Breifne

Who rules

Name

Ualgarg Ua Ruairc

Title

King of Breifne

Since

About 1196

Born

Not pinned

Family

Ui Ruairc

Confidence

medium

See Breifne (Ua Ruairc).

Overlord

None in fact

The realm that morning

Ualgarg is king; the Tuit motte at Granard (1199) and the Meath barons press on the south-east, Cenel Conaill on the north.

Threats

• Cenel Conaill
• The Meath English
• The Ui Raghallaigh

Officers in 1200

• Sub-lords: Ua Raghallaigh of Muintir Maelmorda (East Breifne), the Meic Tigernain, Mac Consnama, Ua Ruairc kinsmen

Coinage

None: the Irish kingdoms strike no coin; wealth and tribute are counted in cattle, and silver comes through the ports.

Rome and the Church

Kilmore (the Breifne see) under Armagh.

The host

The Breifne hosting. No figures.

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. 1200-01Defeat at Leckymuldory by Ua Domnaill.Depends on: War with Cenel Conaill Stopped by: Peace

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: King list only.

On the map: Drawn through the king's and sub-kings' lord records.

Primary sources for this realm

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