Ulaid
The Ulaid · a people name, the root of Ulster
Ulaid, in English The Ulaid, said UL-idh. A people.
The people who gave Ulster its name, and then lost most of Ulster.
The name
a people name, the root of Ulster
Where
By the historical period, Down and Antrim, east of the river Bann. Before that, a great deal more.
In today's counties: Down (An Dún), Antrim (Aontroim).
When it mattered
Their great age is the one the Táin describes, and the long decline runs from the fifth century to 1177.
The Ulaid are the people of the Ulster Cycle: Conchobar mac Nessa, Cú Chulainn, the court at Emain Macha outside Armagh. That is the literature. The history is that by the time records begin they had already been pushed east of the Bann into Down and Antrim, and the Uí Néill and the Airgialla held the rest of what we now call Ulster.
They held their corner for another seven hundred years all the same. The end came in 1177 when John de Courcy took it with a few hundred men, and the kingdom became the Earldom of Ulster.
The name outlasted the kingdom by a distance. Ulaid gives Ulster, by way of the Norse adding their own genitive to it.
What is left of the name
Ulster, Cúige Uladh, the province of the Ulaid. Emain Macha is Navan Fort, two miles from Armagh.
Names out of it
Families on this site that belong to The Ulaid. A surname is not a pedigree, and plenty of people carry these names for reasons that have nothing to do with the old kingdom.
Next to it
- Cenél nEógain (Tyrone)
- Airgialla (Oriel)
- Dál Riata (Dalriada)