The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

i6o THE HIGHLANDERS [parti
" Cruidne filius Cinge, pater Pictorum habitantium in hac insula,
C. annis regnavit ; VII. filios habuit. Haec sunt nomina eorum ;
Fiv, Fidach, Floclaid, Fortreim, Got, Ce, Circui." ^ The same
seven brothers are mentioned in an old Gaelic poem attributed
to St. Columba, and quoted in that ancient and singular history
of the Picts contained in the book of Ballymote.
" The seven great sons of Cruthne
Divided Alban into seven parts,
Cait, Ce, Ciiighceathac,
Fibh, Fidach, Fotla, Foitreand."-
The names of these seven brothers, however, appear from the
Irish annalists to have been actually the Gaelic names of the
districts in question.
The name of Fortren occurs frequently in these Annals,
where many of the Pictish kings are termed " Ri Fortren,"
or king of Fortren ; and that this word, although used for
Pictavia in general, was applied in a strict sense to Stratherne,
appears from two facts: ist, Angus Ri Fortren (or king of
Fortren, in Tighernac), appears, in the old history of the
foundation of St. Andrews, as residing in Forteviot in Strath-
erne as his capital ; and it is plain that, in a state of society
like that of the Picts, the residence of the monarch would
always be in the territories of the tribe of which he was the
chief 2dly, The Annals of Ulster mention in 903 the slaughter
of Ivar the Norwegian pirate, "
by the men of Fortren," while
the Pictish Chronicle, in relating the same event, says, " In
sequenti utique anno occisi sunt in Straithheremi (Stratherne)
Normanni."
Fiv is manifestly Fife. In Cathanesia, and Athfotla or.
Atholl, we plainly recognise Got or Cait, and Fotla ; while
Tighernac mentions a battle fought " in terra Circi," and from
the parties engaged in it, it would appear to have been in
the territories of the southern Picts, and consequently the
province of Angus. There only remain the names Ce and
1 Pinkerton, App. No. 10. must not be judged of by Pinkerton's
translation, which bears but
* Pinkerton, App. No. 14. This a very remote resemblance to the
very curious and valuable document original.