Queen’s county was constituted shireground in the reign ofQueen Mary; and it received its appellation in honour of that sovereign, asKing’s county did in honour of her husband Philip of Spain. The ancienthistory of the district is strictly that of the ancient principalities of Ossoryand Leix. … “Although this district was constituted a separate county in thereign of Mary,” says Brewer, “it received no other additional Englishsettlement than the fort of Maryborough, until the time of Queen Elizabeth, whenthe Fitzpatricks, instigated by rancorous hatred towards their rivals theO’Mores and O’Conors on one side, and the Butlers and family or Morres onthe other, proved the most efficient allies of government in completing thesubjugation of a tract of county, so truly formidable whilst its nativepossessors remained united. It was chiefly during the government of Sir HenrySydney that the power of the O’Mores, whod had formerly exercised almostunlimited sway in these parts, was finally broken. In obedience to the dreadfultemper of the times, this object was achieved by the unsparing use of the sword.The followers of the O’Mores and their dependent septs, were banished into thesouthern counties of Cork and Kerry, then nearly depopulated. At this juncture,many respectable English families, to whom lands destitute of hereditary ownerswere granted by the Crown, fixed themselves permanently in the Queen’s county,their descendants, in several instances, still holding a distinguished placeamong the old resident gentry. Seven of these families, whose founders bore aprominent share in subduing the natives, and in building forts and castellatedhouses for the defence of their estates, acquired the appellation of the SevenTribes. The ‘tribes’ so called are the families of Cosby, Hartpole,Bowen, Barrington, Ruish, Hetherington, and Hovington or Ovington.  Inthe reign of Charles I very considerable grants of land in this county were madeto Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, which now constitute the extensive manor ofVilliers. This great lordship descended to the late Duke of Chandos; by means ofwhose only daughter, and sole heir, it is now the property of his Grace the Dukeof Buckingham and Chandos. In the same reign also, and during the busy years ofthe Republic, the gentry of the county received additions in the families ofPygot ,Cook, Prior, Parnell, Pole &c. Soon after the accession of WilliamIII, the list of distinguished residents or possessors of estates was fartherenriched by the noble families of Vesey, Viscount de Vesey, of Dawson, Earl ofPortarlington; and also of Staples, Burrows, Johnson, and others of highrespectability.”