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 Both have been printed, with translations, by E. O'Curry (Lectures, p. 562). On 25 May 1632 an inquisition taken at Lifford, co. Donegal, shows that he held Coobeg and Donghill, in the barony of Boylagh and Banagh, co. Donegal, as a tenant at 8l. a year, from the Earl of Annandale. ‘Being a meere Irishman,’ he was dispossessed and his lands forfeited to the crown. He soon after migrated to Ballycroy, co. Mayo, taking his books with him. His will, written in Irish at Curr na heilte, co. Mayo, is preserved in the Royal Irish Academy. He desires to be buried in the monastery of Borrisoole, and says, ‘I bequeath the property most dear to me that ever I possessed in this world—namely, my books—to my two sons, Dermot and John.’ He died in 1664. 

O'CLERY, MICHAEL (1575–1643), Irish chronicler, was the fourth son of Donnchadh O'Clery, son of William O'Clery, son of Tuathal O'Clery, who died in 1512, chief of the sept of O'Clery of Donegal. He was therefore third cousin once removed of his colleague Cucoigcriche O'Clery [see under ], third cousin of Lughaidh O'Clery [q. v.], and ninth in descent from Cormac O'Clery, who migrated in 1382 from Tirawley, co. Mayo, to Donegal. He was born in 1575 at Kilbarron, on Donegal Bay, was baptised Tadhg, a name which, according to O'Davoren's ‘Glossary’ (Stokes's edition, p. 121), means a poet, and which had been borne by two chiefs of his sept—his great uncle, who died in 1565, and his great-great-grandfather, who died in 1492—and was generally known as Tadhg-an-tsleibhe or of the mountain, till, on his entrance into the Franciscan order, he took the name of Michael. His elder brother, Maolmuire, had entered the order before him, took the name of Bernardin, and afterwards became his ecclesiastical superior. Michael had studied Irish history and literature under Baothghalach Ruadh MacAedhagain in East Munster, and was already esteemed one of the first Irish antiquaries of his day (, Preface to Acta Sanctorum) when he entered the Franciscan convent of Louvain. The guardian of the convent, Macanward [q. v.], was able to appreciate his learning, and sent him in 1620 to collect Irish manuscripts, and especially lives of saints in Ireland. He worked for fifteen years in this way, transcribing and collecting everything he could find of historical or hagiological interest. On 3 Sept. 1624 he began to compose a book called ‘Reim Rioghraidhe’ (‘The Royal List’) in the house of Conall Mageoghegan [q. v.] at Lismoyny, co. Westmeath. The book was to contain the succession of the Irish kings and their pedigrees, the lives of Irish saints and their genealogies, with other transcripts from old manuscripts, such as ‘Leabhar na gCeart,’ the treatise on the dues of the kings of all the principalities of Ireland. Another Franciscan, Paul O'Colla, who was also a guest of Conall Mageoghegan, made some additions, and further help was given by Fearfeasa O'Maolconaire of Baile Maelconaire, co. Roscommon, and Cucoigcriche O'Duigeanain of Castleford, co. Leitrim, two learned Irish scholars, and by the editor's kinsman, Cucoigcriche O'Clery. The book was finished in the Observantine convent at Athlone on 4 Nov. 1630. It is dedicated to Toirdhealbhach MacCochlain, chief of Delvin, King's County. The dedication is followed by an address to the reader, signed first by O'Clery, and then by his fellow-workers. The original manuscript is in the Burgundian Library in Brussels, in which many Irish manuscripts, taken by the French from Louvain, have been deposited; and there is a copy, made in 1760 by Maurice O'Gorman, in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, and another made by Richard Tipper in 1716, in the library of the Royal Irish Academy. In 1627, encouraged by Brian Maguire, lord Enniskillen, and aided by the same scholars as before, with the addition of Gillapatrick O'Luinin of Ard O'Luinin, co. Fermanagh, Maguire's senachie, O'Clery finished on 22 Dec. 1631 a revised edition of the ‘Leabhar Gabhala,’ or ‘Book of Invasions,’ an account of the several settlements of Ireland. It was dedicated to Brian Maguire, and was written in the convent of Lisgoole, co. Fermanagh. Francis Magrath, the guardian of the convent, wrote an approval of it from a theological point of view, and Flann MacAedhagain, of the famous family of hereditary brehons and men of letters of Ballymacegan, co. Tipperary, wrote an approval of it as a piece of Irish learning. There is a copy in the handwriting of Cucoigcriche O'Clery in the library of the Royal Irish Academy. The next work undertaken by O'Clery was the great collection and digest of annals called ‘Annales Dungallenses,’ or ‘Annala Rioghachta Eireann’ (‘Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland’), but better known by the title given to it by John Colgan [q. v.] of ‘Annals of the Four Masters’ (Preface to