| THE CHIEFTAINRIES (in Ireland)The use of the word 'The' as a prefix to a surname to indicate that the user is the head or chief of a sept comprising the bearers of that name is a comparatively modern practice, but the existence of the chieftainries so denoted makes an examination of its historical background essential.To understand this one must glance back to the early mediaeval period when Ireland was administered by one legal system viz. the Brehon Code, Brehon being a word formed from the Irish "breitheamhan", the genitive of "breitheamh", meaning lawgiver or judge. That profession was of great importance and was usually the prerogative of certain families such as the MacClancys for the O'Brien dynasty and the well-known O'Dorans of Leinster. The Brehon Code differed in some essentials from the feudal system which obtained in western Europe. A class system, with degrees of status strictly laid down, was basic to it, but the idea of nobility as deriving from royal prerogative was absent, and so, as we will see later, was the concept of primogeniture. Briefly, the position was as follows.There were more than a hundred petty 'kingdoms' in the country, that is to say their rulers were termed "Rí", the Irish word for king. They were in most cases no more than chiefs who were subject to overlords, to whom they paid tribute in the form of cattle, corn etc., and, in most cases, were liable to supply a certain number of armed men to assist the overlord when he was engaged in warfare with some other, usually neighbouring, "Rí". The titular position of "Árd-Rí" (High King) was, generally speaking, more or less nominal. For much of the period under review the 'kings' of the northern half of the country ("Leath Cuinn") recognised the hegemony of that O'Neill who was based on Tara and those of the southern half ("Leath Mogha") the "Rí" who happened to be in power at Cashel. When one refers to an O'Neill or a MacCarthy in this connection it is necessary to remember that surnames of the hereditary type did not come into being until the tenth century, and not widely until later. Thus the collective term "Uí Néill" denotes descendants of an ancestor named Niall. At one time the King of Connacht, O Connor, was paramount. The set-up of that kingship, whether as "Árd-Rí" or provincial king, may be taken as illustrating the position. The four provincial chiefs ranking as 'royal lords' under the O Connor Don, giving here the modern form of their names, were: O Mulrennan, O Finaghty, O Flanagan and MacGeraghty. Lesser chiefs associated with O Connor Don had traditional functions in his service. That these were of importance is clear from the inclusion of O Kelly (steward of the jewels), O Malley (naval), MacDermot (military) and O Mulconry (chief poet). Actually the term "Árd-Rí" does not appear in the early Brehon law tracts which specify three grades of king, viz., (1) of the local "tuath" or tribal kingdom (2) of a larger territory and overlord of No. 1, (3) king of a province. Although the genealogists trace the high-kingship back to "Niall na naoi ngiallach" (referred to in English as Niall of the Nine Hostages) in the fifth century, it did not become an actuality until much later, and even such successful high-kings as Brian Boru (d. 1014), who stands 45th in their list, were far from exercising the undisputed authority associated with most monarchs in France and England. The effective kingship or principal overlordship was that of the "righte" of what were called the "Cúig Cúigi", i.e. five fifths or provinces, Connacht, Leinster, Meath, Munster and Ulster (to use the modern names) which in fact became seven due to the rise of Oriel and the further division of Ulster into two.As might be expected, with so many semi-independent chieftainries, sporadic warfare was frequent and it sometimes occurred within the "tuath" or mini-state itself. I avoid the word 'tribe' to translate "tuath" as it has connotations foreign to its use in this connection. In cases of that kind, fighting usually arose from the existence of rival claimants to succession after the death of the head of the group concerned. One of the main differences between the Brehon system and the feudal system was the non-existence of the principle of primogeniture in the former. The heir could be any one of the males comprised in the "deirbhfhine", i.e. the descendants of a deceased chief to the fourth generation. The method of election varied. Tanistry, by which the heir or "t[EJG1]áiniste" was chosen in the lifetime of the chief, was later introduced, but even so such disputes were by no means eliminated. However, it is not relevant here to explain the complicated rules which governed succession to the leadership in the various grades of social status. All were meticulously laid down in the written Brehon Code.These minor wars had little effect on the cultural development of he country over a period of five or six hundred years before the coming of the Cambro-Normans in 1169. Poetry, art and genealogy flourished and missionary expeditions helped to keep Christianity alive in other countries where it had been threatened by the Goths and other marauders from northern Europe. Even the frequent incursions of the Norsemen, which caused much destruction especially to monastic buildings and treasures, did not at all affect the social system of Gaelic Ireland. The Norsemen, however, were responsible for one innovation in a community which was essentially rural, viz. the establishment of towns, as they founded several, notably Dublin, Waterford, Cork and Limerick. The introduction of this foreign element in the population - not throughout the country but in isolated coastal settlements - did little to unite the Irish kingdoms in opposition to it: in the famous battle of Clontarf, in which in 1014 the Irish forces under Brian Boru finally ended any hope the Norsemen had of dominating the country, it is to be remembered that some Irish septs actually fought on the Norse side against their own "Árd-Rí".Brian Boru (i.e. "Boroimhe" - of the tributes) was the first man of any lineage other than O Neill or O Conor to become High-King, and this position was obtained by force. His race, the "Dál Cais", were originally a comparatively small population group located in Thomond ("Tuadh Mhumhain", north Munster), mainly the present county of Clare.Up to 1169, while predatory expeditions had from time to time been made by Irish raiders in Wales and even England, Ireland had seldom if ever been subjected to incursions by English forces. It was an Irish king, Dermot MacMurrough of Leinster, who was responsible for what was indeed a turning point in the history of the country, when he sought and obtained the aid of Henry II of England in his own struggle for the retention of his Leinster kingdom - it resulted in the invasion under Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, known as Strongbow, and the subsequent permanent settlement of the Norman element in Ireland. These twelfth century invaders, it should be remembered, were French-speaking Cambro-Normans from Wales.Their coming heralded the first significant change in the composition of the aristocracy in Ireland. Henry II of England, with the imprimatur of Pope Adrian IV (the only Englishman ever to become Pope), assumed the title of Lord of Ireland and many of the heads of the Irish states, regarding it as no more than a formality, acquiesced in this and continued to carry on as they had done previously. The high-kingship, however, was at an end: the last of their line was Ruaidhri Ó Conchobhair (Rory O Connor) who died in 1189.The Norman element thus introduced became possessed of vast landed estates in various parts of the country - less in Ulster than elsewhere - but by a gradual process they became part of the Irish nation (though of course the modern concept of nationality was then as yet unthought of).This process was threefold. Some became completely integrated, giving rise to the well known phrase 'Hiberniores Hibernis ipsis' (more Irish than the Irish themselves). These formed septs on the Gaelic-Irish pattern, headed by a chief. Thus, the head of the Norman family of Wall in Co. Limerick was known as "An Fáltach" (The Wall) and the head of the Condons "An Condúnach" (The Condon). Other families in this category were, inter alios, the Mandevilles who became MacQuillan, The Archdeacons Cody, the Berminghams Corish and the Nangles Costello. With the submergence of the Gaelic order in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries they suffered the same fate as the indigenous septs. Other great families which did not go so far as to adopt the Brehon system nevertheless became essentially Irish and were unaffected by the Statute of Kilkenny (1367) which vainly sought to prevent the descendants of the Norman invaders from dressing and riding in the Irish fashion or speaking the Irish language. To name the most notable of the Hiberno-Norman families, such as Barry, Dillon, de Lacy, Plunkett, Power, Prendergast and Roche would inevitably result in omitting some of equal importance, but I think it would be generally agreed that Fitzgerald, Butler and Burke were the most important.There were two main branches of the Fitzgeralds, the head of both of which bore titles of nobility (Earls of Desmond and of Kildare) conferred on them by the King of England as Lord of Ireland. The Desmond branch were responsible in 1582 for the main Irish revolt against the extension of English power which resulted in defeat and the devastation of much of Munster. Apart from the earldom, there were two other hereditary titles borne by the Fitzgeralds of Kerry and Limerick, conferred in the fourteenth century, not by the King of England but by his representative in Ireland, which are unique and are still extent and fully recognised, viz., the Knight of Kerry and the Knight of Glin. The Fitzgeralds of Desmond ("Deas Mhumhain", South Munster) eventually conformed and were prominent in the aristocracy of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The Kildare branch found no difficulty in acknowledging the English sovereign's overlordship. One of them, Garret Fitzgerald, 9th Earl of Kildare, became the viceroy of Henry VIII (the first English sovereign to be styled King, rather than Lord, of Ireland). So powerful did he become in that capacity that he was deemed a threat to royal supremacy in Ireland. Summoned to London, he languished in captivity till his death and his son, known as Silken Thomas, renounced his allegiance, went into rebellion and was eventually in 1537 executed in London with no less than five of his uncles. The family, however, was not thus entirely annihilated and later on regained their position as a leading one in the nobility of Ireland and, having become Dukes of Leinster, they occupied their mansion at Carton in Co. Kildare until quite recent times.A third category are typified by the Butlers of Ormond (Co. Kilkenny and east Tipperary) whose titles (finally Marquis of Ormond) were equally the creation of an English monarch. While they made no attempt to become integrated, they perforce became Irish in many ways - in speaking the Irish language for example: one of them acted as interpreter at the Parliament of 1541 which was attended by the Irish-speaking chiefs as well as the English faction. For the most part, the Butlers regarded themselves as representing that section of the population having historical ties with England but distinct from the English people. To give a fair picture of them, it should be added that a number of individual Butlers are to be found in accounts of pro-Catholic activities and in the ranks of the 'Wild Geese' which will be dealt with later,At this point it would, I think, be appropriate to refer to those prominent immigrant families who had no connection with the Cambro- or Anglo-Normans and did not come to Ireland till the sixteenth century, such as the Bagenals, Edgeworths, Fleetwoods, Goldsmiths, Gwynns, Sigersons and Springs, to mention some of them. Perhaps the most remarkable of these were the Brownes. For the moment I am not referring to the Brownes of Camus, Co. Limerick, of whom were the famous Maximilian Ulysses Browne and other prominent 'Wild Geese', nor to those who in Connacht got the title Oranmore, nor again the Brownes who were one of the 'Tribes of Galway'. Those I have in mind are the Brownes of Kerry, Earls of Kenmare. They started as intrusive foreigners but following intermarriage with the O'Sullivans, MacCarthys and other great Gaelic families of the area, they became before long uncompromising Catholics and suffered in their turn as such, though by reason of unusual circumstances related in The Kenmare Manuscripts regained and retained their vast estates in Counties Kerry and Limerick up to our own times. They, however, were never prominent in the political arena. Unlike the Brownes of Kerry, most of this class conformed at the Reformation and constituted a not inconsiderable element in the Anglo-Irish gentry of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This category were in the seventeenth century termed the New-English to distinguish them from the descendants of earlier invaders and settlers who had become hibernicised and espoused the Catholic cause in the wars of Cromwell and William of Orange. These were termed the Old-English.Let us now consider the great Gaelic-Irish families and take Connacht as an example of the lordships of a province which had to a considerable extent fallen under the domination of Cambro-Norman invaders in the earlier period, these, however, having become hibernicised. Typical of the less important of these were the Nangles (de Angulo) who adopted the name "MacOisdealbhaigh" (modern Costello), incidentally the first non-Gaelic surname to use the Gaelic prefix Mac. At that time, Connacht included the modern county of Clare (Thomond) now in Munster, and much of Breifni (Co. Cavan usually reckoned in Ulster. The families constituting these Lordships were, according to the "Anála Locha Cé", Ó Ceallaigh (O Kelly) of Uí Maine, Ó Conchobhair (O Conor) in its three branches - Don ("donn", brown) Roe ("ruadh", red) and Sligo - MacDiarmada (MacDermot) of Moylurg, Ó Ruairc (O Rourke) of Breifni, Ó hEaghra (O Hara) of Leyney, Ó Dubhda (O Dowd) of Tireragh, Ó Flaithbheartaigh (O Flaherty) of Connemara and Ó Briain (O Brien) of Thomond, together with the three powerful branches of the de Burghs (Burke) - MacWilliam Iochtar, MacWilliam Uachtar and the Earl of Clanrickard, whose family were not so much hibernicised as the other Burkes of Connacht.It would be helpful in presenting a picture of the Chieftainries in Ireland briefly to take one of those old Gaelic families as an illustration, and for that purpose the O'Briens of Thomond would be suitable because they were to some extent of divided allegiance. The lineal descendants of Brian Boru were hostile to the early invaders: Donal O'Brien, King of Munster, with his Dalc |