The Múscraighe (older spelling: Músgraige) were an important

Érainn The Iverni (, ') were a people of early Ireland first mentioned in Ptolemy's 2nd century ''Geography'' as living in the extreme south-west of the island. He also locates a "city" called Ivernis (, ') in their territory, and observes that this se ...

people of

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

, descending from Cairpre Músc, son of

Conaire Cóem Conaire Cóem ("the beautiful"), son of Mug Láma, son of Coirpre Crou-Chend, son of Coirpre Firmaora, son of Conaire Mór, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, the 111th High King of Ireland. He came to power on the ...

, a

High King of Ireland High King of Ireland ( ) 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 was later sometimes assigned anachronously or to leg ...

. Closely related were the Corcu Duibne, Corcu Baiscind, both of Munster, and also the

Dál Riata Dál Riata or Dál Riada (also Dalriada) () was a Gaels, Gaelic Monarchy, kingdom that encompassed the Inner Hebrides, western seaboard of Scotland and north-eastern Ireland, on each side of the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North ...

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, all being referred to as the Síl Conairi in Irish and Scottish legends. A more distant ancestor was the legendary monarch

Conaire Mór Conaire Mór (the great), son of Eterscél, was, according to mediaeval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland sometime during the 1st century BC or 1st century AD. His mother was Mess Búachalla, who was either the daugh ...

, son of Eterscél, son of Íar, son of

Dedu mac Sin 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 ...

. While the Múscraige

petty kingdom A petty kingdom is a kingdom described as minor or "petty" (from the French 'petit' meaning small) by contrast to an empire or unified kingdom that either preceded or succeeded it (e.g. the numerous kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England unified into t ...

s were scattered throughout the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

, the largest were centred on the present baronies of Muskerry (West and East) in central Cork. The tribes or septs were pre-

Eóganachta The Eóganachta (Modern , ) were an Irish dynasty centred on Rock of Cashel, Cashel which dominated southern Ireland (namely the Kingdom of Munster) from the 6/7th to the 10th centuries, and following that, in a restricted form, the Kingdom of De ...

, that is before the 6th century. At this time, the territory of ''Múscraige Mittaine'' did not extend south of the River Lee (although the river bisects the current baronies). A pedigree of the chieftains of the tribe may be found in the Book of Leinster.Book of Leinster, Dublin, TCD, MS 1339 (''olim'' MS H 2.18) The main septs were: Importantly, they acted as vassals and facilitators for the rising

. A

King of Munster The kings of Munster () ruled the Kingdom of Munster in Ireland from its establishment during the Irish Iron Age until the High Middle Ages. According to Gaelic traditional history, laid out in works such as the ''Book of Invasions'', the earli ...

from the Múscraige was Flaithbertach mac Inmainén.

Notes

References

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. A ...

. ''Irish Kings and High-Kings''.

Four Courts Press Four Courts Press is an independent Irish academic publishing house, with its office at Malpas Street, Dublin 8, Ireland. Founded in 1970 by Michael Adams, who died in February 2009, its early publications were primarily theological, notably ...

. 2nd revised edition, 2001. * Thomas Charles-Edwards, ''Early Christian Ireland''.

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

. 2000. * Lucius Gwynn
"De Maccaib Conaire"
in ''Ériu 6'' (1912): 144–53. * Lucius Gwynn
"De Sil Chonairi Móir"
in ''Ériu 6'' (1912): 130–43. * Vernam Hull. "The Later Version of the Expulsion of the Déssi", in '' Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 27'' (1958-9): 14–63. * Paul MacCotter. ''Medieval Ireland: Territorial, Political and Economic Divisions''. Four Courts Press. 2008. *

Eoin MacNeill Eoin MacNeill (; born John McNeill; 15 May 1867 – 15 October 1945) was an Irish scholar, Irish language enthusiast, Gaelic revivalist, nationalist, and politician who served as Minister for Education from 1922 to 1925, Ceann Comhairle of D ...

"Early Irish Population Groups: their nomenclature, classification and chronology"
in ''Proceedings of the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the natural sciences, arts, literature, and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned society and one of its le ...

Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) () is a statutory independent research institute in Dublin, Ireland. It was established, under the Institute For Advanced Studies Act 1940, by the government of the then Taoiseach, Éamon de Vale ...

. 1946. Historical Celtic peoples Érainn Tribes of ancient Ireland {{Ireland-hist-stub