A survey of the Clann Ghormáin (McGormans) of Ibrickan, county Clare: land, lineage and resettlement in late medieval Ireland

Presented here is a transcription and translation of a late sixteenth-century poem by ollamh Maoilín Óg Mac Bruaideadha on the historical migration of the Clann Ghormáin from Leinster to Thomond, where they settled in Ibrickan under new overlords, the Uí Bhriain. From these beginnings, Clann Ghormáin advanced themselves to a prominent position in the lordship of Thomond, which lasted until the loss of their estates in the mid-seventeenth century. An analysis of the seanchas-genealogy elements of the poem by Maoilín Óg alongside evidence contained in contemporary administrative records reveals the landholdings, proprietorial status and familial relationships of this important Gaelic Irish lineage.