Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland, fyc. 387 



erected, or, at least, restored for the clergy, no less than thirty-two of these 

 structures : 



" 6u laip DO cumoaijioo ceulla 7 ecalpa, 7 DO ponca oaimliac, acup cloicciji, 7 oupci^i, 

 innci." 



" By him were founded cells and churches, and were made daimliacs, and cloictheachg, and 

 duirt/ieac/is, in it" [Ireland]. 



And again : 



" 1p e &pian cue .ufl. tnamipcpeaca eicip aiome 7 eallac 7 peaponn amac; 7 ba clbic- 

 ceac cpicac ; 7 ip laip po oamjneaD an c-opo popoa ; 7 ip pi a linn cucao ploinnce ap cup, 7 

 ouchaoa oo na ploinnce, 7 DO pmne cpicaipecc caca cuaice, 7 5Ctca cpica ceo ; 7 ip pi a linn 

 po h-oipneao jpaoa placa, 7 pilib, 7 eclaipi. Ip e 6pian umoppa nac capo epa pop ealaoam 

 o oioce a gemearhlaij co h-oioce a Baip." 



" It is Brian that gave out seven monasteries, both furniture and cattle and land ; and thirty- 

 two cloictheachs ; and it is by him the marriage ceremony was confirmed ; and it is during his time 

 surnames were first given, and territories [were allotted] to the surnames, and the boundaries of every 

 lordship and cantred was fixed ; and it is in his time the degrees of chief, and poet, and ecclesiastic, 

 were appointed. It is Brian also that never refused science from the night of his birth to the night 

 of his death." 



The state of the country preceding the usurpation of Brian, and the neces- 

 sity for such reforms and improvements by that monarch as are alluded to in 

 the preceding notice, are very well illustrated by the following passage in 

 Mageoghegan's translation of the Annals of Clonmacnoise, under the year 996, 

 which is the date of Brian's accession, according to the chronology of that 

 work, but which should be the year 1002, according to the more correct chro- 

 nology of Tighernach : 



" A. D. 996. Bryan Borowe took the kingdorne and government thereof out of the hands of King 

 Moyleseaghlyn, in such manner as I do not intend to relate in this place ; he was very well worthy 

 of the Government, and reigned twelve years the most famous king of his time [or] that ever was 

 before or after him, of the Irish nation, for Manhood, Fortune, Manners, Laws, Liberality, Religion, 

 and other many good parts, he never had his peere among them all, though some Chroniclers of 

 the Kingdom made comparisons between him and Conkedcagh, Conaire More, and King Neale of 

 the Nine hostages ; yett he in regard of the state of the Kingdome when he came to the govern- 

 ment thereof was judged to bear the bell all ways from them all. At his first entrie into the King- 

 dome, the whole Eealme was overrunn and overspread every where by the Danes : the Churches, 

 Abbeys, and other religious places, were by them quite rased and debased, or otherwise turned to 

 vile, base, servile, and abominable uses. Most of all, yea almost all the Noblemen, Gentlemen, and 

 those that were of any accoumpt, were turned out of their Lands and Livings without any hope of 



3 D 2 



