Davies had held, the grants from Elizabeth and James had only affected the demesne lands and chief rights, then the Act of Elizabeth attainting Shane O'Neill was brought into play. It had explicitly confiscated three out of the four counties. Hence all the lands of the freeholders had by it fallen to the Crown, and if they had never since been granted to anyone—as plainly they had not been—well then they were still in the Crown.
So whichever set of facts was true the clansmen had no rights good in law!
In particular the Act attainting Shane O'Neill was made use of to confiscate the Church lands in Armagh, Derry, and Tyrone. The greater part of these had been from time immemorial occupied by certain Irish septs, who paid a certain yearly rent to the Bishops, as well as fixed fines and subsidies on special occasions.[1] Should one of these septs become extinct, the Bishop could not absorb the land into his demesne: he was bound to give it over on similar terms to certain other specified septs.
These facts after much controversy between the Crown and Montgomery, Bishop of Derry, Clogher, and Raphoe, were established to the satisfaction of the lawyers by findings of juries of clerks in each of the three counties. These findings can be read at pretty full length in the Calendars of State Papers,[2] and in extenso in the Patent Rolls of James I.
