Spiritual and Sacred Sovereignty (The Ecclesiastical Pillar) Sacred Sites Owned by Baron Delvin

In medieval Ireland, true "Seignory" required control over the church. The Nugents systematically acquired the "advowsons" (rights to appoint clergy) and lands of the region's most sacred sites.

• The Logic: By owning the Abbey of Fore, the Priory of Abbeylara, and the Holy Islands of Lough Ree (Inchcleraun and Inchmore), the family controlled the "spiritual machinery" of the Kingdom of Annaly.

• The Claim: To the Earl, holding the "Holy Islands" meant he held the spiritual heart of the old Kingdom, making his lordship divine as well as legal.The Earl of Westmeath’s belief that his family held the Honour and Seignory of Longford (or Annaly/Teffia) was not based on a single document, but on a "triple-lock" of legal, historical, and spiritual claims. To him, the Nugents were not just landlords; they were the Crown-sanctioned successors to the ancient Gaelic and Norman rulers of that region.

The rationale can be broken down into four distinct "pillars" of authority:

1. The "De Lacy" Succession (The Norman Pillar)

The Earls of Westmeath traced their authority back to the 1172 Liberty of Meath.

• The Logic: King Henry II granted the entire Kingdom of Meath to Hugh de Lacy with "Palatine" (near-royal) powers. The Nugents were de Lacy’s primary barons.

• The Claim: When the senior de Lacy male line failed, the Nugents believed they "inherited" the western portion of that palatine authority. This gave them the legal right to view themselves as "Sub-Palatine Lords" over the territories stretching toward the Shannon (Longford).

2. "The King's Chosen Heir" (The Tudor Pillar)

During the 16th century, the English Crown systematically dismantled the power of the native Gaelic princes, the O’Farrells of Annaly.

• The Logic: Rather than leaving a power vacuum, the Tudors issued "Letters Patent" that transferred the O'Farrells' rights to the Nugents.

• The 1565 "Captaincy": Queen Elizabeth I formally named the Baron Delvin as the Captain and Chief of "Slewght William" (the heart of Longford).

• The Claim: By holding the Captaincy, the Earl believed he had replaced the Gaelic Prince as the military and political leader of the "nation" of Annaly.

3. Spiritual and Sacred Sovereignty (The Ecclesiastical Pillar)

In medieval Ireland, true "Seignory" required control over the church. The Nugents systematically acquired the "advowsons" (rights to appoint clergy) and lands of the region's most sacred sites.

• The Logic: By owning the Abbey of Fore, the Priory of Abbeylara, and the Holy Islands of Lough Ree (Inchcleraun and Inchmore), the family controlled the "spiritual machinery" of the Kingdom of Annaly.

• The Claim: To the Earl, holding the "Holy Islands" meant he held the spiritual heart of the old Kingdom, making his lordship divine as well as legal.

4. The 1605 "Caput" of Longford (The Stuart Pillar)

The final piece of the puzzle was the creation of Longford Town as a commercial and legal center.

• The Logic: In 1605, King James I granted the Baron Delvin the rights to hold markets, fairs, and Courts Leet/Baron in Longford.

• The Claim: A "Seignory" is defined by the right to hold a court. By holding the courts in the capital of the shire, the Earl believed he held the "Honour" (the highest level of feudal lordship) over the entire county.

Summary of the "Rationales"

The "Incorporeal Hereditament"

By the time of the later Earls, they viewed this "Honour of Annaly" as an incorporeal hereditament—a form of property that exists as a right rather than just physical dirt. This is why, as recently as the 1990s, the Earl of Westmeath believed he still held the "title" to the Seignory of Longford and was able to convey it to others in fee simple, even if he no longer owned every acre of the county.

Ecclesiastical & Sacred Properties Granted to the Barons of Delvin

(later consolidated under the Earls of Westmeath)

I. ABBEYS, PRIORIES & FRIARIES (by express Crown grant)

1. Holy Island Priory (Inchcleraun / Inis Clothrann)

• Type: Augustinian priory

• Location: Lough Ree, Annaly / Longford–Westmeath

• Grant: Elizabeth I (to Lady Delvin and Richard Nugent)

• Included:

  • Site of the priory

  • Buildings and precinct

  • Lands, tithes, rectories, vicarages

• Status: Principal sacred holding of Delvin in Annaly

• Note: One of the most important early Christian sites in the Midlands

2. Inchmore Monastery (Inismore / Inis Mór)

• Type: Monastic site with cemetery

• Location: Annaly (Longford region)

• Grant: Elizabeth I / James I

• Included:

  • Cemetery

  • Cottages and pasture

  • Associated demesne lands

• Status: Secondary holy island complex

3. Fore Abbey (Friary of Fore / Fower)

• Type: Benedictine / Augustinian house

• Location: Westmeath (on Annaly frontier)

• Grant: Henry VIII / Elizabeth I confirmations

• Included:

  • Friary site

  • Manors and lands

  • Dependent ecclesiastical property

• Status: One of Delvin’s earliest dissolution grants

4. Abbey of Abbeylara (Lerha / Larha)

• Type: Cistercian abbey

• Location: Longford (Annaly)

• Grant: Elizabeth I / James I (via attainder & dissolution)

• Included:

  • Abbey lands

  • Granges

• Status: Former O’Farrell religious center absorbed into Delvin holdings

5. Priory / Religious House of Granard

• Type: Monastic establishment and precinct

• Location: Granard, Annaly

• Grant: Philip & Mary / Elizabeth I

• Included:

  • Site, granges, fisheries

• Status: Central to Delvin’s Annaly authority

6. Hospital / Termon of Termonbarry (Termon-Varra)

• Type: Termon (church sanctuary estate / hospital)

• Location: Roscommon (ecclesiastical jurisdiction extended to Delvin)

• Grant: Elizabeth I / James I

• Included:

  • Termon lands

• Status: Sacred protection estate converted to lay tenure

7. Chapel of St. Finnan (St. Fynnan’s Chapel)

• Type: Chapel and religious house

• Location: Clonagh / Killowan area (Dublin–Wicklow region)

• Grant: Elizabeth I

• Included:

  • Site

  • Buildings

  • Enclosed lands

• Status: Urban religious property from dissolution

8. Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (property holdings)

• Type: Hospitaller estates

• Location: Dublin, Wicklow, Meath

• Grant: Elizabeth I / James I

• Included:

  • Lands formerly of the Knights Hospitaller

• Status: Former crusading religious estate secularized to Delvin line

II. HOLY ISLANDS & SACRED ISLAND SITES

9. Inchcleraun (Holy Island / Saints’ Island)

• Type: Early Christian holy island

• Grant: Explicit, repeated Crown grants

• Status:

  • Spiritual centerpiece of Delvin’s Annaly holdings

  • Included churches, burial grounds, saints’ ruins

10. Inchmore (Inis Mór)

• Type: Sacred island with cemetery

• Grant: Elizabeth I / James I

• Status: Lesser holy island attached to monastic estate

11. Cloninge / Cloning Island

• Type: Island with ecclesiastical association

• Grant: Elizabeth I

• Status: Attached to attainted Gaelic estates

III. PARISH RECTORIES, Vicarages & ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTIONS

(church property, not secular lordship)

Granted expressly to Delvin:

• Rathline (Rathcline) – rectory, vicarage, tithes

• Cashel – rectory, vicarage, tithes

• Sruhir

• Killire

• Killnomer

• Kilronen

These are church temporalities, not civil lordships.

IV. CONSOLIDATION UNDER THE EARLS OF WESTMEATH

When Richard Nugent was created Earl of Westmeath (1621–1622), all of the above ecclesiastical and sacred properties:

• Passed into the earldom estate

• Continued to be held:

  • In fee farm or common socage

  • Of the Castle of Dublin

• Formed one of the largest consolidated portfolios of former sacred land in the Midlands

FINAL SUMMARY (concise)

By Crown grant, the Barons of Delvin—and later the Earls of Westmeath—became owners of Holy Island (Inchcleraun), Inchmore, Fore Abbey, Abbeylara, the monastic precincts of Granard, Termonbarry, St. Finnan’s Chapel, Hospitaller estates, and multiple rectories, vicarages, and sacred islands, forming the dominant post-dissolution ecclesiastical estate in Annaly and the central Irish Midlands.