| Bridei son of Beli | |
|---|---|
 The battle scene from theAberlemno 2 Pictish stone, which may show theBattle of Dun Nechtain; Picts on the left, Northumbrians on the right, the mounted Pictish figure perhaps representing King Bridei. | |
| King of the Picts and ofFortriu | |
| Reign | 671–692 |
| Predecessor | Drest son of Donuel |
| Successor | Taran mac Ainftech |
| Born | by 628 |
| Died | 692 |
| Burial | |
| Father | Beli I of Alt Clut |
| Mother | Unknown daughter ofEdwin of Northumbria |
Bridei son of Beli, died 692[a] wasking of Fortriu and of thePicts from 671 until 692. His reign marks the start of the period known to historians as theVerturian hegemony, a turning point in the history ofScotland, when the uniting of Pictish provinces under the over-kingship of the kings of Fortriu saw the development of a strong Pictish state and identity encompassing most of the peoples north of theForth.
Bridei was probably brought up at the court of theAnglian kingdom ofNorthumbria, whose expansion had established it as the dominant power in northern Britain over the mid-7th century. His father wasBeli, king of theBritish kingdom ofAltclut, and his mother probably a daughter ofEdwin of Northumbria, though his grandfather may have been the earlier Pictish kingNechtan nepos Uerb.
Bridei's rise to power in Fortriu probably took place under the patronage of his kinsmanKing Ecgfrith of Northumbria, after Bridei's predecessorDrest son of Donuel was expelled from the kingship after leading a rebellion against Northumbrian domination in 671. Bridei established an expansionary policy however, and in a series of campaigns between 679 and 683 built a confederation of Pictish territories owing allegiance to him through alliance and conquest. This brought him into conflict with Ecgfrith, who led an army north into Pictish territory in 685, culminating in theBattle of Dun Nechtain, when Ecgfrith was killed and the Northumbrian army destroyed by Bridei's forces.
Bridei's victory at Dun Nechtain marked the end of Northumbrian overlordship over the Picts, theGaels and many of theBritons; and saw him consolidate his extensive territorial control. The following period saw the conscious development of the idea of the Picts as a single people under a single ruler; this process continued under the later kingships ofBridei son of Der-Ilei andNaiton son of Der-Ilei, who were probably his grandchildren.
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Before theViking incursions that started in the late 8th century, the area of modernScotland was divided between four main cultural and linguistic groupings: theGaels ofDál Riata, theBritons, theAngles and thePicts,[1] though identities and political groupings were in a constant state of flux and could often change among and between them.[2] The Gaels occupied the west of modern Scotland north of theFirth of Clyde and were part of a Gaelic linguistic and cultural zone that includedIreland, from which it was separated only by the short sea crossing of theNorth Channel.[3]
To the south a number of British kingdoms had developed in the aftermath of the withdrawal of theRoman Empire, includingAltclut in the basin of theRiver Clyde,Rheged to the south around theSolway Firth, and theGododdin to the east aroundEdinburgh.[4] In the south eastBernicia had been established as aGermanic-speaking Anglian kingdom based aroundBamburgh in modernNorth East England in the mid 6th century, and by 638 had captured Edinburgh and gained much of the territory of the Goddodin aroundLothian.[4] The Picts largely occupied the lands in the east of modern Scotland north of theForth and were originally a diverse group of peoples defined at least in part by never having beenRomano-British.[5]
The territory of the Picts was divided into two parts by theMounth – the chain of high mountains that runs almost to theNorth Sea nearDunottar – and the northern and southern parts of the Pictish territory were further divided into smaller territories referred to by the Northumbrian writerBede asprouinciae, at least some of which are recorded as kingdoms.[6] Most significant of these wasFortriu, which was located north of theMounth around theMoray Firth, encompassing the areas aroundForres andInverness, and whose primary centre of royal power probably lay atBurghead, which was three times larger than any other enclosed site in Early Medieval Scotland.[7]
Between 653 and 685 the Picts were under Anglian overlordship through a series ofpuppet kings,[8] as the expansionary kingdom ofNorthumbria came to dominate much of northern Britain.[9] The southern Pictish lands south of the Mounth may have formed an Anglo-Pictish province controlled fromFife,[10] whose ruling family may have included the Northumbrian nobleBeornhæth.[11] A document written in Rome between 678 and 681 records the claim of the Northumbrian bishopWilfrid to primacy over "all the northern part of Britain and of Ireland and the Isles which are inhabited by the races of Angles, Britons, Gaels and Picts".[12] In 681 the Northumbrian bishopTrumwine was appointed "Bishop of the Picts", though the location of his see atAbercorn, in Northumbrian territory south of the Forth, suggests that Northumbrian control of Pictish territory north of the Forth might still have been seen as insecure.[12]
Bridei is described in a verse attributed to the broadly contemporaryAdomnán as "son of the king of Dumbarton", indicating that he was the son ofBeli, king of the British kingdom ofAltclut; making Bridei also the grandson of Beli's predecessorNeithon son of Guipno; and the brother or half-brother of Beli's successorEugein.[13] The conflict between Bridei andEcgfrith of Northumbria for Pictish supremacy is described in the poemIniu feras Bruide cath ("Today Bridei Fights a Battle") as being over the legacy (forba) of Neithon, providing evidence that this Neithon son of Guipno, Bridei's grandfather, may have been the same person as the earlier Pictish king recorded asNechtan grandson of Uerb,[14] and that the Alt Clut dynasty into which Bridei was born may have had Pictish origins.[15]
Nennius'Historia Brittonum tells us that Bridei was KingEcgfrith'sfratruelis or maternal first cousin, suggesting Bridei's mother was probably a daughter of KingEdwin ofDeira,[16] and half-sister of the Northumbrian princessEanflæd.[14] The marriage of Bridei's parents would have marked an accommodation between Edwin and Neithon,[14] extending Northumbrian influence into the lands of the Picts and of the Britons of the Clyde.[17]
Bridei must have been born no later than 628, as the death of his fatherBeli of Alt Clut is recorded in theAnnales Cambriae as taking place in 627.[18] Bridei was probably brought up within the Northumbrian court,[8] having possibly been taken there as a hostage by the Northumbrian kingOswiu after the killing of the Dal Riatan kingDomnall Brecc by Bridei's half-brotherEugein of Alt Clut in 643.[19]
Accession of Bridei to the Pictish kingship seems to have been due at least in part to the influence of the Northumbrian kingsOswiu andEcgfrith.[17] Bridei was passed over several times for the succession to both the Pictish and Alt Clut kingships, probably as the fall of his grandfatherEdwin of Northumbria in 633 diminished political connectedness of Bridei, but the marriage of his auntEanflæd to the newly crownedKing of Bernicia Oswiu in 642 would have seen him once again become well-connected to the centres of Northumbrian power.[20]
Bridei became king after the expulsion in 671 of his predecessorDrest son of Donuel from his kingdom, which was probably centred around the northern Pictish district ofFortriu.[21] This event is normally connected to the "Pictish rebellion" that culminated in theBattle of Two Rivers, suggesting Drest was leading an attempt to overthrow Northumbrian overlordship in the early years of the reign of Ecgfrith, after the death of Ecgfrith's powerful predecessor Oswiu.[22]Stephen of Ripon records in hisLife of St Wilfrid how the "bestial peoples of the Picts despised their subjection to the Saxons with a fierce disdain and threatened to throw off from themselves the yoke of servitude", before describing a Northumbrian victory so comprehensive it was "filling two rivers with corpses so that, amazing to say, the killers pursued the crowd of those fleeing, walking over the rivers dry foot".[17] Stephen also records that Drest had "gathered together innumerable nations (gentes) from every nook and corner in the north",[23] suggesting that the Pictish forces were not otherwise politically united.[24]
The expulsion of Drest and his replacement by Bridei was probably engineered by the combined power of Ecgfrith and Pictish supporters of Bridei.[17] Bridei would have seen himself as a subject of Ecgfrith in 671 and may have been initially subject to an overlord from a southern Pictish territory such asBeornhaeth, a possibility supported by the description in theAnnals of Inisfallen of the laterBattle of Dun Nechtain between Bridei and Ecgfrith as "a great battle between Picts".[10]
Bridei seems have been actively intervening in the politics ofDál Riata in the early years of his reign.[25] He may have been involved in the killing ofDomangart mac Domnaill the king of Dál Riata in 673,[26] and may also have entered into a three-way alliance with his nephewDumnagual of Alt Clut andFinguine Fota of theCenél Comgaill, king ofCowal and the grandfather of the later king of FortriuBridei son of Der-Ilei.[27] TheAnnals of Ulster record that in 676 many Picts were drowned inLoch Awe, also suggesting an aggressive regime under Bridei attacking northern Dál Riata.[12]
In the 680s Bridei seems to have turned his attention away from Argyll, with a campaign that started less than a year after the Northumbrian kingEcgfrith was weakened by his defeat byÆthelred of Mercia at theBattle of the Trent in 679.[28] A series of conflicts recorded in Irish annals as taking place in northern Britain from 679 are likely to represent Bridei expanding his power base.[29] TheAnnals of Ulster describe a siege ofDunnottar in 680.[30] Bridei attacked firstDunbeath inCaithness and thenOrkney in 682,[31] a campaign so violent that theAnnals of Ulster said that theOrkney Islands were "destroyed" by Bridei ("Orcades deletae sunt la Bruide").[12] With opposition removed from the north,[31] sieges ofDundurn inStrathearn andDunadd in midArgyll are reported the following year.[32] As with the earlier siege of Dunnottar, Bridei, though not explicitly named, was probably the assailant.[30]
Together Dunnottar and Dundurn mark the northern and southern limits of the southern Pictish territory south of theMounth, and their sieges indicate a period of sustained pressure by Bridei across the area.[30] The pattern of high-status sites attacked in Bridei's campaigns suggests they were the centres of independent provinces that resisted his rule, as he built a confederation of territories by alliance or conquest that owed allegiance and tribute to him as king.[33] Bridei's model of over-kingship seems closely modelled on the system oftribute employed by the Picts' own Northumbrian over-lords.[34]
Bridei's threat to the southern Pictish lands represented a challenge to Northumbrian hegemony,[35] but the immediate cause of Ecgfrith's attack on the Picts in 685 was said byBede to be Bridei ceasing to pay the Northumbrianstribute,[36] possibly in response to the Northumbrian raid in 684 againstBrega in Ireland, which was probably undertaken in response to an alliance between the Irish and the Britons.[37] Ecgfrith sought to re-assert his dominance through a military campaign, and Bede describes how – against the advice of churchmen includingSt Cuthbert – Ecgfrith "rashly led an army to lay waste the province of the Picts".[38]
Ecgfrith's incursion far into Pictish territory ended with theBattle of Dun Nechtain on the afternoon of Saturday 20 May 685,[14] when Ecgfrith himself was killed and his army annihilated by Bridei's after being lured by the Picts into what Bede described as "the narrow passes of inaccessible mountains".[39] The location of the battle is uncertain: since being identified in the early 19th century by the antiquarianGeorge Chalmers on the basis of its placename[40] it has generally been associated withDunnichen inAngus, a location supported by the presence of a carved battle scene on one of the nearbyAberlemno Sculptured Stones; but since 2006Dunachton inBadenoch has been suggested as a much better match for Bede's description, while similarly supported by the site'stoponymy.[41]
The immediate consequence of Bridei's victory at Dun Nechtain was the ending of Northumbrian overlordship over the lands of the Picts, of Dál Riata and of some British lands,[42] though it is possible thatFife andManau did not fall under the control of Fortriu until the later defeat of the NorthumbrianBerhtred byBridei son of Der-Ilei in 698.[43] The Angles occupying Pictish lands either fled or were killed or enslaved,[44] and the AnglianTrumwine who claimed to be "Bishop of the Picts" with authority over the Pictish church from his see atAbercorn, retired toWhitby in Northumbria.[42] The ending of the tributary relationship between Gaelic, British and Pictish territories and Northumbria would have caused significant political disruption across all these northern polities.[44]
Bridei's success in leading multiple Pictish provinces against an outside enemy would have served to legitimise his kingship, consolidate his extensive territorial control and promote the sense of the territories under his rule as a single cohesive community.[45] Thepower vacuum left by the Northumbrian retreat in the southern Pictish lands gave Bridei and his successors the opportunity to install favoured leaders from existing southern dynasties in positions of power and to move new groups of allies into territory abandoned by the Northumbrians.[46] Bridei's reign saw the Dal Riatan kindred theCenel Comgaill rise in prominence, gaining territory in the area of modernClackmannanshire in the wake of Northumbrian withdrawal.[47] The marriage ofDargart mac Finguine of the Cenel Comgaill toDer-Ilei, mother of the later kings of FortriuBridei son of Der-Ilei andNaiton son of Der-Ilei and probably the daughter of Bridei, saw the kindred connected directly into the Pictish Royal household.[48]
Bridei would have been at least 57 years old at the time of his victory at Dun Nechtain in 685.[18] His death in 692[49] is recorded by both theAnnals of Ulster and theAnnals of Tigernach. He was buried onIona, and mourned byAdomnán, theAbbot of Iona,[50] to whom is attributed a surviving lament for Bridei's death.[51]
Bridei is the first king to be explicitly described in contemporary sources asrex Fortrenn, or king ofFortriu, and his reign marks the start of a period that would be a turning point in the history of modern-dayScotland.[14] Bridei's victory at theBattle of Dun Nechtain in 685, achieved by uniting various Pictish provinces under his leadership,[52] ended Northumbrian rule north of theForth and extended the power of Fortriu southwards beyond theMounth.[53] His reign marked the establishment of the pre-eminence of Fortriu as a Pictish province that saw it develop into the overkingdom of the Picts.[54] Known to historians as the 'Verturian Hegemony',[55] this led to the growth of a powerful Pictish state.[56]
The overlordship of the kings of Fortriu that started with the reign of Bridei also saw the encouragement by its rulers of the idea that the Picts were a single people under a single king.[57] Before Bridei's victory over Ecgfrith references in documents to the Picts used the plural termgentes, whereas afterwards they are referred to using the singulargens.[58] ThePictish king lists that began circulating from the mid-7th century consciously sought to legitimise the Fortriu dynasty's dominance by constructing the idea of a single Pictish over-king, projected backwards before the historical horizon to create the impression of a single office of ancient provenance.[59] It is likely that the Pictishorigin myth known to Bede was composed around this time,[60] and it is probably the period from Bridei's reign that saw the development of the common language of thePictish symbol stones as a means of reinforcing the status of key members of society.[61]
Bridei may have been the father or, less likely, the brother ofDer-Ilei, the mother of the later Pictish kingsBridei son of Der-Ilei andNaiton son of Der-Ilei, and it is through her that they would have based their claim to the kingship of Fortriu after the overthrow by Bridei son of Der-Ilei (Bridei IV) of Bridei son of Beli's successorTaran son of Ainftech (Taran mac Ainftech).[62] By the reign of these successors, it seems that the lands of the Picts initially brought under the control of Fortriu by Bridei son of Beli by military means were being perceived as a singlenation under a single ruler.[63]
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | King of the Picts 672–693 | Succeeded by |
