Lugaid mac Lóegairi was a 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...

. He was a grandson of Niall of the Nine Hostages

Niall of the Nine Hostages

Niall Noígíallach , or in English, Niall of the Nine Hostages, son of Eochaid Mugmedón, was an Irish king, the eponymous ancestor of the Uí Néill kindred who dominated Ireland from the 6th century to the 10th century...

.

One of the supposed twelve sons of Lóegaire mac Néill

Lóegaire mac Néill

Lóegaire , also Lóeguire, is said to have been a son of Niall of the Nine Hostages. The Irish annals and king lists include him as a King of Tara or High King of Ireland. He appears as an adversary of Saint Patrick in several hagiographies...

, his mother was Angias

Angias

Angias or Angas, daughter of Ailill Tassach, son of Eochu Liathán, was the wife of Lóegaire mac Néill, High King of Ireland, and mother of Lugaid mac Lóegairi, who later became High King.Her brother was Bressal mac Ailello, a possible King of Munster...

, a daughter of (Ailill) Tassach of the Uí Liatháin

Uí Liatháin

The Uí Liatháin were an early kingdom of Munster in southern Ireland. They belonged the same kindred as the Uí Fidgenti, and the two are considered together in the earliest sources, for example The Expulsion of the Déisi...

. Compared to his father, who features prominently in hagiographies

Hagiography

Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...

 of Saint Patrick

Saint Patrick

Saint Patrick was a Romano-Briton and Christian missionary, who is the most generally recognized patron saint of Ireland or the Apostle of Ireland, although Brigid of Kildare and Colmcille are also formally patron saints....

, Lugaid is a lesser figure.

Before he was born Patrick is said by the late Vita tripartita Sancti Patricii

Vita tripartita Sancti Patricii

The Vita tripartita Sancti Patricii is a bilingual Life of Patrick, written partly in Irish and in parts in Latin from the late 9th century. It is the earliest example of a saint's Life written in the Irish language and it was meant to be read in three parts over the three days of the saint's...

to have cursed Lóegaire's descendants so that they would never enjoy the kingship. His mother, who is said to have been pregnant with Lugaid at the time, beseeched Patrick to lift the curse from her unborn son. This he did, supposedly saying: "Until he opposes me, I will not curse him."

According to the earliest king list, that in the Baile Chuind Chétchathaig, compiled in the reign of Fínsnechta Fledach

Fínsnechta Fledach

Fínsnechta Fledach mac Dúnchada was High King of Ireland. Fínsnechta belonged to the southern Síl nÁedo Sláine sept of the Uí Néill and was King of Brega, in modern County Meath, Ireland. He was a grandson of Áed Sláine. His father Dúnchad had died in 659...

 (died c. 695), Lugaid was king after Ailill Molt

Ailill Molt

Ailill mac Nath Í , called Ailill Molt, is included in most lists of the High Kings of Ireland and is also called King of Connacht. His cognomen, molt, means "ram" but its origin is unknown....

. Some of the late 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...

 record that he was part of an alliance that defeated and killed Ailill, but the more reliable Annals of Ulster

Annals of Ulster

The Annals of Ulster are annals of medieval Ireland. The entries span the years between AD 431 to AD 1540. The entries up to AD 1489 were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrí Ó Luinín, under his patron Cathal Óg Mac Maghnusa on the island of Belle Isle on Lough Erne in the...

report only his death in 507, perhaps at the battle of Ard Corainn. His apparent inactivity while the annals are full of the doings of his kinsmen Coirpre mac Néill

Coirpre mac Néill

Coirpre mac Néill . , also Cairbre or Cairpre, was said to be a son of Niall of the Nine Hostages. Coirpre was perhaps the leader of the conquests that established the southern Uí Néill in the midlands of Ireland. The record of the Irish annals suggests that Coirpre's successes were reattributed to...

 and of Muirchertach Macc Ercae is a puzzle.

According to the Vita tripartita, Lugaid was killed by a bolt from the heavens when he mocked Patrick at a place later called Achad Forchai. Allowing that the association with Saint Patrick is not original, it is thought that this account preserves a memory of some tale involving Lugaid's death by lightning, making him one of several early Irish kings, among whom his father, who were perhaps believed to have died by supernatural

Supernatural

The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...

 means. The Annals of the Four Masters

Annals of the Four Masters

The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland or the Annals of the Four Masters are a chronicle of medieval Irish history...

quote a late poem in their report of Lugaid's death: "At Achadh Farcha warlike,/ the death of Laeghaire's son, Lughaidh occurred,/ Without praise in heaven or here,/ a heavy flash of lightning smote him."

According to the king lists, Lugaid was succeeded by Muirchertach Macc Ercae.