Magherastephana is a

barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of and had a population of 63,585 as of 2021. Enniskillen is the ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. To its south-west lies Upper Lough Erne, and it is bordered by five other baronies: Tirkennedy to the west; Knockninny to the south-west; and Coole to the south; Clankelly to the south-east; and Clogher to the north-west.

History

The barony of Magherastephana is first recorded in 1520 in the

Annals of the Four Masters The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' () or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' () are chronicles of Middle Ages, medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Genesis flood narrative, Deluge, dated as 2,242 Anno Mundi, years after crea ...

, as ''Machaire Stefanach'', and in

Annals of Ulster The ''Annals of Ulster'' () are annals of History of Ireland, medieval Ireland. The entries span the years from 431 AD to 1540 AD. The entries up to 1489 AD were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrí Ó Luin� ...

in 1530 as ''(an) Machaire Steabhanach''. The origins of the name however are unknown. Irish scholar John O'Donovan alleged that it was named after a ''Steafán'' (Stephen) who was the son of ''Odhar'', the progenitor of the

Maguire The Maguire ( ) family is an Irish clans, Irish clan based in County Fermanagh. The name derives from the Goidelic languages, Gaelic , which is "son of Odhar" meaning 'Wikt:sallow, sallow' or 'pale-faced'. According to legend, this relates to the ...

s, and a figure from the 10th century. The problem however is that the name Stephen didn't arrive into Ireland until the 12th century when the Normans brought it in with them, and in which case came in the form of ''Estievne'', which became

Gaelicised Gaelicisation, or Gaelicization, is the act or process of making something Gaels, Gaelic or gaining characteristics of the ''Gaels'', a sub-branch of Celticisation. The Gaels are an ethno-linguistic group, traditionally viewed as having spread fro ...

as ''Stiabhna'', ''Sdíomnha'', ''Stiana'', ''Steimhín'' and ''Sleimhne''. The modern Irish forms of ''Steafán'' and ''Stiofán'' are much later borrowings from English. If ''Machaire Steafánach'' involved the Norman name Fitzstephan, which is gaelicised as ''Mac Steafáin'', the proper form would be ''Machaire na Steafánach'', however ''Steafánach'' appears to have the function of an adjective. The closest parallels to other gaelicised Norman names in baronies would be ''Bharóideach'' ( Barretts) and ''Choistealach'' ( Costello). The MacCaffery () sept of the Clan Maguire were centered at Ballymacaffry within this barony. They would become one of the five most powerful families in Fermanagh by 1580.

List of main settlements

* Brookeborough * Lisnaskea * Maguiresbridge

List of civil parishes

Below is a list of civil parishes in Magherastephana: * Aghalurcher (split with barony of Clogher) *Aghavea * Derrybrusk (also partly in barony of Tirkennedy)

References

{{coord missing, County Fermanagh