Derbforgaill

Derbforgaill [ dʲeɾˌvɔɾɣɪʎ ] neuirisch Dearbhfhorghaill [ dʲaɾəˌvɔɾiʎ ] English Derval (* 1108 in County Meath , Ireland ; † 1193 in Ireland), daughter of Murchad Ua Maeleachlainn, King of was Meath , and his wife Mór (died 1137th) Daughter of Muirchertach Ua Briain. She is known as "Helen of Ireland" because her abduction by Diarmait Mac Murchada , King of Leinster, in 1152 played a role in the occupation of Ireland by the Anglo-Normans.

Unusually for a woman, she is mentioned no less than five times in contemporary annals: her abduction by Diarmait in 1152 (Annals of Clonmacnoise) (although she had already left Leinster at the end of the next year and returned to her family's territory in Meath) ; her foundation for the Cistercian Abbey of Mellifont , consisting of altar cloths, a golden chalice and 60 ounces of gold, during the inauguration ceremony 1157 (Annals of the Four Masters); her completion of the nuns church in Clonmacnoise in 1167 (Annals of the Four Masters); her retreat to Clonmacnoise in 1186 (Annals of Ulster, Annals of Loch Ce) and finally her death at Clonmacnoise in 1193 (Annals of Ulster, Annals of the Four Masters).

Her husband Tigernán Ua Ruairc had three children, Maelseachlainn (Anglis. Melaghlin, d. 1162), Aodh, Crown Prince of Bréifne, who was killed by the Anglo-Normans in 1171, and Dubhchobhlaigh (Anglis. Dowchawley, d. 1171), wife of Ruaidhrí Including Conchobair , High King of Ireland, but it is unclear which of them were Derbforgaill's children.

The abduction of 1152 has been interpreted in different ways. It appears that Derbforgaill consented, and that she took her cattle and other movable property with her, all with the permission of her younger brother Maeleachlainn. It is believed that this was an attempt by her family of origin, the royal family of Meath, to forge a new alliance with Diarmait Mac Murchada. Strengthening contracts by marriage seems to have been standard practice in 12th century Ireland, as demonstrated by Diarmait Mac Murchada's handover of his daughter Aoife to Strongbow .

Most historians assume that it was not a love affair, but dynastic politics.

Tigernán insisted on a 100 ounce gold claim backed by his son-in-law Ruaidri Ua Conchobair.

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• Annals of Clonmacnoise, translated by Connell MacGeoghegan (1627), ed. Denis Murphy (1896). The Annals of Clonmacnoise. Dublin: Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. s. a. 1152, 1167.
• Flanagan, Marie-Therese: Irish Society, Anglo-Norman Settlers, Angevin Kingship , Oxford, 1989.
• Ni Ghradaigh, Jenifer: But what exactly did she give? Derbforgaill and the Nuns' Church, in Clonmacnoise Studies II , ed. H. King, Dublin, 2003, pp. 175-207.