Ireland Brief History and Introduction

Our Ancient Irish

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Ireland's history is deeply involved with its larger isle neighbor with whom, initially, invasion went the opposite route. The first Christian missionaries in England were Irish. In the earliest years of the 6th century, feeling pressure for land, the Dál Riatan Scots from eastern Ireland sailed for, landed in, and settled within the country now known as Scotland which name is owed to them, having arrived in the form of Fergus Mor of Dalriada Mac Erc , a (direct to this study) Celtic chieftan leaving Ireland to gain inheritance in Alba (Scotland) ca. 500. He was crowned upon the Stone of Scone at Dunadd of the Kings, Dalriada near Cruachan along the western shore of Alba (Scotland) and he settled his people at Kintyre, Knapdale, Arran and Bute with principle strongholds at Tarbert and Dunavertie, Scotland. A descendant of Fergus Mor of Dalriada's , King Kenneth I (Cinaed) mac Ailpin (reigned 843-58 and also direct to the within the vines study) is famed for his defeat of Scotland's more native Picts about 843. King Kenneth I is celebrated for uniting the Scots and Picts in the new kingdom of Alba which comprised a large part of what we now know as Scotland, and he is known as the first King of a united Scotland. King Kenneth and his ancestor Fergus Mor of Dalriada were crowned on the Stone of Scone and are known as Dalraidan Scots.

The Dál Riatan Scots kingdom stretched from east Ireland through the Western Isles to Argyll, in western Scotland , and they owed their allegiance to the High King of Ireland. The earliest of the Dal Riatan Scots, ie, King Fergus Mor Mac Erc of Dalriada crowned in what is now Scotland, had Irish missionaries of their own. St. Oran probably established the first monastery at Iona while St. Columba from Donegal is the missionary who made the Scots a dominate Tribe. The Stone of Scone, brought from Ireland ca 501, first used in now Scotland to crown Fergus Mor of Dalriada Mac Erc, utilized each generation to crown his heirs, honored by the Pict princesses whose fathers bowed to it and whose sons sat upon it, was captured by the English and carried off to London where it was placed with a veil under the throne of England during the years of Scotland's worse subjugation (so forcing all who kneeled to England to kneel inadvertantly also to Scotland). The Stone of Scone was returned to Scotland 1400 years after it first arrived there from Ireland, and in the 1990s.

Ireland also early suffered for the Vikings like England and Scotland. Norsemen invaded Ireland in the 8th century , and remained firmly in its borders to found the city of Dublin among others, being ousted only in defeat by the "great Irish liberator", Ireland's High King Brian Boru or Bóruma [Of Dál Cais] MAC CENNÉTIG, King Of Mumu [Munster] & Ireland-another direct ancestor via the STEWART ascendancy found in our Peers and Royals . This beloved leader of the Irish people died in the moment of his triumph and at the battle of Clontarf in 1014, which defeat happily ended Norse control of Dublin and advented 150 years of Irish freedom from foreign interference. Brian Boru or Bóruma was the last High King of Ireland with jurisdiction over most of Scotland via the Dal Riatan Scots (this during the reign of Scotland's King Malcolm II Of Alba , died 25 Nov 1034) . High King Brian Boru or Bóruma is celebrated in many chronicles. His O'Brien descendants lost the High Throne of Ireland, and the four provinces of Ireland (Ulster, Leinster, Munster and Connaught) and their leader kings subsequently vied for Tara, the seat of the High King and Brian's former throne.

King Diarmait MacDonnchada MacMurchada , King Of Leinster ( High King Brian Boru or Bóruma's GGG grandson) is known as Ireland's traitor, posthumously titled the instigator of English rule in Ireland. Because of the pressures exerted by the Kings of the other three provinces in contesting with him the High Kingship and his battled right to Leinster, this King (who is also direct to the within the vines study) sought military aid from England's Henry II Plantagenette, the husband of Eleanor of Acquitaine, and father of "Evil" Prince John and William the Lionhearted. Henry II allowed Diarmat to recruit and cultivate Welsh, and Norman descended, mercenaries. Diarmat concentrated on raising forces in south Wales. The most significant ally he secured was RIchard fitz GILBERT(alias ìStrongbowî ) , 2nd Earl of Pembroke- to whom Diarmat offered his daughter Aife in marriage. Aife , daughter and de facto heiress thus saw her legacy given to her husband, Strongbow, who is celebrated as Ireland's conqueror. In 1169, Strongbow graciously opened the door of Ireland to King Henry. Named Lord of Leinster in 1171, he became Ireland's Justice while holding and maintaining strong allegiance to the English crown. Ireland has yet to reexperience the period of relief from foreign interferance it owed to High King Brian Borumu.

The above history of Ireland introduces direct line ancestors associated with the ancient ascendancy of our STEWART forebears. Our American immigrants of Ireland, whose history remains unclear pre 17th century, were clearly part of the English and Scot plantation of Ireland allowed by our direct ancestor King Diarmait MacDonnchada MacMurchada , King Of Leinster, known contemporaneously as defender of the faith, and posthumously as traitor to his people. Because of him, and our direct ancestor, his son in law Strongbow, we find our WILLIAMSON, McNEILL, BOOKER, HOGG, and BYERS lines residing in County Cavan and often at odds with the descendants of our more ancient Irish lines.