cartem vestram. Æd. filio et heredi nostro, sibi nominatim, et heredibus suis super terra Connactie tradere dignemini. Tantum in hoc negotio nostro si placet facturi quod nos et predictus filius noster et tota gens nostra, ad obsequium vestrum et servitium contra omnes inimicos vestros, de cetero merito devotiores et animatiores efficiamur. Ad hoc vestram dignitatem attentius exoramus, quatenus, partem Connactie, scilicet Ubrium et Conmacni et Caled; quam inimicus noster et inimici vestri germanus, videlicet, Willelmus de Lascy detinet; profideli humagio quod vobis prestare desiderat predicto filio nostro tradatis. Et latoribus presentium S. et F. nuntiis nostris fidelibus ex parte nostra fidem adhibere, et responsum vestrum per eosdem nobis significare dignemini : Valete."

Summary in English :—

"To his very dear Lord, Henry, King of England, Lord of Ireland, &c., Kathal, King of Connaught, sends greeting. He believes that Henry has heard through faithful counsellors of himself and his father, K. John, that Kathal had never failed in his fidelity, nor will he ever. He possesses a charter of Connaught from K. John to himself, to his heirs, and to his son and heir Aedh (Hugh), and for the latter he solicits a similar charter from Henry. This would render his son and his people more zealous for the K.'s interest, and he urges his request as Will. de Lacy, brother of the K.'s enemy, holds Ubrium, Conmacni, and Caled in Connaught, which Kathal desires for his son, who was ready to do homage for them. He prays an answer through his messengers, S. & F.," &c.

Both of these letters, in which the kingly plural number is used by Cathal, are distinct proofs that he had never relinquished his kingdom of Connaught, and that in treating with Henry he treated as a king, and was so regarded and acknowledged by the English monarch. The request contained in his last letter appears also to have been granted; as in June, 1224, a mandate was issued to the justiciary "to cause Aedh' (Hugh), son of the King of Connaught, to have for his maintenance Obrun, Conmacin, and Caled, which William de Lacy, the king's enemy, held in Ireland." Cathal Crovedearg did not long survive the writing of these letters; he died in the same year, 1224. A description of his death, and of the portents which accompanied it, is given in the following terms by the annalists3 :

"An awful and strange shower fell this year in Connaught, extending over Hy-Many Sodain, Hy-Diarmeda, and other districts, followed by terrible diseases and distempers among the cattle that grazed on the lands where this shower fell, and their milk produced extraordinary internal diseases in the persons who drank it. It was no wonder that these ominous signs should appear this year in Connaught, for great was the evil and affliction which was suffered this year, namely, the death of Cathal Crovedearg O'Conor, son of Turlough Mor,

'The Irish name Aedh, translated into English as Hugh, is often found entered in documents of this early date as "Odo," "Od," and even "O." In this very mandate, as Cathal is abbreviated into K, so is "Odo " to " O." Annals of the Four Masters, 1224.

Close, 8 Henry III., p. 1, m. 3.

King of Connaught—a man who, of all others, had destroyed most of the rebels and enemies of Ireland. He who most relieved the wants of the clergy, the poor, and the destitute; he who, of all the Irish nobility that existed in his time, had received from God most goodness and greatest virtues, for he kept himself content with one married wife, and from the period of her death till his own led a single and virtuous life. During his time tithes were first collected in Ireland. This just and upright king, this discreet prince, and justly judging hero, died on the 28th day of the summer, on a Monday, in the habit of a grey friar, in the monastery of Knockmoy, which he himself had dedicated to God and granted to the monks, and in which he was interred with due honours and solemnity. He was born at the port of Lough Mask, and was nurtured and educated in Hy-Diarmeda with O'Concannon."

Such is the account given in the Annals of the Four Masters of the death of Cathal Crovedearg; but according to the Annals of Cloonmacnoise, he died at Braycall, in the county Roscommon, near the river Suck. This prince, of whom his countrymen were so proud, and to whom such praise is accorded by the native historians, was undoubtedly a most remarkable man, and endowed with great genius, both in the arts of peace and war. His benefactions to the Church were most numerous. In 1189 he founded the Abbey of Knockmoy in the county of Galway, and in the year of his death he founded another Abbey at Athlone, the Monastery of St. Francis on the east bank of the Shannon. The Abbey of Ballintober in Mayo, of which we give an engraving, stands to the present day as a lasting monument of his munificence, and is still used for weekly divine service, being the only pre-Reformation church in Ireland which has never been forsaken by the people.

Cathal Crovedearg married Mor, the daughter of O'Brien, King of Munster. She died in 1217. By her he had several sons, more than one of whom subsequently succeeded to the throne of Connaught. During his lifetime his eldest son Hugh was a distinguished chieftain and warrior, and on his death, he immediately succeeded to the sovereignty.

'The Abbey of Knock moy was built by Cathal Crovedearg on the spot where, in 1189, he hal gained a great victory over the English. It was called the Abbey "De Colle Victoria." O'Donovan disputes this latter statement. See Note to Annals of the Four Masters, p. 194.

The author of Cambrensis Eversus thus refers to him (Vol. III., p. 309) :—“ Cathal of the Red Hand, King of Connaught, must not be passed over in silence. Gaspar Tongilinus styles him 'the intrepid defender of his country and her laws, the terror of his enemies, the patron of the clergy, the protector of the poor, and distinguished above all his contemporaries for his virtues.' He erected in a short time twelve great monasteries, and endowed them with large properties."

CHAPTER VIII.

A.D. 1224-1233.

HUGH, SON OF CATHAL CROVEDEARG.

(1224-1228.)

HE succession of the son of Cathal Crovedearg to the throne of his father was not left long undisputed. His first cousins, Turlough and Hugh, the sons of the last monarch, Roderic, aided by O'Neill and M'Geraghty, soon rose in rebellion. The latter chieftain, Donough M'Geraghty, who was one of the principal lords of Connaught, had been deposed a short time previously by Hugh O'Conor. In consequence of this, he entertained the bitterest feelings of animosity against him, and persuaded O'Neill to join the sons of Roderic. A sanguinary war immediately broke out, and O'Flaherty of West Connaught, smarting under the injuries inflicted on him during the late reign, joined the malcontents, upon which the desertion of Hugh O'Conor's followers became general; M'Dermot and O'Flynn, of all the chieftains of Connaught, alone adhering to his standard.

O'Neill, who was still regarded by many of the Irish as their superior lord and monarch, lost no time in prosecuting the war. In the year 1225, he marched into the very heart of the Sil Murray, the territory of the O'Conors, and having plundered it, proceeded to Carnfree, where he triumphantly inaugurated Turlough, son of Roderic, as king.

Hugh O'Conor, finding himself deserted by the great mass of his subjects, and unable to meet the forces brought together against him, retired to Athlone, whence he despatched envoys to some of the other Irish princes, and craved their support. His appeal was not fruitless. After some time, he was joined by O'Brien and O'Melachlin, and having enlisted a number of the English in his service, he determined to make an attempt to regain his authority, and marched suddenly into Connaught.