The Men of the North by Tim Clarkson

The Men of the North by Tim Clarkson

Author:Tim Clarkson [Tim Clarkson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-01-10T16:00:00+00:00


Edwin, Neithon and Rhun

The sources shed little light on the North Britons during Edwin’s reign. On the Clyde the reign of Rhydderch Hael ended with his death in the second decade of the seventh century. Thereafter the kingship of Alt Clut passed to a different family who held power in virtually unbroken succession for the next 200 years. They claimed descent from the Clyde forefather Dyfnwal Hen and considered Saint Patrick’s adversary Coroticus as an ancestor. From this kindred came Neithon ap Guipno who seems to have been Rhydderch’s immediate successor. Neithon appears in the main royal genealogy of Alt Clut as Dyfnwal Hen’s grandson, which should place him in the generation before Rhydderch, so we must suspect that either the main Alt Clut pedigree or Rhydderch’s sub-pedigree are corrupt at this point. That Neithon’s adulthood spanned the early 600s seems certain from the rather more precise chronology of his grandson Owain who reigned in the 640s. The dynastic politics of the Clyde Britons in this period are too vague to offer any hint as to why Rhydderch was apparently not succeeded by his own son, but the transfer of royal authority to another family may have been amicable. Neithon did not seize power by slaying Rhydderch, for we know from the Vita of Saint Columba that the old king died peacefully in his bed. Perhaps Rhydderch had no surviving sons and was obliged to nominate an heir from among other descendants of Dyfnwal Hen?

Several theories currently surround Neithon ap Guipno, all of them based on speculation about possible political relationships between Britons and Picts. The focus of this speculation is a line of Irish poetry attributed to Adomnán, abbot of Iona, in which the Pictish king Brude – who died in 693 – is described as ‘son of the king of Alt Clut’.¹⁷ In the Pictish king-lists Brude’s father is named as Beliwho is therefore identifiable as Beliap Neithon, a figure listed in the Clyde pedigree as the son of Neithon ap Guipno. Brude’s ancestry is discussed further in the next chapter, but here we examine the dealings of his father and grandfather with the Picts. In particular, we need to consider how and why the dynasty of Alt Clut forged a strong link with a Pictish royal family. One possible explanation is that Neithon arranged a political marriage involving his son Beliand a Pictish princess, a union that produced Brude. An alternative scenario, favoured by some historians, sees Neithon as a king of great power who exercised direct rule over a part of the Pictish nation. The Irish annals note the death of Nechtan, son of Cano, in 621. This obscure figure – whom no other source mentions – has been equated not only with Neithon ap Guipno but also with Nechtan, grandson of Uerb, who appears in the Pictish king-lists. Out of this conflation of a trio of namesakes has arisen an imaginative scenario in which Neithon ap Guipno, king of the Clyde Britons, simultaneously ruled the



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