Irish clans are traditional kinship groups sharing a common surname and heritage and existing in a lineage-based society, originating prior to the 17th century. [1] A clan (or fine in Irish, plural finte) included the chief and his patrilineal relatives; [2] however, Irish clans also included unrelated clients of the chief. [3]
The Irish word clann is a borrowing from the Latin planta, meaning 'a plant, an offshoot, offspring, a single child or children, by extension race or descendants'. [4] For instance, the O'Daly family were poetically known as Clann Dalaigh, from a remote ancestor called Dalach. [4]
Clann was used in the later Middle Ages to provide a plural for surnames beginning with Mac meaning 'son of'. [4] For example, "Clann Cárthaigh" meant the men of the MacCarthy family and "Clann Suibhne" meant the men of the MacSweeny family. [4] Clann was also used to denote a subgroup within a wider surname, the descendants of a recent common ancestor, such as the Clann Aodha Buidhe or the O'Neills of Clandeboy, whose ancestor was Aodh Buidhe who died in 1298. [4] Such a "clan", if sufficiently closely related, could have common interests in landownership, but any political power wielded by their chief was territorially based. [4]
From ancient times, Irish society was organised around traditional kinship groups or clans. These clans traced their origins to larger pre-surname population groupings or clans such as Uí Briúin in Connacht, Eóganachta and Dál gCais in Munster, Uí Neill in Ulster, and Fir Domnann in Leinster. [5] Within these larger groupings there tended to be one sept (division) who through war and politics became more powerful than others for a period of time and the leaders of some were accorded the status of royalty in Gaelic Ireland. Some of the more important septs to achieve this power were Ó Conor in Connacht, MacCarthy of Desmond and Ó Brien of Thomond in Munster, Ó Neill of Clandeboy in Ulster, and MacMorrough Kavanagh in Leinster.
The largely symbolic role of high king of Ireland tended to rotate among the leaders of these royal clans. [6] The larger or more important clans were led by a taoiseach or chief who had the status of royalty and the smaller and more dependent clans were led by chieftains. Under brehon law, the leaders of Irish clans were appointed by their kinsmen as custodians of the clan and were responsible for maintaining and protecting their clan and its property. The clan system formed the basis of society up to the 17th century. [7]
Scholars sometimes disagree about whether it is better to use the terms family, clan, or sept when referring to traditional Irish family groups. Historically, the term sept was not used in Ireland until the nineteenth century, long after the disfranchisement of much of the native Gaelic aristocracy. It is often argued that the English word 'sept' is most accurate referring to a sub-group within a large family, especially when that group has taken up residence outside of their family's original territory (O'Neill, MacSweeney, and O'Connor are examples); or if the branch of a name is substantially large enough or has a different surname (for example, Costigan and O’Dunphy are septs of the larger Fitzpatrick clan). Related Irish families or clans often belong to even larger groups, sometimes called tribes, such as the Dál gCais, Uí Néill, Uí Fiachrach, and Uí Maine. More recently, Edward MacLysaght suggested the English word sept be used in place of the word clan with regards to the historical social structure in Ireland, so as to differentiate it from the centralised Scottish clan system.[1] This would imply that Ireland possessed no formalised clan system, which is not wholly accurate. Brehon Law, the ancient legal system of Ireland clearly defined the clan system in pre-Norman Ireland, which collapsed after the Tudor Conquest. The Irish, when speaking of themselves, employed their term clan[n] which means 'children of the family' in Irish, though in Northern Irish the word has come to mean 'family'; this latter is teaghlach in Standard Irish, in the other Irish dialects, and in Scotland.
In the 16th century, English common law was introduced throughout Ireland, along with a centralised royal administration in which the county and the sheriff replaced the "country" and the clan chief. [8]
When the Kingdom of Ireland was created in 1541, the Dublin administration wanted to involve the Gaelic chiefs into the new entity, creating new titles for them such as the Baron Upper Ossory, Earl of Tyrone, and Baron Inchiquin. In the process, they were granted new coats of arms from 1552. The associated policy of surrender and regrant involved a change to succession to a title by the European system of primogeniture, and not by the Irish tanistry, where a group of male cousins of a chief were eligible to succeed by election. This change to the inheritance system was also taken up by the Scottish clans in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The early 17th century was a watershed in Ireland. It marked the destruction of Ireland's ancient Gaelic aristocracy following the Tudor re-conquest and cleared the way for the Plantation of Ulster. [9] In 1607 the senior Gaelic chiefs of Ulster left Ireland to recruit support in Spain but failed, and instead eventually arrived in Rome where they remained for the rest of their lives . After this point, the English authorities in Dublin established real control over all of Ireland for the first time, bringing a centralised government to the entire island, and successfully disarmed the native clans and their lordships. [10]
A number of modern Irish clan societies were former or reformed in the latter half of the 20th century.[ citation needed ] Today, such groups are organised in Ireland and in many other parts of the world.[ citation needed ] Several independent Irish clans have sprung up with international affiliation and membership from across the global Irish diaspora for the purposes of helping others with preserving history, culture, and the pursuit of genealogy.[ citation needed ] In 1989, the private organisation Clans of Ireland was formed under the leadership of Rory O'Connor, "Chieftain" of the "O'Connor Kerry Clan", with the purpose of creating and maintaining a register of clans.[ citation needed ]
The Chief of the Name, or in older English usage Captain of his Nation, is the recognised head of a family or clan. The term has sometimes been used as a title in Ireland and Scotland.
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Clans, in indigenous societies, were not endogamous: their members could not marry one another.
A sept is a division of a family, especially of a Scottish or Irish family. The term is used in both Scotland and Ireland, where it may be translated as sliocht, meaning "progeny" or "seed", which may indicate the descendants of a person. The word may derive from the Latin saeptum, meaning "enclosure" or "fold", or via an alteration of "sect".
This article concerns the Gaelic nobility of Ireland from ancient to modern times. It only partly overlaps with Chiefs of the Name because it excludes Scotland and other discussion. It is one of three groups of Irish nobility, the others being those nobles descended from the Hiberno-Normans and those granted titles of nobility in the Peerage of Ireland.
O'Dowd is an Irish Gaelic clan based most prominently in what is today County Mayo and County Sligo. The clan name originated in the 9th century as a derivative of its founder Dubda mac Connmhach. The O'Dowd clan can be traced to the Doonfeeney area of what is now the parish of Ballycastle in Co. Mayo. A large earthen ring fortificatiation still exists called 'Rath O'Dubhda". The nearby early ecclesiastical site at Doonfeeney was more than likely developed under the patronage of the O'Dowds. They descend in the paternal line from the Connachta's Uí Fiachrach. The immediate progenitors of the O'Dowd were Kings of Connacht during the 7th and 8th centuries in the form of Dúnchad Muirisci, Indrechtach mac Dúnchado, Ailill Medraige mac Indrechtaig and Donn Cothaid mac Cathail, before losing ground to their rivals the Uí Briúin.
The O'Doherty family of County Donegal is an Irish clan who were a prominent sept of the Northern Uí Néill's Cenél Conaill, and one of the most powerful clans of Tír Connaill.
The Mac an Bháird family was one of the learned families of late medieval Ireland. The name has evolved over many centuries, the anglicised forms coming down as MacAward, McWard, MacEward, MacEvard, Macanward, M'Ward, and its most commonly used variant today: Ward. The name means 'son of the bard' and has no connection with the English name Ward, which originated from the Saxon word weard meaning watchman or guardian. Additionally, considerable numbers of Latin, French, and Spanish variants can be found in Continental records: Vardeo, Bardeo, U Bart, Wardeum, Vyardes, Wardeus, not to mention Verdaeorum familiae: the Ward family.
The MacDonnells of Antrim, also known as the MacDonnells of the Glens, are a branch in Ireland of the Scottish-based Clan Donald. Initially part of Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg, the MacDonnells of Antrim became their own branch in 1558 when Somhairle Buidhe MacDonnell obtained the lordship of the territory in Ireland from James MacDonald, 6th chief of the Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg.
Nollaig Ó Muraíle is an Irish scholar. He published an acclaimed edition of Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh's Leabhar na nGenealach in 2004. He was admitted to the Royal Irish Academy in 2009.
The O'Donovans are an Irish family. Their patronymic surname derives from Irish Ó Donnabháin, meaning the grandsons or descendants of Donnubán, referring to the 10th century ruler of the Uí Fidgenti, Donnubán mac Cathail. During the 12th and 13th century, O'Donovan relations relocated from the Bruree/Croom area south to the Kingdom of Desmond and to Carbery, where they were a ruling family for centuries and played a role in the establishment of a feudal society under the MacCarthys. Other septs retreated into the southeast corner of the Ui Fidgheinte territory, reaching from Broadford/Feenagh to the Doneraile area. The northern septs of the O'Donovans did not use a White Rod as the family's position in their original territory was vastly eroded, while several septs of O'Donovans in the southwest territories were semi-autonomous flatha under the MacCarthy Reagh dynasty in Carbery, with the most notable being local petty kings. The family were counted among the leading Gaelic nobility of Ireland.
Leabhar na nGenealach is a massive genealogical collection written mainly in the years 1649 to 1650, at the college-house of St. Nicholas' Collegiate Church, Galway, by Dubhaltach MacFhirbhisigh. He continued to add material until at least 1666, five years before he was murdered in 1671. The original 17th century manuscript was bequeathed to University College Dublin (UCD), by Dublin solicitor Arthur Cox in 1929, and can be consulted in UCD Library Special Collections. The manuscript can be viewed online at Irish Script on Screen, which is available in English, and in Irish. Leabhar na nGenealach, was reprinted, and published in a five volume edition in Dublin in 2004 as The Great Book of Irish Genealogies.
McAnally is an Irish surname. It is the Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Conallaidh meaning 'son of Cú Allaidh'. The death of the progenitor – Conchobhar mac Con Allaidh, lord of Cenél Moain, in Ulster – is recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters in 1178.
The Gaels are an ethnolinguistic group native to Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. They are associated with the Gaelic languages: a branch of the Celtic languages comprising Irish, Manx and Scottish Gaelic.
Mac Amhlaoibh and Mac Amhalghaidh are two different Gaelic patronymic names with different origins and meanings, but which share the same or similar Anglicisations. These Gaelic names are borne by at least three unrelated native Irish clans or septs.
Muintir Murchada was the name of an Irish territory which derived its name from the ruling dynasty, who were in turn a branch of the Uí Briúin. The name was derived from Murchadh mac Maenach, King of Uí Briúin Seóla, who died 891.
The McDonnells of Cnoc na Cloiche,, better known to the Irish as Mac Domhnáill Gallogáigh, are an Irish Gallowglass clan and a branch of Clan Donald who were located in Knocknacloy, County Tyrone. They no longer have a clan chief and are not recognized by the Court of the Lord Lyon.
Maelsechlainn Ó Cellaigh, king of Uí Maine, Chief of the Name, died in 1402.
The Cenél nEógain or Kinel-Owen are a branch of the Northern Uí Néill, who claim descent from Eógan mac Néill, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages. Originally their power-base was in Inishowen, with their capital at Ailech, in modern-day County Donegal in what is now the west of Ulster. Under pressure from the Cenél Conaill, they gradually spread their influence eastwards into modern counties Tyrone and Londonderry, pushing aside the Cruithin east of the River Bann, and encroaching on the Airgiallan tribes west of Lough Neagh. By the 11th century their power-base had moved from Ailech to Tullyhogue outside Cookstown, County Tyrone. By the 12th century the Cenél Conaill conquered Inishowen; however, it mattered little to the Cenél nEóghain as they had established a powerful over-kingdom in the east that had become known as Tír Eoghain, or the "Land of Owen", preserved in the modern-day name of County Tyrone.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)| General |
|
|---|---|
| Works |
|
| Genealogists | |
