Queen Gormlaith

Alfred Webb

1878

Gormlaith, Queen, daughter of Flann Sinna, Monarch of Ireland, was born about 880. She was a very beautiful woman, and was first married to Cormac MacCullinan. After his death, she was won by Cearbhall, or Carroll, King of Leinster, who was slain in the year 909. She then espoused Nial Glundubh, with whom she lived till he was slain by Amlaff at Dublin, in 919. Gormlaith was then left destitute, and is said even to have been forced to beg from door to door, and died in 946, say the Four Masters, "after intense penance for her sins and transgressions." Her chequered life has furnished a theme for many poems.

Sources

134. Four Masters, Annals of Ireland by the: Translated and Edited by John O'Donovan. 7 vols. Dublin, 1856.

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