Lawless

Lawless, Lollis, Lauless, Lollace, Laghles, Laighleis, Lalles…

These are just some of the spellings that I have come across while researching our Lawless/Lollis family. Then add the fact that while there might be multiple siblings in one particular family, the surname may NOT be spelled the same way for each of them. Talk about confusing! And we can’t forget about how different the writing was back in the day…double letters were writing a certain way, first names were abbreviated, etc.

The following are excerpts from Denis F Lawless, found on Genealogy.com. Denis passed in 2007, but spent a considerable amount of time and money, obtaining this information. He was very generous in sharing with others of the Lawless family.

Lawless – Though the surname Lawless is formed from the Old English word laghles meaning an outlaw, it may, as far as Ireland is concerned, be regarded as falling in the Anglo Norman category. Outlawe was itself a not uncommon surname in Ireland in the middle ages, e.g. Roger Outlawe, prior of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in 1337, and Henry Outlawe, sovereign of Kilkenny in 1312. From soon after the invasion the name (written Laweles, Laghles, Lachles, Laules, etc). appears frequently in mediaeval records up to the end of the sixteenth century throughout Leinster and Munster, particularly in Co. Kilkenny. One branch settled in the city of Kilkenny in the fourteenth century: Walter Lawless was mayor of Dublin, his family being landowners at Cabra and elsewhere near the city. Petty’s “census” of 1659 indicates that in the seventeenth century they were fairly numerous in Co. Kilkenny and the Dublin area. In that record the name Laules was a principal Irish name in the Kilkenny barony of Ida. They were nearly all staunch Jacobites and among the exiles after 1691 was Patrick Lawless who became Spanish Ambassador to London in 17136 and afterwards to Louis XIV of France. Walter Lawless was confiscated of his lands in Kilkenny about 1702 following the Williamite war. The name Lawless still appears in the Kilkenny record of the mid-19th century, although in much smaller proportions than the other counties it is noted in, particularly Dublin.

The name Lawless is Norman French. They went first to England and in 1172 to Ireland. Here are the facts:

DESCENDANTS OF SIR HUGH de LAIGHLEIS

Though the surname Lawless is formed from the old English word Laghles meaning an outlaw, it may , as far as Ireland is concerned, be regarded as falling in the Anglo-Normancategory. Following the invasion in 1172, the name Laghles, Laules, Lawles appears frequently in medieval records up to the end of the 16th. century throughout Leinster and Munster, particularly in Co. Kilkenny, and in due course they became one of the “TenTribes of Kilkenny” In the 13th. century several of the names were prominent at New Ross and other places in Co. Wexford. The family was linked with Ballycorus as early as the 13th century.

In the twelfth century Dermot Mac Murrough, King of Leinster, was about to be crushed by Roderick O’Connor the mightiest of Ireland’s Kings. Panic stricken Dermot went to the feet of King Henry the second swearing temporary allegiance. (He invited the Anglo-Norman invasion in 1169) Henry, yearning to possess himself of Ireland, assured him of assistance to recover the Kingly position he had lost. An armament, for the express
purpose of invading Ireland, and rendering her subjects to English domination, was prepared at Milford Haven and awaited the signal to sail for Waterford. Mac Murrough saw not through the cajolery of King Henry.

On the 18th October, 1172 some hundred ships weighed anchor from Milford Haven (a seaport town on the west coast of Wales), and after a short voyage, glided into the harbour at Waterford. The army of King Henry, on this occasion, consisted of four hundred Knights and several thousand men-at-arms. Amongst the Knights was Sir Hugh de Laighleis of Hoddesdon, County Herford. The ancestor of Sir Hugh was David, Duke of
Normandy. An English footing was now established in Ireland, by cajolery rather than by force of arms.

Henry worked on the Irish Synod, then sitting in conclave at Cashel. His intimacy with Pope Adrian, who was a brother Saxon, stood him in good stead. As a result of certain Bulls from Pope Adrian, an almost bloodless conquest of Ireland resulted. Through the influence of the Synod, the entire nation was induced to submit to Henry. No sooner had the Norman Knights set their feet upon the Island, than they at once desired to possess a share of the golden valleys and fertile pasture lands. Henry was desirous of rewarding his faithful Knights, and as he had no land to spare in England, he gladly distributed amongst them the Irish manors which he only knew by name.

One there was situated in the vicinity of Dublin, that made the Norman mouth of Sir Hugh de Laighleis water. It went by the name of the Manor of Shanganagh and was a most ethereal spot. Slumbering beneath the mountain parish of Killiney, and sheltered by the umbrageous foliage of Old Connaught, the vale of Shanganagh, with outstretched arms, while embracing a creek of the dark blue ocean, grasped into a focus all the naturally picturesque beauty of that eminently rich district.

Sir Hugh de Laighleis heard of the exquisite scenery of Shanganagh and made a personal pilgrimage to the spot. He asked King Henry to make it his for evermore. His Majesty heard the request, complied with it, and from that moment Shanganagh became the property, or as the attorney said, who drew up the deed of settlement-the “fee simple” of Sir Hugh.

The old age of Sir Hugh de Laighleis did find a home in the vale of Shanganagh. He married, erected a castle near the water’s edge, and lived, and died, after “a long life of labour,” within it. The dichotomised ruins of this old castle were still visible and could be observed from a great distance in the later part of the 19th century

By a very old family escutcheon, which remained in the possession of the Lawless family of Shankhill, we find that Sir Hugh had a son named Richard. Beneath this heraldic devise was an unfurled scroll, bearing the following inscription:- “Sir Hugh Lawles, Knight, sent a deede sealed with his arms, dated ye first yeare of King Edward ye 3rd, unto his son
Richard Lawles, of all his lands of ye manor of Shanganagh.”

As King Edward III was in his first year as king in 1327 we must conclude that the above was not the original Hugh who came to Ireland in 1172. It would be impossible, with any degree of accuracy, to trace the genealogical descent from Sir Hugh de Laighles, however some names, dates and family connections are available in historical reference books.

In a short time the family had built manors, not only near Bray in the vale of Shanganagh, but also in Kilruddery, Corkagh and Old Connacht, all in the Bray area. The castles and fortifications which they built were to defend their lands from the Irish tribesmen in the mountains.

As early as the year 1285, Thomas Laghles appears on Irish record as constable at Connaught. That same year Sir William Laghles obtained from the Barrets a considerable tract of country in and near the parish of Killala (Co. Mayo). In 1312 Richard Laghles was Provost of Dublin. He is alleged to have averted a famine in the city by his stern and cruel treatment of the bakers. They were found using false weights in dealing with the public.
Upon hearing of this injustice, Richard sentenced them to be drawn through the streets, tied to horse’s tails.

In 1318 Hugh Laghles, Knight, and father of Richard, was commissioned to parley with the Irishry of the south-eastern parts of”The Pale”. He was constable at Bray and resigned his Post in 1319 due to the devastating Irish raids. In 1346, Robert Laghles, son of Provost Richard Laghles, was appointed Public Guardian of the Peace, in county Dublin, with the
power to access and array therein.

“Franciscan Ireland” by Patrick Conlon states that Gerald Laghles was a Franciscan Minister Provincial up to 1353, at a time when Norman influence began to predominate in ecclesiastical affairs.

Stephen Laghles, Chancellor of the Cathedral of Limerick, succeeded Bishop Rochford on the 13th day of May 1354. He died on Innocent’s Day 1359. In 1431 another Stephen Laghles was a mitred Abbot of the religious House of the Blessed Virgin at Dublin.

Maurice & James Lawles are successively mentioned as farmers under the Crown of Bray Manor. In 1368 Hugh Lawleswas tried for unjustly ejecting William Lawles (son of Thomas Lawles) from the lands of Old Connaught. In 1386 King Richard, at the instance of William Lawles, Nicholas Lawles and Simon Lawles merchant, all of Dublin County, committed to James Lawles, the custody of the lands in le Bree (Bray), which William Archbold had then lately held of the Crown.

In 1408 Thomas Lawles undertook to build a castle at Shanganagh. He held the seigniory of Shanganagh (in the Parish of Rathmichael) from the Vicar Choral of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. In 1409 King Henry granted to John Eytelay the lands in Old Connaght, Kilrothery, Corkragh and Shanganagh, which had been the estate of Richard Lawles, to hold same during the minority of Aveline, his daughter and heiress. These lands were later owned by Hugh Lawles.

In 1473 the Vicars of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, petitioned Parliament, stating that they and their predecessors were seised of the seigniory of Shanganagh from time immemorial, had leased it to Thomas Lawless, and had also leased 80 acres within said seigniory to Edmund Wash, who disavowed their authority, and would pay no rent. From the Lawless family these townlands passed over to the Walshes, who as “Irish rebels and
Papists” are frequently alluded to in the old chronicles of Dublin.

Shanganagh, about this time passed out of the hands of the family but the Lawlesses were too much attached to the old property not to re-establish themselves as soon as possible in its immediate vicinity. They did this by erecting a castle at Shankhill and a dwelling-house at Cherrywood-townlands situated within a stone’s throw of Shanganagh. In the 15th
century the Lawlesses were in possession of considerable landed property in Kilkenny.

Another branch of the Lawles family was seated at the castle of Roebuck, near Dublin, for almost a century or at least until 1690. The property was lost in the Williamite Wars. History books contain pictures of the Towers of Lusk, Co. Dublin, which were the home of many Lawless families.

Rush…Co. Dublin, Barony of Balrothery East, Parish of Lusk, in the District of Balrothery. Abstract from Irish Memorials: (Tombstones) Vol. 7, P.42 (Lusk Graveyard) “This stone & burial place belongs to James Lawless of Belingstown, farmer. Here lyeth the body of Bridget wife of Sd. James who died Sept13th, 1747 age 63. Also 4 of their children. Here also lyeth the body of Sd. James Lawless who died May 5th 1755 age 44.

There were numerous Lawless families in the Baronies of Co. Dublin. The Parish of Lusk, in Northern Ireland, once had numerous castles built by members of the Lawless families.