Bernakd — The Charters of the Abheij of Duiske. 163 



Tlio wriler was not a contemporary, ami he was evidently not aenuainleil 

 with the locality, for he confuses ilie ahbey of Graigue with that of Jerimint. 

 But there may be some truth in his melancholy tale, although we can find no 

 other authority for it.' Local tradition, indeed, now points to a place at 

 Graigue called the " Black Bout " as the scene of the massacre ;•' but whether 

 the tradition is genuine, or whether it has grown up of recent years, it is not 

 easy to determine. One thing, however, is plain ; namely, that the date which 

 has been assigned to the massacre in modern books is an impossible one. 



As early as 1649, the story was reproduced from O'Sullevan's work by 

 John Hartry, in his Synopsis of famous Irish Cistercians.^ This writer, while 

 he silently omits O'Sullevan's blunder about Jerpoiut, adds on his own account 

 that the abbot who had " died a few days before " the massacre was Charles 

 Kavanagh — "qui obiit anno circiter 1580 et in Veteri Monasterio sepelitur."' 

 We have already seen (p. 153) that Stanihurst, writing in 1577, speaks of 

 abbot Kavanagh in the past tense, as one who was dead some time before he 

 wrote, so that Hartry's guess at the date (which has been followed by many 

 writers)' is at once disproved. Indeed, as Charles Kavanagh witnessed 

 Donnell Eeagh Kavanagh's charter in 1475, and became abbot in 1501 or 

 1502, it is plain that the date of his death cannot be much later than 1558, 

 even if we allow him the hundred years of life of which Stanihurst speaks. 

 Stanihurst is the earliest and the most trustworthy authority for abbot 

 Kavanagh, and his report that the abbot " tiourished in the year 1550 " 

 evidently means that the old man was alive at the date, the period of his 

 greatest activity being, as we know, between 1501 and 1537, when his 

 monastery was dissolved and he was pensioned.'^ 



If, then, we are to fix a date in the reign of Elizabeth for this sad business, 

 it must be as early as possible after her accession; and it is not improbable 

 that when James Butler, the second lay owner, obtained from the Queen a 

 renewal of his lease iu 1561,' he forthwith set himself to enforce his legal 



' Henriquez does not meutioii it in his account of the Cistercians who suB'ered for 

 their faith, and lie is an earlier writer than O'Sullevan Beare. 



- This is stated by Mr. O'Leary in his paper on the Abbey of Graiguenamanagh 

 (Journal R.S.A.I., 1892, p. 2-40 n.) 



■* See D. Murphy, TriumphaUa sanctae CtucU, p. 24'J, for a reprint. 



^ It is likely that Hartry is correct as to the place of burial beiug the I'dus Mviuisteriitui, 

 i.e. St. Mullin's, on the Barrow, for there was a Kavanagh family burying-place there. 



-> E.g. by Fr. Denis Murphy iu his work Uur Marlijm (p. 154), who prefixes to his 

 account of the massacre the date " 158-1 (0-" 



" Dugdale (Monasticon, vi, 1134) distinguishes Caher or Charles Kavanagh who 

 became abbot in 1501, from Charles M'Murrough Kavanagh who in 16o7 received hia 

 pension as the last abbot. But there is no ground for this distinction, and no hint of it 

 anywhere iu the records. ' P. 162. 



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