The his dominions, and did what we now suppose is a very modern thing-had iron dishes attached to the fountains. over the country for the wayfarer to drink from. Cymri of Strathclyde and the Scots of Dalriada had hitherto been usually combined against Angle and Pict. The Cymri all along hated the Picts fervently. Taliessin refers to them as "The Gwyddyl, devils, distillers." 1 Again, he speaks of them as Didactic bards, with swelling breasts, will arise, Who will meet around mead-vessels And sing wrong poetry, And seek rewards that will not be, Without law, without regulation, without gifts." 2 This harmony of co-operation between Cymri and Scot was interrupted in 642, when Domnal Breac (Donal Brec), King of Dalriada, attacked the Cymri, and was slain in battle by Ohan or Haan, King of the Britons, in Strathcauin (Strathcarron). Who this personage Ohan was is doubtful. Mr Skene thinks he might have been Cadwallawn, seeking the supremacy of the north as Guledig. With the death of Domnal Breac the line of Aidan ceased, and the kingdom itself probably became subject to the Britons. At this point it would almost seem that in the struggle for supremacy in Scotland the original Cymri rather than the Scots bid fair to win the prize. Subsequently, even the name of Dalriada disappeared from the Irish Chronicles. 1 Book of Taliessin, xiv. VOL. I. 2 Ibid., i. Under Oswald, who was slain in 642, and his brother Osuiu (Oswy), two powerful kings of Northumbria, encroachment was made on the territory of the Britons of Strathclyde, the Scots of Dalriada and the southern Picts that is, those between the Tay and the Forthsome of whom had crossed to the southern side of the Firth of Forth, and were thus intramural. In 635, Oswald fought a battle with Ceadwalla and the Welsh of Strathclyde at Dennisborn (Dennisburna), a small tributary of the Tyne, near the Roman Wall, afterward known as Heavenfield, probably Dilston, near Hexham, in which Ceadwalla was killed, and the power of Strathclyde broken. Oswald, we may note, brought Aidan, the Columbite, into Northumbria, and interpreted his preaching to the people-translating Gaelic into English. Again, in 655, the Mercians and Britons were defeated by Oswy, and Penda, King of the Mercians, slain. Cadwallawn escaped with his life.1 The Cymri of Strathclyde, the Scots of Dalriada, and the intramural Picts seem to have been under subjection to the king. of Northumbria, after their defeat by Oswald, for many years. One proof of this may be found in the quaint memorial over the tomb of Alefrith, deputy King of Deira, son of Oswy who died in 670, still to be seen so far west in the wild moorland as Bewcastle.2 This is "a column formed of one entire block of grey freestone," with inscriptions naming Alefrith and his queen Cyneburga. This subjection continued during the time of Oswy to the death of his son and successor Ecgfrid, in 685, who fell at Nechtan's Mere, near Dunnichen or 1 Skene, Four Books, i. 179. 2 Ferguson, Cumberland, 119. Dunnechtan, fighting against Bridei, king of the revolted Picts. "Ecgfrid," we are told, "destroyed the last semblance of domestic government in all the petty states of the Cumbri, except Strathclyde proper." There seems, however, to have been some vitality even in those "last semblances"; for somehow later those petty states got incorporated again with Strathclyde, and certainly with Cumbria. Before setting out on his fatal expedition against the Picts, Ecgfrid granted Carlisle and the surrounding district of fifteen miles to his friend and counsellor, Cuthbert of Lindisfarne. Cuthbert, like the later Thomas the Rhymour, seems to have been gifted with a seer's power, for on the day of the battle of Nechtan's Mere he suddenly became absorbed in a vision that rose before him, and this was the representation of the king. and his nobles lying in a ghastly row on the far-away moorland across the Forth. Northumbria appears to have reached its highest point of supremacy under Ecgfrid, and never to have wholly recovered the blow dealt to him and it at Nechtan's Mere. Those Picts who had been subject to Northumbria, the Britons, and Scots rejoined their independence, and retained it for at least forty-six years. In 694 died Domnal Macauin, King of Alclyde, and in 722, Beli, the son of Elfin, King of Alochluaithe (Alclyde), also died. Before 750, Egbert of Northumbria had added Kyle and Carrick to his kingdom, apparently getting to the west of the realm of Alclyde, and very much weakening it. The Cymri of the intervening mountains and forests were as yet too strong for the Angle invaders. There in this year 750 a great battle was fought between the Britons and Picts at Magdawc (now Mugdock), in which the latter were defeated. Ecgbert is said to have taken Alelyde in 756, but ten days afterwards he lost his whole army at Niwanbirig.1 He became dispirited, and died a monk. A powerful combination was now formed against Alclyde. Eadberht, King of Northumbria, and Angus Mac Fergus, King of the Picts, united their forces, rather an unusual alliance, for the purpose of subjugating the Britons of Strathclyde proper. They were successful; and on the 1st of August 756, they received the submission of the well-stricken Britons in their capital of Alcluth (Alclyde). This subjugation, unlike most others, continued for a considerable period-nearly a hundred years; for after 760, when Dungual of Teudwr died, there is no mention of an independent king of Strathclyde all through that time, until 872, when the name of Arthga appears.2 In 827, Eadberht, King of Wessex, gained the supremacy among the Saxons and Angles, and was styled "King of the English "; but his power did not extend to Strathclyde proper. The mountains and forests of the southern uplands were now, as afterwards, too hard for the Saxon foe to climb or penetrate. We have now a direct reference to a king of Strathclyde. We find that one named Cu or Cun married a daughter of Kenneth Macalpine, first King of the Scots. and Picts (834 to 843, and then to 854). Mr Skene calls him Run, but this, I think, must be a mistake. Cu or Run, whatever his name may be, was a son of Arthga or Arthgal, King of the Britons of Strathclyde, who was Skene, Four Books, i. 181. 1 Sammes, Britannia, 546. slain that is, murdered-by the "consilio" (purpose) of Constantine, son of Cinadon, King of the Scots. Cu is said to be the father of Eocha or Ethy, King of the Scots, by this daughter of Kenneth Macalpine.1 Curiously enough, in the very heart of this kingdom of Strathclyde, we have preserved to the present time what seems to be a memorial of its king, Cu; for on the border of Peeblesshire and Lanarkshire, just within the latter, in the parish of Culter, and close to the Nisbet Burn, we have a very large and strong fort, still well defined, flanked by two lesser ones, called by the people Coo (or Ku) Castle. This has evidently been a place in the early times of the greatest importance. It stands out as a special strength, both from its construction and the numerous surrounding forts, and may possibly have been the seat of this early king of Strathclyde. There is also not far from it the name Cowgill or Coogill in Lamington, and Cowthally or Cowdailly on the west of Tinto. Cu is supposed to be the Caw of the Welsh Chronicles. There was a Caw Prydyn, or King of Briton, Y Gogledd, or the North. After the time of Cu, there seems to have been a pretty close dynastic connection between the kings of the Scots and those of Strathclyde, gradually growing until this latter kingdom or province came to be an appanage of the tanist or heir to the Scottish crown. We are told that Constantine in the sixteenth year of his reign gave Eugenius, the son of Donald, his expected heir, the lordship of the region of Cumbria to rule over until he should, on Constantine's death, obtain the diadem of the 1 Cf. Chalmers, Caledonia, i. 416. Skene, Four Books, i. 181; Celtic Scotland, i. 393. |