Nechtan IV of the Picts
Nechtan son of Derile or
Nechtan son of Dargart (
OIr Nechtan mac Der-Ilei or
Nechtan mac Dargarto) (before 686–732) was
king of the Picts in the early 8th century. He succeeded his brother
Bridei in 706. He is associated with significiant religious reforms in
Pictland. He abdicated in 724 in favour of his nephew and became a monk. In 728–729 he fought in a four-sided war for the Pictish throne.
It has been argued that Nechtan son of Derile should be identified with the Nechtan son of Dargart mentioned in the
Annals of Ulster in 710. This Dargart is taken to be the
Dargart mac Finnguine who died in 686, probably a member of the
Cenél Comgaill kindred of
Dál Riata. On this basis, and because
Bede mentions that the Picts allowed for matrilineal succession in exceptional cases, it is thought that Der-Ilei was Nechtan's mother; this presumption is considerably older than the identification of Nechtan's father.
Other brothers and half-brothers of Nechtan and Bridei would include Ciniod or Cináed, killed in 713, Talorgan son of Drest, a half-brother or foster-brother, held captive by Nechtan in the same year, and perhaps Congas son of Dar Gart who died in 712. A number of later figures, including the Talorgan son of Drest, king of
Atholl, executed by drowning in 739, and the Talorgan son of Congus, defeated in 731 and likewise drowned in 734, and his unnamed brother, may be associated with Nechtan's family.
[The identifications broadly follow Clancy, "Nechtan son of Derile", and his "Philosopher-King" may contain further information. The absence of any Pictish genealogies makes all such identifications, however self-evident they may appear to be, uncertain and problematic.]Bede claimed that relations between the Picts and
Northumbria were peaceful in his time. However, the Annals of Ulster for 711 report a Pictish defeat at Northumbrian hands, "in Mag Manonn", presumably in the area around
Stirling where the kingdom of Manau had once been, where Finnguine son of Deile Roith was killed. Nothing more is known of Finnguine, but as he bore Nechtan's paternal grandfather's name, it may be that he was a kinsman of the Pictish king.
Bede's
Ecclesiastical History includes a letter from Abbot
Ceolfrid of the twin monasteries of
Monkwearmouth and
Jarrow to Nechtan on the subject of the dating of
Easter, sent around 710. Ceolfrid assumes his correspondent is an educated man, going some way to justifying
Thomas Owen Clancy's description of Nechtan as a
philosopher king. Nechtan was convinced by Ceolfrid, and the expulsion of clergy associated with Iona in 717 may be related to the controversy over Easter and the manner of tonsures; equally it may have been entirely unrelated. Often portrayed as a struggle between the so-called
Celtic Church and Rome, it is evident that the majority of Irish clerics had long accepted the Roman method of calculating the date of Easter.
[As shown by Cummian's letter to Ségéne of Iona, dated to c. 633. See Ã" CróinÃn, Early Medieval Ireland, pp. 152–154.]As well as providing Nechtan with guidance on the
Easter controversy, Ceolfrid sent masons and craftsmen to aid in building stone churches. Bede's claim that Nechtan dedicated his kingdom to
Saint Peter has led to Nechtan being linked to the Peterkirks at
Rosemarkie,
Duffus and elsewhere in north-east Scotland.
Two sons of Nechtan are thought to have died in 710, and it is not known whether he had any surviving sons or daughters. The
Annals of Tigernach note, in 724, that Nechtan entered a monastery, leaving the throne to
Drest son of Talorgan. Although the identification must be uncertain, it is assumed that this Drest is the son of Nechtan's half-brother.
King Drest may not have had a secure hold on power. One Simul son of Drest, perhaps yet another sibling of Nechtan, was imprisoned by Drest in 725. In the same year, Brec of
Fortriu died. He is assumed from the context to be the bishop of Fortriu, almost certainly appointed by Nechtan and the earliest known bishop in Pictland. In 726, Drest had Nechtan imprisoned. This may have involved no more than removing the former king from one monastery, where he had friends and influence, to another where Drest's partisans were in control.
In 728,
Ã"engus son of Fergus defeated the shadowy
Alpin. It seems likely that at this time, if not earlier, Nechtan had left the monastic life and was warring with Drest. After Alpin was defeated a second time, the Annals of Tigernach say that Nechtan was restored to the kingship. Other battles are reported in 728–729, including a defeat of Nechtan's "exactors" by Ã"engus at Monith Carno (perhaps Cairn o' Mount, near
Fettercairn). Those named among Nechtan's men killed there include Finnguine son of Drest and Feroth son of Finnguine, who may plausibly be kinsmen of Nechtan.
Ã"engus, who may have replaced Drest as Nechtan's chosen successor, appears to have ended 729 as king of the Picts, and it is possible that Nechtan was again returned to a monastery. He died in 732.
[Henderson, "Primus inter pares", p. 156.]It has been suggested that the
St Andrews Sarcophagus was commissioned by Ã"engus to hold Nechtan's remains, although it is more generally supposed that the sarcophagus was for Ã"engus himself. Nechtan's attachment to Saint Peter may have led later chroniclers, writing in a period when
Saint Andrew was of far greater importance, to have emphasised ninth century kings who had supported the cult of Saint Andrew.
[Henderson, "Primus inter pares", p. 156.]A number of later traditions associating earlier Pictish kings named Nechtan with the monastic foundation at
Abernethy may, perhaps, have confused them with this Nechtan.
[This is to assume that the account of the foundation of Abernethy in the Pictish Chronicle have any validity, which is far from certain.] Nechtan's ecclesiastical reforms are seen as having led to closer links between Pictland and Northumbria, with notable results in artistic forms. His expulsion of Ionan clerics, rather than being a submission to Rome and Northumbria, probably marks the coming of age of an independent Pictish church, which nonetheless remained close to Iona and to
Ireland. In addition, it speaks to a very considerable degree of royal control over the church in Pictland, which appears to have been contentious in the ninth century.
[Clancy, "Nechtan son of Derile"; for the ninth century, see the fantastic tales of "King Gregory the Great" attached to Giric of Scotland, etc.]*
Clancy, Thomas Owen, "Nechtan son of Derile" in M. Lynch (ed.)
The Oxford Companion to Scottish History. Oxford & New York: Oxford UP, 2002. ISBN 0192116967
* Clancy, Thomas Owen, "Philosopher-King : Nechtan mac Der-Ilei."
Scottish Historical Review vol. 83, no. 2, pp. 125-149. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004. ISSN 0036-9241
* Henderson, Isabel,
"Primus inter Pares: the St Andrews Sarcophagus and Pictish Sculpture" in Sally M. Foster (ed.),
The St Andrews Sarcophagus: A Pictish masterpiece and its international connections. Four Courts, Dublin, 1998. ISBN 0-85182-414-6
* MacLean, Douglas, "The Northumbrian Perspective" in Foster (1998).
* Ã" CróinÃn, DáibhÃ,
Early Medieval Ireland: 400–1200. Longman, London, 1995. ISBN 0-582-01565-0
*
Woolf, Alex, "Pictish matriliny reconsidered."
Innes Review vol. 49, no. 2, pp. 147–167. ISSN 0020-157X
* Woolf, Alex, "Ungus (Onuist), son of Uurgust" in Lynch (2001).
*
Annals of Ulster, part 1 at
CELT,
translation.
*
Annals of Tigernach at
CELT, translation in progress.
*
Bede's Ecclesiastical History and the Continuation of Bede (pdf), at
CCEL, translated by A.M. Sellar.
