Rudraige (Irish: Ruairí; English: Rory), son of Sitric, son of Dub, son of Fomor, son of Airgetmar, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland. He took power after killing his predecessor, Crimthann Coscrach, and ruled for thirty or seventy years, after which he died of plague in Airgetglenn. He was succeeded by Finnat Már, son of Nia Segamain. He is the ancestor of Clanna Rudhraighe.
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Time frame
The Lebor Gabála synchronises the start of his reign with that of Ptolemy VIII Physcon (145–116 BC), and his death with that of Ptolemy X Alexander I (110–88 BC) in Egypt. The chronology of Geoffrey Keating's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn dates his reign to 184–154 BC, that of the Annals of the Four Masters to 289–219 BC.
Issue
Rudraige was particularly associated with the northern part of Ireland: the Ulaid, who later formed a confederation in eastern Ulster in the early Middle Ages, traced their descent from him, and the Lebor Gabála Érenn names him as the grandfather of the Ulaid hero Conall Cernach. John O'Hart lists the following issue in his Stem of the Irish Nation: