Giric: Difference between revisions

{{shortShort description|PictishKing kingof the Picts from 878 to 889}}

{{Forabout||the like-named bishop of St Andrews|Giric (bishop of the Scots)|the saint known as Giric in Wales|Cyricus and Julitta}}

| predecessorsuccession = [[ÁedKing of Scotland|Áedthe Picts]]

== Giric's name ==

Giric's name is associated with that of [[Cyriacus|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 Ecclesgrieg[[St Cyrus|Ecclesgreig]] (now [[St. Cyrus]]) in [[Aberdeenshire]]. The [[saint]]'s [[Calendar of Saints|feast day]] of [[saint]] is 16 June, and on (or near) that day in 885 there was a [[solar eclipse]], 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."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=Alan Orr |title=Early Sources of Scottish History |date=1922 |publisher=Oliver & Boyd |location=Edinburgh |pages=363–64363–364 |url=https://archive.org/stream/earlysourcesofsc01ande#page/364/mode/2up/search/Giric |accessdateaccess-date=8 AugAugust 2016}}</ref>

== Relationship between Giric and Eochaid ==

There is a tendency in popular history books and web sites to refer to the two as "[[cousin]]s" or “first"first cousins once removed".<ref>{{cite web |title=Eochaid and Giric |url=http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/monarchs/eochaidgiric.html |website=Undiscovered Scotland |accessdateaccess-date=9 AugAugust 2016}}</ref>

However, this cousin kinship is only speculation since the ancestry of Giric is obscure. RunhRhun, the father of Eochaid, is known to have been "a [[king of the Britons]]",<ref>{{cite book |last1=Skene |title=Kings of Alba |page=n.p}}</ref> 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".<ref>{{cite web |title=Eochaid and Giric |url=http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/monarchs/eochaidgiric.html |website=Undiscovered Scotland |access-date=9 August 2016}}</ref>

Two scholars have defined the two in political rather than kinship terms. A. Weeks, commentator, speculated, “Possibly"Possibly Giric was not of royal blood, so he used Eochaid as a puppet".”<ref>{{cite webbook |last1=Weeks |first1=A. |title=Kings of Alba}}</ref> In 1904, Sir [[John Rhys]], professor at [[University of Oxford|Oxford]], reached a similar conclusion, positing that “the"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 [[Celtic Britons|Brythons]] of [[Fortriu|Fortrenn]] more or less subject to him".”<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rhys |first1=John |title=Celtic Britain |date=1904 |publisher=Society for the Preservation of Christian Knowledge |location=London |page=185 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bQo2AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA185&lpg=PA185&dqq=eochaid+killed+aed#v=onepage&qpg=eochaid%20killed%20aed&f=falsePA185 |accessdateaccess-date=9 AugAugust 2016}}</ref> What is known of the two is that in 878 Giric killed Aed (uncle of Eochaid) “in"in battle”battle" in the town of Nrurim, which was probably north of [[Stirling]]. Then Giric and Eochaid, whatever their relationship, ruled jointly for eleven years.<ref>{{cite webbook |last1=Weeks |first1=A. |title=Kings of Alba}}</ref>

== Son of Fortune ==

| style="text-align: left;" |... the Son of Fortune shall come; he shall rule over Alba as one Lord.<ref>Alternatively, "he shall knead Alba into one kingdom"; A. O. Anderson, ''Early Sources'', pp. 366&ndash;367366–367.</ref>

| style="text-align: left;" | The ''[[The Prophecy of Berchán]]''.<ref>After A. O. Anderson, ''Early Sources'', pp. 366&ndash;367366–367.</ref>

List "D", which may be taken as typical, contains this account of Giric:

<blockquote>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 [all] England; 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.<ref>Skene, op. cit., p. 151, quoted in A. O. Anderson, ''Early Sources'', pp. 364&ndash;365364–365. The untranslated texts are given by M. O. Anderson, ppp. 264ff.</ref></blockquote>

== He shall rule over Alba as one Lord ==

[[A.A.M.Archie Duncan (historian)|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 [[DonaldDomnall Imac of ScotlandAilpín|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 mac Cináeda|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]] dynasty of Kenneth MacAlpin and his kin, was a member of the northern [[Cenél Loairn-descended]] dynasty– ofdescended [[MormaerdomHouse of Moray|Moray]], and accepts the existence of Giric's brother Causantín.

==Notes References ==

==References Sources ==

* [[Alan Orr Anderson]],; ''Early Sources of Scottish History A.D. 500&ndash;1286500–1286'', volume 1. Reprinted with corrections., Paul Watkins, Stamford, 1990. {{ISBN|1-871615-03-8}}

* Alan Orr Anderson,; ''Scottish Annals from English Chronicles.'', D. Nutt, London, 1908.

* [[Marjorie Ogilvie Anderson]],; ''Kings and Kingship in Early Scotland.'', Scottish Academic Press, Edinburgh, revised edition 1980. {{ISBN|0-7011-1604-8}}

* [[Dauvit Broun]],; "Giric, King of Picts" in John Cannon (ed.), ''The Oxford Companion to British History.'', Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1997. {{ISBN|0-19-860514-5}}

* [[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. {{ISBN|0-19-820394-2}}

* A. A. M. Duncan,; ''The Kingship of the Scots 842&ndash;1292842–1292: Succession and Independence.'', Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2002. {{ISBN|0-7486-1626-8}}

* 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&ndash;1000A.D. 80–1000'', E.J. Arnold, London, 1984 (reprinted Edinburgh UPUniversity Press). {{ISBN|0-7486-0100-7}}

* Ann Williams, Alfred P. Smyth &and D. P. Kirby,; ''A Biographical Dictionary of Dark-Age Britain.'', Seaby, London, 1991. {{ISBN|1-85264-047-2}}

== External links ==

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070606150144/http://www.arts.ed.ac.uk/scothist/booklets/sh1/documents-alba.html The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba] (CKA)

{{s-ttl |title=[[King of the Picts]]|years=878&ndash;889878–889 |regent1=[[Eochaid, son of Rhun|Eochaid]]}}

{{s-aft |after=[[DomnallDonald mac Custantín]]|as=[[KingII of AlbaScotland]]}}