Radner, J. N., ed. Fragmentary Annals of Ireland. Dublin: Dublin
Institute for Advanced Studies, 1978, pp.150–167.
O’Donovan, John, trans. and anno., and Whitley Stokes, ed.
Sanas Chormaic, or Cormac’s Glossary. Calcutta: Privately
Published, 1868.
See alsoCerball mac Muireccáin; Eóganachta;
Gormlaith (d. 948); Uí Néill, Northern; Uí Néill,
Southern
COSHERING
Coshering, or coshery, was a late medieval Anglo-Irish
term derived from the Irish word cóisir. In the Old Irish
period it was known as cáeorcóe. Some scholars think
that, as it was applied in the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries, coshering/cóisirmay have been adapted from
the French word causerie.
Coshering was a type of obligatory hospitality
demanded by a lord of his subjects toward the main-
tenance of his retainers and followers. Usually it took
the form of a banquet lasting two days and two nights
held at or near the time of a major religious festival,
particularly Christmas and Easter, but also Whitsuntide
and Michaelmas. By the 1400s it was used in Anglo-
Irish as well as Gaelic Irish territories. It bore certain
similarities to coyne and livery, with which it was
sometimes confused by observers, but unlike coyne it
was levied exclusively on the wealthier subjects of a
lordship—that is, on those rich enough to provide a
proper feast.
Writing in the 1580s, the Dublin commentator
Richard Stanihurst claimed coshering was an occa-
sion of great merriment and celebration, and he wrote
colorfully of the activities of the bards, harpers, jesters,
professional gamblers, and storytellers who attended
these feasts. However, it had its ugly side, too. Often a
lord could be attended by as many as a hundred follow-
ers (not just armed retainers, but friends and allies), and
his demands for food and drink could be burdensome
to his host. The English government abolished the prac-
tice early in the seventeenth century.
DAVID EDWARDS
References and Further Reading
Binchy, D.A. “Aimser Chue.” In Féil-sgríbhinn Éoin Mhic Néill:
Essays and Studies Presented to Professor Eoin MacNeill,
edited by J. Ryan. Dublin: Sign of the Three Candles, 1940.
Hore, Herbert, and James Graves, eds. Social State of South-
east Ireland in the Sixteenth Century.Dublin: Royal Histor-
ical and Archaeological Association of Ireland, 1870.
Nicholls, Kenneth. Gaelic and Gaelicized Ireland in the Middle
Ages, 2nd ed. Dublin: Lilliput Press, 2003.
Simms, Katharine. “Guesting and Feasting in Gaelic Ireland.”
Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 108
(1978): 67–100.
See alsoArmies; Coyne and Livery; Entertainment;
Gaelicization; Military Service, Gaelic; Society,
Functioning of GaelicCOURCY, JOHN DE
John de Courcy (d. 1219?), known as “Prince of Ulster,”
was from a family originating in Courcy-sur-Dives in
Calvados who held Stoke Courcy (Stogursey) in Somer-
set. He was probably a brother of William de Courcy III
(d. 1171), lord of Stogursey (both had a brother Jordan),
and son of William de Courcy II (fl. c.1125). The latter’s
wife, Avice de Rumilly, was daughter of William
Meschin of Copeland in Cumbria, and John succeeded
to a fraction of his estate (at Middleton Cheney,
Northamptonshire), which suggests his illegitimacy.
Nothing is known of de Courcy’s early life, but he
was possibly reared in northwest England whence
many of his Ulster tenants hailed. The “Song of Der-
mot” claims Henry II granted Ulster to John “if by
force he could conquer it,” but no evidence exists of
Irish involvement until 1176 when, arriving with the
king’s deputy William fitz Audelin, he joined the Dub-
lin garrison. Giraldus records him growing impatient,
assembling 22 knights and 300 others, marching north
in late January 1177, and invading Ulaid (modern
Antrim and Down)—against fitz Audelin’s wishes,
maintains Roger of Howden. About February 1, John
reached Downpatrick, forced Ruaidrí Mac Duinn
Sléibe, king of Ulaid, to flee, and built a castle.
Unsuccessful mediation was attempted by the papal
legate, Cardinal Vivian, who arrived from the Isle of
Man having solemnized King Gudrødr’s marriage to
a daughter of Mac Lochlainn of Cenél nEógain. John
married Gudrødr’s daughter, Affreca (in 1180,
according to the unreliable “Dublin annals of Inis-
fallen”). After early setbacks, he slaughtered the
Ulaid at Down on June 24, but was defeated twice in
1178: by the Fir Lí (from the lower Bann), and by
the Airgialla and Cú Ulad Mac Duinn Sléibe, who
killed 450 Englishmen.
In 1179, John initiated a grand program of ecclesi-
astical patronage, founding new abbeys and priories,
and subjecting unreformed monasteries to new orders
with mother-houses predominantly in Cumbria. In
1185, he “discovered” at Down the bodies of saints
Patrick, Brigit, and Colum Cille, and had them for-
mally reburied. He kept a book of Colum Cille’s proph-
ecies (in Irish), believing they forecast his conquest.
He altered the dedication of Down cathedral from the
Holy Trinity to St. Patrick (for which, according to the
Book of Howth,God later took vengeance), commis-
sioned a Life of Patrick by Jocelin of Furness, minted
halfpence bearing the saint’s name—and it is possibleCORMAC MAC CUILENNÁIN (836–908)