Buide Chonaill
Archived: 2 November 2026
Abstract
In 666 CE, Ireland remained in the grip of the great epidemic remembered in the Irish annals as the buide Chonaill, while a battle at Áine brought together the Arada and the Uí Fhidgeinti and cost the life of Eógan son of Crunnmáel. These are the securely relevant notices in the Annals of Ulster under its heading for AD 666. The same entry also records the death of Cernach Sotal, son of Diarmait. They are brief records, not narratives: they do not tell us the cause of the disease, the size of either force, the precise location of the battlefield,