Pardons and Fiants 1568-1601

In the Elizabethan Fiant 3080 of the year 1577 

 a John O Hengerltye is mentioned in a list of Irishmen who have been granted a pardon by the English Crown on the payment of a fine of one cow. 

What is a Fiant?

"Fiants were the warrants directed to the Irish Chancery, directing the issue of letters patent under the great seal and cover a wide variety of matters, including the leases and grants of land, appointments to offices, church beneficies, Irish chieftancies, etc commissions to exercise judicial or administrative authority, of the granting of pardons.

The originals were lost in the Four Courts Fire of 1922. They had been calendared, indexed and published down to 1603 in the Reports of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland (1875-1890).  Family Search Wiki

Fiant 3080 lists the recipient of the Pardon as:

John m'Teige O Hengerltye alias Harrengton, of Downebekhane, gent.

This tells us that John is a son of a man called Teige. (Teige is a Gaelic fore name meaning poet or philosopher) and John is a gentleman who lives in Downebekhane  (Dun Beacain/ Dunbeacon in County Cork Ireland).

A 'gentleman' is a landowner who owns enough land to raise a family on the income from renting out his land to tenant farmers i.e an owner of a significant amount of land.

So what is this 'alias' all about?

Edward MacLysaght in his book The Surnames of Ireland (1989) tells us that

(o) Hingerty is one of the anglicised forms of  ohIongardail which has for the most part become Harrington.

Therefore we must assume that John sometimes used the name Hingerty (or Hengerltye) and sometimes used the name Harrington (or Harrengton) since both are anglicised forms of his Gaelic clan name/surname ohIongardail.

This Fiant seems to be the first mention of the use of Harrington as an alias for the OhIongardail name and its variants.

A search of Fiants (1521-1603) for the surname HARRINGTON (and various spelling variations), only found two references, One is Sir Henry Harrington, Knight who seems to have been an English Harrington in the service of the English Crown and the other is Donogh oge O Harightane of Kerry who, in Fiant 4555 dated 18 December 1584, is granted a pardon. 

No other Harringtons have been found to date although they could be hiding behind spelling variations as yet unrecognised.

However, if we accept the theory that the use of Harrington as an Irish surname only began from about 1577 and was initially used as an alias for O Hingerdell (and similar surnames related to the hIongardail clan) a search using the more widely used clan related surnames reveals the following:

In 1577, 21 May (Fiant 3038) "Thady O Hingerdell called O Hingerdell" (i.e he is the clan chief) is found in a list of other clan leaders being granted a pardon. 

Also pardoned that year on 6 September were Thady O'Hingirdill of Cahirmucky in Fiant 3083 and later that year John Hingerdell of Carrebrie, Cork, a gent in Fiant 3150.

The year before, in 1576, Dermod oge O Hingerdell, yeoman of Cork is pardoned in Fiant 2929.

'oge' is used in the same way that we use 'Junior' today. 

A 'yeoman' is a farmer who owns enough land to support  family. 

A number of years prior, in 23 October 1568 a Dermot Hyngerty of Waterford, merchant is granted English Liberty. How does he fit into the picture? Is he related?

Back to the pardons....

3 June 1584 Fiant 4415 Teige O Hingerdell alias O Hungerdell of Bantry, gent was granted a pardon. Is his alias indicating that he is now the chief of the clan?

In 1585 Fiant 4628 0n 24 March Philip roe O Hingerdell, Shane merrigah O Hingerdell of Carrigenassy, Cork.

'roe' is a nickname indicating that Philip had red hair.

Fiant 4716 on 18 June 1585 Shane m'Teige I Hingerdell and Philip m'Teig oge I Hungerdell of Tarbart, Kerry

 and in 1587, John O Hingerdell of Monaster de Bantry, Cork is also pardoned in Fiant 5069.

On 19 June 1591 in Fiant 5559 Donnell O Hegerdell of Crookhaven, Cork is pardoned.

On 9 May 1601, Fiant 6511 has five pages of pardons listed. More Irish men had taken up arms against the Crown and now that the Crown was wining the war, more Irish men needed pardons. 

Among those granted pardons were the following:

Philip O Hingurdul, Donell O Hingurdul, Teig O Hingurdul, Philip Vohney O Hingurdul, Donogh O Hingurdul and his son Donell m'Donogh O Hingurdul all of Rossm'owen. 

Philip m'Conoghor O Hingerdle and (his brother?) John ruo m'Conoghor O Hingerdle of Kilmury.

Donogh O Hingurdle alias Duony of the Island of Whuidy (in Bantry Bay).

Deirmod m'Shane O Hingerdle, Shane m'Awlive O Hingerdle and Teige mergagh O Hingerdle all of Killaningi.

The nickname 'mergagh' could be a spelling variation of the Gaelic word 'merigeach' indicating that this Teige may have had freckles.

No location is listed for:

Deirmod ruo m'Conoghor O Hingerdle and his wife Ellis ny Shane; John m'Donell O Hingerdle, Teige m'Philip O Hingerdle, Donell m'Teig O Hingerdle, and his wife More ny Deirmoda; Owen m'Teig O Hingerdle and his wife Onora ny Donell; Teige merigegh m'Donell O Hingerdle, Dermod oge beg O Hingerdle, Gillichrist m'Deirmod oge O Hingerdle and (his bother?) John m'Deirmod O Hingerdle; And finally (bothers?) Teige, Owen and Gillichrist m'Donogh O Hingerdle.

'ruo' is a nick name indicating that Deirmod had red hair,.

'beg' is a nickname meaning 'little'. 

'ny' indicates that the name following is the father of the woman listed.

On 18 May 1601 in Fiant 6519 within a three page list of pardons issued in Tipperary and Kilkenny,  are listed John O Higirdell, Teige duff O Higirdell and Donogh Higirdell all yeoman of Garran, Tipperary.

'duff' is a nickname indicating a dark complexion or black hair, or both. 

On 25 August 1601 Fiant 6569 another three page lists of pardons includes Philip O Hingerdell and Teig O Hingerdell both husbandmen of Callanefoyse. There is also John O Hirrille, a husbandman in the same location. Is he related? Or is this a totally different name? 

A 'husbandman' is a farmer who does not own land but leases land from a gentleman.

On 30 August in the same year 1601 Fiant 6571 lists John Hingerdell of Ballyvoyrane and Shane m'Donell Y Ingerdell of Killmidie. 

...no related entries were found for 1602 or 1603. Please let me know if you find any....

Conclusion:

The Fiants are a wonderful source of names, relationships and locations. They document the beginnings of the use of the surname Harrington in the families of the OhIongardail sept/clan and show us the wide spelling variations used within the clan at the time. They even give us an insight into what our ancestors looked like: red haired, freckled, black haired etc

The need for such pardons also indicates that many of these families were rebels against the Crown but later sought pardons in order to survive.

The locations listed in the Fiants however issue us with a challenge.

 The predominance of Cork locations fits in with the prevalence of the Harrington surname in SW Cork even today and supports the hypothesis that the OhIongardial clan occupied lands in this area.

 Further these locations are supported by the YDNA matches between Hingerty and Harrington testers with ancestry in Tipperary and Harrington testers with ancestry in Cork with the hypothesis being that the Tipperary Hingerty/Harringtons arrived in Tipperary from Cork with The Great March of the O'Sullivans in January 1603 as they fled the reprisal attacks by the Crown after the defeat at the Battle of Kinsale.

The Kerry locations could be explained by their proximity to Cork- families spreading out.

However, the earlier (pre 1603) listings for Tipperary and the one very early listing for Waterford are anomalies and work against the Cork to Tipperary migration via the Great March hypothesis.

Did a few O Hingerdell families head north prior to The Great March?

Further research is needed.

If you want to find out about Fiants in general go to this Wikipedia article Fiant- meaning and then, to read Fiant 3080 click on the 13th report published in 1881 Appendix IV. 

To see the other Fiants listed here, check the date range and the Fiant range on the chart in the Wikipedia article and click on the appropriate Appendix link.

If you have found other references to the Hingerty or Harrington surname in the Fiants or in other early documents- share them by leaving a comment or contact me

hingerty@one-name.org