Archived: 23 October 2026
Abstract
In 1341, Toirrdelbach Ó Conchobair, king of Connacht, captured Roscommon Castle, a royal English fortress, with annals differing over the role of his imprisoned rival Áed. The seizure strengthened him temporarily amid continuing Connacht dynastic conflict. Meanwhile, Edward III’s administration ordered investigations, resumed grants and proposed replacing locally connected officials, provoking resistance from the English of Ireland. Parliaments at Dublin and Kilkenny petitioned the king, defending lands, liberties and consultation while affirming loyalty. Elsewhere, violence and rapid successions marked Meath, Oriel and Connacht. Ecclesiastical deaths reflected institutional continuity. The year exposed fragmented, negotiated authority across overlapping Gaelic and settler societies.
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Archived: 23 October 2026
Abstract
In 1342, Connacht was convulsed by a dynastic war that displaced King Toirrdelbach Ó Conchobair. Conchobar Mac Diarmata, Edmund Burke and rival Ó Conchobairs formed a coalition, humiliating Toirrdelbach at Elphin, destroying crops, fighting over fords and fortresses, and exploiting captivity and assassination. Aed Ó Conchobair became king, though Toirrdelbach regained power in 1343. Elsewhere, Conchobar Ó Domnaill was murdered in Tír Conaill, while raids caused deaths in Oriel. Dublin government abandoned contested reforms amid local resistance. Annalistic notices also record the deaths of poets, historians and clerics, revealing overlapping political, military, ecclesiastical and learned worlds during the year itself.
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Archived: 23 October 2026
Abstract
In 1343, Ireland saw shifting lordship, violence and religious investment. Toirrdelbach Ó Conchobair regained Connacht and made peace with Conchobar Mac Diarmata, while Clann Feorais and Clann Ricaird crushed Uí Maine, killing eleven Ó Ceallaigh princes. In Thomond, Diarmait Ó Briain briefly succeeded Muirchertach before Brian Bán seized power. In Tír Conaill, Aengus Ó Domhnaill displaced Niall through a broad coalition, granted land to exiles, and defeated his rival’s supporters. Deaths included nobles, churchmen and scholars. Kilronan received a new church, St Mary’s, Kilkenny, a belfry, and Boyle Abbey remained central to Mac Diarmata burials and succession during the year.
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Archived: 23 October 2026
Abstract
In 1344, Ralph d’Ufford became justiciar of Ireland, landing at Dublin with Maud of Lancaster and pursuing stronger royal oversight of grants, revenues, frontier defence and officials. His inquiries in Cork, administrative changes and Leinster campaign signalled intervention, though not restored island-wide control. Royal military demands also linked Irish magnates to Edward III’s French war. Elsewhere, annals recorded killings, imprisonments and rapid successions among Gaelic lordships in Mide, Airgialla, Breifne, Connacht and Ulster. Church affairs included James Bermingham’s appointment as bishop of Killala. Notices of Finnguala Ó Duibhgeannáin and Cill Rónáin illustrate cultural patronage and the uncertainties of medieval chronology.
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Archived: 23 October 2026
Abstract
In 1345, the sharpest political struggle in the English lordship of Ireland unfolded not at a frontier ford but across the towns, castles and lordships of Munster. Sir Ralph Ufford, justiciar of Ireland and the king’s chief governor, moved against Maurice fitz Thomas FitzGerald, first earl of Desmond. Their quarrel exposed a basic weakness in royal administration: the Crown needed the co-operation of the great Anglo-Irish magnates, yet Ufford sought to discipline them with an unusually forceful assertion of central authority.The year also brought a violent change of ruler in Connacht, fighting upon Lough Neagh in Ulster, and smaller but
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Archived: 23 October 2026
Abstract
In 1346, Ireland experienced political instability, warfare and dearth following the death of Sir Ralph Ufford, the royal justiciar. Gaelic and settler forces contested Leinster, capturing castles, raiding communities and damaging churches. On 5 May, Diarmaid Mac Giolla Phádraig and an Ó Cearbhaill ally burned Aghaboe, including its church, cemetery and St Canice’s shrine, a religious and communal loss. Wheat prices reflected scarcity, worsened by conflict. Walter de Bermingham became justiciar in May but violence continued, including northern defeats, killings and winter raids. John Clyn’s annals document events, while evidence does not place the Black Death in Ireland before 1348–49.
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Archived: 23 October 2026
Abstract
In 1347, Ireland comprised competing lordships, dynasties, church jurisdictions and towns. At Christmas, Domhnall Ó Ceinnéidigh led forces reportedly drawn from several provinces in a devastating assault on Nenagh and Ormond, sparing Nenagh Castle but exposing Butler authority while young Earl James Butler served in France. Annals also record killings, captures and successions across Connacht, Breifne, Ulster, Annaly and the south-east, revealing warfare affecting cultivation. Churches remained active through building, patronage and papal links. Learned figures were commemorated. Although plague spread in Europe, surviving Irish records place its arrival in 1348, making 1347 a year of political crisis before pandemic.
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Archived: 23 October 2026
Abstract
In 1348, pestilence reached Ireland by sea, devastating Dublin and Drogheda from late summer, though its extent elsewhere remains uncertain. John Clyn recorded a fearful pilgrimage by clergy, magnates and ordinary people to St Moling’s water at Taughmoling, seeking spiritual protection amid mass mortality. Meanwhile, Fulk de la Frêne fortified and coerced Ormond tenants around Nenagh, before James Butler received the earldom. Bishop Richard of Ossory gained independence from Dublin’s archbishop. In Connacht, killings, captures and war between kindreds ravaged Moylurg, while learned poets still travelled for patronage. The year combined disease, warfare, lordship, worship and cultural continuity under strain.
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Archived: 23 October 2026
Abstract
During 1349, a pestilence remembered as the Black Death became an all-Ireland crisis, although its arrival and mortality cannot be dated or quantified precisely. John Clyn recorded contagion, deaths among clergy and households, pressure on burial and care, and costly imported goods in Kilkenny. Connacht annals reported heavy losses in Moylurg, while warfare, raiding and contested lordship continued across Connacht and elsewhere. Ecclesiastical vacancies exposed institutional vulnerability, though individual causes of death remain uncertain. Clyn's final entries, ending amid violence and epidemic fear, symbolise the fragility of record-keeping. The year strained trade, worship, families and political authority without halting conflict.
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Archived: 23 October 2026
Abstract
In 1350, plague remained active in Ireland, evidenced by legal notes, vacant Kilkenny holdings and deaths linked cautiously to pestilence, while its impact varied regionally. Connacht underwent a major coup when Sir Edmund Albanach de Burgh, Macwilliam Burke, and leading communities deposed Aed Ó Conchobair and installed another dynastic claimant. Killings and reprisals in Connacht, Moylurg, Breifne and Thomond exposed violent struggles over lordship, land and cattle. English administration nevertheless continued: Justiciar Thomas Rokeby held a Kilkenny council, raised taxation and negotiated service. Chancery, inheritance inquiries, religious leadership and learned culture endured amid demographic loss, insecurity and contested power locally.
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