162 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



He died of poisou in London in 1546, and the lands of the convent came into 

 the hands of his fifth son, James Butler. 



The transfer of the abbey lands to the Crown was again legalized and 

 confirmed in 1556 by 3 & 4 Philip and ^lary, ch. 8. 



In 1559 James Butler, the second lay ownei-, petitioned' the Queen for the 

 renewing of the lease of the possessions of the abbey, which had been given 

 to his father twenty-one years before, and it wasgranted on 26 Jan., 1561, there 

 being leased " the lands of Dusk, Eahindowncr, Ballyogan, Copanagli, Tegh- 

 kyrlevan, Moyntyncillany, Gleawne, Cownie, the upper grange called the "Wood 

 Grange, the nether grange called William Curragh's grange, and Downe- 

 Inney, and all lands in Tassagh Bentrie in the counties of Wexford and 

 Carlow, leased 24 Jan., xxix lien. VIII, to James, lord Butler, father of the 

 present lessee : to hold for twenty-one years at a rent of £15 during the life 

 of the lessee, and of £25 afterwards " ; witli certain reservations, two of the 

 conditions Ix^ing that the buildings were to be maintained, and that the lands 

 were not to be set to any pei-sons not Englisli by botli parents.' 



This seems to he tlie place at which mention should be made of a story 

 that lias received wide circulation, as to the massacre of some of the monks 

 of Duiske Abl)oy, in the reign of Eli7.al)0th. As we have seen, the abbe)' was 

 dissolved in 1537; but it is possildc tliat liere, as in some otlier instances, 

 members of tlie community continued to inhabit the old buildings for some 

 years after their lands had been t^iken from them. The story is told by a 

 Roman Catholic writer, Bhiiip O'Sullevan ]>care, who left Ireland for Spain 

 in his youth, and was publislied b)- liim in 1629. 



" Situateil on the river Barmw," he says, " there is a noble monastery of 

 the onler of St. Bernard, called in Irish Oraiifitr, but known to those who 

 si>pak Ijitin as Jrriynin/, from the nearest liridge. The robbers go to .seize it. 

 Am lliey draw near, twelve religious go out to meet tlicm, in ecclesiastical 

 airay.' 15iit when they were bidden by the wicked men to put off their sacred 

 vestments, and to yield to Elizabeth, Queen of England, their superior* (he 

 was tlie prior, for the abl>ot had died a few days liefore), answered : ' That this 

 could not be done, if the faith which they had pledged to God, to the \'irgin 

 Mother, and to St. Beniard, and the Christian piety which they professed, 

 were to be kept ; and that they would not violate their faith and Christian 

 piety.' And when the others also had added their assent to his decision, they 

 were all slain together."* 



' C»l. of State Papers, Ireland, 16 Jnly, 1559. * FinjUs Elizabeth, no. 290. 



' In ecclesiasticam |>oni|>atn instructi. * Prncfectus. 



* Palriliana Decas (Madrid, 1029), by P. O'Sullevan BcArc, fol. 1(13 b. I have given a 

 quite literal translnlion of Iijh l»tin- 



