483 



"This is the covenant and indenture that is between Gerald Fitz- 

 gerald, Earl of Kildare, and Magradhnaill [Mac Eannall] — namely, 

 Phelim Mac Concobhair Mac Murchadh, and Maelruana Mac Owen Mac 

 William, and Ir Mac Brian Mac Owny, and James Mac Maelruana Mac 

 Fearghal, by will and consent of each of them and of the chief men of 

 clan Melachlain, collectively : to wit that a shilling for every quarter of 

 land which belongs [pays rent] to O'Kuark or Magradhnaill shall be 

 paid to the Earl every year and every All Hallows in consideration of 

 the Earl's defending and assisting them against all men subject to his 

 authority. The faith of God and the oaths of the Church are sworn by 

 Magradhnaill and the aforesaid chief men in pledge of fulfilment to 

 the Earl. The promise and troth of the Earl, on the other hand, are 

 plighted to them for his fulfilment thereof. The witnesses present 

 at the agreement were the Earl himself, and William Walsh, and James 

 Boyce, and William Tuite, and Concobhair Mac Culruadh. It was the 

 aforesaid chief men who dictated the agreement, and Mailin-oge Mac 

 Mailin O'Mailconery, wrote it in their presence, on the fifth day of the 

 month of November, at Maynooth. The eighth King Henry was King of 

 England that year, Anno Domini 1530. Magradhnaill had no seal, and 

 he ordered the Seal of the College of Maynooth to be affixed to this 

 indenture. The Earl subjects to a penalty of three marks any one 

 who is indebted who shall refuse a pledge to the steward, to wit 

 Concobhair Mac Culruadh: one-half to Magradhnaill and the chief men 

 who made this covenant, and the other half to the Earl." 



The agreement herein set forth has no parallel among Hardiman's 

 Irish Deeds. In the latter, with the exception of a few of the most 

 modern, the parties are exclusively native Irish, and for the most part 

 they relate altogether to property — deeds of sale, mortgages, wills, 

 marriage contracts. But the Mac Eannall Deed possesses, in addition, 

 an important political and social character. It will be seen that it is a 

 formal agreement between the Earl Gerald on the one part, and on the 

 other the native Irish sept Mac Eannall, represented by Eelim Mac 

 Connor Mac Murchadh, by Mulrony Mac Owen Mac William, by Ir Mac 

 Brian Mac Antony (Ownie), and by James Mac Mulrony Mac Eearghal, 

 on their own part and that of the chiefs of Clan Melachlain ; to the effect 

 that they shall pay to the Earl, yearly at All Hallowe'en, the sum of a 

 shilling per carucate [quarter] for all the land that owes rent or chiefrie 

 to O'Euark or Mac Eannall ; the Earl on his part guaranteeing to them, in 

 consideration thereof, protection and defence against all his own retainers 

 and dependents. It concludes with a clause of distress, imposing a 

 forfeit, in case of rescue, of three marks, one-half to go to the Earl and 

 the other to Mac Eannall. 



Of the many topics which this ancient instrument suggests, I shall 

 confine myself to two — Eirst, the persons named or referred to in the 

 deed ; and, secondly, the relations between the native and the Anglo- 

 Norman traces, which the agreement appears to indicate as existing 

 at this period. 



Among the parties named in the document the only personage his- 



