Ulster

Ulster [ON Uladztir; Ir. Ulaid, the people; ON staðir, steadings; cf. MedL Ultonia]. A province of Ireland occupying much of the north-east of the island, third largest (6,486 square miles) of the four, including Connacht, Leinster, and Munster, whose borders were drawn in the 17th century. Known in pre-conquest Ireland as Cóiced Ulad, it had been one of five, when Mide/Meath is counted separately or when Munster is counted as two. Within its borders are the counties of: Antrim, Armagh, Cavan, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, [London-] Derry, Monaghan, Tyrone. Since the partition of 1922 ‘Ulster’ has often erroneously been understood to imply only the six counties still a part of the United Kingdom: Antrim, Armagh, Fermanagh, [London-]Derry, Down, and Tyrone, or only 52.3 percent (3,393 square miles) of the total original area. The name ‘Ulster’ is often used as the English equivalent of the Irish Ulaid, even though that ancient people usually occupied only eastern portions of what became the province of Ulster.

The geographical focus of the Ulster Cycle or Red Branch Cycle is Emain Macha, the 18-acre hill-fort in Co. Armagh, the supposed court of King Conchobar mac Nessa. Much of the action in the great epic of the Cycle, the Táin Bó Cuailnge [Cattle Raid of Cooley], takes place in Ulster, and the fortunes of the Ulstermen are championed by their greatest hero, Cúchulainn, along with Conall Cernach and Lóegaire Búadach. See also the DEBILITY/PANGS OF THE ULSTERMEN; MESCA ULAD [The Intoxication of the Ulstermen]; for the Red Hand of Ulster, see UÍ NÉILL. See also Annala Uladh: The Annals of Ulster, ed. William H. Hennessy (Dublin, 1887–1901).