Dál nAraidi
Cruthin kingdom
Dál nAraidi (Old Irish: [d̪aːl ˈn̪aɾaðʲi]; "Araide's part") or Dál Araide, sometimes latinised as Dalaradia or anglicised as Dalaray, was a Cruthin kingdom, or possibly a confederation of Cruthin tribes, in north-eastern Ireland during the Middle Ages. It was part of the over-kingdom of Ulaid, and its kings often contended with the Dál Fiatach for the over-kingship of the province. At its greatest extent, the borders of Dál nAraidi roughly matched those of County Antrim, and they seemed to occupy the same area as the earlier Robogdii of Ptolemy's Geography, a region shared with Dál Riata. Their capital was Ráth Mór outside Antrim, and their eponymous ancestor is claimed as being Fiachu Araide.
Territory
The mythological Dál nAraidi was centered on the northern shores of Lough Neagh in southern County Antrim. Dál nAraidi was one of the more prominent sub-kingdoms of Ulaid, with its kings contending with the Dál Fiatach for the over-kingship of the province for some centuries.
To the north of Dál nAraidi in County Antrim lay the Dál Riata, the boundary between which was marked out by the River Bush to Dál Riata's west, and the southern boundary running from Ravel Water to just north of Glynn on the east Antrim coast.
Branches
In Tuaiscirt
In the mid-7th century the Dál nAraidi of Magh Line, ruled by the Uí Chóelbad dynasty, conquered Eilne (alias Mag Eilne) to their north-west and a branch of their dynasty seems to have settled there. This branch of the Uí Chóelbad descended from Fiachra Cáech (d. 608), brother of Fiachnae Lurgan, king of Dál nAraidi and over-king of Ulaid.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dál nAraidi” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.