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

Archivium Hibernicum
to the extent of the archival holding. The first volume (of five) was catalogued
and published in 1968, and contained 2,050 entries covering 15,237
documents. 15 The catalogue of the main body of Irish interest material
is still available only in a manuscript catalogue compiled in the early
nineteenth century. Other contemporaneous manuscript sources useful
for the study of early modern Co. Clare include the published Inchiquin
Manuscripts, 16 invaluable in identifying Gaelic sept-lineages. The Inchiquin
Manuscripts touches on leases, rental ledges and legal agreements for the
barony of Bunratty and complement material in the Thomond papers at
Petworth. The publication, in 1826, of James Hardiman’s Ancient Irish
Deeds, 17 which contains translations of Irish language sources such as Suim
Cíosa Ua Briain 18 (rental of O’Brien) and Suim Tigerna Meic na Mara 19
(rental of lord McNamara) as well as ‘brehon decrees’ and land deeds,
provide a corpus of documents for Gaelic nomenclature and toponymy.
Added to this list is Seán Ó hÓgáin’s Conntae an Chláir, which faithfully
reproduces Gaelic genealogies from manuscripts and cogently identifies
the progenitors of many local families in Co. Clare. 20
Valuable sources for the study of Gaelic lordships include the 218 inquisition
post mortem cases published by James Frost in 1893 21 prior to the
destruction of the originals in 1922, the fragmentary survival of Chancery
Pleadings 22 and Irish Fiant Rolls, 23 official correspondence in the Calendar
of State Papers of Ireland and the Calendar of the Carew Manuscripts, 24 and
the 1585 Compossicion Booke of Conought. 25 Other ancillary documents available
to the historian of the lordships of Thomond and Clanricard include
the 1585 list of ‘the names of all the mackes and oes within the provenance
[sic] of Connaught and Thomond’ 26 held at the Archiepiscopal Library at
15 Ibid., p. iv.
16 John Ainsworth (ed.), The Inchiquin Manuscripts.
17 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’
in Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, xv (1826) pp 1–95.
18 Ibid., pp 36–43. Possibly of fifteenth century date.
19 Ibid., pp 43–49. Possibly from the mid-fourteenth century.
20 Seán Ó hÓgáin, Conntae an Chláir: a triocha agus a tuatha, (Baile Átha Cliath, 1938).
21 See James Frost, A History and Topography of the County of Clare, (re-print), (Dublin, 1973),
pp 268–337.
22 Chancery Bills: Survivals from pre-1922 Collection, [abstracted index] National Archives of
Ireland.
23 The Irish fiants of the Tudor sovereigns during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Philip & Mary,
and Elizabeth I, (Dublin, 1994).
24 Calendar of the State Papers Relating to Ireland, of the Reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary,
and Elizabeth, 1509–1596, (5 vols) preserved in the State Paper Department of H. M. Public
Record Office, (London, 1860–1890) and J.S. Brewer & William Bullen Esq. (eds), Calendar
of the Carew Manuscripts Preserved in the Archiepiscopal Library at Lambeth, 1515–1624, (6 vols,
London, 1867–73).
25 A. Martin Freeman, (ed) The Compossicion Booke of Conought, (Dublin, 1936).
26 Lambeth Palace Library, Carew Ms 614 f. 25 [microfilm].
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