Iveagh

Iveagh
Uíbh Eachach  (Irish)
Túatha of Ulster (until 1177)
4th century–1543
Coat of arms
Iveagh marked as Magennis c. 15th century.
Capital Not specified
Languages Irish
Government Monarchy
 • 1543 Art Mac Aonghusa (last)
History
 •  Established 4th century
 •  Disestablished 1543
Preceded by 		Succeeded by
Ulster
Kingdom of Ireland

Iveagh (/ˈaɪveɪ/; from Irish: Uí Echach, meaning "descendants of Echu"[1]) is the name of several different historical territorial divisions located in modern-day County Down, Northern Ireland. It is the anglicised name of an ancient Irish district, ruled by the Uí Echach Cobo, as well as the name of a former barony, which was split into Iveagh Lower and Iveagh Upper.

Uí Echach Cobo

Iveagh derives its name from the Cruithin tribe Uí Echach (modern Irish: Uíbh Eachach), or "descendants of Echu", and referred to an ancient Irish túath (district).[1] It is also known more fully as Uí Echach Cobo (modern Irish: Uíbh Eachach Cobha, meaning Echu of Cobo), and equivalent with Uí Echach Uladh (Echu of Ulster).[2] The Uí Echach were one of the tribes that made up the ancient kingdom of Ulaid in eastern Ulster.[1] They shared the kingship of Ulaid with the Dál Fiatach and their kin the Dál nAraidi.[1] The Uí Echach were the most prominent sept of the Cruthin.[3]

The name Magh Cobha, meaning "plain of Cobo", appears to have been an older name for Iveagh. The name survived as Moycove, the earliest recorded name in the civil parish of Drumballyroney, where it was the name of an Anglo-Norman castle between 1188–1261.[4] The highest point in the parish is the hills of Knock Iveagh (Cnoc Uí Echach),[4] which may have been the centre of Uí Echach power.

Another form of the name appears to have been Cuib,[3] with the title of "king" of Cuib/Cobo making its first appearance in the Annals of Tigernach under the year 685AD,[5] and in the Annals of Ulster under 735AD.[6] The last mention is in the Annals of Ulster under the year 882AD,[7] after which the term is replaced with chief/lord of Uí Echach.

Uí Echach Cobo is mentioned in the Irish annals from AD551 to AD1136, with the last entry stating that "Echri Ua-h-Aitteidh, Lord of Ui-Eathach, was killed by the Ui-Eathach themselves".[8]

Echach Cobo

Ulaid during the 12th century and its three main sub-kingdoms, including Uí Echach Cobo, along with some of its neighbouring kingdoms.

The ancestor of the Uí Echach Cobo, Eochaid mac Condlai, descends from Fiachu Araide, eponymous founder of Dál nAraidi. The exact line of descent is uncertain as several different genealogies are given:

The Annals of Ulster give:

Rawlinson's Genealogies gives:

The Laud Genealogies and Tribal Histories gives:

Kings of Cuib

Chiefs and lords of Iveagh

At one point the territory of Iveagh was ruled by the Ua hAitidhe, a name which may have been anglicised as O'Haughey or Haughey.[8][13] The Ua hAitidhe are claimed to have ruled Iveagh for two centuries. The first to be mentioned in the annals is Aodh Ua hAitidhe, king of Uí Echach Cobo, who was killed by his own people in AD965.[8] The last mention is under AD1136 where Echri Ua hAitidhe, lord of Uí Echach Cobo was killed, likewise by his own people.[8] From then on the name and its variant spellings disappear from the records.[8]

One of the septs under the Ui hAitidhe was the Mac Aonghusa (Magennis/MacGuiness), who ruled Clann Aodha (Clan Hugh), and were descended from Sárán, a descendant of Echach Cobo.[13] By the 12th-century the Magennises had become the chiefs of Iveagh, with Rathfriland their base.[13] One early mention is in 1153 with the granting of the charter to the abbey of Newry which was witnessed by Aedh Mor Magennis, chief of Clann Aodha, of Iveagh.[8] The Mac Aonghusa are also mentioned in letters by King Edward II, where they are titled Dux Hibernicorum de Ouehagh, meaning "chief of the Irish of Iveagh".[8]

During the 14th century the Mac Artáin (MacCartan) sept from Kinelarty, who were sub-ordinate to the Mac Aonghusa, became chiefs of Iveagh for a brief period, though in the annals a Muirchertach MacArtain is recorded as tainiste (heir-elect) of Iveagh in the 11th century.[8] The MacCartan descended from Artáin, a great-grandson of Mongán Mac Aonghusa.[14]

By the 15th century with the collapse of the Earldom of Ulster, the Mac Aonghusa had expanded Iveagh from what is now County Down all the way east to Dundrum Castle, where County Down meets the Irish Sea.[15] Iveagh however was far from secure as rivalry between the four main branches of the Mac Aonghusa clan—Castlewellan, Corgary, Kilwarlin, and Rathfriland—threatened its cohesion.[15] In 1539 a cattle raid into County Meath was intercepted by Lord Deputy Grey and the clan was defeated at the Battle of Bellahoe. In 1543 the then chief Art MacAonghusa of Rathfriland accepted the new policy of "Surrender and regrant" and travelled to Greenwich Palace to be knighted as Sir Arthur Guinez by King Henry VIII.[16]

In 1575 Hugh Magennis of Rathfriland petitioned successfully for a grant of his estates from Queen Elizabeth and was knighted in 1576. In 1584 his tenure was improved by a grant in capite "of the entire country or territory of Iveagh". In 1585 his cousin Ever MacRory Magennis was granted the adjacent lordship and manor of Kilwarlin.[17]

During the Nine Years' War (1594-1603), the clan chief Art Roe remained neutral, while many of his clan sided with Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, one of whose wives was Catherine Magennis. O'Neill inaugurated a new chief in 1595 and the clan divided. Despite this, Charles Blount, the Lord Deputy of Ireland, ravaged Iveagh to the point that its chief Art Roe Magennis submitted to prevent the extermination of his people.[15]

The division of Iveagh

Following the Nine Years' War and just before the process of colonising Ulster with loyal Protestant subjects, the arrangement of dividing mighty Gaelic lordships into smaller weaker lordships, such as what happened in County Monaghan with the MacMahon's, occurred with Iveagh.[15] In 1605 the "Commission for the Division and Bounding of the Lords" was established to replicate the Monaghan arrangement.[15] In February 1607, the commission decided to break up Iveagh, a process that continued until 1610, seeing the creation of fifteen freeholds.[15] The Magennises of Iveagh were granted thirteen of these freeholds, with their chief Art Roe Magennis being granted the largest.[15] The rest however was given to officers in the Crown forces, most of whom had served in the Nine Years' War under Sir Henry Bagenal and Sir Arthur Chichester.[15]

Barony of Iveagh

The barony of Iveagh was created during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I out of the territory of Uíbh Eachach, and was the largest barony in County Down, reflecting the importance of the Irish district. In the early 17th century it was divided into Iveagh Lower and Iveagh Upper, with the boundary running east to west from the settlements of Dromara and Banbridge.[1] By 1851 these two baronies were further divided into the baronies of Iveagh Lower, Lower Half, Iveagh Lower, Upper Half, Iveagh Upper, Lower Half and Iveagh Upper, Upper Half.[18] The four baronies, like the rest of those in Northern Ireland, are now obsolete for administrative purposes.[19]

Other uses

The name Iveagh has been used as titles in the Peerage of Ireland and Peerage of the United Kingdom, specifically in regards to the Magennis and Guinness family:

In 1929 the Northern Ireland Parliament constituency of Iveagh was created, comprising the northern part of county down south-west of Belfast. Almost as if keeping with tradition, a descendant of the Mac Aonghusa, Brian Maginess, represented this constituency from 1938 until 1964. It was abolished in 1972 along with the Northern Ireland Parliament.

See also

References

Ireland's History In Maps - Ulster, Uí Eathach Cobha</ref>

[1] [18] [10] [9] [3] [6] [7] [5] [4] [11] [12] [8] [15] [13] [14] [19]; -webkit-column-width: [2] [1] [18] [10] [9] [3] [6] [7] [5] [4] [11] [12] [8] [15] [13] [14] [19]; column-width: [2] [1] [18] [10] [9] [3] [6] [7] [5] [4] [11] [12] [8] [15] [13] [14] [19]; list-style-type: decimal;">

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Placenames NI - Iveagh
  2. 1 2 3 Ireland's History In Maps - Ulster, Uí Eathach Cobha
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 University College Cork - Early Irish Population-Groups: Their Nomenclature, Classification, and Chronology. Section 3, Sept-Names
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Placenames NI - Drumballyroney
  5. 1 2 3 4 University College Cork - Annals of Tigernach, 685AD
  6. 1 2 3 4 University College Cork - Annals of Ulster, 735AD
  7. 1 2 3 4 University College Cork - Annals of Ulster, 882AD
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Library Ireland - The barony of Iveagh
  9. 1 2 3 4 University College Cork - Annals of Ulster, 553AD
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 University College Cork - Genealogies from Rawlinson B 502, Section 26
  11. 1 2 3 4 Rootsweb - Irish/ Scots clans, Dalriada, R1b etc
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 University College Cork - The Laud Genealogies and Tribal Histories
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Robert Bell (2003). The book of Ulster Surnames. The Blackstaff Press. pp. 163–4. ISBN 0-85640-602-3.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Robert Bell (2003). The book of Ulster Surnames. The Blackstaff Press. p. 137. ISBN 0-85640-602-3.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Jonathan Bardon (2011). The Plantation of Ulster. Gill & Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-7171-4738-0.
  16. ↑ Burke's Peerage
  17. ↑ Brady & Ohlmeyer eds, British Interventions in Early Modern Ireland; Cambridge University Press 2005, pp59-60.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Database of Irish Historical Statistics - Literacy Notes
  19. 1 2 3 4 Public Records Office of Northern Ireland - Baronies
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