CONNAUGHT

Also spelled CONNACHT.

One of the five ancient kingdoms or provinces of Ireland, lies in the western and nortwestern areas of the island and compromises the modern counties of Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim, Galway and Roscommon.

In the 4th century AD the ancient line of Connaught kings was displaced by the midland rulers, whose centre was at Tara.

Two members of this Tara dynasty, Brion and Fiachra founded septs, or clans, the Uí Briúin and the Ui Fiachrach to which all the rulers of Connaught from the 5th to the 12th century belonged.

Turloch (Toirdelbach) O´Connor (died 1156) and his son Rory (Ruadri; died 1198) were strong enough to be recognized as kings of Ireland but the Anglo-Norman settlement of the mid-12th century disrupted their power. Rory´s brother, Cathal Crovderg, was king of Connaught until his death in 1224, but in 1227 the English king Henry III granted Connaught to the Norman baron Richard de Burgh. His descendants held the lordship of Connaught with the earldom of Ulster until the titles fell to the crown in 1461. The land of Connaught was thereafter controlled by two junior branches of the de Burghs, who ultimately became the Clanricarde and Mayo Burkes.

Connaught was divided into shires in 1576, but nevertheless remained the most Gaelic and Norman part of Ireland.