Page:Chronicles of the Picts, chronicles of the Scots, and other early memorials of Scottish history.djvu/145

PREFACE. cxxxvii province was that of Maghcircin, corrupted into Mearns ; and the " Viri na Moerne," or men of the Mearns, appear likewise as a distinctive people ; their stronghold was Dunfother, the old name of Dunnottar, on the bold headland on which the ruined castle of Dunnottar now stands.^ The dis- tricts lying between these two outlying provinces, probably formed the heart of the kingdom ruled by Kenneth and his successors, having Scone for its capital. Grig appears in remarkable connexion with both of these Pictish provinces. The old form of his name is Giric, which is the same as the name of one of the seven sons of Cruithne, from whom Maghcircin took its designation. There is a curious notice in the " Pictish Chronicle," that in his ninth year an eclipse of the sun took place " die Cirici." The day of St. Cyiicus fell on the 16 th of June, and there actually was a great eclipse of the sun on the 16th of June 885, which corresponds tolerably well with his ninth year. This seems to show some connexion between his own name and that of the saint ; and it is curious that a church in the Mearns, dedicated to St. Cyricus, is called in old charters Ecclesgreig, but St. Berchan conclusively shows that it was Dundurn on Loch Earn. The " Statistical " Account " says, " A dun, or f orti- " fied hiU at the east end of Loch " Earn, gave name to Dundurn, or " Dun-d-earn." It is a short dis- tance from St. Fnians, and FiUan is caUed in the Irish calendars of Batherend, or the Rath of the Earn. It is probably the royal " Castellum de Heryu," mentioned in a charter of King William the Lyon, in the " Chartulary of Inch- affray, p. 6. > The law of King WiUiam the Lyon, " De locis ad que Warenti " debent venire," has "In Mernys " apud Dounnotter." I