The Uí Briúin Bréifni genealogies and the origins of Bréifne

Abstract

The claims to historicity of Dub Dothra of the Ui Briuin of Connacht, great-grandfather of Ruarc (†898), eponymous ancestor Ui Ruairc of Breifne, are questionable. The Ui Briuin Breifne genealogies are likely to be historically unreliable and may have been re-written, by the bishop and scholar Aed Ua Finn, to support Ui Ruairc claims to the kingship of Connacht in the eleventh century. The kingdoms of Ui Briuin Breifne or Ui Briuin and Conmaicne became political realities only during the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries.