Composition of Connacht
The Composition of Connacht, or Composition of Connaught and Thomond, was a 1585 agreement between, on the one hand, the Gaelic and Gaelicised chiefs of Connacht and Thomond and, on the other hand, the English Dublin Castle administration of the Kingdom of Ireland, which replaced the multiple existing levies with a single tax on land holdings. The Composition was a form of surrender and regrant, a part of the Tudor reconquest of Ireland. The English leaders were Sir John Perrot, as Lord Deputy of Ireland, and Sir Richard Bingham, as Governor of the Presidency of Connacht.
Connacht was made a Presidency in 1569 and divided into counties afterwards, but the county administration did not function efficiently until the Composition. In 1577, Lord Deputy Henry Sidney instigated a first Composition, which collapsed when President Nicholas Malby died. Under the 1585 Composition, the "countries" (cantreds or trícha céts) of the chiefs became baronies of the counties. The counties affected by the composition included Clare, which, under the name Thomond, was part of the Presidency of Connaught from 1569 until transferred back to the Presidency of Munster in 1580.
Charges
Prior to the composition, a landholder was liable to pay various charges: to the English a cess to cover the cost of the garrisons; and to the Gaelic chief coyne and livery for his private army, and "cuttings" and "coshery" for his household. These were to be replaced with a fixed annual rent of 10 shillings per quarter[n 1] of inhabited land payable to the Presidency, plus a variable Composition rent payable to the local chief. Some lands, termed "freedoms", were exempt from Composition rent.
Title
The Composition book recorded the names of the holders of many quarters, together with the amount of rent to which they would be liable. Later generations assumed that this amounted to a proof of title to the land for the heirs of those named. This assumption was denied in the 1640s by Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, who instigated a reassignment of lands as part of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.
People
The following people were either members of the Commission, signatories of the composition, or both:
| Name | Role | Commissioner? | Signatory? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bingham , RichardRichard Bingham | Chief Commissioner; Governor of Connacht | Y | |
| Waterhouse , EdwardEdward Waterhouse | Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland | Y | |
| White , NicholasNicholas White | Master of the Rolls in Ireland | Y | |
| Calthorpe , CharlesCharles Calthorpe | Attorney-General for Ireland | Y | |
| Lestrange , ThomasThomas Lestrange | Privy Council of Ireland | Y | |
| Dillon , ThomasThomas Dillon | Chief Justice of Connacht | Y | |
| Comerford , GeraldGerald Comerford | Attorney | Y | |
| OmullallyWilliam Ó Mullally | Archbishop of Tuam | Y | Y |
| Kirwan , StephenStephen Kirwan | Bishop of Clonfert | Y | |
| Lynch , JohnJohn Lynch | Bishop of Elphin | Y | |
| O'Connor , OwenOwen O'Connor | Bishop-elect of Killala[n 2] | Y | |
| O'Hart , EugeneEugene O'Hart | Bishop of Achonry | Y | |
| Barkley , FrancisFrancis Barkley | Provost-Marshal of Connaught | Y | |
| Fitz Symons , NicholasNicholas Fitz Symons | Alderman on Dublin Corporation | Y | |
| Butler , ThomasThomas Butler | Earl of Ormond | Y | |
| Burke , UlickUlick Burke | Earl of Clanricarde | Y | Y |
| BerminghamEdmond de Bermingham | Baron Athenry | Y | |
| ObrienTirrelagh O'Brien | Y | ||
| OconnorDonell O'Connor Sligo | O'Connor Sligo | Y | Y |
| OrourkeBrian O'Rourke | Lord of West Breifne | Y | |
| Bourke , RisdeárdRisdeárd Bourke | Mac William Íochtar | Y | Y |
| OflaithbheartaighMurrough na dTuadh Ó Flaithbheartaigh | Chief of Iar Connacht | Y | Y |
| Marbury , JohnJohn Marbury | MP for Sligo | Y | |
| Fowle , RobertRobert Fowle | Y | ||
| Browne , JohnJohn Browne | Y | ||
| ObrienDonogh O'Brien | Earl of Thomond | Y | |
| Cusack , MargaretMargaret Cusack | Wife of Murrough O'Brien, 4th Baron Inchiquin[n 3] | Y |
Footnotes
- ↑ A quarter, notionally 120 acres, varied in size depending on land quality, and usually approximated the townlands standardised in the 19th century.[1]
- ↑ O'Connor was Dean of Achonry and described as "bishop-elect of Killala". Until he was formally appointed in 1591, the see of Killala was technically vacant.
- ↑ Margaret Cusack is described as having signed "in the name of the young Baron of Inchequin, her son"; in fact, her husband was still living, while their son Dermod was not born until 1594.
Sources
- Primary
- "581: Composition for Cesse in Connaught.". Calendar of the Carew manuscripts, preserved in the archi-episcopal library at Lambeth 2. Longmans, Green, Reader, & Dyer. 1867. pp. 405–6.
- Freeman, Alexander Martin (1936). The Compossicion booke of Conought. Dublin: Stationery Office for the Irish Manuscripts Commission. OCLC 4742845.
- Secondary
- Cunningham, Bernadette (May 1984). "The Composition of Connacht in the Lordships of Clanricard and Thomond, 1577-1641". Irish Historical Studies (Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd) 24 (93): 1–14.
- Ellis, Steven G. (2014-06-17). Ireland in the Age of the Tudors, 1447-1603: English Expansion and the End of Gaelic Rule. Routledge. pp. 322–325. ISBN 9781317901433. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
- Hayes-McCoy, Gerard Anthony (1942). The Compossicion booke of Conought: Index. Dublin: Stationery Office for the Irish Manuscripts Commission. OCLC 65986673.
- McInerny, Luke (2011). "The Composition of Connacht: an ancillary document from Lambeth Palace" (PDF). North Munster Antiquarian Journal 51: 1–10. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
- ↑ Mac Mahon, Michael. "Land Measures; Surveys and Sources". Naming the Land: Reflections on Co.Clare Place-Names. Clare County Library. Retrieved 4 August 2014.