464 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



The Tribal Pedigree. 



The Deirgthine off-shoots do not appear as having tribal names till later 

 centuries ; their princes possibly ruled over subjects of very mixed blood, as 

 interest or violence brought the local tribes under the hegemony of one 

 house.i The pedigrees are very baffling ; differences of twenty to thirty 

 generations separate contemporary princes from a common ancestor, and the 

 tribal scheme is probably as artiiicial.^ 



The pedigrees are probably intended to mark the friendly relations of the 

 tribes and the succession of their rulers rather than to flatter the chiefs. 

 Artificial as they are, in the frantic attempt to derive everyone from a 

 common ancestoi-, there are probably many patches of genuine descent, 

 increasing, till, after the year a.d. 600, the bulk are probably reliable.^ As 

 briefly as possible I will abstract the descent. 



Eoghan Mogh Nuadat, "a.d. 164," had a son OilioU Olom, who, having been 

 exiled to Spain, married Beara, a Spanish princess, from whom on his return 

 he named Beare Haven. He then married Sabia, daughter of his father's 

 rival Conn Caedcathach, " a.d. 174-234."* Oilioll's sons were — (1) Eoghan, 

 slain at Magh Muci'amha ; (2) Cormac Cass, ancestor of the Dal Cais ; (3) Cian, 

 ancestor of the Cianachta, of Coolkeenaght, in Co. Londonderry, and Ard 

 Cianachta Feara, or Feara Ard, Co. Louth. Eoghan had a posthumous sou, 

 Fiacha Muillethan, who resided at Kuockgraffon, where a great mote 'claimed 

 to be Norman) rises, a conspicuous landmark, as seen east of the railway, 

 between Tipperary and Cahir. He defeated King Cormac mac Airt at Drom 



Cathaoir mor of Nas, and Ailill Olam of Cashel, as possibly shadows of historic chiefs 

 (New Ireland Review, vol. xxvi, p. 7). Those who state that Oilioll or Cormac mac Airt 

 were gods do not advance inquiry, as they may have been rulers and heroes iirst, and 

 gods later on. Borlase's comparison of the description of Cormac mac Airt with 

 Swantovit is most superficial and unconvincing (" Dolmens of Ireland," pp. 1087-92). 



' Perhaps the Ui Fidhgeinte were only affiliated as a free tribe that had preceded the 

 Dal Cais, and checked their advance past Bruree. The only service of the Dal Cais to 

 Cashel was most honourable — to form the vanguai-d when the King of Cashel invaded a 

 district, and to cover his retreat (Book of Rights, p. 71). 



- The continuity of the bardic schools (congresses of which were held at Bruree at 

 least to 1746, and at Dunaha, Co. Clare, tiU after 1820) favoured preservation of fact, 

 though uncritically mixed with myths. Irish legend is very persistent ; the wonderful 

 accuracy of the Ajmada traditions (gathered by me before the Calendars were published) 

 nearly three centuries later wins confidence. 



^ Chiefly in " Tract on the Dal gCais " (Book of Ui Maini), ed. R. Twigge in North 

 Munster Archaeological Society, vol. i, p. 160, p. 236, vol. ii, p. 94, taken mainly in the 

 early portion from Psalter of Cashel, circa a.d. 890. " Hoc usque de psalterio Caisil 

 scriptum est." 



* O'Curry regards Oilioll's alleged poems as genuine ! (" Manners and Customs," 

 pp. 57, 58). 



