Warlords of the Britons: Drest Gurthinmoch

The Great Boar of the Picts.

The veracity of the earlier entries within the Pictish Regnal Lists is often called into question.¹ As such not much is attempted as far as looking at some of these earlier figures. While care must be taken, I do think it worthwhile to look at some of these figures, and possibly ascertain something about them. One of the most interesting Pictish Kings from this earlier period is Drest Gurthinmoch, who reigned in the late 5th and early 6th centuries. While not much can be said for certain about him, there seem to be some scattered references to the king in other sources.

His epithet Gurthinmoch, seems to derive from Brythonic, and means something akin to “Great-Pig” or “Great-Boar”. It is worth noting here that boar imagery carried a weight of martial symbolism across Celtic cultures — appearing both in personal names and in artistic depictions from northern Britain to Gaul. A warrior likened to a boar was not necessarily mocked, but rather understood as fierce, dangerous, and indomitable. The boar surfaces repeatedly noting particular ferocity: the Irish Táin Bó Cúailnge features boar imagery heavily, and in Y Gododdin, warriors are commonly praised as boars. Archaeology echoes this poetic imagery: boar-crested helmets, like those from Benty Grange in Derbyshire and Wollaston in Northamptonshire, show how the animal was adopted into Germanic as well as Celtic war-gear. The epithet Gurthinmoch, then, would not have been absurd or derogatory, but emblematic of a king who embodied the ferocity and power of the boar.

There is a figure called Gwrthmwl who appears in both the triads and in the Dream of Rhonabwy. He is in the triads called Penhynaf (Chief Elder) of “Pen Rhionydd in the North” and associated with Arthur. Gwrthmwl could conceivably be a corruption of Gwrddmoch, and with this similarity, along with the similarity of locale it is possible that this is a memory of Drest within the Dream of Rhonabwy and the triads, although the suitable candidates for Pen Rhionydd are outside of Pictish lands. The title of Penhynaf could imply that he was an older man. As I have explored before, many of the Pictish kings seem to be of quite advanced age, possibly hinting at a gerontocratic style of high-kingship, meshing well with Gwrthmwl as Drest Gurthinmoch. Drest would seem to be remembered here not as a warlord but as a venerable adviser, his age and status lending him the aura of wisdom. Such a role would explain why his name survived in Arthurian-adjacent tradition, long after the specifics of his reign had faded.

There is another figure that may have more certain roots with this Pictish king however.

Tristan, the eponymous hero of the various romances, known variously as Tristan, or Tristan and Iseult, could in fact have originally been Drest Gurthinmoch as well. Within the triads there is an entry listing the “Chief Swineheards of Britain” one of which is “Drystan son of Tallwch, who kept the swine of March son of Meirchiawn.” March son of Meirchiawn is likely Cynfarch (Cynmarch) ap Meirchion Gul of Rheged. Drest Gurthinmoch rules a generation after a Pictish king named Talorc, curiously close to Tallwch. The association as a swineheard here is interesting considering that we have the figure of Drest with a unique epithet referencing Pigs, who happens to share the same name as this ‘Chief Swineheard’. Between this and being associated in the triad with one of the few candidates for the historical King Mark, Cynfarch Oer of Rheged, there is an interesting case to be made that Drest Gurthinmoch may be the kernel of truth behind Tristan. Indeed, “Drust” or “Drest” is a characteristically Pictish royal name, recurring throughout the lists, and “Drystan” may be nothing more than its Welsh or Breton reflex. This would explain why the Tristan figure seems oddly detached from insular dynasties in the romances — he was, at root, a Pictish king remembered in distorted form.

Speculatively Drest could have been split into two figures, Gwerthmwl Wledig, remembered as an elderly advisor of Arthur, and Drystan or Tristan, first Chief Swineheard of Rheged, then later turned into Romantic Hero. This is interesting as it potentially paints Drest in two contrasting legendary roles — one as aged counsellor, the other as young warrior.

My friend

p5ych0p0mp

wrote a wonderful thread looking at an instance from the preface to the Hymn of Mugint, and a parallel within The Life of St. Ninian. The preface to The Hymn of Mugint tells that Finnian (Ninian) came to study under Mugint, along with Rioc, Talmach, and others. King Drust of Britain entrusted his daughter Drusticc to Mugint for education. Drusticc fell in love with Rioc, and offered Finnian all of Mugint’s books if he would arrange their union. Finnian, instead, sent Talmach to her in Rioc’s form, and from this encounter Drusticc conceived a son, Lonan of Treoit. Believing Rioc the father, Drusticc accused him, but this was false — Rioc remained chaste.

When Mugint discovered the matter, he was enraged. He ordered a youth to hide in the church and kill the first person to enter, expecting Finnian (who usually arrived first). By divine providence, however, Mugint himself entered first, and he was struck down by the axe. This fulfilled the scriptural saying that a man’s wickedness falls upon his own head. The hymn was composed so that the sin of these events might not bring punishment upon the people.

In The Life of Saint Ninian, chapter 5 tells of a nobleman’s servant girl, beautiful in appearance, who yielded to the lustful pursuit of a young man. When her pregnancy became evident, fearing shame and punishment, she falsely accused a presbyter (a parish priest appointed by Bishop Ninian) of seducing and violating her.

The accusation caused scandal: the innocent priest’s reputation was damaged, the Church was mocked, the good were saddened, and the wicked rejoiced. When the woman’s child was born, she brazenly confronted the presbyter in public, declaring him the father.

At this, Saint Ninian intervened. Summoning the clergy and people, he took the newborn and, filled with the Spirit, commanded the infant to speak the truth. Miraculously, the one-day-old child spoke with a man’s voice, identifying his true father from among the people, and declaring the priest innocent. The crowd was astonished, praising God for the miracle. The false accuser was shamed, the presbyter vindicated, and the community reassured of divine justice.

These two tales obviously stem from the same tradition. As has been pointed out, it would seem that this Drusticc was possibly Drest Gurthinmoch’s daughter. Whithorn, heavily associated with Ninian, is within the influence of the kingdom of Rheged at the time, whose king would have either been Meirchion Gul, or more likely his son Cynfarch Oer. While you can intuit a narrative more in line with the later romances from this, I don’t think it’s necessary, and instead gives weight to the idea of Drest Gurthinmoch as the initial inspiration behind the later Trystan. If so, then the story preserves a rare glimpse of Pictish–Rheged dynastic interaction, crystallized not in chronicles but in the blurred mirror of hagiography and legend.

As my friend

p5ych0p0mp

also pointed out there also happens to be an anomalous Pictish inscribed stone found at Trusty’s Hill, the remains of a hillfort that was subject to a conflagration so great that the fortress was vitrified. Perhaps a marker of Pictish victory in retaliation for the mishandling of a fostered, or even betrothed, daughter? The fortress shows signs of feasting and high-status metalwork, possibly a sign of its importance, possibly one of Rheged’s main strongholds at the time? The juxtaposition of inscription, feast-debris, and fire makes the site uniquely suggestive, seemingly bearing witness to the same entangled dynastic dramas hinted at in the textual sources.

Drest Gurthinmoch is also notable for having one of the longest reigns of the Pictish monarchs from this early period, supposedly reigning for thirty years. The majority of his reign happens to coincide with the post-Badon generation-long peace. One is tempted to read more into that, that the effects of this may have brought stability even into the far reaches of the north. It is striking to consider that the same lull in Saxon expansion which gave the Brythonic kingdoms room to breathe for a generation may also have secured a long and relatively untroubled rule for a Pictish king remembered as both Warlord and Elder Advisor.

Drest is a compelling figure to delve into, but unfortunately there does not seem to be much more to glean, and making more conclusions would strain speculation far too much. And yet, by tracing the scattered fragments — a king with a swine-epithet, a daughter in scandal, a swineherd-hero in Triads, an elderly counsellor in Arthur’s court, and a tragic lover in medieval romance — one begins to glimpse the outline of how legend itself is made.

My own spin on the Tristan Romance, based partially on the Drusticc narrative, will be featured in my new anthology, releasing next month.

1.

This article takes a look at them, and hopefully quells a little bit of doubt regarding the trustworthiness of the earlier entries on Pictish Kings.