o'flaherty

A major Irish clan, originally reported to inhabit the area around Galway, Ireland. In the middle ages this ancient clan controlled much of what is now Connemara, a region of western County Galway. The O'Flahertys were war-like, as is seen in the sign which is said to have hung over the west gate of the city of Galway: "from the ferocious O'Flahertys may God protect us". Unlike their merchant neighbours in this anglo-norman city, the O'Flahertys kept the archaic Brehon Law, in which The O'Flaherty, the clan leader or taoiseach was chosen from among the extended family of the clan chief as opposed to his eldest son, as would be the case in English Law. O'Flaherty dominance of their ancestral lands came to an end in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as the power of the crown grew. The O'Flahertys controlled their lands from a series of castles, the largest of which, Aughanure, near Oughterard, is open to the public today.

O'flaherty

See also