Domnall mac Caustantín

Last updated

Domnall mac Caustantín is thought to have been king of Dál Riata in the early ninth century.

Dál Riata Gaelic overkingdom that included parts of western Scotland and northeastern Ulster in Ireland

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.

Contents

Domnall's existence is uncertain, and is based on attempts to reconcile eleventh century works such as the poem Duan Albanach and the Synchronisms of Flann Mainistrech with the evidence of the Irish annals. [1]

Duan Albanach poem

The Duan Albanach is a Middle Gaelic poem found with the Lebor Bretnach, a Gaelic version of the Historia Brittonum of Nennius, with extensive additional material.

A number of Irish annals, of which the earliest was the Chronicle of Ireland, were compiled up to and shortly after the end of the 17th century.

The Duan says that Domnall reigned for twenty-four years and places him between "Aodh", Áed Find, and the two Conalls, Conall mac Taidg and Conall mac Áedáin. [2] Flann gives Domnall's father's name as "Constantine". [3] The only person of that relatively uncommon name known is Causantín mac Fergusa, king of the Picts from 792 to 820. Since Áed Find died in 778, and his brother Fergus mac Echdach was king of Dál Riata at his death in 781, it is thought unlikely that Caustantín's son could have been king as early as 781. Additionally, a king named Donncoirce is reported to have died in 792, and Conall mac Taidg died in 807, making it very difficult to accommodate a 24-year reign at this time. [4]

Áed Find, or Áed mac Echdach, was king of Dál Riata. Áed was the son of Eochaid mac Echdach, a descendant of Domnall Brecc in the main line of Cenél nGabráin kings.

Conall mac Taidg was a king of the Picts from 785 until 789. Very little is recorded of Conall. He is mentioned twice by the Irish annals, the most reliable source for the history of northern Britain in the years around 800. He also appears in later king lists.

Conall mac Áedáin was a king in Scotland in the years around 800. It is thought that he was a king, or sub-king, in Dál Riata.

Since no kings of Dál Riata are known for the period from 811, when the four-year reign of Conall mac Áedáin is presumed to have ended, and the four-year reign of Áed mac Boanta who died in 839, Domnall mac Caustantín may have been king from around 811 to around 835. [5]

Áed mac Boanta is believed to have been a king of Dál Riata.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ For the Duan and Flann, ESSH, pp. cxxxiv–cxxxv, provides a table showing their correspondence with the various sources.
  2. ↑ The full text of the Duan Albanach is available, with translation, at University College Cork's CELT project.
  3. ↑ ESSH, p. cxlvii.
  4. ↑ Broun, pp. 73–74; ESSH, pp. 248–251, 254, 255 & 259.
  5. ↑ Broun, pp.79–83. See also Bannerman, p. 85, for an alternative interpretation.

Related Research Articles

Kenneth MacAlpin King of the Picts

Kenneth MacAlpin, known in most modern regnal lists as Kenneth I, was a king of the Picts who, according to national myth, was the first king of Scots. He was thus later known by the posthumous nickname of An Ferbasach, "The Conqueror". He became the apex and eponym of a dynasty—sometimes called Clann Chináeda—that ruled Scotland from the ninth- to the early eleventh-century.

Óengus mac Fergusa was king of the Picts from 820 until 834. In Scottish historiography, he is associated with the veneration of Saint Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland.

Causantín mac Fergusa King of Picts

Causantín or Constantín mac Fergusa was king of the Picts, in modern Scotland, from 789 until 820. He was until the Victorian era sometimes counted as Constantine I of Scotland; the title is now generally given to Causantín mac Cináeda. He is credited with having founded the church at Dunkeld which later received relics of St Columba from Iona.

Fergus mac Echdach was king of Dál Riata from about 778 until 781.

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.

Ainbcellach mac Ferchair was king of the Cenél Loairn of Dál Riata, and perhaps of all Dál Riata, from 697 until 698, when he was deposed and exiled to Ireland.

Eochaid mac Domangairt was a king of Dál Riata in about 697. He was a member of the Cenél nGabráin, the son of Domangart mac Domnaill and father of Eochaid mac Echdach; Alpín mac Echdach may be a son of this younger Eochaid.

Ferchar Fota was probably king of the Cenél Loairn of Dál Riata, and perhaps of all Dál Riata. His father is named as Feredach mac Fergusa and he was said to be a descendant in the 6th generation of Loarn mac Eirc.

Máel Dúin mac Conaill was a king in Dál Riata.

Domangart mac Domnaill was a king in Dál Riata and the son of Domnall Brecc. It is not clear whether he was over-king of Dál Riata or king of the Cenél nGabráin.

Uuen (Wen) or Eogán in Gaelic was king of the Picts 837-839.

Ciniod son of Uuredech was king of the Picts from 763 until 775.

Donncoirce was probably king of Dál Riata until his death in 792.

References

Alan Orr Anderson (1879–1958) was a Scottish historian and compiler. The son of Rev. John Anderson and Ann Masson, he was born in 1879. He was educated at Royal High School, Edinburgh, and the University of Edinburgh.

International Standard Book Number Unique numeric book identifier

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.

University College Cork university college

University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.