chiefdom · British Isles

Brigantes (Ireland)

100 CE – 200 CE (approx.)

People of south-east Ireland recorded by Ptolemy, bearing the same name as the great Brigantes confederation of northern Britain.

Origins

Ptolemy's Geography of about 150 lists the Brigantes in south-eastern Ireland, usually placed in the area of modern Wexford and Waterford, near the Coriondi and the Usdiae. The name, meaning roughly 'the high ones' or linked to the goddess Brigantia, is the same as that of the Brigantes of northern Britain.

Rule and society

Nothing is known of their rulers or society. The shared name has encouraged theories of migration from Britain to Ireland, or of a common cult of a goddess later remembered as Brigit, but there is no evidence beyond the name. The south-east coast faced Wales and Gaul and was open to sea trade.

Decline and legacy

The Irish Brigantes vanish from the record after Ptolemy. Their area later lay within the Kingdom of Leinster, the Kingdom of Osraige and the lands of the Deisi Muman.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Brigantes (Ireland). In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/brigantes-ireland
MLA
“Brigantes (Ireland).” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/brigantes-ireland. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Brigantes (Ireland).” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/brigantes-ireland.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Brigantes (Ireland)’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/brigantes-ireland (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻