Kings in the Baile Chuind The earliest-surviving list appears in the
Baile Chuind (The Ecstasy of Conn), a late-7th-century poem in which
Conn of the Hundred Battles experiences a vision of the kings who will succeed him. Many of these kings appear to correspond with the kings of later traditions, although the order is different, and some of the kings cannot be identified. The last four kings following Snechta Fína (
Fínsnechta Fledach) do not correspond with any of the kings in later lists. The poem is therefore presumed to have been written during his time, and the kings who follow him are presumed to be fictional. With few exceptions, kings belong to
Dál Cuinn (the
Connachta and
Uí Néill). Understood as a list of
kings of Tara, it is not considered to be inclusive. A number of well-known kings from the
Laigin,
Érainn,
Ulaid and
Cruthin, are missing. The chief rivals of Dál Cuinn after Conn's
floruit (and others for a few centuries before) were the
Dáirine (usually the
Corcu Loígde during Dál Cuinn's era), two or three of whom are listed, but whose overkingdom in the south of Ireland collapsed in the 6th century. They were outmanoeuvred and replaced by the related
Eóganachta, who established the Kingship of Cashel, soon to periodically rival Tara. The poem itself in its closing language probably mentions
Cathal mac Finguine when young, and this can also be used to date the
Baile Chuind to the late 7th or early 8th century.
Synthetic lists The
Lebor Gabála Érenn, dating to the 11th–12th century, purports to list every High King from remote antiquity to the time of
Henry II's Lordship of Ireland in 1171. The High Kingship is established by the
Fir Bolg, and their nine kings are succeeded by a sequence of nine kings of the
Tuatha Dé Danann, most if not all of whom are considered
euhemerised deities. After the
Milesian (Gaelic) conquest the High Kingship is contested for centuries between the descendants of
Eber Finn and
Érimón, sons of
Míl Espáine. The original compilation stopped at the reign of
Tuathal Techtmar. The kings of the Goidelic dynasties established by Tuathal were added by other editors. Later editions of the
Lebor Gabála tried to synchronise its chronology with dateable kings of:
Assyria,
Persia and
Ptolemaic Egypt and
Roman emperors. There are a handful of sources slightly predating the
Lebor Gabála Érenn covering significant portions of essentially the same list of Milesian High Kings (though following a discrepant chronology), starting with the
Laud Synchronisms estimated to have been compiled (part of
Laud 610). The oldest section of the
Lebor Gabála Érenn "Roll of Kings" is taken from the poems of
Gilla Cómáin mac Gilla Samthainde, written .
Early Modern works like the
Annals of the Four Masters and
Geoffrey Keating's
Foras Feasa ar Éirinn continued this tradition based on later
Irish annals. Keating's chronology, based on reign lengths, is longer than the synchronised chronology of the
Lebor Gabála, and the
Four Masters chronology is even longer. •
LGE: synchronised dates from
Lebor Gabála Érenn •
FFE: chronology based on reign lengths given in
Geoffrey Keating's
Forus Feasa ar Erinn. •
AFM: chronology from the
Annals of the Four Masters ====
Fir Bolg High Kings==== These kings are considered to be legendary. ====
Tuatha Dé Danann High Kings==== These kings are considered to be legendary. ====
Milesian High Kings==== These kings are considered to be legendary. ====
Goidelic High Kings==== Many of these kings are considered to be legendary. Dynastic affiliations are based on the genealogies of historical dynasties who claimed them as an ancestor. ==Semi-historical High Kings of Ireland==