Religious Reforms
Bede's Ecclesiastical History includes a letter from Abbot Ceolfrid of the twin monasteries of Monkwearmouth and Jarrow to Nechtan on the subject of the dating of Easter, sent around 710. Ceolfrid assumes his correspondent is an educated man, going some way to justifying Thomas Owen Clancy's description of Nechtan as a philosopher king. Nechtan was convinced by Ceolfrid, and the expulsion of clergy associated with Iona in 717 may be related to the controversy over Easter and the manner of tonsures; equally it may have been entirely unrelated. Often portrayed as a struggle between the so-called Celtic Church and Rome, it is evident that the majority of Irish clerics had long accepted the Roman method of calculating the date of Easter.
As well as providing Nechtan with guidance on the Easter controversy, Ceolfrid sent masons and craftsmen to aid in building stone churches. Bede's claim that Nechtan dedicated his kingdom to Saint Peter has led to Nechtan being linked to the Peterkirks at Rosemarkie, Duffus, Restenneth and elsewhere in north-east Scotland.
Read more about this topic: Nechtan Mac Der-Ilei
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