Honour of Annaly - Feudal Principality & Seignory Est. 1172

The Honour & Seignory of Annaly Longford

Counts of Meath Annaly Longford  – Feudal Principality
The Princes and Seigneurs of the Honour of Annaly Teffia

Dossier of the Grant of Feudal Seignory and Honour of Annaly and Longford
Kingdoms of Teffia, Annaly, and Meath

The GRANT to George Mentz (Seigneur of Fief Blondel) includes All and Singular / Each and Every of the Ancient Barony, Honour, Lordship, and Seignory of Longford (Annaly), together with all Rights, Privileges, & Perquisites, conveyed in Aug 2018 from William Anthony Nugent, Earl of Westmeath. The deed was Registered in the Registry of Deeds (Dublin), 26 March 1997, Book 42, No. 266.

Summary of Rights Conveyed

• Feudal Honour and Lordship title — dignity, style, and titles associated with the Honour and Barony of Longford (Annaly), corresponding to the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Annaly, and Teffia.
• Rights and Privileges — juridical, administrative, territorial, and honorary rights attached to the Honour and Liberty.
• Perquisites — residual profits, manorial incidents, rents, rights of presentation, and ceremonial precedence.
• Fee Simple Ownership — full hereditary ownership recorded in the Dublin Registry of Deeds.

Conveyance of the Feudal Barony & Seignory

The 1996 deed transfers all rights, privileges, and perquisites of the Longford–Annaly honours and baronies to Datuk Seri George Mentz, Seigneur of Fief Blondel. These include centuries of baronial, monastic, palatine, and seignorial rights historically belonging to the Nugents (Barons of Delvin and Earls of Westmeath).

Historical Narrative

The Kingdom of Meath was granted to Hugh de Lacy by King Henry II. His western baron was Gilbert de Nogent/Nugent, who arrived in 1171 and received lands in Delvin and parts of ancient Annaly. The Nugents remained de facto indigenous lords of Meath–Annaly for 800 years. In 1621, the Baron of Delvin was elevated to Earl of Westmeath. In 1996, the Earl deeded all remaining rights—including the Seignory of Annaly/Longford—to the present holder.Longford (Ancient Annaly) encompasses 269,408 statute acres (421.5 sq. miles).

After Irish independence in 1919, the Nugents—descendants of Connor O’Connor, King of Meath, and related to the O’Farrell Princes of Annaly—retained hereditary property rights. These were lawfully sold in 1996 to Datuk Seri George Mentz.

Full List of Grants, Baronies, Seignories & Rights

• Seignory of the Kingdom of Teffia – TEABHTHA / Teamhfna – Territory of County Longford.
• Seignory of the Principality de Anghaile / Annaly – Princes of Anghaile / O’Farrell.
• Baron Delvin of Annaly – Chief & Captain of Ardagh.
• Seignory of the Western Kingdom of Meath – Longford as Western Meath.
• Feudal Baron of Rathline & Cashell.
• Lord Baron of Lisnanagh Castle – Manor of Correboy (Lisnanagh).
• Longford Market & Fair Rights – Granted by King James I (1605).
• Seignory of Kingdom of Breifne – Longford province.
• Seignory & Lord Baron of Cairpre Gabra – Granard.
• Baron of Inchmore Island – Priory on Lough Gowna (King James Grant: Inchmore Grant).
• Seignory & Feudal Baron of Upper Conmaicne – county Longford.
• Feudal Lord Baron of Brigh Leithe – Ancient name of Longford.
• Lord or Baron of AbbeyLara – hereditary, in capite.
• Lord or Prince of East Connaught (1014).
• Baron of Westmeath of the Priory of Fore (1541).
• Feudal Baron of Moyashell – Moyashel & Magheradernon.
• Chiefs & Barons of Liserdawle – Castles & Manors (1609).
• Baron of Skryne – Feudal Barony of Skryne .
• Feudal Lord of Balrath & Bracklyn.
• Priory and Manor of Foure (1612).
• Count Nugent – Freiherr von Nugent.
• Pope’s Grant of Inchmore (1635).
• Lord Baron of Coolamber Castle.
• Feudal Count Palatine of Meath – ancient palatine authority (1171).
• Princes of Fiacha – MacGeoghegan & O’Molloy lineage.
• Baron of Lisnanagh – Plantation Grant IX.29 (full acreage preserved).
• Captainship of Slewaght William / Clan Liam (1565) – Princely grant from Queen Elizabeth I.
• All Royal Grants: Edward VI (1552), Philip & Mary (1557), Elizabeth I (1565), James I (1605 & 1620).

External Links (All Preserved)

• Princes of Annaly – O’Farrell History
• Feudal Barony of Skryne
• Moyashel Barony
• King James Grant – Annaly
• Lisnanagh – Logainm

Feudal Titles and Grants (Cleaned Summary)

• Lord Baron of St. Dominic’s Abbey of Longford (Longford Friary) — Founded by the O’Farrell Princes of Annaly. Granted in capite forever to Baron Delvin (Richard Nugent) by King Philip & Queen Mary, 1566–1567.
• Baron of Columbkille — Feudal jurisdiction in the historic Annaly region.
• Baron of Lerha (Abbeylara) — Grants relating to the Abbeylara precinct and its monastic lands.
• Baron of Smere — Hereditary rights attached to the ancient district of Smere.
• Baron of Templemichael — The barony containing the churchlands and fortifications of Temple Michael.
• Baron of Inchcleraun — The Holy Island (Inchcleraun / Quaker Island) on Lough Ree, containing monastic ruins and granted to Baron Delvin in multiple royal patents.
• Feudal Baron of Killasonna — A long-recognized hereditary barony within the Annaly/Longford region.
• Baron of Skryne — The historic feudal barony inherited by the Nugent family; see: Baron Skryne.
• Advowson & Lordships of Granard Region — Including churches, advowsons, hereditaments, and feudal jurisdictions over:
  • Tonaghmore
  • Ryncole
  • Cowldony
  • Cloncrawe
  • Derraghe
  • Ballymanna
  Granted in capite for military service over the feudal territory of Cairbre-Gabhra, including its castles, forts, messuages, churches, fisheries, and monastic estates.
• Monastery of Granard — Full rights to the site, precinct, castles, fisheries, and hereditaments of the Monastery of Grenarde, including the associated granges:
  • Grange of Tonaghmore
  • Grange of Rincolle
  • Grange of Cowldony
  • Grange of Clontrall
  • Grange of Deraghe

Counselor George Mentz, Esq., Seigneur of Blondel and Lord of the Bailiwick of Ennerdale, descends from the ancient McConnell (Mac Domhnaill), McMechan, McMahon, and Fleming clans, whose ancestral lands lie in the central Irish regions from which his forebears later emigrated to the United States. His lineage reflects a long tradition of Scots-Irish nobility, drawing from prominent families such as Kerr, Douglas, Campbell, McConnell, Stewart, Drummond, McMahon, McMechan, Kirkpatrick, Boyle, De Barry, Donnel Mac Fineere MacCarthy-Reagh, Power, Darcy/D’Arcy, FitzGerald of Leixlip, MacDonnell, FitzJohn Barry, and many others whose histories intersect across Ireland and Scotland. George Mentz, Esq. carries a diverse ancestral heritage that is Scottish, English, German, French, Italian, Egyptian, Sicilian, Anatolian, Dravidian, Native American, and Irish, with strong genetic roots in Counties Dublin, Mayo, Galway, Kerry, Donegal, Cork, and Clare.

Citation 

SUMMARY (WITH CITATIONS PRESERVED)

During the mid-Tudor period, the Crown enabled the Nugent Barons of Delvin to expand deeply into the O’Farrell lordship of Annaly (Longford). Shortly before Christmas 1548, Baron Delvin launched a raid across Lough Ree, securing a foothold in southern O’Farrell territory despite resistance from the Dillon family. In 1552, the Crown granted Delvin the Monastery of Holy Island, Lough Ree, with its lands and tithes—an expansionist policy intended to establish English control in what officials described as a “waste, wylde Countrey amonge the yrishe.” Delvin declared his plan to fortify the newly acquired territory. He also received Granard Abbey in northeast Annaly, a site once English but later dominated by Gaelic O’Farrell patrons; this grant represented an effort to reincorporate former English church property into English influence. These acquisitions were confirmed by Delvin’s military activity, including a 1553 raid with O’Connor Roe against the MacDermots of Moylurg.
Citation

In 1552, Delvin also received Holy Island (Inchcleraun) in County Longford, a major ecclesiastical and cultural center on Lough Ree.
Citation

Annaly (Anghaile), comprising all of modern County Longford, had been the historic principality of the O’Farrells, divided between O’Farrell Buidhe in the south and O’Farrell Ban in the north. Longford town (Longphort-Uí-Fhearghail) was their fortress capital. Though seized by Hugh de Lacy in the 12th century, numerous grants and manors were subsequently awarded to the Barons Delvin, cementing their later status as holders of the Honour of Annaly and Teffia, eventually elevated as Earls (Counts) of Westmeath.

The medieval foundations of these rights extend back to Hugh de Lacy’s partitioning of the Lordship of Meath after 1172. De Lacy distributed large territories among his knights: Castleknock to Hugh Tyrrell; Castlebrack to William Petit; tracts to Gilbert de Nangle; estates to Richard Tuite; lands to Richard de la Chappell and Adam de Feipo (Skryne, Clontarf, Santry); the territory of Delvin to Gilbert de Nugent; and lands in O’Farrell territory to Geoffrey de Constantine. These early Anglo-Norman grants laid the groundwork for the Nugent/Delvin authority later reaffirmed by Tudor royal patents.

Citation

SUMMARY

Annaly, or Anghaile, was a principality formed from the ancient territory of Teffia and corresponds to all of modern County Longford. Historically ruled by the O’Farrell and O’Quin families, its capital was Longford (Longphort-Uí-Fhearghail). The region was divided into Upper Annaly, ruled by O’Farrell Buidhe, and Lower Annaly, ruled by O’Farrell Ban. In the 12th century, Hugh de Lacy displaced the O’Farrells and redistributed the territory as part of his Lordship of Meath. De Lacy granted numerous manors and estates—including the territory of Delvin—to his loyal knights such as Tyrrell, Petit, De Nangle, Tuite, De la Chappell, De Feipo, and especially Gilbert de Nugent, whose descendants (the Barons Delvin) eventually came to hold the Honour of Annaly and Teffia, later elevated as Earls (Counts) of Westmeath.

To learn more, read the  Baronage of Ireland  

The original Westmeath contained Longord County and also people  of Delbna/Delvin.

The Original Grant by Hugh de Lacy to Gilbert de Nugent included all of the lands of Delvin or Delbhna.  These Delvin tribes  and clans of  O'Fenolen or O'Finnallan existed in all of Westmeath and outside of Westmeath.

⚜️ CHRONOLOGICAL CHART OF ROYAL INSTRUMENTS (1172 – 1605)

🕰️ Historical Arc of Delvin–Annaly Jurisdiction

1. 1172 → 1200: Foundation of the Liberty of Meath (Palatine Charter) → Nugent sub-feudal inheritance.

2. 13th–15th centuries: The Nugents of Delvin administer the Barony of Fore (including grants in capite for Granard and Abbeylara).

3. 1541–1552: Crown re-grants and confirms Fore Priory and Annaly manors to Baron Delvin under Henry VIII and Edward VI.

4. 1565: Elizabeth I formalizes Nugent’s Captaincy of Annaly (Slewght William) — effectively making Delvin Prince-Captain of Annaly.

5. 1605: James I reconfirms Nugent’s jurisdiction and market rights in Longford, maintaining the old palatine structure under new royal suzerainty.

6. 1621+: The Earldom of Westmeath institutionalizes these feudal powers as an hereditary noble dignity, linking Annaly and Teffia permanently with the House of Nugent.

🏰 Principal Territories Under Delvin / Westmeath Jurisdiction

• Religious & Feudal Seats: Fore, Abbeylara, Abbeyshrule, Abbeyderg, Killashee, Taghshinny

• Civil & Military Centers: Granard, Mostrim (Edgeworthstown), Ardagh, Longford Town

• Holy & Ceremonial Sites: Inchcleraun (Saints’ Island), Inchmore, Lough Ree Islands, Cairn Hill, Rathcline

Elizabeth R. 56.

One Half of Annaly or Longford County was granted to Baron Delvin in 1597

In 1597, Queen Elizabeth I issued a formal directive empowering the Lord Deputy and Lord Chancellor of Ireland to grant the Baron of Delvin, his heirs, and assigns a permanent fee-farm estate consisting of castles, manors, lands, tithes, and other hereditaments in Counties Cavan (Brenny) and Longford (Annaly). These properties were to be selected from lands formerly held by individuals slain or attainted for rebellion and were to total £100 in clear annual value, with the Baron free to choose which parcels he preferred. The grants were to be held in capite by knight’s service, with the same rents or compositions previously owed to the Crown. The Queen also ordered that the Baron be given full access to official surveys and records so he could identify eligible properties, and directed that the final grants be issued under the Great Seal of Ireland. A key restriction prohibited the Baron from alienating any of the lands to “mere Irish” or to those not of English descent. Citing Delvin’s loyal and valorous service during the recent rebellion, Elizabeth further instructed that a portion of the royal forces (horse or foot) be placed under his command for operations in his territory. The letter was enrolled on June 1 by Master of the Rolls A. St. Leger.

Confirmation of Elizabeth’s Fee-Farm Grant

James I routinely validated existing title so loyal families would not lose lands after the change of monarch. The Nugent/Delvin estates were among those explicitly confirmed by royal patent.
These confirmations appear in:

• Patent Rolls of James I (1603–1608)

• Grants relating to Annaly, Granard, Smere, Carnedronee, Lissardowlan, Inchcleraun, and other Longford estates

• The Plantation of Longford grants (1608–1620), many naming Nugents directly

2. Additional Grants by James I

Beyond confirming Elizabeth’s grant, James I also made new grants to the Barons Delvin and later to the Earl of Westmeath, including:

• 1605: Market, fair, and Courts Baron rights for Longford town

• 1608–1620: Large tracts in Smere, Carnedronee, Rosduffe, Faghowry, Drumshanaly, Doonbeggan, Lisardowlan, and others

• Grants of Inchmore Priory and Island, with explicit confirmation in the early James I patents

• Recognition of feudal rights including “held in capite by knight’s service”

These instruments confirm that James I not only honored Elizabeth’s 1597 directive but also strengthened the Delvin holdings.

Conclusion

The 1597 Elizabethan grant was effectively reaffirmed and expanded under King James I, through multiple patents and confirmations recorded between 1603 and 1620. The Nugent/Delvin family’s authority in Annaly/Longford thus spans continuity between both Tudor and Stuart reigns.

Citation

Writs and Summons of the:  Barons/Lord of Westmeath/Annaly and Longford  to  Attend Parliament

• 1371, John Fitz John (Baron of Delvin)  was summoned to Parliament by Writ, dated at Dublin, 13th February in that Year, as Baron of Delvin:  
• Later, Sir William Nugent was summoned to Parliament by Writ as Baron of Delvin, and is commonly called the First Baron of Delvin:  
• Christopher the 6th Baron of Delvin, who sat in the Parliament which was held at Trim in the Reign of Richard 3d:  
• Christopher was the Eighth Baron Delvin, sat in Parliament 20th Elizabeth, and died on the 17th August 1602.  
• Richard the Ninth Baron of Delvin sat in Parliament in 1613 and in 1615, and by Privy Seal, dated at Westminster, 22d November 1621, he was (144.) created created Earl ofWestmeath, to him and the Heirs Male of his Body.  

Below is one of the Barony Grants by King James - Including Grants in Fee Simple of:  The Holy Island in Annaly, the tithes of the lands of Rathline and Cashell and tithes and rectories of the region. Castle of Monilagan or Babington, Castle and Moiety of of Newton, Island of Cloning, Lands of the Abbey of Larha, Castle of Lisnevoa.

Grants to Hold in fee farm forever in common soccage and to maintain two horseman/knights from the Pale for the defence of the kingdom.

Notation: The  clause in the 1996 Deed of Transfer is legally significant because it confirms that the property conveyed — the Feudal Barony or Honour of Longford — is not land but an incorporeal hereditament, and therefore exempt from Section 112 of the Finance Act 1940. That Act imposes stamp duties and taxes on the transfer of land and interests in land; however, a feudal barony is a title of dignity and jurisdiction, not a physical estate. It is a remnant of the medieval system of landholding, existing today as an intangible right of honour and precedence. By certifying that the Finance Act does not apply, the deed establishes that this transaction concerns the transfer of a feudal dignity, not a conveyance of real property. This protects the purchasers from unnecessary property tax liabilities and ensures the barony’s treatment as a distinct legal entity — a heritable noble title rather than taxable land. The clause also provides evidence that the Irish Registry of Deeds recognized the conveyance as a lawful transfer of a feudal title in fee simple, reinforcing the continuity of the barony’s legal existence as a juridical honour, independent of any land or manor once attached to it.