MAC LOCHLAINN, MUIRCHERTACH (C. 1110–1166)
In that year Archbishop Gelasius of Armagh (d. 1173)
visited Tír nEógain to receive full tribute from its
churches. On that occasion Muirchertach bestowed a
gift of twenty cows upon the archbishop. During the
same year, Bishop Flaithbertach Ua Brolcháin of Derry
(viv. 1175) also visited Tír nEógain and got a full
tribute from its churches. On that occasion, Muirchertach
was more magnanimous. Besides a gift of twenty
cows, Mac Lochlainn gave Ua Brolcháin a gold ring,
a horse, and his own battle dress. And to emphasize
his rising power, Muirchertach made a royal journey
to Inis Mochta (near Slane, Co. Meath) to meet Ua
Cerbaill and Ua Ruairc. While there, Tairrdelbach Ua
Conchobair of Connacht (d. 1156) sent him hostages
without compulsion. Muirchertach on this occasion
banished Ua Máelsechlainn, dividing Mide (Meath)
between Ua Conchobair, Ua Ruairc, and Ua Cerbaill.
This settlement of Mide did not go well among the Uí
Máelsechlainn. Such was the opposition to the rule of
Ua Cerbaill and Ua Ruairc that Muirchertach had to
crush another rising in Mide.
In 1151, Muirchertach felt threatened by Ua Con-
chobair’s reassertion of his suzerainty over Munster
after the battle of Moin Mór. Ua Conchobair’s victory
over Tairrdelbach Ua Briain (d. 1167) compelled the
northern king to attack Connacht, forcing the over-
stretched Ua Conchobair and Mac Murchada to render
hostages. During 1152, Muirchertach fell out with Ua
Cerbaill over the latter’s feud with Archbishop Gelasius
of Armagh. Typically, he seized the opportunity to pose
as the defender of the church and deposed his ally.
With Ua Cerbaill out of the way, Muirchertach made
a peace with Ua Conchobair near Ballyshannon.
ThereMuirchertach seems not to have objected to Ua
Conchobair’s intended invasion of Munster, for after-
ward Ua Conchobair and Diarmait Mac Murchada met
him at another conference at Rathkenny in County
Meath, dividing Mide between Ua Máelsechlainn and
his son Máelsechlainn Ua Máelsechlainn (d. 1155).
They also attacked Ua Ruairc and forced him to give
up his overlordship over Conmaicne before replacing
him with a kinsman as king of Bréifne. In 1153, he
felt compelled to aid Ua Briain after Ua Conchobair
had banished him from Munster and divided it between
Tadc Ua Briain (d. 1154) and Diarmait Mac Carthaig
(sl. 1185). In Mide, Ua Conchobair and Tadc Ua Briain
attempted to halt the northern army. Muirchertach,
however, brushed Tadc aside and routed the Leinster
cavalry. Ua Conchobair then retreated across the
Shannon, but Muirchertach and Ua Ruairc inflicted a
heavy defeat on his son Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair (d. 1198)
at Fardrum in west Meath. Victorious, Muirchertach
took hostages of Máelsechlainn Ua Máelsechlainn,
confirming Mide to him and gave him the Leinster
subkingdoms of Uí Failge and Uí Fáeláin. He did not
forget to reward Ua Ruairc, restoring him to Bréifne,
and gave him Conmaicne, but he made sure to take his
hostages before leaving for home. A sign of his power
at this time was his ability to billet the exiled army of
the ill Ua Briain throughout Ulster and Mide. But once
Ua Briain recovered, he returned with Muirchertach’s
help to Thomond and reassumed his kingship.
Ua Conchobair was determined not to allow Mac
Lochlainn get the better of him. In 1154, he plundered
the coastline of Tír Conaill and Inishowen. But Con-
nacht’s maritime dominance was challenged by
Muirchertach’s hired fleets from the Hebrides and
Man. Although the Connacht fleet was victorious,
Muirchertach proved stronger on land, plundering east
Connacht before compelling Bréifne to recognize Ua
Ruairc’s kingship. That done, he took the submission
of the Dublin Ostmen and gave them tuarastalof 1200
cows. Upon his homecoming, he banished the son
(CúUlad) of Deorad Ua Flainn, king of Uí Thuirtri,
to Connacht for blinding his own son. The death of
Máelsechlainn Ua Máelsechlainn in 1155 brought
Muirchertach south again to take the hostages of the men
of Tethbae before giving Mide to Donnchad Ua
Máelsechlainn (sl. 1160). Ua Conchobair and his son
Ruaidrí displayed their resistance to Muirchertach’s
settlement of Mide by building another bridge at Athlone
and sacking Cullentragh Castle. Early in the year 1156,
the king of Connacht made further inroads into
Muirchertach’s client base, taking hostages of Ua
Briain before making a peace with Ua Ruairc. But Ua
Conchobair was too old to go another round with
Muirchertach and died that May, leaving the kingship
of Connacht to Ruaidrí.
The news of Ruaidrí’s accession possibly fanned an
Ulaid revolt against Muirchertach. After subduing
Ulaid, Muirchertach marched south and took hostages
from Mac Murchada before plundering Osraige.
Inevitably, Ruaidrí competed with Muirchertach for
dominance over the midland kingdoms and Mide.
Accordingly, the whole region was transformed into an
arena where Ua Conchobair and Mac Lochlainn clients
struggled for their respective kingships. That said,
Muirchertach sometimes had difficulty in controlling
his own clients. In 1157, Donnchad Ua Máelsechlainn
of Mide killed Cú Ulad Ua Caíndealbháin of Laeghaire
despite Muirchertach’s protection. At the consecration
of the Cistercian monastery of Mellifont, Mac
Lochlainn posed as its patron, granting it land, riches,
and cows. At the same time, he also presided over a
convention of the clergy that excommunicated
Donnchad Ua Máelsechlainn for his crime. Muirchert-
ach banished Donnchad from Mide and gave the king-
ship to Diarmait Ua Máelsechlainn (sl. 1169). He then
began a countrywide circuit by taking hostages of Mac
Murchada and attacking the midland kingdoms of