Cellachán mac Buadacháin (died 954), calledCellachán Caisil, wasKing of Munster.
The son of Buadachán mac Lachtnai, he belonged to theCashel branch of theEóganachta kindred, theEóganacht Chaisil. The last of hiscognatic ancestors to have held the kingship of Munster wasColgú mac Faílbe Flaind (d. 678), eight generations earlier.
His predecessor as king at Cashel was said to be Lorcan mac Coinlígáin, a distant cousin, the date of whose death is uncertain. The earliest record of Cellachán is an attack onClonmacnoise in 936. In 939, he was allied withNorse Gaels fromWaterford in an attack on thekingdom of Mide. The leader of the Waterford contingent is called mac Acuind (Hákon's son). They took captive the abbots ofClonenagh andKilleleigh but were defeated by theUí Failge ofLeinster.
In 941, in a struggle for control of the easternDéisi, Cellachán came into conflict with theHigh King of Ireland,Donnchad Donn, and so too with Donnchad's nominated successorMuirchertach mac Néill. Muirchertach undertook a "circuit of Ireland" at the head of his army, a campaign commemorated in later verse, during which he took Cellachán prisoner (actually given up to the High King by his own people). Cellachán remained a captive at Donnchad's court for some years.
Cellachán had returned to Munster by 944, and perhaps earlier, as in that year he defeatedCennétig mac Lorcáin and killed two of his sons at the battle of Gort Rottacháin. Cennétig was king of theDál gCais and father of the famousBrian Boru. It may be that the conflict had begun earlier as Dál gCais traditions have Cennétig defeat Cellachán at a battle fought near Lough Saighlenn, somewhere in Munster.
There is little more recorded of Cellachán in theIrish annals. He raided Mide again in 951 with his only known son Donnchad. He died in 954 and Donnchad in 963.
In the time of Cellachán's descendantCormac Mac Cárthaig, theCaithréim Chellacháin Chaisil ("The Victorious Career of Cellachán of Cashel") was composed, probably inspired by theCogadh Gaedhil re Gallaibh written forMuirchertach Ua Briain, glorifying Murchad's ancestorBrian Bóruma. TheCaithréim portrays theEóganachta, and Cellachán in particular, fighting againstNorsemen invaders, but also gives credit to theDál gCais ancestors of Muirchertach. It is thought that this is related to the contemporary threat posed to the Munster families by theConnacht kingToirdelbach Ua Conchobair.
Cellachán Caisil | ||
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| Preceded by | King of Munster c. 944 – 954 | Succeeded by |
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