O'Flaherty Genealogical Project.

O'Flaherty territory prior to the Composition of Connaught

 

The Province of Connaught in in Northwestern Ireland - early 16th Century

16th Century Connaught

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 After the Normans seized control of Connaught, they divided it among themselves with the de Burgos wresting the west of Ireland. Galway became a leading city in the west under Clanrickard Burke rule. The O'Flaherty ruled their area virtually as a separate country from 1235 until 1652 a.d.

Along with the O'Malley clan, the O'Flaherty clan was cut off from the rest of Ireland by the Norman ascendant Burkes - The Clanrickard Burkes, and the Mayo Bourkes. The leading families of the Burkes intermarried with the "Irish," and their children began adopting the Irish culture. Because they were nominally descended from the de Burgo Normans, the Burkes were allowed to hold English titles, while the male descendants of the Gaels in the baronies of Iar-Connaught were denied political rights.

In 1585 the English succeeded in subdividing the various clan territories using the time-honored English tradition of force, and the imposition of their monarchic law. In 1652 the English descended on Iar Connaught like voracious sea rats, consuming all....