Bhriúin Seola the territory of which is called Maigh Seola ('plain of Seola'). The Ó Flaithbheartaigh (O'Flaherty) clan held it up until the Norman invasion of Connacht in the 1230s. As Dún Bhun na Gaillimhe lay in the territory of the O Flahertys they are often recorded as holding this fort for the O Connor Kings of Connacht. Following an unsuccessful week-long siege in 1230, Dún Bhun na Gaillimhe was captured by Richard Mor de Burgh in 1232. In the century that followed, Galway thrived under the de Burghs (Burkes). After the sundering of the de Burgh (Clanrickards) dynasty in 1333, Anxious to have control over their own affairs without the interference of the Gaelicised and often feuding Burkes, Galway sought local autonomy, receiving a murage charter (authority to build a defensive wall) from the Crown in 1396. Governed by a clique of English-oriented merchant families, who eventually became known as The Tribes of Galway, Galway became to a large degree culturally and politically aloof (but not isolated) from the surrounding Gaelic and Gaelic-Norman territories. From the medieval era to the 16th century Galway received a municipal charter from the crown in December 1484. This ensured the town's independence from the Clanrickard Burkes. At the same time, the creation of the wardenship of Galway gave the townsmen control of the large parish church, St. Nicholas' Collegiate Church. During the Middle Ages, Galway was ruled by an oligarchy of fourteen merchant families (12 of Anglo-Norman origin and 2 of Irish origin), the Tribes of Galway. The city thrived on international trade. In the Middle Ages, it was the principal Irish port for trade with Spain and France, being the main source of trade to the Western Isles, Scotland, during the Lordship of the Isles. The population of medieval Galway is thought to have been about 3,000. In 1477 Christopher Columbus visited Galway, possibly stopping off on a voyage to Iceland or the Faroe Islands. Seven or eight years later, he noted in the margin of his copy of Imago Mundi: "Men of Cathay have come from the west. [Of this] we have seen many signs. And especially in Galway in Ireland, a man and a woman, of extraordinary appearance, have come to land on two tree trunks [or timbers? or a boat made of such?]" The most likely explanation for these bodies is that they were Inuit swept eastward by the