The period may, therefore, be roughly described as one of ” unchecked feudalism.” Ireland was a country with no central Government, each territory ruled by its own petty lord or chief. All were Irish, but they were also feudal.

In most cases there was not even the control of a superior great lord. Desmond, Ormonde and Kildare might, to some extent, act as petty Kings ; O’Neill and O’Donnell, O’Brien and Mac Carthy might control their own immediate sub-chiefs ; but the general tendency was in favour of purely local independence.

 As the lords had thrown off the dominion of the King, so the clans had lost much of the old tradition of acknowledged supremacy. The Kings of Aileach, of Tara, of Laighin, and of Caiseal still succeed one another, but their power is only nominal.

Above : Illustration Picture From Battle of Kinsale

The establishment of the new dynasties in the West and North-west by the brothers and sons of Niall respectively completed the political organisation of Ireland as we find it in strictly historical times. The seven independent states into which the island was thus divided, remained—modified under changing conditions—the fields of political influence in Ireland until the whole Gaelic fabric was destroyed after the Battle of Kinsale in 1603. The formation of the seven dynasties has been traced ; their existence as independent political bodies at the time of the coming of St. Patrick is proved, as will be seen, by an authority, which professes to date from that period ; it is certain that for ever afterwards it was those dynasties, and those alone, which gave independent rulers to any part of Ireland, and, in later troubled times, the recognised leaders of the Gaelic clans.

Above : Brian Boru Picture