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THE REV. P. L. O'TOOLE, O.C.C. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CLAN O'BYRNE 
 
 A.ND 
 
 OTHER LEINSTEE SEPTS. 
 
 BT 
 
 THE REV. P. L. O'TOOLE, O.C.C., 
 
 CAEMELITE CONVENT, AUNGIEfl STEEET, DUBLIN. 
 
 ©ertabi tt Wtci, 
 
 DUBIfIN : 
 
 M. H. GILL AND SON, O'CONNELL STEEET. 
 
 London: BURNS, GATES & CO., LIMITED; Edinburgh: J. MENZIES & CO.; 
 New Yobk: BENZIGER BROTHERS, and CATHOLIC PUBLISHING COMPANY. 
 
 1890. 
 [J.ZZ rights reserved.^ 
 
PREFACE 
 
 ^M* 
 
 The "History of the Clan O'Byrne and Other Leinster Septs'' is taken 
 from the same sources as that of the " Clau O'Toole," to which extensive 
 and exhaustive work the reader can have recourse for further particulars 
 concerning this noble Clan. 
 
 This condensed "History of the Clan O'Byrne" is intended for those 
 who cannot conveniently get the larger work. That it may prove in- 
 structive and interesting to all Irishmen, and more especially to the mem- 
 hcre of the C!lan O'Byrne, is the wish of 
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 
f 
 
 i 
 
 OF m 
 
 435550 
 
PREFACE 
 — — 
 
 The "History of the Clan O'Byrne and Other Leitister Septs " is taken 
 from the same sources as that of the "Clan O'Toole," to which extensive 
 and exhaustive work the reader can have recourse for further particulars 
 concerning this noble Clan., 
 
 This condensed "History of the Clan O'Byrne" is intended for those 
 who cannot conveniently get the larger work. That it may prove in- 
 structive and interesting to all Irishmen, and more especially to the mem- 
 here of the Clan O'Byrne, is the wish of 
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 
m. IV.-THE GENEALOGY OF THE UI FAELAK (SEQUEL to the ui dunlang.) 
 
 (THE CLAN O'BYRNE.) 
 
 105. Faelan, K.L. for ten years, son of Murcadh Mor, K.'L.—Tuaia^/t, d. 479 ; dau. of Cathal mac Fion^ine, K,M. ; she was the widow of 
 
 son of Conall, son ran Mut. 
 a quo Ui Faelan. 
 
 He died a.d. 737 ; 
 
 Duncadh, K.L., who died a.d. 727 of wounds received at the battle of Dun 
 Aillinn, waged against him by his brother, Faelan. 
 
 106, Ruadrach, K.L., died A.d. 785 ; he defeated Bran Ardcaem,= 
 K.. Ui Muiredagh, at the Curragh in 782. 1 
 
 107. Diarmaid, Lord of Naas and Airthir= 
 Liffe; died a.d. 831. I 
 
 Muiredach, made Half King" of Leinster by Aedh Oirnidhe, 
 K.I. in 805. He died a.d. 828. 
 
 MuiUEGAN, Abbot of Kildare: 
 died 828. 
 
 108. Muiregan, Lord of Naas and Airthir LifFe ; slain by the Norsemen, 862 ; =r 
 buried at Cillcorbon (Kill, near Naas). I 
 
 Braen, "Hero of Leinster,* 
 died 814. 
 
 109. Maeimordha, Lord of Naas ; = 
 slain A.D. 906 at Confey I 
 (Confuat) by the Danes. 
 
 109. Domhnal, si. a 884= 
 
 110, Muiredach, slain go6. 
 
 J09. Faelan.' 
 110. Lorcan* 
 
 120. Finn, Lord of Naas ; si. 921 by =^ 
 Cellach mac Cearbhall. I 
 
 Muiredach, T.L. ; died 942. 
 
 Braen, slain 946 " a praie" in Ossory. 
 
 I 
 
 109. Cearbhall Mor, K-L. for iv^enty-^GorrnJiaz-th, d. a.d. 947; dau. of Flann K I • wMnn. 
 HuIbTNoVsemLn"" I Cor-f ^ac^JjillinLf 
 
 iiuiD, a iNorseman. Cearbhall Mor, she married Niall Glandubh, K.I. 
 
 J 10. Cellach, slain 922 ; buried at Cill Corban 
 
 III. Bran, sL 945 by Doncadh Mael na Bo, K. Hy K,= 
 
 211. Murcadh, Lord of Naas ; slain a.d, 970 by = 
 Domhnall Cloen of the Ui Denchada, I 
 
 111. Domhnall, slain 947. 
 
 112. Cellach, slain 971. 
 
 III. Flann, died a.d. 942. 
 
 III. Maeimordha, slain a.d. 960. 
 
 112. Maeimordha, made K.L. a.dI 1000 by Brian Born ; si. 1014, return- = 
 ing from Clontarf, by Gilla Bairrine, at Drehid Dubhgal. I 
 
 Bran, slain at 
 Tara, 978. 
 
 Faelan = 
 
 Gorynlatk, the wife of Sithric, King 
 of Dublin, a.d. 994-1038. 
 
 112. Cellach. 
 
 113. Cearbhall. 
 
 114. Faelan, a quo Mac Faelan, 
 
 Felan, or Whelan. I 
 
 Domhnal mac Faelan, elected — 
 K.L. ; si. 1141 by Diarmaid I 
 mac Murrogh. 
 
 Fmn, si. 971 by Cel- 
 lach mac Domhnal 
 mac Finn. 
 
 Braen, blinded in 1018 by Sithrick 
 died 1052, a monk, at Cologne, in I 
 Germany. 
 
 Dunsliebhe, si. 1014 
 at Kildare by the 
 Ui Failghe. 
 
 Murcadh. 
 Cellach, si. 104.8. 
 
 Cearbhall, slain at Kildronan 
 in Kildare, ioi4, by the 
 sons of Braen. 
 
 Gluniairn, slain at 
 Kildare, 1041. 
 
 Doncadh, si. at Kil- = 
 dare, a.d. 1041, by I 
 the sons of Braen. 
 
 Cearbhall, si. at Kildare by the 
 Ui Failghe, a.d. — "defending 
 the Coarbship of St. Bridget." 
 
 I 
 
 114. Doncadh na Saga Buidh ; 
 
 I 
 
 Murcadh, slain 1044. 
 
 I 
 
 Maeimordha, slain 1056 by Murcadh 
 mac Diarmaid. 
 
 Domhnall, slain 1039 by Domhnall na 
 Fergaile, Lord of Forthuath Laighen, 
 i.e, Wicklow. 
 
 Faklan MAC Faelan, made king of Ui Faelan in 1161 ; 
 exiled by Diarmaid mac Murrogh in 1170, and died a 
 monk in the abbey of Conal, 1203, founded 1202 by 
 Meyler FitzHenry. After this period the branch fell 
 into obscurity. 
 
 Doncadh mac Faelan, expelled from Leinster 1159, at the 
 Convention of Trachta in Meath, with 2000 cavalry. 
 Driven from Leinster 1170, by Diarmaid, K.L. In 1222 
 J^Iac GELA^f, his son or kinsman, died Bishop of Kil- 
 dare. 
 
 115. Domhnall na Sciath, v. 1115. Aedh na Braen, 
 
 ri6. Doncadh Mor. z'. 1119. 
 
 117. Dunlang of Dubh Cluain. 
 ii3. Oilill an Fiodach, ue. of the "Woods = 
 
 I 
 
 119. Ugaire. 
 
 120. Taidg na Fiac : 
 
 'M'Firbis," R.I.A., 
 P- 475 » &c. . 
 
 119. Murcadh Mor, of Duncaemoge,= 
 vivens 1245. \ 
 
 120. Maelsechlin : 
 
 I2T. Dunlang fin ^:r=. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I2S. Doncadli Mor. 122. Taid^. 
 
 123. Gerald. 123. Gerailt, L.C.B., d. 1399. 
 
 124. Murcadh, Lord of Crioch Branach, d. 1429 = 
 
 I 
 
 Taidg. 
 
 Dunlang, d, 1-^44^ 
 Gerailt, of CoiUe Sioman, 
 
 i.e\ Kiltimon, "A.F.M." 
 
 p. 1702. 
 Taidg. 
 Edraond. 
 Murcadh. 
 
 125. Phillip. 
 
 126. Braen Ruadh z 
 
 127. Doncadh, died 1434. 
 
 128. Braen, died 1436* 
 
 129. Taidg Mor, of Newragh, 
 
 V. 1488. 
 
 130. Gerald = 
 
 Edmond, d. 1466. 
 Dunlang Balb,=: 
 
 elected Tan 
 
 ist, 1446. 
 
 Murcadh. ; 
 Phillip. I 
 Gilla Patraicl 
 MelachlinJ 
 Diarmaid. 
 
 Melachlir^Oge, a quo 
 Melachlin Oge mac 
 Melachlin of Bally- 
 horech ; hanged at 
 Newcastle, County 
 Wicklow, June 10, 
 1580. 
 
 Ugaire. 
 Sioman, a quo Gabal 
 
 Simon. 
 Eladach. 
 Cuoge. 
 Doncadh. 
 Gilla Patraic, 
 David. 
 
 Gilla Patraic {O'Fer- 
 rall, "Lin. Aut," p. 
 183). 
 
 121. Dalbach, d. 1376 
 " from the wound 
 of his own spur." 
 
 I 
 
 Doncuan. 
 Lugaidh. 
 Phillip. 
 Domhnall. 
 
 I 
 
 Dailbach, a quo Gabal 
 
 Dalvach. 
 Diarmaid, 
 Muiris. 
 Conchobar. 
 Murcacdh. 
 Thomas. 
 
 120. Doncadh = 
 
 130. Sean, or John = 
 
 Ca'hir, V. temp. Plenry VIII. 
 
 121. Ragilall, a ^ziij Gabal Ragnall. 
 
 122. Phillip. 
 
 123. Lorcan. 
 
 124. Ragnall na Lamtuaighe. 
 
 125. Conchobar. 
 
 126. Domhnall Glas. 
 
 127. Aedh, or Hugh, 
 
 128. Sean, or John. 
 
 129. Rerauin — 
 
 Murcadh O'Brien, 
 surrendered a.d. 
 1328. " Grace's 
 Annals," p. 115. 
 
 Edmond mac Shane, slain at Rathdrum, Nov. 29, 1596. 
 
 131. Aedh, or Hugh, Lord of Glenmalure, died 1579 — ; 
 
 I 
 
 IngheHj the wife of Rory 
 O'Moore, Lord of Leix, 
 *^An Loc. Ce." 
 
 132. Fiach mac Hugh, Lord oi=rzRosa in' Toole, second wife 
 Glenmalure, si. in Glen- I (his first wiie the daughter 
 malure, May 8, 1597. ot Cahir Byrne *.')' 
 
 Remuin.' 132, Sean, or John Sa- = 
 lach, slain by the 1 
 English, 1579. 
 
 131. Taidg Oge of Newragh,; 
 Lord of Crioch Branach, 
 died 1578, at an advanced 
 age ; had eight sons. 
 
 I 
 
 131. Edmond. 
 
 132. Dunlang, _T. 1578; died 1580; the 
 
 last Tanist of Crioch Branach. 
 
 133. Edmond mac Dunlang, a quo Thady 
 
 Byrne of Ballygannon, v. 1690, a quo 
 Rev. John Bykne, P.P. of Castle- 
 macadam, V' 1844. 
 
 Gt^rald, died 1490, Lord 
 of Crioch Branach. 
 
 Caiair, Tanist, 1490 ; 
 si. a suis 1500. 
 
 133, Felim Buidh na Laura = Win/red, d, of Luke 
 M.P. for "Wicklow, I O'Toole of Castle- 
 1613 ; d. 1630. "A.F. I kevin; sle died in 
 M," p. 2017. 1628. 
 
 133. Redmond of = 
 Castle Ray- 
 mond, near 
 Killaveney. 
 
 I 
 
 Turlogh, eldest 
 son, a prisoner 
 in Dublin, 
 where he died, 
 
 I 
 
 IngJieu Ni Vrean, the wife of 
 Walter Reagh Fitzgerald, 
 son of Gerald, son of Thomas, 
 hanged in Dublin A.D. 1595. 
 
 133. Redmond mac Shane. 
 134: Edmond O'Birn, settled at = 
 Killaney, in Louth. 1 
 
 Murcadh. Edmond. Dunlang. Callogh, 
 
 134I Brian O'Birn of BalIina-= Art. 
 cor, outlawed 1652. I 
 
 Hugh, 
 outlawed 
 1652. 
 
 Brian O'Birae, d. Nov. 10, 1567.— 
 
 Brian Oge. 
 Callogh. 
 
 Walter Ruadh. 
 Walter Buidh of New- 
 righ, V, 1641. 
 
 Donough Cairech. 132. Gerald Odhar. 
 
 John. 133. Murcade. 
 
 Donough Oge = 134. Edmond. 
 
 . 1 135- Dunlang. 
 
 I I 136. Callogh. 
 
 Morrogh, -v. 1041. Gerald Odhar, v. 1641. 
 
 I 
 
 132, Cahir. 
 
 133. Cahir Oge, the ancestor of Lord de Tably, the Byrnes of z 
 
 Tymogue, of Byrne's Grove, and Kilmocar, Co. Kil- 
 kenny. His wife was Grizle Byrne of Ballinacorbeg, 
 Co. Wicklow. 
 
 " A.F.M.," p. 1705. 
 
 135. Shane mac Brian O'Birn, a Colonel = 
 in the Confederates, 1641. I 
 
 I I I i I 
 
 Gerald, 
 
 James, v. 1959. 
 
 Thurlogh. 
 
 Luke. 
 
 Cahir. 
 
 Callogh.' 
 
 I 
 
 Felim, 
 of Killaveney, 
 V. 1641. 
 
 i 
 
 Fiac, or Luke, 
 of Kilcloghran, 
 V 1G41. 
 
 John.* 
 
 Felim's daughter was married 
 to John Wolverston of Freynes- 
 town, Co, Wicklow. 
 
 136. Hugh O'Byrne, Ballinakill, Clonmore. : 
 
 135. Gerald O'Birn, died 1695, 
 
 136. Henry O'Birn, died 1761. 
 
 137. Henry Byrne ot Alardstown = 
 
 Elizabeth-^John Byrne of Mullina- 
 I " hack, Dublin, de- 
 I scended of Edward 
 
 I Byrne of Saggard, 
 Co. Dublin, who 
 died A.D. 1605. 
 
 X34. Hugh O'Birn. John O'Birn, 
 
 Daniel O'Byrne, a cloth merchant = «Ke Taylor, of Swords, 
 in Dublin. I 
 
 J35. Sir Gregory Byrne of Tymogue, = 
 d. 17x2; was twice married. I 
 
 Walter Bim, third sou. 
 
 John Byrne of Cabinteely,r=:il/a:ry Cheevers- 
 d. 1681. I 
 
 137. Edmond Concagh MacHugh O'Byrne 
 of Ballinakill, Clonmore, died Oct. 
 
 20, 1737- 
 
 Edward O'Bvjne = Geriittde de St. Gery. 
 I 
 
 Elizabeth M. Byrne, 1S76. 
 
 John, Count O'Byrne, of = the daughter of Baron 
 Corville, near Roscrea. I Hiibner, 
 
 Edmond, 
 V' 1876. 
 
 I 
 
 Henry, 
 V. 1S70. 
 
 Mary. 
 
 Joseph Birn, slain at 
 Aughrim, Fourth. 
 
 Walter, d. 1731, 
 
 I 
 
 John = 
 
 Edward. Patrick, 
 
 ^1 I I i I 1 
 Six daughters. 
 
 Daniel Byrne of Ty- 
 mogue, Bart.,<3 quo 
 Lord de Tably. 
 
 136. Charles Byrne ot Byrne's Grove ; he — ■ 
 mortgaged his estates, 2714 acres, 
 for £12,841 in 1743 to Capt. Johnson, 
 who sold them to James Agar, Esq., 
 of Gowran, in 1752, for £17,700. A 
 lawsuit ensued. 
 
 137. Gregory, d. j. 
 
 137. Dudly, d. J. p. 1756; he 
 "conformed " to recover 
 his estate, but failed to do 
 so. 
 
 137. John, died in Germany, 
 
 X37. James Byrne, came from Ger- 
 many, 1755, returned to renew 
 the suit, and while prosecuting 
 it was drowned in the Liffey, 
 J773 ! I 
 
 Henry. 
 John. 
 
 Gregory, fourth son, 
 married Margaret 
 Bermingham, dau. of 
 Lord Louth. She d. 
 April 6, 1763. He d. 
 Sept. I, 1742; buried 
 at Rosconnel, Co. 
 Kilkenny. 
 
 Christopher of Kilmogar ; his = 
 wife was Margaret Flemyng. I 
 
 Christopher of Kilmogar; d. ^= 
 Aug. 28, 1785. Three sons, | 
 d. s.p.. 
 
 James Byrne of Ballyspellan, — 
 Co. Kilkenny; z/. 1766. | 
 
 Charles Byrne of Ballyspellan. =: 
 
 Gregory. = 
 
 I 
 
 Dudley. 
 
 I 
 
 A daughter : 
 
 : Walter Butler, of 
 
 I Ballykeerogue, 
 
 I ~ Co. Carlow. 
 James Butler of Kilmogar, 
 Esq., ^'.P., deceased. 
 
 Charles Byrne of Ballyspellan, = 
 died ante 1815. \t 
 
 Michael.' Robert of Cabinteely. = 
 
 1 nree daughters, deceased. 
 
 John. 
 
 Richard.- 
 Robert. 
 
 William R. O'Byrne of 
 Cabinteely, Co. Dub- 
 lin, M.P. for Wick- 
 low, vivens 1875. 
 
 J37. Anthony O'Byrne, died 1751.= 
 
 8. Hugh O'Byrne, Hamilton's = 
 Lodge, Rathdangan, I 
 
 138. Edward O'Byrne, Cor- 
 naun, Rathdangan. 
 
 William, 
 d. i. p. 
 
 Cat he? i He, 
 living 1875. 
 
 Two other 
 daughters. 
 
 Marv Byrne, died ante 1795, the wife of John Shearman, 
 Esq., of Kilkenny, who died in Rome, 1816, son of John, 
 son of Francis of Grange, son of Robert of Grange, son 
 of Thomas Shearman of Burnchurch, an English settler, 
 who died very old in 1704. 
 
 I I I I I I I 
 
 13C). Thomas O'Byrne. John. Edward. Four daughters. 
 Iowa, U.S.A., 1890. 
 
 139. Anthony ==/i««« //f/foy, Donard. 
 
 I 
 
 140, John. Hugh. Edward. Anthony. ./4MK«=Den!s O'Toole, Ponard. 
 
m. IV.-THE ( 
 
 (THE CLAN O'BYRNE.) 
 
 107. Diarmaid, Lord of Na. 
 
 Liffe; died a.d. 
 
 109. Maelmordha, Lord of Naas ; 
 slain A.D. go6 at Confey 
 (Confuat) by the Danes. 
 
 . — 109, Domhnal, si. a 
 1 
 
 110. Finn, Lord of Naas ; si. gai by =: 
 Cellach mac Cearbhall. j 
 
 Muiredach, T.L. ; died 942. 
 
 III. Murcadh, Lord of Naas ; slain a.d. 970 by = 
 DornhnaU Cloen of the Ui Denchada, j 
 
 111. Domhnall, slain 947. 
 
 112. Cellach, slain 971. 
 
 112. Maelmordha, made K.L. a.dI 1000 by Brian Boru ; si. 1014, return- == 
 ing from Clontarf, by Gilla Bairrine, at Drehid Dubhgal. 
 
 113. Braen, blinded in 1018 by Sithrick; = 
 died 1052, a monk, at Cologne, in 
 Germany. 
 
 I 
 
 Dunsliebhe, si. 1014 
 at Kildare by the 
 Ui Failghe. 
 
 Murcadh. 
 Cellach, si. 104 
 
 114. Doncadh na Saga Buidh = 
 
 Murcadh, slain 1044. 
 
 I 
 
 Maelmoru 
 
 ed from Leinster 1159, at the 
 .Meath, with 2000 cavalry, 
 py Diarmaid, K.L. In 1222 
 sman, died Bishop of Kil- 
 
 115. Domhnall na Sciath, v. 1115. 
 
 ri6. DoncadhMor, 
 
 117. Dunlang of Dubh Cluain. 
 
 ii3. Oilill an Fiodach, i.e. of the Woods 
 
 Aedh na Braen, 
 V. 1119. 
 
 119. Ugaire. 
 
 120. Taidg na Fia 
 
 ~ ignall. 
 
 121. Dunlang fin 
 
 122. Doncadh Mor. i^^. , „ „ , 
 
 123. Gerald. ,^ 123. Gerailt, L.C.B., d. 1399- 
 
 124. Murcadh, Lord of Crioch Branach, d. 1429 = 
 
 122. Taidg. 
 
 Murcadh O'Brien, 
 surrendered A.i). 
 1328. "Grace's 
 Annals," p. 115. 
 
 Taidg. 
 
 Dunlang, d. 1444- 
 Gerailt, of Coille Sioman, 
 
 i.e'. Kiltimon, "A.F.M." 
 
 p. 1702. 
 Taidg. 
 Edmond. 
 Murcadh. 
 
 125. Phillip. 
 
 126. Braen Ruadh == 
 
 I 
 
 127. Doncadh, died 1434. 
 
 128. Braen, died 1436' 
 
 129. Taidg Mor, of Newragh, 
 
 ■V. 1488. 
 
 130. Gerald = 
 
 Edmond, d. 1466 
 Dunlang Balb,= 
 
 elected Tan 
 
 ist, 1446. 
 
 Murcadh, 
 Phillip. , 
 Gilla Patri 
 MelachlinJ 
 Diarmaidj 
 Melachlin 
 Melachl 
 MelacM: 
 horech ; 
 Newcasl 
 "Wicklov 
 1580. 
 
 131. Taidg Oge of Newragh,: 
 Lord of Crioch Branach, 
 died 1578, at an advanced 
 age ; bad eight sons. 
 
 131. Edmond. 
 
 132. Dunlang, T. 1578; died 1580; the 
 
 last Tanist of Crioch Branach. 
 
 133. Edmond mac Dunlang, a quo Thady 
 
 Byrne of Ballygannon, v. 1690, a quo 
 Rev. John Byrne, P.P. of Castle- 
 macadam, V. 1844. 
 
 Ge 
 
 Brian O'Birne, d. Nov. 10, 1567.= 
 
 Brian Oge. 
 Callogh. 
 
 Walter Ruadh. 
 Walter Buidh of New- 
 righ, V. 1641. 
 
 Donough Cairech. 
 John. 
 
 Donough Oge = 
 I 
 
 Morrogh, v. 1041. 
 
 132. Gerald Odhar. 
 
 133. Murcade. 
 
 134. Edmond. 
 135. Dunlang. 
 
 I 136. Callogh. 
 Gerald Odhar, v. 1641. 
 
 134. Hugh O'Birn. John O'Birn. 
 
 Daniel O'Byrne, a cloth merchant 
 in Dublin. 
 
 — Anne Taylor, of Sw | 
 
 579 = 
 
 I 
 
 132, Sean, or John Sa- = 
 lach, slain by the I 
 English, 1579. 
 
 Redmond mac Shane. 
 Edmond O'Birn, settled at = 
 Killaney, in Louth. j 
 
 Gerald O'Birn, died 1695. 
 Henry O'Birn, died 1761. 
 Henry Byrne of Alardstown : 
 
 ;aie^/4=John Byrne of MuUina- 
 hack, Dublin, de- 
 scended of Edward 
 Byrne of Saggard, 
 Co. Dublin, who 
 died A.D. 1605, 
 
 beth M. Bynte, v. 1876. 
 
 135. Sir Gregory Byrne of Tymogue,==: 
 d. 1712; was twice married. 
 
 Walter Birn, third son. 
 
 Joseph Birn, slaii 
 Aughrim. Four 1. 
 
 Daniel Byrne of Ty- 
 mogue, Bart., a quo 
 Lori de Tably. 
 
 I , 
 
 136. Charles Byrne ot Byrne's Grove ; he = 
 mortgaged his estates, 3714 acres, 
 for £12,841 in 1743 to Capt. Johnson, 
 who sold them to James Agar, Esq., 
 of Gowran, in 1752, for £17,700. A 
 lawsuit ensued. 
 
 137. Gregory, d. j. 
 
 137. Dudly, d. s. p. 1756; he 
 " conformed " to recover 
 bis estate, but failed to do 
 so. 
 
 137. John, died in Germany. 
 
 '37- J^niss Byrne, came from Ger- 
 many, 1755, returned to renew 
 the suit, and while prosecuting 
 it was drowned in the Liffey, 
 1773 1 1 
 
 I I . 
 enryi 
 John. 
 Gregory, fourth soi 
 married Margan 
 Bermingham, dau. 
 Lord Louth. She 
 April 6, 1763. He t 
 Sept. I, 1742; burie 
 at Rosconnel, C< 
 Kilkenny. 
 
 Edmond, 
 V. 1876. 
 
 Henry, 
 V. 1870. 
 
 Patrick, 
 
 MINI 
 
 Six daughters. 
 
 1751.== 
 
 J38. Edward O'Byrne, Cor- 
 naun, Rathdaugan. 
 
 I I I I 
 J^'our daughters. 
 
 lony = Anne Meicalf, Donard. 
 
 ■l«Hrf=Denis G'Toole, Donard. 
 
Of TM 
 
 mmmn mumis 
 
SYNOPTICAL INDEX 
 
 TO HISTORY OF 
 
 TPIE CLAN O'BYRNE. 
 
 PERIOD. - PAGE. 
 
 A.I). 727\ DescendedfromFaelan, son of MurcadhMor, common 
 ancestor of O'Tooles, O'Byrnes, and O'Donoghues ; 
 their mutual interests interwoven from the first . 1 to 5 
 
 A.D. 1394. Defeat of the O'Byrnes by the English ; forced sub- 
 mission ; O'Toole to the rescue ; the yoke thrown 
 ofE „ 6-7 
 
 A.o. 1523. O'Byrnes and O'Tooles support Earl of Desmond 
 
 against Henry VIII. .... 8 
 
 A.D. 1535. "Silken Thomas;" end of his rebellion; his fate; 
 
 Bishop of Metz; his letter to O'Neill; old prophecy 
 of St. Lasinan, Bishop of Cashel, anent the reten- 
 tion of the faith in Ireland . . . 9 to 11 
 
 A.D. 1579. Desmond's letter to Feagh MacHugh . . 12 
 
 A.D. 1580. Battle of Glenmalure ; classification (by provinces ) of 
 Irish chieftains, according to their adherence, or 
 otherwise, to faith and fatherland . . .14 to 16 
 
 A.D. 1594. Bal Dearg O'Donnell's escape ; the motherly care of 
 
 Eosa O'Toole, wife of Feagli MacHugh O'Byrne . 16 to 19 
 
 A.D. 1596. O'Neill's victories in the North; cowardly butchery 
 of Feagh MacHugh ; letters patent granting 
 
 A.D. 1604. Feagh's lands to his son, Phelim . . . 21 to 31 
 
 A.D. 1612 Account from State Papers of the diabolical machina- 
 te tions by which Phelim was driven to the grave; his 
 1630. five sons outlawed, and their patrimony bestowed 
 
 on Sir Richard Parsons . . . . 33 to 44 
 
 A.D. 1641. Same history as Clan O'Toole: the wars of 1641; 
 
 the Boyne and Limerick ; their services in French 
 
 A.D. 1798. and Continental armies ; their share in the '98 re- 
 
 bellion ; their descendants now occupying as tenants 
 
 A.D. 1888. the lands of their forefathers . . . 44 to 52 
 
 1 
 
THE HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CLAN O'BTENE 
 
 (UI FAELAN). 
 
 The Clan O'Byme being of tlie same stock as tlie Clan O'Toole, and 
 claiming the same descent, were for so many centuries of their history 
 so interwoven together, their territories in close proximity to each other, 
 and their mutual interests cemented together by intermarriage, that we 
 consider it may be of interest to our readers, if we supplement our 
 attempts at writing the history of the Clan O'Toole by giving as an appen- 
 datory synopsis the leading points in the fates and fortunes of the Clan 
 O'Byrne, who so often shared with the O'Tooles the victor's glory, until 
 by fraud, treachery, and the power of might over right, they became 
 fellow- sufferers in the confiscations and persecutions of the times. "We 
 may rest assured, that whenever an O'Byrne was in straits, an O'Toole was 
 not far off ; and this rule had equal applicability when positions were 
 reversed. 
 
 The Clan O'Byrne were descended from Heremon. Heber and 
 Heremon were leaders of the Spanish colony which, according to the best 
 authorities, succeeded in establishing itself in Ireland, and reducing the 
 
 39a 
 
\ 
 
 2 HISTORY OF THE CLAN o'bYRNE [a.D. 144. 
 
 possessors of the soil under its own dominion, about a thousand years 
 before the birth of Christ. 
 
 The country was divided among the conquerors in the following 
 manner : — The fair provinces of the south were allotted to Heber. Lein- 
 ster acknowledged the sovereignty of Heremon. The rude coast and barren 
 mountains of Connaught were granted to the native tribes called Firbolgs, 
 who had assisted the invaders. One year, however, had scarcely expired 
 when Heber laid claim to the whole island, which was resisted by Heremon. 
 A battle ensued, in which Heber was defeated and slain, and Heremon, 
 like Eomulus, became sole ruler of the kingdom. 
 
 From the death of Heremon to the accession of Eochah, a period of 
 nearly one thousand years, Ireland was governed (with few exceptions) by 
 a single king, chosen from one or other of the royal houses. Heber, 
 Heremon, and Ir Eocha IX., however, raised the provinces into king- 
 doms, investing the chiefs of the several tribes with their respective 
 sovereignties. 
 
 In pursuance of this arrangement, the descendants of Heremon were 
 kings of Leinster ; those of Ir, kings of Ulster ; and the chief of the 
 Firbolgs kings of Connaught. There was, however, one king superior 
 over all, to whom the others were bound to do homage and to pay tribute. 
 
 Eocha IX. was of the race of Heremon, and the crown of Ireland 
 remained (with but two exceptions) in his family to the time of Cahir 
 Mor— Charles the Great. 
 
 This monarch was descended from Ugane Mor, a Heremonian, by his 
 son Laogare Lore, between whose issue and that of his brother Cobthac, 
 Leinster was in after times divided. Cahir Mor reigned over the entire 
 island in the second century of the Christian era. His elevation from the 
 throne of Leinster to the supreme rule is dated a.d. 144. Three years 
 after, he was slain in a battle fought near Tailton, in Westmeath. He 
 left thirty sons, of whom ten only had issue ; of these the most celebrated 
 were Eossa Failge and Feacha Baiceada. From the latter are descended 
 the O'Byrnes, the O'Tooles, and the O'Cavanaghs, and other of the chief 
 families of Leinster. The history of the 0' Byrnes is the same as the 
 
A.T). 737.] 
 
 AND OTHER LEINSTEE SEPTS. 
 
 a 
 
 O'Tooles, until we come down to Murcadk Mor, 104th on the O'Toole 
 stem, who was the common ancestor of the O'Tooles, O'Donohues of Lein- 
 ster, and the O'Byrnes. By his three sons, thus : 
 
 MURCADH MoR. 
 
 Muiredach, ILL., Duncadh, Faelan, 
 
 d. 755, 1 7th king of Leinster, 18th king of Leinster, 
 
 from whom the d. 727, d, 737, 
 
 O'Tooles descend. from whom the from whom the 
 
 O'Donohues descend. 0 'Byrnes descend, 
 taking their name from their grandfather, Bran Mut, their tribe name 
 being Hy Faelan, their territory being situated in and about Naas, and 
 as far north as Maynooth, from which place they were driven into the 
 southern portion of the Wicklow mountains by the Norman invaders, 
 about the year a.d. 1202. 
 
 ^ Soon after the death of Murcadh Mor, who by his will divided his 
 territories amongst his three sons, Duncadh and Faelan quarrelled, and a 
 fierce battle ensued between them, near Eadstown, which lies between 
 ISTaas and Blessington. In this battle Duncadh was defeated and driven 
 back to the present County Dublin, which his descendants continued to 
 possess until the arrival of the Danes, and subsequently the Norman 
 English, when his territories were divided amongst the English of the 
 Pale. Many of his descendants are still to be found in West Wicklow 
 and Carlow, decent, respectable people, but without any, or little, know- 
 ledge of their ancient lineage. Their pedigree is given by Mr. Gilbert, 
 in his history of the City of Dublin. 
 
 The Clan O'Byrne, or Ui Faelan, as it was known in Irish history, 
 can boast of many a noble and valiant warrior, kings of Leinster, down 
 to the English invasion. It was one of this Clan that held the sceptre of 
 Leinster at the battle of Clontarf, where he was nobly seconded by the 
 O'Tooles, of which clan five of its princes were slain. With the Danes 
 of Dublin, the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles were occasionally in alliance, but 
 
4 HISTORY OF THE CLAN o'bYRNE [a.D. 1202. 
 
 more commonly at war ; abundance of cause for quarrel was always pre- 
 sent, owing to the proximity of their territories. 
 
 ^ The O'Byrnes became princes of Lower Leinster, and were seated in 
 a district called Eanelagh, or the country of Feagh MacHugh O'Byrne. 
 
 According to Ptolemy, the ancient inhabitants of Wicklow and the 
 present County Kildare were the "Cauci," supposed to be of Belgic-Gaulio 
 extraction ; but afterwards is chiefly celebrated as the country of the 
 O'Tooles and the O'Byrnes. 
 
 The O'Byrnes occupied the northern part of Kildare, and the O'Tooles 
 the southern part of Kildare and the northern part of Wicklow; as Glenda- 
 lough, which was the ancient city of the O'Tooles; also Fertire and Ferra 
 Cualan, on the eastern side of the mountain; but after the Norman 
 invasion, the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles were driven into the mountains. 
 By a long and heroic resistance they here maintained their independence 
 for over lour hundred years, after nearly all the other princes had yielded 
 submission to the English invader. 
 
 The O'Byrnes, driven from Kildare (a.d. 1202), located themselves 
 along the seaboard of Wicklow, from Newtownmountkennedy to Arklow, 
 whilst the Feagh MacHughs possessed the inland portion, called Eane- 
 lagh, or Glenmalure. 
 
 The two clans, aflaiiated in race and in blood, appear to have been 
 almost always on good terms with each other, and to have worked har- 
 moniously together against the common enemy. 
 
 No doubt, the O'Byrnes had this advantage over their neighbour, 
 they were more distant from the Pale, and not subject to the frequent 
 attacks that the O'Tooles had to be constantly on the " qui vzve" to repel. 
 The O'Tooles, lying between them and the common foe, had to bear the 
 first of the onslaught and the brunt of the battle, while the O'Byrnes 
 were never dilatory in filling up from the rear, and giving any of the 
 English garrison that might have succeeded in penetrating beyond the 
 O'Toole country a very hot reception. This fact of the O'Tooles being, 
 for such a length of years, almost incessantly engaged in the hot contests 
 of border warfare, will go far to account for their ranks being more 
 
A.D.1394.] 
 
 AND OTHER LEINSTER SEPTS. 
 
 5 
 
 thinned, as more of them fell in battle, and hence it is that the 
 O'Byrnes, in their descendants, are far more numerous than those of the 
 O'Tooles. 
 
 The Danes, prior to the twelfth century, had established themselves 
 in a district of the county Dublin, named Fingal], and so named appropri- 
 ately as the granary of their city. For their occupation of it the O'Byrnes 
 and O'Tooles demanded tribute, and this same tribute led to many bloody 
 battles. When the clans were successful, the tribute was paid, and host- 
 ages given, but when the fortunes of war were reversed, and the Danes 
 gained a victory, they in turn carried fire and sword and a war of exter- 
 mination into the enemy^s country. 
 
 The Danes of Dublin having been worsted by the Anglo-Normans, 
 the city and the surrounding country changed hands, and was to be hence- 
 forth known under the name of the " English Pale." The native Leinster- 
 men soon found out, to their cost, that this change did nothing to lessen 
 their troubles, as those ' new colonists possessed all the evil qualities of 
 their predecessors in more fully developed degree, and, in addition, had 
 several new ones of their own, among which was an inordinate ambition 
 and the spirit of cupidity. It was not long, then, until the O'Byrnes and 
 O'Tooles declared war against the inhabitants of Dublin, and the contest, 
 with only brief intervals, was carried on, with much bloodshed and devas- 
 tation, and with varying success, for many succeeding generations, the 
 particulars of which we have endeavoured to narrate in the History of the 
 Clan O'Toole. 
 
 In the year 1394 there was a battle between the O'Byrnes and the 
 English, in which the former were defeated, and compelled to prostrate 
 themselves for the moment ; but it soon passed over, and they stood once 
 more erect, independent, and more defiant than ever. 
 
 In the reign of Eichard II., Thomas Mowbray, Earl of ITottingham, 
 Earl-Marshal of England, was entrusted with a commission from the 
 sovereign to receive homage and oaths of fealty from the chiefs of 
 Leinster, namely, The O'Byrne, O'Nolan, O'Morough, O'Morca, Mao- 
 
 40 
 
6 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CLAN o'bYRNE 
 
 [a.d.1395. 
 
 Murrough, O'Connor, and others.* This homage was proposed and ac- 
 cepted upon very hard conditions. The chiefs were bound, under pain of 
 very considerable fines, payable at the Apostolic Chamber (to wit), for 
 O'Byrne, 20,000 marks; for O'Nolan, 10,000 livres; and for others in 
 proportion. They were required, not only to persevere in their submission, 
 but also, on a day specified, to surrender all their lands and possessions in 
 Leinster, and to place them in the king's hands, to be held by him and 
 his successors ; and, moreover, to enter into his majesty's service, and to 
 lend him aid in war against their fellow-countrymen. To indemnify them 
 for the loss of their property, the king's pay was offered them, and pensions 
 were tendered to some of the chiefs. It was permitted to them to make 
 incursions on the lands of their countrymen in the other provinces, and to 
 appropriate to themselves all that they could win by force of arms. 
 
 The chiefs, however, after a short time, justly considered that a forced 
 submission and extorted oaths were in no way binding, again took arms in 
 1395, when Eoger Mortimer, Earl of March, was sent over as lord lieutenant. 
 Aided by the Earl of Ormond, the new viceroy laid the O'Byrnes' country 
 waste, and stormed their Castle of Wicklow. The fortress was taken, and 
 in honour of the exploit, the lord lieutenant raised the seven following 
 gentlemen to the rank of knighthood, viz. : Christopher Preston, John 
 Bedlow, Edmond and John Loundres, William Nugent, Walter de la 
 Hide, and Eobert Cadell. 
 
 Shortly after, O'Byrne's old ally, O'Toole, came to his aid, attacked 
 the English, and defeated them, spiking 60 of their heads on the gates of 
 O'Toole's castle as a warning, and, following up their victory, the united 
 clans marched after the English, and overtaking them near Kilkenny, a 
 fierce battle ensued, in which the English were again defeated, their forces 
 
 * The reader may ask himself how it was that The O'Toole was omitted from this list, 
 and not included among the chieftains invited to this sham conference. The reason is simply 
 this : that The O'Toole always spurned the idea of holding any parley with the English, 
 not only now, but whenever, in after times, they adopted that line of tactics ; hence 
 Mowbray omitted his name, and it would have been better for O'Byrne that his name had 
 been left out also, 
 
A.D. 1414.] 
 
 AND OTHER LEINSTER SEPTS. 
 
 7 
 
 totally routed, and Roger, Earl of March, heir-apparent to the English 
 crown was killed at Kenlis (Kells) in the year a.d. 1398. 
 
 In 1414, John Talbot, Lord Furnival, marched an army through the 
 territories of the O'Byrnes and other Leinster chieftains, but without any 
 serious result to the peace and well-being of the clans, although high 
 praise was accorded to him by the English, for what we know not, except 
 that they wanted to compliment him upon his having the courage to 
 undertake such a march, and the good generalship to bring back his troops 
 with their lives. Anyway, he did not enlarge by his expedition the 
 boundaries of the English Pale, nor did he render greater security to life 
 and property in those parts of the province that were illegally wrested 
 from their lawful owners. 
 
 "Within no long space of time after this period the history of Ireland 
 begins to assume a new complexion. Jealousies and disputes, which were 
 not unfrequently referred to the decision of arms, arose from time to time 
 amongst the heads of the great houses of the English Palesmen, who 
 severally sought to strengthen themselves with alliances, cemented by 
 inter-marriages, and treaties for mutual assistance and defence with the 
 chiefs of the native Irish. 
 
 But of all the great Anglo-Hibernian houses, none were so closely 
 united to the Irish nation, whether by intermixture of blood, or community 
 of sentiment and feeling, as the noble race of the Geraldines. In all the 
 wars maintained by the people against English oppression, whether in 
 matters civil or religious, they always took so prominent a part that they 
 have been described in the chronicles of the period as " Hibernis ipsis 
 Hiberniores." With the O'Byrnes they were in alliance from an early 
 period, and, as will be seen hereafter, they, on more than one occasion, 
 were indebted to them for good services. 
 
 In 1521 the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles were again in arms. The Earl 
 of Surrey marched an army into their country, and, pitted against a force 
 their superiors in number, discipline, and appointments, the result was 
 naturally a temporary defeat for the clans. A brave resistance, however, 
 was maintained, and it is recorded that a regiment of cavalry, commanded 
 
8 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CLAN o'bTKNB 
 
 [a.d. 1523. 
 
 by a knigM named Bulman, was reduced to an infantry corps for haying 
 been too largely endowed, on their approaching the Irish steel, with that 
 virtue which, when properly exercised, is very laudable, and styled 
 discretion," but when carried out to too great an extent (as upon this 
 occasion), comes under the non-euphonious heading of " cowardice." 
 
 On the 20th June, 1523, James, Earl of Desmond, on his own be- 
 half, and that of O'Brien, Prince of Thomond, and many other Irish 
 chiefs, entered into a treaty with Francis I. of France, offensive and de- 
 fensive, against Henry YIII. of England, whereby, amongst other things, 
 they bound themselves to make no peace with that monarch in which all 
 the contracting parties would not be included. During the captivity of 
 Francis, peace was concluded between England and France, without 
 allusion to the Earl of Kildare, then lord deputy, who was likewise a 
 Geraldine. Henry VIII. sent orders to have the Earl Desmond arrested 
 for high treason. The order, however, was not carried out, and remained 
 unexecuted. The O'Byrnes and O'Tooles appeared in arms to support 
 the Earl of Desmond, at the instigation, it is said, of the lord deputy, who 
 secretly supported his kinsman. In a short time the Earl of Kildare was 
 deposed and arraigned before the Privy Council of England, firstly, for 
 neglecting the orders of the king to arrest Desmond; secondly, for having 
 formed an alliance with the Irish enemy; thirdly, for having hung good 
 subjects, whose only crime was being attached to the Butlers ; fourthly, 
 for having maintained a secret correspondence with O'Neill O'Connor, 
 and other enemies, and having incited them to make incursions on the 
 lands of the Earl of Ormond while lord deputy. ' 
 
 Kildare, notwithstanding the dangers that menaced him, escaped, 
 through the intercession of his friends, and on the downfall of Cardmal 
 Wolsey, the implacable enemy of the Geraldines, was restored to office. • 
 
 Immediately on his reassumption he proceeded to strengthen himself 
 by Irish alliances. He gave his daughters in marriage to O'Connor, Faly, 
 and O'CarroU, and endeavoured on all sides to draw more closely together 
 those ties which of old mutually bound his house and the native chiefs. 
 He also entered into open war against his ancient enemies, the Butlers, 
 
A.D.1535.] 
 
 AND OTHER LEINSTER SEPTS. 
 
 9 
 
 ravaging the lands of the Earl of Ossory and his friends, and carrying off 
 considerable booty. 
 
 In consequence of complaints from the Butlers and others to the 
 English court, Kildare was again summoned to England, and having first 
 appointed his son, "Silken Thomas," vice-deputy, he obeyed the summons, 
 and was, upon his arrival in London, incarcerated in the Tower. 
 
 Thomas, becoming exasperated by the news, falsely spread in Dublin, 
 that his father had been executed for high treason in London, flung away 
 the sword of state in the council chamber, and raised his standard against 
 the king. The Irish chiefs flew to his aid in great numbers. In the 
 neighbourhood of Dublin rebellion was general. The district called 
 Fingal was laid waste by the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles, and for a time for- 
 tune favoured Thomas Fitzgerald in all his enterprises. 
 
 In 1535 Sheffington was appointed lord deputy, and Lord Grey was 
 sent to his assistance with a powerful army from England. It appears 
 from a letter addressed about this time to Lord Cromwell by Aylmer, 
 Lord Chief Justice, and Allen, Master of the EoUs, that they found affairs 
 in the worst possible condition. They stated that of the six baronies 
 which form the county of Kildare, five were utterly wasted by fire and 
 sword ; that the greater part of the County Meath had shared the same 
 fate; that Powerscourt, the building of which had cost 5,000 marks 
 (£3,333 6s. 8d.), had been destroyed by the O'Tooles and O'Byrnes ; that 
 Fitzgerald had taken Eathdangan; that the plague raged in Dublin; that 
 the deputy was ill, and unable to defend the castle of Maynooth; and that 
 no reliance could be placed on the fidelity of O'Neill. 
 
 Soon — too soon — ^however, a different hue came over the aspect of 
 affairs. The tide of victory which had so long flown in favour of the 
 enemies of English domination at length ebbed, and well-nigh overwhelmed 
 in its reflux all who were concerned in the revolt. 
 
 Thomas Fitzgerald, being closely pursued by superior forces, surren- 
 dered himself to Lord Grey on promise of full pardon. His five uncles, 
 who were still under arms, also surrendered on the same conditions, and 
 Grey sent them prisoners to England. 
 
10 ' HISTOEY OF THE CLAJ!^ o'bYRNE [a.D. 1535. 
 
 When on board the vessel which was to convey them from the Irish 
 shore, they inquired of the captain what was her name, and upon being 
 informed that she was called the " Cow," they yielded to despair, as they 
 remembered an ancient prophecy which predicted " that the five sons of 
 an earl should be transported to England in the belly of a cow, and should 
 no more return." They, together with their nephew, the young Earl of 
 Kildare, were tried for high treason, found guilty, and executed at 
 Tyburn. 
 
 The O'Byrnes and O'Tooles were now left to fight out their own 
 corner, which they did right gallantly and well. They succeeded in 
 having Lord Grey recaUed to England, a disgraced man, but, unfortun- 
 ately, only to receive in his place a far worse type in the person of St. 
 Leger. 
 
 The new deputy was a wily and crafty man, who saw that the breed- 
 ing of internal dissension among the Irish was a far more efficacious plan, 
 and better adapted to forward the nefarious designs of the English garri- 
 son, than encountering them in open warfare, although he could place ten 
 to one in the field against them. 
 
 He soon commenced to set the Irish chieftains and the English nobles 
 by the ears, breaking up the bond of unity which existed between them. 
 He also sowed the seeds of contention among the clans by inducing some 
 of the chieftains to take their lands and hold them on fiants and letters 
 patent from the English king, instead of as heretofore, being elected thereto 
 by their clansmen, who naturally repudiated this change, and repelled 
 those English appointed chieftains, electing by popular voice chiefs of 
 their own choice in their stead. 
 
 We regret to have to acknowledge that the then chieftain of the 
 Clan O'Byrne was not an exception to the many chieftains who were weak 
 enough to succumb to the intrigues of the Castle, and who were either 
 browbeaten or bribed into accepting their lands from Henry YIII. 
 
 We read in the State Papers of that period that Thadeus O'Byrne, 
 chief of the clan, having submitted,^and accepted Henry's terms, entered 
 into a further compact with him on 22nd January, 1535, in which, among 
 
A.T). 1534.] 
 
 AND OTHER LEINSTER SEPTS. 
 
 11 
 
 other things, he promised not to adhere to any Irishman against the king 
 or his subjects, or maintain any enemy or rebel of the king, especially 
 those of the nation of the O'Tooles fleeing into his. This is a sad record 
 to have to make against a chief of that gallant clan ; but we are consoled 
 by the reflection that it was only the act of an individual, and the clan 
 hastened to wipe out the stigma by indignantly rejecting the terms, repu- 
 diating the chief that made them, and electing in his stead the famous 
 Feagh MacHugh O'Byrne, who shed so much lustre and renown on their 
 name, their clan, and their nation. 
 
 We have striven, in the history of the Clan O'Toole, which at this 
 period is so mingled with that of the O'Byrnes, to depict some of the 
 daring deeds and gallant exploits of this great chief, and to our reader, 
 who would wish to study what a brave stand Feagh made for his faith and 
 fatherland, we would invite him to peruse it. 
 
 The O'Byrnes along the sea coast, who were followers of Thady, 
 became somewhat "Unionist" (to use a modern expression) in their 
 notions, and looked on their kinsman, Feagh, as a misguided and hot- 
 headed man, whose extreme notions were to be discountenanced; they 
 also seem to have viewed him more or less as an usurper in his position as 
 chief of the clan; but this was an absurd notion, as the same blood flowed 
 through the veins of the Feagh MacHughs as through the MacTeigues, 
 although twelve generations had passed away since they parted from the 
 common stem, and since the sceptre of the Clan O'Byrne was wielded by 
 one of the branch of Clan Eanelagh. 
 
 In the reign of Henry VIII. a brother of Feagh MacHugh's, Thady 
 O'Byrne, a monk of the Order of St, Francis, was arrested and sent a 
 prisoner to Dublin Castle. Among his papers was found a letter addressed 
 to O'Neill, Prince of Tyrone, and signed by the Bishop of Metz, from which 
 the following extract may be of interest : — 
 
 "My DEAR O'Neill, 
 
 " You have at all times, as likewise your forefathers, been faithful to 
 our Mother Church of Eome. 
 
12 HISTORY OP THE CLAN o'bYRNE [a.T). 1579. 
 
 " His Holiness Paul, now Pope, aided by the Holy Fathers, has lately 
 a prophecy of St. Lasirian, Irish Bishop of Cashel, where it is foretold 
 that the Mother Church of Eome must fall when the faith of the Catholics 
 of Ireland shall be subdued. Consequently, for the glory of Mother Church, 
 the honour of St. Peter, and your own safety, suppress heresy and the 
 enemies of his Holiness ; for, when the Eoman Creed shall be lost with 
 you, the See of Eome must likewise fall. 
 
 " This is why the Council of Cardinals has thought fit to encourage 
 the people of Ireland (that sacred island), being convinced that the Mother 
 Church, having a worthy son like you, and others who will come to your 
 succour, can never fall, but that she will always possess, in spite of the 
 prophecy, more or less credit in Britain. 
 
 " Having thus obeyed the orders of the Sacred Council, we recom- 
 mend your royal person to the Most Holy Trinity, to the Blessed Yirgin, 
 to Saints Peter and Paul, and to the whole Celestial Court. Amen." 
 
 The Earl of Desmond, after gallantly maintaining the struggle for 
 some years, now found his forces diminishing, while his enemies were 
 being daily increased by fresh reinforcements from England, issued circu- 
 lar letters to the principal noblemen of Leinster, with whose principles he 
 was acquainted, exhorting them to take part in the defence of their re- 
 ligion and country against the common enemy. 
 
 The following letter was addressed by the Earl of Desmond to Feagh 
 MacHugh O'Byrne, chief of the O'Byrnes of Wicklow 
 
 " Newcastle, 29th November, 1579. 
 
 " My dearly beloved Friend, — I recommend myself to you — as my 
 brother and myself have undertaken to uphold our Catholic Faith against 
 the English, who, not satisfied with overthrowing the Holy Church, wish 
 to possess our inheritance and reduce us to a state of bondage. 
 
 " We beseech you to take part with us in the defence of our country, 
 according to your conscience and the dictates of nature. If you fear being 
 abandoned when embarked in the affair, bear in mind : — That we have 
 undertaken it under the authorization of our Holy Father the Pope 
 
 / 
 
A.D. 1580.] AND OTHER LEINSTER SEPTS. 13 
 
 and King Pldlip, who have engaged to assist us in this undertaking when 
 necessary ; consequently, you risk nothing in the enterprise. 
 
 "You may be certain we shall never form a treaty with the enemy, 
 without your consent, for which this letter shall be a sufficient guarantee." 
 
 Whether it was in consequence of this letter, or that it served as an 
 additional stimulus to their own resolves, we find Feagh Mac Hugh, in 
 common with the other Leinster chiefs, up in arms in the following year, 
 A.D. 1580, in defence of the same cause which Desmond so vigorously 
 supported. 
 
 The English Court now appointed Arthur Grey, Lord Baron of 
 Wilton, Knight of the Garter, as Lord Deputy for Ireland. The new 
 viceroy landed in Dublin in August, 1580. 
 
 Several noblemen, both of Leinster and the South, became indignant 
 at this time, witnessing the persecutions to which Holy Church was sub- 
 jected — the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass abolished, the clergy outlawed and 
 hunted, the churches profaned, pillaged, and handed over to the new 
 conforming Protestant clergy ; seeing all this, and dreading the storm of 
 increasing strife, they united in one bond for their mutual support, 
 to check the inroads of the ruthless persecutions to which Holy Church 
 was being daily subjected. 
 
 Some of the principals of this laudable coalition were James Eustace, 
 (Lord Baltinglass), Feagh Mac Hugh O'Byrne, O'Toole, the brother-in- 
 law of Lord Baltinglass, and Captain Fitzgerald ; the latter of whom 
 had quitted the Queen's service for the purpose of striking a blow for 
 Holy Faith; but their intentions were discovered before their final 
 arrangements were made, and several of the promoters of the conspiracy 
 were arrested and put to death; others fled the country, while some had the 
 satisfaction in a short while after, of seeing some of the flower of the 
 English army bite the dust. 
 
 So anxious was the new lord deputy to signalise his advent among 
 the Irish by some signal victory, that upon his arrival in Dublin, he would 
 not wait for the usual ceremonies of salaams and kotows from the hungry 
 hangers-on of the Castle, that were always enacted at the installation of 
 
^''KT OF THE CUN o'bTs™ [a.D. 1580. 
 
 rashly prematurp TT^ J u j "fS'* ! ^u* iis lordship was 
 
 tamed with stem obstinacy and great snirit fn?,!! % ^ J 7 "T" 
 andter^inated in the complete vTc /rit^ 
 
 able len^^'ftht ffisttfof ^Z'"^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 readers and trust that it ^il. b^of in"?™ stTttV" 
 
 In these wars of 1580, and following years, we find the Irish and 
 
A.D. 1580.] AND OTHEE LEINSTEE SEPTS. 15 
 
 Anglo-Hibernian chiefs, ancient and modern, with the usual doomed 
 
 fatahty of Irish efforts, disunited— some for, some against. 
 
 This war is sometimes known in history as the " Tyrone "War " the 
 
 Earl of Tyrone being the commander-in-chief. ' 
 
 It is also designated by Philip O'SuUivan, in his Catholic History, as 
 
 'Bellum quindecim annorum;' because it commenced in the thirty-first 
 year of Queen Elizabeth, and continued until her death, which took place 
 
 m the forty-fifth year of her reign. 
 
 ^ Hitherto, the wars with the Eaglish were for the preservation of 
 their hearths and homes; but in this struggle, to make it still more 
 deadly, was added the freedom of their holy religion, which these Saxon 
 marauders wanted to deprive the Irish of. Hence it was that this war 
 was truly and really a religious war, and those Catholics who lost their 
 lives and theu- estates through it, sacrificed them nobly for holy Church 
 and conscience sake. 
 
 A short summary by provinces of those who fought on one side or 
 the other may be of interest ; and we give, first : 
 
 MODERN lEISH CHIEFTAINS IN ELKABETH's INTEEEST. 
 MUNSTEE. 
 
 Thomas Butler (surnamed Dhuv), the Black Ormond. 
 Barry The Great (Mor), Yiscount Buttevant. 
 Mac Pierce Butler, Baron Dunboyne. 
 Courcey— Baron de Courcey. 
 Burke— Baron Castleconnell. 
 
 CONNAUGHT. 
 
 THick Burke and Kichard, his son. 
 of Ckn w/l W surnamed The Naval, who disputed the estates 
 Mac Pheoris (Bermingham), Baron of Dunmorris. 
 
16 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CLAN o'bYRNE 
 
 [a.d. 1580. 
 
 modern irish chieftains supporting elizabeth. 
 Leinster. 
 
 Henry, William, and Gerald Eitzgerald, Earls of Kildare. 
 
 Preston, Viscount Gormanstown. 
 
 Nugent, Baron of Delvin. 
 
 Fleming, Baron of Slane. 
 
 Barnewall, Baron of Trimblestown. 
 
 Plunkett, Baron of Killeen. 
 
 ANCIENT IRISH CHIEFTAINS SUPPORTING ELIZABETH. 
 MUNSTER. 
 
 Donogli O'Brien, Prince of Limerick, Earl of Thomond. 
 
 Murrough O'Brien, Baron of Inchiquin. 
 
 Mac Carthy Eiagh, Prince of Carberry. 
 
 Charles Mac Carthy, son of Dermod, Prince of Muskerry. 
 
 CONNAUGHT. 
 
 0' Conor Don, Prince of Magherry. 
 Prince O'Melaclilan. 
 
 ancient irish chieftains who supported faith and fatherland. 
 
 Ulster. 
 
 Hugh O'Neill, Prince and Earl of Tyrone, with his party, as follows: 
 
 Macgennis, Prince of Iveach. 
 
 Mac Mahon, Prince of Uriel. 
 
 Mac Guire, Prince of Fermanagh. 
 
 O'Cahane, Prince of Arachty. 
 
 James and Eonald Mac Donnell, Princes of Glynn. 
 
 O'Hanlon, Prince of Orior. 
 
A.D. 1580.] 
 
 AND OTHER LEINSTER SEPTS. 
 
 17 
 
 O'Donnell, Prince of Tyrconnell, with his party, as follows : 
 
 Mac Sweeney, Prince of Tuach. 
 
 Mac Sweney, Prince of Fenid. 
 
 Mac Sweeney, Prince of Bannuch. 
 
 O'Dogherty, Prince of Innishowen. 
 
 The O'Boyles. 
 
 MUKSTER. 
 
 O'SuUivan, Prince of Bere and Bantry, 
 
 Daniel O'SuUivan Mor (The Great), whose father, Prince of Dun- 
 kerrin, was dispensed from taking part in the war, owing to his advanced 
 age. 
 
 O'Connor, Kerry, Prince of Arachly. 
 Donagh McCarthy Mac Donagh, son of Cormac. 
 Dermot McCarthy Mac Donagh, son of Owen, both competitors for 
 the principality of Alia. 
 
 O'Mahony of Carberry. 
 O'Donovan. 
 
 O'Donohne of Onachty. 
 O'Donohue of the Vale. 
 
 ais^cient irish chieftains who fought for faith and fatherland. 
 
 Leinster. 
 
 Although the chief heads of this province espoused the queen's cause 
 and interests, there were, nevertheless, many noblemen of ancient clans 
 to oppose them, and to take up arms in defence of their religion, of whom 
 the most distinguished were : 
 
 The O'Byrnes. 
 
 The O'Tooles. 
 
 The Kavanaghs. 
 
 The O'Connors Faly. 
 
 The O'Mordhas, or O'Moraas, of Leix. 
 
1^ HISTORY OF THE CLAN o'bYRNE [i.p, 1580. 
 
 CONNAUGHT. 
 
 O'Euark, Prince of BrefEny. 
 Mac Dermott, Prince of Moylurg. 
 O'Kelly, Prince of Maineek. 
 Mac Geoghegans, princes. 
 
 In addition to the foregoing, we may give the names of the following, 
 among other noblemen of English extraction, who made common cause 
 with the Munster chieftains. 
 
 MUNSTER NOBLES OF ENGLISH EXTRACTION WHO SYMPATHISED WITH THE IRISH 
 IN THEIR STRUGGLES FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. 
 
 Eoche, Viscount Fermoy. 
 
 Eichard Butler, Viscount Mountgarrett. 
 
 Mac Morris, otherwise Fitz-Morris, Baron Lisnan. 
 
 Thomas Butler, Baron Cahir. 
 
 Prince Patrick Condon, Condon and Clongibhons. 
 
 Eichard Purcell, Baron Luochny. 
 
 William Fitzgerald, Xnight of Kerry, Lord of the Valley. 
 Edmond Fitzgerald, The White Knight. 
 
 Besides the foregoing, who were in possession of their estates, and 
 nobly risked them for conscience sake, there were others who in addi- 
 tion to their risk, left the service of the Queen, and joined their' lot with 
 those Catholics struggling to be free. Among those were Florence and 
 Daniel Mac Carthy, who were for a considerable time possessors of the 
 principality of Clancanhoe. 
 
 O'Connor, Prince of Sligo. 
 James Fitzgerald, Earl of Desmond. 
 Mac William. 
 Owen O'Morrha, 
 
 Mac William Burke, Baron Leitrim. 
 
 Vide O'Sullivan, '<Cath. Historicus," Vol. III., Lib. II., Cap. 4. 
 
A.D. 15'J4.] 
 
 AND OTHER LEINSTER SEPTS. 
 
 19 
 
 Unfortunately, we have not authenticated particulars of the many 
 battles fought during this fifteen years' war, except the few garbled and 
 distorted reports which we find among the State Papers in the Eecord 
 Office, and O'SuUivan's " Catholic History," which is very meagre ; but 
 enough can be gleaned from them to convince us that these nobles, with 
 our forefathers, fought gallantly side by side, and made every sacrifice to 
 defend the glorious old faith handed down to them from St. Patrick. 
 
 We also know that the inevitable result of the overwhelming odds 
 pitted against them by Elizabeth, was the loss of their estates and all their 
 worldly possessions ; but against the retention of the holy faith, all the 
 efforts of her hosts, and all the frauds, finesses, and legal chicanery of her 
 unscrupulous agents were as nought. That, thank God, they retained 
 unsullied, and transmitted it to us, to-day, pure and undefiled ; sacred and 
 inviolable. 
 
 " Thy rival was honoured, while thou wert wrong'd and scorn'd ; 
 Thy crown was of briars, while gold her brows adorned ; 
 She woo'd me to temples, while thou lay'st hid in caves ; 
 Her friends were all masters, while thine, alas ! were slaves ; 
 Yet, cold in the earth at thy feet I would rather be. 
 Than wed what I love not, or turn one thought from thee." 
 
 Our immortal bard has well conveyed in the lines above the love of 
 our forefathers for their Church, and the temptations they had to resist, 
 the deprivations they had to submit to, consequent upon their firm and 
 unyielding determination to avoid the seductive enjoyments and blandish- 
 ments of that new-fangled doctrine set up by their persecutors, and desig- 
 nated, forsooth, the " Reformation." 
 
 We find, in the year 1594, that Feagh MacHugh O'Byrne, the sworn 
 enemy of the English, and young Edward Eustace, of the illustrious house 
 of Baltinglass, rescued from the Castle of Dublin, after seven years' cap- 
 tivity, the following Irish noblemen, viz., young Hugh O'Donnell, Daniel 
 MacSweeney (surnamed Gorm), Huan O'GaUachur, Henry and Art (the 
 
20 
 
 HISTORY OP THE CLAN o'bYRNE 
 
 [a.d. 1596. 
 
 sons of Shane) O'Neill, and Phillip O'Eeilly. Having gained over the 
 gaolers of the Castle prison, Feagh and Edward sent to the prisoners a 
 piece of liDen cloth, supposed to be for their personal use. This the 
 prisoners cut into strips, and knotted them so firmly together as to form a 
 rope, by means of which they were enabled to descend at midnight in 
 safety, with the exception of Art O'J^'eill, who was so severely wounded 
 by a stone falling upon him that he died shortly afterwards from its 
 effects. 
 
 These noble captives, thus delivered from prison, quitted the city be- 
 fore break of day. It was the depth of winter, and the roads were in 
 desperate condition, and in consequence of the circuitous route they had 
 to travel, seeking all the bypaths and loneliest passes of the mountains in 
 order to evade the enemy, they were almost exhausted by fatigue, hunger, 
 and thirst, before they reached the sheltering welcome of Glenmalure. 
 Here they received the kind and motherly nursing of Eosa O'Toole, wife 
 of Feagh MacHugh, until they were able to make good their way to Ulster. 
 The young Hugh O'Donnell, Prince of Tyrconnell, thus timely delivered 
 from a gloomy fate, was one of the most powerful nobles of Ireland, next 
 to O'Neill. He was named by the Irish, Bal Dearg O'Donnell. Although 
 young, having barely attained his twentieth year, he had already distin- 
 guished himself in the exercise of warfare and field sports, and was alike 
 remarkable for his prudence and virtue, and not less for his zeal in support 
 of the holy Eoman Catholic religion. 
 
 Upon his arrival at Tyrconnell, his father, who was now advanced in 
 years, yielded up to him his rights, titles, and privileges, and he was, by 
 the universal voice of a people who idolized him, proclaimed and crowned 
 Prince of Tyrconnell. 
 
 Hugh was not long in rekindling the flames of war in Ulster, and 
 this acted as a stimulant to the English of the Pale to renew their perse- 
 cutions in Leinster; and again we fiud Walter Fitzgerald, Feagh MacHugh 
 0' Byrne, Felim O'Toole, Tirlagb, Felim, and Eaymond O'Byrae, sons of 
 Feagh MacHugh, all once more united in having recourse to arms, 
 and striking yet another blow for the old, old cause j and though victory 
 
A.D. 1596.] 
 
 AND OTHER LEINSTER SEPTS. 
 
 21 
 
 crowned their efforts on many a hard-fought field, the brute force of num- 
 bers told in the end, and many of the chieftains, amongst whom was 
 Walter Fitzgerald, sacrificed their lives in the support of their religion. 
 
 The English Government at this period, wishing to enter into a nego- 
 tiation with O'Neill and several of the other Catholic Confederate chieftains, 
 effected a truce for about two months, i.e., from 27th of October to the 
 commencement of January. This is evidence in itself that the Irish were 
 having the best of it, for then, as well as to-day, when the nefarious pro- 
 jects of the Government are progressing in accordance with their wishes, 
 we find no inclination on their part for parley or conference ; it is ouly 
 when stern necessity points out to them that their action is likely to end 
 in their own discomfiture that they ever dream of condescending to enter 
 into the field of debate or argument with the Irish. 
 
 In the meantime the castle of Monaghan surrendered to Conn (son of 
 O'Neill), aided by O'Donnell and MacMahon. When the time of truce 
 expired, a commission was forwarded by the English Government to Sir 
 Eobert Gardiner and Sir Henry Wallop, empowering them to conclude a 
 peace with the Catholics of Ulster. The commissioners engaged upon this 
 mission lost no time in proceeding to Dundalk for the purpose, but the 
 Irish, not having sufiicient confidence in them, held a conference in an 
 open plain in presence of the two armies, which were close by. 
 
 The Catholics demanded three points — first, general liberty of con- 
 science ; second, general pardon for the past ; third, that there should be 
 neither garrison, sheriff, nor any judicial officer in their province, except 
 in the towns of Newry and Carrickfergus. 
 
 These articles not suiting the tastes of the English commissioners, 
 the conference terminated without coming to any conclusion, notwith- 
 standing the truce was prolonged to the 1st of April. 
 
 It having finally terminated, the deputy and General Norris hastened 
 to join the army at Dundalk ; but the jealousy which existed between 
 them as to who should take the command led to their immediate disunion. 
 The deputy, placing himself at the head of the troops, marched from Dun- 
 dalk in expectation of making himself master of Armagh ; but in this he 
 
 41 
 
22 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CLAN o'bTENE 
 
 [a.d. 1596. 
 
 was foiled by the forces under O'Neill, wlio was accompanied by Mac- 
 Guire, O'Caban, and the two sons of O'Hanlon, and other noblemen. 
 
 The action which took place on this occasion between the rival armies 
 commenced at Killcluona with equal ardour, and after a severe contest the 
 English were forced to retreat upon Newry, leaving six hundred men slain 
 upon the field, while the loss sustained by O'Neill did not exceed two 
 hundred. The deputy's want of success in Ulster induced him to quit the 
 province, and resigning the command of his troops to Norris, he returned 
 to Dublin. 
 
 The Catholics of Leinster were again under arms. Feagh MacHugh 
 O'Byrne, Felim O'Toole, and Donal Spaniagh (the Spaniard), chief of the 
 Kavanaghs, united their forces, and ravaged the county of Dublin, and up 
 to Wexford. The O'Connors did the same in O'Faley country. Con- 
 naught was in a state of combustion, the people there ha^dng been joined 
 by a corps of Scotch, spreading terror all roimd them. 
 
 Eussell, now lord deputy, marched an army into Connaught, and 
 laid siege to the castle of Losraage, which belonged to O'Madden. When 
 called upon to surrender, the assailants were indignantly answered — 
 "that if their whole army was composed of deputies, it would not induce 
 them to yield, nor lower their flag one inch." The castle, however, being 
 weakly fortified, was, after a vigorous resistance, taken by the deputy, 
 with the loss of about forty men.. Again, in this year, 1696, the 
 queen and council of England became desirous of establishing a peace with 
 O'Neill, and with this end two commissioners, viz., General Norris, and 
 Fenton, Secretary of State, were charged with the overtures. 
 
 They proceeded to Dundalk, where they had an interview with 
 O'Neill ; but that prince not having sufficient reliance in their good faith, 
 and proposing as the first conditions the three points submitted on a for- 
 mer occasion, this, as well as former conferences, came to nought. 
 
 Shortly after Sir Edward Moore was despatched by Elizabeth with a 
 pardon for The O'Neill, signed by the queen herself ; and though lack of 
 gallantry cannot be assigned to him, he upon this occasion was non-appre- 
 ciative enough to refuse the epistle. A more welcome present arris^ed at 
 
A.D.1696.] 
 
 AND OTHER LEINSTER SEPTS. 
 
 28 
 
 this juncture, in the shape of three small vessels laden with gunpowder, 
 and having two hundred men on board, consigned to O'Donnell, from 
 Spain, with a promise of much larger supply. 
 
 O'Neill wrote now to Fiach Mac Hugh 0' Byrne, O'Toole, and other 
 Leinster chieftains in terms of encouragement, exhorting them to as ably 
 support him in the future as in the past, as allies in the common cause; and 
 he received from them the most favourable replies. He likewise maintained 
 a friendly understanding with the best disposed portions of the inhabitants 
 of Munster ; this he was enabled to do through the aid of Clan Shyhyes, 
 whom he sent expressly into the province with letters of credit signed by 
 himself. 
 
 O'Neill's letters to the nobles of Leinster produced a great effect. 
 Fiach Mao Hugh immediately recommenced hostilities. He took the for- 
 tress of Bally-na-Cor and demolished its fortifications. He then, in con- 
 junction with the O'Tooles, Kavanaghs, O'Moores, O'Connors, and Butlers, 
 demanded, sword in hand, the immediate restoration of their several 
 estates unlawfully forfeited ; upon which, the deputy marched against 
 them. The Butlers were pursued by the Earl of Ormond (who, after 
 renouncing his religion, sacrificed his nearest relatives), while the 
 O'Moores and O'Connors remained exposed to the insults of Sir Anthony 
 St. Leger. Connaught, also, was not less disturbed, Eichard Bingham 
 being in arms against the Burkes, O'Rourkes, and the O'Tooles of Omey, 
 in the west of that province, and it was in this conflict that Tiboid, or 
 Theobald O'Toole, chief of his name then, was slain, a.d. 1596. 
 
 The King of Spain, knowing that the Queen of England had made 
 many and frequent overtures to O'Neill, O'Donnell, and other Irish nobles 
 who had recourse to arms in defence of their faith, sent them an express 
 exhorting them to maintain a steady perseverance, and renewing his 
 promises of material assistance. 
 
 In the interim Armagh was surprised by the English, who took up 
 their quarters there. O'Neill was sore distressed at finding this holy 
 town of Saint Patrick's own founding profaned by heretics, by whom 
 nothing was held sacred. The English placed a strong garrison there, 
 
24 
 
 HISTOEY OF THE CLAN o'bYRNE 
 
 [a.d. 1596. 
 
 and it was likewise protected by an army encamped near the town, under 
 the command of General Norris. 
 
 The O'Neill, not conceiving it advisable to undertake a siege, made a 
 movement with his army, which succeeded in its purpose of drawing off 
 Norris, and causing him to give battle to Tyrone's forces, near the church 
 of Killotir, where, notwithstanding the advantage of superior numbers in 
 the English army, O'NeiU's vigorous troops overpowered them, and drove 
 them back upon Armagh, whither O'Neill followed them and put many 
 to the sword. 
 
 Norris escaped, and leaving five hundred men in garrison at Armagh, 
 in command of Francis Stafford, retired with the remainder of his army 
 towards Dundalk. 
 
 O'Neill, who was now master of the situation, was enabled, from his 
 position to intercept all convoys of provisions intended for Armagh, by 
 which means a famine ensued, followed by a plague, which in a short time 
 carried off many. 
 
 The English in Dundalk, having been apprised of the wretched con- 
 dition of the garrison of Armagh, forwarded several waggons of provisions 
 for its relief, under an escort of three companies of infantry and a squad- 
 ron of dragoons. O'Neill being thoroughly informed of this manotuvre, 
 succeeded in surprising the convoy, putting every man of the escort 
 to the sword, and his penetrating discernment enabling him to take ad- 
 vantage of all contingencies, favourable and otherwise, he advised and 
 arranged the following ruse de guerre, which was attended with the most 
 satisfactory results. 
 
 He ordered a portion of his command, both horse and foot, to equip 
 themselves with the uniforms and appointments of the slain escort, and 
 proceed with the supplies, in one body, with the English colours flying, > 
 towards the ruins of a monastery which stood within the range of the 
 guns from the walls of Armagh. 
 
 O'Neill himself, at the head of the remainder of his forces, pursued 
 this apparent English enemy, who made a feint of resistancoj but at length 
 giving way, sounded a retreat ; all this under the eyes of Stafford, with 
 
A.D. 1596.] 
 
 AND OTHER LElNSTEE SEMS. 
 
 25 
 
 his garrison starving, and seeing the mncli coveted supplies about to vanish 
 from before Ibeir very faces, was more than he could stand, so he ordered 
 an immediate sally from the garrison to go to the support of their supposed 
 countrymen. 
 
 With alacrity half of the garrison rushed out and hastened to the 
 scene of the mimic battle, when, to their great dismay, they found not 
 only O'Neill prepared to meet them, but the very men they came to suc- 
 cour charged them on all sides, while, to cap the climax of their misfor- 
 tunes, Con, son of O'Neill, who, with some companies of infantry, had 
 been lying in ambush in the monastery, took them in the rere. The 
 English, thus hemmed in by enemies upon all sides, were cut to pieces in 
 sight of the remainder of the garrison; and Stafford, finding himself with- 
 out any further resource, surrendered to O'Neill, who gave him liberty to 
 go join the English army at Dundalk, and recount, for the delectation of 
 his superior officers, how The O'Neill dished them out of Armagh. 
 
 O'Neill next made an attack upon the castle of Carlingford, in which 
 he was unsuccessful, and then sent his son-in-law, Henry Oge O'Neill, 
 with some troops into the English Pale for the purpose of creating a diver- 
 sion in favour of the Catholics of Leinster, who were then under arms. 
 
 The continued tyranny and the base cruelties of Sir Kichard Bingham 
 at length disgusted the throne and the English Privy Council, and though 
 they certainly were not over squeamish where the lives and properties of 
 the Irish were concerned, still, they were forced to " draw the line " at 
 Bingham, and dismiss this monster of iniquity from the governorship of 
 Connaught, replacing him by Sir Conyers Clifford. 
 
 The art of fortification being but little understood, they were obhged 
 to make up for their lack of engineering skill by having a larger number 
 of men, and for this reason O'Neill evacuated Armagh and Portmore, 
 which were immediately taken possession of by General Norris, who gar- 
 risoned them, and appointed Sir Henry Davis to the command of the 
 former. 
 
 Norris endeavoured to make further inroads, but was again stopped 
 by O'Neill, whom he found encamped in his road, and occupied his troops 
 
26 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CLAN o'bYRNE 
 
 [a.d. 1597. 
 
 in constructing a field work, which has since been called Mount Norris, 
 and is situated in the barony of Fews, between Armagh and Newiy. 
 
 It was some time, owing to the frequent attacks made by O'Neill, 
 before the fortification was finished, but being at length completed, it was 
 garrisoned by Norris, who, after appointing General Williams to the com- 
 mand, returned with the remainder of his army to Dundalk. During his 
 absence, however, he lost all the places he had taken; Mount Norris. 
 Portmore, and Armagh surrendered again to O'Neill, who sent the diffe- 
 rent garrisons home. In vain did Norris , return to the charge, with all 
 his combined forces; he was again completely routed by O'Neill at 
 Malach Breac, in the territory of Orior. Norris, after having made three 
 ineffectual attempts to rally his shattered forces, was himself severely 
 wounded, and this was the last time he ever measured swords with O'Neill. 
 The generals under O'Neill, particularly MacGuire, who was in command 
 of the cavalry, distinguished themselves particularly upon this occasion. 
 
 In the month of May, 1597, one of those base, perfidious acts of 
 treachery for which the Castle authorities have been such adepts in the 
 past, as well as in our own day, was perpetrated by the lord deputy on 
 Feagh MacHugh O'Byrne, who, in accordance with an understanding be- 
 tween O'Neill and himself, was in a quiescent state. Further negotiations 
 had again been resumed between O'Neill and the English government, and 
 Feagh was requested by O'Neill to remain quiet pending same, promising 
 that no terms would be concluded between him and the English in which 
 the interests of Feagh would not receive every attention. 
 
 Naturally honourable himself, and lulled into a false security by 
 judging others from the standpoint of his own manliness, Feagh did not 
 adopt those precautionary measures he would have done were he in 
 what may be termed his normal condition, viz., at " daggers drawn " with 
 the English of the Pale. 
 
 The deputy was not influenced by such a fine sense of honour or 
 good faith ; his creed was to get rid of a formidable enemy by any means, 
 knowing full well that he would never be reprimanded by the English 
 court for any violation of the law of treaties, or checked for any illegal 
 
A.-n.l59T.] 
 
 AND OTHER LElNSTEll SEPlS. 
 
 27 
 
 acts committed in his zeal for the compassing of the death of The 
 O'Byrne. 
 
 The usual tactics were then employed, nor was the temptation of 
 English gold left out, and we sorrowfully have to put on record, not 
 without finding one base enough to succumb to its influence. One of 
 Feagh's own followers betrayed him (a base hireling known to history as 
 one Duff) ; and Feagh MacHugh O'Byrne, the illustrious chief of his 
 clan, and the glorious defender of his creed and country, was stolen 
 upon in the quiet enjoyment of his home, where he was taking a needed 
 rest from his warlike occupation, in the fancied security of a truce, and 
 there, in the presence of his family, ruthlessly slaughtered, his body 
 hacked, and his venerable head sent as a trophy to the queen, that her 
 grinning sycophantic courtiers might feast their eyes upon it ; but when 
 these sightless orbs were endowed with life not one among them would 
 have dared to smile within the radius of their fiery glance. 
 
 We have entered more fully into the details of Feagh MacHugh's 
 murder in the History of the Clan 0' Toole, to which we would invite 
 our reader, rather than tire him with their recapitulation here. 
 
 Feagh left two sons, Phelim and Eaymond, who inherited their 
 father's valour and zeal in the cause of their holy religion. Phelim left 
 the command of their shattered clan and hopes to Eaymond, while he 
 repaired to Ulster to seek at the hands of O'Neill, the bosom friend and 
 faithful ally of their butchered sire, some material aid that would enable 
 them to strike a blow to avenge the base and bloody death to which he 
 was subjected. 
 
 O'Neill received him with the utmost cordiality ; he sincerely 
 condoled with him on his sad loss, nor did he confine himself to that 
 too-often worthless sympathy of the lips — no, O'Neill was far more 
 practical. His sympathy took the tangible shape of three hundred and 
 fifty tried warriors, good men and true, commanded by a nobleman of 
 Leinster, Brian Eiach O'Morra (O'Moore). These were given to Phelim, 
 who was exhorted by O'Neill to make good use of them. He returned with 
 them to the O'Byme's country, and on his arrival there he proved to 
 
2'8 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CLAN o'bYENIS 
 
 [a.d. 1598. 
 
 O'Neill's comfort, Ms own satisfaction, and the utter consternation of the 
 Saxon " land-grabbers," that those strong-handed sympathizers from 
 Ulster were not thrown away upon him, as, aided by his own clan, they 
 fell upon those who had taken possession of the estates of his father, and 
 had no trouble in routing them out, as, after getting a taste of the quality 
 of the stuff in store for them, they, after being thoroughly defeated in a 
 few skirmishes, fled with their lives in their hands to the shelter of 
 Dublin Castle. 
 
 After this Brian O'Morra determined to do a little campaigning on 
 his own account; so to prevent his command getting rusty through 
 inactivity, he marched his troops towards Lochgarme, in the County 
 Wexford, pillaging the English everywhere he found them, and aided by 
 four hundred Leinster auxiliaries, cut to pieces a large English force, 
 sent out to intercept and defeat him. 
 
 After the death of the celebrated Eory O'More, who was slain in an 
 engagement with the English, his two sons, Owen and Edmund, were 
 placed under the protection of Phelim 0 'Byrne, who had Ihem educated 
 in a manner suitable to their birth and pretensions ; and upon Owen 
 attaining the age of twenty-one, he equipped him in good style, and sent 
 him to Leix to support his rights in that quarter. His claims were at 
 once acknowledged by the vassals of his father, and he was declared 
 " The O'Moore," i.e., the legitimate representative of the principality of 
 Leix. 
 
 In 1599, as we are told by Camden, the affairs of Ireland had 
 become most deplorable ; rebellion was extending throughout the length 
 and breadth of the island. "In rebellionem enim gens fere, universa 
 proruperat." In fact, the English in Ulster were limited to the possession 
 of a few strongholds, while a considerable portion of the Munster chief- 
 tains were up in arms. 
 
 The O'Byrnes, O'Tooles, O'Kavanaghs, Eustaces, O'Moores, and 
 O'Connors, with others of the Leinster chieftains, had leagued with the 
 MacGeoghegans and Terrels to support their rights. 
 
 The O'Euarks, with some of the Burkes, and other powerful leaders 
 
A.D.1599.] 
 
 AND OTHER LEINSTER SEPTS. 
 
 20 
 
 in Connaught, embraced the national cause, so that Elizabeth found 
 herself upon the verge of losing all power and authority over the island. 
 She had no longer any one capable of governing it. Marshal Bagenal 
 had been killed ; Eichard Bingham, who had been sent over immediately 
 to replace him, died soon after his arrival in Ireland. Norris, the 
 governor of Munster, and St. Leger, the prefect of Leix, had perished by 
 the avenging swords of the Irish Catholics. Lord Ormond was nominally 
 commander of the queen's forces, but his ability as a general not corres- 
 ponding with his loyalty, Elizabeth was obliged to consult her council 
 upon the selection of a general more capable of suppressing the increasing 
 disorders of the day. 
 
 Charles Blunt, Lord Baron Mountjoy, had been chosen by the 
 majority of the council, when Eichard, Earl of Essex, whose ambition 
 was boundless, insinuated that Mountjoy was not a right or proper person 
 to be empowered with such a command, he not having acquired sufficient 
 experience in the art of war ; his habits, moreover, being of too studious 
 a nature. His lordship urged further, that it would be most advisable in 
 the existing state of affairs in Ireland, to select a commander from 
 amongst the richest of the nobility of England, one who had previously 
 commanded an army, and who would be a favourite with the troops, 
 thereby evidently bringing himself to notice as the fittest person for the 
 office, and he was accordingly appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. 
 
 Shortly after his arrival, the 0 'Byrnes and O'Tooles gained a signal 
 victory over Sir Henry Harrington, whom Essex had appointed to the 
 chief command, in the glens of Wicklow, at which defeat Essex was so 
 exasperated that to punish the cowardice of the English troops who were 
 engaged in it, he caused them to be decimated. We have shown in 
 the History of the Clan O'Toole that when Essex himself personally 
 engaged the Irish he fared little better at their hands, and the account of 
 his downfall, recall, and death, are there recorded, and may prove of 
 interest to our readers. 
 
 In the month of December, a.d. 1600, Lord Mountjoy, who had 
 succeeded the Earl of Essex as lord deputy, entered the County Wicklow, 
 
30 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CLA.N o'bYENE 
 
 [a.d.1600. 
 
 for the purpose of chastising the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles for the frequent 
 incursions made by them upon the lands in the vicinity of Dublin. 
 
 After having vainly endeavoured to surprise Phelim O'Byrne in his 
 own house, Mount] oy made prisoners of his wife and eldest son, devastated 
 the country round, burning houses, granaries, etc., etc., and laying waste 
 all before him. After garrisoning the towns of Tullagh and Wicklow, 
 the lord deputy proceeded to Monastereven, subsequently to Trim and 
 MuUingar, then to Athlone and Drogheda, from which latter place he 
 took his departure for Dublin on the 26th of the following April, having 
 previously ordered that troops should be marched to the several garrisons. 
 
 Upon his arrival in Dublin he received orders to invest Niall Garve 
 O'Donnell with the principality of Tyrconnell, and Connor Eoe MacGuire 
 with that of Fermanagh, in preference to their duly constituted legitimate 
 princes. Thus was Maguire recompensed for having made a prisoner of 
 Cormac O'l^eill, nephew of O'Neill, and the tanist of his clan. 
 
 This plan of establishing opposition or queen's chieftains in the 
 clans was of more effect in ultimately promoting the queen's interests in 
 Ireland than whole battalions of English soldiers could be. By support- 
 ing the interests of the collateral branches against the legitimate heads 
 elected by their clans, the crown stirred up a division amongst them with 
 respect to hereditary and elective rights to the chieftainship and property 
 in land ; and, to our sorrow and their disgrace, it must be acknowledged 
 that some were found sufficiently cowardly and cringing to assist the 
 crown in this disastrous policy. The queen's prot^g^s were named the 
 " Queen's Maguire," the " Queen's O'Donnell," etc., etc., to distinguish 
 them from the legitimate chiefs. 
 
 The year 1603 is the time at which we fix the almost entire reduc- 
 tion of Ireland under the English yoke. A historian, in his remarks 
 upon this subject, says : 
 
 " The English pride themselves upon the subjection of this kingdom, 
 which was not effected until after four centuries of warfare, whilst they 
 will not agree as to the conquest of England, the fate of which was 
 decided in a single day at Hastings, by William the Conqueror." Do 
 
/ 
 
 A.D. 1601.] AND OTHER LEINSTER SEPTS. 31 
 
 they pretend that their consent "was then a condition, without which the 
 Duke of Normandy could not have reigned over them ? It is this 
 imagination which renders them more vain. The Irish had fought for 
 their liberty, until the end of the reign of Elizabeth, their chiefs still had 
 their troops in the field, they were awaiting fresh reinforcements from 
 Spain, and only laid down their arms upon the terms of an advantageous 
 capitulation. Such then is the pretended and much vaunted, so-called 
 conquest of Ireland. 
 
 With regard to the immediate fortunes of the O'Byrnes, we quote 
 here again the following communication from Lord Deputy Mountjoy to 
 Sir George Carew. This is given already in the History of the Clan 
 O'Toole, but as it equally effects the O'Byrnes we re-insert it : — 
 
 Tradagh (Drogheda), 4th April, 1601. Phelim MacFeagh, having 
 heard that others sped no better than he, and yet are desirous to come in, 
 their countries being spoiled, seeing no hope to recover himself, hath made 
 his submission to the Council of Dublin, and put in his pledges.'' 
 
 " Phelim O'Toole of the Partrie, and all thereabouts being now quiet, 
 we shall have time the more freely to apply ourselves to the services of 
 greater importance." 
 
 No doubt Phelim adopted this course as a " dernier resort," and also 
 as being the most prudent one to take ; no doubt he had his own mental 
 reservations, and also hoped that when the present storm was lulled, he 
 might be reinstated in his possessions. This time he was right in his 
 surmises, as we find later on in the State Papers, that on the accession of 
 James I, the following grant was made by royal letters to the O'Byrnes : — 
 
 "On the 25th March, 1604, Phelim O'Byrne, had granted to him, 
 pursuant to the Privy Seal, dated 26th September, 1603, the towns and 
 lands of Corballie, Ballinockin, Grenane, a moiety of Bally -Eustace, &c., 
 &c., producing a rent of £100, payable by five tenants of said territory, 
 Eanelagh, in money counted, or in cattle, at the selection of said tenants, 
 in manner following : A good ox at 16s., a mutton at 2s., a hog at 48. 
 English — in lieu of divers Irish customs, callings, casualties, to the late 
 Feagh MacHugh O'Byrne, belonging to said territory^ — all which were 
 
32 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CLAN o'byRNE 
 
 [a.d. 1603-4. 
 
 the possessions of said Feagh, late of Ballinacor, slain in rebellion and 
 under the King's lands, and right of the Crown." 
 
 We may well suppose that the brothers, who were now in possession 
 of the patrimony of their father, were well satisfied to quietly enjoy the 
 same, and to cultivate their paternal acres in peace. They had had enough 
 of warfare, and by their manly and independent protest, maintained by 
 their swords, had thus procured from King James, letters confirmatory of 
 Elizabeth's grant to them of the estates held by their father. Naturally 
 enough, they now longed for repose, and, trusting in the written word of 
 two English monarchs, looked forward to the time when their children, 
 and their children's children, would hold their inheritance safe, guarded 
 by the Crown, in peace for ever. 
 
 And we must acknowledge, that so long as James lived they were 
 not disturbed, although many attempts were made by his followers, who 
 hungered after the estates of them and other outlawed Irish chieftains. 
 The plantation of the six northern counties acted as a powerfully 
 appetizing tonic on the land hunger of the needy Scotch and English 
 adventurers, who hung around the council chambers at Whitehall, or the 
 halls of Dublin Castle. The good luck of their friends in the North 
 caused them to turn theii- anxious eyes upon, and set their greedy and 
 covetous hearts longing for the possession of the estates of the Leinster 
 chieftains as well. 
 
 There is not on record (and there is no lack of them) a more 
 flagitious and diabolical scheme than that adopted for the purpose of 
 ousting the brothers O'Byrne out of their properties. Begun in 1625, it 
 was consumm.ated in 1628, by the joint machinations of the renegade Lord 
 Esmond and Sir William Parsons, who employed the most wicked devices 
 and the basest means that the devil himself could inspire or suggest, to 
 effect their purpose. 
 
 The official documents which we give in this sketch, anent this particular 
 plot, will show that the exterminators of our own day, even the very 
 worst of them, were angels of mercy when compared with the two 
 execrable villains we have named above ; and when we consider that the 
 
A.D.1617.] 
 
 AND OTHER LEINSTER SEPTS. 
 
 33 
 
 O'Byrne's case may be taken as an index for what was occurring on the 
 estates of many another Irish chieftain, we can form in our own minds a 
 pretty correct opinion of the purity of the original source from which some 
 of the landed proprietors of the present day deduce their sacred, inalien- 
 able rights to the soil, and who so loudly cry out robbery and communism 
 if the rightful owners — the poor peasantry — the descendants of these same 
 robbed and defrauded chieftains — ^have the hardihood to even demur 
 against the starvation and exterminations to which they have been so long 
 and so cruelly subjected. Well may they cry out : 
 "Tuquosque! Domine! Tu quosque." 
 
 Although active operations were not openly carried on until Tames I. 
 passed away, we have quite enough of proof to show that the scheme was 
 " a-brewing," as we find in the following State paper : — 
 
 February 20th, a.d. 1617. — " The king's warrant for a grant to Sir 
 Patrick Maule. On request made on behalf of the freeholders of the 
 Byrnes' country (Wicklow), the surrenders of their land have been 
 accepted, and grants made in fee-farm (notwithstanding the royal title to 
 many parcels of the land). 
 
 " As the inhabitants pleasinge themselves with their barbarous 
 customs of tanistry and gavelkind, and their petty cavills impede the 
 reducing of that country to that civility which other parts of that kingdom 
 have embraced. "We have thought good to quicken them to passe their 
 lands, by demanding our right to their intrusions, concealed wardships, fines 
 for alienations without licence, meane proffetts, releef s, summes of money for 
 respite of homage. Sir Patrick Maule having offered to discover things of 
 that nature in the O'Byrne country, and in Glencap in the O'Tooles' country, 
 and to make the title of them good to us — ' three parts out of four ' — all 
 the benefit that shall be made thereof is bestowed on him. He further 
 orders : ' A grant to be made out to Sir P. Maule, and a warrant to be 
 given to the Lord Chancellor to issue commissions, to inquire of the 
 premises in the said territories, and to command that the Barons of the 
 Exchequer, Bar, His Majesty's Counsel, and all the other officers and 
 ministers are to assist Sir P. Maule, and before any letters patent be passe<i 
 
S4 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CLAN o'bTRNE 
 
 [a.d.1623. 
 
 of any lands in the said territories, the composition shall be first made by 
 the possessors for their intrusions, after which the discharge may be given 
 to the inhabitants." 
 
 Here we have an example of the anxious desires of the followers of the 
 king to get the lands of the O'Tooles and O'Byrnes, and the intrigues and 
 foul devices which they used in order to succeed in their unjust project. 
 In the above they only pretended to take possession of the lands forfeited 
 by the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles by the non-observance of the unjust laws, 
 but this was a mere cloak, the thin end of the wedge, as subsequent events 
 fully establish. "We have here, too, pretty tangible proof of that vaunted 
 purity of the unsullied ermine of the judicial bench, and how indignantly 
 it is repudiated that they could at any time be guided or led by any Castle 
 hints, but the impartial reader can glean sufficient from the " command 
 to the Barons, Bar, and K.C.'s '' of that day how they were supposed to act, 
 and "verbum sap.'' 
 
 We find, further on. Lord Falkland, the new lord deputy, anxious to 
 signalize his term of office, with repeating the Ulster plantation process in 
 the O'Byrne and O'Toole country. 
 
 He is reported to have suggested to the Privy Council : 
 
 May 23rd, a.d. 1623. — " Not twenty miles from Dublin, the territories 
 Eanelagh, Imayle, Glengap, Cosha, part of the Byrnes' country. Shillelagh 
 and the DufErys, should be transplanted as was Ulster;'' and in order to 
 have a pretext to act on, and authority for acting, we find him writing to 
 one Conway in a short time afterwards. 
 
 He requests him to let his majesty " know that he is in pursuit of a 
 dangerous conspiracy, which seems to have spread itself in Lower 
 Leinster, as far as from the "Wyndegates, in Wicklow, to Eoss, in 
 Wexford, about by the walls of Kilkenny, into the Townesend of Car- 
 logh, amongst those foure nations, as they term themselves — The Butlers, 
 the Birnes, the Cavanaghs, and the Tooles. 
 
 " Of the Birnes, two of Phelim Macpheagh's sons are accused, the 
 eldest and the youngest, Bryan and Tirlogh, the most civilly bred of all 
 his sons. He has them both in Dublin Castle, and pregnant proofs 
 
V 
 
 A.D. 1625.] AND OTHER LEINSTER SEPTS. .35 
 
 against them, thougli both of them stand stiffly to the denial, but that is 
 no argument of their innocence." 
 
 Whether Sir Pat Maule and the lord deputy succeeded in their little 
 plot to the acme of their nefarious design?, we cannot say, but one thing 
 is certain, that the O'Byrnes were despoiled and robbed of their estates, 
 and sent adrift on the world, as the following extract from Carte's* 
 " Ormond " clearly proves : — 
 
 " One case in truth was very extraordinary, and contains in it such 
 a scene of iniquity and cruelty that, considered in all its circumstances, 
 it is scarce to be paralleled in the history of any age or country. 
 
 "Pheagh MacHugh O'Byrne, lord of the O'Byrnes' country, now 
 called Eanelagh, in the County of "Wicklow, having been killed in arms 
 towards the latter end of the reign of Elizabeth, she, by her letters 
 patent to Loftus and Gardiner, then lords justices, directed letters to be 
 made out for Phelim MacPheagh to his eldest son, to leave to him and 
 his heirs the countries and possessions of which his father died seized. 
 
 " King James coming to the crown not long after, and in the begin- 
 ning of the reign gave the like directions for passing the said inheritance 
 to Phelim. This Sir Eichard Graham, an old officer of the army, 
 endeavoured to obstruct, and in order thereunto sued out a commission, 
 directed to Sir Wm. Parsons and others, to inquire into the said lands, 
 and upon the inquisition they were found to be the inheritance of Pheagh 
 MacHugh O'Byrne, father of Phelim, and were then in Phelim 
 MacPhelim's possession. 
 
 " King James thereupon, by a second letter, directed that Eanelagh 
 and all the lands whereof Phelim MacPheagh and Bryan, his son and 
 heir, were then seized, should be passed to them and theirs by letters 
 patent. In consequence whereof another office was taken, on which the 
 lands were found as in the former. The first office was not yet filled. 
 Sir Eichard Graham having opposed it, and by his interest and the credit 
 
 * Carte was a distinguislied divine of the Protestant Church, and therefore not likely 
 to exaggerate in favour of the O'Byrnes. Had he any prejudices, we should expect them 
 to tend to shield the English, See his " Life of Duke of Ormond," 1735-6. — Ed, 
 
HISTORY OF THE CLAN o'bYENE [a.D. 1626. 
 
 of a general book which he produced, he got the possession of part of 
 Phelim's lands in virtue of a warrant from the lord deputy. 
 
 " Sir James Fitzpiers-Fit/gerald attempted likewise*^ to get another 
 part of them passed to him upon the like authority, but Bryan, the son 
 in whose possession they were, complaining of it at the council table, Sir 
 J ames's patent^was stayed. 
 
 "Encouraged by this success, Bryan applied himself next to the 
 king for redress against Sir Eichard Graham, complaining that, contrary 
 to his majesty's letters patent, part of his lands had been passed to the 
 said Eichard Graham. King James ordered the cause to be heard in the 
 council board in Ireland and certificate to be made of the truth. 
 
 "At the hearing Sir Eichard Graham alleged that the lands were 
 the inheritance of certain fi'eeholders, and not of Phelim nor his ancestors, 
 and a commission was ordered for examining witnesses upon this fact. 
 The council certified the king of their proceedings, and Sir Eichard 
 Graham, or an agent duly authorized by him, were required to repair 
 into England. Sir Eichard sent his son, William, who thought to get 
 Bryan's appeal dismissed by the help of the Duke of Buckingham, and 
 preferred a petition to the king, which the duke seconded. But the 
 Duke of Eichmond being present and knowing the case, acquainted his 
 majesty with the true state of the matter. 
 
 "The king thereupon referred the hearing and determining of it to 
 the two dukes, who appointed Sir Dudley Norton, Sir Francis Annesley, 
 Sir Henry Bouchier, and Mr. Eichard Hardress, one of the king's learned 
 counsel for the affairs of Ireland, to hear the matter and certify the 
 facts. 
 
 "When the case was heard before them. Sir William Parsons pro- 
 duced a book before them (a book written by himself) ; this was calculated 
 to prove the lands in question to be the inheritance of freeholders, con- 
 trary to the oflice which had been found before Sir William himself and 
 the other ofiice which had been taken (as is said above) in virtue of the 
 second letter of King James. 
 
 " The commissioners giving more credit to those offices than to Sir 
 
A.D. 1625.] 
 
 AND OTHER LEINSTER SEPTS. 
 
 37 
 
 William's book, Mr. Graham and he (Sir W.), seeing the matter was 
 likely to go in favour of Phelim, started an objection, which effectually 
 prevented a final determination of that suit. It was a far fetch indeed 
 and one that could not fail of success, for they undertook, with the 
 assistance of Lord Esmonde and Redmond MacPheagh, to entitle the king 
 to the lands, or the general part of them, and to prove that they were 
 really vested in the crown. This immediately stopped proceedings on 
 the part of the commissioners, who would give no sentence in the case 
 where the crown was concerned, the right whereof they had no authority 
 to determine. 
 
 " The propositions for the benefit and service of the prince are always 
 favourably received, and a commission was early obtained, empowerino- 
 Sir William Parsons and others to inquire of the said lands. Bryan 
 acquainting the Duke of Richmond of this, his Grace wrote himself to 
 the lord deputy, and engaged the king and council of England to send 
 directions to him to stay the commission; notwithstanding which the 
 commissioners went on with it, and an office was found that all the said 
 lands^ were the inheritance of Pheagh MacHugh, Phelim's father, who 
 died in rebellion. 
 
 " But as Queen Elizabeth had afterwards granted them to Phelim 
 and his heirs, and, the king had confirmed the same by his letters patent, 
 the finding of this office need not have hindered the passing of them to 
 Phelim and Bryan, who were by these letters entitled to Pheagh's whole 
 inheritance. 
 
 "This, however, could not be obtained, the lands being intended to 
 pass into other hands. Bryan acquainted the king with these proceedings 
 and intentions, and got his majesty's letters to lord deputy and lord 
 chancellor of Ireland, directing that none of the said lands should pass, 
 by letters patent, lease, or otherwise, till the matter was heard at the 
 council table in England. 
 
 " It happened unluckily for Bryan that the Duke of Buckingham 
 had left for Spain before Sir Dudley Norton and the other commissioners 
 
 42 
 
38 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CLAN o'bYBNE 
 
 [a.d.1625. 
 
 had made their report, and was so taken up after his return that he could 
 not meet the Duke of Eichmond to settle and decide the affair ; but he 
 had a much greater misfortune in the sudden death of Richmond, which 
 happened soon after, and left Phelim and Bryan without a patron in the 
 court of England. 
 
 " Their enemies soon turned this to their own advantage, and Sir 
 William Parsons got the lord deputy's warrant to the sheriff of "Wicklow, 
 to put him in possession of their lands. The sheriff accordingly gave 
 Sir William possession of that part which Phelim enjoyed, but Bryan 
 still kept the other part, which was in his own hands. Lord Esmonde 
 thereupon sent for him, and would have him refer the matter to his 
 decision, which Bryan declined, knowing that his lordship was a con- 
 federate of his adversary, as appeared afterwards, when that same lord 
 and Sir William Parsons shared the lands between them. This refusal 
 Lord Esmonde resented, and Sir William Parsons afterwards sued Bryan 
 in the Exchequer for the lands of which he still retained possession, but 
 his bill was dismissed. Lord Esmonde, however, persisted in troubling 
 him for these very lands, but Bryan, maintaining his rights, he and his 
 brother, Tyrlagh, were, by the practices of their adversaries, committed 
 close prisoners to Dublin Castle on March 13th, 1625, upon the informa- 
 tions of Thomas Archer, Dermot M'GriflGin, Cahir M'Edmond, MacArt, 
 and Edmond Duffe, all three of the name of Kavanagh. This last had 
 plundered one of Phelim' s tenant's houses, and carried off the man's wife 
 and cows. Phelim being a justice of the peace and of the quorum, upon 
 his tenant's complaint, issued a warrant to apprehend Duffe, who fled 
 first into Carlow, from thence into Kilkenny, where he was apprehended, 
 and then, by way of revenge and to save his own life, accused Bryan and 
 his brother, Tyrlagh. 
 
 " Archer did not so readily submit his evidence. He was farst 
 miserably tortured, put naked on a burning gridiron, and burned with 
 gunpowder, and at last suffered the strapado until he was forced to accuse 
 the two brothers, and then he obtained his pardon. 
 
 "permotM'Griffin and Cahir MacArt were afterwards executed at 
 
A.D.1627.] 
 
 AND OTHER LEINSTER SEPTS. 
 
 39 
 
 Kilkenny, and declared at the hour of death that they had accused Bryan 
 and Tyrlagh Byrne falsely. 
 
 " Such were the witnesses that deposed against them ; yet, upon 
 their information, two bills were preferred against them, and several 
 grand juries in the County of Carlow, not finding the bills, were 
 prosecuted in the star chamber and fined. 
 
 "The two brothers, however, were still kept close prisoners till the 
 20th August following, when Tyrlagh was enlarged on bail to appear in 
 ten days' warning, and Bryan was allowed the liberty of the prison. 
 This still disabling him from taking care of his affairs, he petitioned the 
 council, who, referring the matter to Lord Aungier and the Lord Chief 
 Justice, Bryan was set at liberty on Christmas Eve, but bound to appear 
 in court the first day of the next term. He appeared accordingly, and 
 nothing was alleged against him, yet the Lord Chief Justice was for 
 binding him over to the term following. Bryan opposed this, urging 
 that it was the motion of his old adversaries, and intended only to keep 
 him from following his business, and desired he might be bound 
 over to appear in Michaelmas term, which would give him time to go to 
 England and prosecute his affairs there. 
 
 " This was still thought too much liberty for a man to enjoy who 
 was supported in his cause by two letters, which King Charles, by the 
 advice of his Privy Council and Committee of Irish affairs, had sent over 
 to the lord deputy for passing the lands of Phelim and his son ; but the 
 great person who got possession of them, still found means to prevent the 
 effect of these letters. 
 
 " And therefore a new prosecution was set on foot, and Bryan and 
 Tyrlagh, appearing on summons, were again, on November 2nd, 1627, 
 committed close prisoners to the castle of Dublin, loaded with irons, 
 without any diet from his Majesty, or leave for any friend to visit or 
 relieve them, even in the presence of the constable or his son. 
 
 " This was done upon the information of Art Mac Cahir Kavanagh, 
 who, being condemned at Carlow Assizes, was prevailed with to accuse the 
 two- brothers, but being afterwards executed there to his sentence, he 
 
40 
 
 HISTOET OF THE CLAN o'eTRITE 
 
 [A.D. 1627. 
 
 declared at his execution to the sheriff (Mr. Patrick Esmonde), Lord 
 Esmonde's brother, that he had accused them falsely, and desired him to 
 certify the deputy of it ; their adversaries, however, resolved to go on, and 
 involve the three other brothers, and their father Phelim, in the same common 
 accusation of relieving and keeping company with one Murrough Baccagh 
 Cavanagh, who had for his crimes been banished for seven years, and 
 returning before the term expired, was killed in making resistance against 
 those who attempted to arrest him for contempt in returning — -but yet was 
 under the king's protection— so that it was neither treason nor felony to 
 speak to him, neither had Phelim nor his son ever known or seen the 
 man ; yet, this in defect of another, was to serve for the matter of their 
 accusation ; probably because it best suited the witnesses who were to be 
 suborned, and being of a private nature was the less liable to be refuted. 
 
 " Phelim and his sons had been zealous in apprehending Brian 
 Kavanagh (Murrough Baccagh's brother) and two others concerned with 
 him in the murder of Mr. Ponte, for which they were executed, which 
 rendered it not very likely that Phelim should correspond familiarly or 
 criminally with Murrough — but naturally enough led people to think that 
 the latter's relations might, out of a spirit of revenge, be the more easily 
 drawn to swear anything that would do mischief to the former, especially 
 when it would be the means of saving their own lives. Lord Esmonde 
 had then in prison one of Murrough's nephews, who was with his uncle 
 when he was killed and had been in rebellion. 
 
 " He (Lord Esmonde) sent this man to Dublin to accuse Phelim and 
 his sons, which the threats of being hanged, and the promises of life and 
 pardon, prevailed upon him to do. James MeElife, brother-in-law to Bryan 
 Murrough Cavanagh, was made use of for the same purpose. One Notter, 
 a notorious thief, had been prosecuted so hard by Phelim for stealing cows 
 and five garrons from his tenants, that he was forced to fly the County 
 Wicklow, where two indictments for those thefts were found against him; 
 and being afterwards condemned for robbery in the North, he was sent 
 back to Dublin to purchase his life by accusing Phelim and his sons, for 
 which he was likewise rewarded with apparel and other necessaries, 
 
A.D. 1627.] AND OTHER LETNSTER SEPTS. 4l 
 
 Gerald MacFerderougli, brotlier-in-law to Shane Bane (who, being in 
 rebellion, was apprehended by Phelim's son, Hugh, and executed), had been 
 at the last assizes prosecuted by Phelim, for robbing his house, and being 
 put in irons in the Castle of Dublin for another crime which he confessed, 
 was yet to join in due accusation. Edmond Duffe had been prosecuted by 
 Mrs. Wolverton, Phelim's daughter, and condemned for burglary. He 
 was afterwards carried to the gallows, and being ready to be turned off, 
 promised to accuse Phelim, and was saved from execution. Lisagh Duf£ 
 MacLochlin, a common thief, had, at the Wield ow assizes, upon the 
 prosecution of Luke Byrne, Phelim's nephew, been condemned for stealing 
 a horse, but upon becoming an accuser, was set free. 
 
 " Such were the witnesses made use of in this affair, none of whom 
 were produced in person, and yet it was resolved to find a bill against 
 Phelim and his five sons, at Wicklow assizes, upon which (as the men 
 could only speak Irish) their evidence was taken on Sir Henry Boiling's 
 and Mr. Graham's interpretation. The Lord Chief J ustice, upon most of 
 the cases, expressed doubts whether the jury could credit or not, upon 
 which Sir Henry Belling pressed him to sign the bill, and said that he 
 would undertake that the jury should find it. 
 
 " Proper means, indeed, were taken for it, and Lord Esmonde 
 had got Piers Sexton, who had married his niece, and was a 
 tenant to Sir Wm. Parsons, to be made High Sheriff for the job, although 
 he had no such freehold as would by statute qualify him for that office. 
 A grand jury was empanelled ; Sir James Fitzpiers-Pitzgerald, a mortal 
 enemy of Phelim and his family, and who had a promise of part of Phelim's 
 estates, or an equivalent in lieu thereof, was foreman of the grand jury, 
 though he had no land in the country. Sir Henry Belling, who had 
 actually got possession of the said estates, was the second, most of the rest 
 were not freeholders, and all of them were allied to, or dependent on, 
 Lord Esmonde, Sir William Parsons, and others who had interests in 
 Phelim's estates. 
 
 "'Tis no wonder that such a jury found a bill, which was followed 
 two days after by the death of Phelim's wife, who expired of grief to see 
 
42 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CLAN o'bYRNE 
 
 [a.d.1628. 
 
 her husband's and children's lives and fortunes put into such hands, and 
 exposed to such imminent danger. She was buried in Wicklow, and her 
 body dug up three days afterwards. 
 
 " Though the grand jury had found the bill, yet other witnesses were 
 necessary for the trial of the parties, and Sir Henry Belling, who never 
 stuck at any practice, however execrable, to carry his point, and "William, 
 son of Sir Richard Graham, who had got into possession of some of Phelim's 
 estates of Cosha, undertook the finding of them. 
 
 " They were both of them Provost Marshals, and exerted all the power 
 of their posts for that purpose. 'Tis almost incredible what a number of 
 persons they took up and detained in prison for weeks and months together, 
 soliciting them all the while with promises of reward, and threats of 
 hardship, even of death itself, to accuse the gentlemen whose inheritance 
 they wanted to seize. Some they put on the rack, others were tried and 
 condemned by martial law, at a time when the courts of justice were sitting. 
 Some of the latter, who were executed in Dublin, as Shane 0' Toole, 
 Lachlin 0' Clary, Cahir Glasse (0' Toole), and his brother, declared at 
 their death, in the hearing of thousands, that they were executed because 
 they could not accuse Phelim and his sons ; and similar declarations were 
 made by others who suffered in the country. 
 
 " Some friends of the persecuted gentlemen, learning by how 
 infamous and detestable methods their lives and estates were attacked, 
 made application on their behalf to the king and council of England, with 
 such success that a commission was sent over to inquire into the affair. 
 The chief of these friends who thus interposed was Sir Francis Annesley, 
 afterwards Lord Mount Korris ; and this (as far as I can find) seems to 
 me the only ground of imputation, laid upon him by a noble historian, of 
 being an enemy to the deputies of Ireland, and attacking them for their 
 ' administration as soon as they left the Government. 
 
 " The commission was directed to the Lord Primate of Ireland, the 
 Lord Chancellor, the Archbishop of Dublin, the Lord Chief Justice, and 
 Sir Anthony Savage, who sat on it day after day for a fortnight together, 
 in the latter end of November and the beginning of December, 1628, 
 
A.B.1628.] 
 
 ATHD other LEINSTER SEPTS. 
 
 4^ 
 
 taking the depositions of a great number of witnesses ; wherein the truth 
 of the above-mentioned circumstances of this prosecution fully appeared 
 by the testimony of Mr. William Eustace, of Castlemartyr (father of Sir 
 Maurice Eustace, afterwards Lord Chancellor), and other unexceptional 
 persons. This restored the gentlemen to their liberty, though not to 
 their estates, a considerable part whereof, particularly the Manor of Carrick, 
 in the Kanelagh, which had been, during their imprisonment, passed to Sir 
 William Parsons by a patent dated the 4th of August, 1628." 
 
 Comment upon this long extract from Carte would be superfluous. 
 We would merely remind our readers to note well its source. This is 
 not the venomed, bitter outpourings of one of the homeless 0' Byrnes, 
 smarting under his bitter wrongs, neither is it the language of a writer 
 with Irish blood in his veins and warm Irish sympathies pulsating 
 through his heart ; no, it is the cool, measured language of a clergyman 
 of the new English faith, whose honesty of purpose cannot be doubted, 
 and to whom all the greater credit is due for being able to rise superior 
 to those prejudices of class and country that so sadly warp the minds and 
 darken the judgment of his fellow-countrymen, when poor Ireland is the 
 subject of their thoughts or the topic of their argument. 
 
 Apologizing for this digression, which the robbery and infamy, so 
 concisely put by Carte, has extracted from us, we now take up the sad 
 fortunes of Phelim and his five sons after their being snatched, as it were, 
 from the jaws of an ignominious death. 
 
 By this patent Parsons and his corrupt confreres obtained what they 
 long sought. True, it would have been far more congenial to the taste 
 of Lord Esmonde and Sir William if Phelim and his five sons had been 
 turned off the drop some fine morning from the scaffold of Dublin Castle; 
 there would be less chance of their ever turning up to trouble them 
 again ; but, as it was, they had reason to feel grateful for the broad lands 
 placed in their possession. 
 
 This wholesale robbery threw Phelim, in the evening of his life, 
 together with his five sons and their families, landless and homeless on 
 the broad waves of the world. Phelim did not survive it long; th^^ 
 
HISTORY OF THE CLAN o'bYRNE 
 
 [a.d.1638. 
 
 weight of years and the accumulated misfortunes of his house were too 
 many for him, and he died broken-hearted a short time after, in 1630, 
 leaving his sons nothing but the bitter remembrance of his and their 
 wrongs. The two eldest went to the Continent, where they took service 
 in the army of Spain, returning to strike yet another blow for holy 
 Ireland, when Owen Eoe unfurled the green flag once again in the 
 Catholic Eebellion of 1641. The other three remained at home, and 
 settled down amongst their clansmen and friends as ordinary members of 
 the farming class, having to share the same fate as their old allies, the 
 O'Tooles, were driven to, by similar reprehensible measures, a short time 
 before. 
 
 From these, as well as from the other children's children of Feagh 
 MacHugh, many of the O'Byrnes of the present day are descended, 
 while another lineal descendant of Feagh' s was a Franciscan Friar. 
 
 We find by an inquisition, taken ten years after the O'Byrnes' 
 property had been fraudulently passed to Parsons and others, i.e., in the 
 year 1638, at Wicklow, and now to be seen in the Eolls of Chancery, 
 that "the O'Byrnes' country was found to consist of the Baronies of 
 ISTewcastle, Arklow, and Ballinacor, and the territory of Shilelagh, in the 
 County of Wicklow, and all of which adjoins the County of Wexford, 
 nearly half the country on the seaside." 
 
 We have now little more to say of the Clan 0' Byrne as warriors 
 and chief tains ; their power was broken and their estates in the hands of 
 the hated stranger ; the few holdings that they continued to possess in 
 the reigns of James and Charles were wrested from them by the rapacious 
 Cromwell, who, with a fiendish malevolence, put every one that offered 
 the slightest resistance to the sword. Nor did the chivalry of his psalm- 
 singing plunderers spare the old and feeble ; the women and the children 
 of the garrisons and towns, all fell victims to his wrath. And with 
 brutal ferocity, those who were not actually caught with arms iu their 
 hands were exiled and transported as slaves, while their broad acres and 
 domains were handed over to his hireling soldiery, the ancestors of a 
 great many of those rack-renting landlords of our day, who so loudly 
 
* 
 
A.D. 1640.] 
 
 AND OTHER LEINSTER SEPTS. 
 
 45 
 
 complain that the tenantry (descendants of the original owners) are even 
 allowed to exist on the lands legitimately their own. 
 
 A full history of the Clan O'Byrne must be written by hands more 
 competent than ours, and whoever undertakes it will find ample material 
 in the " State Papers," in the " Eecords of Continental Armies," 
 especially Mr. O'Callaghan's " Irish Brigade," in the " History of the 
 Irish Civil Wars;" all going to show that the descendants of Feagh 
 MacHugh O'Byrne, whether at home or abroad, on battle-field or in 
 council chamber, were worthy inheritors of the fame and chivalry of 
 their ancestors. 
 
 It is surpassingly strange that, notwithstanding all England did in 
 the past to annihilate the Clan O'Byrne, they are still more numerous 
 at home and abroad than any other Irish family ; instances in the proof 
 are, that at home, among their own lofty mountains and verdant valleys, 
 they are able to return a Member of Parliament, and one of their own 
 name, too, against the combined votes of every other name in the same 
 constituency ; while abroad, in the city of New York alone, there 
 are upwards of five thousand of the name. In this respect their old 
 allies, the O'Tooles, are not so numerous, and our readers will remember 
 that we showed the reason why in tbese pages, as the O'Tooles, from 
 their proximity to the Castle of Dublin, had, through all the earlier 
 centuries of the Battles of the Pale, to stand the first, and therefore the 
 heaviest, brunt of the English attack ; and although they repaid all these 
 polite attentions, and sometimes with usurous interest, their own ranks 
 were being constantly decimated in the eternal struggle. 
 
 The 0 'Byrnes have never been backward in the several patriotic 
 movements which have taken place in their country from time to time 
 since they lost their property. When Ireland called they were always 
 amongst those who answered : " Eeady — ay, ready;" whether the move- 
 ment involved a long pike and a bloody shroud in 1798, or the stoical 
 indifference to Balfour's prison cell in 1888, they gave their aid to one 
 as cheerfully as the other. 
 
 In the rebellion of 1798 their clan was well and nobly represented, 
 
46 HISTOEY OF THE CLAN o'bYRNE [a.D. 1798. 
 
 and in an especial manner by Billy Byrne of Ballymanus, whose deeds 
 are well known in connection with the history of that unhappy period, 
 and who died, as many of his clan and kindred before him, a " traitor to 
 the crown." 
 
 Again, in 1803, in the attempt made by Eobert Emmet, the 
 O'Bymes were also well represented by young Anthony Byrne, of 
 Hamilton Lodge, Eathdangan, who, as a captain with Michael Dwyer, 
 led the Wicklow men across the mountains to aid Emmet in his intended 
 rising and attack on the castle ; but when, on their arrival at Eathfarn- 
 ham, they found the attempt had been made before the time appointed, 
 and turned out a fiasco, they immediately returned to their homes "'till 
 the storm is over." 
 
 The whole county of "Wicklow was being well scoured by the military, 
 living with, and billeted on, the respectable people of the district, until 
 their exactions and the licentiousness of their conduct had again nearly 
 ruined the people, and driven them to desperation. 
 
 A company of them, billeted on Hugh Byrne, of Hamilton Lodge,* 
 Anthony's father, passing in and out every day, little suspected that 
 under the flagstone at the door, over which they passed, was a complete 
 suit of green belonging to Anthony, safely hid there, until an opportunity 
 would arise of wearing it on the battle-field, at the head of his men, in 
 the face of the English foe. 
 
 Many incidents are related by Dr. Madden, in his " Life of Captain 
 Michael Dwyer," the outlaw chief of the Wicklow mountains, in which 
 Anthony O'Byrne figures. One of them in particular, in which he saved 
 Dwyer, is worth relating here. 
 
 Dwyer was to attend Mass at Kilamoate on the next Sunday morn- 
 ing. The yeomen came to know it, and resolved to be there themselves 
 
 * This was Hugh O'Byrne's residence since he was driven from Cornaun, on the brow 
 of Kegeen Mountains (ante, 1798), where some of the family live still; namely, the 
 descendants of Hugh's brother, Edward. 
 
 "We also find that this same Cornaun was the residence of another Hugh O'Byrne (son^ 
 of Phelim M'Pheagh), as it is given down in the outlawries of 1641. 
 
A.D. 1803.] 
 
 AND OTHER LEINSTER SEPTS. 
 
 47 
 
 for the purpose of arresting him. Accordingly, they arrived at the 
 chapel while the divine ceremony was being celebrated, and so arranged 
 their party as to guard all the doors and every possible means of exit. 
 
 Anthony Byrne at once saw into the desperate state of the case, and 
 resolved by stratagem to baffle the yeos, and save Dwyer. He whispered 
 Dwyer to remain quiet, and to hide himself amongst the congregation, 
 particularly among the women, who all wore long, ample cloaks, the 
 adopted dress of that day. 
 
 As soon as the congregation began to leave, Anthony and a few 
 other young men were to feign an escape up the mountain, and when 
 they should be half way up, the companions left behind for that purpose, 
 watching them, as it were, with momentous anxiety, were to shout out : 
 " There they go ! " " There they are ! " " There goes Dwyer first ! " 
 " More power, captain !" These, with loud shouts of joy at the apparent 
 escape of Dwyer, so deceived the yeos that they started off in hot pur- 
 suit up the steep sides of Kegeen mountain. Anthony led them a gallant 
 run, until, finding at length that the yeomen's horses were closing on 
 them, they sat down and waited until they came up. Needless to say 
 that, when the baffled yeomen found that Dwyer was not among them, 
 and that they were, in modern parlance, " sold," their ejaculations were 
 of a nature more vehement than prayer-like. 
 
 " Who are you, and what's your business ? " demanded their leader 
 in stentorian tones, to which Byrne made answer : "Anthony Byrne, of 
 Hamilton Lodge ; looking after our sheep, which have strayed away." 
 " Yes ; we understand," said the yeomen, and they came down the hill 
 again. 
 
 In a rage at being so nicely duped ; looking crest-fallen, discomfited, 
 and chagrined, they returned to the chapel, not to find Captain Dwyer, 
 who, we may be sure, availed himself of the first opportunity to escape 
 from what must have been to him, though a safe, a rather undignified 
 place of concealment. 
 
 The writer of these pages (some twenty years ago) happened to 
 meet an old man from that part of "Wioklow, named Tibbot O'Toole. 
 
48 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CLAN o'bYEKE 
 
 [a.i>. 1815. 
 
 He was a remarkably fine old man, upwards of eighty years of age, 
 of noble mien and majestic bearing ; simple and humble as a child withal. 
 We asked him if he knew Hugh Byrne, of Hamilton Lodge, Rathdangan? 
 
 "Indeed, I did," he replied; "and his sons, too. They were like 
 Christian Brothers, they were so pious ; and each of them used to play a 
 different musical instrument, and were most entertaining, I also knew 
 their sisters. Two of them were nuns in the world ; and I remember," 
 said he, "one of those sisters dying (oh ! it ivas long before Boney's 
 war), and all the young girls for miles round about the country came to 
 the funeral, all dressed in white. They walked in procession, singing 
 hymns, and carrying the coffin in a sheet covered with bouquets of 
 flowers. Such a sight was not seen in the country since or before. They 
 buried her in Cranerin, near where I lived. 
 
 " But you must know," added Tibbot, " that they were the real 
 O'Byrnes ; that they were the descendants of the great Feagh MacHugh ; 
 they lost their lands because they would not conform to Protestantism. 
 Hugh's father was Anthony O'Byrne, who was nephew to Byrne of 
 Ballymanus, and son of Hugh of Derrybawn, Seven Churches, in which 
 latter place he was interred ; his great-great-grandfather was Feagh Mac 
 Hugh O'Byrne." 
 
 "But what became of Hugh's sons?" we inquired. "Well," 
 answered our venerable informant, " John and Peter went to America, 
 about twenty years ago, and their children, I am told, are well to do in 
 one of the Western States, called Iowa; and Ajithony, the patriot, he got 
 married to a Miss Metcalf, of Old Mile, near Donard, which took place 
 shortly after the rebellion, and when the troubles of '98 and Emmet's 
 attempt in 1803, had somewhat subsided, in both of which he took a 
 conspicuous part, particularly in the latter, in conjunction with the 
 renowned Captain Michael Dwyer, he settled down, and carried on 
 business in Donard, wliere he was very successful as a general merchant, 
 and amassed a fortune for his children. 
 
 "But the brethren of Orange Donard (as it was then called) never 
 had any liking for Anthony. Opposite his house of business lived a 
 
A.D. 1848.] AND OTHER LEINSTER SEPTS. 49 
 
 gentleman named Heighenton, where tlie Orangemen used to meet, and 
 occasionally amuse themselves with a little ball practice at Anthony's 
 expense, by firing in through his windows ; but no one was ever killed 
 by these shots. 
 
 "His son-in-law, Denis O'Toole, soon put a stop to that game when 
 he got married to his daughter, Anne, after the old man's death. All 
 the other children died unmarried, and Anne fell in for nearly the whole 
 of Anthony Byrne's wealth ; and it was a similar case with her husband, 
 whose brothers and sisters also died young, their fortunes falling to 
 Denis, the only survivor of seven. Denis was the terror of the Orange- 
 men of Donard, and never stopped till he silenced them, and drove many 
 of them out of the town. 
 
 " He got into trouble himself in 1848, with O'Brien and Mitchel; 
 and an old lady of the Heighenton's could not sleep for the fear of him, 
 as he was supposed to be the intended leader of the people of that district 
 when the rebellion would break out. 
 
 " His house was searched, and all the firearms found carried off, 
 and Government issued a writ for his arrest, which was not put into 
 execution after Smith O'Brien and the others were transported. How- 
 ever, it was still hanging over him, and might be put into execution at 
 any time ; therefore, his friends at home and the uncles of his wife in 
 America, joined in advising him to leave the country for a while, and go 
 out to them, where he could have freedom and plenty of land for nothing, 
 or next to nothing. 
 
 "Accordingly, he gave up his farms, and left for America, where he 
 intended to buy some lots, build houses and out-offices, and then return 
 for his wife and children. But a Divine Providence had otherwise 
 decreed. On the voyage up the Mississippi he took cholera, and died the 
 same day, and was buried on the banks of that river, between Memphis 
 and Cairo, thus leaving his wife, the last surviving child of Anthony 
 O'Byrne, a widow. She, too, died in a few years after (1864), and was 
 buried with her kindred, leaving a good family behind her, one of whom, 
 I heard, became a clergyman. Some other time, kind sir, I will tell you 
 
50 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CLAN o'bTRNE 
 
 [a.d.1849. 
 
 more about the country, and the old people that lived there, as I see you 
 take an interest in them, and I like it myself, too." 
 
 Thus farTibbot O'Toole. When next we saw him he was "in 
 extremis," and we did what we could to smoothen his journey to heaven, 
 to take his place, we trust, beside his kinsman, St. Lorcan. For further 
 particulars see the "History of the Clan O'Toole and other Leinster 
 Septs." 
 
 Having brought this sketch of the history of the Clan 0' Byrne to a 
 conclusion, it only remains for us, in order to give it some semblance of 
 completeness, to refer the reader to the 0' Byrne Pedigree, commencing 
 with Fa elan, king of Leinster, third son of Murcadh Mor, also king of 
 Leinster, who was the common progenitor of the O'Tooles, O'Donohues 
 of Leinster, and the 0' Byrnes. 
 
 The O'Byrnes named their territory Hy Faelan, after their father, 
 and took for their own name that of their grandfather, "Bran" (Bran 
 Mut), which, anglicized, has become Byrne or Burn. 
 
 We give the two great branches, down to the great Catholic Con- 
 federate War of 1641, leaving to each family the option of tracing their 
 respective families from either of these two great branches down to the 
 present time, which many have already done, as may be seen in Mr. 
 O'Hart's great work, " The Irish Pedigrees." 
 
 We are sorry to see the O'Byrnes have allowed so many strange 
 Christian names in amongst them, such as William and Edward, &c., 
 and that they do not generally use the patronymic "0," which they have 
 a perfect right to ; however, they have kept a firm grip of their lands, at 
 least as tenants, which is, perhaps, more substantial. 
 
 Henry Grattan, in 1782, in speaking on the Declaration of Eights, 
 says : — 
 
 "No history can produce an instance of men like you musing for 
 years upon oppression, and then upon a determination of right, rescuing 
 the land once yours," which has suggested the following poem : — 
 
 r 
 
i 
 
 .'LV7V:O.V}- BVRXE O'TOOLE. 
 {Died af Bray, Co. UVc/c/oru, ■z^stjinii', i8q2). 
 
THE LlBRl^R^ 
 OF THE 
 
A.D. 1882.] 
 
 AND OTHER LFJNSTETl SEPTS. 
 
 51 
 
 Breathe forth my soul in thrilling song, 
 
 Since fate may now decide, 
 If o'er our necks for ages long, 
 
 Our foe is still to ride ; 
 Or if, regardful of our sires. 
 
 We flaunt the flag they bore, 
 And trace upon its emerald fold, 
 The land we've had, the land we'll hold. 
 
 Land of O'Donnell and O'Neill ! 
 
 Land of O'Byrne and O'Toole ! 
 Where faith inspires with fervid zeal, 
 
 And love and beauty rule. 
 Ah ! surely God decreed it not 
 
 That thou should suckle slaves. 
 To cringe and starve, to die and rot, 
 
 In unremembered graves ; 
 Not so, since now in hosts enrolled, 
 We've pledged our oaths — the land to hold. 
 
 Dumb is the tongue, and deaf the ear, 
 
 That heedeth not that cry. 
 Which thrills the traitor's heart with fear. 
 
 And makes the dastard fly — 
 A cry that rends the helot's chains. 
 
 And bids the feudal lords, 
 Bestore at once those broad domains. 
 
 Usurped by alien hordes, 
 For, doomed at length, their knell we've told, 
 In thundering tones — the land we'll hold. 
 
52 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CLAN o'bYRNE. 
 
 [a.d. 1890. 
 
 The dawn has come — oh, glorious sight ! 
 
 Of freedom's opening day, 
 And all the clouds of slavery's night. 
 
 Affrighted, shrink away ; 
 While we, like Eoman legions, stand. 
 
 Defiant, proud, and strong ; 
 Impatient for our chief's command. 
 
 To crush the powers of wrong. 
 'Mid shouts o'er all the nations roU'd — 
 The land we've won — the land we'll hold. 
 
 THE o'dONOHOES (oF LEINSTER). 
 
 They belong to the same common stem as the O'Tooles and O'Byrnes. 
 By Murcadh Mor's will (a.d. 726) they were allotted Feracualan, which 
 was afterwards known by the name of TJi Donchada, and comprised the 
 present Co. Dublin and East Wicklow, from which they were driven by 
 the English invasion to South Wicklow and the borders of Carlow and 
 Wexford, where their descendants are now located. (See their pedigree.) 
 
 THE O'CAVANAGHS. 
 
 The Kavanaghs belong to the same common stock. They have produced 
 many noble and gallant warriors, as Donnell Spainach Kavanagh and Art 
 Murrough Kavanagh, whose historj^ is well told by D'Arcy McGee. 
 Their pedigree, which we annex, is an epitome of their history.