Fáilbe’s Iona Succession
Archived: 2 November 2026
Abstract
In 679 CE, Ireland’s annalists record a year defined less by a single island-wide crisis than by the passing and testing of influential people and institutions. The securely dated core consists of the death of Fáilbe, abbot of Í or Iona; the death of Cenn Fáelad, styled “the learned”; and a clash in which Fínnechta Fledach, the dominant Uí Néill king of Tara, defeated Bécc Bairrche. These concise notices are unusually revealing. Together they show a country of many competing dynasties, in which armed expeditions, ecclesiastical leadership and learned reputation all carried political weight. A Year in Difficult Calendars The
