The Cenél nÓengusa were a kin group who ruled the island of

Islay Islay ( ; gd, Ìle, sco, Ila) is the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Known as "The Queen of the Hebrides", it lies in Argyll just south west of Jura and around north of the Northern Irish coast. The island's capital ...

, and perhaps nearby

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 ...

, off the western coast of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

in the early Middle Ages. The

Senchus fer n-Alban The ''Senchus fer n-Alban'' (''The History of the men of Scotland'') is an Old Irish medieval text believed to have been compiled in the 10th century. It provides genealogies for kings of Dál Riata and a census of the kingdoms which comprised D ...

, a

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

and

genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

of the kingdom of

Dál Riata Dál Riata or Dál Riada (also Dalriada) () was a Gaelic kingdom that encompassed the western seaboard of Scotland and north-eastern Ireland, on each side of the North Channel. At its height in the 6th and 7th centuries, it covered what is n ...

, lists the Cenél nÓengusa as one of the three kin groups making up the kingdom in

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 ...

. The others were the

Cenél nGabráin The Cenél nGabráin was a kingroup, presumed to descend from Gabrán mac Domangairt, which dominated the kingship of Dál Riata until the late 7th century and continued to provide kings thereafter. Kings of Alba and of Scotland traced their desc ...

Kintyre Kintyre ( gd, Cinn Tìre, ) is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the southwest of Argyll and Bute. The peninsula stretches about , from the Mull of Kintyre in the south to East and West Loch Tarbert in the north. The region immediately nor ...

and the

Cenél Loairn The Cenél Loairn, the descendants of Loarn mac Eirc, controlled parts of northern Argyll around the Firth of Lorne, most probably centred in Lorne but perhaps including the islands of Mull and Colonsay, Morvern and Ardnamurchan. The boundary to ...

of Lorn. A fourth group, the Cenél Comgaill, of

Cowal Cowal ( gd, Còmhghall) is a peninsula in Argyll and Bute, in the west of Scotland, that extends into the Firth of Clyde. The northern part of the peninsula is covered by the Argyll Forest Park managed by Forestry and Land Scotland. The Arroch ...

and the

Isle of Bute The Isle of Bute ( sco, Buit; gd, Eilean Bhòid or '), known as Bute (), is an island in the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, United Kingdom. It is divided into highland and lowland areas by the Highland Boundary Fault. Formerly a constituent is ...

, later split from the Cenél nGabráin. The Senchus portrays Dál Riata as it existed in the mid-seventh century. The Senchus traces the descent of the Cenél nÓengusa from Óengus Mór mac Eirc, brother of Fergus Mór, a relationship which is almost certainly an invention. The Cenél nÓengusa are the only kindred from which no historical kings of Dál Riata are recorded by the

Irish annals 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. Annals were originally a means by which monks determined the yearly chronology of feast days. Over ...

. Óengus Mór is said to have had two sons, Nadsluaig and Fergna, and their descendants are listed in the Senchus. It also lists the subdivisions of Islay, and the number of houses in each. The Cenél nÓengusa are listed among these, and thirty households only are attributed to them. As well as the descendants of Óengus, the Senchus places the Cenél Conchride, named for Conchriath, son of Bolc, son of Sétna, son of Fergus Bec, son of Erc, on Islay. It has been suggested that Fergna son of Óengus Mór may be identified with

Fergnae mac Oengusso Ibdaig Fergnae mac Óengusso Ibdaig (died 557) was a Dal Fiatach king of Ulaid. He was the nephew of Muiredach Muinderg mac Forgo (died 489) and grandson of Forga mac Dallán, previous kings. He ruled the Dal Fiatach from 532 and succeeded Eochaid ma ...

, that is Fergnae son of Óengus the Hebridean. The descendants of this Fergnae, known as the Uí Ibdaig—the descendants of the Hebridean—were counted as a minor branch of the powerful Dál Fiatach of Ulster. The Senchus states that the Cenél nÓengusa ruled over four hundred and thirty households, and that they were obliged to provide the overking of Dál Riata with two seven-bench ships for each twenty households on sea expeditions, and with five hundred fighting men on land expeditions. Wfm islay landsat

The Genelaig Albanensium, a series of genealogies attached to Senchus proper, gives the ancestry of a certain Óengus. This calls him Óengus, son of Boib, son of Rónán, son of Áedán, son of C bléni (the Senchus gives Capléne), son of Nadsluaig, son of Rónán, son of Óengus Mór mac Eirc. In this genealogy, Nadsluaig is a grandson of Óengus Mór, and not his son, otherwise the genealogy in the Senchus matches this as far as Áedán.

Marjorie Ogilvie Anderson Marjorie Ogilvie Anderson (née Cunningham) (9 February 1909 – 27 May 2002) was a Scottish historian and paleographer. Early years Born Marjorie Ogilvie Cunningham in St Andrews, she attended St Leonards School there before studying English ...

suggested that this genealogy dates from the early 8th century, as do those given for the other kindreds in the same source, and reflects a second census undertaken at about that time. There are very few historical sources outwith the Senchus which refer to the Cenél nÓengusa. The late ''Tripartite Life'' of

Saint Patrick Saint Patrick ( la, Patricius; ga, Pádraig ; cy, Padrig) was a fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints b ...

refers to Patrick appointing a certain Ném as bishop of Telach in the lands of the Cenél nÓengusa.

Adomnán 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 ...

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies might ...

Columba Columba or Colmcille; gd, Calum Cille; gv, Colum Keeilley; non, Kolban or at least partly reinterpreted as (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is tod ...

mentions a rich Islay landowner named Feradach, but says nothing about the political background on the island.

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cenel nOengusa Medieval Gaels from Scotland Islay