98 Proceedings of the Roiial Irish Academy. 



(&) In Co. Galway we find the Mac Aodhagains in possession of four castles 

 in 1574, including that of Duniry^ [Bun Dcdghrc, the place associated with 

 the writing of the Leabhar Breac), which was owned by " Carbery M'^Egan 

 and the judges," and the castle of Park {an Phdirc ; between Tuam and 

 Glennamaddy), owned by " John M'^Egan."- It was in this castle of Park, as 

 Dr. G. U. Macnamara has shown,^ that Egerton 88 was written, ca. 1569. In 

 the Plants we find pardoned in 1590 " Carberie M'^Kegan,'' of Kyarowvadyn,'^ 

 Owin M'^Kegan, of .same, and Gillepatrick M'^Kegan, of Park, gentlemen " 

 [no. 5476], and in 1591 " Fargananyn [Feargancdnvi] M^Kegan, of the Parke, 

 Teigeoge M'=Kegan, of same " [no. 5613]. It was at Park" that Baothghalach 

 Mac Aodhagain(Boetius Egan), bishop of Elphin, to whom Micheal '0 Cleirigh 

 dedicated his " Pocloir," was born. An earlier namesake of the bishop's, 

 " Behillagh M'^Kegan, of the Cregan,' gentleman," pardoned in 1590 

 [no 5447], may well be identical with Baothghalach Euadh Mac Aodhagain,* 

 who took part on the side of the North in the " Contention of the Bards," 

 and whose explanations of dilBcult words formed the chief source of this 

 " Focloir " of '0 Cleirigh's. 



(c) In the midland districts the MacAodhagains had long been settled. 

 We have already referred to a branch of them in South Longford (§ 22). In 

 1564 we find " Shane M'^Egan " as judge in a dispute between O'Molloy and 

 MacGeoghegan (O'Gr. Cat. 152). Many people of the name are mentioned 

 in Eiants dealing with the Midlands. As an example, taken at random, may 

 be given the following from Mac Eochagain's country in South Westmeath : 



' " Gillernew M^Keigin, of Cunery," Co. Galway, was pardoned in 1585 [no. 4613]. 

 " Cunery " here is probably a mistake for " Diinery," i.e. Dimiry. 



-Journal Galway Hist, and Arch. Soc, i, 111, 112. 



' North Munster Arch. Journal, ii, 149 S. At Fdirc too were written part of H. 2. 16 

 (YBL) and of H. 3. 18 (see Abbott-Gwynu Cat., pp. 347, 358, 360). 



•A namesake, " Carbery M'^Kegan, of Aghrim, co. Galway," was pardoned in 1584 

 [no. 4355]. 



5 This looks like a misreading of Kyaioweoiyn, in which case the " Owin M'Kegan " 

 here would be identical with the brehon pardoned in 1582 (v, § 13). 



"So Meehan, " Irish Franciscan Monasteries," 361. 



" One of the half a dozen places in Co. Galway called Creggaun, one of which is close 

 to Park. 



' O'Reilly (" Irish Writers," civ) says that this writer was " of a Momonian tribe " ; 

 and later writers have imitated and amplified this assertion. McKenna (Ir. Texts 

 Soc, XX, p. xi) says that he "was master of the Bardic School in Ormond at which 

 Michael and Lughaidh O'Clery (as Michael tells) received their poetic education." But 

 the MacAodhagains were jurists by profession, not poets ; and Michael O'Clery says 

 nothing at all about Baothghalach's school being in Ormond. There seems in fact to be 

 no evidence whatever that this Baothghalach was a Munsterman or that he lived in 

 Munster. 



