Ireland remained ruled by native kings into the 12th century, largely without the use of castles. There was a history of Irish fortifications called "ráths", a type of ringfort, some of which were very heavily defended but which are not usually considered to be castles in the usual sense of the word. The kings of Connacht constructed fortifications from 1124 which they called "caistel" or "caislen", from the Latin and French for castle, and there has been considerable academic debate over how far these resembled European castles.