The Kingdom Of Brega

Southern Uí Néill clans and vassals, c. 8th century.
Southern Uí Néill clans and vassals, c. 9th century.

The Kingdom of Brega was mostly made up of Meath, Fingal and part of Louth. The western border separating it from Mide was not clearly defined and likely fluctuated over time,1 but the northern border was said to stretch as far as Moybologue.2

For most of its history, Brega was ruled by the Síl nÁedo Sláine, initially based at Rath Airthir in Telltown.3 The kingship of Brega was unique in that the Hill of Tara served as its symbolic capital,4 while also acting separately as the royal seat of the High Kings. When a new High King was appointed, it appears that the Síl nÁedo Sláine granted them passage through Meath to take control of the mensal lands of Tara – even though the High King often came from a rival Uí Néill family. This distinct relationship is also evident in the Óenach Tailten, an Irish festival similar to – and possibly older than – the Olympic Games. The right to host these games belonged to the High King, often from a competing family, yet the games were still held near the Síl nÁedo Sláine’s main fort at Telltown.

The Síl nÁedo Sláine were the dominant Uí Néill power in the midlands until a power struggle erupted in the 7th century between the Uí Chonaing and Uí Chernaig septs.5 This led to Brega being separated into two opposing kingdoms, north and south. The Uí Chonaing pushed east and ruled northern Brega from Knowth, while southern Brega was ruled by the Uí Chernaig from a crannog at Lagore, near Dunshaughlin. Despite the earlier successes of the south, the northern faction proved to be the stronger of the two and allied with the Vikings to attack the south in the mid 9th century.6 The southern kings now found themselves stuck between two hostile kingdoms and eventually ended up losing part of their land to the Vikings at Fingal (Fine Gall – the territory of the foreigners).7

This constant infighting among the Síl nÁedo Sláine septs resulted in their distant cousins, the Clann Cholmáin in Mide, emerging as the dominant faction of the Southern Uí Néill from the 8th century onwards. The Clann Cholmáin grew so powerful that they managed to exclude the Brega kings from the Southern Uí Néill kingship, and in turn from the high kingship, for the best part of 200 years. By the end of 10th century Brega had been incorporated into an extended Kingdom of Mide,8 and later formed part of the Lordship of Meath following the Norman conquest of the 12th century.

References

  1. Catherine Swift, ‘The early history of Knowth’ in Excavations at Knowth 4 (Dublin, 2008), p. 10
  2. John O’ Donovan, Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the four masters, from the earliest period to the year 1616, Vol. 1 (Dublin, 1848), p. 297
  3. Catherine Swift, ‘The local context of Oenach Tailteann’ in Riocht na Midhe, Volume 11, (2000), p. 28
  4. Carl Waldman and Catherine Mason, Encyclopedia of European Peoples (New York, 2006), p. 424
  5. George Eogan, ‘Early Christian Knowth and the Kingdom of Brega’ in Eolas: The Journal of the American Society of Irish Medieval Studies, Vol. 4 (2010), p. 13
  6. Annals of Ulster, Year 850.3, Available from UCC at https://celt.ucc.ie (Sep. 5, 2024)
  7. Nicholas Evans, The Present and the Past in Medieval Irish Chronicles (Woodbridge 2010), p. 200
  8. Roseanne Schot, ‘From Cult Centre To Royal Centre: Monuments, Myths And Other Revelations At Uisneach’, in (eds) R. Schot, C. Newman and E. Bhreathnach Landscapes of cult and kingship (Dublin, 2011) p. 93

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