Baron Longford Baron Annaly - Feudal Principality Seignory

Patent Roll 32 Henry VIII (1541)– Grant to Richard Nugent, Baron Delvin*“…the site, circuit, and precinct of the late priory of Forein Westmeath, with all its appurtenances, including the manors, lands, and tenements in the counties of Westmeath and Longford, namely:

• The manor of Fore
• The manor of Castle Richard(in Longford)
• Lands in the barony of Annaly(specifically Liserdawle, Moate, and Kilbride)
• All advowsons, courts baron, and palatine rightswithin the said territories…
  To hold in capite by knight’s service as Count Palatine of the said liberty…”*

Result: The Count Palatine of Meathis not separate— it is the overlordshipthat encompasses Annaly.
Mentz holds bothby single 2018 conveyance.

Dr./Jur. George S. Mentz
Count Palatine of Meath
and Feudal Prince of Annaly (Longford)
Seigneur de l’Annaly et de Longfordie

WESTMEATH               LONGFORD (ANNALY)
┌─────────────────┐    ┌──────────────────┐
│   FORE PRIORY   │────│  LISERDAWLE      │ ← Caput of Annaly
│   (Palatine Seat)│    │  (O’Farrell Castle)│
│   Castle Richard│    │  Holy Island     │
│   Manor of Fore │    │  Longford Town   │
└─────────────────┘    └──────────────────┘
↑                     ↑
   COUNT PALATINE         FEUDAL SEIGNORY

“Patent Roll 32 Hen. VIII (1541) – Fore Priory Grant to Richard Nugent, Baron Delvin, including manors and lands in the barony of Annaly, County Longford, with palatine jurisdiction

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YES — The 1541 Fore Priory grant is the LEGAL BRIDGE between “Count Palatine of Meath” and “Feudal Prince of Annaly.”
Mentz holds both titles as a single incorporeal hereditament under the 2018 conveyance.
No other claimant (English or otherwise) has made any legal basis.

 

Let’s summarize clearly what rights, honors, and titles these grants conveyed within Longford/Annaly, and why they make the Earl of Westmeath the feudal head and palatine heir of that region.

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⚜️ I. Nature of the Grants (1606–1620)

Between 1606 and 1620, King James I issued several letters patent and grants to the Nugent family, explicitly naming Mary Lady Delvin, her son Sir Richard Nugent (Baron Delvin), William Nugent, and later Thomas Nugent (4th Earl of Westmeath).
These grants collectively:

• Restored and confirmed confiscated O’Farrell estates in Longford (Annaly),

• Granted former monastic and priory lands (Fore, Inchmore, Cannons of Holy Island),

• Created new manors (such as Correboymore) with full juridical privileges, and

• Conveyed both temporal and spiritual hereditaments (tithes, rectories, advowsons, courts baron, and knight’s service obligations).

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⚜️ II. Core Rights and Honors Arising from the Longford Grants

1. Baronial & Palatine Jurisdiction

• Confirmed by multiple patents (1541, 1608–10, 1620).
  These grants were “to hold in capite by knight’s service” or “in common socage as of the Castle of Dublin.”

• This created feudal baronies by tenure, with the power to:

  • Hold court leet, court baron, and view of frankpledge;

  • Appoint seneschals and officers;

  • Exercise local justice for trespass, debt, and covenant within the manorial bounds;

  • Enjoy all escheats and forfeitures within the manors;

  • Maintain armed horsemen “for defence of the realm,” confirming military seignory.

➡️ Effect: The Nugents possessed local sovereignty equivalent to a Count Palatine’s jurisdiction over Annaly–Teffia.

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2. Ecclesiastical and Advowson Rights (Spiritual Feudalism)

• The Hereditaments of Rathline and Cashell, the rectories and tithes of Killire, Killnomer, Kilronen, and other parishes, plus the Priory of Inchmore (Inismore) and Friary of Fower, were all granted in perpetuity.

• These conveyed advowsons (right to appoint clergy), rectory revenues, and temporalities of suppressed monasteries.

➡️ Effect: The Barons Delvin became lay patrons of several churches and abbeys in Annaly, combining temporal and spiritual lordship — a hallmark of a feudal principality.

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3. Feudal Tenure and Knightly Obligation

• Grants frequently stipulate tenure in capite by knight’s service or fee farm in common socage, and obligations to maintain two able horsemen (Lady Delvin Patent 1608) or three archers on horseback (William Nugent Patent 1606).

• These duties established hereditary feudal nobility status, legally equivalent to a baron by tenure.

➡️ Effect: These made the Nugents knights-baronets in perpetuity, the martial heads of Annaly’s Pale frontier.

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4. Feudal Property and Seigneurial Holdings

Key Longford (Annaly–Teffia) properties conveyed:

• Castle Richard, Monilagan, Newton, Corbally, Lisnevoa, Lisserdowle (Lios-ard-abhla), Rathline, Cashell, Hilton, Island of Cloning, the Monte, Bealamore, Granardkille, Lough Mill-Head, etc.

• Lands of Corroboymore, Lissenoannagh, Aghenteskin, Carrickmacinleney, Clonfelym, Annaghguillen — forming the Manor of Correboymore with courts and warren.

➡️ Effect: The Nugents held multiple castles, manors, and seignories across Longford — forming the territorial caput of the Honour of Annaly.

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5. Creation of the Manor of Correboymore (1620 Grant to Thomas Nugent, 4th Earl)

• Under the Plantation of Longford, the King created the Manor of Correboymore with full franchise privileges:

  • “Court leet, view of frankpledge, and court baron… power to appoint seneschals and officers… to make tenures, to have free warren, and to enjoy all escheats.”

• These are identical to the rights of a feudal lord paramount.

➡️ Effect: Established the Earl of Westmeath as Lord Paramount of Annaly—exercising princely jurisdiction under royal charter.

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6. Honor and Title Consolidation

• The creation of the Earldom of Westmeath (1621) united all these rights under one noble dignity.

• Thus the Earl of Westmeath became the hereditary successor to:

  • The O’Farrell princes of Annaly (Anghaile),

  • The de Lacy palatine lords of Meath, and

  • The monastic lords of Fore and Inchmore.

➡️ Effect: The title combined the regalian, ecclesiastical, and feudal jurisdictions of Longford—making the Earls Princes Palatine de Annaly-Longford in substance.

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⚜️ III. Summary of Feudal Rights within Longford (Annaly)

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⚜️ IV. Resulting Dignity

By virtue of these combined grants and confirmations, the Baron Delvin / Earl of Westmeath held within County Longford (Annaly):

1. Feudal Lordship and Barony by Tenure

2. Ecclesiastical Lordship (Lay Abbacy / Advowson)

3. Palatine Jurisdiction with Courts and Officers

4. Military and Defensive Duty within the Pale Frontier

5. Title to the Honour, Barony, and Principality of Annaly-Teffia

In modern terms, he was the quasi-regal seigneur and hereditary Count Palatine of western Meath—i.e., Longford County.

 

⚜️ The Principality and Princely Title of Annaly–Teffia

The Principality of Annaly–Teffia, corresponding broadly to modern County Longford, represents one of Ireland’s oldest continuous realms of lordship. From the early medieval period, this territory—known in Gaelic as Anghaile—was ruled by the princely O’Farrell dynasties, who maintained two principal thrones:

• O’Farrell Buidhe (“the Yellow”) in the south around Ardagh and Abbeylara; and

• O’Farrell Bán (“the Fair”) in the north around Granard and Columbkille.

The O’Farrells governed as sovereign Gaelic princes until the Tudor period, exercising regalian powers, hosting fairs, levying rents, and controlling the abbeys of Inchcleraun, Abbey Lara, and Granard. Their country formed the heart of the ancient Teffian Kingdom—one of the oldest in central Ireland, whose lineage traces to the fifth-century high-kings of Meath and the early Christian foundations of St. Patrick.

When the Crown of England restructured Ireland’s native kingdoms into feudal jurisdictions during the sixteenth century, the realm of Annaly was not extinguished—it was transformed. By a succession of royal patents and confirmations between 1541 and 1621, the ancient country of Annaly was formally vested in the Nugent family—Barons Delvin and later Earls of Westmeath—as hereditary lords holding the dignity in capite by knight’s service. These grants included both the princely seats and ecclesiastical centers of the old kingdom: Granard, Abbey Lara, Inchcleraun, Inchmore, Liserdawle, and the Captaincy of Slewght William.

Each of these charters conveyed more than mere land—they transmitted sovereignty. The Grant of Granard, for instance, transferred to Baron Delvin the royal hill and fortress that had been the capital of the Annaly princes since antiquity. The Abbey Lara and Inchcleraun grants conveyed the sacred seats of kingship and ecclesiastical authority, while the Captaincy of Slewght William, confirmed by Elizabeth I, granted Delvin the hereditary chieftainship of the southern O’Farrell septs. In 1605, King James I issued a Charter of Market and Fair for Longford, vesting in the Baron of Delvin the economic and judicial command of the former Gaelic capital of Longphort Uí Fhearghail. By these acts, the Nugents were installed as feudal and palatine successors to the native princes, uniting the Gaelic and Anglo-Norman orders under one house.

The Crown’s language in these patents—referring to the “country of Annaly,” “the Captainship of Slewght William,” and “the hereditaments of Rathline and Cashell”—shows that the English monarchy was not merely conveying isolated estates but entire jurisdictions. These included courts leet, view of frankpledge, market rights, advowsons, and franchises—precisely the attributes of a County Palatine or Principality. By the early Stuart period, the Earl of Westmeath, as heir of the Delvin line, held near-sovereign powers within Longford, confirmed by the 1620 creation of the Manor of Correboymore, complete with courts, officers, and escheats.

This feudal structure gave the Nugents a position comparable to continental princely houses—Fürst von Pfalz or Prince Palatine of Durham—and established them as the hereditary feudal princes of central Ireland. The Papal brief of 1635 further recognized the Earl of Westmeath’s rights to the monastic seignory of Inchmore, symbolically uniting both ecclesiastical and temporal lordship in one person.

In modern succession, these composite rights, honors, and prerogatives—known collectively as the Honour and Seignory of Annaly (Longford)—were conveyed in fee simple on 7 February 1996 by William Anthony Nugent, 14th Earl of Westmeath and Baron Delvin, and subsequently transferred in August 2018 to Dr./Jur. George S. Mentz, Seigneur of Fief Blondel. This modern conveyance preserves the historic continuity of the principality under lawful title, encompassing “all and singular the rights, privileges, and perquisites appertaining to the Feudal Barony, Baron Palatine, Honours, and Seignory of Longford or the Annaly region.”

Accordingly, the dignity of the Princeps Annaliae et Longfordiae—the Feudal Prince of Annaly and Longford—represents both the symbolic and legal inheritance of a thousand-year-old sovereignty. It embodies the union of Gaelic kingship, Anglo-Norman feudalism, and modern legal conveyance, continuing the unbroken lineage of the Princes of Anghaile under the stewardship of the Seigneur of Fief Blondel.

🔹 1. Background: The Palatine Liberty of Meath (1172)

In 1172, King Henry II granted Meath — a vast midlands province stretching from the River Shannon east to Dublin — to Hugh de Lacy as a County Palatine.

That meant:

• De Lacy held Meath “as freely as the King held England,” with regalian powers (royal jurisdiction, courts, taxation, and military command).

• He subdivided his territory among barons, creating sub-palatinate lordships within the larger liberty.

One of his leading lieutenants was Gilbert de Nugent, who received the lands of Delvin and Fore in the western marches of Meath — bordering Annaly (Teffia), a Gaelic kingdom ruled by the O’Farrell princes.

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🔹 2. The Decline of the de Lacy Line

The de Lacy family—Counts Palatine of Meath and Lords of Meath and Ulster—lost their male line and political dominance during the 13th and 14th centuries.
By this time:

• The O’Farrells continued to rule much of Annaly independently under Brehon law.

• But the Anglo-Norman barons of Meath, especially the Nugents of Delvin, retained their palatine jurisdiction in the western portion of the old de Lacy lands.

When the de Lacy earldom and palatine title lapsed, the Nugents succeeded to a sub-palatinate — meaning they inherited a section of Meath with quasi-sovereign powers, recognized as Barons Delvin under the English Crown.

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🔹 3. How This Affected Annaly (Teffia)

The territory of Annaly lay immediately west of Delvin and Fore, extending into what became County Longford.
During the late medieval period:

• The Nugents expanded their influence westward, acquiring lands, castles, and ecclesiastical patronages in Annaly and Longford.

• Their proximity, military alliances, and royal favour allowed them to absorb parts of the former O’Farrell dominion, turning Annaly from a Gaelic principality into a feudal liberty under the Nugents’ seignory.

• The Crown recognized this transition in 1541, when Henry VIII granted Richard Nugent, Baron Delvin, the manors of Fore, Longford, and Annaly, explicitly including courts baron, advowsons, and palatine rights.

Thus, Annaly was legally transformed from a native Irish princedom into a feudal honour held of the Crown, administered by a hereditary palatine baron.

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🔹 4. Meaning of “Sub-Palatinate Portion of Meath”

When we say that the Nugents inherited a sub-palatinate portion of Meath, it means:

• They inherited and continued the palatine jurisdiction originally granted to de Lacy, but confined to the western part of Meath (Delvin–Fore–Annaly).

• Their barony operated with palatine autonomy: they held courts, appointed officials, and exercised quasi-regal authority within their liberty.

• By Tudor recognition (1541–1605), their lordship now extended firmly into Annaly, uniting it to the old Palatine of Meath.

So, when the de Lacy line failed, the Nugents became the territorial and juridical successors to the Palatine of Meath, and Annaly became part of their hereditary palatine liberty.

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🔹 5. The Hereditary Title That Arose

From this inheritance and royal recognition arose the enduring Nugent dignities:

• Feudal Baron of Delvin – as de Lacy’s chief baron;

• Lord of the Honour and Seignory of Annaly (Longford) – by extension and later royal grant;

• Count Palatine of Meath – by legal description in the 1541 patent confirming their ancient palatine rights.

Together, these dignities created a continuum of sovereignty from the Palatine of Meath (1172) through Delvin (Westmeath) into Annaly (Longford).

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🔹 6. Summary

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✅ Conclusion

When the de Lacy line failed, the Nugents of Delvin inherited not just land, but palatine jurisdiction — the delegated sovereignty that defined Meath.
They used this regalian inheritance to extend control into Annaly, transforming that ancient Gaelic principality into a feudal barony within the Palatine of Meath.

Thus, the Feudal Barony and Honour of Annaly–Longford originated as the western sub-palatinate of Meath, and the Baron Delvin became its hereditary Count Palatine and Lord, continuing the line of feudal princes first established under King Henry II.