14 King Amolngaid: Date of His Reign
The death of Amolngaid, king of Connaught, is not noticed in the Ann. Ult., but is recorded s.a. 449 in the Annals of the Four Masters, and must have been derived from older Annals. Probably it was given by Tigernach (this part of his work is not preserved), who generally records the changes in the succession in Connaught. We cannot indeed infer that A.D. 449 was the precise year designated in the source of the Four Masters, because at this period their dates are not very accurate, as can be shown by a comparison with the Annals of Ulster. But we can consider it as an approximation to the date assigned by the older Annals.
The extant lists of the kings of Connaught, from Amolngaid to Aed (son of Eochaid Tirmcharna), ob. A.D. 577, are hopelessly confused. The material which I have examined consists of (1) the names and dates in the Annals (Ann. Ult. and Tigernach); (2) List in Book of Leinster, 41a; (3) List in MS. Laud, 610, f. 116 rᵒ b; (4) (a) prose list, (b) poetical catalogue by O’Duinn, in Book of Ballymote, 57a, 58a. I owe the translation of O’Duinn’s poem to the kindness of Mr. E. J. Gwynn.
These sources generally agree (with the exception of 3, which seems to be worthless) that the three kings following Amolngaid were, in order, Ailill Molt, Duach, and Eogan Bel. It is in regard to Duach that the chief difficulty occurs, for he appears again in the lists as the second (or third) king after Eogan Bel. He was son of Fergus, and is distinguished as Tenga Uma, and is said to have fallen in the battle of Segais. The Annals give the date of the Battle of Segais as A.D. 502 (Ann. Ult., Ann. Inisf.) or 500 (Tigernach); but Tigernach has a notice of Duach Tenga Uma under 550 (p. 139, ed. Stokes), and of his death under 556 (as well as under 500). The list of O’Duinn distinguishes clearly two Duachs: Duach Galach, son of Brian, who succeeded Ailill Molt, and Duach son of Fergus, seventh in the list, who fell at the battle of Segais. (The list in the Book of Leinster also distinguishes the two Duachs, designating the first as Galach and the second as Tenga Uma).411 This would put the battle of Segais about 550. The earlier date of that battle must be accepted, as Muirchertach MacErca was the victor in it, and the notice of it in the Annals is undoubtedly independent of the lists of Connaught kings. It is also clear that there was a fixed tradition that Duach Tenga Uma fell at Segais, since O’Duinn, placing his reign at a later period, has to transfer the battle of Segais along with him. We may therefore conclude that Duach Tenga Uma preceded Eogan Bel, and fell in the battle of Segais A.D. 500/502. Now all the lists agree in giving to the first Duach, who succeeded Ailill Molt, nineteen or twenty years. This agrees with the circumstance that Ailill Molt fell in the battle of Ocha A.D. 482.
Eogan Bel, the sources consent, fell in the battle of Sligech. The date assigned to this battle in the Annals is A.D. 543 or 547 (both dates in Ann. Ult. and Tigernach). The length of his reign is given in the lists as thirty-seven (or thirty-four: the variation is obviously due to confusion of uII and IIII); which is not long enough for either of the obituary dates if he followed Duach in A.D. 500-2. Tigernach, however, s.a. 503, gives his regnal years as forty-two; which would be consistent with A.D. 543 for the battle of Sligech.
Ailill, the Womanly, Eogan Bel’s son and successor, was slain in the battle of Cuil Conaire, which is noticed in the Annals s.a. 550.
The remaining years up to A.D. 577, the year of Aed’s death, would be just accounted for by Eochaid Tirmcharna’s reign of one year and Aed’s reign of twenty-five years (twenty-two years in lists 2 and 4; a confusion here too of II and u). But at this point, after Ailill, occurs the repetition of Duach Tenga Uma: he appears in Tigernach as well as in the lists (except 4); and seven years are assigned to him. Further, the catalogue of O’Duinn inserts Eogan Srem between this second Duach and Eochaid Tirmcharna, and gives him twenty-seven years. Eogan Srem also appears in the prose list in the Book of Ballymote, but before Ailill.
If we take as fixed points the death of Ailill in 550 and that of Aed in 577, it is obvious that, even if Aed reigned only twenty-two years, there is no room for a second Duach and Eogan Srem in this period.
On the other hand, if we take the sum total of all the regnal years as given in O’Duinn’s poem up to Aed’s death, and reckon back from A.D. 577, we find that we are taken back to the neighbourhood of the death of king Dathi. It will be best to give O’Duinn’s list:—
| Amolngaid | reigned | 20 | years |
| Ailill Molt | ″ | 11 | ″ |
| Duach, son of Brian | ″ | 20 | ″ |
| Eogan | ″ | 37 | ″ |
| Ailill | ″ | 5 | ″ |
| Eogan Srem | ″ | 27 | ″ |
| Duach, son of Fergus | ″ | 7 | ″ |
| Eochaid | ″ | 1 | ″ |
| Aed | ″ | 25 | ″ |
| Total | 153 | ″ |
Reckoning back 153 years from A.D. 577, we reach A.D. 424. The date of Dathi’s death was A.D. 428, but if we take into account the conditions of such a calculation, where incomplete years may be set down as full years, the divergence might be consistent with the conclusion that the list was constructed on the initial assumption that Amolngaid succeeded Dathi in 428—which implies that Dathi was king of Connaught (but see below).
We can now see how the chronology was constructed in O’Duinn’s source. It will be simplest, for the purpose of criticism, to tabulate the dates (approximately) implied by that construction:—
| Amolngaid | ceased to reign | 444 |
| Ailill I. | ″ | 455 |
| Duach I. | ″ | 475 |
| Eogan I. | ″ | 512 |
| Ailill II. | ″ | 517 |
| Eogan II. | ″ | 544 |
| Duach II. | ″ | 551 |
| Eochaid | ″ | 552 |
| Aed | ″ | 577 |
These dates are entirely at variance with the chronology of the Annals. We are entitled to criticise them on the assumption that the dates of the Annals for the battles of Segais, Sligech, and Cuil Conaire are approximately correct. O’Duinn’s figures would place Segais c. 475 instead of 502 (or 500), Sligech c. 512 instead of 543 (or 547), Cuil Conaire c. 517 instead of 550. But if we omit from his list Eogan II. and Duach II., and then reckon back from 577, we get approximately dates assigned in the Annals to the second and third of these three battles, namely, 551 for Cuil Conaire, 546 for Sligech; while the contradiction between the duration of Eogan Bel’s reign and the date of Segais is the same here as in the other sources. If Segais was fought in 502 and Sligech in 546/7, and Eogan Bel reigned thirty-seven years, then seven or eight years are left unaccounted for, and the reign of the second Duach serves to fill this interval. But there is no room for Eogan Srem between the battle of Segais and the death of Aed.
Again, if we take Duach I.’s death at Segais in 502 as a fixed point, and reckon backward with O’Duinn’s figures, we find 482 for the accession of Duach I., 471 for the accession of Ailill Molt, and 451 for the accession of Amolngaid. If Amolngaid followed Dathi in 428, this would imply an error of about twenty-four years.
We have now the clue to the construction of O’Duinn’s list. A period of c. 153 years from the accession of Amolngaid to the death of Aed had to be accounted for. The recorded regnal years were insufficient, and the defect was supplied by an impossible interpolation in the sixth century, whereas it was in the fifth century, in the period anterior to Duach, that the supplement was chiefly needed. Having established this point, we need not consider further the succession of kings subsequent to Duach Tenga Uma.
It is clear that there was a definite tradition assigning to Amolngaid twenty years, to Ailill Molt eleven years, and Duach twenty years; and that the chronologer, whom O’Duinn followed, did not venture to tamper with these numbers in order to account for the missing years. As for Ailill Molt, twenty years are assigned to him in the list in the Book of Leinster. But this may be at once rejected; for twenty years represent the duration of his reign as king of Ireland (462-482), and it is highly improbable that the throne of Connaught became vacant at the same moment as the throne of Ireland. Accepting then eleven years as the genuine tradition, he must have succeeded to Connaught c. 471, as he died in 482, and there is no reason to suppose that he resigned the kingship of Connaught before his death. The interval from 482 to 502 is exactly covered by the twenty years assigned to Duach Tenga Uma. If Amolngaid followed Dathi in 428 and reigned for twenty years, the end of his reign would fall c. 448, which would correspond to the record in the Annals of the Four Masters (449). Thus we should arrive at an interval of about twenty-four years between Amolngaid’s death and Ailill Molt’s succession (448-471), which is unaccounted for. [The confusion of Ailill Molt’s regnal years in Connaught with his twenty regnal years in Ireland served to shorten this period by nine years; and in the list of the Book of Leinster the residue of the chronological error is “corrected” by adding fourteen years to the reign of Amolngaid, to whom thirty-four years are assigned.]
The question therefore is, who reigned in Connaught between Amolngaid and Ailill Molt? Now I think it can hardly be insignificant that in the Annals as well as in the lists Duach Tenga Uma is reduplicated. This must have had some motive, and the most probable explanation seems to be that two Duachs did reign in Connaught, and that O’Duinn is right in distinguishing Duach son of Brian from Duach son of Fergus, though he confuses the order and chronology. For it is clear that he had knowledge of Duach Galach son of Brian, whom he describes as falling in battle with the Cinel Eogain. His notice of this king is as follows (I use the text and translation furnished by Mr. E. J. Gwynn):—
| Duach mac Briain abus XX bliadan a flaithus, fuair a brath, ba tennel tair, ’sa cath re ceinel Eogain. | Duach son of Brian next was sovereign 20 years; he met his betrayal—he was a prince in the east—in battle with the cinel Eogain. |
| Ced ri cloindi Briain na mbladh Duach galach gargg dargiallsad, bladh don duine os gach dine gurgab uile in airdrige. | The first of the family of Brian the famed was Duach valiant (Galach) fierce to whom men gave obedience; fame the man had beyond all generations so that he took the entire overkingship. |
| secht oshein rochuala secht ndeich da bliadan buadha co Seagais in Coraind cain co har Conaill is Eogain. | 77 years from thence I have heard years of victory to Segais of fair Corand to the battle of Conall and Eogan. |
The last stanza presents a difficulty. The battle of Segais was not the “battle of Conall and Eogan,” so that the preposition co “to” either in v. 3 or in v. 4 must be a mistake for ó “from.” O’Curry, in his Manuscript Material, refers to this poem, and evidently assumes that ó should be read in v. 4; for he infers that the battle in which Duach son of Brian was killed was fought 79 [sic] years before the battle of Segais (which he dates A.D. 504 after the Four Masters), thus obtaining 425 for Duach’s death, and placing his reign before Amolngaid.
Now it is to be observed that the 77 years exactly correspond to the sum total of the regnal years between the death of the first Duach and that of the second Duach, according to O’Duinn’s own incorrect arrangement (37 + 5 + 27 + 7 = 76). The question therefore arises: is the statement as to the period of 77 years an inference from the arrangement, or is the arrangement determined by an independent record that 77 years elapsed between the two battles in question? The former alternative seems less probable; for it does not appear why this particular interval, if it were only an inference from the arrangement, should be selected for special mention. It seems much more probable that (as is suggested by the expression “I have heard”) the stanza embodies a tradition independent of this particular reconstruction of the regnal list. If so, O’Curry’s inference was correct, and we get (502 - 77 =) 425 as the date of the battle in which Duach MacBriain fell. There would be no difficulty in this date for Duach’s death; his father, Brian, was son of Eochaid and brother of Niall; he was himself cousin of Loigaire and Amolngaid.412 In this case, one of the causes of the contradictions in the Connaught succession was a confusion of the Duach who reigned towards the beginning of the fifth century with the Duach who reigned at the end.
If then the first Duach died c. 425, it seems probable that he was succeeded by Amolngaid. There seems to be no clear evidence that Dathi was king of Connaught while he was king of Ireland. It is stated in the Genealogy of the Hy Fiachrach (p. 90) that he ruled Connaught and Ireland. It is quite conceivable that he was king of Connaught before 405, and that in that year he secured the succession to the throne of Ireland by agreeing to transfer the kingship of Connaught to his cousin Duach. The hypothesis that Amolngaid immediately followed Duach c. 425 is supported by two considerations.
1. Provisionally assuming, for the purpose of the argument, that Amolngaid might have succeeded Dathi, I pointed out that the sum total of regnal years in O’Duinn’s list, from Amolngaid’s accession to Aed’s death, would take us back to the close neighbourhood of Dathi’s death in 428. But there is actually a difference of four years (577 - 153 = 424). If Amolngaid succeeded Duach in 424/5, we may say that the agreement of this date with the total of years in O’Duinn’s reckoning is precise.
2. On this hypothesis we are able to solve the main problem—the interval between Amolngaid and Ailill Molt.
For if Amolngaid succeeded in 424/5, and reigned 20 years, his death would fall in 444/5. There would consequently be an interval of 26 or 27 years between his death and the accession of Ailill Molt in 471. Now if Duach mac Briain had a son, we might expect to find him elected to the throne. The prose list in the Book of Ballymote designates Eogan Srem as the son of Duach Galach (that is, Duach mac Briain); and the regnal years assigned to Eogan Srem in O’Duinn’s poem are precisely the number required to fill up the interval between Amolngaid and Ailill Molt. The inference therefore would be that Amolngaid was followed by Eogan, Duach’s son, c. 444/5.
In order to show the force of the argument, I may say, at the risk of tautology, that it consists of three converging considerations. (a) Eogan Srem is introduced, in the lists in the Book of Ballymote, among the Kings of Connaught in the sixth century in defiance of chronology. His appearance in these lists has to be explained, and is most naturally explained by supposing that he was at one time King of Connaught, though not at the time implied in the lists. If the conclusion is right that Duach mac Briain died in 425, then his son Eogan Srem must be moved back into the fifth century. (b) The 27 regnal years assigned to Eogan Srem exactly occupy the vacant interval between Amolngaid and Ailill Molt. (c) The succession of Eogan Srem, son of Amolngaid’s predecessor, is just what we might expect; it is exactly parallel to the successions in the fifth century to the throne of Ireland. Thus: Niall, Dathi, Loigaire son of Niall; Dathi, Loigaire, Ailill son of Dathi; Loigaire, Ailill, Lugaid son of Loigaire.
These considerations seem to me to outweigh the circumstance that Amolngaid’s death is assigned in the Annals of the Four Masters to A.D. 449. It would be otherwise if the date were recorded in the Annals of Ulster. But a comparison of the Four Masters with the other Annals shows that the former compilation constantly deviates by several years, and, for the early period at least, a date which is found only in it, cannot be accepted as accurate with any confidence.
I have presented this investigation so as to show the steps by which I reached the conclusion, as I believe that thus it will be easier to criticise it. The reconstruction which I propose seems at least to satisfy the conditions of the problem. It may be convenient to tabulate the list of the kings, in accordance with these results, as follows:—
| Duach Galach, mac Briain | d. 424/5 |
| Amolngaid | d. 444/5. |
| Eogan Srem, son of Duach | d. 471. |
| Ailill Molt | d. 482. |
| Duach Tenga Uma | d. 502. |