Alpín
mac Ech[d]ach Alpín
mac Ech[d]achAlpín appears in the synchronisms as king of Alba (i.e., Dál Riata), succeeding a king Eoganán and being succeeded by another king of that name ["... & Aedh & Eoghanan & Ailpin mac Echach & Eoghanan & Cinaeth mac Ailpin, in cet-rig rogab rige Sgoinde do Gaidhelaib." Boyle (1971), 177; see also Thurneysen (1933), 91, where the same entries read "Aed mac Boanta, Eoganan mac Oengusa, Alpin, is e cetri ro gab rige Scoine do Gaidelaib." and it is clear that words have been omitted from the latter recension, due to the copyist's eye skipping from one occurrence of the name Alpin to the next]. The so-called "Latin Lists" of kings of Dál Riata have reshuffled many entries, with the result that it is not clear whether the three year reign attributed to a king Alpín was intended for the present Alpín or an eighth century namesake. However, the statement of these versions that a king Alpín died while fighting in Galloway probably refers to this Alpín ["Alpin fil. Heoghed annuine. 3 an. Hic occisus est in Gallwathia, postquam eam penitus destruxit et devastavit." Regnal List "F", similarly in List "D" and List "I", KKES 265, 271, 282]. Alpín's predecessor Eoganán mac Óengusa died in 839 [AU (s.a. 838)], and Alpín's son Cináed (Kenneth), who died in 858, is said to have ruled in Dál Riata for two years before a sixteen year rule over the Picts, so the length of the reigns of Alpín and his successor, the second Eoganán, cannot have been long [See Anderson (1982)].
Date of Birth: Unknown.
Place of
Birth: Unknown.
Date of Death: ca. 840?
Place of
Death: Galloway.
Father:
Eochu/Eochaid mac
Áeda Find.
["Causantín mc Culiuin mc Ilduib
mc O[h]ausantín mc Áeda mc C[h]ináeda mc Alpín
m Echach mc Áeda F[h]ind mc Echach ..."
Genelaig Albanensium, Bannerman (1974), 65]
Mother: Unknown.
Spouse: Unknown.
Children:
Cináed mac Ailpín
(Kenneth I), d. 858, king of
the Scots, ca. 840-858; king of the Picts, 842×8-858.
[See above]
Domnall mac Ailpín, d. 13 April 862,
king of the Scots and the Picts.
["Domnall m. Ailpin, rex
Pictorum, mortuus est." AU (s.a. 861);
"Obiit in palacio Cinnbelathoír idus Aprilis."
Poppleton ms., KKES, 250]
Conjectured mother: NN, Pictish princess.
See the comments on the page of his father Eochu/Eochaid.
Anderson (1982) = Marjorie O. Anderson, "Dalriada and the creation of the kingdom of the Scots", in Whitelock, McKitterick & Dumville, eds., Ireland and Early Medieval Europe (Cambridge, 1982).
AU = Seán Mac Airt and Gearóid Mac Niocaill, eds., The Annals of Ulster (Dublin, 1983). See also the CELT website.
Bannerman (1974) = John Bannerman, Studies in the History of Dalriada (Edinburgh & London, 1974).
Boyle (1971) = A. Boyle, "The Edinburgh Synchronisms of Irish Kings", Celtica 9 (1971): 169-179.
KKES = Marjorie Ogilvy Anderson, Kings and Kingship in Early Scotland (Edinburgh, Totowa, NJ, 1973).
Thurneysen (1933) = R. Thurneysen, "Synchronismen der irischen Könige", Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 19 (1933): 81-99.
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
First uploaded 26 April 2007.