Comgall mac Domangairt

Nothing certain is known of Comgall beyond the fact of his death, but he is significant as the eponymous founder of the Cenél Comgaill, one of the kindreds of Dál Riata named by the Senchus fer n-Alban.

The Senchus, in fact, speaks of the Crich Comgaill, but the Annals of Ulster use the term cenél in a report of c. 710.

A recent interpretation suggests, however, that the kindred may have been important in the Gaelicisation of the Picts, as a certain Dargart mac Finguine of the Cenél Comgaill married the Pictish princess Der-Ilei, and the Pictish kings Bridei and Nechtan mac Der Ilei were the result of this marriage.

The late 6th- or early 7th-century Saint Blane was reportedly associated with Bute, but modern scholars are less certain that his traditions are authentic.

It lies close to the Dunagoil fort, which might be a plausible royal centre, but it is not clear that this was occupied in the corresponding period.

NASA Landsat image of the Cowal peninsula and the isle of Bute . Parts of Kintyre and Knapdale , the lands of the Cenél nGabráin, can be seen on the left side; the lands of the Cenél Loairn lie beyond the top left corner of the image; Dumbarton Rock , chief place of the kingdom of Alt Clut , lies further up the river Clyde seen in the middle right.