buildings provided for that purpose. As monaster-
ies/ecclesiastical settlements became more associated
with secular interests they became vulnerable to attack,
but Fedelmid was the first great Irish king to introduce
the practice. It is possible that his attacks on ecclesi-
astical settlements such as Clonmacnoise were inspired
by a puritan zeal to cleanse the old and sinful ways of
the unreformed church. However, it is more likely that
such attacks were part of his attempts to replace the Uí
Néill as kings of Tara.
In 823, Fedelmid proclaimed the law of Patrick in
Munster, with Artri mac Conchobair his favored can-
didate for bishop of Armagh. In the same year he
commenced a war of attrition against ecclesiastical
settlements in Uí Néill or border territories when he
burned the monastic site of Gallen (County Offaly). In
826, he burned Delbna Bethra (in western Mide) with
an army from Munster.
In 827, he met the Uí Néill
king of Tara, Conchobar, at Birr for what the annals
called a “royal conference.” Any agreement made at
this meeting was short-lived as in 830, Fedelmid was
recorded as inflicting a defeat on the Connachta and
the Uí Néill. In 831, he plundered the territory of
Conchobar near Slane, and the latter replied by plun-
dering the Liffey plain. In 823, he burned the church
lands of Clonmacnoise “to the very door of the church”
and put to death members of the community. He did
likewise at Durrow. He burned the
termon
(sanctuary
lands) of Clonmacnoise in 832 and plundered the sur-
rounding land in Delbna Bethra three times in that same
year. His first reverse came from Cathal, son of Ailell,
king of Uí Maine, at Mag nAí (County Roscommon)
in 835.
In 835, Fergus, son of Bodbchad, king of Carraic
Brachaide, was killed by Munstermen and in 836,
Dúnlang, son of Cathúsach, abbot of Cork, is
recorded as having died without communion in
Cashel of the kings. The
Annals of Inisfallen
do not
record the death of Dúnlang but mention the entry of
Fedelmid into the abbacy of Cork the same year. The
foundation of Cork had been involved in several bat-
tles with other ecclesiastical settlements in that
period. He attacked Uí Maine in Connacht in 837.
In
838, the annals report “a great royal conference in
Cluain Chonaire Tomar, between Fedelmid and Niall
[Caille],” that is, at Cloncurry in County Kildare.
Whatever the outcome of his meeting with Niall,
Fedelmid attacked Mide and Brega
the lands of the
Southern Uí Néill
the following year. He also rav-
aged the kingdom of Delbna Bethra as well as the
neighboring Uí Néill kingdom of Cenél Fiachrach
(Fir Chell in the annals). The southern annals record
that in 840, he harried the north from Birr to Tara
and, in 841, Fedelmid led an army to Carman. The
king of Tara, Niall Caille, marched against him and
defeated the forces of Munster at Mag Óchtar. Fol-
lowing mac Crimthainn’s defeat at the hands of Niall
Caille, the Uí Néill were again firmly in place as the
dominant kingship in Ireland. However, he attacked
Clonmacnoise again in 846.
He died in 847 and is described in the annals as
“king of Munster, a scribe and anchorite and the best
of the Irish.” When Fedelmid mac Crimthainn suc-
ceeded to the kingship of Munster it was in a weak-
ened state, as his predecessor according to the regnal
lists, Tnúthgal mac Donngail of Eóganacht Glenamain,
is not mentioned in the annals. In fact, the annals call
Artrí mac Cathail, also of Eóganacht Glenamain, who
died in 821, the year after Fedelmid became king,
king of Munster. The decline of the Eóganacht Locha
Léin, whose over kingdom of Iarmumu collapsed
when the subject peoples of west Munster transferred
their direct allegiance to Cashel around the end of
the eighth century, made Fedelmid’s position in Munster
secure and allowed him to move beyond the province
in order to take on the ever-increasing threat of the
Uí Néill.
Fedelmid mac Crimthainn was an ecclesiastic,
although it is not certain that he was a bishop. The
phenomenon of kings who were also ecclesiastics
seems to be unique to the south of Ireland, and it is
possible that Fedelmid may have inaugurated the tra-
dition of ecclesiastical kingship. His career can best
be explained in the light of increasing aggression
from the Uí Néill toward Munster and his member-
ship of the Céli Dé, which colored his view toward
the great monasteries. It could be said of him that he
was the last great Eóganacht king of Cashel, as the
Eóganachta dynasties began to go into decline from
that time. At a time when Ireland was under attack
by the Vikings it is remarkable to note that Fedelmid
never struck a blow against them. Fedelmid mac
Crimthainn was later revered as a saint and his feast
day was celebrated on August 28, according to the
Martyrology of Donegal.
L
ETITIA
C
AMPBELLReferences and Further Reading
Byrne, F. J.
Irish Kings and High Kings. London: Batsford,
1973.
Charles-Edwards, T. M.
Early Christian Ireland
. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Hennessy, William, ed.
Chronicum Scotorum
. Rolls Series,
London: H. M. Stationary Office, 1866.
Hughes, Kathleen.
The Church in Early Irish Society
. London:
Methuen, 1966.
Mac Airt, Seán, ed.
Annals of Inisfallen
. Dublin: Dublin Institute
for Advanced Studies, 1952.
Mac Airt, Seán, and Gearóid Mac Niocaill, ed.
Annals of Ulster
to
A
.
D
. 1131
. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies,
1983.
FEDELMID MAC CRIMTHAINN (
c.
770 TO 847)