Áedán MAC GABRÁIN King of Dál-Riata (c.574-608)

   General Notes:

He was a contemporary of Saint Columba, and much that is recorded of his life and career comes from hagiography such as Adomnán of Iona's Life of Saint Columba. Áedán appears as a character in many Old Irish and Middle Irish language works of prose and verse, some now lost.

The Irish annals record Áedán's campaigns against his neighbours, in Ireland, and in northern Britain, including expeditions to the Orkney Islands, the Isle of Man, and the east coast of Scotland. As recorded by Bede, Áedán was decisively defeated by Æthelfrith of Bernicia at the Battle of Degsastan. Áedán may have been deposed, or have abdicated, following this defeat.

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He was served, probably, as a chief of the Gododdin Britons, commanding the lands around Aberfoyle, the region where he subsequently granted land to St. Berach for a monastery, and this capacity fought for the Britons in 573 in the Battle of Arfderydd.

He succeeded his 1st cousin, Conall I, to the throne of Dál Riata in 574. He was was crowned and anointed King of Scots Dalriada and Pendragon of the Celtic Isle (Aedàn Pen Draco Insularis) by (his 3rd cousin) St. Columba of Iona in 574 in Scotland. 6th King of Dál Riata between 574 and 16 April 608. He concluded an agreement with the High King of Ireland, Aed mac Ainmerech, in which Aedan retained authority, to tax and collect tribute, over the Dál Riatan peoples who still lived in the original homeland of Fergus in Ulster, but these Dál Riatans were ultimately answerable to the Irish High King for military support, showing the Dál Riatan kings, even in Scotland, were subject to some degree to the High Kings of Ireland, in 575 in Drumceat, Derry, Ireland. He undertook a raid on the Orkney Islands, otherwise the territory of the Picts and King Brude, whose piratical inhabitants, Norseman, were conducting raids on Dál Riatan territory, most likely Iona, in 580. He fought a series of skirmishes with the Picts under King Brude, and generally won the advantage, between 580 and 584. He defeated the Southern Picts, the Maeatae, in the battle which he lost two sons, Arthur and Eochaid Find, between 590 and 596 in the Battle of Miathi.

He was defeated by Aethelfrith, King of the North-Eastern kingdom of Bernicia, though both sides had heavy losses, and Aedan lost another son, Domangart in 603 in the Battle of Degsastan, Liddesdale, Lothian. He is said to have abdicated after his defeat at the hands of the Angles of Bernicia and retired to a monastery after 603 in Kilkerran.

   Marriage Information:

Áedán married Domelch FERCH MAELGWN of Gwynedd, Princess of the Picts, daughter of Maelgwn "Hir" (the Tall) AP CADWALLON King of Gwynedd (517-547) and INGEN GIROM Princess of the Picts. (Domelch FERCH MAELGWN of Gwynedd, Princess of the Picts was born about 525.)