JOURNAL 6F THE COUNTY DONEGAL HisTORICAt ·SOCIETY This cryptic inscription is all the more remarkable if one :turns tio Lecky's ''History of Ireland in the Eighteenth Century" and studies it against the background out of which the Raphoe Corps evolved. They were originally called The Royal Raphoe Volunteers and were brought into existence at battalion strength on the lst J~ly, 1778; with Lieut.-Colonel Charles Nesbitt ·as their Commanding Officer. A silver belt badge worn iby one of its officers <F.ev. Ur. John Lamy, Dean of Raphoe, and High Sheriff' for County Donegal, 1785) was illustrated in the Ulster Journal of Ar·chaeology of 1897, and .according to :McNevin's "History of the Volunteers" the uniform was scarlet- :faced with blue. The Corps Commanding Officer was a .county delegate to the famous Dungannon Convention of 1782. A correspondent from the newly-formed Irlsh Military Historical Society would welcome details relliatin:g .to the various Donegal r·egiments of the past. * The Donegal Historical Society deplores this destruction-this obliteration of historical fact-,thls , re-birth of vandalism whi·Ch we now associate with modern totalitarianism.-. (Ed.) 211 PROBLEMS FOR DONEGAL HISTORICAL SOCI'ETY Perhaps the most interesting prO'blem in Donegal ~lesi:astical history conc·erns the government of the Diocese of Raphoe !between the .years, say, 1515-11550, No one has as yet satisfactorily ex.plained the mystery of Cornel.ius O'Cahan, schismatic (?) Bishop of Raphoe, who was provided to the aee c. 1514. The formation of :the Oounty Donegal Historical SOciety tempts one to hope that the problem may soon be consider:a;bly advanced•. The fullest discussion is to 1be found 1n "The Medieval Province of Armagh,'' ;by !Rev. Aubrey Gwynn, S.J. Father Gwynn does not mention Dr. Maguire's arigument that O'Cahan suffered imprisonment, probaibly 1about the year 1536 <"History of !Raiphoe," Vol. i, pp, 96 ff.) Dr. Maguire rests h~ argument on an undated "edi~t of enlargement," which he discovered in the "Sltate Papers" of, Henry VIII. ·Now, we1 know that "Cornelius o Kann, Bp. of Raphoe," received his grant of English liberties in 1;536 (!Morrin, i, p. 23) , and it ls very likely that this iS the enlargement to which Dr. Maguire refers. The latter, therefore, in this view, is mistaken in taking the grant of liberties t;o mean re}ease from imprisonment. IJowever, it is just possible '.that Dr. Maguire, who had access to the PubUc IReco·rd Office fbefor:e its destruction in 1922, may ha.:ve discovered a real edict, all record of which has since perished, granting · release from pnson. It this is so, matters are complicated not a little, Perhaps some member of the Historical Socie.ty cou1ld provide tihe 1answier?
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