The counties of Ireland are historic administrative divisions of the island. They began as Norman structures, and as the powers exercised by the Cambro-Norman barons and the Old English nobility waned over time, new offices of political control came to be established at a county level. The number of counties varied depending on the time period, however thirty-two is the traditionally accepted and used number.
Connacht, is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms.
County Clare is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,817 at the 2016 census. The county seat and largest settlement is Ennis.
There are four provinces of Ireland: Connacht (Connaught), Leinster, Munster, and Ulster. The Irish word for this territorial division, cúige, meaning "fifth part", suggests that there were once five, and at times Meath has been considered to be the fifth province; in the medieval period, however, there were often more than five. The number of provinces and their delimitation fluctuated until 1610, when they were permanently set by the English administration of James I. The provinces of Ireland no longer serve administrative or political purposes but function as historical and cultural entities.
Thomond, also known as the kingdom of Limerick, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Clare and County Limerick, as well as parts of County Tipperary around Nenagh and its hinterland. The kingdom represented the core homeland of the Dál gCais people, although there were other Gaels in the area such as the Éile and Eóganachta, and even the Norse of Limerick. It existed from the collapse of the Kingdom of Munster in the 12th century as competition between the Ó Briain and the Mac Cárthaigh led to the schism between Thomond and Desmond. It continued to exist outside of the Anglo-Norman-controlled Lordship of Ireland until the 16th century.
William de Burgh was the founder of the House of Burgh in Ireland and elder brother of Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent and Geoffrey de Burgh, Bishop of Ely.
The Archbishop of Tuam is an archbishop which takes its name after the town of Tuam in County Galway, Ireland. The title was used by the Church of Ireland until 1839, and is still in use by the Catholic Church.
The Dalcassians are a Gaelic Irish clan, generally accepted by contemporary scholarship as being a branch of the Déisi Muman, that became very powerful in Ireland during the 10th century. Their genealogies claimed descent from Tál Cas. Their known ancestors are the subject of The Expulsion of the Déisi tale and one branch of their blood-line went on to rule the petty kingdom of Dyfed in Wales during the 4th century; probably in alliance with the Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus.
The name McInerney is of noble Irish origin where it is found in the modern Irish form of Mac an Airchinnigh and in the old and literary forms of Mac an Oirchinnigh and Mac an Oirchindig. The pronunciation of Mac an Oirchinnigh led the name to be sometimes anglicised as McEnherheny in Irish documents from the 16th–19th centuries. The name translates to "son of the erenagh" in Irish, literally meaning "son of the Lord of church lands". Airchinneach may in turn derive from the twin components of air ("noble") and ceann ("head"), therefore meaning a 'noble-head' or 'Lord', denoting its aristocratic status in medieval Ireland. The coat of arms is three red lions passant, and the motto is Veritas, meaning "Truth". In some places, the motto can be found as Vincit Veritas, meaning "Truth Conquers", or "Truth Prevails".
Folan, is an Irish family name. They were a Brehon family in County Galway. The Folan family are of Conmhaícne origin.
Connor O'Brien, 3rd Earl of Thomond also spelt Conor and called Groibleach, or the "long-nailed", fought his uncle Donnell over his father's succession during thirty years from 1535 to 1565. He was confirmed as 3rd Earl of Thomond in 1558 by the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex. O'Brien intrigued with fitz Maurice in 1569 during the 1st Desmond Rebellion and fled to France. He returned and was pardoned in 1571, being restored to his lands at the end of the rebellion in 1573.
Sir Daniel O'Brien, 1st Viscount Clare also called Donal was an Irish politician and soldier. He was born a younger son of Connor O'Brien, 3rd Earl of Thomond. He fought against the insurgents at Tyrone's Rebellion, but for the insurgents in the Irish Rebellion of 1641 and the Irish Confederate Wars. He resisted the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. He joined Charles II of England in exile and was in his eighties made a viscount at the Restoration.
Ruaidhrí Gilla Dubh Ó Seachnasaigh was an Irish Knight and Chief of the Name. He is known in English as Sir Roger O'Shaughnessy.
Tibbot na Long Bourke, 1st Viscount Mayo was an Irish peer and parliamentarian. A prominent member of the MacWilliam Burkes of County Mayo, Tibbot was a Member of the Irish House of Commons and was later created the first Viscount Mayo. His successful life followed, and usefully illustrates, the difficult transition for Irish aristocrats from the traditional Gaelic world during the Tudor conquest of Ireland.
Servreagh O'Folan, Irish Brehon, fl. 1585.
Ballyhannon Castle is a medieval Irish castle dating back to the 15th century, located near the village of Quin in County Clare, on the west coast of Ireland. It is fully intact and in the Irish Governmental records it is registered as a National Monument and "Listed/Protected" structure, intended to protect its historic, architectural and aesthetic significance.
Nehemias Folan (1555–?) Irish Brehon.
The O'Brien dynasty is a noble house of Munster, founded in the 10th century by Brian Boru of the Dál gCais (Dalcassians). After becoming King of Munster, through conquest he established himself as Ard Rí na hÉireann. Brian's descendants thus carried the name Ó Briain, continuing to rule the Kingdom of Munster until the 12th century where their territory had shrunk to the Kingdom of Thomond which they would hold for just under five centuries.
The Battle of Thomond was fought in Ireland on 14 July 1328 between the forces of William de Burgh and an army led by Brian Bán Ó Briain, Lord of Thomond. It was fought near Thurles in modern County Tipperary and featured powerful Gaelic Irish and Hiberno-Norman figures on both sides.
Sir Thomas Lestrange, also Le Strange, Le Straunge, or Strange, was an English official in the Presidency of Connaught and landowner during the Tudor conquest of Ireland. He was one of the seven sons of Sir Thomas Le Strange of Hunstanton in Norfolk and Anne Vaux, daughter of Nicholas Vaux, 1st Baron Vaux of Harrowden, and like his brothers Nicholas and Richard, the younger Thomas went to Ireland. By 1557 he was sub-constable of Athlone Castle and in 1559 became sheriff of Westmeath. In 1565 he gained two crown leases in County Westmeath: one of 21 years for the lands of the dissolved abbey of Lough Sewdy, the other of 37 years for lands of the attainted Sir Oliver FitzGerald. He used his official positions to acquire lands in counties Galway, Roscommon, and Longford, and at his death owned "30 quarters of land in the territory of Clankerno" [Clann Ceithearnaigh, or Ciarraige Aí]. Lestrange had a castle called Castlereogh near Athleague, in what is now the townland of Castlestrange in the civil parish of Fuerty, County Roscommon.
