Giric mac Dúngail ( Modern Gaelic: ''Griogair mac Dhunghail''; fl. c. 878–889), in modern English his name is Gregory or Greg MacDougal and nicknamed Mac Rath ("Son of Fortune"), was a

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 ...

or the king of Alba. 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 ti ...

record nothing of Giric's reign, nor do

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

writings add anything, and the meagre information which survives is contradictory. Modern historians disagree as to whether Giric was the 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 The High Middle Ages of Scotland encompass Scotland in the era between the death of Donald II of Scotland, Domnall II in 900 AD and the death of King Alexander III of Scotland, Alexander III in 1286, which was an indirect cause of the Wars of S ...

and the

Late Middle Ages The late Middle Ages or late medieval period was the Periodization, period of History of Europe, European history lasting from 1300 to 1500 AD. The late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period ( ...

. 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,

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 Ancient university governance in Scotland, Principal of King's College, Aberdeen, ...

and the

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

scholar

George Buchanan George Buchanan (; 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." His ideology of re ...

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

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

too. The '' Chronicle of Melrose'' and some versions of the '' Chronicle of the Kings of Alba'' say that Giric died at Dundurn in Strathearn.

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 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 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 Ecclesgreig (now St Cyrus) in

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...

. The

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 does n ...

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

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 Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs approximately every six months, during the eclipse season i ...

, 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 Chronicle of the Kings of Alba'', which was written in Latin, used the phrase ''alumnus ordinatorque'' to describe relationship of Giric 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 A cousin is a relative who is the child of a parent's sibling; this is more specifically referred to as a first cousin. A parent of a first cousin is an aunt or uncle. More generally, in the kinship system used in the English-speaking world, ...

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 (, ) was used (often retrospectively) to refer to a ruler, especially one who might be regarded as the most powerful, among the Celtic Britons, both before and after the period of Roman Britain up until the Norman ...

", but little is known of Dungal, the father of Giric, which may be the reason for the speculation that he (Dungal) did not have a 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, professor at

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, 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 (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

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

Son of Fortune

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

prophecy In religion, mythology, and fiction, 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 di ...

, 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 a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...

''Mac Rath'', "the Son of Fortune". The entry on Giric in the '' Chronicle of the Kings of Alba'' 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 (; ; 810 – 13 February 858) or Kenneth I was King of Dál Riada (841–850), and King of the Picts (848–858), of likely Gaelic origin. According to the traditional account, he inherited the throne of Dál Riada from his fa ...

(Cináed mac Ailpín); Áed, Niall's son is Áed Findliath, 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 '' Chronicle of the Kings of Alba'' which is interpolated in Andrew of Wyntoun'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. 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 () 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 approximately equivalent to the modern English cou ...

, rather than

(

Hibernia () is the Classical Latin name for Ireland. The name ''Hibernia'' was taken from Greek geographical accounts. During his exploration of northwest Europe (), Pytheas of Massalia called the island ''Iérnē'' (written ). In his book ''Geogr ...

), in some versions.

William Forbes Skene William Forbes Skene Writer to the Signet, WS FRSE Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, FSA(Scot) Doctor of Civil Law, DCL Legum Doctor, LLD (7 June 1809 – 29 August 1892), was a Scotland, Scottish lawyer, historian and antiquary. He co-found ...

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 Northumbria () was an early medieval Heptarchy, kingdom in what is now Northern England and Scottish Lowlands, South Scotland. The name derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to the Sout ...

ns and the Northmen united under King Guthfrith to defeat a Scots invasion. This account is not found in the Poppleton Manuscript. The lists known as "D", "F", "I", "K", and "N", contain a different version, copied by the '' Chronicle of Melrose''.

Ut regem nostrum Girich

In a recent discussion of the "

Dunkeld Dunkeld (, , from , "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 the geological Highland Boundar ...

Litany", which was largely fabricated in Schottenklöster in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

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

and Early Modern times, Thomas Owen Clancy 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

Archie 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 a daughter of Kenneth MacAlpin, and that the report that he was Eochaid's guardian (''alumpnus'') is a misreading of an 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 the

Cenél nGabráin The Cenél nGabráin was a kin group, presumed to descend from Gabrán mac Domangairt, which dominated the kingship of Dál Riata until the late 7th century and continued to provide kings thereafter. Kings of kingdom of Alba, Alba and of Scotland ...

dynasty of Kenneth MacAlpin and his kin, was a member of the northern

Cenél Loairn The Cenél Loairn, the descendants of Loarn mac Eirc, controlled parts of northern Argyll around the Firth of Lorne, most probably centred in Lorne but perhaps including the islands of Mull and Colonsay, Morvern and Ardnamurchan. The bounda ...

– descended House of Moray, and accepts the existence of Giric's brother Causantín.

References

Sources

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 fiv ...

; ''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 Englis ...

; ''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. * Thomas Owen Clancy; "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 A.D. 80–1000'', E.J. Arnold, London, 1984 (reprinted Edinburgh University Press). * Ann Williams, Alfred P. Smyth and D. P. Kirby; ''A Biographical Dictionary of Dark-Age Britain'', Seaby, London, 1991.

External links

The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba
(CKA)
Giric
at the official website of the

British monarchy The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the form of government used by the United Kingdom by which a hereditary monarch reigns as the head of state, with their powers Constitutional monarchy, regula ...

{{English, Scottish and British monarchs 9th-century Scottish monarchs Burials in Iona Pictish monarchs