Niall mac Eochada (died 1063), Benjamin T. Hudson, ‘Niall mac Eochada (d. 1063)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 18 April 2008
/ref> was king of Ulaid from 1016. His father, Eochada mac Ardgair, died in 1004. His early military ventures were against members of his own sept,

Dál Fiatach Dál Fiatach was a Gaelic dynastic-grouping and the name of their territory in the north-east of Ireland during the Middle Ages. It was part of the over-kingdom of Ulaid, and they were its main ruling dynasty for most of Ulaid's history. Their ...

. He defeated a cousin in 1012 at the ‘battle of the Summits’ and in 1020 defeated and blinded Flaithbertach Ua Eochada. In 1022 he defeated the Dublin Norse at sea. He then defeated the

Cenél nEógain Cenél is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Cenél Conaill, the name of the "kindred" or descendants of Conall Gulban, son of Niall Noígiallach defined by oral and recorded history * Cenél nEógain (in English, Cenel Eogan) i ...

client kingdom of Airgialla. In 1024 he invaded Dublin and took hostages; a success he repeated two years later. In 1044 mac Eochada raided the

southern Uí Néill The Southern Uí Néill ( ga, Uí Néill an Deiscirt, IPA: �iːˈnʲeːl̪ʲˈanˠˈdʲɛʃcəɾˠtʲ were that branch of the Uí Néill dynasty that invaded and settled in the Kingdom of Mide and its associated kingdoms. In the initial decades t ...

kingdom of Brega, but was defeated, losing 200 men. In 1047 he made an alliance with Diarmait mac Maíl na mBó which helped to put pressure, from both north and south, on the kingdoms of

Mide Meath (; Old Irish: ''Mide'' ; spelt ''Mí'' in Modern Irish) was a kingdom in Ireland from the 1st to the 12th century AD. Its name means "middle," denoting its location in the middle of the island. At its greatest extent, it included all ...

, Brega and Dublin In 1056 the southern Uí Néill took 3,000 cows and 60 captives from his client Kingdom

Dál nAraidi Dál nAraidi (; "Araide's part") or Dál Araide, sometimes Latinised as Dalaradia or Anglicised as Dalaray,Boyd, Hugh AlexanderIrish Dalriada ''The Glynns: Journal of The Glens of Antrim Historical Society''. Volume 76 (1978). was a Cruthin kin ...

which was also raided by the Cenél nEógain in 1059. Niall's son Eochaid (died 1062) was considered co-king of Ulaid with his father. Eochaid's son Donn Sléibe Ua hEochada (died 1091) was also a king of Ulaid, as were many of his descendants.

Francis John 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. ...

, ''Irish Kings and High Kings'', Batsford, London, 1973, p. 286, table 6.

References

1063 deaths Kings of Ulster 11th-century Irish monarchs Year of birth unknown People from County Down {{Ireland-royal-stub