ABSTRACT
Máel-Sechnaill I was the son of Máel-ruanaid and belonged to Clann Cholmáin of Mide, a southern Uí Néill dynasty. The first of the kings of Tara who received the submission of all the provincial kings and earned the title “king of all Ireland,” his reign witnessed the appearance of the Vikings on the political stage as allies and mercenaries. In the 840s, Clann Cholmáin were divided between the descendants of Donnchad Midi (king of Tara 770-797). Máel-Sechnaill eliminated his rivals in 845. The same year he drowned the Viking leader Tuirgéis, who had been raiding the midlands from a base at Lough Ree. When Niall Caille of Cenél nEógain died in 846, Máel-Sechnaill succeeded him as king of Tara. A year later Fedelmid mac Crimthainn died, and the Irish kings now turned their attention to the Vikings. Máel-Sechnaill launched a successful attack on Dublin in 849. In 851 he killed the king of North Brega, who had burned the churches and fortresses of South Brega in cooperation with the Vikings. In the same year Máel-Sechnaill organized a royal conference with the king of Ulaid at Armagh, but it remains uncertain whether this was related to the presence of the Vikings. In the following years he concentrated on the subjugation of Munster, which no king of Tara had attempted before. In 854 and 856, he took hostages of the province, and hence his authority nominally covered the whole island of Ireland. In the meantime the Vikings had gained in strength with the arrival of Amlaíb (Olaf) and Imar (Ivar) on the scene. In 856, Máel-Sechnaill attempted to curb their activities by hiring Gall-Goídil (Norse-Irish) as his mercenaries to fight for him. The situation rapidly escalated. In the south the Vikings teamed up with Cerball of Osraige, and in the north Áed Finnliath, king of Ailech, and Flann, king of North Brega, were also hostile toward the ambitious king of Tara. This did not stop Máel-Sechnaill from taking the hostages of Munster once again in 858. The next year saw the war being carried to Mide itself, and Máel-Sechnaill reacted by hosting a royal conference at the border between Mide and Munster. Supported by the Irish clergy, he forged an alliance with Cerball of Osraige, who may have married Máel-Sechnaill’s daughter Ailbi on this occasion. The agreement was warranted by the king of Munster, who was killed by Vikings the next year. Having pacified the south, Máel-Sechnaill gathered the forces of the southern Uí Néill, Munster, Leinster, and Connacht, and marched to Armagh in 860. This unprecedented show of force was insufficient to bring Áed Finnliath and Flann to heel. In the following years, they were joined by the Vikings in their attacks on Mide. Máel-Sechnaill’s power waned, and he died in 862. The contemporary Annals of Ulster style him “king of all Ireland,” which reflects his nominal kingship over the island.
