First High King of the Connachta
Conn Cétchathach — Conn of the Hundred Battles — was one of the most celebrated High Kings of Ireland. His epithet is not a precise count. It marks him as a king whose reign was defined by constant fighting and consistent victory.
He divided Ireland into two halves. The northern half was Leath Cuinn — Conn’s Half. The southern half was Leath Mogha — Mogh’s Half, named for his great rival Mogh Nuadat, the king of the south. The two men fought each other across their reigns. When peace finally came, Conn gave his daughter Sadhbh to Mogh Nuadat in marriage. The division those wars defined is still in the Irish landscape’s traditional geographical language.
On the Hill of Tara, Conn walked into a mist and came out at a supernatural palace. A man sat on a crystal throne. A woman — the sovereignty of Ireland — served ale from a golden cup and asked to whom it should be given. The figure named the kings who would come after Conn, specifying the length of each reign. The sovereignty of Ireland was showing him his line’s future.
He survived a hundred battles and was killed by treachery. A man disguised as a woman stabbed him, on the order of Tiobraide Tireach, king of Ulster. His son Art mac Cuinn avenged him.
He was the grandfather of Cormac mac Airt and the founding ancestor of the Connachta dynasties and the Uí Néill — the dominant dynasties of early Irish political history. The province of Connacht takes its name from him.
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