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Birth:          ABT  545 Dunadd, Argyllshire, Dalriada/Scotland
Death:          ABT  608 Dunolly Castle, Argyllshire, Dalriada/Scotland

Notes
crowned by St. Columba
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jweber&id=I00243
The following article from "The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens" was 
supplied in an e-mail from Betty Knoche, BGKnoche AT aol.com:

Hi Jim

FYI - another note from our British Kings:

"Aedan was the first significant ruler of the Dal Riatan Scots and one of the most 
powerful rulers in sixth century Britain. Aedan probably had eyes on the succession 
even before the death of his cousin Conall, even though Conall's own son Donnchad 
and Aedan's brother Eoganan had prior claims. Aedan had set out to prove himself a 
powerful warlord. It is likely that he regained some of the territory in Gowrie gained by 
his father thirty years earlier by lost by Conall. Scant evidence suggests that he 
served as a chief of the Gododdin Britons for a few years prior to 574, commanding 
the lands around Aberfoyle, the region where he subsequently granted land to St 
Berach for a monastery. It was probably in this capacity that he was present at the 
battle of Arfderydd in 573, as has been suggested. After Conall's death a squabble 
broke out between the children of Conall and Gabhran over the succession that was 
finally settled by Columba. Columba preferred the more pacifist and learned Eoganan 
but, after a vision, in which Columba was scourged by an angel, he ordained Aedan as 
king. This was the first time that a Christian king was apparently selected and 
ordained by God. It was, in effect, the start of what later developed into the belief of 
the divine right of kings that caused the downfall of Charles I.

Early in Aedan's reign, in 575, the Irish high king, Aed mac Ainmerech, called a 
meeting at Drumceat in Derry to determine the position of the dal Riatan peoples who 
still lived in the original homeland of Fergus in Ulster. It was agreed that whilst Aedan 
retained authority over them, and could thus collect taxes and tribute, those people 
were ultimately answerable to the Irish high king for military support. It was a 
compromise, probably engineered by Columba, which clarified the authority of the 
respective kings and showed that the Dal Riatan rulers were still ultimately answerable 
to the Irish high king. It is pertinent that the ruling did not recognize any authority over 
Dal Riata of Baetan, the king of Ulster in which the territory fell, but instead showed a 
direct relationship between Aedan and the Irish high king. This gave Aedan 
considerable authority and doubtless aggravated the relationship between Aedan and 
Baetan. Although it is not recorded, it has been suggested that Baetan may have 
undertaken raids upon Dal Riatan territory in Kintyre and that over the next few years 
there were hostilities between the two factions. It is possible that a record in the 
annals in the year 582 refers to Aedan ejecting Baetan from the Isle of Man. Whether 
this means that Aedan extended his authority from that year to Man is not clear. By 
Aedan's reign the Pictish king, Brude, was old and had become more tolerant of his 
neighbours. It was nonetheless an affront by Aedan in 580 when he undertook a raid 
on the Orkneys, whose piratical inhabitants had no doubt been plundering Dal Riatan 
territory, most likely Iona. Although it is not recorded, it is likely that the Scots and the 
Picts must have clashed in numerous skirmishes and that Aedan generally won the 
advantage. It is possible that after Brude's death in 584, his successor, Gartnatt, was 
a son of Aedan's through his marriage with a Pictish princess. Although this may have 
given Aedan authority over the northern Picts, it had little effect over the southern 
Picts, or Maeta. In or around the year 590 Aedan was drawn into battle with them. 
although he won, he lost two of his sons, Artuir and Eochaid Find, a fact apparently 
predicted by Columba.

Aedan also turned his might against the British kingdoms of Alclud, ruled by 
Rhydderch Hen, and the Gododdin, ruled by Mynyddog, and these internecine 
squabbles almost certainly played into the hands of the Bernician Angles under 
Athelfrith who, by the late 590s, was seeking to extend his territory into the land 
between the Walls. In 603 Aedan led an army of Scots and Irish against the 
Bernicians at Degsastan, in Lothian. Although the Angles claimed the victory there 
were heavy losses on both sides, and Aedan lost another son, Domangart. The 
records suggest Aedan may have abdicated soon after this defeat and retired to a 
monastery at Kilkerran, where he died. His son Eochaid Buide had, apparently, already 
been nominated as his successor by Columba. Despite his failures, Aedan established 
Dal Riata as a major force in northern Britain."

[British Kings and Queens by Mark Ashley page 198-199]

Parents
MAC DOMANGART Gabran (Gavran) (Goranus) ("the Treacherous") (ABT  504 -  560)
OF BRECKNOCK Lleian (ABT  520 - )

Siblings
MAC GABRAN Aidan (Albanus) (ABT  545 - ABT  608)

Marriage To ----- ----- ()
    m.  

Notes


Children by ----- ----- 
BUIDE Eochaid (ABT  575 - ABT  630)

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