Mac Siúrtáin, aka Mac Jordan and Jordan, is the name of an Connacht

Connacht

Connacht , formerly anglicised as Connaught, is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the west of Ireland. In Ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for...

 family of Norman-Irish

Hiberno-Norman

The Hiberno-Normans are those Norman lords who settled in Ireland who admitted little if any real fealty to the Anglo-Norman settlers in England, and who soon began to interact and intermarry with the Gaelic nobility of Ireland. The term embraces both their origins as a distinct community with...

 origins.

Ancestry

The family take their name from the Norman knight, Jordan de Exeter

Jordan de Exeter

Jordan de Exeter was an Anglo-Norman knight, Sheriff of Connacht, and ancestor of the Clan Siurtain Gaileng/Mac Siurtain/Mac Jordan of Connacht.-Life and family:...

, whose descendants became known as Mac Mac Siúrtáin - the Gaelic

Goidelic languages

The Goidelic languages or Gaelic languages are one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic languages, the other consisting of the Brythonic languages. Goidelic languages historically formed a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland through the Isle of Man to the north of Scotland...

 form of Jordan

Jordan

Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...

 - and were based in County Mayo

County Mayo

County Mayo is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Mayo, which is now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 130,552...

.

The de Exeter's were originally from the town of Exeter

Exeter

Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...

, Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

, and are recorded in Dublin and Meath

County Meath

County Meath is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Mide . Meath County Council is the local authority for the county...

 from the 1230's onwards. They included Henry de Exeter, Mayor of Dublin c.1240-41; Michael d'Exeter, Bishop of Ossory 1289-1302; Richard de Exeter

Richard de Exeter

Richard de Exeter, Anglo-Irish knight and baron, fl. 1261-1287.Related to Sheriff Jordan de Exeter, and thought to be the son of one John de Exeter . Much of what is known of Richard is derived from the Annals of Multifarnan, which were compiled up to 1274 at the abbey of Strade, County Mayo,...

, killed 1287; Sir Richard de Exeter

Sir Richard de Exeter

Sir Richard de Exeter was an Anglo-Irish knight and baron.The son of Richard de Exeter, Sir Richard held 'in capite' in Meath the lands of Straghcallan, Carrig, Listathell, Bryangston, Crowenbeg, Rathslyberaght...

, died 1327; and Sir Stephen de Exeter, fl. 1280-1316.

Mac Jordan of Gallen

The descendants of Jordan de Exeter

Jordan de Exeter

Jordan de Exeter was an Anglo-Norman knight, Sheriff of Connacht, and ancestor of the Clan Siurtain Gaileng/Mac Siurtain/Mac Jordan of Connacht.-Life and family:...

 settled in Connacht

Connacht

Connacht , formerly anglicised as Connaught, is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the west of Ireland. In Ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for...

, mainly in what is now County Mayo

County Mayo

County Mayo is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Mayo, which is now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 130,552...

. The territory they conquored, Gailenga

Barony of Gallen

The Barony of Gallen is one of the nine baronies in County Mayo, Ireland. It is situated in the eastern part of the county south of the town of Ballina, bordering County Sligo...

 (later known as the barony of Gallen), was the southern part of Luighne (also known as Sliabh Lugha

Barony of Costello

Costello was one of the baronies of County Mayo. In the pre-Norman times the area was called Sliabh Lugha and was ruled by the Ó Gadhra dynasty. In the 12th century, Milo de Angelo removed the O'Gadhra seat from in Airtech Mór to Costello...

), whose lords were the clan

Clan

A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...

 Ó Gadhra. The de Exeters expelled the Ó Gadhras into Coolavin, County Sligo, while the clan Ó hEaghra

O'Hara

O'Hara is an Anglicized form of the Irish name Ó hEaghra. The death of the eponyum is mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters - 926. Eaghra Poprigh mac Saorghus, lord of Luighne, in Connaught .....

 retained the name Luighne for their territory to the north.

Becoming steadily Gaelicised over a number of generations, the family as a whole were known as the Mac Siúrtáin (or Mac Jordan, i.e., the sons of Jordan). Only the chief of the clan was entitled to be called de Exeter.

John de Exeter/John na Conairte Mac Jordan is commonly believed to be the common ancestor of all Jordans of Connacht, except for a family called Mac Jordan Duff, descended from Jocelyn de Angulo

Jocelyn de Angulo

-Biography:De Angulo was one of fifty knights serving under Hugh de Lacy upon the latter's grant of Meath by Henry II in 1172. Jocelyn was awarded the barony of Navan by de Lacy...

.

Chiefs of the Name

• John Mac Siúrtáin, died 1394.
• Thomas Mac Siúrtáin, fl. 1497.
• Thomas Dubh Mac Siúrtáin, died 1584.

De Exeter family tree

Stephen, dead by 1280. Jordan, fl. 1239-58. John de Exeter, died 1261.
=Johanna, alive 1280. =Basilia, fl. 1253 |
| | |
| |___________________ Richard de Exeter, d. 1287.
Sir Stephen, d. 1316 | | |
=Matilda, fl. 1318. | | |_________________
| Meiler, k. 1289. Jordan Óge | |
| | | | |
Sir Stephen, fl. 1302. | ____| Sir Richard John, b.1270
Meiler, k. 1317. | | |
| | |__________________
John na Conairte Jordan Bacach | |
| | |
| Simon Richard of Derver
Clan Jordan of Mayo fl.1335 fl. 1347.