Sadb ingen Chuinn was a daughter of

Conn of the Hundred Battles Conn Cétchathach (), or Conn of the Hundred Battles, son of Fedlimid Rechtmar, was a legendary High King of Ireland who is claimed to be the ancestor of the Connachta, and through his descendant Niall Noígiallach, the Uí Néill dynasties, w ...

, a

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 ...

. She married firstly Macnia mac Lugdach, prince of the

Dáirine The Dáirine (Dárine, Dáirfine, Dáirfhine, Dárfine, Dárinne, Dairinne), later known dynastically as the Corcu Loígde and associated, were the proto-historical rulers of Munster before the rise of the Eóganachta in the 7th century AD. They ...

Corcu Loígde The Corcu Loígde (Corcu Lóegde, Corco Luigde, Corca Laoighdhe, Laidhe), meaning Gens of the Calf Goddess, also called the Síl Lugdach meic Itha, were a kingdom centred in West County Cork who descended from the proto-historical rulers of M ...

, and was mother of Lugaid Mac Con, High King of Ireland. Upon the death of Macnia, she married secondly

Ailill Aulom Ailill Ollamh (or Oilill Olum) in Irish traditional history was the son of Mug Nuadat and was a king of the southern half of Ireland, placed in the 3rd century by early modern Irish genealogy. Sadb ingen Chuinn, daughter of Conn of the Hundred B ...

, king of southern Ireland, and was mother of

Éogan Mór In Irish traditional history Éogan (or Eoghan Mór—a name also used by his grandfather, Mug Nuadat), eldest son of Ailill Ollamh, was a 2nd or 3rd century AD king of Munster. He ruled for either fifteen or seventeen years, though fifteen i ...

, ancestor of the

Eóganachta The Eóganachta (Modern , ) were an Irish dynasty centred on Rock of Cashel, Cashel which dominated southern Ireland (namely the Kingdom of Munster) from the 6/7th to the 10th centuries, and following that, in a restricted form, the Kingdom of De ...

. Her brother was Art mac Cuinn, also a High King of Ireland, while her sister Sáruit married

Conaire Cóem Conaire Cóem ("the beautiful"), son of Mug Láma, son of Coirpre Crou-Chend, son of Coirpre Firmaora, son of Conaire Mór, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, the 111th High King of Ireland. He came to power on the ...

of the

Érainn The Iverni (, ') were a people of early Ireland first mentioned in Ptolemy's 2nd century ''Geography'' as living in the extreme south-west of the island. He also locates a "city" called Ivernis (, ') in their territory, and observes that this se ...

, who was High King before him. The traditions vary. Alternatively, as in the '' Cath Maige Mucrama'', she was the wife only of Ailill Aulom and mother of Éogan Mór, Cormac Cas, Cian, and Lugaid Mac Con's foster-mother. In the ''Cath Maige Léna'', an Early Modern tale, Sadb is actually Mac Con's wife, although he is called Mac Nia and possibly confused with his father or grandfather. Regardless, in historical times, she was chiefly remembered as an ancestor of the Eóganachta dynasties. Possibly referred to in the ''

Acallam na Senórach ''Acallam na Senórach'' (, whose title in English has been given variously as ''Colloquy of the Ancients'', ''Tales of the Elders of Ireland'', ''The Dialogue of the Ancients of Ireland'', etc.), is an important prosimetric Middle Irish narrat ...

'', Sadb is described as "one of the four best women that man ever lay with".Connon, p. 240 Sadhbh, mother of

Oisín Oisín (), Osian, Ossian ( ), or anglicized as Osheen ( ) was regarded in legend as the greatest poet of Ireland, a warrior of the Fianna in the Ossianic or Fenian Cycle of Irish mythology. He is the demigod son of Fionn mac Cumhaill and ...

and wife of

Fionn mac Cumhaill Fionn mac Cumhaill, often anglicised Finn McCool or MacCool, is a hero in Irish mythology, as well as in later Scottish and Manx folklore. He is the leader of the ''Fianna'' bands of young roving hunter-warriors, as well as being a seer a ...

, may in part derive from her.

Notes

References

* Anne Connon, "A Prosopography of the Early Queens of Tara", in

Edel Bhreathnach Edel Bhreathnach is an Irish historian and academic and former CEO of the Discovery Programme. Bhreathnach was a Tara Research Fellow for the Discovery Programme from 1992 to 2000. In 2005 she was appointed Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Mícheál � ...

(ed.), ''The Kingship and Landscape of Tara''. Dublin:

Four Courts Press Four Courts Press is an independent Irish academic publishing house, with its office at Malpas Street, Dublin 8, Ireland. Founded in 1970 by Michael Adams, who died in February 2009, its early publications were primarily theological, notably ...

for

The Discovery Programme The Discovery Programme: Centre for Archaeology and Innovation Ireland is an all-Ireland centre for archaeology and heritage research. It was established by the Irish Government in 1991. It is a company limited by guarantee, funded mainly through ...

. 2005. pp. 225–327 {{DEFAULTSORT:Sadb Ingen Chuinn Legendary Irish people Irish women