Leabhar Chlainne Suibhne, an Account of the Macsweeney Families in Ireland, with Pedigrees;
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Hliiiifiiiiii^ili Gc 923.2 M249W 1248147 OENEALOGY COLLECTION ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 833 01138 7658 Leabhar Chlainne Suibhne Leabhar Chlainne Suibhne An Account of the Mac Sweeney Families in Ireland, with Pedigrees EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY REV. PAUL WALSH, M.A. NÍ bheanfa duaigh nd dochair re tir ConiiiU ciúinshrothaigh nach dibh dleaghair a dionghhdil don tir ealaigh imiolbkdin —Tadhg Dall DOLLARD, PRINTINGHOUSE, DUBLIN, LTD. 1920 12á8i.47 I gcuimhne mo mháthar BRIGHID Ní GHALLCHOBHAIR 1854-1917 PREFACE The manuscript vellum from which I have drawn the main narrative printed in this little book may appropriately be named Leahhar Chlainne Stiibhne ** The Book of the Mac Sweeneys." Its commencement was ordered in 15 13 by the word of a princess Mary of that name, a continua- tion gives a history of the family, and many scribes in a third portion have brought together a body of poetry dealing with three chiefs and other members of the Fanad branch. Hence the title which I have suggested for this manuscript book would be fully deserved. I have ventured to borrow the name for the present volume, for, besides reproducing one of its most important texts, it also furnishes a nearly complete account of the original compilation. It is hardly possible that this study will not contain errors of translation, and others of various kinds. For these I am alone responsible. Mr. Joseph Lloyd made a description of the chief manuscript here concerned some years ago for the Royal Irish Academy, and from his account I have derived much information. PAUL WALSH. St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, January 2gth, 1920. CONTENTS Page Introduction .... .... .... .... xi I. —The Mac Sweeney families in Ireland. § I. Origin .... .... .... .... xi §2. Mac Snibhne Fánad .... .... xx § 3. Mac Suibhne ^a dTuath .... .... xxxiii §4. Mac Suibhne Connachtach .... xxxvii §5. Mac Suibhne Baghuineach .... xxxviii §6. Branches in Connacht and Thomond xl § 7. Mac Suibhne Urmhumhan .... xli §8. The Mac Swceneys in Munster .... xUi II. —Description of the Manuscript. §T. The first portion .... .... .... xliv §2. The second portion .... .... Iviii § 3. The third portion .... .... Iv ii Part I, —Craobhsgaoileadh Chlainne Sfibhnc i Part II. — Geinealaighe .... .. .... 77 Rawlinson B. 502 .... ... .... 78 Book of Ballymote .... .... .... 79 Mac Firbhisigh .... .... .... 81 O Cléirigh I. .... ... .... 91 O Cleirigh II. .... ,. .... 107 Notes on the Tizxt .... .... .... 117 Indfx ... .... .... .... .... 121 — INTRODUCTION I. ^The MacSweeney Families in Ireland. § I. Origin. In this volume the principal documents bearing on the history of the Mac Sweeney families ^ in Ireland are brought together. They include (i) an account written not earlier than 1532, which was compiled for Mac Suibhne Fánad, and traces with some detail the descent of the reigning chief of that branch, (2) the Book of Ballymote pedigrees '^ of Mac Suibhne Fánad, Mac Suibhne na dTuath, and Mac Suibhne Connacht, the earliest source surviving, if we except the annal entries relating to the family, (3) Mac Firbhisigh's group of pedigrees, corresponding in part with the earlier Book of Ballymote collection, (4) the treatises contained in O Cléirigh's Book of Genealogies. From these materials, and from some others indicated in the notes to this intro- duction, the following sketch of the history of the family is derived. The surname Mac Suibhne in both its elements is undoubtedly Gaehc. Suibhne has no etymological ^Kinsmen in Scotland were the MacSwecns, and the MacEwens of Ottir, in Argyllshire. There is a mutilated pedigree of Mac Eoghain na hOitreach in Skene, Celtic Scotland iii. 47J. The latter name is common in County Antrim. '^ They occur also in the Book of I.ecan 133, and else- where. xii Introduction connexion with tlie Norse Suinn : it occurs in the Annals in the sixth centur3^3 and the name is considered by Marstrander ^ to be cognate with the woman's name Dnihhne, which appears in a more primitive form on some Ogham monuments.^ But while the elements of the surname are both Gaehc, Irish tradition consistently attributes a Scottish origin to the family which bears it. The tract which occupies the first part of this volume distinctly states ^ that the Mac Sweeneys came from Scotland, and Lughaidh O Cléi'righ, ^ in the early seventeenth century, writes : "of the Cenéal Eoghain were Clann tSuibhne in regard to descent, but from Scotland they came to that place [Fanad]." Suibhne, from whom the name is derived, lived about the year 1200, for a son of his named Dubhghall was a party to a grant to the monastery of Paisley in Scotland in 1262.^ Suibhne's descent is traced in the genealogies through three generations to Aodh Athlomhan O Néill, who died in 1033. At the latter period the O Néills pass out of prominence in the Annals, and it is impossible to determine from reliable sources the names of Aodh's sons. None of the persons intervening between him and Suibhne are mentioned in contemporaiy docu- ments. On the other hand, there is a probability that the linking of Suibhne with Clann Néill is an artificial one, and was invented by the ^ See the Annals of Ulster 564. * Miscellany presented to Kuno Meyer 342. ^ The view of Edmund Spenser that the MacSwynes were Englishmen disguised under an Irish name is not worthy of serious attention. ° See especially §§ is, 10 below. 7 Life of Aodh Ruadh O Domhnaill (edn. Walsh) §4. * Celtic " The Review vii. 277 : article entitled Maccwens and Macsweens" by Niall D. Campbell. Mac Sweeney Families xiii genealogists at a period when the Mac Sweeneys had risen to considerable power in Ireland. The story which connects the O Neills of Ulster with the Scottish Suibhne in itself appears very unlikely. Aodh Athlomhan is said to have had two sons, one, the elder, Domhnall, and another, Anradhán. On the death of his father the younger, Anradhán, is alleged to have usurped his father's place at the instigation of his people. Domhnall, the rightful heir, made a protest, and the kingship was surrendered to him only when he pronounced a solemn curse on the followers of his brother. Anradhán resigned in favour of Domhnall, and left Ireland to form an alliance with the King of Scotland, and to settle in that country. A descendant of Anradhán was Suibhne, ancestor of all the Mac Sweeneys, and some of Suibhne 's descendants came in the course of time to make conquests in Ireland. Such was the tradition regarding the origin of the family. It is implied by all the genealogists, from the compiler of the Book of Ballymote pedigrees of Clann tSuibhne to Dubhaltach Mac Firbhisigh. But older authorities are the Irish Annals, and the treatise on the descendants of Eoghan, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages, preserved in the Book of Baltymote 77-79, and in the Book of Lecan 138-140. The latter document is not much later in point of date than the middle of the twelfth century, for the last king of Cenéal Eoghain there mentioned is Muircheartach, son of Niall Ua Lochlainn, who was slain in 1166. Its concluding paragraphs deal with some of the kings of Aileach from the year 919 onwards. The table given on the next page will show the relationship of those referred to. Mac Sweeney Families xv With the personages numbered i to 6 in this table the writer deals in order. At the conclusion of his remarks on Aodh Athlomhan (6), he returns to Domhnall (3), and introduces his son Muireadhach and his descendants. Now, the only reason for this procedure is that the king'ship of Cenéal Eoghain did not fall to any member of Aodh's family; otherwise having treated of six £;-enerations from father to son, the compiler would have mentioned another or more if they had succeeded to the dignity of those immediately preceding. If a son of Aodh Athlomhan at any time obtained his father's place as king, it is certain the record would not have been broken oi¥ with Aodh himself, and its author would not have turned to deal with another line. The fact that he does break off shows that a different family usurped the kingship. The interruption in the succession did not take place immediately, howe,ver, for Aodh's father survived him three years, and died king of Aileach in 1036. This conclusion is confirmed by the Annals. After the death of Flaithbheartach an Trosdáin the family of the O Néills sink into obscurity, and there is not a mention of either Domhnall or Anradhán in contemporary records. At the end of the twelfth century the name emerges into prominence again, but in the interval the sovereignty of Aileach or Cenéal Eoghain was held by kinsmen of the O Néills. who bore a variety of surnames. Niall, son of Maolseachnaill, descended from a brother of Niall Glúndubh, is mentioned as king of Aileach at the years 1044, 1047, 1056, and died in 1061. Ardghar, son of Lochlainn, king of xvi IntroducHon Aileach. died in 1064. Domhnall, son of Niall, king- of Aileach, died in 1068, and Aodh, his brother who succeeded, died in 1083. Domhnall, grandson of Lochlainn, of a different family trom the two last referred to, became king in 1083, and died in 1121. There is, therefore, no room in the annahstic record from 1044 onwards for Domhnall, son of Aodh Athlomhan, and if he came into power within the eight years previous, the Annals of Ulster, which deal -with Cenéal Eoghain affairs in great detail, would not altogether omit mention of his name. But the silence of the Annals does not imply that he never existed. The O Neills of later ages traced their pedigree through him to a long line of kings of Ireland.