Dyfnwal II of Strathclyde

Dyfnwal II (Gaelic: Domnall, English: "Donald") was ruler of the Kingdom of Strathclyde for some period in the early tenth century.

He is sometimes called Domnall mac Áeda (Mod. Gaelic: Domhnall mac Aoidh; Mod. English: Donald, Aodh's son), because of a passage in the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba. The passage reads "moritui sunt in tempore huius Doneualdus rex Britonniorum et Dunevaldus filius Ede elig₇".^[1] It has usually been interpreted as "Domnall, king of the Britons died and Domnall mac Áeda was elected". The crux is the word elig₇, usually interpreted as a shortening of eligitur (meaning elected).^[2] However, Benjamin Hudson has challenged this and argues that elig₇ stands for Ailech, meaning that the passage is actually recording the death of Domnall mac Áeda, king of Ailech,^[3] known in other sources to have died in 915.^[4] However, from the 18th century, onwards through Skene in the 19th, and from the Andersons to Alan MacQuarrie in the 20th, eligitur has been the standard interpretation,^[5] and the passage is believed to indicate that Dyfnwal was the son of Áed, an otherwise unknown brother of Constantine II of Scotland (Causantín mac Áeda), whom Constantine made his tanist.^[6] However, more recently Dauvit Broun has taken up support of Hudson, and so consensus remains very much divided.^[7]

Dyfnwal was once thought to have been the same ruler as Dyfnwal III of Strathclyde,^[8] and indeed this is possible. However, this is not generally believed, because of the time lag and because Symeon of Durham recorded that Eógan I of Strathclyde, whom he calls "Ouuen, king of the Cumbrians", was defeated by king Æðelstan of England in 934.^[9] The latter puts the end of Dyfnwal's reign sometime before, perhaps a long time before, this year.^[10]\

Regnal titles
Preceded by Dyfnwal I?	King of Strathclyde before 916 - before 934	Succeeded by ?Eógan

Notes

1. ^ Benjamin T. Hudson, "Elech and the Scots in Strathclyde", in Scottish Gaelic Studies, Vol. XV (Spring, 1988), p. 145.
2. ^ Marjorie O. Anderson, Kings and Kingship in Early Scotland, (Edinburgh, 1973), p. 251; Alan Orr Anderson, Early Sources of Scottish History: AD 500–1286, 2 Vols, (Edinburgh, 1922), vol. i., p. 445-6;
3. ^ Benjamin Hudson, op. cit., pp. 143-7.
4. ^ e.g. Annals of Ulster, s.a. 915.2, here.
5. ^ See Dauvit Broun, "The Welsh Identity of the Kingdom of Strathclyde", in The Innes Review, Vol. 55, no. 2 (Autumn, 2004), p. 132-3, & notes.
6. ^ e.g. Alfred Smyth, Warlords and Holy Men, (Edinburgh, 1984), pp. 222-3; Alan Orr Anderson, op. cit., vol. i, p. 446, n. 1.
7. ^ Dauvit Broun, loc. cit.
8. ^ e.g. Alan Orr Anderson, op. cit., vol. i, p. 441, n. 3.
9. ^ Symeon of Durham, Historia Dunelmensis Ecclesiae, in T. Arnold (ed.) Symeonis Dunelmensis Opera Omnia, (Rolls Series, 1882), vol. i, p. 76; translated and quoted in Alan Orr Anderson, Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers: AD 500–1286, (London, 1908), republished, Marjorie Anderson (ed.) (Stamford, 1991), p. 68.
10. ^ see Alan MacQuarrie, "The Kings of Strathclyde", in A. Grant & K.Stringer (eds.) Medieval Scotland: Crown, Lordship and Community, Essays Presented to G.W.S. Barrow, (Edinburgh, 1993), p. 14.

References

• Anderson, Alan Orr, Early Sources of Scottish History: AD 500–1286, 2 Vols, (Edinburgh, 1922)
• Anderson, Alan Orr, Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers: AD 500–1286, (London, 1908), republished, Marjorie Anderson (ed.) (Stamford, 1991)
• Anderson, Marjorie O., Kings and Kingship in Early Scotland, (Edinburgh, 1973)
• Broun, Dauvit, "The Welsh Identity of the Kingdom of Strathclyde", in The Innes Review, Vol. 55, no. 2 (Autumn, 2004), pp. 111–80
• Hudson, Benjamin T., "Elech and the Scots in Strathclyde", in Scottish Gaelic Studies, Vol. XV (Spring, 1988), pp. 143–47
• MacQuarrie, Alan, "The Kings of Strathclyde", in A. Grant & K.Stringer (eds.) Medieval Scotland: Crown, Lordship and Community, Essays Presented to G.W.S. Barrow, (Edinburgh, 1993), pp. 1–19
• Smyth, Alfred, Warlords and Holy Men, (Edinburgh, 1984)

External links

• Annals of Ulster
• Chronicle of the Kings of Alba