Ragnall ua Ímair (died 1035), also known as Ragnall mac Ragnaill, was an eleventh-century King of Waterford. He appears to have ruled as king from 1022 to 1035, the year of his death.

Family

Ragnall ua Ímair (Oxford Bodleian Library MS Rawlinson B 488, folio 16v)

Ragnall seems to have been a descendant of Ímar, King of Waterford. Ragnall's father may have been Ragnall mac Ímair, King of Waterford. Such a relationship would indicate that the patronym ''ua Ímair''—accorded to Ragnall by the Irish Annals that note his death—refers to Ragnall mac Ímair's father, the aforesaid Ímar.

Reign and death

Very little is known of the Waterfordian kingship in the early eleventh century. Ímar died in 1000. His son, the aforesaid Ragnall mac Ímair, died as king in 1018. Another son of Ímar, Sitriuc mac Ímair, King of Waterford was slain by the

King of Osraige The kings of Osraige (alternately spelled ''Osraighe'' and Anglicised as ''Ossory'') reigned over the medieval Irish kingdom of Osraige from the first or second century AD until the late twelfth century. Osraige was a semi-provincial kingdom in s ...

in 1022. An apparent brother of Ragnall died in 1015. Ragnall himself appears to have ruled Waterford from 1022 to 1035. The seventeenth-century ''

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 Middle Ages, medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Flood myt ...

'', the fourteenth-century ''

Annals of Tigernach The ''Annals of Tigernach'' (abbr. AT, ga, Annála Tiarnaigh) are chronicles probably originating in Clonmacnoise, Ireland. The language is a mixture of Latin and Old and Middle Irish. Many of the pre-historic entries come from the 12th-centur ...

'', and the fifteenth- to sixteenth-century '' Annals of Ulster'' reveal that, in 1035, Ragnall was slain by Sitriuc mac Amlaíb, King of Dublin. The following year, Sitriuc mac Amlaíb was driven out of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

Echmarcach mac Ragnaill Echmarcach mac Ragnaill (died 1064/1065) was a dominant figure in the eleventh-century Irish Sea region. At his height, he reigned as king over Dublin, the Isles, and perhaps the Rhinns of Galloway. The precise identity of Echmarcach's father ...

. Whilst the parentage of the latter is uncertain, if he was a related to Ragnall—perhaps as either a brother or son—it could mean that Echmarcach's actions against Sitriuc mac Amlaíb were undertaken in revenge for his death. Against this possibility is the fact that there is no evidence that Echmarcach, or his known family, had any connection with Waterford. Whatever the case, Ragnall's fall appears to have been an important benchmark in Waterford's history, and after this date the enclave increasingly fell prey to the machinations of the Uí Briain and the Uí Cheinnselaig. In fact, two years after the killing, the King of Waterford was Cú Inmain ua Robann, an apparent Irishman. ''The Annals of Ulster'' (2017) § 1037.4; ''The Annals of Tigernach'' (2016) § 1037.2; ''The Annals of Ulster'' (2008) § 1037.4; ''Annals of Tigernach'' (2005) § 1037.2; Hudson, BT (2005) p. 129; Etchingham (2001) p. 182; Hudson, BT (1992) p. 355.

Notes

Citations

References

Primary sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Secondary sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ragnall ua Imair, King of Waterford 11th-century Irish monarchs Kings of Waterford Uí Ímair