Fodbgen
legendary High King of Ireland

In Irish mythology Fodbgen or Odbgen (modern spelling: Foidhbhgen - "the despoiler") son of Sengann of the Fir Bolg became High King of Ireland when he overthrew his cousin Rinnal son of Genann. It is said that before his time there were no knots (Old Irish odb) in trees.
He ruled for four years until he was overthrown by Eochaid mac Eirc, Rinnal's grandson.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Fodbgen” is legendary High King of Ireland. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Fodbgen, legendary and High, not as a finished interpretation.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1271147. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Fodbgen” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.