the appointment of bishops. Shortly after his accession, in June, 1265, Hugh O'Conor, as King of Connaught, wrote to Henry, praying him "to give to the messenger of the Dean and Chapter of 'Akadensis' (Achonry), the Royal license and assent to the election of a bishop in their church," in which a vacancy had occurred.1 Shortly before, the king's right to this prerogative had been recognised by Felim in the case of the see of Elphin, for which there were two rival candidates, Milo O'Conor, and Thomas, Abbot of Boyle, and many conflicting and contradictory representations were made as to the validity of each election. The dispute in this case was settled by the death of Milo, when Thomas's appointment was sanctioned.

This recognition of certain sovereign rights on the part of the King of England did not prevent the Irish king from claiming and exercising the rights of a subordinate sovereign in his own territory; and although some writers have asserted that Felim O'Conor was the last recognised King of Connaught, there can be no doubt that Hugh, as well as many of his successors, exercised these rights in as full and ample a manner as Felim himself. In their exercise, Hugh O'Conor, in 1266, deposed Art O'Rourke, Chief of Breifny, and set up Conor O'Rourke in his place; and in the same year the English and Welsh settlers in West Connaught having displeased him, M'Dermot and O'Hara were sent to chastise them, and many prisoners were brought in from them to O'Conor.

In the following year Hugh O'Conor being "seized with a grievous. disease, the report of which spread through all Ireland," his old foe, De Burgh, made an incursion into Roscommon, whilst others amongst the English settlers plundered the territory at present forming the county of Sligo. Having partially recovered from his illness, Hugh marched to Athlone, attacked and defeated the English, but his health again giving way, he was unable to follow up this victory.

It had long been the wise custom of the English to erect, wherever they got a footing in the country, strong castles, in which they placed garrisons to protect their settlers, and to overawe the Irish natives. In 1269, the castle of

'This letter, addressed "From Odo O'Konchur, King of Connaught, to the K.," is preserved amongst the series of "Royal Letters," No. 2,458, and is noted in Calendar of State Papers by Sweetman.

State Papers, Sweetman's Calendar.

Bagwell's Ireland under the Tudors, Vol. I., p. 62.

Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 1266.

Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 1267.

Sligo, which had been destroyed by Hugh, was restored by Fitzgerald. In 1262, as before remarked, the site for a castle at Roscommon had been laid out, but at that time no further progress was made with it. A new justiciary,1 Robert de Ufford, having come to Ireland, he determined to carry out, if pos sible, the intentions of his predecessor. The illness of the King of Connaught furnished an opportunity for doing this; and in 1269 the castle of Roscommon, which subsequently passed through so many vicissitudes, was first erected.

In the following year, Walter M'William Burke (then Earl of Ulster),? observing the increasing power and popularity of the King of Connaught, collected an army to destroy him.3 The justiciary, De Ufford, having joined the expedition, the united English army marched first to Roscommon, then to Elphin, and then to Portlecce (near Jamestown), where they encamped. Next day the Earl of Ulster crossed the Shannon, and proceeded with a detachment northward to a ford on the same river, called Ath-cara-Connell.

Meanwhile Hugh O'Conor, who had for some time been aware of this preparation to crush him, had all his forces in readiness. He was joined by Turlough OBrien, the implacable enemy of the Earl of Ulster, and the united Irish army encamped on the plain of Moy Nish, on the east side of the Shannon. When the earl arrived at Ath-cara-Connell, he was attacked by a detachment of the forces of the King of Connaught, who slew some of his troops, after which all the English crossed the Shannon, and encamped in Moy Nish, not far from their adversaries. The justiciary having learned the number and position. of the forces opposed to him, advised the Earl of Ulster to make peace with Hugh, and to deliver to him his brother William Oge, as a hostage, whilst Hugh himself should come to the earl's tent to arrange the terms of peace. To this the Earl of Ulster agreed; but when his brother William Oge came to O'Conor's tent, he was seized and his attendants slain.

A.D. 1269.-"The castle of Roscommon was built by Robert de Ufford, Lord Justice of Ireland, taking advantage of the illness of Hugh, King of Connaught, who on that account could not engage the English in battle, or oppose the building of the castle; and Connaught was plundered a hundred times over by the English before his recovery.”—Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 1269.

"The Annals of Loch Cè have the following account of this:-' A new justiciary came to Erinn from the King of the Saxons. He proceeded to Connaught, accompanied by the foreigners of Erinn, and a castle was erected at Roscommon by them, and the reason it was erected was that Hugh O'Conor was at that time in sickness and ill-health.'"

* Walter was son of the great Richard de Burgh, and married the daughter and heiress of De Lacy, Earl of Ulster.

3 Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 1270.

Q

When information of this seizure of his brother reached the ears of the Earl of Ulster, he was filled with indignation, and is reported to have "passed the night sleepless in sadness and sorrow;" and early next morning he marched with his forces to Ath-an-chip, to give battle to O'Conor, who "behaved himself as a fierce and froward lion about his prey, without sleeping or taking rest, so that he did not suffer his enemies to take refection or rest." "1

When the English arrived at the ford, they met Turlough O'Brien face to face, and the earl, recognising his deadly enemy, rushed on him and slew him at once. O'Conor immediately after came up with his forces, and a sanguinary conflict ensued, in which the Connaught men poured down upon the English so impetuously with horse and foot, that they broke through their van and forcibly destroyed their rear. In this conflict nine of the chief English knights were slain, together with Richard de Burgh, surnamed "of the wood," one of the earl's brothers; and the earl himself escaped with difficulty, and died soon after."

The exact number of those slain in this engagement is nowhere recorded, but the effect of the battle was most decisive, and after it O'Conor's power in Connaught became supreme.

One of his first acts after the battle was to execute William Oge de Burgh, in revenge for Turlough O'Brien, whom the earl had slain with his own hand. He then proceeded to consolidate and establish his authority, and, as one of the means for so doing, set about destroying the fortresses and castles which had been erected within his dominions by the English. The first castles which he razed were Ath Angaile, in Corran, Castlemore Costelloe, in Mayo, Kilcolman, in the vicinity of the latter, Rinnduin, at St. John's, near Lough Ree, and Uillin Uanagh, near Athlone. In 1271 he demolished the castle of Templehouse, in county Sligo, and Ballyleague, near Lanesboro', and in 1272 the castle of Roscommon, the latest and strongest fortress erected by his enemies for the purpose of subduing him.

Having destroyed these fortresses, Hugh next proceeded to Leinster, and attacked the English in Meath, devastating the country as far as Granard; after which he returned to Connaught, having broken down the bridge over the Shannon at Athlone.

In this year Henry III., King of England, died, and was succeeded by his son, Edward I., who was proclaimed king on the 16th November.

2

Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 1270.

1270.-The following reference to this battle occurs in Cox's History:-"The King of Connaught in plain field defeated Walter Burke, and killed a great number of nobles and knights, especially Richard and John Verdon, and a great famine and pestilence spread all over Ireland.”