Posted on 01/19/2006 8:02:19 AM PST by mjp
DUBLIN (AFP) - Up to three million men around the world could be descended from a prolific medieval Irish king, according to researchers at Trinity College Dublin.
A genetics study suggests that the fifth-century warlord known as "Niall of the Nine Hostages" may be the ancestor of about one in 12 Irishmen.
He established a dynasty of powerful chieftains that dominated the island for six centuries.
In a study of the Y chromosomes -- which are only passed down through the male line -- scientists found there is a genetic fingerprint hot-spot in northwest Ireland where 21.5 percent carry it, TCD research fellow Dr Brian McEvoy, told AFP.
This was the main power-base of the Ui Neills, which literally translated means "descendants of Niall".
McEvoy said the Y chromosome appeared to trace back to one person.
"There are certain surnames that seem to have come from Ui Neill. We studied if there was any association between those surnames and the genetic profile. It is his (Niall's) family."
The study says that Niall "resided at the cusp of mythology and history but our results do seem to confirm the existence of a single early medieval progenitor to the most powerful and enduring Irish dynasty".
The results also lend support to surviving genealogical and oral traditions of Gaelic Ireland and are a "powerful illustration of the potential link between prolificacy and power".
The study says the chromosome has also been found in 16.7 percent of men in western and central Scotland and has turned up in multiple North American population samples, including in two percent of European-American New Yorkers.
"Given historically high rates of Irish emigration to North America and other parts of the world, it seems likely that the number of descendants worldwide runs to perhaps two to three million males," the study says.
It compares the result to similar research that suggested that Mongol emperor Genghis Khan has 16 million descendants after conquering most of Asia in the 13th century.
Though medieval Ireland was Christian, people married earlier, divorce was allowed and concubinage was practised. Illegitimate sons were claimed and their rights protected by law.
"As in other polygynous societies, the siring of offspring was related to power and prestige."
The study points out that one of the O'Neill dynasty chieftains who died in 1423 had 18 sons with 10 different women and counted 59 grandsons in the male line.
Niall of the Nine Hostages, who became high king of Ireland, got his name from using the taking of hostages as a strategy for subjecting his opponent chieftains.
He is known in folklore as a raider of the British and French coasts.
Supposedly slain in the English Channel or in Scotland, his descendants were the most powerful rulers of Ireland until the 11th century.
Modern surnames tracing their ancestry to Niall include (O')Gallagher, (O')Boyle, (O')Doherty, O'Donnell, Connor, Cannon, Bradley, O'Reilly, Flynn, (Mc)Kee, Campbell, Devlin, Donnelly, Egan, Gormley, Hynes, McCaul, McGovern, McLoughlin, McManus, McMenamin, Molloy, O'Kane, O'Rourke and Quinn.
Johnny be fair and Johnny be fine
And wants me for to wed
And I would marry Johnny
But me da he up and said,
I'm sad t' tell ye, daughter
What yer mother never knew
But Johnny is a son of mine
And so he's kin to you.
Billy be fair and Billy be fine
And wants me for to wed...
[etc.]
Jimmy be fair and Jimmy be fine...[etc]
Well you never seen
a girl so sad and sorry as I was.
The boys in town are all me kin and
me father is the cause.
If life should thus continue
I shall die a single miss
so I go to me mother
and complain to her of this.
Oh daughter didn't I teach ye to forgive and to forget.
Your father might have sowed his oats
but still ye needn't fret.
Your father may be father to all the boys
in town but still....
He's not the one who sired you
so marry who you will!
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