Editing Constantine III of Scotland (section)

== 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 (antiquarian)|George Chalmers]] identified the one in Perthshire to have been the intended 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 (Falkirk)|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.<ref name="Simpson">[https://books.google.com/books?id=_jcGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA136 Simpson, On the Cat-Stain, pp. 136–139]</ref><ref name="Simpson2">[http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/simpson_james13.htm Sir James Young Simpson (biography) Appendix]. Listing of archaeological articles written by Simpson.</ref>

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. This 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 Hector Boece. The "Nomina Regum Scottorum et Pictorum", discovered by [[Robert Sibbald]] at the [[St Andrews Cathedral Priory]], places 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) – ''viz.'', the fortress [[Bertha (Perth)|Bertha]] in Perth,<ref name="Simpson"/> located at the mouth of the Almond. This is where the Almond joins the [[River Tay]] near [[Scone, Scotland|Scone]].<ref name="Woolf2">[https://books.google.com/books?id=nPFY1DXNH9kC&pg=PA260 Woolf, Scotland, p. 260]</ref> Rathinveramon also lay at a short distance from [[Perth, Scotland|Perth]]. [[Monzievaird]], where Kenneth III was eventually killed, was about 15 miles from Perth.<ref name="Cannon">[https://books.google.com/books?id=TYnfhTq2M7EC&pg=PA371 Cannon, A Dictionary of British History, p. 371]</ref> [[Forteviot]], connected to [[Kenneth MacAlpin]] and his death, is also located in [[Perthshire]].<ref name="Williams, Smyth, Kirby2">[https://books.google.com/books?id=jR376Dp1OFIC&pg=PA166 Williams, Smyth, and Kirby, A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain: England, Scotland, and Wales, c. 500–1050, p.166]</ref>

Alex Woolf points out 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 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.<ref name="Woolf4">[https://books.google.com/books?id=7d1SP6ztlq0C&pg=PA89 Woolf, From Pictland to Alba, 789–1070, pp. 103–105]</ref> 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.<ref name="Woolf4"/> 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, Perth and Kinross|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.<ref name="Fraser">[https://books.google.com/books?id=JaliXwNMpFsC&pg=PA288 Fraser, From Caledonia to Pictland, p. 288]</ref>

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]].<ref name="Simpson"/><ref name="Simpson3">[https://books.google.com/books?id=_jcGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA136 Simpson, On the Cat-Stain, pp. 123–125]</ref> 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.<ref name="Simpson"/> 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, with no family legacy, and who was treated with contempt by primary sources. He examined other transcriptions of the texts, where the word "Constan" was absent, eventually dismissing the theory as based on a faulty reading of the original text.<ref name="Simpson4">[https://books.google.com/books?id=_jcGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA136 Simpson, On the Cat-Stain, pp. 139–140]</ref>