Máel Coba (died 615) was a
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 ...
.
Máel Coba was the son of
Áed mac Ainmuirech (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 ...
(died 642), both also reckoned High Kings of Ireland. They belonged to the northern
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 ...
branch of the
Uí Néill.
Máel Coba became chief of the Cenél Conaill upon the death of his brother
Conall Cú mac Áedo 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, 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 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,
abbot of Iona (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