Ragnall mac Torcaill

settlements, including the Kingdom of Dublin, and major Irish kingdoms, including Kingdom of Munster. Ragnall's father, a significant figure named Torcall, is mentioned by the sixteenth-century Annals of Loch Cé in 1133. Although Torcall's ancestry is uncertain, later sources suggest that his family—the Meic Torcaill—were a substantial landholding kindred in the region. Torcall's rise to power seems to have occurred at about a time when Kingdom of Dublin was closely aligned with Diarmait Mac Murchada, King of Leinster. ==Dublin==

—possibly Ragnall himself—as it appears on folio 71v of Oxford Jesus College 111 (the Red Book of Hergest): "''''. Following Conchobar's ousting, the Annals of the Four Masters further indicates that the Dubliners installed a certain Islesman, Ottar mac meic Ottair, as King of Dublin in 1142. Two years later, Ottar, along with an unnamed member of the Meic Torcaill (who may well have been Ragnall himself) and an unnamed son of a certain Erulb, are noted in the context of mercenary operations in Wales by the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century texts Brenhinedd y Saesson and Brut y Tywysogyon, and the "B" and "C" versions of the eleventh- to thirteenth-century Annales Cambriæ. This episode seems to concern Dublin's military involvement in a Welsh factional dispute between Owain Gwynedd and Cadwaladr, sons of Gruffudd ap Cynan, King of Gwynedd. It was in the course of this inter-dynastic struggle that Cadwaladr sought assistance from Ireland. At one point, the sources report that the Dubliners demanded two thousand captives or cattle for their assistance, a pay-off that evinces the kingdom's interest in the continuing twelfth-century slave trade. Contemporary sources reveal that a desire to extinguish the Irish Sea slave trade was one of the reasons the English used to justify their twelfth-century conquests in Ireland. ==Death==

, the twelfth-century Chronicon Scotorum, and the fifteenth-century Mac Carthaigh's Book''. These sources accord Ragnall the title King of Dublin. If these accounts are to be believed, his reign would appear to have begun no earlier than 1144, and interrupted Ottar's reign. The Annals of the Four Masters, however, accords Ragnall the title '''', which could indicate that he was merely a subordinate within Ottar's regime. Ragnall's death appears to have occurred in the context of conflict with the inhabitants of East Meath. The record of his demise—and the Dubliners' part in the slaying of Cellach Ua Cellaig, King of Brega within the same year—may partly evince the apparent north-western expansion by the Dubliners in the twelfth-century. ==Descendants==

of British Library Royal 13 B VIII (Expugnatio Hibernica): "''''". Ragnall had at least one son, Ascall, who ruled as king for a brief period in the last half of the century. Several decades before, the Annals of the Four Masters reports the death of a certain "''''" in 1138. If Ragnall was the leading representative of the family at this point in history, the fact that the deceased individual is not accorded any title could indicate that he was a son of Ragnall. Another possibility is that this man was instead a son of Torcall himself, or perhaps some other member of the Meic Torcaill. The name and title of this Ragnall suggest that he was either an otherwise unattested son of Ragnaill mac Torcaill, or else an annalist's mistake for Ascall himself. ==Notes==