a seneschal court to settle litigation; but having lost my father before I was two years of age, I came under the tutelary protection of the King by the laws of the country regulating minors, and paid, as was the custom, money for my wardship. But before it was lawful for me by age to enter upon the enjoyment of my patrimonial inheritance, I lost the patronage of my guardian by the regicidal execution of my King in the nineteenth year of my age; and the royal heir, the prince, half a year younger than I was forced to seek refuge in a foreign clime. The Lord hath wonderfully recalled the royal heir to his Kingdom with the applause of all good men, and without dust and blood; but he hath not found me worthy to be restored to the Kingdom of my cottage. Against these alone, O Lord, I have sinned; may the name of the Lord be blessed forever. O'Flaherty did receive a small part of his estate in 1653, approximately one acre in every fifty. When he returned to Galway he found the lands of his family in the possession of "Nimble Dick Martyn", and to his dismay he found that Charles II in his triumph had rewarded his foes with the estates of loyal and devoted. dispossessed Irish: But when compensation had thus been made to a few of the sufferers, what, it may be asked, became of the remainder? To all these the promises which had been made by the Act of Settlement were broken; and unfortunate claimants were deprived of their rights and debarred from all hope of future relief. A measure of such sweeping and appalling oppression is perhaps without a parallel in the history of civilized nations. Its injustice could not be denied; and the only apology offered in its behalf was the stern necessity of quieting the fears and jealousies of the Cromwellian Settlers and of establishing on a permanent basis the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. O'Flaherty, in his correspondence, reflected his sense of grievance and desolation, "I live a banished man within the bounds of my native soil; a spectator of others enriched by my birthright; an object of condoling to my relatives and friends, and a condoler of their miseries”. O'Flaherty retired to his house at Parke, seven miles west of Galway, approximately mid-way between Furbo and Spiddal. He sought to compensate through his writing for having lost his lands and power. He wrote his most important works in Latin, the international language of scholarship, and he soon established his reputation In 1667 he recovered a further portion of his estate. amongst European scholars as one of the foremost historians of his time. O'Flaherty's first work was entitled "Letter on the Chronology of Irish History, 1665". He dedicated this work to his friend and teacher, and the author of Cambrensis Eversus 'Clarissime Lyncaee', i.e. Dr. John Lynch, to whom he wrote: I have, in compliance with your wishes, reconciled the Chronology of Ireland, which admitted of such various opinions, and adapted it to the eras of the world and of Christ conformably to the classic writers. I have also opened an avenue for others to form a more complete chronological system if possible. And if the pains I have taken in the prosecution and completion of the undertaking meet any applause, let it be ascribed to you, who animated and encouraged me in this performance, and supplied me with the means of perfecting it. In 1684 he wrote his Chorographical Description of West or h-Iar Connacht. This work was prepared for the Dublin Philosophical Society, and it contains an accurate and interesting topographical description of the O'Flaherty country which extends from Galway to Slyne Head, and from Loch Corrib to the Western Ocean. Iar Connacht was written in English, and it should be understood that this in effect was a foreign language to O'Flaherty, who normally wrote in Latin and spoke Irish. The Transactions of the Dublin Philosophical Society were written in English, as this was also the language best understood by his audience in this case. O'Flaherty's incomparable erudition is cloaked in a deceptive simplicity which often appears to be somewhat strange and quaint. The English in which Iar Connacht is written is an extremely interesting specimen of the English language as written and perhaps spoken in the West of Ireland in the seventeenth century. His magnum opus was the Ogygia seu Rerum Hibernicarum Chronologia,' which was published in London in 1685. It was written in classical Latin of which he was a master, and was afterwards translated into English by J. Hely, and published in Dublin in 1693. This work immediately attracted the attention of learned men throughout Europe, and it remains a lasting monument to his learning and genius. Since its publication our ablest antiquaries have admitted that it has given secure anchorage to Irish history.2 Both Thomas and William Molyneux were greatly impressed by O'Flaherty's books, which described the 'profound antiquities' of their country. O'Flaherty was eulogised for his accuracy and for the depth of his research by the famous Welsh antiquary Lhuyd, and the Irish historian Smith. 1. "I have entitled my book Ogygia for the following reasons given by Camden. 'Ireland is justly called Ogygia, that is, very ancient, for the Irish date their history from the first ages of the world, so that in comparision with them the antiquity of other countries is modern and almost of infancy”. The Ogygia, although it was completed in 1665, was not published until 1685. 2 The Ogygia is a most extraordinary work compiled from Persian, Grecian, Roman and Mosaic history. O'Flaherty commences the Milesian history 1015 years before the Christian era and finishes in 1684 in the reign of Charles II. The Rev. Charles O'Connor, himself a great scholar, wrote: He has settled the chronology of the Christian ages in Ireland with the greatest accuracy, and even that of Scotland, so precisely, that he may be justly esteemed the first chronologer of affairs of that Kingdom. But if the most profound antiquity of our Ogygia illustrated and most clearly demonstrated in the following pages; if regal majesty, flourishing above two thousand seven hundred years, and not yet extinct; if the early acquaintance with letters, without a knowledge of which so accurate and precise a calculation of ancient eras and epochs could not be collected; if, in short, the inviolable exercise of the Christian religion for almost thirteen centuries should excite envy, I shall not be disobliged. O'Flaherty wrote his Ogygia Vindicated in reply to Sir George MacKenzie and other Scottish historians, who had questioned the authenticity of his work. This work, which was edited and published in Dublin by Charles O'Connor, remained in manuscript until 1775. We know that O'Flaherty intended to write a second volume entitled Ogygia Christiana. Charles O'Connor reported that O'Flaherty was working for many years on this theme, which he considered to be of even greater importance than the Ogygia itself. The manuscript of this masterpiece is lost. It was thought to be in the possession of his relatives in the West of Ireland but no trace of it has ever been found. In O'Flaherty's Observations on Borlase's History,' he makes the claim, which was subsequently vindicated by many great scholars, e.g. Kuno Meyer, Eoin MacNeill and Douglas Hyde, that the Irish chronicles and genealogies are absolutely accurate accounts of historical events and families: The dark side of the cloud was still towards the author, as to the original of the Irish and their chronicles; of which he could not participate, but what seemed fabulous and vaine. There is a more exact account of the chief Governors of Ireland for above two thousand years than any of the author's for the last five hundred years. The first invasion of the Scots (not Goths) a thousand years before Christ, a Scythian nation out of Spain, is more certainly known than that of the English into England four hundred years after Christ, of which there are several different opinions, as also there is of K. Lucius, his Christianity, where unto twenty different years are assigned, whereas the time of the preaching to us by the arrival of St. Patrick is without controversy, that of Grace 432. This I say as to the exactness of time in answer to his taunting our 1 See p. 431. chronicles. As for his virulent expressions of a nation merely Pyrates, barbarous and inhuman, with much more of the like through all his books, I passe it by as for hereditary malice. Somebody will, perhaps, hit him with it after his and my death. O'Flaherty continued with his writings in spite of his impoverished circumstances. In his eightieth year, he wrote articles on Chinese Chronology and problems of Irish Ecclesiastical History. In his article "The Pretended Subjection of Irish Bishops to the See of Canterbury", O'Flaherty with great objectivity and analytical skill decisively resolved many misunderstandings surrounding that subject: Unalloyed by romance, authenticated references are adduced relative to the Mission of St. Augustine to Britain and other historical facts so as to render it extremely valuable. The life and mission of St. Patrick to Ireland in 432; his founding of the Sees of Armagh and Trim; his journey to Rome where such authority and privileges were granted to him as rendered him the hierarch of the Irish church, are so amply and clearly told, that O'Flaherty's narrative will force the reader to be assured of his being one of the most generally informed, most lucid and most impartial of the antiquaries and historians of his day. O'Flaherty's last historical essay is dated May 1709, and although in his eightieth year, the scholar antiquarian shows himself to be a brilliant controversialist, a master of dialectics and of the polemical essay. The essay, which touches on many aspects of early Ecclesiastical history, puts forward the true significance of the points at issue, and continues with an irresistible logic which demonstrates beyond dispute the inaccuracy and inconsistency of the opposing arguments. The subject of this essay is the famous Easter controversy. O'Flaherty's style is one of refined précis: This national controversy was so vehement that it was but by degrees the dissenting Nations conformed themselves at last to the canonical Roman observance. So highly they were concerned in this, and other ceremonial points, whereof this of Easter, was the greatest difference that of three successive Irish bishops of Lindisfarn in Northumb. (and Metropolitans of the North of England and see of York was then vacant) the last Bishop Colman, in a synod at Whitby, in the north riding of York, about the controversy (A.D. 664) abdicated his bishopric sooner than he would swerve from the Ancient Rites of his predecessors, and coming to Ireland, his native soile, founded an Abbey at Bofinn Island, in the West ocean of Connacht, and another at Mayo for the English Saxons come along with him. It is important for the reader of Iar Connacht to fully appreciate the depth and scope of the historical scholarship and achievements of its author. There are good reasons for saying this; one of the most important perhaps is that the skill and depth of O'Flaherty's vast erudition is greatly obscured by his 'style of refined precis'. This is partly because the beautiful though archaic language in which the book is written, i.e. seventeenth century English, is greatly removed from the English language as written and spoken in Ireland or any part of the English speaking world in the twentieth century. It should also be noted that Hardiman's English and specifically those notes he supplied with the text, represent the English language as written in the nineteenth century, i.e. two centuries later than O'Flaherty's text, and this English is more accessible to a modern audience. It should be stressed that Hardiman himself stands in awe of O'Flaherty's knowledge and he continually corrects errors in his own work, e.g. the Lynch hanging. The notes to Iar Connacht were written twenty six years after the publication of Hardiman's History of Galway. It would appear that Hardiman became aware of many of his errors in his History of Galway at this later date. Iar-Connacht, though written in 1684, was not published until 1846. The book is a treasure trove of knowledge about Galway and its hinterland, and it contains a wealth of knowledge about the West of Ireland. The author begins by describing the general characteristics of West Connacht, and then goes on to describe in detail the physical features of the area. O'Flaherty's knowledge of Geography and natural history is particularly extensive. He knows the source of each river, the families of each townland, their genealogy, patrimony, extent and history of their property, its acquisition and loss. He describes the mountains, lakes, soil and its agricultural productions, and its mineral wealth. He gives a full account of the types of birds and fish in Iar Connacht, and he gives the particular area in which they are to be found. His narrative is laced with many noble embellishments, e.g. he relates strange old legends and curious happenings which occurred in history or during his own lifetime. The result is a fully comprehensive and authoritative account which shows an imaginative man who was not credulous in questions of history. 1 P. 35. 2 For example in relation to the islands of Aran we learn that Aran was once flooded in 1640 (p. 78) and that during Lent when the Aran men ate no meat they swung over the cliffs on ropes to catch birds, because birds like fish were created out of the waters |