round Gort, also obtained a grant which in his case was interpreted as conveying to him the lands of his clan.[1]
Sir Henry Sidney when Deputy about 1570 induced most of the Connaught lords to surrender their lands with the object of obtaining regrants with a clear title by letters patent. Nothing, however, was done for some years until, in 1585, under Sir John Perrot, a commission was sent down which made a settlement known as the Composition of Connaught.
The object aimed at was threefold. First a fixed revenue was to be secured to the Crown. Secondly the uncertain extortions, the "cuttings and spendings" of the chiefs were to be done away with, and the chiefs were to be compensated by grants to them and to their heirs by English law of the castles, lands and fixed rents and services which had hitherto descended according to Tanistry. Finally every landowner, chief or clansman was to be given a legal title to his own.[2]
This was a perfectly fair and square transaction. The inhabitants admitted that as against the Crown they had no legal title, the Crown admitted that equitably the inhabitants should have such legal title, and promised to grant it. The Crown title was not based on any surrender by the chiefs but on known facts; there appeared to be no loophole by which another title could be found
- ↑ The Books of Survey and Distribution show that in 1641 the then O'Shaughnessy owned the whole clan territory.
- ↑ It is curious to find how completely some recent authors of pronounced pro-Irish tendencies have failed to grasp the real meaning and effect of the Composition of Connaught. Even D'Alton appears to miss the point that the clansmen were to be secured in their shares of the clan lands.
