Reigned Dal Riata 538-558
The successor of Comgall as the fourth king of the Irish Scots. If the genealogies are correct, Gabran's father, Domangart, had died in 507, so that Gabhran was probably then quite young. During his reign Comgall had succeeded in establishing a strong Dal Riatan kingdom in the area of Argyll and Kintyre. It seems that Gabhran endeavoured to expand that kingdom westward into the territory of the Picts, taking advantage of the inter-tribal battles between not only the Picts and the British, but also those two cultures and the invading Angles. Gabhran was initially successful, and he seems to have established a rapport with a northern British enclave of the Gododdin in the Mearns around modern Brechin. The name of the territory of Gowrie is apparently a corruption of Gabhran or Gafran. Gabhran married Luan, the daughter of Brychan of the Gododdin and the granddaughter of Dumnagual Hen. However, Gabhran's expansion was curbed in 558 soon after the succession of Brude Mac Maelchon as ruler of the Picts. After a series of battles, the Scots were routed and forced back into their core territory. Gabhran's death is recorded in the same year, but whether that was a consequence of the battles, or another reason, is not known. He was succeeded by his nephew Conall Mac Comgall.
