Tribes of Galway

They were the families of Athy, Blake, Bodkin, Browne, Darcy/D’Arcy, Deane, Font, French, Joyce, Kirwan, Lynch, Martin, Morris and Skerritt.

Galway was besieged and after it surrendered in April 1652, the Tribes had to face the confiscation of their property by the New Model Army.

Cromwell's forces referred to them by the derogatory name, "The Tribes of Galway", which the families later adopted as a mark of defiance.

However, Jacobite defeat in the War of the Two Kings (1689–91), marked the end of the Tribes' once overwhelming political influence on the life of the city.

Garrison members of the Tribes who owned land in Galway and Mayo were protected by the advantageous surrender provisions that were signed on 22 July 1691.