sons were either dead or not powerful enough to claim
the kingship. After 1030, the kingship of Mide was
held by the descendants of Máel-Sechnaill’s son
Domnall (d. 1019 as head of Clonard), but Clann
Cholmáin were often too divided and the Ua
Máelshechlainn (O Melaghlin) family never recovered
their former glory. Henceforth Mide became the bat-
tleground for the more successful kings from Leinster,
Munster, Connacht, and Cenél nÉogain.
BART JASKI
References and Further Reading
Ó Corráin, Donncha[dh]. Gill History of Ireland.Vol. 2, Ireland
before the Normans, pp. 120, 121–24, 128–29, 131. Dublin:
Gill and Macmillan, 1972.
MacShamhráin, A. “The Battle of Glenn Máma, Dublin and the
High-Kingship of Ireland.”
Duffy, Seán, ed. Medieval Dublin. Vol. 2, pp. 57–59, 62–63.
Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2001.
See alsoAmlaíb Cuarán; Brian Boru; Dublin;
Gormlaith (d. 1030); Mide; Sitriuc Silkenbeard; Uí
Néill, Northern; Uí Néill, Southern
MAGUIRE
The Maguire (Mag Uidhir) family rose to prominence
in the lordship of Fermanagh at the end of the thirteenth
century to become kings of Lough Erne. Their rise was
associated with the fall of the Mac Lochlainn dynasty
in Tír nEógain, and was sponsored by the de Burgh, earls
of Ulster. The Maguires replaced the ruling Fermanagh
dynasties of Ua hEignigh (to whom the Maguires were
related), Ua Duib Dara and Ua Máel Ruanaid, and
maintained forty soldiers for the earl of Ulster and paid
tribute of eighty cows. Following the collapse of the
earldom in the mid-fourteenth century, the Maguire
lordship of Fermanagh was noted for its peace and pros-
perity. There were a large number of learned families
in the lordship, poets, historians, brehons, and physi-
cians, and in the early seventeenth century, the inhabit-
ants of Fermanagh were “reputed the worst swordsmen
of the north, being rather inclined to be scholars or
husbandmen than to be kerne or men of action.”
Under two powerful lords, Tomás Mór Maguire
(1395–1430) and his son and heir, Tomás Óg
(1430–1471), abdicated. the lordship of Fermanagh
and became very wealthy. It was stated of Tomás Mór
that he was “a man of universal hospitality toward poor
and mighty,” noted as a founder of churches and mon-
asteries and for “the goodness of his government.”
Tomás Óg’s position as lord of Fermanagh was so
secure that he was able to go on pilgrimage to Rome,
and twice to Santiago Compostella in Spain. Both of
these lords were also noted for their strong support for
their overlord, Ua Néill of Tír nEógain.
Within the Maguire lordship, there was a continual
spreading out of junior Maguire septs, who dispos-
sessed other families of less importance. For example,
the Clann Amlaimh Maguires established themselves
in Muinntear Peodacháin, west of Lough Erne, dispos-
sessing the chieftain, Mac Gille Fhinnéin. The Magu-
ires also took Clankelly from the Mac Mahons. By the
late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, Ua Domnaill
interference in the Maguire lordship began to increase,
and Fermanagh became part of the lord of Tír Chonaill’s
sphere of influence. The O’Donnells put fleets of
ships on Lough Erne and even took over the castle of
Enniskillen for long periods. However, Shane O’Neill,
the lord of Tyrone from 1559 to 1567, won Fermanagh
back to the Ua Néill fold.
In the late sixteenth century, the chieftain Cú
Chonnacht Maguire, lord of Fermanagh from 1566 to
1589, was an important ruler. Known for “his munifi-
cence toward churches, ollaves, soldiers, and servants,”
and for his knowledge of Latin and Irish, Cú Chonnacht
was a noted patron of bardic poets, and he commis-
sioned the collection now known as Duanaire Mhéig
Uidhir(Maguire’s Poembook), which survives in a
manuscript in Copenhagen. Cú Chonnacht’s son, Hugh
Maguire, lord of Fermanagh from 1589 to 1600 was a
very important confederate cavalry commander during
the Nine Years’ War. He defeated an English force at
the Battle of the Ford of the Biscuits in 1594 and com-
manded the Irish cavalry at the Battle of Clontibret in
1595 and the Battle of the Yellow Ford in 1598. He was
killed while accompanying Hugh O’Neill’s progress
into Munster in March 1600. Hugh’s half-brother,
CúChonnacht Óg Maguire, succeeded him as lord of
Fermanagh. He was a prominent participant in the Flight
of the Earls in 1607 and died in Genoa in 1608.
DARREN MCGETTIGANReferences and Further Reading
O’Donovan, John, ed. and trans. Annala Rioghachta Eireann,
Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland. Dublin, 1856.
Greene, David. Duanaire Mhéig Uidhir, The Poembook of Cú
Chonnacht Mág Uidhir, Lord of Fermanagh 1566–1589.
Dublin, 1991.
Simms, Katharine. “The Medieval Kingdom of Lough Erne.”
Clogher Record9, no. 2 (1977): 126–141.
See alsoMac Lochlainn; Learned Classes;
Pilgrimage; Ua Néill; Ua Domhnaill; Ulster,
earldom ofMALACHY (MÁEL-MÁEDÓIC)
Due to the fact that St. Bernard, the great abbot of
Clairvaux, wrote the Life of St. Malachy, much more
is known about him than anyone else involved in the
twelfth-century Church Reform in Ireland. Known inMÁEL-SECHNAILL II (949/950–1022)