Leix (Meiler)

Who he is

Name

Meiler FitzHenry

Title

Lord of Leix (Loigis)

Since

About 1182, when Hugh de Lacy gave him Leix in exchange for Carbury in Kildare and built him a castle at Timahoe

Born

About 1160

Family

See Justiciar of Ireland

Confidence

medium

His Meath fees (Magheritherinan, Rathkenny and Ardnurcher in the Song of Dermot) are named in the tradition of Hugh de Lacy's enfeoffments; we could not check them against a charter.

Overlord

The lord of Leinster for Leix; the lord of Meath for the Meath fees

What it holds

• Leix (Loigis) with the castle of Timahoe (1182)
• Fees in Meath of the Lacy lordship (Ardnurcher and others; thin)

How it was acquired

Hugh de Lacy's exchange about 1182, after John's agents took Carbury from him.

Allies and rivals

Rival of the Marshal over who governs Leinster; the Ui Mordha of Leix are his unwilling tenants.

How things stand that morning

Held as castle-ground in Irish country.

Wealth

Rents and cattle of a frontier fee.

Military

The motte at Timahoe and his household.

Threats

• The Ui Mordha
• The Marshal's claim that Leix is his to give

Places of note

• Timahoe motte: Castle built for Meiler by Hugh de Lacy, 1182

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Timahoe and the exchange are in the DNB account; the bounds and the Meath fees are not pinned.

On the map: Castle-lands only.

Primary sources for Lordship of Ireland

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Annals of Clonmacnoise, Anonymous; English translation of a lost Irish chronicle by Conall Mac Geoghegan (medieval original lost; translated 1627). A midland chronicle, tied to Clonmacnoise and the kings of Meath and Connacht, surviving only in a 1627 translation. Read online
• Annals of Inisfallen, Anonymous (monks of Inisfallen, Kerry, and earlier of Emly and Lismore) (the manuscript was written in 1092 and continued at Inisfallen in many contemporary hands to 1450). The Munster chronicle, written in Kerry in a hand close to the events. Read online
• Annals of Loch Ce, Various (compiled for the Mac Diarmada of Moylurg) (compiled 1580s from older annals; the medieval section rests on a Connacht chronicle). The fullest Connacht account of the year: Cathal Carrach's seizure of the kingship, Cathal Crobderg's flight north, the Connacht expedition of de Courcy and the Ui Neill on Crobderg's behalf and its defeat, William de Burgh's role, and the devastation of the province's churches, with the names of the Connacht nobles and clergy who died. Read online
• Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters, Various; compiled by Micheal O Cleirigh and others (1632 to 1636, from medieval annals now partly lost). A seventeenth century compilation but it draws on lost medieval annals, so its 1200 entries add names and incidents missing elsewhere: the Connacht war and the English of Meath and Munster, the deaths of Irish kings and churchmen across the island, and raids in Thomond and Desmond. Read online
• Annals of Ulster, Various; compiled by Cathal Mac Maghnusa (compiled about 1498 from much older annals; the entries for 1200 derive from contemporary record). The most reliable Irish annal for the north. Read online
• Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
• Mac Carthaigh's Book (Miscellaneous Irish Annals), Anonymous (a Munster compilation) (compiled in the later Middle Ages from Munster annals; manuscript of the 17th century). A Munster annal with a Mac Carthaig and Desmond slant, giving for the years around 1200 the kings of Desmond and Thomond, their wars with each other and with the English of Cork and Limerick, and the castles the settlers were building. Read online
• The History of William Marshal, Anonymous (a poet called John, writing for the Marshal family) (about 1224 to 1226). A knight's view of the Angevin succession: the council at Vaudreuil in April 1199 where the Marshal and Hubert Walter argued for John over Arthur, the Marshal's crossing to secure England, John's coronation, and the Marshal's part in Normandy in 1199 and 1200 as holder of Longueville and Orbec and a go-between with Philip. Read online

7 more in the sources library for The British Isles.