The rise and fall of the Clann Éinrí Aimhréidh Uí Néill: dynastic feuding and geopolitics in the late medieval Irish Sea world

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Abstract

During the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, the Ulster lordship of Tír Eoghain was bitterly contested between two rival branches of the Uí Néill dynasty: the Clann Éinrí Aimhréidh and the Clann Briain Catha an Dúin. Traditionally, historians have focused mainly on the local origins and ramifications of this feud and have paid only cursory attention to how events ranging from the Shannon Estuary through to the Outer Hebrides shaped the course of this struggle. For instance, throughout the later fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries a range of different regional players from across this wider ‘Irish Sea world’ became drawn into pulled into this conflict, each possessing a vested interest in the outcome of the Uí Néill successional war. By drawing upon a rich corpus of primary sources, including Irish, Scottish and English material, this article locates the Uí Néill feud within a wider dynastic and geopolitical context. Ultimately, the article argues for the necessity of exploring this feud from within a wider geographic and dynastic framework of interpretation, and paying closer attention to how events within the Irish Sea world could impact and impinge upon the politics of the wider archipelago.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)27-52
Number of pages26
JournalIrish Historical Studies
Volume48
Issue number173
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 07 Oct 2024

Keywords

  • lordship
  • Gaelic Ireland
  • medieval Ireland
  • Irish Sea world
  • medieval Scotland
  • lordship of the Isles
  • Ulster

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