Wes'I'ropp — Typps of Ring-Forfs remaining in Eastern Clare. 19^5 



plain as far as the hills of Corca Modriiad. This possibly led the young prince 

 to claim the district as an eric for Crimthann's death. On this, and the 

 ■■' strong hand," the Dal gCais kings, reputed descendants of Conall, are all said 

 to have based their title to the conquered land. Fiachra could not rest ; 

 again and again he penetrated into Munster, till he fell in a great victory in 

 Kemy, Co. Limerick, in the latter half of the century.' St. Patrick met a son 

 of this warrior ; and the early Christian priests may have heard, from aged 

 veterans, of him, Lugaid, and Conall, full accounts of the war, of which, not 

 improbably, authentic history secured at least an outline, for ConaU lived at 

 the very close of the century. Lugaid ]Meann= was reputed descendant of a 

 very great mythic King of Munster, Aillill Olomm, who reigned at Bruree, in 

 the rich eastern plain of Co. Limerick. He crossed the border of Connacht 

 (which lay then at Cahemarry, and the Shannon), and fought the conventional 

 " seven battles," ending at Lughid, or Ath na Luchaid (now "Lockwood "), on 

 the border of Co. CTalway. So awftil must have been the reverse that one of 

 those primitive gcasa (in the " Book of Eights ") enjoiued the King of Connacht 

 for all time, " in a speckled cloak let him not go to the heath of Lughid in 

 Thomond." It was, however, only Eanna/ his grandson, son of ConaU, who 

 colonized the new acquisition, " Lugaid-red-hand's cruel sword-land," possibly 

 in the early fifth century, and the great tribes of Corea modruadh and Corca- 

 bhaisciim, in the west of Clare, at most only paid a tribute. So far the tradition 

 is clear, widespread, and credible. This cannot be said of the crowded genera- 

 tions between 400 and 440. In them we find a misty series of eponymi. Cass, 

 Cassin, and Blod, from whom the tribes of Dal gCais, Ui gCaisin, and 

 Ui mBloid, were said to have sprung ; and the even more doubtful Aengus 

 Cen-aitin (furze, or fire, head), and Aengus Cenn ISTathrach (" serpent head "'], 

 from whom the O'Quin and the O'Dea families boasted descent. It is possible 

 that there was only one legendary, Aengus, whose variant epithets were 



such as the Ui Catbar, but the character of their conquest as a gain from Connacht seems 

 unmistakable. 



' Some say " in 358 " ; the dates are of course very doubtful, the period fairly certain. See 

 Keating's " History of Ireland," and ilr. P. J. Lynch in Journal, Xorth Munster Archoeol. Soc, 

 vol. i, p. 16S. Lugaid's acquisition was " from Cam Fhearadaig to Luchad, and from Ath na 

 Boraimhe to Leim an Chon (Cuchullin's Leap, Loop Head)." For Cam Phearadaigh being 

 Cahemarry, Co. Limerict, see the 1540 Rental of the Burkes. 



^ Son of Aengus Tireach (" Wai-s," pp. 53 and 67), not to be confused with the Ulidian prince 

 Lugad Meann, son of Aengus, who slew Eoehy Gunnat in ctrca 26" (" Silva Gadelica," ii, 

 pp. 102, 519). 



3 " Leabhar na gCeart " (Book of Eights), ed. O'Donoran, p. 5, and Cuan Ua Leochan's poem 

 (ante 1024), p. 21. 



* Tribal ancestor of the Hui Enna and Hui Ere Osraidi, " Book of Lecan," p. ■106. For the 

 first, see " Wars," p. 82, n. 8. 



^ " With poison " is added in one late copy. 



K.I. A. PROC, VOL. XXIX., SKCT. C, [27] 



