Tipperary is known as “The spring of the territory of Ara”, “Rebel Tip”, Premier County. County Tipperary was created and named after the town of Tipperary in 1328, making it one of the earliest of the Irish counties. In the 1840's Thomas Davis made the statement ‘Where Tipperary leads, Ireland follows.’ Ronald Reagan traces his family back to Ballyporeen in south Tipperary. The father of the famous Australian outlaw, Ned Kelly, was born in Killenaule parish in 1820.

Around 450 AD, Saint Patrick preached at the royal dun, Cashel, and converted Aengus, king of Munster. Brian Borufortified Cashel in 990. The Rock of Cashel was the traditional seat of  the kings of Munster for several hundred years prior to the Norman invasion in 1169. In 1101, the King of Munster, Muirchertach Ua Briain, donated the fortress on the Rock of Cashel to the Roman Catholic Church.

Pre-Norman Tipperary was divided between the old north and south Munster Gaelic kingdoms of Thomond and Desmond. These were dominated by, respectively, the O’Brien’s and the McCarthys. Tipperary was the front line of the numerous battles between the two, ending with the expulsion of the McCarthys from Tipperary into Cork.

During the 1798 Rebellion the whole of the county was declared to be "in a state of rebellion". The Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848 took place at Farranrory in south Tipperary. In 1867 during the Fenian Rising rebels burnt down police barracks across the county. The Rising of 1916 and the War of Independence was greatly influenced by rebels from Tipperary like Dan Breen, Sean Treacy, Seumas Robinson, Dinny Lacey, and Sean Hogan, The song "The Galtee Mountain Boy"memorializes the rebels from Tipp.