The king lists supply a number of epithets for Nechtan: Morbet and Celchamoth and the LatinMagnus (the Great). He is said to have reigned for twenty-four years.[1] In a rare change from a bald statement of names and years, the king lists provide a tradition linking Nechtan to the foundation of Abernethy:
"So Nectonius the Great, Wirp's son, the king of all the provinces of the Picts, offered to Saint Brigid, to the day of judgement, Abernethy, with its territories ... Now the cause of the offering was this. Nectonius, living in a life of exile, when his brother Drest expelled him to Ireland, begged Saint Brigid to beseech God for him. And she prayed for him and said: "If thou reach thy country, the Lord will have pity on thee. Thou shalt possess in peace the kingdom of the Picts."[2]
Fraser, James E. (2009), From Caledonia to Pictland: Scotland to 795, The New Edinburgh History of Scotland, vol. I, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, ISBN978-0-7486-1232-1
Smyth, Alfred P. (1998) [1984], Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland AD 80–1000, The New History of Scotland, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, ISBN0-7486-0100-7