Bangor’s Abbot, Connacht’s King
Archived: 1 November 2026
Abstract
In 705 CE, Ireland’s surviving annalistic record presents a small but unusually revealing cluster of deaths, violence and political change. The notices are terse: the abbot Cenn Faelad of Bangor died; a battle was fought in Corcu Modruad, where Céilechair son of Comán fell; Cellach son of Rogallach, king of Connacht, died after entering clerical life; Conamail son of Canu was killed; and Congal Cenn Magair, son of Fergus of Fána, “begins to reign”. No contemporary narrative tells how these events unfolded. Yet, read alongside the preceding and following annals, they illuminate an Ireland in which monasteries, dynasties and local