Dalton — Cromm Cniaich of Mag h Sleacht. 25 



Diocese, the area owned by the associated Conmaicne septs, v^ho traced their 

 descent from an eponymous Eoluis.' Ethnographically Muintir Eoluis 

 denoted the Conmaicne occupiers of Magh Eein ; and in our native records 

 Magh Eein, Conmaicne Magh Eein, and Muintir Eoluis apply as inter- 

 changeable terms to the tribe-lands of this people. - 



For centuries the Conmaicne chiefs rendered tribute to the O'Euairc 

 kings of Breifni, and acknowledged them for suzerains. The Annals thus 

 describe these earlier O'Euaircs as "kings of Breifni and Conmaicne."^ 

 Political amalgamation is apt to obscure territorial boundaries ; and, just as 

 O'Flaherty included Anghaile within Magh Eein, so have some undiscrimi- 

 nating documents extended Breifni over Muintir Eoluis.* But as to one 

 central fact there is entire agreement in all the earlier texts: Magh Eein 

 comprehended Muintir Eoluis, that is, the region owned by the Mag Eannalls 

 (or family of Eeynolds) and their correlative septs. ^ As this region coincided 

 with the portion of Co. Leitrim that lies east of Lough Allen," Magh Sleacht 

 at one side was wholly bounded by Magh Eein. 



While the precise limits of Breifni and of Magh Eein, in certain direc- 

 tions, may not be free from ambiguity, no confusion whatever exists as to 

 the geographical relations of Magh Eein and- Magh Sleacht. They lay side 

 by side, coterminous, but mutually exclusive, their line of separation being 

 traced by the boundary between the baronies of Carrigallen and Tullyhaw, 

 which runs south-east from the slopes of Slieve-Anierin. On the Leitrim 

 side of this line stretched Magh Eein ; bordering it on the Cavan side lay 

 Magh Sleacht. 



But the junction of the dioceses, Ardagh and Kilmore, is not coUinear 

 with the same boundary, for two Conmaicne districts got severed from 

 Ardagh and incorporated with Kilmore. Their ancient names were Cinel- 

 Luachain and Magh Angaidhe; their present ecclesiastical, or parochial, 



1 "Book of Fenagh," p. 7. 



2 While the Annals equate Muintir Eoluis and Conmaicne Magh Rein, it should be 

 noted that O'Flaherty ("Ogygia," p. 275) and the "Book of St. Caillin" (p. 385 et seq.) 

 extend Magh Rein or Rein to Anghaile (Annaly). 



3 See " Annals of Lough Ce," sub annis 1087, 1122, 1172, 1256. 



*E.g., Perrott's "Indenture of Composition " (see Hardiman's " lar-Connaught, " 

 p. 347). In a letter from Queen Elizabeth to Lord Deputy Saintleger, on the other 

 hand, Breny (Breifni) is limited to the " Countie of Cavan." See "Calendar of Pat. & 

 CI. Rolls " (Morrin's), vol. ii, p. 439. Anglo-Irish records cannot be relied on for the 

 boundaries of ancient districts. 



^ For fuller references on the ancient localities here named consult Hogan's " Onom. 

 Goed." 



>* "Irish Top, Poems," pp. 57-59 and notes. 



[4*1 



