genealogy

genealogy. Some ancestral names in Irish genealogies suggest the common barbarian practice of deriving the kings' descent from the gods. However, the first surviving texts, 7th‐century genealogical poems about Leinster and Munster kings, trace their ancestry to Milesius, allegedly the first Gael to invade Ireland (see milesians), and through Japheth and Noah to Adam, only son of God, the king of heaven. This indicates an early origin for the ecclesiastically inspired myth later elaborated into the Lebor Gabála, or ‘Book of Invasions’. Native historians defined the whole corpus of Irish genealogies in relation to this doctrine. Subject peoples are traced to the pre‐Goidelic inhabitants of Ireland, the Fir Bolg. All dominant dynasties are derived from one of the sons of Milesius—the Uí Néill, Connachta, Airgialla, Osraige, Déisi, and Laigin from Éremón, said to be leader of the expedition, and most Munster dynasties from his brother Éber. Smaller kingdoms wishing to emphasize their independence tended to claim descent from some other line. The Ulaid of eastern Ulster, the O' Farrells of Longford, and O'Connor of Kerry claimed descent from Ír, another son of Milesius, while the O'Driscolls claimed descent from 1th, Milesius's uncle.

Genealogies validated claims to land and kingship, so the corpus was periodically revised, ignoring later generations of declining dynasties, finding a suitable origin for new arrivals on the political scene, or transferring lines from one ancestor to another to reflect new alliances. Our earliest surviving copy is in the 12th‐century manuscript Rawlinson B 502, but later revisions can be found in the 14th‐century Books of Ballymote and Lecan, and the 17th‐century Genealogies of Cúcoigcríche Ó Cléirigh and an Dubhaltach Óg Mac Firbhisigh. Old Catholic families, and some of the incoming planters, continued to commission manuscript genealogies from traditional historians well into the 18th century.

Bibliography

Kelleher, J. , ‘The Pre‐Norman Irish Genealogies’, Irish Historical Studies, 16 (1968–9)
MacNiocaill, G. , Irish Population before Petty: Problems and Possibilities (1981)

Katharine Simms