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already granted to Dublin, enabling the citizens to choose a Mayor and Duumviri, or two Bailiffs, a designation by which they were named until the reign of James I., when by charter of that monarch, the citizens were allowed to choose Sheriff's in place of Bailiffs, etc.-these, with the mayor, performed the municipal government of the city. In 1198, however, the English were driven out of Limerick by M'Carthy of Desmond; but soon after they may be said to have held firm possession, though their tenure was frequently disputed. We have on record as to the exact time the walls of the city were first built; but from the Patent rolls, in the early portion of king John's reign, we find that the city was at that period surrounded by walls, and that the king made several grants to his followers within and without the walls.1

In the same year he gave to Hamo de Valois, two cantreds of "Hochevele" in the Land of Limerick for the service of ten knights, (Char. Rol. 82). On the 12th of January, 1200, he granted to William of Braosa the honor of Limerick, with its appurtenances, &c. This charter was given at Lincoln, and bears the signatures, as witnesses, H, Archbishop of Canterbury; R, Bishop of St. Andrew's; R, Earl of Chester; R, Earl of Leicester; G. Fitzalen, Earl of Essex; William Briwerr, Hubart Bard, Walter de Lascy; Simon Pateshill. It states that it (the charter) was given by the hand of Symon, Archdeacon of Wells, at Lincoln, granting and confirming to Braosa the honour of Lymerick, with all its appurtenances "retaining in our demesne the city of Lymerick and the Bishopricks and Abbeys, and retaining in our

In the second year of his reign the king gave to Galfridus Fitzrobert one burgage below (within?) the walls of Limerick, to be held by free service 12d.; and granted and confirmed to the same for homage and service, five knight's fees,† at Radagar, in the Cantred of Huhene, to be held of one and one-third knight's fees-Charter Role A°. 1o, Rotulo 14 and 15. In the same year he gave to Robert Sergeant four burgages, of which two are without the city of Limerick, between the city and the bridge, whatever part of the bridge is next the wall, and two in the island towards the city, near the bridge, wherever the bridge may be, for the service of 4s. per an., and he granted unto the same for his homage and service a knight's fee at Clonhulugrdachan and Cloinonochain, in the "theudum" of Huertherain, to be held by the third part of one knight's fee, Hamo de Valentia being the justiciary of Ireland.-Charter Roles 78. In the same year he gave to Humphrey de Pykeuile, one burgage below the walls of Limerick, for the service of 12d. per annum ; and he gave and confirmed to the same for his homage and service Killerumanith, three knight's fees circumjacent for all service, for the service of one knight.-Charter Role 75. In the same year he gave Lauvelekin Fitzwilliam one burgage below the walls of Limerick, for (per) the service of 12d. per ann. and five knight's fees, at Insculin and Balieder, Baioni, Corbally, Cullen, Odergraper, Ballydermot, in the Cantred of Huhene, to be held by the service of one knight and two parts.-Charter Role 79. In the same year he gave to Wm. de Naish one burgage in Limerick through the service of 12d. per ann. and the castles of Kava Kittel, with a fee of five knights in the nearer place of that castle, in the "theudum" of Lirickmadh, in the Cantred of Huhene, held by the service of one knight's fee and two parts.-Role 81. In the same year he gave to Thomas, the son of Maurice, one burgage next the bridge, on the left hand side towards the north, through the service of 12d. per ann. and five knight's fees, in the "theudum" of Blenrii (or Olweii, or as I rather think Kenry), in the Cantred of Fontimell, and five knight's fees, in the theudum of Huanarach, which is in Thomond, beyond the water of the Shannon, to be held by the service of three knight's fee and one third.-Charter Role 82.

* Tenure in burgage is where the king or other person is lord of an ancient borough in which the tenants are held by a rent certain. It is a kind of lorage.-Lyt. II., § 162, 163.

† A Knight's Fee, Feudum militare, is so much inheritance as is sufficient yearly to maintain a knight, with convenient revenue, and in Henry III.'s days was £15 (Camden's Brit. p. 111), in the time of Edward II. £20; a knight's fee contained 12 plough lands, or 5 hides, or 480 acres. Selden, however, says the knight's fee had no reference to land, but to the services or number of the knights reserved.-Tomlin's Law Dict. Stowe, in his Annals (p. 285) says there were found in England at the time of the Conqueror 60,211 knight's fees, according to others 60,215, whereof the religious houses before their suppression were possessed of 28,015.

The word "Theudum," means a fief, most probably one of five knight's fees, which was expressed by the word Toth. In the Celtic mythology the word Toth meant the genius Loci.

hand the cantred of the Ostmen and the Holy Island, as king Henry, our father, that honour gave to Philip de Braosa, uncle of the aforesaid William" -"to have and to hold to him and his heirs of us and our heirs by the service of sixty knights, except the service of William de Burgo,' of all his lands and tenements aforesaid honours to be held, &c., &c.; and we have retained in our demesne and hand all its appurts in wood and plain, in meadow and pastures, in water and mills and fish ponds and ponds and fisheries and ponds, in ways and pathways, &c."

King John, (says Giraldus Cambrensis,) gave to Philip de Braosa the northern division of Munster, namely, the whole kingdom of Limerick, except the city itself, and the cantred belonging to it. At the same time he gave the kingdom of Cork to Cogan and Fitz Stephen. So these three chiefs made a strict mutual alliance, and having obtained possession of Lismore, and of the greater part of Cork, namely, seven cantreds near the city, each containing 100 townlands, they proceeded to Limerick. Their army consisted of seventy men-at-arms, one hundred and fifty horse soldiers, and the proper complement of bowmen. But when they reached Limerick, the citizens set the town on fire. Cogan and Fitz Stephen proposed to ford the Shannon and storm the place. But Braosa proved wanting in courage and returned home.

He afterwards endeavoured to rehabilitate his character for bravery by joining in the crusades, and appears to have died in the Holy Land, when his rights, such as they were, to the kingdom of Limerick passed to his nephew, William de Braosa. But we learn from Dugdale (Baronage I. 415) that king John sold Braosa's lands in Ireland to Philip de Wygornia, (or Worcester,) Lord Deputy in 1184, for five hundred marks. In 1200, how, ever, the unprincipled monarch, resold Wygornia's lands, and those of Theobald Fitz Walter, ancestor of the Ormonde family, to William de Braosa, for 5,000 marks, and 5,000 marks more for the kingdom of Limerick, (see the charters of king John, anno 2, and Dugdale, I., 416.) Fitz Walter repurchased his own estate for 500 marks, through the mediation of his brother Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, (see Roger de Hoveden, II., 513,) whilst Wygornia, says that author, "with difficulty escaping from the hands of the king, returned to Ireland, passing through the territories of the king of Scots, and recovered parts of his lands by waging war against the king." The kingdom of Limerick he had never had possession of, so did not probably now obtain it. But he seized on his former estates, chiefly in Tipperary, and held them by force: and his heirs still held lands there by knights' service in 1314, (Carew MSS.) The unfortunate Braosa was unable to pay the instalments due to the rapacious king John; he was fiercely

1201, King John granted to William de Burgo 5 Knights' fees, called a Toth, wherein is seated Castle Connell, within 4 miles of Limerick, east, provided he fortified the castle, and was to restore it to the king if demanded, by getting a reasonable exchange for it.-Ware.

In Pat. Roll. Mem. 23, No. 203, the grant to William de Braosa is set forth-"quæ retinuimus in Dominico nostro, habenda donec Regi placuerit."

In the 4th year of his reign a mandate was issued by the king to Philip de Wigorne, or Worcester, "that he should render to William de Braosa the land and castles of Orngraffan, and other castles of the Honour of Limerick, which are retained by the king according to convention, -Pat. Roll, Mem. 10.

In the 6th year of John's reign Limerick was taken from William de Braosa by advice of the Barons of England, "for the peace of the kingdom."-Pat. Roll, Mem. 7. Wigornia, according to Dugdale's Monasticon, was Constable of Ireland. Wm. and Roger de Wigornia gave Sidan, Skbevin, Kilstevenan, &c., in Ireland, to the Monastery of Osney, near Oxford. Confirmed 28th Feb. An. 13 Edward I.-Dugdale's Monas Angli.

persecuted by him, was driven from all his estates, and died a penniless exile, whilst the spiteful monarch wreaked his vengeance on his wife and son, who were starved to death, A.D. 1211, (see Dugdale as before.)

Captivated, as we have seen, with the beauty of Limerick, the King caused a singularly choice castle, "egregium castellum," and bridge to be built. In that age the Annals refer to the erection of two bridges over the Shannon, and one over the Suck, by the monarch Turlough O'Connor. There is no doubt those bridges were not of stone, but of wood, and that the first structures of the kind of stone were erected by, or after the arrival of the Anglo-Normans. King John's bridge was perfectly level, crossing the main arm of the Shannon, from the N.E. extremity of the English town, close by the Castle; it was built on fourteen arches, under each of which some marks of the hurdles, on which it was erected, were visible until the bridge was taken down in the year 1838, and the present structure was built. According to tradition the cost of the building of Thomond bridge was but £30.3 Immediately above the bridge a ledge of rocks crosses the river, over which one can walk with perfect safety at low water.

The "Egregium Castellum" continues to our own time to be one of the finest specimens of fortified Norman architecture in Ireland. The north-west tower is said to have been the first portion of the work that was erected. Nenagh Castle is said to have been built at the same time; it too, is a noble military building in the Norman style. A Constable was immediately appointed to it by the King. The Castle is now used as an Ordnance store,

1 Stanihurst.

2 Dr. Petrie in the Dublin Penny Journal.

In King John's time the pay of a foot soldier, which was more than a labourer's hire, was three halfpence a day. The small cost of the building of Thomond Bridge need not surprise us. In king John's time and under the Edwards, land was granted in Ireland, by carucates. A carucate was 140 great acres on an average and was taxed as chattels worth £6.

This venerable bridge was taken down in 1838 by the old Corporation, and in two years afterwards, viz. in 1840, the present structure was built, and open for traffic. Though the old Corporation built the new bridge, and gave credit to themselves for doing so, the amount of the contract, a sum of £9000, was paid by the new or Reformed Corporation for this work. The new bridge bears the following inscription :

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THIS BRIDGE WAS BUILT A:D: 1840
AT THE EXPENSE OF THE CORPORATION
OF THE BOROUGH OF LIMERICK.

THIS TABLET WAS PLACED HERE BY ORDER
OF THE TOWN COUNCIL A D 1843

THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL MARTIN HONAN MAYOR
IOHN F: RALEICH Esq. TOWN CLERK
FRANCIS I. O'NEIL Esq. TREASURER

JAMES AND G. R. PAIN,

ARCHITECTS

Mr. John Long, the eminent civil Engineer, who built the new bridge over the Shannon at Athlone, and the new docks at Limerick, communicates to us his opinion, that the early bridges were chiefly of wicker work, no doubt very frail and imperfect, and for this reason easily destroyed; the notes in the Four Masters will fortify this opinion. Afterwards stone arches were turned over wicker centres; but they form two distinct periods of bridge building. Until recently one of these wicker bridges stood over the Shannon above Carrick-on-Shannon, and Mr. Long says he has often crossed it. It was built of loose stone piers, such as a common labourer would build, placed close to each other; some rough black oak logs thrown across from pier to pier, and these covered with wicker work in several layers, and gravel, &c. strewn on these. It was very frail, and the horse was unyoked from the cart, and the latter pulled across by men. This, he thinks, was the character of all the early bridges across the Shannon before stone structures were erected, which he believes were not adopted until about Elizabeth's reign.

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Old Thomond Bridge, King John's Castle, and St. Mary's Cathedral.

[Engraved for MAURICE LENIHAN'S History of Limerick.]

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