Ordnance survey of the county of Londonderry / Colonel Colby ... superintendent. Volume the first.

Ordnance Survey of Ireland

Date:: 1837

Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Ordnance survey of the county of Londonderry / Colonel Colby ... superintendent. Volume the first. Source: Wellcome Collection.

51/414 (page 29)

Tirhugh, county of Donegal, and hereditary keepers of the celebrated relic of Columbkille called the cathach, were probably a branch of the same family (See Inquisitions.) 1112. “ Congalach, the son of Mac Conchaille, erenach of Derry, died, after great penitence, in the 94th year of his age.” The family of Mac Conchaille was of the Kinel-Binny, a tribe of the Kinel- Owen. 1120. “Giolla Mac Liag, the son of Rory,” better known by the latinized name of Gelasius, be- came, at the age of thirty-three, erenach, or—as Colgan and others suppose—courb, or abbot, having been previously erenach. But it has been already shewn that these terms were frequently synonymous ; and in all the ancient Irish authorities Gelasius is invariably called erenach, though it appears certain that he exercised the authority of abbot: hence Dr. Lanigan had no authority to state that erenach meant “ archdeacon,” and that Derry was consequently then considered as an episcopal see. It may not be improper also, in this place, to correct another erroneous assertion of this learned and usually accurate writer, namely—that Colgan was mistaken in stating that Niell, or Nigel, had again obtruded himself into the abbacy, or, as Dr. Lanigan has it, “ archbishopric,” of Armagh, on the retirement of Malachy, and previously to the elevation of Gelasius to that dignity. Had Dr. Lanigan carefully con- sulted the Annals of the Four Masters he would have found that Colgan had authority for his state- ment, viz.:—“ 1137. Caerhcluo Gbbao in Cfpomaca .1. Clqrcinoeac Ohoipe l n-ionuo Hell rhic Geou—‘a change of abbots at Armagh, that is—the erenach of Derry, in the place of Niall, the son of Hugh.’ ” “ Gelasius filled the episcopal chair of Armagh 38 years, and died in the 87th year of his age, on the 27th of March, 1174, on the anniversary of which day his festival was kept.” 1122. “ Maolcoluim O’Brolchatn, bishop of Armagh, died on his pilgrimage in the desert [or hermitage,] of Derry, after having gained the victory of mortification and penance.” 1126. “ Fionn O’Conaingen, erenach of Derry fur a time, died.” He was probably the pre- decessor of Gelasius. 1134. “ Bebinn, the daughter of Mac Conchaille, female erenach of Derry, died on the 23rd of December.”— See 1112. 1147. “Erchelaid was abbot.”—(Book of Lecan : f. 193.) 1150. “ Maoliosa O’Branain [Brannan], erenach of Derry-Columbkille, who was the most prosperous and munificent man in the north of Ireland, died.” The O’Branans were of the Kincl- Tierny, a tribe of the Kinel-Owen : they are still numerous in the province of Ulster. 1162. “ Cathusach, the son of Comaltan, professor of divinity in Derry-Columbkille, died. He was a distinguished sage.” 1175. “ Flahertach O’Brolchain, coarb of Columbkille, tower of wisdom and hospitality, to whom, for his wisdom and great virtues, the clergy of Ireland had given a bishop’s chair [see], and offered the superintendence of the monastery of Iona, after having borne the pains of a long infirmity with patience, died most piously in the monastery of Derry.”—See 1112. Colgan says of the family of O’Brolchain, which supplied so many eminent ecclesiastics to the abbey of Derry—that they were of ancient nobility, and formerly of distinguished name, but then quite plebeian. They are still, however, a numerous family in the neighbourhood of Derry, and in the southern parts of the county; and, though they call themselves O'Brollaghan in speaking Irish, they generally adopt the name of Bradley in English. The Irish popular allusion to their fallen state— “ He is a gentleman of the Brollaghans”—commonly applied to persons poor and proud, has probably influenced them in this change of their name to that of an English family. The O’Brollaghans were a family of the Kinel-Ferady—a tribe of the Kinel-Owen, originally seated in the southern part of the county of Tyrone, to which it gave name.—(See Book of Lecan.) . “ Giolla Mac Liag, or Gelasius, O’Branain succeeded to the government of the monastery.” 1180. “ Macrath O’Doighre, erenach of Derry, died.”—See 1062. The family of O’Doighre were also a very noble branch of the Kinel-Owen, and were hereditary erenachs of Derry till the plan- tation of Ulster. They still exist, and are called Deery. 1185. “ Maoliosa O’Muireadhaich [Murry], lecturer of divinity at Derry-Columbkille, died at a venerable old age.” 1189. “ Maolcainnigh O’Fearcomais, professor of divinity at Derry, was drowned between Aird [Ardmagilligan,] and Inishowen.” 1195. “ Concobhar [Conor] Mac Fachtna died in the church of Derry.”—(See 1150.) 1198. “ Giolla Mac Liag, or Gelasius, O’Branain resigned the abbacy.” “ Gilcriost O’Cearnaich was elected abbot by the consent of the clergy. He was after- wards advanced to the see of Connor, and died in 1210.” 1202. “ Maolfinin Mac Colmain was elected arch-prior, but died the same year.”—(Annals of Munster.) “ O’Brolchain, the prior and great senior, died on the 27th of April. He was in high estimation for his many virtues and extensive learning.”—(lb.)