Montgomery manuscripts

The Montgomery Manuscripts.
21
In the mean while, the said Laird in the said first year of the King's reign pitched upon the
following way (which he thought most fair and feazable) to get an estate in lands even with free
consent of the forfeiting owner of them, and it was thus, viz. : — The said Laird (in a short time after
his return from the English Court) had got full information from his said trading friends of Con
O'Neil's case and imprisonment in Carrickfergus towne, on account of a quarrell made by his servants
with some soldiers in Belfast, done before the Queen died, which happened in manner next follow-
ing, to witt: — The said servants being sent with runletts to bring wine from Belfast 11 aforesaid, unto
the said Con, their master, and Great Teirne 12 as they called him, then in a grand debauch at Cas-
resolved suddenly to leave Ireland without asking the
English authorities for a license to do so, which was in
itself at that period a treasonable offence. The deputy,
Chichester, instantly, on hearing this rumour, summoned
him to Dublin, where sir Cahir, his father-in-law, and
another gentleman, named Fitzwilliams, were required to
enter into recognisances, himself for ^iooo English, and
the others for fifty marks Irish each, binding him not to
leave Ireland during the next twelve months without the
deputy's license, and requiring him to appear personally
in Dublin at any time during that term, on receiving
twenty days' notice. Soon after the arrangement of this
affair, sir Cahir sold some lands to sir Richard Hansard,
and, as it was necessary to have governor Pawlet's name
affixed to the deed of transfer, the parties called on the
latter for this purpose. It is more than probable that
Pawlet had been the means of arousing the government's
suspicions respecting sir Cahir's contemplated departure
from Ireland, and it may be the latter charged him with
some underhand influence on this occasion. At all events,
during this interview, a furious controversy arose between
them, in the course of which Pawlet, who was a man of
violent temper, struck sir Cahir in the presence of the
others. The Inishowen chief did not instantly retaliate,
but went to relate the affair to his foster-brothers, who
told him that blood only could atone for such an insult.
The people on sir Cahir's estate were unanimously of the
same opinion, and declared their readiness to espouse the
quarrel of their lord. Sir Cahir having got a promise of
assistance from his brother-in-law, the young chief of the
O'Hanlons, proceeded to seize the fort of Culmore by
stratagem, where he left a garrison, and then marched rapidly
on Derry. Pawlet was amongst the first to fall beneath
the pikes and skeines of the O'Doherties. To plunder
the houses of the wealthy inhabitants, collect arms, and burn
the town was the work of only a few hours. When this
was done, the insurgents proceeded to the palace of bishop
Montgomery, who, fortunately for himself, happened
to be in Dublin. Among the spoils removed were two
thousand volumes from his library, for the restoration of
which the bishop soon afterwards offered a hundred pounds
weight of silver — but in vain; for the books were burned
in Culmore fort by Phelim Reagh M'Davitt. So soon as
Chichester heard of the outbreak, he sent a force of 3000
men against the O'Doherties ; under the command of sir
Richard Wingfield, sir Toby Caulfeild, Josias Bodley, and
others. The first and only skirmish took place on the 5 th
July, at the rock of Doon, in the vicinity of Kilmacrenan,
where sir Cahir was shot by a common soldier. His head
was struck off, sent to Dublin, and there exposed " on a pole
on the east gate of the city, called Newgate." — Meehan,
Fate and Fortunes of the earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel, pp.
287 — 300; see also Annals of the Four Masters' 1608, with
Dr. O'Donovan's notes, vol. vi., p. 2359. On the 7th,
Chichester issued his proclamation in which he announced
that "O'Dohertie was happily slain near a place called
Kilmacrenan, in the county of Tyrconnel, wherein God
hath not only showed his just judgment upon this treacher-
ous creature, but doth plainly declare to this nation and
to all the world, that shame and confusion is the certain
and infallible end of all traitors and rebels." By this pro-
clamation all O'Doherty's adherents were proscribed, and
all who presumed to receive, or in any manner afford them
relief, were to be "adjudged traitors in as high a degree
as the said O'Dohertie himself or any of his adherents."
The whole territory of Inishowen, which from time im-
memorial had been the abode of the sept of O'Doherty,
was handed over by James I. to Chichester, by grant dated
22nd February, 1 6 10, excepting 1300 acres reserved for
the better maintenance of the city of Londonderry and the
fort of Culmore. By the terms of this grant, sir Arthur
was authorized to divide the whole territory into several
precincts, each containing 2000 acres, erecting them into
so many manors, and setting apart 500 acres, as demesne
lands, to each manor. He was also empowered to hold
fourseveralcourts, leet and baron, viz. : "oneatBoncranagh,
within the island of Inche, and territory of Tuogh-Cranoche;
one within the Tuogh of Elagh; one within the lordship or
manor of Greencastle; and one within the island of Malyne"
(now Malin). — Calendar of Patent Rolls, fames I., p. 161.
" Belfast. — The progress of Belfast dates from the year
1612, when the castle, town, and manor, were granted to
sir Arthur Chichester. The name does not appear in
Holinshed's enumeration of the principal seaports in the
counties of Down and Antrim. In the year 1610, it is
noticed in Speed's maps, but only as an unimportant
village. It had been previously, in 1582, recommended
by sir John Perrot as the "best and most convenient place
in Ulster, for the establishment of shipbuilding;" but Bel-
fast was not then within the English pale, and its natural
advantages, including the magnificent woods of the district,
were permitted, during several years afterwards to remain
unimproved.
12 Greate Teirne. — Teirne, from the Irish Tighearna,
denotes a chief ruler in a district. From this title is
derived Oehiern or Oigthierna, a term applied in Scotch
law to the heir-apperent of a lordship, from Oig, " young,"
and tierna "lord." — Logan, Scottish Gael, vol. i. , p. 189.
On the Latin form Tighcrna, Dr. Reeves has the follow-
remarks: — "A Latin transformation of the Irish noun
tigherna, a 'lord' — proving that the^in the word is a radi-
cal letter; and pointing to tig, a house, as the derivation,
E