| O'Higgins Ó hUiginn | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Parent house | Southern Uí Néill |
| Country | Kingdom of Connacht |
| Etymology | Irish |
| Titles | Kingdom of Connacht
Kingdom of Spain Jacobite Peerage |
O'Higgins (Irish: Ó hUiginn) is an Irish noble family. Its Ballynary line is descended from Shean Duff O'Higgins (fl. 1600 C.E.), Gaelic Baron of Ballynary, who was married to a daughter of the royal family of O'Conor at Ballintuber Castle in Connacht. Shean Duff O'Higgins himself claimed descent from King Niall of Tara (d. 450 C.E.).[1][2][3] Historically, many of their ancestors were poets and scholars who enjoyed the patronage of several chiefly families including O'Conor Don, MacDermott, O'Doherty, O'Gara, and MacDonagh.
O'Higgins are counted among the Gaelic nobility as a sept of the royal house of O'Neill.[4][5] Members of this family were further ennobled in 1724 by James Francis Edward Stuart (Jacobite pretender to the throne of England and Ireland) during his exile in France. A branch that emigrated to Spanish America was ennobled in the Spanish nobility in 1795 and 1796 by Charles IV of Spain; later members of this branch became prominent in the liberation and politics of republican Chile.
- ^ The National Genealogical Office (Dublin), MS 165. p. 396-399.
- ^ Annals of the Four Masters M378-405
- ^ Geoffrey Keating, Foras Feasa ar Éirinn 1.48, 1.49, 1.50, 51, 52
- ^ See List of Irish clans.The National Genealogical Office (Dublin), MS 165. p. 396-399.
- ^ Genealogy of Ó hUiginn from O Clery Book of Genealogies (based on edition by Séamus Pender, Analecta Hibernica 15, 1951)