This article concerns the Gaelic nobility of Ireland from ancient to modern times. It only partly overlaps with
Chiefs of the Name because it excludes
Scotland and other discussion. It is one of three groups of
Irish nobility, the others being those nobles descended from the
Hiberno-Normans and those granted titles of nobility in the
Peerage of Ireland.
Legal status
By the time of the
Treaty of Limerick, almost all Gaelic nobles had lost any semblance of real power in their (former) domains. Today, such historical titles have no special legal status in the
Republic of Ireland, unlike in
Northern Ireland, which is a part of the
United Kingdom. The Republic of Ireland does not confer titles of nobility under
its constitution.[1]
From 1943 until 2003 some of the modern representatives of the Gaelic nobility obtained a courtesy recognition as
Chiefs of the Name from the Irish government. The practice ended in 2003 following certain scandals (
Terence Francis MacCarthy) and under concerns that it was unconstitutional.[2] Disputed titles, as well as those for whom recognition is still pending, are not listed.
Nobles
Clann territories were under the rule and control of a Chief, who was elected by a system called
tanistry; voted by patrilineal descendants (within three generations) of the preceding Chief. The designation as Chief was also referred to as a King (Ri), Lord (Tiarna), or Captain of his countries, all of which were roughly equivalent prior to the collapse of the Gaelic order. The concept of a hereditary "title" originated with the adoption of English law, the policy of
surrender and regrant and the collapse of the Gaelic order during the period from approximately 1585–1610. Because all new chiefs had to come from the same patrilineal lineage, each family developed a long history of ruling within an area, which gave rise to the concept of Gaelic nobility. However, ruling titles did not necessarily pass from father to son; rather it was by election from within the patrilineal kindred and bloodshed, given the absence of criminal penalties for the death of an opponent.
All below are
flatha (princes) and also descendants in the male line, however distant in some cases, from at least one historical grade of Rí, a
Rí túaithe (usually a local petty king), a
Ruiri (overking or regional king), or a greater
Rí ruirech (king of overkings, also called a provincial king or Rí cóicid). A number of rí ruirech also became
Ard Rí and their surviving princely descendants remain claimants to the long vacant, so-called High Kingship.[3] A modern Gaelic noble may be styled a self-proclaimed
flaith (prince) or
tiarna (lord, count/earl). See also
White Rod.
The ancient Gaelic families are divided by ancestry, sept, and by geography.
Other O'Neills did not apply for recognition. The most notable of these is the Prince of the Fews, Don
Carlos O'Neill, 12th Marquis of Granja. There is currently a dispute between him and the Prince of Clanaboy (above) over who is the "senior," with the matter appearing unresolvable.[15] However most recently O'Neill of Clanaboy may have gotten the upper hand in the dispute.[16]
The O'Neills of the Fews are a 15th-century branch of the Tyrone or Ó Néill Mór line whereas the O'Neills of Clanaboy are a High Medieval line. Hence the matter is academic, both being somewhat distant from the last sovereigns of Tyrone in Ulster (to 1607), whose plentiful descendants eventually fell into comparative obscurity.[15] Today they are known as the McShane-O'Neills, or the anglicized version- Johnson.
O'Donnell succession
The chosen and recognised heir apparent of the
Chief of the Name, Fr. Hugh O'Donel, O.F.M., is Don
Hugo O'Donnell, 7th Duke of Tetuan.[17] Other members of the family have disputed this, most notably Fr. Hugh's sister, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, who has even on television and radio disputed the exclusion from the succession process of potential female and female line claimants, but the head of the genealogically-senior line has been firm in his choice of his distant cousin the Duke of Tetuan.[18]
The most recent claimants to the royal title of MacCarthy Mór (Prince of Desmond) are two close relatives, Barry Trant MacCarthy (Mór), now elderly (born 1931), and the younger Liam Trant MacCarthy (Mór) (born 1957). They allege to be descendants of Cormac of Dunguil, younger son of
Tadhg na Mainistreach Mac Carthaigh Mór, King of Desmond (died 1426), they claim to belong to the
Srugrena sept, but "this is a debunked falsehood"; Sean J Murphy MA who has no proof to the contrary but insists anyway, that any claimant to a Gaelic Chiefship must first be vetted and accepted by him, and that not cooperating with Mr. Murphy means a claimant must be 'bogus'?. Mr. Murphy has also made several attacks on the Chief Herald of Ireland since that Office denied Mr. Murphy's wish to have unfettered access to their archives.[19]
Remaining magnates
There remain other Gaelic nobles who are not of the "senior" lines, but whose descent is recognised in Europe and a number of whom also hold Continental titles.
^Curley, pp. 179–80; Charles Lysaght (in Curley), p. 14
^Curley, pp. 26–7, and following profiles; see also Jaski, pp. 37–40, 89, 99–102; Byrne, pp. 41–2, for academic discussion on the types of rí
^The current
O'Conor Don has dropped the style The O'Conor Don, Prince of Connacht used by his father, considering O'Conor Don to be "historically grand enough by itself". Curley, p. 155
^John O'Hart, Irish Pedigrees; or, The Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation, 5th edition, in two volumes, originally published in Dublin in 1892, reprinted, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1976, Vol. 1, pp. 417-418 and 426-428, One of the most ancient of Gaelic Ireland’s royal lines, the MacDonlevy are often neglected from the recounting of its nobility. They have been obscured to history for two reasons. First, the dynasty’s final patronage of
Ulaid fell to the forces of
Henry Plantagenet in 1177 centuries before the English implemented the policy of
Surrender and regrant, and, so, the MacDonlevy are not represented in the more modern English or
Irish peerage, except by a few obscure instances of intermarriage. Second, staunch
Roman Catholics and
Jacobites, the MacDonlevy line of
Captain of his Nation died out in Continental exile with the
Stuarts in Paris in the late 19th century decades before the formation of the Republic of Ireland and a half century before the Republic’s brief period of courtesy recognition of these princely titles. As Irish nobles, the MacDonlevy were solely nobles of
Gaelic Ireland.
^Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. 35 MacCarwell - Maltby (Sidney Lee Ed.). (1893) New York: MacMillan & Co., p. 52, "As the family originally came from Ulidia, the lesser Uladh, or Ulster, the members of the family are often called in Irish writings, instead of MacDonlevy, Ultach, that is, Ulsterman, and from this the name of MacNulty, Mac an Ultaigh, son of the Ulsterman, is derived."
^Cadet branch of
O'Sullivan Mor. See Ellis, p. 157; Curley, p. 116
^Considered by many to now be the O'Donoghue Mor and thus Prince of Locha Léin, but has not yet claimed the title. See Ellis, pp. 137–8, noting "the family has no such intention". But compare Curley, pp. 109–12, who styles O'Donoghue the Prince of Locha Léin anyway, because the senior dynasty have of course gone extinct.
Chambers, Anne, At Arm's Length: Aristocrats in the Republic of Ireland. New Island Books. 2nd revised edition, 2005. (selected families, Gaelic, Hiberno-Norman, and later)
Curley, Walter J.P., Vanishing Kingdoms: The Irish Chiefs and their Families. Dublin: Lilliput Press. 2004. Foreword by
Charles Lysaght.