¶1] A wondrous family indeed sprang from O Domhnaill (Aodh, son of Manus, son of Aodh Óg, son of Aodh Ruadh, son of Niall Garbh, son of Turloch of the Wine etc.) Inynne Dubh, daughter of James, son of Alexander, son of Eoin Cathanach Mac Domhnaill, of the race of Colla Uais, son of Eochaidh Doimhlean, was wife of O Domhnaill, and she was the mother of those of his children who were illustrious. The names of their male children in the order of birth are Aodh Ruadh, Rury, Manus, and Caffar.
¶2] As for the first son of these, Aodh Ruadh, immediately after his birth he was given to be reared and maintained to the noble free families of Cenél Conall Gulban, son of Niall, and it was not these alone that got him to foster and rear, but others of Cenél Eóghain, son of Niall, took him, for they were sure that some good would come of him if he reached manhood. Thereafter he grew and throve in shape and comeliness, sense and eloquence, wisdom and understanding, size and fitness, so that his name and fame spread throughout the five provinces of Éire among the English and the Irish, even before he passed the age of boyhood and completed his fifteenth year. Moreover, the fame and renown of the youth were reported to the foreigners of Dublin, and they reflected in their minds that there would not be one like him of the Irish to avenge his wrongs and punish the plundering of his race if he was allowed to reach manhood. It was told them too that prophets and people with foreknowledge and predictors of futurity had announced that there would come one like him who would cause disturbance among them and in the island of Éire also, Colum Cille, son of Feilimid, the famous holy prophet of the
- The man of high renown shall come
he shall bring weeping and woe in every land.
He shall be the godly prince
and he shall be king for nine years.
Some say it was Cáillín of Fenagh who made the prophecy, [in margin.]
¶3] Moreover, these same English were afraid that he and the Earl O Néill, i.e. Aodh, son of Feardorcha, son of Conn Bacach, son of Conn, would join in alliance and friendship with each other against them, for the Earl was a true follower of his parents for a long time; besides, O Domhnaill's daughter, named Joan, the sister of Aodh Ruadh, of whom we have made mention, was the Earl O Néill's spouse and wife. The O Néill, who was inaugurated chief of the Cenél Eóghain some time before, and who had the title then, i.e. Turloch Luineach, son of Niall Conallach, son of Art, son of Conn, son of Enri, son of Eóghan, was submissive to the English at that time, and he was not able to govern his principality owing to his weakness and infirmity, and he was ever accusing and complaining of the Earl O Néill to the Lord Justice and the Council through fear of being deposed by him, since he was in the flood of his prosperity and (in the prime) of life then, and he was a shield of protection and defence to his kindred. Wherefore the English of Dublin conceived suspicion and an evil opinion of him (though he was obedient to them up to that) on account of this friendship of his with Cenél Conaill, and they reflected that the capture of Aodh Ruadh would enable them to extend and secure their sway over the Cenél Conaill and the Cenél Eóghain, though he was but a mere youth at the time. Wherefore, for the aforesaid reasons these same English planned his imprisonment before he should succeed in effecting what they feared would come about by his means.
¶4] That capture took place in this way. A vessel was fitted
¶5] As for the ship of which we spoke in the beginning, after she made the harbour opposite Rathmullen as we have said, her sails were furled and her anchors were dropped to secure her close to the landing place. Some of her crew went ashore after a while in the guise of merchants under pretence of peace and amity, and they set to espy and pry about, to traffic and bargain with every one who met them, and gave out that they had wine and beer on the ship. When the people of the castle heard this they made no delay, but set off to purchase both the wine and the strong ale and to drink
¶6] When Domhnall Mac Suibhne, the owner of the castle, learned that the butlers had been refused the wine he was ashamed thereat. Wherefore the plan which his ill luck suggested to him was to invite his lord Aodh O Domhnaill to the ship. It was easy to lead him astray then for there was not one of his wise counsellors, of his preceptors, or of his learned men in his company to direct him or to give him advice, and he was not yet fifteen years of age, and he had not then acquired wisdom and sagacity. It was the same with the thoughtless forward persons who were with him, though they were older in years. The inexperienced party having taken their resolution, they launched a small boat that happened to lie on the edge of the shore, and rowed to the big ship till they were alongside. When the people who were on the ship saw that Aodh was among them, they bade them welcome, yet they allowed only a few persons aboard, as they had promised, along with Aodh Ruadh and Mac Suibhne, etc. They were served and feasted with a variety of food and drink till they were merry and cheerful. While they were enjoying themselves drinking, their arms were taken from them and the door of the hatch-way was made fast behind them, and they were put into a well-secured cabin where they were not able to use
¶7] As for the ship of which we have spoken and her crew, when they had finished the business for which they had come, and taken with them the most desirable of the hostages and pledges of the country, they swung back with the current of the tide until they reached the ocean. They sailed after that with the strength of the north-west wind along the shore of Ireland south-eastwards back by the way they had already come, till they landed in the harbour of Dublin again. It became known immediately throughout the whole city and to the Lord Deputy and the Council especially that they had come after this manner, and that Aodh O Domhnaill was in their custody. They were glad of his coming, and it was not at all through love of him, and they summoned him to them without delay that he might be face to face with them, and they proceeded to converse with him and ask information of him, and in a special way they observed and searched into his natural qualities. In the end, however, they ordered him to be put in a strong stone castle where the noble descendants of the sons of Milesius were in chains and captivity expecting death and doom, together with some of the nobles of the Fingallians who had come to the island long before and had entered into amity and friendship with the Irish against the English, who came last from the
¶8] As for Aodh O Domhnaill, he was, just like the rest, a captive for the space of three years and three months, hearing of the ignoble bondage in which the Irish were. It was anguish and sickness of mind and great pain to him to be as he was, and it was not on his own account but because of the unfortunate straits in which his friends and kinsmen, his chieftains and leaders, his clerics and holy ecclesiastics, his poets and learned men, his subjects and whole people were, owing to their expulsion and banishment to other territories throughout Éire. He was always meditating and searching how to find a way of escape. This was no easy thing for him, for he was put each night into a well-secured apartment in the castle for security until the morning of the next day came. That castle was situated thus. There was a broad deep trench full of water all round it and a solid bridge of boards over it opposite the door of the castle, and a grim-visaged party of the English outside and inside the gate to guard it, so that no one should pass them, in or out without permission from the foreign warders. However, there is no watch of which advantage may not be taken at last. One time, just at the end of winter, when Aodh was with a number of his companions, in the very beginning of the night, before they were put into the well-secured cells in which they used to be every night, they succeeded in bringing a very long rope to the window in front of them, and they let themselves down by the ropes until they alighted on the bridge outside the door of the castle. There was a very strong iron ring on the door to draw it out to oneself when desirable. They put a bar of solid wood a fist thick through the ring, so that no one should
¶9] His flight was not a cloak before a shower for Aodh O Domhnaill, for he could not go on with his companions from whence he was, because his white-skinned, tender feet were severely wounded and pierced by the furze and thick briars, and the roughness and intricacy of the mountain over which he had come, as his shoes had fallen off his feet owing to the loosening of the seams and ties from the wet which they had not met with up to that time. It was a great sorrow and affliction to his companions that they had not him with them farther, and as they could do nothing for him, they took leave of him and left him their blessing. Wherefore he resolved after a while, when he was left with a small party, to send one of his people to a certain nobleman of the free-born tribes of the province of Leinster, who happened to be in a castle in the neighbourhood, to see if he could obtain refuge or protection from him; Feilim O Tuathail was his name. He was a friend of Aodh before this time (as he thought) for he had once gone to visit him when he was in prison in Dublin, and they formed a friendship with each other, whenever either of them should seek the other's aid, so that it was fitting he should go for protection to Feilim on account of that friendship which they had contracted. The messenger went off to the place where Feilim was and told him the business on which he had come. He was rejoiced at his coming, and promised to aid Aodh in every thing which would be best for their protection. However, neither his friends nor his relatives allowed him to conceal or hide him through fear of the power of the English revenging it on him. It became known to them afterwards that he was in the wood, as we have said, and every one who heard it went to look for him, and they set off with their followers on his track. As it was certain to Feilim and to his relatives that any one else might find him, they resolved to take him themselves and bring him back to the city to the Council. That was done. When he came to Dublin the Council were delighted thereat, and they made little or no account of all the hostages and pledges who escaped from them, and they were thankful for the good fortune which restored
¶10] He was in this way in the same prison throughout the year to the following January to Twelfth Night in the year 1592. When it seemed to the Son of the Virgin full time that he should escape, he and some of his companions took advantage of the guards in the very beginning of the night before they were taken to the refectory, and they took off their fetters. They went after that to the privy, having a long rope, and they let themselves down by means of the rope through the privy till they came to the deep trench which was around the castle. After that they climbed to the opposite bank, till they were on the edge of the trench at the other side. The hostages who escaped with Aodh were Enri and Art, the two sons of Seáan, son of Conn Bacach, son of Conn, son of Enri, son of Eóghan. There was a certain faithful servant who visited them in the castle as a horseboy, to whom they imparted their secret, so that he met them face to face when they wanted him to be their guide. They went off after that through the crowded
¶11] The hurried journey, strange and unusual, was more severe on Art than on Aodh, and his gait was feeble and slow, for he was corpulent, thick-thighed, and he had been a long time closely confined in the prison. It was not so with Aodh, for he had not passed the period of boyhood, and he had not ceased to grow and develop that time, and he was active and light on that account, and his gait was quick and nimble. When he perceived Art growing weak and his step heavy, what he did to him was to place one hand of his on his own shoulder and the other hand on the shoulder of the servant. They went on in this way across the upper part of the plain of the mountain. They were tired and weary after that, and they could not bring Art further with them, and as they could not, they went under the shelter of a lofty cliff in the high moorland which was in front of them. After stopping there they sent their servant away with the news to Glenmalure, the place where Fiach Mac Aodha
¶12] Thereupon Fiach selected a party of his people, of those trusted by him, and he bade them go with the servant to the youths. They rose up at once as they were ordered, and went off with one having food and another ale and beer, until they came to the mountain, the place where the men had been left. Alas! truly the heroes who had come to seek for them did not find the state and position of these nobles happy or comfortable. They had neither cloaks nor plaids, nor clothing for protection on their bodies, to save them from the cold and frost of the sharp winter season, but the bed-clothes about their fair skins and the pillows under their heads were high white-bordered beds of frozen hail congealing all round them, and attaching their light tunics and threadbare shirts to their bodies, and their long shoes and their fastenings to their legs and feet, so that they seemed to the men that had come not to be human beings at all, but sods of earth of like size covered up by the snow, because they did not perceive motion in their limbs, no more than if they were dead, and they were nearly so. Wherefore the heroes raised them from where they lay and bade them take
¶13] As to Aodh O Domhnaill, after they had gone away from him he was left with only the one youth, i.e. Turloch Buidhe O Hagan, who had gone in search of him to the famous valley. He was one of Aodh O Néill's own people, and he spoke the language of the foreigners, and knew them and was acquainted with them, for he was in attendance on the Earl O Néill whenever he came on business to the city of Dublin. Aodh O Néill had many friends too among the English themselves, for he gave them large presents and stipends of gold and silver for supporting him and speaking on his behalf in the Council. For these reasons the young man was bold and was not afraid to go by the usual roads of the English. Aodh O Domhnaill and he went away after that on two fine fleet horses by the straight-lined roads and the muddy ways of ancient Meath, so that they were on the bank of the Boyne before morning, a short distance to the west of Inver Colpa. A fine city had been built by the foreigners some time before at Inver Colpa on the river and a bridge over it moreover. Drogheda was the name given to that town, and the usual road for the English and the Irish to take was through the town. But yet fear did not allow them to go through it, so that what they did was to go to the bank of the river of which we have spoken, where there was a poor miserable fisherman who had a small ferryboat for transport. They went into the curach, and the ferryman left them on the opposite bank after generous payment was given him. His mind was happy on account of the sum of money he had received, and was greatly surprised, for he had never received a like amount before from any person to whom he had given his curach. The same man went with the horses through the city and he gave them up to them at the other side of the river.
¶14] They mounted on their horses and proceeded after that on their journey until they were two miles from the river. They saw a bushy, dense grove in front of them on the road
¶15] As they thought this place where they were was very secure they remained there till the night of the next day. They set out after that on their own horses in the dark at the beginning of the night over Sliav Breagh and through Machaire Conaill until they came to Traigh Baile mic Buain before morning. A city was built here on the edge of the shore by the foreign race of whom we have spoken, between Dun Dalgan and the sea. As the gates of the town were open in the early morning they resolved to go through it without halt or delay. They went on their way after that on horseback without being noticed, and so they passed through the town and no one recognised them until they were on the other side. The reason why it was necessary for them to go through the city rather than by another road was because there were watches and ambuscades set by the English on the boundary in every remarkable pass on each path and each road by which they thought Aodh O Domhnaill would come to them, as there were on the river Liffey, and they thought that fear would not allow him to go through the city at all. When they had gone through the streets of the city, they were glad and delighted at having escaped from every danger which was before them, for they feared nothing when they had come to that place, since the country to the north of the city was under the sway of Aodh O Néill. They went on to Fiodh Mór that night to get rid of their fatigue, and they were safe while there though they were very close to the English. Turloch
¶16] As for Aodh O Domhnaill, after getting rid of the fatigue of his journey and hardship in the castle for the space of four days and four nights, he prepared to depart and he took leave of Aodh O Néill and gave him his blessing. A troop of horsemen went with him to protect him from robbers and kernes until he came to the district of Loch Erne. The lord of that territory, called Aodh Maguidhir, was his friend and a relative by the mother's side. He was rejoiced at his coming, and he proceeded to entertain him splendidly. A vessel was brought to him well built, black-polished and he went into it and took his leave of Maguidhir. They rowed away then as far as the narrow neck which was at the loch of which we have already spoken, the place whence issues the famous river abounding in salmon which is called the Erne. That territory was part of his own patrimony. Some of his own loyal and faithful people came and they brought fine fleet horses to meet him there, and from that they went to Bellashanny. There was a very strongly fortified castle on the bank of the ford, built formerly by the ancestor of Aodh (Niall Garbh, son of Turloch of the Wine, in the year 1423). The castle was a noble dwelling and a princely residence of his family, and of his father especially, for he was the chief of the territory then. He had left some of his own
¶17] He rested there for the present until the country assembled (every one who was in his neighbourhood) where he was. This, indeed, was not easy, for the country was in the course of being plundered and robbed by the English and by the Irish, and there had sprung up fierce disputes and discords among themselves, so that they were not submissive to their prince as they should be, for he was an aged man then, and he was not able to unite his people or to secure their hostages or pledges since he (Aodh) had been captured, and moreover age lay heavy on him before he was still old. When the English of Dublin saw the territory in this condition they gave order to the troops which were away in the province of Connacht that a certain number of them should go to Tír Conaiill. The captains of the people who were appointed to go there were Captain Willis and Captain Conell. They marched away with two hundred soldiers over the Duff, the Drowes, and Assaroe, and they did not stop on their way till they came to Donegal on the shore of the Esk. O Domhnaill was in the town with a small body of troops and they could not harm him. There was a fair monastery with a conical-capped tower near the castle to the west on the edge of the strand and it was O Domhnaill who had given it to the Order of St. Francis long before, in the year 1474. Its religious and servants of God had gone away at that time to fly from and avoid the English. The English dwelt in the monastery, and they made booths and tents of the holy retired dwellings and of the cells of jointed boards of the servants of God and sons of life. They made subject to them the part of the country from Bearnas Mór to Loch Erne and to the Glen of Colum Cille son of Feilimid, and it was necessary to give pledges and hostages to them, for the Irish had great terror and dread at that time of the English troops and of the soldiers of London (though they had only a few of them) on account of the strangeness of their weapons and appearance and the novelty of their armour and speech
¶18] When the English learned the report of which we have spoken, it was then told to them that the Ruadh who had escaped was come to the country, a quaking fear and great terror seized on them, and they resolved in consequence to leave the country if they could, and better for them had they never come into it. As for Aodh O Domhnaill, he summoned the country to him, and he did not wait for them then (because he heard of the spoiling and profanation of the monastery), but he came to Donegal face to face with the English. However, the country did not keep him long without coming to his call (such as were friendly to him) in companies and in bands as speedily as they
¶19] As for Aodh O Domhnaill, he returned to Ballyshannon again and remained there and physicians were brought to him to examine his feet, but they could not cure him until his two great toes were cut off in the end, and he was not quite recovered for a whole year. However, he did not omit during that time to do whatever was necessary to unite the people, to reform and slay thieves, and to avenge his wrongs on his enemies. He was on his sick-bed, as we have said, from February to April. When he saw the great cold of the spring season departing and the summer weather approaching, it seemed to him a long time to be on his sick-bed without leaving the place where he was, for his physicians did not permit him, and what he did, contrary to their prohibition, was to send messengers to the Cenél Conaill (to such of them as were obedient to his parents), and to assemble and collect them to the east side of the well-known mountain, i.e. Bearnas Mor of Tir Aodh. He resolved at last to go himself to meet them, and those that were to the west of the mountain which we have mentioned assembled to him.