The O’Neylons of Dysert and Austria

Late-seventeenth century was in upheaval following the defeat of the Jacobite cause Luke McInerney at Aughrim and in 1691. Many soldiers, Colonel and General of the Austrian imperial army. Catholic landholders and adventurers took advantage In the summer of 2017 a previously unknown of the terms of the Treaty of Limerick and entered eighteenth century portrait of his eldest son, Eugene foreign military service. Thousands of men, among (1724-1748), was identified by the author at the whom were the famous Clare dragoons of Lord Ettal Benedictine cloister in Bavaria, Germany. Ettal Clare, sought military service with the main powers Abbey was Eugene’s Alma Mater, and the portrait in Europe – France, Spain and the army of imperial represents a rare and important painting of a member 1 Austria. The imperial territories of Austria was of the County Clare Jacobite diaspora. The portrait where a branch of the O’Neylon family from Dysert is reproduced here with the kind permission of Pater in County Clare settled, attaining high military rank J. Thaddäus M. Schreiber, O.S.B., of Ettal Abbey. and ennoblement. This branch acquired estates in The author is grateful to Pater Schreiber and Ettal the imperial lands of northern Italy, around Mantua Abbey for details regarding the portrait. in Lombardy. Like other Jacobite families on the continent, the O’Neylons married into other exiled The Uí Nialláin Centuries before serving in the Austrian imperial Irish families who had achieved pre-eminence in the army, the Uí Nialláin (O’Neylons) were a notable service of the Austrian imperial army.2 family in the lordship of , where they Just as other exiled Jacobites sought advancement served as hereditary physicians. The main line of in the ranks of continental regiments, the O’Neylons the Uí Nialláin traced its origin to a professional were required to prove a noble lineage in order medical family which rose to prominence in the to secure military commissions. Securing such later medieval period. The family does not feature proof was important, and in County Clare there prominently in the genealogies, but rather they exist examples of individuals appealing to foreign appear to have enlarged their status from the courts for the grant of a certificate of noblesse, a sixteenth century.7 When they do feature in the Irish prerequisite to preferential high-rank in the military annals, their activities tend to centre on the branch forces of France, Spain and Austria.3 Among the which trained and served as hereditary physicians to pedigrees produced by the Athlone Herald, Sir James the earls of Thomond.8 Terry, in the early 1700s at the exiled Jacobite court 4 The origin of the Uí Nialláin is obscure, but at St Germain, is an armorial grant to ‘O Nelan’. one genealogy traces the Thomond family to Presumably the grant was for service in a French Maoilshechlainn, the physician (an liaigh) of regiment and it was prepared along with a number 5 Leamaneh (Léimeannach), who probably lived of arms representing other Clare families. Not around 1300.9 This is significant because it suggests all O’Neylons sought military service in the Irish that the ancestor-founder of the Uí Nialláin was a regiments in France and, as will be discussed below, physician at Leamaneh in Killinaboy parish, close one distinguished branch served in the Austrian to the Uí Bhriain (O’Briens). Like other imperial army. Gaelic learned families, the Uí Nialláin would have This paper surveys the background of the Dysert held rent-free lands and other privileges granted to the O’Neylons whose origins can be traced to the aos dána, or learned class. The family are recorded ‘learned orders’ in medieval Gaelic .6 They by the Clare-born Franciscan, Antonius Bruodin served as hereditary physicians into the seventeenth (c.1618-1680), as one of the hereditary medical century, and a branch emigrated to the continent and families along with the Uí Iceadha (O’Hickeys). In served in the Austrian imperial army. The founding a passage about these families, Bruodin wrote that member of the branch, Baron Francis Patrick the physicians of the Irish had ‘in Latin and in their O’Neillan (1670-1734), achieved renown as a mother tongue [i.e. Irish], Galen, Hippocrates and

25 other medical books, which they studied carefully’. Ballycorey ( parish) and Ballymacahill He went on to write that they received ‘a yearly ( parish).20 The grant recognised the payment by the leading men and other people whom Gaelic practice of granting a tribute-free estate to they were obliged to serve by hereditary right.’10 a hereditary physician, which in former times the Nothing is known about the medical practice ollamh or chief physician (fear leighis) of the family of the Uí Nialláin before the sixteenth century, as enjoyed in respect of his learning and professional prior to this date the Uí Iceadha appear as the main calling.21 While hereditary land tenure and Gaelic medical kindred in Thomond. The Uí Iceadha are titles were extinguished under the Composition attested as copying medical texts, such as medieval Agreement, they were still being granted by de translations of Hippocrates, from the early 1400s.11 facto means, as leading members of the Gaelic However, the Uí Nialláin rose to prominence during professional families, especially those who had the sixteenth century, when two of their leading close links to the , benefited from members, An Doctúir (Doctor) Domhnall Ó Nialláin land grants and official appointments under them.22 and his son, Maighistir Séamus (‘James’, d.1599), 12 The Uí Nialláin of held Ballyallia and Ballycarroll castles. James was a Another branch of the family was settled noteworthy physician who obtained a medical degree at Kilfenora where their descendants became 13 at Oxford in 1545-48. While their professional prominent churchmen. This branch was related to duties involved touring parts of Ireland and visiting doctors Domhnall and James through a common noble families who could afford their services, the forefather, Amhlaoibh Ó Nialláin. The Kilfenora line Uí Nialláin probably maintained a medical school at came to prominence with the appointment of Seán Ballyallia, where one source remarked that they kept Óg Ó Nialláin as bishop of Kilfenora in 1541, an 14 ‘an open house of hospitality’. office he held until 1572.23 He was initially provided An Doctúir Domhnall Ó Nialláin to the episcopacy under papal provision, but appears Doctor Domhnall (died c.1551) was the personal subsequently to have accepted royal supremacy, physician to the O’Briens of Thomond and while although Kilfenora remained largely Catholic until there is no concrete evidence about where he the installation of Bernard Adams, Protestant Bishop received his training, he may have studied at of Limerick, in 1605.24 Oxford or another foreign university, as the title The career of Bishop Seán Óg Ó Nialláin is proof magister doctor ascribed to him in one legal enough that the family produced learned men outside document suggests.15 This branch of the family of the medical profession. The ability by which the Uí adopted, comparatively early on, the trappings of Nialláin moved between ecclesiastical and medical anglicisation and acted as advisors to the earls of professions following the Protestant Reformation is Thomond. From the mid-1530s Domhnall served as notable. In the preceding centuries they were almost a physician and advisor to king Conchobhar Ó Briain absent from the records of the medieval church.25 The (d.1539) and to his brother, Murchadh, the first earl land dealings of Bishop Seán Óg in the 1560s, and of Thomond (d.1551).16 Doctor Domhnall’s role was especially those of his son, Daniel, stand testimony not limited to practising medicine, and along with to the secular and proprietorial affairs of the family; the he represented Thomond at they also furnish an example of the enchartering of the Irish parliament held at Dublin in 1541.17 His kinsmen such as physician, John Neylon, to Church close relationship with the O’Briens of Thomond lands at Kiltoragh in 1567.26 was rewarded, and following the dissolution of Another notable member was John Nellan, who Friary in 1543, he was granted a lease of the served as archdeacon of Killaloe in the 1560s, and friary’s property.18 The last reference to him is as a who wrote favourably about his relative, Bishop witness (along with two other Ó Nialláin kinsmen) Seán Óg, in an otherwise scathing tract on the 27 to the will of the first earl of Thomond, Murchadh nobility of Thomond. Like his other kinsmen he Ó Briain, in 1551.19 was a graduate from Oxford, obtaining a Bachelor Domhnall’s son James also served as an adviser of Arts in 1547-1548.28 Bishop Seán Óg’s son, to the Thomond O’Briens, and he was particularly Daniel (c.1530-1603), followed him into the church close to Donough O’Brien (d.1624), fourth earl of and became the Protestant Bishop of Kildare in Thomond. James received a favourable grant in the 1583. His appointment serves as a rare example of 1585 Composition Agreement, which acquitted him a Gaelic clerical family switching allegiance to the of rent from his lands and castles of Ballyallia and established Protestant church and being promoted

26 to a bishopric in the Pale.29 Bishop Daniel, like his Seáin Óig easbog Cille Finneamhrach 7 Diarmaid father Seán Óg, obtained significant land interests et Tadhg. Días mac ag an easbog .i. Domhnall et in Inchiquin and , acquiring Dysert castle Éamuinn. Días lé Diarmaid .i. Diarmaid Óg et Donnchadh. Días mac ag Tadhg ré na mhnaoi phósda which remained in the possession of his descendants .i. Tadhg Óig et Uilliam 7 días neamhphósda .i. Seán until the mid-seventeenth century.30 Like other et Éamuinn. 7 is é an tÉamuinn sin dochuaidh go members of the family. he was an alumnus of Saxan 7 tuc mionna nach fágfadh í go bás. Et is Oxford, but he appears not to have obtained a degree ann atáid a shliocht. Domhnall mac Amhlaoibh Uí and returned to Ireland where he was made rector Nialláin, is é fisice is fearr do bhí ré a linn a nÉirinn é. Ceithre maca aige .i. Seámus, Uilliam, Seán et of (Scattery), prior to being appointed Éamuinn. Conadh iad soin clann Amhlaoibh mhic 31 bishop of Kildare. Dhonnchadha mhic Dhiarmada [sunn]. Other members of the family held successive posts at Kilfenora, such as Donald O’Nellan, [Amhlaoibh son of Donnchadh Ua Nialláin had who was made archdeacon in 1602 and William two sons, Seán and Domhnall. Seán had three sons Nealand who was deacon of Kilfenora in 1615.32 .i.e. Seán Óg, bishop of Kilfenora, Diarmaid and The post of archdeacon was an important one and Tadhg. The bishop had two sons .i.e. Domhnall and frequently held by O’Neylon clerics as if it was a Éamonn. Diarmaid had two, namely Diarmaid Óg 33 and Donnchadh. Tadhg had two sons by his wife in hereditary benefice. Their holding of ecclesiastical marriage .i.e. Tadhg Óg and Uilliam, and two outside office probably owed something to the fact that the marriage i.e. Seán and Éamonn; this is the Éamonn O’Neylons produced two bishops (Kilfenora and who went to England and swore that he would never Kildare). It was also probably on account of personal leave it until death, and it is there that his descendants links to the O’Briens that the O’Neylons were are. Domhnall son of Amhlaoibh Ó Nialláin was the best physician of his time in Ireland. He had four granted the castles of Ballyallia and Ballycarroll in sons .i.e. Séamus, Uilliam, Seán and Éamonn. These the sixteenth century. then are the family of Amhlaoibh son of Donnchadh One genealogical tract sets out the main lines son of Diarmaid]. of the family. It illustrates how the Ballyallia The O’Neylons of Austria Uí Nialláin physicians were related to the O’Neylon 34 The family branch which settled in the imperial churchmenSéamus, of Kilfenora: Uilliam, Seán and Éamonn. These then areterritories the family in of northern Amhlaoibh Italy, son followingof Donnchadh the sonJacobite of Amhlaoibh mac Donnchaidh uí Nialláin, días mac Diarmaid]. aige .i. Seáin et Domhnall. Trí meic ag Seáin .i. defeat in 1691, was from Dysert in central Clare.

GenealogyGenealogy of theof the Uí UíNialláin Nialláin

Maoilshechlainn .i. an liaigh Léimeannach = Donnchadh = Amhlaoibh = Giolla Pádraig

Diarmaid

Donnchadh Siomáin (a quo Slíocht Siomáin)

Amhlaoibh Conchobhar Buidhe

Seán Tadhg Diarmaid Dr Domhnall (an Doctúir) (d. post-1551)

Seán (John) Óg, Donnchadh Dr James Seán Éamonn Uilliam Bishop of Kilfenora (of Kilcarragh, (d.1599, Ballyallia) (d.1599) (d.1572) d.1600)

Éamonn Daniel, bishop of William John Daniel John Kildare (d.,1603) (Kilfenora dean?) (d.1621) (d.1608) (1563-c.1636) + Ellie Linche (fl. 1615)

William Elicia Óg John Remond James (1590-1617)35 Nelland (fl.1594) (b.1597)

Daniel (1614-d.1639) + Máire Ruadh Nic Mhathghamhna

Capt. William (d.1678) Daniel Michael John

Capt. Daniel Francis Patrick (1671-1734) + Countess Barbara Browne (d.1751) (fl. 1685) (major-general, Austrian army,titled Baron O’Neillan)

Eugene (1724-48) Francis (1729-57) Annabella Catherina Barbara

Source: McInerney, Clerical and Learned Lineages, p. 172.

27 The O’Neylons of Austria The family branch which settled in the imperial territories in northern Italy, following the Jacobite defeat in 1691, was from Dysert in central Clare. They were descendants of the Kilfenora O’Neylons and their ancestor, William, was the son of Daniel, the bishop of Kildare (d.1603). Bishop Daniel was active in consolidating his proprietorial interests around Dysert and Kilfenora, and on his death in 1603 he had accumulated a sizeable estate in the of Inchiquin.36 William’s son, Daniel (1614-1639) inherited the O’Neylon properties in Inchiquin, Corcomroe and , along with the castles of Bealnalicky near Ruan, and Dysert O’Dea castle.37 Daniel’s grandfather, the Crown-appointed bishop of Kildare, had amassed tracts of lands in central and north Clare which became part of the family’s inheritance. In 1634 Daniel married Máire Nic Mhathghamhna, daughter of Toirdhealbhach Ruadh of Clonderlaw and Clenagh. Máire, known in folklore as Máire Ruadh,38 would later marry Connor O’Brien of Leamaneh who was killed by Cromwellian forces in 1651. This marriage connected the O’Neylons to a leading branch of the O’Briens (later of Dromoland), who were to play an important part in the affairs of the county in subsequent centuries. The O’Neylons were greatly affected by the Cromwellian confiscations and despite the partial reversal of the Cromwellian forfeitures under the 1662 Act of Settlement, their landholding was severely reduced.39 On the death of Daniel in 1639, his estates went to his wife Máire Ruadh and were inherited by their son, William, although many were encumbered with mortgages and pledges.40 It was William’s son, Francis Patrick, who left Ireland in the 1690s to serve in the military of Imperial Austria, and thus founded the ‘Barons O’Neylon’ of Austria (Baronibus O Neilane).41 William was born at Dysert in 1671, and following the

4

They were descendants of the Kilfenora O’Neylons In 1717, he was promoted to Colonel, and in and their ancestor, William, was the son of Daniel, 1722 joined Browne’s 57th infantry regiment. the bishop of Kildare (d.1603). Bishop Daniel was On the death of his uncle in 1729 O’Neylon was active in consolidating his proprietorial interests granted command of the 57th infantry regiment. By around Dysert and Kilfenora, and on his death 1733 he was serving as commander of the citadel in 1603 he had accumulated a sizeable estate in of Mantua in northern Italy, where he assembled the barony of Inchiquin.36 William’s son, Daniel 50,000 men in an effort to regain territory that had (1614-1639) inherited the O’Neylon properties in been lost by the Austrians to Franco-Spanish forces. Inchiquin, Corcomroe and Burren, along with the He died the following year, holding the military castles of Bealnalicky near Ruan, and Dysert O’Dea title, Generalfeldwachtmeister, and the imperial castle.37 Daniel’s grandfather, the Crown-appointed title, Baron Laimpruch zu Epurz.42 His funerary bishop of Kildare, had amassed tracts of lands in inscription at San Maurizio in Mantua, sums up his central and north Clare which became part of the life:43 family’s inheritance. In 1634 Daniel married Máire FRANSICUS EX BARONIBUS ONEILANE, IN Nic Mhathghamhna, daughter of Toirdhealbhach CAESARIS LEGIONIBUS COLONELUS ET Ruadh of Clonderlaw and Clenagh. Máire, known GENERALIS, HIC SITUS EST. QUALEM IN in folklore as Máire Ruadh,38 would later marry MILITES, QUALEM IN CAETEROS SEMPER Connor O’Brien of Leamaneh who was killed ANIMUM GESSIT, SECUTA EIUS MORS, OMNIUM COMPLORATIO DECLARAVIT. by Cromwellian forces in 1651. This marriage DEISERT IN COMITATU CLARAE HIBERNIAE EI connected the O’Neylons to a leading branch of CUNAS, MANTUA LOMBARDIAE EI TUMULUM the O’Briens (later of Dromoland), who were to PRAESTITIT. OBIIT IV (+) OCTOBRIS, EODEM play an important part in the affairs of the county in SCILICET DIE QUO IN LUCEM AEDITUS, ANNO subsequent centuries. AERRAE CHRISTIANAE ( I ) – I) CCXXXIIII. The O’Neylons were greatly affected by the AETAT. SUAE LXIII, MILITARIS QUAM SECUTUS EST VITAE XXXIII. PRAECLARISSIMI VIRI Cromwellian confiscations and despite the partial MEMORIAE SEPULCRALE HOC SAXUM, SUI reversal of the Cromwellian forfeitures under the TESTEM AMORIS, TESTEM DOLORIS, POSUIT 1662 Act of Settlement, their landholding was AFFLICTISSIMA AFFINIS. severely reduced.39 On the death of Daniel in 1639, [Here lies Francis, from the family of the Barons his estates went to his wife Máire Ruadh and were ONeilane, colonel and general in the imperial army. inherited by their son, William, although many were The general lamentation that followed his death showed encumbered with mortgages and pledges.40 It was what attitude he always held towards the soldiers as well as towards everyone else. Dysert, in the County William’s son, Francis Patrick, who left Ireland of Clare in Ireland provided him with his cradle, in the 1690s to serve in the military of Imperial Mantua in Lombardy with a tomb. He died on the 4th of Austria, and thus founded the ‘Barons O’Neylon’ of October, on the very same day on which he was born, in Austria (Baronibus O Neilane).41 William was born the year 1734 of the Christian era, in the 63rd year of his at Dysert in 1671, and following the Jacobite defeat life and in his 33rd year of the military service which he pursued. His most disconsolate wife placed this embarked on a foreign military career. After having sepulchral slab to the memory of a most distinguished proved his nobility in order to secure a commission, man, a testimony to her love and sorrow]. he served as an officer in the Austrian imperial army in 1701. Francis Patrick O’Neylon was granted the title His rise in the ranks was swift and in 1708 he ‘baron’ (in German he was known as Freiherr Franz was a captain (Hauptmann) in the 47th (Harrach) Patric von O Neillan) while in Austrian service, and infantry regiment in Italy under his uncle and another married Barbara Browne (1700-1751), who was of Irish exile, Colonel Commandant George Browne, an Irish military family from .44 whose wife was Francis Patrick O’Neylon’s aunt. Barbara was the daughter of General Count Ulysses O’Neylon continued to rise, and in 1711 he was Browne, (1654-1731) whose family was related to appointed by Browne as Lieutenant Colonel of an other military families, including the Limerick-born infantry regiment in Pavia, Italy. Following this, Russian Field Marshal and Governor General of O’Neylon was employed at Mantua, in Lombardy, and , Count George Browne, (1698- Italy, and subsequently saw military service in 1792).45 Barbara’s brother was the celebrated Hungary in 1713. He distinguished himself at the Maximilian Ulysses Browne, (1705-57) who rose battles of Peterwardein and Temesvar in 1716 to become a Field Marshal in the Austrian imperial against the Turks. army.46 The couple had five sons, all of whom served

28 in the imperial army, and three daughters. Two of Francis was killed by Prussian musket fire while their sons, Eugene and Francis, had particularly trying to demolish city gates with an axe near interesting military careers, about which some detail Hirschwald, in Saxony, in 1757.49 may be gleaned from the historical record. Eugene O’Neylon Portrait Eugene O’Neylon The portrait below is that of Eugene and it is on Eugene O’Neylon was born in 1724 at Lodi in display at Ettal Abbey in Bavaria. It was painted in Italy. Through his father he was well connected, and 1736 when Eugene was twelve years of age and is an he served as a page at the court of Charles VI. He interesting composition, not least because it exhibits studied at the Benedictine Abbey school of Ettal symbolism typical of eighteenth century portraiture. in Bavaria, and became a Major (Wachtmeister) in In the foreground is young Eugene sporting all of the the 59th infantry regiment. In recognition of his attributes of a young nobleman; the anachronistic services to the Austrian imperial Crown, he was armoured helmet with its feather plume alludes to created ‘Count Onelli’ by Empress .47 his military connections and aspirant career, while Eugene married into another Irish military family, his attire and red sash displays the finery of a young, his wife being Theresa, the daughter of Count fashionable nobleman. The portrait itself offers Alexander O’Neill. Eugene gained the rank of interesting visual evidence, depicting a modest Colonel Proprietor in the 42nd infantry regiment, standing pose, with a suggestive arm outstretched and was captured by the Prussians at the battle of toward the military regalia and another clasping Hohenfriedberg in 1745, but escaped. He appears to his sword. However, it is the background which is have died in 1748 due to campaign exhaustion, at most revealing. The background depicts a nameless the age of twenty-four. town surrounded by modern fortification enduring a Eugene’s brother Francis (Baron Franz de siege. This could be an illusion of Eugene’s expected Oneylan) was born in 1729 and was educated military career; alternatively it could be the military in the colleges of Parma and Modena. He had a action of his distinguished father. The realistic distinguished military career, joining the imperial likeness suggests that it was real life portraiture, a army in 1745, and taking part in fighting the French common method of composition in the eighteenth during the Alpine campaign of 1747. Rather curiously century. his character has been eloquently preserved for The portrait is engraved Eugenius L.B. De us in Histoire de Ma Vie, the autobiography of his Neilane Anglus, 1736. This is in error as Anglus extraordinary friend, Giacomo Casanova. According indicates ‘Englishman’. Evidentially the painter paid to Casanova, Francis was a brave soldier and his little heed to the family origin of Eugene, although description of the young O’Neylon throws light on it is equally possible that the ascription was done the bravado and conduct of imperial officers of the at a later point and confusion arose as to Eugene’s time: 48 background. It is thought that the portrait has always O’Neilan was only twenty-three years old; his father, who remained at Ettal and until recently it was assumed was dead, had been a general, and the beautiful Countess by Ettal’s Benedictine community that the surname Borsati was his sister...I [i.e. Casanova] have never met a was a Latinised version of O’Neil, rather than young man more addicted to debauchery than O’Neilan. I have often spent the night rambling about with him, and O’Neylon. While the Ettal community was aware of I was amazed at his cynical boldness and impudence. the incorrect ascription in the engraving, they always Yet he was noble, generous, brave, and honourable. If in recognised the Irish origin of one of their illustrious those days young officers were often guilty of so much immorality, of so many vile actions, it was not so much alumni. their fault as the fault of the privileges which they enjoy Concluding Remarks through custom, indulgence, or party spirit. Here is an example: one day O’Neilan, having drunk rather freely, The foregoing discussion provides some detail rides through the city at full speed. A poor old woman about a leading branch of the O’Neylons of Dysert. who was crossing the street has no time to avoid him, she This branch were lineal descendants of the Crown- falls, and her head is cut open by the horses feet. O’Neilan places himself under arrest, but the next day he is set at appointed bishop of Kildare and whose other liberty. He had only to plead that it was an accident. kinsmen were hereditary physicians to the O’Briens O’Neilan, who was as brave as a bayard, was killed a of Thomond. In common with other Catholic few years afterwards at the battle of Prague. A man of his Jacobite families, they sought military service in complexion was certain to fall victim of Mars or of Venus. the ranks of continental armies following the 1691 He might be alive now if he had been endowed only with the courage of a fox, but he had the courage of the lion. Treaty of Limerick. The story of the O’Neylons is a particularly distinguished one as their foreign

29 military service was accompanied by ennoblement On a general account of Irish military émigrés to continental and the attainment of estates and titles. Their position Europe see Maurice N. Hennessy, The Wild Geese: The Irish Soldier in Exile (London, 1973) and Harman Murtagh, ‘Irish in the imperial territories of Austria surpassed their soldiers abroad 1600-1800’, in Thomas Bartlett & Keith former standing in County Clare at a time when the Jeffery (eds)., A Military History of Ireland (Cambridge, dispossessed many Catholic proprietors 1996), pp. 294-314. 3. On certificates ofnoblesse among Jacobites in France see and excluded them from martial professions. One of Melville Henry Massue, The Jacobite Peerage, Baronetage, the most poignant legacies of the status and standing Knightage, and Grants of Honour (Edinburgh, 1904). of the O’Neylons is the portrait of Eugene; it is 4. British Library, Ms. 4039, p. 178. probably one of only a few portraits of a County 5. These families included O Brien; O Conour of Corcomroe; O Loghlin of Bornie; O Daly; O Clanachey siue Clancy of Clare émigré from the era of the ‘wild geese’ Ballybrien in Co Limerick; O Quin siue Cuinn; MacKineriny; remaining today. Mac Gragh; MacNamara of Rosruadh; O Grady; O’Nelan siue Neylon of County Clare; O Dea; O Gorman; O Mullony; Notes and References O Spillane; O Caishine; O ; O Bruodin; O Gripha 1. On distinguished émigrés from County Clare see Sean (spellings as per Ms. Harley 4039). Lloyd’s Tour of Clare (Ennis, 1780), pp. 55-6. He incorrectly 6. The author acknowledges the assistance of Brian Ó Dálaigh records the death of ‘Count Nelan’ as 1758. in the preparation of this article. 2. One estimate suggests that over one hundred Irishmen 7. They do not appear in a list of literary and learned families attained high rank in the army of Austria, including field authored by the seventeenth century antiquary, Dubhaltach marshals, generals, colonels, etc. See W.S., ‘Irish units in Mac Fhirbhisigh. See James Carney, ‘De Scriptoribus Imperial service’, Irish Sword, vol. 3 (1957-1958), pp. 74-75. Hibernicis’, Celtica, 1:1 (1946), pp. 86-110.

Photo by Luke McInerney, by kind permission of Ettal Abbey, Bavaria, Germany.

30 8. A.F.M., sub anno 1572, 1588, 1599. The one exception status. See James Carney, The Irish Bardic Poet (Dublin, relates to the 1572 obit of Bishop Seán Óg Ó Nialláin. 1967), pp. 24-5. 9. R.I.A. Ms. 24. P. 41 (scribe: Tadhg Ó Neachtáin). 22. For example, the learned poet, Tadhg mac Dáire Mhic 10. Antonius Bruodinus, Propugnaculum Catholicae Veritatis Bhruaideadha, was granted rent-free lands at Knockanalban Libris X Constructum, in Duasque Partes Divisum. Pars (Mount Scott), which continued to be held rent-free by Prima Historica in Quinque Libros (Prague, 1669), p. 791. his widow after his death in 1626. Another follower of On the translation and reference to the O’Neylons see Luke the earl, brehon lawyer, Baothghalach Mac Fhlannchadha McInerney, ‘A ‘most vainglorious man’: the writings of (Boetius Clancy), received a favourable grant under the Antonius Bruodin’, Archivium Hibernicum, vol. 60 (2017), 1585 Composition Agreement and also served as the M.P. pp. 202-283, 242-243. for Clare in the same year, and served as High Sheriff in 11. In 1403 ‘Nicól Ó hIcidhe’ copied parts of the medical 1588. See West Sussex Record Office, Britain, Petworth manuscript, Lile na hEladhan Leighis, including the section House Collection, P.H.A C27/A/39, printed in Martin Breen, on the Aphorisms of Hippocrates. See Standish H. O’Grady, Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in the British Museum, vol. 1 ‘The 1626 rental of Thomond property’, North Munster (London, 1926: reprint Dublin 1992), p. 222. Antiquarian Journal, vol. 54 (2014), 1-25, p. 25. On 12. A.F.M., sub anno 1599. In 1574 James was recorded as Baothghalach see Luke McInerney, ‘The Síol Fhlannchadha holding the castles of Ballyallia and Ballycarroll, and the of Tradraighe, Co. Clare: Brehon Lawyers of the Gaelic ‘abbaye of Inish’ (). See R. W. Twigge, ‘Edward Tradition’, Eolas: Journal of the American Society of Irish White’s Description of Thomond in 1574,’ North Munster Medieval Studies, vol. 9 (2016), pp. 19-54. Antiquarian Journal,1:2 (1910), pp. 75-85, pp. 79, 84. 23. A.F.M., sub anno 1572. 13. In 1545 the Oxford register recorded him as Bachelor 24. Henry Cotton, Fasti Ecclesiæ Hibernicæ: The Succession of Arts; three years later he became Master of Arts. He of the Prelates and Members of the Cathedral Bodies of graduated in 1549 as Bachelor of Physic, and was registered Ireland, vol.1 (2nd ed., London, 1851), pp. 502-503. as a student of All Souls College. See Anthony Wood, 25. See Luke McInerney, Clerical and Learned Lineages of Athenae Oxonienses, vol. 2 (London, 1815), pp. 121, 126, Medieval County Clare: A Survey of the Fifteenth-Century 129. Also see Brian Ó Cuív, ‘The in the early Papal Registers (Dublin, 2014), pp. 169–73. One exception modern period’, in A New History of Ireland: Early Modern was Thomas O’Neyllayn, a canon of Kilfenora, recorded Ireland 1534-1691 (Oxford, 1976), pp. 509-545, 519. in papal correspondence for 1501, McInerney, Clerical and 14. See the English warrant of protection issued to James Learned Lineages, p. 274. Neyland for his ‘learning and daily need for the services 26. Ainsworth (ed.), Inchiquin Manuscripts (no. 889), pp. by the magnates and inhabitants of the country’. Kenneth 273-4. Many of the bishop’s property transactions, and those Nicholls & Tomas G. O Cannan (eds.), The Irish Fiants of the of his son Daniel, have been preserved in the Inchiquin Tudor Sovereigns During the Reigns of Henry VIII, Edward Collection. For example, see Inchiquin Manuscripts nos. 889, VI, Philip & Mary, and (Dublin, 1994), no. 215; 905-939 949, 952, 1013, 1308, 1332. A.F.M., sub anno 1599. 27. K .W. Nicholls, ‘A Commentary on the Nobility and 15. John Ainsworth (ed.), The Inchiquin Manuscripts (Dublin, Gentry of Thomond, Circa 1567’, Irish Genealogist, 4:2 1961), p. 503. (1969), pp. 65-73. 16. Doctor Domhnall is first mentioned in a letter from 28. See Joseph Foster, Alumni Oxonienses; the Members of ‘Conohwyr O Bryen Prince of Twomone’ to King Henry the University of Oxford, 1500-1714, vol. 3 (London, 1891), VIII, dated 13 October 1535 at Clonroad near Ennis, where p.1066. he refers to ‘Doghtoure Nyellane’ as one of his advisors. See 29. On an early reference to Bishop Daniel from 1586 see State Papers, Published under the Authority of His Majesty’s J.S Brewer & William Bullen, (eds.) Calendar of the Carew Commission: King Henry the Eighth, vol. 2 (London, 1830), Manuscripts in the Archiepiscopal Library at Lambeth, 1575- pp. 287-288. 1588 (London, 1868), p. 428. 30. See Ainsworth, Inchiquin Mss., pp. 922, 923 1332. For 17. For a detailed discussion about Doctors Domhnall and a full account of Bishop Daniel’s property on his death see James see Brian Ó Dálaigh, ‘Doctors Donnell and James Frost, History and Topography, p. 277. Neylon and the O’Briens of Thomond 1530–1599’, Other 31. Wood, Athenae Oxonienses, pp. 847-848. Clare, vol. 15 (1991), pp. 15-19, p. 15. Also see State papers Published under the Authority of His Majesty’s Commission: 32. Nicholls and O Cannan, Irish Fiants, no. 6729. The lands King Henry the Eighth, vol. 3 (London, 1834), p. 305 [viz. of the archdeacon of Kilfenora, including Kilcarragh, were ‘Doctor O Nolan’]. held in 1600 by Donogh O’Neylon, and on his death in that year, passed to his son William. The connection between 18. State Papers, Henry the Eighth, vol. 3, pp. 450-451 [viz. these O’Neylons and the bishop is not known, but it is likely ‘Doctor Nelan’]. that William who inherited Kilcarragh is also mentioned 19. Ainsworth, Inchiquin Mss., (no.1480), pp. 501-504. (‘Will Nealon’) in the 1601 freeholder’s list of Kilfenora, Murchadh’s will clearly reveals connections to the Uí N.L.I Inchiquin Ms. 45,640/1; Philip Dwyer, The Diocese of Nialláin, since three of the family appear as witnesses: Killaloe (Dublin, 1878), p. 99. The bishop’s son, William, ‘Magistro doctore Nelan’ (i.e. Doctor Domhnall); ‘Thadeo o was born in 1590. See Frost, History and Topography, p. 277. Nelan’; and the bishop of Kilfenora (Seán Óg Ó Nialláin). 33. The land of Kilcarragh appears as an endowment of the 20. Martin Freeman (ed.), The Compossicion Booke of archdeaconry and it was often held by O’Neylons. See West Conought (Dublin, 1936), p. 29. Ballyallia remained free Sussex Record Office, Britain, Petworth House Collection from crown-rent and was inherited by Doctor’s James’ son, 16/B/D/2 [Great Office of Corcomroe, 5 September 1618]. Daniel, and on his death in 1608, by his son James. See James 34. R.I.A. Ms. 23. M.17. I thank Kenneth Nicholls for Frost, The History and Topography of the County of Clare drawing this genealogy to my attention and Professor Pádraig (Dublin, 1893), pp. 28-45. Ó Riain for his kind help in transcribing and translating it. 21. Probably the best articulation of this in the sixteenth 35. Ainsworth, (ed.), Inchiquin Mss., p. 321, Frost, History and century was by the Ulster poet, Eochaidh Ó hEoghusa, who Topography, p. 277. listed what an ollamh expected in right of his learning and 31 36. Frost, History and Topography, p. 277. 42. See Kenneth J. O’Malley, ‘Francis Patrick O’Neillan 37. See Daniel’s landholding detailed at length in 1618:West Baron Laimpruch au Epurz’, The Irish Sword, 21:84 (1998), Sussex Record Office, Britain, Petworth House Collection, pp. 220-1. 16/B/E [Great Office of Inchiquin, 1 Sept. 1618]. On the 43. F. Amadei (ed), Cronaca universale della citta di Mantova lands of William upon his death in 1617 see Ainsworth, (1745), 5 vols. (Mantua, 1954-57), pp. 507-8. I thank Inchiquin Mss., pp. 433-435 (no. 1321). Giacomo Fedeli of King’s College London, for assistance 38. On her life see Maire MacNeill, Máire Rua, Lady of Leamenah (Whitegate, 1990). with the translation. An alternative translation is found in 39. Few of the family are mentioned in the 1659 ‘Census’ Réamonn Ó Muirí, ‘Historic sites and traditions: Francis which shows the Cromwellian land settlement. See Patrick O’Neillan, Baron Laimpruch Zu Epurz’, Seanchas Seamus Pender (ed.), A Census of Ireland, c.1659: with Ardmhacha: Journal of the Armagh Diocesan Historical Supplementary Material from the Poll Money Ordinances Society, 18:1 (1999/2000), pp. 240-1. (1660–1) (Dublin, 1939), pp. 163-4. 44. Dr Antonio Schmidt-Brentano, Kaiserliche und k.k. 40. On William’s landholding see R.C. Simington (ed.), Generale (1618-1815) (Munich, 2006), p. 70. Books of Survey and Distribution, Being Abstracts of Various 45. Eamonn Ó Ciardha, ‘Browne, George (1698–1792)’, Surveys and Instruments of Title, 1636–1703, 4 [Co. Clare] Dictionary of Irish Biography (Cambridge, 2009), pp. 912- (Dublin, 1967), pp. 545-554. On William’s will, where he is 913 described as ‘Captain’ and it states that his estates went to 46. See Christopher Duffy, The Wild Goose and the Eagle: A his widow and eldest son Daniel with the remainder to his Life of Marshal von Browne, 1705-1757 (London, 1964). ‘second son Francis Nelyon’ and his half-brother Donough 47. George B. Clark, Irish Soldiers in Europe 17th-19th O’Brien of Leamaneh, Teige O’Brien and Therlagh O’Brien, Century (Cork, 2010) p. 191. see Ainsworth (ed.), Inchiquin Mss., pp. 513-514 (no. 1491). 48. Arthur Machen (trans.) The Memoirs of Jacques 41. On references to him in Austrian military service see Casanova, vol. 1 (1923), pp 662-3. Josef Maciaga & Albert von Pillersdorf, Geschichte des k.u.k.galizischen Infanterie-Regimentes Feldmarschall 49. Gustav von Hubka, Geschichte des k. und k. Infanterie- Friedrich Josias Prinz zu Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld, (Vienna, Regiments Graf von Lacy Nr. 22 von seiner Errichtung bis zur 1898), pp. 50-1, 944. Gegenwart (Zara: Verlag des Regiments, 1902), p. 84. A Radiocarbon Date from the Archaeological Excavation of Earthworks at Quin Friary

The opening of two small archaeological trenches on the previously unexcavated earthworks adjacent Graham Hull and Joseph McCooey to Quin Friary was reported in last year’s volume of this Journal (Hull and McCooey 2017). That the sixteenth century. The determination adds good work and earlier survey (Hull and McCooey 2015) evidence that the earthworks at Quin are likely demonstrated that the humps and bumps in the to have been contemporary with the floruit of the fields were likely to be a deserted medieval village. McNamara-founded Franciscan friary (constructed The Royal Irish Academy generously approved a early fifteenth century and suppressed mid-sixteenth grant application by the authors for a radiocarbon century). The radiocarbon determination will also determination to assist in dating these earthworks. assist in generating further enthusiasm and hopefully A goat or sheep tooth (the species are very similar) funding for a second phase of archaeological work at recovered from a secure context beneath the metalled the medieval earthworks. This will of course require road surface adjacent to the part-excavated house approval from N.M.S., O.P.W. and the land user. in Trench 2 was sent to the Queen’s University, Notes and References Belfast, and returned a radiocarbon date of cal. A.D. Hull, G and McCooey, J, 2015, ‘The Earthworks at Quin 1441-1631 (UBA-34959). The most likely date for Friary’, Other Clare, vol. 39, pp. 38-9. the death of the animal was between the second Hull, G and McCooey, J, 2017, ‘Archaeological Excavation of half of the fifteenth century and the first quarter of Earthworks at Quin Friary’, Other Clare, vol. 41, pp. 52-59.

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