The recording and updating of genealogies were
disrupted, along with other aspects of native learning,
by the twelfth-century church reform and advent of
continental religious orders and, soon after, by the
Anglo-Norman invasion of 1169. The first post-Norman
genealogical manuscripts now extant date from the
mid-fourteenth century. They include the Ua Cianáin
manuscript (National Library of Ireland MS G 2)
penned, perhaps in Fermanagh, in the 1340s, and the
east Connacht manuscript (TCD 1298 [H.2.7]). From
the end of that century, we have the Book of Uí Mhaine
and one of two great north Connacht codices, the Book
of Ballymote; slightly later is the Book of Lecan, and
from later in the fifteenth century, Laud MS 610 and
the
Leabhar Donn.
Of the later collections the greatest
of all is Dubhaltach Mac Fhir Bhisigh’s Book of
Genealogies, produced chiefly in Galway in the mid-
seventeeth century, but the tradition of compiling
genealogical collections continued at least into the
following century.
Irish genealogical manuscripts from the early six-
teenth century onwards began to recognize new polit-
ical realities, by including the pedigrees of some of
the leading Anglo-Irish families. This often reflects the
degree of gaelicization undergone by such families.
Some Norman families (such as the Plunkets, Powers,
Bennetts and Dillons) went further and had themselves
assigned a pseudo-Gaelic ancestry.
The genealogies represent a very important, though
often neglected, source for Ireland’s earlier history.
When used in conjunction with the annals, they can
be used to cross-check, or flesh out, material in the latter.
While the pre-Norman genealogical recensions deserve
a great deal of further study, the later collections—from
the mid-fourteenth century onward—have, until now,
scarcely been studied at all, let alone edited and made
available in print.
N
OLLAIG
Ó M
URAÍLE
References and Further Reading
Dobbs, Margaret E. “The Ban-shenchus.”
Revue Celtique
47
(1930): 284–339; 48 (1931), 163–234; 49 (1932), 437–489.
Kelleher, John V. “The Pre-Norman Irish Genealogies.”
Irish
Historical Studies
16 (1968): 138–153.
Ní Bhrolcháin, Muireann. “
An Bansheanchas
.” In
Na Mná sa
Litríocht
(
Léachtaí Cholm Cille
XII), edited by Pádraig Ó
Fiannachta, 5–29. Maynooth, Ireland: An Sagart, 1982.
Nicholls, Kenneth. “The Irish Genealogies: Their Value and
Defects.” The Irish Genealogist 2 (1975): 256–261.
––––––. “Genealogy.” In The Heritage of Ireland: Natural,
Man-made, and Cultural Heritage: Conservation and Inter-
pretation, Business and Administration, edited by Neil Butt-
imer, et al., 156–161. Cork: The Collins Press, 2000.
O’Brien, Michael A., ed. Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae, I.
Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1962;
reprinted 1968 and subsequently with new introduction by
John V. Kelleher.
Ó Corráin, Donnchadh. “Irish Origin Legends and Genealogy:
Recurrent Etiologies.” In History and Heroic Tale: A Sym-
posium, edited by T. Nyberg, et al., 51–96. Odense, Denmark:
1985.
––––––. “Creating the Rast: The Early Irish Genealogical Tra-
dition.” Carroll Lecture 1992. Peritia 12 (1998): 177–208.
O’Donovan, John, ed. The Genealogies, Tribes and Customs of
Hy-Fiachrach, Commonly called O’Dowda’s Country...
from the Book of Lecan,... and from the Genealogical
Manuscript of Duald Mac Firbis... Dublin: Irish Archae-
ological Society, 1844.
Ó Muraíle, Nollaig. The Celebrated Antiquary: Dubhaltach
Mac Fhirbhisigh (c. 1600–1671), His Lineage, Life and
Learning. Maynooth, Ireland: An Sagart, 1996; revised and
reprinted 2002.
––––––, ed. Leabhar Mór na nGenealach: The Great Book of
Irish Genealogies, compiled 1645–1666 by Dubhaltach Mac
Fhirbhisigh. 5 vols. Dublin: De Búrca, 2003-2004.
Ó Riain, Pádraig. Corpus Genealogiarum Sanctorum Hiberniae.
(The Genealogies of the Irish Saints.) Dublin: Dublin Insti-
tute for Advanced Studies, 1985.
Pender, Séamus, ed. “The O Clery Book of Genealogies.” Ana-
lecta Hibernica 18 (1951), xi–xxxiii, 1–198.
See also Hagiography; Gaelicization; invasion
Myth; Lecan, Book of; Leinster, Book of; Mac Fhir
Bhisigh family; personal names; society,
functioning of Gaelic; Uí Maine, Book ofGENEVILLE, GEOFFREY DE
(c. 1226–1314)
The career of Geoffrey de Geneville, lord of Vau-
couleurs in Champagne, who came to hold land in
England, Wales, and Ireland, is a late example of the
“aristocratic diaspora” typical of the high Middle
Ages, when nobles moved across Europe in search of
better fortunes. Geoffrey’s fortunes were secured at the
English court by the intervention of Peter de Savoy,
the uncle of Queen Eleanor and the husband of Geof-
frey’s stepsister, Agnes de Faucigny. Peter obtained the
marriage of Matilda de Lacy, coheiress of Walter de
Lacy, lord of Meath, for de Geneville in 1252, whereby
he became lord of Ludlow in the Welsh March and
lord of Trim in Ireland.
Geoffrey’s importance in an Irish and British con-
text stemmed not only from his landholdings but also
from his loyal service to both Henry III and Edward I.
It was his loyalty throughout the baronial rebellion of
the 1250s and 1260s that secured him a place in the
favor of the future Edward I. He was of particular
importance in Ireland during the disturbances caused
by the war between the de Burgh and the FitzGerald
families. Following the capture of the justiciar in
December 1264, Geoffrey, who was already a member
of the council in Ireland, assumed control of the gov-
ernment and had secured reconciliation between the
warring parties by April 1265, thereby creating a stable
enough situation for troops to be safely dispatched toGENEVILLE, GEOFFREY DE (c. 1226–1314)