Muircheartach Mac Lochlainn (; ) was

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Tír Eoghain Tír Eoghain (), also known as Tyrone, was a kingdom and later earldom of Gaelic Ireland, comprising parts of present-day County Tyrone, County Armagh, County Londonderry and County Donegal (Raphoe). The kingdom represented the core homeland of ...

, and

High King of Ireland High King of Ireland ( ) 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 was later sometimes assigned anachronously or to leg ...

from around 1156 until his death in

1166 Year 1166 ( MCLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos asks Venice to help pay the costs of defending Sicily, whose Norman rulers have ...

. He succeeded

Toirdhealbhach Ua Conchobhair Toirdhealbhach Mór Ua Conchobhair (old spelling: Tairrdelbach Mór Ua Conchobair; 1088 – 1156) anglicised Turlough Mór O'Conor, was King of Connacht (1106–1156) and High King of Ireland (ca. 1120–1156). Family background and early life ...

who died in

1156 Year 1156 ( MCLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Levant * Spring – Raynald of Châtillon, prince of Antioch, makes an alliance with Thoros II (the Great), ruler of Armenian Cilic ...

. Mac Lochlainn survived an attempt by

Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair Ruaidrí mac Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair (Modern Irish: Ruairí Ó Conchúir; anglicised as Rory O'Conor) ( – 2 December 1198) was King of Connacht from 1156 to 1186, and High King of Ireland from 1166 to 1198. He was the last High King of Ire ...

to unseat him in 1159. He failed, however, to overcome the resistance of the

Cenél Conaill 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) is ...

and the

Ulaid (Old Irish, ) or (Irish language, Modern Irish, ) was a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic Provinces of Ireland, over-kingdom in north-eastern Ireland during the Middle Ages made up of a confederation of dynastic groups. Alternative names include , which ...

. In 1166, to attempt to achieve a diplomatic settlement with his neighbours, Mac Lochlainn arranged a truce and took hostages from many of the families in Ulaid. In return he had given a solemn oath to the

Bishop of Armagh The Archbishop of Armagh is an archiepiscopal title which takes its name from the see city of Armagh in Northern Ireland. Since the Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic successions to the title: one in the Catholic Church and the ot ...

and many other notables for his good behaviour. In violation of the oath, he had Eochaid mac Con Ulad Mac Duinn Sléibe,

king of Ulaid The King of Ulster (Old Irish: ''Rí Ulad'', Modern Irish: ''Rí Uladh'') also known as the King of Ulaid and King of the Ulaid, was any of the kings of the Irish provincial over-kingdom of Ulaid. The title rí in Chóicid, which means "king of ...

, seized and blinded. Mac Lochlainn's allies abandoned him almost at once, and he was reduced to a handful of followers. With sixteen of these closest associates, he was killed and his death attributed to the vengeance of

Saint Patrick Saint Patrick (; or ; ) was a fifth-century Romano-British culture, Romano-British Christian missionary and Archbishop of Armagh, bishop in Gaelic Ireland, Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Irelan ...

References

*Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí, ''Early Medieval Ireland: 400–1200.'' Longman, London, 1995. *"Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn and the "Circuit of Ireland"," Donnchadh O Corrain, in ''Seanchas: Studies in Early and Medieval Irish Archaeology, History and Literature in Honour of

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. A ...

,'' pp. 238–250.

Four Courts Press Four Courts Press is an independent Irish academic publishing house, with its office at Malpas Street, Dublin 8, Ireland. Founded in 1970 by Michael Adams, who died in February 2009, its early publications were primarily theological, notably ...

, Dublin, 2000. *"Mac Lochlainn, Muirchertach," volume five, ''Dictionary of Irish Biography ... to the Year 2002'', Cambridge, 2010.

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 the ''Annals of Ulster'', ''Tigernach'' and ''the Four Masters'' as well as Genealogies, and various Saints' Lives. Most are translated into English, or translations are in progress {{DEFAULTSORT:Mac Lochlainn, Muirchertach 1166 deaths Year of birth unknown High Kings of Ireland Kings of Ailech 12th-century Irish monarchs People from County Donegal Meic Lochlainn family Assassinated Irish people 12th-century murdered monarchs