A historical region of west-central Ireland. An ancient native kingdom, it was dominated by the O'Connor family in the 11th and 12th centuries.
Connacht
Dictionary:
Con·nacht (kŏn'ət, -əKHt)  also Con·naught
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A historical region of west-central Ireland. An ancient native kingdom, it was dominated by the O'Connor family in the 11th and 12th centuries.
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| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Connacht |
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| British History: Connacht |
Connacht (Connaught), taking its name from the mythical Irish figure, Conn of the Hundred Battles, was, by the 8th cent., dominated by the Uí Briúin dynasty. Their hegemony was threatened by Anglo-Normancolonization in the 13th cent., led by the de Burgh family. The establishment of the presidency of Connacht in 1570 and the shiring of the province thereafter led to piecemeal plantation, and in the aftermath of the rebellion of 1641 surviving catholic landholders were transported there, a process summed up in the aphorism ascribed to Cromwell ‘To hell or Connacht!’ It played a significant part in the 1798 rebellion, witnessing the landing of the French General Humbert at Killala, and Connacht was also the scene of much activity in the Land Wars of the late 19th cent., most memorably in the incident involving the land-agent Captain Boycott.
| Celtic Mythology: Connacht |
Connaught, Connachta, Connaght
[Irish, descendants of Conn (?)].
A province of Ireland, the most westerly and smallest (6,610 square miles) of the four (the others being Leinster, Munster, and Ulster) whose borders were drawn in the 17th century. In pre-conquest times, as Cóiced Connacht, it was one of five, when Mide/ Meath is counted separately or Munster is counted as two. Within its borders are the counties of Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Sligo, and Roscommon. In the Irish epic Táin Bó Cuailnge [Cattle Raid of Cooley], the ruler of Connacht is Queen Medb [Maeve], whose royal residence is at Cruachain (Co. Roscommon). For much of the narrative ‘Medb’ and ‘Connacht’ are almost synonymous. Elsewhere in the Ulster Cycle, which includes the Táin, the great hero of Connacht is Cet mac Mágtach.
Roughly coextensive with the region known as Nagatae in Ptolemy's geography (2nd cent. AD), Connacht is usually thought to be named for Conn Cétchathach [of the Hundred Battles]. In mythic narrative, Connacht is given to Sreng as part of the settlement after the defeat of the Fir Bolg at the First Battle of Mag Tuired; see CATH MAIGE TUIRED. Other notable rulers of Connacht include: Cathal Mór ‘of the Wine-Red Hand’, a personification of the province; Crimthann Cass; Eógan
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Connacht |
Connacht or Connaught (both: kŏn'ôt, kənôt'), province (1991 pop. 423,031), 6,611 sq mi (17,122 km), W Republic of Ireland, comprising the counties of Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, and Galway. It was one of the ancient kingdoms of Ireland, whose rulers, the O'Connors, were supplanted by the Anglo-Norman De Burghs in the 13th cent.
| Wikipedia: Connacht |
"Connaught" redirects here. For other uses, see Connacht (disambiguation).
| Connacht Connachta / Cúige Chonnacht |
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| State | Ireland | ||
| Counties | Galway Leitrim Mayo Roscommon Sligo |
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| Government | |||
| - Teachta Dála | |||
| Area | |||
| - Total | 17,713.18 km2 (6,839.10 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2006) | |||
| - Total | 503,083 | ||
Connacht (pronounced /ˈkɒnəxt/ or /ˈkɒnɔːt/[1] — Irish: Connachta / Cúige Chonnacht — pronounced [ˈkɔnəxtə]), formerly Anglicised as Connaught, is the western province of Ireland, comprising counties Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo. Its main urban centres are Galway in the south, and Sligo in the north. It is the smallest of the four Irish provinces, with a population of 503,083.
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The name
In Irish the province is usually Cúige Chonnacht, meaning the province (literally, the fifth) belonging to the Connachta dynasty. Ireland had five provinces until the Norman Conquest, and the dynasty claimed descent from the mythical king Conn. An alternative anglicised spelling which was officially used during English and British rule is Connaught.[2] In 1874 Queen Victoria granted the title Duke of Connaught to her third son, and could trace a descent from the Connachta.[3]
Irish language
The Irish language is spoken in the Gaeltacht areas of Counties Mayo and Galway, the largest being in the west of County Galway covering Cois Fharraige (Irish meaning 'by the sea'), and parts of Connemara, and Dúithche Sheoigeach (Joyce Country).
Geography
Connacht is composed of five counties: Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo. The highest point of Connacht is Mweelrea (814 m), in Mayo. The largest island in Connacht is Achill, also the largest island of Ireland. The biggest lake is Lough Corrib.
The largest urban area in Connacht is Galway city with a population of 72,414 in the city proper. There is only one other city Sligo (pop. 40,402) (including suburbs). There are many large towns including Castlebar (pop. 11,891) and Ballina (pop. 10,409).
Mythical history
In Irish mythology up to the early historic era, Connacht, then including County Clare, was known as Cóiced Ol nEchmacht. It is said that the tribe of the Fir Bolg ruled all of Ireland right before the Tuatha Dé Danann arrived. When the latter arrived in Ireland (which the Fir Bolg called Ériu) and demanded land, the Fir Bolg king refused. When the Fir Bolg were defeated, the Tuatha Dé Danann were so touched by the courage of their enemy that they would give them a quarter of Ireland. They chose Connaught.
History
A long established provincial kingdom, Connacht held the primacy of Ireland under Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair (often Anglicised Rory O'Connor) when the island was invaded by the Cambro-Normans of Henry II of England after 1167. Under the Treaty of Windsor (1175) he conceded half of the island to the Normans, and Connacht then became a tributary kingdom.
After earlier attempts, such as that in 1188 by John de Courcy, a Norman knight who had invaded Ulster in 1177, were repulsed [4], finally in 1225 it was invaded, divided and colonised by the Normans. The Hiberno-Norman De Burgh, or Burke dynasty established themselves as the dominant kinship group in the centuries after the conquest.
The remnant of the O'Conor family maintained the title of King of Connacht during the Middle Ages with kings inaugurated officially up until the late 17th century. The ruling O'Conor Don family have survived until the present day. The "Republic of Connaught" had a brief existence in 1798 with French military support.
Politics
Connacht–Ulster was one of Ireland's four regional constituencies for elections to the European Parliament until it was superseded in 2004 by the new constituency of North–West.
See also
- Coin of Connaught
- Cóiced Ol nEchmacht
- Connacht GAA
- Connacht Irish
- Connacht Rugby
- Connachta
- Connaught plc
- The Connaught Rangers
- Duke of Connaught
- Kingdoms of Ancient Ireland
- Kings of Connacht
- Lords of Connaught
- Medb (Medhbh, Maeve), Queen of Connacht in the Ulster Cycle
- Provinces of Ireland
References
- ^ according to the Oxford English Dictionary
- ^ The spelling Connaught reflects the former English practice — in Ireland, though not in Scotland — of representing the Gaelic voiceless velar fricative /x/ as gh (compare lough for loch), gh having been used in Middle English for the same sound. Although this sound later disappeared from standard English, the spelling of words like "thought" and "caught" remained unaltered -- and in a further Anglicisation the "new" English pronunciation of -aught was even applied in Britain to titles like that of the Duke of Connaught. In Ireland, however, the original pronunciation having remained intact, the Gaelic-style spelling Connacht is now used more often in English. It may have gained currency by mistranslation of the Irish name into English: in Irish, the form Cúige Chonnacht 'province of Connacht' is almost always used, and this may have led to people misunderstanding genitive case Connacht as the Gaelic version instead of nominative case Connachta.
- ^ Genealogical link via the O'Neills of Tyrone
- ^ DeBreffny, D & Mott, G (1976). The Churches and Abbeys of Ireland. London: Thames & Hudson. pp. 60–61.
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| British History. A Dictionary of British History. Copyright © 2001, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Celtic Mythology. A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Copyright © James MacKillop 1998, 2004. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
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Mentioned in
- Gaeltacht
- Eochaid Dála
- Crimthann Cass
- Faife
- McGann (family name)
- Mullowney (family name)
- Munley (family name)
- Annals of Loch Cé
- Atha
- Bec
