stirred, how fully would it have rejoiced his heart, could he kave gazed down the vista of seven centuries and counted the long roll of illustrious men, of Dukes and Earls, of Barons and Knights, who have sprung from the loins of those few Fitz-Geralds and De Barris. I have dwelt at such length upon the credibility and position of Giraldus Cambrensis, not merely because the man himself with all his blatant vanity, is such a fine and interesting character; but because his is practically the only contemporary history of the Conquest. Moreover it is most desirable to know something of what has been one of the principal moot points of Irish historical literature, from 1597, when John Hooker published an English translation of the Erpugnatio Hibernica, and from 1662, when Lynch's "Cambrensis Eversus " appeared, down to the present day. THE ANNALS OF THE FOUR MASTERS. I have said already, that the Expugnatio Hibernica is the only contemporary History of the Invasion of Ireland, and this is true, but it must not be forgotten, that from the earliest dawn of an historical era, the Irish appear to have been assiduous chroniclers of national and tribal events. To the courts of the various princes and chiefs, bards and chroniclers, whose office was often hereditary* appear in many cases to have been attached, but I have not discovered any evidence to show whether their histories and genealogies were usually committed to writing at this date. However this may be, there can be no doubt that in many of the Irish monasteries, chronicles of contemporary events, such as the Annals of Lough Ké, and the Annals of Clonmacnoise, were committed to writing, of which some are extant to the present day, and have been edited in the invaluable Rolls Series. But by far the most important survival of these Irish mediæval chronicles, is the great work of which I have now to speak, which was a compilation from * For example, the O'Clerys, the principal authors of the Annals of the Four Masters were hereditary bards and historians to the O'Donnells, as were the O'Duigenans of Kilronan, to the Macdermotts of Roscommon, the O'Mulconry's to the O'Connors, kings of Connaught, and the MacKeoghs with others to the MacMurroughs, kings of Leinster. or rather an attempted harmony of several secular and ecclesiastical chronicles, it is known as "The Annals of the Four Masters." This compilation has been nobly edited in six quarto volumes, by Dr. O'Donovan, and it is, therefore, unnecessary for me to speak at length upon the interesting history of the precious manuscript, one copy of which is now in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin + or to give an account of the romantic circumstances which attended the execution of this laborious work. Suffice it to say that it was compiled between the years 1632 and 1636, at the request of an Irish chief, named Ferall O'Gara, by a Franciscan named Michael O'Clery, assisted by his brother Conary and his cousin Cucogry O'Clery, the fourth Master being Ferfeasa O'Mulconry, of whom nothing is known but that he was a native of County Roscommon, and an hereditary antiquary. Michael O'Clery was an author of some reputation, and in 1643, an Irish Glossary, compiled by him, was printed at the well known Catholic printing press of Louvain, and his cousin Cucogry, who had been ousted from his lands in 1632, as beinge a meere Irishman, and not of English or British descent or surname," was also an author, having written a life of Hugh Roe O'Donnell. The Four Masters compiled their Annals in the neighbourhood of the Franciscan Monastery of Donegal, for which reason they have been sometimes called Annales Dungallenses. There is no need to discuss here the historical value of the early part of these Annals, from the arrival of Noah's grand daughter, Cæsair, in Ireland, forty days before the Flood, down to the landing of Robert Fitz-Stephen in 1169; and with regard to their value for my immediate purpose, it will be almost enough to call attention to the following points con Namely, "The Annals of Clonmacnoise,' "The Annals of Lacan," "The Annals of the Island of Saints,' There appear to have been at least two contemporary and original copies of this compilation, one being now (1883) among the Ashburnham M.S.S. One is irresistibly reminded of "ta faliant Fhairshon," slain by "Mhic Mac Methusaleh," whose son "married Noah's daughter, and nearly spoilt ta flood by trinking up ta water." cerning the authorities from which the Annals of the Four Masters were compiled. (1st) They were contemporary records. (2nd) They were written by Irishmen for Irishmen; and therefore, in the reflections they pass upon the English, and in their estimate of the relative importance of English and Irish achievements, they must be considered to be somewhat biased. (3rd) They were written either by clergy, who looked at things from the Church point of view, or by hereditary chroniclers, who would naturally magnify the doings of their chief and tribe. (4th) They are "Chronicles" in the strict sense of the word, and in no way approaching to a connected and constructed history like Giraldus' Expugnatio, though of course they are thickly interspersed with religious, moral, and patriotic sentiments. By remembering these facts, and by the aid of an extract which I shall give hereafter, it will be possible to form a very tolerable notion of the nature and value of the Annals of the Four Masters, and I now pass on to mention another authority which is of considerable importance as a check upon Giraldus' facts and estimates of the comparative virtues of the Anglo-Norman Conquerors. THE FRAGMENT OF A POEM ATTRIBUTED TO MAURICE REGAN. Dermot MacMorrough the king of Leinster, who invited the English to Ireland, had for his Latimer or Latinier, that is, interpreter, a certain Morice Regan, who was no doubt an eye witness of many important events in the Invasion of Ireland, and these he communicated to the unknown author of this poem, who seems also to refer to a written work by Regan, and to the testimony of old men still living. The poem which is in Norman-French, ends abruptly with the storming of Limerick, three years after FitzStephen's landing, and has, I believe, never been fully edited. The first few lines are given by way of illustration. Par soen demande Latinier At his own desire the Latinier To me told his history Of which I make here the memory Face to face spoke to him CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH CHRONICLES. William of Newburgh, to some extent, and Roger de Hoveden more fully, treat of the Invasion, but their brief notices call for no special remark. I do not know of any other English Chroniclers who have seriously attempted the subject. IRISH RECORDS. I have as yet no experience of the Irish Record Office in Dublin, but I have consulted the Printed Calendars of Irish Patent and Close Rolls. They relate chiefly to a later period, and consist of Royal Grants, Warrants, Summonses to Parliament and the like, but a good deal of information concerning the relations between the Crown and its feudatories, the gradual progress of English dominion, and the like, can be gathered from them. ENGLISH STATE PAPERS RELATING TO IRELAND. Full and admirably edited calendars of the papers and documents in the English Record Office, which relate to Ireland, are now being published, and the series already extend from 1171 to 1301. These calendars teem with information so valuable and so interesting, that I had almost resolved to make a single volume the subject of a paper, but I will content myself with asserting that no one can possibly have a clear and thorough insight into the early relations between England and Ireland, who has not studied these splendid monuments of industry and research, THE CAREW PAPERS. In the Library at Lambeth is a large miscellaneous collection of notes, documents, and records, relating to Ireland, brought together by Sir George Carew, afterwards Earl of Totness, and calendared in 1871, by Mr. Brewer and Mr. Bullen. Carew was born in 1557, and having held important military and civil appointments in Ireland, he had every opportunity for making investigations. The most important materials in his collection are "The Book of Howth," compiled in part from Giraldus, but containing an enormous mass of indigested scraps of information, concerning the history of Ireland down to the time of James the First; and "The Conquest of Ireland," by Thomas Bray, also founded upon Giraldus' work, of which indeed it is often a mere translation, though its author criticises Giraldus, and gives much additional information. PART II.-IRELAND BEFORE THE INVASION. In order to have some idea of the state of Ireland and the Irish at the time of the English Invasion, I must go back for one moment to a very early date, namely, about A.D. 120. There then reigned, so the story goes, in the North of Ireland a prince named "Conn of the Hundred Battles," who after long warring with Owen Môr, King of Munster, for the head-kingship of Ireland, agreed with his adversary to divide it between them, Owen taking the Southern half, called Lea Mogha, and Conn taking the Northern half, Lea Conn, i.e., "Conn's Share."* Owen was succeeded by his son, Olioll Olum, who having two sons, Eugenius and Cormac Cass, and being anxious to free his kingdom of Munster from disputes as to the succession, ordained that their two dynasties should succeed alternately to the throne, a system which is said to have been carried out with more or less regularity down to the eleventh century, the Eugenian chiefs ruling over Desmond, or South Munster; the Dalcassian chiefs over Thomond, or North Munster. This division of the dynasty was, as we shall presently see, a very important element in the series of events which led to the Conquest, and should therefore be borne in mind. * The arrangement was long recognized in after times, and is often mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters.-O'Hart, 1st. Ser., p. 70. From the former are descended the MacCarthys and the O'Sullivans; from the latter the O'Briens, the MacMahons, and the O'Kennedys.—Ibid, p. 65. |