497:. Ireland was divided into a multiplicity of kingdoms, with some kings owing allegiance to others from time to time, and succession rules (insofar as they existed) varied. Kings were often succeeded by their sons, but often other branches of the dynasty took a turnâwhether by agreement or by force of arms is rarely clear. The king-lists and other early sources reveal little about how and why a particular person became king.
25:
239:
542:. Some historians have called this a "usurpation" of the throne. Others have pointed out that no one had a strict legal right to the kingship and that Brian "had as much right to the high throne as any UĂ Neill and... displayed an ability sadly lacking amongst most of the UĂ NĂ©ill who had preceded him."
500:
To add to the uncertainty, genealogies were often edited many generations later to improve an ancestor's standing within a kingdom, or to insert him into a more powerful kindred. The uncertain practices in local kingship cause similar problems when interpreting the succession to the high kingship.
481:. Congal was supposedly blinded in one eye by Domnall's bees, from whence his byname CĂĄech (half-blind or squinting), this injury rendering him imperfect and unable to remain High King. The enmity between Domnall and Congal can more prosaically be laid at the door of the rivalry between the
140:
291:
over a hierarchy of lesser kings, stretching back thousands of years. Modern historians believe this scheme was crafted in the 8th century from the various genealogical traditions of powerful dynasties, and intended to justify their status by projecting it far into the past.
636:
By the twelfth century, the dual process of agglomeration of territory and consolidation of kingship saw the handful of remaining provincial kings abandoning the traditional royal sites for the cities, employing ministers and governors, receiving advice from an
300:
was a special kingship whose occupants had aspirations towards supremacy among the kings of
Ireland, in political terms it is unlikely that any king had sufficient authority to dominate the whole island before the 9th century".
504:
The High King of
Ireland was essentially a ceremonial, pseudo-federal overlord (where his over-lordship was even recognised), who exercised actual power only within the realm of which he was actually king. In the case of the
644:
Early royal succession had been by alternation between collateral branches of the wider dynasty, but succession was now confined to a series of father/son, brother/brother and uncle/nephew successions within a small royal
671:
the agglomeration/consolidation process was complete and their provincial kingdoms divided, dismembered and transformed into fiefdoms held from (or in rebellion against) one of their number acting as king of
Ireland.
609:
was well disposed to the idea of a strong political authority. Its clerics developed the theory of a high kingship of
Ireland and wrote tracts exhorting kings to rule rather than reign. In return, the
561:
Even at the time the law tracts were being written, these petty kingdoms were being swept away by newly emerging dynasties of dynamic overkings. The most successful of these early dynasties were the
580:
Gaelic and foreign, pagan and
Christian ideas were comingled to form a new idea of Irish kingship. The native idea of a sacred kingship was integrated with the Christian idea in the ceremony of
407:
kingroups) of freemen. The king occupied the apex of a pyramid of clientship within the petty kingdom. This pyramid progressed from the unfree population at its base up to the heads of noble
577:) had been conquering petty kingdoms, expelling their rulers, and agglomerating their territories under the direct rule of their expanding kindred since the fifth century.
392:(popular assembly), collecting taxes, building public works, external relations, defence, emergency legislation, law enforcement, and promulgating legal judgment.
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42:
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438:, king of Tara in the middle of the 6th century, may have been the last king to have "married" the land. Diarmait died at the hands of
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89:
613:(monastic federations) of the Irish church received royal patronage in the form of shrines, building works, land, and protection.
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in character. In some early Irish sources, High Kings can gain their power through a marriage to, or sexual relationship with, a
61:
905:
458:
forecast the same death for Ăed Dub. The same
Threefold Death is said in a late poem to have befallen Diarmait's predecessor,
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A second sign that sacred kingship did not disappear with the arrival of
Christianity is the supposed lawsuit between
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The concept of national kingship is first articulated in the 7th century, but only became a political reality in the
308:, and even then not a consistent one. While the High Kings' degree of control varied, they never ruled Ireland as a
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280:. The title was held by historical kings and was later sometimes assigned anachronously or to legendary figures.
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The concept of a high king was occasionally recorded in various annals, such as an entry regarding the death of
525:). High Kings from the northern branch ruled various kingdoms in what eventually became the province of Ulster.
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The business of Irish succession is rather complicated because of the nature of kingship in
Ireland before the
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and the kings of Ulaid, but that a king had to be whole in body appears to have been accepted at this time.
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According to 7th- and 8th-century law tracts, a hierarchy of kingship and clientship progressed from the
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of
Connacht) intermarried and competed against each other on a national basis so that on the eve of the
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in 1014. Mael
Sechnaill II was restored to the High Kingship but he died in 1022. From 1022 through the
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are kings in this sacred sense, but it is clear that the old concept of kingship coexisted alongside
1012:
Nationality and Kingship in Pre-Norman Ireland by Prof. Donnchadh Ă CorrĂĄin, University College Cork
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840:
From Kings to Warlords: The Changing Political Structure of Gaelic Ireland in the Later Middle Ages
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apparently never was granted. It is unclear what political reality was behind this title.
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held in immediate clientship by the king. Thus the king was drawn from the dominant
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held by those who had, or who are claimed to have had, lordship over all of
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over, and receiving tribute from, the independent kingdoms beneath him.
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553:, the High Kingship was held alongside "Kings with Opposition".
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portrays an almost unbroken line of High Kings, ruling from the
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and was responsible for ensuring good government by exercising
312:, as the High King was conceived of as an overlord exercising
18:
388:(rulers' truth). His responsibilities included convening its
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Each king ruled directly only within the bounds of his own
466:
record Muirchertach's death by drowning in a vat of wine.
725:
A New History of Ireland 1: Prehistoric and Early Ireland
332:. The High King is free from blemish, enforces symbolic
528:
In 1002, the high kingship of Ireland was wrested from
584:, the relationship of king to overking became one of
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624:(king of all Ireland), a title which his successor
620:in 862 in the Annals of Ulster, which lists him as
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49:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
775:
723:, "Ireland, 400â800", in DĂĄibhĂ Ă CrĂłinĂn (ed.),
365:who was overking of several petty kingdoms) to a
242:High kings were traditionally installed on the
1032:
8:
1039:
1025:
1017:
122:
906:"MĂĄel Sechnaill II, High King of Ireland"
761:Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia
746:Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia
419:(a wider kingroup encompassing the noble
109:Learn how and when to remove this message
237:
820:
818:
713:
395:The lands in a petty kingdom were held
1047:Kings of Ireland, circa 549–1175
805:Early Irish history and pseudo-history
946:"Life after Brian: the high-kingship"
803:Michael Roberts; et al. (1957).
373:who was a provincial overking). (See
269:[ËaËÉŸË dÌȘË ËÉŸË iËnÌȘË ÉËheËÉŸÊČÉnÌȘË ]
267:
7:
47:adding citations to reliable sources
336:(prerogatives) and avoids symbolic
14:
1261:MĂĄel Sechnaill mac MĂĄele Ruanaid
649:marked by an exclusive surname.
618:MĂĄel Sechnaill mac MĂĄele Ruanaid
462:, and even the usually reliable
138:
23:
774:Roe, Harry; Ann Dooley (1999).
748:. ABC-CLIO. pp. 1663â1664.
507:southern branch of the UĂ NĂ©ill
34:needs additional citations for
778:Tales of the Elders of Ireland
446:appropriate to a sacral king.
1:
687:List of High Kings of Ireland
565:(encompassing descendants of
842:. Boydell Press. p. 11.
652:These compact families (the
532:of the southern UĂ NĂ©ill by
1362:Medieval history of Ireland
1301:MĂĄel Sechnaill mac Domnaill
893:Brian Boru, King of Ireland
782:. Oxford University Press.
535:Brian "Boruma" mac Cennédig
509:, this would have been the
1393:
1336:Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn
990:Annals of the Four Masters
983:Irish Kings and High Kings
981:John Francis Byrne, 1973,
880:Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh
826:Irish Kings and High Kings
811:Michigan University Press.
567:Niall of the Nine Hostages
557:Early Christian High Kings
283:Medieval and early modern
1331:Toirdelbach Ua Conchobair
891:Roger Chatterton Newman,
838:Simms, Katharine (2000).
434:for several generations.
324:Early Irish kingship was
310:politically unified state
155:
137:
1311:Diarmait mac MaĂl na mBĂł
1065:Forggus mac Muirchertaig
551:Norman take-over of 1171
545:Brian was killed in the
495:Norman take-over of 1171
296:explains: "Although the
1240:Fedelmid mac Crimthainn
1235:Conchobar mac Donnchada
1079:BĂĄetĂĄn mac Muirchertaig
729:Oxford University Press
460:Muirchertach macc Ercae
423:of the petty kingdom).
272:) was a royal title in
147:depiction of High King
1321:Muirchertach Ua Briain
975:29 August 2014 at the
924:"The Annals of Ulster"
759:Koch, John T. (2006).
692:List of Irish kingdoms
598:) began to merge with
264:
253:
58:"High King of Ireland"
1372:High Kings of Ireland
1341:RuaidrĂ Ua Conchobair
1316:Toirdelbach Ua Briain
1185:Fergal mac MĂĄele DĂșin
1060:Diarmait mac Cerbaill
1000:Foras Feasa ar Ăirinn
513:(now the counties of
436:Diarmait mac Cerbaill
241:
205:RuaidrĂ Ua Conchobair
1326:Domnall Ua Lochlainn
1290:RuaidrĂ ua CanannĂĄin
1098:Fiachnae mac BĂĄetĂĄin
1083:Eochaid mac Domnaill
824:Francis John Byrne,
731:, 2005, pp. 182â234.
697:Lists of Irish kings
573:), who (as kings of
257:High King of Ireland
43:improve this article
1367:Cycles of the Kings
1190:Cathal mac Finguine
878:Revd. Dr. JH Todd,
590:(lord) to king and
330:sovereignty goddess
178:Imperator Scottorum
1170:FĂnsnechta Fledach
1127:Ăengus mac ColmĂĄin
1093:Ăed mac Ainmuirech
1088:BĂĄetĂĄn mac Cairill
1069:Domnall Ilchelgach
964:Lebor GabĂĄla Ărenn
682:History of Ireland
660:of the North, the
547:Battle of Clontarf
540:Kingdom of Munster
440:Ăed Dub mac Suibni
353:(king of a single
254:
185:First monarch
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1180:Congal Cennmagair
855:"Gessi and Buada"
853:Loughlin, Annie.
809:Bowes & Bowes
669:incursion of 1169
530:Mael Sechnaill II
426:The kings of the
320:Sacred High Kings
265:ArdrĂ na hĂireann
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489:Succession order
479:Domnall mac Ăedo
464:Annals of Ulster
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1245:Niall Caille
1230:Ăed Oirdnide
1215:Domnall Midi
1137:Congal CĂĄech
1107:ColmĂĄn RĂmid
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724:
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666:Anglo-Norman
651:
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635:
626:Aed Finliath
621:
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604:
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579:
560:
544:
533:
527:
521:and part of
503:
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492:
471:Congal CĂĄech
468:
451:
432:Christianity
428:Ulster Cycle
425:
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294:John T. Koch
289:Hill of Tara
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244:Hill of Tara
231:Hill of Tara
196:(historical)
172:
120:
105:
96:
86:
79:
72:
65:
53:
41:Please help
36:verification
33:
1271:Flann Sinna
1165:Cenn FĂĄelad
1160:Sechnassach
1146:Conall CĂłel
1122:Suibne Menn
596:sovereignty
415:within the
399:by various
1356:Categories
1103:Ăed SlĂĄine
957:References
864:14 October
763:. ABC-CLO.
742:Koch, John
582:coronation
397:allodially
367:rĂ ruirech
351:rĂ tuaithe
314:suzerainty
306:Viking Age
191:(mythical)
149:Brian Boru
99:April 2019
69:newspapers
1210:Ăed AllĂĄn
1195:Fogartach
1175:Loingsech
1117:MĂĄel Coba
654:UĂ Briain
611:paruchiae
519:Westmeath
227:Residence
219:Abolition
211:Formation
1155:Blathmac
1151:Diarmait
1074:Ainmuire
998:, 1636,
985:, Dublin
973:Archived
926:. Ucc.ie
744:(2006).
676:See also
639:oireacht
600:dominium
592:imperium
563:UĂ NĂ©ill
483:UĂ NĂ©ill
249:Lia FĂĄil
1142:Cellach
587:tigerna
538:of the
456:Columba
448:AdomnĂĄn
405:agnatic
278:Ireland
164:Details
128:Ireland
83:scholar
1200:CinĂĄed
930:23 May
786:
607:Church
477:, and
390:Ăłenach
344:taboos
326:sacred
246:. The
85:
78:
71:
64:
56:
708:Notes
515:Meath
475:Ulaid
417:cenél
359:ruiri
339:geasa
334:buada
261:Irish
169:Style
90:JSTOR
76:books
1153:and
1144:and
1105:and
1081:and
1067:and
932:2012
866:2017
784:ISBN
647:fine
605:The
575:Tara
452:Life
421:fine
413:fine
409:fine
401:fine
62:news
450:'s
377:.)
369:(a
361:(a
346:).
45:by
1358::
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857:.
817:^
807:.
727:,
702:RĂ
517:,
375:RĂ
371:rĂ
363:rĂ
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39:.
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