Colmán Már mac Diarmato (died 555/558) was an Irish king, son ofDiarmait mac Cerbaill. Early sources and older scholarship distinguish two sons of Diarmait,Colmán Már (Colmán the Elder) andColmán Bec (Colmán the Younger), although some scholars suggest there was only one Colmán mac Diarmato. There are some traces of Colmán Bec in theIrish annals, but so far as Colmán Már is concerned only his putative death is recorded.

According to the traditional account, found in genealogical sources, Diarmait mac Cerbaill had three known sons, two of whom were called Colmán. Colmán Bec's mother is said to have been Brea daughter of theConmaicne, aConnacht people.^[1] Colmán Már's mother, Eithne, daughter of Brénainn Dall of the Conmaicne. Other sources claim that Eithne was also a wife of Diarmait's sonÁed Sláine, and yet others say that she also married Áed's sonBlathmac.^[2]

Both Colmáns were regarded as the founders of later dynasties. Colmán Már, to whom the genealogists gave two sons,Suibne andFergus, was theeponymous ancestor ofClann Cholmáin, a dynasty which dominated the southernUí Néill from the 8th century to the early 11th century, and which supplied manykings of Tara. Colmán Bec was regarded as the ancestor of the much less important dynasty of Clann Cholmáin Bic, laterCaille Follamain, through a sonÓengus.^[3]

The only record of Colmán Már in the annals is a report of his death in the 550s.^[4] A number of difficulties have been noted with the chronology of Colmán Már's death in relation to thefloruit of his supposed sons and brothers, with the early appearance of his Latinate name, and with the record of the annals. Ailbhe Mac Shamhráin concludes "...Colmán Már is a hollow figure and looks suspiciously like an artificial creation...".^[5] It is suggested that Colmán Már was added to the genealogies in the time ofDomnall Midi (died 763).^[6]

The first record of Colmán Bec in the annals is in the 560s, when he is reported to have undertaken an expedition toIardoman—glossed as "Seil andIslay", but sometimes understood to mean theInner Hebrides more generally—along withConall mac Comgaill.^[7]

In the 570s, the annals record Colmán Bec's defeat at a battle at Femen. Some sources add that he was defeated byCoirpre Cromm mac Crimthainn, who is recorded as the provincial overking ofMunster.^[8] There were at least two notable places named Femen, one near to theHill of Tara, the other near toCashel.^[9] Some historians have supposed that this battle in fact concerned internal Uí Néill disputes.^[10]

Colmán Bec's final appearances in the historical record are in the 580s, perhaps 586 and 587. In 586, the annals report the killing ofBáetán mac Ninneda, whom they claim to have been king of Tara, "according to Colmán Bec's plan" by Colmán's son Cumméne and a kinsman of the same name, a grandson of Diarmait's brother Illand. The following year there is a report of Colmán Bec's death, fighting againstÁed mac Ainmuirech, at the unlocatedBelach Dathí.^[11]

• Kings of Uisnech

• Annals of Tigernach atCELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts atUniversity College Cork
• Annals of Ulster atCELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts atUniversity College Cork
• Annals of the Four Masters atCELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts atUniversity College Cork
• Annals of Innisfallen atCELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts atUniversity College Cork
• Byrne, Francis J. (2001),Irish Kings and High-Kings (2nd ed.), Dublin: Four Courts Press,ISBN 978-1-85182-196-9
• Connon, Anne, "Prosopography II: A Prosopography of the Early Queens of Tara", in Bhreathnach, Edel (ed.),The Kingship and Landscape of Tara, Dublin: Four Courts Press, pp. 225–327,ISBN 1-85182-954-7
• Charles-Edwards, T. M. (2000),Early Christian Ireland, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,ISBN 0-521-36395-0
• Connon, Anne, "Prosopography II: A Prosopography of the Early Queens of Tara", in Bhreathnach, Edel (ed.),The Kingship and Landscape of Tara, Dublin: Four Courts Press, pp. 159–224,ISBN 1-85182-954-7
• Mac Shamhráin, Ailbhe (2000), "Nebulae discutiuntur? The emergence of Clann Cholmáin sixth-eighth centuries", in Smyth, Alfred P. (ed.),Seanchas: Studies in Early and Medieval Irish Archaeology, History and Literature in Honour of Francis J. Byrne, Dublin: Four Courts Press, pp. 83–97,ISBN 1-85182-489-8
• Mac Shamhráin, Ailbhe; Byrne, Paul, "Prosopography I: Kings named inBaile Chuinn Chétchathaig and the Airgíalla Charter Poem", in Bhreathnach, Edel (ed.),The Kingship and Landscape of Tara, Dublin: Four Courts Press, pp. 225–327,ISBN 1-85182-954-7
• Book of Leinster,Rig Uisnig atCELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts atUniversity College Cork
• Laud Synchronisms atCELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts atUniversity College Cork

• CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts atUniversity College Cork

• Kings of Uisnech
• 550s deaths
• 6th-century Irish monarchs

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• Year of birth unknown