Fergus I (mythological king)

Fergus I is a legendary figure in Scottish mythology, regarded as the first king of Scotland according to fictitious chronologies that were widely accepted from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries. He is said to have been the son of Ferchard, Prince of Scots in Ireland, and to have come to Scotland from Ireland around 330 B.C. to assist the Scots against the Picts and Britons. After succeeding, he reportedly returned to Ireland to quell disturbances and drowned off a port later named Carrickfergus. The account is considered historically unfounded, as later scholarship established that the first Dál Riata king in Scotland was Fergus II, son of Earc, who arrived about the end of the fifth century A.D.