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Athenry is a town in County Galway, Ireland, which lies 25 kilometres (16 mi) east of Galway city. Some of the attractions of the medieval town are its town wall, Athenry Castle, its priory and its 13th-century street-plan. The town is also well known by virtue of the song "The Fields of Athenry".
Baron Athenry is one of the oldest titles in the Peerage of Ireland, but the date of its creation is thoroughly uncertain; each of the first four Berminghams listed below is claimed by some writers to have been Lord Athenry, but the evidence is disputed. The title appears to have been given to the de Birmingham family of Birmingham, Warks, England as a reward for their help in the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1172. Both Sir William de Birmingham, and his son Robert de Birmingham, are variously claimed to have been involved in the invasion, but it is probable that, after the invasion, William returned to his home in England and left Robert their new lands in Ireland.
Rickard de Bermingham, otherwise Rickard Mac Fheorais, was Anglo-Irish lord of Athenry.
The de Birmingham family held the lordship of the manor of Birmingham in England for four hundred years and managed its growth from a small village into a thriving market town. They also assisted in the invasion of Ireland and were rewarded with the Barony of Athenry. They were stripped of most of their lands in England by the notorious John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, who held sway over the young King Edward VI (1547–1553).
Bermingham is the Gaelicised version of 'De Birmingham' and is descended from the family of Warwickshire, England. The Irish version of the name Mac Feorais/Mac Fheorais is derived from Pierce de Bermingham. The first recorded Bermingham in Ireland, Robert de Bermingham accompanied Richard de Clare or 'Strongbow' in Henry II's conquest of Ireland in 1172. On arrival he received: "an ancient monument, valued at 200 pounds, on which was represented in brass the landing of the first ancestor of the family of Birmingham in Ireland."
Francis Bermingham, O.F.M., fl. 1652, was an Irish Franciscan friar and scholar.
John de Bermingham, 1st and last Earl of Louth was an Irish peer. He was the commander of the Anglo-Irish army in the Battle of Faughart, the decisive battle in the Irish Bruce Wars 1315–1318. In this battle, Edward Bruce was killed, and Bermingham had Bruce's severed head 'salted in a chest' and transported to England to be put on display before Edward II. He was briefly Viceroy of Ireland in 1321.
Basilia de Bermingham was a religious patron and ancestor of the family Mac Jordan of Connacht.
Seán Ó Maolalaidh was Chief of the Name.
Peter de Bermingham was the Anglo-Irish second lord of Athenry who died c. 1309.
Thomas de Bermingham was an Anglo-Irish lord who died in 1375.
Walter de Bermingham was an Anglo-Irish lord who died in 1428.
Thomas II de Bermingham was an Anglo-Irish lord who died in 1473.
Thomas III de Bermingham was an Anglo-Irish lord who died in 1500.
Edmond de Bermingham was an Anglo-Irish lord, alive in 1645.
Thomas Bermingham, 1st Earl of Louth was an Anglo-Irish politician and peer. He was also the last man to be summoned to parliament as Baron Athenry.
Francis de Bermingham, 14th Baron Athenry, was an Anglo-Irish peer.
Edmond I de Bermingham, Anglo-Irish lord, born 1570, died 1645.
William de Bermingham was Archbishop of Tuam.
The Priory Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Athenry, also called Athenry Priory, is a medieval Dominican priory and National Monument located in Athenry, Ireland.
References
- History of Galway, James Hardiman, Galway, 1820
- The Abbey of Athenry, Martin J. Blake, Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society, volume II, part ii, 1902
- The Birmingham family of Athenry, H. T. Knox, J.G.A.H.S., volume ten, numbers iii and iv, 1916–17.
- The Birmingham chalice, J. Rabbitte, J.G.A.H.S., volume 17, i and ii, 1936-27[ clarification needed ]
- The Second Battle of Athenry, Adrian James Martyn, East Galway News & Views, September 2008 – April 2009