Óengus II

Who was Óengus II?

Óengus mac Fergusa was king of the Picts, in modern Scotland, from 820 until 834. Tradition associates him with the cult of Saint Andrew and the Flag of Scotland.

Óengus succeeded his brother Caustantín to the throne. Previously thought to have been of Dál Riatan origin and descended from Fergus mac Echdach, their family is now assumed to have been that of the first king Óengus mac Fergusa, perhaps originating in Circinn, a Pictish family with ties to the Eóganachta of Munster in Ireland.

Óengus, along with his brother, son Eogán, and nephew Domnall, is included in the Duan Albanach, a praise poem from the reign of Máel Coluim mac Donnchada listing Máel Coluim's predecessors as kings of Scots, of Alba and of Dál Riata from Fergus Mór and his brothers onwards. The inclusion of Pictish kings from Caustantín to Eogán in the Duan led to the supposition that Dál Riata was ruled by Pictish kings, or rather that Dál Riata kings ruled Pictland, leading to supposition that the origins of the Kingdom of Alba lay in a Gaelic conquest of Pictland. However, it is now suggested that their inclusion is due to their importance in the religious communities of Dunkeld and St Andrews, where they were seen as founders and early patrons. However, a modern reconstruction of the later lists of Dál Riata kings presumes that Óengus's nephew Domnall was king of Dál Riata during this time.