Donnchad Midi - High King of Ireland

High King of Ireland

The only evidence that Donnchad may have been High King before Niall Frossach's death comes in 778 when he is said to have proclaimed the "law of Columba" together with Bressal, Abbot of Iona. Niall died later that year on Iona. In 779 Donnchad campaigned in against the northern Uí Néill once again and received the submission of the "king of the North", Domnall, son of Áed Muinderg.

And this is the outcome
of the meeting at Inis na Ríg:
Fiachnae cannot come to land,
Donnchad will not go to sea.

A raid on Donnchad's territories by the Leinstermen in 780 was repulsed. Later in the year a meeting between the Uí Néill and the Leinstermen was held at the King of Tara is believed to have settled whatever dispute had provoked the raid. In 784 a similar meeting appears to have been planned between Donnchad and Fiachnae mac Áedo Róin, the King of Ulster, at Inis na Ríg, one of the islands that gave modern Skerries its name. The intended conference was turned into a non-event by Donnchad's refusal to appear the lesser party by boarding Fiachnae's ship and Fiachnae's refusal to come ashore for the same reason. This was commemorated in verse in the margins of the Annals of Ulster.

In 786 the annals record that Febordaith, head of the monastery at Dulane, was killed. A later gloss adds that the killing was avenged. This appears to be related to the following entry in the Annals of Ulster, which reports that Donnchad defeated the Síl nÁedo Sláine at Lia Finn, near to modern Nobber, killing Fogartach mac Cummuscaig, the king of Lagore.

In 791 Donnchad is said to have "dishonour the staff of Jesus and relics of Patrick" during an óenach, probably the óenach of Tailtiu. The óenach Tailten may have seen further trouble in 791, for Donnchad attacked Áed Oirdnide and drove him from Tailtiu and out of the valley of the river Boyne. Cathal mac Echdach, king of the Uí Chremthainn, and other notables were killed in the rout. The last of the many records of Donnchad at war comes in 794, when he aided Leinster against Munster. Donnchad died early in 797, aged 64. He was succeeded as High King by Niall Caille's son Áed Oirdnide and by his son Domnall as head of Clann Cholmáin and King of Mide.

Donnchad's reputation was mixed. The Félire Óengusso, written at Tallaght in the borderlands of Leinster, apparently includes him among the oppressive secular rulers whom the authors dismissed as at best unimportant and at worst wicked. It does, however, confirm the apparent record of the annals, that Donnchad was a warlike ruler quite unlike his father, referring to him as "Donnchad the wrathful, ruddy, chosen". While Donnchad was a friend to the Columban churches, others religious communities, and especially those on the borders of Munster, suffered at his hands. Although earlier histories saw the arrival of the Vikings, first attested in the seas around Ireland shortly before Donnchad's death, as responsible for changes in warfare that made churches a frequent target, Donnchad and his contemporaries sacked churches with some regularity.