In 1054, Siward, the Danish earl of Northumbria, had close connection of the family of Duncan, led an army into Scotland against Macbeth, in the interests of Duncan's son, Malcolm, and perhaps at the instance of Edward, King of England. Although not then successful in recovering the central kingdom, Siward succeeded in confirming Malcolm as ruler of all that portion of Scotland south of the Clyde and Forth. Siward died in 1055, however, and Malcolm was not able to push his cause further until 1057. In that yeare he formed an alliance with Tostig, who was the son of Earl Godwin and successor to Siward as ruler of Northumberland. Then taking advantage of the death of Thorfinn, Macbeth's most powerful coadjutor, the allies again entered the domain of the latter and on the 15th of August, 1057, Malcolm killed Macbeth in battle at Lumphanan.

Since 1057, King MACBETH mac Finley mac Ruaidhri of Strathclyde, mormaer of Moray was killed by Malcolm III at battle of Lumphanan. The second cousin to Gilcomgain succeeded to the mormaorship of Moray. MacBeth was the ruler of the southern districts and Thorfinn was ruler of the Northern Districts. MacBeth slew Duncan I, father of Malcom III and Malcolm III Slew Macbeth 1057. King of Strathclyde. Malcolm disposed of Macbeth's stepson, Lulach (1058) and became ruler. Duncan collected as large an army as possible, and having entered Moray again, met Thorfinn in battle at Torfness, or Broghead, where, the second time, he was completely defeated and his forces routed. Earl Thorfinn then overran and subdued the country as far south as Fife. Soon after, Duncan was slain by Macbeth, the Morronor of Moray, whose father, Finley, had regained the mormaorship after the death of Earl Sigurd. Macbeth at the time may have been operating as an ally of Thorfinn; or, according to some accounts, endeavoring to make good his own wife's claim to the Scottish throne--a claim which seems to have been at least of equal merit with that of Duncan himself . After Duncan's death, Macbeth succeeded to his crown; yet the power of Earl Thorfinn at this time was nearly as great as his own. Thorfinn possessed the nine earldoms of Sutherland, Ross, Moray, "Dali," Buchan, Mar, Mearns, Angus, and Galloway; and without his assistance the Mormaor of Moray could hardly have succeeded in establishing himself upon the Scottish throne. Macbeth, the Morronor of Moray, whose father, Finley, had regained the mormaorship after the death of Earl Sigurd.

Gruffydd successfully attacks the Norman Castles of Gwynedd The Welsh Rising of 1094. he went by sail and oar to the islands of Denmark and to King Guthrie, his friend, to ask ships of him, and their equipment, and what pertained to them. For then he first came to him, seeking his aid with confidence. And he helped him, having compassion and condolence for his frequent perils. Thence Gruffydd set out with sixty ships and came to Anglesey, to plan an attack, he and the men of the Islands, upon the castles of the French. The men of the country were a great hindrance to them. Then there was a fierce, cruel, severe battle, from morning till afternoon; and many fell from both sides, and the bravest first; and in their midst Gruffydd leaped forward in the foremost troop, to cleave the armoured and helmeted French with his double-edged axe, like King David amidst the Philistines. And night separated the battle.

When Gruffydd was fighting with the castle of Aberlleniog in Mon, and one hundred and twenty men and the fourteen young boys, it was burflt and plundered by him and several of the men of the castle killed, and that after plundering it fully he returned to another place in Anglesey where he had three ships. The men of the castle and the men of Mon pursued him throughout the day, fighting behind him valiantly. And as before they went back with the plunder and with the French and Saxons bound by them, and prisoners; and they killed several of their pursuers in the long battle. On Gruffydd's side there fell Gellan the chief harpist and musician in the fleet. Only a Padarn in skill and lucidity could relate in full the combats of Gruffydd and the wars between the Cymru and Ireland and the islands of Denmark and diverse other nations. I myself admit that I am not equal to it, and I should not be equal to it though I were as eloquent as Tullius the Bard in prose and Maro the Bard in verse. And as Gruffydd was thus sometimes free and sometimes in difficulties, he took a wife, Angharad her name, daughter of Owen ap Edwin, whom the wisest in the kingdom declare of noble birth, well-grown, with fair hair, large eyes, fine figure; regal body, strong limbs, well-developed shanks, fine feet and long fingers and thin nails; good-natured, eloquent, good with respect to food and drink; wise and prudent, and a woman of good counsel; merciful towards the kingdom, and charitable towards the needy, and righteous in everything. From her he had sons and daughters. The sons were named Cadwallon and Owen and Cadwaladr. His daughters were Gwenlliant and Margaret and Rhannillt and Susanna and Annest. He had sons and daughters also from concubines.

When William Longsword King of England heard of the prowess of Gruffydd and his ferocity and his cruelty against the French, he could not endure it, and roused the whole kingdom against him, and came to Gwynedd with an abundance of troops of horsemen and footmen, intending to abolish and destroy utterly all of the people until there should be alive not so much as a dog. He had purposed also to cut down all the woods and groves so that there might not be shelter nor defence for the men of Gwynedd henceforth. There-upon he encamped, and he pitched his tents first in Mur Castell, certain of the Welsh being his guides. When Gruffydd heard this he assembled the host of the whole kingdom and went against him to create obstacles for him in narrow places when he descended from the mountains. And he [Rufus] was afraid and led his hosts through the Perveddwlad until he reached Chester without doing any kind of injury on that journey to the inhabitants of the country.

The Normans invade Anglesey; The intervention of King Magnus; The Death of Hugh Earl of Shrewsbwry; Gruffydd Makes Peace. After this was ended Hugh Earl of Chester, who has been mentioned above, the root of all evil, like Antiochus of old, collected a fleet and a mighty wonderful host of the country, sorrowing, and complaining with grief and mindful of the men of the castle: and the razing of his castles and the slaughter of his knights. He joined with him another Hugh Earl of Shrewsbury and his host, so that together and as one they might come to avenge the losses which Gruffydd had caused them. Thereupon they and their host went in their fleet by sea to the dominion of Gruffydd, and Owen ap Edwin and Uchtryd his brother, and their power [went] before them. When this was. perceived, the men of Gwyn.edd and Powys combined towithstand them without yielding to them. Therefore the lords of Powys, Cadwgan and Maredudd his brother, removed to Gruffydd, [taking] their dwellings with them.

Then after taking counsel together they went to Anglesey, they and Gruffydd, and there defended themselves as in a stronghold which was surrounded by the ocean. For there had come to Gruffydd Sixteen long-keeled ships to his aid from Ireland who were to contend on sea against the fleet of the earls. When the earls heard that, they sent messengers to the ships which had come to support Gruffydd to ask them to fail him when he should be in the greatest straits, and to come to them on their own terms (lit. whatever they desired of good). Thus it turned out that after believing the guile of the French theypoured back to the island, breaking their promise to Gruffydd.1o When Gruffydd knew that, he grieved and feared much, for he knew not what course to take agains.t his French Opponents and the traitor-ships. Then he and Cadwgan ap Bleddyn, his son-in-law, having taken counsel together journeyed in a skiff until they came to Ireland, committing their people and property to the will of God, who, with whole-hearted attention, [lit., with a will that does not neglect] is accustomed to support every man when he is in the greatest straits.

The French, however, terrified as women when they saw this, fought in armour and bestrode their horses according to their custom and advanced towards the King and his guard of three ships. The King and his following fought against them valiantly, and the French fell from their horses like fruit from their branches, some dead, some wounded by the missiles of the Norsemen. The King himself rising up in the prow of the boat, wounded in the eye with an arrow Hugh Earl of Shrewsbury, and he fell mortally wounded to the earth from his armoured horse, beating upon his arms. Because of this accident the French turned in flight and presented their backs to the shafts of the Norsemen. And the King and his fleet directed their course thence, for he came, and great might with him, to survey the island of Britain and Ireland which are on the confines of the world, as said Vergil, The Britons are entirely cut off from the whole world.

Hereupon Earl Hugh and the other French, joyful from the return of King Magnus, took with them the men of Gwynedd and all their possessions fully to the cantred of Rhos from fear of the arrival of Gruffydd hour by hour. Then the cattle and plunder of every owner was counted, and thence halved, and with half he set off to Chester.

Gruffydd, according to his usual Custom, coming from Ireland; and he found the whole land deserted, and its people had gone to another place. Then he sent messengers to Earl Hugh, and made peace with him; and in that can.tred there were given three holdings to him.

Gruffydd re-establishes himself on the Mainland; Henry I twice advances against Gruffydd Without Success. Then after years passed by, he went to the court of Henry King of England, who succeeded his brother, and from him obtained a boon, and affection, and acknowledgment through the intercession and skill of Herveius Bishop of Bangor. And he [the King] gave him in peace and love the Cantred of Lleyn, and Eifyonydd, and Ardudwy, and Arllechwedd, them and their people and their possessions; and immediately, when Gruffydd returned from the court, he took their habitations to these countries, praising God who casts.

Then likewise everything prospered before Gruffydd, and on all sides he freed everything before Gwynedd, for his hope was in the Lord: and daily there slipped to him others from Rhos, and their possessions with them, without permission of the Earl of Chester, and increased his people. In the following year. he advanced to Anglesey, and the people with him, and settled it; and thence to other commots. In this wise he took back by his might everything in Gwynedd, as did Maccabeus, son of Mattathias of old in Israel, and he brought the whole folk from various places of exile, who had gone into exile from the pursuit.

The Earl was offended because of the seizure of his land and because it was thus conquered without his permission. When the King of England heard that, he was amazed and opened his treasury, and went to unstinting expense in horsemen and footmen, and took with him the King of Scotland and the Scots, and the men of the south. Thus he came to Gruffydd?s posses-sions and encamped in Mur Castell. Gruffydd on his part, according to his experience in warfare, took up a position against him in the arms of snowclad Snowdon. Thence messages passed between the King and him for the space of some days, and they made peace. Then King Henry returned to England, and Gruffydd to his kingdom.

After this Gruffydd reigned many years happily and mightily, with mildness and peace, enjoying harmoni¬ously friendship with the kings nearest to him, to wit, Henry King of England and Murchad King of Ireland, and King of the Isles of Denmark; and he was famous and illustrious both in the realms far from him and in those near to him. Gruffydd, on his part, made great churches for himself in his chief places, and constructed courts and [gave] banquets constantly and honourably. Further, he set his sons, still youths, over his most distant cantreds, to occupy and to maintain them as a fearless wall against strange races and foreigners, if they ever meditated rising afresh against him. Other minor kings sought his court and his protection, to seek his support and counsel as often as strange peoples harassed them. Eventually, however, Gruffydd became old and lost the sight of his eyes, and devoted his energy to works of mercy. As he was intent upo n an immortal reputation from warfare, he purposed also to go to a secret place to lead a godly life and discountenance completely his whole worldly sovereignty. He sent twenty shillings to the Church of Christ in Dublin where he was born and reared, and a similar amount to all the chief churches of Ireland, and the same to St. David?s and the same to the monastery at Chester, and the same to the monastery at Shrewsbury, and more than this to the Church of Bangor, and ten shillings to Holyhead, and thesame to Penmon, and the same to Clynnog, and the same to Enlli, and the same to Meifod, and the same to Llanarmon, and the same to Dineirth, and many of the other chief churches. And he gave this wealth to the bishop and archdeacon and priests and dignitaries and doctors and Christian poor. I will commend his protection to the Holy Ghost who knows and perceives everything.

At his latter end there came to him the most important and the wisest of all the kingdom, David, Bishop of Bangor, Symeon, the Archdeacon, a man who was ripe in years and wisdom, [the] prior of the monastery of Chester, and many priests. and clerics to anoint his body with consecrated oil in accordance with the command of the Apostle James. His sons also were among them, and he blessed them, and told them what manner of men they should be in the future, like Jacob the Patriarch blessing his sons of old in Egypt. He enjoined upon them to be courageous and to oppose their enemies stoutly, after his fashion in his latter days. Likewise Queen Angharad, his wedded wife, was there; and to her he gave half his goods, and two parts of land, and the harbour of Abermenai. His daughters and certain of his nephews were there, and to all of these also he gave porlions of his property to support them after his days. Welshmen and Irishmen and Danes lamented the decease of King Gruffydd like the mourning of the Jews for Joshua the son of Nun.

After the first shock of the Norman invasion the Irish people began to rally and their chiefs hired soldiers in the Hebrides called Gallógláich (Gallowglass), foreign soldiers to fight with their bunnadha (Buonnies), permanent service men against the strangers, which relieved them from calling out the wealth producers of the country. The result of this rally was to drive the strangers inside the Pale and hold them between Dublin and Dundalk for many years. The names of the Gallowglass who then came and remained in the county are:

The usual mode of distinguishing a person before the introduction of surnames was to name his father and grandfather, e.g. Owen, son of Donal, son of Dermot. This naturally led some to form their surnames with Mac, son, instead of Ua, grandson, e.g. Mac Carthaigh, son of Carthach (Mac Carthy), Mac Ruaidhri, son of Rory (Macrory). Dougall "Mac Ruaidhri" Sumarlidasson; given name, Dougall "Mac Ruaidhri" was born 1144 in Of Lorne, Argyllshire, (ergadia), Scotland, father to Duncan MacDougall 1181.

The issue of " handfast" marriages in Scotland were eligible to be chiefs, and even sometimes claimed under feudal law. ' This office is of considerable importance in connexion with early Scottish history. In the Irish annals the rig, or chief of a great tribe (mor tuath), such as of Ross, Moray, Marr, Buchan, &c., is called a mor maer, or great maer. Sometimes the same person is called king also in these annals. Thus Findlaec, or Finlay, son of Ruadhri, the father of Shakespeare's Macbeth, is called king of Moray in the Annals of Ulster, and mor maer in the Annals of Tighernach. The term is never found in Scottish charters, but it occurs in the of the Abbey of Deir in Buchan, now in the library of the university of Cambridge. From these mor-maerships," which corresponded with the ancient mar luatha, came most, if not all, the ancient Scottish earldoms.

In HOLY order to support the dignity of the chief or chieftain a certain portion of the tribe or sept land was attached as an apanage to the office; this land, with the duns or fortified residences upon it, went to the successor, but a chief's own property might be gavelled. This custom of tanistry applied at first probably to the selection of the successors of a rig, but was gradually so extended that even a b6-aire had a tanist. A sept might have only one flaith, or lord, connected with it, or might have several. It sometimes happened, however, that a sept might be so broken and reduced as not to have even one man qualified to rank as a flaith. The rank of a flaith depended upon the number of his ceiles, that is, upon his wealth. The flaith of a sept, and the highest when there was more than one, was ceann fine, or head of the sept, or as he was usually called in Scotland, the chieftain. He was also called the flailh geilfine, or head of the geilfine, that is, the kinsmen to the fifth degree from among whom should be chosen the tanist, and who, according to the custom of gavel-kind, were the immediate heirs who received the personal property and were answerable for the liabilities of the sept. The flaiths of the different septa were the vassals of the rig, or chief of the tribe, and performed certain functions which were no doubt at first individual, but in time became the hereditary right of the sept. One of those was the office of maer, or steward of the chief's rents, &c.; 3 and another that of aire tuisi, leading aire, or taoisech, a word cognate with the Latin duc-s or dux, and Anglo-Saxon here-tog, leader of the " here," or army. The taoisech was leader of the tribe in battle; in later times the term seems to have been extended to several offices of rank. The cadet of a Highland clan was always called the taoisech, which has been translated captain; after the conquest of Wales the same term, tywysaug, was used for a ruling prince.

The Rudrician Families from the reign of 'Roderick the Great' or 'Rory the Great', in the order in which an account is given in this history:

The Magennises
The O'Mores, Moores
The O'Cronnellys
The O'Dugans (Doogan)
The O'Morans (Moran)
The O'Lennans
The O'Casans
The McGowans or Smiths
The McWards (Ward)
The McScanlans
The O'Kennys (Kinney, Kenney)
The O'Lawlors (Lawler)
The O'Lynches (Lynch)
The O'Mannions (Manning)
The Maginns (Magin)
The M'Colreavys or Grays
The McCartans (Carton)
The O'Carelons
The Clan Fergus
The O'Conors-Kerry (O'Conner etc.)
The O'Conors-Cork (O'Conner etc.)
The O'Loghlens-Burren (O'Loughlin, O'Laughlin)
The O'Kielys (Kiley, etc..)
The M'Shanlys (Shanley)
The McPriors (Pryor etc..)
The O'Ferrals (Farrell etc..)
The O'Roddys (Roddy, Ruddy)
The McFinvars or Gaynors
The McCormicks (Mac Cormack)
The McDorchys, Darcys
The McRaghnaills or Reynolds
The O'Quinns (Quin)
The O'Mulveys (Mulvy)
The O'Neidhes, Neys, Neville
The O'Conarys, Connery
The O'Diochallas
The O'Maoletighsm Melody
The McKeoghs (Kehoe)
The O'Beices
The Mc Maolisas The O'Dugans
The O'Coscridhs (Cosgrove, Cosgrave)
The McRorys or Rodgers (Rogers)
The Corca-Dallan
The Corca-Aulim
The Dal-Confinn
The Ciarruighe Loch an Airneagh
The Ciarruighe Ae, or Ai, or Nao
The Ciarruighe Airteach
The Cenél Buinne
The Gailenga
The Ui Liodan
The Owny Deisceart
The Eoghanacht Aire Cliach
The O'Drennans
The McDubhains or Duanes

Families of the Clan Cionga The O'Mores or Moores are given as descended from the Clan Cionga dating back to 1016; the O'Cronnellys of the same Clan came from Louth; The O'Dugans of the Hy Many or Ui Maine, are traced back to Galway and the Sodan; McGowan or Smith are given springing from the Dalariada; The McWards are given as hereditary chiefs to the O'Donnells; Scanlan; Kenny of Meath; Lawlor; Lynch; Maginn; McCartan; O'Carelon and Gray are all given with details and all are of the Clan Cionga.

Families of the Clan Fergus The book then moves on with details of the Clan Fergus down to the 17th century, complete with written description of arms. The Clan Corc comes next, including O'Connor Cork who early had settled in County Clare; also of this clan are given the O'Loughlen Burren with pedigree down to 1600.

Families of the Clan Conmac The Clan Conmac is represented by O'Kiely of West Connaught; MacShanley traced to 1473; MacPrior (Pryor); O'Ferrall, Lords of Analy, of whom several pages are given including pedigrees of the different branches of the family. O'Roddy is also of this clan, traced to 1704 here. The other families of this clan are given along with family history, and they are: McFinvar or Caynor (Gaynor); McCormick; McDorchy (Darcy); Reynolds or McRaghnail which is given with various notes and pedigrees including Thomas and John Reynolds of Dublin, and notes on the family down to 1798; O'Cuinn or O'Quinn and O'Quin of the race of Fergus are included here with many notes as well. The O'Drinans or Drennans are given at the end of this section and noted as having the name changed to Thornton in some cases.