support and defend the King of Con- naught in his territories, with all his force and power, in Ireland, provided he pays to Henry every tenth merchantable hide through the kingdom. The third excepts from this condition all such domains as are possessed by Henry himself and by his Barons — as Dublin with its liberties ; Meath with all its domains — in as full a manner as it was possessed by O'Meal- sachlin, or those deriving under him ; Wexford, with all Leinster ; Waterford, with all its domain as far as Dungarvan, which, with its territory, is also excluded from this taxation. Fourth : Such Irish as fled from the lands held by the English barons may return in peace, on paying the above tribute, or such other services as they were anciently accustomed to perform for their tenures, at the option of their lords : should they prove refractory, on complaint of such lords, Eoderic was to compel them ; and they were to supply Henry with hawks and hounds annually." Roderic was thus left in full possession in Counaught, and his sovereignty over the rest of Ireland, except the Pale, was acknow- ledged, on his collecting for the King cer- tain annual tribute. Mr. Eichey, in his Lectures on Irish History, shows that Henry before long altered his policy of governing Ireland by the aid of both Irish and Anglo- Norman feudatories, and in the face of his solemn treaty, granted, in 1179, the province of Connaught to William Fitz- Adelm de Burgh and his heirs. On the Irish side plundering expeditions went on as before ; and Roderic's sons joined the Anglo-Normans in their invasions of Connaught. Worn out and broken-heart- ed, Eoderic abdicated in 11 83, and retired to the Abbey of Cong, where he died in 1 198, aged 82. He was buried at Clonmac- noise. Mr. Moore, in his History of Ire- land, says : " The only feeling his name awakens \ that of pity for the doomed country which at such a crisis of its for- tunes, when honour, safety, indepen- dence, national existence, were all at stake, was cursed, for the crowning of its evil destiny, with a ruler and leader so utterly unworthy of his high calling."
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O'Conor, Cathal Crovderg, Prince of Connaught, succeeded as head of the O'Conors on his brother Eoderic's death in 1 198. The early part of his reign was passed in contests with the Anglo-Nor- mans and with his nephew Cathal Carrach, who at one time succeeded in expelling him from his territories. In 1201, how- ever, Cathal Crovderg, with the assistance of the DeBurghs, defeated and slew his nephew in battle near Boyle. On King John's arrival in Ireland, he paid him homage, and by the surrender of a portion of his territories, secured to himself a toler- ably peaceful old age. He died in the abbey of Knockmoy (having assumed the habit of a Grey Friar) in 1224. The prin- cipal abode of the heads of the O'Conor family at this period was at Rathcroghan, near Tulsk, in the County of Eoscommon. [His son Felim was confirmed in his estates by the King, whilst another Felim, a descendant, joined Edward Bruce, and fell in battle at Athlone, i6th August 1316.]
O'Conor, Charles, of Belanagare, a distinguished Irish scholar and antiquary, was born in 1710. [His family traced its descent from a younger brother of King Eoderic O'Conor. His grand-uncle fol- lowed Charles II. into exSe, was restored to his estates by the Act of Settlement, was a major in the service of James II., and died a prisoner in the Castle of Ches- ter. At great cost, some 800 or 900 acres of poor land were rescued from the wreck of the family property.] Charles O'Conor being a Catholic, was debarred from the advancement due to his talents. But meagre particulars of his life are pre- served. In 1754 he published a tract re- lative to Irish mining, and in 1766 the work by which he is best known — Disser- tations on the History of Ireland. He is spoken of with uniform respect by Irish scholars. Dr. O'Donovan styles him " this patriotic and venerable gentleman . . . who understood the Irish language well," pays a tribute to his exertions for the preservation of Irish manuscripts, and acknowledges that it was his writings which first induced him to devote himself earnestly to the study of the annals of Ireland. Mr. Wyse, in his History of the Catholic Association, says: "The entire object of his long life seems to have been to redeem it [his country] from the self- ignorance, the blind impolicy, the national degradation to which it had been reduced. In this lofty and noble vocation, no man ever put out, with more perfect abandon- ment of all unworthy motive, the valuable gifts which he had received." Charles O'Conor died at Belanagare, ist July 1791, aged 81. His valuable collection of manu- scripts (containing the only then known original of the First Part of the Annals of the Four Masters), passed by purchase into the hands of the Marquis of Bucking- ham, and are now in Lord Ashburnham's library; where, when O'Curry wrote in 1857, they were inaccessible to scholars. ^3 73 134 J46
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