Viking Heritage Study in Limerick, Galway, Wexford and Roscommon

O Riain

THE Vikings may be invited back to Ireland for the Gathering next year -- but it seems many of them never left.
A team of scientists is to carry out DNA sampling on families in Galway, Limerick, Wexford and Tulsk in Roscommon in a bid to prove a link between the country's oldest families and the Vikings.
"Our primary focus is Wexford, Limerick and Galway, and the Tulsk people are our control group. We're hoping Vikings didn't make it that far," said Dr Catherine Swift, of Mary Immaculate College which is leading the research.
Scientists from the Limerick college will be joined by a team from the University of Leicester to carry out the sampling.
The project is looking for volunteers aged 18 or over from a list of established Viking names. The survey is only targeting men, as it is primarily interested in Y chromosomes.
"One side of the study is the theory that DNA doesn't mutate very much between father and son so it's easy to identify Vikings because the DNA has been handed down directly from father to son," said Dr Swift.
The DNA testing involves a simple cheek swab.
The team also hopes to examine the extent to which the Vikings in different parts of the country intermarried with the native Irish.
"There are Broders in Limerick and Brodericks in Galway. Both are Viking names and we want to know if they are related or not," said Dr Swift.
"Irish surnames have very clear ethnic diversity, whether they are Norse, Norman, English or Irish. We hope to see if the Vikings who settled in Ireland are directly from Norway or if they came via England or Normandy," she added.
The team hopes to incorporate the results into The Gathering celebrations next year.
The samples will be taken between October 20--22.
For more information see www.leicestersurnamesproject.org.uk or contact catherine.swift@mic.ul.ie
- Caroline Crawford
Irish Independent

Interesting enough idea, strange that their not carrying it out in Waterford considering the strong viking presence we have in the city. Wonder why we were never considered for the study.

jad2007

Its to with the clustering of Viking Surnames in certain areas. One of the most common names in Waterford is Power from the Norman De La Poer. Although founded by the Vikings the majority of people in Waterford would have names not readily associated with Vikings. We can thank our friend Strongbow for that. The group behind the city also looked at factors such as emmigration and apparently some areas that were settled by the Vikings did not undergo major demographic change which appeals to the researchers.

On the other hand it could be a sypmtom of the national conspiracy against Waterford.

looksee

Two points - both of which may be wrong, I am not an historian.

One would be that Waterford before Strongbow would appear to have been almost entirely Norse. Though some Irish would have moved/married in in 200 years, there does not seem to be any evidence that the Vikings displaced or moved in with the Irish, Waterford seems to have been created from empty land.

Strongbow then, apparently, slaughtered them all, so Waterford people would be, as Jad2007 says, very largely of Norman origin plus people who immigrated later - a large number of nationalities apparently. So very few of Viking extraction.

The other thing is the discussion about Norse surnames. I understood that surnames were not in use until much later in the Middle Ages than the Vikings. Are these surnames variations on the given 'nicknames' of Viking times? I can see the 'Ericsson' type derivations, but I was not aware that there are many of that type of name common in Ireland? There may well be Norse names, but how do the investigators know they date back to the Vikings?

jad2007

Some examples of Norse surnames would be Broderick and Broders other would be McCaulife or Macmanus ( Son of Olaf, son of Manus).

Now thats not to say that people with those names have any Viking DNA, however the chances are higher if you are from a area with a cluster of those names and you have a viking type surname.

Two areas in Waterford that have Viking placenames are Ballygunner and Ballytruckle. Both of these areas were outside the city and areas were the norse settled when the Normans expelled them from the city. Bally means place off and Gunnar was a norse God as was Thrud.

Finnbar01

Weren't the Normans themselves of viking stock?

looksee

Yes, Norman means North man or Norseman, they were just Vikings who had travelled and settled down the other side of the island of Britain - in France.