The History of Ireland, Ancient and Modern

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DUBLIN:

Printed by J. M. O'Toole & Son,

7, GT. BRUNSWICK-STREET.

PREFACE.

HE work here brought to a close was undertaken with a view to supply an impartial History of Ireland, according to the present advanced state of knowledge on the subject. The labors of such eminent Irish scholars as Dr. O'Donovan and Professor Curry have opened to us new sources of information, and the researches of these and other learned and indefatigable investigators have, of late years, shed a flood of light upon our history and antiquities; but the knowledge thus developed was still unavailable for the general public; and it remained to collect, in a popular form, materials scattered through the publications of learned societies, and the voluminous pages of our native annals; buried in collections of state papers, and in the correspondence of statesmen ; concealed from the world in the government archives. We have been enabled to avail ourselves of a mass of important original documents derived from the last-mentioned source; but with what success the task of converting all these copious materials to the object of producing a popular History of Ireland has been performed in the present volume, the reader must judge: we can only say that no pains have been spared to accomplish it conscientiously.

In the progress of the work our materials multiplied, and it became necessary to extend the volume beyond the limits originally contemplated. For the same reason it became indispensable to wind up with a somewhat earlier epoch than was first intended ; but the enlightened reader will perceive that this inconvenience was inevitable; and it is hoped that no lover of Irish history will

regret the increased bulk of the book after having examined its contents. In concluding with the Legislative Union, we have been able to trace the entire history of this country as a kingdom, and of the English colony planted in it. From the epoch of the Union the kingdom and the colony disappear from our historyand Ireland is seen only as a province.

To identify the ancient topography of the country with the events of its history is important and interesting; and the invaluable information accumulated by Dr. O'Donovan in his annotations to the Annals of the Four Masters, and collected by him for the Ordnance Survey, has been freely employed for that purpose in these pages. The map of ancient Ireland, prefixed to the present volume, has been compiled with much care, and defines the boundaries of the territories with more minuteness than has hitherto been attempted; but as these boundaries varied considerably at different periods, it was impossible to exhibit at one view the changes which they underwent. They are represented for the most part as they existed about the time of the AngloNorman invasion; but the frontiers of Tirone and Tirconnel are drawn as they stood at an earlier date, before the warlike chiefs of the latter territory extended their bounds to the east and south.

Finally, the narrative has been interrupted as little as possible with discussions of controverted points, and the space has not been unnecessarily encumbered with extraneous matter. The authorities relied on have been sufficiently indicated in the marginal references, but the Author here desires to express his deep obligations to Dr. O'Donovan, Professor Eugene Curry, the Rev. C. P. Meehan, Dr. Wilde, Dr. R. R. Madden, and J. T. Gilbert, Esq., for the invaluable information they have kindly afforded him, in addition to that which he derived from their published works. KILBEHA-MUIRRE, ASKEATON,

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