Erenagh
Encyclopedia
The medieval Irish office of Erenagh (also old Gaeilge
Érenach) was responsible for receiving parish revenue from tithes and rents, building and maintaining church property and overseeing the termon lands that generated parish income. Thus he had a prebendary
role. The Erenagh had the tonsure but took no other holy orders; he had a voice in the Chapter when they consulted about revenues, paid a yearly rent to the Bishop and a fine on the marriage of each daughter. The role usually passed down from generation to generation in certain families in each parish. After the Reformation
and the Dissolution of the Monasteries
the role of erenagh became subsumed in the responsibilities of the parson
in each parish.
The popular surname McInerney
is derived from the Irish, Mac an Oirchinnigh (son of the erenagh). As may be supposed, this surname arose in various areas in Ireland leading to numerous unrelated bearers of the name. The most prominent group of the family were associated with the County of Clare since at least the late 13th century when they were first recorded in the annals of the county and are still numerous in that county today. This sept was subordinate to the McNamaras and it was from them that the family originally derived. The McInerneys in County Clare were based in the Barony of Lower Bunratty on their ancestral estates in and around the present day townlands of Ballysallagh, Ballynacragga and Dromoland (parish of Kilnasoolagh). Members of the family held substantial property there until the Cromwellian confiscations of the 1650s, whereby several members of the family were transplanted to other areas of the County, in part due to their involvement in the 1641 rebellion. Today the name is numerous in County Clare, Limerick and Dublin, and can be found in the United States, Canada, Australia, England and New Zealand.
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
Érenach) was responsible for receiving parish revenue from tithes and rents, building and maintaining church property and overseeing the termon lands that generated parish income. Thus he had a prebendary
Prebendary
A prebendary is a post connected to an Anglican or Catholic cathedral or collegiate church and is a type of canon. Prebendaries have a role in the administration of the cathedral...
role. The Erenagh had the tonsure but took no other holy orders; he had a voice in the Chapter when they consulted about revenues, paid a yearly rent to the Bishop and a fine on the marriage of each daughter. The role usually passed down from generation to generation in certain families in each parish. After the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
and the Dissolution of the Monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
the role of erenagh became subsumed in the responsibilities of the parson
Parson
In the pre-Reformation church, a parson was the priest of an independent parish church, that is, a parish church not under the control of a larger ecclesiastical or monastic organization...
in each parish.
The popular surname McInerney
McInerney
The name McInerney is of noble Irish origin where it is found in the modern Irish form of Mac an Airchinnigh and in the old and literary form of Mac an Oirchinnigh and Mac an Oirchindig. The pronunciation of Mac an Oirchinnigh has led the name to be sometimes anglicised as McEnherheny in Irish...
is derived from the Irish, Mac an Oirchinnigh (son of the erenagh). As may be supposed, this surname arose in various areas in Ireland leading to numerous unrelated bearers of the name. The most prominent group of the family were associated with the County of Clare since at least the late 13th century when they were first recorded in the annals of the county and are still numerous in that county today. This sept was subordinate to the McNamaras and it was from them that the family originally derived. The McInerneys in County Clare were based in the Barony of Lower Bunratty on their ancestral estates in and around the present day townlands of Ballysallagh, Ballynacragga and Dromoland (parish of Kilnasoolagh). Members of the family held substantial property there until the Cromwellian confiscations of the 1650s, whereby several members of the family were transplanted to other areas of the County, in part due to their involvement in the 1641 rebellion. Today the name is numerous in County Clare, Limerick and Dublin, and can be found in the United States, Canada, Australia, England and New Zealand.