Barons and castellans · Lordship of Ireland · as at first light, 1 January 1200

East Cork (FitzStephen heirs)

The eastern half of the seven cantreds round Cork that the English actually held after the 1177 grant of the kingdom of Cork to Robert FitzStephen and Miles de Cogan: Olethan (Ui Liathain, round Castlelyons) under the Barrys and Imokilly (round Youghal and Cloyne) under the kin of Raymond le Gros.

The other twenty-four cantreds of the grant answer to Mac Carthaig.

Who he is

Name
Philip de Barry or his son William de Barry (Olethan); the kin of Raymond le Gros in Imokilly; the Carews claim the FitzStephen inheritance (Richard Carew, 'a noble baron', died at Cork in 1199)
Title
Lords of the eastern half of the kingdom of Cork
Since
Robert FitzStephen's grants to his kin about 1179-82
Born
Not pinned
Family
Philip de Barry was Robert FitzStephen's nephew and Gerald of Wales's brother
Confidence
low

FitzStephen died about 1182-83 with no surviving legitimate son; his half was split among his kin and later claimed whole by the Carews. Who held each cantred on 1 January 1200 is not pinned.

Overlord

King John

What it holds

  • Olethan (Ui Liathain) with Castlelyons
  • Imokilly with Cloyne and the Youghal country (the town is its own record)
  • A share in the tribute from the cantreds still under Mac Carthaig

How it was acquired

The grant of the kingdom of Cork (1177) for sixty knights' service (the grant, as reported on Wikipedia).

Allies and rivals

The Cogans hold the western half; Mac Carthaig of Desmond and Ua Caim of Fir Maige are the Irish neighbours.

How things stand that morning

Held, but the 1199 war has wasted the country 'from the Shannon to Fermoy'.

Wealth

East Cork farmland and the harbours of Youghal and Cork.

Military

Mottes; no figures.

Threats

  • Mac Carthaig and the Ui Meic Caille, who killed FitzStephen's party in 1182

Places of note

  • Castlelyons: Barry centre in Olethan

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The structure of the Cork grant is well known; holders that winter are not pinned.

On the map: Approximate cantreds.

Primary sources for Lordship of Ireland

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • Annals of Clonmacnoise, Anonymous; English translation of a lost Irish chronicle by Conall Mac Geoghegan (medieval original lost; translated 1627). A midland chronicle, tied to Clonmacnoise and the kings of Meath and Connacht, surviving only in a 1627 translation. Read online
  • Annals of Inisfallen, Anonymous (monks of Inisfallen, Kerry, and earlier of Emly and Lismore) (the manuscript was written in 1092 and continued at Inisfallen in many contemporary hands to 1450). The Munster chronicle, written in Kerry in a hand close to the events. Read online
  • Annals of Loch Ce, Various (compiled for the Mac Diarmada of Moylurg) (compiled 1580s from older annals; the medieval section rests on a Connacht chronicle). The fullest Connacht account of the year: Cathal Carrach's seizure of the kingship, Cathal Crobderg's flight north, the Connacht expedition of de Courcy and the Ui Neill on Crobderg's behalf and its defeat, William de Burgh's role, and the devastation of the province's churches, with the names of the Connacht nobles and clergy who died. Read online
  • Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters, Various; compiled by Micheal O Cleirigh and others (1632 to 1636, from medieval annals now partly lost). A seventeenth century compilation but it draws on lost medieval annals, so its 1200 entries add names and incidents missing elsewhere: the Connacht war and the English of Meath and Munster, the deaths of Irish kings and churchmen across the island, and raids in Thomond and Desmond. Read online
  • Annals of Ulster, Various; compiled by Cathal Mac Maghnusa (compiled about 1498 from much older annals; the entries for 1200 derive from contemporary record). The most reliable Irish annal for the north. Read online
  • Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
  • Mac Carthaigh's Book (Miscellaneous Irish Annals), Anonymous (a Munster compilation) (compiled in the later Middle Ages from Munster annals; manuscript of the 17th century). A Munster annal with a Mac Carthaig and Desmond slant, giving for the years around 1200 the kings of Desmond and Thomond, their wars with each other and with the English of Cork and Limerick, and the castles the settlers were building. Read online
  • The History of William Marshal, Anonymous (a poet called John, writing for the Marshal family) (about 1224 to 1226). A knight's view of the Angevin succession: the council at Vaudreuil in April 1199 where the Marshal and Hubert Walter argued for John over Arthur, the Marshal's crossing to secure England, John's coronation, and the Marshal's part in Normandy in 1199 and 1200 as holder of Longueville and Orbec and a go-between with Philip. Read online

7 more in the sources library for The British Isles.

Sources and studies

  1. Wikipedia: Miles de Cogan
  2. Mac Carthaigh's Book 1184-1199, CELT
  3. G. H. Orpen, Ireland under the Normans, vols 1-2 (1911), Internet Archive

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.