Eochaid Buide 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 ...
from around 608 until 629. "Buide" refers to the colour yellow, as in the colour of his hair.
He was a younger son of
Áedán mac Gabráin
Áedán mac Gabráin (; ), 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 parts of County Antrim, Ireland. Genealogies record that Áe ...
and became his father's chosen heir upon the death of his elder brothers.
Adomnán
Adomnán or Adamnán of Iona (; , ''Adomnanus''; 624 – 704), also known as Eunan ( ; from ), was an abbot of Iona Abbey ( 679–704), hagiographer, statesman, canon jurist, and Christian saint, saint. He was the author of the ''Life ...
's ''Life of Saint Columba'' has
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 ...
foresee that Eochaid, then a child, will succeed his father in preference to his adult brothers Artúr, Eochaid Find and Domangart.
[Adomnán, ''Life of St Columba'', (Sharpe, Richard, ed.) 1995, London: Penguin, I, 9 ]
In 616, Eochaid Buide gave shelter to
Acha of Deira
Acha of Deira was a princess of Deira, and the daughter of Ælla of Deira. Her brother was Edwin of Northumbria, and her grandfather was Yffe but apart from him, her earlier origin is unknown.
Biography
She married Æthelfrith, king of Berni ...
and her children after her husband
Æthelfrith
Æthelfrith (died ) was King of Bernicia from c. 593 until his death around 616 AD at the Battle of the River Idle. He became the first Bernician king to also rule the neighboring land of Deira, giving him an important place in the developme ...
was killed at the
Battle of the River Idle
The Battle of the River Idle was a major victory for Rædwald of East Anglia over Æthelfrith of Northumbria in 616 in what is now Nottinghamshire.
Background
Æthelfrith was King of Bernicia from c. 593. Around 604 under unknown circumstanc ...
, fighting her brother,
Edwin of Northumbria
Edwin (; c. 586 – 12 October 632/633), also known as Eadwine or Æduinus, was the King of Deira and Bernicia – which later became known as Northumbria – from around 616 until his death. He was the second monarch to rule bo ...
. While at his court, they adopted Christianity. When Acha's sons returned to reclaim the kingdom at the
Battle of Heavenfield
The Battle of Heavenfield was fought in 633 or 634 between a Northumbrian army under Oswald of Bernicia and a Welsh army under Cadwallon ap Cadfan of Gwynedd. The battle resulted in a decisive Northumbrian victory. The ''Annales Cambriae'' (An ...
, they brought Christianity with them. Her daughter
Æbbe established a double monastery at Coldingham.
["Princess Aebbe", DigVentures]
/ref>
In the last two years of his reign, 627–629, Eochaid was apparently co-ruler with Connad Cerr, who predeceased him. Eochaid was followed by his son Domnall Brecc
Domnall Brecc (Welsh: ''Dyfnwal Frych''; English: ''Donald the Freckled'') (died 642 in Strathcarron) was king of Dál Riata, in modern Scotland, from about 629 until 642. He was the son of Eochaid Buide. He was counted as Donald II of Scotland ...
.
Eochaid's other sons named by the Senchus fer n-Alban are Conall Crandomna, Failbe (who died at the Battle of Fid Eoin), Cú-cen-máthair (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 ...
for 604), Conall Bec, Connad or Conall Cerr (who may be the same person as Connad Cerr who died at Fid Eoin), Failbe, Domangart and Domnall Donn (not the same person as Domnall Donn
Domnall Donn (died 696) was king of Dál Riata (modern western Scotland). He was a son of Conall Crandomna.
His death is reported by the Annals of Ulster, but without mention of a title. He is among the kings named by the Duan Albanach, followin ...
unless his obituary is misplaced by 45 years like that of Ferchar mac Connaid)
According to the ''Fled Dúin na nGéd'', Eochaid Buide was the grandfather of Congal Cáech. The story has anachronistic features as it has Eochaid alive at the time of the battle of Mag Rath (securely dated to within a year of 637), but it is chronologically feasible that Congal Cáech could have been the son of Eochaid's daughter if the identification of Cú-cen-máthair and the dating of his death is correct.
References
Sources
* 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.
External links
CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts
a
University College Cork
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:Eochaid Buide
6th-century births
629 deaths
Kings of Dál Riata
7th-century Irish monarchs
7th-century Scottish monarchs