THE TERLAGH O BRIENE AND ELLINORIE BRIENE CHALICE. A CHARLES I IRISH PROVINCIAL SILVER RECUSANT COMMUNION CUP, MAKER'S MARK ONLY, APPARENTLY INITIALS ABOVE A DEVICE IN A SHIELD, DATED 1643

In 1956/57 in the possession of Mr. James Raftery, Woodlawn, co. Galway, Ireland.

Rev. Patrick K. Egan, 'Clonfert Museum and its Collections,' Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society, vol. 27, 1956/57, p. 40

Tony Sweeney, Irish Stuart Silver, A Catalogue Raisonné, Dublin, 1995, p. 34, no. 159, with reference to a photograph if the Dr. Kurt Ticher Archive.

The inscription reads: 'This Challice was made for Terlagh O Briene and Ellinorie Brieñe of Comoragh the 26^th of 8^bre [i.e. October] 1643'

The year 1643, the date of the inscription on this chalice, found Ireland in turmoil. It was the beginning of the Irish Confederate Wars (1641-1652) and that twelvemonth alone saw the continuation of the Siege of Forthill as well as the battles of New Ross, co. Wexford (18 March), Funcheon Ford near Fermoy, co. Cork (4 June) and Portlester, about 40 miles from Dublin (7 August).

Hostilities had begun in 1641 when a group of Catholic landowners unsuccessfully challenged the English administration in Ireland under Charles I. Their aim had been to gain concessions for Catholics but their defeat led to widespread unrest when English Protestant settlers suffered attacks by the native Irish population. As the rebellion developed the situation became more serious, with random acts of violence against the settlers, robbery, house burnings, evictions and even killings. It has been estimated that some 12,000 Protestants perished, either by slaughter or by disease and destitution during that winter. Inevitably, Catholics endured reprisals and the state of affairs spiralled out of control until March 1642 when the rebellion turned to outright war.

During the spring and summer of 1642 English and Scottish forces accompanied by local loyalists mustered in Ireland to defeat the rebels. They might have succeeded were in not for the outbreak of the English Civil War in October, the same month as a Catholic Confederation was formed at Kilkenny, with its own constitution and coinage.

As landowning Catholics, senior members of the O'Brien family could not have been unaware of their country's slide into chaos. Records are scarce but information gleaned from his researches by John O'Hart (Irish Pedigrees; or, The Origin and Stem of The Irish Nation, first published in Dublin in 1876) found that in the early years of the 17^th century the 'Terlagh O Briene . . . of Comoragh' of the chalice's inscription was Anthony O'Brien's son, Terlagh of Comeragh Castle, co. Waterford, who is mentioned as early as 1598. 'Ellinorie' (Eleanor) was probably his wife. By 1641 Comeragh Castle was in the hands of Derby, son of Terlagh O'Brien.

During the Commonwealth Irish affairs were marked by further resistance, bloodshed and atrocities. Derby O'Brien was taken prisoner and died in captivity in 1656 while four of his five sons, in defence of their Comeragh estate, were taken by Cromwell and hanged.

It is not known for certain what happened to Terlagh and Eleanor O'Brien but the inscription on the chalice, dated 28 October 1643, is significant. According to the Rev. Patrick K. Egan ('Clonfert Museum and its Collections,' Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society, vol. 27, 1956/57, p. 40), the chalice eventually came into the possession of James Raftery (living 1956/57) of Woodlawn, co. Galway. 

The tradition as recorded in the first paragraph of this note suggests that Terlagh and Eleanor O'Brien sought safety in Kilconnell, co. Galway, 110 miles north of the disturbances in the vicinity of their native Comeragh. The name of the Rector is unknown but there is the ancient Abbey at Kilconnell (disused since about 1785) where Archbishop Giovanni Rinuccini (1592-1653), the Papal Nuncio, stayed in June 1648 on his return from the Confederation at Kilkenny.