Ciniod I

Who was Ciniod I?

Ciniod son of Uuredech was king of the Picts from 763 until 775.

It has been supposed that Ciniod's father was the Feradach son of Selbach mac Ferchair, king of Dál Riata, who was captured and put in chains by Óengus mac Fergusa in 736. His reign is omitted from some versions of the Pictish Chronicle king lists, but his death is noticed, and he is named as king of the Picts, by the Annals of Ulster, the Annales Cambriae and the Chronicle of Melrose. Gartnait son of Feredach is listed as a king of the Picts some time earlier, perhaps in the 720s and 730s, in those versions of the king lists which omit Ciniod.

In Ciniod's reign a battle in Fortriu, against the men of Dál Riata under Áed Find, is reported by the Annals of Ulster in 768. This is the first report of Dál Riata since around 741. The entry does not report the result of the battle. The Annals of the Four Masters, a less reliable source, give a different version, placing this battle in Leinster and naming the victor as Cináed mac Flainn of the Uí Failgi and his defeated enemy as one Áed.

Symeon of Durham reports that Alhred of Northumbria fled to Ciniod's court when he was deposed in 774.