Individual Page

Person Info

• Name: Echrad
• Sex: F


Parents:

• Father:
  
• Matudan King Of Ulster Death: 949

Family:
Marriage:

• Cellach Mac Cerbaill, King Of Osraige .^m1
  
• Cellach Mac Cerbaill, King Of Osraige Death: 908

Children:

1. Donnchad King Of Ossory Death: 976

Marriage:

• Domnall O'Neill .^m2
  
• Domnall O'Neill Death: 978

Children:

1. Muircertach O'Neill Death: 976

Bibliography

Sources for birth and parent Information

father:

[Ref: Kelley HighKings p4]

Sources with Information about marriage to Cellach Mac Cerbaill, King Of Osraige

names:

[Ref: Kelley HighKings p4]

Sources with Information about marriage to Domnall O'Neill

child:

[Ref: Kelley HighKings p4]

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]



Pedigree of Echrad
                   /-----Euchucan King Of Ulster
          /-----Aed King Of Ulster
         |        |                                             /-----Mael Duin King Of Ui Neill
         |        |                                    /-----Fergal King Of Ui Neill, High King Of Ireland
         |        |                                   |         \-----Cacht Of Tirconnel
         |        |                           /-----Niall Frossach High King Of Ireland
         |        |                          |        |         /-----Cian
         |        |                          |         \-----Athiochta
         |        |                  /-----Aed Oirdnide High King Of Ireland
         |        |                 |        |                  /-----Loing-Seach King Of Ireland
         |        |                 |        |         /-----Flaherty King Of Ireland
         |        |                 |        |        |         \-----Muirion
         |        |                 |         \-----Dunflaith Of Tirconnel
         |        |         /-----Mael Duin
         |        |        |         \-----Maeve Of Connaught
         |         \-----Inderb
 /-----Matudan King Of Ulster
|        |         /-----Lethlabar King Of Ulster
|         \-----Barrdub
Echrad



Descendants of Echrad

2nd generation


3rd generation


4th generation


5th generation