Domnall mac Áeda

Domnall mac Áeda (died 915) was a King of Ailech. He was a son of Áed Findliath mac Néill, High King of Ireland. Domnall was a half-brother of Niall Glúndub mac Áeda, a man with whom he shared the kingship of Ailech.

Family

He was a member of the Cenél nEógain branch of the Uí Néill dynasty.^[1] His father was Áed Findliath mac Néill, High King of Ireland (died 879).^[2] Another son of Áed Findliath, and half-brother of Domnall himself, was Niall Glúndub (died 919).^[3] Domnall and Niall Glúndub shared the kingship of Ailech for several years.^[4] In 905, the two are reported to have prepared to fight a duel before coming to an understanding.^[5] In 908, the men campaigned against in Meath against the rival Clann Cholmáin branch of the Uí Néill.^[6]

Life and death

Domnall's son, Flann, died in 906.^[7] Domnall retired to a monastic life in 911,^[8] after which Niall Glúndub ruled as sole King of Ailech.^[9] Domnall died on 21 March 915.^[10] The deaths of Domnall, as well as those of his father and half-brother, are recorded by the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba.^[11] The notice of Domnall's death in this source has cause confusion in regards to the historiography of the Kingdom of Strathclyde. Specifically, Domnall's obituary is placed immediately after that of Dyfnwal, King of the Britons (died 908×915). The fact that the chronicle renders Domnall's kingdom as elig, a term which can be mistakenly interpreted as an abbreviation of eligitur ("he was selected"), has led to the erroneous belief that the ruling Alpínid dynasty of Alba had inserted a member of its own—an otherwise unknown brother of Custantín mac Áeda, King of Alba (died 952) named Domnall^[12]—to succeed the deceased Dyfnwal.^[13]

Citations

1. Hudson (1998) p. 157 n. 40.
2. Hudson (2004a); Hudson (2004b); Hudson (1998) p. 157 n. 40.
3. Hudson (2004b); Hudson (2002) p. 37; Hudson (1994) p. 71.
4. Hudson (2004b).
5. Hudson (2004b); Hudson (1996) p. 148.
6. Hudson (2004b); Hudson (1996) pp. 148–149.
7. Byrne (2008) p. 859.
8. Byrne (2008) p. 859; Hudson (1998) p. 157 n. 40.
9. Hudson (1996) p. 148.
10. Byrne (2008) p. 859; Hudson (2004a); Hudson (1998) p. 157 n. 40; Hudson (1996) p. 148; Hudson (1994) p. 71.
11. Broun (2004); Hudson (2002) p. 37; Dumville (2000) p. 77; Hudson (1998) pp. 140, 150, 150 n. 23, 157, 157 n. 40; Broun (1997) pp. 118–119 n. 35; Hudson (1994) p. 71; Anderson (1922) pp. 445–446; Skene (1867) p. 9.
12. Woolf (2007) p. 157.
13. McGuigan (2015) p. 137; Woolf (2007) p. 157; Broun (2004); Hudson (1998) pp. 140, 150, 150 n. 23, 157, 157 n. 40.

References

Primary sources

• Anderson, AO, ed. (1922). Early Sources of Scottish History, A.D. 500 to 1286. Vol. 1. London: Oliver and Boyd – via Internet Archive.
• Hudson, BT (1998). "'The Scottish Chronicle'". Scottish Historical Review. 77 (2): 129–161. doi:10.3366/shr.1998.77.2.129. eISSN 1750-0222. ISSN 0036-9241. JSTOR 25530832 – via JSTOR. (subscription required (help)).
• Skene, WF, ed. (1867). Chronicles of the Picts, Chronicles of the Scots, and Other Early Memorials of Scottish History. Edinburgh: H.M. General Register House – via Internet Archive.

Secondary sources

• Broun, D (1997). "Dunkeld and the Origin of Scottish Identity". The Innes Review. 48 (2): 112–124. doi:10.3366/inr.1997.48.2.112. eISSN 1745-5219. ISSN 0020-157X.
• Broun, D (2004). "Constantine II (d. 952)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/6115. Retrieved 13 June 2016. (subscription required (help)).
• Byrne, FJ (2008) [2005]. "Ireland Before the Battle of Clontarf". In Ó Cróinín, D. Prehistoric and Early Ireland. New History of Ireland (series vol. 1). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 852–861. ISBN 978-0-19-821737-4.
• Dumville, D (2000). "The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba". In Taylor, S. Kings, Clerics and Chronicles in Scotland, 500–1297: Essays in Honour of Marjorie Ogilvie Anderson on the Occasion of Her Ninetieth Birthday. Dublin: Four Courts Press. pp. 73–86. ISBN 1-85182-516-9 – via Google Books.
• Hudson, BT (1994). Kings of Celtic Scotland. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-29087-3. ISSN 0885-9159 – via Questia. (subscription required (help)).
• Hudson, BT (1996). Prophecy of Berchán: Irish and Scottish High-Kings of the Early Middle Ages. Contributions to the Study of World History (series vol. 54). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-29567-0. ISSN 0885-9159 – via Google Books.
• Hudson, BT (2002). "The Scottish Gaze". In McDonald, R. History, Literature, and Music in Scotland, 700–1560. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. pp. 29–59. ISBN 0-8020-3601-5 – via Google Books.
• Hudson, BT (2004a). "Áed mac Néill (d. 879)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/50072. Retrieved 15 August 2016. (subscription required (help)).
• Hudson, BT (2004b). "Niall mac Áeda [Niall Glúndub] (c.869–919)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/20077. Retrieved 15 August 2016. (subscription required (help)).
• McGuigan, N (2015). Neither Scotland nor England: Middle Britain, c.850–1150 (PhD thesis). University of St Andrews – via Research@StAndrews:FullText.
• Woolf, A (2007). From Pictland to Alba, 789–1070. The New Edinburgh History of Scotland (series vol. 2). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978 0 7486 1233 8.