Síl nÁedo Sláine
descendants of Áed Sláine
Síl nÁedo Sláine (Old Irish: [sʲiːlʲ ˈn̪aːi̯ðo ˈsl̪aːnʲe]) are the descendants of Áed Sláine (Áed mac Diarmato), son of Diarmait mac Cerbaill. Part of the Southern Uí Néill—they were the kings of Brega—they claimed descent from Niall Noígiallach and his son Conall Cremthainne.
With the possible exception of Óengus mac Colmáin, all Uí Néill kings descended from Diarmait mac Cerbaill belonged to the Síl nÁedo Sláine until the death of Cináed mac Írgalaig in 728. Thereafter the southern Uí Néill were dominated by Clann Cholmáin, or more precisely Clann Cholmáin Már, descended from Colmán Már. Only one member of the Síl nÁedo Sláine was High King of Ireland after 728, Congalach Cnogba, and he was the grandson and nephew of Clann Cholmáin kings.
Áed Sláine left five sons, and from each of these was descended one or more branches of the kindred.
The descendants of Congal mac Áedo Sláine were the Uí Chonaing, named for Congal's son Conaing Cuirre. This branch ruled Knowth, the northern part of Brega. Its notable members included Cináed mac Írgalaig (High King; died 728), Cináed mac Conaing (died 851) and Congalach Cnogba (High King; died 956).
The other main branch was that of Áed's son Diarmait, which ruled southern Brega from its seat at Loch Gabhair.
“Síl nÁedo Sláine” enters the record as descendants of Áed Sláine. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what nÁedo, Sláine and descendants can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 10, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q3511504. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Síl nÁedo Sláine” 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.