Cenél nÓengusa

The Cenél nÓengusa were a kin group who ruled the island of Islay, and perhaps nearby Colonsay, off the western coast of Scotland in the early Middle Ages.

The Cenél nÓengusa are the only kindred from which no historical kings of Dál Riata are recorded by the Irish annals.

The Senchus states that the Cenél nÓengusa ruled over four hundred and thirty households, and that they were obliged to provide the overking of Dál Riata with two seven-bench ships for each twenty households on sea expeditions, and with five hundred fighting men on land expeditions.

Marjorie Ogilvie Anderson suggested that this genealogy dates from the early 8th century, as do those given for the other kindreds in the same source, and reflects a second census undertaken at about that time.

Adomnán's hagiography of Columba mentions a rich Islay landowner named Feradach, but says nothing about the political background on the island.