Connacht (Ua Conchobair)

Who he is

Name

Cathal Crobderg Ua Conchobair (Cathal Crobhdhearg, 'red hand')

Title

King of Connacht (ri Connacht)

Since

1189-90, after the murder of his nephew Conchobar Maenmaige; contested from the start by Conchobar's son Cathal Carrach

Born

About 1153 (not pinned)

Family

Son of Toirdelbach Ua Conchobair (high king, d. 1156), half-brother of Ruaidri, the last high king, who died at Cong on 2 December 1198. Wife Mor, daughter of Domnall Mor Ua Briain of Thomond (so brother-in-law of the warring Ua Briain brothers and of William de Burgh). Sons: Aed (his heir), Tadg (d. 1205), and others.

Confidence

high

In 1199 he made peace with Cathal Carrach and gave him lands, which made him undisputed king for the moment; the same year he raided English lands. He founded the Cistercian abbey of Knockmoy about 1190.

Overlord

None in fact; under the treaty of Windsor (1175) the king of Connacht owes the English king tribute in hides, but none is paid in 1199-1200

What it holds

• The kingship of Connacht and the hostages of its sub-kings
• Sil Muiredaig and Mag nAi round Roscommon, Rathcroghan and the inauguration mound of Carnfree
• The Shannon crossings at Athlone and Lough Ree
• The Ua Conchobair mensal lands and the churches under their protection (Tuam, Cong, Clonmacnoise across the river)

How it was acquired

Election and the sword, 1189-90.

Allies and rivals

Allied to Ruaidri Ua Flaithbertaig of Iar Connacht and, by marriage, to the Ui Briain; his rival is Cathal Carrach with William de Burgh behind him; in the north he can call on Aed Ua Neill and John de Courcy.

How things stand that morning

King and in possession. The peace of 1199 with Cathal Carrach holds that morning, but Crobderg is about to turn on him; within the year Carrach and de Burgh will drive him out.

Wealth

Cattle tribute of the sub-kingdoms, the plains of Mag nAi and Mag Luirg, the Galway fishery and the Shannon traffic.

Military

The hostings of Connacht and its sub-kings, a fleet on Lough Ree and the Shannon (he survived a shipwreck there in 1190), fortifications at Athlone and Dun Gaillimhe, and hired English knights when he can pay them.

Threats

• Cathal Carrach and William de Burgh
• The English of Meath and Limerick across the Shannon
• Unpaid mercenaries who seize their employer (as the Meath English will in 1201)

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.

In 1200

1. 1200 (early, not pinned)Raids Meath with Ruaidri Ua Flaithbertaig, who is killed by the Meath English; turns on Cathal Carrach and drives him into Munster.Depends on: Crobderg breaking the 1199 peace Stopped by: Keeping the peace
2. 1200 (not pinned)Raids Munster: plunders Castleconnell, the Limerick market and Castle-Wilkin.Depends on: War with de Burgh Stopped by: A bargain with de Burgh
3. 1200 (not pinned)William de Burgh and the English of Munster bring Cathal Carrach back; Crobderg flees to Fermanagh, to Aed Ua Neill and to John de Courcy.Depends on: De Burgh being paid by Carrach Stopped by: Crobderg buying de Burgh first

Later, on the likely course

1. 1201-02 (later course)Defeated at Ballysadare with Ua hEignigh and at Kilmacduagh with de Courcy (1201); restored by de Burgh, who kills Cathal Carrach (1202).Depends on: The alliances above Stopped by: Any change in de Burgh's price

Places of note

• Carnfree (Carn Fraich): Inauguration mound of the Ua Conchobair kings
• Rathcroghan (Cruachain): Ancient royal centre of Connacht
• Knockmoy Abbey: Cistercian abbey founded by Crobderg about 1190
• Athlone: Ua Conchobair bridge and fort on the Shannon

Where the sources disagree

• The Four Masters place Crobderg's expulsion and the battles of Ballysadare and Kilmacduagh in 1199; Mac Carthaigh's Book and the Wikipedia account (from the Loch Ce annals) put the expulsion in 1200 and the battles in 1201. We follow the later dating: Crobderg is king on 1 January 1200.

Evidence: The annals are full but disagree by a year or two on the sequence.

On the map: The kingdom is drawn as the area of the king's overlordship; north Sligo is disputed with Tir Conaill and Breifne.

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