Sir Ruadhri Gilla Dubh Ó Seachnasaigh (anglicized ''Roger Gilla Duff O'Shaughnessy'') was

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 ...

during 1583–1650.

Biography

Ó Seachnasaigh was married to Elis Lynch at the time of his father's death, by whom he had his heir, Sir Dermot, and a daughter, Gyles. He remarried to Julia MacCarthy of Muskerry but had no issue by her. A portrait of Sir Roger, dressed in his

armour Armour (Commonwealth English) or armor (American English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, e ...

, is preserved in

Kilkenny Kilkenny ( , meaning 'church of Cainnech of Aghaboe, Cainnech'). is a city in County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region and in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinst ...

castle. Fiddaun Castle was most likely built by Sir Roger, as he is the first mentioned living there and it is not known before his time.

Gyles

Gyles Ni Seachnasaigh, who receives no mention in the surviving O'Shaughnessy pedigrees, but who appears in several other sources, married Donal III O'Donovan of

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

. She had sons

Donal IV O'Donovan Donal IV O'Donovan, (or Anglicized as Daniel O'Donovan) (), The O'Donovan, of Clancahill (died 1705), was the son of Donal III O'Donovan, The O'Donovan of Clancahill, and Gyles (Sheela) O'Shaughnessy, daughter of Elis Lynch and Sir Roger Gilla Dub ...

, Cornelius, Morogh and Richard, and is an ancestor through the first of the present Lords of Clancahill. She was alive as late as May 1676. Certainly it was her distance from, and eventual irrelevance to, the family into which she was born, which caused her to eventually be forgotten by the O'Shaughnessy genealogists. The families were barely acquainted with each other, and in fact some daughters go unmentioned in many surviving Irish pedigrees. Those of the O'Shaughnessys are also incomplete before and beyond her generation. But the O'Donovans made sure Gyles was celebrated by the poets in their country and her elegy was composed by an

Ó Dálaigh The Ó Dálaigh () were a learned Irish Bardic poetry, bardic family who first came to prominence early in the 12th century, when Cú Connacht Ó Dálaigh was described as "The first ''Ollamh'' of poetry in all Ireland" (''ollamh'' is the title g ...

References and notes

;Notes ;Sources * 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 James Hardiman (February 1782 – 13 November 1855), also known as Séamus Ó hArgadáin, was a librarian at Queen's College, Galway and an important historian. Hardiman is best remembered for his '' History of the Town and County of Galway'' (1 ...

, 1820 * ''Tabular pedigrees of O'Shaughnessy of Gort'' (1543–1783), Martin J. Blake, Journal of the

Galway Archaeological and Historical Society The Galway Archaeological and Historical Society was founded on 21 March 1900. It promotes historical preservation, as well as the study of the archaeology and history of the west of Ireland. As of January 2002, the Society had published 53 cons ...

, 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, Roger Nobility from County Galway

Roger Roger is a masculine given name, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic languages">Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") ...

16th-century Irish people 17th-century Irish people 1583 births 1650 deaths