in
Waterford was built by
Anglo-Normans, it likely sits upon an earlier
Viking Age fort, and seems to be named after one of the
rulers of Waterford who bore a form of the name
Ragnall. Very little is known of the Waterfordian kingship in the early eleventh century. Ímar died in 1000. His son, the aforesaid Ragnall mac Ímair, died as king in 1018. Another son of Ímar, Sitriuc mac Ímair, King of Waterford was slain by the
King of Osraige in 1022. An apparent brother of Ragnall died in 1015. Ragnall himself appears to have ruled Waterford from 1022 to 1035. The seventeenth-century
Annals of the Four Masters, the fourteenth-century
Annals of Tigernach, and the fifteenth- to sixteenth-century
Annals of Ulster reveal that, in 1035, Ragnall was slain by
Sitriuc mac Amlaíb, King of Dublin. The following year, Sitriuc mac Amlaíb was driven out of
Dublin by
Echmarcach mac Ragnaill. Whilst the parentage of the latter is uncertain, if he was a related to Ragnall—perhaps as either a brother or son—it could mean that Echmarcach's actions against Sitriuc mac Amlaíb were undertaken in revenge for his death. Against this possibility is the fact that there is no evidence that Echmarcach, or his known family, had any connection with Waterford. Whatever the case, Ragnall's fall appears to have been an important benchmark in Waterford's history, and after this date the enclave increasingly fell prey to the machinations of the
Uí Briain and the
Uí Cheinnselaig. In fact, two years after the killing, the King of Waterford was Cú Inmain ua Robann, an apparent Irishman. ==Notes==