My MTDNA Irish Royalty Ancestors Related To My Mom

As I mentioned I earlier I am related to Brian Boru? That means you share lineage with the Royal Family!

I recently received from my mtdna match email I am related to other Irish kings which I will describe in this article.

It is close to the original spelling of Mac Eachaidh which is connected to the Dál Fiatach; the rulers of the Ulaid (currently Northern Ireland) during the middle ages. They were descended from Fiatach Finn mac Dáire, a legendary King of Ulaid and High King of Ireland, and are thought to be related to both the Voluntii and Darini of Ptolemy’s Geographia. They are also perhaps more directly related to the pre-historic Dáirine, and the later Corcu Loígde of Munster, where the Mac Eachaidh family held a seat in ancient times. They held the Titles:

Kings of Emain Macha

Kings of Ulster

Kings of Dál Fiatach

High Kings of Ireland and

Kings of Tara.

Legend has it that the King of Spain (Milesians) founded not only Scotland through his new wife Scotia (whom of course Scotland was named after but who is also royalty herself..) who then began the Kings of Ireland dynasty. Scotia as named Meritaten – Nefertiti’s daughter – who fled Egypt so she would not marry her brother – the boy who would eventually become King Tutankhamen.

A Most of the Irish are descended from one of the three sons of King Milesius of Spain. A descendents of the Dai Fiatach, and the Ithians, who were also called Darinians, descendents of Ithe, or Ithius, son of Breoghan (King of Spain), who was the 35th in lineage and also the Uncle of King Milesius of Spain.

A Legendary 103rd High King of Ireland and King of Ulster was named Fiatach Finn mac Dáire, also of the Dal Fiatach I imagine named after him!

Then there was Luy. Son of Sabina (daughter of Conn of the Hundred Battles -and part of the Royal Family’s Lineage) and MacNiadh (Nia], Lughaidh (Luy) Mac con was the 113th Monarch of Ireland. As per the times, Mac Niadh’s died in battle and later on Sabina got married to Olioll Olum, who was the King of Munster.

These are the links to the lineages :

Irish Pedigrees, Volume 1
https://www.libraryireland.com/Pedigrees1/index.php

ITHE (or Ith), brother of Bilé who is No. 35, page 50, was the ancestor of the Ithians. This Ithe was uncle of Milesius of Spain; and his descendants settled mostly in Munster.

THE STEM OF THE “LINE OF ITHE”

The Stem of the Irish Nation, from Ithe down to (No. 73) Cobthach Fionn, a quo O’Coffey,* of Munster.

35. Ithe: son of Breoghan, King of Spain.

36. Lughaidh [Luy]: his son; a quo the Ithians were called Lugadians.

37. Mal: his son.

38. Edaman: his son.

39. Logha: his son.

40. Mathsin: his son.

41. Sin: his son.

42. Gossaman: his son.

43. Adaman: his son.

44. Heremon: his son.

45. Logha Feile: his son.

46. Lachtnan: his son.

47. Nuaclad Argni: his son.

48. Deargthine: his son.

49. Deagha Derg: his son.

50. Deagha Amhra: his son.

51. Ferulnigh: his son.

52. Sithbolg: his son.

53. Daire (or Darius) Diomdhach: his son.

54. Each-Bolg: his son; had a brother named Luy, who was the ancestor of Clancy of Dartry, in Leitrim; and some say, of Macaulay or MacGawley of Calry, in Westmeath.

55. Ferulnigh (2): his son.

56. Daire (2): his son; from whom the Ithians were called Darinians.

57. Luy: his son.

58. MacNiadh: his son. Sabina, daughter of Conn of the Hundred Battles, was married to this Mac Niadh [Nia], by whom she had a son named Luy Mac con (cu; Irish, gen. con, coin, or cuin, a greyhound, also a champion; Gr. Ku-on), to whom the soubriquet “Mac con” was affixed, because in his youth he was wont to suckle the teat of a favourite greyhound. After Mac Niadh’s death, Sabina got married to Olioll Olum, king of Munster, as already mentioned. (See p. 67.)

59. Luy Mac con: his son; the 113th Monarch of Ireland.

60. Aongus (or Æneas): his son; had four brothers:—1. Fothach Argthach, the 118th Monarch of Ireland jointly with his brother Fothach Cairpeach, by whom, A.D. 285, he was slain; 2. the said Fothach Cairpeach, the 119th Monarch; 3. Duach, ancestor of Conell, O’Hennessy, McEirc, etc.; 4. Fothach Canaan, ancestor of MacAlim or MacCalum, Earls of Argyle, etc. From one of these brothers also descended O’Hallinan, etc.

61. Fergus: son of Æneas.

62. Luigheach: his son.

63. Æneas Bolg: his son.

64. Gearan: his son; had a brother named Trean.

65. Conall Claon (“claon”: Irish, partial; Gr. “klin-o”): his son.

66. Ceann Reithe (“reithe”: Irish, of a ram; “ceann” a head): his son; a quo O’Reithe.[2]

67. Olioll: his son; had a brother named Trean, from whom descended St. Beoardh (8 March) of Ardcarn.

68. Fergus: son of Olioll.

69. Connacille: his son.

70. Maccon: his son.

71. Olioll (2): his son.

72. Dungal: his son.

73. Cobthach Fionn (“cobthach”: Irish, victorious; “fionn,” fair, meaning “the fairhaired victor”): his son; a quo O’Cobhthaigh, anglicised O’Coffey, O’Cowhig, Coffey, Coffy, and Coffee.

NOTES

[1] O’Coffey: There were other families of this name in ancient Meath and in Connaught, but not of the same stock as this family.

[2] O’Reithe: This name has been anglicised Ram.

1.—THE STEM OF “THE LINE OF HEBER.”

The Stem of the Irish Nation, from Milesius of Spain (who is No. 36, page 50), down to No. 94 Aodh Dubh, King of Munster, from whose two sons respectively descended the illustrious families of O’Sullivan, and MacCarthy.

The three sons of Milesius who left any issue were—1. Heber Fionn, 2. Ir, and 3. Heremon. Heber being the eldest of those three sons, the descent from him is here first given:

This Heber Fionn was the first Milesian Monarch of Ireland, conjointly with his brother Heremon. Heber was slain by Heremon, Before Christ, 1698.

38. Conmaol: his son; was the twelfth Monarch.

(The year in which any of the Monarchs began to reign can be ascertained in the “Roll of the Monarchs of Ireland,” in the last preceding chapter.)

39. Eochaidh Faobhar Glas: his son; the 17th Monarch.

40. Eanna Airgthach: his son; was the 21st Monarch; and the first who caused silver shields to be made.

41. Glas: his son.

42. Ros: his son.

43. Rotheacta: his son.

44. Fearard: his son.

45. Cas: his son,

46. Munmoin: his son; was the 25th Monarch; and the first who ordained his Nobles to wear gold chains about their necks.

47. Fualdergoid: his son; was the 26th Monarch; and the first who ordered his Nobility to wear gold rings on their fingers.

48. Cas Cedchaingnigh: his son. This Cas was a learned man; he revised the study of the laws, poetry, and other laudable sciences (which were) much eclipsed and little practised since the death of Amergin Glungheal, one of the sons of Milesius, who was their Druid or Arch-priest, and who was slain in battle by his brother Heremon soon after their brother Heber’s death.

49. Failbhe Iolcorach: his son; was the first who ordained that stone walls should be built as boundaries between the neighbours’ lands.

50. Ronnach: his son.

51. Rotheachta: his son; was the 35th Monarch.

52. Eiliomh Ollfhionach: his son.

53. Art Imleach: his son; the 38th Monarch.

54. Breas Rioghacta: his son; the 40th Monarch.

55. Seidnae Innaridh: his son; was the 43rd Monarch; and the first who, in Ireland, enlisted his soldiers in pay and under good discipline. Before his time, they had no other pay than what they could gain from their enemies.

56. Duach Fionn: his son; died B.C. 893.

57. Eanna Dearg: his son; was the 47th Monarch. In the twelfth year of his reign he died suddenly, with most of his retinue, adoring their false gods at Sliabh Mis, B.C. 880 years.

58. Lughaidh Iardhonn: his son.

59. Eochaidh (2): his son.

60. Lughaidh: his son; died B.C. 831.

61. Art (2): his son; was the 54th Monarch; and was slain by his successor in the Monarchy, who was uncle to the former Monarch.

62. Olioll Fionn: his son.

63. Eochaidh (3): his son.

64. Lughaidh Lagha: his son; died B.C. 730.

65. Reacht Righ-dearg: his son; was the 65th Monarch; and was called “Righ-dearg” or the red king, for having a hand in a woman’s blood: having slain queen Macha of the line of Ir, and (see No. 64, on the “Roll of the Monarchs,” page 60), the only woman that held the Monarchy of Ireland. He was a warlike Prince and fortunate in his undertakings. He went into Scotland with a powerful army to reduce to obedience the Pictish nation, then growing refractory in the payment of their yearly tribute to the Monarchs of Ireland; which having performed, he returned, and, after twenty years’ reign, was slain in battle by his Heremonian successor, B.C. 633.

66. Cobthach Caomh: son of Reacht Righ-dearg.

67. Moghcorb: his son.

68. Fearcorb: his son.

69. Adhamhra Foltcain: his son; died, B.C. 412.

70. Niadhsedhaman: his son; was the 83rd Monarch. In his time the wild deer were, through the sorcery and witchcraft of his mother, usually driven home with the cows, and tamely suffered themselves to be milked every day.

71. Ionadmaor: his son; was the 87th Monarch.

72. Lughaidh Luaighne: his son; the 89th Monarch.

73. Cairbre Lusgleathan: his son.

74. Duach Dalladh Deadha: his son; was the 91st Monarch, and (except Crimthann, the 125th Monarch, was) the last of thirty-three Monarchs of the line of Heber that ruled the Kingdom; and but one more of them came to the Monarchy—namely, Brian Boroimhe, the thirty-first generation down from this Duach, who pulled out his younger brother Deadha’s eyes (hence the epithet Dalladh, “blindness,” applied to Deadha) for daring to come between him and the throne.

75. Eochaidh Garbh: his son.

76. Muireadach Muchna: his son.

77. Mofebhis: his wife. [In the ancient Irish Regal Roll the name of Mofebhis is by mistake entered after that of her husband, instead of the name of their son, Loich Mór; and, sooner than disturb the register numbers of the succeeding names, O’Clery thought best to let the name of Mofebhis remain on the Roll, but to point out the inaccuracy.]

78. Loich Mor: son of Muireadach and Mofebhis.

79. Eanna Muncain: his son.

80. Dearg Theine: his son. This Dearg had a competitor in the Kingdom of Munster, named Darin, of the sept of Lugaidh, son of Ithe, the first (Milesian) discoverer of Ireland; between whom it was agreed that their posterity should reign by turns, and when (one of) either of the septs was King, (one of) the other should govern in the civil affairs of the Kingdom; which agreement continued so, alternately, for some generations.

81. Dearg (2): son of Dearg Theine.

82. Magha Neid: his son.

83. Eoghan Mor [Owen Mor], or Eugene the Great: his son. This Eugene was commonly called “Mogha Nuadhad,” and was a wise and politic prince and great warrior. From him Magh-Nuadhad (now “Maynooth”) is so called; where a great battle was fought between him and Conn of the Hundred Battles, the 110th Monarch of Ireland, A.D. 122, with whom he was in continual wars, until at last, after many bloody battles, he forced him to divide the kingdom with him in two equal parts by the boundary of Esker Riada—a long ridge of Hills from Dublin to Galway; determining the south part to himself, which he called after his own name Leath Mogha or Mogha’s Half (of Ireland), as the north part was called Leath Cuinn or Conn’s Half; and requiring Conn to give his daughter Sadhbh (or Sabina) in marriage to his eldest son Olioll Olum. Beara, daughter of Heber, the great King of Castile (in Spain), was his wife, and the mother of Olioll Olum and of two daughters (who were named respectively), Caomheall and Scothniamh; after all, he was slain in Battle by the said Conn of the Hundred Battles.

84. Olioll Olum: son of Eoghan Mor; was the first of this line named in the Regal Roll to be king of both Munsters; for, before him, there were two septs that were alternately kings of Munster, until this Olioll married Sabina, daughter of the Monarch Conn of the Hundred Battles, and widow of Mac Niadh, chief of the other sept of Darin, descended from Ithe, and by whom she had one son named Lughaidh, commonly called “Luy Maccon;” who, when he came to man’s age, demanded from Olioll, his stepfather, the benefit of the agreement formerly made between their ancestors; which Olioll not only refused to grant, but he also banished Maccon out of Ireland; who retired into Scotland, where, among his many friends and relations, he soon collected a strong party, returned with them to Ireland, and with the help and assistance of the rest of his sept who joined with them, he made war upon Olioll; to whose assistance his (Olioll’s) brother-in-law, Art-Ean-Fhear, then Monarch of Ireland, came with a good army; between whom and Maccon was fought the great and memorable battle of Magh Mucromha (or Muckrove), near Athenry, where the Monarch Art, together with seven of Olioll’s nine sons, by Sabina, lost their lives, and their army was totally defeated and routed. By this great victory Maccon not only recovered his right to the Kingdom of Munster, but the Monarchy also, wherein he maintained himself for thirty years; leaving the Kingdom of Munster to his stepfather Olioll Olum, undisturbed.

After the battle, Olioll, having but two sons left alive, namely Cormac-Cas and Cian, and being very old, settled his kingdom upon Cormac, the elder son of the two, and his posterity; but soon after being informed that Owen Mór, his eldest son (who was slain in the battle of Magh Mucromha, above mentioned), had by a Druid’s daughter issue, named Feach (Fiacha Maolleathan as he was called), born after his father’s death, Olioll ordained that Cormac should be king during his life, and Feach to succeed him, and after him Cormac’s son, and their posterity to continue so by turns; which (arrangement) was observed between them for many generations, sometimes dividing the kingdom between them, by the name of South, or North Munster, or Desmond, and Thomond.

From these three sons of Olioll Olum are descended the Hiberian nobility and gentry of Munster and other parts of Ireland; viz., from Owen Mór are descended M’Carthy, O’Sullivan, O’Keeffe, and the rest of the ancient nobility of Desmond; from Cormac-Cas are descended O’Brien, MacMahon, O’Kennedy, and the rest of the nobility and gentry of Thomond; and from Cian [Kian] are descended O’Carroll (of Ely-O’Carroll), O’Meagher, O’Hara, O’Gara, etc.

85. Owen Mor (2): son of Olioll Olum.

86. Fiacha (or Feach) Maolleathan: his son.

87. Olioll Flann-beag: his son. This Olioll, King of Munster for thirty years, had an elder brother, Olioll Flann-mór, who, having no issue, adopted his younger brother to be his heir; conditionally, that his name should be inserted in the Pedigree as the father of this Olioll; and so it is in several copies of the Munster antiquaries, with the reason thereof, as here given.

88. Lughaidh: son of Olioll Flann-beag; had two younger brothers named Main Mun-Chain, and Daire (or Darius) Cearb; and by a second marriage he had two sons—1. Lughach, 2. Cobthach.

89. Corc: eldest son of Lughaidh. This Corc, to shun the unnatural love of his stepmother, fled in his youth to Scotland, where he married Mong-fionn, daughter of Feredach Fionn, otherwise called Fionn Cormac, King of the Picts (who, in Irish, are called Cruithneach or Cruithneans), by whom he had several sons, whereof Main Leamhna, who remained in Scotland, was the ancestor of “Mor Mhaor Leamhna,” i.e., Great Stewards of Lennox; from whom were descended the Kings of Scotland and England of the Stewart or StuartDynasty, and Cronan, who married Cairche, daughter of Leaghaire MacNiall, the 128th Monarch of Ireland, by whom he got territory in Westmeath, from her called “Cuircneach,” now called Dillon’s Country.

This Corc, also, although never converted to Christianity, was one of the three Kings or Princes appointed by the triennial parliament held at Tara in St. Patrick’s time, “to review, examine, and reduce into order all the monuments of antiquity, genealogies, chronicles, and records of the kingdom;” the other two being Daire or Darius, a Prince of Ulster, and Leary the Monarch. With these three were associated for that purpose St. Patrick, St. Benignus, and St. Carioch; together with Dubhthach, Fergus, and Rosse Mac Trichinn, the chief antiquaries of Ireland (at the time). From Corc, the City of Cork is called, according to some authors.

90. Nathfraoch: son of Corc; had a brother named Cas.

91. Aongus or Æneas: his son. This was the first Christian King of Munster. He had twenty-four sons and twenty-four daughters, whereof he devoted to the service of God one-half of both sexes.

When this King was baptized by St. Patrick, the Saint offering to fasten his Staff or Crozier in the ground, accidentally happened to pierce the foot of Æneas through, whereby he lost much blood; but thinking it to be part of the ceremony (of Baptism), he patiently endured it until the Saint had done. He ordained three pence per annum from every person that should be baptized throughout Munster, to be paid to St. Patrick and the Church in manner following: viz., five hundred cows, five hundred stone of iron, five hundred shirts, five hundred coverlets, and five hundred sheep, every third year. He reigned 36 years, at the end whereof he and his wife Eithne, daughter of Crimthann-Cas, King of Leinster, were slain.

92. Felim, his son; was the second Christian King of Munster. His eleven brothers that did not enter into Religious Orders were—1. Eocha, third Christian King of Munster, ancestor of O’Keeffe; 2. Dubh Ghilcach; 3. Breasail, from whom descended the great antiquary and holy man Cormac Mac Culenan, the 39th Christian King of Munster, and Archbishop of Cashel, author of the ancient Irish Chronicles called the “Psalter of Cashel;” 4. Senach; 5. Aodh (or Hugh) Caoch (Eithne was mother of the last three); 6. Carrthann; 7. Nafireg; 8. Aodh; 9. Felim; 10. Losian; and 11. Dathi; from all of whom many families are descended.

93. Crimthann: his son.

94. Aodh Dubh [Duff]: his son; reigned 15 years.

95. Failbhé Flann: his son; was the 16th Christian King of Munster, and reigned 40 years. From this Failbhé Flann the MacCarthy families are descended. He had a brother named Fingin,[2] who reigned before him, and who is said by the Munster antiquaries, to have been the elder; this Fingin was the ancestor of O’Sullivan. As the seniority of these two families has been a disputed question, we here go no further in the descent of the House of Heber: we commence the “MacCarthy” genealogy with this (No. 95) Failbhé Flann; and the “O’Sullivan” genealogy with Fingin, his brother. Each of these genealogies can be seen, infra, in its alphabetical order.

NOTES

[1] Munster: A short time before the Christian era, Eochy Feidlioch, the 93rd Milesian Monarch of Ireland, divided the Kingdom into five Provinces, namely—Ulster, Connaught, Leinster, and the two Provinces of Munster. In Irish the name of a Province is Coigeadh [coo-gu], which signifies “a fifth part.”

Tuathal Teachtmar (or Tuathal the Legitimate), the 106th Monarch, made, in the beginning of the second century, a new division of Ireland into five provinces; and having taken a portion from each of the Provinces of Leinster, Munster, Ulster, and Connaught, formed the new Province or Kingdom of Meath. This division continued for many centuries, and even long after the Anglo-Norman Invasion. Thus the Irish Government was a Pentarchy; a supreme Monarch being elected to preside over all the Provincial Kings, and designated Ard-Righ or High King (righ: Irish a king; Hind. raja; Lat. rex; gen. regis; Fr. roi). The Kingdom of Munster (in Irish Mumha, Mumhan, and Mumhain) derived its name , according to O’Flaherty’s “Ogygia,” from Eochaidh Mumha, who was King of Munster, and the 19th Monarch of Ireland. Munster is latinised “Momonia.” Ancient Munster comprised the present counties of Tipperary, Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, and part of Kilkenny; to which, in the latter part of the third century, was added the territory now forming the County of Clare, by Lughaidh Meann, King of Munster, of the race of the Dalcassians, who took it from Connaught and added it to Munster.

Ancient Munster is mentioned under the following divisions, namely—Tuadh Mumhan or North Munster, anglicised “Thomond;” Deas Mumhan or South Munster, rendered “Desmond;” Urmhumha, Oirmhumha or East Munster, rendered “Ormond;” and Iar Mumhan or West Munster.

Thomond, under its ancient Kings, extended from the Isles of Arran, off the coast of Galway, to the mountain of Eibline, near Cashel in Tipperary; thence to Cairn Feareadaigh, now Knock-Aine in the County Limerick; and from Leim Chucullain (or Cuchullin’s Leap), now Loop-Head, at the mouth of the river Shannon in the county of Clare, to Sliabh Dalamountains in Ossory, on the borders of Tipperary, Kilkenny, and Queen’s County; thus comprising the present counties of Clare and Limerick, with the greater part of Tipperary; but, in after times, Thomond was confined to the present county of Clare.

Ormond was one of the large Divisions of ancient Munster. Ancient Ormond, extended from Gabhran(now Gowran) in the county of Kilkenny, westward to Cnamhchoillor Cleathchoill, near the town of Tipperary; and from Bearnan Eile(now Barnanelly), a parish in the county of Tipperary (in which is situated the Devil’s Bit Mountain); and from thence southward to Oilean Ui-Bhric or O’Bric’s Island near Bonmahon, on the coast of Waterford; thus comprising the greater part of Tipperary, with parts of the counties of Kilkenny and Waterford. The name of Ormond is still retained in the two baronies of “Ormond,” in Tipperary.

Desie or Desies was an ancient territory, comprising the greater part of Waterford, with a part of Tipperary; and got its name from the tribe of the Deisigh, also called Desii. These Desii were descended from Fiacha Suidhe, a brother of the Monarch Conn of the Hundred Battles; who, in Meath, possessed a large territory called from them Deise, or Deise Teamrach, that is, “Deise of Tara”—because situated near Tara; and the name of this ancient territory is still retained in the two baronies of “Deece,” in the county Meath. In the reign of Cormac Mac Art, the 115th Monarch, Aongus or Æneas, Prince of Deise in Meath, and grandson of Fiacha Suidhe, resenting the exclusion of his own branch of the family from the Monarchy, waged a rebellion against Cormac Mac Art; and with a body of forces broke into the palace of Tara, wounded Cormac, and killed his son Ceallach; but Cormac, having quelled the rebellion in seven successive battles, drove Aongus and his accomplices into Munster, where they got settlements from Olioll Olum, then king of Munster, who granted them the lands extending from the river Suir southward to the sea, and from Lismore to Cean Criadain, now Creadon Head: thus comprising almost the whole of the territory afterwards called the county Waterford; and they gave to that country the name of Deise or Nandesi, which, in Munster, was called Deisi, to distinguish it from Deise, in Meath. The Desians becoming numerous and powerful in Munster, Aongus, King of Munster in the fifth century, conferred on them additional lands, and annexed to their territory Magh Feimin, which extended north of the river Suir as far as Corca Eathrach, comprising the country called Machaire Caisil (or the plain of Cashel), and districts about Clonmel; forming the present barony of Middlethird, with part of Offa, in Tipperary. The territory comprised in this grant of King Aongus was distinguished by the name of Deise in Tuaisceart or North Desie, and the old territory in Waterford was called Deise Deisceart or South Desie. The name Desie is still retained in the two baronies of “Decies,” in the county Waterford.

Desmond: The territory called “Desmond” comprised, according to Smith in his Histories of Cork and Kerry, the whole of the present county of Cork, and the greater part of Kerry, together with a portion of Waterford, and also a small part of the southof Tipperary, bordering on Cork, called the Eoghanact Caisil: thus extending from Brandon Mountain, in the barony of Corcaguiney, county Kerry, to the river Blackwater, near Lismore, in the county Waterford; but, in after times, under the Fitzgeralds, Earls of Desmond, this territory was confined to the baronies of Bear and Bantry, and other portions of the south-west of Cork, together with that part of Kerry south of the river Mang.

West Munster: The north-western part of Kerry, with a large portion of Limerick, extending to the Shannon, and comprising the present baronies of Upper and Lower Connello, was called Iar Mumhan or West Munster. This territory is connected with some of the earliest events in Irish history. Partholan, who planted the first colony in Ireland, sailed from Greece through Muir Toirian (the ancient Irish name of the Mediterranean Sea), and landed on the coast of Ireland at Inver Seeine—now the Bay of Kenmare, in Kerry.

The Milesians of the race of Heber Fionn possessed the greater part of Munster; but the descendants of Ithe, the uncle of Milesius of Spain, also possessed in early times a great part of that province. The race of Heber furnished most of the Kings of Munster, and many of them were also Monarchs of Ireland. The Ithians or the race of Ithe also furnished many Kings of Munster, and some of them were also Monarchs of Ireland. By the old annalists the Heberians were called Deirgtheine, after one of their ancient Kings of that name; the Ithians were also called Dairiné, from one of their Kings so named.

The Clan-na-Deaghaidh settled in Munster a short time before the Christian era. They were named “Degadians,” from Deagadh or Deadha their chief; and “Ernans,” from Olioll Earon, a Heremonian prince in Ulster, and an ancestor of Deag (see No. 68 in the “Genealogy of the Kings of Dalriada.”)

The Degadians or Ernans being expelled from Ulster by the race of Ir (or the Clan-na-Rory), went to Munster, where they were favourably received and had lands allotted to them by Duach, King of Munster, of the race of Heber, and the 91st Monarch of Ireland.

According to Keating, O’Flaherty, O’Halloran, and other historians, the Clan-na-Deaghaidh or Ernans became very powerful, and were the chief military commanders of Munster, and masters nearly of the entire country: some of them became Kings of Munster, and three of them also Monarchs of Ireland—namely, 1. Edersceal, 2. Conaire Mor, 3. Conaire the Second, who were respectively the 95th, 97th, and the 111th Monarchs of Ireland. This King Conaire the Second (or Conaire Mac Mogha Laine) was married to Sarad, sister of King Art Eanfhear, his successor in the Monarchy: of this marriage was Cairbre Riada, from who were descended the Dalriadians, Princes of Dalriada in Ulster; and who was the first King of Dalriada in Scotland, of which Loarn, the maternal grandfather of Fergus Mór Mac Earca—the founder of the Milesian Monarchy in Scotland, was the last.

About the beginning of the Christian era, Eochaidh Abhra Ruadh (or Eochy of the Red Brows or Eyelids), of the race of Heber, and a man of gigantic stature, was King of South Munster; and Conrigh Mac Dairé, one of the chiefs of the Deagas or Ernans, was Prince of North Munster, and was succeeded by Cairbre Fionn Mór, son of the Monarch Conaire Mór, as King of Munster. In the second century, Eochaidh, the son of Daire, succeeded as King of both Munsters. In the same century, Eoghan Mór, the celebrated King of Munster (also called Eoghan Taidleach or Owen the Splendid), of the race of Heber, and maternally descended from the Clan-na-Deaga, was a great warrior. The Clan-na-Deaga or Ernans becoming so powerful at the time, as nearly to assume the entire sovereignty of Munsterer—to the exclusion of the race of Heber—they were attacked and conquered by Eoghan Mór, who expelled them from Munster, except such families of them as yielded him submission.

Conn of the Hundred Battles, having succeeded Cahir Mór as (the 110th) Monarch of Ireland, had long and fierce contests with the above-named Eoghan [Owen] Mor for the sovereignty of the country; but they at length agreed to divide the Kingdom between them, by a line drawn direct from Dublin to Galway: the northern half, consisting of the Kingdoms of Meath, Ulster, and Connaught, being Conn’s share, and thence called Leath Cuinn, signifying “Conn’s Half” (of Ireland); and the southern portion, or Kingdoms of Leinster and Munster, being allotted to Owen Mór, or Mogha Nuadhad, as he was called, and hence named Leath Mogha, or “Mogha’s Half”; and this division of Ireland was long recognized in after times, and is often mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters. But Owen Mór was afterwards defeated and forced to fly to Spain, where he lived for some time in exile; and there entering into a confederacy with Fraoch, his brother-in-law, who was Prince of Castile, they collected a powerful army with which they landed in Ireland, to recover the sovereignty from Conn of the Hundred Battles; and both armies fought a tremendous battle on the Plain of Moylena, in which Conn was victorious, and Owen Mór was slain. According to O’Flaherty, this battle was fought in the ancient barony of Fircall, in the King’s County, where there are still to be seen two hillocks or sepulchral mounds, in one of which was buried the body of Owen Mór, and in the other that of Fraoch, the Spaniard, who was also slain in that battle.

Olioll Olum, son of Owen Mór, having refused to grant to Lugaidh Maccon the portion of Munster to which he was by a former arrangement entitled, Lugaidh [Luy] contended with Olioll, who defeated him and Nemeth, Prince of the Ernans, in a great battle; after which Olioll became sole King of Munster.

Lugaidh Maccon having been expelled from Munster by Olioll Olum, and banished to Britain, projected an invasion of Ireland; and, assisted by the Britons and other foreign auxiliaries under the command of Beine Briot (or Beine the Briton), who was one of the most famous warriors of that age, and son of the King of Wales, landed a powerful army in Galway. Olioll’s cause was espoused by his brother-in-law Art-Ean-Fhear (then Monarch of Ireland, and the uncle of Lugaidh Maccon), and by Forga, King of Connaught; who collected their forces and fought a great battle with the foreigners, in the county of Galway, where the latter were victorious; and after which Lugaidh Maccon became Monarch of Ireland, leaving Munster to his stepfather Olioll. In this battle the Monarch Art was slain; and his head cut off near a brook or pool, which, from that circumstance, was called Turloch Airt—situated between Moyvola and Killornan in the county of Galway. According to Connellan, the Irish kerns and galloglasses generally decapitated the chiefs they had slain in battle, as they considered no man actually dead until his head was cut off.

Olioll Olum had three sons named Eoghan, Cormac Cas and Cian [Kian]; and by his will he made a regulation that the kingdom of Munster should be ruled alternately by one of the posterity of Eoghan (or Eugene) Mor and Cormac Cas. This Cormac Cas was married to Oriund, daughter of King of Denmark, and by her had a son named Mogha Corb. From Cormac Cas, king of Munster, or according to others, his descendant Cas, who was king of Thomond in the fifth century, their posterity got the name Dal Cais, anglicised “Dalcassians;” the various families of whom were located chiefly in that part of Thomond which forms the present county of Clare; and the ruling family of them were the O’Briens, Kings of Thomond. From Eoghan, the eldest of the sons of Olioll Olum, were descended the Eoghanachts or “Eugenians,” who were, alternately with the Dalcassians, Kings of Munster, from the third to the eleventh century. The Eugenians possessed Desmond or South Munster. The head family of the Eugenians were the MacCarthys, princes of Desmond. From Cian, the third son of Olioll Olum, were descended the Clan Cian, who were located chiefly in Ormond; and the chief of which families were the O’Carrolls, princes of Ely. In the latter part of the third century, Lugaidh Meann, King of Munster, of the race of the Dalcassians, took from Connaught the territory afterwards called the county of Clare, and added it to Thomond. In the seventh century, Guaire, the 12th Christian King of Connaught, having collected a great army, marched into Thomond, for the purpose of recovering the territory of Clare, which bad been taken from Connaught; and fought a great battle against the Munster forces commanded by Failbhe Flann and Dioma, Kings of Munster, but the Conacians were defeated. In the third century, Fiacha Maolleathan, King of Munster, and the grandson of Olioll Olum, had his residence at Rathnaoi, near Cashel, now called Knockraffan; and this Fiacha granted to Cairbre Musc, son of the king of Meath, and a famous bard, as a reward tor his poems, an extensive territory, called from him, Muscrith Tire, comprising the present baronies of “Ormond,” in the county of Tipperary. The Kings of Desmond of the Eoghan or Eugenian race, were also styled Kings of Cashel, as they chiefly resided there,

The name “Cashel” (in Irish Caisiol or Caiseal] signifies a stone fortress or castle; or, according to others, a rock; or, as stated in Cormac’s Glossary, is derived from Cios, rent, and ail, a rock, signifying the rock of tribute: as the people paid tribute there to their Kings. This Fortress of the Kings was situated on the great rock of Cashel; and Corc, King of Munster, of the Owen Mór or Eugenian race, in the fourth century, was the first who made Cashel a royal residence. This Corc, residing sometimes in Albany, married Mongfionn, daughter of Fearadach, King of the Picts—the Princes descended from this marriage were progenitors of the earls of Lennox and Marr, who were “Great Stewards” of Scotland, and a quo the surname Stewart. Aongus (or Æneas), who was the first Christian King of Munster, was the grandson of this Corc. In the ninth and tenth centuries the Danes overran different parts of Ireland, and made settlements, particularly in the sea-ports of Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Limerick, and Cork. In the middle of the tenth century, Ceallachan, King of Cashel, who was of the Eugenian race, and a celebrated warrior, carried on long and fierce contests with the Danes; whom he defeated in many battles. Ceallachan died, A.D. 952.

[2] Fingin: If we look to the Roll of “The Kings of Munster” (in the Appendix), under the heading “Provincial Kings,” we find that Fingin, son of Hugh Dubh, is No. 14 on that Roll, while his brother Failbhe is No. 16 thereon. The MacCarthy’s, in our opinion, owed the prominent position they held in Desmond at the period of the English invasion of Ireland, not to primogeniture, but to the disturbed state of Munster during the Danish wars, in which their immediate ancestors took a prominent and praiseworthy part.

A list of my Irish families of Munster

THE following is a brief summary of the Irish families in Munster, beginning with the three branches of the race of Heber: namely, the Dalcassians, the Eugenians, and the Clan Cian.

I. The Dalcassians: According to Connellan, the chief families of this sept were Lysacht, MacArthur, MacBruodin, MacClancy, MacConry, MacCurtin, MacDonnell, MacEniry, MacGrath, MacMahon, MacNamara, O’Ahern, O’Brien, O’Brody, O’Casey, O’Cashin, O’Considine, O’Davoran, O’Dea, O’Duhig, O’Grady, O’Hanraghan, O’Hartigan, O’Hea, O’Healy (modernized Haley and Hayley), O’Heap, O’Heffernan, O’Hehir, O’Hickey, O’Hogan, O’Hurly(modernized Hurley), O’Kearney, O’Kennedy, O’Liddy, O’Lonergan, O’Meara, O’Molony, O’Noonan (or O’Nunan), O’Quinn, O’Shanahan (or O’Shannon), O’Sheehan, O’Slattery, O’Spillane, O’Twomey, etc.

The following were also of the Dalcassian race: the families of MacCoghlan, chiefs in the King’s County; O’Finnelan (or O’Fenelon), and O’Skully, chiefs in Teffia, or Westmeath.

II. The Eugenians: Of these the chief families were—MacAuliffe, MacCarthy, MacDonagh, MacElligot, MacFinneen, MacGillicuddy, O’Callaghan, O’Cullen, O’Donohoe, O’Finnegan, O’Flannery, O’Fogarty, O’Keeffe, O’Kerwick (anglicised “Berwick” and “Kirby”), O’Lechan (or Lyons), O’Mahony, O’Meehan, O’Moriarty, O’Sullivan, O’Treacy, etc.

III. The Clan Cian were, as already stated, located in Ormond or the present county of Tipperary; and the heads of the Clan were O’Carroll, princes of Ely. The other families were—MacKeogh (or Kehoe), O’Corcoran, O’Dulhunty (anglicised O’Delahunty), O’Meagher. O’Connor, chiefs of Cianaght (now Keenaght) in the county Londonderry; and O’Garaand O’Hara, lords of Lieny and Coolavin in the county Sligo, were also branches of the Clan Cian of Munster.

IV. The Ithians, who were also called Darinians, were descended from Ithe, or Ithius, uncle of Milesius.

V. The Clan-na-Deagha were also called Degadians and Ernans, from two of their distinguished ancestors; they were celebrated chiefs in Munster, but were, originally descended, as already shown, from the Heremonians of Ulster. Of this Clan the principal families in Munster were—O’Falvey, hereditary admirals of Desmond; O’Connell, of Kerry, Limerick, and Clare; O’Donegan, O’Fihilly, O’Flynn, O’Shee or O’Shea, O’Baisan or O’Basken, and O’Donnell of the county Clare, etc.

VI. The Irians (or “Clan-na-Rory”) of Ulster also settled several families of note in Munster, as early as the first and second centuries; of whom were the following: O’Connor, lords or princes of Kerry; O’Connor, lords of Corcomroe in Clare; and O’Loghlin, lords of Burren, also in Clare. Of this race were also O’Farrell, lords or princes of Annaly; MacRannal(anglicised “Reynolds”), lords of Muintir Eoluis, in the county Leitrim, etc.

VII. Of the Leinster Milesians of the race of Heremon, were some chiefs and clans of note in Munster, as O’Felan, princes of Desies in Waterford; and O’Bric, chiefs in Waterford; O’Dwyer and O’Ryan, chiefs in Tipperary; and O’Gorman, chiefs in Clare.

King Henry the Second, A.D. 1180, granted part of the kingdom of Thomond to Herbert Fitzherbert; but he having resigned his claims, it was granted by King John to William and Philip de Braosa. In the thirteenth century, King Henry the Third gave to Thomas de Clare, son of the earl of Gloucester, a grant of the whole kingdom of Thomond or “O’Brien’s Country,” as it was called; but the O’Briens and other chiefs in Thomond maintained for centuries fierce contests with the Anglo-Norman and English settlers, in defence of their national independence.

NOTES

[1] Irish: According to Connellan, many penal Acts of Parliament were in the reigns of the Henrys and Edwards, Kings of England, passed, compelling the ancient Irish to adopt English “surnames,” and the English language, dress, manners, and customs; and, no doubt, many of the Milesian Irish did take English surnames in those times, to protect their lives and properties, as, otherwise, they forfeited their goods and were liable to be punished as Irish enemies. Hence, many of the ancient Irish families did so twist and anglicise their names, that it is often difficult to determine whether those families are of Irish or English extraction; and hence, many of them of Irish origin are considered of English or French descent. In modern times, too, many of the Irish families omitted the O’ and Mac in their surnames; but such names lose much of their euphonious sound by the omission, and, besides, are neither English nor Irish.

Some of the Danish families who settled in Ireland were those of Dowdall, Dromgoole, Sweetman and Palmer, in Dublin, Meath, and Louth; Gould, Coppinger, Skiddy, and Trant, in Cork; and Haroid (modernized Harold), of Limerick and Clare. Of those Danish families, some took Irish sirnames, and more of them prefixed “Mac” to their names, as did many of the Anglo-Norman and English families in early times. The following families adopted Irish surnames:—De Burgo, of Connaught, took the name of MacWilliam, and some of them that of MacPhilip; De Angulo or Nangle, of Meath and Mayo, changed the name to MacCostello; De Exeter of Mayo, to MacJordan; Barrett, of Mayo, to MacWattin; Staunton of Mayo, to MacAveely (mileadh: Irish, a hero), signifying “The son of a hero;” De Bermingham of Connaught and other places, to MacFeorais or MacPeorais (signifying “The son of Pearse” or Percy, and a quo Pearse, Pearce, Peirs, Piers, Pearson, Pierson, Peterson), from one of their chiefs; Fitzsimon of the King’s County, to MacRuddery (ridire: Irish, a knight), signifying “The son of the knight;” Le Poer (anglicised “Power”) of Kilkenny and Waterford, to MacShere; Butler, to MacPierce; Fitzgerald to MacThomas and MacMaurice; De Courcy of Cork, to MacPatrick; Barryof Cork, to MacAdam, etc. But it does not appear that any of those families adopted the prefix “O,” which, according to the Four Masters, was confined chiefly to the Milesian families of the highest rank.—CONNELLAN.

Roll of the Monarchs of Ireland – Irish Pedigrees

Since the Milesian Conquest

Names of the one hundred and eighty-four Kings [1] or Monarchs of Ireland, from the conquest thereof by the Milesian or Scottish Nation, Anno Mundi, 3,500, down to Roderick O’Connor, the Monarch of Ireland, A.D. 1186: a period which embraces two thousand eight hundred and eighty-five years. The date opposite each name tells the year in which the Monarch began to reign:—

These three, Nos. 61, 62, and 63, were grandchildren of Argethamar, No. 58; and they mutually agreed to reign by turns, each of them for seven years. They accordingly ruled until each of them reigned three times seven years; and Aodh Ruadh (No. 61), before it came to his fourth turn to reign, was drowned at Eas Ruadh [Easroe], now Ballyshannon, in the county Donegal (eas: Irish, a cataract; Heb. eshed. a pouring of water), leaving issue one daughter named Macha Mongrua, who succeeded to the Monarchy.

All the foregoing Monarchs were Pagans; but some authors are of opinion that Nos. 112, 115, and 126 were enlightened by the Holy Spirit in the truths of Christianity. Others are of opinion that the Monarch Laeghaire, son of Niall Mor, and who is No. 128 on this Roll, died a Pagan, although reigning at the time of the advent of St. Patrick, in Ireland.

Some annalists state that this Aodh Slaine was a brother of Lochan Dilmhain, who, according to the “Book of Armagh,” was ancestor of Dillon; but (see the “Dillon” pedigree) Lochan Dilmhain was brother of Colman Rimidh, the next Monarch on this Roll, who reigned jointly with Aodh Slaine, for six years.

Malachi the Second was the last absolute Monarch of Ireland. He reigned as Monarch twenty-four years before the accession to the Monarchy of Brian Boroimhe [Boru], and again after Brian’s death, which took place A.D. 1014, at the Battle of Clontarf.

175. H. Brian Boroimhe (ancestor of and aquo O’Brien), 1001 Brian Boru reigned sixty-six years, twelve of which as Monarch; he was eighty-eight years of age when slain at the Battle of Clontarf.

After Brian’s death—

Malachi II. was restored to the Monarchy, 1014. After nine years’ reign, Malachi died a penitent at Cro Inis (or the “Cell on the Island”), upon Loch Annin in Westmeath, A.D.1023; being the forty-eighth Christian King of Ireland, and accounted the last absolute Monarch of the Milesian or Scottish line: the provincial Kings and Princes always after contesting, fighting, and quarrelling for the sovereignty, until they put all into confusion, and that the King of Leinster brought in King Henry the Second to assist him against his enemies.

Those and such as our histories mention to have assumed the name and title of Monarchs of Ireland, without the general consent of the major part of the Kingdom, are as follows:—

176. H. Doncha (or Donough) … … … 1022

This Doncha was son of Brian Boru, and was King of Munster till the death of the Monarch Malachi the Second. He then assumed the title of Monarch, till defeated and banished from Ireland by Dermod, son of Donough, called “Maol-na-Mho,” King of Leinster, who is accounted by some to succeed Doncha in the Monarchy; yet is assigned no years for his reign, but that he contested with the said Doncha until he utterly defeated and banished him, A.D.1064: from which time it is likely that Dermod reigned the rest of the fifty-two years assigned for the reign of Doncha, who died at Rome, A.D.1074.

177. E. Diarmid (3), or Dermod, … … … ——

By the Irish historians this Dermod, son of Doncha or Donough, King of Leinster, is assigned no date for his accession to the Monarchy.

178. H. Tirloch O’Brien, … … … 1074

This Tirloch was the son of Teige, eldest son of Brian Boru; and was styled Monarch of Ireland from his uncle’s death at Rome, A.D. 1074.

NOTES

[1] Kings: As the kings descended from Heber, Ir, and Heremon (the three sons of Milesius of Spain who left any issue), as well as those descended from their relative Lughaidh, the son of Ithe, were all eligible for the Monarchy, the letter H, E, I or L, is employed in the foregoing Roll of the Monarchs of Ireland, before the name of each Monarch there given, to distinguish his lineal descent. Thus H, E, and I refer to tho three brothers Heber, Heremon, and Ir, respectively: H, is placed before the names of the Monarchs who were descended from Heber; E, before those descended from Eremon or Heremon; I, before those descended from Ir; and L, before those descended from Lughaidh.

[2] Cean-cait: This word cean-cait(“cat,” gen. “cait:” Irish, a cat; Gr. Vulg. “kat-is,” “gat-as,” and “kat-a;” Lat. “cat-us;” It. and Span, “gat-o;” Fr. “chat; Bel. “kat-te;” Russ. “kot-e;” Arm. “kas;” Wel. and Cor. “kath;” and Turk. “ket-i”) means cat-headed.

[3] Art Eanfhear: It is stated in the “History of the Cemeteries,” that this Monarch believed in the Faith, the day before the battle (of Magh Mucroimhe, near Athenry, where he was slain by Lughaidh Maccon, A.D.195), and predicted the spread of Christianity. It would appear also that he had some presentiment of his death; tor, he directed that he should not be buried at Brugh on the (river) Boyne, the Pagan cemetery of his forefathers, but at a place then called Dumha Dergluachra (the burial mound of the red rushy place), “where Trevait (Trevet, in the county Meath) is at this day, (see Petrie’s “Round Towers,” page 100).—Irish Names of Places.

[4] The Danes: “Ten years with four score and seven hundred was the age of Christ when the pagans went to Ireland.” The Vickings (or Danes) having been defeated in Glamorganshire in Wales, invaded Ireland, in the reign of the monarch Aodh Ornigh. In A.D. 798, they ravaged the Isle of Man, and the Hebrides in Scotland; in 802, they burned “Hi Colum Cille;” in 807, for the first time in Ireland, they marched inland; in 812 and 813, they made raids in Connaught and Munster. After thirty years of this predatory warfare had continued, Turgesius, a Norwegian Prince, established himself as sovereign of the Vickings, and made Armagh his head quarters, A.D. 830. Sometimes the Danish Chiefs mustered all their forces and left the island for a brief period, to ravage the shores of England, or Scotland; but, wild, brave, and cruel, they soon returned to inflict new barbarities on the unfortunate Irish. Turgesius appropriated the abbeys and churches of the country; and placed an abbot of his own in every monastery. A Danish captain was placed in charge of each village; and each family was obliged to maintain a soldier of that nation, who made himself master of the house, using and wasting the food, for lack of which the children of the lawful owners were often dying of hunger. All education was strictly forbidden: books and manuscripts were burned and “drowned;” and the poets, historians, and musicians, imprisoned and driven to the woods and mountains. Martial sports were interdicted, from the lowest to the highest rank; even nobles and princes were forbidden to wear their usual habilaments: the cast-off clothes of the Danes being considered sufficiently good for slaves! In A.D.948, the Danes were converted to Christianity; and at that time possessed many of the sea-coast towns of Ireland—including Dublin, Limerick, Wexford, and Waterford.—Miss Cusack.

[5] Roderick O’Connor, King of Connaught, was the last undoubted Monarch of Ireland from his predecessor’s death, A.D. 1166, for twenty years, to the year 1186; within which time, by the invitation of Dermod-na-n-Gall, King of Leinster, the English first invaded Ireland, A.D.1169. The Monarch Roderick, seeing his subjects flinch and his own sons turn against him, hearkened to and accepted the conditions offered him by King Henry II., which being ratified on both sides, A.D. 1175, Roderick continued in the government (at least the name of it), until A.D. 1186, when, weary of the world and its troubles, he forsook it and all its pomp, and retired to a Monastery, where he finished his course religiously, A.D. 1198.

[6] Brian O’Neill: It is worthy of remark that, at A.D. 1258, the Four Masters mention that “Hugh, the son of Felim O’Connor, and Teige O’Brien, marched with a great force to Caol Uisge (near Newry), to hold a conference with Brian O’Neill, to whom the foregoing chiefs, after making peace with each other, granted the sovereignty over the Irish.” And, two years later, at the Battle of Down, this Brian gallantly laid down his life in defence of the Kingdom of Ireland, which he claimed to govern. (See D’Arcy McGee’s History of Ireland, Vol. I., p. 208.) Again, the Four Masters, at A.D. 1260, in giving the names of the killed at the Battle of Drom Deirg, mention Brian O’Neill as “Chief Ruler of Ireland.” In his letter to Pope John XXII., Donal, the son of the said Brian, says he is “Donald O’Neill, King of Ulster, and by hereditary right lawful heir to the throne of Ireland.”—See CONNELLAN’S “Four Masters,” p. 722.

The Stem of the Irish Nation – Irish Pedigrees

“God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, who was from all eternity, did, in the beginning of Time, of nothing, create Red Earth; and of Red Earth framed Adam; and of a Rib out of the side of Adam fashioned Eve. After which Creation, Plasmation, and Formation, succeeded Generations, as follows.”—Four Masters.

1. Adam

2. Seth.

3. Enos.

4. Cainan.

5. Mahalaleel.

6. Jared.

7. Enoch.

8. Methuselah.

9. Lamech.

10. Noah [1] divided the world amongst his three sons, begotten of his wife Titea: viz., to Shem he gave Asia, within the Euphrates, to the Indian Ocean; to Ham he gave Syria, Arabia, and Africa; and to Japhet, the rest of Asia beyond the Euphrates, together with Europe to Gades (or Cadiz).

11. Japhet was the eldest son of Noah. He had fifteen sons, amongst whom he divided Europe and the part of Asia which his father had allotted to him.

12. Magog: From whom descended the Parthians, Bactrians, Amazons, etc.; Partholan, the first planter of Ireland,[2] about three hundred years after the Flood; and also the rest of the colonies [3] that planted there, viz., the Nemedians, who planted Ireland, Anno Mundi three thousand and forty-six, or three hundred and eighteen years after the birth of Abraham, and two thousand one hundred and fifty-three years before Christ. The Nemedians continued in Ireland for two hundred and seventeen years; within which time a colony of theirs went into the northern parts of Scotland, under the conduct of their leader Briottan Maol,[4] from whom Britain takes its name, and not from “Brutus,” as some persons believed. From Magog were also descended the Belgarian, Belgian, Firbolgian or Firvolgian colony that succeeded the Nemedians, Anno Mundi, three thousand two hundred and sixty-six, and who first erected Ireland into a Monarchy.[5] [According to some writers, the Fomorians invaded Ireland next after the Nemedians.] This Belgarian or Firvolgian colony continued in Ireland for thirty-six years, under nine of their Kings; when they were supplanted by the Tuatha-de-Danans (which means, according to some authorities, “the people of the god Dan,” whom they adored), who possessed Ireland for one hundred and ninety-seven years, during the reigns of nine of their kings; and who were then conquered by the Gaelic, Milesian, or Scotic Nation (the three names by which the Irish people were known), Anno Mundi three thousand five hundred. This Milesian or Scotic Irish Nation possessed and enjoyed the Kingdom of Ireland for two thousand eight hundred and eighty-five years, under one hundred and eighty-three Monarchs; until their submission to King Henry the Second of England, Anno Domini one thousand one hundred and eighty-six.[6]

13. Baoth, one of the sons of Magog; to whom Scythia came as his lot, upon the division of the Earth by Noah amongst his sons, and by Japhet of his part thereof amongst his sons.

14. Phoeniusa Farsaidh (or Fenius Farsa) was King of Scythia, at the time that Ninus ruled the Assyrian Empire; and, being a wise man and desirous to learn the languages that not long before confounded the builders of the Tower of Babel, employed able and learned men to go among the dispersed multitude to learn their several languages; who sometime after returning well skilled in what they went for, Phoeniusa Farsaidh erected a school in the valley of Senaar, near the city of Æothena, in the forty-second year of the reign of Ninus; whereupon, having continued there with his younger son Niul for twenty years, he returned home to his kingdom, which, at his death, he left to his eldest son Nenuall: leaving to Niul no other patrimony than his learning and the benefit of the said school.

15. Niul, after his father returned to Scythia, continued some time at Æothena, teaching the languages and other laudable sciences, until upon report of his great learning he was invited into Egypt by Pharaoh, the King; who gave him the land of Campus Cyrunt, near the Red Sea to inhabit, and his daughter Scota in marriage: from whom their posterity are ever since called Scots; but, according to some annalists, the name “Scots” is derived from the word Scythia.

It was this Niul that employed Gaodhal [Gael], son of Ethor, a learned and skilful man, to compose or rather refine and adorn the language, called Bearla Tobbai, which was common to all Niul’s posterity, and afterwards called Gaodhilg (or Gaelic), from the said Gaodhal who composed or refined it; and for his sake also Niul called his own eldest son “Gaodhal.” [The following is a translation of an extract from the derivation of this proper name, as given in Halliday’s Vol. of Keating’s Irish History, page 230:

“Antiquaries assert that the name of Gaodhal is from the compound word formed of ‘gaoith’ and ‘dil,’ which means a lover of learning; for, ‘gaoith’ is the same as wisdom or learning, and ‘dil’ is the same as loving or fond.”]

16. Gaodhal (or Gathelus), the son of Niul, was the ancestor of the Clan-na-Gael, that is, “the children or descendants of Gaodhal.” In his youth this Gaodhal was stung in the neck by a serpent, and was immediately brought to Moses, who, laying his rod upon the wounded place, instantly cured him: whence followed the word “Glas” to be added to his name, as Gaodhal Glas (glas: Irish, green; Lat. glaucus; Gr. glaukos), on account of the green scar which the word signifies, and which, during his life, remained on his neck after the wound was healed. And Gaodhal obtained a further blessing, namely—that no venemous beast can live any time where his posterity should inhabit; which is verified in Creta or Candia, Gothia or Getulia, Ireland, etc. The Irish chroniclers affirm that from this time Gaodhal and his posterity did paint the figures of Beasts, Birds, etc., on their banners and shields,[7] to distinguish their tribes and septs, in imitation of the Israelites; and that a “Thunderbolt” was the cognizance in their chief standard for many generations after this Gaodhal.

17. Asruth, after his father’s death, continued in Egypt, and governed his colony in peace during his life.

18. Sruth, soon after his father’s death, was (see page 31) set upon by the Egyptians, on account of their former animosities towards their predecessors for having taken part with the Israelites against them; which animosities until then lay raked up in the embers, and now broke out in a flame to that degree, that after many battles and conflicts, wherein most of his colony lost their lives, Sruth was forced with the few remaining to depart the country; and, after many traverses at sea, arrived at the Island of Creta (now called Candia), where he paid his last tribute to nature.

19. Heber Scut (scut: Irish, a Scot), after his father’s death and a year’s stay in Creta, departed thence, leaving some of his people to inhabit the Island, where some of their posterity likely still remain; “because the Island breeds no venemous serpent ever since.” He and his people soon after arrived in Scythia; where his cousins, the posterity of Nenuall (eldest son of Fenius Farsa, above mentioned), refusing to allot a place of habitation for him and his colony, they fought many battles wherein Heber (with the assistance of some of the natives who were ill-affected towards their king), being always victor, he at length forced the sovereignty from the other, and settled himself and his colony in Scythia, who continued there for four generations. (Hence the epithet Scut, “a Scot” or “a Scythian,” was applied to this Heber, who is accordingly called Heber Scot.) Heber Scot was afterwards slain in battle by Noemus the former king’s son.

20. Beouman; 21. Ogaman; and 22. Tait, were each kings of Scythia, but in constant war with the natives; so that after Tait’s death his son,

23. Agnon and his followers betook themselves to sea, wandering and coasting upon the Caspian Sea for several (some say seven) years in which time he died.

24. Lamhfionn and his fleet remained at sea for some time after his father’s death, resting and refreshing themselves upon such islands as they met with. It was then that Cachear, their magician or Druid, foretold that there would be no end of their peregrinations and travel until they should arrive at the Western Island of Europe, now called Ireland, which was the place destined for their future and lasting abode and settlement; and that not they but their posterity after three hundred years should arrive there. After many traverses of fortune at sea, this little fleet with their leader arrived at last and landed at Gothia or Getulia—more recently called Lybia, where Carthage was afterwards built; and, soon after, Lamhfionn died there.

25. Heber Glunfionn was born in Getulia, where he died. His posterity continued there to the eighth generation; and were kings or chief rulers there for one hundred and fifty years—some say three hundred years.

26. Agnan Fionn; 27. Febric Glas; 28. Nenuall; 29. Nuadhad; 30. Alladh; 31. Arcadh; and 32. Deag: of these nothing remarkable is mentioned, but that they lived and died kings in Gothia or Getulia.

33. Brath was born in Gothia. Remembering the Druid’s prediction, and his people having considerably multiplied during their abode in Getulia, he departed thence with a numerous fleet to seek out the country destined for their final settlement, by the prophecy of Cachear, the Druid above mentioned; and, after some time, he landed upon the coast of Spain, and by strong hand settled himself and his colony in Galicia, in the north of that country.

34. Breoghan (or Brigus) was king of Galicia, Andalusia, Murcia, Castile, and Portugal—all which he conquered. He built Breoghan’s Tower or Brigantia in Galicia, and the city of Brigansa or Braganza in Portugal—called after him; and the kingdom of Castile was then also called after him Brigia. It is considered that “Castile” itself was so called from the figure of a castlewhich Brigus bore for his Arms on his banner. Brigus sent a colony into Britain, who settled in that territory now known as the counties of York, Lancaster, Durham, Westmoreland, and Cumberland, and, after him, were called Brigantes; whose posterity gave formidable opposition to the Romans, at the time of the Roman invasion of Britain.

35. Bilé was king of those countries after his father’s death; and his son Galamh [galav] or Milesius succeeded him. This Bilé had a brother named Ithe.

36. Milesius, in his youth and during his father’s life-time, went into Scythia, where he was kindly received by the king of that country, who gave him his daughter in marriage, and appointed him General of his forces. In this capacity Milesius defeated the king’s enemies, gained much fame, and the love of all the king’s subjects. His growing greatness and popularity excited against him the jealousy of the king; who, fearing the worst, resolved on privately despatching Milesius out of the way, for, openly, he dare not attempt it. Admonished of the king’s intentions in his regard, Milesius slew him; and thereupon quitted Scythia and retired into Egypt with a fleet of sixty sail. Pharaoh Nectonibus, then king of Egypt, being informed of his arrival and of his great valour, wisdom, and conduct in arms, made him General of all his forces against the king of Ethiopia then invading his country. Here, as in Scythia, Milesius was victorious; he forced the enemy to submit to the conqueror’s own terms of peace. By these exploits Milesius found great favour with Pharaoh, who gave him, being then a widower, his daughter Scota in marriage; and kept him eight years afterwards in Egypt.

During the sojourn of Milesius in Egypt, he employed the most ingenious and able persons among his people to be instructed in the several trades, arts, and sciences used in Egypt; in order to have them taught to the rest of his people on his return to Spain.

[The original name of Milesius of Spain was, as already mentioned, “Galamh” (gall: Irish, a stranger; amh, a negative affix), which means, no stranger: meaning that he was no stranger in Egypt, where he was called “Milethea Spaine,” which was afterwards contracted to ” Milé Spaine” (meaning the Spanish Hero), and finally to “Milesius” (mileadh: Irish, a hero; Lat. miles, a soldier).]

At length Milesius took leave of his father-in-law, and steered towards Spain; where he arrived to the great joy and comfort of his people, who were much harasssed by the rebellion of the natives and by the intrusion of other foreign nations that forced in after his father’s death, and during his own long absence from Spain. With these and those he often met; and, in fifty-four battles, victoriously fought, he routed, destroyed, and totally extirpated them out of the country, which he settled in peace and quietness.

In his reign a great dearth and famine occurred in Spain, of twenty-six years’ continuance, occasioned, as well by reason of the former troubles which hindered the people from cultivating and manuring the ground, as for want of rain to moisten the earth; but Milesius superstitiously believed the famine to have fallen upon him and his people as a judgment and punishment from their gods, for their negligence in seeking out the country destined for their final abode, so long before foretold by Cachear their Druid or magician, as already mentioned—the time limited by the prophecy for the accomplishment thereof being now nearly, if not fully, expired. To expiate his fault and to comply with the will of his gods, Milesius, with the general approbation of his people, sent his uncle Ithe, with his son Lughaidh [Luy], and one hundred and fifty stout men to bring them an account of those western islands; who, accordingly, arriving at the island since then called Ireland, and landing in that part of it now called Munster, left his son with fifty of his men to guard the ship, and with the rest travelled about the island. Informed, among other things, that the three sons of Cearmad, called Mac-Cuill, MacCeacht, and MacGreine, did then and for thirty years before rule and govern the island, each for one year, in his turn; and that the country was called after the names of their three queens—Eire, Fodhla, and Banbha, respectively: one year called “Eire,” the next “Fodhla,” and the next “Banbha,” as their husbands reigned in their regular turns; by which names the island is ever since indifferently called, but most commonly “Eire,”[8] because that MacCuill, the husband of Eire, ruled and governed the country in his turn the year that the Clan-na-Milé (or the sons of Milesius) arrived in and conquered Ireland. And being further informed that the three brothers were then at their palace at Aileach Neid,[9] in the north part of the country, engaged in the settlement of some disputes concerning their family jewels, Ithe directed his course thither; sending orders to his son to sail about with his ship and the rest of his men, and meet him there.

When Ithe arrived where the (Danan) brothers were, he was honourably received and entertained by them; and, finding him to be a man of great wisdom and knowledge, they referred their disputes to him for decision. That decision having met their entire satisfaction, Ithe exhorted them to mutual love, peace, and forbearance; adding much in praise of their delightful, pleasant, and fruitful country; and then took his leave, to return to his ship, and go back to Spain.

No sooner was he gone than the brothers began to reflect on the high commendations which Ithe gave of the Island; and, suspecting his design of bringing others to invade it, resolved to prevent them, and therefore pursued him with a strong party, overtook him, fought and routed his men and wounded himself to death (before his son or the rest of his men left on ship-board could come to his rescue) at a place called, from that fight and his name, Magh Ithe or “The plain of Ithe” (an extensive plain in the barony of Raphoe, county Donegal); whence his son, having found him in that condition, brought his dead and mangled body back into Spain, and there exposed it to public view, thereby to excite his friends and relations to avenge his murder.

And here I think it not amiss to notify what the Irish chroniclers, observe upon this matter, viz.—that all the invaders and planters of Ireland, namely, Partholan, Neimhedh, the Firbolgs, Tuatha-de-Danans, and Clan-na-Milé, where originally Scythians, of the line of Japhet, who had the language called Bearla-Tobbai or Gaoidhilg [Gaelic] common amongst them all; and consequently not to be wondered at, that Ithe and the Tuatha-de-Danans understood one another without an Interpreter—both speaking the same language, though perhaps with some difference in the accent.

The exposing of the dead body of Ithe had the desired effect; for, thereupon, Milesius made great preparations in order to invade Ireland—as well to avenge his uncle’s death, as also in obedience to the will of his gods, signified by the prophecy of Cachear, aforesaid. But, before he could effect that object, he died, leaving the care and charge of that expedition upon his eight legitimate sons by his two wives before mentioned.

Milesius was a very valiant champion, a great warrior, and fortunate and prosperous in all his undertakings: witness his name of “Milesius,” given him from the many battles (some say a thousand, which the word “Milé” signifies in Irish as well as in Latin) which he victoriously fought and won, as well in Spain, as in all the other countries and kingdoms he traversed in his younger days.

The eight brothers were neither forgetful nor negligent in the execution of their father’s command; but, soon after his death, with a numerous fleet well manned and equipped, set forth from Breoghan’s Tower or Brigantia (now Corunna) in Galicia, in Spain, and sailed prosperously to the coasts of Ireland or Inis-Fail,[10] where they met many difficulties and various chances before they could land: occasioned by the diabolical arts, sorceries, and enchantments used by the Tuatha-de-Danans, to obstruct their landing; for, by their magic art, they enchanted the island so as to appear to the Milesians or Clan-na-Milé in the form of a Hog, and no way to come at it (whence the island, among the many other names it had before, was called Muc-Inis or “The Hog Island”); and withal raised so great a storm, that the Milesian fleet was thereby totally dispersed and many of them cast away, wherein five of the eight brothers, sons of Milesius, lost their lives. That part of the fleet commanded by Heber, Heremon, and Amergin (the three surviving brothers), and Heber Donn, son of Ir (one of the brothers lost in the storm), overcame all opposition, landed safe, fought and routed the three Tuatha-de Danan Kings at Slieve-Mis, and thence pursued and overtook them at Tailten, where another bloody battle was fought; wherein the three (Tuatha-de-Danan) Kings and their Queens were slain, and their army utterly routed and destroyed: so that they could never after give any opposition to the Clan-na-Milé in their new conquest; who, having thus sufficiently avenged the death of their great uncle Ithe, gained the possession of the country foretold them by Cachear, some ages past, as already mentioned.

Heber and Heremon, the chief leading men remaining of the eight brothers, sons of Milesius aforesaid, divided the kingdom between them (allotting a proportion of land to their brother Amergin, who was their Arch-priest, Druid, or magician; and to their nephew Heber Donn, and to the rest of their chief commanders), and became jointly the first of one hundred and eighty-three [11] Kings or sole Monarchs of the Gaelic, Milesian, or Scottish Race, that ruled and governed Ireland, successively, for two thousand eight hundred and eighty-five years from the first year of their reign, Anno Mundi three thousand five hundred, to their submission to the Crown of England in the person of King Henry the Second; who, being also of the Milesian Race by Maude, his mother, was lineally descended from Fergus Mor MacEarca, first King of Scotland, who was descended from the said Heremon—so that the succession may be truly said to continue in the Milesian Blood from before Christ one thousand six hundred and ninety-nine years down to the present time.

Heber and Heremon reigned jointly one year only, when, upon a difference between their ambitious wives, they quarrelled and fought a battle at Ardcath or Geshill (Geashill, near Tullamore in the King’s County), where Heber was slain by Heremon; and, soon after, Amergin, who claimed an equal share in the government, was, in another battle fought between them, likewise slain by Heremon. Thus, Heremon became sole Monarch, and made a new division of the land amongst his comrades and friends, viz.: the south part, now called Munster, he gave to his brother Heber’s four sons, Er, Orba, Feron, and Fergna; the north part, now Ulster, he gave to Ir’s only son Heber Donn; the east part or Coigeadh Galian, now called Leinster, he gave to Criomthann-sciath-bheil, one of his commanders; and the west part, now called Connaught, Heremon gave to Un-Mac-Oigge, another of his commanders; allotting a part of Munster to Lughaidh (the son of Ithe, the first Milesian discoverer of Ireland), amongst his brother Heber’s sons.

From these three brothers, Heber, Ir, and Heremon (Amergin dying without issue), are descended all the Milesian Irish of Ireland and Scotland, viz.: from Heber, the eldest brother, the provincial Kings of Munster (of whom thirty-eight were sole Monarchs of Ireland), and most of the nobility and gentry of Munster, and many noble families in Scotland, are descended.

From Ir, the second brother, all the provincial Kings of Ulster (of whom twenty-six were sole Monarchs of Ireland), and all the ancient nobility and gentry of Ulster, and many noble families in Leinster, Munster, and Connaught, derive their pedigrees; and, in Scotland, the Clan-na-Rory—the descendants of an eminent man, named Ruadhri or Roderick, who was Monarch of Ireland for seventy years (viz., from Before Christ 288 to 218).

From Heremon, the youngst of the three brothers, were descended one hundred and fourteen sole Monarchs of Ireland: the provincial Kings and Hermonian nobility and gentry of Leinster, Connaught, Meath, Orgiall, Tirowen, Tirconnell, and Clan-na-boy; the Kings of Dalriada; all the Kings of Scotland from Fergus. Mor MacEarca down to the Stuarts; and the Kings and Queens of England from Henry the Second down to the present time.

The issue of Ithe is not accounted among the Milesian Irish or Clan-na-Milé, as not being descended from Milesius, but from his uncle Ithe; of whose posterity there were also some Monarchs of Ireland (see Roll of the Irish Monarchs, infra), and many provincial or half provincial Kings of Munster: that country upon its first division being allocated to the sons of Heber and to Lughaidh, son of Ithe, whose posterity continued there accordingly.

This invasion, conquest, or plantation of Ireland by the Milesian or Scottish Nation took place in the Year of the World three thousand five hundred, or the next year after Solomon began the foundation of the Temple of Jerusalem, and one thousand six hundred and ninety-nine years before the Nativity of our Saviour Jesus Christ; which, according to the Irish computation of Time, occurred Anno Mundi five thousand one hundred and ninety-nine: therein agreeing with the Septuagint, Roman Martyrologies, Eusebius, Orosius, and other ancient authors; which computation the ancient Irish chroniclers exactly observed in their Books of the Reigns of the Monarchs of Ireland, and other Antiquities of that Kingdom; out of which the Roll of the Monarchs of Ireland, from the beginning of the Milesian Monarchy to their submission to King Henry the Second of England, a Prince of their own Blood, is exactly collected.

[As the Milesian invasion of Ireland took place the next year after the laying of the foundation of the Temple of Jerusalem by Solomon, King of Israel, we may infer that Solomon was contemporary with Milesius of Spain; and that the Pharaoh King of Egypt, who (1 Kings iii. 1,) gave his daughter in marriage to Solomon, was the Pharaoh who conferred on Milesius of Spain the hand of another daughter Scota.]

Milesius of Spain bore three Lions in his shield and standard, for the following reasons; namely, that, in his travels in his younger clays into foreign countries, passing through Africa, he, by his cunning and valour, killed in one morning three Lions; and that, in memory of so noble and valiant an exploit, he always after bore three Lions on his shield, which his two surviving sons Heber and Heremon, and his grandson Heber Donn, son of Ir, after their conquest of Ireland, divided amongst them, as well as they did the country: each of them bearing a Lion in his shield and banner, but of different colours; which the Chiefs of their posterity continue to this day: some with additions and differences; others plain and entire as they had it from their ancestors.

NOTES

[1] Noah: This allusion to his wife “Titea” would imply that Noah had other children besides, Shem, Ham, and Japhet. The Four Masters say that he had a son named Bith.—See Note, “The Deluge,” page 7.

[2] Ireland: According to the Four Masters, “Ireland” is so called from Ir, the second son of Milesius of Spain who left any issue. It was known to the ancients by the following names:—

To the Irish as—1. Inis Ealga, or the Noble Isle. 2. Fiodh-Inis, or the Woody Island. 3. Crioch Fuinidh, the Final or most remote Country. 4. Inis-Fail, or the Island of Destiny. 5. Fodhla, learned. 6. Banba (from the Irish banabh, a sucking pig.) 7. Eire, Eri, Eirin, and Erin, supposed by some to signify the Western Isle. 8. Muig Inis, meaning the Island of Mist or Melancholy.

To the Greeks and Romans as—9. Ierne, Ierna, Iernis, Iris, and Irin. 10. Ivernia, Ibernia, Hibernia, Juvernia, Jouvernia, Hiberia, Hiberione, and Verna. 11. Insula Sacra. 12. Ogy-gia, or the Most Ancient Land. (Plutarch, in the first century of the Christian era, calls Ireland by the name Ogy-gia; and Camden says that Ireland is justly called Ogy-gia, as the Irish, he says, can trace their history from the most remote antiquity : Hence O’Flaherty has adopted the name “Ogy-gia” for his celebrated work, in Latin, on Irish history and antiquities.) 13. Scotia. 14. Insula Sanctorum.

To the Anglo-Saxon as—15. Eire-land.

To the Danes as—16. Irlandi, and Irar.

To the Anglo-Normans as—17. Irelande.

[3] Colonies: According to some of the ancient Irish Chroniclers, the following were the nations that colonized Ireland:—

1. Partholan and his followers, called in Irish Muintir Phartholain, meaning “Partholan’s People.” 2. The Nemedians. 3. The Fomorians, 4. The Firbolgs or Firvolgians, who were also called Belgae or Belgians. 5. The Tuatha-de-Danans. 6. The Milesians or Gaels. 7. The Cruthneans or Picts. 8. The Danes and Norwegians (or Scandinavians). 9. The Anglo-Normans. 10. The Anglo-Saxons (or English). 11. The Scots from North Britain.

1. Partholan and his followers came from Scythia, and were located chiefly in Ulster at Inis-Saimer, in Donegal, and in Leinster at Ben Edair (now the Hill of Howth), in the county Dublin. After they had been in Ireland some thirty years, nearly the whole people perished by a plague; thousands of them were buried in a common tomb, in Tallaght, a place near Dublin: the name “Tallaght” meaning Tam-Laghtor the Plague Sepulchre.

2. The Nemedians came from Scythia in Europe, and were located chiefly in Ulster at Ardmacha (or Armagh), and in Derry and Donegal; and in Leinster at the Hill of Uisneach, which is situated a few miles from Mullingar, in the county Westmeath.

3. Fomorians: According to the Annals of Clonmacnoise, the Fomorians (fogh: Irish, plundering; muir, the sea) were a “sept descended from Cham, son of Noah, who lived by pyracie and spoile of other nations, and were in those days very troublesome to the whole world and, according to O’Donovan’s “Four Masters,” the name “Fomorians” was that given by the ancient Irish to the inhabitants of Finland, Denmark, and Norway; but, according to Connellan, those people are considered to have come from the north of Africa, from a place called Lybia or Getulia, and to have been some of the Feiné or Phoenicians, whose descendants afterwards there founded the city of Carthage; and in Spain the cities of Gahdir or Gades (now Cadiz), and Kartabah (now Cordova). As Sidon in Phoenicia was a maritime city in the time of Joshua, and its people expert navigators; and as the Phoenicians, Sidonians, and Tyrians, in those early ages, were celebrated for their commercial intercourse with Greece, Italy, Gaul, Spain, and Britain, there is nothing whatever improbable in a colony of them having sailed from Africa to Ireland: whose coming from Africa may have led to the belief that they were “descended from Cham (Ham); as their commercial intercourse with other nations may have led to their being considered “pirates.” Possibly, then, the Fomorians here mentioned were the Erithneans, who were Phoenicians, and a colony of whom settled in Ireland at a very early period in the world’s history. The Fomorians are represented as a race of giants, and were celebrated as having been great builders in stone. They were located principally along the coasts of Ulster and Connaught, mostly in Antrim, Derry, Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo, and Mayo, and had their chief fortress (called Tor Conaing or Conang’s Tower) on Tor Inis or the Island of the Tower, now known as “Tory Island,” which is off the coast of Donegal; and another at the Giants’ Causeway, which in Irish was called Cloghan-na-Fomoraigh or the Causeway of the Fomorians, as it was supposed to have been constructed by this people, who, from their great strength and stature, were, as above mentioned, called giants: hence the term “Giants’ Causeway”—a stupendous natural curiosity of volcanic origin, situated on the sea-coast of Antrim, and consisting of a countless number of basaltic columns of immense height, which, from the regularity of their formation and arrangement, have the appearance of a vast work of art; and hence were supposed to have been constructed by giants.

After the Fomorians became masters of the country, the Nemedians (neimhedh: Irish, dirt, filth of any kind), were reduced to slavery, and compelled to pay a great annual tribute on the first day of winter—consisting of corn, cattle, milk, and other provisions; and the place where these tributes were received was named Magh Ceitne, signifying the Plain of Compulsion, and so called from these circumstances. This plain was situated between the rivers Erne and Drabhois (drabhas: Irish, dirt, nastiness), between Ballyshannon and Bundrowes, on the borders of Donegal, Leitrim, and Fermanagh, along the sea-shore.—See Connellan’s “Four Masters.”

Three bands of the Nemedians emigrated with their respective captains: one party wandered into the north of Europe; others made their way to Greece, where they were enslaved, and obtained the name of “Firbolgs” or bagmen, from the leathern bags which they were compelled to carry; and the third section took refuge in England, which obtained its name Britain, from their leader “Briottan Maol.”—See Miss Cusack’s “History of Ireland.”

4. The Firbolgs or Firvolgians, who were also Scythians, divided Ireland amongst the five sons of their leader Dela Mac Loich: “Slainge [slane] was he by whom Teamor (or Tara) was first raised.” (Four Masters). One hundred and fifty Monarchs reigned in Tara from that period until its abandonment in the reign of Diarmod, son of Fergus Cearrbheoil, who was the 133rd Monarch of Ireland, and King of Meath. The Firvolgians ruled over Connaught down to the third century, when King Cormac Mac Art, the 115th Monarch of Ireland, attacked and defeated the forces of Aodh or Hugh, son of Garadh, King of Connaught, who was the last King of the Firbolg race in Ireland; and the sovereignty of Connaught was then transferred to the Milesians of the race of Heremon—descendants of King Cormac Mac Art. The Firbolg race never after acquired any authority in Ireland, being reduced to the ranks of farmers and peasants; but they were still very numerous, and to this day a great many of the peasantry, particularly in Connaught, are considered to be of Firbolg origin.

5. The Tuatha de Danans, also of the Scythian family, invaded Ireland thirty-six years after the plantation by the Firbolgs. According to some annalists, they came originally from Persia, and to others, from Greece; and were located chiefly at Tara in Meath, at Croaghan in Connaught, and at Aileach in Donegal. The Danans being highly skilled in the arts, the Round Towers of Ireland are supposed to have been built by them. The light, gay, joyous element of the Irish character may be traced to them. They were a brave and high-spirited race, and famous for their skill in what was then termed Magic: hence, in after ages, this wonderful people were considered to have continued to live in hills or raths, as the “good people” long so commonly believed in as fairies, in Ireland. But their “magic” consisted in the exercise of the mechanical arts, of which those who had previously invaded Ireland were then ignorant. It is a remarkable fact, that weapons of warfare found in the carns or gravemounds of the Firbolgs are of an inferior kind to those found in the carns of the Tuatha-de-Danans: a proof of the superior intelligence of the latter over the former people. The inventor of the Ogham [owam] Alphabet (ogham: Irish, “an occult manner of writing used by the ancient Irish”) was Ogma, father of one of the Tuatha-de-Danan Kings. In McCartin’s Irish Grammar it is stated that there were no less than thirty-five different modes of writing the Ogham, which has hitherto defied the power of modern science to unravel its mysteries. But the truth of our ancient history is strangely confirmed by the fact that the letters of this Alphabet are all denominated by the names of trees and shrubs indigenous to Ireland! According to the “Book of Leinster,” it was “Cet Cuimnig, King of Munster, of the royal line of Heber, that was the first that inscribed Ozam[or Ogham] memorials in Erinn.” This extract gives a clue to the period when Ogham stones were first erected, and why the most of them are to be found in the Province of Munster; for, according to the Septuagint system of chronology, that King of Munster reigned about the year 1257 before the birth of Christ!

6. The Milesians invaded Ireland one hundred and ninety-seven years later than the Tuatha de Danans; and were called Clan-na-Mile [meel], signifying the descendants of Milesius of Spain.

7. The Cruthneans or Picts were also Scythians, and, according to our ancient historians, came from Thrace soon after the arrival of the Milesians; but, not being permitted by the Milesians to remain in Ireland, they sailed to Scotland and became the possessors of that country, but tributary to the Monarchs of Ireland. In after ages colonies of them came over and settled in Ulster; they were located chiefly in the territories which now form the counties of Down, Antrim, and Derry.

8. The Danes and Norwegians (or Scandinavians), a Teutonic race of Scythian origin, came to Ireland in great numbers, in the ninth and tenth centuries, and were located chiefly in Leinster and Munster, in many places along the sea-coast: their strongholds being the towns of Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, and Limerick.

9. The Anglo-Normans came to Ireland in the twelfth century, and possessed themselves of a great part of the country, under their chief leader, Richard de Clare, who was also named Strongbow. They were a Teutonic race, descended from the Normans of France, who were a mixture of Norwegians, Danes, and French, and who conquered England in the eleventh century. The English invasion of Ireland was accomplished ostensibly through the agency of Dermod MacMorough, King of Leinster; on account of his having been driven from his country by the Irish Monarch for the abduction of the wife of Tiernan O’Ruarc, Prince of Breffni. For that act, Roderick O’Connor, the Monarch of Ireland, invaded the territory of Dermod,A.D.1167, and put him to flight. King Dermod was obliged, after many defeats, to leave Ireland, in 1167; throw himself at the feet of King Henry the Second, and crave his assistance, offering to become his liegeman. Henry, on receiving Dermod’s oath of allegiance, granted by letters patent a general license to all his English subjects to aid King Dermod in the recovery of his Kingdom. Dermod then engaged in his cause Richard de Clare or Strongbow, to whom he afterwards gave his daughter Eva, in marriage; and through his influence an army was raised, headed by Robert Fitzstephen, Myler Fitzhenry, Harvey de Monte Marisco, Maurice Prendergast, Maurice Fitzgerald, and others; with which, in May, 1168, he landed in Bannow-bay, near Wexford, which they reduced, together with the adjoining counties—all in the kingdom of Leinster. In 1171, Earl Strongbow landed at Waterford with a large body of followers and took possession of that city. He then joined King Dermod’s forces, marched for Dublin, entered the city, and made himself master.

King Dermod died in his castle at Ferns, county Wexford, A.D. 1175, about the 65th year of his age. Of him Holingshed says—”He was a man of tall stature and of a large and great body, a valiant and bold warrior in his nation. From his continued shouting, his voice was hoarse; he rather chose to be feared than to be loved, and was a great oppressor of his nobility. To his own people he was rough and grievous, and hateful unto strangers; his hand was against all men, and all men against him.”

10. The Anglo-Saxons or English, also a Tuetonic race, came from the twelfth to the eighteenth century. The Britons or Welsh came in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. These English colonies were located chiefly in Leinster, but also in great numbers in Munster and Connaught, and partly in Ulster.

11. The Scots, who were chiefly Celts of Irish descent, came in great numbers from the tenth to the sixteenth century, and settled in Ulster, mostly in Antrim, Down, and Derry; but, on the Plantation of Ulster with British colonies, in the seventeenth century, the new settlers in that province were chiefly Scotch, who were a mixture of Celts and Saxons. Thus the seven first colonies that settled in Ireland were a mixture of Scythians, Gaels, and Phoenicians; but the four last were mostly Teutons, though mixed with Celts; and a compound of all these races, in which Celtic blood is predominant, forms the present population of Ireland.

[4] Briottan Maol: See No. 19 on “The Pedigree of St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland,” Part I., c. vi., p. 43.

[5] Monarchy: Mac Firbis shows that Ireland was a Monarchy, before and after Christ, for a period of 4,149 (four thousand, one hundred and forty-nine) years!

[6] A.D. 1186: It was, no doubt, in that year, that, weary of the world and its troubles, Roderick O’Connor, the 183rd Monarch of Ireland, retired to a Monastery, where he died, A.D. 1198. But, see No. 184 on the “Roll of the Monarchs of Ireland since the Milesian Conquest,” and the Note “Brian O’Neill,” in connection with that Number.

[7] Shields: This shows the great antiquity of Gaelic Heraldry.

[8] Eire: Ancient Irish historians assert that this Queen was granddaughter of Ogma, who (see ante, page 47, in Note No. 5, under “Tuatha de Danans,”) invented the Ogham, Alphabet; and that it is after that Queen, that Ireland is always personated by a Female figure!

[9] Aileach Neid: This name may be derived from the Irish aileach, a stone horse or stallion, or aileachta, jewels; and Neid, the Mars of the Pagan Irish. In its time it was one of the most important fortresses in Ireland.

[10] Inis-Fail: Thomas Moore, in his Irish Melodies, commemorates this circumstance in the “Song of Inisfail”:

They came from a land beyond the sea

And now o’er the western main

Set sail, in their good ships, gallantly,

From the sunny land of Spain.

“Oh, where’s the isle we’ve seen in dreams,

Our destined home or grave?”

Thus sang they, as by the morning’s beams,

They swept the Atlantic wave.

And lo! where afar o’er ocean shines

A spark of radiant green,

As though in that deep lay emerald mines,

Whose light through the wave was seen.

” ‘Tis Innisfail—’tis Innisfail!”

Rings o’er the echoing sea;

While, bending to heaven, the warriors hail

That home of the brave and free.

Then turned they unto the Eastern wave,

Where now their Day-god’s eye

A look of such sunny omen gave

As lighted up sea and sky.

Nor frown was seen through sky or sea,

Nor tear o’er leaf or sod,

When first on their Isle of Destiny

Our great forefathers trod.

[11] Three: We make the number to be 184: see p. 62, infra.

The Lineal Descent of the Royal Family of England – Irish Pedigrees

Forman, who wrote in the eighteenth century, says:

“The greatest antiquity which the august House of Hanover itself can boast, is deduced from the Royal Stem of Ireland.”

The following Table carefully exhibits the “Royal Stem of Ireland,” from which the present Royal Family of England derives its lineal descent:

136. Victoria Alexandrina, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, living in 1887: Daughter of

135. Edward, Duke of Kent: son of

134. George the Third: son of

133. Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales: son of

132. George the Second: son of

131. George the First: son of

130. Princess Sophia; married to Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick and first “Elector of Hanover,” A.D. 1658; died at Hanover on the 8th June, 1714: daughter of

129. Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia: daughter of

128. James the First of England and Sixth of Scotland: son of

127. Mary, Queen of Scots: daughter of

126. James the Fifth of Scotland: son of

125. Margaret: daughter of

124. Elizabeth of York: daughter of

123. Edward the Fourth: son of

122. Richard Plantagenet: son of

121. Lady Anne Mortimer: daughter of

120. Roger Mortimer: son of

119. Lady Philippa; married to Edward Mortimer, Earl of March, from which marriage descended the House of York, or “The White Rose;” born, 16th August, 1335: only child of

118. Lionel, Duke of Clarence: son of

117. Edward the Third: son of

116. Edward the Second: son of

115. Edward the First [1]: son of

114. Henry the Third: son of

113. John: son of

112. Henry the Second: son of

111. The Princess Maude: daughter of

110. Queen Matilda (in whom the lineal descent continues: who was the wife of Henry the First of England, the youngest son of William the Conqueror): only daughter of Malcolm III. (d. 1093).

109. Malcolm the Third, of Scotland: son of Duncan (d. 1041).

108. Duncan: son of Beatrix. Malcolm the Second left no issue but two daughters, named Beatrix (or Beatrice) and Doda. Beatrice, the elder daughter, got married to Crinan,[2] lord of the Isles, and by him had a son named Duncan, the father of Malcolm the Third; while Doda, the younger daughter, got married to Synel, lord of Glammis, and by him had a son named MacBeatha or MacBeth (d. 1057). Before the accession to the throne of Scotland, of Malcolm the Third or Malcolm Ceann Mor (cean mor: Irish, large head), as he was called, on account of the largesize of his head, the lineal descent continued in the following:

108. Duncan, who d. 1041: son of

107. Beatrix (or Beatrice): daughter of

106. Malcolm the Second, who d. 1040: son of

105. Cenneth, who d. 994: son of

104. Malcolm the First, who d. 958: son of

103. Donald, who d. 903: son of

102. Constantine, who d. 878: son of

101. Cenneth (known as “Kinneth MacAlpin”), who d. 854: son of

100. Alpin, who d. 834: son of

99. Eochaidh (or Eochy) Rinnamail: son of

98. Aodh (or Hugh) Fionn: son of

97. Donart: son of

96. Donald Breac: son of

95. Eochaidh Buidhe [4] (buidhe: Irish, yellow): son of

94. Ædhan: son of

93. Gabhran.

The Scotch historians differ in some particulars from the ancient Irish annalists: for instance, they record this Gabhran (No. 93) as the soninstead of the grandson, of Donart, No. 91.

93. Gabhran: son of

92. Eochaidh: son of

91. Donart: son of

90. Fergus Mor Mac Earca.

“In A.D. 498, Fergus Mor Mac Earca, in the twentieth year of the reign of his father, Muredach, son of (Eugenius, or) Owen, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages, with five more of his brothers, viz., another Fergus, two more named Loarn, and two named Aongus (or Æneas), with a complete army, went into Scotland to assist his grandfather Loarn, who was king of Dalriada, and who was much oppressed by his enemies the Picts, who were in several battles and engagements vanquished and overcome by Fergus and his party. Whereupon, on the king’s death, which happened about the same time, the said Fergus was unanimously elected and chosen king, as being of the Blood Royal, by his mother; and the said Fergus was the first absolute king of Scotland, of the Milesian Race: so the succession continued in his blood and lineage ever since to this day.”—Four Masters.

According to the Scottish chroniclers, it was A.D. 424, that Fergus Mor Mac Earca went from Ireland to Scotland. Before him, the Milesian kings in that country were kings only of that part of it called “Dalriada,” of which Loarn, the grandfather of Fergus Mor Mac Earca (Mac Earca: Irish, son of Earca, daughter of Loarn) was the last king (see Part IX., c. iv. under “The Genealogy of the Kings of Dalriada”).

90. Fergus Mor Mac Earca, the brother of Murchertach (or Murtogh Mor Mac Earca, the 131st Monarch of Ireland:[5] son of

89. Muredach: son of

88. Eoghan [Owen]: son of

87. Niall Mor (known as Niall of the Nine Hostages), the 126th Monarch: son of

86. Eochaidh Muigh Meadhoin (or Eochy Moyvone), the 124th Monarch: son of

85. Muredach Tireach [teeragh], 122nd Monarch: son of

84. Fiacha Srabhteine, the 120th Monarch: son of

83. Cairbre Liffechar, the 117th Monarch: son of

82. Cormac Ulfhada (commonly called “Cormac Mac Art”), the 115th Monarch: son of

81. Art-Ean-Fhear (or Art-Enear), the 112th Monarch: the ancestor [6] of O’h-Airt, anglicised O’Hart: son of

80. Conn Ceadcatha (or Conn of the Hundred Battles), the 110th Monarch: son of

79. Felim Rachtmar (or Felim the Lawgiver), the 108th Monarch: son of

78. Tuathal Teachdmar, the 106th Monarch: son of

77. Fiacha Fionn Ola (or Fiacha of the White Oxen), the 124th Monarch: son of

76. Feareadach [Feredach] Fionn Feachtnach (or Feredach the True and Sincere), the 102nd Monarch: son of

75. Crimthann Niadh-Nar (called Crimthann the Heroic), the 100th Monarch, who reigned when Christwas born: son of

74. Lugaidh Sriabh-n Dearg, the 98th Monarch: son of

73. Breas-Nar-Lothar: son of

72. Eochaidh Feidhlioch, the 93rd Monarch: son of

71. Fionn: son of

70. Fionnlaoch: son of

69. Roighean Ruadh: son of

68. Asaman Eamhnadh: son of

67. Enda Agneach, the 84th Monarch: son of

66. Aongus (or Æneas) Turmeach-Teamrach, the 81st Monarch (from whose younger son, Fiacha Fearmara, the kings of Dalriada, in Scotland, down to Loarn, the maternal grandfather of Fergus Mor Mac Earca, No. 90 on this stem, were descended): son of

65. Eochaidh Altleathan, the 79th Monarch: son of

64. Olioll Casfiacalach, the 77th Monarch: son of

63. Conla Caomh, the 76th Monarch: son of

62. Iarn Gleo-Fhathach, the 74th Monarch: son of

61. Melg Molbhthach, the 71st Monarch: son of

60. Cobthach Caol-bhreagh, the 69th Monarch: son of

59. Ugaine Mor, the 66th Monarch: son of

58. Eochaidh Buidh: son of

57. Duach Ladhrach, the 59th Monarch: son of

56. Fiachadh Tolgrach, the 55th Monarch: son of

55. Muirerdhach [Muredach] Bolgach, the 46th Monarch: son of

54. Simeon Breac, the 44th Monarch: son of

53. Aodh Glas: son of

52. Nuadhas Fionnfail, the 39th Monarch: son of

51. Giallchadh, the 37th Monarch: son of

50. Olioll Olchaoin: son of

49. Siorna Saoghalach, the 34th Monarch: his son; lived 250 years, and reigned 150 years.

48. Dein: son of

47. Rotheachta, the 22nd Monarch: son of

46. Maon: son of

45. Aongus Ollmuchach, the 20th Monarch: son of

44. Fiachadh Lamhraein, the 18th Monarch: son of

43. Simorgoill: son of

42. Eanbrotha , son of

41. Tighearnmas, the 13th Monarch: son of

40. Falach (or Fallain): son of

39. Eithriall, the 11th Monarch: son of

38. Irial Faidh, the 10th Monarch: son of

37. Heremon, the second Monarch of Ireland, of the Milesian line; son of Galamh [galav], otherwise called Milesius of Spain.

36. Milesius of Spain: son of

35. Bilé: son of

34. Breoghan (or Brigus); a quo the “Brigantes;” son of

33. Brath: son of

32. Deagh: son of

31. Arcadh: son of

30. Alladh: son of

29. Nuadhad: son of

28. Nenuall: son of

27. Febric Glas: son of

26. Agnan Fionn: son of

25. Heber Glunfionn: son of

24. Lamhfionn: son of

23. Agnan: son of

22. Tait: son of

21. Oghaman: son of

20. Beouman: son of

19. Heber Scutt [Scott]: son of

18. Sruth: son of

17. Asruth: son of

16. Gaodhal, a quo the Clann-na-Gaodhail or the Gaels: son of

15. Niul: son of

14. Phoeniusa (or Fenius) Farsaidh, the inventor of Letters: son of

13. Baoth (baoth: Irish, simple; Heb. baath, to terrify): son of

12. Magog: son of

11. Japhet: son of

10. Noah: son of

9. Lamech: son of

8. Methuselah: son of

7. Enoch: son of

6. Jared: son of

5. Mahalaleel: son of

4. Cainan: son of

3. Enos: son of

2. Seth: son of

1. ADAM, who (Genesis i.) was the first Man.

NOTES

[1] Edward the First: King Edward the First was twice married: first to Eleanor, sister of Alphonso XI., king of Castile, in Spain ; and secondly to Margaret, daughter of Philip III., king of France. Of this second marriage were born Thomas Plantagenet at Brotherton (a small village in Yorkshire), A.D. 1300, who, in consequence, was called De Brotherton; who was created Earl of Norfolk, and made “Marshal of England.” This Thomas Plantagenet left two daughters, from one of whom came—1. The Mowbrays and Howards.[3] Dukes of Norfolk. 2. The Earls of Suffolk. 3. the Earls of Carlisle. 4. The Earls of Effingham. 5. The Lords Stanford. 6. The Lords Berkely. 7. The Marquises of Salisbury.

From the other daughter of Thomas Plantagenet the Ord family is descended. See the “Ord” pedigree.

Edmund, the second son of King Edward the First, by the second marriage, was created Earl of Kent.

[2] Crinan: According to some authorities Beatrix was twice married: first, to Crinan who was Lay Abbot of Dunkeld, and the son of Duncan, who was Abbot of Dunkeld ; and, secondly, to the Lord of the Isles. By Crinan, Beatrix had Maldred, Cospatrick, and Duncan I. (d. 1041), King of Scotland, who is No. 108 on the foregoing Lineal Descent.

[3] Howards: For the ancestors of the “Howard” family, see No. 104, on the “MacDowall”, pedigree.

[4] Buidhe: From this Eochaidh Buidhe the Boyd family derives its sirname.

[5]Monarch of Ireland: For the period during which each of the Irish Monarchs mentioned in this Table, reigned, see the “Roll of the Monarchs of Ireland since the Milesian Conquest.”

[6]Ancestor: See the pedigree of “O’Hart;” carefully traced from this Monarch, who reigned in the second century of our era, down to the present time (A.D. 1887). It is a curious fact that no other name than No. 81 on the foregoing Table is the origin of any other Irish sirname on record!

Irish Monarchs of the Race of Ithe – Irish Pedigrees

1. Eochaidh Edghothach, son of Datre, son of Conghal, son of Eadamhuin, son of Mal, son of Lughaidh [Lewy, Lewis, “or Louis], son of Ithe, son of Breoghan, King of Spain and Portugal, who (see page 50) is No. 34 on “The Stem of the Irish Nation.” This Eochaidh was the 14th Milesian Monarch, reigned 11 years; was, B.C. 1532, slain by Cearmna, of the “Line of Ir,” who succeeded him.

2. Eochaidh Apach, son of Fionn, son of Oilioll, son of Floinruadh, son of Roithlain, son of Martineadh, son of Sitchin, son of Riaglan, son of Eochaidh Breac, son of Lughaidh, son of Ithe, called Apach (“plague” or “infection”) on account of the great mortality during his reign (of one year) among the inhabitants of Ireland. He was killed by Fionn of the “Line of Ir,” B.C. 951. This Eochaidh was the 41st Monarch.

3. Lughaidh MacCon, son of MacNiadh, son of Lughaidh, son of Daire, son of Ferulnigh, son of Each-Bolg, son of Daire, son of Sithbolg, son of Ferulnigh, etc.

This Lughaidh was called MacCon from the greyhound, Ealoir Dearg, with which he played when a delicate child; his mother was Sadhbh, dau. of Conn of the Hundred Battles; he was killed, A.D. 225, by Comain Eigis, at Gort-an-Oir, near Dearg Rath, in Leinster.

4. Fothadh Airgtheach and…

5. Fothadh Cairpeach…sons of Lughaidh MacCon; were both slain during the first year of their joint reign: Fothadh Cairpeach was slain by his brother Fothadh Airgtheach; soon after this the murderer was slain by the Irish Militia in the battle of Ollarbha, A.D. 285, when the House of Heremon, in the person of Fiacha Srabhteine (ancestor of The O’Neill, of Tyrone), resumed its place on the Irish Throne. These brothers were the 118th and 119th Monarchs of Ireland, and the last of the “Line of Ithe” who reigned.

Irish Pedigrees, Volume 2 (haven’t looked thought this as yet)
https://www.libraryireland.com/Pedigrees2/contents.php

So in the end I can only add my ancestry I found out from Ireland which were Irish royalty directly connects with House of Judah.