The de Barry family (de Barra/Barri) is a noble Cambro-Norman family which held extensive land holdings in Wales and Ireland. The founder of the de Barry family was a Norman knight, Odo, who assisted in the Norman Conquest of England and south-east Wales during the 11th century. As a reward for his military services, Odo was granted estates in Pembrokeshire and around Barry, Wales, including Barry Island just off the coast.
Odo's grandson, Gerald of Wales, a 12th-century scholar, gives the origin of his family's name, de Barry, in his Itinerarium Cambriae (1191): "Not far from Caerdyf is a small island situated near the shore of the Severn, called Barri, from St. Baroc ... From hence a noble family, of the maritime parts of South Wales, who owned this island and the adjoining estates, received the name of de Barri."
Many family members later assisted in the Norman invasion of Ireland. For the family's services, King John of England awarded Philip's son, William de Barry, extensive baronies in the Kingdom of South Munster, specifically the defunct Uí Liatháin kingdom (O'Lethan and Imokilly) with its late seat at Castlelyons.
He had sons: Robert, Philip, Walter and Gerald (better known as Giraldus Cambrensis) by Angharad (also known as Hangharad) daughter of Gerald de Windsor (died 1135) and Nest ferch Rhys (died after 1136). After Gerald's death, Nest's sons married her to Stephen, her husband's constable of Cardigan Castle, by whom she had another two sons; the eldest was Robert Fitz-Stephen.
Philip de Barry came to Ireland in 1185 to assist his half-uncle Robert Fitz-Stephen, and his first cousin Raymond FitzGerald (also known as Raymond Le Gros), in their efforts to recover lands in the modern county Cork—the cantreds of Killede, Olethan and Muscarydonegan.
Barryscourt Castle near Carrigtwohill was the seat of the Barry family from the 12th century until 1617 when they removed to Barrymore Castle in Castlelyons. In 1771, the 6th Earl saw Barrymore Castle burn to the ground.[10] The family fortunes were subsequently dissipated by his issue, the 7th and 8th Earls.
The name of the town of Buttevant is believed to derive from the family's battle cry—Boutez-en-Avant, roughly translating as "Kick your way through".
Irish descendants
The most prominent Gaelic neighbours of the de Barrys were the MacCarthy Reagh dynasty, rulers of the principality or petty kingdom of Carbery. For the most part, with not a great many exceptions, the two families kept on good terms, and also regularly intermarried. The de Barrys are descended from several of the MacCarthy Reagh princes and vice versa, through this intermarriage.[11] Likewise the Barrys intermarried with the also powerful MacCarthys of Muskerry.[12]
Some Barrys eventually became so Gaelicized that a paternal Gaelic lineage was imagined for them. They were made to descend from Fothach Canann,[13] fifth son of the famous Lugaid Mac Con of the Dáirine or Corcu Loígde.
Uí Liatháin
The Uí Liatháin or "Sons of Liathán", whose long-decayed and defunct kingdom the de Barrys by coincidence came to occupy, are notable for having raided other parts of Britain in antiquity from their fortresses in Wales and Cornwall. Also, notable is that the de Barry family descend maternally, through Angharad and Nesta, from the ancient Welsh prince Cunedda, whose sons were the Britons who ended the Uí Liatháin's dominance in Wales.
^O'HanlonJohn, O'Hanlon, The Lives of the Irish Saints, cited in "Under the Oak ". "In the ancient taxation of the diocese of Cloyne, there is a rural deanery, called Muscry-donnegan. It contains the parishes now comprehended in the baronies of Orrery and Kilmore, with small adjacent portions of Duhallow and Fermoy. Among the Churches in this deanery, Orwerg (i.e. Orbraidhe or Orrery) and Fersketh (i.e. Feart Skeithe), called Ardskagh are two. This latter is now known as Ardskeagh. Thus, the identity of Muscraighe-tri-maighe and the barony of Orrery is proved to a demonstration.
^MacLysaght (More Irish Families) notes that O'Donegan's country was the alias for Múscraige Tri Maighe and that the territory passed into the possession of the de Barry family in the 13th century.