Mac Firbhisigh

Rev Patrick Woulfe

Irish Names and Surnames

1923

Mac FIRBHISIGH—IV—M'Ferbishy, M'Firbisse,, M'Firbis, Forbish, Forbis, Forbes; 'son of Fearbhisigh' (man of prosperity); the name of a celebrated family of historians and antiquaries in Connacht. They belonged to the Ui Fiachrach race, of which for many centuries they were the hereditary poets and chroniclers. Their original patrimony was Magh Broin, in Tirawley, but they afterwards settled at Rosserk, between Ballina and Killala, and finally at Lacken, in the parish of Kilglas, Co. Sligo, which continued to be the home of the family down to the year 1608, when they were dispossessed of their estates by James I. The castle of Lacken, now known as Castle Forbes, was built by Ciothruadh MacFirbis in the year 1560. Duald MacFirbis, the last and greatest scholar of the name, was foully murdered at Dunflin, Co. Sligo, in the year 1670, by an English soldier named Crofton. The MacFirbises were the compilers of the Book of Lecan and other important works on Irish history and antiquities. The surname is now generally anglicised Forbes.

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