Owen I of Strathclyde

Owen I, Ywain I or Eógan I (Latin: Eugenius; Modern Gaelic Eòghann; Mod. Welsh: Owain) was ruler of the Kingdom of Strathclyde for some period in the early tenth century.

Symeon of Durham recorded that Owen, whom he calls "Ouuen, king of the Cumbrians", was defeated by king Æthelstan of England in 934, along with his allies King Olaf III Guthfrithson of Dublin and Constantine II of Scotland (Constantín mac Áeda), his overlord.^[1] The latter date puts the start of Owen's reign sometime before, perhaps a long time before, this year.^[2] It is possible, as MacQuarrie and others suggest, that Owen was the son of King Dyfnwal II of Strathclyde,^[3] thereby making him the nephew of Constantine, but this suggestion now carries some controversy with the counter argument that he was the son of Owen Rady,..^[4] Many historians believe that Owen was present and died at the Battle of Brunanburh in 937,^[5] and indeed Symeon of Durham does mention the presence of the "Cumbrians" at the battle.^[6]

The 14th-century historian John Fordun wrote that during the reign of Constantine, the Scottish kings turned Strathclyde into an appanage kingdom whereby the designated heir or tanist would rule as a sub-king before becoming in his turn King of Alba upon the death of the designating king. Indeed, Fordun claims that Constantine II gave Owen his kingdom on this basis.^[7] If Owen was the designated heir of Constantine II, as some historians believe,^[8] he did not survive to outlive the Scottish king.

He was succeeded by his son, Dyfnwal or Donald.^[9]

Notes

1. Symeon of Durham, Historia Dunelmensis Ecclesiae, in T. Arnold (ed.) Symeonis Dunelmensis Opera Omnia, (Rolls Series, 1882), vol. i, p. 76; translated and quoted in Alan Orr Anderson, Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers: AD 500–1286, (London, 1908), republished, Marjorie Anderson (ed.) (Stamford, 1991), p. 68.
2. see Alan MacQuarrie, "The Kings of Strathclyde", in A. Grant & K. Stringer (eds.) Medieval Scotland: Crown, Lordship and Community, Essays Presented to G.W.S. Barrow, (Edinburgh, 1993), p. 14.
3. Alan MacQuarrie, loc. cit.
4. e.g. Dauvit Broun, "The Welsh Identity of the Kingdom of Strathclyde", in The Innes Review, Vol. 55, no. 2 (Autumn, 2004), pp. 131-35, following on from Benjamin Hudson, "Elech and the Scots in Strathclyde", in Scottish Gaelic Studies, Vol. XV (Spring, 1988), pp. 143-47. Only the relationship to Constantine is challenged; it is generally accepted that Owen was the son of Dyfnwal.
5. e.g. D. P. Kirby, "Strathclyde and Cumbria: A Survey of Historical Development to 1092", in Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, LXII (1962), pp. 77-94; Alfred Smyth, Warlords and Holy Men, (Edinburgh, 1984), p. 222, but also pp. 201-04; Williams, Smyth, and Kirby (eds.), A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain, (London, 1991), s.v. "Owen, King of Strathclyde c. 925-37", p. 199; Kevin Halloran, "The Brunanburh Campaign: A Reappraisal", in The Scottish Historical Review, Volume LXXXIV, No. 2, (October, 2005), p. 133.
6. Symeon of Durham, Historia Dunelmensis Ecclesiae, in T. Arnold (ed.) Symeonis Dunelmensis Opera Omnia, (Rolls Series, 1882), vol. i, p. 76; translated and quoted in Alan Orr Anderson, Scottish Annals, pp. 70-1.
7. Fordun, Chronica Gentis Scotorum, i 163-4; see Archibald Duncan, Scotland: The Making of a Kingdom, (Edinburgh, 1975), pp. 91-2, & n. 26, but compare his later Kingship of the Scots, chapters 1–3.
8. e.g. Archibald Duncan, loc cit.; Alfred Smyth, op. cit., p. 222; other historians, such as Broun op. cit. and MacQuarrie loc. cit. are sceptical of the Fordun model. Duncan's later Kingship of the Scots makes no such claims and likewise rejects the Fordin model.
9. Alan Macquarrie, Donald (d. 975) king of the Cumbrians, Oxford Online Dictionary of National Biography, 2004

References

• Anderson, Alan Orr, Early Sources of Scottish History: AD 500–1286, 2 Vols, (Edinburgh, 1922)
• Anderson, Alan Orr, Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers: AD 500–1286, (London, 1908), republished, Marjorie Anderson (ed.) (Stamford, 1991)
• Broun, Dauvit, "The Welsh Identity of the Kingdom of Strathclyde", in The Innes Review, Vol. 55, no. 2 (Autumn, 2004), pp. 111–80
• Duncan, A.A.M., Scotland: The Making of a Kingdom, (Edinburgh, 1975)
• Duncan, A.A.M., The Kingship of the Scots 842–1292: Succession and Independence, (Edinburgh, 2002
• Halloran, Kevin, "The Brunanburh Campaign: A Reappraisal", in The Scottish Historical Review, Volume LXXXIV, No. 2, (October, 2005), pp. 133–48
• Hudson, Benjamin T., "Elech and the Scots in Strathclyde", in Scottish Gaelic Studies, Vol. XV (Spring, 1988), pp. 143–47
• Kirby, D. P., "Strathclyde and Cumbria: A Survey of Historical Development to 1092", in Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, LXII (1962), pp. 77–94.
• MacQuarrie, Alan, "The Kings of Strathclyde", in A. Grant & K.Stringer (eds.) Medieval Scotland: Crown, Lordship and Community, Essays Presented to G.W.S. Barrow, (Edinburgh, 1993), pp. 1–19
• Smyth, Alfred, Warlords and Holy Men, (Edinburgh, 1984)
• Williams, Anne, Smyth, Alfred P., and Kirby, D.P., (eds.), A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain, (London, 1991), s.v. "Owen, King of Strathclyde c. 925-37", p. 199