Alumni Engagement Event: The Genealogy of the Anglo-Norman Lynches

Talk by Fulbright Alumnus Professor Paul B McNulty

on Thursday 5 March 2015 at 7.30 pm
Lynch Theatre, O’Brien Centre for Science, UCD, Belfield, Dublin 4.
Chair: Professor Art Cosgrove, past-President, UCD.

RSVP: to paul.mcnulty@ucd.ie or emma.loughney@fulbright.ie

This event is supported by the Fulbright Alumni Engagement Fund

Professor McNulty will discuss the genealogy of the Anglo-Norman Lynches who settled in Galway tracing back to the invasion of Ireland by Strongbow in 1169. Having settled as one of the fourteen Tribes of Galway, the Lynches held the mayoralty of Galway more than eighty times from 1485 through 1654. Their hold on power was diminished in the city by the Cromwellian confiscations but revived in the countryside through the establishment of landed estates. Eventually, the Anglo-Norman Lynches became more Irish than the Irish themselves. They are now virtually indistinguishable from the older Gaelic Lynches whose name is derived from Ó Loinsigh. The discovery of forgotten stories linked to the Lynches has inspired the author to write historical novels and plays based on real events in 18th century Ireland.

Paul McNulty is a Fulbright Scholar and Alumnus of UCD, Ohio State and MIT. He served on the academic staff at UCD from 1972-2005 and since retirement has studied Genealogy/Family History and Creative Writing. His diploma project, The Genealogy of the Anglo-Norman Lynches who Settled in Galway, was published in the Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society in 2010. Paul has written two historical novels, Spellbound by Sibella, and The Abduction of Anne O’Donel, inspired by his research in genealogy. Both have been finalists in the William Faulkner Novel Competitions in 2012 and 2013 respectively, and have been published by Club Lighthouse CLP, Edmonton, Alberta.

For further information on Paul McNulty see the author’s website.