Cathair Mór
Cathair Mór ("the great"), son of Feidhlimidh Fiorurghlas, a descendant of Conchobar Abradruad, was, according to Lebor Gabála Érenn, a High King of Ireland.[1][2] He took power after the death of Fedlimid Rechtmar.[3] Cathair ruled for three years, at the end of which he was killed by the Luaigne of Tara, led by Conn Cétchathach. The Lebor Gabála Érenn synchronises his reign with that of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (161–180). The chronology of Geoffrey Keating's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn dates his reign to 113–116, that of the Annals of the Four Masters to 119–122.[4]
Genealogy
According to
Legends
He is said to have had thirty sons, but only ten of them had children; several medieval dynasties of Leinster traced their ancestors to them.[5][6] His daughter Cochrann was said to have been the mother of the fenian hero Diarmuid Ua Duibhne.[7]
He features in the saga
Offspring
- Uí Failghe
- Mac Gormáin of Uí Bairrche
- Bresal Einechglas mac Cathair Mór
- Fergus Luasgan mac Cathair Mór
- Ailill Cethech mac Cathair Mór
- Aengus Nic[11][6] mac Cathair Mór[12]
- Eochu Timine mac Cathair Mór
- Crimthann mac Cathair Mór, ancestor of Dubh of Leinster
- Curigh mac Cathair Mór, killed by Fionn mac Cumhail
- Slectaire mac Curigh, maternal grandfather of Diarmuid Ua Duibhne and Oscar
- Uchdelbh mac Curigh, wife of Fionn Fothart, a son of Conn Cétchathach
- Conn Cétchathach
- Landabaria mac Cathair Mór, wife of Conn Cétchathach
- Cochrann, mother of the fenian hero Diarmuid Ua Duibhne.
- Fiacha Baicheda mac Cathair Mór, ancestor of Uí Cheinnselaig
- Sodhealbh ní Cathair Mór[13][14]
References
- ^ Lebor Gabála Érenn, Part V, page 331 & 535; by Robert Macalister.
- ^ a b Foras Feasa ar Éirinn, Section 40, page 259, http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100054/text050.html UCC CELT project. by Geoffrey Keating.
- ^ R. A. Stewart Macalister (ed. & trans.), Lebor Gabála Érenn: The Book of the Taking of Ireland Part V, Irish Texts Society, 1956, p. 331
- ^ Annals of the Four Masters M119-122
- ^ Geoffrey Keating, Foras Feasa ar Éirinn 1.40
- ^ a b c The Testament of Cathair Mór, translated by Miles Dillon
- ^ James MacKillop, Dictionary of Celtic Mythology, Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 72
- ^ "The Melody of the House of Buchet (summarised by Miles Dillon)
- ^ The Adventures of Art son of Conn Archived 2007-10-22 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The Cause of the Battle of Cnucha
- ^ In Irish, this word means "daughter".
- ^ Daniel Byrne-Rothwell, The Byrnes and the O'Byrnes: Volume 2, House of Lochar, 2010 - Ireland, p. 8
- ^ O'clery, Michael (1630). Martyrology of Donegal. p. 301.
- ^ On the page of this book, the author wrote that Sodhealbh and her sister, Eithne, were the daughters of Baite, Cathair Mor don't be her father. But later on the book mentioned Sodhealbh as Cathair Mor's daughter and Oilill Olum's wife, probably a mistake of this author. Oilill Olum married Sadb, daughter of Eithne, another daughter of Cathair Mor.