Osdec Mac Meric — He is still vividly remembered in the tradition of the country, according to which the Hoiste, after whom Gleann Hoiste was called, was slain and beheaded by one of the O'Malleys after he had nearly exterminated the whole of that family; but, strange to say, this tradition states that he was one of the Danes, and flourished during the tyrannical sway of that people in Ireland before the period of the battle of Clontarf! This affords a striking instance of the fallacy of oral tradition as a chronicler of events, for, according to the Annals of the Four Masters, Hoitsi Mebric (Hosty Merrick) and his neighbour, Henry Butler, lord of Umhall [O'Malley's country] were slain by Cathal, son of Conor Roe O'Conor, and the sons of Muircheartach O'Conor, in the year 1272. In Mageoghegan's translation of the Annals of Clonmacnoise this passage is given as follows: — ‘A. D. 1272. Henry Butler, lord of the territory of Omaille and Hodge Mebric, were killed by Cahall Mac Connor Roe and some of the Irish Nobilitie of Connaught.’ The family name Merrick is still in this neigbourhood, and a sobriquet added which cannot be mentioned here. The name Hosty is also common, of which see more above, p. 326, note 973.