Gartnait II of the Picts

Gartnait (Gartnait son of Domelch in the Pictish Chronicle king lists) (died 597) was king of the Picts.

The Annals of Tigernach record the death of his predecessor, Bridei son of Maelchon in 581, and the death of "Gartnaidh king of the Picts" in 597. The king lists state that he was followed by Nechtan nepos Uerb.

William Forbes Skene, in his commentary on John of Fordun's chronicle, notes that Walter Bower associates the legend of Nechtan Morbet, Saint Brigid and the foundation of the monastery of Abernethy with this king, called "Garnard son of Dompnach". [Skene's notes to Fordun, IV, xii.]

It has been proposed that Gartnait was the same person as Gartnait, son of Áedán mac Gabráin of Dál Riata and that the Domelch of the king lists was his mother. This rests on the now unpopular idea that Pictish succession was matrilineal. If this is correct, Gartnait may have been the father of Cano mac Gartnáin, the subject of the 9th century tale "Scéla Cano meic Gartnáin" and may have been the eponymous ancestor of the "genus Gartnáin" of Skye. [Bannerman, pp.92–94.]

The early 8th century figures Talorg mac Congusa, who is reported by the Annals of Ulster in 734 to have handed over his brother to Óengus mac Fergusa to be drowned, [Bannerman, p.109; the same report is found in the Annals of Tigernach and the Annals of Clonmacnoise. ] and another brother, Cú Bretan, who died in 740, are said to have been descended from Gartnait son of Áedán. [Ancestry, Bannerman, p.66, p.67, note 72; Cú Bretan's death is in the Annals of Ulster, s.a. 740.]

Notes

References

* 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
* Bannerman, John, "Studies in the History of Dalriada." Scottish Academic Press, Edinburgh, 1974. ISBN 0-7011-2040-1
* John of Fordun, "Chronicle of the Scottish Nation", ed. William Forbes Skene, tr. Felix J.H. Skene, 2 vols. Reprinted, Lampeter: Llanerch Press, 1993. ISBN 1-897853-05-X

External links

* [http://celt.ucc.ie/index.html CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts] at 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.
* [http://historical.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/cul.cdl/docviewer?did=cdl360 Annals of Clonmacnoise] at [http://historical.library.cornell.edu/cdl/index.html Cornell]
* [http://www.mimas.ac.uk/~zzalsaw2/pictish.html Pictish Chronicle]