Murder of Conchobar Máenmaige
The year’s most consequential firmly dated Irish event was the killing of Conchobar Máenmaige Ua Conchobair, king of Connacht. The Annals of Ulster call him the “royal heir of all Ireland” and report that he was killed by his own followers at the direction of a kinsman, Conchobar Ua Diarmata. The Annals of Inisfallen also record his death, though it names a somewhat different group of killers. Such variation is a reminder that annalistic accounts were compiled from regional information and later copied; the secure point is that Connacht’s ruler was murdered in 1189 in a conflict within his own extended dynasty.
