Early recorded Flannerys in Ireland (8th - 18th Centuries)
11th Century
Flannabhra, abbot of the monastery at Iona
The island of Iona lies just off the western coast of Scotland to the north
of County Down. The monastic settlement on Iona was founded by Saint Columcille
in 563. The Annals of the Four Masters record that Flannabhra was abbot of the
monastery around the early part of the eleventh century and died in 1025.
O'Flanura, Bishop of Emly, Counties Limerick and Tipperary 1041 - 1047
The succession of the prelates and members of the cathedral bodies of Ireland has been
preserved for nearly a thousand years. These records provide the earliest use of the
Flannery surname, when O'Flanura was installed Bishop of Emly in 1041. Unfortunately,
his Christian name is not recorded.
A monastery of canons regular was founded here by Saint Ailbe, or Alibeus, who became
its first abbot, and dying in 527, was interred in the abbey. In 1568, the See of
Emly was united by act of parliament to the archbishopric of Cashel, and has been
known thenceforth as the See of Cashel and Emly.