Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Loingsech
LOINGSECH (d. 704), king of Ireland, succeeded Finachta Fleadhach as ardrigh in 695. His father was Œngus, grandson of Aedh mac Ainmire, king of Ireland from 568 to 595. The first mention of him in the annals (O'Donovan, Annals of Ireland, p. 68) is in 672, when he won a battle at Tulachard over the king of Banagh, co. Donegal. In 699 there was a severe murrain, while in three subsequent years plague and famine were epidemic. The establishment of the Cain Adhamhnain, which exempted women from military service, took place in his reign, and may have been a result of these misfortunes. In 704 Loingsech led a plundering expedition into Connaught. Ceallach mac Raghallaigh, king of Connaught, an aged man whose infirmities had been satirised by the poets of Loingsech, assembled his tribes and led them to battle in his chariot with such spirit that Loingsech and his three sons were slain. The battle was fought at Corann in the north of Connaught, and was celebrated in a satirical poem beginning, 'Basa adhaigh i ccorann, basa uacht, basa omum,' of which the best version, obviously an ancient one, is in a fragment of annals preserved by Mac Firbisigh (O'Donovan, Three Fragments, pp. 106-8).
[Annala Rioghachta Eireann, i. 296-303; O'Donovan's Annals of Ireland and Three Fragments; Annala Uladh, ed. Hennessy, i. 152; Book of Ballymote, fol. 52; R. O'Flaherty's Ogygia.]