The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

26 THE HIGHLANDERS [parti
On examining the line of Pictish kings, as contained in
our ancient chronicles, we cannot fail to observe one
fuc^l'ion. great peculiarit}-, namel}-, that hereditary succession
to the throne, appears to have been wholly unknown
to them even so late as the ninth centur\\ We occasionally
find a king succeeded b\- his brother, but in no instance by his
son ; and
in general, each king appears to be totally uncon-
nected with his predecessor. But that some rule of succession
existed among them is apparent from the testimony of Bede,
who states, that the Picts on their first landing agreed, " ut ubi
res veniret in dubium^ magis de fceminea regum prosapia quam
de masculina rcgem sibi eligerent," and adds, ''quod usque hodie
apud Pictos constat esse servatuni.'' From this passage of Bede
WQ may infer, first, that the Picts elected their monarchs ; and,
secondly, that the election was not unlimited in its range, but
was confined to some specific class of individuals, otherwise it
could not come into doubt ; and thirdly, that when there did
exist a doubt as to the proper object of the election, they chose
that person most nearly related to the former king by the
female line.
Now there appears from Adomnan to have existed among
the Picts a division of the people into Nobiles and Plebeii, ^
and the account iriven bv Tacitus of the election of Galgacus,
alone that this
plainl}- indicates that it was to the Xobile genus
privilege of being chosen to fill the Pictish throne belonged. 2
We have already seen that besides the great two-fold division
of the Picts into Dicaledones and Vecturiones, they also at all
times consisted of a number of small tribes ; we have also
remarked that it appears from Tacitus and from the notices
of these tribes formerly given from Tighernac, that they were
originally independent of each other, and that they possessed
chiefs of their own to whom alone they owed obedience, although
the}' were frequenti}' led b\- considerations of mutual safety
to unite under a common head. When we consider these facts,
•QuendamdeiVoitViPictorumyewere. quidam cum tota pleheius familia.—
—Adorn., h. 2, c. 24. IIlo in tempore Adom., b. 2, c. 33.
quo Sanctus Columba in Pictorum pro-
vincia per aliquot demorabatur die.-^,
^
Inter plures duce.'i virtute et genere
pnestans nomine — Galgacus. Tacit.
Vita Agric.