Note: None of these writings on this page are mine. They are all publicly available on the internet. I have just added them to this page as a helpful service to anyone looking into SINNOTT genealogy, or history in general. As with all information on the internet, I cannot say if everything here is 100% accurate, but it is a helpful start which may prove beneficial to anyone taking the necessary time to prove its veracity.
History of Ireland: The Norman Conquest of Ireland
Normans Arrive in Ireland
The first Normans in Ireland set foot on the soil of Leinster in 1169. They had been invited by an ousted Irish king called Dermot MacMurrough, to help him reclaim his kingdom. However, this event opened the doorway to a major conquest of the island.
The Normans soon found that their superior military technology and organization allowed them to quickly conquer large tracts of land. They established castles, towns and settlements, and claimed overlordship of large parts of the island.
By 1171, King Henry II of England was already so worried at the success of his Norman vassals that he rushed to Ireland to establish a claim to lordship over the whole island. He was afraid that one of his rivals might become too powerful in Ireland, and may even try to attack him in England and remove him from the throne.
By claiming the lordship of Ireland as belonging to the crown of England, Henry II established a relationship between the two islands which is still controversial today. The Normans made changes to the Irish political, economic and cultural landscape, but most importantly they made Ireland part of the English king'd domain. Later rulers of England would seek to complete the work of the Norman conquest, trying to bring Ireland completely under English control.
Strongbow and Dermot MacMurrough
Richard de Clare was the second Earl of Pembroke, and a powerful Welsh-Norman lord. His nickname was 'strongbow' because of his skill with a long bow.
In 1168 he received a visit from Dermot MacMurrough who had been king of Leinster in the east of Ireland, before being dispossessed by the High King of Ireland on charges of having kidnapped the wife of another local king. Dermot even offered the hand of his daughter Aoife in marriage to Strongbow, which meant that he would succeed as king of Leinster after Dermot's death.
In 1169 Strongbow sent his men to Ireland and fought to have Dermot reinstalled to the kingship of Leinster. They soon conquered the cities of Dublin, Waterford and Wexford.In 1170 he arrived in person and was married to Aoife. Dermot died soon after and Strongbow became king of Leinster.
Alarmed by the prospect of such a powerful rival in Ireland, Henry II quickly arrvied in Ireland to ensure the loyalty of Strongbow and the other Normans.
Normans bring changes to Ireland - and get changed themselves
When the Normans arrived in Ireland, they did so as conquerors. They quickly established control over large parts of the island and they brought new language, customs and political institutions.
A parliament was established in Dublin, but only the Anglo-Norman lords in Ireland attended. English courts and laws were established among the settlers and the lands they controlled. The island was divided into a system of counties, which still survives today.
However, in areas where Gaelic lords still prevailed, these laws and customs were not followed and people still held to the ways of native Irish culture. In time, many of the gains made by the Anglo-Normans in the 12th and 13th centuries were reversed as Gaelic Ireland experienced a revival. By the 14th century many descendants of the Normans in Ireland had adopted the Gaelic language and customs, so much so that the parliament in Dublin had to write laws, called the statutes of Kilkenny, trying to make anyone of English descent keep to English customs and laws.
By the end of the 14th century, many ruling Norman families had integrated into Gaelic ways of life (which had also adapted to changes brought by the Normans). The only area following English law and custom was a small area around Dublin, known as the Pale. For those living inside this area, the rest of Ireland seemed wild and dangerous. This is how we got the phrase in English; 'beyond the pale'.
From Normandy to America
a look at my family history from our beginning in Normandy to present day life in America
When we hear the word “Norman” in Ireland today, we often think of the “Anglo-Norman” invasion of Ireland in 1170 that we learned about in school. Many of my own friends today have Norman surnames – Roche, Barry, Fitzgerald and so on. We attended the same classes in school, played for the same teams and shared a lot of growing up together.
But where did our Norman ancestors come from? To find out, we need to go back to another time and country.
The Norman Homeland.
By 876 AD, the Viking “threat” was well established over much of Europe. Many Vikings were launching raiding parties from their Norwegian home – returning home with the spoils for later trade.
Around this time, a man called Harald Finehair was asserting himself as the first true King of Norway. Not all were happy with his approach – including a man called “Hrolfr” (later known as Rollo). Rollo was the leader of a band of Vikings who were together for over 20 years – raiding and extorting tribute on many shores across Britain, Ireland and France.
On the 17th of November, 876 – Rollo and his men arrived in the north-west part of France – around the modern city of Rouen. This time they had no home in Norway to which to return. They were looking for a territory in which to settle and use as a base for further raids.
They were looking for a new place to call home.
Over the next forty years, this band of Vikings carried out raids from this new base – and sent a clear message to the local rulers that they saw this territory as their new home. Charles, King of the Franks, pragmatically decided to formalise this territory as the new homeland of the group and the “Duchy of Normandy was established with Rollo as the first Duke of Normandy.
The Norman Way of Life.
The land in Normandy was a huge improvement on the old farmlands in Norway. The Norman focus was on the cultivation of grain (unlike the cattle focus in Ireland) – and the rich, heavy soil of Normandy could yield four times more than the stony soil of Norway.
Over the next one hundred and fifty years, the Normans settled down with their new neighbours. They strategically intermarried and made alliances – and also copied the French hierarchy headed by a class of nobility.
But one aspect of Viking ancestry that the Normans were slow to lose was a restless ambition. A desire to expand beyond their present boundaries and gather more material possessions, land, power and glory. The Normans could back up their individual ambition with the power of feudalism, farming and fighting technology, God on their side – and their use of the castle.
Expansion Beyond Normandy.
Over the course of one hundred and fifty years – from 1047 to 1200 – this Norman ambition and capability triggered one of the most extraordinary expansions of power from such a small area.
During that time, Norman Knights had successfully been “invited into” or invaded Britain, Sicily, Ireland and started the first crusades to the near east where they established many more strongholds – all of which were consolidated with the winning and granting of land, building of castles and establishment of a new feudal order in each locality.
In 1035, Duke Robert of Normandy was killed on the return from one of these first crusades. And his son, William gradually assumed his power and title. In 1066, the King of England at the time – Edward the Confessor died. William of Normandy had a distant claim to the throne of England and was ready to assert his claim.
By September, 1066 – Williams forces were ready to invade England and take what he considered to be his rightful place on the throne of England. His boats, knights, warhorses, archers and soldiers numbered in their thousands. They set sail in October and met the English army at Hastings on the 14th of October, 1066. After a full day of matched and ferocious fighting, William had won the crown of the Kind of England. A hierarchy of just ten thousand Norman knights went on to replace the aristocracy of England – with William, now William the Conquerer, at their head.
Five generations later, the descendents and vassals of this aristocracy formed the main part of the invasion of Ireland from Wales in 1170. The Normans would bring their fighting, farming and feudal technology with them – as well as an insatiable ambition – and shape much of what we see around us in the Irish landscape and politics. Even to this day.
Irish Norman Surnames of Your Irish Heritage.
Norman naming conventions were typically the same as many Irish naming conventions – only derived from French.
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Son of – Fils – phonetically became “Fitz” e.g. Fitz Gerald
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Of/From – de – e.g. de Bari – which in Ireland became de Barra and eventually Barry.
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Nickname/Role – le – e.g. le Gros – or the fat one. Another famous Irish role name was FitzWalter which assumed the role (and surname) of Butler in Ireland.
The Norman-derived names that we have on our Reader list include:
Archdeacon,/Cody, Aylward, Barron, Barrett, Barrie, Barry, Bermingham, Blake, Bluitt, Bonds, Bourke, Brannagh, Brett, Britt, Britton, Brown, Browne, Burke, Brew, Bryan, Butler, Campion, Cantillon, Cantwell, Carew, Chambers, Claire, Clare, Codd, Cody ,Cogan, Colfer, Condon, Comerford, Cooney, Courcey, Crosbie, Crozier ,Cullen ,Cummiskey, Cusack,
Dalton, Darcy, D’Arcy, Day, Dillon, Fagan, Field, Fitzgerald, Fitzgibbon, Fitzhenry, Fitzsimmons, Fitzsimons, Fitzstephens, Fleming, Flemming, Francis, French, Furlong, Gibbons, Grace, Griffin, Griffith, Hackett, Hays,Hussey ,Jordan, Joyce, Keating, Lacey ,Lawless, Liston, Logan, Lucey, Lynch, Lyons, Marshall, Martin, McQuillan, Molyneux, Morris, Morrissey,
Nagle, Nangle, Nugent, Plunkett, Power, Powers, Prendergast, Punch, Prior, Purcell, Redmond, Rice,Roach, Roberts, Roche, Rochford, Russell, Savage, Sinnott ,Stapleton ,Stephens ,Talbot ,Tyrrell, Wade, Wall, Walsh, Welsh, White, Wolfe ,Wyse,
History of the Sinnott family in County Wexford
Sinnott – brave and victorious Norman warriors
The name Sinnott is found all over the world, and is generally considered to be an Irish name. There have been a large number of Sinnotts in Ireland for centuries, particularly in County Wexford and the surrounding areas.
However, the name was actually a Norman one, brought to Ireland in the late 12th century.
History of the Irish name Sinnott.
William the Conqueror led the Norman invasion of England in the 11th century, with the famous victory in the 1066 Battle of Hastings. Over the next few years the Normans established their control over England.
One or possibly several of the leading soldiers in the Norman Army would have been given the name Sigenoth. This was made up of two medieval words, ‘sige’ which meant ‘victory’, and ‘noth’ which meant ‘brave’.
For his bravery on the battlefield Sigenoth would have been rewarded with titles and riches.
Settled in Wexford
When the Normans invaded Ireland, around a century later, many of them took land and settled. Sigenoth took territory in south-east Ireland, particularly County Wexford. All members of his clan would have taken his name, and as they integrated into Irish communities the name spread.
The name developed during this period, with the Norman Sigenoth evolving into a Gaelic pronunciation of Sionoid.
A few centuries later, Henry II became concerned about the lack of British authority in Ireland. Since the Norman invasion, the country had supposedly been under British rule. However, in actual fact the Normans had settled and formed alliances with the old Irish clans and the country was still divided up into mini-kingdoms of Irish families. There was a concern in Britain that the Normans had become “more Irish than the Irish”.
The name evolved into Sinnott
Henry ordered another invasion, with the aim of destroying the Irish culture and tradition and anglicising the country. This work was continued by Oliver Cromwell in the mid-17th century with brutal efficiency. His forces swept across the country seizing control of Irish land and slaughtering thousands in the process. In the following years, most Irish names were changed to more English sounding versions. This was because Irish people would struggle to find work on English-owned land if they had an Irish name, and also the British began taking written records of people’s names, and the English clerks recorded them as they interpreted them. At this time, the name developed from Sionoid to Sinnott, and also variations such as Synnot and Sennett.
The name travelled across the world when millions of Irish people left their homeland during the ‘Great Famine’. Many Sinnotts left Ireland to start new lives in America, Australia, Canada and Britain. Our first family members settled in New Brunswick, possibly coming from Prince Edward Island first. I strongly believe my great-grandfather David John was born in New Brunswick, married there, and later moved to Tilt Cove, Newfoundland to work in the copper mines. My grandfather, John James Sinnott, was born in Tilt Cove Newfoundland. After immigrating to the United States, my father, John Frederick was the first family member born in the USA.
click photo to read article regarding Cromwell's sack of Wexford and Gov. David Sinnott
The book is titled "Sinnett Genealogy: Michael Sinnett of Harpswell Maine, his Ancestry and Descendants, Also Records of Other Sinnetts, Sinnotts, Etc. in Ireland and America"
by Charles Nelson Sinnett 1 January 1910 Rumford press.
Cromwell story starts bottom Pg. 8 to top of Pg. 12
