Uí Liatháin
| Uí Liatháin | |||||
|
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| Capital | included Castlelyons | ||||
| Languages | Irish | ||||
| Religion | Celtic polytheism, Celtic Christianity (coexistent) | ||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||
| King | |||||
| • | fl. c. 340 AD | Eochu Liathán | |||
| • | 13th century | independent princes | |||
| Historical era | fl. Late Antiquity | ||||
| • | Established | 4th century | |||
| • | Disestablished | c. 1220 | |||
The Uí Liatháin were an early kingdom of Munster in southern Ireland. They belonged the same kindred as the Uí Fidgenti, and the two are considered together in the earliest sources, for example The Expulsion of the Déisi (incidentally). The two have been given various origins among both the early or proto-Eóganachta and among the Érainn or Dáirine by different scholars working in a number of traditions, with no agreement ever reached or appearing reachable. It is entirely possible that they were the product of a combination of lineages from both these royal kindreds, or alternatively of another origin entirely.
Eochu Liathán ("Eochu the Grey"), son of Dáire Cerbba, is the eponymous ancestor of the Uí Liatháin.
The small village of Castlelyons (Caisleán Ó Liatháin) in East County Cork preserves the name of one of their last royal seats in the High Middle Ages.
The two most powerful septs of the Uí Liatháin were the Uí Meic Caille (including the Uí Anmchada) and the Uí Thassaig (later known as the Uí Meic Tire). Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the Uí Meic Caille gave their name to the barony of Imokilly.
The Uí Liatháin are known from both Irish and British sources, respectively the Sanas Cormaic and Historia Brittonum, to have had colonies in Wales and Cornwall. According to the Historia Brittonum they were driven out of North Wales by Cunedda and his sons.
Alongside the Uí Liatháin in this region of Britain were a significant force of the so-called Déisi, whose story is told in the famous Expulsion of the Déisi already mentioned above, as well as a smaller population of the Laigin. Neither are specifically connected to the Uí Liatháin, or connected to each other, in any of the Irish sources, but collaboration can certainly not be ruled out, especially in matters relating to trade, including the slave trade. The Déisi Muman lived adjacent to them in the neighbouring County Waterford and the Laigin could be found not much farther east in the Kingdom of Leinster.
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Wikipedia