Well, prior to the establishment of the Kingdom of Ireland (which, for the gallery, was essentially an Anglo-Norman puppet state of the Kingdom of England and W

Well, prior to the establishment of the Kingdom of Ireland (which, for the gallery, was essentially an Anglo-Norman puppet state of the Kingdom of England and Wales), Ireland was essentially a independent state, except without any kind of strong central government (though there were repeated attempts to turn the largely ceremonial high-kingship into one), but held together by a shared culture and legal system: a nation, but not a state. I guess the closest modern example would be Somalia.