Saran Mack Coelbad

Saran was the eldest son of King Ulster Coelbad Mack Kruind ^[2] , whose death was attributed to the authors of the “ Annals of the Four Masters, ” followed by Jeffrey Keating from the middle of the 4th century ^[3] . However, modern historians consider this dating of the death of Father Saran to be erroneous and attribute his death to 429, the time of the conquest of the northern lands of Ireland by the sons of Niall Nine Hostages . After the death of Coelbad, Saran inherited the father’s ancestral lands inhabited by the Kruitni . A new Ulster sub-kingdom Dal Araide was formed here, the first ruler of which was Saran ^[4] . Written in the 9th century, “The Three-Part Life of St. Patrick ” calls Saran the king of this possession only ^[5] , but later royal lists mention him as an Ulster monarch, giving him twenty-six years of reign ^{[6] [7]} .

According to the life , Saran poppy Coelbad was an ardent pagan who opposed the missionary work of St. Patrick . Although all of the eleven brothers of Saran showed great respect to the “Apostle of Ireland,” he was expelled from Ulster by order of the king. For this misconduct, Patrick cursed his pursuer, proclaiming that he would never go to heaven and that none of his descendants would be honored to inherit his father's possessions ^{[5] [7] [8]} .

Soon after, Saran poppy Coelbad captured many prisoners during his campaign in Dal Riad . Upon learning of the sufferings of the prisoners, St. Olkan turned to the king with a request to give the prisoners freedom, but he was ready to do this only in exchange for lifting the curse imposed by Patrick on him. In case of refusal, the king promised the saint to execute all those captured, as well as kill all the priests that he would find in his possessions. These threats forced Olcan to go against Patrick’s will and swear oaths to Sarana complete redemption. Later, when Olkan told Patrick about this incident, the “Apostle of Ireland”, getting very angry, ordered to crush the disobedient with a chariot, and only the intercession of the driver saved Olkan from death ^{[5] [8]} .

Saran Mack Coelbad was twice married. According to the Leinster Book and the Banshenchas treatise (On Famous Women), his first wife was Erk, daughter of King Dal Riad Loarn Poppy Erk . However, this marriage was not successful: Erk, who turned out to be an unfaithful wife, fled from Saran to King Ailekh Muyredah poppy Eogain and became his wife ^[9] . The second wife of King Ulster was Bobon (or Popon), also the daughter of King Loarn. Four children were born in this marriage: Luirig, Ronan Finn ^[10] , Beikan ^[11] and Kairneh ^{[12] [13]} .

The death of Saran poppy Coelbad dates back to 455 year ^[7] . One of the Scottish legends contained in the manuscript of the end of the XIV century, calls the city of Wythorn the place of his burial. In this source, Saran is described as a commander known for his courage, who won the battles of the Picts and Anglo-Saxons ^[13] . As predicted by St. Patrick, none of Saran’s sons Mac Coelbad inherited at least part of his father’s possessions: the throne of Ulster passed to Muyredah Muinder from the clan Dal Fiatah , and the kingdom of Dal Araida went to his brother Saran Kondle ^{[2] [7]} . Saran’s eldest son, Luig, is mentioned in hagiographic literature as the ruler of lands in Britain , and his three younger brothers are referred to as saints ^[12] .

• O'Hanlon J. Lives of the Irish Saints . - Dublin: J. Duffy, 1875. - Vol. V. - 624 p.

• Annals of the Four Masters . CELT: The Corpus of Electronic Texts. Date of treatment October 30, 2013.