Ulaid - WikiHQ

thumb|Ulaid during the 10th–11th century and its three main sub-kingdoms, along with some of its neighbouring kingdoms. These boundaries would be used as the basis for the dioceses created in the 12th century.

(Old Irish, ) or (Modern Irish, ) was a Gaelic over-kingdom in north-eastern Ireland during the Middle Ages made up of a confederation of dynastic groups.

Name

Ulaid is a plural noun and originated as an ethnonym; however, Irish nomenclature followed a pattern where the names of population groups and apical ancestor figures became more and more associated with geographical areas even when the ruling dynasty had no links to that figure, and this was the case with the Ulaid. The late 7th-century writer, Muirchú, spells Ulaid as Ulothi in his work the Life of Patrick. which in Latin became Ultonii and Ultoniensis. The Cruthin on the other hand is the Irish term for the Picts, and are stated as initially being the most powerful and numerous of the two groupings. or at least to their royal families, sometimes called the Clanna Dedad, and perhaps not their nebulous subject populations. T. F. O'Rahilly notably believed the Ulaid were an actual branch of the Érainn. Also claimed as being related to the Ulaid are the Dáirine, another name for the Érainn royalty, both of which may have been related or derived from the Darini of Ptolemy.

There is uncertainty however over the actual ancestry of the people and dynasties within the medieval over-kingdom of Ulaid. Those claimed as being descended from the Ulaid people included medieval tribes that were said to be instead of the Cruthin or Érainn, In the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology—which survives in texts from the 8th century onward—the pre-historic Ulaid are said to dominate the whole north of Ireland, their southern border stretching from the River Boyne in the east to the River Drowes in the west, with their capital at Emain Macha (Navan Fort) near present-day Armagh, County Armagh. most of whom were vassals of the Ulaid before casting off Ulaid overlordship and becoming independent. It has been suggested that the Airthir—in whose lands lay Emain Macha—were originally an Ulaid tribe before becoming one of the Airgíalla.

Towards the end of the 5th century, the Ulaid sub-group Dál Riata, located in the Glens of Antrim, had started settling in modern-day Scotland, forming a cross-channel kingdom. It would become the cathedral for the diocese of Dromore.

Artefacts

Although Francis John Byrne describes the few La Tène artefacts discovered in Ireland as 'rather scanty', most of the artefacts (mostly weapons and harness pieces) have been found in the north of Ireland, suggesting 'small bands of settlers (warriors and metalworkers) arrived' from Britain in the 3rd century BC, and may have been absorbed into the Ulaid population.

Kingdoms, dynasties, and septs

By the 12th century Ulaid was divided into four main dynastic sub-kingdoms, each consisting of smaller petty-kingdoms:

Dál Fiatach, an Ulaid people based at Dún De Lethglaise (present-day Downpatrick, County Down), who dominated the over-kingship of Ulaid and had interests in the Isle of Man. The royal House of Stuart is also claimed as being descended from the Ulaid.

In medieval literature

According to medieval pseudo-historians a group of brothers known as the Three Collas in the 4th century founded the over-kingdom of Airgíalla after a decisive defeat of the Ulaid, and afterwards destroyed their ancient capital Emain Macha. This however is a fabrication. However, the chronology of early Irish historical tradition is inconsistent and highly artificial. One early saga makes Fergus mac Léti, one of Conchobar's predecessors as king of the Ulaid, a contemporary of Conn, and Tírechán's 7th century memoir of Saint Patrick says that Cairbre Nia Fer, Conchobar's son-in-law in the sagas, lived only 100 years before the saint, i.e. in the 4th century.

Kenneth Jackson, based on his estimates on the survival of oral tradition, also suggested that the Ulster Cycle originated in the 4th century. Other scholars, following T. F. O'Rahilly, propose that the sagas of the Ulster Cycle derive from the wars between the Ulaid and the midland dynasties of the Connachta and the nascent Uí Néill in the 4th and 5th centuries, at the end of which the Ulaid lost much of their territory, and their capital, to the new kingdoms of the Airgíalla. Traditional history credits this to the Three Collas, three great-great-great-grandsons of Conn, who defeated the Ulaid king Fergus Foga at Achad Lethderg in County Monaghan, seized all Ulaid territory west of the Newry River and Lough Neagh, and burned Emain Macha. Fergus Foga is said to have been the last king of the Ulaid to reign there. The Annals of the Four Masters dates this to AD 331. O'Rahilly and his followers believe the Collas are literary doublets of the sons of Niall Noígiallach, eponymous founder of the Uí Néill, who they propose were the true conquerors of Emain in the 5th century.

The Kings of Tara in the Ulster Cycle are the kindred of the Ulaid, the Érainn, and are generally portrayed sympathetically, especially Conaire Mór. It was remembered that the Connachta and Uí Néill had not yet taken the kingship. Tara was later occupied by the Laigin, who are to some extent strangely integrated with the Connachta in the Ulster Cycle. The latter later took the midlands from the Laigin and their historical antagonism is legendary. The Érainn, led by Cú Roí, also rule in distant Munster and, while presented as deadly rivals of the Ulaid, are again portrayed with unusual interest and sympathy.

Cultural impact

There are two known communities in North Carolina, the United States, that are likely to have been named after Ulaid – Mount Ulla and Ulah.

The Ulaid have inspired the name of traditional Irish group Ulaid featuring Dónal O'Connor, John McSherry & Seán Óg Graham who have released two critically acclaimed albums.

References

Bibliography

External links

Genealogy of the kings of the Ulaid