Onuist, Eadberct and Dumngual: The Treaty of Clyde Rock 756 AD

In August 756 AD Clyde Rock appears to have been the scene for a number of curious events which have puzzled modern historians. A unique and perplexing account in the Chronicle of 802 reports that on 1^st August 756, in the eighteenth year of the reign of Eadberct king of Northumbria, he and Onuist, king of Picts, led their forces to Clyde Rock and ‘hence the Britons accepted terms there’.  Furthermore, it continues that ten days following ‘there perished almost the whole army which he (i.e. Eadberct) had led from Ovania to Newburgh, that is the New City’[1]. It has been suggested by Fraser that this gathering of kings must have been of specific significance, and more particularly significant the terms agreed by the Britons, as it is strange to be given so precise a date in the record for an event such as this[2]. Historians have devised various interpretations of these rather perplexing details. These range from a possible violent siege at Clyde Rock which forced the Britons to terms to a possible alliance between all three parties being negotiated with the aim of attacking Mercia. The main protagonists in this event were Eadberct of Northumbria, Onuist of Pictavia and presumably Dumngual king of Clyde Rock[3]. What happened in 756? Was there a Treaty of Clyde Rock?

These events are only recorded in the so called Chronicle of 802. This is a part of a collection of materials from the Historia Regum Anglorum (HRA) attributed to Simeon of Durham and survives in only one late twelfth century manuscript[4]. One would be loath to trust an account from a source so long divorced from contemporary events. However, sections of HRA (§1-5), part of these constituting the Chronicle of 802 (HRA §4), appear to have been taken from earlier sources. The HRA is historiographically significant because it appears to preserve this material from earlier sources with great accuracy. Also, as the period covered by the annals in the Chronicle of 802, 732-802 AD, is one where few historical records survive, this is especially important. Hunter-Blair states that, interpolations and amendments aside, ‘there can be no doubt that this part of the Historia Regum has preserved what is basically an eighth-century chronicle’[5]. Forsyth has argued that within these sections of HRA lies the fossilized remains of a contemporary, or at least near-contemporary, account of mid-eighth century events ultimately derived from a Pictish source. What also makes the Chronicle of 802 valuable as a source is that where its data can be independently supported it is highly accurate, especially in terms of chronology[6]. For these reasons it would seem that we can trust the account in the Chronicle of 802, even though it is not recorded elsewhere and only survives in a twelfth century manuscript.

Conventionally, the events of 756 have been interpreted as a hostile encounter between the Strathclyde Britons, Picts and Northumbrians. One interpretation has been that the Britons were attacked and thoroughly cowed by Eadberct and Onuist, who had laid siege in concert to Clyde Rock, and forced the Britons to accept terms. Following this interpretation this presumably meant the Britons acknowledged their subjugation and tributary status to Eadberct and Onuist, becoming an under- or tributary-kingdom as was common in the Early Medieval period[7]. If we look at the political context in north Britain leading up to 756, we can see a situation where Clyde Rock was surrounded by two powerful neighbours. Jackson interpreted the account in the Chronicle of 802 as a record of the high-water mark of Northumbrian influence in southern Scotland, when it seemed as if Northumbrian power would engross all of Scotland south of the Forth and Clyde[8]. Eadberct of Northumbria had already ‘added the plain of Kyle, with other districts, to his kingdom’ in 750, which could have meant he had conquered Ayrshire, whose inhabitants were Britons, but not necessarily of Strathclyde[9]. Even so, Northumbrian aggression and the annexation of Kyle cannot have pleasing to the court of Dumngual at Clyde Rock. If the events of 756 were a hostile siege to force the men of Strathclyde to terms, it would seem this was a continuation of Eadberct’s expansion of Northumbrian power into southern Scotland by conquest and subjugation, much like his predecessors Oswiu and Ecgfrith of Northumbria over sixty years previously had claimed dominion over neighbouring kingdoms[10].

Onuist had become king of the Picts c.729 after ousting potential rivals and seizing the kingship[11]. In the years up until 756 he had become the most powerful king in northern Britain. He had ravaged Dál Riata in the 730s, driving Dúngal son of Selbach, a former king, into exile in Ireland, and further emphatically displaying his dominance over the region in 736 and 741.  He may have acted in alliance with Áed Allan of Cenél nÉogain in his seizure of the kingship of Tara, for his son had been active in Ireland, and Onuist’s own actions against Dál Riata certainly reinforced Áed Allan’s campaigns against his rival Flaithbertach mac Loingsig of Cénel Conaill[12]. There is also some evidence to suggest his northern hegemony was in some way intimately connected with the southern hegemon Æthelbald of Mercia by 750. In 740 when Eadberct was fighting the Picts, Æthelbald ‘through impious treachery’ attacked Northumbria in concert with Onuist, and in 750 Cuthred of the West Saxons is described as rebelling against King Æthelbald and Onuist[13]. This seems to imply that the two most powerful kings in Britain had come to some sort of accord.

However, previous to the events of 756 Onuist’s power appears to have been waning. In the year 750 the Annals of Ulster recorded ‘the end of the rule of Óengus’[14]. After 740 Eadberct may have bought peace along his frontiers with his powerful Pictish and Mercian neighbours for Onuist seems to have switched his focus to the Britons. In 744 the first battle between the Picts and Britons was recorded in the Annals of Ulster[15]. Onuist’s predecessor Nechtan mac Der-Ilei was a member of the Cowal dynasty. This dynasty appears to have had a history of cooperation with the kingdom of Clyde Rock[16]. Also the kings of Clyde Rock were related to Bridei son of Beli, king of Fortriu (671-92): both were members of the House of Guipno. Thus, Onuist may have thought he had some sort of entitlement to the Clyde Rock region; he may have been related himself to the British royal houses as a southern Pict. The king of Clyde Rock at this time was Teudubr son of Beli, father of Dumngual[17]. From the vagueness of the details we do not know the cause, location or outcome of the battle. We do not know the position of Clyde Rock in terms of its relations with Pictland subsequent to the battle, just that both Onuist and Teudubr survived it if they were involved. We do know that in the 670s and 680s Teudubr’s predecessor Dumngual son of Eugein had been a major player in the politics of the time, so we can be in no doubt that the kingdom of Clyde Rock was capable of considerable military clout[18]. It may be that Teudubr managed to fight off the aggressive Onuist or he may have been the aggressor himself.

Whatever the case it was not until 750, the year of Tuedubr’s death,  when we have further mention of Pictish-British aggression; according to the annals Talorcan son of Vurguist, who was most likely king of Fortriu under his brother Onuist, led an army south of the Forth. Talorcan may have been attempting to take advantage of the death of Teudubr. In his attempt he failed. At Mugdock, sixteen miles from Clyde Rock, he was killed and his men routed by the Britons of Clyde Rock[19]. In the same year, 750, the Annals of Ulster recorded ‘the end of the rule of Óengus’ and the Annals of Tigernach record a battle between the Picts themselves in the district of Circhind where a Bridei son of Mailcon fell[20]. It appears that in 750 Onuist gave up his kingship, voluntarily or otherwise, which led to a power struggle between his brother Talorcan and Bridei, who may have received assistance from Clyde Rock. Both men were killed within months and Onuist resumed his kingship.

This wavering of Onuist’s power and the defeat of his brother at Mugdock shook northern Britain. Fraser suggests that the scale of the victory by Teudubr or his son Dumngal ‘may have approached that of the battle of Dún Nechtain sixty-five years before, foiling the imperial designs of a neighbouring superpower’[21]. With the first Pictish setback for forty years and the confusing events surrounding Onuist’s kingship, Eadberct of Northumbria took advantage of the disruption by seizing Kyle, as mentioned above. He also flexed his muscles by ridding himself of a potential rival from the Aethelfrithing dynasty, Offa son of Aldfrith[22]. The shifts in power in northern Britain seem to have moved in Eadberct’s favour and left him free to expand his borders at the expense of his British neighbours. It was also at this time that an independent king may have regained power in Dál Riata[23]. This then was the political background to the events of 756: Onuist was on the back-foot, Eadberct on the offensive and Dumngual of Clyde Rock caught between the two. The events of 756 have been interpreted in this light. Historians have seen it as part of Eadberct’s aggression and Onuist’s reassertion of power and so have interpreted it as an aggressive attack on Clyde Rock and, thoroughly cowed, the Britons accept terms. As Fraser asserts, the treaty of Clyde Rock may have forced the Britons to ‘accept client status between the rock of Pictavia… and the hard-place of Northumbria’[24].

A complication occurred subsequent to the meeting at Clyde Rock. On the way back from this triumph, somewhere between Ovania and Newburgh, the army was attacked and mostly destroyed[25]. No detail is given in the Chronicle of 802 as to who was responsible for this, or whether or not this attack was on the combined forces of Eadberct and Onuist, or only Eadberct’s. It was also not recorded in any other Northumbrian or Irish chronicles, despite its seemingly ruinous outcome. There was a pronounced interest in Onuist’s other deeds in the chronicles, which may mean the defeated army was solely Northumbrian. This could be interpreted as a break in the concord between Onuist and Eadbercht, and so Onuist attacked his former allies on their way home to Northumbria. This is possibly remembered in the earlier of two foundation legends of St Andrews[26]. Equally, in the eyes of Jackson, the Britons could have attacked Eadbert’s forces. They had been forced to accept terms from Eadberct and Onuist but instead of being cowed by their show of strength the Britons felt free to regroup and attack Eadberct’s forces ten days later and score a mighty victory to regain their independence and disavow any terms coerced from them[27]. A further suggestion, to judge by Eadberct’s actions against Offa son of Aldfrith and the dynastic violence that followed Eadberct’s retirement to the Church in 758, could be that a Northumbrian rival for his kingship was responsible[28].

These interpretations are based on the identification of Newburgh as the modern town of the same name four miles from Hexham, Northumberland. Breeze calls Newburgh, on the Roman road parallel to Hadrian’s Wall and a major route of communication, a ‘suitable place to station Northumbrian troops after service in Strathclyde’ and a ‘natural base for forces returning from the Clyde’[29]. Conversely, Woolf has recently argued against the identification of Newburgh in Northumberland due to the delay of ten days given by the Chronicle of 802. He argues that it would not have taken the Northumbrian army ten days to reach this place from Ovania/Govan; it is too near. He instead looks to Newborough in Staffordshire, some 200 miles away from the scene, and in Mercia[30]. Woolf therefore argues for a possible alliance discussed at Clyde Rock, where Eadberct and Oniust looked to the Strathclyde Britons under Dumngal for help against the powerful Æthelbald of Mercia or at least an agreement not to attack their lands whilst they were otherwise engaged. An army, possible composed of the forces of Eadberct, Onuist and Dumngual or just Eadberct’s men, then moved south to take on Æthelbald of Mercia and was subsequently defeated. This may explain Æthelbald’s murder the following year and Eadberct’s retirement from the kingship a year later. The defeat, although costly to Eadberct, caused tension within Mercia leading to the death of Æthelbald at the hands of his own warband[31]. Woolf looks to the oldest surviving version of the St Andrews origin legend for corroboration. Its present form this was compiled between 1093 and 1107. In it Ungus son of Urguist led an expedition south ad campum Merc (‘plain of Mercia’) where he was surrounded and many of his men slain. He was only able to escape with the help of St Andrew. Woolf states that ‘a scribe in c.1100 is unlikely to have picked campum Merc at random’[32]. Also, it is unlikely that a significant defeat right in the heart of Bernician territory would have gone unnoticed, especially so close to Hexham, a major centre of Northumbria. It should also be pointed out that after the events of 756 the kingdom of Clyde Rock disappears from the written records for more than a century, save the record of a fire there in 780. It appears there was peace, or at least no more major conflicts with Pictavia or Northumbria were remembered[33]. If we can therefore link at least Onuist and Eadberct’s forces to a conflict with Mercia and a potential peace with Dumngual of Clyde Rock, the events of 756 take on a very different tone.

Therefore, it appears that more likely than an aggressive attack on Clyde Rock the events of August 756 consisted of a more peaceful agreement. A treaty of unknown type was concluded there between Onuist, Eadberct and Dumngual to allow the attack on Mercia. There is evidence of other occasions where kings and leaders of separate peoples appear to have entered into agreements of non-aggression. For example, it has been proposed that at Driumm Cette in late sixth century Áedán mac Gabráin of Cenél nGabráin, Áed mac Ainmirech of Cenél Conaill and the king of Dál nAriadi agreed terms that established peaceable relations between their kingdoms that lasted into the early decades of the seventh century[34]. Charles-Edwards has inferred the existence of a formal peace treaty between the Uí Néill and Connachta in the eighth century due to the striking lack of conflict recorded in the annals[35].

In the Irish law texts one of the main responsibilities of kingship was handling the relations with other kingdoms; kings were responsible for making treaties[36]. A treaty (Irish cairde) with other kings such as this would have involved much ritual and negotiation on all sides, almost definitely involving the Church[37]. The mechanics of such arrangements were carefully laid out by lawyers and could be particularly effective, such as is shown by the arrangement between the Uí Néill and Connachta which lasted from 703 until the ninth century[38]. Hostages and pledges would be taken as sureties and social bonds would have been made to reinforce the treaty[39]. Marriage alliances are often thought of as the main method to do this, but we also know that spiritual-kinship was important. From English records we know that kings would often act as sponsors for baptisms, confirmations and other rites of passage in such negotiations, in effect becoming spiritual-fathers to and co-parents of those sponsored[40]. In Welsh and Irish written records more focus is placed on fosterage to create social bonds and reinforce relations and one of the main reasons to do so was for alliance building[41]. Both of fosterage and spiritual-kinship created artificial bonds which could be as strong as or stronger than the natural bond between parent and child. An important part of these treaties could include the negotiation of territory, such as in the treaty between Alfred and Guthrum in 886[42]. Therefore, it could be advocated Onuist, Eadbercht and Dumngual met to discuss and formalise arrangements between their kingdoms and peoples. They exchanged pledges and hostages, reinforced the arrangements by making social bonds and negotiated the position of certain territories. It could be, as some suggest, that Clyde Rock agreed to become a client of one of the other kingdoms, or perhaps more likely it regained former territory as an inducement not to attack the others whilst they were engaged in Mercia. This could also have involved the discussion of Church jurisdiction and supremacy for whatever the case concerning land agreements, we know that there was an Anglian bishop at Whithorn until the end of the century and perhaps longer. This then is what we perhaps should imagine as the Treaty of Clyde Rock in 756.

Onuist’s reign was characterised by aggressive relations with his neighbours. Eadberct also adopted a rule of aggression to expand Northumbria’s frontiers. Dumngual and his father were involved in conflict with the Picts and there was at least a tense relationship with Eadberct due to his seizure of Kyle. At first glance it may seem that these kings were still pursuing this violent course at Clyde Rock in 756. However, if the discussions there were to negotiate the attack on Mercia it would appear to show the more peaceful and diplomatic side to Early Medieval warfare: Eadberct and Onuist needed to guarantee help from Dumngual or at least an agreement to stay out of their conflict with Æthelbald of Mercia. They needed peace on one side to pursue violence on another. Thus the Treaty of Clyde Rock gave it to them.

Primary Sources:

Annales Cambriae; E. Faral, ed., Légende Arthurienne (Paris, 1929), 44-50.

Annals of Tigernach; W. Stokes, ed., The Annals of Tigernach, vol. I (Llanerch, 1993).

Annals of Ulster; S. Mac Airt and G. Mac Niocaill, eds., The Annals of Ulster (to A.D. 1131) (Dublin, 1983).

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Chronicle of 766; B. Colgrave and R. A. B. Mynors, eds., Bede’s Ecclesiastical History (Oxford, 1991).

Chronicle of 806; T. Arnold, ed., Symeonis Monachi Opera Omnia, vol. II (Rolls: Edinburgh, 1885).

Harleian MS. 3859; P. C. Bartrum, ed., Early Welsh Genealogical Tracts (Cardiff, 1966), 9-13.

The laws of Ine; D. Whitelock, ed., English Historical Documents c. 500-1042, 2^nd edn., (London and New York, 1979), 364-372.

Stephen, Vita sancti Wilfrithi; B. Colgrave, ed., The Life of Bishop Wilfrid (Cambridge, 1927).

The treaty between Alfred and Guthrum; D. Whitelock, ed., English Historical Documents c. 500-1042, 2^nd edn., (London and New York, 1979), 380-1.

Whitelock, D., ed., English Historical Documents c. 500-1042, 2^nd edn., (London and New York, 1979).

Modern Scholarship:

Alcock, L., Kings and Warriors, Craftsmen and Priests in Northern Britain AD 550-850 (Edinburgh, 2003).

Breeze, A., ‘Simeon of Durham’s Annal for 756 and Govan, Scotland’ Nomina 22 (1999), 133-138.

Byrne, F. J., Irish Kings and High-Kings, 2^nd edn., (Dublin, 2001).

Charles-Edwards, T. M., ‘Early Medieval Kingship in the British Isles’, in S. Basset, ed., Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms (London and New York, 1989), 28-39.

Charles-Edwards, T. M., ‘Irish warfare before 1100’, in T. Barlett and K. Jeffery, eds., A Military History of Ireland (Cambridge, 1996), 26-51.

Charles-Edwards, T. M., ‘Alliances, godfathers, treaties and boundaries’ in Blackburn and Dumville, eds., Kings, Currency and Alliances (Woodbridge, 1998), 47-62.

Charles-Edwards, T. M., ‘“The continuation of Bede”, s. a. 750: high-kings, kings of Tara and “Bretwaldas”’, in A. P. Smyth, ed., Seanchas: Studies in Early and Medieval Irish Archaeology, History and Literature in Honour of Francis J. Byrne (Dublin, 1999), 137-45.

Charles-Edwards, T. M., Early Irish and Welsh Kinship (Oxford, 2000).

Driscoll, S., and K. Forsyth, ‘The Late Iron Age and Early Historic Period’, Scottish Archaeological Journal 26 (2004), 4-11.

Dumville, D., ‘Textual archaeology and Northumbrian history subsequent to Bede’, in D. M. Metcalf, ed., Coinage in Ninth-Century Northumbria: the tenth Oxford symposium on coinage and monetary history (BAR British series 180) (Oxford, 1987), 43-55.

Dumville, D., ‘The Welsh Latin Annals’, Studia Celtica 12/13 (1977-8), 461-7.

Hughes, K., ‘The Welsh Latin Chronicles: Annales Cambriae and related texts’, Proceedings of the British Academy 59 (1973), 233-58.

Forsyth, K., ‘Evidence of a lost Pictish source in the Historia Regum Anglorum of Symeon of Durham’, in Taylor, ed., Kings, Clerics and Chronicles (Dublin, 2000), 19-32.

Fraser, J. E., ‘Strangers on the Clyde: Cenél Comgaill, Clyde Rock and the bishops of Kingarth’, Innes Review, vol. 56, no. 2 (2005), 102-120.

Fraser, J. E., ‘St Columba and the convention at Druimm Cete: peace and politics at seventh-century Iona’, Early Medieval Europe 15.3 (2007), 315-34.

Fraser, J. E., From Caledonia to Pictland: Scotland to 795 (Edinburgh, 2009).

Fraser, J. E., ‘Rochester, Hexham and Cennrígmonaid: the movements of St Andrew in Britain, 604-747’ in S. Boardman et al, eds., Saints’ Cults in the Celtic World (Woodbridge, 2009), 1-17.

Halsall, G., ‘Violence and Society in the Early Medieval West: an introductory survey’ in Halsall, ed., Violence and Society in the Early Medieval West (Woodbridge, 1998), 1-45.

Hughes, K., ‘The Welsh Latin Chronicles: Annales Cambriae and related texts’, Proceedings of the British Academy 59 (1973), 233-58.

Hunter-Blair, P., ‘Some observations on the “Historia Regum” attributed to Symeon of Durham’, in N. K. Chadwick, ed., Celt and Saxon: Studies in the Early British Border (Cambridge, 1963), 63-118.

Jackson, K., ‘The Britons in southern Scotland’, Antiquity 29 (1955), 77-88.

Keeley, L. H., War Before Civilization (Oxford, 1996).

Kelly, F., A Guide to Early Irish Law (Dublin, 1988).

Lynch, J. H., Christianizing Kinship: ritual sponsorship in Anglo-Saxon England (London, 1998)

Lynch, J. H., Godparents and Kinship in Early Medieval Europe (Princeton, 1986)

Macquarrie, A., ‘The Kings of Strathclyde, c. 400-1018’, in A. Grant and K. J. Stringer, eds., Medieval Scotland: Crown, Lordship and Community (Edinburgh, 1993), 1-19.

Miller, M., ‘Historicity and the Pedigrees of the Northcountrymen’, Bwletin Y Bwrdd Gwybodau Celtaidd/The Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 26 (1975), 241-80.

Nelson, J. L., ‘Violence in the Carolingian world and the ritualization of ninth-century warfare’, in Halsall, ed., Violence and Society in the Early Medieval West (Woodbridge, 1998), 90-107.

Smyth, A. P., Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland AD 80-1000 (London, 1984).

Woolf, A., ‘Onuist son of Uurguist: tyrannus carnifex or a David for the Picts?’, in D. Hill and M. Worthington, eds., Æthelbald and Offa: two Eighth-century Kings of Mercia, BAR British Series 383 (Oxford, 2005), 35-42.

Woolf, A., ‘AU 729.2 and the last years of Nechtan mac Der-Ilei’, Scottish Historical Review 85 (2006), 131-4.

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[1] Chronicle of 802, s. a. 756 in T. Arnold, ed., Symeonis Monachi Opera Omnia, vol. II (Rolls: Edinburgh, 1885). Translation taken from D. Whitelock, ed., English Historical Documents c. 500-1042, 2^nd edn., (London and New York, 1979), 241.

[2] J. E. Fraser, From Caledonia to Pictland: Scotland to 795 (Edinburgh, 2009), 316.

[3] Annales Cambriae s.a. 760, E. Faral, ed., Légende Arthurienne (Paris, 1929), 44-50; Harleian MS 3859 §§5-7; A. Macquarrie, ‘The Kings of Strathclyde, c. 400-1018’, in A. Grant and K. J. Stringer, eds., Medieval Scotland: Crown, Lordship and Community (Edinburgh, 1993), 11; M. Miller, ‘Historicity and the Pedigrees of the Northcountrymen’, Bwletin Y Bwrdd Gwybodau Celtaidd/The Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 26 (1975), 261, table 1.

[4] Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS. 139; Whitelock, M., (ed.) English Historical Documents (Cambridge, 1964), p.239; D. Dumville, ‘Textual archaeology and Northumbrian history subsequent to Bede’, in D. M. Metcalf, ed., Coinage in Ninth-Century Northumbria: the tenth Oxford symposium on coinage and monetary history (BAR British series 180) (Oxford, 1987), 46.

[5] P. Hunter-Blair, ‘Some observations on the “Historia Regum” attributed to Symeon of Durham’, in N. K. Chadwick, ed., Celt and Saxon: Studies in the Early British Border (Cambridge, 1963), 87.

[6] See K. Forsyth, ‘Evidence of a lost Pictish source in the Historia Regum Anglorum of Symeon of Durham’, in Taylor, ed., Kings, Clerics and Chronicles (Dublin, 2000), 19-32.

[7] See L. Alcock, Kings and Warriors, Craftsmen and Priests in Northern Britain AD 550-850 (Edinburgh, 2003), 31-57; 119-126; F. J. Byrne, Irish Kings and High-Kings, 2^nd edn., (Dublin, 2001); T. M. Charles-Edwards, ‘Early Medieval Kingship in the British Isles’, in S. Basset, ed., Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms (London and New York, 1989), 30-1; T. M. Charles-Edwards, ‘Irish warfare before 1100’, in T. Barlett and K. Jeffery, eds., A Military History of Ireland (Cambridge, 1996), 30.

[8] K. Jackson, ‘The Britons in southern Scotland’, Antiquity 29 (1955), 85.

[9] Chronicle of 766, s. a. 750; B. Colgrave and R. A. B. Mynors, eds., Bede’s Ecclesiastical History (Oxford, 1991); Fraser, Caledonia to Pictland, 314; Eadberct’s British enemies in Ayrshire may have been based at the stronghold of Dundonald. See S. Driscoll and K. Forsyth, ‘The Late Iron Age and Early Historic Period’, Scottish Archaeological Journal 26 (2004), 7, 11.

[10] Bede, HE, II.5; Stephen, Vita sancti Wilfrithi, §§17; 19-20; Fraser, Caledonia to Pictland, 175-228; A. P. Smyth, Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland AD 80-1000 (London, 1984), 23-6; 31-2; 61-4.

[11] See A. Woolf, ‘AU 729.2 and the last years of Nechtan mac Der-Ilei’, Scottish Historical Review 85 (2006), 131-4.

[12] Annals of Ulster s.aa. 728.4; 729.4; 734.7; 736.1; 741.2; T. M. Charles-Edwards, ‘“The continuation of Bede”, s. a. 750: high-kings, kings of Tara and “Bretwaldas”’, in A. P. Smyth, ed., Seanchas: Studies in Early and Medieval Irish Archaeology, History and Literature in Honour of Francis J. Byrne (Dublin, 1999), 139, 140; See A. Woolf, ‘Onuist son of Uurguist: tyrannus carnifex or a David for the Picts?’, in D. Hill and M. Worthington, eds., Æthelbald and Offa: two Eighth-century Kings of Mercia, BAR British Series 383 (Oxford, 2005), 35-42; A. Woolf, ‘AU 729.2 and the last years of Nechtan mac Der-Ilei’, Scottish Historical Review 85 (2006), 131-4.

[13] Chron. 766, s.a. 740; See Charles-Edwards, ‘“The continuation of Bede”’, 137-145.

[14] AU 750.4; AT 750.3.

[15] Chron. 802, s.a. 744.

[16] See J. E. Fraser, ‘Strangers on the Clyde: Cenél Comgaill, Clyde Rock and the bishops of Kingarth’, Innes Review, vol. 56, no. 2 (2005), 102-120.

[17] AC s.a. 750; Chron. 766, s.a. 750; Harleian MS 3859 §§5-7.

[18] AU 678.3; possibly 682.2; 694.6; AT 678.4; possibly 682.3; 694.2; Fraser, Caledonia to Pictland, 207-8; 243-4

[19] AU 750.4; AT 750.3; Chron. 766, s.a. 750.

[20] AU 750.11; AT 752.3.

[21] Fraser, Caledonia to Pictland, 314.

[22] Chron. 802, s.a. 750.

[23] AU s.s.a. 768.7; 778.7.

[24] Fraser, Caledonia to Pictland, 317.

[25] See A. Breeze, ‘Simeon of Durham’s Annal for 756 and Govan, Scotland’ Nomina 22 (1999), 133-138 for the identification of Ovania as *Cair-Ovan, the Cumbric name for modern-day Govan, near Dumbarton.

[26] See J. E. Fraser, ‘Rochester, Hexham and Cennrígmonaid: the movements of St Andrew in Britain, 604-747’ in S. Boardman et al, eds., Saints’ Cults in the Celtic World (Woodbridge, 2009), 1-17.

[27] Jackson, ‘The Britons’, 85.

[28] Chron. 802, s.a. 758.

[29] Breeze, ‘Simeon of Durham’s Annal’, 134.

[30] A. Woolf,  ‘Onuist son of Uurguist: tyrannus carnifex or a David for the Picts?’, in D. Hill and M. Worthington, eds., Æthelbald and Offa: two Eighth-century Kings of Mercia, BAR British Series 383 (Oxford, 2005), 39.

[31] Chron. 766 s.a. 757; Chron. 802 s.s.a, 757; 758.

[32] Woolf,  ‘Onuist son of Uurguist’, 39; for the potential veracity of Onuist’s association with the foundation of St Andrews see Fraser, ‘Rochester, Hexham and Cennrígmonaid’.

[33] The possible lost North British Chronicle, a potential source for the Annales Cambriae and other surviving later Welsh documents, seems to have terminated c.780, so this may also account for the lack of records concerning Clyde Rock. See D. Dumville, ‘The Welsh Latin Annals’, Studia Celtica 12/13 (1977-8), 461-7 and K. Hughes, ‘The Welsh Latin Chronicles: Annales Cambriae and related texts’, Proceedings of the British Academy 59 (1973), 233-58.

[34] J. E. Fraser, ‘St Columba and the convention at Druimm Cete: peace and politics at seventh-century Iona’, Early Medieval Europe 15.3 (2007), 315-34.

[35] Charles-Edwards, ‘Irish warfare before 1100’, 38-9.

[36]F. Kelly, A Guide to Early Irish Law (Dublin, 1988), 5.

[37] J. L. Nelson, ‘Violence in the Carolingian world and the ritualization of ninth-century warfare’, in Halsall, ed., Violence and Society in the Early Medieval West (Woodbridge, 1998), 90-107.

[38] Charles-Edwards, ‘Irish warfare before 1100’, 38-9.

[39] Kelly, A Guide to Early Irish Law, 158-176.

[40] The laws of Ine, §76; D. Whitelock, ed., English Historical Documents c. 500-1042, 2^nd edn., (London and New York, 1979), 372; see T. M. Charles-Edwards, ‘Alliances, godfathers, treaties and boundaries’ in Blackburn and Dumville, eds., Kings, Currency and Alliances (Woodbridge, 1998), 47-62; J. H. Lynch, Christianizing Kinship: ritual sponsorship in Anglo-Saxon England (London, 1998); J. H. Lynch, Godparents and Kinship in Early Medieval Europe (Princeton, 1986)

[41] T. M. Charles-Edwards, Early Irish and Welsh Kinship (Oxford, 2000), 73-82; 175; 180-1; 216.

[42] The treaty between Alfred and Guthrum, §1; D. Whitelock, ed., English Historical Documents c. 500-1042, 2^nd edn., (London and New York, 1979), 380-1; see Charles-Edwards, ‘Alliances, godfathers, treaties and boundaries’, 47-62.