Mac Cairthinn mac Coelboth (?-446?-530?) was an

Uí Enechglaiss The Ui Enechglaiss were a dynasty attested in 5th-century Ireland, who provided some of the early kings of Laigin. Background The dynasty were initially based on the plains of Kildare around Naas, (Devane, 2005, believes that they were based at ...

Background

Mac Cairthinn is one of the very earliest verifiable Irish kings. Though not listed in any extant Irish genealogies, the

Annals of Innisfallen The ''Annals of Inisfallen'' () are a chronicle of the medieval history of Ireland. Overview There are more than 2,500 entries spanning the years between 433 and 1450. The manuscript is thought to have been compiled in 1092, as the chronic ...

record his death at the battle of Mag Femen in the kingdom of Brega in 446. Almost uniquely, this otherwise unverifiable reference is corroborated by an

Ogham Ogham (also ogam and ogom, , Modern Irish: ; , later ) is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the early Irish language (in the "orthodox" inscriptions, 4th to 6th centuries AD), and later the Old Irish language ( scholastic ...

inscription on a stone near

Slane Slane () is a village in County Meath, in Ireland. The village stands on a steep hillside on the left bank of the River Boyne at the intersection of the N2 (Dublin to Monaghan road) and the N51 (Drogheda to Navan road). As of the 2022 census ...

in the neighbouring

County Louth County Louth ( ; ) is a coastal Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of County Meath, Meath to the ...

. It reads MAQI CAIRATINI AVI INEQAGLAS, which translates as '' he stoneof Mac Cairthinn grandson

r perhaps descendant R, or r, is the eighteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ar'' (pronounced ), plural ''ars''. The letter ...

of Enechglass.'' This would make him a contemporary of

Niall Noigíallach Niall Noígíallach (; Old Irish "having nine hostages"), or Niall of the Nine Hostages, was a legendary, semi-historical Irish king who was the ancestor of the Uí Néill dynasties that dominated Ireland from the 6th to the 10th centuries. Hi ...

. The

Irish annals A number of Irish annals, of which the earliest was the Chronicle of Ireland, were compiled up to and shortly after the end of the 17th century. Annals were originally a means by which monks determined the yearly chronology of feast days. Over ti ...

, recording the battle of Mag Femen, say of Mac Cairthinn, " me say he was of the Cruithni". This appears to be based on the false assumption that his father was the

eponymous An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

ancestor of the

Dál nAraidi Dál nAraidi (; "Araide's part") or Dál Araide, sometimes List of Latinised names, latinised as Dalaradia or Anglicisation, anglicised as Dalaray,Boyd, Hugh AlexanderIrish Dalriada ''The Glynns: Journal of The Glens of Antrim Historical Societ ...

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

of Uí Chóelbad. Other unreliable and late sources may have linked Mac Cairthinn with the Uí Néill, by making his father Cóelbad a son of Niall.

Early historic Leinster

According to

Dáibhí Ó Cróinín Dáibhí Iarla Ó Cróinín (born 29 August 1954) is an Irish historian and authority on Hiberno-Latin texts, noted for his significant mid-1980s discovery in a manuscript in Padua of the "lost" Irish 84-year Easter table. Ó Cróinín was Pro ...

the above demonstrates "how far north Leinster's territorial claims once extended" and that warfare between the

Laigin The Laigin, modern spelling Laighin (), were a Gaelic population group of early Ireland. They gave their name to the Kingdom of Leinster, which in the medieval era was known in Irish as ''Cóiced Laigen'', meaning "Fifth/province of the Leinste ...

and the emerging

Uí Néill The Uí Néill (; meaning "descendants of Niall") are Irish dynasties that claim descent from Niall Noígíallach (Niall of the Nine Hostages), a historical King of Tara who is believed to have died around c. 405. They are generally divided ...

occurred in the north of

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

and on the plains of what is now

County Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

and

County Westmeath County Westmeath (; or simply ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It formed part of the historic Kingdom of ...

. All these territories would be lost to the Uí Néill in the following century.

Date of Cath Mag Femen

The date of the battle of Mag Femen is given as 446 in the

Annals of Ulster The ''Annals of Ulster'' () are annals of History of Ireland, 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 Luin� ...

and 447 in the

Annals of Inisfallen The ''Annals of Inisfallen'' () are a chronicle of the medieval history of Ireland. Overview There are more than 2,500 entries spanning the years between 433 and 1450. The manuscript is thought to have been compiled in 1092, as the chronic ...

. However, Devane (p. 189, 2005) proposes that the date has been misplaced, as a result of ''"the original source of the entries being wrongly entered by one, if not indeed two, cycles in the Irish 84-year cycle, by the which the Irish and British churches until the sixth century reckoned the date of

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

. A discrepancy of one calendar cycle would push the date of the battle of Femen forward to the year 530, which ... would lend weight to the argument that it was the son or sons of Coirpre, and not Coirpre himself who defeated the Ui Enechglaiss at the battle of Femen."''

References

* Byrne, Francis John, ''Irish Kings and High-Kings'' Batsford, London, 1973. * Charles-Edwards, T.M., ''Early Christian Ireland'', pp. 453–458. * ''Ireland, 400-800'', pp. 188, by

''A New History of Ireland'', Vol.I, (edited Ó Cróinín). * ''Carbury, Co. Kildare - topographical and onomastic hypotheses'', Caitriona Devane, in ''Above and beyond:Essays in memory of Leo Swan'', pp. 187–122, edited by Tom Condit and Christiaan Corlett, Wordwell, 2005. .

External links

CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts
at

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) () is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Universit ...

includes
Gein Branduib
(original & translation), Annals of Ulster, Annals of Tigernach, Annals of Innisfallen and others. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mac Cairthinn mac Coelboth Kings of Leinster Year of death unknown People from County Kildare