Leinster

This article is about the Irish province. For the professional rugby union team representing this province, see Leinster Rugby. For the town in Western Australia, see Leinster, Western Australia. For the ship which was sunk on 10 October 1918 with over 500 deaths, see RMS Leinster.

Leinster Laighin / Cúige Laighean
Flag
State	Ireland
Counties	Carlow Dublin Kildare Kilkenny Laois Longford Louth Meath Offaly Westmeath Wexford Wicklow
Government
• Teachta Dála	36 Fine Gael TDs 27 Labour Party TDs 8 Fianna Fáil TDs 7 Sinn Féin TDs 6 Independent TDs 4 ULA TDs
Area
• Total	19,800 km2 (7,644 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	2,501,208 (1st)

Leinster (pronounced /ˈlɛnstər/ — Irish: Laighin / Cúige Laighean — pronounced [ˈl̪ˠaːjɪnʲ]) is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the east of Ireland. It comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Mide, Osraige and Leinster. Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the historic fifths of Leinster and Mide gradually merged, mainly due to the impact of the Pale, which straddled both, thereby forming the present-day province of Leinster. The ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial purposes. In later centuries, local government legislation has seen further sub-division of the historic counties. In modern times, clusters of counties have been attributed to certain provinces but these clusters have no legal status. The province itself, while enjoying common usage and forming a strong part of local identity, has no official function for local government purposes. The population of Leinster is 2,501,208 according to the 2006 census, making it the most populous province in the country. The traditional flag of Leinster features a golden harp on a green background.

History

Early history

Leinster, province of Ireland (Hogg, 1784)

The Gaelic Kingdom of Leinster before 1171 was considerably smaller than today's province. The first part of the name Leinster derives from Laigin, the name of a major tribe that once inhabited the area. The latter part of the name derives either from the Irish tír or the Old Norse staðr, both of which translate as "land" or "territory".

The tribes of Leinster were united by Úgaine Mor (Hugony, the Great), who supposedly built the hill-fort of Dún Ailinne, near Kilcullen, County Kildare. He is a likely, but uncertain candidate as the first historical king of Laigin (Leinster) in the 7th century BC. The kingdom of Laigin was re-founded circa 175/185 AD following a period of civil wars in Ireland by the legendary Cathair Mor. Finn Mac Cool, or Fionn mac Cumhaill, was reputed to have built a stronghold at the Hill of Allen, on the edge of the Bog of Allen, in what was then Leinster.

In the 4th and 5th centuries, after Magnus Maximus left Britain with his legions, leaving a power vacuum, colonists from Laigin settled in North Wales, specifically in Anglesey, Carnarvonshire and Denbighshire. In Wales some of the Leinster-Irish colonists left their name on the Llŷn Peninsula, which derives its name from Laigin.

By the 8th century, the rulers of Laigin had split into two dynasties:

• Northern Leinster dynasty: Murchad mac Brain (d. 727), King of Uí Dúnlainge, and joint leader of the Laigin
• Southern Leinster dynasty: Áed mac Colggen (d. 738), King of Uí Cheinnselaig, and joint leader of the Laigin

After the death of the last Kildare-based King of Laigin, Murchad Mac Dunlainge in 1042, the kingship of Leinster reverted to the Uí Cheinnselaig sept based in the south east, now County Wexford. This southern dynasty gave all the later Kings of Leinster.

Kingdom of Ireland period

The ancient Kingdom of Mide today encompasses much of counties Meath and Westmeath. The parishes of Annally and Lusmagh in County Offaly were formerly part of Connacht. County Louth was formerly part of Ulster. The last major boundary changes occurred with the formation of County Wicklow (1603–1606), from lands in the north of Carlow (which previously extended to the sea) and most of southern Dublin. The provincial borders were redrawn by Cromwell for administration and military reasons. Later minor changes dealt with "islands" of one county in another. By the late 18th century, Leinster looked as shown in the above map of 1784.

Leinster represents the extended "English Pale", counties controlled directly from Dublin, at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The other 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 of "The Pale", as the difference between the old Pale area and the wider province, now under English administration, grew less distinct.

Counties and Counties Corporate

Main article: Counties of Ireland

Following the abolition of County Dublin, three successor counties were created that cover the same area. They are Dún Laoghaire Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin. To these may be added the historic County Corporate of the city of Dublin, which, under the terms of the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 was abolished to be succeeded by the County borough of Dublin. This was is in turn abolished under the terms of the Local Government Act 2001 and the area is now under the jurisdiction of Dublin City Council. The remaining counties of the province are Kildare, Offaly, Laois, Wexford, Carlow, Wicklow, Louth, Meath, Westmeath, Longford and Kilkenny. While Kilkenny city was once a county corporate, by the terms of the 1898 Act it became part of the administrative county. although it retains the privilege of calling itself a city.

Irish language

There are 20,647 Irish language speakers in the province of Leinster, 1,299 native speakers in the Meath Gaeltacht and this doesn't count the 19,348 attending the 66 Gaelscoils (Irish language primary schools) and 15 Gaelcholáiste (Irish language secondary schools) all across the province.

Leinster today

The main urban areas in order of size (2006 census figures; urban areas with over 10,000 inhabitants) are:

• Dublin (1,045,769)
• Drogheda (35,090)
• Dundalk (35,085)
• Swords (33,998)
• Bray (31,901)
• Navan (24,851)
• Kilkenny (22,179)
• Carlow (20,724)
• Naas (20,044)
• Newbridge (18,520)
• Mullingar (18,416)
• Wexford (18,163)
• Athlone (17,544)
• Celbridge (17,262)
• Balbriggan (15,559)
• Malahide (14,937)
• Leixlip (14,676)
• Portlaoise (14,613)
• Greystones (14,569)
• Tullamore (12,927)
• Arklow (11,759)
• Maynooth (10,715)
• Wicklow (10,070)

According to the CSO regional income report, GDP for the province of Leinster in 2004 was estimated to be over 75 billion Euro.

See also

• Kings of Leinster
• Duke of Leinster
• Leinster (European Parliament constituency)
• Leinster House
• Leinster GAA
• Leinster Rugby

References

• Foster, R. F. The Oxford History of Ireland. Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York, 1992. ISBN 0-19-285271-X (references to Irish colony in North Wales, Lleyn Peninsula, page 6)
• Kings, Saints and Sagas, Alfred. P. Smyth, in Wicklow:History and Society, 1994. ISBN 798 0906602300
• Settlement patterns in the early historic kingdom of Leinster (seventh-mid twelfth centuries), Mark Clinton, in Seanchas:Studies in Early and Medieval Irish Archaeology, History and Literature in Honour of Francis John Byrne, ed. Alfred P. Smyth, pp. 275–298, Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2000.
• Kings, the kingship of Leinster, and the regnal poems of "laidshenchas Laigen":a reflection of dynastic politics in Leinster, 650-1150, Edel Bhreathnach, Seanchas ...", pp. 299–312.

External links

• 2006 Town population estimates
• CSO Irish Regional Income/GDP 2004 Report
• Gaelscoil stats
• Gaeltacht Comprehensive Language Study 2007