Umaill was a kingdom or territory located in the west of what is now County Mayo

County Mayo

County Mayo is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Mayo, which is now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 130,552...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

. It comprmised of the baronies of Burrishoole

Burrishoole

Burrishoole is one of the nine baronies of County Mayo in Ireland.-Legal context:Baronies were created after the Norman invasion as subdivisions of counties and were used for administration. While baronies continue to be officially defined units, they have been administratively obsolete since 1898...

 and Murrisk

Murrisk

Murrisk is one of the Baronial divisions of County Mayo and also a village in County Mayo, Ireland, on the south side of Clew Bay, about 8 km west of Westport and 4 km east of Lecanvey....

, essentially all the land adjacent to Clew Bay

Clew Bay

Clew Bay is a natural ocean bay in County Mayo, Ireland. It contains Ireland's best example of sunken drumlins. According to tradition, there is an island in the bay for every day of the year. The bay is overlooked by Croagh Patrick, Ireland's holy mountain, and the mountains of North Mayo. Clare...

.

Description

Knox says of Murrisk "With Burrishoole it forms the kingdom of Aicill and Umall, which comes into history at the battle of Moy Lena. Aicill seems to be a descriptive term applied to mountanious country. Umall means low, and applies in this sence to the country lying east of Clew Bay, as Aicill applies to the parts lying north and south of the bay. The title may be translated as King of Highland and Lowland. Aicill survives in Achill Island

Achill Island

Achill Island in County Mayo is the largest island off the coast of Ireland, and is situated off the west coast. It has a population of 2,700. Its area is . Achill is attached to the mainland by Michael Davitt Bridge, between the villages of Gob an Choire and Poll Raithní . A bridge was first...

 and Curraun Achill. The term was applied to the country between Clew Bay and the Killeries in the thirteenth century. Though at all times an independent kingdom acknowledging supremacy of only the King of Connacht, it was too small to play an independent part, and therefore is rarely mentioned in the annals." (p. 303).

Kings of Umaill

Its earliest rulers were the semi-historical Tuath mhac nUmhoir. The Umaill, its early historical rulers, were renamed the Uí Briúin Umaill to claim a fictitious relationship with the Uí Briúin

Uí Briúin

The Uí Briúin were an Irish kin-group. Their eponymous apical ancestor was Brion, son of Eochaid Mugmedon and Mongfind, and an elder half brother of Niall of the Nine Hostages. They formed part of the Connachta, along with the Uí Fiachrach and Uí Ailello, putative descendants of Eochaid Mugmedon's...

. By the 12th century the ruleing family adopted the surname

Surname

A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...

 Ó Máille

O'Malley

O'Malley may refer to:* Charles O'Malley, an eponymous character in a novel by Charles Lever.* O'Malley , people with the surname O'Malley* Ó Máille clan, an Irish clan name anglicized as O'Malley...

, and were reckoned with the Ó Dubhda

O'Dowd

O'Dowd is an uncommon Irish surname. Many modern variants of the O'Dowd surname exist. The prefix has been widely retained, O'Dowd being more usual than Dowd. Other modern variants are Dawdy, Dowdy, O'Dowda and Dowds, with Doody and Duddy, found around Killarney, where a branch of the Connacht...

, Ó Flaithbheartaigh

O'Flaherty

Ó Flaithbertaigh, Gaelic-Irish surname, anglicized as O'Flaherty-Overview:This Gaelic-Irish surname is written as "Ua Flaithbertach" or "Ua Flaithbertaig" in Old Irish and Middle Irish texts....

 and Mac Conraoi

Conroy

-Overview:Conroy is an Irish surname of multiple origins. In some cases it is the anglacised form used by descendants of the Ó Maolconaire bardic family. It has sometimes being used by the descendants of another bardic family, Ó Cíonga, though the most usual form of this family is King...

as supreme sea-faring clans of Connacht.

Annalistic references

• 807.A slaughter was made of the foreigners by the men of Umhall.

• 808.A battle between the men of Umhall and the foreigners, in which the men of Umhall were slaughtered, and Cosgrach, son of Flannabhrat, and Dunadhach, lord of Umhall, were slain.

• 848. Loch Laeigh, in the territory of Umhall, in Connaught, migrated.

• U913.6. Niall son of Aed led an expedition to Connacht and inflicted a battle-rout on the warriors of the north of Connacht, i.e. on the Uí Amalgada and the men of Umall, and they left behind a very large number either dead or captured, including Mael Cluiche son of Conchobor.

• M1002.10 - Conchobhar, son of Maelseachlainn, lord of Corca-Modhruadh; and Aicher Ua Traighthech, with many others, were slain by the men of Umhall.

• M1219.6. Duvdara, the son of Murray O'Malley, was put to death for his crimes by Cathal Crovderg O'Conor, while in fetters in O'Conor's fortress.

• 1415. A great prey was taken by O'Malley, i.e. Hugh, from Dermot O'Malley. Dermot in retaliation took O'Malley's Island, upon which Hugh went in pursuit of Dermot; and a battle was fought between them, in which Hugh O'Malley, Lord of Umallia, was slain by Dermot and his son Conor, and also the son of Thomas O'Malley, and Donnell, the son of Dermot O'Malley. The chieftainship of Umallia was thenceforth wrested from the descendants of Hugh; and Dermot assumed the lordship.

• 1417. Rory, the son of Murrough O'Flaherty; Rory, the son of Dermot Duv O'Flaherty, and sixteen others of the O'Flahertys, were drowned in the bay of Umallia.