Cacht ingen Ragnaill was the queen of Donnchad mac Briain, from their marriage in 1032 to her death in 1054, when she is styled Queen of Ireland in the

Irish annals A number of Irish annals, of which the earliest was the Chronicle of Ireland, were compiled up to and shortly after the end of the 17th century. Annals were originally a means by which monks determined the yearly chronology of feast days. Over ti ...

of the

Clonmacnoise Clonmacnoise or Clonmacnois (Irish language, Irish: ''Cluain Mhic Nóis'') is a ruined monastery in County Offaly in Republic of Ireland, Ireland on the River Shannon south of Athlone, founded in 544 by Saint Ciarán of Clonmacnoise, Ciarán, ...

group: the Annals of Tigernach and Chronicon Scotorum. Her husband himself, though

King of Munster The kings of Munster () ruled the Kingdom of Munster in Ireland from its establishment during the Irish Iron Age until the High Middle Ages. According to Gaelic traditional history, laid out in works such as the ''Book of Invasions'', the earli ...

, is not widely regarded as having been

High King of Ireland High King of Ireland ( ) was a royal title in Gaelic Ireland held by those who had, or who are claimed to have had, lordship over all of Ireland. The title was held by historical kings and was later sometimes assigned anachronously or to leg ...

and so the extent of Cacht's influence is uncertain. That her style is superior to his presents an obviously strange situation in medieval

Gaelic Ireland Gaelic Ireland () was the Gaelic political and social order, and associated culture, that existed in Ireland from the late Prehistory of Ireland, prehistoric era until the 17th century. It comprised the whole island before Anglo-Norman invasi ...

's male-dominated politics. Of Norse-Irish descent, Cacht almost certainly belonged to the dynasty of the Uí Ímair, and is usually assumed to have been a sister of Donnchad's ally Echmarcach mac Ragnaill, whose precise parentage is uncertain. He is regarded by scholars either as a descendant of Ivar of Waterford, or of Gofraid mac Arailt, Benjamin T. Hudson, ''Viking Pirates and Christian Princes: Dynasty, Religion, and Empire in the North Atlantic''.

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. 2005. but since both had children named Ragnall and both dynasties were in alliance with the Dál Cais, Cacht's father need not be identical with his.

Issue

References and notes

Irish royal consorts 11th-century Irish people 11th-century Irish women Viking Age women Uí Ímair 1054 deaths Year of birth unknown {{Ireland-royal-stub