Áed Allán

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Áed Allán
King of Ailech
Reign	722 – 743
Predecessor	Fergal mac Máele Dúin
Successor	Niall Frossach mac Fergaile
Died	743

Áed Allán (or Áed mac Fergaile) (died 743) was an 8th-century Irish

.

Fergal was killed, along with many others, at the battle of Almain, in 722. This battle had been fought against Murchad mac Brain of the

).

The chief requirement of a would-be High King was success in battle, and Áed Allán faced the

Conailli Muirthemne

.

In 737, Áed Allán met with the Eóganachta king Cathal mac Finguine at Terryglass, probably neutral ground not within the control of either king. Byrne says that it is unlikely that Cathal, king of Munster, acknowledged Áed Allán's authority — the Uí Néill had little enough influence in the south — but if Cathal had expected some benefit from the meeting, where he perhaps acknowledged the ecclesiastical supremacy of Armagh, he was to be disappointed. However, the clerics of Armagh may have been well satisfied as the Annals of Ulster, in the entry following that which reports the meeting of Áed Allán and Cathal, say that the law of Patrick was in force in Ireland. This presumably means that Áed Allán and Cathal agreed to the special treatment of the church, its lands and its tenants, as prescribed by the law of Patrick.

In 738, Áed Allán fought against the armies of Leinster at the

as, for almost three centuries after the battle of Áth Senaig, the Uí Dúnlainge dominated the kingship of Leinster. Áed Allán died in 743, in battle at Seredmag, defeated by Domnall Midi of Clann Cholmáin. The Annals quote a verse supposedly composed by Áed Allán on the day of battle:

If my dear God had spared me
On the shore of Loch Sailchedáin,
Were I to commit sin thereafter,
It would have been like giving valuables to a slave.

Áed Allán was succeeded as High King by Domnall Midi. According to some lists Niall Frossach followed him as King of Ailech, but others disagree. Flaithbertach's son Áed Muinderg is called rí in Tuaisceart—King of the North, a title apparently meaning that he was acknowledged as chief ruler among the northern Uí Néill and perhaps as Domnall Midi's deputy—at his death in 764. His son Máel Dúin mac Áedo Alláin (died 788) later became king of Ailech.

References

• Byrne, Francis John, Irish Kings and High-Kings. Batsford, London, 1973.
  ISBN 0-7134-5882-8
• Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí, Early Medieval Ireland: 400–1200. Longman, London, 1995.
  ISBN 0-582-01565-0

External links

• CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts at University College Cork The Corpus of Electronic Texts includes the Annals of Ulster, Tigernach and the Four Masters as well as Genealogies, and various Saints' Lives. Most are translated into English, or translations are in progress.
• Fergal's Prophecy by Dan M. Wiley.