Kingdom of Thomond

Who rules

Name

Conchobar Ruad Ua Briain (de facto), contested by his brothers Muirchertach Finn and Donnchad Cairprech

Title

King of Thomond

Since

1198

Born

Not pinned

Family

Sons of Domnall Mor Ua Briain (d. 1194); their sisters are the wives of Cathal Crobderg and William de Burgh.

Confidence

low

See Thomond (Ua Briain).

Overlord

None in fact

The realm that morning

Conchobar Ruad holds the kingship after banishing Muirchertach in 1198; the brothers' feud is unresolved and the country east of the Shannon was wasted by the English war of 1199.

Threats

• Fratricide
• The English of Limerick
• The de Braose claim revived in 1201

Officers in 1200

• Sub-lords: Mac Con Mara of Ui Caisin (hereditary marshal, at feud with Conchobar Ruad since 1197), Ua Cennetig of Ormond, Ua Lochlainn of the Burren, Ua Conchobair of Corcomroe, Ua Deaghaidh, Ua Cuinn (one killed by Conchobar Ruad in 1197)

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

Killaloe is the Ui Briain see; Cashel's archbishop Matthew O'Heney is the metropolitan; Domnall Mor endowed many houses (Holy Cross, Killaloe cathedral, Clare Abbey).

The host

The Dal Cais hostings and hired English. 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. 12 January 1201 (later course)John grants the honour of Limerick to William de Braose, putting the whole kingdom of Thomond into an English grant.Depends on: John's favour to de Braose Stopped by: De Braose's fall
2. 1202 (later course)Conchobar Ruad is killed by Muirchertach's men.Depends on: The feud Stopped by: Reconciliation

Where the sources disagree

• Who holds the title between 1198 and 1202 is disputed in modern lists; see Thomond (Ua Briain).

Evidence: The feud is clear, the title is not.

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 Inisfallen, Anonymous (monks of Inisfallen, Kerry, and earlier of Emly and Lismore) (the manuscript was written in 1092 and continued at Inisfallen in many contemporary hands to 1450). The Munster chronicle, written in Kerry in a hand close to the events. 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
• Mac Carthaigh's Book (Miscellaneous Irish Annals), Anonymous (a Munster compilation) (compiled in the later Middle Ages from Munster annals; manuscript of the 17th century). A Munster annal with a Mac Carthaig and Desmond slant, giving for the years around 1200 the kings of Desmond and Thomond, their wars with each other and with the English of Cork and Limerick, and the castles the settlers were building. 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