| Donnchad mac Briain | |
|---|---|
| King of Munster | |
.png) Book shrine for theStowe Missal; the top panel reads: Pray for Donnchad mac Brian, [Pray] for the King of Ireland | |
| Predecessor | Brian Bóruma |
| Successor | Toirdelbach Ua Briain |
| Died | 1064 (1065) Rome |
| Burial | |
| Wives |
|
| Issue | Lorcán, Murchad, Derbforgaill, others |
| Dynasty | Dál gCais |
| Father | Brian Bóruma |
| Mother | Gormflaith ingen Murchada |
Donnchadh mac Briain (old spelling:Donnchad mac Briain) (died 1064), son ofBrian Bóruma andGormflaith ingen Murchada, wasKing of Munster.
Brian Bóruma was the first man to establish himself asHigh King of Ireland by force of arms alone in many centuries. Previous men reckoned High King had belonged to the greatUí Néill kindred, that large group of families who traced their descent fromNiall of the Nine Hostages, which dominated much of central and northern Ireland from the 7th century onwards. No king from the south, where Brian's kindred, the hitherto rather obscureDál gCais of the region ofThomond, had come close to dominating Ireland since the time ofFeidlimid mac Crimthainn in the early 9th century, and none had been included in the more widely accepted lists of high kings in historic times. The last effective high king of Ireland from Munster wasCathal mac Finguine (d. 742), and likely before him the prehistoricCrimthann mac Fidaig.
Brian, building on his own resources, and those of theViking towns of the south such asLimerick andCork first took control ofMunster, overthrowing the domination of theEóganachta, a kindred which had dominated the kingship of Munster as effectively as the Uí Néill had dominated the High Kingship, and for just as long. With the Uí Néill disunited, and the resources of Munster, Brian first brought the Uí Néill High KingMáel Sechnaill mac Domnaill to recognise him as an equal, and then as the master of Ireland. Brian met his death at theBattle of Clontarf on 23 April 1014,Good Friday, fighting against theKing of Leinster and his allies. In myth and medieval pseudohistory this battle would become the last and greatest between the Irish and the Vikings and Brian the greatest of all Irish kings.
Donnchad was the son of Brian (king of Munster) and his wife Gormflaith (daughter of Murchad, king of Leinster). His year of birth is unknown, but a date in the 980s is likely, as it would accord with the political policy of his father at the time and mean that Donnchad was old enough to be militarily active in the 1010s, when he first appears in historical records.[3] Brian's son Murchad, Donnchad's half-brother, died with his father at Clontarf. Another brother or half-brother, Domnall, had died in 1011. Two other half-brothers, Conchobar and Flann, are mentioned in some sources but leave no trace in theIrish annals. So, of Brian's sons, only Donnchad and his half-brotherTadc are known to have survived their father. According toGeoffrey Keating's account inForas Feasa ar Éirinn, an account which is not backed by any annalistic evidence, Donnchad, leading the survivors of the Dál gCais back from Clontarf, faced down armies fromOsraige andMunster.
The Munster king lists have Brian followed by Dúngal Ua Donnchada of theCashel branch of the Eóganachta rather than by one of his sons. Dúngal did not die until 1025, at about the time that Donnchad started to make his presence felt outside Munster. His half-brother Tadc was assassinated in 1023—theAnnals of Tigernach add that this was done on Donnchad's order—while he had himself lost his right hand in what may have been a failed assassination attempt in 1019.
Beginning in the late 1050s, Donnchad came under attack from his neighbours. His nephew, Tadc's sonToirdelbach Ua Briain, may have been the force behind these attacks.[4]
Donnchad's main rivals wereDiarmait mac Maíl na mBó,King of Leinster from 1042, andÁed in Gaí Bernaig,King of Connacht from 1046. Diarmait in particular was a serious threat; allied withNiall mac Eochada,King of Ulster, he installed his sonMurchad as ruler ofDublin in 1052, driving out Donnchad's brother-in-law and allyEchmarcach mac Ragnaill. Toirdelbach first joined with Áed in the early 1050s, raiding intoTuadmumu in 1052 and inflicting a heavy defeat on Donnchad's son Murchad in Corco Mruad, the north-west of modernCounty Clare in 1055. By 1058 Toirdelbach had gained Diarmait's support, for he was present when Diarmait, the Leinstermen and theOsraige drove Donnchad fromLimerick, which he burned so that it would not fall into the hands of his enemies, and defeated him at Sliabh gCrot in theGaltee Mountains.[5]
Donnchad was finally deposed in 1063 and went on pilgrimage toRome. He died there the following year and was buried in thebasilica ofSanto Stefano al Monte Celio.[6]
Geoffrey Keating'sForas Feasa ar Éirinn (Volume III, Chapter XXXIII) recounts that Donnchad granted the crown of Ireland to the Pope—Pope Urban II according to Keating, who places these events in 1092—and asked for papal aid to return him to power. This story is repeated in many 19th century and earlier works of popular history and is given as an explanation of how the EnglishPope Adrian IV came to issue thepapal bullLaudabiliter granting rule of Ireland to KingHenry II of England. Elsewhere (Volume III, Chapter XXVII) Keating is more skeptical regarding other stories associated with Donnchad's time in Rome. He disbelieves claims that Donnchad took up with a daughter of aHoly Roman Emperor and had at least two sons from whom some laterOld English families were descended. Keating writes that "this story cannot be true, for before setting out on that expedition [Donnchad] was a very old decrepit man of over eighty years of age, and it is not likely that an emperor's daughter would covet intercourse with such a veteran".
Domnall's descendants were excluded from the succession in Munster. His grandsons Conchobhar and Cennétig, sons of Lorcan, became kings ofTulach Óc in east Tyrone and operated against their cousins in the 1070s and 1080s.
