Page 103 - Demo

Chapter Four 103
was known as a“Ríogh-Dhamnha,” a crown-prince or heir apparent and one very important attribute of the member elected to the kingship by the deirbh-fhine, was that he had to be free from personal deformity and blemish. From this it follows that if any particular branch failed to secure kingship at least once in three generations, then the entire branch ceased to have any lawful claim to the throne.
During the reign of Aillil, a daring prince named Muircheartach mac Earca- or Murtogh, to give him his modern title, discovered his family branch in this situation regarding the High- kingship.Murtogh who was king of Aileach in present-day Donegal and also head of the Northern Uí Néill tribe, and as such was eligible for election to the High-Kingship because his great-grandfather, Niall, he of the appellation Niall of the Nine Hostages, had once been High-King. However, unless the High-Kingship was again secured by his branch during his generation, the right to succession would pass forever from the Northern Ui Néills. Accord- ingly, Murtogh entered into a unifying pact with his uncle, Lughaidh, head of the Southern Uí Néill, who held their territory in Meath.
United in strength they then rose and opposed Ailill. In the year 483 the rival warring forces met on the ield in the great battle since known as The Battle of Ocha, a battle we briely alluded to in chapter 3. During the battle Aillil’s forces were defeated and he was slain, and in the aftermath, in accordance with the pact already made, Lughaidh was crowned High-King, and on his death he was succeeded by Murtogh.
Now the Battle of Ocha is a signiicant event in the history of Ireland because it brought about several important changes.
First, the custom of promoting the reigning king of Connacht to the vacant High-King- ship came to an end, and for the following 500 years the High-Kings of Ireland came from the Northern or Southern Uí Néills.
Second, the link between Connacht and Meath was inally broken.
Third, the great glory of Tara began to wane.
In those ancient days Donegal was a great distance from Tara, which lies in present
day county Meath, and the High-Kings who hailed from the Northern Uí Néills preferred to reign from their fort near Lough Swilly, whilst the High-Kings of the Southern Uí Néill preferred to rule from their ancestral seat at Dún na Sciath, ‘The Fort of the Shields,’ on Cormorant Island, in Lough Ennell, county Meath. No High-King resided at Tara after Diarmuid, who died in 565, and who is said to have been the irst real Christian High-King.
Moreover, Tara, as the seat of the High-Kingship, was the creation of the Connacht dy-