1014 — 1168

Kings with Opposition

Brian Boru dies winning, at Clontarf in 1014. For the next 150 years the provincial dynasties wrestle for a high kingship none of them can hold: O'Brien, MacCarthy, O'Connor, Mac Lochlainn, Mac Murrough. The annalists had a phrase for it. Each is a king with opposition. In 1166 the loser of one of those feuds, Diarmait Mac Murchada of Leinster, sails abroad to hire soldiers.

Open this age on the atlas ↗

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Who holds the land

Counties did not exist yet. The colours lay the dominant power over today’s 32 counties so you can find the place you know — they are not borders anyone drew at the time, and the further back you go the rougher the fit.

Kingdom of Leinster (Mac Murrough) ↗
The kingdom of Diarmait Mac Murchada — the exiled king whose invitation to the Normans in 1167 changed Irish history forever.

Kildare Wicklow Carlow Wexford Laois
Airgíalla (Oriel) ↗
A federation of nine tribes of the south Ulster borderlands, 'the hostage-givers', usually clients of their more powerful Uí Néill neighbours.

Armagh Monaghan Louth Fermanagh
Kingdom of Connacht (O'Connor) ↗
Under Turlough and Rory O'Connor, 12th-century Connacht supplied the last two High Kings of Ireland.

Galway Mayo Sligo Roscommon
Mide (Kingdom of Meath) ↗
The 'middle kingdom' around the Hill of Tara and Uisneach, seat of the (largely symbolic) High Kingship of Ireland.

Meath Westmeath Longford Offaly
Thomond (O'Brien) ↗
North Munster, kingdom of Brian Boru's descendants, the O'Briens — who outlasted the Norman tide behind the Shannon.

Clare Limerick Tipperary
Desmond (MacCarthy) ↗
South Munster under the MacCarthys, heirs of the Eóganachta, pushed south-west by O'Briens and Normans but never extinguished.

Cork Kerry Waterford
Tír Eoghain (Mac Lochlainn / O'Neill) ↗
The kingdom of the Cenél nEógain, the strongest power of the medieval north, ruled from Tullyhogue where its kings were inaugurated.

Derry / Londonderry Tyrone
Ulaid ↗
The ancient over-kingdom of the north, ruled from Emain Macha and remembered in the Ulster Cycle sagas. Pressed steadily eastward into Antrim and Down by the rising Uí Néill.

Antrim Down
Bréifne (O'Rourke) ↗
The lake-and-drumlin kingdom of the O'Rourkes and O'Reillys. It was the abduction of Dervorgilla, wife of Tiernan O'Rourke, that helped trigger the Norman invasion.

Cavan Leitrim
Tír Chonaill (O'Donnell) ↗
The kingdom of the Cenél Conaill in modern Donegal, ruled by the O'Donnells, whose galloglass-backed lordship endured until 1607.

Donegal
Norse Kingdom of Dublin ↗
Founded at the longphort of Duiblinn in 841, Viking Dublin grew into one of the richest trading (and slave-trading) towns of the North Atlantic world.

Dublin
Osraige (Ossory) ↗
The buffer kingdom between Munster and Leinster along the Nore valley, whose ambitious king Cerball mac Dúnlainge fought and allied with Vikings alike.

Kilkenny

🕯 Unknown history Brian Boru never fought at Clontarf. Seventy-three years old, he prayed in his tent behind the lines — where the fleeing Viking Brodir cut him down. And the battle itself was as much Irish civil war as Irish-versus-Viking: Leinster fought against Brian.

People of this age

Turlough O'Connor — King of Connacht, master castle-builder
Rory O'Connor — The last High King of Ireland
Diarmait Mac Murchada — Exiled Leinster king who invited the Normans
St Malachy — Church reformer, friend of Bernard of Clairvaux
Derbforgaill — Built the Nuns’ Church at Clonmacnoise in 1167; later writers blamed her for the invasion

Almost everyone who lived through this age left no name. Records keep kings, abbots and whoever could write, so this is a list of who was written about rather than who was here.

📜 The chronicle — events of this age

1014

Battle of Clontarf ↗

Brian's forces break Leinster and its Norse allies; Brian is killed at the moment of victory.

1028

Christ Church founded ↗

Sitriuc Silkbeard, Norse king of Dublin, founds the cathedral after a pilgrimage to Rome.

1101

Cashel granted to the Church ↗

Muirchertach O'Brien hands the rock of kings to the bishops.

1111

Synod of Ráth Breasail ↗

Ireland's church is reorganised into territorial dioceses — largely the map still used.

1142

Mellifont Abbey ↗

The first Cistercian house in Ireland rises in the Boyne valley.

1152

Dervorgilla abducted ↗

Diarmait Mac Murchada carries off O'Rourke's wife — a feud with world-historical consequences.

1166

Diarmait exiled ↗

Driven out by his enemies, the king of Leinster sails to seek Henry II's help.

Quick answers

When was Kings with Opposition in Ireland?

Kings with Opposition spans 1014 to 1168 in this atlas. Brian Boru dies winning, at Clontarf in 1014.

Who ruled Ireland during Kings with Opposition?

Power was divided: Kingdom of Leinster (Mac Murrough) (5 counties); Airgíalla (Oriel) (4 counties); Kingdom of Connacht (O'Connor) (4 counties); Mide (Kingdom of Meath) (4 counties); Thomond (O'Brien) (3 counties), among others. County boundaries are modern approximations.

What is a lesser-known fact about Kings with Opposition?

Brian Boru never fought at Clontarf. Seventy-three years old, he prayed in his tent behind the lines — where the fleeing Viking Brodir cut him down. And the battle itself was as much Irish civil war as Irish-versus-Viking: Leinster fought against Brian.

↗ links go to the relevant Wikipedia article for each event and ruler (sources & further reading).

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