Óengus II of the Picts
Encyclopedia
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...
(or of Fortriu
Fortriu
Fortriu or the Kingdom of Fortriu is the name given by historians for an ancient Pictish kingdom, and often used synonymously with Pictland in general...
), in modern Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, from about 820 until 834. Tradition associates him with the cult of Saint Andrew
Saint Andrew
Saint Andrew , called in the Orthodox tradition Prōtoklētos, or the First-called, is a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter. The name "Andrew" , like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the 3rd or 2nd century BC. No Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for him...
and the Flag of Scotland
Flag of Scotland
The Flag of Scotland, , also known as Saint Andrew's Cross or the Saltire, is the national flag of Scotland. As the national flag it is the Saltire, rather than the Royal Standard of Scotland, which is the correct flag for all individuals and corporate bodies to fly in order to demonstrate both...
.
Óengus succeeded his brother Caustantín
Caustantín of the Picts
Causantín or Constantín mac Fergusa was king of the Picts , in modern Scotland, from 789 until 820. He was until the Victorian era sometimes counted as Constantine I of Scotland; the title is now generally given to Causantín mac Cináeda...
to the throne. Previously thought to have been of Dál Riata
Dál Riata
Dál Riata was a Gaelic overkingdom on the western coast of Scotland with some territory on the northeast coast of Ireland...
n origin and descended from Fergus mac Echdach
Fergus mac Echdach
Fergus mac Echdach was king of Dál Riata from about 778 until 781.He succeeded Áed Find. He is stated to have been a son of Eochaid mac Echdach, and thus a brother of Áed. Some much later sources make him a son of Áed, but this is not credited by modern studies...
, their family is now assumed to have been that of the first king Óengus mac Fergusa
Óengus I of the Picts
Óengus son of Fergus , was king of the Picts from 732 until his death in 761. His reign can be reconstructed in some detail from a variety of sources.Óengus became the chief king in Pictland following a period of civil war in the late 720s...
, perhaps originating in Circinn (presumed to correspond with the modern Mearns
Mearns
Mearns can refer to*Mearns Academy* Mearns, Alberta* Mearns Castle*Mearns Castle High School* Mearns FM* Mearns Primary School* Kincardineshire, the County of Kincardine, The Mearns in Scotland* Newton Mearnsin biology:...
), a Pictish family with ties to the Eóganachta
Eóganachta
The Eóganachta or Eoghanachta were an Irish dynasty centred around Cashel which dominated southern Ireland from the 6/7th to the 10th centuries, and following that, in a restricted form, the Kingdom of Desmond, and its offshoot Carbery, well into the 16th century...
of Munster
Munster
Munster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the south of Ireland. In Ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial purposes...
in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
.
Óengus, along with his brother, son Eogán
Uen of the Picts
Uuen [Wen] or Eogán in Gaelic was king of the Picts, or of Fortriu , in what is now Scotland....
, and nephew Domnall
Domnall mac Caustantín
Domnall mac Caustantín is thought to have been king of Dál Riata in the early ninth century.Domnall's existence is uncertain, and is based on attempts to reconcile eleventh century works such as the poem Duan Albanach and the Synchronisms of Flann Mainistrech with the evidence of the Irish...
, is included in the Duan Albanach
Duan Albanach
The Duan Albanach is a Middle Gaelic poem found with the Lebor Bretnach, a Gaelic version of the Historia Brittonum of Nennius, with extensive additional material ....
, a praise poem from the reign of Máel Coluim (III) mac Donnchada
Malcolm III of Scotland
Máel Coluim mac Donnchada , was King of Scots...
listing Máel Coluim's predecessors as kings of Scots, of Alba and of Dál Riata from Fergus Mór
Fergus Mór
Fergus Mór mac Eirc was a legendary king of Dál Riata. He was the son of Erc.While his historicity may be debatable, his posthumous importance as the founder of Scotland in the national myth of Medieval and Renaissance Scotland is not in doubt...
and his brothers onwards. The inclusion of Pictish kings from Caustantín to Eogán in the Duan led to the supposition that Dál Riata was ruled by Pictish kings, or rather that Dál Riata kings ruled Pictland, leading to supposition that the origins of the Kingdom of Alba
Origins of the Kingdom of Alba
The Origins of the Kingdom of Alba pertains to the origins of the Kingdom of Alba, or the Gaelic Kingdom of Scotland, either as a mythological event or a historical process, during the Early Middle Ages.-Medieval version:...
lay in a Gaelic
Gaels
The Gaels or Goidels are speakers of one of the Goidelic Celtic languages: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx. Goidelic speech originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to western and northern Scotland and the Isle of Man....
conquest of Pictland. However, it is now suggested that their inclusion is due to their importance in the religious communities of Dunkeld
Dunkeld
Dunkeld is a small town in Strathtay, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is about 15 miles north of Perth on the eastern side of the A9 road into the Scottish Highlands and on the opposite side of the Tay from the Victorian village of Birnam. Dunkeld and Birnam share a railway station, on the...
and St Andrews
St Andrews
St Andrews is a university town and former royal burgh on the east coast of Fife in Scotland. The town is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle.St Andrews has a population of 16,680, making this the fifth largest settlement in Fife....
, where they were seen as founders and early patrons. However, a modern reconstruction of the later lists of Dál Riata kings presumes that Óengus's nephew Domnall was king of Dál Riata during this time (approximately 811–835).
Óengus's connection to the Saltire, set out at length by later chroniclers such as John of Fordun
John of Fordun
John of Fordun was a Scottish chronicler. It is generally stated that he was born at Fordoun, Mearns. It is certain that he was a secular priest, and that he composed his history in the latter part of the 14th century; and it is probable that he was a chaplain in the St Machar's Cathedral of...
and Andrew of Wyntoun
Andrew of Wyntoun
Andrew Wyntoun, known as Andrew of Wyntoun was a Scottish poet, a canon and prior of Loch Leven on St Serf's Inch and later, a canon of St...
, comes from an earlier source, the older St Andrews foundation legend, which appears to date from the 12th century or before. The simplest version, stripped of the vivid, and probably misleading, detail added by later chroniclers, has "King Hungus" and his army win a victory aided by Saint Andrew, in gratitude for which the Picts agree to venerate the Saint. The name of their enemy may, or may not, be Athelstan, but this is most unlikely to be either of the English kings, nor the Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
convert, who shared that name.
The religious site at St Andrews, originally Cennrígmonaid, long predates this Óengus. Túathalán
Túathalán
Túathalán was an 8th century abbot of Cennrigmonaid. He is known only from his obituary in the Annals of Ulster. Cennrigmonaid, literally "head of the king's pastureland", is a site associated with later St. Andrews, and is probably that site's former name...
, first known Abbot of Cennrígmonaid, died in 747, and it is thought likely that the establishment is due to the earlier Óengus (king from 729; died 761) or to Nechtan mac Der-Ilei
Nechtan IV of the Picts
Nechtan mac Der-Ilei or Nechtan mac Dargarto was king of the Picts in the early 8th century. He succeeded his brother Bridei in 706. He is associated with significant religious reforms in Pictland. He abdicated in 724 in favour of his nephew and became a monk...
(king 706–724 and ?728–729; died 732). The St Andrews Sarcophagus
St Andrews Sarcophagus
The Saint Andrews Sarcophagus is a Pictish monument dating from the second half of the 8th century. The sarcophagus was recovered beginning in 1833 during excavations by St Andrew's Cathedral, but it was not until 1922 that the surviving components were reunited...
is assumed to have been made for the remains of Nechtan or the first Óengus. The later St Andrews tradition recounting the supposed arrival of Saint Regulus
Saint Regulus
Saint Regulus or Saint Rule was a monk of Patras who, in the fourth century, according to a Scottish legend that became current during the twelfth century , fled to Scotland with the bones of Saint Andrew, and deposited them at St Andrews...
(or Saint Rule) at St Andrews, with relics of St Andrew, has him met at Forteviot
Forteviot
Forteviot is a village in Strathearn, Scotland on the south bank of the River Earn between Dunning and Perth. It lies in the council area of Perth and Kinross...
by three sons of Óengus: Eogán, Nechtan and Finguine.
Óengus died in 834, the only event of his reign reported in the Irish annals
Irish annals
A number of Irish annals were compiled up to and shortly after the end of Gaelic Ireland in the 17th century.Annals were originally a means by which monks determined the yearly chronology of feast days...
, and was succeeded by his nephew Drest mac Caustantín. Óengus's son Eogán
Uen of the Picts
Uuen [Wen] or Eogán in Gaelic was king of the Picts, or of Fortriu , in what is now Scotland....
was later king and was killed with his brother Bran in a battle against Vikings in 839.