The villages of north Meath have straddled the borders of various provinces for thousands of years. It is not widely known that Ulster previously stretched as far south as the Boyne,¹ before being pushed back by the Uí Neill around the 5^th century. It was then the various Uí Néill kings of Mide or their client kings who dominated the region for the majority of the medieval period until their sudden collapse from power in the 11^th century.

The collapse of the Uí Néill happened for a number of reasons. Firstly, from the 11^th century onward there were huge changes in the provincial balance of power. The Uí Ceinnselaig Kings of Leinster increased their wealth dramatically by taking control of Dublin, while the Dál gCais of Munster – the clan of Brian Boru – seized the Viking city of Limerick and put a fleet of war ships on the Shannon² that ravaged the midlands. Maritime trade in 11^th century Ireland was booming,³ yet the Uí Néill centres of power were situated too far from the coast to take advantage, and the numerous monastic sites they sponsored proved to be a considerable drain on their resources.⁴ It was this combination of events, along with crippling civil wars, which led to their downfall.

Although the northern Uí Néill families held on to power for much longer, those based in the midlands continued to have aspirations of achieving the high kingship, one such example being Murchadh Mac Flainn who was murdered in the Round Tower in Kells in 1076.⁵ Most of their time, however, was spent rebelling against the dominant families of the other provinces that partitioned the kingdom out among themselves during the late 11^th and early 12^th centuries. One of these dominant families were the powerful O’Rourkes of Breifne, who had helped Connacht to invade and partition Mide in 1144.⁶ About 25 years later the O’Rourkes lost their hold on Meath upon the arrival of Hugh de Lacy, but East Breifne continued to have influence here with the O’Reillys ruling as far as Kells.

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