Ulaid

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Ulaid

The Ulaid (pron. /'?l??'/) were a people of early north-eastern Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....
, who gave their name to the modern province

Provinces of Ireland

Ireland has historically been divided into four provinces, although the Irish-language word for this territorial division, c?ige , indicates that there were once five ? Kingdom of Mide being the fifth....
of Ulster

Ulster

Ulster is one of the four Provinces of Ireland of Ireland, in addition to Connacht, Munster and Leinster. The name is sometimes informally used as a synonym for Northern Ireland, one of the countries of the United Kingdom, although Northern Ireland covers only two thirds of Ulster....
: modern Irish Cúige Uladh (pron. /'ku?ig? '?l??/), "Province" (literally "fifth") "of the Ulaid"; English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
"Ulster" derives from Ulaid plus Old Norse

Old Norse

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The Ulaid (pron. /'?l??'/) were a people of early north-eastern Ireland

Ireland

Provinces of Ireland

Ulster

English language

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic languages that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
stadr, "place" or "territory". The earlier form of their name has been reconstructed as *Uluti, deriving from ul, "beard", and appears as Volunti or Voluntii in Ptolemy

Ptolemy

Claudius Ptolemaeus , known in English as Ptolemy , was a Roman Greek mathematics, Greek astronomy, geographer and astrologer. He lived in History of Roman Egypt, and was probably born there in a town in the Thebaid called Ptolemais Hermiou; he died in Alexandria around 168 AD....
's 2nd century Geographia
Geographia (Ptolemy)

The Geographia or Geography is Ptolemy's main work besides the Almagest. It is a compilation of what was known about the world's geography in the Roman Empire of the 2nd century....
.

Their capital was traditionally at Navan Fort

Emain Macha

Emain Macha or Emuin Macha , or Eamhain Mhacha , sometimes Latinised/Anglicised as Emania and known in English language as Navan Fort, is an ancient monument in County Armagh, Northern Ireland....
, (Irish Eamhain Mhacha) near Armagh

Armagh

The city of Armagh is an ancient religious site of worship of both Celtic paganism and Christianity, the oldest of the five City status in the United Kingdom in Northern Ireland, and the county town of County Armagh....
. At their height, Ulaid territory extended south as far as the River Boyne

River Boyne

The River Boyne is a river in Leinster, Ireland, the course of which is about 112 kilometres long. It rises at Trinity Well, Newbury Hall, near Carbury, County Kildare, and flows towards the Northeast through County Meath to reach the Irish Sea outside Drogheda....
and as far west as County Leitrim

County Leitrim

County Leitrim is one of the Irish county of Republic of Ireland and is part of the province of Connacht. Its name derives from the Irish , meaning "grey ridge."...
. By early Christian times the northern Uí Néill

Uí Néill

The U? N?ill were Ireland and Scottish dynasties who claimed descent from Niall Noigiallach , an historical High King of Ireland who died about 405....
(a branch of the Connachta

Connachta

The Connachta were a group of Irish dynasty who claimed descent from Conn of the Hundred Battles. Their most famous members were the five sons of Eochaid Mugmedon: Brion , Ailill Fiachrae, Niall of the Nine Hostages and Fergus Caech....
) has pushed the Ulaid into to eastern County Down

County Down

County Down is one of the nine Counties of Ireland that form the province of Ulster and one of six counties that form Northern Ireland. The county forms an area of ....
where they became known as the Dál Fiatach

Dál Fiatach

The D?l Fiatach were a group of related tribes located in north-east Ulster in the Early Christian Ireland and Early Medieval Ireland 800?1166 periods of the history of Ireland....
and the Dál nAraidi

Dál nAraidi

D?l nAraidi was a kingdom of the Cruithne in the north-east of Ireland in the first millennium. The lands of the D?l nAraidi appear to correspond with the Robogdii of Ptolemy's Geographia , a region shared with D?l Riata....
.

According to 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 Middle Ages Ireland history. The entries span from the Deluge , dated as 2,242 Anno Mundi to Anno Domini 1616....
, the reduction of the Ulaid began in AD 331, when the Three Collas defeated their king Fergus Foga in the Battle of Achadh Leithdheirg

Achaidh Leithdeircc

Cath Achaidh Leithdeircc h-i Fernmoigh The Battle of Achadh Leithdheirg, in Fearnmhagh took place in 331 in IrelandThe place of the battle has been disputed...
in County Monaghan

County Monaghan

County Monaghan is a county in Ireland. It is one of three counties situated in the Province of Ulster which are in the Republic of Ireland. The name comes from the Irish, derived from Muine Cheain meaning the Land of the little hills....
. They seized all their territory west of the Newry River

Newry River

File:Newry River.JPGNewry River and River Clanrye are names for one of the rivers of Ireland; it passes through the city of Newry and empties into Carlingford Lough near Warrenpoint....
and Lough Neagh

Lough Neagh

Lough Neagh is a freshwater lake in Northern Ireland. With an area of 392 square kilometres , it is the largest lake in the British Isles and ranks among the forty List of largest lakes of Europe....
, and burned Emain Macha. After that, Emain was abandoned, and Fergus Foga was the last Ulaid king to rule there.

The Dál Fiatach

Dál Fiatach

Uí Néill

The U? N?ill were Ireland and Scottish dynasties who claimed descent from Niall Noigiallach , an historical High King of Ireland who died about 405....
, and were still ruling part of County Down, based at Downpatrick

Downpatrick

Downpatrick is a town in County Down in Northern Ireland, about 33 km south of Belfast. It is the county town of Down with a rich history and strong connection to Saint Patrick....
, until they were overwhelmed by the Normans in 1177

1177 in Ireland

Events*Conquest of Ulster by John de Courcy, who eventually seizes Downpatrick.*Council of Oxford: John of England is made Lordship of Ireland and speculative grants of the kingdoms of Cork and Limerick are made to Normans vassals....
. The Normans established the short-lived earldom of Ulster which was superseded after 1333

1333 in Ireland

Events* Friar John Clyn begins his chronicle, "The Annals of Ireland" * Earl of Desmond released* Conchobhar O Domhnaill succeeds his father, ?ed, as King of T?r Conaill...
by the Clandeboye O'Neills

Uí Néill

The U? N?ill were Ireland and Scottish dynasties who claimed descent from Niall Noigiallach , an historical High King of Ireland who died about 405....
. The first O'Neill king of Ulster was proclaimed in 1364.

T. F. O'Rahilly

T. F. O'Rahilly

Thomas Francis O'Rahilly , was an influential scholar of the Celtic languages, particularly in the fields of Historical linguistics and Irish language dialects....
believed the Ulaid were a branch of the Érainn

Iverni

The Iverni or Hiberni were an ancient Celtic people of Ireland mentioned in Ptolemy's 2nd century work Geographia ....
. Their ruling dynasty claimed descent from the legendary king Rudraige

Rudraige

Rudraige may refer to:*Rudraige mac Dela, son of Dela, legendary High King of Ireland in the 16th or 20th century BC*Rudraige mac Sithrigi, son of Sitric, legendary High King of Ireland of the 2nd or 3rd century BC...
.

The Ulster Cycle

Ulster Cycle

The Ulster Cycle, formerly known as the Red Branch Cycle, one of the four great cycles of Irish mythology, is a body of medieval Irish heroic legends and sagas of the traditional heroes of the Ulaid in what is now eastern Ulster and northern Leinster, particularly counties County Armagh, County Down and County Louth....
of Irish mythology

Irish mythology

The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branches of Celtic mythology....
concerns the heroes of the Ulaid and their wars against the Connacht

Connacht

Connacht is the western Provinces of Ireland of Ireland, comprising counties County Galway, County Leitrim, County Mayo, County Roscommon, County Sligo....
a. These stories are traditionally set around the time of Christ, which creates an apparent anachronism: the Connachta are traditionally said to have been the descendants of Conn Cétchathach

Conn of the Hundred Battles

Conn C?tchathach , son of Fedlimid Rechtmar, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland, and the ancestor of the Connachta, and, through his descendant Niall of the Nine Hostages, the U? N?ill dynasties....
, who is supposed to have lived several centuries later. Later stories use the name Cóiced Ol nEchmacht

Cóiced Ol nEchmacht

C?iced Ol nEchmacht, ancient name for the province of Connacht, Ireland.C?iced Ol nEchmacht may be translated as the portion/fifth/province of the Ol nEchmacht, also called the Fir Ol nEchmacht ....
as an earlier name for the province of Connacht to get around this problem. However, the chronology of early Irish historical tradition is an artificial attempt by Christian monks to synchronise native traditions with classical and biblical history, and it is possible that historical wars between the Ulaid and the Connachta have been chronologically misplaced.

Ulaid

See also

External links