Four Calves
Archived: 2 November 2026
Abstract
In 657 CE, Ireland’s surviving annalistic record preserves a year of transition, deaths and unsettling signs rather than a single decisive campaign. A later annalistic tradition places the opening of the joint rule of Diarmait and Blathmac, sons of Áed Sláine, in this year. The Annals of Ulster, whose internal year-numbering is offset at this point, explicitly labels its entry U658 as AD 657: it records several deaths, the death of Guret, king of Alt Clut on the Clyde, a violent windstorm, and an extraordinary cow at Láthair Briúin said to have borne four calves. The notices are brief, but