Lynch (surname)

The Lynch family of Galway is the most famous of those 14 Anglo- and Cambro -Norman families, who are called the tribes of Galway ( Tribes of Galway) and for centuries dominated the city and the surrounding countryside in County Galway.

Traditionally, the family sees themselves as descendants of a family of Linz, which is descended from the youngest son of Charlemagne. This can not be proved, however. However, safety is the Anglo-Norman origin. A Sir Hugo de Lynch accompanied William I in 1066 in the conquest of England. The first recorded member of the family in Ireland is Andrew de Lynch, who was involved during the reign of Henry II at the beginning of the 1169 invasion. His son settled around 1261 in Galway and acquired a larger fortune by marrying the sole heir of the family of Mareschal, whose male line became extinct. Galway operate an intensive maritime trade with Spain and from the end of the 14th century with Portugal, in which also the Irish traveled to Lisbon. Two letters of protection from the Portuguese in 1465 for John and Dominic Lynch prove that the family was directly involved in the maritime trade with Portugal.

In order to break the dominance of the de Burgo family in Galway, to Dominick Lynch Fitz John strove successfully to a new charter for Galway in Richard III. , The citizens of the city conceded the right from 15 December 1484 to elect a mayor free. His brother Pierce Lynch profited from it immediately and became the first freely elected Mayor of Galway and over a period of 170 years should be a total of 84 members of the family take over the office. After the fall of Galway on April 12, 1652 as part of the re-conquest of Ireland by Oliver Cromwell, the family was expropriated and on October 25, 1654 came to the dismissal of the last Catholic mayor of the city, Thomas Lynch FitzAmbrose.

Some branches of the family settled in the area of Galway. Around 1820 Country Houses and Castles of the family in Galway, Barna, Drimcong, Lydican, Moycullen, Newcastle ( Galway) and Shannonbridge were detected.

In 1848, some unused carved stones and fragments from the 16th and 17th century were used to incorporate them at the northern wall of the St. Nicholas Cemetery. This included a door frame with a superimposed relief panel, a skull and crossbones depicting, and about a two-tier rectangular window. This has become a macabre tourist attraction, as to the story was spread, that have the Galwayer mayor and magistrate James Lynch Fitz Stephen condemned his own son to death in 1493 and hanged at this place. The story was used as an urban legend that also for the explanation of the concept of lynching. Meanwhile, however, it is considered refuted.