DALRIADA

Also called Dál Riata.

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PERIODISATION AND TERMS

People from Ireland (Ulster) settled western Scotland not later than about AD 500, perhaps earlier. Sources older than AD 1000, at any rate, begin agreeing around AD 500, at the time of Fergus Mór son of Erc, a minor Irish king who apparently was the first of the Dál Riata to rule from Scotland. Although their presence in two regions assures them this entry in the Polities FAQ, the Dalriadans were rarely of real importance before AD 700. The main exceptions are their military victories under Aedán, which were later more than compensated by his and his grandson Domnall Brecc's defeats (these apparently led to the loss of the Irish territories); and their patronage of the monastery at Iona where Columba (Colum Cille, c 521 - 597) and Adomnán (c 624 - 709) were abbots. The later dynasty which founded Alba (Scotland) claimed descent from the Dalriadan kings.

Comgall            ? 507 - ? 538                  Erc
Gabrán             ? 538 - c 558                   |
Conall             c 558 -   574               FERGUS MÓR
Aedán                574 - ? 608                   |
Eochaid Buide      ? 608 -   629               DOMANGART
Domnall Brecc        629 -   642   ----------------+--------------
Ferchar            ? 636 - c 650   COMGALL                  GABRÁN
Conall Crandomna   c 650 - c 660   |                             |
? Dúnchad          c 650 - ? 660   CONALL                    AEDÁN
Domangart          c 660 - c 673   |                             |
Maelduin           c 673 - c 689   CONNAD CERR       EOCHAID BUIDE
                                   |        ---------------------+----------
                                   FERCHAR  DOMNALL BRECC   CONALL CRANDOMNA
                                            |                    |
                                            DOMANGART       MAELDUIN
                                            :
                                            Kings of Alba

Treatments of the Scots usually also deal with the Picts because so much of the evidence is shared. Without any further discussion of the Picts here, I'll anyway present some of the major Pictish kings. This list like the material above relies on Anderson (cited below).

Bridei son of Maelcon        ? 556 - ? 586
Gartnart son of Domelch      ? 586 - ? 597
?Necta son of Uerb           ? 597 - ? 617
Cinioch son of Luitrin       ? 617 -   631
Talorc son of Uuid             641 -   653
Bredei son of Bili             671 -   692
Bredei son of Derelei          696 - ? 706

It is not particularly clear whether the concept of a royal capital is meaningful for these kingdoms this early; anyway, there doesn't seem to be agreed evidence as to where any given king's capital was. Dunadd is sometimes thought to have been a Dalriadan capital.

INTRODUCTORY

The Picts and the Scots. Lloyd and Jenny Laing. Stroud, Gloucestershire and Dover, New Hampshire: Alan Sutton, 1993. A wide-ranging introduction, well illustrated and clearly written.

RESEARCH

Kings and Kingship in Early Scotland. Marjorie O. Anderson. Edinburgh and London: Scottish Academic Press, 1980. (Revised edition, original 1973; the revisions are not extensive.) A highly technical monograph on the literary sources. (For archaeology, see the references under Scotland.) Includes the texts of many of these sources, and a fairly detailed discussion (pages 119-201) of what can be learnt from them. Main source for the above information. Remains the standard reference.

See also Irish Kings and High-Kings, cited under Ireland, for further information on the Dál Riata in Ireland.

Created October 21, 1997. Last updated February 15, 2001 (but only by removing a broken link). Next due for full update July 27, 2002.

Reviewed by old-irish-list (but without any comments received).

URL: <http://turing.postilion.org/these-survive/polity/dalriada.html>

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