Flann Sinna

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Flann Sinna
High King of Ireland
Reign	879–916
Died	25 May 916
	Lough Ennel, County Westmeath
Buried	Clonmacnoise?
Predecessor	Áed Finnliath
Successor	Niall Glúndub
Consort	Gormlaith ingen Flainn, Eithne ingen Áeda, Máel Muire ingen Cináeda
Issue	Donnchad Donn, Máel Ruanaid, Óengus, Domnall, Conchobar, Áed, Cerball, Gormlaith, Eithne, Lígach, Muirgel
Father	Máel Sechnaill mac Maíl Ruanaid
Mother	Flann ingen Dúngaile

Flann Sinna (847 or 848–Saturday 25 May 916), (English: Flann of the Shannon) 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, and is counted as a High King of Ireland.

Flann was chosen as the High King of Ireland, also known as King of Tara, following the death of his first cousin and step-father Áed Finnliath on 20 November 879. Flann's reign followed the usual pattern of Irish high-kings, beginning by levying hostages and tribute from Leinster, and then to wars with Munster, Ulster and Connacht. Flann was more successful than most, but rather than the military and diplomatic successes of his reign, it is his propaganda statements, in the form of monumental high crosses naming him, and his father, as kings of Ireland, which are exceptional.

Flann may have had the intention of abandoning the traditional succession to the kingship of Tara, whereby the northern and southern branches of the the Uí Néill held the kingship alternately, but any such plans were thwarted when his favoured son Óengus was killed by his son-in-law and eventual successor Niall Glúndub, son of Áed Finnliath, on 7 February 915. Flann's other sons raised revolts and his authority collapsed.

Contents 1 Background 2 Máel Sechnaill mac Maíl Ruanaid 3 Áed Finnliath 4 Flann over Ireland 5 Neither spear nor sword will kill him 6 Image 7 Family 8 Assessment 9 Notes 10 References

[edit] Background

See also: Early Medieval Ireland 800–1166 and Viking Age

[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.^[1]

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 is said by Munster sources to have made himself King of Tara. Although he was defeated in 841 in battle with Niall Caille 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 one been reckoned King of Tara in any account.^[2]

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 war and 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).^[3] 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).^[4]

On his death in 862, Máel Sechnaill's obituary reported him as King of all Ireland (Old Irish: rí hÉrenn uile).^[5]

[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 reign by marrying Máel Sechnaill's widow, Flann's mother, Flann (died 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 was not held, "although there was no just and worthy reason for this." Áed died in 879 and the kingship returned to the southern branch in the person of Flann Sinna.^[6]

During the reign of his father-in-law, Flann enters the historical record. In 877 the Annals of Ulster record that "Donnchad son of Aedacán son of Conchobor, was deceitfully killed by Flann son of Máel Sechnaill". Donnchad, the reigning King of Mide and head of the southern Uí Néill, was Flann's second cousin.^[7] Flann's uncanonical marriage to Áed Finnliath's daughter Eithne may have taken place before he seized power, or soon afterwards.^[8]

[edit] Flann over Ireland

847 or 848: birth of Flann Sinna

862: death of Máel Sechnaill

877: Flann kills Donnchad mac Eochocain, becomes King of Mide

879: Áed Finnliath dies

881: Flann attacks Armagh

888: Flann defeated by the Foreigners at the Battle of the Pilgrim

889: Domnall son of Áed Finnliath raids Mide

892: many Foreigners leave Dublin

c. 900: Cathal mac Conchobair, King of Connacht, accepts Flann's authority

901: the killing of Flann's son Máel Ruanaid

902: Foreigners leave, or are driven out, of Dublin

904: quarrel between Flann and his son Donnchad

905: Flann attacks Osraige

906: Flann raids Munster, the Munsterman retaliate

908: Flann and his allies defeat the Munstermen and kill their king, Cormac mac Cuilennáin

909: oratory at Clonmacnoise rebuilt in stone on Flann's orders

910: Flann attacks the kingdom of Bréifne

913 and 914: Flann and his son Donnchad raid south Brega, burning many churches

914: battle between Niall Glúndub and Óengus, son of Flann; Óengus mortally wounded

915: Flann's sons Donnchad and Conchobar rebel; Flann names Niall Glúndub as his heir

916: death of Flann

Flann's reign began with a demand for hostages from the kings of Leinster. In 881 he led an army of Irishmen and Foreigners (Vikings or Norse-Gaels) into the north, where he attacked Armagh.^[9] 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.^[10] It is likely that one of Flann's sisters was married to a Norse or Norse-Gael leader. 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.^[11]

The Annals of Ulster report that Flann was defeated in 887 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 mac Cruinnén, 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. Flann's defeat at the hands of the Foreigners was overshadowed by the signs of dissension among their leaders. That same year, the Annals note that "Sigfrith son of Ímar, king of the Norsemen, was deceitfully killed by his kinsman".^[12] The following year, the Annals report an "expedition by Domnall son of Áed [Finnliath] with the men of the north of Ireland against the southern Uí Néill", and again the Teltown Fair was not held in 888.^[13]

In 892, events in England may have had an impact in Ireland, leading to the fall of Dublin (Áth Cliath) to the Irish. The Annals, following a report of the defeat of the Foreigners by the Saxons—Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, was Flann's contemporary—report "great dissension among the foreigners of Áth Cliath, and they became dispersed, one section of them following Ímar's son, and the other Sigfrith the jarl".^[14] Amlaíb son of Ímar was killed in 897, and in 901 the Annals say that the "heathens were driven from Ireland" by the Leinstermen, led by Flann's son-in-law Cerball, and the men of Brega, led by Máel Finnia son of Flannacán.^[15]

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 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.

[edit] Neither spear nor sword will kill him

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. Flann and his allies defeated the Munstermen at Ballymoon in County Carlow. Cormac, along with Cellach mac Cerbaill of Osraige and other notables, was killed.

49: He will take the lordship of Tara, pleasant it will be which will be over the plain of Brega, without plunder, without conflict, without battle, without swift slaughter, without death reproach.

50: Twenty-five years, truly, will be the time of the high king; Tara of pleasant Brega will be full, there will be honour over every church.

51: Neither spear nor sword will kill him, he will not fall by weapon-points in his going, in Lough Ennel he will die, after him it will be a noble fame.

The Prophecy of Berchán.[16]

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 Glúndub and Óengus, son of Flann. Óengus was wounded in battle, and died on 7 February 915, the second of Flann's designated heirs to die in his lifetime.

Later in 915, his 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 Glúndub 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 near Mullingar, County Westmeath, according to the Prophecy of Berchán, on 25 May 916, after a reign of 36 years, 6 months, and 5 days.

Flann was followed as head of Clann Cholmáin and king of Mide by his son Conchobar, and as king of Tara by Niall Glúndub.

[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 concrete testimony to Flann's claims survives in the high crosses erected at Clonmacnoise and Kinnitty on Flann's orders which name him and his father rí Érenn. At the same time, the oratory at Clonmacnoise was rebuilt in stone on Flann's orders.^[17]

Flann is credited with commissioning the earliest known cumdach, an ornamented book case, for Book of Durrow.^[18]

[edit] Family

Flann Sinna was known to have been married to at least three different women, and his recorded children numbered seven sons and three daughters.

His marriage to Gormlaith, daughter of Flann mac Conaing, King of Brega, a key ally of his stepfather, is probably the first. Known children of this marriage are Donnchad Donn, later King of Mide and of Tara, and Gormlaith.^[19]

Flann's daughter Gormlaith became the subject of later literary accounts, making her a tragic figure. She was married first to Cormac mac Cuilennáin of the Eóganachta, who had taken vows of celibacy as a bishop. On Cormac's death in battle in 908, fighting against her father, she was married to Cerball mac Muirecáin of the Uí Dúnlainge, who supposedly abused her. Cerball was a key ally of Gormlaith's father. After Cerball's death in 909 Gormlaith married her step-brother Niall Glúndub, who died in 919. 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.^[20]

The second of Flann’s known marriages was his union with Eithne, daughter of Áed Finnliath, dated to circa 877. Flann and Eithne’s son Máel Ruanaid was killed in 901. Eithne was also married to Flannácan, King of Brega, by whom she had a son named Máel Mithig, although whether this preceded her marriage to Flann is unclear. It is likely that Flann divorced Eithne in order to follow the tradition of marrying his predecessor's widow, Eithne's step-mother. Eithne died as a nun in 917.^[21]

His third wife, Máel Muire, who died in 913, was the daughter of the King of the Picts, Cináed mac Ailpín. She was the mother of Flann’s son, Domnall (King of Mide 919–921; killed by his half-brother Donnchad Donn in 921), and his daughter, Lígach (died 923), wife of the Síl nÁedo Sláine king of Brega, Máel Mithig mac Flannacáin (died 919).^[22]

The mothers of Flann Sinna’s sons Óengus (died 915), Conchobar (king of Mide 916–919; died in battle against the foreigners alongside his brother-in-law Niall Glúndub), Áed (blinded on Donnchad Donn's orders in 919), and Cerball are unknown, and likewise his daughter Muirgel (died 928), who was probably married to a Norse or Norse-Gael king.^[23]

[edit] Assessment

The alternating succession of the northern and southern Uí Néill to the kingship of Tara would finally break down in time of Brian Boru. It was already under strain before Flann Sinna's lifetime. Two branches of the Uí Néill—the northern Cenél Conaill and the southern Síl nÁedo Sláine— had already been exluded from the succession by the Cenél nEógain and Clann Cholmáin. Many other branches of the Uí Néill had never shared in the kingship.

When Flann's son Máel Ruanaid was killed in 901, the obituary in the Annals of Ulster states: "Máel Ruanaid son of Flann son of Máel Sechnaill, heir designate of Ireland, was killed by the Luigne".^[24] The Annals of Ulster are derived from the Chronicle of Ireland, kept at Clonmacnoise, Flann's own monastery, and perhaps compiled in his lifetime.^[25]

The description of Máel Ruanaid as "heir designate of Ireland" suggests to some that Flann planned to keep the kingship in his family, excluding the Cenél nEógain as the Cenél Conaill and Síl nÁedo Sláine had previously been excluded. The evident lack of filial loyalty among Flann's sons, Donnchad Donn being twice in rebellion against his father, may have prevented any such plans from coming to fruition. However, Óengus is called "heir designate of Temair" in the notice of his death in 915.^[26]

Benjamin Hudson suggests that it was only the vigorous campaigning by Niall Glúndub in Ulster and Connacht from 913 to 915, along with Óengus's fortuitous death, that led to Niall being named Flann's heir.^[27] Alex Woolf suggests that Flann not only attempted to monopolise the succession within his family, but came close to instituting a national kingship in Ireland comparable to that created by his contemporaries Alfred the Great and Edward the Elder in England from their Kingdom of Wessex.^[28]

Later Clann Cholmáin kings were descended from Flann, as was Congalach Cnogba, whose official pedigree pronounced him to be a member of the Síl nÁedo Sláine, the first of that branch of the Uí Néill to be King of Tara in two centuries, and whose last male line ancestor to have ruled from Tara was the eponymous Áed Sláine, ten generations before. In fact, Congalach was closely tied to Clann Cholmáin. His mother was Flann's daughter Lígach, and his paternal grandmother Eithne had been Flann's wife.^[29]

Flann's son Donnchad Donn, his grandson Congalach Cnogba, and his great grandson Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill all held the kingship of Tara, Máel Sechnaill being the last of the traditional Uí Néill high kings.

Preceded by Áed Finnliath	High King of Ireland or King of Tara 879–914	Succeeded by Niall Glúndub
Preceded by Donnchad mac Eochocain	King of Mide 877–914	Succeeded by Conchobar mac Flainn

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• The Annals of Ulster, volume 1. CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts. Retrieved on February 10, 2007.
• Fragmentary Annals of Ireland. CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts. Retrieved on February 10, 2007.
• Byrne, Francis John, Irish Kings and High-Kings. Batsford, London, 1973. ISBN 0-7134-5882-8
• Charles-Edwards, T.M., Early Christian Ireland. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000. ISBN 0-521-39395-0
• Doherty, Charles (2004). Flann Sinna (847/8–916). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,. Oxford University Press. Retrieved on February 15, 2007.
• 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
• Hudson, Benjamin T., The Prophecy of Berchán: Irish and Scottish High-Kings of the Early Middle Ages. Greenwood, London, 1996. 0-313-29567-0
• Johnston, Elva (2004). Gormlaith (d. 948). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,. Oxford University Press. Retrieved on February 15, 2007.
• Ó Corrain, Donnchad. The Vikings in Scotland and Ireland in the Ninth Century. Peritia, vol 12. CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts. Retrieved on February 10, 2007.
• Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí, Early Medieval Ireland: 400–1200. Longman, London, 1995. ISBN 0-582-01565-0
• Woolf, Alex, "Pictish matriliny reconsidered." The Innes Review, vol. 49, no. 2. ISSN 0020-157X
• Woolf, Alex, "The View from the West: an Irish perspective on West Saxon dynastic practice" in N.J Higham and D.H. Hill (eds), Edward the Elder 899–924. London: Routledge, 2001. ISBN 0-415-21496-3