Teague-Earnest Family Tree » FERGUS Mór "the Great" MacEarca, 1st King of Scots (Dál Riata) 44th GGF (430-501)

Personal data FERGUS Mór "the Great" MacEarca, 1st King of Scots (Dál Riata) 44th GGF 

  • Alternative name: FERGUS of Dalriada Mormacerc Legendary King of Dál Riata 44th GGF
  • He was born on June 29, 430 in Dalriada, Scotia now Argyll, Scotland.
  • Alternative: He was born on June 29, 430 in Ireland.
  • He died on October 12, 501 in Icolmkill Island, Iona, Dalriada, Scotia now Argyll, Scotland, he was 71 years old.
  • Alternative: He died on October 12, 501, he was 71 years old.
  • A child of ERCC EARC MacEochaid, King of Irish Dál Riata and Misi MacEochaid Mist

Household of FERGUS Mór "the Great" MacEarca, 1st King of Scots (Dál Riata) 44th GGF

He had a relationship with DUINSEACH Connacht MacEarca.


Child(ren):



Notes about FERGUS Mór "the Great" MacEarca, 1st King of Scots (Dál Riata) 44th GGF

Fergus Mor Mac Earca" or Fergus the Great "Crossed from Dalrieda in Ireland over into Scotland in the year 496, and became the first king of the Dalriad Scots, 496-499. ...St. Patrick gave his blessing to Fergus...and prophesied that he should be the father of kings..." {"Ancestral Roots of Sixty New England Colonists," Frederick L. Weis, Lancaster, Mass., 1950, p. 132. Cf. "The Age of Arthur," John Morris (Scrib ner's, 1973, p.124.} John S. Wurts, "Magna Charta," p. 2875:
"Fergus II Mor Mac Earca, the 131st Monarch, who in A.D. 498, with five of his brothers, went into Scotland with a complete army to assist his grandfather Loarn, King of Dalriada, in overcoming his enemies, the Picts. Upon the King's death, Fergus was unanimously elected King and became the first absolute King of all Scotland, of the Milesian Race. He died in 529." (Wurts gives a different ancestry for Fergus.)

The Birth of the Kingdom of Scottish Dal Riada took place circa 498 A.D. when Fergus Mor MacErc moved the royal seat of Irish Dal Riada to Dunnadd in Argyll on the west coast of Alba. The name Dal Riada means Riada's share. According to the
traditional Irish genealogies, Cairbre Riada, the son of Conaire and grandson of Conn Ceadchathach (Conn of the Hundred Battles), led his people out of Munster and north to Antrim where their own land was founded...Dal Riada.

Irish Dal Riada was caught between the powerful Ui Neill's on one side and the Dal nAraide (Cruthin) on the other. With these
two powerful and warlike neighbors, the only avenue for expansion was over the twelve mile stretch of the North Channel and
into Alba. Over the years, several groups of Irish settled in Northern Briton, and some even in the south. All were either
eradicated in one way or another or assimilated into the indigenous cultures over time. The only Irish settlement to withstand
the test of time was the Dal Riada, who had been occupying the territory for as long as 100 years before Fergus Mor MacErc
moved his throne to Dunnadd.

Very little is known about the early Kingdom of Scottish Dal Riada or its first King Fergus. It is believed that Fergus's father
Erc MacEochaid and possibly his older brother held the throne before him in Ireland. Erc died in 474, leaving a space of 24
years unaccounted for in the Kings lists. Most historians feel that it could have been held by Fergus's older brother Loarn
MacErc. Fergus died in 501 A.D.. In some later accounts it is said that he was killed by his followers. He was followed on the
throne by his son Domangart MacFergus.

Alba of the Ravens, John Marsden, Constable and Company Limited, ©1997, ISBN 0-09-4774307
Picts Gaels and Scots, Sally Foster, B.T. Batsford Ltd., ©1996, ISBN 0-7134-7485-8
The Age of the Picts, W.A. Cummins, Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd., © 1995, ISBN 0-7509-0924-2

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    The Teague-Earnest Family Tree publication was prepared by .contact the author
    When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin:
    Charlotte Bryan-Matzke, "Teague-Earnest Family Tree", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/teague-earnest-family-tree/P4666.php : accessed May 6, 2025), "FERGUS Mór "the Great" MacEarca, 1st King of Scots (Dál Riata) 44th GGF (430-501)".