Final Years and Death
After the death of Sir James, Mac Fhirbhisigh may have travelled to Gort, seeking patronage from Diarmuid Ó Seachnasaigh (Sir Dermot O Shaughnessey), as indicated by a poem he apparently composed in 1667. It is thought that also in this year or shortly after he obtained a copy of the important early Irish law tract, Senchas Már. It seems he also travelled to Larne in County Antrim, seeking patronage from Randall MacDonnell, Marquess of Antrim. Here it seems he left or sold about twelve or more manuscripts to a local bard, Eoin Ó Gnímh.
Nothing more is known of Mac Fhirbhisigh until January 1671, when his friend, Ruaidhrí Ó Flaithbheartaigh, noted in a manuscript: "1670/1 mense Janu: Dualdus Firbisius obiit, a Thoma Croftono occisus." Mac Fhirbhisigh was stabbed to death by local man, Thomas Crofton, at a shebeen near the village of Skreen, County Sligo. The precise circumstances leading to his death have never been determined, though tradition relates that Crofton killed Mac Fhirbhisigh when the latter was defending a maid. He appears to have been buried at his local church, Kilglass (Cill Molaise).
Read more about this topic: Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh
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