signifying much of either side at least as to Ireland in general by any of these Invasions there was nothing more heard of them or of the Invaders Much less was there ever in any Chronicle or Book that I could see either in English Irish or Latin before Cambden's Britannia came forth any mention made of Edgar King of England how puissant soever he was his having conquered a great part of Ireland and Dublin withal or indeed so much as one foot of Land there nay or so much as his having attempted any such thing And therefore I take no notice of Cambden's old Charter of King Edgar wherever he found it And so I do as little of Buchanan's relation where he writes that Gregory the Great King of Scotland who began his Reign Anno Christi 875. and ended it with his life Anno 902. invaded Ireland with a puissant Army during the minority of Donogh King of Ireland and Tutorship of this young King by Brien and Conchuair beat these Tutors in two several great Fights took Dondalk Droghedagh and Dublin visited here the young King assum'd his Tutorage to himself placed Governours in the strong Towns receiv'd threescore Hostages for their fidelity and with them return'd victorious to Scotland Certainly Ireland never had at any time since the very beginning not even since the first Monarch Slanius who reigned above three thousand years ago any King that was a Minor as Doctor Keting well observes and may be seen by any that reads over in his Chronology and History all the Reigns of the several Monarchs who during that vast extent of time successively govern'd Ireland or had the Title to govern as Monarchs there until it came under the English Power in the year of Christ 1172. There was not one of them all that came to the Soveraignty but either by election of the people or power of the Sword as there was not one in seven but came to it by this latter way that is by killing of his Predecessor Keting in the life of Brian Borumha and this commonly too in Battel Besides their very fundamental Law of Tanistry did exclude a Minor What then must we think where so many thousands descended of Heber and Herimon were at hand to claim their Titles rather than a Minor should have it But to say no more to this feigned Invasion from Scotland nor any thing other than what I have already of those former true however inconsiderable ones from elsewhere in Great Britain and to return back where I was to the Invasions both true and terrible and lasting indeed of the Danes what I would say is that notwithstanding those cruel Heathens had from the year of Christ 820. when they first invaded Ireland in the Reign of Hugh in Irish Aodh surnamed Ordnighe Monarch of Ireland and Airtre mhic Caithil Provincial King of Mounster and after that year all along in the Reigns of both that Monarch and his two Successors Conchauar mhac Donchadha and Niall Caille as likewise of Feilimidh mhic Griomthaine the Latins call him Feidlimidius successor to Airtre in the Kingdom of Mounster in several Fleets the two first one after another landing in Mounster the third in the North the fourth in vibh Cinsallach in Leinster fifth in the Harbour of Limmerick sixth of 60 Sail at the River Boyne seventh of forty Sail on the River Liffy eighth and ninth extraordinary great mighty ones at Lough-Foyle in Vlster poured in continually from time to time for above forty years together those almost incredible Numbers of men related by Hanmor yet the Irish fought 'em still and foyl'd 'em too in eight or nine Battels And although being too much overpowred by the continual supplies of new men coming to their Enemies who were absolute masters of the Seas they after a tedious cruel and continual War became at last for some little season Tributary to their Captain General Turgheise for so the Irish call him by us called Turgesius who now stiled himself King of Ireland lived in the middle thereof at Lough Ribh near the place where now Athlone is had both there and all over the whole Kingdom in every Province and Countrey and almost nook of it his Dane-Raths and other Fortifications made and strong Garrisons planted in 'em yet very soon after the generality of their Princes and people I say the generality for some of them held out still in some inaccessible places of Rocks and Bogs ' and Woods had so yielded to him their wisdom valour enfranchiz'd them most wonderfully in little above one Months time by their utter destruction of this Tyrant all his Heathen Crue For upon his lusting after the beautiful Daughter of Maolsechluin King of Meath and his desiring her of her Father to be his Concubine and the Fathers seeming of purpose to consent and then sending her privately at the Night appointed but attended with fifteen resolute Youths in Womens attire with short Swords under their Gowns and instructions what to do and then when it was very late at Night and all the rest of the leacherous Tyrants great Commanders withdrawn each to his own Apartment their seizing him so soon as he began to be rude with her and the Armour too of all the rest laid together in one heap on a Table in the Hall and then her Fathers rushing in at the same time and killing all those Commanders every one when they expected other Company each one of them one of the young beautiful Damsels as the Tyrant had promised them hereupon I say and upon the word given by Messengers who were ready of purpose flying into all parts the Irish to a man throughout the Kingdom are presently in Arms fall upon the astoâ—ish'd Danes attack and carry their Forts fight their Troops wherever they embody rout 'em kill 'em and pursue the remainders of them to their very Ships getting now away out of the Roads as Wind Weather serv'd ' em As for Turgesius himself Maolseachluin reserv'd him in Fetters for a time and then drown'd him at last in Lough-ainme So that after much about forty years bloody continual and general War at home in all the Provinces and several years most miserable and general thraldom under the yoke of such powerful barbarous and fell Tyrants who left not a Monastery or Church or Chappel standing where ever they came who placed a Lay-heathen Abbot in every Cloyster and endowed Church to gather the Revenues who layed so many times all their Countrey in Ashes who no less than four several times in one Month burnt Ardmagh the most holy See and Metropolitan City then of all Ireland who slew indistinctly for so many years both Priests and Clerks and Laicks and mean and great and rich and poor without mercy and who at last having subdued the miserable remainder imposed those burdens of Bondage on them which were such that if as to the particulars they were not attested by all the Irish Chronicles in
Christ 498. the time of Fergus Mor as they call him son to Ercho Nephew to Eochadh Muinreamhar and of his five Brothers with him invading the North of Brittain And Tigernacus who commonly delivers in Latin what was done abroad as what was done at home in Irish has of the present subject this following passage Fergus Mor mhac Ercha id est Fergusius Magnus Erci filius cum Gente Dalrieta partem Britanniae tenuit ibi mortuâ—s est c. That is Fergus Mor the son of Erch with his people of Dal-Riada possess'd himself of part of Brittain and died there about the first year of the Popedom of Symmachus Which was the year of Christ 498. as Primat Vsher has rightly observed Besides the old Irish Book containing the Synchronism or if I may so speak the contemporariness not only of the Monarchs and Provincial Kings of Ireland but of the Kings in Albania too expresly relates how it was in the twentieth year after the Batâ—â—l of Ocha that the six sons of Ercho viz. the two Enguses the two Loarns some Copies have Coarns and the two Ferguses whereof one was this Fergus the Great pass'd over into Albania I say nothing how Nennius translated into Irish among O Duncgans Miscellanies says it was in the sixth Age of the World 〈…〉 〈…〉 the Dal-Riadans had conquer'd part of the Countrey of the Picts and the Saxons enter'd on other parts of Great Brittain Nor do I insist on O Duucgan himself though he most minutely prosecutes this Adventure of Ercho's Children telling the Families issued from them in Scotland which he calls Albain what Lordships or Lands each of them was possess'd of there and what Forces by Land or Sea they usually raised But what I am particularly to observe is that of all hands among the Irish Annalists and Historians it is without any contradiction admitted That this Fergus the Great son to Ercho is the same with Fergusius I. King of the Scots though in Boethius Major Buchanan c. called in Latin the son of Ferchardus That the foresaid Battel of Ocha wherein the Irish Monarch Oillioll Molt perish'd was fought in the year of Christ 478. And that from this year to the year 498. there is no man but sees the just interval must be those twenty years on expiration whereof the foresaid Book of Syncâ—ronisin relates the passing of Fergus Mor to Brittain And the issue of all must be that certainly as to this particular either all the ancient Irish Annals and Monuments besides the late Histories of Keting and Lucius are extraordinary false or Buchanan and Hector Boethius and all other Scottish Authors follow'd by them are extreamly out Even so far out as to have at least inverted the whole succâ—ssion descent line and genealogie of their Kings by giving us a Catalogue with the Lives and Reigns of two or three and forty Kings as descended Lineally from Fergusius I. before he had been existent on Earth For Congallus is the Xliiii King in Buchanan c. and yet the eighteenth year of this very Congallus according to Buchanans computation must have been the year of our Lord 498. in which all the Irish Records place the landing of Fergus Mor in Scotland tho the very first of the Catalogue in him and other Historians follow'd by him Moreover and which yet is no less considerable than any of the former Arguments we may take notice that Buchanan and his Authors make Reuda the sixth King of those in his Catalogue descended from Fergus Then which nothing can be more plain against all the Irish Antiquities To say nothing of V. Bede in his Eccles Hist l. 1. cap. 1. whom you may consult at leasure But for the Irish Chronicles I am sure they tell us particularly that the Monarch of Ireland Conaire mhac Mogha Lauae had three sons call'd the Three Carbry's viz. Cairbre Muisck from whom the Tract of Musckry and Cairbre Baisckin from whom the Land of Corca bhaiskin both in Mounster has denomination and Cairbre Riada alias Riadhfada That this last of the Three was the first Irish Conqueror of the Countrey in Albania which bore his name being called in Irish Dal-Riada in English the Part of Riada and by Latin Writers Dal-rieta Dal-Reuda and the Inhabitants Dal-Reudini as Bede calls ' em And that his foresaid Father the Irish Monarch Conaire mhac Mogha Lauae having reign'd in Ireland eight years was kill'd in the year of the World 5364. being the year of Christ 165. Whence it must follow that his said son Cairbre surnamed Riada in Irish though by V. Bede and others called Reuda must have invaded the Picts and possess'd himself of that part of their Countrey named from him at least three hundred years before the time of Pergus the Great who as we have seen before invaded not Albania till the year of Christ 498. So wide in this very particular of Reuda is the Irish account and History from the Scottish in Buchanan How to reconcile the difference in either particular being it is so great and concerns so great a succession of Kings and Ages too for at least 819 years I leave to such as shall please to concern themselves in it more than my purpose in this place requires I should my self But let them withal take these further Animadversions to thought 1. That the Father of this Fergusius the Great however you call him Erck Ercho Ercha or either as Buchanan has it Ferchardus or any other name whatsoever was never King of Ireland as no more was Fergus Mâ—â— himself notwithstanding Buchanan's intimation to the contrary but only a Brother to Muirchiortach the Irish Monarch that reign'd over all Ireland from the year of Christ 503 to the year 527. wherein he was murder'd 2. That Joannes Major himself though a Scotchman has in his little History of Great Brittain cap. X. reflected on that Vulgar Errour in the Annals of Scotland where they place Fergusius I. before Reuda's time 3. That Hollingshed in his English Translation of Hector Boethius professes himself to be of Opinion That very many of those Kings related by the Scottish Histories to have reigned successively one after another in Scotland were such as neither successively nor in Scotland but together at the same time reigned part of them in Ireland and part in other adjacent lesser Islands 4. That Gratianus Lucius in his Camb. Evers page 93. adds moreover Himself to think not improbably that the Scottish Authors borrowed a great number of their Kings from those indeed that were Pictish Kings Where to ground this Opinion of his he produces an old Irish Translation of Ninnius I mean as to the Catalogue of Pictish Kings in that ancient Author and fixes in particular on eighteen of them by name among which is one Gregory albeit Gregory be the Lxxiii King of Scots in Buchanan's Catalogue and that King too in whom Buchanan glories so much as to record him to posterity by the
commending them that came last Unto those and these Messengers was delivered so great and Royal a sum by the foresaid King of Mounster that thereby this Cloister was from the very foundations not only re-built in a little time so magnificently that for the stateliness of the Work it surpass'd all other to be seen in those days any where but moreover to maintain it and the Monks therein for ever purchased both within that very City of Reinsburg and abroad in the Countrey in Houses Lands Villages Towns a mighty great Revenue and perpetual Estate And yet after all supererat ingens copia pecuniae Regis Hiberniae there was remaining still an exceeding great quantity of the King of Ireland's money says the said Chronicle For so that Author calls the above Conchabhar O Brien though only King of Mounster the time of whose Reign was from the year of Christ 1127. when it began to the year 1142. when he ended both it and together with it his Life in a Pilgrimage at Kildare I say nothing of the mighty rich Presents which he sent and were carried from him and presented in his name to the Emperour Lotharius the II. by some of the noblest Peers of Ireland who had receiv'd the Cross for going to the holy War at that time in Palestine But there are two particulars which on this occasion coming to remembrance I cannot pass over in silence The one is concerning Marianus Scotus a famous man among the Learned specially Chronologers For in that Reinsburg Chronicle which speaks of Gregory the third of those Irish Abbots now mention'd we have this account of him 1. That after the same Gregory upon the death of his predecessour Christianus was chosen Abbot to succeed him in the foresaid Cloister of Reinsburg and therefore gone to Rome to be consecrated by the Pope who then was Adrian IV. an English man at that very time turn'd Monk in this Cloister egregius Clericus Hiberniensis nomine Marianus c. an excellent Irish Clerk by name Marianus a most learned man who a long time at Paris had publickly taught the seven Liberal Arts and other Sciences and was there Master to this very Adrian who now presided in the Apostolical Chair at Rome when the foresaid Gregory was admitted by him to Audience 2. That among other questions Adrian enquiring of Gregory concerning Marianus his old Praeceptor at Paris Gregory answered him thus Master Marianus is well and having forsaken the World lives with us a Monk at Reinsburg 3. That hereupon the Pope delivered himself in these words God be thanked says he For throughout the Catholick Church we do not know under an Abbot such an other man so excelling in Wisdom Prudence Wit Eloquence good manners humanity dexterity and other divine gifts as my Master Marianus c. Hitherto the very words of that Reinsburg Chronicle done only into English Which I have therefore given here out of Camb. Evers page 164. because I would restore that famous man to his own native Countrey Ireland notwithstanding his surname of Scotus What time he flourish'd we may gather hence being we know that Pope Adrian IV. whose Instructor in the Sciences he was died in the year of Christ 1159. the fourth year and tenth month of his Pontificate The other particular shews how the Irish had been five hundred years before piously munificent to Foreiners come to lead religious lives with them at home in Ireland as we have but lately seen they were five hundred years after to those of their own Natives that devoted themselves wholly to the same Life among Foreiners abroad I must confess there are many more Instances in History to shew the same thing but this one extracted by Cambden Cambden in his country of Maio. out of V. Bede l. 1. Eccles Histor cap. 4. may be sufficient in this place Colman an Irish Bishop found a place in Ireland meet for building a Monastery named in the Scottish that is Irish Tongue Mageo And he bought a part of it which was not much of the Earl whose possession it was to found a Monastery therein but with this condition annex'd to the sale that the Monks residing there should pray for the Soul of him that permitted them to have the place Now when he had in a very little time with the help of the said Earl and all the Neighbour Inhabitants built this Cloister he plac'd the English men there who were thirty in number leaving the Scots behind him in the Monastery which he had before built in a small Isle on the West of Ireland by name Inis-Bofindhe that is the Island of the white Cow And that Cloister which he had built within the Land is inhabited even at this day by English men For it is the same which of a small one is grown great and usually call'd Mageo And now having this good while turn'd all to better orders it contains a notable Covent of Monks who being assembled there out of the Province of England according to the Example of the reverend Fathers under regular disciplin and a Canonical Abbot live in great continency and sincerity by the labour of their own hands Hitherto Bede And Cambden where he treats of the County of Maio in Connaght adds that if he deceive not himself that place named Mageo in Bede is the very same that now we call the Town of Maio the Head of that Shire Which to be true not only the neerness of Inis-Bofindhe where Colman left the Irish Monks whom together with those English he took along with him from Lindisfearn in Great Brittain * Ann 664. according to the Saxon Chronology printed with Bede by Wheloc but the right Irish name of Maio confirms For in that Language 't is call'd Magheo even at this day But 't is high time now to end a digression which though at first occasion'd by my reflecting on Felim mhac Criomthain 's costly Progress about Ireland has after by degrees of it self insensibly spun out to this length 61. Although you may see for above four leaves together that is from page 190 to page 199. very much as well of the great Actions and fortunate successes of the last Irish Monarch Ruaruidh O Conchabhair in his youth as of the total Ecclipse of his glory yea and pitiable change of his Royal State in his old days to the miserable condition of a poor private flitting forlorn Exile and all proceeding from the unnatural cruelty of his own very Son nevertheless amongst those former smiles of Fortune favouring him had it occurr'd I had surely mention'd the General Assembly or Parliament of all the Estates of Ireland which he held with great solemnity in the first year of his Reign being the year of Christ 1166. at a place which Gratianus Lucius in his Camb Evers page 161. calls in Latin Athboylochia perhaps that Town which now we call Athboy in Meath and the Irish in their Language Bale-Ath-Buoy But which foever or where
About the end of Brian Boraimh's Reign the Kingdom of Ireland being all over in peace and flourishing with all earthly blessings under him and no more Danes left in the Land but such a certain number of Artificers Handy-craftsmen and Merchants in Dublin Weixford Waterford Cork and Limmerick as he thought and knew could be master'd at any time if they dared rebel he sends to his Brother-in-law Maolmoradh mhac Murchoe King of Leinster desiring three special Masts for shipping out of his Woods Maoldmoradh consents and goes himself to see them drawn along by the streingth of men to Cean Choradh the Monarch's House in Tomond A difference happening in the way between those men and thereupon Maolmoradh alighting and helping them to draw one of the beams up a high Mountain which they must have cross'd he toare off the clasp of his outward Robe Which so soon as he came to the Monarchs Court and visited the Queen his own Sister Garmlaigh he desires her to fasten telling her how it was torn off She takes the Robe throws it into the fire burns it before his face and then rebukes him smartly for his unworthy subjection of himself and his people of Leinster to Briean though her Husband And the Monarch Maolmoradh taking to heart her words and turning aside to see Murchoe the Prince Brian's eldest Son playing a game at Chess advises against him on some draught whereby the Prince lost his game Who thereupon fretting and twitting his Uncle this Leinster King told him that his advice formerly given to the Danes at the Battel of Gleann Mama lost them the Field Maolmoradh replyes that his next should prove otherwise The Prince defies him Maolmoradh withdraws goes to bed Supperless and early in the morning unknown posts away to Leinster Where the very next day after his coming he assembles his chief Noblemen represents to them what had past sets them all on fire to renounce their Allegiance to Briean confederate with the Danes and send the Monarch defiance Then he posts immediatly to Dublin engages the chief of the Danes there to send forthwith to the King of Denmark for a strong supply to help him against their mortal Enemy Brian Boraimhe and promises them his destruction And then he prepares at home for War And then within a little more time having seen twelve thousand men under the command of two of the King of Denmark's Sons Carolus Knutus and Andreas landed safely at Dublin and both kindly received them and refreshed them very well he without longer delay by a Herauld bid defiance to Brian and challenges him to fight on Maghnealta a spacious Field at Cluain-Tairbh otherwise Clantarf within two miles of Dublin And Brian with what speed he can joyning together all the Forces of Mounster Connaght and Meath for those of Vlster he neither sent unto nor would stay for as confiding mightily in those he had already out of the three other Divisions and hastning to fight marches directly to the place appointed Maghnealta and sees the Enemy there prepared to receive him viz. sixteen thousand Danes twelve of the new and four of the old ones together with all the power of Leinster headed by their said King Maolmoradh the only Author of this Battel To be short both Armies drawing near and viewing fully one another the fatal sign is given at last and Trumpets sound and skies resound with the terrible shouts of both sides as they closed But Maolseachluin the King of Meath who had been Monarch before Brian Boraimhe and was deposed to give him place the only Monarch of Ireland that from the beginning did survive his deposition finding it now his time to be in some sort revenged on Brian stands off with his Forces of Meath so soon as the signal was given and continues a meer Spectator during the whole time of the Battel without joyning with either side And yet notwithstanding this treacherous carriage of Maolseachluin for it can be term'd no better though after this Fight was over he recovered the Monarchy by it and was the last Monarch of the Milesian Race obeyed or acknowledged as such universally throughout the Kingdom yet I say notwithstanding it the valorous undaunted Prince Murchoe eldest Son of Brian Boraimhe having persuaded his Father to retire into his Tent by reason of his great age for he was now fourscore and eight years old behaved himself with his Momonian and Conacian Forces so bravely and made such and so many furious impressions on every side into the main Battalions of the Enemies that although neither courage nor dexterity nor ambition nor glory nor revenge nor despair proposed unto them respectively were wanting to make the Danish and Lagenian Forces withstand him a very long time and sell the Victory at a very dear rate he won the Field at last or rather indeed his Father and his Army won it after his death For this renowned Prince was kill'd in the Battel And which is far more strange the Father himself Brian Boraimhe the Monarch now after the Field had been clearly gain'd and the remainder of the Enemy scattered into the four Winds was kill'd in his own Tent by one Bruaodor a Dane who in the general Rout leading a party after him was forc'd to fly that way where the Monarch's Tent was pitch'd Whereinto as he pass'd by entring and seeing the Monarch whom he had formerly known he slew him though himself and his followers were presently cut in pieces by those that pursued them Of the Monarchs side besides himself and his Son the Prince were kill'd in this Battel seven little Kings most of the other Nobility both of Mounster and Connaught and 4000 of inferiour degree But of the other side were kill'd first the King of Leinster himself Molmoradh mhac Murchoe the Challenger of Brian to this Battel with his chief Nobles and 3000 common Souldiers then of the Danes the two Sons of the King of Denmark all their great Nobility 6700 of the Souldiers newly come with them and of the old Danes that were before their coming to Ireland 4000 more in all of both sides 17000 seven hundred besides Princes and other Noble men It was fought in the year of Christ 1034. Apr. 22. on good Friday After this Battel we hear but little of the Danes in Ireland Only that the foresaid Maolseachluin who now the second time succeeded in the Monarchy for nine years more until his death took Dublin the next year sack'd it burnt it and killed in it all those Danes that escaped from Clantarff That soon after this again i. e. in the Sovereignty of this same Maolseachluin Huaghaire mhac Duinling mhac Tâ—athil King of Leinster a man of another mind race and interest than Molmoradh mhac Murchoe was gave a mighty overthrow and it the very last given to Siteric the Son of Aomlaibh and the Danes of Dublin who it seems after the Battel of Clantarff and the burning of Dublin next year by Maolseachluin
of the three Collaes into Vlster to destroy it and conquer as much Land for themselves in it as they could That in pursuance of this Order they made so sharp War on Ferghus Fogha King of Eumhna there that in seven several Fights against him fought seven days consequently without the interposition of one free day they had the killing and taking of all the Vlster Forces having as they beat 'em still pursued them all along from Cearnagha to Gleann Ruigh That being Masters of the Field they returned back to Eumhna spoil'd it burn'd it and destroy'd it so that never after any King resided there Finally that by this expedition they conquer'd for themselves the large Territories of Modharnaigh Vibh Criomthaine and Vibh mhic Vaise which their Posterities after them did hold while the Milesian Kingdom stood in Ireland But I pass over these matters depending on Cormack's beard not because he and the rest mention'd in this story were Pagans for I shall have occasion yet to speak somewhat tho but little of as great Pagans as they but because peradventure the cause it self was not slight Tho however I must acknowledg the punishment was too severe and unjust as neither inflicted on the Criminals nor on any that ought in such a distance of time to suffer for them much less after legal summons or any respit given them to make reparation under peril of abiding the justice of Arms. But leaving this to the Readers judgment I return back to the Christian Princes where I was before animadverting the sport they made on the sligtest causes that well might be of the lives of so many thousands of other Christians their own faithful Friends and Subjects Yet what I am to consider now is another thing It is That all this while nor they nor their Successors after 'em for 300 years more seem'd any way sensible that the All-avenging God began already to warn them For so in truth he did and that not once nor twice but much oftner within that very term of time even while they were in their full career persecuting one another at home with the greatest violence of deadly Foes In which respect he dealt far otherwise that is much more kindly and mercifully with them than he had done with their Pagan Fore-fathers in that very Land upon whom about a hundred years after their conquering it without any such gracious Fatherly warnings given them for ought we find in History he laid on a sudden the whole weight of his heavy hand in a most prodigious manner at two several times For what could be more dreadfully prodigious than that which I have related before and you may remember here three parts of four of all the people of Ireland together with their Monarch Tighernmhuir who was the tenth from Heber slain in one only night upon Maigh-Sleacht by invisible Demons the Executioners of Gods fury enrag'd against them Or what next to that could be more prodigiously terrible than a rich Plain of forty miles long and fourteen fifteen sixteen miles broad in most places throughly planted and thick of Inhabitants in Vlster to be on a sudden over-flown cover'd over with a deluge of waters burst out of its own intrels and neither Man nor Woman nor Child nor Beast nor other goods of so large a tract of ground to be saved but all in one hour perish'd under this Flood of God's avenging irresistible wrath How-ever because their heinous Idolatry i. e. their universal adoration and prostration of themselves before their grand Idol Crom Chruoigh which by all circumstances was the sin that brought upon 'em the former of those two stupendious Judgments though it was national yet it was not peculiar to their Nation only and because the most beastly of sins whence it has its proper name of Bestiality which brought the latter of the same Judgments on those bestial Wretches that so astonishingly perish'd for it was peculiar only to that tract of ground or rather indeed to them who were Inhabitants of it and no way National or involving or affecting so much as any one other part of Ireland therefore I pass over these punishments as not inflicted either of them upon the Irish Nation for those enormities which I have said before were both National and peculiar to Cambden's Ireland in the County of Fermanagh pag. 106. them Besides Cambden himself declares in particular as to the latter of the said Judgments how the Irish Annals deny those bestial Inhabitants of the destroyed Valley to have been other than certain Islanders out of the Hebrides who being fled out of their own Country lurked there and consequently deny them to have been at all of the Irish Nation much more deny 'em to have been either of the Milesian or Gathelian Race Then Keting tho he tells us particularly Keting in the Reign of the foresaid Tighernmhuir of the breaking out of that Inundation of Water the great Lough Earn which it presently made and so continues ever since yet has not a word of the horrible sin of Bestiality as neither indeed of any other sin or cause whatsoever thereof on the part of the Inhabitants And lastly Cambrensis who is the Girald Cambr. Topog. Hib. dist 11. cap. 9. first Author of this relalation brings no other warrant for it but hear-say Yet be it or be the original of Lough Earn so famous ever since for Fishing what you please what I would be at to tell you here is That after that prodigious eruption of Water in the North and the no less if not far moreâ— prodigious slaughter on Maghsleacha we may call it in English the Field of Adoration in Letrim both which happen'd in the Reign of the self-same King and near the same time about 2900 years ago We do not find in the Irish Chronicles that God had once in any special or visible manner concern'd himself either in warning or punishing that People at least otherwise than by themselves until they became Christians but let them go on securely without controul from him in those National peculiar enormities of their own I mean their immortal Feuds and prodigal effusion of human blood even that of their own Country-men and Kinsmen on every little occasion That nevertheless he continued still their Victories and Dominions abroad unto them and gave them the spoils of Forein Kingdoms to enrich their own at home and all this for causes known to his unsearchable Wisdom but wholly unknown to us at least otherwise than by conjecture that he had peradventure so long contain'd hiâ— Wrath in his mercy for the sake of those vast numbers of holy Men and Women those great Saints who were in after Ages to issue from their Loyns and to carry his glorious Name far and near by Preaching the Gospel and converting so many incredulous Nations to him as they did That after they were become Christians and yet nevertheless pursued the bloody courses of their Pagan Ancestors and not
however he continued in the whole his Reign over Connaght 50 years and according to all the Irish Annals and Historians over Ireland 20. Though says Gratianus according to a more exact severe discussion of the truth if the date of his Monarchy be taken from the death of his Predecessor Mairchiortach O Brien to his own he must have reigned over Ireland 34 years in all or at least 28 if it be continued only till the foresaid Hostages were forc'd from him But I range again For as well this calculation of his years or Reign as his religious preparation for death and his burial and rest close by the high Altar of St. Cieran in the Cathedral Church of Cluan-mhac-Noise is forein to my purpose here And therefore I return again Muirchiortach commonly call'd Mac Loghlenn but immediate Son to Niall and by him Nephew to that Domhnal whom we have so lately seen to have so long contended for the Sovereignty of Ireland and therefore stilâ—d by Colganus King of Ireland upon the death of Toirghiallach mor O Conchabhar assumes that Title of the Irish Monarchy which he had so venturously and early prepar'd for while Toirrghiallach was yet alive and in health Of him at least of any warlike action either of his or indeed of any others in his Reign tho Keting has not a word save only those very few that on an other occasion I have given before page 73. viz. that Mairchiortach mhac Neill the Monarch that succeeded Toirghiallach mor O Conchabhar was in the 18th year of his Reign kill'd by Fearnibh Fearrmhaighe and O Brian yet the diligence and accurateness of Gratianus Lucius makes abundant compensation For this Author p. 86. says of the present Muirchiartach first in general That his humour having been wholly Martial and his fortune answerable he over-run all the Provinces of Ireland in a continual course of Victories obtained partly by Battels and partly by the sole terrour of his Name That he subdued them all and forced them every one to give him Hostages That therefore at least He without any contradiction may be admitted next after Maolseachluinn II. for the undoubted King of all Ireland And then after letting us know that this Prince's great Vertues were much eclipsed by the Precipitancy of his anger and that whom prosperity had rais'd to such a heighth adversity at last did throw down as low even to the very earth he particularly recounts how Eochadh King of Vlster not only refus'd to pay any more Tribute or other dues to him but even without any other provocation made War upon him That he being thereupon enraged enters the Territories of Eochadh routs his Forces burns his Lands takes his Vassals and puts them in Fetters Eochadh himself by good luck escaping That after this yea notwithstanding a reconciliation made between them by the intercession and upon the Engagement of the Primat of Ardmagh and Donochadh King of Oirghllae for performance of Covenants on both sides and Eochadh's consequential pardon and reception to grace which to assure him Muirchiortach took the most solemn Oath he could for such it was accounted then in that Kingdom on the Staff of Jesus what this was S. Bernard tells in the Life of Malachias yet ere long whether out of the former cause or any other new one enraging him he had Eochadh's eyes pull'd out of his head and three of his Nobles duos Olingsios Cathasachi O Flahry nepotem most cruelly put to death without any regard to the engagement of the Sureties And to conclude that Donochadh O Cearrbhaoil the foresaid King of Oirghillae one of the Sureties taking to heart so heinous a breach of Faith Oath Covenants and assurance given by himself and therefore resolving to be reveng'd draws to his association the People of Vibhruinne and Comhaicne marches with an Army of 9000 men into Cineal-Eoghain otherwise call'd by them Tir-Eoghain but by us Tir-oen where the Monarch then resided surprizes him unprovided fights the few tumultuary Forces led forth by him routs them and kills him in that Field a man ever before Victorious in all his Encounters whatsoever Yet such was his end in the 10th of his reign Anno Christi 1166 says Gratianus Lucius though Keting says he was kill'd in the eighteenth of his Reign by Fearrnibh Fearrmhaighe and O Brien as I have noted before But as their difference in computing the years of the Reign is not material the one beginning it when this Muirchiortach mhac Neill had forc'd his predecessor Toirrghiallach mor O Conchabhar to give him Hostages and the other when Toirrghiallach died so neither is it material to know whether any such persons call'd Fearrnibh Fearrmhaighe and O Brien were or were not in that Battel to kill him What is to our present purpose you have it very particularly delivered by the one and not gainsaid by the other And yet upon reflection I must confess I find that I have not delivered all the material things written by Gratianus Lucius in this Reign of Muirchiortach mhac Neill He further writes page 87. that in the Year 1156. even the very first year of it presently after Toirrghiallach mor O Conchabhar's death his Son and Heir and King of Connaght Ruidhruigh O Conchabhar did receive twelve Hostages from Muirchiortach O Brien even that very Mounster King so lately before deprived and banish'd to Tir-Eoghain by the said Toirrghiallach Father to this Ruidhruigh as we have seen already That in the Year 1157. he rush'd into Muirchiortach mhac Neill the Monarch's own peculiar Countrey Tir-Eoghain burnt the fruitful Peninsula there call'd Inis-Eoghain destroy'd all the delicate Gardens Orchards Plantations wasted the whole Region to Cianachty That after this he turn'd his Arms on Mounster Where having first setled the foresaid Muirchiortach O Brien in possession of North Mounster he forc'd Hostages from Diarmuid mhac Cormuic mhic Cartha King of South Mounster to remain with him till Muirchiortach mhac Neill the Monarch did relieve the said Diarmuid That Anno 1158. he enter'd Leinster in like hostile manner with great Force marcht through it to Leiglin being encamp'd there had Hostages brought him from Ossory and Luighis and in the close of all loaded Mac Craih O Morrdha the little King of Luighis with Irons That in the next place he made Inroads into Teabhan driving away thence from the Kerins an exceeding great prey of Cows and with his Fleet afflicted all the Coasts of Tir-Eoghain mightily That in the Year 1161. falling violently on Meath he both compelled the Countreys call'd Vibh Falain and Vibh Faoilghe to give him pledges and then plac'd Governours in them viz. Faolan O Faoelain in the one and Mlaghlin O Conchabhair in the other That after all he made his Conditions of peace with the Monarch deliver'd him four Hostages receiv'd from him in gift the entire Province of Connaght with the one half of Meath and from Diarmuid O Maolseachluinn a hundred ounces of Gold for that
Year of Christ 743. not as Cambrensis has it biâ—nnio ante Topog. dist 2. c. 10. adventum Anglorum two Years only but 424 Years before the first landing of Fitz Stephens in Ireland So far is Cambrensis out in his relation of the very time of this matter it happening that a prodigious Whale with three golden Teeth stianded at Carlingford within his jurisdiction each Tooth weighing fifty ounces of Gold he gave one of them to the chief workman-builder of the foresaid Bridges the other two he dedicated to the making of Shrines in the Monastery of Beannchuir for those holy relicks there on which the Countrey people did use to take their most solemn Oaths for ending all Controversies arisen Felim mhac Criomthain alias in Latin Feidlimidius that most famous King though not of Ireland wherein also Cambrensis as in most his other Relations concerning Ireland has most grosly err'd but of Mounster having prosperously reigned 27 years and within that time what by harrassing what by fighting Leath-Cuinn humbled them mightily at last resign'd his Crown retired from all secular Employments all earthly joys pleasures vanities withdrew to a Wilderness turn'd a poor Hermit there continued so the rest of his life devoting himself wholly to God till death call'd him away under the Monarchy of Niall Caille in the Year of Christ 845. For then it was that he departed hence with the Opinion both of a great Saint and of as excellent a Writer too as that Age might have says Lucius The Irish Book call'd an Leabhar Irsi or as Keting expounds it the Book of their Annals has in short this Elogy of him Optimus Sâ—piens Anachoreta Scotorum quievit Contemporary to him was Fionachta-Luibhne King of Connaght who in the same manner exchang'd his Royal Robe for an Hermits Coat and all the attendance wealth delights pomp gayety of a Palace for the laonliness poverty silence obscurity of an uncouth naked solitude to prepare himself for the last day of his life which he ended there Anno 846. Next to this Fionachta in order of time the King of Leinster Dunling mhac Muireadhach retired both from his Kingdom and all worldly things else into the Monastery of Kildare professing Monk and continuing there in the exercises first of an Underling then of an Abbot till in the Year 867. he finish'd happily his course And after him Domhnal son to the Monarch of Ireland Aodh Fionnliach devoted himself to the service of God in the habit and profession of a most godly mortified Ecclesiastick In which condition he received without any fear at all the King of terrours Death in the Year of our Saviour 911. Him although at a great distance of time followed Ruaruidh O Conchabhair King of Connaght I mean the Father of Toirghialiach mor O Conchabhair Monarch of Ireland who in the 20th year after that O Flaithâ—â—iortach had put out his eyes enter'd the Order of Canon-Regulars and among them rendred his Soul to his Redeemer An. 1118. And so did the King of the Dublinian Danes and Leinster Irish Domhnal O Brien son to Muirchiortach O Brien King of Ireland renounce his Kingdom profess Clerk at Lismore and accordingly there continue a life of pennance to his death which happened Anno Dom. 1135. Lastly the religious Devotion of Cathal Cruddhearg King of Connaght Lucius calls him in Latin Cathaldus à rubro Carpo is very much celebrated amongst his Countrymen in all their Histories He after the death of his Wife gave up his Kingdom profess'd Cistercian Monk in the Monastery built by himself at a place in Connaght call'd the Hill of Victory and in the Year of Christ 1224. breath'd out his last in the same religious Cloister The great liberality of this Provincial King to the Church and particularly the large extent of Lands bestowed for ever by him upon that Cistercian Abbey de Colle Victoriae when he built it may perhaps be elsewhere in this Treatise reflected on At present and because I have now done with all the most singular patterns of Piety recorded among the Provincial Kings of that Nation I proceed to those of the most celebrated memory in that respect among their Lesser Kings Such were Damhin mhac Dambinghoirt King of Orghillae departed this life Anno Dom. 560. and Ferrhadhach mhac Duacha parted in the Year 582. whose Souls are said by the Irish Writers to have been shew'd to Columb-Cille ascending to Heaven absque poenis purgatoriis Such was Brian Boraimh's Ancestor in the seventh degree of ascent by name Toirrghiallach by Title or Dignity King of Dal-Gheass or rather indeed says Keting of North-Mounster who in the Year 690. or thereabouts after he had bestow'd all the Islands in his Kingdom on poor strangers to be inhabitâ—d and cultivated by them put on a Monks Cowl at Lismore and for his daily employment either polish'd stones for the building of Churches there or mended High-ways So that he was never idle but discharging continually with his own hands the part sometime of a Stone-cutter at other times that of a poor ordinary Mason or meanest Day-labourer Such Maol-bressal mhac Cearnaigh King of Mogh dornuigh who after quitting the World professing Monk and living in that profession many years like a Saint was kill'd at last by the Danes Anno 847. Such Maolduin King of Oiligh son to Aodgh Ordnigh the Monarch that forsook all whatever was desireable on earth took the same course of a profess'd religious Life in a Monastery for many years never look'd back never took his hand off the Plough till death seiz'd him in the Year of Christ 865. Such also were Maolbride King of Cineal-Gonail and Domhnal King of Cineal-Laoghaire who trampling underfoot all worldly temptations assumed the Monastic habit retired into Cloister'd Cells and for the remainder of their lives which was of many years continued their station there practising only the methods of dying to themselves and living to Christ till the blessed hour came when he call'd them to himself the former Anno 897. the later Anno 882. And after them Donochadh the son of Ceallach and Son-in-law to Donochadh mhac Floinn the Monarch King of Ossory is next recorded as a man of exceeding piety and godliness though never so profess'd Monk nor at all retir'd in outward appearance from the duties of his secular Employment His care of the poor was such that in his time every house in Ossory had three several Bags for daily Collections of Victuals to feed them One that receiv'd the tenth part of every persons meal none at all of the Family no not even of the servants excepted Another design'd for the portion of Saint Michael the Archangel as they call'd it And a third was under the peculiar charge of the good Wife to see all the scraps gathered into it Besides he was himself exceeding bountiful to them And then his devotion at Church frequentation of the Sacrament watch over his own senses delight in all
none oppos'd his person nor any that call'd in question his Title none drew Sword nor lift up an armed Hand against him 2. That he never enacted one farthing never any kind of Boraimh or Tax of the Provinces yet was abundantly furnish'd by them all along with all kind of necessaries to support his Regal dignity 3. That he made very good wholsome convenieent Laws for his People 4. That Lanfrancus then Arch-bishop of Canterbury loved him entirely remembred him still in his Prayers did all the good Offices he could to his Friends calls him tacitly a lover of Justice and then expresly adds Magnam misericordiam populis Hiberniae tunc divinitus collatam quando omnipotens Deus Terdelacho magnifico Hiberniae Regi jus Regiae potestatis super illam terram concessit That Almighty God had then shewed great mercy to the people of Ireland when he gave the Royal power of that Land to the magnificent King Toirrghiallach The Letters of Lanfrancus containing these Elogies of him are quoted by Lucius page 83. Muirchiortach O Brien son to the said Toirrgiallach made a much further progress in restoring the Commonwealth and both endowing and reforming the Church In the first year of his Reign which was the year of Christ 1106. he alienated th City of Cashel from the Mounster Kings and to the honour of God and of St. Patrick bestow'd it for ever in puram eleemosynam by way of pure Alms on the Bishops See there says Keting In his Reign also not only a Parliament of all the Estates in Ireland * See Waraeus in his Commeut de Praesul Heb. p. 12. in Celsus was held at Fiadh-mhac-Naoughussa but as Gratianus Lucius has it even three several Synods representing the whole Clergy of that Nation were conven'd at three divers places One of them at Vsneach in Meath conven'd Anno 1106 as Lucius expresly says telling us withal that in this Council Gillaspuic whom he calls in Latin Gilbertus Abbot of Beannchuir Bishop of Limmeric and Legat for the Pope was President and that in all it consisted of fifty Bishops whereof the said President was the first Celsus in Irish Ceallach successor to St. Patrick at Ardmagh the second and Maolmuire Huadanain Arch-bishop of Mounster the third besides three hundred Priests and three thousand other Ecclesiasticks present Another of them was held at the foresaid Fiadh-mhac Naonghussa then if I understand Keting aright when all the Estates were assembled there And though I cannot say for certain what Year that was I may nevertheless Waraeus out of the Annals of Hister says it was held Anno 1111. assure you that Keting says the Representatives or Members of this Synod were only the successor of that Patrick at Ardmagh for he does not otherwise name him and Maolmuire O Dunain the Archbishop of Mounster and eight Bishops more besides 360 Priests 140 Deacons and other Ministers not numbred that were present But for the Acts of this Council we need not be inquisitive since the same Keting has plainly told us they are lost And so might Lucius for ought I can see have told us of those made at Vsneach for it is he and not Keting that has observ'd that Synod The third which both of them equally mention has been a memorable one indeed and the chief Acts of it preserv'd to Posterity are at large in Keting It was held at Rath Bressail Anno 1110. under the presidency of the foresaid Gillaspuic Bishop of Limmeric as the Pope's Legat. The number of Bishops conven'd I do not find But I see clearly enough their main business was to reduce the number of Bishops in the whole Island and to assign to each Bishop his own peculiar Diocess with the meers and bounds thereof partly as I suppose to prevent disputes about Jurisdiction and partly that the Flock might be the more carefully observ'd They did both successfully And for the number they ordered it should be six and twenty in all twelve of them in Leath Cuinn and twelve in Leath Mogh and two in Meath Of the twelve in Leath-Cuinn six were in the Province of Vlster and Ardmagh one of the six the rest in Connaght of the other twelve for Leath-Mogh seven were appointed for the two divisions of Mounster and five for Leinster He of Dublin was not mention'd amongst them nor indeed at all as receiving then his consecration from Canterbury But Gleann-da Loch now united to it was one of the Five for Leinster All the other Sees also they named whereof some are different from those we know at present And so did they name in the very Acts of the same Council the peculiar Meers of each Bishoprick all round about every where throughout the whole Kingdom The Annals of Inis Fail as Lucius quotes 'em say this Synod or rather perhaps the General Assembly consisting as well of the Lay Estates as of Ecclesiastical sitting in the same Place made better Laws than Ireland ever had before at any time Among which Keting sets down one special Act for the plenary Exemption of the Church for ever from all Taxes Impositions Burthens Duties c. impos'd on 'em by the secular Power Another also for every Bishop's consecrating at Easter the Oyl of holy Vnction After which concluding his whole account of this National Synod he adds how the Fathers assembled therein had in the end of all their Acts bless'd the Observers and curs'd the Transgressors of them in this form The blessing of God Almighty and of S. Peter and S. Patrick and of the Representer of S. Peter's Successor the Legat Giolla-Aspuick Bishop of Limmerick and of Ceallach S. Patrick's successor Primat of Ireland and of Maoil-Josa mhac Ainmhire Arch-bishop of Cashel and of all the Bishops Gentry and Clergy in this holy Synod of Rath-Breassuill light and remain upon every one that shall approve ratifie and observe these Ordinances And of the other side their Curses on the Infringers of ' em Gratianus Lucius in his Cambr. Evers page 83. is of opinion and his reasons for it can hardly be gainsay'd that these which are called three National Synods were but one and the self-same Council continued from time to time and finish'd in three several Sessions and Places viz. One Session at Visneach another at Fiadha-mhac-Naonghussa and the Last of 'em at Rath-Bressail But if you enquire what should bring to this Council such a vast conflux of Ecclesiasticks as besides all the Bishops whose duty it was to be there three hundred Priests and 3000 other Churchmen I for my part can guess at no other cause than one of Three or all Three together 1. The Novelty or at least Rarity of a National Synod in that Kingdom I am sure Keting in all his History has not any Instance of a National Synod of the Irish Church not even from the beginning of it before that of Fiadh-mhac-Naonghussa 2. The Fame of so great a Reformation of the Sacerdotal Order and state Ecclesiastical
not But if it do Sir James Ware in his Commentary de Praesulibus Hiberniae supplies it abundantly page 174. concerning Mounster and pag. 243. and 244. concerning Connaght What Authority or Jurisdiction these Archbishops had in those days of old is an other question or whether they had any more than only to be Episcopi primae sedis in their Province or priority of place I can say nothing to it But in this I can be on rational grounds positive That none of the Irish Clergy depended on the Archbishops of Canterbury none of their Bishops received consecration from any of them until Lanfraneus in William the Conquerors time was the Archbishop of that See Nor then nor after neither but for some little time those only of Dublin Wexford Waterford and Limmeric And the reason why these in particular would or did so depend was That their Townsmen and subordinate peculiar Governors were Danes or Easterlings now turn'd Christians And that they suspected the Irish Prelats would not favourably judg or determine of their Elections in behalf of their own Citizens blood or Countreymen to Ecclesiastical Offices but by reason at least of the former Feuds if not those present and remaining still would prefer Irish to them And therefore and further yet because they expected in that behalf impartial dealing and justice if not favour too from the See of Canterbury as being of late brought under the Norman Conquerors originally their own Countreymen they procured License from the Irish Kings to have their Bishops consecrated by the Archbishops of that See whereby it happened that so lately as the Reign of the Monarch Toirrghiallach Grandchild to Brien Boraimh in the Year of Christ 1098. the first Bishop of Waterford was consecrated by Anselmus of Canterbury So says Keting and much more Lucius and most of all on this Subject the most eminently famous Primat Vsher who was both concern'd for his own See of Ardmagh and without question able enough to search into these matters To him may be added Sir James Ware pag. 102. 103 and 104. where he tells us of Patric Donatus O Haingly Samuel O Haingly and Gregory four Bishops elected successively by the Oostmans of Dublin and and consecrated for that See by the Archbishops of Canterbury Lanfrancus Anselmus and Rudolphus but no more for the next Bishop of Dublin was consecrated by Ardmagh Having thus reflected on those Errors of Hanmer I have no more to say in relation to the Council of Ceannannais but that all the advantage benefit glory redounding from it to the Irish Church ought questionless to be attributed chiefly to the foresaid King and Monarch of Ireland Muirchiortach mhac Neill that rendred it both much more august by his own Royal presence and much more effectual by his perfect submission to all its Decrees A further strong argument of great resolutions taken by many of the Kings Princes Nobles Ecclesiasticks of Ireland to restore civility justice learning and above all Piety and holiness of Life once more among their Countreymen was the great number of Monasteries built and endow'd by them within the very last eighty years of their Milesian Government before the final period of it Yea and built by them I mean notwithstanding all the disadvantages of that time especially of that part of it which was taken up by the extraordinary turbulencies happen'd in Ruaruidh O Connor's Reign Who as we have seen before succeeded this Muirchiortach mhac Neill and was himself never since by any of his Countrey or Nation succeeded In the Province of Vlster Anno 1106 the Monastery of Lisgoual near Loch Erne and the Abbey of Carrig whose first Abbot was St. Euodius were founded by Mac-Noellus Mackenlef King of Vlster Anno 1138. an other for the Canons Regular of St. Austin in Feramanach The same Year an other in Louth for the same order by Donogh mhac Ceirrbheoil King of Orghillae And by him at the request of St. Malachias the noble Abbey of Mellifont for the Cistercians Anno 1142. The Abbey of Jonmhair Chinne Traigh alias Newry by Malachias himself besides the celebrated Beannchuir restor'd by him About this time also the younger O Domlsnâ—l as he is call'd â—rince of Tirconnel at the request of St. Dominick by Letters to him built for his Order a Monastery at Doire Cholum Cille which had usually a hundred and fifty religious men In the Province of Mounster not only the Abbâ—y of O Dorne in the County of Kierry the Abbey of Fermoigh in the County of Cork Anno 1140. and the Abbey of Neny or Magio Anno 1148 or 1151 all three for the Cistercian Order but eighteen Monasteries founded by Domhnal O Brien the last King of North-Mounster Among these were the famous Abbey of Holy Cross at Tipperary and St. Peters at Limmeric for the black Nuns of St. Austin and the Monastery de Surio and that call'd Killoulense or de Albo campo and the other Kilmoniense or de Furgio and lately the Cloister â—f Corcamâ—ua or of the fruitful Rock In the Province of Leinster Diarmuid mhac Murcho surnamed Na Ngall the last King of it founded six Monasteries Two of them at Dublin whereof one was for Nons of the Order or rather Reformation of Aroasia the other for Chanons of Aroasia in an Abbey of Monks in Artois St. Austin a third in the County of Kilkenny at Kilclehin a fourth at Atoody in the County of Catherlach the fifth being a great noble Abbey for the Cistercians by them named de Valle Salutis at Baltinglass in the County of Wicklo and the sixth at Ferns in the County of Wexford But Monaster-Euin or de rubra Valle for the same Cistercian Order was founded by Diarmuid O Daoimuse alias Dempsy Lord or at least one of the Lords of Ibh Failghe Anno 1178. Jeripont Abby in the County of Kilkenny Anno 1181. by Donald Fitz Patric King of Ossory The Monastery of Lease or de Lege Dei An. 1183. by Cuchogrius O Moadhirra The Monastery of Dune in the County of Wexford even before the landing of Fitz Stephens there by Diarmuid O Ryan by consent of the Leinster King founded for the Chanons of St. Austin In the Province of Connaght before it was conquered by the English Cathal O Conchabhair surnamed Crombhdhearg founded the Monastery of Benedictin Nuns at Killcreunath the Monastery of Cnockmoigh or de Colle Victoriae for the Cistercians that of Ballin Tohair for the Chanons of St. Augustin and not only endow'd but enrich'd them all with large possessions Add the Monastery of Boyle about the Year 1151 founded for the Cistercian Order Lastly in Meath the King or Prince of it Murcho O Mleaghluinn founded the Monastery of Bectif alias de Beatitudine either Anno 1148. or 1151. for the Cistercians likewise for the Votresses of Saint Augustin or he or some other O Mlaghlin King of that Countrey built the Cloister at Clonard But the Cloister of Shrouil in the County of
in like manner Claudius the Roman Emperour though come in person with a mighty power of Legions and Auxiliaries into Brittain found it his safest way to run away in two great Battels from the victorious Army of Guiderius and Arviragus the Lxvii and Lxviii Brittish Monarchs one after another in so much that Claudius was content at last ' een fairly to capitulate for Peace with Arviragus by sending to Rome for his own Daughter Gennissa and giving her in marriage to him nay and leaving him too the Government wholly of all these Provincial Islands for so Geoffrey calls them in this place That Severus how great soever both a Souldier and Emperour he was found it a desperate business to fight in Great Brittain against the Brittons when he saw himself receiving his death's wound from Fulgenius in that Battel whence he was carried dead and buried in York That under Vortigern their Lxxxvi Monarch Hengistus the Saxon invited in by him landed the second time in Great Brittain with an Army of three hundred thousand Heathen Foreigners and yet Aurelius Ambrosius the next Brittish King after Vortigern fought him in the head of all his formidable Forces and in a plain Field overthrew both him and them all nay pursued them in their Flight till he reduced them to nothing and the whole Island of Brittain to its native liberty from any Foreign Yoak Nor had his Victories a period here but over-run Ireland also where he took Prisoner in a great Battel the Monarch of that Countrey Gillomar and then brought away Choream Gigantum the Giants Monument of stones from the Plains of Kildare in that Kingdom which he set up on Salisbury Plains in England That Arthur who was likewise save one the next King of Great Brittain for he was son to Vter Pendragon that Reign'd immediately before him subdued all England Scotland Ireland the Isles of Orkney Denmark Norway Gothland along to Livonia France and as many Kingdoms in all as made up XXX Yea moreover i. e. after so many great and mighty Conquests and besides the killing too of Monsters and Giants fought even Flollo and Lucius the two Lieutenant Generals of the Roman Emperour Leo kill'd them both in France and the later of them I mean Lucius in the head of a dreadful Army consisting of four hundred thousand men all which he overthrew and ruin'd That although by occasion of some unhappy quarrels among the Britons themselves under Catericus their Lxxxxvi King a bad man the Saxons to be reveng'd on them wrought King Gurmundus the late African Conqueror of Ireland to come from thence into Great Britain with an Army of a hundred sixty six thousand Heathen Africans and burn spoil and destroy the better parts thereof and after put and leave the Saxons in possession of all he could which was that whole Countrey then called Loegria now England as distinguish'd both from Scotland and Wales meaning by Wales the ancient Kingdom of Cambria which comprehended all beyond the Savern and that notwithstanding the Saxons had by such means got possession of all Loegria and held it for several years they were beat out again so soon as the Britons agreed amongst themselves meeting at Westchester and chusing there Caduallo for their King who bravely recovered the whole Island every way round even to the four Seas and kept both Picts and Scots and such of the Saxons as were left alive or permitted to stay in perfect obedience to the British Crown during his own Reign which lasted forty years in all and that so did Cadwallador after him during his In short that as the progeny of Frute continued free independent successful glorious in the first period of their Monarchy under sixty six Kings of their own during at least a thousand years and forty from the landing of Brute till the Invasion of Julius Caesar and as for the next period which took up five hundred and nine years more till the landing of Hengistus the Saxon albeit the Roman power and glory did sometimes lessen sometime ecclipse theirs yet they preserved still their freedom and Laws and Government under twenty other Kings of their British Nation successively reigning over them and paying only a slight acknowledgment of some little tribute to the Roman Emperours nay and this same but now and then very seldom so in the third or last period of it containing somewhat above two hundred and fifty years from the said landing of Hengistus to the twelfth year of Cadwallador they upon the Romans quitting them not only restor'd themselves under Aurelius and Arthur by their own sole valour to the ancient glory of their Dominion but maugre all the opposition of the Confederated Saxons Picts and Scots now and then rebelling against them enjoyed it under the succession of seven Brittish Kings more from Arthur to Cadwallador yea Malgo the fourth of this very last number when the six foreign Provincial Countreys as Geoffrey calls them viz. Ireland Island the Orcades Norway Denmark and Gothia had rebell'd anew was so fortunately brave as by dint of Sword to have reduced them all again to their old subjection under Great Brittains Empire Add moreover that Cadwallador himself albeit the last of this Trojan Race wielding the Sâ—â—pter of Great Brutus enjoyed the same Glorious Power that his Predecessours had before him over the whole extent of this Noble Island That the total change and utter downfal of the Brittish Government happening after in his days proceeded only from an absolute Decree of Heaven and mighty Anger of God incensed against the Brittons for their sins but neither in the whole nor in part from any Power of the Saxons or other Enemies or men upon Earth That the immediate visible means which God made use of to destroy them irrecoverably were 1. A most bloody fatal Division after some years of this Cadwallador's reign happening among them yea continuing so long and to such a degree that between both sides all the fruitful Fields were laid waste no man caring to till the ground 2. The consequence of this waste a cruel Famine over all the Land 3. A Plague so prodigiously raging that the number of the Living was not sufficient to bury the Dead That the Almighty's hand lying so heavy on them by so dreadful a Pestilence was it alone that forc'd Cadwallador in the twelfth year of his Reign to retire for some time into Little Britanny in France That after ten years more when this Epidemical Plague had been wholly over and Cadwallador prepared to ship his Army and return a voice of Thunder by Angelical Ministery spake to him from Heaven commanding him aloud to desist from his Enterprize and telling him in plain terms it was decreed above unalterably The Race of Brutus should bear no more sway in Great Brittain till the time were come which Merlin had prophecied of to King Arthur And to conclude all That in pure obedience to this Voice of God it was that Cadwallador giving
put out then and under great penalties not kindled again but from or out of this holy Fire of Tlaghtghae And every house in the Kingdom as receiving from this new consecrated Fire and because the ground of Tleaghthae had been formerly the Mounster King's Dominion to pay him yearly three pence for ever At Visneach House or that which he had built hard by and West of it on the ground taken from the Connaght King he ordained That each May day for ever a general Meeting of all the Nobility should be held which Meeting they call'd in their Language Morhail Visneach and it may be English'd the Magnificence of Visneach That two great Fires should be made at this Meeting and betwixt them both all beasts sacrific'd to their great God Beile which Keting conceives to have been the same with Belus for expiating their sins appeasing his wrath and obtaining from him favour for the following year That the same day and hour in every District or Territory of the whole Kingdom two such other Fires should be made for the like purpose that is for all the respective Inhabitants to resort unto them with their Heathen Priests and sacrifices In fine that every Chieftain and person of Quality come to the said great Meeting at Visneach should present the Connaght King with a Horse and compleat harness for a Horseman as a Chiefry reserv'd to him for that ground Where Keting adds that from these yearly Paganical Fires at Visneach and elsewhere made in those days of Idolatry to honour Beall it is that ever since even along to this very day the Irish call the first of May Lae Beall-tine which imports in English Beali's Fire day for in their Tongue Lae is day and Tine is Fire At or near the Palace of Tailltionn he by a new Ordinance of his own commanded the ancient Fair called Aonach Tailltinn whereof we have spoke before to be kept yearly on Lammas day with much more solemnity and a far greater conflux of people than ever And there it was that Wedding-matches were usually treated agreed upon concluded betwixt the Parents of young Folks And by this Monarchs new Law every couple marrying there paid six shillings eight pence which the Irish then did call Vinghe Airgiod an ounce of Silver to the King of Vlster as an acknowledgment of his having formerly been Lord of that portion But for Tarach alias Teambhuir where he had built his fourth Royal Palace I find nothing ordained by him concerning any solemnity or Assembly there And the reason I suppose might be that even the very greatest and most solemn Assembly of all the Estates in Parliament either to make new Laws and repeal the old or to exercise any other Acts of Supream Jurisdiction had been already both by Law and Custom fix'd in that place ever since Ollamh Fodhlas's Reign that is full 1200. years wanting only seventeen before Tuathal Teachtmhor came to be King No more do I find any duty or Chiefry payable to the K. of Leinster Whereof I conceive also the reason might have been That indeed as Keting elsewhere and upon an other occasion than this here observes Cairbre Niafearr the very first King of Leinster had full two hundred and six years before Tuathal Teachtmor's time pass'd away both his own right and that of his Successors after him in the foresaid portion of Land wherein Tarach was built and for ever made it over by way of sale and bargain to Connor the first King of Vlster and his Successours after him in lieu of his beloved Daughter by name Feilim Nua Chrothach or Felicia the Beautiful whom Cairbre had bought so dear to be his Wife So dear I say because that fourth portion from Visneach to the Eastern Sea being in his time and until this bargain made part of Leinster contain'd three Cantreds of Land of the very best in Ireland even all the Land which now goes under the name of the County of Meath I mean East-Meath along to Droghedagh besides Fingale and all the other Lands too on that side of the River Liffy to Dublin But if you desire to know what or how much Land a Cantred means being I have told but now of three Cantreds in this Fourth portion Cambrensis in his Hiber expug l. 2. c. 18. answers that as well in the Irish as Brittish Tongue by a Cantred is meant that proportion or quantity of Land which usually contains a hundred Villages And whether Keting disagree in this signification of that word I know not certainly because I know not how much Land Cambrensis would assign to a Village or Villa his Latin term Of this I am certain that Keting assigns according to the Irish account but thirty Feeding Towns or Bailite â—iath as he calls ' â—m to a Cantred every one of them containing twelve Plow-lands and every Plowland a hundred and twenty acres of Irish measure which is commonly three or four times greater than the English And this is both reflection and digression enough occasion'd by the mention made of Tuathal Teachtmhor the Irish Monarch in my foresaid 217. page 59. My next Reflection is to correct an Error which I observe in my 229. page For there and whether through my own mistake or the Printers I know not it is said That Connor the first Provincial King of Vlster was made so by Eochuidh Feileach the Monarch and Author of the Pentarchy about 400 years before the Birth of Christ whereas indeed it could not be so much by at least two hundred and eighteen years Because this Monarch Eochadh Feileach who made that Connor King of Vlster could not make him King before himself was Monarch and this he was not before the year of the World 5057. in which he kill'd his Predecessor and possess'd his Throne Now according to the Chronology of Lucius that year of the World was just one hundred forty two years before the Birth of our Lord because says he this Birth hapned in the year of the World 5199. after the deluge 2957. and in the 8th year as some say or as others in the 12th year of the Monarch of Ireland Criomthain Niadnairs Reign Now 't is plain that from the year 5057 to the year 5099. no more efflux'd but 142 years 60. The review of my 229. page and what is given there of that happy King of Mounster Feilim mhac Criomthain brings to my thoughts here a passage in Keting that is very lingular both for the Author and matter of it The Author is holy Bennin as the Irish call him in their Language whom the Latins call St. Benignus even that very beloved Disciple of St. Patrick their great Apostle who was consecrated and install'd by him in his own days and in his own stead Arch-bishop of Ardmagh And the matter is the magnificent and costly progress of the Kings of Cashel in former times about Leath Cuinn and Leath Mogh throughout all Ireland And says Keting it is in the Irish Book