in question were mortgaged to the Brownes, and the latter got a Crown grant securing the lands to them on the death of the Earl without heirs.
How the omission in the grant of the word "male" before the word "heirs" appeared at first sight to defeat the hopes of the Brownes, and how an almost endless contest dragged on on account of this between the Brownes and Florence MacCarthy, husband of MacCarthy Mór's daughter Ellen, and his son has been told at length in the "Life and Letters of Florence MacCarthy Mór." It is enough here to say that in the teeth of numerous decisions against them the Brownes kept these lands, which up to lately formed the immense estates of their descendant the Earl of Kenmare.[1]
On the other hand MacCarthy Reagh of Carbery failed to make out his case with regard to Kinelmeaky, and that territory, estimated at two and a half seignories, i.e., 30,000 acres, was set out to the Undertakers.[2]
The above are the first cases where the lands of an Irish sept or clan were confiscated on the pretext that they were the property of the chief. But / this pretext was as a rule not adopted in the reign of Elizabeth. The policy, followed all through her reign, was to confiscate the property of all who actually perished while in rebellion, and to pardon the survivors. Now, apart from
- ↑ The statement in Burke's Peerage may be consulted as an example of inaccuracy.
- ↑ Full details of the confiscation of Kinelmeaky with the attempts of some of the O'Mahonys to recover possession, and with a somewhat one sided account of MacCarthy Reach's claims are to be found in the Journal of the Cork Archaeological Soc., 1908, p. 189.
As showing the looseness of Tudor calculations of area it may be mentioned that Kinelmeaky has 36,000 English acres.
