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HOGAN/O’HOGAN
The Dál gCais (Irish
pronunciation: [d̪ɑːɫ
ɡaʃ];
also Dal Cais or the Dalcassians) They claimed descent from Cormac Cas,
or Cas mac Conall Echlúath, hence the term "Dál", meaning "portion" or
"share" of Cas. In later times, for reasons of political expediency,
they claimed Cas was a brother of the largely mythological Éogan
Mór, son of Ailill
Aulom, from whom the established Eóganachta dynasties
had earlier claimed descent. The Eóganachta were in fact properly
descendants of the later Conall
Corc and so both claims and perhaps
both tribal names have their origins in Munster mythology.
In early historic Ireland they were an obscure group, one of many of the
subject peoples of the Éoganachta. In the seventh and eighth centuries,
when the overkingdom of Uí
Fiachrach Aidhne fell into decline,
they moved north and annexed Tuadmumu (Thomond) or North Munster.
Previously part of Connacht, it became part of Munster.
Thomond was to remain the heartland of the Dál gCais and its septs; it
is most especially associated with the O'Brien
dynasty (Ua Briain, Ó Briain), family
and descendants of the famous
Brian Bóruma, High
King of Ireland (d. 1014), who reigned
as its kings from the 930s to 1543, and from 1543 to the present day as Baron
Inchiquin. |
