Editing Domnall Brecc

{{Short description|King of Dál Riata}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
'''Domnall Brecc''' (Welsh: ''Dyfnwal Frych''; English: ''Donald the Freckled'') (died 642 in [[River Carron (Forth)|Strathcarron]]) was king of [[Dál Riata]], in modern [[Scotland]], from about 629 until 642. He was the son of [[Eochaid Buide]]. He was counted as Donald II of Scotland by the scholar Fraxinius.

He first appears in 622, when the [[Annals of Tigernach]] report his presence at the battle of Cend Delgthen (probably in the east midlands of Ireland) as an ally of [[Conall Guthbinn]] of [[Clann Cholmáin]]. This is the only battle known where Domnall Brecc fought on the winning side.

Domnall suffered four defeats after he broke Dál Riata's alliance with the [[Cenél Conaill]] clan of the [[Uí Néill]]. In [[Ireland]], Domnall and his ally [[Congal Cáech]] of the [[Dál nAraidi]] were defeated by [[Domnall mac Áedo]] of the [[Cenél Conaill]], the [[High King of Ireland]], at the [[Battle of Mag Rath]] ([[Moira, County Down]]) in 637. He also lost to the [[Picts]] in 635 and 638 and lastly to [[Eugein I of Alt Clut]] at Strathcarron in 642, where he was killed.

A stanza interpolated into the ancient Welsh poem ''[[Y Gododdin]]'' refers to these events:

<blockquote>I saw an array that came from [[Kintyre|Pentir]],<br />
And bore themselves splendidly around the conflagration.<br />
I saw a second one, rapidly descending from their township,<br />
Who had risen at the word of the grandson of Nwython.<ref>Eugein was the grandson of Nwython ([[Neithon of Alt Clut|Neithon]]).</ref><br />
I saw great sturdy men who came with the dawn,<br />
And the head of Dyfnwal Frych, ravens gnawed it.</blockquote>

Domnall's son [[Domangart mac Domnaill]] was later to be king of Dál Riata and from him the later kings of the [[Cenél nGabráin]] were descended. A second son, Cathasach, died c. 650, and a grandson of Domnall, also called Cathasach, died c. 688.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* [[Alan Orr Anderson|Anderson, Alan Orr]], ''Early Sources of Scottish History A.D 500&ndash;1286'', volume 1. Reprinted with corrections. Paul Watkins, Stamford, 1990. {{ISBN|1-871615-03-8}}

==External links==
*[http://celt.ucc.ie/index.html CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts] at [http://www.ucc.ie/ University College Cork] includes the ''Annals of Ulster'', ''Tigernach'', ''the Four Masters'' and ''Innisfallen'', the ''Chronicon Scotorum'', the ''Lebor Bretnach'' (which includes the ''Duan Albanach''), Genealogies, and various Saints' Lives. Most are translated into English and other translations are in progress.

{{s-start}}
{{succession box |
 before=[[Eochaid Buide]] |
 title=[[King of Dál Riata]] |
 after=[[Ferchar mac Connaid]] |
 years= 629–13 December 642|
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Kings of Dál Riata}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brecc, Domnall}}
[[Category:642 deaths]]
[[Category:Kings of Dál Riata]]
[[Category:7th-century Irish monarchs]]
[[Category:7th-century Scottish monarchs]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]