Drest son of Donuel ( sga, Drust mac Domnaill or sga, Drust mac Dúngail, label=none; died 677) was king of the
Picts from 663 until 672. Like his brother and predecessor
Gartnait son of Donuel, and Gartnait's predecessor
Talorgan son of Eanfrith
Talorgan son of Eanfrith ( sga, Talorcan mac Enfret; died 657) was a King of the Picts from 653 to 657. As with his successors Gartnait son of Donuel and Drest son of Donuel, he reigned as a puppet king under the Northumbrian king Oswiu.
Talor ...
, he reigned as a
puppet king under the
Northumbrian king
Oswiu. Gartnait and Drest may have been sons of
Domnall Brecc
Domnall Brecc (Welsh: ''Dyfnwal Frych''; English: ''Donald the Freckled'') (died 642 in Strathcarron) was king of Dál Riata, in modern Scotland, from about 629 until 642. He was the son of Eochaid Buide. He was counted as Donald II of Scotland b ...
, who was king of
Dál Riata from 629 until he was killed in 642.
The length of Drest's reign is uncertain: the
Pictish king lists give him a reign of six or seven years, while contemporary Irish annals imply a reign of eight or nine years. His accession to the kingship may be connected to the
Battle of Luith Feirn recorded in the ''
Annals of Ulster
The ''Annals of Ulster'' ( ga, Annála Uladh) are annals of medieval Ireland. The entries span the years from 431 AD to 1540 AD. The entries up to 1489 AD were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrí Ó Luinín, ...
'' as taking place in 664, or Oswiu may have forced an
interregnum
An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one monarch and the next (coming from Latin '' ...
on the kingdom from 663-666, after the death of Drest's brother Gartnait in 663. Drest's powerbase was probably as king of the northern Pictish kingdom of
Fortriu.
Drest was expelled from his kingdom in 671, an event normally connected with the failed Pictish revolt against Northumbrian rule that culminated in crushing defeat at the hands of
Ecgfrith of Northumbria at the
Battle of Two Rivers.
Stephen of Ripon
Stephen of Ripon was the author of the eighth-century hagiographic text ''Vita Sancti Wilfrithi'' ("Life of Saint Wilfrid"). Other names once traditionally attributed to him are Eddius Stephanus or Æddi Stephanus, but these names are no longer p ...
records in his ''
Life of St Wilfrid
The ''Vita Sancti Wilfrithi'' or ''Life of St Wilfrid'' (spelled "Wilfrid" in the modern era) is an early 8th-century hagiographic text recounting the life of the Northumbrian bishop, Wilfrid. Although a hagiography, it has few miracles, while ...
'' that the Picts had "gathered together innumerable nations (''gentes'') from every nook and corner in the north", suggesting that Drest had joined forces with other territories which were otherwise not politically united. Drest's successor was Ecgfrith's cousin
Bridei son of Beli, who would eventually defeat and kill Ecgfrith and overthrow the Northumbrian hegemony at the
Battle of Dun Nechtain in 685.
After his expulsion Drest continued to receive attention from Irish annals, suggesting he remained in the orbit of the
Abbey of Iona, until his death in 677.
Notes
References
*
*
*
Anderson, Alan Orr, ''Early Sources of Scottish History A.D 500–1286'', volume 1. Reprinted with corrections. Paul Watkins, Stamford, 1990.
*
*
*
*
*
External links
CELT: Corpus of Electronic Textsat
University College Cork includes the ''Annals of Ulster'', ''Tigernach'', ''the Four Masters'' and ''Innisfallen'', the ''Chronicon Scotorum'', the ''Lebor Bretnach'' (which includes the ''Duan Albanach''), Genealogies, and various Saints' Lives. Most are translated into English, or translations are in progress.
Pictish Chronicle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drest son of Donuel
7th-century births
677 deaths
Year of birth unknown
Pictish monarchs
7th-century Scottish monarchs