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Laigin
The Laigin, modern spelling Laighin (), were a Gaelic population group of early Ireland. They gave their name to the Kingdom of Leinster, which in the medieval era was known in Irish as ''Cóiced Laigen'', meaning "Fifth/province of the Leinstermen" (Modern Irish Cúige Laighean), where their descendants ruled till the 17th century. Their territory, located in south-east Ireland, is thought to have once extended from the River Shannon to the River Boyne. The surnames of those descended from the Laigin are still counted amongst the most numerous in Ireland. Etymology Laigin is a plural noun, indicating an ethnonym rather than a geographic term, but the Irish system of naming territories meant that an area tended to be named after an apical ancestor figure even when the ruling dynasty had no links to that figure. The origin of their name is uncertain; however, it is traditionally assumed to derive from the Irish word ', meaning 'a spear'. Early texts use the names ''Laigen'' a ...
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Leinster
Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ireland, the historic "fifths" of Leinster and Meath gradually merged, mainly due to the impact of the Pale, which straddled both, thereby forming the present-day province of Leinster. The ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial purposes. In later centuries, local government legislation has prompted further sub-division of the historic counties. Leinster has no official function for local-government purposes. However, it is an officially recognised subdivision of Ireland and is listed on ISO 3166-2 as one of the four provinces of Ireland. "IE-L" is attributed to Leinster as its ''country sub-division'' code. Leinster had a population of 2,858,501 according to the prelim ...
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Labraid Loingsech
Labraid Loingsech (), also known as Labraid Lorc, son of Ailill Áine, son of Lóegaire Lorc, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland. He was an ancestor of the Laigin, who gave their name to the province of Leinster. T. F. O'Rahilly, ''Early Irish History and Mythology'', Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1946, p. 101-117 An early dynastic poem calls him "a god among the gods", suggesting he may once have been an ancestor-deity of the Laigin. Childhood According to tradition, his grandfather, Lóegaire Lorc, had been High King, but was treacherously killed by his brother Cobthach Cóel Breg. Cobthach also paid someone to poison Lóegaire's son, Ailill Áine, who had taken the kingship of Leinster,''Book of Leinster''"The Destruction of Dind Rig"/ref> and forced Ailill's young son to eat a portion of his father and grandfather's hearts, and to swallow a mouse.Geoffrey Keating, ''Foras Feasa ar Éirinn'1.29 Struck dumb by the tr ...
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Uí Ceinnselaig
The Uí Ceinselaig (also Uí Ceinselaig, Anglicized as Kinsella), from the Old Irish "grandsons of Cennsalach", are an Irish dynasty of Leinster who trace their descent from Énnae Cennsalach, a supposed contemporary of Niall of the Nine Hostages. Énda was said to be a grandson of Bressal Bélach and a first cousin of Dúnlaing mac Énda Niada, eponymous ancestor of the rival Uí Dúnlainge. The earliest associations of the Uí Ceinnselaig are with the region around Rathvilly, County Carlow, and the headwaters of the River Slaney, but in time the centre of their power was pushed southwards, later being found around Ferns, County Wexford, site of the monastery of the saint Máedóc of Ferns (d. 626 or 632). In early times the kings of Leinster came from the Uí Ceinnselaig and the Uí Dúnlainge, but the Uí Dúnlainge came to dominate the kingship of the province, and after Áed mac Colggen (d. 738) it was three hundred years until the next Uí Ceinnselaig king of ...
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Uí Bairrche
Uí Bairrche (, ) was an Irish kin-based group that originally held lands in the south of the ancient province of Leinster (or ''Cóiced Laigen'' "the Fifth of the Laigin"). Another south Leinster kin group associated with the Uí Bairrche were groups of the Fothairt. The south of Leinster was dominated by the Uí Chennselaig in the 8th century. Uí Bairrche held lands around Carlow, however Uí Chennselaig expansion split the kindred. The result was that one Uí Bairrche branch persevered in the Barrow valley; and another was forced to move south towards the Wexford coast. History Following the medieval genealogies, the Uí Bairrche descend from Dáire Barrach, a son of Cathair Mór, and are thus of Laigin origins. T. F. O'Rahilly, however, believed them to have originally belonged to the Érainn, being descendants of an ancestor figure Dáire (''*Dārios''), and the historical representatives of the Brigantes, who are located in Co. Wexford in Claudius Ptolemy's ''Geography' ...
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Uí Dúnlainge
The Uí Dúnlainge, from the Old Irish "grandsons (or descendants) of Dúnlaing", were an Irish dynasty of Leinster kings who traced their descent from Dúnlaing mac Énda Niada, a fifth-century King of Leinster. He was said to be a cousin of Énnae Cennsalach, eponymous ancestor of the rival Uí Ceinnselaig. Their claims to the kingship of Leinster were unopposed after the death of Áed mac Colggen in the Battle of Ballyshannon on 19 August 738. Three of the sons of Murchad mac Brain (d. 727), Dunchad, Faelan and Muiredach reigned in turn after him as kings of Leinster. These kings were progenitors of the most powerful branches of Uí Dunlainge in the following three centuries: Uí Dunchada, Uí Faelain and Uí Muiredaig. These three kindreds rotated the kingship of Leinster between them from 750 to 1050. This is unusual in early Irish history as it was the equivalent of "keeping three oranges in the air" (the east Ulster kingdom of Ulaid also rotated the kingship between fam ...
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Ailill Mac Máta
Ailill mac Máta is the king of the Connachta and the husband of queen MedbMatson, Gienna: ''Celtic Mythology A to Z'', page 2. Chelsea House, 2004. in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. He rules from Cruachan (Rathcroghan in County Roscommon). Family background, marriage and offspring The sagas explain ''mac Máta'' as a matronymic: his mother is Máta Muirisc, daughter of Mága, of the Fir Ol nEchmacht, a tribal grouping of Connacht, through whom he claimed the throne of the Connachta. His father is Rus Ruad, king of the Laigin, whose other sons include Cairbre Nia Fer, king of Tara, Find Fili, who succeeded him as king of the Laigin, and in some texts Cathbad, chief druid of Conchobar mac Nessa of the Ulaid. The ''Táin Bó Cúailnge'' says Medb chose him as husband, ahead of Find, Cairbre and Conchobar, because he alone among them was without meanness, jealousy or fear.Cecile O'Rahilly (ed. & trans.), ''Táin Bó Cúalnge from the Book of Leinster'', Dublin Institute fo ...
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King Of Tara
The term Kingship of Tara () was a title of authority in ancient Ireland - the title is closely associated with the archaeological complex at the Hill of Tara. The position was considered to be of eminent authority in medieval Irish literature and Irish mythology, although national kingship was never a historical reality in early Ireland. The term also represented a prehistoric and mythical ideal of sacred kingship in Ireland. Holding the title King of Tara invested the incumbent with a powerful status. Many Irish High Kings were simultaneously Kings of Tara. The title emerged in the ninth and tenth centuries. In later times, actual claimants to this title used their position to promote themselves in status and fact to the High Kingship. Prior to this, various branches of the Uí Néill dynasty appear to have used it to denote overlordship of their kindred and realms. It was associated with ''Feis Temro'' (Feast of Tara), a pagan inauguration rite. The titles King of Tara and H ...
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Uí Máil
Uí Máil were an Irish dynasty of Leinster. They were descended from Maine Mál, the brother of the legendary high king Cathair Mór. The Uí Máil were a dominant dynasty in Leinster competing for the kingship in the 7th century before being eventually ousted by the Uí Dunlainge and retreating east from the River Liffey plain in the 8th century. They are then found along the western foothills of the Wicklow Mountains. The Glen of Imaal, named for them, appears to have been a center of their power. Kings of Leinster from the Ui Mail included: * Áed Dibchine mac Senaig d. 593All dates per ''The Chronology of the Irish Annals'', Daniel P. McCarthy * Crimthann mac Áedo, d. 636 * Fiannamail mac Máele Tuile, d. 680 * Cellach Cualann Cellach Cualann mac Gerthidi (died 715) was the last king of Leinster from the Uí Máil dynasty. Cellach's byname is derived from the land of ''Cualu'' which lay around Glendalough. Cellach's father was not king of Leinster; his second cousin .. ...
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Ó Laighin
Ó Laighin, Gaels, Gaelic-Irish people, Irish surname, anglicised as Lyons (other), Lyons, Lane (surname), Lane or Lyne (surname), Lyne. Overview Ó Laighin was the surname of two unrelated families in medieval Ireland. 1 - Ó Laighin of County Kerry, usually anglicised as Lyne (surname), Lyne or Leen (surname), Leen. 2 - Ó Laighin of County Galway, their home district been around Kilconnell. Now rendered Lyons or Lane. Over two hundred households of the latter family were recorded between 1847-64. Etymology ''Laighin'' is the Irish name for Leinster, the most populated of the four Provinces of Ireland, which is located in the south-east of the island and entirely within the Republic of Ireland. The prefix ''Ó#Irish, Ó'' (common in Irish surnames) creates the meaning "of Leinster" or "descendant of Leinster". Laighin may also derive from the Irish word ''láigen'', meaning 'spear' or 'lance', which lent its name to the Laigin (Leinstermen) who inhabited pre-Norma ...
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Connachta
The Connachta are a group of medieval Irish dynasty, dynasties who claimed descent from the legendary High King of Ireland, High King Conn of the Hundred Battles, Conn Cétchathach (Conn of the Hundred Battles). The modern western Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht (Irish language, Irish ''Cúige Chonnacht'', province, literally "fifth", of the Connachta) takes its name from them, although the territories of the Connachta also included at various times parts of southern and western Ulster and northern Leinster. Their traditional capital was Cruachan, Ireland, Cruachan (modern Rathcroghan, County Roscommon). Origins The use of the word ''cúige'', earlier ''cóiced'', literally "fifth", to denote a province indicates the existence of a pentarchy in prehistory, whose members are believed to have been population groups the Connachta, the Ulaid (Ulster) and the Laigin (Leinster), the region of Mumu (Munster), and the central kingdom of Mide. This pentarchy appears to have ...
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River Boyne
The River Boyne ( or ''Abhainn na Bóinne'') is a river in Leinster, Ireland, the course of which is about long. It rises at Trinity Well, Newberry Hall, near Carbury, County Kildare, and flows north-east through County Meath to reach the Irish Sea between Mornington, County Meath, and Baltray, County Louth. Names and etymology This river has been known since ancient times. The Greek geographer Ptolemy drew a map of Ireland in the 2nd century that included the Boyne, which he called (''Bouwinda'') or (''Boubinda''), which in Celtic means "white cow" (). During the High Middle Ages, Giraldus Cambrensis called it the ''Boandus''. In Irish mythology it is said that the river was created by the goddess Boann and Boyne is an anglicised form of the name. In other legends, it was in this river where Fionn mac Cumhail captured Fiontán, the Salmon of Knowledge. The Meath section of the Boyne was also known as ''Smior Fionn Feidhlimthe'' (the 'marrow of Fionn Feilim'). T ...
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