Notes
Note N268
Index
Irish annals such as the Annals of Ulster and the Annals of Innisfallen name Kenneth's father as one Alpín. This much is reasonably certain.
The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba usually begins with Kenneth, but some variants include a reference to Kenneth's father: "[Alpín] was killed in Galloway, after he had entirely destroyed and devastated it. And then the kingdom of the Scots was transferred to the kingdom [variant: land] of the Picts."
John of Fordun (IV, ii) calls Kenneth's father "Alpin son of Achay" (Alpín son of Eochu) and has him killed in war with the Picts in 836; Andrew of Wyntoun's version mixes Fordun's war with the Picts with the Chronicle version which has him killed in Galloway.
The genealogies produced for Kings of Scots in the High Middle Ages traced their ancestry through Kenneth MacAlpin, through the Cenél nGabráin of Dál Riata to Fergus Mór, and then to legendary Irish kings such as Conaire Mór and the shadowy Deda mac Sin.
These genealogies, perhaps oral in origin, were subjected to some regularisation by the scribes who copied them into sources such as the Chronicle of Melrose, the Poppleton Manuscript and the like. Either by accident, or by design, a number of kings were misplaced, being moved from the early 8th century to the late 8th and early 9th century.
The original list is presumed to have resembled the following:
1. Eochaid mac Domangairt
2. Ainbcellach mac Ferchair
3. Eógan mac Ferchair
4. Selbach mac Ferchair
5. Eochaid mac Echdach
6. Dúngal mac Selbaig
7. Alpín
8. Muiredach mac Ainbcellaig
9. Eógan mac Muiredaig
10. Áed Find
11. Fergus mac Echdach
After modification to link this list of kings of Dál Riata to the family of Kenneth MacAlpin, the list is presumed to have been in this form:
1. Eochaid mac Domangairt
2. Ainbcellach mac Ferchair
3. Eógan mac Ferchair
8. Muiredach mac Ainbcellaig
9. Eogan mac Muiredaig
10. Áed Find
11. Fergus mac Echdach
4. Selbach mac Ferchair (called Selbach mac Eógain)
5. Eochaid mac Echdach (called Eochaid mac Áeda Find)
6. Dúngal mac Selbaig (name unchanged)
7. Alpín (called Alpín mac Echdach)
However, the existence of the original Alpín is less than certain. No king in Dál Riata of that name is recorded in the Irish annals in the early 730s. A Pictish king named Alpín, whose father's name is not given in any Irish sources, or even from the Pictish Chronicle king-lists, is known from the late 720s, when he was defeated by Óengus mac Fergusa and Nechtan mac Der-Ilei. For the year 742, the Annals of Ulster are read was referring to the capture of "Elffin son of Crop" (the former reading had besieged rather than captured). Whether Álpin son of Crup is related to the Álpin of the 720s is unknown.
[edit] References
Anderson, Alan Orr, Early Sources of Scottish History A.D 500-1286, volume 1. Reprinted with corrections. Paul Watkins, Stamford, 1990. ISBN 1-871615-03-8
Broun, Dauvit, The Irish Identity of the Kingdom of the Scots in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries. Boydell, Woodbridge, 1999. ISBN 0-85115-375-5
Broun, Dauvit, "Pictish Kings 761-839: Integration with Dál Riata or Separate Development" in Sally M. Foster (ed.), The St Andrews Sarcophagus: A Pictish masterpiece and its international connections. Four Courts, Dublin, 1998. ISBN 1-85182-414-6
Irish Pedigrees; or the Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation, by John O'Hart, 5th Edition, 1892
Notes
Note N267
Index
Eochaid mac Áeda Find is a spurious King of Dál Riata found in some rare High Medieval king-lists and in older history books.
Supposedly a son of Áed Find (died 778) and successor to Áed's brother Fergus mac Echdach, Eochaid is now thought to represent a misplacing of the reign of Eochaid mac Echdach. The reigns of Selbach mac Ferchair, Dúngal mac Selbaig and, perhaps, Alpín mac Echdach, are similarly misplaced in the sources which contain this Eochaid.
References
Broun, Dauvit, The Irish Identity of the Kingdom of the Scots in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries. Boydell, Woodbridge, 1999. ISBN 0-85115-375-5
Broun, Dauvit, "Pictish Kings 761-839: Integration with Dál Riata or Separate Development" in Sally M. Foster (ed.), The St Andrews Sarcophagus: A Pictish masterpiece and its international connections. Four Courts, Dublin, 1998. ISBN 1-85182-414-6
Irish Pedigrees; or the Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation, by John O'Hart, 5th Edition, 1892
Notes
Note N266
Index
Áed Find (Áed the White) or Áed mac Echdach (before 736-778) was king of Dál Riata (modern western Scotland). Áed was the son of Eochaid mac Echdach, a descendant of Domnall Brecc in the main line of Cenél nGabráin kings.
According to later genealogies, Áed was the great-grandfather of Kenneth MacAlpin (Cináed mac Ailpín) who is traditionally counted as the first king of Scots. This descent ran through Áed's son Eochaid mac Áeda Find and Eochaid's son Alpín mac Echdach. The evidence for the existence of Eochaid and Alpín is late and uncompelling, and shows signs of fabrication in the High Middle Ages.
The Annals of Ulster in 768 report "Bellum i Fortrinn iter Aedh & Cinaedh": a battle in Fortriu between Áed and Cináed. This is usually read as meaning Áed Find and the Pictish king Ciniod, who is called "Cinadhon" in the notice of his death in 775. The Annals of the Four Masters, a less reliable source, give a different version, placing this battle in Leinster and naming the victor as Cináed mac Flainn of the Uí Failgi and his defeated enemy as one Áed.
Áed's death in 778 is noted by the Annals of Ulster. He appears to have been followed as king by his brother Fergus mac Echdach.
The "Laws of Áed Eochaid's son" are mentioned by the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba in the reign of Áed's supposed great-grandson Donald MacAlpin (Domnall mac Ailpín): "In his time the Gaels with their king made the rights and laws of the kingdom [that are called the laws] of Áed Eochaid's son, in Forteviot." What these laws concerned is not known.
References
Anderson, Alan Orr, Early Sources of Scottish History A.D 500-1286, volume 1. Reprinted with corrections. Paul Watkins, Stamford, 1990. ISBN 1-871615-03-8
Bannerman, John, "The Scottish Takeover of Pictland" in Dauvit Broun & Thomas Owen Clancy (eds.) Spes Scotorum: Hope of Scots. Saint Columba, Iona and Scotland. T & T Clark, Edinburgh, 1999. ISBN 0-567-08682-2
Broun, Dauvit, The Irish Identity of the Kingdom of the Scots. Boydell, Woodbridge, 1999. ISBN 0-85115-375-5
Broun, Dauvit, "Pictish Kings 761-839: Integration with Dál Riata or Separate Development" in Sally M. Foster (ed.), The St Andrews Sarcophagus: A Pictish masterpiece and its international connections. Four Courts, Dublin, 1998. ISBN 1-85182-414-6
Irish Pedigrees; or the Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation, by John O'Hart, 5th Edition, 1892