heavy loss, with such vigour was the holy place defended. The Dalcassians took no part, it would appear, in this attempted outrage.

A few years later on, A.D. 1235, the greater part of Clare was mercilessly plundered. The English of Connaught were joined by the Irish there, who had suffered from the Dalcassian invasion, and made an unexpected onslaught through the northern boundary of the county. Felim, son of Cathal

Crovdearg, got intimation of this movement, and hastened to the relief of the Dalcassians. A battle was fought, in which the Dalcassians suffered heavy loss through the bad leadership of Donogh O'Brien. The English and their allies were victorious. Both infantry and cavalry were clad in armour, and, though probably much inferior in numbers, were able to resist successfully the impetuous assault of the light-armed Irish. The men of Connaught retreated to their own country, and on the next day Donogh O'Brien made terms with the English, giving them hostages. This was the first regular engagement on the soil of Clare since the English invasion. It was followed by a temporary peace. Clare was at rest during the remaining years of the life of Donogh O'Brien. He died A.D. 1242, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Conor.

It does not appear that the English followed up their success. For a long time after this they made no permanent settlement in the county, except at Killaloe. The lull from the fatigues and terrors of war was availed of for a purpose, at all times dear to the Irish heart. It has been already stated that since the intrusion of the English so near Kincora, that celebrated palace was deserted, and Clonroad, near Ennis, became the residence of the Prince of Thomond. The first noteworthy act in the reign of Conor was the erection near his palace of that monastery for Franciscan friars, which even now, in its ruin and decay, gives clear evidence of the generous spirit of its founder, and of the architectural skill of the Clare builders of that so-called benighted period. The exact date of its foundation was, according to the Four Masters, the year 1247. It became at once the recognised centre of learning for the county, and for centuries after,

till the torch of the Reformers reduced it to ruins. Clonroad was one of the most renowned of the Irish schools. But of this more, later on.

The first call to arms made on Conor O'Brien and his Dalcassians, was from Henry III. of England in A.D. 1252. That monarch was at war with the King of Scotland. He summoned to his aid some of the Irish princes, among whom was the King of Thomond,' but before it could be known whether the Dalcassians would so far acknowledge fealty to him, the war ceased. The probability is, they would not, as within a very few years we find them once more up in arms against the foreigners. They fell upon the English of Thomond East and West, A.D. 1257,2 and slew a great number. These successes emboldened the other Irish princes to unite for the defence of their common country. A meeting was arranged to be held at Cael Uisce (Narrow Water), near Belleek. The Northern and Connaught princes took counsel here with Teigue, son of Conor O'Brien. The Four Masters say that all present freely acknowledged O'Neill as Ard-Righ in the face of the common enemy. The other princes certainly made submission by delivering up hostages, but as no mention is made of hostages being left by O'Brien, it is not clear that his consent was obtained. He might have refused as a descendant of the Dalcassian kings of Ireland, or he may have pleaded want of authority, in the absence of his father, to entertain such a serious question. If we may credit Magrath, historian of the Dalcassians, in his work, Cathreim Turlogh, the former was his motive. He describes the Dalcassian prince as claiming superiority by sending to O'Neill one hundred steeds as wages of war, and O'Neill replying by returning them, with two hundred more harnessed, and with golden bits, to O'Brien, which were also sent back. Great doubt rests on the narrative, from the fact that the other and more reliable historians make no mention of it. From this interview Teigue brought away the surname of Caeluisce. This promising prince died before his father, A.D. 1259, and his brother, Brian Rua, was acknowledged as Roy-damna, or heir-presumptive.

1 Rymer, p. 426.

3

2 Four Masters.

3 Annals of Ulster, of Clonmacnoise, and of the Four Masters.

The disunion among the Irish princes soon became known. The English of South Munster took advantage of it. Marching hastily, under command of MacMaurice Fitzgerald, they crossed the Shannon, and, keeping northwards to effect a junction with those of Connaught, they pushed their way towards the centre of Clare. The Dalcassian clans, hastily summoned together by Conor O'Brien, intercepted them at Kilbarron, in the parish of Feakle, and, falling upon them with all the energy of men defending their threatened homesteads, put them to flight with great loss. Among the slain the Four Masters note specially the intruded parish priest, or parson, of Ardrahan. The priest who takes the sword deserves above all others to die by the sword. In return for this attack, the Dalcassians, led on by Brian Rua O'Brien, seized and demolished, after killing every man of the garrison, the castle erected by the English at Castleconnell.

With the disappearance of the enemy, internal discord began unhappily to prevail. The clans of Ormond (North Tipperary) and North-east Clare, refusing to pay tribute, were brought to submission by Conor O'Brien, at the head of the O'Briens, MacNamaras, and other clans of central Clare; but when advancing into Burren with a smaller force against the O'Loughlins and O'Connors, the O'Deas and O'Hehirs, he was met and defeated1 with great loss at the wood of Suidene, in the parish of Drumcreehy. He himself, his son and daughter, and her son, O'Grady, and an O'Loughlin who took part with him, and many others of note, were slain. In the victorious camp was a section of the O'Briens, headed by his cousin Derinot, who, as the son of the elder brother of Conor, laid claim to the chieftaincy. His claim was rejected however, by the greater part of the Dalcassian clans, and being soon after killed by them for the part he took against Conor, Brian Rua became without further opposition prince of Thomond. Conor, who is known from the place of his death, Conor-na-Suidene, had married the daughter of the chief of the MacNamaras, and no little of his success in arms was due to the support of this powerful clan with whom he was so closely allied.

1 Four Masters. O'Donohue's Memoirs.

His grandfather, Donalmor, had built and endowed the Abbey of Corcomroe in 1194, and here Conor received burial befitting his rank at the hands of the monks. It is touching

to learn that the victors in the fight made no objection, though the abbey was in the heart of their territory. His tomb, with a reclining figure in stone, has escaped the ravages as well of time as of the ruthless foreign invader.

CHAPTER XI.

FROM 1267 TO 1343.

Clare Castle - Another Invasion of Clare--Brian Rua, the reigning Prince, deposed by his uncle MacNamara-He instals Turlogh, son of Teigue Caeluisce-Richard de Clare unites with Brian Rua-Builds the Castle of Bunratty-Murders Brian Rua-Consequences of the Murder Intestine Conflicts - The Cathreim Turlogha - Battle of Dysert O'Dea.

FOLLOWING the ancient custom, no sooner was Brian installed King of Thomond at Magh-Adhair than he took up arms, not against his fellow-countrymen, as was only too often the case, but against the English enemy. He sent a contingent to the aid of his relatives, the O'Connors; but his son Turlogh, who was in command, allowed himself to be surprised by William de Burgho, and was slain. He himself" turned against the English, and committed great depredations on them; and the castle of Clar Athada Chorada was taken by him," say the Four Masters. This is the first intimation given of a settlement of the English in that quarter. It must have been the result of a mutual arrangement, as the castle lay so close to the residence of O'Brien at Clonroad. It was built on the little island in the Fergus, where the barracks of Clare Castle now stand. This castle it was-Clar Atha, "the Boarded Ford "that gave the name Clare to West Thomond; though some, by a natural mistake, attribute it to Earl Clare, who was sent soon after to make a conquest of Thomond. Brian Rua cleared the county of its invaders. For six years it enjoyed an unwonted peace, but in 1273 an irruption was made into it by the English under the command of Maurice. FitzGerald. The force commanded by FitzGerald was so considerable in numbers and armament, that he secured, without striking a blow, the submission of Brian. The latter made a