Muircheartach Mac Lochlainn (old spelling: Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn) was king of the Cenél nEógain

Cenél nEógain

Cenél nEóġain is the name of the "kindred" or descendants of Eógan mac Néill , son of Niall Noígiallach who founded the kingdom of Tír Eoghain in the 5th century...

, Tyrone

Tyrone

The name Tyrone can refer to:*County Tyrone, a county in Northern Ireland, roughly corresponding to the ancient kingdom of Tír Eogain*An Earl of Tyrone*A small steam train which runs between Bushmills and the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland-Places:...

 and High King of Ireland

High 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...

 from around 1156 until his death in 1166

1166 in Ireland

-Events:*Death of Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn, High King of Ireland.*Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair succeeds to the high-kingship, on the death of his father, Tairrdelbach mac Ruaidri Ua Conchobair....

, He succeeded Toirdhealbhach Ua Conchobhair who died in 1156

1156 in Ireland

-Deaths:*Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair , who had reigned as King of Connacht since 1106 and was a claimant to the High Kingship of Ireland. He was buried in Clonmacnoise....

.

Mac Lochlainn survived an attempt by Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair

Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair

Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair , often anglicised Rory O'Connor, reigned as King of Connacht from 1156 to 1186, and from 1166 to 1198 was the last High King before the Norman invasion of Ireland .Ruaidrí was one of over twenty sons of King...

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

Cenél Conaill

The Cenél Conaill is the name of the "kindred" or descendants of Conall Gulban, son of Niall Noígiallach defined by oral and recorded history. They were also known in Scotland as the Kindred of Saint Columba....

 and the Ulaid

Ulaid

The Ulaid or Ulaidh were a people of early Ireland who gave their name to the modern province of Ulster...

. 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 Ulster

Ulster

Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. 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...

. In return he had given a solemn oath to the Bishop of Armagh and many other notables for his good behaviour. In violation of the oath, he had Eochaid mac Con Ulad Mac Duinn Sléibe, King of Ulster

Kings of Ulster

The Kings of Ulster were of the Ulaid, and up till about AD 450, ruled as over-kings of the ancient cóiced of Ulster. Ptolemy's map shows them as the Voluntii and adjacent Darini. They were joined in the kingship by the later attested Cruithne...

, 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

Saint Patrick was a Romano-Briton and Christian missionary, who is the most generally recognized patron saint of Ireland or the Apostle of Ireland, although Brigid of Kildare and Colmcille are also formally patron saints....

.

External links

• CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts at University College Cork 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