FOUNDATION OF MONASTERIES.

237 macnoise, where they were interred at the north side of the altar of the great church.

To the events connected with our ecclesiastical history, which have been mentioned in the course of this chapter, may be added the building of St. Patrick's cathedral, in Dublin, by archbishop Comyn, in 1190; the translation of a large portion of the relics of St. Malachy from Clairvaux to Ireland in 1194;* the building of the cathedrals of Limerick and Cashel, and the foundation of several religious houses by Donnell More O'Brien. Several of the noblest religious foundations of Ireland date from this period; and, if some of them were the offerings made by rapine to religion, or were erected by such men as Dermot Mac Murrough, the fact only illustrates one point of distinction between the bad men of that age who may have founded monasteries, and those of the present who do not; namely, that the former were not able, like the latter, wholly to throw off the trammels of faith, to which they, sooner or later, repentantly returned, or, at least, offered a tribute of recognition.t

For the disposal of the relics of St. Malachy, see the Rev. Mr. O'Hanlon's admirable life of that great saint; chap. xviii.

† From the list of the Cistercian Abbeys of Ireland preserved in Trinity College library, and published in an appendix to Grace's annals, (p. 169), it appears that many of them were founded before the English invasion. They appear in the following order in this list, but the founders' names, and some of the dates, are added from other authorities:-St. Mary's, Dublin, (founded by the Danes for Benedictines in 948, and reformed to Cistercian in 1139); Mellifont, in Louth, by O'Carroll of Oriel, in 1142; Bective, Meath, by O'Melaghlin, in 1148; Baltinglass, Wicklow, by Dermot Mac Murrough, in 1148 or 1151; Boyle, Roscommon, in 1148; Monasternenagh, or, de Maggio, Limerick, by O'Brien, in 1148; Athlone, Roscommon, in 1152; Newry, Down, by Mac Loughlin, king of Ireland, in 1153; Odorney, Kerry, in 1154; Inislounagh, Tipperary, by Donnell O'Brien, in 1159; Fermoy, in 1170; Maur, in Cork, by Dermot Mac Carthy, in 1172; Inis Samer, Donegal, by Rory O'Canannan, in 1179; Jerpoint, Kilkenny, by Mac Gillapatrick of Ossory, in 1180; Middleton, Cork, by the Barrys, in 1180; Holy Cross, Tipperary, by Donnell O'Brien, in 1181; Dunbrody, Wexford, by Hervey of Mountmaurice, in 1182; Abbeyleix, Queen's Co., by Cuchry O'More, in 1183; Inis Courcy, Down, by John de Courcy, in 1188, as restitution for the Irish abbey of Carraig, destroyed by him; Monasterevan, Kildare, by O'Dempsey of Offaly, in 1189; Knockmoy, Galway, by Cathal Crovderg O'Conor, in 1190; Grey Abbey, Down, by Affrica, wife of John de Courcy, in 1193; Cumber, Down, in 1198; Tintern, Wexford, by William Marshall, in 1200; Corcomroe, Clare, by Donat O'Brien, in 1194; Kilcooly, Tipperary, by Donat O'Brien, in 1200; Kilbeggan, Westmeath, by the Daltons, about 1200; Douske, Kilkenny, by William Marshall, about 1200; Abingdon, or Wothenay, Limerick, by Theobald Fitz Walter, in 1205; Abbeylorha, Longford, about 1205; Tracton, Cork, by the Mac Carthys, about 1205, or 1224; Moycosquin, Derry, about 1205; Loughseudy, Westmeath, about 1205; and Cashel, Tipperary, by Archbishop Mac Carwell, in 1272. All these Cistercian abbeys were dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, except that of Holy Cross, and the abbey of Athlone, dedicated to St. Peter and St. Benedict. There were, also, minor houses, cells to some of the preceding. Archdeacon Lynch enumerates about 40 monasteries erected by Irishmen about the period of the invasion, several of them being included in the preceding list. One was the Dominican house of Derry, founded by Donnell Oge O'Donnell, prince of Tirconnell, at the request of St. Dominic himself, who sent him two brothers of the order. Vide Cambrensis Eversus, ii., 535, &c.; O'Sullivan's Decas Patriciana, lib. 9, c. 2.; and Lanigan, vol. iv. The last-named writer enumerates the following primitive

Henceforth we shall have to treat of two races as constituting the population of Ireland, namely, the Anglo-Irish and the "mere Irish." The latter were, with certain exceptions, excluded from the privileges and protection of the English law, and were legally known, even during peace, as the "Irish enemy." Dissensions were constantly fomented among them by the powerful English barons, who thus made them an easy prey, and stripped them gradually of their territories; while the Anglo-Irish, especially when residing beyond the English Pale, often shared the fate of the original Irish, with whom they became, in course of time, identified in language, manners, and interests.

monastic institutions as existing at the close of the twelfth century:-viz., Armagh, Derry, Bangor, Maghbile, or Moville, Devenish, Clogher, Clones, Louth, Clonfert, Inchmacnerin, Aran Isles, Cong, Mayo, Clonard, Kells, Lusk, Kildare, Trim, Clonmacnoise, Killeigh, Glendalough, Saiger, Isle of All Saints on Lough Ree, Roscommon, Ballysadare, Drumcliff, Aghaboe, Lorra, Lismore, Molana, Cork, Iniscathy, Inisfallen &c., &c.

CHAPTER XXI.

REIGN OF JOHN.

Renewed Wars of Cathal Carragh and Cathal Crovderg.-Tergiversation of William de Burgo, and Death of Cathal Carragh at Boyle Abbey.-Massacre of the English Archers in Connaught.-Wars in Ulster.-Fate of John de Courcy.-Legends of the Book of Howth.-Death and Character of William de Burgo. Tumults and Rebellions of the English Barons.-Second Visit of King John to Ireland.-Alarm of the Barons.-Submission of Irish Princes.Independence of Hugh O'Neill.-Division of the English Pale into Counties.Money Coined.-Departure of John.-The Bishop of Norwich Lord Justice.Exploits of Cormac O'Melaghlin and Hugh O'Neill.-War in the South.Catastrophe at Athlone.-Adventures of Murray O'Daly, the Poet of Lissadill. -Ecclesiastical Occurrences.

COTEMPORARY SOVEREIGNS AND EVENTS.

[Pope Innocent III.-King of France, Philip Augustus.-Emperor of Germany, Frederick II.King John resigned his dominions to the Pope, and did homage for them, 1213.-Magna Charta signed at Runnymead, 1215.]

(A.D. 1199 to A.D. 1216.)

NE of the first acts of John, on ascending the throne of England, in 1199, was to appoint Meyler Fitz Henry chief governor of Ireland. At that time a fierce war was raging in Connaught between the rival factions of the O'Conor family. Cathal Carragh, son of Conor Moinmoy, engaged the services of William Burke, or De Burgo, better known to the reader as William Fitz Adelm, and of the English of Limerick, and by their aid he expelled Cathal Crovderg, and re-established himself on the throne of Connaught. The expelled prince enlisted the sympathy of Hugh O'Neill, who had recently appeared as chief of Tyrone, and had distinguished himself both in 1198 and 1199, by successes against De

Cathal Crovderg and Hugh

Courcy and the English of Ulster.* entered Connaught with an army, but finding their force inadequate, commenced a retreat, when they were overtaken at Ballysadare in Sligo by Cathal Carragh and his English auxiliaries, and routed with great loss; O'Hegny, then chief of Oriel, being among the slain in the northern army

Cathal Crovderg next succeeded in securing the aid of John de Courcy and of young De Lacy, and marched with a strong English force as far as Kilmacduagh, where Cathal Carragh and the Connacians gave them battle. Cathal of the Red Hand was once more unfortunate, and his army was defeated with such slaughter that only two out of five battalions, of which it consisted, escaped, and these were pursued as far as the peninsula of Rinn-duin, or Rindown* on the shore of Lough Ree, where they were hemmed in and many of them killed, others being drowned in endeavouring to cross the lake in boats.

Meyler, the lord justice, now marched against Cathal Carragh, and plundered Clonmacnoise; and Cathal Crovderg, undaunted by his former losses, resolved to try the expedient of detaching De Burgo from the side of his enemy, and of purchasing his services for himself. The result proved that he calculated rightly on the mercenary character of the Anglo-Norman. The English barons recognized no principle in these wars but their own interest, and were only too glad to help the Irish in exterminating each other, while at the same time they could aggrandize and enrich themselves. Crovderg proceeded to Munster, where, by large promises, he purchased the aid of De Burgo, and obtained also that of Mac Carthy of Desmond. Some of our annals state that a war raged about this very time between the O'Briens and the Desmond families, and that William de Burgo with all the English of Munster joined the former; but the contest to which this account refers did not interfere with that between the O'Conors, and most probably followed it.

A.D. 1201.-Cathal Crovderg, with William de Burgo, the sons of Donnell O'Brien and Fineen or Florence Mac Carthy, and their respective forces, marched from Limerick to Roscommon, where the army

*The collateral Hy-Niall branch of Mac Loughlin (sotnetimes also called O'Loughlin), which had taken its name from Lochlainn, the fourth in descent from Niall Glundubh, and had given two distinguished monarchs to Ireland, disappears in the books of genealogy with Muircheartach, or Murtough Mac Loughlin, monarch of Ireland, who was slain 1166. With the Hugh mentioned above, called Aedh Toinleasc, the O'Neills resume their sway as chiefs of Tyrone.

* This point is now called St. John's, and contains the magnificent ruins of a castle, built in 1227, by Geoffry Mares, or De Marisco.—See Dr. Petrie's account of it in the Irish Penny Journal, pp. 73, &c.

De

took up its quarters in the abbey of Boyle. Every part of the sacred precincts was desecrated by the soldiery, and nothing was left of the abbey but the walls and roof, even these being partially destroyed. Burgo had begun to surround the monastery with an entrenchment, when Cathal Carragh arrived, and several skirmishes took place between the two armies, in one of which Cathal Carragh himself, having got mixed up with some retreating soldiers, was slain in the melee. This event decided the struggle; Crovderg's Munster auxiliaries were dismissed to their homes, and Cathal and De Burgo repaired to the abbey of Cong, where they passed the Easter, having first billeted the English archers through Connaught for the purpose, as some accounts express it, of "distraining for their wages." The Four Masters say that De Burgo and O'Flaherty of West Connaught entered into a conspiracy against Cathal the Red Handed, which the latter timely discovered; and that De Burgo having then demanded the wages of his men, the Connacians rose upon them and killed 700 of them. The Annals of Kilronan, however, explain the event differently, for they say that a rumour got abroad in some mysterious manner to the effect that De Burgo was killed, and that by a simultaneous impulse the whole population rose and slew all the English soldiers who were dispersed among them. De Burgo then demanded an interview with Cathal, but the latter avoided seeing him; and the Anglo-Norman, whose rapacity was foiled for once in so fearful a manner, set off for Munster with such of his men as had escaped the massacre. Three years after he took ample vengeance by the plunder of the whole of Connaught, "both lay and ecclesiastical.”

Ulster during this time was a scene of constant warfare between the Kinel-Connell and the Kinel-Owen, and of domestic strife among the latter. Hugh O'Neill was deposed and Conor O'Loughlin, substituted; but the former appears to have been restored in a few years, after some sanguinary conflicts.

A.D. 1204.-This year exhibited, in the downfall of John De Courcy, one of the many instances of retribution with which the history of the first English settlers in Ireland is filled. It is said that De Courcy incurred the anger of John, by openly speaking of him as a usurper, and as the murderer of the young prince Arthur, the rightful heir to the crown of England; but at all events the "Conqueror of Ulidia" was proclaimed a rebel, and his old enemies, the De Lacys, were ordered to deprive him of his lands, and seize his person. The English army of Meath, therefore, marched against him, and he was driven to seck protection from the Irish of Tyrone. It would appear that he was

R