Mac Cathmhaoil
| MacCawell/McCaul (Irish: Mac Cathmhaoil) | |
|---|---|
| Family name | |
| Meaning | "Son of Battle Chief" |
| Region of origin | Tyrone, Ulster, Ireland. |
| Related names | Cowell, McGirr, Campbell, Caulfield, McCall. |
| Parent house | Cenél Fearadhaigh / Cenél nEógain / Uí Néill |
|---|---|
| Titles | Chief of the Councils of the North, "Peace-maker of Tyrconnell, Tír Eoghain & Airgíalla", Taoiseach (Chiefs) of Kinel Farry (Clogher). |
McCaul, also spelt MacCawell is an Irish surname, derived from the Gaelic Mac Cathmhaoil, meaning the "son of Cathmhaol", descendant of being implied. The name Cathmhaoil itself is derived from cath mhaol meaning "battle chief". The Mac Cathmhaoil were the leading family of Cenél Fearadhaigh, of the Uí Néill, and were based around Clogher in modern-day County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. They were one of the seven powerful septs that supported the O'Neills. The name is now rare in Ulster as it has been Anglicised under various different forms such as, Campbell, McCawl, Caulfield, McCall, Alwell, Callwell, McCowell, McCuill, Howell, MacHall, and .
The height of their power was in the 12th century where their territory covered most of modern County Tyrone, and deep into County Fermanagh. By the mid fourteenth century their power in Fermanagh, was broken by the rise of the Maguires. Having controlled the seat of power of the diocese of Clogher, the MacCawells provided many abbots, deans, canons etc. to it and neighbouring dioceses including two bishops. By the end of the sixteenth century there appears to have been a large migration of the sept into the modern counties of Down and Armagh.
The MacCathmhaoils took their patronymic name from Cathmhaol in the 12th century, descended from Feradhach (or Fearadhaigh), grandson of Eoghan son of "Niall of the Nine Hostages" a 5th-century Irish King . They were the leading sept of Cenél Fearadhaigh, sometimes called Cenél Fearadhaigh Theas or Cinel-Farry, based in the barony of Clogher, to distinguish them from the offshoots of Cenél Fearadhaigh who remained in Inishowen or thereabouts. After this expansion into mid Ulster with Cenél nEoghain, the MacCathmhaoils were fixed in the Clogher area of County Tyrone, the former capital and inauguration site of Airgíalla. As Cenél Fearadhaigh, it was their function to hold a bastion for Cenél nEoghain against Cenél Conaill on the northwest and the descendants of the Three Collas on the south-west and south.
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