ISLES OF ARAN, 14TH-18TH CENTURIES.
"Long thy fair cheek was pale,
_Erin Aroon_--
Too well it spake thy tale,
_Erin Aroon_--
Fondly nursed hopes betrayed,
Gallant sons lowly laid,
All anguish there portrayed,
_Erin Aroon._"
_Sliabh Cuilinn._
[Sidenote: ANNALS OF ARAN.]
A.D. 1308. The trade of Galway, which at the time of the Anglo-Norman
invasion in the twelfth century was at zero, rapidly rose to a
comparatively high figure in the fourteenth century. In 1300 the customs
receipts were L24 15_s._ 2_d._ at that port, and in 1392, L118 5_s._
10_d._ This augured well for the progressive improvement of the town;
but that improvement was blasted for a season by the appearance in the
bay of a fleet of pirates who swept the ships from the seas. The
merchants applied to their powerful neighbour,[8] Dermot More O'Brien,
lord of the isles of Aran, to succour them in their straits; and for
that succour and the protection which he agreed to give them they agreed
to pay him yearly twelve tuns of wine; the trade, commerce, and harbour
of the town to be protected, and otherwise by him and his successors
defended, from all and every attack of pirates and privateers
whatsoever, to which intent and purpose, and for the considerations
aforesaid, he covenanted and agreed to maintain a suitable maritime
force. This Dermot More O'Brien was descended from Brian [Boru]
Boroimhe, slain at the battle of Clontarf in 1014.
A.D. 1334. In this year the islands were plundered by Sir John Darcy,
who sailed with fifty-six ships around the Irish coasts.
[Sidenote: REVOLT OF ARAN.]
A.D. 1400. The rebellion of the Mayo and Clanrickarde Burkes in the
province of Connaught, consequent on the murder, in 1333, of William De
Burgh, Earl of Ulster and fifth Lord of Connaught, caused the overthrow
for nearly two hundred years, of the English power in that province. The
town of Galway, oscillating in its allegiance between the Crown and the
Clanricardes, joined that powerful family against Henry IV., and in
their revolt they were joined by the South Isles of Aran.
[Sidenote: ROYAL LICENSE.]
Thereupon the King did by royal license permit certain persons to attack
the rebels in the said island, which license is as follows:--
"The King to all and singular our admirals mayors and others in our
kingdom of England and lordship of Ireland greeting At the supplication
of John Roderic William Pound Edward White and Philip Taylor all of
Bristol and of Nicholas Kent burgess of Galway in Ireland In as much as
our aforesaid liege subjects have given to us security that they shall
not nor will presume to make war or afford cause for making war against
any of our faithful Irish subjects or attempt anything against the form
of the truces entered into between us Wherefore know ye that we have
granted and given license and do hereby grant and give licence to them
the said John Roderic William Pound Edward White Philip Taylor and
Nicholas Kent that they with as many men at arms as they choose to have
and provide at their own expenses may take their course for and pass
over to our said lordship of Ireland in four ships called by the divers
names of 'The Christopher' 'the Trusty' 'the Nicholas' and 'the May of
Bristol' and there make war against the rebels and enemies of us in the
said town of Galway and also in the islands of Arran which lie full of
gallies to ensnare capture and plunder our liege English and further
KNOW YE ALL MEN that if said John and William and Edward and Philip and
Nicholas shall be able by force and armed power to obtain and take the
town and islands aforesaid they may have hold and inhabit the same town
and islands taking to their own use and profit all and singular the
property of the aforesaid rebels and enemies of us and all that which
they shall be able so to obtain and take The right nevertheless and
other the rents revenues services and other moneys whatsumever to our
royal prerogative there pertaining always saved unto us saving also the
right of the son and heir of Roger de Mortimer late Earl of March
deceased being within age and within our wardship and the rights of all
other liege subjects whomsoever--given at our Palace at Westminster on
the 22nd day of May in the first year of our reign--A.D. 1400 'By the
King himself'"[9] The town however returning to its allegiance, the
above license was in the same year revoked.
[Sidenote: THE REFORMATION.]
A.D. 1485. A monastery was built in this year on the great island for
the Franciscans of the strict observance; but this community was doomed
to be short lived, for the word had gone forth from Henry VIII. to
suppress the monasteries and they were suppressed; and the annalists
thus, in the Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 1537, chronicle not alone
their overthrow, but the spread of a new religion in England, "A new
heresy and error arose in England through pride, vain-glory, avarice,
sensuality, and many strange speculations, so that the people of England
went into opposition to the Pope and to Rome. They have demolished the
abbeys, sold their roofs and bells, and there is not one single
monastery from Aran of the Saints to the '_Straits of Dover_'[10] that
has not been completely destroyed."
[Sidenote: A STORM.]
A.D. 1560. A tragic occurrence occurred in this year when Teige O'Brien,
lord of the isles, was returning, loaded with booty if not with honours,
to Aran, from a plundering expedition which he had made into Munster;
from one of the seaports of which province he had the rashness with his
homeward bound barque to put to sea when a tempest was said by his
sailors to be impending. Deceived by the "calm before the storm" he
insisted on weighing anchor. It was weighed, and as the starless night
was closing and deepening around him, the gale freshened as he
advanced--his tempest-tossed vessel struggled amidst the waves, for the
wind was high against it--and when the morning rolled the clouds away, a
broken spar, an oarless boat, were all that remained to tell the ghastly
tale, that every hand on board was lost. At the entrance of the Great
Man's Bay, which was far out of their course, is even now shown the spot
where on that fatal night they perished.
A.D. 1570. Morchowe O'Brien, in consideration of a sum of money to him
in hand paid, conveyed these islands by way of mortgage to James Lynch
Fitz Ambrose and his heirs.
[Sidenote: THE O'BRIENS.]
A.D. 1575. In June of this year it was agreed between the mortgagor and
mortgagee of the islands "that in case the sept of clan Tiege O'Brien,
the said mortgagor, should decease and perish, then that James Lynch
Fitz Ambrose, the mortgagee, should be their sole heir, and possess,
Aran, and all other their lands, and that said O'Brien should not
alienate or mortgage any part or parcel of Aran to any person without
the mortgagee's consent and license." It appears, however, that Tieg
Eturgh, Morchowe Morowe, Conchor McMurchowe, Terrilagh Meeagh, Tieg
McTerrilagh, Dermot McMurchowe, Tieg McTerrilagh Oge, and Conchor
McMoriertagh, McBrene, gentlemen, all of Aran, and Dermot McCormick
McConnor, of the Castle of Trowmore, afterwards on July 14, 1575,
appointed Captain Morchowe McTerrilagh O'Brien their attorney for
ransoming the isles of Aran from James Lynch, that all such parts as he
should so ransom should belong to him (O'Brien) and his heirs for
ever.[11]
It would appear that this Captain Morchowe McTerrilagh O'Brien, of the
Clantiege of Aran, on July 14 of the same year, 1575, was in Galway; and
being there, was minded to claim the privilege his ancestors had, he
alleged, enjoyed of lodgings and meals for two days and two nights in
the town, and the "mayor calling before him auncient old credibel
witnesses, they declared upon their oaths that they never heard of their
parents or saw the said sept have no more than two meals in the town,
and it was thereupon ordered that said sept shall have no more than two
meals, they being always bound to serve attend and wait upon us and in
our service as their ancestors had been, and further that it was the
O'Brien sept that was bound to give lodging and entertainment to all the
commons of Galway, when they shall repair to the islands of Aran. And
the said mayor did grant and promise O'Brien to be aiders, helpers,
maintainers and assisters, of him against all persons that would lay
siege to spoil the islands or castle of Aran or otherwise wrong the said
Morchowe or his sept."[12]
[Sidenote: THE CLANRICARDES.]
A.D. 1579. Queen Elizabeth, by her charter to the town of Galway, having
recited that Richard III., late King of England, out of his abundant
grace and for the greater security and safeguard of the town of Galway,
willed and ordained that neither MacWilliam Burke, Lord of Clanricarde,
nor his heirs, should have any rule or power in the said town of Galway,
therein to act, exact, receive, ordain, or dispose of anything without
the special license, and by the assent and superintendence of the mayor,
bailiffs, and commonalty of the said town of Galway; appointed the
mayor of Galway to be admiral of her and her successors within the town
aforesaid and within and over the islands of Aran and from the said
islands to Galway.
A.D. 1580. There died in this year in the islands of Aran an islander
who had reached the extreme old age of two hundred and twenty years.
This patriarchal inhabitant killed a bullock in his own house every year
for one hundred and eighty years.
[Sidenote: THE FEROCIOUS O'FLAHERTIES.]
A.D. 1586. In this year the O'Briens, long the lords of the islands of
Aran, "were expulsed from their territory by ye ferocious O'Flaherties
of Iar Connaught." The matter was brought under the knowledge of the
Crown, who resolved to put an end to the lawless savagery which existed
in those parts, whereby one sept could, in times of peace, sail on a
plundering expedition against another and expel them, wasting the
country with fire and sword all the time; and accordingly a commission,
under the great seal, was issued for the purpose of examining the title,
if any, of the O'Flaherties to the islands. Having gone through the
mockery of an inquisition, the commissioners found that the islands
belonged not to the O'Briens, lords of the isles, nor yet to the
O'Flaherties, who had no title at all, but that they belonged to her
Majesty Queen Elizabeth in right of her crown and dignity; and
accordingly she, by her letters patent dated January 15th, A.D. 1587,
instead of restoring them to the ancient proprietors, granted them
entire to Sir John Rawson, of Athlone, gentleman, and his heirs, on
condition that he should retain constantly on the islands twenty
foot-soldiers of the English nation.[13]
[Sidenote: CLAN OF MAC TIEGE O'BRIEN.]
A.D. 1588. When the return of the inquisition and subsequent patent
granting the lands away from the O'Briens became known, the corporation
of Galway thus petitioned the Queen, in favour of Murrough McTurlogh
O'Brien: "That the Mac Tieges of Aran, his ancestors, were under her
Majesty and her predecessors the temporal captains or lords of the
islands of Aran, and held their territories and hereditaments elsewhere
under the name of Mac Tiege O'Brien of Aran, time out of man's memory,
and that they the said corporation, had seen the said Murrough McTurlogh
authorized by all his sept, as chief of that name, and in possession of
the premises as his own lawful inheritance, as more at large doth appear
in our books of record, wherein he continued until of late he was, by
the usurping power of the O'Flaherties expelled; and we say, moreover,
that the sept of the Mac Tiege O'Briens of Aran, since the foundation of
this city, were aiding and assisting ourselves and our predecessors
against the enemies of your majesty and your predecessors in all times
and places, whereunto they were called as true and faithful and liege
people to the crown of England, to maintain, succour, and assist the
town.
"(Signed), "JOHN BLAKE, Mayor of Galway,
"WALTER MARTIN, Bailiff,
"ANTHONY KIRWAN, Bailiff."
Queen Elizabeth heard the appeal, but her Majesty was inexorable. It is
more than probable that the O'Briens had caused, at least remotely, the
alienation of their inheritance by their own domestic feuds. At the
north extremity of Inishmore, the large island, not far from Port
Murvey, the islanders show a field where human bones are frequently dug
up, and for which reason it is called _Farran-na-Cann_, "the field of
the sculls." Here the O'Briens are said at some remote period to have
slaughtered each other almost to extermination. This sort of
self-destruction is the blackest blot on the page of Irish history. It
has always been, and alas! is Ireland's sad and unalienable inheritance.
[Sidenote: AN INDUSTRIOUS DISCOVERER.]
Of the patentee, John Rawson, little is remembered, save that in an
instrument enrolled in the Rolls Office, in 1594, he is called "an
industrious discoverer of lands for the Queen." The O'Flaherties had now
the gratification of seeing the O'Briens, also an Irish sept, turned out
of their inheritance, and the same granted to a stranger.
[Sidenote: LYNCHES.]
After this period the property and inheritance of the islands became
and were vested in Sir Roebuck Lynch, of Galway. How Sir Roebuck became
proprietor of the islands we have been unable, with certainty, to learn;
but we might hazard a plausible guess that Sir John Rawson was granted
whatever estate O'Brien had forfeited, and that what O'Brien did forfeit
as mortgagor was the equity of redemption in the islands; that
consequently Lynch, the mortgagee, remained in possession of the legal
estate, and he, on Rawson failing to perform the covenants in mortgage
deed contained, foreclosed the mortgage, and thus probably the fee and
the equity of redemption became united in one and the same person, Sir
Roebuck Lynch.
A.D. 1618. "Indenture of June 20th, between Henry Lynch, son and heir of
Roebuck Lynch, of Galway, deceased, of the one part, and William
Anderson, of Aran, in said county, of the other, whereby he, the said
Henry Lynch, for and in consideration of a sum of L50 of English
currency to him paid, did thereby demise and assign all that and those,
a moiety of the said three islands to him, the said William Anderson,
his executors, administrators, and assigns, for a long term of years,
excepting thereout" what must have then been in the islands, "_great
trees_, mines, and minerals, and hawks, at an annual rent of L3 Irish,
and a proportion of port corn, as therein is set forth."
A.D. 1641. The clan Tiege O'Briens still claimed the islands as their
legitimate inheritance, and, taking advantage of the troubles of this
troubled year, prepared to attack them with a considerable force, and
with the aid of a gentleman of extensive property and influence in the
county of Clare, Boetius Clancy the younger. This project, however, was
frustrated by the opposition of the Marquis of Clanricarde, then
governor of the county of Galway.[14]
[Sidenote: ARCHBISHOP O'QUEELY.]
A.D. 1645. The death of Malachy O'Queely, Catholic Archbishop of Tuam,
occurred in this year. To him John Colgan was indebted for a description
of the three islands of Aran and their churches.
A.D. 1651. When the royal authority was fast declining, the Marquis of
Clanricarde resolved to fortify these islands, wherein he placed 200
musketeers with officers and a gunner, under the command of Sir Robert
Lynch, owner of the islands. The fort of Ardkyn, in the large island,
was soon after repaired and furnished with cannon, and by this means
held out against the Parliamentary forces near a year after the
surrender of Galway. In December, 1650, the Irish, routed in every other
quarter, landed here 700 men. On the 9th of the following January, 1300
foot, with a battering piece, were shipped from the Bay of Galway to
attack them, and 600 men were marched to Iar Connaught, to be thence
sent, if necessary, to the assistance of the assailants.
[Sidenote: SURRENDER OF ARAN.]
On the 15th the islands surrendered on the following terms:--
"Articles concluded between Major James Harrisson and Captain William
Draper, on behalf of the Commissary-General Reynolds, Commander-in-Chief
of the Parliamentary forces in the isles of Aran, and Captain John
Blackwall and Captain Brien Kelly, commissioners appointed by Colonel
Oliver Synnot, commander of the Fort of Ardkyn, for the surrender of the
said Fort.
"(1) It is concluded and agreed that all the officers and soldiers both
belonging to sea and land shall have quarters, as also all others the
clergyman and other persons within the Fort. (2) That they shall have
six weeks for their transportation into Spain or any other place in
amity with the State of England, and that hostages shall be given by
Colonel Synnot for the punctual performance of these Articles. (3) That
Colonel Synnot shall deliver up, with all necessaries of war, by three
o'clock this 15th of January, 1652, before which time all officers and
soldiers belonging to the said Fort shall march with drums beating to
the Church near Ardkyn and there lay down their arms. (4) That Colonel
Synnot and the captains, eight in number, shall have liberty to carry
their swords, the other officers and soldiers to lay down their arms;
that Commissary Reynolds shall nominate four officers of the Fort
hostages. (5) That Colonel Synnot, with the rest of the officers and all
other persons in the Fort shall, upon delivering their arms and
delivering their hostages, be protected from the violence of the
soldiery, and with the first conveniency be sent to the county Galway,
there to remain for six weeks in quarters, in which time they are to be
transported as aforesaid, provided that no person whatsoever belonging
to the Fort of Ardkyn found guilty of murder be included in these
articles, or have any benefit thereby."
[Sidenote: ERASMUS SMITH.]
The Parliamentary forces, on taking possession of the fortifications,
found several large pieces of cannon, with a considerable quantity of
arms and ammunition; they seized also a French shallop with twenty-eight
oars and several large boats. The Fort was soon after repaired and
strongly reinforced. The late proprietor of the islands, Sir Robert
Lynch, was declared a forfeiting traitor, and his right made over to
Erasmus Smith, Esq., a London adventurer whose interest was afterwards
purchased by Richard Butler, created Earl of Aran in 1662.
A.D. 1653. The castle of Ardkyn was by order of the Lord Protector
pulled down, and a strong fort erected in its place. Thenceforth Aran
became the place of transportation for the Catholic clergy, whilst on
the mainland the most violent acts of oppression and injustice openly
took place. The King's arms and every other emblem of royalty were torn
down, and fifty priests were shipped for Aran[15] until they could be
transported to the West Indies, they being allowed sixpence a day each
for their support.
[Sidenote: QUIT RENT.]
A.D. 1670. On the 9th of September, Charles II., by patent under the Act
of Settlement, granted to Richard, Earl of Aran, the great island,
containing 2376 acres statute measure, all situate in the half barony of
Aran, county of Galway, at the annual rent of 18_s._ 5-1/2_d._ crown
rent, payable to the King and his successors. We may observe that the
"crown rent" payable to the Crown for lands is the same rent as that
which was formerly paid to the abbot or prior of the abbeys and priories
confiscated from them under the statute of Henry VIII.--consequently
lands held under the religious houses pay crown rent even to this day.
Quit rent (_Quietus Redditus_) in the province of Connaught, merely
three halfpence an acre, was for the first time imposed at the
Restoration, and amounts in the islands of Aran to L14 8_s._ 4_d._
A.D. 1687. A grant was made in this year by James II. of three-fourths
of the tithes of Aran islands to the Most Reverend John Vesey, D.D.,
Protestant Lord Archbishop of Tuam, and his successors in the See. One
could readily account for his Majesty's bestowing the tithes in question
on the Catholic archbishop, but why he bestowed them on the Protestant
line appears unaccountable; yet so it is stated in the appendix to the
report of the Royal Commission (1868) on the revenues and condition of
the Established Church, page 191.
A.D. 1691. On the surrender of Galway to the arms of William and Mary, a
garrison was sent to Aran, and a barrack therein built in which soldiers
were for many years stationed.
[Sidenote: THE FLORA OF ARAN.]
A.D. 1700. An excursion was made to the islands in this year by one
whose name is well known by those who prefer to contemplate the silent
life of vegetation to the saddening spectacle of man at variance with
his fellow-man. Edward Lnwyd spent many months inspecting the flora of
the islands, and having done so, made his report upon them, which is
said to be a marvel in its way.
The fee of the islands had become vested in Edmund Fitzpatrick of
Galway, Esquire; and he in 1717 demised the whole island of Inisheer to
Andrew French of Galway, merchant, for thirty-one years, at the yearly
rent of L100, with liberty to cut and carry away as much straw from
Straw Island as should be deemed necessary to thatch the houses on the
island of Inisheer.
[Sidenote: ROYAL FRANCHISE.]
A.D. 1746. The case of _The Mayor of Galway_ v. _Digby_, conversant as
it was with the royalties of the islands of Aran, caused great
excitement in the town during the summer assizes of the year. The action
was tried before Mr. Justice Caufield. Mr. Staunton, Mr. French, and
another, appeared as counsel for the plaintiff; Mr. John Bodkin and Mr.
Morgan for the defendant. The case as stated by the learned counsel for
the plaintiff was that from times of remote antiquity the O'Briens were
lords of the isles of Aran, or to use somewhat of legal phraseology,
were lords of the manor of Aran, and as such, and in their manorial
rights they were entitled to all the royal franchises, wrecks, and other
strays washed on the shores either of the islands or mainlands of the
bay. But the Crown had made a grant of the royal franchises away from
the lords of the manor, and had conferred the same on the Admiral of the
Bay of Galway, the office of Admiral of the Bay belonging to and being
held by the mayor of the town. Now, on the 1st of August, 1745, a great
whale, which appeared in the Aran waters, was stranded, and harpooned by
the defendant, who obtained from it no less than fifty gallons of oil.
The blubber and the whalebone were all there ready to be transported to
the Dublin market, and the defendant had actually converted to his own
use so much of this royal franchise as would realize a sum of L160.
Plaintiff's patent was full, ample, and large; so full, so ample, and so
large, that he, counsel, could not but wonder that any lawyer at the bar
would sign the pleadings in a case in which a verdict must be directed
on the spot for the plaintiff.
Counsel for the defendant did not feel so sure of the success of his
learned friend's case as his learned friend did--quite the reverse; he
must and at once ask the learned judge for a direction that the verdict
be entered for him. He, Mr. Bodkin, admitted that a sturgeon and a whale
were royal fish, but they were governed by widely different principles
of law. If a sturgeon had been washed on the shore, then the King or his
grantee could claim it and grant it to whomsoever they pleased, and the
grantee here would not be entitled to it at all; but the whale is not
the King's property to grant. Half of the whale is the perquisite of the
Queen consort, and that being so, the grant fails. The King is only
entitled to the head and the Queen to the tail. It was in old law laid
down to be for the Queen's convenience to have abundance of whalebone
for her boudoir, and so it is said in Bracton [l. 3. ch. 3], "of the
sturgeon let it be noted that the King shall have it entire, but it is
otherwise of the whale, for the King shall have the head and the queen
the tail, _sturgeone observetur quod rex illum habebit integrum: de
Balena vero sufficit si rex habeat caput et regina caudam_." A verdict
was directed against the plaintiff, but whether any after move was made
in the matter, or whether the Attorney-General intervened, we have been
unable to discover. Suffice it to say that the corporation of Galway
interfered no more in the matter.
A.D. 1754. John Digby demised the island of Inisheer to William
MacNamara of Doolin, county Clare, for thirty-one years, at an annual
rent of L90.
[Sidenote: ARCHBISHOP PHILLIPS.]
A.D. 1786. The Catholic Archbishop of Tuam, the most Rev. Philip
Phillips, D.D., partaking of the hospitality of the parish priest of
Aran, stopped a week in the islands: sleeping, however, on a bed of
rushes, to which he had been unused, he got an attack of bronchitis, of
which he shortly after died at Cloonmore, in the county of Mayo. One
would have thought that he could have outlived a discomfort of that
trivial kind, for he had been in early life a soldier--not a feather-bed
soldier, but a distinguished officer in the Austrian service, and
therefore it was that he was called Captain Phillips to the last hour of
his life. It is not unworthy of remark that this prelate had, previous
to his translation to Tuam, been Bishop of Killala, to which see he had
in 1760 [1 Geo. III.] been by James III., King _de jure sed non de
facto_ of Great Britain and Ireland, nominated as appears by the
apostolic letter of Clement XIII., dated Rome, November 24, 1760.
[Sidenote: EARL BUTLER OF ARAN.]
In the peerage we find that the earldom of Aran has been twice bestowed
on families bearing different names. First in 1662, when Richard Butler
(son of James, the twelfth Earl and first Duke of Ormonde) was created
Earl of Aran. The honours of this nobleman having expired on his death
without issue, the earldom was revived in 1693 in favour of Lord
Charles Butler, brother of James, the second Duke of Ormonde. The story
of the second Duke of Ormonde is a sad one. Having filled the highest
offices in the state in Ireland under Charles II., he forgot his
allegiance to his brother James II., and went over to the ranks of
William and Mary. In 1702 he was constituted by Queen Anne
Commander-in-Chief of the Forces of Great Britain, sent against France
and Spain, when he destroyed the French fleet and sunk the Spanish
galleons in the harbour of Vigo, for which important services he
received the thanks of both houses of Parliament. In 1715 (2 George I.),
his grace was attainted by the British but not by the Irish House of
Parliament of high treason, and L10,000 set upon his head should he land
in Ireland. His grace then retired to Avignon, and died in 1745, a
pensioner of the crown of Spain. Upon the duke's death the Earl of Aran
became entitled _de jure_ to the dukedom, but was not aware of his
rights, which he never claimed, being of opinion that the British
Parliament destroyed not only the English but the Irish titles of honour
of his deceased brother, the second duke. The Earl of Aran died without
issue male, December 17, 1758, when the title became and was extinct.
[Sidenote: GORE, EARL OF ARAN.]
After four years, in 1762, the earldom was bestowed on another noble
house, that of Gore, in the person of Sir Arthur Gore, and from him is
descended Sir Arthur Charles William Fox Gore, fifth Earl of Aran, born
on the night of storm, January 6, 1839.
A.D. 1857. The islands were visited by the British Association, under
the leadership of Sir William Wilde, M.D., and the results of the visit
were subsequently embodied in an interesting pamphlet by Martin Haverty,
Esq., long assistant librarian to the Honourable Society of the King's
Inns, Dublin. Subsequently the Earl of Dunraven, accompanied by a number
of scientific friends, proceeded to the islands, when a series of
magnificent photographs were executed, printed, and published under the
supervision and direction of the accomplished editor, Miss Stokes, who
has edited that ponderous work which throws so much light on the early
history of this country.
FOOTNOTES:
[8] O'Hart's "Landed Gentry," p. 124, edit. 1884.
[9] Pat. Rolls, 1 Hen. IV. 7. m.
[10] "The Straits of Dover" does not occur in the Annals, but the word
which does so occur is construed by the commentator to be those
"straits."
[11] Hardiman, "History of Galway," p. 208 note.
[12] Hardiman's History of Galway, p. 207.
[13] Pat. Rolls, 31 Eliz.
[14] Clanricarde Memoirs, p. 71.
[15] Froude's English in Ireland, vol. i., p. 134.