Byrne, Francis John. “Historical Note on Cnogba.” R.I.A. Proc.
66 C (1967): 387–388.
Byrne, Francis John. Irish Kings and High-Kings, new ed.
Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2000, pp. 163–164.
MacShamhráin, Ailbhe. Church and Polity in Pre-Norman
Ireland. Maynooth: An Sagart, 1996, pp. 78, 80, 84, 86, 137.
Meyer, Kuno, ed. “The song of the Sword of Cerball.” Gaelic
Journal10 (1900): 613–616.
Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí. “Rewriting Irish Political History in the
Tenth Century.” In Seanchas: Studies in Early and Medieval
Irish Archaeology, History and Literature in Honour of
Francis J. Byrne, edited by Alfred P. Smyth. Dublin: Four
Courts Press, 2000, pp. 212–224.
O’Nowlan, T. P., ed. “The Quarrel About the Loaf.” Ériú 1
(1904): 128–137.
See alsoUí Dúnlainge; Laigin; Tánaiste; Osraige;
Cerball mac Dúngaile; Leinster, Book of; Óenach;
Uí Néill, Southern; Gormlaith; Cormac mac
Cuilennáin; Dublin.
CHARTERS AND CHARTULARIES
The study of Irish charters is made difficult by the
massive loss of archives that began with the wars and
land-confiscations of the seventeenth century and did
not end with the destruction in 1922 of the Public
Record Office in Dublin. The earliest Irish records
recording land transactions were in the form of noti-
tiae, often entered in religious manuscripts, such as
the well-known eleventh- and twelfth-century exam-
ples in the Book of Kells. The notitiaform continued
to be used in Irish-language documents down to 1600.
By the early twelfth century, however, Irish kings were
making grants of lands to monasteries (and possibly
to laymen), written in Latin and using the standard
formulae of the European charter of the day. The
Anglo-Norman invasion and settlement introduced a
society in which the use of charters was universal. The
only major Irish medieval secular charter collection
that survives intact is that of the Butlers of Ormond,
now in the National Library of Ireland. Most of the
documents of ecclesiastical provenance in the collec-
tion have been printed in full: the remainder down to
1603, with omissions, are listed in a published Calendar,
often highly inaccurate. Only portions of the Kildare
archive are known to survive, while those of some
minor families, the Dowdalls of County Louth and
theSarsfields and Lombards of Cork, have survived
more or less intact. Portions of other archives also
survive. Of the cities, only Dublin and Waterford have
preserved medieval charters.
Completely spurious (forged) charters are rare in
Ireland. A commoner form of forgery was the “improve-
ment” of charters by the insertion of spurious clauses
when they were presented (if the originals were in poor
condition) for certification by bishops or others, or
(inthe case of municipal charters of privileges) for
confirmation by successive English sovereigns. An
extreme example is King John’s charter to Waterford,
where we can trace its growth in successive versions
with the insertion of further, often wildly anachronistic,
privileges. Domnall Mór Ua Briain’s foundation charter
of Clare Abbey is preserved only in an “improved”
version of 1461. A number of Irish monastic chartularies
survive, all of which (except the Great Register of St.
Thomas, Dublin) have been published, as have a chartu-
lary of the archbishops of Dublin (Crede Mihi), the
chartulary of the episcopal see of Limerick (The Black
Book of Limerick), and three surviving lay chartularies
(The Red Book of Ormond,The Red Book of the Earls
of Kildare, and The Gormanston Register). The other
Dublin archiepiscopal chartulary, Archbishop Alen’s
Register, has been calendared in print. The Elizabethan
chartulary of Sir Richard Shee, which contains much
medieval material, remains in manuscript.
A form of record that became important in late medi-
eval Ireland was the notarial instrument, since Irish nota-
ries (appointed by papal and imperial authority) in the
autonomous regions were not restricted, as were their
counterparts in England, to purely ecclesiastical matters.
A considerable number survive, often highly artistic in
the “signs” by which they were authenticated.
KENNETH NICHOLLSReferences and Further Reading
Dauvit Broun, The Charters of Gaelic Scotland and Ireland in
the early Central Middle Ages(Cambridge, 1995).
Philomena Connolly, Medieval record sources(Dublin, 2002).
J. T. Gilbert (ed.), Historic and municipal documents of Ireland,
AD 1172-1320(London, 1870).
J. T. Gilbert (ed.), Facsimiles of the national manuscripts of
Ireland, 4 vols (Dublin, 1874-8).
Richard Hayes (ed.), The manuscript sources for the history of
Irish civilization, 11 vols (Boston, Mass., 1965); first sup-
plement, 1965-1973, 3 vols (Boston, Mass., 1979).
Gearóid Mac Niocaill (ed.), Na búirgéisí xii-xv aois, 2 vols
(Dublin, 1964).
J. C. Walton, The royal charters of Waterford(Waterford, 1979).
Herbert Wood, A guide to the records deposited in the Public
Records of Ireland(Dublin, 1919).
Dr Marie Therese Flanagan is preparing an edition of the char-
ters of Irish kings.
See alsoFeudalism; Hiberno-Norman (Latin); Kells,
Book of; Law, Common; Records, Administrative;
Records, Ecclesiastical; Scriptoria;
Urban Administration; Wills and TestamentsCHIEF GOVERNORS
The term “chief governor” has been used by historians
from the eighteenth century on to describe those offi-
cials who, under various titles, occupied the position
of principal officer in the central administration of theCERBALL MAC MUIRECCÁIN (d. 909)