O'Rahillt — Irish Poets^ Historians^ ^'c, in English Documents. 87 



the information I have gleaned concerning them may be of some assistance to 

 future investigators of the literature of this period. My principal source of 

 information has been the Fiants of Elizabeth, in which are preserved the 

 names of tens of thousands of Irishmen to whom "pardons" were granted at 

 various dates, but especially during the years 1599-1603.' I have also drawn 

 on the Patent EoUs of James I, which contain many similar pardons granted 

 during the early years of that king's reign. Other documents of the period 

 have also been utilized, particitlarly in Section III. 



Of about fifty individuals, mostly belonging to the period 1570-1603, 

 whom we find described as " rimers " in the Fiants and elsewhere, less than 

 a dozen can at the moment be identified with poets some of whose composi- 

 tions have come down to our day. Two-thirds of them, it is pretty safe to 

 say, will never be more than mere names to us ; their very names in most 

 eases would be for ever unknown were it not for their chance preservation 

 in these English records. Facts like these help us to realize how small a 

 fragment of our literature has survived the wreck of our native culture in 

 the Elizabethan conquest and in the Ci'omwellian and Williamite re-conquests 

 that succeeded it. 



I begin by giving (Section 1) the name of everyone whom I find described 

 in the Fiants as " rimer," " bard," " chronicler," or " brehon." 



I. 



1. " Ferral m^Thomas alias M'^Keoghe, of Donarde, county Dublin, rymor," 

 16 Apl, 1549 [Fiants Edw. VI, no. 279]. Fearghal {mac Tomdis) Mac 

 Uochadha, of Donard (JDiin Ard), Co. Wicklow. A poet of this name, 

 doubtless the same man, has left us a poem on Aodh (mac Seain) '0 Broin, 

 beginning Mairg do-nt deimhin da dhoigh (H. 1. 14, fo. 84 b ; H. 4. 4, p. 51). 



2. ''Toll O'Molmore m'^Keighe, of Eathtorkyll, county Kildare, rymor, 

 indicted in the xxxiv Henry YIII for stealing one pork, of the price of 5s., 

 belonging to Patrick M'Hwe, of the same place, rymor," pardoned 11 May, 

 1549 [Fiants Edw. VI, no. 293]. Tuathal (mac Maolmuire ?) MacEocliadha^ 

 and Padraig Mac Aodha (or Mac Uochadha ?). The place seems unidentifiable. 

 In Fiants Eliz. 3146 mention is made of the lands of "Eathnekill alias 

 Eathturkyil," Co. Kildare. 



' In the following pages, when there is no indication to the contrary, the names taken 

 from the Fiants are those of persons to whom "pardons" were granted. The date (or 

 year) given is the date (or year) of "the Fiant, and the number of the Fiant is given in 

 square brackets. The Fiants have been published as appendices to the Reports of the 

 Deputy Keeper of the Public Records (the Fiants of Edward VI in the 8th Report ; 

 those of Elizabeth in the 11th to 18th Reports). 



- Cf. a namesake pardoned in 1598, J 14, infia, foot-note. 



[10*1 



