Monday, April 05, 2021
Our Deep Ancestry Back 900 Years Connecting English Robinson to Irish Fitzpatricks
Nadene Goldfoot
Grandpa Frank Hugh Robinson said his people came from Wales, but he was just a kid of 16 when he had left home, and could have had his memories confused. He told us that his ancestors weren't on the Mayflower of 1620 but the ship after that one. Do you know who was on the next ship which could have been the fleet that came over from England in 1630? It was Isaac Robinson, son of the Preacher, John Robinson who sent all the Pilgrims over to this new country of America. John had stayed with his flock in Holland. His son came over and helped to establish Robinsons all over New England. Other Robinsons came over, too, and one of them might have been our ancestor. We need more Robinsons to test their DNA. Now I find that our deep ancestry from the Big Y test shows a connection to the Irish Fitzpatricks.
One thing I had previously discovered was that our Robinsons were Normans. Who were they? Norman, member of those Vikings, or Norsemen, who settled in northern France (or the Frankish kingdom), together with their descendants. The Normans founded the duchy of Normandy and sent out expeditions of conquest and colonization to southern Italy and Sicily and to England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.
Oh my gosh, Grandpa Frank was right! In spring of 1169, a small band of Normans set sail from South Wales bound for Ireland, landing in May of that same year. This was a watershed moment in Ireland’s history, marking the beginning of direct English, then British, involvement in Irish affairs – so much so that the Norman invasion of Ireland might even be considered a deep root of Britain’s ‘Irish Problem’. Robert FitzStephen’s arrival in Ireland at Bannow on 1 May 1169 was highlighted with his burning his own boats. It was a gesture of commitment to the ensuing conquest.
From the 12th century onwards, a group of Normans (which could include our Robinson line) invaded and settled in Gaelic Ireland. These settlers later became known as Norman Irish or Hiberno-Normans. They originated mainly among Anglo-Norman from England and Cambro-Norman families in Wales, who were loyal to the Kingdom of England, and the English state supported their claims to territory in the various realms then comprising Ireland.
During the High Middle Ages and Late Middle Ages the Hiberno-Normans constituted a feudal aristocracy and merchant oligarchy, known as the Lordship of Ireland. In Ireland, the Normans were also closely associated with the Gregorian Reform of the Catholic Church in Ireland. Over time the descendants of the 12th-century Norman settlers spread throughout Ireland and around the world, as part of the Irish diaspora; they ceased, in most cases, to identify as Norman, Cambro-Norman or Anglo-Norman.
The dominance of the Norman Irish declined during the 17th century, after a new English Protestant elite settled in Ireland during the Tudor period. Some of the Norman Irish—often known as The Old English—had become Gaelicised by merging culturally and intermarrying with the Gaels, under the denominator of "Irish Catholic". Conversely, some Hiberno-Normans assimilated into the new English Protestant elite, as the Anglo-Irish. Our Grandpa was a protestant.
Some of the most prominent Norman families were the FitzMaurices, FitzGeralds, Burkes, Butlers and Wall family. One of the most common Irish surnames, Walsh, derives from the Normans based in Wales who arrived in Ireland as part of this group.
Fitzpatrick originated in Ireland and is unique in that it is the only native Gaelic name with the prefix Fitz. ... In the 12th century, the Normans invaded Ireland and many powerful families were forced to give up their land. The name Mac Giolla Phádraig became Anglicised to Fitzpatrick.
All other names with the prefix Fitz are of Norman origin, and in these cases the Fitz means ‘the bastard son of’.
The prolonged English Tudor conquest of Ireland lasting from 1534 to 1603 was when Henry VIII proclaimed himself King of Ireland in 1541 to facilitate the project. Ireland became a potential battleground in the wars between Catholic Counter-Reformation and Protestant Reformation Europe. Henry allowed the Fitzpatricks to keep much of their territory and in 1541, Brian Fitzpatrick was given the title Baron Upper Ossory, a position that came with a seat in the Irish House of Lords. The Fitzpatricks held their position of relative power in Ireland under the British rule for around a century, until they lost most of their territory due to their support of James II. When the dynasty was destroyed, members of the Fitzpatrick family spread across Ireland and integrated into communities all across the country.
England's attempts to either conquer or assimilate both the Hiberno-Norman lordships and the Gaelic territories into the Kingdom of Ireland provided the impetus for ongoing warfare, notable examples being the 1st Desmond Rebellion, the 2nd Desmond Rebellion and the Nine Years War. This period was marked by the Crown policies of, at first, surrender and regrant, and later, plantation, involving the arrival of thousands of English and Scottish Protestant settlers, and the displacement of both the Hiberno-Normans (or Old English as they were known by then) and the native Catholic landholders. Gaelic Ireland was finally defeated at the battle of Kinsale in 1601 which marked the collapse of the Gaelic system and the beginning of Ireland's history as part of the British Empire.
Dr. Mike Fitzpatrick has found that "This DNA evidence points to the probable Norman roots of the most documented of all Fitzpatrick septs, challenging the long held beliefs they descend from the ancient Giolla Phádraig dynasts. Alternative theories, that Ossory Fitzpatrick may have Viking or 'isolated Irish-Gael' origins are not implausible but lack evidence, since ancestors of A1488 appear neither Viking nor Irish, rather their origins are in Wales, England and Scotland. The recently uncovered clerical lineages of Mac Giolla Phádraig Osraí form part of the conversation in the article, Mac Giolla Phádraig Osraí 1384-1534 AD, Part II, it is considered certain that many A1488 Fitzpatricks descend from clerics, such as William Mac Giolla Phádraig or John MacCostigan (alias Mac Giolla Phádraig), who has close associations with Norman frontier families such as the Butlers, Purcells, and Archdekins."
The big Y test done with Family Tree DNA shows that we are connected through our Robinson family line of my mother's male line of Robinson to the Irish Fitzpatrick line. The oral history was that Grandpa family way back had come from Wales and had taken not the Mayflower to get here but the ship after that. Grandpa had run away from home at about the age of 15 because of an over-zealous father who wouldn't let him move his horse out of the pasture that the bull had invaded and this took place on a Sunday. Evidently the horse was harmed or killed. So, Grandpa Frank Hugh Robinson born in Wenona, Marshall, Illinois with a father from Royalton, Windsor, Vermont and thereabouts, all my DNA testing is due to my questions about Mom's family. Who knew that they started off someplace in Ireland? Our Y title is R-FT111213, now much longer than the R-L21 before the Big Y DNA test or the original test showing R1b1a2a1a1b4. I do believe that our ggrandfather, Abiathar Smith Robinson's father had to have been Amos Robinson IV of Royalton, Vermont and mother to have been his wife, Lois Safford, also of Royalton. Due to a lack of a paper trail, I've never been sure about it. I still could be wrong. I need more Robinson DNA from other Robinson men.
Incidentally, towns and cities of South Wales-possibly our origins before Ireland:
- Cardiff (Glamorgan) - the capital of Wales. southern end
- Newport (Monmouthshire) - Wales' third-largest city.
- Swansea (Glamorgan) - Wales' city by the sea and second-largest urban center - spectacular sandy beaches.
- St Davids (Pembrokeshire) - Britain's smallest city and home to Wales' most important cathedral.
- Now here's the corker. Great grandfather Abiathar Smith Robinson b: 1829 married Julia Ann Tuller of Royalton, Vermont and was the great grandson of Amos Benton Robinson (1734) and Deborah Hyde (1734). Deborah Hyde was connected to Anne Hyde (b:1637) who married King James Ii of England in 1660.
Resource:
https://wwwrobinsongenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/12/possible-connection-of-clans-between.html
https://wwwrobinsongenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/11/connecting-to-king-james-ii-and-his.html
https://www.military-history.org/feature/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-norman-conquest-of-ireland.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ireland#:~:text=On%201%20January%201801%2C%20in,the%20Acts%20of%20Union%201800.
https://ireland-calling.com/irish-names-fitzpatrick/#:~:text=It%20originated%20in%20Ireland%20and,name%20with%20the%20prefix%20Fitz.&text=In%20the%2012th%20century%2C%20the,Ph%C3%A1draig%20became%20Anglicised%20to%20Fitzpatrick.
https://www.fitzpatrickclan.org/
Labels: Fitzpatrick, Frank Hugh Robinson, Henry VIII, Irish, Normans, Robinson
