Muirchertach macMuiredaig King of Tara

• Preferred Name: Muirchertach macMuiredaig King of Tara^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]}
  
• Alternate Name: Muirchertach mac Muiredaig
  
• Gender: M
  
• MilitaryService: Won the battle of Inde Mor, in Crioch Ua nGabhla against the Leinstermen497 with note: Annals of the Four Masters part 35
  
• Death: 31 OCT 534 in House of Claitech, Boyne River, County Meath, Ireland at LATI: N3.3333 LONG: E6.25
  
• MilitaryService: Victory at the battle of Cell LosnaidBET 490 AND 491
  
• MilitaryService: among the victors at the battle of Dethna520
  
• http://familysearch.org/v1/TitleOfNobility: King of AileachBET 489 AND 534 in Aileach, County Donegal, Ireland at LATI: N5.0167 LONG: E7.5167
  
• http://familysearch.org/v1/TitleOfNobility: High King of IrelandBET 504 AND 527 in Aileach, County Donegal, Ireland at LATI: N5.0167 LONG: E7.5167
  
• FSID: 9Q3T-SN4
  
• Birth: ABT 466 in Ailech, County Donegal, Ireland at LATI: N3 LONG: E8
  
• MilitaryService: defeat and killing of Ailill Molt at the battle of Ochae483 in Ireland
  
• Clan Name: with note: Description: Cenél nEóghan of the Ui Niall
  
• Notes:

  === Life Sketch ===
  Muirchertach I, High King of Ireland was the son of Muiredach, King of Ailech. He died in 534, allegedly drowned in a vat of wine when attacked in his own house at Cletty (in what is now County Meath). Muirchertach I, High King of Ireland also went by the nick-name of 'mac Earcae' (?) (or in English, Eirc's son), but may in fact belong to another king who was confused with him by later tradition. He was a member of the House of Cenél nEógain. In 482 Battle of Ocha. He succeeded as the High King of Ireland in 507. Children of Muirchertach :
  . Forggus, High King of Ireland d. 566
  . Domnall 'Ilchegach', High King of Ireland d. 566
  . Báetán I, High King of Ireland d. 572
  ________________________________________________
  From Wikipedia -
  
  Muirchertach mac Muiredaig (died c. 534), called Mac Ercae, Muirchertach Macc Ercae and Muirchertach mac Ercae, was said to be High King of Ireland. The Irish annals contain little reliable information on his life, and the surviving record shows signs of retrospective modification. The Aided Muirchertaig Meic Erca takes as its theme the supernatural death of Muirchertach.
  
  According to the genealogies Muirchertach belonged to the Uí Néill and was the son of Muiredach, son of Eógan, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages; hence Muirchertach mac Muiredaig. His mother, "clearly legendary" according to Thomas Charles-Edwards, was said to be Erc, daughter of "Lodarn, king of Alba". From the matronym comes his alternative name, Muirechertach Macc Ercae. However, Mac Ercae was a common enough first male first name. The annalistic entries for Muirchertach span fifty years, from 482 to his death in 534, using various names, including Mac Ercae, so that it is more than likely that two or more persons have been confused in the annals.
  
  The first mentions of Muirchertach in the Annals of Ulster, in 482 and 483, associate him, under the name Muirchertach Macc Ercae, with the defeat and killing of Ailill Molt at the battle of Ochae, somewhere in the Irish midlands. One entry names Lugaid mac Lóegairi as his ally there, the other names Fergus Crook-mouth, father of Diarmait mac Cerbaill. In 485 are mentioned the battle of Grainert, perhaps near Castledermot, where Coirpre mac Néill, "or Mac Ercae… as other state", defeated the Leinster king Finnchad mac Garrchon. In 490 or 491, Óengus mac Nad Froích is said to have been killed at the battle of Cell Losnaid, and the second entry reports that "Mac Ercae was the victor". Muirchertach Mac Ercae is said to have won the battle of Inne Mór against the Leinstermen in 498. Many of the entries from the 480s and 490s appear to have been modified, to give Muirchertach the credit for victories won by Coirpre mac Néill and perhaps by Coirpre's son Eochu.
  
  The obituary of Lugaid mac Lóegairi appears in 512, and in the following year the annalist reports the beginning of the reign of Muirchertach Mac Ercae. The next report is in 520, duplicated in 523, stating that Muirchertach was among the victors at the battle of Dethna. Another battle follow in 528, again repeated some years later, in 533, with more detail. Muirchertach's death is reported in 534, with obvious supernatural overtones: "The drowning of Muirchertach Mac Erca i.e. Muirchertach son of Muiredach son of Eógan son of Niall Naígiallach in a vat full of wine on the hilltop of Cleitech above Bóinn." Muirchertach was said to be followed as High King by Túathal Máelgarb. Muirchertach's descendants in time took the name Cenél maic Ercae and were the dominant branch of the Cenél nEógan by the middle of the 8th century.
  
  The 12th-century Middle Irish tale Aided Muirchertaig Meic Erca is an account of the supernatural death of Muirchertach. Here Muirchertach dies in the House of Clettach, drowned in a vat of wine, burned by fire, and crushed by a falling roof beam, near Brú na Bóinne, beguiled by the illusions of the otherworldly maiden Sín into believing that he is being attacked by Túathal Máelgarb.[ The manner of his demise is an example of the "Threefold death," a feature of Celtic mythology and literature.
  
  === THE PLANTAGENET ANCESTRY (GS NUMBER Q940 ===
  THE PLANTAGENET ANCESTRY (GS NUMBER Q940 D2T) P.86;
  
  === Book of McKee, Page 395 states: Muirche ===
  Book of McKee, Page 395 states: Muircheartach mac Erca (also called O'Neill) became king of Ireland and ruled from 503-526. He was the son of Muireadhach, son of Eoghan, son of Niall. He was killed by his concubine Sin Sighe, who set fire to his house, causing him because of his burns to plunge into a puncheon of wine and drown. He was said to have been the first Christian king of Ireland; his mother Eire, or Erca, became by a subsequent marriage the grandmother of St. Columba. He was chief of the great north Irish clan, the Cinel Eoghain, and after becoming king of Ireland he seized a tract in the modern County Derry, which remained until the 17th century in the possession of the Cinel Eoghain. http://www.geocities.com/craigs_kahunas/report_duncan.htm Niall Mor Noighiallach 126th Monarch of Ireland states that Muirchertach was crowned (christened) 512 and died All Hallows Eve in 527 or 534. He was the 131st Monarch and reigned 24 years.
  
  === Murcertae Mor was king of Aileach and fi ===
  Murcertae Mor was king of Aileach and first Christain Ardrigh, burned to
  death in his mannor house of Cletty.
  
  === Reference 1 ===
  Book of McKee, Page 395 states: Muircheartach mac Erca (also called O'Neill) became king of Ireland and ruled from 503-526. He was the son of Muireadhach, son of Eoghan, son of Niall. He was killed by his concubine Sin Sighe, who set fire to his house, causing him because of his burns to plunge into a puncheon of wine and drown. He was said to have been the first Christian king of Ireland; his mother Eire, or Erca, became by a subsequent marriage the grandmother of St. Columba. He was chief of the great north Irish clan, the Cinel Eoghain, and after becoming king of Ireland he seized a tract in the modern County Derry, which remained until the 17th century in the possession of the Cinel Eoghain. http://www.geocities.com/craigs_kahunas/report_duncan.htm Niall Mor Noighiallach 126th Monarch of Ireland states that Muirchertach was crowned (christened) 512 and died All Hallows Eve in 527 or 534. He was the 131st Monarch and reigned 24 years.
  
  === Reference 2 ===
  Muircheartach (d 533), king of Ireland, was son of Muireadhach, son of Eoghan, eldest son of Niall Naighiallach, and is usmaclly spoked of in Irish writings as Muiraheartach more mac Earca. His mother's name was Eirc, daughter of Loairn, and after the death of his father she married Fergus, son of Conall Gulban, son of Niall, by whom she was mother of Feidilmid, father of Columba, so that Muircheartach was one of the kings to whom the saint was related. A tract in the 'Book of Ballymote' states that in early youth he was banished from Ireland for a murder, and became acquainted in Britain with his kinsman St Cairnech. The succeeding statement that he came from Britain to assume the kingship of Ireland, landing at the mouth of the Boyne, is contrary to the evidence of the chronicles. He is first mentioned in the 'Annals of Ulster' in 482 as fighting the battle of Ocha in Meath, in alliance with the Dal nAraidhe and the Leinstermen against Oilill Molt, king of Ireland, who was slain, and Lughaidh, cousin of Muircheartach made king. In 489 he led the Cinel Eoghain, of whom he was chief, against oengus mac Nadfraich, the first Christian king of Munster, and slew him in the battle of Calloanadh, now Kellistown, co. Carlow. Illann, son of Dunlaing, on of his allies in this battle, led the Leinstermen against him in 497, and was defeated at Indemor, co. Kildare. The brother of Duach Tengumha, king of Connaught, had put himself under the protection of Muircheartach, but was carried off by the Connaughtmen. The Cinel Eoghain were at once led by their chief into Connaught, and won a victory in 504, killing the king in the Curlien Hills.
  
  In 517 Lughaidh died, and Muircheartach soon after became king of Ireland. After further war with the Leinstermen, he attacked the Oirghialla, the only important neighbours with whom he had not fought, and conquered from them the northernmost part of their territory, from Glen Con, to Ualraigh, both in co Derry, a region which remained in the possession of the Cinel Eoghain till the plantation of Ulster. The Leinstermen again attacked him in 524, but he defeated them at Athaighe, a ford of the Boyne, and two years later invaded Leinster, winning battles at Eibhlinne, at Majh Ailbhe, at the Hill of Allen, and at Kinneigh, all in the co Kildare; afterwards ravaging the district known as the Cliachs in Carlow. In the same year he fought the battle of Aidhne against the Connaughtmen. His wife was Dmacibhsech, and she bore him five sons, of whom three were dead in 559, when Domhnall and Feargus became for three years joint kings of Ireland. He had a concubine, Taetan, who was of the tribe which he had dispossessed from the neighbourhood of Tara. She revenged the wrong by setting fire to the house of Claitech, on the Boyne, where he was drunk, on All-halloween in 533. His death is the subject of a very old bardic tale, 'Oighidh Mhuircheartaigh meir mic Earca.' HIs exploits were celebrated in a poem beginning 'Fillis an ri Mac Earca Alleith na Neill,' by Ceannfaeladh folhlumhtha, who died in 678. It describes how he carried off hostages from Munster and gives some idea of the scale of great victories in his time in the expression of 'Foseacht beiris noi ccairpthi' ('Seven times did he carry off nine chariots') [Dictionary of National Biography XIII:1168]
  
  ____________________________
  
  This Muriartach, the eldest son of Muireadach, was the 131st Monarch of Ireland; reigned 24 years; and died naturally in his bed, which was rare among the Irish Monarchs in those days; but others say that he was burned in a house after being 'drowned in wine' (meaning that he was under the influence of drink) on All-Haloutide (or All-Hallow) Eve, AD 527. Married Duinseach, dau. of Duach Teangabba, King of Conacht. He had issue 1. Donal Ilchealgach; 2. Fergus, who became the 135th Monarch; 3. Baodan (or Boetanus), who was the 137th Monarch of Ireland, and was the father of Lochan Dilmhain, a quo Dillon, according to some genealogists; 4. Colman Rimidh, the 142nd Monarch; 5. Neiline; and 6. Scanian. [Irish Pedigrees IV:iii:714]
  
  === Reigned 24 years; and died naturally in ===
  Reigned 24 years; and died naturally in his bed, which was rare among the Irish Monarchs in those days; but others say he was burned in a house after being "drowned in wine" (meaning that he was under the influence of drink) on All-Halontide (or All-Hallow) Eve. Married Duinseach, daughter of Duach Teangabha, King of Conacht. He had issue - I. Donal Ilchealgach; II. Fergus, who became the 135th Monarch; III. Baodan (or Boetanus), who was the 137th Monarch of Ireland, and was the father of Lochan Dilmhain, a quo Dillon, according to some genealogists; IV. Colman Rimidh, the 142nd Monarch; V. Néiline; and VI. Scanlan.
  
  SURNAME: Also shown as O'Neill
  
  GIVEN NAMES: Also shown as Muirchertach macErcae
  
  DEATH: Also shown as Died 535

1. Domnall Ilchealgach "The Deceitful" macMuirchertach, b. ABT 480 in Ireland     d. ABT 561 in Ireland

1. Title: Wikipedia - Muirchertach mac Muiredaig
   Author: The Annals of Ulster AD 431–1201, 2003, retrieved 24 October 2007 Byrne, Francis John (1973), Irish Kings and High-Kings, London: Batsford, ISBN 0-7134-5882-8 Charles-Edwards, T. M. (2000), Early Christian Ireland, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-36395-0 Charles-Edwards, T.M. (2004), "Muirchertach mac Muiredaig (d. 534)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, retrieved 22 October 2007 Connon, Anne (2005), "A Prosopography of the Early Queens of Tara", in Bhreathnach, Edel (ed.), The Kingship and Landscape of Tara, Dublin: Four Courts Press, pp. 225–327, ISBN 1-85182-954-7 Guyonvarc'h, Christian-Joseph (1983), "La mort de Muirchertach, fils d'Erc. Texte irlandais du très haut Moyen Âge : la femme, le saint et le roi", Annales, 38 (5): 985–1015, doi:10.3406/ahess.1983.410999, ISSN 0395-2649, retrieved 30 March 2008
   Publication: Name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muirchertach_mac_Muiredaig_(Mac_Ercae);
   Note: Muirchertach mac Muiredaig (died c. 534), called Mac Ercae, Muirchertach Macc Ercae and Muirchertach mac Ercae, was said to be High King of Ireland in the 6th century. The Irish annals contain little reliable information on his life, and the surviving record shows signs of retrospective modification. The Aided Muirchertaig Meic Erca takes as its theme Muirchertach's supernatural death. History According to the genealogies, Muirchertach belonged to the Uí Néill and was the son of Muiredach, son of Eógan, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages; hence Muirchertach mac Muiredaig. His mother, "clearly legendary" according to Thomas Charles-Edwards, was said to be Erc, daughter of "Lodarn, king of Alba". From the matronym comes his alternative name, Muirechertach Macc Ercae. However, Mac Ercae was a common enough male first name.[1] The annalistic entries for Muirchertach span 50 years, from 482 to his death in 534, using various names, including Mac Ercae, so that it is more than likely that two or more people have been confused in the annals. The first mentions of Muirchertach in the Annals of Ulster, in 482 and 483, associate him, under the name Muirchertach Macc Ercae, with the defeat and killing of Ailill Molt at the battle of Ochae, somewhere in the Irish midlands.[2] One entry names Lugaid mac Lóegairi as his ally there, the other names Fergus Crook-mouth, father of Diarmait mac Cerbaill.[3] In 485, the annals mention the battle of Grainert, perhaps near Castledermot,[2] where Coirpre mac Néill, "or Mac Ercae… as other state", defeated the Leinster king Finnchad mac Garrchon.[4] In 490 or 491, Óengus mac Nad Froích is said to have been killed at the battle of Cell Losnaid, and the second entry reports that "Mac Ercae was the victor".[5] Muirchertach Mac Ercae is said to have won the battle of Inne Mór against the Leinstermen in 498.[6] Many of the entries from the 480s and 490s appear to have been modified, to give Muirchertach the credit for victories won by Coirpre mac Néill and perhaps by Coirpre's son Eochu.[7] The obituary of Lugaid mac Lóegairi appears in 512, and in the following year the annalist reports the beginning of the reign of Muirchertach Mac Ercae. The next report is in 520, duplicated in 523, stating that Muirchertach was among the victors at the battle of Dethna. Another battle follow in 528, again repeated some years later, in 533, with more detail.[8] Muirchertach's death is reported in 534, with obvious supernatural overtones: "The drowning of Muirchertach Mac Erca i.e. Muirchertach son of Muiredach son of Eógan son of Niall Naígiallach in a vat full of wine on the hilltop of Cleitech above Bóinn."[9] Muirchertach was said to be followed as High King by Túathal Máelgarb. Báetán mac Muirchertaig (died 572),[1] called also Baetán Bríge, was a son of Muirchertach mac Muiredaig, ruled in Ailech from 566 to 572 and was included in some lists as a High King of Ireland. Domnall Ilchelgach (Domnall of the Many Deceits) (died c. 566), called Domnall mac Muirchertaig, and Domnall mac Mac Maic Ercae, said to be a High King of Ireland, was probably also a son of Muirchertach mac Muiredaig. Muirchertach's descendants in time took the name Cenél maic Ercae and were the dominant branch of the Cenél nEógan by the middle of the 8th century. The 12th-century Middle Irish tale Aided Muirchertaig Meic Erca is an account of Muirchertach's supernatural death. Here Muirchertach dies in the House of Clettach, drowned in a vat of wine, burned by fire, and crushed by a falling roof beam, near Brú na Bóinne, beguiled by the illusions of the otherworldly maiden Sín into believing that he is being attacked by Túathal Máelgarb.[10] The manner of his demise is an example of the "Threefold death," a feature of Celtic mythology and literature.
   
2. Title: Legacy NFS Source: Muirceartach mac Muireadach 131st High King Ireland -
   Author: The Plantagenet Ancestry, by William Henry Turton {1968}, Page number: 86
   Note: Source Media Type: Book
   Page: Migrated from user-supplied source citation: urn:familysearch:source:2736742370
   
3. Title: Legacy NFS Source: Muirceartach mac Muireadach 131st High King Ireland -
   Author: Annals of the Four Masters; John O'Donovan, ed., Dublin, 1848 - 51, (translation available at Corpus of, Page number: I:numerous entries
   Note: Source Media Type: Book
   Page: Migrated from user-supplied source citation: urn:familysearch:source:2736742980
   
4. Title: Legacy NFS Source: Muirceartach mac Muireadach 131st High King Ireland -
   Author: Irish Pedigrees or the Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation; John O'Hart {1923}, Page number: Pt III:iv:713-714
   Note: Source Media Type: Book
   Page: Migrated from user-supplied source citation: urn:familysearch:source:2736742978
   
5. Title: Legacy NFS Source: Muirceartach mac Muireadach 131st High King Ireland -
   Author: Dictionary of National Biography, George Smith, Oxford Press, Vols 1-21 (Orignially published 1885-90),Ed by Sir Leslie S, Page number: XIII:1168
   Note: Source Media Type: Book
   Page: Migrated from user-supplied source citation: urn:familysearch:source:2736742373
   
6. Title: Legacy NFS Source: Muirceartach mac Muireadach 131st High King Ireland -
   Author: Annals of Ulster, Mac Airt & Mac Niocaill's translation, 1983, digital edition Note: Source Media Type: Book
   Page: Migrated from user-supplied source citation: urn:familysearch:source:2736742977
   
7. Title: Dictionary of Irish Biography
   Author: Sources AU; Ann. Inisf.; AFM; Bk Leinster, i, 94; O'Brien, Corpus geneal. Hib., 124, 126, 134, 345; M. C. Dobbs, ‘The Ban-Shenchus’, Rev. Celt., xlviii (1931), 180, 181; Pender, Ó Cléirigh genealogies, §§1541–2; R. Thurneysen, ‘Baile in Scáil’, Z.C.P., xx (1936), 225; Gerard Murphy, ‘On the dates of two sources used in Thurneysen's Heldensage’, Ériu, xvi (1952), 146; Keating, Forus feasa, ii, 21–2; MacNeill, Celtic Ireland, 190–93; Mac Niocaill, Ire. before vikings, 17, 18; Byrne, Ir. kings, 90, 100–02; A. P. Smyth, ‘Huí Néill and the Leinstermen in the Annals of Ulster 431 to 516 A.D.’, Études Celt., xiv, no. 1 (1974), 133–4, 137; McCone, Pagan past, 146–8; A. O. Anderson and M. O. Anderson (ed.), Adomnan's Life of Columba (2nd ed., 1991); Sharp, Adomnán of Iona. Life of St Columba (1995), 268, n. 80; Bhreathnach, Tara bibliog., 99 (§159); Charles-Edwards, Early Christ. Ire., 447, 490; A. Mac Shamhráin, ‘The making of Tír nÉogain: Cenél nÉogain and the Airgialla, sixth to eleventh cen
   Publication: Name: https://www.dib.ie/biography/muirchertachmac-ercae-a6018;
   Note: Muirchertach/Mac Ercae (d. 536?), son of Muiredach and putatively king of Tara, belonged to the Cenél nÉogain dynasty of the Uí Néill, and is credited with having established its fortunes. According to the pre-Norman genealogies, his father Muiredach was a son of the eponymous Éogan (qv), while the ‘Banshenchas’ (lore of women) names his mother, rather implausibly, as Erc daughter of Loarn, a king of the Scots. He is assigned three brothers (or half-brothers), the most prominent being Feradach, ancestor of Cenél Feradaig. It is probable that Muirchertach/Mac Ercae was a compound character, created by the fusion of two personal names, the individuals concerned possibly being brothers. The historicity of Mac Ercae is better attested; Adomnán (qv), biographer of Colum Cille (qv), alludes to a Cenél nÉogain uncle and nephew, Báetán (qv) and Eochaid (both slain by the Cianachta in 572), describing the former as a son of Mac Ercae. Yet, it appears that by the Middle Irish period, if not earlier, ‘Mac Ercae’ as a cognomen in its own right was no longer understood. Efforts were made to interpret it as a patronymic, or even a matronymic – as genealogical tradition clearly did not identify his father as Erc, it was postulated that his mother was so named. Mac Ercae's wife is named as Duisech, daughter of Duí Tenga Umae of Uí Briúin of Connacht, while later tradition assigns him several lovers. He is said to have had five sons; in addition to the above-mentioned Báetán, three others are named as Forggus, Domnall, and Néillíne. The fifth son is not identified. Even accepting that Mac Ercae was an early Cenél nÉogain dynast, a generation before Colum Cille, the reconstruction of his career remains problematic. A non-contemporary stratum of annals associates Muirchertach/Mac Ercae with several sequences of battles, mostly against the Laigin, the dating of which (admittedly somewhat arbitrary) implies an active career of over half a century. On closer examination, however, it is apparent that traditions relating to several different individuals have been amalgamated. Battles fought at Granard, Co. Longford, and Ochae (probably in Mide) dated to the 480s, tentatively ascribed to Mac Ercae, are otherwise credited to Cairpre (qv) son of Niall Noígiallach (qv). Given the early date and the geographical locations, the involvement of Cenél Cairpri rather than Cenél nÉogain seems more plausible. Aside from fusion with Muirchertach, it appears that Mac Ercae was further confounded with a like-named son of Ailill Molt (qv), an Uí Briúin king. The battle of Segais against Uí Fhiachrach of Connacht is, on balance, more likely to have been fought by Mac Ercae of Uí Briúin – to whom, perhaps, certain encounters with the Laigin in Mide (Co. Westmeath) should also be attributed. The defeat and death of Mac Ercae (to be identified with this individual?) at Tortu (near Ardbraccan, Co. Meath), dated to 543, is expressly credited to the Laigin. The ascription to Muirchertach/Mac Ercae (or at least to his dynasty of Cenél nÉogain) of a further sequence of engagements, clustering in Brega (east Co. Meath), may well be genuine. Included here are the battle of Detnae in Dromma Breg (dated to 520) fought against Colum Cille's dynasty of Cenél Conaill and several encounters with the Laigin: Áth Sige (Assey, Co. Meath) dated to 528 or 530, and Éblenn, Mag nAilbe, and Almu (in a line from east Meath to north Kildare), grouped together at 533 in the Annals of Ulster. Even if the military role ascribed to Muirchertach/ Mac Ercae is in part acceptable, claims that he held the kingship of Tara deserve further scrutiny. The late seventh-century ‘Baile Chuinn’, which purports to list the kings of Tara, includes a certain Mac Ercéni – whom a gloss in one text of the poem equates with Muirchertach. His placement in the sequence implies that c.507 he succeeded Lugaid son of Lóegaire (qv). However, there are grounds for considering that this early regnal list preserved names of kings of Tara from other dynasties, who were afterwards reinvented as members of Uí Néill – which doubtless explains why Muirchertach/Mac Ercae is expressly featured in the later ‘Baile in Scáil’ and in Middle Irish regnal lists. It is quite possible that the individual intended by the original compilers of ‘Baile Chuinn’ was Mac Ercae son of Ailill Molt, but with the emergence of Cenél nÉogain to a dominant position within Uí Néill in the early eighth century, particularly in the person of Fergal (qv) son of Máel-dúin, it became expedient to back-project the achievement of the dynasty – preferably to a time predating the emergence of their Cenél Conaill and Síl nÁedo Sláine rivals. Muirchertach/Mac Ercae is probably to be identified with the Mac Erca mentioned in ‘Arsiasar coimdhi Temrae’ (known as ‘the Airgialla poem’), seemingly composed in the mid eighth century with the aim of redefining the relationship of the Airgialla kings with Uí Néill in the context of the emergence of Clann Cholmáin; in that event, he was presumably chosen to represent the claims of Cenél nÉogain (in alternation with Cenél Conaill) on the kingship of Tara in the earlier decades of the century. The death of Muirchertach/Mac Ercae is placed in the annals at 534/6. Some versions of his obit give a curious account of his having drowned in a vat of wine in a house at Cleitech, above the River Boyne. This is taken from the widely discussed Middle Irish death tale ‘Aided Muirchertaig meic Erca’, in which a woman of the faery condemns him to a ‘threefold death’ by wounding, burning, and drowning. So, having been stabbed by assailants, and the house burned around him, he plunges into a vat of wine and perishes. His sons Domnall (d. 566), Forggus (d. 566?), and Báetán (slain 572), and his grandson Eochaid (slain 572) son of Domnall, were presumably prominent dynasts of Uí Néill, but the assertions of Middle Irish sources that all four held the kingship of Tara may be doubted. Of his other grandsons, Fergus son of Néillíne was slain in 570 (or 577) by persons unknown; Colcu son of Domnall was killed in 580 by his Cenél Conaill rival Áed (qv) son of Ainmire (qv); while claims that Colcu's brother Áed Uaridnach (qv) reigned as king of Tara are worthy of consideration, especially as he was ancestor of many later rulers of Cenél nÉogain and of candidates for higher dignities.