Dál nAraidi

Dál nAraidi (sometimes Latinised as Dalaradia — which should not be confused with Dál Riata, Latinised as Dalriada) was a kingdom of the Cruthin (Irish Cruithni) in the north-east of Ireland in the first millennium. The lands of the Dál nAraidi appear to correspond with the Robogdii of Ptolemy's Geographia, a region shared with Dál Riata. Fiachu Araide was the eponymous founder of the Dál nAraidi.

It was centred on the northern shores of Lough Neagh in southern Antrim. Dál nAraidi was the second kingdom of Ulster, and its kings contended with the Dál Fiatach for the high-kingship for some centuries. It is doubtful whether the Dál nAraidi kingdom existed, except as a loose confederation of small kingdoms, until the 8th century, long after the Cruithne kings had ceased to have any real control over the high-kingship of Ulster.

Among the most important kings of the Dál nAraidi, most of whom predate the formation of a kingdom, are:

• Áed Dub mac Suibni (died c. 588)
• Fiachnae mac Báetáin (died c. 626)
• Congal Cáech (died at the battle of Mag Rath c. 637)

See also

• Ulaid
• Cruithne (people)
• Kings of Dál nAraidi
• Uí Echach Arda
• Uí Echach Cobo

References

• Byrne, Francis John, Irish Kings and High-Kings. Batsford, London, 1973. ISBN 0-7134-5882-8
• Duffy, Seán (ed.), Atlas of Irish History. Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 2nd edn, 2000. ISBN 0-7171-3093-2
• Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí, Early Medieval Ireland: 400–1200. Longman, London, 1995. ISBN 0-582-01565-0