Dúnchad Bec was king of Kintyre (in Dál Riata) in the early 8th century.
Kintyre is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the southwest of Argyll and Bute. The peninsula stretches about 30 miles (48 km), from the Mull of Kintyre in the south to East Loch Tarbert in the north. The area immediately north of Kintyre is known as Knapdale.
Dál Riata or Dál Riada was a Gaelic overkingdom that included parts of western Scotland and northeastern Ireland, on each side of the North Channel. At its height in the late 6th and early 7th centuries, it encompassed roughly what is now Argyll in Scotland and part of County Antrim in the Irish province of Ulster.
Dúnchad Bec is too late to have been included in the Senchus Fer n-Alban, which includes kings to the first half of the 7th century. He is also unknown to later genealogies. He is named from two entries in the Annals of Ulster (and the Annals of Tigernach). The first entry, for the year 719, reports a battle at Ard Nesbi between Dúnchad Bec "with the Cenél nGabráin" and Selbach mac Ferchair with the Cenél Loairn. The second, for 721, reports the death of "Dúnchad Bec, king of Cenn Tíre".
The Annals of Ulster are annals of medieval Ireland. The entries span the years from A.D. 431 to A.D. 1540. The entries up to A.D. 1489 were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrí Ó Luinín, under his patron Cathal Óg Mac Maghnusa on the island of Belle Isle on Lough Erne in the kingdom of Fermanagh. Later entries were added by others.
The Annals of Tigernach is a chronicle probably originating in Clonmacnoise, Ireland. The language is a mixture of Latin and Old and Middle Irish.
Selbach mac Ferchair was king of the Cenél Loairn and of Dál Riata. Selbach's existence is well-attested as he is mentioned repeatedly in Irish annals.
As king of Kintyre and chief of the Cenél nGabráin, it is likely that Dúnchad Bec was a descendant of Gabrán mac Domangairt. If the assumption that Fiannamail ua Dúnchado was a grandson of the earlier king Dúnchad mac Conaing is correct, then it may be that Dúnchad Bec belonged to this segment of the Cenél nGabráin, probably descended from Conaing son of Áedán, which appears to have contested with the main line, descended from Eochaid Buide.
Gabrán mac Domangairt or Gabrán the Traitor was king of Dál Riata, Ulaid, in the mid-6th century. He is the eponymous ancestor of the Cenél nGabráin. Gabrán was the son of Domangart Réti.
Fiannamail ua Dúnchado was a king of Dál Riata at the end of the 8th century. Little can be said with certainty other than the recording of his death in 700AD, where he is listed as having been slain alongside Flann mac Cind-fâelad of the Cianachta Glenn Geimin in present-day County Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
Dúnchad mac Conaing was king of Dál Riata. He was joint ruler with Conall Crandomna until he was defeated and killed by Talorcan, king of the Picts, in the battle of Strath Ethairt. Sources differ on Dúnchad's patronym and thus his presumed ancestry.
It is not known who succeeded Dúnchad Bec as king of the Cenél nGabráin. The next known king is Eochaid mac Echdach, of the line of Eochaid Buide, whose supporters deposed Dúngal mac Selbaig in 726.
Eochaid mac Echdach was king of Dál Riata from 726 until 733. He was a son of Eochaid mac Domangairt.
Dúngal mac Selbaig was king of Dál Riata. His reign can best be placed in the years 723 to 726, beginning with the abdication of his father, Selbach mac Ferchair, who entered a monastery, and ending with rise of Eochaid mac Echdach of the Cenél nGabráin. The High Medieval praise poem Duan Albanach names Dúngal the Impetuous, and claims that he ruled for seven years.
