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Clans and Families of Ireland and Scotland
X. The Vikings and Normans


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 D’Arcys were a distinguished Norman family in England. The founder of the Irish branch was Sir John D’Arcy, 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.


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