Eochaid

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Eochaid, king of the Picts (877/8–885/889). The limited sources for royal succession in what became Alba (‘Scotland’) are very confused, possibly because this was a period of turmoil following the peak of Scandinavian devastation in 875–6. Eochaid, son of Rhun ( king of Strathclyde) and a daughter of Kenneth I, is mentioned only once as king, and even there it is noted that ‘others say that Giric … reigned at this time’. The same source claims that Giric may have been Eochaid's guardian, and that both were expelled following an eclipse of the sun on 16 June 885. This, however, contradicts the source's own chronology. Eochaid's ultimate fate is even more obscure than his reign (he perhaps led a warband to north Wales).

Dauvit Broun

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