Dunchadh ua Daimhine, 23rd King of Uí Maine, died 780.

Reign

During his era, Dunchadh's kingdom endured border conflicts initiated by the Connachta, by the successive kings Donn Cothaid mac Cathail (died 773), Flaithrí mac Domnaill (died 777) and

Artgal mac Cathail Artgal mac Cathail (died 791) was a King of Connacht from the Uí Briúin branch of the Connachta. He was the son of Cathal mac Muiredaig Muillethan (died 735), a previous king and brother of Dub-Indrecht mac Cathail (died 768). He was of the Sí ...

(died 791). The first notable incident was the battle of Achadh Liag (in Cluain Acha Liag, now called 'Killeroran' - the Uí Maine inauguration site) in 770:

''The battle of Achadh Liag was fought between the Ui Briuin and Ui Maine, wherein the Ui Maine were defeated.''

This was part of a wider conflict which would see the Uí Briúin Ai of the Connachta become the dominant power in the province, which would henceforth bear their name,

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms ( Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Del ...

. Ui Maine would, by the end of the following century, remain mainly independent but it marked the beginning of several centuries of being accorded the status of second or third-class state, by kingdoms such as the

Kings of Connacht The Kings of Connacht were rulers of the ''cóiced'' (variously translated as portion, fifth, province) of Connacht, which lies west of the River Shannon, Ireland. However, the name only became applied to it in the early medieval era, being name ...

, the

Earl of Ulster The title of Earl of Ulster has been created six times in the Peerage of Ireland and twice in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since 1928, the title has been held by the Duke of Gloucester and is used as a courtesy title by the Duke's elde ...

, the

Clanricarde Clanricarde (; ), also known as Mac William Uachtar (Upper Mac William) or the Galway Burkes, were a fully Gaelicised branch of the Hiberno-Norman House of Burgh who were important landowners in Ireland from the 13th to the 20th centuries. T ...

and finally the

Earl of Clanricarde Earl of Clanricarde (; ) is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of Ireland, first in 1543 and again in 1800. The former creation became extinct in 1916 while the 1800 creation is extant and held by the Marquess of Sligo since 191 ...

. None of them would be noted to any Kingship in Ireland as long as the Ui Maine. It was also in these years that

Thomond Thomond (Classical Irish: ; Modern Irish: ), also known as the kingdom of Limerick, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Clare and County Limerick, as well as parts of County Tipperary around Nena ...

west of the River Shannon would become annexed to Munster by the ancestors of the Dál gCais. It remains part of that province to this day.

Notes

References

* ''Annals of Ulster'' a
CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts
a
University College Cork
* ''Annals of Tigernach'' a

a
University College Cork
of McCarthy's synchronisms at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

. * Byrne, Francis John (2001), Irish Kings and High-Kings, Dublin: Four Courts Press,

External links

Commentary
by Dan M. Wiley

Nobility from County Galway Nobility from County Roscommon 8th-century Irish monarchs Kings of Uí Maine {{Ireland-royal-stub