The Tribes of Galway were 14 merchant families who dominated the political, commercial and social life of the city of Galway in western Ireland between the mid-13th and late 19th centuries. They were the families of Athy, Blake, Bodkin, Browne, Darcy/D’Arcy, Deane, Font, French, Joyce, Kirwan, Lynch, Martin, Morris and Skerritt. Of the 14 families, 12 were of Anglo Norman origin, while two—the Darcy and Kirwan families—were Normanised Irish Gaels.
Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone was a Gaelic Irish lord and key figure of the Nine Years' War. Known as the "Great Earl", he led the confederacy of Irish clans against the English Crown in resistance to the Tudor conquest of Ireland under Queen Elizabeth I.
Calvagh O'Donnell, eldest son of Manus O'Donnell, was an Irish King of Tyrconnell of the mid-16th century. He was king and chief of the O'Donnell dynasty based in Tyrconnell in western Ulster. He is best known for his conflict with Shane O'Neill – a dispute that involved the intervention of the English government in Ireland on Calvagh's side.
Niall Garve O'Donnell was an Irish nobleman and soldier who claimed the lordship of Tyrconnell, alternately a rebel against and ally of English rule in Ireland. He is best known for siding with the English against his kinsman Hugh Roe O'Donnell during the Nine Years' War.
On 14 September 1607, Irish earls Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, departed Rathmullan in Ireland for mainland Europe, accompanied by their families, household staff, followers and fellow Irish nobles, numbering about ninety people. The earls were patriarchs of the two most powerful clans in Ulster, and their permanent exile is seen to symbolise the end of Gaelic Irish society. This event is now known as the Flight of the Earls, though historians such as Micheline Kerney Walsh have criticised that name.
Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, was an Irish Gaelic lord and the last King of Tyrconnell prior to the Plantation of Ulster. He succeeded his older brother Hugh Roe O'Donnell and in 1603 became the first to be styled the Earl of Tyrconnell. In 1607, following their defeat in the Nine Years' War, Tyrconnell and his wartime ally Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, fled Ireland for mainland Europe. Tyrconnell died of a fever shortly after settling in Rome.
Hugh Roe O'Donnell II, also known as Red Hugh O'Donnell, was an Irish clan chief, Lord of Tyrconnell, and senior leader of the Irish confederacy during the Nine Years' War.
The O'Donnell dynasty were the dominant Irish clan of the kingdom of Tyrconnell in Ulster in the north of medieval and early modern Ireland.
The Nine Years' War, sometimes called Tyrone's Rebellion, took place in Ireland from 1593 to 1603. It was fought between an Irish confederacy—led mainly by Hugh O'Neill of Tyrone and Hugh Roe O'Donnell of Tyrconnell—against English rule in Ireland, and was a response to the ongoing Tudor conquest of Ireland. The war began in Ulster and northern Connacht, but eventually engulfed the entire island. The Irish alliance won numerous victories against the English forces in Ireland, such as the Battle of Clontibret (1595) and the Battle of the Yellow Ford (1598), but the English won a pivotal victory against the alliance and their Spanish allies in the siege of Kinsale (1601–02). The war ended with the Treaty of Mellifont (1603). Many of the defeated northern lords left Ireland to seek support for a new uprising in the Flight of the Earls (1607), never to return. This marked the end of Gaelic Ireland and created the groundwork for the foundation of the Plantation of Ulster.
Colonel Shane O'Neill, 3rd Earl of Tyrone was an Irish-born nobleman, soldier and member of the Spanish nobility who primarily lived and served in Continental Europe.
Flaithrí Ó Maolchonaire, was an Irish Franciscan and theologian, founder of the College of St Anthony of Padua, Leuven, and Archbishop of Tuam.
Donogh O'Brien, 4th Earl of Thomond and Baron Ibrickan, PC (Ire), was a Protestant Irish nobleman and soldier, and Chief of Clan O'Brien. He fought for Queen Elizabeth during Tyrone's Rebellion and participated in the Siege of Kinsale. He obtained the transfer of County Clare, where most of his lands lay, from the Province of Connacht to that of Munster. He was made president of Munster in 1605.
Edmond I de Bermingham was an Anglo-Irish lord.
Nehemiah Donnellan was Archbishop of Tuam.
Walter Riabhac Ó Dorchaidhe, Irish merchant and founder of the Darcy tribe of Galway, fl. c. 1488.
Tibbot MacWalter Kittagh Bourke was the 21st and final Mac William Íochtar and was created 1st Marquess of Mayo in Spanish nobility.
Cathbarr O'Donnell was an Irish nobleman and member of the O'Donnell dynasty of Tyrconnell. The youngest brother of Red Hugh O'Donnell, Cathbarr fought in the Nine Years' War. He married Rosa O'Doherty, sister of Cahir O'Doherty.
Teigue O'Rourke was the last king of West Breifne from 1603 until his death in 1605. He was the son of Brian O'Rourke and Mary Burke of Clanricarde. Raised by his mother in County Galway, he lived most of his life in exile from his kingdom, looking for allies to support his claim as king of West Breifne in opposition to his half-brother Brian Oge O'Rourke. Having initially supported the Irish alliance during the Nine Years' War, he switched allegiance to England following the Battle of Kinsale in 1602. With the support of English forces he invaded West Breifne in 1603, ousting his half-brother and ruling as king until his unexpected death in late 1605 at the age of 28.
