him. ‘And finding that the mutuall Hurtes and Revenges donne betwixt the Earle and Teige MacMurrough was one great Cawse of the Ruyne of the Country,’ Sidney ‘bounde theim by Bondes, in great sommes,’ to surrender their lands, and to submit to the appointment of Donnell, created Sir Donnell O'Brien, as sheriff of the newly constituted county of Clare. This arrangement, though acquiesced in, was naturally displeasing to Thomond, and he was reputed to have said that he repented ever ‘condescending to the queen's mercy.’ The arrangement did not put an end to the disputes between him and Teige, and in 1577 Sir William Drury was compelled to place the county under martial government. Thomond thereupon repaired to England, and on 7 Oct. warrant was issued for a new patent containing the full effect of his former patent, with remainder to his son Donough, baron of Ibrickan. He returned to Ireland about Christmas; but before his arrival, according to the ‘Four Masters,’ ‘the marshal had imposed a severe burden on his people, so that they were obliged to become tributary to the sovereign, and pay a sum of ten pounds for every barony, and this was the first tribute ever paid by the Dal Cais.’ Thomond, however, seems to have lived on good terms with the new president of Connaught, Sir Nicholas Malby. He died, apparently, in January 1581, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Donough, baron of Ibrickan and fourth earl of Thomond [q. v.]
Conor O'Brien, married, first, Ellen or Eveleen, daughter of Donald MacCormac MacCarthy Mór and widow of James Fitzjohn Fitzgerald, fourteenth earl of Desmond [q. v.]; she died in 1560, and was buried in Muckross Abbey; secondly, Una, daughter of Turlough Mac-i-Brien-Ara, by whom he had issue three sons—viz.: Donough, his heir [q. v.]; Teige, and Daniel, created first Viscount Clare [q. v.]—and three daughters: Honora, first wife of Thomas Fitzmaurice, eighteenth lord Kerry [q. v.]; Margaret, second wife of James Butler, second lord Dunboyne; and Mary, wife of Turlough Roe MacMahon of Corcovaskin.
[O'Donoghue's Hist. Memoir of the O'Briens, Dublin, 1860; Annals of the Four Masters, ed. O'Donovan; Cal. State Papers, Ireland, ed. Hamilton; Cal. Carew MSS.; Cal. State Papers, Foreign, 1570; Irish genealogies in Harl. MS. 1425; Bagwell's Ireland under the Tudors.]
O'BRIEN, DANIEL, first Viscount Clare (1577?–1663), called of Mayarta and Carrigaholt, third son of Conor O'Brien, third earl of Thomond [q. v.], was probably born about 1577; his eldest brother, Donough, fourth earl of Thomond [q. v.], and his nephew Barnabas, sixth earl of Thomond [q. v.], are separately noticed. In 1598 Daniel was left to defend his brother's estates in Clare while Thomond was in England; Tyrone's victory at the Yellow Ford was followed by the spread of the rebellion into Clare, and Daniel's second brother, Teige O'Brien, entered into communication with the rebels. Daniel was attacked in the castle of Ibrickan, on which a treacherous assault was made on 1 Feb. 1599. The castle surrendered, and O'Brien was wounded and made prisoner; after a week's confinement at Dunbeg he was released, and, on the return of his eldest brother, Thomond, the rebels were defeated. O'Brien subsequently served under his brother during the remainder of the war; in 1600 Thomond took him to Elizabeth's court, where he was well received, and granted various lands in consideration of his wound and services. He was knighted, not, as O'Donoghue states, by Elizabeth, but on 1 July 1604 at Lexlipp.
O'Brien now took opposite sides to Thomond, becoming an ardent catholic, while his brother was a protestant; in 1613, being then member for co. Clare, he played a prominent part in the scenes attending the election of a speaker in the Irish House of Commons. He was summoned to England to answer for his conduct, and was charged with having forcibly held Everard in the chair; Thomond had gone to England as agent for the protestants, and O'Brien was dismissed with a reprimand. In November 1634 he was again elected member for co. Clare, not in conjunction with, but in place of, his nephew Barnabas, who after his election in June had gone to England (Official Returns, p. 608; cf. O'Donoghue, Hist. Memoir of the O'Briens); he is also said to have served on the committee of grievances. His conduct was evidently obnoxious to the lord-deputy, for an information was laid against him for his action in parliament; this subsequently afforded the House of Commons an opportunity of vindicating its right of free speech.
In 1641 O'Brien joined the confederation of Kilkenny, which he vigorously supported during the war; he was a member of the supreme council, and took an active share in its proceedings (cf. Gilbert, History of the Confederation; Carte, Ormonde, passim). In November 1641 he played a vigorous part in the siege of Ballyally Castle, co. Clare (The Siege of Ballyaly Castle, Camden Soc. pp. 14, 18). In 1645 he was appointed to seize his nephew's castle of Bunratty, a scheme which was frustrated by its surrender to the parliamentarians (Lodge, Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica, ii. 190–3). He was fighting in Clare
