Pictish Name of the Week: Drusticc or Drustric

Drusticc or Drustric – A woman in the 6^th 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 20^th 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 6^th 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.