Qualla: Battle of Dun Nechtain https://qualla.com/battle-of-dun-nechtain en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:25 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/n/4/battle-of-dun-nechtain-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Dun Nechtain https://qualla.com/battle-of-dun-nechtain Battle of Dun Nechtain: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-dun-nechtain/ Photo credit Greenshed, Public domain. On the 20th of May 685, Bridei mac Bili of the Picts watched a Northumbrian army of horsemen ride into a narrow valley. The Picts had been in feigned retreat for some time, allowing themselves to be chased and chased, drawing the invaders deeper into country they did not know. The Welsh chroniclers later called the place Linn Garan - the lake of the cranes. The English called it Nechtansmere. By the end of the day, the Northumbrian king Ecgfrith was dead, and the greater part of his army with him. The northern half of Britain had just been redrawn. Almost everything else we say about that day comes with question marks attached, including where it actually happened.

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Image: Greenshed | Public domain

]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/n/4/battle-of-dun-nechtain-wp/gfn4-battle-of-dun-nechtain-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Dun Nechtain: The Edge of Empire https://qualla.com/battle-of-dun-nechtain/ Photo credit Scotland_location_map.svg: Eric Gaba, NordNordWest derivative work: Uwe Dedering, CC BY-SA 3.0. By the late 7th century the Northumbrian kingdom had grown into the dominant power of northern Britain. The Annals of Tigernach record their capture of Eidyn - Edinburgh - in 638. By the reign of Oswald the Picts north of the Forth had been subjugated. Ecgfrith inherited that heg...

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Image: Scotland_location_map.svg: Eric Gaba, NordNordWest derivative work: Uwe Dedering | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/n/4/battle-of-dun-nechtain-wp/gfn4-battle-of-dun-nechtain-the-edge-of-empire.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Dun Nechtain: Against All Advice https://qualla.com/battle-of-dun-nechtain/ Photo credit Greenshed, Public domain. In 684 Ecgfrith made a brutal pre-emptive strike. He sent an army to Brega in Ireland to break up a Gaelic-Briton alliance. The force decimated the local population and burned churches. The Venerable Bede, who lived through these years and wrote about them in the next generation,...

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Image: Greenshed | Public domain

]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/n/4/battle-of-dun-nechtain-wp/gfn4-battle-of-dun-nechtain-against-all-advice.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Dun Nechtain: A Lake Called Crane https://qualla.com/battle-of-dun-nechtain/ Photo credit Greenshed, Public domain. The 9th-century Welsh chronicler Nennius records the engagement as Gueith Linn Garan - the Battle of Crane Lake - and the 12th-century Symeon of Durham gives the Old English Nechtansmere, 'Nechtan's lake.' Both agree on a lake. The traditional site is at Dunnichen in Angus, ident...

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Image: Greenshed | Public domain

]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/n/4/battle-of-dun-nechtain-wp/gfn4-battle-of-dun-nechtain-a-lake-called-crane.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Dun Nechtain: The Border Holds https://qualla.com/battle-of-dun-nechtain/ Photo credit Greenshed, Public domain. Whatever the exact patch of ground, the result was decisive. Bede records that the Picts recovered the lands the Northumbrians and the Dal Riatan Scots had held. Northumbrians who could not flee were killed or enslaved. The Northumbrian diocese set up at Abercorn for the conversi...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/n/4/battle-of-dun-nechtain-wp/gfn4-battle-of-dun-nechtain-the-border-holds.mp3 0:06 5 full