Dúnchad mac Conaing (or Dúnchad mac Dubáin) (died 654) was king 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 ...
(modern western
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 ...
). He was joint ruler with
Conall Crandomna until he was defeated and killed by
Talorgan son of Eanfrith, king of the
Picts
The Picts were a group of peoples in what is now Scotland north of the Firth of Forth, in the Scotland in the early Middle Ages, Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and details of their culture can be gleaned from early medieval texts and Pic ...
, in the
Battle of Strathyre. Sources differ on Dúnchad's patronym and thus his presumed ancestry.
The death of Dúnchad mac Conaing in battle is reported in the
Annals of Tigernach in 654: "... there fell Dúnchad, son of Conaing, and Congal, son of Ronan". John Bannerman proposed that this Dúnchad was the same person as the Dúnchad or Dúngal who is found as joint ruler with Conall Crandomna. Dúnchad mac Conaing appears in the
Senchus fer n-Alban: "These are the sons of Conaing, son of
Áedán .i. Rigallán, Ferchar, Artán, Artúr, ''Dondchad'', Domungart, Nechtan, Ném, Crumíne.
However, the ''Synchronisms of
Flann Mainistrech'' list Dúnchad mac Dubáin as king, while the ''
Duan Albanach'' associated one Dúngal with Conall. Dubán may be a
hypocoristic form of Dub, and represent a byname ("little Black"). An alternative reconstruction made Dúnchad a descendant of Áedán mac Gabráin's passed-over brother Eoganán.
He is presumed to have had at least one son, Conall Cáel (died 681), and it is possible that he was the grandfather, or great-grandfather by some readings, of
Fiannamail ua Dúnchado and an ancestor of
Dúnchad Bec.
[Thus Bannerman, ''Studies'', and M.O. Anderson, ''Kings and Kingship'', Table C, p. 230. A.O. Anderson, ''ESSH'', p. 190, gives a very different version, criticised by M.O. Anderson, ''Kings and Kingship'', pp. 154–155.]
Notes
References
*
Anderson, Alan Orr, ''Early Sources of Scottish History A.D. 500 to 1286, volume one.'' Reprinted with corrections, Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1990.
*
Anderson, Marjorie Ogilvie, Kings and Kingship in Early Scotland. Scottish Academic Press, Edinburgh, revised edition 1980.
*
Bannerman, John, ''Studies in the History of Dalriada.'' Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1974.
External links
''Duan Albanach''a
Dunchad mac Conaing
Dunchad mac Conaing
7th-century Scottish monarchs
Year of birth unknown
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