196 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



The most important was the survey, 1234, 1 of the Honor of Dungarvan. 

 giving the lands, dues from the Ostmen, warrens, &e. The king, to 

 improve his manor of Dnngarvan in Decies, established a fair there in 

 1244. Thomas fit?: Anthony got compensation for lands in Des down to 

 1251.- 



Prinee Edward, the king's son, was put in possession of Dungarvan on his 

 marriage with Eleanor of Castile, 3 and, in 1259, enfeoffed John fitzThomas, 

 heir of Thomas fitzAuthony, in Desya, as held by Thomas fitzAnthony, 

 ■John's father-in-law, and granted custody of the castle, with the proviso that 

 if the prince should hereafter harbour any suspicion against John the fortress 

 was to be surrendered. If the castle descended to the grantee's heirs female, 

 it was to be held by the Crown till there was an heir male of full age. 4 In 

 12S2 it had been found by a jury that this John held three eantreds in Decies, 

 except Donnul (Dunhill) and the eantred of the Ostmen (Galtiere). He also 

 held Dungarvan, with prise of fish and beer, pannage and greenwood in 

 the forest of Decies. 5 Two years later King Edward granted the castle to 

 Thomas fitzMauriee. 5 Like most of the Dish fortresses, Dungarvan was 

 culpably neglected. On the death of the grantee in the Inquisition, June 4th, 

 1298, we read : "Dungarvan — The castle is in bad repair, unroofed and nearly 

 levelled to the ground : a new tower unroofed, a stone house beyond the gate 

 in ill condition and badly roofed." 7 The vulnerable heel of English martial 

 power was the overgrown extent of lands (often far apart) held by the chief 

 nobles and the constant mismanagement arising from the succession of minors 

 and female heirs. Tor those working on the general topography of the Manor 

 the Inquisition is of the first importance. 



In 1300 the Ophelans of Decies slew 300 men who were plundering their 



1 xix Hen. Ill, Pipe R.. 35 Rep. DIE. Ir., p. 36. 



2 See generally Cal. Doc. Ir., voL i, (1204, 223 : (1215) 576 : (1215) 584, 586, 598 ; 

 (1217) 793, 892 : [1223) 1108 ; (1225) 1292 : 1229, 1680 ; (1231) 1864 ; (1251) 3146 ; 

 (1238), 2009 ; 1242, fairs at Dungarvan, 2569 ; Close Roll, vii Hen. HI, pars 1, mem. 9. 

 Pipe Rolls, 35 Rep. D.K.R. Ir. Ann., xix and liii Hen. IH ; Orid., xvii Hen. in. mem. 7, 

 Pat., xxviii Hen. IH, m. 4. 



: 1255. Pat. R., xlii Hen. HI, m. 9. Henry gave his nephew and namesake, son of 

 the Bang of Almavn, power to revoke all grants of land alienated without licence by 

 Prince Edward contrary to the king's grant (Pat. R., lii Hen. ill), save where the land 

 is inseparable from the Crown of England. 



* The lady's son or husband. See Pat. R., xliv Hen. HI, Xo. 23, mem. 5. Roll, 

 • • Antiquissimus, " xvii Ed. H. Cal. Doc. Ir., vol. ii, [1259] 629. For a later recital, 

 see ibid., vol. iii (1292). 



5 Cal. Doc. Ir., vol. ii, p. 425. 



; Patent Roll, xsx Ed. HI. Ireland. 



' Quit Rolls Irish Exchequer, W. Cal. Doc. Ir. iv, pp. 261, 262. A similar but 

 shorter Inquisition was made in 1300. Ibid.. ~So. 7-7 



