UA NÉILL (Ó NÉILL)
of interdynastic rivalry. He led their united forces
against renewed Viking incursions along the southern
and eastern coasts of Ireland, but was slain in battle
by the Dublin Norse in 919.
Niall was succeeded as high king by Flann Sinna’s
son, Donnchad, and as king of Cenél nEógain by his
own son, Muirchertach na Cochall Craicinn, “of the
Leather Cloaks.” Muirchertach continued to battle
against the Norse invaders. Although initially opposing
the rule of the high king Donnchad, he eventually
made common cause with him His nickname “of the
Leather Cloaks” was traditionally said to be earned by
a winter campaign in 941, when he brought his leather-
clad soldiers on a circuit of southern Ireland, capturing
Cellachán, “king of Cashel” (over king of Munster),
and forcing him to submit to Donnchad. Before he
could succeed Donnchad as high king, Muirchertach
was killed by a Norse army near Clonkeen, County
Louth, in 943.
The surname Ua Néill first emerged with
Muirchertach’s son, Domnall of Armagh, otherwise
“Domnall Ua Néill.” Domnall succeeded his father as
king of Cenél nEógain, but only won recognition as
high king of Ireland in 956, after an interregnum,
944–956, when two long-excluded branches of the
northern and southern Uí Néill, the Cenél Conaill and
the Síl nÁedo Sláine respectively, fought unsuccess-
fully for supremacy. Domnall (d. 980) was the last of
his line to hold high kingship. He was succeeded in
Cenél nEógain by two sons. The first, Áed Craeibe
Telcha, or “of Crewe Hill, County Antrim,” was named
after the battle in which he was killed in 1004 while
attempting to assert lordship over the Ulaid. His brother,
Flaithbertach an Trostáin Ua Néill (1004–1036), “of
the pilgrim’s staff,” was so called because he transferred
his kingship to his son Áed in 1030 and went on
pilgrimage to Rome. Áed died in 1033, and although
the aged Flaithbertach resumed kingship for a further
three years, his death in 1036 was followed by a suc-
cession struggle among different branches of the Cenél
nEógain dynasty, leading to the rise of a collateral
kindred, the Mac Lochlainn kings of Cenél nEógain,
two of whom successively claimed to be high kings of
Ireland “with opposition.”The Medieval Lords of Tír
nEógain (Tyrone)
The Ua Néill family went through a period of obscurity
until the fall of the high king Muirchertach Mac
Lochlainn in 1166. The next high king, Ruaidrí Ua
Conchobair of Connacht, divided Cenél nEógain in
two in 1167, giving the northern half to Niall, son of
Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn, and the southern half to
Áed Ua Néill, an Macaem Tóinlesc, “the lazy-rumped
lad,” traditionally so called because as a boy he had
failed to stand up respectfully when Muirchertach Mac
Lochlainn entered the house where he was staying.
Áed Ua Néill was opposed and eventually killed by
the sons of Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn near Armagh
in 1177. His brief reign had nevertheless restored the
claims of the Ua Néill line, and in 1199 his son Áed
Méith, “Áed of Omeath” (County Louth), began a long
and militarily successful career as ruler of the Cenél
nEógain.
The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland began in
1169, leading to the conquest and settlement of Ulaid
by John de Courcy in 1177. Áed Méith’s first recorded
exploit was an attack on the Anglo-Norman port of
Larne, County Antrim, which forced de Courcy to
retreat from his own invasion of Tír nEógain, the land
ruled by the Cenél nEógain. Thereafter, Áed headed
an alliance of Tír nEógain with Tír Conaill (most of
modern County Donegal) under Ua Domnaill, and Fir
Manach (County Fermanagh) under Ua hÉignig. He
came to terms with John de Courcy, lord of Ulster, and
afterward with Hugh de Lacy, who replaced de Courcy
and was created first earl of Ulster in 1205. When de
Lacy rebelled and his castle of Carrickfergus was
besieged by King John in 1210, Áed refused to yield
hostages to the English king, and succeeded in destroy-
ing the Anglo-Norman castles with which John’s chief
governor ringed Ulster subsequently between 1211 and- However the pipe roll of John for 1211 and 1212
shows Ua Néill paid a fine of at least 293 cows to
obtain pardon for rebellion, and a further 321 cows or
more as rent for the kingship of Tír nEógain. When
the exiled Earl Hugh returned from 1222 to 1224 to
win back his earldom by force, Áed Ua Néill supported
Silver signet ring with the arms of O’Neill attached to a silver
chain. © The Trustees of the National Museums of Scotland.