Cacht ingen Ragnaill was the queen of Donnchad mac Briain

Donnchad mac Briain

Donnchadh mac Briain , formerly anglicised as Donough O'Brian, son of Brian Bóruma and Gormflaith ingen Murchada, was King of Munster.-Background:...

, from their marriage in 1032 to her death in 1054, when she is styled Queen of Ireland in the Irish annals

Irish annals

A number of Irish annals were compiled up to and shortly after the end of Gaelic Ireland in the 17th century.Annals were originally a means by which monks determined the yearly chronology of feast days...

 of the Clonmacnoise

Clonmacnoise

The monastery of Clonmacnoise is situated in County Offaly, Ireland on the River Shannon south of Athlone....

 group: the Annals of Tigernach

Annals of Tigernach

The Annals of Tigernach is a chronicle probably originating in Clonmacnoise, Ireland. The language is a mixture of Latin and Old and Middle Irish....

 and Chronicon Scotorum

Chronicon Scotorum

Chronicon Scotorum is a medieval Irish chronicle.According to Nollaig Ó Muraíle, it is "a collection of annals belonging to the 'Clonmacnoise group', covering the period from prehistoric times to 1150 but with some gaps, closely related to the 'Annals of Tigernach'...

. Her husband himself, though King of Munster, is not widely regarded as having been High King of Ireland

High King of Ireland

The High Kings of Ireland were sometimes historical and sometimes legendary figures who had, or who are claimed to have had, lordship over the whole of Ireland. Medieval and early modern Irish literature portrays an almost unbroken sequence of High Kings, ruling from Tara over a hierarchy of...

 and so the extent of Cacht's influence is uncertain. That her style is superior to his presents an obviously strange situation in medieval Gaelic Ireland

Gaelic Ireland

Gaelic Ireland is the name given to the period when a Gaelic political order existed in Ireland. The order continued to exist after the arrival of the Anglo-Normans until about 1607 AD...

's male-dominated politics.

Of Norse-Irish descent, Cacht almost certainly belonged to the dynasty of the Uí Ímair

Uí Ímair

The Uí Ímair , or Dynasty of Ivar, were an enormous royal and imperial Norse dynasty who ruled Northern England, the Irish Sea region and Kingdom of Dublin, and the western coast of Scotland, including the Hebrides, from the mid 9th century, losing control of the first in the mid 10th, but the rest...

, and is usually assumed to have been a sister of Donnchad's ally Echmarcach mac Ragnaill

Echmarcach mac Ragnaill

Echmarcach mac Ragnaill was the Gall-Gaidhel King of the Isles, Dublin , and much of Galloway. According to Seán Duffy he was either a grandson or great-grandson of Ivar of Waterford, but an alternative exists. Benjamin Hudson has contended Echmarcach was a grandson of Gofraid mac Arailt...

, whose precise parentage is uncertain. He is regarded by scholars either as a descendant of Ivar of Waterford

Ivar of Waterford

Ivar of Waterford was the Norse king of Waterford from at least 969 until his death in the year 1000, and also reigned as King of Dublin, possibly from 989 to 993, and certainly again for less than a year between 994 and 995, returning after his expulsion from the city in 993 by Sigtrygg...

, or of Gofraid mac Arailt

Gofraid mac Arailt

Gofraid mac Arailt , in Old Norse Guðrøðr Haraldsson, was a Scandinavian or Norse-Gael king. He and his brother Maccus were active in the lands around the Irish Sea in the 970s and 980s.-Origins:...

, but since both had children named Ragnall and both dynasties were in alliance with the Dál Cais, Cacht's father need not be identical with his.