Expansion Of The Tara
Above : Ancient Irish Territorial Division
The descendants of Conn of the Hundred Battles had constructed around Tara a strong and consolidated Kingdom, and the two branches of the posterity of Mogh Nuadhat had established the supremacy of Cashel over the South. Between those two Kingdoms the successors of Cahir M6r in Leinster preserved their independence against the aggressions of their neighbours. In the North, the Clanna Rury still occupied their ancient seat of Eamhain Macha, although their power had steadily waned since the time of the ” Tain Bd.” New Kingdoms now arose, created by chiefs of the seed of Conn. Three new dynasties are founded closely related to the Royal House of Tara, and their members rule over the clans of their respective Kingdoms so long as an independent clan remained in Eire. These new Kingdoms were formed shortly before or during the reign of Niall of the Hostages. * The older, and literary, spelling is ” “Oil 5-CAlf.”
The Three Collas in Oirghialla (A.D. 331).—The first of the offshoots of Tara was planted on part of the territories of the Clanna Rury. Three brothers called ” The Three Collas,” grandsons of Carbery of the Liffey, having been defeated in a family contest for the Kingship of Tara, fled to Scotland. They soon returned, and became reconciled to their successful relative. Under his auspices, and with the aid of auxiliaries from ” Alba ” (Scotland) and Connacht, they attacked the Clanna Rury, defeated them, and captured their palace of Eamhain. They made ” swordland ” of a large territory stretching ” from sea to sea “—from Dundalk Bay to Sligo Bay—and there established an independent state called ” Oip$iAtU ” or Oriel. The Clanna Rury, thenceforward, were hemmed in east of the line of the Bann and the Mourne Mountains, in a territory which they ruled as the Kingdom of Ulaidh*
Aileach : The Northern Ui Neill (circ. 400 A.D.).—The most important expansion of the Tara dynasty took place in the time of Niall of the Hostages, when two great historical lines of Kings were founded by his immediate relatives. The first of these was in the North-west, with its seat at the Grianan of Aileach near the modern city of Derry. What power, if any, was possessed by the Clanna Rury over that district of the North in early times we are not certain. But we know that four of the sons of Niall established themselves here, and that their descendants from that time forward ruled over a Kingdom stretching north of the Oirghialla from the Atlantic to the Bann.f The posterity of Niall thus settled in the Kingdom of Aileach are known in history as the ” Northern Ui Neill ” : the descendants of Niall who remained in Meath are known as the ” Southern Ui Neill.” Of the four sons of Niall who established this new Kingdom the most famous were Eoghan and Conall from whom respectively the celebrated families of the ” Cineal Eoghain ” and ” Cineal Chonaill” were descended, and the territories of Of Con<Mtl (Tirconnell) and Or> eogAin (Tyrone) were named.
Cruaehan or Connacht (circ. 400 A.D.)—About the same time as the sons of Niall were establishing the line of Northern Ui Neill Kings in Aileach, a kindred line was being founded on the west of the Shannon. We have no clear information as to any definite political organisation prior to this time of the tribes of Connacht—nearly all of whom appear to have been pre-” Milesian.” During the reign of Niall, however, his two half-brothers—Brian and Fiachra—established themselves in the palace of Cruachan , and from that time forward the Kings of the Western Kingdom were selected from their posterity alone. Various districts were occupied by their own immediate clans, but in most of Connacht the original tribes remained paying tribute, however, to the new Kings of Cruachan. By the introduction of the Ui Maine, a branch of the Oirghialla, as a sort of military colony on their southern border, a stop was put to the advance of the Dal Chais on the western bank of the Shannon.
The Ard Ri.—Thus we find immediately before the introduction of Christianity the permanent establishment of four Kingdoms ruled over by the posterity of Conn of the Hundred Battles—Tara, Oirghialla, Aileach, and Cruachan. The bond of kinship between these Kingdoms is clearly recognised by them. The nominal head of this confederacy is easily the Chief King in Eire, and he is given the title of Afro Hi or High King. The title is, to a great extent, a nominal one, and implies no power in the government of any of the kingdoms but his own. The title and its implied superiority is generally accepted by the kindred states. It is not so readily recognised, however, by the other dynasties of Ulaidh, Laighin or Caiseal.
The Battle of Ocha : The Ui Keill.—For two generations after Niall, the Connacht branch shared with Niall’s family the succession to the title of Ard Ri. In Gaelic Ireland, succession, although limited to members of a certain family, did not follow the direct line. Accordingly we find that Niall was succeeded as Ard Ri by his nephew Dathi, King of Connacht, who, we are told, was killed at the foot of the Alps while leading an expedition against the Romans. Dathi was succeeded by Laoghaire, son of Niall, who was Ard Ri during the mission of St. Patrick, and upon his death the title again reverted to the Connacht branch in the person of Oilioll Molt, a son of Dathi. Oilioll, however, was defeated and slain by Lughaidh, the son of Laoghaire, in the battle of Ocha (a.d. 483), and the Connacht branch were thenceforward excluded. For over 500 years from that battle the title of Ard Ri was borne exclusively by the immediate posterity of Niall—either the Southern Ui Neill of Tara, or the Northern Ui Neill of Aileach, and it was not until the 12th century that the claims of the Western Siol Chuinn, which were crushed at the battle of Ocha, were revived in the person of Turlough O’Connor.
* Equivalent to most of the modern Counties of Down and Antrim.
T Corresponding to the modern counties of Donegal, Derry, and most of Tyrone.
