Dúnchad mac Conaing (died 654) was king of Dál Riata

Dál Riata

Dál Riata was a Gaelic overkingdom on the western coast of Scotland with some territory on the northeast coast of Ireland...

 (modern western Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

). He was joint ruler with Conall Crandomna

Conall Crandomna

Conall Crandomna was king of Dál Riata from about 650 until 660.The Senchus fer n-Alban makes him a son of Eochaid Buide and thus a member of the Cenél nGabráin. The Duan Albanach has him succeed Ferchar mac Connaid of the Cenél Comgaill, which had not yet separated from the Cenél nGabráin...

 until he was defeated and killed by Talorcan

Talorcan of the Picts

Talorcan mac Enfret was a King of the Picts . He was the son of Eanfrith of Bernicia, who had fled into exile among the Picts after his father, Æthelfrith of Northumbria, was killed around the year 616...

, king of the Picts

Picts

The Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval people living in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. There is an association with the distribution of brochs, place names beginning 'Pit-', for instance Pitlochry, and Pictish stones. They are recorded from before the Roman conquest...

, in the battle of Strath Ethairt. 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

Annals of Tigernach

The Annals of Tigernach is a chronicle probably originating in Clonmacnoise, Ireland. The language is a mixture of Latin and Old and Middle Irish....

 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

Senchus fer n-Alban

The Senchus Fer n-Alban is an Old Irish medieval text, believed to have been compiled in the 10th century. It may have been derived from earlier documents of the 7th century which are presumed to have been written in Latin...

: "These are the sons of Conaing, son of Áedán

Áedán mac Gabráin

Áedán mac Gabráin was a king of Dál Riata from circa 574 until his death, perhaps on 17 April 609. The kingdom of Dál Riata was situated in modern Argyll and Bute, Scotland, and parts of County Antrim, Ireland...

 .i. Rigallán, Ferchar, Artán, Artúr, Dondchad, Domungart, Nechtan, Ném, Crumíne.

However, the Synchronisms of Flann Mainistrech

Flann Mainistrech

Flann Mainistrech was an Irish poet and historian.Flann was the son Echthigern mac Óengusso, who had been lector at the monastery of Monasterboice , in Irish Mainistir Buite, whence Flann's byname, meaning "of Monasterboice"...

list Dúnchad mac Dubáin as king, while the Duan Albanach

Duan Albanach

The Duan Albanach is a Middle Gaelic poem found with the Lebor Bretnach, a Gaelic version of the Historia Brittonum of Nennius, with extensive additional material ....

associated one Dúngal with Conall. Dubán may be a hypocoristic

Hypocoristic

A hypocorism is a shorter form of a word or given name, for example, when used in more intimate situations as a nickname or term of endearment.- Derivation :Hypocorisms are often generated as:...

 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

Fiannamail ua Dúnchado

Fiannamail ua Dúnchado was a king of Dál Riata at the end of the 8th century, and a king about whom nothing can be said with certainty other than the fact of his death around 700 by violence....

 and an ancestor of Dúnchad Bec

Dúnchad Bec

Dúnchad Bec was king of Kintyre in the early 8th century.Dúnchad Bec is too late to have been included in the Senchus Fer n-Alban, which includes kings to the first half of the 7th century. He is also unknown to later genealogies. He is named from two entries in the Annals of Ulster...

.

External links

• Duan Albanach at CELT (translated)