Áed Oirdnide, Patrick and Máel Calainn
In the early ninth century, a king of the northern Uí Néill acted in the name of Patrick’s law and responded to the violation of Patrick’s shrine. The genealogies name one of that king’s sons Máel Calainn—a name that brings us to a question at the heart of this family history.
Áed and the church
Áed Oirdnide, son of Niall, became king of Tara. The annals describe actions that place Patrick and Armagh in the affairs of his reign.
In 804, at the request of Fothad of the Canon, Áed freed the clerics of Ireland from the obligation to attend military expeditions. Two years later the annals record that he promulgated the Law of Patrick.
“Patrick’s law promulgated by Aed son of Niall.”
The Law of Patrick appears earlier and later in the records; Áed’s act puts the king himself in the story of its enforcement.
Patrick’s shrine and Ulaid
In 809 the annals record the killing of Dúnchú, superior of Tullylish, beside Patrick’s shrine. They also record an invasion of Ulaid by Áed following the profanation of that shrine. This is a striking record of a king’s action in a dispute involving a Patrician relic.
The annal names Patrick’s shrine; it does not identify it as the Bell of the Testament.
Another community, another dispute
The annals record that Colum Cille’s community went to Tara to excommunicate Áed. The entry shows conflict during his reign, but it does not explain its cause. The closeness of these events invites questions about the relationships between kings and the great church communities.
Máel Calainn of Dún Druing
In a genealogy preserved in Rawlinson B 502, Máel Kalland is listed among the five sons of Áed Oirdnide and connected with Dún Druing in Inis Eógain. His brothers named in the same list include Niall Caille.
Máel Kalland con-gaib Dún Druing i n-Inis Éogain
The surviving entry gives us a person and a place. It does not name him as a keeper of the bell.
Does the name lead to the later family?
About three centuries after Áed’s reign, the shrine of the Bell of St Patrick names Cathalán Ua Maelchallain as its keeper. The recurrence of a related name, the northern setting and the dynasty’s connection with Patrick make this a trail worth following.
One possibility is that the later Ua Maelchallain name and keepership connect back to Máel Calainn’s line. The genealogy and the shrine inscription do not, on their own, establish that descent or say that Áed appointed his son keeper. The connection remains a question for the evidence.
Meet Cathalán on the shrine → · Explore the Law of Patrick and early texts →