GLEANINGS ON O'DONNELL HISTORY ed force came to Derry and destroyed estates of the O'Donnell chieftains and the priory so- that the:ce was not left 1 tneir wealth from sea and land, not to in it a stone upon a stone. -And along speak of their rents in1 Connaught and - with that, six houses of the Third Or- lJlster. It refers, among others, to tne der of St. Francis, _a Carmelite priory, rent of ~1oylurg which used to be paid and finally, in tlle time of Niall Garbh humbly even in the author's own time, son of Turlough of the Wine, the cele- and the black rent of Tirawley handed IJrated fria:::y of the Friars Miuor at over fr:eely by the Barrets in order to Donegal, which from the ·time of its be defended from the Burkes . foundation was the flower of Irish The verso of the folio mentions St. monasteries for !earning and sanctity Patrick's prophecy about Conall Guland every other requisite good quality, ban, son ·Of Niall and how well it was and in which lived many holy people.' fulfilled in himself and his descendFr. Ambrose Coleman in his edit- ants. IncidentaDy, it dates St. Pat~ ion of O'Heyne".s Irish Dominicans, p. rick's ardval in the year 423, during 5, says the first trace of the story the papacy of Celestine and the rei.gn about the letter of St. Dominic is to of the Emperor Theodosius. The rebe found in a report drawn up by Fr. maining few paragraphs deal briefly Hoss Mageoghegan in 1622. It is pos- with the e·xploits of early kings and sib!e that this text carries the tradit- chieftains of Tirconnell, Ruaidhri () ion back a stage further. It is an inter- Canannan, Maolruanaidh O Maoldore.sting coincidence that .part of this aigh, and Gofraidh O Domhnai!l. volume was written in the Franciscan (3) O'Donnell references at Simancas friary of Kilda1·e and that MacGeogh- It would be impossible to write a egan-had associ.ations-with that part of full history of the O'Donnells withont tht• country and became bishop of Kil- a thorough search through the vast dare in 1629. collection of documents in the Spanish The next paragraph begins by tell- state archives at Simancas. Whether ing that the O'Donnel!s defended the and when that complete history will be two episcopal cities of Derry and Ra- written is something hidden deep in phc,e, that were under them, from the the womb of the future. Here and now hHetiLs and permitted only bishops of the curious reader and those interested the Roman church chosen by the lords in the history of that illustrious famuntil the English armed force entered ily may be interested to learn in brief Lough Foyle, and the Earl of Tirconnel summary what a five months examinafled Ireland because of his faith, and tion of a cross-section of these archives Red Hugh died in Spain. The writer revealed in this regard. The informacontinues: 'If the ancient histories of tion is made available here by kind the world were consulted, it were dif- permission of Don Riccardo Magdaleno; ficult to find a people who preserved director 'Of the archives ·at Simancas,. their honour Jonger than Clann Mhil- and iDr. Richard Hayes, director cf the· idh and above all Sl.iocht Eiremoin National Library 'Of Ireland, and the who had so many kings of their blood board of trustees of the same library. both in pagan and Christian times, and As the ·.student of Iirish history even when they lost the kingship, they would rtaturalJy e'xpect, the material retained a good part of Ireland to this is most abundant in those legajos or very day, and especially the descend- bundles of documents which deal with ants of Niall of the Nine Hostages the period 1595-1608. from whom came forty-six kings since There· are originals ·of letters signthe introduction of Christianity.' ed by Red Hugh O'Donnell; his brother The next paragraph freats of the and successor, Rory, first earl of Tir4bl:
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