Donnchad Midi - King of Mide

King of Mide

In 769 Donnchad drove Coirpre mac Fogartaig, King of Lagore, into exile. Coirpre, son of former High King Fogartach mac Néill, ruled the southern part of Brega and may have been the leading representative of the rival, but internally divided, southern Uí Néill kin group of Síl nÁedo Sláine. The following year, to a background of internal conflict in Leinster, Donnchad led an army into the province. The king of Leinster, Cellach mac Dúnchada, refused to give battle and Donnchad remained camped at Dún Ailinne for a week while his army pillaged Leinster.

The late Annals of the Four Masters places Niall Frossach's abdication in the same year as Donnchad's campaign in Leinster, dated to 770 by the Annals of Ulster, and places the beginning of Donnchad's reign from 771 AD. Later sources present the succession of High Kings as regular, with one king following another immediately. This is not believed to be an accurate representation. Where Niall Frossach is concerned, some years may have elapsed between the death of Domnall Midi and Niall's inauguration. Another possible cause for, or sign of, Niall's fall from power appears in 771 and 772 when Donnchad campaigned in the lands of the northern Uí Néill.

In 775 Donnchad took control of the monastery at Clonard in the Leinster borderlands. He also campaigned in Munster. The Annals of Ulster record that Donnchad "did great devastation in the territory of the Munstermen, and many of the Munstermen fell". He repeated this in 776 with the aid of the community of Durrow.

Donnchad is recorded as twice having disturbed the óenach of Tailtiu, first in 774, when no explanation is given, and again in 777, this time the annals state that the Ciannachta, by which the Síl nÁedo Sláine, this time the north Brega branch of the kindred, are meant, were the targets. This is explicitly linked to the war between Donnchad and Congalach mac Conaing, the King of Knowth, which began earlier in 777 when Donnchad led an army from Leinster into Brega. A pitched battle somewhere in Brega in 778 ended with Congalach and many of his allies dead.