Lóchéne Menn’s Killing
Archived: 1 November 2026
Abstract
In 696 CE, Irish annalists recorded a striking concentration of deaths and killings among rulers, ecclesiastics and men of high rank. The fullest contemporary-looking notices name the killing of Lóchéne Menn, the learned abbot of Cell Dara (Kildare); the deaths of Finguine, king of Munster, Fergal of Aidhne, and Congalach of Brega; and the killing of Domnall son of Conall Crandomna. The notices are brief, often frustratingly so, but they reveal a year in which power changed hands across several regions and in which a leading monastery suffered the violent loss of its head. Dating a Sparse Year The evidence