ULAIDCongalach’s reign was relatively unremarkable, and,
following his death in 956, the alternating succession
between Cenél nEógain and Clann Cholmáin was
restored.
Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill (d. 1022) was the last
major dynast from the Southern Uí Néill; in fact, his
power was already in decline by the turn of the elev-
enth century, as the balance of power had shifted to
Brian Bóruma. The eleventh and twelfth centuries wit-
nessed the eclipse of the Uí Néill by the Uí Briain of
Dál Cais and the Uí Chonchobhair of Connacht. The
power of the Southern Uí Néill was further diminished
during this period as a result of the seizure of large
tracts of their territories by, among others, the Uí
Briúin Bréifne.
PAUL BYRNE
References and Further Reading
Byrne, Francis John. Irish Kings and High-Kings. London:
Batsford, 1973.
Byrne, Paul. “Certain Southern Uí Néill Kingdoms (Sixth to
Eleventh Century).” PhD diss., University College Dublin,
2000.
Ó Corráin, Donnchadh. Ireland before the Normans. Dublin:
Gill and MacMillan, 1972.
Ryan, Fr. John. Clonmacnois: A Historical Summary. Dublin:
The Stationery Office, 1973.
See alsoUí Néill; Dál Cais; Ua Briain;
Ua Conchobhair; Mide; Brian Boru; Diarmait mac
Cerbaill; Lóegaire mac Néill; Máel Sechnaill I;
Máel Sechnaill II
ULAID
In 1177 the Anglo-Norman adventurer John de Courcy
conquered the kingdom of the Ulaid and established
his own lordship based upon its historical center in
and around Downpatrick. This action brought to an
end one of the most enduring polities in Irish history.
In his “Life of Patrick,” the late-seventh-century
writer Muirchú described the territory of the Ulothi
as lying between the Boyne and the Lagan. The same
territory seems to be ascribed to the Uoluntii by the
Greco-Roman geographer Ptolemy in the second cen-
turyA.D. In the Ulster Cycle, surviving in literary texts
from the eighth century onward, the territory of the
Ulaid was said, in pre-Patrician times, to have
extended over the whole of Ireland north of the Boyne,
but the coincidence of Ptolemy’s and Muirchú’s loca-
tion of the tribe makes this seem unlikely. It should
also be noted that Ptolemy’s Isamnion (O. I. Emain)
is a coastal promontory in County Down and not the
site near Armagh city with which the medieval authors
identified it.
In medieval times, the Ulaid were dominated by the
Dál Fiatach dynasty with their royal center at Dún
Lethglaise (Downpatrick), who extended their sway
over most of modern Down and Louth and parts of
Armagh. The tradition of a greater sway than this may
have some basis in fact even if it was not as extensive
as legends suggest. The Ulaid were counted, along
with the Laigin and the Féni, as one of the three major
peoples of Ireland, and their claims to hegemony in
the northeast were only gradually eroded by the Uí
Néill. The Dál Fiatach seem to have been finally mar-
ginalized after the battle of Leth Cam in 827 when
they seem to have been attempting to detach the Airgialla
from Uí Néill overlordship. Indeed, the aspirations
leading up to this battle may have inspired the Ulster
Cycle vision of a greater Ulaid. Earlier Ulidian kings,
such as Báetán mac Cairill (c.581) and his nephew
Fiachnae mac Demmáin (626), had been able to oper-
ate as major players on the Irish scene.
By the late ninth century, the Dál Fiatach had fallen
on hard times and were forced to accept the overlord-
ship of their northern neighbors, the Dál nAraide of
Moylinny (Antrim). The propaganda produced to legit-
imize the dominance of this Cruthni dynasty over the
Ulaid has obscured the original distinctiveness of the
two peoples. Dál Fiatach fortunes were restored by
Eochaid mac Ardgail in 972, but inevitably this led to
renewed conflict with the Uí Néill culminating in
Eochaid’s death in battle in 1004. The period of Dál
nAraide dominance coincided broadly with the pres-
ence of at least one Viking base on Strangford Loch,
which must have discomfited the Ulaid, but in the long
run no enduring Hiberno-Norse settlements were
established in their territory. The Ulaid even developed
their own fleet, which was active in the Irish Sea and
even along the British coast.
The dynasty had a final revival under Donn Sléibe
macEchdacha (sl. 1091) and his descendants, and
developed close relations with the kingdom of the
Isles. In the course of the twelfth century Mac
Lochlainn kings were twice able to divide the Dál
Fiatach into four tigernae(“lordships”), and Mourne
was lost to Donnchad Ua Cerbaill, king of the Airgialla,
who negotiated the restoration of Ulidian kingship
with Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn. After de Courcy’s
conquest, the MacDúinnshléibe retained the title
“king of Irish Ulster,” but they had lost any real
independence.
ALEX WOOLFReferences and Further Reading
Byrne, Frances John. Irish Kings and High Kings, pp. 106–129.
London: Batsford, 1973.
Mallory, J. P. and T. E. MacNeill. The Archaeology of Ulster,
pp. 143–248. Belfast: The Institute of Irish Studies, 1991.