Niall mac Eochada (died 1063),[1] was king of Ulaid from 1016.

His father, Eochada mac Ardgair, died in 1004. His early military ventures were against members of his own sept, Dál Fiatach. He defeated a cousin in 1012 at the ‘battle of the Summits’ and in 1020 defeated and blinded Flaithbertach Ua Eochada.[1]

In 1022 he defeated the Dublin Norse at sea.[2] He then defeated the Cenél nEógain client kingdom of Airgialla. In 1024 he invaded Dublin and took hostages; a success he repeated two years later.[1]

In 1044 mac Eochada raided the southern Uí Néill kingdom of Brega, but was defeated, losing 200 men.[1]

In 1047 he made an alliance with Diarmait mac Maíl na mBó which helped to put pressure, from both north and south, on the kingdoms of Mide, Brega and Dublin [3]

In 1056 the southern Uí Néill took 3,000 cows and 60 captives from his client Kingdom Dál nAraidi which was also raided by the Cenél nEógain in 1059.[1]

Niall's son Eochaid (died 1062) was considered co-king of Ulaid with his father. Eochaid's son Donn Sléibe Ua hEochada (died 1091) was also a king of Ulaid, as were many of his descendants.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Benjamin T. Hudson, ‘Niall mac Eochada (d. 1063)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 18 April 2008
  2. ^ Heald, Henrietta (1992). Chronicle of Britain. Jacques Legrand. p. 172. ISBN 0-19-211695-9.
  3. ^ Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, Early Medieval Ireland: 400–1200, Longman, London, 1995, p. 52. ISBN 0-582-01565-0
  4. ^ Francis John Byrne, Irish Kings and High Kings, Batsford, London, 1973, p. 286, table 6. ISBN 0-7134-5882-8


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