266 



destroyed Aberffraw." In 968 they plundered Down and lona.* In 

 972 they committed great devastations in Iniscattery.-f* In 977 at 

 Glendaloch.j: In 980 was fought the celebrated battle of Temoria, or 

 Tara, it was gained over the Danes by Malachy the second, § the last 

 of the Hy Niall race. In 986 the Annals of the Four Masters and 

 those of Tigernach record a great mortality of cattle, which is met by 



* Annal. Inisfallen. f Acta Sanctorum, p. 542. 



+ Archdall's Mon. ITib. 



§ This illustrious prince was of the race of the O'Melaghlins, a name long since lost in 

 obscurity, though once of the most illustrious in the country, alike distinguishable from the 

 O'Loughlins and the Mac-Laughlins. They claimed descent equally with the O'Neills, from 

 Nial of the Nine Hostages, and were accordingly in that right, the kings of southern Hy Nial 

 or Meath, or as they are also frequently styled kings of Temoria, and in Ortellius's map are 

 placed as in the baronies of Moyashel and Magheredernon. As lords of so great a principa- 

 lity, they were one of the five septs enfranchised by special grace, and enabled to take benefit 

 of the laws of England. The earliest mention of the name occurs in the seventh century, and 

 in A. D. 655, the death of Melaghlin, Abbot of Tirdeglas, is recorded in the Annals of 

 Ulster. Their military and political achievements as princes of Meath, are soon after embla- 

 zoned in rapid succession. Nor are they less traceable by their liberal endowments of various 

 religious establishments, Clonmacnois, Bective, Clonard, Newry, &c. A daughter of the 

 house of O'Melaghlin, was the alleged inducement of the stratagem, (similar to that recorded 

 by Plutarch in his Life of Pelopidas,) by which Turgesius is by some supposed to have pe- 

 rished in 848, (see ante, p. 258.) In 1022 the above Malachy O'Melaghlin, pre-eminently 

 styled the Great, died in an island of Lough Annin, (near Mullingar.) His obsequies were 

 celebrated with great funeral honours and sincere lamentations. In 1133 Murrough O'Me- 

 laghlin destroyed the bridge and citadel of Athlone. In 1152 the abduction of Dervorgilla, 

 the daughter of Murrough O'Melaghlin and wife of O'Ruarc, was a remote cause of the Eng- 

 lish invasion. In 1157, at the synod of Mellifont, Donogh O'Melaghlin was deposed for 

 alleged acts of irreligion, and his kingdom was given to his brother. In 1167 Dermot O'Me- 

 laghlin, king of Meath, was one of those who attended the synod of Athboy, &c. &c. — In 1462 

 the influence of the sept of the O'Melaghlins was so powerful in Meath, notwithstanding the 

 grant to De Lacy, and the long occupation of the pale, that on an invasion of their remaining 

 estates by the Petits encouraged and aided by the lord deputy, the neighbouring clans rose in 

 their cause, and the assailants were so effectually met, that even the lord deputy was taken 

 prisoner. In 1541 O'Melaghlin was one of the chiefs who renounced the authority of the Pope, 

 and swore allegiance to king Henry. Iii 1570 the O'Melaghlins are numbered by Cam- 



