1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Aidan (king)

For works with similar titles, see Aidan.

AIDAN (d. 606), king of the Scottish kingdom of Dalriada, was the son of Gabran, king of Dalriada, and became king after the death of his kinsman King Conall, when he was crowned at Iona by St Columba. He refused to allow his kingdom to remain in dependence on the Irish Dalriada, but coming into collision with his southern neighbours he led a large force against Æthelfrith, king of the Northumbrians, and was defeated at a place called Daegsanstane, probably in Liddesdale.

See Bede, Historiae Ecclesiasticae gentis Anglorum, edited by C. Plummer (Oxford, 1896); Adamnan, Vita S. Columbae, edited by J. T. Fowler (Oxford, 1894).