whom were the progenitors of the Connacht dynasties
of Uí Briúin, Uí Fiachrach, and Uí Ailello. Mongfind
resented Niall, and she asked Eochaid to judge
between all his sons to determine who was to succeed
him. The sons were sent on a hunting expedition,
during which each one, in turn, went to a well
guarded by an ugly, old woman. She demanded a kiss
from each before she would permit him to draw water.
Fergus and Brian refused; Fiacha kissed her and the
woman foretold that he would visit Tara (two of his
descendants, Ailill Molt and Nath Í, took the kingship).
Niall, however, said that he would lie with her as well
as kiss her, whereupon she was transformed into a beau-
tiful woman. She identified herself as “sovereignty” and
promised Niall that sovereignty would be his and his
children’s forever, save for the two (aforementioned)
descendants of Fiacha and Brian Boru. Niall is acknowl-
edged as a king of Tara in all of the extant king lists
dating from early eighth century onward.
Niall is assigned two wives: Indiu, daughter of
Lugaid mac Óengusa Finn of Dál Fiatach of Ulster,
and Rígnach, daughter of Meda mac Rosa, also of Dál
Fiatach. The main tradition identifies Indiu as the
mother of Niall’s sons; an alternative account relates
that their mother was Rígnach. Niall is credited with
between three and fourteen sons, in sources of differ-
ing dates, some of whom were recognized as the pro-
genitors of dynasties. The accretion of additional sons
would have followed the absorption of various dynas-
tic groupings into the Uí Néill.
According to the saga of Niall’s death, he was slain,
while on an expedition in Scotland, by Eochu mac
Énnai Cheinnselaig. Cináed Ua hArtacáin, the tenth-
century poet, relates that Niall raided Britain seven
times and that he was slain on the last of these raids
by Eochu, acting in conjunction with the Saxons. (The
reference to the Saxons is almost certainly anachro-
nistic.) Niall is said to be have been buried at Ochan
(Faughan Hill in Co. Meath).
References and Further Reading
Byrne, Francis John.
Irish Kings and High-Kings
. London:
Batsford, 1973.
Byrne, Paul Francis. “Certain Southern Uí Néill Kingdoms
(Sixth to Eleventh Century).” Ph.D. dissertation, University
College Dublin, 2000.
Connon, Anne. “Prosopography II: A Prosopography of the
Early Queens of Tara”. In
Ta r a: A Study of an Exceptional
Kingship and Landscape
(
Discovery Programme, Mono-
graph X
), edited by Edel Bhreathnach. Dublin: Royal Irish
Academy/Discovery Programme (forthcoming).
Dillon, Myles.
The Cycles of the Kings
. London: Oxford Uni-
versity Press, 1946.
Ó Corráin, Donnchadh. “Legend as Critic.” In
The Writer as
Witness
, edited by Tom Dunne. Cork: Cork University Press,
1987, pp. 23–38.
O’Rahilly, T. F.
Early Irish History and Mythology. Dublin:
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1946.
See also
Uí Néill; Cináed Ua hArtacáin; Tara;
Connacht
NICHOLAS MAC MÁEL-SU
Archbishop of Armagh from 1272 to 1303, Nicholas
mac Máel-su was the last representative of the old Irish
ecclesiastical tradition to serve in that position in medi-
eval Ireland. Little is known about his background,
except that he was a native of the diocese of Ardagh
(Cos. Longford and Roscommon). He came of Irish
(as opposed to Anglo-Norman) stock, probably from
a prominent local family, some of whose members
were later charged with killing the king’s knights. His
forename is likely to have been assumed upon taking
holy orders, rather than testifying to an accommoda-
tion with Anglo-Norman culture in Ireland. He may
have received a university education abroad, as sug-
gested by references in a contemporary obituary to his
secular eloquence and his title of
magister
.
Elected in 1270 and consecrated by the Cardinal
Archbishop of Tusculum in 1272 (Pope Gregory X
was then in the Holy Land), Nicholas then rendered
homage to Henry III in England. He may have attended
the Council of Lyons (1274). Certainly he made its
main concerns—excessive secular interference in epis-
copal elections and the proper administration of lands
owned by the church—the central issues of his own
career. To further his cause, Nicholas cultivated good
relations with the English administration in Ireland,
especially with Stephen Fulbourne, bishop of Water-
ford and justiciar of Ireland. He tried to have Stephen’s
brother, Walter, appointed bishop of Meath against the
wishes of the local diocesan chapter. The attempt back-
fired and Nicholas became the subject of a royal inves-
tigation, being summoned to answer charges at
Drogheda in 1284.
More broadly, he fought the crown on the issue of
the king’s right to the temporalities of a diocese during
a vacancy. Edward I rejected the claim on the grounds
that English common law gave him this right and that
the same law was deemed to apply in all Ireland, both
Anglo-Norman and Gaelic. In reality, the English
administration in Ireland was in no position to enforce
common law in native-held areas, so Nicholas was able
to retain control of temporalities in most of the dis-
puted dioceses.
In another famous exchange, when Edward tried to
levy a special tax on the Irish church to finance his
wars, Nicholas reacted by summoning a council of the
Armagh province at Trim in 1291. From this meeting
emerged a united front of Irish and Anglo-Norman
bishops, who vowed to defend each other’s rightsNIALL NOÍGIALLACH