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Gartnait son of Donuel

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Gartnait son of Donuel
King of the Picts
Reign657–663
PredecessorTalorgan I
SuccessorDrest VI
Died663
FatherPossibly Domnall Brecc

Gartnait son of Donuel (Old Irish: Gartnait mac Domnaill or Gartnait mac Dúngail; died 663) was king of the Picts from 657 until 663.

He succeeded Talorgan son of Eanfrith on the latter's death in 657.[1] Like his predecessor Talorgan and his successor Drest son of Donuel, Gartnait reigned as a puppet king under the Northumbrian king Oswiu.[2] Gartnait and Drest may have been sons of Domnall Brecc, who was king of Dál Riata from c. 629 until he was killed in 642.[2]

The Northumbrian writer Bede implies that Oswiu subdued "the greater part of the Picts" in 658,[3] suggesting Oswiu launched an offensive against the Picts after the death of his nephew Talorgan in 657.[4] The Pictish Chronicle king lists give Gartnait a reign of five, six or six and a half years, corresponding with the notice of his death in the Annals of Ulster and the Annals of Tigernach in 663.[5]

The king lists record that he was succeeded by his brother Drest, though Oswiu may have forced an interregnum on the kingdom from 663 to 666.[4] Gartnait son of Donuel may be the Gartnait whose family are recorded by the Annals of Ulster and the Annals of Tigernach going to Ireland in 668.[5]

References

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  1. ^ Williams, Smyth & Kirby 1991, p. 220.
  2. ^ a b Williams, Smyth & Kirby 1991, p. 105.
  3. ^ Duncan 1975, p. 53.
  4. ^ a b Smyth 1989, p. 62.
  5. ^ a b Calise 2002, p. 230.

Sources

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  • Anderson, Alan Orr; Early Sources of Scottish History A.D. 500–1286, volume 1. Reprinted with corrections, Paul Watkins, Stamford, 1990. ISBN 1-871615-03-8
  • Calise, J. M. P. (2002). "Personal Names Associated with the Picts: Biographical and Textual Notes". Pictish Sourcebook: Documents of Medieval Legend and Dark Age History. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 171–261. ISBN 9780313322952.
  • Duncan, A. A. M. (1975). Scotland - the Making of the Kingdom. The Edinburgh History of Scotland. Edinburgh: Mercat Press. ISBN 9780901824837.
  • Smyth, Alfred P. (1989). Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland, A.D. 80–1000. New History of Scotland. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9780748601004.
  • Williams, Ann; Smyth, Alfred P.; Kirby, D. P. (1991). A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain: England, Scotland and Wales c. 500–1050. London: B. A. Seaby. ISBN 9781852640477.
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Regnal titles
Preceded by King of the Picts
657–663
Succeeded by