Crínán CrínánCrínán was killed in 1045 in a battle among the Scots, probably related to the battle five years earlier which had resulted in the death of Crínán's son Duncan I, king of Scotland, at the hands of Macbeth (ruled 1040-1057).
Date of Birth: Unknown
Place of Birth: Unknown
Date of Death: 1045
[AU]
Place of Death: Unknown
Father: Unknown (See Commentary)
Mother: Unknown
Spouse: Bethóc of Scotland. [KKES 268, 276, 284, 288]
Children:
Donnchad mac Crínáin (Duncan I), king of Scotland, d. 15 August 1040. [KKES 268, 276, 284, 288]
Maldred. According
to Symeon of Durham, Maldred was a son of Crínán the thane,
generally identified (probably correctly) as the same man as the
Crínán, abbot of Dunkeld who was father of king Duncan I [SAEC
81, 96]. There is no direct evidence whether or not Bethóc was
Maldred's mother.
Supposed father:
Donnchad (Duncan), abbot of Dunkeld, d. 965. Since the abbacy of Dunkeld appears to have been hereditary in Crínán's family (his grandson Æthelred held the title), it has sometimes been suggested that Crínán may have been the son of this earlier abbot of Dunkeld whose death is known form both the Irish and Scottish sources [e.g., AU; ESSH 1: 471, 473, 577; KKES 252]. While the relationship is not impossible (assuming that Crínán's father died when he was an infant), there is no known evidence to support it, and it cannot be accepted without further evidence.
AU = Seán Mac Airt and Gearóid Mac Niocaill, The Annals of Ulster (Dublin, 1983).
ESSH = Alan Orr Anderson, Early Sources of Scottish History, 2 vols. (Edinburgh, 1922, reprinted Stamford, 1990). [Contains English translations of many of the primary records]
KKES = Marjorie Ogilvy Anderson, Kings and Kingship in Early Scotland (Edinburgh, Totowa, NJ, 1973).
SAEC = Alan Orr Anderson, Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers (London, 1908, reprinted Stamford, 1991). [Similar to ESSH, but from English sources]
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin