The Flight of the Earls

THE FLIGHT OF THE EARLS THE FLIGHT OF THE EARLS BY TADHG 6 CIANAIN ^ EDITED FROM THE AUTHOR'S MANUSCRH'T, WITH TRANSLATION AND NOTES BY RE\\ PAUL WALSH, M.A. RECORD SOCIETY ST. PATRICK'S COLLEGE, MAYNOOTH M. H. GILL & SON, Ltd., DUBLIN 1916 BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY CHESTNUT HILL MASS. CORRIGENDA Page 4, line 3, for gcomhairchiss read (jcomhairrchiss ; p. 10, 1. 31, ac is covered by a blot of ink, wliich was on the manuscript when I first 1. saw it ; p. 14, 23, for bhat I'ead bed ; p. 22, 1. 22, for letreadha read letreacha ; pp. 34, 66, 130, 136, 146, lassam (with mark of abbreviation) ; Jdsamhain occurs written out on p. 240, and lusamno on pp. 186, 234 ; 1. p. 34, 5 from end. for ffiadh)iiussi read ffiadhnnissi ; p. 44, 1. 8. for si read si)i ; j). 52, 1. 21, the manuscript has lochrainn ; p. 54, I. 15, read letreachoibh ; p. 56, 1. 1, for o I'ead a ; 1. 17, the r of raingce is written on d ; p. 58, 1. 8, the manuscript puts the stop after sodain ; p. 62, 1. 17, the words ar na mharach belong to the preceding sentence ; p. 66, I. 16, ospitail occurs written out on pp. 182, 246 ; p. 70, 1. 18, for dithoghluide read 1. dithoghlaide ; p. 86, 9, the comma should be a full stop ; p. 94, 1. 7, opposite mharta, on the right margin, the manuscript has 1608 ; 1. 12, for ierla read iarla ; pp. 96, 98, the manuscript has stops after bliadhna 1. and bas ; p. 100, 16, see corrigendum of p. 66 ; p. 110, 1. 23, read hAdhomh-chloi)me; p. 113. note, read -\ archaingil ; p. 116, 1. 6, read at[ch]aiss 118, 1. 3 from end, read bliadhnoihh 1. ; p. ; p. 122, 25, read furaiss -j deuosioin ; p. 124, 1. 4, for inichien read imchein ; 1. 9 from end, for i n- read for ; p. 136, 1. 26, read glomhaiss ; the stop should be after sodain ; p. 148, 1. 4 from end, omit the brackets ; p. 152, 1. 24, read 1. thairmcheimniugadh ; p. 170, 29, for diardaoin read dia dardaoin ; p. 176, 1. 1. 4, for ttri read tri ; p. 192, 4, for tturuis read tturus ; p. 196, 1. 20, read 1. primhecluis ; p. 208, 2, the manvxscript has only Romhan ; p. 212, 1. 12, for chomdach of the manuscript read conidach ; p. 220, 1. 8, read •] talmain ; p. 232, 1. 11, read ag inotacht ag aittrebhadh ; p. 240, 1. 5 from 1. end, for sin read si ; p. 248, 22, for Francisco read Fransisco ; p. 250, 1. 15, for delp read dealp ; p. 252, 1. 23, la horsnaithe in the manuscript, with a dot over the n, la h having been altered (as also on p. 256, 1. 10) from d. " " " " " Page 9, hne 21, for driver read driven ; p. 37, 1. 7, after twenty- " " " " " " " first add [recte twenty -second] ; 1. 24 for [and] read or " (inaid = no as on p. 130, 1. 26) ; p. 41, 1. 13 for Monday [recte Sunday] the twenty-eighth " read " Monday the twenty-eighth [recte twenty- " 1. " " " " ninth] ; 4 from end, after thirtieth read [recte thirty-first] ; " " p. 45, 1. 10, for a sergeant-major read " the sergeant-major of the " for " " "' " town ; p. 59, n. 3 Ruaidhri read Rugliraighe ; p. 63, 1. 17, " " '' " " " next day ; 1. for omit on the 23, midnight read midday ; " " " " " " p. 71, last line, read Brussels ; p. 83, 1. 18. for namep read named p. 84, nn. 1 and 2, Niderharga is Niderhergheim (compare Oberhergheim, about ten miles sovith of Cohnar), 'O Cianain reverses the order of this 1. " " name and Otmers (= Ottmarsheim) ; p. 99, 23, omit city ; p. 107, " 1. 28, for Wednesday the seventeenth [recte sixteenth] " read " Thursday " " " " the seventeenth ; p. 241, 1. 9, for eighteenth read eighth." 1549 PREFACE THE Flight of the Earls deserves to rank as one of the most important events in Irish history. Its more immediate effect was the clearing of the way for the agrarian settlement known as the Plantation of Ulster, while it exerted a profound influence years afterwards in the affairs connected with the rebellions of 1641 and 1689. It marked the beginning of a new era, and w^as the most significant evidence of the passing away of the old. With the Flight of the Earls the Gaelic organisation of Ireland, which had made a vigorous resistance during three quarters of a century, surrendered the last stronghold, and the new order entered into that complete mastery which it has since maintained. In this all-important proceeding the principal personages involved were Aodh O Neill, Rughraighe O Domhnaill, and Cuchonnacht Maguidhir, princes respectively of Tir Eoghain, Tir Chonaill, and Fir Manach in Ulster. Aodh, son of Fear- dorcha, son of Conn Bacach O Neill, was reared by the English, was taught the habit of his masters, and was styled Earl of Tyrone, a title which his grandfather was the first to bear. He was the pet of English governors in Ireland, and even wielded the sword in the Queen's right. In the end, however, he broke with her Majesty's servants, and for years carried on rebellion in defence of, as he frequently protested, Catholicism and the hereditary rights of O Neill of Ulster. He defeated in his most successful battles the best generals and armies that Elizabeth could send against him. At length he concluded peace, on practically his own terms, at the commencement of the new reign. The liberties and guarantees granted him bv Mount] oy, were not, however, viii FLIGHT OF THE EARLS respected by Chichester, a later Lord Deputy. The dis- contents of the under-tenants of O Neill were encouraged by the King's Government. He was involved in a tedious lawsuit with O Cathain, his most important subject, and in other annoyances. He became apprehensive of his personal safety, and determined to seek the means of redress in a foreign land. A messenger was dispatched to the Continent. A vessel arrived on the coast of Donegal in September, 1607, and O Neill, gathering his friends and his belongings, set sail on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, never again, as it proved, to lay eyes on Ireland. Rughraighe O Domhnaill, who had been invested with the title of Earl of Tyrconnell after the conclusion of the peace, was a brother-in-law of O Neill. He was a younger brother of Aodh Ruadh, who, kidnapped and imprisoned by Lord Deputy Perrot, became a fierce opponent of the English, and was so great a danger to the English power that Sir George Carew, the President of Munster, had him poisoned in Spain. Rughraighe had taken part in the rebellion, and had been selected by Aodh Ruadh to govern his people in his absence from Ireland after the fatal dav of Kinsale. Niall Garbh O Domhnaill, who was his cousin, and was married to his sister, was maintained by the English to check his power. He was not yet forty when the Flight took place. His wife, whom he left behind him, was a laciy of an Anglo-Irish family, Brigid Fitzgerald, daughter of the Earl of Kildare, and their only son, an infant, accompanied his father, and grew to manhood on the Continent. Ciichonnacht Maguidhir was a younger brother of Aodh Maguidhir, prince of Fir Manach, one of O Neill's staunchest supporters during the war. That he was a dangerous man from the point of view of the Government we can gather from two facts : first, Conchubhar Maguidhir, a kinsman, who was styled gallda, " the anglificd," was strongly sup- ported in opposition to him, and had half the county of Fermanagh allotted to him ; second, Aodh Ruadh O Domh- PREFACE ix naill, who would have no deahngs with a wcakHng, had Cuchonnacht proclaimed Maguidhir when his brother Aodh was slain in 1600. After the war we learn little of him until the year of the Flight. He left Ireland in the spring or early summer, engaged the ship in which the chiefs embarked for Spain, and arrived with the vessel in Lough Swilly in September. He died while still young on August 12, 1608, at Genoa, and the Four Masters relate of him that he had " wisdom, a fine appearance, and every goodness." The work which is edited and translated in the present volume describes the doings of these princes from the time that they left Ireland. The author was Tadhg O Cianain, whose family had for generations served as chroniclers to that of Maguidhir, He was one of the party that accompanied the chiefs, and he was an eye-witness of all he describes. His narrative is the only work of its kind in Irish literature, and it is a pity that, if he continued it down to a later period, the conclusion is not forthcoming. The manuscript from which the text is derived, penned in his own neat and graceful hand, is preserved in the convent of the Franciscans, Merchants' Quay, Dublin, whither it was conveyed from Rome in 1872. The writing occupies one hundred and thirty-five pages, and the narrative breaks off abruptly at the end of November, 1608. Page 96 was written on September 23rd, 1609 (see note, page 192), and it is unlikely that the story was not carried down to that date, or a later one. Of this latter portion nothing is known—whether it exists at all, and if it exists, where it may be. O Cianain never refers by name to himself in the body of his work.

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