Cumee na Gall O'Cahan (
Irish: ''Cú Maighe na nGall Ó Catháin'') was a chief of the
O'Cahan
The O'Cahan ( Irish: ''Ó Catháin'' 'descendants of Cahan') were a powerful sept of the Northern Uí Néill's Cenél nEógain in medieval Ireland. The name is presently anglicized as O'Kane, Kane and Keane.
The O'Cahan's originated in Lagga ...
of
Keenaght, Fir-na-Creeve and Fir Lee in modern-day
County Londonderry
County Londonderry (Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry (), is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty-two Counties of Ireland, count ...
,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
. The family first appears on record in 1138. Cumee was a son of Manus O'Cahan, a man who fell in battle alongside fourteen other members of the O'Cahan in support of
Brian O'Neill, king of
Tír Eoghain
Tír Eoghain (), also known as Tyrone, was a kingdom and later earldom of Gaelic Ireland, comprising parts of present-day County Tyrone, County Armagh, County Londonderry and County Donegal (Raphoe). The kingdom represented the core homeland of ...
, at the
battle of Druim Dearg
The Battle of Down, also known as the battle of Drumderg ( Irish: ''Druim Dearg'') took place on or about 14 May 1260 near Downpatrick, in modern-day County Down, Northern Ireland. A Gaelic alliance led by Brian O'Neill (High-King of Ireland) and ...
.
Following his father's death, Cumee was made chief of his kindred by Henry de Mandeville, seneschal of Ulster, and thereupon served as an ally to this Anglo-Irish lord. His ties with the Normans earned him the epithet of ''na nGall'' meaning "of the foreigners".
Cumee's son, Dermot, appears on record in 1312. Cumee's daughter, Anna (''Áine''), married
Angus Og MacDonald.
A heavily restored effigy at Dungiven Priory is sometimes associated with Cumee, although it appears to date to the last quarter of the fifteenth century, and seems to be that of a later member of the kindred: perhaps either Godfrey (''Gofraidh'', died 1472), Dermot (''Diarmait'', died 1484), Godfrey (''Gofraidh'', died 1492), or Owen (''Eóin'', died 1492).
[ Hamlin (2002) p. 128.]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:O Cathain, Cu Maighe na nGall
13th-century Irish people
Irish lords