Donnchad Midi Mac Domnaill

Donnchad mac Domnaill (733 – 6 February 797), called Donnchad Midi, was High King of Ireland. His father, Domnall Midi, had been the first Uí Néill High King from the south-central Clann Cholmáin based in modern County Westmeath and western County Meath, Ireland. The reigns of Domnall and his successor, Niall Frossach of the Cenél nEógain, had been relatively peaceful, but Donnchad's rule saw a return to a more expansionist policy directed against Leinster, traditional target of the Uí Néill, and also, for the first time, the great southern kingdom of Munster.

Donnchad continued his father's support for the Columban churches, led by Iona. In his many wars he used the churches, particularly the Columban monastery of Durrow, as a source of support. He also ruthlessly attacked and plundered churches that supported his rivals among the Uí Néill and also those of Leinster and Munster. Donnchad was remembered, not always fondly, as a warrior king. He firmly established Clann Cholmáin's dominance among the Uí Néill kindreds of the midlands. His descendants shared in the High Kingship until the time of Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill, the last traditional High King of Ireland.

Origins and background

Donnchad was a son of Domnall Midi and Domnall's only known wife, Ailbíne ingen Ailello of Ard Ciannacht, a minor kingdom of the coast north of the River Boyne. Domnall was reckoned High King of Ireland from 743, when he defeated and killed Áed Allán of the northern Cenél nEógain branch of the Uí Néill, until his death on 20 November 763. Domnall was eventually followed as High King by Áed Allán's younger brother Niall Frossach, who was apparently without rivals. The succession to the kingship of Clann Cholmáin, the branch of the Uí Néill to which Domnall and Donnchad belonged, was altogether less peaceable.

Donnchad's distant kinsman Fallomon mac Con Congalt of Clann Cholmáin Bicc appears to have held the title king of Mide at his death in 766, so that Donnchad can at most have been king of Uisnech, chief of Clann Cholmáin, at his father's death. The Irish annals record strife among Donnchad's kin after his death. His brother Diarmait Dub was killed in 764, leading the forces of the monastery of Durrow in battle against those of Clonmacnoise, led by Bressal mac Murchado, probably his brother's son. Bressal was himself killed later the same year. That year Donnchad defeated the Fir Tulach Midi, a minor people who lived by Lough Ennell and the following year, with the support of Fallomon mac Con Congalt, he defeated and killed his own brother Murchad at ''Carn Fiachach'', near present-day Rathconrath, County Westmeath. Fallomon was killed in 766, after which Donnchad became King of Mide.

King of Mide

In 769 Donnchad drove Coirpre mac Fogartaig, King of Lagore, into exile. Coirpre, son of former High King Fogartach mac Néill, ruled the southern part of Brega and may have been the leading representative of the rival, but internally divided, southern Uí Néill kin group of Síl nÁedo Sláine. The following year, to a background of internal conflict in Leinster, Donnchad led an army into the province. The king of Leinster, Cellach mac Dúnchada, refused to give battle and Donnchad remained camped at Dún Ailinne for a week while his army pillaged Leinster.

The late ''Annals of the Four Masters'' places Niall Frossach's abdication in the same year as Donnchad's campaign in Leinster, dated to 770 by the ''Annals of Ulster'', and places the beginning of Donnchad's reign from 771 AD. Later sources present the succession of High Kings as regular, with one king following another immediately. This is not believed to be an accurate representation. Where Niall Frossach is concerned, some years may have elapsed between his death and Domnall Midi's inauguration. Another possible cause for, or sign of, Niall's fall from power appears in 771 and 772 when Donnchad campaigned in the lands of the northern Uí Néill.

In 775 Donnchad took control of the monastery at Clonard in the Leinster borderlands. He also campaigned in Munster. The ''Annals of Ulster'' record that Donnchad "did great devastation in the territory of the Munstermen, and many of the Munstermen fell". He repeated this in 776 with the aid of the community of Durrow.

Donnchad is recorded as twice having disturbed the óenach of Tailtiu

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