Clan Mhac an t'Saoir of Erin


John Cabot recorded finding Irish vessels at Newfoundland, …Newfoundland not populated by the Irish, or at least Europeans, since the time of St. Brendan, at least. The MacIntyres, of which clan James is also an active member.

That the MacDonalds were allies of the O'Donnells, and that the Mac an t'Saoirs were related to, or neighbours of these two peoples on either side of the Irish Sea. This seems to me to support the case that the McAteers and the MacIntyres are the Irish and Scottish sides of the same family. Especially if the O'Donnells and the Mac Donalds turn out to be the same people. We have the Ó Neills, the O'Donnells, the Mhac an t'Saoirs and so on, on the West bank of the Irish Sea, and the MacNeills, MacDonnells and Mac Donalds, and the Mac an t'Saoirs on the opposite bank a few miles away.

The Gaelic name of MacIntyre means "son of a carpenter" and is derived from either of two stories. In the first, the ancestor of the clan was a carpenter who served on the ship of a MacDonald chief, who, in order to stop a leak, chopped off his thumb to plug the hole. In the other story, the ancestor was named as Macarill (variously Maurice) who was Somerled's nephew. Macarill contrived to win Olav the Red's daughter as his wife in order to eventually obtain the Norse King's kingdoms of Man and the Isles. In order to win Olav's favor, Macarill drilled a number of holes in Olav's ship and then stopped them up with tallow. He then contrived and gained passage on the ship. As the ship was tossed and turned in the high waves, and as the holes reopened, Macarill told Olav that he would save the ship if the king would promise his daughter's hand in marriage. King Olav agreed and Macarill plugged the holes with wooden plugs that he had secreted with him. The Macintyres are often claimed to be a sept of Clan MacDonald of Sleat. The Macintyres of Badenoch were attached to the Clan Chattan confederacy.

The McIntyre's, MacNeill's; would support the thought that the MacIntyre surname in Scotland is in fact not derived from Mac an t-Saoir, but from some other Celtic name or description. However, since it may appear that Mhac an t'Saoir referred to a trade, that it was in common use in the entire area of what is today Ireland and Scotland. (descendant of MacNeill) held land originally from the Stewarts of Lorn, later from the Campbell's of Glenurchy, etc. He did not have any sons, but three daughters who married Argyll, Sir Colin Campbell of Glenurchy, and Campbell of Otter, each of whom got the one-third of the Lordship in 1435. It is assumed that they were MacDonnells, since they settled in their homelands in Argyle.  Hugh MacDonald claimed as much in his statement about the nephew of Somerled sticking his finger in the hole in the ship and thereby becoming known as Mac an t-Saoir.

Somerled MacGillebride MacGilladamnan, was the historic founder of Clann Domhnaill and as the heads of the ancient race of Conn, and the lineal heirs of the kings of the Dalriadic Scots. Somerled took the title of Thane or Regulus of Argyll, determining to obtain possession of the Kingdom of Man and the Isles and thus form a Celtic Kingdom. Olave the Red, then King of Man and the Isles, becoming alarmed at the increasing power of Somerled, arrived with a fleet in Storna Bay. He was desirous of obtaining the hand of Olave's daughter, Ragnhildis, in marriage, and went to meet the King of Man. Maurice MacNeill, a foster brother of Olave, but also a close friend of Somerled, bored several holes in the bottom of the King's galley. Olave found safety in Somerled's galley, Maurice MacNeill fixed the pins he had prepared into the holes, and, to the King's amazement, his galley proceeded in safety. The marriage of Somerled and Ragnhildis Olavsdatter took place in the year 1140. In 1154, Olave the Red was murdered by his nephews, who claimed half the Kingdom of the Isles. Godred, son of Olave, who was in Norway at the time, returned to the Isles, but his tyranny and oppression caused the Islesmen to revolt, and Somerled, joining forces with them, seized half the Kingdom of the Isles, and became Righ Innesegall, or King of the Isles, as well as Thane of Argyll. Later Somerled invaded the Isle of Man, defeated Godfrey, and became possessed of the whole Kingdom of Man and the Isles. The power of Somerled, King of the Isles, now caused great anxiety on the neighboring mainland, and King Malcolm IV the Maiden of Scotland dispatched a large army to Argyll. He disembarked in the Bay of St. Lawrence, and marched to Renfrew, where the King of Scotland's army lay. The traditional version of what then occurred is, that feeling reluctant to join issue with the Highland host, and being numerically inferior, Malcom's advisers determined to accomplish the death of Somerled by treachery. They bribed a young nephew of Somerled, named Maurice MacNeill, to visit his uncle and murder him. MacNeill was admitted to Somerled's tent, and finding him off his guard, stabbed him to the heart. When Somerled's army learnt of the fate of their great leader, they fled to their galleys and dispersed. Tradition tells of a dramatic episode that is said to have occurred when King Malcolm and his nobles came to view the corpse of their late powerful foe. Maurice MacNeill stabbed to the heart the man who had insulted the mighty Somerled, and fled. Through one Maurice MacNeill had Somerled won a bride, and at the hands of another Maurice MacNeill met his death. Family tradition, however, says that the Monastery of Saddel was the final resting place of the mighty founder and progenitor of the line of Princes that sat upon the Island throne, from whom descended the great Clan Donald. The children of Somerled MacGillebride and Ragnhilda Olavsdatter: Reginald of the Isles (1148-1207) and Angus.

The MacDonnells were notorious for claiming that all the families living in their territory were related; as were the Campbells, who actually forced subservient families to adopt their surname. the Irish Mac an t-Saoirs, there are definite connections with the church in all of the cases where the description is applied. So one would assume this title had some kind of special meaning in regard to clerics. the Scottish Mac an t-Saoirs? no particular connections with the church in evidence in this family. Definite marital connections between the O'Donnells of Donegal and the MacDonnells of the Isles. Domnall oge O'Donnell married both a MacDonnell and a MacSweeney (from Argyle, Scotland) and the O'Donnells later settled the MacSweeneys as gallowglasses in Donegal. Further, several later O'Donnells are nicknamed Albanach, i.e, fostered in Scotland, undoubtedly with the MacDonnells. The most important sept came from Argyll, Scotland, as gallowglasses and were established in the Glens of Antrim by the 14th century. There were two smaller Irish septs in Connacht. The name Argyle `territory of the Gaels', such as Carrickfergus, incidentally, derived from the Irish colonization of Scotland centuries before.

The surname McMenimen is derived from the personal name, Meanman or Menman. So it should be MacMeanman or MacMenman. But instead McMenimen. introducing an extra syllable between the Mac and the Tire in the name MacIntyre? The Irish word for wolf is Mac-Tire , meaning 'son of the land.' As the author MacBain noted, it was a very common name in Ireland and presumably Scotland as well. It appears twice in the following pedigree for the Rawlinson B.502 Genealogies and in an Annal entry for 1029: the Macmeanman surname in Donegal - this family were actually a branch of the O'Donnells. Like the MacAteers, the MacMeanmans (MacMenimen, MacMenamon) were a fairly sl sept with. In the Papal Letters, they are described as the "Macmeanman O'Donnells," a clear indication that they were a branch of the ruling O'Donnell sept of Tirconnell. This descent of the MacMeanmans had been completely lost in Irish records - not a hint of this descent appears in any of the surname books or pedigree collections.

The surname McMenimen is derived from the personal name, Meanman or Menman. So it should be MacMeanman or MacMenman. But instead McMenimen. introducing an extra syllable between the Mac and the Tire in the name MacIntyre? The Irish word for wolf is Mac-Tire , meaning 'son of the land.' As the author MacBain noted, it was a very common name in Ireland and presumably Scotland as well. It appears twice in the following pedigree for the Rawlinson B.502 Genealogies and in an Annal entry for 1029: The Macmeanman surname in Donegal - this family were actually a branch of the O'Donnells.

Like the MacAteers, the MacMeanmans (MacMenimen, MacMenamon) were a fairly sl sept with. In the Papal Letters, they are described as the "Macmeanman O'Donnells," a clear indication that they were a branch of the ruling O'Donnell sept of Tirconnell. This descent of the MacMeanmans had been completely lost in Irish records - not a hint of this descent appears in any of the surname books or pedigree collections.

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