King Nechtan reigned in the early 700's. He was one of Scotland's important early Kings. One reason was because he was a good religious man. His Christianity was the Celtic version. That means it was the type that Columba brought over from Ireland. It had no pope. It had seven hundred years of different saints from the Catholic Church. It's holidays and feast days were different. It was probably more different from the Roman Catholic church in its day than say the Baptist church is different from the Catholic church today.
England was of course Roman Catholic. The shires in Northern England, particularly Northumbria were composed of Roman Catholics. Wars went on between them and the Celtic Christians. After one battle the river was so clogged with dead bodies that one could walk across upon them. King Nechtan worked to create peace between these two religions. He had Northumbrian priests come and design a great church in their style in his land. In the end of his life King Nechtan renounced his Kingship and became a monk. There is only one bad story recorded about him. Kings had certain privileges beyond common men. It was always so.
The love of women was not a problem for a King. He could pretty much have his pick. But a noble woman had a right to refuse. And her kinfolk could become very angry, for this thing was all right for common women who had few rights, but a noble woman from a great family was expected to be used like a common woman, and there could be great indignation. King Nechtan became infatuated with a beautiful noble woman. He thought her eyes were the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. Her noble family hearing this took her away to a distant Hebridean island.
The story says she plucked out her eyes and sent them to him pierced by a twig. If there is any truth to the story it would more likely be that her kinsman, father, brother, uncle or some such, had her eyes plucked out, "for her own good" and for the good of their family name, and sent to the King. After which she would have entered a convent, a common thing for a noble woman in that day, especially one who had gotten into some trouble.
King Nechtan was a Pictish King, not a Dalraiadan King. He was a King of the Aboriginal Pict people of Scotland, of that ancient line, not a King of the line of Irish Scots who had found the new Irish Kingdom in Argyll. Nechtan's line was the line of the sons of Uisnech, the ancient Druid Priests. These ancient priests, the ollamh, kept the Beltain fires blazing in the land. They were connected across the vast world. There were Olom priests among the ancient Hebrews and there are still Olam priests among the Jewish peoples today.
"Olam Ha-Ba" in Hebrew means "the world to come." or "Heaven". The Ollamh of Britain and Ireland had the same roots as the Olam of the Jews, having come across Old Europe following the Danube. Plus, There were many Jewish slaves among the Romans. When they escaped they would have no other place to go than to the Picts and Celts. There were surely Jewish Priests among the Roman slaves. The Ollamh believed in one God, a god of love and compassion, and omnipotent power. So when Columba came over from Ireland to "convert" the Picts he found their druids to already believe in many of the same things that he believed. This is why the ancient records show that early Christian priests kept druid priests around them as secretaries and clerks. If they were vastly different this could not have been possible.
There were three known Kings named Nechtan. Royal lines were ancient. Kings were born of Royal lines. Lines were named with reoccurring names to keep track of their families. "Of the line of Nechtan". The ancient ollamh had a written language for recording ownership of land and treaties, called the Ogham. Many examples exist today, scratched into rock. Of all the names on all the oghams, the one that occurs most frequently, over thirty times, is Nahhten.
So Nechtan was a great King from a great and ancient royal line of Pictish Kings. He had a son named Henry. Henry's people lived in the land of Glencoe. They lived there from the time of Nechtan until modern times. They were always considered kindred of the McNaughtons, because both clans descend from King Nechtan. So the Hendries, Henrys, etc were a sept of clan McNaughton. The Henrys lost their ownership of Glencoe in the 1200s when there was only a female heir in the Henry line and she married a grandson of Somerled, creating the line of the MacDonalds of Glencoe. The Hendersons became their pipers. Hendersons, Henries, Hendries, MacHenries, MacHendries, are all the same. They did not all stay in Glencoe. Many went to Arran and other places and became a sept of the great clan of those areas. Many went to Ireland in time. They spread all over the world, even to your home town, and to the house you live in. An ancient heritage.
The background of this page is a muted "modern" tartan of Clan MacNaughton. RM
