Clonfert’s Royal Claim
Archived: 29 October 2026
Abstract
In 838, Feidlimid mac Crimthainn of Munster and Niall Caille of Tara confronted competing claims to supremacy at a royal conference remembered differently by the Annals of Ulster and Inisfallen. Ulster records an inconclusive meeting at Cloncurry; Inisfallen claims Niall submitted at Clonfert, making Feidlimid king of Ireland. Historians reject any settled all-Ireland outcome. Leinster’s succession was unsettled after King Bran’s death, while Connacht suffered a Viking defeat. Scandinavian raiders used Lough Neagh to plunder northern territories and churches, and burned Ferns and Cork. Annals also record clerical continuity and local killings, revealing an increasingly connected, contested, insecure Irish society.