Lawlok — A Charter of Donatus, Prior of Louth. 3l5 



Church of Clonkeen. 1 The cantred of Mucherne evidently included both Eos 

 and Douenacmain ; and since the two parishes just named make up the 

 greater part of the barony of Farney, it would appear to have been 

 coextensive, or nearly so, with that barony. Farney (Fearnmhagb), in fact, 

 is sometimes called by what I suppose is the tautological name of Magh 

 fearnmhaighe, 2 the dative case of which (Maigh fhearnmhaighe : /quiescent) 

 would readily give rise to the form Mucherne. 3 



By a curious blunder of the scribe, the name of the grantee has been 

 omitted ; but it can be supplied from the context, and I have accordingly 

 inserted the missing words in the text, enclosed in brackets. He was that 

 Roger Pipard whose name appears so frequently in the Chartulary of 

 St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin. It is probable that a member of the Pipard 

 family received a grant of Farney from Prince John in 1185/ and it is 

 practically certain that the Castle of Donaghmoyne, which was erected 

 in 1193, 5 was built by a Pipard, probably Roger or Peter. 



The date of this Charter of Donat, Prior of Louth, cannot be fixed with 

 the same accuracy as that of the companion charter of Bishop Cristin. But 

 I believe it may be determined within narrow limits. In the first place, 

 the character of the script, the form of the letters on the seal, and, above 

 all, the mention of Roger Pipard in the body of the document point to the 

 end of the twelfth century or the beginning of the thirteenth. These, 

 however, are vague indications ; for more definite clues we must turn to 

 the list of witnesses. 



Of these the first is Thomas, Bishop of Clogher. It will be remembered 

 that from the death of Gillacrist I (Christianus) in 1139, or from a some- 

 what earlier year, to the death of Gillacrist II (Cristinus) in 1193, the bishops 

 of the diocese of Uriel were seated not at Clogher, but at Louth. 6 The fact that 

 our Charter is witnessed by a Bishop of Clogher therefore proclaims it to be 

 not earlier than 1193. But, further, Sir James Ware tells us that Cristinus 

 was succeeded by a certain Maelisa, son of a bishop named Mac Maoil Ciaran, 

 and that this Maelisa, who had been Abbot of Mellifont, presided over the 

 diocese for four years. 7 This implies that Maelisa's episcopate ended in 



1 Proceedings, I.e., p. 38. 



3 For references seeHogan, Onomasticon, s. v. Mag fernmhaiglie. But see note, p. 323. 

 3 Place names are commonly in the dative. 



* G. H. Orpen, Ireland under the Normans, ii, 119, 123. See also Journal of Royal Soc. 

 of Antiquaries of Ireland, xxxviii, 263. 



5 Annals of Loch Ge. 



6 Proceedings, I.e., p. 29f. 



" De Praesulibus Hibemiae Gommentarius , Dublin, 1665, p. 45 (Harris, Ware's Works, 

 i. 181). 



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