The battle scene from the Aberlemno 2 Pictish stone, which may show the Battle of Dun Nechtain; Picts on the left, Northumbrians on the right, the mounted Pictish figure perhaps representing King Bridei
King of the Picts and of Fortriu
Reign
671–692
Predecessor
Drest son of Donuel
Successor
Taran mac Ainftech
Born
by 628
Died
692
Burial
Iona Abbey
Father
Beli I of Alt Clut
Mother
Unknown daughter of Edwin of Northumbria
Bridei son of Beli, died 692[a] was king of Fortriu and of the Picts from 671 until 692. His reign marks the start of the period known to historians as the Verturian hegemony, a turning point in the history of Scotland, when the uniting of Pictish provinces under the over-kingship of the kings of Fortriu saw the development of a strong Pictish state and identity encompassing most of the peoples north of the Forth.
Bridei was probably brought up at the court of the Anglian kingdom of Northumbria, whose expansion had established it as the dominant power in northern Britain over the mid-7th century. His father was Beli, king of the British kingdom of Altclut, and his mother probably a daughter of Edwin of Northumbria, though his grandfather may have been the earlier Pictish king Nechtan nepos Uerb.
Bridei's rise to power in Fortriu probably took place under the patronage of his kinsman King Ecgfrith of Northumbria, after Bridei's predecessor Drest son of Donuel was expelled from the kingship after leading a rebellion against Northumbrian domination in 671. Bridei established an expansionary policy however, and in a series of campaigns between 679 and 683 built a confederation of Pictish territories owing allegiance to him through alliance and conquest. This brought him into conflict with Ecgfrith, who led an army north into Pictish territory in 685, culminating in the Battle of Dun Nechtain, when Ecgfrith was killed and the Northumbrian army destroyed by Bridei's forces.
Bridei's victory at Dun Nechtain marked the end of Northumbrian overlordship over the Picts, the Gaels and many of the Britons; and saw him consolidate his extensive territorial control. The following period saw the conscious development of the idea of the Picts as a single people under a single ruler; this process continued under the later kingships of Bridei son of Der-Ilei and Naiton son of Der-Ilei, who were probably his grandchildren.
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BrideisonofBeli, died 692 was king of Fortriu and of the Picts from 671 until 692. His reign marks the start of the period known to historians as the...
and his brothers grandsons of Neithan and first cousins of both the later Pictish king BrideisonofBeli and the later king of Altclut Eugein. Talorg's...
were otherwise not politically united. Successor of Drest was the cousin of Ecgfrith BrideisonofBeli, who would eventually defeat and kill Ecgfrith and...
Brittonum says that Bridei was the fratruelis or maternal first cousin of Ecgfrith of Northumbria, indicating that Beli's wife might have been of the Northumbrian...
Nwython (612–621) Beli I (621–633) Eugein map Beli (633–645) Guret/Gwriad (645–658) Mermin (?–682) Elfin (?–693) BrideisonofBeli I King of the Picts (672–693)...
three-way alliance with BrideisonofBeli, king of Pictish Fortriu, and Bridei's nephew Eugein, who was king of the British kingdom of Alt Clut. This coalition...
of Fortriu or king of Alba. The kings listed are thought to represent overkings of the Picts, at least from the time ofBrideisonof Maelchon onwards....
where he refers in passing and without authority, to "... Bridei, sonof Maelgwn, the mighty king of north Wales, ...". Though the book has been a commercial...
daughter, or less probably a sister, of King BrideisonofBeli. They had at least two sons, the Pictish kings Bridei, who died c. 706, and Nechtan, who...
a statement in Bede's history. The kings of the Picts when Bede was writing were Bridei and Nechtan, sonsof Der Ilei, who indeed claimed the throne through...
another probable son, Dumnagual, who ruled Alt Clut and died in 694. Eugein was probably the brother or half brother ofBridei III of the Picts, the victor...
of Eugein I, one of his predecessors as king, and the father ofBeli II, who ruled some time later. Very little is certainly known of him, though he may...
of the Picts to Christianity from 563. In the 7th century, the Picts acquired Bridei map Beli (671–693) as a king, perhaps imposed by the kingdom of Alt...
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the King of the Picts Bridei map Beli, at a battle known as Nechtansmere to the Northumbrians, in Pictish territory north of the Firth of Forth. Bede...
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