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Failte Ui Ceallaigh
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Ui Maine AKA Land of O'Kelly, Province of Connaught 13th century Ireland. Chief Mor O'Kelly owned one million acres including most of Galway and substantial parts of Roscommon, Leitrim and Mayo.
From 372AD to the time when Cromwell invaded Ireland in the mid 1600s, the O'Kelly family ruled a land first called Ui Maine and later called Hy Many.
The following following document was kindly provided by Conor O'Kelly of Dublin, Ireland. It is the front page of the ancient Book of Ui Maine AKA the Book of O'Kelly.
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E-Mail from cousin Conor: Hope this does the trick Don. It's scanned from a facsimile of the Book of ui Maine in the Library of University College, Dublin. I've been adding a few pages to OKellyNet as I go along...nothing too major over the last few months. I've a little more free time now and a few weeks
ago I decided to give it a spring clean and update it with any new material I had come accross.
By chance I have found a few good old books (dating 1500-late 1600's). And was scanning extracts from one when your mail came in. I had the Book of Ui Maine extracts open in front of me as well. Good timing all round. The scanners been busted for months and I only got around to re-installing it
yesterday!!!!!!!!!
Here you go...one scanned Book of Ui Maine page. No sign of the online database yet. there are too many out there to compete with and I'm not a genealogist! But never say never....you'd never know what might turn up???? How are your endeavours coming along???
Rgds
Conor
Ui Maine, The Book of O'Kelly About the greeting at the top:
Chief William Boy O'Kelly was known as the most famous party host in all of Ireland. His parties often lasted thirty days and were attended by Chiefs and Kings with their families and Bards from all over Ireland.
Honored guests of his parties upon leaving the O'Kelly stronghold received lavish gifts and many lucky revelers rode the long road home on prized horses escorted out of O'Kelly land by heavily armed and armored warriors.
It is said that after one such party the Clann O'Kelly put on their armor and defeated a contendgent of King O'Conor's army that had encroached on Ui Maine land from the north in Leitrim. The King was wounded and O'Kelly's took his horse and armor. After that a blood feud existed between the families which in one battle alone killed thirteen princes of the Clann O'Kelly.
We are attempting to get more information about that feud.
About the Book of O'Kelly
About a hundred years later a descendent of William O'Kelly commissioned the scribes or Monks in the local monestary to write the book about the family O'Kelly. Assisted by the official Bard of the O'Kelly family, four scribes wrote the lavilishly designed book.
It was general about the history of the family, battles they won, churches and castles they built, with a special section for famous women in the family.
These maps provide a perspective of Ui Maine owned by O'Kelly for twelve hundred years.
Note that Dal Cais below was the group that gave Ard Ri Brian Boru to Ireland as High King who was founder of Clann O'Brien.
Calraigh and Dartraige we believe are early names for a Kelly Clan overlooked by the annals, who nevertheless lived a thousand years near Lough Melvin.(not shown on map) which is in far northern connaught (Leitrim) near the short border with Donegal.
Family records We show them as Collaugh or Collaigh, but we have for identity named them O'Kelly of Loch dMelvin (Lough Melvin) because they lived there a thousand years before they moved to what is now Galway near Tuam.
They left Lough Melvin about 1472 about the time O'Rourke moved into the area. It is possible they were driven from their land, in which case, seeking protection with another O'Kelly Clann would have in those day been entirely normal.
On the right hand map see Don and Kua or Rua O'Conor just north of Ui Maine, but edging southward onto O'Kelly land. To the left of O'Conor find Mac William Burke of Mayo and Clann Richard Burke.
These were Norman families in nominal charge of Mayo and probably pressuring O'Kelly of Galway/Roscommon.
History does not say if the Burke Clann ever mixed it up with O'Kelly, but in the 1500 and 1600 era O'Kelly lost most of their land. To the right under O'Kelly find O'Madden who were kin and Irish of Ormand, Celts who came to the area of Cork in 400BC. Below and left of O'Kelly of Loch Ri (Lough Ree), find ally Clann O'Brien with whom they enjoyed close family ties.
Note the possible coincidence that major powers in the area maintained their homebase near a lake on the Shannon river system. Galway Bay earlier had a Viking base wiped out about the year 1000AD by joint forces of Brian Boru and ally Mor O'Kelly.
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