Ceretic Guletic of Alt Clut was aking of Alt Clut, associated withDumbarton Castle in the 5th century. He has been identified withCoroticus, aBrittonic warrior addressed in a letter bySaint Patrick.
Of Patrick's two surviving letters, one is addressed to thewarband of this Coroticus. Bemoaning the capture and enslavement of newly Christianised Irish and their sale to non-Christians, Patrick includes the imprecation:[1]
Soldiers whom I no longer call my fellow citizens, or citizens of the Roman saints, but fellow citizens of the devils, in consequence of their evil deeds; who live in death, after the hostile rite of the barbarians; associates of the Scots and Apostate Picts; desirous of glutting themselves with the blood of innocent Christians, multitudes of whom I have begotten in God and confirmed in Christ.
In the letter Patrick announces that he hasexcommunicated Coroticus's men. The identification of Coroticus with Ceretic Guletic is based largely on an 8th-centurygloss to Patrick's letter.[2] It has been suggested that it was the sending of this letter which provoked the trial which Patrick mentions in theConfession.[3] The "Apostate Picts" are the Southern Picts converted bySaint Ninian and ministered to byPalladius, and who had subsequently left Christianity. The Northern Picts ofFortriu were later converted bySaint Columba in the 6th century, and as they were not yet Christian, they could not be called "apostate".[4]
Ceretic's dates depend on the conclusions of the vast scholarship devoted to discovering thefloruit dates of St Patrick, but sometime in the 5th century is probably safe. Ceretic appears also in theHarleian genealogies of the rulers of Alt Clut, which present him as the great-great-great-grandfather ofRhydderch Hael, who can be dated securely to around 600; assuming that each generation represents twenty years, this places Ceretic in the 5th century.[5]: 53–55 The list also includes the names of his father (Cynloyp), grandfather (Cinhil) and great-grandfather (Cluim).[6] It is from the latter source that we get his nickname,Guletic ("Land-holder"). In theBook of Armagh, he is called "Coirthech rex Aloo", "Ceretic, King of the Height [of the Clyde]".[7]
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Cynloyp? | King of Alt Clut mid-400s | Succeeded by |