The Mac Giolla Phádraig Laighean

Until recently, the dominant Mac Giolla Phádraig narrative had the surname associated only with the Barony of Upper Ossory, with ancient origins in medieval Osraí (Kingdom of Ossory). Yet, it has now been demonstrated, mainly via sixteenth-and seventeenth century Fiants and Patent Rolls of Ireland, that there was a Clann Mac Giolla Phádraig Dál gCais present in Clár (County Clare) in the sixteenth century, having been domiciled there since the thirteenth century. Also, by interrogation of sixteenth-and seventeenth century Fiants and Patent Rolls, it is shown here that Mac Giolla Phádraig resident in Laighean (Leinster) counties had no association with the family of Upper Ossory. Notable from the early sixteenth century are the Mac Giolla Phádraig of Cill Dara (County Kildare), who were once possessed of several discrete territories, including one that bore their name, and at least one castle, evidencing extended kinship, i.e., clanship. Yet, with the demise of the Kildare FitzGeralds ca. 1537, there came an upheaval for the clann. In the years after the rebellion of ‘Silken’ Thomas FitzGerald, Mac Giolla Phádraig are found in association with the infamous ‘Keating Kern’, due to their prior common service with the Earls of Kildare. But after the ninth Earl’s attainment, Mac Giolla Phádraig were expelled from their Cill Dara territories. Yet, those Mac Giolla Phádraig re-established themselves – and their network grew. By the 1550s, they had become well-connected with the Uí Tuathail (O’Toole), Uí Broinn (O’Byrne), Caomhánach (Kavanagh), and other notable clanns of the day, of Ceatharlach (County Carlow), Cill Mhantáin (County Wicklow), and Loch Garman (County Wexford). The relationships with Laighean clanns expanded throughout the rest of the sixteenth century while the association with Keatings faded. Significantly, Mac Giolla Phádraig came to hold lands at Cúirt an Phaoraigh (Powerscourt) until they were dispossessed in the early seventeenth century. This article follows the Mac Giolla Phádraig Laighean from the sixteenth century and identifies their descendants today. Now bearing the surname Fitzpatrick, they belong to an ancient kindred group identified by the surname-specific Y-DNA haplotype R1b-Z255 … BY2849. Today, these Fitzpatricks reside all over the globe. But true to their ‘Irish Sea’ Y-DNA modality, i.e., R-Z255, many also live all along Ireland’s east, from Aontroim (County Antrim) to Cill Mhantáin, and some families are still domiciled near their ancestor’s sixteenth and seventeenth century territories. This speaks to the diversity of Clann Mac Giolla Phádraig Laighean, their distinct kindred identities among their individual septs, and the long endurance of their surname.