154 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Acadctn//. 



eail of Ormonde's nigh kinsman, that the abbot might enjoy that bishopric. 

 Three of the earl's servants were at the murder, but he has not yet punished 

 them. Moreover, he succoured the said abbot in his eountrj- when the Deputy 

 [the earl of Kildare] did persecute him, as the procurer of the same murder."' 

 This is a shocking story, but Kildare hated Ormonde so heartily, that it 

 may not be true in every particular. Abbot Kavanagh was, indeed, Ormonde's 

 "nigh kinsman." He was his uncle, as the abbot's sister Sabli or Sabina had 

 married Sir James Butler of Polestown, and their son was Piers Butler, eiglith 

 earl of Ormonde. And it is ijuite possible that Maurice Kavanagh, the arch- 

 deacon, was the abbot's son,' born before the abbot entered the Cistercian 

 order, and tlial he received some assistance at the abbey in his flight from 

 justice. But the account of the matter in Dowliug's Annals is that the 

 murderer (who was crucified for his crime) was instigated by a desire to 

 revenge himself on lUshop Doratj, who had reproved liim for some irregu- 

 larity, and lliis may liave lK?en his real motive. Tliat a man of such liigh 

 repute a-s the ablxit .shouM liave "procui-cd " the murder, for the sake of the 

 temporalities of the hi.shopric, is not probable. 



In 1513, by Abl»oi Kavanagh's dii-ection,' one of his monks compiled tlie 

 "Annals of Ireland," and incor]>oralcd them in the Registry of the convent, 

 which wa.s known as the "Annals of iJuiskc," or "the Auucient Book of 

 Graigue." This Kegislor is now lost, and is known only through the extracts 

 from it which liave survived, and which we have frequently cited (EFL).* 



The fthlxit was a l>enpfactor to the abbey church. In 152-1: he presented 

 it with a jewelletl cross of silver, which was made for him ; and in 1525 he 

 procured "costly vestments for the monastery, viz., a cope, a chasuble, and 

 two tuniclcs."' 



But the abl)ey was soon to l>e di.i.solved, and its posse.ssions dissipated. 

 In 15:5.3 the Chief liamn of tlip Exclictpier, Patrick Fingl.as, made a report on 

 the stAte of the county of Wexford, and among his rcconnnendations was the 

 following: — 



"Item, to levyat'' tli*^ Ky]i;ns rhargcs to this Befonnacon of Leinster tlier 



' CiileixUr of Csrcw M.SS., p. 3:?».n. Ut2i>. 



' Accordini; to the Karaiiagh pcdigrcf, tho ablx>t had three sons, one of n honi was 

 called •' Murrongh." 



' See the hcAding of the Extracts from the Register (E) : "Ex registro chartArum 

 monasterii B. ^(ariac dc Duus'juc et de Valle S. Sa)rat«ris Ciatcrcic-nsia ordinis 

 Oaaorien.s : jiissu Karuli Kimanach ahbatis ct conncntiis dewripto 1518." 



• A p'jmphlct entitled AuiujU o/ itraitj Aliheij, by W. O'Leary (1889). i.s not intended 

 to be t«kcn aa history. It ia a picturowiue combination of the extracts in EF with 

 imaginative additions. 



' Extracts, fic. (EFL). Perhaps it ia .significant that it was in this year that 

 Mnurici' K.-ivanagh, allegc<l ti be the ablxil's sfin. w.is executed for murder (see above). 



