Eten Besieged
Archived: 4 November 2026
Abstract
In 638 CE, the clearest event linked to Irish history was not fought on the island of Ireland itself, but in the Irish Sea world to which north-east Ireland belonged. Chronicon Scotorum records a battle at Glenn Muiresan in which the followers of Domnall Brec were put to flight, followed by the besieging of Eten. Domnall Brec was king of the Cenél nGabráin, the leading kindred of Dál Riata: a Gaelic sea-kingdom whose territories and connections extended between Argyll and the coast of Antrim. The annal therefore preserves a hard, if brief, sign that the political shocks of the late
