Townland names just south of Strokestown
Heraldry
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Heraldry, Coats of Arms, Patents and Pedigrees are generally considered non native to Ireland and an imported practice to mimic English and Continental customs.
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Not so, the practice was described in the early Christian annals of Ireland. For example, various battles have been described in the first millenia in which numerous clans arrived bearing emblems on flags which represented their names.
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However the practice of registering emblems was not widely adopted by the Irish under Norman or Saxon rule which then would involve an application to the Ulster Herald, i.e. an act of acceptance to the Crown. Naturally, this was not popular.
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On the other hand, clans continued to use their emblems without registration down through the ages. King Feilidhm O'Connor's emblem of an Oak Tree sits over his grave in Roscommon Abbey, date 1265.
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In the course of our research, we have uncovered circa 50 O'Connor emblems, yet only a handful are 'registered'. These emblems are seen on grave slabs, ancient manuscripts, and predigree documents, also as emblems carved in ancient buildings and official seals and stamps.
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For those who left Ireland after the battle of Kinsale, often with little or no preparation, the formalisation of a clan Coat of Arms which would be useful on the Continent, had to be carried out after departure.
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James Terry, Athlone, Master of Arms, loyal to the Jacobites, facilitated applications by exiled Irish for Coats and documents of identity despite the invasion. This in turn helped exiles to establish rights and positions abroad, a sort of validated business card, verified on a register by an officer of arms, somehwere, thus authenticating the pedigree or clann of the presenter.
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The registration of emblems, coats of arms, funeral palls, patents, etc fall under Heraldry and the Ulster Arms, the officialised state service for those of official status, i.e those people of landed and taxable substance could observe the right. Yet Ireland under the Norman conquest, did not extend fully into Connaught and parallel similar practices existed with Gaelic culture running on parallel principles, yet such registration did not exist officially. It could be said that the existence of a coat of Arms in the last few centuries indicates some acquiesence to the authorities and as such an indication of Gaelic suppression.
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The Dingle treaty between James FitzGerald, 10th earl of Desmond, and Fernandez of Spain when Don Gonzalez Fernandez, ambassador of King Charles V of Spain, gave a formal legal and constitutional foundation to the rights of citizenship and other privileges that Irish exiles enjoyed in Habsburg Spain, Habsburg Austria and Habsburg Netherlands from the 16th to the early 20th centuries.
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