Fictions For so himself expresly says Adding withal that such only and no other was the repute they had in the very days of Yore among the best Irish Antiquaries And for this he brings sufficient proofs by alledging their own words Gratianus Lucius is the next Author I make frequent use of to lead me in several remote affairs of the more Ancient Irish And he likewise an Irish man by birth but of the Province of Connaght and as himself professes by name and blood of English Extraction His own proper name and surname John Lynch his Function Sacerdotal and of the Secular Clergy too His employ besides at Galway for some years in our own time was Teaching a School of Humanity as they call it wherein he was excellent In the differences between the Roman Catholic Confederates in the late unhappy War of that Nation he join'd with those of them that were against the Nuncio Rinuccini's Censures for the Cessation with Inchiquin submission to the King and the two Peaces After the surrender of Galway to the English Parliament Army he went to France Where employing his time as became a good Patriot Loyal Subject he wrote printed and publish'd two Latin Books in Quarto with a Dedicatory Epistle to the Congregation of Cardinals de Propaganda Fide against a Factious disloyal Manuscript which one Richard Ferral an Irish Capuccin had some years before written and presented to the same Congregation as a Direction for them in their government of the Church affairs of Ireland the former entitled Alithinologia the Later Supplementum Alithinologiae Some years after that is an 1662. he publish'd under the name of Gratianus Lucius an other Latin Work in Folio intitled Cambrensis Eversus as being a full confutation of the Author that goes by the name of Cambrensis Who this Cambrensis and what the Quarrel was to let you know if I digress a little it may peradventure be worth the while His proper name and surname in English being Gerald Barry that Additional of Cambrensis he had from his native Countrey in Latin Cambria in English Wales His education of a Scholar profession of a Divine Function of a Priest and as I must suppose merits in all brought him in time to be not only Arch-deacon of S. Davids but Tutor to the young Earl of Mortaign Fifth Son to Henry II. Vnder which Qualifications first his zeal for the old Archiepiscopal privileges of that See engag'd him in a long Contest with the See of Canterbury and then his Election to the same See of S. Davids involv'd him in another In so much that however he came to be worsted in both for so he was yet his name has ever since remain'd on Record in the Papal Canons His extraction made him Nephew to Robert fitz Stephens and Maurice fitz Gerald Cousin to Meylerus and Brother to Philip Barry and Robert Barry five of the first chief men that adventured to Ireland of purpose to advance their own fortune by helping on the Restauration of Diarmuid na Ngall King of Leinster His own Genius once and once more his Place carried him to Ireland For twice he was there first to see his kinsmen daily acquiring large possessions by their valour and next to wait on his young Prince Earl John when created Lord of Ireland and sent thither by the King And now as himself confesses being desirous of glory and immortal fame by describing Ireland and informing the World not only of what he knew of the State of that Kingdom then under the English Conquerors but of all former Conquests and State thereof from the beginning he wrote to this purpose five Books in Latin The first three of 'em under the Title of The Topography of Ireland and the other two under that of The Conquest of Ireland by Henry II. Indeed more specious Titles both than his Relations under them do so much as meanly answer Besides that the Title at least of Topography must be very strangely applyed to signifie the Description of a whole Kingdom And yet notwitstanding This together with the History of all former Conquests and other Antiquities of Ireland is that which he promises to give under the same Title That he has very ill perform'd that he has given his Reader 's nothing less than such a History or such a Description we must not wonder He neither could understand the Language nor so much as read the Books whether of History or Chorography written at large by the Natives themselves in their own Character He saw not in any manner nor travel'd nor view'd e'en at a distance above one Third of the Kingdom nor dar'd for his Life venture into either of the other two parts His whole stay in Ireland being the whole extent of Yime employ'd by him in gathering materials for his intended Work was but a year and a half besides an other half years task which he had left to his Companion Bertram Verdon who therefore stay'd so long behind him His Collections at least for such part of 'em as any way pertinently related to his foresaid promise or Titles were certainly extream little but the rest of them no less extream bad and commonly false to boot They were so little that he describes not so much as one County or Tract or Town no not of that very third Part of the Kingdom which he might have seen Vnless peradventure you take for a Description of all Ireland his Fabulous Narrations of four Wells three Islands three Lakes the Fountain head of four great Rivers and the Fall of the greatest of them all by name the River of Shannon into the Northern Sea Tho it be well known That as all these Narrations are such i. â— meer Fables so the one moiety of these Lakes Wells Islands besides the Head-spring of Shannon are within those other parts of Ireland which he never saw nor durst enter As for the History of the former Inhabitants Conquests and other Antiquities of that Kingdom promised by him it is in like manner not only so imperfect but so little in all respects That 1. he has not the least mention of Tuatha-De-Danainn though a powerful People that by a bloody War entirely won it from Feara-Bolg and were possessors of it for a hundred ninty seven Years under the successive Reigns of seven or rather indeed Nine Kings of their own that is until they also in their turn were conquer'd by the Clanna Mileadh about Thirteen hundred years before the Birth of Christ 2. Of those Clanna Mileadh or Descendents from Milesius though they were the People that continued the Possession and Government of Ireland ever since about 2500 years to this very Authors days yet all the account he gives is only in short that they had a hundred eighty one Monarchs ruling successively over that Kingdom but not a word more of their History Polity Laws Conquests abroad Militia or Wars at home may not so much as a bare Catalogue of
of these two Writers has treated of the Affairs of that second Difference of Time in Varro especially Berosus He tells us that Berosus both mentioned the Flood and Ark and resting of this on the Mountains of Armenia and continued the series of his Narration downwards all along from the first of Kings after the Deluge even from Noah himself that is for the whole extent of that very Second period or Difference of Time Whence it must follow that however this Time might well and justly be reputed fabulous by the Greeks in relation to themselves and their own Historians yet their ignorance ought to be no rule to conclude other Nations that like to those ancient Egyptians Phaenicians and his Chaldeans in Joseph were from the beginning careful to preserve their Antiquities i. e. their Genealogies Adventures Changes Kings Wars and other Memorable Deeds in publick Registers on Record for Posterity Such are at present the Chineses in the utmost limit of the old World in Asia towards the Rising Sun as the History of Martinus a Martinis abundantly sheweth And that such also in the farthest Land of Europe towards the Setting Sun the ancient Irish have been while their State continued till about five hundred years since may be sufficiently evinc'd by many arguments Among which are those which you may briefly read in this Prospect Former Part Sect. II. page 46 47 and 48. whereunto it will not be amiss to add what both Cambrensis and Neubrigensis do confess that even from the beginning the Irish Nation has ever continued free from any forein Yoak or Conquest till Henry the Second of England's time That is according to Cambrensis has continued so even for so long an extent of time as the successive Reigns of a hundred eighty one Monarchs of their own Countrey and extraction from the same stock had certainly taken up And therefore it must be also confess'd That so long at least they were in a capacity to preserve their own Records And so indeed they did preserve the chiefest of 'em safe even amidst the greatest fury of the two Danish Wars Neither of which how destructive calamitous and heavy soever especially the Former was arrived to the nature of an absolute or total Conquest of the Natives not even for one week or day All which consider'd by indifferent men I hope may be enough to remove out of their way all prejudgment of Criticks from the foresaid observation of Varro against those remote Antiquities of the Irish Nation which you shall meet with in the Former Part of this Prospect What or who were the Authors I have followed it will be but reasonable I should inform you next And I think it as reasonable to tell you That although I have read whatever Cambrensis or Campion or Hanmer or Spencer wrote of Ireland yet in the whole Former Part of this Prospect I have not borrow'd from any one or more of them above one Paragraph of a few lines unless peradventure you account those other to be such i. e. borrowed from them which animadvert upon some few of their many Errours Nor certainly would I have ventur'd on writing so much as one Line of the State of that Kingdom before the English Conquest if I had not been acquainted with other kind of Authors yea Authors not only more knowing but incomparably better qualified to know the ancient Monuments of that Kingdom than they or any other Foreigners that hitherto have gather'd written printed some hear-say scraps of that Nation could possibly be In short when I was a young man I had read Geoffrey Keting's Irish Manuscript History of Ireland And now when my Lord of Castle-haven would needs engage me to write something as you have seen before I remembred how about four or five years since the R. H. Earl of Anglesey Lord Privy Seal had been pleas'd to shew me another Manuscript being an English Translation of that Irish History of Ketings Besides I remember'd to have seen and read Gratianus Lucius when he came out in print some twenty years ago And because I was sâ—re to meet in the Former materials enough for such Discourses upon the more Ancient Irish or State of their Countrey before the English Conquest as were to my purpose and that the Later too might be very useful in some particulars having borrow'd Keting first i. e. that English Manuscript Translation of him such as it is from my Lord Privy Seal I ventur'd to begin somewhâ—â— in the method you have here on so Noble and Illustrious a Subject Though I must confess I am still the more unsatisfied that while I was drawing these Papers you have now before you I could by no means procure the Reading either of Primat Vsher's Primordia Ecclesiarum Britannicarum or Sir James Ware 's Antiquities of Ireland However seeing I have expos'd my self to censure as relying wholly on the ability and sincerity of Keting and Lucius in the performance of their several undertakings I have the more reason to give here this following true account of them Geoffrey Keting was a Native of Ireland in the Province of Mounster as were his Ancestours before him for many Generations though not of Irish but English blood originally He was by Education Study Gommencement abroad in France a Doctor of Divinity in his Religion a Romanist by Ordination and Calling a secular Priest He had by his former study at home in his younger days under the best Masters of the Irish Tongue and the most skilful in their Antiquities arriv'd to a high degree of knowledg in both In his riper years when return'd back from his other Studies and Travails in Forein Parts his curiosity and genius led him to examin all Foreign Authors both Ancient and Modern who had written of that Kingdom either purposely or occasionally whether in Latin or in English And this diligent search made him observe two things chiefly 1. That every one even the very best and most knowing of those Writers were either extreamly out in many if not most of their Relations concerning the State of that Countrey before the English Conquest or rather indeed wholly ignorant of it In so much that like men groping in the dark they related scarce any thing at all well or ill of what had pass'd among the Inhabitants of Ireland far above one and Thirty Hundred years Except only what is by some of them reported of the Learning and Sanctimony of their Monks during the first fervours of Christianity and a very little more of their Wars at home in Ireland with the Danes and even this very little involv'd in a mixture of Monstrous Fables derived from such Romantick Stories as were certainly written at first for meer diversion and pastime only 2. That the generality of those Brittish Authors who have written of that Countrey since the English Conquest are against all Justice and Truth and Law 's of History in the highest degree injurious to the ancient Natives These considerations
and personal nay and of their Subjects also both men and women by the dedication of all in a peculiar way to God as hath been said before but were so fervently Zealous even to a degree of excess in this kind that as both Keting and Lucius relate it if St. Patrick would have receiv'd what they offer'd more their Successors should have scarce been left the grazing of four Beasts to bestow on the Church Secondly in particular the great number of those Princes one after another in the succession of so many Ages that notwithstanding all the bloody Feuds and warlike humor of their Nation withdrew themselves in time from sin yea from all the pleasures vanity pomp earthly glory of their condition and by contemning the world for the sake of God made themselves greater than the World A large list of them you may find partly in Keting but more amply and exactly in Lucius And they were those that stripping themselves naked to follow Christ and shutting themselves up in Cloysters made choice of the better part with Mary at the feet of out Lord. Such were the Monarchs 1. Maâ—â—â—hoba who by the prayers of Columbe-Cille recovering from death to life thereupon without delay Anno 610. renounc'd the World enter'd a Monastery profess'd himself a Monk and was after in regard of his holiness made Bishop of Kildare 2. Flaithiortach who likewise though without any such inducement as Maolchoba had in perfect health vigour streingth deliberately chose to dispoil himself of all earthly greatness Goods Employments and exchange them all for a poor monastick Weed in the Monastery of Ardmagh for a penitential course of life within the walls of that enclosure and for a Christian happy death which he found in that same place after nine years more had been over in his holy exercises there 3. Niall Frassach that not only quitted the Crown and Power but the very Soil of Ireland by retiring to the Scottish Isle of Hy and there in Columb Cille's Monastery devoting himself wholly to works of Christian repentance after eight years continual preparation by them for his passage to immortality had it in the year 773. of our Saviour's Incarnation 4. Muirchiortach great Grandchild to Brion Buraimh and one of Ketings Monarchs of Ireland who having resign'd his Royal Authority and together with it whatever else he possess'd or loved on earth put on the habit of a pooor religious man at Lismore where without looking back he ended happily his days 5. Domhnal mhac â—rdghair who according to Colgan as we have seen before was also King of Ireland though in his declining years yet amidst his prosperity retiring to the Abbey of Doire Cholumb-Cilie employing the remainder of his life there in exercises of piety holiness and mortification and lamenting the sins of his former days prepared for encountred and receiv'd death with a serene countenance full of hopes of a glorious Immortality But whether he took upon him the outward profession of a Monk in those exercises there or did not I can say nothing on either side Nor is it very material to know seeing the inward habit of his Soul yielded fruits worthy of true repentance and the severest outward profession of it 6. Ruaruidh O Conchabhair the very last Irish Monarch we have shewn likewise before to have made a religious life under the Habit and in a Cloister of Augustinian Chanon Regulars his last refuge in this World from so many vicissitudes of Fortune There it was he became so truly wise indeed as to prepare only for that other World which being planted far above all the glory of the Sun and all the Circles of time expects only Souls either never tainted with sin at any time or by perfect repentance at least before death throughly purified from its deadly sting And such indeed for making choice either sooner or later of the better part with Mary were those now enumerated Monarchs of Ireland And yet I know not why I might not add to their number Maolseachluinn I. and Brian Boraimh For albeit they never had been either profess'd Monks Anchorites or Clerks nor divested of their Authority Royal nor at all outwardly retired from the cares of the Publick or management of their own domestick affairs or comfort of their Wives and Children yet their piety of life was such as purchas'd for them after death the reputation of holy men Yea S. Cairbre Bishop of Cluan-mhac-Noise when the former died Anno 860. being in extasy beheld his Soul ascending to glory says Lucius And the later has been inserted not only by John Wilson in his Martyrologe but by Henry Fitz Simons in his Catalogue of the Saints of Ireland both these Authors having in this particular followed Marianus Scotus Of the Provincial Kings a far greater number and some of them very early that is in their very youth made the same prudential wise divine choice Aillill Anmbanna King of Connaght led so wonderfully strict a life according to the exactest Rules of Christianity that upon his death it pleased God to shew his Soul to Columb-Cille ascending to Heaven Anno 544. Cormac King of South Leinster about the Year of Christ 567. quitting voluntarily his Kingdom went to Beannchuir profess'd himself there a Monk continued in the same place leading a life truly answerable to his profession till death translated him to happiness Anno 567. which the Irish Church believing has placed him in her Calendar of Saints Aodh Dubh King of Leinster forsaking in the same manner both his Kingdom and whatever else he might enjoy on earth took the Monastical habit and Vows upon him lived accordingly some years in the Monastery of Kildare an underling was after made Abbot then Bishop of the same Cloister and See deceased Anno Christi 638. and in fine was recorded in the Register of Saints Ceallach mhac Reghal King of Connaght made the like exchange of a Kingdom for a Cloister died in the Year of our Lord 703. and is invoked particularly at Lochkinne as their tutelary Patron Ardghal mhac Cathail King of Connaght the very same only that to be further off from all noise of the World he retired out of Ireland to the Monastery of Columb-Cille in the Island of Hy where in the seventh year of his peregrination which was of Christ 786 he ended his mortal course Before him a little that is Anno Christi 739. flourished the good King of Vlster Fiacha mhac Aodh Roin surnamed In Droiched from his continual care of building Bridges every-where throughout his Kingdom to make the ways more passable for Droiched in their Tongue signities a Bridge He was even to admiration vertuously just and equitable to all persons whatsoever Only one Cow taken away by stealth within his Dominion and because peradventure says Gratianus Lucius the Author of this stealth had not been with due severity punish'd he inflicted the remainder on his own person by going a Pilgrimage to Beannchuir In his Reign and
wickedness committed by his Brother Which yet he had not forgiven but only delai'd to judg as having never once heard of it before that very morning when he was preparing for Battel and consequently his Soul taken up wholly with other cares Whereby says Gratianus Lucius relating this matter at large and quoting O Duvegan for it we may guess at the condition of those Governors that wilfully and deliberately not only delay the punishment of so many horrible crimes they see daily committed even against all Justice and Religion but resolve never to punish them Neâ— enim injuria quis dixerit eum saevire in bonos qui parcit-malis But if you be of an other judgment as to this Maxim I mean That he is cruel to the good who spares the wicked or if peradventure you boggle at the miraculous part either of this Relation of Conchabhar O Cealla's death or of the former enumeration of such Irish Christian Monarchs Provincial and other Lesser Kings who have been famous in their time for piety you may pass it over and leave it to the devotion and credulity of other men that have not the same apprehensions doubts or scruples as they have not the same soul with you I am sure that laying all such matters aside there is among those great Examples of Virtue enough still remaining to edifie any good Christian or any sober man alive Though I must tell you withal that as no Writer holds himself accountable either for the verity or falsity of any other matters of Fact whatsoever written by him out of ancient History so much less for those of Miracles And yet further I must acknowledg that I know not whether any man writing purposely of a Nation or People that both firmly do believe such miraculous works to have been wrought by God among their Predecessors and would perhaps hold it a very invidious malevolent diminution of their glory for such a man to pass them over wholly in silence it were just or prudential in him to do so However I have avoided the two extreams I have not been wholly silent as to such matters nor have I given but a very few of them Besides I do not interpose a syllable of my own judgment Though I would nevertheless be as free either to assent or dissent or even to suspend as any other upon sufficient ground But enough of this and together with it of all I intended to give in the second Point 35. The third is an Appendix to what has been hitherto said of the personal piety of those Princes For I am now to give in order what was done partly by some of the very same partly by other Irish Kings Princes Lords as well to reform the Commonwealth regulate the Church restore Learning to the Nation as to promote Christian religious piety among all their Subjects no less than in themselves And all this I mean acted by them after the general calamity of the Danish Wars yea and acted by them notwithstanding their own so frequent relapses at this very time into their old Feuds again Brian Boraimh so often mention'd but never enough praised must be the first Instance in this place He set all men free from the exactions of the Danes All the spoils gained by him from the Danes he bestow'd on others All the Lands and Territories of the Kingdom he restor'd to the ancient Proprietors and lawful Heirs not retaining to himself or any Relations one foot of Land belonging to others He conferr'd on each Temporal Lord great Priviledges and Immunities according to his degree He restored to each Bishop his own Diocess to each Priest his Church throughout Ireland He founded built endow'd many Churches Schools Colledges and with Royal munificence care solicitude gave a new beginning again to the destroy'd Universities He bestow'd on every person that would learn money to bear his charges competently He built at his own proper cost the Cathedral of Cill-da-Luagh the Church of Inis Cealtrach and re-edified the Steeple of Tuaim-Ghreine He built many Bridges made many Causeys mended many High ways before not passable He erected many new Forts strengthened the old ones with new Bulwarks and in particular fortified Cashel the usual mansion of the Mounster Kings He re-edified all the Royal Houses or Palaces in Mounster that before his time had been either utterly ruin'd or wholly neglected in particular thirteen of them His Government was so rigid that under it a young Woman travail'd all alone from Toruidh to Cliodhna the length of Ireland with a gold Ring hanging on the top of a Wand in her hand without meeting any that attempted to rob or ravish her Besides he enter'd not on the Sovereignty by murdering or killing his Predecessor as so many others did who nevertheless were not tax'd with Usurpation because of their descent from the Royal Line and yet Brian was undoubtedly of the Line from Heber Moreover he was gloriously magnificent in his Port. No man could carry Arms in his Court where ever it chanc'd to be except only Dal-Gheass that were his own peculiar Guards All the Provinces of Ireland every one and some lesser Countreys too besides the Danes inhabiting Dublin and Limmeric lay under a considerable Boraimh or Tax which they paid yearly for the maintenance of his House at Ceann-Chora viz. Connaght 800 Beeves and so many Hogs Tirchonail 500 Mantles and 500 Beeves Tir-Eoghuin 600 Beeves 600 Hogs and 60 Tun of Iron Clanna Ruidhruidh in Vlster 150 Beeves and so many Hogs Oirghilluibh 800 Beeves Leinster 300 Beeves 300 Hogs and 300 Tuns of Iron Ossory 60 Beeves 60 Hogs and 60 Tuns of Iron Danes of Dublin 300 Pipes or Buts of Wine Danes of Limmerick a Tun of Claret for every day in the Year what Mounster paid I do not find In short his Hospitality at Ceann-Chora in every degree was such that excepting the Monarchs Cormock mhac Airt and Conair mor mhac Eidrisgceoil no other King of Ireland ever did an near it Maolseachluinn II. in his Second Reign especially towards the middle of it when he gave himself to Devotion and thoughts of an other life did as well in good Government and care of the Publick as in Piety shew himself both a great and good King He reedified many Schools repair'd many Churches maintain'd 300 Scholars out of his own Revenue laid the foundation of S. Mary Abbey in Dublin built and endow'd it An. 1039. * Vnderstand this according to Ketings Computation that gives Clantar Clantarâ—â— Battel fought on the 16th of April 1036. but not according to Gratianus Lucius or others that deliver it fought earlier by 20 years viz. Anno. 1014. the very first Abbey we read of built in Ireland since the universal destruction by the Danes For the Monarch Toirghiallach mhac Teaidhg mhic Brian Boraimh that he was not only a good man but excellent King you may read in Lucius very convincing Arguments 1. That during his twelve years Reign there was