faradach

Faradach is a name found in early Irish literary and mythological traditions, used for several figures in the legendary history of Ireland. The most prominent form is Feradach Finnfechnach, listed among the High Kings in traditional king-lists that appear in the Mythological Cycle and its historical successors.

In surviving manuscripts, Feradach Finnfechnach is presented as an early ruler of Ireland. The accounts place him at a period before reliable historical records, and the exact dating varies widely among sources. Medieval writers attempted to fit such figures into a continuous chronology, but the chronology remains inconsistent and speculative, reflecting the blending of myth, legend, and early historical memory.

The name is of Old Irish origin, with several orthographic variants such as Feradach and Faradach. The epithet Finnfechnach is usually interpreted in modern readings as something like "white-handed" or "bright-handed," though precise meaning and etymology differ among scholars and manuscripts.

The traditions surrounding Faradach often provide little in the way of concrete biography; instead, they contribute to a wider narrative of Ireland’s legendary kingship and the attempt to organize Ireland’s past into a sequence of reigns. As with many figures of the early Irish regnal lists, the details—including lineage, deeds, and the dating of his reign—are not uniformly attested across sources and are treated by modern scholars as part of a mytho-historical framework rather than verifiable history.

See also: High Kings of Ireland, Feradach Finnfechnach, Mythological Cycle, Lebor Gabála Érenn.

References to Faradach appear in medieval Irish compilations and later retellings, where he is discussed as a component of Ireland’s foundational legendary chronology rather than a historically documented ruler.