Editing Downpatrick (section)

===Early history===
[[File:Mound of Down.jpg|thumb|The remains of the 'Mound of Down'.]]
[[File:St Patrick's Grave Downpatrick - older photo.jpg|thumb|right|Reputed grave of St Patrick]]
Downpatrick is one of Ireland's oldest towns. It takes its name from a ''dún'', a medieval royal fort, which stood on a [[drumlin]] overlooking the [[River Quoile]]. In the Middle Ages, the river was an estuary that would have surrounded the drumlin on most sides.<ref name="MacDonald">MacDonald, Philip (2012). [https://www.qub.ac.uk/sites/communityarchaeology/PDFFileStore/Filetoupload,508691,en.pdf "Geophysical Survey and Excavation at the Mound of Down, County Down"]. [[Queen's University Belfast]]. pp.5–14, 33–35.</ref> It is believed that there was a [[ringfort]] on the site in the [[History of Ireland (400–800)|early Middle Ages]]. This may have been the site called ''Ráth Celtchair'' (later anglicized Rathkeltair), the 'fort of [[Celtchar]]', after a hero in the [[Ulster Cycle]] of [[Irish mythology]].<ref name="MacDonald"/>

A small [[Celtic Christianity|Christian]] [[monastic settlement]] was also built on the neighbouring drumlin to the south, now known as 'Cathedral Hill'.<ref name="MacDonald"/> Nearby [[Saul Monastery]] was associated with [[Saint Patrick]]. The saint is said to have been buried on Cathedral Hill in the 5th century, and his reputed grave is still a place of pilgrimage. Down Cathedral was later built on this spot.<ref name="MacDonald"/>

In the early 11th century, a much bigger fort with earthen ramparts was built on the northern drumlin, now known as the 'Mound of Down'.<ref name="MacDonald"/> This was the capital of the [[Dál Fiatach]], the main ruling dynasty of [[Ulaid]]h (Ulster), who held the title "Rí Uladh", "King of Ulster".<ref name="MacDonald"/> Deirdre Flanagan suggests that the older name ''Dún Lethglaise'' referred to Cathedral Hill, while ''Dún da Lethglas'' was the name of this new royal residence.<ref name="MacDonald"/>

The [[Kingdom of Norway (872–1397)|King of Norway]], [[Magnus Barefoot]], was killed in an ambush near Downpatrick in 1102. It is believed his grave is marked by a mound at Horse Island, southwest of Cathedral Hill.<ref>McCormick, Finbar. "[http://www.jstor.org/stable/41406683 The grave of Magnus Barelegs]". ''Ulster Journal of Archaeology'', vol. 68, 2009. pp. 102–109.</ref>

[[Saint Malachy]] became the [[Bishop of Down]] (''Dún da Lethglas'') in 1137. He administered the diocese from [[Bangor Abbey|Bangor]] and introduced a community of [[Augustinians]] (canons) to ''Dún da Lethglas'' dedicated to St John the Evangelist. Malachy and his successors repaired and enlarged Down Cathedral.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rankin |first1=Fred |title=Down Cathedral: The Church of Saint Patrick of Down |date=1997 |publisher=Ulster Historical Foundation |pages=20–21}}</ref>

In the late 12th century, the area was conquered by [[Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland|Anglo-Normans]] led by [[John de Courcy]], becoming part of his [[Earldom of Ulster]]. In February 1177, a Norman army of 300 men and 20 knights marched north from Dublin and took the town by surprise. The King of Ulster and Dál Fiatach, [[Ruaidrí mac Duinn Sléibe]] (Rory MacDunleavy), tried to retake the town, but was forced to withdraw after a fierce battle.<ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Francis Xavier |author-link=F. X. Martin |editor=Art Cosgrove |title=A New History of Ireland, Volume II: Medieval Ireland 1169–1534 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2008 |chapter=Chapter 4: Overlord becomes feudal lord, 1172–85|page=115}}</ref> The Normans began building a [[Motte-and-bailey castle|motte]] (fortified mound) inside the older royal fort, but abandoned it when de Courcy made [[Carrickfergus]] his capital in 1178.<ref name="MacDonald"/>

In 1183, de Courcy brought in [[Benedictine]] monks from the abbey of [[St Werburgh]] in [[Chester]] (today [[Chester Cathedral]]), England. He built a friary for them at Downpatrick; this building was destroyed by an earthquake in 1245.<ref>{{cite book |author1=DeBreffny, D  |author2=Mott, G| year=1976 |title=The Churches and Abbeys of Ireland | publisher=Thames & Hudson | location=London | pages=60–61}}</ref> He also re-dedicated the cathedral to Saint Patrick, giving it the name ''Ecclesia S. Patricii Duni'' in Latin.<ref name="MacDonald"/> It is claimed that de Courcy miraculously found the bones of St Patrick, St [[Brigid of Kildare|Brigid]] and St [[Colmcille]] at Downpatrick. In the presence of the Papal Legate, Vivian, the relics were reburied inside the cathedral on 9 June 1196. This story of their discovery is thought to have been crafted by de Courcy for political reasons.<ref>Rankin, pp.33–34</ref> In the Anglo-Norman and later medieval era the town's name in Latin and English documentation is variously 'Dunum', 'Dun' or 'Down'. The oldest surviving record of the name 'Downpatrick' is in the [[Bodley Survey]] of the early 1600s.<ref name="MacDonald"/>

In 1260 [[Brian O'Neill (High-King of Ireland)|Brian O'Neill]], King of [[Tír Eoghain]] (Tyrone) and claimed [[High King of Ireland]], marched to Downpatrick, which was then part of the Anglo-Norman earldom of Ulster. Allied with a Connacht force under Hugh O'Conor, he fought the Anglo-Normans in the [[Battle of Down]]. O'Neill was killed and the Irish were defeated.<ref>Rankin, p.69</ref> The death of O'Neill and defeat of the Irish was lamented in a poem by the [[Cenél nEógain]] bard [[Giolla Brighde Mac Con Midhe]] (1210–1272).

The earldom collapsed in the 1300s, but the English retained a foothold in Lecale. In 1375, Niall O'Neill of Tyrone defeated the English at Dundalethglas.<ref>Rankin, p.70</ref>