allies such as Ua Briain, Mac Carthaig, Domnall Mac
Gilla Pátraic (d. 1185), Ua Máelsechlainn, and even
Ua Ruairc. In November, Henry II sent emissaries to
Ruaidrí demanding his submission. All English
sources with the exception of Giraldus tell of how the
high king refused, informing the emissaries that Ireland
was his by right and that he owed the English king no
fealty. That Henry II considered leading an expedition
against Ruaidrí also indicates that the high king’s army
was largely still intact.
In any event, Henry returned to England in March
1172 to deal with the rebellion of his sons. In Leinster,
Ruaidrí’s allies still resisted the English, but he suf-
fered a major blow when his father-in-law Ua Ruairc
was killed. That year Ruaidrí confined himself to
Connacht, presiding over a convention of laity and
clergy at Tuam. In 1173, he aided the Irish fighting the
English advance, allowing Conchobar Máenmaige and
the men of west Connacht to join Domnall Ua Briain
to sack Kilkenny. He also had the hand of Domnall
Ua Ruairc, his father-in-law’s nemesis, nailed to the
top of Tuam castle. During 1174, he took the field
himself against the English, blocking their advance into
Ormond, forcing them to send for reinforcements. He
then dispatched Ua Briain and Conchobar Máenmaige
to attack the reinforcements, defeating them with great
loss at Thurles, forcing the English to retreat to Waterford
and abandon Kilkenny to the Irish. Jubilant, Ruaidrí
returned to Connacht and assembled an army largely
drawn from that province, Ulster, Mide, and west
Leinster. Taking advantage of the absence of Hugh de
Lacy (sl. 1186), he invaded Mide, sacking its castles
and penetrated as far as Dublin. But he was unable to
strike the fatal blow, and Raymond le Gros forced him
to retreat to Connacht, leaving his supporters in Leinster
and Mide with no option but to take refuge in Connacht.
As a result of Ruaidrí’s inability to press home his
advantage, Ua Briain revolted in 1175. Ruaidrí duly
deposed Ua Briain, raising his own half-brother, the
son of Murchad Ua Briain, to the kingship of
Thomond. Ua Briain, though, continued to resist, lead-
ing Ruaidrí to resort to a game of divide and rule.
Before October 1, he invited the English and Domnall
Mac Gilla Pátraic to aid him, intending to use them to
administer a decisive defeat upon his sometime enemy.
At the same time, Ruaidrí dispatched a delegation,
consisting of Archbishop Laurence O’Toole of Dublin,
Archbishop Cadhla Ua Dubthaig of Tuam, and his
chancellor Master Laurence, to negotiate a treaty with
Henry II at Windsor. By its terms, Ruaidrí on October 6,
1175 acknowledged Henry II as his overlord and agreed
to stay out of much of Leinster and part of east Munster,
while Henry would leave the rest of the island to
Ruaidrí. Around this time, Raymond le Gros held sepa-
rate conferences with Ruaidrí and Ua Briain and received
pledges of loyalty. Sensing Ua Briain’s weakness, Ruaidrí
pounced, forcing him to give up seven hostages.
By 1177, the treaty of Windsor had become unwork-
able due to continuing English encroachments into
Connacht. And like his father, Ruaidrí had a troubled
relationship with his sons. In 1177, Ruaidrí’s son
Murchad Ua Conchobair (d. 1216) guided Milo de
Cogan’s invasion of Connacht. Even though they sacked
Tuam, the invaders fled before Ruaidrí’s forces. As an
example to others, Ruaidrí blinded the captive Murchad
for his treachery. The invasion of Connacht now caused
Ruaidrí to question the loyalty of his other sons, arresting
the able Conchobar Máenmaige before the close of the
year. Even though Conchobar Máenmaige escaped in
1178, father and son were reconciled and drove de
Lacy’s forces away from Clonmacnoise that year.
Indeed, Ruaidrí’s hand may even be detected in the
attacks of dispossessed Leinster princes upon English
forces in 1179.
While Conchobar Máenmaige put down an Ua
Ceallaig rebellion in Connacht during 1180, Ruaidrí
resumed his political machinations, seeking to divide
his enemies. He dispatched Archbishop Loréan and a
son to negotiate a new peace with Henry, while at the
same time he formed an alliance with de Lacy. The
alliance was sealed with the marriage of de Lacy to
Ruaidrí’s daughter Róis, angering King Henry who
thought de Lacy too powerful in Ireland. In allying
with de Lacy, Ruaidrí hoped his son-in-law would stem
the colonial flood. But in Ruaidrí’s struggle to keep
Connacht afloat, the colonists were not his only chal-
lenge. Ever since the death in 1176 of Domnall
Midech, lord of north Connacht, Ruaidrí’s rule over
north Connacht was precarious. In 1181, Domnall
Midech’s sons joined Ruaidrí’s former son-in-law
Flaithbertach Ua Máeldoraid (d. 1198), king of Tír
Conaill, against Ruaidrí. The high king dispatched an
army to crush their rebellion, but they wiped it out at
Cairpre (the Carbury area of Co. Sligo) on May 23. If
this was not bad enough, Ruaidrí’s miserable year was
capped off by the death of his wife Dubchoblach, daugh-
ter of Ua Ruairc. In 1182, Ruaidrí ordered Conchobar
Máenmaige to gather his army. And when they cor-
nered the rebels in Sligo, they slaughtered them in a
complete rout. With Ruaidrí now approaching 70,
Conchobar Máenmaige was eager to succeed him as
king of Connacht, leading to considerable tension
between father and son. In 1183, the situation seemed
to have been resolved when Ruaidrí renounced the world
and entered the monastery of Cong in Mayo, allowing
Conchobar Máenmaige to assume the Connacht king-
ship. After such a life, it was natural that Ruaidrí would
find a life of contemplation tedious. And so in 1185,
he decided to reclaim his kingship from Conchobar
Máenmaige. This selfish decision was disastrous forUA CONCHOBAIR, RUAIDRÍ (
c.
1116–1198)