The Condons (de Canntun) were a Norman
family well known in Cork, who early formed a Gaelic-style sept, and who formerly held
extensive possessions in the northeast of that county, in the area of what is now the
Barony of Condons, which is named for them. Their principal stronghold was the Castle of
Cloghleagh near Kilworth. Mitchelstown, County Cork, is named after one of them.
The Cummins (Cuimean) descend from Richard Cummin, or Comyn, Lord of
Northallerton, nephew of an important Norman noble under David I. Richard married the
granddaughter and eventual heiress of King Donald III, whose family held land in Lochaber
and Badenoch in the central Highlands below the Great Glen. The descendants of Richard
Cummin became lords of Badenoch, holding much of Lochaber and the Great Glen as well.
During the thirteenth century the family became the most powerful family in Scotland,
holding nearly a quarter of the Scottish earldoms by right of marriage. In 1291 their then
chief, the Black Cummin, was one of the competitors for the Crown of the Scots. His son,
the Red Cummin, was murdered by his rival, Robert the Bruce, in 1306, and in the ensuing
wars the Cummins were ruined. A few Cummins survived in Buchan, while the descendants of
Sir Robert Cummin, uncle of the Red Cummin, settled in the territory between the Spey and
the Findhorn, on the borders of Badenoch, receiving grants of land from David II and
Robert II. They became chiefs of the clan branch of the family, the head of which is known
as Cumming of Altyre.
The Cusacks (de Ciomhsog) were a distinguished Norman family of the
Pale, the English territory around Dublin, branches of which spread into neighboring Meath
and Leinster. Members of the family were active on both sides, Irish and English, during
the wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
The Daltons (Dalatun) came to Ireland with the Anglo-Norman invasion,
and were active in the Pale in early times, two of the family being members of the Dublin
Guild-Merchant in 1226. Later the Daltons appear as lords of Rothconrath in County
Westmeath, but they lost their estates in the Cromwellian and Williamite confiscations of
the seventeenth century.
The Darcys (Dairsigh) The Darcys or DArcys were a distinguished
Norman family in England. The founder of the Irish branch was Sir John DArcy, chief
justiciary of Ireland, in about 1325. He received large grants of land in Meath which
remained in the hands of his descendants down to the confiscations of the seventeenth
century. Platten, County Meath, was the first Irish home of the family, and from this
place came all other branches of the family in Ireland.
The de Courcys (de Cursa) are a distinguished Norman family whose
ancestors came to England with William the Conquerer. In 1177, Sir John de Courcy came to
Ireland with a grant from Henry II of the whole of Ulster, which he invaded, causing great
slaughter. His son, Milo de Courcy, was created Baron of Kinsale by Henry III, and since
that time the family has been mainly associated with the area south of Cork City.