Picts by Gordon Noble;Nicolas Evans;Nicholas Evans;

Author:Gordon Noble;Nicolas Evans;Nicholas Evans;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788855068
Publisher: Casemate Publishers & Book Distributors, LLC

4.19 On one side of the Dupplin Cross there is a seated figure playing a magnificent harp – this is most likely a representation of the Old Testament King David. (© Historic Environment Scotland)

Royal patronage was undoubtedly key to the development of many ecclesiastical centres and the spread of Christianity more generally. Different kings are likely to have had their favoured church locations and patronised and established anew foundations of their choosing. The surviving foundation legends for both St Andrews and Abernethy emphasise particular Pictish kings in the origin of these major ecclesiastical centres, though a desire for prestige and patronage may have influenced their choices of patron. A 12th-century text described an earlier grant to St Andrews of lands in east Fife called Cursus Apri, the ‘Boar’s Raik’ – a name that Watson associated with a mythological boar hunt and Taylor with a tribal emblem and possible earthworks in the area (Watson 1926, 397–98; Taylor with Márkus 2009, 420–23) – but another possibility is that this had been partly royal hunting ground (see Chapter 3). The sculptural evidence is once again an important clue to patronage. The repeated use of David imagery at sites such as St Andrews, Forteviot, Kinneddar and Kincardine in Ross and Cromarty, for example, has been used to suggest royal patronage at these establishments, since the image of David, the great Old Testament king, was employed to highlight the imperial pretensions of the powerful Pictish kings of the 8th and 9th centuries AD (Fraser 2009a, 360) (Figure 4.19). The lesser investment in elaborate cross-slabs and associated monuments we see in some areas, such as the Western Isles and Aberdeenshire, could also be due to less significant royal activity and influence over these areas (Henderson 1971), though it could also be that patronage was simply invested in different mediums and venues in different regions. Church furnishings are also likely to have been the subject of royal patronage – the 15 handbells that survive in areas of Pictland at sites such as Little Dunkeld and Forteviot are obvious examples of elite resource investment in the fittings of major churches (Bourke 1983, 467; Bourke 2020, 146–48, maps 7–8).

There are also juxtapositions between certain high-status secular sites and important Church estates. The fort at Clatchard Craig may have been connected to Abernethy for it used stone from Carpow Roman fort, the Roman fortification lying within the later boundaries of Abernethy’s core territory (Noble et al. forthcoming; see also Chapter 3), suggesting elite interests in both the monastery and the fort. The location of Kinneddar and its proximity to Burghead suggests links here too. The King’s Seat overlooking Dunkeld is another obvious example of the juxtaposition of an elite secular site and major Church establishment. Logierait by the confluence of the Tay and Tummel may have benefitted from being close to Rait, if that later medieval centre of Atholl has Pictish origins, and near to Fortingall and Dull, at the confluence of the Tay and the Lyon, is the striking hillfort of Caisteal Mac Tuathal.

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