The Muscraige are perhaps one of the most enigmatic groups in early medieval Munster. Muscraige, as a sept name ending with the element –raige, can be parralled with groups whose name ends in –ingas in Anglo-Saxon England. This would appear to be an element effectively signifying ‘kingdom’. Muscraige, however, are a polity who are not mentioned in our sources until the 8th century at the earliest. Indeed, this fact stands in stark contrast to the seemingly archaic form of the sept name’s nomenclature. When our sources permit us to locate them, there are roughy five distinct and largely separate Muscraige kingdoms. One in North Tipperary, in a territory which stretched from the River Brosna south as far as the river Gaetheach, where Nenagh possibly represented their caput. Perhaps the principal Muscraige kingdom was that of Muscraige Breogain, centred on the distrcict of Cliú and the plain Mag Breg, effectively the southeast corner of Co Limerick, extending into west Tipperary as far as the river Suir. The possibility that Muscraige Breogain was the principal Muscraige kingdom might be suggested by reference in a 10th century list of tales, to the now lost text ‘The Migration of the Muscraige from Mag Breogain’. There appears to be two Muscraige kingdoms in Co Cork, accounting for a large portion of the north of the county; Muscraige Mittine, and Muscraige Trí Maige. Finally, and perhaps more enigmatically, there was a Muscraige kingdom in south Tipperary, just east of Cashel, known as Muscraige Airthir Femen.
