Kingdom of Osraige

Kingdom Of Osraige

Kingdom of Ireland titles:

• Lord Baron of Upper Ossory
• Earl of Upper Ossory
• Baron Gowran
• Baron Castletown

The kingdom of Ossory (Irish: Osraige; later Osraighe; reformed spelling: Osraí) was an ancient kingdom of Ireland. It formed the easternmost part of the kingdom and province of Munster until the middle of the 9th century, after which it attached itself to Leinster. Ossory was allied to the powerful Corcu Loígde or Dáirine of Munster for several centuries before the rise of the Eóganachta in the 7th century, and is said to have provided a number of prehistoric kings of Munster under the alliance. The new political configuration, probably the result of an Uí Néill-Eóganachta alliance against the Corcu Loígde, caused a reduction in Ossory's relative status, and its kings to thus seek their fortunes in Leinster.

The Osraige—their name means people of the Deer—inhabited much of modern County Kilkenny and parts of neighbouring County Laois. To the west and south, Osraige was bounded by the River Suir, to the east the watershed of the River Barrow marked the boundary with Leinster, and to the north it extended into and beyond the Slieve Bloom Mountains. The medieval Diocese of Ossory covered much the same region. Its most significant neighbours were the Loígsi, Uí Cheinnselaig and Uí Bairrche of Leinster to the north and east and the Déisi Muman, Eóganacht Chaisil and Éile of Munster to the south and west.

In the earliest times, the church at Domnach Mór Roigni (now Donaghmore, County Laois) may have been the chief church in Osraige, but in historic times it had been eclipsed by Aghaboe (County Laois), chief church of Saint Cainnech, since replaced by Kilkenny, and Seir Kieran (County Offaly), chief church of Saint Ciarán of Saighir. The record of the Irish annals also points to Freshford (County Kilkenny) being of some importance, while archaeological evidence suggests that Kilkieran, Killamery and Kilree (all County Kilkenny) were significant ecclesiastical sites.

In historic times, the territory was ruled first by the Ossory O'Carrolls, as distinct from the Ely O'Carrolls, then by the Mac Giolla Phádraig or FitzPatrick dynasty until their submission to Henry VIII of England in 1537.It is believed by some ( P.McEvoy, N.T., Kilkenny,R.I.P.) that an O'Carroll fort first stood on the site of the present Kilkenny Castle. In 1541 The Mac Giolla Phádraig was ennobled as Baron Upper Ossory, and other members of the family were subsequently created Earl of Upper Ossory and Baron Castletown.

A celebrated king of Osraige was Cearbhaill mac Dúnlainge, ancestor of the medieval and modern FitzPatricks. He was also so close to the Norse that he features in many medieval Icelandic pedigrees through his daughters, giving the FitzPatricks a unique and celebrated genealogical position in Northern Europe.

Gofraid mac Arailt, King of Mann and the Isles, through his daughter Mael Muire, appears to have been the maternal grandfather of Donnchad mac Gilla Pátraic, the Osraige King of Leinster. Thus the FitzPatricks are probably descendants of the Uí Ímair. Cerball himself was in fact an ally of their (probable) founder Ivar Ragnarsson. It is also possible that Donnchad's father Gilla Pátraic mac Donnchada was somehow a relation of Ivar of Waterford, who had a son named Gilla Pátraic.