Báetán mac Ninneda

Báetán mac Ninneda (died 586) was an Irish king of the Cenél Conaill, a sept of the northern Uí Néill. He was the son of Ninnid mac Duach (flourished 561-563) and great grandson of Conall Gulban (died 464). [Byrne, Table 4; Appendix IV; Mac Niocaill, pg.81] He was a member of the Cenél nDuach branch of the Cenél Conaill. He is counted as High King of Ireland in some sources.

The high kingship of Ireland rotated between the Cenél nEógain and Cenél Conaill branches in the late 6th century. [Charles-Edwards, pg.494-495] It is difficult to disentagle the reign of Báetánfrom that of his younger 2cd cousin Áed mac Ainmuirech (died 598). Various lengths are given to the reign of Áed in the kinglists all of which would put the start of his reign before the death of Báetán. [Charles-Edwards, pg.487] . Both kings are omitted fron the "Baile Chuinn", the earliest Irish king list of the late 7th century, but this was probably a partisan document. [Charles-Edwards, pg.491] It is possible that Báetán was not actually high king but was given this position by the synthetic historians to explain away the rule of Báetán mac Cairill (died 581) of the Dal Fiatach of Ulster as high king. [Byrne, pg.114] The kinglists only assign him a reign of one year. Whether Báetán was king of Tara or not, the real effective power among the northern Ui Neill from 572 was Áed mac Ainmuirech. [Mac Niocaill, pg.72]

His death is recorded in the annals in 586 when he was killed at Léim in Eich at the instigation of Colmán Bec (died 587), the southern Ui Neill king of Uisnech who was making a bid for the high kingship. ["Annals of Ulster", AU 586.1; "Annals of Tigernach", AT 584.1; Mac Niocaill, pg.80] The annals give him the title King of Tara.

Notes

References

* "Annals of Ulster" at [http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100001A/index.html] at [http://www.ucc.ie/ University College Cork]
* "Annals of Tigernach" at [http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G100002/index.html] at [http://www.ucc.ie/ 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