Bridei IV

Who was Bridei IV?

Bruide mac Der-Ilei was king of the Picts from 697 until 706. He became king when Taran was deposed in 697.

He was the brother of his successor Nechtan. It has been suggested that Bruide's father was Dargart mac Finguine of the Cenél Comgaill, a kingroup in Dál Riata who controlled Cowal and the Isle of Bute. The parentage of his mother Der-Ilei is not certainly known.

As well as Nechtan, a number of other brothers, half-brothers or foster-brothers of Bruide can be tentatively identified in the Irish annals: Talorgan son of Drest, Congus son of Dargart and Cináed son of Der-Ilei.

Bruide was one of many important men of Ireland and Scotland who guaranteed the Cáin Adomnáin at Birr in 697.

A battle between the Picts and Saxons in 698, where Berhtred son of Beornhaeth was killed, is reported by the Irish chroniclers. A defeat of the Dál Riata is reported in 704, either at Loch Lomond or by the Leven, but this is more likely to have been at the hands of the Britons of Alt Clut than the Picts. Conflict in Skye in 701, where Conaing son of Dúnchad was killed, is most probably an internal conflict among the tribes of Dál Riata. It is reported in the Chronicon Scotorum that the winter of 700 was so cold that "the sea froze between Ireland and Scotland".