page_title: Domnall mac Taidc
section_title: Restoration in the Isles; death in Ireland
hierarchical_section_title: Domnall mac Taidc / Restoration in the Isles; death in Ireland
caption_attribution_description: English: An excerpt from folio 33r of Bodleian Library MS Rawlinson B 503 (the Annals of Inisfallen). The excerpt reads in Gaelic: "Domnall mac Taidg do dul fó dímaig i tuascert h-Érend &amp; co ragaib ríge Innse Gall ar egein". The excerpt refers to Domnall mac Taidc, King of the Isles (died 1115).
context_page_description: Domnall mac Taidc was the ruler of the Kingdom of the Isles, the Kingdom of Thomond, and perhaps the Kingdom of Dublin as well. His father was Tadc, son of Toirdelbach Ua Briain, King of Munster, which meant that Domnall was a member of the Meic Taidc, a branch of the Uí Briain. Domnall's mother was Mór, daughter of Echmarcach mac Ragnaill, King of Dublin and the Isles, which may have given Domnall a stake to the kingship of the Isles.
  In 1094, Domnall's uncle, Muirchertach Ua Briain, High King of Ireland, drove Gofraid Crobán, King of Dublin and the Isles from Dublin, and may have replaced him with Domnall himself. Certainly at some point following Gofraid's death in 1095, Muirchertach installed Domnall as King of the Isles. The latter's reign was short-lived however, and Domnall appears to have been forced from the Isles prior to its subsequent conquest by the King of Norway.
  In 1111, Domnall evidently seized the kingship of the Isles by force. It is uncertain whether he enjoyed Uí Briain support in this venture. Several years later, at a time when his aforesaid uncle was gravely ill, Domnall was again active in Ireland.
context_section_description: In 1111, according to the eleventh- to fourteenth-century Annals of Inisfallen, Domnall mac Taidc seized the kingship of the Isles by force. This annal-entry is the only notice of Domnall's lordship in the Isles preserved by Irish sources. This could indicate that the chronicle's aforesaid account of the petitioning of Muirchertach is incorrectly dated, and actually refers to about 1111. However, the fact that the chronicle places the petitioning during a period of new-found Uí Briain dominance in the region, before Magnús' arrival in the Isles, and at about the same time as Amlaíb's death, suggests that the chronicle's chronology concerning these events is sound, and that Domnall's seizure of the kingship in 1111 was indeed a return to the Isles.
  There is uncertainty as to whether Domnall was supported in his venture by the rest of the Uí Briain. Although it is possible that he enjoyed backing from Muirchertach himself, the fact that the Annals of the Four Masters states that Muirchertach had Domnall imprisoned three years before could be evidence that Domnall had made his move into the Isles without Muirchertach's consent. The annal-entry concerning Domnall's seizure of the Isles reveals that Domnall launched his campaign from northern Ireland, and a further entry in the same source shows that Dublin was occupied by Muirchertach for about three months, the very year of Domnall's campaign. These records appear to indicate that Domnall was aided in his undertaking in the Isles by Muirchertach's northern opponents, and that Muirchertach occupied the town as means to directly counter Domnall's campaign, and deny him any support from the Dubliners. In fact, Domnall may well have been supported in the Isles by Domnall Mac Lochlainn, King of Cenél nEógain, a northern monarch who was not only Muirchertach's principal rival, but the representative of a family with a long history of involvement in the region.
  Not long after his intrusion into the Isles—perhaps in 1113 or 1114—Domnall appears to have been either driven out by force, or drawn back to Ireland in an attempt to capitalise on Muirchertach's failing health. This would appear to have been about the point when Amlaíb mac Gofraid began his own forty-year reign in the Isles. The latter, who apparently spent a considerable part of his childhood at the court of Henry I, King of England, may well have enjoyed the English king's assistance in assuming control of the Isles, and perhaps precipitated Domnall's departure. Whatever the cause for Domnall's return to Ireland, he certainly predeceased his rival uncle, and was killed by Toirdelbach Ua Conchobair, King of Connacht, as the Annals of Inisfallen, the sixteenth-century Annals of Loch Cé, the Annals of the Four Masters, the fourteenth-century Annals of Tigernach, the Annals of Ulster, and the fifteenth-century Mac Carthaigh's Book all report Domnall's death at the hands of the Connachta in 1115. In fact, Toirdelbach Ua Conchobair had invaded Thomond earlier that year, and the Annals of Tigernach elaborates that he had installed Domnall as King of Thomond at that point. This source further reveals that Domnall had afterwards turned against Toirdelbach Ua Conchobair, who in turn invaded Thomond and had Domnall eliminated.
caption: Excerpt from folio 33r of Oxford Bodleian Library Rawlinson B 503 (the Annals of Inisfallen) concerning Domnall's invasion of the Isles in 1111.[58]
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