202 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



hardly have given up his fort site to the clergy. Some have even tried to 

 identify the northern stones in the walls of the cathedral. This insult was 

 long remembered, and in the closing years of the sixteenth century O'Dounel 

 was believed to have invaded Thomond "in revenge for Aileach." In 1082, 

 Murchad entertained Magnus, King of Norway, at Kincora during the winter.' 

 The house was burned by lightning, and the king's store of wine, ale, and 

 mead destroyed ; in 1107 it was again rebuilt, but its princely owner, worn 

 out by troublous times and a wasting illness, retired to the monastery of 

 Lismore, where he died, March 13th, 1118, his energy and courage surviving 

 his strength. Besides his regal and soldier-like qualities, he encouraged art ; 

 and the belief that the ornate doorway in Killaloe is his monument is at least 

 symbolically true, as the door dates from his period, and resembles one built by 

 his friend and correspondent, King Henry Beauclerc,° at Caen. At the death 

 of " the Golden Jewel of the West," the nominal High-kmgship passed from 

 the O'Briens f its holder, Toiiough O'Connor, of Connacht, at once marched 

 to Killaloe, burned the place, and destroyed the forts ; he completely levelled 

 Kincora, throwing the stones and timber into the stream, and dismantled the ' 

 fort of " Boromha."^ No mention is made of the Grianan of Laehtna ; it 

 probably was disused after Brian's time, and its decay preserved it from more 

 hostile destroyers. The two other forts were never restored. 



Three generations had passed, a Gothic cathedral had arisen, and Prince 

 John had held Court at Killaloe. The Norman forces were well rooted in 

 Munster, and, probably as part of their policy to win Thomond, they attempted 

 to make "a castle at the Borowe " in 1207.^ They failed; but a few years 

 later they made one at Killaloe, perhaps on the site of the remains of Kincora, 

 to command the bridge. It was probably an earthwork, with palisades and 

 bretasches, or wooden towers ; no trace remains. Henry de Loundres, 

 Archbishop of Dublin, in January, 1222, was ordered to hold it, and appointed 

 Thomas Fitz Anthony to be its guardian. It is last heard of in August, 1231, 

 when the castle of Kildelou, in the general neglect and weakness of English 

 rule under Henry III, was given to Donat, the Archdeacon and Bishop-elect, 

 who was bound not to give it to the King's enemies.' Evidently there was no 

 castle or garrison there during tlie wars of the O'Briens and de Clares in 1284 

 to 1287, and later on in 1315 to 1318. 



' Torfaeus, " History of the Kings of Norway," vol. iii, lib. vii, caps, v and ix. 



' See Letter of Lanfrane, Archbishop of Canterbury, in Ussher's " Sylloge," vol. iv (1S47 ed.), 

 p. 29, to "the glorious Muriardach, King of Ireland," and Chron. Sector., 1112. The Ann. Four 

 Masters give the King's death in 1118. 



3 The Ann. of Ulster only note " Cenn Coradh razed by Connacht " ; the Chronicon Scotorum, 

 " Demolition of Borumha, and burning of Cenn Coradb, and plunder of Tuadh Mumhain, by Torlogh 

 O'Conoi, son of Euadliri." ^ Annals of Clonniacnoise. 



* Calendar of Docunienis relating to Ireland (ed. Sweetman), under dates. 



