THE AGE OF CHRIST, 1600. The Age of Christ, one thousand six hundred.
The Earl of Essex (i.e. Robert), of whom we have spoken in the preceding year as having arrived in Ireland in the month of May, and as having gone to England about the first of November, met with a repulsive, reproachful, sharp, and sullen reception from, the Council of England, when he appeared before them. It was objected to him that his service for the Queen, while in Ireland, had been feeble and dastardly, while he wanted nothing which he deemed necessary for war or battle. Another thing, objected to him was, his having come to England on that occasion without the permission of, or taking his leave of, the English or Irish Council. After these were stated to him, and many other accusations were laid to his charge, he was commanded to relinquish every dignity, title, and honour, which he held from the Queen; and the keepers of the hostages and pledges of the court were ordered to detain him in their custody until the Sovereign's anger against him should be appeased.
After this they came to the resolution of sending a different officer to Ireland, with an army, namely, Sir Charles Blunt; Lord Mountjoy, as Lord Justice (for there had not been a Lord Justice in it for two years before that time); and Sir George Cary Carew, as President over the two provinces of Munster. There was a fleet fitted out, in which there was sent a force of upwards of six thousand armed men,with befitting warlike engines,to accompany these officers to Ireland; and all these were to proceed by sea to the province of Ulster in particular. These resolutions were made by the English Council about Patrick's Day.
A gentleman of the house of O'Conor Don (Dermot, the son of Dubhaltach, son of Tuathal) was in command over a large party of Irish soldiers who were in the service of the Earl of Desmond, in Munster, during the last year. This Dermot went, towards the end of the same year, in the beginning of the month of December, on a visit to O'Neill, and received welcome from him. Having finished his visit to his satisfaction, he asked permission of O'Neill to return back in the beginning of January in this year, and proceeded into Munster. O'Neill desired him to mention it in the territories through which he should pass, that he O'Neill himself, with his forces, was marching after him to visit Meath, Leinster, Munster, and the southern side of Ireland, to know which of them were in friendship and which in opposition to him. When Dermot arrived with his force among the Irish confederates of the east of Munster, and told them that O'Neill was on his march to visit them, he proceeded by the shortest ways to go to the Earl of Desmond; and he directed his course by Uaithne and Clanwilliam, on the borders of the Shannon.
When the Baron of Castleconnell (Richard, the son of Theobald, son of William, son of Edmond Burke) heard of Dermot's arrival there, he and his
A hosting was made by O'Neill (Hugh, the son of Ferdorcha, son of Con Bacagh) in the month of January in this year, and he proceeded to the south of Ireland, to confirm his friendship with his allies in the war, and to wreak his vengeance upon his enemies. When O'Neill left the province of Ulster, he passed along the borders of Meath and Breifny, and through Delvin-More, and did great injuries throughout the territory, and continued to waste it, until the Baron of Delvin (Christopher, the son of Richard, son of Christopher) came and submitted to O'Neill on his terms. He also totally spoiled Machaire-Cuircne, and all the possessions of Theobald Dillon. O'Neill afterwards marched to the gates of Athlone, and along the southern side of Clann-Colman, and through Kinel-Fiachach, into Fircall. In this country he remained encamped nine nights; and the people of Fircall, of Upper Leinster, and Westmeath, made full submission to him, and formed a league of friendship with him.
On leaving this country, O'Neill passed over the upper part of Slieve Bloom westwards, and sent forth three parties in one day to ravage Ely, because of the enmity he bore O'Carroll, Lord of Ely, i.e. Calvagh, the son of William Odhar, son of Ferganainm, and in revenge of the base murder and intolerable massacre which he had committed upon the gentlemen of the Mac Mahons of
After this O'Neill moved onwards to the borders of Bealach-mor-Muighe-dala, to Roscrea, to Ikerrin, and to Corco-Teineadh, from one encampment to another, until he arrived at the gate of the monastery of the Holy Cross. They had not been long here when the Holy Cross was brought out to shelter and to protect them; and the Irish presented great gifts, alms, and many offerings, to its keepers and the monks, in honour of the Lord of the Elements. They gave protection to the monastery and steward in respect to its houses and glebe-lands, and to all its inhabitants.
O'Neill remained for some time in the month of February on the borders of Southern Ely, also in the west of the country of the Butlers, in Cois-Siuire, and in Kilnamanagh.
The Earl of Ormond, i.e. Thomas, the son of James, son of Pierce Butler; the Earl of Kildare, i.e. Garret, the son of Edward, son of Garret; and the Baron of Delvin, i.e. Christopher, the son of Richard, son of Christopher, with all those who were in the service of, or in obedience to the Queen, from thence to Dublin, threatened every night to attack and assault O'Neill; but, though they meditated doing so, they did not accomplish it.
O'Neill afterwards proceeded to the gates of Cashel, and there came to him to that place the Earl of Desmond, who had been previously appointed by his own command, and on his authority, contrary to the statute of the Sovereign, James the son of Thomas Roe, son of James, son of John, and they were rejoiced to see each other. They afterwards proceeded westwards, across the
Maguire, i.e. Hugh, the son of Cuconnaught, was along with O'Neill at this time. One day in the month of March of this year, a short time before the festival of St. Patrick, he sent out a troop of cavalry, and another of infantry, to scour the districts in the neighbourhood of the camp; and he did not halt till he arrived at the gates of Kinsale, and from thence he went to Rinn-Corrain, the castle of Barry Oge, in Cinel-Aedha. He afterwards returned back with preys and spoils, with a deal of accoutrements and flesh meat. As Maguire's people were fatigued at the end of the day, after a long journey, on account of the vastness of their plunders and spoils, they halted and encamped at the nearest convenient place, to protect their preys and spoils; but Maguire set out, resolved to make no stay or delay until he should arrive at O'Neill's camp. When Maguire had left the camp in the morning of that day, a message was sent to Cork to Sir Warham Salender, deputy of the Governor of the two provinces of Munster, acquainting him that Maguire had gone forth from the camp with a small force, as indeed he had, and mentioning the direction in which he had passed. Sir Warham did not neglect this thing, but immediately assembled a body of vigorous, well-armed, mail-clad horsemen, and marched with them from Cork to a narrow defile, by which he was sure Maguire would pass on his return back. He had not been long in this ambush when he saw
Some assert that O'Neill would not have returned from Munster until the May following, had it not been for the death of Maguire. He proceeded to the south-east of Cork, and through the country of Barry More, Roche's country, and Clann-Gibbon. He then took his leave of the Munstermen, promising them that, if he could seize an opportunity during this war waged upon him by the English, he would return again to settle their disputes, confirm their covenants, and establish peace among them. He took with him to Tyrone some of their chieftains, as hostages and prisoners, and left others of them in the hands of the Earl of Desmond, and of Redmond, the son of John Burke. He transferred his own authority, and gave a warranty for the hiring of two thousand men, to Dermot O'Conor and the sons of John Burke, in the country of the Geraldines, in order that the Earl of Desmond might have their assistance. O'Neill then passed on through the direct roads by Cliadh-Mail-mhic-Ugaine, and by the Suir, keeping Cashel to the right; and although the Lord Justice and the President had a great army, by land and sea, having landed in Dublin in the first days of March, and the Earls of Thomond and Ormond were at Limerick, awaiting his return from the south, he passed by them on his return by the same roads through which he had gone to Munster, until he got back to Tyrone, without receiving battle, opposition, or attack, upon any road or pass, and without losing any person of note, except Maguire alone, as we have before stated.
The Earl of Ormond and the Earl of Thomond set out from Limerick along the Suir, in pursuit of O'Neill; but he having passed them without receiving battle or encounter, the Earl of Thomond burned corn and dwellings in Clann-Gibbon, the country of the White Knight. These two Earls then proceeded to the country of the Butlers, and to Kilkenny, where they passed Easter; and after the Easter holidays, they repaired to Dublin, to welcome and pay their respects to the new officers who had come to Ireland, namely, Lord Mountjoy,
It was not long after this when a day of meeting was appointed between the Earl of Ormond and Owny, the son of Rury Oge O'Moreach, to have an equal number of men in arms and armour, to hold a conference; and the Earl of Ormond brought the President and the Earl of Thomond to be present, at his own side, at that conference. When they arrived at the appointed place, which was in the neighbourhood of Bel-atha-Raghat, they began to state their mutual covenants, and to argue their claims on each other, until a gentleman
The week after the taking of the Earl, the President and the Earl of Thomond went from Kilkenny to Waterford, from thence to Youghal, and from Youghal to Cork. When the Earl of Desmond and Fineen, the son of Donough Mac Carthy, heard of their arrival at that place, they set out with all their forces; and, pitching an extensive camp of tents, they formed a wide circle on every side of Cork, north and south. Thus they remained for a whole fortnight, when Fineen Mac Carthy and the President concluded an armistice for a month. The armistice being agreed on, the Earl of Desmond went forth through the country to procure provisions for his retained soldiers. When the President and the Earl of Thomond learned that their adversaries had parted from each other, and that the road from Cork to Limerick was left open to them, they went forth with two or three hundred horsemen, and with one or two thousand soldiers, from Cork to Magh-Ealla, from thence to Kilmallock, and from thence
At this time it was that a private interview had taken place between the President and the Earl of Thomond, on the one side, and Dermot, the son of Dubhaltach O'Conor, on the other. He was one who had been for a year before in the military service of the Earl of Desmond, for hire and wages, jewels and riches, and he had many hireling soldiers under his jurisdiction and command at this time. The resolution which his misfortune suggested to Dermot was, to deliver up the Earl of Desmond to the President and the Earl of Thomond, in consideration of receiving wealth and property, and the freedom and profits of an estate, for himself and every one who should adhere to him. He sent messengers
As soon as the Geraldines heard of the capture of the Earl, and the perilous position in which he was placed, the descendants of Maurice Fitzgerald collected from every quarter, on a certain day, to the neighbourhood of Caislen-an-Lisin. Thither repaired Mac Maurice of Kerry, i.e. Patrickin, the son of Thomas, son of Edmond; the Knight of Kerry, i.e. William, the son of John, son of William; the Knight of Glin, i.e. Edmond, the son of John, son of Thomas; the White Knight, i.e. Edmond, the son of John; and the brother of the Earl himself, i.e. John, the son of Thomas Roe; and a gentleman of the Burkes, whose name was William, the son of John of the Shamrocks, son of Richard Saxonagh, who had been retained in the service of the Earl since he had been appointed Earl until then. All these having met together, they were not long in consultation when they came to the resolution to divide themselves in four divisions for the four quarters of the castle, and proceed forthwith to attack it, and not to look to the love of body or precious life, until they should rescue the Earl by consent or violence. They then advanced straight forward until they arrived at the walls of the castle; and they felt not the resistance or opposition they received, and they made little account of the numbers of their men who were killed and destroyed, until at last they took the castle from the warders, and rescued the Earl out, in despite of them, without,
This capture of the Earl of Desmond had spread abroad to disrespect and dishonour of Dermot O'Conor; and when the Earl went among his people he gave warning to Dermot, and to every Connaughtman who was with him, and to their kerns, to quit the country. This they immediately did; and they carried with them from the country of the Geraldines much wealth, moveable property, and cattle; and it would be difficult to enumerate all the different kinds of spoils which the Connaughtmen carried off from the Geraldines before and after their contentions with each other on this occasion.
In the beginning of July following, the President and the Earl of Thomond set out from Limerick with a fine muster of soldiers, and marched westwards along the northern side of the Shannon, through the county of Clare, until they arrived at Baile-Mic-Colmain, in the cantred of East Corca-Bhaiscinn; and from this they ferried themselves across the Shannon to Cloch-Gleanna, a castle on the southern bank of the Shannon.
The castle at which this great host had gathered was one of the castles of the Knight of Glin; it is situated in Gleann-Corbraighe, from which it received the name of Cloch-Gleanna, and the Knight the appellation of Ridire-an-Ghleanna. Heavy ordnance were brought in vessels from Limerick to meet the Earl and the President here. Having sat before the castle, they reduced it in two days, and made a breach in it with the heavy ordnance. They then rushed into it from every side, and slew a score or two of gentlemen and plebeians of the Knight's people, who were guarding the castle, together with some women and children. Some of the President's and Earl's men were also slain by the warders; and it would not have been easy to take the castle were it not that the Earl of Desmond's people had previously dispersed from him.
As soon as O'Conor Kerry, i.e. John, the son of Conor, heard that the forces of the country had been thinned, and that the castle of Glin had been taken without difficulty or danger, he repaired to the President and the Earl, and promised thenceforward to be on the side of his Sovereign. He gave up his
As soon as it was generally heard through Kerry and Clanmaurice that the Queen's people had gained this triumph over their enemies, they the inhabitants proceeded to demolish their castles; and, leaving their mansions and residences wide open, they brought their women and families to the rear of their rough-headed hills, and their shady and solitary woods along the River Mang, and in the vicinity of Desmond.
When the President and the Earl (i.e. of Thomond) learned that the greater number of the inhabitants of the country, on each side of the Fial and the Casan, had fled from their habitations, they placed garrisons in the castle of Lixnaw, the residence of Mac Maurice, as also in Carraic-an-phuill, the Rock of Glin, Askeaton, Fianaind, Tralee, Ardfert, and Lis-Cathain, and throughout all the castles of Clanmaurice, excepting Lis-Tuathail. The President and the Earl of Thomond returned to Limerick, having gained the victory on that expedition; and the greater part of the inhabitants of Connello, in the county of Limerick, and of Kerry, came to them, having turned against the Earl of Desmond, and joined their Sovereign.
Mac Maurice of Kerry, i.e. Patrickin, the son of Thomas, son of Edmond, son of Thomas, died in the prime of his life, after having joined the Earl of Desmond in the aforesaid war. It was a cause of lamentation that a man of his personal form, blood, and hospitality, should thus die in his youth. His son, Thomas, assumed his place.
The Roche, i.e. Maurice, the son of David, son of Maurice, son of David, died in the month of June of this year. He was a mild and comely man, learned in the Latin, Irish, and English languages. His son, i.e. David, took his place.
O'Carroll, i.e. Calvagh, the son of William Odhar, son of Ferganainm, son of Mulrony, was killed, in the month of July, by some petty gentlemen of the O'Carrolls and O'Meaghers. This Calvagh was a fierce and protecting man, a strong arm against his English and Irish neighbours, and a knight in title and honour by authority of the Sovereign.
In this summer many conflicts, battles, sanguinary massacres, and bloodsheds, in which countless troops were cut off, took place between the English and Irish of Leinster.
Owny O'More set the Earl of Ormond at liberty in the month of June, having received in his place sixteen hostages, consisting of the eldest sons and heirs of the most honourable gentlemen who were subject to the Earl, as pledges for the fulfilment of every condition and article agreed upon for his liberation.
The same Owny, son of Rury Oge, son of Rury Caech O'More, who had been for some time an illustrious, renowned, and celebrated gentleman, was slain by the Queen's people in an overwhelming and fierce battle which was fought between them on the borders of Leix, in the month of August of this year. His death was a great check to the valour, prowess, and heroism of the Irish of Leinster and of all Ireland. He was, by right, the sole heir to his territory of Leix, and had wrested the government of his patrimony, by the prowess of his hand and the resoluteness of his heart, from the hands of foreigners and adventurers, who had its fee-simple possession passing into a prescribed right for some time before, and until he brought it under his own sway and jurisdiction, and under the government of his stewards and bonnaghts, according to the Irish usage; so that there was not one village, from one extremity of his patrimony to the other, which he had not in his possession, except Port-Leix Maryborough alone.
After his strange insurgents had dispersed from the Earl of Desmond, he repaired with his few remaining forces to Castlemaine. None of the Geraldine chieftains now sided with or assisted him, except the son of that Mac Maurice whose death we have recorded, namely, Thomas, the son of Patrickin, the Knight of Glin, and Pierce Oge De Lacy.
A letter came from England to Munster in the month of July recte October of this year, the purport of which was, that the young son of the Earl of Desmond, i.e. James, the son of Garrett, son of James, son of John, who was detained by the Queen as a hostage, in revenge of his father and father's brothers having rebelled against her, had been released from his captivity by the Queen, after he had gone under her mercy, and after he had been kept by her twenty-one years in captivity. It was, moreover, ordered in this letter that it should be proclaimed throughout the assemblies and great towns of Munster that this young, son, i.e. James, the son of Garrett, was going over as an honourable Earl, by the authority of the Sovereign; and that every one in his country who
The daughter of the Earl of Thomond, Honora, the daughter of Conor, son of Donough O'Brien, and wife of the Mac Maurice we have mentioned, died from the plundering and insurrection of her husband, and came to her native territory under the protection of the President and the Earl of Thomond, and afterwards died at Dangan-Mac-Mahon, and was buried in the monastery of Ennis.
The Chief Constable of the Geraldines, i.e. Rory, the son of Manus, son of Edmond Mac Sheehy, died.
Dermot, the son of Dubhaltach, son of Tuathal O'Conor, on leaving the Geraldines, after the Earl of Desmond (James, the son of Thomas), whom he had taken prisoner, had been forcibly rescued from him, proceeded to Cluainte, in the country of O'Conor Roe. He had obtained a protection from the Lord Justice (who was doing the Queen's service in Leinster and Ulster in the autumn of this year), until this young Earl of Desmond, i.e. James, the son of Garrett, of whom we have treated, had arrived in Ireland. On his arrival he sent for Dermot, for Dermot had married a sister of this Earl while on his military sojourn in the country of the Geraldines the year before; and it is said by some that it was through her the capture of James, the son of Thomas, was effected, in order that she might the more easily obtain her own brother, by delivering the other in his stead. As soon as the Earl's letter reached Dermot, he prepared to go, at his invitation, by the permission and protection of the Lord Justice and the President of the two provinces of Munster. But, as he was passing in a north-west direction through the province of Connaught, to cross the Shannon to Limerick, he was pursued by Theobald-na-Long, the son of Richard-an-Iarainn, and by David, the son of Ulick-na-Timchill, through enmity; and they overtook him in the vicinity of Gort-innse-Guaire, and, finding Dermot attended only by a small number of troops, they beheaded him. Though he was found in this condition, these people would not have dared to attack him thus a short time before, for he was a leader of fifteen hundred men, and he himself was a stout champion. But no man can escape death when his last day has arrived.
The Lord of Sliabh-Ardacha, i.e. James, the son of Pierce, son of James Butler, died in the winter of this year.
Redmond Burke, the son of John of the Shamrocks, son of James, son of Richard Saxonagh, was at this time an illustrious and celebrated gentleman, according to the usages of the Irish. He and his brothers, John Oge, William, and Thomas, remained in the two Ormonds, and in Ely, during the summer, autumn, and winter, of this year; and so great and numerous were the troops and forces of these sons of John Burke, that they ravaged and desolated all the adjacent territories and cantreds. They took many castles on this occasion in Ely and Ormond, among which were Suidhe-an-roin, Bel-atha-Dun-Gair, and Cuil-O'nDubhain, in Ely; and Port-a-Tolchain, in Ormond.
After the fall of Owny, the son of Rury Oge O'More, as we have related, Leix was seized by the English; and they proceeded to repair their mansions of lime and stone, and to settle in the old seats of the race of Conall Cearnach, to whom Leix was the hereditary principality, for there was no heir worthy of it like Owny, to defend it against them.
The O'Conors Faly, namely, the descendants of Brian, the son of Cahir, son of Con, son of Calvagh, were for three or four years in the Irish confederation, up to this time. During this period they took and destroyed the most of the castles of Offaly, and, indeed, all, except Dangan and a few others. About Lammas this year the Lord Justice came into their country with many harrows and pracas, with many scythes and sickles, and destroyed and reaped the ripe and unripe crops of the territory; and the consequence of this was, that the inhabitants fled, and remained in exile and banishment in Ulster and other territories until the end of this year.
Donnell Spaineach, the son of Donough; son of Cahir Carragh Kavanagh, made peace with the Lord Justice in autumn. The sons of Fiagh, son of Hugh, son of John O'Byrne, likewise made peace with him. The English fleet, which had been ordered by the Queen and Council of England to be sent, by Patrick's Day, against the province of Ulster, at the time that Lord Mountjoy was appointed Lord Justice over Ireland, as we have said, was being prepared and equipped, without delay or neglect, with all the necessary engines, in England; for it was a great annoyance of mind to the Queen and the Councils there and here that the Kinel-Owen, the Kinel-Connell, and Ulstermen in general, and those who were in alliance with them, had made so long a defence and stand against them; and they also called to mind, and it preyed like a latent disease upon their hearts, all of their people that had been slain and destroyed, and of their wealth that they had expended, in carrying on the Irish war till then, so that they resolved to send this fleet to Ireland; and it arrived in the harbour of Dublin in the month of April of this year. From thence they set out in the very beginning of summer (by advice of the
As for O'Donnell, when he perceived that they were not in the habit of going outside their encampments, through fear and dread, he made no account of them, and assembled his forces, to proceed into the south of Connaught, to plunder the countries that lay on both sides of Sliabh-Echtge, and especially Thomond. He had good reason for this, indeed, for it was these Earls, namely, the Earl of Clanrickard and the Earl of Thomond, who had requested the Lord Justice and the Council to send over this great army, to keep him in his own
When O'Donnell and his forces out of Ulster had joined these Connaughtmen at Ballymote, he marched through Corran, through the middle of Magh-Ai-an-Fhinnbheannaigh, through Clann-Conway, and through the territory of Maine, son of Eochaidh, and the level part of Clanrickard, without giving battle or skirmish, and without killing or losing a man; and he halted and pitched his camp in the west of Clanrickard, in the Oireacht-Redmond, on the evening of Saturday, the Tuesday following being the festival of St. John. On this occasion, notice of his approach was sent into Thomond before him by spies; and they thought that he would not move from the place where he was stopping on Saturday night till daylight on Monday morning. But this is not what he
On the following morning, Monday, O'Donnell set out with his forces from their tents and pavilions, steadily and slowly, without pursuit or hurry; and they proceeded on their way diagonally across Thomond, exactly in a north-easterly direction, through the east of Hy-Cormaic and the level of Kinel-Fearmaic, and through Burren, and arrived before night, with their preys and spoils, at the monastery of Corcomroe, and at Carcair-na-gCleireach. The troops continued scouring and traversing the country around them while daylight
On the following day, Tuesday, O'Donnell and his forces rose up and proceeded through the rocky passes of White Burren, and through the close and narrow road of Carcair, without receiving battle or skirmish, and without being followed or pursued, until they reached the mansions on the smooth plain of Meadhraighe. They remained that night on the hill of Cnoc-an-ghearrain-bhain, between Kilcolgan and Galway. On the following day they divided the spoils and booty among one another at that place; and each party of them were then guiding and closely driving their own lawful portions of the property along the roads of the fair province of Connaught. The journey which they performed on that day was not a long one, for they were weary and fatigued, not having been able to sleep on the night before, through fear of being attacked by the enemies whose country they had plundered. Having now altogether laid aside their apprehensions, they made an encampment for the night before they had gone far. Their servants and attendants proceeded to prepare their dinner, and, having taken food till they were satisfied, they retired to rest until morning, when the army, rising from their slumber, proceeded on their journey. O'Donnell permitted MacWilliam and those who had come from Iar-Connaught to return to their homes. He set out himself in a directly eastern direction, along the common roads, until he arrived, at the end of the day, in Conmaicne-Cuile-Tolaigh, in the very centre of the province, where he remained for that night.
On the next day O'Donnell ordered his people to send away all their cattle-spoils and plunders home to their houses, and to let their servants and the unarmed and wounded go along with them. Among those of their chiefs who were mortally wounded at this time were Teige Oge, the son of Niall, son of Niall Roe, son of Turlough Bearnach O'Boyle; and Duigin, the son of Maccon,
O'Donnell sent a large party of his warriors and soldiers with the preys and people aforesaid, to clear the way for them; and he advised O'Rourke and his people, and the other Connaughtmen in general, to return home. O'Donnell retained five hundred heroes of his choice soldiers, and sixty horsemen, of his own faithful people. They remained in the camp in which they had been the night before until after mid-day. They then proceeded through the province in a south-easterly direction, and arrived, by the twilight of the following morning, at Loughrea. This was the chief residence of the Earl of Clanrickard. They sent out marauding parties in every direction to plunder the country; and these collected all the cattle and herds in their neighbourhood in every direction, and brought them to one place. They came with their preys eastwards across the province, and on Sunday pitched their camp with them near the borders of the province, to the south of the Suck, where they remained until Monday morning. On this day (Monday) they proceeded across Athleague, and through the plain of Nai, son of Allgubha i.e. Machaire-Chonnacht, and in the evening arrived at Seaghais, where they encamped northwards of the river for that night. On the next day they crossed Coirrshliabh-na-Seaghsa, and proceeded through the territory of Corran to Ballymote. The forces then dispersed for their homes with spoils and riches.
The son of O'Neill, namely, Sir Art, the son of Turlough Luineach, son of Niall Conallagh, son of Art, son of Con, went over to assist the English, who were fortified at Dun-na-long, in order to wage war against O'Neill. This Art died among the English.
As for O'Donnell, he remained with his troops, without making any excursion out of Tirconnell, from the time that he returned from the aforesaid expedition in Thomond to the September following. After his soldiers and
When the English perceived that their horses had been taken away from them, they immediately arose, and, taking their arms, set out in pursuit of O'Donnell. The General, Sir Henry Docwra, with his horsemen mounted on their horses (i.e. such of them as retained their horses in secure places, and had not lost them on that occasion), joined in the pursuit as rapidly as they were able. When O'Donnell saw the cavalry of the English in full speed after him, he remained behind his infantry with his troop of cavalry, until the English
O'Donnell remained besieging the English, without moving from his territory, until the end of October, when he began to make preparations to go again into Thomond, to plunder it. After having come to this resolution, he assembled his forces, and made no delay until he came westwards across the Sligo, and to Ballymote. He left Niall Garv, the son of Con, son of Calvagh, son of Manus O'Donnell, behind him in the territory, to defend it against the English, and prevent them from plundering it.
The English now began privately to entreat and implore Niall Garv O'Donnell to join them, offering to confer the chieftainship of the territory upon him, should they prove victorious. They promised him, moreover, many rewards and much wealth, if he would come over to their alliance. He listened for a long time to their offers; and his misfortune at length permitted him to go over to them, by the evil counsel of envious and proud people who were along with him; but for this he was afterwards sorry. His three brothers, namely, Hugh Boy, Donnell, and Con, joined him in this revolt. The English were, no doubt, the better of their going over to them; for they were weary
The guards, as soon as they perceived the English approaching, vacated this fort through dread and fear, because O'Donnell was not near to assist them. The English thereupon entered the fort and raised large mounds and ramparts of earth and stone to shelter them; so that they were sufficiently fortified to hold out against their enemies.
One of O'Donnell's faithful people followed after him with information concerning the state of the country, and told him what had happened in his absence. O'Donnell was much surprised and amazed that his kinsman and brother-in-law had thus turned against him, for Nuala, the sister of O'Donnell, was the wife of Niall. O'Donnell returned from the province of Connaught; for he had not passed westwards beyond Ballymote when the news overtook him, and his forces as quickly as they were able; but no part of his soldiers were able to keep pace with him, except a few of his cavalry, and he arrived in the neighbourhood of Lifford aforesaid. The English had not been able to make preys or depredations before O'Donnell returned back, but were employed strengthening their fortress, and erecting ramparts; and when they heard that O'Donnell had arrived, they were afraid to come out of their fort for anything they wanted.
O'Donnell remained at a place not far from the English, until some of his
The English then proceeded to their houses, and O'Donnell and his people went to their tents; and it was with anger and indignation that O'Donnell returned thither; for it grieved him that his army had not come up with him on that day; for he was certain that, if he had had them with him at that time, the English would not have escaped from him as they had. O'Donnell afterwards, when his army had come up with him, laid a close siege to the English, and pitched his camp within two thousand paces of Lifford above-mentioned, in order to protect his husbandmen, so that they might save the corn crops in the neighbourhood of the English. He sent out spies and scouts every night to reconnoitre the town, and not to permit any one to pass in or out, unless they should pass southwards across the river; and he left no road or passage within one thousand paces of the town upon which he did not post guards and ambuscades, to watch and spy the English, and hinder them from passing out unnoticed, but especially the sons of Con O'Donnell and their people, for these he considered
He remained here for the period of thirty days, during which time the people of the country were enabled to save their corn and carry it away in small baskets and sacks, on steeds and horses, into the fastnesses of the country beyond the reach of their enemies.
On one occasion O'Donnell, before he left this camp, went towards the English, to see if he could induce them to come outside the fortifications on the level plain. When O'Donnell's people had arrived opposite the town, the English began to reconnoitre them; but they did not sally out against them, for they perceived it was to offer defiance and challenge for battle they had come. O'Donnell's people then returned back when they did not obtain what they wanted, and they halted for some time on the brink of a river called Dael, a short distance to the north of the town. Large parties of them went to their tents, and about other business, for they did not think that the English would follow them on that day. When Niall Garv O'Donnell perceived O'Donnell's people scattered and unprepared for action, he told the English that they ought now to attack them. The English at his bidding armed themselves quietly and silently in the centre of their fortifications, in order that their enemies could not see them until they were armed and accoutred. When they were ready they sallied out from their fortifications in battle array, and then, with Niall and his brothers and people in the van, advanced against O'Donnell's people.
O'Donnell saw them advancing, and rejoiced at seeing them coming; and he placed his soldiers in their proper stations fronting them, with their warlike weapons; and he did not permit to shoot at them until they had arrived at the opposite bank of the river. They afterwards met together hand to hand, and a sharp and furious battle was fought between both parties. The two hosts of cavalry rushed to the charge, and began to fight with large spears and greenheaded lances. Niall O'Donnell gave Manus, brother of O'Donnell, a thrust of a sharp, long lance under the shoulder-blade, and, piercing the armour with which he was clad, he buried it in his body, and wounded his internal
As for the English, while the cavalry were battling with each other, they faced O'Donnell's infantry in a body, and drove them a short distance before them; but, however, only a few of them were wounded; for the English did not pursue them from the field of contest, because their leader had been wounded in the conflict; and they were obliged to return with him to Lifford, where he afterwards died. A great number of O'Donnell's people pursued them for a long distance, and continued to shoot at and cut them down with the sword, so that numbers of them were slain and wounded. The pursuers thought that they should have defeated them the enemy if the main host pursued them further; but fear did not permit those who had been repulsed in the beginning to pursue them again.
When the English went away O'Donnell returned to his tents. And dispirited and melancholy were they that night in the camp, on account of the son of their chief, and their Roydamna (if he should survive his brothers),
His father, i.e. Hugh, the son of Manus, son of Hugh Duv, was at this time a very old man, living in a state of dotage near the monastery. He was informed of the death of his son; he was greatly affected; and he was in a decline for some time afterwards. His confessors were always instructing him respecting the welfare of his soul.
This Hugh, the son of Manus, son of Hugh Oge, son of Hugh Roe, son of Niall Garv, died on the 7th of December. He had been Lord of Tirconnell, Inishowen, and Lower Connaught, for twenty-six years, until he was weakened by the English, and bestowed his lordship, with his blessing, on his son, Hugh Roe, after he had escaped from the English. This Hugh, the son of Manus, had attained the lordship after the death of his brother Calvagh, without treachery or fratricide, war or disturbance. He was a valiant and warlike man, and victorious in his fights and battles before and during his chieftainship, and the preyer and plunderer of the territories far and near that were bound
The ships aforementioned put in at the harbour of Teilionn, near Killybegs. All the money and other necessaries that were in them which were sent to the Irish chiefs were brought to them to Donegal, and divided into two parts, of which O'Neill and his confederates in the war received one, and O'Donnell and his allies the other.
Joan, the daughter of Maguire (Cuconnaught, usually styled the Coarb, son of Cuconnaught, son of Brian, son of Philip, son of Thomas), and the wife of the Baron O'Neill, i.e. Ferdoragh, the son of Con, son of Con, son of Henry, son of Owen, died. She was the mother of O'Neill (Hugh), and of his brother, Cormac. After the killing of the Baron, she was married to Henry, the son of Felim Roe, son of Art, son of Hugh, son of Owen, son of Niall Oge O'Neill, for whom she bore a prosperous son, namely, Turlough; a woman who was the pillar of support and maintenance of the indigent and the mighty, of the poets and exiled, of widows and orphans, of the clergy and men of science, of the poor and the needy; a woman who was the head of counsel and advice to the gentlemen and chiefs of the province of Conor Mac Nessa; a demure, womanly, devout, charitable, meek, benignant woman, with pure piety, and the love of God and her neighbours. She died at Machaire-na-croise on the 22nd of June, and was interred in the monastery of Donegal, after receiving the body and blood of Christ, after unction and penance, after having made many donations to the orders of the Church of God, and more especially to the monastery of Donegal, that she might be prayed for there among the dead.
A hosting was made by the Lord Justice of Ireland, Lord of Mountjoy, in the month of September, to proceed into Tyrone. He marched first to Drogheda, thence to Dundalk and Bealach-an-mhaighre. O'Neill came to the other end of the pass. When the Lord Justice learned that O'Neill had arrived at that place, he pitched a camp at his own end of the pass; so that the pass was not travelled or frequented for a long time between them. The Lord
Some time after this the Lord Justice got an advantage and opportunity of O'Neill's watch on this pass, and proceeded through it in the middle of October without battle or opposition. When O'Neill perceived this, he got before the Lord Justice on the way; and both remained encamped face to face until the end of the same month. The Lord Justice was not permitted to advance beyond this place into Tyrone on this occasion, but was compelled to return by a route east of Bealach-an-Mhaighre, along the borders of the Oriors. He afterwards proceeded in vessels from the harbour of Carlingford into Fingal, and from thence to Dublin. The Lord Justice did not attempt to go beyond Bealach-an-Mhaighre for some time after this.
Sir John Chamberlain, a colonel of the English of Derry, marched with a numerous force against O'Doherty, to plunder and prey him. O'Doherty, with a small party, met the English; and a fierce battle was fought between them, in which the English were defeated, and the colonel and others were slain by O'Doherty.
Niall Garv O'Donnell remained with his brothers, and with his English, at Lifford, as we have already stated; and they made a hosting into Oireacht-Ui-Chathain, in quest of prey and booty; and they did not halt until they arrived at the Dianait, where a great number of O'Neill's people met them. A battle was fought, in which many were slain on both sides, and O'Neill's people were
On another occasion after this, Niall, with his brethren and with his English, went into Tyrone, and the entire of Gleann-Aichle was plundered by them.
They gave another defeat to the sons of Ferdorcha, the son of John, son of Donnell, at Cnoc-Buidhbh, near Strabane, where they slew many persons. Turlough Oge, O'Coinne, and some others, were taken prisoners; and they afterwards exacted sixty marks for his Turlough's ransom.
Baile-Nua in Tyrone, and Castlederg, were taken by Niall and the English; but they were recovered from them shortly afterwards.
Rury, the son of Egneaghan, son of Egneaghan, son of Naghtan, son of Turlough-an-Fhina O'Donnell, died.