The Statute of Absentees vested all the lands of the heirs general of Thomas, seventh Earl of Ormond, in the Crown. But they were regranted to Piers, heir male of the family, and this grant was confirmed by a private Act of Parliament, 30 Henry VIII.
Henry VIII. had entered into indentures with all the Irish clans in these regions, and had thus implicitly recognized their position. The Ormond claims had become somewhat theoretical; apparently the Earls contented themselves with chief rents from the Irish occupiers, and with the recovery of the castles of Nenagh and Roscrea and some adjoining lands.[1] Their rights seem to have been entirely ignored in the various dealings with Ely O'Carroll. And James I. had given grants to several of the chiefs including in them fixed payments from the freeholders in lieu of the Irish uncertain exactions, thus recognising the clansmen as landowners.
But legal ingenuity was able to set aside all claims of the natives. They were intruders on the possessions of Englishmen—as a matter of fact the O'Briens of Ara certainly, and the O'Ryans and O'Kennedys probably, were really intruders, who had seized in the 14th century lands never previously held by them. Hence they had no title as against the Ormonds, and the Statute of Absentees had vested the Ormond title in the Crown. Then they had no title against the Crown, for no length of possession could avail
- ↑ The two baronies of Ormond paid a chief rent called the "Mart Early" which came to about £160: Esmond to Dorchester, Cal. St. PapR., 1630, p. 577. Apparently this was paid to the Earl of Ormond, hence the name.
