O'Sullivan Beara (No.1) family genealogy

Lords of Beara (now Berehaven), County Cork

Arms: Per pale sa. and ar. a fess betw. in chief a boar pass. and in base another counterpass. all counter changed, armed, hoofed, and bristled or. Crest: On a lizard vert a robin redbreast ppr. [1]

GIOLLA-NA-BHFLAINN, younger brother of Giolla-Mochoda [Gilmochud] who is No. 111 on the "Vera-O'Sullivan" pedigree, was the ancestor of O'Sullivan Beara.

111. Giolla na-Bhflainn: son of Donall Mór O'Sullivan.

112.Philip: his son.

113.Annaidh: his son.

114. Awly: his son; had a brother named Gilmochud (who was the ancestor of O'Sullivan Maol, and) a quo MacGillicuddy.

115. Teige: his son.

116. Dermod Balbh: his son; had two sons:—1. Donal Crone, and 2. Donogh; this Donogh had a son, Donal, who had a son, Dermod, who had a son Eoghan, called "Sir Eoghan," to whom Queen Elizabeth, granted the chief rents of the castle, town, and lands of Dunboy, with 57 "carrucates" of other lands, and who, in 1585, attended Perrot's Parliament, in Dublin. This Sir Eoghan had a son, Eoghan O'Sullivan Bere, to whom, and to his heirs for ever, James I., King of England, granted the chief rents of Dunboy. This Eoghan had a son, Colonel Donal O'Sullivan Bere, who lost his estates for his adherence to the Stuarts; in 1660, those estates were restored by Charles II.

117. Donal Crone: elder son of Dermod Balbh.

118. Donal: his son.

119. Dermod an-Phudar: his son; m. to Julia, dau. of MacCarthy Reagh. This Dermod was, in 1549, burned to death in his castle of Dunbuidhe (Dunboy), by the explosion of a barrel of powder; and his brother Amhlaobh (Awly), his tanist, died the same year.

120. Donal: his son; m. to a dau. of Sir Donal O'Brien of Thomond; had two sons:—1. Donal; and 2. Dermod, who died at Corunna, aged 100 years, and soon after his aged wife followed him. This Dermod had a son, Philip, author of the Historiae Catholicae Hiberniae Compendium,[2] who became an officer in the Spanish Navy. This Donal was slain in 1563, by MacGillicuddy.

121. Donal, Prince of Beare: his son; defeated, in 1581, a Captain Zouch, who went to plunder his people; leaving 300 of said plunderers slain on the field. In 1600, he openly acknowledged Aodh O'Neill, Prince of Ulster, as the Ard Righ or Monarch. In 1602, his fortress of Dunbuidhe was stormed by Carew, and the garrison of 143 men slain. Soon after (in 1603)—"Berehaven's lord left his stately hall," and performed the memorable march to O'Rourke's country in Brefny. On the 2nd of January, 1602, he was proclaimed an "outlaw" by the English. In 1604, this Donal sailed for Spain, where King Philip gave him a warm reception; made him a Grandee of the Kingdom of Spain, Knight of St. Jago, and Earl of Berehaven; with a pension of 300 golden pieces monthly. His wife (who [accompanied him to Spain) was Ellen, dau. of Donal O'Sullivan Mór. He was assassinated at Madrid by an Anglo-Irishman named Bath, in the 57th year of his age.

122. Donal, Prince of Bere, Earl of Berehaven, etc.: his son; entered the army, and fell at Belgrade, fighting against the Turks; he was alive in 1615.

Unfortunately, we are unable at present to bring down the stem of this illustrious family to our times; but we learn that in 1864, it was represented by John O'Sullivan Bere, of Keanitrenang (otherwise Coolagh), co. Cork, son of John, son of Captain Murtogh O'Sullivan, of Coolagh, of Keim-an-Eigh notoriety, in 1797.

Notes

[1] Beara: Of this family was the late illustrious Alexander Martin Sullivan, M.P., Barrister-at-Law, etc.; who was better known as "A. M. Sullivan," of the Dublin Nation, before his brother the Right Honourable T. D. Sullivan, M.P., the present Lord Mayor of Dublin, became the Proprietor of that excellent paper.

[2] Compendium: Philip O'Sullivan Beara's Historiae Catholicae Hiberniae Compendium was published in Lisbon in 1621; and republished with notes by Dr. Kelly of Maynooth, in 1850. It contains Topography, Pilgrimage to St. Patrick's Purgatory, the English in Ireland from the Anglo-Norman Invasion to 1588, and a history of the O'Neill's and O'Donnell's wars. Philip O'Sullivan Beara died in 1660, as appears by a letter from Father Peter Talbot (afterwards Catholic Archbishop of Dublin) to the Marquis of Ormond, dated from Madrid, the 10th of January, 1660:—"The Earl of Birhaven," he writes, "is dead, and left one only daughter of twelve years to inherit his titles in Ireland and his goods here, which amount to 100,000 crowns."