- Cellachán Caisil
Cellachán mac Buadacháin (died 954), called Cellachán Caisil, was
King of Munster .The son of Buadachán mac Lachtnai, he belonged to the Cashel branch of the
Eóganachta kindred, the "Éoganacht Chaisil". The last of hiscognatic ancestors to have held the kingship of Munster wasColgú mac Faílbe Flaind (d. 678), eight generations earlier.His predecessor as king at Cashel was said to be Lorcan mac Coinlígáin, a distant cousin, the date of whose death is uncertain. The earliest record of Cellachán is an attack on
Clonmacnoise in 936. In 939 he was allied withNorse Gaels fromWaterford in an attack on thekingdom of Mide . The leader of the Waterford contingent is called mac Acuind (Hákon's son). They took captive the abbots ofClonenagh andKilleleigh but were defeated by the Uí Failge ofLeinster .In 941, in a struggle for control of the eastern
Déisi , Cellachán came into conflict with theHigh King of Ireland ,Donnchad Donn , and so too with Donnchad's nominated successorMuirchertach mac Néill . Muirchertach undertook a "circuit of Ireland" at the head of his army, a campaign commemorated in later verse, during which he took Cellachán prisoner. Cellachán remained a captive at Donnchad's court for some years.Cellachán had returned to Munster by 944, and perhaps earlier, as in that year he defeated and killed
Cennétig mac Lorcáin and two of his sons at the battle of Gort Rottacháin. Cennétig was king of theDál gCais and father of the famousBrian Boru . It may be that the conflict had begun earlier as Dál gCais traditions have Cennétig defeat Cellachán at a battle fought near Lough Saighlenn, somewhere in Munster.There is little more recorded of Cellachán in the
Irish annals . He raided Mide again in 951 with his only known son Donnchad. He died in 954 and Donnchad in 963.In the time of Cellachán's descendant
Cormac Mac Cárthaig , the "Caithréim Chellacháin Chaisil " (Battle history of Cellachán Caisil) was composed, probably inspired by the "Cogadh Gaedhil re Gallaibh " written forMuirchertach Ua Briain , glorifying Murchad's ancestorBrian Bóruma . The "Caithréim" portrays theEóganachta , and Cellachán in particular, fighting againstViking invaders, but also gives credit to theDál gCais ancestors of Muirchertach. It is thought that this is related to the contemporary threat posed to the Munster families by theConnacht kingToirdelbach Ua Conchobair .References and further reading
*
*
*
*
*External links
* [http://www.geocities.com/kevinlcallahan/callahan.html The First Callahan, 10th Century AD]
###@@@KEYEND@@@###
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.