“Origin of the surname Sennett & its variants”

3/. Wexford Society and Sennettin the Anglo Cambro-Norman Age: Download

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Wexford Town and Harbour 2018
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3.1/ General Documentary Manuscript Record after the Cambro-Norman-Flemish Invasion

At this period in post-Invasion Wexford the Sennett sept remained in close affinity with, and stood as close kinsmen to, two of the more prominent Cambro-Norman-Flemish families in Wexford, the FitzGodeberts (Roches) and the Prendergasts (or Penders). At the time of the Norman Invasion the most southerly Baronies (Cantreds) of Wexford County, Forth and Bargy were realistically under the control of a Wexford Town and Port society, that was essentially Hiberno-Norse in its inhabitants. Later in time, when the new Wexford settlement was well established, the Sennett sept became very acquisitive of property and position and really quite rapacious of Gaelic-Irish lands in southern and mid Wexford, in the Baronies of Shelmalier East and Ballaghkeen. 

Most of the territory of Wexford County comprised originally of the Clan Ceinnsealaigh controlled lands (Irish Gaelic: "Uí Ceinnsealaigh", variant spellings) of the south east of Ireland. The surname is anglicised as Kinsella and in vernacular terminology was referred to in ancient times as "Hy-Kinsella". The territory covers what is known in modern Irish Gaelic as 'Loch Garman', in English more simply as Wexford, but originally in the Old Norse/Norwegian language the town was Veisafjorðr (and by some reports Waesfjord -Jeg vet ikke, for de møste mit Norsk språget har blitt glempt!). The Irish Gaelic sept's territory was really that part of Wexford County north of the town and its increasingly Hiberno-Norse population.

There is an ancient Irish-Gaelic historical source,"The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland" (Irish Gaelic: aka Annála Rioghachta Éireann), alternatively known as "The Annals of the Four Masters".(#) The work is a chronicle of medieval Irish history covering the mythological pre-Christian period, and more realistically from well before the Norman Invasion, up till the early 17^th Century, the year 1616. The Annals were composed in the Gaelic language and compiled during the decade of the 1630s in a Franciscan Friary in Leitrim County in the north midlands. It is a large multi-volume work in its modern reproduction, running to 5-to-7 volumes. The chief compiler of the Annals was a Franciscan Friar, a Michael Ó'Cleirigh from Ballyshannon in Donegal. Friar Ó Cléirigh was assisted by 3 others in Holy Orders by the names, Ó Cléirigh, Ó'Maol Chonaire and Ó 'Duibhgeannain. They comprised the 4 Masters (Irish Gaelic Na Ceithre Máistrí). The project patron was a Fearghal O'Gadhra, a local Gaelic Lord from Sligo County. The original and manuscript versions of the work are held in the repository libraries of TCD, UCD, the RIA and the NLI. Most interestingly in regard to this current analysis, the Annals Volumes 2 and 3 cover the pre-Invasion and post-Invasion periods. Vol. 2 refers to the Cambro-Norman Invasion fleet as … "the fleet of Flemings came from England in the army of Diarmaid (Dermot) to contest Leinster for him", as recorded for the Year 1169. The citations appear in sections 9 and 10.

A later section refers to "Seventy Flemings dressed in coats of mail". Vol. 3 of the Annals for Year 1176, section 10, refers to a "Richard Fleming", possibly a mis-statement or mistranslation of a 'Richard the Fleming' perhaps inferring Richard de la Roche, or Richard FitzGodebert, grandson of Godebert Flandrensis of Flanders and Roche Castle. It could refer possibly also to Richard FitzGilbert de Clare, the Earl of Pembroke and Lord of Striguil (Chepstow), the Cambro-Norman leader Strongbow. (#)

The Wexford of this period in the 12^th and 13^th Centuries would quickly become a mini multi-ethnic zone of modest prosperity with its own fascinating history and fairly distinct genomics and genealogy. In the period between 1174-to-1176, a vanguard member of the Invasion force, Raymond FitzGerald (also known as Raymond le Gros, and a nephew to Maurice FitzGerald), having lead Strongbow's advance guard in 1169 with another famed Knight, a Robert FitzStephen, appealed and dedicated a new charter to his widely-held feudal subject's tenancies. Raymond le Gros FitzGerald declares in the charter, "to all present and future, French, English, Flemish, Welsh and Irish."(&) This charter of Raymond le Gros was witnessed by Richard FitzGodebert (de Rupe/de la Roche), David de Rupe and Henry de Rupe, these latter two being the elder sons of Rodebert (Robert) FitzGodebert, Richard FitzGodebert's brother. (references., §, %)

The Knight FitzStephen, being later in life predeceased by his children, in a testimonial charter of c. 1180 concerning the Grant of his lands in Cork County, introduced his address to his widely spread tenant subjects as follows, "Robert FitzStephen to all his lords, friends, and dependents, French, English, Welsh, and Irish, greeting. Be it known to you that I have given and granted to my nephew, Philip de Barri (or 'Barry'), 3 cantreds in my land of Cork".(*) FitzStephen, son of the Constable of Cardigan (Wales) passed in a lonely death c. 1182/83. Nearly 1,000 years later, the 'Barry' family name is still a prominent surname in Cork County. At the same period as the testimonial charter, another member of this de Barri family, a Gerald de Barri notes in his work the quotation of a factual remark by the Knight Maurice FitzGerald. FitzGerald is quoted as describing the situation regarding the new'ish Norman settlers in South Wexford some little time after the invasion (they being more Welsh, Flemish or French in their identity),"they were Irish to the English, and English to the Irish." (Gerald was Philip's brother, aka 'Gerald of Wales', the author 'Geraldus Cambrensis', see 3.2/ here below 'Sennett in Kilkenny & Wexford'. The same quotation also appears in G.H. Orpen's work.)

Similarly, an inclusive regard for all inhabitants was declared to the population of South Wexford at the foundation of the 1^st new Norman abbey in Wexford, "Tintern Abbey". The Abbey was founded in 1200 by the then Earl Marshal, the Knight Sir William Marshal (1^st Earl Pembroke, of 2^nd Order). The Tintern Abbey Charter as is declared in William's formal Charter address, was given to … "all his men, French and English, Welsh and Irish".(ref. &) Tintern Abbey in South Wexford was begun slightly in advance of yet another Abbey of it's common founder's establishment, that of Duiske Abbey (1204) now known as Graiguenamanagh Abbey in Kilkenny County. The 2^nd of these Abbeys, similarly founded and funded by the Earl Marshal, is here mentioned further below, regarding a land-transfer for its endowed estate. This was a reversion of title from an early Sennett incomer (spelt in the format Sinath, Sinad or Synath) to the Earl Marshal, he being Sinath's local Lord. 

It seems however, from the middle and latter quotation above, that it was not unusual for the Flemish elements of the Norman Invasion period, or of other time periods, to be overlooked on occasion. This seems true of its more contemporary history in those older times. The Tintern name was synonymous with that of Tintern Abbey in Monmouthshire, South Wales. This earlier Abbey in Wales had been founded by the family of William Marshal's spouse, Isabel de Clare (Strongbow's daughter). Walter de Clare of Wales founded the original Tintern Abbey in 1131, it is located just across the Severn from Bristol, near the mouth of the River Avon (between Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire).

Chapter 3.1/ Reference works

(#)"The Annals of Four Masters" by O'Cleirigh, repro ed.'John O'Donovan',publ. RIA'1848,1856, reprint, 7 Vols.
(*)Rev.E Barry's "Records of Barrys of County Cork from the Earliest to the Present Times", Cork ' 1902, p.15. 
(&)"Arrogant Trespass -Anglo-Norman Wexford 1169-1400" by Billy Colfer, published Duffry, Enniscorthy,2002.
(§)"Knights Fees, Counties Wexford,Carlow +Kilkenny", Eric St.JohnBrooks, IMC-Ir.M'scripts Comm.p146, 1950.
(7)"William Marshal and Ireland", J.Bradley, C.Ó Drisceoil & M.Potterton, Four Courts Press. Dublin, 2016.
(%) 'RSAI-Royal Society of Antiquaries in Ireland, Journal', September 1939, p.167.
(8) 'RSAI-Royal Society of Antiquaries in Ireland, Annual Journal', No.146, 2016, Dr Linda Doran, WilliamMarshal
(9) "L'Histoire de Guillaume le Maréschal"Paul Meyer,Societé de l'Histoire de France,original c.1230, 3 vols pub'd 1891-1901.

Other Chapter 3.1/ reference works are:

(The Ethnic mix in Medieval Wexford, Billy Colfer, 'History Ireland' Magazine, Spring 2002 edition)
("Wexford History & Society",ed. K.Whelan +W.Nolan, Geography Publications, Dublin 1987, Chapter'3, "Anglo-Norman settlement in County Wexford", by Billy Colfer)
("The Flemings in Pembrokeshire", Henry Owen, Archaeology Cambrensis 1895, Series II, Vol. XII, p.96-p.106)
("Ireland under the Normans,1169-1333",GH.Orpen, ClarendonPress, Dublin 4.Vols., 1911-1920, rep.Four Courts Pr. 2005.)
("The Norman Invasion of Ireland", Richard Roche, Dublin, Anvil Books 1970, 1996.)

3.2/ Sennett: The Anglo-Saxon Surname Attribution
The Anglo-Saxon Surname Attribution in British, Irish and American Surname Dictionaries

An unfortunate fact remains with us Sennett surname bearers today, for those of us at least who remain slaves to the notion of verity regardless of one's feelings or preferences. It is a fact that most published 'surname origin' works (ie. dictionaries) attribute the surname to an Anglo-Saxon origin. The pattern continues in recent times despite lack of real scientific evidence of such a case. This misattribution may more reflect an unconscious presumption in previous Anglo-centric and Anglophone genealogy. It might also be a consequence of the rise of the 'British Empire' (and the later Commonwealth) to its global prominence in parallel step with the more modern age of mass publication, and now the age of the internet. It also may have reflected a romantic bias held by genealogical authors or academics when beginning to conduct systematic research in the newly topical field of surname genealogy. There has never been a general adequacy or excess of familiarity with the Sennett surname among the world's canon of general knowledge. However, the dissemination of misinformation by published word and now by wide internet access is most difficult to counteract, even for the persistent and dedicated. The damage of a seemingly simple misrepresentation or an incomplete representation of the surname has already been done. Once a mis-stated or part-attribution has taken root, it grows in strength and adhesion, qualities which accentuate their hold with time and repetition. The repetition adds to the weight of its diversion from a more enlightened genealogical and historical etymology and perhaps a real scientific truth. This detailed study of the surname attribution is a result of that pattern and an effort to re-orientate the understanding of the surname's origins. Should new facts emerge in the future one can always review one's perceptions.

Among the modern Surname Dictionaries, there are some considered standard works of reference, some if not all of those which follow below. Collectively the various Dictionary entries demonstrate to some degree, that when an epithet or descriptive label is established, usually if it is correct, but also particularly so if it is established in a void, it can become a received wisdom, a conventional presumption.

	Chapter 3.2/ Table :
	A Summary & Analysis of 'Sennett' Origins in British, Irish and American Surname Dictionaries
No.	Title, Year of earliest edition (late ed.), Author, Published	Classifications and Sources offered, Editorial
	British Publications	DB-Domesday Book, 1066 (TRE) and 1086 (William'1)
i	ES-English Surnames, Essay on Family Nomenclature1849 PB-Patronymica Britannica,1860 Mark Anthony Lower, Russel-Smith in 2 Vols., London,	Editorial: Of their time, original, earnest and ambitious but outdated, unreliable, and uncomprehensive.
	All final rows blank, continued below
ii	ESSS-English Surnames,their Sources &Significations:1873 ------------------- superseded by ------------------------ DEWS- Dictionary of English & Welsh Surnames: 1901 Charles W Bardsley, Frowde, London, (+ Heraldry Today) A first comprehensive surname analysis, the posthumous labour of one lifetime. Given the author never saw its publication, it was also the labour of his dear widowed spouse, and ultimately John W Carlisle, author of the Preface. The book was a great achievement as a foundation etymological work. It introduced a pioneer generic format and set a new higher standard in its time. Charles Bardsley attended Manchester Grammer School and Worcester College, Oxford. The book was dedicated to his admiring friend, the US President' William McKinley (McKinley's surname was strictly omitted from the work). This formative book is unfortunately slightly Anglo-centric, not overly scholarly or academic and somewhat error prone on the matter of the 'Sennett & variant' surname origins. It contained no Hibernian or Wexford County pretext, context or numerical dimension. It was also blind to the 2 million+ Irish migration flow to the USA's eastern seaboard of one generation earlier during the long decade between 1845-to-1860. Another half million went to Britain. The work was also unaware of the sizeable Lancashire, Liverpool and London frequencies, those then being missed at the time by the MDB-Modern Domesday Book' of 1873, (cf. ODFNB+I). [ The Rev. Charles Bardsley, b.1843 Burnley d.1898 Oxford, was the 6th of 7 sons of Canon James Bardsley, of Keighley in Yorkshire, and later Burnley and ultimately Manchester in Lancashire. Charles' father, the Canon, at the time of his ordination in the 1820's, was due to be given the curacy of Howarth in Yorkshire, it the parsonage home of the Rev. Patrick Brontë and the Brontë sisters (aka.,'Brunty'). However, the then Archbishop of York suffered a last minute change of heart and sent the new Rev. James Bardsley to the Borough of Keighley instead, near Bradford in West Yorkshire. Nevertheless, the Reverend did maintain his link with Howarth and the parsonage. This was to become a great friendship between the Bardsley and Bruntë families. So this friendship captured his children through their joint week-end visits, including of course the young Charles W Bardsley. ]	Sennet and its variations:  [The work claims Sennett is English by definition.) i/. Feminine Baptismal/or Personal name. Ii/. Son of Senot. iii/. Present in Directories. Documented Incidence cited in England (& Year): (Citation highlights possible EKA-Earliest Known Ancestor EKAs are also known as MDAs -Most Distant Ancestors) No citation prior to Yr.1200, no refs Domesday Book.   Stephen Sinot, Suffolk Hundred Rolls/Rotul.H. Yr.1273 Richard fils/son Sunod, Huntingdonshr. H. Rolls 1273 Silvestre Sunod, Huntingdonshr. Hundred Rolls 1273 Sunnota, Calendarium Genealogicum, 3'Edw'I, 1275 Sunnotoe, Calendarium Genealogicum, 3'Edw'I, 1275 Senota, Poll Tax West Yorks Riding, p.120, Year 1379 Johannes Sinhit, Poll Tax West Yorks R., p.120, 1379 MDB: - Modern Domesday Book, London, @ 1873. The DEWS work quotes these citations from the MDB Sennett/Sennitt, Cambridgeshr., frequency- 7. Sunnett, Manchester, frequency- 1 Sinnott, New York frequency -20, Sinnott, Boston freq'ncy -16 Sinnett, Boston frequency -17 Synett/Synnott, Boston frequency -7 DEWS Conclusions re MDB: South, West, and North Yorkshire, Lancashire, Pembrokeshire, Devon, Durham, and also the cities of Birmingham, Liverpool, & London excluded re '1881. Likewise with most North American Cities (US &Can.) cf. 'ODFNB+I, Published in Year 2016: Editorial: No references to Ireland, or Scotland (by definition). Ireland 1890'Matheson Reports not included, op.cit. Sennett Live Births c.37., est. pop. frequency c.1,000, indicates possible Household frequency of c.300+, mainly in Wexford (Sinnott) and Dublin (Synnott). 'DEWS' as indicated from the title, it excludes the popular Scottish and Isles & Islands and the Irish, prefixed surnames, those of 'Mac', 'Mc', 'Ó', and 'Ua', (not unusually it excludes the less well known Irish feminines 'ní' and 'mhic' from the surname listings). Icelandic culture and society long ago found a modern gender-neutral means of surname inheritance. They utilised the alternate suffix variants '-son' and 'dottir' appended to the Patronymic, and so go halfway to prefacing the age of mitochondrial DNA.
iii	OES- The Origin of English Surnames, 1967 Percy Hide Reaney (1880-1968), Routledge &KP, London DES- Dictionary of English Surnames, 3rd Ed.,2006,Lon.,NY. DBS- Dictionary of British Surnames, 1958, 61,..87, 1991 P.H.Reaney + R.M.Wilson, OUP, Routledge&KP, London,NY ISBN /0 71008106 5 (Collaborative work with University of Sheffield, with acknowledgement to the efforts of many Swedish academics and repositories, regarding OE-Old English and ME-Middle English names, surnames and bynames. Bynames were descriptive additions similar to nicknames. They were unconnected to a first, font or Christian name, and originally because of their particularity, were not necessarily inheritable by direct descent.)	Sinnatt and variations: OE-Old English, 'Sigenõð' translation 'Victory Bold', or 'Victory Brave', DB-Domesday Book 'Sinod'. In the Introduction, p.xxvi, the book identifies 'Sigenõð (Sinnatt), as an Old English dithematic Personal name, one which survived into the post Conquest period. Documented Incidence in England, possible EKA/MDA Synodus, Bury St Edmunds Abbey, Suffolk, c.1095 No other citation prior year 1200, other than DB. Robertus fils Sinothi, Staffs. Pipe Rolls R.Comm. 1200, Dionisia filia Sinod, Herts. Pipe Rolls Curia Regis 1207, Stephen Sinot/Sinut, Suffolk Hundred R./Rotul.H.1275, Warin Sinat, Cambridgsh. Hundred Rolls/Rotul.H.1276. Editorial: 1st Edition 20,000 Surnames. DBS, apart from the DB, its earliest and only citation prior to year 1200 of Anglo-Saxon origin, a possible 'EKA/MDA', is given at year 1095, at Bury St Edmonds, in Suffolk. The work offers only 2 other English instances preceding or contemporary with the Cambro-Norman-Fleming 'Adam, son of Sinath, Kilkenny' citation of 1204. These are offered as at years 1200 and 1207 in Staffs., and Herts., respectively. Both are contemporary to that in Kilkenny. This latter Herts reference follows on the Domesday Book'1066 record of a 'Sinod' at Reed, in Oxey, Hertfordshire, years "TRE- Time of King Edward, Confessor". Can an AngloSaxon derivation be based on a single, but not exclusive, Domesday Book "TRE" incidence. The book offers little logic or reasoning or justification for an assumed Anglo-Saxon attribution. No references to Ireland by definition (ironic)
iv	DoS/CDS [possibly also published as Oxf.DS/COxf.DS] A (Concise) Dictionary of Surnames, 1988 Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges, OUP, Oxford, NY ISBN 978/0 192115928	Sinnott and variations: Classified as English + Irish, conventionally as 'Anglo'. Derivation ME-Middle English given name Sinod, and OE-Old English 'Sigenõð', comprising Victory & Brave. . No Documented Incidence in England/poss. EKA/MDA No Documented Incidence in Ireland/poss. EKA/MDA The entry does give most correctly the Irish-Gaelicised version, 'Sionóid'.  Editorial: 1st 1988 Edition, 70,000 Surnames. DoS/CDoS does acknowledge a secondary Irish origin. This is presumed to be a subsidiary derivation of the OE/ME, and reconstructs the conventional Anglo-Centric presumption. Overall the book gives a very brief surname etymology. The work awards the primacy of origin to the Anglo-Saxon hypothesis, especially as per the subsidiary Irish introductory narrative, "Although this name is of English origin … etc" (unlikely). English origin is as yet unproven. The entry also states the surname "is now far more common in Ireland than in England" (probably unlikely also). In modern 20th/21st Century times, this is not really so! This above if it were true, would make an interesting double-twist and inversion to the alternative more Hiberno-Centric surname perspective, that of the Cambro-Norman-Fleming origins and its history. An actual or current comparison of surname frequency between Britain and Ireland, of all variant forms, would probably show a British-to-Irish ratio of circa 3-to-2 in both households and population. In more purely numerical terms, this ratio would probably translate to that of 3,000:2,000 pop. incidence, cf. 'ODFNB+I', Hanks, Coates &McClure. For the most common 'Sinnott' variant, this can be confirmed.
v	'ODFNB+I' Oxford Dictionary of FamilyNames' Britain & Ireland,2016 Patrick Hanks, Richard Coates +Peter McClure, OUP' 4 Vols. ISBN 978/ 0 19 967776-4 (4 Volume set) ISBN 978/ 0 19 879884-2 (Vol. 4, 'R-to-Z') (Collaborative work with Univ. of West of England, Bristol, and Bristol Centre of Linguistics) cf.,English and Irish Documented Incidence Ch.4.1b/Table	Sinnott and variations: Relationship name (a Patronymic), from the Middle-English personal name 'Sinod', 'Sinot', OE-Old English 'Sigenõð'. Regarding 'Sennett (Sinnott) and variants', the book correctly acknowledges both notional surname origins, as firstly 1/. Anglo-Saxon with citation of incidence, and secondly 2/. Hibernian and Wexford'onian (supposedly inferring an ancient Cambro-Norman-Flemish derivation). The book offers no incidence in Ireland contemporary to 1204 or 1247, or the continuities preceding the turn of the 13th Century, ie., the years 1201-1300. It fails to achieve any adequate thesis from the surname's Wexford perspective on its alternate derivation. Documented Incidence in England/possible EKA/MDA Synodus, Bury St Edmunds Abbey Docs. Suffolk, c.1095 No other citation prior year 1200, other than DB. Robertus fils Sinothi, Staffs. Pipe Rolls, 1200, Dionisia filia Sinod, Herts. PipeRolls Curia Regis, 1207, Stephen Sinot/Sinut, Suffolk Hundred Rolls, 1275, Warin Sinat, Cambridgsh. Hundred Rolls, 1276, Johannes Synet, Salisbury Wiltsh. Poll Tax, 1379, Thomas Sinnott, Benson Oxfordsh. IGI., 1575. Recent Frequency and Geography of the Surname: The higher county densities in Britain and Ireland(?). Those more common variants, in an ordinal ranking, Sinnott: Lancs., Wexford, in magnitude equal to (Br.) or greater than (Irl.) other variants combined. Sennett: Lancs., Yorks. (Yorks West Riding), Devon. Sinnett: Lancs., Pembrokeshire Sennitt: Cambridgeshire. Synnott: London, (Dublin omitted). Synott: Lancashire. Documented Incidence in Ireland (possible EKA's): While 'ODFNB+I' does give references to early bearers of the name in England and Wexford, it misses entirely all the earliest and most of the early recorded instances in 13th Century Kilkenny, Wexford or Ireland. The years with references omitted are 1204, and 1247. William Seynde, Wexford CDI-Cal. Docs. Ireland, 1297, Martin Synnot, Ballyla'Ardclm'Wxf, Fiant Edw'6, 1549, William Synnot, Mollestown Wexf, Fiants Edw'6, 1549, William Synote, Wexford fishermn, Fiant Edw'6, 1552, John Synnote, Gent, JP Lib. Wexfd, Fiant Q.Mary,1558, Richard Synnot, §2680, Ballybrennane, Fiant Eliz,1575, Richard Synote, §3594, Mallrangan Wx,Fiant Eliz,1579, Gilina Synnot, §3665, Wexford County, Fiant Eliz,1580, Walter Synnot, §6517, Mangancowlin, Fiant Eliz,1601, Patrick Sinnott, Flaxgrowers Ireland,LongfordCo.,1796.
v	Oxford Dictionary of FamilyNames' Britain & Ireland,2016 continued …	Editorial: 1st 2016 Edition 45,000 Surnames ODFNB+I, apart from DB, its earliest and only citation prior to year 1200 of Anglo-Saxon origin, a possible 'EKA/MDA', is given at year 1095, at Bury St Edmonds, in Suffolk. The work offers only 2 other English instances preceding or contemporary with the Cambro-Norman-Fleming 'Adam, son of Sinath, Kilkenny' citation of 1204. These are offered as at years 1200 and 1207 in Staffs., and Herts., respectively. Both are contemporary to that of Kilkenny. This latter Herts reference follows on the Domesday Book'1066 record of a 'Sinod' at Reed, in Oxey, Hertfordshire, at year "TRE- Time of King Edward, Confessor". Can an Anglo Saxon claim of derivation be based on a single, but not exclusive, Domesday Book 'TRE' incidence. The book offers little logic or reasoning or justification for an assumed Anglo-Saxon attribution. ODFNB+I  is a modern and the most recent work, one of a high standard by professional etymologists and academics. Despite its general excellence, the work falls into the conventional Anglo-Centric presumption. It actually awards a primacy of origin to the Anglo-Saxon hypothesis, especially as per the 2nd Irish Surname introductory narrative, "Irish, although of English origin" (unlikely). Presumably this is intended to mean … "Yes, the name has Irish origins, but it really has older English origins too". The purpose of this paper is to attribute a Flemish origin. The 'ODFMI+B' is packed with rich detail from both the home islands, Britain and Ireland, with some regional frequency data as at an early period 1881, and also circa publication date' 2016. The work, in 4 Volumes, is a true modern development on C.W. Bardsley's original format and his erudition.
vi	Penguin Dictionary of Surnames, 1967, 69, 78, 79,…1987 Basil Cottle, Penguin Books/Viking, Harmondsworth, Mx.	Sinnatt, Sinnett, Sinnott: 1 single line of entry on p.346. Personal (Font) 1st name, OE, Sigenõth, 'Victory Bold'. 1st early Editions 8,000 -12,000 Surnames Editorial No comment, other than that in an important published work, the Sennett surname heritage has been now reduced/traduced to such simplicity as this!
	Irish Publications
a.i	The Great Book of Irish Genealogy, 2002 in 5' Volumes. Nollaig ÓMuraíle (post Mac Fhirbhisigh), E de Burca, Dublin	Ancient Irish-Gaelic Genealogies: Comprises Irish Gaelic and Foreign (English) surnames in English translation with English language text. Originally written by D. Mac Fhirbhisigh in the mid-1600's period of 'Cromwellian' Ireland. A format of surname analysis from a more Hiberno-centric perspective. Mostly Gaelic genealogy. Editorial No detailed Sennett Information contained within.
a.ii	Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae w Index, 1962, 1976. Prof. M.A.Ó Brien, DIAS., Dublin Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies.	Sennett Editorial -as above- Unseen. Included for completeness because of its serious work.
a.iii	Special Report Surnames in Ireland',1901,1909… 1968, 88 Robert Matheson LL.D., Alex Thom/Ponsonby/HMSO,Dub. GPC Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, Md. ISBN 0-8063-0187-2 Library of Congress CCNo. 68-54684	Sinnott/Synnott: Classified as a Welsh surname, in Wexford (& Dublin). Editorial: Please consult the text of this paper Section 5.1/.
b.	Irish Names and Surnames (Sloinnte Gaedheal isGall),1923 Rev. Patrick Woulfe NAI/RIA, MH.Gill &Son, Dublin, and John English &Sons, Wexford.	Sionóid: (Signot, Synod, Synote, Synot, Sinott, Synott, Sinnott, Synnott) Anglo-Saxon Personal name (son of Sigenõth). However, the surname is classified within a class of Foreign Patronymics, that class typical of the simple un-altered Anglo-Norman style (Woulfe, Class VIII, p.166). "The name of an English family who came to Ireland at the time of the invasion (1167-1171) and settled in Wexford… In the reign of Elizabeth'1 (1558-1603), … they were great loyalists and were rewarded with grants of the confiscated lands of the MacMurroughs" (Murphy)… The Sinnotts lost their estates in the Cromwellian and Williamite confiscations … There were also ancient families of the name in Dublin and Tipperary." (Tipperary?, why Tipperary, not known!) Editorial INS/SGG is the earliest academic and Irish-Gaelic surname etymology in the English language. It's a complex, scholarly and bilingual work in English, with an emphasis on Gaelic surname analysis while utilising a certain Gaelic fluency. Despite its context and the opportunity provided to diverge from an emerging consensus, the work's multiple formats of classification and analysis added nought to the understanding of the Sennett surname. Apparently, as regards the non-Gaelic surnames, the study sheds its light from an Anglo-Centric perspective.
c.	Guide to Irish Surnames, 1964 ------------------ superseded by --------- The Surnames of Ireland, 1964, 69, 73, 78, 80, 1985… Edward Mac Lysaght, IAP-Irish Academic Press, Dublin ISBN.0-7165-2366-3. Well known other works by the same author: -Irish Families (Their Names, Arms and Origins). -Irish Families with Supplement. -*More Irish Families, with prior Ir.Fam.Supplement, 1982	*Sinnott/Synnott/Sinoíd: OE-Old English, translation of 'victory bold'. Prominent in Wexford since 13th Century. Editorial: The academic and basic modern work by this very prominent genealogical and etymological figure. The author's higher profile works were popular with those many overseas with connection. It remains however conventionally misguided in its own time on the issue of Sennott origin, a surprisingly Anglicised perception.
d.	Irish Surnames (Sloinnte na h-Éireann), 1997 Seán de Bhulbh (John Woulfe, b.1922 Limerick, Grad.TCD.), h/b ISBN 0 9530560 0 7- s/b ISBN 0 9530560 1 5- Kinsman relative of Rev. Patrick Woulfe, (ref. b/. of 1923)	Sinnott, Sionóid, Synnott: OE,Sigenóth,'Victory-Bold', (ref c/.More Irish Families) Anglo-Normans settled in Wexford, 13th Century. Editorial: Remarkable work in that the whole text is replicated in both Irish Gaelic and English language, its bilingual. Although perhaps modest in content for each surname entry, probably of the best value currently available on this topic. Draws considerably on the previous 2 reference works above, and therefore somewhat influenced by them, cf. Ireland Publications refs. b/. and c/. Woulfe and MacLysaght. Both these Irish works while being considerable in achievement, were questionable on the issue of Sennett derivation. !
e.	Families of County Wexford, 1986 Hilary Murphy, Geography Publications., Dublin D12/D14, Printshop, High St., Wexford Town ISBN 0 906602 07 6.	Sinnott: Standard work on Wexford Surnames by a professional local genealogist and respected historian. Editorial: 'Families' remained agnostic on the matter of the derivation of Sennett/Sinnott, attributing the surname to both its possible/probable Anglo-Saxon and Flemish origins. It awards no primacy to either origin's hypothesis, just acknowledging both. In this, it differs from 'ODFNB+I'. An author untarnished by consensus.
	American Publications
1	American Surnames, 1969 Elsdon C.Smyth, Chilton Book Co/GPC Inc., Baltimore, Md. ISBN 0-8063-1150-9 Library of Congress CCNo. 85-82514	Sennott (p.161): One of the series of English Family Names denoting wisdom, eg. Sage, Wise, Wiseman, as in Germany, Klug and Weismam, or in the Netherlands, Vrooman. Sinnett (p.222): A diminutive form of the series of English Family Names derived from avian depictions in 'sign' names, eg. Swan in England, as in Germany, Schwan, or in the Netherlands, Swem. Editorial: American Surnames uses a heavily structured format of quadrangular surname classification, in the manner, 1/. Sire-names, 2/. Trade-names, 3/. Nick-names and 4/. Landscape-names. More conventionally classified as, -Patronymic (by paternal or common descent), -Occupational (including official), -Descriptive (Nickname, Byname, by action/relation), finally Landscape, Placename or Sign derived names. Sinnett is unusually classified as a Placename-Sign derived surname, rather than a standard Patronymic. The continuity of paternal inheritance of the Sinnott surname over 800 years in Wexford, might suggest it's a Patronymic surname since the 1200s. The work is perhaps oversimplified or presumptuous, cf. below.
2	Dictionary of American Family Names, 1956 New Dictionary of American Family Names, 1973 Elsdon C.Smyth, Harper &Row Publishers, NY SF London ISBN 06-013933-1 Library of Congress CCNo. 72-79693	Sennott, Sennett, Sennet (p.460): Sinnett, Sinnott (p.472): Synnott (p.502): English, French (sene) Old, wise, sage or sensible pers., A descendant of 'Senet'. English (Sinnett) Dweller at sign of little swan (cygnet). Although swans appear in the surname's Heraldic representation, it is difficult to evaluate a/their likely significance as regards the phonetic derivation of the surname in a Francophone or Anglophone or Flemish cultural context. Please refer to Ch.4.2A.2 and 4.2A.3/ Editorial: NDAFN connects the surnames with novel derivation.

Consideration of some recent Irish historical books relating to Wexford society, and the justification, reference works or rationale employed by the authors for their Sennett attribution could also be useful at this point.

It seems that knowledgeable writers and those involved with surname etymology from the historian's perspective, can be to some degree influenced in their judgement by Dictionary content. The repetition of similar learned and co-aligned content in many Dictionaries could amount to an irresistible force of persuasion towards, and a compliance with, the established convention. Even long held conventions can be held in error.

Ch. Section 3.2/ Two Specialist Authors on Wexford History and Surname Genealogy

Billy Colfer (his main work quoted in previous section above), was a much respected primary schoolteacher, regional historian and author. He was one of the number of local Wexford historians who believed in this revisionist age that the Sennett surname, along with a few others locally and historically considered French or Flemish, was more likely to be in fact English or Anglo-Saxon in origin. He was not alone among historians to eventually succumb to this conventional, Anglo-centric and Dictionary-inspired viewpoint. This view being contested, one might wonder why he came to adopt such a take on the claims of surname origin. Fortunately, for his major doctoral thesis at Trinity College Dublin in 2000, published as "Arrogant Trespass", in discussing the make-up of the new Wexford colonists, he does give a listing of the published sources he cites as his determinants of view on the identity classification leading towards that conclusion (p.216). The listed works referred to appear as a bibliography of the usual Surname Dictionary citations as regards the attribution of the surname to an Anglo-Saxon source. For completeness, those Dictionaries concerned are here listed, 1/. to 4/.

1/. Dictionary of British Surnames, 1976, P.H.Reaney and R.M.Wilson, 2^nd Ed. Routledge KP. see table above.
2/. The Origins of Some Anglo-Norman Families, (Harleian Soc.1951 Vol.103, and GPC 1985), Lewis C. Loyd.
Analysis of 315 early Anglo-Norman families, landlords and tenants. References the de Clare and Marshal lines.
Reference to 'Ros', but no reference within to Prendergast, FitzGodebert, Godebert or Sennett antecedents.
3/. Dictionary of English & Welsh Surnames: 1901, GPC 1968, Charles W Bardsley, seetable above.
4/. A (Concise) Dictionary of Surnames, 1988, Patrick Hanks & Flavia Hodges, seetable above.

One other prominent and professional Wexford historian of quite dissimilar mind to Billy Colfer regarding the surname source attribution is Hilary Murphy. He composed the early standard and comprehensive work on Wexford County surnames, "Families of County Wexford". In this book, the author is rather more agnostic as to the surname source, acknowledging its core Flemish origin, and even its Pembrokeshire source (p.226). However, the contrary associations, regarding the surname's possible Anglo-Saxon origins, he cites as arising from a couple of reputable published Dictionaries and these are also referenced below (as previous). The author of "Families" therefore takes a very fair middle way and a twin-track line on the topic of the surname's origins. Again for completeness, those Dictionaries and sources consulted are here listed below, from 1/. to 5/.

1/. Irish Names and Surnames (Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall), 1923 Rev. Patrick Woulfe, see table above.
2/. Journal of the Old Wexford Society, renamed 'Wexford Historical Society', No.4, 1972-1973, 'Some Early Norman Families in Wexford',Lt.Col.HubertGallwey. Brief Wexford family analysis, sees Sinnott as Anglo-Saxon.
3/. Dictionary of British Surnames, 1976, P.H.Reaney and R.M.Wilson, 2^nd Ed. Routledge KP. see table above.
4/. Knights Fees in Wexford, Carlow &Kilkenny (p.147 incl. notes) 1950, Eric St John Brooks, see 3.4 - 3.6 below.
5/. The History of Town and County of Wexford, 1900-06, PH.Hore. Referred to in "Families of Co. Wexford".

[Some other prominent Wexford County historians are, Patrick Corish, John de Courcy-Ireland, Louis Cullen, Nicholas Furlong, Daniel Gahan, Henry Goff, Richard Roche, Seámus de Val, and Kevin Whelan]

Wexford County References
("Families of County Wexford", Hilary Murphy, publ. Geography Publs., Dublin D12, 1986 Printshop, Wexford)
ISBN 0-906602-07-6
("Wexford History and Society" Ed. Kevin Whelan and W.Nolan, Publ. Geography Publications, Dublin, 1987)
ISBN 0-906602-0-68
("The History of Town and County of Wexford", PH.Hore, Vols.5/6 of 6., Elliot Stock, London, 1900-06, reprint WH.Hennesy)
("Arrogant Trespass -Anglo-Norman Wexford 1169-1400" by Billy Colfer, publ. Duffry, Enniscorthy, 2002)
ISBN 1-901273-01-6
("Knights Fees in Counties Wexford, Carlow, and Kilkenny, 13^th-15^thCentury" (f'wrd p.vii ), Eric St. John Brooks, IMC-Irish Manuscripts Commission, Govt.-Dublin Stationery Office.’,1950. Section’2, The de Valence Purparty)
Also, Wexford and more generally,
("Ireland under the Normans,1169-1333",GH.Orpen, ClarendonPress, Dublin 4.Vols., 1911-1920, rep.Four Courts Pr. 2005.)
("The Norman Invasion of Ireland", Richard Roche, Dublin, Anvil Books 1970, 1996.)

3.3/ Surname in Annamult Kilkenny &Wexford, Earliest Document Record, Flemish associations

The Cistercian Order's Duiske Abbey (Graiguenamanagh) established 1204-1207, dissolved 1537.
River Barrow@Graiguenamanagh, Graiguenamanagh Abbey, & Annamult in Kilkenny Co.(See Ch.5.6/)

The first record of a Sennett individual in Ireland was in Kilkenny Co in 1204, near Graiguenamanagh Abbey (above centre, aka Duiske Abbey). The place-name Duiske is a shortened version of 'Dubh Uisce' in the Irish-Gaelic language, translated as 'Black Water'. The dark waters are those of the River Barrow which runs by the eastern side of the town. The Abbey was initially run by monks of the Cistercian Order from Stanley, Wiltshire.

The reference to Sennett appears in the Duiske Abbey Charter No.2 of that year, 1204. The original Duiske Abbey was disbanded in the Reformation's turmoil of the mid Tudor period (1537-41) and those later years of the reign of Henry VIII (1509-to-1547). The Abbey was then granted to the Butler family, reformed faith Dukes of Ormonde & Ossory. The Abbey's Charter documents were reproduced in a series of articles published in the Journal Proceedings of the RIA (Royal Irish Academy). The Abbey's Charter documents were edited for the Journal by J.H.Bernard and Constance Butler over the period 1918-to-1920. The document referenced within relates to a transaction by an Adam Sinath (son of Sinath, or FitzSinath). The Charter states Adam surrendered title by 'quit claim' at Annamult Townland, Kilkenny County in 1204 to his then feudal Chief Tenant and Lord, William Marshal. The Charter was effected (sealed) on the Marshal's behalf by another Marshal family member, his father's brother. Annamult is 6 miles south of Kilkenny Town near the junction of the Nore & Kings rivers. The Marshal at the time of Duiske Abbey's establishment and at that stage of his life was getting on in years. He would still have time enough remaining (15 years after 1204, he died 1219), to play a major role in the English Kingship, Anglo-French wars (1202-to-1214), English and Irish political affairs and the Hiberno-Norman conflict in Ireland. He earlier had established another Cistercian monastery, Tintern Abbey, in Wexford in 1200. There were many Holy Orders, abbeys and monasteries in Ireland in the mid 12^thCentury, Benedictines (the proto-Cistercians, from Citeaux near Dijon in France), Columbans, Dominicans, &Franciscans, all supported by local clan chiefs. Soon would come other Orders along with the Knights Templar &Hospitaller.

Duiske Abbey was structurally begun in 1207. There were 34 Cistercian Abbeys in Ireland at one point, some of them being founded prior to the Norman influx. The Earl Marshal's predecessor Richard de Clare, Strongbow, was the ally in Leinster of King Dermot, the King of Leinster, from 1170-to-1172. The former King Dermot had himself established an Augustinian Abbey and Priory at Ferns in central Wexford in the 1150s. Ferns was the site of one of William Marshal's new castles in Ireland. It was also the traditional centre of the Wexford realm of the regional Gaelic chiefs, the Uí Cheinnsealaigh clan. It is still the site of the local Diocesan Catholic administration for Wexford. The Cistercian (especially Mellifont Abbey est. 1142) and Augustinian Orders were well connected with the new regime in Ireland, sometimes to the loss of the old Irish Orders. The Marshal established 3 stone castles in Leinster at Kilkenny, Carlow and Ferns and he also founded the then 'new' river-port town of New Ross. The Port of New Ross would rival Waterford for over 600 years. Old Ross (aka also Ross or Ros, the old Irish town of that name), lies a little further east and inland from the newer Ross.

The 'Sinath' transaction of 1204 referred to above, concerned Kilkenny lands at Annamult townland. Marshal wanted to establish an endowed estate for the future Abbey, in this case a real-estate endowment. William Marshal had married Strongbow de Clare's daughter Isabel in 1189 and so acquired that family's estates and titles (in addition to his own), eg., Lord of Leinster and Wexford. The Marshals were fully resident in Ireland between 1207 and 1213. The power couple raised 10 children, 5 boys and 5 girls, all born between 1190-1210.

The Marshal himself was victim of the struggles, wars and many intrigues of the Norman elite in Ireland of the time. His adversaries collectively were King John (a frenemy), Meyler FitzHenry (grandson of King Henry 1^st), the de Lacys, the de Mont-Mariscos and even the Bishop of Norwich, he being a newly appointed Bishop in Ireland after 1208. At some point prior to the Marshal's departure from Ireland in 1213, another local Bishop had contested a Marshal land claim in Wexford or Kilkenny. The Bishop reportedly cursed the Marshal family because of this dispute. The 1^st of Marshal's male heirs, William 2^nd, was briefly active in Ireland before his early and unexplained death in 1231. Richard, the model and much admired 2^nd son of William Senior, was also politically active in Ireland. He died of battle wounds at Kilkenny Castle in 1234. The 3^rd Marshal son, Gilbert, died in 1241 of wounds from Tournament combat at Ware in England (his foot having been caught in his horse's stirrup). The remaining two sons would die childless in 1245. All 5 male heirs died without legitimate offspring. It was thereafter claimed the family was victim to the old Bishop's curse. The subsequent estate title transfers may be serious reason why clear and contemporary documentary artefact of Sennett land title and transactions in the Wexford of the time remain so hidden or difficult to untangle (as followed Cromwell's visit).

Some Prominent Cambro-Norman and Cambro-Flemish Knights in Ireland

Among the many Cambro-Norman families in the early Invasion period was an important family duo of military Knights from 'Barry' (South Wales), Philip de Barry and Robert de Barry (aka Barri). The two Knights were son and grandson of William de Barry (aka William FitzOdo de Barry). The first Odo (aka "Otho") had been one of William the Conqueror's Marcher Knights of the late 11^th Century, settling his home in Barry. The de Barrys were relatives-in-law of Strongbow through marriage into the FitzGerald family on both sides. The family name became "de Barry", or "de Barri", its Irish descendants having in time continued and multiplied the surname.

The same two Knights, on their other maternal side, were also the grandchildren of the well known Norman Knight and Sire, 'Gerald FitzWalter de Windsor'. This Gerald of Windsor had been appointed as Constable of Pembroke Castle by King Henry'I. Gerald in later life was cordially encouraged by the King to take as consort and wife, the young Princess Nesta of Wales. Nesta (1085-to-1136) was a prominent and much admired historical figure (and beauty) in Wales at the time, she being the daughter of the King of Deheubarth in South Wales, Rhys ap Tewdwr (later anglicised Tudur or Tudor). Nesta's daughter Angharad FitzGerald, would become the prior mentioned William FitzOdo de Barry's spouse. Contemporary with the establishment of the Norman' FitzGerald family in South Wales, the Kingdom of Deheubarth remained part of an ongoing struggle for control of the region between the newer arriviste Normans and the indigenous Welsh ruling order. During the years preceding the Cambro-Norman's Irish Invasion in the 1160's, Rhys ap Tewdwr (above) had been later succeeded by the Lord Rhys, King of Dehuebarth, Rhys ap Gruffydd/Gruffud (c. 1125-to-1197). Lord Rhys ap Gruffydd nominally re-gained Welsh control of parts of South Dyfed (Pembrokeshire) in South Wales in the mid 12^th Century period, 1136-to-1166, and eventually with the English King Henry II's consensual agreement. Dyfed (like Scottish Islands & Highlands) had received migratory settlers from Ireland in the mid 1^st Millenium.

The Princess Nesta had 10 children by different royal or aristocratic partners. Her 1^st husband, Gerald of Windsor's rightful surviving male 'heirs with issue' were, William (Lord Carew, father of Raymond FitzGerald, aka., Raymond 'le Gros' FitzGerald), and his brother Maurice FitzGerald. One of Nesta's other 'FitzGerald' daughters, also Nesta, married one of the more prominent Knights from Prendergast Castle near Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire, a Maurice de Prendergast (1145-to-1205), the father of two branches of the family, Philip de Prendergast of Wexford and Cork b.1170, and Gerald McMaurice or FitzMaurice de Prendergast of Mayo b.1187. The Prendergast family established the fine, modestly scaled and symmetrically aesthetic Enniscorthy Castle in mid Wexford. Among Nesta's other children by a later marriage was the prominent Robert FitzStephen (Stephen being Nesta's 2^nd spouse, and a former Norman Constable or Sheriff of Cardigan). Her other sons included her eldest child, Henry FitzHenry (1103-to-1157/58), the illegitimate son of the ruling King of the time, Henry I (1068-to-1135, reigned from 1099). Although Nesta's 1^st son Henry had died in combat in Wales 1157-to-1158, two of his sons, Meyler FitzHenry and Robert FitzHenry were part of Strongbow's Norman Invasion fleet for Waterford.

All of the aforementioned Knights were in some way closely connected to Strongbow's leadership of the Norman Invasion. Strongbow had inherited his Welsh titles, Earl of Pembroke and Lord of Striguil (Chepstow) on the death of his father, who was Marshall of England during King Stephen's reign. His father Gilbert de Clare (c. 1100-1148) was a late-born 3^rd son of Gilbert 2^nd FitzRichard de Clare, the Earl of Clare and Tunbridge (c. 1066-1116), and King Henry I's Commander of Forces in Wales as at 1107. Confusingly, there woud be as many as 5 medieval Gilbert de Clares. This younger Gilbert was probably born at a manor in Tonbridge in Kent, near to Tunbridge Wells. This was the major Manor (caput) in England of the de Clare hereditary titles.

The progeny of all these leaders would in time come to represent a large Norman contingent of the English Crown's ruling caste in Ireland. In time, as was noted earlier, the names of Barry and Carew would become prominent Cork and Carlow surnames, and the FitzHenry and FitzGerald surnames would become Wexford, Kildare or Kilkenny surnames. Other similarly prominent Norman lines were those stemming from the Knights de Cogan and de Lacy. So the beautiful and long deceased Princess Nesta had many descendants among the leaders of the Norman ascendancy in Ireland. This was certainly an unusual density and concentration of purpose among her wider surviving family, one that would present the family with many of the fruits of a whole new Kingdom. The Invasion could just as easily have been planned in Heaven if there had not been a scheme of conquest already afoot. The actual project was one planned in Pembrokeshire, at Prendergast and Roche Castles, in Milford and Bristol and it could be said, the Vatican itself. The inter-related Knights were a most dynamic and expansive grouping, one prone to familial fractiousness. They were indeed disputatious and rapacious and very dangerous company. These were qualities later to be much shared by the Plantagenet Kings of England, the reigning Henry II's successors. He reigned 1135-to-1189, the family reigned till 1399.

The Two new Norman 'Cistercian' Abbeys (founded by the Earl Marshal) in Ireland

It was however the younger brother of the aforementioned Knight Philip de Barry above, a Gerald de Barry of Pembrokeshire (aka., Geraldus Cambrensis de Barri, or 'Gerald de Barri of Wales', 1146-1223), who penned the 1^st non-Irish and European account of life in Ireland at the time, "Topographia Hiberniae -The History and Topography of Ireland".(ref.1/) Gerald was a Cambro-Norman cleric educated in both Paris and Rome and appointed to the position of Archdeacon of Brecon (Brecknock/Brecau?) in South Wales. He was well connected with the ruling Norman families in South Wales and the Anglo-Norman Court in London. He was a multiple author. He produced another work on Ireland, "Expugnatio Hibernia-The Conquest of Ireland".(ref.2/) Gerald also produced two similar works on Wales before the end of the12th Century. 'Expugnatio' is a major source reference work. It is however like other 'de Barry' work, a rather biased effort (see graphic, start Ch.2/)

He was an energetic figure, utilising his family's acquaintance with the English throne and his influential Cambro-Norman friends in an ultimately failed attempt to advance his Church career. He produced his notorious and quite subjective and critical Account of post-Invasion Ireland in the mid-1180's. This was a dozen years after Henry II's visit to his new Irish Kingdom in 1171. The work was composed between 1183 and 1185 in the Latin script. He wrote nearly 20 scholarly works in manuscript form during his life. (ref.3/)

Some 20 years after the composition of the first external "History of Ireland" by the Welsh cleric, Gerald Cambrensis (c.1185) being the first such outside historical work on Ireland, one can find the earliest documentary occurrence of the Sennett type surname in Ireland. A Sinath was recorded in 1204, as part of a land transaction concerning Duiske Abbey, a Cistercian Monastery. The location was in Kilkenny County rather than Wexford County. The name recorded was that of Adam Sinath, (Adam, a son of Sinath/FitzSinath). The Christian name and surname were recorded in the Abbey's early Charter manuscripts. (ref.@) The old name of Duiske Abbey has been superseded in more recent times, and it is now known as Graiguenamanagh Abbey. The place-name Duiske came from the Gaelic idiom, 'Dubh Uisce' or 'Black Water'. This has similar etymology to Dublin's place-name of the period, derived from the Viking name Black Pond/Dark Pool, Dubh Linn (Gaelic). 

The actual Sennett record concerned notice of a quit-claim by this Adam Sinad of the land of Annamult townland in Kilkenny County in 1204. This was a feudal reversion in favour of the landlord, that is, to the Earl William Marshal (1146-to-1219). The Annamult townland is located a few miles due west of the site of the Abbey of Graiguenamanagh, the Duiske Abbey site. (ref. Special note on Annamult townland in Ch. 5.6/)

The Annamult townland would later comprise part of the feudal lands and legacy granted to the new Duiske Abbey for its standing estate. The Abbey itself was a Cistercian Monastery founded in the same year as the Sinath transaction (1204) by the feudal Lord, William Marshal. There were many Cistercian Monasteries of the time in Ireland, established both before and after the Norman Invasion. There would eventually be c. 35 Cistercian institutions in Ireland. William also founded Tintern Abbey in South Wexford (as opposed to its predecessor in Monmouthshire, Wales), it perhaps the best known of his and the Order's properties in Ireland.

One of Marshal's many titles was "1^st Earl of Pembroke" of the 2^nd Earldom (inherited through his marriage to Strongbow's daughter Isabel. Strongbow by some records had a 2^nd daughter, Alina or Alice, who married William FitzMaurice FitzGerald, 1^st Baron of Naas, Kildare County). The Earl Marshal had the usual Christian motivation to endow a monastery. The new Abbey's foundation would act towards a guarantee of holy redemption to a Christian mind and provide a more certain route to Heavenly ascent for its founder. It was occupied from 1207 until its first dissolution under King Henry VIII in the mid 16^th Century (1537, the boy King Edward VI succeeded Henry VIII in 1547). King Henry had been earlier enunciated by the Vatican, as "defender of the faith". He was later of course excommunicated for the divorce of his Queen, Catherine of Aragon.

William Marshal, aka William the Marshal, during his life was a Knight errant under 4 Plantagenet Kings, Henry II, Richard I, 'Bad' King John, and finally from 1216 until his own death in 1219, for a short time during the early minority of King John's son, Henry III. Late in his life for a period of around six years, Marshal was a resident of his lands in Ireland throughout south Leinster, mostly in Kilkenny, Carlow and Wexford Counties. William Marshal married Strongbow's daughter, Isabel, the 4^th Countess of Pembroke (of the 1^st Earldom). Isabel was also a daughter of King Dermot of Leinster's daughter Aoife (aka 'Eva'), Strongbow's spouse. Isabel would become Strongbow's only surviving child of his legitimate children. His son Gilbert the 3^rd Earl, died a minor in 1185, 10 years after Strongbow. Leases and fees relating to the Marshal's estate are listed in Knights Fees (4/.)

William Marshal (the Senior) was born near Caversham in Berkshire to John Marshal and Sybilla of Salisbury. William had 5 sons with his spouse Isabel de Clare (d. 1220). All the sons remained without legitimate issue, the two longest-surviving died in 1245. Marshal's succession and his titles were then therefore divided among his 5 surviving but also married daughters. The Leinster and Wexford lands, titles and inheritance, were consequently much dispersed in the period after the Marshal's death in 1219. Williams five sons, William, Richard, Walter, Gilbert and Anselm did mostly survive him but they were all deceased as was stated, by 1245. 

Land Grants in Wexford by King Dermot and Strongbow, and the recorded beneficiaries.

The earliest Grant of Land by the re-established Leinster King Dermot to the newly arrived Norman force was that of two southern Wexford Baronies (Forth and Bargy) to the leading Knight Robert FitzStephen. One of FitzStephen's sons, a Geoffrey FitzRobert (a witness to the 1^st Charter transaction at Duiske in Kilkenny) was the 2^nd husband of Stronbow's sister, Basilea de Clare (1^st husband was leading Knight Raymond le Gros FitzGerald). FitzStephen would distribute lands among his force of warrior Knights, those owing fealty to him.

North of Wexford Town, the Barony of Shelmalier East was granted to Strongbow. It was then, prior to year 1176, given by him to the Knight Maurice de Prendergast. The Prendergast heirs soon thereafter gave the East Shelmalier lands known then as Fernegenal to their kinsmen the FitzGodebert, the 'de Rupe' or Roche, family. The aforementioned family would become the Sennett benefactors of this Sinnottsland region in Fernegenal. It is now essentially known as the Parish of Castlebridge (Roman Catholic, not Civil Parish). One David FitzAdam Sinad (or Sinath) was the beneficiary of this generosity by the Knight Gerald de Rupe's extra-familial largesse.

This early feudal tenancy granted to David FitzAdam Sinad lies north of Wexford Harbour. The grant covered the current Civil Parishes of Ardcolm and Ardcavan, they both now as indicated above within the RC' Parish of Castlebridge. These two parishes comprise the territory of Fernegenal, the region and Barony of East Shelmalier. This region is the location of a historic Sennett estate, Ballytramon. Further south of Wexford Town within the Barony of Forth there is a certain townland called 'Ballybrennan'. The Ballybrennan estate, along with another townland at nearby Ballydusker to the west of Ballybrennnan, were the earliest individual estates of the Sennett family in Wexford. The 3 land allocations overall, Ballybrennan, Ballydusker, and Fernegenal would become the earliest estate townlands under Sennett control in South Wexford. The land grants to the early Sennetts were in return for fealty and service to their Knighted kinsmen. The grants may or may not have been fully documented when they were awarded. They comprised essentially transactions between military 'bands of brothers'. Some might say they were verbal agreements between gang member mercenary thugs.

There may not have been legal drafting documents. The documentary evidence of land transfers came much later.The Ballybrennan grant was the primary estate (a feudal 'fee') taken into Sennett possession after the Strongbow Invasion period. This holding was recorded as at 1247. The townland of Ballybrennan is situated south east of Wexford Town near Killinick, in the Barony of Forth. At the time of the partition of William Marshal's Leinster estates among his 5 daughters in 1247, Ballybrennan was held by William Synach. It would be recorded in an official 'Calendar' document as being held directly by this William Synach (Synod) from the family of one of the heirs of the Earl Marshal, Sir William Marshal. The successors in title were the 'de Valence' family (aka also as 'de Lusignan') and its predecessor the de Monte Canesio (aka Munchensy) family. (ref. #) The same townland was again listed as being held by a John Synod, son of Richard Synath, as at the year 1324 in a Wexford post-mortem Crown Inquisition Calendar. (*, +) The Ballybrennan estate was probably held by the Sennett family at the time of the release of the Kilkenny lands for the Earl Marshal's endowment of the Cistercian Abbey at Duiske, in eastern Kilkenny Co (see section above). The Ballybrennan holding was also later unofficially confirmed as being held by the Sennett family sometime after this first recorded feudal-fee date in another later Crown Roll. This additional confirmation of the land holding pre-1324 was through a tenancy grant made in the year 1297 by a Synod to Nicholas Devereux.(&) The official documentary evidence of most holdings comes by way of Inquisitions. The relevant County and Barony Inquisitions as regards Sennett feudal holdings took place mainly during the Plantagenet (1154-to-1399) and Stuart (1603-to-1694) reigns. (%, §)

The Stuart sequence of monarchs and their Inquisitions, the period when the Sennett land holdings were belatedly and more properly documented, ran as follows, James I, Charles I, Charles II, James II, to William & Mary. William III died 1702, having ruled alone since 1694.

Chapter 3.3/ Published and Manusccript Source References:

(1/) "Topographia Hiberniae- The History and Topography of Ireland", Gerald of Wales, Dundalgan Press '1951.
Reprinted, Penguin Classics, Translation, John O'Meara. Original @ BL-The British Library, MS Royal 13B, VIII)
(2/) "Expugnatio Hibernica- The Conquest of Ireland", Gerald of Wales, c.1200, Ms. @ NLI-Ireland, Ms.700), Reprinted
(3/) "Giraldus Cambrensis's view of Europe",by Thomas Ó'Loughlin, 'History Ireland' Magazine, Summer 2000
(4/) "Knights Fees in Counties Wexford, Carlow, and Kilkenny, 13^th-15^th Century" (f'wrd p.vii ), Eric St John Brooks,
Irish Manuscripts Commission, Government/Dublin Stationery Office, 1950. Section'2, The 'de Valence' Purparty)
[Knights Fees:- pps., 07, 08, 36, 92, 94, 122, 123, 135, 147 (+notes), 148, 151, 154, 158, 161, 162, 163, 262]

Chapter 3.3/ Manuscript Source References:
#(Calendar of Patent Rolls, Valence/MonteCanesio'Munchensy Purparty ,Knights Fees, Chancery Misc., PRO, London, File 88/4 No.70)
*(Calendar Inquisitions -Post Mortem' of 1324, Inquisition of Aymer de Valence' Earl Pembroke, Wexford, 16 July'1324)
+(Calendar of Patent Rolls, 8 July'1366, p.272, Calendar Patent Rolls 1364-67, Exemplification Laurence de Hastings)
& (Calendar of Patent and Close Rolls, Ireland No.197, sub-fee tenancy from John Synod to Nich.Devereux, in 1297)
% (Inquisitions of Co Wexford, James I, No.17, No.19, 1619-to-1621, re Synnott of Ballybrennan, Ballydusker, Ballytrout)
§ (Calendar of Patent Rolls' Ireland, James I, No.15 of 1617, p.327, Deed enrolled by Pierse Sinnott in 1617)
@( Charter" manuscript of Duiske Abbey'1204/aka Graiguenamanagh Cistercian Abbey, Duiske Charters No.'2, see also
'The Charters of Abbey of Duiske', Eds. J.H.Bernard +Const.Butler, RIA-Royal Ir.Acad. Proceedings Vol.35.c' 1918-20)

The History of the 'Sinad' Land Grant in East Shelmaliere (Fernegenal), Wexford County

There was additionally as stated earlier, at this time in the early 13^th Century, believed to be between the years 1210 and 1228 (some estimates say 1210-to-1215, or perhaps even earlier during the 13^th Century), the grant to Adam Sinad of a fee title on FitzGodebert or 'de la Roche/de Rupe' lands in Wexford. It concerned the eastern portion of the territory of Fernegenal or Shelmalier East (see paragraph above and below), those districts later to become known as Rochesland and Sinnottsland. They were known by these names until Cromwell's time. The post Cromwellian period saw many changes in place-names. Sinnottsland (aka, in recent history, the Civil Parish areas of Ardcavan & Ardcolm, or the RC'Parish of Castlebridge), stretched to the eastern coastal townlands of Curracloe and Raven Point, and was bounded to the west by the lands of a 'John de Rupe' and 'Gerald de Rupe' in Ardtramon/Artramont (west of Castlebridge Town). Sinnottsland in time would include two townlands immediately north of Wexford Harbour called Sinnottsmill and Ballytramon/Ballytramont. (There would later in time also be a Sinnottstown village, south of Wexford Town). Ballytramon would become an important Sennet/Synnot owned manor estate of a Walter Synnot, during the Elizabethan and early Stuart reigns. It was transferred out of Synnot ownership to Sir Lawrence Esmonde and his son Sir Thomas Esmonde for a sum of £2,600 in 1625. The Esmonde family had always been prominent in Wexford affairs, especially so during the estate's late period of Synnot ownership (ex 1570s). Johnstown Castle in mid Wexford was the Esmonde Manor caput (HQ). The current Castle should appear in graphic repro above.

The 'de Rupe' surname is the Latin version of the Flemish 'Godebert' and the Norman 'de la Roche' (literally, of the rock) family name. Its Irish Gaelic equivalent is "de Roiste", anglicised as Roche or Roach. (refs €, $) The original and historical 'Godebert' name bearer was Godebert Flandrensis of Flanders. Godebert is documented a generation or two after the Norman Conquest of England in a Crown record, a Norman Exchequer Pipe Roll of 1130, during Henry I's reign (Pipe Roll ref. No. 21/3, page 137).

This assigned and transferred Ballytramont estate was located immediately north of Wexford harbour. The original transfer was again only later fully attested and recorded in the Irish Inquisitions of Wexford County in the reign of James I (Wexford Inquisitions, Calendar of Patent Rolls, James I No. 15, and Wexford Inquisitions, James I No. 24). The actual transfer and its original conveyance was undated (but is generally estimated to have been between 1210-1228). It had concerned a grant from Gerald de Rupe (de la Roche), to his kinsman, David FitzAdam Sinad, a son of Adam Sinath. Supposedly this Adam Sinath was the Sinath noted in an earlier section in connection with Annamult (Kilkenny County 1204). The grant from Gerald de Rupe was a recognition "for homage and service, to hold to him and his heirs at the rent of one bezant(?) of gold". These en-gifted lands lay in the Barony of Shelmalier East, located east of the River Slaney, in that territory earlier mentioned known in Irish Gaelic as 'Fearran na gCenel', anglicised as Fernegenal. The documentary record of this grant was not made until the deed was registered in Wexford under Crown Inquisition by a Pierse Sennett/Sinnott, in 1617, as noted above and below. The deed of Inquisition relating to the original David FitzAdam Sinad transfer is mentioned in G.H. Orpen's work Ireland under the Normans, Vol.I, page 392 (ref. X), and also P.H. Hore's work History of the Town and County of Wexford, Vol.5, at pages 27-28, and also Vol.6 page 350. (ref. £)

In the Barony of East Shelmalier the Fernegenal lands, had been assigned by King Dermot of Leinster to Strongbow. It was then given by him to his favoured Cambro-Norman Knight, the high-ranking Maurice de Prendergast (also described in the record as a neighbour of Strongbow. Another of Strongbow's favoured Knights, Geoffrey FitzRobert, his deputy and official Seneschal, was the subject of a Charter preceeding that of Adam Sinath in the Duiske Charter sequence). This de Prendergast Senior had two prominent sons, Philip de Prendergast b. 1170 and Gerald de Prendergast b. 1187. The estate was then passed by de Prendergast family c.1180 (shortly after Strongbow's death in 1176), to another Prendergast kinsman, a lesser ranked Knight and member of the FitzGodebert family, Rodebert (Robert) FitzGodebert (aka 'de Rupe' in Latin, and 'de la Roche' in Norman French). This is the same family as earlier above named. The recorded benefactor/grantor of David Sinad's estate (as kinsman, and known as "sub-infeudation", probably as earlier indicated between 1210 and 1228), was Gerald de Rupe. Gerald had seized some of the family's lands in Fernegenal, after the early death of the proper inheriting beneficiary, his elder brother Raymond de Rupe, sometime previous to the year 1220. In his Knights Fees work, St John Brooks reports this seizure as causing great and long 'de Rupe' family dispute.

The original deed of assignment was witnessed by Gerald's surviving brother Adam de Rupe. It was also witnessed by the Chief Justiciar of Ireland of the time a Sire 'de Mont Marisco' (aka de Montmorency), also Thomas FitzAnthony de Sen'leger (d.1229), Philip de Prendergast (d.1229), and William FitzMaurice FitzGerald 1^st Baron Naas (d.1227, see Appendix 2.4A/ p.43). These names all cited in 'Knights Fees' p.148, as footnotes. 

This trio of brothers, Raymond, Gerald and Adam de Rupe were sons of David de Rupe (of Wexford). David was himself a son of Rodebert FitzGodebert or 'de la Roche' of Castle Ross/Roch in South Pembrokeshire. Rodebert (Robert) de la Roche was one of 2 brothers, Rodebert and Richard de la Roche', sons of FitzGodebert and both grandsons of the original 'Godebert Flandrensis de Ros' (in translation, Godebert of Flanders de Roch). Godebert established Roch Castle in South Pembrokeshire. Richard FitzGodebert, a leader of the 1167 reconnaissance expedition with King Dermot of Leinster, had 3 sons, William, Henry and Adam. Brother Rodebert (Robert FitzGodebert) also had 3 sons, David the eldest, and also Henry and Adam. The two brothers mentioned above, Raymond and Gerald de Rupe (Gerald being the grantor/donor of the Fernegenal or /Castlebridge lands in question to David Sinad, as stated earlier), were the elder sons of this latter David de la Rupe (de la Roche), the then senior of the family. One must assume there must have been yet another (3^rd) Adam de Rupe who acted as witness to the original transfer (as per the report of record). FitzGodebert descendants, the Roches or Roaches with variant spellings, became very numerous in southern Ireland, in Limerick, Cork (Fermoy) and along the southern and coastal Munster counties. The surname is now abundant.

There are many interesting quotations regarding this and other later periods that one might take from the 6 volume P.H. Hore work on Wexford, 'A History of the Town and County of Wexford'. There are two such excerpts of note concerning the Rochesland and Sinnottsland territorial transfer.

Firstly below, this excerpt taken from Volume 5 of P.H.Hore's "History of Wexford" work, p.27/28.
"As early as the beginning of the 13^th century we find the family of de Rupe, or Roche, already seated in this district (Fernigenal/Fernegenal), which for many centuries was known as Roche's land and Sinnot's land. By a deed executed when Geoffrey de Mariscis (de Mont Marisco) was Lord Justice of Ireland, Gerald de Rupe (Roche) granted to David FitzAdam Sinad (Sinnott), his kinsman, for his homage and service, all the land lying between the divided land of John de Rupe on the one side and the port of Wexford, as the water runs from the bridge of Polregan (near Artramont/Castlebridge, Ardcolm Parish) into the said port, on the other."
(Source footnote cited: this deed was enrolled in 1617 by Piers Sinnott gent, cf. Printed Rolls, 15 Jac.I, p.327.)

Secondly following, another quotation taken from Volume 6 of the P.H.Hore work, p.350.
"From the above charter (concerning the Wexford island of Bergerun/Bergerin) it appears that David, Henry and Adam de Rupe, or de la Roche, were sons of Robert FitzGodebert. There can be little doubt that they were the grandsons of Godebert the Fleming of Ros, and that they took the name de Rupe, or de la Roche, from the Castle in the Hundred of Ros, near Haverford, still known as Roch Castle. This seems to dispose of the Norman descent usually ascribed to this family. It is probable that they held Roch Castle from Maurice de Prendergast, who was also a Fleming of the region, and that some of the family were induced by him to try their fortunes in Ireland. David de Rupe of this charter was the father of Gerald de Rupe (cf. Sweetman Calendar Vol. 1, No. 1679) who granted part of his land in Shelmalier West/East (territory was just 'Shelmalier' until split), to David, son of Adam Sinad (Sinnott), probably also Fleming, as mentioned in Wexford Volume (Vol. 5, p.27-28)".

Many of the landholdings or transactions as mentioned above appear in, or are referenced within the text and notes of the classic research work Knights Fees. This work concerned South Leinster's feudal or 'fee' landholdings after the Norman Invasion of Ireland. These 'fee' tenures were granted by land-owning Knights (land held under the King), and were given usually for the promise of a term of military service, if so required. The earliest relevant Wexford landholdings, those that were concerned with the Sennett feudal tenancies, list those fee tenures in their possession as at year 1245-47, some 75 years after the Conquest of Ireland. There are many land holdings and names and dates referred to in the work. Generally the citations identify the newly assigned feudal landholders in South Leinster. The leasehold family names, the feudal tenancies, bear many of the Flemish-Cambro-Norman surnames familiar to Wexford history of the time. The most relevant 'Sennett' references are contained in the Chapter section headed 'The de Valence Purparty [Earls of Pembroke and Gloucester]'. A "Purparty" could be defined as being a deceased landholder's inheritable title. The Purparty lists the testator's freehold ownership of real estate (in feudal times as Lord or tenant-in-chief to the King).

Section 3.3/ sub-section: Main Manuscript Source Reference

@[Charter manuscript of Duiske Abbey 1204/aka Graiguenamanagh,Cistercian Abbey, Duiske Charter No.'2,
'Charters of Abbey of Duiske',Ed. JH.Bernard +Const.Butler, Royal Irish Acad., Proceedings Vol.35.c 1918-20]

Section 3.3/ sub-section: Other Published Source References

(4) Knights Fees in Counties Wexford, Carlow, and Kilkenny ,13^th-15^th Century,{forward, p.vii}, Eric St.John Brooks, IMC-Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dublin Stationery Office, 1950, Chapter 2, The 'de Valence' Purparty)
[Knights Fees:- pps., 07, 08, 36, 92, 94, 122, 123, 135, 147 (footnotes), 148, 151, 154, 158, 161, 162, 163, 262]
(X)"Ireland under the Normans,1169-1333",GH.Orpen, Clarendon Press Oxford, 4.Vols., 1911-1920, Vol.I,p.392-6, Reprint Four Courts Press 2005., and also cf., RSAI, Royal Society Antiquaries Ireland, Annuary 1868-69, p.52.
(£)"The History of Town and County of Wexford", PH.Hore, Vols.1/5/6., Elliot Stock, London, 1900-06, reprint WH.Hennesy)
(€) "Irish Names and Surnames"Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall), Rev.Patrick Woulfe,Gill &Son,Dublin,1923. re Roche)
($)"The Surnames of Ireland",Edward Mac Lysaght, Irish Academic Press, Dublin'1964/1985. ISBN.0-7165-2366-3.)

3.4/ Recorded Land Inheritance and leasehold 'fee' tenures in Wexford Co., 1245-to-1425

The Sennett surname, despite its first documentary citation being in Kilkenny, was from its early times on Irish shores a Wexford name. Its Irish origins spring from its early feudal land tenancies in South Wexford. As was earlier stated, Strongbow's successor in title was William Marshal. To identify the earliest Sennett landholdings, one must understand and examine the Marshal's landed estate at his death, his Purparty, and its feodaries (aka., feudal fees or tenancies). A 'Fee' being a land holding requiring some degree of military service.

3.5/ William Marshal family's inheritance, Munchensy & de Valence Purparty (Real Estate):

'Purparty', the term stated above, could be described as a listing of a title holder's heritable (or inheritable) real estate, and also by definition, equally a part share thereof under its sub-division. So for instance, a son's inherited purparty may be just a fractional interest of a father's received purparty. A greater understanding of the original Sennett holdings in Wexford can be gained or affirmed only by reference to the purparty estates of the Knights of early Norman period in Ireland and their surviving estate beneficiaries. The beneficiaries could also be called the "parceners", those who were party to and gained part of an inheritance or a bequest of a portion of a testator's estate. The estate would comprise usually a listing of contemporary tenants, a 'feodary', or a Knight's entitlement to 'fees'. The Norman Conquest of Ireland was firstly that of Leinster, but soon thereafter gradually and eventually, Munster, Connaught, and Ulster. Tenancy 'fees' could be assigned in fractions as small as one eight of a full fee. This was a period of Imperial-type fractional measures rather than modern Francophone decimals.

The Knights Fees work covers the landholdings of three important families and their main estate portfolios. One of these families was the 'de Valence' family, a French rather than Norman family, also known as being a younger branch lineage of the 'Lusignan' family. Many of the original and early Sennett estates lay within the de Valence Purparty, its land domain being then Wexford and South Wexford. In the Knights Fees book, apart from that section concerning the de Valence family holdings, the other two main sections of the work concern the two other noteworthy families, "The (le) Bigod Purparty [Earls of Norfolk]" and "The de Clare Purparty [Earls Pembroke, of 1^st Order]". This latter mentioned family was Strongbow's own 'de Clare' family. It was originally Norman but had estates in both England and Wales because of their early role in its subjugation. The de Clare's Welsh estate was more of the eastern Welsh Marches region (from French 'March', territory) than in tough, western and unfashionable Pembrokeshire. The last male 'de Clare', Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester died without issue at the Battle of Bannockburn in Scotland in 1314 (this a great Scots victory for Robert de Bruce in his claim for the Scots throne). Gilbert's successors were his 3 sisters, rather like Marshal.

The Marshal Inheritance in Ireland

All 3 of these families married into the inherited Irish titles and the landholdings of Earl William Marshal's daughters (Earl of Pembroke, 2^nd Order), who died in 1219. The Earl Marshal's 5 sons had all died without heirs by 1245. That year marked the death of his last 2 surviving sons, Walter and Anselm. (see table below §) 
With all of William Marshal's male heirs then dead, the dispersal of Marshal's Irish estates was firstly effected in 1247, some 30 years after Marshal's death. The sub-division was executed by attribution to his daughters and their partners, his sons-in-law. There was no single document to list the extent of the Marshal land holdings in Ireland. The partition of the Marshall Purparty and its landholdings and new title holders, could only be reconstituted at a later date. The original purparty could be reconstructed through post-mortem Inquisition records. This was made possible by deaths within two of the beneficiary families, and their Bigod and Munchensy family inheritances (via Munchensy, inheritance to a related 'de Valence' marriage partner).

The third of the 3 inheritances, that of the 'de Clare' family, could not be reconstructed through post-mortem Inquisition records. It was however possible to redefine, because of a legal Court judgement of the time to re-instate the original inherited purparty division. The judgement took place in the same year as the first Marshal partition occurred, in 1247. It was an approved recombination of the 'de Clare' fraction of the Marshal estate, in King's Court. This reconstruction concerned the Kilkenny County portion of the de Clare inheritance in Ireland. It was effected and re-instated by family agreement by another other 'Richard de Clare' in the King's Court, under Henry III. The award was dated 9^th May 1247, the Court having convened on the occasion at Woodstock, in England.

There were firstly 3 beneficiary families of the Marshal estate in Ireland, but through further heirless marriage and succession, this trio became 4 beneficiary families. The Earl Marshal's five surviving daughter's were Joan, Maud, Isabel, Sybil, and Eva. Only 3 of the daughters were materially concerned with the Irish estate's succession, Joan, Maud and Isabel Marshall. Their inheritance consequently caused fragmentation of the Earl Marshal's original purparty and his proprietorial estate. The lands were thereafter held by a number of families in a number of Leinster counties, including Wexford.

So therefore, 3 successor families (aka 'Parceners') had married the 3 first-mentioned Marshal daughters above. They assumed control of his Irish proprietorial estate. One of the 3 unions, that with the 'de Munchensy' family (earlier also known as de Monte Canesio), was survived by an only daughter Joan, so therefore introducing on her marriage, a 4^th inheriting family, the 'de Valence' family. This spouse, William de Valence, 1^st Earl of Pembroke (of 3^rd Order, 1225-to-1296, aka Guillaume de Lusignan) was a half brother to the English King, Henry III (1207-to-1272), who reigned from 1215. King Henry III was the son of his immediate predecessor the "bad" King, King John. He reigned 1199-to-1215, with his consort French Queen, Isabela of Angouleme. This Royal connection arose because the King John's young spouse Isabela had married again, in widowhood, one Hugh'X of Lusignan, near Poiteau in western France. The de Valence (Lusignan) line, that of Hugh'X and his sons with Isabela, William (1^st Earl Pembroke, 3^rd Order), and brothers Hugh, Guy, Aymer and Geoffrey, and William of Pembroke's own son, another Aymer (2^nd Earl of Pembroke, 3^rd Order) were already prominent among the French aristocracy. The Lusignans were well connected and a famed Crusading family.

Guy de Lusignan (1129-to-1194) although a gallant crusader of the cross was by nature far from good. An early wickedness was his ambush of members of William Marshal's family and supporters in 1168, killing the Marshal's uncle and almost killing the young William himself. Marshal survived this early tryst with a treacherous death. Through intrigue, scheming and murder of rivals and in-laws, Guy de Lusignan became 6^th King of Jerusalem. As King he confronted and fought against the ruling Sultan being defeated just north of the City at the disastrous, ill-fated and ill-lead Battle of Hattin (1187). He was defeated by the much revered Sultan Saladin. Guy then conceded his possession of Jerusalem to Saladin for a temporay truce. The Kingdom had been established by Godfrey de Bouillon at the end of the 1^st Crusade (1095-to-1099), a century before. Guy thereafter, in 1192, became King of Cyprus by concession of King Richard I, King of England (1189-to-1199). Henry II was related to the Lusignans. The Lusignans entered English history by invitation of Henry 3^rd in 1240s.

In some early 19^th Century versions of Sir Bernard Burke's "The Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland', the only Sennett/Synnot entry of that time, that of Synnot of Ballymoyer, Armagh County, contained some associations with the "Lusignan" family name. These links were more interpretations made in error, between the Sennett tenancies of this period in Wexford, and the "de Valence/Lusignan" purparty estate holdings. The de Valence family members were also Earls of Pembroke, of the 3^rd Order, and therefore contemporary and hereditary Lords of Wexford and Province of Leinster, after Anselm Marshal's death (the last male) in 1245.

The Leinster beneficiaries (Parceners) of Earl William Marshal's estate (Purparty)

The four inheriting families in Leinster, through the Marshal daughters, were therefore as follows,
firstly together, the 'Munchensy' (aka de Monte Canesio) and the 'de Valence' families ('de Valence' also known more prominently as the French Lusignan family, and Earls Pembroke of 3^rd Order, Lords of Wexford);
secondly, the 'le Bigod' family (Earls Norfolk, later Earls Norfolk by the surname Mowbray and Howard); and
thirdly, the 'de Clare' family (Earls Pembroke of 1^st Order, Earls Gloucester and Hertford, and Lords of Kilkenny).
Their marriage unions and inheritances follow, see also 'Earl Marshal's Leinster Purparties & Feodaries', Table below: [Richard & Gilbert de Clare, and Roger & Hugh le Bigod, were Barons at Runnymede, Windsor, 1215.]

Wexford Purparty of William Marshal Senior, and Feodaries acquired through marriage:

1/.Joan Marshal m.Warin de Munchensy, dau. Joan Warenne, m.William de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, 3^rdOrd.
2/.Maud Marshal m. 1^st Hugh le Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, m. 2^nd William de Warenne, Earl of Surrey (&Mowbray).
3/.Isabel Marshal m. Gilbert de Clare (Gilbert IV in the de Clare family lineage), Earls of Pembroke of 1^st Order.

3.6/ Wexford Land Feodaries of Aymer de Valence: also known as Fees, &early Sennett townlands:

Knights Fees is quite an academic book and a difficult work to comprehend in its application to the family history of the many families it concerns as land holders. It is even more so for family records as fee tenants. The 3 lines of succession mentioned above, and their spousal beneficiaries here listed below, are important because it was only following their deaths while holding title, and their bequests, that the lists of lease-holding (or 'fee'-holding) tenancies and tenants were properly compiled and recorded in a documentary form, that of a 'feodary'.

A Feodary or 'Feudary' can be described as a form of feudal tenancy. It is a tenancy that may not require military service, the exemption being where the service obligation, the "fee", can be exempted by a payment of a "scutage" in lieu of service. The scutage is therefore a tax payment to recompense the feudal lord. The feodary does require firstly an annual rent, and secondly, a fealty to the land occupier's lord. The lord retains the freehold land holding under the monarch's discretion. 

It is these feodary documents, and their dates when drafted, that define and determine that which has remained on the feudal record for posterity. The coincident timing of death with the consequent conveyance of title has shaped the extent of information available for analysis below. A short table on the Earl William Marshal's Purparty estate may be useful at this point. [His 3 older sons, un-named below, William, Richard, Gilbert]

Chapter 3.6/ Table 1: The Aymer de Valence Puparty Partitions, Fees and Feodaries
Earl William Marshal's (1stEarl Pembroke 2ndOrder) Leinster Purparties, Parceners & Estate Feodaries (Feudal Tenancies)
Estate Counties	Earl Marshal's Co-Parceners, Parcener = Purparty beneficiary	Death Date	Transfer Assigned	Purparty Partitions and Land Transfers referenced in Feodaries. William Marshal m. Isabel de Clare, daughter of Strongbow, Richard FitzGilbert de Clare, the 2nd Earl Pembroke of 1st Order.
Ireland, Leinster Counties	William Marshal's Titles, Estates [re: The 'de Valence' family share from John de Munchensy, aka John de Monte Canesio , Knights Fees]	§1245	*1247	§ The Earl Marshal's last 2 of 5' male heirs d.1245, Walter, Anselm. Estates assigned to 5 daughters, Joan, Maud, Isabel, Sybil, &Eva. Source: Chancery Miscellanea, PRO, London, File 88/4 , No.70. Reprint: Cal.Patent Rolls, Cal.1364-1367, pp 272/3 of 8 July'1366
Kilkenny	Richrd de Clare d.1252, son of Gilbert,  Earls of Gloucester, Lords of Kilkenny	1252	1247	Legal reunification of previously sub-divided 'de Clare' family's Purparty, In Court of King Henry III, @ Woodstock sittings, after 'de facto' partitions.
Wexford + Carlow	Roger le Bigod (Norfolk) son of Hugh,	1306	1307	Calendar Inquisitions post mortem Roger le Bigod d.1306 (not Roger d.1270)
	Maud +William de Warenne, (Surrey)	1248
Wexford	Aymer de Valence, son of William, The 3nd &1stEarls Pembroke 3rdOrd.	1324	1324	Calendar Inquisitions post mortem Aymer de Valence, 3rd Earl Pembroke 3rd Order, LordsWexford d.1324, Wexford 16thJuly 1324. William's 2 elder sons, John &William, died in Wales, 1277 &1282. Both William (1225/30-1296) and son Aymer (1270/80-1324) are entombed together at Westminster Abbey Cathedral in London.
	[Inherited via John de Munchensy, son of Warin de Munchensy, aka John and Warin de Monte Canesio]	1245 1247
Wexford	Aymer de Valence' Estate , (the 2nd de Valence Purparty)	1324	* c.1425	*The 2nd 'de Valence' Purparty Partition and feodary of record , (reference, Carew Ms., Lambeth Palace Library, Vol. 611, f, 14b.)

Sennett Landholdings in Wexford, as at 3 timepoints in history, 1247 (+1297), 1324, & 1425

The feudal de Valence Purparty or Parcener listings are taken from within the feudal 'fee' titles in the name of John de Munchensy (Monte Canesio) from the 'Chancery Miscellanea' at the PRO, London, File 88/4 No.70. The Knight's Fees introductory table of these Munchensy and subsequently de Valence feudal-lease holdings with their allocated shares, shows a William Synach (Sennett) of 'Ballybrennan', holding a Quarter-Fee share in the Forth Barony of Wexford Co., in the year *1247 (Knights Fees, p.92, and p.123).

Additionally in the St. John Brooks' work, there is also mention of a Geoffrey Shynnaghe (Sennett/Synnott, perhaps spelt on the record in its Cambro-Norman-Flemish version, or the vernacular Wexford 'Yola'). He held a Quarter-Fee in the Wexford Feodary or tenancy at Ballydusker (Ballydeuskyr), in the Forth Barony of Wexford Co., in the year *1425 (Knights Fees, p.08, and p.154). This latter listing is taken in original form from the Carew Manuscripts, Vol.611, (f.) folio 14b. The manuscript is held at Lambeth Palace Library. Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, spiritual leader of the Church of England (Anglican/Episcopal Church).

Regarding the earliest of the those records above at 1247, it should be noted perhaps that many land-titles of indigenous Gaelic Chiefs in the Leinster of 12^th+13^th Centuries, went largely un-recorded within Crown or even Irish-Gaelic document records of those times. The country operated under a mostly verbal Brehon Law system.

Both of the feudal estate lands mentioned earlier above, Ballybrennan (Balybronan) and Ballydusker (Balyvowysker in original document), are also entered in a 3^rd documentary source, a Royal Inquisition for the year 1324 (taken after the death of Aymer de Valence), where the lands in question are recorded as being held by 2 persons named 'John Synod' (1^st John Synod, at Ballybrennan, a son of Richard Synath, and the 2^nd John Synod, of Ballydusker, more probably a son of William Synod, and he himself a son of a Henry Synod). Both of these lands in 1324 were within the remit of this de Valence Purparty. The Crown Inquisition (ref. Knights Fees p. 94) as regards year *1324 concerned a feodary 'Inquisition' of the "Munchensy/de Valence" feudal interests taken at that time. This 1324 date is between the 2 dates mentioned immediately above (1247 and 1425), and the record is found among the John Munchensy family records in the Carew manuscripts. These documented tenancies complement the Sennett surnames taken for these same properties mentioned in the supporting records, years 1247 and 1425. Here in this case, the actual 1325 assignment of partition was the occasion of the date of the actual award of dower (inheritance of life interest) to Aymer de Valence's widow. 

There was additionally, however, a 3rd John Synod identified for this period of c. 1324-to-1325. One should really say perhaps another 3^rd John Synod in one of two particular households, (as there was also in this same occupancy that other 2^nd John Synod, the son of William, son of Henry Synod above). The 3rd John held direct fees in the townlands of Ballytrounte/trent (Ballytrout, Kilrane Parish) and Mulgannan (Maudlintown Parish), in Forth Barony. Both of these latter two holdings, or they as a joint holding, were leased directly from the purparty estate of the Earl Marshal's original Castle in County Wexford (Ferns Castle, not Wexford Town's old Castle/Fort, or the Kilkenny Castle). This twinned holding was in the hands of a Patrick Synnot at the time of the 17^th Century Stuart monarchy's Inquisitions in Wexford, those of James I and Charles I. (Table 4, Ch.5.1/)

There was yet another Sennett tenancy noted in the 'de Valence' estate record of 1324. Aymer de Valence died without issue in that year. His feodaries were entered in a County Wexford Inquisition. The feudal 'fee' in question concerned a joint tenancy of 3 individuals over 2 sizeable land holdings (10 carucates, a probable total 1,100-to-1,200 acres). According to Knights Fees, p. 36 and p. 163, the named individuals were Geoffrey de St. John, Nicholas Hay and John Sygnitt (Sennett/Synnott), holding the properties as the Valence family's free tenants, in Tacumshin (Thahcomessan) and Rosslare in Ballymore Townland (Balymor). Both are in the southern coastal extremity of the Barony of Forth, Wexford County. It should be noted that, at this time, a John de St. John was Constable of Wexford Castle (William Marshal's old Ferns Castle) and Sheriff of Wexford, 1322-to-1324 (P.H. Hore's History of the Town and County of Wexford, Vol.1, p.219, Vol.5, p.65/108).

A good handful of these Sennett estates, all in Forth as outlined above, were still in Sennett hands in 1641,
a Richard Synnott held Ballybrennan; (please see Ch.3.6/ Tables 2 & 3 following, & final Chapter 5.1/ Tables 4 & 5), 
a John Synnott held Ballydusker (and Ballyell), previously held by Robert; (see Chapter 5.1/ Table 4), finally
a Patrick Synnot held lands at Ballytrout and Mulgannon/Mollgannon(Maudlintown); (see Chapter 5.1/ Table 4).
One can therefore construct a Table to represent the linearity and devolved inheritance of these estates.

No	Wexford Est.-Civil Parish	Year 1245-1247	1297	1324-1325	1425	1641 (Ch.5.1/)
				John Synnah Ballybrennan
1	Ballybrennan -Ballybrennan	William Synach	Synod	John Synod s.Rich	?	Richard Synnott
2	Ballydusker - Killinick			John Synod s.Will	Geo.Shynnaghe	John Synnott
3a	Ballytrent/trounte - Kilrane			= John Synod'3		Patrick Synnot
3b	Mu/Mollgann'-Maudlntowne			= John Synod'3		Patrick Synnot
4	Ballytramon-Ardclm/Castlebr	David Sinod s.Adam		?	Pierce Synod	1625 to Esmnde

One can follow some of the Sennett families mentioned in the previous section of Chapter 3.6/ (while reviewing the St John Brooks 'Knights Fees' material), in the Table provided below. Some of the individuals may be uncertain as to their exact placement in the wider Wexford Sennett-sphere. Other entries however are clearly identifiable in Burke's Irish Family Records work (1976). A good and clear example of connection with IFR'1976 framework would be entry No.19 below, Thomas Synot @ 1412 appears in the 1^st full length column.

The most senior line (of descent) of the Sennett sept historically was that of the "Ballybrennan-Synnot" family.

The current Furness-Synnott family's genealogy encompasses the long ancestral line to its lineal origin within the Ballybrennan descent. The link to the senior line is that through James Synnott of Rosegarland in the late 16^th Century (James being a 2^nd son of Richard Synnott of Ballybrennan & Rosegarland). For the full genealogy of Synnott family as in IFR'1976 (incl. early Sennett family), for comparison with Table below, see Chapter 5.6/.

Ch.3.6/ Table 2: Irish Chancery Letters of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Centuries. https://chancery.tcd.ie/ (RMS)
Search of Chancery Index for Sennett on TCD.ie, and variety of i/net websites (Index checked for Sin*** & Syn*** entries.)
Official Sennett data: Recorded in Irish Chancery Letters (13th-to-15th Centuries up to 1412, death of King Henry IV).
Surname Original text	No	1stname	Patronymic/Loc	Notes #*§ ± ~	Appointment, Office Holder or Case	Roll Type and No.	Year No. of Reign	Dates of Reign	Date of Roll Entry
Seynde	1	William		#		Close. 04	27 Edward I	1272-1307	Feb 1299
Seynde	2	William		Poss.§		Close. 23	27 Edward I		Apr 1299
Seynde	3	William		Poss.§		Close. 49	27 Edward I		Jul 1299
Synath	4	John		§ *		Patent. 69	29 Edward III	1327-1377	Sep 1355
Synnot	5	Peter				Patent. 24	30 Edward III		??? 1356
Synnott	6	John		§ *		Patent. 14	43 Edward III		May 1369
Synnath	7	Nicholas	son of John	§	Wexford, Chief Serj'nt	Patent. 97	49 Edward III		Jun 1375
Synnot	8	John		§		Patent.276	49 Edward III		Jul 1375
Synnath	9	John		§	WexfordCo.Kpr'Peace 'Custodes Pacis'	Patent.278	49 Edward III		Jul 1375
Synnot =No.9	10	John =No.9		§ *=No.9	WexfordCo.Kpr'Peace 'Custodes Pacis'	Close. 275	51 Edward III		Jul 1377
Shynnagh	11	John				Patent.132	5 Richard II	1377-1399	Apr 1382
Shynnagh	12	John				Patent.247	12 Richard II		May 1388
Synnagh	13	John		~	Kildare Co. Kpr'Peace 'Custodes Pacis'	Patent.241	12 Richard II		May 1389
Shynnagh	14	John				Patent. 50	16 Richard II		Apr 1393
Shynnagh	15	John				Close. 27	18 Richard II		May 1395
Synot/Syot	16	Thomas	(Castledermot)	* ±	WexfordCo. Inquisit'n	Patent.176	10 Henry IV	1399-1413	Jul 1409
Synath	17	John	s. of Michael	* ±		Patent. 15	12 Henry IV		Nov 1411
Synath	18	John	s. of Richard	* ±		Patent. 15	12 Henry IV		Nov 1411
Synot	19	Thomas		§ * ±		Patent.125	13 Henry IV		Jan 1412
Notes	#	William Seynde, reported in Chapter 3.2/ Oxford-ODFNB+Irl., and in Ch.4.1/ as in Table 4.1b/ (dated at year 1297)
	§	Record appears in Burke's IFR'1976, cf.Chapter 5.6/, (Burke's 'Irish Family Records' 1976, Burkes Peerage Ltd, London)
	*	Record appears in Manuscript form only, in the unpublished Manuscript document 'Synnott Pedigrees'1913, by P.H. Hore. Manuscript is basis of much of Furness'Synnott entry in Burke IFR'1976, cf. RJ Hayes 'Manuscripts for History', NLI's m/film sources. By request of Mr DJ Synnott in 1970s, the Furness-Synnott Hore Pedigree &Hse'hold documents on microfilm, NLI Mss. (m/f. P 6977). Original Hore Manuscript Volumes (c. 60 items) held at St Peter's College Archive, Wexford Town. Access also via NLI Ms. micro/film.
	±	The cited source references differ from the PH Hore Ms, because Hore used an early form classification, that of 'RCH'. The RCH (Record Commission's Latin Calendar, of 1828) gave slightly differing Dates and Numerical reference No's to that of TCD. The entries, in sequence, re 16-to-18 of Hore's Synnott Pedigree refs. (Hore p.38, Patent No.158, Close No.14, Close No.14). The final PH Hore entry for Thomas Synot (19) refers to, RCH Patent No. 201/113, Reign 14 Henry IV, of Jan 1412-1413.
	~	Non-Wexford: John Synnagh appointed 'Custodes Pacis' (KP - Keeper of the Peace) in Kildare County, May 1389.
		Other i/net sources: archive.org, Catalog.HathiTrust.org, <FamilySearch Books>, <Google Books>, <University of Iowa>.

From the Table below it is possible to extend a Ballybrennan-Sennett continuity through time and the phases of Irish history and the surname's Hiberno-Cambro-Anglo-Norman Flemish history!. The Official Crown records stretch from the time of the Norman Invasion of Ireland and the late-medieval past, right through to the early modern period of the 16^th and 17^th Centuries. Only a few (2 -to- 3) of the Sennett families of this later period in Wexford are here mentioned below. They again come with a multiple of spelling varieties, even for a single family. The one continuous family line running through this 'cameo' selection of references from the Official Rolls is that of 'Synnott of Ballybrennan' (of Balllybrennan, only till 1649). Many of the figures identified in the Calendar are identifiable through the lens of existing 'Furness-Synnott' genealogical record. This rare record is extant and available in Burke's genealogical series (Irish Family Records) originally published 1976. (Ch.5.6/) 

Ch.3.6/ Table 3. Sennett Records in Calendar of Patent &Close Rolls of Chancery Irl.,16th&17thCenturies.(RMS)
Search of Calendar Index for Sennetts on Chancery.TCD.ie and a variety of i/net websites (Index checked for Sin*** & Syn***)
Table : Calendar of Crown Patent and Close Rolls of Chancery in Ireland https://chancery.tcd.ie/
Sovereigns	Page ref., Ordinal Year of Reign, Sovereign, Date Year, (Item of Business) Individual/Family ref. in Chancery Roll. 1531-1575 (Ireland)
Henry VIII # *	p. 038 29/30 Henry VIII (1538-9) Richard son &heir of Walter Synnot, of Ballybrenen: *p.9, descendant of Adam Sinad
Edward Vi. #	p. 180 3 Edward VI (1548) Nicholas Fitzdavid Synott: # possible 2nd son of David Synnott of Ballytramon, 1st s.Michael
*#	p. 180 3 Edward VI (1548) Patrick Synott, son of Thomas Synnot of Ballyharan (Tikillin, East Shelmaliere): *p.13, Thomas a probable brother of Richard Synnot of Ballybrennan (1527-1591), Patrick not recorded elsewhere ex p.182
#	p. 181 3 Edward VI (1548) Nicholas Synott of Farrellston (Ballytramon,East Shelmal're): prob. brother of Walter p.297
?	p. 181 3 Edward VI (1548) Richard son of Walter H. Synnot of Clylon: (Clealand, south coast Sinnottsland,E.Shelmal'r)
*#	p. 182 3 Edward VI (1548) William son of Patrick Synnot of Wisestowne (?): * Patrick probable son of Thomas Synnot, Thomas a probable brother of Richard Synnott of Ballybrennan (1527-1591), Patrick not recorded elsewhere ex p.180
#	p. 230 4 Edward VI (1550) John Synache (John Synach) son of Richard Synach: Richard Synnott of Ballybrennan (1527-1591) had son John born in the 1550s, John Synache may not/may be same.
#	p. 261 5 Edward VI (1551) John Synnott: Richard Synnott of Ballybrennan (1527-1591) had son John born in the 1550s, John Synnott may not/may be same.
#	p.297 7 Edward VI (1553) Nicholas Synnote of Farrollstone (Ballytramon): probable brother Rich'd,Th.&Waltr, cf. p.181
#	p.297 7 Edward VI (1553) Walter Synnott, Farrollston (Ballytramon) labourer: prob.brother Rich'd,Th.&Nichls, IFR'1976
Philip & Mary *	p. 372 4 & 5 Philip and Mary (1557-58) John Synnot, appointed Justiciar of Liberty (Wexford): * p.44,1557 No.60, m9.
Elizabeth *	p. 412 1 Elizabeth (1558-9) John Synnot: appointed Justice of Liberty (of Wexford Town ), * p.45, Year 1559.
Philip and Mary	1557-1558 (Ireland) No entry, other than above.
Elizabeth	1573-1602 (Ireland)
# *	p. 90 27 Elizabeth (1584) Richard Synnott: * p.49, Richard of Ballybrennan, 40 yr lease 1585,Ballytramon/Enniscrthy?
# *	p. 283 36 Elizabeth (1594) William Synnot of Ballinran (Templetwn/Tintern,Shl'brne): *p.19, Sir William JP, Ballyfarnck.
* #	p. 374 38 Elizabeth (1596) John Sinnott, grant of the wardship over Master Thomas Codd: * p.51, 1596 No.28, m30. John Sinnott was 3rd of 6 sons of Richard Synnott (1527-1591) of Ballybrennan & Richd's spouse, Mary Codde (d.1592).
James I	1603-1619 (Ireland) No index
Charles I	1625-1633 (Ireland)
# *	p. 107 2 Charles I (1626) Richard Synnot (2nd) son James (d.1624), his son (1st) Walter: *pps.09,18,61.Ballybrennan line.
# *	p. 234 3 Charles I (1627) Walter Synnot of Rosegarland (d.1638): *pps.09,18,62. Ballybrennan line, s. of James (d.1624)
Notes #	The Individual or Sennett Family 'ref.' is also identifiable in Burke's IFR'1976 (see text reproduced in Chapter 5.6/)
Notes *	The Individual or Sennett Family 'ref.' identifiable in P.H.Hore's 'Synnott Pedigree & Records'1913 (NLI' Ms.m/f P.6977)
	Other sources: archive.org, Catalog.HathiTrust.org, <google Books>, <FamilySearch Books>, & <Univ. of Iowa>

Section References Ch.3.4/ -to- Ch.3.6/:

("The History of Town and County of Wexford", PH.Hore, Vols.1/5/6., Elliot Stock, London, 1900-11, reprint WH.Hennesy)
("Ireland under the Normans,1169-1333",GH.Orpen, Clarendon Press, Dublin 4.Vols.,1911-1920, rep.Four Courts Pr. 2005)
("The Flemings in Pembrokeshire", Henry Owen, Archaeology Cambrensis 1895, Series II, Vol. XII, p.96-p.106)
["Knights Fees in Counties Wexford, Carlow and Kilkenny, 13^th-to-15^th Century", Eric St John Brooks, {forward p.vii},
Published IMC -Irish Manuscripts Commission, Printers-Dublin Stationery Office, 1950, ref. Chapter 2, de Valence Purparty]
[Knights Fees:- pps., 07, 08, 36, 92, 94, 122, 123, 135, 147 (and footnotes), 148, 151, 154, 158, 161, 162, 163, 262.]
['Irish Family Records', Ed. H.Montgomery-Massingberd, Burke's Peerage Ltd., London, 1976. Synnott of Furness p.1092/6.]

Manuscript References Ch.3.4/ -to- Ch.3.6/:

['Charter' manuscripts of Duiske Abbey 1204/aka Graiguenamanagh Cistercian Abbey, Duiske Charters No.2,
'Charters of Abbey of Duiske',Ed. JH.Bernard +Const.Butler, RIA Royal Irish Academy, Proceedings Vol.35.c 1918-22]
(Exchequer Pipe Roll of 1130, Henry I, No.21/3, p.137)
['Manuscript Sources for History of Irish Civilization'Richard J.Hayes, GK Hall -Boston, 1965/75, NLI Ms. m/film P.6977]
(Calendar of Patent Rolls, Valence/Munchensy (MonteCanesio) Purparty, Knights Fees, Chancery Misc., PRO, London, File 88/4 No.70)
(Calendar of Patent Rolls, Nov'1279, p.353, Calendar Patent Rolls 1272-81, Inspeximus Letters Patent, Henry III 1247)
(Calendar of Patent and Close Rolls, Ireland, No's. 197, 57, sub-fee tenancy from John Synod to Nich.Devereux, in 1297)
(Calendar Inquisitions -Post Mortem of 1324, Inquisition of Aymer de Valence, Earl Pembroke, Wexford, 16 July'1324)
(Calendar of Patent Rolls, 8 July'1366, p.272/3, Calendar Patent Rolls 1364-67, Exemplification Laurence de Hastings)
(Inquisitions in Calendar of Patent Rolls' Ireland, James I, No.15 of 1617, p.327, Deed enrolled by Pierse Sinnott in '1617)
(Inquisitions-Co.Wexford, James I, No.17, No.19 of 1619-to-1621, re Synnot Ballybrennan, Ballydusker, Ballytrout lands)
(Inquisitions-Co.Wexford No.29, No.64, of Charles I, re Synnot Ballybrennan, Ballydusker, Ballytrout land holdings)
(Inquisitions-Co.Wexford, James I, No.24, 1625)
(Carew Manuscripts, Mss. Vol.611, folio 14b, Lambeth Palace Library, Southwark, London)

Section 3.7/ Wexford County in War and Peace:

Three later periods of rebellion and civil strife in Wexford history, 1348, 1649, 1798, 1847
After the Invasion period, the major historic disruptions to the normal rhythm of rural life in Wexford County (apart from the Bubonic Plague or Black Death of 1348, 30%-to-35% mortality across Europe) were as follows:
1/. Cromwell's Siege of Wexford Town in October 1649, as part of an English/British re-conquest of Ireland.
2/. The 'United Irishmen' movement and the 1798 Rebellion in Ireland and Wexford.
3/. The Irish Famine period was between 1845 and 1849, the bleakest year was that of 'Black' 1847.

1649:

The Sennett families in Wexford over time grew in influence, status and estate. This progress continued until they would in turn be dispossessed. They suffered like their Irish Gaelic neighbours, hosts and predecessors following Cromwell's Siege of Wexford in 1649. This siege, along with that of Drogheda, heralded a fundamental and brutal re-conquest of the post-Elizabethan (1^st) Kingdom of Ireland. This re-conquest and the consequent land seizures and transplantations, constituted a political persecution and a thorough dispossession of the Catholic-Irish land-owning gentry in Leinster and Munster. The 'English' Civil Wars (aka the Wars of the 3 Kingdoms) concluded with the regicide of King Charles I in London in early 1649. The wars concluded for England in 1649 (but relating to England only). Ireland & Scotland, remained in conflict till 1652. 

Cromwell, after the Irish campaign, would become the Lord Protector of a rather puritan constitution. The Westminster Parliament in London established the English Commonwealth as a Republic in the early 1650's. The new regime's associated Irish land confiscation and redistribution was enacted in 1652 by the Act of Settlement of Ireland. The Crown's rule would be later re-instated in 1660 with the restoration of King Charles II to the throne (2 years after Cromwell's death). One can ask was a stubborn King worth such War? The Siege of Wexford and the Cromwellian re-conquest of 1649-to-1652, took place soon after the conclusion of the English Civil Wars. This collective British (English and Scottish) and Irish conflict was also called the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It was a Colonel David Sennett/Synnot who lead the defence of the fortified Town of Wexford during its siege by Cromwell's New Model Army. Colonel David had been appointed to the position by the Chief of a Royalist Irish Confederation of the period, the Duke of Ormond (a Butler family title). There was an extensive pre-assault exchange of letters between Cromwell & Synnot in the early days of October 1649 before the onslaught commenced. The letters of negotiation between the 2 commanders survive.(#)

Colonel Synnot, along with many family members and indeed most the inhabitants of the Town, perished during or immediately after its defence. The Town's defence was lost when a Capt. Stafford surrenderd an outlying Fort directly to Cromwell. It was a struggle of big cannon, the unexpected and unauthorised betrayal, instant capitulation and finally bloody seizure. The spectacle resulted from Cromwell's determination to make an unpleasant example of the Town's ancient loyalties, and its resistance to his Parliament (likewise as was the case with a fortified Drogheda Town, the month previous). Such a stern policy might eventually compel surrender and early collapse among the mixed and multi-denominational Irish Confederation forces spread throughout the country. Rather than to continue a wearying conflict, this was Cromwell's preference. (*, &, Y) Many sieges and battles remained after Wexford,@NewRoss, Clonmel, Carlow, Waterford, Athlone, &Limerick. 

1649 continued/a

There was most certainly a period of victimisation and penalisation of Sennett surname bearers and their record traces, and similarly of many other local families (Irish and 'old-English' alike, the latter being Roman Catholic Royalists by inclination), in post Cromwellian Wexford, a Wexford after 1650.(#) This was intended notionally to enforce a total elimination of these families from Wexford County. The Cromwellian aftermath of national confiscation and impoverishment was in retribution for having failed to adopt a reformed faith and support the emergent Parliamentary regime. It was also an act of revenge for the bloody Rebellion of 1641.

Some unlucky few Sennetts would no doubt have been arrested along with the estimated 20,000+ other indigent, itinerant, vagrant or landless Irish peasants. They would be shipped to Barbados as prisoners in servitude or as indentured servants. Some 2,000 were also redirected and conveyed to Jamaica in 1656 as indentured labour soon after Britain seized the island from Spain. A few souls were sent to early Colonial Virginia. In Barbados, an island the size of the Isle of Wight, the Irish born population in servitude in 1660 was some 12,000 persons, this at a period when it held 20,000 African slaves. By 1680, Barbados and the other Caribbean sugar islands required an annual re-supply of 20,000 African slaves for its export trade. At the time it was the greatest wealth producing colony in the 1^st British Empire. A similar arbitrary enslavement had been inflicted on the 30 survivors of Cromwell's siege of Drogheda in September 1649. This was a month before his assault on Wexford. The officers and civilians of the last Drogheda redoubt in the Tower, were 'knocked on the head'. The last survivors among the town's armed and unarmed citizenry & soldiery, were shipped to Jamaica.

For the common slave or field labour on British colonial plantations of the Caribbean, life was poor, nasty, brutish and short (Thomas Hobbes, d. 1679) and there was little chance of survival or return. Return was actually forbidden by Parliament until 1659. There would be no return from Barbados for these early victims of the Caribbean sugar trade. In the mid 17^th Century sugar quickly became the most important element of the booming trans-Atlantic trade. Indentured servants might survive but there was reportedly an average life-expectancy of about 5 years for field labour and slaves during this mid-century period, Irish papist and African alike. A few descendants of the Cromwellian transportation still live on in modern day Barbados. Because of their pale complexion they are known colloquially as 'Redlegs'. The Irish surnames of that period may not now probably remain. A small, remote, and deprived 'Redleg' community survives, an insular community within a rural ghetto of modern times. Their plight remains one of continued neglect and disadvantage. Their quiet subsistence represents a shame on the modern Irish State and a deep stain upon its political class. (§, ±, Z)

The Cromwellian campaign in Ireland was partly as earlier cited, a revenge for a northern Catholic revolt in late 1641. This took place before the formation in November of 1641 of a nationwide alliance, the Confederate Association of Kilkenny. The Confederation, ultimately led by the Protestant Earl of Ormonde, was constructed as a separatist Irish, Old-English, Royalist and eventually non-sectarian alliance which resulted from the first outbreak of the Civil War in Scotland (the Presbyterian revolt against the King Charles I), in 1641. The Catholic rebellion, initiated in mid Ulster, was a brief and bloody pogrom against those of the Reformed faiths and the many imposed excesses of the Stuart Plantation over the previous 30 years. Overall during the outrage, there were a few handfuls of towns affected with many cruel deaths on both sides (c. 5-10k, in violence, disease, hunger and exposure). The rebellion's grim toll of victims were mainly the ordinary folk of the Province and the groups of innocent victims of sporadic and intense violence elsewhere throughout the country. The rebellion's reportage and critical audience was in England, especially London. The exagerated reports of the massacres in Ulster outraged the full gallery of London society. The pamphleteer press reports were sectarian, inflated and much propagandised during the years that followed throughout the 1640s.

The sad events of the 1641 tragedy bode ill for the future when Cromwell held sway. The 1650s in Ireland under his and Parliament's dominion was mostly a time of mass property and estate confiscation by the Lord Protector and the new English Republic's "Commonwealth Protectorate". There was a puritan Parliament and a radical Government in London driving its policy in Ireland. This policy rewarded the victorious English 'New Model Army' with Irish lands. Many Sennetts in the Wexford of Cromwell's time were trans-planted to Connaught in early-to-mid 1650's, probably between 1654 and 1656.

Many of the transplantees sometime thereafter returned to live in Wexford after the conflict had ended in both Ireland and Scotland, by mid 1652. They returned after the new peace had been settled and when life regained its normal sense of order. Some Sennetts had remained in Wexford during and after the period of Cromwellian conflict. This latter group of Wexford dwellers would have stayed in the countyside so as to be engaged as farm or casual labour for their new plantation masters. The new English & Scottish landlords were largely their ex-military adversaries of the earlier Cromwellian campaign and its class of Campaign financiers.

1649 continued/b

These masters were the recently arrived 'New-English': this is the term used in Ireland to describe the newer British settlers between the post-1650 Cromwellian confiscations and the defeat and fall between 1688/1690 of the last Stuart King, the former and then de-throned King of England, Scotland and Ireland, James II. King James reigned between 1685 and 1688, he and his heirs being considered by most and by history as spineless wastrels and scoundrels. The post-1688 Williamite Royal succession and the accompanying new Parliament and British Constitutional Reform is referred to in British history as the 'Glorious Revolution'. This 'quiet' or quieter Revolution (than was the case with Cromwell's 1649 Model Revolution), was a 2^nd great English constitutional usurpation in Britain within a span of 40 years. The new 1689 Constitution and Bill of Rights began with King William III and Queen Mary's reign, 1689-to-1702. After Mary's death in 1694, King William ruled alone. William was a member of the Dutch 'House of Orange'. He would be ably assisted in his wars with Bourbon France by John Churchill, future Duke of Marlborough. William III was succeeded by the ex-King James II's very own Protestant daughter, Queen Anne. James himself was deemed truly a closet-Catholic King.

The term 'Old-English' has usually been used in Ireland to reference and identify the descendants of the mercenary troops and their followers of various origins, who made up the original Norman or Anglo-Norman led migration in the late 12^th Century. In actuality, these were less-purely English really, but rather more so of an English and Welsh, Norman, French and Flemish character. They spoke largely Norman French, writing of course in Christian Latin. There were later migrant flows mainly from Wales and England, as the new Norman territory became ever more established in the late 12^th Century and into the 13^th Century. The Norman writ and its territory would begin to adapt Irish cultural mores and Irish ways, and became more 'Gaelic' as it settled over most of the island of Ireland in the 13^th and 14^th Century periods. The Province of Ulster, overall, remained resistant to English conquest and rule until the end of Elizabeth I's reign. Elizabeth died in 1603.

1798:

Secondly of note in Wexford County history was a short violent and turbulent period during the late 18^th Century. This occurred during the 1798 Irish uprising, a rebellion inspired by French Revolutionary and Republican ideals of 1789, liberty, equality and fraternity. The French Revolution was itself earlier inspired by the US War of Independence 1776-to-1783. The 1790s were a period of heightened insecurity and threat throughout the British Isles given the recurrence of states of war and the constant twists of fate in confronting the Napoleonic order in Europe. The Irish rebellion of 1798 was ideologically directed against the Crown administration in Dublin Castle and its major garrisoned towns throughout the country. Its planning was centred on Belfast and Dublin but it had a nationwide membership. The mass support it enlisted to its idealistic principals of liberty and equality was non-denominational, radical, and necessarily secretive in nature. The sworn members called themselves 'United Irishmen'. It was theoretically an all-island association, initially if not ultimately non-denominational nor partisan in nature. It embraced not only those of the middle order and the educated elite but also the labouring poor and peasant classes, as was the case in Wexford.

Despite wider planning, the '1798 Rising' was actually effectively executed only in a few north eastern and south eastern counties, Antrim, Down, Armagh, Dublin, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wicklow &Wexford. The northern counties had prospered in 18^th Century Ulster because of the booming Linen trade. It was largely a household based industry. The late 1700s was point of peak emigration to the American colonies by those of the Ulster Dissenter faith, they remaining much disadvantaged in rights and tenures under an English Established Church.

At the time of the US War of Independence, Armagh County was the most populous County in all Ireland (outside of the cities). Its indigenous Anglican, Dissenter and Catholic faiths lived in mutual competition with some sense of tension, unease and discomfort. The planned 1798 rebellion, once the plot was uncovered, became more a civil-eruption in the countryside rather than an urban worker revolt of true revolutionary zeal in the French manner (of 1789). It broke out in Ulster over a brief period with limited numbers and casualties. In Wexford the uprising became a mass Catholic agrarian revolt which greatly swelled in numbers as confrontation against Crown authority grew. There remain reports of Sennetts who participated in one way or another in the searing and violent events of that summer. There were some heroic acts of courage, fraternity, sacrifice and idealism and some that was far less so. The Sennett participation was more on the revolutionary side, but most probably not exclusively so. The Wexford rebellion was quickly and harshly counteracted and suppressed by the British military. The Rising proved to be a brutal and bloody episode but a short-lived disruption to the County's normal provincial life. Wexford society afterward reverted to the county norm, one of hard-working self-reliance in a tenant-farmer subsistence lifestyle. (@,%)
[A later 'short+bitter' Famine period rebellion, a Young Ireland 1848'Rebellion, gave rise to Fenian patriotism.]

1847:

Finally, the ultimate horrors of the Irish Famine struck first during the year 1845 and then each of those years following till 1849. The Irish small-farm potato had provided an excellent and abundant food staple to the large numbers trapped within the rigidities of tenanted small-farm life. For the masses of this class, those with little land and resources, the reliance on the potato crop proved an unavoidable dependency. It did comprise an excellent and necessary food for most of two centuries until it fell victim to a fungal blight. The areas of Irish countryside with agrarian monoculture and small-scale crop cultivation suffered greatly. Those small farms on higher terrain with poor soil, or on lower ground with wetland borders, suffered more so. The more mixed economy of the urban towns and cities fared somewhat better than the land, but nevertheless did not fare well. This relative 'pull' factor and the recently installed Poor Law Union system led the towns to attract the most destitute and desperate, and the newly evicted. The nationwide County & District Poor House administration was newly introduced among the home nations, only being established during the late 1830s.

There was during the period some wider adequacy of other non potato staple-foods in areas of better soil and dryer land. To the peasant farmer any marketable production, if it was possible, was necessary to fund rental payments, and so avoid eviction. Agricultural exports of livestock and grain crops continued throughout the country over the period, but only in the 'not quite normal' sense. Commercial food or livestock consignment was sometime guarded by the garrisoned cavalry or military in cases where it may have been under threat. Access to local food markets for the worst stricken districts and for the needy required the medium of commercialised production, something way beyond the means of an impoverished small-tenant farming class.

The effects of the Famine period were more severe as one progressed more westward and northward from the south-east coast. The Province of Connaught and the other western counties Donegal (where the blight started) and Mayo, Clare and Kerry, the low lying central and north midlands and the mid-Ulster region were incapacitated by the hunger and its greatest afflictions. The countryside's demographic structure was so traumatised that it would need to endure ongoing mass emigration for decades. The loss was never recovered. Wexford County, being an eastern and coastal county with mixed soils and rocky hills (rather than mountains) was somewhat insulated from the worst of the ongoing catastrophe. While the economy suffered much, and the agricultural economy fell particularly badly, there were deaths. Many deaths in the Famine period were from its side effects, illness and malnutrition. Decline was propelled by an impaired immunity under sickness, dysentery and disease. The Wexford region being maritime incurred a lighter form of suffering and much less than other more western counties. Death came mostly from the higher general mortality caused by illness and disease. The county was however as much a casualty of the emigration and the economics of the period as the effects of the Famine itself. In that sense Wexford County succumbed to a common fate like other counties.

A good source for the study of the regional and county impacts of the Famine years over the whole country was recently published in 2012, The Atlas of the Great Irish Famine.(€) Some other traditional works on this important topic, one which drove mass migration for a century, are listed below. ($, £)

End Chapter 3.7/ Wexford Historical References only.

* ("History of the Commonwealth +Protectorate",S.R. Gardiner, Windrush Pr.,1903/1988. ISBN 0-900075-70-8)
& ("Cromwell, Our Chief of Men", Antonia Frazer, Widenfield &Nicholsn, Mandarin Pbk., London'1973. 0-7493-0107-4)
Y ("Gods Executioner, Cromwell and the Conquest of Ireland",Micheál Ó Siochrú, Faber,London'2008, 9-780571-218462)
Z ("The Hungry Empire", Lizzie Collingham, Penguin Random House, London'2017, ISBN 978-1-847-92270-0)
§("To Hell or Barbados", Sean O'Callaghan, Brandon Paperback Kerry'2001. ISBN 0-86322-287-0)
±("Hell or Connaught! The Cromwellian Colonisation 1652-1660", Peter Ellis, Hamish Ham'tn'1975. ISBN 0-85640-404-7)
# ("Celtic Courage",Joan Synnott Ardrey, CreateSpace, N.Charleston'2014. ISBN 1500536741/LC.2014913267)
@("The Wexford Rising in 1798", Charles Dickson, Constable London'1997. ISBN 0-09-477250-9)
% ("The People's Rising, Wexford 1798", Daniel Gahan, G&M -Gill & McMillan, Dublin. ISBN 0-7171-2323-5/8)
€("Atlas of Great Irish Famine 1845", Eds.J.Crowley,Smyth,&Murphy, Cork.Univ.Press' 2012.ISBN.978-1-85918-479-0)
$("The Great Hunger 1845-49", Cecil Woodham-Smyth, Hamish Hamkilton' London, pbk'1962/87, ISBN.0-241-11410-1)
£("Ireland Since the Famine" (Part'1), F.S.L.Lyons, Weidenfield'1971,Collins/Fontana Press'1973, ISBN.0-00-686005-2)

Two Presentational Graphic inserts (at this break-point for practical reasons of space)