IRELAND This list memorializes the Ardry, the High Kings of All Ireland. Dates given previous to about 850 CE, and especially from before 550 CE, should be approached with considerable skepticism. It should also be noted that the institution of the Ardry at Tara was seldom if ever universally acknowledged by the local rulers, especially in earlier times. Ennumeration reflects the victory of tradition over reality, in many instances.
A Celto-Ligurian people approached Ireland some time between 1900 and 1700 BCE. But the Goidelic Celts whose remote descendents are the Irish, Scots, and Manx we are familiar with probably didn't inhabit Ireland much before 800 or 900 BCE. Then too, at least seven of the Tuatha listed are ancient Irish divinities. Nevertheless, this is the traditional list of ancient Irish High Kings and, as such, may preserve some memory of ancient tribal rulers. It is found in a variety of sources, by far the best on the internet is located at Magoo.com: Irish Kings. It is in an odd form, which I have preserved, in which the commencement of a reign always starts in the yeare after the previous incumbent's end. I have also noted variant names here and there, with a Latin enumeration found in a few sources.
ARMAGH The Archbishops of Armagh are the Primates of the Irish Church. Of course, being Irish, it isn't quite as simple as that. The See of Armagh was founded by Saint Patrick, and has been the center of the Irish ecclesiastic establishment since that time. The fact is, though, that since Armagh is located in North Ireland, the establishment became a Protestant diocese in the 16th century, howsoever a Roman Catholic parallel establishment was set up immediately after. So, there are now two Archbishops of Armagh, one Anglican and one Catholic. The following list details both in turn.
EAST BREIFNE (E. BREFFNEY) A petty Kingdom adjacent to Breifne, in the northern part of the island.
BREIFNE (BREFFNY) A minor Kingdom during the Middle Ages, in the northern part of the Republic of Ireland, bordering on North Ireland. East Breifne.
CONNACHT (Connaught)The rugged and thinly populated west of Ireland.
KILDARE A powerful Anglo-Norman Earldom in southern Ireland during the Middle Ages.
LEINSTER The southeastern quarter of Ireland.
MEATH The central and eastern portion of the island.
MUNSTER (Mumu) The southwestern quadrant of Ireland.
ORMOND A powerful Anglo-Norman earldom in south Ireland.
OSSORY A lesser state in southeast Ireland, a buffer kingdom between Munster and Leinster. It's extent is roughly coterminous with that of the modern Diocese of Ossory, based at Kilkenny. The term Ossory was essentially tribal - Irish Osraige signified perhaps "the people of the deer" (Irish os).
ui FAILGHE (OFFALY) A Kingdom in Central Ireland. The name today is applied to an Irish county (in English Offaly, which is not entirely coterminous with the old kingdom.
THOMOND A division of the old Kingdom of Munster, created after the bitter conflict of the early 12th century. Munster and Desmond (Kings).
LIMERICK In western Ireland, a Kingdom established by the Norse.
WATERFORD In the southeast, a Kingdom established by the Norse.
DESMOND, Kings of: A division of the old Kingdom of Munster, created after the bitter conflict of the early 12th century. Munster and Thomond. McCarthy Mor
DUBLIN The modern city was established in the 9th century, c. 831, by marauding Scandinavians, who thereafter set up a ramshackle Kingdom. This state endured for more than 300 years, although after the Viking defeat at Clontarf in 1014 they were reduced to vassals of the High Kings or of the Kings of Leinster, as Jarls of Dublin.
FERMANAGH In far southwestern North Ireland, frontiering the Irish Republic on the north, west, and south. A generally pastoral region with numerous ruins and antiquities, it served as the source for what are now the two Inniskilling regiments in the British army. The list memorializes a local Kingdom present during the later Middle Ages.
TYRCONNELL Northwestern Ulster, in modern Donegal.
AILEACH (Tyrone) In west-central Ulster.
ui MHAINE A petty Kingdom in western Ireland.
ULSTER Originally encompassing all of the north of Ireland, this Kingdom lost territory to Tyrone and Tyrconnell, and eventually devolved into a more restricted area around what is now Antrim. During the Middle Ages, Ulster was an Anglo-Norman County.
ORIEL A local Kingdom in central and southern Ulster. Note well, the names and dates in this list are to be approached with caution.