Doherty, Charles. “Exchange and Trade in Early Medieval Ire-
land,”
Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland
110 (1980): 67–87.
See also
Burials; Fairs; Games; Kings
and Kingship; Trade
OSRAIGE
Osraige is the name of a kingdom (and people) located
in the southeast quadrant of Ireland in an area roughly
coterminous with the present diocese of Ossory (Cos.
Kilkenny and Leix), which preserves the name. Orig-
inally, the kingdom may have extended westward to
the river Suir and eastward to Gowran (Co. Kilkenny),
near the river Barrow. Osraige is probably a compound
of the name of an eponymous ancestor and the com-
mon suffix, –
raige
(a kingdom).
Its strategic location gave Osraige an importance
belied by its relatively modest size and status. It con-
trolled the main route into Munster for armies coming
down from the north, which had to cross Belach
Gabráin in south Osraige. (Several famous battles were
fought in the kingdom.) More importantly, it served as
a buffer between the provinces of Munster and Lein-
ster, a position that ensured for it a role in the politics
of both. Indeed, so prominent was its role in Leinster
affairs that the genealogists falsely traced the Osraige
back to Leinster stock. Osraige belonged to Munster
in the sixth to eighth century, and probably long before
then. In addition, early Irish genealogical and hagio-
graphical traditions link Osraige with another Munster
people, the Corcu Loígde, who were located in mari-
time southwest County Cork. Thus, St. Ciarán of Saigir
(Seirkieran), patron saint of the Osraige, came from
the Corcu Loígde. It appears that the Osraige had bro-
ken away from dependence on the Corcu Loígde by
the seventh century. Both peoples may have been much
more prominent at an earlier, prehistoric period, as
suggested by the special status they enjoyed in relation
to the provincial overking of Munster at Cashel. Thus,
the Osraige were a free people who did not have to
pay tribute, because (it was said) they had once been
the rulers of Munster. Yet they seem to have been
subject to Uí Néill kings of Tara in the late sixth
century, perhaps because the new ruling family of
Munster, the Eóganacht, owed allegiance to the latter.
The second half of the ninth century witnessed a
period of marked Osraige influence in both Munster and
Leinster. The Osraige king, Cerball mac Dúngaile
(847–888), made a name for himself in Leinster by
defending the waterways of the Barrow and Nore
against Viking attacks. He played off Norse forces
against each other and forged marriage alliances with
the Viking rulers of Dublin. (He is remembered in
Icelandic genealogies as Kjarvalr
Írakonungur, Kjarvall
the Irish king.) But he was no match for the political
ambitions of Máel-Sechnaill I, the Uí Néill king of the
northern half of Ireland, who invaded Munster. As a
result, Munster was forced to alienate Osraige to him
in 859. Thereafter, Osraige drifted toward a Leinster
sphere of influence as Cerball’s successors laid claim
to the kingship of Leinster—unsuccessfully for the
most part. The Norman invasion of 1170, which was
directed at the southeast, meant that Osraige was one
of the first Gaelic kingdoms to fall. Within a decade
the Normans separated it from Leinster, making it part
of the royal demesne lands of Waterford under Robert
le Poer.
P
ÁDRAIG
Ó N
ÉILLReferences and Further Reading
Byrne, Francis John.
Irish Kings and High-Kings
, 2nd ed. Dub-
lin: Four Courts Press, 2001, esp. 162–163, 180–181, 202,
262–263.
Charles-Edwards, Thomas.
Early Christian Ireland. Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000, esp. 476,
488–489, 541–542.
Radnor, Joan Newlon.
Fragmentary Annals of Ireland
. Dublin:
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1978.
See also
Cerball mac Dúngaile; Eóganachta;
Leinster; Munster; Uí NéillÓENACH