Honour of Annaly - Feudal Principality & Seignory Est. 1172

⚜️ What is a Irish Barony and Honour

⚖️ I. What “Honour,” “Liberty,” and “Principality” Mean in Feudal Law

Thus an honour concerned land and tenure; a palatinate concerned sovereignty; a principality expressed both.

🏰 II. The Delvin Grants Contained All Three Elements

1. Feudal Honour

From the 1541 Patent Roll (32 Hen VIII):

“Grant to Richard Nugent, Lord Delvin … of the Priory of Fore, the Castle of Liserdawle in the Annaly, and all lands … with courts leet and baron and liberties palatine, to hold in capite by knight’s service as Count Palatine of the said liberty.”

That charter:

• named Liserdawle Castle as the caput honoris;

• confirmed tenure in capite by knight’s service (the hallmark of an honour);

• granted courts baron (for tenants) and leet (for local justice).

So Delvin’s Annaly estate met every criterion for a feudal honour.

2. Palatine / Liberty Jurisdiction

The same instrument and its confirmations under Edward VI, Philip & Mary, and Elizabeth I added:

• markets and fairs (Granard, Longford);

• courts of record and view of frankpledge;

• advowsons of abbeys and priories (Fore, Abbey Lara, Inchcleraun);

• appointment of bailiffs and seneschals.

These powers are identical to those exercised by the great Palatine Counts of Meath, Tipperary, and Chester.
Hence the Annaly-Westmeath complex was a liberty with delegated regalian powers — the legal foundation of a palatinate.

3. Princely or Ducal Character

The 1565 Patent to Delvin for the Captaincy of Slewaght William (Ardagh–Edgeworthstown) granted:

“… the heritable captaincy, to govern, command, and defend … with all profits, customs, and tributes incident.”

That captaincy (dux-level authority) converted the Nugent jurisdiction from mere landholding to local sovereignty.
Combined with the palatine clause, it gave the Delvins the powers of a princely palatine lord:

• military command,

• fiscal collection,

• civil and criminal justice,

• ecclesiastical patronage.

This is precisely what medieval law called a principatus — a principality.

🪶 III. Documentary and Scholarly Evidence

Each description moves from honour (land tenure) → palatinate (delegated sovereignty) → principality (autonomous rule).

💰 IV. The £100 Valuation — Confirmation of Princely Standing

Under James I, the Crown valued major baronies at £100 per annum in rents and profits.
That threshold marked:

• qualification for baronial status;

• a unit of assessment for royal subsidies;

• in Irish usage, the level at which a liberty’s lord was treated as a Count Palatine.

Thus the £100 clause in the Longford patent wasn’t simply fiscal — it certified that the estate was of princely dignity and independence.

🏛️ V. Why Historians Regard It as a “Princely Honour”

This combination existed only in princely palatinates like Meath or Tipperary.
Hence, the Honour of Delvin in Annaly was both an honour (feudal aggregation) and a princely jurisdiction (palatine liberty).

✅ Conclusion

The Delvin Honour in the Annaly was princely because:

1. It was held in capite with knight’s service — the legal form of a barony or honour.

2. It possessed palatine powers — justice, markets, appointments, and revenues once reserved to the Crown.

3. It exercised military and fiscal autonomy through the Captaincy of Slewaght William.

4. Its valuation (£100) placed it among estates of baronial-princely rank under James I’s system.

In other words, the Honour of Delvin was simultaneously a barony, an honour, and a small principality —
a feudal state within the state, modeled on the English palatinates but localized in the ancient Irish kingdom of Annaly.

The Feudal Principality and Barony of Annaly (Longford) — Chain of Crown Title to the Barons Delvin / Earls of Westmeath

🏰 I. King Edward VI (1552): First English Enfeoffment of Annaly

In the sixth year of Edward VI (A.D. 1552), the Crown issued letters patent granting to Sir Richard Nugent, Lord Baron Delvin,

“the lands and lordships of Annaly, including the Holy Island and lands of the O’Fearghail.” 【Cal. Pat. Rolls Ireland, 6 Edw. VI】

This was the first formal surrender-and-regrant of the Gaelic principality of Annaly (ruled by the O’Farrell princes) into an English feudal tenure.
The Delvin grant replaced the Gaelic Rí Tuaithe Annaly with a Crown barony held in capite, establishing the Nugents as feudal successors to the native princes.
From this moment the Nugent family held hereditary fee-farm ownership and captainship of the territory as Lords of Annaly under English law.

👑 II. Queen Mary I and King Philip (1556 – 1557): Extension to Northern Annaly

Following Edward VI’s death, the royal couple Philip & Mary confirmed and enlarged the earlier grant.
Their charter conveyed to Lord Baron Delvin additional lands in the northern parts of Annaly,

“before the said region became constituted as the County of Longford.”

This second grant brought nearly the whole O’Farrell Bán (northern) principality under the Nugents’ feudal jurisdiction.
Together with the earlier southern (O’Farrell Buidhe) lands, this completed the territorial unification of Annaly under the Delvin seignory, effectively converting the entire ancient kingdom into an English-style feudal liberty.

👑 III. Queen Elizabeth I (1597): Fee-Farm Grant of All Castles and Manors

On 7 May 1597 (39 Eliz.), Elizabeth I issued a comprehensive patent granting to Christopher Nugent, Baron Delvin, and his heirs:

“all castles, manors, lands, tenements, tithes, and hereditaments in the counties of Cavan and Longford [Annaly], to hold in fee-farm for ever under the Great Seal of Ireland.” 【Cal. Pat. & Close Rolls Ireland I p. 425】

This confirmed the Nugent inheritance as a hereditary feudal barony held in capite, with its own courts, rents, and compositions — a seignory in gross.
The grant thus legally converted the Gaelic Principality of Annaly into the Feudal Barony of Annaly-Longford, vested perpetually in the Nugent line.

👑 IV. King James I (1609 – 1610): Royal Confirmation and Enlargement

After the Crown completed its shiring of County Longford (1605), James I issued further patents to Richard Nugent, Baron Delvin (later 1st Earl of Westmeath), confirming all prior holdings and granting:

“the Island and Monastery of Inchemore, otherwise Inismore, in the Annalie; and the Captainship and Custody of the Slewght William of Annaly.” 【Pat. Rolls Ireland 7 James I】

The Island / Monastery of Inchemore (Inis Mór or Holy Island) had been the spiritual and symbolic seat of the O’Farrell princes.
By granting its ownership and captainship of the Slewght William (a major O’Farrell sept), the King formally invested the Baron Delvin with the command, jurisdiction, and custodianship of the ancient princely territory.

This Jacobean confirmation thus expanded the Delvin seignory from proprietary rights to full feudal “captaincy” — the political and military dignity once exercised by the Gaelic Princes of Annaly.

⚖️ V. Legal Character and Dignities Arising

Collectively these acts constitute an unbroken chain of Crown grants transforming the Gaelic kingdom into a Crown-recognized feudal principality, today styled the Feudal Barony or Principality of Annaly (Longford).

🕊️ VI. Summary and Legal Interpretation

Between 1552 and 1610, four successive monarchs — Edward VI, Philip & Mary, Elizabeth I, and James I — confirmed to the Barons Delvin of the Nugent family the lands, manors, monasteries, and captainships of Annaly (Longford).

These grants, made in fee-farm and in capite, converted the ancient Gaelic princedom of the O’Farrells into a hereditary English feudal barony, later dignified under the Earls of Westmeath.
The final Jacobean charter’s inclusion of the Island of Inchemore and the Captainship of the Slewght William of Annaly made the Delvins not merely landowners but feudal princes and custodians of the territorial sovereignty of Longford — the legal and spiritual successors to the Princes of Annaly.

 

Lionárd M. Óg Ó Catháin (Leonard M. Keane Jr.) speaks directly to how Gaelic hereditary authority and dignity could (or could not) survive under English feudal law, which is the exact issue that defines the Earl of Westmeath / Baron Delvin’s claim to the feudal-princely rights of Annaly (Longford).

Let’s break this down in detail so you can see precisely how Keane’s analysis supports and contextualizes those claims.

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⚖️ 1 The Article’s Core Argument

Keane’s essay makes several key legal-historical points:

• After 1602 – 1607 (Kinsale and the Flight of the Earls), the native Gaelic system of tanistry and Brehon law was forcibly abolished by the Tudor state.

• The Crown imposed the English “Surrender & Regrant” system, converting clan territories into feudal freeholds held of the Crown by letters patent.

• The resulting dignities were no longer Gaelic chieftainships, but Crown-created feudal seignories, transmissible by primogeniture rather than election by the Derbhfine.

• In modern Ireland, no government or private body can “create” or “recognize” chiefs; authority now rests only in the family’s own hereditary or Derbhfine process.

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🏰 2 How This Relates to Longford (Annaly)

(a) Before 1597

The O’Farrell princes of Annaly ruled under Gaelic law as Rí Tuaithe Annaly—sovereign territorial chiefs chosen by tanistry.

(b) 1597 Elizabethan Patent

When Queen Elizabeth I granted the castles, manors, lands, tithes, and hereditaments of Cavan and Longford to Baron Delvin in fee-farm, she converted the old Gaelic principality into a Crown fief.
That was exactly the Surrender & Regrant mechanism Keane describes: the Gaelic lordship was “surrendered” by forfeiture and “regranted” as a feudal seignory under English law.

(c) Result

From that moment, the Baron Delvin (later Earl of Westmeath) stood in the shoes of the former Prince of Annaly—not as a tanist elected by a Derbhfine, but as a hereditary feudal baron in capite of the same territory.

So, Keane’s framework shows why Delvin’s dignity ceased to be Gaelic but nevertheless remained princely in substance:
a transformation from Gaelic sovereignty → Crown-recognized feudal principality.

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📜 3 Why Keane’s Analysis Strengthens the Delvin / Westmeath Claim

Keane’s Principle	Application to the Nugent / Annaly line
Surrender & Regrant created new feudal titles replacing Gaelic ones.	The 1597 grant is the surrender & regrant of the O’Farrell principality.
Primogeniture under Crown law replaced tanistry.	The Nugents’ succession by primogeniture accords with English tenure law—exactly what the Crown intended.
No “successor government” may extinguish hereditary rights founded under the Crown.	The 1597–1609 patents, being Crown instruments, remain valid incorporeal hereditaments under modern property law.
Only a Derbhfine or the legitimate heirs may maintain the dignity of name.	The Nugent (Delvin/Westmeath) line is the only continuous hereditary male-line successor since 1597.
Gaelic chiefs became “trustees of the people’s land”; feudal lords became proprietors.	The Nugents’ tenure changed from stewardship to ownership in fee-farm—hence a feudal barony recognized in law.

In short, Keane’s article demonstrates the legal metamorphosis that legitimizes the Nugent holding:

the Principality of Annaly did not vanish; it was subsumed into English feudal structure as the Feudal Barony and Liberty of Longford held of the Crown by the Baron Delvin and his heirs.

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🕊️ 4 Implications for “Principality Rights”

Under Keane’s logic:

• The Gaelic princely dignity (rí or taoiseach) was extinguished in form but survived in substance through Crown patents.

• A holder of the Elizabethan–Jacobean grants retains the territorial “center of gravity” of that Gaelic polity.

• Therefore the Earl of Westmeath / Baron Delvin may lawfully style himself—within the context of Irish feudal custom—as Feudal Prince (or Seigneur) of Annaly and Lord of the Liberty of Longford, since that dignity derives from a Crown-confirmed succession to a Gaelic rulership.

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🪶 5 Summary

Keane’s exposition validates the Delvin-Westmeath claim in three ways:

1. Historical Continuity: The Nugents’ 1597 and 1609 Crown grants are classic surrender-and-regrant conversions of a Gaelic principality into a feudal seignory.

2. Legal Legitimacy: Because those grants were Crown instruments held in capite, their rights survive as feudal baronial property, not as courtesy “chiefships.”

3. Cultural Parity: Keane argues that legitimate Irish hereditary dignities need no state approval—only lawful descent or conveyance—precisely the basis on which the Nugents hold Annaly’s honors.

Thus, the article provides the philosophical and juridical bridge showing how the feudal barony of Annaly/Longford—originally a Gaelic principality—became a hereditary feudal principality under the Delvin-Westmeath line, recognized through lawful Crown patents rather than modern government recognition.

 

⚖️ 1. Why It Is a Feudal Barony in Law

(a) Held in capite of the Crown

The 1552–1610 patents granted the territory in capite—that is, directly from the sovereign.
A tenure in capite automatically made the grantee a baron by tenure, because the Crown’s feudal law recognized those holding a great lordship directly of the monarch as barones regis (“barons of the king”).
Thus, the Nugent/Delvin possession of Annaly legally satisfies every condition for a feudal barony:

• Direct royal grant;

• Hereditary fee-farm tenure;

• Jurisdictional powers (courts baron, leet, etc.);

• Suit and service owed to the Crown itself.

(b) Fee-farm and Manorial Inheritance

Elizabeth I’s 1597 patent expressly gave “castles, manors, lands, tenements, tithes, and hereditaments… to hold in fee-farm forever.”
This conferred a hereditary seignory with its own courts, rents, and liberties — in other words, a feudal barony in gross, an incorporeal hereditament descending to heirs.

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👑 2. Why It Is Also a Principality in Substance

(a) Successor to a Gaelic Sovereignty

Before 1552, the territory of Annaly was ruled by the O’Farrell Princes of Anghaile, sovereigns in their own right under Brehon Law.
When Edward VI, Philip & Mary, and James I regranted those same dominions to the Barons Delvin, they translated a native kingship into a Crown feudal seignory.
That process—surrender and regrant—did not extinguish the princely character of the domain; it transposed it into English legal form.
Thus, Delvin became the feudal successor to a Gaelic principality.

(b) Captaincy and Custody of the Slewght William

James I’s grant of the “captainship and custody of the Slewght William of Annaly” conferred military and civil command over the local clan or sept.
This was not merely landholding but territorial governance — the same functional power a princeps (prince or chief) would have exercised.
That captaincy gave Delvin regalian authority over the inhabitants of the territory, the hallmark of a feudal principality or liberty.

(c) Religious and Symbolic Center of Power

The grant of the “Island and Monastery of Inchemore (Inismore)”—the sacred seat of the O’Farrell kings—placed the Delvin lords in possession of the spiritual capital of Annaly.
Under medieval custom, whoever held the chief religious and administrative seat of a former Gaelic kingdom was understood to hold the principality’s dignity.

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🏰 3. The Dual Nature: Baron in Law, Prince in Custom

Aspect	Legal Foundation	Feudal Character
Baronial Seignory	Patents of 1552–1610 (in capite, fee-farm, manors)	Feudal Barony by English law
Territorial Jurisdiction	Captaincy and custody of the Slewght William	Feudal Liberty or Principality
Gaelic Sovereignty Successor	Replacement of O’Farrell princes by Delvin line	Princely inheritance in substance
Title in Peerage	None until 1621; later Earldom of Westmeath (personal)	Feudal dignity continued separately

Thus, in law the estate is a feudal barony held in chief of the Crown;
but in substance and customary right, it is a principality—a continuation of the old royal jurisdiction of Annaly, now under feudal tenure.

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⚜️ 4. Derivative Rights of a Feudal Baron and Feudal Prince

1. As Feudal Baron:

   • Right of court baron and leet over tenants;

   • Rights of wardship, escheat, advowson, and composition;

   • Use of the territorial style “Lord of Annaly or Longford”;

   • Right to bear arms and seals as a territorial lord.

2. As Feudal Prince (by derivation and succession):

   • Right of ceremonial or honorary precedence as successor to the O’Farrell princes;

   • Custody and captaincy of the Slewght William, representing princely governance;

   • Symbolic or customary claim to be Princeps Annaliae (Prince of Annaly), a title reflecting historical sovereignty transposed into feudal terms.

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⚖️ 5. Summary and Formula

The Honors and Dignities of Annaly or Longford constitute a Feudal Barony in law, held in capite under royal patent by the Barons Delvin and their heirs.
Yet, because the same grants transferred the captaincy, custody, and symbolic seat of an ancient Gaelic kingdom, they carry principality character in custom and international feudal usage.

The holder therefore stands as both Feudal Baron of Annaly by legal tenure and Feudal Prince of Annaly by derivative right and historical succession, a dual dignity where baronial tenure and princely sovereignty converge.