From the 10th to the beginning of the 13th century the O'Donovans were titled "rí" or "rig" and belonged to the middle grade of Irish kings, either as kings of Uí Fidgenti, a once relatively large regional kingdom, or as kings of Uí Chairpre, itself a smaller but expanding regional kingdom containing at least two local petty kingdoms and a number of other tuatha, as well as additional occupied and conquered territories, stretching into County Tipperary and apparently including the majority of the lands surrounding Norse Limerick, according to the author of the "Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib". According to the historian William F. T. Butler, Uí Chairpre alone contained six to as many as ten tuatha and Uí Chonaill sixteen more. As kings of the middle or regional grade, members were known as "Ruiris" or "over-kings".