[494]. It is a very common mistake, and repeated by most writers without consideration, that the name Sudreys belonged to the islands south of the point of Ardnamurchan. Nothing can be more unfounded, as a mere superficial examination of the subject would show.
[495]. Et in suo octavo anno cecidit excelsissimus rex Hibernensium et archiepiscopus apud Laignechos id est Cormac mac Cuilennan. Et mortui sunt in tempore hujus Donevaldus rex Britannorum et Duvenaldus filius Ede rex eligitur.—Chron. Picts and Scots, p. 9. Cormac, king of Ireland, was slain in 908, which fixes the eighth year of king Constantin.
[496]. 912 Reingwald rex et Oter Comes et Oswl Cracabam irruperunt et vastaverunt Dunbline.—Sim. Dun.
[497]. 913 Bellum navale oc Manainn ittir Barid mac n-Octir et Regnall h. Imair ubi Bare pene cum omni exercitu suo deletus est.—An. Ult.
[498]. The Pictish Chronicle records this battle shortly thus, and claims the victory for the Scots:—‘In xviii. anno bellum Tinemore factum est inter Constantinum et Regnall et Scotti habuerunt victoriam.’ The Northumbrian and the Irish accounts differ both as to the scene and the result of the battle. The anonymous author of the history of St. Cuthbert, attributed to Simeon of Durham, has—‘Regenwaldus rex venit cum magna multitudine navium occupavitque terram Aldridi filii Eadulfi. Fugatus igitur Eldredus in Scottiam ivit, Constantini regis auxilium quæsivit, illum contra Regenwaldum regem apud Corebriege in prælium adduxit. In quo prælio, nescio quo peccato agente, paganus rex vicit, Constantinum fugavit, Scottos fudit,’ etc. Thus making Regnwald land in Bernicia, drive the lord of Bamborough to Scotland, who obtains assistance from Constantin, returns, and he and the Scots are beaten at Corbridge on the southern river Tyne. On the other hand, the Tract on the Wars of the Gaedhil with the Gaill says that they went from Munster into Alban, and there gave battle to Constantin, in which both Regnall and Otter were slain (p. 35). The Ulster Annals say they were the Galls of Loch da Caech, expelled from Erin, and invaded the people of Alban, who prepared to meet them with the assistance of the Northern Saxons, and describes the battle as in the text. The author has endeavoured to reconcile the two accounts by placing the scene of the battle at the northern Tyne in East Lothian. The feature of St. Columba’s crozier being used as a standard is taken from the ‘Fragments of Annals,’ Chron. Picts and Scots, p. 406. See also Reeves’s Adamnan, ed. 1874, Introduction, p. xcix.
[499]. Mortuo Guthredo, rex Elfridus Northanimbrorum regnum suscepit disponendum. Postquam enim Sanctus Cuthbertus ei apparuerat, paterno regno, id est, occidentalium Saxonum, et provinciam orientalium Anglorum et Northanimbrorum post Guthredum adjecit.—Sim. Dun. Hist. Ec. Dur. c. xxix.
[500]. The question of the independence of Scotland, and the bearing of these passages upon it, has been very ably discussed on the English side by Mr. Freeman in his History of the Norman Conquest of England, vol. i. pp. 60, 133, and 610; and on the Scottish side by Mr. Robertson, in his Scotland under her Early Kings, vol. ii. p. 384. It is unnecessary for the author to do more than refer to this discussion, and to add his opinion that Mr. Freeman has failed on the whole successfully to meet Mr. Robertson’s criticism. Mr. Robertson was not the first to see the fatal objection to the statement in the Saxon Chronicle that Regnwald, king of Northumbria, took Eadward for his father and lord in 924, while he died in 921. Florence of Worcester saw it before him, and places the event under the year 921.
[501]. Deinde hostes subegit, Scotiam usque Dunfoeder et Wertermorum terrestri exercitu vastavit, navali vero usque Catenes depopulatus est.—Sim. Dun. de Gestis Reg. Fugato deinde Owino rege Cumbrorum et Constantino rege Scotorum terrestri et navali exercitu Scotiam sibi subjugando perdomuit.—Sim. Dun. Hist. de Dun. Ec.
The Pictish Chronicle has—‘In xxxiv. ejus anno bellum Duinbrunde ubi cecidit filius Constantini.’ Though this is placed in the year of the invasion of Scotland, Constantin’s son was slain in the battle of Brunanburgh three years later, which seems to be the bellum Duinbrunde of the Chronicle. Kerimor was the name of one of the quarters into which Angus was divided, and is derived from Ceathramh, corrupted to Keri, a quarter. The Saxon equivalent is Feorde, probably corrupted to Werte.
[502]. Flor. Wig. Chron. ad an. 937.