Camus, in historic literature, was a Scandinavian general dispatched to engage the Scots in battle, reportedly in the early eleventh century AD. The legendary engagement was called the Battle of Barry

Battle of Barry

The Battle of Barry is a legendary battle in which the Scots, purportedly led by Malcolm II, defeated a Danish invasion force in 1010 AD. Its supposed site in Carnoustie, Angus can be seen in early Ordnance Survey maps. The history of the event relies heavily on tradition and it is currently...

, and was first alluded to by Boece

Boëcé

Boëcé is a commune in the Orne department in north-western France.-Changes in population:-See also:*Communes of the Orne department*...

.

The historical nature of Camus and the Battle of Barry was called into doubt in the early nineteenth century. Evidence formerly cited for the battle included the large number of human remains found on Barry Links, where the town of Carnoustie

Carnoustie

Carnoustie is a town and former police burgh in the council area of Angus, Scotland. It is situated at the mouth of the Barry Burn on the North Sea coast...

, Angus

Angus

Angus is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross and Dundee City...

 now stands, now reinterpreted as a Pictish

Picts

The Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval people living in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. There is an association with the distribution of brochs, place names beginning 'Pit-', for instance Pitlochry, and Pictish stones. They are recorded from before the Roman conquest...

 cemetery of earlier date. The remains of a fort near Kirkbuddo

Kirkbuddo

Kirkbuddo is a village in the county of Angus, Scotland, between the towns of Forfar and Carnoustie. Nearby lie the remains of a temporary Roman marching camp dating to the third century AD. A worn type II pictish stone was found in the kirkyard there in the mid twentieth century and has...

, formerly known as 'Norway Dykes', from where the Danish army are supposed to have marched is now recognised to be of Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 origin.

Boece attributed Pictish sculptured stones found throughout Angus and the surrounding area to the Danish invasions. The battle depicted on the reverse of the Aberlemno

Aberlemno

Aberlemno is a parish and small village in the Scottish council area of Angus. It is noted for three large carved Pictish stones dating from the 7th and 8th centuries AD ; the stones can be viewed at any time in spring-autumn, but are covered by wooden boxes in the winter to prevent frost damage...

 kirkyard stone was cited by tradition as a depiction of the Battle of Barry. Current thought dates this stone from the mid-8th century and it is now commonly thought to depict the Battle of Dun Nechtain in 685 AD. The Camus Cross near Monikie, 2 miles north of the supposed battle site and formerly thought to be the site of Camus' death, is now thought to be of earlier, Pictish origin.

The name 'Camus' derives from 'Camuston', the location of the Camus Cross

Camus Cross

The Camus Cross, otherwise known as the Camuston or Camustane Cross, is an Early Medieval Scottish standing stone located on the Panmure Estate near Carnoustie in Angus, Scotland...

. Local tradition claims the hill to have been named in honour of Camus, but it is found in early documents as 'Cambeston' and is thought to have a Celtic rather than Scandinavian derivation.