EVENTS OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY—THE NORMANS IN MEATH AND ULSTER.
We may estimate the power of the de Lacy family in the second
generation, from the fact that their expulsion required a royal army
and navy, commanded by the King in person, to come from England.
Although pardoned by John, the brothers took care never to place
themselves in that cowardly tyrant's power, and they observed the same
precaution on the accession of his son, until well assured that he did
not share the antipathy of his father. After their restoration the
Lacys had no rivals among the Norman-Irish except the Marshal family,
and though both houses in half a century became extinct, not so those
they had planted or patronized, or who claimed from them collaterally.
In Meath the Tuites, Cusacks, Flemings, Daltons, Petits, Husseys,
Nangles, Tyrrells, Nugents, Verdons, and Gennevilles, struck deep into
the soil. The co-heiresses, Margaret and Matilda de Lacy, married Lord
Theobald de Verdon and Sir Geoffrey de Genneville, between whom the
estate of their father was divided; both these ladies dying without
male issue, the lordship was, in 1286, claimed by Richard de Burgo,
Earl of Ulster, whose mother was their cousin-germain. But we are
anticipating time.
No portion of the island, if we except, perhaps, Wexford and the shores
of Strangford Lough, was so thoroughly castellated as the ancient Meath
from the sea to the Shannon. Trim, Kells and Durrow were the strongest
holds; there were keeps or castles at Ardbraccan, Slane, Rathwyre,
Navan, Skreen, Santry, Clontarf, and Castleknock—for even these places,
almost within sight of Dublin, were included in de Lacy's original
grant. None of these fortresses could have been more than a few miles
distant from the next, and once within their thick-ribbed walls, the
Norman, Saxon, Cambrian, or Danish serf or tenant might laugh at the
Milesian arrows and battle-axes without. With these fortresses, and
their own half-Irish origin and policy, the de Lacys, father and son,
held Meath for two generations in general subjection. But the
banishment of the brothers in 1210, and the death of Walter of Meath,
presented the family of O'Melaghlin and the whole of the Methian tribes
with opportunities of insurrection not to be neglected. We read,
therefore, under the years 1211, '12 and '13, that Art O'Melaghlin and
Cormac, his son, took the castles of Killclane, Ardinurcher, Athboy,
and Smerhie, killing knights and wardens, and enriching themselves with
booty; that the whole English of Ireland turned out _en masse_ to the
rescue of their brethren in Meath; that the castles of Birr, Durrow,
and Kinnetty were strengthened against Art, and a new one erected at
Clonmacnoise. After ten years of exile, the banished de Lacys returned,
and by alliance with O'Neil, no less than their own prowess, recovered
all their former influence. Cormac, son of Art, left a son and
successor also named Art, who, we read at the year 1264, gave the
English of Meath a great defeat upon the Brosna, where he that was not
slain was drowned. Following the blow, he burned their villages and
broke the castles of the stranger throughout Devlin, Calry, and Brawny,
and replaced in power over them the McCoghlans, Magawleys, and
O'Breens, from whom he took hostages according to ancient custom. Two
years afterwards he repulsed Walter de Burgh at Shannon harbour,
driving his men into the river, where many of them perished. At his
death (A.D. 1283) he is eulogized for having destroyed seven-and-twenty
English castles in his lifetime. From these exploits he was called Art
_na Caislean_, a remarkable distinction, when we remember that the
Irish were, up to this time, wholly unskilled in besieging such
strongholds as the Norman engineers knew so well how to construct. His
only rival in Meath in such meritorious works of destruction was Conor,
son of Donnell, and O'Melaghlin of East-Meath, or _Bregia_, whose death
is recorded at the year 1277, "as one of the three men in Ireland" whom
the midland English most feared.
From the ancient mensal the transition is easy to the north. The
border-land of Breffni, whose chief was the first of the native nobles
that perished by Norman perfidy, was at the beginning of the century
swayed by Ulgarg O'Rourke. Of Ulgarg we know little, save that in the
year 1231 he "died on his way to the river Jordan"—a not uncommon
pilgrimage with the Irish of those days. Nial, son of Congal,
succeeded, and about the middle of the century we find Breffni divided
into two lordships, from the mountain of Slieve-an-eiran eastward, or
Cavan, being given to Art, son of Cathal, and from the mountain
westward, or Leitrim, to Donnell, son of Conor, son of Tiernan, de
Lacy's victim. This subdivision conduced neither to the strengthening
of its defenders nor to the satisfaction of O'Conor, under whose
auspices it was made. Family feuds and household treasons were its
natural results for two or three generations; in the midst of these
broils two neighbouring families rose into greater importance, the
O'Reillys in Cavan and the Maguires in Fermanagh. Still, strong in
their lake and mountain region, the tribes of Breffni were
comparatively unmolested by foreign enemies, while the stress of the
northern battle fell upon the men of Tyrconnell and Tyrone, of Oriel
and of the coast country, from Carlingford to the Causeway.
The borders of Tyrconnell and Tyrone, like every other tribe-land, were
frequently enlarged or contracted, according to the vigour or weakness
of their chiefs or neighbours. In the age of which we now speak,
Tyrconnell extended from the Erne to the Foyle, and Tyrone from the
Foyle to Lough Neagh, with the exception of the extreme north of Berry
and Antrim, which belonged to the O'Kanes. It was not till the
fourteenth century that the O'Neils spread their power east of Lough
Neagh, over those baronies of Antrim long known as north and south
_Clan-Hugh-Buidhe_, (Clandeboy.) North Antrim was still known as
Dalriada, and South Antrim and Down, as Ulidia. Oriel, which has been
usually spoken of in this history as Louth, included angles of Monaghan
and Armagh, and was anciently the most extensive lordship in Ulster.
The chieftain families of Tyrconnell were the O'Donnells; of Tyrone,
the O'Neils and McLaughlins; of Dalriada, O'Kanes, O'Haras, and
O'Shields; of Ulidia, the Magennis of Iveagh and the Donlevys of Down;
of Oriel, the McMahons and O'Hanlons. Among these populous tribes the
invaders dealt some of their fiercest blows, both by land and sea, in
the thirteenth century. But the north was fortunate in its chiefs; they
may fairly contest the laurel with the O'Conors, O'Briens and McCarthys
of the west and south.
In the first third of the century, Hugh O'Neil, who succeeded to the
lordship of Tyrone in 1198, and died in 1230, was cotemporary with
Donnell More O'Donnell, who, succeeding to the lordship of Tyrconnell
in 1208, died in 1241, after an equally long and almost equally
distinguished career. Melaghlin O'Donnell succeeded Donnell More from
'41 to '47, Godfrey from '48 to '57, and Donnell Oge from 1257 to 1281,
when he was slain in battle. Hugh O'Neil was succeeded in Tyrone by
Donnell McLaughlin, of the rival branch of the same stock, who in 1241
was subdued by O'Donnell, and the ascendancy of the family of O'Neil
established in the person of Brian, afterwards chosen King of Ireland,
and slain at Down. Hugh Boy, or the Swarthy, was elected O'Neil on
Brian's death, and ruled till the year 1283, when he was slain in
battle, as was his next successor, Brian, in the year 1295. These names
and dates are worthy to be borne in mind, because on these two great
houses mainly devolved the brunt of battle in their own province.
These northern chiefs had two frontiers to guard or to assail: the
north-eastern, extending from the glens of Antrim to the hills of
Mourne, and the southern stretching from sea to sea, from Newry to
Sligo. This country was very assailable by sea; to those whose castles
commanded its harbours and rivers, the fleets of Bristol, Chester, Man,
and Dublin could always carry supplies and reinforcements. By the
interior line one road threaded the Mourne mountains, and deflected
towards Armagh, while another, winding through west Breffni, led from
Sligo into Donegal by the cataract of Assaroe,—the present
Ballyshannon. Along these ancient lines of communication, by fords, in
mountain passes, and near the landing places for ships, the struggle
for the possession of that end of the Island went on, at intervals,
whenever large bodies of men could be spared from garrisons and from
districts already occupied.
In the year 1210, we find that there was an English Castle at
Cael-uisge, now Castle-Caldwell, on Lough Erne, and that it was broke
down and its defenders slain by Hugh O'Neil and Donald More O'Donnell
acting together. After this event we have no trace of a foreign force
in the interior of Ulster for several years. Hugh O'Neil, who died in
1230, is praised by the Bards for "never having given hostages,
pledges, or tributes to English or Irish," which seems a compliment
well founded. During several years following that date the war was
chiefly centred in Connaught, and the fighting men of the north who
took part in it were acting as allies to the O'Conors. Donald More
O'Donnell had married a daughter of Cathal Crovdearg, so that ties of
blood, as well as neighbouring interests, united these two great
families. In the year 1247, an army under Maurice Fitzgerald, then Lord
Justice, crossed the Erne in two divisions, one above and the other at
Ballyshannon. Melaghlin O'Donnell was defending the passage of the
river when he was taken unexpectedly in the rear by those who had
crossed higher up, and thus was defeated and slain. Fitzgerald then
ravaged Tyrconnell, set up a rival chief O'Canavan, and rebuilt the
Castle at Cael-uisge, near Beleek. Ten years afterwards Godfrey
O'Donnell, the successor of Melaghlin, avenged the defeat at
Ballyshannon, in the sanguinary battle of Credran, near Sligo, where
engaging Fitzgerald in single combat, he gave him his death-stroke.
From wounds received at Credran, Godfrey himself, after lingering
twelve months in great suffering, died. But his bodily afflictions did
not prevent him discharging all the duties of a great Captain; he razed
a second time the English Castle on Lough Erne, and stoutly protected
his own borders against the pretensions of O'Neil, being carried on his
bier in the front of the battle of Lough Swilly in 1258.
It was while Tyrconnell was under the rule of this heroic soldier that
the unfortunate feud arose between the O'Neils and O'Donnells. Both
families, sprung from a common ancestor, of equal antiquity and equal
pride, neither would yield a first place to the other. "Pay me my
tribute," was O'Neil's demand; "I owe you no tribute, and if I did—-"
was O'Donnell's reply. The O'Neil at this time—Brian—aspiring to
restore the Irish sovereignty in his own person, was compelled to begin
the work of exercising authority over his next neighbour. More than one
border battle was the consequence, not only with Godfrey, but with
Donnell Oge, his successor. In the year 1258, Brian was formally
recognized by O'Conor and O'Brien as chief of the kingdom, in the
conference of Cael-uisge, and two years later, at the battle of Down,
gallantly laid down his life, in defence of the kingdom he claimed to
govern. In this most important battle no O'Donnell is found fighting
with King Brian, though immediately afterwards we find Donnell Oge of
Tyrconnell endeavouring to subjugate Tyrone, and active afterwards in
the aid of his cousins, the grandsons of Cathal Crovdearg, in
Connaught.
The Norman commander in this battle was Stephen de Longespay, then Lord
Justice, Earl of Salisbury in England, and Count de Rosman in France.
His marriage with the widow of Hugh de Lacy and daughter of de
Riddlesford connected him closely with Irish affairs, and in the battle
of Down he seems to have had all the Anglo-Irish chivalry, "in gold and
iron," at his back. With King Brian O'Neil fell, on that crimson day,
the chiefs of the O'Hanlons, O'Kanes, McLaughlins, O'Gormlys, McCanns,
and other families who followed his banner. The men of Connaught
suffered hardly less than those of Ulster. McDermott, Lord of Moylurgh,
Cathal O'Conor, O'Gara, McDonogh, O'Mulrony, O'Quinn, and other chiefs
were among the slain. In Hugh _Bwee_ O'Neil the only hope of the house
of Tyrone seemed now to rest; and his energy and courage were all taxed
to the uttermost to retain the place of his family in the Province,
beating back rapacious neighbours on the one hand, and guarding against
foreign enemies on the other. For twelve years, Hugh _Bwee_ defended
his lordship against all aggressors. In 1283, he fell at the hands of
the insurgent chiefs of Oriel and Breffni, and a fierce contest for the
succession arose between his son Brian and Donald, son of King Brian
who fell at Down. A contest of twelve years saw Donald successful over
his rival (A.D. 1295), and his rule extended from that period until
1325, when he died at Leary's lake, in the present diocese of Clogher.
It was this latter Donnell or Donald O'Neil, who, towards the end of
his reign, addressed to Pope John XXII. (elected to the pontificate in
1316) that powerful indictment against the Anglo-Normans, which has
ever since remained one of the cardinal texts of our history. It was
evidently written after the unsuccessful attempt, in which Donald was
himself a main actor, to establish Edward Bruce on the throne of
Ireland. That period we have not yet reached, but the merciless
character of the warfare waged against the natives of the country could
hardly have been aggravated by Bruce's defeat. "They oblige us by open
force," says the Ulster Prince, "to give up to them our houses and our
lands, and to seek shelter like wild beasts upon the mountains, in
woods, marshes, and caves. Even there we are not secure against their
fury; they even envy us those dreary and terrible abodes; they are
incessant and unremitting in their pursuit after us, endeavouring to
chase us from among them; they lay claim to every place in which they
can discover us with unwarranted audacity and injustice; they allege
that the whole kingdom belongs to them of right, and that an Irishman
has no longer a right to remain in his own country."
After specifying in detail the proofs of these and other general
charges, the eloquent Prince concludes by uttering the memorable vow
that the Irish "will not cease to fight against and among their
invaders until the day when they themselves, for want of power, shall
have ceased to do us harm, and that a Supreme Judge shall have taken
just vengeance on their crimes, which we firmly hope will sooner or
later come to pass."