Eóganacht Raithlind
Encyclopedia
Eóganacht Raithlind or Uí Echach Muman are a branch of the Eóganachta
Eóganachta
The Eóganachta or Eoghanachta were an Irish dynasty centred around Cashel which dominated southern Ireland from the 6/7th to the 10th centuries, and following that, in a restricted form, the Kingdom of Desmond, and its offshoot Carbery, well into the 16th century...

, the ruling dynasty of Munster
Munster
Munster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the south of Ireland. In Ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial purposes...

 during the 5th-10th centuries. They took their name from Raithlinn or Raithleann described around the area of Bandon, in the same area. Archaeologists believe that Garranes Ringfort in Templemartin parish, near Bandon, County Cork may have been Rath Raithleann, the royal seat of the Éoganacht Raithleann. They are descended from Mac Cass, the son of Conall Corc
Conall Corc
Corc mac Luigthig, also called Conall Corc, Corc of Cashel, and Corc mac Láire, is the hero of Irish language tales which form part of the origin legend of the Eóganachta, a group of kindreds which traced their descent from Conall Corc and took their name from his ancestor Éogan Mór. The early...

, the first King of Cashel, through Mac Cass' son Echu.

In the 6th century the Uí Echach Muman split into two major groups; the Uí Láegaire and the Cenel nÁeda. The Cenel nÁeda were descended from Echu's grandson Áed Ualgarb mac Crimthainn. They gave their name to the barony of Kinalea in southern County Cork. An important sub-sept of the Cenel nÁeda were the Cénel mBéicce, descended from Bécc mac Fergusa (died 661) who gave their tribal name to the barony of Kinelmeaky. They later became the O Mathghamhna or O'Mahony
O'Mahony
O'Mahony or O'Mahoney, or simply Mahony or Mahoney, without the prefix, is an Irish surname, and may refer to:The O'Mahonys were Cenél nÁeda princes of the ancient Eóganacht Raithlind...

s. Máel Muad mac Brain
Máel Muad mac Brain
Máel Muad mac Brain , commonly anglicised Molloy, was King of Munster, first possibly from 959 or alternatively 963 to around 970, when he may have been deposed by Mathgamain mac Cennétig of the Dál gCais, and then again from 976, following his putting to death of the latter, until his own death...

 belonged to this branch.

The Cenél Láegaire were descended from Echu's grandson Lóegaire mac Crimthainn and expanded westward toward Bantry as early as the 8th century They were later represented by Ua Donnchadha, or O'Donoghue
O'Donoghue
Donoghue or O'Donoghue is an Irish surname, an Anglicized form of the Gaelic Ó Donnchadha or Ó Donnchú ‘descendant of Donnchadh’, a personal name composed of the elements donn = ‘brown-haired man’ or ‘lord’ + cath = ‘battle’....

s, a sept whose chiefs later settled in County Kerry. This branch are still represented among the Gaelic nobility of Ireland by the O'Donoghue of the Glens
O'Donoghue of the Glens
The O'Donoghue of the Glens , Prince of Glenflesk, is the hereditary chieftain of his sept of the Kerry Eóganacht...

, Prince of Glenflesk.

Members of the Raithlind branch only rarely held the throne of all Munster. According to tradition Mac Cass died before his father and so Conall Corc took his son's inheritance and instead imposed his grandson Echu in the south thereby excluding them from the inner circle of Eoganachta. The Raithlind branch was semi-independent in the south in the territory of Desmond or South Munster, though they may have been subject to the Eóganacht Locha Léin
Eóganacht Locha Léin
Eóganacht Locha Léin or Ui Caipre Luachra were a branch of the ruling Eoganachta of Munster. Their territory was in Iarmuman or West Munster. Luachair is the old name of a large district on the borders of Co Cork, Kerry and Limerick...

at times during the height of their power in the late 6th and 7th centuries.
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