508:. 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.
36:
250:
553:. 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."
511:
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.
492:. 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
151:
302:
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.
647:
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
311:
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".
515:
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
655:
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
682:
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.
620:
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
572:
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
591:
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
418:
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
588:) had been conquering petty kingdoms, expelling their rulers, and agglomerating their territories under the direct rule of their expanding kindred since the fifth century.
403:(popular assembly), collecting taxes, building public works, external relations, defence, emergency legislation, law enforcement, and promulgating legal judgment.
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1271:
628:
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53:
1372:
449:, 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
316:
798:
119:
100:
624:(monastic federations) of the Irish church received royal patronage in the form of shrines, building works, land, and protection.
679:
339:
in character. In some early Irish sources, High Kings can gain their power through a marriage to, or sexual relationship with, a
72:
916:
469:
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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57:
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A second sign that sacred kingship did not disappear with the arrival of
Christianity is the supposed lawsuit between
86:
1195:
315:
The concept of national kingship is first articulated in the 7th century, but only became a political reality in the
319:, 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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291:. The title was held by historical kings and was later sometimes assigned anachronously or to legendary figures.
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1035:
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The concept of a high king was occasionally recorded in various annals, such as an entry regarding the death of
536:). High Kings from the northern branch ruled various kingdoms in what eventually became the province of Ulster.
1387:
1075:
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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
1326:
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of
Connacht) intermarried and competed against each other on a national basis so that on the eve of the
560:
in 1014. Mael
Sechnaill II was restored to the High Kingship but he died in 1022. From 1022 through the
446:
1180:
1103:
450:
1336:
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are kings in this sacred sense, but it is clear that the old concept of kingship coexisted alongside
1023:
Nationality and Kingship in Pre-Norman Ireland by Prof. Donnchadh Ă CorrĂĄin, University College Cork
1306:
1200:
1142:
851:
From Kings to Warlords: The Changing Political Structure of Gaelic Ireland in the Later Middle Ages
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263:(pictured) shouted the rightful king's name when he placed his foot on it, according to tradition.
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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.
597:
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249:
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564:, the High Kingship was held alongside "Kings with Opposition".
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portrays an almost unbroken line of High Kings, ruling from the
1031:
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and was responsible for ensuring good government by exercising
323:, as the High King was conceived of as an overlord exercising
29:
399:(rulers' truth). His responsibilities included convening its
391:
Each king ruled directly only within the bounds of his own
477:
record Muirchertach's death by drowning in a vat of wine.
736:
A New History of Ireland 1: Prehistoric and Early Ireland
343:. The High King is free from blemish, enforces symbolic
539:
In 1002, the high kingship of Ireland was wrested from
595:, the relationship of king to overking became one of
1264:
1063:
635:(king of all Ireland), a title which his successor
631:in 862 in the Annals of Ulster, which lists him as
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60:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
786:
734:, "Ireland, 400â800", in DĂĄibhĂ Ă CrĂłinĂn (ed.),
376:who was overking of several petty kingdoms) to a
253:High kings were traditionally installed on the
1043:
8:
1050:
1036:
1028:
133:
917:"MĂĄel Sechnaill II, High King of Ireland"
772:Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia
757:Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia
430:(a wider kingroup encompassing the noble
120:Learn how and when to remove this message
248:
831:
829:
724:
406:The lands in a petty kingdom were held
1058:Kings of Ireland, circa 549–1175
816:Early Irish history and pseudo-history
957:"Life after Brian: the high-kingship"
814:Michael Roberts; et al. (1957).
384:who was a provincial overking). (See
280:[ËaËÉŸË dÌȘË ËÉŸË iËnÌȘË ÉËheËÉŸÊČÉnÌȘË ]
278:
7:
58:adding citations to reliable sources
347:(prerogatives) and avoids symbolic
25:
1272:MĂĄel Sechnaill mac MĂĄele Ruanaid
660:marked by an exclusive surname.
629:MĂĄel Sechnaill mac MĂĄele Ruanaid
473:, and even the usually reliable
149:
34:
785:Roe, Harry; Ann Dooley (1999).
759:. ABC-CLIO. pp. 1663â1664.
518:southern branch of the UĂ NĂ©ill
45:needs additional citations for
789:Tales of the Elders of Ireland
457:appropriate to a sacral king.
1:
698:List of High Kings of Ireland
576:(encompassing descendants of
853:. Boydell Press. p. 11.
663:These compact families (the
543:of the southern UĂ NĂ©ill by
1373:Medieval history of Ireland
1312:MĂĄel Sechnaill mac Domnaill
904:Brian Boru, King of Ireland
793:. Oxford University Press.
546:Brian "Boruma" mac Cennédig
520:, this would have been the
1404:
1347:Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn
1001:Annals of the Four Masters
994:Irish Kings and High Kings
992:John Francis Byrne, 1973,
891:Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh
837:Irish Kings and High Kings
822:Michigan University Press.
578:Niall of the Nine Hostages
568:Early Christian High Kings
294:Medieval and early modern
1342:Toirdelbach Ua Conchobair
902:Roger Chatterton Newman,
849:Simms, Katharine (2000).
445:for several generations.
335:Early Irish kingship was
321:politically unified state
166:
148:
1322:Diarmait mac MaĂl na mBĂł
1076:Forggus mac Muirchertaig
562:Norman take-over of 1171
556:Brian was killed in the
506:Norman take-over of 1171
307:explains: "Although the
18:High kingship of Ireland
1251:Fedelmid mac Crimthainn
1246:Conchobar mac Donnchada
1090:BĂĄetĂĄn mac Muirchertaig
740:Oxford University Press
471:Muirchertach macc Ercae
434:of the petty kingdom).
283:) was a royal title in
158:depiction of High King
1332:Muirchertach Ua Briain
986:29 August 2014 at the
935:"The Annals of Ulster"
770:Koch, John T. (2006).
703:List of Irish kingdoms
609:) began to merge with
275:
264:
69:"High King of Ireland"
1383:High Kings of Ireland
1352:RuaidrĂ Ua Conchobair
1327:Toirdelbach Ua Briain
1196:Fergal mac MĂĄele DĂșin
1071:Diarmait mac Cerbaill
1011:Foras Feasa ar Ăirinn
524:(now the counties of
447:Diarmait mac Cerbaill
252:
216:RuaidrĂ Ua Conchobair
1337:Domnall Ua Lochlainn
1301:RuaidrĂ ua CanannĂĄin
1109:Fiachnae mac BĂĄetĂĄin
1094:Eochaid mac Domnaill
835:Francis John Byrne,
742:, 2005, pp. 182â234.
708:Lists of Irish kings
584:), who (as kings of
268:High King of Ireland
54:improve this article
1378:Cycles of the Kings
1201:Cathal mac Finguine
889:Revd. Dr. JH Todd,
601:(lord) to king and
341:sovereignty goddess
189:Imperator Scottorum
1181:FĂnsnechta Fledach
1138:Ăengus mac ColmĂĄin
1104:Ăed mac Ainmuirech
1099:BĂĄetĂĄn mac Cairill
1080:Domnall Ilchelgach
975:Lebor GabĂĄla Ărenn
693:History of Ireland
671:of the North, the
558:Battle of Clontarf
551:Kingdom of Munster
451:Ăed Dub mac Suibni
364:(king of a single
265:
196:First monarch
1360:
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1191:Congal Cennmagair
866:"Gessi and Buada"
864:Loughlin, Annie.
820:Bowes & Bowes
680:incursion of 1169
541:Mael Sechnaill II
437:The kings of the
331:Sacred High Kings
276:ArdrĂ na hĂireann
247:
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212:Last monarch
184:ArdrĂ na hĂireann
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1297:Congalach Cnogba
1265:Kings of Ireland
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500:Succession order
490:Domnall mac Ăedo
475:Annals of Ulster
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43:This article
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1317:Brian BĂłruma
1256:Niall Caille
1241:Ăed Oirdnide
1226:Domnall Midi
1148:Congal CĂĄech
1118:ColmĂĄn RĂmid
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939:. Retrieved
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52:Please help
47:verification
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1282:Flann Sinna
1176:Cenn FĂĄelad
1171:Sechnassach
1157:Conall CĂłel
1133:Suibne Menn
607:sovereignty
426:within the
410:by various
1367:Categories
1114:Ăed SlĂĄine
968:References
875:14 October
774:. ABC-CLO.
753:Koch, John
593:coronation
408:allodially
378:rĂ ruirech
362:rĂ tuaithe
325:suzerainty
317:Viking Age
202:(mythical)
160:Brian Boru
110:April 2019
80:newspapers
1221:Ăed AllĂĄn
1206:Fogartach
1186:Loingsech
1128:MĂĄel Coba
665:UĂ Briain
622:paruchiae
530:Westmeath
238:Residence
230:Abolition
222:Formation
1166:Blathmac
1162:Diarmait
1085:Ainmuire
1009:, 1636,
996:, Dublin
984:Archived
937:. Ucc.ie
755:(2006).
687:See also
650:oireacht
611:dominium
603:imperium
574:UĂ NĂ©ill
494:UĂ NĂ©ill
260:Lia FĂĄil
1153:Cellach
598:tigerna
549:of the
467:Columba
459:AdomnĂĄn
416:agnatic
289:Ireland
175:Details
139:Ireland
94:scholar
1211:CinĂĄed
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488:, and
401:Ăłenach
355:taboos
337:sacred
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428:cenél
370:ruiri
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272:Irish
180:Style
101:JSTOR
87:books
1164:and
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943:2012
877:2017
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658:fine
616:The
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463:Life
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