Constantine III of Scotland - Location of Death

Location of Death

James Young Simpson, who had written several articles on archaeology, observed that there were contradictory accounts concerning the location of Constantine's death. While most accounts place the battle near the River Almond, there were two rivers of that name in Scotland, one in Perthshire and one in Lothian. George Chalmers identified the one in Perthsire are the intended the location. But John of Fordun, the Scotichronicon, Hector Boece, and George Buchanan all point to the one in Lothian. The Chronicle of Melrose places the battle near the River Avon. Andrew of Wyntoun places it near the river "Awyne". John Lesley places it near the River Annan, and considers it part of an ongoing invasion of Cumbria.

There are also contradictions concerning the location of the battle in relation to the river. The Scotichronicon, Melrose, and Wyntoun placed the battle at the river source. Melrose also adding the word "Tegalere" to describe the location. Which might be the same as the "Inregale regens" of the Scotichronicon and the "Indegale" of the Liber Dumblain. Boece and Buchanan place the battle at a river mouth, where the Almond enters the Firth of Forth. That is where Cramond is located, called "Crawmond" in some editions of Boece. The "Nomina Regum Scottorum et Pictorum", discovered by Robert Sibbald at the St Andrews Cathedral Priory, place the death sites of both Domnall mac Ailpín and Constantine III at Rathveramoen (Rathinveramon). Which etymologically derives from "Rath Inver Amoen", the ráth at the mouth of the Amoen/Amon (the Almond). That is the fortress Bertha in Perth, located at the mouth of the Almond. A location where the Almond joins the River Tay, and in proximity to Scone. Rathinveramon also lay at short distance from Perth. Monzievaird, where Kenneth III was eventually killed, was about 15 miles from Perth. Forteviot, connected to Kenneth MacAlpin and his death, is also located in Perthshire.

Alex Woolf points that the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba, reports another location for the death of Domnall mac Ailpín: the palace of Cinnbelathoir. Which was probably the same as the "Bellathor", mentioned alongside "Rigmonath" as the major settlements of their time. Rigmonath has been identified with Rigmonaid, another name for St Andrews. Since Rigmonath was a church-settlement, perhaps the same was true for Bellathor. Seeking for a likely location in the vicinity of Rathinveramon, Woolf suggests that Bellathor was an older name for Scone. The location was used for the inauguration ceremonies of kings, pointing at the significance of the area. Earlier the same area, including Forteviot, had served as the population centre of the southern Picts. The lack of fortification at Forteviot could indicate that it too served as a church site. One associated with the kings. Already in 728, there is mention of a Pictish royal stronghold at the hill of Moncrieffe, where the River Tay meets the River Earn. The location lies just outside Perth, 8 km from Forteviot, close to both Abernethy and Scone. Suggesting that the area long served as a "key royal centre", though the central location switched over time. From Moncrieffe to Forteviot to Scone.

In the 18th century, there was a theory that the Cat Stane of Kirkliston could be connected to the final battle of Constantine III. The Reverend John Muckarsie alluded to this idea, in a text eventually collected in the Statistical Account of Scotland by Sir John Sinclair, 1st Baronet. In 1780, the founding meeting of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland took place. Its founder David Erskine, 11th Earl of Buchan mentioned the idea in his opening discourse. He noted an extant transcription of the Cat Stane's text, reading: "IN HOC TUM- JAC - CONSTAN- VIC- VICT". Where "Constan" was understood to have been Constantine IV (III). The speech was recorded in The Scots Magazine. The idea went that the Cat Stane was erected as a memorial for Constantine, at the location where the man lost his life in battle. The New Statistical Account went a bit further, suggesting that the stone marked the burial place of Constantine. Simpson strongly opposed this theory. Finding it unlikely that such a monument would be erected for Constantine the Bald, a king who fell in a civil war. A king with no family legacy. A king who was treated with contempt by primary sources. He examined other transcription of the texts, where the word "Constan" was absent. Dismissing the theory as based on a faulty reading of the original text.