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Clans and Families of Ireland and Scotland
X. The Vikings and Normans

and settled in Antrim in the late twelfth century. Branches of this family, known then as the de Mandevilles, settled in Waterford and Tipperary where the name became Mansfield (another family of Anglo-Norman origin, the de Mandywells, became Mandevilles in Tipperary). The main line, having settled in the north of County Antrim, in the area known as the Route, became known as the MacQuillans, and very early became a completely Gaelicized sept on the native model, their chief being known as Lord of the Route. Their chief seat was at the castle of Dunluce. In 1315 their then chief joined Edward Bruce, and during that century they ranked as hereditary high constables of Ulster. Their predominant position in northeastern Ulster was further consolidated by their participation in the warlike actions of the Northern Ui Neill during the fifteenth century, and their chiefs were sometimes referred to as princes of Dal Riada. In 1541 Rory Og MacQuillan, the then chief declared that no "captain of his race" ever died in his bed.

The MacQuillans met with major defeats at the hands of the MacDonnells, after which their power was greatly reduced, and many of them were dispersed. The last Lord of the Route, a later Rory Og MacQuillan, partly recovered from the initial English confiscations in Ulster, and died in 1634. A Captain Rory MacQuillan was an officer in O’Neill’s infantry in King James II’s Irish Army in the late seventeenth century.

The Rices (Ris) are a Welsh family (called Rhys in Wales) that settled in the south of Ireland in the fourteenth century, and became influential merchants and landowners near Limerick City and near Dingle in County Kerry. They were prominent in the civic government of Limerick, Cork and Waterford, but suffered heavily under the Cromwellian confiscations of the mid-seventeenth century, especially in Kerry. Afterwards, several leading members of the family became famous as Wild Geese, that is, as Irish soldiers in Europe, and some of the Kerry branch settled in France and became successful bankers.

The Taaffes (Tath) were an important Cambro-Norman family, that is, they were one of the families of Welsh origin who joined in the Anglo-Norman invasion of the late twelfth century. Their ancestors settled in Louth in the late thirteenth century. They were prominent in the Pale, and later in the wars against the O’Neills, for which service they were granted wide tracts of confiscated land in Sligo. They later lost everything for their loyalty to the Stewarts. Other important Anglo-Norman families in Louth included the Darditzes (Dairdis) or Dardeses of Darditz-rath in Louth, and also the Catholic and pro—Irish Teelings (Taoiling) of counties Louth and Meath.

The Walshes (Breathnach) of southeastern Ireland mostly descend from Haylen Walsh, alias Brenach (both names mean "a welshman," Brenach is from the Gaelic), or from his uncle David: the former being the son of a Cambro Norman invader of 1172 known as Philip the Welshman, the latter being Philip’s brother. They settled in southwest Kilkenny, where the family gave its name to the Walsh Mountains. They spread also into Leix, Waterford and

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