This is a list of the kings of

Dál Riata Dál Riata or Dál Riada (also Dalriada) () was a Gaels, Gaelic Monarchy, kingdom that encompassed the Inner Hebrides, western seaboard of Scotland and north-eastern Ireland, on each side of the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North ...

, a kingdom of Irish origin which was located in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. Most kings of

, along with later rulers of

Alba ''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English-language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed into the Kingd ...

and of Scotland, traced their descent from Fergus Mór mac Eirc, and even in the 16th century,

James VI of Scotland James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

called himself the "happie monarch sprung of Ferguse race".

Background

It is not until the middle of the 6th century that

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 ti ...

plausibly report the deaths of kings of Dál Riata, with the death of Comgall mac Domangairt, c. 538–545, and of his brother Gabrán, c. 558–560. After the disastrous Battle of Moira (Mag Rath) in 637, Irish

lost possession of its Scottish lands. During the 8th century, the rival

Dál nAraidi Dál nAraidi (; "Araide's part") or Dál Araide, sometimes List of Latinised names, latinised as Dalaradia or Anglicisation, anglicised as Dalaray,Boyd, Hugh AlexanderIrish Dalriada ''The Glynns: Journal of The Glens of Antrim Historical Societ ...

had overrun Irish Dál Riata, though the area retained its name well into the 14th century. The last attested king of Scottish Dál Riata is Fergus mac Echdach, brother of and successor to Áed Find, whose death is reported in the

Annals of Ulster The ''Annals of Ulster'' () are annals of History of Ireland, 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 Luin� ...

in 781. Dál Riata was divided into a number of kingroups or dynasties, called ''cenéla'', among which was the

Cenél nGabráin The Cenél nGabráin was a kin group, 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 kingdom of Alba, Alba and of Scotland ...

Kintyre Kintyre (, ) 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 Loch Tarbert, Argyll, East and West Loch Tarbert, Argyll, West Loch Tarbert in t ...

, who claimed descent from Gabrán mac Domangairt, 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 bounda ...

, who claimed descent from Loarn mac Eirc. While the Irish origin of the Kings of Dál Riata is unquestionable, the links to the Irish nobility were likely exaggerated in later centuries to claim foundership of the kingdom in an effort to add legitimacy to the dynasties.

Kings of Dál Riata

Kings before the Battle of Mag Rath

Kings from Mag Rath to 741

Kings from the 740s onwards

Sources

The main sources for the kings of Dál Riata include: *The

*The

Annals of Tigernach The ''Annals of Tigernach'' (Abbreviation, abbr. AT, ) are chronicles probably originating in Clonmacnoise, Ireland. The language is a mixture of Latin language, Latin and Old Irish, Old and Middle Irish. Many of the pre-historic entries come f ...

*The Senchus Fer n-Alban *The Synchronisms of Flann Mainistrech of Monasterboice *The Duan Albanach * Adomnán of Iona's ''Life of Saint

Columba Columba () or Colmcille (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the important abbey ...

'' *A variety of genealogies for later kings of

Less reliable sources may include: *The Annals of Innisfallen *The

Chronicon Scotorum ''Chronicon Scotorum'', also known as ''Chronicum Scotorum'', is a medieval Irish chronicle. Overview According to Nollaig Ó Muraíle, it is "a collection of annals belonging to the ' Clonmacnoise group', covering the period from prehistoric ...

*The

Annals of the Four Masters The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' () or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' () are chronicles of Middle Ages, medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Genesis flood narrative, Deluge, dated as 2,242 Anno Mundi, years after crea ...

*The Annals of Clonmacnoise Interpretation of these sources remains problematic. Many entries which appear to refer to Dál Riata lack context, many persons named lack patronyms or other identifying bynames. There are many disagreements among sources. Some entries have been amended and expanded at a later time.

References

''For primary sources, see also the articles mentioned above and'' External links ''below'' * *Adomnán, ''Life of St Columba'', tr. & ed. Richard Sharpe. Penguin, London, 1995. * Anderson, Alan Orr, ''Early Sources of Scottish History A.D 500–1286'', volume 1. Reprinted with corrections. Paul Watkins, Stamford, 1990. * Bannerman, John, ''Studies in the History of Dalriada.'' Scottish Academic Press, Edinburgh, 1974. *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. * Broun, Dauvit, ''The Irish Identity of the Kingdom of the Scots in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries.'' Boydell, Woodbridge, 1999. *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. *Sharpe, Richard, "The thriving of Dalriada" in Simon Taylor (ed.), ''Kings, clerics and chronicles in Scotland 500–1297.'' Four Courts, Dublin, 2000.

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
''Annals of Clonmacnoise''
a