Eochaid Mugmedon
Encyclopedia
Biography
According to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, Eochaid was a High King of IrelandHigh King of Ireland
The High Kings of Ireland were sometimes historical and sometimes legendary figures who had, or who are claimed to have had, lordship over the whole of Ireland. Medieval and early modern Irish literature portrays an almost unbroken sequence of High Kings, ruling from Tara over a hierarchy of...
, best known as the father of Niall of the Nine Hostages
Niall of the Nine Hostages
Niall Noígíallach , or in English, Niall of the Nine Hostages, son of Eochaid Mugmedón, was an Irish king, the eponymous ancestor of the Uí Néill kindred who dominated Ireland from the 6th century to the 10th century...
and ancestor of the Uí Néill
Uí Néill
The Uí Néill are Irish and Scottish dynasties who claim descent from Niall Noigiallach , an historical King of Tara who died about 405....
and Connachta
Connachta
The Connachta are a group of medieval Irish dynasties who claimed descent from the legendary High King Conn Cétchathach...
dynasties. He is not mentioned in the list of kings of Tara
Hill of Tara
The Hill of Tara , located near the River Boyne, is an archaeological complex that runs between Navan and Dunshaughlin in County Meath, Leinster, Ireland...
in the Baile Chuind (The Ecstasy of Conn), but is included in the synthetic lists of High Kings in the Lebor Gabála Érenn
Lebor Gabála Érenn
Lebor Gabála Érenn is the Middle Irish title of a loose collection of poems and prose narratives recounting the mythical origins and history of the Irish from the creation of the world down to the Middle Ages...
, the Irish annals
Irish annals
A number of Irish annals were compiled up to and shortly after the end of Gaelic Ireland in the 17th century.Annals were originally a means by which monks determined the yearly chronology of feast days...
, Geoffrey Keating
Geoffrey Keating
Seathrún Céitinn, known in English as Geoffrey Keating, was a 17th century Irish Roman Catholic priest, poet and historian. He was born in County Tipperary c. 1569, and died c. 1644...
's history, and the Laud Synchronisms.
According to the Lebor Gabála Érenn
Lebor Gabála Érenn
Lebor Gabála Érenn is the Middle Irish title of a loose collection of poems and prose narratives recounting the mythical origins and history of the Irish from the creation of the world down to the Middle Ages...
and its derivative works, Eochaid was the son of the former High King Muiredach Tírech
Muiredach Tirech
Muiredach Tirech, son of Fiacha Sraibhtine, was a 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 kill them. When he didn't, they entered his service and...
, a descendant of Conn Cétchathach. Muiredach was overthrown and killed by Cáelbad
Cáelbad
Cáelbad , a descendant of the legendary hero Conall Cernach, was a king of Ulster who became High King of Ireland in the 4th century. He gained the High Kingship by overthrowing Muiredach Tirech, but only lasted a year before he was overthrown by Muiredach's son Eochaid Mugmedon. He married Céindi...
son of Cronn Bradruí, an Ulster king, but Cálbad only ruled one year before Eochaid killed him and took the throne. The Lebor Gabála says he extracted the bórama or cow-tribute from Leinster
Leinster
Leinster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the east of Ireland. It comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Mide, Osraige and Leinster. Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the historic fifths of Leinster and Mide gradually merged, mainly due to the impact of the Pale, which straddled...
without a battle. However, Keating records that he was defeated in the Battle of Cruachan Claonta by the Leinster king Énnae Cennsalach
Énnae Cennsalach
Énnae Cennsalach was a King of Leinster and founder of the Uí Cheinnselaig sept of the Laigin. He was the grandson of Bressal Bélach , a previous king.The chronology of Leinster kings in the 5th century is contradictory...
.
According to the saga "The Adventures of the Sons of Eochaid Mugmedon", he is said to have had two wives: Mongfind
Mongfind
Queen Mongfind was the wife, of apparent Munster origins, of the legendary Irish High King Eochaid Mugmedón and mother of his eldest three sons, Brion, Ailill and Fiachrae, ancestors of the historical Connachta, through whom she is an ancestor of many Irish and European nobility today...
, daughter of Fidach, who bore him four sons, Brion
Brion (Irish)
Brión , son of Eochaid Mugmedón, was a legendary and possibly historical Irish king, fl. 4th/5th century.-Biography:The older half-brother of Niall of the Nine Hostages and one of the three brothers whose descendants were known as the Connachta, Brión is said to have been king of Connacht....
, Ailill
Ailill mac Echach Mugmedóin
Ailill mac Echach Mugmedóin was an Irish prince, the son of the high king Eochaid Mugmedón by his wife Mongfind, sister of Crimthann mac Fidaig. He was ancestor of the Uí nAilello dynasty of Connacht. He lived in the late 4th century....
, Fiachrae
Fiachrae
Fiachrae was an Irish prince, the son of the high king Eochaid Mugmedón by his wife Mongfind, sister of Crimthann mac Fidaig. He was ancestor of the Uí Fiachrach dynasties of Connacht. He lived in the late 4th century....
and Fergus; and Cairenn Chasdub
Cairenn
Cairenn Chasdub; Caireann was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, the daughter of Sachell Balb, king of the Saxons, the second wife of the Irish High King Eochaid Mugmedón, and the mother of Niall of the Nine Hostages.When she was pregnant with Niall, Eochaid's first wife...
, daughter of Sachell Balb, king of the Saxons
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
, who bore him his most famous son, Niall. Mongfind is said to have hated Cairenn, and forced her to expose her child, but the baby was rescued and raised by a poet called Torna
Torna Éices
Torna, nicknamed Éices or Éces , was a legendary Irish poet of the 5th century, noted as "the last great bard of Pagan Ireland." He is not to be confused with Torna Éigeas, the 17th-century bard who figures in the Contention of the Bards.He was the foster-father of the Irish kings Corc and Niall of...
. When Niall grew up he returned to Tara and rescued his mother from the servitude Mongfind had placed her under. Mongfind appears to have originally been a supernatural personage: the saga "The Death of Crimthann mac Fidaig" says the festival of Samhain
Samhain
Samhain is a Gaelic harvest festival held on October 31–November 1. It was linked to festivals held around the same time in other Celtic cultures, and was popularised as the "Celtic New Year" from the late 19th century, following Sir John Rhys and Sir James Frazer...
was commonly called the "Festival of Mongfind", and prayers were offered to her on Samhain eve. Although it is probably anachronistic for Eochaid to have had a Saxon wife, T. F. O'Rahilly argues that the name Cairenn is derived from the Latin name Carina
Carina
Carina may refer to:* Carina, a given name in Portugal and some other countries. It is a pet form of Cara, which can mean either "beloved" in Italian or "friend" in the Irish language-Locations:Carina is the name of the towns or villages:...
, and that it is plausible that she might have been a Romano-Briton. Indeed, Keating describes her not as a Saxon but as the "daughter of the king of Britain".
After ruling for seven or eight years, Eochaid died of an illness at Tara, and was succeeded by Mongfind's brother Crimthann mac Fidaig
Crimthann mac Fidaig
Crimthann Mór, son of Fidach , also written Crimthand Mór, was a semi-mythological king of Munster and High King of Ireland of the 4th century. He gained territory in Britain and Gaul, but died poisoned by his sister Mongfind. It is possible that he was also recognized as king of Scotland or Alba...
, king of Munster
Munster
Munster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the south of Ireland. In Ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial purposes...
. Keating dates his reign to 344-351, the Annals of the Four Masters
Annals of the Four Masters
The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland or the Annals of the Four Masters are a chronicle of medieval Irish history...
to 357-365. Daniel P. McCarthy, based on the Irish annals, dates his death to 362.
The Connachta
Conn CétchathachConn of the Hundred Battles
Conn Cétchathach , son of Fedlimid Rechtmar, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland, and the ancestor of the Connachta, and, through his descendant Niall Noígiallach, the Uí Néill dynasties, which dominated Ireland in the early middle ages, and...
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Art mac Cuinn
Art mac Cuinn
Art mac Cuinn , also known as Art Óenfer , was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland....
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Cormac mac Airt
Cormac mac Airt
Cormac mac Airt , also known as Cormac ua Cuinn or Cormac Ulfada , was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland...
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Cairbre Lifechair
Cairbre Lifechair
Cairbre Lifechair , son of Cormac mac Airt, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland. He came to the throne after the death of Eochaid Gonnat...
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Fiachu Sraibtine
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Muiredach Tirech
Muiredach Tirech
Muiredach Tirech, son of Fiacha Sraibhtine, was a 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 kill them. When he didn't, they entered his service and...
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Eochaid Mugmedon
+ Mongfind
Mongfind
Queen Mongfind was the wife, of apparent Munster origins, of the legendary Irish High King Eochaid Mugmedón and mother of his eldest three sons, Brion, Ailill and Fiachrae, ancestors of the historical Connachta, through whom she is an ancestor of many Irish and European nobility today...
+ Cairenn
Cairenn
Cairenn Chasdub; Caireann was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, the daughter of Sachell Balb, king of the Saxons, the second wife of the Irish High King Eochaid Mugmedón, and the mother of Niall of the Nine Hostages.When she was pregnant with Niall, Eochaid's first wife...
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Brion
Brion (Irish)
Brión , son of Eochaid Mugmedón, was a legendary and possibly historical Irish king, fl. 4th/5th century.-Biography:The older half-brother of Niall of the Nine Hostages and one of the three brothers whose descendants were known as the Connachta, Brión is said to have been king of Connacht....
Fiachrae
Fiachrae
Fiachrae was an Irish prince, the son of the high king Eochaid Mugmedón by his wife Mongfind, sister of Crimthann mac Fidaig. He was ancestor of the Uí Fiachrach dynasties of Connacht. He lived in the late 4th century....
Ailill
Ailill
Ailill a popular male given name in medieval Ireland and may refer to:* Ailill mac Máta, legendary king of Connacht and husband of queen Medb* Ailill mac Slanuill, legendary High King of Ireland of the 12th century BC...
Niall
Niall of the Nine Hostages
Niall Noígíallach , or in English, Niall of the Nine Hostages, son of Eochaid Mugmedón, was an Irish king, the eponymous ancestor of the Uí Néill kindred who dominated Ireland from the 6th century to the 10th century...
(The Connachta
Connachta
The Connachta are a group of medieval Irish dynasties who claimed descent from the legendary High King Conn Cétchathach...
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Conall Gulban
Conall Gulban
Conall Gulban was an Irish king who founded the kingdom of Tír Conaill in the 5th century, comprising much of what is now County Donegal. He was the son of Niall Noígiallach....
Endae Eógan . Coirpre
Coirpre mac Néill
Coirpre mac Néill . , also Cairbre or Cairpre, was said to be a son of Niall of the Nine Hostages. Coirpre was perhaps the leader of the conquests that established the southern Uí Néill in the midlands of Ireland. The record of the Irish annals suggests that Coirpre's successes were reattributed to...
Lóegaire
Lóegaire mac Néill
Lóegaire , also Lóeguire, is said to have been a son of Niall of the Nine Hostages. The Irish annals and king lists include him as a King of Tara or High King of Ireland. He appears as an adversary of Saint Patrick in several hagiographies...
Maine
Maine of Tethba
Maine of Tethba or Maine mac Néill was a supposed son of Niall Noigiallach. His existence is very doubtful. Writing of him in 1973, Irish historian Francis John Byrne stated his belief that:...
Conall Cremthainne Fiachu
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Muirdeach . Cormac Caech Lughaid
Lughaid mac Loeguire
Lugaid mac Lóegairi was a High King of Ireland. He was a grandson of Niall of the Nine Hostages.One of the supposed twelve sons of Lóegaire mac Néill, his mother was Angias, a daughter of Tassach of the Uí Liatháin...
Fergus Cerrbel Ardgal
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Muirchertach . Tuathal Diarmait mac Cerbaill
Diarmait mac Cerbaill
Diarmait mac Cerbaill was King of Tara or High King of Ireland. According to traditions, he was the last High King to follow the pagan rituals of inauguration, the ban-feis or marriage to goddess of the land....
mac Ercae . Maelgarb
(d. 536) . (d. 544) (d. 565)
.
(Northern Uí Néill
Uí Néill
The Uí Néill are Irish and Scottish dynasties who claim descent from Niall Noigiallach , an historical King of Tara who died about 405....
) . (Southern Uí Néill
Uí Néill
The Uí Néill are Irish and Scottish dynasties who claim descent from Niall Noigiallach , an historical King of Tara who died about 405....
)