The Clan O'Byrne of Leinster:AD 400-1700
By Paul J. Burns, House of Lochar,
Isle of Colonsay (2001)

http://www.houseoflochar.com/books/gen_obyrne.htm

Irish Kings and High-Kings by F.J. BYRNE

Irish Kings and High-Kings is an analysis of the 
nature of early Irish kingship, using annalistic 
and genealogical material to interpret Irish saga 
and legend. 
Professor Byrne examines the unique blend of pagan tribalism 
and Christian monasticism which characterizes the political 
landscape of early Ireland, exploring the nature of the traditional 
Five Fifths of Ireland, the mythology of Tara, and the growth 
of the high-kingship of Ireland. Numerous maps and genealogical 
tables illustrate the development of the great over-kingships 
of Ulster, Leinster and Connacht, and Cashel. The confrontation 
of St Patrick with the Irish kings, the relations between St 
Colum Cille and his royal cousins, and the ecclesiastical politics 
of Armagh, Kildare and Clonmacnoise are described and analyzed. More 
than twenty years after its original publication, Irish Kings and 
High-Kings remains unsurpassed as an overview of this central 
issue in Irish history. In a new introduction to this edition, 
Professor Byrne updates his conclusions in the light of further 
researches, and provides a comprehensive bibliography of new work in the field. 

F.J. Byrne is former Professor of Early Irish History at 
University College, Dublin and is an editor of the 
Royal Irish Academy's A New History of Ireland. 

January 2005 - Book Review by Paul Burns

"The Princes of Ireland: The Dublin Saga" by Edward Rutherfurd. Rutherfurd writes enormous historical novels tracing the history of areas down through multiple generations. One that some of you may have read was "London." Anyway, in tracing the history of Dublin from before the arrival of the Vikings to about 1550,  the author brings in toward the end the Clan O'Byrne and its raiding of the Pale. Several of the characters in the last chapters are O'Byrnes.

War, politics and the Irish of Leinster, 1156-1606

EMMETT O'BYRNE

Until now there has been no linear political study of the Irish of Leinster from 
the death of Toirdhealbhach O'Connor in 1156 to the establishment, in 1606, of 
County Wicklow - the last Irish and Leinster county to be created. Students and 
historians have had to make do with viewing this period of Irish history through 
publications that focus on successive English government's attempts to extend 
royal jurisdiction throughout Ireland. This is a paradoxical, given that war and politics
in Leinster have played a defining role from earliest times in the history of Ireland. 
Now for the first time, the largely ignored world of the Irish of Leinster is recalled in this book. 

In the book, the author tells the story of the Leinster Irish, their wars, politics
and astonishing survival into the seventeenth century.

'Civilizing' Gaelic Leinster: the extension of Tudor rule in 
the O'Byrne and O'Toole lordships

CHRISTOPHER MAGINN

This book charts the extension of Tudor government into the 
independent Gaelic lordships of the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles (Wicklow, 
Kildare, Dublin) from the origins of this process of expansion 
in the late 15th century until the abortive attempt under the 
Elizabethan regime to transform both lordships into an English 
county. Here we see an autonomous Gaelic district initially embrace 
its entrance into the fold of a nascent Tudor administrative unit 
before ultimately rejecting, through armed rebellion, what had 
become intrusive English military rule and cultural domination. 

Christopher Maginn holds a PhD in history and currently teaches 
at the Centre for Irish Studies at NUI, Galway. 

ARKLOW

Arklow, County Wicklow is a typical Irish town of about ten thousand inhabitants. But every ‘typical town’ is unique because of the story behind it, and Arklow’s story is long and varied. There has been human activity in this area for thousands of years, and much of that activity has been recorded in books and journals. For anyone who wants to know more about Arklow’s past, the problem is where to begin. This book gives a comprehensive overview of how Arklow became the town we know today. It is written specifically for the general reader, but includes extensive source notes for anyone who would like to dig that bit deeper. It will prove valuable not only to local readers, visitors, emigrants and

descendants of emigrants from the Arklow area, but also to students of social history. This book shows how the ‘bigger picture’ of invasion, politics, religion and sectarianism affected lives in a small town over many centuries. (Published by Dee-Jay Publications, 2004)

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A Farewell to Famine

In 1850 an aging priest led a group of over 1000 people from their homes in south-east Ireland to start new lives in the American Mid-West. This was no blind flight from famine, but a concerted attempt organised by the Bishop of Little Rock to establish an Irish Catholic colony in Arkansas. A series of setbacks broke the cohesion of the group which splintered into six, settling in places as diverse as New Orleans, Arkansas, Texas, Missouri and Iowa. This book follows their progress, showing the other side of the famine emigration experience - what happened when they got to America. The names of 847 of those people form a fascinating appendix to this story. (Published by Dee-Jay Publications, 1995)

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The Trial of Billy Byrne of Ballymanus
(transcript first published 1799)
80 pp: 7.50 euro: isbn 0951923927

Billy Byrne was one of the most romantic figures of the 1798 Rebellion.  His monument in front of the courthouse in which he was tried in Wicklow symbolises the noble figure of folklore.  But just what was his role in the rebellion?  Shortly after his trial in 1799 an edited version of the transcript was published in Dublin.  The testimony of crown and defence witnesses, Byrne’s summation of the case against him, along with his own testimony, have provided historians with primary source material ever since. Now, for the first time in two hundred years, that transcript is re-issued to give a wider readership an opportunity to judge for themselves Byrne’s role in the rebellion. (Published by Dee-Jay Publications, 1996)

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Byrne and Kelly Notes 
author: Mrs D. Byrne 
(typescript), 1968   
National Library of Ireland Ir 9292 b 29 

Leabhar Branach : The book of the O'Byrnes 
author: Seán Mac Airt 
The Dublin Institute for the Advanced Studies Dublin 1944 454 p 
National Library of Ireland Ir 89162 MAC a 2 

Journal of the County Louth Archaeological 
and Historical Society  
author: Patrick Kirwan     
'The Byrnes of Co. Louth'  II  1908-1  45-9  
National Library of Ireland Ir 794105 L 2 

Historical reminiscences of O'Byrnes, O'Tooles,
 O'Kavanaghs :
 and other Irish chieftains 
author: Clarinda Mary O'Byrne 
M'Gowan London 1843 96 p. 
National Library of Ireland J 9292 

The O'Tooles, anciently Lords of Powerscourt 
(Feracualan) Fertir Imale; 
with some notes on Feagh MacHugh O'Byrne,
 chief of Clan-Ranelagh 
author: J. O'Toole 
A. M. Sullivan Dublin 1869 116 p. 
National Library of Ireland Ir 9292 o 10