Muirchertach was a son of
Toirdelbach Ua Briain, a previous
Dál gCais king of
Ireland. He took the kingship of
Dublin in the year
1075. In 1086 his father died and the province of
Munster from which he had claimed kingship of Ireland had been split between his three sons: Tadc, Muirchertach and
Diarmait. Tadc died soon after, and Muirchertach banished Diarmait from Munster, claiming its kingship for himself.
King of Munster
Between 1086 and 1101, Muirchertach consolidated and strengthened his position as province-king of Munster. He went on forays into
Mide and
Leinster in 1089 and took the kingship of Leinster and the
Viking town of Dublin. In 1093, he accepted the submission of
Domnall mac Flainn Ua Maíl Shechnaill, the
Uí Néill king of
Tara, and also made peace with his brother Diarmait at
Cashel.
King of Ireland with opposition
In 1094, Muirchertach fought the kings of
Leth Cuinn and
Gofraid,
king of Dublin. He went with his army to Dublin and banished Gofraid, and brought about the killing of Domnall Ua Maíl Shechnaill. He asserted supremacy over the Uí Néill kingdom of Mide.
In 1101 he became king and travelled the island provinces. It was in this year that he gave the fortress at on the
rock of Cashel as a gift to the
Church.
Magnus Barelegs
In 1102, Muirchertach made a marriage alliance with
Magnus Barelegs, king of
Norway. In 1114 the king became sick to the point where "he became a living skeleton"[1]. In response to the king's misfortune, his brother Diarmait took control of the kingship of Munster and banished Muirchertach. The following year Muirchertach regained his strength and undertook a campaign to regain control of Munster and successfully captured Diarmait. Only later did the king regain control of Munster.
Final years
In 1119 Muirchertach Ua Briain died.
Assessments
Notes
^Annals of the Four Masters, UCC Corpus of Electronic Texts (CELT) version,
Part 22, accessed
21st April2008
References
Annals of Innisfallen, CELT: The Corpus of Electronic Texts, 2000, retrieved 2008-05-10
Flanagan, Marie Therese (2005), "High-kings with opposition, 1072–1166", in Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí (ed.), Prehistoric and Ireland Ireland, A New History of Ireland, vol. I, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 899–933,
ISBN0-19-922665-8{{
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Lydon, James (2003), The Lordship of Ireland in the Middle Ages (2nd ed.), Dublin: Four Courts Press,
ISBN1-85182-737-4
Ó Corráin, Donncha (1972), Ireland before the Normans, The Gill History of Ireland, vol. 2, Dublin: Gill & Macmillan,
ISBN0-7171-0559-8
Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí (1995), Early Medieval Ireland: 400–1200, London: Longman,
ISBN0-582-01565-0
Simms, Katherine (2004), "Ua Conchobair, Toirdelbach Mór (1088–1156) [Turlough the Great O'Connor] (1088&ndash1156)",
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, retrieved 2008-03-06
Sturluson, Snorri (1964), Hollander, Lee M. (ed.), Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway, Austin: University of Texas Press,
ISBN0-292-73061-6