Year by Year
Explore Year by Year articles from the most modern historical year back to the oldest.
3,295 Articles Archived
O’Neill’s Inauguration
Archived: 20 October 2026
In 1455 Henry O’Neill was inaugurated at Tullyhogue as king over Ulster, backed by allied lords and Armagh’s ecclesiastical leader, although his father remained alive and dynastic conflict persisted. Elsewhere, Philip Maguire’s forces raided east Breifne, burning settlements, killing rivals and capturing a crannog, demonstrating mobile lordly warfare. Annals also recorded deaths among ruling, clerical and learned families, revealing networks of status, hospitality and service. At Navan, Abbot John Bole granted a Pentecost indulgence supporting religious observance and monastic repair. In Connacht, a lord was killed by his own men. These events illustrate Ireland’s multiple, localised and precarious political worlds.
Inis Castle
Archived: 20 October 2026
In 1454, Ireland’s fragmented political order was illustrated by conflict, succession and cultural exchange. At Inis Castle in Tír Chonaill, Domhnall O’Donnell killed rival Ruaidhrí O’Donnell with a stone during a siege, securing the lordship temporarily. Annals also record deaths and kin violence among the O’Reillys, Maguires and O’Molloys, alongside contested local successions and cattle raids. Sir Edward FitzEustace’s death led to Thomas fitz Maurice FitzGerald’s election as justiciar in Dublin. Notices commemorate elite women and a notable Fermanagh sermon. Meanwhile, Edmund MacRichard Butler’s manuscript, copied by Gaelic scribes during campaigning, vividly demonstrates interconnected Anglo-Irish patronage, learning, warfare and mobility.
Ardglass Fleet
Archived: 20 October 2026
In 1453, Irish annals record regional struggles rather than a national crisis. At Ardglass, a Dublin fleet pursuing Welsh raiders who had seized the archbishop defeated Henry Mac Néill Buidhe’s Clandeboye force, aided by the Savages; leading Ulster men died and Henry was captured. In Oriel, Hugh Roe MacMahon died and was succeeded by Felim MacMahon, while Donnchadh MacCarthy Reagh’s death brought Diarmaid an Dúna to power in Carbery. Killings, deaths and disputed lordships in Connacht, Bréifne and Tirerrill revealed political dependence on kin, followers, castles and church patronage. The record depicts maritime, localised and interconnected late-medieval society in Ireland.
Ormond Circuit
Archived: 20 October 2026
In 1452, Ireland was governed through competing lordships, kinship, warfare and negotiation. Neachtan Ó Domhnaill’s assassination by nephews destabilised Tír Chonaill, enabling Énrí Ó Néill to broker a settlement while gaining territory and tribute. Marriage alliances drew James Butler, fourth earl of Ormond, north to compel Énrí’s reconciliation with his first wife. Fighting in the Fews ended with compensation and peace. Ormond’s rapid circuit across the midlands and north-east secured submissions, payments and prisoners, but he died at Ardee in August. His death weakened settlements. Annals also noted the Liffey’s recession, raids on Teagh-Munna, plague, and deaths among learned families.
Killeigh Patronage
Archived: 20 October 2026
For Ireland, 1451 is not a year dominated by one island-wide campaign or governmental act. Its surviving record is instead a set of sharply local episodes: the death of a renowned midland patron, a fire in a Franciscan friary at Cavan, a return from Rome, murders and hostage agreements, and the building of a castle in Connacht. Read together, they show an Ireland of overlapping lordships rather than a single political community: Gaelic rulers, Anglo-Irish families, religious houses and learned networks all exercised authority in particular places. The evidence has limits.
Maguire Pilgrimage
Archived: 20 October 2026
In 1450 Thomas Óg Mág Uidhir, lord of Fermanagh, departed for Rome’s jubilee, demonstrating Gaelic lordship’s international religious connections and dependence on learned patronage. During his absence, Donnchadh Dunchadhach Maguire murdered Cathal Maguire, seized his wealth, and sought wider power; after negotiation, Edmond Maguire captured and mutilated him. Annals also record deaths of Clogher’s Maguire bishop, pilgrims and physician Tadhg Ó Cáiside, illustrating ecclesiastical and hereditary service networks. Elsewhere, Ó Néill raids, alliances and killings, and an Ó Raghallaigh settlement reshaped northern politics. Richard, duke of York, left Ireland in September, appointing Ormond deputy, thereby highlighting Ireland’s multiple political centres.
York's Arrival
Archived: 20 October 2026
In 1449 Richard, duke of York, arrived in Ireland as Henry VI’s lieutenant, combining royal office with extensive Irish lordships. At Drogheda, he concluded an agreement with Énrí Ó Néill, backed by Eóghan Ó Néill, exchanging military support for protection. York received earls, negotiated hostages from Meath and demonstrated government through personal alliances rather than conquest. Elsewhere, disputed successions destabilised Breifne, while warfare involved Ó Néills, MacQuillans, Scottish connections and Cenél Conaill. Annals also record religious renunciation, dynastic deaths and learned families. The year reveals a plural political landscape, where English administration and Gaelic rulers formed shifting, pragmatic coalitions locally.
Muckross Foundation
Archived: 20 October 2026
Records for 1448 depict Ireland as a patchwork of lordships, religious houses and learned networks rather than a single national story. A severe plague in Meath caused deaths among laymen, a ruling family and friars. Killings in Leinster and Connacht, alongside changes in regional lordships, reveal persistent rivalry within and between political communities. Bishops, abbots and aristocrats died, while a couple drowned on an Ulster waterway, underlining travel’s hazards. Donal Mac Cárthaigh Mór supported the Observant Franciscan foundation at Muckross. The deaths of poets Tadhg Óg Ó hUiginn and Diarmait Ó Dálaigh highlighted institutions of education, hospitality, patronage and commemoration.
Talbot's Parliament
Archived: 20 October 2026
In 1447, Ireland’s divided political worlds were linked by conflict, administration, religion and epidemic disease. Domnall Ballach Maguire was killed amid Fermanagh succession rivalry, while Hugh Maguire and Breifne constable Cormac Mac Cába also died. At Trim, Lord Lieutenant John Talbot imprisoned Feidhlimidh Ua Raghallaigh, who later died of plague and was buried in the Franciscan friary. Talbot’s parliament regulated trade, officials, coinage and English dress. Plague caused heavy mortality across several provinces, affecting clergy, lords, lawyers and scholars. Meanwhile, Thomas Óg Maguire rebuilt Aghalurcher church, and an Ó Mórdha lord founded a Franciscan burial house in Laoighis for descendants.
Dunamon Alliance
Archived: 20 October 2026
In 1446, Neachtan Ó Domhnaill led an army from Tír Chonaill through Breifne and Connacht, where Mac William of Mayo received and escorted him at Dunamon, demonstrating interlordship alliances and negotiated military movement. Connacht suffered Ó Conchobhair dynastic violence, while Clanricarde intervened in Thomond and mediated a Mac Donnchada partition. Ó Conchobhair Fáilghe raided Meath, exposing the English lordship’s vulnerable frontier. Successions, feuds and retaliatory killings affected Ulster and Leinster, including murder within Fenagh church. Annals also commemorated poets, clerics and devotees. Together, these records depict Ireland as interconnected by kinship, routes and ecclesiastical institutions, but fractured among competing lordships.
Some records do not yet have a verified historical year and are awaiting chronological placement.