49) Taran son of Entifidich
Taran succeeded Brude son of Bile in 693 A.D. He appears to have been unpopular as he was banished only four years later, and had to make his way to Ireland where he found sanctuary. In all likelihood the Picts regarded him as weak in their dealings with the English.

In other words, like John Baliol 600 years later, he was deemed to be a “Toom Tabard’ (empty coat), and judged unfit to be a King.

50) Brude son of Derili (Brude Mac Derile)
The English attempted another invasion in 698 A.D. and were again soundly beaten. As with Ecgfrith, an English sub-king, Bertred son of Bernith was slain. Unfortunately, it was not recorded where this battle took place, nor what it was called.

Brude Mac Derile is also remembered for ratifying St. Adamnan’s “Law of the Innocents”, which protected women, children and the clergy from the horrors of war. A sure indication again that the Picts were a civilised people. Brude died in 706 A.D. to be succeeded by his brother, Nechtan. Nobody could possibly have imagined at the time, the bloody chaos that this new king’s religious opinions were about to bring to the land of his forefathers.

51) Nechtan son of Derili (Nechtan Mac Derile)
Most of what we have on King Nechtan comes from the pen of ‘The Venerable Bede’, (673 — 735 A.D.) a monk at Jarrow in Northumberland who wrote “The Ecclesiastical History of the English People” in 731 A.D. In it we are told that Nechtan preferred the Roman religion to that of the Celtic church. Nechtan believed that the Roman church had the rights of it with regard to the dating of Easter, and wrote to Ceolirid, abbot of Jarrow, in 710 A.D. asking for details in order that he could introduce their system to his people. Following Ceolfrid’s reply, he sent out a decree to all the churches in Pictland demanding that they accept the Roman method for calculating Easter. This is the system that we use today. He also instructed the clergy to have their hair tonsured in the Roman style and had a new church built using English architects to ensure that it was built according to Roman convention and conformity.

It has been suggested that Restenneth Priory near Forfar was the church that was built to this decree but it is now believed that the Priory is of a much later date, possibly 10th -11th.century. The entrance doorway resembles that of the round tower in Abernethy, itself a construction believed to date from this period, so perhaps the same team of masons were employed in the creation of the two buildings.

Nechtan’s intrigue with England’s higher clergy began deepening around 715 A.D. What was he up to? The Picts had, unfortunately, suffered a sore defeat in a battle with the English at a place called the Plain of Manau, possibly near Grangemouth, only four years earlier. Was Nechtan a pragmatist who believed in peace at any cost and reckoned that if you couldn’t beat the English, you should join them? The Celtic church changed over to the Roman system for dating Easter in 716 A.D., yet despite this, Nechtan still expelled the ‘family of lona’ across ‘the spine of Britain’ the very next year, 717 A.D.

This inclination to Rome instead of the traditional Western orientation towards lona would doubtless be seen by many Picts as a move towards English control, and Nechtan would, whether he liked it or not, be perceived as a treacherous Anglophile who would have to be removed. He was, however, a strong king and maintained a firm grip on his subjects until 724 A.D., when he gave up his crown and retired to the church. It is possible he had been ‘advised’ to abdicate.

The discontent that had been simmering below the surface now erupted into five years of some of the most bitter and bloody internecine religio-political civil warfare that this country has ever seen. Nechtan himself came out of retirement briefly and took part for nine anarchic months before being flung into prison in 726 A.D. by Drust son of Talorgen (No.57). Drust was himself ousted by Alpin son of Engus (See Nos.56 & 57) the same year. At this point the lists become somewhat chaotic and it is difficult to tell who was in charge at any one time and for how long. Alpin was defeated in a battle at Moncrieff near Perth by Oengus son of Uurguist (No.58) in 728 A.D. Nechtan, now somehow free from prison, gathered together an army and also took on Alpin at a place called Castle Credi, crushing him completely. The Annals of Tighernac, compiled in the early 11th. century from much older documents, tell us that, “victory went against Alpin, and his territories and all his men were taken in a wretched battle”. Nechtan in turn was challenged by Oengus son of Uurguist, and suffered a humiliating defeat at the Cairn o’ Mount pass in 729 A.D.

These civil war battles took place at sea as well as on land and were often massive in scale. We can get some idea of their size from this extract, again from the Annals of Tighernac.

“Ki. 729. Tn. L. long Piccardach do brisidh irrois Cuissine sa bliadhna cetna”.

“729 A.D. Three times fifty ships of the Picts were destroyed on the Ross of Cuissine this year’.

One hundred and fifty ships! Can it really have been so many? Remember that in the 8th.century roads were practically non-existent and the easiest way of getting around Scotland was by sea and river. Neither should the reader make the mistake of believing these ships to have been small hide covered curraghs, similar to the one in which St. Columba with his twelve attendants arrived on lona in 563 A.D. These vessels, similar to Viking Longships, were of sturdy wooden construction, fitted with tall masts and wide, spreading, canvas sails. Hulls were held together with strong iron bolts. Scotland was covered in huge swathes of forest in the 8thcentury and wood was in plentiful supply. Again in the Annals of Tighernac we are told, (in an odd mixture of Latin and Gaelic in the original), that;

“In the year 737 A.D. Failbhe MacGuaire, the successor
of Maelrubha (the Red Priest) in Apurcrossan (Applecross)
was drowned in the open sea with all his sailors, to
the number of twenty-two”.

This ship had at least 23 persons on board, and 22 of them were sailors, possibly oarsmen. It is to be presumed that Failbhe MacGuaire had brought several of his belongings with him, as we are told that they were all drowned in the open sea, that is, he was on mission duty, so this must have been a craft of substantial size.

Yet again, this time in the ‘Historia Britonum,’ we are informed that one Pictish fleet of nine ships carried 309 persons. In other words, about 35 per ship. So it’s probably fair to suggest that the 150 ships sunk on the Ross of Cuissine (an ancient place-name which, unfortunately, has never been identified) had a total complement of between three thousand and four thousand men. It’s hard to imagine the bursting timbers and the screams and yells of the sailors as they struggled to stay alive. It must have been awful. We aren’t informed as to which king, or kings, these ships belonged but 729 A.D. was the same year that Nechtan was forced to capitulate to Oengus son of Uurguist, so it’s a fair bet that it was Nechtan’s fleet that was sunk.

Nechtan retired to the church once more and died peacefully in 732 A.D., probably a very saddened man. Why did he lean so much towards England and its Roman orthodoxy? Did he believe the Scots of Dairiada were more of a threat to Pictland than were the English? Remember, it was only around thirty years since the battle of Dunnichen Hill, when Ecgfrith and his Roman religion had been so firmly rejected. Now, barely a generation later, Nechtan was asking for advice from an English abbot on Roman church habit and customs.

There must have been much more to it than the mere question of the correct dating of Easter. Had he been promised a cushy after life by the Church of Rome if he agreed to the expulsion of the Celtic Church? Was money at the back of it? Was a woman involved? An unusual and ancient tale called ‘The Legend of Triduana’, properly ‘Tri di h-Aoine’, which means ‘the three days fasting’, informs us that Nechtan had a lover of this name who is believed to have been an abbess attached to the group of advisors dispatched to Pictland by Ceolfrid. Perhaps it was as simple as that, for it wouldn’t be the first time that an ancient kingdom had been torn asunder over a king’s infatuation with a beautiful woman.

Forthcoming centuries would also show that neither would it be the last time. It is doubtful if we will ever know why Nechtan behaved as he did, for he took his reasons with him to the grave, though the truth is probably a combination of all of these mentioned above. How ironic it would be if he ended up in a Celtic heaven instead of a Roman one.