MÁEL-SECHNAILL II (949/950–1022)that the descendants of Flann Sinna were quarreling
about the kingship of Mide. Domnall Donn, one of
Donnchad Donn’s sons, is recorded as king of one half
of Mide at his death in 952. His wife was Dúnfhlaith,
daughter of Muirchertach “of the Leather Cloaks,”
who had given birth to Máel-Sechnaill some years
earlier. It was probably after Domnall’s death that
Dúnfhlaith became the wife of Amlaíb Cuarán, to
whom she bore Glún Iarn (Iron Knee). Amlaíb and his
allies of Leinster and Brega dominated affairs in east-
ern Ireland in the 960s and 970s. Muirchertach’s son
Domnall Ua Néill (king of Tara 956–980) led several
ferocious campaigns in the area, but was ultimately
unsuccessful in his efforts to subjugate the Dublin
Norse and their allies, and was finally repulsed from
Mide by Clann Cholmáin. Because of internal divi-
sions, the kingship of Mide was in abeyance from 974
to 978. Finally, Máel-Sechnaill claimed it when he was
still in his late twenties. Two years later, Domnall Ua
Néill died, and according to the traditional rule of
alternation, it was the turn of Clann Cholmáin to
deliver the next king of Tara. Aided by allies from
overseas, the ambitious Amlaíb attacked Máel-Sechnaill
at Tara, perhaps at his inauguration. Together with the
forces of Ulster and Leinster, Máel-Sechnaill defeated
his enemies, and beleaguered Dublin for three days in
a row until the inhabitants came to terms. The new
king of Tara obtained a large tribute in cattle and jew-
elry, and freed the Irish hostages kept in Dublin.
Someannals refer to this as the end of the Babylonian
Captivity of Ireland. Máel-Sechnaill was now the new
overlord of Dublin, which was henceforth ruled by his
half-brother Glún Iarn. His marriage to Máel-Muire
(d. 1021), daughter of Amlaíb, may also stem from
this period. His control over Dublin provided Máel-
Sechnaill with additional resources to check the
progress of Brian Boru in Leinster and Connacht.
Hence he immediately laid siege to Dublin after the
killing of Glún Iarn by a slave in 989. Once again the
Norse made their submission and paid a huge tax.
Their new king, Sitriuc Silkenbeard, was the son of
Amlaíb and Gormfhlaith, the daughter of the king of
Leinster. Gormfhlaith also became Máel-Sechnaill’s
wife, perhaps to forge an alliance between the two
parties. When Máel-Sechnaill was forced to come to
terms with Brian in 997, he conceded his overlordship
over Dublin to his rival. It marks the beginning of the
situation in which control over Dublin was tantamount
to the control over Ireland. Máel-Sechnaill failed to
rally the northern Uí Néill to his banner, and submitted
to Brian in 1002. He remained king of Tara, and as
such attempted to revive the Fair of Tailtiu, the assem-
bly of the Uí Néill and their allies, which had fallen
into disuse in the early tenth century. The poem which
Cúán Ua Lothcháin composed about the event in 1007
shows that the main kings of the northern Uí Néill and
Connacht did not show up. Máel-Sechnaill’s fortunes
reversed when he pulled out before the battle of Clontarf
in 1014. With the death of Brian and the Dál Cais
weakened, he became the most powerful king in Ireland.
In 1015, Máel-Sechnaill was joined by Flaithbertach
Ua Néill, king of Cenél nÉogain; the kings of Cenél
Conaill and Bréifne; and by the son of the king of
Connacht in an attack on Dublin, which was burned.
Afterward he took the hostages of Leinster and plun-
dered Osraige. The next year the hostages of Osraige
and Ulster were secured. Máel-Sechnaill was now at
the height of his power and had almost matched the
successes of Brian. However, the remarkable unity
among the Uí Néill and their allies did not last. In
1018, the northern Uí Néill were at war with him, and
Máel-Sechnaill received aid from the Éoganachta of
Munster in his expedition to the north. Yet in 1020 the
annals record that the king of Tara was joined by
Flaithbertach Ua Néill, Art Ua Ruairc of Bréifne, and
Donnchad mac Briain of Munster in an expedition to
the Shannon, where they gave the hostages of Connacht
to him. Máel-Sechnaill’s power in this period earned
him the epithet Mór(the Great), and the description
“high king of Ireland and pillar of the dignity and nobil-
ity of the western world” at his death in 1022.Legacy
The aftermath of Clontarf had given Máel-Sechnaill
the opportunity to reunite the Uí Néill and reestab-
lishthe power of the king of Tara over Ireland. This
was no mean achievement, and it testifies to his abilities
as a leader, which were overshadowed only by those
of Brian Boru. But the period of disintegration of the
Uí Néill and the changes Brian Boru had caused could
not be undone in a matter of years. After his death,
Flaithbertach Ua Néill did not claim the kingship of
Tara, and the title became the rather empty prerogative
of the kings of Mide. The kingship of Tara, which had
been a steady force in Irish politics for centuries, had
thus been rendered ineffectual. Yet this situation actu-
ally dates from the 940s onward, when none of the
kings of Tara had been able to make good of his claim
to be over king of all the Uí Néill. While Máel-
Sechnaill may have been recognized as such in the
period from 1015 to 1022, this did not herald the return
to the old political order. After the death of Flaithbertach
Ua Néill in 1036, the kingship of Cenél nÉogain was
taken by another branch, which would bring forth the
Mac Lochlainn lineage. Clann Cholmáin were equally
divided. Although Máel-Sechnaill had ruled Mide for
almost forty-five years, he was succeeded by Máel-
Sechnaill Got, a member from another branch. His own