Niall of the Nine Hostages, and the O'Neill clan

The last family in our clan showcase is the O'Neills. The most famous ancestor of this clan was the king named Niall Naoighiallach, or Niall of the Nine Hostages.

Niall, according to legend, was destined from birth to become Ard Ri of Ireland. The son of Eochaid Muigh-medon, Ard Ri at the time, Niall had to overcome obstacles even as a baby. His stepmother, being jealous of him and wishing the kingship for her own son, left him on a hill as a baby, naked, to die from the elements. But a wandering Bard found and raised him. His ascension to the throne was predicted by a smith, and at a later time, by the impersonation of sovereignty herself. The legend goes that Niall, accompanied by a group of other men, came across an old hag. She asked that one of the men kiss her. Only Niall had the courage to do so. As he kissed her, she turned into a beautiful woman whose name, Flaithius, translates as Royalty. She predicted that Niall would become the greatest king to ever sit on the throne of Ireland. And so her foretelling proved true, for Niall would establish a dynasty that would last for 600 years.

Another legend states that while Niall and his brothers were working in a smith forge, a fire broke out while the boys' father looked on. Rumor was, the father himself had set it to see what his sons were made of. Each of the young men grabbed what they could salvage from the burning building, but only Niall stood out.

"Niall carried out the bellows, the sledges, the anvil, and anvil block - saved the soul of the forge, and saved the smith from ruin. Then his father said: 'It is Niall who should succeed me as Ard Righ of Eirinn'."* - From The Lebor Gabala Erren, or The Book of the Taking of Ireland, Book of Leinster 1150 A.D.

When Niall became king, his first foreign mission was into Alba, or Scotland, to drive off the Picts who out of fear of their growing numbers, had tried to crush the small Irish colony of Dalriada who'd settled there. Niall subdued the Picts, and made them his allies. From there, he made many excursions into Briton, and later Gaul, bringing back to Ireland great wealth and many hostages to serve as slaves. It was in one of these raids that a young boy, Patricus, was brought back to be a slave, and who later was to become the great Saint Patrick, converter of the Irish from paganism to Christianity.

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