To Hell or Connaught

The O'Flaherties have a history we date back to 1015 BC.  The historian Roderic O'Flaherty made it a central thesis of his book, Ogygia, or A Chronological Account of Irish Events, that the landing of the Milesians  reached Eire in 1015 BC.  Roderic's book, written in Latin in the 17th Century, was translated by Rev. James Hely and published imperfectly in English in 1793.  Roderic's thesis, based in part on the new Copernican understanding of the orbit of the earth and moon, differed by seven centuries from the estimates of the Annals of the Four Masters.

In 2004, James Wiley and Sons published Eyewitness to History, by Peter Berresford Ellis.  Introducing Irish History in his forward, Ellis writes, "The date given in the ancient origin tales contained in the Lebor Gabala Erenn, using the Anno Mundi system (the year of the creation of the world"), works out at c. 1015 B.C."

There is no attribution for the 1015 estimate on page 3 in Eyewitness.  There is no reference to the Ogygia in Eyewitness's index.  There is no reference to the O'Flaherties or the Flaherties in that index.  Where did he get that estimate?

As I read further into the text the O'Flaherties did appear.  On page 76, in a segment referencing Grace O'Malley, there is a report from Captain Charles Blessington about a supposed attack on the MacSweeney's by "a base son" of Grace's.  This would have been Morogh na maor O'Flaherty, Grace's second son.  Her oldest son was assassinated by the forces of Richard Bingham in 1586.

Then on page 122 there is reference to Roderic's most famous quote, "I live a banished man within the bounds of my native soil; a spectator of others enriched by my birthright; an object of condoling to my relations and friends, and a condoler to their miseries."

Roderic's name is misspelled.

I shall read further into this book which, despite it's lack of appreciation for the Toparchs of Iar, seems to be a pretty good read.  I've entered this information into the blog to remind myself that history is always an illusion, a story, something different than what really happened.

The descendants of Morogh na maor O'Flaherty (son of Grace O'Malley and Donal -of the wars-O'Flaherty) have a rich history on the west coast of Ireland.  Are my ancestors from this branch of the ancestry?

Roderic O'Flaherty estimated the fall of Troy reckoned to the year 1182 B.C.  He made his estimate in 1665 A.D., hundreds of years before anyone heard of Heinrich Schliemann.

This post is dedicated to Kathy Vogel.