Diarmaid Ó Seachnasaigh, Irish

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

and

Chief 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 ( Irish and Scottish Gaelic: ''fine'') in Ireland and Scotland. Ireland There are instances where Norman lords of the time like ...

, died before 1567. Ó Seachnasaigh was a descendant of Seachnasach mac Donnchadh, himself a descendant of the kings of Uí Fiachrach Aidhne. Successive Ó Seachnasaigh's have ruled the district of

Cenél Áeda na hEchtge Cenél Áeda na hEchtge (also Cenél Áeda, Kenloth, Kinalethes, Kenealea, Kinelea) was a trícha cét (later a cantred, (a branch of the Uí Fiachrach Aidhne) and which was the original formation of the southern part of the barony (Ireland), bar ...

since at least the 13th century. The clan had been vassals of either the Ó Briain of Thomond or the

Burke Burke (; ) is a Normans in Ireland, Norman-Irish surname, deriving from the ancient Anglo-Norman and Hiberno-Norman noble dynasty, the House of Burgh. In Ireland, the descendants of William de Burgh (''circa'' 1160–1206) had the surname'' de B ...

Clanricarde Clanricarde ( ), also known as Mac William Uachtar (Upper Mac William) or the Galway Burkes, were a fully Gaelicised branch of the Hiberno-Norman House of Burgh who were important landowners in Ireland from the 13th to the 20th centuries. Terr ...

, supremacy depending. For over two hundred years Ireland west of the

River Shannon The River Shannon ( or archaic ') is the major river on the island of Ireland, and at in length, is the longest river in the British Isles. It drains the Shannon River Basin, which has an area of , – approximately one fifth of the area of I ...

had been beyond the pale of the Anglo-Irish administration based in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. From 1533,

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

began integrating them into his realm, knighting Diarmaid Ó Seachnasaigh and representatives of other clans. Henry later evolved this into the policy of

Surrender and regrant During the Tudor conquest of Ireland (c.1540–1603), "surrender and regrant" was the legal mechanism by which Irish clans were to be converted from a power structure rooted in clan and kin loyalties, to a late-Feudalism, feudal system under t ...

. Ó Seachnasaigh's submission of 9 June 1543 stated that:

''All the manors, lordshipps, towns and town-lands of Gortynchegory, Dromneyll, Dellyncallan, Ballyhide, Monynean, Ardgossan, Ballyegyn, Kapparell, Clonehaghe, Tollenagan, Lycknegarishe, Crege, Karrynges, Tirrelagh, Rathvilledowne, Ardmylowan, one-third part of Droneskenan and Rath; the moiety of Flyngeston, Ardvillegoghe, Dromleballehue, Cowle, and Beke''

were now to be held by him and his male heirs to the crown. Sir Diarmaid Ó Seachnasaigh married Mór Pheachach Ní Briain. The

Annals of the Four Masters The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' () or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' () are chronicles of Middle Ages, medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Genesis flood narrative, Deluge, dated as 2,242 Anno Mundi, years after crea ...

record her death ''sub anno'' 1569:

''More Phecagh, daughter of Brian, the son of Teige, son of Turlough, son of Brian Catha-an-aenaigh O'Brien, and wife of O'Shaughnessy, i.e. Dermot, the son of William, son of John Boy, a woman distinguished for her beauty and munificence, died.''

Their children were Sir Ruaidhrí Gilla Dubh Ó Seachnasaigh and Diarmaid Riabach Ó Seachnasaigh.

References

* D'Alton, John
Illustrations, Historical and Genealogical, of King James's Irish Army List (1689)
Dublin: 1st edition (single volume), 1855. pp. 328–32. * ''History of Galway'', James Hardiman, 1820 * ''Tabular pedigrees of O'Shaughnessy of Gort'' (1543–1783), Martin J. Blake, Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society, vi (1909–10), p. 64; vii (1911–12), p. 53. * John O'Donovan
The Genealogies, Tribes, and Customs of Hy-Fiachrach
Dublin: Irish Archaeological Society. 1844. Pedigree of O'Shaughnessy: pp. 372–91. * ''Old Galway,'' Professor Mary Donovan O'Sullivan, 1942 * ''Galway: Town and Gown,'' edited Moran et al., 1984 * ''Galway: History and Society'', 1996 {{DEFAULTSORT:O Seachnasaigh, Diarmaid Nobility from County Galway Diarmaid 16th-century Irish people