O'Connor

This article is about O'Conor Don clan. For other uses, see O'Connor (disambiguation).
O'Conor
Ó Conchubhair
Country Ireland
Parent house Uí Briúin Ai / Síl Muiredaig
Titles
Founded AD 74
Founder Conchobar mac Taidg Mór
Final ruler Fedlim Geancach Ó Conchobair
Current head Desmond O'Conor Don

O'Conor (Middle Irish: Ó Conchubhair; Modern Irish: Ó Conchúir), is an Irish Gaelic Aristocratic catholic Family who are the historic Kings of Connacht and the last High Kings of Ireland before the Norman invasion. The family seat is Clonalis House outside Castlerea in County Roscommon. The O'Conor family can trace their lineage back to the 5th century without dispute but through folklore and mythology to Adam. The clan name originated in the 10th century as a derivative of its founder Conchobar mac Taidg Mór. The family contributed to Irish society in art, history, language, politics, diplomacy, etc... before and during colonial rule in Ireland.They descend in the paternal line from the Connachta's Uí Briúin Ai. The current O'Conor Don is Desmond O'Conor Don (b. 22 September 1938) who lives in Rotherfield, East Sussex in England.[1]

Overview

The Ó Conchubhair Donn is the senior head of a lineage which provided about one hundred Kings of Connacht, thirty Chief of the Name and eleven High Kings of Ireland, the last of them being Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair (1088–1156), and his son Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair (c. 1115–1198).

During the late 14th century, the Ó Conchubhair dynasty grouped into two main divisions, one led by Toirdealbhach Ruadh, the other by Toirdealbhach Óg (also called Toirdealbhach Donn), both in the seventh generation of descent from Cathal Crobhderg. From these descended the families of Ó Conchubhair Ruadh and Ó Conchubhair Donn, the former died out.

The great Irish scholar John O'Donavan once said of the O'Conor's.... "No family in Ireland claims greater antiquity and no family in Europe, royal or noble, can trace its descent through so many generations of legitimate ancestors."[2]

O'Conor Nash of Clonalis

On the death in 1981 of Rev. Charles O'Conor Don SJ, Clonalis House, the ancestral seat of the O'Conor Don Family, passed to his sister Gertrude O'Conor Nash. Consequently, not for the first time, the family title and family seat were separated, remaining within a more direct O'Conor family lineage.

The O'Conor Nash family now reside at Clonalis House where they maintain the O'Conor archives.

Chiefs of the Name

Known Members of the O'Conor Don Family

Kings of Connacht

Others

See also

References

  1. ↑ Curley, W. Vanishing Kingdoms. Dublin. Lilliput Press.
  2. ↑ tales-from-the-big-house-rte/
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