Domnall Brecc
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The Rest of the Story: The Ancestors of Sarah May Paddock Otstott
See also
Domnall 's father: Eochu Buide ( -630?)

Domnall Brecc ( -642?)

Name: Domnall Brecc 1
Sex: Male
Nickname: Donald the Freckled
Father: Eochu Buide ( -630?)
Mother: -

Individual Events and Attributes

Occupation frm 0629 to 0642 King of Dalriada
Death 0642 (app)

Additional Information

Death Cause: kiled in the battle of Strathcarron

Marriage

Spouse (unknown)
Children Domongart MAC DOMNAILL ( - )

Individual Note

Domnall Brecc (Welsh: Dyfnwal Frych; English: Donald the Freckled) (d. 642 in Strathcarron) was king of Dál Riata, in modern Scotland, from about 629 until 642. He was the son of Eochaid Buide.

 

He first appears in 622, when the Annals of Tigernach report his presence at the battle of Cend Delgthen (probably in the east midlands of Ireland) as an ally of Conall Guthbinn of Clann Cholmáin. This is the only battle known where Domnall Brecc fought on the winning side.

 

Domnall suffered four defeats after he broke Dál Riata's alliance with the Cenél Conaill clan of the Uí Néill. In Ireland, Domnall and his ally Congal Cáech of the Dál nAraidi were defeated by Domnall mac Áedo of the Cenél Conaill, the High King of Ireland, at the Battle of Mag Rath (Moira, County Down) in 637. He also lost to the Picts in 635 and 638 and lastly to Eugein I of Alt Clut at Strathcarron in 642, where he was killed.

 

A stanza interpolated into the early 9th Century Welsh poem Y Gododdin refers to these events:

 

I saw an array that came from Pentir,

And bore themselves splendidly around the conflagration.

I saw a second one, rapidly descending from their township,

Who had risen at the word of the grandson of Nwython.[1]

I saw great sturdy men who came with the dawn,

And the head of Dyfnwal Frych, ravens gnawed it.

 

Domnall's son Domangart mac Domnaill was later to be king of Dál Riata and from him the later kings of the Cenél nGabráin were descended. A second son, Cathasach, died c. 650, and a grandson of Domnall, also called Cathasach, died c. 688.

 

NOTES:

Eugein was the grandson of Nwython (Neithon).

 

SOURCES:

Anderson, Alan Orr, Early Sources of Scottish History A.D 500–1286, volume 1. Reprinted with corrections. Paul Watkins, Stamford, 1990. ISBN 1-871615-03-82

Sources

1Weis, Frederick Lewis & Sheppard, Walter Lee, Jr, "Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America before 1700: Lineages from Alfred the Great, Charlemagne, Malcolm of Scotland, Robert the Strong, and other Historical Individuals". p 161, 170-7.
2"Wikipedia". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domnall_Brecc.