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

Documents from Thomond Papers, Petworth House Archive
The correspondence of Sir Dermot O Mallun to Sir Barnaby O’Brien
presented here consist of four documents: a letter from Sir Dermot
to Sir Barnaby concerning his proposal to purchase the lands; a copy
of the original 1606 conveyance between the co-heirs of the Uí Mhaol
Dhomhnaigh sept and Donough O’Brien, fourth earl of Thomond, transferring
half of the thirteenth quarters of land to the earl; Sir Barnaby’s
refusal letter; and an indenture by co-heirs of the Uí Mhaol Dhomhnaigh
sept conveying their title of Gleanomalun to Sir Dermot.
Sir Dermot’s letter to Sir Barnaby (PHA Ms C6/4) states his intention
to purchase the four quarters of ‘Gleanomalun’ and two quarters
of ‘Clonfada’ in Killaloe parish which were conveyed by the Uí Mhaol
Dhomhnaigh co-heirs in 1606 to the earl whose interests descended to
the earl’s son Sir Barnaby. Sir Dermot, recalling the 1606 agreement,
makes a point in stating that whilst his Uí Mhaol Dhomhnaigh kinsmen
conveyed half of the lands ‘without my consent as chief and supreme of
their sept in Gleanomalun’ to Barnaby’s father on 23 September 1606,
that subsequently in 1631 (see a draft of the transfer in PHA Ms C13/34a)
they consented to transfer their interest in the remaining moiety to Sir
Dermot. According to Sir Dermot his Uí Mhaol Dhomhnaigh kinsmen
disavowed the 1606 agreement on account of the earl’s ‘sinister counsel
of his honour’s officers’ and had reneged on the agreement to allow the
portion of lands occupied by the Uí Mhaol Dhomhnaigh sept to remain
rent free. It was alleged that the earl begun charging rent on those quarters
after the first six years. Sir Dermot, signing himself as ‘Gleanomalun and
Cuerchy’, also refers to his desire for the purchase of the lands in that he
‘desire[d] only to have possession since I have my creation in the same and
not any benefit I ever expect for me or my only son’. Clearly, Sir Dermot’s
elevation to the title Glenomalun made him conscious of securing land to
his otherwise landless peerage.
The 1606 indenture between the Uí Mhaol Dhomhnaigh co-heirs and
Donough O’Brien, fourth earl of Thomond, 139 stands out amongst surviving
petitions lodged at Petworth on account of its subtle reference to Gaelic
social structures. For example, the indenture was signed by three leading
members of the Uí Mhaol Dhomhnaigh sept who conveyed their interests
and title in half of the thirteen quarters to the earl and his heirs. The
division of the title to the land between the Uí Mhaol Dhomhnaigh sept
and the earl was to be recorded by ‘Connor Brodyn otherwise McBrodye
Dermot’s only surviving heir was Albert, baron Gleanomalun, who was recorded as in
London in 1641, passing through on his way to Spain where he was waylaid on account of ‘a
long illness’ and wished to return to Flanders and serve in the army. This is the last reference
to Albert amongst the documents relating to the Irish regiments in the Flanders. Brendan
Jennings (ed) Wild Geese in Spanish Flanders 1582–1700, pp 330–331.
139 (PHA Ms C.13/34a).
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