[Illustration: COVER OF ST. PATRICK'S BELL.]
[Illustration: DESMOND CASTLE AND RATH, LIMERICK.]
[208] _Dagger_.--The king visited the shrine on his way to battle, and hanging up his dagger, the then symbol of knightly valour, vowed to release it with a kingly ransom if God gave him the victory. He obtained his desire, and nobly fulfilled his vow.
[209] _Tyrants_.--J. Roderick O'Flanagan, Esq., M.R.I.A., has permitted me to extract the account of the battle of Dundalk from his valuable and interesting _History of Dundalk and its Environs._ Dublin: Hodges and Smith, 1864. This gentleman has devoted himself specially to elucidating the subject, and with a kindness which I cannot easily forget, permits me to avail myself, not only of his literary labours, but even to transfer to the pages of this work several complete pages from his own.
[210] _Chess_.--Flann Sionna, Monarch of Ireland, had encamped on this plain, and ostentatiously commenced a game of chess as a mark of contempt for the chieftains whose country he had invaded. His folly met its just punishment, for he was ignominiously defeated. See _Wars of the Gaedhil_, p. 113, note.
[211] _Valour.--Wars of the Gaedhil_, p. 101.
[212] _Belach-Lechta_.--The site has not been definitely ascertained. Some authorities place it near Macroom, co. Cork.
[213] _Glen-Mama_.--The Glen of the Gap, near Dunlavin. This was the ancient stronghold of the kings of Leinster in Wicklow. There is a long and very interesting note on the locality, by the Rev. J.F. Shearman, R.C.C., in the "Introduction" to the _Wars of the Gaedhil_. He mentions that pits have been discovered even recently, containing the remains of the slain.
[214] _Deeds_.--The origin of surnames is also attributed to Brian Boroimhé, from a fragment in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, supposed to be a portion of a life of that monarch written by his poet Mac Liag. Surnames were generally introduced throughout Europe in the tenth and twelfth centuries. The Irish gave their names to their lands. In other countries patronymics were usually taken from the names of the hereditary possessions.
[215] _Fifty-three_.--See Dr. O'Donovan's note to Annals, p. 747.
[216] _Fidh-Gaibhli_.--Now Feegile, near Portarlington.