Cerball mac Dúnlainge

A large body of contemporary and near-contemporary material on early medieval Ireland has survived. From the titles of works mentioned in these sources, it is clear that a great deal of additional material has now been lost. The surviving materials usually exist in the form of much later copies, and it is only from comparison of the various texts that the original documents can be reconstructed.[5]

The Irish annals which document the ninth century are ultimately derived from the now-lost Chronicle of Ireland which was then being compiled in the midlands of Ireland. All annals include material derived from other sources, or added at a later date. None are complete, although the Annals of Ulster and the Annals of Inisfallen cover Cerball's lifetime. The Annals of Clonmacnoise survive only in an eccentric 17th-century English translation, and the Annals of Tigernach for this period are lost, although Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh's abbreviated copy known as the Chronicon Scotorum supplies much of the missing material. The Annals of the Four Masters are late, and include some material of doubtful origin. While the annals provide a considerable amount of information, they are generally terse, and most focus their attention on the doings of the Uí Néill, sometimes to the extent of omitting inconvenient events.[6]

A source which concentrates on Cerball's career is the Fragmentary Annals of Ireland, so called because only fragments remain of a seemingly longer work, these again copied by Mac Fhirbhisigh in the 17th century from a 15th-century manuscript. The fragment which deals with Cerball's lifetime ends in the early 870s, so that the last fifteen years of his life are missing. Joan Radner, editor and translator of the modern edition of the Fragmentary Annals, argues that these were compiled at the court of Cerball's great-great-grandson Donnchad mac Gilla Pátraic. Although called annals, these are closer to narrative history and are derived from a number of sources. The basic framework is from the Chronicle of Ireland, but to this has been added a variety of material whose source is unknown, perhaps including early sagas, which concerns Cerball. The Fragmentary Annals were intended to magnify Cerball's achievements, and to present his dealings with Vikings and Norse–Gaels in a favourable light.[7]

If the various annals are partisan, the remaining sources which concern Cerball are notably unreliable. Perhaps inspired by the Fragmentary Annals, which offer some positive views of Vikings and may have been popular in the Norse-Gael Dublin of the 11th century, many Icelandic genealogies include Cerball—Kjarvalr Írakonungr—as an ancestor.[8] Lastly, The Prophecy of Berchán, an 11th-century verse history of kings in Ireland and Scotland presented as a prophecy, may include Cerball.[9]

A very large number of genealogies exist, along with geographical and legal texts. Of these last, the Frithfolad Muman, a document purporting to set out the obligations of the Kings of Munster to their allies, clients, and subjects is of interest as it sheds light on the position of Osraige within the provincial kingship of Munster.[10]

Ireland circa 900

A memory of the kingdom of Osraige survives today in the name and boundaries of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ossory. The earliest recorded seat of the bishops was at Saighir, later moved to Aghaboe, and this appears to have been the principal church of the kingdom by the eighth century when the life of Saint Cainnech of Aghaboe was composed.[11] The name Osraige—the Deer people—is among the oldest group of Irish tribal names. Although genealogists in the Early Christian period explained such names by recourse to eponymous ancestors, the names are likely those of totemic animals or tribal deities.[12]

Osraige was only one túath among 150 in Ireland. The average túath was small, perhaps 500 square kilometres in area with a population of some three to four thousand. Osraige was atypical, much larger than this, covering perhaps 2000 square kilometres astride the River Barrow in the modern counties of Kilkenny, Laois, and Offaly. In principle, each tuath had its own king and court and bishop, but political power generally rested with the provincial over-kings.[13]

At the time of Cerball's birth Osraige lay within the province and kingdom of Munster, ruled by the Eóganachta from the royal centre of Cashel. Osraige lay at the extreme eastern edge of Munster bordering the neighbouring province of Leinster. For a period in the seventh century, most of southern Osraige was ruled by the Corcu Loígde, rulers of Munster before the coming of the Eóganachta. The Frithfolad Muman text states that the Osraige had once been kings of Munster and makes it clear that they were a privileged and powerful group, but no longer a major force, "the respectable has-beens of Munster politics".[14]

The period of Cerball's life covered much of the first Viking Age, and he is notably mentioned in later Nordic sources. The Icelandic Landnámabók describes Cearbhall (Kjarvalur) as ruler of Dublin and Earl of Orkney and opens with a list of the most prominent rulers in Viking-age Europe, listing this Ossorian king alongside other well-known rulers of that era, specifically Popes Adrian II and John VIII; Byzantine Emperors Leo VI the Wise and his brother Alexander; Harald Fairhair, king of Norway; Eric Anundsson and his son Björn Eriksson rulers of Sweden; Gorm the Old, king of Denmark; and Alfred the Great, king of England.[15] While several kingdoms in Britain — East Anglia, Fortriu, Mercia, and Northumbria — would collapse under the shock of Viking attacks, their impact in Ireland was very much less immediate. In the first half of the ninth century, raiders appear to have come in small groups, increasing in size until larger forces appear, such as that led by the shadowy Turgéis (Turgesius) in the 840s, and those led by Amlaíb and Ímar from the 850s onwards. Vikings would be both enemies and allies for Cerball and other Irish kings. In the long run, the creation of Norse–Gaelic towns by Vikings operating as traders rather than raiders would change the Irish political landscape, but the results of this were seen in the tenth and eleventh centuries rather than the ninth.[16]

Cerball next appears to have allied himself with two Norse or Norse-Gael "kings", Amlaíb Conung, "son of the king of Lochlann", and Ímar, called "king of the Norsemen of all Ireland and Britain" at his death in 873.[24] Ímar is sometimes assumed to be the same person as Ivar the Boneless and Amlaíb to be Olaf the White, respectively son of the legendary Danish viking Ragnar Lodbrok and Olaf Geirstad-Alf of Vestfold descendant of the Yngling dynasty of Norway. [25] These allies were not sufficiently strong to prevent Máel Sechnaill from taking hostages and tribute from Cerball in 858,[26] but Cerball and Ímar campaigned in Leinster that year, and also against the Norse-Gaels in Munster.[27] The following year, together with Amlaíb Conung, they raided Máel Sechnaill's lands in Mide, but soon afterwards Cerball was compelled to submit again to Máel Sechnaill.[28]

In 860 Cerball defeated a force of Norse who were raiding in Osraige, and later in the year he joined Máel Sechnaill on campaign against Áed Finnliath in the north of Ireland.[29]

Cerball is remembered in historical sources as a great and heroic king, possessed of victorious and daring exploits with many colourful anecdotes written about him. He is mentioned in all the major Irish annals, bringing the Osraige into military prominence during his reign, securing a very strong marriage alliance with the high king and gaining political independence away from Munster. Irish, Scandinavian and Welsh sources record his existence; several annals in particular contain unique information about him.

Cerball is hailed as an illustrious ancestor of several prominent lineages in both Ireland, Scotland and Iceland. He is the direct male ancestor of the kings of Osraige after him, and as such is the direct male-line progenitor of the Mac Giolla Phádraig clan who maintained kingship over Osraige and succeeded in the Barony of Upper Ossory in addition to the Earldom of the same and the Castletown Barons. He is also direct-male ancestor of the prominent clan Ua Braonáin (O'Brennan) of Uí Duach (Idough)[40] in Osraige who were a junior sept stemming from a younger son of Cerball.[41] Icelandic literature also names him as the maternal grandfather of Helgi the Lean, a prominent settler of Iceland from whom many Icelandic families claim descent, including the saga-hero Gunnar of Hlíðarendi.[42]

  Dungal, d. 842.
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  |                  |                 |
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  Cerball, d. 888. Riacan, d. 894. Land, d. 890. = Mael Sechnaill  = Aed Finlaith   = Gaethine
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  |__________________________________________________________________________________________________
  |                   |        |                  |         |         |          |            |
  |                   |        |                  |         |         |          |            |
  Diarmait, d. 928. Cuilde Ceallach, d.908.      Rafarta   Dunghal   Kormled    Frithgertr   Ethna
  |                            |                 =Eyvindr   |        =Grimolfr  =Iorirhima   =Hlotvir, Earl of Orkney
  |                            |__________       Bjarnason  |          |                       |
  ?                            |          |                 Dufthakr   |                       |
  |                            |          |                 |         Thorgrimr               Signuth digri, Earl of Orkney, d. 1014.
  |                  Donnchad, d. 976. Cuilen,  ____________|
  Ceallach,          |                 d. 933.  |           |
  d. 1003.           |                          |           |
              Gilla Patraic, d. 996.            Vilbadr Askell hnokhan
                     |                          |
                     |                          |__________
          Mac Giolla Phádraig                   |         |
            Kings of Osraige                    |         |
                                                Bjollok Bjolan

• Dál Birn
• Fragmentary Annals of Ireland
• Kingdom of Ossory
• Kings of Osraige
• Fitzpatrick
• Mac Giolla Phádraig

• CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts at University College Cork. The Corpus of Electronic Texts includes the Annals of Ulster and the Four Masters, the Chronicon Scotorum and the Book of Leinster as well as Genealogies, and various Saints' Lives. Most are translated into English, or translations are in progress
• The Landnámabók (translated at Northvegr)
• New Headstone carved for King Cerball
• "Eru Íslendingar komnir af Kjarval Írakonungi?" (Icelandic article on Cerball's descendants)
• Cerball's graveslab at The Fitzpatrick - Mac Giolla Phádraig Clan Society