Ailill mac Fáeláin was a

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

Osraige Osraige (Old Irish) or Osraighe (Classical Irish), Osraí (Modern Irish), anglicized as Ossory, was a medieval Irish kingdom comprising what is now County Kilkenny and western County Laois, corresponding to the Diocese of Ossory. The home o ...

in the south east of Gaelic Ireland. Ailill was of a dynasty known as the

Dál Birn ''Dál Birn'' (''"portion" of Birn'') is a tribal epithet found in Irish sources which refers to the descendants of Loegaire Birn Buadach, the hereditary ruling lineage of the kingdom of Osraige in Ireland. Lineage This illustrious lineage produ ...

. Osraige was located in modern County Kilkenny,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Ailill was a "''Reges Ossairge''", a King of Osraige, his year of accession is unknown, however, it was after both the reign of Cú Cherca mac Fáeláin, who had died in 712, and Fland mac Congaile who is without a date. The end of his reign is also unknown, however, by 728

Cellach mac Fáelchair Cellach mac Fáelchair (died 735) or Cellach Raigni was a King of Osraige in modern County Kilkenny. He was the son of Fáelchar Ua Máele Ódrain (died 693), a previous king. The dynasty that ruled over Osraige in the early Christian period w ...

had been recorded King. Ailill is recorded in the

Book of Leinster The Book of Leinster ( mga, Lebor Laignech , LL) is a medieval Irish manuscript compiled c. 1160 and now kept in Trinity College, Dublin, under the shelfmark MS H 2.18 (cat. 1339). It was formerly known as the ''Lebor na Nuachongbála'' "Book ...

's king lists, and the synchronism's of Thurneysen, Boyle, as well as the

Annals of Clonmacnoise The ''Annals of Clonmacnoise'' ( ga, Annála Chluain Mhic Nóis) are an early 17th-century Early Modern English translation of a lost Irish chronicle, which covered events in Ireland from prehistory to 1408. The work is sometimes known as ''Mag ...

. He is recorded as "''Oillill''" in the Annals of Clonmacnoise. Ailill does not appear in the MS Rawlinson B 502 genealogies, but it is presumed that this Ailill was the son of Fáelán mac Crundmaíl (died 660), and the brother of Cú Cherca mac Fáeláin (died 712), who were both King's of Osraige.

Lineage

The ''

'' (Old Irish: "''the assembly''" or "''portion''" of "''Birn''") is a tribal epithet found in Irish sources which refers to the descendants of Loegaire Birn Buadach, the hereditary ruling lineage of the kingdom of

in Ireland. For a two-hundred year period beginning the late fifth century, the native Dál Birn kings were temporarily displaced by an allied Corcu Loígde dynasty which ruled Osraige until finally being overthrown. A number of the Corcu Loígde kings are recorded as being periodically slain by the native inhabitants of Osraige until the re-establishment of the Dál Birn. Dál Birn descendants remained in control of parts of Osraige, even after the

Norman Invasion of Ireland The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the late 12th century, when Anglo-Normans gradually conquered and acquired large swathes of land from the Irish, over which the kings of England then claimed sovereignty, all allegedly san ...

, with the continuation of the Mac Giolla Phádraig lordship in

Upper Ossory Upper Ossory () was an administrative barony in the south and west of Queen's County (now County Laois) in Ireland. In late Gaelic Ireland it was the túath of the Mac Giolla Phádraig ( Fitzpatrick) family and a surviving remnant of the once l ...

. This senior Dál Birn lineage historically remained the most visible and in possession of an original portion of Osraige through the death of

Bernard FitzPatrick, 2nd Baron Castletown Bernard Edward Barnaby FitzPatrick, 2nd Baron Castletown, Order of St Patrick, KP, Order of St Michael and St George, CMG, Privy Council of Ireland, PC (I) (29 July 1848 – 29 May 1937) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Conservative Party (UK), C ...

in 1937.

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* Kings of Osraige 8th-century Irish monarchs People from County Kilkenny Year of birth unknown {{Ireland-royal-stub

Lineage

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