Dál nAraidi

The Robogdii are one of the population groups mentioned in Ptolemy's Geographia.

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

Territory

Dál nAraidi was centered 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 title of High King of Ireland for some centuries.

It is doubtful whether the kingdom of the Dál nAraidi existed except as a loose confederation of small kingdoms until the 8th century, long after Cruthin kings had ceased to have any real control over the high kingship of Ulster.

Among the most important chieftains 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 Moira c. 637)

See also

• Ulaid
• Kings of Dál nAraidi
• Uí Echach Arda
• Iveagh

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