Sláine mac Dela
legendary first High King of Ireland
Sláine (Sláinge, Slánga), son of Dela, of the Fir Bolg was the legendary first High King of Ireland, who cleared the forest around Brú na Bóinne. He reportedly came ashore at Wexford Harbour at the mouth of the River Slaney.
The Fir Bolg invaded Ireland with five thousand men. Sláine and his four brothers, who were descended from one of the sons of Nemed, divided Ireland amongst themselves. Sláine, the youngest of the five, took Leinster, Gann north Munster, Sengann south Munster, Genann Connacht and Rudraige Ulster. They elected Sláine as ruler over them.
His wife was Fuad. His portion of the Fir Bolg were known as the Gailióin variant Gaileanga, named after their spears (Old Irish gáe).
Based on archaeological records of the transition between the Neolithic and the Irish Bronze Age, his reign may have lasted from between 1238 to 1237 BCE. He died at Dind Ríg in County Carlow and was buried at Slane, County Meath. He was succeeded by his brother Rudraige mac Dela.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Sláine mac Dela” as legendary first High King of Ireland. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as legendary first High King of Ireland. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 3, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q1284160. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1238 and 1237.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sláine mac Dela” 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.