Giric of Scotland
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Giric of Scotland was king of Scotland from 878 to 889. He ruled jointly with his first cousin once removed Eochaid.
Little is known of this reign; Eochaid may have been a minor and Giric his guardian, or Giric may have been a usurper. Both appear in the lists of kings for the period. He claimed joint rulership with his cousin Eochaid by murdering his first cousin, Aedh. Eochaid would otherwise not have become king, because he was descended from the royal line via a woman as per the traditions of the Picts but not Scots.
Little personal or governmental information is known of Giric, except that he himself was killed in battle at Dundurn in Perthshire by his first cousin once removed, Donald, nephew of Aedh and Giric's successor.
Giric, King of the Picts (877/8-885/9). The sources for the succession in what (c.900) became the Kingship of the Scots are meagre and confused following the peak of Scandinavian devastation in 875-6. The descendants of Kenneth I in the male line lost the kingship between 878 and 889. Two names of possible kings in this period are Eochaid and Giric. Giric is very obscure; he may have been Eochaid's guardian; and he may have lost power following a solar eclipse on 16th June 885. By the 12th cent., however, he mysteriously acquired legendary status as liberator of the Scottish church from Pictish oppression and (fantastically) conqueror of Ireland and most of England. As a result Giric was later known as 'Gregory the Great'.
Dr. Dauvit Broun, Lecturer in Scottish history, Univrsity of Glasgow. From:
Broun, Dauvit (1997). Gric, King of Picts. In John Cannon (Ed.) "Oxford Companion to Britsh History", pp.416. Oxford University Press.
| Preceded by: Aedh | King of Scots with Eochaid | Succeeded by: Donald II |