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favour of the invaders. It was in this battle that
Strongbow is said to have hewn his son, a youth
about fifteen years, of age, in two, for deserting his post
during the engagement. The importance attached by
the conquerors to the possession of the territory thus
acquired is evident from the fact that, within a few
years after, the castles of Carlow, Leighlin, and Tullow,
were erected by Hugh de Lacy, then lord-deputy. After
the death of William, Earl-Marshal, to whom nearly the
whole of Leinster belonged in right of his wife Isabel,
daughter of Strongbow by Eva, princess of Leinster
and heiress of Dermot Mac Murrough, this vast estate
was divided among his five daughters; and the pala-
tinate of Carlow, which had been previously made one
of the twelve counties into which King John divided
all those parts of Ireland that acknowledged his go-
vernment devolved by marriage on Hugh le Bigod,
Earl of Norfolk, who thus became earl-marshal and
lord of Carlow, in right of his wife Maud, eldest
daughter of the deceased. For many subsequent years
the English kept possession of these border districts
by a very frail tenure. At the close of the thirteenth
century, Old Leighlin was burnt in an incursion of the
people of the neighbouring territory of Slieumargy,
which was then considered to be part of the county; and,
at the commencement of the next century, it appears
that the owners of this princely estate, the palatinate of
Carlow, having also large possessions in England, paid
but little attention to its interests. Residing in another
country, and finding their income from this quarter
diminishing, in consequence of the mismanagement of
their deputies and the disturbed state of the country,
they had recourse to a remedy, which, however effec-
tual at first, ultimately proved destructive to their
interests in this quarter. They retained one of the
Kavanaghs, the descendants of Mac Murrough, and,
though illegitimate, the inheritor of his hereditary rights,
as a kind of military agent, to supply by the sword
the deficiencies of the law. Kavanagh, thus placed in
a situation peculiarly tempting to a turbulent and am-
bitious character, soon broke the connection, and seized
upon a great portion of Carlow and Wexford, as be-
longing to him of right: he further assumed the regal
title of Mac Murrough, and strengthened his newly
acquired power by an alliance with the O’Byrnes and
O’Tooles of the neighbouring mountainous district of
Wicklow. In 1316, Sir Edmund Butler, lord-justice,
defeated Mac Murrough near Ballylethan; and the
same year was marked by the incursion of Edward
Bruce into the southern counties. But though the invader
passed through Castledermot and Tullow, in his progress
southward, he made no impression on this county; and,
that it still continued subject in a great degree to the
sway of the Kavanaghs may be inferred from the cir-
cumstance that, in 1323, Donnell Mac Arthur Mac Mur-
rough, “a slip of the royal family,” as Campion calls
him, raised forces and displayed his banner within two
miles of the city of Dublin. He paid dearly, however,
for his temerity, being defeated by a party of the gar-
rison. O’Nolan, dynast of Forth barony, and twenty-
five of his followers were killed; and Mac Murrough’s
life was spared only on payment of £200, a large sum
in those days; after remaining six years immured in
Dublin castle, he at length contrived to effect his escape
through the connivance of his keeper.
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After this the Irish enjoyed the ascendancy for
some time; they plundered the English and burnt their
churches. One outrage was marked with features of
peculiar atrocity. The church of Freineston, or Friars-
town, was attacked during the time of divine service,
the building fired, and the priest and congregation, while
attempting to escape, driven back into the flames. The
spiritual as well as temporal power was called into action
to inflict punishment for this horrid act. It was visited
by a sentence of excommunication from the pope; and
the burghers of Wexford, aided by others of the English,
having attacked the perpetrators when preparing to ad-
vance upon the English settlement there, routed them
with considerable loss both in the field and in crossing
the Slaney. The depredations of the Irish borderers
at this period called for the most decisive measures,
as a preliminary for which it was deemed expedient to
summon the most distinguished nobles and prelates to
a council in England. But such was the reduced state
of the county, from the long continuance of deeds of
outrage, that the return to the writ of summons states
that, “by reason of poverty, from the frequent rob-
beries and depredations of the Irish enemies, there was
no layman able to attend the king in the English coun-
cil.” It appears further that a temporary protection
from the predatory assaults of the borders could only
be procured by the degrading payment of a tribute
called the Black Rent. In 1332, the castle of Clonmore
was taken by the English, yet, notwithstanding the ad-
vantage thus gained, Sir John D’Arcy, the lord-justice,
could devise no more effective means for repressing the
spirit of insubordination than by calling in the assist-
ance of Maurice Fitzgerald, afterwards Earl of Des-
mond, whose services were purchased by a promise of
remuneration from the treasury, and whose compliance
changed the aspect of affairs. Advancing against the
Mac Murroughs and O’Nolans, he ravaged their district,
compelled their submission, and exacted hostages for
its continuance. But the most disastrous effects were
produced by this connection; the lord-justice, unable
to fulfil his pecuniary engagements, was forced to
connive at the extortion of coyn and livery, now first
practised by the English; a grievance the more into-
lerable, as it was limited neither in place nor time.
Every lord of a castle, or warden of the marches, made
war at his pleasure, until the desolation became uni-
versal and threatened to be perpetual. Still, however,
the Irish, though worsted on most occasions, were
in arms. In 1339, the Earl of Kildare pursued the
O’Dempseys across the Barrow; and the greatest booty
ever seized in the country was carried from Idrone, by
the Bishop of Hereford, then lord-justice. In 1346, the
county of Carlow, with all its appurtenances, was
granted in capite to Thomas de Brotherton, Earl of Nor-
folk and Marshal of England. The next year, Donald
Mac Murrough, styled Prince of Leinster, was murdered
by his own followers: some years after, the castles of
Kilbelle, Galbarstown, and Rathlyn were taken and
dismantled by the O’Nolans, the Mac Murroughs, and
the O’Birnes. In 1361, Lionel, the king’s son, arrived
in Ireland as lord-lieutenant. The importance attached
by him to the possession of this district is shown by his
causing the king’s exchequer to be removed to Carlow
town, and by his expending the large sum of £500 on
the repairs of its fortifications. But the neglect of