Welcome to Belleisle

Belleisle was the ancient territory of the Mac Manuses whose land lay to the east of the Upper Lough Erne. The Annals of Ulster were compiled here under the patronage of Cathal Óg Mac Maghnusa who was a leading cleric in Fermanagh as well as the grandson of chieftain, Tomás Óg Maguire. Cathal Óg Mac Maghnusa commissioned Ruaidhri Ó Luinin, a local scholar and scribe, to compile the Annals. Ó Luinín worked on the original manuscript at Ballymacmanus Island now known as Belleisle. 

The Annals of Ulster are one of the most important historical sources for medieval Ireland. The Annals recorded Irish history in short entries arranged chronologically. They began with the coming of Christianity to Ireland in the 5th century and continued up to the beginning of the 16th century. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the entries have a greater Fermanagh focus, particularly concentrating on the exploits of the ruling Maguires. 

The original manuscript of the Annals of Ulster was probably written between 1489 and 1505. It is now in Trinity College, Dublin. A copy of the original was made between 1505 and 1507 and is now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. 

Cathal Óg Mac Maghnusa died of smallpox in 1498.  The following tribute to him is recorded in the Annals of Ulster: ‘the precious stone indeed, and the gem of purity and the shining star, the treasure-chest of wisdom, and the foremost compendium of the canon law, the fountain of charity and meekness and mildness, the dove for inner purity and the turtledove for innocence, the one to whom the learned and the outsiders and the destitute of Ireland were grateful’. 

Local tradition has it that there was an extensive monastery and school on Belleisle. Canon McKenna had reported in 1900 that he had seen what appeared to be the remains of beehive-shaped monastic cells.   No evidence of this can be seen today.