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In Ainm Naoimh Pádraig: an Ireland-wank

In honour of St. Patrick's day, I've decided, finally, to do an Ireland-wank, as I've wanted to for a long time. The basic premise is that Diarmait mac Donnchada Uí Ceinnselaig (aka Diarmait mac Maíl na mBó) manages to defeat the King of Meath in battle as opposed to dying, and ending up with him being the King of Leinster, Dublin, Meath and the Isles. His son does of course still die before him, but in this case, never becomes King, so there's also no Kavanagh-MacMurrough dynasty (apologies to any Kavanaghs present :p).

Things elsewhere will also go differently due to butterflies, but I'm going to concentrate on the British Isles until Ireland is unified (around 1180). This is because I'd have to do a sheer insane amount of research otherwise considering the scale of the map I'm working on is large enough to show border-disputes between cities. No, I'm not hyperbolising, the basemap actually has population-centers on it, and it's so large I could actually draw borders between the districts of *Cork*.

It's going to be very wank-y early on but as we go into the 18th-19th century, Ireland (at that point named differently) will be going into a decline similar to that of OTL Spain or Britain.

Also, because ITTL obviously England never invades Ireland, I will be mainly using the Irish names of places, people &al. As an intermediate speaker of Irish, I may accidentally end up intermingling older variants of Irish with modern Irish, sorry about that. I'll also be providing English translations where necessary/helpful.

Most stuff I'll be writing from here on in will be written from an ATL perspective. I'm currently working on the map for the year 1074, the year of Diarmait's death ITTL. Until I'm done with that, enjoy this little biography:



Diarmait I “the Great” mac Donnchada Uí Ceinnselaig (r. 1040-1074)
High King of Ireland
King of Laigean Leinster, Míde Meath, Áth Cliath Dublin, and na hAiléin the Isles

High King Diarmait the Great is one of our Empire's most prolific forefathers. It was his conquering of Míde, aided by the troops of Niall mac Eochada, King of Ulaid Ulster, which turned the tables on the powerful Kingdoms of Muman Munster and Connacht and allowed the Ua hEnna dynasty, a cadet branch of the Uí Ceinnselaig dynasty, to unify Ireland under the Leinster banner in the 12th century.

Apart from his conquering of Meath, Diarmait was noted for moving his royal court of Leinster to Dúbh Linn (now part of the City of Áth Cliath), which had been the traditional seat of the Kings of Áth Cliath. He commissioned the construction of the Dúbh Linn Royal Burial Grounds. The stone tombs holding the remains of the early Kings were later moved into the crypt of Áth Cliath Cathedral, which was constructed in the very location of the Burial Grounds. Every ruler of Leinster or Ireland since Diarmait has been buried either in the Burial Grounds or the aforementioned crypt that replaced it.

As Diarmait's first son had died 4 years prior to Diarmait himself, he was left with only one son, Enna. In 1074, upon the death of Diarmait, Enna (to be known as "the Conqueror") ascended to the throne. Enna's second son Colm was the founder of the Ua hEnna dynasty. Colm's grandson Diarmait III would be the first Ua hEnna King of Leinster and the Isles, succeeding King Enna's grandson Diarmait II.
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