{"id":101,"date":"2022-12-28T17:58:41","date_gmt":"2022-12-28T17:58:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:10028\/?p=101"},"modified":"2022-12-28T17:58:41","modified_gmt":"2022-12-28T17:58:41","slug":"mael-seachnaill-mac-domnaill-a-sculpture-by-james-mckenna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost:10028\/mael-seachnaill-mac-domnaill-a-sculpture-by-james-mckenna\/","title":{"rendered":"MAEL SEACHNAILL MAC DOMNAILL A SCULPTURE BY JAMES McKENNA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

CHRISTMAS 2022 IN TRIM COUNTY MEATH<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n


\n\n\n\n

This area on the banks of the River Boyne has improved since I last visited but it is still a bit untidy and the plaque has disappeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

M\u00e1el Sechnaill mac Domnaill, also called M\u00e1el Sechnaill M\u00f3r or M\u00e1el Sechnaill II (949 \u2013 2 September 1022), was a King of Mide and High King of Ireland. His great victory at the Battle of Tara against Olaf Cuaran in 980 resulted in Gaelic Irish control of the Kingdom of Dublin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

M\u00e1el Sechnaill belonged to the Clann Cholm\u00e1in branch of the U\u00ed N\u00e9ill dynasty. He was the grandson of Donnchad Donn, great-grandson of Flann Sinna and great-great-grandson of the first M\u00e1el Sechnaill, M\u00e1el Sechnaill mac M\u00e1ele Ruanaid. The Kings of Tara or High Kings of Ireland had for centuries alternated between the various U\u00ed N\u00e9ill branches. By M\u00e1el Sechnaill’s time this alternating succession passed between Clann Cholm\u00e1in in the south and the Cen\u00e9l nE\u00f3gain in the north, so that he succeeded Domnall ua N\u00e9ill in 980. This system had survived previous challenges by outsiders including the kings of Ulster, Munster and Leinster, and the Viking invasions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 980, Olav Cuar\u00e1n, King of Dublin, summoned auxiliaries from Norse-ruled Scottish Isles and from Mann and attacked Meath, but was defeated by M\u00e1el Sechnaill at the Battle of Tara. Reginald, Olaf’s heir, was killed. M\u00e1el Sechnaill followed up his victory with a siege of Dublin which surrendered after three days and nights. When Ma\u00e9l Sechnaill took Dublin in 980, according to the Annals of Tigernach, he freed all the slaves then residing in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n