O'Donoghue of the Glens
Encyclopedia
The O'Donoghue of the Glens (Ó Donnchadha na nGleann), Prince of Glenflesk, is the hereditary chieftain of his sept of the Kerry Eóganacht. In 1944 his father was one of the few Chiefs of the Name
recognized by Edward MacLysaght
, the first Chief Herald, as having a verifiable pedigree and entitled to use the title and receive courtesy recognition by the Irish State.
dynasties ruled the south of Ireland for 500 years or so till the end of the first millennium. According to the Irish origin myths, they descend from Eógan Mór II, son of Ailill Aulom
, who was son of Mug Nuadat
, (Eógan Mór I), who was supposed to have lived some time in the 2nd century. Over the years, various septs of the Eóganacht branched off and some faded into insignificance. The O’Donoghue of the Glens is one of the Eóganacht lineages which remain to this day with an acknowledged Chief.
According to tradition, The O’Donoghue Mór and The O’Donoghue of the Glens descend from sons of Auliffe Mór O’Donoghue (d. 1158), Cathal and a younger son Conchobar, respectively. The lineage of Auliffe Mór's dynasty is that of the Cinel Laegarie of Eóganacht Raithlind
/Uí Echach Muman, whose original territory was in West Cork
prior to the time of Brian Boru
, after which they invaded and secured the kingdom of the Eóganacht Locha Léin
, displacing the Loch Lein O’Moriarty’s and O’Carrolls.
were battling (ultimately unsuccessfully) for control of all Munster. The O’Briens were pressuring the Eóganacht from the north and the east, forcing them southwest into Kerry.. The Cashel O’Donoghues, by then pressured by their Eóganacht cousins, the increasingly powerful MacCarthy dynasty
, would surely have been amongst them.
Auliffe Mór was arguably one of the most powerful warlords of the time and it would not be unnatural for a weakened Eóganacht sept to join Auliffe Mór, who was successfully preventing the O’Briens from overrunning South Munster. He completed the cathedral of Achadh Dá Eó on the heights overlooking the Lakes of Killarney
just prior to his death in 1158. It was during a campaign in Waterford that same year that Auliffe Mór was killed on the bank of the River Suir
by Muircheartach son of Toirdhealbhach Ó Briain, well east of the MacCarthy territory, which indicates the scope of his efforts to maintain the sovereignty of Desmond.
In the following years, a number of sons of Auliffe Mór are recorded in the annals – Aed, slain 1161; Muirchertach, slain 1163; Murchad, died from wounds, 1169; Cathal (ancestor of the Mór) slain fighting the oversea men, 1170; Conchobar (ancestor of the Glens) slain 1178 (‘la Donhnall, lá derbrathaire fein’ added by a later hand and perhaps inaccurately translated as ‘by Domnall, his own ‘brother’’) 1178; Domnall, slain 1178.
the Chief of the time was attainted as a result of his participation in the rebellion but was later able to regain his title and lands in 1609. The heart of rebellion still remained though, for in February 1642 Tadhg O'Donoghue and his three sons, Geoffrey, Tadhg and Daniel participated in the siege of Tralee Castle. In 1643, Geoffrey the Poet became Chief. He was noted for his lavish banquets at the top of Killaha Castle, but that all changed after the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
. He lamented:
In 1652 the castle was hit with newly employed cannon by General Ludlow’s army and partially destroyed. The Chief was forced to flee into the fastness of the glen, but the Glens family remained in their territory. Lands in Glenflesk had been awarded to a number of English settlers in the Act of Settlement of that same year, but this wild place and its people was not conducive to English settlement and most of those English families soon abandoned their grants. After the Act of Settlement, one of Geoffrey’s most often quoted stanzas is:
Glenflesk itself was known as the haunt of outlaws and tories, and in popular parlance the English referred to it as the ‘Robbers Glen’. The dispossessed families of The O'Donoghue Mór had fled to the glens after the family’s attainder in 1586 following Rory Mór’s death at the end of the Desmond Rebellion, and they were no doubt the core of the rapparees inhabiting that stronghold in the Glen of the Flesk. They became notorious as the ‘Dangerous O’Donoghues’ who constantly harassed the English colony brought into the Killarney region by the undertaker Browne family, known as the Earl of Kenmare
. In the late 18th century, the Glen was a haven during the Rightboy Movement which originated in Munster.
The Down Survey
estimated the territory of The Glens to be five quarters, each of four ploughlands (a ploughland being roughly 120 acres), although this does not include the "unusable" lands controlled by the sept. It indicates that The Glens paid MacCarthy Mór forty shillings annually. ‘No explanation is given as to why this clan was so slightly assessed.’
Throughout the centuries, the Glens family managed to retain their title and territory, and eventually built Killaha House near their ruined castle. The Chiefs were consistently devoted to Irish independence and one of the few Gaelic magnates who did not conform to the established Church. They remained in their territory throughout the years of English oppression, never faltering from their faith or deserting their clann.
In the middle of the 19th century Daniel Ó Donoghue, MP from Tralee, married Marie Sophie Ennis, the only daughter and heiress of Sir John Ennis. Upon the death of her father, the family moved to her estate at Ballynahown Court near Athlone. Killaha House became a Presbytery in 1887 and is currently in private hands. The ruined castle is now a national monument owned by the Office of Public Works
.
with a keen interest in Irish history. He has seven children, and his son, Geoffrey is his chosen Tánaiste (successor).
Chiefs of the Name
The Chief of the Name, or in older English usage Captain of his Nation, is the recognised head of a family or clan...
recognized by Edward MacLysaght
Edward MacLysaght
Edward MacLysaght was one of the foremost genealogists of twentieth century Ireland. His numerous books on Irish surnames built upon the work of Patrick Woulfe's Irish Names and Surnames and made him well known to all those researching their family past.-Early life:Edward was born in Flax Bourton...
, the first Chief Herald, as having a verifiable pedigree and entitled to use the title and receive courtesy recognition by the Irish State.
Ancient Heritage
The EóganachtEóganachta
The Eóganachta or Eoghanachta were an Irish dynasty centred around Cashel which dominated southern Ireland from the 6/7th to the 10th centuries, and following that, in a restricted form, the Kingdom of Desmond, and its offshoot Carbery, well into the 16th century...
dynasties ruled the south of Ireland for 500 years or so till the end of the first millennium. According to the Irish origin myths, they descend from Eógan Mór II, son of Ailill Aulom
Ailill Aulom
In Irish traditional history Ailill Ollamh , son of Mug Nuadat, was a king of the southern half of Ireland. Sabia, daughter of Conn of the Hundred Battles, was his wife. He divided the kingdom between his sons Éogan, Cormac Cas, and Cian. Éogan founded the dynasty of the Eóganachta...
, who was son of Mug Nuadat
Mug Nuadat
In Irish mythological history Mug Nuadat was a legendary, supposed King of Munster in the 2nd century AD. He was, according to later medieval tradition, a rival of the High King, Conn of the Hundred Battles and for a time after the year 123 was the de facto ruler of the southern half of Ireland...
, (Eógan Mór I), who was supposed to have lived some time in the 2nd century. Over the years, various septs of the Eóganacht branched off and some faded into insignificance. The O’Donoghue of the Glens is one of the Eóganacht lineages which remain to this day with an acknowledged Chief.
According to tradition, The O’Donoghue Mór and The O’Donoghue of the Glens descend from sons of Auliffe Mór O’Donoghue (d. 1158), Cathal and a younger son Conchobar, respectively. The lineage of Auliffe Mór's dynasty is that of the Cinel Laegarie of Eóganacht Raithlind
Eóganacht Raithlind
Eóganacht Raithlind or Uí Echach Muman are a branch of the Eóganachta, the ruling dynasty of Munster during the 5th-10th centuries. They took their name from Raithlinn or Raithleann described around the area of Bandon, in the same area...
/Uí Echach Muman, whose original territory was in West Cork
West Cork
West Cork refers to a geographical area in south-west Ireland, lying within Ireland's largest county, County Cork. Traditionally a popular tourist destination, the area is seen as being distinct from the more populated northern or eastern parts of the county, as well as the more urban area of...
prior to the time of Brian Boru
Brian Boru
Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig, , , was an Irish king who ended the domination of the High Kingship of Ireland by the Uí Néill. Building on the achievements of his father, Cennétig mac Lorcain, and especially his elder brother, Mathgamain, Brian first made himself King of Munster, then subjugated...
, after which they invaded and secured the kingdom of the Eóganacht Locha Léin
Eóganacht Locha Léin
Eóganacht Locha Léin or Ui Caipre Luachra were a branch of the ruling Eoganachta of Munster. Their territory was in Iarmuman or West Munster. Luachair is the old name of a large district on the borders of Co Cork, Kerry and Limerick...
, displacing the Loch Lein O’Moriarty’s and O’Carrolls.
12th century
There was much internecine war during the time of Auliffe Mór, when the O'Brien dynasty of ThomondThomond
Thomond The region of Ireland associated with the name Thomond is County Clare, County Limerick and north County Tipperary; effectively most of north Munster. The name is used by a variety of establishments and organisations located in , or associated with the region...
were battling (ultimately unsuccessfully) for control of all Munster. The O’Briens were pressuring the Eóganacht from the north and the east, forcing them southwest into Kerry.. The Cashel O’Donoghues, by then pressured by their Eóganacht cousins, the increasingly powerful MacCarthy dynasty
MacCarthy dynasty
The MacCarthy dynasty was one of Ireland's greatest medieval dynasties. It was and continues to be divided into several great branches. The MacCarthy Reagh, MacCarthy of Muskerry, and MacCarthy of Duhallow dynasties were the three most important of these, after the central or MacCarthy Mór...
, would surely have been amongst them.
Auliffe Mór was arguably one of the most powerful warlords of the time and it would not be unnatural for a weakened Eóganacht sept to join Auliffe Mór, who was successfully preventing the O’Briens from overrunning South Munster. He completed the cathedral of Achadh Dá Eó on the heights overlooking the Lakes of Killarney
Lakes of Killarney
The Lakes of Killarney are a renowned scenic attraction located near Killarney, County Kerry, in Ireland. They consist of three lakes - Lough Leane, Muckross Lake and Upper Lake.Lough Leane is the largest of the three lakes...
just prior to his death in 1158. It was during a campaign in Waterford that same year that Auliffe Mór was killed on the bank of the River Suir
River Suir
The River Suir is a river in Ireland that flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Waterford after a distance of .Popular with anglers, it holds plentiful reserves of brown trout...
by Muircheartach son of Toirdhealbhach Ó Briain, well east of the MacCarthy territory, which indicates the scope of his efforts to maintain the sovereignty of Desmond.
In the following years, a number of sons of Auliffe Mór are recorded in the annals – Aed, slain 1161; Muirchertach, slain 1163; Murchad, died from wounds, 1169; Cathal (ancestor of the Mór) slain fighting the oversea men, 1170; Conchobar (ancestor of the Glens) slain 1178 (‘la Donhnall, lá derbrathaire fein’ added by a later hand and perhaps inaccurately translated as ‘by Domnall, his own ‘brother’’) 1178; Domnall, slain 1178.
13th – 16th Centuries
Next recorded in The Glens pedigree is Aoch na Meidhe (of the monks) (d 1231), then Séafra of the Mansion (d.1253) recorded as living in Glanerought on the Tousist peninsula. This is the first mention of the given name, which has been traditionally used through the generations of the family for eight centuries. According to Burke, the title first appeared in the 14th century with Geffery O'Donoghue of the Glynn. In the 16th century, the lands of The Glens comprised ‘the wild glen of the Clydagh’ and the parish of Killaha. Their family seat was Killaha Castle, overlooking the Glen of the Flesk River, built in the 16th century.17th to 20th Centuries
In 1603 after the end of the Desmond RebellionsDesmond Rebellions
The Desmond Rebellions occurred in 1569-1573 and 1579-1583 in the Irish province of Munster.They were rebellions by the Earl of Desmond – head of the FitzGerald dynasty in Munster – and his followers, the Geraldines and their allies against the threat of the extension of Elizabethan English...
the Chief of the time was attainted as a result of his participation in the rebellion but was later able to regain his title and lands in 1609. The heart of rebellion still remained though, for in February 1642 Tadhg O'Donoghue and his three sons, Geoffrey, Tadhg and Daniel participated in the siege of Tralee Castle. In 1643, Geoffrey the Poet became Chief. He was noted for his lavish banquets at the top of Killaha Castle, but that all changed after the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland refers to the conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Cromwell landed in Ireland with his New Model Army on behalf of England's Rump Parliament in 1649...
. He lamented:
-
-
- Time was when I saw the Gaedhil in silks and in jewels,
- Capable, propertied, earnest, perceptive, just,
- Merry, sagacious, noble, lordly, intrepid,
- Poetical, truthful, wine-loving, feasting – once.
-
In 1652 the castle was hit with newly employed cannon by General Ludlow’s army and partially destroyed. The Chief was forced to flee into the fastness of the glen, but the Glens family remained in their territory. Lands in Glenflesk had been awarded to a number of English settlers in the Act of Settlement of that same year, but this wild place and its people was not conducive to English settlement and most of those English families soon abandoned their grants. After the Act of Settlement, one of Geoffrey’s most often quoted stanzas is:
-
-
- Alas, alas, how weak is nobility now!
- The serving maids have cuffs and frilly lace;
- Upstart in hats – a shoddy improvement, that!-
- And torn-eared caps on people of noble race.
-
Glenflesk itself was known as the haunt of outlaws and tories, and in popular parlance the English referred to it as the ‘Robbers Glen’. The dispossessed families of The O'Donoghue Mór had fled to the glens after the family’s attainder in 1586 following Rory Mór’s death at the end of the Desmond Rebellion, and they were no doubt the core of the rapparees inhabiting that stronghold in the Glen of the Flesk. They became notorious as the ‘Dangerous O’Donoghues’ who constantly harassed the English colony brought into the Killarney region by the undertaker Browne family, known as the Earl of Kenmare
Earl of Kenmare
The title of Earl of Kenmare was created in the Peerage of Ireland in 1801. It became extinct upon the death of the 7th Earl in 1952.All of the Earls bore the subsidiary titles of Viscount Castlerosse , Viscount Kenmare , and Baron Castlerosse in the Peerage of Ireland...
. In the late 18th century, the Glen was a haven during the Rightboy Movement which originated in Munster.
The Down Survey
Down Survey
The Down Survey, also known as the Civil Survey, refers to the mapping of Ireland carried out by William Petty, English scientist in 1655 and 1656....
estimated the territory of The Glens to be five quarters, each of four ploughlands (a ploughland being roughly 120 acres), although this does not include the "unusable" lands controlled by the sept. It indicates that The Glens paid MacCarthy Mór forty shillings annually. ‘No explanation is given as to why this clan was so slightly assessed.’
Throughout the centuries, the Glens family managed to retain their title and territory, and eventually built Killaha House near their ruined castle. The Chiefs were consistently devoted to Irish independence and one of the few Gaelic magnates who did not conform to the established Church. They remained in their territory throughout the years of English oppression, never faltering from their faith or deserting their clann.
In the middle of the 19th century Daniel Ó Donoghue, MP from Tralee, married Marie Sophie Ennis, the only daughter and heiress of Sir John Ennis. Upon the death of her father, the family moved to her estate at Ballynahown Court near Athlone. Killaha House became a Presbytery in 1887 and is currently in private hands. The ruined castle is now a national monument owned by the Office of Public Works
Office of Public Works
The Office of Public Works is a State Agency of the Department of Finance in the Republic of Ireland...
.
21st century
The current Chief, Geoffrey Paul Vincent, lives near Tullamore in County Offaly. He is a member of The Standing Council of Irish Chiefs and ChieftainsThe Standing Council of Irish Chiefs and Chieftains
The Standing Council of Irish Chiefs and Chieftains is an organisation which was established by the then President of Ireland to bring together the Chiefs of the Name of the Gaelic nobility of Ireland as then recognised by the Chief Herald of Ireland....
with a keen interest in Irish history. He has seven children, and his son, Geoffrey is his chosen Tánaiste (successor).
The O'Donoghues of the Glens
- Daniel O'DonoghueDaniel O'Donoghue (Irish politician)Daniel O'Donoghue was an Irish politician. He served in the British Parliament from 1857 to 1865 as Member of Parliament for Tipperary, and from 1865 to 1885 as MP for Tralee....
(died 1889) - Geoffrey Charles Patrick Randal O'Donoghue (died 1974)
- Geoffrey Paul Vincent O'Donoghue http://www.odonoghue.co.uk/guests/society/paul.php (born 1937)
External links
Further reading
- Barrington, T.J., Discovering Kerry, The Blackwater Press, 1976
- Butler, William F.T., Gleanings from Irish History, Longmans, Green & Co., 1925
- Byrne, Francis J., Irish Kings and High-Kings. Four Courts Press. 2nd edition, 2001.
- Charles-Edwards, Thomas M., Early Christian Ireland. Cambridge University Press. 2000.
- Curley, Walter J.P., Vanishing Kingdoms: The Irish Chiefs and their Families. Dublin: Lilliput Press. 2004.
- Minahane, John, The Poems of Geoffrey O'Donoghue, Aubane Historical Society, 2008
- O’Donoghue, Rod, O’Donoghue People and Places, Ballinakella Press, 1999