Donnchad mac Briain, King of Munster
| Donnchad mac Briain | |
|---|---|
| King of Munster | |
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Book shrine for the Stowe Missal; the top panel reads: Pray for Donnchad mac Brian, [Pray] for the King of Ireland
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| Predecessor | Brian Bóruma |
| Successor | Toirdelbach Ua Briain |
| Died | 1064 Rome |
| Burial | Santo Stefano al Monte Celio, Rome |
| Wives |
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| Issue | Lorcán, Murchad, Derbforgaill, others |
| Dynasty | Dál gCais |
| Father | Brian Bóruma |
| Mother | Gormflaith ingen Murchada |
Donnchadh mac Briain (old spelling: Donnchad mac Briain) (died 1064), son of Brian Bóruma and Gormflaith ingen Murchada, was King of Munster.
Brian Bóruma was the first man to establish himself as High King of Ireland by force of arms alone in many centuries. Previous men reckoned High King had belonged to the great Uí Néill kindred, that large group of families who traced their descent from Niall of the Nine Hostages, which dominated much of central and northern Ireland from the 7th century onwards. No king from the south, where Brian's kindred, the hitherto rather obscure Dál gCais of the region of Thomond, had come close to dominating Ireland since the time of Feidlimid mac Crimthainn in the early 9th century, and none had been included in the more widely accepted lists of high kings in historic times. The last effective high king of Ireland from Munster was Cathal mac Finguine (d. 742), and likely before him the prehistoric Crimthann mac Fidaig.
Brian, building on his own resources, and those of the Viking towns of the south such as Limerick and Cork first took control of Munster, overthrowing the domination of the Eóganachta, a kindred which had dominated the kingship of Munster as effectively as the Uí Néill had dominated the High Kingship, and for just as long. With the Uí Néill disunited, and the resources of Munster, Brian first brought the Uí Néill High King Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill to recognise him as an equal, and then as the master of Ireland. Brian met his death at the Battle of Clontarf on 23 April 1014, Good Friday, fighting against the King of Leinster and his allies. In myth and medieval pseudohistory this battle would become the last and greatest between the Irish and the Vikings and Brian the greatest of all Irish kings.
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