MACSWEENEY
of the great migration of Scottish mercenary dynasties
into the north of Ireland in the thirteenth and early
fourteenth centuries. They became deeply established
in the Ua Domnaill lordship of Tír Conaill, but spread
to many other Irish lordships, making the Mac
Sweeney family the second most important galloglass
dynasty in Ireland after the Mac Domnaill family.
Descended from an ancestor Suibne who flourished in
Scotland circa 1200., the Mac Sweeneys originally
possessed the fortress of Castlesween in Knapdale and
were related to the Scottish families of Mac Sween
and Mac Ewen. There is some controversy over the
origin of the Mac Sweeneys. Medieval Irish genealo-
gists gave the Mac Sweeney family an elaborate
descent from Anradán son of Áed Athloman Ua Néill
(d. 1033), who reputedly left Ulster and settled in
Scotland. However, this genealogy is probably artifi-
cial, like that of the other major galloglass family of
MacDomnaill. The Mac Sweeneys are more than likely
of mixed Scots-Norse or Gall-Gaedheal descent (being
a mixture of Irish settlers in Scotland and Scandinavian
colonists in the Isles). The first Mac Sweeney men-
tioned in an Irish context was captured in western
Connacht in 1267 and imprisoned by the earl of Ulster.
The first of the family associated with the Ua Domnaill
lordship of Tír Conaill was a daughter of Mac
Sweeney, who married the chieftain Domnall Óg Ua
Domnaill (lord of Tír Conaill 1258–81).
All the Mac Sweeneys in Ireland are descended
from Murchad Mear(the crazy) Mac Sweeney whose
son Murchad Óg left Scotland during the first Scottish
war of Independence and settled in Ireland. Murchad
Óg was an ally of Niall Garbh Ua Domnaill, (lord of
Tír Conaill 1342–1343). His grandson was the first
Mac Sweeney lord of Fanad to be recorded in the
annals. These Mac Sweeneys agreed to supply their
overlord, Toirrdelbach an Fhíona UaDomnaill, (lord of
Tír Conaill 1380–1422), with two galloglass for each
quarter of land they possessed. It was also around this
time that the first Mac Sweeney Fanad underwent inau-
guration at Kilmacrennan by Ua Domnaill and Ua
Firgill. Previous to this the Mac Sweeneys were inau-
gurated at Iona in the Scottish Isles.
From Fanad the Mac Sweeneys spread to the adja-
cent lordship of Doe in northwestern Tír Conaill, and
many more branches of the Mac Sweeney family, all
descended from Murchad Mear, spread throughout
Ireland. The third Mac Sweeney family in Tír Conaill,
Mac Sweeney Banagh, descended from an off-shoot
of Mac Sweeney Connacht, settled in Banagh in the
early fifteenth century and are first mentioned in the
annals in 1496. The Mac Sweeneys of Connacht, were
descended from Domnall na Madhmann Mac Sweeney
of Rath Glas, County Galway (fl. 1420). Mac Sweeney
Connacht had branches in Sligo, Roscommon (gallo-
glass to O’Connor Don), Clanrickard (galloglass to
Burke of Clanrickard), and Thomond (galloglass to
O’Brien). Mac Sweeney of Ormond, galloglass to the
earl of Ormond was descended from a Duinn Sléibe
Mac Sweeney. The Mac Sweeneys of Desmond, gal-
loglass to the Mac Carthys, were descended from
Donnchad Mór Mac Sweeney Doe, and were noted for
their seafaring galleys. Mac Sweeney Fanad was con-
sidered to be the most senior Mac Sweeney family,
with the others in descending importance.
The Mac Sweeneys were established in Tír Conaill
more deeply than galloglass in any other lordship in
Ireland. There Mac Sweeney Fanad, Doe, and Banagh
became important territorial lords, reminiscent of the
pomeshchiks in contemporary Russia, the galloglass in
other lordships only having scattered estates. The three
Mac Sweeneys in Tír Conaill became very important
in the sixteenth century as supporters of their lord, Ua
Domnaill, and by the early seventeenth century Mac
Sweeney Fanad and Mac Sweeney Doe each provided
Ua Domnaill with 120 galloglasses, with Mac
Sweeney Banagh supplying 60 and a man to carry the
breastplate and stone of Colum Cille.
Prominent Mac Sweeneys were Máel Muire, lord of
Fanad from 1461 to 1472, his son Ruaidrí, lord of Fanad
from 1472 to 1518, and the last inaugurated lord of
Fanad, Domnall, who was still alive in 1619. Toirrdelbach
Mac Sweeney, lord of Fanad from 1529 to 1544 com-
missioned the compilation of the narrative text the
Craobhsgaoileadh Chlainne Suibhne. Murchad Mall
Mac Sweeney (d. 1570) was the most important lord of
Doe, being prominent in Hugh Mac Manus O’Donnell’s
defeat of Shane O’Neill at the battle of Farsetmore in- Eoghan Óg Mac Sweeney Doe (d. 1596) was
foster-father to the famous Red Hugh O’Donnell, was
also a noted patron of bardic poets and sheltered Spanish
Armada survivors and the lord of Bréifne in his territory.
Donough Mac Sweeney was the last lord of Banagh. Of
the other Mac Sweeney septs, Connor, constable of
Thomond and Edmond, constable of Clanrickard, were
both killed at the battle of Spancel Hill in 1559, and
Domhnall son of Owen of the Lake Mac Sweeney,
constable of Muskerry, “a man who had good tillage,
and kept a house of hospitality,” died in 1589.
DARREN MCGETTIGAN
References and Further Reading
Hayes-McCoy, Gerard A. Scots Mercenary Forces in Ireland
(1565–1603). Dublin, 1937.
Knott, Eleanor, ed. and trans. The Bardic Poems of Tadhg Dall
hUiginn 1550–1591.2 vols. London, 1922/1926.
McGettigan, Darren. “The Renaissance and the Late Medieval
Lordship of Tír Chonaill 1461–1555.” In Donegal History
and Society, edited by William Nolan, Liam Royayne, and
Mairead Dunlevy, pp. 203–228. Dublin, 1995.