... r n"l;' hh ··j·11)ln w:1ti fr•.:(; f'ron.1 r1:f'ro;11·h 0 1· ,.;.;1 ,u11 • ( l lL Ile d ied on J aaua:·y 26th., 159(i, MulMall, and his brothe!'s son, .i.e. mur.ry, son of Morrogh t·ook his place. Mulmurry .'.\foe Sweeney Doe, bette::- known in histo!·y and iraditicn as Sir Mile:; Mac Swine, has been described by a contemporary as a man "in fidelity long infec·i or to his prede1·e~sor" f l2) and Father Paui Walsh (1'a) de.•crihed him as "a man o't unsavoury character, thcugh he was no. worse than many of his contempo1aries". He i3 spoken of in ~radition as "..\1aelmurra Ba tta Bwee or Mi!es -:::·f the Yellow sta'ff . . . . a baton with which he couid ccnjt:re up the 'b"ial'k magician'". Another tradition tells that Mi.Jes, ca:led ..\lac Sweeney of the Staff, used to try his refractory vassal3 in the -great hall of D::ie Castle (sir). Any of the conjemned whcm he wished to honour, :t.e forthwith b:ained with his club; the others if unworthy of his hand he tran>ferred to the tender mercies of ihe serf tribe -0f 'the Fe~·ries', who acted as JaC'-k Ketches for ilim; and these offenders were forthwith hung in gads from the parapets of the caslle. 'A false Fec-ry' was as proverl:al in Donegal as 'a false Fur'.ong' ·in We'Xfo!·d". (14) When we con,ider the efforts ma'.le l1y Red J rugli O'Donner1 to re-introduce t he rule of }a·N into Tirconail and his many succc.::ses in this sphere we have one aRpect <Jf his life whid. . raises him, 'in our opinion, far ~bove his subordinate r·hieftans. 333, Wl!.11 l11b i_11 dew it i•; i.:11 -y !•1r 11~ l., ;ipp r t·" i ; il. t~ t.11:11. willti11 lwo yea: s of his inauguration the tyrant ·Of Doe Castle was lucky enough to have e.:;caped with his life from Tirconail with only the Joss of sixteen of his henC'hmen on O'Donnell's gallows 01 at the hands of O'Donnell's ba iliffs. His English friends we:e led to believe that the banishment was not due to his l~w:e2s ness and cruelty but rather that his defection was due to "jealousy that he coneeived unto O'Donnell fm· his wife" (15). If a fictitious amour was the reputed cause of his b~eak with O'Donne:1 a lewd woman und:m:btedly assisted him to return to TiH~onail when we find him suplicating O'Don· neJl's mercy and the resto,·ation of his estates (16). Jn Joing so Miles. now Sir· Miles _\la<' Sweeney. ahandone:i a c.omfc:·rahle pensi-0n of six shillings per day from the Crown, not to mention a royal patent under which Do~ C::tstie and ir~ :and;~ we:e granted to him in knight's fee. O'Donnell in his justi1·e. to the repentant knight, allowed him to share tbe Doe estates with Eoghan og III Mac Sweeney i.e., O'Donnell's own fo:,te:.- brother. This s'.:aring with his cousin weakened Ecghan Mac Sweeney's loyalty and by the end of the year 1600, the Irish hero of the battle Of the Curliews was an E:1glish ally holding Dec rast!e as a Queen's Irist,man. A few m:.>nths later Doe Cast!e and Eog:ian oe 111 Mac Swee'.Jey were being beseiged by his foster brother's forces under Rory O'Donnell and Sir Miles Mac
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