Carn Connachtagh.1 A close watch was kept on their assailants, and at early morning they rushed on them with fierce determination. A sudden panic seized on the latter. They fled precipitately along by Lahinch to Inagh, abandoning all they had, and falling, the Four Masters say, "by twenties and thirties, by twos and threes." A small party under Turlogh O'Brien, brother of the Earl of Thomond, took refuge in the castle of Caherush beyond Milltown-Malbay, while a good number, including some of the chiefs, were wounded or taken prisoners. Two years later on, A.D. 1575, the earl and his brother Turlogh took revenge for this defeat by a savage raid on the country towards Kildysart, then under the jurisdiction of Teigue of Inchiquin, seizing or destroying both lay and Church property. With the enemy at their gates, such was the suicidal policy of the degenerate O'Briens of that day.

1 This is a conical heap of stones near Kilshanny, about three hundred feet in diameter at the base and twenty-five feet high; and is believed to have been the place where O'Connor, Prince of Corcomroe, was inaugurated.

CHAPTER XVII.

FROM 1576 TO 1590.

Clare, annexed to Connaught in 1569, is reannexed to Munster in 1576The Dalcassians for the first time consent to pay Tribute-How Clare and Tipperary became at last an English Possession-The last Tanist of Thomond - The Protestant Earl of Thomond cuts asunder the Allied Northern and Southern Catholics-Donogh of Ennistymon, ancestor of the Dromoland O'Briens, hanged at Limerick, A.D. 1582 -Fate of Donogh Beg O'Brien-Tripartite Deed-MacNamara and other Chiefs refuse to sign-Stout Resistance of Mahon O'Brien of Cluanoon (ancestor of the Clare Mahons)-Owners of Castles in Clare at this period-Suppressed Abbeys.

In this year Clare was reannexed to Munster under the presidency of Sir William Drury, by order of the Lord Deputy, Sir Henry Sydney. The latter, with a considerable force, proceeded from Cork towards Limerick, where he was met by some of the Dalcassian chiefs.1 They went with him voluntarily through Clare on to Galway. He broke faith with them, bringing some of them, as well as the sons of the Earl of Clanrickard, to Dublin as hostages. Donal O'Brien must have been party to this treachery to his kinsmen, as Sydney appointed him governor of Clare. He ruled with great firmness, repressing disorder with much severity; so that, "while he continued in office," say the Four Masters, "it was not found necessary to place watchmen over cattle, or even to close doors." Sir William Drury gave him effective co-operation. Coming to Limerick, he then held an assize, at which "several of the gentlemen and common. people of the O'Briens, and many others besides, were hanged." 2

In the following year, 1577, some notable events occurred in Clare. Teigue of Inchiquin, after his stormy career, and

MacGorman, chief of his clan, died. Sir William Drury, bringing with him a large force of the English and Irish of Munster, held an assize for eight days in the monastery of Ennis. He endeavoured to secure the payment by the Dalcassians of a regular tribute, and, on their refusal, let loose on them the large body of troops who were with him in Ennis. It needs no great effort of fancy to realise what that meant. Under such pressure they had to succumb, and for the first time1 in their long history they agreed to pay tribute. Not much was demanded, only ten pounds from each barony,— but the thin end of the wedge was in at last.

The work of submission now proceeded apace. As on two former occasions, so too at this crisis, the head of the O'Briens was the first of the Dal-Cas to strike his colours. On no one of these occasions did he look for, nor could he count on, the consent of his clan. Their sense of loyalty to their chief was trafficked on at their cost for his aggrandisement under the English connection. As we have already seen, the Earl of Thomond, after a fitful opposition to the English invaders, made a complete surrender of his strong places. He sent his son Donogh to the English court as a hostage for his future good behaviour, and to receive an English and Protestant education. Now he went over himself to render his submission complete. Elizabeth gladly received him, recognising at once how useful a tool he could be in her hands. We have her own account, in a letter to Sir Henry Sydney, dated October 7, 1577, of "the humble suit made unto us by our right trusty and right well-beloved cousin, Conoher Earl of Thomond." Such a flattering reception boded no good for the people at home. It appears from this letter that he bargained for "freedom from cesse on all his own lands within the said county of Thomond, which, he says, are comprised in eight baronies, besides the barony of Ibreckan." He then sought the "wardship of heires after the decease of the chiefs of every name." This Elizabeth, as might well be expected from her character, wisely refused; preferring to reserve to herself the plucking and bringing up of such youths. He secured "the customs of Clare (Clarecastle) and

1 Four Masters.

1

Clanrode;" and also that "so much of the bonnagth for the wages of the gallowglasses, as hath been leviable upon the earl's particular and proper lands, shall be remitted to him as in suspense, while the service of that gallowglass shall cease, if you, our deputy, shall know no cause to the contrary." Nor was he yet satisfied. He had already part of the Church land belonging to Clare Abbey, granted "by the king, our father, of noble memory, King Henry VIII." Now he looks. for the rest of it, and with it "the territories of Ince (Ennis) and Coheny (Quin), the chantries of Termon-Shenin (Killone), Termon-Tolloughe (Tulla), Termon-Moynoudh (Moynoe), and Termon-Skenoway." The complacent Elizabeth sees no difficulty about sweeping all the Church property-" abbey lands, frieries, and chantries,"-gifts bestowed by the pious donors for the use of the poor more even than for the service of religion-into his net, seeing that there is reserved to herself such a rent as by the survey shall be allotted." The people of the Clare of to-day must not complain, since they have workhouses under a Poor Law Board as substitutes for those relics of the benighted Middle Ages! He furthermore sought a grant of the island of Iniscatha,2 but this was refused, on the ground that it commanded the approach to the city of Limerick. All these grants made to him, "in consideration of the dutiful mind the said erle pretends to bear to us and to our service," were only conditional. To fetter him the more, and bind him neck and heels to the English interest, it was left to the discretion of Sir Henry Sydney to confirm them or limit them as he thought fit.3 Here are the queen's words: "Yet we refer to your consideration the manner of our grants, to pass under our seal, and to be limited as you shall think convenient for our service, and his reasonable relief." He could now feel reasonably secure, though at the cost of conscience and honour. His title and 1 Or Iniscronan.

2 This island was granted, six years later on, A.D. 1583, by Elizabeth to the Mayor and Corporation of the city of Limerick.

3 This discretion was, to some extent at least, exercised; as a grant in fee of the Abbey of Quin and its possessions was made by letters patent, dated December 14, 1583, to Sir Turlogh O'Brien, son of Donal of Ennistymon.

ill-gotten possessions, as far at least as Church lands were included, were recognised by the English queen; and no one, from the Irish point of view, challenged his claim to the headship of his clan, since Donal of Ennistymon-the last who laid claim by the law of Tanistry to the principality of Thomond-had surrendered it. The English policy had now gained considerable ground in Clare. The Earl of Thomond was no longer The O'Brien-only an English-made noble. His son and heir received his training and his religion from Elizabeth; and another O'Brien, son of O'Brien of Ara, had just been appointed, after an English education, Protestant Bishop of Killaloe. All political resistance had ceased, and for the first time Clare might be said to be an integral part of the British Empire.

It has been already stated that the Bishop of Killaloe, Malachy O'Molony, was translated to the see of Kilmacduagh, to make room for Cornelius O'Mulryan, a Franciscan friar. The latter was the brother of the chief of that name. His great abilities were availed of by Pope Gregory XIII. in support of the Catholic cause, championed chiefly by the Earl Desmond in the South, and later on by O'Donnell and O'Neill in the North. Since his appointment to the see of Killaloe in 1577,1 he employed all his energy in organising, with the aid of the Pope and the King of Spain, an expedition in support of Desmond. He set out for Ireland from Rochelle, to prepare the way, with Desmond, for the landing of the expedition, but his vessel fell into the hands of pirates, and he was glad to be allowed to escape, with his life only, back to France. Thereupon Desmond 2 wrote to the Pope, still pressing for aid. It was strongly recommended that the Bishop of Killaloe should accompany the troops, to direct them where to land and to guide them through the country. His arrival in Ireland was at once notified to the queen by Sir William

1 Seven years later on, in 1584, his metropolitan, Dermot O'Hurley, Archbishop of Cashel, fell into the hands of the English, and suffered a glorious martyrdom in Stephen's Green in Dublin.

2 The Pope issued a Bull, as did others of his successors, calling on all Irish Catholics to take up arms for the faith, and granting them the same indulgences that were offered of old to those who fought for the Holy Land.