Túathalán (died c. 747) was an 8th-century

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

of Cennrigmonaid. He is known only from his

obituary An obituary (wikt:obit#Etymology 2, obit for short) is an Article (publishing), article about a recently death, deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as Article (publishing), news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on p ...

in the ''

Annals of Ulster The ''Annals of Ulster'' () are annals of History of Ireland, 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 Luin� ...

''. Some say he was Irish in origin and call him Tuathal.Odden, Per Einar. "Den hellige Túathalán av Cennrígmonaid (d. ~747)", Den katolske kirke, 19 August 2013
/ref> Cennrigmonaid, literally "head of the king's pastureland", is a site associated with later St. Andrews, and is probably that site's former name. Túathalán is the first cleric associated with a church establishment there, and Túathalán's obituary constitutes the first source for both the existence of a church there and for the existence of the population centre itself. The church was likely founded around the beginning of the 8th century, probably by Óengus I mac Fergusa,

King of the Picts The list of kings of the Picts is based on the Pictish Chronicle king lists. These are late documents and do not record the dates when the kings reigned. The various surviving lists disagree in places as to the names of kings, and the lengths ...

, although King Nechtan mac Der-Ile may also have been responsible. Túathalán may therefore have been the first ever abbot of the location. There was probably a

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administra ...

connection. The latter was a monastic establishment whose writings show a good deal of knowledge about the Picts, and who share a dedication to

St. Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( ; ; ; ) was an apostle of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Apostles in the New Testament, Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The title First-Called () used by the Eastern Orthodox Chu ...

References

Sources

Anderson, Alan Orr 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 fiv ...

, ''Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers: AD 500–1286'', (London, 1908), republished, Marjorie Anderson (ed.) (Stamford, 1991) * Forsyth, Kathryn, "Evidence of a Lost Pictish source in the ''Historia Regum Anglorum'' of Symeon of Durham", in Simon Taylor (ed.) ''Kings, Clerics, and Chronicles in Scotland, 500-1297: Essays in Honour of Marjorie Ogilvie Anderson on the Occasion of Her Ninetieth Birthday'', (Dublin, 2000), pp. 19–32; Appendix by John Koch, pp. 33–4 * Woolf, Alex, "Onuist son of Uurguist:Tyrannus Carnifex or a David for the Picts", in David Hill & Margaret Worthington (eds.), ''Æthelbald and Off, Two Eighth-Century Kings of Mercia: Papers from a Conference held in Manchester in 2000'', (Manchester, 2005), pp. 35–42. Scottish abbots 8th-century Christian abbots Medieval Gaels from Scotland Pictish people 747 deaths Year of birth unknown 8th-century Scottish people {{UK-Christian-clergy-stub