498 CE - Birth of Scottish Dal Riada

by Cinaet Scotach

The Birth of the Kingdom of Scottish Dal Riada took place circa 498 A.D. when Fergus Mor MacErc moved the royal seat of Irish Dal Riada to Dunnadd in Argyll on the west coast of Alba. The name Dal Riada means Riada's share. According to the traditional Irish genealogies, Cairbre Riada, the son of Conaire and grandson of Conn Ceadchathach (Conn of the Hundred Battles), led his people out of Munster and north to Antrim where their own land was founded...Dal Riada.

Irish Dal Riada was caught between the powerful Ui Neill's on one side and the Dal nAraide (Cruthin) on the other. With these two powerful and warlike neighbors, the only avenue for expansion was over the twelve mile stretch of the North Channel and into Alba. Over the years, several groups of Irish settled in Northern Briton, and some even in the south. All were either eradicated in one way or another or assimilated into the indigenous cultures over time. The only Irish settlement to withstand the test of time was the Dal Riada, who had been occupying the territory for as long as 100 years before Fergus Mor MacErc moved his throne to Dunnadd.

Very little is known about the early Kingdom of Scottish Dal Riada or its first King Fergus. It is believed that Fergus's father Erc MacEochaid and possibly his older brother held the throne before him in Ireland. Erc died in 474, leaving a space of 24 years unaccounted for in the Kings lists. Most historians feel that it could have been held by Fergus's older brother Loarn MacErc. Fergus died in 501 A.D.. In some later accounts it is said that he was killed by his followers. He was followed on the throne by his son Domangart MacFergus.

Sources:

Alba of the Ravens, John Marsden, Constable and Company Limited, (c)1997, ISBN 0-09-4774307

Picts Gaels and Scots, Sally Foster, B.T. Batsford Ltd., (c)1996, ISBN 0-7134-7485-8

The Age of the Picts, W.A. Cummins, Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd., (c) 1995, ISBN 0-7509-0924-2

prepared by Cinaet Scotach

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