Wikipedia

Irish feudal barony

In Ireland, a feudal barony is a customary title of gentry. The person who holds an Irish feudal barony is always referred to as a baron. However, unlike peers in the British House of Lords, they did not necessarily hold a hereditary peerage title. As a result, feudal barons were not automatically entitled to seats in the Irish House of Lords by virtue of their barony alone. This distinction was noted by the Dublin Government in 1614, which observed that while many "gentlemen" in Ireland were called Baron, "Never was any of them Lord Baron nor summoned to any Parliament".[1] In other words, the title of feudal baron did not in itself confer membership or voting rights in the Irish House of Lords.

History

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In Ireland, most of the originally-feudal titular baronies disappeared through obsolescence or disuse. The exception being those feudal baronies with a solid root of title, and those held by Irish or British peers. The Lordship of Fingal was granted to Walter de Lacy, Lord of Meath for seven knight's fees, "although the lords thereof hold elsewhere in capite", according to the unusual grant in 1208 by King John as Lord of Ireland, who allowed de Lacy to retain custody of his fees.[2] Fingal at the time spread from the River Liffey to the River Delvin, north of Dublin, similar to the administrative boundary of today's County Fingal (minus Dublin City) created from part of County Dublin in 1994. A small number of titular feudal baronies continue to exist either as subordinate titles held by members of the Peerage of Ireland, Peerage of Great Britain or the Peerage of the United Kingdom, or as titles held by grand serjeanty, such as, originally, Fingal. Those few feudal baronies that survive all are considered as "incorporeal hereditaments", and may continue to exist as interests or estates in land, registrable as such upon conveyance or inheritance under the Registry of Deeds of the Government of Ireland, or as titles held in gross as personal rights, and not as real interests in land.

Following a 2005 report by the Law Reform Commission, the system of feudal tenure as such, in so far as it had survived, was abolished by the Oireachtas in the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act (no. 27 of 2009); fee tail was also abolished.[3] However, estates and interests in land, including incorporeal hereditaments, continue. Formerly registered or proven feudal titles with a solid root of title, and the submerged feudal titles of surviving Irish or British peers were not affected, and continue to exist as personal rights, now held in gross. However, those obsolete or unregistered feudal titles, and those that lapsed into desuetude after 1662, when the Irish Parliament passed the Abolition of Tenures Act, no longer exist as incorporeal hereditaments, nor as personal rights, and cannot be revived.

An example of a hereditary baronial knighthood that remains in Ireland is the Knight of Kerry.

Current status

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Some Irish feudal baronial titles have been offered for sale online.[4]

List

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List of Irish feudal baronies[5]
Title Family Earliest record First known holder Ref.
Ards (historically Arde[s] or Art) Savage (South/Little), Montgomery and Hamilton (North/Great), Hamilton (Middle) 1226-7 Robert de Valibus (Comitatus de Arde established under John de Courcy 1177) [6]
Ballyvoe Butler 1614 [1]
Bargy als Slemarge Purcell, then St. Leger 1298 Walter Purcell
Birr Fitzowen 1335 Hugh Fitzowen
Brownsford Fitzgerald 1585 David Fitzgerald
Burnchurch Fitzmaurice before 1218 Maurice Fitzmaurice
Castleknock Tyrrel c.1172 Hugh Tyrrel
Castlemagner Magner February 1183 (Castle built);

January 10, 1481 (recorded in The Pipe Roll of Cloyne)

William Magunel; David Magnel
Clabbye O'Neill Before 1611 Conn Mac Shane O'Neill [1]
Dunkellin (historically Doonkillen) French, then Dorgan c. 1170 Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke (Strongbow)
Fingal De Lacy, then Preston, et al. 1208 Walter de Lacy [7]
Galtrim Hussey 1374 John Hussey
Idrone le Gros 1175 Raymond Le Gros [8]
Erris (historically Irrus) Barrett[9] Before 1605[10] Sir Edmund Barrett[11] [12][13][14]
Killetragh O'Neill 1592 Hugh (mac Conn) Mac Shane O'Neill [1]
Kells Fitz-Thomas, then Bermingham 1172 Gilbert Fitz-Thomas [15]
Kilbixey Constantine 1172 Geoffrey de Constantine
Killough [and Rathmollen] Russell 1316 Thomas Russell [16]
Loughmoe Purcell 1328 Richard Purcell
Lune Misset 1172 Robert Misset
Maynooth Fitzgerald 1172 Maurice Fitzgerald [17]
Moyashel Tuite 1172 Risteárd de Tiúit
Mullingar Petit 1172 William le Petit
Naas Fitzmaurice, then de Londres 1177
Navan Nangle 1172 Jocelyn de Angulo
Newcastle Lyons Butler before 1600
Norragh St. Michael, then Wellesley c.1175 Robert St. Michael [18]
Pormanstowne Deane 1577
Rathcormac Power before 1597 Piers Power
Rathdown MacMillan 1344
Rathwire de Lacy, then Daniel 1172 Robert de Lacy
Skryne de Feypo, then Marward 1170 Adam de Feypo

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Calendar of Carew Manuscripts, Lambeth Palace Library Vol. V doc. 162
  2. ^ See Rotuli Chartarum in Turri Londinensi Asservati, edited by Thomas Duffus Hardy, published in 1837; it contains original text of the Grant of Fingal by King John in 1208.
  3. ^
    • "Report Series: Reform and modernisation of land law and conveyancing law". Publications. Dublin: Law Reform Commission. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
    • "Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009". Archived from the original on 25 April 2015.
  4. ^ "Kevin Boone: The titles game: Can you buy nobility?".
  5. ^ National Library of Ireland List of those Baronies whose status is exceptional MS 50 pp.61 and 119
  6. ^ Rot. Cl. 2 Hen. III. m. 24 dores, Tur. Lond.
  7. ^ Charter of 28 April 1208, ref. 9 John, m.1, Rotulum Chartarum in the Tower of London
  8. ^ Healy, W. (1893). History and Antiquities of Kilkenny (County and City): With Illustrations and Appendix, Compiled from Inquisitions, Deeds, Wills, Funeral Entries, Family Records, and Other Historical and Authentic Sources (Vol. 1). Kilkenny, Ire.: PM Egan.
  9. ^ "Bourke (No. 5.) family genealogy - Irish Pedigrees". www.libraryireland.com. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  10. ^ Ireland. Chancery, John Caillard Erck. A repertory of the inrolments on the patent rolls of Chancery in Ireland ... Oxford University. J. M'Glashan, 1846.
  11. ^ "History of Doolough, Co. Mayo in the West of Ireland | mayo-ireland.ie". www.mayo-ireland.ie. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  12. ^ D'Alton, John (1861). Illustrations, historical and genealogical, of King James's Irish army list, 1689. University of Michigan. London, J. R. Smith.
  13. ^ Westropp, Thomas Johnson (1912). "The Promontory Forts and Early Remains of the Coasts of County Mayo. Part 2. The Mullet". The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. 2 (3): 185–216. ISSN 0035-9106. JSTOR 25514241.
  14. ^ Burke, Bernard (1868). A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland. Harrison.
  15. ^ O'Hart, John Irish Pedigrees 5th Edition 1892
  16. ^ Burke, Bernard (1847). Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry. H. Colburn. p. 1162.
  17. ^ Calendar of the Gormanston register folio 1
  18. ^ Otway-Ruthven History of Medieval Ireland

Sources

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  • A View of the Legal Institutions, Honorary Hereditary Offices, and Feudal Baronies established in Ireland, by William Lynch, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, published by Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, Paternoster Row, London, 1830.
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