Cerball mac Muirecáin (died 909) was

king of Leinster The kings of Leinster ( ga, Rí Laighín), ruled from the establishment of Kingdom of Leinster, Leinster during the Irish Iron Age, until the 17th century Early Modern Ireland. According to Gaelic traditional history, laid out in works such as th ...

. He was the son of

Muirecán mac Diarmata Muirecán mac Diarmata (died 863) was a King of Leinster of the Uí Fáeláin sept of the Uí Dúnlainge branch of the Laigin. This sept had their royal seat at Naas in the eastern part of the Liffey plain, Airthir Liphi. He was the son of Diar ...

and a member of the Uí Fáeláin, the descendants of Fáelán mac Murchado (died 738), of one of three

sept A sept is a division of a family, especially of a Scottish or Irish family. The term is used in both Scotland and Ireland, where it may be translated as ''sliocht'', meaning "progeny" or "seed", which may indicate the descendants of a person ( ...

s of the

Uí Dúnlainge The Uí Dúnlainge, from the Old Irish "grandsons (or descendants) of Dúnlaing", were an Irish dynasty of Leinster kings who traced their descent from Dúnlaing mac Énda Niada. He was said to be a cousin of Énnae Cennsalach, eponymous ancest ...

of modern

County Kildare County Kildare ( ga, Contae Chill Dara) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county, ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Cerball succeeded his distant cousin

Muiredach mac Brain Muiredach mac Brain (died 885) was a King of Leinster of the Uí Dúnchada sept of the Uí Dúnlainge branch of the Laigin. This sept had their royal seat at Líamhain (Lyons Hill, on the Dublin-Kildare border). He was the son of Bran mac Fáelá ...

of the Uí Dúnchada sept as king of Leinster on Muiredach's death in 885. Unlike Muiredach, who was

lay abbot Lay abbot ( la, abbatocomes, abbas laicus, abbas miles, ) is a name used to designate a layman on whom a king or someone in authority bestowed an abbey as a reward for services rendered; he had charge of the estate belonging to it, and was entitle ...

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 8,634 making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. The town lies on the R445, some west of Dublin – near enough for it to have become, despite being a regional cen ...

as well as king, Cerball appears to have been king only as one Lergus son of Cruinnén,

bishop of Kildare The Bishop of Kildare was an episcopal title which took its name after the town of Kildare in County Kildare, Ireland. The title is no longer in use by any of the main Christian churches having been united with other bishoprics. In the Roman Cat ...

, was killed in the battle of the Pilgrim, fought by

Flann Sinna Flann Sinna ( lit. ''Flann of the Shannon''; Irish: ''Flann na Sionainne''; 84725 May 916), also known as Flann mac Máel Sechnaill, was the son of Máel Sechnaill mac Máele Ruanaid of Clann Cholmáin, a branch of the Southern Uí Néill. He was ...

, the

High King of Ireland High King of Ireland ( ga, Ardrí na hÉireann ) was a royal title in Gaelic Ireland held by those who had, or who are claimed to have had, lordship over all of Ireland. The title was held by historical kings and later sometimes assigned ana ...

, against the

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

in 888. That same year, the neighbouring

king of Osraige The kings of Osraige (alternately spelled ''Osraighe'' and Anglicised as ''Ossory'') reigned over the medieval Irish kingdom of Osraige from the first or second century AD until the late twelfth century. Osraige was a semi-provincial kingdom in s ...

Cerball mac Dúnlainge Cerball mac Dúnlainge (patronymic sometimes spelled ''Dúngaile'', ) (died 888) was king of Ossory in south-east Ireland. The kingdom of Ossory (''Osraige'') occupied roughly the area of modern County Kilkenny and western County Laois and lay b ...

, who had repeatedly attacked Leinster over the previous decades in an attempt to make it subject to him, died. The

Annals of Ulster The ''Annals of Ulster'' ( ga, Annála Uladh) are annals of medieval Ireland. The entries span the years from 431 AD to 1540 AD. The entries up to 1489 AD were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrí Ó Luinín, ...

contain relatively few reports of Cerball's reign. In 902 they state that he, together with Máel Finnia mac Flannacain of

Brega Brega , also known as ''Mersa Brega'' or ''Marsa al-Brega'' ( ar, مرسى البريقة , i.e. "Brega Seaport"), is a complex of several smaller towns, industry installations and education establishments situated in Libya on the Gulf of Sidra, ...

lead an expedition to Dublin which drove the "foreigners", the Vikings and Norse-Gaels, from Ireland. He fought alongside Flann (whose daughter

Gormflaith ingen Flann Sinna Gormflaith ingen Flann Sinna (c. 870–948) was an Irish Queen of Tara, Munster, and Leinster. Family background Gormflaith was the daughter of Flann Sinna, High King of Ireland from 879 to 916. Her mother was Gormlaith ingen Flann mac Cona ...

he married), against the men of

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

at the

Battle of Bellaghmoon The Battle of Ballaghmoon ( ga, Cath Bealaigh Mughna) took place on 13 September 908 at Ballaghmoon, near Castledermot in the south of modern County Kildare. It pitted the forces of Cormac mac Cuilennáin, king of Munster against an alliance com ...

(near

Castledermot Castledermot () is an inland village in the south-east of Ireland in County Kildare, about from Dublin, and from the town of Carlow. The N9 road from Dublin to Waterford previously passed through the village but upon completion of a motorway ...

) where

Cormac mac Cuilennáin Cormac mac Cuilennáin (died 13 September 908) was an Irish bishop and the king of Munster from 902 until his death at the Battle of Bellaghmoon. He was killed in Leinster. Cormac was regarded as a saintly figure after his death, and his shrine ...

King of Munster The kings of Munster ( ga, Rí Mumhan), ruled from the establishment of Munster during the Irish Iron Age, until the High Middle Ages. According to Gaelic traditional history, laid out in works such as the '' Book of Invasions'', the earliest ...

and Bishop of Cashel, was killed. Cerball died in 909, when the Annals of Ulster report:

Cerball son of Muirecán, an excellent king of the Laigin, died of a sickness.

Given the biases of the Annals of Ulster, it is understood that Cerball had been a reliable ally of his father-in-law Flann Sinna. He was memorialised in a poem by his poet,

Dallán mac Móre Dallán mac Móre, fl. c. 900, was an Irish poet, and chief bard to King Cerball mac Muirecáin of Leinster (reigned 885–909. The poem ''The Song of Cerball's Sword'' is attributed to Dallán. Cath Bealach Mughna ''Sub anno'' 903, the Annals of ...

. After Cerball's death, Gormflaith married

Niall Glúndub Niall Glúndub mac Áeda (Modern Irish: ''Niall Glúndubh mac Aodha'', "Niall Black-Knee, son of Áed"; died 14 September 919) was a 10th-century Irish king of the Cenél nEógain and High King of Ireland. Many Irish kin groups were members of the ...

. Later traditions had it that she had wished to marry Cormac mac Cuilennáin, but that he had taken vows of celibacy, so for reasons of state she was married to the brutal Cerball, before finding a short period of happiness with Niall, who died in battle in 917. These tales appear to be largely poetic invention. Cerball was succeeded by his distant cousin

Augaire mac Ailella Augaire mac Ailella (with similar spellings like Ugaire and Aililla) was the King of Laigin (Leinster), Ireland, who is said to have led the Irish forces at the Battle of Confey c. 915-917. The Irish were defeated by Vikings under King Sigtrygg ...

of the Uí Muiredaig sept. He himself had no recorded issue.

References

* Byrne, Francis John, ''Irish Kings and High-Kings.'' Batsford, London, 1973. * Herbert, Máire, "''Ri Éirenn, Ri Alban'': kingship and identity in the ninth and tenth centuries" in Simon Taylor (ed.), ''Kings, clerics and chronicles in Scotland 500–1297.'' Four Courts, Dublin, 2000.

External links

CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts
a
University College Cork
The Corpus of Electronic Texts includes the ''Annals of Ulster'' and ''the Four Masters'', the ''Chronicon Scotorum'' and the ''Book of Leinster'' as well as Genealogies, and various Saints' Lives. Most are translated into English, or translations are in progress {{DEFAULTSORT:Cerball mac Muirecain 9th-century births 909 deaths Kings of Leinster Kings of Uí Dúnlainge 9th-century Irish monarchs People from County Kildare 10th-century kings of Leinster