Fearghal Ó Gadhra
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Fearghal Ó Gadhra (c. 1597 – after 1660), sometimes referred to as Farrell O'Gara, was lord of Coolavin, and patron of the Annals of the Four Masters.
Family background
[edit]Ó Gadhra was the son of Tadhg mac Oilill Ó Gadhra of Coolavin, located in what is now south County Sligo. The family were ancient proprietors in Connacht; Geoffrey Keating gives their ancestry as follows:
"Tadhg son of Cian, son of Oilill Olom, had two sons, namely, Connla and Cormac Gaileang. From Iomchaidh son of Connla comes O Cearbhaill, and from Fionnachta son of Connla comes O Meachair. From Cormac Gaileang son of Tadhg, son of Cian, comes O Eadhra and O Gadhra and O Conchubhair Ciannachta. The following are the territories they acquired, namely: Gaileanga, east and west; Ciannachta, south and north; Luighne, east and west."
In the 12th century the Ó Gadhras were Kings of Sliabh Lugha, anciently referred to as Gailenga. The O'Hara's retained the name Luighne for their territory to the north. The O'Garas were expelled into Coolavin, Co. Sligo, by the Mac Jordan of Connacht.
Early life
[edit]Sir Theobald Dillon, an Anglo-Irish property holder in Luighne, was awarded the wardship of Ó Gadhra by King James I which required Dillon to provide for Ó Gadhra's attendance at Trinity College Dublin between 1609 and 1616.[1] Despite the 1589 rebellion of his father, Iriell O'Gara, Fearghal inherited most of his estate, thanks to the protection of Dillon, and in the 1630s was one of the wealthiest Catholic landowners in the county. In 1618, either Gadhra or Dillon surrendered the estate at Moygara to King James I and received the land back on English Tenure, who in turn granted Gadhra the power to hold court and act as a baron.[2] In 1634 he became MP for Sligo. He married Isobel Taffe, daughter of Sir John, Viscount Corran, who was married to a daughter of Sir Theobald Dillon. Though Dillon was Protestant, Ó Gadhra and his immediate family appear to have remained committed Catholics.
Fearghal and Isobel had sons, Cian and John. A descendant, Oliver O'Gara, served in the army of James II during the Williamite War in Ireland.
Irish Rebellion of 1641
[edit]Ó Gadhra welcomed the arrival of Owen Roe O'Neill in 1642, and his son John served as a captain in the Confederate forces.[citation needed] In 1643, Ó Gadhra was accused of being an Irish rebel by Andrew Adaire, who claimed Ó Gadhra was among the Irish rebels in County Sligo in 1641.[3] In 1644, a Protestant refugee named Jane Browne testified that Ó Gadhra had shielded, fed, and clothed her and her children following the fall of the Protestant stronghold at Templehouse Castle in 1641.[4]
Final Years
[edit]Following the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Ó Gadhra's property was seized. He was alive as late as 1660, though the precise date of his death is uncertain.
Patron to the Four Masters
[edit]Ó Gadhra's contribution to Irish history and culture is as patron of the Annals of the Four Masters in the 1630s.[5] Scholars still scrutinise the motives behind the Franciscan order who chose "this politically minor lord ... as the patron of the most important annalistic collection of early modern Ireland ... A common explanation for Ó Gadhra's engagement ... is that his attendance at TCD brought him into contact with the antiquarian scholars James Ussher and James Ware, who, it is suggested, communicated their interest in collecting Irish literary and manuscript material to the young man. This is a plausible surmise but it is weakened by the lack of any evidence of Ó Gadhra's presence at Trinity. A more likely scenario is that the link between Ó Gadhra and Mícheál Ó Cléirigh originated with the family of Ó Gadhra guardian. The Dillons had strong connections with the Franciscan order and in particular with monasteries associated with Ó Cléirigh. One of Dillion's sons, Edward (Father Louis), held the position of novice master in the Irish college at Louvain in the 1620s, when Ó Cléirigh was also there." (2010, p. 481).
Other reasons included common sentiments with other Catholic patrons of the order's scholars. Also, Ó Gadhra was relatively wealthy and a respected member of the Catholic gentry of north Connacht.
In appreciation of his support, he was presented with a copy of the manuscript, which included a lengthy acknowledgement of his efforts, by Ó Cléirigh. This manuscript was inherited by Ó Gadhra's sons, and taken to the continent by Colonel Oliver O'Gara, in his exile following the Treaty of Limerick. In the 1730s, O'Gara returned it Ireland, it been entrusted to Charles O'Conor (historian) of Belangare. It is currently in the Royal Irish Academy, as MS C iii3 and H 2 ii.
Ó Gadhra's in the annals
[edit]- 926 - Eaghra mac Poprigh, lord of Luighne Connacht.
- 964 - Toichleach ua n-Gadhra was tighearna of Luighne Deisceirt.
- 993 - Conghalach mac Laidhgnen, .i. ua Gadhra, tigherna Gaileng.
- 1181 - Donn Sléibhe Ua Gadhra, king of Sleibe Lughu, died.
- 1206 - Ruairí Ó Gadhra, Lord of Sliabh Lugha, died.
- 1227 - Donn Sleibhe O Gadhra, Lord of Sliabh Lugha, was slain by Gillaroe, his own brother's son.
- 1256 - Rory O Gadhra, Lord of Sliabh Lugha, was slain by David, son of Richard Cuisin.
- 1285 - Rory O Gadhra, Lord of Sliabh-Lugha, was slain by Mac Feorais on Lough O'Gara.
See also
[edit]- Ferghal Dubh Ó Gadhra, compiler of the O Gara Manuscript
References
[edit]- ^ "Calendar of the Patent Rolls of the Chancery of Ireland". Austrian National Library. 12 May 2011. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
Grant to sir Theobald Dillon, knt, of the wardship of Farall O'Gara, grandson and next heir of Iriell O'Gara, late of Moygara in Sligo co. gent. deceased... for his maintenance and education in the English religion and habits, and in Trinity college, Dublin, from the 12th to the 18th year of his age.
- ^ William Gregory Wood-Martin (1889). "History of Sligo, County and Town, From the Accession of James I to the Revolution of 1688". Retrieved 3 July 2021.
- ^ Deposition of Andrew Adaire, 9/1/1643, 1641 Depositions, Trinity College Dublin, MS 831, fols 174r-178v, http://1641.tcd.ie/index.php/deposition/?depID=831174r136. Accessed 02 September 2023.
- ^ Deposition of Jane Browne, 8/1/1644, 1641 Depositions, Trinity College Dublin, MS 831, fols 068v-, http://1641.tcd.ie/index.php/deposition/?depID=831068v072a. Accessed 27 June 2021.
- ^ Thomas D'Arcy McGee (6 January 2003). "A Popular History of Ireland". Retrieved 27 June 2021.
After collecting these materials, Father O'Clery waited, as he tells us, on "the noble Fergall O'Gara," one of the two knights elected to represent the county of Sligo in the Parliament of 1634, and perceiving the anxiety of O'Gara, "from the cloud which at present hangs over our ancient Milesian race," he proposed to collect the civil and military annals of Erin into one large digest. O'Gara, struck with this proposal, freely supplied the means, and O'Clery and his coadjutors set to work in the Franciscan Convent of Donegal, which still stood, not more than half in ruins. On the 22nd of January, 1632, they commenced this digest, and on the 10th of August, 1636, it was finished—having occupied them four years, seven months and nineteen days. The MS., dedicated to O'Gara, is authenticated by the superiors of the convent; from that original two editions have recently been printed in both languages.
- Dictionary of Irish Biography, pp. 480–81, Cambridge, 2010.