Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the

provinces of Ireland There have been four Provinces of Ireland: Connacht (Connaught), Leinster, Munster, and Ulster. The Irish language, Irish word for this territorial division, , meaning "fifth part", suggests that there were once five, and at times Kingdom_of_ ...

, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of

Gaelic Ireland Gaelic Ireland ( ga, Éire Ghaelach) was the Gaelic political and social order, and associated culture, that existed in Ireland from the late prehistoric era until the early 17th century. It comprised the whole island before Anglo-Normans co ...

ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were

shire Shire is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries such as Australia and New Zealand. It is generally synonymous with county. It was first used in Wessex from the beginn ...

d into counties for administrative and judicial purposes. In later centuries, local government legislation has seen further sub-division of the historic counties. Munster has no official function for local government purposes. For the purposes of the ISO, the province is listed as one of the provincial sub-divisions of the State ( ISO 3166-2:IE) and coded as "IE-M". Geographically, Munster covers a total area of and has a population of 1,364,098, with the most populated city being

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

. Other significant urban centres in the province include Limerick and Waterford.

History

In the early centuries AD, Munster was the domain of the Iverni peoples and the

Clanna Dedad Deda mac Sin (Deda, son of Sen) was a prehistoric king of the Érainn of Ireland, possibly of the 1st century BC. Variant forms or spellings include Ded, Dedu, Dedad, Degad, Dega, Dego, Deguth and Daig, with some of these occurring as genitives ...

familial line, led by

Cú Roí Cú Roí mac Dáire (Cú Ruí, Cú Raoi) is a king of Munster in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. He is usually portrayed as a warrior with superhuman abilities and a master of disguise possessed of magical powers. His name probably means "ho ...

and to whom the king Conaire Mór also belonged. In the 5th century,

Saint Patrick Saint Patrick ( la, Patricius; ga, Pádraig ; cy, Padrig) was a fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints be ...

spent several years in the area and founded Christian churches and ordained priests. During the Early Middle Ages, most of the area was part of the Kingdom of Munster, ruled by the Eóganachta dynasty. Prior to this, the area was ruled by the

Dáirine The Dáirine (Dárine, Dáirfine, Dáirfhine, Dárfine, Dárinne, Dairinne), later known dynastically as the Corcu Loígde and associated, were the proto-historical rulers of Munster before the rise of the Eóganachta in the 7th century AD. They ...

and

Corcu Loígde The Corcu Loígde (Corcu Lóegde, Corco Luigde, Corca Laoighdhe, Laidhe), meaning Gens of the Calf Goddess, also called the Síl Lugdach meic Itha, were a kingdom centred in West County Cork who descended from the proto-historical rulers of Mun ...

overlords. Later rulers from the Eóganachta included Cathal mac Finguine and

Feidlimid mac Cremthanin Fedelmid mac Crimthainn was the King of Munster between 820 and 846. He was numbered as a member of the Céli Dé, an abbot of Cork Abbey and Clonfert Abbey, and possibly a bishop. After his death, he was later considered a saint in some mart ...

. Notable regional kingdoms and lordships of Early Medieval Munster were Iarmuman (West Munster), Osraige (Ossory), Uí Liatháin, Uí Fidgenti, Éile, Múscraige, Ciarraige Luachra, Corcu Duibne,

Corcu Baiscinn The Corcu Baiscind were an early Érainn people or kingdom of what is now southern County Clare in Munster. They descended from Cairpre Baschaín, son of Conaire Cóem, a High King of Ireland. Closely related were the Múscraige and Corcu Duibne ...

, and Déisi Muman. By the 9th century, the Gaels had been joined by Norse Vikings who founded towns such as

, Waterford and Limerick, for the most part incorporated into a maritime empire by the Dynasty of Ivar, who periodically would threaten Munster with conquest in the next century. Around this period Ossory broke away from Munster. The Eóganachta dominated Munster until the 10th century, which saw the rise of the

Dalcassian The Dalcassians ( ga, Dál gCais ) are a Gaelic Irish clan, generally accepted by contemporary scholarship as being a branch of the Déisi Muman, that became very powerful in Ireland during the 10th century. Their genealogies claimed descent f ...

clan, who had earlier annexed Thomond, north of the

River Shannon The River Shannon ( ga, Abhainn na Sionainne, ', '), at in length, is the longest river in the British Isles. It drains the Shannon River Basin, which has an area of , – approximately one fifth of the area of the island of Ireland. The Shan ...

to Munster. Their leaders were the ancestors of the O'Brien dynasty and spawned Brian Boru, perhaps the most noted

High King of Ireland High King of Ireland ( ga, Ardrí na hÉireann ) was a royal title in Gaelic Ireland held by those who had, or who are claimed to have had, lordship over all of Ireland. The title was held by historical kings and later sometimes assigned ana ...

, and several of whose descendants were also high kings. By 1118, Munster had fractured into the Kingdom of Thomond under the O'Briens, the Kingdom of Desmond under the

MacCarthy dynasty MacCarthy ( ga, Mac Cárthaigh), also spelled Macarthy, McCarthy or McCarty, is an Irish clan originating from Munster, an area they ruled during the Middle Ages. It was divided into several great branches; the MacCarthy Reagh, MacCarthy of Musk ...

(Eóganachta), and the short-lived Kingdom of Ormond under the O'Kennedys (another Dalcassian sept). The three crowns of the flag of Munster represent these three late kingdoms. There was

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

influence from the 14th century, including by the

FitzGerald The FitzGerald/FitzMaurice Dynasty is a noble and aristocratic dynasty of Cambro-Norman, Anglo-Norman and later Hiberno-Norman origin. They have been peers of Ireland since at least the 13th century, and are described in the Annals of the ...

, de Clare and

Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some a ...

houses, two of whom carved out earldoms within the Lordship of Ireland, the

Earls of Desmond Earl of Desmond is a title in the peerage of Ireland () created four times. When the powerful Earl of Desmond took arms against Queen Elizabeth Tudor, around 1578, along with the King of Spain and the Pope, he was confiscated from his estates, ...

eventually becoming independent potentates, while the

Earls of Ormond Earldom of Ormond may refer to: *Earl of Ormond (Scotland), created twice in the Peerage of Scotland for the House of Douglas *Earl of Ormond (Ireland) The peerage title Earl of Ormond and the related titles Duke of Ormonde and Marquess of Orm ...

remained closer to England. The O'Brien of Thomond and MacCarthy of Desmond surrendered and regranted sovereignty to the Tudors in 1543 and 1565, joining the

Kingdom of Ireland The Kingdom of Ireland ( ga, label=Classical Irish, an Ríoghacht Éireann; ga, label=Modern Irish, an Ríocht Éireann, ) was a monarchy on the island of Ireland that was a client state of England and then of Great Britain. It existed from ...

. The impactful Desmond Rebellions, led by the FitzGeralds, soon followed. By the mid-19th century much of the area was hit hard in the Great Famine, especially the west. The province was affected by events in the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mil ...

in the early 20th century, and there was a brief

Munster Republic The Munster Republic was an informal and colloquial term used by Irish republicans to refer to the territory they held in the province of Munster at the start of the Irish Civil War. The "republic" never claimed to be a state as such, but was a ...

during the

Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War ( ga, Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United ...

. The Irish leaders

Michael Collins Michael Collins or Mike Collins most commonly refers to: * Michael Collins (Irish leader) (1890–1922), Irish revolutionary leader, soldier, and politician * Michael Collins (astronaut) (1930–2021), American astronaut, member of Apollo 11 and Ge ...

and earlier Daniel O'Connell came from families of the old Gaelic Munster gentry.

Culture

Noted for its traditions in Irish folk music, and with many ancient castles and monasteries in the province, Munster is a tourist destination. During the fifth century, St. Patrick spent seven years founding churches and ordaining priests in Munster, but a fifth-century bishop named Ailbe is the patron saint of Munster. In Irish mythology, a number of ancient goddesses are associated with the province including Anann, Áine, Grian,

Clíodhna In Irish mythology, Clíodhna (Clídna, Clionadh, Clíodna, Clíona, transliterated to Cleena in English) is a Queen of the Banshees of the Tuatha Dé Danann. Clíodna of Carrigcleena is the potent banshee that rules as queen over the ''sidheog'' ...

Aimend In Irish mythology and genealogy, Aimend is the daughter of Óengus Bolg, king of the Dáirine or Corcu Loígde. She marries Conall Corc, founder of the Eóganachta dynasties, and through him is an ancestor of the "inner circle" septs of Eóganach ...

, Mór Muman, Bébinn, Aibell and Mongfind. The druid-god of Munster is Mug Ruith and Tlachtga is his daughter. Another legendary figure is Donn. The province has long had trading and cultural links with continental Europe. The

had a trading fleet active along the French Atlantic coast, as far south as Gascony, importing wine to Munster. The Eóganachta had ecclesiastical ties with Germany, which show in the architecture of their ceremonial capital at the Rock of Cashel. The majority of Irish ogham inscriptions are found in Munster, principally in areas occupied by the Iverni, especially the Corcu Duibne. Later, Europe's first linguistic dictionary in any non-Classical language, the '' Sanas Cormaic'', was compiled by Munster scholars, traditionally thought to have been directed by the king-bishop Cormac mac Cuilennáin (d. 908). The

School of Ross The School of Ross was a monastic institution located in what is now called Rosscarbery, County Cork, Ireland, but formerly ''Ross-Ailithir'' (Ross of the Pilgrims), from the large number of monks and students who flocked to its halls from all ov ...

in Munster was one of Europe's leading centres of learning in the Early Middle Ages.

Sport

Several sports in Munster are organised on a provincial basis, or operate competitions along provincial lines. This includes traditionally popular sports such as

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

, rugby union and soccer, as well as cricket (

Munster Cricket Union The Munster Cricket Union is one of five provincial governing bodies for cricket in Ireland. Along with the Connacht, Northern, Leinster and North West unions, it makes up the Irish Cricket Union (now known as Cricket Ireland), the supreme gover ...

), hockey ( Munster Hockey Union), and others.

Hurling and football

Munster is noted for its tradition of

. Three of the four most successful teams in the

All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship The GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship, known simply as the All-Ireland Championship, is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest inter-county hurling competition i ...

are from Munster;

Cork GAA The Cork County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( ga, Cumann Luthchleas Gael Coiste Contae Chorcaí) or Cork GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Cork and the C ...

, Tipperary GAA and

Limerick GAA The Limerick County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael, Coiste Chontae Luimneach) or Limerick GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Li ...

. The final of the

Munster Senior Hurling Championship The Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship, known simply as the Munster Championship, is an annual Inter county, inter-county hurling competition organised by the Munster GAA, Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the h ...

is one of the most important days in the Irish GAA calendar. Munster is the only province in Ireland wherein every one of its counties has won an

Traditionally, the dominant teams in Munster football are Kerry GAA and

, although Tipperary GAA and

have also won All-Ireland Senior Football Championships. Kerry in particular are the most successful county in the history of football.

Rugby union

Rugby is a popular game in the cities of Limerick and Cork. Munster Rugby is an

Irish Rugby Football Union The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) ( ga, Cumann Rugbaí na hÉireann) is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland (both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ...

representative side which competes in the United Rugby Championship competition, winning in 2003, 2009 and 2011 and in the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

, winning in 2006 and 2008. Until 2016, the Munster side was the only Irish side to have defeated the New Zealand All Blacks.

Soccer

Association football is also a popular game in Munster, with the Munster Football Association governing a number of aspects of the game in the province. Four Munster clubs play in the League of Ireland: Cork City F.C., Waterford FC in the

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is the top level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland f ...

; and Cobh Ramblers and

Treaty United F.C. Treaty United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Limerick. The club was founded in 2020 following the demise of Limerick F.C. and began playing in the League of Ireland in 2021. They play their home matches at Market ...

in the First Division.

Cricket

In Cricket, the province is represented by the

Munster Reds Munster Reds is an Irish inter-provincial cricket team based in Cork, in the province of Munster. In April 2017, Cricket Ireland approved the participation of the team in the Interprovincial Twenty20 Cup, the highest level of T20 domestic crick ...

in the Inter-Provincial Cup one-day competition and the Inter-Provincial Trophy Twenty20 competition. Munster does not currently participate in the first-class inter-provincial tournament, though Cricket Ireland does have plans to include Munster in the format.

Irish language

The

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

, or more specifically Munster Irish, is spoken as a first language in

Gaeltachtaí ( , , ) are the districts of Ireland, individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home. The ''Gaeltacht'' districts were first officially recog ...

(Irish speaking areas) in a number of areas in the province. This includes West Kerry (''Corca Dhuibhne''), South Kerry (''Uíbh Ráthach''), West Cork (''Múscraí''), south-west Cork (''Oileán Cléire''), and parts of Waterford (''Gaeltacht na Rinne'' or ''Gaeltacht na nDéise''). There are about 35,000 Irish language speakers in Munster, with 9,737 native speakers in the Munster Gaeltacht areas of Cork, Kerry and Waterford. There are also 12,219 pupils attending 45 Gaelscoils (Irish language primary schools) and 15

Gaelcholáiste A Gaelcholáiste is a secondary school on the island of Ireland (in either the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland) located outside Gaeltacht areas, where Irish is the primary language of teaching and communication. Gaelcholáistí are sup ...

(Irish language secondary schools) in the province. As of the Census of Ireland 2011 there were 13,193 daily speakers outside the education system in Munster.

Divisions

The province is divided into six traditional counties:

Clare Clare may refer to: Places Antarctica * Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land Australia * Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley * Clare Valley, South Australia Canada * Clare (electoral district), an electoral district * Cl ...

, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford. Munster is the largest of Ireland's four provinces by land area, and the third largest by population.

Urban areas

2017-06-15_7356x4904_cork_river_lee_south_channel

Munster has many large towns (including a number of growing satellite towns) and is the province with the most cities in the Republic of Ireland. In order of size (2016 census figures; urban areas with over 10,000 inhabitants), with cities and

county town In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a county town is the most important town or city in a county. It is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county and the place where the county's members of Parliament are elect ...

s bolded: *

(208,669) * Limerick (94,192) * Waterford (53,504) *

Ennis Ennis () is the county town of County Clare, in the mid-west of Ireland. The town lies on the River Fergus, north of where the river widens and enters the Shannon Estuary. Ennis is the largest town in County Clare, with a population of 25,27 ...

(25,276) * Tralee (23,691) * Ballincollig (18,621) *

Clonmel Clonmel () is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian army which sacked the towns of Dro ...

(17,140) * Carrigaline (15,770) * Killarney (14,504) *

Cobh Cobh ( ,), known from 1849 until 1920 as Queenstown, is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland. With a population of around 13,000 inhabitants, Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour and home to Ireland's ...

(12,800) * Midleton (12,496) * Mallow (12,459) * Tramore (10,381) Urban areas with 5,000–10,000 inhabitants: * Shannon (9,729) *

Dungarvan Dungarvan () is a coastal town and harbour in County Waterford, on the south-east coast of Ireland. Prior to the merger of Waterford County Council with Waterford City Council in 2014, Dungarvan was the county town and administrative centre of ...

(9,227) * Nenagh (8,968) * Youghal (7,963) * Thurles (7,940) * Bandon (6,957) * Newcastle West (6,619) * Fermoy (6,585) *

Carrick on Suir Carrick-on-Suir () is a town in County Tipperary, Ireland. It lies on both banks of the River Suir. The part on the north bank of the Suir lies in the civil parish of "Carrick", in the historical barony of Iffa and Offa East. The part on the sou ...

(5,771) * Roscrea (5,446) * Carrigtwohill (5,080) * Tipperary (4,979)

Economy

2014 CSO figures indicated that GDP per capita in the province ranged from €28,094 in the South Tipperary/Waterford (South-East) region, to €50,544 in Cork and Kerry (South-West). Disposable income in the province was approximately €22,000 per person in 2008 - behind the Eastern and Dublin region (€25,000 per person) and ahead of the Border, Midland and Western regions (€20,000 per person).

Agriculture

Munster's agricultural industry centres around the

Golden Vale The Golden Vale () is an area of rolling pastureland in the civil province of Munster, southwestern Ireland. Covering parts of three counties, Limerick, Tipperary and Cork, it is the best land in Ireland for dairy farming. Historically it ...

pasturelands which cover counties Cork, Limerick and Tipperary. Kerry Group manufactures dairy products from the dairy cows of the region, and Glanbia is a food producer which operates an "innovation centre" in the region. Dawn Meats also operate from County Waterford.

Retail

Irish-owned retailer Dunnes Stores was founded in Cork, and Ireland's largest supermarket group, the Musgrave Group, is also based in Munster.

Employment

Large employers in the region include

AOL AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo (2017� ...

, Bausch & Lomb, Dairygold,

Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...

, Amazon, Motorola, Amgen, Pfizer, Analog Devices, Fexco Financial Services, Vistakon, Waterford Crystal,

Apple Computer Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...

, Intel, Novartis, O2, Lufthansa Technik, Kerry Group,

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

, Sony and Blizzard Entertainment. The largest employment hub in Munster is

Metropolitan Cork Metropolitan Cork is a semi-official term which refers to the city of Cork, Ireland, its suburbs, the rural hinterland that surrounds it, and a number of the towns and villages in that hinterland. Some of the latter towns and villages are within t ...

, where a number of multinational firms are located in the Cork city area, including at Little Island. The Shannon Free Zone, in County Clare and near Limerick city, is also a centre of employment.

In media

A number of television companies and studios have (or had) a Munster-focus. These include

RTÉ Cork (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while ...

(RTÉ's regional studio in Cork),

South Coast TV South Coast TV was a television deflector and MMDS service operating in County Cork, Ireland. Its headquarters were in Carrigaline. History South Coast TV was founded in 1985 as the Carrigaline Community Television Project, to provide a multi-c ...

and

Channel South Channel South was an Irish television channel, operated by City Channel, transmitting 24-hour local programming to Cork, Limerick, and parts of Kerry, Waterford, Clare and Tipperary since November 2008. Included in the station's programmes is ...

. The latter transmitted local programming to Cork, Limerick, and parts of Kerry, Waterford, Clare and Tipperary. Apart from the local city or regional newspapers, a number of print outlets focus or market themselves on a provincial basis. These include the ''Avondhu'' (covering parts of Cork, Waterford, Limerick and Tipperary), the ''Nationalist & Munster Advertiser'', the ''Munster Express'', and others.

Notes

:This is the cities' urban area populations and not city proper :County Tipperary has two county towns, following the 2014 amalgamation of North Tipperary County Council and South Tipperary County Council

References

External links

* {{Authority control Provinces of Ireland