well as other 9th century kings of Munster who were bishops and abbots, was probably a compromise candidate. The Annals of the Four Masters, a 17th-century compilation of annals based on earlier works, but including much of uncertain reliability, state that Cormac was tutored by Snedgus of Dísert Díarmata (now Castledermot). Some later accounts claim that Cormac had been married or betrothed to Gormlaith, daughter of Flann Sinna, the High King of Ireland, but instead took vows of celibacy. Paul Russell. writing in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography suggests these are later fictions and historian Francis John Byrne saw an echo of earlier tales of the sovereignty goddess in them. Although there is no doubt that Cormac was a bishop before and while he was king of Munster, it is not clear which see Cormac held. Some writers have suggested that he should be linked with Emly rather than Cashel. King and bishop Cormac was chosen as king of Munster following the death of Finguine Cenn nGécan, who is said by the Annals of Ulster to have been "deceitfully killed by his associates" and by the Annals of Innisfallen to have been killed by the Cenél Conaill Chaisil, a branch of the Cashel Eóganachta. The Annals of Innisfallen note the beginning of Cormac's reign and call him a "noble bishop and celibate". Cormac may have attempted to restore the authority of the kings of Munster over neighbouring Leinster and perhaps aspired to be chief king in Ireland. The surviving record, written largely from a northern and pro-Uí Néill perspective, presents a misleading picture and understates the power and pretensions of the Eóganachta. The southern Annals of Innisfallen report campaigns in 907 by Cormac in Connacht and Mide, where Flann Sinna was defeated, and record a fleet operating on the River Shannon on his orders which captured Clonmacnoise. Cath Belach Mugna In 908, Cormac and Flaithbertach mac Inmainén, Cormac's chief councillor and abbot of Scattery Island, collected an army to campaign against their eastern neighbours, Leinster, whose king Cerball mac Muirecáin was Flann Sinna's son-in-law and staunch ally. The Fragmentary Annals of Ireland, a source compiled in the 11th century for Donnchad mac Gilla Pátraic, king of Osraige, and king of Leinster, contain a long account of these events, perhaps written within living memory. After the army of Munster had gathered, Flaithbertach mac Inmainén's horse stumbled and threw him to