people and language of lowland Scotland derived from a Gothic dialect spoken by the Picts. John Pinkerton even invented ancient tales to give substance to this fictional ancient people. The main thrust of the Germanicist model was destroyed in the nineteenth century when William Forbes Skene and others brought medieval Scotland into the frame of serious, recognisably modern scholarship. Nevertheless, this model has had a lot of impact on popular understandings of medieval Scottish history. It explains, for instance, why some popular historians believe that English became the language of Lowland Scotland in the reign of Malcolm III, owing to the influence of his wife, the Anglo-Hungarian Saint Margaret, when in fact no such thing happened for another few centuries. Origins Gaelic and Pictish kings That Pictland had Gaelic kings is not in question. One of the earliest, if not the earliest, was Nechtan mac Derile, the son of a Gaelic lord named Dargart and the Pictish princess Derile. Pictish kings, moreover, were probably Gaelic-speaking poets. There exists a Gaelic elegy to the Pictish king, Bridei, Bili's son. The poem is attributed to his contemporary, Adomnán of Iona, but this is tenuous. It is however probably contemporary, dating to the late 7th or early eighth century. Another poem, attributed to Riagail of Bangor, celebrates the same ruler's victory over the Northumbrians, at the Battle of Dun Nechtain on 20 May 685. In the early eighth century, the great King of the Picts was Óengus mac Fergusa, conqueror of Dalriada. It is possible, as has been pointed out by some linguists and historians, that Óengus and Fergus are just Gaelic versions of native Pictish names, namely, Onuist and Urguist, However more evidence is needed. The names are recorded in one strand of the Pictish king lists.However, these names are rare in the larger P-Celtic world, and largely out of place in the context of previous Pictish kings. Furthermore, an inscription relating to Causantín son of Fergus reads: This inscription is from the Dupplin Cross, and was found in the heart of southern Pictland, near Forteviot. It dates from the late 8th or early ninth century. If the name in question really were the Pictish Urguist, then it is odd that a contemporary Pictish description gave the Gaelic Fergus, which begins with the unmistakably Goidelic F. It is thus likely that several of the later Pictish Kings spoke Gaelic as their first