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:
- A fusion of Norman and Gaelic royal bloodlines -
They carry both de Lacy blood and Irish High King blood through the O'Connors
- 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
- 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.
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