Brian Boru was an Irish king who ended the domination of the High Kingship of Ireland by the Uí Néill. Brian built on the achievements of his father, Cennétig mac Lorcain, and especially his elder brother, Mathgamain, Brian first made himself king of Munster, then subjugated Leinster, eventually becoming High King of Ireland. He was the founder of the O'Brien dynasty, and is widely regarded as one of the most successful and unifying monarchs in medieval Ireland.
The Battle of Clontarf took place on 23 April 1014 at Clontarf, near Dublin, on the east coast of Ireland. It pitted an army led by Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, against a Norse-Irish alliance comprising the forces of Sigtrygg Silkbeard, King of Dublin; Máel Mórda mac Murchada, King of Leinster; and a Viking army from abroad led by Sigurd of Orkney and Brodir of Mann. It lasted from sunrise to sunset, and ended in a rout of the Viking and Leinster armies.
Thomond, also known as the kingdom of Limerick, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Clare and County Limerick, as well as parts of County Tipperary around Nenagh and its hinterland. The kingdom represented the core homeland of the Dál gCais people, although there were other Gaels in the area such as the Éile and Eóganachta, and even the Norse of Limerick. It existed from the collapse of the Kingdom of Munster in the 12th century as competition between the Ó Briain and the Mac Cárthaigh led to the schism between Thomond and Desmond. It continued to exist outside of the Anglo-Norman controlled Lordship of Ireland until the 16th century.
Diarmait mac Máel na mBó was King of Leinster, as well as High King of Ireland. He was one of the most important and significant kings in Ireland in the pre-Norman era. His influence extended beyond the island of Ireland into the Hebrides, the Isle of Man, Wales, and even into England.
Toirdhealbhach Mór Ua Conchobhair anglicised Turlough Mór O'Connor / O'Conor, was King of Connacht (1106–1156) and High King of Ireland.
Domhnall Ua Lochlainn, also known as Domhnall Mac Lochlainn, claimed to be High King of Ireland.
Toirdhealbhach Ua Briain, anglicised Turlough O'Brien, was King of Munster and effectively High King of Ireland. A grandson of Brian Bóruma, Toirdelbach was the son of Tadc mac Briain who was killed in 1023 by his half-brother Donnchad mac Briain.
Muircheartach Ua Briain, son of Toirdelbach Ua Briain and great-grandson of Brian Boru, was King of Munster and later self-declared High King of Ireland.
The Dalcassians were a Gaelic Irish tribe, generally accepted by contemporary scholarship as being a branch of the Déisi Muman, that became a powerful group in Ireland during the 10th century. Their genealogies claimed descent from Cormac Cas, who is said to have lived in the 3rd century AD. Their known ancestors are the subject of The Expulsion of the Déisi tale and one branch of their blood-line went on to rule the petty kingdom of Dyfed in Wales during the 4th century; probably in alliance with the Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus.
Toirdelbach is a masculine Irish given name. Forms of the name include Toirdhealbhach, Tárlach, and Traolach. An Anglicised form is Turlough. The names are ultimately derived from the Irish toirdhealbh meaning "prompting", and originated as a byname meaning "instigator".
The Kingdom of Munster was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland which existed in the south-west of the island from at least the 1st century BC until 1118. According to traditional Irish history found in the Annals of the Four Masters, the kingdom originated as the territory of the Clanna Dedad, an Érainn tribe of Irish Gaels. Some of the early kings were prominent in the Red Branch Cycle such as Cú Roí and Conaire Mór. For a few centuries they were competitors for the High Kingship or Ireland, but ultimately lost out to the Connachta, descendants of Conn Cétchathach. The kingdom had different borders and internal divisions at different times during its history.
Donnchadh mac Briain, son of Brian Bóruma and Gormflaith ingen Murchada, was King of Munster.
Diarmait Ua Briain (1060–1118) was an 11th-century Irish king who ruled Munster from 1114 to 1118.
Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair, called Ruaidrí na Saide Buide was King of Connacht, perhaps twice.
Events from the 11th century in Ireland.
Tadc mac Briain was the son of Brian Boru and Echrad, daughter of Carlus mac Ailella of Uí Áeda Odba. Tadc had one son, Toirdelbach Ua Briain, with his wife Mór, daughter of Gilla Brigte Ua Maíl Muaid of Cenél Fiachach.
Cormac Mac Cárthaigh was a Gaelic Irish ruler who served as King of Munster. A member of the Mac Cárthaigh clan of the Eóganacht Chaisil, he was the final king of the unified Kingdom of Munster before the realm was divided into the Kingdom of Desmond and Kingdom of Thomond in the aftermath of the Treaty of Glanmire.
Domnall Gerrlámhach, also known as Domnall Gerrlámhach Ua Briain, Domnall mac Muirchertaig, and Domnall Ua Briain, was an obscure twelfth-century Uí Briain dynast and King of Dublin. He was one of two sons of Muirchertach Ua Briain, High King of Ireland. Domnall's father appears to have installed him as King of Dublin in the late eleventh- or early twelfth century, which suggests that he was his father's successor-designate. Although Domnall won a remarkable victory in the defence of the Kingdom of Dublin in the face of an invasion from the Kingdom of Leinster in 1115, he failed to achieve the successes of his father. After his final expulsion from Dublin at the hands of Toirdelbach Ua Conchobair, King of Connacht, and the death of his father, Domnall disappears from record until his own death in 1135. He was perhaps survived by two sons.
Domnall mac Taidc was the ruler of the Kingdom of the Isles, the Kingdom of Thomond, and perhaps the Kingdom of Dublin as well. His father was Tadc, son of Toirdelbach Ua Briain, King of Munster, which meant that Domnall was a member of the Meic Taidc, a branch of the Uí Briain. Domnall's mother was Mór, daughter of Echmarcach mac Ragnaill, King of Dublin and the Isles, which may have given Domnall a stake to the kingship of the Isles.
The O'Brien dynasty is a royal and noble house founded in the 10th century by Brian Boru of the Dál gCais or Dalcassians. After becoming King of Munster, through conquest he established himself as Ard Rí na hÉireann. Brian's descendants thus carried the name Ó Briain, continuing to rule the Kingdom of Munster until the 12th century where their territory had shrunk to the Kingdom of Thomond which they would hold for just under five centuries.
