Dúnán

Dúnán (died 6 May 1074) was the first bishop of Dublin, appointed under Dublin's Hiberno-Norse kings. He is known also as Donatus or Donat. The diocese was put on a regular basis, in 1028, at the request of Sigtrygg Silkbeard. In his obit in the Annals of Ulster Dúnán is described as "chief bishop of the foreigners" (ardespoc Gall).

It has been traditionally said that Dúnán was consecrated by Æthelnoth, the Archbishop of Canterbury. This is now disputed, with scholars saying that his successor, Gilla Patráic, was the first to be consecrated in this way.

Biography

Dunan was an Easterling or Ostman, and the first of the line of prelates who have occupied the see. Ware, who mentions several so-called bishops of Dublin of an earlier date, is supported by the Martyrology of Donegal, but Dr. Lanigan is of opinion that there are no sufficient grounds for so regarding them, except in the case of Siadhal or Sedulius, who appears to have been a bishop. Dunan is, however, termed abbot of Dublin in the 'Annals of the Four Masters' (AD 785), and from this it would seem he was only a monastic bishop; diocesan episcopacy had not been established in Ireland in his time. Dunan, therefore, must be regarded as the first bishop of Dublin in the modern sense of the title.