The Early Days:
Whatever mantle Galway City now assumes, its foundations date back to the medieval times when Richard de Burgo, a Norman overlord, set his sights on what was then a flimsy fort and a simple village beside a river estuary. Having captured the outpost with ease, de Burgo then set out to concrete his most westerly position by building a proper fortification to defend this base from the O’Flahertys, the native and wilder Irish. By 1270 work had commenced on enclosing the settlement within walls and the medieval city grew inside a wall encircling eventually an area from the Spanish Arch to the bottom of Eyre Square, from the square to the top of Eglington Street, from Eglington Street to O’Briens Bridge and back along the east bank of the River Corrib.

The Middle Days!
In the middle ages Galway became “the remotest town of European Civilisation”, and numbers swelled in the 13th and 14th centuries with the arrival of Welsh and Norman families who sought protection against the Irish, heralding the commercial resurgence of Galway as a major sea-port and centre of trade with mainland Europe. From these early settlers, the antecedents of the “14 Tribes”, saw Galway develop into an independent city-state with a merchant oligarchy trading in wine, spices, salt, animal products and fish. In its heyday, Galway became the next port after London and Bristol.

The de Burgo family divided in the 14th century with one leading member Ulick renouncing his allegiance to the Crown becoming “more Irish than the Irish themselves”. However in 1488, Galway City growing rich from its continental trade and ever loyal to the Crown, appointed its first mayor and effectively removed the de Burgos from lordship of the town.

Religious Tensions
From then on, direct royal rule was the order of the day and in 1537 the visit of Lord Grey with the express intention of enforcing obedience to the Oath of Supremacy of king over church, heralded a sad era of religious suppression in Galway. In 1596, armies led by Red Hugh O’Donnell laid waste to the county of Galway against those loyal to the Crown, but failed to capture the city itself. The peaceful early years of the 17th century saw Galway at its greatest prosperity but devastation was not far off as religious tension had crept into the relationship between the English crown and its Irish Catholic subjects. The Protestant King of England came under pressure from his parliament to curtail the rights of Catholics, leading to the rebellion in 1641, throughout which the merchants of Galway tread a dangerous line of seeking compromise with the King while sending delegates to the rebel forum in Kilkenny. In 1640s, Civil War broke out in England between King and Parliament. Parliament emerged victorious mainly due to the military skills of Oliver Cromwell and his army.

In 1651 Cromwell’s army under the command of Sir Charles Coote laid siege to the city for nine months. Blockaded from the sea by units of the strongest navy in the world, blocked from the land and with a population of around 6,000, swollen by refugees fleeing from the advancing English forces, with famine threatening and dissent forming, Galway surrendered to Coote’s garrison in 1652. Although terms of surrender were agreed the burden wrought on the city brought the city to its knees.

During the ensuing centuries, the city was but a shadow of its former self and eclipsed by the grandeur and growth of Irish cities such as Dublin and Limerick. The tribal families however continued their merchant businesses, trading in particular with the Gironde region of France and names like Lynch crop up in Bordeaux.