Bridei son of Beli

Common card · No. 464274

Bridei son of Beli, died 692 was king of Fortriu and of the Picts from 671 until 692. His reign marks the start of the period known to historians as the Verturian hegemony, a turning point in the history of Scotland, when the uniting of Pictish provinces under the over-kingship of the kings of Fortriu saw the development of a strong Pictish state and identity encompassing most of the peoples north of the Forth. Bridei was probably brought up at the court of the Anglian kingdom of Northumbria, whose expansion had established it as the dominant power in northern Britain over the mid-7th century. His father was Beli, king of the British kingdom of Altclut, and his mother probably a daughter of Edwin of Northumbria, though his grandfather may have been the earlier Pictish king Nechtan nepos Uerb. Bridei's rise to power in Fortriu probably took place under the patronage of his kinsman King Ecgfrith of Northumbria, after Bridei's predecessor Drest son of Donuel was expelled from the kingship...

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