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'''Orchard Lake''' is a medium-sized inland [[lake]], 795 acres (3.2 km²). It has a 110 feet (34 m) maximum depth and is in the city of [[Orchard Lake Village, Michigan|Orchard Lake Village]], [[Oakland County, Michigan|Oakland County]], in [[Michigan]], [[USA]]. It is the second-largest lake in Oakland County after [[Cass Lake (Michigan)|Cass Lake]].
'''Tuathal Teachtmhar''' or '''Techtmar''' was a legendary [[High King of Ireland]], reputed to have ruled in the [[1st century|1st]] or [[2nd century]]. His name derives from [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] ''*Teuto-valos'' ("leader of the tribe, people") and his [[epithet]] may mean "great crossing", "great possession", or "legitimate". He was the ancestor, through his grandson [[Conn of the Hundred Battles]], of the [[Uí Néill]] and [[Connachta]] dynasties.
The lake is unusual in that there is an large 35 acre (142,000 m²) island in the middle of the lake, Apple Island. The island was frequently inhabited by local [[Native Americans]] before the coming of Western settlers, who later planted an apple orchard on the island, giving rise to the current name of the lake. Apple Island is now abandoned and has been designated a protected [[wildlife sanctuary]]. The small Cedar Island is near the western shore.
==Legend==
The campus of the old [[Michigan Military Academy]] is on the northeast shore of the lake. The campus is now home to [[SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary]] and [[St. Mary's Preparatory]].
Tuathal was the son of [[Fiacha Finnfolaidh]], a former High King deposed by an uprising of "subject peoples" of the [[Fir Bolg]] led by [[Cairbre Cinnchait]] or [[Éllim]]. Fiacha's pregnant wife, [[Eithne]], daughter of the king of [[Alba]] ([[Scotland]] or [[Britain]] in general), fled home, where she gave birth to Tuathal.
At the age of twenty or twenty-five Tuathal led an invasion of Ireland, landing at Inber Domnainn ([[Malahide]] Bay) with an army mostly consisting of foreigners, marched on [[Tara, Ireland|Tara]] and killed Éllim, who then held the capital. He annexed territory from [[Ulster]], [[Munster]], [[Leinster]] and [[Connacht]] to create the central province of ''Míde'' ([[Meath]]) around Tara.
{{Michigan-geo-stub}}
He went on to make war Leinster, burning the stronghold of Aillen ([[Knockaulin]]) and imposing the [[bórama]], a heavy tribute of cattle, on the province. One story says this was because the king of Leinster, Eochaid Ainchenn, had married Tuathal's daughter Dairine, but told Tuathal she had died and so was given his other daughter, Fithir. When Fithir discovered Dairine was still alive she died of shame, and when Dairine saw Fithir dead she died of grief.
[[Category:Oakland County, Michigan]]
Tuathal, or his wife Baine, is reputed to have built Ráth Mór, an [[Iron Age]] [[hillfort]] in the earthwork complex at [[Clogher]], [[County Tyrone]]. He died in battle against [[Mal]], king of [[Ulaid|Ulster]], at Mag Line ([[Moylinny]] near [[Larne]], [[County Antrim]]). His son, [[Fedlimid Rechtmar]], later avenged him.
[[Category: CyclesLakes ofin the KingsMichigan]] ▼
==Historical context==
===Dates===
The [[Annals of the Four Masters]] gives the date of Tuathal's exile as [[56]] AD, his return as [[76]] and his death as [[106]]. [[Seathrún Céitinn]]'s ''Foras Feasa ar Érinn'' broadly agrees, dating his exile to [[55]], his return to [[80]] and his death to [[100]]. The [[Book of Invasions]] places him a little later, synchronising his exile to the reign of the [[Roman emperor]] [[Domitian]] ([[81]]-[[96]]), his return early in the reign of [[Hadrian]] ([[122]]-[[138]]) and his death in the reign of [[Antoninus Pius]] ([[138]]-[[161]]).
===The first of the Goidels?===
The scholar [[T. F. O'Rahilly]] suggested that, as in many such "returned exile" stories, Tuathal represented an entirely foreign invasion which established a dynasty in Ireland, whose dynastic propagandists fabricated an Irish origin for him to give him some spurious legitimacy. In fact, he proposed that Tuathal's story, pushed back to the [[1st century BC|1st]] or [[2nd century BC]], represented the invasion of the [[Goidelic|Goidels]], who established themselves over the earlier populations and introduced the [[Q-Celtic]] language that would become [[Irish language|Irish]], and that their genealogists incorporated all Irish dynasties, Goidelic or otherwise, and their ancestor deities into a pedigree stretching back over a thousand years to the fictitious [[Míl Espáine]]. This compares to the invention of a [[Troy|Trojan]] origin for the ancient [[Britons]], giving them an equal nobility to their former rulers, the [[Romans]].
See also [[Early history of Ireland]]
===Romans in Ireland?===
Taking the native dating as broadly accurate, another theory has emerged. The Roman historian [[Tacitus]] mentions that [[Gnaeus Julius Agricola|Agricola]], while governor of [[Roman Britain]] ([[78]] - [[84]] AD), entertained an exiled Irish prince, thinking to use him as a pretext for a possible conquest of Ireland, as [[Claudius]] had used the exile of [[Verica]] as an excuse for the [[Roman invasion of Britain|conquest of Britain]].
Neither Agricola nor his successors ever conquered Ireland, but in recent years [[archaeology]] has challenged the belief that the Romans never set foot on the island. Roman and Romano-British artefacts have been found primarily in Leinster, notably a fortified site on the promontory of [[Drumanagh]], fifteen miles north of [[Dublin]], and burials on the nearby island of [[Lambay]], both close to where Tuathal is supposed to have landed, and other sites associated with Tuathal such as Tara and Clogher. However, whether this is evidence of trade, diplomacy or military activity is a matter of controversy. It is possible that the Romans may have given support to Tuathal, or someone like him, to regain his throne in the interests of having a friendly neighbour who could restrain Irish raiding. The [[2nd century]] Roman poet [[Juvenal]], who may have served in Britain under Agricola, wrote that 'arms had been taken beyond the shores of Ireland', and the coincidence of dates is striking.
It is also speculated that such an invasion may have been the origin of the presence of the [[Brigantes]] in Ireland as noted in [[Ptolemy]]'s [[2nd century]] ''Geography''. The Brigantes were a rebellious British tribe only recently conquered in Agricola's time. The dispossessed nobility may have been ready recruits for Tuathal's invasion force, or the Romans may have have found it a convenient way of getting rid of troublesome subjects, just as [[Elizabeth I]] and [[James I of England|James VI & I]] planted rebellious Scots in [[Ireland]] in the [[16th century|16th]] and [[17th century]]. Other tribal names associated with the south-east, including the [[Domnainn]], related to the British [[Dumnonii]], and the [[Menapii]], also known from [[Gaul]], may also date from such an invasion.
===Other "returned exile" High Kings===
*[[Labraid Loingsech]]
*[[Lugaid mac Con]]
===See also===
*[[Hibernia]]
*[[History of Ireland]]
{{start box}}
{{succession box |
before=[[Éllim]]|
title=[[List of High Kings of Ireland|High King of Ireland]]|
after=[[Mal]]|
years=[[Annals of the Four Masters|AFM]] 76-106 AD<br>[[Seathrún Céitinn|FFE]] 80-100 AD|
}}
{{end box}}
==References==
*John O'Donovan (ed) (1848-1851), ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters'' Vol 1 [http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100005A/index.html]
*D. Comyn & P. S. Dineen (eds) (1902-1914), ''The History of Ireland by Geoffrey Keating'' [http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100054/index.html]
*R. B. Warner (1995), "Tuathal Techtmar: a myth or ancient literary evidence for a Roman invasion?", ''Emania'' 13
*John Morris (1973), ''The Age of Arthur''
==External links==
*[http://www.blather.net/articles/romans_debarra.html Hibernia Romana: What did the Romans ever do for us?] - an article about the Drumanagh "Roman fort" controversy
▲[[Category:Cycles of the Kings]]
[[Category:High Kings of Ireland]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman enemies and allies]]
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