Nenagh’s Christmas Rising
Archived: 23 October 2026
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.