Cathal Carrach

Who he is

Name

Cathal Carrach Ua Conchobair ('the scabby')

Title

Rigdamna (king-worthy prince) and claimant to the kingship of Connacht

Since

1189, when his father Conchobar Maenmaige was murdered

Born

Not pinned

Family

One of seven sons of Conchobar Maenmaige Ua Conchobair, king of Connacht (murdered 1189), and so a grandson of Ruaidri; his wife is not known; a son (Mael Sechlainn) is given to William de Burgh as surety in 1200.

Confidence

high

He avenged his father by killing the instigator, Conchobar Ua Diarmata. Killed in battle in the Curlew mountains (Corr Sliabh) in 1202.

Overlord

Cathal Crobderg (under the 1199 peace)

What it holds

• Lands in Connacht granted under the 1199 peace (location not pinned)
• The loyalty of his father's party

How it was acquired

Birth and the 1199 settlement.

Allies and rivals

William de Burgh and the English of Limerick; enemy of Crobderg and, in 1201, of Aed Ua Neill and Ua hEignigh.

How things stand that morning

At peace with Crobderg, holding the lands of the 1199 settlement; within the year driven into Munster and then brought back as king by de Burgh.

Military

His own following and hired English.

Threats

• Crobderg breaking the peace

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. 1200 (not pinned)Driven into Munster by Crobderg; returns with de Burgh and takes the kingship of Connacht.Depends on: De Burgh's help (his son as surety) Stopped by: De Burgh refusing

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Annals; the location of his 1199 lands is not pinned.

On the map: Not drawn: his lands under the 1199 peace are not pinned.

Primary sources for Connacht

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Annals of Clonmacnoise, Anonymous; English translation of a lost Irish chronicle by Conall Mac Geoghegan (medieval original lost; translated 1627). A midland chronicle, tied to Clonmacnoise and the kings of Meath and Connacht, surviving only in a 1627 translation. Read online
• Annals of Loch Ce, Various (compiled for the Mac Diarmada of Moylurg) (compiled 1580s from older annals; the medieval section rests on a Connacht chronicle). The fullest Connacht account of the year: Cathal Carrach's seizure of the kingship, Cathal Crobderg's flight north, the Connacht expedition of de Courcy and the Ui Neill on Crobderg's behalf and its defeat, William de Burgh's role, and the devastation of the province's churches, with the names of the Connacht nobles and clergy who died. Read online
• Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters, Various; compiled by Micheal O Cleirigh and others (1632 to 1636, from medieval annals now partly lost). A seventeenth century compilation but it draws on lost medieval annals, so its 1200 entries add names and incidents missing elsewhere: the Connacht war and the English of Meath and Munster, the deaths of Irish kings and churchmen across the island, and raids in Thomond and Desmond. Read online
• Annals of Ulster, Various; compiled by Cathal Mac Maghnusa (compiled about 1498 from much older annals; the entries for 1200 derive from contemporary record). The most reliable Irish annal for the north. Read online
• The Topography of Ireland; The Conquest of Ireland, Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis) (Topographia 1187 to 1188; Expugnatio 1189, revised later). The Conquest ends in 1185 and the Topography describes the island as Gerald saw it in 1183 to 1185, so neither covers 1200, but they explain the lordship of Ireland as John found it: the grants of Leinster and Meath, the de Courcy conquest of Ulster, the Irish kings and their customs, and Gerald's advice on governing the country. Read online
• The Song of Dermot and the Earl, Anonymous (an Anglo-Norman clerk drawing on Morice Regan, Diarmait Mac Murchada's interpreter) (about 1200 to 1225). Ends in the 1170s, so it has no 1200 events, but it was composed about then for the Marshal interest in Leinster and lists the enfeoffments by which Strongbow and Hugh de Lacy parcelled out Leinster and Meath. Read online