ATHENRY COMPLETE PEERAGE 291 first, or at anyrate a very early member, of this family to settle in Ireland. (") Under the name of Robert de Bermyngeham he was witness to important Irish charters, 1175-79. The statements that he accompanied Henry II in his invasion of Ireland in 11 72, and that he obtained the status of a Peer as Lord Athenry [I.], rest on no discoverable satisfactory evidence. He d. before 12 18. Piers Bermingham, s. and h., received in 1234 twenty marks a year from Henry III. In 28 Hen. Ill (1243-44) he and nine other of the Anglo-Irish Feudal nobility (together with 22 of the native chiefs) were specially thanked by the King for their zeal in his service. He is by some regarded as having obtained or inherited the status of a Peer, as Lord Athenry [I.]. He d. 1254. (") Meiler Mac Phioris, C") or Bermingham, of Athenry, co. Galway, s. and h., is said to have taken an important part in the Conquest of Connaught, and to have been known as ' Mor ' {i.e. the Great), being styled (by Ware) Dynast (or Petty Prince) of Athenry. On 10 June 1244 he was granted a market at Athenry. He founded the monastery for Dominicans at Athenry. He is by some regarded as having obtained or inherited the status of a Peer as Lord Athenry [I.]. He m. Basile, C^) sister and h. of Ralph of Worcester, and da. of William of W., who brought him a large territory in co. Tipperary, which he exchanged for other lands. He d. 1263, near Cashel, and was bur. in the Priory at Athenry, aged 50. C) His widow was living 1275. be drawn therefrom, as to the name of the first of the Berminghams to settle in Connaught. G.E.C. writing in 1887, denounced the early part of the pedigree as most untrustworthy, and unfortunately the charge still holds good down to the middle of the 1 6th century. Documentary evidence is scarce, and the stories of Lodge, Betham, and O'Ferrall are vague, contradictory, and in places demonstrably inaccurate. G.D.Burtchaell, Athlone Pursuivant, has spent much time in collating the different accounts and endeavouring to improve this article, which, maugre liis kind efforts, still leaves much to be desired. V.G. C) " An ancient monument, valued at ;^200, on which was represented in brass the landing of the first ancestor of the family of Birmingham in Ireland," is said to have been entrusted to the charge of the Portreeve of Athenry and by him sold in foreign parts during the Civil Wars, for which a bill in Chancery was filed against him in 1667. C") The Bermingham family were lords of Dunmore ; and according to The Annals of Lough Ki, (ed. by William Hennessy M.R.I. A., 187 1) Piers Pramister, lord of Conmaicne of Dunmore, d. in 1254. This doubtless is the abovenamed Piers Bermingham, who was ancestor of all the various septs of the family of Bermingham who settled in Ireland, and who, from him, usually styled themselves Alac Phioris, or Mac Feorais, i.e. sons of Piers, or Peter. His 2nd s., James, was Lord of Thetmoy, and grandfather of John (Bermingham), the celebrated Earl of Louth [I.], so cr. 1319. See pedigree, p. 298, and Appendix A. in this volume. ("^) For some discussion on mediaeval English names see vol. iii, Appendix C. V.G. C) William, consecrated Archbishop of Tuam in 1289, is said to have been his yst. son.
