Drusticc or Drustric – A woman in the 6th century said to be daughter of Drest and mother of Lonan, son of Talmach. She is mentioned in the Book of Leinster, the Book of Ui Maine, and Liber Hymnorum. Liber Hymnorum
includes a story about her being sent to study with Mugind, abbot of
Whithorn. Drusticc fell in love with Rioc (also studying there) and
begged to be married to him but another student, Talmach, was sent to
her instead. In the Book of Leinster, (fol. 373A?) “Drustric
daughter of Trust” is in a list of mothers of saints as the mother of
Lonan, son of Talmach. Lonan seems to be a saint in Galloway. Drest or
Trust is a common name in the Pictish king lists and probably common
through the rest of the Pictish warrior nobility.
As of yet, I've only read summaries of these accounts in secondary sources from the middle of the 20th
century. I'd love to get see the original texts or, baring that, find
more recent scholarly accounts. But the old stuff is what is available
in searchable full text and thus easier to find references in. Part of
the Book of Leinster is
available on the CELT archive, but I haven't been able to find the list
of mothers of saints or any mention of Drustric. Nor do the folio
numbers as given online approach anywhere near 373. (I tried 37A in case
there was a subtle difference in numbering practice, but to no avail.)
Another potential problem with Drustric is that her father is
apparently mentioned in at least one location as the king of the Britons
or king of the northern Britons. Nora Chadwick notes that this might
refer to the king of Strathclyde. Hector Chadwick, however, makes an
argument for Trust, Drustic's father, as a Pictish king. Key to his
argument is the fact that Trust or Drust or Drest is unattested as a
British name, but well attested as a Pictish name and, in fact, the name
of a Pictish king at the appropriate time in the 6th century.
Chadwick, Hector Munro. Early Scotland: the Picts, the Scots & the Welsh of southern Scotland. 1949. Pg 12.
Chadwich, Nora K., Kathleen Hughes, Christopher Brooke, Kenneth Jackson, Studies in the Early British Church, 1958, pp. 61-2.
Pictish Sourcebook.
(This is a re-post from 2010)
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