page_title: Ragnall mac Torcaill
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Ragnall mac Torcaill / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Locations of Norse-Gaelic enclaves (marked with stars and italics) and Irish kingdoms before the arrival of the Anglo-Normans in the late twelfth century.
context_page_description: Ragnall mac Torcaill was a twelfth-century Norse-Gaelic magnate who may have been King of Dublin. He was a member of the Meic Torcaill, and may be identical to a member of this family who campaigned in Wales in 1144. Ragnall was slain in 1146, with some sources styling him king in records of his demise. He was the father of at least one son, Ascall, a man who certainly reigned as king.
context_section_description: Ragnall's father, a significant figure named Torcall, is mentioned by the sixteenth-century Annals of Loch Cé in 1133. Although Torcall's ancestry is uncertain, later sources suggest that his family—the Meic Torcaill—were a substantial landholding kindred in the region. Torcall's rise to power seems to have occurred at about a time when Kingdom of Dublin was closely aligned with Diarmait Mac Murchada, King of Leinster. The latter lost control of Dublin in 1141, however, as the seventeenth-century Annals of the Four Masters reveals that the town was seized and held by Conchobar Ua Briain, overlord of Munster.
caption: Locations of significant Norse-Gaelic settlements, including the Kingdom of Dublin, and major Irish kingdoms, including Kingdom of Munster.[7]
exif: {}