Above : View Of Eamhain (These Days)

The division of Ireland into twenty-five parts, ascribed to Ugaine having lasted for three centuries, is said to have been ended by eocAro £eroleAc (Eochy Feylagh), who was King of the people of Leinster shortly before the Christian Era. He is said to have restored the legendary ” Five Provinces ” of the Firbolgs, and to have placed sub-Kings over each. This division, however, seems to have been as lightly regarded as were any of the previous ones, and it is not until the time of St. Patrick that we get definite political sub-divisions of Ireland. For the present, we can only witness the gradual development of the supremacy of certain families in different parts of the island. The conquering clans, who, in course of time, established the Irish states, gradually extended their power over the clans around them, leaving them undisturbed in their own territories under their own chiefs, but subordinate to and paying tribute to the chiefs of the superior clans. Whether or not these latter clans were more recent comers is still a matter of speculation.

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 : Seven State. (5th to 10th Centuries, based upon “Book of Rights”)

The existence of the seven states of Ireland about the time of St. Patrick is testified as has been already mentioned by an authority which is accepted as originating in his time. This is the book called ” teAOdfi n<i