AN GAOḊAL.
23
Such is the opinion at which I have arrived as to
this manuscript.
That the present volume was carried down to
the year 1590, I am rather fortunately in a position
to prove beyond any doubt, having myself discov¬
ered a part of the continuation in the British Mu¬
seum in the year 1849. This part contains sixteen
consecutive years, and a part of a dislocated year
extending from the latter part of 1568 to 1590, but
still leaving a chasm in the volume from 1561 to
1568. This continuation is written partly on vel¬
lum and partly on paper, in various hands, among
which that of Brian Mac Dermot is very plainly
distinguishable; and the following translation
an entry, at the year 1581, with Brian's note on it
seems to complete the identification of the volume
"Calvagh (Calbhach), the son of Donnell, son
of Teige (Tadhag), son of Cathal O'Conor, the heir
of Sligo and Lower Connacht, without dispute
died on the Friday between the two Easters [that
is, between Easter Sunday and Low Sunday] in
this year."
To this article Brian Mac Dermot adds the fol¬
lowing note, —
"And the death of this only son of Donnell O'¬
Conor and Mor Ni Ruairc is one of the most lam¬
entable events of Erinn. And there never came,
of the descendants of Brian Luighneach [O'Conor]
a man of his years a greater loss than him, nor is
it likely that there will come. And this loss has
pained the hearts of all Connacht, and especially
it has pained the scholars and poets of the prov¬
ince of Connacht. And it has divided my own
heart into two parts. Uch! Uch! how pitable
my condition after my comrade and companion,
and the man most dear and truthful to me in the
world!
"I am Brian Mac Dermot, who wrote this, upon
Mac Dermot's Rock; and I am now like Olioll O¬
luim after his sons, when they were slain, together
with Art Aenthir, the son of Conn of the Hundred
Battles, in the battle of Magh Mucruimhe by Mc
Con, the son of Mac Niadh, son of Lughaidh; or
like Deirdre after the sons of Uisneach had been
treacherously slain in Eamhain Mhacha [Emania]
by Conchobhar the son of Fachtna, son of Ruadh,
son of Rudhraidhe [Conor Mac Nessa]; for I am
melancholy, sorrowful, distressed, and dispirited
in grief and in woe. And it cannot be described
or related how I feel after the departure of my
companion from me, that is the Calvach. And it
was on the last day of the month of March he was
interred in Sligech (Sligo)."
Mac Dermot's Rock (Carraig Mhic Diarmada),
on the Rock of Loch Ce (Carraig Locha Ce) were
the popular names of a castle built on an island in
Loch Ce, near Boyle in the present County of Ros¬
common. This castle was the chief residence and
stronghold of Mac Dermot, the native chief and
prince of Magh Luirg (or Moylorg), an extensive
territory in the same County of Roscommon.
The above Brian Mac Dermot, the owner, res¬
torer, and continuator of these Annals; was chief
of Magh Luirg between the years 1585 and 1592,
though in what year he succeeded his father, Rory
(Ruaihri), the son of Teige (Tadhg). I am not a¬
ble to say. The father was chief 1540 and 1542.
Of Brian Mac Dermot himself, we find in the
Annals of the Four Masters, — under the year 1585
(in which year all the native chefs of Erinn were
called by proclamation to a parliament in Dublin)
that Tadhg the son of Eohan Mac Dermot attend¬
ed this parliament as deputy from Mac Dermot of
Magh Luirg; that is, Brian the son of Ruaidhri Og
which Brian was then a very old man. And at the
year 1592 the same Annals record the death of this
Brian Mac Dermot in the following words:
"Mac Dermot of Magh Luirg, — Brian the son of
Ruaidhri, son of Tadhg Mac Dermot, died in the
month of November; and the death of this man
was the more to be lamented, because there was no
other like him of the clann Maolruanaidh [Mael¬
runy, the tribe name of the Mac Dermots], to suc¬
ceed him in the chieftainship,"
It would then appear, I think, that these cannot
be the socalled Annals of Kilronan; but that they
are those called the Annals of Loch Ce, quoted by
Sir James Ware in his work on the Bishops of E¬
rinn, is by no means certain.
Dr. Nicholson (Protestant Bishop of Derry, and
afterwards Archbishop of Cashel), in his valuable
"Irish Historical Library," published in Dublin
in 1724, page 36, thus speaks of the Annals of
Loch Ce, quoted by Sir James Ware:
"The Annals of this monastery are frequently
quoted by Sir James Ware; but all that he ever
saw was a fragment of them (part in Latin and part
in Irish) beginning at 1249 and ending at 1408.
He supposes the author to have been a Canon-Re¬
gular of the said Abbey, and have lived in the Fif¬
teenth Century. His copy, perhaps, has some far¬
ther loss since it fell into other hands; seeing all
that can be now said of it is 'Pars Annalium Caen¬
obii S. Trin, de Loghkoea, incipiens ab An. 1331.
ex Hibernico Idiomate in Anglicum versa.'"
The same writer says:
"The most valuable collection of Irish MSS.
that I have met with, in any private hand, here in
Dublin, next to that of the Lord Bishop of Clogh¬
er, was communicated to me by Mr. John Conry;
who has great numbers of our Historico-Poetical
Composures, and (being a perfect master of their
language and prosodia) knows how to make the
best use of them. Amongst these there's
"1. An ancient copy of the Annales Senatenses
(Annals of Ulster, written on Vellum end in a fair
character; but imperfect at the beginning and end.
for it begins at the year 454, ten years later than
the Duke of Chondois's, and ends (about 50 years
sooner) at 1492.
"2. There is also, in the same letter parchment
and the same folio Volume, a copy of the Annals
of the old Abbey of Inch-Maccreen, an island in the
Lake of Loghkea, a very different form those of
Holy Trinity, an abbey (in the same Loch) of a
much later foundation. This book commences at
the year 1013, and ends with 1571.
"3. He has likewise the original Annals of Don¬
egal (or the Quatuor Magistri), signed by the pro¬
per hands of the Four Masters themselves, who
were the Compilers of that Chronicle," etc., etc.
This, indeed, is a most valuable notice from the
very candid Bishop Nicholson.
The Annals of the Old Abbey of InisMaccreen,
properly Inis Mac Nerinn, an island of Loch Ce,
which he mentions, are beyond any doubt those
which I have already identified as such. Accord¬
ing to Conry's report to the bishop, these Annals
commenced with the year 1013, and ended with
1571; but it is quite clear that the year 1013 is a
mere mistake for 1014, with which the book com¬
mences in its present, and I am sure in its then
condition. For it commences with an account of
