the demesne lands. But in practice the real hardship must have been that the smaller landowners lost everything.
As for Leitrim it had for some time attracted the attention of the government. In 1607 Sir Teig O'Rourke, Lord of Leitrim,[1] had died and the attention of the government had been called to a doubt as to the legitimacy of his children, for it was alleged that his wife had been previously married to Sir Donnell O'Cahane.[2]
Leitrim had been included in Perrott's settlement of Connaught in 1585. But it did not form part of the De Burgo Lordship of Connaught. It happened that at the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion Tiernan O'Rourke, King of Breffny, was also in possession of Meath, and by a curious reversal of the real state of affairs, the grant to De Lacy of Meath was held to include Breffny.[3] No permanent settlements had ever been effected in either Cavan or Leitrim. But in 1607 Richard Plunkett of Rathmore claimed Breffny O'Reilly in virtue of his descent from Margery, third daughter and co-heiress of Sir Thomas de Verdon, who on her father's death had received Breffny O'Reilly as her share of his lands.[4] And Lord Gormanston and a certain Mr. J. Rochford
- ↑ Cal. St. Paps. 1603, p. 84. By the execution of Sir Brian O'Rourke Leitrim had come to the Crown. A grant is to be made to Teig O'R., only legitimate son of Sir B., and to the heirs of his body of whatever had lawfully belonged to his father.From Cal. St. Paps., 1591—2, p. 467, it appears that it was recognised that only the demesne lands had come to the Crown.
- ↑ Cal. St. Paps., 1607, p. 196, and Ibid, 1611, p. 16.
- ↑ Knox: History of Mayo, p. 314.
- ↑ Cal. St. Paps., 1609, p. 221. Breffny O'Reilly corresponded to Co. Cavan; Breffny O'Rourke to Leitrim: both together made up "the rough third of Connaught."
