Drest son of Donuel

Drest son of Donuel (Old Irish: Drust mac Domnaill or Drust mac Dúngail; died 677) was king of the Picts from c. 663 until 672. Like his brother and predecessor Gartnait son of Donuel, and Gartnait's predecessor Talorgan son of Eanfrith, he reigned as a puppet king under the Northumbrian king Oswiu.[1] Gartnait and Drest may have been sons of Domnall Brecc, who was king of Dál Riata from c.629 until he was killed in 642.[1]

Drest son of Donuel
King of the Picts
Reignc. 663–672
PredecessorGartnait son of Donuel
SuccessorBridei son of Beli
Died677
FatherPossibly Domnall Brecc
MotherUnknown

The length of Drest's reign is uncertain: the Pictish king lists give him a reign of six or seven years, while contemporary Irish annals imply a reign of eight or nine years.[1] His accession to the kingship may be connected to the Battle of Luith Feirn recorded in the Annals of Ulster as taking place in 664,[2] or Oswiu may have forced an interregnum on the kingdom from 663-666,[3] after the death of Drest's brother Gartnait in 663.[4] Drest's powerbase was probably as king of the northern Pictish kingdom of Fortriu.[5]

Drest was expelled from his kingdom in 671, an event normally connected with the failed Pictish revolt against Northumbrian rule that culminated in crushing defeat at the hands of Ecgfrith of Northumbria at the Battle of Two Rivers.[5] Stephen of Ripon records in his Life of St Wilfrid that the Picts had "gathered together innumerable nations (gentes) from every nook and corner in the north",[6] suggesting that Drest had joined forces with other territories which were otherwise not politically united.[7] Drest's successor was Ecgfrith's cousin Bridei son of Beli, who would eventually defeat and kill Ecgfrith and overthrow the Northumbrian hegemony at the Battle of Dun Nechtain in 685.[4]

After his expulsion Drest continued to receive attention from Irish annals, suggesting he remained in the orbit of the Abbey of Iona, until his death in 677.[8]

Notes
  1. Williams, Smyth & Kirby 1991, p. 105.
  2. Fraser 2009, pp. 201–202.
  3. Smyth 1989, p. 62.
  4. Fraser 2009, p. 202.
  5. Fraser 2009, p. 201.
  6. Fraser 2006, p. 23.
  7. Fraser 2006, pp. 23–24.
  8. Fraser 2009, p. 201, 207.

References
  • The Annals of Ulster, CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts, retrieved 3 September 2009
  • The Annals of Tigernach, CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts, retrieved 3 September 2009
  • Anderson, Alan Orr, Early Sources of Scottish History A.D 500–1286, volume 1. Reprinted with corrections. Paul Watkins, Stamford, 1990. ISBN 1-871615-03-8
  • Colgrave, Bertram (1927), The Life of Bishop Wilfrid by Eddius Stephanus, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-31387-2
  • Fraser, James E. (2006). The Pictish Conquest - The Battle of Dunnichen 685 & the birth of Scotland. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 9780752439624.
  • Fraser, James E (2009), From Caledonia to Pictland: Scotland to 795, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 978-0-7486-1232-1
  • Smyth, Alfred P. (1989). Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland, A.D.80-1000. New History of Scotland. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9780748601004.
  • Williams, Ann; Smyth, Alfred P.; Kirby, D.P. (1991). A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain: England, Scotland and Wales c.500 - c.1050. London: B. A. Seaby. ISBN 9781852640477.
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