Composition of Connacht

Composition of Connacht, a tripartite taxation agreement between the crown, lords, and commons of the western province in 1585. It replaced Malby's composition of 1577, which had been extracted by military threat with the purpose of breaking the power of the magnates. The new composition was negotiated in the lords' favour by Nicholas White and Thomas Dillon, Old English supporters of Lord Deputy Perrot, overruling objections from Bingham, the provincial governor. Lordships were divided by survey into ‘quarters’ of 120 acres. Coyne and livery due to the lord from tenants was converted into fixed rents. In turn each quarter paid 10 shillings annually to the president in lieu of cess, excepting those quarters of the lord declared rent free. The lords were glad to dispense with coyne and livery, but Bingham fumed at the extensive freedoms they were receiving. However, the composition, levied more widely across Connacht than in 1577, yielded £3,645 per annum. This sum, exceeding the provincial presidency's administrative costs, allowed considerable freedom of action. When the Nine Years War spread to Connacht in 1595, the collection of composition rent was impeded and the effectiveness of the presidency began to crumble. The composition worked well in Clanrickard and Thomond, where primogeniture was well established, but the attempt to enforce the required abolition of tanistry as a method of succession caused dangerous revolts, especially amongst the Mayo Burkes.

Hiram Morgan