Áed Dub mac Suibni (died c. 588) was an Irish king of the

Dál nAraidi Dál nAraidi (; "Araide's part") or Dál Araide, sometimes Latinised as Dalaradia or Anglicised as Dalaray,Boyd, Hugh AlexanderIrish Dalriada ''The Glynns: Journal of The Glens of Antrim Historical Society''. Volume 76 (1978). was a Cruthin kin ...

in the over-kingdom of

Ulaid Ulaid (Old Irish, ) or Ulaidh ( Modern Irish, ) was a Gaelic over-kingdom in north-eastern Ireland during the Middle Ages made up of a confederation of dynastic groups. Alternative names include Ulidia, which is the Latin form of Ulaid, and i ...

(in modern

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

). He may have been king of the Ulaid. Áed was succeeded by his great-nephew Fiachnae mac Báetáin. Áed Dub — Black Áed — killed the last High King of Ireland to undergo the pre-Christian inauguration ritual,

Diarmait mac Cerbaill Diarmait mac Cerbaill (died ) was King of Tara or High King of Ireland. According to traditions, he was the last High King to follow the pagan rituals of inauguration, the ''ban-feis'' or marriage to goddess of the land. While many later storie ...

. Tradition has Diarmaid die a mythic

threefold death In algebraic geometry, a 3-fold or threefold is a 3-dimensional algebraic variety. The Mori program In algebraic geometry, the minimal model program is part of the birational classification of algebraic varieties. Its goal is to construct a bir ...

, and some version make Áed Diarmaid's foster-son. The

Annals of Tigernach The ''Annals of Tigernach'' (abbr. AT, ga, Annála Tiarnaigh) are chronicles probably originating in Clonmacnoise, Ireland. The language is a mixture of Latin and Old and Middle Irish. Many of the pre-historic entries come from the 12th-centur ...

report, more prosaically, that Diarmaid was killed by Áed Dub in 565 at Ráith Bec, on the plain of Mag Line (Moylinny, near

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight roll-on roll-off port. Larne is administered by Mid ...

), in the lands of the Dál nAraidi.

Adomnán's account

In Book I, Chapter 36 of

Adomnán of Iona Adomnán or Adamnán of Iona (, la, Adamnanus, Adomnanus; 624 – 704), also known as Eunan ( ; from ), was an abbot of Iona Abbey ( 679–704), hagiographer, statesman, canon jurist, and saint. He was the author of the ''Life of Col ...

's ''Life of Saint Columba'', it states that Áed Dub was later ordained as a priest, an ordination that Adomnán describes as a sham because of his history of violence. He writes that when Columba learned of this, he prophecised that although Áed would live for many years to come, he "will return as a dog to his vomit; he will again be a bloody murderer and in the end, killed by a spear, he will fall from wood into water and die drowning." This is again the mythic three-fold death, and probably signifies that there was some manner of traditional account of Áed Dub. Adomnan also states that Aed Dub was the lover of a priest called Finchan, the founder of a monastery in

Tiree Tiree (; gd, Tiriodh, ) is the most westerly island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The low-lying island, southwest of Coll, has an area of and a population of around 650. The land is highly fertile, and crofting, alongside tourism, an ...

. The two men were strongly attached to one another "in a carnal way".Adomnan of Iona, Life of St Columba, Penguin books, 1995, pp138-139 From Adomnán's account it can be surmised that Áed was deposed, or abdicated, and spent time in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

in a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...

before, presumably, returning to Ulster to try to regain his throne. The report of Áed Dub's death in the Annals of Ulster for 588 — the Annals of Tigernach place it in 579 — may contain some traces of this as it reports the killing of Áed aboard a ship. This is thought to have taken place on Lough Neagh.

References

Bibliography

, ''Life of Saint Columba'', tr. & ed. Richard Sharpe. Penguin, London, 1995. * Byrne, Francis John, ''Irish Kings and High-Kings.'' Batsford, London, 1973. {{DEFAULTSORT:Aed Dub mac Suibni Kings of Ulster Kings of Dál nAraidi 6th-century births 588 deaths People from County Antrim 6th-century Irish monarchs

Adomnán's account

See also

References

Bibliography