O'Byrne Family
History
O'Byrne is in Irish Ó Broin i.e. descendant of Bran (earlier form Broen), King of Leinster, who died in 1052. With their "cousins", the O'Tooles the O'Byrnes were driven from their original territory in the modern Co. Kildare at the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion and settled in the wilder country of south Wicklow about the year 1200. There were two main branches of the O'Byrnes of which the senior soon sank into obscurity, but the junior line, which occupied the country between Rathdrum and Shillelagh, became a sept of great importance and, like their neighbours the O'Tooles in north Wicklow, were particularly noteworthy for their persistent and largely successful resistance to English aggression. They continued regularly to inaugurate chiefs of the sept up to the end of the sixteenth century. The seat of their chiefs was at Ballinacor and their territory was called Crioch Branach, the sept itself being known as Uí Broin or Branaigh. Many of these were renowned in the military history of Ireland, the most famousbeing Feagh or Fiacha MacHugh (or son of Aodh) O'Byrne (1544-1597) who, though he was prominent in rebellion and was killed in battle, is perhaps best remembered for his part in the escape of Hugh Roe O'Donnell from his prison in Dublin Castle in 1591. Feagh O'Byrne resided at Ballinacor, in Glenmalure; and was chief of that sept of the O'Byrnes called Gabhail Raighnaill. His father, Hugh, who died in 1579, was far more powerful than The O'Byrne, and possessed a large tract of territory in the county Wicklow. Upon the death of The O'Byrne, in 1580, Feagh MacHugh O'Byrne became the leader of his clan, and one of the most formidable of the Irish Chieftains. In 1580 he joined his forces to those of Lord Baltinglass, and defeated Lord Grey. After holding out in the rocky fastnesses of his principality for several years, he was, in 1595, driven up Glenmalure, and his residence at Ballinacor was occupied by an Anglo-Irish garrison. He then made terms, but seized the first opportunity of driving out the garrison, and razing the fort. He was killed in a skirmish with the forces of the Lord Deputy, in May, 1597, and his head was impaled on Dublin Castle. The family estates were confirmed to his son Felim (or Phelim), by patent of Queen Elizabeth, but he was ultimately deprived of them by the perjury and juggling of adventurers under James I.; and although in 1628 acquitted of all the charges brought against him, he was turned out upon the world a beggar. He is remembered in the old Irish rebel song "Follow me Up to Carlow" the chorus of which goes . . .
His son Phelim O'Byrne was the victim of one of the many unscrupulously trumped-up charges which disgraced English seventeenth century administration in Ireland: the Viceroy Falkland was in turn disgraced, but notwithstanding that the O'Byrnes lost the greater part of their estates in consequence of his action. The celebrated "Leabhar Branach" or "Book of the O'Byrnes" is a collection of Gaelic poetry by some thirty-five different authors, dealing for the most part with the exploits and personalities of the O'Byrnes in the sixteenth century: it was made about 1662.
In the next century O'Byrnes were prominent in the 1798 insurrection, notably the brothers Gar Heraldry The sept arms of O'Byrne are recorded by both the Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland and Burke's General Armory as Arms: Gules a chevron between three dexter hands couped at the wrist Argent. Crest: A mermaid with comb and mirror proper. Motto: certavi et vici (I have fought and won). The Byrnes of county Louth bore similar arms but added a mullet Azure, borne on the chevron, while in their crest the mermaid is charged with an escallop Gules.ret O'Byrne (1774-1830) and William Byrne (1775-1799), the latter of whom was hanged; and Miles Byrne (1780-1862), who subsequently distinguished himself in France and was awarded the Legion of Honour. Other O'Byrnes have been notable in France: one branch, which was admitted to the ranks of the French nobility in 1770, was a leading family of Bordeaux before the Revolution and Garret Byrne, mentioned above, was among the distinguished exiles to that country; while in America, Irish-born Most Rev. Dr. Andrew Byrne (1802-1862), first bishop of Little Rock, is remembered as a pioneering Catholic in Indian territory. In recent times one of the best known and most popular figures in the life of the Irish capital was Alderman Alfred Byrne (1882-1956), who was ten times Lord Mayor of Dublin.
The Byrnes, who in recent generations have increasingly resumed the discarded prefix O, are very numerous in Ireland today, the name being in the seventh place in the list of commonest names. The great majority of these were born in Dublin, where Byrne is the commonest found surname, in Co. Wicklow and adjacent counties.
Heraldry
The sept arms of O'Byrne are recorded by both the Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland and Burke's General Armory as Arms: Gules a chevron between three dexter hands couped at the wrist Argent. Crest: A mermaid with comb and mirror proper. Motto: certavi et vici (I have fought and won). The Byrnes of county Louth bore similar arms but added a mullet Azure, borne on the chevron, while in their crest the mermaid is charged with an escallop Gules.
