313 



separate kingdom in his own line, and that in pursuance of such inten- 

 tion, he actually conferred upon his son John the sovereignty of the 

 island, which Pope Urban confirmed by a Bull, and "in token of 

 confirmation, sent him a crown of peacocks' feathers set in gold^, 

 The speculation, which possibly would have made Ireland an indepen- 

 dent nation to this day, was frustrated by the death of prince Arthur, 

 and the consequent succession of John to the British diadem. 



The Pagan custom, of inaugurating the petty princes on the stones 

 immemorially used for such purposes, still continued, and in Ware's 

 Annals mention is made of a rock near Kilmacrenan,* on which the 

 0'Donnells,-f princes of Tyrconnel, were always inaugurated. In 



* It is better known by tbe name of the rock of Doune^ and is situated in a wild and al- 

 most inaccessible part of tbe County Donegal. 



t The O'Donnells (perhaps more correctly O'Donnails,) were also one of the families 

 that branched from that fruitful stock, Nial of the Nine Hostages, through Connell his son, 

 wlio, according to Jocelin, received a particular blessing from Saint Patrick, and was also the 

 ancestor of Columbkill, the founder of so many churches in Ireland as w^ll as of the celebrated 

 monastery of lona, and whom the northern Picts regarded as their apostle. Nial granted to 

 this Conall all that district of the north, called from him Tyr-Connell, (now County Donegal,) 

 to which his descendants made large additions; so much so, that in the thirteenth century, they 

 ruled over Tyrconnel, Fermanagh, Monaghan, and even parts of Derry, Sligo, and Mayo, 

 Early in the tenth century the O'Donnails are mentioned in the Irish Annals. In 1056 Flan 

 of Bute is said to have written a poem yet extant, on the rights and privileges of the O'Neills 



and O'Donnells. In 1090 O'Donnel was slain at the battle of Moylena. In 11 77 the 



O'Donnells gave much opposition to De Courcy in his invasion of Ulster. In 1241 Donell, 

 king of Tyrconnell, is commended in all the annals, not more for his achievements in war than 

 his virtues in peace. In 1264 he was specially requested as king of Tyrconnell, by letter from 

 Henry the Third, to join the lord justice for the service against Scotland, and in 1313 his 

 grandson received a similar summons. In 1319 Thomas O'Donnell was bishop of Raphoe. 

 In 1394 O'Donnell did homage to Richard the Second, at Drogheda. In 1422 Nial Garbh 

 O'Donnell harassed the English until he was at length taken prisoner, and died in captivity 

 in the Isle of Man. There is a patent of 1429 in the tower of London, for the safe conduct of 

 Nigel O'Donnel, " Dominus Tyrconnel," to advise the king according to his liegeance. In 1504 

 O'Donnell assisted at the battle of Knocktow, near Galway. In 1505 Hugh Oge O'Donnell 

 in a pilgrimage to Rome, spent several weeks in London, where be was most honourably en- 



VOL. XVI. S S 



