Account of The Battle
| "he very next year, that same king, rashly leading his army to ravage the province of the Picts, much against the advice of his friends, and particularly of Cuthbert, of blessed memory, who had been lately ordained his bishop, the enemy made show as if they fled, and the king was drawn into the straits of inaccessible mountains, and slain with the greatest part of his forces, on the 20th of May, in the fortieth year of his age, and the fifteenth of his reign." |
| — Bede's account of battle from his Ecclesiastical History of England. |
While none of the historical sources explicitly state Ecgfrith's reason for attacking Fortriu in 685, the consensus is that it was to reassert Northumbria's eroded hegemony over the Picts. The most thorough description of the battle is given by Bede in his 8th century work Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (The Ecclesiastical History of the English People) (completed c731), but this is still brief. Additional detail is given in the Irish annals of Ulster and Tigernach, and by the early Welsh historian Nennius in his Historia Brittonum (written c830).
Ecgfrith's attack on Fortriu was made against the counsel of his advisors, including Cuthbert, who had recently been made Bishop of Lindisfarne. The Picts under leadership of Bridei, feigned retreat and drew Ecgfrith's Northumbrian force into an ambush on Saturday 20 May 685 at the lake of Linn Garan, in mountains near Duin Nechtain. The Northumbrian army was shattered and Ecgfrith slain.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Dun Nechtain
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