Sir Roger O'Shaughnessy ( Irish: ''Ruaidhrí Gilla Dubh Ó Seachnasaigh'') (died 1569) was an 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 ...

. The son of Sir

Diarmaid Ó Seachnasaigh Diarmaid Ó Seachnasaigh, Irish knight and Chief of the Name, 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 rule ...

, Ruaidhrí was described by

Sir Henry Sidney Sir Henry Sidney (20 July 1529 – 5 May 1586) was an English soldier, politician and Lord Deputy of Ireland. Background He was the eldest son of Sir William Sidney of Penshurst (1482 – 11 February 1553) and Anne Pakenham (1511 – 22 Oc ...

as "a very obedient and civil man, and most desirous to hold his lands directly of your majesty and to be delivered of the exactions of both the earls of

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 ...

and

Thomond Thomond ( Classical Irish: ; Modern Irish: ), also known as the Kingdom of Limerick, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Clare and County Limerick, as well as parts of County Tipperary around Nena ...

", whose earldoms lay north and south of O'Shaughnessy's small lordship. The oppressions of Burke and O'Brien had led to his father consenting to 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 ...

, by which means Sir Roger hoped to preserve his estates for his descendants. They were successfully confirmed in law by the

Composition of Connacht The Composition of Connacht, or Composition of Connaught and Thomond, was a 1585 agreement between, on the one hand, the Gaelic and Gaelicised chiefs of Connacht and Thomond and, on the other hand, the English Dublin Castle administration of the ...

of 1585. One of his last known male-line descendants, and Ó Seachnasaigh chief of the name, was Major-General William O'Shaughnessy (1673–1744). The last Ó Seachnasaigh chief, Joseph, died in 1783. He married Lady Honora O'Brien, daughter of

Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl of Thomond Murrough O'Brien, 1st Baron of Inchiquin, 1st Earl of Thomond () (died 7 November 1551) was an Irish peer, Chief of Clan O'Brien, and the last King of Thomond. Biography Murrough was a lineal descendant of Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, and ...

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 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 John O'Donovan may refer to: *John O'Donovan (scholar) (1806–1861), Irish language scholar and place-name expert *John O'Donovan (politician) (1908–1982), Irish TD and Senator *John O'Donovan (police commissioner) (1858–1927), New Zealand pol ...

The Genealogies, Tribes, and Customs of Hy-Fiachrach
Dublin:

Irish Archaeological Society The Irish Archaeological Society (sometimes spelled as "Irish Archæological Society") was a learned society, founded in 1840. Among the founders were the scholar John O'Donovan and the Rev. Dr. Todd, who acted as secretary. The Irish Archaeol ...

. 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 * ''William O Shaughnessy: Some Glimpses of Major-General William O Shaughnessy (1673–1744)'' Eoghan Ó hAnnrachain, Journal of the

, pp. 23–32, volume 58, 2006. Nobility from County Galway Ruaidhri Gilla Dubh 16th-century Irish people 1569 deaths Irish lords Year of birth unknown {{Ireland-bio-stub