Domnall Midi

Domhnall Mac Murchada (born c. 700, died 20 November 763), called Domnall Midi (Donald of Meath), was High King of Ireland.

Domnall was chief of Clann Cholmáin for almost fifty years, and High King of Ireland for twenty.

[3] Cináed was killed in 728 fighting against Flaithbertach mac Loingsig of the northern Cenél Conaill who became High King after this victory.

Cathal encamped at Tailtiu, where the Uí Néill high kings traditionally held their main óenach.

[9] The war among the Síl nÁedo Sláine continued in 737 and that same year Áed met with Cathal mac Finguine at Terryglass.

The Annals of Ulster say: "so many fell in this great battle that we find no comparable slaughter in a single onslaught and fierce conflict throughout all preceding ages.

[12] In 739 the Annals of Ulster record that some of Domnall's household were burned to death in a banqueting hall at the unidentified Bodbráith.

[15] The annals offer no explanation as to why the two were at war, but it has been suggested that Áed's expansion into the lands of the Conailli Muirthemne (in modern County Louth) or the killing of Conaing mac Amalgado, king of Brega, supposedly strangled by Áed in 742, may have been connected to Domnall's return.

[17] When Flaithbertach's son Áed Muinderg died in 747, the Annals of Ulster call him "king of the North", suggesting that he was Domnall's deputy among the northern Uí Néill.

His distant kinsman Fallomon mac Con Congalt of Clann Cholmáin Bicc may have been king of Mide in 733, and is definitely styled as such at his death in 766.

Domnall's support for Iona, a policy followed by his descendants, caused the principal Columban church to move to Kells during the Viking Age.

This again suggests that he saw the presence of the Cenél nEógain on the eastern coast as a threat to his family's power and emphasizes his good relations with the kings of Leinster.

The Félire Óengusso, written at Tallaght in the borderlands of Leinster, apparently includes him among the oppressive secular rulers whom the authors held in contempt.

[30] Domnall's son Diarmait Dub died in 764, leading an army raised from the lands of Durrow Abbey.