Owen the Bald

Who was Owen the Bald?

Owen II, also known by his Latin-derived nickname, Eugenius Calvus or Owen the Bald, was ruler of the Kingdom of Strathclyde for some period in the early eleventh century.

Owen was present, according to Symeon of Durham, at the Battle of Carham in 1018. There is no direct evidence that he died at that battle, but the Welsh Annals record that a "Eugein son of Dumnagual" died 82 years before 1097, i.e. in the year 1015. Nothing else is said of this character, but it is often assumed to be Owen of Strathclyde, and the entry is routinely taken as a mistake for 1018 in order to make Owen the Bald a casualty of the battle.

Owen's supposed death at Carham in 1018 is sometimes taken to be the end of the Kingdom of Strathclyde, and it is for this reason that Owen is perhaps the best-known Strathclyde monarch. However, more recent research has shown this to be flawed, that this idea is routed in the flaws of John Fordun, and that the Kingdom may very well have survived until the reign of King David I of Scotland, who took the Scottish throne in 1124. The next known ruler of "Strathclyde" is Máel Coluim II.