page_title: Ulaid
section_title: Religion
hierarchical_section_title: Ulaid / Religion
caption_attribution_description: English: A stone marking the burial place of St. Patrick, in the churchyard of Down Cathedral.
context_page_description: Ulaid, or Ulaidh, was a Gaelic over-kingdom in north-eastern Ireland during the Middle Ages made up of a confederation of dynastic groups. Alternative names include Ulidia, which is the Latin form of Ulaid, and in Cóiced, Irish for "the Fifth". The king of Ulaid was called the rí Ulad or rí in Chóicid.
  Ulaid also refers to a people of early Ireland, and it is from them that the province of Ulster derives its name. Some of the dynasties in the over-kingdom claimed descent from the Ulaid, but others are cited as being of Cruithin descent. In historical documents, the term Ulaid was used to refer to the population group of which the Dál Fiatach was the ruling dynasty. As such, the title Rí Ulad held two meanings: over-king of Ulaid and king of the Ulaid, as in the Dál Fiatach.
  The Ulaid feature prominently in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. According to legend, the ancient territory of Ulaid spanned the whole of the modern province of Ulster, excluding County Cavan, but including County Louth. Its southern border was said to stretch from the River Drowes in the west to the River Boyne in the east.
context_section_description: Ulaid was the location where the future patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick, was held during his early captivity. It is here that he made the first Irish converts to Christianity, with the Dál Fiatach the first ruling dynasty to do so. Patrick died at Saul, and buried at Dún De Lethglaise, which in the 13th century was renamed Dún Phádraig, which became Anglicised as Downpatrick.
  When Ireland was being organised into a diocesan system in the 12th century, the following dioceses where created based on the territory of the main dynasties of the Ulaid: the diocese of Down, based on the territory of the Dál Fiatach, with its cathedral at Bangor, however later moved to Downpatrick by John de Courcy; and the diocese of Connor, based on the territory of the Dál nAraidi. Around 1197 the diocese of Down was split in two with the creation of the diocese of Dromore, based on the territory of the Uí Echach Cobo, with its cathedral at Dromore.
caption: The burial site of St. Patrick at Downpatrick, County Down
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