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{{Short description|Group of medieval Irish dynasties}}{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2013}}

factoids
surname	Connachta|country = Ireland|parent house = Dál Cuinn|titles =
founder	Eochaid Mugmedon|final ruler =|current head = O’Conor Don|founding year =4th century AD|dissolution =|cadet branches =

The Connachta are a group of medieval Irish dynasties who claimed descent from the legendary High King Conn Cétchathach (Conn of the Hundred Battles). The modern western province of Connacht (Irish Cúige Chonnacht, province, literally “fifth”, of the Connachta) takes its name from them, although the territories of the Connachta also included at various times parts of southern and western Ulster and northern Leinster. Their traditional capital was Cruachan (modern Rathcroghan, County Roscommon).The Oxford Companion to Irish History, p.111, Oxford University Press, 1998. {{ISBN|0-19-923483-3}}.(File:Ireland early peoples and politics.gif|thumb|Early peoples and kingdoms of Ireland, c.800)

Origins

The use of the word cúige, earlier cóiced, literally “fifth”, to denote a province indicates the existence of a pentarchy in prehistory, whose members are believed to have been population groups the Connachta,Francis J. Byrne, Irish Kings and High Kings, Four Courts Press, 2001, p. 86 the Ulaid (Ulster) and the Laigin (Leinster), the region of Mumu (Munster), and the central kingdom of Mide. This pentarchy appears to have been broken up by the dawn of history in the early 5th century with the reduction of the Ulaid and the founding of new Connachta dynasties which expanded north and east.Medieval Irish historical tradition traces these dynasties to the four or five sons of Eochaid Mugmedon: Brion, Ailill, Fiachrae, Fergus Caech (perhaps a literary addition), and Niall of the Nine Hostages. Four were ancestors of new Irish dynasties; those of Brión (the Uí Briúin), Fiachrae (the Uí Fiachrach) and Ailill (the Uí Ailello, later replaced by Uí MaineByrne, Francis John, Irish Kings and High-Kings. Batsford, London, 1973. {{ISBN|0-7134-5882-8}}) were known as teóra Connachta, or the historical Three Connachta of the province itself; that of Niall, the Uí Néill, at first surpassed its parent dynasty, establishing or continuing the so-called High Kingship of Ireland at Tara, and became the most powerful dynasty in Ireland down to early modern times.However David Sproule points out that:It does not seem that the word “Connacht” can originally have meant ‘the descendants of Conn’; it may have meant ‘headship’ or ‘supremacy’ from “cond” or “conn”, head, and later have been interpreted as meaning “the descendants of Conn”, Conn Cetchathach being derived from the word “Connacht” rather than vice versa. ... the name “Eoganacht” and “Ciannacht” were formed in imitation ...David Sproule, Origins of the Eoghnachta, , Eiru 35, 1984, pp. 31–37.Sproule’s hypothesis has been accepted by historians such as Paul Byrne.Paul Byrne, Ciannachta Breg before Sil nAeda Slaine, in Seanchas:Studies in Early and Medieval Irish Archaeology, History and Literature in Honour of Francis John Byrne, (Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2000), pp. 121–126.The dynasties of the Airgíalla, and through them the Uí Maine, while also counted as belonging to the Connachta by medieval genealogists,Byrne 2001, pp. 46, 85–86Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, “Ireland, 400–800”, in Dáibhí Ó Cróinín (ed.), A New History of Ireland Vol 1, 2005, pp. 182–234 may not possibly be related, as some have assessed that they descend from other peoples later added to the genealogical scheme.Francis J. Byrne, Irish Kings and High Kings, Four Courts Press, 2001. Regardless, the connections to Uí Maine with each of the septs and their defined ancestor have been maintained for well over a millennium.

The Connachta in the Ulster Cycle

In the sagas of the Ulster Cycle, the Connachta, ruled from Cruachan by their king Ailill mac Máta and their formidable queen Medb, are the enemies of the Ulaid, ruled from Emain Macha (Navan Fort, County Armagh) by Conchobar mac Nessa, and their wars, notably the Táin Bó Cúailnge (cattle raid of Cooley), are the setting for most of the stories. These sagas are traditionally set around the time of Christ, which creates an apparent anachronism: the Connachta are supposedly named after Conn Cétchathach, who in the usual chronological scheme established by the Lebor Gabála Érenn, lived in the 2nd century AD.R. A. Stewart Macalister (ed. & trans.), Lebor Gabála Érenn: The Book of the Taking of Ireland Part V, Irish Texts Society, 1956, p. 331-333 Later texts used the supposedly earlier names of Cóiced Ol nEchmacht (the province of the Fir Ól nÉcmacht, an ancient people of Connacht) and Cóiced Genaind (the province of Genann, a legendary king of the Fir Bolg)Margaret C. Dobs (ed. & trans.), ”La Bataille de Leitir Ruibhe”, Revue Celtique 39, 1922, pp. 1–32 for the western province to get around this difficulty. However, the saga tradition is older than the chronological scheme, which is an artificial attempt by Christian monks to synchronise native traditions with classical and biblical history, and it is possible that the Ulster Cycle is based on historical wars between the Ulaid and the Connachta which have been chronologically misplaced.Byrne 2001, p. 50-51. Kenneth H. Jackson estimated that Ulster heroic saga originated in the 4th century.Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson, The Oldest Irish Tradition: a Window on the Iron Age, Cambridge University Press, 1964

Connachta family tree

{{Chart top|Genealogy of the Connachta}}{{Tree chart/start}}{{Tree chart | | | | | | | | | TTM |TTM=Tuathal Techtmar}}{{Tree chart | | | | | | | | | |!|}}{{Tree chart | | | | | | | | | FRM | | CAM |FRM=Fedlimid Rechtmar|CAM=Cathair Mór|}}{{Tree chart | | | | | | | | | |!| | | |!|}}{{Tree chart | | | | | | | | | CON |y| ETH |CON=Conn Cétchathach|ETH=Eithne Táebfada|}}{{Tree chart | | | | | | | | | | | |!|}}{{Tree chart | | | | | | | MLD |~| AMC |y| ACH |MLD=Medb Lethderg|AMC=Art mac Cuinn|ACH=Achtan}}{{Tree chart | | | | | | | | | | | | | |!|}}{{Tree chart | | | | | | | | | | | | | CMA |CMA=Cormac mac Airt}}{{Tree chart | | | | | | | | | | | | | |!|}}{{Tree chart | | | | | | | | | | | | | CLF |CLF=Cairbre Lifechair}}{{Tree chart | | | | | | | | |,|-|-|-|-|^|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|.|}}{{Tree chart | | | | | | | | FST | | | | | | | | | | | | EDL |FST=Fíacha Sroiptine|EDL=Eochaid Doimlén}}{{Tree chart | | | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | | |:|}}{{Tree chart | | | | | | | | MDT | | | | | | | | | | | | |:|MDT=Muiredach Tirech}}{{Tree chart | | | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | | |:|}}{{Tree chart | | | | MFD |y| EMM |y| CRN | | | | | | | | |:|MFD=Mongfind|EMM=Eochaid Mugmedon|CRN=Cairenn}}{{Tree chart | | | | | | |!| | | |`|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|.| | | |:|}}{{Tree chart | | |,|-|-|-|+|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|.| | | |!| | | |:|}}{{Tree chart | | BRN | | FCR | | ALL | | FGS | | NNH | | AIR |BRN=Brión|FCR=Fiachrae|ALL=Ailill|FGS=Fergus Caech|NNH=Niall|AIR=Airgíalla}}{{Tree chart | | |:| | | |:| | | |:| | | | | | | |:| | | |:|}}{{Tree chart | | UIB | | UIF | | UIA | | | | | | UIN | | UIM |UIB=Uí Briúin|UIF=Uí Fiachrach|UIA=Uí Ailello|UIN=Uí Néill|UIM=Uí Maine}}{{Tree chart/end}}{{chart bottom}}

See also

• Kings of Connacht
• Síol Muireadaigh
• Cenél Conaill
• Cenél nEógain
• Irish nobility
• Irish royal families

References

{{reflist}}

External links

• R-M222 Haplogroup Project at Family Tree DNA

{{Uí Néill}}{{Royal houses of Britain and Ireland}}{{Gaels}}