Was the Over-kingdom of Ulster Ever “Destroyed”?

There is a strong evidence that even in the 8 th century the inhabitants of Ireland still saw themselves

as consisting of 3 races: the Ulaid, the Gailni (= Laigin) and the Féni (encompassing Argíalla, the

Uí Néill, the Connachta and the Éoganachta).1 Thus, a war of the Féni against the Ulaid was rather

more than probable, considering the extent of warfare in the early medieval times. However, who

were the Ulaid? Confusingly, there is no unanimity about the meaning of this term in scientific

discourse. Dáibhí Ó Cróinín in A New History of Ireland admits 'no document records the names or

extents of the “original” five provinces'.2

Let us restate the facts about the ancient kingdom of the Ulaid that majority of historians

agree on. In the 7th century, for which we have an abundant contemporaneous evidence, the

dominant people in Ulster were Dál Fiatach, so much that their king could be called rí Ulad

interchangeably.3 They occupied the lands in the east and in the south of the modern Co. Down. It

cannot be a co-incidence that in Ptolemy's Geography, dated to approx. 100 AD,4 the Voluntii (an

Archaic Irish form regularly evolving into the Old Irish “Ulaid”) were positioned exactly in the

same place.5 To the north of them, Ptolemy places the Robogdii, whose name is commonly

emended to 'Redodii' (= Old Irish [Dál] Riata). 6 Accordingly the position of tribes in the east of

Ulster did not change materially between the account of Ptolemy and the written evidence of the 7 th

century.

If we were to move further to the east, into the territory of Argíalla, no evidence for the

supposedly dramatic changes of the political landscape is visible. Even the name of this loose

confederation of tribes (“those giving hostages”) signals these were rather weak tributary entities

subdued by their stronger neighbours. The historians agree Argíalla were not 'settlers planted by the

Uí Néill', but rather indigenous tribes that switched their allegiance from the Ulster kings to the

1 Charles-Edwards, Early Christian Ireland, note 67 on p. 160.

2 Ó Cróinín, 'Ireland, 400-800', p. 187
3 Ó Cróinín, Early Medieval Ireland, p. 48
4 Ó Corráin, 'Prehistoric Ireland', p. 3
5 Ó Corráin, 'Prehistoric Ireland', p. 4
6 Ó Corráin, 'Prehistoric Ireland', ibid
ascending kings of the Uí Néill dynasty.7 As for the territory beyond the river Foyle, there is no

historical evidence whatsoever that the Ulster dominion ever extended there.

On the contrary, the literary sources of the 7th century offer intriguing hints the modern Co.

Donegal might have been considered a part of Connacht until the expansion of the northern Uí Néill

branch. In Tírechán's description of Patrick's circuit (the consensus dates it to the end of the 7th

century8) the author implies that the 'western region' (regiones Connacht in chap. 17) is bound not

only by the Shannon, but also by the river Foyle.9 It is noteworthy that Vita Tripartita some 250

years later “corrected” this definition moving the border of Connacht to the river Drowes (on the

border of the modern Co. Sligo and Co. Donegal), undoubtedly reflecting the political development

of the Uí Néill who no longer associated (or wanted to be associated) with Connacht. 10 A still strong

Connacht connection of the Uí Néill in Tírechán's time is visualised through the fact Lóeguire's

daughters are placed in Crúachu to meet Patrick there.11 Thus, it is logical to assume that the

ancestors of the northern Uí Néill branch were inhabiting roughly the same location in the pre-

Christian time as they were later.

Given the fact that the major players of Ulster stayed put since the prehistoric times, where

did the generally accepted notion of the “destruction of Ulster” come from? Nowadays it is

acknowledged that a lot of the pre-Christian and early medieval history of Ireland was 're-

constructed and constructed' in the 8th century or later.12 The provenance of the so-called

“destruction of Ulster” is also purely literary and can be traced to the 8 th century's story of The

Three Collas13, which described how the Ulstermen were allegedly driven beyond the river Bann

by the three great-grandsons of Cormac mac Airt and thence Argíalla was founded. The myth

reflected on a special client relationship of Argíalla vis-a-vis the Uí Néill and sought to rationalize

why the descendants of the founding dynasties of Argíalla were denied their chance at the high

7 Ó Cróinín, 'Ireland, 400-800', p. 202

8 Charles-Edwards, Early Christian Ireland, p. 440
9 Charles-Edwards, Early Christian Ireland, p. 37
10 Charles-Edwards, Early Christian Ireland, p. 38
11 Ó Cróinín, 'Ireland, 400-800', p. 205
12 Ó Cróinín, 'Ireland, 400-800', p. 182
13 McCone, Pagan Past, pp. 248-249
kingship of Tara. The annalists ascribed the events to the early 4th century, but this chronology is

entirely uncredible.14 The initial thrust of Uí Néill's expansion beyond Connacht occurred only in

the late 5th – beginning of the 6th century under the sons of Níall Noígíallach and is registered in the

Annals of Ulster through a series of battles in the northern Leinster (modern days' Co. Kildare).15

The plains of Mide and Brega were always very enticing for the conquerers due to 'some of the best

grasslands in the country',16 which were a crucial factor in the pastoralist society. In the north, the

battle of Móin Dairi Lothair in 563 between Cruithni and the northern Uí Néill proves that the latter

still did not control the modern Co. Derry as late as the middle of the 6th century.17 It would take

another 70 years and the great battle of Mag Roth (Moyra, Co. Down) in 637 for the Uí Néill to

establish their unchallenged supremacy over Argíalla.18 But even after that the Ulaid were not

“destroyed” in any meaningful sense, just restricted to the territory to the east of the river Bann.

To sum up, the only historically plausible “destruction of Ulster” entailed their losing of

patronage over the tribes of Argíalla and this process is securely datable to the second half of the 6 th

and the beginning of the 7th century and is closely related to the ascent of the Uí Néill to power.

14 Ó Cróinín, 'Ireland, 400-800', p. 202

15 Charles-Edwards, Early Christian Ireland, pp. 447-450
16 Ó Cróinín, 'Ireland, 400-800', p. 188
17 Ó Cróinín, Early Medieval Ireland, p. 49
18 Ó Cróinín, Early Medieval Ireland, p. 51