pre to christian times to the founding of ui duinn of the leary tribe

section 6 of 10

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The OLearys One Thousand years Ago

and the origins of the Parish Of Uibh Laoghaire

by Peter O'Leary

Rosscarbery is a pretty little town, nay a City, in West Cork, on the coast and lying between Clonakilty and Ballydehob. Its population is less than 1000 and there is little by way of Industry or Tourism attractions. It is a City because the See of Ross Diocese has always been there, and consequently it has a Cathedral. The Church of Ireland retains the Cathedral, but has long since joined the Diocese with Cork and Cloyne. The Catholic Church abandoned Rosscarbery as the seat of its Bishop which was moved to Skibbereen, and it likewise joined the Diocese of Ross with Cork.

courtmacsherry this is the court or house of mac sherry in irish it is cuirt mac siorraighithe in irish it is cuirt an englishman hartnett took this irish name others say a man named foley irish mic siorraighithe lived there

(from the southern star skibereen)

The interest to our Parish of Uibh Laoghaire in this lovely City of Rosscarbery is that it was the place which 1000 years ago, most of our local families came from. Their dramatic move to Uibh Laoghaire will be described later, but first let us consider life for the OLearys and their associated families as it was during the First Millenium. AD.

The Tribe who occupied most of Carbery from Kinsale to Bantry, were Erainn people called the Corcu Loigde (see article about The Old Tribes of Munster). Towards the end of the 2nd century AD this Tribe produced a king called Luy Maccon who became High King of Ireland for a period of 30 years ended in 212 AD. His eldest son continued to rule over the Corcu Loigde and his descendants were the ODriscolls. Luys 5th. son, Fothac Canaan, founded a family which became one of the sub-kings under the ODriscolls, and eventually took the surname of OLeary. As a Tribe they were known as the Ui Laoghaire long before the introduction of surnames. These Ui Laoghaire were chieftains of the Tuath Ruis or Tuath in Dolaich, which covered an area of about 40 sq. miles around the City of Rosscarbery. Their main Residence was the ringfort of Burgatia, and nearby they founded a Monastery which later became a well known seat of Learning, a University, and a Bishopric. The Diocese of Ross was upheld at the Synods of the 12th.c. and the OLearys became the Hereditary Wardens of the Monastery and University.

All this comfortable lifestyle was shattered in the 12th century due to the upheavals caused by the arrival of the Anglo-Norman invasion. The powerful Norman Lords swept across the country seeking the best land and seizing it. These included the Desmond FitzGeralds and their supporters who targeted the lands of Limerick County. This caused the families of Collins and ODonovan to forsake their ancient territories in Limerick and seek their fortunes further South in Carbery, invited there by the OMahoneys who at that time were at war with their distant cousins the ODonoghues.

The final outcome of all these upheavals was that the Collins and ODonovans moved down to Carbery, the ODonoghues moved up to Glen Fesk and Killarney, and the OLearys moved up to Uibh Laoghaire where they have remained ever since. With them came many of their followers including the Twomeys, Cronins and Lynches who had all been natives of South Carbery.

These events, according to John ODonovan in his History of the ODonovan Clan, took place in 1196. It certainly must have been about this date and after the Invasion by the Anglo-Normans which started in 1169. It is probably reasonable to accept the 1196 date since we have no other evidence for or against.

The groundwork for this move took place several years earlier. The OMahoneys and the ODonoghues were descended from the same tribe, the Ui Eachach, a branch of the Eoganachta of Cashel. They had come down from Cashel in the 6th century and had divided the territory of North Carbery between them, the Cineal Aodh (OMahoneys) taking the Eastern portion around modern Kinelmeaky and Kinelea, with the Cineal Laoghaire (ODonoghue) holding the Western portion from about Coppeen to Drimoleague.

The territory of the Cineal Laoghaire was known as Uibh Laoghaire. This name was given to the whole of the North West part of Carbery and it included of course our Parish which was later to be known by the same name.

Sometime in the 10th century a sub-king of the Cineal Laoghaire called Srufan gave three Tuatha to his kinsmen in the West when he retired from the World into a Monastery. These three Tuatha were our own Parish which has ever since been internally divided into three parts, ie. the Inchigeelagh area, the Ballingeary area, and the area South of the Mountains, or Coolmountain in Carbery.

The two Clans lived in peace for about 500 years but came to blows after the battle of Clontarf in 1014. They fought a battle at Maghcliath which was won by the OMahoneys. The ODonoghues fought on for many years, but eventually decided to move, gave up their territory of Uibh Laoghaire and moved to Glen Fesk. The OMahoneys took over the main part of Uibh Laoghaire, and the Western portion eventually became OMahoney an Oir (Western).

The OLearys from Carbery had meanwhile started to occupy the lands along the River Lee which had been given to them by Srufan. By 1196 the OLearys had completed their move to the new and much smaller Uibh Laoghaire by the River Lee.

In the 12th. and 13th.c,. the position changed again when the great McCarthy families took over Carbery (McCarthy Reagh) and Muskerry (McCarthy Muskerry). These moves made huge inroads into the OMahoney and other territories, but left the OLearys more or less unscathed in their mountain retreat now called Uibh Laoghaire.

The first Millenium of the Christian era was spent by the our ancestors in Rosscarbery. The second Millenium was spent in Uibh Laoghaire. Our Millenium Celebrations span two Millenia unlike many who are not so fortunate as to know their past History in such detail

214ad 260 julian Egyptian calendar years = 94965 days plus precession of the equinox = 94965 + 3 days torque westwards = 94968 days minus one hundred and thirty leap year cycle = 94968 2 days torque eastwards = 94966 days = 216 julian years

Afterwards the druid and his daughter Muncha went to Western Magh Femhin, for there was Eoghan's residence at Knockgraffon. Corca Athrach is its name, Corca-Athrach. - O'Flaherty describes this territory as extending in length from Tiprait-farran, near the abbey of the Holy Cross, called Huachtar-Iamhann, to Dunandreas, and the northern part of Knockgraffan. Ogygia, part iii., c. 81

When the time came for the child to be born, the druid said, "Daughter, if it is today that you shall bear the child, he shall be a druid; but if he is not born until tomorrow, the child shall be king and his descendants shall be a royal race." Muncha said: "My son shall not be born until tomorrow so that he shall be king. The daughter of Dil's then goes to the River Suir, to Ath Hisil on the Suir. There was a great flagstone in the middle of the ford there - she lay flat on the stone until daybreak on the following day. It is time now, O daughter - said her father, "to bear the child." The wonderful talented youth was then born, in the middle of the flagstone that is Fiacha Muilleathan - father of all the eoghanachta (tribe of Owen). Fiacha the flathead broadstone Noble was the youth then born - Fiacha Fer da Liach i.e., Fiacha the Man of two Sorrows; his father was slain the day after his conception, his mother on the day of his birth.

42. Fiacha Muillethan, whence is it? Easy to say. Munchai daughter of the druid Dil greatgrandson of Crecca, was the mother of Eogan's son. Now Munchai became pregnant by Eogan son of Ailill before he went to the battle of Mag Muccruma. On the night before she brought forth her burden she went into the Suir and sat down on a boulder on the brink of the river. For her father had said to her that she would bear a son, and that if she brought him forth on that night he would be (only) a worthy druid; but if she brought him forth on the morrow he would be a king, and his children and his kindred after him would be kings over Munster's two provinces. Then Munchai answered: "Unless he come through my side, he will not come the proper way (till tomorrow)". The girl said sooth. She remained sitting on the stone for the space of the night till the morrow morning. Then at daybreak the damsel brought forth the boy, and the crown (mullach) of his head broadened (ro-lethnaig) against the stone. Hence Fiacha Muill-lethan 'Broad-crown' clave to him.

43. Fiacha Fer d liach was (also) said of him. (Why?) Easy to say. Liach means 'tale' or 'sad', that is, sad for the little boy were the two tales that were told him when he was born, to wit, 'Thy father hath been killed to-day, thou little son, in the battle of Mag Mucraime, and thy mother is dead from bringing thee forth'. Therefore Fiacha Fer da lach ('Man of two sorrows') was said of him.

235. Fer Nad mac Damin, that is, a valiant man, for nia means valiant. Or Fer dad, that is, d-iath 'two-lands', for he was born at the meeting of two lands, therefore (the name) Fer dad was given him. Even so is said Fer d chrch 'man of two districts'. Eventually Fiacha Muilleathan, son of Eoghan Mor, assumed the kingship of the two Munsters Tir Duinn (Munster).and during his reign Cormac Ua Cuind, king of Ireland, came (from Tara) with a hosting into Munster, Tir Duinn (Munster).demanding tribute from the two provinces of Munster. Tir Duinn (Munster).

Cormac is credited with three sons, Dire, Cellach and Cairbre Lifechair, and ten daughters. Two of his daughters, Grinne and Aillbe, married the hero Fionn mac Cumhaill. In the well-known story "The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Grinne", Grinne was betrothed to Fionn, but instead ran off with a young warrior of the fianna, Diarmuid Ua Duibhne. Diarmuid and Fionn were eventually reconciled, but Fionn later contrived Diarmuid's death during a boar hunt, but was shamed by his son Oisn into making amends to Grinne. Fionn and Grinne were married, and Grinne persuaded her sons not to make war against Fionn.

Cormac's reign is recorded in some detail in the Irish annals.[7] He fought many battles, subduing the Ulaid and Connacht and leading a lengthy campaign against Munster. In the fourteenth year of his reign he is said to have sailed to Britain and made conquests there. In the fifteenth, thirty maidens were slaughtered in Tara by Dnlaing, king of Leinster, for which Cormac had twelve Leinster princes put to death. In other texts he is said to have been temporarily deposed twice by the Ulaid, and to have once gone missing for four months. He is also said to have compiled the Psalter of Tara, a book containing the chronicles of Irish history, the laws concerning the rents and dues kings were to receive from their subjects, and records of the boundaries of Ireland.

Although he is usually remembered as a wise and just ruler, one story presents him in a less flattering light. Having distributed all the cattle he had received as tribute from the provinces, Cormac found himself without any cattle to provision his own household after a plague struck his herds. A steward persuaded him to treat Munster as two provinces, the southern of which had never paid tax. He sent messengers to demand payment, but Fiachu Muillethan, the king of southern Munster, refused, and Cormac prepared for war. His own druids, who had never advised him badly, foresaw disaster, but he ignored them, preferring to listen to five druids from the sidhe supplied by his fairy lover, Birinn.

Cormac marched to Munster and made camp on the hill of Druim Dmhgaire (Knocklong, County Limerick). His new druids' magic made the camp impregnable and his warriors unbeatable, dried up all sources of water used by the Munstermen, and nearly drove Fiacha to submission. But Fiacha in desperation turned to the powerful Munster druid Mug Ruith Macraith('son-of-grace'-aka-Magrath) Magrath ------grace mug ruith a legendary gaelic druid Or possibly a druidic title meaning servant of The, wheel (eel) Druid Mogh Ruith, Magus Rotae for aid, and his magic was too strong even for Cormac's fairy druids. He restored the water and conjured up magical hounds who destroyed the fairy druids. His breath created storms and turned men to stone. Cormac was driven out of Munster and compelled to seek terms.

Cormac besieged the Munstermen at Druim Damhaire (Knockloag); this king weilded great power, both by the vastness of his army and the power of his druids. Cormac had British druids weaving their spells against the Munstermen, so that by necromancy they had dried up all the wells and rivers of Munster, Tir Duinn (Munster).so that the people and their lands were in danger of death from the want of water. Then Fiacha Muilleathan sent for Mogh Ruith son of Fergus, the best druid to be found in Ireland.

Macraith('son-of-grace'-aka-Magrath)Magrath ------grace mug ruith a legendary gaelic druid Or possibly a druidic title meaning servant of The, wheel (eel) Druid Mogh Ruith, Magus Rotae

Mogh Ruith then lived in Oilen Dairbhre (Valentia Island) in his old age, blind and decrepit, as he had outlived nineteen kings of Ireland:- from the time of Roth mac Rioghuill (the druid who had trained Mogh Ruith in sorcery) to the time of Cairbre Lifechair son of Cormac mac Airt. Mogh Ruith then came to meet Fiacha Muilleathan and the Munster Tir Duinn (Munster).nobles and they complained about what the druids of Leath Cuinn (Northern half of Ireland) had done to them. he undertook to oppose their magic spells, and he chose the territory of Fir Mhwige (Fermoy) as his reward. Mogh Ruith then overcame the druidery of Cormac and they defeated Cormac's forces routing them from Knockling to Tara with a great massacre. Fiacha Muilleathan the Munster Tir Duinn (Munster). king did not leave Leath Cuind until he got hostages and homage from Cormac mac Airt; as the poet Feidhlime mac Crimithann wrote:- Good was the king Fiacha Muilleathan A great territory the Half over which he ruled He brought hostages from Tara the Strong To Rathfuim to Rath Naoi Though he was great; Cormac Ua Cuinn He bowed to the king of Tir Duinn (Munster).

In the tale His Three Calls to Cormac (IV.11) the Irish King is tempted by the sea-god Manannan mac Lir with treasure, specifically a "shining branch having nine apples of red gold," in exchange for his family. Cormac is led into the Otherworld and taught a harsh lesson by Manannn, but in the end his wife and children are restored to him. Also, Manannn rewards him with a wonderful gold cup which breaks if three lies are spoken over it and is made whole again if three truths are spoken. Cormac used this cup during his kingship to distinguish falsehood from truth. When Cormac died, the cup vanished, just as Manannan had predicted it would.

The 8th-century text The Expulsion of the Disi describes enmity between Cormac and the group known as the Disi, descendants of Cormac's great grandfather Fedlimid Rechtmar who had been his retainers. Cormac's son Cellach (or Conn) abducts Forach, the daughter of a Disi leader. Her uncle engus Gabaibthech comes to rescue her, but Cellach refuses to release her. engus runs Cellach through with his "dread spear", which has three chains attached to it; these chains wound one of Cormac's advisers and blind Cormac in one eye. Cormac fights seven battles against the Disi, and expels them from their lands. After a period of wandering, they settled in Munster. Cormac, having lost an eye, moves into the Tech Cletig on the hill of Achall, as it was against the law for a disfigured king to sit in Tara. His duties as king are taken on by his son Cairbre Lifechair.

After ruling for forty years Cormac choked to death on a salmon bone. Some versions blame this on a curse laid by a druid because Cormac had converted to Christianity. Some versions of the Lebor Gabla cabala renn synchronise his reign with that of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (161180). Keating dates his reign to 204244; the Annals of the Four Masters to 226266. An entry in the Annals of Ulster dates his death as late as 366. He was succeeded by Eochaid Gonnat.

114. Cairbre Lifechair, (so called) because he loved the Liffey so greatly. Or in Liffey was his mother, even Ethne, daughter of Cathir the Great. Or Cairbre Lifechair, in Liffey of Leinster he was reared. Hence he was called Cairbre Lifechair. Of him saith the poet:

Three sons of children that went not from him
Had Cairbre who loved Liffey,
Fiacha Srabtine of the blessings,
Eochaid and Eochaid Doimln.

Muintir-Duibhraic of Dun-Braine, Muinter Diubhraic, i.e., the family of O'Diubhraic, now anglicised Durack, without the prefix O'. Dun-Braine, the name of their seat, is now unknown. Are chieftains of Tuath-O'gConghaile, Tuath O'g-Conghaile, i.e., the territory of the Ui-Conghaile. This territory is probably co-extensive with the parish of Ogonnelloe, aliaas Aglish-Sinnell, which preserves its name. Their forts are about the good Borumha; Borumha, now Bealboroo, a fort near Killaloe, in the S.E. of the county of Clare.Locks [of hair] like gold are upon them

143. Conaing Becc-fiada 'of the little tooth', or Becc-ecla 'Little-fear', that is, an hour of dread or fear never visited him. For he was a champion in every combat: whereof the poet said, confirming this:

Conaing son of Congal, a pure rod,
A king that never dreaded anyone:
Hamlets he wasted on every side.
Till Art, son of Lugaid, killed him.

Fionntain survived into the time of fionn mac cumhail becoming the repository of all knowledge of eire and all history along with a magical hawk who was born at the same time as him they meet at the end of their lives and recount their stories to each other due to fionntains ability to shape shift into a salmon and his honorific title as the wise fintan mac bachra is sometimes confused with a similarily named animal figured in gaelic mythology more commonly known and referred to as the salmon of wisdom

Daire Cerbba (or Cerba, Cearba, Cearb) was an Irish dynast of uncertain origins, named in many early and late sources as the grandfather of the semi-mythological Mongfind and Crimthann mac Fidaig, and the most frequently named early ancestor of the historical U Liathin and U Fidgenti. mid and west Limerick All of these are historically associated with the province of Munster, but according to the early manuscript Rawlinson B 502, Dire Cerbba was born in Brega, County Meath, and got his epithet from a location there.[1] This is otherwise unexplained. 291. Dire Cerba, that is, in Methos Cerba in Bregia he was reared. He may or may not have been a relative of Conall Corc, the founder of the Eganachta dynasty.

He is often confused or paired with Maine Munchan, who may be his father or twin brother, depending on the source, or this is an alias and the two people are the same. Both are listed in the surviving genealogies as sons of Ailill Flann Bec, grandfather of Conall Corc, but the arrangement changes from source to source.

O'Keefe's translation of the Book of Munster set forth the relationship of the several generations of this group as follows:

Fiacha Muilleathan had three sons: Oilill Flann Mor, Oilill Flann Mor left no issue 44. Ailill Flann Becc and Ailill Flann Mr, that is Ailill the Little and Ailill the Great. Since flann means 'red' those two sons of Fiacha Muillethan were so named. Deachluath. The latter, Deachluath, is ancestor of the tribe called U Fiachach Eile Gaels (or Gadelians); of the Elian race, (in north-east of Tipperary Thurles and Roscrea) and Oilill Flann Beag and 44. Ailill Flann Becc and Ailill Flann Mr, that is Ailill the Little and Ailill the Great. Since flann means 'red' those two sons of Fiacha Muillethan were so named.

Oilill Flann Beag had four sons:

1. Lughaid, ancestor of the Eganachta (Septs included O'Callaghan, MacCarthy, O'Donoghue, MacGillycuddy, O'Keeffe, O'Moriarity, O'Sullivan, among others.)

2. Fiodach, father of the Crimthann mac Fidaig;

2 Fiodach, to him was son Criomthann Mor mac Fiodhaig (a notorious sea raider in 369 A.D. into Scotland)

CXIII. CRIMITHANN MAC FIDAIG.
Crimthann s. Fidach, sixteen [years], in the kingship of Ireland till he fell at the hands of Moingfhinn, his own sister..

3 Daire Cearba, from whom the U Liathin;

4 Maine Munchaoin, from whom the U Fidgenti (Septs included O'Donovan, O'Collins, O'Flannery, Lyons, among others.). mid and west Limerick

Mongfind is simply called the daughter of Daire (Cerbba?), not of Fidach, in the Book of Lismore, and there Daire's father is called Findchad, while Crimthand Mr is not mentioned at all.[3] Thus the alternative exists that they were not originally brother and sister.

Maine Munchaoin and Daire Cearba were noted as twins (being born at one birth), and some manuscripts attribute Maine's offspring as being fathered by Daire due to Maine's inability; as a result, Maine tends to be overlooked as an ancestor, and the Ui Fidgheinte typically list Daire as their progenitor. Rawlinson B502, the primary source manuscript, also sets forth the Ui Fidgheinte as being descended from Daire Cearba.

Daire Cerbba is credited as the ancestor of the Ui Fidgheinte and thus the O'Donovan family, and was referred to in a poem addressed to [Donnell II O'Donovan], chief of Clan Cathail, in as late as the early 17th century, by the bardic poet Tadhg Olltach an Chinte.[4 Maine Munchaoin, from whom the U Fidgenti (Septs included O'Donovan, O'Collins, O'Flannery, Lyons, among others.). mid and west Limerick

Modern descendants of Daire Cerbba include the O'Connells of Derrynane,[5][6] Daniel Charles, Count O'Connell having explicitly declared this to the heralds of Louis XVI of France. Also was Michael Collins, descending from the Coilein of U Chonaill Gabra,[7][8] once the most powerful sept of the U Fidgenti.

King of Medn Mairtine

In a strange passage in the notably peculiar Munster epic Forbhais Droma Dmhghire, Daire Cerbba (Ceirbe) is said to have been king of Medn Mairtine, known to historians as the ancient capital of the Mairtine, a once prominent rainn people. In fact the passage gives it the alternative names of "... Ardchluain na Fne and Mucfhalach Mac Daire Ceirbe. This Ceirbe was king of Mein Mairtine. This area is called Emly today..."[9] However it does not specifically state that Dire belonged to the Mairtine themselves, and perhaps of importance is the fact that this site was historically occupied by the Eganachta, for whom it was their chief church, namely Emly, which the author of FDD obviously recognizes. The Mairtine themselves belong only to prehistory and legend, but may be in part ancestral to the later Disi Tuisceart and famous Dl gCais

Eoghan mor father of

Fiacha Muilleathan father of all the eoghanachta (tribe of Owen). said the druid father, to his daughter "to bear the child." The wonderful talented youth was then born, in the middle of the flagstone that is Fiacha Muilleathan - father of all the eoghanachta (tribe of Owen). Fiacha the flathead Noble was the youth then born - Fiacha Fer da Liach i.e., Fiacha the Man of two Sorrows; his father was slain the day after his conception, his mother on the day of his birth. Eventually Fiacha Muilleathan, son of Eoghan Mor, assumed the kingship of the two Munsters Tir Duinn (Munster).had three noble sons,

Oilill Flann Mor and

Oilill Flann Beag and

Deachluath.

The latter, Deachluath, is ancestor of the tribe called U Fiachach Eile Gaels (or Gadelians); of the Elian race, (in north-east of Tipperary Thurles and Roscrea and

Oilill Flann Mor left no issue.

The family of Oilill Flann Beag. Oilill Flann Beag had four sons, i.e.,

1. Lughaid, ancestor of all the Eoghanachta; gentle rulers

2. Fiodach, father of Crimthann;

3. Daire Cearba from whom was the Ui Liathain; 3 twin of 4 King of Ui-Liathain,549 549. Ui Liathain. - This tribe derived their name and origin from Eochaidh Liathanach, son of Daire Cearba, ancestor of the Ui-Fidhgeinte. Their territory was nearly coextensive with the present barony of Barrymore, in the county of Cork. See Hibernia Expugnata, lib. ii., c. 8, 19, and Leabhar na gCeart, pp. 73, 74.hero of renown

50. Fedlimith Uillethan, that is, Fedlimith Ua-Liathain, that is in Hi Liathain he was reared. Henc