Eochu/Eochaid mac Áeda Find
Eochu/Eochaid mac Áeda FindThe only certain appearances of this individual are in various genealogies of the kings of Dál Riata and Scotland, in which Eochu/Eochaid appears as son of Áed Find and father of Alpín. These genealogies do not agree with regard to which of the two similar (and often confused) names Eochu (genetive Echach) or Eochaid (genetive Echdach) this individual bore ["... filii Alpin, filii Echach, filii Edafínd, ..." The Poppleton Manuscript, KKES 256-7; "... mc Alpín m Echach mc Áeda F[h]ind ..." Genelaig Albanensium, Bannerman (1974) 108; "... m. Alpín m. Echdach m. Áeda Find ..." Rawlinson B502, fol. 162c44, CGH 328; see the page of Eochaid mac Echach for more complete quotes]. His status as a king of Dál Riata depends on his identification with an Eochaid/Eochoidh who appears in the synchronisms of Irish kings, following either Áed (d. 778) or Fergus (d. 781) and coming before a certain Domnall [Thurneysen (1933), 90 (which omits Fergus from the list); Boyle (1971), 177]. Neither Fergus nor Eochaid appears in the Duan Albanach [Jackson (1956-7)], and the so called "Latin Lists" are too corrupt to be useful for this period.
Date of Birth: Unknown.
Place of
Birth: Unknown.
Date of Death: Unknown (ca. 781?).
Place of
Death: Unknown.
Father:
Áed Find mac
Echdach, d. 778, king of Dál
Riata.
[See above]
Mother: Unknown.
Spouse: Unknown.
Child:
Alpin mac Ech[d]ach, king of Dál Riata, ca. 840?
[See above]
Conjectured wife: NN, Pictish princess.
There are two different scenarios in which
Eochu/Eochaid has been said to have married a Pictish princess.
One comes from the unsupported statement of late medieval
historians, and the other from a conjecture of a modern
historian. First, there is the statement of Boece ["And þat
þe samyn suld perpetuallie indure, Hungus, King of the Pichtis
gaif his sister, namit Fergusiane, in mariage to Achayus, off
quhilk he had ane son, called Alpyne." Boece 2: 27]. Here,
"Achayus" is Eochu/Eochaid, and Hungus is Óengus mac
Fergusa (Onuist son of Urguist), king of the Picts. The name
"Fergusiane" is clearly an invention. This claim has
often been repeated [e.g., Moncreiffe (1967), in the genealogical
table on the inside back cover]. In her very conjectural scenario
of the last century of Pictish succession, Molly Miller
conjectured that Eochu/Eochaid's wife was a sister of Conall mac
Taidc, king of the Picts (784-9) [Miller (1979), 55, based mainly
on the appearance of the name Alpín (the name of two Pictish
kings) as his son]. Neither of these conjectures is backed up by
reliable evidence.
Bannerman (1974) = John Bannerman, Studies in the History of Dalriada (Edinburgh & London, 1974).
Boece = Hector Boece, The Chronicles of Scotland. Translated into Scots by John Bellended, 1531 2 vols., (Scottish Texts Society, 3rd ser., vols. 10, 15, 1938-41).
Boyle (1971) = A. Boyle, "The Edinburgh Synchronisms of Irish Kings", Celtica 9 (1971): 169-179.
CGH = M. A. O’Brien, ed., Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae (Dublin, 1962, reprinted 1976 with new Introduction by J. V. Kelleher).
Duan Albanach = Jackson (1956) [critical edition], Jackson (1957) [parallel text and translation]; unless otherwise specified, citations are to the latter.
Jackson (1956) = Kenneth Jackson, "The Poem A eolcha Alban uile", Celtica 3 (1956): 149-167.
Jackson (1957) = Kenneth Jackson, "The Duan Albanach", Scottish Historical Review 36 (1957): 125-137.
KKES = Marjorie Ogilvy Anderson, Kings and Kingship in Early Scotland (Edinburgh, Totowa, NJ, 1973).
Miller (1979) = Molly Miller, "The Last Century of Pictish Succession", Scottish Studies 23 (1979): 39-67.
Moncreiffe (1967) = Iain Moncreiffe, The Highland Clans (London, 1967).
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.
Minor revision 30 April 2007 (added information from Boece).