MacNkill — Earhj Irish Population' Groujjs . 97 



was slain Conchad, king of Cuib, i.e. of Ui Echach Cobo, tlie most prominent 

 sept of Dal Araidi. In Fragments of Irish Annals, an. 732, Conchad is called 

 "king of the Cruithni." (AU 734, editor's note.) Fiachnae macAcdho Bocn, 

 rex Ulad, mortims est, AU 788. 



116. The following "kings of the Cruithni" in AU are found in the 

 pedigrees of Dal Araidi : Eochaid larlaithe t665, Cu Cuaran t707, Cathusach 

 son of Ailill f 748. The genealogist in BB (168 col. 1) makes this Cathusach 

 father of Cu Cuaran who preceded him. The father of Cu Cuaran must have 

 been Cathusach son of Mael Diiin and king of the Cruithni t681 (AU). 



117. I do not find a genealogy of Dal Piatach from Cii Eiii or from Dedu, 

 Ijut their descent is traced to Sen, father of Dedu, and thence by the same 

 line as the Erainn, Cii Eui's people, up to Oengus Tuirmech and the line of 

 Eremon. 



118. The passage above quoted fi'om BB is followed by a comment of a 

 contradictory character : Ite fir- UlaicJi wwrnorro .i. Dal nAraicle ota Mael 

 lireasail mac Ailella hi Conall Cernach arisesedar oeus ini Iriel Ghtnmair i 

 ngenclaich Dal Araide. " The true Ulaid, however, are Dal Araidi, of whom 

 comes Mael Bressail son of Ailill. In Conall Cernach they originate, and in 

 Iriel Grliinmar, in the genealogy of Dal Araidi." 



119. Mael Brcsail mac Ailella Cobo, rex Dal Araide, moritur, AU 824. The 

 text of the passage in BB was probably written between the death of Aed Koin, 

 735, and the death of Fiachna, 789, or not long after the latter event ; the 

 comment during or soon after the reign of Mael Bressail. arisesedar = 

 *ara'sissetar. The relative form ara of air, ar seems obsolescent in the Milan 

 glosses (see Thurneysen, Handbuch, § 487, 4). 



120. The Irish Cruithni of Dal Araidi are called Cruithni for the last time 

 in AU at 773 (= 774). Half a century or so later, the claim is set up for them 

 that they are not only Ulaid, descendants of Conall Cernach, but that they 

 are " the true Ulaid," as if in protest against the belief that they are Picts. 

 This claim was extended to all the leading branches of the Pictish race in 

 Ireland (see § 91). liather, I think, we can trace the claim as originating 

 with another branch, the Conaille. 



121. The chief section of the Conaille, forming the state of Conaille 

 Muirthemne under their native kings, occupied a territory closely associated 

 with the great hero of the Ulaid, "Cii Chulaiun Muirthemne." It is not 

 surprising that they sought to connect their own tradition with the epic 

 tradition of the Ulaid. Accordingly we find in the genealogies, BB 152, under a 

 section entitled in the margin, " De peritia Conaille Muirthemne," two conflicting 

 accounts of their descent. Their eponymous ancestor Conall Anglonnach is 

 first described as a son of Dedu, and from the pedigree of their king Ciuaed on 



