Máel Coba (died 615) was a
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 ...
.
Máel Coba was the son of
Áed mac Ainmuirech
Áed mac Ainmuirech (born c.530 - died 598) was high-king of the Northern Uí Néill. He belonged to the Cenél Conaill and was a distant cousin of Columba of Iona. He was the son of Ainmuire mac Sétnai (died 569), a previous possible high king. ...
(died 598) and brother of
Domnall mac Áedo
Domnall mac Áedo (died 642), also known as Domnall II, Was an Irish king and son of Áed mac Ainmuirech and his consort Land, the daughter of Áed Guaire mac Amalgada of Airgíalla. Domnall was High King of Ireland from 628 until his death. He be ...
(died 642), both also reckoned High Kings of Ireland. They belonged to the northern
Cenél Conaill branch of the
Uí Néill.
Máel Coba became chief of the Cenél Conaill upon the death of his brother
Conall Cú mac Áedo
Conall Cú mac Áedo (died 604) was a chief of the Cenél Conaill branch of the Northern Ui Neill. He was the son of Áed mac Ainmuirech (died 598), high king of Ireland.
Upon the death of his father in 598, rivalry broke out among the Ui Neill f ...
in 604.
The high kingship of Ireland tended to rotate between the Cenél nEógain and Cenél Conaill branches from the mid 6th century. He follows
Áed Uaridnach in the king lists, and is followed by
Suibne Menn
Suibne Menn (or Suibne mac Fiachnai, "Suibne the Stammerer, son of Fiachnae"; died AD 628) was an Irish king who is counted as a High King of Ireland.
Suibne belonged to the junior branch of the Cenél nEógain kindred of the northern Uí Néi ...
, both of the neighbouring
Cenél nEógain, but of rival lines. He ruled from 612-615.
In 615 Máel Coba was defeated and slain by Suibne Menn at the Battle of Sliab Truim. According to Lacy (82, 2006) the location of this battle is not the usually identified Bessy Bell mountain in Co. Tyrone, but rather near Sliabh Tuath (Slievetooey) in southwest Donegal, a prominent mountain in Cenél mBógaine territory. He notes “it is difficult to see why these two powerful (allegedly) Donegal dynasts would have been fighting each other at such a location(Bessy Bell) in 613.
Later texts state that Máel Coba survived the battle, became a poet, a bishop of Clogher, then a hermit at Druminillar townland, Beleek parish, County Fermanagh and then died of the plague.
Suibne Menn apparently installed
Óengus mac Colmáin
Óengus mac Colmáin Bec (died 621) was an Irish king. He was the King of Uisnech in Mide from 618 to 621.
He belonged to the southern Uí Néill. According to the genealogies, he was a son of Colmán Bec (died 587), son of Diarmait mac Cerbaill ( ...
as High King, at least in name.
He had two sons who were counted as joint High Kings in some sources,
Cellach (died 658) and
Conall (died 654).
Dúnchad mac Cinn Fáelad
Dúnchad mac Cinn Fáelad (also called Dunichad, Duncad, and Donatus; died 717) was the eleventh abbot of Iona (707–717). He was the son of Cenn Fáelad, and grandson of Máel Coba, of the Cenél Conaill. While most early abbots of Iona were m ...
,
abbot of Iona
The Abbot of Iona was the head of Iona Abbey during the Middle Ages and the leader of the monastic community of Iona, as well as the overlord of scores of monasteries in both Scotland and Ireland, including Durrow, Kells and, until the Synod of ...
(died 717) is recorded as Máel Coba's grandson.
Notes
References
*
* ''Annals of Tigernach'' a
a
University College Cork*
Francis John Byrne, Byrne, Francis John, ''Irish Kings and High-Kings.'' Batsford, London, 1973.
* Charles-Edwards, T.M., ''Early Christian Ireland.'' Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000.
* Mac Niocaill, Gearoid (1972), ''Ireland before the Vikings'', Dublin: Gill and Macmillan
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mael Coba mac Aedo
High Kings of Ireland
6th-century births
615 deaths
7th-century Irish monarchs