Mag Lena, Mag Léna, or Mag Léne (anglicised Moylena[O'Donovan 2008 p. ix] or Moylen[O'Donovan 2008 pp. 30–31] was near the border between Mide and Laigin (Leinster),[O'Donovan 2008 p. 92] and is mentioned in Irish manuscripts as the site of several legendary, pseudohistorical, and historical events. The civil parish of Kilbride in Ballycowan was "Kilbride alias Moylena" in the time of Charles I.[O'Donovan 2008 p. 32]
Legendary events
The
dindsenchas of Mag Lena appended to
The Tale of Mac Da Thó's Pig says the name means "the plain of Léna", from Mac Da Thó's son Léna, who was buried there.
The division of Ireland into Leath Cuinn and Leath Moga (Conn's Half and Mug's Half) stems from a battle at Mag Lena, in which Conn Cétchathach defeated Éogan Mór
Mug Nuadat,
[FitzPatrick (2015) p. 53] The battle is placed at varying dates in the second century AD by the Book of Ballymote, Book of Lecan, Annals of Ulster, and Book of Leinster.
The 13th-century text
The Battle of Magh Lena was published in 1855 with an English translation and notes by Eugene O'Curry.
(
James Macpherson's
Ossian conflates this Moylena with a different place in
Ulster, perhaps
Magh Line in
County Antrim,
[O'Donovan 2008 p. 20] which gives its name to the
Moylena Ground.)
Historical events
About AD 630, a
synod of Irish clerics was held in Mag Lena to resolve the controversy over the date of Easter. Shortly afterwards the southern clergy accepted the Roman
computus, while at Mag nAilbe (Moynalvy,
County Meath) the northern clergy persisted with the
Iona Abbey value.
The Óenach Colmáin, an important 9th-century
aonach dedicated to Colmán Elo, was probably held at
Lynally at the southern edge of Mag Lena.
[FitzPatrick (2015) pp. 53, 61–62]
In AD 906, another battle at Mag Lena was the first of two between the forces on the one hand of Cormac mac Cuilennáin, the king of Munster, and on the other hand of
Flann Sinna, the king of Mide and High King of Ireland, and Cerball mac Muirecáin, the king of Leinster. Cormac won at Mag Lena but was killed two years later at Belach Mugna.
About AD 1020, Maolmuadh Ó Maolmhuaidh, king of Firceall, was taken by force from
Durrow Abbey by Fogartach Uí Chernaig, and killed in Mag Lena.
In AD 1090, Muirchertach Ua Briain of Munster lost a bloody battle against Domnall Ua Maél Sechnaill of Mide as part of a four-sided contest for the High Kingship.
[O'Donovan 2008 p. 29]
Sources
Further reading
