page_title: Eóganachta
section_title: Ancient origins
hierarchical_section_title: Eóganachta / Ancient origins
caption_attribution_description: English: The Rock of Cashel in Ireland pictured in the Summer of 1986.
context_page_description: The Eóganachta or Eoghanachta were an Irish dynasty centred on Cashel which dominated southern Ireland from the 6/7th to the 10th centuries, and following that, in a restricted form, the Kingdom of Desmond, and its offshoot Carbery, to the late 16th century. By tradition the dynasty was founded by Conall Corc but named after his ancestor Éogan, the firstborn son of the semi-mythological 3rd-century king Ailill Aulom. This dynastic clan-name, for it was never in any sense a 'surname,' should more accurately be restricted to those branches of the royal house which descended from Conall Corc, who established Cashel as his royal seat in the late 5th century.
context_section_description: Their origins, possibly Gaulish, are very obscure. According to one of their own origin legends (Laud 610), they were descendants of Heber, eldest son of King Milesius from the north of Spain (modern-day Galicia). The proto-Eóganachta, from the time of Mug Nuadat to the time of Crimthann mac Fidaig and Conall Corc, are sometimes referred to as the Deirgtine in early sources.
  The earliest evidence for the proto-Eóganachta, the Deirgthine or Deirgtine, is in the form of ogham inscriptions. They appear to have initially been subjects of the Dáirine, a warlike people with frequently mentioned connections to Ulster, who were possibly cousins of the Ulaid. The Dáirine were represented in historical times most clearly by the Corcu Loígde, over whom the Deirgtine finally achieved supremacy during the 7th century, following the loss by the former of their centuries-long hold on the Kingdom of Osraige, apparently with some outside help from the Uí Néill.
  The Eóganachta achieved their status primarily through political and economic sophistication and not military conquest. Ireland was dominated by several hostile powers whom they were never in any position to challenge militarily on their own, in the early centuries, but there also existed a number of subject tribes whom the Deirgtine successfully convinced to adopt them as their overlords. The effect was to separate the Dáirine, by now mainly the Corcu Loígde, from their cousin kingdoms and prominent subjects. The Eóganachta progressively surrounded themselves with favoured vassals such as the Múscraige, who would become the main source of their income as well as defense against the other kingdoms. The later famous Déisi Tuisceart, who would produce Brian Bóruma, were among these vassal peoples. The Déisi Muman of County Waterford may have shared Gaulish origins with the Eóganachta themselves.
  Another powerful people of early Munster were the Mairtine, who had their capital at Emly or Imlech Ibair, first known as Medón Mairtine. It became the head church of the Eóganachta.
caption: The Rock of Cashel pictured in the Summer of 1986.
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