Bressal mac Áedo Róin
Bressal mac Áedo Róin (died 750) was a Dal Fiatach king of Ulaid, which is now Ulster, Ireland. He reigned from 749 to 750. He was the son of Áed Róin (died 735), a previous king.[1] This family had their base in modern County Down.
His father had been slain in battle in 735 by the high king Áed Allán (died 743) of the Cenél nEógain and the kingship of Ulaid passed to the rival Dal nAraide of southern County Antrim. However in 749 the Dal nAraide king of Ulaid Cathussach mac Ailello was killed at Ráith Beithech (Rathveagh, modern County Antrim) probably in the interest of the Dal Fiatach and Bressal became king.[2] Bressal himself was killed in 750 but the Dal Fiatach retained the kingship.[3]
The king list in the Book of Leinster places his reign immediately after his father's and state he ruled for one year. This is the chronology followed by the later and more synthetic Annals of the Four Masters which state that he was killed at Dun Celtchair (near Downpatrick).[4] The historian Professor Byrne believes that it is probable there was an interregnum in Ulaid between the reigns of Áed Róin and Bressal's brother Fiachnae mac Áedo Róin (died 789).[5]
Notes
References
- Annals of Ulster at at University College Cork
- Annals of the Four Masters at at University College Cork
- Byrne, Francis John (2001), Irish Kings and High-Kings, Dublin: Four Courts Press, ISBN 978-1-85182-196-9
- Charles-Edwards, T. M. (2000), Early Christian Ireland, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-36395-0
- Mac Niocaill, Gearoid (1972), Ireland before the Vikings, Dublin: Gill and Macmillan