Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hartry, Malachy
HARTRY, MALACHY, alias JOHN (fl. 1640), hagiographer, a native of Waterford, was educated at the Irish college at Lisbon, and became a monk of the order of Cîteaux in the abbey of Palacuel in Spain. Hartry subsequently joined the Cistercians in Ireland in their missionary labours, and endeavoured to investigate the history of the Irish branch of the order. Some of the materials thus obtained he transmitted to the Cistercian historiographers on the continent, and they refer to him under the name of ‘Artry, natione Hibernus.’ He appears to have remained in Ireland till 1651, and to have died soon after in Flanders. Two unpublished Latin works compiled by Hartry are extant in the archives of the see of Cashel. They are in one volume, written on vellum, with illuminated title-page and coloured drawings. The first is entitled ‘Triumphalia chronologica de cœnobio Sanctæ Crucis sacri ordinis Cisterciensis in Hibernia,’ and is dated 1640. It comprises an account of the establishment of the Cistercian abbey of Holy Cross in Tipperary, with notices of its relics and administrators (cf. transcript in Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 31879). The second manuscript gives an account of Cistercian establishments in Ireland, mainly copied from Sir James Ware (cf. Chartularies of St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin, Rolls Ser., 1884). A description of Hartry's compilations, by the author of the present notice, will be published by the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts.