THE local survival of the name of this Brito-Phoenician Part-olon in several parts of the district of his monument at Newton confirms still further the decipherment of his name on his monument, as well as the ancient, though now forgotten, importance of his name in the history of Civilization in Northern Scotland.
Whilst there is Wartle and Wart-hill a few miles to the east of Part-olon's monument (w, p and b being dialectically interchangeable, as we have seen), and Bourtie is the name of the parish a few miles down in the Don Valley below the Stone, on the way to the sea, what seems more significant is the ancient hamlet bearing the name of "Bartle" or "Barthol Chapel" which stands about nine miles to the north-east of the site of the Stone (see map, p. 19) in the old parish of Tarves.
Bartle or Barthol Chapel occupies the site and preserves the name of an ancient Roman Catholic chapel dedicated to St. Bartholomew, which in pre-Reformation days was latterly transferred to the jurisdiction of the great monastic abbey of Arbroath in the adjoining county of Forfar. In the register of the Arbroath monastery are references to this chapel of Bartholomew, also called the "capella de Fuchull" (or Firchil), dating back to between A.D. 1189 and 1199, referring to its transfer to the monks of Arbroath.1
It appears to have been regarded at the Vatican as of some historical importance, if the report is to be trusted, which says: "Tradition has it that a certain nobleman heard at the Vatican prayers offered up for the restoration, amongst a list of others, of St. Bartholomew's chapel in Tarves, (now Barthol Chapel Parish)."1
"Bartle Fair," one of the oldest in the district, is held annually at Barthol Chapel, on the last Wednesday of August, that is a date corresponding to St. Bartholomew's Day, the 24th August in the Romish calendar. It is an old-time fair, where tubs, spoons, fir-lights (torches); sheep, etc., were sold; now it is chiefly confined to horses.2
The change of the old traditional name "Part-olon" by the monks into "Barthol" and "St. Bartholomew" is easily explicable from the known facts in the early history of the Christian Church, where the Romish priests in proselytizing the people were in the habit of incorporating the pre-Christian heroes of the latter into their lists of Christian saints. That change of the name, indeed, had already been made by Nennius3 and Geoffrey4 in their later translations of the British Chronicles, wherein they call Part-olon of the Irish Chronicles "Partoloim," "Partholomus" and "Bartholomaeus."
With reference to this alteration of the name to "Bartholomew," it is interesting to note that the apostle Bartholomew or properly "Bartholomaios," as his name is written in the Greek text of the New Testament, bears an Aryan and not a Hebrew name,5 which contains the element Barat or "Brit-on," conjoined also with the Aryan affix oloma which is a recognized
variant of "olon." He appears to have been a Gentile; and according to St. Jerome was the only one of the twelve apostles who was of noble birth, and author of a "Gospel of Bartholomew," latterly deemed "heretical,"1 possibly because of the inclusion of some Aryan Sun-worship. He is specially mentioned in connection with Philip, who also, like Bartholomew and Andrew, bore a Gentile and non-Hebrew name; and, according to the Roman Martyrology, was a native of Persia, and the traditional apostle for the shores of the Black Sea, Armenia, Phrygia and Lyconia2--that is, as we have seen, in the Barat regions, on the border of Cilicia. It thus seems probable that his proper name was also "Part- olon" or "Part-olowonie." And, curiously, the traditional place of St. Bartholomew's martyrdom was "Albana," which is usually identified with Albana, on the shore of the Caspian, north of the Caucasus, the modern Derbend.3 Can it, however, be possible that the old Roman monks, in naming their chapel at Barthol in the Garrioch "St. Bartholomew's," were influenced by this Albana tradition, in the belief that it might be "Alban," the ancient name for Britain, to which part of the reputed bodily relics of St. Bartholomew had come? The miraculous distribution of the bodily relics of St. Bartholomew followed to some extent the sea-route followed by Part-olon. From Asia Minor the relics were believed to have sailed miraculously, by themselves, along the AEgean, and reached, amongst other places, Sicily, (Lipari), Spain (Toledo), and an arm reached Canterbury in Alban-Britannia. At Canterbury,4 St. Bartholomew's arm, which performed many miracles, appears to have been one of the main attractions for the pilgrims to that shrine, and gave its name to "St. Bartholomew's Hospital" in the High Street at Canterbury, "erected" [or rebuilt (?)] by Thomas Becket, about A.D. 1150, as an hostel for the poor Christian pilgrims of Britain in this forgotten era
of St. Bartholomew worship.1 The Aryan Saint also gave his name to "Bartholomew Fair'' (in Smithfield, London), which was the principal fair in England in the Middle Ages (from 1133 onwards) for cloth, pewter, leather and cattle and for miracle-plays; and St. Bartholomew's Priory on this site, and later St. Bartholomew's Hospital, was given the rights of sanctuary by Edward II. Perhaps the reason for Barthol Chapel, as well as St. Bartholomew's Day and Fair in the rest of Britain, falling into oblivion in the Roman Church, was the ignominy attaching to papacy through the infamous massacre on that day of the Huguenot Protestants in Paris in 1572.
Another medieval local "Bartholomew" of repute is found in the vicinity of the Newton Stone at Leslie on the Gadie River to the east of Mt. Bennachie (see map, p. l9). The founder of the Leslie family and Earl of Garrioch is called "Bart-olf" in a Charter of the, twelfth century, and is reputed to have been a Saxon or Hungarian notable who came over with the suite of the family of Queen Margaret, sister of Edgar Atheling and spouse of Malcolm Canmore;2 or he may have been one of the many Anglo-Saxon refugees who were driven to Scotland by the Norman Conquest of England. It seems possible that this Bartolf or Bartholomew, as he is also called, and who became the Earl of Garrioch who founded the house of Leslie, or "Lesselyn" (as this name was spelt in the old Charters) may originally have borne this latter name as his real surname--"Lassalle" and "La Salle" being Germano-French names-and that he may have adopted, with his "Garrioch" title, the old traditional name of Part-olon or Bartholomew, still clinging to that locality. The fact that the old Barthol Chapel was outside Garrioch proper, and was not finally transferred to the Arbroath
diocese until 1189-1199, presumes that it was in existence before Bartolf's time.
The "Brude" title, also, of so many of the ancient historical kings of the Picts in Scotland-whose chief stronghold in the north of Scotland at the dawn of literary Scottish history in the sixth century A.D. was Aberdeenshire to Inverness - now appears to be clearly derived from this "Prwt" or "Prat," with variant "Brut," title of this early Phoenician "Part-olon, King of the Scots" of our monument.
When modern native Scottish history opens in the pages of Adamnan, the disciple and biographer of the Irish-Scot missionary prince Columba (b. A.D. 521, d. A.D. 597)1 we learn that Columba, in his mission for the conversion of the pagan Picts of Scotland, visited, in A.D. 556, the king of the Picts named "Brude." This king whose name is also significantly spelt "Bruide" and "Brides," and latinized into "Brudeus" (parallel with "Brutus") resided in his fortress at Inverness, now called Craig Phadraig, on the Moray Firth-to which leads the old trunk road from Aberdeen which passes the site of the Newton Stone. Receiving Columba in a friendly manner, he invited him to a trial of skill against his Druid high priest; and on Columba defeating the Druid by his superior "magic," King Brude embraced Christianity and was with many of his subjects baptized by Columba-an event which, it should be noted, happened forty years before the arrival of St. Augustine in Britain to convert the English to Christianity. He also granted Columba permission to open a missionary station and build a monastery at Deer, about twenty miles to the north-east of this stone; and he also confirmed Columba in his Possession of the Island of Iona. This latter incident indicates that King Brude or "Bruide" was king of the whole of Scotland and the Isles; and he held the Prince of Orkney hostage.
Significantly also, this kingly title of "Brude" or "Bruide," also spelt "Bridei, Bride, Brete and Breth,"2 was used by the great majority of this King Prude's predecessors in the King-Lists of the Picts, as preserved in the Colbertine
MS. Codex.1 This list, which is substantially identical with the versions of the same in the Irish Books of Ballymote and Lecan, extends from the first eponymous king of the Picts in Scotland, called "Cruithne," to Bred, the last king of the Picts, about A.D. 834.
This name "Cruithne" for the first king of the Picts in Scotland is held by Celtic scholars to be the Pictish form of spelling "Pruithne" or "Briton," on their theory that the Picts and Celts or Gaels substituted Q for P in their spelling of names, and also substituted B for P in such names-though it may be observed that Celtic scholars do not explain why the Picts and Gaels who had Q in their alphabet do not use it in spelling this name, but employ a C instead. If "Cruithne," however, really represents "Pruithne," as believed, then the first king of the Picts in Scotland bore a name substantially identical with "Prwt," the erector of the Newton Stone monument, and thus presumably was identical with him.
This "Cruithne" (or "Pruithne") is stated to be the "son of Cinge," and this is expanded by the Irish Book versions above cited into "Cinge, son of Luchtai, son of Parthi or Parthalan."2 This last statement is interesting and important as connecting Cruithne traditionally with Part-olon-a name which we have seen was only a family title, his personal name being Itar. But this making him to be the third descendant from Partolan is presumably a gloss by later Irish scribes to suit the Irish tradition that Partolan settled in Ireland and died there, and that it was his descendants of the third generation who migrated to Scotland.
"Cruithne" (or "Pruithne") is followed in the Pictish king-list by the names of "seven sons" who are each supposed to have reigned consecutively after their father. But, as the Irish versions state, these names are those of the seven divisions or provinces of medieval Scotland, beginning
with "Fib" or Fife, and including "Fortrenn" or Perth, and "Got" or "Caith" in the Irish versions, which is Caithness.1 The Irish versions further state that all the seven divisions of North Alban were under the paramount rule of "Onbeccan, son of Caith."2 This prominence given to Caith (which, we shall see, is the tribal title "Catti") and his son indicates that the succession in Scotland passed from son to son, from the first king Fruithne (as Celtic scholars explain "Cruithne") who appears to be the Prwt (or Part-olon) of the Newton Stone, and that other four kings named with Onbeccan, after the seven provinces, were probably names in the contemporary branch dynasty in Ireland. The succession also in the case at least of the last two of these four kings, namely Gest and Wur-Gest or Ur-Gest, was clearly from son to son, as we shall see that the prefix Ur means "son of." This fact is of great significance, as showing that these early kings of the Picts succeeded in the paternal line and not in the maternal line, and were therefore presumably Aryan and not themselves Picts, which latter were in their matrilinear succession, which, we shall see, was a vestige of the primitive Matriarchist promiscuity of the Picts.
After these preliminary kings there now follows an unbroken line of twenty-nine kings of the Picts, each bearing the title of "Brude" or "Bruide"; and they are stated to have ruled jointly over both Hibernia and [North] Alban.3 This remarkable list of "Bride" or "Bruide" kings is as follows, and it will be noted that some of the names are essentially Aryan4 - the version in the Irish list, when differing in spelling from the Colbertine MS., is added within brackets:-
1. Brude Bont 6. Brude-Gant 2. Brude or Bruide-Pant(B.- 7. Brude-Ur-gant Pont) 8. Brude-Guith6 (Gnith) 3. Bride-Ur-pant (-Ur-pont) 9. Brude-Ur-Guith (-Ur-Gnith) 4. Bride-Leo 10. Brude or Bruide-Fecir 5. Bride-Ur-Leo5 (Uleo) (-Feth)
11. Brude-Ur-Fecir (-Ur-Feichir) 20. Brude-Gart 12. Brude-Cal 21. Brude-Ur-gart 13. Brude-Ur-cal 22. Brude-Cinid (Cind) 14. Brude-Cuit1 (-Cint) 23. Brude-Ur-cinid (Ur-Cind) 15. Brude-Ur-Cuit (-Ur-Cint) 24. Brude-Uip 16. Brude-Fet 25. Brude-Ur-Uip 17. Brude-Ur-Fet 26. Brude-Grid 18. Brude-Ru 27. Brude-Ur-Grid 28. Brude-Mund (Muin) 19. Brude or Bruide-Uru2 (Ero) 29. Brude-Ur-mund (Ur-muin)
In scanning this king-list it is seen that "Brude" or "Bruide" is clearly used as a title, prefixed to the proper personal name of each king. Indeed, the Irish text says, "And Bruide, was the name of each man of them, and of the divisions of the other men of the tribe (Cruithne)"3 - and this latter statement is important as presumably meaning that the "other Cruithne men" also bore this title of "Bruide" or "Briton".
It is also noteworthy that all of the names after the first are in pairs, in which the second is formed by first surname repeated with the prefix Ur. This Ur presumably represents the Celtic Ua "a descendant or son"4; and, what is of great importance importance is that this practice is precisely paralleled in the Sanskrit and Pali king-lists of the Aryan Barat kings, which often prefix Upa or "son of "5 to the name of a king bearing the same name as his father. This fact now appears to disclose the Aryan source of the Cymric prefix Ap or Up in personal mimes, such as "Ap-John" or "Up-John," with the meaning of "Son of John." And it also proves that at least half (if not the whole) of these "Brude" kings were, like the first of the list, succeeded by their sons, i.e., by patrilinear succession.
Similarly, amongst the historical kings of the Picts, succeeding Columba's patron Brude (or "Bruide" or "Bridesh"),
who is surnamed "son of Malkom (or "Melchon" or "Melcho")," of 556 A.D,1 are the following bearers of this title "Brude":-
Brude or "Breidei,"2 son of Fathe or Wid, 640 A.D.
Brude or "Bredei," son of Bili or "Bile", 674-693 A.D.,
contemporary with and mentioned by Adamnan.
Brude or "Bredei," son of Derelei, 699 A.D.
Brude or Bredi or Brete, son of Wirguist or Tenegus, 761 A.D.
Bred or Brude, son of Ferat or Fotel, the last King of the Picts,
842 AD.4
Now, it is significant to find that, although these kings entitled "Brude," "Bruide" or "Bridei," were kings of the Picts -a race which, we shall see, were non-Aryan and pre-Briton aborigines-they themselves appear to have been not Picts in race but "Bart-ons" or Brit-on Scots, i.e. Aryans. The second of these later Brudes, or "Bredei-the-son-of Bili (or Bile)," was the son of the Scot king "Bili" or "Bile" (that is a namesake of the Phoenician Sun-god Bil or Bel of our inscription) who is called "King of Strath-Clyde" and whose dun or fort was Dun-Barton or The Fort of the Bartons (i.e., Barat-ons) or Britons on the Clyde. His son Brude or Bredei is called "King of Fortrenn" or Perth, indicating his residence there.4 He had, besides, a kinsman who was also king and called "King Brude," who latterly assisted in the defence of Dun-Barton against the Anglo-Saxon invaders.5
This presumes that the people whom Partolon-the-Scot ruled from the Don Valley in the fourth century B.C. were also Picts; and that these later kings, bearing the title of Brudes or "Bruides," and claiming descent from "Pruithne," were of
his kindred, if not remote lineal descendants; and that the confederacy between the Picts and the Scots, of which we hear so much in the history text-books, was a confederacy in which the Scots were the rulers and leaders in battle, and the Picts the subjects whom they had civilized, more or less. This relationship appears to have continued down to the ninth century A.D. when the Scot "kings of the Picts" were still using a dialectic form of the old ruling Aryan Catti title of "Barat," like the Aryan-Phoenician Khatti-Kassi king of our Newton Stone inscription, "Prat-(gya-) olowonie" or "Part-olon, King of the Scots," who, I find, also presumably bore the alternative title of "Cath-laun," as the first traditional king of the Picts (see Appendix II). And, is a fact, the Don Valley was an especial abode of the Picts in prehistoric times. The remains of their subterranean dwellings are especially numerous there.1
This now brings us face to face with the much-vexed and hitherto unsolved question "Who were the Picts?" This question, however, can be better tackled after we have examined through our new lights the traces of the prehistoric aborigines whom Part-olon found in occupation of Ireland, which was also a Land of the Picts.