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present day." At an earlier period the O'Tracies are mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters as chief of these territories.1

Decies and Desmond together, showed them the letters patent, and then took forcible possession of that extensive country. The King's Treasurer refused to receive the rent due to the crown, the King's Justice refused to acknowledge him as owner of these lands; but FitzThomas eventually succeeded against them both, was created Earl of Desmond, and left these estates to his posterity. And by it a part of them is still held; for the Knights of Glin and Kerry are Geraldines of the Desmond Branch; the great Mitchelstown estate has descended to the Earls of Kingston, as direct heirs to the White Knights, also Geraldines; and FitzAnthony's lordship of Decies, passing to the younger son of one of the Earls of Desmond, is still possessed by his direct heir, the fair lady in whom the great family of Fitzgerald of the Decies ended, having given her hand and property to a Villiers, from which marriage Lord Stuart de Decies descends.

1 Maurice Regan thus continues the history of the king's movements, as we find him translated in the quaint version by Sir George Carew, Lord President of Munster, contained in Harris's Hibernica::-

"The Kynge, making but little staie at Waterford, marched into Dublin, whych Citie the Earle deliverid unto him, who committed the keepeinge thereof to Hugh de Lacy.

"After some small abode at Dublyn, the Kynge tooke his Jornay into Mounster, where the Archbushop of Cashell came unto hym; at Lismore he gave Direction for the building of a Castle; from whence he returned into Leinster.

"The Kynge made his aboade at Dublin, and the Earle Richard at Kildare; and in thys Tyme of the Kyng's beinge in Ireland all sorts of Victualles were at excessive Rates.

"While the Kynge remained at Dublin, by Messingers and Intelligence out of England he was certified that his son, the yonge King Henry, had rebelled against him, and that Normandy was in Danger to revolt unto hym.

"This ill news troubled the Kynge beyond all Measure; and inforced him to hasten his return out of Ireland. The Cittie of Waterford he left in the Custodie of Robert Fitz Bernard, and Dublyn unto Hugh de Lacy. Robert Fitz Stephen, Meyler Fitz Henry, and Myles Fitz David, were in a sort restrained, and to remain at Dublyn with Lacy. Befor his departur from Dublyn he gave unto Hugh de Lacy the Inheritance of all Meath, to hold of hym at fifty Knights Fees, and unto John de Courcey he gave all Ulster, if he could but conquer it.

"When the Kynge had taken provisionall Order for the Affaires of Ireland, he went to Weixford, where he imbarqued, and arrived at Portfinan in Wales, halfe a League from St. David's, and in his Companie Miles de Cogan, whom he carryed with him out of Ireland; and from thence with all possible Expedition he passed through England, and so into Normandie.

"The King being departid, the Earl Richard returned into Fernes, and ther he gave his Daughter in Marriage to Robert de Quincy, and with her the inheritance of the Duffren and the Constableship of Leinster, with the Banner and Ensigne of the same; the Wordes of the Author are these

Sa fille i' ad Marie

A Robert de Quincy, lad donc
Iloc esteit le Mariage
Vecent fut le barnage,

A Robert la Donat de Quincy
Et tut le Daffer altreffi

Le Constable de Leynestre

Et l'Ensigne et le Bannere.

His Daughter he married

To Robert de Quincy;

And when the Marriage was solemnised,

He gave to Robert de Quincy

Not only the Duffereyn,

But the Constableship of Leinster,

And the Ensign and Banner thereof.

From thence he went to Kildare, makeing manie incursions unto Ophalie upon O'Dempsie, Lord of that Countrey, who refused to come upon hym, and to deliver Hostages. He gave Maurice de Prendergast (in performance of his promise made unto him when he brought him into Ireland) Fernegenal, for the service of ten Knights, which was afterwards conferred on Robert Fitz-Godobert, but by what means he obtained it I know not."-Maurice Regan's Fragment of the History of Ireland.

This Fragment is now published by Pickering, the text carefully made out by the eminent scholar, Francisque Michel. And it appears that the poet sets out by stating, not that he is Maurice Regan, but that he obtained his information direct from Maurice Regan.

* PRENDERGAST.-Maurice de Prendergast, one of the most eminent of the companions of Strongbow in the conquest of Ireland, was Lord of Prendergast, a castle and small parish near Haverford West, in Pembrokeshire. He is traditionally reported to have been related to Strongbow by his mother. Dowling's Annals style him "nobilis." Holinshed says he was "a gentleman, born and bred in South Wales;" a righte valiante captain," and a "lustie and hardie man, born about Milford, in West Wales." Whilst Giraldus gives him likewise the character of being "vir probus et strenuus."

He was the first to bring reinforcements to Robert Fitz-Stephen, reaching Ireland the day after that celebrated soldier, having under his command two ships, ten knights, and sixty archers. This was in May, 1169; Dowling says on the 2nd of that month.

The rebellion of the king of Desmond's son against his father, who had put him to death, is explained by the fact of these facile surrenders of the

We find him taking a prominent part in many of the ensuing fights, which are graphically described in the contemporary poem, the "Conquest of Ireland," partly derived from information furnished by Maurice Regan, the secretary of king Dermod.

In the great fight with the Prince of Ossory, when that dynast had almost defeated the joint army of king Dermod and the English, it was the personal influence and words of Maurice de Prendergast that persuaded the allies to make their third and successful assault on the fortifications erected by Donald of Ossory. His address is given in the "Conquest of Ireland," Juie 666, which may be modified into French as follows:

"Seigneurs barons communals [comrades and fellow soldiers]
Hastivement passons nous icel val.

Que nous fussions en la montagne !
En dur champ, et en la plaine!
Car armes vous aimez, les plusieurs
Vassals hardies et combateurs:
Et les traiteres sont tous nus
Hauberts ni brunes (?) n'ont vetus ;

Pourquoi, si tournous en sur champ

Ils n'auront de mort garant." [No security against death].

We thus find that the superiority of the English arms and armour was an important ingredient in the rapid conquest of Ireland.

Dermod M'Morrough eventually became so overbearing to the English, after Strongbow's departure from Ireland, as to disgust many of them, and among others the haughty Maurice de Prendergast. He determined to return to Wales with his retinue, consisting of 200 soldiers. But King Dermod opposing his designs by force and treachery, Maurice joined with Donald, the prince of Ossory, in attacking Dermod with success. But Donald and his Irish could not

act long in cordial alliance with the English, who were under the orders of Prendergast; and after many adventures, the latter eventually fought his way back to Wales. The next year, 1170, however, saw Strongbow and Prendergast on their return to Ireland, with fifteen hundred men; where they landed on the eve of St. Bartholomew; or, as the Anglo Norman has it;

"Solum le dit as ansciens

Bien tost apres, Richard li quens

A Waterford ariva:

Bien quinz cent od sei mena.

La vile Seint Bartholomee

Esteit li quens arrive."-Sec. V. 1501.

We next read of Prendergast as ambassador, jointly with the Archbishop of Dublin, from the Normans besieged in that city to their Irish besiegers. But as the latter would not agree to permit the Norman lords to hold Leinster, even as a fief of Roderick O'Connor, the king of Connaught, the negociation had no result, and eventually the Irish were defeated.

"E plus de mil e cinc cent

L ont ossis de cele gent
E des Engleis i ont naufrè
Ne mes un serjant a pè.
Le champ esteit remis le jor
A Ricard, le bon contur;
Et les Yrreis sunt returnez
Desconfis e debaretez.

Cum Den volait, a cele feis

Remist le champ a nos Engleis;

Tant trovèrent garnesun,

Ble, ferin e bacun,

Desque un an en la citè

Vittaille uvent a plentè."-V. 1950.

The above extract shows us at how early a date the" bacun," for which Limerick has been so long celebrated, was an Irish commodity, as it was from the pillage of Roderick's camp, that the English obtained the "vittaille a plente."

O'Brien, the monarch of Munster, had joined Strongbow, who was his brother-in-law, both having married daughters of MacMorrogh. The gallant Prince of Ossory, deeming it hopeless to contend further with the English, obtained a safe conduct, and visited Strongbow at Idough, where he and the king of Munster were encamped with 2,000 men. Maurice de Prendergast agreed to be his conductor. But when he appeared before Strongbow, the latter violently upbraided him for opposing Dermod, his legitimate monarch; and O'Brien, who coveted the rich lands of Ossory, pressed Strongbow to treat Donald as a traitor.

Irish princes; and it is curious to reflect how easily the same immense property, which now passed from the Mac Carthies to the Geraldines, passed again to other English strangers after the rebellion of the usurping Earl of Desmond, from the descendants of these very invaders. In the latter case the English had no right whatever to transfer the property any more than in the former, for the rebellious Earl of Desmond was not the lawful owner of the property which the English confiscated !1

In the year 1175, according to Ware, who follows the account given by English authors, Henry II. sent Nicholas Prior of Willingford, and William Fitz-Aldelm, ancestor of the De Burgos, to Ireland, with the bull of Pope Alexander III., which confirmed that of Adrian, and was read and approved of in an assembly of bishops at Waterford, conferring on this Prince the title of Lord of Ireland and other privileges. But there is no mention of this in the Irish Annals. After discharging this commission, Fitz-Aldelm and Nicholas, it is stated, repaired to the King in Normandy, when they succeeded so far in prejudicing Henry against Raymond, that he ordered his recall.-Just, however, as he was on the point of departing, O'Brien of Thomond surrounded Limerick with a large force, and the troops refusing to march under any but Raymond, Strongbow was obliged to restore him to

"Le reis O'Brien vet conseiller

At gentil cuntguerrer

Qu'il feit prendre li trecheur

Si li feit livrer a deshonur."-V. 2094.

Nor was O'Brien the only chief inclined to this act of treachery.

"Eli Baruns, san mentir,

Le voleint tuz consentir."

But Prendergast burned with indignation at such a breach of martial honor. He ordered his own retainers to arms, and took instant steps to secure the sanctity of the oath which accompanied the safe conduct to the Prince of Ossory.

"Quent morice le barun

Garniz esteit del traisun,

Sa gent feseit par tut mander
Que euz se fesent tost armer.
Dunt se est Morice escriè:
Baruns, que avez enpense?
Vos feiz avez trespassez,
Vers moi estez parjurez."

He swore by his sword no one should injure the Ossorian; and he carried out his resolution; for Strongbow gave him up that prince, and he brought him back in safety to his own camp, slaying, of the O'Briens, "u nef u diz," nine or ten whom he found pillaging the Prince's territory.

Wearied with this life, but still a warrior even when a monk, Prendergast gave his lands of that name in Pembrokeshire to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, and joined that order. Their chief establishment in Ireland was the famous Hospital of Kilmainham; and of this monastery he was Prior, and died in possession of that dignity in 1205. William, his younger son, was ancestor of the Prendergasts of Mayo, called Mac Maurice after their great ancestor, and who gave their name to the barony of Clanmorris, Claremorris, and other localities in Mayo. Philip, the eldest son, was married to Maude, the daughter of the ill-fated Robert de Quincy, Constable of Leinster, who married Strongbow's daughter by his first marriage, and was slain in battle a few days later. From him descended the Prendergasts of Enniscorthy, Newcastle, Beauver, and Mitchelstown. The latter was formerly described as in the County of Limerick. William de Prendergast of Kilbyde was mayor of Limerick in 1318-See the Plea, No. 88, in the 11th of Edward II. And the name frequently occurs about this time, the family estates extending from Doneraile, by Mitchelstown, to Newcastle, near Clonmel, a mountain district of which the northern slopes still partly belong to the county of Limerick.

It appears from the Irish State Papers that even so late as the year 1508, the Kavenaghs, the representatives of the royal house of Leinster, were paid eighty marks yearly by the English Government as cios dhu, or black rent, besides being allowed £40 by the county Wexford on account of their descent, or rather of their still remaining powers to make themselves dreaded within the limits of their ancient sovereignty.

his command, and ordered him to proceed to Cashel, near which city O'Brien, raising the siege of Limerick, had strongly entrenched himself. On this occasion Raymond was, we regret to say, aided by the chiefs of Ossory and Kinsale, to whose exhortations, as well as to the impetuous valour of Meyler Fitzhenry, Raymond was greatly indebted for the victory which he obtained. The period of Irish subjugation was now not long deferred-though the jurisdiction of the English can hardly be said to have extended beyond the limits of the pale until the reign of James I. The brave king of Thomond was now obliged to ask for peace, and the Irish monarch Roderick, finding it impossible to make head against his enemies, had at last determined to send an embassy to England to make as good terms for himself as he could.1

I The ambassadors appointed to negotiate for the unfortunate Roderick, were Catholicus or Cayley O'Duffy, archbishop of Tuam, the abbot of Clonfert, and "Master Laurence," Chancellor to Roderick, who, according to some writers, was no other than the illustrious patriot St. Laurence O'Toole, who after doing all he could to save the independence of his native country, retired to France where he died. The contracting parties met at Windsor, and the result is thus briefly described in the Leinster Annals:-"Anno 1175, Catholicus O'Duffy came out of England from the Emperor's son, with the peace of Ireland and the royal sovereignty of all Ireland to Rory O'Connor, and his own Corgeadh (province) to each provincial king in Ireland, and their rents to Rory." By this treaty Roderick became a tributary king, but only two kings of the Irish pentarchy, and three of the principal cities, were exempted from his jurisdiction, and we shall find his descendants, as well as those of the king of Thomond, exercising their sovereignty to a late period in the history of Ireland. In the some council Henry appointed an Irishnan named Augustin to the bishopric of Waterford, and sent him to Ireland to be consecrated by Donatus, bishop of Cashel. At this period the following were the chief divisions of Ireland. Desmond, under the Mac Carthys; Thomond under the O'Briens; Hy Kinselagh, or Leinster, under the Hy Kinsallagh line of Mahons; the South Hy Niall under the Clan Colmans, otherwise the O'Malachlins; the North Hy Niall under the O'Neills and O'Donnells, who had not yet submitted to the English; and Hy Brune, together with Hy Fiacra, otherwise Connaught, under the O'Connors. A more detailed list of the Irish territories and chiefs is given by O'Halloran, which may be acceptable to our readers, as containing an account of the principal chieftainries of Thomond, at the time when the fatal chain of foreign domination was riveted by the insensate divisions between the natives, which the new Lord Paramount, Henry II. knew so well how to foment :

Alphabetical list of ancient Irish territories in Limerick, Clare, and Tipperary, and by what Milesian families possessed, both before and after the invasion of Henry II.

Aherloe, in the county of Limerick, the estate of a branch of the O'Briens.

Aine Cliach, in the county of Limerick, the lordship of O'Kirwick.

Aos-Cliach, extending from Cnoc Greins, to near Limerick, was the patrimony of O'Connell, and Castle Connel his chief residence.

Aradh-Cliach, in the county of Tipperary, near Killaloe, the estate of Mac O'Brien Arad. Its first proprietor was O'Donegan, of the Ernian race.

Ardah, east of Cashel, in the county of Tipperary, the lordship of O'Dea.

Bally-Hallinan, in the county of Limerick, the ancient estate of O'Hallinan; but in later times Mac Sheetries [Qu. Mac Sheehies?]

Brurigh, a royal mansion in the county of Limerick, the seat of O'Donovan, chief of Kerry. Burren, or eastern Corcamroadh, a barony in the county of Clare, the principality of O'Loughlin.

Cahir, in the county of Tipperary, the estate of O'Lonargan.

Cairbre-Aodhbha, now called Kenry, in the county of Limerick, the ancient estates of O'Donovan, O'Clerine, and O'Flanery.

Callain, in the county of Clare, the territory of O'Hehir.

Carran Fearaidhe, or Cnoc-Aine, in the county of Limerick, the estate of O'Grady.

Ceil Tanan, in the county of Clare, the estate of O'Mollony.

Cineal-Fermaic, in Thomond, the estate of O'Dea.

Clan-Derla, in the county of Clare, the ancient territory of Mac Mahon.

Cleanagh, in the county of Clare, the property of Mac Mahon.

Cluan Mac Diarmada, in the county of Clare, the estate of the Mac Clanchys, hereditary lord justices of Thomond.

Conal-Gabbra, or Ibh-Conal-Gabhra, the present baronies of Connello, in the county of Limerick, the ancient territory of O'Connell ; but afterwards we find it possessed by the O'Kinealies, and O'Cuileans, or Collins [and long before the invasion by the O'Tracies and Scanlans]. Conuil-Jachtarach, or lower Conella, in the county of Limerick, besides the Cinealies, and O'Collins, we find the O'Sheehans had lordships there.

The treaty of Windsor took place in the year before the defeat of the king of Thomond. Not long after the latter event Macarthy conferred an extensive territory in the county of Kerry upon Maurice, son of Raymond, who became powerful by his marriage with the daughter of Milo de Cogan, and gave his name to the territory of Clan Morris, and to his descendants of Fitzmaurice as represented by the Marquis of Lansdowne.'

Corafin, a territory in the county of Clare, the estate of O'Quinn and O'Heffernan.

Corca-Bhaisgin, now the Barouy of Moiarta, in the county of Clare, the ancient territory of O'Baisen and O'Donal, but for some centuries past the estate of the Mac Mahons of Thomond. Corcamruadh, a principality in the county of Clare, the territory of O'Connor-Carcamruadh, of the Irian race.

Cosmach, in the county of Limerick, belonging to a branch of the O'Briens.
Cuallachda, in the county of Clare, the patrimony of O'Dubhgin, or Dugin.

Darach, in Thomond, the patrimony of Mac Donnel descendant from Brian Boirumhe.

Diseart-ui-Deagha, in the county of Clare, the estate of O'Dea.

Eile-ui-Fhogerta, in the county of Tipperary, the ancient territory of O'Fogerty.
Eoganacht-Aine-Cliach, in the county of Limerick, the lordship of O'Kerwick.

Eoganacht-Cashel, extended from Cashel to Clonmel; its principal chief was Mac Carthy, head of the Eugenian line.

Eoganacht-Graffan, in the county of Tipperary, the lordship of O'Sullivan; and their principal seat was at Cnoc Graffan on the banks of the Shure.

Faith-ui-Halluran, extending from Tulla to near Clare in Thomond, the estate of O'Halloran of the Heberean race.

Fearan-Saingil, called Single-Land, but more properly the Land of the Holy Angel, near Limerick, the ancient estate of the O'Conuins or Cuneens.

Ibh-Fiarach, now called Tuam-ui-Mheara, in the county of Tipperary, the lordship of O'Mara. Muiccadha, in the county of Limerick, the lordship of Mac Eniry. The remains of a large monastery, and other public buildings, at Castle Town Mac Eniry, yet bespeak the piety and splendor of this family, of which there are scarcely any remains at this day.

Muin-Tir-Conlachta (I suppose the present Tuam-Greine) in the county Clare, the ancient lordship of O'Gra or O'Grady.

Muiferidh-Jarrar-Feimhin, near Emly, in the county of Tipperary, the estate of O'Carthy. Muifcridh-Luachra, near Kilmallock, in the county of Limerick, the estate of O'Hea. Ouen-ui-Glearna, now Six Mile Bridge, in the county of Clare, the estate of O'Kearney. Pobul-ui-Brien, now a barony in the county of Limerick, the country of a branch of the O'Brien family.

Rath-Conan, in the country of Limerick, the estate of O'Casey. The present Viscount Pery, enjoys a part of his estate, in right of his great-grandmother, the heiress of O'Casey.

Sliabh-Scott, in the county of Clare, the estate of the Mac Bruodins, hereditary historians of North Munster.

Traidaire, or Tradraighe, now a barony in the county of Clare, before the incarnation, the residence of the Clana-Deagha, or Munster Knights, from Daire, the son of Deagha, so called, and which words import the warriors of Daire. Lord Inchiquin is the present chief of Traidaire. Triocha- cead-o-Claisin, the barony of Tulla, in the county of Clare, the estate of MacNamara, hereditary lord Marshal of Thomond.

Tuam-ui-Mhara, in the county of Tipperary, the lordship of O'Mara.

Tuaath-Muimhain, North Munster, or Thomond, extended from the isles of Aran to Sliabh Eibhline, near Cashell, to Carran Fearaidh, or Knoc Aine, in the county of Limerick; and from Luin na Conor, or Loop Head, to Sliabh Dala, in Ossory; but in later ages it was circumscribed to the present county of Clare, of which the O'Briens are hereditary princes. Tullichrien, in the county of Clare, the estate of O'Gorman.

Tuliallaithne, in the county of Tipperary, the estate of O'Ryan, or O'Mul Ryan.—O'Halloran. 1 In the beginning of June 1176, according to Keating (according to others in May 1177), the celebrated Strongbow died at Dublin after a lingering illness, which the native historians as usual, describe as a providential visitation for his rapacions tyranny over clergy and laity. His monument, which is of stone and which has attached a small broken figure, traditionally said to be his son, whom he is said to have put to death for cowardice, stands at the South wall of the nave of Christ Church Cathedral. It is the figure of a stalwart knight, armed cap-a-pee, having the legs crossed as usual with crusaders. Money payments, I have heard, used to be made upon it heretofore, as on "the nail" in Limerick, and over it appears the following inscription, inserted in a tablet in the wall:

"This auncient monument of Rychard Strangbowe, called Comes Strangvensis, Lord of Chepsto: and Ogny, the fyrst and pryncipal invader of Irland, 1169, qvi obiit 1177. The monument was brochen by the fall of the rooff and bodye of Christes Church, in anno, 1562, and set up agayne at the chargys of the Right Honorable Sir Henrie Sydney, Knight of the Noble Order, L: President of Wailes, L: Deputy of Irland."

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