In the year 1090 a congress was held on the banks of Lough Neagh where the two princes, Murtagh and Mac Loughlin (or O'Loughlin), agreed to divide the kingdom of Ireland between them, the former ruling Leath Mogha, or the southern half, and the latter Leith Cuin, or the northern moiety. On this occasion they pledged themselves by the most solemn oaths, "upon the relics of the saints of Erin, and the crozier of St. Patrick." At this meeting the kings of Connaught and of Meath were also present, and gave, as did also Murtagh, hostages to the head of the Hy-Niels; but if this was an admission of his claims to the chief sovereignty, it was cancelled by a similar tender of hostages to Murtagh by the new chief monarch, M'Loughlin, who, notwithstanding this solemn convention, was engaged in hostilities with the king of Thomond in this very year, and obliged to do him homage. In 1094 Murtagh again invaded Leinster and Meath, defeated O'Connor Faly; attacked the Meathians, and having slain Donald O'Melaghlin, king of Tara, divided his territories between his two brothers.

According to Sir James Ware, a present of Irish pearls was made in the year 1094, by the bishop of Limerick, to Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, by whom the present was graciously received.

In the years 1095 and 1096 peace prevailed in consequence of a pestilence which the annalists say spread over all Europe, and carried off a fourth of the population of Ireland, including many persons of distinction, and amongst the rest Godfrey Erenach. In the meantime Murtagh had employed himself in rebuilding Kincora, and, having completed the work of re-edification, once more undertook an expedition as far as Louth, where, however, by the interposition of the bishop of Armagh, the effusion of blood was prevented.

In the year 1101 Murtagh convoked a great assembly at Cashel, and made a donation to the church, such as "no king had ever made before," granting Cashel to the "religious of Ireland in general without any claim of layman or clergyman upon it," as the annalists express it, thus dedicating the seat of the Munster kings to God and to St. Patrick, who had there preached the Gospel to Engus, king of Munster and his court.

It was about the time of this splendid donation to the church that Murtagh made his famous expedition into Ulster, and, having led a large body of troops into Innis-owen, devastated the peninsula, destroyed the churches, and, in revenge for the destruction of Kincora, utterly demolished the venerable palace of the Hy-niells, called Aileach or the Eagle's Nest, ordering his soldiers to carry away the very stones to Limerick in their provision bags. In the year 1103 Murtagh sustained a decisive defeat from Macloghlin, on

Annals Innisfail, an. 1074 (recte 1090).

• Four Masters, 1090.

3 Annals of Innisfallen, 1101.

Mr. O'Curry adds that "with these stones [which the soldiers brought in their sacks] Murtagh O'Brien afterwards built a parapet upon the top of his royal palace, (which is situate on the site of the present Cathedral of Limerick) as a perpetual memorial of his victory over the ancient enemies of his house." Mr. O'Curry adds, "I may mention that this was not a wanton deed of destruction on the part of O'Brien, but a retaliation for a similar insult which the Northern bands, two hundred years before that, offered to the Dalcassians, when they made a sudden and unexpected rush into that country, and cut down, and carried away by force, from the celebrated woods of Creatalach (Cratloe, I believe) as much prime oak as roofed and adorned the same palace of Aileach." The Grainan of Aileach is situate in the county of Donegal, about a mile from the county of Derry, and on the top of a mountain 802 feet high, to which it has given its name of Grainan. The Ordnance Survey of Londonderry (page 217) gives a graphic description and account of this very curious and celebrated ancient construction; and we refer the reader to that extremely interesting volume for the fullest particulars on the subject.

the plains of Cobha in Tyrone,' on which occasion the royal tent and many valuable jewels were captured. The following years are chiefly occupied with resultless campaigns between Murtagh and Macloughlin, and the interposition of the clergy in bringing about temporary pacifications. In 1114, say the annals, "a great fit of sickness attacked Murtagh O'Brien, so that he became a living skeleton, and resigned his kingdom; and Diarmuid (his brother) assumed the kingdom of Munster after him without permission." During Murtagh's absence in Leinster, Thomond was invaded by Torlogh O'Connor, king of Connaught, who plundered the country as far as Limerick, and carried off spoil and prisoners. On this occasion Donald O'Brien, son of Teige, was slain while defending his country against the invaders. In the second year after also, 1116, Torlogh O'Connor again invaded Thomond, and advancing without resistance, demolished Kincora as well as the fort of Boromha, which had been erected by Brian Boru-an insult which the Dalcassians vainly attempted to avenge under Dermod, brother of Murtagh O'Brien, who led an army into Connaught, but was repulsed and obliged to make a precipitate retreat. In 1117, Thomond was again invaded by the forces of Connaught, commanded by Brian, son of Morrogh O'Flaherty, and the son of Cathal O'Connor, who defeated the Munster troops first at Leacan in West Thomond, and afterwards at Latteragh in Ormond, with still greater loss. The death of Dermod O'Brien was followed in a year by that of his brother Murtagh. This event took place in 1119, and this eminent prince, whose character ranked so high in his lifetime that he was often consulted by the king of England, Henry I., was buried in the cathedral of Killaloe, which, from the time of the donation of Cashel to the Church, to the period of the Anglo-Norman invasion, became the residence of the descendants of the illustrious Brian Boru.

Murtagh had three sons, Domhnal, appointed Governor of Dublin, who embraced a monastic life in 1118; Mahon, the ancestor of the Mac Mahons of Corkabaskin, and Kennedy, of whom there is no further notice. Murtagh O'Brien, as Malmsbury, a contemporary author, informs us, made alliances with other foreign princes besides Henry I. of England. He gave one of his daughters to Arnulph de Montgomery, eldest son of the Earl of Arundel in England, whom he is said to have assisted in his rebellion against Henry I.; and another to Sicard, son of Magnus king of Norway. Keating states his belief that Murtagh died at Armagh. He was the last supreme monarch of his race.

Annals of Four Masters.

2 About this time took place the celebrated Synod of Uisneach, in Westmeath, presided over— according to the Abbe M'Geoghegan, by Gilbert, Bishop of Limerick, under circumstances hereafter to be referred to.

3 Annals of Four Masters.

Malmsbury De Reg. Angle, lib. v.

CHAPTER V.

ANNALS OF THOMOND.

SIR James Ware and O'Flaherty' are of opinion that parties were so evenly balanced after the death of Murtagh O'Brien, that for seventeen years after that event no dynast was sufficiently powerful to assume the title of monarch of Ireland. But after the death of Donald Mac Loughlin, who reigned without competition during the two years that he survived Murtagh, Turlogh O'Connor, son of Roderick, king of Connaught, is considered to have the fairest claim, and is accordingly set down by most historians as the next monarch of Ireland. Some, however, only assign to Turlogh the rank of king of Leath-Cuin, while Connor O'Brien is regarded as possessing an equitable claim to be considered monarch of Leath-Mogha.

Turlogh, although a brave prince, did not disdain to avail himself of the arts of policy to strengthen his own interest to the prejudice of O'Brien. He sowed dissensions between the Eugenians and Dalcassians, touching their claims to alternate succession to the throne, and succeeded in creating temporary divisions amongst the Dalcassians themselves. In the year 1124, O'Connor constructed a fleet on Lough Derg, conveyed them across the falls of the Shannon, at Doonas, plundered the country of the Hy-Conaill, at Foynes' Island, and captured the fleet of Desmond.-Cormac Macarthy, the king of Desmond, was shortly after defeated by O'Connor, near Kilkenny, and obliged to seek an asylum in the monastery of Lismore. But O'Brien, having effected a reconciliation between the members of his own family, by giving Torlogh, Thomond, west of the Shannon; and the other brother, Ormond, proceeded in the same year, 1127, to Lismore, and, with the consent of the Eugenian chiefs, restored Cormac, dethroned his brother Donough, set up by O'Connor, and forced him to fly with his adherents into Connaught. In the year 1135, Cormac invaded Thomond, and was opposed by an ancestor of the Macnamaras, CUMARA, i.e. the "Dog of the Sea," who was slain in the battle.-Cormac was defeated at Clonkeen-Modinog, near Cashel, on which occasion several of the princes of the Eugenians, together with O'Loghlin, king of Burren, were left dead on the field. The next year, 1136, is given as the date of Turlogh's recognition as supreme sovereign, although O'Brien had just given decided proofs of undiminished vigor, by routing the united armies of the king of Leinster and the Danes of Dublin, after which he had led his victorious troops into Connaught, when an arrangement was entered into between O'Brien and O'Connor, by the interposition, or under the sanction of the archbishop of Tuam.

In the war between Connor O'Brien and Macarthy, O'Brien was supported by Dermot Macmorrough, king of Leinster, who obtained an unfortunate notoriety by bringing the English into Ireland. This happened in 1137; and the new allies, assisted by a fleet of the Danes of Dublin and Wexford, having besieged Waterford, Donogh Macarthy was compelled to submit, and to give hostages of the Desies and the Danes of Dublin, as a return for their services. Connor, now styled Lord of Thomond and Ormond, gave hostages to the king of Leinster, for defending Desmond for him from the Macarthies; and thus it appears that Turlough's claim to the monarchy was now admitted, 2 Annals of Innisfail, Munster Annals Apud Vallancy.

1 Ogygia.

Annals of Four Masters.

4 Ibid. Ad. An, 1133.

even by O'Brien himself, though so fiercely appropriated by the O'Briens for more than a hundred years. In the next year, 1138, the Annals of the Four Masters' mention the treacherous assassination at Cashel, of Cormac, the king and bishop, the founder of the beautiful church still called Cormac's Chapel, the murderer being Turlogh, son of Dermod O'Brien, who afterwards succeeded to the crown of Thomond. Thus the Mac Carthies were expelled, and Connor O'Brien was now left in sole possession of the crown of Munster, to which he added that of the Danes of Dublin, against whom he marched an army in 1142, and forced their submission. In the next year Connor O'Brien died at Killaloe, where he was interred in the Cathedral, and was succeeded by his next brother Turlogh. Connor died possessed of all the rights and powers annexed to the sovereignty of Leath Mogha. He was a prince of great courage, perseverance, and ability; and though he had committed in his various expeditions several acts of spoliation on the Church, he is stated in the records of the Abbey of St. Peter at Ratisbon, to have founded and supported it while he lived, and to have sent munificent presents in aid of the Crusaders to Lothaire, the Roman Emperor.-Connor was surnamed na Catheragh, or "of the cities," on account of the many he founded and improved, says O'Halloran, which also accounts for his other nickname of "spattered robe"-according to others from his having built or strengthened a fort on Lough Ree.

Turlough, the brother and successor of Connor O'Brien, whose son Murtagh was obliged to content himself with Thomond, began his reign by a war with Turlough O'Connor and an invasion of Leinster. He was set upon the throne of Limerick by Murtagh M'Niell of the line of Heremon, who succeeded to the monarchy of Ireland. In punishment of O'Connor's raid into Munster, in sustainment of the claims of Connor, grandson of MurtaghMore O'Brien, Turlough O'Brien marched into Connaught, and cut down the Ruaidh Rheithigh (the red birch tree of Hy-Fiachra Aadhne, under which the kings were inaugurated), and demolished its stone fort, but returned without effecting any important results, and in 1144 was reconciled to O'Connor at Terryglass, in Ormond-though, as we learn from the Four Masters, the truce only lasted a year, the next year having been signalised by so many predatory excursions that Ireland was made "a trembling sod," to use the expressive language of these annalists. Turlough founded a monastery for the Cistercian monks in 1148, the great monastery of Nenay, or Commogue, in the county of Limerick, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin.

In the year 1149, the King of Munster once more led an army into Connaught, destroying the Dun or Castle of Galway. In the next year he marched to Dublin, plundering Slane, in Meath, on his way, and exacted hostages from the Danes of Dublin. In the following year (1151), while absent in West Munster, opposing the Macarthies, he was deposed by his brother, Teige Gle, whom he had released from prison, assisted by the king

1 Ibid. Ad. An. 1138.

Ibid. Ad. An. 1134.

"In the Chronicles of Reinsburgh or Ratisbon, in Germany, it is related that Dyonisius, Christianus and Gregory, three successive Irish Abbots, of the Benedictine Monastery of St. James's at the west gate of Ratisbon, sent their own Irish messengers at three several times into Ireland with the Emperor Conradus's letters recommending them. To these messengers was delivered so great a sum by the aforesaid Conor O'Brian, otherwise Calla Slapper Sallach, King of North Munster, or Limerick, that thereby their cloister was from the very foundation, in a short time, rebuilt so magnificently that it surpassed all in those days; and besides, with said money, the monks purchased for their maintenance, both within the town of Ratisbon, and in the country, a perpetual revenue and estate, and notwithstanding all, a great quantity of said money was still remaining.-Peter Walsh.

Annals of Four Masters, 1143.

5 Ibid, 1145.

of Connaught, who, invited by Teige Gle, and joined by Dermot Macmorrogh, advanced into Munster, and ravaged the country, until they reached Moinmore, or the Great Bog, which, according to Dr. O'Donovan,' is Monimore, in the parish of Emly, Barony of Clanwilliam, and county Tipperary. In this fiercely contested battle, the armies of Leinster and Connaught, led by Roderick, whose troops had once more destroyed Kincora, during their late invasion of Munster, were opposed by O'Brien, accompanied by the Dalcassians alone; and, notwithstanding the desperate valour of these noble warriors, were completely successful. The army of Munster was totally defeated, and the king of Thomond, with his army, left dead on the field."

Altogether there fell of the Mononians five thousand men. The loss on the other side was severe, but not at all to be compared with that of the army of Munster, which the monarch now divided into two principalities, appointing the two treacherous Munster princes its rulers. Roderick, the last monarch of Ireland of Milesian descent, now entered Thomond, and having proceeded as far as Croom, which he burned, returned after the capture of great spoils. The unfortunate Turlogh O'Brien having ineffectually attempted to procure shelter among the Danes of Limerick, fled to Ulster, where he was sheltered by the native chieftains, to whom he was able to make ample recompense for their hospitality, having carried with him many jewels and valuables to the number of sixty, besides the drinking horn of Brian Boru, and one hundred and twenty ounces of gold. In the arrangement which followed the defeat of Turlogh, Desmond fell to Dermod M'Carthy, and Thomond to Teige O'Brien. The fortunes of Turlogh O'Connor had scarcely obtained the ascendant over those of O'Brien when a new rival appeared in the person of Murtagh O'Loughlin (MacLoughlin or O'Neill), representative of the royal Hy-Niells of Tyrone, and the host and champion of the king of Munster, in whose favour he formed a league of the Ulster princes, and having conquered Turlogh O'Connor, replaced Turlogh O'Brien on his throne, or as the Four Masters say, to one-half of his kingdom. On the return of Teige O'Brien into Thomond he was barbarously deprived of his sight by his brother Dermod Finn, and died the next year, 1154. Turlogh O'Brien having made submission three years after his restoration, Roderick, his father, incurred the resentment of O'Neill, who, accompanied by Dermod MacMurrough and his troops, entered Desmond, and exacted the submission of the Macarthies. He next laid siege to Limerick, then chiefly inhabited by Danes, drove out Turlogh O'Brien, expelled the Dalcassians from Thomond, and divided Munster between Dermod Macarthy, whose father had been murdered, as before mentioned, at Cashel, and Connor, the son of Donald O'Brien, in whose person, as the senior representatives of Murtagh-More O'Brien, the

1 Note to Four Masters, 1151.

• Amongst the families still extant, who lost some of their members in this second Clontarf, the Annals of the Four Masters give the following from the book of Lecan:-"The following were the chieftains that were here slain :-Muicertagh, son of Conchovar O'Brien, the second best man of Dalgais; Lughaidh, son of Donald O'Brien, two of the Hy-Kennedigh (O'Kennedy's); eight of the Hy-Deaghaidh (O'Deas), with Flahertach O'Dea; nine of the Hy-Seanchain (O'Shannons or Sextons); five of the Hy-Cuinn (O'Quins); five of the Hy-Grada (O'Gradys), with Aneslis O'Grada; twenty-four of the Ui-Aichir (O'Hehirs); the grandson of Eochaidh Ua-Loingsy (O'Lynchy or O'Lynch); four of the Ui-Neill Buidhe (Yellow O'Neills); and five of the Ui-Eachthiern (Ahearnes or O'Hearns); with numbers of good men besides them.

This was a changeable, windy, stormy winter, with great rain. Foirdhealbhach Ua Briain went to Luimneach, but he did not get shelter in Munster; and he took many jewels with him, i.e. ten score ounces of gold, and sixty beautiful jewels, besides the drinking horn of Brian Boroimhe, and he divided them among the chiefs of Silmuiredagh, &c. &c. (the O'Connors of Connaught and other chiefs, the O'Rourkes and the O'Farrells.)-Annals of the Four Masters, 1151.