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Abbot of Baltinglas, in which character he attended a Synod held in Dublin, in 1185, when the dispute arose between him and Giraldus, in Christ Church, in consequence of the former inveighing "against the clergy of England and Wales, that came into Ireland, and by their evil examples had vitiated the probity and innocence of the Irish clergy," as fully set out in Ware's Bishops, p. 439. In September, 1189, this Bishop O'Mulloy officiated with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of Dublin, and other prelates and nobles, at the coronation of Richard Cœur de Lion, in Westminster Abbey(a). That scene of pageantry was attended by another remarkable individual, by whom the Prelate of Ferns was unhappily embarrassed in his latter years, viz., William Marshal, the person to whom Prince Henry, the eldest son of Henry the Second, on his death-bed at the Castle of Martel, near Turenne, gave his cross, to carry to Jerusalem(). King Richard, at whose coronation he so assisted, gave to this warrior, in the first year of his reign, the hand of Isabella, the only daughter and heiress of the celebrated "Strongbow," in marriage, with the Earldom of Pembroke, and the Palatinate of Leinster(c); and to this prudent and valiant nobleman Henry the Second was mainly indebted for his throne. (His son afterwards married one of the daughters of King John). Under the above grant, the interests and authority of Albin O'Mulloy came into conflict with those of the Palatine, who forcibly disseised him of two manors, appurtenant to his See, whereupon the Bishop resented the injury to the Church by excommunication, under sentence of which the Earl died in 1220, and in two years afterwards the Prelate himself closed his days.

About the beginning of the fourteenth century, Angus Roe O'Daly, of the Meath line of that tribe, addressed a poem of 192 verses to Rory, son of Hugh O'Mulloy, chief of Fearcal. The poem is still extant; and in it the author, who had incurred the displeasure of the warrior, entreats him to "withdraw his resentment from himself, and to spend it upon the English, the plunderers of his native country." In 1316, Donogh O'Mulloy, of

(a) Hoveden, p. 656. (b) Id. p. 620. (c) Selden, p. 677.

Fearcal, fell in the sanguinary engagement of the Irish with the Lord Bermingham's forces(a). In 1373, Edward the Third directed the payment of ten marks, by his Irish Deputy, to Roderick O'Mulloy, "chief of his nation, for his laudable services and labours in the king's wars"(b); and in two years afterwards, the same leader received a further sum of 40s. from the Royal treasury, "by reason of his having reformed various Irishmen to peace and allegiance"(c). About this time Nellan O'Mulloy was the chief, and he it was who founded a monastery for Carmelites, at Milltown, alias Ballywallen, in the Barony of Conagh, County Limerick(d). His son Odo, i. e. Hugh, described as chief of his sept, established another religious house, immediately afterwards, for friars of the same order, at Frankfort, alias Kilcormack(e). In 1414, when the afterwards more celebrated John Talbot, Lord Furnival, landed at Dalkey, as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, his first movement was to place himself at the head of all the army then available for the object, and to direct his march through the country of the O'Byrnes, O'Tooles, and Cavanaghs; whence he crossed to the territories of the O'Mores, O'Connors (Faly), O'Dempseys, and O'Mulloys; after which he marched northwards, through those of the Mac Geoghegans, O'Ferrals, O'Reillys, and closed his military progress over the country of the Mac Mahons, O'Neils, and O'Hanlons(f). "The most intrepid of the enemies of English government yielded to the influence of a character, which subsequent events so strongly developed; and various indentures between him and the Irish leaders, yet extant in the Rolls of Chancery, so strongly testify the fears which his presence had then excited, as might almost justify the application of that sentiment in this country, which Shakspeare attributes to the sorrowing mothers of France. Unattended, however, as he was, by any regular army, and obliged to rely upon the forces hastily raised in Ireland, he pleaded necessity for recurring to the oppressive and

(a) Annals of Clonmacnoise. (c) Id.

(e) Ware's Monasticon.

(b) Chancery Roll, ad ann.
(d) Smith's MSS.

(f) Mac Geoghegan.

arbitrary impositions used by his predecessors" (a). In 1431 Rory, son, as it would appear, of Hugh, before mentioned as the founder of Killcormack Abbey, died. His father survived him upwards of 22 years, and on his death was interred in the said abbey, in front of the high altar(b). About this period Una, the daughter of the O'Mulloy, intermarried with Manus Magawley, the lineal ancestor, in the twelfth generation of ascent, of the present Count Magawley, of Temora. About the year 1460, Shane Mac Gilla Phadruic, the chief of the sept of the Fitz Patricks, intermarried with the daughter of O'Mulloy of Fearcal by whom he had issue, Barnaby Mac Gill Phadruic, chief of Upper Ossory, who lived in the reigns of Henry the Seventh and Henry the Eighth; to the latter, in 1522, he sent an express messenger, with a complaint of Pierce (the Red) Earl of Ormond, Lord Deputy. This ambassador, taking an opportunity to meet the King when he was going to chapel, delivered his commission in these words: "Sta pedibus, Domine Rex! Dominus meus, Gilla Patricius, me misit ad te, et jussit dicere, quod, si non vos castigâris Petrum Rufum, ille faciet bellum contra te." He married the daughter of O'More, of Leix, and continued the line of the noble family of Fitz Patrick; his grandson was the brave and accomplished Sir Barnaby Fitz Patrick, the companion of Edward the Sixth, and the great ornament of his court. In 1478 died Nellan, son of Cuconaght O'Mulloy; he also was interred before the high altar at Killcormack; while in the following year Charles O'Mulloy, the son of Sina, a brave man, and full of every human perfection," was interred in the same church, at the upper end of the choir, on the north side(c). In a "State of Ireland, with a Plan for its Reformation," prepared for Royal attention in 1515, O'Mulloy of Fearcal is stated as one of the captains of the chief Irish regions of the County of Meath; with his daughter Honora, Teigue O'Rody, comorb of Fenagh, in the County Leitrim, intermarried in 1517. In 1537, the Lord Deputy Grey marched to

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(a) D'Alton's History of the County Dublin, p. 201.
(b) Calendary of Killcormack, MS.
(c) Id.

wards Fearcal, where he surprised successively the Castles of Birr, Eglis, and Modrymore, and Broghill, on the Silver River(a). Indeed the State Papers, during the reign of Henry the Eighth, give numerous passages illustrative of the efforts of the O'Mulloys, at that time, to maintain the independence of their territory; while, on the other hand, the Crown was most active in asserting its dependance, as recorded in "A Book of His Majesty's Title to (inter alia) Fearcal, or O'Mulloy's Country," preserved in the Lambeth MSS. At length their spirit was broken down by such attacks as the above, in reference to which the Lord Grey himself writes to Lord Cromwell: "On the 12th of November the army assembled, and set forwards towards Mac Geoghegan's country, which bordereth upon Offaley, and took the said Mac Geoghegan's pledges, and also O'Mulloy's, for their security to His Grace" (Henry the Eighth). Cahir O'Mulloy was then captain of Fearcal, and the indenture of his treaty with the Deputy, dated at Killeigh, in Offaley, is yet extant in the Lambeth MSS. He thereby bound himself to adhere to the Viceroy against the king's enemies; to pay to the Crown all rents and revenues, due and accustomed on the said country of Fearcal, and to do military service, as required, with six horsemen and forty kerns, during one day and one night, having warning three days before that appointed: and he delivered his son as a hostage for due performance; while Lord Grey stipulated that the Barons of Delvin, the Dillon, D'Alton, Tyrrel, and other captains, subjects of the king, would aid and co-operate with O'Mulloy. In consequence of this treaty it appears, from a despatch of 1538, that O'Mulloy then attended the Deputy on a military expedition, with six horsemen ; and in 1542, when Henry the Eighth was first proclaimed King of Ireland, O'Mulloy and "all the great ones of Irish extraction, did submit themselves, and took the oath of allegiance," as entered in the Red Book of the Exchequer. The O'Mulloy, here alluded to (Charles), had thereupon restoration of his castles, and, dying in the following year, was buried in the Abbey of Killcormack. In 1557, writes

(a) Mac Geoghegan.

Ware," the Lord Lieutenant, being concerned for his Queen in England, that he might leave the kingdom more peaceable, caused some suspected persons to swear allegiance, and give pledges, to wit: O Carrol, O'Mulloy, Mac Geoghegan, &c., and commanded those pledges that were given to be detained in custody(a)." In 1558, continues the same annalist, "when Sir Henry Sidney was a second time appointed Viceroy, he directed his colours against Arthur O'Mulloy, then captain of Fearcal, who harboured rebels, and began new factions; and a great part of that country being burned and plundered, he conferred the Lordship on Theobald O'Mulloy, Arthur's brother, who gave his son as a pledge that he should be faithful to the Queen." In ten years afterwards, however, Arthur died, chief of this sept, and was interred in the family vault at Killcormack(b). In Edmond Spencer's "View of the State of Ireland," occurs the following passage, in reference to the government of the country of Fearcal, and the contiguous districts: "I greatly mislike the Lord Deputy's seating at Dublin, being the outest corner of the realm, and least needing the awe of his presence, whereas methinks it were fitter, since his proper care is of Leinster, though he have care of all besides generally, that he should seat himself at Athy, or thereabouts, upon the skirt of that unquiet country, so that he might sit, as it were, at the very mainmast of his ship, whence he might easily overlook, and sometimes overreach, the Mores, the Dempseys, the Conors, O'Carroll, O'Mulloy, and all that heap of Irish natives, which there lie huddled together, without any to overawe them, or contain them in duty;" a policy which, in other parts of his work, he yet more enlarges upon. In 1580, the Lord Deputy, having been reinforced with 150 of cavalry, and six companies of infantry, sent him from England, overran the territories of Offaly, Fearcal, Kineleigh, and Ely; he caused O'Mulloy, "King of Fearcal," to be put to death as a seditious person, and, amongst others, "pacified" the O'Carrols of Ely. In 1585, when, in the language of

(a) Ware's Annals.

(b) Calendary of Killcormack, MS.

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