The Three Collas (
Modern Irish
Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was the ...
: Trí Cholla) were, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, the fourth-century sons of Eochaid Doimlén, son of
Cairbre Lifechair. Their names were: Cairell Colla Uais; Muiredach Colla Fo Chrí (also spelt Colla da Chrioch, or Fochrich); and Áed Colla Menn. Colla Uais ruled as
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 ...
for four years.
Recent DNA analysis confirms the history of the Three Collas in fourth-century Ireland, but questions their descent from Eochaid Doimlén and Cairbre Lifechair.
Legend
According to tradition, the Three Collas killed their uncle,
Fíacha Sroiptine
Fiacha Sraibhtine, son of Cairbre Lifechair, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland. On his father's death, Fothad Cairpthech and Fothad Airgthech, sons of Lugaid mac Con, had taken the throne join ...
, at the Battle of Dubhchomar, in Crioch Rois,
Breagh, with Colla Uais taking the kingship.
It was prophesied that whoever killed them, his descendants would never rule Ireland. Colla Uais ruled in Fíacha's place for three years (323-326 AD), and as High-King of Ireland for four years, until Fiacha's son
Muiredach Tirech
Muiredach Tirech son of Fiacha Sraibhtine, was a semi-legendary High King of Ireland of the fourth century. He gained power by exiling the three Collas, who had killed his father. The Collas later returned and tried to provoke him into trying to ...
banished the Three Collas, exiling them and three hundred followers to Alba (
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
).
The mother of Three Collas was said to be Ailech, the daughter of Udhaire, king of Alba. According to Keating's version Udhaire put them in command of three hundred warriors.
After that they returned to Ireland, hoping that Muiredach might kill them, and deprive his descendants of the throne. But Muiredach knew of the prophecy, and despite knowing they had killed his father, took them into his service.
After several years, Muiredach decided the Collas should have territory of their own, and sent them to conquer
Ulster
Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...
. With an army drawn from
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 Delbhn ...
, they fought seven battles in a week against the
Ulaid
Ulaid (Old Irish, ) or Ulaidh (Modern Irish, ) was a Gaelic over-kingdom in north-eastern Ireland during the Middle Ages made up of a confederation of dynastic groups. Alternative names include Ulidia, which is the Latin form of Ulaid, and in ...
at
Achaidh Leithdeircc
Achaidh Leithdeircc (modern spelling ''Achadh Leith-dheirg'') is an ancient location in Ireland reputed to be the site of a historic battle, or series of battles, around the year 331AD, in which the forces of the Three Collas along with men of ...
, killing
Fergus Foga
Fergus or Feargus is a common Scottish or Irish male given name derived from Scots Gaelic, meaning ''the strong (one)'' or ''the masculine (one)''.Way, George and Squire, Romily. ''Collins Scottish Clan & Family Encyclopedia''. (Foreword by The Rt ...
, king of Ulster, in the seventh. Colla Menn also died in this battle. They burned
Emain Macha
Navan Fort ( sga, Emain Macha ; ga, Eamhain Mhacha, label=Modern Irish ) is an ancient ceremonial monument near Armagh, Northern Ireland. According to tradition it was one of the great royal sites of pre-Christian Gaelic Ireland and the cap ...
, the Ulster capital, after which it was abandoned, and seized substantial territories in mid-Ulster, thought to be the origin of the kingdom of
Airgíalla
Airgíalla (Modern Irish: Oirialla, English: Oriel, Latin: ''Ergallia'') was a medieval Irish over-kingdom and the collective name for the confederation of tribes that formed it. The confederation consisted of nine minor kingdoms, all independe ...
.
The chronology of Keating's ''Foras Feasa ar Éirinn'' dates Colla Uais' High Kingship to 306–310. The ''
Annals of the Four Masters
The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' ( ga, Annála Ríoghachta Éireann) or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' (''Annála na gCeithre Máistrí'') are chronicles of medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Deluge, dated as 2,24 ...
'' dates his High Kingship to 322–326, and his destruction of Emain Macha and conquest of Ulster to 331. However, the chronology of early Irish historical tradition is regarded by historians as artificial. One story makes Fiachra Cassán of the Airgíalla, son of Colla Fo Chrí, the foster-father of
Cormac mac Airt
Cormac mac Airt, also known as Cormac ua Cuinn (grandson of Conn) or Cormac Ulfada (long beard), was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland. He is probably the most famous of the ancient High Kings ...
, who according to the usual chronology was his own great great grandfather, and an alternative tradition dated the fall of Emain Macha to 450.
The sixth century female saint,
Derchairthinn, associated with
Oughter Ard
Oughterard (, “a high place”) is an ecclesiastical hilltop site, graveyard, townland, and formerly a parish, borough and royal manor in County Kildare, nowadays part of the community of Ardclough, close to the Dublin border. It is the buria ...
near
Straffan
Straffan (variously ''Teach Srafáin'', ''Strafáin'' or ''An Cluanini'' in Irish) is a village in County Kildare, Ireland, situated on the banks of the River Liffey, 25 km upstream of the Irish capital Dublin. As of the 2016 census, the vi ...
,
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, ...
,
was said to be "of the race of Colla Uais, Monarch of Érinn".
Historical interpretation
According to a theory advanced by
T. F. O'Rahilly
Thomas Francis O'Rahilly ( ga, Tomás Ó Rathile; 11 November 1882 – 16 November 1953)Ó Sé, Diarmuid.O'Rahilly, Thomas Francis (‘T. F.’). ''Dictionary of Irish Biography''. (ed.) James McGuire, James Quinn. Cambridge, United Kingdom: C ...
, the traditional story of the Three Collas is not historical, although it has a basis in history. O'Rahilly argues that the breaking of the power of the Ulaid, the destruction of Emain Macha and the establishment of the kingdoms of the Airgialla were actually accomplished by the three sons of
Niall Noígiallach
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. ...
,
Conall, Endae and
Eógan
or is an early Irish male name, which also has the hypocoristic and diminutive forms , , and . In more modern forms of Irish it is written as or (/'oːəun/).
In Scottish Gaelic the name is Eòghann or Eòghan. All of the above are often ...
, who established the kingdoms of Tir Eógan and Tir Conaill in north-western Ulster in the mid-5th century. He believes the Three Collas are literary doublets of the three sons of Niall, their story a genealogical fiction intended to give the tributary kingdoms of the Airgialla a noble pedigree.
This theory is followed by more recent historians, including
Francis J. Byrne
Francis John Byrne (1934 – 30 December 2017) was an Irish historian.
Born in Shanghai where his father, a Dundalk man, captained a ship on the Yellow River, Byrne was evacuated with his mother to Australia on the outbreak of World War II. A ...
, and
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 Profe ...
.
[Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, "Ireland, 400-800", in Dáibhí Ó Cróinín (ed.), ''A New History of Ireland I: Prehistoric and Early Ireland'', Oxford University Press, 2006, pp. 202-203]
Donald Schlegel claims the brothers' tripartite names to be the only examples in ancient Ireland of brothers using the Roman style naming convention of personal name followed by family name followed by an epithet. This may reflect their alleged "return" from exile in
Alba
''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scottish people, Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed i ...
, which at the traditional time of their story—the 4th-century—was part of the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
. Schlegel suggests that being put in command of 300 soldiers may have meant that were centurions in the Roman army.
Schlegel also argues that the Three Collas, along with their name "Colla", may have descended from the
Trinovantes
The Trinovantēs (Common Brittonic: *''Trinowantī'') or Trinobantes were one of the Celtic tribes of Pre-Roman Britain. Their territory was on the north side of the Thames estuary in current Essex, Hertfordshire and Suffolk, and included lan ...
of Britain. He claims that Trinovantes mistranslated by
Ollam
An or ollamh (; anglicised as ollave or ollav), plural ollomain, in early Irish literature, is a member of the highest rank of filí. The term is used to refer to the highest member of any group; thus an ''ollam brithem'' would be the highest ...
s into Irish could have produced the name
Airgíalla
Airgíalla (Modern Irish: Oirialla, English: Oriel, Latin: ''Ergallia'') was a medieval Irish over-kingdom and the collective name for the confederation of tribes that formed it. The confederation consisted of nine minor kingdoms, all independe ...
, the name given to the territory the Three Collas conquered in Ulster. In regards to Colla, it may derive from the names Coill or Coel, both of which
Geoffrey Keating
Geoffrey Keating ( ga, Seathrún Céitinn; c. 1569 – c. 1644) was a 17th-century historian. He was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, and is buried in Tubrid Graveyard in the parish of Ballylooby-Duhill. He became an Irish Catholic priest and a ...
mentioned in the area the Trinovantes lived,
Camulodunum
Camulodunum (; la, ), the Ancient Roman name for what is now Colchester in Essex, was an important castrum and city in Roman Britain, and the first capital of the province. A temporary "strapline" in the 1960s identifying it as the "oldest re ...
(modern-day
Colchester
Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian.
Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...
).
Family tree
DNA analysis
In 2007, Josiah McGuire discovered that male DNA testers with surnames historically associated with the Three Collas in ancient pedigrees had the same Y-chromosome DNA. This Y-DNA is passed down from father to son like surnames.
Included among the surnames were McDonald and McMahon. Four McDonald testers have traced their ancestry back to an ancient McDonald pedigree that goes back to Colla Uais. Two McMahon testers have traced their ancestry McMahon pedigree that goes back to Colla Crioch. In 2009, a public project was started at Family Tree DNA for testers who have Colla DNA.
The testers with Colla DNA belong to a haplogroup named R-Z3008, a mutation that occurred very roughly around 100 AD. This differs from the R-M222 haplogroup of testers with surnames descended from the Uí Néill and the Connachta.
The historical interpretation by Donald Schlegel is consistent with recent Y-DNA analysis.
In 2020, a study of 466 testers with Z3008 Y-DNA found that 232 have 20 surnames found in ancient Irish genealogies descended from the Three Collas. The 232 testers are composed of 53 McDonald, 43 McMahon, 23 McKenna, 17 Connolly, 17 Duffy, 12 McGuire, 8 Hughes, 8 McQuillan, 8 Monaghan, 7 Boylan, 5 Hart, 5 Kelly, 4 Higgins, 4 McArdle, 4 MacDougall, 3 Carroll, 3 Cooley, 3 Larkin, 3 Neal, 2 Devine.
References
[Schlegel, Donald M. (2002); ''Reweaving the Tapestry of Ancient Ulster'', pp. 729-731. Clogher Record.]
[Abridged Clan Colla Big Y SNP Tree](_blank)
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[Clan Colla R-Z3000 project at Family Tree DNA](_blank)
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[R-M222 project at Family Tree DNA](_blank)
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["Relating Y-DNA to Ancient Genealogies," ''Newsletter of the Middlesex Genealogical Society'', December 2020, p. ]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Colla Uais
Legendary High Kings of Ireland
4th-century Irish monarchs