UA CONCHOBAIR (UÍ CONCHOBAIR, Ó CONCHOBAIR)position in 1175 when he signed the Treaty of Windsor
with Henry. In the treaty Ireland was divided into a
zone—comprising the lands already overrun by the
invaders—under the direct control of the English
king’s delegate in Ireland, and one under the rule of
Ruaidrí. The Treaty proved impossible to maintain and
was soon abandoned, however. Ruaidrí suffered from
several rebellions by his sons. His son Conchobar
Máenmaige (1183–1189) made a bid for the kingship,
and Ruaidrí finally retired to the monastery of Cong
in 1183, leaving his son king of Connacht. When the
latter died, Ruaidrí left the monastery, but was unable
to resume the kingship, which was taken by his grand-
son, Cathal Carrach son of Conchobar Máenmaige
(1189–1202). Ruaidrí died in 1198 and was buried
at Cong, which had been refounded by his father
Tairrdelbach and where Ruaidrí himself had built a new
monastery. In 1207 his bones were disinterred and he
was reburied in Clonmacnoise, where his father, who
had made rich gifts to the monastery, was also buried.
Cathal Carrach’s claim was disputed by his kinsman
Cathal Crobderg (“of the Red Hand”) (1189–1224).
The latter managed to get ascendancy by obtaining
thesupport of the leading Anglo-Norman baron in
Connacht, William de Burgh, who formerly had sup-
ported Cathal Carrach. Crobderg slew Cathal Carrach
and was subsequently inaugurated at Carnfree. Like
his father Tairrdelbach, he was a great patron of the
church and among the many abbeys he founded were
Knockmoy (for Cistercian monks) and Ballintober (for
Augustinian canons). He was married only once,
namely to Mór Muman, daughter of Domnall Mór Ua
Briain, and the annals explicitly say he was faithful to
her, whereas his father and grandfather were notorious
for their polygamous unions. Cathal undertook to main-
tain good personal ties with the English king. In 1205,
he resigned two thirds of Connacht to King John and
agreed to pay 100 marks annually for the remaining one
third. When John visited Ireland in 1210, Cathal joined
forces with him. They parted on bad terms due to the
fact that Ua Conchobair refused to hand over his eldest
son Áed as a hostage. This notwithstanding, Cathal’s
diplomatic efforts to obtain a formal grant of Connacht
did meet with success five years later.
Cathal Crobderg died in 1224 and was succeeded
by his eldest son, Áed (d. 1228). Cathal had
attempted to obtain a grant of Connacht for him from
the king of England. However, Áed forfeited the land
through rebellion. Connacht, with the exception of
the so-called “King’s Five Cantreds,” an area roughly
consisting of County Roscommon and parts of coun-
ties Sligo and Galway, was then granted to Richard
deBurgh. When Áed was murdered, Ruaidrí’s sons
Tairrdelbach and Áed contested each other for the
kingship, with the latter finally emerging victorious.
But when Áed rebelled against the Anglo-Norman
leaders in Connacht, he was deposed by them, and
Feidlim (d. 1265), son of Cathal Crobderg, was set up
as king in his stead.
By around 1235, de Burgh had conquered much of
Connacht, and the Anglo-Normans proceeded to build
castles in the province. Feidlim was left with the
“King’s Five Cantreds.” Like his father and grandfather
before him, he was a patron of the church, and he
founded Roscommon priory for Dominican friars in- He attempted to maintain a good personal rela-
tionship with the English king, and he visited him in
England and joined the king’s military campaign in
Wales in 1245. But by the end of his reign, the ter-
ritoryhe officially ruled had been reduced by the grant-
ing of lands to royal favorites. His son Áed na nGall
(d. 1274) was involved in the attempt at reviving the
high kingship of Ireland, and what was later termed
the Gaelic revival. In 1260, he fought alongside Brian
Ua Néill in the Battle of Down against the settlers in
east Ulster where the Irish troops, including Brian,
were slaughtered. Through his marriage to a daughter
of Dubgall, Mac Ruaidrí from the Hebrides, Áed had
at his disposal a band of galloglass, Scottish merce-
naries. In 1270, he defeated the English led by Walter
de Burgh, earl of Ulster, in the Battle of Áth an Chip.
When he died, the kingship was fought over by the
Clann Muirchertaig and the line of Áed son of Cathal
Crobderg for decades. The latter were able to cling to
the kingship in spite of intervals in which members of
the Clann Muirchertaig ruled. By the end of the thir-
teenth century the area officially under Ua Conchobair
rule was reduced to a mere three cantreds. Very rarely
did any one claimant manage to hold on to the kingship
of Connacht for more than a few years. An exception
to this was Áed son of Eógan, who ruled from 1293
to 1309, and whose fortress at Cloonfree in County
Roscommon is referred to in bardic poetry.
In the early fourteenth century an attempt was made
at reintroducing traditional inaugurations of kings at
Carnfree. In a series of succession disputes, Feidlim
(descendant of Áed son of Cathal Crobderg) was set
up by his foster-father, Mac Diarmata. To give this
young contender more credibility, Feidlim was inau-
gurated as king at Carnfree in a grand style reminis-
cent of ancient traditional customs. According to an
inauguration tract, Ó Conchobair was inaugurated
byhisollamh, Ua Máel Chonaire. Mac Diarmata of
Moylurg (north Co. Roscommon) occupied another
important place at the inauguration. The Meic Diarmata
were among the most prominent subjects of the Uí
Chonchobair and provided them with their hereditary
chief marshal.
During the Bruce invasion, Feidlim initially joined
the earl of Ulster, Richard de Burgh, but subsequently