Giric mac Dúngail ( Modern Gaelic: ''Griogair mac Dhunghail''; fl. c. 878–889), known in English simply as Giric and nicknamed Mac Rath ("Son of Fortune"), was a king of the Picts or the

king of Alba The monarch of Scotland was the head of state of the Kingdom of Scotland. According to tradition, the first King of Scots was Kenneth I MacAlpin (), who founded the state in 843. Historically, the Kingdom of Scotland is thought to have grown ...

. The

Irish annals A number of Irish annals, of which the earliest was the Chronicle of Ireland, were compiled up to and shortly after the end of the 17th century. Annals were originally a means by which monks determined the yearly chronology of feast days. Over ...

record nothing of Giric's reign, nor do

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

writings add anything, and the meagre information which survives is contradictory. Modern historians disagree as to whether Giric was sole king or ruled jointly with Eochaid, on his ancestry, and if he should be considered a Pictish king or the first king of Alba. Although little is now known of Giric, he appears to have been regarded as an important figure in Scotland in the High Middle Ages and the

Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Ren ...

. Scots chroniclers such as

John of Fordun John of Fordun (before 1360 – c. 1384) was a Scottish chronicler. It is generally stated that he was born at Fordoun, Mearns. It is certain that he was a secular priest, and that he composed his history in the latter part of the 14th ...

Andrew of Wyntoun Andrew Wyntoun, known as Andrew of Wyntoun (), was a Scottish poet, a canon and prior of Loch Leven on St Serf's Inch and, later, a canon of St. Andrews. Andrew Wyntoun is most famous for his completion of an eight-syllabled metre entitled, ...

Hector Boece Hector Boece (; also spelled Boyce or Boise; 1465–1536), known in Latin as Hector Boecius or Boethius, was a Scottish philosopher and historian, and the first Principal of King's College in Aberdeen, a predecessor of the University of Abe ...

and the

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "human ...

scholar

George Buchanan George Buchanan ( gd, Seòras Bochanan; February 1506 – 28 September 1582) was a Scottish historian and humanist scholar. According to historian Keith Brown, Buchanan was "the most profound intellectual sixteenth century Scotland produced." ...

wrote of Giric as "King Gregory the Great" and told how he had conquered half of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

too. The ''

Chronicle of Melrose The ''Chronicle of Melrose'' is a medieval chronicle from the Cottonian Manuscript, Faustina B. ix within the British Museum. It was written by unknown authors, though evidence in the writing shows that it most likely was written by the monks at ...

'' and some versions of the ''

Chronicle of the Kings of Alba The ''Chronicle of the Kings of Alba'', or ''Scottish Chronicle'', is a short written chronicle of the Kings of Alba, covering the period from the time of Kenneth MacAlpin (Cináed mac Ailpín) (d. 858) until the reign of Kenneth II (Cináed mac ...

'' say that Giric died at Dundurn in

Strathearn Strathearn or Strath Earn (, from gd, Srath Èireann) is the strath of the River Earn, in Scotland, extending from Loch Earn in the West to the River Tay in the east.http://www.strathearn.com/st_where.htm Derivation of name Strathearn was on ...

Giric's name

Giric's name is associated with that of St Cyricus, who, as a small child, was martyred along with his mother during the

Diocletianic persecution The Diocletianic or Great Persecution was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. In 303, the emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding Christians' legal rig ...

in the early fourth century. According to the ''Chronicles of the Kings of Scotland'', St Cyricus was Giric's patron saint, not only because his name is homophonous with the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

form of the saint's name, Ciricum, but also because the first church dedicated to St Cyricus was established during Giric's reign at a place called Ecclesgrieg (now St. Cyrus) in

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially different boundaries. The Aberdeenshire Council area inclu ...

. The

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Or ...

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context do ...

is 16 June, and on (or near) that day in 885 there was a

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six mon ...

, which has become associated with the kingship of Giric and Eochaid, inasmuch as not long after the occasion of the eclipse, the two "were expelled from the kingdom."

Relationship between Giric and Eochaid

Various theories have been put forward regarding the relationship between Eochaid and Giric, who by all accounts was the elder of the two. ''The

'', which was written in Latin, used the phrase ''alumnus ordinatorque'' to describe Giric's relationship to Eochaid. Translator T. H. Weeks chose to translate that phrase into English as "teacher and prime minister", yet in the same section offered " foster-son" for ''alumnus'', translating "''Eochodius, cum alum(p)no suo, expulsus est nunc de regno''" as "Eochaid with his 'foster-son' was then thrown out of the kingdom". There is a tendency in popular history books and web sites to refer to the two as "

cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...

s" or “first cousins once removed". However, this cousin kinship is only speculation since the ancestry of Giric is obscure. Rhun, the father of Eochaid, is known to have been "a

king of the Britons The title King of the Britons ( cy, Brenin y Brythoniaid, la, Rex Britannorum) was used (often retrospectively) to refer to the most powerful ruler among the Celtic Britons, both before and after the period of Roman Britain up until the Norma ...

", but little is known of Dungal, the father of Giric, which may be the reason for the speculation that he (Dungal) did not have royal lineage. Perhaps a writer for the popular web site ''Undiscovered Scotland'' found the best solution, referring to Giric as Eochaid's "rather shadowy kinsman". Two scholars have defined the two in political rather than kinship terms. A. Weeks, commentator, speculated, “Possibly Giric was not of royal blood, so he used Eochaid as a puppet.” In 1904, Sir

John Rhys John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Seco ...

, professor at

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, reached a similar conclusion, positing that “the real relation in which Girg probably stood to Eochaid was that of a non Celtic king of Pictish descent wielding the power of the Pictish nation with Eochaid ruling among the Brythons of Fortrenn more or less subject to him.” What is known of the two is that in 878 Giric killed Aed (uncle of Eochaid) “in battle” in the town of Nrurim, which was probably north of

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

. Then Giric and Eochaid, whatever their relationship, ruled jointly for eleven years.

Son of Fortune

}), means

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and S ...

ns or Norse Gaels. , - , style="text-align: left;" , The ''

Prophecy of Berchán In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a '' prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or p ...

''. The ''

'', an 11th-century verse history of Scots and Irish kings presented as a

prophecy In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or p ...

, is a notably difficult source. As the Prophecy refers to kings by epithets, but never by name, linking it to other materials is not straightforward. The Prophecy is believed to refer to Giric by the

epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...

''Mac Rath'', "the Son of Fortune". The entry on Giric in the ''

'' is perhaps corrupt. It states:

And Eochaid, son of Run, the king of the Britons f Strathclyde, andgrandson of Kenneth by his daughter reigned for eleven years; although other say that Giric, the son of another, reigned at this time, because he became Eochaid's foster-father and guardian.
And in ochaid'ssecond year, Áed, Niall's son, died; and his ninth year, on the very day of tCyricus, an eclipse of the sun occurred. Eochaid with his foster-father was now expelled from the kingdom.

Kenneth is

Kenneth MacAlpin Kenneth MacAlpin ( mga, Cináed mac Ailpin, label= Medieval Gaelic, gd, Coinneach mac Ailpein, label=Modern Scottish Gaelic; 810 – 13 February 858) or Kenneth I was King of Dál Riada (841–850), King of the Picts (843–858), and the K ...

(Cináed mac Ailpín); Áed, Niall's son is

Áed Findliath Áed mac Néill (died 879), called Áed Findliath ("fair-grey Áed"; Modern Irish: ''Aodh Fionnadhliath'') to distinguish him from his paternal grandfather Áed Oirdnide, was king of Ailech and High King of Ireland. He was also called Áed Olach ...

, who died on 20 November 879; and St Cyrus's day was 16 June, on which day a

occurred in 885.

Gregory the Great

By the 12th century, Giric had acquired legendary status as liberator of the Scottish church from Pictish oppression and, fantastically, as conqueror of

and most of

. As a result, Giric was known as Gregory the Great. This tale appears in the variant of the ''

'' which is interpolated in

's ''Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland''. Here Giric, or Grig, is named "Makdougall", son of Dúngal. List "D", which may be taken as typical, contains this account of Giric:

Giric, Dungal's son, reigned for twelve years; and he died in Dundurn, and was buried in
Iona Iona (; gd, Ì Chaluim Chille (IPA: �iːˈxaɫ̪ɯimˈçiʎə, sometimes simply ''Ì''; sco, Iona) is a small island in the Inner Hebrides, off the Ross of Mull on the western coast of Scotland. It is mainly known for Iona Abbey, though ther ...
. He subdued to himself all Ireland, and nearly llEngland; and he was the first to give liberty to the Scottish church, which was in servitude up to that time, after the custom and fashion of the Picts.

Giric's conquests appear as

Bernicia Bernicia ( ang, Bernice, Bryneich, Beornice; la, Bernicia) was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England. The Anglian territory of Bernicia was ap ...

, rather than Ireland (Hibernia), in some versions. William Forbes Skene saw a connection between this and the account in the ''Historia de Sancto Cuthberto'' which claims that soon after the death of King Halfdan, the

Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...

ns and the Northmen united under King Guthfrith to defeat a Scots invasion. This account is not found in the

Poppleton Manuscript {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 The Poppleton manuscript is the name given to the fourteenth-century codex probably compiled by Robert of Poppleton, a Carmelite friar who was the Prior of Hulne, near Alnwick. The manuscript contains numerous work ...

. The lists known as "D", "F", "I", "K", and "N", contain a different version, copied by the ''

''.

Ut regem nostrum Girich

In a recent discussion of the "

Dunkeld Dunkeld (, sco, Dunkell, from gd, Dùn Chailleann, "fort of the Caledonians") is a town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The location of a historic cathedral, it lies on the north bank of the River Tay, opposite Birnam. Dunkeld lies close to t ...

Litany", which was largely fabricated in

Schottenklöster The Hiberno-Scottish mission was a series of expeditions in the 6th and 7th centuries by Gaelic missionaries originating from Ireland that spread Celtic Christianity in Scotland, Wales, England and Merovingian France. Celtic Christianity spr ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

in late Medieval and Early Modern times,

Thomas Owen Clancy Thomas Owen Clancy is an American academic and historian who specializes in medieval Celtic literature, especially that of Scotland. He did his undergraduate work at New York University, and his Ph.D at the University of Edinburgh. He is currentl ...

offers the provisional conclusion that, within the emendations and additions, there lies an authentic 9th century Litany. The significance of this Litany for the question of Giric's authenticity and kingship is contained in a prayer for the king and the army, where the king named is Giric:

Ut regem nostrum Girich cum exercito suo ab omnibus inimicorum insiidis tuearis et defendas, te rogamus audi nos.Hudson, p. 206.

He shall rule over Alba as one Lord

A.A.M. Duncan argues that the association of Giric and Eochaid in the kingship is spurious, that Giric alone was king of the Picts, which he claimed as the son of daughter of Kenneth MacAlpin, and that the report that he was Eochaid's guardian (''alumpnus'') is a misreading of uncle (''auunculus''). A.P. Smyth proposed that Giric was a nephew of Kenneth MacAlpin, the son of his brother Donald MacAlpin (Domnall mac Ailpín), which appears to rest on what is probably a scribal error. The entry also states that an otherwise unknown Causantín, son of Domnaill (or of Dúngail) was king. Finally, Benjamin Hudson has suggested that Giric, rather than being a member of Cenél nGabráin dynasty of Kenneth MacAlpin and his kin, was a member of the northern Cenél Loairn-descended

House of Moray The House of Moray or Clann Ruaidrí is a historiographical and genealogical construct to illustrate the succession of rulers whose base was in Moray and who ruled sometimes a larger kingdom. It is much the same as Cenél Loairn (although not nece ...

, and accepts the existence of Giric's brother Causantín.

Notes

References

Alan Orr Anderson Alan Orr Anderson (1879–1958) was a Scottish historian and compiler. The son of Rev. John Anderson and Ann Masson, he was born in 1879. He was educated at Royal High School, Edinburgh, and the University of Edinburgh. In 1908, after five ...

, ''Early Sources of Scottish History A.D 500–1286'', volume 1. Reprinted with corrections. Paul Watkins, Stamford, 1990. * Alan Orr Anderson, ''Scottish Annals from English Chronicles.'' D. Nutt, London, 1908. *

Marjorie Ogilvie Anderson Marjorie Ogilvie Anderson (née Cunningham) (9 February 1909 – 27 May 2002) was a Scottish historian and paleographer. Early years Born Marjorie Ogilvie Cunningham in St Andrews, she attended St Leonards School there before studying English ...

, ''Kings and Kingship in Early Scotland.'' Scottish Academic Press, Edinburgh, revised edition 1980. * Dauvit Broun, "Giric, King of Picts" in John Cannon (ed.) ''The Oxford Companion to British History.'' Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1997. *

, "Scottish Saints and National Identities in the Early Middle Ages" in Alan Thacker & Richard Sharpe (eds), ''Local Saints and Local Churches in the Early Medieval West.'' Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2002. * A.A.M. Duncan, ''The Kingship of the Scots 842–1292: Succession and Independence.'' Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2002. * Hudson, Benjamin T., ''The Prophecy of Berchán: Irish and Scottish High-Kings of the Early Middle Ages.'' Greenwood, London, 1996. * Alfred P. Smyth, ''Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland AD 80–1000.'' E.J. Arnold, London, 1984 (reprinted Edinburgh UP). * Ann Williams, Alfred P. Smyth & D.P. Kirby, ''A Biographical Dictionary of Dark-Age Britain.'' Seaby, London, 1991.

External links

The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba
(CKA) {{English, Scottish and British monarchs 890 deaths 9th-century Scottish monarchs Burials in Iona Pictish monarchs