Dargart mac Finguine (died 685) was a member of theCenél Comgaill kindred, after whichCowal inScotland is named. The only event directly connected with him in theIrish annals, based on a chronicle then being kept onIona, is his death.

Dargart is believed to have been the father of twokings of the Picts,Bridei mac Der-Ilei andNechtan mac Der-Ilei.

Dargart is a very uncommon name, and it is presumed that the few references to someone of that name in the record all refer to the same person.^[1] That a member of the Cenél Comgaill should be noticed at all by the Iona chronicle, which focussed its attention on theCenél nGabráin ofKintyre, is most unusual. Excepting those descendants ofComgall mac Domangairt who are included in traditional lists ofKings of Dál Riata, only Dargart, and his fatherFinguine Fota are mentioned by the chroniclers, in both cases on the occasion of their deaths.^[2]

Dargart's father's ancestry is recorded in one survivinggenealogy, theGenelaig Albanensium, appended to a version of theSenchus fer n-Alban. This makes him a great-grandson of Comgall, although a generation may have been omitted, and records another son of his, Ferchar by name.^[3]

The report of Dargart's death—by violence, theLatin wordiugulatio is used—appears in theAnnals of Tigernach and theAnnals of Ulster in the year of thebattle of Nechtansmere, that is 685, and has later been duplicated by theAnnals of Ulster under the year 692.^[4]

Dargart appears to have married a woman namedDer-Ilei, perhaps a daughter, or less probably a sister, of KingBridei son of Beli. They had at least two sons, the Pictish kings Bridei, who diedc. 706, and Nechtan, who died in 732. Congal mac Dargarto, who died in 712, was very likely this Dargart's son, although whether with Der-Ilei is less certain. It is also uncertain whether Ciniod, or Cináed, mac Der-Ilei, killed in 713 was Dargart's son.^[5]