as the idea of a great plantation took shape, it was determined to include Cavan and Fermanagh in the forfeited area.
The rights of the chiefs in both counties had admittedly come to the Crown owing to the death in actual rebellion of Hugh Maguire and of three successive O'Reilly chiefs of Cavan.[1] But only a few months before the Flight of the Earls the Deputy had decided that the real owners of these counties had been, not the chiefs, but the clansmen. An elaborate enquiry had been held in Fermanagh, as a result of which it was estimated that about 6,000 acres had come to the Crown by the forfeiture of Hugh, as well as about 2,000 more set apart for the poets, chroniclers, &c., which were to be handed over to the two claimants to the lordship "in respect of the persons that merit no respect but rather discountenance from the State." In addition it was found that only two freeholders had perished during the whole course of the rebellion; for the "natives of this county are reputed the worst swordsmen of the north, being rather inclined to be scholars or husbandmen than to be kern or men of action, as they term rebels in this kingdom." This, incidentally, throws an unexpected light on "barbarous" Celtic Ulster.
- ↑ Cuconnaght Maguire had got a grant from Elizabeth in general terms. (Fiants Elizabeth, 4809). He was to permit the free tenants in the country to enjoy their lands, they rendering the rents and services accustomed. Hugh was son and successor to Cuconnaght. After Hugh's death his brother Cuconnaght succeeded as Irish lord, but a rival. Conor Roe, got a patent of the whoie county as "Queen's Maguire." Then there was a plan for dividing the county, giving £140 a year chief rent to each claimant; seven others of the principal men were to have patents, and they were to be bound to make "such freeholds or leaseholds with such reservations as shall be thought fit." Cal. St. Paps., 1607, p. 385.
