The King of the 'Fierce Ones' of the Tay

St Columba, or Colum Cille, the founder of Iona in the 6th century is primarily associated with Irish kings, both in Ireland, but also in the offshoot colony of Dal Riata in Argyll. Much of his influence was generated by the spiritual powerhouse of Iona after his death. So, for instance, the saint's appearance to a Northumbrian king came in the 7th century some decades after Colum Cille's earthly demise and the story was reflective of Iona's subsequent alliance with the ruling dynasty of that northern English kingdom.

   The saint's relationship with the Pictish rulers is filtered primarily through Adomnan's Life of Colum Cille.  He gives accounts of what seems like several trips up the Great Glen to the fortress of the very powerful king Brude or Bridei son of Maelchon.  For many years this stronghold was thought to be Craig Phadraig near Inverness, though modern historians are not so certain. Still, the focus of Adomnan in relation to the Picts is entirely northern and we hear nothing of journeying or contacts with the southern Picts.

Reconstructed image of King's Seat hillfort, Dunkeld

       Another early source, independent of Adomnan, supports other hagiographic traditions that Colum Cille did indeed venture into southern Pictland and he had significant contact with rulers there. The poem called Amra Choluimb Cille was composed shortly after the saints death in 597 and contains two startling references to contact with a power centre in southern Pictland. Unfortunately bother references and very brief and raise questions which can never be definitively answered now. Short as the relevant passages are, the meaning is far from clear. The first reads:

For not us (is) the teacher who used to teach the tribes of the Tay. . . i.e. for there remains not the teacher who used to  teach the tribes so that they were silent when being preached to.  Or he used to teach the tribes as to keeping silence when his time to preaching.  Or the teacher who used to teach the tribes that dwelt by Tay, the Toe or Túi, being the name of a river in Scotland.

And the second passage reads, with its gloss:

He subdued to benediction the mouths of the fierce ones [variant reading: thrice nine  druids: whomsoever they blessed, he was cursed] who dwellt with Tay’s high king,‘i.e. he overcame, or he shut the mouths of the fierce ones who dwelt with the overking of Tay; for though it be malediction they intended, it is benediction which result from it, at first Balaam.

    The three major questions which come to mind reading this are:  who was the king, why were these 'fierce ones' so opposed to the saint, and where exactly did this encounter take place (if we assume it did happen, and there is no good reason to doubt it)?

Scone Palace and the River Tay

   Scone is the most notable reputed centre of southern Pictish power on the Tay, but we know little of its historicity as a place of significance before the mid 9th century. Here it was, according to one account, that the treacherous Scot Cinaed or Kenneth mac Alpin murdered the leading nobles of the Picts as a prelude to taking over their kingdom. Both the Stone of Scone and the mysterious Moot Hill here might suggest that the place was a site of significance which was perhaps holy and important since prehistoric times, in the same way that Tara and other places in Ireland were. Yet we do not know this. Not far from Scone is Forteviot, which has equal claim to be the most significant power centre in the region, and a base for both Pictish and Scottish royalty.

   But, if we follow the River Tay upstream, we come upon another candidate. This is Dunkeld, whose church was associated with Columba from very early times. Here, in the 9th century, by decree of the king, relics of Columba were brought from Viking ravaged Iona. (Other relics were split off and sent to Ireland.) Dunkeld's name means Fort of the Caledonians, suggesting that it was a place of prime significance to the Caledonian tribe, though it may be anachronistic to think of it as their capital, a term which may have been meaningless to the tribe.

   Sn intriguing site at Dunkeld is the hill-fort on the north side of the Tay known as King's Seat (from its association with the hunting activities of later medieval kings). Recent excavations by Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust have established that this was a highly important power base associated with high status Picts from the 7th to 9th centuries AD. The site may indeed have been occupied a little earlier. Industrial activity, Anglo Saxon material and continental pottery have been found here, sure indications of its significance in the Early Modern Period. It would not be difficult to envisage Columba toiling up the hill and coming face to face with the unknown ruler here, just as he did at Bridei's fortress.

   There are a number of contemporary rulers whose names we know, but it is pointless to guess which of them may have been resident her in the late 6th century. It could equally have been a Pictish potentate whose name has now been lost. It is intriguing to ponder whether the Amra is suggesting that the saint of Iona was actually assisting the king against his own powerful nobles, perhaps because he was Christian and they harboured some pagan tendencies, which we know was definitely the case in northern Pictland.