The Culann Chronicles, Book 2, Picts' Plight

By Duncan MacDonald

Exciting historical novel set in 7th century Caledonia and Northern Britain. Life, love and loss of larger than life characters who lived in these turbulent times. We follow the adventures of a gallant Irish warrior monk, an intrepid Irish Princess who joins the Celtic Church and a daring young Pict. They combine to rescue a group of Picts who were captured by Dal Riata warriors and return them to their Hebridean homeland.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Duncan MacDonald
• Release date: Sep 19, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301138388

Duncan MacDonald

Duncan is an Australian currently living in Jakarta, Indonesia. He is married to Shinta Dewi Sanawiya, muse, mate, motivator and President Director of the business he founded in 1993, dMAC Group in Asia, now PT Daya MACro Dinamika.Duncan has had a passion for history since childhood. He travelled alone to Turkey in 1975 to visit ANZAC Cove, scene of Australia and New Zealand’s entry to World War I. He then worked for 5 years in London, enabling him to research the Roman Empire’s occupation of Britain and question the Arthurian legends. He has published his illustrated historical e-novels set in Ireland and Britain in the 1st-7th centuries on Smashwords. Search for 'Culann - Celtic Warrior Monk'.Duncan has also published an illustrated account of his private pilgrimage to 'Anzac Cove and Lone Pine in 1975' - Search for 'Anzac'Those interested in obtaining the latest historical information on the Battle of Waterloo, (detailing who actually defeated Napoleon) can download Duncan's illustrated version in dMAC Digest Vol 4 No 6 'Waterloo'. Also the Jakarta Journals, tracing Indonesian history over the past 2,000 years, up to granting of Independence in December 1949.Any one of Duncan's 12 'dMAC Digest Health & History' magazines, or 5 illustrated historical novels can be downloaded at Smashwords.'Britannia Bulletin #1 and #2' are the latest illustrated historical novel published by Duncan. Set in the 1st & 2nd century CE we follow the adventures of a Roman Legionary in Europe & Britain. He records the lives of the early Roman Emperors and Governors of Britannia, their initial rise to power and occasional fall from grace. Major battles are dealt with in detail.

Book preview

The Culann Chronicles

Book 2:

The Picts Plight

By

Duncan MacDonald

13 December 2013

Revised 18 June 2018

Dedicated to my darling wife Shinta DS MacDonald

muse, mate and motivator

Copyright 2013 Duncan MacDonald

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords License Notes

Thank you for downloading this free e-book. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this e-book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favourite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

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Exciting historical novel set in 7th century Caledonia and Northern Britain.

We continue the adventures of a gallant Celtic Warrior Monk,

an intrepid Irish Princess who has joined the Celtic Church,

and a daring young Pict.

Table of Contents

List of Main Characters

Culann’s Voyages

Author’s Note

Prologue

Chapter 1 - Fergus’ Discovery

Chapter 2 - To Dunadd

2.1 A Little Bit of Background

2.2 In the Hall of the Dal-Riata King

2.3 Aftermath

Chapter 3 – Lios mór

Chapter 4 - North to Albannach Territory

Chapter 5 - Two Moons Earlier

Chapter 6 - To Poolewe

6.1 The Poolewe Hunting Party

Chapter 7 - The Long Way Home

Chapter 8 - In Search of Culann

8.1 Repercussions

8.2 Search Party

8.3 Overland

Chapter 9 – The Eigg Episode

9.1 Arrival on Eigg

Chapter 10 - Lios mór Finale

10.1 When a Girl Marries

About the Author

Other Books by Duncan MacDonald

Bibliography

* * * * *

List of Main Characters

Alpin – Chieftain of the Loch Ewe Clan

Baile - Monk at Lios mór (sweet spoken Baile)

Bryan - Monk at Iona

Colmán <#> - Abbot of Lindisfarne [ ? - 675]

Culann - Fianna and warrior monk

Cumméne Find <#> – Abbot of Iona [656 – 669]

Daray - monk from Ardslignish

Domangart <#>- King of Dal Riata [ ? - 672]

Emcat - Picti warrior from Gairloch

Fea - Irish princess, now Sister in charge Lios mór infirmary

Fergus mac Ciniod - Picti of Fortriu - student at Lindisfarne

Gart - Picti fisherman from Poolewe

Hesus - Monk at Lios mór, left-handed, speaks Greek

Jowan - Abbot of Lios mór

Máia - sister at Lios mór (means ‘great mother’ in Greek)

Marcus - monk at Eigg - (means ‘of the sea’)

Morann – Abbot of Ardslignish

Nia – Picti mother of Sinead and Sreng

Nuada – head monk on Eigg

Sinead – Picti girl from Poolewe (means ‘kind’ )

Sreng – older brother of Sinead

Tamara - sister at Lios mór, young ‘milk maid’ (means ‘river nymph’)

<#> Actual historical figure

* * * *

Culann’s Voyages

* * * * *

Prayers

Vigils – during the early hours, around 4 a.m. while it is still dark;

Lauds – morning prayer, at daybreak;

Terce – mid-morning prayer, around 9 am;

Sext – midday prayer, around noon;

None – mid-afternoon prayer, around 3 pm;

Vespers – evening prayer, ideally at sunset;

Compline – night prayer, which completes the day.

Illustrations

Designed to show how 7th century inhabitants of Northern Britain dressed and the types of buildings in which they lived. There were no great stone castles or cathedrals.

All illustrations by Duncan MacDonald dMAC.

Fergus with his mother, Sirona ~ ~ Brother Bec was briefed by Sirona before he set off to Lindisfarne

with Fergus. "Fergus needs to learn to read and write. I want my

son to have great knowledge".

Author’s Note

The historical novels incorporated within these Chronicles, are written for those of us who wish to learn more about the fascinating actual events that took place in Ireland, Caledonia and Britain in the 7th century. Because of the paucity of information available in the past, the period between the end of the Roman occupation and the Norman Conquest (409 CE to 1066) has been described as the ‘Dark Ages’.

In fact, there were dramatic changes and development of the people who inhabited these islands. Our information is derived from the latest archaeological discoveries, and the surviving manuscripts from the most learned men of that period - The Monks of the Celtic Church.

Hopefully the research I’ve incorporated into this book will shed a little light on those ‘Dark Ages’.

My special thanks to Peter Wharton based in Jakarta who very professionally proof-read this revised manuscript.

Any mistakes contained herein are mine alone.

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* * * * *

Prologue

Our saga continues in Ireland and northern Britain in the 7th century AD or CE.

[AD is the abbreviation of Medieval Latin Anno Domini translated as ‘In the year of Our Lord’ used to label or number years in the Christian Era - also known as the ‘Common Era’ CE. As Jesus of Nazareth was born some years before 1 AD (most scholars assume a date between 6 BC and 4 BC),

plus, we have many readers who are not Christian, so we will use the terms BCE ‘Before Common Era’

and CE ‘Common Era’]

Ireland (Eire): The Celts who were the last settlers of Ireland at that time, were brave, intelligent, resourceful and proud. They were converted to Christianity by a number of early British missionaries, most notably St. Ninian and St. Patrick. The first person in recorded history to speak out against slavery was St. Patrick, who died in his seventies, probably in 461 CE.

Christian monasteries sprang up in Ireland and became centers of learning. It is to the monks inhabiting those monastic scriptoriums[1] who copied thousands of texts; we owe much of our knowledge of the ancient Greek, Roman and Middle Eastern world.

[1] [Scriptoriums: from Latin scriptus ‘to write’]

The Irish Celtic missionaries expanded their evangelism to neighbouring countries and eventually into what is now Europe. The earliest overseas monastery was established on Iona, off the west coast of Caledonia (Scotland) in 563 CE, and Lindisfarne, now called Holy island, in north-east Britain in 634 CE.

Britain: The Roman legions which had occupied much of much of Britain for 400 years, but not the northern part, which was inhabited by the Caledonians or Picts, withdrew in 409 CE. The great Roman Empire began to disintegrate.

Invasions by Angles, Saxons and Jutes: Most of us were taught at school that once the Romans left, raids into Britain by Picts and the Irish increased. To protect themselves, the Romanised Britains requested assistance from the Germanic tribes of Angles, Saxons and Jutes. Accordingly, these tribes then began a massive migration, overran the originals inhabitants and forced the Britains west, into what is now Wales and England’s West Country. Henceforth Britain became ‘Anglo-Saxon’ and was known as ‘England’ (Angle land).

These so called ‘facts’ were developed extensively by racist Victorian scholars, who promulgated the superiority of the ‘pure German Anglo-Saxon race’. This was no doubt driven by the perceived notion to justify the presence of the first German King to take the throne in England, George I, the great-great-grand father of Queen Victoria.

George I (George Louis; German: Georg Ludwig: 28 May 1660 – 11 June 1727) was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698.

~ ~ ~ George was born in Hanover, in what is now Germany, and inherited the lands and titles of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg from his father and uncles. At the age of 54, after the death of Queen Anne of Great Britain, George ascended the British throne as the first monarch of the House of Hanover. Although over fifty Roman Catholics bore closer blood relationships to Anne, the Act of Settlement 1701 prohibited Catholics from inheriting the British throne; George was Anne’s closest living Protestant relative.

~ ~ ~ In retaliation, Jacobites attempted to depose George and replace him with Anne’s Catholic half-brother, James Francis Edward Stuart (father of Bonnie Prince Charlie), but their attempts failed.{Wikipedia}

~ ~ ~ Due to anti-German sentiment in the British Empire during World War I, King George V changed the name of the British Royal Family, from the German Saxe-Coburg & Gotha, to the English Windsor, by royal proclamation on 17 July 1917.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ King George 1 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Prince James Francis Edward Stuart

Subsequent archaeological excavations tended to reinforce these mass migration theories, justifying it on finds of the changes of ‘grave goods’ and burial fashions, that matched those in Western Europe. This mindset continued up until the last few years of the 20th century.

Since then, courageous archaeological scholars have had the temerity to challenge to the ‘establishment’ with the re-evaluation of such earlier findings, that they did not signify a mass migration and social upheaval. They simply show a change in ‘fashions’.

Much the same as the early Britains changed housing, clothing and burials fashions to mimic Roman ways, so they changed to the new fashions of the minority Angle and Saxon kings, who did in fact rule them in the sixth to eleventh centuries.

If one needs to see how fashions change without countries being conquered militarily, just look at all the youths in Europe and Asia who wear jeans and T-shirts, with baseball caps on backwards. Are they all Americans? Are all the people in Britain driving Mercedes, BMW’s, Audi’s and VW’s German?

There were Angle Kings and Saxons Kings - as well as British Kings - ruling in many parts of England. However, the great majority of the population was, and continued to be British.

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* * * *

And so, to continue our story:

Culann has recovered from his injury suffered at the hands of the Angles and Britons, thanks to the treatment received from Sister Fea, at the Celtic Monastery Infirmary on the island of Lios mór (Lismore). Culann and his companion, the young Picti warrior, Fergus mac Ciniod, are escorted on to Iona by none other than the Abbot of Iona, Cumméne Find. There they proudly delivered their invaluable collection of twelve codices’ (books) from Lindisfarne Abbey.

Colmán of Lindisfarne resigns as Abbot, after the Synod of Whitby decision and travels to Iona. He and many Celtic monks from Lindisfarne who do not wish to remain under the orders of the Church of Rome, accompany him. They arrive just before the celebration of Christmas in 664 CE.

* * * * *

Chapter 1 – Fergus’ Discovery

Fergus stood, waited a few heartbeats then quietly walked off. What’s got into him? asked one student.

He’s a Pict you fool. was the reply

Fergus began attending classes as a student at Iona, following on from his three years at Lindisfarne. He and Culann were treated as celebrities after news spread of their epic journey from Lindisfarne through hostile Angle and Pictish territory to deliver the important codex (books) to Iona. Culann seemed embarrassed with the attention and sought solitude when possible, to exercise his injured arm. Fergus however thrived on all the attention he received from monks and students alike.

Sister Fea remained on Lios mór, patiently waiting, for Culann to return. Iona was not a joint monastery like Lios mór with monks and nuns.

It was ten days before Christmas. Fergus was relating the part of his journey through Pict country between classes, when one of the local students enquired,

"What do you think Fergus, about the Pict slaves captured by King Domangart[1] on his recent raid north into the Hebridean islands?"

[1] [ Domangart, son of Domnall Brecc – King of Cenél nGabrán, and over-king of Dál Riata, died 673]

Fergus was suddenly still. After a few seconds pause he asked,

What Pict slaves?

Domangart just returned from a very successful raid up north. My uncle told me he captured many Picts and much booty, related the student.

What will happen to the Picts? asked Fergus quietly.

Why they are slaves and will be sold or given to his cohorts, said the student as others nodded.

Do you know where they are now? asked Fergus.

Why yes, they would be at Dunadd, Domangart’s main fort. It’s just down the coast in Argyll.

Fergus stood, waited a few heartbeats then quietly walked off.

What’s got into him? asked one of the students.

He’s a Pict you fool, responded a colleague.

* * * *

Culann was standing in the smithy, pushing the bellows vigorously up and down with his right hand. The two smiths alongside were joking as they hammered heated iron, happy that some of their heavy work was being done by Culann, as he exercised his injured arm.

Well, we are honoured today brother, laughed one of the smiths as he saw the slight red headed figure enter the doorway. We have not just one hero at our humble shed, but two. Welcome Fergus. This is a nice warm place out of the rain, yes?

Fergus nodded greetings and walked up to Culann who smiled at his young friend.

Hello Fergus, I haven’t seen you since Abbot Colmán arrived last week. How have you been?

Fergus stood embarrassed, shifting his weight from one foot to another.

Brother Culann, he said quietly, I have a problem.

Your problems are my problems Fergus. Tell me and we will see how to solve it.

Fergus related his news that the local King Domangart had returned from a successful raid in the northern islands with much booty and a number of Pictish slaves.

I cannot leave my kin to be slaves Culann; yet I have no means to buy their freedom.

Culann ceased pumping the bellows and put his arm around Fergus shoulder.

Don’t worry my friend. We will solve this. Let’s go and talk to Brother Bryan. He knows the local leaders and their customs better than anyone I know.

Nodding to the two smiths he led Fergus from the Smithy to the scriptorium in search of Brother Bryan.

* * * *

The scriptorium was almost deserted, with the monks attending None (mid-afternoon prayer). Fergus, accompanied by Culann, related details of the northern raid to Brother Bryan, who was sitting silently on a stool.

I, too, am offended Fergus, by this act of barbarism. I suggest we talk direct to Abbot Cumméne. If I’m not mistaken he entered yonder room earlier. Let us see if he is still there,