Fiannamail ua Dúnchado was a

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

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 now ...

(modern-day western

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 the ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

) at the end of the 7th 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 Keenaght () is a barony in the mid-northerly third of County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It connects to the north-Londonderry coastline, and is bordered by four other baronies: Coleraine to the east; Loughinsholin to the south-east; Tirkeera ...

in present-day

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. B ...

, Northern Ireland.Maney, p. 265. His killing is reported, and he is named king of Dál Riata, by the

Annals of Ulster The ''Annals of Ulster'' ( ga, Annála Uladh) are annals of medieval Ireland. The entries span the years from 431 AD to 1540 AD. The entries up to 1489 AD were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrí Ó Luinín, ...

. 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-cent ...

state that he was king of Dál nAraide, although he is not named in the genealogies of the Dál nAraide in the

Book of Leinster The Book of Leinster ( mga, Lebor Laignech , LL) is a medieval Irish manuscript compiled c. 1160 and now kept in Trinity College, Dublin, under the shelfmark MS H 2.18 (cat. 1339). It was formerly known as the ''Lebor na Nuachongbála'' "Book ...

. He may be the same person as Fiannamail mac Osseni who is mentioned in 699, and he is certainly the Fiannamail ua Dúnchado (Fiannamail grandson of Dúnchad) who witnessed the

Cáin Adomnáin The ''Cáin Adomnáin'' (Law of Adomnán), also known as the ''Lex Innocentium'' (Law of Innocents), was promulgated amongst a gathering of Irish, Dál Riatan and Pictish notables at the Synod of Birr in 697. It is named after its initiator Ado ...

in 696–697, in which Fiachrae Cosalach is named as king of the cruithne of Dál nAraide, which argues strongly that Fiannamail was not a king of Dál nAraide. The identity of his grandfather, Dúnchad — most commonly assumed to be the son of Conaing son of

Áedán mac Gabráin Áedán mac Gabráin (pronounced in Old Irish; ga, Aodhán mac Gabhráin, lang), also written as Aedan, was a king of Dál Riata from 574 until c. 609 AD. The kingdom of Dál Riata was situated in modern Argyll and Bute, Scotland, and par ...

— is not certain. However, many members of this family are thought to appear in the annals, including a brother, or cousin, of Fiannamail named Béc and an uncle named Conall.

Dúnchad Bec Dúnchad Bec was king of Kintyre (in Dál Riata) in the early 8th century. Dúnchad Bec is too late to have been included in the Senchus Fer n-Alban, which includes kings to the first half of the 7th century. He is also unknown to later genealogie ...

may also have been a kinsman of Fiannamail. Fiannamail is said to have had at least two sons, Indrechtach and Conall, who were killed in 741 at the battle of Forboros, perhaps fighting against the

Picts The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland (north of the Firth of Forth) during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from ea ...

led by Óengus mac Fergusa. Indrechtach son of Fiannamail is sometimes presumed to be the same person as the Indrechtach who fathered

Tommaltach mac Indrechtaig Tommaltach mac Indrechtaig (died 790) was a King of Dal nAraide in Ulaid (Ulster) and possible King of all Ulaid. He was the son of Indrechtach mac Lethlobair (died 741), a previous King of Dal nAraide. He ruled from 776 to 790 and as King of all ...

, king of the Dál nAraide and

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 in ...

, but this Indrechtach's father is named Lethlobar in the Book of Leinster, which poses considerable problems.

References

Bibliography

* Anderson, Alan Orr, ''Early Sources of Scottish History A.D 500–1286'', volume 1. Reprinted with corrections. Paul Watkins, Stamford, 1990. * Bannerman, John, "The Scottish Takeover of Pictland" in

Dauvit Broun Dauvit Broun, FRSE, FBA ( en, David Brown) (born 1961) is a Scottish historian and academic. He is the professor of Scottish history at the University of Glasgow. A specialist in medieval Scottish and Celtic studies, he concentrates primarily on ...

Thomas Owen Clancy Thomas Owen Clancy is an American academic and historian who specializes in medieval Celtic literature, especially that of Scotland. He did his undergraduate work at New York University, and his Ph.D at the University of Edinburgh. He is currently ...

(eds.) ''Spes Scotorum: Hope of Scots. Saint Columba, Iona and Scotland.'' T & T Clark, Edinburgh, 1999. *

External links

CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts
a
University College Cork
**The Corpus of Electronic Texts includes the ''Annals of Ulster'', ''Tigernach'', ''the Four Masters'' and ''Innisfallen'', the ''Chronicon Scotorum'', the ''Lebor Bretnach'' (which includes the ''Duan Albanach''), Genealogies, and various Saints' Lives. Most are translated into English, or translations are in progress {{DEFAULTSORT:Fiannamail Ua Dunchado 700 deaths Kings of Dál Riata 7th-century Irish monarchs Year of birth unknown 7th-century Scottish monarchs