Irish bishop and king of Munster
Cormac mac Cuilennain
(died 13 September 908) was an
Irish
bishop
and the
king of Munster
from 902 until his death at the
Battle of Bellaghmoon
. He was killed in
Leinster
.
Cormac was regarded as a saintly figure after his death, and his shrine at
Castledermot
,
County Kildare
, was said to be the site of miracles. He was reputed to be a great scholar and is credited with the authorship of the
Sanas Cormaic
(Cormac's Glossary) and the now-lost
Psalter of Cashel
, among other works. The reliability of some of the traditions concerning Cormac is doubtful. His feast day is September 14.
[2]
Background
[
edit
]
The Ireland of Cormac's time was divided into small kingdoms or
tuatha
,
perhaps 150 in all, on average around 500 square kilometres in area, with a population of some 3000 each. In theory, but not in practice, each
tuath
had its own king, bishop, and court. Variations in size and power were very considerable. Groups of
tuatha
were dominated by one of their number, whose king was their collective ruler. Above these stood the five great provincial kingships whose names survive in the
provinces of Ireland
:
Connacht
,
Leinster
,
Ulster
, Meath, and Cormac's
Munster
. To these can be added the kings of the northern and southern
Ui Neill
. These last provided were the
High Kings of Ireland
, kings whose authority was an increasingly obvious political fact in Ireland of the 8th and 9th centuries.
[3]
In Cormac's time the High Kingship was held by
Flann Sinna
of the
Clann Cholmain
branch of the southern Ui Neill. In addition to these native Irish kings, Ireland had also seen
Scandinavian
and
Norse-Gael
kings establish themselves along the coasts during the
Viking Age
. The destruction of Viking settlements on the northern coasts by Flann's predecessor
Aed Findliath
, followed by much internal dissension, had weakened the Vikings, who were expelled from
Dublin
by Flann's allies in the year that Cormac became the king of Munster.
[4]
Cormac belonged to a minor branch of the
Eoganachta
clan which dominated Munster in the 8th and 9th centuries. According to
genealogies
, he was a member of the
Eoganacht Chaisil
, the
Cashel
branch of the clan. This kin group was important, but Cormac came from a very minor branch. He was considered to be an eleventh-generation descendant of
Oengus mac Nad Froich
and none of his ancestors since Oengus were counted as kings of Cashel. Cormac, as well as other 9th century kings of Munster who were bishops and abbots, was probably a compromise candidate.
[5]
The
Annals of the Four Masters
, a 17th-century compilation of annals based on earlier works, but including much of uncertain reliability, state that Cormac was tutored by Snedgus of
Disert Diarmata
(now
Castledermot
).
[6]
Some later accounts claim that Cormac had been married or betrothed to Gormlaith, daughter of Flann Sinna, the
High King of Ireland
, but instead took vows of celibacy. Paul Russell. writing in the
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
suggests these are later fictions and historian
Francis John Byrne
saw an echo of earlier tales of the
sovereignty goddess
in them.
[7]
Although there is no doubt that Cormac was a bishop before and while he was king of Munster, it is not clear which
see
Cormac held. Some writers have suggested that he should be linked with
Emly
rather than Cashel.
King and bishop
[
edit
]
Cormac was chosen as king of Munster following the death of
Finguine Cenn nGecan
, who is said by the
Annals of Ulster
to have been "deceitfully killed by his associates" and by the
Annals of Innisfallen
to have been killed by the Cenel Conaill Chaisil, a branch of the Cashel Eoganachta.
[8]
The
Annals of Innisfallen
note the beginning of Cormac's reign and call him a "noble bishop and celibate".
[9]
Cormac may have attempted to restore the authority of the kings of Munster over neighbouring
Leinster
and perhaps aspired to be chief king in Ireland. The surviving record, written largely from a northern and pro-Ui Neill perspective, presents a misleading picture and understates the power and pretensions of the Eoganachta.
[10]
The southern
Annals of Innisfallen
report campaigns in 907 by Cormac in
Connacht
and
Mide
, where Flann Sinna was defeated at
Mag Lena
, and record a fleet operating on the
River Shannon
on his orders which captured
Clonmacnoise
.
[11]
Cath Belach Mugna
[
edit
]
In 908, Cormac and
Flaithbertach mac Inmainen
, Cormac's chief councillor and abbot of
Scattery Island
, collected an army to campaign against their eastern neighbours,
Leinster
, whose king
Cerball mac Muirecain
was Flann Sinna's son-in-law and staunch ally. The
Fragmentary Annals of Ireland
, a source compiled in the 11th century for
Donnchad mac Gilla Patraic
,
king of Osraige
, and
king of Leinster
, contain a long account of these events, perhaps written within living memory.
[12]
After the army of Munster had gathered, Flaithbertach mac Inmainen's horse stumbled and threw him to the ground while riding through the camp; it was taken to be a very bad omen. Many of the Munstermen were unwilling to fight, and news reached Cerball mac Muirecain, who proposed a negotiated settlement. The Leinstermen would pay tribute, and give hostages, but the hostages would be given to Moenachem abbot of Disert Diarmata, rather than to the Munstermen. Cormac was willing to accept this settlement, but Flaithbertach—Byrne notes that later traditions make Flaithbertach Cormac's evil genius
[13]
— was not and persuaded Cormac to fight, in spite of the king's conviction that he would be killed.
[14]
This, and the news that Flann and the Ui Neill had come to Cerball's aid, led to desertions from Cormac's army, but he continued to march to Leinster and met Cerball and Flann at
Bellach Mugna
(Bellaghmoon, in the south of modern County Kildare). The
Fragmentary Annals
say that "the men of Munster came to the battle weak and in disorder" and they quickly broke and fled the field. Many were killed; Cormac was among them after he broke his neck from falling off his horse. Flaithbertach was captured.
[15]
Cormac was beheaded and his head was taken to Flann Sinna. The
Fragmentary Annals
say:
"That is indeed evil," said Flann to them, and it was not thanks that he gave them. "It was an evil deed," he said, "to cut off the holy bishop's head; I shall honour it, and not crush it." Flann took the head in his hands, and kissed it, and he carried the consecrated head and the true martyr around him three times.
[16]
Following Cormac's death, Munster was seemingly without a king for some years until Flaithbertach mac Inmainen was chosen, apparently another compromise candidate.
[17]
Saint and scholar
[
edit
]
Cormac was reckoned to be a saint in the 11th century by contemporary evidence. The
Fragmentary Annals of Ireland
state that Cormac was buried at Disert Diarmata where he was honoured, and add that "Cormac's body ... produces omens and miracles".
[19]
The
Fragmentary Annals
are equally glowing in their praise of Cormac's scholarship and piety: "A scholar in Irish and in Latin, the wholly pious and pure chief bishop, miraculous in chastity and in prayer, a sage in government, in all wisdom, knowledge and science, a sage of poetry and learning, chief of charity and every virtue; a wise man in teaching, high king of the two provinces of all Munster in his time."
[20]
A variety of works have been associated with Cormac, such as the
Sanas Cormaic
, a glossary of difficult words in Irish in the style of
Isidore of Seville
, which bears his name. While the core of the document dates from around Cormac's time, and may in some way be linked to him, it is uncertain if he was the compiler of even the original list. The lost
Psalter of Cashel
and the
Lebor na Cert
?the Book of Rights?is also linked to Cormac. The works that survive today are probably from the time of
Muirchertach Ua Briain
.
[21]
Liam Breatnach also attributes Amra Senain to Cormac.
[22]
Genealogy
[
edit
]
Cormac mac Cuilennain mac Selbach mac Ailgile mac Eochaid mac Colman mac Dunchad mac Dub Indrecht mac Furudran mac Eochaid mac Bressal mac
Oengus
mac Nad Froich mac
Corc
.
[23]
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Bowe, Nicola Gordon; Caron, David; Wynne, Michael (1988).
Gazetteer of Irish Stained Glass
. Dublin: Irish Academic Press. p.
46
.
ISBN
0-7165-2413-9
.
- ^
"St. Cormac of Cashel, King & Bishop; 14 September"
.
Celtic Saints
.
Archived
from the original on 30 September 2021.
- ^
Byrne,
Irish Kings
, pp. 46–47.
- ^
O Croinin,
Early Medieval Ireland
, pp. 254–256.
- ^
Byrne,
Irish Kings
, pp. 214 & 292.
- ^
Russell, "Cormac";
Annals of the Four Masters
, AFM 885.11.
- ^
Russell, "Cormac"; Byrne,
Irish Kings
, p. 164.
- ^
Annals of Ulster
, AU 902.1;
Annals of Innisfallen
, AI 902.1.
- ^
Annals of Innisfallen
, AI 901.3.
- ^
Hughes,
Early Christian Ireland
, pp.136–137; Byrne,
Irish Kings
, p. 203.
- ^
Russell, "Cormac";
Annals of Innisfallen
, AI 907.1, AI 907.3 & AI 907.4.
- ^
Wiley, "Cath Belaig Mugna".
- ^
Byrne,
Irish Kings
, p. 214
- ^
Wiley, "Cath Belaig Mugna"; Russell "Cormac";
Fragmentary Annals
, FA 423.
- ^
Wiley, "Cath Belaig Mugna"; Russell "Cormac";
Fragmentary Annals
, FA 423;
Annals of Ulster
, AU 908.3;
Annals of Innisfallen
, AI 908.2;
Annals of the Four Masters
, AFM 903.7.
- ^
Fragmentary Annals
, FA 423; Byrne,
Irish Kings
, pp. 214–215, notes that martyrdom is the usual term used of the death of a cleric by violence.
- ^
Byrne,
Irish Kings
, p. 204.
- ^
Crawford,
Irish Carved Ornament
, reproduces the panel, see illustration no. 150 and comments on pp. 73–74.
- ^
Fragmentary Annals
, FA 423; Dumville, "
Felire Oengusso
", p. 36.
- ^
Fragmentary Annals
, FA 423.
- ^
Russell, "Cormac"; Byrne,
Irish Kings
, p. 192.
- ^
Breatnach, Liam, “An edition of Amra Senain”, in: O Corrain, Donnchadh, Liam Breatnach, and Kim R. McCone (eds.), Sages, saints and storytellers: Celtic studies in honour of Professor James Carney, Maynooth Monographs 2, Maynooth: An Sagart, 1989. 7?31.
- ^
Byrne,
Irish Kings
, p. 292.
References
[
edit
]
- Sean Mac Airt, ed. (1944).
The Annals of Inisfallen
(MS. Rawlinson B. 503). Translated by Mac Airt. Dublin:
DIAS
.
Edition
and
translation
available from CELT.
- Annals of the Four Masters
, CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts, 2002
, retrieved
16 December
2007
- Sean Mac Airt;
Gearoid Mac Niocaill
, eds. (1983).
The Annals of Ulster (to AD 1131)
. Translated by Mac Airt; Mac Niocaill. Dublin:
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
. Retrieved
10 February
2007
.
- Byrne, Francis John
(1973),
Irish Kings and High-Kings
, London: Batsford,
ISBN
0-7134-5882-8
- Crawford, H. S.
(1980),
Irish Carved Ornament from Monuments of the Christian Period
(reprinted ed.), Dublin: Mercier Press,
ISBN
0-85342-632-5
- Dumville, David
(2002),
"
Felire Oengusso
: Problems of Dating a Monument of Old Irish"
(PDF)
,
Eigse: A Journal of Irish Studies
,
33
: 19?48,
ISSN
0013-2608
, retrieved
29 March
2008
- Hughes, Kathleen
(1972),
Early Christian Ireland: Introduction to the Sources
, The Sources of History, London: Hodder & Stoughton,
ISBN
0-340-16145-0
- O Croinin, Daibhi
(1995),
Early Medieval Ireland: 400–1200
, London: Longman,
ISBN
0-582-01565-0
- Radner, Joan N., ed. (2004) [1975],
Fragmentary Annals of Ireland
, CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts
, retrieved
10 February
2007
- Russell, Paul (2004). "Cormac mac Cuilennain (
d
. 908)".
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
(online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
doi
:
10.1093/ref:odnb/6319
. Retrieved
22 March
2008
.
(Subscription or
UK public library membership
required.)
- Wiley, Dan M. (2005), "Cath Belaig Mugna",
The Cycles of the Kings
, archived from
the original
on 7 May 2008
, retrieved
21 March
2008
- Ni Mhaonaigh, Maire
,
Cormac mac Cuilennain: king, bishop, and 'wondrous sage
, Zeitschrift fur celtische Philologie 58 (2011): 108?128.
External links
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Cormac mac Cuilennain
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Regnal titles
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Preceded by
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King of Munster
c
.902–908
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Succeeded by
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