Pictish Civil War: Battle of Monith Carno, 729
Who Fought
Supporters of Óengus and Nechtan
enemies of Nechtan
History & Significance
Óengus son of Fergus (Pictish: *Onuist map Vurguist; Old Irish: Óengus mac Fergusso, lit. 'Angus son of Fergus'; died 761) was king of the Picts from 732 until his death in 761. His reign can be reconstructed in some detail from a variety of sources. The unprecedented territorial gains he made from coast to coast, and the legacy he left, mean Óengus can be considered the first king of what would become Scotland.
Wresting power from his rivals, Óengus became the chief king in Pictland following a period of civil war in the late 720s.
The most powerful ruler in Scotland for more than two decades, kings from Óengus's family dominated Pictland for a century, until defeat at the hands of Vikings in 839 began a new period of instability, ending with the coming to power of another Pictish dynasty, that of Cináed mac Ailpín.
Surviving Pictish sources for the period are few, limited to king lists, the original of which was prepared in the early 720s, and a number of accounts relating to the foundation of St Andrews, then called Cennrígmonaid. Beyond Pictland, the principal sources are the Irish annals, of which the Annals of Ulster and the Annals of Tigernach are the most reliable. These include materials from an annal kept at the monastery of Iona in Scotland. Óengus and the Picts appear occasionally in Welsh sources, such as the Annales Cambriae, and more frequently in Northumbrian sources, of which the Continuation of Bede's chronicle and the Historia Regum attributed to Symeon of Durham are the most important.
The Picts were one of four political groups in north Britain in the early 8th century. Pictland ran from the River Forth northwards, including Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles. Prior to the Viking Age, the main power in Pictland appears to have been the kingdom of Fortriu. Known high-status sites in Fortriu include Burghead and Craig Phádraig by Inverness. Pictland appears to have had only one bishop with his seat at Rosemarkie.
From the Forth south to the River Humber lay the kingdom of Northumbria. Once the dominant force in Britain, it remained a powerful kingdom, but the end of the old dynasty of kings with the death of Osric in 729 led to conflict between rival families for the throne. The growing power of the Mercian kingdom to the south added to the problems faced by Northumbrian kings. For most of Óengus's reign Northumbria was ruled by King Eadberht Eating.
To the south-west of Pictland were the Gaels of Dál Riata where the kingship was disputed between the Cenél Loairn of northern Argyll and the Cenél nGabráin of Kintyre. In 723 Selbach mac Ferchair abdicated as head of the Cenél Loairn and king of Dál Riata in favour of his son Dúngal, who was driven out as king of Dál Riata by Eochaid mac Echdach of the Cenél nGabráin in 726. Dúngal and Eochaid were still in conflict as late as 731, when Dúngal burnt Tarbert.
The ground they fought on
The site of Pictish Civil War: Battle of Monith Carno, 729 lies on Southern Highland Group, bedrock that formed in the Middle Cambrian. The rock here is psammite and pelite.
At Monith Carno, traditionally identified with Cairn o' Mount near Fettercairn, the supporters of Óengus son of Fergus clashed with the enemies of King Nechtan in one of four battles large enough to be recorded in Ireland during the Pictish civil war of 728 and 729; the victory there helped restore Nechtan to the kingship and set Óengus firmly on the path to becoming the dominant ruler in Pictland.
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- Óengus I · Wikipedia