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The Corcu Duibne (Modern ), which means "seed or tribe of Duibhne" (the name of a goddess), was a notable kingdom in prehistoric and medieval
County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...
, Ireland which included the Dingle Peninsula, the
Iveragh Peninsula The Iveragh Peninsula () is located in County Kerry in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is the largest peninsula in southwestern Ireland. A mountain range, the MacGillycuddy's Reeks, lies in the centre of the peninsula. Carrauntoohil, its hig ...
and connecting lands. The tribe belonged to the
Érainn The Iverni (, ') were a people of early Ireland first mentioned in Ptolemy's 2nd century ''Geography'' as living in the extreme south-west of the island. He also locates a "city" called Ivernis (, ') in their territory, and observes that this se ...
and claimed descent from the legendary Conaire MĂłr, possibly making them distant cousins of such far off kingdoms as
Dál Riata Dál Riata or Dál Riada (also Dalriada) () was a Gaels, Gaelic Monarchy, kingdom that encompassed the Inner Hebrides, western seaboard of Scotland and north-eastern Ireland, on each side of the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North ...
in
Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...
and
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
, as well as the closer MĂşscraige and Corcu Baiscind. All the tribes belonged to the SĂ­l Conairi of legend and ultimately traced their descent from the Clanna Dedad.


Septs and relations with other kingdoms

The ruling Irish clans of the Corcu Duibne were
O'Shea O'Shea is a surname and, less often, a given name. It is an anglicized form of the Irish patronymic name Ó Séaghdha or Ó Sé, originating in the Kingdom of Corcu Duibne in County Kerry. Historian C. Thomas Cairney states that the O'Sheas were ...
, O'Falvey, and O'Connell. Noted creators of ogham inscriptions, with over one third of all Irish inscriptions found in their region, the existence of the Corcu Duibne is attested as early as the 5th century. These tell us they claimed descent from a female ancestor . The
Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
mountaintop fortress Caherconree, preserving the name of the legendary CĂş RoĂ­, a cousin of Conaire MĂłr, is found on the Dingle Peninsula, the name of which in
Modern Irish Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...
is ''Corca Dhuibhne''. Relations between the Corcu Duibne and the nearby Eóganacht Locha Léin are poorly understood, but it appears they spent at least some period of time under the nominal overlordship of the latter in the powerful, but relatively short-lived Kingdom of Iarmuman. Rule from distant overkingdom of Eóganacht Chaisil is not apparent and so it is likely that the Corcu Duibne kingdom had an independent, if remote, existence in the first millennium.


Legendary origins

The 8th-century text known as '' The Expulsion of the Déisi'' attributes to the Corcu Duibne an eponymous founder, Corc Duibne, a scion of the branch of the Érainn royal line called the Síl Conairi, after Conaire Mór. In particular, the later "B version" of the text includes a lengthy episode describing Corc's birth and childhood deeds. Corc and his twin brother Cormac are born of incest to Coirpre Músc (a quo Múscraige) and Duihind, children of Conaire Cóem, a descendant of Conaire Mór. Their conception causes the crops to fail, and the people determine to immolate them to remove their curse. However, a druid steps in and offers to take Corc to an offshore island so that the abomination is out of Ireland. Reciting a poem predicting great things for Corc's descendants, the druid and his wife Boí take the boy to the remote island of Inis Boí. Every morning for the next year, Boí performs a purification ritual in which she gives Corc an ablution while he is seated on the back of an otherworldly white cow with red ears. Finally one morning Corc's curse leaves him and enters the cow, who jumps into the ocean and turns to stone, becoming the rock of Bó Boí. Boí takes Corc to his grandmother, Sárait, daughter of Conn Cétchathach, and eventually convinces her to take him back. When he is older Corc is sent to serve as hostage in the court of Cormac mac Airt, King of Tara. There he is fostered by Óengus Gaíbúaibthech, a leader of the Déisi. When Óengus and his people are expelled from Tara over a bloody dispute with the king's son, Corc absconds from hostageship and joins his foster-father, fighting beside him in many battles. Eventually the Déisi wander to the southern coast, and come to the island where Corc was reared. He tries to convince them to settle there, but they elect to move farther north. Corc remains, and founds his dynasty.''This Is The Cause Of The Expulsion Of The Déssi To Munster And The Violent Death Of Cormac'', sect. 5; 8; 12.
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Annalistic references

* ''AI989.4 Congal son of Anrudán, king of Corcu Duibne, dies.'' * ''AI1013.4 Mac Raith son of Congal, king of Corcu Duibne dies.'' * ''AI1027.2 Death of Crínán son of Fáilbe, king of Corcu Duibne.'' * ''AI1041.9 Ua Ségda, king of Corcu Duibne was slain.'' * ''AI1042.4 Mathgamain Ua Fáilbi, royal heir of Corcu Duibne was slain.'' * ''AI1062.4 Two of the Uí Fháilbi, royal heirs of Corcu Duibne, were slain by the Uí Echach in Baí Bérre.'' * ''AI1063.4 Cú Dub Ua Fáilbe, king of Corcu Duibne dies.'' * ''AI1064.6 A great foray by Tairdelbach into Corcu Duibne and Eógan acht, and it is impossible to enumerate all the cows and other cattle taken on that raid.'' * ''AI1066.3 Loingsech Ua Domnaill, another king of Uí Echach, was slain by the Corcu Duibne.'' * ''AI1096.5 Mathgamain Ua Ségda, king of Corcu Duibne, rested in Christ.'' * ''AI1115.7 The slaying of Lochlainn Ua Fáilbi by Murchad Ua Ségda.'' * ''AI1118.6 Tadc Ua Ségda was slain by the foreigners of Luimnech and by Ua Fáilbi, each having committed treachery against the other.'' * ''AI1127.5 Murchad Ua Ségda, In Gilla Manntach Ua Fáilbi, and Cathal Ua Cathuil were slain.''


See also

* Pre-Norman invasion Irish Celtic kinship groups, from which many of the modern Irish surnames came


Notes


References

* Francis John Byrne. ''Irish Kings and High-Kings''.
Four Courts Press Four Courts Press is an independent Irish academic publishing house, with its office at Malpas Street, Dublin 8, Ireland. Founded in 1970 by Michael Adams, who died in February 2009, its early publications were primarily theological, notably ...
. 2nd revised edition, 2001. * Vernam Hull. "The Later Version of the Expulsion of the Déssi", in '' Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 27'' (1958–59): 14–63. * Paul MacCotter. ''Medieval Ireland: Territorial, Political and Economic Divisions''. Four Courts Press. 2008. *
Eoin MacNeill Eoin MacNeill (; born John McNeill; 15 May 1867 – 15 October 1945) was an Irish scholar, Irish language enthusiast, Gaelic revivalist, nationalist, and politician who served as Minister for Education from 1922 to 1925, Ceann Comhairle of D ...

"Early Irish Population Groups: their nomenclature, classification and chronology"
in ''Proceedings of the
Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the natural sciences, arts, literature, and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned society and one of its le ...
(C) 29''. 1911. pp. 59–114 * Eoin MacNeill
"Notes on Irish Ogham Inscriptions"
in ''Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy''. 1909. pp. 329–70 * T. F. O'Rahilly. ''Early Irish History and Mythology''.
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) () is a statutory independent research institute in Dublin, Ireland. It was established, under the Institute For Advanced Studies Act 1940, by the government of the then Taoiseach, Éamon de Vale ...
. 1946. {{Érainn Érainn Kingdoms of medieval Ireland