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.
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.
Ragnall mac Torcaill