Part II. History of Thomond
Chapter 13. History of Thomond before it was formed into an English county: From the Death of De Clare in 1318 to the Formation of Thomond into an English County in 1580

Chapter 13. Footnotes

1. The following extracts relating to those times are taken from the Four Masters:—
“A.D. 1335. Finola, the daughter of O’Brien, and wife of Turlogh O’Connor, died.”
“A.D. 1339. Turlogh O’Connor put away his wife and re-married Slaine, daughter of Turlogh O’Brien, who was widow of the son of the Earl of Ulster. She died in 1343.”
“A.D. 1343. Murtogh O’Brien, Lord of Thomond, died”
“A.D. 1343. Rory Magrath, Ollav, died.” (He was the father of John Magrath, author of The Wars of Thomond.)

2. Ann. Four Masters.

3. A.D. 1421. Died More, daughter of Brian O’Brien, and wife of Walter Burke. She was the most distinguished woman of her time in Leath Magha for hospitality, good sense, and piety. She was usually called the great More of Munster.

4. Ann Four Mast. A.D. 1446.

5. Idem. A.D. 1464.

6. Annals of Four Masters, A.D. 1466, with O’Donovan’s note, in which he reproduces the statement of Donald MacFirbis, contained in Annals of Ireland of the same date.

7. The Annals of the Four Masters have the following particulars which, although not referring immediately to the History of Thomond, we give here:
“A.D. 1474. The abbey of Donegal was commenced by Hugh Roe O’Donnell, and by his wife, Finola (the white-shouldered), daughter of Conor-na-Srona O’Brien, and was granted by them to God and to the friars of St. Francis, for the good of their own souls, and as a burial place for themselves and their descendants.” [This abbey, of which a most interesting account is given by Rev. Mr. Meehan in his work, The Franciscan Monasteries, was the place where the Four Masters subsequently compiled their great work.]
The next extract we shall give is under the year 1481, and is in these words:
“Slaine, the daughter of O’Brien, (Conor), and wife of MacWilliam of Clanrickard, a vessel full of charity and hospitality, and who excelled the women of her time, died, after having gained victory over the world and the devil.”
Another extract is as follows:
“A.D. 1490. Celia, daughter of Dermot-an-Duna MacCarthy, and wife of Turlogh Oge O’Brien, worthy of being queen of Cashel, died.”

8. Old roads, on the south side of the Shannon, between Limerick and Portcroise, in the parish of Castleconnell.—Note by J. O’Donovan.

9. Moin-na-brathair, is the low ground, now the Long Pavement, between Parteen and Limerick, on the Clare side of the Shannon.

10. Ann. Four Mast., A.D. 1504 to 1510.

11. Ann. Four Masters, A.D. 1523.

12. The author has in his possession, a MS. translation by Eugene O’Curry, of the Inauguration Ode, composed on the occasion of the Election of Turlogh Donn to the chieftaincy of Thomond.

13. O’Donoghue’s Historical Memoir of the O’Briens; Dublin, 1860, p. 165.

14. Calendars of State Papers, A.D. 1535, Oct. 6.

15. State Papers Ireland, Vol. íii., p. 56.

16. Calendars of State Papers, November, 1541, March 31, 1542, June 2, 1542, July 5 and 12, 1542. Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 1542.

17. Calnd. of State Papers, July 9, 1543.

18. Annals of Four Masters, A.D. 1553. The attack on Clonroad was made in the very beginning of Lent, and Donogh’s death happened on the Passion Saturday following:
About this time (A.D. 1552), the same Annalists record the death at the hands of the followers of Earl Donogh of his first cousin Mahon, the son of Brian, son of Teige, son of Turlogh Donn. They also state that Dermot, second Baron of Inchiquin, and eldest son of Murrogh the Tanist, died in 1552, on the eve of the Festival of St. Bridget, and that he was buried in the monastery of Ennis.

19. Four Masters, A.D. 1554.

20. Idem, A.D. 1555.

21. Idem, A.D. 1558. Calendar of State Papers, A.D. 1558.

22. Annals Four Masters, A.D. 1559. These writers call the place Cnoc Fuarchoile, the hill of the cold wood. It is now corruptly called in Irish Cnoc Urcoill, and incorrectly translated Spancil Hill.—O’Donovan.

23. Eveleen, daughter of the Mac Carthy, who had been successively the wife of the Earls of Desmond and of Thomond, died in 1560, and was buried at Oirbealach (Muckross Abbey).—Four Masters.

24. Four Masters, A.D. 1562.

25. The following occurrences are related by the Four Masters as having happened about this time, viz.:
“A.D. 1565. Mahon, son of Turlogh Mantagh (Toothless), son of Donogh, son of Donald, son of Turlogh Meith (the Fat), was slain in his own town of Aircin, in Arran, by his own relations. Alarmed for the consequences of their act, they fled to Rossbay, near Loop Head. Donald O’Brien of (Ennistymon), made them prisoners, and having brought them to Magh Glae (Ballinalacken), in sight of their island, he hanged some and burned others of them in expiation of their offence.
A.D. 1568. Margaret, daughter of Donogh, second Earl of Thomond, and wife of the Earl of Clanrickard, died.
A.D. 1569. Slainé, daughter of Murrogh, the Tanist, died.
A.D. 1569. More Phecagh, (the Gaudy), daughter of Brian, son of Teige-an-Chomhaid, and wife of O’Shaughnessy, a woman distinguished for her beauty and munificence, died.
A.D. 1569. Gilla Duv O’Shaughnessy, the son of the above lady, died. He was a man who, although not skilled in Latin or English, was much esteemed by the English.
A.D. 1570. MacNamara, that is John, the son of Sheeda, son of Maccon, son of Sheeda, son of Teige, son of Loughlin, Lord of East Clan Culein, died. He was a man noble and majestic, the favourite of women and damsels, on account of his great mirthfulness, and Donald Reagh, the son of Cuvea, the son of Donogh, took his place.”

26. Four Masters, A.D. 1570. Calendar of State Papers relating to Ireland, preserved in Public Record Office, London. A.D. 1570.

27. Calendar of State Papers, A.D. 1570.

28. Idem, April 21, 1571. The following are taken from the Four Masters:
“A.D. 1572. Died, Margaret, aunt of Conor the Earl. She was hospitable, pious and chaste.
“A.D. 1572. Conor, the Earl hanged Owen Roe MacWard and Maurice Ballagh O’Clery, men learned in Poetry and History.”

29. Now Slievenagry (the mountain of horses), near Lisdoonvarna.

30. Now Cnoc-a-chip (cip means the trunk of a tree), in the townland of Carowntedaun, on the seashore.

31. Now Binn Formaoile, a mountain about one mile to the west of Inagh chapel.

32. About this time the Four Masters record the following events:—
“A.D. 1577. Teige O’Brien of Smithstown, died.
A.D. 1578. Slainé, sister of Conor, and of Morrogh the Tanist, and wife of Brian MacMahon of West Corcabaskin, died.
A.D. 1578. Sida, son of Maccon, son of Sida, son of Maccon, Tanist of East Clan Culein, was slain at Sliabh Echtghe, as he was pursuing a prey which the kerns of Clanrickard were carrying off.
A.D. 1579. Sir Donald O’Brien of Ennistymon aged 65, died, and was buried at Ennis. His son Turlogh succeeded.
A.D. 1581. Two companies of soldiers were billeted in Thomond, by Captain Deering, from November to March.
A.D. 1582. Teige O’Brien, (ancestor of the O’Briens of Ballycorick), brother of the 2nd earl of Thomond, died, and was interred in the Monastery of Ennis.
A.D. 1582. The Dean O’Grady, that is, Donogh Oge, son of Donogh, son of Donogh, son of Nicholas, a man of great power in Church and State, died.
A.D. 1582. Donogh O’Brien of Leamaneh, son of Murrogh the Tanist, had joined the Earl of Clanrickard against the English, but had been pardoned. Captain Mordant, Marshall of Clare, pretended to discover some flaw in the protection, and having taken O’Brien prisoner, hanged him in the gateway of Limerick. Mordant was joined in this foul act by Sir George Cusack, who was that year Sheriff. O’Brien’s body was laid in the Abbey of Ennis. (By an Inquisition, taken at Dromoland, 6th December, 1582, it was found that Donogh O’Brien was taken in rebellion and executed; that at his death he was seized in fee of the castles of Dromoland and Ballyconneely, and the lands of Ballyconablan, Ballygirrean, Latoon, Rathfolan, and Lytherayne. It was also found that Donogh’s father, (i.e. the Tanist), was seized of Leamaneh, of the castle of Tromroe, of Ballygriffy castle, and of the abbey of Corcomroe.)
A.D. 1583. The countess of Thomond, i.e., Eveleen, wife of Donogh the fourth Earl, and daughter of Maurice Roche, died at Clonroad, and was buried in Ennis abbey.
A.D. 1583. Turlogh O’Brien of Ennistymon, went to England, and was created a knight by Queen Elizabeth.
A.D. 1584. Turlogh O’Loghlen, was taken prisoner at Muckinish, by Sir Turlogh O’Brien, and at the Summer assizes following, was hanged by Captain Brabazon.
A.D. 1584. The son of MacNamara of West Clanculein, namely, Donogh, son of Teige, son of Cumeadha, son of Cumara, son of John, died.
A.D. 1584. The Lord Justice, Sir John Perrott, repaired from Galway to Limerick, staying the first night at Kilmacduagh, and the second at Quin. There he was met by those chieftains of the County of Clare who had not already paid their respects to him at Galway. Cruise, the Sheriff of Clare, also waited on him, having in his custody Donogh Beg, a nephew of Donogh, second Earl of Thomond, who had been guilty of various depredations in Connaught. Perrott ordered that he should be hung from a cart, and that his bones should be broken with an axe. His body thus mangled was fastened with ropes to the top of the ‘Cloccas’ (belfry) of Quin.
A.D. 1585. A parliament was convoked at Dublin, and the following representatives from the County of Clare attended its sittings: the Earl of Thomond; Sir Turlogh O’Brien of Ennistymon, and Boetius Clancy, who had been nominated members; Turlogh O’Brien, nephew of the Earl; John MacNamara, Lord of West Clanculein; and Rossa O’Loghlen of Burren. (Lord Inchiquin also sat in the parliament as a peer.)”