The O’Conors of Connacht and the O’Briens of Thomond (Notes)

[1] Annals of the Four Masters, 1129.

[2] Annals of the Four Masters, 1224, and note. The story is not alluded to by the O’Conor Don in his history of his family, or by Dr O’Conor. But it follows an old tradition.

[3] Annals of Loch Cé, 1200, 1202.

[4] Transactions of the Kilkenny Archæological Society (1852–53), ii, 341-347; Hardiman’s edition of O’Flaherty’s Iar Connacht (1846), pp. 139-140.

[5] Hoveden, Annals, ed. William Stubbs (1871), iv, 176.

[6] Sweetman, i, Nos. 358 (1207), 409 (1210); and cf. Nos. 482 (1213), 833 (1218).

[7] Grace, Annales Hiberniæ, 1210.

[8] Sweetman, i, Nos. 1174, 1184; original in W. W. Shirley, Royal Letters (1862), 1. 183.

[9] This letter is given in Appendix II, and in Gilbert, Facsimiles, ii, No. LXXI.

[10] Sweetman, i, No. 1001.

[11] Ibid., i, Nos. 530, 928, 1164, 1183; W W. Shirley, op. cit., p. 178.

[12] Sweetman, i, Nos. 222, 279, 654, 656. An equal tribute was demanded of William de Braose for the custody of the city of Limerick.

[13] Annals of Loch Cé, 1225.

[14] For his poems see Book of the Dean of Lismore; S. H. O’Grady, Catalogue of Manuscripts in the British Museum, pp. 333-338; Hull, Poem-book of the Gael, pp. 156, 157, 159.

[15] His wife was More, daughter of Donal O’Brien; she died in 1218.

[16] Annals of Loch Cé, 1233.

[17] Transactions of the Kilkenny Archæological Society (1852-53), ii, 337-339.

[18] Annals of Loch Cé, 1224.

[19] Ibid., 1225.

[20] Annals of Loch Cé, 1225. That is, with excommunication of the party who broke the peace, the extinction of candles being a part of the ceremony of excommunication. The expression is frequently used.

[21] Sweetman, i, No. 900.

[22] Annals of Loch Cé, 1227.

[23] The O’Conor Don, in his O’Conors of Connaught, has followed earlier writers in confusing the friend of Aedh with Marisco, or Marsh, his worst enemy; but see Transactions of the Kilkenny Archæological Society, ii, 339. It was usual for guests to be bathed by women attendants.

[24] I.e., the Rock of Loch Cé, famous for the Annals of that name; it was one of the principal residences of the MacDermott, who was chieftain of Moylurg.

[25] The technical term for such submission in Irish is “went into his house.”

[26] Sweetman, i, No. 2908.

[27] Annals of Loch Cé, 1255, 1256, 1257, etc.

[28] Ibid., 1255.

[29] The editors of the Annals of Loch Cé strangely confuse this place with Narrow-water, near Newry, Co. Down. See under 1252, note 4.

[30] Ibid., 1242, 1245, 1250.

[31] I.e., villages of one long street, of the kind still common in Ireland. At this period they are frequently mentioned in the Annals.

[32] The original of this letter is in the Public Record Office, London; and see Gilbert, Facsimiles, ii, No. LXXIII.

[33] It is seldom realized how rare and brief these visits were: Henry II, 1171; John, 1210; Richard II, 1394 and 1399; James II, 1689; William III, 1690; George IV, 1821; Victoria, 1849, 1853, 1861, 1900; Edward VII, 1903, 1904, 1907. These dates do not include visits before coronation.

[34] The Triumphs of Turlogh (1194–1355), from which the following details are largely taken, is a lengthy tract written by John MacRory MacGrath, historian of the Dalcais, about 1459. Though it is compiled in the inflated style of the bardic chroniclers, it gives details not to be found elsewhere. But the dates need correction. The story of the meeting of Teige and Bryan at Caol-uisce, for example, is antedated by six years.

[35] So also the Dublin copy of the Annals of Innisfallen. The same account is given of the death of Tiernan O’Rorke in the Book of Fenagh, where he is said to have been drawn by wild horses, but there is no support for this. It was, however, a common form of punishment for great crimes at this period.

[36] Annals of Loch Cé, 1277.

[37] Kilkenny Castle was purchased by James, third Earl of Ormonde, in 1392 from Sir Hugh le Despencer, Earl of Gloucester, to whom it had passed on the failure of male heirs to William Marshal the Younger, and it has ever since been the chief seat of the Ormonde family. See deed of transfer in Gilbert, Facsimiles, iii, No. XX.

[38] The father and son were buried in the Temple Church, in London. The office of Earl Marshal passed to the Bigods, Earls of Norfolk, and through them to the Mowbrays and Howards, the present Earls Marshal.

[39] Sweetman, ii, Nos. 929, 952, 953.

[40] Sweetman, ii, No. 1155.

[41] Annals of Ulster, 1310, and Annals of the Four Masters, at same date.