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Kings of Ulster—to Colla da Chrioch by Hugh McGough

This page presents a table of the Kings of Ulster up to the conquest and division of Ulster by Colla da Chrioch in 331 A.D. When a king of all Ireland is part of the immediate pedigree of a king of Ulster, that over-king is included in this table with a cross reference to my table of Irish Kings.

For a comparable list by David Hughes, go to: Ulster Kings.

Why a Table of Ulster Kings?

One purpose of this table is the same as a reason for creation of my tables of Irish Kings—to provide a list of the various spellings of the names of the kings to facilitate the use of computer search engines. One disadvantage of computerized searches over the old-fashioned printed index of names is that the computerized search will produce good results only if the name, or name fragment, is spelled precisely as it appears in the text being searched. There is no easy way to find spellings that are different, but probably a form of the name being sought.

The customs of translating the spelling of Gaelic names to English have changed since the 19th century. For example, the modern custom is to insert an h after an aspirated consonant. Eddie Geoghegan, on his web page The Irish Language Old and New, says that the use of an "h" modifier to indicate an aspirated consonant is "very modern." He says that, even when he was in school, the old system of using a "buailte" (pronounced boo-ill-che) was still in use; that is, the placement of a single dot above the letter to be aspirated. This helps to explain why the English spellings of the names of the kings of Ulster in John O'Hart's table in his 1875 publication, Irish Pedigrees; The Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation, are so different from the spellings in the modern English translations of the Annals of the Four Masters and the Annals of Ulster published by University College Cork in its Celt Corpus of Electronic Texts.

In the table below, I try to list first a spelling of the name used in the electronic edition of the Annals of the Four Masters. The Annals themselves often use different spellings for the same name. Some of the alternative spellings are listed in a separate column.

There are many problems in the translation and searching for names in the Irish language that are beyond my expertise. For example, the Genealogies from Rawlinson B 502 is generally regarded as a Gaelic text. Most of the text is in Old and Middle Irish, but there are many Latin words and formulaic expressions. A significant portion of the genealogies, especially the earlier ones, are in Latin. Before beginning a computerized word search of that electronic text, I suggest a review of the Background details and bibliographic information compiled by Donnchadh Ó Corráin and published by University College Cork. My three years of high school Latin, and, believe it or not, a brief exposure to the Gaelic language in the seventh grade from Sister Moira Noreen, a wonderful Irish lady of the Holy Names nuns, do not qualify me to interpret the sources I have examined—even with reference to Gaelic and Latin dictionaries available on line. (See Links.)

Also on line are the Laud 610 Genealogies and Tribal Histories (in Latin) and The Keating Genealogies (in English), both published on the website of the Clann McLaughlin Society. In Laud 610, pedigrees under Itim Sil Fergusa and Senchus sil hIr in so are a valuable help in interpreting the table below, and I often refer to these two sources in the table. This part of Laud 610 seems to be the primary source of John O'Hart's list of the kings of Ulster.

A Composite List of the Kings of Ulster will be found on the web page Kings of Uladh, part of Ireland's History in Maps. The first spelling of the names of kings in my table is usually different. For example, the first two kings of Ulster listed on that page are "Éber Donn, son of Ír, son of Miled Espaine, King of Ulster" and "hEbric m. Éber Donn." I list these same two kings in my table below as Eamhear and Eibhric. Also, by combining the sources mentioned above, I have been able to make my table more complete, and establish a slightly different chronology of the kings. I am indebted, however, to the Ireland's History in Maps website for much of the information in these tables. See also Cruithne—Celtic Kingdoms.

One other difference between my table and that in the Ireland's History in Maps is that I include Conchobhar Mac Nessa, Ulster's most famous king (and O'Hart's number 20). The exclusion doubtless expresses the compilers' opinion that Connor Mac Nessa is a purely mythological character. He does appear, however, in at least one of the genealogies, and there seems to be enough facts behind the myths to support his inclusion in a table of Ulster kings.

Conquest of Ireland by the Sons of Milidh

Several sons of Milidh, king of Spain, invaded Ireland. The three sons who left issue were Emher (Heber), Heremon (Eremon), and Ir. Heber and Heremon (Emher and Eremon) ruled jointly as the first Milesian kings of Ireland. Irish Kings #1 and 2. Ir died while the invading ships were still at sea when the oar that was in the hand split and he fell backwards across the thwart and broke his back. He died on the following night. The Book of Invasions (The Lebor Gabala Erren. This text, from The Book of Leinster).

Ir had a son Emhear (Eber), who was also a leader of the invasion. He was among those who successfully landed in Ireland. Emhear had three sons, grandons of Ir: Cearmna Finn, Sobhairce, and Eibhric (Ebric). Cearmna Finn and Sobhairce served jointly as kings of Ireland. Irish Kings #15 and 16. The Annals of the Four Masters record that, in the year of the world 3502, Eremhon divided Ireland, and gave the province of Ulster to Emhear, the son of Ir.

Conquest and Division of Ulster by the Three Collas

In 331 A.D., the three Collas and their army conquered Ulster and burned the capital city of Emain Macha, now Navan Fort. Colla da Chrioch became king of the western and central part of Ulster. He ruled over the kingdom of Orghialla, anglicized as Oriel, with a capital at Clogher. Colla da Chrioch was one of the three sons of Eochaidh Dublein who were known as the three Collas. Eochaidh Dublein was the brother of Cairbre Liffeachair, Irish Kings #117. See the "Background on the Three Collas" on the Kingdom of Arghialla web page of Ireland's History in Maps. The old rulers of Ulster were pushed to the east to a much smaller kingdon of Ulidia, which comprised counties Down and Antrim. I have continued this list of kings with a table of the Kings of Ulidia. More details are given in Place-Names of Northern Ireland, Volume Three, County Down III, The Mournes, in the introduction at page xix:

"The Ulaid were once the most powerful tribal group in in the north of Ireland and it is from them the province of Ulster derives its name. . . . However, in the 4th and 5th centuries they were driven eastwards into the modern counties of Antrim and Down under pressure from the Ui Neill and the Airgialla. In the south the new boundary between the Ulaid and the Airgialla may have been marked by the erection of the Danes' Cast along the marshes between the northern limit of the Newry River and the ford of the Bann at Banbridge. Of the chief Ulaid tribes, Ui Echach Coba were located along this borderland and Dal nAraide east of Lough Neagh and the lower Bann. A third tribe, Dal Fiatach, the 'true Ulaid', settled in Lecale and in the vicinity of Strangford Lough. Their capital at Dun da Lethglas (modern Downpatrick) was to become an important ecclesiastical centre. Other less important kingdoms within the reduced Ulster were the Conaille Muirthemne in north Louth (the Cooley peninsula) and Dal Riata in the Glens of Antrim.

"From the sixth to tenth centuries the kingship of Ulaid was shared by the Dal Fiatach, Dal nAraide and Ui Echach Coba, but in the 8th century the Dal Fiatach extended their influence northward over the area east of Lough Neagh. After the Anglo-Norman invasion the whole area east of the Upper and Lower Bann became the feudal Earldom of Ulster. However, the influence of the local Dal Fiatach church was increased in 1186 when the Norman knight John de Courcy transferred the relics of three of the greatest Irish saints, Patrick, Brigid and Columcille, to Downpatrick cathedral. The diocese of Down, the boundaries of which were settled in the 12th century, was centred on this famous church and stretched as far north as the contemporary territorial limits of Dal Fiatach, though limited on the west by the Ui Echach diocese of Dromore. Through their ruling family of Mac Duinnshleibhe (MacDonlevy) Dal Fiatach retained some power as 'king of the Irish of Ulidia' (rex Hibernicorum Ulidiae) until the 13th century, though after their extinction, the Gaelic title of ri Ulad, or 'king of Ulster' (the province of Ulaid), was claimed by the expanding O'Neills of Cenel nEogain to the west."

For another part of this article, see my web page on the Ui Eathach Cobha in County Down.

Explanation of the Table

The table is divided into eight columns:

1. A number assigned by John O'Hart in his table of the kings of Ulster. If no number appears in this column, the king or person named does not appear in O'Hart's table. If other sources show that O'Hart's chronology is wrong, I have changed his order of the kings, but have not changed his numbers. In the same column, "A" stand for Dal nAraidhe; "F" stands for Dal Fiatach.

2. The name of the king. If I have found the name in the electronic edition of the Annals of the Four Masters, I use a form found there. If not, I use a form from the Annals of Ulster. If the name appears in neither place, I use the name as it appears in the English translation of Keating's Genealogies.

3. A selection of years in the Annals of the Four Masters (M) or Annals of Ulster (U) where the name is referenced. Some of the years in which a person is mentioned may be outside his own lifetime; for example, the person is named as a father of his son. The years before the birth of Christ are shown as a "year of the world" as used in the Annals of the Four Masters. Christ was born in the "year of the world" 5200, which is also the year 1 A.D. So to convert a year of the world to "B.C.," subtract the year of the world from 5200. For example, the year of the world 4500 is 700 B.C. (5200 – 4500 = 700). Keating's Genealogies give some of the lengths of reign of various kings. If that information is available, I include it in brackets in this column.

4. Other spellings of the king's name found on the Net or in other sources. The first spelling is the spelling given by John O'Hart in his tables of kings. If that name is spelled the same as the name in the second column, we have a relatively rare instance of the use of the same spelling by O'Hart and the digital edition of the Annals of the Four Masters. If a name appears in this column and the second column is blank, the person named is in the pedigree of the kings, but I have found no reference in the Annals that describes him as a king. Beginning with the entry for Fiatach Finn, #25, you will find in italics portions of the Genelach .H. Dhuinn Shlebhe from O'Clery's Book of Genealogies. This genealogy provides a convenient device to tie together the various tables in this website.

5. Notes from the Annals of the Four Masters or other sources. If the Annals give a partial pedigree, that information usually appears in this column. Other comments are inserted here.

6 and 7. These columns contain pedigrees, or snippets of pedigrees, from various sources. The major sources, but not all the sources, are in the headings of the columns. If there is a continuation of names from one cell to the cell above or below, those names will usually be a continuation of the same pedigree. One eccentricity of mine should be noted as to continuous pedigrees. I place the "m. Airtri" as the same line as Airtri, although logically it should appear after the name of Airtri's son, since the m. is an abbreviation for mac or mc, son of. Part of the purpose of this column is to illustrate that some pedigrees omit the names of one or more generations.

8. If there is a reference number, such as SS#9072, the reference is to the Stevens/Southworth/Medieval Database on World Connect. This data base enables the user to follow some of the split-offs of succeeding generations into different lines, back track to earlier lines, and the like, and is fun to use. Use "Advanced Search" and enter the name only as a given name. I also use this column to store snippets of pedigrees.

I have not given a reference to all the sources I have used for partial pedigrees, but all the unreferenced sources are on the internet. A great source of information is the website of the Clan McLaughlin. John D. McLaughlin of St. Louis has put together a cornucopia of Irish genealogies, including the first part of The O'Clery Book of Genealogies (with more coming), the Laud 610 Genealogies and Tribal Histories, the Keating Genealogies, and O'Dugan's Topographical Poems (The Topographical Poems of John O'Dubhagain and Giolla Na Naomh O'Duidhrin, edited by John O'Donovan, 1862). If two or three of the key names, with the spellings I use, are plugged into a search engine, a reference to the source will usually be found.

Table of the Kings of Ulster

Kings of Ulster—to Colla da Chrioch <http://www.magoo.com/hugh/ulsterkings.html> Updated January 13, 2008		Feedback » Site Search & Directory » © 1999–2008 Hugh McGough »