Petworth House Article_final Version Oct 2011

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Luke McInerney

Documents from the Thomond Papers atPetworth House Archive1 [with index]

The Petworth House Archive (PHA) is an important and under-exploitedrepository or research into seventeenth and eighteenth-century Co. Clare.Petworth House, the historic seat o the earls o Egremont, holds primarysource material relating to the estates o the earls o Thomond in NorthMunster, chiey or Co. Clare but also Co. Limerick and Co. Tipperary.

The material preserved at Petworth contains a range o material includ-ing estate management documentation, correspondence, accounts, legalpapers, military, parliamentary papers, amily history, maps and surveys.2Only a small proportion o the tens o thousands o documents in thearchive relate to the earls o Thomonds Irish estates and the survivingThomond papers probably represent only a raction o the original col-lection, loss and damage having taken its toll. Not all o the Thomondmaterial is listed in the current Petworth catalogue; a large portion o thematerial is still available only in an unpublished early nineteenth-century

manuscript catalogue.For historians o Gaelic Ireland the Thomond papers are notewor-thy as they contain detail on landholding at dierent social levels; keylegal instruments such as inquisitions post mortem o Connor OBrien(1581) third earl o Thomond, and Donough OBrien (1624) ourth earl oThomond, are preserved in the archive, along with petitions and leases oGaelic reeholders. Freeholders o sept-lineages petitioned or restorationo their lands as they were increasingly disenranchised in the new land-holding matrix o seventeenth century Co. Clare. Such petitions provide a

unique window on change in the decades ollowing the Nine Years War.Thus Petworth House Archive is an important repository o seventeenthcentury material relating to Co. Clare, much o it unavailable elsewhere.3The value o the material does not simply lie in the contents o the docu-ments themselves; many o the manuscripts also retain their original wax

1 The author is grateul or the assistance in the preparation o the paper by Brian Dlaigh,Martin Breen, Dr Brendan Kane o the University o Connecticut and Alison McCann othe West Sussex Record Ofce. The author also wishes to acknowledge and thank Lord

Egremont or his permission to reproduce material rom the Petworth Archive.2 Francis W. Steer & Noel H. Osborne (eds), The Petworth House Archive: Vol 1: a Catalogue,

(West Sussex County Hall, Chichester, 1968), pp v-vi.3 Some o the material rom the Petworth House Archive has been microilmed and is

available or consultation at Co. Clare Library, Ennis.


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Archivium Hibernicum

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seals. The manuscripts are available or public consultation only at theWest Sussex Record Ofce in Chichester.4

This article pays particular attention to our documents rom theThomond papers at Petworth House Archive. As will be seen, they demon-

strate the utility o the collection in understanding the critical juncture o15811624 when the earldom o Thomond was held by Donough OBrien,ourth earl. Donough, a loyalist and a principal architect o the transor-mation o Thomond rom a Gaelic eudal polity to a shired county, wasa scion o the ruling OBrien (U Bhriain) dynasty which had renouncedits claim to kinship under Henry VIIIs so-called Surrender and Regrantscheme in 1543. The anglicisation process in Thomond has been explainedprimarily by exogenous actors such as the incorporation o market townsand settlement o English and Dutch planters.5 The value o the Thomond

Papers at Petworth is that the transition process which accelerated aterthe death o Connor OBrien, third earl in 1581, can be elucidated by raredocumentation issuing rom both sidelined Gaelic septs and the smallclique o Gaelic magnates who adjusted to the new political realities.6

The corpus o material that relates to the lesser Gaelic amilies oThomond is particularly deserving o publication, not least on accounto the social and economic inormation it contains. For example, thepresence o specialist learned amilies such as the U Mhaoilchonaire,Mhic Bhruaideadha and Mhic Fhlannchadha is documented in various

legal papers where they appear as witnesses and local ofcials o the earlo Thomond. Documents with unique reerences to landholding arrange-ments, kinship ties and local authority are reproduced here in ull.Excerpted reerences rom various documents are also presented.

Thomond Papers at PetworthThe Thomond papers deposited in the Petworth Archive originate rom thesenior lineage o the OBrien amily (who claimed descent rom high king

4 Documents in the Petworth Archive are available only by prior arrangement (two weeks inadvance) with the archivist at the West Sussex Record Ofce in Chichester. Lord Egremontspermission is needed or publication o all PHA documents

5 See, or example, Bernadette Cunningham, Newcomers in the Thomond Lordship, c.1580-c.1625 in Dal gCais, xi (1993), pp 103111. In 1606 the earl o Thomond was commended byEnglish ofcials or entertaining and receiving as many English as he can any way drawunto him, and uses them so well that many resort thither. Rev. C.W. Russell (ed.) Calendaro the State Papers Relating Ireland o the Reign o James I: 16061608, (London, 1874), p. 34

6 The issue o Gaelic magnates successully adjusting to the increasingly uid land marketo the 1620s and 1630s vis--vis lesser sept-lineages is taken up by Patrick Nugent. Nugentlabels lesser sept-lineages as tradition-bound and characterized by communal land holding

arrangements and generally located not in the domain core o the Shannon estuarine landsrom Ennis to Donass, but in the peripheral areas north o the domain. Patrick Nugent,The interace between the Gaelic clan system o Co. Clare and the emerging centralisingEnglish nation-state in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century in Irish Geography,xl, 1 (2007), pp 7998, pp 88, 95.


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Documents from Thomond Papers, Petworth House Archive

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Brian Broimhe) relocating rom their Irish estates, centred on the manoro Bunratty, to England. Bunratty Castle had originally passed rom ClannMhic Chonmara to the dynastic lineage o the U Bhriain during the six-teenth century.7 As a chie dynastic amily o north Munster since medieval

times, the U Bhriain retained their prominence and independence as theruling amily o the Thomond Gaelic lordship until Murchadh Briainrenounced his claim to kingship and was created frst earl o Thomondand frst baron Inchiquin, in 1543.8 It was not until Donough OBrien,known to the English as the Great Earl,9 frmly allied himsel as a loyalistand supporter o English law and administration and commander o royalorces during the Nine Years War (15951603), that the ormer kingdom oThomond underwent anglicisation.

During the Irish Conederate Wars (16411652) Barnaby OBrien, sixth

earl o Thomond, let Co. Clare ater the surrender o Bunratty Castle toa Parliamentarian orce in 1646 and joined his wie and son Henry atGreat Billing in Northamptonshire.10 Ater the Restoration o Charles II in1660, Barnabys son Henry, the seventh earl o the Thomond, inherited hisathers estate in Thomond which amounted to 85,000 acres in Co. Clare.11From this point the earls o Thomond held substantial interests in Englandand had become absentee landlords to their Irish estate, residing at GreatBilling. In 1741 Henry OBrien, eighth earl o Thomond,12 died withoutissue and let his Irish estates to his nephew Percy Wyndham, son o his

wies sister. As a condition o the bequest, Percy was required to take theadditional name o OBrien and was created earl o Thomond and barono Ibracken in 1756.13 On the death o Percy without issue in 1774, the titleo earl o Thomond became extinct and the estates passed to his nephewGeorge Wyndham, third earl o Egremont.

Some o the documents contained in the Petworth House collection havebeen catalogued and are available or public consultation at the West SussexRecord Ofce in Chichester.14 The Petworth House catalogue is testimony

7 George U. Macnamara, Bunratty, Co. Clare inJournal o the North Munster ArchaeologicalSociety, iii, 4 (1915), pp 220286, p. 267. The background to this transer is obscure andsubject to conjecture. The annals o Friar John Clyn record that Bunratty was destroyed by ajoint Mac Conmara and Briain attack in 1332: Eodem vero tempore, castrum de Bonrat (quodmultorum judicio inexpugnabile videbatur); per OBrein et Mc Nemare destruitur. Annals oFriar John Clyn, sub anno, 1332.

8 John Ainsworth (ed.), The Inchiquin Manuscripts (Dublin, 1961), no.885 [1 July, 1543], p. 272.9 Brian Dlaigh, From Gaelic Warlords to English Country Gentlemen: The OBriens o

Thomond 15431741 inThe Other Clare, xxv (2001), pp 4042, p. 41.10 Ibid., p. 42.11 Ibid.

12 Henry was created Viscount Tadcaster in 1714 and served as MP or Arundel 17101714 andLord Lieutenant o Essex in 17221741.

13 The Petworth House Archive: Vol 1: A Catalogue, p. viii.14 See Ibidand subsequent volumes (24) detailing the ull archival collection. The fth volume

is available only in electronic orm.


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to the extent o the archival holding. The frst volume (o fve) was cata-logued and published in 1968, and contained 2,050 entries covering 15,237documents.15 The catalogue o the main body o Irish interest materialis still available only in a manuscript catalogue compiled in the early

nineteenth century. Other contemporaneous manuscript sources useulor the study o early modern Co. Clare include the published InchiquinManuscripts,16 invaluable in identiying Gaelic sept-lineages. The InchiquinManuscripts touches on leases, rental ledges and legal agreements or thebarony o Bunratty and complement material in the Thomond papers atPetworth. The publication, in 1826, o James Hardimans Ancient IrishDeeds,17 which contains translations o Irish language sources such as SuimCosa Ua Briain18(rental o OBrien)and Suim Tigerna Meic na Mara19(rental o lord McNamara) as well as brehon decrees and land deeds,

provide a corpus o documents or Gaelic nomenclature and toponymy.Added to this list is Sen hgins Conntae an Chlir, which aithullyreproduces Gaelic genealogies rom manuscripts and cogently identifesthe progenitors o many local amilies in Co. Clare.20

Valuable sources or the study o Gaelic lordships include the 218 inqui-sition post mortem cases published by James Frost in 189321 prior to thedestruction o the originals in 1922, the ragmentary survival o ChanceryPleadings22 and Irish Fiant Rolls,23 ofcial correspondence in the Calendaro State Papers o Irelandand the Calendar o the Carew Manuscripts,24 and

the 1585 Compossicion Booke o Conought.25

Other ancillary documents avail-able to the historian o the lordships o Thomond and Clanricard includethe 1585 list o the names o all the mackes and oes within the provenance[sic] o Connaught and Thomond26 held at the Archiepiscopal Library at

15 Ibid., p. iv.16 John Ainsworth (ed.), The Inchiquin Manuscripts.17 James Hardiman (ed.), Ancient Irish Deeds and Writings Chiey relating to Landed Property

rom the Twelth to Seventeenth Century: With Translation, Notes and a Preliminary Essayin Proceedings o the Royal Irish Academy, xv (1826) pp 195.

18 Ibid., pp 3643. Possibly o fteenth century date.19 Ibid., pp 4349. Possibly rom the mid-ourteenth century.20 Sen hgin, Conntae an Chlir: a triocha agus a tuatha, (Baile tha Cliath, 1938).21 See James Frost, A History and Topography o the County o Clare, (re-print), (Dublin, 1973),

pp 268337.22 Chancery Bills: Survivals rom pre-1922 Collection, [abstracted index] National Archives o

Ireland.23 The Irish ants o the Tudor sovereigns during the reigns o Henry VIII, Edward VI, Philip & Mary,

and Elizabeth I, (Dublin, 1994).24 Calendar o the State Papers Relating to Ireland, o the Reigns o Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary,

and Elizabeth, 15091596, (5 vols) preserved in the State Paper Department o H. M. PublicRecord Ofce, (London, 18601890) and J.S. Brewer & William Bullen Esq. (eds), Calendaro the Carew Manuscripts Preserved in the Archiepiscopal Library at Lambeth, 15151624, (6 vols,London, 186773).

25 A. Martin Freeman, (ed) The Compossicion Booke o Conought, (Dublin, 1936).26 Lambeth Palace Library, Carew Ms 614 . 25 [microflm].


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Lambeth Palace in London, and the Carew Manuscripts also at Lambeth,which contain genealogical and historical material relating to Munster.27

Several inquisition documents o the earls o Thomond are lodged atPetworth. Inquisitions investigated land title to ascertain whether any

revenues or debts were owing to the crown on the death o a proprie-tor and served a broader purpose o recasting customary relationships toreect common law eudal arrangements.28 The inquisitions post mortemo Conor OBrien, third earl o Thomond, dated 8 August 1581 (PHA Ms1140) and Donough (Donat) OBrien, ourth earl o Thomond, dated 4January 1624 (PHA Ms 1141) represent important touchstone documentsor research into early modern Co. Clare. Likewise, the inquisition takeninto the lands held by Donough OBrien, ourth earl o Thomond, (PHAMs B.26.T.16) on 1 April 161929 is o signifcance to understanding the

landholding matrix o Co. Clare as this inquisition details lands claimedby reeholders as their hereditament.30Useul inormation can be gleanedrom these or research into seventeenth-century Co. Clare. We read inan excerpt o the 1624 inquisition post mortem o Donough OBrien therent-charge levied on land quarters by the earl that was initially set downin the 1585 Composition Agreement:

De et quarter terr in Rathmolanbegg quinque solid de et quatuorquarter terr in Ballysallaghes vigint solid &et de ex quarter terr

in Carrigouran quinque solid et ex quarter terr in Urlinbeggquinque solid et ex quarter terr in Urlinmore quinque solid 31

[the quarter o land in Rathmolanbegg [pays] fve shillings and ourquarters o land in Ballysallaghes [ie. east and west Ballysallagh]32[pays] 20 shillings and the quarter o land in Carrigouran [pays]

27 See, or example, genealogical details o Gaelic amilies contained in Lambeth Palace Library,Carew Ms Vol. 599, . 1r [microflm] and Carew Ms Vol. 626.

28 On the role o inquisitions and their locations see Patrick Nugent, The interace betweenthe Gaelic clan system o Co. Clare and the emerging centralising English nation-state inthe late sixteenth and early seventeenth century, pp 8283.

29 An abstracted version o this inquisition is printed in John Ainsworth (ed.), The InchiquinManuscripts, p. 325 [no. 1011].

30 An inquisition published by James Frost and dated 19 January 1622 sets out the names othe lands granted, by letters patent, to the earl o Thomond. The inquisition also detailsthose lands contested by the Bishop o Killaloe and Mac Conmara Fionn o Dangan-i-vigginand other reeholders who claimed lands as their hereditament. James Frost, A History andTopography o the County o Clare, p. 295.

31 Inquisition Post Mortem o Donough OBrien, ourth Earl o Thomond, [1624] (PHA, Ms.1141) [large rolled manuscript page fve, top third o page].

32 East Ballysallagh was known as Ballysallagh mcEnerhine in 1586 as the principal lineage

o Clann an Oirchinnigh were seated there and had proprietorship o lands in Kilnasoolagh,Quin and Clonloghan parishes. On the 1586 inquisition into the lands o John McNamara,Lord o West Clann Chuilin see Luke McInerney, The West Clann Chuilin Lordship in1586: Evidence rom a Forgotten Inquisitionin North Munster Antiquarian Journal, viiil(2008), pp 3362.


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fve shillings and the quarter o land in Urlinbegg [pays] fve shil-lings, and the quarter land in Urlinmore [pays] fve shillings].

The oregoing recalls the rent-charge o ive shillings and that the

lordship over these lands was taken by the earl o Thomond, being one othe reasons which prompted John McNamara to complain to Lord Burghleyin 15889 that the earl had usurped his right o lordship over lands inthe barony o Bunratty in the atermath o the Composition Agreement.33Jurors scribed in inquisitions are a microcosm o the Gaelic social order.The line-up o members o the Gaelic learned class in what would be oneo the last legal documents rom Co. Clare to do so in such an extensivemanner, reect a bygone age where ruling Gaelic amilies patronised nativelearning. Customary ofceholders such as seanchaidhe,ledh and breitheam-

han are encountered in the 1619 inquisition under the guise o jurors:Johan Mac Nemary de Montallon Boetis Clanchy deBallydonoghoro

Hugo Norton de Lier34 Connor Roe mcTeige deSmithetowne

William Starkey de Dromolin35 Edmond O Hogan de Moehill36

Johan Mac Nemary de Ballynahinsy Conor McRory de CorballyThady Mac Brody de Lettermoelane37 Terence McMorogh O Bryen de

Cahermonagh

Hugo Mc Cruttin de Clandoyne38

Donat Clanchy de Donmacelim

33 R.W. Twigge, Materials or a History o Clann Cuilein, p. 192 (BL, Twigge Collection, AddMs 39260).

34 As New English tenants the Nortons were prominent in local administration and themercantile elite o seventeenth century Ennis. Hugh Norton was appointed as the frstprovost o Ennis 1612, and Samuel Norton was recorded as a burgess in that year. Lier isthe modern Liord in Drumclie parish and a suburb o Ennis. See Calendar o the StatePapers Relating to Ireland, o the Reigns o James I, 16111614 , (London, 1877), p. 293. Brian Dlaigh, (ed.), Corporation Book o Ennis, (Dublin, 1990), p. 388.

35 From 1614 William Starkey was leasing Dromoland rom the earl and he appeared in the

1626 rental o the Thomond estate as holding Dromoland (PHA Ms C27/A 39), [1626].36 Edmond O Hogan belonged to the U gin amily o Rathblathmaic termon whose chie

representative, Edmund McHugh OHogan, was recorded in 1641 as payeth a yearly chieryto ye See o Killaloe at . U gin and U Chiarg lineages o Rathblathmaic termon heldpositions o high status on account o their ecclesiastical connections. On the U Chiargsee Tadhg Donnchadha, An Leabhar Muimhneach, (Dublin, 1940), p. 311.

37 The McBrodys (Mhic Bhruaideadha) based at Littermoylan in Inchiquin barony werehistorian-chroniclers (seanchaidhe) and were active as a learned amily when one o theirmembers composed a praise-poem or Mathghamhain Briain in c.136569. Littermoylantownland no longer exits but encompassed townlands around Slieve Callan in Inagh parish.See Diarmuid Murchadha, The Origins o Clann Bhruaideadha in igse xxxi (1999),

pp 121130, p.121.38 The Mac Cruitn were recorded in the Irish annals with Kellach Mac Curtain, ChieHistorian o Thomond dying in 1376. The Mac Cruitn specialised in seanchas and wereskilled in music, as an annalistic entry rom 1404 testifes. Hugo Mc Cruttin o Clandoyne(unidentiied) was probably Hugh Cruttyne who held Tromroe (modern Tromra) inKilmurry Ibrickan parish in 1615. See 1615 survey o Barony o Ibrickan, PHA, Ms C.27.A.60.


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Johan McNemarra de Danganbrack45

Mauris O Milcounry de Shandangan46

The inquisition also is o interest due to its physical characteristics;

the parchment is emboldened with a decorative heading complete with awell-preserved great seal.Other important documents ound amongst the Thomond papers

include the 1626 rental o Henry OBrien, fth earl o Thomond (PHAMs C27/A 39)47 which details castles, lands and tenants on the Thomondestates in Co. Clare. The value o the 1626 rental lies in comparing the 1570and 1574 castle lists48 or Co. Clare with the 1626 rental to track proprieto-rial changes. The 1615 survey o the Thomond estate (PHA Ms C.27.A.60)49in the Barony o Ibrickan records the chie tenants and rents due and

provides inormation that can be adduced regarding local toponymy: allsixty three quarters o Tuath U Bhracin are accounted or and their pro-prietors recorded. A number o petitions and papers collectively throwlight on land title and settlement o disputes in seventeenth century Co.Clare.50

45 John was the son o Sen Mac Conmara Fionn, Lord o west Clann Chuilin (d. 1602). R.W.Twigge, Materials, (BL, Twigge Collection, Add Ms 39260), p. 208.

46 This is Muiris Maolchonaire, the proessional poet-chronicler (lochtand seanchas), whoreceived as part o the orced exchange o lands by the ourth Earl o Thomond, Shandanganin Kilmurry parish or Ardkyle in 1618 (PHA, Ms 5402).

47 Petworth House Archive, An abstract o such rents and renenewes as doe belonge to theright Hon. Henrye Earle o Thomond [1626], (PHA, Ms No. C27/A 39).

48 Martin Breen, A 1570 List o Castles in County Clare in North Munster Antiquarian Journal,xxxvi (1995), pp 130138 and R.W. Twigge, Edward Whites Description o Thomond in 1574in North Munster Antiquarian Journal, i, 2 (1910), pp 7585.

49 1615 Survey o the Barony o Ibrickan, (PHA, Ms C.27.A.60).50 Examples to point to here include: Abstract o Patents granted to ye Earl o Thomond,

reciting rom 1 July 1543 to 7 March 1621/2 (PHA Ms 3081); Answers o the Earl o Thomondor Lord Inchiquins claim to advowsons in Co. Clare (PHA Ms 3181, 3182); Drat answero Henry, Earl o Thomond to the bill o complaint o Thomas Comnyne alleging thet owines (PHA Ms 3200); Bill o complaint, answer and replication in suit, William Turvin v.Donnogh McMorrogh concerning right to operate erries across the River Shannon betweenLimerick and Clare, post 1623 (PHA Ms 31953197); Petition o Samuel Mosely, vicar oCatherlogh, in suit, v. Sir Barnaby OBrien, arising out o land alleged to be glebe, withwrit, 18 July 1625 (PHA Ms 39023904); Papers in suit, Robert Sibthorpe v. Sir RichardSouthwell, Sir Rowland Delahoyde and Nathaniel Lodge concerning the advowson o Tradery,Co. Clare, c.163035 (PHA Ms 1207); Papers concerning alleged unlawul seizure by Sir

Daniel OBrien, High Sheri o Co. Clare, and Donnell OMulconery, sub-Sheri, o theproperty o the murderers o James Morris which was claimed by Henry, Earl o Thomond,c. 16367 (PHA Ms 3917); Petition o Conell O Hehir o Rahmary, co. Clare, to the Earl oThomond seeking restoration to him o lands held in wardship, during petitioners minorityby William Brikdall (PHA, Ms 3959).


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Miscellaneous Petitions at PetworthOther documents not reproduced in ull here are touched upon as they alsoconcern land proprietorship. For example, the letter missive rom the LordChancellor o Ireland concerns the complaint o Patrick OMeere regarding

the possession o termon lands at Drumclie.

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This document serves asa reminder o the role that coarbial amilies such as the U Mhaoir playedin Co. Clare prior to the reormation. In the case o the U Mhaoir coarbs,their presence at Drumclie can be identifed rom requent reerences toclerics o the amily in the fteenth century Papal Registers.52

Many traditional clerical amilies remained in situ on church landsater the establishment o the Church o Ireland, and actively petitionedProtestant bishops concerning their hereditary right to proprietorship ochurch lands. Consider the petition o Conor Kerroge recorded in Edward

Worth, Bishop o Killaloes c. 1661 account book. Conor claimed proprieto-rial interest over church lands at Rath parish, noting that his ancestors(the U Chiarg) or many years were tenants to ye Bishopand yt hisancestors were clerkes to ye parish o Rath.53

Interesting acts can be gathered rom the 16345 letter missive oPatrick OMeere regarding the seven quarters o Drumclie. The termonlands were leased by Mauritius (Murchadh) OBrien, Bishop o Kilalloe,to Daniel Neylan, Bishop o Kildare (d. 1603) or 99 years at a nominalrent beore it was assigned to the ourth earl o Thomond.54 The lease

was proved invalid and surrendered to Lewis Jones, Bishop o Killaloe in1634 who leased the lands to Boetius Clancy at 40 per annum. Patrick

51 See Letter missive o the Lord Chancellor o Ireland to the Earl o Thomond concerning thecomplaint o Patrick OMeere; with answer, c.16356 (PHA Ms 3915).

52 See, or example, the tussle over Drumclie rectory between a cleric o the secularU Ghrobhtha lineage and the U Mhaoir coarbs in 1443. Lateran Regesta, 403: 14431444,Calendar o Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 9: 14311447(1912),p. 371. On the identifable coarbial amilies o Co. Clare see Dermot Gleeson, The Coarbs oKillaloe Diocesein Journal o the Royal Society o Antiquaries o Ireland, lxxix (1949), pp 160169.

53 See Ms 1777, Typescript copy o a survey o lands in the diocese o Killaloe made or BishopWorth, 1661, transcribed by (Rev) James B. Leslie (National Library o Ireland, 1936), p. 24.The original can be accessed at the library o the Representative Church Body, Dublin (MsD.14/1).

54 This is cited in the letter missive: part o the inheritance and demesne lands ancientlybelonging o the Bishopric o Killaloe, and that Daniel ormerly Bishop o Kildare beingpossessed o the same by leaseto him thereo past and made by Mauritius sometimeBishop o Killaloe. Letter missive o the Lord Chancellor o Ireland to the Earl o Thomondconcerning the complaint o Patrick OMeere; with answer, c.16356, (PHA 3915). See alsoRev. Philip Dwyer, The Diocese o Killaloe rom the Reormation to the Eighteenth Century,(Dublin, 1878), p. 329. According to a 1625 Chancery Pleading the 7 quarters o Dromcleie

were the ancient inheritance o the Earl o Thomond and that Henry OBrien, fth Earlo Thomond, holds no lease to the lands by Bishop o Kildare to whom the lands wereinitially demised by Mauritius Bishop o Killaloe. The ourth Earl o Thomond had thoughtto surrender the lands and accept a re-grant by letters patent. Chancery Bills: Survivals rom

pre-1922 Collection, No.131 [13 February 1625] (National Archives, Dublin).


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OMeeres complaint reerred to his amily (U Mhaoir) being tenants onthe termon lands prior to the original lease made to the Bishop o Kildare.55The claim by OMeere was launched as a suit at the Chancery Courtprobably under the auspices o the Earl o Thomond but was dropped

when the earl and Bishop o Killaloe reached an agreement, presumablyleaving OMeere without recompense.56

Two other documents concerning alleged dispossession o reehold-ers land by the ourth earl o Thomond can be proftably investigated. Apetition rom 1622 by Owen O Mallouny (PHA Ms 3193, 3194) that he, beinga poor man, had as his demesne the hal plough lands o Ballybrukan(Ballybroughan, Kilfntinanparish). In his appeal to the Lord Deputy heasked to be admitted as orma pauperis and be appointed legal counselin order to pursue his claim against the earl. A largely illegible letter

entitled the answer o Owin O Mullowny (PHA Ms 3194) notes that theaggrieved state o the petitioner, Owen O Mallouny, and that he will go toany summary counsel beore the Judges and, in the opinion o the authoro the letter which was probably an ofcial o the Lord Deputy, O Mallounywas purposely sett [sic] on to the claim, having one with case.

Appeals to the Lord Deputy and the Court o Equity by Gaelic reehold-ers seeking redress was noted by German settler Matthew de Renzy whowas surprised at the tenaciousness which reeholders pursued legal cases,57unsurprising given the high stakes involved in pursuing claims against

titled magnates such as the earl o Thomond, who is aptly reerred toin Owen O Mallounys petition as a mighty adversary.58 It appears thatOwen O Mallouny was successul in his petition as an Owen OMolowneywas recorded proprietor o Ballybroughan and Kilmacreagh in Kilfntinanparish in 1641.59 A similar petition concerning dispossession o John

55 The relevant section reads: OMeere in the bill mentioned seised in his demesne unto himrom his ancestors o the said town and lands, Ibid.

56 Rev. Philip Dwyer, The Diocese o Killaloe rom the Reormation to the Eighteenth Century,p. 329. On a dierent view on the Patrick OMeere case see Dermot Gleeson, The PatronSaint o Dromclie in Molua (1958), p. 47. Also see the Chancery Pleading by supplicantPatrick O Meere which mentions that the supplicants ather, [Donogh] was thrust out[with]his amily by the commandment o Donough OBrien, ourth earl. See ChanceryBills: Survivals rom pre-1922 Collection, [G1] [undated] (National Archives, Dublin).

57 Mary ODowd, Gaelic Economy and Society in Ciaran Brady & Raymond Gillespie (eds),Natives and Newcomers: Essays on the Making o Irish Colonial Society 1534:1641, (Dublin, 1986),pp 120147, p.142. De Renzy was born in Cologne in 1577 and worked as a cloth merchantin Antwerp until he moved to London around 1604. He relocated to Ireland in 1608 wherehe lived or some time with the Mac Bruaideadha historian-chroniclers in Co. Clare romwhom he learnt Irish. In this respect, he was atypical o most planter amilies given hisengagement with Gaelic literati lineages such as Clann Bhruaideadha. See Brendan Ryan,

A German Planter in the Midlands in History Ireland, viii, 1 (Spring, 2000), pp 78, p. 7.58 (PHA Ms 3193). The section reads: [the] petitioner is a poor man unable having no means to

sue his said land against such a mighty adversary and or that also he was thereo unlawullydispossessed [spelling modernized].

59 R. Simington, Books o Survey and Distribution [Vol. 4, Clare], (Dublin, 1967), p. 179.


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McNemarras lands at Ratiellan (Ratholan, Kilnasoolagh parish) by theourth Earl o Thomond in 1623 mentions the presence o a watermill onhis estate (PHA Ms 3186, 3187).60 A avourable resolution must have beenreached or Ratholan Beg was in McNamara possession in 1641.61

Petitions by reeholders lodged in the Petworth Archive are not solelyconcerned with dispossession o ancestral lands by the ourth earl oThomond. Petitions show that Henry OBrien, fth earl o Thomond, alsohad suits against him by reeholders described as poor and illiterate.62We read a petition dated 1635 by Brien mcTerrelagh McBrien to the LordDeputy who was aggrieved by the attacks o the earl o Thomonds servantson his tenants at Gortrahmorroghoe.63 The petition is illuminating in itsdetail concerning the scene o the attack. The bailis o the earl came uponthe petitioners tenants when they were ploughing his lands and, threaten-

ing to take away the plough and garrons (Irish horses), caused the tenantsto surrender and leave o their said intended work and or peace o theirsaid throats ater which they ed to their houses causing the petitionergreat loss and damage, he being but a poor and illiterate man. 64 Thepetition requested that the lord deputy command the high sheri to keepthe petitioner, Brien mcTerrelagh McBrien, in possession o his land untilthe legal proceedings concluded and a precautionary order issued in theevent o the earls baili evicting the petitioner.

A inal petition worthy o note is that o the Old English amily o

Fanning.65

The Fannings, a Limerick merchant amily, shared similarcharacteristics to other Old English amilies with landed interests in eastCo. Clare such as the Arthurs, Coymns, and the native Gaelic merchant

60 The mill was located at Grannaghan in Tomfnlough parish. The petition relates to variouslands in Quin, Tomfnlough and Kilconry parishes in the hands o John McNamara, sono Donogh McNamara o Ratholan. Donogh died in c. 1606 leaving his son John ninemonths old and his inheritance being held o the right honourable Earl o Thomond wholater granted it to Sir John McNamara knight and others. John McNamara disputed thepossession o some o the lands by the Earl seemingly on the basis that he was o lawul ageto be seised o his athers lands.

61 R. Simington, Books o Survey andDistribution, p.157.62 It is uncertain whether the terms destitute and poor and illiterate reer to the social position

o small reeholders or their immediate circumstance. As proprietors with some land theywere not on the bottom rung o the social hierarchy and had the wherewithal to launchproceedings against the earl o Thomond. Whether it was their immediate circumstanceso fnancial pressure that made them destitute or longer-term trends such as the uidity othe land market and changing landholding matrix in east Co. Clare, it is certain that evenrom the mid-sixteenth century lesser sept-lineages were already experiencing difculty inmaintaining their social position. This accounts or the requency in mortgage arrangementsamongst members o sept-lineages to ensure some, albeit reduced, proprietorial interest in

their ormer estates.63 This place cannot be positively identifed.64 The humble petition o Brian McTorlogh mcBrien a poor man, [Dublin Castle, 19 June 1635]

(PHA Ms 3910).65 Hon. Earle o Thomond v/s annings and the aquavite (PHA Ms 3923) [May 2 1638]


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amily o Creagh.66 Based around Kilfnaghta parish the Fannings prosperedon the back o an emerging, but still nascent, market economy o the earlydecades o the seventeenth century. Constituting a new class o prosperoustenants on the estates o the earl o Thomond, these amilies were poisedto take advantage o fnancial distress o smaller Gaelic reeholders slowto adapt to the changed conditions and ostensibly altered landholdingmatrix67

In 1638 Henry OBrien, fth earl o Thomond, complained againstSimon Fanning and petitioned to prevent his sons George and JohnFanning selling aquavit in Co. Clare. In the lietime o Donough OBrien,ourth earl o Thomond, Simon Fanning procured a grant by letters patentor the license o wine and aquavit in Co. Clare which he sold in Ennis,Clare, Bunratty and Sixmilebridge. Simon Fannings sons held an interest

in the licence but part o Simons interest in the license was conveyed tothe earl whose interest apparently descended to his heir Henry OBrien.Ater the earl died in 1624 Simon Fanning intended to deeat the suppli-cant [Henry OBrien] o the beneft o that grantin his Majestys Courto Exchequer. Henry OBrien was claiming that the license lawullydescended to him, by virtue o his athers interest. Records o small scaleproduction o aquavit date rom the mid-fteenth century, one o which islisted amongst a mortgage o lands o David OFerala in 1458.68

The Fanning petition is valuable beyond exposing the earl o Thomonds

dealings with reeholders and Limerick merchants. The petition containsrare inormation on the presence o light industrial activity and the market-ing o goods in early seventeenth-century Co. Clare.69 It also touches onthose elements o the market economy generally mentioned by historiansonly in passing: the role o territorial magnates in promoting, and control-ling, systems o market exchange and the ever-increasing export trade ocommercialised agriculture and small scale local production in a regional

66 See Rev. Patrick Woule, Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames, [GenealogicalPublishing Company re-print] (Baltimore,1969), pp 22425, 2367, 239, 285286.

67 Patrick Nugent, The Gaelic clans o Co. Clare and their territories 11001700 A.D, (Dublin,2007), p. 201. Evidence on the scope o land transactions between the Old English merchantclass and Gaelic reeholders and also between New-English and Dutch settlers and nativelandowners can be proftably gleaned rom James Frosts abstracts o Co. Clare inquisitions.See James Frost, A History and Topography o the County o Clare, pp 267337.

68 James Hardiman (ed.), Ancient Irish Deeds and Writings Chiey relating to Landed Propertyrom the Twelth to Seventeenth Century: With Translation, Notes and a Preliminary Essay,pp 5051.

69 The production o aquavit is not mentioned in the accounts o the Corporation o Ennisor the early seventeenth century ater the town was granted a weekly market in 1609 and

received incorporation by royal charter in 1613. The 1642 Protestant Depositions can be usedas a proxy or identiying industrial activity. The deposition o Dutchman James Vandelureo Sixmilebridge cites two water mills, a mill or bark, a malt house and a tan yard. Brian Dlaigh, (ed.), Corporation Book o Ennis, p. 15; TCD, Deposition o James Vanderlure Ms829, 061r-062v, [24 August 1642].


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and national network o mercantile activity.70 It is also signifcant that theearls o Thomond had developed interests in the commercialisation oalcohol and sought to retain their trading monopoly, especially in the newlyincorporated towns o Clare, Ennis and Sixmilebridge.71

This article presents our transcribed documents rom the PetworthArchives. The state o preservation o the documents transcribed herevaries; there are difculties deciphering chancery hand and archaic abbre-viations; documents are damaged and olded. As a rule larger documentssuch as inquisition material are generally legible. The documents havebeen edited or ease o reading and the spelling modernised and contrac-tions silently expanded. Placenames and personal names, however, retaintheir original spelling (see appendices).

Daninel (Daniel) O Mulconnerys Petition, 1638The background to this petition72 is that as a learned lineage theU Mhaoilchonaire held their principal estate at Ardkyle on lands o theMac Conmara Fionn lordship o west Clann Chuilin (upper and lowerBunratty).73 Ardkyle is mentioned in the 1586 inquisition into the lands oJohn McNamara, lord o west Clann Chuilin, and in common with thecustomary privileges o the Gaelic literati was held ree rom impositions

70 Gaelic lordships embraced proto-commercial policies in the later middles ages such

as granting o trading privileges to merchants or fnancial return and, the case o theMac Conmara lordship o east Co. Clare, monopolising their strategic position betweenGalway and Limerick which depended on the Gaelic hinterland or imports o hides and corn.Gearid Mac Niocaill, Land Transer in Sixteenth Century Thomond: The Case o Domhnallg Cearnaigh in North Munster Antiquarian Journal, xvii (1975) pp 435, p. 5. Also seeBrian Dlaigh, A History o Urban Origins and Village Formation in County Clare inMatthew Lynch & Patrick Nugent (eds), Clare: history and society: interdisciplinary essays on thehistory o an Irish County(Dublin, 2008), pp 105135. On the creation o markets see PatrickOFlanagan, Markets and Fairs in Ireland 16001800: Index o Economic Development andRegional Growth inJournal o Historical Geography, xi (1985), pp 364378.

71 The development o markets and urban centres is a eature o the anglicisation processo Co. Clare and the chie maniestation o the plantation o New-English and Dutchsettlers in the newly incorporated market towns o Clarecastle (1606), Ennis (1609), andSixmilebridge (1618). On the change o settlement activity in Munster wrought by New-English colonization such as communications, bridges, prevalence o domestic architectureand planting o orchards see Michael McCarthy Morrogh, The English Presence in EarlySeventeenth Century Munster in Brady & Gillespie, Natives and Newcomers, pp 171190;Report o Commissioners appointed to inquire into the State o the Fairs and Markets in Ireland,[1674], HC 18523, XLI, p. 66. On Sixmilebridge and the colonisation o Protestant settlerssee Brian Dlaigh, A history o Sixmilebridge, county Clare, 16031911 in Karina Holton,Liam Clare & Brian Dlaigh (eds), Irish Villages: Studies in Local History, (Dublin, 2004),pp 243280.

72 The humble petition o Daninel oge O Mulconnery, [1638] (PHA Ms 5402).

73 The U Mhaoilchonaire produced bardic poetry (locht), a proession that they initiallyperected in Roscommon where they served as master poets to the ruling U Chonchobhairdynasty. From c.1231 to 1482 the U Mhaoilchonaire o north Roscommon provided thehereditary ollamh to the ruling U Chonchobhair dynasty. Daniel P. Mc Carthy, The IrishAnnals: Their Genesis, Evolution and History, (Dublin, 2008), p. 12.


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and billeting.74 The Thomond branch o the U Mhaoilchonaire at Ardkylewere descended rom the two sons o Torna g Maolchonaire, Sen andMuiris, who ourished in the sixteenth century75 making their presencein Co. Clare new in comparison to other amilies o native learning long

settled in the county: Mhic Bhruaideadha, Mhic Chraith, U ceadha,U Niallin, U Dhuibhdbhoireann, Mhic Chruitn, U Dhlaigh and MhicFhlannchadha.

The U Mhaoilchonaire o Ardkyle are credited with penning severalmanuscripts in the sixteenth century and members o the amily servedas legal notaries.76 We fnd Ilund O Molchonre o Ardkyllas a juror on the1586 inquisition into the lands o John McNamara held at Galway.77 Ilund,the son o Sen who held Rossmanagher tower-house in Feenagh parish in1570,78 is known or his collaborative work with the U Dhuibhdbhoireann

amily in c. 1569 on the law manuscript now known as Egerton 88 andalso in copying the Tin B Cailnge saga at the U Mhaoilchonaire schoolo history and poetry at Ardkyle.79 Gilla na Naomh hUidhrns poemTuilleadh easa ar irinn igh (Further knowledge on young Ireland) andthe now lost Leabhar Oiris whose exemplar was copied by the poet Dibh Bruadair rom a copy o the original written in 1611, were both producedat the U Mhaoilchonaire Ardkyle school. 80 Domhnall Maolchonairecomposed the poem Crad seachnaim sol Aodha?(Why do I avoid thedescendents o Aodh?) or Sen Mac Conmara, probably on the latters

inauguration o the lordship in c. 1571.81

74 On the lands o west Clann Chuilin, including Ardkyle, see Luke McInerney, The WestClann Chuilin Lordship in 1586: Evidence rom a Forgotten Inquisition, pp 3362, pp 4041, p. 43.

75 Paul Walsh, Irish Men o Learning, (Dublin, 1947), pp 3448.76 Various members o the U Mhaoilchonaire at Ardkyle are noted as witnesses to deeds in

Irish. See James Hardiman (ed.), Ancient Irish Deeds and Writings Chiey relating toLanded Property rom the Twelth to Seventeenth Century: With Translation, Notes and aPreliminary Essay, pp 195. A land deed dated 1573 and written on the green o Bunrattyby Tornae (Torna) Maolchonarie is o particular signifcance as the deed reers to theRodan amily (muintir Rodain) as stewards o the Earl o Thomond and to reerences tolocal toponymy (Aylebeg in north-west Bunratty parish, the old orchard, etc), and the list owitnesses including Siacus Conallain, vicar o Bunratty. Ibid., pp 7172.

77 R.W. Twigge, Materials, (BL, Twigge Collection, Add Ms 39260), pp 180186, p.180.78 Martin Breen, A 1570 List o Castles in County Clare, p.132.79 Brian Dlaigh, The U Mhaoilchonaire o Thomond in Studia Hibernica, xxxv (2009/2010),

pp 4568, p. 52.80 Ibid., p. 51 and Kenneth W. Nicholls, The Irish Genealogies: Their Value and Deects in The

Irish Genealogist, v, 2 (1975), pp 256261, p. 258. R.W Twigge quotes the colophon o the RIAMs 23 L.37 as stating, This genealogy was copied by Daibhi OBruadar in the year 1671, the8th March, rom the Historical Book o Clann U Mhaoilchonaire which they compiled 60

years beore that period i.e. in the year 1611 and was rewritten in Cork by John Stack [SeaghanStac], in the year o Salvation 1708. See R.W Twigge, Materials, (BL, Twigge Collection, AddMs 39264), p. 16.

81 See RIA Ms 784 (q.v. Ms 23.G.9). For other manuscript versions see Russell LibraryMaynooth Ms M107. For a translation o the poem and historical context see Luke McInerney,


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Set against this context the 1638 petition by Daniel O Mulconneryrecounts the transer o the U Mhaoilchonaire lands at Ardkyle to theearl o Thomond in 1618, in exchange or poorer lands at Shandangan inKilmurry parish. Ironically this occurred two years ater Muiris, ather oDaniel O Mulconnery, drew up an agreement that allowed the transero Daniel Annierie Mc Nemarras land to the earl o Thomond or histransgression o horse stealing,82 and one year beore Muiris witnessedan agreement or the transer o John O Muldowneys (Sen MaolDhomhnaigh) land at Ballyhybroacharan to the earl.83 Muiris must haveundertaken this activity in his capacity as secretary to the earl, a pointnoted in the answer to Daniel O Mulconnerys petition which sets downfve reasons to disavowal the petition.84

Daniel O Mulconnerys petition notes that prior to the orced exchange o

lands by Donough OBrien, ourth earl o Thomond in 1618, Daniels atherMuiris (ie. Morish) had conveyed the lands o Ardkyle, Carhowlegane(Carrownalegaun) and Crevagh to non-kin in order to retain them orusage and protect their title, possibly as a stratagem designed to evadecompulsory acquisition by the earl. In a telling remark the petition notesthat Donat, late earl o Thomond, having a great desire to gain and acquirethe said lands in regard that they lay convenient and near to his land ohis manor o Bunratty in the year 1618 [Muiris] was orced to give pos-session to the said Donat.85 Parallels can be drawn with the U Niallin

amily o Ballyallia, a learned medical kindred, and the Mac Fhlannchadhabrehon lineage o Killilagh parish in Corcomroe, both o whose leadingkinsmen were allied to Donough OBrien and prospered through theirrelationship with the earl: Dr James Neylan and Boetius Clancy beneftedrom adapting to the introduction o English law in Co. Clare as Neylanreceived lands rom the dissolved Ennis Friary86 and Clancy represented

A sixteenth century bardic poem composed or Sen Mac Conmara, Lord o West ClannChuilin in Seanchas Ard Mhacha: Journal o the Armagh Diocesan Historical Society, xxi(2010), pp 3356.

82 (PHA Ms C.13.36). See petition reproduced in the appendices o this paper.83 James Hardiman (ed.), Ancient Irish Deeds and Writings Chiey relating to Landed Property

rom the Twelth to Seventeenth Century: With Translation, Notes and a Preliminary Essay,pp 9495.

84 The chie points o disavowal relate to the legitimacy o the exchange and that it wastransacted by mutual consent. The answer reutes Daniels view that the lands at Shandanganwere not worth above 60. The answer also makes a curious reerence to the 1624inquisition post mortem o Donough OBrien, ourth earl o Thomond, in that Muiris wasone o the jury who ound the deendant seised o Ardkyle. We fnd Mauris O Milcounryde Shandangan a juror on the 1624 inquisition, as noted earlier in this article. See Thehumble petition o Daninel oge O Mulconnery, [1638] (PHA Ms 540), in the appendices o

this article.85 The humble petition o Daninel oge O Mulconnery,[1638] (PHA Ms 5402).86 R.W. Twigge, Edward Whites Description o Thomond in 1574, p. 84. In the 1574 survey o

castles in Co. Clare it notes Th[e] abbaye o Inish was held by James Nellan. James Nellanwas also credited with possessing Ballyally and Ballycarroll tower-houses. Ibid, p. 79.


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Co. Clare at Perrotts Parliament in 1585.87 This petition throws light on thedispossession o a learned lineage that ormerly rendered services valuablein the Gaelic social context but were no longer needed in an anglicisedcounty.

While bluntly open about the orced exchange o the lands with poorerlands at Shandgan (Shandangan), the petition reveals a more pressingtheme: Wentworths proposed plantation o Ireland.88 Thomas Wentworth,Lord Deputy o Ireland (16321640), proposed to raise revenue or CharlesI and cement royal control over Ireland through extending plantations inConnacht and Co. Clare. The Staord Survey o Connacht (16361640)sought to survey the proposed plantation lands and caused deep anxietyamongst Gaelic reeholders over legitimacy o title.89 Uncertainty over landtitle was a catalyst or the 1641 rebellion and it is clear that this eatured as a

primary reason or the timing o Daninel O Mulconnerys petition in 1638and his desire to establish title to the U Mhaoilchonaire estate at Ardkyleprior to a fnal plantation settlement.90 The petition was not avourablyacted upon or the Earl o Thomond remained in possession o Ardkyle in1641 and Morris Conry, scion o the learned U Mhaoilchonaire historian-chronicler amily, was listed as proprietor o Shandangan in Kilmurryparish in 1641.91

The Case of Danniell (Daniel) Annierie Mc Nemarra, 1636

The Accusation o Mahowne McGillowoile92

highlights the plight o theaccused in seventeenth-century Co. Clare and the enorcement o law onthe earl o Thomonds manor.93 Daniel Annierie McNemarra o Drumquin(Drumquin, Kilraghtis parish) was accused o stealing two horses romMahon McEnerhiny o Ballekilltie (Ballykilty, Quin parish). Daniel AnnierieMcNemarras thet resulted in his incarceration at Ennis94 and proprietor-

87 James Frost, A History and Topography o the County o Clare, p. 98.88 Wentworth established in July 1635 a commission or plantation in Connacht and in Co.

Clare at Boyle, and grand juries were summoned or the counties in question. The jurieswere orced to fnd or the King, otherwise risk oreiture o their property to the Exchequer.Edmund Curtis, A History o Ireland, (fth edition, London, 1945), pp 240241.

89 See the introduction o R. Simington (ed.), Books o Survey and Distribution.90 Daniel O Mulconnery must have been well connected to local administration in Co. Clare

as a Petworth document shows that he served as Sub-Sheri o Co. Clare in 1636. See PHAMs 3917.

91 Ibid., p. 85.92 The accusation o Mahowne Mc Gillowoile o Kalloraghis taken beore me: October ye 22th:

1636, (PHA, Ms C.13/36).93 For another petition in the Petworth House archives which castes light on the accused in

seventeenth century Co. Clare, particularly in relation to adolescent misdemeanours, see

The humble Petition o Loghlen McCnona to the Earl o Thomond oering his interest inBallymcunna (2 qrs), Dromconnowra (1/3 qrt), Ballygreia (1 quartermeer) in return orthe bail o his son that is committed or a trie with the poor boy that is committed or thelike matter (PHA Ms 3942) [date c. 16151624].

94 Once assizes were held in Co. Clare rom the 1570s reerences to jails appear in the historical


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ship o his lands oreit to the ourth Earl o Thomond. The document,written in 1636, recalls the incident in 1616 with the chie purpose o ascer-taining proprietorship o the land. Four deponent statements are given, themost detailed being Mahowne McGillowoiles and Thomas McRedmundsstatements which are in general agreement. The statement o an O Neilcrystallises a personal act o the incident; the pleas o Daniel AnnierieMcNemarras wie or relie o her husband imprisoned at Ennis.

The document highlights the administration o law in Co. Clare. Forexample, when McNemarra was ound with the stolen horses he wasbrought immediately beore a justice o the peace and imprisoned. Itappears that the stolen horses let a track across Mahon McEnerhinysland which acilitated the location o the horses and led to McNemarrasapprehension. McNemarra must have appeared beore an assize where

evidence was given against him and that it was the seneschal o the earlo Thomonds Bunratty manor, Captain Norton, who repossessed the landat Drumquin and parcelled it out to the tenants o the earl.

Foreiture o land or a crime was not uncommon and other examplescan be identifed in the Thomond papers. Take, or example, PHA MsC.13/35 (dated 1619) which states that James McInnerreny, who held the halquarter o Cnock I Slattry (Knockslattry, Doora pairsh), a mill adjoiningDromoland and the hal quarter o Ballykilty called Leacerrone Iraghteragh(Tomfnlough parish) was ound guilty o man-slaughter or the killing

o James Dixon who was part o Sir Robert Mcleanans company.95

Thisaltercation would have placed James McInnerrenys lands at risk o orei-ture to his overlord, the earl o Thomond. Perhaps on account o Jamesliteracy and thereore his right to claim beneft o clergy,96 or because o

record or Ennis and Quin. Some early seventeenth century ofcials regarded the holdingo assizes in Co. Clare an inconvenience, resulting in prisoners escaping rom jails and thatthe Commissioners have been driven to keep their assizes in an open abbey [i.e. EnnisFriary]. J.S. Brewer & William Bullen Esq. (eds), Calendar o the Carew Manuscripts Preservedin the Archiepiscopal Library at Lambeth, 16011603,(London, 1870), pp 171 & 173. James Frostmentions that the English established a jail at Ennis in 1591 and that ater the rebellion byMahon OBrien o Clondovan in 1586, seventy people were put to death at one assize. JamesFrost, A History and Topography o the County o Clare, p. 251. On the Ennis jail see RisterdUa Crinn & Martin Breen, The hidden towers in The Other Clare, xvi (1992), pp 510.

95 Inormation about Land out o my Lords hands, No.32, Wm Brickdall no date (PHA MsC.13.35). Leacerrone Iraghteragh was recorded as Lecaroweighter in 1641 and ormed part oBallykilty. R. Simington, Books o Survey and Distribution, p.152.Sir Robert Mcleanans (recte,McLellanne) suered other set backs in Co. Clare, including an attack by eight or ninegentlemen and reeholders o the sept o Macnamara who killed one and severely woundedanother o his company in 1628. Calendar o the State Papers relating to Ireland o the Reigno Charles I, 16251632, Robert P. Mahay, (ed.) (London, 1900), p. 371.

96 See John Ainsworth (ed.), The Inchiquin Manuscripts, No.983, pp 312313 and No.1481,pp 504505. These reerences relate to the lands held by Conor OBrien o Dromoland(d. 1603) with the latter mentioning John McEnerhyny, prist (sic) and James his son, orwhich they have a quarter o Dromolin in mortgage. The ormer reerence reers to a grantto James McEnerhine o 4 acres in Ratholan by Conor OBrien prior to 1603. In 1619 in an


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his service to the Earl such as arbitration in land disputes,97 James appearsto have escaped with a fne and partial loss o land.98 It appears that DanielAnnierie McNemarra was not so ortunate; his land was oreited to theearl in a conveyance drawn-up by Muiris Maolchonaire, and he was

reduced to a tenant at will.McCloones of Ballymacloone, 1635The document regarding the lands o the McCloones in Quin parish wascompiled in 1635 or the purpose o identiying how the proprietorship othe three ploughlands o Ballymacloone came into possession o HenryOBrien, fth Earl o Thomond.99 The document also sets out the case othe unlawul mortgage o Ballymacloone to Old-English Limerick merchantNicholas Strich by Loughlen McCloone during the lietime o the ourth

earl o Thomond (d. 1624).100

Like many documents o Irish interest in thePetworth collection, much o it reected agreements that were concludedduring the earldom o Donough OBrien (15811624) and clarifcation othose arrangements and legal title by Donoughs heir Henry, the fth earlo Thomond.

The signiicance o the document lies in its suggestion that theMcCloone patrimony o Ballymacloon rom the time o King ConorMcTurlogh OBrien (d. 1539), was partially under mortgage and theMcCloones had become tenants at will. This was a amiliar occurrence

in Gaelic social hierarchy. The seventeenth-century Irish genealogistDubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh observed that it is a usual thing in the caseo great princes, when their children and their amilies multiply, that theirclients and ollowers are squeezed out, wither away, and are wasted.101Such a process o social displacement was reected in the case o the

inquisition into the lands o the ourth earl o Thomond, James claimed as his inheritance:quatron acr measure hibernor in Rathoylane [4 acres o Irish measure at Ratholan] linkinghim to the c. 1603 grant and son o cleric John McEnerhyny. In 1619 James, who was residingat Ballysallagh, also claimed 1 cartron o land at Shanaghcloyne (Ballynacragga). Thesereerences link James to John the cleric and he was probably the James who translated deedsrom Irish to English at Limerick 1611. See Inquisition reciting the lands held by DonoughOBrien, ourth Earl o Thomond, 1 April 1619 (PHA Ms B.26.T.16), [last page fve rowsrom bottom o parchment]; (PHA Ms C.13.35); James Hardiman (ed.), Ancient Irish Deedsand Writings Chiey relating to Landed Property rom the Twelth to Seventeenth Century:With Translation, Notes and a Preliminary Essay, pp 5051.

97 A Register made by the Right Honourable Barnaby Earl o Thomond o all the Evidencesand Writings at Bunratty, Anno 1640 (PHA, Ms.C.13.27 [nos. 56, 90, 114]).

98 Lecaroweighter was not in the possession o James Mc Innerreny or his heir in 1641suggesting that this land may have been oreit on account o his man-slaughter charge. R.Simington, Books o Survey and Distribution p.152.

99 John McCloone his relation touching Ballymccloone and James McEnnerhiny his relationtouching the above land [5 August 1635] (PHA, Ms 3911).

100 Petworth House Archives, Ms 3911 [5August 1635].101 Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh cited in G.A Hayes-McCoy, Scots Mercenary Forces in Ireland,

15651603, Edmund Burke Publishing, Dublin [re-print], 1996, p.52.


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McCloones who held Ballymacloone under mortgage but had agreed totranser it to the ruling lineage o the OBriens (kings o Thomond and,ater 1543, earls) as the original proprietor o the land, Donogh McCloone,conveyed it out o necessity on account o being destitute.

Economic pressures were increasingly acute or smaller sept-lineages asthey came under pressure rom expanding ruling lineages, a point attestedby the act that in 1586 Ballymacloon was part o the mensal lands oJohn McNamara, Lord o west Clann Chuilin, whose principal seat wasat Dangan-i-viggin.102 By this date it is apparent that the McCloones were atenant-sept o the ruling Mac Conmara Fionn, providing tribute and oodstus, reecting an increasingly sub-ineuded class o betagh 103 armers.In this context the interests o ruling lineages was to promote kinship ties(imagined or real) to retain ollowers in clan structures in order to bind

them to the ruling lineage and ensure a steady labour supply.104

In GaelicIreland, clients were the backbone o a lords wealth and so the methodsused by Irish chies echoed those o the Anglo-Norman eudal lords.105

We read that a parcel, or quartermeere o land, was unlawully mort-gaged by Loughlen McCloone to Nicholas Strich,106 and that John McNamara

102 Luke McInerney, The West Clann Chuilin Lordship in 1586: Evidence rom a ForgottenInquisition, pp 4548. On Dangan-i-viggin (Daingean U Bhign) tower-house and itsmassive stone banqueting hall, large bawn and circular deensive outer tower seeRisterdUa Crnn & Martin Breen, Daingean Ui Bhigin Castle, Quin, Co. Clare in The Other Clare,

x (1986), pp 5253.103 Betagh is derived rom the Irish word biatach (ood renderer) and sometimes Latinised inmedieval documents as betagii. See, or example, H. S. Sweetman, Calendar o DocumentsRelating to Ireland: 12851292, (Liechtenstein, Kraus Reprint, 1974), pp 202, 205.

104 The basic objective o elite political action in medieval Ireland was the control o theproductive units o arming society. The ideology that sustained ruling lineages was thatkinship ties served as the glue which bound the social relationships o ruling lineagesand dependent septs together. Kinship helped legitimise the hierarchical-controlled supplyo land, labour and cattle in the hands o ruling lineages, explaining the rationale behindthe Gaelic obsession o genealogy. See D. Blair Gibson, Chiedoms, Conederacies, andStatehood in Early Ireland in Bettina Arnoldt (ed.), Celtic Chiedom, Celtic State: The Evolutiono Complex Social Systems in Prehistoric Europe, (Cambridge, 1995), pp 116128, p.116. Onthe economy o Scottish Highland clans prior to 1745, but which is partially analogousto the kinship-based society o pre-seventeenth century Ireland see Robert A. Dodgshon,Modelling chiedoms in the Scottish Highlands and islands prior to the 45 in Arnoldt (ed.)Celtic Chiedom, Celtic State, pp 99109.

105 On eudalism in Gaelic Ireland see Tadhg OKeee, Medieval Ireland: An Archaeology,(Dublin, 2000), p. 267. Elements o eudalism such as primogeniture succession weregenerally rejected by Gaelic lords, but the process o alienating land to religious oundations,minting coins and binding tenants to the land can be regarded as pseudo-eudalist. Theideology o kinship, used to legitimise lordship and coner land title and privileges was,however, distinctly Gaelic.

106 Nicholas Strich (recte Stritch), rom an Old English merchant amily o Limerick, died on 23

September 1623 and was the mortgagee o numerous lands including Shandangan whichwas the townland Muiris Maolchonaire received as part o his orced exchange o Ardkylewith the ourth earl o Thomond in 1618. Clearly, the fnancial interests o Nicholas Stritchwere intertwined in the land market o Co. Clare, much o which centered on the Barony oBunratty and, probably o no coincidence, in the vicinity o the Thomond manor at which


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o Dangan-i-viggin redeemed the mortgaged land. Minor Gaelic reeholdersrequently mortgaged their lands to raise cash, a point attested in sev-enteenth-century inquisition material.107 It was a common stratagem orreeholders to raise cash by mortgaging to Limerick city merchants, many

o whom had entered the land market in the early seventeenth century ata time when rapid economic and political change was causing fnancialpressures on smaller reeholders in the barony o Bunratty. 108 Proximity toLimerick and its relatively capital-rich mercantile caste, coupled with thewaning o traditional Gaelic structures and economy, must have contrib-uted to this situation. That John McNamara redeemed the land suggestshe retained a proprietorial interest; at any rate he was the principal landedproprietor o the parish and Lord o west Clann Chuilin.109

It is also interesting to distil rom the document the method employed

to resolve the unlawul mortgage; that is, the nomination o indierentmen to arbitrate. The men chosen or the purpose had strong links to theourth earl o Thomond: John McNamara o Danganbrack was the son oJohn McNamara o Dangan-i-viggin and Lord o west Clann Chuilin,110 andJames McEnerhini had served the earl on other occasions and had assistedin translating Irish property deeds relating to the Thomond estate in 1611.111The appointment o literate local men to arbitrate in such matters wascommon place and, in general, suited the earls interests: the McCloonesretained Cullenagh and part o Carrowgar in 1641, but Ballymacloon was

held jointly by Thomas Arthur and Teige McNamara.112

The ortuitous reerence in the document, and hitherto obscure, o anIrish indenture held by Henry OBrien, fth earl o Thomond, can becross reerenced with two deeds in Irish (dated 1542 and 1545) relating tothe inheritance o the McCloones. These deeds were published by JamesHardiman in 1826 (known as Egerton Charters), but the originals arenow lost.113 Though unlettered in Irish himsel,114 the presence o deeds

Stritch was obliged to render military service. See James Frost, A History and Topography othe County o Clare, pp 299300.

107 Patrick Nugent, The interace between the Gaelic clan system o Co. Clare and the emergingcentralising English nation-state in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century, pp 9091.

108 On dierent methods o land transer (and inheritance) employed by Gaelic reeholderssee Mary ODowd, Power, Politics and Land: Early Modern Sligo, 15681688, (Belast, 1991),pp 6976.

109 On McNamaras demesne and mensal lands in 1586 see Luke McInerney, The West ClannChuilin Lordship in 1586: Evidence rom a Forgotten Inquisition.

110 R.W. Twigge, Materials (BL, Twigge Collection, Add Ms 39260), p 208.111 James Hardiman (ed.), Ancient Irish Deeds and Writings Chiey relating to Landed Property

rom the Twelth to Seventeenth Century: With Translation, Notes and a Preliminary Essay,pp 5051.

112 R. Simington, Books o Survey and Distribution, p. 146.113 See Hardiman (ed.), Ancient Irish Deeds and Writings, pp 5558.114 Brian Dlaigh, The U Mhaoilchonaire o Thomond, pp 5556.


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written in Irish amongst the original collection o papers at Bunratty(none o which are now extant at Petworth) testifes to bilingual estatemanagement. From comparison with the 1640 inventory o documents atPetworth Archive it is apparent that many o the documents listed have not

survived.

115

There are no Irish language documents now extant at PetworthArchive despite at least one listed in the 1640 inventory.116 It has beensuggested that the deeds in Irish were handed over to Dean Smyth, laterBishop o Kilmore and Ardagh, sometime in the 1680s or 1690s and romwhom they may have become in the possession o the antiquarian Tadhg Rodaighe o Crossfeld, Co. Leitrim. The deeds appear to have beentranserred to Arthur Mahon (d. 1788) o Strokestown, Co. Roscommon,beore ending up in the collection o James Hardiman.117

Petitions of Sir Dermot O Mallun, Baron of Gleanomalun & Cuerchy,163031The petitions o Sir Dermot O Mallun, created Baron o Gleanomalun andCuerchy118 by King James I in 1622, are lodged in the Petworth archive. 119These consist o letters rom Sir Dermot in Brussels to Sir Barnaby OBrienregarding his desire to acquire the our quarters o Glann I malowne inKillaloe parish which was conveyed to the ourth earl o Thomond in 1606.The bundle o correspondence also consists o Sir Barnaby OBriens disa-vowal o Sir Dermots petition to purchase his ancestral estates. This series

o correspondence castes light on the role o an migr Irish noble whoound preerment in the ranks o oreign military orces on the continentrom the 1590s to 1630s.

Unique inormation that can be gleaned rom the correspondence

115 See A Register made by the Right Honourable Barnaby Earl o Thomond o all the Evidencesand Writings at Bunratty, Anno 1640 (PHA, Ms C.13.27). Take, or example, the reerencein the 1640 inventory to the deed o mortgage o Covarra mcShane to Mahon mcShaneMcInnirhiny o the lands o Cahirdue (no.113) which were located in the vicinity oBallynacragga in Kilnasoolagh parish. The original document o this mortgage cannot nowbe ound in the Petworth archive. On the location o Cahirdue see James Frost, The Historyand Topography o the County o Clare, p. 295.

116 The 1640 inventory lists (no.111) an Irish writing touching Clenaghmore. I thank KennethW. Nicholls or his advice regarding the Petworth inventories. A Register made by the RightHonourable Barnaby Earl o Thomond o all the Evidences and Writings at Bunratty, Anno1640 (PHA Ms C.13.27).

117 William OSullivan, The Book o Domhnall Duibhdbhoireann, Provenance and Codicologyin, Celtica, xiii (1999), pp 276292, pp 279280.

118 Sometimes misinterpreted as Quirke. There is no standard orthography or Glanomallunand it is spelt in various ways in the documentation. It is also recorded as Glanmuntimalowne(Gleann Muinntear Mhaol Dhomhnaigh). On Quirke see Cathaldus Giblin, Catalogue o

material o Irish interest in the collection Nunziatura di Fiandra, Vatican Archives: Part 8, Vols.137A-147C, in Collectanea Hibernica XII(1969), pp 62101 p. 66. For Glanmuntimalowne seeChancery Bills: Survivals rom pre-1922 Collection, No.131 [13 February 1625], National Archives,Dublin.

119 (PHA Ms C.6.4, C.13/34a).


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highlights the tenacity o an Irish nobleman negotiating the purchaseo his ancestral lands, as well as usage o his apparent Gaelic title. 120 SirDermots correspondence also identifes notable persons in Co. Clare suchas Sir John McNamara o Mountallon,121 Donogh OGrady and Mac-I-Brien

o Arra, the latter two important local notables with respective landedinterests in Tuamgraney and on the Tipperary side o the Shannon. Thecorrespondence preserved at Petworth concerning Sir Dermot O Mallunsunsuccessul attempt to purchase the lands o Glann I malowne (GleannU Mhaol Dhomhnaigh) also gives us a taxonomy o places that comprisedthe thirteen quarters o land ormerly under the proprietorship o theU Mhaol Dhomhnaigh lineage. A moiety o hal o the land, in and aroundthe parish o Killaloe, was conveyed to the ourth earl o Thomond in 1606by the chie men o the ruling branch o Clann U Mhaol Dhomhnaigh.

Sir Dermot O Mallun, scion o the U Mhaol Dhomhnaigh sept, letCo. Clare at age ourteen to pursue a career on the Continent. Sometimebeore 1612 Sir Dermot was among the entretenidos cerca la persona inthe service o the archduke o Bavaria.122 Sir Dermot had served in theFlanders or twenty years prior to 1612 in the capacity o a counsellor,lieutenant and frst ordinary judge o the judiciary o Ghent, Douai andOrsi and was described as well versed in the languages and customs oBelgium.123 Being well-connected, with an uncle who was the papal Bishopo Killaloe but resident in Portugal, and counting the earls o Clancarty

and Desmond among his kinsmen, Sir Dermots petitions to ArchdukeAlbert asserted that his ancestors were members o the Catholic League[and] were deeated and the heretics remained masters o the territory oGlean Omallun.124 Also that Sir Dermot was obliged to leave his country,at great danger to his lie, and go and place himsel under the protectiono the King o Spain.125

Sir Dermot, who had graduated in law rom the University o Douai,126was married to a daughter o Artois (a dame o honour to the Inanta) andthrough this marriage acquired a large estate and sired seven children.127

120 Noted as chie and supreme o [the] sept (PHA Ms C6/4).121 Sir John McNamara o Mountallon, a Gaelic loyalist and ally o the Earl o Thomond, was

granted, on 5 May 1627, a license to hold a market at Broadord, (called Allahan) and anannual air on 11 November. See James Morrin (ed.), Calendar o the Patent and Close Rolls oChancery in Ireland o the Reign o Charles the First, (London, 1863), p. 234.

122 Grinne Henry, The Irish Military Community in Spanish Flanders, 15861621, (Dublin, 1992),p. 90.

123 Brendan Jennings (ed.) Wild Geese in Spanish Flanders 15821700, (Dublin, 1964), pp 119,130.

124 Ibid., p. 165.

125 Ibid.126 Ibid., p. 131.127 Calendar o the State Papers Relating to Ireland, Preserved in the public Record Oce, 16471660,

pp 101102 and Henry, The Irish Military Community, p. 89. Sir Dermots eldest daughterMaria entered the Abbey o Avesnes to be educated in religion and virtue. Ibid., p. 75.


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Sir Dermot received the dignity baron o Gleanomalun on 23 September1622 by James I and his two sons, Albert and Francis, were recognised asheirs and granted denization, both having been born on the Continent.128In 1624 Sir Dermot, who was described as an Irishman o the Order o

Calatrava

129

was in correspondence with the pope and his cardinal secretaryo state, Ludovico Ludovisi. The pope orwarded a letter o recommenda-tion to Sir Dermot or him to procure avour at the Spanish Court.130 PopeUrban VIII held Sir Dermot in high esteem on account o the great meritacquired by him in helping the Catholic religion.131

By 1627 Sir Dermot was seeking a avourable return to Britain and hadentered into correspondence with English ofcials at Westminster to asserthis desire to return and serve under King James I, claiming to have neverborn arms against the king.132 We learn that Sir Dermot was considered

useul as he had correspondence with all Europe and had rejected oersrom the king o Spain to be made an earl or marquis on the grounds thatoreign conerment o title would oend King James. He also rejectedthe Emperors oer to raise a regiment o 3,000 men and make him amember o the imperial Privy Council and Council o Wars.133 O particularrelevance to Sir Dermots petitions o 163031, is the record that:

He is near cousin to Lord Thomond [Henry OBrien], who is atLondon. Sir Barnaby OBrien, brother to the Earl, holds all Lord

Dermots younger daughter Isabella was a nun o the Order o St Benedict and, along withMaria and Jeanne, was granted a hal-yearly pension o 400 livres in 1642 in Brussels. SeeJennings (ed.), Wild Geese, p. 357.

128 Calendar o the State Papers Relating to Ireland, o the Reigns o James I, 16151625, (London,1880), p. 392. It has been argued elsewhere that the expansion o titles o honour in Irelandby the Stuart Kings was based on practical considerations. The peerage in Ireland was greatlyenlarged in the early 1600s as a means to curtail the inuence o an independent Catholicpowerbase and placate it and to harness the Irish aristocracy more closely to the Crown. SeeCharles R. Mayers, The Early Stuarts and the Irish Peerage in The English Historical Review,lxxiii, 287 (April 1958), pp 227251, p. 227.

129 Sir Dermot petitioned or this knighthood ater his relatives in Ireland procured him theecclesiastical endowment o Tomgraney (i.e. Tuamgraney) which had been redeemed inperpetuity by Catholic gentlemen rom the possession o the English Crown or a sum o moneyearing least the endowment might all into the hands o heretics. As married men could nothold an ecclesiastical income unless they also held a military order, Sir Dermot engaged a publicnotary to record the attestation o his character by several Irish notables, and was granted theOrder o Calatrava sometime between 1616 and 1618. The endowment o Tomgraney was worth2000 crowns yearly in 1615. See Jennings (ed.), Wild Geese, pp 14546, p. 163.

130 Giblin Cathaldus, Catalogue o material o Irish Interest in the Collection Nunziatura diFiandra, Vatican Archives: Part 1, Vols. 150 in Collectanea Hibernica, i (1958), pp 7136,pp 36, 59, 60.

131 Cathaldus Giblin, OFM, Catalogue o material o Irish interest in the collection Nunziaturadi Fiandra, Vatican Archives: Part 8, Vols. 137A-147C, (1969), pp 6667.

132 Calendar o the State Papers Relating to Ireland, Preserved in the public Record Oce, 16471660,p.102.

133 Ibid.


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Glenomalluns lands, as he has been so long away. He wouldbe ready to transact and agree or his lands upon reasonableconsiderations.134

This, however, was not to be. Perhaps unsurprisingly considering hispersonal networks and distinguished military career, Sir Dermot was incontact with leading men in Co. Clare regarding oreign military service.In 1633 Boetius Clanchy, scion o the Mac Fhlannchadha lineage romCorcomroe wrote to Baron Quirshe o Glenimulloon recommending thebearer o the letter, Rossie OLoughlin, as a potential recruit or service onthe continent.135 The migr Irish strategy o advancing military careers inthe service o France and Spain was already well established by the 1630s anddemand or manpower in Europe was great due to the Thirty Years War.

In 1634, having ailed to reach reasonable considerations with SirBarnaby OBrien on the purchase o his ancestral lands Sir Dermot, as oneo a handul o MPs o Gaelic stock, was summoned to attend the Dublinparliament.136 Sir Dermot was unable to attend on account o ill health.137Many Irish nobles serving on the Continent maintained the practice okeeping genealogies and identifed closely with their Irish lands, irre-spective o decades o service abroad. When Sir Dermot died in 1639 hisepitaph noted that he was exiled when a boy rom my own country andthat, frst and oremost, he was Baron de Glenomallun, his other titles o

secondary importance.138

134 Ibid.135 Calendar o the State Papers Relating to Ireland, o the reign o Charles I, 16331647, (London,

1901), p. 18. In a petition by Albert Baron Gleanomalun in 1640, the only surviving son oSir Dermot, it was stated that Sir Dermot was active in sending intelligence about Englandand Ireland to King Phillip III o Spain in the 1610s, and that he caused many men to comerom Ireland to these States; and upon dierent occasions he drew others o his nation ingreat numbers rom Holland, by command o the Lady Inanta. Brendan Jennings (ed) WildGeese in Spanish Flanders 15821700, p.313.

136 Calendar o the State Papers Relating to Ireland, o the reign o Charles I, 16331647, pp 18, 5960. Wentworth summoned a Parliament in 1633 which lasted until 1635. Initially the Catholicinterest was placated with the promises o Graces or concessions, but difculty arose whenthe conditions o the Graces were changed and Parliament passed an act establishing aCommission or Deective Title under which each land grant made in the previous sixtyyears was to be examined. Edmund Curtis, A History o Ireland, pp.240241.

137 See the claim o Sir Dermod OMalun, baron o Gleanomalun, to sit in Irish parliamentand the reerence therein which stated: he would i his health did permit (The NationalArchives, Kew, SP 7/25, 295, 296). Amongst the published papers o the Earl o Straordis a list o the delegates o the 1634 Irish Parliament and that Lord o Glean Molune andCuerchy was noted as absent. William Knowler, The Earl o Straordes Letters and Dispatches,with an Essay towards his Lie by Sir George Radclie: From the Originals in the Possession o

his Great Grandson the Right Honourable Thomas Earl o Malton, Knight o the Bath, Vol.1.,William Bowyer printer (London, 1739) p. 283. As early as 1614 Sir Dermot was described asinfrm and in danger o death on account o his advanced age. Brendan Jennings (ed.) WildGeese in Spanish Flanders 15821700, p. 143.

138 Grinne Henry, The Irish Military Community in Spanish Flanders, 15861621, p.86. Sir


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The correspondence o Sir Dermot O Mallun to Sir Barnaby OBrienpresented here consist o our documents: a letter rom Sir Dermotto Sir Barnaby concerning his proposal to purchase the lands; a copyo the original 1606 conveyance between the co-heirs o the U Mhaol

Dhomhnaigh sept and Donough OBrien, ourth earl o Thomond, trans-erring hal o the thirteenth quarters o land to the earl; Sir Barnabysreusal letter; and an indenture by co-heirs o the U Mhaol Dhomhnaighsept conveying their title o Gleanomalun to Sir Dermot.

Sir Dermots letter to Sir Barnaby (PHA Ms C6/4) states his inten-tion to purchase the our quarters o Gleanomalun and two quarterso Clonada in Killaloe parish which were conveyed by the U MhaolDhomhnaigh co-heirs in 1606 to the earl whose interests descended tothe earls son Sir Barnaby. Sir Dermot, recalling the 1606 agreement,

makes a point in stating that whilst his U Mhaol Dhomhnaigh kinsmenconveyed hal o the lands without my consent as chie and supreme otheir sept in Gleanomalun to Barnabys ather on 23 September 1606,that subsequently in 1631 (see a drat o the transer in PHA Ms C13/34a)they consented to transer their interest in the remaining moiety to SirDermot. According to Sir Dermot his U Mhaol Dhomhnaigh kinsmendisavowed the 1606 agreement on account o the earls sinister counselo his honours ofcers and had reneged on the agreement to allow theportion o lands occupied by the U Mhaol Dhomhnaigh sept to remain

rent ree. It was alleged that the earl begun charging rent on those quartersater the frst six years. Sir Dermot, signing himsel as Gleanomalun andCuerchy, also reers to his desire or the purchase o the lands in that hedesire[d] only to have possession since I have my creation in the same andnot any beneft I ever expect or me or my only son. Clearly, Sir Dermotselevation to the title Glenomalun made him conscious o securing land tohis otherwise landless peerage.

The 1606 indenture between the U Mhaol Dhomhnaigh co-heirs andDonough OBrien, ourth earl o Thomond,139 stands out amongst surviv-

ing petitions lodged at Petworth on account o its subtle reerence to Gaelicsocial structures. For example, the indenture was signed by three leadingmembers o the U Mhaol Dhomhnaigh sept who conveyed their inter-ests and title in hal o the thirteen quarters to the earl and his heirs. Thedivision o the title to the land between the U Mhaol Dhomhnaigh septand the earl was to be recorded by Connor Brodyn otherwise McBrodye

Dermots only surviving heir was Albert, baron Gleanomalun, who was recorded as in

London in 1641, passing through on his way to Spain where he was waylaid on account o along illness and wished to return to Flanders and serve in the army. This is the last reerenceto Albert amongst the documents relating to the Irish regiments in the Flanders. BrendanJennings (ed) Wild Geese in Spanish Flanders 15821700, pp 330331.

139 (PHA Ms C.13/34a).


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and Teig McBrodyn,140 members o the celebrated Mac Bruaideadhalearned amily, court poets to the earl. 141

The employment o learned Gaelic literati speaks volumes about thesocial context that the earl operated in during the frst decade o the sev-

enteenth century; the old Gaelic order, while in decline, still constitutedthe cultural milieu that even an anglicised Gaelic magnate such as the earlrecognised. The 1606 indenture also stipulated that in the event o thelands occupied by the U Mhaol Dhomhnaigh being oered in mortgageor any other conveyance, they are to be frst oered to the earl. In likemanner, i any o the Malowns shall die without lawul issue and heirsthen all their possessions, lands, tenementsremain to the said Earl andhis heirs. The U Mhaol Dhomhnaigh sept agreed to the same chargeslevied on their hal o the land as that o the earl. The indenture set down

the sum o 200 sterling or the conveyed lands.Sir Barnaby reused the oer to transact the lands o Gleanomalunand Clonada in Killaloe parish.142 His gave as his principal reason thatthe lands were conveyed [to] me by my ather and orsoever the Malownescomplained to your lord. Sir Barnaby made the point that his ather diddeal nobly in what he undertook and that he loathed to part rom anythinghis ather, the ourth earl, had let him and hence was orborne to set anyprice on the lands. Sir Barnaby was conscious that Sir Dermot wanted theplough land as having relation to [his] barony and curiously acknowledges

that the Protestant Bishop o Killaloe coveted the lands also, presumablyas they eatured as temporal lands o the bishopric.143

The last document is a copy o the agreement drawn up or the purposeo Sir Dermot being conveyed the remaining lands o the U MhaolDhomhnaigh sept in his capacity as chie and supreme o [the] sept.144The signatories to the deed were the co-heirs o the sept 145 (agnatic kin-

140 Teig McBrodyn eatured in a land transaction also in 1606, in which he was eneoed byleading members o the Mac Mathghamhna lineage on 3 quarters o land in Clonderalaw.His residence was given as Corkanalabuna (Knockanalban) in Kilmurry Ibrickan parish.John Ainsworth (ed), The Inchiquin Manuscripts, p. 303. On the Mac Bruaideadha literaryactivities see Bernadette Cunningham, The historical annals o Maolin g Mac Bruaideadha,15881603 in The Other Clare, xiii (1989), pp 2124.

141 Brian Cuv, An elegy on Donnchadh Briain, ourth earl o Thomond in Celtica, xvi(1984), pp 87105.

142 See his letter, PHA Ms C.6/4143 Rev. Philip Dwyer, The Diocese o Killaloe rom the Reormation to the Eighteenth Century,

p. 137. Gleanomalun was recorded as temporal land belonging to the Bishopric o Killaloethat were detained by secular patrons in 1622. In Killaloe parish the lands included:Glanamuntermalone, Finleh, Ballinreehy or Balliduy, Craiglegh, Balliteig, Clonadda,Lickinbana. The Earl o Thomond was recorded as the detainer o Glanamuntermalone.

144 (PHA Ms C13/34a).145 This reerence implies partible inheritance (Irish gavelkind) operating amongst Gaelic

reeholders in Co. Clare during the sixteenth century. On a discussion o partible inheritancein Thomond see Kenneth W. Nicholls, Land, Law and Society in Sixteenth Century Ireland,(Dublin, 1976), pp 326, p. 18. Other Gaelic land practices such as redemption were practiced


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group, derbhne) who repudiated the 1606 agreement with the ourth earlo Thomond on the basis that no conditions o the said deed was everobserved by the said Earl or Sir Barnaby being his said son. These remarksechoed Sir Dermots initial letter to Sir Barnaby which complained o

sinister counsel undermining the Earls agreement with the U MhaolDhomhnaigh sept as akin to strangers without any observations o theconditions o the indenture.146

This indenture rom 1631 must have been procured prior to SirDermots resolve to transact with Sir Barnaby or the our quarters oGleanomalun in Killaloe parish, commensurate with his creation asBaron o Gleanomalun. The indenture contains reerences to Gaelictoponymy such as Garanboy, Balecorney and Clonada, all denomi-nations in Killaloe parish that can be identifed in subsequent records. 147

The nomenclature o Gaelic names such as Owny mcloughlen O malun(Uaithne mac Lochlainn Maol Domhnaigh) is worth noting, not leastbecause o the resonance o kinship and patrilineal identity in a societywhere descent conerred legitimacy, proprietorship and patronage.

Concluding remarksThe petitions presented here oer a glimpse into the working administra-tion o the estates o the ourth and fth earls o Thomond. Fascinatingmiscellanea can be pointed to, such as the role o members o the learned

Gaelic amilies in arbitrating land agreements and acting as notariesand witnesses. In this vein we read the role Muiris Maolchonaire hadin drawing up land conveyances or Donough OBrien, ourth earl oThomond, beore he himsel was subject to an exchange o lands that hisson later sought recompense or. That Muiris served as the earls secretaryhighlights the anomalous relationship between the anglicising earl and hisretention o members o the native literati such as the Mac Bruaideadhapoets who composed a elegy on his death in 1624.148 A comprehensivestudy o the lie o Donough OBrien that accounts or his almost schiz-

ophrenic embrace o New-English and Dutch Protestant settlers intoThomond alongside his employment o native literati and traditional Gaelicsymbols o authority, is yet to be written.149

in Co. Clare into the seventeenth century. On the latter point see the redemption o land onMayday in the 1614 deed in Irish concerning the Mac Mathghamhna amily o Clonderalawin Co Clare in Gearid Mac Niocaill, Seven Irish Documents rom the Inchiquin Archivesin Analecta Hibernica, xxvi (Dublin), pp 4769 p. 59.

146 (PHA Ms C6/4) [1 June 1631].147 See. R. Simington, Books o Survey and Distribution, Killaloe parish.

148 Brian Cuv, An elegy on Donnchadh Briain, ourth earl o Thomond. On theMac Bruaideadha see Risn McLaughlin, A threat o satire by Tadhg (Mac Dire)Mac Bruaideadha in riu, lv (2005), pp 3757.

149 A glance at the 1624 will o the ourth earl o Thomond shows that h

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