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[Ir., conflict, fight, attack].

Name borne by several figures from early Irish history and legend, most notably Congal Cáech [One-eyed], a shadowy but historical 7th-century king of Ulster. Congal was a leader of Dál nAraide, a petty kingdom east of Lough Neagh, who became king of Ulster but was killed by the high king, Domnall (1), at the Battle of Mag Rath [Moira] (637); cf. the account of Mag Rath in Buile Shuibhne. Sir Samuel Ferguson dramatized this obscure ruler's reign in Congal (1872), the only epic poem in Anglo-Irish literature, much in the manner of George Chapman's Elizabethan translation of the Iliad. Another Congal was the foster-brother of Máel Fothartaig in Fingal Rónáin [How Rónán Killed His Son].

Subjects: Religion.

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