Out Of His Tree : Hispanic Celt

The US Hispanic Heritage month began last week. So here’s a genea-biology of a Hispanic lgbt writer, Antonio Hoyos y Vinent (1882-1940).

Its fitting that ancient Spain is one of the oldest locations of the Celts because Antonio inherits Celtic blood from 2 very different countries. He also descends from the great Spanish hero El Cid, though not through the bloodline you might expect.

The Hoyos family originates from El Hoyo de Pinares in central Spain in the heart of the ancient Celto-Iberian lands. The male line can be traced back to the 9^th century and undoubtedly contains Visigoth and Roman blood as well as Celtic and indigenous Spanish. The family branch to which Antonio belongs settled on the north-western coast of Spain, where some Celto-Iberian culture still survives in the Basque lands. Antonio’s family became Señores de la Torre, de Encina y de Campillo.

Antonio’s great-grandfather Bernábe (1761-1831) married into another family of ancient Spanish blood, the Rubin de Celis family. In 1866 Antonio’s great-uncle was created Marquess of Hoyos and a Grandee of Spain. He died childless ten years later and the title passed to Antonio’s father Isidoro.

Antonio’s mother was Doña Isabell Vinent y O’Neill (1843-1919), daughter of the 1^st Marquess of Vinent. The Vinent family can also be traced back many centuries. Most of this ancestry came from the Balearic Islands and has less Celtic blood. On the death of his mother, who became Marquesa of Vinent after the death of her father, Antonio inherited the title himself and became a Grandee of Spain.

You probably noticed O’Neill in Isabella’s name. Spanish naming convention, just in case you’re not sure, usually assigns the father’s family name followed by the mother’s. You have surely also already guessed where Doña Isabell’s mother comes from. And you’d be wrong! Her mother, Doña Ana O’Neill y Alves was actually Portuguese.

Doña Ana does have Irish blood, though we have to go back to the 1740s to find it. During the wars in Great Britain over Catholic Stuart succession to the British throne many Catholic families were dispossessed of their long-held estates. This included the O’Neill family who were the Princes of Clanaboy (Cloinne Aodhe Buidheo in Gaelic). Prince Feilim O’Neill fled to France where he fought with the French against the British. His grandson settled in Portugal. His descendants have lived there ever since and still enjoy the title of Prince of Clanaboy which is internationally acknowledged and recognised.

It may be interesting to know that the Celts of Ireland are believed to have come from Spain. So, in a way, the Celtic bloodline of the O’Neill’s was returning to its Iberian roots.

Even though both the Hoyos and Vinent families are aristocratic Grandees of Spain there doesn’t seem to be any bloodline to Spanish royalty through them. So where does Antonio Hoyos y Vinent get his descent from El Cid? Surprisingly, through the Irish O’Neills.

One of the joys of genealogy is finding unexpected bloodlines. The diversion of El Cid’s DNA through the Irish line is one of them. Actually, genealogists believe most people of European ancestry is descended from him. I am. The descent to Antonio Hoyos y Vinent is as follows. Each name below is the child of the person/couple named immediately above it. One ancestor of note is King Fernando III of Castile and Léon. His reign united the kingdoms of Castile and Léon. He was canonised as Saint Ferdinand in 1671.

1)    Rodrigo Diáz de Bivar, “El Cid”, d.1099.
2)    Elvira (Ximenes) Diáz de Bivar; married Prince Ramíro de Navarra, Count of Maçon, d.1116.
3)    King Garcías V of Navarre, 1099-1150.
4)    Infanta Bianca de Navarra, d.1158; married King Sancho III of Castile, 1135-1158.
5)    King Afonso VIII of Castile, 1155-1214.
6)    Infanta Berengaria of Castile, 1181-1244; married King Afonso IX of Léon, 1166-1230.
7)    King Fernando III of Castile and Léon, St. Ferdinand, 1200-1252.
8)    Infanta Leonor of Castile, 1239-1307; married King Edward I of England, 1239-1307.
9)     Princess Elizabeth of England, 1282-1316; married Humphrey de Bohun, 4^th Earl of Hereford, 1276-1322.
10)   Lady Elizabeth de Bohun; married James Butler, 1^st Earl of Ormonde, d.1337.
11)   Lady Alianore Butler; married Gerald FitzMaurice, 3^rd Earl of Desmond, d.1398.
12)   James FitzGerald, 6^th Earl of Desmond, d.1463.
13)   Lady Joan FitzGerald, d.1481; married Thomas FitzGerald, 7^th Earl of Kildare, c.1421-1477.
14) Lady Eleanor FitzGerald; married King Conn Mór O’Neill of Tyrone.
15) Conn O’Neill, last King of Tyrone, c.1480-1559.
16) Princess Sorcha O’Neill; married Brian Ballagh O’Neill, Prince of Clanaboy, d.1529.
17) Muirchertach O’Neill, Prince of Clanaboy.
18) Donal O’Neill, Prince of Clanaboy.
19) Conn Boye O’Neill, c.1590-c.1630.
20) Ever O’Niell, c.1625-c.1689.
21) Capt. Feilim O’Neill, c.1660-1709.
22) Capt. Conn O’Neill.
23) João O’Neill, Prince of Clanaboy, 1720-1788.
24) Carlos O’Niell y Ferriera, Prince of Clanaboy, 1760-1835.
25) José Maria O’Neill y Torlades, Prince of Clanaboy, b.1788.
26)   Ana O’Neill y Alves, b.1819; married Antonio Vinent y Vives, 1^st Marquess of Vinent, 1809-1874.
27)   Isabel Vinent y O’Neill, Marquesa of Vinent, 1843-1919; married Isidoro Hoyos y de la Torre, 2^nd Marquess of Hoyos, 1839-1900.
28) Antonio Hoyos y Vinent, 3rd Marquess of Vinent, 1882-1940.