Flann Sinna
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Flann Sinna mac Maíl Sechnaill (died 25 May 916), was the son of Máel Sechnaill mac Maíl Ruanaid of Clann Cholmáin, a branch of the southern Uí Néill. He was king of Mide from 877 onwards, following Donnchad mac Eochocain.
As with many Uí Néill kings, Flann Sinna is included in in the lists of fictional High Kings in works such as the Annals of the Four Masters. Unlike the great majority of kings of Tara, Flann Sinna can be counted as king of Ireland (Old Irish ri Éirenn; king of the Irish) in fact as well as myth.
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[edit] Máel Sechnaill mac Maíl Ruanaid
The makings of an Uí Néill kingship of Ireland, of the sort that later kings such as Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig (Brian Boru), Muircheartach Ua Briain and Tairrdelbach mac Ruaidri Ua Conchobair (Turlough O' Connor) exercised, may owe as much to the threat raised by Feidlimid mac Cremthanin, of the Eóganachta of Cashel (Eóganachta Chaisil), King of Munster, as to the Viking raids on Ireland.
Feidlimid's Munstermen ravaged the length and breadth of Ireland, as far north as the Cenél nEógain heartland of Inishowen. With the support of the clergy of Cashel as well as his military might, Feidlimid made himself King of Tara. Although he was killed in 841 in battle with Niall Caille mac Áeda of the Cenél nEógain, the High King according to some, Feidlimid's achievements were exceptional. Not since Congal Cáech of the Dál nAraidi, King of Ulaid in the early 7th century, had any king but an Uí Néill been reckoned King of Tara.
On Niall Caille's death in 846, the kingship of Tara passed to Flann Sinna's father Máel Sechnaill. Feidlimid died the following year, and Máel Sechnaill proceeded to expand his power by armed might and by diplomacy. However, what is noteworthy about Máel Sechnaill's expansionism, normal for Irish kings, is not that it happened, but the language used to describe it. The Annals of Ulster refer to Máel Sechnaill's armies, not as the men of Mide, or of the Clann Cholmáin, but as the "men of Ireland" (an expedition co feraib Érenn is recorded in 858). Alongside this innovation, the terms goídil (gael), gaill (foreigners) and gallgoídil (Norse-Gaels) become more common, along with phrases such as the Gaíll Érenn (the foreigners of Ireland, used to refer to the Norse-Gaels of the Irish coasts).
On his death in 862, Máel Sechnaill's obituary reported him as rí hÉrenn uile (king of all Ireland).
[edit] Áed Finnliath
On Máel Sechnaill's death, the Uí Néill kingship passed back to the northern branch, in the person of Áed Finnliath, son of Niall Caille. Áed began his kingship by marrying Máel Sechnaill's widow, Flann's mother: Flann (d. 890) daughter of Dúngal mac Cerbaill, king of Osraige. Áed had some notable successes against the Vikings, and was active against the Laigin of Leinster. However, his kingship was not accepted even among the southern Uí Néill. The annals record that six times during his reign, or one year in three, the great Fair of Tailtiu (Teltown) was not held, "although there was no just and worthy reason for this."
Áed died in 879 and the kingship passed back to the southern branch in the person of Flann Sinna.
[edit] Family
Flann Sinna was known to have been married to at least three different women, by whom he had at least nine children. Of the known wives, the first was likely Gormlaith daughter of Flann mac Conaing (king of Brega, died 868) of the Síl nÁedo Sláine, mother of Flann’s son, Donnchad Donn and his daughter Gormlaith (d. 848).
Flann’s daughter Gormlaith married Cerball mac Muirecáin of the Uí Dúnlainge. Later tales made Gormlaith's marriage with Cerball a tragedy, telling how she had first been betrothed to Cormac mac Cuilennáin of the Eóganachta who took vows of celibacy, and of the brutal Cerball's insults to his wife. Cerball was a key ally of Gormlaith's father, which sits badly with the tale of marital strife. After Cerball's death in 909 Gormlaith married her step-brother Niall Glúndub, who died in 918. The Annals of Clonmacnoise have her wandering Ireland after Niall's death, forsaken by her kin, and reduced to begging from door to door, although this is thought to be later invention rather than a tradition with a basis in fact.
The second of Flann’s known marriages was probably his union with Eithne (d. 917), daughter of Áed Finnliath, Flann’s predecessor as king of Tara. Flann and Eithne’s son Máel Ruanaid was killed in 901. Flann’s third known marriage was to Áed Finnliath’s widow and thus Eithne’s stepmother, Máel Muire, daughter of Cináed mac Ailpín, king of the Picts. Máel Muire, who died in 913, was the mother of Flann’s son, Domnall (king of Mide 919-21), and his daughter, Lígach (d. 923), wife of the Síl nÁedo Sláine king of Brega, Máel Mithig mac Flannacáin (d. 919). The mothers of Flann Sinna’s sons Óengus (d. 915), Conchobar (king of Mide 916-9), Áed (blinded 919), and Cerball are unknown.
As has been said, a sister of Flann was married to a chief of the Foreigners. Whether she is the "Máel Febail, daughter of Máel Sechlainn" who died c. 889 is unknown. Giraldus Cambrensis offers a typically inventive account of how this marriage came about in his Topographia Hibernica, claiming that Máel Sechnaill granted his daughter to the Viking chieftain whom he calls Turgesius, and sent fifteen beardless young men, disguised as the bride's handmaidens, to kill the chieftain and his closest associates.
[edit] Reign
Flann's reign began by demanding hostages from the kings of Leinster. In 882 he led an army of Irishmen and Foreigners (Vikings or Norse-Gaels) into the north, where he attacked Armagh. Unlike the later poetic accounts which made the Gaels and the Foreigners bitterest enemies, and recast events as a struggle between natives and incomers, Irish kings had no qualms about allying themselves with the Foreigners, and it is likely that one of Flann's sisters was married to a Norse or Norse-Gael leader.
In 888, the Annals of Ulster report that Flann was defeated by the Foreigners at the battle of the Pilgrim. Among the dead on Flann's side were Áed mac Conchobair of the Uí Briúin Aí, King of Connacht, Lergus, Bishop of Kildare, and Donnchad, Abbot of Kildare. Irish clergymen appear commonly among the named dead in battles of the Early Christian and Viking periods. In that year the Teltown Fair was not held, a sign that Flann's authority was not unchallenged. The following year, Domnall mac Áeda Finnliath, the co-king of Ailech, led an army of the northern Uí Néill south against Flann, and again the Teltown Fair was not held in 889.
In 901, Flann's son Máel Ruanaid, described as "heir designate of Ireland", was killed, probably burnt in a hall, along with other notables, by the Luigni of Connaught. In 904 Flann broke into the Abbey of Kells to seize his son Donnchad, who had taken refuge there, and beheaded many of Donnchad's associates. By this time Flann had been king for forty years, and self-styled king of Ireland for a quarter century.
The next year Flann undertook an expedition against the King of Osraige, Cellach mac Cerbaill, who had succeeded his brother Diarmait that year. In the next year, 906, Flann raided into Munster and ravaged the land. Cormac mac Cuilennáin of Eóganachta of Cashel, King of Munster, with his "evil genius", and later successor, Flaithbertach mac Inmainén by his side, raided Connaught and Leinster in retaliation and defeated Flann. A Munster fleet ravaged the coasts that same year.
On 13 September 908, Flann, with his allies Cerball mac Muirecáin, his son-in-law, and Cathal mac Conchobair, King of Connacht, fought the Munstermen, again led by Cormac and Flaithbertach, at the battle of Belach Mugna (in modern County Carlow). The Fragmentary Annals report that many of the men of Munster had not wished to set out on the expedition as Flaithbertach had fallen from his horse at the muster, which was taken as an ill-omen. Whether this is true or not, Flann and his allies defeated the Munstermen and Cormac, along with Cellach mac Cerbaill of Osraige and other notables, was killed.
In 910, now without the aid of Cerball, who had died of sickness a year earlier, Flann defeated the men of Bréifne. In 913 and 914, first Donnchad son of Flann, then Flann himself, ravaged the lands of south Brega and southern Connaught. In the 914 campaign, the Annals of Ulster report that "many churches were profaned by [Flann]". In December of 914, a battle was fought between Niall Glundúb and Óengus, son of Flann. However, Óengus died of wounds on 7 February 915, the second of Flann's designated heirs to die in his lifetime.
Later in 915, his remaining sons Donnchad and Conchobar rebelled against Flann, and it was only with the aid of Niall Glundúb that Flann's sons were forced back into obedience. Niall Glundúb also compelled a truce between Flann and Fogartach mac Tolairg, king of Brega. Niall may also have been acknowledged as Flann's heir at this time. Flann did not long survive, dying at Cenn Eich (perhaps in County Louth or County Meath) on 25 May 916, after a reign of 36 years, 6 months and 5 days. The Chronicon Scotorum gives this lament:
Pity, this, O warlike Erinn,
And thy anguished people;
For Flann is missing ... dead,
Thy noble, most valiant King.
The Annals of the Four Masters say:
Flann, the fair of Freamhain, better than all children, monarch of Ireland, fierce his valour;
It was he that ruled our people, until placed beneath the earth's heavy surface.
Flowing flood of great wealth, pure carbuncle of beauteous form,
Fine-shaped hero who subdued all, chief of the men of Fail of august mien,
Pillar of dignity over every head, fair chief of valour, caster of the spears,
Sun-flash, noble, pleasant, head of the men of hospitality is Flann.
Flann was followed as head of Clann Cholmáin and king of Mide by his son Conchobar, and as king of Tara by Niall Glundúb.
[edit] Image
Flann was served by Máel Mura Othna (died 887), "chief poet of Ireland". In 885 Máel Mura composed the praise poem Flann for Érinn (Flann over Ireland). This linked Flann with the deeds of the legendary Uí Néill ancestor Tuathal Techtmar. As Máire Herbert notes, Máel Mura depicts Tuathal as a 9th century ruler, taking hostages from lesser kings, compelling their obedience and founding his kingship over Ireland on force. The high king, in Flann for Érinn, has authority over the fir Érenn (the men of Ireland) and leads them in war. This is a very different from the way the kingship of Flann's 6th century ancestor Diarmait mac Cerbaill is portrayed in early sources.
A more concrete testimony to Flann's claims can be seen from the high crosses erected at Clonmacnoise and Kinnitty on Flann's orders which name him and his father rí Érenn. Diarmait mac Cerbaill is also commemorated on the Cross of the Scriptures at Clonmacnoise.
Flann is credited with commissioning the earliest known cumdach, an ornamented book case, for Book of Durrow.
| Preceded by Aed Finliath |
High King of Ireland 877–914 |
Succeeded by Niall Glúndub |
[edit] References
- Byrne, Francis John, Irish Kings and High-Kings. Batsford, London, 1973. ISBN 0-7134-5882-8
- Herbert, Máire, "Ri Éirenn, Ri Alban: kingship and identity in the ninth and tenth centuries" in Simon Taylor (ed.), Kings, clerics and chronicles in Scotland 500–1297. Fourt Courts, Dublin, 2000. ISBN 1-85182-516-9
- Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí, Early Medieval Ireland: 400–1200. Longman, London, 1995. ISBN 0-582-01565-0
[edit] External links
- CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts at University College Cork The Corpus of Electronic Texts includes the Annals of Ulster and the Four Masters, the Chronicon Scotorum and the Book of Leinster as well as Genealogies, and various Saints' Lives. Most are translated into English, or translations are in progress
