Who Were the Fir Bolgs? The Basque Connection. (Addendum to Story of an Irish Sept pt.1 "Origins")

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--- Description---
A Story of An Irish Sept: Their Character and Struggle to Maintain Their Lands, by Nottige C. Macnamara (a member of the Sept), 1896.

ADDENDUM TO - Chapter I: Origins

In chapter 1 we learned about the origins of our main sept, the Macnamara's of Co. Clare. Given that some of the ideas raised are not very popular or well known, I felt it merited some deeper exploration.

In this addendum to chapter 1, I'll go a bit deeper into the claims and evidence made by the author and consider the question "Who were the Fir Bolgs?"

Watch Part I "Origins" here:
   • "Origins" (Pt.1 The Story of an Irish Sept)  

--- Background---
"Sept" is the word used in early Ireland to refer to a large family kin group, usually a collection of families with various surnames although descending from a single great common ancestor.

The smaller kin groups were referred to as "fine" (pr. finna or finny), and these were categorised by degree of closeness of relatives who shared a common grandfather (gel-fine), great-grandfather (derb-fine), or great-great-grandfather (iar-fine). A sept was essentially a much wider kin grouping that comprised of several fine who shared a common distant great ancestor - who served as a progenitor of the tribe, so to speak.

The book is authored by N.C. Macnamara, a fine that descends from the Dalcasian sept, the same sept which Brian Boru descended from.

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Resources mentioned in this video:

"Blood of the Irish" documentary:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x17...

"Who Were the Celts" by Dr Barry Cunliffe:
   • Barry Cunliffe: Who Were the Celts?  

"Determination of Race from the Skeleton through Forensic Anthropological Methods":
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26270...

Irish Times article:
https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...

Irish Central article:
https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/ge...

About Basque Country article:
https://aboutbasquecountry.eus/en/202...

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In chapter 2 we'll dive into the nature of early Irish society under the Brehon Laws, so watch this space!

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