The Early Cenél Eógain

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The Early Cenél Eógain

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Many genealogies credit Eógan son of Niall Noígíallach with 11 sons:
128. Eogan mc. Neill .xi. mc. lais .i. {1} Muiredhach a quo Ceniel Muiredaigh, {2} Bindeach a quo Cenel mBindich, {3} Fergus a quo Ceniel Fergusa, {4} Aengus a quo Ceniel nAenghusa, {5} Dallan a quo Ceniel nDhallan, {6} Cormac a quo Ceniel Cormaic, {7} Feidlimid a quo Cenel Feidlimid, {8} Oilill a quo Ceniel nOililla, {9} Eichen a quo Ceniel nEichein, {10} Illand a quo Ceniel nIllaind, {11} Eochaidh a quo Ceinel nEachach.
https://genelach.com/transcript-book_of ... nelnEogain
764. Éogan immorro m. Néill .x. filios habuit id est: {1} Muiredach a quo Cenél Muiredaich, {2} Binech a quo Cenél m-Binnich, {3} Fergus a quo Cenél Fergusa, {4} Óengus a quo Cenél n-Óengusa, {5} Dallán a quo Cenél n- Dalláin, {6} Cormac a quo Cenél Cormaic, {7} Feideilmid a quo Cenél Feideilmid, {8} Ailill a quo Clann Ailella, {9} Echen a quo Cenél n-Echin, {10) Illann a quo Cenél n-Ellaind, {11} Eochaid a quo Cenél n-Echdach.
https://celt.ucc.ie/published/G105003.html#p134
Or slightly reordered for convenience:
  1. Muiredach
  2. Ailill
  3. Fergus
  4. Feidlimid
  5. Eóchád Binnech
  6. Óengus
  7. Dallán
  8. Cormacc
  9. Ecchin
  10. Iollann
  11. Eóchád
However, the Rev. Geoffrey Keating in his Foras Feasa Ar Éirinn, translated and edited by John O’Mahony, P. M. Haverty, New York, 1857, says on page 682:
35. Eogan. (This Eogan, or Owen, had five sons who left posterity after them, namely, Muredach, Olild, Fergus, Feidlimidh and Eocaidh Binnicc. Of the offspring of Muiredach is the stock of this branch, i. e. the Mac Lochlins, O’Neills, Mac Sweeneys, O’Donnellies and their correlatives. Of the posterity of Olild, son of Eogan, are the Muinter Kellaigh; of the posterity of Fergus, son of Eogan, is O’Connor of Magh Itha; of the posterity of Feidlimidh, son of Eogan, is O’Duibhdiorma, or O’Dooyirma, and O’Slevin; of the posterity of Eocaidh Binnicc, son of Eogan. are the Kinel Binnic. From this Eogan the names Tir Eogain, or Land of Eogan, in English, Tyrone, and Kinel Eogain, or Tribe of Eogan, are derived. His posterity are also called the Northern Eugenians by some writers in foreign tongues.) son of
36. Niall of the Nine Hostages, ...
This is quite interesting because as of the date of this post, we have 14 direct subclades of the R-S588 clade, which strong evidence indicates is the Cenél Eógain, and as will be shown below, Eógan macc Néill Noígíallaig had 14 grandsons from the five sons that Rev. Keating named. These subclades are:
  1. R-S7814
  2. R-S603
  3. R-Y352864
  4. R-A5388
  5. R-FGC80436
  6. R-FT165097
  7. R-BY66082
  8. R-BY154268
  9. R-FT27558
  10. R-FT187328
  11. R-FTA10274
  12. R-FT110129
  13. R-BY69549
  14. R-BY18209
Based on what we have seen to date, variants usually occur every other generation on average. We see this with the Connachta, where it is likely Eóchád Muigmedón had the last variant (whichever one it was) that comprises the R-DF105 phylogenetic node, but at least two of his sons from his first wife Mongfind, Brión and Fiachróe Foltsnáthach, had no variants form in them that we have seen so far.

However, Niall Noígíallach, his son from his second wife or concubine Cairenn Casdub, appears to have had the ZZ87 variant form in him and thus giving rise to the R-ZZ87 Uí Néill clade. Further, Niall Noígíallach's son Eógain had the S588 variant form in him, as mentioned previously, and his son Conall Gulban Guirt almost certainly had the DF85 variant form in him. This gives us THREE successive generations that had variants form in them - Eóchád Muigmedón > Niall Noígíallach > Eógan. Therefore, while not genetically mandatory, it is most likely that any variants comprising the direct subclades of R-S588 and R-DF85 formed in the GRANDSONS of Eógain and Conall Gulban Guirt respectively, and skipped the generation of their sons.

This means that the 14 direct subclades of R-S588 most likely formed in Eógan's grandsons. Again, Eógan macc Néill Noígíallaig is credited with 14 grandsons from the five sons Rev. Keating names.
  1. Muiredach
    1. Muirchertach macc Ercca (R-S7814?)
    2. Máen (R-S603?)
    3. Feradach
    4. Tigernach or Rúamach Noíb
      https://genelach.com/transcript-book_of ... nelnEogain
      https://genelach.com/transcript-book_of ... lTigernaig
  2. Ailill
    1. Áed
      https://genelach.com/transcript-book_of ... elnAililla
  3. Fergus
    1. Áed
    2. Cáelbáid
      https://genelach.com/transcript-book_of ... nelFergusa
  4. Feidlimid
    1. Crimthann
      https://genelach.com/transcript-book_of ... iDuibDirma
  5. Eóchád Binnech
    1. Láiren
    2. Crimthann
    3. Eóchu
    4. Daire
    5. Maine
    6. Gocán
      https://genelach.com/transcript-book_of ... nelmBinnig

Code: Select all

                                                        Niall Noígíallach
                                                                │
                                                              Eógan
                        ┌────────────────────────┬──────────────┼──────────────┬──────────────────────────────────┐
                    Muiredach                  Ailill         Fergus       Feidlimid                        Eóchád Binnech
         ┌─────────┬────┴────┬─────────┐         │         ┌────┴────┐         │         ┌─────────┬─────────┬────┴────┬─────────┬─────────┐
    Muirchertach  Máen    Feradach Tigernach    Áed       Áed     Cáelbáid Crimthann   Láiren  Crimthann   Eóchu     Daire     Maine     Gocán
     macc Ercca
Further, there is the following entry in the Book of Ballymote:
Seacht mc. Eogain sa Bredaigh
{1} Feidlimid {2} Oilill edair
{3}Cormac {4}Illand {5}Ergna abhus
{6}Dallan {7}Eichean is {8}Oenghus.
https://genelach.com/transcript-book_of ... #inBretach
I am working to get a good translation of that entry, but the sons named there appear to be those of Eógan the Bredach, NOT Eógan macc Néill Noígíallaig. Note that there appears to be EIGHT (8) given names listed, unless Ergna is not a name but a descriptor in this instance. Interestingly, secht can mean "feigned, pretended, simulated" as well as the number seven (7). Also, five (5) of those names are those of sons left off Rev. Keating's list, i.e., Cormacc, Iollann, Dallán, Ecchin, and Óengus.

Bredach/Bredca CAN refer to the eastern half of Inishowen, Co. Donegal, BUT it derives from brétach which can mean "broken pieces, fragments, breakage". This seems rather significant to me in connection with the fact that secht can mean "feigned, pretended, simulated", since the current Y-DNA data corroborates the genealogy of 5 sons and 14 grandsons of Eógan macc Néill Noígíallaig presented above. Is that entry the cause of conflation between two different men named Eógan who lived in the same area, resulting in Eógan macc Néill Noígíallaig being credited with too many sons?

In addition, there is an earlier entry in the Book of Ballymote that only credits Eógan macc Néill Noígíallaig with TEN (10) sons, not the eleven (11) it does even earlier:
Deich mc. Eogan uascach clann
feibh rosbennach mc. carplaind
{1} Muiredach {2} Fergus roghart
{3} Eochu {4} Feidhlimidh {5} Cormac
{6} Illand {7} Dallan dearbhtha raind
{8} Aengus {9} Eicean is {10} Oilill.
https://genelach.com/transcript-book_of ... nelFergusa
Either Eóchád Binnech or Eóchád appears to be left off this list; OR there was only ONE (1) Eóchád in the first place. Compound that with the two son counts in Rawlinson B 502, it is obvious there is some kind of problem in the records with the number of sons for Eógan macc Néill Noígíallaig. Again, this indicates that Rev. Keating's list of five sons is likely the most accurate.

To be clear, this is NOT an attempt to completely untangle the mess that is the Cenél Eógain genealogies; especially where the R-DF27 families were artificially inserted. Nor is it an attempt to correctly attribute later families with the correct son of Eógan. BUT, it is an attempt to clarify the early genealogy of the first 3 generations of the Cenél Eógain and provide a solid basis to proceed from. I leave it to others to either disprove this early genealogy (which I don't think is likely without radically new Y-DNA data), or confirm it and find the correct attribution of later families to their progenitors.
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