Dál Fiatach

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The Dál Fiatach were a group of related tribes located in north-east Ulster in the Early Christian and Early Medieval periods of the history of Ireland. They were descended from Fiatach Finn mac Dáire, a King of Ulster and High King of Ireland, and are thought to be related to both the Voluntii and Darini of Ptolemy's Geographia, and, perhaps more directly, to the Dáirine and Corcu Loígde. The Ulaid, of which the Dál Fiatach were the ruling dynasty, are further associated with the Érainn by genealogists and linguists, and all appear to have at one point formed a single population group in the not-so-remote prehistoric past, which was still vaguely recalled in the Early Medieval period. The Dál Fiatach claimed kinship with the legendary Cú Roí mac Dáire.

The precise relationship of the later Dál Fiatach to the legendary kings and heroes of the Ulster Cycle is lost to history. In fact it was the rival Dál nAraide or Cruthin who claimed to be the "true Ulaid", claiming descent from Rudraige mac Sithrigi and Conall Cernach. But in fact it has proven impossible for historians to determine the precise ethnic affiliation of the "historical" Red Branch if in fact they ever existed, and in any case both the Érainn (Dáirine) and Cruthin were no doubt highly active in Ulster politics from the legendary period onwards.

Every known king of Dál Fiatach became king of Ulaid, but they did not monopolise the kingship as the Dál nAraide supplied a number of powerful kings. Among the more influential Dál Fiatach kings were:

• Muiredach Muinderg, (d. 489)
• Báetán mac Cairill, (d. 581)
• Áed Róin (d. 732)
• Fiachnae, son of Áed Róin (d. 789)
• Niall mac Eochada (d. 1063), ^[1]

A junior branch of the Dál Fiatach ruled the Leth Cathail (Cathal's half), now the Lecale peninsula near Downpatrick. The prestigious monastic site of Downpatrick remained under the control of the main line of Dál Fiatach kings.

The Dál Fiatach were displaced as rulers of all Ulster by the Uí Néill kindred, invading from Connacht and Mide. These were led by the Three Collas, who colonized Airgialla (Oriel). The Red Branch were left in control of Counties Antrim and Down, which became a less powerful kingdom known as Ulaidh or Ulidia.

County Down was the centre of the Dál Fiatach lands, and the chief royal site and religious centre of the Dál Fiatach was at Downpatrick.In later times,from the 9th century, Bangor, originally controlled by the neighbouring Dál nAraidi, became the main religious site patronised by the kings.

The descendants of this royal line include the clans MacDonslevy/MacDonlevy/MacDunleavy/MacDunlavey, and their parent house O'Haughey/O'Hoey. The last kings, of the MacDonslevy/MacDunlavey line were defeated by the Normans under John de Courcy. They rallied and counterattacked but were driven back again. Most of the McDonslevy/Dunleavy/Dunlav(e)y clan went west to Donegal, where they became hereditary physicians to the ruling O'Donnell dynasty of Tyrconnell; the O'Haughey/O'Hoeys are still mainly found in County Down.

References

• Byrne, Francis John, Irish Kings and High-Kings. Batsford, London, 1973. ISBN 0-7134-5882-8
• Duffy, Seán (ed.), Atlas of Irish History. Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 2nd edn, 2000. ISBN 0-7171-3093-2
• The Kingdom of Ulster by Dennis Walsh

1. ^ Benjamin T. Hudson, ‘Niall mac Eochada (d. 1063)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 18 April 2008

Further reading

• Ó Corráin, Donnchadh (ed.), Genealogies from Rawlinson B 502. University College, Cork: Corpus of Electronic Texts. 1997.
• O'Rahilly, Thomas F., Early Irish History and Mythology. Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. 1946.
• Pokorny, Julius. "Beiträge zur ältesten Geschichte Irlands (3. Érainn, Dári(n)ne und die Iverni und Darini des Ptolomäus)", in Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 12 (1918): 323-57.

See also

• Kings of Ulster