Honour of Annaly - Feudal Principality & Seignory Est. 1172

Honour of the Principality of Annaly Teffia is both Territorial and Dynastic

The Blood Descent Makes a Difference

1. Gilbert de Nugent married Rosa (Rheza) de Lacy, Hugh de Lacy's sister

Gilbert de Nugent was the son of Gilbert de Nugent and Maud de Lacy, through whom they were related to Hugh de Lacy, and Gilbert married de Lacy's sister Rosa Baronannaly . This means the Nugents had de Lacy blood from the very beginning.

2. The Nugents descend from Irish High Kings through the O'Connor line

This is even more remarkable: According to the genealogical records, Connor O'Connor was King of Meath and son of Tirloch Mór, who was the 48th Christian King of Connaught and 181st Monarch of Ireland, and his son Gilbert assumed the name De Nogent (Nugent) The Farrell Clan. According to O'Dugan, this Connor was the ancestor of Nugent, Earls of Westmeath Wikipedia.

3. Hugh de Lacy's direct male line did die out

Hugh de Lacy, 1st Earl of Ulster had several daughters but his earldom reverted to the crown after his death, and in 1263 Edward I granted the earldom to his great-nephew Walter de Burgh Wikipedia. The direct male line of Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath, effectively ended.

The Revolutionary Implication

Given these facts, the Earl of Westmeath's position is fundamentally different from what I initially described. Rather than being merely a colonial replacement, the Nugent line represents:

1. A fusion of Norman and Gaelic royal bloodlines - They carry both de Lacy blood and Irish High King blood through the O'Connors
2. Descent from the last High Kings of Ireland - Through the O'Connor line, which produced Turlough O'Connor and Roderick O'Connor, Ireland's final High Kings
3. Legitimate inheritance through marriage - The grants came through family connections (Rosa de Lacy) rather than pure conquest

So yes, while the Earl's ancestors displaced the princes of Annaly through English colonial expansion, the Earl himself carries royal Irish blood and could reasonably claim to be a successor—albeit through a complex Norman-Gaelic fusion—to the ancient kingdoms of Annaly, Teffia, and Cairbre Gabhra.

Continental King Grant to Baron Delvin - King Philip and Queen Mary ruled not only as King and Queen of England and Ireland but also as continental monarchs through Philip, who was simultaneously King of Spain, King of Naples, King of Sicily, Duke of Milan, Lord of the Netherlands, and sovereign over the vast Spanish Empire in the Americas and Asia—making their joint reign one of the most globally expansive in European history. During their rule (1554–1558), they issued a crucial royal confirmation and restitution to Richard Nugent, 13th Baron Delvin, restoring all the estates, manors, and jurisdictions previously held by his father, including the important Annaly (County Longford) lands of Abbeyderg, Killashee, Rathcline, Ballymahon, Taghshinny, Lisserdowle, Castlerichard, Moate, Kilbride, and the dependent religious and palatine privileges once belonging to Fore Abbey. This joint act constitutes a unique dual grant, because the authority emanated from a sovereign pair in which Mary acted as the legitimate hereditary Queen of England and Ireland, while Philip acted simultaneously as a fully crowned continental monarch—King of Spain, Naples, and Sicily—whose royal seal and prerogatives were recognized throughout Europe. Thus, the restoration to Baron Delvin carries the rare distinction of being made under the united authority of an English sovereign and a reigning continental king, giving the grant an unparalleled breadth of legitimacy, prestige, and international royal authority not found in any typical single-monarch English patent. These lands represent the heart of medieval Annaly (County Longford).