Kings, Croziers and Raids1136 CE

Dateline

The surviving record of 1136 presents Ireland as a landscape of competing kingships, armed households, ecclesiastical jurisdictions and economically valuable church settlements. The year was not dominated by one nationwide war. Instead, its annalistic entries reveal several connected struggles: a dangerous succession in the north, turmoil within the ruling family of Connacht, renewed conflict between Mide and Bréifne, and continuing rivalry in Munster and Leinster. Churchmen attempted to restrain these contests through relics, guarantees and personal mediation, but their protection was not always respected.

The evidence requires caution. The Annals of Tigernach and the much later Annals of the Four Masters broadly agree on several events, yet differ over some details. Mac Carthaigh’s Book preserves a valuable southern perspective but sometimes places incidents under different years from other chronicles. These records therefore provide a firmly annalistic account of 1136, not a complete diary of everything that happened.

A Troubled High-Kingship

Tairdelbach Ua Conchobair, king of Connacht and the leading claimant to the high-kingship of Ireland, remained the island’s most powerful ruler. His authority, however, was not that of a centralised monarch. It depended upon alliances, hostages, military expeditions and the management of subordinate kings. In 1136 the greatest immediate threats to his position came from within his own extended family.

Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair, one of Tairdelbach’s sons and the future high-king, was seized with Uada Ua Concheanainn on his father’s orders. The importance of the episode lay not simply in the imprisonment but in its circumstances. The captives were reportedly under the protection of senior clerics, including the successor of St Iarlath, Ua Dubhthaigh and Ua Domhnalláin, as well as the Bachall Buidhe, or Yellow Crozier. Relics and pastoral staffs could serve as solemn guarantees in political agreements. Violating such protection was therefore both a political provocation and a religious offence. The Annals of Tigernach add that illness struck Tairdelbach that day and confined him to bed for a considerable period, a detail probably preserved because contemporaries could interpret sickness as judgement for broken sanctuary.

Another son, Áed, was blinded. The sources disagree about responsibility: the Four Masters attribute the act to Tairdelbach himself, whereas Tigernach names Áed’s brother Conchobar and Diarmait Ua Maelruanaid. Blinding was a calculated political punishment. A visibly mutilated prince was normally considered unsuitable for kingship, allowing rivals to neutralise him without creating the spiritual and political consequences of outright execution.

A further Ua Conchobair claimant, Áed son of Domnall, was killed with trusted followers after being invited by the people of the Tuatha to be inaugurated as king. The invitation was apparently a trap. These episodes show that succession within Connacht was being shaped through coercion, factional bargains and control of potential heirs, even while Tairdelbach projected supremacy beyond the province.

A New King in the North

The most consequential change of ruler occurred among the northern Uí Néill. Conchobar son of Domnall Ua Lochlainn, described by the Four Masters as king of Ailech, ruler of the north and a potential king of Ireland, was killed through treachery by the men of Mag Itha. Annalistic wording varies, but the result is clear: a ruler with authority over Cenél nEógain and claims extending across much of the north was removed.

Muirchertach son of Niall Mac Lochlainn was then made king. His accession did not immediately transform Irish politics, and his position would suffer reversals before becoming secure. Nevertheless, 1136 marks the beginning of the career of the man who later became Tairdelbach Ua Conchobair’s principal rival for the high-kingship. The northern succession also affected Armagh, whose ecclesiastical leadership depended partly upon accommodation with Cenél nEógain and its kings.

War Across the Midlands

Mide and Bréifne remained a fractured frontier. Tigernán Ua Ruairc, king of Bréifne, was expanding towards lands traditionally associated with the Ua Máelshechlainn kings of Mide. In 1136 he killed Domnall Ua Caindealbháin, lord of Cenél Laegaire. The encounter also cost the Bréifne forces heavily, indicating that it was more than an uncontested execution.

The peace between Mide and Bréifne then broke down openly. Men of eastern Mide raided Uí Briúin territory and carried away what the Four Masters call countless cattle before striking into Fernmag. Men of Tethba attacked Loch Cairrgin, plundered it, burned its fortified site and killed inhabitants. They also raided Muintir Fidhnigh, while Domnall son of Murchad Ua Máelshechlainn attacked Uí Dúnchada. These were campaigns intended to remove mobile wealth, punish enemies and weaken their ability to support followers.

Clonard was also plundered by forces from Bréifne and Fernmag. Its religious importance did not remove it from secular competition. Major monasteries held livestock, grain, precious objects and rights over surrounding lands; they could also be associated with particular dynasties. Plundering such a centre harmed both an enemy’s economy and its prestige, although attackers risked ecclesiastical condemnation.

Leinster, Dublin and Munster

A later tradition preserved in the Annals of Clonmacnoise places Diarmait Mac Murchada on a raid into Mide in 1136 and styles him king of Leinster and the Danes. The title should be treated cautiously, but it suggests that Diarmait could draw upon Dublin’s Hiberno-Norse population or claim some authority over the town. Dublin retained its own mercantile and maritime character even while powerful Gaelic kings competed to dominate it.

Mac Carthaigh’s Book assigns to 1136 a battle in which Donnchad Ua Cerbaill’s raiders were overtaken near Drogheda by forces from Dublin, Fine Gall and Mide. A closely similar incident is dated earlier by the Four Masters, illustrating the chronological problems of the annals. The southern chronicle also records fighting between the Mac Carthaig and Ua Briain interests. It credits Cormac Mac Carthaig with asserting the kingship of Munster and Osraige, while Tairdelbach Ua Briain’s forces plundered settlements and church property in the south-west. Whether every entry belongs precisely within the calendar year, they accurately reflect the continuing contest between Desmond and Thomond surrounding 1136.

Malachy and Church Reform

Ecclesiastical affairs formed a major part of the year’s record. Máel Máedóc Ua Morgair, better known as Malachy of Armagh, made a visitation of Munster. Such a journey could involve preaching, enforcing discipline, settling disputes, receiving dues and securing recognition of ecclesiastical authority. It also linked reform-minded clergy in Armagh with supporters in Lismore, Cashel and other southern centres.

The Four Masters record both a change of leadership at Armagh, with Niall son of Áed appearing in Malachy’s place, and Malachy’s resignation of the successorship of Patrick “for the sake of God”. The sequence is complicated by differing chronologies. Modern reconstructions generally understand Malachy’s withdrawal as part of a compromise that ended the struggle over hereditary control of Armagh and prepared the way for the reformer Gilla Meic Liac, or Gelasius. His formal succession may belong to 1137. Malachy’s resignation was therefore not simple defeat: once the principle of a canonically consecrated church leader had been established, he could relinquish Armagh without restoring the old lay monopoly unchallenged.

Several senior clergy died. Áed Ua Finn, bishop of Bréifne, died at Inis Clothrann on Lough Ree. Domnall Ua Dubhthaigh, described as archbishop of Connacht and successor of Ciarán, died at Clonfert after celebrating Mass. His obituary praises his wisdom and hospitality, qualities expected of a great ecclesiastical lord. Other deaths included church superiors at Fahan Mór, Swords and additional religious communities. Mac Ciaráin, the airchinnech or ecclesiastical administrator of Swords, was killed by men of Fernmag, another reminder that clerical office offered no complete protection from regional violence.

Books, Memory and Learning

At Armagh, Máel Ísu Mac Máel Coluim died on the night of Good Friday. The Four Masters call him the chief keeper of the calendar, antiquary and librarian of Armagh. His titles evoke the practical work behind a major ecclesiastical centre: calculating feast days, preserving manuscripts, maintaining institutional memory and recording rights or genealogies.

The death of the historian Néide Ua Maelchonaire is also recorded. He represents the increasingly visible professional learned families whose members served rulers and churches as historians, genealogists and poets. Their learning helped define legitimate descent, preserve accounts of former reigns and frame contemporary political claims within Ireland’s remembered past.

Land, Livestock and Daily Life

Most people remained beyond the annalists’ view, living in dispersed farmsteads, ringforts, cashels, crannogs and settlements clustered around churches. Their economy combined cattle, sheep, pigs and dairying with cereal cultivation. Cattle were especially valuable as food-producing animals, measures of wealth, tribute and readily removable plunder. The repeated recording of herds taken from enemies was therefore not ornamental language: a successful raid could deprive households of milk, breeding stock, hides and status while rewarding a king’s followers.

In Dublin, Waterford, Wexford and Cork, craftspeople and merchants inhabited Hiberno-Norse towns connected by sea to Britain and continental Europe. Imported pottery, metals and luxury objects accompanied local woodworking, textile production and metalworking. Coin use was much stronger in Dublin than across the rural interior, where obligations, livestock and weighed valuables remained fundamental. River routes such as the Shannon and Boyne connected political centres, monasteries and markets as well as carrying fleets and raiding forces.

Thus 1136 was not merely a catalogue of killings. It exposed the mechanisms through which power operated: inauguration and mutilation, cattle and hostages, sacred guarantees, family alliances, fortified residences, libraries and ecclesiastical journeys. Tairdelbach Ua Conchobair remained pre-eminent, but his household was divided. Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn began his ascent in the north, Malachy helped secure reform at Armagh, and the people of the midlands endured the destructive consequences of rival kings seeking wealth and recognition.