BOOK THREE CHAPTER FOUR This chapter of Book Three will begin at 1360 A. D., which was that period of Irish history where the Normans who had invaded Ireland at its southern extremities, and expanded their conquests northerly, were attempting to consolidate their successes. The Norman forces had been followed by King Henry II and his large army, who arrived to complete their establishment of the English foothold into Ireland, and to expand it through confiscation of Irish lands to other parts of the country, mainly through grants of large parcels of land with the understanding that the grantees had to conquer any existing Irish occupants of those parcels, and continue to hold those grants of land against any attempts by the former occupants to get it back. The chapter will extend forward to about 1587A. D., which is the time when the English forces kidnapped and imprisoned the fifteen year old child who was heir to leadership of the O'Donnell clan of Tyrone. He would become their chief, and he would fight many battles against the Crown forces in Ireland. In 1338 A. D., the English had entered into The Hundred Years War with the French, and it would last until 1453 A. D. The war complicated things for Ireland. It eliminated any assistance that the Irish might have received from France, and it weakened the amount of control that England could exert over the Irish. In 1342 A. D., Laoiseach O'More was slain by one of his own people. At his death, the Lord Deputy Sir Roger Mortimer regained possession of Dunamase, and he fortified this former seat of the O'Mores of Leix to make it his center of control for the area. Mortimer also constructed castles to control various parts of the countryside. Prior to that, in 1325 A. D., Laoiseach O'More was acting for Lord Deputy Sir Roger Mortimer in the Leix area. He seized the castle at Dunamase, which was the seat of the Irish O'More tribe. He recovered all of the family lands that had been confiscated from his people. That encompassed all of the lands between the River Barrow and the River Nore, extending westerly toward the Slieve Bloom Mountains, plus portions of the present counties of Kildare and Kilkenny. In 1358 A. D., a large force of English left Dublin to invade the Leix area, and lay waste to it. The Irish natives met the Dublin soldiers in battle, and many of the English were killed. In 1360 A. D., the following were noted: - At Moycullen in County Galway, at Kerrigan's Keep, Roe Kerrigan had warred with the Black Flaherty, and had given it up. He left his fiefdom, and he went to Moycullen where he built a fortress over a period often years. Roe Kerrigan's son, Anair, had married a Dartry from Leinster whose name was Marra. Marra Kerrigan led a raid to the O'Conahey demesne and she wiped them out. Then, she waged war against other nearby tribes. Her war banner had an orange stalking leopard, and it was spotted with crimson. At Lough Rea, near Killreekill, at Castle Kelso, Ordlin O'Downey put up a fight against Marra Kerrigan's forces, and Kerrigan retreated. Gathering 5,000 men, of which 1000 were horse, and 4,000 were foot, Kerrigan laid waste to the countryside. Ordlin O'Downey raised a force to combat them. Ailor Kerrigan, who was Marra's son, selected a campsite alongside the Bog of Bealaclugga. Ordlin O'Downey's men surprised them at dawn, flying his banner of a white heron in full flight on a background of grassy green. The O'Downey forces included: - The O'Harra clan, which was fighting under its banner of a purple lion on a red background - The O'Boylan clan whose sign was to carry a sapling larch tree - The Macarrick clan whose symbol was a banner with a mailed fist grasping a flaming arrow - The O'Malleys with their golden watchtower symbol. - Other clans, such as the McDuvans, the O'Hagans, the O'Conrans and young O'Mahoney Mor with his followers. The Kerrigans lost the fight, and Marra Kerrigan died there, and so did her sons, Ailor and Brodon. In blood, she wrote "Avenge Me - Never Cease". Ordlin O'Downey grew very old. At the age of ninety, he was living at Liscannor Bridge, when he was invited by Dulin Kerrigan, who was Marra's son, to a banquet at Kerrigan's Keep. On the second night of the feast, the Kerrigans killed one hundred of the unsuspecting O'Downeys and they pried the floor stones of the castle up to dump the bodies beneath it. The stones were then replaced, and the room that was involved was sealed up. Connard Kerrigan, in 1600 A. D., ran screaming through the door of this room, straight into the Lough of Liscannor below it. So did several others. It gained a reputation as "The Madman's Door". Then, Michael Dartry, in 1730 A. D., had a workman remove the floor stones, and the workman died. Next, Michael Dartry died in a fire while he was in bed. There is said to be a curse on anyone who has anything to do with the floor stones. In 1361 A. D., the Normans and the England launched a campaign against the Irish. In 1364 A. D., King Richard II of England arrived in Ireland with almost 10,000 men. At that time, the political situation in England became unstable, and the attacks against the Irish were not kept up. The situation in Ireland was that it did not have enough resources to support the English army that had accompanied King Richard II, and the country was also supporting many English settlers (or Undertakers) at the time. Also, the Black Plague had returned to Ireland, and it remained in parts of Europe until 1399 A. D. It would return during the 1600's. The effects of the Black Plague were many, and one of them was that it affected the birth rate, which dropped very significantly. By 1400 A. D., the population of Europe was about half of what it had been 55 years earlier, and it would not recover until another century had passed. In 1366 A. D., the Statutes of Kilkenny were enacted under Lionel, the Duke of Clarence, who was the son of Edward III, the King of England. At this time, the English lands, which they called a "land of peace", were considered to be Louth, Meath, Trim, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Wexford and Waterford. They banned the use of all of the Irish laws to settle conflicts, and they also banned the use of the Irish language. Their purpose was to keep the Normans in Ireland from becoming intertwined with the native Irish. Because of England's political situation, with the Hundred Years War with the French ongoing, the Statutes of Kilkenny were not a significant matter, at first. However, they would be revised and altered into the Penal Laws, which would have a very great impact upon the lives of all of the native Irish. The Statutes of Kilkenny were enacted against all gossipred, all fosterage, the Irish culture, Irish music and those who promoted it, Irish law and Irish judges, Irish games and other ways to pass the time, the Irish clergy, Insh manners, and customs, Irish trade and commerce and insults against the English. All who disobeyed were immediately excommunicated from the English churches. The penalties for these offenses included being hanged, drawn and quartered. If a wayfarer was seen riding in the Irish fashion, or dressed in a Gaelic costume, or not wearing an "English civil cap", it was advisable and lawful to murder the offender. If someone wore a mustache after the Irish fashion, instead of having a shaven upper lip, in the English fashion, An Act of Parliament (25 Henry VI, 1447) set forth that the offender was deserving of death, and that the offender's estate would escheat to the Crown. Also, no Irish were allowed to engage in any trade or commerce, or be accepted as an apprentice to any handicraft, wherever English authority ruled. All fraternizing between the English and the Irish was forbidden, as was marriage to the Irish. This was intended to make the Irish second class citizens in their own country. These Statutes excluded the Irish from going to cathedrals and abbeys. These Statutes would remain in effect for some 200 years, and while they were sometimes ignored, at other times, they were enforced. In 1369 A. D., King John's Castle in the City of Limerick was captured by the O'Briens and Macnamara In 1378 A. D., the following were noted: William Douglas led an expedition to Ireland's coast to avenge the depredations of the Irish pirates against the Galloway (Scotch) coastline, and he destroyed the town of Carlingford. He seized the ships in the harbor, loaded them with plunder, and returned, ravaging the Isle of Man along the way. Cork City was attacked and burned by the Irish forces. - The English colonists were not allowed to entertain the Irish poets and minstrels, and they could not play Insh games. The colonists were not allowed to sell horses or armor to the Irish. In 1394 A. D., King Richard II visited Ireland. The battles with the Irish had ceased. In 1395 A. D., and the following year, the English forces in Ireland achieved some military successes to stabilize their position. By 1397 A. D., the following were noted: Discontent in Ireland was becoming more apparent.