The Cenél Loairn, the descendants of

Loarn mac Eirc Loarn mac Eirc was a possible king of Dál Riata who may have lived in the 5th century. He was buried on Iona.J. M. P. Calise, Pictish sourcebook, Greenwood Press, 2002. Loarn's main significance is as the eponymous ancestor of Cenél Loairn, a kin ...

, controlled parts of northern

Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...

around the

Firth of Lorne The Firth of Lorn or Lorne ( gd, An Linne Latharnach) is the inlet of the sea between the south-east coast of the Isle of Mull and the mainland of Scotland. It includes a number of islands, and is noted for the variety of wildlife habitats that ...

, most probably centred in Lorne but perhaps including the islands of

Mull Mull may refer to: Places *Isle of Mull, a Scottish island in the Inner Hebrides ** Sound of Mull, between the Isle of Mull and the rest of Scotland * Mount Mull, Antarctica *Mull Hill, Isle of Man * Mull, Arkansas, a place along Arkansas Highway ...

and

Colonsay Colonsay (; gd, Colbhasa; sco, Colonsay) is an island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, located north of Islay and south of Mull. The ancestral home of Clan Macfie and the Colonsay branch of Clan MacNeil, it is in the council area of Argy ...

, Morvern and

Ardnamurchan Ardnamurchan (, gd, Àird nam Murchan: headland of the great seas) is a peninsula in the ward management area of Lochaber, Highland, Scotland, noted for being very unspoiled and undisturbed. Its remoteness is accentuated by the main access ...

. The boundary to the east was the Druim Alban mountain ridge that separated Dál Riata from Pictland. The chief places of the kingdom appear to have been at Dun Ollaigh, near Oban and

Dunadd Dunadd (Scottish Gaelic ''Dún Ad'', "fort on the iverAdd") is a hillfort in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, dating from the Iron Age and early medieval period and is believed to be the capital of the ancient kingdom of Dál Riata. Dal Riata was a ki ...

near

Crinan Crinan is a name of Gaelic origin and it has a number of contexts: * Crinan, Argyll Crinan ( gd, An Crìonan) is a small village located on the west coast of Scotland in the region known as Knapdale, which is part of Argyll and Bute. Before the ...

. The chief religious site may have been on Lismore, later the seat of the High Medieval

bishop of Argyll The Bishop of Argyll or Bishop of Lismore was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Argyll The Diocese of Argyll was an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of Scotland in the Middle Ages. The Diocese was led by the Bishop of Argyll, and wa ...

Descendants of Loarn

Several kings of Dál Riata were members of the Cenél Loairn, and thus claimed descent from Loarn : *

Ferchar Fota Ferchar Fota (''Ferchar the Tall'') (died c. 697) 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 ...

Ainbcellach mac Ferchair 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. He was a son of Ferchar Fota. He is given the epithet the Good in the ''Duan Alba ...

* Selbach mac Ferchair * Dúngal mac Selbaig *

Muiredach mac Ainbcellaig Muiredach mac Ainbcellaig was king of the Cenél Loairn, and of Dál Riata (modern western Scotland), from about 733 until 736. He was the son of Ainbcellach mac Ferchair. His coming to power is reported in 733, and is not obviously associated wit ...

In High Medieval times the Mormaers of Moray claimed descent from Loarn: * Findláech mac Ruaidrí * Máel Coluim mac Máil Brigti * Gille Coemgáin mac Máil Brigti *

Mac Bethad mac Findláich Macbeth ( – 15 August 1057) was King of Scots from 1040 until his death. He ruled over the Kingdom of Alba, which covered only a portion of present-day Scotland. Little is known about Macbeth's early life, although he was the son of Findlá ...

(also

king of Alba The monarch of Scotland was the head of state of the Kingdom of Scotland. According to tradition, the first King of Scots was Kenneth I MacAlpin (), who founded the state in 843. Historically, the Kingdom of Scotland is thought to have grown ...

) * Lulach mac Gille Coemgáin (also king of Alba) * Máel Snechtai mac Lulaich * Óengus

Notes

References

* Bannerman, John, ''Studies in the History of Dalriada.'' Scottish Academic Press, Edinburgh, 1974. * Pestano,Dane, ''King Arthur in Irish Pseudo-Historical Tradition - An Introduction.'' Dark Age Arthurian Books, 2011. * Broun, Dauvit, ''The Irish Identity of the Kingdom of the Scots in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries.'' Boydell, Woodbridge, 1999. * Menzies, Gordon (ed) (1971) ''Who are the Scots: A search for the origins of the Scottish nation''. BBC. * Woolf, Alex, ''From Pictland to Alba, 789-1070'' Edinburgh University Press, 2007. {{Authority control Kings of Dál Riata Medieval Gaels from Scotland