Báetán mac Ninneda

Who was Báetán mac Ninneda?

Báetán mac Ninneda was an Irish king of the Cenél Conaill, a sept of the northern Uí Néill. He was the son of Ninnid mac Duach and great grandson of Conall Gulban. He was a member of the Cenél nDuach branch of the Cenél Conaill. He is counted as King of Tara in some sources.

The kingship of Tara rotated between the Cenél nEógain and Cenél Conaill branches in the late 6th century. It is difficult to disentangle the reign of Báetán from that of his younger second cousin Áed mac Ainmuirech. Various lengths are given to the reign of Áed in the king lists, all of which would put the start of his reign before the death of Báetán. Both kings are omitted from the Baile Chuinn, the earliest Irish king list of the late 7th century, but this was probably a partisan document. It is possible that Báetán was not actually high king but was given this position by the synthetic historians to explain away the rule of Báetán mac Cairill of the Dal Fiatach of Ulster as high king. The kinglists only assign him a reign of one year. Whether Báetán was king of Tara or not, the real effective power among the northern Ui Neill from 572 was Áed mac Ainmuirech.