[MARSHALL.FTW]
SOURCE NOTES:
Kelley, David H., Descents from the High Kings of Ireland, The American
Genealogist, vol 54 (Jan 1978) pp1-5.
RESEARCH NOTES:
The key to the descent of Eve of Leinster from the High Kings is an entry in
the Ban-Shenchus (Margaret C Dobbs, "The Ban-Shenhus" Revue Celtique
47(1930)283-339, 48(1931)162-234, 49(1932)437-489) identified by BS followed
by page reference then entry reference. BS-227-3 indicates that Echrad,
daughter of Madadan, son of Cellach, King of Ossory, was mother by Domnall
O'Neill of Muircertach and by Aed of Donnchad. BS-188-8 says that Eachrad,
daughter of Madadan, son of Aed, had by Domnall Ardmacha a son, Muircertach,
father of Flaithbertah an Trostan, but does not mention Donchad or Ossory.
BS-188-9 and BS-227-5 says that Donnchad, son of Cellach, King of Ossory, was
father of Cacht, wife of Domnall and mother of Donnchad MacCongalaig.
There is clear confusion in BS-227-3, since there is no Madadan, King
of Ossory, known; there is no Madadan, son of Cellach, known; neither do
I know of a Donnchad, son of Aed, at this period. The next entries give the
clue, for Madadan, son of Aed, was a well-known King of Ulster, and Donnchad,
son of Cellach, was a King of Ossory.
This strongly suggests that "Donnchad, son of Aed" and "Madadan, son of
Cellach" were miswritten for "Donnchad, son of Cellach" and "Madadan, son of
Aed." Eachrad's son by Domnall O'Neill, the High King, was Muirchertach, who
died in 976. By this interpretation, her other son was Donnchad, son of
Gellach, who was also slain in 976. If these were the only factors, the
correction could be made almost without comment. However, there is a
chronological difficulty which must be pointed out.
Donnchad's father, Cellach, was slain in 907, some 69 years before his son,
while Muirtertach's father, Domnall, did not die until two years after his
son, in 978. This would mean that Echrad's second husband died no less than
71 years after her first husband. In many cultures, this would be enough to
require dismissing the whole idea immediately. However, Irish cultural of
this period was unusual in its marriage patterns, and longevity was common.
We need make no assumptions of Cellach's age, but if we assume that Echrad
became a widow when she was about 15-20 years of age, then her father,
Madadan, would have been about 80 when he died in 949. If Echrad, at age
35-40 married Domnall O'Neill, ca.925-930, and he was then a young man of
about 20, he would have been less than 75 at his death. There is a
considerable amount of indirect evidence that young men married considerably
older women on occasion. By taking extreme figures, making Echrad a widow at
15 and remarried at 45 to a man of 20, Domnall would have been slightly over
60 at his death. Obviously we do not have adequate controls on the dating,
but the suggested relationship is not only not impossible, but is considerably
more probable than it might first appear. If there were no chronological
difficulty, I would have no hesitation in accepting the emendation and if the
text required no emendation, I would have no hesitation in accepting it even
with the chronological difficulty. As it is, the combination means that I
think that this solution can be considered no more than probable. With luck
further evidence will either prove or disprove it. [Ref: Kelley HighKings p2]
SOURCE NOTES:
father: [Ref: Kelley HighKings p4]