Maine of Tethba
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Máiné of Tethbae or Máiné mac Néill was a supposed son of
Niall Noigiallach Niall ''Noígíallach'' (; Old Irish "having nine hostages"), or Niall of the Nine Hostages, was a legendary, semi-historical Irish king who was the ancestor of the Uí Néill dynasties that dominated Ireland from the 6th to the 10th centuries. ...
. Writing of him in 1973, Irish historian
Francis John Byrne Francis John Byrne (1934 – 30 December 2017) was an Irish historian. Born in Shanghai where his father, a Dundalk man, captained a ship on the Yellow River, Byrne was evacuated with his mother to Australia on the outbreak of World War II. Af ...
stated his belief that:
We may suspect then that eastern Uí Máiné was so successfully absorbed into the Uí Néill ambit that their kings, by a polite fiction, were accepted into the dominant dynasty circle ... The fact that the annalistic obit of Máiné mac Néill in 440 is so much earlier than that of any of his supposed brothers also suggests that he was adopted into the dynasty some time after the synthetic historians had agreed to push back the date of Niall's reign by a generation or more. yrne 1973:92–93/blockquote> It is actually far more likely that
Máine Mór Máine Mór mac Eochaidh (fl. 4th century) was the founder of the kingdom of Uí Maine. Biography Máine Mór descended from Colla da Chrioch of Oirghialla/ Oriel, Máine Mór, his father Eochaidh Ferdaghiall and his two sons Breasal and Amhl ...
was the ancestor of the
Uí Maine U or u, is the twenty-first and sixth-to-last letter and fifth vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''u'' (pro ...
, whose kingdom once covered a region over the entire of what is now
County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...
north and east of
Athenry Athenry (; ) is a town in County Galway, Ireland, which lies east of Galway city. Some of the attractions of the medieval town are its town wall, Athenry Castle, its priory and its 13th century street-plan. The town is also well known by virtu ...
, all of south
County Roscommon "Steadfast Irish heart" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Roscommon.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Connacht , subdi ...
, and stretching over 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 ...
into the regions called Cenél Máiné, Cuircni, Calraige and
Delbhna The Delbna or Delbhna were a Gaelic Irish tribe in Ireland, claiming kinship with the Dál gCais, through descent from Dealbhna son of Cas. Originally one large population, they had a number of branches in Connacht, Meath, and Munster in Irelan ...
Bethra. Cenél Máiné lay in the south-west portion of the kingdom of
Tethbae Tethbae (; also spelled ''Tethba'', often anglicised ''Teffia'') was a confederation of túatha in central Ireland in the Middle Ages. It was divided into two distinct kingdoms, north Tethba, ruled by the Cenél Coirpri, and south Tethba, ruled ...
– on the east shore of
Lough Ree Lough Ree () is a lake in the midlands of Ireland, the second of the three major lakes on the River Shannon. Lough Ree is the second largest lake on the Shannon after Lough Derg. The other two major lakes are Lough Allen to the north, and Loug ...
– and when it was taken over by the
Uí Néill The Uí Néill (Irish pronunciation: ; meaning "descendants of Niall") are Irish dynasties who claim descent from Niall Noígíallach (Niall of the Nine Hostages), a historical King of Tara who died c. 405. They are generally divided into the ...
, its ruler's ancestor was given a pedigree making him a son of Niall. Ui Máiné remained a powerful independent kingdom in its own right for several further centuries.


See also

* Clan O Duibhgeannain *
Máine Mór Máine Mór mac Eochaidh (fl. 4th century) was the founder of the kingdom of Uí Maine. Biography Máine Mór descended from Colla da Chrioch of Oirghialla/ Oriel, Máine Mór, his father Eochaidh Ferdaghiall and his two sons Breasal and Amhl ...


References

*"Irish Kings and High Kings", Francis John Byrne, Dublin, 1973. {{DEFAULTSORT:Maine Of Tethba People from County Longford 5th-century Irish people Connachta