Page:Chronicles of the Picts, chronicles of the Scots, and other early memorials of Scottish history.djvu/196

 clxxxviii PEEFACE. " many, compelled them to fly, and that thus he re- " gained the monarchy of the whole of Albania, and " first reigns in it over the Scots. That in the twelfth " year of his reign he encountered the Picts seven " times in one day, and having destroyed many, " he confirmed his kingdom, and reigned twenty- " eight years." This seems likewise a fragment of true history. If Kenneth succeeded Alpiu in 834, and reigned twenty-eight years, this would place his death in the year 862. The "Irish Annals" record his death in 858, but the " Pictish Chronicle" enables us to fix the exact year, for it states that he died in the Ides of February, on the third day of the week ; and the Ides of February fell on a Tuesday, in the year 860. This chronicle, there- fore, post-dates the commencement of his reign two years, which really began in the year 832. The seventh year of his reign thus falls in the year 839; and in this year the " Irish Annals " record the great battle by the Genntib or Danes against the Firu Fortren, or men of Fortren, in which Euganan Mac Angusa, king of the Picts, Bran his brother, Aed Mac Boanta the Pictish king of Dalriada, and many others were slain. It was this great defeat of the Picts which enabled Kenneth with his Scots to obtain possession of the rest of their territories. The " Pictish Chronicle " records the reigns of two Pictish kings after Euganan, viz., Wrad son of Bargot, three years, and Bred, one year, whose joint reigns thus amounted to four years. This brings