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The free chieftainships of Aileach were:
1. Magh Ith (the territory south of Inishowen in Donegal)
2. The Craebh (Now the Barony of Keenaught in Londonderry County)
3. Cinel-Conaill (the rest of Donegal)
4. Tuloch-og (now Tullyhoge, or Tullaghoge, near Cookstown in Tyrone
County)
5. Inish-Eoghainn (or the Inishowen Peninsula of Donegal County)
The
Kings of Aileach were inaugurated Kings at Tuloch-0g, by the O'Hagans,
on a
stone coronation chair at the site. In later years, after the destruction
of Aileach by
Murchertach O'Brien in 1101, (or perhaps even earlier, by 1050) the Kings of the
North
of
Ireland moved their capital to Tuloch-og in Tyrone County. Other sources
say they first
moved
to the vicinity of Inish Enaigh near Strabane in Tyrone. Sometime during the
reign of
Domnall MacLochlainn (+1121), High King of Ireland, the McLaughlins moved their
great house
to
Derry, while their rivals, the O'Neills, remained in Tuloc-og.
The
Kingdom of Aileach had lost some of its early grandeur by the 12th century,
after
the Normans had moved into parts of Ulster and controlled vast territories
in
the North of Ireland. The appelation "King of Aileach" was still used by
the
Annalists, but more often the term "King of Cinel-Eoghainn," or "King
of
the kindred of Owen" became used in its place, in tacit recognition of the
advances
of
the Normans beginning in about 1177.
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