The Maguire (/məˈɡwaɪər/ mə-GWIRE) family is an Irish clan based in County Fermanagh. The name derives from the Gaelic Mac Uidhir, which is "son of Odhar" meaning 'sallow' or 'pale-faced'. According to legend, this relates to the eleventh descendant of Colla da Chrich, great-grandson of Cormac mac Airt, who was monarch of Ireland about the middle of the third century. From the 13th to the 17th centuries, the Maguire family were kings of Fermanagh.

Naming conventions

The surname has been anglicized variously as McGuire, McGwire, McGwyre and most commonly, Maguire (from variant form Mag Uidhir).

MaleDaughterWifeWife (Short)
Mac UidhirNic UidhirBean Mhic UidhirMhic Uidhir

History

According to historian C. Thomas Cairney, the Maguires were a chiefly family of the Oirghialla (or Airgíalla or Oriel) who were a tribe of the Laigin, the third wave of Celts to settle in Ireland during the first century BC.

The Maguire sept is primarily associated with modern-day County Fermanagh. They possessed the entire county, also known as Maguire's Country, from about 1250 C.E. and maintained their independence as Lords of Fermanagh down to the reign of King James VI & I, when their county was confiscated like other parts of Ulster. The Maguire's supplied Chiefs or Princes to Fermanagh, from about A.D. 1264, when they supplanted the former Chieftains (Ó Daimhín, or Devin/Devine). They were inaugurated as Princes of Fermanagh on the summit of Cuilcagh, a magnificent mountain near Swanlinbar, on the borders of Cavan and Fermanagh; and sometimes also at a place called Sciath Gabhra or Lisnasciath, now Lisnaskea. The family was first mentioned in the Annals as early as 956 AD and have always been closely associated with the other leading septs of Ulster such as the O'Neill and the O'Donnell. They spawned several well-known branches which became septs in their own right, including Mac Manus, Mac Caffrey, Mac Hugh, and several others. The name is among the forty most common names in Ireland, among the top twenty-five in Ulster, ten in County Cavan, thirty in County Monaghan and is the single most common name in County Fermanagh. Maguiresbridge in County Fermanagh (Irish: Droichead Mhig Uidhir) takes its name from the family.

In the Nine Years' War (1594–1603), Hugh Maguire, the Lord of Fermanagh, took the rebels' side, while his subordinate kinsman Connor Roe Maguire of Magherastephana sought to displace him and was nicknamed "the Queen's Maguire" for his support of Queen Elizabeth's forces. Connor was granted the whole of Maguire's Country (Fermanagh) by letters patent in 1601, but this was disregarded by the Plantation of Ulster in 1609, which granted him only twelve thousand acres of the barony of Magherastephana. Connor's son Bryan was made Baron Maguire of Enniskillen in 1627; both of his sons supported the Confederate Ireland rebellion of the 1640s. Connor, 2nd Baron was executed and attainted in 1645, while Rory Maguire was killed in fighting in 1648. Rory's son, Roger Maguire, was a Jacobite politician and soldier. During translation in the Ulster Plantation, various English translations of the original Mag Uidhir appeared, including Maguire, Mac Guire and McGuire. In South West Donegal, the name is re-translated into Gaelic as Mac Guibhir. An unusual version is Meguiar, an American spelling best known from "Meguiar's Wax."

Enniskillen Castle was the medieval seat of the Maguire (Mag Uidhir), chieftains of Fermanagh, who policed the lough with a private navy of 1,500 boats.[citation needed] Nearby is Maguiresbridge. At the castle, the King got wind of a large army that had been sent to attack. Fearing the loss of all his clan, he sent half of his people to the northwest of Scotland, who adopted the surname of MacQuarrie.

The Maguire clan motto is Justitia et fortitudo invincibilia sunt, which is Latin for "Justice and fortitude are invincible".

Notable people

Maguire

McGuire

Fictional people

McGwire

  • Two American sportspeople, fellow-siblings: Mark McGwire (born 1963), baseball player Dan McGwire (born 1967), football player

Kings of Fermanagh

NameAscensionDeathNotes (date abdicated or deposed)
Donn Ócc.12921302
Flaithbertach mac Duinn13021327
Ruaidhri mac Flaithbheartaigh13271358
Aodh Ruadh mac Flaithbheartaigh13581363
Pilib mac Aodh Ruaidh136316 March 1395
Tomas Mór mac Pilib139513 November 1430
Thomas Óg mac Thomáis14301480Abdicated 1471.
Éamonn mac Thomáis Óig14711488Abdicated 6 November 1486.
Thomáis Óg mac Thomáis Óig14841501Deposed 1486.
Seánn mac Pilib meic Thomáis Mhóir14861503
Conchobhar Mór mac Thomáis Óig15031527
Cú Connacht Óg mac Con Connacht15271538
Giolla Pádraig Bán mac Conchobhair Mhóir15381540
Seaán mac Con Connacht Óig15401566
Cú Connacht Óg mac Con Connacht Óig156617 June 1589
Hugh Maguire15891601
Cú Chonnacht Óg mac Con Connacht Óig16011609Fled 1607.
Connor Roe Maguire (Conchobhar Ruadh mac Conchobhair Óig meic Conchobhair Mhóir)16071625

See also

Bibliography

External links

  • at Clan Maguire
  • at Family Tree DNA
  • at Library Ireland
  • at Library Ireland
  • by Jim Maguire
  • by Sean Murphy