- 
terview between  S.  Columbanus  and  his  mother, 
when  he  was  about  to  set  out  for  Bangor  of  the 
Irish  Picts  to  become  the  pupil  and  disciple  of 
S.  Comgall  the  Great.  As  soon  as  his  mother 
learned  of  his  decision  to  go  to  Bangor,  she  knew 
that  the  tie  which  had  kept  her  son  at  her  side 
was  on  the  point  of  breaking  for  ever.  At  the 
blindingprospect  of  her  own  loss  she  sawnothing 
of  the  gain  to  the  Church  of  the  Picts.  Every 
argument  that  her  wit  could  suggest,  she  used  to 
dissuade  him;  every  tenderness  that  her  mother- 
love  could  devise,  she  put  into  action  to  retain 
him;  but  Columbanus  kept  his  face  towards  Ban- 
gor. Finally,  as  he  moved  to  take  leave  of  his 
family  and  home,  she  threw  herself  down  in  the 
narrow  doorway  in  a  last  despairing  effort  to 
block  his  departure  with  her  body,  but  Colum- 
banus remained  resolute.  No  imagination  can 
picture  the  strain  on  these  two  Celtic  natures. 
Tenderly  and  reverently  he  strode  over  that 
barrier  of  living  love,  and  took  his  way  to  Bangor, 
to  receive,  in  time,  from  S.  Comgall's  lips  the 
divine  commission  already  given  to  S.  Moluag, 

543 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 

S.  Catan,  and  hundreds  of  other  pupils  of  Bangor 
whose  names  have  not  been  preserved :  '  Go  ye 
therefore,  and  teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them 
in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of 
the  Holy  Ghost;  teaching  them  to  observe  all 
things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you;  and, 
lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  unto  the  end  of  the 
world.' 


INDEX 


A6,  Abbas,  i,  25,  77,  334 
Abbot,  rise  of  the  lay,  473,  513 
Aberchirder,  299 
Abercorn,  128,  318,  328 
Abercrossan  (Applecross),  14,  302, 

30s.  33S>  343.  392.  42s.  454> 

469.  474 
Aberdeen,  53,  169,  297 
Aberdour,  Buchan,  135,  340 
Aber-Eloth  (Arbirlot),  124,  125, 

338 
Aberlour  on  Spey,  135 
Abernethy,  53,  73,  125,  215,  263, 

336.  344.  47i>  481 

Royal  Chapel  at,  228,  336,  481 
'Abthein,'  125,  336 
Acca,  Anglo-Roman  bishopof  Hex- 
ham, 421 
Achadh-Bo,  58,  236,  258,  263,  294, 

337.  344.  428 
Abs  of,  337 

Acoimetae,  35 

Adamnan,  S.,  of  lona,  6,  20,  55, 
225,  240,  322,  329,  3S0,  365, 

373.  381,  387,  501.  536 
Church  foundations  of,  351,  385 

Aedh,  king  of  Ailech,  449 

Aedh,  sovereign  of  Ireland,  207, 
259 

Aedhan,  king  of  Dalriada,  60,  133, 
178,  197,  205,  221,  224,  226, 
256,  265,  292,  382,  386 

Aedh  Dubh,  king  of  Uladh,  239, 
241 

Aedh  Mac  Kenneth,  Scotic  sove- 
reign of  the  Picts,  446,  482 

Aed  Finn  Mac  Eachaidh,  chief  of 
Cantyre,  410,  433,  437 

Aed  Mac  Boanta,  king  of  Dalriada, 
437.  442,  457 

Aetius,  letter  to,  i8g 

Agatho,  Bishop  of  Rome,  315 

Agricola,  211 

Aidan,  S. ,  the  Scot,  of  Lindisfarne, 
288,  527 

Ailbhe,  S.,  of  Emly,  119,  139,  254, 

344 
Ailred,  28,  79 
Ainbh-cellach,  king  of  Dalriada, 

401 


Air-Gharadh  (Urquhart),  454 

Airlie,  125 

'AiseagMarui,'  305 

Alba  (Pictland),  Albion,  i,  6,  204, 

209 
Alban  (Scotic  form  of  above),  204, 

446 
Albanaich  (Scots),  2,  495 
Alcluyd  (Dunbarton),  186,  200 
Alcuin,  78,  103,  154 
Aldfrid,  king  of  the  English  and 

Scholar,  325,  368 
Alloa,  251 
Alpin  Mac   Eachaidh,   the  Half- 

Pict,  sovereign  of  the  Picts, 

389.  397 
'king'ofDalriada,  402,404,406, 

411.416,418,437,438 
Alpin  Mac  Eachaidh  mic  Aed  Finn, 

claimant,  438 
his  defeat  and  death,  441 
Alvah  on  Deveron,  135 
Alvie,  135 

Ambrosius  Aurelianus,  19 
Ammianus  Marcellinus,  1 1 
Anagrates,  244 
Anatolius,  280 
'Ancorite,'  427,  508 
Andat  or  Annat,  36,  84,  252,  338, 

346 
Andrew,  S.,  261,  372,  420,  422, 

469,  536 
Angels  of  Scripture,  540 
Angles  (the  English),  172, 174, 192, 

214,  217,  229,  231,  275,  311, 

353.  413.  452,  455 
'conversion'  of,  loi 
Angus,  the  Cele  De,  296 
Angus  (Forfar),  34S,  361,  364 
Angus  I.  Mac  Fergus,  sovereign  of 
the  Picts,  13,  351,  389,  396, 
400,  411,  414,  420,  433,  437, 
536 
Angus  II.,  sovereign  of  the  Picts 

and  Scots,  437,  441,  456 
Animals,  65 

'Anmcharait,'  anamcaraidh,  soul- 
friend,  271,  510 
'Antiphonary'  of  Bangor,  42,  242 
Antonine,  Wall  of,  1,7,  i6, 171,208 


2-N 


545 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 


Aondruim  ('Nendruim'),  98,  130, 

234.  283 
Arbroath,  124 
Architecture,  69 
Ard-Anesbi,  naval  battle  of,  387 
Ardchain,  240 

Ard'eryd,  campaign  of,  60, 194, 246 
Argyll,  8,  178,  385 

Cele  DexTi,  517 
Ari  Froda,  342 
Arisaig,  304 
Armagh,   46,  49,   53,    155,  200, 

283 
Armorica  (Brittany),  159 
Artbrannan,  20 
Arthur,  king  of  the  Brito-Picts,  147, 

191,  216,  217 
his  soldiers,  176,  192,  216 
Assynt  Novar,  377 
Athcliath  (Dublin),  457 
Athelstan,  king  of  the  Saxons,  462, 

493 
AthoU  (Ath-Fodla),  12,  364,  367, 

379.  380,  386 
Auchterarder,  140,  251 
Auchterless,  39,  269,  347 
Augustine,  S.,  of  Canterbury,  182, 

275.  363.  531.  S3S 
Austin,  the  Viking,  460 
Autiernus,  245 
Avellanau,  the,  60,  198 

Bachall,  Bachul,  31,  256,  527 

of  Columcille,  495 

of  S.  Fillan,  122 

of  S.  Moluag,  32 
Badenoch,  365,  367 
Badon  Hill  (Bowden  Hill),  battle 

of,  147,  217 
Baithene,  Ab  of  Magh  Luinge  and 

lona,  239 
Balquhidder,  407 
Banchor-y,  34,  58 
Banchory  Demhanoc,  336 

on  Isla,  336 

Ternan,  109,  336 
Banff,  426 
'Bangor,'  'Banagher,'  33,  58,  125, 

36S 
Bangor  Catog,  145,  259 
Dunod  {'Iscoed'),  181 
of  the  Britons,  34 


Bangor  on  Spey,  365 

Bangor  the  Great,  Ulster  (S.  Com- 

gall's),  I,  34, 41,  61,  230,  233, 

267,  273,  279,  302,  310,  333, 

337,  347.  352,  354.  373.  37^. 

394,  431,  455,  457,  469,  524, 

529,  543 
burning  of,  234,  455 
later  Abs  of,  244 
Baptism,  infant,  535 
Barry  Angus,  345 
Bede,  Mormaor  of  Buchan,  133 
Bede,  Venerable,  15,  80,  loi,  224, 

235.  274.  276,  312,  322,  327, 

364,  373.  380,  387,  425,  527, 

529 
his  continuator,  414    ^ 
Belhelvie,  135 
Bells,  III 
Beneventum,  143 
Beogna,  Ab  of  Bangor,  245 
Berchan,  S.  (Inchmaholmand  Ab- 

erfoyle),  344 
Beret,  English  general,  322,  330 
'Beregonium'  (Barrnan  Gobhati), 

220,  236,  411 
Bernard,  S.,  234,  242,  244,  376 
Bernicia,  177,  318 
Bertfrid,  English  general,  331 
Birnay,  53 
Birsay,  342 
Bishops,  Celtic  monastic,  97,  334, 

523 
Roman  monarchic  and  diocesan, 
set  up  in  Pictland  by  the  Scots, 

475 
Blaan,  S.,  of  Dunblane,  291,  343 

Church  foundations  of,  295 
Blathmac  Mac  Flann  of  lona,  456 
Bobbio,  41,  243,  464,  470,  505 
'Bolgyne,'  Fife,  500 
BoUandists  and  the  fabulists,  521 
Bona  (Inverness),  377 
'Books  of  the  Picts,'  212 
Borgue,  140 
Borthwick,  251 
Botha,  Both-,  27,  126,  29S 
Bower,  Walter,  60,  480 
Bran  Mac  Angus  II.,  437, 442,  457 
Breccain  Ard.    See  under  Brechin 
Brechin,  37,  53,  73,  125,  336,  345, 

393.  471.  474.  490.  508 


INDEX 


Brechin,  CeleDeaX,  517 

Brian,  race  of,  2 

Brigantes,  i,  7,  ii,  16,  49,  415 

Brigh  or  Brioc,  S.,  of  Tayside,  215 

Brigid,  S.,  215 

Brignat,  98 

Brioc,  S.,  the  Briton,  125,  137,  166 

'Britain,'  Prydain,  7 

'Britanni,'2ii 

Brit^,  S. ,  of  Lhanbryde,  252 

Brit^,  S.,  of  Menteith,  344 

'Briton,'  Priten,  7 

Britons,  17,  49,  93,  123,  149,  152, 

3".  337 
ofStrathclyde,  59,  100,  186,311, 

312,  458 
Brochs,  71 
Brotherhood  of  man,  Picts  and  the, 

534 
Bruce,  King  Robert,  320 
Brude   Derelei,   sovereign  of  the 

Picts,  329,  503 
Brude  Grid  or  'Cridius,'  211 
Brude  Mac  Angus  I. ,  405 
Brude  Mac  Bil^,  sovereign  of  the 

Picts,  61,  229,  320,  329,  366, 

389 
Brude  ('Mac  Dergart'),  last  sove- 
reign of  regular  Pictish  line, 

437.  500.  501.  503 
Brude  Mac  Fergus,   sovereign  of 

the  Picts,  436,  437 
Brude  Mac  Maelchon,  sovereign 

of  the  Picts,  2,  8,  20,  211,  218, 

226,  229,  234,  265,  350,  386, 

389 
alleged  conversion  of,  223 
Brude  Mac  Wid  ('Foith'),  sove- 
reign of  the  Picts,  229,  311, 

329 
Brunanburg,  battle  of,  462,  493 
Buchan,  19,  135,  297, 323,  340,  347 
Buidhe,  S.,  32,  123,  214,  323 
Bute,  292,  299,  343,  431 

Cadoc,  S.,  137,  142,  149,  201,  259 

'  Caer  Pen,'  '  Chircind,'  Kirkintil- 
loch, battle  of,  223,  228 

Caer  Tinan  ('Kartinan'),  415, 420 

Caer  Went,  143,  151 

Cainnech,  S.  (Kenneth),  8,  55, 221, 
236,  258,  263,  291,  337,  344, 


381,  423,  427,  481,  493,  507, 

527.  533 
Cairbre  Righfada,  2 
Cairell,  Bishop,  349,  351,  367 
Caislen  Craebhi,  called  'Credhi,' 

battle  of,  398 
Caithness,  '  Cait,'  10,  12,  19,  52, 

132,  136,  267,  332,  384,  458, 

466 
Cele  £>em,  517 
Calatros,  408 
Caledonia,  woods  of,  54 1 
Callander,  140,  408 
Cambuslang,  144 
Camerarius,  279 
Ca?«/a«»(Camelon),battleof,  175, 

191,217 
Candida  Casa,  i,  18, 55, 74,  77, 98, 

105,  163,  186,  212,  230,  233, 

249,  264,  267,  273,  287,  289, 

300,  329,  337,  340,  346,  349, 

352,  353,  394,  419,  426,  431, 

454,  529 
crosses  at,  538 
Canisbay,  136 
Canterbury,  317,  319,  328 
Cantyre  {Epidium),  8,   173,  202, 

216,  410,  433,  437 
Capella,  30 

'Caran,'  S.  [Coran-dhu],  298 
Caranoc,  S,,  the  Great,  108,  118, 

337 
'Car-Budde,'32 
Cardross,  138 
Carmunnock,  144 
Carrick,  268 
Carron,  East  Ross,  306 
Casula,  30,  500 
Catan,  S.,  of  Kingarth,  291,  343, 

544 
Church  foundations  of,  292 
Cathair,  32 
Cathbuaidh,  the,  495 
Cathedra,  33 
'  Catoc '  or  Maes-y-dawc,  battle  of, 

^     417 

Cave  retreats,  79,  507 
Ce,  12 

Ceadda,  Anglo-Roman  bishop,  288 
'  Cele  Be,'  499,  505,  506 
Cele  De,  the,  496 
decline  of,  514 


2  N  2 


547 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 


Cell  de  ai  Ireland,  504 
opponents  of,  497 
organization  of,  509 
Queen  Margaret  and,  J12 
relations  with  the  Ab,  507 
Roman  institutions  and,  497, 509 
Celestine,  Pope,  113 
Cellach,  Bishop  of '  Alban,'  488 
Celtic  Church,  usages  of,  183,  277, 
281,  28s,  31s,  333,  354,  362, 
368,  387,  513,  515 
Celto  -  Catholicism      of      Pictish 
Church,  353,  362,  521 
Kenneth  MacAlpinbreaks  away 
from,  476 
Celtran,  sovereign  of  the  Picts,|2i7 
Cennfaeladh,  Ab  of  Bangor,  373, 

395 

Ceolfrid,  Abbot  of  Wearmouth  and 
Jarrow,  368 
his  letter  to  king  Nechtan,  369 

Ceredig  '  Guletic,'  108,  190,  192, 
194,  196 

Chi-Ro  symbol,  538 

Church,  the  first  National  and  Es- 
tablished (in  Britain),  199 

Church-buildings,  73 

Church  of  the  Gaidheals  or  Scots, 
intruded  communities  of,  350 

Church  of  the  Picts  of  Alba,  Tables 
relating  to,  337 

cm  (Kil-),  25 

Cillene  Fada,  'Ab'  of  lona,  430 

Cilline  Droicteach,  'Ab'  of  lona, 

429.  430i  508 
'  Cind  righ  Monaidh,'  '  Cill  Rig- 

Monaidh,'  St.  Andrews,  260, 

338,  344,  394.  423.  427,  481, 

493.  512 
Ciniath  Mac  Luthrenn,  sovereign 

of  the  Picts,  229,  329 
Ciniod  Mac  Wredech,  sovereign  of 

the  Picts,  437 
Cirighf  Chircin^  12 
Cladh,  a  churchyard,  377 
Clan-life  of  the  Picts  and  religion, 

534 
Claudian,  2 

Clinog  Eid-Dun  (Edinburgh),  196 
Clonard,  26,  258,  337 
Clova,  Cloveth,  237,  336,  348 
Clyde,  17,  146,  458 


Cnoc  Coirpri  (Cophair),  battle  of, 

407 
Coleraine,  97 
'  Colidei,'  the,  503 
Coll,  260 
'College,' 124,  135.269,34s 

of  Brechin,  474,  490 
Colm,  S.,  Buchan  and  Caithness, 

132,  347,  384 
Colm  (Colmoc),  S.,  Inchmaholm, 

122,  140,  344 
Colman,   S. ,  bishop   among  the 

Angles,  314 
Colmonell,  268 
Columba,  S.  (Columcille),  20,  55, 

134,  208,  221,  224,  225,  256, 

265.  350.  38I;  386,  456,  494 
Church  foundations  of,  385 
Columban  fable,  the,  225 
Columbanus,  S.,  2,  41,  244,  277, 

333.  524.  527.  529.  533.  543 
letters  of,  280 
Comgan,  S.,  3,  123,  337,  347,  354, 

393.  427.  507 
Church  foundations  of,  357 
Comgall,  S. ,  the  Great,  i,  8, 19,41, 
55.  132,  221,  233,  238,  241, 
258,  259,  291,  333,  337,  340, 

347.455.511.527.533.  543 
Comgall  Mac  Domangart,  king  of 

Dalriada,  204 
Comrie,    -gomrie,    Comraich,    38, 

140,  405 
Conadh  Cerr,  king  of  Dalriada, 

312 
Conaill  Mac  Comghall,  toiseach  of 

Dalriada,  204,  221 
Conall  Caeim,  king  of  Dalriada, 

437 
Conall  Mac  Taidg,  king  of  Dalri- 
ada, sovereign  of  the  Picts, 

437 
Conchobar,  505 
Constantine,  king  of  Devon  and 

Cornwall  (c.  537),  192 
Constantine,   Saint    and   Prince, 

243.337 
Constantine  I.  Mac  Fergus,  king 

of  Dalriada,  sovereign  of  the 

Picts,  437,  479,  481 
Constantine  II.,  Scotic  sovereign 

of  the  Picts,  446,  459 


INDEX 


Constantine  III.,  king  of  'Alban,' 

424,  446,  461,  463,  488,  493 
Constantine  IV.,  king  of  'Alban,' 

438,  446 
Contin,  306 
Conval,  S. ,  337 

Conversions  in  mass,  loi,  342,  531 
Corrimony,  377 
Council  of  Constance,  44 
Council  of  Pictish  Church,  under 

Nechtan,  369 
at  Scone,  488,  491 
Coyl,  king,  '  the  Old,'  148,  197 
Crafts,  65 
Creich,  407 

Critan,  Ab  of  Bangor,  298 
Cromarty,  237,  378 
Cronan,  Ab  of  Aondruim,  283 
Cross,  Pictish  use  of  the  symbol  of 

the,  538 
Crosses,  38,  167,  291,  304,  306, 

343.  426,  537 
Cruithnii,  i,  6,  7,  i6 
Cruitin-iuait,  6,  458 
Cruits,  67 

'  Cry  of  the  Deer,'  49 
CuchuUin,  505 
Cuillen    Mac    Ilduib,     king     of 

'Alban,'  446 
Cul Dreimhne,  battle  of,  8, 58, 205, 

239,  241 
Culross,  128,  129,  337,  501,  506 
Culsalmond,  128,  252 
Cumberland,  248 
Cumbria,  175 
Cumine  Ua  Becce,  Ab  of  Eigg,  343, 

393.  427 
Cunedog  or  Cinuit '  Guletic,'  190, 

192,  196,  202,  220,  541 
Curitan,  S.  (Boniface),  372,  388, 

391,  427 
Currie,  251 
Cuthbert,  S.,  loi,  325 
Cuthred,  king  of  the  West  Saxons, 

416 
Cymri,  249 

Dabhach,  davach,  dock-,  39 
Dagan,  S. ,  of  Candida  Casa,  273, 

27s.  337 
Dair,  Darra,  '  Deer,'  37 
Daire,  73 


Dal-Araidhe,  kingdom  of  the  Irish 

Picts  of,  I 
Dalarossie,  336 
Dalian  Forgall,  the-fcard,  381 
Dalmally,  149 
Dal-Riada  (Scottish),    173,    325, 

352,  381,  386,  388,  431,  444, 

475.  478 
conquest  of,  by  the  Picts,  404, 

406,408,411,417,431,433 
kings  of,  312,  402,  410 
Danes,  448,  462 
Daniel,  Ab  of  Kingarth,  295 
Darlugdach,  215,  345 
David,  S.  (Dewi),  of  Wales,  1 12, 

137.  157.  162,  194 
Daviot,  Aberdeenshire,  135 
Dedication  of  Churches,  371 
Deer,  3,  19,  37,  53,  135,  251,  346, 

354.  471 
Bookof,i,t(>,t,2\ 
Legend  of,  4,  134,  215,  356,  502 

Deerness,  342 

De  Excidio  Britanniaet  151 

Degsa-stane,  battle  of,  179 

'Deicolae,'  the,  503 

Deira,  177,  318 

Dekantaiy  10 

Dcmitaet  133 

Denmark,  453 

Deodric,  king  of  the  Angles,  176 

Deoradh,  pilgrim,  542 

Derelei  Clan,  367 

Derry,  Black  Church  of,  259 

Derteachy  Deartaighe,  37 

Deveron,  the,  135,  299 

Diarmait    Mac  Cearbhaill,    sove- 
reign of  Ireland,  50,  239 

Diarmat,  Ab  of  lona,  456 

Dicalydones,  11 

Dicuil,    Celtic    geographer,    254, 
332,  340 

Dion  Cassius,  1 1 

Dirlot,  Church  at,  384 

Disert,  30,  183,  507 

Dithreabh,  31 

Domangart    Mac  Fergus,  king  of 
Dalriada,  204 

Domhnall  Breac,  king  of  Dalriada, 
312 

Domnall,  Mac  Constantine,  Pictish 
king  of  Dalriada,  437,  439 

549 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 


Domongart,  the  FerUgin,  347 

Donald  I.  Mac  Alpin,  Scotic  sove- 
reign of  the  Picts,  446 

Donald  II.  Mac  Constantine,  first 
to  take  title  'king  of  Alban,' 
434.  444.  446,  486 

Donnan,  S.,  the  Great,  33,  39,  99, 
267,  271,  347,  448,  4^4,  507 
Church  foundations,  268 

Dornie,  356 

Dornoch,  18,  131,  341,  472 

Draco,  the,  193 

Draoidhean,  the,  13 

Drest  Mac  Talorgen,  sovereign  of 
the  Picts,  437 

Drontheim,  342 

Drostan,  S.,of  Deer,3,4, 132,251, 

340,  347 
Church  foundations  of,  135 
'Drostan  Dairthaighe'  of  Angus, 

37.  345.  393.  5°8 
Drowning,  punishment  by,4o6, 408 
Drumachose,  259 
Drum  Albain,  81,  178,  225,  256, 

313.  324.  332,  382 
Drumceatt,  Convention  of  Gaidh- 

eals  at,  207 
Drum-dergBlathmigyhsXiXipit^QO 
Drust  Gurthinmoc,  sovereign  of  the 

Picts,  57,  203,  216 
Drusticc,  57,  98 

Drust,  Nechtan's  successor,  sove- 
reign of  the  Picts,  389, 398,402 
Drust  Mac  Constantine,  sovereign 

of  the  Picts,  437 
Drust  Mac  Donnel,  sovereign  of 

the  Picts,  229,  329 
Drust  Mac  Erp,  sovereign  of  the 

Picts,  210 
Drust   Mac  Gyroni,  sovereign  of 

the  Picts,  217 
Drust  Mac  Munaith,  sovereign  of 

the  Picts,  218 
Drust  Mac  U'  Drost,  sovereign  of 

the  Picts,  217 
Drymen,  256,  350,  380 
Dubh-Galls,  448,  452,  460 
Dubh   Mac  Maelcoluim,   king  of 

'  Alban,'  446 
Dubhoc,  S. ,  of  Brechin,  345 
Dubhoc  or  Dubhi,  S. ,  of  Lismore, 

343 


Dublin,  Viking  kingdom  of,  457, 

459 
Dubthac,  S.,  of  Tain,  romamzed 

Gaidheal,  53 
Duirinish,  357 

Dull,  350,  367,  380,  383,  385,  387 
Dumna  (Lewis),  12 
Dumnonii,  192 
Dun  Add,  capital  of  the  Gaidheals 

or  Scots,  203,  406,  411,  431 
Dunbarton,  128, 177, 186, 195,200, 

312,  418,  458 
Dunblane,  295,  319,  336,  344 

Ceh  de  at,  517 
Duncan  Becc,  'king'  of  Cantyre, 

386,  402 
Duncan  Mac  Conaill,  superseded 

king  of  Dalriada,  198,  207 
Duncan    Mac  Crinan,    king    of 

'Alban,' 446 
Dun  Ceithem,  61 
Dun(d)Earn,   12,  407,   482.    See 

under  Fortrenn 
Dungal    Mac  Selbac,    'king'  of 

Dalriada,  402,  407 
Dun-Gimhen,  258 
Dunkeld,  11,  229,  299,  350,  481 
attempt    to     transfer    Mother- 
Church  of  Scots  there,  478 
Ceh  deaX,  516 

Constantine's  Church  at,  481 
'Liturgy' of,  122,  537 
projected    seat   for    Bishop   of 

Fortrenn,  480 
Dun  Leithfinn,  405 
Dunmeth,  Glass,  349 
Dunhichen  (Dun  Nechtain),  124, 

215 
battle   of,   61,   323,   324,    326; 

political  results  of,  326,  370 
Dunning,  128,  160 
Dunod,   S.  (Donatus),  181,   183, 

254.  275.  335 
DunoIIy,  406,  408 
Dunottar  (Dun  Fother),  39,  115 
Durness,  306 
Dwellings,  70 
Dyeing,  67 

Eadbald,  king  of  Kent,  284 
Eadbert,  king  of  the  English,  414, 
415 


INDEX 


Eaglais,  Eccles-,  27,  297 
Eanfrid,  apostate  king  of  Bernicia, 

329 
Earn,  'Erann,'  121,  122 
kingdom  of  (Fortrenn),  2,  320, 

361 
Easter  controversy,  the,  183,  280, 

31S.  371.  387,  394 
Ebussa,  447 

'Ecclesia  ScoHcana,'  483 
Edderton,  Ross,  82,  269,  336 
Edinburgh,  191,  196,  217,  312 
Editors,  Gaidhealic  and  Latin,  54, 

438,  440,  460 
Education,  35, 57,  92,  98, 292, 365, 

469 
Edwin,  king  of  the  English,  286 
Egbert,  Anglo-Roman  zealot,  374, 

387,  425,  429-  475 
Egbert,  Bishop  of  York,  288 
Egfrid,  king  of  the  English,  317, 

321,  326 
Egilshay,  342 
Eigg,  island  of,  267,  269,  271,  393, 

427,  448,  454 
Eilan  Donnan,  Kintail,  269,  356 
Elfled,  princess,  328 
Elfrith,  king  of  the  English,  461 
Elpin   Mac    Wroid    (Alpin   Mac 

Feroid),  sovereign  of  the  Picts, 

437 
Emly  (Imlach),  121,  344 
Endeus,  or  Eany,  S.,  95,  120 
English,  the,  311,  321,  353,  378, 

394.  397,  414 
claims  to  conquest,  312,  326 

'English  Claims,'  the,  373,  414, 
418 

Eochaidh  Buidhe,  king  of  Dalriada, 
312 

Eochaidh  Mac  Aed  Finn,  grand- 
father of  Kenneth  Mac  Alpin, 

438 

Eochaidh  Mac  Eachaidh,  'king  of 
Dalriada,  402,  406,  41 1 

Eochaidh  Rineaval,  '  king'  of  Dal- 
riada, 401 

Eochaidh  Run,  joint-sovereign  of 
the  Picts,  434,  446,  482 

Eogan,  'Eugadius'  or  'Euchinus' 
of  Deer,  347 

Eogan  of  Ardsratha,  97 


Eormenburg,  English  queen,  325 
Epidioi,  Epidium  (Cantyre),  9 
Episcopacy,    Roman    monarchic, 

523 

Episcopal  State  Church  set  up  m 

Alba  by  the  Scots,  475 
Ere,  race  of,  2 

Erchard,  S.  (M'erchard),  iii,  349 
'  Etar  Linndu'  (Leny),  408 
Ethelbald,  king  of  Mercia,  414, 

416 
Ethelbert,  king  of  Kent,  276 
Ethelfrid,  king  of  the  English,  177, 

276 
Ethelred,  lay  Ab  of  Dunkeld,  513 
Ethical  aims  of  the  Pictish  Church, 

518 
Eun  Innis  (Avium  insula),  259 
Ewen  or  'Uven'  Mac  Angus  II., 

sovereign   of  the    Picts   and 

Scots,  437,  442,  457 
Excommunication  of  S.  Columba, 

205 
Expulsion   of   the   Gaidhealic   or 

Scotic  clergy  by  Picts,  379, 

385.  387 

Faelcu,  Ab  of  lona,  430 

Failbhe  Mac  Guaire,  310, 343, 393, 
425 

Faith,  Picts  and  the  Christian,  533 

Falkirk,  297 

Fame  Islands,  177,  288,  449,  455 

Farnua  (Kirkhill),  377 

Farr,  Sutherland,  306 
Cross  of,  537 

Fearn,   Edderton,   105,  269,  289, 
336,  340,  426 

Fearn  (Nova  Farina),  106, 289, 472 

Fedhlimidh,  'Ab' of  lona,  430 

Feradach  Mac  Selbac  of  Lorn,  407 

Ferchar,  king  of  Dalriada,  312 

Ferchar  Fada  of  Lorn,  king  of  Dal- 
riada, 365,  401,  407 

Ferghil,  S.,  the  Geometer,  337 

Fergus,  S.,  of  Buchan  and  Caith- 
ness, 132,  347 

Fergus,  S.,  of  Carnoch,  129,  246, 

337 
Fergus,  S.,  of  Dalarossie,  336 
Fergus  Mac  Eachaidh  of  Cantyre, 

410,  437 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 


Fergus  Mor,  reputed  second  king  of 

Dalriada,  173,  203 
Feth  Fiadha,  the,  48 
Fiac,  or  Fiag,  S.,  49,  114 
Fiacha  Araidht,  i 
Fiacroc  (Fittoc),  S.,  of  Nigg,  252 
Fictitious  grants  of  property,  502 
Fidach,  12 
Fidhbhadach,     Ab    of    Bangor, 

Ulster,  431 
Fife,  Fib,  10, 12, 214, 236, 260, 294, 

297,361,423,471 
Mother-Church  of,  264, 361, 423, 

427 
Fillanor  Baolan,  S., ' Lla/ar,  121, 

139.  344 
FiUan,  S.,ofFife,  338,  355 
Fillan,  S.,  of  Houston,  123,  355, 

357.  393>  427 
Finan,  S.,  of  Lumphanan,  252 
Finan,  S. ,  Scotic  bishop  at  Lindis- 

farne,  429 
Finbar,  S.,  of  Maghbile  and  Dor- 
noch, 57,  97,  129,  234,  340, 

355 
Findchan   the    Presbyter    (Tiree), 

241,  259 
Findgane  Mac  Deleroith,  Pictish 

chief,  331 
Findomhnan,  S.,  of  Forvie,  336 
Finghin,  Celede,  'Ab'  of  lona,  517 
Finian,  S.,  ofClonard,  35,  258,  337 
Finl^  Cunthar  or  Cunchar,  Pictish 

chief  of  Angus,  466,  474 
Finn-Gall,  the,  448,  452 
Fintan,  S.,  350 
Fishing,  64,  245 
Flaithbertach,   princeps  of  Dun- 

keld,  480 
Flann,  S.,  of  Antrim,  395 
Flann-Abhra,  Ab  of  Maghbile,  456 
Fleet,  Pictish,  401 

Viking,  458 
Flodden  of  the  Picts,  442 
Fordun,  114 
Fordun,  John  of,  115 
Forfar,  Angus,  10,  214,  297,  299, 

323 
Forres,  306 
Forteviot,  12,  481 
Forth,  river  and  firth  of,  9,  11,  17, 

190,  217,  312,  318,  327,  338 


Fortrenn,  Fort  Earn,  Dun(d)Earn, 

2,  12,  17,  122,  320,  323,  370, 

378,  380,  386,  396,  407,  444, 

457.  459.  468,  478.  494,  Soi 

Scotic  headquarters  removed  to, 

46s 
seat  of  Roman  bishop  of,  480  ; 

removed  to  Abernethy,  481 
title  of  Roman  bishop  changed 
to  'bishop  of  Alban,'  492 

Forvie,  336 

Fothad    I.,     Roman    bishop   of 
'Alban,'  515 

Fotla,  12 

'  Four  Nations,'  the,  230 

Frankish  clergy,  279 

Franks,  the,  452 

Fraserburgh  (Faithlie),  135 

Freedom  for  the  Church,  520 

Freswick,  136 

Frisian  Vikings,  271,  447 

Frithwald,  Roman  bishop  of  Can- 
dida Casa,  419,  431 

Fumoc,  S.,  of  Botriphnie,  252 

Furs,  68 

Fusion  of  Picts  and  Scots  in  the 
west,  410 

Gabhran  Mac  Domangairt,  king  of 

Dalriada,  8,  13,  204,  265,  347 
the  Clan,  366,  386,  401,  410 
Gaidhealic  dialect  of  Celtic,  20 
Gaidheals  or  Scots,  the,  2, 172, 188, 

191,  202,  216,  229,  265,  302, 

3U,  352,  365,  379,401,434, 

460,  464,  478 
of  Ireland,  172,  274,  322 
Galan,  sovereign  of  the  Picts,  216 
Galan  Cennaleph,  sovereign  of  the 

Picts,  218 
Gall,  S.,  2,  41 
Gall,  St.,  45,  244 

library  at,  42 
'  Gallaibh'  generally,  and  referring 

to  Caithness,  451 
'  Gallgaedelaib,'  294,  450 
Gall-Gaidheal,  the,  449,  457 
Gallowray,  I,    18,   loi,  249,  273, 

285,  286,  289,  312,  337,  353, 

356.  394.  413.  418 
Alpin  the   half-Pict  settles  in, 

413.417 


INDEX 


Garioch,  238,  253 
Garth,  38 

Gartnaidh  Mac  Domneth,  sove- 
reign of  the  Picts,  228,  263, 
344 
Gartnaidh  Mac  Donnel,  sovereign 

of  the  Picts,  229,  329 
Gartnaidh  Mac  Gyrom,  sovereign 

of  the  Picts,  217 
Gartnaidh  Mac  Wid  (Foith),  sove- 
reign of  the  Picts,  229,  329 
Gaul,  24s,  279 

Church  of,  234,  522 
Geographical  idea  of  Pictland  of 
Alba  in  early  and  mediaeval 
periods  (compare  with  refer- 
ences the  map  of  Matthew 
Paris),  I,  224,  236,  364,  380 
Gilbert  Murray,  Roman  bishopand 

saint,  4,  131,  341 
Gilbert  de  Sterling,  Roman  bishop, 

348 
Gildas,  saint  and  censor,  137,  146, 

193,  201 
Gilgidh,  Gilgic,  or  Galgac,  sove- 
reign of  the  Picts,  211 
Giric  or  Grig,  last  Pictish  titular 
sovereign  of  the  Picts,  5,  434, 
445.  446,  482,  484 
his  gift  of  Liberty '  to  the  roman- 
ized  Scotic  Church,  483,  487 
'  Glas  Cainie'  the,  58 
Glasgow,  18,  104,  129,  196,  200, 
231,  246,  257,  273,  299,  319, 
337.  352.  529 
S.  Columba's  visit  to,  256 
Glasnevin,  26,  259 
Glaston,  Glasserton,  79,  loi,  286 
Glastonbury,  loi,  igi 
Glen,  the  Great,  112 
Glen  Esk,  508 
Glen  Gyle,  407 
Glenmoriston,  112 
Glen  Shiel,  356 
Glen  Urquhart,  39,  135 
Godfrey  of  the  race  of  Ivar,  461 
Gospel  MSS.,  57,  532 

S.  Martin's,  58 
Govan,  243,  337 
Gragabai,  thejarl,  461 
Gruoch,  queen,  500 
Guallauc,  or  Hywel,  148,  176,  196 


Gureit,   king  of  the    Britons   of 

Strathclyde,  311 
Gwenddolen  ap  Ceidian,  60,  196 
Gwendydd,  59 
Gwledig  01  Guletic,  the,  189 
Gwynedd,    Gwendote,    Venedotia 

(N.  Wales),  191,  219 

Hadrian,  abbot  at  Canterbury,  317 
Hadrian,  Wall  of,  420 
Haldane,  the  Viking,  458 
Halkirk,  131,  136,  342 
Hebrides,  8,  52,  426 
Helmsdale,  39,  131 
Hexham  or  Hagustald,  420 
Hierarchy  of  Rome,  and  Pictland, 

391 

Hilary,  S.,  78,  337 

Hilda's  abbey,  328 

'Hill  of  Faith,' Scone,  488 

Hinba,  299 

Hoan,  king  of  the  Britonsof  Strath- 
clyde, 312 

'Holdelm,'nowHoddam,  199,251 

Honorius,  emperor  of  Rome,  213 

Houston,  123,  355 

Hoy  and  Church,  342,  384 

Hubba,  the  Viking,  458 

Humber,  the,  17,  462 

Huns,  the,  453 

Hussa  the  Angle,  148,  176 

Hut  circles,  70 

Hy  or  lona,  which  see,  2 

Hymn  of  S.  Fiac,  49 

I,  Hy,  or  lona,  221.    See  lona 
Iceland,  254,  332 
Ida,  the  Angle,  174 
Ilduib  (misread '  lUulb')  Mac  Con- 
stantine,  king  of '  Alban,'  446 

ilidh,  Ulligh,  Ila,  the  Helmsdale 

river,  10,  268 
lUtyd,  or  Iltutus,  S.,  155 
Inchmaholm   {Innis   na    Cholni), 

122,  344 
Inguar,  the  Viking,  458 
Innis   Cumennraighe,  plundering 

of,  404 
Innis  na  Cailleach,  123,  355 
Innis  Pict,  I 
Innis  Witrin,  Isle  of  Whithorn, 

286 

553 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 


Insch,  Garioch,  135 

Inverarity,  125 

Invergowrie,  375 

Invermoriston,  384 

Inverness,  8,  227,  235,  237,  378, 

383 
lolan,  Ab  of  Kingarth,  295 
lona,  2,  20,  52,  221,  227,  264,  267, 
270,311,  325,  332,  350,  367, 
373.  381,  386,  42s.  428,  455, 
538 
Abs  who  conformed  to  Rome, 

430 
CeleDezX,  517 
clergy  expelled  from   Pictland, 

379 
Kenneth   MacAIpin    the   Scot 

breaks  away  from,  476 
left  derelict  by  Innrechtach,  477 
old  parish  Church  of,  431 
Pictish    Churchmen     found    a 
Church  there,  296,  430 
Ireland,  52,  460,  477,  496 
Isla,  Angus,  400 
Islay,  304 

Ithernan,  or  Ethernoc,  S. ,  297 
Ivar,  kingof  the  Vikings  in  Ireland, 

458,  460 
Ivar  Conung  ua  Ivar,  461,  495 

Jarrow-on-Tyne,  368,  420 

Jerome,  S.,  280 

Joceline  of  Furness,  19,  60,  100, 

200,  247,  256,  273 
John,  bishop  of  York,  288 
John  IV. ,  Pope,  282 
Jonas,  biographer  of  S.    Colum- 

banus,  243 
Julius  Capitolinus,  17 
Justus,  bishop  of  Rochester,  276, 

285 

'  Kaillian  Find,'  350,  380,  479 

Kaledonioiy  11 

Keith,  303,  306,  392 

Kenneth  Derelei,  378 

Kenneth  III.  Mac  Alpin,  Scotic 
sovereign  of  the  Picts,  418, 
434>  437.  438,  442,  444.  446, 
457.  460,  465,  468,  477,  485 
breaks  away  from  Columban 
Church  of  lona,  476 

554 


Kenneth  III.  Mac  Alpin,  estab- 
lishes the  Roman  Mission  in 
Alba,  476 
his  attack  'in  the  rear'  of  the 

Pictish  army,  442 
his  innovations  in  the  Scotic  and 

Pictish  Churches,  476 
his  scoticizing  designs,  472 
Kenneth  IV.  Mac  Maelcoluim,  king 
of  'Alban,'  345,  446, 466,  474, 
'   490 
Kenneth  V.  Mac  Duibh,  king  of 

'Alban,' 446 
Kentigern  (Mungo),  S. ,  19, 59, 100, 
194,  196,  200,  246,  332,  337, 

499.  507,  5".  527 
Missions  of,  248 
Kentigerna,  S.,  121,  135,  347,  355, 

358.  427 
Kerones,  9,  14 
Kessoc,  S.,  137,  138 
Kiannaght,  123,  259 
'ICilcalmkill'for '  Gillyecallomgil,' 

384 
ICil-Curdy  (Kil-Curitan),  375,  377 
Kildonnan,  Arran,  268 
Kildonnan,  Eigg,  343 
Kildonnan,  Sutherland,  268,  342, 

538 
KilfiUan,  Kil'illan,  355,  356 
Kilkenny,  Round  tower  of,  73 
Kil-Kinterne,  356 
Kilmarnock,  299 
Kilmoha,  Argyll,  138 
'Xibnoronoc,'  'Kilmoronog,'  297, 

430 
ICilrenny,  297 
Kilrymont    (Cill  Rig  -  Monaidh). 

See  Cindrigh  Monaidh 
Kiltearn,  Ross,  356 
Kincardine,  Mearns,  10 
Kincardine,  Ross,  lo 
Kingarth  (Cinn-garadh),  293,  319, 

343.  344.  430.  431.  469,  508 
Kmghorn,  336,  338,  474 
Kingussie,  384 
Kintail,  14,  269,  356 
Kirkcoim,  268 
Kirk-Cowan,  355 
Kirkcudbright,  102 
Kirkintilloch,     'Chirciiid,'    'Cacr 
felt,'  228 


INDEX 


Kirkmahoe,  138 
Kirkmaiden,  268 
Knapdale,  203,  406 
Knoydart,  357 
Kornavioi,  9 
Kynor,  252,  346 
'Kyrkenes,'  500 

Laeghaire,  king  of  the  Irish  Gaidh- 

eals,  47 
'Laicht  Alpin,'4i3 
Lairg,  3q6 
Laisranus,  Mac  Laisre,  Molaisren, 

Ab  of  Bangor,  283,  292 
Lamlash,  38,  292 
Lanark,  251 

LandnamabSk,  the,  23,  255,  458 
Landsoftheffz«2'»»^jW5tolenunder 
the  Scots,  473 
of  the  clansmen  stolen,  474 
Latin  among  the  Picts,  56 
Laurentius,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, 276,  285 
his  letter  to  the  Irish,  277 
'Lausperennis,'  35,  122,  256 
'Lawofthe  Innocents,  'Adamnan's, 

373.  374 
Law  regulating  succession  of  Pict- 

ish  Abs,  472 
Leabhar  na  h-  Uidhre,  2 
Learning  among  the  Picts,  369 
Leathlobhair,  chief  of  Irish  Picts, 

456 
'Legacaester,'  Chester,  Battle  of, 

180,  276,  286 
Legions,  in  Britain,  187 
Leinster,  49,  355 
Leithreid,  Battle  of,  222 
Lennox,  138,  145,  149,  178,  256, 

29s.  313.  350 
Lerins,  523 
Lesmahagow,  169 
Leven  (Lochaber  border),  405 
Leven,  Loch  (Kinross),  336,  501, 

SIS 
Leven,  the,  Dunbarton,  149 
Lewis,  12,  269,  305,  449,  467 
Lhanbride,  39 
Lia  Fail,  The,  33 
'  Liberty '    to    romanized    Scotic 

Church  by  Giric,  483,  487 
Librariesof  Bobbio  and  St.  Gall,  41 


Library  at  Candida  Casa,  57 

Ligugl,  337 

Lindisfarne,  318,  455 

Lis,  lios,  39 

Lismore  (Lorn),  19,  39,  170,  236, 

343>  347.  469 
Llallogan,  59,  198 
Llan,  38 

Llancarvan,  144,  155 
Llan-Elwy,  194,  246 
Llolan,  S.,  137,  165 
Loam  Mor,  reputed  first  king  of  the 

Scots  of  Dalriada,  203 
Lochaber,  14,  367 
Loch  Broom,  10 

Loch  Carron  and  Carron  river,  306 
Loch  Duich,  356 
Loch  Fyne,  304 
Locklann,  451 

Lochlannaibh,  the,  450,  459,  494 
Loch  Leven  (Kinross),  336,  501, 

S15 
Cele  De  at,  500 
Loch  Lomond,  123,  355 
Loch  Long  in  Kintail,  356 
Loch  Maree  {,Ma  rui),  306 
Loch  Ness,  85,  349,  351.  3^7 
Logo-  Tigiac,  Leuko  Teiac,  Logoti- 

giacum,  26,  78,  159 
LoUius  Urbicus,  7,  16,  17,  415 
London, 188 
Lonmay,  135 
'  Loogdae '  Loch,  390 
Lord's  Supper,  272,  284,  533,  536 
Lorn,  343,  406,  409 

Clan,  366,  387,  401,  407,  411 
Loth,  or  Llewddyn  Lueddag,  king 

of  Eastern  Brito-Picts,    175, 

192,  217 
Lothians,  191,  378  . 
Lougoi,  10 
Louth,  41 

Love  of  country,  Pictish,  541 
Lugbe  Mocumin,  257,  350 
Lumphanan    (Llan-Fhinan),    38, 

446,  500 
Lumsden  Village,  348 
Lungley,  St,  Fergus,  136 
Luss,  140 
Luxeuil,  244 
Lyon,  Churchfoundations  in  Valley 

of  the,  160 

555 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 


Mac  Alpin,  Kenneth.  See  under  K 

Macbain,  Dr.,  i6 

Macbeth,  king  of '  Alban,'  446, 500 

Machan,  S.,  137,  145,  201 

Mac  Maelchon,  Brude.  Seeunder  B 

Mac  Oigi,  Ab  of  Bangor  and  Aber- 
crossan,  244,  304,  343,  455 

M^con,  Council  of,  280 

Madderty,  297 

Maelcoluim  I.,  king  of  'Alban,' 
446 

Maelcoluim  II.,  king  of  'Alban,' 
446 

Maelduin,  bishop  of  'Alban,'  517 

Maelduin,  king  of  Dalriada,  401 

Maelgon,  Maelgwyn  or  Maelchon, 
king  of  Gwynedd,  and  sove- 
reign of  the  Brito  -  Pictish 
tribes,  154,  178,  192,  194,  219 

Maelmanach,  Ab  of  Kingarth,  295 

Maeloc,  S.,  148 

Maelrubha,  S.,  22,  37,  273,  307, 

335.  343.  392,  426,  454 
his  Church  foundations  in  the 

East,  306,  392 
his  Church  foundations  in  the 

North,  306 
his  Church  foundations  in  the 

West,  304,  343 
Maelrubha,  Moruf,  or  Morubh  of 

Angus,  345 
Maes  y  dawc  or  Catoc,  battle  of, 

417 
Maghbile,   18,  98,   129,  234,  337, 

355.  456,  469 
'  Magnum  Monasterium  of  S.  Mar- 
tin, 24,  34,  79 
of  S.  Ninian,  34,  79 
Mailros,  Melrose,  loi 
Malcolm  Mac  Duncan,  Ceanmor, 

king  of 'Alban,'  446 
Malcolme    or   Maol-Choluim    of 

Fearn  and  Candida  Casa,  105 
Man,  Isle  of,  449 
Manapian  Picts,  i,  17,  49 
Manau  gu-Otadin{Viz.'aai,VL),  190, 

222,  266,  330 
Maolruadha,  for  Maelrubha,  which 

see 
Mar,  300,  323 
Margaret,  queen  of  'Alban,'  510, 

514 


Margaret  and  the  Pictish  Church- 
men, S13 
' Marmoutier,'  Mor  Muinntir,  24, 

79 

Marnoc,  or  Marnan,  S. ,  298 

Marriage  of  Celtic  clerics,  515 

Martain,  Taigh,  109,  353 

Martan,  S.,  of  Angus,  339 

Martin,  S.,  26,  77,  282,  353,  507, 
522 

Martyrdom  of  S.  Donnan,  27 1 

'Maxima  Caesariensis,'  17 

May,  Isle  of,  338,  449 

Mearns,  11,  12,  110,  323,  345,  444 

Meath,  I 

Medan,  S.,  of  Airlie,  125 

Medan,  S.,  of  Buchan  and  Caith- 
ness, 132,  347 

Medan,  S, ,  of  Candida  Casa,  84 

Medraut,  or  Modred,  175, 191, 193, 
217 

Mellitus,  bishop  of  London,  276, 
28s 

Mentality,  Pictish,  539 

Menteith,  122,  313,  344 

Merovingians,  185 

Mersey,  17,  312 

Methlick,  36,  84,  346 

M'eudail,  63 

Miathi,  11,  17 

Mid  mar,  252 

Ministry,  Pictish,  530 

Mirran,  S. ,  of  Paisley,  243,  337 

Missions  and  missionaries,  Pictish, 

530 
Mobhi,  S.,  218,  259 
Mochaoi,  S.,  137 
Mochrieha,  S.   (misnamed  '  Mac- 

har'),  166 
Mo'dan,  S. ,  of  Rosneath,  296 
Church  foundations  of,  296 
Mo'enna,  S.,  98 
Molendinar,  the,  231 
Moluag,  S.,  19,  58,  220,  225,  23s, 

251.  259.  292,  300,  305,  340, 

343.  347.  348,  5".  543 
Church  foundations  of,  234,  237, 

343.  376 
Monarchic  and  Diocesan  bishops, 

392,  394 
Monasticism,  S.  Martin's,  77 
Monifod,  Monifieth,  125,  338 


INDEX 


Monire,  S.,  of  Crathie,  252 
Monith  Carno,  battle  of,  390,  399 
Moniih  Craebh,  battle  of,  398 
Moray,  3,  323,  426,  507 

Firth,  13s 
Morecambe,  195 

Morkan,   Morcant,    Brito  -  Pictish 
chief,  148,  176,  177,  196,  246 
Mortlach,  53,  237,  347 

bishops  at,  347 
Muckairn,  304 
Mugent,  Ab  of  Candida  Casa,  98, 

155.  337 
'Hymn 'of,  27,  56 
' Muinntir,'  I,  24,  32,  78 
Muircertach,  Ab  of  Cambus  and 

Bangor,  234 
Mull,  259 
M'ullit,  63 

Mun-Ros,  Montrose,  125,  339,  507 
Munster,  2,  458 

Muredach,  'king'  ofLorn,402,4o6 
Mynghu,yi-aiigo,(>-i.  -Se^Kentigern 
Mynyv,  Fenyv,  164,  195 
' Mynyv  Veins,'  164 
Myr'an,  S.     See  Mirran 
Myrdinn,  Llallogan,  198 

Nairn,  306 

Nathlan,  S.,  of  Meldrum,  301 

Naver,  'Nawarn,' '  Nair,' river  and 

strath,  306,  454 
Navidale,  'Ntandal,'  39,  85,  131 
Nechtan  Derelei,  sovereign  of  the 

Picts,  330,  350,  360,  364,  370, 

378,  386,  388,  390,  396,  399, 

522 
becomes  a  cleric,  389,  398 
'  Nechtan's  mere '  (Dunnichen),  61, 

323.  325 

Nectan  Mac  Canonn,  sovereign  of 
the  Picts,  228,  229,  344 

Nectan  the  Great,  Mac  Erp,  sove- 
reign of  the  Picts,  124,214,323 

Nemhidh,  36 

Nemi,  37 

Nennio, S.,'Manchan,'  Abof  Ca«- 
dida  Casa,  95,  98,   113,   155, 

163.  337 
Nennius,  41,  148,  273 
Nevrcastle,  420 
Nialis,  the,  i,  2,  173,  303,  457 


Nidan,  S.,  252,  346 

Ninian  the  Great,  S.,  i,  8,  18,  55, 
77,  100,  212,  233,  254,  337, 
340,  346,  349,  507,  SI  I,  522, 

527 
Churches  founded  by,  84,  336 

North  Sea,  the,  453 

Northumbria,  413,  455 

Norway,  254,  453 

Norwegians,  448,  450.  See' Lock- 
lannaibh ' 

Nothelm,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, 419 

Oan,  'princeps'  of  Eigg,  343,  393 
O'BeoUans  of  Ross,  the,  474 
Octha,  the  Viking,  447 
'Oifrend,'  Eucharist,  the,  272 
Olaf  Cuaran,  the  Dane,  462 
Olaf,  son  of  Godfrey,  Viking  king 

of  Dublin,  462 
Olaf  the  Fair,  Viking  king  of  Dub- 
lin, 458,  459 
Olaf  Tryggvesen,  king  of  Norway, 

342 
Olrig,  Castletown  of,  136 
O'Morgair,  S.  Malachi,  244 
Orders  of  the  clergy  of  the  Scots, 

517 
Organization  of  the  Pictish  Church, 
form  of,  525 
complete,  332 
Ork,  Orcades,  Orkney,  12,  52,  254, 
332,  342,  384,  447.  449.  466 
Vikings  converted  by  Rome,  342, 

466 
Viking  kingdom  of,  461 
Ornaments,  60,  66 
Osred,  king  of  the  English,  331 
Oswald,  king  of  the  English,  288, 

3" 

Oswy,  kingoftheEnglish,3i2,  325 

Otadinoi,  the,  II,  176 

Otter,  the,  64 

Ottir,  thejarl,  461 

Owain,  father  of  S.  Kentigern,  177, 

246 
Oyne,  135 

/"-using  Celts,  7,  15 
Paisley,  243,  299,  337,  427 
Pdpas,  Papa,  23,  77,  253,  454 

557 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 


Paradise  of  the  Celts,  541 

'Pane  Domine,'  the,  56 

Paschal  date,  the,  280,  365,  371, 

387,  394 
at  lona,  425 

Pasgen,  son  of  Urien,  252 

Patras,  423 

Patrick,  S.,  47,  49,  109,  113,  137, 
213,  535 

Paul  Bin,  'Paldoc,'  'Paldy,"Po- 
lan,'  99,  no,  112,  159,  160 

Paulinus,  Archbishop  of  York,  78, 
loi,  287,  300 

Pausanius,  17 

Pechthelm,  Roman  bishop  of  Can- 
dida Casa,  104,  274,  289,  394, 
419 

Pechtwine,  Roman  bishop  of  Can- 
dida Casa,  104,  274,  289,  419 

Peebles,  251 

Pelagius,  533 

Penicuik,  251 

Pennines,  195 

Pentland  (Pictland)  Firth,  13,  449 

Pentland  Hills,  195 

Periods  of  the  Churches,  5 

Perth,  214,  299 

'Peter  Abstoil,'  S.  Peter,  4,  314, 
376,  391 

Peter,  S.,  his  protection  for  the 
Picts,  371,  391.  420,  427,  469 

Pet-names,  63 

Petty,  384 

Phoenicians,  72 

Pictish  Chronicle,  The,  54,  55, 209, 
213 

Pictish  Church,  aims  of,  526 
penetration  by  Scotic  clergy  be- 
gins, 468 

Pictish  dialect  of  Celtic,  15,  48 

Pictish  dissent  after  beginning  of 
Scotic  dynasty,  472 

Pictish  kings  of  Dalriada,  433,  437 

Pictish  literature,  55 

Pictland,  'Cruitin-tuait,'  of  Alba, 

7.  9.  1.2 
penetration  by  Scotic  chiefs  and 

clergy  begins,  468 
Picts  of  Alba,  54,  209,  301 
Picts   of   Alba,    western    (Bede's 

'northern'),  220, 225, 236, 259, 

264,  269,  410 


Picts  of  the  north-east  of  Ireland,  i, 

61,  259,  266,  301,  312,  337 
Pictsofthesouth-east  and  midlands 

-    of  Ireland,  i,  258,  337 
Pilgrim,  the  Pictish,  542 
Pitmedan  of  Fintray,  84 
Pitmedan  of  Udny,  135 
Pittenweem,  Pet-na-  Weem,  338 
Place-names,  Celtic,  541 
Poictiers,  Celts  of,  77,  522 
Polwarth,  251 
Polyandry,  74 
Pope,  Scots  and  the,  262 
Portree,  305 
Port  Ronain,  lona,  430 
Pottery,  66 
Precious  metals,  66 
Pretanikai  Nesoi,  7 
'  Princeps,'  President,  480" 
Priten,  Pryden,  Cruitin,  Briton,  7 
Psalter  MSS.,  57,  532 

of  Bobbio,  glosses  on,  505 
Ptolemy,  and  the  influence  of  his 
geographical  error  with  regard 
to  Pictland  on  early  historians, 
9,  12,  80,  187,  224,  364,  380 

Qu-,C-,  jf-using  Celts,  2,  15 

Rafford,  306 

Ranald,  the  Dane,  461 

'Red  Priest, 'the, 302.  ^«S.  Mael- 

rubha 
Regies,  Redes,  at  St.  Andrews,  261, 

267,  338 
Regulus,  S.   See  Riaghuil  or  Rule, 

S. 
Relics  of '  S.  Andrew, '  423 
Relics,  veneration  of,  422,  430, 

,455.461,478,494,536 
Religion  and  politics,  352 
pre-Christian,  among  the  Celts, 

540 
'  Religiosus,'  427,  508 
'  Religious  Equality,'  488 
Reodatius    (Reodaidhe),    Ab    of 

Fearn,  Edderton,  85, 340, 426, 

538 
Rescobie,  380 
Restennot,  126,  375 
Resurrection,  263,  532 
Retreats,  507 


INDEX 


'J!ex  Pictorum,'  high-king  or  sove- 
reign of  the  Picts,  2,  446 

Rhydderch  'HmI,'  later,  'Wn,' 
sovereign  of  the  Britons  of 
Clyde,  60,  148,  176,  194,  200, 
230,  246,  251 

Riaghuil,  Rule,  S.,  of  Bangor,  61, 
261,  324,  338 

Riaghuil,  Rule,  S. ,  of  Muc  Innis, 

261.  338 

'High  Dalriada,'  'Xigh  Albain^ 
"■Rex  Alban,'  2,  444,  446 

Rioc,  S.,98 

Robert  of  Popilton,  209 

Roman  and  Celto  -  Catholic 
Churches,  522,  525 

Roman  hierarchy  organized  in  Alba 
by  the  Scots,  475 

Roman  mission  of  S.  Curitan  (Boni- 
face), 372,  378,  391,  393,  428 

Roman  Mission,  the,  182, 231, 247, 
27  s,  289,  323,  327,  329,  354, 
362,  387,  391,  394,  420,  425, 
427,  429,  452,  454,  471,  48s. 
5'S>  522 
promoted  in  Alba  by  the  Scots, 
476 

Rome,  Imperial,  7,  187,  213,  415, 

453 
Ronan,  S.,  Ab  of  Kingarth,  295, 

394,  425,  429 
at  lona,  429 

other  Church  foundations  of,  296 
Ronan,  the,  Cek  De,  515 
Ronan,  'the  Scot'  (Irishman),  429 
Rosemarkie,  19, 227, 237, 340, 375, 

391,  428 
Rosnat,  'Rosnan(t),'  Whithorn,  96, 

163 
Rosneath,  296 
Ross,  19 
absence  of  Columban  Churches 

in,  383 
CeleDeixi,  517 
Earls  of,  475 
Easter,  105,  269,  289,  307,  340, 

377,  426,  458 

Roman  Church  in,  475 

Wester,  302 
lios  Torathair,  battle  of,  266 
Rothiemay,  135 
Round  towers,  73,  97,  342 


Rule  of  Bangor,  242,  283 
Rum  map  Urbgen,  99,  loi 

Sacraments  in  Celtic  Church,  185, 

362,  513,  533 
'Sagart  Ruadk,'  302.  See  S.  Mael- 

rubha 
Sanctuary,  Ecclesiastical,  38,  269, 

305,  539 
Royal,  405 
'Saxanacaibh,'  458 
Saxons,  226,  229,  231,  275,  284, 

452,  458 
Scandinavian  Vikings,  the,  447 
Schools,  58 
Scone,  12,  125,  443 

Ecclesiastical  Council  at,  488, 

491 
Kenneth  Mae  Alpin's  treachery 
at,  442 
•Scot,' 2,  54 
Scotic  rehgion  in  tenth  century, 

494 
Scotic  vicar  in  Pictland,  the,  473 
Scots,  the,  2.  See  under  Gaidheals 
Scriptures  in  Pictish  Church,  531 
Seannal  UaTaidhg,  Abof  Achadh- 

Bo,  428 
Seipeal,  Sdpil,  Chapel,  28 
Selbac,  chief  of  Lorn,  386,  402 
Servanus,  S.,  30,  55,  99,  127,  129, 

201,251,252,337,  500,507 
of  the  fabulists,  501 
Severus,  L.  S. ,  11 
Shetland,  8,  52,  332,  342,  384,453, 

466 
Shipping,  69,  401 
Sidlaw  hills,  323 
Simoniacal  bribe  of  the  Scots  to  the 

Pictish  Abs,  473 
Sitriuc,  the  Dane,  462 
Skail,  454 
Skaoc,  S.,  126,  339 
Skye,  'Sketis,'  12,  269 
Slebhine,  'Ab'  of  lona,  430 
Sleibhte,  49,  114 
Smertai,  10 
Smiths,  65 
Solitary,  the,  507 
Solway,  the,  312 
Sonichar,  245 
Soul  of  the  Picts,  470 

559 


THE  PICTISH  NATION 


Spike  Island,  i 

Spinning,  67 

Stilicho,  213 

Stinchar,  140 

Stirling,  295,  312,  318,  321,  378 

Stormont,  364 

Strath-Clyde,  175,  177,  246,  286, 

337,  457,  458 
Strath- Earn,  321,  323 
Strath-Gartney,  407 
Strathmore,  324 
Strathpeffer,  237 
Strath-Spey,  365 
Studion,  the,  36 

Succession,  Law  of,  75,  435,  445 
Suidhe,  33 
Sunday,  513 

Sutherland,  10,  33,  384,  426,  458 
S.Andrew,  261,372,420, 422,  469, 
536 

Legend  of ,  261,  415,  420,  423 
St.  Andrews,  3,  53,  58,  260,  338, 
344,  394,  423,  428,  469,  471, 
488,491,493,496,  512 

Ce/«Z>«  at,  516 

Council  of,  513,  531 

Hexham,  421 
St.  Cainnechs  (Kilkenny),  73 
St.  Colms,  Buchan,  135 
St.  Dawids  {My nyv),  156,  164 
St.  Drostans  (Deer  and  Canisbay), 

13s.  136 
St.  Fergus,  Buchan,  135 
St.  Fillans('Rath-Erann'),  121 
St.  Fittocks,  252 
St.  Gall,  42,  243,  464,  470 
St.  Mungos,  129,  251 

Tacitus,  211 
Tain,  Old,  136 
Tain,  Ross,  53 
Taizaloi,  the,  10 
Talmag,  56,  98 

Talorg  Mac ,  sovereign  of  the 

Picts,  212 
Mac  Aniel,  sovereign  of  thePicts, 

214 
Mac  Congusa,  405 
Mac  Murtholoic,  sovereign  of  the 

Picts,  218 
Mac  Wid  ('Foith'),  sovereign  of 
the  Picts,  229,  312,  329 

560 


Talorgan,  Mac  Angus,  sovereign  of 

the  Picts,  437 
Mac  'Enfred,'  sovereign  of  the 

Picts,  229,  329 
Mac  Fergus  of  Lorn,  407 
Mac  Wthoil,  joint-sovereign  of 

the  Picts,  437 
Tara,  50,  374 

Synod  of,  374 
Taran  Mac  Entifidich,  sovereign  of 

the  Picts,  329 
Tarbat,  Easter  Ross,  426 
Tarlagan  or  Talorgan,  S.,  305 
Tarlog  or  Talorg,  S.,  269 
Tathan,  S.,  143 
Taudar  Mac  Bil^,  king  of  the  Strath- 

clyde  Britons,  320,  417 
Tay,  10,  160,  214,  323,  381 
Teaching  of  the  Pictish  ministers, 

529 
'Tear' (Deer),  Kirk  o',  136 
Teilcho,  battle  of,  207 
TeimnenofKingarth,  508 
Tempul,  27 
Maelrubha,  306 
Ninian,  Loch  Ness,  85,  268, 349, 

351,  367,  380 
Ronoc,  or  Ronain,  430 
Ternan,  S. ,  Ab  of  Candida  Casa, 

95,99.  109,  "6,  129,  168 
Teunon  (Forglen),  400 
Teutonism,  322,  363, 400,409,415, 

444,  448,  452,  470 
Teutons,  281,  284,  363,  450 
Theodore,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, 317 
Thorstein  the  Red,  458 
Tighernac,  S. ,  of  Cluain  Eois,  97 
Time,  Celtic  reckoning  of,  540 
Tiree,  238,  259,  266 
Toiseach,  8,  204,  382 
Tolarg,  brother  of  Angus  I.,  417 
Tolarg  Mac  Drostain  of  Atholl, 

379,  380,  386,  406,  408 
Tonsure,  the  Celtic,  316,  362,  365 

the  Roman,  368,  3S7 
Toraidh,  plundering  of,  404 
Tours,  77,  337,  S22 
Towers,  round,  73,  97,  342 
Triduana,  legend  of,  and  Nechtan, 

380 
Trumwine,     bishop    among    the 


INDEX 


Angles  at  Abercorn,  316,  318, 

327.  363 
Tuatalan,  Ab  at  St.  Andrews,  264, 

338,  394,  424.  425.  427 

Tuathal  Mac  Artguso, '  first  bishop 
of  Fortrenn,  480 

Turgot,  Roman  bishop  at  St.  An- 
drews, 516 

Turriff,  3,  14,  109,  347,  354,  357, 
393.427.471 

Ty  Gwyn,  SA,  7i,  '59 

Tyne,  420,  423 

Ullapool,  10 

Ulster,  Uladh,  2,  49,  61,  123,  129, 

234,  239.  337,  457 
Underworld,  the  Celtic,  540 
Union  of  Picts  and  Gaidheals,  or 

Scots,  3,  433,  445 
Ur-ghard,Ar-ghard,Air-  Gharadh, 

307 
Urquhart,  Loch  Ness,  307 
Urquhart(on  Cromarty  Firth),  306 
Urien  Rheged  (Urbgen),  59,  148, 

176,  196,  246 

f'' in  Ptolemaic  names,  10 
Vakomagoi,  II,  17 
Valentia,  17 

Veneration  of  relics,  422,  430,  455, 
461,  478,  494,  536 
of  Saints,  371.455 
Vernikones,  10,  17 
Verturiones,  Men  of  Fortrenn,  II, 

17.  320 
Vigean,  S.,  99,  107,  126 
Vikings,  51,  72,  301,  437,  440,  444, 

447,  452,  494 
detailed  raids  of,  454 
Frisian,  271,  273,  447 


Vikings,  their  destruction  of  re- 
ligious life  and  education,  470 
Vision,  alleged,  to  Angus  I. ,  422 
Vortigern,  59,  189 
Vosges,  245 

Wales,  52,  100,  191 

Wallace,  William,  319 

Walloc,  S.,  99,  252,  300,  346,  349 

Wearmouth,  368,  420 

Weaving,  67 

Weem,  157 

Wells,  83,  167,  291,  301 

Welsh,  the,  300 

Westerdale  on  Thurso,  136 

Westfield,  Caithness,  136 

Westminster,  33 

Whithorn,  'Hwiterne,'  i,  56,  loi, 
163,  286,  337.  See  Candida 
Casa 

Wick,  39,  136,  342 

Wigtownshire,  355 

Wilfrid  I. ,  bishop  of  Northumbria 
and  York,  314,  318,  421,  531 
and  the  Picts,  316 

Wilfrid  II.,  bishop  of  York,  288 

Worship,  35,  122,  256 

Wrad  (Ferat)  Mac  Bargoit,  sove- 
reign of  the  Picts,  437 

Wrexham,  181 

Xiphiline,  1 1 

'Yellow  Plague,'  the,  218 
'  Yns-witrin,'  Isle  of  Whithorn,  286 
Ynys  Prydain,  7 

York,  and  See  of,  104,  201,  287, 
289,  314,  318 

Zimmer  on  the  Roman  fabulists, 
521 


THE    END