The O'Tooles are remarkable for their unremitting resistance to English attempts to conquer Ireland from the late twelfth century when the Anglo-Norman invasion took place, down to the end of the seventeenth century, when the country was finally subdued. Nor is the name absent from the Roll of Honour in 1798. There territory, though near Dublin, the seat of government, was admirably suited to resistance on account of its wooded and mountainous nature: they possessed an area co-extensive with the small diocese of Glendalough, and it is of interest to recall the fact that their chiefs exercised what practically amounted to the right of nominating the Abbots of Glendalough and the bishops of that diocese up to the time it was united to the Archdiocese of Dublin. Laurence O'Toole, who was afterwards canonized, was one of these abbots. In 1171, though he was Archbishop of Dublin at the time, he took up arms against the Anglo-Norman invaders. Individual O'Tooles who distinguished themselves in the wars against England are too numerous to particularize, and this is also the case with officers of the Irish Brigades in the service of France. O'Tooles also served other European powers in the eighteenth century. On of the latter many, however, be specially mentioned for his part in the dramatic abduction - or rescue - of Maria Clementina Sobieski of Poland prior to her marriage to James III (the "Old Pretender"), for which exploit Capt. Luke O'Toole and his companions were personally decorated by Pope Clement XI. Most of the O'Tooles of the present day are found in Dublin city and county and the adjacent county of Wicklow. There are also an appreciable number in Counties Galway and Mayo, where a branch of the O'Tooles was established at an early date - some authorities regard these as a separate sept. The O'Tooles of Connacht are, according to Hardiman, of dual origin: O'Toole of Inisturk a branch of the O'Malleys, O'Toole of Omey descended from immigrants from the Leinster sept. In Irish the name is O Tuathail. A minor sept in southern Ulster so called have anglicized it as Toal, a well known surname in Co. Monaghan. Apart from St. Laurence O'Toole (1132-1182) and the twelfth to eighteenth century soldiers noticed above, one member of the sept, though not a credit to it, had an interesting career, viz. Adam Duff O'Toole, who ended by being burned alive in Dublin in 1327, having been condemned to death for his advocacy of blasphemous doctrines. It was with Felim O'Toole that Hugh O'Donnell took refuge in Glenmalure after his escape from captivity in Dublin Castle in 15901. Capt. Luke O'Toole was one of the Irishmen who were guillotined as aristocrats during the French Revolution terror. Laurence O'Toole (b. 1722), of Fairfield, Co. Wexford, an officer in the Irish Brigade in France, had eight sons, all of whom served in the French army. The eldest of these. Col. John O'Toole (d. 1823), was created a Count and he is the ancestor of the present Count O'Toole of Limoges.