(949/950-1022)
Mael-Sechnaill II was the son of Domnall Donn and was the last great king of his dynasty, Clann Cholmain of Mide, which had been a powerful force in Irish politics since the mid-eighth century. He was also the last of the "old-style" kings of Tara, who claimed to be over kings of both the southern and the northern Ui Neill and their traditional allies. His reign was marked by his control over Dublin, his struggle with Brian Boru of Munster, and further disintegration of the Ui Neill. After Brian’s death in 1014, Mael-Sechnaill was the most powerful king in Ireland, and he temporarily managed to act as a king of Tara of old.
Career
With the death of Muirchertach "of the Leather Cloaks," king of Ailech, in 943, and of Mael-Sechnaill’s grandfather, Donnchad Donn son of Flann Sinna, king of Tara, a year later, the Ui Neill were in disarray. There was no agreed successor to the kingship of Tara, which was contested by two outsiders. With the death of Ruaidri ua Canannain of Cenel Conaill in 950, Congalach Cnogba of Brega came out as the winner. Until his death in 956, he tried to keep the kings of Mide under his authority. He was aided by the fact that the descendants of Flann Sinna were quarreling about the kingship of Mide. Domnall Donn, one of Donnchad Donn’s sons, is recorded as king of one half of Mide at his death in 952. His wife was Dunfhlaith, daughter of Muirchertach "of the Leather Cloaks," who had given birth to Mael-Sechnaill some years earlier. It was probably after Domnall’s death that Dunfhlaith became the wife of Amlafb Cuaran, to whom she bore Glun Iarn (Iron Knee). Amlafb and his allies of Leinster and Brega dominated affairs in eastern Ireland in the 960s and 970s. Muirchertach’s son Domnall Ua Neill (king of Tara 956-980) led several ferocious campaigns in the area, but was ultimately unsuccessful in his efforts to subjugate the Dublin Norse and their allies, and was finally repulsed from Mide by Clann Cholmain. Because of internal divisions, the kingship of Mide was in abeyance from 974 to 978. Finally, Mael-Sechnaill claimed it when he was still in his late twenties. Two years later, Domnall Ua Neill died, and according to the traditional rule of alternation, it was the turn of Clann Cholmain to deliver the next king of Tara. Aided by allies from overseas, the ambitious Amlafb attacked Mael-Sechnaill at Tara, perhaps at his inauguration. Together with the forces of Ulster and Leinster, Mael-Sechnaill defeated his enemies, and beleaguered Dublin for three days in a row until the inhabitants came to terms. The new king of Tara obtained a large tribute in cattle and jewelry, and freed the Irish hostages kept in Dublin. Some annals refer to this as the end of the Babylonian Captivity of Ireland. Mael-Sechnaill was now the new overlord of Dublin, which was henceforth ruled by his half-brother Glun Iarn. His marriage to Mael-Muire (d. 1021), daughter of Amlafb, may also stem from this period. His control over Dublin provided Mael-Sechnaill with additional resources to check the progress of Brian Boru in Leinster and Connacht. Hence he immediately laid siege to Dublin after the killing of Glun Iarn by a slave in 989. Once again the Norse made their submission and paid a huge tax. Their new king, Sitriuc Silkenbeard, was the son of Amlafb and Gormfhlaith, the daughter of the king of Leinster. Gormfhlaith also became Mael-Sechnaill’s wife, perhaps to forge an alliance between the two parties. When Mael-Sechnaill was forced to come to terms with Brian in 997, he conceded his overlordship over Dublin to his rival. It marks the beginning of the situation in which control over Dublin was tantamount to the control over Ireland. Mael-Sechnaill failed to rally the northern Uf Neill to his banner, and submitted to Brian in 1002. He remained king of Tara, and as such attempted to revive the Fair of Tailtiu, the assembly of the Uf Neill and their allies, which had fallen into disuse in the early tenth century. The poem which Cuan Ua Lothchain composed about the event in 1007 shows that the main kings of the northern Uf Neill and Connacht did not show up. Mael-Sechnaill’s fortunes reversed when he pulled out before the battle of Clontarf in 1014. With the death of Brian and the Dal Cais weakened, he became the most powerful king in Ireland. In 1015, Mael-Sechnaill was joined by Flaithbertach Ua Neill, king of Cenel nEogain; the kings of Cenel Conaill and Breifne; and by the son of the king of Connacht in an attack on Dublin, which was burned. Afterward he took the hostages of Leinster and plundered Osraige. The next year the hostages of Osraige and Ulster were secured. Mael-Sechnaill was now at the height of his power and had almost matched the successes of Brian. However, the remarkable unity among the Uf Neill and their allies did not last. In 1018, the northern Uf Neill were at war with him, and Mael-Sechnaill received aid from the Eoganachta of Munster in his expedition to the north. Yet in 1020 the annals record that the king of Tara was joined by Flaithbertach Ua Neill, Art Ua Ruairc of Breifne, and Donnchad mac Briain of Munster in an expedition to the Shannon, where they gave the hostages of Connacht to him. Mael-Sechnaill’s power in this period earned him the epithet Mor (the Great), and the description "high king of Ireland and pillar of the dignity and nobility of the western world" at his death in 1022.
Legacy
The aftermath of Clontarf had given Mael-Sechnaill the opportunity to reunite the Uf Neill and reestablish the power of the king of Tara over Ireland. This was no mean achievement, and it testifies to his abilities as a leader, which were overshadowed only by those of Brian Boru. But the period of disintegration of the Uf Neill and the changes Brian Boru had caused could not be undone in a matter of years. After his death, Flaithbertach Ua Neill did not claim the kingship of Tara, and the title became the rather empty prerogative of the kings of Mide. The kingship of Tara, which had been a steady force in Irish politics for centuries, had thus been rendered ineffectual. Yet this situation actually dates from the 940s onward, when none of the kings of Tara had been able to make good of his claim to be over king of all the Uf Neill. While Mael-Sechnaill may have been recognized as such in the period from 1015 to 1022, this did not herald the return to the old political order. After the death of Flaithbertach Ua Neill in 1036, the kingship of Cenel nEogain was taken by another branch, which would bring forth the Mac Lochlainn lineage. Clann Cholmain were equally divided. Although Mael-Sechnaill had ruled Mide for almost forty-five years, he was succeeded by Mael-Sechnaill Got, a member from another branch. His own sons were either dead or not powerful enough to claim the kingship. After 1030, the kingship of Mide was held by the descendants of Mael-Sechnaill’s son Domnall (d. 1019 as head of Clonard), but Clann Cholmain were often too divided and the Ua Maelshechlainn (O Melaghlin) family never recovered their former glory. Henceforth Mide became the battleground for the more successful kings from Leinster, Munster, Connacht, and Cenel nEogain.
