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Fall of Ulaid
ancient Irish kingdom
- 1177
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ancient Irish kingdom
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Ulaid (Old Irish, pronounced [ˈuləðʲ]) or Ulaidh (Modern Irish, pronounced [ˈʊlˠiː, ˈʊlˠə]) was a Gaelic over-kingdom in north-eastern Ireland during the Middle Ages made up of a confederation of dynastic groups. Alternative names include Ulidia, which is the Latin form of Ulaid, and in Cóiced, Irish for 'the Fifth'. The king of Ulaid was called the rí Ulad or rí in Chóicid.
Ulaid also refers to a people of early Ireland, and it is from them that the province of Ulster derives its name. Some of the dynasties in the over-kingdom claimed descent from the Ulaid, but others are cited as being of Cruithin descent. In historical documents, the term Ulaid was used to refer to the population group of which the Dál Fiatach was the ruling dynasty. As such, the title rí Ulad held two meanings: over-king of the Kingdom of Ulaid and king of the Ulaid people, as in the Dál Fiatach.
The Ulaid feature prominently in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. According to legend, the ancient territory of Ulaid spanned the whole of the modern province of Ulster, excluding County Cavan, but including County Louth. Its southern border was said to stretch from the River Drowes in the west to the River Boyne in the east. At the onset of the historic period of Irish history in the 6th century, the territory of Ulaid was largely confined to east of the River Bann, as it is said to have lost land to the Airgíalla and the Northern Uí Néill. Ulaid ceased to exist after its conquest in the late 12th century by the Anglo-Norman knight John de Courcy, and was replaced with the Earldom of Ulster.
An individual from Ulaid was known in Irish as an Ultach, the nominative plural being Ultaigh. This name lives on in the surname McAnulty or McNulty, from mac an Ultaigh ('son of the Ulsterman').
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. Ulaid was also known as Cóiced Ulad, the "Fifth of Ulster", and was one of the legendary five provinces of Ireland. After the subsequent loss of territory to the Airgíalla and Northern Uí Néill, the eastern remnant of the province that formed medieval Ulaid was alternatively known as in Cóiced, in reference to the unconquered part of Cóiced Ulad.
The Ulaid are likely the Ούολουντιοι (Uoluntii or Voluntii) mentioned in Ptolemy's 2nd century Geographia. This may be a corruption of Ούλουτοι (Uluti). The name is likely derived from the Gaelic ul, meaning "beard". The late 7th-century writer, Muirchú, spells Ulaid as Ulothi in his work the Life of Patrick.
Ulaid has historically been anglicised as Ulagh or Ullagh and Latinized as Ulidia or Ultonia. The latter two have yielded the terms Ulidian and Ultonian. The Irish word for someone from Ulaid is Ultach (also spelt as Ultaigh and Ultagh), which in Latin became Ultonii and Ultoniensis.
Ulaid gave its name to the province of Ulster, though the exact composition of it is disputed: it may derive from Ulaidh with or without the Norse genitive s and Irish tír ("land, country, earth"), or else the second element may be Norse -ster (meaning "place", common in Shetland and Norway).
The Ulaid are also referred to as being of the Clanna Rudraige, a late form of group name.
According to historical tradition, the ruling dynasties of the Ulaid were either of the Ulaid population-group or the Cruthin. Medieval Irish genealogists traced the descent of the Ulaid from the legendary High King of Ireland, Rudraige mac Sithrigi. 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. The terms Ulaid and Cruthin in early sources referred to the Dál Fiatach and Dál nAraidi respectively, the most powerful dynasties of both groups.
The general scholarly consensus since the time of Eoin MacNeill has been that the Ulaid were kin to the Érainn, 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, for example:
Ptolemy's Geographia, written in the 2nd century, places the Uoluntii or Voluntii in the southeast of what is now Ulster, somewhere south of the River Lagan and north of the River Boyne. To their north were the Darini and to their south were the Eblani. Muirchú's "Life of Patrick", written in the 7th century, also says that the territory of the Ulothi lay between the Lagan and the Boyne. 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. According to legend, around 331 AD the Three Collas invaded Ulaid, destroyed its ancient capital Emain Macha, and restricted Ulaid to the eastern part of its territory: east of the Lower Bann and Newry River. It is said that the territory the Three Collas conquered became the kingdom of Airgíalla. Another tradition that survived until the 11th century dated the fall of Emain Macha to 450 AD—within the time of Saint Patrick—which may explain why he chose Armagh, near Emain Macha, as the site of his episcopacy, as it would then still be under Ulaid control. It may also explain why he was buried in eastern Ulster in the restricted territory of the Ulaid rather than at Armagh, as it had by then come under Airgíallan control. It is likely that the Airgíalla were not settlers in Ulaid territory, but indigenous tribes; 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. Their first settlements were in the region of Argyll, which means "eastern province of the Gael".
It is to these boundaries that Ulaid entered the historic period in Ireland in the 6th century, though the Dál nAraidi still held territory west of the Bann in County Londonderry. The emergence of the Dál nAraidi and Dál Fiatach dynasties may have concealed the dominance of earlier tribal groupings.
By the mid-6th century, the Dál Riata possessions in Scotland came under serious threat from Bridei I, king of the Picts, resulting in them seeking the Northern Uí Néill's aid. The king of Dál Riata, Áedán mac Gabráin, had already granted the island of Iona off the coast of Scotland to the Cenél Conaill prince and saint, Columba, who in turn negotiated an alliance between the Northern Uí Néill and Dál Riata in 575 at Druim Ceit near Derry. The result of this pact was the removal of Dál Riata from Ulaid's overlordship allowing it to concentrate on extending its Scottish domain. That same year either before or after the convention of Druim Ceit, the king of Dál Riata was killed in a bloody battle with the Dál nAraidi at Fid Euin.
In 563, according to the Annals of Ulster, an apparent internal struggle amongst the Cruthin resulted in Báetán mac Cinn making a deal with the Northern Uí Néill, promising them the territories of Ard Eólairgg (Magilligan peninsula) and the Lee, both west of the River Bann. As a result, the battle of Móin Dairi Lothair (modern-day Moneymore) took place between them and an alliance of Cruthin kings, in which the Cruthin suffered a devastating defeat. Afterwards the Northern Uí Néill settled their Airgíalla allies in the Cruthin territory of Eilne, which lay between the River Bann and the River Bush. The defeated Cruthin alliance meanwhile consolidated themselves on Dál nAraidi.
The Dál nAraidi king Congal Cáech took possession of the overlordship of Ulaid in 626, and in 628 killed the High King of Ireland, Suibne Menn of the Northern Uí Néill in battle. In 629, Congal led the Dál nAraidi to defeat against the same foes. In an attempt to have himself installed as High King of Ireland, Congal made alliances with Dál Riata and Strathclyde, which resulted in the disastrous Battle of Moira in 637, in modern-day County Down, which saw Congal slain by High King Domnall mac Áedo of the Northern Uí Néill and resulted in Dál Riata losing possession of its Scottish lands.
The Annals of Ulster record that in 668, the battle of Bellum Fertsi (modern-day Belfast) took place between the Ulaid and Cruithin, both terms which then referred to the Dál Fiatach and Dál nAraide respectively.
Meanwhile, the Dál nAraidi were still resisting the encroaching Northern Uí Néill and in 681, Dúngal Eilni, king of the Dál nAraidi, and his ally Cenn Fáelad of Ciannachta were killed at Dún Cethirinn.
By the 8th century the territory of the Ulaid shrunk to east of the Bann into what is now the modern-day counties Antrim, Down and Louth. In either 732 or 735, the Ulaid suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of the Cenél nEógain led by Áed Allán in the battle of Fochart in Magh Muirthemne, which saw the king of Ulaid, Áed Róin, decapitated. As a result, the Cenél nEógain brought Conaille Muirthemne under their suzerainty.
The taking over of the Ulaid's ancestral lands by first the Northern Uí Néill and the end of their glory led to a constant antagonism between them. It was in the 8th century that the kingdom of Dál Riata was overrun by the Dál nAraidi.
The Dál Fiatach dynasty held sway over Ulaid until the battle of Leth Cam in 827, when they attempted to remove Airgíalla from Northern Uí Néill dominance. The Dál Fiatach may have been distracted by the presence of at least one Viking base along Strangford Lough, and by the end of the century, the Dál nAraidi had risen to dominance over them. However, this only lasted until 972, when Eochaid mac Ardgail restored Dál Fiatach's fortunes.
During the 9th and 10th centuries, the Vikings had founded several bases in Ulaid, primarily at Annagassan, Carlingford Lough, Lough Neagh, and Strangford Lough. There was also a significant port at Ulfreksfjord, located at Latharna, present-day Larne, County Antrim. All but Ulfreksfjord were destroyed by the combined efforts of the Ulaid and the Northern Uí Néill, however as a result they deprived themselves of the economic advantages provided by prosperous Viking settlements.
In 1000 the Viking king of Dublin, Sigtrygg Silkbeard, was expelled by Brian Boru the High King of Ireland, and was refused sanctuary by the Ulaid. Eventually Sigtrygg was forced to return to Dublin and submitted to Brian. Sigtrygg didn't forget the Ulaid's refusal, and in 1001 his fleet plundered Inis Cumhscraigh and Cill Cleithe in Dál Fiatach, taking many prisoners. Sigtrygg's forces also served in Brian's campaigns against the Ulaid in 1002 and 1005.
At Craeb Telcha in 1003 the Northern Uí Néill and Ulaid fought a major battle, the Ulaid inauguration site. Here Eochaid mac Ardgail, and most of Ulaid's nobility were slaughtered, along with the Northern Uí Néill king. The result was a bloody succession war amongst the princes of the Dál Fiatach, who also had to war with the Dál nAraidi who eyed the kingship.
In 1005, Brian Boru, marched north to accept submissions from the Ulaid, and set-up camp at Emain Macha possibly with the intention of exploiting the symbolism it held for the Ulaid. From here, Boru marched to the Dál nAraidi capital, Ráith Mór, where he received only the submissions of their king and that of the Dál Fiatach. This however appears to have been the catalyst for a series of attacks by Flaithbertach Ua Néill, king of the Cenél nEógain, to punish the Ulaid. In 1006, an army led by Flaithbertach marched into Leth Cathail and killed its king, followed by the slaying of the heir of Uí Echach Cobo at Loughbrickland.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Ulaid”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.