Documents from the Thomond Papers at Petworth House Archive1 ...

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of Dangan-i-viggin redeemed the mortgaged land. Minor Gaelic freeholders
frequently mortgaged their lands to raise cash, a point attested in seventeenth-century
inquisition material. 107 It was a common stratagem for
freeholders to raise cash by mortgaging to Limerick city merchants, many
of whom had entered the land market in the early seventeenth century at
a time when rapid economic and political change was causing financial
pressures on smaller freeholders in the barony of Bunratty. 108 Proximity to
Limerick and its relatively capital-rich mercantile caste, coupled with the
waning of traditional Gaelic structures and economy, must have contributed
to this situation. That John McNamara redeemed the land suggests
he retained a proprietorial interest; at any rate he was the principal landed
proprietor of the parish and Lord of west Clann Chuiléin. 109
It is also interesting to distil from the document the method employed
to resolve the unlawful mortgage; that is, the nomination of ‘indifferent
men’ to arbitrate. The men chosen for the purpose had strong links to the
fourth earl of Thomond: John McNamara of Danganbrack was the son of
John McNamara of Dangan-i-viggin and Lord of west Clann Chuiléin, 110 and
James McEnerhini had served the earl on other occasions and had assisted
in translating Irish property deeds relating to the Thomond estate in 1611. 111
The appointment of literate local men to arbitrate in such matters was
common place and, in general, suited the earl’s interests: the McCloones
retained Cullenagh and part of Carrowgar in 1641, but Ballymacloon was
held jointly by Thomas Arthur and Teige McNamara. 112
The fortuitous reference in the document, and hitherto obscure, of an
Irish indenture held by Henry O’Brien, fifth earl of Thomond, can be
cross referenced with two deeds in Irish (dated 1542 and 1545) relating to
the inheritance of the McCloones. These deeds were published by James
Hardiman in 1826 (known as Egerton Charters), but the originals are
now lost. 113 Though unlettered in Irish himself, 114 the presence of deeds
Stritch was obliged to render military service. See James Frost, A History and Topography of
the County of Clare, pp 299–300.
107 Patrick Nugent, ‘The interface between the Gaelic clan system of Co. Clare and the emerging
centralising English nation-state in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century’, pp 90–
91.
108 On different methods of land transfer (and inheritance) employed by Gaelic freeholders
see Mary O’Dowd, Power, Politics and Land: Early Modern Sligo, 1568–1688, (Belfast, 1991),
pp 69–76.
109 On McNamara’s demesne and mensal lands in 1586 see Luke McInerney, ‘The West Clann
Chuiléin Lordship in 1586: Evidence from a Forgotten Inquisition’.
110 R.W. Twigge, ‘Materials’ (BL, Twigge Collection, Add Ms 39260), p 208.
111 James Hardiman (ed.), ‘Ancient Irish Deeds and Writings Chiefly relating to Landed Property
from the Twelfth to Seventeenth Century: With Translation, Notes and a Preliminary Essay’,
pp 50–51.
112 R. Simington, Books of Survey and Distribution, p. 146.
113 See Hardiman (ed.), ‘Ancient Irish Deeds and Writings, pp 55–58.
114 Brian Ó Dálaigh, ‘The Uí Mhaoilchonaire of Thomond’, pp 55–56.
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