Book of Ryans - From Heremon Comes...
While many individual Irish families can claim to go back as far as the dawn of recorded history, such as with the O'Riains and O'Mulrians, it is a fact that Irish genealogy antedates that of any other people. Some of today's surnames can be traced back to the posterity of Milesius; many more date their origins to the fourth century, but most were chosen during the time of Brian Boru in whose reign all were compelled to assume a surname for themselves and their children, so that their descent would lead to a similar ancestor.
According to John O'Donovan, an 19th century Irish historian:
"Even the lowest in rank of a great tribe traced and retained the whole line of their descent with the same care which in other nations was peculiar to the rich and great."
The ancient Celts maintained their lineages in their sacred annals, and it was common for family members to recite their bloodlines down to the seventh generation. Each Sept preserved their family's lineage so that their heritage would be conserved because it was from his own genealogies that each person of the clan, no matter what his status may be, would hold certain legal and civil rights. These rights included his charter in the civil state, and his privilege to own land within the cantrel (a unit of measurement in ancient Gaelic civil law). This linkage to the ruling families within the cantrel was important because ownership of land was not permitted if the individual were not of the same race as the chief. It also determined a person's right to succeed as king of his tribe or province.
This tracing of the Irish ancestral line shows how far advanced Ireland was in adopting a system to identify one's heritage. By contrast, surnames were not adopted universally in England until the time of Queen Elizabeth. In Wales, this custom was not universal until the 17th century, and in many parts of Scandinavia this was not a common practice until the late 19th century.
The law stating that only offspring of Milesius could inherit land or a kingship acted as the basis for surname adoption. After Milesius landed in Ireland, he created a law which allowed only the descendants of Heber, Heremon, Ir and Ith to inherit land and the lordships within Ireland. To ensure its compliance, a person within each family was designated 'Olla' whose principle duty was to record the genealogies of each clan member and maintain the glorious histories of significant patriarchs. Many generations after Milesius died, the Ard Ri, Ollam Fodla, assembled all the Ollams to Tara for the purpose of establishing symbols which could identify various branches of Milesius. Ollam Fodla, assigned coats of arms to each family chief which were hung on a wall opposite the place assigned by each local ruler. In addition to creating coats of arms, the Gaelic also used colors to identify one's status among clan members. The more colors one was allowed to wear signified their importance and influence within the sept. The Celts who later colonized Scotland brought these laws with them, and their colors in time led to the adoption of distinctive plaid designs which uniquely identified the wearer's origins.
Even well into Medieval times, Irish society was still based upon a system of lineages bound by the laws of the clans. Clan, itself, is an Irish word meaning `children or offspring'. Generally, the members of a clan possessed a certain country, such as the O'Riains with their kingdom of Idrone or the O'Mulrians with their large possessions in northern Tipperary. This did not mean that those outside the clan could not live among the members of the ruling clan. Quite the contrary, most of the population living within the clan's territory probably did not belong to any recognized descent group of the clan. Nevertheless, membership within the descent group ensured that ownership of land would pass to family members, hence, because land ownership was restricted to clan members, the maintenance of genealogies were entrusted to the professional families of scribes and chroniclers to ensure that genealogies were properly recorded.
Ui Riain
The Ui Riain laid claim to three separate kingdoms in Ireland. The family's ancestral line originated in northern Leinster near the River Liffey, and afterward came to dominate the lands of the Ui Drona during the late 8th century. After the Norman conquerors reassigned ownership of land to English patrons, the tribes of Leinster, including a large segment of the Ui Riains, left for Gaelic controlled kingdoms in the West. Many Leinster septs migrated to northwestern Munster and Connaught where the Norman conquerors had limited influence, and it would be in the Munster kingships where the Ryans would prosper well into the 17th century. The O'Maoilrians and O'Riains track their lineage to a division of the Laigin called the Sil Cormaic which was a major ruling dynasty of the Ui Ceannselaigh. The Sil Cormaic's tuath, or tribal lands, were located in the present day counties of Carlow and Wexford. As the Sil Cormaic grew more populous they split into several descent groups: one group remaining in Idrone and the other moving westward into Kilnalongurty and Uaithne. Kilnalongurty originally formed part of the O'Fogarty territory, but the Sept was hard pressed by Theobald Butler and other colonists in the course of the 13th century; accordingly, the O'Maoilrian's seized upon this opportunity and settled the lands the O'Fogartys relinquished.
After a few years in the territory, the lineage of the Ui Riains became intertwined with the historical lines of the local population; and this genealogical fabrication, a practice which the ruling families used to forge links with their followers, led later historians to misidentify the exact genealogical descent of the O'Mulryans. Early annalists, including early 20th century scholars, thought the O'Mulryans traced their pedigrees to the great King of Munster, Olioll Ollum, who reigned during the third century. More substantial evidence exists which shows that the Ui Riains and Ui Mulriains stemmed from Leinster roots, and this is reinforced because their early tribal histories align with Laigin history. Yet, great bewilderment prevailed in identifying the Ui Riain pedigree because many of the neighboring tribes in Kilnalongurty and Uaithne identified themselves with Olliol Ollum. A few tribes such as the O'Donegans and O'Dwyers, whom the Ui Riains claimed as their distant relatives, were also exceptions because their oral histories traced their lineage to the mythical Leinster king, Breasal Belach. As the O'Mulryans grew more numerous on the Munster plains, they occupied and conquered lands in Kilnalongurty, Owney, and Borrisoleigh. As a family they grew quite powerful, and it was stated that as "Mountaineers, they were strangers "to flight and fear" and, as a family, have left a name which Tipperary has enshrined in history."[1] As the O'Ryans grew increasingly more efficacious during the late mediaeval period, the less influential septs along their border areas acquiesced to the authority of the Ryan lords.
Owney (Uaithne) and Ara (Aradh) were located in northern Tipperary and Limerick, and was the home of several O'Mulryan kingships in medieval times. In early Milesian times, descendants of the O'Cathalains and the O'Heffernains settled the area known as Uaithne and Ara, but in the second century a Leinster tribe, the Dal Cairbre, settled the rich lands located between Limerick and Tipperary. According to their oral traditions, the Dal Cairbre descended from Cairpre Cluthicar, son a Cucorb, King of Leinster. Cairbre's mother was Eithne, whom as ancient Celtic lore tells us, was a daughter of Cathoir Mor, a deity king of Leinster and early mythological ancestor of the Ui Riains.
An early romantic legend described how King Cucorb had a charioteer by the name of Laidir who eloped with Eithne to Ara Cliach. Here she bore him four sons by the names of Diola, Txica, Euna, and Orta. From this union are descended the O'Holohans and the Ailbe families. The small settlement begun by Laidir would not be ruled by his children as his half-brother Cairpre Cluthicar, as directed by Brehon Law, was able to inherit the kingship of Uaithne and Owney. Cairpre's children prospered, and they eventually settled vast areas of the north Munster plains. The local family oral histories still recall their kinship to Cairpre, and several prominent tribes such as the Ui Duidir (O'Dwyers) of Kilnamanagh and the O'Donegans of Uaithne claim direct heritage to Cairpre Cluthicar. The posterity of Laidir and Eithne flourished in this mountainous area, and they at length built two separate settlements. Their first settlement was located in the barony of Coonagh, a barony on the borders of Limerick and Tipperary; and they later created another settlement at Ara Thire. The 'Ara' in Coonagh was known as Ara Cliach, or the Ara of the Wattled huts; and the Ara located near Nenagh was known as Ara Thire, or territory of Ara. Several ancient accounts suggest that the name of Ara was derived from Laidir whom was more correctly known as Laidir Ara. This conflicted with John O'Dugan's composition that showed that the kingdom of Owney <Uaithne> derived from a second century princess. As Ara may have been derived from Laidir, it seems likely that the name Owney derived from Laidir's wife, Eithne. Because much of ancient Irish history relied upon oral history, the true origin of these territories may never be fully known. The descendants of Eithne and Laidir continued to maintain lordships in this patchwork of kingdoms of northern Mumha (Munster) for nearly a thousand years.
The O'Donegans of Owney and Ara held the lordship of this terrain at least through the eleventh century. The ancient annals showed that the O'Donegans supported Donogh, King of Munster and son of Brian Boru, and that this alliance was defeated by Donogh's brother, Turlough. Turlough punished O'Donegan for supporting Donogh, and afterwards the lineage of O’Donegan played a lesser role in the affairs of the territory. Because the events surrounding O’Donegan’s departure occurred in the 10th century, historians have claimed that if the O'Mulryans, or O'Ryans, entered the region before the Norman invasion it must have been after this time because the Aras were still controlled by Laidir Ara's descendents.
The O'Maoilrians, O'Dwyers and O'Donegans through their genealogical origins traced their lineage to Heremon, son of Milesius. The last common ancestor for these three tribes was Breasal Breac, 23rd in descent from Milesius, and 13th in line with Cathair Mor. Bresal also descended from Cu Corb, a Leinster high king. Cu Corb was an ancient high king of Ireland who was to have ruled the South in the 3rd or 4th century; however, his existence only survives in legend which leaves doubt that he ever lived at all. Some annalists believe that he was also known as Cormac Mac Art who was perhaps the most praised Ard Ri in Irish legend, and according to legend sired four sons among which was Cairbre Cluthicar (or Lifechair) the progenitor of the Dal Cairbre (Caipre or Coipre). The lands settled by the Dal Cairbre, a collective name for the homeland of the O'Dwyers, O'Donagans and others, were a buffer area between the powerful tribes of the Eoganaughts in the South and the Dal Cais in North. The sub-kingdoms of the Dal Coirpre were ruled by families claiming multiple origins which, in many cases, was different than that of the O'Cenidaigh (O'Kennedy) and the MacCarthy overlords. The principal kings maintained their lineages to Milesius's son Heber while the Dal Coirpre traced its lineage to another son of Milesius, Heremon. This conglomeration of diverse, and sometimes opposing, kingdoms co-existed along the Shannon River and Lough Derg well into the first millennium.
After the turn of the 10th century, the population groups of Munster, including Ara and Uaithne, were in a state of flux. Ancient septs that had possessed the land were disappearing or becoming obsolete. New and more vigorous clans had reduced the old owners to subjection or driven them from their ancient patrimony. The forward movement of Anglo-Norman settlements after 1192 merely accelerated this process, and it was after this time that the O'Mulryans became numerous and influential in the ancient lands of Dal Coirpre. Among the lesser kingships within the Dal Coirpre was the O'Mulryan sept of Borrisoleigh, which was one of the three major Ui Riain clans of Munster. This family was perhaps the original leader of the Ryans of north Munster.
This O'Mulryan Sept in late medieval times was headed by Shane Glas O'Mulryan which according to records resisted English authority during the great rebellion. Borrisoleigh was originally known as Baile Achaid Caoin, which translates to the `Town of the Pleasant Field'. How it became known as Borrisoleigh is uncertain; nevertheless, tradition holds that it was named after the first rectory of Owney monastery located in County Limerick. His name, according to custom, was Burres and became rectory in the year 1206. The succeeding journals offer credence to this story because the town was listed as Burres in early times, and was located in the parish of Burres Achaid Caoin. Later it became known as Borrisokane.