Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Duff (d.967)

1172255Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 16 — Duff (d.967)1888Aeneas James George Mackay

DUFF (Dubh, the Black) (d. 967), king of Celtic Alban (Scotland), son of Malcolm, succeeded, in 962, Constantine, son of Indulph, in whose reign Edinburgh (Dun Eden) was relinquished by the Angles, who had held it since Edwin of Deira (617–632) gave it its name. It now became a Celtic fort. In 965 Duff defeated Colin, the son of Indulph, supported by the abbot of Dunkeld and the chief of Athole at Drumcrub in Strathearn. Two years later Colin reversed this victory and expelled Duff, who, according to a later chronicle, was afterwards, when attempting to recover his kingdom, slain at Forres. His body was hidden under the bridge of Kinloss, and the sun did not shine till it was found and buried. An eclipse on 10 July 967 may have originated or confirmed this story.

[Skene's Celtic Scotland, i. 367, where the original sources are given; Robertson's Scotland under her Early Kings, i. 77.]

Æ. M.