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Óengus I of the Picts

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: British History 1500 and
before (including Roman Britain); Historical figures

   Óengus son of Fergus
   King of the Picts
   Image:ÓengusmacFergusa.JPG
   The figure of the Old Testament King David shown killing a lion on the
   St Andrews Sarcophagus is thought to represent King Óengus. The figure
   is dressed as a Roman emperor of Late Antiquity and wears a fibula like
   that of the Emperor Justinian on the mosaic at San Vitale, Ravenna.
   Reign 732 – 761
   Died 761
   Buried St Andrews
   Predecessor Nechtan son of Der-Ile
   Successor Bridei son of Fergus
   Issue Bridei, Talorgan

   Óengus, son of Fergus ( Hypothetical Pictish form: Onuist map Urguist;
   Old Irish: Óengus mac Fergusso, Anglicisation: Angus mac 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. During his reign, the neighbouring kingdom of Dál
   Riata was subjugated and the kingdom of Strathclyde was attacked with
   less success. The most powerful ruler in Scotland for over two decades,
   he was involved in wars in Ireland and England. Kings from Óengus's
   family dominated Pictland until 839 when a disastrous defeat at the
   hands of Vikings began a new period of instability, which ended with
   the coming to power of Cináed mac Ailpín.

Rise to power

   Irish genealogies make Óengus a member of the Eóganachta, a kindred
   with its base in Munster. The branch of the kindred from which he came
   was located in an area known as Circinn, usually associated with modern
   Angus and the Mearns. His early life is unknown; Óengus was middle-aged
   by the time he entered into history. His close kin included at least
   two sons, Bridei (died 736) and Talorgan (died 782), and two brothers,
   Talorgan (died 750) and Bridei (died 763).

   King Nechtan son of Der-Ilei abdicated to enter a monastery in 724 and
   was imprisoned by his successor Drest in 726. In 728 and 729, four
   kings competed for power in Pictland: Drest; Nechtan; Alpín, of whom
   little is known; and lastly Óengus, who was a partisan of Nechtan, and
   perhaps his acknowledged heir.

   Four battles large enough to be recorded in Ireland were fought in 728
   and 729. Alpín was defeated twice by Óengus, after which Nechtan was
   restored to power. In 729 a battle between supporters of Óengus and
   Nechtan's enemies was fought at Monith Carno (traditionally Cairn o'
   Mount, near Fettercairn) where the supporters of Óengus were
   victorious. Nechtan was restored to the kingship, probably until his
   death in 732. On 12 August 729 Óengus defeated and killed Drest in
   battle at Druimm Derg Blathuug, a place which has not been identified.

Percutio Dal Riatai

   Satellite image of northern Britain and Ireland showing the approximate
   area of Dál Riata (shaded).
   Enlarge
   Satellite image of northern Britain and Ireland showing the approximate
   area of Dál Riata (shaded).

   In the 730s, Óengus fought against Dál Riata whose traditional
   overlords and protectors in Ireland, the Cenél Conaill, were much
   weakened at this time. A fleet from Dál Riata fought for Flaithbertach
   mac Loingsig, chief of the Cenél Conaill, in his war with Áed Allán of
   the Cenél nEógan, and suffered heavy losses in 733. Dál Riata was ruled
   by Eochaid mac Echdach of the Cenél nGabráin who died in 733, and the
   king lists are unclear as to who, if anyone, succeeded him as overking.
   The Cenél Loairn of north Argyll were ruled by Dúngal mac Selbaig whom
   Eochaid had deposed as overking of Dál Riata in the 720s.

   Fighting between the Picts, led by Óengus's son Bridei, and the Dál
   Riata, led by Talorgan mac Congussa, is recorded in 731. In 733, Dúngal
   mac Selbaig "profaned [the sanctuary] of Tory Island when he dragged
   Bridei out of it." Dúngal, previously deposed as overking of Dál Riata,
   was overthrown as king of the Cenél Loairn and replaced by his first
   cousin Muiredach mac Ainbcellaig.

   In 734 Talorgan mac Congussa was handed over to the Picts by his
   brother, and drowned by them. Talorgan son of Drostan was captured near
   Dún Ollaigh. He appears to have been the King of Atholl, and was
   drowned on Óengus's order in 739. Dúngal too was a target in this year.
   He was wounded, the unidentified fortress of Dún Leithfinn was
   destroyed, and he "fled into Ireland, to be out of the power of
   Óengus."

   The annals report a second campaign by Óengus against the Dál Riata in
   736. Dúngal, who had returned from Ireland, and his brother Feradach,
   were captured and bound in chains. The fortresses of Creic and Dunadd
   were taken. Muiredach of the Cenél Loairn was no more successful,
   defeated with heavy loss by Óengus's brother Talorgan, perhaps by Loch
   Awe. A final campaign in 741, following the deaths of Muiredach's son
   Eógan and Talorgan mac Congussa's brother Cú Bretan in the late 730s,
   saw the Dál Riata again defeated. This was recorded in the Annals of
   Ulster as Percutio Dál Riatai la h-Óengus m. Forggusso, the "smiting of
   Dál Riata by Óengus son of Fergus". With this Dál Riata disappears from
   the record for a generation.

   It may be that Óengus was involved in wars in Ireland, perhaps fighting
   with Áed Allán, or against him as an ally of Cathal mac Finguine. The
   evidence for such involvement is limited. There is the presence of
   Óengus's son Bridei at Tory Island, on the north-west coast of Donegal
   in 733, close to the lands of Áed Allán's enemy Flaithbertach mac
   Loingsig. Less certainly, the Fragmentary Annals of Ireland report the
   presence of a Pictish fleet from Fortriu fighting for Flaithbertach in
   733 rather than against him.

Alt Clut, Northumbria, and Mercia

   In 740, a war between the Picts and the Northumbrians is reported,
   during which Æthelbald, King of Mercia, took advantage of the absence
   of Eadberht of Northumbria to ravage his lands, and perhaps burn York.
   The reason for the war is unclear, but it has been suggested that it
   was related to the killing of Earnwine son of Eadwulf on Eadberht's
   orders. Earnwine's father had been an exile in the north after his
   defeat in the civil war of 705–706, and it may be that Óengus, or
   Æthelbald, or both, had tried to place him on the Northumbrian throne.
   Escomb Church, County Durham. The stone churches built for Nechtan, and
   perhaps Óengus's church at St Andrews, are presumed to have been
   similar.
   Enlarge
   Escomb Church, County Durham. The stone churches built for Nechtan, and
   perhaps Óengus's church at St Andrews, are presumed to have been
   similar.

   Battles between the Picts and the Britons of Alt Clut, or Strathclyde,
   are recorded in 744 and again in 750, when Kyle was taken from Alt Clut
   by Eadberht of Northumbria. The 750 battle between the Britons and the
   Picts is reported at a place named Mocetauc (perhaps Mugdock, near
   Milngavie) in which Talorgan the brother of Óengus was killed.
   Following the defeat in 750, the Annals of Ulster record "the ebbing of
   the sovereignty of Óengus". This is thought to refer to the coming to
   power of Áed Find, son of Eochaid mac Echdach, in all or part of Dál
   Riata, and his rejection of Óengus's overlordship.

   Unlike the straightforward narrative of the attacks on Dál Riata, a
   number of interpretations have been offered of the relations between
   Óengus, Eadberht and Æthelbald in the period from 740 to 750. One
   suggestion is that Óengus and Æthelbald were allied against Eadberht,
   or even that they exercised a joint rulership of Britain, or
   bretwaldaship, Óengus collecting tribute north of the River Humber and
   Æthelbald south of the Humber. This rests largely on a confused passage
   in Symeon of Durham's Historia Regum Anglorum, and it has more recently
   been suggested that the interpretation offered by Frank Stenton—that it
   is based on a textual error and that Óengus and Æthelbald were not
   associated in any sort of joint overlordship—is the correct one.

   In 756, Óengus is found campaigning alongside Eadberht of Northumbria.
   The campaign is reported as follows:

     In the year of the Lord's incarnation 756, king Eadberht in the
     eighteenth year of his reign, and Unust, king of Picts led armies to
     the town of Dumbarton. And hence the Britons accepted terms there,
     on the first day of the month of August. But on the tenth day of the
     same month perished almost the whole army which he led from Ouania
     to Niwanbirig.

   That Ouania is Govan is now reasonably certain, but the location of
   Newanbirig is less so. Although there are very many Newburghs, it is
   Newburgh-on-Tyne near Hexham that has been the preferred location. An
   alternative interpretation of the events of 756 has been advanced: it
   identifies Newanbirig with Newborough by Lichfield in the kingdom of
   Mercia. A defeat here for Eadberht and Óengus by Æthelbald's Mercians
   would correspond with the claim in the Saint Andrews foundation legends
   that a king named Óengus son of Fergus founded the church there as a
   thanksgiving to Saint Andrew for saving him after a defeat in Mercia.

The cult of Saint Andrew

   The St Andrews Sarcophagus.
   Enlarge
   The St Andrews Sarcophagus.

   The story of the foundation of St Andrews, originally Cennrígmonaid, is
   not contemporary and may contain many inventions. The Irish annals
   report the death of "Tuathalán, abbot of Cinrigh Móna", in 747, making
   it certain that St Andrews had been founded before that date, probably
   by Óengus or by Nechtan son of Der-Ilei. It is generally presumed that
   the St Andrews Sarcophagus was executed at the command of Óengus. Later
   generations may have conflated this king Óengus with the 9th century
   king of the same name. The choice of David as a model is, as Alex Woolf
   notes, an appropriate one: David too was an usurper.

   The cult of Saint Andrew may have come to Pictland from Northumbria, as
   had the cult of Saint Peter which had been favoured by Nechtan, and in
   particular from the monastery at Hexham which was dedicated to Saint
   Andrew. This apparent connection with the Northumbrian church may have
   left a written record. Óengus, like his successors and presumed kinsmen
   Caustantín and Eógan, is recorded prominently in the Liber Vitae
   Ecclesiae Dunelmensis, a list of some 3000 benefactors for whom prayers
   were said in religious institutions connected with Durham.

Death and legacy

   Óengus died in 761, "aged probably more than seventy, ... the
   dominating figure in the politics of Northern Britain". His death is
   reported in the usual brief style by the annalists, except for the
   continuator of Bede in Northumbria, possibly relying upon a Dál Riata
   source, who wrote:

     Óengus, king of the Picts, died. From the beginning of his reign
     right to the end he perpetrated bloody crimes, like a tyrannical
     slaughterer.

   The Pictish Chronicle king lists have it that he was succeeded by his
   brother Bridei. His son Talorgan was later king, and is the first son
   of a Pictish king known to have become king.

   The following 9th century Irish praise poem from the Book of Leinster
   is associated with Óengus:

     Good the day when Óengus took Alba,
     hilly Alba with its strong chiefs;
     he brought battle to palisaded towns,
     with feet, with hands, with broad shields.

   An assessment of Óengus is problematic, not least because annalistic
   sources provide very little information on Scotland in the succeeding
   generations. His apparent Irish links add to the long list of arguments
   which challenge the idea that the "Gaelicisation" of eastern Scotland
   began in the time of Cináed mac Ailpín; indeed there are good reasons
   for believing that process began before Óengus's reign. Many of the
   Pictish kings until the death of Eógan mac Óengusa in 839 belong to the
   family of Óengus, in particular the 9th century sons of Fergus,
   Caustantín and Óengus.

   The amount of information which has survived about Óengus compared with
   other Pictish kings, the nature and geographical range of his
   activities and the length of his reign combine to make King Óengus one
   of the most significant rulers of the insular Dark Ages.
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