O'Rahilly — Irish Poets, Historians, Sfc, in English Documents. Ill 



48. Oil Jan. 27, 1542, pardon was granted to " Owen Keynan [Eorjhan 

 '0 Ciandi7i], of Cappervavget, near Eatheliaiigan, in the county of Kildare, 

 harper, otherwise called Owen Keynan, servant of Gerald, late Earl of 

 Kildare, otherwise Owen the Rhymer, otherwise Owen Keynan the poet, 

 otherwise Owen Keynan Keyeghe [Caoch'], the blind bard ; and Cornelius 

 [Conchobhar] Keynan, of Cappervarget, harper, otherwise called Cornelius 

 Keynan, son of Owen Keynan Keyeghe, otherwise Cornelius the bard." — 

 Cal. Patent and Close Eolls of Chancery, i, 69. 



49. An inquisition held in Dingle in 1584 finds that "David Duffe 

 Gerald " joined the Earl of Desmond's rebellion, and was killed 12 June, 

 1581, at which time he was " seised in his lordship as of fee of one tenement 

 in the town of Dingle in the said county of Kerry on which Thomas Moore 

 had a mortgage of fifteen shillings sterling." — Kerry Arch. Magazine, Oct., 

 1910, p. 273. This is in all probability JJdibhl Uubh J/acGearcdlt, whom 

 Stanyhurst describes thus : " Dauid Fitzgirald, vsuallie called Dauid Duffe, 

 borne in Kerie, a ciuilian, a maker in Irish, not ignorant of musike, skilfull 

 in physike, a good and generall craftsman. ... He plaied excellentlie on all 

 kinds of instruments, and soong therto his owne verses, which no man could 

 amend. In all parts of logike, rhetorike, and philosophie, he vanquished all 

 men, and was vanquished of none." ^ Daibhi Dubh's death in " rebellion " 

 and the ensuing confiscation of his property would very well explain why 

 his son, Muiris, left the Geraldine country and attached himself to 

 Mac Carrthaigh Mor (see § 26). 



50. In a list of the Earl of Desmond's rents in the Carew Papers 

 (i, pp. 414-415) some information is given as to the lands held by the poets 

 attached to the Earl : (1) In the " cantred of Keyery " (roughly the northern 

 half of the present Co. Kerry) : " The bloodshed of the country of Keyrry is 

 due to the manor of the Island [Castleisland], together with the rent of 

 Kiltarcon, the Eimors' lands for candlelight to the said manor allowed." 

 (2) In the " cantred of Ogonyll " [ Ui Conaill, in west Limerick] : " Lands held 

 by the rimers of the Earl in the mountey[n] of Slewloera [Sliabh Zuachra], 

 named the Brosenaghe, and by the rimers of Templay Egleantane and Bally- 

 wroho . . . When the Earl doth cross the mountain or take his journey 

 betwixt Keyrry and Connelogh [Conallacha, i.q. "Ogonyll"], the foresaid 

 rimors are wont to bear the charge for a day and night, coming and going." 

 The lands mentioned above are, respectively, Kilsarkan, near Castleisland; 

 Brosna, N.-W. of Castleisland, near the Limerick border ; and Templeglantan 



1 Holinshed's Chronicles, ed. 1807-8, vi. p. 60. (Stanyhurst's remarks will be found 

 quoted more fully in " Dinta Grddha," p. x.) 



