Editing Leinster (section)

==History==
===Early history===
[[File:Ireland Leinster Hogg 1784 700x1030.jpg|right|thumb|Leinster, province of Ireland (Hogg, 1784)]]

The [[Gaels|Gaelic]] [[List of kings of Leinster|Kingdom of Leinster]] before 1171, considerably smaller than the present-day province, usually did not include certain territories such as [[Kingdom of Meath|Meath]], {{lang|ga|[[Kingdom of Ossory|Osraige]]|italic=no}} or the [[Viking]] cities of [[Wexford]] and [[Dublin]].

The first part of the [[place names in Irish|name]] ''Leinster'' derives from {{lang|ga|[[Laigin]]}}, the name of a major [[tribe]] that once inhabited the area.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Oxford Companion to Irish History |author=Sean J Connolly |date=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5CYeQwAACAAJ |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780199234837 |page=308 }}</ref> The latter part of the name derives either from the [[Irish language|Irish]] {{lang|ga|tír}} or from the [[Old Norse]] {{lang|non|staðr}}, both of which translate as 'land' or 'territory'.

{{lang|ga|[[Úgaine Mór]]|italic=no}} (Hugony the Great), who supposedly built the [[hill fort]] of {{lang|ga|[[Dún Ailinne]]|italic=no}}, near [[Kilcullen]] in [[County Kildare]], united the tribes of Leinster. He is a likely, but uncertain, candidate as the first historical king of Laigin (Leinster) in the 7th century BC. Circa 175/185 AD, following a period of [[civil war]]s in Ireland, the legendary {{lang|ga|[[Cathair Mor]]|italic=no}} re-founded the kingdom of Laigin. The legendary Finn Mac Cool, or {{lang|ga|[[Fionn mac Cumhaill]]}}, reputedly built a stronghold at the [[Hill of Allen]], on the edge of the [[Bog of Allen]].

In the 4th and 5th centuries AD, after [[Magnus Maximus]] had left [[Great Britain|Britain]] in 383 AD with his [[Roman legion|legion]]s, leaving a power vacuum, colonists from Laigin settled in [[North Wales]], specifically in [[Anglesey]], [[Carnarvonshire]] and [[Denbighshire]].<ref>{{cite book |author=R F Foster |author-link=R. F. Foster (historian) |title=The Oxford History of Ireland |publisher=Oxford University Press |place=Oxford & New York |date=1992 |isbn=0-19-285271-X |quote=(References to Irish colony in North Wales, Lleyn Peninsula) |page=6 }}</ref> In [[Wales]] some of the Leinster-Irish colonists left their name on the [[Llŷn Peninsula]] (in [[Gwynedd]]), which derives its name from {{lang|ga|Laigin}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsBritain/GaelsLeinster.htm |work=HistoryFiles.co.uk |title=Kings of Laigin / Leinster (Gaels of Ireland) |access-date=17 February 2018 |archive-date=18 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180218025450/http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsBritain/GaelsLeinster.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the 5th century, the emerging {{lang|ga|[[Uí Néill]]|italic=no}} dynasties from [[Connacht]] conquered areas of Westmeath, Meath and Offaly from the {{lang|ga|[[Uí Enechglaiss]]|italic=no}} and {{lang|ga|Uí Failge|italic=no}} of the Laigin.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Settlement patterns in the early historic kingdom of Leinster (seventh-mid twelfth centuries) |first=Mark |last=Clinton |journal=Seanchas: Studies in Early and Medieval Irish Archaeology, History and Literature in Honour of Francis John Byrne |editor=Alfred P. Smyth |editor-link=Alfred P. Smyth |pages=275–298 |publisher=[[Four Courts Press]] |place=Dublin |date=2000 }}</ref> {{lang|ga|Uí Néill|italic=no}} {{lang|ga|[[High King of Ireland|Ard Rígh]]}} attempted to exact the {{lang|ga|Boroimhe Laighean}} (cattle-tribute) from the Laigin from that time, in the process becoming their traditional enemies.

By the 8th century the rulers of Laigin had split into two dynasties:<ref name="duffy">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a7uTAgAAQBAJ&q=Laigin |title=Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia |first=Seán |last=Duffy |pages=426, 449 |publisher=Routledge |date=2005 |isbn=9781135948245 }}</ref>
* Northern Leinster [[dynasty]]: {{lang|ga|Murchad mac Brain|italic=no}} (d. 727), King of {{lang|ga|[[Uí Dúnlainge]]|italic=no}}, and joint leader of the Laigin
* Southern Leinster dynasty: {{lang|ga|[[Áed mac Colggen]]|italic=no}} (d. 738), King of {{lang|ga|[[Uí Cheinnselaig]]|italic=no}}, and joint leader of the Laigin

After the death of the last Kildare-based King of Laigin, {{lang|ga|[[Murchad Mac Dunlainge]]|italic=no}} in 1042,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WJNnAAAAMAAJ&q=1042 |publisher=Irish Academic Press |first=Alfred P. |last=Smyth |title=Celtic Leinster: towards an historical geography of early Irish civilization, A.D. 500–1600 |date=1982 |page=81 |isbn=9780716500971 |quote=Murchad, that {{lang|ga|Ui Dunlainge|italic=no}} king who founded an unbroken rotational line of Leinster kings which lasted from 715 to 1042 |access-date=2 October 2020 |archive-date=24 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924154354/https://books.google.com/books?id=WJNnAAAAMAAJ&q=1042 |url-status=live }}</ref> the kingship of Leinster reverted to the {{lang|ga|[[Uí Cheinnselaig]]|italic=no}} [[sept]] based in the southeast in present-day [[County Wexford]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Kings, the kingship of Leinster, and the regnal poems of "laidshenchas Laigen": a reflection of dynastic politics in Leinster, 650–1150 |first=Edel |last=Bhreathnach |author-link=Edel Bhreathnach |journal=Seanchas: Studies in Early and Medieval Irish Archaeology, History and Literature in Honour of Francis J. Byrne |pages=299–312 |editor=Alfred P. Smyth |publisher=[[Four Courts Press]] |place=Dublin |date=2000 }}</ref> This southern dynasty provided all the later [[Kings of Leinster]].

===Kingdom of Ireland period===
Leinster includes the extended "[[English Pale]]", counties controlled directly from Dublin, at the beginning of the 1600s. The other three provinces had their own regional "Presidency" systems, based on a Welsh model of administration, in theory if not in fact, from the 1570s and 1580s up to the 1670s, and were considered separate entities.  Gradually "Leinster" subsumed the term "[[The Pale]]", as the kingdom was pacified and the difference between the old Pale area and the wider province, now also under English administration, grew less distinct.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

The expansion of the province took in the territory of the ancient [[Kingdom of Mide]] encompassing much of present-day counties [[County Meath|Meath]], [[County Westmeath|Westmeath]] and [[County Longford|Longford]] with five west [[County Offaly]] baronies.<ref>{{cite book| title = Irish Leaders and Learning Through the Ages | publisher = Four Courts Press | first = Paul | last = Walsh | page = 33 | isbn = 9781851825431 | year = 2003 | chapter = 1 (Early Leinster and Meath, province and diocese ) }}</ref> Local lordships were incorporated during the [[Tudor conquest of Ireland]] and subsequent [[Plantations of Ireland|plantation schemes]].

Other boundary changes included [[County Louth]], officially removed from [[Ulster]] in 1596, the baronies of [[Ballybritt]] and [[Clonlisk]] (formerly [[Éile|Éile Uí Chearbhaill]] in the county palatine of [[County Tipperary|Tipperary]]) in [[Munster]] becoming part of Leinster in 1606, and the 'Lands of [[Ballymascanlon]]' transferred from Armagh to Louth {{Circa|1630}}. The provincial borders were redrawn by [[Oliver Cromwell|Cromwell]] for administration and military reasons, and the Offaly parishes of [[Annally]] and [[Lusmagh]], formerly part of [[Connacht]], were transferred in 1660.

The last major boundary changes within Leinster occurred with the formation of [[County Wicklow]] (1603–1606),<ref>{{cite book | url = http://www.fourcourtspress.ie/books/archives/war-politics-and-the-irish-of-leinster/ | title = War, politics and the Irish of Leinster, 1156–1606 | publisher = Four Courts Press | date = 2003 | isbn = 1851826904 | quote = ''Leinster from the death of Toirdhealbhach O’Connor in 1156 to the establishment, in 1606, of County Wicklow – the last Irish and Leinster county to be created'' | first = Emmett | last = O'Byrne | access-date = 17 February 2018 | archive-date = 21 November 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171121174715/http://www.fourcourtspress.ie/books/archives/war-politics-and-the-irish-of-leinster/ | url-status = live }}</ref> from lands in the north of [[Carlow]] (which previously extended to the sea) and most of southern Dublin.<ref>{{cite journal | title = Kings, Saints and Sagas | publisher = Geography Publications |editor=Ken Hannigan |editor2=William F. Nolan | pages = [https://archive.org/details/wicklowhistoryso00kenh/page/41 41–111] | date = 1994 | first = Alfred P. | last = Smyth | journal = Wicklow History & Society | isbn = 9780906602300 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/wicklowhistoryso00kenh/page/41 }}</ref> Later minor changes dealt with "islands" of one county in another. By the late 1700s, Leinster looked as shown in the above map of 1784.