Gilpatrick

The Gilpatricks, in Gaelic Mac Giolla Phádraig or son of the devotee of Saint Patrick, were the hereditary kings of Osraige, or Ossory. They sprang from the Dál Birn royal line and took their name from Gilla Patráic mac Donnchada, who ruled from 976 to 996; his son Donnchad, king from 1003, also held Leinster and first bore the name.

The Norman invasion after 1169 broke the kingdom, and William Marshal partitioned most of it among his followers. Upper Ossory survived as an independent Gaelic lordship under the Gilpatricks, with seats such as Cullahill Castle.

In 1537 Brian Mac Giolla Phádraig surrendered to Henry VIII, adopted the surname Fitzpatrick and became Baron Upper Ossory in 1541. The seventh baron was attainted for Jacobite loyalty in 1691; other branches became Barons Gowran and Earls of Upper Ossory in the eighteenth century.