Cléirchén mac Murchadh

Last updated March 20, 2019

Cléirchén mac Murchadh (died 908) was King of Maigh Seóla.

Maigh Seóla, also known as Hy Briuin Seola, was the territory that included land along the east shore of Lough Corrib in County Galway, Ireland. It was bounded to the east by the Uí Maine vassal kingdom of Soghain and extended roughly from what is now Clarinbridge in the south to Knockmaa Hill in the north. Its rulers belonged to the Uí Briúin Seóla and are sometimes found in the annals under the title "King of Uí Briúin" and "King of South Connacht". The earliest identifiable kings belonged to the line that became the Clann Cosgraigh. However in later times the line which would become the Muintir Murchada, under the O'Flaherty chiefs, monopolized the kingship.

Biography

Cléirchén appears only in the annals, and is not listed in any extant genealogies, so it is unknown if he had any descendants. He was the first of two sons of Murchadh mac Maenach to rule the kingdom. His name does not appear again in any branch of the Muintir Murchada. It did however appear as a surname among the neighbouring dynasty of Uí Fiachrach Aidhne by the 920's. It was the name of an obscure hermit (Cléircheán of Saintclerans) in the latter territory.

Muintir Murchada was the name of an Irish territory which derived its name from the ruling dynasty, who were in turn a branch of the Uí Briúin. The name was derived from Murchadh mac Maenach, King of Uí Briúin Seóla, who died 891.

Uí Fhiachrach Aidhne was a kingdom located in what is now the south of County Galway.

Cléircheán of Saintclerans, fl. 5th - 7th century?, Irish hermit.

Preceded by Murchadh mac Maenach	King of Maigh Seóla 891–908	Succeeded by Urchadh mac Murchadh

References

West or H-Iar Connaught Ruaidhrí Ó Flaithbheartaigh, 1684 (published 1846, ed. James Hardiman).
Origin of the Surname O'Flaherty, Anthony Matthews, Dublin, 1968, p. 40.
Irish Kings and High-Kings, Francis John Byrne (2001), Dublin: Four Courts Press, ISBN 978-1-85182-196-9

Roderic O'Flaherty was an Irish historian.

James Hardiman (1782–1855), also known as Séamus Ó hArgadáin, was a librarian at Queen's College, Galway.

International Standard Book Number Unique numeric book identifier

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.

Annals of Ulster at CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts at University College Cork
Annals of Tigernach at CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts at University College Cork
Revised edition of McCarthy's synchronisms at Trinity College Dublin.
Byrne, Francis John (2001), Irish Kings and High-Kings, Dublin: Four Courts Press, ISBN 978-1-85182-196-9

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Cléirchén mac Murchadh

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