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Ailill Molt (d. c. 482), high-king of Ireland, was one of the five or more sons of Nath Í mac Fiachrach (d. 445?), ancestor of many of the Uí Fhiachrach kings of Connacht. His mother was said to have been Ethne ingen Chonrach Cais...

Coirpre mac Néill (supp. fl. 485–494), high-king of Ireland, was one of the many sons of Níall Noígíallach (d. c. 452), ancestor of the Uí Néill dynasties. He was the supposed progenitor of the medieval dynastic kingdoms of Cenél Coirpri ('kindred of ...

Conn Cétchathach (supp. d. 157), legendary high-king of Ireland, flourished, if he existed at all, many generations before the beginning of documentation in medieval Ireland, and he therefore cannot be dated with any hope of accuracy. The genealogies show him as one of seven sons of ...

Cormac mac Airt [Cormac ua Cuinn, called Cormac Ulfhota] (supp. 196/7–267), legendary king and sage, features prominently in early Irish tradition. According to the annals of the four masters, he became king of Tara in the year 227 and reigned until 266. However, Irish annalistic records at such an early period are not to be taken as historically authentic, and it is likely that ...

Diarmait mac Cerbaill (d. 565), high-king of Ireland, succeeded to the high-kingship, according to the annals, on the death of his kinsman Tuathal Máelgarb in 544. The early years of his reign were overshadowed by the great plague of the 540s which reached ...

Lóegaire Lorc (supp. fl. c. 300 bc), legendary king of Leinster, was the son of Augaine Már and is said to have been also king of Ireland. He was described as senathair Laigen, 'the ancestor of the Leinstermen', and all kindreds who regarded themselves as true Laigin (Leinstermen) traced their descent back to ...

Lóegaire mac Néill (fl. 5th cent.), high-king of Ireland, was a son of Níall Noígíallach, ancestor of the Uí Néill dynasties. He is associated with three elements of Irish mythology: the arrival of Patrick, the cattle tribute (or bóroma), and the Feast of Tara. His reign was dated by the seventh-century hagiographer ...

Nath Í mac Fiachrach [Dathí mac Fiachrach] (supp. d. 445?), high-king of Ireland, flourished during the murky period just beyond the living memory of those who set down the first historical sources. He was also known as Dathí mac Fiachrach. Since there is good evidence for the existence of one of his sons, ...

Níall Noígíallach (d. c. 452), high-king of Ireland, was the son of Eochu Muigmedón, said to have been king of Tara and therefore the high-king of Ireland (rí Érenn). Although many of the stories associated with Níall are obviously apocryphal, there is a consensus among scholars that he was a genuine historical figure who lived in the fifth century. These stories were mainly intended to justify his descendants' monopoly of the high-kingship at the expense of the ...