Dyfnwal III of Strathclyde

Dyfnwal III (Gaelic: Domnall mac Eógain, English: "Donald") was ruler of the Kingdom of Strathclyde (died 975) for some period in the mid tenth century, and the son of one of his predecessors, Owen I of Strathclyde.

Dyfnwal is almost certainly the king visited by Cathróe of Metz. The vita of the latter saint states that Cathróe was Dyfnwal's relative.[1] The visit must have happened between 941 and 946 , meaning that Dyfnwal may have been reigning as early as 941.[2] This fact presents historiographical problems, because the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that in 945 king Eadmund of England "harried all Cumbria and leased it to Máel Coluim, king of Scots, on the condition that he be his helper both on land and sea".[3] The only possibilities are that, firstly, one source is wrong; secondly, that Strathclyde was a divided kingdom; thirdly, that Malcolm I of Scotland (Máel Coluim mac Domnaill) gave the kingdom to Dyfnwal as soon as he received it, with Cathróe visiting the following year; or that Máel Coluim simply became the overlord of Dyfnwal. It is perhaps worthy of note that Edmund I's campaign in Cumbria is associated with the downfall of Dunmail, said to be the "last king of Cumbria".

He is styled Domnall m. Eogain, rí Bretan (king of the Britons) in the Annals of Ulster, which notes his death in 975 on pilgrimage.[4] The Welsh source known as the Brut y Tywysogion, which calls him Dunguallon, confirms that Dyfnwal did indeed set off on pilgrimage to Rome[5] It is possible that Dyfnwal resigned the kingship sometime before 971.[6] Dyfnwal must have left on pilgrimage a good time before his death, because Florence of Worcester tells us that in 973 the king of the Cumbrians was Máel Coluim I of Strathclyde; moreover, it is Dyfnwal's son Amdarch who was named by Scottish sources as the killer of the Scottish king Cuilén in 971.[7]

Regnal titles
Preceded by
Eógan?		 King of Strathclyde
941 - 973		 Succeeded by
?Máel Coluim I
Amdarch ?

Notes

  1. ^ Alan Orr Anderson, Early Sources of Scottish History: AD 500–1286, 2 Vols, (Edinburgh, 1922), vol. i, p . 441; see also David Dumville, "St Cathróe of Metz and the Hagiography of Exoticism," in Irish Hagiography: Saints and Scholars, ed. John Carey et al. (Dublin, 2001), pp. 172–188
  2. ^ David Dumville, ""St Cathróe of Metz", p. 172 & n. 2
  3. ^ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, MS A, B, C, D, s.a. 945; trs. in Alan Orr Anderson, Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers: AD 500–1286, (London, 1908), republished, Marjorie Anderson (ed.) (Stamford, 1991), p. 74
  4. ^ Annals of Ulster, s.a. 975.2, here
  5. ^ here (pdf)
  6. ^ Alan MacQuarrie, "The Kings of Strathclyde", in A. Grant & K.Stringer (eds.) Medieval Scotland: Crown, Lordship and Community, Essays Presented to G.W.S. Barrow, (Edinburgh, 1993), pp. 15-6
  7. ^ see Alan Orr Anderson, Early Sources, vol. i, p. 476, n. 1

References

  • Anderson, Alan Orr, Early Sources of Scottish History: AD 500–1286, 2 Vols, (Edinburgh, 1922)
  • Anderson, Alan Orr, Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers: AD 500–1286, (London, 1908), republished, Marjorie Anderson (ed.) (Stamford, 1991)
  • Dumville, David N., "St Cathróe of Metz and the Hagiography of Exoticism," in Irish Hagiography: Saints and Scholars, ed. John Carey et al. (Dublin, 2001), pp. 172–188
  • MacQuarrie, Alan, "The Kings of Strathclyde", in A. Grant & K.Stringer (eds.) Medieval Scotland: Crown, Lordship and Community, Essays Presented to G.W.S. Barrow, (Edinburgh, 1993), pp. 1-19

External links

Dyfnwal I · Dyfnwal II · Owen I · Dyfnwal III · Máel Coluim I  · Owen II · Máel Coluim II