Cotter family

The Cotter family’s historical identity is rooted in the Norse-Gaelic world of the Irish Sea. The forms Mac Coitir and Mac Oitir are Gaelic renderings of a name derived from Óttar, a Norse personal name. Several powerful medieval figures named Óttar operated in Dublin, Munster, the Hebrides and the Isle of Man, but surviving evidence does not establish a complete, continuous genealogy linking all of them to the later Cotters of County Cork. One early figure associated with Munster is Jarl Óttar, also called Óttar the Black, who appears in accounts of Viking activity around Cork and Waterford. Another Óttar, probably from the Western Isles, seized control of Dublin in 1142. He ruled until 1148, when he was killed by the kin of Ragnall mac Torcaill. His son Thorfinus filius Oter became an influential prince in the Hebrides and helped advance the authority of Dubgall, son of Somerled, during the political struggles of 1154–1155. A later family tradition identifies Therulfe MacCotter as Thorfin’s son and Óttar of Dublin’s grandson. Therulfe is associated with an Ostmen fleet from Cork that attacked Norman forces under Adam de Hereford in 1173 or 1174. The expedition was defeated in a naval engagement near Dungarvan or Youghal, after which Therulfe returned to Cork and reportedly settled there. His marriage to a woman identified as Joane or Johanna le Fleming is part of the same traditional genealogy. These relationships are plausible but rest heavily on a lost family manuscript and later summaries rather than an uninterrupted body of contemporary records. The Cotters’ position changed after the Anglo-Norman conquest. As an Ostmen family, they occupied an ambiguous position between the new English administration and the Gaelic population. The 1290 petition of Maurice Makotere illustrates this problem. He argued that his kin were of foreign rather than Irish status and had paid for recognition as Englishmen. Edward I’s decision treated Maurice as a “pure Englishman” in the legal language of the period, although the family was neither ethnically English in the modern sense nor culturally detached from Ireland. The family became firmly established in County Cork. By the late medieval period, the two most prominent branches were associated with Coppingerstown and Inismore, also called Great Island. The surname generally shifted from MacCotter to Cotter in English-language records during the seventeenth century, while Mac Coitir remained the Irish form. Ballymacotter, Farrancotter and Scartmacotter are among the Cork place-names associated with the family’s presence. The branches were sometimes described by color, including the Yellow Cotters of Inismore and the Red Cotters associated with another branch. The Coppingerstown family held land and maintained connections with other established Munster families. In 1585, John Cotter of Coppingerstown is recorded as transferring 174 acres to his son with instructions that the property be shared with cousins according to family custom. William Cotter, the head of the branch during the mid-seventeenth-century Commonwealth period, later forfeited lands under the Cromwellian settlement in connection with the wars of the 1640s. The family’s wider Irish Sea connections remain visible in records from the Hebrides, Orkney and the Isle of Man. Murdo MacCotter is described in fifteenth-century traditions as a warrior connected with the MacLeods and later as an ensign bearer for the Macleans, although his relationship to the Cork Cotters cannot be confirmed. On Man, MacCotter developed into Cottier, a name that must be distinguished from the unrelated English surname of the same form. Over time the Cotters became Gaelicized in culture and were associated with Irish-language poets, writers and patrons of Gaelic literature.

• 1585

  Coppingerstown land transfer is recorded

  [1]Cotter familyen.wikipedia.org

  John Cotter of Coppingerstown transferred 174 acres to his son subject to sharing arrangements with cousins.

• Óttar dies at the Battle of Santwat

  [1]Cotter familyen.wikipedia.org

  A Norse or Hebridean leader named Óttar is recorded as dying in a battle on the Isle of Man against forces led by MacManus or Macmaras. Later Cotter traditions associate this figure with the family’s wider Óttar lineage, although the link is not proven.

• Óttar takes control of Dublin

  [1]Cotter familyen.wikipedia.org

  Óttar, identified in Irish sources as Oitir Mac mic Oitir, seized the kingdom of Dublin and ruled there until 1148.

• Óttar of Dublin is killed

  [1]Cotter familyen.wikipedia.org

  Óttar was reportedly killed treacherously by relatives of Ragnall mac Torcaill, ending his rule in Dublin.

• Thorfin campaigns in the Hebrides

  [1]Cotter familyen.wikipedia.org

  Thorfinus filius Oter helped Dubgall, son of Somerled, assert authority over the Hebrides and secured submissions from local chieftains.

• Therulfe participates in the Cork Ostmen expedition

  [1]Cotter familyen.wikipedia.org

  Therulfe MacCotter is traditionally connected with a 35-ship Ostmen expedition from Cork against the Normans. The fleet was defeated near Dungarvan or Youghal.

• Maurice Makotere receives recognition as an Englishman

  [1]Cotter familyen.wikipedia.org

  Edward I recognized Maurice Makotere and his kin as legally entitled to the rights of Englishmen after Maurice’s petition concerning the status of the Cotter community.

Not applicable as a commercial brand; the Cotter family is a historical lineage and surname tradition.

1. 1Cotter familyen.wikipedia.org