Annaghdown Diocese and the battle with the Archdiocese of Tuam

Annaghdown Diocese and the battle with the

Archdiocese of Tuam

Niall C.E.J. O’Brien

For much of the medieval period the diocese of Annaghdown, Co. Galway fought to maintain its independence from the aggression of successive Archbishops of Tuam who tried to have it as part of the diocese of Tuam. This article hopes to capture some of that struggle in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The centre of the diocese was at the cathedral of Annaghdown which was in the village of the same name on the shores of Lough Corrib. 

Site and location

The ecclesiastical site of Annaghdown lies on the eastern shore of Lough Corrib in County Galway, a few miles north of Galway and to the west of the Galway to Ballinrobe road. Annaghdown is on the north shore of a small inlet from Lough Corrib with Annaghdown Castle on the southern shore. The marshy ground in the area is reflected in the name of Annaghdown which is Eanach Dúin or ‘marsh of the fort’. The fort was possibly owned by the king of Magh Seola who at some time gave the site to the church.[1]

The cathedral of Annaghdown is at the south end of the ecclesiastical site. The cathedral in its present state is mostly fifteenth century but includes elements from earlier times like the twelfth century doorway and a window. To the north of the cathedral is an earlier church of eleven or twelfth century date with later additions. Further north again is another church from medieval times. About a hundred west of the cathedral is the nunnery of St. Mary of the Arroasian order, founded as a dependent of Clonard in 1195. South of the nunnery was an Augustinian abbey, founded in the mid twelfth century with its own abbey church. It is unclear if the canons and the nuns used the same church.[2]    

Foundation of Annaghdown

The first Christian religious building at Annaghdown was a nunnery founded by St. Brendan (died c.578) for his sister, Briga.[3] St. Brendan was one of the greatest of the early Irish saints. Known to historians as St. Brendan of Clonfert, he is better known to the wider world as Brendan the Navigator. The story of his travels was a medieval best seller across Europe and still captures the imagination to this day. St. Brendan came from the Ciarraige Luchra people of Co. Kerry where he received his early education. He later studied under St. Jarlath at Tuam and Clonard. St. Brendan’s first monastery was at Clonfert on the River Shannon. From there he founded monasteries in Counties Kerry, Galway (Annaghdown) and Mayo before establishing additional monasteries along the west coast of Scotland. As a seafarer, St. Brendan placed all these monasteries along the coast or on navigable rivers and lakes.[4]

It is suggested, even stated as fact, by some sources that St. Brendan was given the site of Annaghdown by Aodh, son of Eochu, King of Connacht. As two of the three sources of this information were written in much later times it is difficult to trust their historical accuracy as later writers sometimes re-wrote earlier works to reflect the political climate of their own time. As Aodh son of Eochu was of the Ui Briuin Aoi based in present-day County Roscommon some have concluded that even as King of Connacht that he could not grant away land in another kingdom to his own, i.e. in the kingdom of Ui Briuin Seola.[5]   

Early church history

The surviving annals of Ireland record the important events in early medieval history but they do not cover all the country in detail. There is a notable absence of events recorded for Connacht in the time before the Norman Conquest (1169).[6] The early history of Annaghdown, which is in Connacht, is therefore difficult to construct but we can put some fresh upon the scene. In pre-Christian times the plain between Lough Corrib and Tuam was known as Magh Seola. Annaghdown was on the western side of this plain. The land of Magh Seola formed the core area of the kingdom of Uí Briúin Seola. The first historically recognised king of Magh Seola was Cennfaelad mac Colgan who died in 682 as king of Connacht. After Cennfaelad, the kingdom of Uí Briúin Seola was divided between his two sons. The land in the immediate area around Annaghdown formed the sub-kingdom of Uí Briúin Ratha and included the later parishes of Annaghdown, Claregalway and Lackagh.[7]

About the year 800 there is a reference to a person called Ciarán of Annaghdown. The evidence from other local place-names identifies this person as Ciarán of Clonmacnoise. This would suggest that the monastery at Annaghdown was part of the paruchia of Clonmacnoise and not that of Clonfert. The later aggressor of Annaghdown, church of Tuam, was in the paruchia of Clonfert.[8] Thus the rivals were in different camps from early times.

The cathedral of Annaghdown

Local political map

In the eleventh century the O’Connors of Uí Briúin Ai displaced the O’Flaherty family of Uí Briúin Seola from the plains around Tuam. The O’Flaherty family grouping moved west of Lough Corrib into the land of Delbna.[9] The O’Connors, kings of Connacht, became patrons of Tuam and were the powerful backers that made Tuam an archdiocese in 1152.

The aggression wars made by the O’Connor family made a number of areas in Connacht into disputed lands. The area south of Tuam was much fought over by the different kingdoms that the disputed lands extended beyond the secular world and into the ecclesiastical world. The dioceses of Annaghdown and Tuam both claimed the parishes of Cummer and Belcare as their own.[10]

Diocesan formation in Ireland

In 1111 a synod of the Irish church was held at Raithbreasail, in what is now County Tipperary, to introduce various reforms in the structure of the church. One of the main reforms was to replace the monastic confederation or paruchia with the diocese structure of the rest of Europe. Two archdioceses were created; Armagh with twelve dioceses under it in the north and Cashel with twelve dioceses under it in the south. Some dioceses like Dublin refused to join the system and acknowledged the Archbishop of Canterbury as their head church. Annaghdown was then part of the diocese of Tuam and so under the control of Armagh.[11]

The palls from Rome which gave legal status and formal recognition of an archbishopric were not given to Armagh and Cashel immediately after Raithbreasail. The new archbishopric of Cashel was thus not recognised by Rome and this allowed suffragan bishops of Cashel, like Bishop Gilbert of Limerick, free to recognise the Archbishop of Canterbury as the head church for some Irish dioceses. It would be nearly forty year before the palls came from Rome and then there came four palls not two.[12] In 1152 the synod of Kells acknowledged the four palls of archbishopric for Armagh, Cashel, Dublin and Tuam. The areas covered by the two new archdioceses were carved out of the former two archdioceses. The town of Tuam formed the centre of the archdiocese of Tuam. The suffragan dioceses of Tuam were the old dioceses of Tuam, Cong, Killala, Ardagh and Clonfert. At Kells three additional dioceses were created, namely; Mayo, Achony and Kilmacduagh.[13] Annaghdown was still part of the diocese of Tuam in 1152.

Changing political climate and formation of Annaghdown diocese

In 1169 the political climate in Ireland changed forever with the coming of the Anglo-Normans. As the Anglo-Normans conquered the country so they appointed their own people to the secular and ecclesiastical offices in the areas they controlled. The four archbishoprics were divided into two with Anglo-Norman archbishops at Armagh and Dublin and Irish archbishops at Cashel and Tuam.  

As the old Irish power centres declined in the advance of the Anglo-Normans opportunities of freedom were given to those who lived under some powerful Irish rulers. Rory O’Connor was no longer high king of Ireland and his undisputed control of Connacht was challenged by his subject Irish rulers. The O’Connors were long time patrons of Tuam and its large diocese. Now the O’Connors were too busy with their own survival to watch over their church. Roderic O’Flaherty, king of Delbna (from Galway to Cliften) and Uí Briúin Ratha (east of Lough Corrib, including Annaghdown) saw his chance to break free from the O’Connor overlordship. O’Flaherty placed his chaplain into Annaghdown where he appointed him bishop and formed the lands of his kingdom into a new diocese, lands which were up until that time part of the diocese of Tuam.[14] The clerics at Tuam did not forget this act of independence and for the rest of the medieval period sought to suppress the new diocese and restore the full extent of the Tuam diocese.  

The dioceses of Ireland in the thirteenth century by John Watt

Early bishops of Annaghdown

The first named bishop of Annaghdown was Conn O Mellaigh in 1189 and he was one of three Irish bishops to attend the coronation of King Richard I at Westminster in that same year. Bishop O Mellaigh later attended a great council held by King Richard at Pipewell.[15] It is suggested that Annaghdown, along with the diocese of Dromore, was given official recognition as a diocese at a synod held in Dublin in 1192. The Archbishop of Dublin at the time was also the papal legate (Pope’s ambassador) in Ireland and so had authority to give such recognition.[16] 

In 1202 Bishop Conn O Mellaigh of Annaghdown died. A synod in Connacht of both lay people and clerics was held later that year before the new papal legate. It is not known what representation Annaghdown had at the synod or to what extend its recent separation from the diocese of Tuam was discussed. The next bishop of Annaghdown, Murchadh O'Flaherty, did attend the fourth Lateran Council in 1215 along with the Archbishop of Tuam  and seventeen other Irish bishops and two bishops-elect. One of the main issues at the Council was the increase in the number of Irish dioceses since the synod of Kells. Cardinal Papiron advised that the smaller dioceses, including Annaghdown, be absorbed into larger dioceses.[17] This was first official attack on the independence of Annaghdown. Over the next few years Archdiocese of Dublin annexed the diocese of Glendalough and the Archdiocese of Tuam annexed the diocese of Mayo. The efforts of the diocese of Waterford to annex the diocese of Lismore did not succeed and the two dioceses were not united until 1363 under Bishop Thomas le Reve of Lismore [see article on Thomas le Reve = http://celtic2realms-medievalnews.blogspot.ie/2013/05/thomas-le-reve-first-bishop-of-united.html].

In 1238 one of the last round towers was built in Ireland was erected at Annaghdown.[18] By 1238 the round tower had been replace with the much smaller bell-cote of the gable end of a church. The purpose of this round tower or bell tower was not so much to call the faithful to pray but to establish the antiquity of Annaghdown. Nearly every ancient monastic site in Ireland worth calling itself important had a round tower and there were a few in the County Galway area but significantly not at Tuam. By building a round tower Annaghdown could further show why it had a right to be an independent diocese.

By 1845 no trace of the round tower existed. George Petrie speculated that it could have been a quadrangular design connected to the cathedral but for the political purpose of its construction a traditional round tower is more likely. Local folklore placed the round tower south of the cathedral.[19]  

Annaghdown needed its new round tower to give itself some strength in 1238 as Aedh O’Connor, aided by the English, was advancing against the various peoples of Connacht who had rebelled against him. Aedh O’Flaherty, ruler of Delbna and patron of the Annaghdown diocese, was one of the rebels. With the help of Norman armies entering Connacht through Athlone and up from Munster, Aedh O’Connor, King of Connacht was able to regain control. In 1238 Ruaidhri, son of Aedh O’Flaherty was taken prisoner by the Normans and Aedh O’Flaherty submitted shortly after. Aedh surrendered his island fortress on Lough Corrib and his boats.[20]

Successive bishops struggle for independence

The diocese of Annaghdown survived these wars and continued to have its own bishop to the opposition of the Archbishop of Tuam. In 1241 Bishop Murchadh O’Flaherty of Annaghdown died.[21] The next bishop of Annaghdown was Thomas O Mellaigh who served until his death in 1250. The Annals of Loch Cé give the year 1252 for the death of Bishop O Mellaigh but this is incorrect from other evidence. The chapter at Annaghdown elected a cleric called Conor (or Concord), canon of Annaghdown, as the new bishop and in January 1251 Pope Innocent confirmed the election. The Annals of Ulster say that on 8^th May 1251 the royal assent was given for the election even though the election was held without the royal licence. 

Yet government documents dispute this claim. On 27^th May 1250 licence was given to the dean and chapter of Annaghdown, by William Brown, to elect a new bishop after the death of Bishop Thomas. The royal assent on 8^th May 1251 said the chapter were in future not to elect without royal licence. Although this could be interpreted as saying that no licence was given for Conor’s election we have seen such licence given by way of William Brown. The assent gave a mandate to the new Archbishop of Tuam to “do what is his in this matter” and the Archbishop of ideas of what to do but not to the benefit of Annaghdown.[22]

The diocese of Tuam seeks annexation of Annaghdown

Instead newly elected Archbishop of Tuam, Florence mac Flainn, made strong efforts to annex the diocese of Annaghdown and make it part of the larger diocese of Tuam. Before August 1252 the Archbishop of Tuam wrote to King Henry III concerning the suppression of the diocese of Annaghdown. The Archbishop claimed that the church of Annaghdown was an old parish church and not a cathedral church although two bishops lived there in succession. The Archbishop prayed that Henry III would assent to the reduction of Annaghdown to its former state as a parish church as recommended by certain papal letters.

On 18^th August 1252 Henry III wrote to the justiciar of Ireland, John Fitz Geoffrey, to make effective that reduction of Annaghdown from a diocese to a parish. As part of this action John Fitz Geoffrey was to arrange, with the consent of the Archbishop and chapter of Tuam, for the retention of a place in the vill of Annaghdown for a royal castle along with adjacent lands while allowing some buildings near the church to be retained by the management of Annaghdown church. The Archbishop of Tuam was to be compensated with lands elsewhere.

King Henry III asserted that he was the patron of Annaghdown and had consented to the election of previous bishops of the diocese. To show his patronage on 19^th August 1252 Henry III issued a letter of unlimited protection, to last for the king’s life, to the abbot and convent of St. John the Baptist at Annaghdown. Yet justiciar of Ireland, John Fitz Geoffrey, was to certify the old patronage of Annaghdown and what land it possessed before a bishop was appointed. The justiciar was then to give the Archbishop of Tuam lands and rents in Annaghdown which the Bishop of Annaghdown held in possession.[23]

Tuam gets Annaghdown

On 30^th July 1253 Henry III restored the temporalities of the bishopric of Annaghdown to Florence, Archbishop of Tuam in exchange for the king having the vill of Annaghdown in order that the king may there erect a castle. The Archbishop was to have lands elsewhere in exchange for the lands around Annaghdown retained by the king. A second letter on the same day told the justiciar of Ireland to give all the issues received from the vill of Annaghdown to the Archbishop until an exchange of lands could be made.[24]

The Archbishop of Tuam was particularly favoured by the king about 1252-3. On 27^th July 1253 the king allowed the Archbishop to be exempted from any plea at the courts held by the justices in eyre. On 30^th July 1253 the king allowed Archbishop Florence to retain the chattels of clerks in the diocese of Tuam who were convicted of felony. The king’s bailiffs had initially seized these chattels believing that bad clerks came under royal jurisdiction. By another letter the king’s bailiffs were restricted from molesting the Archbishop’s tenants.[25]

These letters and agreements should have ensured the suppression of the diocese of Annaghdown and the construction of another royal castle on former church ground. Yet trying to establish control within Annaghdown proved difficult for both sides. For starters it is not recorded if the king did build a castle in the vill of Annaghdown. Detailed financial accounts of the Dublin government do not start until 1270 and thus it is difficult to match aspirational plans with reality on the ground.

The chapter of Annaghdown elect a new bishop

The Archbishop of Tuam also found it difficult to establish authority in the old diocese of Annaghdown. The dean and chapter at some time after August 1252 disregarded the Archbishop and elected a cleric called Thomas as Bishop of Annaghdown. In 1255 Archbishop Florence went to England to get a number of things for his archdiocese of Tuam. The Annals of Loch Cé said the Archbishop returned with all his demands but the diocese of Annaghdown was not or surrender.[26] Bishop Thomas remained bishop of Annaghdown until his death in 1263 after which Christian the clerk went to King Henry III to ask for a licence to elect a new bishop. After ignoring the agreements of 1252 the king granted the chapter of Annaghdown a licence to elect a new bishop.[27]

In 1283 the bishopric of Annaghdown was again vacant yet maintaining a somewhat independent of control from Tuam. The chapter at Annaghdown lost little time in finding a new bishop to keep their independence and elected John de Ufford, archdeacon of Annaghdown. On 16^th March 1283 King Edward I gave the royal assent to the election. But John de Ufford felt he needed more than just royal assent and proceeded to Rome for papal approval. It was a previous pope who ordered the reduction of Annaghdown from a cathedral to a simple parish church. On 14^th March 1283 Edward I granted de Ufford licence to travel to Rome.

The Archbishop of Tuam would not accept the election and consecrate John as bishop. On 30^th August 1284, John, styled bishop-elect, got letters of protection for two years as he travelled to Rome to seek papal confirmation to his election. But John de Ufford could not break the power of Tuam and gave up his attempts to be bishop of Annaghdown when he was made archdeacon of Tuam.[28]   

Annaghdown without a bishop

The diocese of Annaghdown was again without a bishop and without protection. Sometime before May 1297 Philip le Blund destroyed the pontificalia at Annaghdown. Yet still the chapter refused to give up and in 1306 elected Gilbert O Tigernaig, a Friar Minor, as bishop of Annaghdown. The Archbishop of Tuam refused to accept the election but Richard Taaffe on behalf of the Archbishop of Armagh, the primate of Ireland, accepted the election and Annaghdown was a diocese again. The archbishops of Tuam and Armagh had long disputes over which dioceses were within the jurisdiction of each other and in later times called into question Armagh's claim to be primate of Ireland.[29]

The value of the bishopric

In the 1302-6 papal taxation returns recognised the diocese of Annaghdown as a separate diocese yet the visitations of the archdeaconry of Annaghdown were included in the returns for the diocese of Tuam. The revenue of the Bishop of Annaghdown as recorded included goods and rents worth £28 along with the fourth part of nearly every parish church in the diocese. The bishop received from the church of Mecheri (Ballynacourty) 33 shillings 4 pence, Foranmore (Oranmore) church 40s, Roscam church 10s, Galway church 33s, Clardun church 40s, Delgill church 5s, Kellchama church 5s, Letragh church half mark, Killeany church 3s 4d, Kellfinfyt church 7s 6d, Donaghpatrick church 6s 8d, Killower church 5s, Rath-maolid church 6s 8d, Shrule church 20s, Kilkilvery church 5 shillings and Annaghdown parish church 1 mark. This total of £40 5s 6d when the total value of the diocese was £72 19s 8d.[30]

A new group of bishops of Annaghdown

Bishop Gilbert O Tigernaig took the temporalities of Annaghdown in 1308 but found it difficult to operate under the weight of the Archbishop of Tuam. Thus Bishop Gilbert spent much of his time as a suffragan bishop on various English dioceses. Yet Bishop Gilbert did not totally give up on Annaghdown. In 1321 he sent a letter to King Edward II asking for an inquiry into the seizure by the Archbishop of Tuam of the temporalities of Annaghdown without warrant. King Edward and his chief advisers, Walter of Norwich and William de Ayremynne, sent the petition to the Dublin government to enquire about the matter and draw up a report. It is not known if this report was ever acted on or was it just filed away to gather dust. Whichever the case Bishop Gilbert was in too failing health to press the matter and he died before December 1322 when James O Cethernaig was elected bishop but he only stayed less than two years before transferring to the diocese of Connor. 

The former bishop of Clonfert, Robert Petit, then became bishop of Annaghdown and got the temporalities in 1326 but was dead by April 1328. John, the dean of Annaghdown and the chapter wrote to King Edward III for a licence to elect a new bishop and got the licence. The chapter then elected Albertus as the new bishop. Shortly after Bishop Albertus got possession of the temporalities but within a few months the bishop had died or resigned. In this situation of bishops in quick succession and little effective control the richest church in the diocese of Annaghdown, St. Nicholas's Church in Galway, transferred its allegiance to the archdiocese of Tuam.[31]  

The last effective bishop

Thomas O Mellaigh replaced Albertus as the new bishop of Annaghdown. Thomas came from an old family that had held the diocese of previous occasions. Yet ancient lineage counted for nothing with the Archbishop of Tuam and Bishop Thomas had to travel the long road to Rome to get papal approval. Before he left for Rome Bishop Thomas wrote to King Edward III asking the king to write to the pope objecting to the union of the two dioceses of Annaghdown and Tuam. It is not known if the king ever wrote the letter as Edward III was under the control of his mother and her lover at the time. 

King Edward did show favour to the chapter of Mayo in 1328 when they elected a new bishop and complained that the Archbishop of Tuam had occupied the diocese of Mayo for a hundred years. Edward III directed a letter to the pope asking for recognition of the new bishop of Mayo and may have writen in similiar support for Annaghdown. Yet time was against the small diocese. While there at the papal court in Rome, in 1328, Bishop Thomas O Mellaigh of Annaghdown died.[32]

The ruins of Annaghdown and the end of a diocese

The end of the diocese of Annaghdown

Pope John XXII took the opportunity to issue a decree ordering the union of the dioceses of Achonry, Kilmacduagh and Annaghdown with Tuam.[33] Despite this forced union a series of bishops of Annaghdown were elected over the succeeding decades but their efforts to gain control of Annaghdown failed. Many spent their years as suffragan bishops in English dioceses.

In 1393 the then titular bishop of Annaghdown petitioned the king to have leave to recruit 200 archers in England for service in Ireland. The bishop claimed that the malice and power of the king’s enemies made it impossible for him to live in the diocese or even collect its revenues.[34] But he failed in his efforts to wrestle control of Annaghdown from the Archbishop of Tuam. In 1411 the monastery at Annaghdown was burnt down.[35] This fire symbolically marked the end for an independent Annaghdown. Although further bishops were named for Annaghdown the diocese was by 1411 just an archdeaconry within the larger diocese of Tuam.

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[1] Dónall mac Giolla Easpaig, ‘Early ecclesiastical settlement names of County Galway’, in Galway History and Society, edited by Gerard Moran & Raymond Gillespie (Geography Publications, Dublin, 1996), p. 800

[2] Peter Harbison, Guide to National and Historic Monuments of Ireland (Gill and Macmillan, Dublin, 1992), p. 143

[3] A. Gwynn & R.N. Hadcock, Medieval Religious House: Ireland (Irish Academic Press, Dublin, 1988), p. 312

[4] Daphne D.C. Pochin Mould, Ireland of the saints (Batsford, London, 1953), p. 153

[5] Dónall mac Giolla Easpaig, ‘Early ecclesiastical settlement names of County Galway’, in Galway History and Society, p. 801 

[6] A. Gwynn & R.N. Hadcock, Medieval Religious House: Ireland, p. 25

[7] Paul MacCotter, Medieval Ireland: Territorial, Political and Economic Divisions (Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2008), pp. 132, 143

[8] Dónall mac Giolla Easpaig, ‘Early ecclesiastical settlement names of County Galway’, in Galway History and Society, p. 801 

[9] Francis J. Bryne, Irish Kings and High-Kings (Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2001), p. 230

[10] Paul MacCotter, Medieval Ireland: Territorial, Political and Economic Divisions (Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2008), p. 144

[11] A. Gwynn & R.N. Hadcock, Medieval Religious House: Ireland, p. 49; Geoffrey Keating, General History of Ireland, edited by Dermod O’Connor (James Duffy, Dublin, 1861), p. 511

[12] Donal O’Connor, ‘Bishop Gilbert of Limerick, Suffragan of Canterbury’, in Decies, No. 69 (2013), pp. 3-5

[13] A. Gwynn & R.N. Hadcock, Medieval Religious House: Ireland, pp. 51, 53

[14] Ven. St. John Seymour, ‘The medieval church’, in History of the Church of Ireland from the earliest times to the present day, edited by Walter Alison Philips (Oxford University Press, 1934), p. 80

[15] A. Gwynn & R.N. Hadcock, Medieval Religious House: Ireland, p. 60

[16] A. Gwynn & R.N. Hadcock, Medieval Religious House: Ireland, p. 54

[17] The Annals of Loch Cé (2 vols. Stationery Office, Dublin, 1939), vol. 1, pp. 223, 227; Patrick Dunning, 'Irish representatives and Irish ecclesiastical affairs at the Fourth Lateran Council', in Medieval Studies presented to Aubrey Gwynn, edited by J.A. Watt, J.B. Morrall & F.X. Martin (editors, Dublin, 1961), pp. 91-2

[18] The Annals of Loch Cé, vol. 1, pp. 349

[19] Sean Spellissy, The history of Galway City & County (Celtic Bookshop, Limerick, 1999), pp. 255-6

[20] The Annals of Loch Cé, vol. 1, p. 349; Goddard Henry Orpen, Ireland under the Normans (4 vols. in 1, Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2005), vol. 3, p. 161

[21] The Annals of Loch Cé, vol. 1, p. 357; The Annals of Ulster (4 vols. Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, 1901), year 1241

[22] The Annals of Loch Cé, vol. 1, p. 393; The Annals of Ulster, year 1250, note 2; H.S. Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland (5 vols. Kraus reprint, 1974), Vol. 1 (1171-1251), nos. 3048, 3131

[23] H.S. Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, Vol. 2 (1252-1284), nos. 76, 77, 79; Charles McNeill (ed.), ‘Harris Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis’, in Analecta Hibernica, No. 6 (1934), p. 281

[24] H.S. Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, Vol. 2 (1252-1284), nos. 274, 275

[25] H.S. Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, Vol. 2 (1252-1284), nos. 268, 276, 277

[26] The Annals of Loch Cé (2 vols. Stationery Office, Dublin, 1939), vol. 1, p. 407

[27] H.S. Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, Vol. 2 (1252-1284), no. 738

[28] H.S. Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, Vol. 2 (1252-1284), nos. 2066, 2067, 2277; Sean Spellissy, The history of Galway City & County, p. 256

[29] Sean Spellissy, The history of Galway City & County, p. 255; Patrick Dunning, 'Irish representatives and affairs at the Fourth Lateran Council', in Medieval Studies presented to Aubrey Gwynn, p. 100

[30] H.S. Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland (5 vols. Kraus reprint, 1974), Vol. 5 (1302-1307), pp. 234-236

[31] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_of_Annaghdown accessed 31 May 2014; Sean Spellissy, The history of Galway City & County, p. 36; ; Philomena Connolly (ed.), 'Irish material in the class of chancery warrants (C 81) in the Public Record Office, London', in Analecta Hibernica, No. 36 (1995), p. 144; Philomena Connolly (ed.), 'Irish material in the class of ancient petitions (SC8) in the Public Record Office, London', in Analecta Hibernica, No. 34 (1987), p. 63; G.O. Sayles (ed.), Documents on the Affairs of Ireland before the King's Council (Stationery Office, Dublin, 1979), pp. 106-7

[32] The Annals of Loch Cé, vol. 1, p. 609; The Annals of Ulster, year 1328; Philomena Connolly (ed.), 'Irish material in the class of ancient petitions', in Analecta Hibernica, No. 34 (1987), p. 77; G.O. Sayles (ed.), Documents on the Affairs of Ireland before the King's Council, pp. 146-7; ; Philomena Connolly (ed.), 'Irish material in the class of chancery warrants', in Analecta Hibernica, No. 36 (1995), pp. 144-5. This letter to Edward III is often dated to 1330 but if the Annals are correct and Bishop Thomas died in 1328 then the letter to Edward must be 1328 or before. Of course it is possible the Annals are in error. More research is needed.

[33] Sean Spellissy, The history of Galway City & County, pp. 255

[34] A.J. Otway-Ruthven, A history of medieval Ireland (Ernest Benn, London, 1980), p. 325; Philomena Connolly (ed.), 'Irish material in the class of ancient petitions', in Analecta Hibernica, No. 34 (1987), p. 69; G.O. Sayles (ed.), Documents on the Affairs of Ireland before the King's Council, p. 264

[35] The Annals of Loch Cé, vol. 2, p. 137