Gaelic Kings and Kingdoms
Gaelic Ireland consisted of as few as five and as many as nine main kingdoms, subdivided into dozens of smaller kingdoms. The primary kingdoms were Connacht, Ailech, Airgíalla, Ulster, Mide, Leinster, Osraige, Munster and Thomond. Until the end of Gaelic Ireland they continued to fluctuate, expand and contract in size, as well as dissolving entirely or being amalgamated into new entities. The role of High King of Ireland was primarily titular and rarely (if ever) absolute. Gaelic Ireland was not ruled as a unitary state.
The names of Connacht, Ulster, Leinster and Munster are still in use, now applied to the four modern provinces of Ireland. The following is a list of the main Irish kingdoms and their kings.
- Kings of Ailech – divided into Tír Eóghain and Tír Conaill in twelfth century
- Kings of Connacht – all the land west of the Shannon except Thomond.
- Kings of Leinster – Its last de facto king died in 1632.
- Kings of Mide – Ireland's central kingdom, annexed by Connacht in the 11th century.
- Kings of Munster – an overkingdom of late prehistoric origins
- Kings of Ulster – properly, Ulster east of the lower and upper Bann.
Read more about this topic: Monarchy In Ireland
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