TheBattle of Cathair Cuan refers to a perhaps extended conflict fought in or between977 and 978, or simply to a single battle in one or the other year, inMunster in Ireland. Attacking wereBrian Bóruma and theDál gCais, while defending wereDonnubán mac Cathail and the remainder of theViking army ofLimerick. The latter were probably the followers of the newly elected and finalKing of the Foreigners of Munster Harald Ivarsson, son of the recently slainIvar of Limerick, although it is possible Donnubán was in overall command.

Brian and the Dál gCais were victorious, with the result that the Limerick lordship and its territories were decisively lost to theGaels until theNorman invasion of Ireland. Much had already been lost to the Dál gCais by 977, probably including the greatdún of Limerick itself, but the lordship included other territories, some a number of miles inland, and theNorse-Irish themselves appear to have briefly remained viable in these. Aralt was probably slain in the conflict but Donnubán seems to have survived. Later accounts state he also was killed.

According to theAnnals of Inisfallen:

AI977.3: A raid by Brian, son of Cennétig, on Uí Fhidgeinte, and he made a slaughter of foreigners [Norse-Irish] therein.

According to theAnnals of the Four Masters:

AFM976.9[978]: A battle was gained by Brian, son of Ceinneidigh, over the foreigners of Luimneach, and Donnabhan, son of Cathal, lord [king] of Ui-Fidhgeinte, wherein the foreigners of Luimneach were defeated and slaughtered.

According to the early 12th centuryCogad Gáedel re Gallaib:^[1]

Then Donnabhán invited Aralt, the son of Imar, unto him, after his father had been killed, and the foreigners of Mumhain made him king. He [Brian] went afterwards on a foray into Ui Fidhgenti, and they took cattle innumerable; and they plundered Cathair Cuan, and they killed its people; and they killed Donnabhán, son of Cathal, the ripe culprit, the king of Ui Fidhgenti; and they killed Aralt, son of Imar, king of the foreigners, and they made a prodigious slaughter of the foreigners, and they carried away with them cattle innumerable. This was the second year [978] after the killing ofMathgamhain.

The 18th century compilation known as theDublin Annals of Inisfallen report another tradition of uncertain provenance. Here Aralt has been replaced by a certain Olaf,^[2] possibly his brother, who was actually killed a little before along with his father Ivar and third brother Dubcenn, onInis Cathaig in 977.

A.D. 977: Brian, son of Kennedy, marched at the head of an army to Ibh-Fighenti, where he was met by Donovan, dynast of that territory, in conjunction with Auliff, king of the Danes of Munster. Brian gave them battle, wherein Auliff and his Danes, and Donovan and his Irish forces, were all cut off.

One final source, now lost but used by John Collins of Myross in the late 18th or early 19th century, reports:^[3]

Donovan, who was well acquainted with the personal abilities and spirit of Brian, Mahon's brother, who now succeeded him asking of North Munster, took into his pay, besides his own troops, fifteen hundred heavy-armed Danes, commanded by Avlavius, a Danish soldier of great experience. Brian, in the Spring of 976[978], enteredKenry, where, atCrome, he gave battle, in which Donovan, Avlavius, and their party, were cut to pieces.

Croom Castle was in fact a principal fortress of theO'Donovan family in the 12th century but it is unknown how early they came into possession of the stretch of theRiver Maigue on which it is located. Possibly Collins was making an assumption but this is unverifiable. A form of the nameCathair Cuan survived at least as late as the year 1200, where it appears in a Norman survey of the region asCathircuain,^[4] which unfortunately cannot be associated with any known modern site.

• Battles of the Middle Ages
• Battles involving the Dál gCais
• Battles involving the Vikings
• 970s conflicts
• O'Brien dynasty
• O'Donovan family
• History of County Limerick
• 977
• 978
• 10th century in Ireland
• Military history of Ireland
• Battles involving Ireland
• Viking Age in Ireland

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