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diff --git a/42046-0.txt b/42046-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ed83a98 --- /dev/null +++ b/42046-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,20198 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42046 *** + + IRELAND UNDER THE TUDORS + + VOL. I. + + + + + PRINTED BY + SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE + LONDON + + + + +IRELAND UNDER THE TUDORS + + +WITH A SUCCINCT ACCOUNT OF THE + +EARLIER HISTORY + + +BY + +RICHARD BAGWELL, M.A. + + +IN TWO VOLUMES + +VOL. I. + + +LONDON + +LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. + +1885 + +_All rights reserved_ + + + + +PREFACE. + + +'Irish policy,' said Mr. Disraeli in the House of Commons, 'is Irish +history, and I have no faith in any statesman, who attempts to remedy the +evils of Ireland, who is either ignorant of the past or who will not take +lessons from it.' This is most true, and history, if it is to be of any +use, should be written for instruction, and not merely for the +confirmation of existing prejudices. This is especially so in the present +case, for, as Sir George Stanley told Cecil in 1565, 'the practises of +Ireland be great, and not understood to all men that seem to have +knowledge thereof.' The writer who enters the arena as an advocate may +produce an interesting party pamphlet, but he will hardly make the world +either wiser or better. The historian's true office is that of the judge, +whose duty it is to marshal all the material facts with just so much of +comment as may enable his hearers to give them their due weight. The +reading public is the jury. + +Starting with this conception of the task before me, I have not attempted +to please any party or school. The history of Ireland is at the best a +sad one; but its study, if it be really studied for the truth's sake, can +hardly fail to make men more tolerant. In Ireland, as in other countries, +a purely Celtic population was unable to resist the impact of the +Teutonic race. First came the pagan Northmen, with power to ruin, but +without power to reconstruct. Then followed the Anglo-Normans, seeking +for lands and lordships, but seeking them under the patronage of the +Catholic Church. For a time it seemed as though the conquest would be +complete; but the colony proved too weak for its work, and the mail-clad +knights failed almost as completely as the Scandinavian corsairs. + +The main cause of this second failure was the neglect or jealousy of the +kings. They feared the growth of an independent power within sight of the +English shore, and they had neither means nor inclination to do the work +of government themselves. Little gain and less glory were to be had in +Ireland, and Scotch, Welsh, or Continental politics engrossed their +attention in turn. They weakened the colony, partly of set purpose, and +partly by drawing men and supplies from thence. In short, they were +absentees; and, to use an expression which has gained currency in modern +times, they were generally content to look upon Ireland as a mere +drawfarm. + +The Wars of the Roses almost completed the ruin of the work which Henry +II. had begun. For a moment it seemed as if the colony was about to +assert its independence. But this could not have been done without an +understanding with the native race, and it does not appear that any such +understanding was possible. The upshot was that Yorkist and Lancastrian +parties were formed in Ireland, that the colony was thus still further +weakened, and that the English language and power seemed on the point of +disappearing altogether. + +The throne of Henry VIII. was erected on the ruins of mediæval feudalism, +and guarded by a nation which longed for rest, and which saw no hope but +in a strong monarchy. The King saw that he had duties in Ireland. Utterly +unscrupulous where his own passions were concerned, the idea of a patriot +King was not altogether strange to him. Irish chiefs were encouraged to +visit his court, and were allowed to bask in the sunshine of royal +favour; and it is conceivable that the 'Defender of the Faith,' had he +continued to defend it in the original sense, might have ended by +attaching the native Irish to the Crown. By respecting for a time their +tribal laws, by making one chief an earl and another a knight, by +mediating in their quarrels, and by attending to their physical and +spiritual wants, a Catholic Tudor might possibly have succeeded where +Anglican and Plantagenet had failed. The revolution in religion changed +everything, and out of it grew what many regard as the insoluble Irish +question. + +Henry II. had found Ireland in the hands of a Celtic people, for the +intermixture of Scandinavian blood was slight and partial. Henry VIII. +found it inhabited by a mixed race. From the beginning there had been +rivalry and ill-feeling between men of English blood born in Ireland, and +those of English birth who were sent over as officials or who went over +as adventurers. During the fifteenth century England did nothing to +preserve the ties of kinship, and the Celtic reaction tended to swallow +up the interlopers. The degenerate English proverbially became more Irish +than the Irish themselves, but the distinction would scarcely have been +so nearly obliterated had it not been for the change in religion. The +nobles of the Pale, the burghers of the walled towns, and the lawyers in +Dublin were equally disinclined to accept the new model. Neither Irish +chieftains nor Anglo-Irish lords found much difficulty in acknowledging +Henry's supremacy both in Church and State; but further than that they +would not go. The people did not go so far, and, in the words of the +annalists, regarded the Reformation simply as a 'heresy and new error.' + +Religion itself was at an extremely low ebb, and only the friars +preserved the memory of better days. Henry may have imagined that he +could lead the people through the bishops and other dignitaries: if so, +he was entirely mistaken. The friars defied his power, and the hearts of +the poor were with them. In Ireland, at least, it was Rome that +undertook the work of popular reformation. The Franciscans and Jesuits +endured cold and hunger, bonds and death, while courtly prelates +neglected their duties or were distinguished from lay magnates only by +the more systematic nature of their oppressions. And thus, as the hatred +of England daily deepened, the attachment of the Irish to Rome became +daily closer. Every effort of Henry to conciliate them was frustrated by +their spiritual guides, who urged with perfect truth that he was an +adulterer, a tyrant, and a man of blood. Holding such cards as these, the +friars could hardly lose the game, and they had little difficulty in +proving to willing ears that the King's ancestors received Ireland from +the Pope, and that his apostasy had placed him in the position of a +defaulting vassal. + +Henry's vacillations and the early deaths of Edward and Mary for a time +obscured the true nature of the contest, but it became apparent in +Elizabeth's time. She was an excommunicated Queen. From a Catholic point +of view she was clearly illegitimate. Many English Catholics ignored all +this and served her well and truly, but those who carried dogmas to their +logical conclusions flocked to the enemy's camp. Spain, Belgium, and +Italy were filled with English refugees, who were willing enough that the +Queen should be hurt in Ireland, since England was beyond their reach. +But even here national antipathies were visible, and Irish suitors for +Spanish help came constantly into collision with Englishmen bent upon the +same errand. + +Desmond, Shane O'Neill, and Hugh O'Neill seem to have cared very little +for religion themselves. The first was a tool of Rome; the two latter +rather made the Church subservient to their own ambition. But in these +cases, and in a hundred others of less importance, the religious feeling +of the people was always steadily opposed to the English Crown. Elizabeth +was by nature no persecutor, yet she persecuted. Her advisers always +maintained, and her apologists may still maintain, that in hanging a +Campion or torturing an O'Hurley she did not meddle with freedom of +conscience, but only punished those who were plotting against her crown. +The Catholics, on the other hand, could plead that they had done nothing +worthy of death or of bonds, nor against lawful authority, and that they +suffered for conscience' sake. And the Continental nations, who were +mainly Catholic, sided on the whole with the refugees. Ireland, it is +true, was only a pawn in their game, and Philip II. was probably wrong in +not making her much more. At Cork or Galway the Armada might have met +with scarcely any resistance, and a successful descent would have taxed +Elizabeth's resources to the utmost. + +The poverty of the Crown is the key to many problems of the Elizabethan +age. The Queen had to keep Scotland quiet, to hold Spain at bay, and to +maintain tolerable relations with France. She saw what ought to be done +in Ireland, but very often could not afford to do it. The tendency to +temporise was perhaps constitutional, but it was certainly much increased +by want of money. Her vacillating policy did much harm, but it was caused +less by changes of opinion than by circumstances. When the pressure at +other points slackened she could attend to her troublesome kingdom; when +it increased she was often forced to postpone her Irish plans. Ireland +has always suffered, and still suffers sorely, from want of firmness. In +modern times party exigencies work mischief analogous to that formerly +caused by the sovereign's necessities. + +The dissolution of the monasteries was followed by no proper provision +for education. In the total absence of universities and grammar-schools, +certain monks and nuns had striven nobly to keep the lamp of knowledge +burning, but they were ruthlessly driven from house and home. Elizabeth +was alive to all this, but she could not give Ireland her undivided +attention, and such remedies as were applied came too late. The +oppressed friars kept possession of the popular ear, and the Jesuits +found the crop ready for their sickle. Denied education at home, many +sons of good families sought it abroad, and the natural leaders of the +Irish acquired habits of thought very different from those of English +gentlemen. Archbishop Fitzgibbon, one of the most important champions of +Catholic Ireland, saw clearly that his country could not stand alone. He +would have preferred the sovereignty of England, but she had become +aggressively Protestant, and he turned to Spain, to France, to Rome, +anywhere rather than to the land whence his own ancestors had sprung. The +lineage of the United Irishmen and their numerous progeny may be easily +traced back to Tudor times. + +A few words now to the critics whom every writer hopes to have. The +spelling both of Irish names and English documents has throughout been +modernised, from regard to the feelings of the public. Irish history is +already sufficiently repulsive to that great unknown quantity the general +reader, and it would be cruel to add to its horrors. Etymologists will +always go for their materials to originals, and not to modern +compositions. When, therefore, such names as Clandeboye or Roderic +O'Connor are met with in the text, it is not to be supposed that I have +never heard of Clann-Aedha-Buidhe or Ruaidhri O'Conchobair. + +Of the first 123 pages of this book, I need only say that original +authorities have as much as possible been consulted. In the third and +four following chapters, much use has been made of Mr. Gilbert's +'Viceroys,' a debt which I desire to acknowledge once for all. In so +succinct a review of more than three centuries, it has not been thought +necessary to quote the authority for every fact. + +For the reign of Henry VIII. I have chiefly relied on the second and +third volumes of the 'State Papers,' published in 1834. They are +sometimes cited as 'S. P.' or 'State Papers,' and when only the date of +a letter or report is given it must be understood that this collection is +referred to. The great calendar of letters and papers begun by Dr. Brewer +and continued by Mr. Gairdner contains some items not included in the +older publication; it is referred to as _Brewer_. Other sources of +information have not been neglected, and are indicated in the footnotes. + +The account of the reigns of Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth is chiefly +drawn from the 'State Papers, _Ireland_'--all documents preserved in the +Public Record Office and calendared by Mr. Hans Claude Hamilton. How +excellently the editor has done his work can only be appreciated by one +who has entered into his labours as closely as I have done. Except where +a document has already been printed, I have nearly always referred to the +original MS. All documents cited by date or number without further +description must be understood as being in this collection. The late Dr. +Brewer's calendar of the Carew MSS. at Lambeth often fills up gaps in the +greater series; it is referred to as _Carew_. Many papers, both in Fetter +Lane and at Lambeth, are copies; but their authenticity is not disputed. +The Carew calendar is on so full a plan that it has not been thought +necessary to consult the manuscripts; indeed, except for local purposes, +it is not likely that they will be much consulted in the future. Other +collections are referred to in their places, but it may be well to +mention specially the journal of the Irish (Kilkenny) Archæological +Society, whose editor, the Rev. James Graves, has done as much as any man +to lay a broad foundation for Irish history. + +O'Donovan's splendid edition of the 'Four Masters' has generally been +consulted for the Irish version of every important fact. O'Clery and his +fellow-compilers wrote under Charles I., and are not therefore strictly +contemporary for the Tudor period. They appear to have faithfully +transcribed original annals, but to this one important exception must be +made. The old writers never hesitated to record facts disagreeable to the +Church; the later compilers were under the influence of the +counter-reformation which produced Jesuitism. Making some allowance for +this, the 'Four Masters' must be considered fair men. Michael O'Clery +spent much time at Louvain, but he wrote in Ireland, and had native +assistants. Philip O'Sullivan, on the other hand, was a Spanish officer, +and published his useful but untrustworthy 'Compendium' at Lisbon. The +'Annals of Lough Cé' are preferable in some ways to the 'Four Masters,' +but they do not cover so much ground. All the native annalists are jejune +to an exasperating degree. Genealogy seems to have been the really +important thing with them, and they throw extremely little light on the +condition of the people. We are forced therefore to rely on the accounts, +often prejudiced and nearly always ill-informed, of English travellers +and officials. + +The Anglo-Irish chronicles in 'Holinshed' were written by Richard +Stanihurst, who dedicated his work to Sir Henry Sidney, for the reign of +Henry VIII., and after that by John Hooker. Stanihurst, a native of +Dublin, was not born till 1545. He has been thought an unpatriotic +writer, and excited the violent antipathy of O'Donovan; but he appears to +have been pretty well informed. The speeches which he puts into the +mouths of his characters must be considered apocryphal, but as much may +be said of like compositions in all ages. Hooker was an actor in many of +the events he describes. He was a Protestant and an Englishman, +prejudiced no doubt, but not untruthful, and his statements are often +borne out by independent documents. Edmund Campion, the Jesuit, wrote in +Ireland under Sidney's protection; his very interesting work is less a +history than a collection of notes. + +Other books, ancient and modern, are referred to in the footnotes. Among +living scholars, I desire to thank Dr. W. K. Sullivan, of Cork, who had +the great kindness to correct the first chapter, and to furnish some +valuable notes. Hearty thanks are also due to the gentlemen at the Public +Record Office, and especially to Mr. W. D. Selby and Mr. J. M. Thompson. + +In making the index a few errors were discovered in the text, and these +have been noted as errata. Some mistakes may still remain uncorrected, +but I am not without hope that they are neither many nor of much +importance. + + MARLFIELD, CLONMEL: + _August 13, 1885_. + + + + +CONTENTS + +OF + +THE FIRST VOLUME. + + + CHAPTER I. + + INTRODUCTORY. + + PAGE + + Early notices of Ireland 1 + The Celtic constitution 2 + The tribal system 5 + The Celtic land law 7 + Common origin of Celtic and Teutonic institutions 11 + The ancient Irish Church 12 + Gradual introduction of Roman ecclesiastical polity 14 + + + CHAPTER II. + + THE SCANDINAVIAN ELEMENT. + + First inroads of the Northmen 17 + Turgesius 17 + Danes and Norwegians 18 + Danish power in Ireland 19 + Its limits 21 + Revival of the Celts 22 + Brian Borumha 23 + Battle of Clontarf 28 + Conversion of the Danes 29 + Superiority of their civilisation 30 + Brian's monarchy not permanent 31 + Danish Christianity in Ireland 32 + Conflict between Canterbury and Armagh 33 + Papal supremacy fully established 34 + + + CHAPTER III. + + THE REIGN OF HENRY II. + + Ireland given to England by the Popes 37 + First interference of Henry II. 39 + An Anglo-Norman party in Ireland 40 + Strongbow 41 + Anglo-Norman invasion 42 + Henry II. in Ireland 47 + Difficulties of the invaders 49 + Henry was unable to carry out his own policy 52 + An Irish kingdom contemplated 54 + Viceroyalty of John 55 + No conquest of Ireland under Henry II. 56 + + + CHAPTER IV. + + FROM JOHN'S VISIT IN 1210 TO THE INVASION BY THE BRUCES IN 1315. + + John Lord of Ireland 58 + King John in Ireland 59 + Leinster divided after Strongbow's death 61 + The De Burgos in Connaught 61 + The colony declines under Henry III. 62 + Results of Edward I.'s policy 64 + The Bruces invade Ireland 65 + + + CHAPTER V. + + FROM THE INVASION OF THE BRUCES TO THE YEAR 1346. + + Why the Bruces failed 69 + Decline of the colony 70 + The colonists become _Hibernis ipsis Hiberniores_ 71 + Creation of the great earldoms 71 + Irish corporate towns 73 + Anglo-Norman families 75 + Further decline of the colony under Edward III. 76 + Dissensions among the colonists 77 + + + CHAPTER VI. + + FROM THE YEAR 1346 TO THE ACCESSION OF HENRY VII. + + Lionel, Duke of Clarence 80 + The statute of Kilkenny 81 + Its effect in dividing the rival races 83 + Richard II.'s first visit 85 + His second visit 86 + His complete failure 87 + Henry IV. and V. neglect Ireland 87 + Foreign wars fatal to Ireland 89 + Richard of York made Lord-Lieutenant 90 + A Yorkist party in Ireland 91 + The colony reduced to the utmost 93 + + + CHAPTER VII. + + THE IRISH PARLIAMENT. + + A close copy 94 + Growth of representative institutions 95 + The sphere of English law contracted under Edward III. 96 + The Parliament of Kilkenny not representative of Ireland 97 + The peerage 98 + The clergy as an estate 99 + The Viceroy 100 + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + THE REIGN OF HENRY VII. + + The Fitzgeralds were Yorkists, the Butlers Lancastrians 102 + Lambert Simnel crowned in Ireland 104 + The Irish Yorkists cut to pieces at Stoke 105 + Mission of Sir Richard Edgcombe 106 + The Irish nobility in England 108 + The Butlers and Geraldines 109 + Perkin Warbeck 110 + Sir Edward Poynings holds a Parliament at Drogheda 111 + Poynings' Acts 112 + Second visit of Perkin Warbeck 113 + Weakness of the Government 114 + Third visit of Perkin Warbeck 115 + Power of the Kildare family 115, 117-120 + Battle of Knocktoe 120 + Henry VII. wished to separate the two races 122 + + + CHAPTER IX. + + FROM THE ACCESSION OF HENRY VIII. TO THE YEAR 1534. + + The Kildare family in power 124-128 + The Ormonde family much reduced 125 + Viceroyalty of Surrey 128-139 + The Pale a very small district 129 + Misery of the country 131 + O'Donnell and O'Neill 132 + Desmond and the MacCarthies 133 + Policy of Henry VIII. 134 + Unsteadiness of English policy 136 + The Irish constantly at war 140 + The Butlers and Geraldines were scarcely more peaceable 145 + Wolsey's policy 148 + A Viceroy captured by the Irish 150 + The rivalry between Ormonde and Kildare 149-152 + Skeffington Viceroy 152 + Overshadowed by Kildare 154 + Results of the Kildare power 154-158 + Fall of Kildare 161 + + + CHAPTER X. + + THE GERALDINE REBELLION--SKEFFINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION, 1534-1535. + + The Geraldine rebellion 163 + Loyalty of the Butlers 164 + Geraldine siege of Dublin 166 + Failure of the rebellion 169 + Surrender of Kildare 177 + The Desmonds and MacCarthies 180 + Desmond intrigues with France 181 + The Butlers and the Desmond Geraldines 182 + Desmond intrigues with Charles V. 184 + State of the South of Ireland 189 + Modern spirit of the Tudor monarchy shown by promoting new men 194 + + + CHAPTER XI. + + FROM THE YEAR 1536 TO THE YEAR 1540. + + Administration of Lord Leonard Grey 195-220 + The royal supremacy established by law 196 + The Act of Absentees 197 + The O'Neills 198 + Poverty of the Crown 199 + Grey in the West of Ireland 200 + Want of money 204 + Grey and the O'Connors 206 + Vague good intentions of Henry VIII. 210 + The O'Neills and O'Donnells 212 + Grey and the O'Connors 213 + Seizure of the five Geraldines 215 + Eclipse of the Kildare family 216 + + CHAPTER XII. + + END OF GREY'S ADMINISTRATION. + + Ormonde proposes to reform his country 221 + Grey almost constantly engaged in war 222 + His quarrel with the Butlers 223 + The O'Carrolls 223 + The O'Mores 224 + Rash expedition of Grey 226 + His dispute with the Butlers 229 + The revenue 233 + Cromwell's Irish policy 234 + The royal supremacy acquiesced in 236 + A Catholic movement nevertheless makes itself felt 238 + Grey routs the O'Neills 240 + Fall and fate of Grey 243 + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + 1540 AND 1541. + + Confusion after Grey's recall 247 + Sir Anthony St. Leger Lord Deputy 249-261 + His policy 250 + Case of the O'Tooles 251 + The King will not allow a military brotherhood 254 + Desmond abjures the Pope 255 + Success of St. Leger with the Irish chiefs 256 + Henry VIII. made King of Ireland by Act of Parliament 259 + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + 1541 TO THE CLOSE OF THE REIGN OF HENRY VIII. + + St. Leger Lord Deputy 262-287 + O'Donnell abjures the Pope 262 + O'Neill abjures the Pope 264 + Other chiefs follow suit 266 + The Munster nobles do likewise 267 + O'Neill made Earl of Tyrone 268 + O'Brien made Earl of Thomond 270 + MacWilliam Burke made Earl of Clanricarde 271 + The MacDonnells in Antrim 271 + Financial dishonesty 274 + An Irish contingent in Scotland 276 + And in France 277 + Dissensions between St. Leger and Ormonde 278 + An English party in Scotland 279 + The Lord of the Isles in Ireland 280 + Abortive attempt to invade Scotland from Ireland 281 + Intrigues of Irish officials--St. Leger and Ormonde 282 + Ormonde is murdered in England 285 + Permanent causes tending to weaken Irish Governments 286 + + + CHAPTER XV. + + THE IRISH CHURCH UNDER HENRY VIII. + + Points at issue between King and Pope 288 + See of Armagh 289 + Dublin 290 + Meath 290 + Cashel 291 + Tuam 292 + Remoter sees 292 + King and Pope in Leinster, Munster, and Connaught 293 + Corrupt state of the Church 294 + Miserable condition of four sees particularly described 295 + General corruption of the clergy 296 + Evils of Papal patronage 297 + Many of the religious houses out of order 298 + Excellent service rendered by others 299 + Ecclesiastical legislation in 1536 300 + The Crown could procure the passing of Acts, but the people + remained unaffected by them 301 + Archbishop Browne 302 + His quarrel with Bishop Staples 303 + Lord Leonard Grey gave general offence 303 + Images, relics, and pilgrimages 304 + The Munster bishops conformed 305 + But this does not prove any real conversion 306 + Origin of a double succession 306 + Wauchop made Primate by the Pope 306 + First appearance of the Jesuits 307 + The friars oppose the royal supremacy 310 + The Reformation hateful to the Irish 311 + Henry attacks the monasteries 312 + Account of the different orders 313 + Cistercian abbeys 314 + Hospitallers 315 + Pensions to monks 317 + The monks were not really driven out 317 + Property of the religious houses 318 + The mendicant orders 319 + Their suppression scarcely decreased the number of friars 320 + The plunder of the monasteries shared by all classes 320 + The educating monasteries not replaced 321 + Early attempts at an Irish university 321 + Archbishop Browne 322 + Bishop Staples 323 + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + FROM THE ACCESSION OF EDWARD VI. TO THE YEAR 1551. + + St. Leger still Deputy 325 + Education of Irish nobles at Court 326 + Sir Edward Bellingham Lord Deputy 327-345 + His efforts to protect the Pale 328 + Pirates on the Irish coast 329 + Bellingham puts down the O'Mores 331 + And the O'Connors 332 + He bridles Connaught 333 + A remarkable adventure 334 + The Irish mint 335 + Bellingham's haughty bearing towards great men 337 + He offends his own council 339 + He tames Desmond 339 + Ireland quiet 340 + The Reformation--Browne and Staples 341 + Bellingham and Dowdall 342 + The royal supremacy 343 + Death and character of Bellingham 344 + Lord Justice Bryan 345 + Lord Justice Brabazon 346 + Foreign intrigues 347 + St. Leger Lord Deputy 348-353 + His conciliatory policy 349 + The Reformation hangs fire 349 + Causes of this 350 + Want of money 351 + The French discourage the Irish refugees 352 + English settlers not always a civilising influence 353 + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + FROM THE YEAR 1551 TO THE DEATH OF EDWARD VI. + + St. Leger Lord Deputy 354-359 + Protestantism officially promulgated 354 + Doctrinal conference 355 + Browne and Dowdall 356 + Tolerant views of St. Leger 357 + Sir James Croft Lord Deputy 359-383 + Colonisation projects 360 + The Ulster Scots 361 + The O'Neills 362 + Shane O'Neill and his competitors 363 + Another doctrinal conference 365 + The primacy removed to Dublin 367 + Church patronage 368 + The coinage 370 + Sufferings from a debased currency 371 + Attempts at mining 372 + French and Scotch intrigues 373 + Connaught 374 + Leinster 375 + Ulster 376 + Protestant bishops 379 + Bale 381 + Catholic reaction after Edward's death 382 + + + CHAPTER XVIII. + + THE REIGN OF MARY. + + St. Leger is again Lord Deputy 384-396 + The succession 384 + The Queen and the Pope 386 + Bishop Bale at Kilkenny 386 + The Primacy is restored to Armagh 391 + Restoration of Kildare 392 + The Pope and the kingdom of Ireland 393 + Mary's notions of prerogative 394 + Recall of St. Leger--his accusers 396 + Sussex (then Lord Fitzwalter) made Lord Deputy 396 + Ulster 397 + The King's and Queen's Counties 399 + The monastic lands not restored 401 + Catholicism re-established 401 + Military operations of Sussex 402 + O'Neills and O'Donnells 404 + Sir Henry Sidney Lord Justice 405 + General disaffection 406 + Mary's ideas on Irish policy 407 + Sussex in Munster 408 + And in Thomond and Connaught 410 + Abortive expedition to the Hebrides 411 + State of the Protestants under Mary 413 + + INDEX 415 + + +_Errata._ + + Page 140, _for_ Bishop of Kildare _read_ Bishop of Killaloe. + " 305-6, _for_ Michael Comyn _read_ Nicholas Comyn. + " 317, _for_ Nicholas Walsh _read_ Nicholas Fagan. + + + + +_MAPS._ + + + IRELAND IN 1172 _To face page_ 37 + " ABOUT 1300 " 69 + " " 1500 " 124 + IRELAND, ECCLESIASTICAL " 288 + + + + +IRELAND UNDER THE TUDORS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +INTRODUCTORY. + + +[Sidenote: Scope of the work.] + +The main object of this book is to describe in some detail, and as +impartially as possible, the dealings of England with Ireland during the +reigns of Henry VIII. and his three children. As an introduction to the +study of that period, it seemed desirable to give some account of the +course of government during those 340 years which had elapsed since the +first Anglo-Norman set foot upon the Irish shore. And, seeing that +Teutonic invaders had effected a lodgment about three centuries and a +half before Henry II.'s accession, it was hardly possible to avoid saying +something about the men who built the towns which enabled his subjects to +keep a firm grip upon the island. Lastly, it seemed well at the very +outset to touch lightly upon the peculiarities of that Celtic system with +which the King of England found himself suddenly confronted. + +[Sidenote: The Roman period.] + +Agricola took military possession of south-western Scotland partly in the +hope of being able to invade Ireland. He had heard that the climate and +people did not differ much from those of Britain, and he knew that the +harbours were much frequented by merchants. He believed that annexation +would tend to consolidate the Roman power in Britain, Gaul, and Spain, +and kept by him for some time a petty Irish king who had been expelled by +his own tribe, and to whom he professed friendship on the chance of +turning him to account. Agricola thought there would be no great +difficulty in conquering the island, which he rightly conjectured to be +smaller than Britain and larger than Sicily or Sardinia. + +'I have often,' says Tacitus, 'heard him say that Ireland could be +conquered and occupied with a single legion and a few auxiliaries, and +that the work in Britain would be easier if the Roman arms could be made +visible on all sides, and liberty, as it were, removed out of sight.' +Agricola, like many great men after him, might have found the task harder +than his barbarous guest had led him to suppose; and in any case fate had +not ordained that Ireland should ever know the Roman Peace. It was +reserved for another petty king, after the lapse of nearly 1,100 years, +to introduce an organised foreign power into Ireland, and to attach the +island to an empire whose possessions were destined to be far greater +than those of Imperial Rome. + +[Sidenote: The Celtic polity.] + +Setting aside all ethnological speculations as foreign to the scope of +this work, it may be sufficient to say that the inhabitants of Ireland at +the dawn of authentic history were Celts, of the same grand division as +the bulk of the Scots Highlanders, but differing considerably from the +people of Wales. Their organisation in the twelfth century had not passed +beyond the tribal stage.[1] + +[Sidenote: The Irish Monarchy or Pentarchy.] + +There was a monarch of all Ireland, who had Meath--the Middle--as his +official appanage, and who reigned originally at Tara. There were +provincial kings of Ulster, Munster, Leinster, and Connaught. A primacy +was given to the race of Niall, who lived presumably in the fourth and +fifth centuries, and from whom the O'Neills, O'Donnells, and others trace +their descent. The theory is thought to have been pretty closely adhered +to until the desertion of Tara in the sixth century of our era. After +that the over-king lived in his own territory; but his authority was +often disputed, especially by Munster, the revolt of which province +finally broke up the old order.[2] + +[Sidenote: Weakness of the Brehon law.] + +Wars were frequent, and Irish Brehons, who were rather legal experts than +judges, exerted themselves to define rights and liabilities, and to +establish a peaceful polity. Perhaps in laying down the law they +sometimes rather stated their own conception of what it ought to be than +described the actual state of things; much as Brahminical writers +propounded a theory of caste which cannot be reconciled with historical +truth. Neither the Church nor the Law had always original power +sufficient to enforce steady obedience. The Law might be clear enough, +but the central government was often too weak to secure respect for the +opinion of experts. Portia might have argued like a very Daniel, but she +could have done nothing without the Duke behind her. In the absence of +such an overpowering authority, the decisions of the Brehons were little +more than arbitrations which might be, and probably often were, accepted +as final, but on which neither party could be compelled to act.[3] + +[Sidenote: Ireland was outside the imperial system.] + +In the treatise called the 'Senchus Mór' there is a passage which may be +as old as the fourteenth century, in which it is allowed that the nature +of Irish royalty varied considerably from time to time. 'The King of Erin +without opposition,' says the writer or interpolator, 'received stock +from the King of the Romans; or it was by the successor of Patrick the +stock is given to the King of Erin, that is, when the seaports of Dublin, +and Waterford, and Limerick, and the seaports in general, are subject to +him.' There is here an attempt at once to bring Ireland within the pale +of the Empire, and to show that the Irish Church was independent. It was +natural that the Brehons should seek to introduce their country into the +circle of nations, but we know as a matter of fact that the Empire never +had anything to do with Ireland. The passage quoted may have been +inspired by a wish to deny English supremacy by attorning, as it were, to +the superior lord. It is a tribute to the greatness of the Empire more +than anything else, and it was not thought of until the Brehon law +schools had fallen from their high estate. + +[Sidenote: The tribal system. The chief.] + +It was by giving stock that an Irish chief showed his power and added to +his wealth. There were lands attached to his office, but his capital +consisted of kine, and he extracted a sort of rent by obliging his +inferiors to give them pasture. The number of cattle which he 'grazed +without loss' upon other people's ground was the measure of his power and +popularity. There were free tribesmen the amount of whose obligation to +their chief was strictly laid down, though a greater quantity of stock +might be voluntarily taken under certain restrictions. But there were +also servile or semi-servile classes whose comparatively unprotected +condition placed them more or less in the power of the chief to whose +sept they were attached. An ambitious chief would always have +opportunities of aggrandisement, and his wealth enabled him to support a +mercenary force, and to grow strong at the expense of his own and other +tribes. Broken men who had lost their own tribal position would always +flock to an ambitious chief, and the disturbing influence of such +retainers was often too strong for Brehons or priests. But the growth of +power by means of mercenaries was not peculiar to Ireland, and was +perhaps less frequent than is commonly supposed.[4] + +[Sidenote: Frequency of war.] + +Whatever the advantages of a pure Celtic system, it did not secure +general peace. There is no period of which Celtic Ireland may be more +justly proud than that between the death of St. Columba in 597 and the +death of St. Gall about 640. It was the age in which the Irish saint +Columbanus bearded Thierri and Brunehaut, in which Ireland herself was a +noted seat of learning, and in which the monasteries of Luxueil, of St. +Gall, and of Bobbio were founded by Irishmen. Yet, under thirty years out +of forty-four either battle or murder is recorded in the _Chronicon +Scotorum_. In some years there were several battles and several murders. + +In 628 Leinster was devastated. Quarrels between near relations were +frequent, and often ended in murder. When we consider that the deaths of +important people only are recorded, we cannot pronounce the Ireland which +sent forth Aidan, and Adamnan, and Columbanus to have been at all a +peaceful country. Christianity was then established, and no Scandinavian +irruption had yet hindered the development of purely native ideas. But +Irish chroniclers, perhaps owing to their genealogical turn, give a +disproportionate space to deaths; and it may be admitted that the number +of homicides was not greater in Ireland than in some parts of Germany in +feudal times.[5] + +[Sidenote: Celtic law of succession.] + +Primogeniture, which is practically incompatible with the tribal stage of +political organisation, was perhaps formally acknowledged at a very +remote period, but was unknown as a rule of succession to Irish chiefries +in the ages with which this book chiefly deals. In those comparatively +modern times a vacancy was filled from the same family, but the person +chosen was generally a brother or a cousin of the deceased. It seldom +happened, perhaps, that an Irish chief, who was necessarily a warrior, +attained threescore and ten years, and on an average a son would be less +likely to make an able leader than one of an older generation. To avoid +disputed successions, an heir-apparent, called the tanist, was chosen +before a vacancy actually occurred, and sometimes probably against the +wish of the reigning chief. Very often the sons refused to accept the +tanist, and bloody quarrels followed. This system stank in the nostrils +of the Tudor lawyers; but in the twelfth century the true principle of +hereditary succession was not fully understood. It was, perhaps, a +suspicion that his eldest son might not succeed him quietly that induced +Henry II. to crown him in his lifetime. A later and much stronger analogy +may be found in the history of the Empire. Charles V. procured the +election of his brother Ferdinand as king of the Romans, and he was +actually crowned. Many years later Charles wished to substitute his son +Philip; but Ferdinand refused to yield, and he was sustained by the +electors, who had no mind to see the Empire become an appendage of the +Spanish monarchy. The influence of the Irish Brehons probably tended to +prevent chiefries from becoming hereditary. In such cases as the earldom +of Desmond we have a mixture of the two systems; the earls were chiefs as +regarded the Irish; but their succession to the honour, and through it to +the quasi-chiefry, was regulated by feudal rules. + +[Sidenote: Tudor view of the Celtic land law.] + +As the chief was elected by his tribe from among a limited number, so was +the land distributed among the tribesmen within certain fixed limits. As +it is with England's treatment of Ireland that we have to do, it may be +as well to let Sir John Davies himself say how the matter appeared to the +Tudor lawyers:-- + +[Sidenote: Septs.] + +'First be it known that the lands possessed by the mere Irish in this +realm were divided into several territories or countries; and the +inhabitants of each Irish country were divided into several septs or +lineages.' + +[Sidenote: Lord and tanist.] + +'Secondly, in every Irish territory there was a lord or chieftain, and a +tanist who was his successor apparent. And of every Irish sept or lineage +there was also a chief, who was called Canfinny, or head of a +"cognatio."' + +[Sidenote: Tanistry and gavelkind.] + +'Thirdly, all possessions in these Irish territories (before the common +law of England was established through all the realm as it now is) ran at +all times[6] in course of tanistry, or in course of gavelkind. Every +lordship or chiefry, with the portion of land that passed with it, went +without partition to the tanist, who always came in by election, or by +the strong hand, and never by descent.[7] But all the inferior tenancies +were partible among the males in gavelkind.'[8] + +[Sidenote: No estate of inheritance.] + +'Again, the estate which the lord had in the chiefry, or that the +inferior tenants had in gavelkind, was no estate of inheritance, but a +temporary or transitory possession. For just as the next heir of the +lord or chieftain would not inherit the chiefry, but the eldest and +worthiest of the sept (as was before shown in the case of tanistry), who +was often removed and expelled by another who was more active or stronger +than he: so lands in the nature of gavelkind were not partible among the +next heirs male of him who died seised, but among all the males of his +sept, in this manner:-- + +[Sidenote: Partitions of tribal land.] + +'The Canfinny, or chief of a sept (who was commonly the most ancient of +the sept) made all the partitions at his discretion. This Canfinny, after +the death of each tenant holding a competent portion of land, assembled +all the sept, placed all their possessions in hotchpotch, and made a new +partition of the whole; in which partition he did not assign to the sons +of the deceased the portion which their father held, but allotted the +better or larger part to each one of the sept according to his +antiquity.'[9] + +[Sidenote: Effect of frequent partitions.] + +'These portions being thus allotted and assigned were possessed and +enjoyed accordingly until the next partition, which, at the discretion or +will of the Canfinny, might be made at the death of each inferior tenant. +And thus by these frequent partitions and the removals or translations of +the tenants of one portion or another, all the possessions were +uncertain, and the uncertainty of possession was the very cause that no +civil habitations were erected, and no enclosure or improvement of lands +made, in the Irish countries where that custom of gavelkind was in use; +especially in Ulster, which seemed everywhere a wilderness before this +new plantation made there by the English undertakers. And this was the +fruit of this Irish gavelkind.' + +[Sidenote: Position of daughters and of bastard sons.] + +'Also by this Irish custom of gavelkind bastards took their shares with +the legitimate, and wives, on the other hand, were quite excluded from +dower, and daughters took nothing, even if their father died without +issue male. So that this custom differed from Kentish gavelkind in four +points.'[10] + +[Sidenote: Four points peculiar to Irish gavelkind.] + +The four points were the certainty of estate in each share, the exclusion +of bastards, the admission of a widow to one moiety, and the admission of +females in default of issue male. For which reasons, says Sir John, the +Kentish custom was always held good and lawful by the law of England. He +admits, however, that the Irish custom had a counterpart in North Wales, +which had been totally abolished by Henry VIII., along with other usages +resembling those of Ireland. Edward I. had only ventured to exclude +bastards, and to give widows their dowry.[11] + +[Sidenote: Sir John Davies did not exhaust the subject.] + +Notwithstanding the above decision, it is probable that a description of +tanistry and gavelkind does not exhaust the subject. The theoretical +division among all the males of a sept is not at all likely to have been +carried out, except in very early times. Human nature was against it. +From the twelfth century the example of the Anglo-Normans, which cannot +have been altogether without weight, was against it. The interest of the +chief was everywhere against it, because it would deprive him of the +means of rewarding his friends, and because he was always tempted to +seize lands to his own use. The tendency to private property would be +always asserting itself, but the exact historical truth can never be +known. Before the close of the mediæval period, a great part of Ireland +had been reconquered by the tribes from Anglo-Norman hands. Is it +possible that the Irish land system can have been anywhere restored in +its integrity? On the whole, it is at least probable that English +statesmen in the sixteenth century made as many mistakes about tenures in +Ireland as their representatives in the eighteenth and part of the +nineteenth made about tenures in India. Good faith may be generally +granted in both cases, but the blunders made were no less disastrous. It +is at all events clear that primogeniture was no Celtic usage, that it is +no part of the law of nature, and that the Tudor lawyers treated it as an +end in itself, and almost as a necessary element in the eternal fitness +of things. In the twelfth century Irish practice may have come much +nearer to theory than in the sixteenth; at all events, Henry II.'s grants +to individuals were absolutely opposed to Celtic notions of justice. + +[Sidenote: Composition for murder.] + +[Sidenote: Celtic usages part of the common Aryan stock.] + +[Sidenote: The conflict of laws is the key to Anglo-Irish history.] + +The Irish admitted composition for murder. This blood-fine, called an +_eric_, was an utter abomination to the English of the sixteenth century, +who had quite forgotten the laws and customs of their own Teutonic +ancestors. To men long used to a strong central government such a custom +seemed impious. It was nevertheless part of the common heritage of the +Aryan race, and had been in vogue among the peoples from whom the later +English sprung. The Njal Saga illustrates its use among the Icelanders by +many famous cases strictly in point. The feudal system and the canon law +had caused the Teutonic nations to abandon a usage which they once had in +common with the Irish. Celtic Ireland had never had a very strong central +government, and such as it was it had sustained serious damage. Homicide +was still considered a personal injury. The rule was not a life for a +life, but adequate damages for the loss sustained. The idea of public +justice, irrespective of private interests, was far in advance of the +stage which had been reached by the Irish Celts. Irish history cannot be +understood unless the fact is clearly grasped, that the development of +the tribal system was violently interrupted by a feudal half-conquest. +The Angevin and Plantagenet kings were strong enough to shake and +discredit the native polity; but they had neither the power nor the +inclination to feudalise a people which had never gone through the +preliminary stages. When the Tudors brought a more steadfast purpose and +better machinery to the task, they found how hard it was to evolve order +out of the shattered remnants of two systems which had the same origin, +but which had been so brought together as to make complete fusion +impossible. From the first the subjects of England and the natives of +Ireland had been on entirely different planes. Even for us it is +extremely difficult to avoid confusion by applying modern terms to +ancient things. The Tudor lawyers and statesmen could hardly even attempt +to look at jarring systems from the outside. They saw that the common law +was more advanced than that of the Brehons, but they could not see that +they were really the same thing at different stages. In fact, plain +Englishmen in the sixteenth century could not do what only the most +enlightened Anglo-Indians can do in the nineteenth. They were more +civilised than the Irish, but they were not educated enough to recognise +the common ancestor. That there was a common ancestor, and that neither +party could recognise him, is the key to Anglo-Irish history both before +and after the Tudor times. + +[Sidenote: Origin of the Irish Church. Patrick and Columba.] + +[Sidenote: Exile of Columba.] + +[Sidenote: Saint Bridget.] + +The early history of the native Irish Church is shrouded in much +obscurity. The best authorities are disposed to accept St. Patrick as the +apostle of Ireland, the fifth century as the period of his labours, and +Armagh as his chief seat. He was not a native of Ireland; so much seems +certain. A more interesting, because a more clearly defined figure, is +that of Columba or Columkille, who was born in Donegal in 521. The +churches of Derry, Durrow, Kells, Swords, Raphoe, Tory Island, and +Drumcliff, claim him as their founder; but it is as the apostle of North +Britain that he is best known. He was religious from his youth, but a +peculiarly serious tinge was given to his mind by a feeling of remorse +for bloodshed which he had partly caused. He had surreptitiously +transcribed a psalter belonging to another saint, who complained of this +primitive infringement of copyright. A royal decision that 'to every cow +belongs her calf' was given, and was followed by an appeal to arms. Exile +was then imposed as a penance on Columba, whose act had been the +original cause of offence. Such was long the received legend, but perhaps +the exile was voluntary.[12] Whether his departure was a penance or the +result of a vow, tradition says that he was bound never to see Ireland +again, that he landed first on Oronsay, but found that Erin was visible +from thence, and refused to rest until he had reached Iona. His supposed +feelings are recorded in a very ancient poem:-- + + 'My vision o'er the brine I stretch + From the ample oaken planks; + Large is the tear of my soft grey eye + When I look back upon Erin. + Upon Erin my attention is fixed.' + +Columba was the Paul of Celtic Christianity. By him and his disciples a +great part of Scotland was evangelised, and it was to him that the +British Church looked as a founder when the time came to decide between +the relative pretensions of the Celtic and the Norman type of religion. +St. Bridget or Bride, who died four years after Columba's birth, is +scarcely less celebrated. She was born near Dundalk, and her chief seat +was at Kildare. She was the mother of Irish female monachism, and in +popular estimation is not less famous than Patrick, and perhaps more so +than Columba.[13] + +[Sidenote: The Irish Church was originally monastic.] + +Irish Christianity was at first monastic. A saint obtained a grant of +land from a chief. A church was built, and a settlement sprung up round +it. The family, as it was called, consisted partly of monks and partly of +dependents, and the abbot ruled over all as chief of a pseudo-tribe. Like +a lay chiefry the abbacy was elective, and the abbots wielded +considerable power. These ecclesiastical clans even made war with each +other. Thus, it is recorded that in 763 the family of St. Ciaran of +Clonmacnoise fought with the family of St. Columba of Durrow, and that +200 of the Columbides fell. The head of such a confraternity was called +coarb, or successor of the founder, and Irish writers sometimes called +the Pope 'coarb of Peter.' In course of time the coarb of Patrick +crystallised into the Archbishop of Armagh, and the coarb of Columba into +the Bishop of Derry. Other saints were revered as the founders of other +sees. Very often at least the abbot was chosen from among the founder's +kin. + +[Sidenote: The early Church was episcopal, but not territorially so.] + +Episcopal orders were acknowledged from the first, but it was long before +the notion of a territorial bishop prevailed. In early days there were +many bishops, wanderers sometimes, and at other times retained by the +abbot as a necessary appendage to his monastery. The bishop was treated +with great respect, but was manifestly inferior to the head of a +religious house. St. Patrick was said to have consecrated 350 bishops, +founded 700 churches, and ordained 5,000 priests; a mere legend, but +perhaps tending to show that the episcopal order was very numerous in +Ireland. Travelling bishops without definite duties, and with orders of +doubtful validity, became a scandal to more regularly organised churches, +and drew down a rebuke from Anselm as late as the beginning of the +twelfth century. At an earlier period impostors pretending to be Irish +bishops were not uncommon.[14] + +[Sidenote: Ireland gradually conformed to Roman usage.] + +The Irish Church long continued to keep Easter on a different day from +that sanctioned by Rome, and to use a different form of tonsure. But the +inconvenience of such dissidence from the general body of Western +Christendom was soon felt. About 630 Pope Honorius I. addressed a letter +to the Irish Church, in which he reminded the clergy that they were a +scanty company inhabiting a remote region, and that it could not be for +their interest to remain isolated. Cummian, afterwards seventh abbot of +Iona, warmly espoused the papal cause. 'Rome errs,' he said with great +scorn, 'Jerusalem errs, Alexandria errs, Antioch errs, the whole world +errs--the Britons and Irish are the only right-minded people.' The +southern Irish followed Cummian, but the northern rejected his advice, +and some even called him a heretic; yet this did not prevent his being +elected to fill Columba's chair. Adamnan, ninth abbot of Iona, and +biographer of the great founder, was no less earnest on the Roman side +than Cummian had been. At the Synod of Whitby in 664 Wilfred discomfited +Colman of Lindisfarne, and settled the question so far as England was +concerned. Adamnan lived till 704, and succeeded in converting nearly all +the Irish churches, except those subject to his own monastery. + +[Sidenote: Close of the Paschal controversy, 716.] + +In 716, under Duncadh, the eleventh abbot, Iona conformed, and the +Paschal controversy came to an end, after lasting 150 years. The coronal +tonsure was adopted three years later. The supremacy of Rome was thus +acknowledged, but circumstances long prevented the Irish from adopting +the Roman plan of Church organisation. + +[Sidenote: Influence of the Scandinavian invasions on the Church.] + +[Sidenote: The Eugenian Constitution, 1151.] + +The Scandinavian inroads began towards the close of the century which +witnessed the submission of Iona. It is probable that the influx of pagan +Northmen kept Ireland apart from the rest of Christendom. The ninth +century produced Erigena and other eminent Irishmen, but a country in +which Christianity was fighting for bare life was not a promising field +for Church reformers or systematisers. It was not until Clontarf had +finally decided the cause in favour of Christianity that Ireland had +again leisure to think of ecclesiastical polity. Gillebert of Limerick, +an Ostman, was the first papal legate, and as such presided at the synod +of Rathbreasil in or about 1118, where the first serious attempt was made +to divide all Ireland into dioceses. The great influence of Malachi of +Armagh was exerted in the same direction. He was the friend of Bernard of +Clairvaux, and he introduced the Cistercian order into Ireland. Pope +Eugenius III., himself a Cistercian, finished the work, and in 1151 +Ireland accepted four archiepiscopal palls from Rome. From that date the +Irish Church must be held to have fully accepted not only papal supremacy +but Roman organisation. That she had not done so long before seems due to +accident more than anything else. From mere remoteness of position +Ireland had escaped the dominion of Imperial Rome. From the same +remoteness she was comparatively slow to feel the influence of Papal +Rome. Still, it can scarcely be doubted that had it not been for the +Scandinavian intrusion, the Ireland which adopted the Roman Easter and +the Roman tonsure before the middle of the eighth century, would have +gladly accepted the palls long before the middle of the twelfth.[15] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] As to the divisions and sub-divisions of the ancient Irish people, I +prefer to give the following statement of Dr. Sullivan:--'The unit +territory was the _Tuath_, each of which had a _Ri_, or chief. Three, +four, or even more _Tuatha_ were connected together for military and +other purposes as a _Mór Tuath_; the king or chief of the confederacy, +who acted as Commander-in-Chief, was the _Ri Mór Tuatha_, or great chief. +This group corresponded to the Gothic _Thiuda_, old Norse _Thjoth_. The +Irish unit _Tuath_ corresponded to the Norse _Fylk_, the Teutonic _Gavi_ +or _Gau_, the Greek _Phyle_, and the old Latin _Tribus_; it was at first +genealogical, but acquired a geographical and political signification. +The tribe or _Tuath_ consisted in some cases of a _Clann_, the progeny or +descendants of a chief. Sometimes a _Clann_ embraced several _Tuatha_. +_Clann_ was strictly genealogical, _Tuath_ both genealogical and +geographical. The _Clann_ consisted of families or houses called _Fine_, +equivalent to _Cognatio_--the Anglo-Saxon _Maegth_. The head of a _Fine_ +was the _Cendfinne_ or chieftain. The _Fine_ was a sept. The _Clann_ +therefore consisted of several septs, and the land of the tribe or +_Tuath_ was divided between the septs or _Fine_ composing it. The _Fine_ +or sept is one of the most important parts of the Irish organisation, but +the word is used in several senses: thus, the relatives of a chief or +other tribesman to the fifth degree constituted the true _Cognatio_ or +_Geilfine_, i.e. Hand-_fine_. The _Fine_ or sept was in fact an +independent unit, which paid _Erics_ for all its members, and received +_Erics_ or fines for the killing of one of its own members, and also took +possession of the _Dibad_ or property of its deceased members. But when +the sept did not fulfil its obligations, the _Ri_ of the _Tuath_ was +bound to enforce justice. So when the _Tuath_ itself failed in its +obligations and duties, the _Ri Mór Tuatha_ or superior chief was bound +to enforce justice in the recalcitrant tribe. The _Ri Mór Tuatha_, or _Ri +buiden_, or king of companies, corresponded to the Anglo-Saxon _Heretoga_ +or Dux. The King of the Great Tribe received hostages from the sub-reguli +of his territory for their _Ceílsine_ or fealty, and he might call upon +them to support him with a levy of their tribes.' + +[2] 'The existence of the Irish Pentarchy,' says Dr. Sullivan, 'was as +real as that of any similar confederacy among nations in a tribal stage, +and the means of enforcing the orders of the over-king were not very +different or less effective than in many federal states--ancient, +mediæval, and modern.' + +[3] 'It is quite true,' says Dr. Sullivan, 'that the central power was +not always strong enough to enforce rights, and in many instances was +defeated in its attempt to do so. But in what does this differ from other +federal states, ancient and modern? The Emperors of Germany were not +always able to subdue and to enforce their decrees against the princes +and nobles of the Empire, and in numerous instances the decisions of the +imperial chancery might be regarded in precisely the same light--as mere +arbitrations. To say there was no law, properly speaking, seems to me +wholly irreconcilable with actual facts, and _especially with the +existence of a rich and elaborate nomenclature of native terms not +borrowed from Roman law_. This nomenclature implies an equally elaborate +machinery. It was the existence of this legal system which kept out the +canon law, which never, for instance, succeeded in suppressing or even +modifying the marriage customs. In discussing the laws and institutions +of early nations we are liable to go to one or other of two +extremes:--(1) We represent the laws, &c., in terms of modern law, by +which we make inchoate institutions full-grown, while the germs of a +legal system are represented as a fully developed code; or (2) we deny +the existence of all law and legislation. You are right I think as +regards the Church; for owing to the organisation of the old Celtic +Church it was perfectly acephalous. Whatever influence it did exert was +individual and never official, and, therefore, not continuous--it might +be described in fact as sporadic influence.' + +[4] 'All through the laws,' says Dr. Sullivan, 'there is ample evidence +to prove that the tribesmen, or _Aires_, were bound to take stock from +the _Ri_, or chief, only. The amount of this stock, called _Saer_, or +free-stock, is strictly laid down, and the amount of the tribute payable +for this stock, called _Bestigi_, or house-refection, or tribute, is also +strictly laid down. But if the _Ri_ were wealthy he might offer more +stock to his _Ceiles_, clients or vassals, on condition of paying him +certain dues, called _Biatad_. The stock so given was called _Daer_, or +base-stock; and its acceptance by a tribesman made a _Daer-ceilé_ of him, +and placed him very much in the power of the _Ri_, or chief. No tribesman +could accept _Daer-stock_ without the consent of his _Fine_, or sept, +which would be bound by the acts of its members. A tribesman, with the +consent of his _Fine_, might accept _Daer-stock_ from any _Flath_, or +lord, in his own _Tuath_, or tribe. All the above applies to the +tribesmen, or _Aires_, who alone constituted the free class. But besides +the _Ceiles_, or clients, or free tribesmen, or _Aires_, there was +another class, called _Fuidirs_. The markland of the tribe and the land +held in severalty of the _Ri_, and the similar land of the _Cendfinne_, +or chieftain (or captain, as he is called in the Scottish Highlands) of a +sept was let out to various classes of _Fuidirs_. Some were _Saer_, or +free _Fuidirs_, and others _Daer_, or base Fuidirs. The _Saer-fuidirs_, +again, were of two sorts--broken tribesmen who went into another _Tuath_ +and got stock as well as land from a _Ri_, or _Flath_, and _Saer-fuidirs_ +who possessed some stock of their own which they grazed on land of a +chief or of a _Flath_. Some of these free _Fuidirs_ entered into _daer_, +or servitude, by accepting stock under certain conditions. The _Fuidir_ +classes were the true tenants at will. The _Aires_ were of the clan, the +_Fuidirs_, _Bottachs_, or cottiers, and other servile classes, _belonged_ +to the clan. The giving and taking of _Daer-stock_ depended upon the +impoverishment of a sept through cattle murrain, the levying of +blood-fines on account of the misconduct of some of its members, &c. But +the whole thing was voluntary, and depended on the poverty of a sept and +the wealth and ability of the _Ri_, or _Flath_.' + +[5] Dr. Sullivan does not think Christianity was fully established by the +middle of the seventh century. 'The Irish Church organisation,' he says, +'was ill calculated to influence the social habits and the political life +of the people; unlike the diocesan and centralised system of the Latin +Church. Hence a high spiritual life and intellectual cultivation within +the numerous coenobiums was quite compatible with practical paganism and +disorder outside.' + +[6] 'At all times' must be understood to refer only to those +comparatively modern ages above mentioned. + +[7] 'The election,' says Dr. Sullivan, 'was always from the _Geilfine_, +or relatives within the fifth degree. Should the _Geilfine_ fail, or be +all killed in battle, the _Derbfine_, or relatives from the fifth to the +ninth degree, came in.' + +[8] 'This,' says Dr. Sullivan, 'is not right. There was the "joint +undivided family" formed by the _Bo-aire_ class, or freemen possessed of +cattle. The poorer _Flaths_, or heads of septs, did not gavel their +possessions, but either elected a tanist or formed a "joint undivided +family." When the property of an _Aire_ was not sufficient to gavel, so +as to qualify one or more _Aires_, the division of the inheritance did +not take place, but the parties agreed to form a "_joint_ undivided +family." In such a family one was head, and as such was an _Aire_. +_Bo-aires_ of this class, to avoid the gavelling of their property, +elected a _Tanist_--the _Tanaise Bo-aire_. Poor and broken tribesmen, not +having sufficient wealth to qualify them as _Aires_, formed a +"joint-family," or _Congilda_. Every _Flath_, or head of a sept, had a +tanist also. The Irish "joint-family" was an institution of great +importance and of surpassing interest in the comparative history of the +Aryan family.' + +[9] 'This account of Davies,' says Dr. Sullivan, 'is entirely wrong. The +law of the distribution of the property of a deceased tribesman was most +carefully laid down. No doubt then as now, and naturally more frequently +then than now, a chief, or head of a sept, or of a _Treb_ (homestead) +might usurp power he did not possess, and do wrong.' + +[10] 'Marriages in Ireland,' says Dr. Sullivan, 'were not regulated by +canon law. The Irish marriage customs were in full force long after the +Norman conquest. According to these customs, which appear to have been +wholly uninfluenced by the canon law, bastardy was entirely different +from what that term implied in countries under canon law, and in modern +times. The Irish marriage customs should consequently be taken into +account here, as they sanctioned a kind of polygamy, divorce, &c. See +also the excommunication in 1282, by the Archbishop of Canterbury against +Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, at the request of Edward I., in which the +marriage customs of the Welsh, identical with those of the Irish, +constitute one of the charges.' + +[11] _Le Résolution des justices touchant le Irish custome de gavelkind._ +Reported by Sir John Davies, A.G., 3 Jac. i. + +[12] Dr. Sullivan believes the story of the decision against Columba to +be a mere myth. + +[13] 'The Irish Church,' says Dr. Sullivan, 'had undoubtedly two distinct +phases of monasticism: one that of the Patrician period--an obscure but +highly important and interesting phase; the other, that of the sixth and +subsequent centuries, to which the Irish missionaries belonged.' + +[14] 'Besides,' says Dr. Sullivan, 'the monastic bishop proper, who +furnished the wandering Scotic bishops of the Middle Ages, there is a +later development of a higher church organisation in the tribal bishop, +who was a close approximation to a diocesan bishop. The tribal bishop was +a bishop who had jurisdiction over the whole of a _Tuath_, and sometimes +even a _Mór Tuath_. The growth of territorial jurisdiction is well marked +by the prestige attached to the office--the bishop ranked in fact almost +on a level with the chief, and was entitled to the same legal retinue. +Many of the ancient dioceses, and some of the existing ones, _e.g._ Ross, +Kilmacduagh, Kilfenora, represent ancient _Tuaths_, or tribe territories. +Several deaneries were former dioceses, and are co-extensive with ancient +_Tuatha_. + +[15] Dr. Sullivan warns me not to attribute too much influence to the +Danish Church. 'The tribe-bishop,' he says, 'was a much earlier +development, and proves the growth of diocesan jurisdiction and the +consequent merging of the Irish Church in the Latin Church. The +acceptance of the Roman time for celebrating Easter by the Irish Church +and the constant intercourse between Ireland and the Continent had +brought the Irish Church fully under Roman supremacy three and a half +centuries earlier. What really took place in the early part of the +twelfth century was the more complete adoption of the organisation of the +Western Church, and of the principles of the canon law; and especially +the granting of lands and charters to the Church in the same way as in +feudal lands. The marriage of Irish princes with Saxon and other foreign +princesses, and the growth of towns which helped to relax its rigid +tribal system, did more than the Danish Church.' The chief towns were, +however, of Danish origin. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE SCANDINAVIAN ELEMENT. + + +[Sidenote: First appearance of the Northmen, 795.] + +Norwegian ships began to appear on the Irish coast in 795, one year after +the destruction of the church at Lindisfarne. The islands were harried, +Lambay being perhaps the first to suffer; everything of value was taken, +and the hermits and anchorites were killed or carried away. Iona, where +the greatest of Irish saints had founded a new Church, was burned or +plundered in 802 and 806. About twelve years after their first visit the +Scandinavians began to venture inland, sacking the monasteries, which +contained such wealth as Ireland then possessed, and slaughtering the +monks. The famous religious community at Bangor, in Down, was thus +destroyed about 824. The first permanent settlement of the northern +invaders was perhaps in the neighbourhood of Limerick. They had a fort at +Cork before 848, and at Dublin before 852. There were also forts on Lough +Foyle and at Waterford. The flat coast between Dublin and the borders of +Meath lay open to a floating enemy, and early obtained the name of +Fingal, or the land of the stranger. + +[Sidenote: Turgesius, 830.] + +In or about 830 a chief arrived who pursued a more ambitious policy. He +is called Turgeis or Turgesius by the Irish, and by the Irish only: this +may be a form of Thorkils or Trygve, and may perhaps be a name applied to +the mysterious hero whom the Scandinavians call Ragnar Lodbrok. Turgesius +landed in Ulster, and planned the complete subjugation of Ireland. He +burned Armagh and drove out St. Patrick's successor, and then took up a +central position near Athlone, whence his flotillas could act on Lough +Ree and Lough Dearg. We know that the Northmen dragged ships or boats +overland to Loch Lomond, and similar feats may have been performed in +Ireland. There was another plundering station on Lough Neagh about the +same time. + +Turgeis mastered the northern half of Ireland, and made frequent +incursions into the other half. Against the Church he showed peculiar +animosity, and his wife used the high altar at Clonmacnoise as a throne +when she gave audience; perhaps she uttered oracular responses from it. +In the south Turgeis was less powerful, for the dispossessed abbot of +Armagh took refuge at Emly in Tipperary. But the whole coast was attacked +by innumerable corsairs, who sometimes made raids far into the central +districts. Dublin was fortified by the Norwegians about 840, and became +the chief seat of the Scandinavian power. Turgeis did not live to unite +the various bands, but fell into the hands of Malachi, King of Meath, in +845, and was drowned in Lough Owel. The Northmen of Limerick were +defeated in the same year at Roscrea, and their earl, Olfin, was +slain.[16] + +[Sidenote: A.D. 852. + +The Black and White Gentiles.] + +Seven years after the death of Turgeis came the Black Gentiles, who are +generally supposed to have been Danes, as the White Gentiles were +certainly Norwegians. Whether the colour of their armour or their +complexion was referred to is doubtful. The new-comers made themselves +masters of Dublin, and of the plunder which the first invaders had +accumulated from all the Irish churches. Before one of the battles fought +to decide whether Black or White Pagans were to enjoy this property, +Horm, or Gorm, the Danish chief, is said to have invoked St. Patrick, a +singular confusion of ideas, which may have resulted from intercourse +with Christians in England. Victory followed. The Black Gentiles seem to +have retained their supremacy; but the distinction becomes partly +obliterated, and the Danes, of whom we read later, were probably +intermingled with Norwegians. It is recorded that Amlaf, son of the King +of Norway, came to Ireland in 852 or 853, that all the foreigners of Erin +submitted to him, and that the Irish also paid tribute. The name of the +Black Gentiles is believed to be preserved in the little town of +Baldoyle. + +[Sidenote: Forty years' peace.] + +Amlaf and his sons were not satisfied with the spoils of thrice plundered +churches, but everywhere violated tombs in search of gold ornaments. +Another great chief was Ivar, who appears to have been Ivar Beinlaus, son +of Ragnar Lodbrok, and founder of the Northumbrian kingdom, which was +afterwards closely connected with the Irish Danes. To the Norwegians who +fled to Ireland from the iron rule of Harold Harfager, the King of Dublin +was one of the chief sovereigns on earth. Carrol, lord of Ossory, was in +alliance with Amlaf and Ivar, and ruled Dublin after their deaths; but he +died about 885, and a Norse dynasty was then re-established by force. A +dozen years later another Carrol drove the foreigners across the Channel, +but Sitric, king of Northumberland, regained the fortress in 919, and the +Celts do not appear to have recaptured it. For a period of some forty +years, ending about 916, Ireland is said to have had a little rest. The +enemy may have had enough to do elsewhere, but their predatory +expeditions did not entirely cease. There were perhaps no fresh invasions +in force, but former settlers held their own against the Irish, with whom +they were generally at war. + +[Sidenote: Renewed invasions, 916.] + +[Sidenote: Severe treatment of the natives.] + +Whatever may have caused the period of comparative rest, the Danish +incursions began again with renewed vigour. A great host came to +Waterford in 916, defeated the men of Leinster, and harried all the south +of Ireland; churches, as usual, attracting their special attention. +Ragnal, Ivar's grandson, represented by the Ulster annalists as king of +all the Irish Scandinavians, was the chief leader, and he afterwards led +his men to Scotland, where the great but indecisive battle of Tynemoor +was fought.[17] Sitric, Ragnal's brother, took Dublin from the Irish, who +had, perhaps, held it since 902, and on Ragnal's death succeeded to the +royal title. The natives had occasional successes, but on the whole they +were conspicuously inferior in the field, and Nial Glundubh, King of +Ireland, who headed a great confederacy, fell in the attempt to recover +Dublin. Twelve chiefs or kings of northern and central tribes are said to +have died at the same time. After this reverse all serious attempt to +check the invaders seems to have been given up, and fleet after fleet +brought hordes of oppressors to the ill-fated island. Munster suffered +especially, and the general nature of a Danish invasion cannot be better +apprehended than by transcribing the chronicler's words:--'And assuredly +the evil which Erin had hitherto suffered was as nothing compared to the +evil inflicted by these parties. All Munster was plundered by them on all +sides and devastated, and they spread themselves over Munster and built +earth-works and towers and landing-places over all Erin, so that there +was no place in Erin without numerous fleets of Danes and pirates; so +that they made spoil-land and sword-land and conquered-land of her +throughout her breadth and generally; and they ravaged her chieftainries, +privileged churches, and sanctuaries, and demolished her shrines, +reliquaries, and books. They wrecked her beautiful ornamental temples: +for neither veneration, nor honour, nor mercy for holy ground, nor +protection for church or sanctuary, for God or man, was felt by this +furious, ferocious, pagan, ruthless, wrathful people. In short, until the +sand of the sea, the grass of the field, or the stars of heaven are +counted it will not be easy to recount or enumerate or relate what the +Gaedhil, all, without distinction, suffered from; whether men or women, +boys or girls, laics or clerics, freemen or serfs, young or old; +indignity, outrage, injury, and oppression. In a word, they killed the +kings and the chieftains, the heirs to the crown, and the royal princes +of Erin. They killed the brave and the valiant, the stout knights, +champions, soldiers, and young lords, and most of the heroes and warriors +of all Ireland; they brought them under tribute and reduced them to +bondage and slavery. Many were the blooming, lively women; the modest, +mild, comely maidens; the pleasant, noble, stately, blue-eyed young +women; the gentle, well-brought-up youths; and the intelligent, valiant +champions, whom they carried to oppression and bondage over the broad +green sea. Alas! many and frequent were the bright eyes that were +suffused with tears and dimmed with grief and despair at the separation +of son from father, and daughter from mother, and brother from brother, +and relatives from their race and from their tribe.'[18] + +[Sidenote: The Northmen fail to found a permanent kingdom.] + +The Irish Danes became strong enough to interfere with effect in English +politics, and Olaf Cuaran, or Sitricson, King of Dublin, was a general of +the great Scandinavian army which Athelstane overthrew at Brunanburgh. +The Danes were much fewer than the Irish, but their general superiority +during the tenth century was incontestable; and had the invaded people +been of kin to them the kingdom of Canute might have had a counterpart in +Ireland. Irish Celts were only too ready to call in Scandinavian allies +in their internal quarrels, but they could never amalgamate with them. +Occasionally a confederation of tribes would gain a great success, as at +the battle of Tara, where King Malachi defeated the Dublin Danes under +Athelstane's old opponent, Olaf Cuaran. After great slaughter on both +sides the Dublin men had the worst, and were forced to release Donnell, +King of Leinster, who was then in their hands. A great part of Ireland +was at this time subject to the Danes, and the battle of Tara has been +called the end of the 'Babylonish captivity of Ireland, inferior only to +the captivity of hell.' King Olaf went on a pilgrimage to Iona, where he +died in the following year. Thirty-seven years had passed since his +acceptance of Christianity, at least in name; yet the Danes plundered the +sacred isle only five years later, in 986, and killed the abbot and +fifteen of his monks. It is to be noted that the Scandinavian treatment +of churches reacted on the Irish, and that many native warriors came to +regard saints and sanctuaries with as little respect as Turgesius +himself. + +[Sidenote: Their strongest power in Munster.] + +Munster seems to have been more completely subdued than any other part of +Ireland. The Danish stations at Waterford, Cork, and Limerick made +invasion at all times easy, and the sons of Ivar bid fair to found a +lasting dynasty at the latter place. There was a tax-gatherer in every +petty district, a receiver to intercept the dues of every church, a +soldier billeted in every house, 'so that none of the men of Erin ... had +power to give even the milk of his cow, nor as much as the clutch of eggs +of one hen in succour or in kindness to an aged man, or to a friend, but +was forced to preserve them for the foreign steward, or bailiff, or +soldier. And though there were but one milk-giving cow in the house she +durst not be milked for an infant of one night, nor for a sick person, +but must be kept for the steward, or bailiff, or soldier of the +foreigners. And however long he might be absent from his house, his share +or his supply durst not be lessened; although there was in the house but +one cow, it must be killed for the meal of the night, if the means of a +supply could not be otherwise procured.'[19] + +[Sidenote: Succession to the kingdom of Cashel.] + +At last a deliverer arose. According to the will of Olioll Olum, King of +Munster in the third century--such is the theory--the sovereignty of +Cashel, that is of Munster, was to belong alternately to the races of his +two sons, Eoghan Mor and Cormac Cas. The Eoghanachts and Dal Cais are +generally Anglicised as the Eugenians and Dalcassians; the strength of +the former and much stronger tribe being in Cork, Limerick, and +Kerry--that of the latter in Clare. The Eugenian Fergraidh was king in +967, when he was murdered by his own people. Mahon the Dalcassian then +became king, in compliance with the constitutional theory, but not +without a struggle. Urged on by his brother Brian, he attacked the Danish +settlements up and down the country, and became master of Cashel, when +Ivar, finding his supremacy threatened, summoned all that would obey him +to root out utterly the whole Dalcassian race. + +[Sidenote: Molloy, Mahon, and Brian.] + +The tribes of Western Munster generally were disposed to follow Mahon, +but Molloy, King of Desmond, and some others, adhered to the Dane rather +than admit the supremacy of a local rival. A pitched battle took place at +Solloghead, near Tipperary, in which the foreigners and their allies were +totally defeated. Molloy and other chiefs who had taken the losing side +were forced to give hostages to the victor. Mahon burned Limerick and +drove away Ivar, who returned after a year with a great fleet, and fixed +his head-quarters on Scattery Island, where St. Senanus had so sternly +resisted the blandishments of a female saint. + +[Sidenote: Murder of Mahon. Brian succeeds him.] + +For some years Mahon reigned undisputed King of Munster, but his +successes only stimulated the jealousies of Molloy and the other Eugenian +chiefs, who saw their race reduced to play an inferior part. They +accordingly conspired with Ivar, and Molloy procured the treacherous +murder of Mahon. The crime was useless, for Brian was left, and he +immediately succeeded both to the leadership of his own tribe and to the +kingdom of Munster, Molloy having certainly forfeited all moral claim to +the alternate succession. Brian pursued the Danes to their strongholds, +slew Ivar and his sons, and carried off the women and the treasure. There +was, however, still a Scandinavian settlement at Limerick, and we find a +grandson of Ivar afterwards in Brian's service as one of the ten Danish +stewards whom he employed. He was ambitious, and he had experience of the +skill of such officers in extorting contributions from unwilling +subjects. Molloy and his chief allies were slain; and Brian, having +reduced the Limerick Danes to insignificance, turned his arm against +those of Waterford, whose territory he ravaged, and whose Celtic allies, +inhabiting the modern county of Waterford, he easily subdued. Brian was +acknowledged as supreme in Munster, and took security from the principal +churches not to give sanctuary to thieves or rebels. As the consequence +of further expeditions Leinster also became tributary; and thus, in eight +years after his brother's death, Brian was admitted to be supreme in the +southern half of Ireland. + +[Sidenote: Brian aims at being King of all Ireland.] + +In his further expeditions, undertaken with a view of becoming King of +all Ireland, the Danes of Waterford sometimes accompanied Brian; but his +progress towards the desired goal was arrested for a while by a prudent +treaty with Malachi II., head King of Ireland, whom he acknowledged as +undisputed sovereign of the northern half, and by a revolt of the +Leinster men, who were allied with the Danes of Dublin, the united forces +of Brian and Malachi having overthrown the Leinster Danes at Glenmama, +near Dunlavin, Dublin fell an easy prey. The spoils taken are +represented as enormous, and the mention of carbuncles and other precious +stones, of buffalo-horns, goblets, and many-coloured vestures, betoken +some degree of luxury and much commercial activity among the Danes. It is +to be observed that Brian and his followers, though Christians, had no +scruple about making slaves. His panegyrists simply say that the Danes by +their cruelty and oppression had deserved no better treatment. Threshing +and other rough work was done by the male prisoners. Menial work, +including the severe labour of the hand-mill, was done by the women. +'There was not,' we are told, 'a winnowing sheet from Howth to the +furthest point of Kerry that had not a foreigner in bondage on it, nor +was there a quern without a foreign woman.' The fairer and more +accomplished of the Danish women of course underwent the fate of +Chryseis. + +[Sidenote: Brian and the Danes, Gormflaith.] + +Having in vain sought a refuge with the northern Irish, Sitric was forced +to submit to Brian, who reinstated him at Dublin as a tributary king. +Sitric's mother, Gormflaith, or Kormlada, was sister to Maelmordha, King +of Leinster, and her husband, King Olaf, having been dead many years, she +was free to marry Brian, which she did soon after, while Brian's daughter +married Sitric. Wielding thus the whole force of southern Ireland, Brian +called upon Malachi to acknowledge his supremacy. The King of Ireland +sought aid in vain from his kinsmen, the northern Hy Neill, whose king +Aedh, or Hugh, sarcastically remarked that when his clan had held the +chief kingship they had known how to defend their own. No help coming +from Connaught either, Malachi was forced to submit to Brian's power, and +though no formal cession took place the King of Ireland quietly subsided +into King of Meath. + +[Sidenote: Brian, King of all Ireland, 1002.] + +Brian was henceforth reckoned as monarch of Ireland. He invaded Connaught +with a flotilla on the Shannon and an army marching on land, and the +chiefs of the western province were glad to give hostages. The Ulster +potentates falling out among themselves, the north also was easily +subdued, and Brian became the actual lord paramount of Ireland. After +this he made a tour round the island, starting from the Shannon and +marching through Roscommon and over the Curlew mountains into Sligo. +Hugging the coast by Ballyshannon to Donegal, he crossed Barnesmore Gap +into Tyrone, and then passing the Foyle, near Lifford, he went through +Londonderry, Antrim, Down, and Louth, to the neighbourhood of Kells. In a +previous expedition he had visited Armagh and laid twenty ounces of gold +on the altar. A fleet, manned by the Danes of Dublin, Limerick, and +Waterford, seems to have circumnavigated Ireland while he was making the +circuit by land. + +[Sidenote: Brian's supremacy a loose one.] + +[Sidenote: Gormflaith's intrigues.] + +The supremacy of Brian was no doubt an extremely loose one. He had made +no real impression on the northern tribes, and they only waited a +favourable opportunity to cast off the nominal yet galling yoke. But for +about seven years there seems to have been no serious attempt against +him, and he was able to turn his attention to the building of churches +and bridges. It was during this period that a lone woman is said to have +walked unmolested from the Bloody Foreland to Glandore with a gold ring +at the end of a wand. Peace, however, there was not; for Brian was +engaged in at least two warlike expeditions to Ulster, and there was a +fair amount of murder and private war among the minor chiefs. Brian had +repudiated Gormflaith, Maelmordha's sister and Sitric's mother, and +probably not without good reason, for her moral character was by no means +on a par with her beauty and talents, since she had been married +successively to Olaf Cuaran and to Malachi II., and had been repudiated +by both. 'She was,' says the Saga, 'the fairest of all women, and best +gifted in everything that was not in her power, but it was the talk of +men that she did all things ill over which she had any power.' Brian +afterwards married a daughter of the King of Connaught, and when she +died, Gormflaith may have sought to be reinstated. At all events she was +at Kincora when her brother arrived, bringing with him the tribute of +Leinster. Her taunts, and a quarrel which he had with Murrough, Brian's +eldest son, provoked Maelmordha to leave Kincora in anger, and to raise +the standard of revolt. 'Gormflaith,' says the Saga, 'was so grim +against King Brian after their parting, that she would gladly have him +dead, and egged on her son Sitric very much to kill him.' Sitric readily +agreed to Maelmordha's proposal, and so did the northern Hy Neill, who +had never been really conquered, and who at once invaded Meath. After a +gallant struggle against Leinster and Ulster, Malachi was overpowered, +and called upon Brian for help. The King of Ireland, to whom the men of +Connaught remained faithful, accordingly ravaged the country between his +own district and Dublin, but was obliged to retire from before its walls +for want of provisions.[20] + +[Sidenote: Alliance of Sitric and Gormflaith against Brian.] + +Sitric and Gormflaith made use of the breathing space allowed them to +organise a powerful confederacy against Brian. Sitric himself went to +Sigurd, Earl of Orkney, who, after many refusals, at last agreed to join, +on condition of receiving the Crown of Ireland and Gormflaith's land. +'All his men,' says the Saga, 'besought Earl Sigurd not to go into the +war, but it was all to no good.' Gormflaith was well pleased at the +prospect before her, and advised large preparations for the inevitable +struggle. + +[Sidenote: Sitric's allies. Sigurd. Brodir.] + +Sigurd was nominally a Christian, but he reposed his chief trust in the +raven banner which his mother had woven with mighty spells; and many +Scandinavian warriors were still fanatically attached to Thor and Woden. +The Vikings, Ospak and Brodir, were lying off Man, and to them Sitric +next addressed himself in person. The Norsemen do not seem to have +insisted on youth in their wives, for Brodir was induced to join by the +same promises which had been made to Sigurd, and Gormflaith's first +husband had been dead thirty-three years. 'Brodir,' says the Icelandic +account, 'had been a Christian man and a mass deacon, but he had thrown +off his faith and become God's dastard, and now worshipped heathen +fiends, and was of all men most skilled in sorcery. He had the coat of +mail on which no steel would bite. He was both tall and strong, and had +such long locks that he tucked them under his belt. His hair was +black.'[21] + +[Sidenote: Conflict between Christianity and Paganism.] + +Ospak, who had leanings towards Christianity, refused to attack Brian; +indeed, he went over to him, and, according to Norse accounts, was +baptized. An immense force was, however, gradually collected, and +Scandinavian contingents are mentioned from Northumbria, under two Earls, +from Norway, from Orkney and Shetland, Skye and Lewis, from Cantire, +Argyle, and Galloway. Welshmen from Pembrokeshire and Cornwall, +Frenchmen, that is in all probability French Normans, under Karl and +Ebric, and some Flemings under a knight are also spoken of. Romans even +are mentioned, but this may be mere magniloquence. To oppose this motley +host Brian had the men of Munster, Meath, and South-eastern Connaught, +and the Danes of Limerick and probably of Waterford. He may have had the +numerical superiority, for Sigurd told his mother, the wise woman, that +he expected to be outnumbered seven to one. The eve of the battle of +Clontarf was signalised, according to the annalists, by various +supernatural occurrences. A messenger from St. Senanus appeared to the +king, and prophesied his death as the penalty due for violating the +sanctuary on Scattery Island thirty-seven years before. The interests and +prejudices of monastic chroniclers may account for this story, but it is +not so easy to explain the firm belief in pagan deities, in fairies, in +demons, and in satyrs shown by two independent historians. It is evident +that the oracles of heathenism were not supposed to have been dumb more +than 500 years after the death of Patrick, and 400 after that of Columba. +Nor was there any lack of marvels on the Danish side. Brodir, who had +already been plagued by showers of boiling blood, by supernatural noises, +by deaths among his men, and by ravens with beaks and claws of iron, +'tried by sorcery how the fight would go. And the answer ran, that if the +fight were on Good Friday, King Brian would fall but win the day; but if +they fought before, they would all fall that were against him.'[22] + +[Sidenote: Battle of Clontarf, 1014.] + +The battle was fought upon the fateful Friday, and Brian refused to take +part in it because the day was holy. He remained in the rear protected by +a ring of soldiers with their shields locked together. It was observed +that the successive bearers of the raven banner all fell, and Hrafn the +red, who was called by Sigurd to the dangerous duty, refused, saying, +'Bear thine own devil thyself.' ''Tis fittest that the beggar should bear +the bag,' answered the Earl, and put the banner under his cloak. Sigurd +fell, and Sitric had to retire before Ospak. Hrafn the red flew to a +river into which the devils wished to drag him, but a spoken spell +dispersed them. 'Thy dog,' he cried, 'Apostle Peter, hath run twice to +Rome, and he would run the third time if thou gavest him leave.' Of +Thorstein we are told that he interrupted his flight to tie his shoe. +Kerthialfad, Brian's foster son, asked him why he lingered at such a +critical moment, and the Northman returned an answer worthy of Sparta's +best days--'Because I can't get home to-night, since I am at home out in +Iceland.'[23] + +[Sidenote: Death of Brian.] + +In the moment of victory Brian was left behind, and Brodir, who had +lingered for a time in a thicket, broke through the line of shields and +hewed off the king's head. The Viking was taken and disembowelled alive, +according to the Norse account, but the Irish writers say that he fell by +Brian's hands. Sigurd being already dead, Gormflaith lost all chance of a +royal husband, and it is only further recorded of her that she died +sixteen years later. Many other chiefs fell, including Maelmordha, and +Murrough, Brian's favourite son, and the fight was followed, as it had +been heralded, by many signs and wonders both in the Celtic and in the +Scandinavian world. + +[Sidenote: The Danes were not expelled.] + +The popular delusion that the battle of Clontarf caused the expulsion of +the Danes from Ireland must be pretty well dissipated by this time. +Sitric remained with reserves within the fortress, and thus saved his +kingdom; nor do the annalists cease to make frequent mention of the +foreigners. But the defeat was great, and may have had considerable +influence in deciding those who were already hovering between Woden and +Jesus. Fourteen years after Clontarf we find Sitric going to Rome, and +his son Olaf was killed in England when attempting the same pilgrimage. +These facts lend some countenance to the legend that Sitric founded +Christ Church in 1038; for the Roman court well knew how to impress the +rude northern warriors, and to profit in various ways by their simple +faith. We are told that Flosi the Icelander went to Rome to cleanse +himself from the stain of blood-guiltiness, 'where,' says the Njal-Saga, +'he gat so great honour that he took absolution from the Pope himself, +and for that he gave a great sum of money.' + +[Sidenote: But they soon accepted Christianity.] + +Without actually amalgamating, the Danes seem to have drawn gradually +closer to the native Irish. A royal heir of Ulster received the name of +Ragnal less than half a century after Clontarf, and in 1121 a bishop +seems to have been temporarily appointed at Dublin by the joint election +of Irish and Danes. But quarrels were frequent even after the Danes had +become fully Christianised; and when the men of Munster invaded Fingal in +1133, they burned the church of Lusk when it was full of people and +treasures. Nor did fresh invasions quite cease, for Magnus, King of +Norway, made two expeditions to Ireland, in the latter of which, in 1103, +he lost his life. The separate history of the Irish Ostmen was drawing to +a close, even at the date of the Anglo-Norman invasion; but they have +left indelible traces upon the map of Ireland and on the traditional lore +of her people. + +[Sidenote: The Danes were traders.] + +Giraldus informs us that the Scandinavians who settled at Dublin, +Waterford, and Limerick, came under pretence of peaceful trading. The +Irish, he says, were prevented by their innate sloth from going down to +the sea in ships, but were ready to welcome those who would trade for +them, and thus allowed the fierce strangers to get a strong footing. +However this may be, it is certain that the Irish are deficient in +maritime enterprise, and equally certain that the Northmen had a constant +eye to trade as well as to war and plunder. Unerring instinct pointed out +the best stations, and on the sites thus chosen the chief cities of +Ireland were reared. The Kaupmannaeyjar or merchant isles, probably +those now called the Copelands, may have been a rendezvous for passing +vessels. Arabic coins, of which more than 20,000 pieces from more than +1,000 different dies are preserved at Stockholm, have been found in +Ireland, and the Irish Northmen certainly had a coinage of their own, +when the native princes had none. Pieces have been found which were +struck by, or at least for, a Scandinavian king of Dublin as early as the +ninth century, and all coins minted in Ireland up to the Anglo-Norman +invasion were perhaps of similar origin. Many such pieces have been found +in the Isle of Man, and some as far off as Denmark.[24] + +[Sidenote: They were superior to the Irish in peaceful arts.] + +The Irish annalists constantly dwell on the superiority of Norse arms and +armour as a reason for their success in war. Ringmail in particular shows +a high degree of manufacturing skill, and they wore it at Clontarf both +in brass and iron, while none is mentioned in the pompous Irish catalogue +of the arms worn by Brian's troops. Nor was this costly harness worn only +by the Scandinavian leaders, for they are said to have had 1,000 coats of +mail in that one battle. Danish swords which have survived from Brian's +days are of superior workmanship to Irish blades of the same date; and +the Northmen had perhaps a superiority in bows also, though on this point +the annalists are less explicit. The turgid verbosity of these writers +makes it doubtful whether the Danes used poisoned arrows, but no such +thing is mentioned in the Saga. + +[Sidenote: They built the first cities. Dublin, Waterford.] + +The flotillas which Brian maintained on inland waters, and the sea-going +vessels which attended his army in the North, were all manned by Danes, +and a mercantile marine has in every age been the best nursery of naval +power. No doubt the Irish felt the advantage of having commercial +emporiums on their coast, as other shore-going people profited by Greek +and Phoenician colonies. The analogy might easily be carried further, +and Dublin and Waterford might be represented as standing between the +Anglo-Normans and Celts of Ireland, as Massilia stood between the Romans +and Celts of Gaul. It is at all events clear that the Scandinavians +built the first cities and coined the first money in Ireland. + +[Sidenote: Brian's monarchy soon fell to pieces.] + +High as Brian towers above other mediæval Celts--one annalist calls him +the Charlemagne of North-western Europe--it cannot be said that he laid +the foundation of an Irish monarchy. He lived to be eighty, yet none of +his work lasted. Malachi received the honorary office of chief king, from +which his rival's personal prowess had driven him, and the years of his +reign are counted by some annalists without noticing Brian's +intervention, as in the modern case of Charles II. Brian was indeed +doubly a usurper, in wresting Munster from the race of Eoghan, and in +wresting Ireland from the race of Nial, in whom royalty had been vested +for centuries. With all his ceaseless exertions he was little more than a +levier of black mail, who left intact the internal government of weaker +princes. Borumha, or the tribute-taker, if that be really the meaning of +the term, describes his position with sufficient accuracy. When he died +Donnchadh, or Donogh, his son by Gormflaith, became head of his tribe, +and claimed the succession to the Irish monarchy. The Eugenians +repudiated his claim, alleging that their turn, which had been wrongfully +passed over, had now come to reign in Munster. Not satisfied with this, +their two principal chiefs fell out among themselves. The Ossorian +followed suit, and thus Brian's creation crumbled at once into dust. + +More than 150 years elapsed between the battle of Clontarf and the +landing of the first Anglo-Norman, and they were years of almost constant +war and confusion. Had Ireland been left to herself a prince might in +time have arisen strong enough to establish such a monarchy as Brian +failed to found. The Danes had ceased to be a seriously disturbing +influence, but there is no evidence that any such process of +consolidation was going on, and a feudal system, which had lost none of +its vigour, was at last confronted with a tribal system which had lost +none of its inherent weakness. + +[Sidenote: Progress of Christianity.] + +It is impossible to fix the exact date when Christianity began to make +head against the Irish Ostmen. When St. Anschar obtained from the Swedes +a place for his God in the northern pantheon, and when Guthrum and his +officers submitted to baptism in Wessex, a foundation had been laid for a +general Scandinavian conversion. But neither Norway nor the Norwegian +colonies in Iceland, Shetland, Orkney, or the Hebrides, yielded so soon. +Irish anchorites spent some time in Iceland about 795, and when Ingulf +and Lief landed in 870 they found that Irish priests had lately been +there, and had left behind them books, bells, and croziers. The second +batch had probably fled from Ingulf's congeners in Ireland. Olaf +Trygvesson, the first Christian king of Norway, was educated at +Athelstane's court, and the nominal conversion of Norway may date from +the year of his accession. Five years later, in 1000, Christianity was +established by law in Iceland. Removed as she was from English or Roman +influences, Ireland remained a stronghold of paganism after the Danes of +England had been generally converted; and the Irish being on the whole +weaker in war, were scarcely in a position to prove that Woden and Thor +had nothing to say for themselves. Olaf Cuaran was baptized in England. +It is clear that the Irish Danes remained generally pagan throughout the +tenth century, and that the confederacy which failed at Clontarf had to a +great extent been formed against Christianity. The story of Ospak and +Brodir shows that some of the fiercest Danes were beginning to waver, the +question at issue being the relative power of two deities, rather than +the relative merit of two systems. After Clontarf Woden seems to have +been looked upon as beaten. He had been tried and found wanting, like +Baal on Mount Carmel, and the defeated party went over to the stronger +side. + +[Sidenote: The Danish church of Dublin.] + +The connection of the Dublin Danes with their brethren in England had +long been very close, and it was to Canterbury and Rome rather than to +Armagh that they naturally turned. Sitric and Canute were perhaps in the +Eternal City together; their visit was at least almost simultaneous, and +we cannot doubt that every means were taken to prejudice the powerful +neophyte against the pretensions of St. Patrick's successor. An Ostman +named Dunan or Donat is reckoned the first Bishop of Dublin, and is +credited with the foundation of Christ Church. A tradition which may be +true, but which is not supported by contemporary evidence, makes Sitric +the joint founder. From an expression in the celebrated letter of the +Dublin burgesses to Archbishop Ralph d'Eures it may be fairly inferred +that Donat had his succession from Canterbury, and he certainly +corresponded with Lanfranc on the subject of infant baptism. He was +succeeded by Patrick or Gillapatrick, an Ostman, who was consecrated by +Lanfranc in St. Paul's at the instance of Godred Crovan, king of Man, who +was then supreme at Dublin. Godred's reign is rather shadowy, but +Lanfranc's letter to him has always been considered genuine, and it +addresses him as king not only of Dublin, but of Ireland. Lanfranc also +wrote to Tirlogh, who had acquired the supreme kingship, like his father, +Brian Borumha. It is not unlikely that the curious poem which represents +St. Patrick as blessing Dublin and its Danish inhabitants, and cursing +the Hy Neill, was forged at this time, partly in the Munster interest and +partly to prove that Dublin was not subject to Armagh.[25] + +[Sidenote: Dublin acknowledges Canterbury and repudiates Armagh.] + +In his letters Lanfranc insists much upon Catholic unity. According to +modern ideas, the heaviest of the charges which he brings against the +Irish Church is the levity with which they regarded the marriage tie. It +appears that men even exchanged wives. Bishop Patrick promised +ecclesiastical fealty to the Archbishop of Canterbury, as Primate of the +British Isles. Lanfranc had obeyed the order of his old pupil Alexander +II., who was prompted by the deacon Hildebrand, and had gone to Rome to +receive his pall. But in his dealings with Dublin he acted independently, +and he was ready to give advice to Irish prelates, though without +claiming direct jurisdiction over them. In doctrinal matters he was an +ally of Rome. Himself an Italian, he espoused the dogma of +transubstantiation in opposition to the Irishman Erigena, and the +Frenchman Berengarius; and on the great question of clerical celibacy he +was a follower, though not an extreme one, of the uncompromising +Hildebrand. The ever-watchful Roman Court probably espied the germ of a +Western patriarchate, and was thus moved to annex Armagh as a +counterpoise to the dangerous primacy claimed under a grant of Gregory +the Great by the successors of Augustine. Gregory VII., in addressing the +kings, nobles, and prelates of Ireland, took care to claim absolute +sovereignty by divine right; and here he ran little risk of such a rebuff +as William the Conqueror administered.[26] + +[Sidenote: Lanfranc and Anselm.] + +Patrick's successor was Donat O'Haingly, an Irishman, but a Benedictine +monk of Canterbury, who was consecrated by Lanfranc, to whom he had been +recommended by King Tirlogh. He was succeeded by his nephew Samuel, a +Benedictine of St. Albans, who was consecrated by Anselm. That great +archbishop was not altogether pleased with his Irish brother, whom he +chid for alienating vestments bestowed on the Church of Dublin by +Lanfranc, and for having the cross borne before him, although he had +never received the pall. A further element of confusion was introduced, +probably in 1118, by the Irish synod of Rathbreasil, which declared +Dublin to be in the diocese of Glendalough; and it seems that the Irish +inhabitants submitted, while those of Danish origin refused to do so. + +[Sidenote: Ralph of Canterbury consecrates Gregory, who receives the pall +from Pope Eugenius.] + +On the death of Bishop Samuel O'Haingly, the Irish annals inform us that +'Cellach, comarb of Patrick, assumed the bishopric of Ath-cliath,[27] by +the choice of foreigners and Gaeidhil.' If there be any truth in this it +was a bold stroke on the part of Armagh to exercise jurisdiction in +Dublin, and was probably the act of the Irish as opposed to the Danish +party. In the same year, or the next, the burgesses and clergy of Dublin +wrote to Ralph of Canterbury, begging him to consecrate their nominee +Gregory. They reminded him that their bishops originally derived their +dignity from his predecessors, and that the bishops of Ireland were very +jealous of them; and especially he of Armagh, because they preferred the +rule of Canterbury. Ralph consecrated Gregory, and he governed the see +for forty years. To his lot it fell to receive the pall sent by Pope +Eugenius, who was too politic to insist on a visit to Rome. For the +moment it was enough to assert the necessity of the pallium and its papal +origin. The legate Paparo ignored the pretensions of the bishop whose +church in the mountains had the name of city, and divided the diocese +into two parts: the bishop with the Cantuarian succession being made +Metropolitan, and the Irishman at Glendalough being reduced to the +position of a suffragan. St. Lawrence O'Toole, who was the second +Archbishop of Dublin, derived his succession from Armagh, and the +Scandinavian Church of Dublin ceases to have a separate history. + +[Sidenote: See of Waterford.] + +Of far less importance than that of Dublin, the early history of the see +of Waterford is proportionately obscure. Malchus, a Benedictine of +Winchester, who seems to have been the first bishop elected by the +Ostmen, was consecrated by Anselm; to whom he promised canonical +obedience, and with whom he corresponded. It seems likely that he was +afterwards translated to Lismore, or he may have held both sees together, +as they were held in after years. It is probable that the great Malachi +of Armagh studied under him. Maelisa O'Hanmire appears next in +succession, but we know nothing of him. He may have represented a +reaction against the dominion of Canterbury. The next name preserved is +that of Tosti, who was, of course, a Dane, and who assisted in the +establishment of the papal or Eugenian constitution. Tosti's successor, +Augustine O'Sealbhaigh, was practically appointed by Henry II., and he +attended the Lateran Council in 1179. + +[Sidenote: See of Limerick. Gillebert.] + +The tradition which connects St. Patrick with Limerick is of the vaguest +kind: practically, the first recorded bishop is Gillebert. He was an +Irishman. Cellach of Armagh acted with the Bishop of Limerick on this +occasion; but while both were anxious to parcel out Ireland into +dioceses, neither ventured to interfere with Dublin, which was under the +powerful patronage of Canterbury. Gillebert resigned both the legatine +authority and his own bishopric before his death, which took place in or +about 1145. His successor Patrick, having been elected by the Ostmen, +was consecrated in England by Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, to whom +he promised canonical obedience. The three following bishops, Harold, +Turgeis, and Brictius, who may be Elbric or Eric, were doubtless all +Ostmen. Very little is known of them, except that the last named attended +the Lateran Council in 1179 and 1180. + +[Sidenote: See of Cork.] + +Cork was often plundered by the Northmen, and they settled there +permanently early in the eleventh century. But they found themselves +confronted by a strong monastic organisation, under the successor of St. +Finbar, whereas at Dublin, Waterford, and Limerick the field had been +clear. Around the abbey a native town had sprung up, which was strong +enough to maintain itself by the side of the Scandinavian garrison. Once, +with the help of a force from Carbery, they defeated a confederacy of +Danes belonging to Cork, Waterford, and Wexford. The Ostmen were in quiet +possession of Cork for a period long preceding the Anglo-Norman invasion, +but they were probably content to take their Christianity from their +neighbours, for we do not find that any bishop of this see sought +consecration at Canterbury.[28] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[16] The account which Giraldus gives of Turgesius is funny, but +worthless. + +[17] Reeves's Adamnan, p. 332 n. + +[18] _Wars of the Gaedhill with the Gaill_, chap. xxxvi. + +[19] _Wars of the Gaedhill with the Gaill_, chap. xl. + +[20] The quotations are from _Burnt Njal_, chap. cliii. + +[21] _Burnt Njal_, chap. cliv. + +[22] _Ibid._, chap. clvi. _Wars of the Gaedhill with the Gaill_, chaps. +xcviii. and xcix. _Annals of Lough Cé_, pp. 7-13. + +[23] _Burnt Njal_, chap. clvi. + +[24] Many details about the Hiberno-Norse coins are to be found in +Worsaae. + +[25] _Book of Rights_, pp. 225 _sqq._, and O'Donovan's preface. + +[26] See Hook's _Lives of Lanfranc, Anselm, and Ralph d'Eures_. +Translations of the letters mentioned in the text may be found in King's +Primer of the Irish Church; most of the originals are printed in Ussher's +_Sylloge_. + +[27] The Irish always called Dublin Ath-cliath, or the Ford of Hurdles. + +[28] The great mine of knowledge about the Irish Scandinavians is Todd's +_Wars of the Gaedhill with the Gaill_, in the Record series. I have also +used Dasent's _Story of Burnt Njal_, and Anderson's _Orkneyinga Saga_. +Haliday's _Scandinavian Kingdom of Dublin_, edited by Mr. J. P. +Prendergast, is a good modern book. Worsaae's _Danes and Norwegians_ is +said to be somewhat fanciful, but it contains information not readily +accessible elsewhere. + + + + +[Illustration: IRELAND IN 1172. + +_The principal Danish Settlements are underlined Blue._] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE REIGN OF HENRY II. + + +[Sidenote: England lays claim to Ireland, 1155.] + +The claims of the Kings of England to Ireland were very vague. They +sometimes acted as patrons of the Irish Ostmen, who were not unwilling to +follow the example of their Northumbrian kinsmen, but they performed no +real function of sovereignty. William the Conqueror and his sons had not +time to attend to Ireland, and this applies in an even greater degree to +Stephen. Henry II. ascended an undisputed throne, and in the first year +of his reign turned his thoughts to the fertile island of the West. Being +badly in want of a title, he sent John of Salisbury to Rome for leave to +conquer Ireland, to root up the saplings of vice there, and to bring the +wild Irish into the way of the true faith. The Pope was Nicholas +Breakspeare, known in history as Adrian IV., the only Englishman who ever +filled the papal chair. The popes were usually ready to grant boons to +kings, if by so doing they could extend their own power, and an English +pope must have felt a double pride in conferring favours on a king of +England. The mission of John of Salisbury was successful. He brought back +the Bull _Laudabiliter_ and a gold ring containing a very fine emerald, +intended to be used in Henry's investiture. Empress Maude objected to an +Irish expedition, and nothing was done until long after Adrian's death. +Henry took the precaution of having the grant confirmed by Alexander +III., and there is ample evidence that he annexed Ireland with the entire +approbation of that Pope.[29] + +[Sidenote: Adrian IV grants Ireland to Henry II.] + +Irish scholars, torn asunder by their love of Rome and their love of +Ireland, formerly attempted to prove that Adrian's bull was not genuine; +but its authenticity is no longer disputed. The momentous document runs +as follows:-- + +[Sidenote: Adrian's bull.] + +'Hadrian the bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his very dear son +in Christ, the illustrious King of the English, health and apostolic +benediction: + +'Your magnificence praiseworthily and profitably takes thought how to +increase a glorious name on earth and how to lay up a reward of +everlasting happiness in heaven, while you are intent, like a Catholic +prince, on enlarging the bounds of the Church, on declaring the truth to +unlearned and rude peoples, and on uprooting the seedlings of vice from +the Lord's field. The better to attain that end you have asked counsel +and favour of the apostolic see. In which action we are sure that, with +God's help, you will make happy progress in proportion to the high design +and great discretion of your proceedings, inasmuch as undertakings which +grow out of ardour for the faith and love of religion are accustomed +always to have a good end and upshot. There is no doubt and your nobility +acknowledges that Ireland, and all islands upon which Christ the sun of +justice has shone, and which have received the teachings of the Christian +faith, rightfully belong to the blessed Peter and the most holy Roman +Church. We have, therefore, the more willingly made a faithful plantation +among them, and inserted a bud pleasing to God, in that we foresee that +it will require a careful internal watch at our hands. However, you have +signified to us, my dear son in Christ, that you wish to enter the island +of Ireland, in order to reduce that people to law, and to uproot the +seedlings of vice there, and to make a yearly payment of a denarius to +the blessed Peter out of each house, and to preserve the rights of the +churches of that land whole and undiminished. + +'We, therefore, seconding your pious and laudable desire with suitable +favour, and giving a kindly assent to your petition, do hold it for a +thing good and acceptable that you should enter that island for the +extension of the Church's borders, for the correction of manners, for the +propagation of virtue, and for increase of the Christian religion; and +that you should perform that which you intend for the honour of God and +for the salvation of that land; and let the people of that land receive +you honourably and venerate you as their lord; the ecclesiastical law +remaining whole and untouched, and an annual payment of one denarius +being reserved to the blessed Peter and to the most holy Roman Church. +But if you shall complete the work which you have conceived in your mind, +study to mould that race to good morals, and exert yourself personally +and by such of your agents as you shall find fit in faith, word, and +living, to honour the Church there, and to plant and increase the +Christian faith, and strive to ordain what is for the honour of God and +the safety of souls in such a manner that you may deserve at God's hands +a heap of everlasting treasure, and on earth gain a glorious name for +ages yet to come.' + +[Sidenote: The papal title.] + +The right of the Pope to dispose of islands rested upon the donation of +Constantine, which is now admitted to be as certainly spurious as +Adrian's bull is certainly genuine. Adrian may have believed the donation +authentic, but in any case, as Irish scholars point out, Constantine +could not give what he had never possessed. It is true that Ireland never +really formed part of the Roman Empire, but so strong was the idea of an +oecumenical sovereignty that Celtic lawyers imagined a state of things +in which Ireland would be tributary to the King of the Romans. This was a +mere fiction, but it was one of which Rome would readily take advantage, +and the Pope who insisted so sturdily on Barbarossa holding his stirrup +was not the one in whose hands any available weapon would be allowed to +rust.[30] + +[Sidenote: Henry II. finds a pretext for interference.] + +Henry II. was the most powerful prince in Europe, and sooner or later he +was almost sure to have a reason for interfering in Ireland. The +opportunity was at last afforded by Dermod MacMurrough, King of Leinster, +who aspired to reign over all Ireland with the help of Anglo-Norman arms. +As early as 1152 Dervorgil O'Melaghlin, wife of Tiernan O'Rourke, Prince +of Brefny, being ill-treated by her husband, left him, and placed +herself, her cattle, and her furniture under the protection of Dermod. +Dervorgil was forty-four and Dermod sixty-two, so that the affair, in +spite of a beautiful poem on the subject, was not what would be commonly +called romantic. Yet Cleopatra was thirty-nine, when Antonius, at the age +of fifty-three, refused to survive her. O'Rourke felt the insult and the +loss of the lady, or, at least, of her property, and appealed to Tirlogh +O'Connor, King of Connaught and titular King of Ireland. Dermod was +compelled to abandon Dervorgil, who survived her husband eleven years, +and died as late as 1193, during a pilgrimage to Mellifont Abbey. On the +death of Tirlogh O'Connor his son Roderic became a candidate for the +chief sovereignty, but Dermod espoused the cause of the O'Neill +candidate, who was successful. The flight or abduction of Dervorgil was +certainly not the proximate cause of the Norman invasion, but by placing +Dermod in permanent opposition to O'Connor and O'Rourke, it probably +contributed to bring it about. + +[Sidenote: Dermod MacMurrough.] + +In 1166 Dermod, who had made himself odious by his tyranny, was expelled +from Leinster by O'Connor and O'Rourke, who demolished his stronghold at +Ferns, and transferred his kingship to the next-of-kin. The clergy appear +to have been generally favourable to Dermod; and as Adrian's bull, even +if not published, could hardly be a secret, it may have been their advice +which induced him to go to Henry II. Dermod, though seventy-seven years +old, was still active and enterprising, and he sought the king in +Aquitaine or Guienne. Henry was too busy to think of going to Ireland +himself, but he gave the suppliant a kind of letter of marque in the +following terms:--'Henry, King of England, Duke of Normandy and +Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou, to all his faithful English, Norman, +Welsh, and Scots, and to all nations subject to his jurisdiction, +greeting: When these present letters reach you you will know that we have +received into the bosom of our grace and favour Dermod, prince of the +Leinstermen. If anyone, therefore, within the bounds of our power wishes +to help his restoration as our man and liege subject, let him know that +he has our licence and favour for the purpose.'[31] + +[Sidenote: Dermod seeks allies in England.] + +Thus armed, Dermod returned to Bristol, which was much frequented by +ships from Leinster, and he appears to have been supplied with money by +his partisans there. His promise of gold and land at first attracted +little attention, but after two or three weeks he was visited by Richard +Fitz-Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Chepstow. Earl Richard, whose father had +lost most of his lands, lent a favourable ear to Dermod, and undertook to +bring an army to Ireland in the spring of 1169. The Irishman promised to +give him his daughter Eva, his only legitimate child. According to Norman +law Eva would bring the kingdom of Leinster to her husband and children. +According to Celtic law the lands belonged to the tribe, and the royal +dignity was elective. In this singular contract between MacMurrough and +Fitz-Gilbert, we have the key to most of the problems which have made +Ireland the despair of statesmen. + +[Sidenote: Earl Richard and his friends.] + +Dermod, however, did not rest his hopes of success upon Earl Richard +alone. He went to St. David's, so as to be as near Ireland as possible, +and made friends with the bishop, who had two brothers admirably suited +for the work in hand. Nesta, the beautiful daughter of Rice ap Tudor, +Prince of South Wales, is reported to have been the mistress of Henry I., +and to have had two sons by him. The younger of these had also two sons, +the Robert and Meiler Fitz-Henry who played a prominent part in the +conquest of Ireland. Nesta afterwards married Gerald of Windsor, by whom +she had three sons and one or two daughters, and from one or other of her +children all the Fitzgeralds, Barrys, Carews, and Cogans are descended. +After the death of Gerald, Nesta married Stephen, the castellan of +Abertivy, and by him had one son, the famous Robert Fitz-Stephen. +Giraldus, who must have known, twice states expressly that Fitz-Stephen +had no legitimate child. The historian himself was Nesta's grandson, +through her daughter Angareta, who married William de Barry. Robert +Fitz-Stephen, and his half-brother, Maurice Fitzgerald, listened readily +to MacMurrough, who promised them Wexford and two cantreds of land, if +they would help him conquer Leinster.[32] + +[Sidenote: Fitz-Stephen and others land in Ireland, 1169.] + +Robert Fitz-Stephen was a desperate man. Betrayed by his own followers, +he had suffered three years' imprisonment among the Welsh, had been +released on promising to serve Rice Fitz-Griffith against Henry II., and +had agreed to hold Abertivy for the Cambrian and not for the Angevin. +Dermod now offered him a loophole to escape from, and he agreed to accept +his offers and to invade Ireland. His half-brother, Maurice Fitzgerald, +consented to accompany him. Dermod then slipped over to Ireland and +sought a refuge among the clergy of Ferns, who entertained him, as the +Archdeacon of St. David's carefully notes, to the best of their small +ability. It was in the winter of 1168 that MacMurrough returned to +Ireland, and in May 1169 Fitz-Stephen and his brother followed with +thirty knights of their own kinfolk, sixty men-at-arms, and 300 archers, +picked, as Giraldus says, from among the youth of Wales. Three ships +carried them all, and they landed safely in Bannow Bay, a shallow inlet +which they had probably mistaken either for Waterford or Wexford. The +brothers were accompanied by Hervey de Montmorency, who was sent by his +nephew, Earl Richard, rather as a spy than as a soldier. On the following +day Maurice de Prendergast, whose name still lives at Haverfordwest, +brought ten knights and a number of archers from Milford, and landed not +far from the same place. As soon as Dermod heard of the adventurers' +arrival he sent his son Donald with 500 men to welcome them, and soon +followed himself. Donald, surnamed Kavanagh, from having been fostered at +Kilcavan, was illegitimate; but that was a matter little considered among +the old Irish, and he became the ancestor of those Kavanaghs or +MacMurroughs who afterwards claimed the kingship of Leinster and even of +Ireland, and who baffled Richard II. and his great army. + +[Sidenote: They win Wexford.] + +After a smart conflict Fitz-Stephen and MacMurrough mastered Wexford, +which was a Danish town. The Irishman's readiness to grant Wexford to the +adventurers was very probably caused by the fact that the town had never +been really in his power. Perhaps he hoped to get rid of the Normans when +he had used them to subdue his enemies. It was evident that Fitz-Stephen +and his company could do little more than hold Wexford. If Leinster was +to be conquered it could only be by a much larger force. Nevertheless, +Fitz-Stephen decided to advance into the country, and was joined by the +Wexford Danes, who probably were not slow to learn that the Normans were +their kinsmen. With a heterogeneous army of 3,000 men, Dermod and his +allies marched towards Ossory. There was a battle in open ground with the +Ossorians, and the mail-clad stranger had an easy victory. Among the +slain was a personal enemy of Dermod, and we are told that that savage, +'lifting up the dead man's head by hair and ears, cruelly and inhumanly +tore away the nostrils and lips with his teeth.' In the meantime King +Roderic had set his army in motion against the invaders, and easily +penetrated to the neighbourhood of Ferns. The monastery was surrounded by +woods and bogs, and Fitz-Stephen, who was an adept in Welsh warfare, +taught the Leinstermen how to make it impregnable with ditches and +abattis. Neither party were very anxious to fight, and Dermod made a +treaty with Roderic, in which he acknowledged him as chief king, in +consideration of being allowed to enjoy Leinster in peace. Giraldus says +there was a secret understanding that the adventurers should be sent home +as soon as they had pacified Leinster, and that no reinforcements should +be brought over. + +[Sidenote: Earl Richard hesitates. His friends take Waterford.] + +Whatever understanding he might have with O'Connor, Dermod did not soon +abandon the hope of more help from Wales. 'We have,' he wrote to Earl +Richard, 'observed the storks and swallows; the summer birds have come, +and with this west wind have returned. Neither Favonius nor Eurus has +brought us your much-desired and long-expected presence.' The Earl had +waited for the return of Hervey de Montmorency, and when he brought a +favourable report it was still necessary to make at least some show of +consulting Henry II. The King had forbidden him to go to Ireland, but he +now sought an audience and begged either the restoration of his estates +or leave to carve out a new one for himself. Henry gave an ambiguous +answer, which the Earl chose to interpret in his own favour. In May 1170 +he sent out Hervey again, accompanied by Raymond Fitzgerald, called Le +Gros, a creature of Fitz-Stephen and Maurice, with twenty knights and +seventy archers. Raymond landed at the south-eastern angle of the modern +county of Kilkenny, just at the point where the united Nore and Barrow +flow into the Suir. He intrenched himself at once, and was soon attacked +by the Waterford Danes. If Giraldus is to be believed, a panic seized the +assailants, of whom 500 were killed, and many taken. Among Raymond's +followers was a leper named William Ferrand, who performed prodigies of +valour, 'choosing rather to die gloriously than to endure the burden of +his disease.' A question arose as to the disposal of the prisoners. +Raymond was for sparing, Hervey for slaying. 'The opinion of the latter,' +says Giraldus, 'prevailed; the citizens were condemned, and, their limbs +having been broken, they were cast headlong into the sea.' + +[Sidenote: Earl Richard lands, 1170.] + +Earl Richard landed near Waterford on August 23, 1170. The city was taken +soon afterwards, and Reginald's tower is particularly mentioned as +forming part of the defences. That tower still stands with one of +Cromwell's cannon balls sticking in the wall--a monument of three +distinct invaders: the Pagan Northman, the Catholic Anglo-Norman, and the +Puritan Englishman. 'Earl Strongbow,' say the Lough Cé annalists with +pathetic brevity, 'came into Erin to Dermod MacMurrough to avenge his +expulsion by Roderic, son of Tirlogh O'Connor; and Dermod gave him his +own daughter and a part of his patrimony; and Saxon foreigners have been +in Erin since then.' + +[Sidenote: The adventurers take Dublin.] + +Waterford and Wexford having fallen, and his daughter Eva having been +married to Earl Richard, Dermod, who now aspired to the crown of all +Ireland, felt himself strong enough to attack Dublin. The Earl had +brought 200 knights and 1,000 other soldiers, so that the allied force +was a considerable one. MacMurrough led the army safely through the +Wicklow mountains, which were the scene of more than one disaster to +Elizabeth's officers. Dermod's auxiliaries had been trained in Wales; and +probably understood mountain warfare much better than those who had +served in the Netherlands, or even on the Scottish border. Lawrence +O'Toole, Archbishop of Dublin, a man revered both by Danes and Irishmen, +attempted to make peace between the citizens and their assailants; but +Raymond and Milo de Cogan, while their elders parleyed, led a chosen band +to the assault. They soon mastered the place; and Hasculph, with a number +of followers and some treasure, escaped to the Orkneys, whence he went to +Norway for help. Meath, which for some unexplained reason was in +O'Rourke's possession, was next invaded, and Roderic then wrote to +upbraid Dermod with having broken his oath by interfering outside the +bounds of Leinster. MacMurrough shortly answered that he meant to be +monarch of Ireland, and Roderic then killed his son, who was with him as +a hostage. The clergy of Armagh assembled in their synod saw or suspected +that the invasion was different from all former invasions. They agreed +that Ireland had brought a curse on herself by keeping Englishmen in +slavery, and they ordered the liberation of all such bondsmen. Henry II. +also saw that something extraordinary had happened. He had no fancy for +having an independent Norman principality within sight of Snowdon, and he +ordered the adventurers to return, strictly forbidding all communication +with them in the meantime. Fitz-Gilbert wrote to the King, who was in +Aquitaine, protesting that he believed he had the royal licence for what +he had done, and that he was ready to be his vassal for all he might gain +in Ireland. Raymond was sent with the letter, but Henry kept him a long +time in suspense. + +[Sidenote: The Danes vainly attempt to retake Dublin.] + +At Whitsuntide, 1171, while Earl Richard was waiting for the King's +answer, Hasculph returned with sixty ships, containing a well-armed +force, under a berserker called John the Mad. Milo de Cogan had been left +governor of Dublin, and he and his brother Richard succeeded after a +short fight in routing their assailants. John the Mad was killed, and +Hasculph taken while trying to escape across the slob to his ships. The +prisoner annoying him by threats of another and more formidable attempt, +Milo ordered him to be beheaded. He had, however, spoken truth, for +Godred, King of Man, soon appeared with thirty ships, and blocked the +mouth of the Liffey, while Roderic, having collected a great army from +all parts of Ireland, except the extreme north and south, besieged the +city by land. The Earl and his followers being thus shut up in Dublin, +Dermod's local enemies besieged Fitz-Stephen in the castle which he had +built at Wexford. No help, as the Irish well knew, could be expected from +England while Henry II. frowned, and the Normans at Dublin resolved on a +great effort to relieve Fitz-Stephen. A sally was arranged, and Roderic's +army was dispersed. The Irish had trusted entirely to their numbers, and +kept no watch and no order. Such stores of provisions fell into the +victors' hands that there was no need to victual Dublin for a year +afterwards. Fitz-Stephen, however, was not relieved. By force or +stratagem, Giraldus says it was by perjury, the Wexford people obtained +possession of his person, and killed or captured his men. Hearing of the +disaster at Dublin, the victors burned their town and withdrew with their +prisoners to an island in the middle of the harbour. Earl Richard arrived +too late for his immediate purpose, and continued his journey to +Waterford, whence he made his way to the King, whom he met near +Gloucester. Henry was at first obdurate, but it was finally agreed that +Dublin and all other port towns, with the lands adjoining, should be +handed over to the King, and that the Earl and his heirs should hold all +their other conquests of him and his heirs. While preparations were being +made for a royal expedition, O'Rourke once more attacked Dublin, but the +Cogans again surprised the Irish camp, and the city was never again +seriously threatened by the natives. + +[Sidenote: Henry II. lands in Ireland, 1171.] + +The last attack on Dublin was about September 1, 1171, and on October 16 +the King sailed from Milford Haven with 400 ships, containing 4,000 men, +of whom 400 or 500 were knights. He landed next day at Crook, on the +right bank of the Suir, some miles below Waterford, which he entered on +the 18th. The Wexford men saw that the game was up, and brought +Fitz-Stephen to the King, expecting thanks for surrendering the man who +had dared to make war without the royal licence. Henry spoke sharply to +the prisoner, and ordered him to be kept safely in Reginald's tower. +Dermod MacCarthy, chief of Desmond and Cork, did homage at Waterford. +Thence Henry went to Lismore, where he stayed two days. From Lismore he +went to Cashel, where Donald O'Brien, chief of Thomond and Limerick, +followed MacCarthy's example. The minor chiefs of Munster also made their +submission, the only one mentioned by Giraldus being O'Phelan, who ruled +a great part of the county of Waterford. Dermod's old antagonist, Donald +of Ossory, also did homage. Henry placed governors both in Cork and +Limerick, but it is not clear that he visited either of those cities. He +then returned along the Suir to Waterford, where he took Fitz-Stephen +into favour, and restored Wexford to him. During this progress the King +selected three sites for fortresses, which were afterwards built by his +son John--Lismore on the Blackwater, and Ardfinnan and Tibraghny on the +Suir. The first and last were intended to command the upper tidal waters +of the Blackwater and Suir; Ardfinnan secured a passage from the southern +sea-board into Central Ireland, and Cromwell recognised its importance +nearly five hundred years afterwards. + +[Sidenote: Henry II. winters at Dublin.] + +Leaving a governor in Waterford, Henry then led the bulk of his army to +Dublin, where he received the submissions of O'Rourke and of the chiefs +of Leinster and Uriel. Hugo de Lacy and William Fitz-Adelm were sent to +meet Roderic at the Shannon, and the monarch of Ireland acknowledged +himself a tributary and vassal of the King of England. Ulster still held +out; for the submission of the nominal head king can in no way be held to +bind the chiefs, much less the people, of his own province, and certainly +not those of all Ireland. Giraldus does not venture to advance any such +theory, and yet Hooker, who translated his work in Elizabeth's time, +coolly interpolates the statement that 'by him and his submission all the +residue of the whole land became the King's subjects, and submitted +themselves.' The synod which met at Cashel under the legate's presidency +did what was possible for the Church to do in strengthening Henry's +pretensions. The King held a court at Dublin during the winter of 1171 +and 1172. His temporary palace, erected outside the walls on the ground +now occupied by the southern side of Dame Street, was built of polished +wicker-work, after the manner of the country. Here he kept Christmas in +state, and invited the Irish chiefs to share his feast. They admired the +King's grandeur, and were by him persuaded to eat crane's flesh, which +the Normans thought a delicacy, but which the Irish had hitherto loathed. +The winter was so stormy that there was scarcely any communication with +England, and Henry's pleasure in his new acquisition must have been +darkened by the sense of impending retribution for the recent murder of +Becket. + +[Sidenote: Henry's warlike preparations. He distrusts the adventurers.] + +From the preparation which he made for the invasion of Ireland, it seems +clear that the King profoundly distrusted the adventurers who had +insisted on winning him a new realm. Vast stores of provisions, a great +number of hand-mills, artisans for building bridges, horses, and tools +for building or trenching, might indeed have been required for a war +against the natives. But the Irish had no fortresses, and wooden castles, +of which we also read, can only have been intended for attacking the +port-towns which Earl Richard had promised to give the King, and which +were already in Norman hands. Henry saw enough of Ireland to know that he +had really nothing to fear from the adventurers. Dermod MacMurrough was +dead before his arrival, and it was clear that Earl Richard would have +enough to do in maintaining his wife's monstrous claim without doing +anything to offend his own sovereign. + +When, therefore, shortly before Easter, 1172, news came from Aquitaine +and Normandy that the legates were on their way to inquire into the +Canterbury tragedy, Henry lost no time in appointing Hugo de Lacy his +representative at Dublin, and in arranging for the safe keeping of +Waterford and Wexford. He sailed from the latter port on Easter Monday +1172, having been in Ireland exactly six months.[33] + +[Sidenote: Henry leaves Ireland. He grants Meath to De Lacy.] + +Before leaving the country Henry granted to Hugo de Lacy all the +territory of Meath, by the service of fifty knights. This included +Westmeath, with parts of King's County and Longford, and was about +800,000 acres in extent. De Lacy, to whom Hoveden gives the title of +justiciar, must be considered as the first Viceroy of Ireland, and he +lost no time in advancing a claim which, if successful, would make him +one of the most important vassals of the Crown. Tiernan O'Rourke, the +one-eyed King of Meath, consented to meet the Pretender at the Hill of +Ward. The conference ended in a quarrel, and O'Rourke was killed. +Giraldus charges treason upon the Irishman, and the Irish annalists +charge it upon the Norman. The important point is that De Lacy was able +to make head against the Irish, and that a powerful Norman colony was +established by him in the fertile central tract of Ireland. Earl Richard +was rather less successfully engaged in fighting for Leinster, which +Henry had granted him by the service of one hundred knights, when he was +summoned to Normandy, where he did such good service that the King made +him Viceroy in De Lacy's room. This was in 1173. It was in the next year, +or perhaps in 1175, that Henry had the bulls or privileges of Adrian IV. +and Alexander III. promulgated in Ireland. We can hardly suppose that +they were previously unknown to the clergy, who so manifestly favoured +the Anglo-Normans all through. Perhaps the King's main object in +publishing them at this time was to make his own peace with Rome, by +ostentatiously announcing that he held Ireland of the tiara, and not in +right of his own sword. + +[Sidenote: Difficulties of the adventurers.] + +When Earl Richard returned to Ireland he found that he had lost ground. +The Irish were beginning to recover confidence, and Hervey and Raymond +were quarrelling bitterly. The latter was the favourite of the soldiers, +who insisted on having him for leader, and he gained some successes over +the Danes of Cork and over the MacCarthys. Believing himself worthy of +the highest rewards, Raymond asked for the Constableship of Leinster, and +for the hand of Basilia, the earl's sister. The new Viceroy was +disinclined to grant these terms, and Raymond, whose father had just +died, went over to Wales to look after his old inheritance. Hervey thus +became second in command, and planned a campaign in concert with the +Dublin garrison. Earl Richard accompanied him to Cashel, but the intended +junction was not effected. Donald O'Brien's homage to Henry II. did not +prevent him from hindering his representative, and at Thurles he +surprised and totally defeated the Dublin division. No less than 400 +Danes are said by Giraldus to have fallen, which shows that a portion of +that nation had accepted the alliance of their Teutonic kindred. The +O'Briens were aided by a large contingent from Connaught, but it does not +appear that Roderic was himself present. The immediate result of this +defeat was the recall of Raymond and his marriage to Basilia. He easily +put down a partial revolt of the Waterford and Wexford Danes; and, +finding himself indispensable, remained at Wexford until his bride was +brought to him. The honeymoon was scarcely begun when news came that +Roderic was wasting Meath, and had penetrated nearly to Dublin. Raymond +hastened thither, and the Connaught men retired before him. Castles, +according to Giraldus, were already built at Trim and Duleek; but they +had not proved strong enough to resist Roderic, and Raymond's first care +was to restore and strengthen them. The adventurers, most of whom were +already nearly related, were still more closely united by the marriage of +Hervey to Raymond's sister Nesta, and of Earl Richard's daughter Aline to +William Fitzgerald. + +[Sidenote: The adventurers fail to hold Limerick. William Fitz-Adelm made +Viceroy.] + +[Sidenote: Death of Strongbow, 1176.] + +Donald O'Brien was not left long to enjoy his victory. Limerick was taken +by a sudden onslaught under Raymond, and the bounds of the colony were +advanced as far as they had yet been. Raymond still lingered on the +Shannon, where he received a loving letter from his wife, in which she +informed him 'that the great molar tooth, which had been hurting her so +much, had now fallen out.' He could not read, but his chaplain secretly +imparted the contents of the paper, and he guessed that Basilia alluded +to the death of her brother, who had been for some time ill. He hurried +to Dublin, and found that Earl Richard was indeed dead. Deprived of their +leader, and probably hard pressed by the Irish, the Normans thought it +prudent to evacuate Limerick. It was surrendered to Donald O'Brien, who +set fire to the city in four places as soon as they were gone. When the +King heard of this he remarked that the abandonment of Limerick was the +only wise thing that had been done concerning it. The Normans chose +Raymond their governor in Earl Richard's room; but he was quickly +superseded by William Fitz-Adelm de Burgh, whom Henry sent over as +Viceroy with large powers. + +[Sidenote: Fitz-Adelm depresses the adventurers.] + +According to Giraldus, the new governor did all in his power to depress +the adventurers of Nesta's stock. Raymond came to meet him with a chosen +band of his relations and friends finely mounted and armed. Instead of +being conciliated, the Viceroy muttered to his suite, 'I will soon cut +short this pride and disperse these shields.' According to the same +authority, he took advantage of the death of Maurice Fitzgerald to +defraud that leader's children. Giraldus is partial, but it is easy to +see that official governors were from the first jealous of the local +magnates, and were disposed to engross all influence. Fitz-Adelm did +little or nothing to increase the Norman power in Ireland, and he was +recalled in 1177. + +[Sidenote: Treaty between Henry II. and Roderic O'Connor.] + +In October 1175, not long before the death of Earl Richard, Henry II. +made a treaty with Roderic O'Connor, which must be understood as a kind +of declaration of policy. The commissaries who attended at Windsor on +Roderic's part were Catholicus, or Keyly O'Duffy, Archbishop of Tuam, the +Abbot of Ardfert, and the King of Connaught's Brehon, whom Giraldus calls +his Chancellor. The Archbishop of Dublin, St. Lawrence O'Toole, was among +the witnesses to the instrument by which Henry granted 'to his liege man +Roderic, King of Connaught, as long as he should serve faithfully, to be +King under him, ready to serve him as his man, and to hold his land well +and peacefully, as he held it before the King of England's entry into +Ireland, paying him tribute.' Should he be unable to maintain his +authority, the King's forces were to help him. The tribute was to be one +in every ten marketable hides. Roderic was not to meddle with those lands +which the King held in his own hands, or in those of his barons: that is +to say, Dublin with its appurtenances; Meath with its appurtenances, in +as ample a manner as Murchat O'Melaghlin had held it; Wexford with its +appurtenances, and all Leinster; Waterford and Dungarvan with its +appurtenances, and all the lands between the two places. Irish fugitives +willing to return into the King's land were to have peace on paying the +aforesaid tribute, 'or by performing the ancient accustomed services for +their lands.' Those who would not return were to be coerced by the King +of Connaught, who was to take hostages from all whom the King granted to +him, and to give hostages on his own part wherever the King required him. +No refugees from the King's lands were to be entertained by Irishmen +under any pretence. At the same time, as if to mark the fact that +Irishmen were his own subjects as well as Normans, Henry appointed +Augustine O'Sealbhaigh to the bishopric of Waterford, and sent him, in +charge of the Archbishop of Dublin, to be consecrated by the Archbishop +of Cashel. This was a confirmation of the Eugenian constitution, and put +an end to the succession of the Danish bishops through Canterbury. Henry +had no wish to have future Beckets interfering in Ireland. Canterbury was +near and Rome was far. + +[Sidenote: Henry's original policy frustrated by De Courcy.] + +The treaty with Roderic, if we accept it as Hoveden and Benedict have +handed it down, shows that a full conquest of Ireland was not intended by +Henry II. The possession of the port-towns gave him the command of St. +George's Channel, and a control over the trade of the island. He had seen +enough to know that a permanent conquest was beyond the power of a feudal +army, and his policy was to balance the adventurers, his own creation De +Lacy, and the native princes against each other. Fitz-Adelm, a subtle +intriguer with an eye for money, probably seemed a fitter instrument for +his purpose than any enterprising soldier. But Fitz-Adelm brought with +him to Ireland one of those restless and unscrupulous men of action, who +sometimes disconcert the best laid plans of statesmen. John De Courcy is +represented by Giraldus as a tall, fair man, of immense strength and +extraordinary audacity, an experienced warrior, though often more of a +partisan than a general; but religious in his way, and ever ready to +ascribe to God the glory of any successful exploit. He was the patron of +the monk Jocelin, who wove such a tangled web about St. Patrick, and he +carried with him everywhere a tract of St. Columba, which was supposed to +point him out as the destined conqueror of Ulster. Seeing that neither +gain nor glory could be had under the Viceroy, De Courcy, in January +1177, boldly marched into Ulster with twenty-two knights and 300 chosen +men. Among the knights were Almaric St. Lawrence, ancestor of the Howth +family, and Roger le Poer, apparently a collateral ancestor of the Powers +and Eustaces. In the course of a year or two, though by no means always +successful in battle, De Courcy made himself supreme in eastern Ulster. +Where they had the advantage of the ground, the natives were too much for +the adventurers; but in a fair field a hundred Normans, at least under +such a leader as De Courcy, were more than a match for 1,000 Irish. +Discipline and steadiness soon gave them the coast, and the castles which +they built everywhere enabled them to make war or peace as they pleased. +Downpatrick was John de Courcy's capital. + +[Sidenote: De Courcy and De Lacy. Castle-building.] + +O'Donlevy, chief king of Uladh, or that part of Ulster now comprised in +Antrim and Down, had done homage to Henry II., and imagined that he would +be thus secured from invasion. But the King evidently understood the +matter differently, for De Courcy had a grant from him of such northern +lands as he could conquer. Fitz-Adelm having failed as a Viceroy, Henry +now fell back upon Hugo de Lacy, who perhaps dreamed of making himself +independent. He distinguished himself by good government from 1177 to +1181, and by showing favour to the Irish; and he married a daughter of +Roderic O'Connor without the King's consent. Henry accordingly sent for +De Lacy to England, and gave the viceregal authority to John, Constable +of Chester. The Lord of Meath succeeded in making his peace, and was soon +restored to the government; Robert of Salisbury, a priest, being sent as +a spy upon him. De Lacy covered his own district with castles, Trim being +his capital. Delvin he granted to William Nugent, his sister Rose's +husband, who became the ancestor of the Earls of Westmeath. Other estates +he gave to his friends and followers, who founded many of the families of +the Pale. The Flemings, Lords of Slane, became the most important of +these. Other barons followed the example of De Lacy; and Giraldus +mentions that by the year 1182 castles were built at or near Newtown +Barry, Castle Dermot, Leighlin, Timahoe, Athy, Narragh, and other places. +The Meath castles, says the chronicler, were too many to mention by name. + +[Sidenote: John designated as King of Ireland.] + +As early as 1177 Henry had nominated his son John King of Ireland. For +this he had the leave of Alexander III., and in 1186 Urban III. actually +sent a crown of peacock's feathers set in gold for the King to crown one +of his sons, the choice being left to him. The intervening Pope, Lucius +III., had opposed the plan, and this may have been the reason why it was +never carried out. Or the King may have hesitated to repeat even in +John's favour an experiment which had succeeded so ill in the case of his +eldest son. The Oxford nomination of 1177 was allowed to take effect only +so as to constitute John Lord of Ireland, and this title was afterwards +assumed by the Kings of England. In the sixteenth century it was by some +taken as evidence that the crown in Ireland was subject to the popes. But +the idea of a separate, though subordinate, kingdom was very nearly +realised. The acts of the colony were from the date of the Oxford Council +executed in the name of 'John, Lord of Ireland, son of the King of +England,' and the first Anglo-Norman coinage bore his face. + +[Sidenote: John sent to Ireland as Viceroy.] + +On March 31, 1185, the King knighted John at Windsor, and on April 24 the +latter, who was in his nineteenth year, sailed from Milford Haven, with +300 knights and a large body of troops. The expedition reached Waterford +in safety next day, and the neighbouring chiefs flocked to do honour to +the King's son, and to give him the kiss of peace. The Anglo-Norman +courtiers--young men mostly--pulled their long beards, and they at once +departed to the hostile chiefs, Roderic O'Connor, Donnell O'Brien, and +Dermod MacCarthy. All chance of conciliating the more powerful and +distant potentates was thus taken away. Giraldus Cambrensis was present +at Waterford, and he likens John to Rehoboam. The Irish, who had adhered +to the invaders since Fitz-Stephen's first landing, were deprived of +their lands; the castles were given up to favourites, who did nothing but +eat, drink, and plunder; the worst officers were put in the best places, +and the men, as a natural consequence, were as bad as their masters, +devoted to Venus and Bacchus, but neglectful of Mars. Hoveden adds that +John put all the profits of government into his own pocket, and that his +soldiers being unpaid were useless in war. The three castles projected by +his father were built; but he lost many to the Irish, and De Lacy was +suspected of intriguing against him. It is clear that there could be no +confidence in a prince whose chief care was to rob and displace the men +who had won his principality for him. The disastrous experiment lasted +only eight months, when John returned to England, leaving the government +to John de Courcy, who retained power until the death of Henry II. The +Lough Cé annalists, who wrote beyond the Shannon, give the following +account of John's expedition:--'The son of the King of the Saxons came to +assume the sovereignty of Erin ... afterwards he went across to complain +of Hugo de Lacy to his father; for it was Hugo de Lacy that was King of +Erin when the son of the King of the Saxons came, and he permitted not +the men of Erin to give tribute or hostages to him.' To the Irish +bordering on Meath no doubt De Lacy seemed a veritable king. The Four +Masters, who were better acquainted with the English theory of +government, repeat this; but soften Hugo's title of king into that of the +King of England's deputy. + +[Sidenote: Murder of Hugh de Lacy. The colony continues to extend.] + +In or out of office, De Lacy continued to increase his dominion in Meath, +but his career was cut short not long after John's departure. Having +encroached upon the lands of the O'Caharneys, he was murdered while +building a castle at Durrow by a foster-relation of the injured clan. His +death was a great blow to the colonists, but his son Hugo succeeded to +scarcely diminished power, and is accused by Giraldus of systematically +thwarting De Courcy. Fitz-Stephen meanwhile was carving out a +principality in Munster, where he would be tolerably free from official +interference. He and Milo de Cogan were joint grantees of Cork, and the +latter married his daughter Catherine to Maurice, son of Raymond le Gros, +to whom Dermod MacCarthy had given a portion of North Kerry. From this +alliance the Fitzmaurices sprung. It is probable that in granting the +land of the O'Connors to a stranger, Dermod gave that over which he had +no real authority. The territory immediately round the city of Cork was +divided between Fitz-Stephen and Cogan, the former taking that lying to +the east, and the latter that lying to the west. Fitz-Stephen's share +passed to his sister's son, Philip de Barry. Before the death of Henry +II. the country about Cork was studded with castles, but it is impossible +to say how far it was really conquered. Intermarriages with the Irish +were no doubt common from the first. The example set by Strongbow and by +Hugo de Lacy was not likely to want imitators. + +[Sidenote: No conquest of Ireland under Henry II.] + +The conquest of Ireland by Henry II., as it used to be called, amounts on +the whole to this. The coast from Larne to Cork harbour was, at the date +of the King's death, strongly held by the invaders, all the ports being +in their hands, and the principal points being defended by castles. They +were also pretty firmly established on the south side of the Shannon +estuary. The rivers of Leinster were in their hands, and the central +plain almost, if not quite as far west as the Shannon. De Courcy had +begun to assert his dominion over Monaghan and Armagh. All the Danish +towns except Limerick were fully possessed by the conquerors. On the +other hand, the Irish were not expelled from any part of the island. The +mountains which extend almost uninterruptedly from Dublin to Waterford +still sheltered the O'Tooles, the O'Byrnes, the MacMurroughs, the +O'Nolans, and other clans. Fitz-Stephen had begun the conquest of what is +now the county of Cork, but the Irish were still in force on all sides of +the city. The natives generally had recovered in some degree from their +first alarm. The first invaders had been trained in mountain warfare, but +those who succeeded them were often quite unfit to dispute the possession +of hills and woods with the light-armed natives. And there were +jealousies between Normans, English, and Welsh, which went far to +neutralise the strength of the colony. Had it not been for the +dissensions of the Irish themselves, it is probable that they would have +confined the invaders to the east coast. It was a quarrel between Dermod +MacCarthy and his son which brought the Geraldines to Kerry; disputes +among the O'Connors introduced De Cogan, De Lacy, and De Courcy into +Connaught; and, though they effected nothing, they paved the way for the +De Burgos, to whose founder, William Fitz-Adelm, Henry granted the whole +of the western province. The King's troubles with his own sons, with the +Holy See, and with France, prevented him from attending to Ireland. It +would have been better for the peace of mankind had he made a real +conquest, instead of leaving it to barons, who lost much of their old +civilisation, and who disdained to learn anything from the weaker people +whom they oppressed.[34] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[29] Matthew Paris calls the Irish 'bestiales.' + +[30] See the _Senchus Mór_, ii. 225. + +[31] Giraldus, _Ex. Hib._ lib. i. cap. 2. + +[32] In Webb's _Compendium of Irish Biography_ is a carefully compiled +catalogue of Nesta's children and grandchildren. I have generally +followed it, noting, however, that Fitz-Stephen's children cannot be held +legitimate in the face of Giraldus' distinct statement. + +[33] The details of Henry's preparations may be studied in Sweetman's +_Calendar of Documents_. + +[34] In narrating the events of Henry II.'s reign, I have generally +followed Giraldus Cambrensis, checking him by references to Hoveden and +Regan. The _Expugnatio_ may be considered a fanciful book in some ways. +But if we eliminate everything supernatural, and make some allowance for +the writer's prejudices, I see no reason to question his good faith. Of +the native Irish he knew little, but the invaders were his neighbours, +friends, and relations. Fitz-Stephen and the other descendants of Nesta +may be unduly praised, Fitz-Adelm perhaps unduly blamed; but, after all, +this is no more than may be said against most historians of their own +times. Giraldus was undoubtedly an observer of first-rate power. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +FROM JOHN'S VISIT IN 1210 TILL THE INVASION BY THE BRUCES IN 1315. + + +[Sidenote: John acts as lord of Ireland under his father and brother.] + +Richard I. did not interfere with his brother's jurisdiction over +Ireland, and this may be the reason why the records of the colony during +his reign are so scanty. The invaders, though they fought a good deal +among themselves, continued to extend their power, and gained a firm +footing in Connaught. Some years before the death of Henry II., Roderic's +sons had invited the Anglo-Normans into his kingdom, and in 1183 the last +monarch of Ireland retired to the abbey of Cong, where he died in 1198. +His brother Cathal Crovdearg, or Charles of the Red Hand, about whom many +marvellous stories are told, ultimately made himself supreme; but not +without the help of William Fitz-Adelm, who lost no opportunity of +advancing the claim given him by Henry's thoroughly unjustifiable grant. +Fitz-Adelm, who had made himself master of Limerick, at first opposed +Cathal Crovdearg, but joined him in 1201 and enabled him to triumph over +all competitors. The accession of John to the crown of England put an end +to the separate lordship of Ireland, but his successors, until the time +of Henry VIII., continued to call themselves only lords of Ireland. If +Berengaria had had children, it is possible, and even probable, that +Ireland would have passed to John's issue as a separate, or at the most a +tributary kingdom. The early years of John's reign were much disturbed by +a violent feud between the De Lacies and De Courcy. The King favoured the +former party, and in 1205 created the younger Hugo Earl of Ulster and +Viceroy. He proved an oppressive governor, over-taxing the King's +subjects to provide means for his foreign enterprises. The southern +colonists, in alliance with some of the natives, defeated the Viceroy +near Thurles, and the King began to fear that he had given too much power +to one family; for Walter de Lacy continued to rule Meath, while his +brother was all-powerful in the north and east. A royal army was +accordingly levied, and John prepared to revisit the lordship where he +had so signally failed twenty-five years before. + +[Sidenote: King John visits Ireland.] + +The excommunicated King sailed from Milford Haven with a motley army of +mercenaries, under command of Fair Rosamond's son, William Long-sword, +and landed on June 20, 1210, at the same place as his father had done. +Among his train were John de Grey, Bishop of Norwich, whom Innocent III. +had refused to make Archbishop of Canterbury, and John de Courcy, who had +been captured and given up by the De Lacies, and who had suffered a +rigorous imprisonment, but was now again in favour with the King. John +did not let the grass grow under his feet. On the eighth day after his +arrival he was at Dublin, having travelled by Ross, Thomastown, Kilkenny, +and Naas. The first effect of his presence was to separate the two De +Lacies, and the Lord of Meath sent him the following message:--'Walter +salutes the King as his liege lord, of whom he holds all he possesses; +and prays the King to relax his ire, and suffer Walter to approach his +presence; Walter will not plead against the King, but places all his +castles and lands in the hands of the King as his lord, to retain or +restore as he pleases.' The messenger added that Walter had lost much by +his brother Hugo, and that he left him to the King's pleasure. It is +possible that this was said in consequence of an arrangement between the +two brothers. John was not pacified, and prepared to invade both Meath +and Ulster. Trim was reached by July 2, and Kells by the 4th, and the +Kings of Connaught and Thomond were summoned to take part in the +expedition to Ulster. Cathal Crovdearg and Donough O'Brien both obeyed +the King's order, and the royal army proceeded by Dundalk, Carlingford, +and Downpatrick to Carrickfergus. The latter place was taken and +garrisoned. Hugo de Lacy had already fled into Scotland. The King stayed +eight or nine days at Carrickfergus, where he was visited by Hugh +O'Neill, who does not appear to have made any real submission, and then +marched by Holywood, Downpatrick, Banbridge, and Carlingford to Drogheda. +From Drogheda he again entered Meath, visited Duleek and Kells, and seems +to have penetrated as far west as Granard. He was in Dublin by August 18, +and back to England before the end of the month, having spent sixty-six +days in Ireland. On his return from Ulster he had summoned Cathal +Crovdearg a second time, bidding him bring his son 'to receive a charter +for the third part of Connaught.' Over-persuaded by his wife, Cathal went +to the King alone. John's object may have been to make a hostage of the +boy, and he seized instead MacDermot of Moylurg, O'Hara of Sligo, and two +other men of importance in Connaught. Carrying these chiefs with him to +England, the King left the government of Ireland to Bishop de Grey, who +signalised his advent to power by building a castle and bridge at +Athlone. William de Braose, who had enormous estates in Ireland, was +driven into exile by John, who starved his wife and son to death, and +gave his castle of Carrigogunnel on the Shannon to Donough O'Brien. + +[Sidenote: The Anglo-Normans flock to the King. He erects twelve shires.] + +The Anglo-Norman barons of Ireland flocked to Dublin while John was +there, and swore to obey the laws of England. The King divided their +country into twelve counties: Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Uriel or Louth, +Carlow, Kilkenny, and Wexford in Leinster; and Waterford, Cork, Kerry, +Limerick, and Tipperary in Munster. Every knight's fee was bound to +supply a well-armed horseman, and inferior tenants were bound to provide +foot-soldiers. The Viceroy was to give a notice of forty days when the +feudal array was to muster at Dublin, and serve against the King's +enemies for forty days in each year. Ulster and Connaught were not +shired, but were afterwards sometimes regarded as counties. Perhaps the +nobles of these provinces were supposed to be constantly employed against +the Irish. The native chiefs were considered as tributary subjects, but +not as tenants. In 1215 John ordered the Archbishop of Dublin to buy +enough scarlet cloth to make robes for the Kings of Ireland; and it is +clear that they were expected to serve, though the exact measure of the +aid rendered may have been left to themselves. + +[Sidenote: Leinster is divided after Earl Richard's death.] + +When Strongbow died without a son the principality of Leinster fell to +his eldest daughter Isabel, who became a ward of the Crown. In 1189 the +minor was given in marriage to William Earl Marshal, who thus became Earl +of Pembroke and Strigul, and lord of a territory in Ireland, +corresponding nearly to the counties of Wexford, Kildare, Carlow, +Kilkenny, and part of the Queen's County. He built a castle and +incorporated a town at Kilkenny, and died in 1219, transmitting his +honours and great power to his son William. The younger William was +Viceroy in 1224, and depressed the De Lacies, allying himself generally +with Cathal Crovdearg O'Connor. He died in 1231, leaving all to his +brother Richard, who made good his position, although Henry III.'s +foreign advisers plotted his destruction. Strongbow's grandson was killed +in 1234 by the feudatories who were bound to defend him, and the colony +never recovered the blow. + +[Sidenote: The De Burgos in Connaught.] + +Fitz-Adelm's son, Richard de Burgo, generally called MacWilliam by the +Irish, married Una, Cathal Crovdearg's grand-daughter, and procured from +Henry III. a grant of all Connaught, except five cantreds reserved for +the support of the post at Athlone. From the first the position of the +Anglo-Normans in Connaught differed from their position in other parts of +Ireland. They were there rather as allies of the native chiefs than as +conquerors, and the easy lapse of their descendants into Irish habits is +the less to be wondered at. Richard de Burgo obtained a confirmation of +his grant in 1226, through the favour of his kinsman, the great +justiciar, Hubert, and he soon afterwards made himself master of Galway, +which he fortified strongly, and made the chief place of Connaught. After +his time the O'Connors never regained possession of it, and the +importance of the royal tribe steadily diminished during the whole of the +thirteenth century. Richard de Burgo's eldest son Walter married Maud, +daughter and heiress of the younger Hugo de Lacy, who died in 1243, and +he thus became Earl of Ulster as well as Lord of Connaught. His son +Richard, commonly called the Red Earl, advanced the power of the +Anglo-Norman state to the furthest point which it ever attained. + +[Sidenote: Poverty of the colony under Henry III.] + +Constant war is not favourable to the production of wealth, and it seems +probable that no very considerable progress was made in the arts of +peace. Tallage was first imposed on Ireland in 1217, in the name of Henry +III., but it seems to have yielded little, and a generation later there +was equal difficulty in collecting a tithe for the Pope. Innocent IV. +ordered that a sum should be so raised for the liberation of the Holy +Land, and very stringent letters were sent to Ireland in 1254; but +collector Lawrence Sumercote declared that the difficulties were +insuperable. The Irish, he explained, never saved anything, but lived +riotously and gave liberally to all, and he professed that he would +'rather be imprisoned than crucified any longer in Ireland for the +business of the Cross.' The plan of drawing upon Ireland for English or +Continental wars was, however, largely practised during the reign of +Henry III., and it tended to sap the strength of the colony. Ready money +might be scarce, but there were men, and they could be ill-spared from +the work of defending their lands against a native race who were ever on +the watch to take advantage of their absence or neglect. + +[Sidenote: Edward I. had not time to attend to Ireland personally.] + +A vast number of documents remain to show that Edward I. took great pains +about Ireland. Phelim O'Connor, who died in 1265, may be regarded as the +last King of Connaught. His son Hugh did indeed assume the title, and, +according to the annalists, 'executed his royal depredations on the men +of Offaly, where he committed many burnings and killings;' but his +kingship does not appear to have been officially recognised, and the De +Burgos were the true rulers. The Red Earl was supreme in the northern +half of Ireland; but O'Neill was recognised as King of Tyrone, while his +claim to be head of all the Irish in Ireland was denied. O'Cahan was also +sometimes given the title of king. O'Donnell was treated with less +respect, and a price was set upon his head, which appears to have been +actually brought to Dublin in 1283. In 1281 Hugh Boy O'Neill, whom the +annalists call 'royal heir of all Erin, head of the hospitality and +valour of the Gael,' sided with the English against Donnell Oge +O'Donnell, who is called 'King of the north, the best Gael for +hospitality and dignity; the general guardian of the west of Europe, and +the knitting-needle of the arch sovereignty, and the rivetting hammer of +every good law, and the top-nut of the Gael in valour.' A battle was +fought near Dungannon, and O'Donnell, who had under him the O'Rourkes and +MacMahons, and 'nearly the majority of the Irish of Connaught and +Ulster,' was defeated and slain. Two years later Hugh Boy was killed by +the MacMahons. The story of this contest is a good illustration of the +hopeless incapacity of the natives for anything like a national +combination. If Edward I. had been able to attend to Ireland personally, +it is at least probable that he would have conquered the country as +completely as Wales. + +[Sidenote: Frequency of quarrels among the colonists.] + +In 1275, Edward granted the whole of Thomond to Thomas de Clare, who took +advantage of the dissensions among the O'Briens, and built the strong +castle of Bunratty to dominate the district. The conquest of Thomond was, +however, never completed, or nearly completed, nor did the De Clares +succeed in establishing themselves like the De Burgos. They might have +done so had they not come so late into the field, and their failure was +certainly not owing to any exceptional power of combination shown by the +Irish. It was rather due to quarrels among the colonists, whose strength +was being constantly sapped by taking part in Edward's Scotch wars, and +who were not recruited by any considerable immigration. In 1245, the male +line of the Earl Marshal was finally extinguished, and the inheritance of +Strongbow fell to five sisters, the great grand-daughters of Dermod +MacMurrough. Matilda, the eldest, obtained Carlow and carried the +hereditary office of Earl Marshal to her husband, Hugh Bigot, Earl of +Norfolk. Joan, the second, received Wexford. Isabella, the third, had +Kilkenny, which her descendants sold to the Ormonde family. Sibilla, the +fourth, had Kildare for her share. Eva, the youngest sister, married +William De Braose; and through her daughter, who was married to Roger +Mortimer, became ancestress of most of the royal houses of Europe. As +the five daughters of William Earl Marshal were all married, and had all +children, the history of Leinster becomes very confusing. Had it remained +in one strong hand the Irish would hardly have recovered their ground. +But, as Giraldus points out, the 'four great pillars of the conquest, +Fitz-Stephen, Hervey, Raymond, and John de Courcy, by the hidden but +never unjust judgment of God, were not blessed with any legitimate +offspring.' A similar fatality attended many others, including Earl +Richard, to whom, and not to Fitz-Stephen, common fame, more true in this +case than contemporary history, has attributed the real leadership among +the Anglo-Norman invaders of Ireland. + +[Sidenote: Edward I. weakens the colony by drawing men and supplies from +it.] + +In his great campaign of 1296 Edward had much help from Ireland. The Earl +of Ulster was among those who led contingents to Scotland, and the names +of Power, Butler, Fitzthomas, Wogan, Rocheford, Purcell, Cantoke, and +Barry appear among the leaders. The whole force from Ireland consisted of +310 men-at-arms, 266 hobelers or horsemen with unarmoured horses, and +2,576 foot, including many archers and cross-bowmen. All who went +received pardons, but some refused or neglected to obey the royal +summons. In 1298 Edward drew provisions from Ireland. His requisition +included 8,000 quarters of wheat, chiefly fine flour in casks; 10,000 +quarters of oats; much bran, bacon, salt beef, and salt fish; and 10,000 +casks of wine. If so much wine could not be got in Ireland, then the +Viceroy was to agree with some merchant to bring it from Gascony as quick +as possible. Edward used Ireland as a base for operations, or as a +recruiting ground, but he never had time to give it much of his personal +care. First Wales, then Gascony, then Palestine, then Scotland engrossed +his vast energies; but Ireland was left to herself. Without the means to +keep order themselves, Viceroys found it necessary to preserve the colony +by stirring up dissensions among the Irish. The justiciar, Robert +d'Ufford, was sent for by Edward and charged with this evil policy. He +answered, that to save the King's coffers, and to keep the peace, he +thought it expedient to wink at one knave cutting off another. 'Whereat,' +says an old author, 'the King smiled, and bade him return to Ireland.' + +[Sidenote: Disorders after the death of Edward I.] + +John's imperfect partition of Ireland into shires was still more +imperfectly carried out. At the death of Edward I. four out of his +grandfather's twelve counties--namely, Meath, Wexford, Carlow, and +Kilkenny--were liberties or exempt jurisdictions in the hands of what +Davies calls 'absolute palatines,' claiming and exercising almost every +attribute of sovereignty. The Fitzgeralds had acquired similar authority +over a portion of Desmond, and the De Clares over a portion of Thomond. +Connaught and Ulster were under the De Burghs, in so far as they had been +reduced at all, and Roscommon was a royal castle and the head of a +separate county. At Randon on Lough Ree was another royal castle, and +these were almost the only strongholds of the Crown in Connaught; for +Galway was quite subject to the De Burghs. Within their palatinate +jurisdictions, the great nobles made barons and knights, appointed +sheriffs, and executed justice. The King's writ only ran in the Church +lands, and was executed by a separate sheriff. So complete was the +distinction, that in the mediæval parliaments knights were separately +returned for the counties and for the 'crosses,' as the ecclesiastical +jurisdictions were called. The inherent weakness of such a polity was +probably aggravated by the suppression of the Templars, who always kept a +strong armed force. In 1308 Edward II. called for an account of their +lands and revenues, and the barons of the exchequer answered that they +could make no proper inquisition. 'On account,' they wrote, 'of the long +distances, and of the feuds between certain of the magnates of Ireland, +we do not dare to visit the places named, and jurors of the country +cannot come to us for the same reason.' + +[Sidenote: Reasons why the colony declined. The Bruces invade Ireland.] + +Dissensions among the barons, caused by the weakness and absence of the +Crown, were one great cause of the decline of the colony. Another was the +policy of Edward I., which left him little time to attend to Ireland, and +tempted him constantly to draw supplies of men from thence. A third was +the battle of Bannockburn, which allowed victorious Scotland to compete +with England for the dominion of the neighbouring island; and the Irish +themselves were not slow to adopt the principle that England's difficulty +is Ireland's opportunity. In 1315 Edward Bruce landed near Larne with +6,000 men, including some of the best knights in Scotland. Having been +joined by O'Neill and the chiefs depending on him, Bruce twice defeated +the Red Earl of Ulster, occupied the strongholds of Down and Antrim, and +wintered in Westmeath. In the spring he overthrew the Viceroy, Sir Edmund +Butler, at Ardscull, for the Earl of Ulster disdained to serve under the +King's representative, and the English armies were therefore beaten in +detail. Bruce gained another battle at Kells, wasted all northern +Leinster, and then returned to Carrickfergus, where he was joined by King +Robert with reinforcements. The Scots went almost where they liked, and +Robert Bruce is said to have heard mass at Limerick on Palm Sunday, 1317. +They did not cross the Shannon, and seem not to have gone further south +than Cashel. Dublin was not attacked, though the invaders came as near as +Castleknock. On Easter Thursday, 1317, Roger Mortimer landed at Youghal +with 15,000 men and full viceregal powers, and the Bruces retired before +him into Ulster. They had devastated the country, and lost many men from +the famine which they themselves had caused. + +[Sidenote: The Bruces fail to conquer Ireland.] + +The Bruces were descended from Strongbow and from Dermod MacMurrough, and +Robert's wife was descended from Roderic O'Connor. The true principles of +hereditary succession were not fully accepted, and they might pretend +some right to interfere in Ireland. They had been invited by the De +Lacies of Meath, who for want of male heirs saw their territory divided +between De Verdon and De Mortimer. In the first flush of his victorious +advance from the south, Roger Mortimer called the De Lacies before him. +They refused to appear, and were proclaimed traitors, but continued to +adhere to Edward Bruce's fortunes. The invader, after his brother's +departure, remained for more than a year at Carrickfergus, in hopes of +being able to take the offensive again, and still retaining the title of +King, which he had assumed after his first successes. He had been so +often victorious in battle that he despised the colonists, and, against +the advice of his Irish allies, resolved to fight once more without +waiting for reinforcements from Scotland. John de Bermingham, at the head +of an army which greatly outnumbered the Scots, forced an engagement +between Faughard and Dundalk, and Bruce and most of his officers were +killed. The remnant of his army, with Walter and Hugo de Lacy, managed to +escape to Scotland. The sovereignty of the English Crown in Ireland was +never again seriously disputed; but the feudal organisation was shattered +by Bruce's invasion, which did nothing to compose the differences already +existing among the colonists. John de Bermingham received a grant of +Louth with the title of earl, but his great services were soon forgotten, +and eleven years after the battle of Dundalk he was murdered by the +English of his own earldom. + +[Sidenote: Horrible cruelties of the Bruces.] + +English and Irish are agreed as to the cruelty and ferocity of the +Bruces. Clyn the Franciscan records, in terse and vigorous Latin, that +'Robert Bruce, who bore himself as King of the Scots, crossed Ireland +from Ulster, where he landed, almost to Limerick, burning, killing, +plundering, and spoiling towns, castles, and even churches, both going +and returning.' Clyn was an English partisan, but the same cannot be said +of the Lough Cé annalists, who record that 'Edward Bruce, the destroyer +of all Erin in general, both foreigners and Gaels, was slain by the +foreigners of Erin, through the power of battle and bravery at Dundalk; +and MacRory, King of the Hebrides, and MacDonnell, King of Argyll, +together with the men of Scotland, were slain there along with him; and +no better deed for the men of all Erin was performed since the beginning +of the world, since the Formorian race was expelled from Erin, than this +deed; for theft, and famine, and destruction of men occurred throughout +Erin during his time for the space of three years and a half; and people +used to eat one another, without doubt, throughout Erin.' + +[Sidenote: The Irish fail to give the Bruces effectual support.] + +There can, however, be no doubt that Edward Bruce came to Ireland on the +invitation of the Irish. Donnell O'Neill, claiming to be the true heir to +the chief kingship, and the other chiefs, in the famous remonstrance +which they addressed to John XXII., informed that Pope that they felt +helpless for want of a leader, but were determined no longer to submit +like women to Anglo-Norman oppression, and that they had therefore +invited over 'the brother of the most illustrious Lord Robert, by the +grace of God King of the Scots, and a descendant of the most noble of +their own ancestors,' and that they had by letters patent constituted him +king and lord. The blood of Roderic O'Connor and of Eva evidently went +for something, but the chiefs also believed that Edward Bruce was 'a +person of piety and prudence, of a chaste and modest disposition, of +great sobriety, and altogether orderly and unassuming in his demeanour.' +Scottish historians are not entirely of the same opinion. It is indeed +probable that Bruce had no other idea than to carve out a kingdom with +his sword, like a genuine Norman as he was. He had the memory of Earl +Richard, of Fitz-Stephen, and of De Courcy to guide him; and if a more +modern instance was required, there could be none better than that of his +brother Robert. + + + + +[Illustration: IRELAND ABOUT 1300.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +FROM THE INVASION OF THE BRUCES TO THE YEAR 1346. + + +[Sidenote: The Irish never united. The O'Connors are almost destroyed by +the De Burgos.] + +The Irish invited Bruce, but they made no regular or general effort in +his favour. Their total incapacity for anything like national +organisation had forbidden the idea of a native sovereign, and perhaps +the majority of them thought one Norman baron no better than another. The +year 1316, in which Bruce landed, witnessed the almost total destruction +of the O'Connors, the tribe which had last held the chief kingship. Their +relationship with the De Burgos, Berminghams, and other Anglo-Normans may +be traced in great detail in the annalists. Felim O'Connor, whom the +Connaught historiographers call undisputed heir presumptive to the +sovereignty of Erin, formed one of those great confederacies which occur +so frequently in Irish history, and which so seldom had any results. The +O'Kellys, MacDermods, O'Maddens, O'Dowds, O'Haras, O'Kearneys, +O'Farrells, MacMahons, and many others were represented; and the +Anglo-Normans, who also mustered in great force, were commanded by the +Red Earl's brother, Sir William de Burgo, and by Richard Bermingham, +fourth baron of Athenry, at the gate of which town the decisive struggle +took place. The Irish were defeated with the loss of something like +10,000 men. Felim O'Connor fell, and his tribe never recovered its +position in Connaught. In late times we have O'Connor Don and O'Connor +Roe in Roscommon, O'Connor Sligo, O'Connor Kerry near the mouth of the +Shannon, and O'Connor Faly in what is now the King's County, but the De +Burgos became supreme in Connaught. + +[Sidenote: The Irish recover ground under Edward II. and his successors.] + +In other parts of Ireland the Celts were more successful. In 1317 or 1318 +the O'Carrolls gained a victory over Sir Edmund Butler, but Clyn places +his loss at about two hundred only. More important was the battle of +Disert O'Dea, in which Richard de Clare was defeated and slain. This +fight destroyed the pretensions of the De Clares, and the O'Briens +remained supreme in Thomond as long as such supremacies lasted anywhere. +In Leinster, too, the Irish became more and more troublesome, and Clyn +unwillingly records successes of the O'Nolans and O'Tooles over the Poers +and other settlers. The dissensions of the colonists were yet more fatal +than the prowess of the natives. Eva's descendants were for ever fighting +among themselves, and it was the Red Earl's jealousy of Sir Edmund Butler +which prevented a united effort from being made against Bruce. 'After +having violently expelled us,' wrote the Irish to John XXII., 'from our +spacious habitations and patrimonial inheritances, they have compelled us +to repair, in the hope of saving our lives, to mountains and woods, to +bogs and barren wastes, and to the caves of the rocks, where, like the +beasts, we have long been fain to dwell.' The close of Edward II.'s reign +saw them everywhere ready to descend from their hills, and to emerge from +their woods. For nearly two hundred years the history of Ireland is in +the main a history of Celtic gains at the expense of Anglo-Normans and +Englishmen; if, indeed, anarchy can rightly be accounted gain to any race +or community of men. + +[Sidenote: The last Earl of Ulster is murdered, 1333. The De Burgos and +other Anglo-Normans assume Irish names and habits.] + +In 1326 the Red Earl of Ulster retired into the monastery of Athassel, +where he died soon afterwards. His great power descended to his grandson +William, who was murdered at or near Carrickfergus in 1333 by the +Mandevilles and other Ulster colonists. By his wife, Maud Plantagenet, +great-grand-daughter of Henry III., he left one child, Elizabeth, who was +only a few months old at the date of his murder. Twenty years afterwards +she married Lionel Duke of Clarence, and became ancestress of the Tudors +and Stuarts. The Earldom of Ulster thus ultimately merged in the Crown. +But the Irish De Burgos refused to acknowledge a baby, who, as a royal +ward, would be brought up independently of them; and they preferred to +follow the sons of Sir William, the Red Earl's brother. William the +elder assumed the title of MacWilliam Uachtar, or the Upper, took all +Galway for his portion, and became ancestor of the Clanricarde family. +His brother, Sir Edmund, as MacWilliam Iochtar, or the Lower, took Mayo, +and founded the family which bears that title. They threw off their +allegiance to England, and became more Irish than the Irish. They +reappear in the sixteenth century under the modern name of Burke. About +the same time several other Anglo-Normans assumed Irish names. The +Stauntons became MacAveelys; the Berminghams MacFeoris; the D'Exeters, +MacJordans; the Barretts, MacAndrews, MacThomins, MacRoberts, and +MacPaddins; the Nangles, MacCostelloes; the Mayo Prendergasts, +MacMaurices. The De Burgos themselves had many subordinate branches, each +with its peculiar Irish name, as MacDavid, MacPhilbin, MacShoneen, +MacGibbon, MacWalter, and MacRaymond. Nor was the practice confined to +Connaught. Some of the Leinster Fitzgeralds became MacThomases and +MacBarons; and some of the same house in Munster were transfigured into +MacGibbons, MacThomaisins, and MacEdmonds. Many other Anglo-Normans or +English families were more or less completely transformed in the same +way. It is only necessary to mention that the Wesleys or Wellesleys, who +gave England its greatest captain, were sometimes called MacFabrenes; and +that the Bissetts of Antrim, whose connections in Scotland gave the +Tudors such trouble, may still be traced as Makeons. In the district near +Dublin, which got the name of the English Pale, some Irish residents took +English names, and the practice was encouraged by a statute of Edward IV. +There is probably no country in Europe where the population is so +thoroughly mixed as it is in Ireland. + +[Sidenote: Edward III. creates three great earldoms: Kildare, Desmond, +and Ormonde.] + +As the Earls of Ulster disappear, other families attain prominence, and +the earlier Tudor history is mainly occupied with the struggles of three +earldoms, created in the first half of the fourteenth century. The name +Geraldine, to which Giraldus Cambrensis gave a more extended +signification, was in later times confined to the descendants of Maurice +Fitzgerald, one of Nesta's many sons. One branch was firmly settled in +Kildare before the death of Henry II., and in the reign of Edward I. the +head of it was John Fitz-Thomas, whose dissensions with William de Vesci, +Lord of Kildare, ended in an appeal to the King, and a challenge to the +trial by combat. Fitz-Thomas was the challenger, and on his adversary +failing to appear, he received a royal grant of De Vesci's lands. In 1316 +Edward II. created him Earl of Kildare, and the Duke of Leinster is +descended from him. During most of the fifteenth century, and for the +first third of the sixteenth, this was on the whole the most powerful +family in Ireland. The Earls of Kildare commanded the whole strength of +that county, and its proximity to Dublin often enabled them to control +the government. Meath was too much divided for its proprietors to act as +a counterpoise, and the strength of the rival house of Ormonde lay at a +distance from the capital, and was exposed to attacks from another branch +of the Geraldines, whose chief was created Earl of Desmond in 1329. The +Desmonds first rose at the expense of the MacCarthies in Kerry. A +marriage with the heiress of Fitz-Anthony brought them the western half +of the county Waterford and other large estates. This lady's son married +the heiress of the Cogans, and her great property in Cork was added to +the rest. The Desmonds never became quite so completely Hibernicised as +the De Burgos; but they attained something very like independence, and +more than once proved too strong for the government. The third great +earldom was founded in the person of Edmund Butler, who was created Earl +of Carrick in 1315; the better known title of Ormonde being conferred on +his son James in 1328. The founder of the family was Theobald +Fitz-Walter, who accompanied Henry II. to Ireland, and was by him made +hereditary butler with a grant of the prisage of wines. The name of +office was adopted by his descendants, who derived great advantage from +the grant. Ormonde is properly the northern part of Tipperary, but the +earls became palatine lords of nearly all the county, and owners of vast +estates in Kilkenny and Wexford. Their principal castles were Kilkenny, +Gowran, Carrick-on-Suir, and Arklow. The possession of the latter place +gave them ready access to England, and through all turns of weal and woe +they ever remained faithful to the Crown. If regard be had to the length +of time that it retained eminence, or to the average ability of its +chiefs, or to its comparative civilisation in rude times, the House of +Ormonde must be accounted the most distinguished of the Anglo-Norman +families of Ireland. + +[Sidenote: Towns in Ireland: Dublin and Drogheda.] + +The native Irish had no regular towns. The Anglo-Normans took possession +of those founded by the Ostmen, which were all on the coast, and founded +many others, of which only three or four, and those not the most +important, were at a distance from navigable rivers. Athassel in +Tipperary is sometimes called a town, but it never became a municipality, +and can have been little more than an aggregation of poor houses about +the great monastery, and there may have been other similar cases. Dublin +obtained its first charter from Henry II. in 1171 or 1172, and Drogheda +from Henry III. in 1229. + +'Dublin and Drogheda,' says the historian of the Irish capital, 'were +neither distinctly English nor Irish. Their citizens, as tax-contributing +and acknowledged subjects of England, relied on her for protection +against oppressive Anglo-Norman nobles and hostile natives. The +Irish--unless Anglicised--had no legal part in these communities, but +continuous mutual intercourse was sustained by the advantages derived +from traffic.' 'In our documents,' adds the same writer, 'Scandinavians +or Ostmans but rarely appear, although in 1215 the latter people were of +sufficient importance to have been associated with the English of Dublin +by King John as parties to an inquiry held there by his justiciary. The +proportion of the various national elements cannot be absolutely +determined by the forms of names;' for many names originated in personal +peculiarities, many were translated from one language to another, and +many Irishmen became denizens, and adopted an English patronymic. The +'Irish town' which exists outside the old bounds of Dublin, Limerick, +Kilkenny, Clonmel, and other places, doubtless perpetuates the memory of +a time when the natives congregated in the neighbourhood of civic +communities to which they did not belong.[35] + +[Sidenote: Other towns: Limerick, Waterford, and Cork the chief.] + +What has been said of Dublin and Drogheda applies to the other cities and +towns of Ireland. Limerick received its first charter from John in 1197, +Waterford from the same prince in 1206, and Cork from Henry III. in 1242. +These were the chief centres of trade and of English law in the south of +Ireland. The less important municipalities owed their origin generally to +some great noble, the Crown afterwards adopting them and granting fresh +privileges. Kilkenny received a charter from the Earl Marshal between +1202 and 1218. New Ross, well situated at the junction of the Nore and +Barrow, belonged to the same great man, and excited the jealousy of +Waterford at least as early as 1215. Clonmel was included in a grant made +by Henry II. to Otho de Grandison. It passed into the hands of the De +Burgos, who probably incorporated it, and who received a royal grant to +hold a fair there in 1225. Fethard, Callan, Gowran, and other inland +towns were of less consequence, but were still distinctly English in +origin and character. Youghal and Kinsale were also corporate towns. The +latter received a charter from Edward III. in 1333, and the former, which +had been long identified with the Desmond family, seems not to have been +regularly incorporated till 1462. The Kinsale charter recites that the +town was surrounded by Irish enemies and English rebels, and that the +burgesses were worn out in repelling the same. The mediæval kings +commonly granted the customs and tolls of loyal towns to be expended by +the inhabitants in repairing their walls. + +[Sidenote: Galway.] + +Galway has a history of its own. The O'Connors had a fortified post there +before the Anglo-Norman invasion, and it soon attracted the attention of +the invaders. In 1232 it was for the first time taken by Richard de +Burgo, who lost it once, but recovered it and made it the capital of his +province. The building of the walls was begun about the beginning of the +reign of Edward I., and murage charters were granted probably by that +king, and certainly by Edward III. and Richard II. A charter of +incorporation was granted in 1396, but the names of certain chief +magistrates, provosts, portreeves, and sovereigns, are preserved from +1274 to 1485, when the first mayor took office. Fourteen English +families, afterwards known as the tribes of Galway, engrossed civic +power, and from 1485 to 1654 every mayor, with a single doubtful +exception, was chosen from among them. When the De Burgos turned Irish +and renounced their allegiance, the loyal citizens soon learned to treat +them as enemies, and in 1518 the corporation resolved that no inhabitant +should receive into his house 'at Christmas, Easter, nor no feast else, +any of the Burkes, MacWilliams, the Kellys, nor no sept else, without +licence of the mayor and council, on pain to forfeit 5_l._ that neither O +nor Mac shall strut nor swagger through the streets of Galway.' Their +great enemies were the O'Flaherties of Iar-Connaught, and it is said the +prayer 'from the ferocious O'Flaherties, good Lord, deliver us,' was once +inscribed over the west gate of the town. Athenry, which was built by the +Bermingham family, was long and closely connected with Galway. It +received a murage charter in 1312.[36] + +[Sidenote: Anglo-Norman families of importance.] + +Besides the three great earldoms, there were several Anglo-Norman +families who continued to have considerable importance in Tudor times. +Robert le Poer, or De Poher, received a grant from Henry II., which made +his descendants, now generally called Power, supreme in the eastern half +of the county Waterford. In the middle ages they were often at war with +the citizens of Waterford. Their chief seat was Curraghmore, and they are +represented, through a lady, by the Marquis of Waterford. The western +half of the same county, which came by marriage to the Desmonds, fell to +the descendants of the seventh earl's second son, known as the +Fitzgeralds, of Decies, and seated at Dromana. The Fitzmaurices, +descended from Raymond le Gros, occupied that part of north Kerry which +is still called Clanmaurice. They became Barons of Lixnaw, and are +represented by the Marquis of Lansdowne. The family of the White Knight +was descended from Gilbert, eldest son of John More Fitzgerald by his +second wife, Honora O'Connor; his half brother by Margery Fitz-Anthony +being the first Earl of Desmond. The White Knights were called Macgibbon +and Fitzgibbon, and their memory is preserved by the barony of +Clangibbon, in the county of Cork. From John, the second of Honora +O'Connor's sons, is descended the Knight of the Valley, or of Glin on the +Shannon. Maurice, the third brother, was the first Knight of Kerry. +Another branch of the Fitzgeralds, known as hereditary seneschals of +Imokilly, were settled in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries at Castle +Martyr. The Barrys, descendants of Nesta as well as the Geraldines, were +settled in that part of the county of Cork called Barrymore; and the +Roches were established soon after the first invasion about +Castletown-Roche, and Fermoy. Of the families who obtained portions of De +Lacy's great territory, the most important were the Nugents, Barons of +Delvin, and the Flemings, Barons of Slane on the Boyne. The Plunkets, who +are supposed to be of Danish origin, were in the middle ages settled +chiefly in Meath; and there they are still. They became Barons of +Killeen, Dunsany, and Louth. The Prestons, Viscounts of Gormanston, and +the Barnewalls, Barons of Trimleston, may also be noticed; but all the +families of the Pale were overshadowed by the House of Kildare. + +[Sidenote: The colony steadily declines under Edward III.] + +So far as the English colony in Ireland is concerned, the long reign of +Edward III. must be regarded as a period of decay. The murder of the last +Earl of Ulster in 1333, and the consequent secession of the De Burghs, +hastened the destruction of a fabric which had always hung loosely +together. The sons of Hugh Boy O'Neill, who was killed in 1283, +established themselves firmly in Eastern Ulster, and undid nearly all the +work of De Courcey and his successors. They gave to Antrim the name of +Clan-Hugh-Boy, or Clandeboye, as it is now written. Only the Savages +maintained themselves in Ardes; and the MacQuillins, a family of Welsh +origin, between the Bush and the Bann, in the district afterwards called +the Route. The three royal fortresses which bridled Connaught, Athlone, +Roscommon, and Randon, all fell into the hands of the Irish. In Leinster +also the natives rapidly gained ground. Lysaght O'More formed a +confederacy of nearly all the midland tribes, and expelled the settlers +from the district between the Barrow and the Shannon. His career was +short, but his work was lasting. 'In 1342,' says Clyn, 'he was killed +when drunk by his own servant. He was a rich and powerful man, and +honoured among his own people. He expelled nearly all the English from +his lands, and burned eight of their castles in one evening. He destroyed +Roger Mortimer's noble fortress of Dunamase, and usurped the lordship of +his own country. He was a servant, he became a lord; he was a subject, he +became a prince.' Bunratty Castle in Clare was dismantled by the O'Briens +and Macnamaras, and a branch of the former established themselves in +Tipperary. Of William Carragh O'Brien, of Aherlow, one of the chiefs of +this sept, Clyn gives a very unflattering account. 'He was,' he declares, +'a bad and perverse man who lived ill and died ill, passing all his time +in waylayings, thefts, spoils, and murders.' + +[Sidenote: Dissension rife among the colonists.] + +The constant quarrels of the colonists, and the corruption of their +officials, laid them open to the attacks of the natives, and the state of +Ireland attracted so much attention that the Parliament held at +Westminster in 1331 advised the King to cross the Channel himself. Edward +III. never had much time to attend to Ireland, but he seems to have been +aware that he had duties in the matter. In 1338 he decreed that none but +Englishmen born should fill legal offices; but this did not mend matters, +and the administration of justice continued to be as corrupt as ever. The +new comers married in Ireland, and were as ready to job for their +children as if they had been descended from the first colonists. In 1341 +the King ordered that Englishmen with estates in England should be +preferred, but the supply of such men was necessarily limited. The main +cause of the corruption prevalent was no doubt the poverty of the Crown. +Officials were ill paid, or not paid at all, and they supported +themselves by embezzling funds or by selling justice. An unjust proposal +to increase the revenue by resuming royal grants naturally aggravated +every evil, and the English by blood were arrayed against the English by +birth. Sir John Morris, the deputy who was ordered to carry out the new +policy, summoned a Parliament to meet at Dublin in October, 1341. But +Maurice Fitz-Thomas, first Earl of Desmond, persuaded a large section of +the nobility to ignore the writs, to attend a rival assembly at Kilkenny, +and to draw up a remonstrance addressed to the King. The malcontents +wished to be informed how a governor without military skill could rule a +land where war never ceased, how an official could become quickly rich, +and how it came about that the King was never the richer for Ireland? +Edward abandoned the intention of resuming the grants, but subsequent +events show that he did not really forgive Desmond. + +[Sidenote: D'Ufford's futile attempts to recover the Earldom of Ulster.] + +Ralph d'Ufford had married Maud Plantagenet, widow of the murdered Earl +of Ulster, and in 1344 he was sent over as Viceroy with very large +powers. One of his objects was to resume possession of Ulster for the +benefit of his step-daughter, the royal ward; but he totally failed in +obtaining rent out of the lands, or in ousting those who had seized them. +After chastising the Irish in the neighbourhood of Dublin, d'Ufford +resolved to invade Ulster with a regular army. The MacArtanes attacked +him at the Moyrie Pass, and he narrowly escaped annihilation. Having cut +his way through with the help of the settlers in Louth and Monaghan, he +made his way into the northern province, but no permanent results +followed. Desmond and others having refused to attend his Parliament, the +Viceroy went to Kerry, took Castle Island, and hanged its principal +defenders. He imprisoned the Earl of Kildare and seized his estates, and +then took action upon a bond executed in 1333, by which twenty-six of the +chief men of the colony became bound for Desmond's good behaviour. Many +of the sureties had aided the Viceroy, but he, nevertheless, seized their +lands. The Earl of Ormonde and two more were the only exceptions. The +ruin caused by this policy was out of all proportion to the good, and in +the history of the English in Ireland no one has a worse name than Sir +Ralph d'Ufford, except perhaps his high-born wife, whose resentments were +supposed to guide him. His hand was as heavy against the Church as +against the temporal nobles. The annalist Pembridge, who was a +contemporary, declares that he brought bad weather to Ireland, and that +it lasted all his time. 'On Palm Sunday,' says the same writer, 'which +was on April 9, 1346, Ralph d'Ufford died, whose death was very much +lamented by his wife and family; but the loyal subjects of Ireland +rejoiced at it, and both the clergy and laity for joy celebrated a solemn +feast at Easter. Upon his death the floods ceased, and the air again grew +wholesome, and the common people thanked God for it.' + +FOOTNOTES: + +[35] The quotations are from Gilbert's _Historic and Municipal Documents +of Ireland_, pp. xxviii. and xxx. + +[36] Hardiman's _History of Galway_ contains as much as most readers will +care to know about that town. The following distich makes it possible to +remember the tribes:-- + + Athy, Blake, Bodkin, Browne, Deane, Darcy, Lynch, + Joyce, Kirwan, Martin, Morris, Skerrett, French. + +To which Ffont or Faunt must be added. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +FROM THE YEAR 1346 TO THE ACCESSION OF HENRY VII. + + +[Sidenote: Lionel, Duke of Clarence, is not more successful than +D'Ufford.] + +[Sidenote: Lionel holds a Parliament at Kilkenny, 1367.] + +The Crown did nothing for Ireland. Torn by intestine quarrels, and denied +a just government, the colony grew yearly weaker. Many of the settlers +found their position intolerable, and, in spite of severe ordinances, +absenteeism constantly increased. In 1361 Edward summoned to Westminster +no less than sixty-three non-resident landowners, including the heads of +several great abbeys, who derived revenues from Ireland and gave nothing +in return. They were ordered to provide an army suitable for the King's +son Lionel, Duke of Clarence and Earl of Ulster by marriage, who +proceeded to Ireland as Viceroy. He was accompanied by his wife, but +failed, as D'Ufford had done, to obtain any profit from her lordship of +Ulster, and was scarcely successful even against the clans near Dublin. +The O'Byrnes and O'Tooles cut off many of his English soldiers, and the +Duke was obliged to seek aid from the more experienced colonists. Like +many governors who have come to Ireland with great pretensions, Lionel +found his position most humiliating, and he spent a great part of his +time in England. His authority was delegated to deputies, and the feuds +between English by blood and English by birth ran higher than ever. In +1367 he returned and summoned a Parliament, whose enactments gave legal +sanction to the fact that the King was no longer lord of more than a +comparatively small portion of Ireland. + +The statute of Kilkenny contains a great many rather heterogeneous rules. +What makes it of such great importance is its formal recognition of the +existence of an English Pale, and of a hostile Irish people outside it. +The word Pale may not have been in use for a century later, but the +thing was fully established. + +[Sidenote: Composition of the Parliament of Kilkenny.] + +The Parliament of Kilkenny did not, however, confine its attention to the +narrow limits of the 'four obedient shires.' The distinction between +English and Irish land was conceded, but it was still hoped that most of +the shireland would be preserved to English law. The sheriffs or +seneschals of ten counties or liberties, comprising all Leinster, except +the modern King's and Queen's Counties, as well as Tipperary and +Waterford, were required to produce their accounts at Dublin; but those +of Connaught, Kerry, Cork, and Limerick were excused on account of +distance, and were required only to attend commissioners of the exchequer +when they came to their bailiwicks, and to render an account to them. +Ulster, the Duchess of Clarence's patrimony, is not even mentioned by her +husband's Parliament. Of the composition of that assembly we have no +record, but it was attended by the Archbishops of Dublin, Cashel, and +Tuam, and by the Bishops of Waterford and Lismore, Killaloe, Ossory, +Leighlin, and Cloyne. The Archbishops of Cashel and Tuam and the Bishop +of Killaloe were Irishmen; the rest were of English race, and some of +them born in England. + +[Sidenote: The Statute of Kilkenny endeavours to separate the two races.] + +The statute begins by reciting that for a long time after the conquest +the English in Ireland spoke English, and in general behaved like +Englishmen; but that of late years many had fallen away and adopted the +Irish language and habits, whereby the King's authority and the English +interest were depressed, and the Irish enemy 'against reason' exalted. In +order to remedy this marriage, fosterage, gossipred, and even concubinage +with the Irish was declared high treason. Supplying horses and armour to +Irishmen at any time was visited with like penalties, and so was +furnishing them with provisions in time of war. Englishmen and even +Irishmen living among the English were to speak English, to bear English +names only, and to ride and dress in the English fashion, on pain of +forfeiture until they should submit and find security. If they had no +lands they might lie in prison till security was forthcoming. Special +penalties were provided for offenders who had 100_l._ a year in land. +The English born in Ireland and in England were to be in all respects +equal, and were not to call each other English hobbe or Irish dog, on +pain of a year's imprisonment and a fine at the King's pleasure. War with +the Irish was inculcated as a solemn duty, and the practice of buying off +invasions was condemned. The end aimed at was that Irish enemies should +be finally destroyed, and many minute rules were made for arming the +colony properly. The rude Irish game of hurling was discountenanced, and +the borderers were enjoined to make themselves fit for constant war by +practising such gentlemanlike sports as archery and lance-play. +Imprisonment and fine were to follow a neglect of these precepts. +Provision was made to prevent the Irish from forestalling the markets by +establishing fairs of their own, and from grazing their cattle in the +settled districts. Very severe regulations were made against Irish +hangers-on--pipers to wit, story-tellers, babblers, and rhymers, all of +whom acted habitually as spies. The keeping of kerne and idlemen, armed +or unarmed, at the expense of other people, was sternly forbidden, and +qualified as open robbery. It became, nevertheless, the greatest and +commonest of all abuses. Private war among the English was to be punished +as high treason, and so was the common practice of enticing friendly +Irishmen to acts of violence. + +[Sidenote: The Statute of Kilkenny respects the Church, but makes +distinctions.] + +The rights and privileges of Holy Church were jealously guarded by the +Parliament of Kilkenny. Persons excommunicated for infringing her +franchises were to be imprisoned by the civil power until restitution was +made. Tithes were specially protected, and the excommunicated were not to +be countenanced by King or people. But the distinction between the +hostile races was maintained in matters ecclesiastical. No Irishman was +to be admitted by provision, collation, or presentation among the +English. Such preferments were declared void, and the next presentation +was to lapse to the Crown. Religious houses situated among the English +were strictly forbidden to receive Irishmen, but Englishmen by birth and +by blood were given equal rights. The Irish prelates present probably +found no difficulty in accepting these principles, for they might, and +did, retaliate by refusing to receive English clerks in Irish districts. +The Archbishops and Bishops assembled at Kilkenny lent a special sanction +to the statute by agreeing to excommunicate all who broke it, and they +declared such offenders duly excommunicated in advance. + +[Sidenote: Effects of the Statute of Kilkenny.] + +Sir John Davies, with less than his usual accuracy, has declared that +'the execution of these laws, together with the presence of the King's +son, made a notable alteration in the state and manners of the people +within the space of seven years, which was the term of this prince's +lieutenancy.' Now, the Statute of Kilkenny was not passed till 1367, and +Lionel died in 1368. The Act of Henry III., on which Davies chiefly +founded his statement, says the land continued in prosperity and honour +while the Kilkenny laws were executed, and fell to ruin and desolation +upon their falling into abeyance. But the annalists tell a different +story, and it is not easy to say what those fat years were. In 1370, only +three years after the passing of the much vaunted statute, the Earl of +Desmond and others were taken prisoners by the O'Briens and Macnamaras, +and the deputy, Sir William de Windsor, was obliged to leave the O'Tooles +unchastised in order to hurry to the defence of Munster. Newcastle, +within a day's ride from Dublin, was taken and dismantled. The judges +could not get as far as Carlow. In 1377 the O'Farrells gained a great +advantage over the English of Meath. The general result of the fighting +during the ten years which followed the Parliament of Kilkenny was that +the Irish retained possession of at least all which they had previously +won. What the statute really did was to separate the two races more +completely. + +[Sidenote: Edward III. weakens the colony by drawing men from it.] + +Edward III. repeated his grandfather's mistake, and drew away many of the +colonists to his Scotch and Continental wars. An Anglo-Irish contingent +fought at Halidon Hill, and it was while making preparations for that +campaign that the Earl of Ulster lost his life. Ireland was also well +represented at Creçy, and many brave men fell victims to disease at +Calais. The Viceroys sent over from time to time seem to have been +regarded as licensed oppressors, and it is recorded of many that they +left Dublin without paying their debts. Sir Thomas Rokeby, who was Deputy +in 1349 and 1356, is praised by the contemporary chronicler Pembridge for +beating the Irish well, and for paying his way honestly. 'I will,' he +said, 'use wooden cups and platters, but give gold and silver for my food +and clothes, and for the men in my pay.' That this golden saying, as +Davies calls it, should have been thought worth recording shows what the +general practice was. The three great pestilences which ravaged England +ran their course in Ireland also. It was to the first of these +visitations that the annalist Clyn succumbed. 'I have,' he records, 'well +weighed what I have written, as befits a man who dwells among the dead in +daily expectation of death; and lest the writer should perish with the +writing, and the work with the workman, I leave parchment for a +continuation, if by chance any of the race of Adam should escape this +plague and resume my unfinished task.' On the whole, the reign of Edward +III. must be regarded as one of the most disastrous in the annals of the +English in Ireland. + +[Sidenote: Richard II. determines to visit Ireland.] + +[Sidenote: His first visit, 1394.] + +The reign of Richard II. is mainly remarkable for the King's two visits +to Ireland. But that step was not taken until many others had failed. +James Butler, third Earl of Ormonde, was Viceroy when the old King died. +He continued in office, and held a Parliament at Castle Dermot, whose +deliberations were interrupted by an invasion of Leinster on the western +side. The O'Briens were bought off with 100 marks, but there were only +nine in the treasury, and the residue was supplied by individuals who +gave horses, a bed, or moderate sums of money. Ormonde resigned an office +which there was no means of supporting properly, and the Earl of Kildare +refused the post. In 1380 Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, who claimed +Ulster through his wife Philippa, the daughter of Duke Lionel, agreed to +accept the burden for three years. He covenanted for 20,000 marks and for +absolute control over the revenue of Ireland. The Irish scarcely ventured +to oppose him openly; and he recovered Athlone, built a bridge at +Coleraine, put down rebels in southern Leinster, and might have extended +his power still further had he not died of a chill, caught in fording a +river near Cork. Ormonde and Desmond refused to accept the vacant +government, and the Irish continued to enlarge their borders. In 1385 +Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, the King's favourite and grandson of +Ralph d'Ufford and the Countess of Ulster, was appointed Viceroy for +life, and created first Marquis of Dublin, and then Duke of Ireland. All +the attributes of royalty, such as the right to coin money and issue +writs in his own name, were conferred on him, and he undertook to pay the +King 5,000 marks a year, which the latter agreed to remit until the +conquest of Ireland was complete. De Vere did not visit Ireland; but the +government was carried on in his name for some years, during which the +colony grew weaker and weaker. Nor did his disgrace make any more +difference than his appointment had done. Limerick and Cork could +scarcely defend themselves. Waterford was harassed by the Le Poers and +their Irish allies. Towns in Kildare were burned, and the English Bishop +of Leighlin was unable to approach his diocese. Galway threw off its +allegiance, and sought the protection of MacWilliam. In 1391 the Earl of +Ormonde was again persuaded to undertake the government with a salary of +3,000 marks; but he could do little more than temporise. Payments to the +Irish were frequent, and as they constantly advanced the dispossessed +settlers carried the story of their woes to England. Proclamations +against absentees were of small effect, and at last the King determined +to go himself. He landed at Waterford on October 2, 1394, with 4,000 men +at arms and 30,000 archers. As soon as Art MacMurrough, whom the Leinster +Irish accepted as their king, heard of Richard's arrival, he attacked New +Ross, 'burned its houses and castles, and carried away gold, silver, and +hostages.' + +[Sidenote: Richard has but little success.] + +Richard II.'s army, augmented as it was by the forces of the colony, was +the largest seen in Ireland during the middle ages, and has hardly been +exceeded in modern times. William III. had about 36,000 at the Boyne. +Nothing was performed worthy of so great a host or of the King's +presence. One division of the royal army was defeated with great loss by +the O'Connors of Offaly, and another by the O'Carrolls. Richard saw that +his troops were unfit for war in bogs and mountains, and could not but +confess that the natives had many just causes of complaint. He adopted a +conciliatory policy, and induced O'Neill, O'Connor, MacMurrough, and +O'Brien, as representatives of the four royal Irish races, to do homage +and to receive the honour of knighthood at his hands. These four, and a +great number of other chiefs, bound themselves to the King by indenture; +but no money was actually paid, and for all practical purposes Caligula's +shells were quite as good a badge of conquest. The German princes had a +right to say that Richard was not fit for empire, since he had been +unable to subdue his rebellious subjects of Ireland. He remained nine +months in the island, and left the government to Roger Mortimer, Earl of +March, heir-presumptive to the Crown, and claiming to be Earl of Ulster +in right of his mother, the only child of Lionel, Duke of Clarence. + +[Sidenote: The Irish grow continually stronger. Richard's second visit, +1399.] + +Besides the earldom of Ulster, Mortimer claimed enormous estates all over +Ireland, but possession had been completely divorced from feudal +ownership. He attacked the Wicklow clans, but was defeated with loss. In +1398 he made a final attempt to recover some portion of his Leinster +inheritance, but was defeated and slain in Carlow by the O'Tooles, +O'Nolans, and Kavanaghs. In the following year Richard again visited +Ireland in person. His army was nearly as large as on the first occasion, +and vast quantities of stores had been collected. The Crown jewels were +carried with the King, as was a yet more precious flask of oil which had +been transmitted straight from heaven to Archbishop Becket while praying +at the shrine of Columba. But neither arms, nor gems, nor even the sacred +chrism had any effect upon Art MacMurrough. The King again landed at +Waterford, and after a few days' rest moved forward to meet the +redoubtable Irishman, who was posted in a wood with 3,000 men. An open +space having been secured by burning houses and villages, Richard +knighted young Henry of Lancaster, the future victor of Agincourt, and +ordered a large number of labourers to fell the wood which sheltered the +enemy. Aided by the ground, MacMurrough held the royal army in check for +eleven days. The communications were cut, and the men at arms had nothing +but green oats for their horses. It was early in July; but the weather +was wet, and the whole army suffered from exposure and hunger. A convoy +which arrived at Waterford rather added to the disaster. 'Soldiers,' says +a contemporary chronicler, 'rushed into the sea as if it were straw.' +Casks were broached, and more than 1,000 at a time were seen drunk with +the Spanish wine. Abandoning the hope of attacking the Kavanaghs in their +fastnesses, Richard made his way to Dublin, the Earl of Gloucester having +failed to treat with MacMurrough. + +[Sidenote: Richard's failure.] + +The Leinster chieftain had married an Anglo-Norman heiress, and through +her claimed the barony of Narragh in Kildare. He demanded to be put in +full possession of his wife's lands, and to be left unmolested to enjoy +his chiefry. Otherwise he refused to come to any terms with the King. +Richard threatened, but his Irish plans were interrupted by the news that +Henry of Lancaster had landed in England. He lingered for some weeks in +Ireland, and that delay was fatal to him. He reached Milford only to find +that he had no longer a party, and thus Art MacMurrough may be said to +have crowned the House of Lancaster. The Irish chief continued +irreconcilable, and defied the Government until his death in 1417. + +[Sidenote: Ireland neglected by Henry IV.] + +With a bad title and an insecure throne Henry IV. could not be expected +to pay much attention to Ireland. The strength of the colony continued to +decline during his reign. He made his second son, Thomas, Viceroy, but a +child in his twelfth year was not the sort of governor required. The +treasury was empty, and the young prince's council had soon to announce +that he had pawned his plate, and that not another penny could be +borrowed. The soldiers had deserted, the household were about to +disperse, and the country was so much impoverished that relief could +scarcely be hoped for. The settlement was only preserved by paying black +mail to the Irish. The towns defended themselves as they best could, and +sometimes showed considerable martial enterprise. Thus Waterford was +several times attacked by the O'Driscolls, a piratical clan in West Cork, +who habitually allied themselves with the Le Poers. In 1413 the citizens +assumed the offensive, and armed a ship, in which the mayor and bailiffs +with a strong band sailed to Baltimore, where they arrived on Christmas +Day. A messenger was sent to say that the Mayor of Waterford had brought +a cargo of wine, and admission was thus gained to the chief's hall. 'The +Mayor,' we are told, 'took up to dance O'Driscoll and his son, the prior +of the Friary, O'Driscoll's three brethren, his uncle, and his wife, and +having them in their dance, the Mayor commanded every of his men to hold +fast the said persons; and so, after singing a carol, came away bringing +with them aboard the said ship the said O'Driscoll and his company, +saying unto them they should go with him to Waterford to sing their carol +and make merry that Christmas; and they being all aboard made sail +presently, and arrived at Waterford, St. Stephen's day at night, where +with great joy received they were with lights.' + +This exploit seems to have tamed the O'Driscolls for a time, but they +invaded Waterford in 1452 and 1461. On the first occasion the citizens +had the worst, but on the second they gained the victory, and took the +chief with six of his sons.[37] + +[Sidenote: Henry V. makes Talbot Viceroy.] + +In the first year of his reign Henry V. made the famous Sir John Talbot +Viceroy. He was entitled to lands in Westmeath in right of his wife, and +the lordship of Wexford had devolved upon his elder brother. He adopted +the plan by which Bellingham and Sidney afterwards reconquered the +greater part of Ireland. The array of the counties was called out under +heavy penalties, and Talbot remained six days in Leix, which he so +ravaged as to bring O'More to his senses. The bridge of Athy, which had +been of use to none but the assailants of the Pale, was rebuilt and +fortified, so that the cattle of loyal people might graze in safety, +which they had not done for thirty years. Passes were cut in the woods +bordering on the settled districts, and there seemed some hope for the +shrunken and shattered colony. But Talbot's salary of 4,000 marks fell +into arrear, and his unpaid soldiers became a worse scourge than the +Irish had been. The Viceroy and his brother, the Archbishop of Dublin, +were constantly at daggers drawn with the White Earl of Ormonde, and the +feud continued nearly till the Earl's death in 1450. It was, however, due +both to Sir John Talbot and to Ormonde, his antagonist, that the Irish +were kept at bay. Shakespeare's hero was the bugbear with which French +mothers quieted naughty children, and he was no less feared in Ireland. +With the colonists he was not popular, because the Crown refused him the +means of paying his debts, and Irish writers stigmatise him as the worst +man who had appeared in the world since the time of Herod. + +[Sidenote: Drain of colonists to the English civil wars.] + +'France,' says Sir John Davies, 'was a fairer mark to shoot at than +Ireland, and could better reward the conqueror.' The latter part of his +statement is questionable, but such was the view taken by the kings of +England from Henry II. to Henry VII. Thomas Butler, Prior of Kilmainham, +who ought to have been engaged in the defence of the Pale, took 1,500 men +to help Henry V. at the siege of Rouen in 1418. The contemporary +chronicler, Robert Redman, says they did excellent service with very +sharp darts and crossbows. Trained in the irregular warfare of Ireland, +they easily outran the Frenchmen, to whom they showed extraordinary +animosity, but were less honourably distinguished by their practice of +kidnapping children and selling them as slaves to the English. James, +Earl of Ormonde and Wiltshire, also raised troops in Ireland for foreign +service, and it is probable that many other contingents were furnished of +which no record has been preserved. These forces consisted of +Anglo-Irish, or at least of Irishmen settled in obedient districts, and +their absence from home must have had a constant tendency to weaken the +colony. + +[Sidenote: Richard of York made Lord-Lieutenant for ten years, 1449.] + +In 1449 Richard of York visited Ireland as Viceroy. He accepted the +office for ten years, in consideration of 4,000 marks for the first, and +2,000_l._ for each succeeding year, and of the whole local revenue. +Richard was Earl of Ulster, but he preferred conciliation to any attempt +at reconquest, and was, consequently, able to command the services of +many Irish clans, including Magennis, MacArtane, MacMahon, and O'Reilly. +The O'Byrnes were put down with the help of the Northern chiefs, O'Neill +himself sent presents to the Duke, and most of the central districts +became tributary. The Anglo-Normans of Munster, who had partially +degenerated, renewed their allegiance, and it was generally supposed that +the task of making Ireland English would at last be accomplished. The +Viceroy's son George, the 'false, fleeting, perjured Clarence,' of later +years, was born in Dublin, and his sponsors were Ormonde and Desmond. But +very soon the fair prospect was clouded. The stipulated salary was not +paid. The Irish discovered that Richard had no greater force than his +predecessors, and the MacGeohegans, who had submitted, openly defied his +power. He left Ireland suddenly in the autumn of 1450, and did not return +for nine years. + +[Sidenote: Richard is popular, and creates a Yorkist party. Ireland +almost independent.] + +Richard had not done much to increase the King's power in Ireland, but he +created a Yorkist party there. At the time he was accused of prompting +Cade's rebellion, and Jack himself was said to be a native of Ireland. +The fact that both Simnel and Warbeck afterwards found their best support +among the Anglo-Irish seems to show that the Kildare and Desmond +partisans were already familiar with the notion of a Yorkist pretender. +It is very probable that the adherents of the White Rose saw their +opportunity in the fact that the Earldom of Ulster belonged to their +chief, and Cade must have had an object in calling himself Mortimer. All +this is plausible conjecture; but about the significance of Richard's +second viceroyalty there can be no reasonable doubt. In 1459, after +Salisbury's defeat at Blore Heath, the Duke of York was forced to fly, +and he took refuge in Ireland, where he seized the government in spite of +the Coventry Parliament. The local independence of Ireland was now for +the first time seriously attempted. Richard held a Parliament, which +acknowledged the English Crown while repudiating the English Legislature +and the English Courts of Law. The Duke of York's person was declared +inviolable, and rebellion against him was made high treason. The royal +privilege of coining money was also given to him. William Overy, a squire +of the Earl of Ormonde, who was already acknowledged as head of the Irish +Lancastrians, attempted to arrest the Duke as an attainted traitor and +rebel; but he was seized, tried before Richard himself, and hanged, +drawn, and quartered. After the victory of his friends at Northampton the +Duke returned to England. He took with him a considerable body of +Anglo-Irish partisans, and he committed the government to the Earl of +Kildare. + +[Sidenote: The Yorkist faction headed by the Earl of Kildare.] + +Richard of York fell at Sandal Hill, but the popularity which he had +gained in Ireland descended to his son. In the bloody battle of Towton +the flower of the Anglo-Irish Lancastrians fell, and their leader, the +Earl of Ormonde, was taken and beheaded. His house suffered an eclipse +from which it was destined to emerge with greater brilliancy than ever, +and the rival family of Kildare became for a time supreme in the Pale. +The native Irish everywhere advanced, and English law rapidly shrunk +within the narrowest limits. A Parliament, held by the Earl of Desmond in +1465, enacted that every Irishman dwelling among the English in Dublin, +Meath, Louth, and Kildare, should dress in the English fashion, shave his +moustache, take the oath of allegiance within a year, and assume as a +surname the name of a town, of a colour, or of a trade. In the Parliament +of 1480, held by the Earl of Kildare, all trade between the Pale and the +Irish was forbidden by law. The Parliament of Drogheda in 1468 had +already passed an Act which declared that the castle of Ballymore +Eustace, 'lying between the counties of Dublin and Kildare, among the +O'Byrnes and O'Tooles, Irish enemies,' should be garrisoned by Englishmen +only. The Eustaces, it was explained, had given it in charge to 'one +Lawrence O'Bogan, an Irishman both by father and mother, who by nature +would discover the secrets of the English.' Other Acts to a similar +effect might be cited, and it may be said that the main object of Edward +IV.'s government in Ireland was to separate the two races more +completely. + +[Sidenote: George, Duke of Clarence, twice Viceroy.] + +[Sidenote: Execution of Thomas, Earl of Desmond, 1467.] + +George, Duke of Clarence, was Viceroy from 1461 to 1470, and again from +1472 till his mysterious death in 1478. Though born in Dublin, he never +visited Ireland as a man, and the government was administered by a +succession of Deputies. The fate of one of these Deputies, Thomas, eighth +Earl of Desmond, deserves particular mention. John Tiptoft, Earl of +Worcester, whose beautiful Latinity had moved Pope Æneas Sylvius to +tears, was entrusted with the government in 1467, and he assembled a +Parliament in which Desmond and Kildare were attainted. Kildare escaped +to England, and procured a reversal of the attainder, but Desmond was +enticed to Drogheda, and there beheaded. The ostensible cause for this +severity is declared by an unpublished statute to have been 'alliance, +fosterage, and alterage with the King's Irish enemies, and furnishing +them with horses, harness, and arms, and supporting them against the +King's loyal subjects.' The Anglo-Irish tradition attributes it to the +vengeance of Queen Elizabeth Woodville, whose marriage Desmond had +opposed. According to Russell, he told Edward that Sir John Grey's widow +was too mean a match for him, that he needed allies sorely, and that he +had better cast her off and link himself with some powerful prince. By +this account the Queen stole the royal signet, and transmitted a secret +order for the Earl's death to Ireland. Three years later Worcester was +taken and beheaded during the short Lancastrian restoration; and this +quite disposes of Russell's statement that King Edward 'struck his head +from his neck to make satisfaction to the angry ghost of Desmond.' What +is historically important in Desmond's execution is that it gave his +successors an excuse for not attending Parliaments or entering walled +towns. Their claim to legal exemption was not indeed allowed, but it may +have had considerable effect on their conduct.[38] + +[Sidenote: Under Edward IV. and Richard III. the House of Kildare is +all-powerful. The Butlers overshadowed.] + +After the death of Clarence, Edward made his sons, George and Richard, +Viceroys, and Richard III. conferred the same office on his infant son +Edward. The government was carried on by Deputies, and during the last +twenty years of the Yorkist dynasty almost all real power centred in the +House of Kildare. It was the seventh Earl who established the brotherhood +of St. George for the defence of the Pale. The thirteen members of this +fraternity were chosen from among the principal landowners of the four +obedient shires, thus excluding the Butlers, who formed a small Pale of +their own about Kilkenny. The brothers of St. George had rather more than +200 soldiers under them, who were paid out of the royal revenue; and that +constituted the entire standing army. The cities and towns maintained a +precarious existence by themselves. In the charter which Richard III. +granted to Galway it was specially declared that the Clanricarde Burkes +had no jurisdiction within the town which their ancestors had taken and +fortified. An Act passed in 1485 declares that various benefices in the +diocese of Dublin were situated among the Irish, that English clerks +could not serve the churches because they could not be understood or +because they refused to reside, and that it was therefore necessary to +collate Irish clerks; and power was given to the Archbishop to do so for +two years. The statute of Kilkenny and the Acts subsidiary to it had had +their natural effect. The English, in trying to become perfectly English, +had shrunk almost to nothing; and the Irish, by being held always at +arm's length, had become more Irish and less civilised than ever. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[37] The quarrels of Waterford with the O'Driscolls are given in the +_Calendar of Carew MSS._, _Miscellaneous vol._ p. 470. Smith refers to a +MS. in Trinity College. + +[38] Besides those in the Statute Book many Irish Acts of Edward IV.'s +reign may be studied in Hardiman's _Statute of Kilkenny_. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE IRISH PARLIAMENT. + + +[Sidenote: The Irish Parliament a close copy.] + +The history of the Irish Parliament in the middle ages corresponds pretty +closely with that of England. The idea of the three estates is plainly +visible as early as 1204, when John asked an aid from the archbishops, +bishops, abbots, priors, archdeacons, and clergy, the earls, barons, +justices, sheriffs, knights, citizens, burgesses, and freeholders of +Ireland. The Common Council of the King's faithful of Ireland is +afterwards often mentioned, and in 1228 Henry III. ordered his justiciary +to convoke the archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls and barons, +knights and freeholders, and the bailiffs of every county, and to read +Magna Charta to them. 1254 has been fixed as the date at which two +knights from each shire were regularly summoned to the English +Parliament. In the confusion which followed, the precedent slept for a +while, but in Simon de Montfort's famous Parliament in 1264 burgesses as +well as knights had seats. The evidences of regular election in Ireland +are scanty at this early period; but legislative enactments and pecuniary +aids were more than once made by the whole community of Ireland before +the close of Henry III.'s reign. The germs of a Parliamentary +constitution were not planted in purely Irish districts; but it is +probable that ecclesiastics attended Parliament even from them, and that +the natives were thus in some degree represented. In 1254 the King called +by name upon the Kings O'Donnell, O'Neill, O'Reilly, and O'Flynn, upon +MacCarthy of Desmond, O'Brien of Thomond, O'Phelan of Decies, and +fourteen other Celtic chiefs, to help him against the Scots. He confides +in their love for him to furnish such help, and promises them thanks; +pointedly separating their case from that of his lieges of Ireland.[39] + +[Sidenote: Growth of representative institutions.] + +Accepting 1295 as the date at which English Parliamentary representation +settled down into something like its modern shape, we find that the great +Plantagenet was not unmindful of Ireland. In that same year the +justiciary Wogan issued writs to the prelates and nobles, and also to the +sheriffs of Dublin, Louth, Kildare, Waterford, Tipperary, Cork, Limerick, +Kerry, Connaught, and Roscommon, and to the seneschals of the liberties +of Meath, Wexford, Carlow, Kilkenny, and Ulster. The sheriffs and +seneschals were ordered to proceed to the election of two good and +discreet knights from each county or liberty, who were to have full power +to act for their districts. It does not appear that cities and boroughs +were represented on this occasion; but in 1300, Wogan being still +justiciary, writs were directed to counties for the election of three or +four members, and to cities and boroughs for the election of two or +three. The King's principal object was to get money for his Scotch war; +and, with this view, Wogan visited Drogheda and other places and extorted +benevolence before the Parliament met. A certain supremacy was not denied +to the English Parliament, for in 1290 a vast number of petitions were +made to the King in Parliament at Westminster. Among the petitioners was +the Viceroy, John Sandford, Archbishop of Dublin, who begged the King to +consider the state of Ireland, of which he had already advised him +through Geoffrey de Joinville, a former Viceroy, who was sitting in +Parliament with others of the King's Council in Ireland. Edward I. +answered that he was very busy, but that he had the matter much at heart, +and that he would attend to it as soon as he could.[40] + +[Sidenote: Parliament of 1295.] + +Of the Parliament of 1295 a particular record has fortunately been +preserved. Each sheriff was ordered to make his election in the full +county court, and each seneschal in the full court of the liberty, and +they were to attend Parliament in their proper persons--to verify the +returns no doubt. The personal attendance of the sheriffs was required in +England until 1406. The magnates who were summoned to Wogan's Parliament +behaved as we might expect to find them behave. The Bishops of the South +and East came. The Archbishop of Armagh and his suffragans sent proctors +with excuses for non-attendance. The Archbishop of Tuam and his +suffragans neither came nor apologised. The absence of Hugo de Lacy, one +of those elected by the county of Limerick, is particularly noted, whence +we may infer that the other shires and liberties were duly represented. +Richard, Earl of Ulster, was present. This Parliament principally +occupied itself with making regulations as to the treatment of the Irish, +and in devising means for checking their inroads upon the colonised +districts. The descendants of the first conquerors were already beginning +to adopt Celtic customs.[41] + +[Sidenote: Parliaments of Edward II. and Edward III.] + +Under Edward II. Parliaments were frequent; and writs are extant which +show that he, as well as Edward III., intended them to be held annually. +Cases occur of bishops, priors, and temporal peers being fined for +non-attendance in this reign, and there is good reason to believe that +those who were summoned to Parliament generally came. In 1311 writs for a +Parliament to be held at Kilkenny were issued by the justiciary Wogan to +Richard, Earl of Ulster, and eighty-seven other men of name, to the +prelates and ecclesiastical magnates, and to the sheriffs. The sheriffs +were ordered to summon two knights from every county, and two citizens or +burgesses from every city or borough, who were to have full power to act +for their several communities in conjunction with the magnates, lay and +clerical. Owing probably to the shape which Bruce's invasion gave to the +English colony, the Parliaments of Edward III. are more strictly confined +to the districts where the King had real as well as nominal authority. +The murder of the last Earl of Ulster in 1333, and the conversion of the +De Burghs into Irishmen, almost completed the work of destruction which +Bruce had only just failed to effect. To the Parliament of 1360, the +Archbishops of Dublin and Cashel, the Bishops of Meath, Kildare, Lismore, +Killaloe, Limerick, Emly, Cloyne, and Ferns, and the Abbots of St. Mary's +and St. Thomas's at Dublin were the only prelates summoned. The Earls of +Kildare and Desmond and eight knights were called up by name. Writs for +the election of two knights were issued to the sheriffs of the counties +of Dublin, Carlow, Louth, Kildare, Waterford, Limerick, and Cork, and of +the crosses of Meath, Kilkenny, Wexford, and Tipperary; and to the +seneschals of the liberties of Kilkenny, Meath, Tipperary, and Wexford. +Writs for the election of citizens and burgesses were no longer directed +to the sheriffs, but the mayor and bailiffs of Dublin, Drogheda, Cork, +Waterford, and Limerick, the sovereign and bailiffs of Kilkenny and Ross, +and the provost and bailiffs of Clonmel and Wexford were ordered to +return two members each. The sheriff of Kildare and the seneschal of the +liberty of Kilkenny were told what individuals they were expected to see +elected. The House of Commons was then supposed to consist of +twenty-eight knights and twenty-four citizens and burgesses; but the +counties of Dublin and Carlow were 'justly excused' on account of the +war, and the members for Drogheda, who omitted to come, were summoned +before the Council under a penalty of 40_l._[42] + +[Sidenote: Parliament of Kilkenny.] + +The famous Parliament which Lionel, Duke of Clarence, held at Kilkenny in +1367 was probably attended by representatives from a very limited +district; for there were but forty members of the House of Commons in +March 1374, and of these four came from the county of Dublin. But in +November 1374 the number was fifty-four; in 1377 it rose to sixty-two; +and in 1380 and 1382 it was fifty-eight. We may, therefore, take the +number of county and borough members at the close of the fourteenth +century as about sixty. The counties generally represented were Dublin, +Kildare, Carlow, Meath, Louth, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, and Wexford, +the liberties of Ulster, Meath, Tipperary, Kerry, and Kilkenny, and the +crosses of Ulster, Tipperary, Kilkenny, and Kerry. The cities were +Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Kilkenny, and Limerick, and the towns were +Drogheda, Youghal, Ross, Wexford, Galway, and Athenry. Longford was a +county in 1377, but was not maintained as shire ground. Many Parliaments +met during the fifteenth century, but their action was more and more +confined to the district round Dublin, which about the middle of the +century came to be called the Pale.[43] + +[Sidenote: Hereditary peers.] + +1295 will probably be accepted as the date when English barons who had +once sat in Parliament claimed an hereditary right to their writs of +summons. It would seem that the origin of the Irish peerage, using the +word in its modern sense, must be referred to a somewhat later date; for +eighty-seven persons, who were perhaps all tenants of the Crown, were +summoned by name to the Kilkenny Parliament in 1311. The subject is not +of great historical importance, because the period of transition +coincides with that in which the encroachments of the natives reduced +feudal Ireland to its lowest estate. In the sixteenth century the title +of baron was still popularly given to the heads of some families who had +formerly been barons by tenure, but who had lost all Parliamentary +rights. As in England, the knights of the shire had become the proper +representatives of the gentry, and peerage grew to be the special +creation of the Crown. In the Parliament of 1560 there were twenty-three +temporal peers, and of these eight had been created within the century. +It will be safe to assume that the number of temporal peers sitting in +the Irish Parliament at any time during the one hundred years preceding +Elizabeth's accession was well under thirty.[44] + +[Sidenote: Spiritual peers.] + +The number of spiritual greatly exceeded the number of temporal peers. +There were four archbishops from the first sending of the palls in 1151. +If we take the year 1500, after some unions had been effected and before +the great quarrel between King and Pope, we find that there were +twenty-six bishops in Ireland. Some of the more distant ones were perhaps +never summoned to Parliament, and long before the close of the fifteenth +century we cannot doubt that many had ceased to attend the shrunken +legislature of the Pale. In 1293 John, Bishop of Clonfert, an Italian and +the Pope's nuncio, was fined for non-attendance; and similar penalties +were imposed on Bishops of Ferns, Ossory, Cork, Ardfert, Limerick, Down, +and Emly, during the reigns of Edward II., Edward III., and Richard II. +There were thirteen mitred Abbots of the Cistercian order, ten mitred +Priors of Augustinian canons; and the Grand Prior of Kilmainham, who +represented the wealth and importance of the proscribed Templars as well +as of the Hospitallers, had always a seat in Parliament. The Prior of +Kilmainham was so important a person that upon the suppression of the +order of St. John, Henry VIII. made its last chief a peer. The Abbot of +St. Mary's and the Prior of St. Thomas's were always summoned, but it is +clear that in earlier days all the mitred heads of houses were considered +real as well as nominal spiritual peers. The Prior of Athassel was fined +for non-attendance in 1323, the Abbot of Owney in 1325, and the Abbot of +Jerpoint in 1377. Much obscurity hangs over the mediæval House of Lords +in Ireland; but it must generally have rested with the Viceroy whether +the temporal or spiritual peers should be most numerous in any particular +Parliament.[45] + +[Sidenote: The clergy as a separate estate. Proctors.] + +The existence of the clergy as a separate estate in Ireland is less clear +than in England; but they had the right of taxing themselves, for in 1538 +the Lords Spiritual were thanked by Henry VIII. for granting him an +annual twentieth of all their promotions, benefices, and possessions. +Proctors of the clergy attended the Lower House, and when Henry VIII. +undertook his ecclesiastical innovations, they claimed the right to veto +bills. It was, however, easily shown that their consent had not formerly +been held necessary; and in 1537 an Act was passed declaring the +proctors to be no members of Parliament. The preamble states that two +proctors from each diocese had been usually summoned to attend +Parliament; but that they had neither voice nor vote, and were only +'counsellors and assistants upon such things of learning as should happen +in controversy to declare their opinions, much like as the Convocation +within the realm of England.' Their pretensions to a veto were formally +pronounced baseless, and it was declared once for all that the assent or +dissent of the proctors could have no effect on the action of +Parliament.[46] + +[Sidenote: The Viceroy.] + +The representative of the King in Ireland was generally styled justiciar +for a long time after the first invasion. His powers were analogous to +that of the great officer of State in England who had the same title, and +who acted as regent during the frequent absences of the kings. The title +of justiciar continued to be given to the Irish viceroys long after the +English justiciarship changed its character--that is, about the close of +Henry III.'s reign. The first person who had the title of Lord +Lieutenant, if we except the early case of John de Courcy, appears to +have been Lionel, Earl of Ulster and Duke of Clarence, who was sent to +Ireland in 1361. Afterwards it became a common practice to make one of +the royal family Lord Lieutenant, the duties being usually performed by a +deputy. But the title of Lord Lieutenant, though considered higher than +any other, was not confined to princes. In time the title of Deputy was +given to Governors of Ireland, even when no Lord Lieutenant intervened +between them and the King. Richard of York was the last Lord Lieutenant +of royal blood who actually ruled at Dublin. After his time the real +government was in the hands of the Earls of Kildare, who were Lords +Deputy, with but brief intervals, from 1478 to 1526. During that period +the title of Lord Lieutenant, but the title only, was enjoyed by Edward, +Prince of Wales, by John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, by Jasper, Duke of +Bedford, and by Henry VIII. before his accession to the Crown. In the +meantime, the word justiciar, or Lord Justice, had come to mean a +temporary substitute for the Deputy or Lieutenant. When a sovereign died, +or when a viceroy suddenly left Ireland, it became the business of the +Council to elect some one in his room. When giving leave to a governor to +leave his post, the sovereign sometimes named the Lord Justice. Lord +Capel, who was appointed in 1695, was the last chief governor who had the +title of Deputy. Since the Revolution, the head of the Irish Government +has always been a Lord Lieutenant, and during his absence one, or two, or +three Lords Justices have been appointed by the Irish Privy Council.[47] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[39] Stubbs's _Const. Hist._, chap. xv.; Lynch's _Feudal Dignities_, +chaps. iii. and xi. + +[40] Sweetman's _Calendar of Documents_, 1289; Lynch, _supra_. + +[41] The record is printed from the Black Book of Christ Church, in the +_Miscellany_ of the Irish Archæological Society. + +[42] Lynch, _ut supra_. + +[43] Lynch, _ut supra_; Lodge's _Register_; Hardiman's _Statute of +Kilkenny_. + +[44] The names of those summoned to the Parliament of 1311 are printed by +Lynch, chap. ii.; the names of those who attended in 1560 are in _Tracts +Relating to Ireland_, vol. ii., Appendix II. + +[45] Cotton's _Fasti_; Alemand's _Histoire Monastique_; Lynch, chaps. +iii. and vii. + +[46] _Irish Statutes_, 28 Hen. VIII. cap. 12. + +[47] See the list of chief governors in Harris's Ware; Borlase's +_Reduction of Ireland_; Lodge's _Patentee Officers_; and Gilbert's +_Viceroys_. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE REIGN OF HENRY VII. + + +[Sidenote: Accession of Henry VII., 1485.] + +Ireland was destined to give the victor of Bosworth much trouble, but his +accession made little immediate difference to the Anglo-Irish community. +Kildare continued to act as Chief Governor, and on the nomination of +Jasper, Duke of Bedford, to the Lord Lieutenancy, he was formally +appointed Deputy under him. His brother Thomas was allowed to retain the +Great Seal. While thus leaving the administration of the island to the +Yorkist Geraldines, Henry lost no time in restoring the rival House, +which had suffered in defence of the Red Rose. Sir Thomas Butler was by +Act of Parliament at once restored in blood, became seventh Earl of +Ormonde, and was taken into high favour. The practical leadership of the +Irish Butlers was, however, never held by him, and the disputes +concerning it had no doubt great effect in consolidating Kildare's power. + +[Sidenote: The Ormonde family. Sir Piers Butler.] + +John, sixth Earl of Ormonde, who never lived in Ireland, appointed as his +deputy his cousin, Sir Edmund Butler. Earl John dying in Palestine, his +brother Thomas succeeded him, and continued Sir Edmund in the custody of +the Irish estates. Sir Edmund by will granted to his son Piers the same +power as he had himself held, but it does not appear that this curious +bequest was acknowledged either by the Earl of Ormonde or by the people +of Kilkenny and Tipperary. Sir James Ormonde, as he is called, a bastard +son of the fifth Earl, became the real chief of the Butlers, and is often +called Earl by Irish writers; the rules of legitimate descent being then +very lightly regarded in Ireland. Sir James received a regular commission +from Thomas, Earl of Ormonde, as his deputy, supervisor, 'and general and +special attorney' in Kilkenny. Strong in the confidence of the rightful +Earl and in the estimation of the people, Sir James became Kildare's +chief opponent; who to weaken him espoused the cause of Sir Piers, to +whom he gave his daughter Lady Margaret in marriage. 'By that means and +policy,' says the 'Book of Howth,' 'the Earl of Wormond (_i.e._ Sir +James) was so occupied in his own country that he could not attend to do +any damage to the Earl of Kildare nor any of his friends.' And the +chronicler Stanihurst, a Geraldine partisan, would have us believe that +the successful career of Sir Piers was wholly due to the 'singular +wisdom' of his wife. An eminent modern antiquary tells us that her fame +still lives among the peasantry of Kilkenny, while the Red Earl is +forgotten; that she is remembered as Magheen, or little Margaret, and +that she is the traditional castle-builder of the district.[48] + +[Sidenote: Kildare suspected of plots. Lambert Simnel.] + +It has been generally stated that Henry, before he had been a year on the +throne, heard that Kildare was plotting against him. From what happened +later, it is likely that such a report would not have been without +foundation. Perhaps there was some evidence of his complicity in Lord +Lovel's abortive insurrection, and it is highly probable that he was a +party to the plot which the Duchess of Burgundy was hatching against the +King of England.[49] Except on the supposition that he had already been +admitted to the conspirator's confidence, it is hard to see how Kildare +can have received Lambert Simnel and his promoter, a young and +undistinguished priest, without hesitation or inquiry. There was no +Lancastrian party in Dublin, and Henry's politic exhibition of the real +Earl of Warwick had no effect upon men who were determined to accept the +counterfeit. In common with almost every temporal grandee, the +Archbishop of Dublin and the Bishops of Meath and Kildare espoused the +pretender's cause; but Octavian, Archbishop of Armagh, a Florentine, and +well informed, remained firm, and was supported by the Bishop of Clogher. +Henry afterwards asked the Pope to excommunicate the prelates who had +favoured the pretender, and it is remarkable that he mentions the +Archbishop of Armagh as one of them. Among the temporal peers, Lord Howth +had the sense to see that Henry would be victorious, and he kept him well +informed of all that went on in Ireland.[50] + +[Sidenote: Simnel is crowned King.] + +Simnel remained in Ireland, and published acts were done in his name as +King until the arrival of Lincoln and Lovel, with Martin Swart, an +experienced German leader, and 2,000 veterans of his nation, sent by +Margaret of Burgundy. Lambert was crowned in Christ Church with a diadem +borrowed for the occasion from a statue of the Virgin, and was shown to +the people borne aloft on the shoulders of Darcy of Platten, the tallest +man of his time--details which bespeak the poverty of the country. A +coronation sermon was preached by the Bishop of Meath.[51] + +Kildare ordered the citizens of Waterford to join him with all their +forces, but the mayor, who was a Butler, filled the town with the vassals +of the House of Ormonde, and the clans depending on it, and returned for +answer that they held all as traitors who had taken any part in the mock +coronation. Kildare hanged the poor groom who had brought this message, +an act of barbarity with which the Archbishop was much offended, and then +repeated his summons. The herald, who bore the Geraldine arms on his +tabard, was refused admission to Waterford, and summoned the citizens +from a boat, ordering them instantly to proclaim King Edward VI. on pain +of being hanged at their own doors. With becoming spirit the chief +magistrate replied, that they would not give the Earl so much trouble, +that they looked on all his partisans as traitors, and that they were +ready to give him battle thirty miles away. Kilkenny, Clonmel, Callan, +Fethard, and other towns followed the example of Waterford.[52] + +[Sidenote: Battle of Stoke, 1487.] + +There was some division of opinion between the partisans of Simnel as to +whether England should be immediately invaded. Two reasons in favour of +this course prevailed over those for establishing a separate government +in Ireland. The country was too poor to support 2,000 German mercenaries, +and the Irish followers of Kildare, who cared little for either rose, +promised themselves much pleasure from fighting and plundering in hated +England. Accordingly, just a month after the mock coronation, Lambert and +his friends left Dublin and landed at Foudray in Lancashire, where they +were joined by Sir Thomas Broughton and some of his tenants. 'But their +snowball,' in Bacon's phrase, 'did not gather as they went,' and they +advanced as far as Newark without materially increasing their force. The +popularity which Henry had gained during his late stay at York, and the +general pardon which he had given, went far to break up the Yorkist party +in the North, 'and it was an odious thing to Englishmen to have a King +brought in to them upon the shoulders of Irish and Dutch.' At Stoke, the +pretender's motley host came into collision with the far more numerous +royal army. The Germans fought well, and so did their few English allies; +'neither did the Irish fail in courage or fierceness, but being almost +naked men, only armed with darts and skeans, it was rather an execution +than a fight upon them.' At least 4,000 of the pseudo-Yorkists fell, +including Martin Swart, the Earl of Lincoln, and Kildare's brother, the +Irish Chancellor, Thomas Fitzgerald. Lord Lovel and Sir Thomas Broughton +may have escaped for a time, but they were never heard of again. It +appears from a passage in the 'Annals of Ulster,' where Henry VII. is +contemptuously mentioned as 'the son of a Welshman,' that the native +Irish believed Simnel to be what he pretended to be--the last prince of +the blood royal.[53] + +[Sidenote: Loyalty of Waterford.] + +The loyalty of Waterford deserved special thanks, and Henry sent a letter +to the mayor and citizens, in which he expressed his hearty gratitude. To +show his perfect confidence he commanded them to pursue and harass the +Earl of Kildare and the citizens of Dublin, both by sea and land. The +trade of the Irish capital was placed at their mercy, and they were +exhorted not to desist from hostilities until 'our rebel, the Earl of +Kildare,'--who was also our Deputy--and his Dublin allies were brought to +due obedience. Kildare sent messengers to England to make his peace, and +the citizens of Dublin did likewise. 'We were daunted,' said the latter +plausibly enough, 'to see not only the chief governor, whom your Highness +made ruler over us, to bend or bow to that idol whom they made us to +obey, but also our Father of Dublin, and most of the clergy of the +nation.' After some hesitation, Henry resolved to pardon all the Irish +conspirators, and even allowed Kildare to remain in the office of Deputy. +In return for their pardons the nobility were required to take the oath +of allegiance; and to secure its proper administration the King resolved +to send a special commissioner to Ireland. Sir Richard Edgcombe, +Controller of the Household, whom he had already employed on a diplomatic +mission to Scotland, was the person chosen for this delicate duty.[54] + +[Sidenote: Mission of Sir Richard Edgcombe, 1488.] + +Sir Richard sailed from Fowey with a squadron of four vessels containing +500 men; and having tried in vain among the Scilly Islands and in the +Bristol Channel to surprise certain pirates who infested those seas, he +reached Kinsale on the fifth day, where he again failed to apprehend a +notable pirate. Lord Barry Oge came on board to take the oath of +allegiance. Edgcombe then landed, was met by Lord Courcy and the townsmen +of Kinsale, received the keys of the town, and administered the oath to +all persons of importance. Having granted a royal pardon, he sailed for +Waterford, where he was loyally welcomed. Hearing that he had brought a +pardon for Kildare, the citizens reminded him that the Earl was their +bitterest enemy, and begged to be exempted from any jurisdiction which he +or any other Irish lord might claim as Deputy. Sir Richard promised to +advance the interests of Waterford at Court, and then went on to Dublin. +Kildare kept the royal commissioner waiting for eight days, during part +of which time he was entertained at Malahide, by a lady of the Talbot +family. At last the Earl came to Thomas Court with 200 horse, and sent +the Bishop of Meath and the Baron of Slane to conduct Sir Richard +thither. On entering the room Edgcombe made no bow to the Lord Deputy, +but bluntly delivered the King's letters. Five days more were given for +the rest of the lords to make an appearance, and Kildare retired to +Maynooth to digest the letters and verbal messages. On the fourth day Sir +Richard came by pressing invitation to Maynooth, and the Earl promised +that he would do everything required of him; but he continued to +interpose delays in coming to any official decision. Sharply reprimanded +by the royal commissioner, the lords at last agreed to take the oath of +allegiance; but refused to enter into recognisances for the forfeiture of +their estates in case they should again lapse from their duty, plainly +declaring that they would rather become Irishmen, every one of them. With +an oath of allegiance Sir Richard was fain to be content, and he drew one +in very stringent form, Henry being specially described as the 'natural +and right-wise' King of England. To prevent tricks, the host, upon which +the oath was taken, was consecrated by Edgcombe's own chaplain. The +nobility present, and the principal ecclesiastical dignitaries about +Dublin, were sworn or did homage, and particularly bound themselves to +support and execute the censures of the Church, as pronounced by the Bull +of Innocent VIII. upon those who should rebel against the King of +England. In that instrument the Pope had declared his belief that the +Crown belonged to Henry by inheritance, by conquest, and by election, +independently of, and in addition to his claim in right of Elizabeth of +York. Among the commoners whom it was thought necessary to swear +specially was Darcy of Platten, the tall man who had borne Lambert on his +shoulders. The civic authorities of Dublin, Drogheda, and Trim, having +been sworn before him in their own towns, Sir Richard embarked at Dalkey +on the thirty-fourth day after his arrival at Kinsale. Of all Simnel's +partisans, Keating, Prior of Kilmainham, was the only one who did not +receive a pardon.[55] + +[Sidenote: The Irish nobility summoned to England, 1489.] + +Kildare sent the Bishop of Meath to England to watch his interests, and +Octavian also sent an agent to procure for him the custody of the Great +Seal. The Primate complained that Kildare, despite his recent oath, had +begun plotting against him before Edgcombe had reached the English shore. +'I know,' he said, 'for certain that if the said Earl of Kildare obtains +the government of Ireland by royal authority, and has the Chancellor of +Ireland also at his back, that I have no hope of quiet in Ireland.' Henry +did not give the seal to the Archbishop, but he summoned all the Irish +nobility to Court; and all obeyed except Desmond and Fitzmaurice of +Kerry. 'My masters of Ireland,' said the King, when giving them audience, +'you will crown apes at length.' Afterwards at dinner he gave point to +this remark by ordering Lambert Simnel to hand wine to those who had so +lately crowned him King. 'None would have taken the cup out of his hand, +but bade the great devil of hell him take, before that ever they saw +him.' 'Bring me the cup if the wine be good,' said the Lord of Howth, +being a merry gentleman, 'and I shall drink it off for the wine's sake, +and mine own sake also, and for thee, as thou art, so I leave thee, a +poor innocent.' Henry kept the lords at Court long enough for them to +feel the expense burdensome, and then despatched them, making Lord Howth, +who had alone remained loyal, a present of 300_l._ in gold, and the robe +which he wore at the reception. Some of the others had expected little +less than the axe for their reward.[56] + +[Sidenote: Kildare Deputy till 1492. Butlers and Geraldines.] + +The influence of Kildare was not much shaken by his complicity in +Simnel's adventure, and it was not till 1492 that he was deprived of the +office of Deputy. It was conferred on Walter Fitz-Simons, Archbishop of +Dublin. About the same time Rowland Fitz-Eustace, Baron of Portlester, +the Earl's uncle, who had been Lord Treasurer for thirty-eight years, was +suddenly removed and threatened with a hostile inquiry into his accounts +during the whole period. Sir James Ormonde, knighted by Henry in person, +for his services against Lambert, was appointed in his room, and another +Butler was made Master of the Rolls. The quarrel between the two Houses +blazed up fiercely; and Kildare, to reassert his influence, summoned a +great meeting of citizens on Oxmantown Green. + +The two factions came to blows, some lives were lost, and Kildare +attempted to seize the city by a sudden movement. The gates were, +however, shut in time; but Ship Street, then outside the walls, was +burned. The Geraldines wasted the Butler territory, and the Butlers in +their turn ravaged Kildare and encamped in great force on the southern +side of Dublin. A meeting of the two chiefs in St. Patrick's Cathedral +was then arranged. A riot took place in the church, a flight of arrows +was discharged, and Sir James, suspecting treason, barred himself into +the Chapter-house. The Earl came to the door with offers of peace, and a +hole was cut in the timber through which the rivals might shake hands. +Sir James hesitated to risk his hand, but Kildare settled the question by +putting in his own. The door was then opened, they embraced each other, +and peace followed for a time. To make amends for the desecration of the +church, the Pope ordered that the mayor should go barefoot through the +city on Corpus Christi day, and this practice was continued till the +Reformation. The door with the hole in it is still preserved, or was so +until very lately.[57] + +[Sidenote: Perkin Warbeck lands 1491, but leaves the next year.] + +'Ireland at this time,' says Ware, 'was as it were a theatre or stage on +which masked princes entered, though soon after, their visors being +taken off, they were expulsed the stage.' Perkin Warbeck landed at Cork +late in 1491, or early in 1492, and was entertained by John Walters, an +eminent merchant and future mayor. The citizens from the beginning +insisted on regarding him as a royal personage, first as a son of +Clarence, afterwards as a bastard of Richard III., and finally as +Richard, Duke of York, Edward IV.'s younger son. Having adopted the +latter character, Perkin wrote letters, extant in Ware's time, in which +he sought help from the Earls of Desmond and Kildare. The former at once +espoused his cause; the latter, according to his own account, would have +nothing to do with 'the French lad.' Desmond joined Perkin in soliciting +the aid of James IV. of Scotland, and he remained for about a year at +Cork, learning English, but apparently without exciting any anxiety in +England. Towards the close of 1492 he withdrew to France, where Charles +VIII. received him as a prince, and where he was joined by disaffected +Yorkists. Henry having made a successful campaign in France, Perkin was +dismissed and went to Flanders, where Margaret of Burgundy acknowledged +him as her nephew, and no doubt instructed him how to fill the part.[58] + +[Sidenote: Parliament of 1493.] + +In 1493 the Archbishop of Dublin held a Parliament, where many things +were done unfavourable to the Geraldine faction; and on August 12, John +Walters and other accomplices of the pretender were summoned to +surrender. The Archbishop shortly went over to England, where he made +Henry clearly acquainted with the state of affairs in Ireland, and was +followed by Kildare, who had an opportunity of telling his own story. In +consequence of what he had learned, the King resolved to appoint a Deputy +unconnected with any Irish party; and fixed upon Sir Edward Poynings, +whom he had already employed as envoy to the Archduke Philip, when +remonstrating against the countenance given to Perkin in Flanders. While +Archbishop Fitz-Simons was in England, Viscount Gormanston filled the +office of Deputy, and even ventured to summons a Parliament; but the +Duke of Bedford having in the meantime resigned the lieutenancy, his +substitute's action was afterwards declared null and void. + +[Sidenote: Sir Edward Poynings Deputy, 1494.] + +Poynings landed at Howth on October 13, 1494, with 1,000 men. He was +accompanied by Henry Dean, Bishop of Bangor and afterwards Archbishop of +Canterbury, as Chancellor, by Sir Hugh Conway as Treasurer, and by three +other Englishmen appointed to the chief places in the three common law +courts. Joining his forces with those of Kildare and of Sir James +Ormonde, Poynings immediately undertook an expedition to Ulster, with a +view of chastising O'Donnell, who had lately been honourably received in +Scotland, and was probably implicated in Perkin's project. When the army +reached O'Hanlon's county, Sir James Ormonde persuaded the Deputy that +Kildare was plotting with the Irish against his life, and some colour was +given to the charge by the conduct of the Earl's brother James, who +seized Carlow Castle, mounted the Geraldine banner, and refused to +surrender when summoned in the King's name. Having with difficulty +reduced Carlow, Poynings repaired to Drogheda, where he held a +Parliament, whose legislation was destined to have a momentous effect on +Irish history. The invasion of Ulster was abandoned, and Bacon, with the +experience of the next century, summarily disposes of it as 'a wild chase +on the wild Irish.' + +[Sidenote: Parliament of Drogheda, 1494.] + +The Acts of this Parliament of 1494 are numerous, many of them being +intended to make the administration more directly dependent on the Crown. +Thus, the judges and other high officials were made to hold at the King's +pleasure, instead of by patent as had been customary heretofore. It was +made illegal for great men to retain free citizens and burgesses in their +pay, or for anyone to make war without the governor's licence, or for +anyone to stir up the Irish against the English. It was made unlawful to +keep firearms without the Deputy's licence. The Statutes of Kilkenny were +confirmed or re-enacted, with the exception of those against using the +Irish language and those obliging every subject to ride in a saddle. +Family war cries, such as 'Butleraboo' and 'Cromaboo,' were strictly +prohibited. Coyne and livery were visited with severe penalties; but +advantageous terms were fixed, upon which the King might obtain +provisions for his soldiers. All Acts against papal provisions +theretofore made, either in England or Ireland, were declared to be in +full force, though the Government had no means whatever of preventing +them, or of making other arrangements for the vast majority of Irish +benefices.[59] + +[Sidenote: Poynings' Acts.] + +The statutes known in after days as Poynings' Acts were two in number. By +the first it was enacted that no future Parliaments should be held in +Ireland, 'but at such season as the King's Lieutenant and Council there +first do certify the King under the great seal of that land (Ireland), +the causes and considerations, and all such acts as them seemeth should +pass in the same Parliament.' Should the King in Council approve them, +then the Irish Parliament should be summoned under the great seal of +England, and not otherwise. By the second Act it was provided that all +public statutes 'late made within the said realm of England' should be in +force in Ireland. The lawyers decided that this applied to all English +Acts prior to the tenth year of Henry VII. And thus the dependence of the +Irish Parliament on that of England was established in the fullest +degree.[60] + +[Sidenote: Attainder of Kildare.] + +Kildare was attainted by the Drogheda Parliament, the Act stating that he +had provoked Irish enemies and English rebels to levy war against the +King, that he had conspired with O'Hanlon to kill the Deputy, that he had +caused his brother James to seize Carlow and hold it against the King, +that he had used coyne and livery, and that he had conspired with the +King of Scots and the Earl of Desmond for an invasion of Ireland. The +Earl was arrested and sent to England, there to await Henry's own +judgment on these and other matters. The chief of the southern Geraldines +had in the meantime again given his adhesion to the cause of Perkin +Warbeck.[61] + +[Sidenote: Second visit of Perkin Warbeck. Siege of Waterford, 1495.] + +Less than three weeks after his disgraceful failure in Kent, Perkin was +with Desmond in Munster. Eleven ships, of which some were Scotch, +attacked Waterford from the river, while Desmond and his Irish allies +with 2,400 men threatened the city from the southern side. Poynings +marched against the invaders in person; but the real work was done by the +mayor and citizens, who dammed the stream called John's River, so as to +prevent Desmond from joining Perkin: while they battered the fleet with +cannon planted on Reginald's Tower. They made several sallies, killed +their prisoners, and stuck their heads on stakes in the market-place. +When the siege had lasted eleven days one of Perkin's ships was sunk by +the fire from the town, and the adventurer then fled precipitately. At +least three vessels fell into the hands of the besieged or their allies, +and the citizens followed Perkin to Cork, where his friends protected +him. Afterwards he made his way to Scotland, where James IV. received him +with the honours due to a prince, and gave him the hand of his cousin, +Lady Catherine Gordon. James, who was of an ambitious and visionary turn +of mind, may perhaps have thought it possible to restore the days of +Bruce, and to conquer some part of Ireland for himself. Two successive +O'Donnells acknowledged themselves his subjects, and with their help and +that of sailors like the Bartons, Scotland might have disputed with +England the possession of Northern Ireland at least. The elder Hugh +O'Donnell, who died in 1505, was a man of considerable ability, the +annalists, with their usual magniloquence, styling him the 'Augustus of +the North of Europe;' and with more truth asserting that he was the most +powerful person in the North of Ireland.[62] + +[Sidenote: Poynings leaves Ireland, 1496.] + +Poynings quitted Ireland in January 1496, leaving the government in the +Bishop of Bangor's hands. Important as was the recent legislation, it +cannot be said that Henry had made any real change in the system of +government. His great idea, like that of his descendants, was to make +Ireland pay her own expenses, and for that purpose he sent over two able +officers, with instructions to overhaul the entire system of government. +Plenty of zeal seems to have been shown, but the result was not +encouraging. No year passed in Ireland without some small war, and the +established custom of hiring native mercenaries tended to prevent any +improvement. Sir James Ormonde and other leaders found their account in +constant disturbance, and expense always more than kept pace with +revenue.[63] + +[Sidenote: Friars employed by the Government.] + +The accounts of Vice-Treasurer Hattecliffe, to whom Henry committed the +control of Irish finance, seem to show that Poynings and others found a +difficulty in obtaining the aid of subordinate officers. They had, +however, a resource which Elizabeth lacked, in the power of employing +priests and friars. Thus we find a Franciscan of Dublin sent to spy out +the manners of the people inhabiting the marches of the Pale, and again +acting as a messenger between the Council in Dublin and the Deputy in the +field. A canon named John Staunton was sent to act as a spy 'in Munster +and elsewhere about the Earl of Desmond, Perkin Warbeck, and other +rebels.' On another occasion a Carmelite was the means of communication +between the Government and Sir James Ormonde, and it is probable that +many more of the messengers were clergymen, though the fact is not so +mentioned.[64] + +[Sidenote: Turbulence of the Geraldines. Restoration of Kildare, 1496.] + +That there was no peace, and consequently no diminution of expense, is +not to be altogether attributed to the rapacity of Sir James Ormonde and +other leaders of kerne and gallowglasses. The Geraldines took care that +the country should be disturbed during the Earl's absence, as we find by +the following significant entry:--'Two shillings to Philip Messanger for +carrying the Lord Justice's letters directed to Richard Paynteneye of +Carbury, Edward Dowdall of Slane, to the sovereign of Athboy, and others, +ordering them to have sundry fires made on sundry mountains--viz. the +mountains of Tara, Lyons, Athboy, and Slane, to warn the King's lieges +in case James, the Earl's son, and others the King's Irish enemies, +should bring a power to invade the English districts.' Several other +payments were made to the same messenger for services in connection with +these Geraldine inroads, and Henry came gradually to think that Kildare +did more harm as a prisoner than he could possibly do if he were at +liberty. Whether the account of the Earl's behaviour at Court, which has +been copied from the 'Book of Howth' into most histories, be true or not, +there can be little doubt that Henry thought it better that he should +rule all Ireland, than that he should have further opportunities of +showing that all Ireland could not rule him. The gravest charge against +him was that of conspiring with O'Hanlon to murder Poynings, and this was +disposed of by the evidence of O'Hanlon. Prince Henry became titular +Lord-Lieutenant, the attainder was reversed by the English Parliament, +and Kildare received a commission as Lord Deputy under the King's son. +His first wife, Alison Eustace, is said to have died through the +agitation caused by his imprisonment, and he now added to his influence +by marrying Elizabeth St. John, the King's first cousin. Leaving his son +Gerald as a hostage at the English Court, he returned to Dublin as soon +as possible, received the sword from Deane, successfully invaded the +O'Briens and Macnamaras, and was fully reconciled to the Archbishop of +Armagh. The Great Seal was given to Fitzsimons, Archbishop of Dublin, a +prelate who had the courage to tell Henry that a certain courtly orator +flattered him too much. 'Our father of Dublin,' replied the King, 'we +minded to find the same fault ourselves.'[65] + +[Sidenote: Warbeck's third visit, 1497.] + +On July 20, 1497, Perkin Warbeck again made his appearance at Cork. He +got no help this time from Desmond, who had been pardoned, and who had +perhaps made up his mind that the adventurer was an impostor. Sir James +Ormonde was accused of favouring him. The citizens of Waterford at once +gave Henry notice, and with four ships fitted out by themselves gave +chase to Perkin, who found no encouragement in Ireland, and lost no time +in going to join the Cornish malcontents. Narrowly escaping capture at +sea, he managed to raise a force of 6,000 or 7,000 men, besieged Exeter +and Taunton unsuccessfully, and then ran away without striking a blow, +and took sanctuary at Beaulieu in Hampshire. The inglorious close of his +career is unconnected with Ireland, and he seems on this last occasion to +have had no Irish allies. The citizens of Waterford received from the +King a cap of maintenance to be borne on certain occasions before the +mayor, and the title of _Urbs intacta_, in which the city still glories. +The sum of 1,000 marks which he had promised for the capture of Perkin +was not, strictly speaking, earned by the Waterford men; and their loyal +and, doubtless, very costly exertions, received no money recompense from +the frugal King.[66] + +[Sidenote: Considerations as to Simnel and Warbeck.] + +The modern historian, whose fortune it has been to clear up all doubts +about Perkin Warbeck, takes Lord Bacon to task for overrating the +excellence of the pretender's acting. But Bernard Andreas, the principal +if not the only contemporary writer, certainly gives one to understand +that he played his part very plausibly. + +'Carried to Ireland by a fair wind he suborned with his very cunning +temptations a great part of the barbarians of that island. For he +unfolded and retold from his ready memory all the times of Edward IV., +and without book repeated the names of all his familiars and servants as +he had been taught them from a boy. He habitually added circumstances of +time, place, and person, with which he very easily persuaded the levity +of those men. And with the help of such figments the matter grew so +important, that men of prudence and high nobility were induced to believe +the same. What followed? Certain prophecies concerning him were scattered +far and wide by false prophets, which completely blinded the mental +perceptions of the common people.' + +It must be admitted that Lord Bacon did not speak without considerable +authority. A contemporary French poem, which was probably also written by +Bernard Andreas, gives a very unflattering account of Ireland as a cave +of robbers, 'where is neither peace, love, nor concord, but only treasons +and the foulest deeds.' Such material help as the pretender received was +entirely among the Anglo-Irish. The native annalists do not mention him, +whereas Simnel is, at least by one writer, spoken of as an undoubted +prince of the blood royal.[67] + +[Sidenote: Sir Piers Butler kills Sir James Ormonde, 1497.] + +Sir James Ormonde, whose mother was an O'Brien, used the help of his +Irish connections to oppress Sir Piers Butler, whom he imprisoned, but +afterwards released at Desmond's request, 'upon trust that he should have +married the Earl's daughter.' One of Kildare's first acts after his +restoration was to summon Sir James to Dublin, and to proclaim him outlaw +on his refusal. But this scarcely lessened his power in the Butler +country, and did not even prevent him from assuming the title of Earl of +Ormonde. Driven to great straits, Sir Piers asserted that his rival had +imprisoned him 'contrary to his oath and promise made upon the holy cross +and other great relics ... and that the same Sir James, not pondering his +said oath and promise, showed openly that wheresoever he would find me he +would kill me.' After this Sir James, for the second time, refused to +appear before the King. The two Butlers met accidentally in the open +field between Dunmore and Kilkenny, and after a short struggle Sir James +was slain.[68] + +[Sidenote: Consequent peace between Butlers and Geraldines.] + +According to some accounts this encounter or murder, whichever it may be +thought, was caused by Lady Margaret Butler's complaint that she could +get no wine, though in delicate health. 'Truly, Margaret,' he answered, +'thou shalt have store of wine within this four and twenty hours, or else +thou shalt feed alone on milk for me.' One writer says that there were +desperate odds against Sir Piers; and if this be true, and considering +the then state of Ireland, the guilt of murder can hardly attach to him. +The death of Sir James was decidedly beneficial to Ireland, for it made +peace between the Houses of Kildare and Ormonde.[69] + +[Sidenote: Parliament of 1498.] + +In 1498 Kildare received a commission to hold a Parliament which was not +to last for more than six months. The first Act of this Parliament was to +confirm the reversal of the Lord Deputy's attainder, who by a singular +anomaly thus exercised viceregal authority, notwithstanding the +corruption of his own blood; the last to attaint Lord Barrymore and John +Waters for their dealings with Perkin Warbeck. Waters was caught, found +guilty by a Westminster jury, and hanged at Tyburn, alongside of the +pretender. Lord Barrymore escaped arrest, but was murdered by his +brother, the Archdeacon of Cork. Kildare visited and garrisoned Cork, +forcing the chief inhabitants to take the oath of allegiance to Henry, +and to give bonds for future good behaviour. Of the other Acts passed, +the most important was one for the discouragement of Irish habits and +weapons. Henceforth dwellers within the Pale were enjoined to wear only +English dress, and to wield only 'English artillery,' such as swords, +bucklers, pavesses, bows, arrows, bills, crossbows, guns, or such hand +weapons--darts and spears being prohibited; and they were to ride in +saddles in the English fashion.[70] + +[Sidenote: Kildare's wars in Ulster. Cannon are used.] + +It was Kildare's fortune not only to give trouble himself, but to be the +progenitor of those who were to give trouble in future. The rebellion of +his grandson Thomas Fitzgerald was to cause the eclipse of his house. The +descendants of his daughter Alice were to be the chief disturbers of the +Elizabethan monarchy in Ireland. She had married Con More O'Neill, who +was naturalised by Act of Parliament, and this gave her father a fair +excuse for interfering in the affairs of Ulster. Con More had been +treacherously killed by his brother Henry in 1493, and the murderer +fought for supremacy with his brother Donnell. Henry was at first +successful, and Donnell, whom Lady Alice appears to have favoured, could +only keep up a desultory opposition. In 1497 a peace or truce was made, +but in the following year Tirlough and Con, Lady Alice's two young sons, +killed Henry in revenge for their father's death, and invited Kildare to +come himself into Ulster. Besides his grandsons, the Lord Deputy had the +help of Donnell O'Neill, of Maguire, of O'Donnell, and of most of the +neighbouring clans against Henry O'Neill's sons and partisans. Cannon +were brought against Dungannon, which soon surrendered. Omagh was +afterwards taken, and Donnell was established as chief of Tyrone. +Firearms were perhaps first brought to Ireland in 1483, when six muskets, +considered a great rarity, were sent from Germany as a present to +Kildare, and were borne by his guards more for show than for use. In 1487 +an O'Donnell was killed by a cannon or musket shot in a local broil, and +in the following year Kildare brought ordnance against Balrath Castle. In +1495, as we have seen, heavy guns were successfully used for the defence +of Waterford, and the mention of firearms in the Act of 1498 shows that +their importance was quickly recognised. Cannon came in time to be the +peculiar weapons of the King, their great expense putting them out of the +reach of private combatants, and no doubt it was gunpowder that caused +the downfall both of the feudal and of the tribal systems.[71] + +[Sidenote: Kildare's wars in Connaught and Ulster.] + +In 1499 the Lord Deputy, who acted pretty much as if there were no King +in England, made an excursion into Connaught, and garrisoned certain +castles. About the same time Piers Butler was defeated in battle by the +O'Briens, but the causes of neither quarrel have been handed down to us. +It was the policy of the Anglo-Norman nobles in Ireland to make +themselves allies among the Irish, and in pursuance of this idea the Earl +gave up his son Henry to be fostered by his late ally, Hugh Roe +O'Donnell, who came to visit him in the Pale. Kildare afterwards held a +Parliament at Castle Dermot; but its acts had no political significance, +unless the punishment of certain nobles for not wearing Parliament-robes, +and for not using saddles, be considered an exception. + +Donnell O'Neill and his nephews did not long remain at peace, and +O'Donnell, siding with the latter, expelled Donnell from Dungannon. +Kildare again invaded Tyrone, in conjunction with O'Donnell, and took +Kinard Castle, which he handed over to his grandson Tirlough; but six +weeks later it was retaken by Donnell O'Neill. For more than two years +after this no event of any importance is recorded; there were ceaseless +wars among the Irish, but the Lord Deputy does not seem to have +interfered with them. + +[Sidenote: Kildare in England, 1503.] + +In 1503 Kildare visited England by the King's orders, and remained there +three months. Having licence from Henry to appoint a substitute, he +selected his old antagonist the Archbishop of Dublin to act as Lord +Justice in his absence. The Earl remained three months in England, and +was allowed to bring back his son Gerald, who had been a hostage for +eight years. Gerald, who was accompanied by his bride, Elizabeth Zouche, +received his appointment as Lord Treasurer of Ireland a few months +later.[72] + +[Sidenote: Battle of Knocktoe, 1504.] + +In 1504 a quarrel arose between Kildare and Ulick MacWilliam Burke, Lord +of Clanricarde, who had married his daughter, Lady Eustacia. The only +cause assigned by any of the authorities is, that MacWilliam ill-treated +his wife. He had, however, seized the town of Galway, and that might be +provocation enough for a Lord Deputy. Two great armies were +collected--MacWilliam having the O'Briens and Macnamaras, the Connaught +O'Connors, and the MacBriens, O'Kennedys, and O'Carrolls on his side. +With the Deputy were a portion at least of the O'Neills, O'Donnell, +MacDermot, Magennis, O'Connor Faly, O'Ferrall, MacMahon, O'Reilly, +O'Hanlon, and some of the Mayo Burkes, the Mayor of Dublin, the Earl of +Desmond, and the Lords Gormanston, Slane, Delvin, Killeen, Dunsany, +Trimleston, and Howth. Notwithstanding this formidable array of names, +Kildare's army was far inferior to MacWilliam's in point of numbers. Both +bishops and lawyers appeared at the council of war which preceded the +battle: Art O'Neill objecting to the former and O'Connor Faly to the +other. The one declared that the bishops' duty was 'to pray, to preach, +and to make fair weather, and not to be privy to manslaughter;' and the +other expressed great contempt for pen and ink and for 'the weak and +doubtful stomachs of learned men.' 'I never,' he said, 'saw those that +were learned ever give good counsel in matters of war, for they were +always doubting, and staying, and persuading, more in frivolous and +uncertain words than Ector or Launcelot's doings.' Lord Gormanston was +unwilling to risk so much without first knowing the King's pleasure; but +Lord Howth, as represented by the family chronicler, saw that good advice +might come too late, and that being in the field they must fight. He +proposed that they should conquer or die, having first placed their sons +in safety, so as to secure vengeance in case of defeat. This plan was +frustrated by young Gerald's refusal to retire. MacWilliam's army made +certain of victory, and spent the night drinking, playing cards, and +arranging about the custody of prisoners. The battle took place at +Knocktuagh or Knocktoe, now generally written Knockdoe, a hill near Clare +Galway. Kildare is said to have reminded his followers that the enemy, +though very numerous, were ill-armed, many with one spear only and a +knife, and 'without wisdom or good order, marching to battle as drunken +as swine to a trough.' When the fighting began 'Great Darcy'--the man who +had borne Lambert Simnel on his shoulders--appeared as one of the chief +champions on the Deputy's side. Kildare gained a complete victory. The +'Book of Howth' represents the gentry of the Pale as sustaining the brunt +of the battle, while the 'Four Masters' tell the story as if both armies +consisted of aboriginal Irishmen only. According to the former authority, +Lord Gormanston made the following speech to the Lord Deputy:--'We have +done one good work, and if we do the other we shall do well. We have for +the most number killed our enemies, and if we do the like with all the +Irishmen that we have with us, it were a good deed.' + +Galway and Athenry were occupied without difficulty after the battle, and +the Lord Deputy's Irish allies withdrew to their own countries. The +arduous task remained of persuading Henry VII. that all had been done in +his interest. Kildare sent his old antagonist the Archbishop of Dublin to +Court, who performed his mission so well that the King professed himself +quite satisfied, and soon afterwards made his Deputy a Knight of the +Garter. Perhaps Henry was not really deceived, but thought it good policy +to make his great subject's victories his own. Sixty years afterwards, +when Sir Henry Sidney solicited a garter for another Earl of Kildare, he +urged his suit in these words:--'King Henry VII. made his grandfather, +and wist full what he did when he did so; he enlarged the Pale, and +enriched the same more than 10,000_l._ worth.'[73] + +[Sidenote: Parliament of 1508.] + +Of the remaining years of Henry VII.'s reign but little seems to be +recorded, except that the chronic war among the native tribes did not +cease. Kildare held a Parliament in 1508, in which a subsidy of 13_s._ +4_d._ was granted out of every ploughland, whether lay or clerical. About +the same time a party of the O'Neills took Carrickfergus Castle, and +carried off the mayor. In 1509 Kildare again invaded Tyrone in the +interests of his grandsons, and demolished Omagh. When the King died he +was in full possession of the government, and without a rival in those +parts of Ireland which were in any real sense subject to the English +Crown.[74] + +[Sidenote: Henry endeavoured to separate the two races.] + +It was the decided policy of Henry VII. to act in the spirit of the +Statute of Kilkenny, and to separate the English and Irish districts. +The well-known name of the Pale, or the English Pale, seems to have come +into general use about the close of the fifteenth century. A great number +of ordinances remain to prove how necessary it was for the Englishry to +bear arms, and the practice of fortifying the home district against the +Irish became a subject of legal enactment at least as early as 1429. An +Act of the Parliament of 1475 declares that a dyke had been made and kept +up from Tallaght to Tassagard, at the sole cost of four +baronies--Coolock, Balrothery, Castleknock, and Newcastle--and provision +was made by statute for its future maintenance. This was an inner line +for the defence of Dublin only, but the Parliament of Drogheda made a +similar provision for the whole Pale. It was enacted that every +inhabitant of the marches or inland borders of Dublin, Meath, Kildare, +and Louth, should, under a penalty of 40_s._, make and maintain 'a double +ditch of six feet above ground, at one side, which meareth next unto +Irishmen,' the landlord forgiving a year's rent in consideration of this +work. The legal provision was afterwards enforced by writs addressed to +the sheriffs and justices, and the name of Pale was perhaps first given +to the district so enclosed. The building of this Mahratta ditch may be +considered to mark the lowest point reached by the English power in +Ireland.[75] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[48] _History of St. Canice_, by Graves and Prim, especially pp. 187 and +193; also Mr. Graves's _Presentments_, p. 79; Archdall's _Lodge's +Peerage_, art. 'Mount Garrett.' + +[49] It is hard to say whether the instructions for John Estrete, +attributed by Mr. Gairdner to the very beginning of Henry's reign, are by +him or by Richard III. Henry would hardly have promised to make Kildare +Deputy for ten years on condition of his going to Court, and the +allusions to Edward IV. are more likely to have been made by +Richard.--_Letters of Richard III. and Henry VII._, vol. i. p. 91. The +three letters in the Appendix cannot be earlier than 1488. + +[50] Writing to Morton or Fox, Octavian says, 'Profano coronationis pueri +in Hiberniâ sceleri, me solo excepto, nullus obstitit manifeste.' This +hardly gives due credit to the Bishop of Clogher.--_Letters of Richard +III. and Henry VII._, vol. i. p. 383. Henry's letter to Pius II. is at p. +94. 'Armachanensis' must be a mistake on the King's part. + +[51] Lambert was crowned May 2, 1487. + +[52] _Book of Howth_, and an account in _Carew_ (followed by Smith), iv. +p. 473. + +[53] Bacon; _Book of Howth_; O'Donovan's _Four Masters, ad ann._ 1485. +The battle of Stoke was fought June 16, 1487. + +[54] Henry's letter to Waterford is in Smith's _Waterford_; the letter of +the Dublin people in Ware's _Annals_. + +[55] Sir Richard Edgcombe's voyage, in Harris's _Hibernica_. + +[56] _Book of Howth_; _Letters of Richard III. and Henry VII._, vol. i. +p. 384. + +[57] _The Earls of Kildare_; Harris's _Dublin_; _Four Masters, ad ann._ +1492. + +[58] Ware; Gairdner's _Life of Richard III._; _Letters of Richard III. +and Henry VII._, ii. 55. + +[59] _Irish Statutes_, 10 Henry VII., Dec. 1, 1494. + +[60] _Ibid._, chaps. iv. and xxii. + +[61] Gilbert's _Viceroys_, p. 454, and Ware. The Act is not in the +printed statutes. + +[62] _Letters of Richard III. and Henry VII._, vol. ii. pp. lxxvi. 237, +242, 299; _Histories of Waterford_, by Smith and Rylands; _Four Masters +and Annals of Lough Cé ad ann. 1505_. + +[63] _Letters of Richard III. and Henry VII._, vol. ii. pp. 64 and 67. + +[64] Hattecliffe's accounts in _Letters of Richard III. and Henry VII._, +vol. ii. pp. 297-318. + +[65] Ware; Hattecliffe's _Accounts_; _Earls of Kildare_. + +[66] Gairdner's _Richard III._; Smith's _Waterford_, where is given the +correspondence between Henry and the city; _Carew_, vol. v. p. 472, where +the events of 1487, 1495, and 1497 are mixed up; Sir Piers Butler to the +Earl of Ormonde, in Graves's _St. Canice_, p. 193. + +[67] _Four Masters_, with O'Donovan's notes, under 1485. The 'Annals' of +Andreas and the 'Douze triomphes de Henri VII.,' are in _Memorials of +Henry VII._, ed. Gairdner. + +[68] Sir Piers Butler to the Earl of Ormonde, in Graves's _St. Canice_, +p. 193. Stanihurst says Sir Piers waylaid his enemy. + +[69] All the authorities bearing on this event are collected in Graves's +_St. Canice_, pp. 193-198. + +[70] The Acts of this Parliament (supposed lost) are printed by Mr. +Gilbert in his _Facsimiles of Irish National MSS._, vol. iii., from the +English Patent Rolls. Ware; _Four Masters_. + +[71] _Four Masters_ and O'Donovan's notes, under 1487, 1488, and 1498. + +[72] Ware; _Four Masters_. + +[73] Sidney to Leicester, March 1, 1566, in the _Irish State Papers_. The +account of the battle of Knocktoe is made up from Ware, Stanihurst, the +_Four Masters_, and the _Book of Howth_. The _Four Masters_ seem to have +thought that the forces of the Pale were not engaged, and O'Donovan +rather countenances them, but the _Annals of Lough Cé_ say Kildare +mustered 'all the foreigners and Irish of Leinster and of Northern +Ireland.' (_Ad ann. 1504._) The details in the _Book of Howth_ may not be +all correct, though there is nothing antecedently improbable in Lord +Gormanston's truculent speech. + +[74] _Irish Statutes_, 24 Hen. VII.; _Letters and Papers of Henry VIII._, +Oct. 7, 1515. + +[75] The statutes referred to are printed in Hardiman's _Statute of +Kilkenny_. See Gilbert's _Viceroys_, p. 459. + + + + +[Illustration: IRELAND ABOUT 1500. + +_London: Longmans & Co._] + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +FROM THE ACCESSION OF HENRY VIII. TO THE YEAR 1534. + + +[Sidenote: Accession of Henry VIII., 1509. Kildare remains in power.] + +Henry VIII. was proclaimed without opposition, and amid great rejoicings +in all the principal towns, but his accession made no immediate +difference to Ireland. Kildare prepared to go to the new King, but the +Council, who felt their helplessness without him, chose him Lord Justice, +and constrained him to stay. His patent as Lord Deputy was not long +withheld, and other official men were for the time continued in +authority. The Earl was summoned to Court, but excused himself on the +grounds that he could not be spared, and, as the Council sustained him, +the King made no objection. Attended by the chief men of the Pale he +invaded Munster, and, being joined by O'Donnell, penetrated into Desmond +and took Castlemaine, as well as the so-called palace of the MacCarthies +near Killarney. He met with scarcely any resistance, and seems to have +had no higher object than plunder. Near Limerick, Kildare was joined by +Desmond's eldest son with the main force of the southern Geraldines and +the MacCarthies of Carbery and Muskerry. The Lord Deputy passed into +Clare by a wooden bridge which the O'Briens had erected near +Castleconnell, and which he broke down behind him. Here he was met by +Tirlough O'Brien, the chief's son, accompanied by the Macnamaras and the +Clanricarde Burkes. The hostile armies bivouacked at such close quarters +that they could hear each other talking at night. At daybreak Kildare +retired along the right bank of the Shannon, and reached Limerick in +safety with the bulk of his plunder. The Munster Geraldines, with their +Irish auxiliaries, marched in the van as not being over trustworthy. +In the rear, the post of honour in a retreat, were the O'Donnells and the +men of the Pale. Such was the settlement of differences between +Geraldines and De Burgos, which the chief governor had alleged as the +main obstacle to his attendance upon his sovereign. It was indeed his +interest to be always at war, for he had obtained a grant in tail of all +such possessions as he could recover from any rebel in Ireland.[76] This +method of paying a viceroy with letters of marque cost the Crown nothing, +but the greatest ingenuity could hardly have devised a plan more fatal to +an unfortunate dependency. + +[Sidenote: Activity of Kildare, 1512, 1513.] + +During the next year Kildare kept pretty quiet, but was soon again in the +field. Crossing the Shannon at Athlone he plundered and burned all before +him to Roscommon, where he placed a garrison, and then prolonged his +destroying course to Boyle. Here he met O'Donnell, who came to him over +the Curlew Mountains. This chief had lately made a pilgrimage to Rome, +and spent four months in London going and as many more on his return. He +was well received by Henry VIII., but we have unfortunately no details. +In this same year Kildare invaded Ulster, took the castle of Belfast, and +spoiled the land far and wide. In the following summer he marched against +Ely O'Carroll, but while watering his horse in a stream near his own +castle of Kilkea he was shot by one of the O'Mores, and died soon +afterwards.[77] His son Gerald was at once chosen Lord Justice by the +Council, and the King continued him in authority[78] on the same terms, +and with a similar grant of all lands he could recover from the rebels. + +[Sidenote: The Earldom of Ormonde in abeyance.] + +The rival house of Ormonde was at this time depressed by the loss of its +head without male issue. Early in 1515 died Thomas, the seventh Earl, the +only Irish peer whom Henry VII. or Henry VIII. called to the English +House of Lords, who was reputed the richest subject of the Crown, and is +said to have left the enormous sum of 40,000_l._ in money, besides +jewels. He had two daughters, who inherited his personal property and +seventy-two manors in England. Ann, the eldest, was married to Sir James +St. Leger, Margaret, the younger, to Sir William Boleyn, by whom she had +Sir Thomas, who became grandfather to Queen Elizabeth. Sir Piers Butler, +a descendant of the third Earl, was heir male to the title and to the +settled Irish estates, which at once became matters of dispute between +him and the ladies St. Leger and Boleyn. With the full approval of the +Irish Butlers, Sir Piers at once assumed the title of Earl. He had +married Lady Margaret Fitzgerald, sister of the new Lord Deputy Kildare, +a woman of lofty character and stature, to whom Irish tradition, with an +endearing irony, has given the name of Magheen or Little Margaret. In +compliance with letters from the King, Sir Piers was ordered to appear +before his brother-in-law and the Irish Council; but he sent his wife +instead, to urge that he was busy fighting. The lady, who must have had a +delicate task between her husband and her brother, procured an +adjournment, and it was stipulated that no rents should be paid in the +meantime. The late Earl's daughters appeared by counsel in due course, +and it is evident that Henry leaned strongly to their side. They offered +evidence of title, but Sir Piers staid away and left all to his wife and +his lawyers. The latter contented themselves with practically demurring +to the jurisdiction, and prayed to have the case tried at common law; +which would probably have secured a decision for their client. The Lord +Deputy referred all back to the King, and the tenants continued to pay no +rent. Kildare wished to command Sir Piers on his allegiance to appear +before the King in England on a certain day; but he was overruled by the +Council, who believed that this would drive Butler into rebellion; and as +its acknowledged chief, he could command all the forces of his family. He +chanced, moreover, to be at peace with the reigning Desmond, and he had +strengthened himself by alliances among the Irish. These considerations +prevailed with the King or with Wolsey, and the case remained in +abeyance; but it had gone far enough to cause an irreparable breach +between Kildare and the rival chief.[79] + +[Sidenote: Kildare visits England in 1515. His restless policy.] + +Meanwhile, the Lord Deputy trod in his father's footsteps. He made +successful raids on the O'Mores and O'Reillys, and for slaying many of +the latter had a grant of the customs of Strangford and other places in +Down. A visit to England in 1515 resulted in permission to hold a +Parliament in the following year, but it produced no legislation of +importance. He took and dismantled Leap Castle, the stronghold of the +O'Carrolls, which his father had failed to gain, and he surprised Clonmel +by a sudden march, though we know not what offence that town had given +him. When he was busy in the north, where he destroyed O'Neill's castle +at Dungannon and stormed Dundrum, which was defended by Magennis, the +O'Carrolls rose again and invaded Meath. Again Kildare visited Ely and +destroyed another castle. The history of two viceroyalties may indeed be +told in a single sentence. Every year or two the Earl of Kildare harried +some Irish country, and then reported such and such execution done upon +the King's enemies. There was no attempt to keep the peace among the +natives, the highest policy being the setting of one chief against +another. The O'Neills and O'Donnells continued their everlasting feuds, +and nearly every tribe was constantly at war. Occasionally they made +foreign alliances, as in the case of O'Donnell, who was a travelled man. +A French knight coming on a visit to St. Patrick's Purgatory was +hospitably received by the chief, and offered to recover Sligo from the +O'Connors. The offer was accepted, and in due course an armed vessel +appeared in Killybegs Harbour. Sligo was battered from the sea, the +O'Donnells co-operating by land, and the castle surrendered. We hear no +more of the mysterious Frenchman.[80] Ware says that Ireland was +peaceable during the year 1518, but the Irish annalists tell a very +different story.[81] + +[Sidenote: Miserable state of the country.] + +The chiefs of English race were almost as restless as the Celts whom +they affected to despise, and the state of the Pale was as bad as bad +could be. John Kite, a Londoner, who had been promoted to the throne of +Armagh by Wolsey's influence, informed his patron that he tried to +comfort the people by promising that the King would soon come to reform +the land. He insisted very reasonably that the King was as much bound to +maintain order and justice in Ireland as in England herself. The sea was +no safer than the land, and the ship which brought the Archbishop from +Chester had been attacked by two pirates; but the men of Drogheda--no +thanks to the Government--had captured the rovers. Even the Countess +Dowager of Kildare, who was the daughter of an English knight, complained +that her stepson allowed O'Neill to levy tribute on her lands, and that +her property and that of her dependents was laid waste. Portions that had +escaped the Irish were seized by the Earl's own steward. Kildare had many +other accusers, and was at length summoned over to give an account. He +was allowed to appoint a Deputy, and nominated his cousin, Maurice +Fitzgerald of Lackagh, who was soon afterwards killed by the O'Mores. But +the cry of the land had been heard at last, and Henry resolved to send +over a governor whom he could trust. The lot fell upon Thomas, Earl of +Surrey, the son and companion in arms of the victor of Flodden, whose +influence at Court probably made his absence desirable to Wolsey.[82] + +[Sidenote: Thomas Earl of Surrey, Lord-Lieutenant, 1520. Anarchy.] + +The first thirty pages of the printed State Papers are taken up with a +report to the King on the state of Ireland, founded on an earlier +document, but corrected and brought down nearly to the date of Surrey's +appointment. It discloses a state of things calculated to try the ablest +governor. In Ulster and Connaught, in the counties of Waterford, Cork, +Kilkenny, Limerick, Kerry, Carlow, Westmeath, and Wicklow, and in parts +of Kildare and Wexford, there was neither magistrate nor sheriff. +Districts wholly or partially peopled by men of English race were under +black-rent to the native chiefs. This odious tax was paid by the Savages +of Lecale in Down to the O'Neills of Clandeboye. The great chief of +Tyrone levied his dues in Louth. Meath and Kildare were tributary to +O'Connor Faly, Wexford to the Kavanaghs, Kilkenny and Tipperary to +O'Carroll, Limerick to the O'Briens, and Cork to the MacCarthies. +MacMurrough Kavanagh, who in the eyes of the natives represented the +ancient royalty of Leinster, actually received eighty marks out of an +almost empty exchequer. The sum of the several black-rents amounted to +740_l._, and this was at a time when a soldier received fourpence a day. +Dublin was in constant danger, and one of Henry's first acts was to grant +20_l._, a year to the citizens for repairing their walls, which had +crumbled through decrease of population, pestilence, and Irish violence. +A line drawn from Dundalk to Kells, from Kells to Kilcullen Bridge, and +thence by Ballymore Eustace, and Tallaght to Dalkey, enclosed the whole +actual Pale, upon which fell all the expenses of an establishment +intended to meet the wants of all Ireland. The King's taxes had to be +paid, coyne and livery were extorted, horses and carriages were +requisitioned for the public service; and with all this the Government +could give no protection, no judge went circuit, and black-rent was +perforce paid in addition. 'The King's army in England,' said Henry's +informant, 'is the commons, the King's army in Ireland is such as oppress +the commons.' The nobility and gentry copied the Government, and it was +more than suspected that they dreaded any reform which would force them +to obey the law; 'for there is no land in all this world that has more +liberty in vices than Ireland, and less liberty in virtue.' The Church +showed no better example than the lay magnates; 'for there is no +archbishop nor bishop, abbot nor prior, parson nor vicar, nor any other +person of the Church, high or low, great or small, that useth to preach +the Word of God, saving the poor friars' beggars.' Some Irish chiefs kept +better order than the Government; 'but not to the intent that his +subjects should escape harmless, but to the intent to devour them by +himself, like as a greedy hound delivereth the sheep from the wolf.' + +[Sidenote: Remedies suggested.] + +Ireland has never lacked physicians, though she has often been nothing +bettered by them. The most obvious means to strengthen the English power +was to make the men of the Pale keep arms and practice their use; and +this had been the constant cry of governors and legislators for many +generations. Henry had directed Kildare to get an Act passed obliging +every merchant trading from England to Ireland to bring a pound's worth +of bows and arrows for every 20_l._ of wares, so as to prevent the King's +subjects from applying themselves to Irish archery. Patrick Finglas, +Baron of the Exchequer, was less sanguine than the writer of the State +Paper which has been so largely quoted. That reformer ventured to +prophesy that if his advice were taken the war of Ireland would cease for +ever, the King would recover Constantinople and die Emperor of Rome, and +Ireland once reduced to order would be 'none other than a very paradise, +delicious of all pleasance.' But Finglas admitted that reform must +necessarily be gradual, and advised the King to confine himself at first +to the reclamation of Leinster. He recommended that the chief abbeys and +castles should be entrusted to Englishmen, from Bray Head round the coast +to Dunbrody on the Suir, and inland from Baltinglass and Carlow along the +Barrow to Ross. The Wicklow Highlanders would be thus bridled and unable +to attack Kildare. Athy and other places were to be held against the +O'Connors and O'Mores. The Butlers seem to have been thought able to take +care of themselves. It would not do to give up the castles to men who had +great possessions in England, and who would never encourage English +farmers to become their tenants. At first settlers would have to be +protected, but in time would take care of themselves. There would be no +difficulty about tilling the soil, 'for there be no better labourers than +the poor commons of Ireland, nor sooner will be brought to good frame, if +they be kept under a law.'[83] + +[Sidenote: Irish exactions.] + +Besides the payment of black-rent, the commons of Ireland were oppressed +by innumerable exactions, of which the principal may be described once +for all. Bonaght was a tax imposed by a chief for the support of his +mercenary horsemen, gallowglasses, and kerne. The name was often +transferred from the tax to those who were maintained by it, and Bonaght, +or Bony, became the generic name for an Irish mercenary or for one from +the Scotch isles. Sorohen was an obligation on certain lands to support +the chief with his train for twenty-four hours once a quarter, or, +according to another account, as often as once a fortnight. Coshery was +the chief's right to sponge upon his vassals with as many followers as he +pleased. Cuddies, or night-suppers, were due by certain lands upon which +the chief might quarter himself and his train for four days four times a +year. Shragh and mart were yearly exactions in money and kine +respectively, apparently imposed at the will of the chief. Worse than any +of these was coyne and livery--that is, the taking of horse-meat and +man-meat from everyone at the will of the chief; in other words, the +right of the strongest to take what he liked. Coyne and livery were not +the invention of an Irish chief, but of one of those Anglo-Normans who +knew how to better native instruction. Maurice Fitz-Thomas, Earl of +Desmond, is said to have begun it under Edward II. as the only available +means of coping with Edward Bruce. Originally a contrivance for carrying +on war at the enemy's expense, it came to be used by all great men at all +seasons. James, the ninth Earl of Desmond, has the credit of first +imposing it on loyal subjects, but the Crown was primarily to blame for +neglecting to keep order. Lords Deputies showed no better example than +private oppressors.[84] + +[Sidenote: Surrey finds all in confusion.] + +Surrey landed with his family at Dublin on May 23, bringing 100 men of +the royal guard as a peculiar mark of favour. He found the country in +rather more than its usual confusion. He sent Archbishop Rokeby to +Waterford, who succeeded in preventing Sir Piers Butler from fighting +with Desmond, and he himself marched into Leix with his English soldiers, +120 Irish mercenaries, and 300 kerne. The English of the Pale, who, from +love or fear of Kildare, usually mustered so strong on these occasions, +contributed only forty-eight horse and 120 foot. Surrey made war in the +usual Irish fashion, and burned Connell O'More's country. He was joined +by Sir Piers Butler, who brought a strong contingent, including Mulrony +O'Carroll, whom he induced to take the oath of allegiance. O'Carroll had +latterly done great harm in the Pale, and he was considered the best +leader among the Irish. He refused to take the oath until Surrey rashly +promised that Kildare should never be Deputy again. On being pressed +about a letter which the Earl was said to have written to him, he at +first said that he would not inform even were he to receive the viceregal +pavilion full of gold; but in spite of all this bravado he allowed his +brothers to be examined, and they both swore that they had stood by and +heard the letter read. Surrey never saw the document itself, nor has it +been preserved. According to the report which we have, Kildare had +directed O'Carroll to keep the peace till the arrival of an English +Deputy, and then to make war on all Englishmen except the writer's +friends. The object was to make all government but his own +impossible.[85] + +[Sidenote: O'Donnell is friendly.] + +On his return to Dublin, Surrey found O'Donnell waiting for him. That +chief had probably pleasant recollections of his visit to the English +Court, and was not unwilling to strengthen himself against his rival +O'Neill. He told Surrey that his powerful neighbour had urged him to make +war on the Pale, and had declared his own intention of doing so, in +compliance with Kildare's directions. O'Donnell promised to invade Tyrone +if the Lord-Lieutenant would do likewise from the opposite quarter, and +remarked emphatically that if the King ever set Kildare in authority +again he might as well convey Ireland to him and his heirs for ever. + +[Sidenote: O'Neill temporises.] + +Early in August, Surrey, accompanied by Sir Piers Butler and his forces, +entered Farney and punished MacMahon for the assistance given to O'Neill +in his attacks on the Pale. O'Neill made some sort of verbal submission, +and the Lord-Lieutenant returned to Dublin, where he detected a +conspiracy among his soldiers, some of whom found life intolerable in +Ireland. Their plan was to seize a small vessel in the river, and by her +means a larger one on the high seas, and so to become rovers. The Irish +lawyers held that the Viceroy could not hang them; for they had committed +no overt act, and his patent did not authorise him to proceed by martial +law. It is clear that the Crown was held capable of dispensing with the +common law, at least in the case of soldiers.[86] + +[Sidenote: Desmonds and MacCarthies.] + +In September an important private war was waged in Munster. James, Earl +of Desmond, according to the usual practice of his family, made a +perfectly unprovoked attack upon Cormac Oge MacCarthy, the chief of +Muskerry. Having secured the assistance of Sir Thomas Fitzgerald, the +Earl's uncle and his own sister's husband, and of his kinsman MacCarthy +Reagh, Cormac Oge defeated Desmond in a pitched battle near Mourne Abbey, +to the south of Mallow. The messenger who brought the news to Dublin +reported that the Earl had lost 1,500 foot and 500 horse. The +Lord-Lieutenant was not sorry, for he had straitly charged Desmond to +leave the MacCarthies alone. The fate of the Desmonds has excited much +not very well directed sympathy: it would better become Irishmen to +remember that they were the worst oppressors of their Celtic neighbours. + +When Surrey visited Munster soon after, Desmond met him at Clonmel, and +was as loyal in words as Sir Piers Butler had been in deeds. At Waterford +he met MacCarthy Reagh and Cormac Oge, who were adherents of Sir Piers, +and who had come on his invitation. They spoke fairly, bound themselves +to keep the peace and professed themselves loyal, so that they might be +protected. Surrey wished to make Cormac Oge a Privy Councillor and a +Baron of Parliament, and he calls him a 'sad wise man.' Cormac produced a +charter under the Great Seal, a copy of which was sent to England with an +assurance that it comprised no lands to which the King was entitled.[87] + +[Sidenote: Henry speaks boldly to the Irish.] + +It was probably to Cormac Oge that Henry wrote a remarkable letter, which +shows his intentions at this time. The Irishman, whether Cormac Oge or +another, was willing to surrender his lands and take an estate tail from +the Crown at a fair rent. It was the interest of native chieftains to do +this, because it secured them as against the Government, while it enabled +them to transmit to their children a property which was not theirs at +all, but held in trust for the clan at the election of the clansmen. The +one fear of Henry's correspondent was that he should after all be +abandoned to Kildare's vengeance, and he counselled the employment of a +large army. To this the King answered that he had no intention whatever +of giving up his plans for the reduction of Ireland, that he would not +remove Surrey, and that he would not reinstate Kildare in the government. +When peaceful means failed it would be time to put forth his strength. In +language which reminds us of the royal speech in the ballad of 'Chevy +Chase,' he remarked that this Irish enterprise was a trifle compared with +those which he had in hand against France and Scotland. This was politic +language in dealing with a half-civilised MacCarthy, but Henry spoke very +differently to his own servants. There was talk of an alliance between +Argyll and O'Neill, and of a Scotch descent upon Ireland. The Continent +was disturbed, and the burden of three armies would be intolerable. And +yet he would try to do justice to Ireland. He was an absolute monarch and +above legal trammels, but might even condescend to consider himself +bound, if by so doing he could induce Irish chiefs to live by law. If +that of England proved too strong for weak stomachs, they might even +retain some of their native customs. The Earldom of Ulster was legally +his own, but he would not willingly take it by force. If clemency failed, +in the last resort he would try the strength of his hand, for realms +without justice were but tyrannies, communities of beasts rather than +reasoning men. Brave words! but woefully belied in action.[88] + +[Sidenote: Surrey is not sanguine.] + +Surrey was not to be deceived, and steadily refused to prophesy smooth +things. He believed that Ireland could only be reduced by conquest, and +that the easiest method was to master one district at a time, gradually +pushing forward the frontier until the whole country was obedient. A +permanent army of 500 men might perhaps effect this, while at least 6,000 +would be required for a rapid conquest. Edward I. had taken ten years to +subdue Wales, and that great king had given almost constant personal +attention to the work. Yet Wales was unprotected by the sea, and was not +a fifth part the size of Ireland. All artillery and munitions of war +would have to be brought from England, and fortresses must be built to +bridle each tract of country successively occupied. Nor could a military +occupation endure unless accompanied by a large plan of colonisation. +Thus only could the natives be brought to labour and settled order. We +can see, though Henry VIII. could not, how justly Surrey estimated the +magnitude of England's task in Ireland.[89] + +[Sidenote: Activity of Surrey.] + +In July 1521 the Irish bordering on the Pale took their usual advantage +of the season. O'Connor, O'More, and O'Carroll, the latter all unmindful +of his last year's oath and of more recent promises, collected a great +host and prepared to attack the Pale. Surrey, who had lately prorogued +his Parliament after a ten days' session, was in Dublin, and by his +promptitude averted the danger. O'Connor's castle, near Edenderry, was +soon in his hands, being unable to resist the fire of three pieces of +heavy ordnance for a single day. It became an axiom in Irish warfare that +the Government could always make its way with artillery. Surrey proposed +to hold O'Connor's stronghold permanently, and to use it against the +Irishry as Berwick was used against the Scots. He destroyed all the corn +far and wide, the people with their cattle flying before him, while Sir +Piers Butler played the like part in Ely O'Carroll. The vigour shown by +the Lord-Lieutenant had the effect which vigour generally has in Ireland, +and the confederacy gave him little further trouble. Meanwhile, the North +was in a blaze. O'Donnell professed loyalty, but was not trusted by +Surrey, who, however, thought it wise to humour him. O'Neill was willing +to be on good terms with the Government, and was on his way to Dundalk +accompanied by Magennis and a large force, when the O'Donnells attacked +him in the rear. Fifteen hundred cows were driven off and seventeen of +the Magennis' villages burned, so that the allies were forced to retrace +their steps. The chief of Tyrconnell feared that if his great neighbour +were once at peace with the Pale he would be too strong for him in the +everlasting private war of Northern Ulster.[90] + +[Sidenote: Uncertainty of English policy.] + +It is not the least of Ireland's misfortunes that her rulers have ever +been subject to hot and cold fits. In the autumn of 1521 Henry suddenly +changed his mind. Disgusted at the apparently almost fruitless expense, +he not only relieved Surrey at his own earnest request, but also +abandoned his policy. War broke out between Charles and Francis, and the +reformation of Ireland, which had but lately seemed so necessary a work +for a Christian king, was lightly postponed to a more convenient season. +Surrey is the first of a long series of able men whose efforts, generally +very ill seconded at home, in the end brought Ireland under the English +sceptre. His means were inconsiderable. In the expedition against O'More, +which he undertook very soon after landing, his whole force seems not to +have exceeded 700. He then asked the King for eighty horsemen from the +North of England, and for leave to discharge as many of the guardsmen as +he might think fit. Many of these were well-to-do householders, and liked +Ireland so little that they were content to leave it on receiving +twopence, or even a penny, a day. One hundred horsemen were accordingly +sent, under the command of Sir John Bulmer, who was Surrey's personal +friend, and fifty more were added from Wales. The captain received +half-a-crown and the lieutenant eighteenpence a day. On their arrival 117 +guardsmen were discharged upon a penny a day. Fourpence appears to have +been a soldier's ordinary pay in Ireland, and Surrey maintained that this +was not enough. Neither Welshmen nor Northumbrians proved to his taste, +most of them being mounted archers and not spearmen. He thought better +men might be had in the country, and Henry was willing to give him much +latitude, though he cautioned him against employing too many Irishmen, +lest the sword should hurt his hand. The King gave his Viceroy the power +of life and death, reserving noble personages, and the right of making +knights. A golden collar was sent for O'Neill, and it was supposed that +such cheap defences would avail against a chief who could easily raise +1,600 men. Of two evils Surrey chose the less; he discharged most of +Bulmer's men, whom he pronounced ill-looking, worthless rascals, and took +Englishmen of the Pale in their places. The difficulty of buying forage +was thus obviated, as native horsemen could find it for themselves.[91] + +[Sidenote: Parliament of 1521.] + +A Parliament sat in Dublin for ten days in June 1521, and after many +prorogations was not finally dissolved till March 1522, when Surrey had +left Ireland. There appears to be no record of the peers who attended, or +of the places represented, and so little mention is afterwards made of +this Parliament that the interest attaching to it was probably slight. +Acts were passed making arson treason, forbidding the exportation of +wool as the cause of a 'dearth of cloth and idleness of many folks,' and +providing against the failure of justice through lack of jurors.[92] + +[Sidenote: Want of money.] + +The Irish Government had no command of money, the judicious employment of +which might enable them to dispense with troops. Surrey's expedition to +Munster was near failing for want of means to pay his men. Before the end +of August the exchequer was habitually empty; no taxes were due till +Michaelmas, nor leviable till Christmas; and nothing was to be had except +for ready money.[93] The King sent 4,000_l._, but would not face the +necessities of the case. It seemed to him monstrous to have to spend +1,600_l._ or 1,700_l._ a year merely for the defence of the Pale. His +remittances were mere palliatives, and Surrey was in difficulties during +his whole term of office. + +[Sidenote: Surrey recalled at his own request, 1521.] + +Surrey had to cope with disease as well as poverty. It was scarcely +possible to find healthy quarters for soldiers, and the people fled +everywhere into the fields, leaving unburied bodies behind them. No place +in Ireland was safe, and the Lord-Lieutenant, who lost three of his +servants, was anxious about his wife and children. Sir John Bulmer never +had a day of health in Ireland, and was glad to get home safe without +having seen any service. In the second year of his government, Surrey +himself was affected with the fever and diarrhoea which have often been +fatal to the English in Ireland, but his prayers were heard at last, and +he was recalled in time to save his life. He was much regretted by the +inhabitants of the Pale, who recognised his good nature, integrity, and +ability. Those who best knew the subject believed that he really saw how +the country might be reduced to order, and it was hoped that he would +return with sufficient means. Meanwhile, the Irish Council entreated +Wolsey to be guided by his advice.[94] + +[Sidenote: He leaves a great reputation.] + +Beloved by the King's subjects and feared by rebels, Surrey left one of +the fairest names among those who have ruled Ireland. He paid in full for +everything, so that the market followed him wherever he went, and he +declared that he would rather eat grass than feast with the curses of the +poor. His retinue had orders to behave in Ireland as they would at home. +So generous was he that the common people thought him the King's son. Nor +was he less just, for he gave full notice of his intended departure, and +discharged all debts due by him or his. It was thought that he never +offended within the compass of the seven deadly sins during his stay in +Ireland; tradition, with a fine contempt for facts, adds that 'in his +time was corn, cattle, fish, health, and fair weather, that the like was +not seen many years before.' We know from his own letters that corn was +dear and sickness prevalent, and we may be very sure that the weather was +not always fair.[95] + +[Sidenote: Sir Piers Butler is made Lord Deputy, 1522.] + +Henry had too much respect for Surrey's opinion to hand back Ireland at +once to Kildare; but he had resolved to reduce expenses, and was +therefore obliged to place the government in the hands of someone who had +the strength to make authority respected. No one satisfied this condition +except Sir Piers Butler, and Surrey was allowed to appoint him Deputy, +retaining the office of Lord-Lieutenant himself. There were objections to +Sir Piers, as to every Irish governor. The Butlers would not take the +field except under him or his eldest son, and he was generally laid up +with gout all the winter. Lord James, as the heir was called, was active +enough, but young and inexperienced. The choice, however, lay between +Ormonde and Kildare, and Sir Piers was so cautiously handled, that he +abstained from driving a hard bargain. + +[Sidenote: The experiment is not successful.] + +[Sidenote: O'Neills and O'Donnells.] + +The experiment was not very successful; for the Geraldines were +all-powerful in the Pale, and the new Lord Deputy, when in Dublin, was +separated from his own country by his rival's dominions. He took the +oath on March 26, 1522, but the O'Mores, who had heard that Kildare was +on his way to restore the good old times, soon began to threaten the +Pale. In the North a war broke out on such an unusually large scale as to +make it probable that O'Neill had promised Kildare to give the new Deputy +as much trouble as possible. Indeed, when Kildare did actually return, he +at once went to O'Neill's aid. The chief of Tyrone may have required +little persuasion to attack his hereditary foes, but the number of his +allies was very uncommon. MacWilliam of Clanricarde, Tirlough O'Brien, +Bishop of Killaloe, with many of his clansmen, O'Connor Don and O'Connor +Roe, MacWilliam of Mayo, and MacDermot of Moylurg, all agreed to assemble +on the southern border of Donegal. O'Neill brought to the trysting place +Magennis, O'Rourke, and MacMahon, and many Scottish mercenaries in the +hereditary service of his family. 'Great numbers,' we are told, 'of the +English of Meath, and the gallowglasses of the province of Leinster, of +the Clan-Donnell and Clan-Sheehy, also came thither, from their +attachment to the daughter of the Earl of Kildare, who was O'Neill's +mother.' To oppose this vast host, O'Donnell had only the clans +immediately subject to him, O'Boyle, O'Gallagher, O'Dogherty, and the +three septs of MacSwiney, hereditary gallowglasses of Tyrconnell. He +mustered his forces near Trim, on the Tyrone side of the Finn, and there +awaited the onset. But O'Neill adopted tactics very usual in Irish +warfare, passed by the northern shore of Lough Erne, reached Ballyshannon +without fighting, and slaughtered the garrison of MacSwineys there. +O'Donnell retaliated by sending his son Manus to ravage the nearest +districts of Tyrone, and himself hurried in pursuit of O'Neill across the +pass now called Barnesmore Gap. Again declining battle, O'Neill turned +back, spoiled the country between Donegal and Letterkenny, and encamped +on the hill which overlooks Strabane. O'Donnell returned very quickly +over Barnesmore, and, having been rejoined by his son, faced the enemy +near Lifford. There he held a council of war, and his followers in +desperation resolved on an immediate fight. Leaving their horses behind, +the O'Donnells crept up unperceived, drove in the outposts, and entered +the camp pell-mell. In the darkness and confusion faces could not be +distinguished, and many O'Neills fell by the hands of their brethren. +Nine hundred dead bodies were counted in the morning, including many of +the Leinster men who had come for the love of Kildare. Celtic war always +presents the same features, and the victorious O'Donnells quickly +disbanded with the horses and armour, the strong liquors and the rich +drinking vessels of the vanquished.[96] + +[Sidenote: O'Donnell is stronger than O'Neill.] + +When he had again collected his men, O'Donnell recrossed Barnesmore, +passed between Lough Melvin and the sea, and encamped at the foot of +Benbulben, the bold hill which tourists admire from Sligo. The Connaught +men were besieging that place when they heard of O'Donnell's victory, and +of his near approach. They offered to negotiate, and, having thus gained +time, they broke up from Sligo and retreated rapidly to the Curlew +mountains, where they separated. The panegyrists of the O'Donnells sing +pæans over two victories obtained without the help of English or Scotch +allies, and remarkable in Irish warfare, the one for its slaughter, the +other for its bloodlessness. Next year O'Donnell carried the war into +Tyrone, which he ravaged as far as Dungannon. At Knockinlossy he +destroyed a beautiful herb-garden, which must have been a rare thing in +those days, and from Tullahogue, where he established a temporary camp, +he spoiled the land far and wide. All the plunder was carried off safely, +and the invaders then returned for more; but peace was made instead, and +they turned their arms against O'Rourke. Fermanagh was wasted as Tyrone +had been, and we cannot be surprised that chiefs who thus preyed on each +other should fail to make head against the English Government.[97] + +[Sidenote: Sir Piers Butler is thwarted by the Geraldines.] + +During his short tenure of office, Sir Piers Butler undertook but one +warlike expedition. He chastised the O'Briens, and killed one of their +leaders at the ford of Camus on the Suir. But Kildare had returned to +Ireland, and was active in the field, acting at first in apparent unison +with the Lord Deputy. Supported by O'Neill, to whose arbitration +differences were submitted, he reduced to quiet the clans on the border +of the Pale. With both Butlers and Geraldines, the main object was to +enlarge and secure their hereditary territories; but the former sought +support in England, the latter among the wild tribes of Ulster. Lady +Kildare, a daughter of Grey, Marquis of Dorset, whom the Earl had married +during his late visit to England, complained bitterly to Wolsey that Sir +Piers oppressed her husband, spoiled his tenants and friends, and made +alliances with the wild Irish. She attributed this to Kildare's refusal +to act partially in the dispute with the Boleyn family. Sir Piers Butler +had married Kildare's sister, and he might not unreasonably count upon +his brother-in-law's assistance; but throughout the contests of this +century personal considerations were of little power compared with those +of clanship and family pride. Kildare's brother James killed Robert +Talbot of Belgard, on his way to Kilkenny, and it seems that the +Geraldines regarded all gentlemen of the Pale who opposed them as no +better than spies. But Sir Piers was naturally incensed at the outrage on +his friend and visitor.[98] + +[Sidenote: Kildare in Ulster.] + +The general lawlessness is well shown by an expedition which Kildare +undertook against O'Neill of Clandeboye, partly, as he owned, in revenge +of the damage done to his property there, and partly, as he told the +King, to punish attacks upon English merchants. At Carrickfergus he found +a Breton ship which had just landed a cargo of Gascon wine. England and +France were at peace, but the foreigners were fain to avoid capture by +putting to sea without having been paid for their goods. The taste for +claret was early developed in Ireland, and this relief from payment may +have had a charm like the exemption from legal duties in more modern +times. A Scotch vessel laden with provisions, which lay out in Belfast +Lough, was attacked by the Geraldines in boats and forced ashore. Hugh +O'Neill, who had 1,500 Scots with him, rescued the crew, and in revenge +Kildare destroyed Belfast and two other castles, and burned the country +for twenty-four miles round. The Mayor of Carrickfergus and three of the +chief townsmen were sent prisoners to England for trading with the French +and Scots. If we are to believe Kildare's account, the Lord Deputy took +the opportunity of handing over his castles to the O'Connors, of making a +league with O'Carroll, and of carrying off 500 stud mares and colts from +the county of Kildare.[99] + +[Sidenote: Kildare is restored.] + +It became evident at last that Sir Piers Butler was not strong enough to +govern without Kildare's help, and Henry reverted to his father's policy +of entrusting all Ireland to the man whom all Ireland could not govern. +One more effort was made to reconcile the rivals by sending over royal +commissioners, who prevailed upon them to make an agreement under seal as +the basis of mutual concession. Kildare's stud mares had been taken by a +namesake of his own, but Sir Piers covenanted to give them up if they +came within his power. The subsidy payable by Tipperary to Kildare when +he was Deputy was forgiven, as was half the subsidy paid by the county of +Kildare to Butler during his tenure of office. In general, everyone was +to behave well, to keep the peace, and not to make friends with Irish +rebels.[100] + +[Sidenote: Arrangements for local government.] + +Butler and Kildare, and the principal gentlemen living on the marches of +the Pale, were bound at this time to adopt a certain order in their +countries, the two greater chiefs under penalties of 1,000 marks each, +and the others in sums varying from 200 marks to 40_l._ They made +themselves liable in general for their own acts and for those of their +sons and brethren, covenanting not to use the Brehon law nor those Irish +exactions which usually accompanied it, and to repress crime as far as +their power reached. Kildare, on his appointment as Deputy, covenanted +with the King not to make war or peace with Irishmen at the public charge +without consent of the Council. This was intended to prevent another +Knocktoe. Coyne and livery for the public service were to be reduced to +fixed rules. Householders were to be allowed to compound by paying +twopence a meal for a footman, and threehalfpence for a horseman or +groom; twelve sheaves of oats for a trooper, and eight for a draught +horse was to be the allowance, and not more than one boy was to accompany +each horse. If the Earl travelled on private business, or on his way to +attend Parliament, he was not to take coyne and livery save from his own +tenants; and in no case except for the actual use of soldiers, nor for +more than one night in one place, nor for successive nights within a +distance of nine miles. It had been the custom to charge the farmers for +'black men,' that is, for soldiers who only existed in name and as a +means of extortion. Treaties with Irishmen were not to be made to +prejudice the Crown, nor were pardons to be given without the consent of +the Council. The King's castles were to be kept in repair, and the Earl +was to do his best to make the people of the Pale speak, dress, and shave +like Englishmen. The salaries of the judges were to be paid; and Kildare +promised if possible to have sheriffs, escheators, and coroners appointed +in Meath, Dublin, Louth, Wexford, Kilkenny, Tipperary, and Waterford, and +to provide for the holding of Quarter Sessions in due course.[101] It is +noteworthy that the counties of Kildare and Cork are not mentioned, and +that Tipperary is; the probability being that the two former were +purposely excluded as being under Geraldine influence. As to the Butler +Palatinate of Tipperary, it is possible that only the ecclesiastical +portion or cross was intended, but it is more likely that Kildare +purposely placed his rival's district in a worse position than his own or +those of Desmond. On the other hand, he promised not to go to war with +the Butlers, or with their allies the Darcys and Nugents, without the +consent of the Council. The new Lord Deputy promised not to purchase +during his tenure of office any lands of which the title was in dispute. +James Fitzgerald was carried to England to answer for the death of +Talbot, and led through the streets of London with a halter round his +neck; but was pardoned in defiance of Wolsey's opinion at the +intercession of Denton, Dean of Lichfield, who had been one of the +commissioners lately sent to Ireland.[102] + +[Sidenote: The Butlers and Geraldines still quarrel.] + +In spite of all precautions, the perennial quarrel of Butlers and +Geraldines was not stopped by the appointment of Kildare. Sir Piers sent +his son James to London to watch the family interests there, in which +task he was to be guided by Robert Cowley. Kildare even asserted that Sir +Piers had given a signet to his trusty adherent, with the aid of which he +might attest any written statement he chose to make. James Butler was +either really too much occupied with the pleasure of the Court, or was +crafty enough to appear so, while waiting for an opportunity. 'Surely,' +his father wrote, 'unless I see your time better employed in attendance +of my great business, than ye have done hither, I will be well advised or +I do send you any more, to your costs.' A chief part of the business was +the prisage of wines, especially at Waterford, which had always formed an +important part of the Butler revenue. Kildare, as Lord Deputy, had +insisted that an account should be given into the Exchequer, and Sir +Piers argued that this was done merely to annoy him, and not at all out +of regard to the King's revenue. He declared that the indentures which +the new Deputy had executed were 'in no point observed,' and, in +particular, that coyne and livery were ruthlessly exacted, two villages +in Kilkenny having to maintain no less than 420 gallowglasses. The Butler +tenants were so impoverished that they could pay no rent and, moreover, +the Deputy had not paid the half-subsidy of 800_l._ as he had bound +himself to do. The King peremptorily ordered payment, but the claim was +still disputed, and it does not appear that the money was ever handed +over. Meanwhile, Lord Leonard Grey, the Deputy's brother-in-law, pressed +many grave complaints upon the royal attention. Sir Piers was accused of +levying coyne and livery for craftsmen as well as soldiers, and for his +hunting establishment. There were separate packs for hare, stag, and +martin, and no less than sixty greyhounds; the whole charge on Kilkenny +and Tipperary amounting to 2,000 marks.[103] + +[Sidenote: Recriminations. Great disorders.] + +Sir Piers was further accused of illegally occupying Callan and other +royal manors in Kilkenny and Tipperary, but these lands were soon +afterwards specially granted to him and his wife, and to their heirs +male. Kildare charged his rival with helping O'Carroll and lending him +cannon to defend Leap Castle against him. The fact was hardly disputed, +but it had occurred as far back as 1516, and it was alleged in answer +that the attack on O'Carroll was wanton and unprovoked. There were also +accusations of intriguing with the O'Mores, of spoiling a village in +Kildare and slaughtering the people even at the altar, of using the +Castle of Arklow to rob the lieges by land and sea, of levying illegal +taxes, and, in short, of behaving as Anglo-Irish noblemen generally did. +A far graver charge against Sir Piers was the not having punished certain +of his servants who were present at the barbarous murder of Maurice +Doran, Bishop of Leighlin. The murderer was Maurice Kavanagh, his own +Archdeacon, whom the Bishop had reproved for his crimes. It was said, +moreover, that the churches in Tipperary and Kilkenny were ruinous, and +that Sir Piers was in all things under the influence of his wife, the +Lord Deputy's sister. It is satisfactory to know that the Bishop's +tonsured assassin did not escape, for Kildare had him hanged and +disembowelled at the scene of the murder: he was a near relation of Sir +Piers Butler, which may account for the Lord Deputy's anxiety to do +justice in this particular case.[104] + +[Sidenote: Kildare again in Ulster, 1524.] + +Kildare never ceased to harass such Irish chiefs as he chose to consider +his enemies. In the autumn of 1524 he led an army to help his kinsman +O'Neill against O'Donnell, and encamped near Strabane. Manus O'Donnell, +who had just returned from Scotland, wished to attack at once with his +strong force of Macdonnells; but he was overruled by his father, who +feared the Deputy's artillery. Flights of arrows were directed against +the intrenchments all night, and in the morning Kildare thought it +prudent to make peace and to depart without fighting. His old enemy Hugh +O'Neill attempted to intercept him, but was killed in the skirmish which +ensued. After this Kildare seems to have kept quiet for some months, and +to have endeavoured to make peace among the Ulster clans. O'Neill and +O'Donnell, or O'Donnell's son Manus, visited Dublin; but all efforts to +reconcile them were ineffectual, 'so that they returned to their homes in +strife, and the war continued as before.'[105] + +[Sidenote: Butler goes to England, 1526. Kildare sent for the next year.] + +In September 1526 Sir Piers Butler went to England to press his various +suits, and to complain of Kildare's conduct. At Bristol he was in great +danger of his life, the citizens having quarrelled with his retinue, who +were probably for the most part Irish in speech and habits. According to +Sir Piers the townsmen were the aggressors, and no provocation was given +to the 600 men who surrounded his lodgings and threatened to set the +house on fire. In spite of the interposition of the mayor and of some of +the King's officers, Sir Piers was obliged to surrender certain of his +men and to find securities for the rest. A grant of considerable +possessions in Ireland rewarded him for the troubles and dangers of the +journey to Court. He accused Kildare of conspiring with Irish enemies to +help Desmond in the foreign intrigues which he was undoubtedly carrying +on, and of neglecting to arrest him when ordered to do so by special +letters from the King. It was said that he entered Munster for the +ostensible purpose of effecting this arrest, but sent private word to +Desmond to avoid him, and to plead his privilege not to attend Parliament +or enter walled towns. It was scarcely fair to expect that the head of +one branch of the Geraldines should willingly imprison the head of the +other; but Kildare was also accused of employing Irish enemies to oppress +the Butlers, was summoned to London, and was at once committed to the +Tower. He was soon brought before the Council, and Wolsey is said to have +assailed him in a violent speech, calling him King of Ireland, a king who +was able to bring back his own from the furthest edge of Ulster, but who +would do nothing against a rebellious lord who had defied the Crown of +England. After a time Kildare interrupted the Cardinal, saying that he +was no orator, and that if he did not answer each charge in detail as it +was uttered, his memory would fail him and his case would thus be +prejudiced. This was considered reasonable, and the Earl hastened to +ridicule the notion that Desmond's liberty depended on him. 'Cannot,' he +asked, 'the Earl of Desmond shift, but I must be of counsel? Cannot he +hide him except I wink?' Then he turned round upon Wolsey, whom he +averred to be quite as much king in England as he was in Ireland. Indeed, +he would willingly change places for one month, and would engage to pick +up more crumbs in that time than could be bought with all the revenues of +his Irish earldom. 'I slumber,' he continued, 'in a hard cabin, when you +sleep in a soft bed of down; I serve under the King his cope of heaven, +when you are served under a canopy; I drink water out of my skull, when +you drink wine out of golden cups; my courser is trained to the field, +when your genet is taught to amble; when you are begraced and belorded, +and crouched and kneeled unto, then find I small grace with our Irish +borderers, except I cut them off by the knees.' Wolsey broke up the +Council in high dudgeon, and sent the Earl back to the Tower until +further evidence should arrive from Ireland. Before leaving Dublin, +Kildare had taken the precaution of seeing each Councillor separately and +binding him by oath to write in his favour.[106] + +[Sidenote: Wolsey accused of plotting Kildare's death.] + +Wolsey is said to have taken it upon himself to send a death-warrant to +the Governor of the Tower, which arrived while that officer was playing +shovel-board with his prisoner. On reading it the Lieutenant sighed, and +Kildare remarked, 'By St. Bride, there is some mad game in that scroll, +but fall how it will this throw is for a huddle.' On learning the +contents of the paper he begged his gaoler to go straight to the King and +ask his real pleasure. Unwilling to offend Wolsey, but still more +unwilling to obey him, the Lieutenant repaired to Whitehall and was at +once admitted, though it was ten o'clock at night. The King immediately +respited the execution, and is said to have used strong language, calling +Wolsey a saucy, over-officious priest, and threatening him with +unpleasant consequences.[107] + +[Sidenote: But the Cardinal has perhaps been misrepresented.] + +Such is the received story. Yet Wolsey, who is represented as thirsting +for Kildare's blood, was not even disposed to remove him from the +viceroyalty. This forbearance arose from no love for the troublesome +Earl, but it was thought that if he were detained in England and treated +with some show of favour, his Irish adherents would be afraid to move. In +case the King should nevertheless resolve to remove Kildare, then Wolsey +advised that Sir Piers should again be made Deputy, the real government +being in the hands of his son. Henry, however, thought that James Butler +was too young for so great a charge, and that the noblemen of Ireland +would disdain to be led by one who was junior to them all.[108] + +[Sidenote: The Earldom of Ormonde.] + +While Kildare's fortunes were thus clouded, his rival was at Court +looking after his own interests. The Earldom of Ormonde, to which he was +the true heir male, had been conferred, together with that of Wiltshire, +on Sir Thomas Boleyn, grandson, through his mother, of the late Earl. Sir +Piers, who was too prudent to oppose the father of Anne and Mary Boleyn, +and who perhaps thought one earldom nearly as good as another, was +content to accept the title of Ossory. Five years before, Henry had +thought to reconcile the rival claimants by marrying James Butler to Anne +Boleyn, but the negotiation had come to nothing, and the King now +destined the lady for himself.[109] + +[Sidenote: Sir Piers Butler is created Earl of Ossory.] + +The new creation was made at Windsor with great pomp. Arriving late in +the evening from London, Sir Piers, who was in delicate health, lay at +his own lodgings in the town, as being warmer and more comfortable than +the rooms of the Lord Chamberlain, with whom he breakfasted next morning. +We are particularly told that good fires were lit after mass. The Marquis +of Exeter and the Earl of Oxford led the new peer into the presence +chamber, the Earl of Rutland bearing the sword. The grandees dined +together at the King's expense after the investiture, and then, having +changed his dress, the Earl was again conducted into the royal presence +by the Marquis of Exeter. Having taken leave of Henry and of the Queen +and Princess, and having duly feed the waiters, Ossory returned to +London, where he paid a parting visit to Wolsey, and then returned into +his own country.[110] + +[Sidenote: The Vice-Deputy Delvin is captured by the O'Connors, 1528.] + +Leaving Kildare in the Tower, we must now go back to Ireland, where +Richard Nugent, seventh Baron of Delvin, had been acting as Vice-Deputy, +Sir James Fitzgerald, whom Kildare had left in charge, having been +superseded by the Irish Council. When Archbishop Inge and Chief Justice +Bermingham heard of Kildare's imprisonment, they wrote to Wolsey +regretting the Earl's absence, and expressing their doubts as to whether +he was guilty of any such practices as were charged against him. They +considered Delvin incompetent, for he had no great fortune of his own to +eke out the scanty revenue of Ireland. The people were more heavily taxed +than ever, and they were not defended; for the armed bands which were +always at Kildare's beck and call would serve no one else. As the Pale +was desolated by the absence of one Earl, so were Tipperary and Kilkenny +by the absence of another; and the worst was to be feared unless they +both speedily returned. These gloomy forebodings were soon fulfilled; for +Delvin, against the advice of the Council, withheld the black-rent which +O'Connor, Kildare's son-in-law, had been used to receive from Meath. The +aggrieved chief surprised the Vice-Deputy on the march, killed most of +his men, and took him prisoner. Lord Butler, who was present, had +prudently provided himself with a safe-conduct; he lodged that night with +the victorious O'Connor, and was allowed to have an interview with his +distinguished prisoner. The chief and his brothers were present, and the +two noblemen were not allowed to speak English nor to confer in private. +Speaking in Irish, O'Connor insisted on having his black-rent again, or +being paid a ransom for the Vice-Deputy, and on receiving a distinct +promise that the men of the Pale should not avenge his overthrow. But +Butler's diplomacy was not yet exhausted. By the advice of a Mr. White, +who was among O'Connor's guests, he sought a private interview with +Cahir, the chief's brother, who of course had a party of his own among +the clansmen. Cahir readily agreed to escort Lord Butler out of his +brother's country, and was afterwards persuaded to visit Lord Ossory at +Kilkenny. He professed loyalty and was ready to prove it by his actions, +if only he could be sure that Kildare would not sooner or later return +and have his revenge--that was his only fear.[111] + +[Sidenote: The Geraldines still in the ascendant.] + +While his son was thus by policy undermining the Irish enemies of his +house, Ossory was busy looking about for Irish allies. Hard pressed by +the Desmonds and O'Briens, he wished to avoid a rupture with the +O'Connors, and tried the efficacy of smooth speeches. As the price of an +alliance against this possible foe O'Carroll demanded 40_l._, besides +anything that the King or Deputy might give. O'More claimed the help of +the Butlers against Kildare, and a money reward also. MacGilpatrick +stipulated that Ossory should release him from debts amounting to 400 +marks. The Earl agreed to these terms; but his immediate object was not +attained, for Delvin remained a prisoner until early in the following +year. In the meanwhile Sir Thomas Fitzgerald, Kildare's brother, acted +as Deputy, and the Geraldine policy was practically successful.[112] + +[Sidenote: Kildare is accused by Cowley and others, 1528.] + +The late Lord-Lieutenant, now Duke of Norfolk, attributed all the woes of +Ireland to the quarrel between Butlers and Geraldines, and he was on the +whole in favour of maintaining the latter faction in power. Ossory and +his son were loyal enough, but they could scarcely hold their own against +the Desmonds and O'Briens, and could do nothing in the Pale, where they +had no natural authority and where public opinion was against them. They +would be entirely dependent on their own followers, who would eat more +than their services were worth. On the other hand, Robert Cowley, +Ossory's faithful agent, was always at hand to prevent Henry and Wolsey +from yielding too completely to Norfolk's advice. It is said that on one +occasion he complained of Kildare to the Council, and that he shed tears +in the course of his speech 'for pity,' as he said, 'upon his father's +son.' 'He is,' retorted the Earl, 'like the plover taken in setting his +snares, and waiting for his desired purpose, his eyes being against the +wind and the water dropping out. So many plovers as he taketh he knocketh +their brains out with his thumb, notwithstanding his watery tears of +contemplation. Even like doth Mr. Cowley with me; his tears cometh down; +he layeth shrewd matters or articles to my charge.'[113] + +[Sidenote: The Duke of Richmond Lord-Lieutenant, 1529. His Deputy, Sir +William Skeffington.] + +If this story be true we must assign it to the autumn of 1528, when +Cowley was certainly in London. O'Connor had just invaded the Pale, and +evidence afterwards came to light which connected Kildare with his +son-in-law's proceedings. Early in August, Kildare's daughter Alice, the +wife of Lord Slane, came to Ireland and went straight to O'Connor's +house. Sir Gerald MacShane Fitzgerald afterwards swore before the Irish +Council that Melour Faye had revealed to him a secret agreement between +himself and Kildare, and that Lady Slane's arrival was the preconcerted +signal that her father was detained in England. Ossory was at war with +Desmond when O'Connor made his attack, but abandoned his expedition and +hurried off to defend the Pale. He took occasion to remind Wolsey of the +hereditary policy of the house of Kildare. By stirring up rebellion in +Ireland when he was detained at Court the late Earl had made himself +chief governor for life; his son had followed suit, and the Pale had +practically transferred its allegiance from the King of England to the +Earl of Kildare. Henry thought it prudent to give the Earl his liberty, +but resolved to have a Viceroy who should hold Ireland for the Crown +only. He made his son, the Duke of Richmond, Lord-Lieutenant, thereby +giving the Emperor great offence, and assigned him as Deputy Sir William +Skeffington, a Leicestershire man, who had been long in the public +service. Meanwhile the sovereign had frowned. In the month following that +in which Skeffington was appointed, Wolsey saw Henry at Grafton for the +last time, and three weeks later he was indicted in the King's Bench. +Kildare remained in London, for he was one of those who signed the famous +letter to Clement VII., in which the English notables reproached the Pope +for his partiality, and laid upon him the responsibility of a disputed +succession, with all its terrors and troubles.[114] + +[Sidenote: Skeffington's instructions.] + +Skeffington had long served as Master of the Ordnance, whence the Irish, +who may have been offended at the appointment of a commoner, gave him the +name of 'the gunner.' He was accompanied by Edward Staples, a +Lincolnshire man, whom the King had appointed Bishop of Meath, and +brought with him 200 horse and a sum of money. He was instructed in the +first place to reconcile, if possible, the conflicting interests of the +Earls of Kildare, Ossory, and Desmond. He was not to make any serious +attack on the wild Irish without the consent of the majority of the +Council, especially when it would involve charging the country with the +support of an army. The established custom of taking provisions for the +ordinary movements of troops was, however, allowed. Skeffington was to +hold a Parliament, but was to get all the money he could by way of +subsidy before it met, and to pay the gross levy into the +Vice-Treasurer's hands. Kildare's loyal promises were to be taken as +sincere, and the Deputy was enjoined to help him in his enterprises as if +they were undertaken in the King's name. The Earl might retain half the +proceeds, provided the remainder were handed over to the +Vice-Treasurer.[115] + +[Sidenote: The O'Tooles chastised, 1530. Ulster invaded, 1531. Submission +of O'Donnell.] + +Kildare returned to Ireland some months after Skeffington's arrival, and +his first exploit was to chastise the O'Tooles, with the help of 200 +archers supplied by the city of Dublin. Next year Ulster was invaded. A +treaty had already been concluded at Drogheda, by which O'Donnell +promised the King allegiance, and bound himself to assist Skeffington +against all his Majesty's enemies. He covenanted for O'Reilly, Maguire, +and MacQuillin, as well as for himself, and Skeffington bound himself to +give them such help and protection as was due to the King's subjects. In +pursuance of this agreement Skeffington, accompanied by Kildare and +Ossory, ravaged Tyrone on both sides of the Blackwater, from Clogher to +Caledon, and penetrated to Monaghan, which was undefended. There +O'Donnell and some malcontent O'Neills met them, but they did not venture +to meet the tyrant of the North in the field, a measure of the weakness +of government at that time.[116] + +[Sidenote: Skeffington is overshadowed by Kildare.] + +It clearly appeared that the Lord Deputy was in a false position as +regards Kildare. When the Butlers were out on a foray, the Geraldines +attacked their camp, killed the officer on guard, and carried off horses, +arms, and provisions. It was even said that the Earl of Kildare +displayed his banner openly, and led his men to the attack. With great +difficulty and at Skeffington's earnest request, Ossory prevented his +followers from retaliating, but he poured complaints into Cromwell's +attentive ears. Kildare allowed his adherents to seize the titular Baron +of Burntchurch in Kilkenny, while passing through Castledermot, on his +way to attend Parliament. The Baron was a Fitzgerald, but on friendly +terms with Ossory, who would have rescued him in spite of Kildare but for +the Lord Deputy's express prohibition; as it was, the poor man lost his +horse, money, and apparel without redress. 'This,' said Ossory, 'is a +good encouragement to malefactors to commit spoils, having the advantage +thereof without punishment or restitution.' It was not the first nor the +last time in Ireland that the friends of law and order have been less +safe than its enemies, and that the Government has hampered those whom it +could not protect. Indeed, the Kilkenny borough members fared no better +than their neighbours, for they were seized at the gate of Athy by +Murtagh MacOwney, who wished that he had the King in the end of a +handlock, and the Deputy in the other end, as surely as he had the worthy +burgesses. In fact, Skeffington had scarcely any power. Kildare detained +the hostages of the natives, in spite of direct orders to send them to +Dublin, and thus let it be clearly seen that the King's representative +was a mere instrument in his hands.[117] + +[Sidenote: Kildare goes to England, 1532, and regains favour.] + +It was commonly said in Ireland that all the parchment and wax in England +would not bring the Earl of Kildare thither again; but this saying turned +out not to be true. So well had the Earl managed his affairs, that he +ventured across the Channel early in 1532, and, after a six months' +residence at Court, returned with the legal as well as the real power of +a Chief Governor. Sir John Rawson, Prior of Kilmainham, and Chief Justice +Bermingham, supported Kildare's counter-charges against Ossory, and +accused Skeffington of partiality in his favour. There was an attempt to +show that Ossory's hostility arose from the fear that Kildare would +support Wiltshire's claims upon the Ormonde estates. But Ossory +maintained that he had long since compromised all claims against his +property, that Kildare's advocacy of Wiltshire's pretensions was +collusive and fraudulent, and that the King would be the real loser of +the possession, if such castles as Arklow and Tullow were given to the +too powerful Geraldine under colour of another man's sham title. Anne +Boleyn's star was now at its zenith; her father was fond of money, and +perhaps saw a chance of extorting it from opposite quarters. It is clear +that any claim of his was likely at this time to be favourably regarded, +and it may be in this way that the lately waning influence of Kildare was +restored. + +[Sidenote: Kildare again Deputy.] + +Having secured the much-coveted patent, Kildare hastened to Dublin and +relieved Skeffington, who, having arrears of business to transact, was +allowed to dance attendance among other suitors in his successor's +ante-chamber. On the very day of his arrival, the new Lord Deputy took +the Great Seal from his enemy Archbishop Alen, and gave it to the Primate +Cromer. As a sop to the opposite faction, Lord Butler was made Lord +Treasurer by the King; but the Deputy was supreme in the Council, and +those who were not his friends thought only of saving themselves from his +anger. Thus relieved from all restraint, and perhaps thinking himself +indispensable, as indeed he well might, the Earl turned upon his +hereditary enemy. While his brother Sir John Fitzgerald was helping +O'Neill to ravage Louth, the lawful guardian of the Pale devastated +Kilkenny; his men were allowed to plunder the peaceable folk resorting to +Castledermot Fair, and to murder a due proportion. He used the sword +which the King had committed to him 'utterly to extinguish the fame and +honour of any other noble man within that land ... shadowed with that +authority, so that, whatever he did, it should not be repugned at.'[118] + +[Sidenote: The O'Carrolls.] + +There was at this time a fierce dispute as to who should succeed Mulrony +O'Carroll, who among southern chiefs in his time 'destroyed most in +regard to foreigners and improved most in regard to Gaedhill.' A brother +would in the usual course have succeeded to these glories; but there was +always a strong tendency to substitute the hereditary for the elective +principle, and a claim was advanced on behalf of Mulrony's son +Fergananim, to whom Kildare, choosing his time, had just given his +daughter. Ossory of course espoused the cause of the brothers, but was +defeated with the loss of several small pieces of cannon. On the same day +the old chief died, and, as he favoured his son's pretensions, this was +numbered among his victories. Having been a man of blood, and having +lavished some of his plunder upon the clergy, he was rewarded after death +with hyperbolical praises. 'He was,' the 'Four Masters' inform us, 'a +protecting hero to all; the guiding firm helm of his tribe; a triumphant +traverser of tribes; a jocund and majestic Munster champion; a precious +stone; a carbuncle gem; the anvil of the solidity, and the golden pillar +of the Elyans.' Fergananim was at first acknowledged as chief, but his +uncle soon occupied Birr and other castles, and ravaged the country from +thence. The Lord Deputy came in person before Birr, and received a bullet +wound in the side. As he groaned with the pain, a kerne is reported to +have encouraged him by saying that he himself had three bullets in him, +and felt none the worse. 'I wish,' replied the Earl, 'you had this one +along with the others.'[119] He was less fortunate than his follower, for +the bullet, which came out of itself some months later, lamed him for +life, and affected his speech. Birr Castle was, however, taken.[120] + +[Sidenote: Parliament of 1533. Miserable state of the country.] + +Kildare held a Parliament in Dublin in 1533, but we know nearly as little +about it as about that held by Surrey. The most important law passed +appears to have been one for the punishment of those who stole corn under +colour of taking wages for harvest work in kind. This meeting of +Parliament gave rise to a renewal of the old dispute about precedency +between Armagh and Dublin. Alen could no longer rely upon the patronage +of Wolsey, and it is certain that Kildare's influence would be exerted +against him. But the Deputy had been making so many enemies, that the +increased hostility of Alen would not count for much. A heavy reckoning +had been scored up; and John Dethyke, or Derrick, a prebendary of St. +Patrick, gave voice to the prevailing discontent. With bitter irony he +assured Cromwell that the people were excellently disposed and full of +abstinence. Their accustomed ceremony was to abstain from flesh on +Wednesday, but their devotion had so much increased that they now +abstained likewise on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. 'I trust to +Jesu,' he continued. 'Ye shall hear that there shall be many saints among +them; but they play the fox's part, shy of hens when he could not reach +them.' All the butchers in Dublin had not as much meat between them as +would make a mess of broth, and those who owned no cattle were driven to +dry bread. Marauders entered the suburbs of Dublin, and one butcher had +lost 220 beasts. No one could safely ride a mile out of town, and it was +useless to complain; for the Deputy was visited with that distressing +form of deafness which affects those who do not wish to hear. The poor +butchers had accordingly shut up their shops, and taken to making leather +breeches, as if it were perpetual Lent. And not only did the Viceroy do +nothing, but he took the opportunity of removing the King's artillery +from Dublin to his own castles. Meanwhile, the O'Byrnes actually entered +Dublin Castle, and carried off prisoners and cattle, 'insomuch as nightly +since great watch is in the city of Dublin, fearing that the same should +be pilfered, prostrate, and destroyed, whereof they never dreaded so +much.' Even Sir James Fitzgerald complained that his brother oppressed +him cruelly for having done good service under Skeffington, and Norfolk's +tenants in Carlow were in no better plight.[121] + +[Sidenote: Charges accumulate against Kildare.] + +The Council did not directly attack Kildare; but they sent over Sir John +Alen, the Master of the Rolls, to enlighten Henry upon the true state of +affairs. They directed Alen to report that English laws and customs were +unknown except within twenty miles of Dublin, and that unless something +were done they would soon be driven even from that contracted area. +Various errors of policy, such as the practice of entrusting viceregal +power to Irish lords and of giving away Crown lands, had so strengthened +the Irishry and weakened the Pale, that the King would soon not have +revenue enough to maintain a Deputy. Two archbishops, two bishops, four +of the great regular ecclesiastics, two temporal peers, and three judges +signed the document embodying these severe strictures, and they reminded +Henry that unless he looked the better to it, Ireland might be used +against him by any enterprising foreign enemy. Even more outspoken was a +native of Ireland, closely associated with the Master of the Rolls, who +declared that loyal subjects had been ill requited, and that people had +come to look upon the viceroyalty as part of Kildare's inheritance. +Everyone who opposed him suffered for it, and all his offences were +passed over. 'Always after the malice of the Geraldines was resisted and +the land staid, the King withdrew his aid from thence, putting the +malefactors in his authority; whereas, if he had continued the same +there, and suppressed the others, undoubtedly a marvellous profit and +commodity should have issued thereby.... What subjects under any prince +in the world would love, obey, or defend the right of that prince, which +(notwithstanding their true hearts and service toward him) would +afterwards put them under the governance of such as should daily practise +to prosecute and destroy them for the same?' The question has often been +asked in Ireland since then.[122] + +[Sidenote: The Geraldines become intolerable.] + +The confusion between the Earl of Kildare, in his own character, and in +that of Lord Deputy, was not at all conducive to good government. Private +opposition to the subject was easily represented as treason to the King +in his representative's person, and was indeed likely enough to grow into +it. It was believed that the recent murder of Ossory's son Thomas by +Dermot Fitzpatrick was not altogether the work of Irishry. Kildare and +his sons and brothers provoked attacks on every side. The moral effect of +O'Byrne's raid had of course been disastrous, and no one felt himself +safe. The principal remedies suggested were the appointment of a Deputy +for a long term, Norfolk being preferred, and after him Skeffington, the +abolition of Irish customs, and the education of young noblemen and +chiefs' sons at the English Court. Local presidencies were also +recommended, but the first thing was to get rid of Kildare. The +Geraldines indeed did not conceal that their interests were not those of +the Crown. 'Thou fool,' said Sir Gerald MacShane to the Earl's brother +Thomas, who had some legal scruples, 'thou shalt be the more esteemed in +Ireland to take part against the King; for what hadst thou been if thy +father had not done so? What was he set by until he crowned a King here; +took Garth, the King's captain, prisoner; hanged his son; resisted +Poynings and all Deputies; killed them of Dublin upon Oxmantown Green; +would suffer no man to rule here for the King, but himself? Then the King +regarded him, made him Deputy and married thy mother to him; or else thou +shouldst never have had foot of land, where now thou mayst dispend 400 +marks by year, or above.'[123] + +[Sidenote: Kildare is forced to go to England, 1534.] + +As the result of Alen's efforts, Kildare was summoned to Court. The Earl +doubtless felt that his chances would be small if once the Tower gates +closed upon him, and he sent his wife over to get the order revoked, on +the old ground that he could not be spared. Lady Kildare's diplomacy +failed, and her husband was summoned a second time; but was allowed to +appoint a Vice-Deputy. This may, or may not, have been a bait to induce +him to go quietly, for nothing less than an army could have taken him by +force. Skeffington had been working hard against his enemy, and was in +constant communication with Cromwell, watching the port of Chester, so as +to be in London as soon or sooner than the Earl. He reported that Lady +Kildare's servants delayed the King's letters purposely, and that he was +most anxious for the moment when he should at last be able to prove his +charges against the Lord-Deputy.[124] + +[Sidenote: His eldest son remains as Deputy.] + +Kildare had now no choice but between obedience and open rebellion. +Before embarking at Drogheda he delivered the sword to his eldest son in +the presence of several members of Council. Thomas Lord Offaly, better +known as Lord Thomas and Silken Thomas, was about twenty years old, and +his father advised him to be guided in all things by his uncle, Sir James +Fitzgerald; his cousin, Sir Thomas Eustace; his great-aunt, Lady Janet +Eustace, and her husband and son, Walter and James Delahide. It is +impossible to pronounce on the genuineness of the speech which the +chronicler puts into Kildare's mouth, but the advice contained in it +would have been well suited to the occasion. He told his son that his +youth should be guided by age; his ignorance by experience. He was, he +said, putting a naked sword into a young man's hand, and urged him to +defer to the Council, 'for albeit in authority you rule them, yet in +counsel they must rule you.'[125] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[76] See his patent of Nov. 8, 1510. Council of Ireland to the King, June +8, 1509, in _Brewer_; _Four Masters_; _Annals of Lough Cé_. + +[77] _Earls of Kildare_, p. 69; Ware; _Four Masters_. Kildare died Sept. +3, 1513. + +[78] See the grant in _Brewer_, Dec. 2, 1513, and again, March 24, 1516. + +[79] Kildare to the King, Dec. 1, and Archbishop Rokeby to Wolsey, Dec. +12, 1515, both in _Brewer_. + +[80] _Four Masters_, 1516. + +[81] _Ibid._ + +[82] Kite to Wolsey, May 1 and June 7, 1514, R.O.; Lady Kildare's +_Articles of Complaint_, 1515, R.O.; Ware's _Annals_. + +[83] The tract by Finglas is in _Carew_, under 1515. + +[84] For further details of Irish exactions see Ware's _Antiquities_, and +_Presentments of Irish Grand Juries in the Sixteenth Century_, ed. Hore +and Graves, p. 266, _sqq._ Articles by Sir William Darcy, June 24, 1515, +in _Carew_. + +[85] The paper printed by Leland, ii. 132, contains only Donogh +O'Carroll's recollections. Surrey to Wolsey, September 6, 1520. + +[86] The Lord-Lieutenant and Council to the King, August 25; Surrey to +Wolsey, August 27; Surrey to the King, July 29, 1521. + +[87] The Lord-Lieutenant and Council to the King, October 6; Surrey to +Wolsey, November 3; Surrey to Wolsey, April 27, 1521. + +[88] The King to Surrey, No. 12 of the printed State Papers; the King to +an Irishman, No. 14 of the same; Instructions for Sir John Petchie, No. +18 of the same. + +[89] Surrey to the King, July 31, 1521. + +[90] Stile to Wolsey, July 30, 1571; Surrey to the King, July 29 and +September 14; Ware. + +[91] The King to Surrey, May 1520; Surrey to Wolsey, September 6 and 25; +the King to Surrey, S.P. No. 12; Surrey to Wolsey, November 3; Surrey to +the King, September 14, 1521. + +[92] _Irish Statutes_, 13 Henry VIII. + +[93] The Lord-Lieutenant and Council to the King, August 25, 1520. The +King to Surrey, Nos. 12 and 19 in the printed S.P. + +[94] Surrey to the King, September 16, 1521; to Pace, December 2. The +latter letter was written in bed. Surrey to Wolsey, August 2 and November +3, 1520. + +[95] The Council of Ireland to Wolsey, December 21 and February 28, 1522; +Dowling's _Annals_, 1519; Sir John Davies' _Discovery_; the _Book of +Howth_. + +[96] _Four Masters_; _Annals of Lough Cé_, 1522. Stile to Wolsey, April +25, 1522. + +[97] _Four Masters_, 1522; _Annals of Lough Cé_. + +[98] Ware; Lady Kildare to Wolsey, May 25, 1523. + +[99] Kildare to the King, May 24, 1523. + +[100] Indentures between Kildare, Ormond (_sic_), the King's +Commissioners, and others, July 28, 1524. The Commissioners were Sir A. +Fitzherbert, Ralph Egerton, and James Denton, Dean of Lichfield. Kildare +to the King, May 24, 1523. + +[101] Indentures as above; Recognisances for the Marchers, July 12, 1524. + +[102] Indentures between Kildare and the King, August 4, 1524. +Recognisances for the Marchers, July 12, 1574. Ware. + +[103] The King to Kildare, May 20, 1525; Articles on behalf of Kildare, +No. 42 in printed _State Papers_; _Presentments of the County and City of +Kilkenny_, 1537, ed. Hore and Graves; Sir Piers Butler to his son, April +22, 1524. + +[104] Articles on behalf of Kildare, No. 42 in the printed _State +Papers_; Dowling's _Annals_, 1522-1524; _Hibernia Dominicana_. Bishop +Doran, 'eloquentissimus prædicator,' was killed in 1525. + +[105] _Four Masters_, 1525 and 1526; Ware, 1526. + +[106] Stanihurst; Lord James Butler to his father, Dec. 27, 1527, in +_Brewer_; Ware; Russell. + +[107] Stanihurst; Russell. + +[108] Consideration by Vannes and Uvedale, No. 52 in the printed _State +Papers_. + +[109] See _Brewer_, introduction to vol. iv., p. 238, where there is a +confusion between Sir Piers and his son. + +[110] _Carew_, Feb. 22, 1528. + +[111] Inge and Bermingham to Wolsey, Feb. 23, 1528; to Norfolk, May 15; +the Council of Ireland to Wolsey, same date; Lord Butler to Inge, May 20. + +[112] The Council of Ireland to Wolsey, May 15; Ossory to Inge, May 21; +to the King, June 10. + +[113] Cowley had been in the service of the late Earl of Kildare. _Book +of Howth_. + +[114] Instructions for the Lord Cardinal, No. 56 in the printed _State +Papers_; Ossory to Wolsey, Oct. 14, 1528; Instructions by Charles V. to +Gonzalo Fernandez in _Carew_, Feb. 24, 1530 (should be 1529). The letter +to the Pope was July 30, 1530. + +[115] Instructions to Skeffington, No. 57 in the printed _State Papers_. +He landed near Dublin, August 2, 1529. + +[116] Submission of O'Donnell, May 6, 1531. O'Donnell 'publice proposuit +et fatebatur dominum suum fuisse et esse fidelem et ligeum subditum +Domini Regis;' _Four Masters_, 1531. In his Instructions for Cromwell, +Jan. 2, 1532, Ossory notes that his contingent was better than Kildare's, +and that he bore the whole cost himself. + +[117] Ossory to Cromwell, January 2, 1532. + +[118] Report to Cromwell, No. 64 of the printed _State Papers_; Lodge's +_Peerage_ by Archdall, art. 'Duke of Leinster.' Ware; Stanihurst. + +[119] 'Cui quidam turbarius jocose dixerat, "Domine, cur gemis tam dire, +cum ego semel habui iii bulletos in me, et vides, domine, quam sanus sum +ad præsens?" Cui comes mite respondit (in agonia) quod hunc etiam +bulletum vellet ipsum in se una cum cæteris habuisse.'--Dowling's +_Annals_, wrongly placed at 1528. + +[120] _Four Masters_, 1532. _Annals of Lough Cé._ + +[121] _Jus Primatiale Armachanum_, Part I. No. 361; Dethyke to Cromwell, +Sept. 3, 1533; Report to Cromwell, No. 64 of the printed _State Papers_; +Sir James Fitzgerald to the King, August 31. + +[122] Report to Cromwell, printed _State Papers_, vol. ii. p. 174. +Instructions to Sir John Alen, No. 63 in same. + +[123] Report to Cromwell, quoted above. + +[124] Skeffington to Cromwell, October 25 and November 4, 1533. + +[125] Stanihurst. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE GERALDINE REBELLION--SKEFFINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION, 1534-1535. + + +[Sidenote: Kildare is sent to the Tower.] + +Among the letters which Alen brought with him from England was one of +thanks for past services to Connor Maguire, chief of Fermanagh. Maguire +belonged to the party in Ulster which opposed O'Neill, and consequently +Kildare; and he seems to have been in some degree under Alen's influence. +He now wrote to the King, adding to the already overwhelming case against +Kildare, and praying for the appointment of Skeffington. This despatch +probably reached London about the same time as the Earl, who was examined +by the Council and at once sent to the Tower. The heaviest charge against +him was that of fortifying his own castles with the King's artillery; and +it was in fact this which enabled his son to make head for a time against +the Crown. He could only answer that he had intended to defend the Pale +against the Irish: perhaps the hesitation caused by his wound was taken +for the confession of guilt. He was no longer the man who had bearded +Wolsey in his pride; and, unfortunately, his old power of repartee had +descended to his son, who annoyed with his taunts those whom he should +most have conciliated. The young Vice-Deputy made no secret of his +dislike to the King's policy, sought alliances with O'Brien and Desmond, +and gave the enemies of his House plausible grounds for stigmatising him +as a traitor from the very first.[126] + +[Sidenote: His death prematurely reported.] + +Early in the summer of 1534 a report reached Ireland that Kildare was to +be beheaded, and his son and brother arrested. A poor retainer of his +house living near Kilcullen is said to have brought to Lord Offaly from +London a little silver-gilt heart and a pair of black dice, with a verbal +message from his father bidding him not to trust the Irish Council, but +to keep out of the way lest he should lose life and liberty. About the +same time a private letter from Thomas Cannon, who had been in +Skeffington's service, confirmed the sinister rumours already afloat. In +days when there were no newspapers such letters were handed about freely, +and this one fell into the hands of a priest who read English with +difficulty, and who put it aside until he had time to spell out its +meaning. A retainer of Offaly's, who chanced to stay the night in the +priest's house, used the letter as a shoe-horn, and forgot to withdraw +it. Undressing in the evening he found the paper, read it out of +curiosity, and found to his dismay that it announced Kildare's death. He +at once took the fatal missive to James Delahide, who carried it to the +Vice-Deputy. Delahide was one of those whose advice Kildare had directed +his son to take: he now counselled him to rebel and to avenge his +father's death.[127] + +[Sidenote: His son rebels.] + +Though his death was at hand Kildare still lived, and there is no reason +to suspect foul play: he was old and suffering from wounds, and +confinement or anxiety may well have hastened his end. But his impetuous +son assumed the worst, and at once prepared for war. His Irish +connections O'Neill and O'Connor approved his resolution; but the Earl of +Desmond, Sir Thomas Eustace of Baltinglass, Fitzmaurice of Kerry, +Fleming, Lord of Slane, and most of the Anglo-Irish well-wishers of his +House, counselled prudence. Lord Chancellor Cromer, a grave and learned +divine, gave similar advice. But Rehoboam would not be persuaded. On St. +Barnabas' Day he rode through Dublin with 140 armed retainers, each +wearing a silken fringe on his helmet, a mode of decoration which gave +Offaly the name by which he is best remembered. Passing through Dame's +Gate the Geraldines forded the Liffey and rode to St. Mary's Abbey, where +he had summoned a meeting of the Council. No sooner had the Deputy taken +the chair than his armed followers invaded the council-chamber, and +waited with ill-concealed impatience while their leader made a speech, in +which he declared himself no longer King Henry's officer, and called on +all who hated cruelty and tyranny to join him in open war. He then +tendered the sword of state to the Primate, who besought him with tears +in his eyes not to do so mad and wicked an act. 'They are not yet born,' +he said, 'that shall hereafter feel the smart of this uproar.' The +Chancellor's speech was probably unintelligible to most of the intruders; +and the effect of it was at once dispelled by an Irish bard named Nelan, +who recited a long heroic poem in honour of Silken Thomas, and upbraided +him with lingering too long. Stung by this taunt, Offaly replied that he +was much obliged to the Archbishop for his advice, but that he came to +announce his own intention and not to seek counsel: he then threw down +the sword and left the room. He was now a subject, and the Council at +once ordered his arrest; but the Mayor had no force at his command, and +the rebel was allowed to rejoin his forces on Oxmantown Green. Archbishop +Alen, who had good reasons for fear, took refuge in the castle, and the +Chief Baron, who accompanied him, wrote to Cromwell for help.[128] + +[Sidenote: The Butlers remain loyal.] + +It was rumoured that Offaly would destroy everything in the Pale, so that +no support might remain for a royal army: he gave out that he would kill +or banish everyone born in England, and declared forfeit the goods of all +who remained loyal. He wrote to his cousin Lord Butler, offering to +divide Ireland with him if he would help to conquer it; but Butler, one +of the ablest of his race, declined with proper indignation. He refused +to barter his truth for a piece of Ireland, and was not at all disposed +to hang for good fellowship. 'Were it so,' he wrote '(as it cannot be), +that the chickens you reckon were both hatched and feathered; yet be thou +sure, I had rather in this quarrel die thine enemy than live thy +partner.' Ossory had left the King but a few days before, having +undertaken for himself and his son to assist to their utmost power the +due course of law, and above all strenuously to resist the usurped +jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome. Skeffington was again Deputy, and +Ossory promised to maintain his authority. The Government was in fact +placed to a great extent under the protection of the House of Ormonde. In +return for these promises, and in consideration of the singular +confidence and trust which the King had conceived in the Earl and his +son, and in respect of the truth which always had continued in them and +their blood to the Crown of England, and as a token of confidence in +their ability, the Government of Tipperary and Kilkenny, and of other +districts at the Deputy's discretion, were granted to Ossory and his son. +They were not the men to renounce such solid advantage for the shadowy +realm which their rash kinsman offered.[129] + +[Sidenote: Murder of Archbishop Alen.] + +It would have been well for Archbishop Alen had he adhered to his first +resolution of remaining inside the castle walls, which, as it turned out, +were quite able to protect him. Six weeks after the first outbreak, and +while the rebels were threatening Dublin, he put himself under the +guidance of Bartholomew Fitzgerald, a confidential servant, who brought a +small boat to Dame's Gate. The Archbishop embarked, but the wind was +contrary and perhaps the boatmen hostile; at all events, the boat stuck +fast on the sands at Clontarf. The fugitive took refuge in a gentleman's +house at Artane; but Offaly appeared at the door next morning and ordered +two of his followers, John Teeling and Nicholas Wafer, to bring out the +Archbishop. They dragged the old man out of bed, and brought him before +their leader. Alen begged for mercy, acknowledging that his captor had no +reason to wish him well, but claiming regard for his office if not for +his person. Offaly turned away contemptuously, and, speaking in Irish, +ordered his men to 'take away the churl.' Teeling and Wafer immediately +dashed out the Archbishop's brains. Robert Reyley, who, if not actually +an eye-witness, must have been close at hand, was at once sent off to +Maynooth with a casket which was found on Alen's person, and he +afterwards swore that he did not know whether Offaly ordered the murder +or not. The rebel chief always maintained that his intention was to +detain and not to kill; but he thought it necessary to send his chaplain +to Rome to seek absolution.[130] + +[Sidenote: Dublin is threatened.] + +The sword of state which should have protected them having been exchanged +for a rod to scourge them, the citizens of Dublin were left to their own +slender resources. Instigated by Offaly, and assisted by John Burnell of +Balgriffin, a gentleman of the Pale, the O'Tooles descended from their +mountains and ravaged the flat country to the north of the city. In an +attempt to intercept the raiders on their return, the citizens were +defeated with great loss near Kilmainham. Assuming that they were at his +mercy, Offaly offered the citizens their lives if they would let him +enter to besiege the castle. John White, the Constable, who was +afterwards knighted for his services, made no objection provided he were +allowed time to victual. A spirited Alderman, John Fitzsimons, furnished +a great part of the provisions[131] at his own expense, and also employed +a smith in his own house to forge a chain for the drawbridge. To such a +state of destitution had Geraldine ascendency brought the principal royal +fortress in Ireland. Another Alderman, Francis Herbert, was sent off to +beg help from the King.[132] + +[Sidenote: Defence of Dublin.] + +White having announced himself ready, the citizens admitted about 100 of +the rebels under the command of James Field of Lusk, who had with him +Teeling and Wafer, the Archbishop's murderers, and three noted pirates, +named Brode, Rookes, and Purcell. The ordnance at Field's command, part +of that which had been entrusted to the late Earl of Kildare for the +defence of the realm, was too light to make any great impression on the +castle, upon whose walls it ought to have been mounted; and in the +meantime Ossory was sweeping away the cattle from Kildare. The temptation +to retaliate was too strong for Offaly, or perhaps for his men, and he +turned aside from Dublin to punish the Butlers. Tullow Castle delayed him +for five precious days, after which he had the satisfaction of +slaughtering the garrison, and five more days were spent in inaction on +the Barrow. Again did Offaly offer to divide Ireland, including even his +own inheritance, with Ossory; but the Earl refused as his son had done, +and only consented to a truce which would leave him free to defend +Tipperary against a threatened attack from Desmond. The Butler forces +being thus divided, and help having come from O'Neill, Offaly broke the +truce and began to plunder Kilkenny. At Thomastown Lord Butler was +wounded in a skirmish, and had to retire to Dunmore until cured; while +Offaly, who had possession of Athy, Kilkea, Carlow, and Castledermot, +collected a great host of O'Mores, O'Connors, Kavanaghs, and O'Byrnes. +But these auxiliaries do not seem to have been of much use; for Ossory +had still men enough to burn and spoil the northern part of Carlow, +though not to attempt the relief of Dublin.[133] + +[Sidenote: The rebels are beaten off.] + +Francis Herbert returned very speedily from the King, bringing letters in +which Henry promised immediate succour. Despairing of success, Field +anticipated the action of Rosen at Londonderry, and threatened to expose +the citizens' children on the trenches, so as to prevent the garrison +from using their guns. Indignant at this breach of faith, and encouraged +by the near prospect of relief, the citizens shut their gates and seized +most of those who were besieging the castle. A few escaped across the +river, and brought the news to Offaly, who returned to Dublin only to +find it bent upon the most desperate resistance. Having summoned the city +in vain, he cut the leaden pipes which supplied it with water; but there +must have been wells also, for no effects followed. He then besieged the +castle from Ship Street, where there was cover for his men, but White +had some fireworks, which enabled him to burn down the thatched houses of +the suburb and give his guns full play. Herbert distinguished himself by +shooting twenty-four of the enemy, including one of their chief leaders. +Being thus driven from the castle, Offaly attempted the city wall from +Thomas Street, demolishing the party walls of the houses so as to make +two covered galleries leading up to the New Gate. One of his shots +pierced the gate and killed a man who was trying to get water at a pipe +in the middle of the Corn Market. A remarkable feat is recorded of +Staunton, the gaoler or warder of New Gate. Having galled the rebels by +his sharp-shooting, he had become a particular mark for their fire, and +he saw a musketeer trying to cover him. He not only shot him in the +forehead, but, notwithstanding the hail of bullets issued from the gate, +stripped the dead man, and brought his gun and clothes into the town. The +Geraldines then tried to burn the gate; but a sally of the besieged +through the smoke and flame made them suppose that the city had been +relieved, and they withdrew precipitately, leaving a piece of artillery +and 100 dead behind them. Offaly lingered for the night in the precincts +of the Grey Friary, from which Francis Street takes its name, and next +day rejoined his men, who had believed him dead. He made no attempt to +renew the siege.[134] + +[Sidenote: The citizens refuse to help the rebels.] + +In this, as in so many other Irish insurrections, there was no want of +double traitors; of men who had neither the constancy to remain loyal nor +the courage to persevere in rebellion. Many of the arrows shot over the +walls were headless, and some bore letters which revealed to the garrison +every plan of the besiegers. The children of the citizens, whom he had +hitherto detained as hostages, could now be of no use to Offaly, and he +exchanged them for some of his own men who had been captured. He tried to +get money, ammunition, and other help from the citizens in return for +raising the siege; but the men of Dublin knew their advantage, and +answered that they had no money to spare. They argued that if his +intentions were loyal he had no need of warlike stores, and that to +supply him might be to make a rod for their own backs. They were, +however, willing to supply him with enough parchment to engross his +pardon upon, and to join him in begging humbly for it. Having neither +powder nor shot, Offaly could not retort to any purpose, and he withdrew +to put his ancestral castle of Maynooth in a posture of defence.[135] + +[Sidenote: Reinforcements arrive from England.] + +Besides retaining some of the citizens' children, the rebels had captured +Chief Justice Luttrell and Lord Howth. A truce was therefore concluded +for six weeks, but Offaly broke it within twenty-four hours by burning +corn belonging to the Prior of Kilmainham. Meanwhile Skeffington had +sailed from North Wales. The bulk of his fleet and army were intended for +Waterford, but Sir William Brereton and Captain Salisbury were detached +with 400 men for the relief of Dublin. Brereton took command of the city, +and saw that proper watch was kept. Shortly afterwards eighty Northern +spearmen under Musgrave and Hamerton landed or were driven ashore at +Clontarf, where the rebels met them in great force. They were perhaps +picked men, for their white coats and red crosses are particularly +mentioned: at all events, they made a gallant resistance, and Offaly was +wounded. Musgrave and Hamerton were both killed, and the rebel chief is +said to have mourned deeply for the former, who was his cousin. The main +force of the insurgents hung about the Hill of Howth in hope of +preventing other English troops from landing, and Brode, Purcell, and +Rookes cruised in the offing with their piratical vessels.[136] + +[Sidenote: Arrival of Skeffington.] + +Although the wind served well for Ireland, Skeffington, who was old and +delicate, delayed long at Beaumaris. The North-countrymen, on whom he +placed his chief reliance, chafed at the delay; and many of their horses, +which were perhaps not very well stowed, died from being cooped up on +board ship for three weeks. At last, on the very day on which the siege +of Dublin was raised, the Lord-Deputy sailed. The fleet was driven by a +gale under Lambay, where a report reached it that Dublin had fallen. The +news was not believed, but Brereton and Salisbury were detached. They +reached the Liffey without any difficulty; and there was no reason why +Skeffington should not have done so, but that he had made up his mind to +go to Waterford. As it was, he was able to lie close to Skerries and to +send in his boats, which burned four Geraldine vessels at anchor in the +roads. The fleet then made sail again, and was again driven under Lambay, +whence two ships made chase after Brode, the pirate, and drove him ashore +near Drogheda. At last the Lord Deputy was persuaded to take the obvious +course, and landed safely at Dublin more than a week after Brereton. +Other troops from Bristol, under Sir John St. Loo, reached Waterford +about the same time. Messengers were at once sent to Drogheda, and Brode +and his crew were brought by sea to Dublin.[137] + +[Sidenote: Offaly is proclaimed a traitor.] + +Driven from Dublin, Offaly threatened Drogheda with some 400 horse, but +Skeffington, with unwonted energy, marched the whole distance in one day, +and the rebels did not venture to attack him. The Geraldine chief was +proclaimed traitor at the market-cross, and the gentlemen of Louth and +Meath, finding that there was again something in the shape of a +government, came in fast to the Lord-Deputy. Meanwhile Ossory and St. Loo +were at work in the south, and agreed to meet Skeffington at Kildare's +castle of Kilkea. The Earl and the English knight kept their appointment, +but the Deputy was again ill, and without artillery nothing could be +done. Ossory had enough to do to keep the O'Mores and Kavanaghs in check, +but he gained one important ally in the person of Sir Thomas Eustace, of +Baltinglass, who brought forty of his kinsmen and left hostages in the +Earl's hands. Eustace kept his word, and received a peerage for his +services, an honour forfeited in Elizabeth's time for a rebellion, +which, if one of the most foolish, was also one of the least selfish of +the many recorded in Irish annals.[138] + +[Sidenote: The rebellion continues.] + +During the greater part of the winter Offaly ranged up and down the Pale, +not sparing the Kildare estates, which he was not likely ever to enjoy in +peace. On one occasion he came into collision with Brereton near Trim, +and lost 150 men; but when a garrison of forty men were left in the town +he had no difficulty in recapturing it, and a garrison of twenty men +failed to hold Kildare against him. His following was reduced to 100 +horse and 300 kerne, who had scarcely a dozen muskets among them; but +with this band he wandered where he pleased, even to the walls of Dublin. +Skeffington again fell sick, and the army was detained doing nothing in +Dublin; he could not, according to Sir John Alen, do anything himself, +and he would not let anyone else have the credit. A truce for three weeks +was concluded with the rebel, and after the New Year some of the troops +were allowed to leave the capital. Sir Rice Maunsell with 500 men +occupied Trim--Brereton and Salisbury lay at Newcastle; and preparations +were made for assuming the offensive as soon as the Lord-Deputy should be +able to mount a horse. But there was great want of money, and the +ill-paid soldiers took little interest in any service which did not bring +them profit. They took it on themselves to find men guilty of treason and +to seize their goods, 'whereas,' as Alen grimly suggested, 'the King +might have them by another mean.' Munitions of war were as scarce as +money, and the bows which were sent from Ludlow Castle snapped when the +archers tried to bend them.[139] + +[Sidenote: The Archbishop's murderers are excommunicated.] + +[Sidenote: Death of Kildare.] + +In the meantime the ecclesiastics who administered the vacant see of +Dublin pronounced sentence of excommunication in its most tremendous form +against the murderers of the Archbishop. Offaly himself, his uncles John +and Oliver, Captain Rookes, James Delahide, and Teeling and Wafer, who +seem to have been the actual murderers, were mentioned by name. Leprosy +and madness, hunger and thirst were invoked upon them in this life, and +eternal damnation in the life to come. No house was to shelter them, no +church to give them sanctuary, no kind Christian to bestow on them a +morsel of bread when starving, nor a cup of cold water when dying of +thirst, on pain of being considered accessories to their crime and +accursed like them. They were to be partakers with Pharaoh and Nero, +Herod and Judas, Dathan and Abiram; and stones were cast towards their +dwellings, as by Moses when he called down Divine wrath upon the last +named. It is said that a copy of this curse was cruelly shown to the old +Earl in the Tower, and that the shock snapped the enfeebled thread which +still bound him to life. The fate of the seven excommunicated persons was +nearly as bad as the most vindictive priest could wish. The three +Geraldines were hanged at Tyburn, Rookes was hanged at Dublin, Teeling +and Wafer died at Maynooth of a horrible disease, James Delahide escaped +to Spain and gave the Government some further trouble, but he died an +exile in Scotland.[140] + +[Sidenote: The new Earl seeks help from Emperor and Pope,] + +The new Earl--for Earl he was in spite of Stanihurst's statement to the +contrary--took advantage of the breathing space allowed him by the +Deputy's inaction to cast about for allies. He sent Dominick Power to the +Emperor, armed with gifts, and with documents going to prove that Ireland +was a fief of the Holy See and that it was forfeited on account of +Henry's heresy. Kildare was ready to hold the country of Pope or Emperor +and to pay tribute, in consideration of being protected against the +English schismatics. Twelve hawks and fourteen hobbies, or Irish +palfreys, were thought suitable presents for the second Charlemagne.[141] + +[Sidenote: and from the Irish.] + +More immediate help was sought from the O'Briens of Clare and the +O'Kellies. The latter were induced to threaten Westmeath, and Con +O'Brien, chief of Thomond, was already in communication with Charles V., +but Con's son Donogh had married Lady Ellen Butler, and Ossory had enough +influence with his son-in-law to keep him to his allegiance. Donogh, as +was usual with the sons of Irish chiefs, had a strong party of his own, +and prevented the clan from stirring. Ossory contrived to make the Burkes +threaten the O'Kellies, and they also were neutralised.[142] + +[Sidenote: Many rebels executed.] + +Skeffington, having awoke to the fact that Ireland could not be subdued +by an army which never left Dublin, allowed Maunsell and Brereton to +divide their forces and to burn most of the Geraldine villages, including +Maynooth. While gaining strength himself he had the satisfaction of +ordering several executions in Dublin. Brode, who was called the +traitor's admiral; Rookes, who was captured near Wexford with some of the +royal ordnance in his possession; a third rover named Purcell, who had +been bold enough to cut a vessel out of the Thames; and Travers, +Chancellor of St. Patrick's, who had been an agent in the attempted +reduction of Dublin, were all duly hanged, drawn, and quartered on +Oxmantown Green.[143] + +[Sidenote: Maynooth Castle summoned. The siege.] + +Brereton summoned Maynooth Castle, proposing to let the garrison depart +with bag and baggage, and offering pardons and rewards. But they trusted +in their walls, and answered only with taunts and jeers. At last +Skeffington left Dublin and encamped before the castle, which he invested +closely the next day. He pronounced it to be the strongest fortress which +had ever been in Ireland since the English first set foot there. No +detailed account of the armament has been preserved, but there were +several pieces of cannon and a garrison of over 100, of whom about +one-half were gunners. Christopher Paris, the Earl's foster-brother, +commanded within the castle. Skeffington's batteries opened on the third +day after his arrival, and soon silenced the guns on the north-west side +of the keep. The guns were then pointed against a new work on the +northern side, and after five days' bombardment the breach was +pronounced practicable. Paris, who probably despaired of maintaining his +post, now thought it time to make separate terms for himself, and shot +out a letter in which he offered to sell his post for money. The garrison +were accordingly allowed to sally forth and to capture a small piece of +artillery. Paris pretended great satisfaction, and served out abundant +liquor to his men, who proceeded to celebrate their triumph by getting +drunk. In the first grey light of morning the outwork was occupied almost +without resistance, and the warders were aroused from their slumbers by +shouts of 'St. George! St. George!' Ladders were quickly planted against +the walls of the keep, and the storming party began to ascend. Captain +Holland, who was one of the first to reach the parapet, jumped down into +a tub of feathers, but Brereton's company had scaled the walls at another +place, and the Geraldines, completely surprised and only half sober, made +but a short stand. An arrow was discharged at Holland, the weight of +whose armour kept him fast in the feathers, but it missed him, and he was +released in time to take an active part in the final struggle. Brereton +himself ran up to the highest turret and hoisted a flag, which told the +Lord-Deputy that all was over.[144] + +[Sidenote: Maynooth taken. Story of Paris.] + +When Skeffington entered in the evening two singing-men of the Earl's +chapel prostrated themselves before him, plaintively chanting a hymn or +song called 'Dulcis amica,' which affected the victors as the verses of +Euripides affected the Dorians at Syracuse. They were pardoned, and Paris +then came forward to claim his reward. Skeffington allowed that he had +been useful, and promised that the King would not let him starve; he then +asked what confidence the Earl of Kildare placed in his foster-brother, +and Paris enumerated the benefits which he had received from the fallen +family. 'Couldst thou,' said the Deputy sternly, 'find in thine heart to +betray his castle who has been so good to thee? Truly, thou that art so +hollow to him wilt never be true to us.' Then turning to his officers he +ordered them to pay down the stipulated price, and to execute the +traitor forthwith. 'My lord,' said the wretched man, 'had I wist you +would have dealt so straitly with me, your lordship should not have won +this fort with so little bloodshed as you did.' Among the bystanders was +James Boys, formerly Constable of Maynooth, who had resigned his office +at the breaking out of the rebellion, but who may have sympathised with +his old employers, and who muttered 'too late' in Irish, a saying which +became proverbial for an ineffectual repentance. Paris was executed, and +it does not appear that he had been promised pardon, but Skeffington's +action was neither honest nor politic. He had profited by the treason, +and to kill the traitor could only tend to make other rebels desperate. +About forty other prisoners were taken, of whom twenty-five were +executed, including the Dean of Kildare and another priest named Walsh. +It appeared from the depositions of one prisoner, a priest, that there +had been negotiations with the Emperor, who held out hopes of 10,000 men, +and also with the King of Scots. The 'pardon of Maynooth' became a +proverbial expression for the gallows.[145] + +[Sidenote: The Irish fall away from Kildare.] + +Kildare had in the meantime succeeded in raising an army of 7,000 men +among the O'Connors of Offaly and in Connaught, but the news that +Maynooth had fallen almost dispersed it. With the men who remained he +advanced to Clane, where he came into collision with Skeffington, who +took 140 prisoners and put them to the sword, on a renewal of the fight +being threatened. Kildare then went into Thomond, intending to sail for +Spain, but sent James Delahide and Robert Walsh, the parish priest of +Loughseedy, in his stead. These messengers joined Power at Cadiz, but did +not obtain an interview with Charles until after their chief's execution. +Power was pardoned at the Emperor's request, but the others were +attainted by name. Kildare's allies now gradually dropped away. O'More +and MacMurrough gave security to Ossory, and the Earl's followers +dwindled daily, though he continued to roam about in the neighbourhood of +his ancestral estates. Maynooth was too strong to attempt, but he twice +took Rathangan, so that no Englishman would take charge of it; and +Skeffington was forced to entrust it to Sir James Fitzgerald. After this, +Kildare drove a herd of cattle under the walls, and by the hope of booty +drew out a great part of the garrison, whom he cut to pieces. On one +occasion, he destroyed part of the garrison of Trim by putting forward +some English troopers, who pretended to be Salisbury's men; and on +another, he almost succeeded in capturing a large convoy near Naas. But +such stratagems could not long delay the end, and the Irish saw that the +game was up. O'Neill came to Skeffington at Drogheda, and took the oath +of allegiance. It was agreed among other things that any O'Neill who did +wrong within the obedient districts might be tried by English law, and +that homicides should not be compounded by money payments;[146] but the +King's subjects taken in O'Neill's country were to be reserved for the +royal consideration, and not punished capitally by the chief. O'Neill was +to receive his customary black-rent, but none of his clans were to levy +Irish exactions,[147] or to graze cattle in the English districts. All +Englishmen were to enjoy free trade with Tyrone, and O'Neill undertook to +help Skeffington in his hostings in as ample a manner as any of his +predecessors had helped any previous Lord-Deputy or Lord-Lieutenant.[148] + +[Sidenote: But Skeffington makes little progress.] + +O'More, an able man, who was anxious to deserve well of his new friends, +accompanied Brabazon into the wastes of Allen, where Kildare was lurking. +After the usual plundering, he advised the Englishmen to turn as if in +full retreat, but, in reality, to occupy all the passes, while the +O'Mores engaged the Earl's party in the plain. But the Northumberland +moss-troopers under Dacre and Musgrave had not forgotten their old +habits, and made off with the booty, leaving an unguarded pass, through +which the Geraldines escaped.[149] The O'Mores would not kill Kildare's +men, but were very active against the O'Connors; indeed, the Earl was +believed to have been in O'More's hands for a time, and to have been +purposely released. But Brabazon took Burnell of Balgriffin, one of the +original advisers of the rebellion, and William Keatinge, captain of the +Keatinge kerne, who had hitherto been the rebels' chief strength. The +latter was released on giving security, but Burnell was reserved for the +scaffold. The remarkable unfitness of Skeffington for the post in which +Henry maintained him was strikingly shown at this time. He was unable to +stir from Maynooth, and seemed half dead if he rose before ten or eleven +o'clock. Marauding bands came with impunity to the castle gates, and +stole the Deputy's horses; and he allowed the army to lie in the open +country without orders, and to consume provisions instead of fighting. +The sick man was jealous of Lord Leonard Grey, the marshal of the army, +whom rumour had designated as his successor; he was himself incapable of +action, and was unwilling to let others act in his stead.[150] + +[Sidenote: Surrender of Kildare.] + +Before his release Keatinge undertook to drive the Geraldine chief out of +Kildare. The wretched peasants crept back to their fields to save what +was left of the harvest; and Cahir O'Connor, who saw how things were +likely to end, came to Grey and Brabazon, and took an oath to defend the +King's interests against Kildare, and against his own brother. The Earl +had a stronghold in a boggy wood near Rathangan, fortified with +earthworks and wet ditches, and almost impregnable had it been well +manned and armed. Not being defended it was easily taken, and whatever +would burn was burned. At last Skeffington felt well enough to take the +field, and advanced with Grey and Butler to the borders of Offaly. +Despairing of the cause, and anxious to save his harvest, O'Connor came +in and submitted to the Lord Deputy at Castle Jordan; and Kildare, +finding himself alone, then surrendered to Butler and Grey in the +presence of three witnesses. Skeffington positively asserts that no +condition was made, 'either of pardon, life, land, or goods;' and this is +confirmed by a despatch from the Council sent three days later and signed +by Lords Butler and Delvin, Rawson, Prior of Kilmainham, Saintloo, +Brabazon, Aylmer, Salisbury, and Sir Rice Maunsell, the last two having +been present at the surrender. But the councillors admitted that +'comfortable words were spoken to Thomas to allure him to yield,' and +begged the King to spare his life according to the comfort of those +words.[151] + +[Sidenote: The surrender was unconditional.] + +A great effort was made to cause a belief in England that the surrender +was conditional, but it does not appear that the prisoner himself made +any such assertion. He wrote to his connection Grey, confessing himself a +rebel, but urging that he had done all by the advice of Thomas Eustace +and Sir Gerald MacShane. He begged intercession for his life and lands: +failing the efficacy of such aid, he had, he said, only to shift for +himself as he best could. Writers favourable to the Geraldines have +nevertheless stated that he was promised his life, and this has been +copied into a long succession of popular manuals. Even at the time, the +legal mind of Lord Chancellor Audeley refused to believe that the Irish +Council had so dealt 'with so errant and cankered a traitor.' 'If this,' +he added, 'be intended that he should have mercy, I marvel much that +divers of the King's Council in Ireland have so largely told the King, +afore this time, that there should never be good peace or order in +Ireland till the blood of the Garrolds were wholly extinct. And it was +also said that the Irishmen spared their effectual diligence in the +persecution of him, because they heard that he should have pardon, and +then he would revenge; and now it seemeth they would procure him mercy. +They be people of a strange nature and much inconstancy.'[152] + +[Sidenote: Kildare is sent to England;] + +In writing his thanks to Skeffington the King regrets that Kildare's +capture had not been 'after such a sort as was convenable to his +deservings'--alluding to the report that conditions had been made with +him. The letter is worthy of Elizabeth at her best, and very creditable +to Henry, who declares his unabated confidence in Skeffington, and +promises to make every allowance for his age and infirmities. As to the +disposal of the prisoner, not only Audeley but Norfolk, who spoke from +the fulness of his Irish experience, thought he should be sent to the +Tower and executed in due course, 'except it should appear that by his +keeping alive there should grow any knowledge of treasons, or other +commodity to the King's grace.' The Duke advised a long respite, lest +Lord Butler and Lord Leonard Grey should lose all their credit in +Ireland. The Chancellor wished to proceed in the King's Bench under the +new Statute of Treasons, by which he considered that such offences, +though committed in Ireland, might be tried in an English shire. Had this +opinion finally prevailed, modern Ireland might be easier to govern than +it ever seems likely to be. Both Norfolk and Audeley allude to the report +that Kildare had been promised his life, but neither they nor the King +confirm it.[153] + +[Sidenote: and harshly treated in the Tower.] + +An account is extant showing that twenty shillings a week were allowed +for Kildare's maintenance in the Tower, but intercepted letters tell of +great harshness. His object in writing was to borrow 20_l._ from O'Brien, +who had his plate, and he urged that chief to help the Deputy as the best +means of helping him. 'I never,' he wrote to a trusty servant, 'had any +money since I came into prison but a noble, nor I have had neither hosen, +doublet, nor shoes, nor shirt but one; nor any other garments, but a +single frieze gown, for a velvet furred with budge, and so I have gone +woolward, and barefoot and barelegged, divers times (when it hath not +been very warm), and so I should have done still, and now, but that poor +prisoners, of their gentleness, hath sometimes given me old hosen, and +shoes, and old shirts.' For sixteen months the rash young man endured +this misery, and then, an Irish Act of attainder having passed in the +meantime, he and his five uncles were carried to Tyburn and there duly +hanged, drawn, and quartered.[154] + +[Sidenote: The Desmonds and MacCarthies.] + +Having followed the fortunes of the House of Kildare until their great +eclipse, we may now turn to the southern Geraldines, who had also entered +upon the slippery paths of rebellion. The dispute between Desmond and +Ormonde was of old standing, the real cause of it being the fact that +Munster was not large enough to hold two such families. In 1520 Surrey +brought about a meeting at Waterford between James, the eleventh Earl of +Desmond, and Sir Piers Butler. They were solemnly sworn to keep the peace +and to help each other on lawful occasions. Cormac Oge MacCarthy, Lord of +Muskerry, and MacCarthy Reagh, who had allied themselves with the Butlers +as a defence against their great neighbours' oppressions, were parties to +this agreement. Surrey took hostages from them, and reported that they +were wise men and more conformable than some Englishmen. If the King +would undertake to protect them, he thought that they and many other +Irishmen would be content to hold their lands of him. The peace was +short; for Desmond no sooner got back to his own country than he +proceeded to waste Muskerry with fire and sword. The two MacCarthies +joined their forces, and a pitched battle was fought at Mourne Abbey, +near Mallow. Cormac Oge placed the cavalry under the command of his +sister's husband, Thomas Moyle Fitzgerald, who was Desmond's uncle and +heir presumptive; and to his charge the Geraldine partisans of course +attribute the result. The Earl was totally defeated: 'and of this +overthrow,' wrote the family historian more than a century later, 'the +Irish to this day do brag, not remembering how often both before and +after they received the like measure from the Geraldines.'[155] + +[Sidenote: Desmond intrigues with Francis I., 1523.] + +Two years after the fight at Mourne Abbey Desmond was in secret +communication with Francis I., the Constable Bourbon having at the same +time similar relations with Henry VIII. The French King sent two agents +to Ireland--Francis de Candolle, Lord of Oisy, who afterwards appears as +having a relationship or connection with Desmond, and Francis de +Bergagni. They met the Earl at Askeaton, and made a convention with him. +Desmond agreed to make war on the King, provided that his father-in-law +Tirlough O'Brien and others of that clan should be included in any peace +made between England and France. Francis rather oddly undertook to send +ships to help Desmond in collecting tribute from his subjects. The Earl +and his seneschal David MacMorris were promised French pensions, and both +Geraldines and O'Briens were encouraged to expect French help in any +emergency. Richard de la Pole, Edward IV.'s exiled nephew, was to be set +up against Henry, and Desmond undertook to support the Pretender with 400 +horse and 10,000 foot, which were to remain under his command. If he +succeeded in raising 15,000 foot Francis agreed to pay two angelots a +month for every fully armed man, and one angelot for every kerne. +Kinsale, Cork, or Youghal was to be held by the French, and Desmond +promised to use his exertions in providing them with horses. The +convention was ratified at St. Germain-en-Laye, but nothing whatever came +of it. Had there been any good understanding between Desmond and the +Scots who were threatening Ulster, a powerful diversion might have been +effected; but the Earl seems to have had no higher object than the +enhancement of his own local authority. Some years later a bill was +prepared for the attainder of Desmond in the Irish Parliament, which +recited his treason in giving aid and comfort to Frenchmen while France +and England were at war. But no Parliament was then held, and Desmond +died unattainted.[156] + +[Sidenote: The Butlers and the Desmond Geraldines.] + +During his short administration after Surrey's departure Sir Piers +Butler, who had heard of Desmond's dealings with France, invaded his +country with the consent of many loyal Geraldines. The port towns closed +their gates to the rebellious Earl, who turned upon Tipperary, and +occupied the strong castle of Cahir, the same which afterwards delayed +Essex and thus contributed to his fall. The Deputy hastened to the spot, +and seized the bridge leading to the fortified island; but the bridge on +the other side remained open and Desmond escaped. After this the +O'Briens, whom many supposed to be instigated by Kildare, laid a trap for +Sir Piers very like that in which his famous grandson was long afterwards +caught. A parley was proposed at the ford of Camus on the Suir, and +thither, according to his own account, Butler repaired with a slender +escort and the most pacific intentions. The O'Briens, who were hidden in +a wood, suddenly rushed out and attacked him, but his men fought bravely +and killed Teig O'Brien, the chief's son, 'of all men of his age the most +dreaded by his enemies.' The Ormonde district at this time lay open on +account of a bridge which the O'Briens had lately built over the Shannon, +and one of the complaints against Kildare was that he had not helped Sir +Piers to destroy this bridge.[157] + +[Sidenote: Their disputes about Dungarvan.] + +A war without much plan or apparent purpose continued to rage for years +between the Butlers and the southern Geraldines. In 1527 James Butler +wrote to his father, who was then in England, giving him an account of +certain intrigues and disturbances, and telling him plainly that it was +folly trying to look after Irish affairs in London. He who would do the +King service must do it on the spot. Sir John Fitzgerald of Decies, who +had taken part against the head of his house, and had in consequence lost +much cattle and seen many farm-houses in flames, watched his opportunity, +and shut up Desmond in Dungarvan. Here he was joined by Butler, and by +the Earl's cousin, Thomas Fitzgerald of Decies; but the castle defied +anything short of a regular siege. Butler had a horse shot under him, but +a sally was unsuccessful, and Desmond thought it prudent to take the sea +with forty men. He sailed into Youghal upon the flood-tide, and Dungarvan +then offered to surrender to Sir Thomas Fitzgerald. Butler refused to +allow this, and Sir Thomas then joined his cousin, who had begun to +ravage his lands about Youghal. The prey having escaped, Dungarvan was +not thought worth any further immediate trouble; but a grant of the +offices of governor, constable, and steward of the place was soon +afterwards passed to Sir Piers Butler on his being created Earl of +Ossory. The condition was imposed that the new Earl should seek to +recover Dungarvan out of Desmond's possession.[158] + +[Sidenote: Desmond immigration into Wales.] + +The rebel seems to have been a man of large ideas. He had the Archbishop +of Cashel, a natural son of Ossory, to watch over his interests at Court, +and something amounting almost to an Irish invasion of England took place +under his auspices. In twelve months the almost incredible number of +20,000 Irishmen are said to have landed in Pembrokeshire--that little +England beyond Wales whence the ancestors of the Geraldines had first +sailed to Ireland. They spread themselves over the country about Milford +Haven and between St. David's and Tenby, and the very corporation of the +latter town came under Irish influence. A townsman had two large heavily +armed ships manned by Irishmen: he was himself Welsh, but he would have +neither Welshman nor Englishman on board. Throughout the country side +Irishmen outnumbered the natives in the proportion of four to one, and +many Irish vessels frequented the coast, and were employed in trade or +piracy, or in a mixture of both. Nearly all the men they brought were +from Desmond's country, and it is probable that he had a share of the +profits, and that he was thus enabled to keep up the contest on +land.[159] + +[Sidenote: Desmond intrigues with Charles V.] + +The adventurous Earl had gained nothing by his alliance with France; but +he did not abandon the hope of foreign intervention in Ireland, and sent +a present of Irish hawks and wolf-hounds to Charles V. The gifts were in +charge of a trusty messenger, who landed at St. Sebastian and hastened to +the Imperial Court at Toledo. Wolsey's emissaries were accurately +informed of these movements, and one who lived at Renteria recommended +that a royal cruiser should be sent to intercept the ambassador on his +return. The man himself lacked discretion, for he showed his despatches +to the papal collector at Valladolid, and their contents thus became +known to the English agents. Desmond's great wish was for artillery, +which would have placed nearly every castle in Munster at his mercy. Glad +to find any means of annoying a King who desired to repudiate his aunt, +Charles sent a gold cup to Desmond, and soon afterwards despatched his +chaplain Gonzalo Fernandez to Ireland. Fernandez, who spoke very good +English, was instructed to make himself thoroughly acquainted with +Desmond's resources, and to offer help if he thought it advisable. He was +authorised to promise that the Earl should be included in any treaties +which might be made between the Emperor and Henry VIII., and to explain +that his master had always been most anxious for the English King's +friendship. Notwithstanding his former good offices Henry had made an +alliance with France, and now sought to divorce his Queen and to give the +Duchy of Ireland to his bastard in disparagement of the Princess Mary. +Such proceedings Charles was determined firmly to resist.[160] + +[Sidenote: Mission of Gonzalo Fernandez to Ireland, 1529.] + +Fernandez left Toledo on March 3, the Spanish Government giving out that +he had gone to England to recover debts due to the Emperor. He had +returned by April 28. On his way out he touched at Cork, where many +persons visited his ship, and he gathered from their conversation that +Desmond was not popular there. After this he was driven into Berehaven, +whence he wrote to the Earl; and in four days he received an answer +directed to him as chaplain to 'our sovereign lord the Emperor,' Desmond +striving to assume the position of an Imperial feudatory, instead of that +of an English subject. Fernandez then sailed to Dingle, and before he +could land Desmond sent six gentlemen on board to ask his help in +capturing certain English and French vessels which lay near, probably at +Ventry or Smerwick. Desmond had already sent his galleys, and was going +with 500 men to support them by land. The Spaniard, with a more exact +idea of an ambassador's duties than the potentate to whom he was +accredited, prudently excused himself. Desmond evidently did not wish +Fernandez to visit any of his castles, and preferred to meet him at the +water's edge. Anxious to appear a powerful independent prince, he was +probably unwilling that the Spaniards should see the nakedness of the +land and his own rude way of life; and perhaps he shrunk from +accumulating evidence against himself in case submission to his lawful +sovereign should after all become expedient.[161] + +[Sidenote: Fernandez in Munster with Desmond.] + +On April 21 Fernandez disembarked. He was well received by the +inhabitants and by Desmond himself, who had 500 horse and as many +gallowglasses with him. The Earl asked after the Emperor's health, and +again called him his sovereign lord. Fernandez read his commission first +in English. Desmond then requested that it might be repeated in Latin for +the benefit of his Council, and when it was finished he took off his cap +and thanked the Emperor for his gracious condescension, adding the +reflection that his Majesty was placed on earth to prevent one prince +from injuring another. His evident design was to acknowledge the +supremacy of the Empire over all the kingdoms of the world, and at the +same time to place himself on a level with the King of England, from whom +he held his lands, his title, and his jurisdiction. Desmond then +discharged the congenial duty of magnifying himself and his ancestors. He +was, he said, descended from Brito, who lawfully conquered the great and +the small Britain, and reduced Ireland and Scotland under his yoke. It +had been prophesied that an Earl of Desmond should conquer England, and +this kept the English in a constant state of tremor. The fear of its +fulfilment had caused the beheading of Earl Thomas by Lord Deputy +Tiptoft, and Richard, 'son of the King of England,' had invaded Ireland +on account of his father's enmity with the reigning King. Afterwards that +Earl had conquered all Ireland, 'some few towns only excepted.' The King +of England caused the Earl of Kildare to be destroyed in prison, until +his kinsman of Desmond forcibly liberated him and made him Viceroy of +Ireland. In twenty-four years, during which he had been stirring up both +English and Irish, first to kill Desmond's father and afterwards to make +war on himself, the King of England had gained no advantage. The Earl's +servants trading in France and Flanders had been imprisoned and despoiled +of 9,000_l._ by the English King's orders. Fernandez prudently demanded +that this extraordinary farrago should be written down. It is very +fortunate that he was unable to retain it in his memory, for no amount of +mere English evidence could give us such a measure of a Desmond's pride, +or of the nonsense which rhymers or Brehons could venture to put into a +Desmond's head.[162] + +[Sidenote: Desmond's proposals to the Emperor.] + +The Geraldine addressed Charles V. as most invincible and most sacred +Cæsar, ever august; and described himself as Earl of Desmond, Lord of +Decies, of O'Gunnell, and of the liberty of Kerry. He first asked for +four vessels of 200 tons each, and six smaller ones, all well armed, and +for 500 Flemings to work them. Fernandez objected that no consideration +was offered for so great a gift, and that Desmond could give no security +out of Ireland; but ultimately an article was made out in which the Earl +avowed himself the Emperor's subject, and promised to help him in all his +enterprises. Knowing that no guarantee could be given, the Spaniard +wisely asked for none but his host's word of honour. The Earl declared +his fixed intention--and here at least he spoke quite sincerely--to use +all his strength and that of his friends in prosecuting the war against +Piers Butler, the King's Deputy, and against the cities of Limerick, +Waterford, and Dublin. He begged the Emperor's help, and renewed his +request for cannon; as for men, he could bring 16,500 foot and 1,500 +horse into the field, and his allies could furnish 9,000 additional foot +and 300 additional horse. In enumerating his allies Desmond again drew +upon his imagination, for he included O'Donnell, Prince of Ulster, with +his 4,000 foot and 800 horse, Maguire and Magennis in the distant north, +as well as the MacCarthies with whom he was at war, and who, about this +time, defeated him in a pitched battle. He also represented himself as +firmly allied and frequently communicating with the King of +Scotland.[163] + +[Sidenote: Fernandez is unfavourable to Desmond.] + +Fernandez told his master that Desmond had treated him well, and supplied +his ship with fresh beef and venison. He had found him full of animosity +against Wolsey, and quite ready to forget his French connections and his +former compact with Francis. But the Earl acknowledged that Dublin was +the chief town of Ireland, and that he had no interest there, and that +his kinsman of Kildare, whom he called the ruler of the capital, had been +imprisoned in the Tower. That he had been arrested partly on Desmond's +account was obviously of less importance than the fact that he could be +arrested at all. As to Cork, Limerick, and Waterford, Desmond had some +friends there, but many more enemies. On the other hand, the Earl +certainly had ten castles, and Fernandez was made to believe that the +King of England had lately failed to take Dungarvan--a version of the +facts which strained them considerably. The Spaniard could not doubt that +Desmond had many tributary knights, and much influence among the wild +Irish; but he did not form a high opinion of the Earl's soldiers, among +whom executions for theft and murder were very frequent. They performed +wonderful feats of horsemanship without saddle or stirrups, but they had +no military skill. There were some gallowglasses with halberts, but the +great mass had only bows and arrows. Fernandez allows that the Earl kept +good justice, but it is clear that his general impression was +unfavourable. + +[Sidenote: Desmond sends messengers to Spain. The English agents are well +informed.] + +Desmond sent John Aslaby, Archdeacon of Cloyne, and another messenger +with Fernandez, and they found their way to Spain. The English agents +there continued to be well informed, and they learned from one Gwyn, +living at Ballinskellig, in Kerry, and trading to St. Sebastian, that +Desmond had sent for 4,000 men to teach the Irish war. Gwyn truly +reported that Cormac Oge was warring against the Earl, but that he would +probably soon acknowledge himself beaten. There is reason to believe that +a Spanish expedition to Ireland was really contemplated, but that the +Biscayans intended for the service refused to go, alleging, with a fine +perception of the realities of Celtic diplomacy, that the Irish would be +sure to deceive the Emperor. At all events nothing was done, and Spanish +intervention in Ireland was put off for half a century. Desmond was +proclaimed a traitor, but he died soon afterwards, and his successor +followed him in a few months, leaving his heritage in dispute. The +mission of Fernandez had no direct effect upon Ireland, but it may have +had a good deal to do with Wolsey's fate, and with the crooked diplomacy +of the divorce question. He was heir to De Puebla, who had negotiated +Catherine of Arragon's marriages, and probably knew more than any one +about the brief which Julius II. was said to have sent to Ferdinand the +Catholic, and which, if genuine, would have precluded Clement VII. from +granting a divorce on the ground of affinity. If the brief was forged, +its spuriousness could not be proved in the absence of Fernandez, and the +delay was fatal to the English Cardinal.[164] + +[Sidenote: Stephen Parry's tour in the south of Ireland. Siege of +Dungarvan.] + +Lord Leonard Grey was sent to England in charge of Kildare, but he left +his company of 100 men, under a Welsh officer named Parry, with orders to +attach himself to Lord Butler. Parry's despatch to Cromwell is one of the +very few contemporary documents which throw light on the state of the +country. He and his men entered Ossory's district at Leighlin Bridge, +where the people were glad to see them, and went on to Callan, where they +found English fashions generally followed. They were so well received at +Callan that they stayed there nine days, and they made a further halt of +three days at Clonmel, which also entertained them hospitably. Thomas +Butler, a man of great local influence, who had married Ossory's +daughter, and was afterwards created Lord Cahir, met the troops at +Clonmel and led them over the mountains to Dungarvan. He spoke very good +English, and made himself most agreeable. Gerald MacShane Fitzgerald of +Decies, who was also Ossory's son-in-law, joined them on the road. This +gentleman could not speak a word of English, but he was very civil, +professed great loyalty, and bound himself by hostages to act under the +advice of the Council. Reaching Dungarvan about the middle of September, +they met Skeffington, who had made up his mind to take the place, and who +brought the artillery which was henceforth to play so great a part in +Irish politics. The accidental presence of a Devonshire fishing fleet +enabled the Lord Deputy to invest the castle completely. On being +summoned the commandant answered boldly that he held the place for his +master, and that he would do the best for him, as he was sure Skeffington +would in like case do for his master. Two days were spent in preparing +the battery, and at five o'clock on the morning of the third the +cannonade began. A breach was made by eleven, and Sir John Saintloo +wished to storm it at once, but Skeffington's practised eye detected an +inner barricade. Lord Butler, who was a suitor for the castle, and had no +mind to be at the expense of rebuilding it, here interfered to prevent a +renewal of the fire. He sent in two of his men as hostages for the +constable's safety, and the latter then came out. Partly by coaxing and +partly by bullying, Butler persuaded him to surrender, and he and his +men took the oath of allegiance and swore to maintain the succession of +Anne Boleyn's child. The castle was handed over to Ossory's men.[165] + +[Sidenote: Desmond dies in 1529. Disputed succession. Parry's journey.] + +The Earl of Desmond whom Gonzalo Fernandez visited died in 1529, leaving +no male issue, and his uncle and successor Thomas Moyle soon followed +him. Thomas Moyle's son Maurice died before his father, having married +Joan Fitzgerald, daughter of the White Knight, by whom he left one son, +generally called James Fitzmaurice. James would have succeeded of course, +but that the validity of his mother's marriage was disputed. Failing him +the next heir would be his grand-uncle, John Fitz-Thomas, who was at this +time a very old man. To settle this question, if possible, and also, as +Skeffington wrote to the King, 'to execute the succession of your +Highness and of your most excellent Queen' Anne Boleyn, the Lord-Deputy +issued commissions for all the southern and western counties, and in each +Lord Butler was named chief commissioner. But the old artilleryman would +not give Butler a single gun, and he continued his journey without the +means of taking castles. At Youghal the townsmen received him well, and +Parry, who evidently liked good living, notes that claret sold there for +fourpence a gallon. Next day they encamped near Midleton, where the +Butlers mustered 202 horse, 312 gallowglasses, and 204 kerne, besides a +due proportion of the rabble which invariably accompanied Irish armies. +Parry's contingent consisted of 78 spearmen, 24 'long boys,' and 5 +musketeers--all well horsed. The next day they reached Cork, and Cormac +Oge appeared with his host on a hill less than a mile from the city. +Drawing up his main body on rising ground fronting the MacCarthies, +Butler descended into the hollow with a few followers, and the chief of +Muskerry met him there similarly attended. The mayor and aldermen, all in +scarlet gowns and velvet tippets, after the English fashion, were very +glad to see so many Englishmen, and 'made us,' says Parry, 'the best +cheer that ever we had in our lives.' Next day Cormac Oge came into the +town accompanied by the young Earl, who had married his daughter, and +who, having been brought up in England, dressed and behaved in approved +fashion. He acknowledged that he held all from the King, whom he had +never offended; and as a true-born Englishman he was quite ready to go to +England and try his title before his Majesty in council, provided his +grand-uncle Sir John would do the same. Earl or not, he was at the King's +disposal for any service, and to all this Cormac Oge agreed.[166] + +[Sidenote: Journey of Parry and Lord Butler. The O'Briens.] + +The youthful Lord Barry, who spoke very good English and was full of +complaints against the MacCarthies for keeping him out of his lands, also +came to Lord Butler at Cork. Cormac Oge was anxious to have all disputes +referred to the Lord-Deputy; but his son-in-law MacCarthy Reagh, the +chief of Carbery, who came in upon safe-conduct, said that he would do +nothing of the kind, but would hold by the sword what he had won by the +sword. Butler was very angry and told him he should repent, but MacCarthy +doubtless knew that, however good the will, the power to pursue him into +his own country was wanting. Mallow and Kilmallock, which Parry found a +very poor town, were next visited; and as the army approached Limerick, +O'Brien evacuated two castles in the neighbourhood and obstructed the +passes into Thomond with felled trees. Hearing that the invaders had no +cannon he restored his garrison, and encamped with a large force three +miles from the city walls. At Limerick Parry also found very good cheer, +'but nothing like the cheer that we had at Cork.' They then encamped at +Adare, where Donogh O'Brien, the reigning chief of Thomond's eldest son +and the husband of Lady Helen Butler, came to meet his brother-in-law. +The speech attributed to Donogh seems genuine, and is not without a rude +pathos:--'I have married your sister; and for because that I have married +your sister, I have forsaken my father, mine uncle, and all my friends, +and my country, to come to you to help to do the King service. I have +been sore wounded, and I have no reward, nor nothing to live upon. What +would ye have me to do? If that it would please the King's grace to take +me unto his service, and that you will come into the country, and bring +with you a piece of ordnance to win a castle, the which castle is named +Carrigogunnell, and his Grace to give me that, the which never was none +Englishman's these 200 year, and I will desire the King no help, nor aid +of no man, but this English captain, with his 100 and odd of Englishmen, +to go with me upon my father and mine uncle, the which are the King's +enemies, and upon the Irishmen that never English man were amongst; and +if that I do hurt or harm, or that there be any mistrust, I will put in +my pledges, as good as ye shall require, that I shall hurt no Englishman, +but upon the wild Irishmen that are the King's enemies. And for all such +land as I shall conquer, it shall be at the King's pleasure to set +Englishmen in it, to be holden of the King, as his pleasure shall be; and +I to refuse all such Irish fashions, and to order myself after the +English and all that I can make or conquer. Of this I desire an answer.' + +That Donogh in offering his services was going directly against his own +family is plain from a letter which his father had written to Charles V. +not much more than a year before. 'We have,' he had then said, 'never +been subject to English rule, or yielded up our ancient rights and +liberties; and there is at this present, and for ever will be, perpetual +discord between us, and we will harass them with continual war.' The +O'Briens had never sworn fealty to anyone, but he offered full submission +to the Emperor, with 100 castles and 18,000 men.[167] + +[Sidenote: The Desmonds and the Irish.] + +Old Sir John of Desmond, the rival claimant to the title, also came to +Adare and spoke plainly in very good English. 'What should I do in +England,' he asked, 'to meet a boy there? Let me have that Irish horson, +Cormac Oge, and I will go into England before the King.' Parry thought +him as full of mischief as ever; but he agreed to meet the young Earl at +Youghal, and also the obnoxious Cormac. It is curious to see how proud +these Desmonds were of their Norman blood, and how they despised the +Irish; while often straining every nerve against Henry II.'s successor, +offering their allegiance to foreign princes, and boasting to them of +their Irish allies. + +[Sidenote: Parry's observations.] + +Returning to Clonmel by Kilmallock and Cashel, Parry was despatched to +bring Vice-Treasurer Brabazon and Chief Justice Bermingham to a +conference with Ossory and his son at Youghal. During the whole long +journey from Dungarvan he had met no one who had ever seen an English +soldier in those parts. Some days they rode sixteen miles at a stretch +over what had once been really, and still remained nominally, +Englishmen's ground. The woods, the rivers, and the rich grass lands +about them excited his admiration. Nor was there any want of ground +suitable for corn, and the ridges showed that it had once been tilled, +but not a blade of oats had grown there for twelve years. Parry, who had +evidently been very well treated by him, seems to have formed a high idea +of Lord Butler's qualifications. If the King would give him artillery +there was scarcely any limit to his possible services; for his own +marriage with a daughter of Desmond and the marriages of his sisters, no +less than his personal character, gave him great influence throughout the +South of Ireland.[168] + +[Sidenote: Lord Leonard Grey made Marshal of the army. He and Skeffington +disagree.] + +Having determined to continue Skeffington in the government of Ireland, +notwithstanding his age and bad health, Henry took means to supply him +with efficient subordinates. First among them was Lord Leonard Grey, who +had returned with a new commission as marshal and with the title of +Viscount Grane, which, however, he never chose to assume. The others were +Sir John Saintloo, a brave soldier; the Vice-Treasurer Brabazon, who was +already well tried; and John Alen, Master of the Rolls, who had been +pushing his own interests at Court, and who was entrusted with the royal +despatch. Honest musters leading to a reduction of expenses were the +King's great object at this time; for Kildare was safe in the Tower, and +it seemed that a great army was no longer necessary. Special care was +taken to define Grey's position, and Skeffington, whose supremacy as +Henry's representative was fully acknowledged, was reminded that royal +blood flowed in the marshal's veins. Discipline had been much relaxed in +Ireland, and no doubt reform was wanted; but Grey seems to have used his +military authority with undue severity. Thomas Dacre, a member of the +great northern family, who came in charge of some spearmen, was +imprisoned for eight days, though nothing had been proved against him. +Another Dacre was confined for seven weeks without any apparent reason, +and during a fortnight he had irons on both arms and legs. Such +proceedings certainly gave some grounds for supposing that Grey was not +disposed to favour those who had helped to overthrow his rebellious +nephew.[169] + +[Sidenote: Death and character of Skeffington, 1535.] + +Skeffington died about two months after Grey's return. Though not very +brilliant, he had been on the whole successful, and had shown that a +private gentleman armed with the King's commission could be more than a +match for the greatest of Irish nobles. It was indeed part of Henry's +policy, as it had been his father's, to rely much upon persons of far +humbler birth. Fox and Wolsey were Churchmen, and the tonsure had been +always powerful to counteract plebeian extraction; but Empson the +pettifogger, Cromwell the clothier, Stile the scribe, and Tuke, who +speculated in kerseys, with many others of no higher original +pretensions, were often preferred for important affairs to the chiefs of +the English aristocracy. The business was often better done, and the +power of the Crown was brought into more prominent relief. Skeffington +may be regarded as the first of that long line of able public servants +who reduced Ireland to a tardy and unwilling obedience. 'He was,' said +Brabazon, 'a very good man of war, but not quick enough for Ireland, and +somewhat covetous.' The charge was made by others also, and is easier to +make than to refute. But it is certain that Skeffington died in +difficulties, and one fact may be set against many opinions.[170] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[126] Conossius Maguire to the King, Feb. 20, 1534, in _Carew_. Letter +from the five Alens, May 17, 1534. R.O. _Ireland_. + +[127] Examination of Robert Reyley, Aug. 5, 1536, in _Carew_. Stanihurst. + +[128] Stanihurst. Finglas to Cromwell, July 21, 1534. Dowling says Offaly +was commonly called 'Thomas sericus.' + +[129] The King to the Earl of Ossory, No. 72 in the printed _State +Papers_. Butler's letter is in Stanihurst. + +[130] Examination of Robert Reyley in _Carew_, Aug. 5, 1536; Sir John +Rawson to the King, Aug. 7, 1534; Dowling's _Annals_. Rawson says 'divers +of his chaplains and servants' were killed with the Archbishop, and that +the murder was in Offaly's presence and 'by his commandment.' + +[131] Wine, 20 tuns; beer, 20 tuns; powdered beef, 16 hogsheads; 2,000 +dried ling, &c. &c. + +[132] Stanihurst. + +[133] Stanihurst. Ossory to Walter Cowley, No. 93 in the printed _State +Papers_. + +[134] Stanihurst. Brereton and Salisbury to the King, Nov. 4, 1534. + +[135] Stanihurst. + +[136] _Ibid._; Dowling. According to Stanihurst, Salisbury and Brereton +did not land until after the fight in which Musgrave fell, but their own +letter seems to contradict this. + +[137] John Alen to Cromwell, Oct. 4; Brereton and Salisbury to the King, +Nov. 4; Skeffington to the King, Nov. 11; Ossory to Mr. Cowley, No. 93 in +the printed _State Papers_. + +[138] Brereton and Salisbury to the King, Nov. 4; Skeffington to the +King, Nov. 11; Ossory to Mr. Cowley, as above. + +[139] John Alen to Cromwell, Dec. 26, 1534, and Feb. 16, 1535; +Vice-Treasurer Brabazon to Cromwell, Feb. 16, 1535; Skeffington to Sir +Edmund Walsingham, March 13. + +[140] The sentence of excommunication is printed in the _State Papers_, +No. 81; see No. 84; Stanihurst. Kildare died Dec. 12, 1534. + +[141] Stanihurst; Alen to Cromwell, Dec. 26, 1534. + +[142] Ossory to Skeffington, Jan. 17, 1535. + +[143] Alen to Cromwell, Feb. 16, 1535; Stanihurst. + +[144] Stanihurst; Lord Deputy and Council to the King, March 26. + +[145] Ware; Stanihurst; the Lord-Deputy and Council to the King, March +26. The official despatch does not mention the negotiation with Paris, +but I see no reason to disbelieve Stanihurst. 'Too late, quoth Boys,' +became proverbial. + +[146] 'Quæ vulgariter dicitur a saulte.' + +[147] Coyne and livery, cuddies, kernaghts, 'vel talia poculenta.' + +[148] The indenture is dated July 26, 1535. + +[149] Aylmer and Alen to Cromwell, Aug. 21. + +[150] Grey to Cromwell, August 15. Aylmer and Alen to Cromwell, Aug. 21 +and 26. + +[151] Skeffington to the King, Aug. 24; the Council of Ireland to the +King, Aug. 27. + +[152] Audeley to Cromwell, i. S.P., p. 466; Stanihurst; _Four Masters_. + +[153] The King to Skeffington, ii. S.P., p. 280; Audeley to Cromwell, i. +S.P., p. 146; Norfolk to Cromwell, September 9, 1535. + +[154] Feb. 3, 1537. The letter to Rothe (enclosing that to O'Brien) is in +S.P. ii., p. 402. + +[155] Surrey to Wolsey, Nov. 3, 1520; Russell; O'Daly, chap. ix. The +latter writer is hopelessly wrong, and makes Thomas Moyle fight on +Desmond's side. + +[156] He is generally stated to have died June 18, 1529, but he was alive +Sept. 12 in that year. For his intrigues with Francis see Wise to +Cromwell, July 12, 1534, and the Cotton MS. quoted there; _Brewer_, vol. +iii., No. 3118. The abortive Bill of attainder is calendared under Oct. +1528. + +[157] Articles alleged by Ormonde against Kildare, _Brewer_, vol. iv., +No. 1352 (2). Ware; _Four Masters_, 1523. + +[158] James Butler to his father, _Brewer_, vol. iv., No. 3698; to the +King, _ib._ 3699. Cormac Oge to the King, _ib_. 5084; to Wolsey, _ib._ +4933. Sir Thomas Fitzgerald to ---- _ib._ 3922. Archbishop Inge to +Wolsey, Feb. 23, 1528. + +[159] R. Cowley, ii. S.P., 141; R. Griffiths to Wolsey, in _Brewer_, vol. +iv., Nos. 3372 and 4485. + +[160] J. Batcock to ---- in _Brewer_, vol. iv., No. 4878; Sylvester +Darius to Wolsey, _ib._ 4911; Ghinucci and Lee to Wolsey, _ib._ 4948; Lee +to Henry VIII., _ib._ 5002. The instructions to Fernandez are in _Carew_, +Feb. 24, 1529 (wrongly calendared under 1530). + +[161] Fernandez to Charles V. in _Brewer_, vol. iv. No. 5323; Ghinucci +and Lee to Wolsey, _ib._ 5423; Lee to Wolsey, April 19, 1529, _ib._ 5469; +Desmond's Memorandum for the Emperor, April 28, _ib._ 5501; Froude's +_Pilgrim_. + +[162] Same authorities. Writing later to Charles V. (Sept. 2, _Brewer_, +iv. 5938) Desmond increases his loss by Henry's malpractices to +100,000_l._, and says he holds the chief power in all Irish harbours from +the furthest point of Kerry to Waterford. + +[163] In the _Pilgrim_ Wexford is substituted for Waterford. The lists of +chiefs in the _Pilgrim_ and in _Brewer_ (vol. iv. No. 5501) are not quite +identical. + +[164] _Brewer_, vol. iv. No. 5620; Lee to Henry VIII., July 4, 1529, +_ib._ 5756. For the question of the brief see Brewer, Introd. to vol. iv. +pp. ccccxxiii. and ccccxliv., and an excellent article in the _Quarterly +Review_ for January 1877. + +[165] Stephen Ap Parry to Cromwell, Oct. 6, 1535; Skeffington to the +King, Oct. 16. + +[166] Stephen Ap Parry to Cromwell, Oct. 6; Lord Butler to Cromwell, Oct. +17. + +[167] Parry to Cromwell as before. Con O'Brien to Charles V., July 21, +1534, printed in Froude's _Pilgrim_, from the Brussels Archives. + +[168] Parry to Cromwell, as before. + +[169] The King to Skeffington, No. iii. in the printed S.P. Thomas Dacre +to Cromwell, Jan. 5, 1536, printed in the _Irish Archæological Journal_, +N.S., ii., 338. Skeffington died December 31. + +[170] Brabazon to Cromwell, Sept. 10, 1535. Alen to Cromwell, Feb. 16, +1535. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +FROM THE YEAR 1536 TO THE YEAR 1540. + + +[Sidenote: Lord Leonard Grey Deputy, 1536.] + +Grey was immediately chosen Lord Justice by the Council, and his patent +as Deputy was not long delayed. He began badly, his temper involving him +in one of those personal difficulties which led to his ruin. He had never +been on good terms with his predecessor, and was at no pains to make a +decent or politic show of regret. Less than a month after her husband's +death Lady Skeffington wrote to Anne Boleyn, declaring that she was +overwhelmed with debt through his liberality in advancing money for the +public service. She had already complained to Cromwell of Grey's +harshness, and her son-in-law Anthony Colley went so far as to accuse him +of shortening the late Deputy's life. Aylmer and Alen, afterwards Grey's +most unrelenting enemies, were included in Lady Skeffington's complaint. +The Council now sustained Grey, but it was not in official documents that +the politicians of Dublin were wont to assail a chief governor whose hand +might after all be heavy against them. Verbal messages and innuendoes +contained in private letters seldom failed to undermine a man whom it +might be neither safe nor decent to accuse openly. Grey now contented +himself with saying that the late Lord Deputy had died in debt, and that +his property was held in pledge for his creditors. But Lady Skeffington +replied, and no doubt truly, that the official salary had never been +paid, and that she could do nothing without it. Cromwell at least +believed her, for he gave orders that her goods should be delivered to +her, and that she should be sped on her homeward journey. Grey complied +in the most ungracious manner, and had all the luggage and furniture +turned out of Maynooth Castle before carts could be provided to carry it +away. It was stored in a church, and there further detained by the new +Deputy for a debt to the Crown. Lady Skeffington was unable to leave for +eight or nine months after her husband's death, and obstacles were placed +in her way to the last. There may have been faults on both sides, but had +Grey been either a good-natured or a politic man he might have found +means to smooth matters for a widowed lady whose chief desire was the +very general one of wishing to get out of Ireland as quickly as +possible.[171] + +[Sidenote: Parliament of 1536.] + +Grey was commissioned to summon a Parliament, which accordingly met on +Monday, May 1, the day before Anne Boleyn was sent to the Tower. In less +than three weeks a number of important bills were passed, of which drafts +carefully settled by Audeley himself had been sent from England. The +succession was secured to the issue of Anne Boleyn, as Brabazon wrote +only two days before that unfortunate lady's execution. Before the letter +reached London Jane Seymour had already been Queen a full fortnight, and +Cromwell's concern was, if possible, to stop the passing of an Act which +would have to be repeated so soon. It was too late to do this, but the +Parliament made no difficulty about enacting the same stringent rule of +succession for the third as they had done for the second wife. They thus +achieved the unique distinction of passing two contradictory Acts of +Settlement within eighteen months. This remarkable performance does not +adorn the printed statute book, because that compilation was made when +Elizabeth was firmly seated on the throne.[172] + +[Sidenote: The royal supremacy.] + +The bill declaring the King to be supreme head of the Church encountered +some opposition from the proctors of the clergy, two of whom were +summoned to Parliament from each diocese. The proctors had only +consultative voices, but they now claimed not only to be full members of +Parliament, but to form a separate order whose consent would be necessary +to every change in the law. An Act was passed declaring them no members +of the body of Parliament, as they had 'temerariously assumed and +usurpedly taken upon them to be.' In spite of their opposition and of +much secret discontent, a series of Acts were passed to emancipate the +Irish Church from Roman influences, or rather for subjecting her to King +Stork instead of to King Log. All dues hitherto paid to Rome were +forbidden, and the election and consecration of bishops were withdrawn +from papal control. Appeals were transferred from the Pope to the King. +The payment of first-fruits was imposed on all secular dignitaries and +beneficed clergymen, abbots and priors being for the time exempted. The +abrogation of this heavy and oppressive tax was reserved for the energy +of Swift or the piety of Anne. By Audeley's advice the English heresy +laws were not copied in Ireland. An Act was passed to validate the +proceedings of this Parliament, though it had been held contrary to +Poyning's law, but the spirit if not the letter of that famous measure +had been observed by preparing the bills in England. Indeed, the +Parliament was as subservient as any official could wish. 'The Common +House,' wrote Brabazon, 'is marvellous good for the King's causes, and +all the learned men within the same be very good; so that I think all +causes concerning the King's grace will take good effect.'[173] + +[Sidenote: The Act of Absentees.] + +The weakening of the English power in Ireland by the non-residence of +great proprietors had long been recognised. Edward III., on the occasion +of his son Lionel's mission, announced by proclamation that the lands of +absentees would be granted to Englishmen willing and able to defend them +against the Irish. An English Parliament under Richard II. provided that +in case of absenteeism the Viceroy and Council might divert two-thirds of +the rents and profits to the defence of the country in ordinary cases; +one-third in the case of students, of persons absent on the King's +service, or of those who had leave of absence under the great seal. +Whether or not this English law was ever re-enacted or obeyed in +Ireland, forfeiture was considered an incident of non-residence, and +special Acts were passed to protect those who left Ireland on the public +service. Henry VI. made a law ordering his subjects of Ireland to return +to their own country. By Poyning's Act the statute of Richard II. +obtained full force in Ireland, and it was shortly afterwards provided +afresh that all licences of absence should be under the great seal of +England, exceptions being made in favour of the religious orders and of +students. The momentous Act now passed declared that many great +proprietors had notoriously failed to defend their lands, whereby the +King was forced to incur great expense in bringing an army to Ireland. +The persons specially mentioned were Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, and +his coparcener Lord Barkley, who claimed and held the seigniories and +lordships of Carlow, Old Ross, &c.; George Talbot, Earl of Waterford and +Salop, who held the seigniory of Wexford; and the heirs general of the +Earl of Ormonde, who held divers possessions and lands. To these were +added the Abbots of Furness, Bristol, Osney, and Bath; the Priors of +Canterbury, Lanthony, Cartmel, and Keynsham; and the master of St. Thomas +of Acon in London. All this property was resumed to the Crown, saving the +rights of residents in Ireland, who held under the dispossessed lords. +Wexford was at once placed under a royal seneschal, and was so governed +till the reign of James I. The Crown thus became one of the greatest of +Irish landlords, and the foundations of a reconquest were laid.[174] + +[Sidenote: The O'Neills.] + +While Parliament was sitting Phelim O'Neill, chief of Clandeboye, came to +Dublin and covenanted with the Lord Deputy to attend all great hostings +and to make war upon all enemies of the Government within a day's march +of his own country. He promised not to aid or harbour rebels, and to +submit all differences between his people and the King's subjects to +peaceful arbitration. The great Leinster chief, Cahir MacEncross +Kavanagh, also came to terms, agreed to supply twelve horsemen and twenty +kerne in all hostings, and to employ his whole force on journeys of not +more than three days' duration. He promised to submit disputes to the +arbitration of Ossory and his son. Redmond Savage, the chief of an +English family in Down which had long conformed to Celtic usages, made a +similar agreement, and also promised to pay the Lord Deputy for his +friendship 100 fat cows and a good horse, or fifteen marks Irish. Grey +went himself to Dundalk, where Con O'Neill met him. The chief of Tyrone +renewed the promises made to Skeffington, binding himself to attend all +hostings and do his best against Scotch intruders, but he gave no +hostages, and an invasion of his country was not believed to be +practicable. The Lord Deputy then returned to Dublin, where a new and +very serious danger demanded his presence.[175] + +[Sidenote: Want of money. Mutiny.] + +'Lack of money,' as Grey expressed it, 'after the late robbing and +spoiling,' was the great difficulty of the English in Ireland during the +whole Tudor period. The King now sent 7,000_l._, but that sum still left +the soldiers' pay three months in arrear. There were many differences +among the members of Council, but they all agreed in demanding more +money. The northern spearmen, on the report that they were not to be paid +in full, mutinied openly, declaring that they would have all or none. +They refused to hear the King's letter read, threatened the lives of the +Vice-Treasurer and Chief Justice, declared that they would not serve +without wages, and that if they were not paid they would 'board with the +Council at their houses, in spite of their hearts.' The astute borderers +carried their point, for they received full payment, while Grey's own +retainers were sent empty away. Saintloo's men at Waterford also showed a +mutinous spirit, but they were silenced for a time by receiving part of +what was due to them.[176] + +[Sidenote: Grey travels southward.] + +Parliament having adjourned to Kilkenny, Grey followed it thither, the +army being victualled for a month. Having made arrangements for restoring +the fortifications at Powerscourt, Woodstock, and Athy, Grey left the +defence of the Pale to Brabazon, adjourned the Parliament to Limerick, +and himself set out for Desmond's country. Besides Ossory and his son and +the usual force of the four shires, O'Carroll, MacMurrough, O'Byrne, Lord +Roche, and the gentlemen of Wexford and Waterford, accompanied the Lord +Deputy. He was also attended by William Body, a confidential servant whom +Cromwell had sent over to gather information, and whom he afterwards +mentioned in his will. Body travelled to Ireland with George Browne, the +new Archbishop of Dublin, and first busied himself in trying to arrange +Grey's dispute with Lady Skeffington. He had particular instructions to +inquire as to the possibility of increasing the Irish revenue.[177] + +[Sidenote: The Desmond country. Carrigogunnell.] + +Marching unopposed across the central plain, Grey found the great Desmond +stronghold on Lough Gur undefended, the doors and windows having been +carried off and the roof purposely burnt. It was handed over to Lord +Butler, who undertook to repair and garrison it at his own expense. Grey +then marched to Carrigogunnell, an immense fortress standing in a +commanding position over the Shannon. Matthew O'Brien surrendered the +place on condition, as was alleged by Body, that it should be garrisoned +only by Englishmen. An order was nevertheless given to hand it over to +Donogh O'Brien, Ossory's son-in-law. This chief came to Grey and renewed +the offers made to Butler. He was ready to serve the King against his +father and all others, provided he might have Carrigogunnell; and the +Council considered his services more important to them than the castle +could be to him. But the English guard restored the place to Matthew +O'Brien. Donogh was certainly not an Englishman, and George Woodward, 'an +honest and an hardy man,' may have thought himself bound in honour to +restore the original situation, or he may have thought one O'Brien as +good as another. Grey merely says that Matthew held out boldly until the +battering train was in position, when he was content to depart with bag +and baggage.[178] + +[Sidenote: Grey attacks the O'Briens, August, 1536.] + +The next undertaking was an attack on O'Brien's Bridge, which had long +laid Limerick and Tipperary open to attack. The bridge was of wood, with +a castle at each end built in the water. That near the Limerick shore was +the strongest, and was of hewn limestone or marble, twelve or fourteen +feet thick, and armed with an iron gun carrying shot as big as a man's +head, and two small pieces, of which one belonged to some ship, and the +other was of Portuguese make. The garrison had also some muskets and +hand-guns, and the work was skilfully strengthened with wooden barriers +and with hogsheads full of sand. Under Donogh O'Brien's guidance the Lord +Deputy marched along the hilly bank of the great river by devious paths, +untravelled hitherto, as he believed, by Englishmen or by wheels. The +four land-arches had been broken down, and the castle was thus surrounded +by water. The royal artillery consisted of one culverin, six falcons, and +one half-saker, but these were not heavy enough. In a day and a half all +the shot had been fired away, and the walls were almost as sound as ever. +No baggage train had been brought, provisions were scarce, and two nights +had been spent on the bare ground; it was necessary to retire or to take +the castle. Brushwood was abundant, and Grey set his men to make fascines +and to throw them into the channel. Ladders were also made, but it became +unnecessary to use them; for Saintloo's men advanced along the frail and +shifting path and carried the castle with a rush. The garrison ran out at +the other side, and the bridge was then broken down with such tools as +were at hand. The army then returned to Limerick, and Lord Butler went to +Carrick-on-Suir for more cannon before undertaking the recovery of +Carrigogunnell, which the Irish had again seized by stratagem.[179] + +[Sidenote: William Body. His report to Cromwell.] + +Body, with the insolence of a great man's favourite, had throughout this +expedition assumed the character of a Royal Commissioner, to which he had +not a shadow of title. He associated with the loosest of boon companions, +who disturbed the camp by night and day and swore, with the truth born of +alcohol, that he was no Commissioner. At O'Brien's Bridge he blamed Grey +for not providing sapping tools, which must have tired out the soldiers, +and which would have been quite useless. He was very indignant at having +to sleep on the ground 'from Friday inclusive until Tuesday exclusive,' +but no one else was better off. Grey, a thorough soldier, was at no pains +to conceal his contempt:-- + +'I desired him to be contented, for I had seen better men than he was, or +should be, or any that was there, lodged worse. He was displeased +therewith, desiring me not to judge what his fortune might be. Then I +said, I was sure he should never be so good as the Duke of Norfolk, and +Suffolk, and my lord my brother (the Marquis of Dorset), whom I had seen +lodged worse. Whereat he took a great fume for that I should judge any +impossibility what he might be; and thereupon leaving us at our coming to +Limerick, departed towards Dublin in a great anger. But of his gests by +the way the folly of it is such, I will not commit to writing, but, I +assure you, like no Commissioner.' + +This short experience of Irish campaigning was enough for Body, who +returned to Dublin and busied himself in undermining Grey's influence. +Few seem to have had his good word, except Ossory and his son, who took +care to be civil to Cromwell's confidential man. But Body was perhaps a +better judge of a country than of a general's qualifications. 'As far as +I have seen it,' he wrote, 'that is to say the counties of Dublin, +Kildare, Carlow, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Ormond, Ossory, Desmond, Limerick, +and Thomond, if there be any paradise in this world, it may be accounted +for one among them, both for beauty and goodness.'[180] + +[Sidenote: The soldiers refuse to go beyond Shannon.] + +The army which Grey had at Limerick did not much exceed 2,000 men, +including the Butlers and their not very trustworthy Irish allies. The +Pale had been much exhausted by the Kildare rebellion, and it was +purposely spared, much to the indignation of Body, who, like many other +casual visitors, fancied he understood Ireland better than men who had +studied it for years. The Lord Deputy had only 700 men of his own and had +no money to pay them. Saintloo's company had received some part of their +money at Waterford, but broke out again soon after leaving that city; and +it was supposed that two subalterns, Gerbert and Powell, were the true +ringleaders. Grey's gunners stood firm, and by threatening to use the +guns he kept the mutineers quiet for a time. They behaved, as we have +seen, with great gallantry at O'Brien's Bridge; but they refused to go +beyond the Shannon, and the idea of a pursuit into Clare was therefore +given up. The Council thought Grey's person in danger, and he owned to +more peril from his soldiers than from the Irish enemy. He could depend +only on his own immediate followers, 100 horse and as many foot, and upon +one officer, that Stephen Parry whom we have met before. Whenever the +bulk of the troops were called upon to perform a service they all +answered together, 'Let us have money, and we will do it.'[181] + +[Sidenote: The Butlers and O'Briens. Carrigogunnell.] + +The troops being pacified for the moment and Lord Butler having arrived +with another battering piece, the garrison of Carrigogunnell, consisting +partly of Desmond men and partly of O'Briens, were summoned to surrender +on promise of their lives, and warned that if the castle had to be taken +by force no quarter should be shown to man, woman, or child. They +detained the messenger and returned no answer. A breach was soon made, +and, after more than one failure and the loss of thirty men killed and +wounded, the castle was taken by storm. Seventeen of the defenders were +killed in the fight, and of forty-six survivors all were put to death on +the spot, except certain gentlemen of the O'Briens, for whom large +ransoms were refused, and who were taken to Limerick, tried for high +treason, and immediately executed. Chief Justice Aylmer accompanied the +army for such purposes. The castle was handed over to Lord Butler, who +placed it in his brother-in-law's charge, and Donogh, having gained his +great object, became a scourge to the citizens of Limerick.[182] + +[Sidenote: Grey cannot pay his army.] + +The troops positively refused to go into Clare without receiving their +arrears, and Grey had nothing to give. He therefore proposed to leave +them at Limerick, Cork, and Kilmallock; giving his own and the Council's +security for their victualling until the King should think proper to send +money. They refused; and Butler's men, after twenty days' trial of Lough +Gur, would stay there no longer unless the towns had English garrisons. +James Fitz-Maurice, whom the King acknowledged as Earl of Desmond, and +who had a party in the country, was not at hand, and as no one could take +his place the castle was abandoned. The artillery was left at Limerick +and Clonmel, and the Lord Deputy went back to meet Parliament at Dublin. +His expedition had shown that a small army well led and well paid could +go anywhere and do anything in Ireland, and that feudal castles could do +nothing against a proper siege train; but it had also shown that the +necessary conditions were not likely to be fulfilled under a King who +gave away priories while crossing passages, and who staked one of the +finest peals of bells in London upon a single throw of the dice.[183] + +[Sidenote: The Duke of Richmond dies, 1536.] + +The death of the Duke of Richmond, whom his father no doubt intended to +advance and whom Charles V. even thought, or professed to think, destined +to succeed him, made no difference to the country which he nominally +governed. It was indeed at first supposed that Acts of Parliament passed +after his death would be invalid, but the lawyers seem to have decided +that this was not the case.[184] + +[Sidenote: The revenue. Abuses.] + +The actual revenue of Ireland, derived partly from forfeitures and partly +from a parliamentary grant, amounted at this time to about 5,000_l._, of +which 1,000_l._ was not paid. Henry, who was of course obliged to +supplement this, complained that he got very little for his money, and +wished to reduce the Irish establishment. He declared that he valued an +increase of income less for himself than for the common good of Ireland. +'A great sort of you,' he wrote to the Lord Deputy and Council (we must +be plain), 'desire nothing else but to reign in estimation and to fleece +from time to time all that you may catch from us.' He announced therefore +that he was about to send an independent person with ample powers to +inquire into Irish affairs. He gave Brabazon detailed instructions for a +survey of marsh lands, and bade him go to war no more but apply himself +wholly to financial affairs. No salary was to be paid to any officer who +acted by deputy, and none but customary fees exacted. Henry said he was +determined to reform Ireland, and would value his servants there +according to their merits in that behalf. 'If anyone,' he wrote, +'directly or indirectly devised and practised the let, hindrance, or +impeachment of this our purpose for any respect, whereunto we will not +fail to have a special eye, we shall so look upon him what degree soever +he shall be of, as others shall, by his example, beware how they shall +misuse their Prince and sovereign Lord, and transgress his most dread +commandment.'[185] + +[Sidenote: Ireland cannot be governed without money.] + +To this formidable letter Grey and his Council answered that the army had +never been properly paid, and had in consequence often mutinied, that +they had spent every farthing of revenue on public objects, and had +raised large additional sums on their own credit, that credit was now +quite exhausted, and that without money to pay off the men it was +impossible further to reduce the military establishment. Brabazon had +accounted or was ready to account for every penny, 'and as to our desire +to reign in estimation, it is to be thought that among civil people there +can no name of dignity or honour be in estimation, unless thereunto be +annexed rule and riches. Would to God his Majesty did know our gain and +riches, which is so great that we of the mean sort of this Council, +being his Grace's officers among us all, we suppose be not worth in money +and plate 1,000_l._ Irish, which is a small substance for us all, being +in the rooms that we be under his Grace. We be no such purchasers of +possessions, builders, dicers, nor carders, neither yet pompous +householders whereby we should consume our profits and gain if we had +them.'[186] + +[Sidenote: Grey attacks the O'Connors, 1537.] + +Those best acquainted with the country at this time believed that the +necessary precedent to its reduction was a thorough conquest of Leinster. +The overthrow of the Kildare Geraldines was necessary, but had its +inconveniences. They had been a standing menace to the Government, but +they had kept the Irish at bay, and their fall left the marches quite +open. Without security either of life or title no one would work the +forfeited lands, and the margin of waste grew broader every day. Grey's +temper and talents made him prefer war to diplomacy, and he resolved to +strike at O'Connor, whose hostages were in his hands, and who was under +recognizance to deliver 800 cows to the King, but who had regained +complete possession of Offaly. His brother Cahir had suffered the not +uncommon fate of those who support Irish governments, and had been an +exile for two years. Grey, Brabazon, and Aylmer took fourteen days' +provisions from Dublin, and were joined on the march by Lords Delvin, +Slane, and Killeen, and by William Saintloo, now seneschal of Wexford, +with his own company and 100 kerne. They passed along the southern edge +of Westmeath to MacGeohegan's country, the modern barony of Moycashel, +and took hostages from that chief and from O'Molloy, whose district lay +further south. On the same day Brabazon got possession of Brackland +Castle through the treachery of an inmate, who acted in Cahir O'Connor's +interest, and who was pardoned while the rest of the garrison were +beheaded. The soldiers destroyed all that lay in their path, and on the +fifth day arrived before Dangan, afterwards Philipstown, which had been +fortified with some skill. The march was only of five or six miles, but +the ground was boggy, and a road had to be made with fascines and +hurdles. The ditches about the castle were filled in the same way, and +the courtyard was forced before nightfall. Three days were spent in +waiting for one large and two small pieces of artillery, and on the +bright May morning following their arrival fire was opened upon the keep. +After four hours' cannonade, resulting as usual in those days with the +disabling of the principal gun, a breach was made and the castle at once +stormed. The walls were dismantled, and the heads of their twenty-three +defenders set on poles 'for a show to the O'Connors.' On the next day +Ossory's second son Richard, afterwards created Viscount Mountgarret, +came to excuse his father, who had been kept away by ill-health. O'Connor +in the meantime had fled into O'Carroll's country, 'which O'Carroll,' +Grey carefully notes, 'is the Earl of Ossory's friend.' The punishment of +O'Carroll for harbouring the fugitive was nevertheless entrusted to +Richard Butler, partly to punish his tardiness, and partly because Grey's +fifteen days' provisions were almost gone. It was an absurd expedient, +and before the end of the year O'Connor was back and Cahir had fled the +country. The sole result of the expedition was to show the force of +artillery; yet Henry, unless his language be thought ironical, calls it a +notable exploit. 'If, however,' the King added, 'he should be suffered to +enter again, it should but add a further courage to that traitorous +malice which by all likelihood is so entered, that it will not be +removed.'[187] + +[Sidenote: Grey makes many enemies.] + +Grey had many enemies, for he was not conciliatory, and his relationship +to the Geraldines laid him open to the suspicions of all who had risen on +the ruins of the House of Kildare. With Brabazon, the ablest man about +him, he had long been on cold terms, and many supposed that the +Vice-Treasurer thought he ought to have been Deputy himself. Thomas +Agard, Vice-Treasurer of the Mint, a sour but apparently honest Puritan, +hated Grey for his attachment to old religious forms, and Archbishop +Browne lost no opportunity of attacking him on the same grounds. Alen, +Master of the Rolls, a useful public servant, but with an inborn love of +intrigue, gave trouble to every successive chief governor. Robert Cowley +and his son were devoted to the House of Ormonde, which Grey thought too +powerful. The Deputy did not favour the innovations in religion, and took +no pains to hide his dislike to Browne and Agard; but with the rest he +was always ready to co-operate. The King, however, found it hard to +reconcile conflicting accounts, and resolved to send over Commissioners +unconnected with Irish factions to report upon the actual state of +affairs. The persons selected were Anthony St. Leger, of Ulcombe in Kent, +one of the wisest statesmen who ever represented the English Crown in +Ireland; George Paulet, a younger brother of the astute courtier who is +best known as Marquis of Winchester, but not equally endowed with +prudence; Thomas Moyle, of Gray's Inn, Receiver-General of the Court of +Augmentations, and afterwards Speaker of the English House of Commons; +and William Berners, auditor of the same court. The Irish Government was +directed to treat them with as much deference as if the King were +present; and they were ordered to treat Grey with much consideration, and +to take his advice when possible. The latter instruction, so well +calculated to soothe the Lord Deputy's wounded pride, was not directly +made known to him. The Commissioners were ordered to present their +credentials to the Lord Deputy as soon as they reached Dublin, and then +to summon the Council and read the King's letter, in which he promised to +remember their good services. 'If, on the other side,' he added, 'we +shall not find you now faithful officers, ministers, and good +councillors, but men given more to your own affectes, commodities, and +gains, than earnestly bent to our satisfaction, we shall again so look +upon the best of you so misusing himself for it, as shall be little cause +to rejoice at length of his doings in that behalf.'[188] + +[Sidenote: The King sends a special Commission.] + +The first duty imposed on the Commissioners was the reduction of +expenditure and the increase of revenue. As a cheap defence to the Pale, +hostages were to be generally taken, and the army was, if possible, to be +cut down to 340 picked men, inclusive of garrisons. Horsemen were to +receive 8_l._ yearly, footmen 4_l._, constables of castles 13_l._ 6_s._ +8_d._, gate-keepers 6_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._, under-warders 4_l._ 13_s._ +4_d._--all in Irish currency, or about two-thirds of the sterling +amounts. The Vice-Treasurer was in future to visit all garrisons +quarterly, to see that deserving men received commands, and to provide +for frequent musters of all borne on the books. All soldiers in excess of +the new establishment were to be paid off with money specially provided, +and the King, with a touch of his daughter's temper, gave orders that +they should be induced if possible to take less than their due. The +Commissioners were to survey waste lands and were authorised to give +leases for twenty-one years, with a clause of forfeiture for +non-observance of the laws as to English dress and for alliance with +Irish rebels--the penalties provided by law being also enforced. After +this all offices and officers were to be subjected to rigid scrutiny, +with a view to increased efficiency and reduced expense. Detailed +instructions were given as to public accounts, and Brabazon was to be +repaid all he had spent in annoying the King's rebels. + +[Sidenote: Powers of this Commission.] + +The control of legislation was also given to the Commissioners, who were +to see various Acts for the establishment of royal authority in Church +and State duly passed. They were to inquire as to the claims of clerical +proctors to interfere in Parliament, were themselves to have a right of +entry as the King's councillors, and were to expound the royal policy +'with all their wit and dexterity, and with such stomach, where they +shall perceive any man frowardly, perversely bent to the let and +impeachment of the King's purpose in the same, as they may the rather by +their wisdom both conduce the thing to effect and reconcile the parties +that before would show themselves so wilful and obstinate.' Messages to +this effect were sent to both Houses, both Wolsey and Cromwell relying +upon a species of intimidation of which Charles I.'s attempt on the five +members is the last recorded example. The Commissioners afterwards +exercised the power of dissolving Parliament. + +[Sidenote: The King has vague good intentions.] + +The Commissioners were to examine charges of taking money from the rebels +which were brought against many men highly placed in Ireland; Henry +rightly supposing that many nominal subjects connived at treason, as in +the case of O'Brien's Bridge, which had cost much to take and to +demolish, and which was now as strong and as troublesome as ever. But he +did not choose to see that want of money was the chief cause of this +failure. He was indeed, he said, determined to make a full reformation +some day, and the information now collected would be very useful when the +convenient season arrived. In the meantime, the Commissioners were to +reduce the garrison to 340 men. + +[Sidenote: The Commissioners arrive in Ireland, 1537. Grey's activity +against the Irish.] + +St. Leger and his companions set out early in August, but were detained +by adverse winds about Holyhead, and did not arrive at Dublin till the +middle of September. Grey had unusually strong reasons for exertions, and +he begged hard for money and artillery. The pay of the army was twelve +months in arrear. O'Connor was coshering among his friends 'more liker a +beggar, than he that ever was a captain or ruler of a country,' and +making vain suits daily to the Government. But Grey had not caught him, +and he could be submissive enough until what was left of his corn had +been saved; his neighbours, English and Irish, thinking it more prudent +to shelter an enterprising rebel than to run risks for a Government which +could not protect its friends. Grey, who habitually used strong language, +characterises these prudent people as 'having as much falsehood remaining +in them as all the devils of hell.' Having, as he supposed, made O'Connor +'as low as a dog were for the bone,' he applied himself to the Kavanaghs, +whose chief, Cahir MacArt, had married a Geraldine. It had been often +proposed to extirpate them and to colonise the country. The Lord Deputy +now entered Carlow, burned some castles of the O'Nolans between +Newtownbarry and Tullow, forced Cahir MacArt to give hostages, and then +turned sharply upon Ely O'Carroll, where O'Connor had first found a +refuge. He had now the help of Ossory, who was always glad to weaken a +neighbour, and of Cahir O'Connor, who was as anxious as his brother to +divert attention from the Offaly corn. He passed unopposed through the +lands of the Fitzpatricks, O'Mores, O'Molloys, and MacGeohegans, received +O'Carroll's submission, and then entered Tipperary, where he took a +castle belonging to O'Meagher, the chief of Ikerrin. O'Connor came in on +safe-conduct, and paid 300 marks for his son, who was given up to him. +Grey refused to trust him, and begged Cromwell never to allow his +restoration; and the event proved Grey right, though he soon forgot his +own advice. He now announced to the minister that he was beginning to +understand the Irish nature, and that the King needed only to be in +earnest. He was right in blaming constant changes of policy, but like +most soldiers he failed to see the real difficulties of the Irish +problem.[189] + +[Sidenote: The O'Donnells. Death of Hugh Oge, 1537.] + +It was now just a quarter of a century since Hugh Oge O'Donnell, then on +his return from Rome, had been received with honour at the Court of Henry +VIII. Deeply impressed by what he saw there, and aware of the +impossibility of uniting all Irish tribes against the stranger, he had +always striven to keep English intruders at bay by remaining on good +terms with the Government, and had exerted his strength only to subdue +his neighbours on the side furthest removed from the Pale. He had thus +extended his sway over the modern counties of Roscommon and Sligo, and +over great portions of Fermanagh, Mayo, and Galway, and even of Down and +Antrim. He had forced or persuaded the O'Neills to acknowledge his claims +to the disputed sovereignty over Innishowen, Raphoe, and Fermanagh; and +the Irish generally were so much impressed by his wisdom and prowess that +they supposed him to be Hugh the Valiant, the promised Celtic Messiah, +who was to redress or avenge the wrongs of Erin. When it seemed clear +that this was not so, the dreamers of dreams declared that as he had +failed the deliverer would never come. His panegyrists reckon among his +titles to fame that 'the seasons were favourable, so that sea and land +were productive:' it is more to the purpose that he executed strict +justice and repressed thieves. Like most Irish chiefs, he had +difficulties with his children, and his valiant son Manus was discarded +at the instance of a mistress whom the old chief had brought into his +house. For this and for other sins he made such reparation as he could by +a late repentance, donned the cord and cowl of St. Francis, and died in +the odour of sanctity. He was buried in his religious dress in the +monastery which his father had built at Donegal for friars of the strict +observance; and Manus was at once acknowledged both by the tribesmen and +by O'Neill, and was inaugurated at Kilmacrenan with the usual +ceremonies.[190] + +[Sidenote: Disturbances in the North.] + +The new chief at once took up the thread of his father's policy by +invading Connaught, and at the same time making loyal professions to +Grey. He had, he wrote, been tempted to rebellion by all the disaffected +lords in the South and West, but was determined to take no advice but +that of the King and his Deputy. As soon as he heard of Hugh O'Donnell's +death, Grey at once repaired to the borders of Ulster. The galleys of +O'Neill and his Scotch allies had threatened a fortified settlement at +Ardglass on the coast of Down, and the Deputy burned to invade Tyrone; +but the Council dissuaded him, and the receipt of Manus O'Donnell's +letter gave hopes of settling the North by peaceful means. Some thought +Grey too fond of making aimless raids, and Alen made some sensible +remarks on the subject. 'I would not,' he wrote to St. Leger, 'have the +Deputy representing the King's Majesty's person and estate be a common +skurrer for every light matter; but, when he should begin a war, begin it +upon a just good ground, and when it were so begun, to be so profoundly +executed, that all other should take example thereby.' But the King +thought only of increasing the revenue and diminishing the army.[191] + +[Sidenote: Grey is baffled by the O'Connors.] + +Grey had been sanguine enough to believe that his work in Offaly would be +lasting, but, as Henry had partly foreseen, O'Connor's return had undone +it all. Cahir was a fugitive, and the floods protected Offaly, where the +corn had been safely garnered in. At last the waters subsided, and Grey +reached Brackland by the old road through Westmeath. O'Connor escaped +into O'Doyne's country, the modern barony of Tinnahinch, which Grey and +Richard Butler proceeded to ravage. While thus employed the scattered +troops were surprised by O'Connor, and some were killed. The Lord Deputy +was just able to destroy or carry away the corn stored at Geashill, and +to return to Dublin without having seen the enemy. To gain time till the +season of long days came round again, Grey gave a safe-conduct to +O'Connor, who proposed to visit Dublin. 'But shortly herein to conclude,' +as Brabazon puts it, 'the said traitor and his brother Cahir fell to +agreement and concord, so that at this presents they both remain in +Offaly.' St. Leger, who had a cooler temper than Grey, saw the +impossibility of subduing even a single clan by desultory hostings. 'The +country,' he said, 'is much easier won than kept.' To overrun Offaly was +a small thing, but it could only be united to the Pale by the costly +expedient of fixed garrisons. O'Connor had got back his son, and indeed +neither he nor any Irishman had much regard for promises or for the fate +of hostages.[192] + +[Sidenote: He continues to attack them.] + +The O'Connors were weakened by repeated blows, and Alderman Herbert, who +had long advised a colonising policy, proposed that Offaly should be +peopled with Englishmen once for all. Grey again invaded the doomed +district with 800 men, and O'Connor at once declared himself willing to +treat, though he utterly refused to trust himself within the Pale. Grey +halted at Kinnafad, where a castle built by the Berminghams still +overhangs the ford of the Boyne. Having taken precautions against +treachery, the Lord Deputy passed about half his men over the river, and +then advanced with twelve horsemen to an open field about a quarter of a +mile off, where O'Connor met him similarly attended. The chief submitted +to the King's clemency, begged Grey's intercession, and promised to come +to Dublin in three days. Cahir sent word that he would come too, but +broke his promise. O'Connor kept his tryst, acknowledged himself the +King's liegeman, abjured the authority of the Pope for himself and his +tribesmen, renounced all Irish exactions, and gave up his black-rents, +including a pension of sixty marks from the King. Thanks were in future +to be his only reward for service; and he offered to hold legally of the +King 'that portion of lands in Offaly which he held by partition after +his country's fashion,' undertaking that his brothers and other holders +of land there should become entitled in the same way. These lands were to +be subject to impositions at so much per ploughland, as if they were +situated in the Pale, assessments for the defence of the King's subjects +being made as occasion might arise at the Lord Deputy's discretion. For +himself he solicited the honour of Baron of Offaly, and begged for such +protection as the Government habitually gave to Englishmen. He agreed +that the Lord Deputy and all the marchers might cut passes where they +pleased, and gave up his son again pending the King's final decision. The +crafty Cahir was hunted down, apparently with his brother's help, and +brought to Dublin, where he agreed to similar terms and also gave up his +son. Yet many sceptics thought the O'Connors would slip the yoke at the +first opportunity, and it is evident that nothing had occurred to change +their nature, or to attach them to English habits or to English +government.[193] + +[Sidenote: Seizure of the five Geraldines.] + +A main object of Grey's attack both on the O'Connors and the O'Briens may +have been to get possession of the heir of Kildare, whose half-sister was +married to the chief of Offaly. It is difficult to avoid the thought that +Grey had a private as well as a public object in persecuting to the death +all members of the fallen family except the children of his own sister. +The rebel Earl had five uncles, all men of fair ability and great +influence, and Brabazon seems first to have suggested that they ought to +be kept in England. Grey asked Sir James Fitzgerald and his brothers +Walter and Richard, all of whom had opposed the rebellion, to dine with +him at Kilmainham, and in the middle of dinner they were all seized and +handcuffed. Sir John and Oliver were arrested before they had heard of +their brothers' capture, and the five were lodged in the castle. Grey +always plumed himself on this exploit, though he admitted that some of +the prisoners were innocent. The Irish Council approved the deed and +applauded its secret handling, but none of the Irish officials knew that +they were sending these men to the scaffold; the guilt of that must rest +on Henry and Cromwell. Aylmer and Alen accompanied them to England, and +the chronicler tells us that Richard, who had literary tastes, relieved +the tedium of a sea-voyage by singing songs and repeating apophthegms. +When he heard that the ship was called 'The Cow,' he was much dismayed, +for there was a prophecy that five Earls' brethren should be carried to +England in a cow's belly, and should never return. 'Whereat,' says +Stanihurst, 'the rest began afresh to howl and lament, which doubtless +was pitiful, to behold five valiant gentlemen, that durst meet in the +field as sturdy champions as could be picked out in a realm, to be so +suddenly terrified with the bare name of a wooden cow, or to fear like +lions a silly coxcomb, being moved (as commonly the whole country is) +with a vain and fabulous old wives' dream.' On reaching London they were +at once sent to the Tower, and left it only to take the last sad journey +to Tyburn.[194] + +[Sidenote: Survivor of the Kildare family. The 'Fair Geraldine.'] + +But the family was not destined to extinction. Lady Kildare had +accompanied her husband to England, and had her three daughters with her. +The eldest was deaf and dumb, and of the youngest nothing particular is +recorded, but the second, Lady Elizabeth, has by a strange chance been +immortalised as the 'Fair Geraldine.' While yet a child she became maid +of honour to the Princess Mary, at whose house at Hunsdon Henry, Earl of +Surrey, saw her. She was then only twelve. Four years later she was +married to Sir Anthony Browne, Master of the Horse and Knight of the +Garter, but also a widower of sixty, whose daughter by his first marriage +became her brother Gerald's wife. The unequal match was solemnized in the +presence of the King and of the Lady Mary, and Ridley preached on the +occasion which drew forth Surrey's sonnet. The situation of the bride's +family and the apparent sacrifice of herself sufficiently account for the +poetry, and there is no reason to suppose that the poet, who was married, +had any regrets for himself. The study of Italian models would naturally +lead to rather high-flown language, and poets were always privileged. The +romantic fable of the magic mirror in which Cornelius Agrippa, an +alchemist living at Florence, showed him the fair one reclining on a +bridal couch and reading his sonnet, would not be worth noticing but that +it found its way into the 'Lay of the Last Minstrel.' It is refuted by +the fact that Surrey never was in Italy. After the death of Browne, who +outlived Surrey, Lady Elizabeth was married to the Lord Admiral Clinton, +who had been twice a widower. She left no children by either marriage, +but her influence at Court may have had much to do with her brother's +restoration. A portrait remains to show that she had a sweet face, and +that she was not fairer than many who have had no poet. But canvas, and +especially the canvas of Holbein's school, seldom preserves the charm of +grace and motion. Three letters remain, creditable so far as they go, and +written in a clear, bold hand which contrasts strikingly with the crabbed +characters often affected by public men, characters which drew a sarcasm +from Shakespeare, and still trouble the historian. A portrait, three +letters, and fourteen pretty lines would have hardly preserved the fair +Geraldine's memory had it not been for the tragic fates of her father, +her brother, and her poet.[195] + +[Sidenote: Edward Fitzgerald.] + +Less than two years after her husband's death, and while her rash stepson +was lying in the Tower, Lady Kildare came to live at her brother +Leonard's house at Beaumanoir in Leicestershire. She found there her son +Edward, aged eight, who had been brought by some devoted but unknown +friends 'without word, token, nor letter.' With touching humbleness she +begged to be allowed the custody of him 'because he is an innocent, to +see him brought up in virtue.' The prayer was granted, and the child thus +strangely rescued lived to be Lieutenant of Queen Elizabeth's pensioners, +and ancestor of the Dukes of Leinster.[196] + +[Sidenote: Gerald Fitzgerald.] + +The King was most anxious to get Lady Kildare's eldest son into his +power, and St. Leger avers that the King had no object 'but to cherish +him as his kinsman in like sort as his other brother is cherished with +his mother in the realm of England.' Having disposed of all who were old +enough to be dangerous, it was doubtless Henry's intention to bring up +the children in English ways and in dependence on him. But Lady Mary +O'Connor had other views, and the adventures of Gerald show how +inextricably the Geraldines were intermingled with Celtic families. He +was ten years old when his half-brother was taken, and was then lying in +small-pox at Donore in Kildare. As soon as he could be moved his tutor, +Thomas Leverous, who was his father's foster-brother, carried him off in +a basket and brought him safely to his sister in Offaly. Lady Mary +procured him a three months' shelter among the O'Doynes, and he was then +removed to Clare and placed under the charge of James Delahide. O'Brien, +who had the Kildare plate and jewels as well as the heir in his power, +refused all offers of the Government; and Leverous and Delahide were +allowed to take Gerald to Kilbrittain Castle, and give him up to his +aunt, Lady Eleanor MacCarthy, widow of the late and mother of the actual +chief of Carbery. Had James Fitzjohn of Desmond wished to surrender the +boy MacCarthy could hardly have resisted; but they agreed to amuse the +Government with evasive answers, while Gerald employed himself in +visiting the old tenants of his family about Adare and Croom. James +Fitzjohn offered to take those manors on lease, the real object being to +keep off grants to strangers. But Lady Eleanor feared the issue of this +unequal contest, and agreed to marry Manus O'Donnell, whom she had +rejected some years before. The marriage was desired by the whole +Geraldine connection, and Lady Eleanor, accompanied by Leverous, +Delahide, and the chaplain Walshe, brought her nephew safely through +Thomond, Clanricarde, and Mayo, into Tyrconnell. All the O'Briens and +Burkes welcomed and sped them on their journey. As the travellers +approached Sligo they were joined by a rhymer named M'Cragh, a native of +Tipperary, who was studying his craft in those parts, and through him +many details became known to Ormonde. After her marriage with O'Donnell, +Lady Eleanor busied herself in forming a confederacy of the Northern +chiefs with Desmond and her friends in Leinster and Munster.[197] + +[Sidenote: Gerald escapes to France, 1540.] + +But Irish plots are commonly woven in sand, and Grey's activity +disconcerted her schemes. Fearing that O'Donnell might be bribed, as +Brabazon suggested, to give up the boy, she determined to send him to +France. Allen Governor, an English shipowner of St. Malo, happened to be +trading in Donegal, and agreed to take the precious passenger. A contract +was drawn up before a notary, in which Governor bound himself to land +Gerald and his companions safely in France. Bareheaded, and wearing only +the saffron shirt of a humble native, Gerald stole out in a small boat by +night and committed himself and his fortunes to the chances of the sea. +His aunt had provided him with 140 moidores, and he had also some plate, +with part of which his passage was paid. His companions were Leverous, +Robert Walshe, a faithful ally but a stern disciplinarian, who did not +even spare the rod in the interests of his noble charge, and a young +gentleman whose name is not recorded. They arrived safely at Morlaix, +where the military governor received Gerald and led him through the town +by the hand, taking especial care that no English trader should come near +him. Henry's ambassador was nevertheless well informed as to the boy's +movements. He re-embarked on the same vessel with a pilot named Jacques +Cartier, who brought him to St. Malo, where he was hospitably treated by +the Lieutenant-Governor.[198] + +[Sidenote: Gerald abroad, 1540.] + +When Chateaubriand, the Governor of Brittany, heard the news, he sent a +special messenger to bring the refugees to Rennes. The gossips there +would have it that Gerald was the rightful King of Ireland, and that +Henry was a mere usurper; and neither he nor his friends could correct +them: for they spoke no French. Chateaubriand treated his guest well and +forwarded him to Court, where Wallop demanded his surrender as a treaty +obligation. Francis did not deny this, but quietly removed the boy to the +imperial town of Valenciennes. The faithful Leverous still attended him +to watch against English kidnappers who were hanging about, and for +greater security sent him to the Emperor at Brussels. But English +diplomacy was importunate, and Charles transferred him to the +Prince-bishop of Liège, with an allowance of one hundred crowns a month. +After six months' residence with the Bishop, his kinsman Reginald Pole +sent him to Italy, pensioned him, and provided the best education the +peninsula afforded in the houses of the Bishops of Verona and Mantua, and +of Gonzago, Duke of Milan, who gave him a further pension. His last +patron in Italy was Cosmo de' Medici, who allowed him three hundred +crowns annually; and a three years' residence at Florence doubtless made +him a proficient in the arts of courtly dissimulation. Leverous was +admitted to the English monastery at Rome, and in Mary's reign became +Bishop of Kildare; Robert Walshe went back to Ireland, but I do not find +that his attainder was reversed or that he was ever pardoned.[199] + +[Sidenote: Geraldine pride.] + +O'Donnell soon made his submission, and was restored to favour. Lady +Eleanor had some reason to be afraid, for Alen had proposed to invade +Tyrconnell by sea and land with all the forces at the King's disposal. +But she had now secured her nephew, and cared nothing for her new husband +or his dangers. She called him traitor and many other hard names, said +that the only object of her marriage was now gained, and that she had no +further occasion for his company. She returned to her son's relations in +Munster, but was not pardoned till 1545, seemingly because she did not +ask sooner. The Irish Government refused to plead her cause as long as +she remained obstinately among the MacCarthies. She came therefore to +Malahide on safe-conduct, and thence forwarded a petition to which, as if +the Geraldine pride scorned the Irish strain, she affixed her maiden +name. After this the frequent reports of a Geraldine invasion ceased, but +the head of the family thought it prudent to remain abroad until the +death of Henry VIII.[200] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[171] Lady Skeffington to Anne Boleyn, Jan. 26, 1536; to Cromwell, Aug. +1. Anthony Colley to Cromwell, in _Carew_, Feb. 13, 1536; Lord Deputy and +Council to Cromwell, Nov. 23. + +[172] 28 and 29 Henry VIII. The contemporary Schedule of Acts is in the +S.P. ii. 526. Brabazon to Cromwell, May 17, 1536; Cromwell to the Lord +Deputy and Council, June 3. + +[173] _Irish Statutes_, 28 and 29 Henry VIII. Brabazon to Cromwell, May +17; Grey to Cromwell, May 21. + +[174] 25 Henry VI., c. 5 and c. 9, and see Hardiman's _Statute of +Kilkenny_, p. 129; 17 Henry VI., see _Carew_, vol. iv. p. 457; 12 and 13 +Henry VII. For the earlier legislation, see Gilbert's _Viceroys_, pp. +216, 244. The Act of Absentees is 28 Henry VIII., cap. 3. For the +preparation of Bills in England, see Audeley to Cromwell, S.P. vol. ii. +p. 439. + +[175] Grey to Cromwell, June 24, 1536, for the treaty with Con O'Neill. +The other treaties are in _Carew_, May 4, May 12, and May 31. + +[176] Lord Deputy and Council to Cromwell, June 1, 1536; Council of +Ireland to Cromwell, June 30; William Wise to Cromwell, July 12. + +[177] The Council of Ireland to Cromwell, Aug. 9; Grey to Cromwell, Aug. +10. + +[178] The Council of Ireland to Cromwell, Aug. 9; William Body to +Cromwell, Aug. 9, in _Carew_; Grey to Cromwell, Aug. 10. + +[179] Same authorities; also Lord Butler to Cromwell, Aug. 11. + +[180] Body to Cromwell, Aug. 1536, in _Carew_; Grey to Cromwell, Nov. 24; +Lord Butler to Cromwell, Aug. 11. + +[181] Grey to Cromwell, Aug. 10; Body's letter, as above; Lord Deputy and +Council to Cromwell, Nov. 23; Grey to Cromwell, same date. + +[182] Council of Ireland to Cromwell, Aug. 22, 1536, and the notes; Grey +to the King, Aug. 19. + +[183] Council of Ireland to Cromwell, Aug. 22. This session of Parliament +began Sept. 15, 1536. + +[184] See the _State Papers_, vol. ii. pp. 366, 367. The Duke of Richmond +died Aug. 22, 1536. + +[185] The King to the Lord Deputy and Council, Feb. 25, 1537. + +[186] Lord Deputy and Council to Cromwell, April 20, 1537; to the King, +same date. + +[187] Grey and Brabazon to Cromwell, June 11, 1537; Council to Cromwell, +June 26; Thomas Alen to Cromwell, June 12, in _Carew_. + +[188] The King to St. Leger and others, with the Commission of July 31, +1537; to the Lord Deputy and Council, same date; to Grey, same date. + +[189] Lord Deputy and Council to Cromwell, Aug. 12. Grey to Cromwell, +Aug. 16, 1537, wrongly printed under 1539 in the S.P.; same to same, +Sept. 1. + +[190] _Four Masters_ and _Annals of Lough Cé_, 1512 and 1537. Manus +O'Donnell to Grey, Aug. 20, 1537. Ware says that Donegal Friary contained +a famous library. + +[191] Grey to Cromwell, Sept. 1, 1537; J. Alen to St. Leger and others, +No. 183 in the printed S.P. + +[192] Brabazon to Cromwell, Dec. 31, 1537. St. Leger to Cromwell, Jan. 2, +1538. + +[193] From the light it throws on the land question O'Connor's prayer is +worth transcribing:-- + +'Humiliter petit, quatenus Dominus Rex, ex suâ gratiâ, dignetur concedere +sibi, per literas suas patentes, quod ipse, et exitus sui, sint liberi +status, et homines legales, more Anglicorum; et quod sit Baro de Offaly, +atque habeat sibi et heredibus suis ex regia donatione portionem terrarum +in Offaly, quas nunc illic possidet per partitionem, more patriæ, +tenendam de Domino Rege secundum leges Anglicanas; ac quod simili +auctoritate, fratres sui, et alii possessionarii terrarum ibidem, terras +quas nunc possident habeant sibi et heredibus suis; ipse et omnes alii et +heredes sui, reddendo Dominio Regi, annuatim, de qualibet carucata terræ, +tres solidos et quatuor denarios; et quod carucatæ terræ in Offaly, +quotiens Domino Deputato visum fuerit, ac necessitas emergerit, onerantur +et assidentur belligeris pro defensione subditorum Domini Regis, eodem +modo sicut cæteræ carucatæ terræ inter regios subditos onerantur et +assidentur. Igitur humiliter petit, quod Dominus Rex, et Deputati sui, +pro tempore existentes, suscipiant suam protectionem et defensionem +contra omnes alios, prout suscipiant defensionem Anglicorum.' Submission +of O'Connor, March 6, 1538.--Grey to Cromwell, March 17, 1538; Francis +Herbert to Cromwell, March 21, 1536, to Norfolk, Jan. 24, 1538; Grey to +Cromwell, April 1, 1538. + +[194] Brabazon to Cromwell, Sept. 10, 1535; Council of Ireland to +Cromwell, Feb. 14, 1536; Stanihurst; Ware; _Four Masters_, 1535. + +[195] Nearly all that is really known about her is contained in a memoir +by the Rev. James Graves. See also Hallam's _History of Literature_ and +Lodge's _Lives of the Earls of Surrey and Kildare_. + +[196] Lady Kildare to Cromwell, July 16, 1536. Articles by St. Leger and +others, Dec. 10, 1537. + +[197] St. Leger and others to Cromwell, Jan. 2, 1538; Ormonde to the +Irish Council, S.P., vol. iii. p. 44; Stanihurst. + +[198] Brabazon to Cromwell, May 26, 1539; Stanihurst. + +[199] Sir John Wallop to Essex, April 18, 1540, S.P., vol. viii.; Lord +Deputy and Council to the King, July 12, 1542, and Henry's unfavourable +answer; Bartholomew Warner to Wallop, May 22, 1540. + +[200] Lady Eleanor O'Donnell to the King, May 4, 1545. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +END OF GREY'S ADMINISTRATION. + + +[Sidenote: Ormonde proposes to reform his country.] + +The O'Connors having been quieted for the moment, Ormonde, who had +private as well as public reasons for his advice, proposed a temporising +policy towards O'Neill and O'Reilly on the north, and towards O'Byrne and +O'Toole on the south, side of the Pale. The Government might then easily +subdue the Kavanaghs, who were surrounded by settled districts. Their +chief, Cahir MacEncross, who has been called the last King of Leinster, +had till lately been Constable, and his acceptance of the office seems to +have been thought a condescension. Ormonde's son Richard had now +succeeded him, and with the aid of Saintloo and his Wexford men might +hope to reduce the whole country. To strengthen Kilkenny against a +possible counter attack from the O'Mores, Ormonde secured the services of +Edmond MacSwiney, a powerful hereditary chief of gallowglasses, whom +O'Connor had brought from Donegal. The Earl thought it cheaper to outbid +O'Connor than to have MacSwiney's band thrown into the scale of +rebellion. Desmond and the rest excused their slowness to reform by +saying that they waited for him to begin; and he was anxious to wipe out +this reproach, regretting only that he had not the same powers in +Kilkenny as in Tipperary. Though not disinterested, Ormonde's was +probably the best available plan, and his reforming zeal was certainly +serious. 'I have proclaimed,' he said, 'over all the county of Tipperary, +that no caines, allyiegs, errikes, Irish Brehons, neither that law, +rahowns, and many like exactions and extortions shall cease, with +reformation for the grey merchants, and the Liberty court to be duly +continued, as the King's laws require.' In Kilkenny he could only exhort; +'howbeit,' he added, 'I have often persuaded many of them to be +converted, which to do I can scarcely have their assents, for the lust +they have to caines and other abuses, turning to their profit, as it doth +to mine.'[201] + +[Sidenote: Grey goes to Ulster, 1538.] + +Taking advantage of O'Connor's quiescent state, Grey cut passes on the +borders of Offaly wide enough for several carts abreast. He then turned +his eyes to the North, where the MacMahons of Ferney had for three years +neglected to pay their tribute of 10_l._ The borderers of English race +were opposed to Grey's raid, and gave the MacMahons warning, but he +managed to capture 500 cows, and as many pigs and goats. The expedition +was as useless as it was inglorious, for Louth was invaded within a week, +and O'Neill, who complained that his black-rent was unpaid, plundered the +borders of the Pale and threatened to burn Drogheda. The men of that town +and of Dundalk and Ardee rallied at the Lord Deputy's summons, and +O'Neill then became quieter in his behaviour. But nothing could keep Grey +quiet. He lent soldiers to one Chamberlayne of Athboy, to revenge a +private quarrel against O'Reilly. That chief had hitherto been at peace +with the Pale; but he lost his brother in this aimless brawl, and a +general alliance of the Northern chiefs was with difficulty averted. The +MacMahons had done far more harm to Louth than Grey had done to them, and +he could gain little reputation by enterprises which had no apparent +object but plunder.[202] + +[Sidenote: The O'Tooles.] + +While the Lord Deputy was driving cattle in Ulster, the other side of the +Pale was in a blaze. John Kelway, Constable of Rathmore, saw some +servants of Tirlogh O'Toole eating meat, assumed that it was stolen, and +incontinently hanged them. This seems to have been thought unusual even +among borderers, and Kelway's conduct found no defenders. But the +O'Tooles were willing to consider the question of compensation in Irish +fashion, and a meeting took place for the purpose. Kelway brought a +considerable force, and, on the parley being dissolved without an +agreement, he followed the Irish into their mountains. The mountaineers +turned to bay on advantageous ground, and drove the English into a small +tower. Its thatched roof burned readily, and the whole party had to +surrender. The O'Tooles killed Kelway, who deserved nothing better, but +held the gentlemen of the Pale to ransom. Chief Justice Aylmer's son was +present but escaped, while his brother, Richard Aylmer of Lyons, was +taken prisoner. About sixty of the marchers, all householders, fell in +this wretched business, and so great a panic followed that an Irishman in +Judge Luttrell's service was afraid to travel from Glendalough to Dublin. +It is ever thus between races of different degrees of civilisation; if +the backward people are beaten it is thought quite natural, but the +slightest check is of importance when experienced by members of the +higher organisation.[203] + +[Sidenote: Grey falls out with the Butlers.] + +The Lord Deputy and the Butlers had never been very good friends, and the +dissension now reached such a height as to disturb the whole country. 'I +was never,' exclaimed Brabazon, 'in despair in Ireland until now,' and +others were not more hopeful. 'My Lord Deputy,' said Lord Butler, 'is the +Earl of Kildare born again?' and Luttrell, a keen observer, thought +Ormonde hated Grey worse than he had hated Kildare. The Butlers +complained that the Lord Deputy systematically slighted their party and +favoured the Geraldines; he retorted that they intrigued with Irishmen +against his government. One or two of the matters in dispute call for +more particular notice.[204] + +[Sidenote: Ormonde and the O'Carrolls.] + +After many struggles Fergananim O'Carroll was the acknowledged chief of +Ely. His wife was daughter to Kildare and sister-in-law to O'Connor, and +he was ready to submit to Grey as the best means of opposing Ormonde. He +promised to hold his land of the King at a rent of twelvepence for every +ploughland, to attend the Lord Deputy with a fixed contingent, and to +give free quarters for a limited number of the gallowglasses in the royal +service. He also undertook to open up his country by cutting passes. +O'Carroll at first stipulated that Grey should help him to recover all +his father's strongholds; but all those castles were already vested +legally in the Crown, and some of them had been granted to Ormonde. The +Council therefore objected, and Fergananim seems to have waived his claim +without demanding any corresponding concession. The prudence of the +Council had prevented the Lord Deputy from concluding an offensive +alliance; but he acted as if he had done so, and proceeded to take Birr +and Modreeny, both of which Ormonde claimed under a royal grant, and to +attack Ballynaclogh. The latter place was held by an O'Kennedy who paid +rent to the Earl, and it is within the bounds of Tipperary. O'Carroll +boasted that Nenagh and Roscrea would soon be his, and these castles, +though long in Irish hands, were part of the old Ormonde inheritance, and +had been lately confirmed to the Earl by a new grant.[205] + +[Sidenote: Grey and the O'Mores.] + +Connell O'More, chief of Leix, died in 1537, and the inevitable dispute +followed between the tanist, his brother Peter, and his sons, Lysaght, +Kedagh, and Rory. Grey espoused the cause of the sons, rather, as it +seems, because Ormonde sided with Peter than from any preference for +hereditary succession. Peter was, however, acknowledged as chief, and met +Parry, Grey's confidential man, at Athy. Rory, who was present, assaulted +his uncle, and the latter was then seized by Parry and carried to Dublin. +Nothing was proved against him, and he was restored on agreeing to pay an +annual tribute of twenty marks, and to receive a certain number of +soldiers at free quarters. The young O'Mores resisted the levying of the +tribute, and Lysaght, the eldest, was killed in a fray. They had all +taken part in the murder of Ormonde's son Thomas five years before, and +Kedagh and Rory now plundered one of his villages. Their party consisted +of only eight men, but the neighbours pleaded that they dared not resist, +because the assailants were aided and abetted by one of the Lord Deputy's +servants. The O'Mores pleaded that the Earl had first attacked them, and +he rejoined that he had done so in self-defence. There was never a want +of excuses for violence on any side. Grey forbade the Earl to retaliate, +and it was even said that he shared the plunder. The young O'Mores then +attacked Tullow, but the Lord Deputy still held Ormonde's hand, and even +sent guns to help his enemies. Hoping to make peace, the Council summoned +both uncle and nephews to Dublin. The chief came on Ormonde's advice and +practically under his protection, and Kedagh also attended. O'More was at +once sent handcuffed to Maynooth, though the whole Council protested, and +Kedagh was suffered to depart unhurt. The blow to the Earl's credit was +serious, and was not deadened by Grey, who led his prisoner in chains +about his own part of the country, much as the Thane of Fife threatened +to lead Macbeth. Grey's servants took the cue, and openly in the streets +called the Butlers traitors. Lord Butler vowed that unless absolutely +forced by his duty he would never wear armour under Grey until he had +seen the King, and he cited the example of Count de Roeux, who had made +a like vow when the Imperial lieutenant Van Buren had forced him to make +peace with France. Even the old Earl meditated a journey to London, +though he was so infirm that he could only be carried in a litter. The +Irish Council condemned Grey's treatment of O'More; and moreover, said +they, 'it is no good policy for the King our master, having no more +obedient subjects in this land like unto the said Earl and his son, of +reputation in honour, force, and strength, both to preserve and defend +the parts where they dwell, and to succour other his subjects in all +events, to suppress them which, with all their ancestors, have ever +continued their truths to the Crown of England, either upon the +accusation of those which for the most part have always done the +contrary, or yet in hope to have them now from henceforth true, which +hitherto were never true'--remarks which have their practical value in +modern Irish politics, as they had in the days of Henry VIII.[206] + +[Sidenote: Sudden departure of Grey.] + +Though not too wise in council, Grey was prompt in action, and was never +so happy as on horseback surrounded by armed men and free from +interference. Perhaps he wished to show how much he could do without +Ormonde's help. He left Dublin suddenly, without warning the Council, and +attended only by a small force, his companions being under the impression +that he was bound only for an eight days' journey into O'Carroll's +country. Among them was Lord Gormanston, a son of Lord Delvin, John +D'Arcy, William Bermingham, O'Connor, Rory and Kedagh O'More, and several +other Irishmen of note, with a due proportion of kerne and gallowglasses. +Of English soldiers Grey had no more than one hundred, and of these the +greater part were without armour. A hosting had been proclaimed against +the O'Tooles, who still kept some of the prisoners taken in Kelway's +raid, and Grey promised to be back in time to lead the expedition. He +failed to do so, and a truce was with much difficulty concluded with the +mountaineers.[207] + +[Sidenote: His rash march into Western Munster,] + +Grey made his first halt at Monasteroris, where O'Connor entertained him +in the Franciscan friary. Next day he took Eglish Castle near Birr from +the O'Molloys, and was joined by Kedagh O'More, O'Molloy, MacGeohegan, +and MacGillapatrick, each of whom brought a few men with him. On the +third day he entered Ely, and received the adhesion of Fergananim +O'Carroll, who bound himself by indenture on the usual terms, and gave +his son into the Lord Deputy's hands. Grey spent three days in reducing +the lands of Birr and Modreeny, the latter of which had to be taken by +assault. Ormonde had provided the garrison with arms; but, as he alleged, +these were intended only for use against Irish enemies. Grey then entered +Tipperary, and on three successive days received the submissions of +Dermot O'Kennedy, chief of Ormonde, of MacBrien Arra, and of Dermot +O'Mulryan, chief of Owny. Ulick de Burgh, captain of Clanricarde, and +Theobald, head of the Clanwilliam Burkes, also submitted; and James +Fitzjohn of Desmond, to whom Grey gives the title of Earl, though he was +not acknowledged by the Crown, brought a large contingent to the Deputy's +help, but refused to enter the gates of Limerick. He had not only +procured a safe-conduct, but had solemnly bound O'Connor and others in +Grey's train to take his part if any attempt were made against him. The +Lord Deputy spent a week in Limerick, where the Mayor and Corporation and +the Bishop took the oath of supremacy. Connor O'Brien, the chief of +Thomond, met Grey on the Shannon, ten miles from Limerick, and agreed, +after a long wrangle, to put his son Tirlogh into the Deputy's hands. He +also promised to do all in his power to promote the capture of the +castles held by his brother Murrough, the tanist of Thomond. O'Brien's +Bridge was once more demolished, Connor led the army through the tanist's +district, and everything was destroyed as far as Clare Castle. Here Grey +and Desmond had a quarrel about the custody of O'Mulryan's hostages, and +there was very near being a pitched battle; but Sir Thomas Butler of +Cahir, Ormonde's son-in-law, managed to patch up a truce. Grey was, in +fact, quite at O'Brien's mercy, but the family politics saved him. The +chief had lately married a second wife, Lady Alice Fitzgerald of Desmond, +and Tirlogh, the child of the marriage, was pledged to Grey; but Murrough +the tanist and Donough, the chief's eldest son, were both afraid that the +issue of the second marriage would be preferred before them. O'Connor, in +whom Grey now placed implicit confidence, 'and all sage men of his band, +both English and Irish,' begged him not to venture among the O'Briens, +and Edmund Sexton, a noted royalist of Limerick, even conjured him on his +allegiance not to cast away the citizens' company, on whom all depended. +Grey refused to take advice, and escaped all dangers, chiefly through +Donough O'Brien's influence. Donough's loyalty might not have been enough +by itself, but he dreaded the aggrandisement of Murrough more than +possible dangers from a half-brother who was still in his infancy. Guided +by a single gallowglass, who bore a silver axe adorned with silken +tassels, the army marched safely into Clanricarde. Ulick de Burgh blamed +Grey for his rashness, but he pointed to the guide and said, 'Lo! seest +thou not yonder standing before me O'Brien's axe for my protection?' A +modern traveller among Arabs must often be content with some such outward +sign of invisible allies, but his trust in O'Brien's axe was made an +article in Grey's impeachment.[208] + +[Sidenote: And into Connaught, 1538.] + +Ulick was fully acknowledged as chief of Clanricarde, to the prejudice of +his uncle Richard. He was believed to be illegitimate, and the De Burghs, +however much Hibernicised, had hitherto preserved the English law of +succession. The precedent was therefore thought bad by many experienced +men, but the relationships of this family are so inextricably confused +that it is very hard to say who was legitimate and who was not. The +citizens of Galway remembered their origin, and would take no money from +the Lord Deputy, and Ulick, who was knighted, took hospitable care of his +Irish allies. As at Limerick, the Mayor and Corporation took the oath of +supremacy, and so did the Archbishop of Tuam. Grey made several forays +into Clanricarde, with the apparent object of strengthening Ulick; and +O'Flaherty, two O'Maddens, and Bermingham of Athenry, made their +submissions. The Lord Deputy then went towards the Suck in O'Kelly's +country, and met O'Connor Roe, who rode with him to Aughrim. Fording the +Shannon at Banagher, the army passed through the countries of O'Melaghlin +and MacCoghlan, from whom securities were exacted, and returned +unmolested to Maynooth, after an absence of thirty-eight days.[209] + +[Sidenote: Effects of this journey.] + +As a military exploit Grey's journey was by no means contemptible, but +his critics seem to have been right in thinking it useless. The settled +policy had long been to reduce the tribes bordering on the Pale, and not +to overrun districts which there was no hope of holding. Many chiefs had +come to the Lord Deputy with loyal professions, but they had required +safe-conducts, had refused to enter walled towns, and had given children +for hostages. They had thus saved their harvest, and the Government could +scarcely take vengeance on infants. Grey's supposed partiality for the +Geraldines was probably the chief reason that he got back safely. He had +no sooner turned his back than James Fitzjohn of Desmond seized Croom and +Adare and threatened Ormonde's country. No difficulty had been lessened +by an exploit which was obviously open to the reproach of extreme +rashness.[210] + +[Sidenote: Grey's dispute with the Butlers.] + +Having got back their chief governor, the first care of the Council was +to reconcile him with the Butlers. The old Earl's appearance plainly +foretold his approaching end, but he came to Dublin and left his son to +front the Desmonds and O'Carrolls. Grey wrote to the latter to keep the +peace, and Lord Butler at once came to Dublin; but both father and son +refused to go to Maynooth, where they would be in the Lord Deputy's +power. Kilmainham was at last fixed on as the place of meeting, and Grey +took the chair of state, but shook hands with none of the Council, and +smiled on no one. The two Butlers offered to abide by the Council's +decision, but Grey had already produced a paper reflecting on them for +receiving O'Connor after his defeat in the summer of 1537. A Latin +confession said to have been made by O'Connor in the presence of Paulet +and Berners was relied on, but the chief was secretly cross-examined by +the Council, and so modified his statement as to exonerate the Butlers +completely. It was said, for instance, that O'Connor had hired Edmond +MacSwiney and his free axes immediately after a conference with Ormonde. +O'Connor admitted the hiring, but explained that the gallowglasses were +not bound to levy war against the King, and that Ormonde knew nothing at +all about the matter. Again, he was charged with retaining Scotch +mercenaries, who were allowed a fortnight's free quarters in Ormonde's +country. He admitted having brought in the Scots; but the Earl had known +nothing of it, and the free quarters had not been given. Ormonde allowed +that he had harboured O'Connor, but pleaded the instructions of Grey, who +waited for orders from the King, and who was afraid of driving the chief +into fresh combinations with Irish enemies. The probability is that +O'Connor had at first been ready to confess anything, because absolution +was sure to follow, and he is not likely to have been overflowing with +Latin, which was his only means of communicating with the English +officials.[211] + +[Sidenote: They accuse each other.] + +Both Grey and Ormonde gave in long written statements. The Council +desired to consider them in the Deputy's absence, and to this he with +some hesitation consented. They found that Grey's charges contained +nothing new, but only general accusations of slackness; while Ormonde +plainly accused Grey of treasonable practices, of shaping his policy to +suit young Gerald of Kildare, and of systematically depressing all who +opposed the Geraldine faction. The indictment is summed up in the +comprehensive statement that 'My Lord Deputy cannot find in his heart to +love or favour any man that is preferred, favoured, or put in trust by +his Majesty within this his land, and would have none of them, though +they be all ready at his commandment, to be toward, or about him, be they +never so trusty nor so well meaning; but wholly adhereth to those that +were the counsellors, servants, and followers of the disloyal Geraldines, +and no men so nigh about him as they, which either of his own prepensed +mind, or being seducted by them, is like to bring this land to perdition +again.' On being pressed for proof, Ormonde said that the facts were too +notorious to require any.[212] + +[Sidenote: The Council patch up a reconciliation.] + +The Council prudently resolved not to let either litigant see the other's +charges, and Mr. Justice St. Lawrence having been called in, the +originals were burned in his presence. Copies already taken were +transmitted to London. Ormonde and his son then swore to serve the Lord +Deputy loyally. Grey swore not to use them spitefully nor ask them to +perform impossibilities, to deliver Modreeny to the Earl unless O'Carroll +could show a better title, and to cause the young O'Mores to restore the +plunder of Ormonde's villages, or at least to refer all to the Council. +The Council did not believe the agreement would be lasting. 'Neither,' +they added, 'can we perceive (whereof we be sorry) that my Lord Deputy is +meet to make long abode here, for he is so haughty and chafing that men +be afeard to speak to him, doubting his bravish lightness. Nevertheless, +it is much pity of him, for he is an active gentleman.'[213] + +[Sidenote: The Kavanaghs. The O'Reillys.] + +It was not long before the Butlers had an opportunity of co-operating +with Grey. The Kavanaghs threatened the Wexford colony, negotiations +failed, and it became necessary to chastise them. Grey entered Carlow in +person, and was joined by Saintloo, who, whatever his shortcomings as a +governor, was not a bad soldier, and who brought 800 men. After fourteen +days' burning and plundering, MacMurrough and his clansmen sued for +peace, and agreed to hold their lands of the King. Grey then moved +northwards, and provisions for eight days were prepared for a raid +against O'Reilly, to be used otherwise by the Deputy in case O'Reilly +should make timely submission. O'Reilly did submit, and Grey went to +Dundalk with a view of meeting O'Neill, who was now young Gerald +Fitzgerald's protector. O'Neill broke his appointment, and he did wisely, +for Grey says he was determined to take Gerald if possible, 'and if not, +by the oath that I have made to my sovereign lord and master, I would +have taken the said O'Neill and a kept him till he had caused the said +Gerald to be delivered to my hands.'[214] + +[Sidenote: The Savages in Down.] + +Foiled in this attempt, which can hardly be described as otherwise than +treacherous, Grey determined to chastise the Savages, who had refused to +pay rent to Brabazon, the King's tenant in Lecale. This old English +family had become quite Hibernicised, and were now bringing Scotch +mercenaries into the country. Various castles were taken and delivered to +Brabazon, who also took charge of Dundrum, an important stronghold +belonging to Magennis, which commanded the entry to Lecale on the land +side. The Scots fled, leaving corn, butter, and other rural plunder +behind. Grey was much struck by the fertility of the district, which is +still famous. 'I never,' he said, 'saw a pleasanter plot than Lecale for +commodity of the land, and divers islands in the same environed in the +sea, which were soon reclaimed and inhabited, the King's pleasure +known.'[215] + +[Sidenote: Labours of St. Leger's Commission.] + +Sir Anthony St. Leger and his brother Commissioners arrived in Ireland +early in September 1537, and lost no time in endeavouring to carry out +the King's plan. By November they had surveyed most of the King's lands +in Carlow, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Waterford, Dublin, and Kildare. The +general result of their observations was that they had seen 'divers +goodly manors and castles, the more part of them ruinous, and in great +decay, the towns and lands about them depopulate, wasted, and not +manured; whereby hath ensued great dearth and scarcity of all manner +victuals.' But few applications were made for leases, because there was +no security, and they saw the necessity of placing a few castles in a +defensible state. Within reach of the walls there was no difficulty in +getting tenants. By Christmas the survey was finished, and an increased +desire to take leases was quickly manifested; but some lands were still +unlet. Two thousand marks in money and securities had been collected for +the King, 'and much more,' the Commissioners reported, 'would have been +levied, in case that men had not of late been sore charged with service +doing to his Highness here, whereby we be constrained to look on them +with more favourable eye.'[216] + +[Sidenote: The public accounts.] + +Brabazon reported that the Commissioners had done their work well. The +passing of his own three years' account was a yet more difficult matter. +They found it tedious and intricate, both from its nature and from the +fact that there were no records of the King's ancient inheritance, or of +escheats. Brabazon's own arrangements were good, but all before his time +was chaos. 'Every keeper,' said the Master of the Rolls, 'for his time, +as he favoured, so did either embezzle, or suffer to be embezzled, such +muniments as should make against them and their friends, so that we have +little to show for any of the King's lands or profits in these parts: it +is therefore necessary that from henceforth all the rolls and muniments +to be had be put in good order in Bermingham's Tower, and the door +thereof to have two locks, and the keys thereof one to be with the +Constable, and the other with the Under-Treasurer, which likewise it is +necessary to be an Englishman born; and that no man be suffered to have +loan of any of the said muniments, nor to search, view, or read any of +them there, but in the presence of one of the keepers aforesaid.' The +accounts were nevertheless put in order by March; and having received +very gracious thanks from the King, St. Leger and his colleagues returned +to England, 'not,' as they were careful to note, 'for that we be weary to +serve his Grace, but for because we be very loth to spend any more of his +treasure, than we see time to serve him.' Aylmer and Alen, by the King's +especial orders, accompanied the High Commissioners to England.[217] + +[Sidenote: Cromwell and the Irish service.] + +The official politicians of Ireland generally took care to be on good +terms with the virtual ruler of England, and to watch for every sign of +change in the distribution of royal favours. Cromwell was therefore well +bespattered with flattery; but there were murmurs, some at least of which +reached his ears. St. Leger the discreet may or may not have glanced +obliquely at the Lord Privy Seal when he said of himself that 'he had too +long abstained from bribery to begin now.' But his colleague George +Paulet was more outspoken, and declared openly that 'the Lord Privy Seal +drew every day towards his death, and that he escaped very hardly at the +last insurrection, and that he was the greatest briber in England, and +that he was espied well enough.' Cromwell had given orders that the +Commissioners should not interfere with castles in Lord Butler's +possession, and to this Paulet objected, hinting that Butler's head as +well as Cromwell's might easily be disposed of. His reading of Henry's +character was exactly the same as Wolsey's. 'I will,' he said, 'so work +matters that the King shall be informed of every penny that he hath spent +here; and when that great expense is once in his head, it shall never be +forgotten; there is one good point. And then I will inform him how he +hath given away to one man 700 marks by year, and then will the King +swear "By God's Body, have I spent so much money and have given away my +land." I will find the means to put the matter in the King's head, after +that wise as shall be to his displeasure; and yet shall he not know which +way it came.' Paulet gave Alen a most amusing description of the fashion +in which Henry treated the minister to whom he gave such power. 'The King +beknaveth him twice a week and sometimes knocks him well about the pate; +and yet when he hath been well pommelled about the head, and shaken up as +it were a dog, he will come out into the great chamber shaking of his +bush with as merry a countenance as though he might rule all the roast.' +The appointment of the High Commissioners was a 'flym flawe to stop the +imagination of the King and Council' as to Cromwell's object in promoting +great grants to Lord Butler. The suggestion of course is that Cromwell +was bribed by Butler, and the fact that Paulet was not punished shows +that there were limitations to the minister's power. Paulet said as much, +or nearly as much, to Grey as to Alen and Aylmer, and Grey repeated it +to the King with some softening of the words. Paulet was evidently +hostile to the Butlers; so was Grey, and the fact that they had been on +friendly terms was thought evidence of their conspiring in the Geraldine +interest.[218] + +[Sidenote: Charges against Grey. Circuit of the Council in the South, +1539.] + +Aylmer and Alen were less than two months in London, but they left behind +them a mass of accusations against Grey which in time brought forth +fruit. Alen soon afterwards received the Great Seal, and during the last +days of 1538 proceeded on a tour in the South with the general view of +establishing the King's supremacy, of improving the revenue, and of +providing for the administration of justice. Archbishop Browne, Brabazon, +and Aylmer accompanied the new Chancellor. At Carlow the party enjoyed +Lord Butler's Christmas hospitalities, and the old Earl treated them well +at Kilkenny, where they spent New Year's day, and where Browne preached +to a large congregation. English translations of the Pater Noster, Ave +Maria, Articles, and Ten Commandments were published, and copies given to +the Bishop and other dignitaries, who were ordered to promulgate them +wherever they had jurisdiction. Next morning several felons were hanged, +and certain concealed lands sequestrated to the King's use; neither of +which proceedings were calculated to increase his Majesty's popularity. +The councillors then went to Ross, which they found much decayed through +the rivalry of Waterford and the disorders of the Kavanaghs. Here the +Archbishop preached again. At Wexford there was another sermon, and the +Kilkenny ceremonies were repeated, including the execution of divers +malefactors. The Councillors were dissatisfied with Saintloo's conduct as +seneschal, and accused him of converting fines and forfeited +recognizances to his own use. Badly armed and badly horsed, the soldiers +appeared to do the people less good by their protection than they did +harm by their extortion. The evils inherent to all palatinate +jurisdictions were greatly aggravated by the seneschal's lax +administration. It was doubtful whether he had the right to appoint a +deputy at all. He had nevertheless made such an appointment by parole and +without any formal record, and his irregular substitute had arrogated all +the powers of a Judge of Assize.[219] + +[Sidenote: The royal supremacy. The Munster Bishops.] + +From Wexford Alen and his companions went to Waterford, where Browne +preached to a great audience, and where the new formularies were again +published. The usual hangings followed. Four felons suffered, +'accompanied with another thief, a friar, whom, among the residue, we +commanded to be hanged in his habit, and so to remain upon the gallows, +for a mirror to all other his brethren to live truly.' The assizes or +sessions were attended only by the inhabitants of Lord Power's portion of +the county of Waterford. The other and larger division of the shire +belonged to Gerald MacShane of Decies, who pretended to hold of the +Desmonds, and altogether ignored his tenure of the royal honour of +Dungarvan. The Lord of Decies, James Fitzjohn of Desmond, the White +Knight, and Sir Thomas Butler of Cahir were summoned with several others. +Butler came to Clonmel and made a favourable impression, but the +Geraldines sent only 'frivolous, false, feigned excuses, not consonant to +their allegiance.' Browne preached again at Clonmel in the presence of +two archbishops and eight bishops, all of whom afterwards, before the +whole congregation, took the oath of supremacy, and swore to maintain the +succession as established by law.[220] + +[Sidenote: Taxation of southern counties.] + +After much pressing, the inhabitants of Wexford, Waterford, Kilkenny, and +Tipperary consented to pay a yearly subsidy to the King; 100 marks for +Wexford, and 50_l._ for each of the other three. This source of revenue +was quite new, and the Council were very proud of inventing it; but they +confessed to doubts as to its substantial value, especially in +Waterford, where Sir Gerald MacShane had power to pay or to withhold. +From Clonmel the councillors returned to Dublin by Kilkenny, where they +hanged one man more and levied some further fines. They had been absent +from the capital five weeks.[221] + +[Sidenote: Grey in Ulster. The Scots, 1539.] + +About the time that the Chancellor and his companions were turning +homewards, Grey undertook another expedition against O'Neill. Again the +ostensible object was to catch young Gerald of Kildare, and in this the +Lord Deputy failed. But he very nearly caught O'Neill himself, actually +carried off his 'housewife,' and ravaged much of his country. O'Donnell +was present, or at least some of his people, for the horse which his +standard-bearer rode was taken. James Fitzjohn of Desmond was in alliance +with the two great northern chiefs to protect the 'naughty boy,' as Alen +called Gerald, and if possible to force the King to restore him. The +bastard Geraldines of the Pale were ready to help their natural leader, +who grew more dangerous as he grew older. The Antrim Scots were always +available for service against the English Government, and Brabazon wished +to cripple them by a naval expedition. O'Neill and O'Donnell now sent +Roderick O'Donnell, Bishop of Derry, to Scotland for 6,000 Redshanks. In +the meantime they professed themselves ready to treat with Grey, and +promised to bring young Gerald to meet him on the last day of April at +Carrick Bradagh, near Dundalk. They never came, and Grey penetrated to +Armagh in spite of bad weather and foul ways. O'Neill still refused to +show himself or to give any hostage, but he professed peaceable +intentions. The weather made it impossible to advance further, and Aylmer +was sent to Blackwater, where he succeeded in making a truce. Again, Grey +says that he had intended to seize his nephew by fair means or foul. 'If +they had kept pointment with me having young Gerald with them, howsoever +the thing had chanced by the oath that I have made unto your Grace, they +should have left the young Gerald behind them quick or dead. If it were +the pleasure of God I would that I might once have a sight of him whom as +yet I never saw with my eyes.'[222] + +[Sidenote: The O'Tooles.] + +The O'Tooles had never been punished for their victory over Kelway, and +Grey, who had for the moment no worse enemy than a gouty foot, resolved +to chastise them. They proposed to parley near Ballymore Eustace, but did +not come. Though in great pain, Grey rode to Powerscourt in a day, +entered the mountains and penetrated to Glenmalure, cutting the woods on +both sides as he went. 'Before my coming thither,' he said, 'I think +there never was Deputy with carts there.' He had some skirmishing with +the natives, but took no man of importance, and returned to Maynooth +without having improved his gout.[223] + +[Sidenote: Intrigues concerning Gerald of Kildare.] + +A confederacy had at this time been formed in favour of young Gerald. His +own claims might not have been enough, in spite of Lady Eleanor +O'Donnell's efforts, but Henry's ecclesiastical policy was beginning to +bear its natural fruit. Priests passed from chief to chief, and +communications with Rome were frequent. The Irish said all Englishmen +were heretics, and the King the 'most heretic and worst man in the +world,' in which perhaps they were not far wrong. They considered Henry a +disobedient Papal vassal, and a mere usurper in Ireland. 'When Dr. +Nangle, my suffragan,' says Archbishop Browne, 'showed the King's broad +seal for justifying of his authority, MacWilliam little esteemed it, but +threw it away and vilipended the same.' The plan was that O'Toole, to +whom Gerald promised to restore Powerscourt, should harass the Pale from +the south, while James Fitzjohn of Desmond, with some Scotch mercenaries, +attacked it from the west and O'Neill from the north. If Tara could be +reached O'Neill might be proclaimed King of Ireland, and Gerald restored +to his own in Kildare. Besides her own friends, Lady Eleanor commanded +the services of a Bristol captain named Kate, or Cappys, who spoke Irish +fluently and owned his own ship. John Lynch, a Galway merchant, met him +at Assaroe, on the Donegal coast, and warned some of the confederates +that Grey would be too strong for them, and that he was active enough to +surprise them when they thought he was amusing himself. But Delahide, +Leverous, and others, answered that they had perfect intelligence, that +Grey could not ride twenty miles in the Pale without their knowledge, +that his army consisted chiefly of churls and ploughmen, of which 300 +might easily be vanquished by 100, and that he had no good officers under +him. These are the arguments with which the foes of order in Ireland have +always deluded their adherents, and sometimes themselves.[224] + +[Sidenote: Catholic movement.] + +Wherever Lynch went he found the priests preaching daily 'that every man +ought for the salvation of his soul fight and make war against our +sovereign lord the King's Majesty and his true subjects; and if any of +them which so shall fight against his said Majesty or his subjects, die +in the quarrel, his soul that so shall be dead shall go to heaven as the +soul of St. Peter, Paul, and others, which suffered death and martyrdom +for God's sake.' 'And forasmuch,' Lynch adds, 'as I did traverse somewhat +of such words, I was cast out of church and from their masses during a +certain time of days for an heretic; and I was greatly afraid.' The +result of all this preaching was an invasion of the Pale in the month of +August. Lord Butler's policy had kept the O'Briens quiet, and nothing was +done on that side. But O'Donnell and O'Neill entered Meath with the +greatest army, as some thought, that had ever been seen in Ireland. There +was a large contingent of Scots, both from the mainland and the islands, +and most of the Northern chiefs added their quotas to the host. O'Neill +of Clandeboye, O'Rourke, Maguire, MacQuillin, O'Cahan, Magennis, and +MacDermot are among those mentioned. Tara was reached, but no restoration +of the ancient kingdom followed. Much damage was done to the modern +kingdom, including the burning of Ardee and of Navan, which was the best +market town in the county. The invaders set fire to the standing corn, +carried off every portable article of value, and, sweeping all the cattle +before them, turned in high spirits northwards. They had met with no +enemy, and had probably attained their object of providing funds for a +general rising, which was fixed for September 1, and which James of +Desmond was expected to join.[225] + +[Sidenote: Grey routs the O'Neills at Bellahoe, 1539.] + +Grey summoned the men of Dublin and Drogheda, those citizen soldiers whom +the Irish dreaded so much, and hurried after O'Neill. Out of a nominal +350 he could muster no more than 140 of his own men, but he had some help +from the gentlemen of the Pale. The marchers, like Rob Roy at +Sheriffmuir, waited to see which was the winning side. 'I must help the +King,' said Fitzgerald of Osbertstown, to Gerald's messenger, 'but if ye +be the strongest we must go with you.' Without waiting for such +Laodiceans, the Lord Deputy dashed forward, and, as Lynch had foreseen, +caught the Ulstermen quite unprepared. They were encamped at Bellahoe, +the ford which divides Meath from Monaghan, on the Farney side of the +water, and he routed them before they had time to form. The Irish leaders +who knew the country escaped, with the exception of Magennis, whose post +was near the ford. He fell into the hands of the Louth men, who were +bribed by some of his own clan to kill him, and did so. The only person +of note killed on the English side was a gentleman named Mape, who +charged up the river bank by Lord Slane's side, and who was carried by +his runaway horse into the midst of the Irish. According to Stanihurst, +whose account of this affair is at least highly coloured, the mayors of +Dublin and Drogheda and Thomas Talbot of Malahide were dubbed knights on +the field by the Lord Deputy. He also says that Black James Fleming, +Baron of Slane, led the attack, and called on his hereditary +standard-bearer to do his duty in the front. But the standard-bearer, +whose name was Robert Halpin or Halfpenny, thought the service +desperate, and refused to advance his banner, preferring 'to sleep in an +whole sheepskin his pelt, than to walk in a torn lion his skin.' Calling +him a dastardly coward, the Baron ordered Robert Betagh to supply his +place, which he cheerfully did: Mape, though he had refused to lead, was +fain to follow, and fell fighting in the first rank.[226] + +[Sidenote: Grey is accused of favouring the Geraldines.] + +After this great success, which shattered the Irish or Catholic +confederacy for a time, Grey remained in the North. A fleet had been +collected at Carlingford to chastise the Scots, and the crews had taken +part in the fight or pursuit at Bellahoe; but not much could be done +against the islanders. The old Earl of Ormonde had just died, and his son +was too busy to visit Ulster. He had incurred vast expense in subsidising +the O'Briens and the Clanricarde Burkes, who were ready to serve the King +with 800 gallowglasses, 800 kerne, and some horse. James Fitzjohn of +Desmond was growing daily stronger, while his rival was basking in Court +sunshine; and Ormonde attributed this state of affairs to the Lord +Deputy, who favoured all Geraldines and depressed all who owed their +promotion to Cromwell. James Fitzjohn had seen the Earl's brother, the +Archbishop of Cashel, and had promised to meet Ormonde also, but he +failed in his appointment, and threatened at every moment to attack +Tipperary.[227] + +[Sidenote: The Desmond heritage. Grey goes to Munster, 1539.] + +The English Government had in the meantime declared that James +FitzMaurice was right heir to the earldom of Desmond. He had been a royal +page, and was provided with a force sufficient to guard against any +sudden attack. He landed at Cork or Youghal in August, but three months +elapsed before any serious effort was made to put him in possession of +his own. Leaving Dublin early in November, Grey joined Ormonde near +Roscrea, about which there had been fierce dissensions. The castle was +now in the hands of the O'Meaghers, but they gave it up peaceably to the +Lord Deputy, and he handed it over to Ormonde. Modreeny, which the Earl +now acknowledged as O'Carroll's, was also surrendered. Taking hostages +from O'Carroll, MacBrien Arra, O'Kennedy, O'Mulryan, and O'Dwyer to be +faithful and pay the King tribute, Grey and Ormonde cut passes through +the woods near the Shannon, the inhabitants of which had guided the +O'Briens in their raids. They halted two days at Thurles, where Sir +Gerald MacShane and the White Knight thought it prudent to submit +themselves, and victualled their troops about Cashel and Clonmel. At +Youghal they delivered all the castles of Imokilly to the young Earl of +Desmond, and two nephews of former Earls accepted him as the head of +their House. At Cork Lord Barry, who had held aloof for years, came in +and gave security. Hither also came the sons of Cormac Oge, and it was +probably on this occasion that their sister Mary MacCarthy married the +young Earl. The union was not fated to last long, nor to give an heir to +the House of Desmond. The barony of Kerrycurrihy was taken possession of +at Kinsale, and MacCarthy Reagh, in whose castle of Kilbrittain Gerald of +Kildare had lately found a home, consented to come to Cork and to give +his brother as a hostage. He hesitated to sacrifice his cattle, and was +easily persuaded by Ormonde, who was now on unusually good terms with +Grey. Barry Roe and Barry Oge also gave security. The army then shifted +to O'Callaghan's country, and near Dromaneen James Fitzjohn came to the +other side of the flooded Blackwater and defied Grey. He would, he said, +conclude nothing without the advice of O'Brien, who could dispose of all +the Irishry of Ireland. Grey could not pass the river, and returned to +Cork. John Travers, a native of Ireland who had learned the art of war +elsewhere, had lately been appointed Master of the Ordnance, and +accompanied this expedition, in which only 800 men were employed. Travers +said that he would go anywhere in Ireland with 2,000 men, and Grey's +exploits, no less than Sidney's later, show that he was right: the +difficulty was not to take but to keep. 'Six thousand good men,' Travers +added, 'divided in three places as I could give instruction, with certain +craftsmen to inhabit the places they win, might make a general +reformation in one summer.' The advice was sound, but the Crown could not +afford to take it.[228] + +[Sidenote: Grey's last raid into Ulster.] + +Once more before young Gerald had left Ireland did Grey turn his +attention to the North. For the third time O'Neill promised to meet him, +and for the third time he failed to appear. Without victuals, and +trusting to plunder for the support of his men, the Lord Deputy then rode +'thirty-four miles of ill way' to Dungannon, and again nearly caught the +troublesome chief. But the guides, perhaps intentionally, delayed the +soldiers on their night march, and daybreak found them still five miles +from Dungannon. O'Neill had time to escape. Six days were spent in +promiscuous burnings, during which the soldiers had no bread and lived on +freshly killed beef: it is no wonder that disease was rife in the ranks. +This was Grey's last warlike expedition; successful in a certain sense, +but quite useless as a matter of policy.[229] + +[Sidenote: Recall of Grey. Consequent confusion.] + +Grey had often asked leave to go to Court and lay the state of Ireland +before the King, begging that his adversaries might not be allowed to +ruin him behind his back. His request was now to be granted in an +unexpected manner. One of his last acts in Ireland was a quarrel with the +Council, in spite of whose remonstrances he sent over Travers, the Master +of the Ordnance, with despatches, though he seems to have agreed with +them that a man who could be better spared would have done the business +just as well. Sir William Brereton, Marshal of the Army, had lately +broken his leg, an accident from which he seems never to have fully +recovered; Edward Griffiths, another useful officer, was dying of +diarrhoea; Travers was the only available officer, and his own +department was in bad order. Yet Grey sent him, perhaps because he +thought his talk would be favourable to him. The immediate result of +Travers's journey was that the King sent for Grey, professing his anxiety +to see him and to send him back to Ireland in time for the fighting +season at the end of May. Brereton was to act as Lord Justice during his +absence. Henry declared himself willing to raise the wages of soldiers in +Ireland, which had been fixed three years before at 5_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._ a +year for horsemen and half that sum for footmen, and which had been found +quite inadequate. Deplorable disorders had resulted from the necessities +of the men. Henry expressed his intention of keeping the troops on the +Irish borders instead of in Dublin. Coming events cast their accustomed +shadow before, and Grey's recall, for recall it was understood to be, was +known to the public sooner than to the officials. It was of course +suggested that Grey purposely concealed the truth in order to embarrass +the Council; and he refused their prayer to stay until arrangements had +been made for the defence of the Pale. His activity had evidently +inspired respect, for he had no sooner crossed the Channel than the +O'Tooles made a raid towards Dublin. O'Byrne warned the citizens, and +they had time to make ready. The Kavanaghs attacked the Wexford settlers. +The O'Connors burned Kildare. Alen and Brabazon had also been called to +England, but they were obliged to wait for a fitter time. 'The country,' +wrote Brereton in excusing their absence, 'is in very ill case, being +assured of no Irishman's peace.'[230] + +[Sidenote: Trial and execution of Grey.] + +An enormous number of charges were brought against Grey. He was accused +of maintaining the King's enemies and depressing the King's friends, of +injustice to Irishmen and others, of violence towards Councillors and +others, and of extortion. There is no reason to suppose that he could +have taken young Gerald, with whom, in Stanihurst's quaint language, he +was accused of 'playing bo-peep;' but no doubt he had been guilty of much +injustice, as his unprovoked invasion of Ferney and his treatment of +O'More sufficiently prove. He cannot be called a man of scrupulous +honour, or he would not have arrested the Geraldines at dinner, or +professed his intention to capture his nephew by fair means or foul. But +Henry VIII. knew how to pardon such conduct, though he could punish his +instruments when it suited him. The Irish chiefs felt that they could not +trust Grey, and therefore kept no faith with him. He was accused on all +sides of greed, and especially of making useless expeditions for the sake +of plunder. The usual inquisition made after his arrest shows that he had +some private hoards. He was violent in Council, and no doubt it was often +hard for a Viceroy, especially for one who suffered from gout, to deal +with the Dublin officials, who were independent of him and sometimes +spies on his conduct. 'I think,' says Walter Cowley, 'there is not one of +the King's Council there but my Lord Deputy successively have sore fallen +out with them.' But he was rude and tyrannical to others also, as to Lord +Delvin, whose life he was accused of shortening by insults, and +especially by calling him traitor, 'which,' says the old Earl of Ormonde, +'shall never be proved.' In any case and whatever his actual guilt, a +cloud of witnesses appeared to denounce Grey.[231] He pleaded guilty, +rather in hopes of mercy than acknowledging his faults; but no pardon +followed. That he had any treasonable intention is more than doubtful, +but there was more against him than against Buckingham; he suffered a +year's imprisonment in the Tower, and then underwent the fate to which +his treacherous compliance with a tyrant's wishes had condemned his +Geraldine kinsmen. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[201] Ormonde to St. Leger, March 12, 1538. See also the 'Fall of the +Clan Kavanagh,' by Hughes, _Irish Archæological Journal_, 4th series, +vol. ii., 1873. Erics were compositions for murder, caines for other +felonies. Rahownes may be the same as 'sorohen.' I do not understand +allyieg, unless it be 'allying' with the Irish. + +[202] _Four Masters_, 1537; Brabazon to Aylmer and Alen, Whitsuntide, +1538; Council of Ireland to Cromwell, June 10, 1538. + +[203] Grey to the King, June 4, 1538; Brabazon to Aylmer and Alen, +Whitsuntide; Luttrell to Aylmer, June 5; Council to Aylmer, June 10. All +the accounts make out that Kelway was quite wrong. + +[204] Justice Luttrell to Chief Justice Aylmer, June 5, 1538; Ormonde's +instructions to R. Cowley, June; Lord Butler to his father and to R. +Cowley, June. + +[205] Lord Butler to his father, June 19, 1538; Ormonde to the Irish +Council, June; to R. and W. Cowley, July 16; to R. Cowley, July 20; to +the Privy Council, S.P., vol. iii., p. 77; Grey to the King, June 4 and +July 26; Council of Ireland to Cromwell, June 10, July 24, and August 22. + +[206] Brabazon, Aylmer, and Alen to Cromwell, Aug. 24, 1538. For the +treatment of O'More see Ormonde to R. Cowley, June 1538; Aylmer and +Alen's articles against Grey, June. Lord Butler to R. Cowley, June 20. +Articles alleged on the part of O'More, S.P., vol. iii. p. 26. Council of +Ireland to Cromwell, June 10. Luttrell to Aylmer, June 5. The ten years' +truce between Charles V. and Francis I. was concluded June 28, so that +Lord Butler must refer to some earlier negotiations. + +[207] Brabazon, Aylmer, and Alen to Cromwell, July 24, 1538. + +[208] Grey to the King, July 26, 1538. Brabazon, Aylmer, and Alen to +Cromwell, Aug. 22. Information against Lord Leonard Grey, Oct. 1840, in +_Carew_. + +[209] Grey's account has been pretty closely followed; see his letter to +the King, July 26, 1538. + +[210] For unfavourable strictures on Grey's journey see Brabazon, Aylmer, +and Alen to Cromwell, Aug. 22; articles by the Earl of Ormonde in S.P., +vol. iii. p. 77; Thomas Agard to Cromwell, July 25, 1538. Agard blames +Grey for taking cannon with him; he risked them of course. + +[211] Brabazon, Aylmer, and Alen to Cromwell, Aug. 22. + +[212] Articles by the Earl of Ormonde, S.P., vol. iii. p. 80. + +[213] Brabazon, &c., as above. + +[214] Grey to Cromwell, Oct. 31, 1538, in _Carew_. + +[215] _Ibid._ The 'islands' referred to seem to be the peninsula of Ards, +subsequent attempts to colonise which did not meet with much success. The +islets in Lough Strangford are very small. + +[216] St. Leger and others to Cromwell, Nov. 15, 1537, and Jan. 2, 1538. + +[217] J. Alen to St. Leger, S.P., vol. ii. p. 486, 1537. St. Leger and +others to Cromwell, Jan. 2, 1538; to Wriothesley, Feb. 11. The King to +St. Leger and others, Jan. 17. The Commissioners sailed from Dublin in +April. + +[218] Interrogatories, with Aylmer and Alen's answers, as to Paulet's +conversations, are printed in the S.P., vol. ii. pp. 551-553. + +[219] Alen and others to Cromwell, Jan. 18, 1539. In his letter to +Cromwell of Sept. 8, 1539, R. Cowley says Saintloo did no service, but +kept in a corner like a King, used every kind of extortion, and took no +notice of the universal outcry against him. 'Such a liberty,' says +Cowley, 'is more like to induce them to plain rebellion than to any civil +order.' + +[220] Council of Ireland to Cromwell, Feb. 8, 1539, and also the letter +of Jan. 18, and Browne to Cromwell, Feb. 16. The letter of Jan. 18 says +'all the Bishops of Munster' were summoned. + +[221] The Council of Ireland to Cromwell, Jan. 18 and Feb. 8. Both +letters are signed by Alen, Aylmer, and Brabazon; the second by Browne +also. + +[222] Grey to the King, May 9, 1539; Walter Cowley to Cromwell, Feb. 18, +1539; Thomas Wusle, Constable of Carrick Fergus, to Laurans, Constable of +Ardglass, March 1539, in _Carew_; confession of Connor More O'Connor, +servant to young Gerald, April 17, 1539; Brabazon to Cromwell, May 26; +Gerot Fleming to Cromwell, April 27. + +[223] Grey to Cromwell, June 30, 1539. + +[224] Alen to Cromwell, July 10, 1539, and the documents printed in the +notes; Robert Cowley to Cromwell, Sept. 8; Archbishop Browne to Cromwell, +Feb. 16, 1539. + +[225] _Four Masters_, 1539; R. Cowley to Cromwell, Sept. 8. + +[226] _Four Masters_ and _Annals of Lough Cé_, 1539; _Book of Howth_; R. +Cowley to Cromwell, Sept. 8, 1539. In a letter to Cromwell, dated April +20, 1540 (in _Carew_), the Dowager Countess of Ormonde mentions the +service of her niece's husband Gerald Fleming. In his note to the _Four +Masters_ O'Donovan says roundly that Stanihurst's account is +'fabricated;' but it is corroborated by an Irish MS., for which see +Shirley's _History of Monaghan_, p. 36. + +[227] R. Cowley to Cromwell, Sept. 8, 1539; James, Earl of Ormonde, and +Ossory to Cromwell, Oct. 19; to Wriothesley, Oct. 21. + +[228] Ormonde to Cromwell, Dec. 20, 1539; Travers to Mr. Fitzwilliam, +same date. Dromaneen is five miles above Mallow. + +[229] Lord Deputy and Council to the King, Feb. 13, 1540. + +[230] Brereton to Essex, May 17, 1540 and May 7; Council of Ireland to +Essex, April 30; Ormonde to Essex, May 1; Alen and Brabazon to Essex, May +8; the King's letter to Grey and Brereton is dated April 1. For the +dispute about Travers, see Council of Ireland to Cromwell, March 14. + +[231] The charges against Grey may be gathered from the Articles, &c., by +Aylmer and Alen in S.P., vol. iii. No. 237, and their letter to St. +Leger, June 27, 1538; Ormonde to Cowley, July 16 and 20; the Council of +Ireland's Articles, Oct. 1540; Stanihurst. The Articles of the Council +seem to have been carefully scrutinised by Wriothesley. In his letter to +the King of July 20, 1540, O'Neill says Grey, 'guerras et contentiones in +partibus istis seminavit sui lucrandi causâ.' On June 20, 1538, Lord +Butler writes to Cowley that 'our governor threatens every man after such +a tyrannous sort, as no man dare speak openly or repugn against his +appetite;' and on July 20, his father says, 'the Lord Deputy is occupied +without the advice of the Council, for his own private lucre and gain.' +On the trial of Strafford Oliver St. John--the man who said that +'stone-dead hath no fellow'--cited Grey's case as a precedent for trying +in England treasons committed in Ireland. Grey was Viscount Grane in +Ireland, but he was declared no peer, and tried as a commoner in England; +see Howell's _State Trials_. As to Grey's private hoards, see a letter +from R. Cowley to Norfolk, printed by Ellis, second series, No. 126, and +wrongly placed under 1538; it belongs to 1540. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +1540 and 1541. + + +[Sidenote: The O'Neills. Scottish intrigues.] + +With the usual plundering inroads on the Pale Brereton was able to cope; +and the greater chieftains were quiet, for Gerald of Kildare was safe. +O'Donnell, who may have resented his treatment by Lady Eleanor, readily +reverted to his father's policy, and no difficulty was made about his +pardon. O'Neill held aloof, but again professed himself ready to come to +Carrick Bradagh. Again he failed to appear, and pleaded that he dared not +approach Dundalk through fear of Grey's manifest treachery. He offered to +come to Magennis's Castle at Narrowater, a beautiful spot near the mouth +of the Newry river and the foot of the Mourne Mountains. Brereton agreed, +and a meeting at last took place. O'Neill declared his readiness to +perform all that he had promised to Skeffington, to send a trusty +messenger to the King, and to leave pardon or punishment for the past to +the royal discretion. Till the answer came he was content to be at peace +with the Government, and to keep his neighbours quiet. He was at this +time intriguing with Scotland, and his secretary was actually at +Edinburgh. Cromwell had received information that eight Irishmen had been +with the Scottish King, to whom they had brought sealed letters from the +principal chiefs, containing offers to take him as their lord and to do +homage to him. It was even said that James meditated an invasion of +Ireland in person. O'Neill probably waited for the result of these +negotiations before sending a confidential servant with a letter to +Henry. He begged the King not to send his enemies into his country, where +Grey had, as he affirmed, sowed dissensions from selfish motives. He was +willing to do anything he was asked unless the new Lord Deputy should +prove very extortionate, and he advised the King not to waste his money +in Ulster. Henry answered graciously, and acknowledged some trifling +presents which accompanied the chief's letter. Future royal favours, his +Majesty was careful to point out, must depend on performance and not on +promises. Pardon in the meantime would be granted for the heinous +offences committed.[232] + +[Sidenote: Murder of James FitzMaurice, Earl of Desmond, 1540.] + +With the sea at hand, and Ormonde ever ready to help him, it was supposed +that James FitzMaurice would be able to maintain himself as Earl of +Desmond. At first he confined himself to Kerrycurrihy and Imokilly, but +after three months he was tempted to go inland towards the Limerick +district, in which James Fitzjohn's strength lay. Near Fermoy he was set +upon and murdered by his rival's brother, who had earned the title of +'Maurice of the Burnings.' James Fitzjohn, who now believed himself to be +undisputed Earl, at once repaired to Youghal, where he was well received +and joined by all the chiefs who had lately made such professions to Grey +and Ormonde. The garrison had, through over-confidence, withdrawn to +Waterford. Gerald of Kildare had just escaped to France, and the web of +policy which the English Government had cast over both branches of the +Geraldines was torn to pieces for the time.[233] + +[Sidenote: James Fitzjohn is allowed to succeed him.] + +There was no evidence of James Fitzjohn's complicity in his cousin's +murder, and Ormonde received the King's authority to pardon him, if he +could be brought to promise good behaviour. He preferred to ally himself +with O'Brien, and pleaded that Irish confederacies were too strong for +him to withstand. To gain his confidence Ormonde risked his own person in +the Desmond country for two nights, and passed right through it to parley +with O'Brien, who refused to listen to anything. But Desmond would not +show himself, and Ormonde then went for a few weeks to England. On his +return he found that little harm had been done, and this he attributed +solely to O'Brien having been out of his mind. But Desmond claimed the +credit of holding his hand. 'In like,' he wrote to Ormonde, 'I desire +you, according to my full trust, for to bring me in the King's favour the +best ye can; and in case that his Grace will so accept me, I trust we +shall both be able to do his Grace acceptable service according to our +duty.' On his return from England Ormonde at once resumed negotiations, +and St. Leger had been scarcely a month in Ireland before he received +friendly letters both from Desmond and O'Brien.[234] + +[Sidenote: Fall of Cromwell. St. Leger is made Deputy, 1541.] + +In the meantime Cromwell's head had fallen on the scaffold to which he +had sent so many better men. Grey was in the Tower, and Henry found time +to appoint a new Lord Deputy. He chose Sir Anthony St. Leger, who already +knew much of Ireland, and whose temper would at least save him from his +predecessor's chief faults. Sir Patrick Barnewall of Fieldston, an +eminent lawyer, had lately enumerated the qualities desirable in a chief +governor, and in so doing had drawn a heavy indictment against the last +holder of that high office. The King, he said, should provide a Deputy +'faithful, sure, and constant in his promise, and in especial to any +concluding of peace; and that he shall be such a person that shall have +more regard to his own honour and promise than to any covetous desire of +preys or booties of cattle; and that he shall make no wilful war, and +when war is made upon a good ground, that the same be followed till a +perfect conclusion thereof be taken, and not left at large, nor yet to +take a faint peace; and that the said Deputy shall not be in weighty +causes counselled nor guided by such persons as be openly known to be +ill-doers, or apt adherents of the ill-doers in their ill-doings against +the King's Majesty and his Grace's subjects in time past, for the same +hath and may hinder.' In selecting St. Leger, Henry was probably actuated +in part by such motives, and in part by hopes of an increased income. +With him were associated as Revenue Commissioners Thomas Walsh, Baron, +and John Mynne, Auditor of the English Exchequer, and William Cavendish, +Treasurer of the Court of Augmentations; but the viceregal authority was +not in any way impaired.[235] + +[Sidenote: St. Leger's policy. The Kavanaghs.] + +St. Leger seems clearly to have grasped the idea so often put forth and +so often neglected, that the pacification of Ireland must begin with the +neighbourhood of the Pale, and that distant expeditions were neither +lightly to be undertaken nor abandoned without attaining their object. He +resolved at once to punish those who had attacked the Pale at Grey's +departure, and he turned first to the Kavanaghs. Ormonde had lately +ravaged Idrone for a week and taken hostages, reporting that all the +mischief was done by Donnell MacCahir, 'who, having nothing to lose, +adhereth to Tirlogh O'Toole.' St. Leger now ravaged the territory far and +wide, and at the end of ten days the chief came in and submitted. He +renounced the name of MacMurrough, and agreed to hold his lands of the +Crown by knight-service. After the manner of Deputies in their early days +of office, St. Leger believed that he had really made a final settlement. +The Kavanaghs were ready enough to make promises, and even to boast their +descent from the man who first brought the English to Ireland; but St. +Leger was destined to have plenty of trouble with them.[236] + +[Sidenote: The O'Mores and O'Connors, and their neighbours.] + +Offaly had been so often devastated that the new Lord Deputy could have +little to do in that way; but the adjoining district of Leix had been +more fortunate, and its turn now came. The O'Doynes, O'Dempseys, and +others were separated by St. Leger's policy from O'Connor, whom it was +proposed to bridle by establishing fortified posts at Kinnegad in +Westmeath, at Kishevan in Kildare, at Castle Jordan in Meath, and at +Ballinure in what is now the King's County. A letter arrived from the +King with orders to expel O'Connor from his country and to give it to his +brother Cahir, if he would behave in a civilised manner, as he had often +promised to do. The incorrigible rebel should be made an example to all +Ireland by his perpetual exile and just punishment. But this could not be +honourably done, for Brereton had made a peace during the difficult days +that followed Grey's recall, and O'Connor, whose submission was of the +humblest, had done no harm since then. St. Leger indeed showed some +inconsistency in the matter, for he thought in September that O'Connor +could never be trusted, and in November he advised his restoration to +favour. Not only was it proposed to give him a grant of his land, but +also to raise him to the peerage as Baron of Offaly, an ancient honour in +the eclipsed family of Kildare.[237] + +[Sidenote: The O'Tooles.] + +No tribe had hurt the Pale more than the O'Tooles, who could boast of +giving a famous saint to Irish hagiology. Originally possessed of the +southern half of Kildare, they had been driven into the Wicklow Mountains +by Walter de Riddlesford in the early days of the Anglo-Norman +occupation. They were afterwards known as lords of Imaile, a small +district between Baltinglass and Glendalough, and at one time held nearly +all the northern half of Wicklow. The Earls of Kildare expelled them from +Powerscourt, and latterly they had led a very precarious life. True +children of the mist, they either bivouacked in the open or crept into +wretched huts to which Englishmen hesitated to give the name of houses. +They cultivated no land, but levied 300_l._ a year from their civilised +neighbours, partly in black-rent and partly in sheer plunder. The actual +chief was Tirlogh O'Toole, who professed himself anxious to mend his +ways, and offered to go to England and beg his lands of Henry himself. +There was something chivalrous in Tirlogh; for when Grey was hard pressed +by the northern confederacy he sent him word that 'since all those great +lords were against him he would surely be with him, but whensoever they +were all at peace, then he alone would be at war with him and the English +Pale.' This simple-minded warrior had kept his word, and he now begged +St. Leger to write to Norfolk, in the belief that the Duke would let him +want nothing 'when he knew that he had become an Englishman.' In return +for his undertaking to forego his exactions and to wear the English +dress, he asked for a grant of the district of Fercullen, comprising +Powerscourt and about twenty square miles of land, chiefly rocks and +woods, but with some fertile spots. St. Leger was anxious to grant +Tirlogh's terms, for the lands actually held by him were worthless and +would never pay to reclaim, while the O'Tooles were obliged to live on +the Pale. The hardy mountaineers had nothing to lose, and they prevented +land enough to support 2,000 inhabitants from being cultivated at all. +The Lord Deputy accordingly sent over the wild man with a special +recommendation to Norfolk, whose Irish experience made him a natural +mediator. Tirlogh was so poor that St. Leger had to lend him 20_l._ for +his journey, and he could not even afford decent clothes. 'It shall +appear to your Majesty,' wrote the Irish Government, 'that this Tirlogh +is but a wretched person and a man of no great power, neither having +house to put his head in, nor yet money in his purse to buy him a +garment, yet may he well make 200 or 300 men.'[238] + +[Sidenote: Tirlogh O'Toole at Court.] + +Tirlogh remained nearly a month at Court, where he was very well +treated; perhaps Henry remembered how well Hugh O'Donnell had requited +the kindness shown to him long since. The grant was authorised, and care +was taken to make such a fair division among the clansmen as would +prevent internal dissensions. Tirlogh became the King's tenant by +knight-service at a rent of five marks yearly, and his brother Art Oge, a +man of some ability, was gratified with a grant of Castle Kevin. Henry +desired that this case should form a precedent, and that in future chiefs +received to peace and favour should be treated with on the same basis as +the O'Tooles. In doing this he followed the advice of some of his wisest +councillors at home. Cranmer, Audeley, and Sadleir did not believe in the +possibility of a thorough conquest, and rightly considered that Ireland +would be best gained by fair dealing. Pedants and flatterers might argue +that the King was actually entitled to most of the land, that the Irish +were intruders, and that grants to them were derogatory to the royal +dignity. To this it was answered that the intrusions were of very old +date, that future rebellions would be more easily punished when they +involved a breach of contract, and that the Crown must gain by the mere +acknowledgment of its title. The O'Tooles at all events seem to have +given up plundering the Pale, and they make little further figure in +history. But they could not give up fighting among themselves. The +favoured Tirlogh had a grudge against one of his clansmen, and pursued +him daily in spite of orders from the Government. At last the threatened +man caught his persecutor asleep, and in the early morning killed him and +all his companions; 'and we think,' wrote the Lord Deputy and Council, +'the other would have done to him likewise, if he might have gotten him +at like advantage.' Tirlogh left no legitimate children, but St. Leger +nevertheless recommended that his son Brian should be allowed to succeed +him.[239] + +[Sidenote: Proposed military order. The King vetoes it.] + +Finding Leinster in an unusually promising state, the Irish Council hit +upon a strange device for keeping it permanently quiet. In the previous +century Thomas, Earl of Kildare, had established the Brotherhood of St. +George, an armed confraternity, whose thirteen officers, chosen from +among the loyal gentlemen of Dublin, Kildare, Meath, and Louth, elected +their own captain annually, but were paid by the State. It was found +necessary to dissolve this body by an Act of Parliament, passed in 1494. +Its object had been the defence of the Pale against Irish enemies and +English rebels. It was now proposed to erect a new order, not named after +St. George, but holding its great ceremony on St. George's day. It was to +consist of a Grand Master and twelve pensioners, with salaries amounting +in the aggregate to 1,000_l._ The majority were to be Irishmen of family, +who might be kept out of mischief by fear of losing their pensions. After +seven years, promotion was to depend on knowing English, or having spent +two years in the public service in England; the object being to induce +Irish gentlemen to cross the Channel and learn manners. As vacancies +occurred the persons chosen were to be bound 'not to have any wife or +wives.' The Council nominated Brabazon to be first Grand Master; but +Ormonde put forth a list of his own, and preferred his brother Richard to +the highest place. The Council also proposed to make a pensioner of Lord +Kilcullen, and to place him in the castle of Clonmore, which had belonged +to his family, but which the King had granted to Ormonde. The Earl +naturally ignored this claim, and there were other differences in the +rival lists. The Council suggested elaborate machinery by which the Order +might be made to work for the reformation of Leinster; but St. Leger does +not appear to have been a party to the scheme, and perhaps opposed it +quietly. The King, who had just abolished the great military Order, had +no idea of creating another, though its patron saint should be St. George +instead of St. John. 'We do in no wise,' he said, 'like any part of your +device in that behalf.' By minding their business and doing what they +were told his Majesty hoped that they would ultimately succeed in +reforming Leinster 'without the new erection of any such fantasies.'[240] + +[Sidenote: An arrangement is made with Desmond.] + +James Fitzjohn being now necessarily acknowledged Earl of Desmond, one of +St. Leger's first cares was to obtain his submission. Satisfied at last +that no treachery was intended, Desmond agreed to meet the Lord Deputy at +Cashel. Passing through Carlow and Kilkenny, St. Leger was joined by +Ormonde, who took care that the viceregal retinue should be well treated +on the journey; but Desmond at first held aloof, and demanded that the +chief of the Butlers should give himself up as a hostage before he +trusted himself in English hands. This was refused; but Archbishop +Browne, Travers, the Master of the Ordnance, and the Deputy's brother +Robert consented to run the risk. Desmond then appeared, and said he was +ready to do all that loyalty demanded. The proceedings were adjourned to +Sir Thomas Butler's house at Cahir, and there Desmond signed a solemn +notarial instrument, by which he fully acknowledged the King's supremacy +in Church and State. 'I do,' he said, 'utterly deny and forsake the +Bishop of Rome, and his usurped primacy and authority, and shall with all +my power resist and repress the same and all that shall by any means use +and maintain the same.' He renounced the pretensions of his family not to +attend Parliament or enter any walled town. He agreed to abide by and to +enforce the King's decision as to the Kildare estates, and to pay all +such taxes as were paid in the territories of Ormonde, Delvin, and other +noblemen of like condition. He constituted himself the defender of the +corporate towns, and gave up all claims to the allegiance of the Munster +Englishry, with a partial reservation as to men of his own blood, who +held their lands under him or his ancestors. Finally, he agreed to send +his son to be educated in England. This was Gerald, the ill-starred youth +whose folly and vanity were destined to work the final ruin of his House. +The Archbishop of Cashel and the Bishops of Limerick and Emly witnessed +the instrument, and the manner of the submission was as satisfactory as +a Tudor could wish. 'In presence,' wrote St. Leger to the King, 'of +MacWilliam, O'Connor, and divers other Irish gentlemen, to the number of +200 at the least, he kneeled down before me and most humbly delivered his +said submission, desiring me to deliver unto him his said pardon, granted +by your Majesty; affirming that it was more glad to him to be so +reconciled to your favours, than to have any worldly treasure; protesting +that no earthly cause should make him from henceforth swerve from your +Majesty's obedience. And after that done, I delivered to him your said +most gracious pardon, which he most joyfully accepted.' He was +immediately sworn of the Council, and St. Leger asked the King's +indulgence for having done this without warrant. Care was also taken to +prevent a renewal of the quarrel between the new Privy Councillor and +Ormonde, who had married the heiress-general of a former Earl of Desmond, +and had thus large and indefinite claims on the family estates. The +rivals bound themselves in 4,000_l._ to promote cross-marriages between +their children, and to keep the peace. The claims of Ormonde through his +wife were nevertheless destined in the next generation to deluge Munster +in blood.[241] + +[Sidenote: Dutiful attitude of Desmond and O'Brien.] + +Desmond accompanied St. Leger to Kilmallock, 'where, I think, none of +your Grace's Deputies came this hundred years before,' and treated him +hospitably, openly declaring that he was ready if the Deputy wished it to +go to London to see the King. O'Brien came peacefully to Limerick, +complaining chiefly that he was not allowed to bridge the Shannon nor to +exercise jurisdiction over friendly tribes on the left bank. St. Leger +promised him perpetual war unless he would yield on both points, +believing that he could do little harm without the concurrence of +Desmond, of the Clanricarde Burkes, or of Donogh O'Brien. He was given +till Shrovetide to consult his friends, and at last decided to keep quiet +and to send agents to watch over his interests in Parliament. A pardon +was issued under the Great Seal of Ireland, and towards the end of the +year O'Brien spontaneously addressed a very dutiful letter to the King, +begging personal as well as official forgiveness for his many sins. 'My +mind,' he said, 'is never satisfied till I have made the same submission +to your Grace's own person, whom I most desire to see above all creatures +on earth living, now in mine old days; which sight I doubt not but shall +prolong my life.'[242] + +[Sidenote: MacWilliam Burke and MacGillapatrick.] + +MacWilliam Burke of Clanricarde and MacGillapatrick professed anxiety for +the royal favour, and accompanied St. Leger on his tour. He prescribed an +earldom for the former, a barony for the latter, and Parliament-robes and +other fine clothes for both; in the belief that titles and little acts of +civility would weigh more with these rude men than a display of force. He +himself had given MacWilliam a silver-gilt cup, and in Limerick Desmond +had from vanity or policy worn 'gown, jacket, doublet, hose, shirts, +caps, and a velvet riding coat,' from the Lord Deputy's wardrobe. It was +very important to conciliate MacWilliam, who could always prevent a +junction of the O'Briens and O'Donnells. MacGillapatrick soon afterwards +covenanted with the King to live civilly, to act loyally, and to hold his +lands of the Crown by knight-service. MacWilliam wrote a letter to Henry +confessing and lamenting that his family had degenerated, and belied +their English blood, 'which have been brought to Irish and disobedient +rule by reason of marriage and nurseing with those Irish, sometime +rebels, near adjoining to me.' He placed himself and all his possessions +unreservedly in the King's hands, but seems to have let it be known that +he would like to be an Earl. Henry refused this unless the repentant +Norman would come to Court, but he offered a barony or viscounty without +any condition.[243] + +[Sidenote: Parliament of 1541.] + +Early in 1541 St. Leger received authority to summon a Parliament. The +composition of the House of Commons is uncertain, for no list of members +is extant between 1382 and 1559. In the former of those years eighteen +counties or districts and eleven towns were represented. In the latter, +ten counties and twenty-eight cities and boroughs returned two members +each. Through the action of the royal prerogative the number was +progressively increased until the 300 of the eighteenth century was +reached. In St. Leger's time the Upper House was the more important of +the two, and was attended by four archbishops, nineteen bishops, and +twenty temporal peers, of whom Desmond was one. Among the temporal peers +was Rawson, late prior of Kilmainham and chief of the Irish Hospitallers, +who had just been created Viscount Clontarf. There were four new +Barons--Edmund Butler Lord Dunboyne, MacGillapatrick Lord Upper Ossory, +Oliver Plunkett Lord Louth, and William Bermingham Lord Carbery. Richard +le Poer had been created Baron of Curraghmore six years before. Besides +the peers there were present in Dublin Donough O'Brien, MacWilliam Burke, +O'Reilly, Cahir MacArt Kavanagh, Phelim Roe O'Neill of Clandeboye, and +some of the O'Mores. O'Brien sent agents or deputies. These and other +important persons were present at the passing of the Bill which made +Henry King of Ireland; but they had no votes and were not considered as +members of Parliament. + +[Sidenote: Henry VIII. is made King of Ireland.] + +Parliament met on Monday, June 13; but the Munster lords had not yet +arrived, and the solemn mass was postponed until Thursday, the feast of +Corpus Christi. By that day all had assembled, and they rode in state to +the place of meeting. Most of the peers wore their robes. On the morrow +the Commons chose a Speaker in the person of Sir Thomas Cusack, a rising +lawyer, who afterwards obtained the highest professional honours. He made +a set speech at the bar of the Lords, praising the King for many things, +but especially for having extirpated the Bishop of Rome's usurped power. +Ormonde then gave the substance of what had been said in Irish, to the +'great contentation of those lords who could not understand English.' At +the sitting of the House of Lords on the following day, St. Leger +proposed that Henry VIII. should be King of Ireland. A Bill to that +effect was read a first time in English and Irish, and was received with +acclamation. It was then and there read a second and a third time, and +all the Lords subscribed it, lest they should thereafter be tempted to +deny their consents. The Bill was then sent down to the Commons and read +three times, and on the morrow, in presence of both Houses, St. Leger +pronounced the royal consent--'no less,' he wrote, 'to my comfort, than +to be risen again from death to life, that I so poor a wretch should, by +your excellent goodness, be put to that honour, that in my time your +Majesty should most worthily have another Imperial Crown.' This rapid +action is in striking contrast to the long and acrimonious discussion +excited by a change of the royal style in our own times.[244] + +[Sidenote: King and Pope. The royal style.] + +The question of style was one of considerable practical importance, for +the friars had sedulously encouraged the popular notion that the real +sovereignty rested in the Pope, and that the King of England was only a +sort of viceroy. Alen had recommended the assumption of the royal title +four years before; and both Staples and St. Leger had given the like +advice. Parliamentary sanction had now been given to the change, and +those who acknowledged English law could hardly dispute the principle +involved. In the later struggles of Irish parties the contest between the +Crown and the Tiara was constantly revived, and the ghost of the +controversy is sometimes seen even in our own times. Less than two months +before the meeting of St. Leger's Parliament, Paul III. had written to +prepare O'Neill for the arrival of a detachment of the Company of Jesus, +and before its dissolution the first Jesuits had landed. But for the +moment no opposition was visible. The proclamation of the new style was +joyously celebrated by the citizens of Dublin. Salutes were fired. +Bonfires were lit. Wine casks were broached in the streets; and there was +much feasting in private houses. An amnesty was granted to criminals, +except traitors, murderers, and ravishers; but prisoners for debt were +not released, lest any creditor should be defrauded. There was some fear +lest it should be supposed that the Irish Parliament had elected their +King instead of merely declaring his just hereditary right; and many +letters were exchanged on the subject. Finally the new style was settled +as follows:--'Henry VIII., by the Grace of God, King of England, France, +and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, and of the Church of England, and +also of Ireland, in earth the Supreme Head.' A new Great Seal had to be +sent from England, since there was no competent engraver in Dublin. And +thus, after the lapse of nearly four centuries, did Henry II.'s successor +repudiate all obligations to Rome, and declare himself King of Ireland by +right divine.[245] + +[Sidenote: Regulations for Munster.] + +The other Acts passed had no political significance, but followed pretty +closely recent domestic legislation in England. After a session of little +more than five weeks, Parliament was prorogued with the intention of +convoking it again at Limerick. Before the two Houses dispersed, +elaborate regulations, which were not embodied in an Act of Parliament, +were drawn up for Munster, Thomond, and Connaught. There was no chance of +enforcing these ordinances, but some of them are very good. Laymen and +minors were disabled from holding ecclesiastical benefices; kernes were +ordered to be treated as vagabonds, unless some lord would give bail for +them; heads of families were declared responsible for damage done by +younger members. Highway robbery and rape were pronounced capital; but by +a strange anomaly robberies of above fourteen pence were made punishable +by the loss of one ear for the first offence and of the other ear for +the second, while death was fixed as the penalty for the third. A system +of fines was promulgated for homicides, invasions, and spoils. The Irish +jurisprudence was thus acknowledged, but only as a matter of fact, for +the chiefs who indulged in open lawlessness were generally beyond the +reach of the law. Saffron shirts were forbidden under penalties, and the +permissible quantity of linen was carefully prescribed for each rank. A +lord might have twenty cubits, his vassals eighteen, and his servants +twelve. A kerne was allowed sixteen and an agricultural labourer ten. +Stringent but useless limitations were imposed on coyne and livery, the +fact being that great men had usually no other means of protecting their +districts. Ormonde was appointed chief executor of these ordinances for +Tipperary, Waterford, and Kilkenny, and Desmond for the other counties of +Munster. Both were to command the assistance of the Archbishop of Cashel +and to be entitled to one-third of all fines levied by them, two-thirds +being payable to the King. The regulations for Thomond and Connaught were +the same as for Munster, but they were probably even less regarded.[246] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[232] For the intrigues with Scotland, see Brereton to Essex, May 17, +1540, and the note, S.P. vol. iii., and Layton to Essex, S.P. vol. v. p. +178; O'Neill's letter to Henry was dated July 20; the King's letter to +O'Neill is dated Sept. 7--'literas vestras unà cum _munusculis_ grato +animo accepimus.' For O'Donnell's submission, see Henry's letter to him +of Aug. 20, acknowledging his letters 'per dilectum nobis Johannem +Cappis, mercatorem Bristoliensem.' St. Leger brought over O'Neill's +pardon. + +[233] In a letter to Cromwell of December 23, 1539, in _Carew_, William +Wise, of Waterford, almost foretold the murder, which (according to Mr. +Graves's pedigree in the _Irish Archæological Journal_) took place on +March 19 following. The pedigree says the murder was in Kerry, but other +accounts, which are evidently correct, point to the neighbourhood of +Fermoy or Mitchelstown. Council of Ireland to the King, April 4, 1540; +Archdall's _Lodge_; Russell. O'Daly (chap. xii.) admits that the murder +was premeditated. + +[234] Ormonde to Brereton from Kilkenny, May 14; to the King, July 26, +from Waterford. He had been to England and back between these dates. +Desmond to Ormonde, July 8; Lord Deputy St. Leger to the King, Sept. 12, +1540. + +[235] P. Barnewall to Essex, May 19; Instructions to St. Leger and the +others, and to St. Leger alone, S.P., Aug. 16 and 20. St. Leger landed +Aug. 12, 1540. + +[236] Walter Cowley to St. Leger, March 15, 1541, 'from the border of +Cahir, MacArt's country.' St. Leger to the King, Sept. 12; Council of +Ireland to the King, Sept. 22. + +[237] Council of Ireland to the King, Sept. 22, 1540; the King to the +Lord Deputy and Council, Sept. 7 and 8; Lord Deputy and Council to the +King, Nov. 13. + +[238] For the O'Tooles, see O'Donovan's _Book of Rights_, and his notes +to the _Four Masters_, 1180 and 1376; and Lord Deputy and Council to the +King Nov. 14, 1540, with the notes. These people had suffered from the +Kildare family as much as the Macgregors did from the Campbells. This may +partly explain Tirlogh's unwillingness to aid in restoring Gerald. + +[239] The King to the Lord Deputy and Council, No. 332 in the S.P., and +his very important minute of March 26, 1541; Lord Deputy and Council to +the King, Dec. 7, 1542, and May 15, 1543. + +[240] For the scheme see S.P., vol. iii. No. 330; the King's answer is +No. 337. + +[241] St. Leger to the King, Feb. 21, 1541. The submission was signed at +Cahir, Jan. 16. For the names of the notaries and of the chief +spectators, see _Carew_, vol. i. No. 153. + +[242] St. Leger to the King, Feb. 21, 1541; list of those who attended +Parliament, 1541, in S.P., vol. iii. p. 307; O'Brien to the King, vol. +iii., No. 352. + +[243] St. Leger to the King, Feb. 21, 1541; MacWilliam to the King, March +12, 1541; MacGillapatrick's submission, &c., S.P., vol. iii., No. 336; +the King to MacWilliam, May 1. + +[244] St. Leger to the King, June 26, 1541; Lord Deputy and Council to +the King, June 28; printed _Statutes_, 33 Henry VIII.; Lodge's +_Parliamentary Register_; Parliamentary lists in _Tracts Relating to +Ireland_, No. 2. + +[245] Alen to St. Leger in 1537, S.P., vol. ii., No. 182; Staples to St. +Leger, June 17, 1538; Lord Deputy and Council to the King, Dec. 30, 1540. +The proclamation of the King's style is in _Carew_, vol. i., No. 158. The +author of the _Aphorismical Discovery_, who wrote about 1650, says Henry +'revolted from his obedience to the Holy See' by assuming the royal +title. There is an abstract of the King's title to Ireland in _Carew_, +vol. i., No. 156; Adrian's grant is mentioned as one of seven titles, +some fabulous, some historical. For the proceedings in Dublin, see St. +Leger's letters already cited, June 26 and 28, 1541; for the style +itself, see the King's letter in S.P., vol. iii., No. 361; for the Seal, +see Lord Deputy and Council to the King, June 2, 1542, and Henry's +answer. + +[246] See the ordinances in _Carew_, vol. i., No. 157. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +1541 TO THE CLOSE OF THE REIGN OF HENRY VIII. + + +[Sidenote: The O'Carrolls.] + +The attendance of Irishmen during the session of Parliament was not +altogether barren of immediate results. Fergananim O'Carroll, chief of +Ely, having become blind, was murdered in Clonlisk Castle by Teige, the +son of his old rival Donough, with the help of some of the Molloys. The +claimants to the vacant succession voluntarily submitted to the +arbitration of the Lord Deputy and Council, and a curious award was +given. According to Irish law John O'Carroll, as the eldest, would have +been the natural chief. He was set aside as unfit to rule, but received +his lands rent free and forty cows annually out of the cattle-tribute +payable to the chief. Fergananim's son Teige was also pronounced +incompetent, but was nevertheless established as ruler of half the +country by way of propitiating Desmond, who was his uncle by marriage. +Calvagh or Charles O'Carroll was made lord of the other half, and it was +provided that if either procured the other's death he should forfeit all +to the sons of the deceased.[247] + +[Sidenote: Submission of O'Donnell, 1541.] + +Soon after the prorogation St. Leger went to Cavan to meet O'Donnell. +Leaving his boats on Lough Erne, the chieftain came boldly to the +appointed place with a dozen followers, and made little difficulty about +the terms of peace. He agreed to serve the King on all great hostings, to +attend the next Parliament or send duly authorised deputies, to hold his +land of the Crown, and to take any title that might be given him. He not +only renounced the usurped primacy and authority of Rome, but promised +industriously and diligently to expel, eject, and root out from his +country all adherents of the Pope, or else to coerce and constrain them +to submit to the King and his successors. He more than once asked to be +made Earl of Sligo, and to have Parliament-robes as well as 'that golden +instrument or chain which noblemen wear on their necks.' Henry was +willing to create O'Donnell Earl of Tyrconnell, but the creation was +deferred until the reign of James I.[248] + +[Sidenote: St. Leger chastises the O'Neills.] + +O'Neill still refused to come to Dundalk, or in any way to submit to the +Lord Deputy. He was, he said, waiting to hear from the King, and he made +the curious complaint that St. Leger would not let him send hawks as +presents to his Majesty. Diplomacy failing, the Lord Deputy prepared for +an invasion of Ulster. He was joined by O'Donnell, O'Hanlon, Magennis, +MacMahon, who had lately made submission in the usual form, Phelim Roe +O'Neill and Neill Connelagh O'Neill, nephews and opponents of the chief +of Tyrone; by the Savages of Ards; and by many others, both English and +Irish. Twenty-two days were spent in destroying corn and butter; but no +enemy appeared, and the cattle had been driven off into the woods. +Meanwhile O'Neill tried the bold but not uncommon experiment of attacking +the Pale in the absence of its defenders. The new Lord Louth handled the +local force so well that the invaders were ignominiously routed, while +O'Donnell ravaged not only Tyrone but a great part of Fermanagh, the very +islands in Lough Erne being ransacked by his flotilla.[249] + +[Sidenote: Success of a winter campaign.] + +After a month's respite St. Leger made a second raid, and this time +captured some hundreds of cows and horses. Another month elapsed, and +then a third attack brought O'Neill to his knees. He sent letters to +Armagh in which he threw himself on the King's mercy, which he preferred +to the Lord Deputy's, gave a son as hostage, and offered to come in +person not only to Dundalk but to Drogheda. O'Neill had never been known +to give a hostage before, and great importance was attached to this. +Three thousand kine besides horses and sheep were taken in spite of the +natives, but not without much suffering on the part of the soldiers, who +had to lie without tents on the wet ground. Many horses died, and many +more were lamed. The pastime, as St. Leger called it, of a December +campaign can never be very pleasant, but he proved, as Sidney proved +afterwards, that it was the right way to subdue the O'Neills. There was +not grass enough in the woods to keep the cattle alive, and when they +came into the fields the soldiers easily captured them.[250] + +[Sidenote: Submission of O'Neill.] + +Ultimately O'Neill made a complete submission. He agreed to behave like +the Earls of Ormonde and Desmond, praying only that he might not be +forced to incur the danger and expense of attending any Parliament +sitting to the west of the Barrow. He not only renounced the Pope, but +promised to send back future bulls, if ecclesiastics already provided +from Rome would do likewise.[251] + +[Sidenote: The Council advise the King to accept it.] + +The Council advised Henry to accept O'Neill's submission, seeing that his +country was wide and difficult, and now so wasted as to be incapable of +supporting an army. It might perhaps be possible to expel Con, but he +would certainly be succeeded by a pretender as bad as himself, and +extreme courses might lead to despair, and to a universal rebellion. They +admitted that the winter war had been proved to be 'the destruction of +any Irishmen,' but the loss of men and horses was great, and might lead +to risings in other places.[252] + +[Sidenote: Henry's ideas about Ireland.] + +The King disliked the wholesale grants of land for small consideration, +which were favoured by St. Leger. He rebuked his servants in Ireland for +thinking too much of Irish submissions, and here he saw more clearly +than they did. He was now King in Ireland, and required a revenue in +proportion. For that purpose he divided Irishmen into two classes, those +who were within easy reach of his arm, and those who were not. The former +were to be treated sternly, but the latter tenderly, 'lest by extreme +demands they should revolt to their former beastliness.' The near +neighbours were to be brought to the same terms as Tirlogh O'Toole. A +proper rent was to be exacted, and knight-service insisted on for the +sake of the wardships and liveries. In the obedient districts monastic +lands were to be let on lease for the best possible rent. In more distant +quarters the chiefs were to be coaxed into suppressing the religious +houses by promising them leases on easy terms.[253] + +[Sidenote: Ireland at peace, 1542. Submission of many chiefs.] + +At the beginning of the year 1542 the Council were able to make the +strange announcement that Ireland was at peace. They praised St. Leger +for his diligence, patience, and justice, and for his liberal +entertainment of those on whom, for the public good, it was necessary to +make favourable impression. Following up his Dublin success, he now met +Parliament again at Limerick, where the principal business was to make +terms with the O'Briens. Murrough agreed to give up all claims to the +territory of Owney Beg, a poor district lying under Slieve Phelim, which +retains its reputation for turbulence to the present day. The possession +of this tract had made him master of the western part of Limerick, whence +he exacted a black-rent of 80_l._, and of Tipperary as far as Cashel. The +whole country was waste through plunder and extortion, and no one could +travel peaceably from Limerick to Waterford through fear of a gang of +robbers called the 'old evil children,' who held a castle near the +Shannon. Desmond expelled these brigands and handed over their hold to +MacBrien Coonagh, who held it at his own expense for two years. St. +Leger's observations during the session at Limerick led him to believe +that little rent or tribute could be got out of the Irish. The sums +promised to Grey were withheld on the ground that promises had been +forcibly extorted. By holding out hopes of gentler treatment, St. Leger +brought them to accept his own much easier terms. Tipperary was assessed +at 40_l._ yearly, Kilkenny at 40_l._, and Waterford at 10_l._ MacBrien +Arra agreed to pay sixpence a year for each ploughland, and to furnish +sixty gallowglasses for a month. MacBrien of Coonagh promised 5_l._, +O'Kennedy and MacEgan in Ormonde 10_l._ each, O'Mulryan forty shillings +and sixty gallowglasses for a month, and O'Dwyer eightpence for each +ploughland and forty gallowglasses for a month. These sums are small, but +seem larger when we reflect that the Government gave no consideration, +either by keeping the peace or administering justice, and that the people +were extremely poor.[254] + +[Sidenote: Further submissions.] + +Several months passed in negotiations with Irish chiefs with the general +object of inducing them to submit, to pay rent, and to hold their lands +by knight-service; forswearing Irish uses and exactions, and promising to +live in a more civilised manner. These terms were accepted by Rory +O'More, who had become chief of Leix by the death of his brother Kedagh, +by MacDonnell, captain of O'Neill's gallowglasses, by O'Rourke, and by +O'Byrne. All except the last named abjured the Pope, as did the +MacQuillins, a family of Welsh extraction long settled in the Route, a +district between the Bush and the Bann. The MacQuillins were always +oppressed by the O'Cahans, who were supposed to be instigated by +O'Donnell, and the valuable fishery of the Bann was a perennial source of +dissension. Travers, who soon afterwards became lessee of Clandeboye, +held this fishery on a Crown lease with the goodwill of the MacQuillins; +but in spite of the O'Cahans, who annoyed his fishermen, St. Leger +ordered him to help the weaker tribe. Coleraine was taken by Travers, and +after a time the neighbours were reconciled, a pension of 10_l._ being +given to each on condition of not molesting those who fished under royal +licence. A curious submission was that of Hugh O'Kelly, who seems to have +been chief of his sept as well as hereditary Abbot of the Cistercians at +Knockmoy, near Tuam. He renounced the Pope, promised to aid the Lord +Deputy with a considerable force in Connaught, and with a smaller one in +more distant parts, and to bring certain of his kinsmen to similar terms. +In return he was to have custody of the monastic lands and of the rectory +of Galway at a rent of 5_l._, paid down yearly in that town. As if to +complete the anomaly this abbot-chieftain gave his son as a hostage for +due performance.[255] + +[Sidenote: Desmond in favour at Court.] + +Desmond continued to behave loyally. St. Leger received him hospitably in +Dublin, and advised the King to do the same. But Alen cautioned his +Majesty not to be too free of his grants, especially in such important +cases as Croom and Adare. The Chancellor preferred to give the Earl +monastic lands in the Pale, by accepting which he would give hostages to +the Crown, or among the wild Irish, who would thus certainly be losers +though the King might be no direct gainer. Desmond did not linger long in +the Court sunshine, for he took leave of the King in little more than a +month from the date of his leaving Ireland. Either he really gained the +royal goodwill, or Henry thought it wise to take St. Leger's advice, for +he gave him money and clothes, made him the bearer of official +despatches, and, after due inquiry, accepted his nominee to the bishopric +of Emly.[256] + +[Sidenote: The Munster nobles submit. They abjure the Pope.] + +With a view to establish order in those portions of Munster under +Desmond's influence, St. Leger visited Cork, where the notables readily +obeyed his call. They abjured the Pope, and agreed to refer all +differences to certain named arbitrators. Henceforth no one was to take +the law into his own hands, but to complain to Desmond and to the Bishops +of Cork, Waterford, and Ross, who were to have the power of summoning +parties and witnesses, and of fining contumacious persons. Difficult +cases were to be referred to the Lord Deputy and Council, and legal +points reserved for qualified commissioners, whom the King was to send +into Munster at Easter and Michaelmas. This was part of a scheme for +establishing circuits in the southern province, but it was very +imperfectly carried out during this and the three succeeding reigns. The +state of the country seldom admitted of peaceful assizes, and martial law +was too often necessary. The Munster gentry now promised to keep the +peace, and to exact no black-rents from Cork or other towns. The +Anglo-Norman element was represented by Lord Barrymore and his kinsmen, +Barry Roe and Barry Oge, by Lord Roche, and by Sir Gerald MacShane of +Dromana. The Irish parties to the contract were MacCarthy More, MacCarthy +Reagh, MacCarthy of Muskerry, MacDonough MacCarthy of Duhallow, +O'Callaghan, and O'Sullivan Beare. St. Leger himself, Desmond, Brabazon, +Travers, and Sir Osborne Echingham, marshal of the army, represented the +Crown.[257] + +[Sidenote: An Earldom for O'Neill.] + +O'Neill was at last induced to go to Court to receive the Earldom of +Tyrone, the title chosen for him by the Irish Government. He would have +preferred that of Ulster, but it was in the Crown, and the King refused +to part with it. St. Leger did what he could to conciliate O'Neill by +attention and hospitality while in Dublin, and rightly attached great +importance to the fact that he was the first O'Neill who had ever gone to +the King in England. He advised that he should be received with the +greatest distinction. + +'O'Neill,' say the 'Four Masters,' 'that is, Con the son of Con, went to +the King of England, namely, Henry VIII.; and the King created O'Neill an +Earl, and enjoined that he should not be called O'Neill any longer. +O'Neill received great honour from the King on this occasion.' The +acceptance of a peerage was universally considered a condescension, if +not a degradation, for the head of a family who claimed to be princes of +Ulster in spite of the Crown. The Irish Government were willing that he +should have Tyrone, 'but for the rule of Irishmen, which be at his +Grace's peace, we think not best his Highness should grant any such thing +to him as yet.'[258] + +[Sidenote: His submission.] + +It may be doubted whether O'Neill fully understood the scope of a +document which was written in English, and which he signed with a mark; +but the form of his submission to his 'most gracious sovereign lord' was +as ample as even that sovereign lord could wish:-- + +'Pleaseth your most Excellent Majesty, I, O'Neill, one of your Majesty's +most humble subjects of your realm of Ireland, do confess and acknowledge +before your most Excellent Highness, that by ignorance, and for lack of +knowledge of my most bounden duty of allegiance, I have most grievously +offended your Majesty, for the which I ask your Grace here mercy and +forgiveness, most humbly beseeching your Highness of your most gracious +pardon; refusing my name and state, which I have usurped upon your Grace +against my duty, and requiring your Majesty of your clemency to give me +what name, state, title, land, or living it shall please your Highness, +which I shall knowledge to take and hold of your Majesty's mere gift, and +in all things do hereafter as shall beseem your most true and faithful +subject. And God save your Highness.'[259] + +[Sidenote: He is created Earl of Tyrone. Special remainder.] + +One week after the delivery of this submission O'Neill was created Earl +of Tyrone, with remainder to his son Matthew in tail male: Matthew being +at the same time created Baron of Dungannon, with remainder to the eldest +son of the Earl of Tyrone for the time being. This patent afterwards gave +rise to infinite bloodshed. Con O'Neill certainly acknowledged Matthew as +his heir apparent; but it was afterwards stated, not only that he was +illegitimate, which might not have mattered much, but that he was not +Con's son at all. There was no doubt about the legitimacy of Shane, and +that able savage consistently refused to acknowledge the limitations of +the patent. Henry dealt liberally with the new Earl, paying 60_l._ for a +gold chain such as O'Donnell had asked for, 65_l._ 10_s._ 2_d._ for +creation fees and robes, and 100 marks as a present in ready money. 'The +Queen's closet at Greenwich was richly hanged with cloth of Arras, and +well strewed with rushes'--no more was then thought of even in a +palace--and Tyrone was led in by the Earls of Hertford and Oxford, the +latter of whom was summoned specially for the purpose. Viscount Lisle +bore the new Earl's sword. Kneeling in the rushes, the descendant of +Niall of the Nine Hostages submitted to be girt by the hands of Henry +II.'s descendant. The King then gave him his patent, and he gave thanks +in Irish, which his chaplain translated into English. Two of his +neighbours, Donnell and Arthur Magennis, were knighted and received gifts +from the King. A great dinner followed, to which the lords went in +procession with trumpets blowing; and Tyrone carried his own patent. At +second course Garter proclaimed the King's style and that of the new +Earl. The herald who tells the story is careful to note that Tyrone gave +twenty angels to Garter, 10_l._ to the College of Arms, and 40_s._ to the +trumpeters, with other fees 'according to the old and ancient custom.' +Next day Con was taken to pay his respects to the young Prince Edward, +and he soon afterwards returned to Ireland.[260] + +[Sidenote: O'Brien created Earl of Thomond. Special remainder. MacWilliam +Earl of Clanricarde. Knights.] + +Murrough O'Brien, his nephew Donough, MacWilliam of Clanricarde, and many +other Irish gentlemen of note, went to Court during the summer of 1543. +The three first were raised to the peerage in the same place and with the +same ceremonies as O'Neill. Murrough O'Brien was created Earl of Thomond, +with remainder to Donough, and Baron of Inchiquin in tail male. Donough's +right to succeed as tanist thus received official sanction. Donough was +made Baron of Ibracken in tail male, and, curiously enough, the same +patent created him Earl of Thomond for life in case he should survive his +uncle. MacWilliam was created Earl of Clanricarde and Baron of Dunkellin. +The Earls were introduced by Derby and Ormonde, the Barons by Clinton and +Mountjoy, and the King gave a gold chain to each. The presence of the +Scottish ambassadors, who had just concluded the abortive treaty of +marriage between Edward and Mary Stuart, added to the interest of the +ceremony; and no doubt Henry was glad to display his magnificence to the +representatives of the poor northern kingdom. Macnamara, the most +important person in Clare after the O'Briens, was knighted at the same +time; as were O'Shaugnessy, chief of the country about Gort, and his +neighbour O'Grady. Many other favours were conferred on these reclaimed +Irishmen, and they all agreed to hold their lands of the King.[261] + +[Sidenote: The MacDonnells in Antrim.] + +The relations between England and Scotland were at this time much +strained. The miserable and mysterious death of James V. left the +northern kingdom a battle-field for contending factions, and the restless +Beaton had full scope for his intrigues. The Hebridean settlers on the +Ulster coast had always been troublesome, since they were ever ready to +sell their swords to the highest bidder; and they now became really +important. These settlements originated with the Bysets or Bissets, +sometimes called Missets, who were said to be of Greek origin and who +accompanied the Conqueror to England. They afterwards settled in +Scotland, whence they were expelled in 1242 on suspicion of being +concerned in the murder of an Earl of Athole, and condemned to take the +cross. Preferring Ireland to Palestine, the exiles bought the island of +Rathlin from Richard de Burgo, Earl of Ulster. About the close of the +fourteenth century, Margaret, the heiress of the Bysets, married John +More MacDonnell, a grandson through his mother of Robert II. of +Scotland. This lady is said to have known Richard II. during his second +visit to Ireland, and to have recognised him afterwards, crazed and a +refugee, in the island of Isla. By Margaret's marriage the estates of the +Bysets passed to the MacDonnells, and a close intercourse was thenceforth +kept up between the Western Isles and Antrim, which are never out of +sight of one another in clear weather. Matrimonial alliances with +O'Neills, O'Donnells, and O'Cahans were frequent, and the islemen +established themselves so firmly that Rathlin was as late as 1617 claimed +as part of Scotland. It has an assured place in Scottish history; for, +among the rocks of black basalt and white chalk which give Rathlin its +curious piebald look, stand the ruins of the castle where Robert Bruce is +said to have learned the lesson of perseverance from a spider. In Henry +VIII.'s time the head of the Irish MacDonnells was Alexander or Alaster, +whose influence at Court had been great enough to drive Argyle from the +western government, but whose common place of residence was on the shore +of Ballycastle Bay. Many other Hebrideans were settled in Antrim, but the +MacDonnells were always the leading clan.[262] + +[Sidenote: Contemporary description of them.] + +John Edgar, a reforming priest of the violent kind which Western Scotland +has produced, gave Henry VIII. a graphic account of the islemen in his +day. They spent much time in hunting and manly exercises, going +barelegged and barefoot though the snow should be waist deep, 'wherefore +the tender and delicate gentlemen of Scotland call us Redshanks.' Against +exceptional frosts they protected themselves with moccasins made of fresh +red-deer hide, secured with thongs and full of holes to let the water in +and out. The hairy side being exposed gained them the name of +'rough-footed Scots,' and the whole description recalls a well-known +nursery rhyme. The people of the Irish isles of Arran still use cowhide +coverings exactly similar, to protect their feet from the sharp +limestone rocks which are too slippery for soled boots. Edgar is careful +to mention that the perones worn by the ancient Latines in Virgil were +shoes of the same kind. Travers, who saw a great deal of the Hebrideans, +was less struck by their poetic aspect, and simply describes them as +'most vile in their living of any nation next Irishmen.' 'Nevertheless,' +says Edgar, who anticipated such criticism, 'when we Redshanks come to +the Court waiting on our lords and masters, who also for velvets and +silks be right well arrayed, we have as good garments as some of our +fellows which give attendance at Court every day.' These hardy islanders +were in great request as mercenaries even in the South of Ireland, and it +was a far cry to Mull or Isla, where, and where only, the English or +Irish Government could seriously injure them.[263] + +[Sidenote: Fears of Scotland and France, 1543.] + +St. Leger was uneasy lest a combined Scotch and French attack should be +made on Ireland. Two French ships in company with some Scotch galleys +were seen off Carrickfergus. There was an English squadron off Lambay, +and its appearance had at first had a good effect, but it could not even +guard the sixty miles of water between Howth and Holyhead. Frenchmen and +Bretons frequented the Irish coast, and even sold Spanish prizes at Cork; +for that city claimed the strange privilege of dealing with the King's +enemies in time of war. James Delahide was in O'Donnell's country with a +servant of the Earl of Argyle, and young Gerald of Kildare might at any +moment be made the instrument of fresh disturbances. James MacDonnell, +Alaster's eldest son, had been brought up at the Scottish Court, and, +alone of his race, had learned to write: he was married--or perhaps only +handfasted--to Lady Agnes Campbell, Argyle's sister, and Beaton might at +any time turn the connection to account.[264] + +[Sidenote: St. Leger is successful in Ulster.] + +In the first flush of the matrimonial treaty Henry announced that he +would have Scotsmen treated as friends. But against Frenchmen he had +declared war, and he and the Emperor had bound themselves not to make a +separate peace. Yet in thirteen months Charles suddenly came to terms +with Francis, leaving Henry to get his army out of France as he best +could, and to see the English coast insulted by a French fleet. Whatever +the designs of the French party in Scotland, no invasion of Ireland in +fact took place. Tyrone, O'Donnell, and some of their neighbours were +induced to visit Dublin and to submit their differences to the Lord +Deputy. There was a standing dispute as to whether O'Dogherty, chief of +Innishowen, owed service and tribute to O'Donnell or to O'Neill. The +former established his title, but agreed to pay sixty cows yearly if +O'Neill would prevent his men from molesting Innishowen. The contention +that O'Donnell himself owed suit and service to O'Neill was not accepted, +and both were confined to their own districts. Both made extravagant +pretensions, but their documents were worthless, and proceeded for the +most part from the imagination of Irish bards and story tellers who would +do anything for money, or for love, or from a lively sense of favours to +come. St. Leger managed to bring about an amicable arrangement, and even +to lay the foundation of an increased revenue in Ulster.[265] + +[Sidenote: Henry's financial dishonesty.] + +The reckless extravagance of Henry, his venal courtiers, and useless +wars, had sunk him in debt. The plunder of the Church was gone, and there +seemed no limit to the calls on the generosity or fears of his subjects. +A king who could seek the help of a subservient Parliament to repudiate +his debts was not likely to be scrupulous about contract obligations, and +he seems to have contemplated resuming by Act of Parliament all Irish +lands which had been leased by his authority. St. Leger protested in the +strongest manner against thus confiscating the improvements of tenants, +who had paid their rent and spent their money on the faith of royal +grants. Discontent was already prevalent, for the pay of the soldiers was +in arrear. Their number was reduced to 550, but they had not been paid +for months, and a sum of less than 2,500_l._ was all that the King would +send. A full pay was impossible, and the Irish Government were afraid +even to make payments on account, lest an invasion or other sudden +emergency should find them penniless. They urged the folly of not paying +punctually, and their reasoning applies to the frugal Elizabeth as well +as to her spendthrift father. The Tudor monarchy had already outgrown the +feudal exchequer. 'We assure your Highness your affairs hath often been +much hindered in default of money, which being paid at last is no +alleviating of charge; and yet by default of monthly payments, half the +service is not done that might and should be done. In which case if it +might please your Majesty, of your princely bounty, to furnish us for +your army beforehand for one whole year, your Highness shall perceive +your affairs thereby to be highly advanced.'[266] + +[Sidenote: St. Leger leaves Ireland, 1544.] + +Like every other Deputy, St. Leger soon grew heartily sick of Ireland. 'I +beseech you,' he wrote to the King, 'to remember your poor slave, that +hath now been three years in hell, absent from your Majesty, and call me +again to your presence, which is my joy in this world.' Four months after +sending this touching appeal he received leave of absence; but he could +not then be spared, and he remained in Ireland until the beginning of +1544. Brabazon, who became Lord Justice, remembered what had happened +after Grey's departure, and stood well upon his guard. The veteran +O'Connor and the new Baron of Upper Ossory were discovered to be in +league. They avowed designs against O'More; but Brabazon was not to be +deceived, and preserved the peace by imprisoning the Baron. Clanricarde +enjoyed his Earldom only a few months, and his life had not been such as +to ensure a peaceful succession. 'Whether the late Earl,' the Irish +Government wrote, 'hath any heir male, it is not yet known, there were so +many marriages and divorces; but no doubt he married this last woman +solemnly.' His son Richard by Maude Lacy was ultimately acknowledged as +second Earl, and became a considerable personage; but his morality or +fidelity was not more conspicuous than his father's.[267] + +[Sidenote: An Irish contingent for the Scotch war, 1544.] + +Beaton had outwitted Henry, annulled the marriage treaty from which so +much had been hoped, and brought his countrymen back to the French +alliance. Breathing threatenings and slaughter, the King of England +determined to raise an Irish contingent as his predecessors had done. As +his object was to destroy the greatest possible quantity of property, he +could hardly have done better. One thousand kerne were required for +Scotland and 2,000 for France. The order to raise the men only reached +Ireland about the beginning of March, and Henry's impatience expected +them to be ready in a few days. The Irish nobility were not unwilling to +meet the King's views, but they thought six months' notice would have +been little enough. Even in England such a sudden levy would have been +very difficult, and in Ireland, the King was reminded, 'the idle men were +not at such commandment, that willingly they would in such case forthwith +obey their governor, nor gladly depart the realm, being never trained to +the thing, without some nobleman of these parts had the conduct of them.' +Great exertions were made, the Council dividing into a northern and +southern recruiting party; but the King was at last obliged to content +himself with 1,000 kerne, the proportions to be furnished by different +chiefs and noblemen being fixed by Henry himself. Ormonde, who was asked +to give 100, sent 200, and Desmond provided 120 instead of 100. The Lords +Power, Cahir, and Slane also did more than they were required; but the +Irish chiefs were all under the mark, and the O'Briens and others sent +none at all. Tyrone, O'Reilly, and O'Connor were pretty well represented, +and the deficiencies were supplied from various sources. In Irish warfare +every two kerne used to have a 'page or boy, which commonly is +nevertheless a man.' That allowance was diminished by one-half, and when +all deductions had been made, more than 1,000 fighting men were sent. The +ship which brought treasure for this expedition was chased by the Breton +rovers, who then commanded the Channel. There was some difficulty in +finding a commander, 'Earls being unwieldy men to go with light kerne,' +and the choice of the Council lay practically between Lord Power and Lord +Dunboyne. The former, who was Ormonde's nephew, was chosen. The Council +were afraid of offending the chiefs by refusing any quotas which might be +furnished after the departure of the main body, and they resolved to take +all who came. In any case, they said, 'if any ruffle should chance, we be +discharged of so many.' They begged Henry to see that they were properly +treated for an encouragement to others. The kerne were good soldiers in +their way, but the King was warned that they would require some training +for regular warfare. The proportion of officers was excessive; but the +Council advised their retention, lest disappointment should quench the +smoking flax of Irish loyalty.[268] + +[Sidenote: Irish troops at the siege of Boulogne.] + +Lord Power's men mustered 700 men in St. James's Park, the rest having +been perhaps diverted to the Scottish borders, and they served at the +siege of Boulogne, burning all the villages near the beleaguered town, +and foraging as much as thirty miles inland. Their plan was to tie a bull +to a stake and scorch him with faggots. The poor beast's roars attracted +the cattle of the country, 'all which they would lightly lead away, and +furnish the camp with store of beef.' They treated Frenchmen no better +than their bulls, preferring their heads to any ransom. The French sent +to Henry to ask whether he had brought men or devils with him, but he +only laughed; and they retaliated by mutilating and torturing every +Irishman that they could catch. The Irish gained a more honourable +distinction from the valour of Nicholas Welch, who, when a French +challenger defied the English army, swam across the harbour and brought +back the boaster's head in his mouth.[269] + +[Sidenote: Apprehensions from France.] + +Rumours were afloat at this time about great preparations at Brest for +the invasion of Ireland in the interest of Gerald of Kildare. It was +supposed that the blow would fall in Cork, Lady Eleanor MacCarthy not +having yet been pardoned, and her influence being very great. The Council +thought that they could resist 10,000 men with the help of the natives, +who would all stand firm against Frenchmen. But if young Gerald once set +his foot in Ireland, they could answer for nothing. It was true that he +had left Italy and Reginald Pole, but only to serve with the Knights of +Malta against the Moslems; and it does not appear that he visited France +at all. But the very sound of his name, coupled with Scots one day and +with Frenchmen the next, kept the Irish Government in hot water for more +than a year. Lady Eleanor received a pardon, and her nephew, who was now +nineteen, returned about the same time to Italy. From the time that he +entered Cosmo de' Medici's service the rumours in Ireland ceased.[270] + +[Sidenote: St. Leger returns to Ireland. He falls out with Ormonde.] + +St. Leger returned to Ireland in August 1544, after the kerne had sailed, +and it was probably their absence which kept the island quiet for a time. +Like his predecessor, St. Leger found Ormonde's power embarrassing. He +knew him to be loyal, and personally both liked and admired him, but +could not help being uneasy at his overgrown power. His influence in the +Council was so great that St. Leger reported him as having 'the great +part of all those that daily frequent the Council here, of his fee.' The +King's interest had small chance against the Earl's, 'and as I am true +man,' St. Leger wrote, 'I see no man having learning that will plainly +speak in such a case but poor Sir Thomas Cusack.' Ormonde now claimed for +his palatinate of Tipperary a larger meaning than had lately been given +to it. The undefined boundaries he stretched to the utmost, and +throughout the whole district claimed every sovereign right, except +treasure trove and the right of punishing rape, arson, and coining. Men +feared to speak openly against him. Cusack was maligned for his +independence, and Lord Upper Ossory begged St. Leger to keep his +communications secret. The palatinate jurisdiction and the prisage of +wines had been taken from the House of Ormonde by Poyning's Parliament; +but the Earl could show later documents under the Great Seal, some of +which St. Leger suspected to have been forged during the time that Sir +Piers Butler was Lord Deputy. St. Leger also complained that Ormonde put +obstacles in the way of reforming Leinster, unless he might do it himself +and in his own way. He recommended that this mighty subject's wings +should be clipped a little, and that he should have no more grants of +land in Ireland; he had no objection to the King giving him as much as he +pleased in England. To make things pleasant he recommended a garter. +After all this he strangely proposed to entrust the Irish Government to a +succession of Irish noblemen for two or three years at a time, and to +make Ormonde the first Deputy of the new series. The suggestion met with +no favour, and seems not to have been thought worthy of an answer. No +Irish nobleman received the sword during the remainder of the Tudor +period; but when Charles I. was slipping from the throne he committed his +interests in Ireland to the charge of another and more famous +Ormonde.[271] + +[Sidenote: Scotch politics. The Lord of the Isles takes Henry's side,] + +Donnell Dhu, calling himself Earl of Ross and claiming to be Lord of the +Isles, having escaped from his almost lifelong imprisonment, was received +with open arms by the Hebrideans, who still sighed for their ancient +independence. Donnell and seventeen of his principal supporters bound +themselves solemnly to be at the command of Lennox, who had declared for +Henry VIII. against the regent Arran and the French party, which at this +time was also the Scotch party. The confederates gave full treating +powers to Rory MacAlister, Bishop-elect of the Isles, and to Patrick +Maclean, Bailie of Iona and Justice Clerk of the South Isles. + +[Sidenote: and sends agents to Dublin.] + +A few days after this treaty the bishop and the bailie came to Dublin and +asked for 1,000_l._ Half of this sum, with 100_l._ worth of provisions, +was as much as St. Leger could afford to give them. In the meantime +Donnell Dhu had appeared at Carrickfergus with 4,000 men and 180 galleys, +having left another force of 4,000 behind him to keep Argyle and Huntley +in check. In writing to the King of England he expressed great joy that +his Majesty had deigned to look upon so small a person, and either he, or +the priest who prompted him, found an extraordinary analogy between the +fishers of the Western Isles and those of the Galilean lake, and between +Henry VIII. and their Master. At Carrickfergus Donnell Dhu and his +friends again bound themselves to do the bidding of Lennox, and 'to +fortify after their power the King's Majesty touching the marriage of the +Princess of Scotland, and in all other affairs as is commanded them to do +by my Lord Earl of Lennox.'[272] + +[Sidenote: His agreement with St. Leger.] + +Having done their business in Dublin, Donnell's ambassadors hurried to +England and made their terms with the Council. They bound their chief and +his friends to be Henry's liege subjects, and to furnish him with 8,000 +auxiliaries, who were to co-operate with Lennox and Ormonde, and, if +possible, to harry Scotland as far as Stirling. While Lennox remained in +Argyle's country all the islemen were to be employed in destroying it; in +other places 6,000 were to follow him, but there were never to be less +than 2,000 occupied in persecuting the sons of Diarmid. In consideration +of this undertaking Henry promised to pay 3,000 of Donnell's men, and to +send a force of 2,000 Irish under Ormonde, who was to be subordinate to +Lennox.[273] + +[Sidenote: The whole project ends in failure.] + +St. Leger had considerable difficulty in raising 2,000 men at short +notice. Money was scarce with him, and he was not told what pay he might +offer. Recruiting was hindered by rumours of casualties among the kerne +who had taken part in Hertford's second raid, when they had been +specially employed to burn and waste East Teviotdale 'because the +borderers would not most willingly burn their neighbours.' The required +number was, however, got together by great exertions, one-half being +raised by Ormonde. The force when complete consisted of 100 of the Dublin +garrison, 400 gallowglasses, and 1,500 kerne. Two hundred and fifty had +muskets, or were to some extent trained in the use of artillery, of which +there were several pieces. Shipping was collected in the Irish and Welsh +ports, and great quantities of munitions put on board. Lennox himself +came to Dublin, and sailed with Ormonde for the Clyde. Dumbarton Castle +was in the hands of Lord Glencairne, and was to be taken if possible. +Should this attempt fail, the plan was to effect a landing in Argyle's +country, and to do all the damage possible there. The fleet left Dublin +on November 17, and was unlucky from the first, being caught in a storm +off Belfast Lough and much damaged. On reaching the Clyde the country was +found to be up in arms, the attitude of the islemen was uncertain, a +French squadron was on the coast, and Lennox, against the advice of +Ormonde, resolved to turn back. Donnell Dhu died at Drogheda just at the +critical moment, and was buried in St. Patrick's, Dublin, where an +epitaph recorded the mournful fact that he had escaped an exile's life +only to die an exile's death.[274] + +[Sidenote: James MacDonnell offers his services, 1545.] + +James MacDonnell, the son of Alaster, became Lord of the Isles by general +consent. He had been educated at the Scottish Court, and his politics had +thus lost something of their insularity. At all events he had learned to +write, and that was a rare accomplishment for one of his family in those +days. Lady Agnes Campbell had perhaps excited doubts in his mind as to +the desirability of destroying the Argyle power; and others in the isles +may have doubted the power of Henry VIII. to protect them against the +Campbells and Gordons. But James still professed his readiness to do the +King of England's bidding, suggested St. Patrick's day--nearly two months +off--for a meeting with Lennox in the island of Sanda, and in the +meantime asked for shipping to transport his men. Ragged Scotchmen +continued to flock to Dublin, all asking for money; and the Irish +Government soon formed an opinion that while the cost of maintaining them +was certain, the expectation of service was more than doubtful.[275] + +[Sidenote: Dissensions between St. Leger and Ormonde.] + +St. Leger and Ormonde were now at open war. When leaving Gowran for +Scotland the latter received an anonymous letter warning him that he was +sent there only that he might be the more easily caught and put into the +Tower. The writer affirmed that Lennox had said as much, and that the +boasting of the Lord Deputy's servants had been to the same effect. The +pretext was that the Earl obstructed Irish reforms. Ormonde seems to have +partly believed the letter, for he sent a copy to Russell, and begged him +to procure an impartial inquiry. He then went to Scotland, declaring that +his loyalty was not of that timorous sort which fears inquiry or shuns +danger. 'If,' he wrote, 'I saw all the power of the world upon a hill +armed against his Majesty, I would rather run to his Grace, though I were +slain at his Majesty's heels, than to leave his Highness and save +myself.'[276] + +[Sidenote: They both go to England, 1546.] + +After his return from Scotland Ormonde wrote several letters to Privy +Councillors in England, in which he attacked St. Leger's administration +as expensive and wasteful. A graver accusation against a servant of Henry +VIII. was that he concealed much which it imported the King to know. The +letters were seized on ship-board by the Lord Deputy's brother, and +detained for some time in Dublin. Ormonde refused to state his +grievances before the Irish Council, as being necessarily under St. +Leger's influence, but preferred to run all the risks of a voyage to +England. The Irish Government left all to the Privy Council. St. Leger +accordingly went over to state his own case, having first secured +certificates of character from the Irish Council, from Desmond, Tyrone, +Thomond, and Upper Ossory, and from several Irish chiefs, all of whom +willingly came to Dublin at his summons, and 'wept and lamented the +departing of so just a governor.'[277] + +[Sidenote: Intrigues of Irish officials.] + +Lord Chancellor Alen was not favourable to St. Leger. He quarrelled +regularly with every deputy; but there may be some truth in his +allegations, which are little more than a statement of the insoluble +problem of Irish government. The King's writ did not run much further +than in former days. The revenue was almost stationary, and was +supplemented annually by 5,000_l._ of English money. Leinster was not +reformed. Irishmen were quiet, but might not long remain so. The chiefs +continued to wage private war, and were not to be tamed with abbey-lands +in their own countries, or farms in the Pale. 'I cannot,' said Alen, +'learn that ever such barbarous people kept touch any while, or were ever +vanquished with fair words. Let Wales be example.' Interrogatories were +sent to Irish councillors on these and similar points, and as to whether +either St. Leger or the Chancellor had been corrupt in any way. Questions +were asked as to the demeanour of every councillor, as to whether Alen's +account of St. Leger's overbearing conduct at the Council Board was true, +as to the behaviour of Ormonde and others there. In replying to Alen's +charges, St. Leger complained of their vagueness, and detailed his +strenuous exertions to overcome the inherent difficulties of his task, +and here most people will sympathise with him. He thought that Irishmen +on the whole kept their word as well as Englishmen, 'and if Irishmen use +their own laws, so doth the Earl of Ormonde, and all the Lords Marchers +in Ireland.' We have here a line of argument very common in our own day, +but very rare in that of Henry VIII., and St. Leger must be credited +with unusual breadth of view. The Irish customs were in truth necessary; +for there was then no way of enforcing English law, and the difficulty of +applying it fully has not disappeared even in the reign of Queen +Victoria. As to mismanagement of the revenue, St. Leger gave Alen the lie +direct, and accused him of conspiring with Walter Cowley to defame him; +but this the Chancellor positively denied. The Lord Deputy begged that he +might not be wearied with interrogatories, but called before the Council, +and confronted with his accusers. 'Then,' he said, 'let me be rid of this +hell, wherein I have remained six years, and that some other may serve +his Majesty as long as I have done, and I to serve him elsewhere, where +he shall command me. Though the same were in Turkey, I will not refuse +it.'[278] + +[Sidenote: St. Leger exonerated from blame. Alen and Cowley imprisoned.] + +The English Government came to the conclusion that St. Leger deserved no +blame. Alen could not be quite acquitted of factious conduct; but he was +a faithful servant, and hardly to be spared from Ireland, which had the +quality of transmuting wisdom into foolishness and honesty into +self-seeking. He suffered a short imprisonment in the Tower, and had to +surrender the Great Seal, which, after being refused by two other +lawyers, was given to Sir Richard Rede. But his property was restored to +him immediately after Edward's accession; he became Lord Chancellor +again, and received the constableship of Maynooth, and many other +favours. In 1550 he seems still to have been grumbling against St. Leger, +who could then afford to speak of him as his old friend. Walter Cowley, +the Irish Solicitor-General, was also sent to the Tower. It appears that +one William Cantwell held a lease for life of three farms in Kilkenny, +and that others had seized them while he was learning English at Oxford. +There may have been a question of title, for it was not uncommon in Henry +VIII.'s time to grant the same property to several people at once. +Believing that he had been kept from his own by Ormonde, St. Leger +espoused Cantwell's cause; and it was to get the Earl out of the way that +Cantwell wrote the Gowran letter, and another found at Ross. Cowley, who +was more or less under Alen's influence, declared in the Tower that his +report against St. Leger had been revised by the Chancellor; but this was +solemnly denied. 'I was,' said Alen, 'never of counsel with article of +it. God is my Judge, I would be ashamed to be named to be privy to the +penning of so lewd a book;' and years afterwards he told Paget that +Cowley had confessed the truth of this disclaimer. Perhaps he spoke in +fear of the rack; in any case, the Privy Council or the King decided that +he was a liar, and he was certainly a plotter like his father before him. +The old man was deprived of the office of Master of the Rolls, and the +young one of that of Solicitor-General. Both were employed again in the +next reign. St. Leger was reconciled to Ormonde, and in spite of his +prayers was restored to his government with increased honours and an +hereditary pension.[279] + +[Sidenote: Murder of Ormonde.] + +Ormonde never saw Ireland again. He kept fifty servants in London, who +invited him to sup with them at Limehouse. After supper the whole company +sickened, and seventeen in all died. The Earl was carried to Ely House in +Holborn, where he lingered for several days, but at last succumbed. There +seems to have been no inquiry into this tragedy, and one might suspect +that the Government took this means of releasing themselves from a man +who had become inconveniently powerful, and whose services were too +eminent to attack openly. Henry had no particular scruples about +assassination, when, as in Cardinal Beaton's case, he could not reach his +enemy by other means; but he would hardly have been likely to poison a +subject against whom he could always compass an Act of Attainder. The +fact that Ormonde's loyalty was above suspicion may have rendered this +course difficult, and Henry may have seen in him a possible Earl of +Kildare. He was ambitious, very powerful, impatient of interference, and +by no means tamely subservient to the ruler of the hour. There is no +reason to suppose that Hertford or Wriothesley were capable of such a +crime. Warwick was capable of anything; but if he had suspected the +Seymours, he would hardly have allowed the matter to be hushed up. An +anecdote of Ormonde's son, the famous tenth Earl, perhaps points to a +suspicion against Leicester's father; but it is not likely that the +mystery will ever be cleared up. The 'Four Masters' say St. Leger had +boasted that either he or Ormonde should never return to Ireland; but +this is not mentioned by older annalists, nor in the official +correspondence, and it is just the sort of story that would have been +concocted afterwards. Ormonde's vast estates passed quietly to his heir, +a boy of fourteen, who became the most famous and powerful man of his age +and country. The boy was educated at the English Court, and 200 marks a +year out of his lands in Ireland were assigned for his support.[280] + +[Sidenote: All Deputies had difficulties with the Butlers and the +permanent officials.] + +Scarcely any Deputy could escape collison with the head of the Butler +family, whose influence rested on lasting foundations and not on the +favour of the Dublin Government. Moreover, permanent officials, who had +powerful connections in the county, knew how to thwart their nominal +superior; and, unless he happened to be a man of great tact, difficulties +were sure to arise. Grey and Bellingham quarrelled with the Council. +Sidney viewed the Ormonde of his day with unconcealed jealousy and +suspicion. Strafford was at war with the Lord-Treasurer Cork and with the +Vice-Treasurer Mountnorris; and his treatment of the latter contributed +to his fall. Lord Fitzwilliam was beaten by a revenue commissioner, Lord +Townsend by the boroughmongers; and the lawyers have often been able to +make combinations enabling them to dictate their own terms. Australian +governors can best appreciate the difficulties of Ireland's rulers in +past times. + +[Sidenote: Henry's Irish policy; why it failed.] + +Henry VIII.'s plan for the government of Ireland was very different from +that which his children pursued. Evidently he did not desire to plant +colonists in the country, but rather to civilise the people as they were. +By creating some of the great chiefs Earls, and by insisting on their +going to Court for investiture, he hoped gradually to convert them into +supporters. Such cases as that of Tirlogh O'Toole show that he knew how +to be both gracious and just. On the other hand, the ferocity of his +character was exemplified by his treatment of the five Geraldine +brethren. He was a thoroughly selfish man, but in matters which did not +concern him personally he had many of the qualifications of a statesman. +Had England remained in communion with Rome, his tentative and patient +policy might have succeeded in Ireland. The Reformation caused its +failure, for there never was the slightest chance of native Ireland +embracing the new doctrines. The monasteries had not weighed heavily on +Ireland, and their destruction made many bitter enemies and few friends. +By upsetting the whole ecclesiastical structure, Henry left the field +clear for Jesuits and wandering friars; and his children reaped the +fruits of a mistake which neutralised every effort to win Ireland. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[247] Indenture in O'Carroll's case, July 2, 1541, in _Carew_. + +[248] Submission of O'Donnell, Aug. 6, 1541; O'Donnell to the King, April +20, 1542: 'Iterum Vestram Majestatem exortor, mittatis mihi instrumentum +illud aureum, quo colla nobilium cinguntur, aut katenam, vestesque +congruentes, quibus vestirer decenter, quoties accederem (data +opportunitate) ad Parliamentum.' + +[249] Lord Deputy and Council to the King, Aug. 28, 1541; _Four Masters_, +1541: 'he left them without corn for that year.' + +[250] St. Leger to the King, Dec. 17, 1541. + +[251] Articles binding Con Bacagh O'Neill, in S.P., vol. iii., No. 356: +'Regem recognosco Supremum Caput Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ et Hibernicanæ +immediate sub Christo; et imposterum, in quantum potero, compellam omnes +degentes sub meo regimine, ut similiter faciant; et si contingat aliquem +provisorem aut provisores aliquas facultates sive bullas obtinere de +prædicta usurpata auctoritate, illos sursum reddere dictas bullas et +facultates cogam, et semetipsos submittere ordinationi Regiæ Majestatis.' + +[252] Council of Ireland to the King, S.P., vol. iii., No. 357. + +[253] The King to the Lord Deputy and Council, S.P., vol. iii., No. 348. + +[254] The session was from Feb. 15 to March 7 or 10; see Lord Deputy in +Council to the King, March 31, 1542; for the robbers, see same to same, +Nov. 25, 1544. + +[255] See the submissions in _Carew_--MacBrien Coonagh, March 18, 1542; +Rory O'More, May 13; MacQuillin, May 18; MacDonnell, May 18; Hugh +O'Kelly, May 24; O'Byrnes, July 4; O'Rourke, Sept. 1; MacQuillin and +O'Cahan, May 6, 1543. Lord Deputy and Council to the King, July 12, 1542, +and Aug. 24. + +[256] Desmond's visit to Court was between June 2 and July 5, 1542. Lord +Deputy and Council to the King, June 2; J. Alen to the King, June 4; the +King to the Lord Deputy and Council, July 5; St. Leger to the King, Aug. +27. + +[257] Indentura facta 26 die Septembris, 1542, in S.P. The signatories +promised jointly and severally 'usurpatam primatiam et auctoritatem +Romani Episcopi annihilare, omnesque suos fautores, adjutores, et +suffragatores, ad summum posse illorum precipitare et abolere ... omnes +et singulos provisores ... apprehendere et producere ad Regis communem +legem,' &c. + +[258] Lord Deputy and Council to the Privy Council, Sept. 1, 1542; _Four +Masters_, 1542. + +[259] Submission made at Greenwich, Sept. 24, 1542. + +[260] The creation was Oct. 1, 1542. The patent is in Rymer; the Herald's +account in _Carew_, Oct. 1. O'Neill was back in Ireland before Dec. 7, +when the Irish Government wrote of him to the King. Tyrone's style +was--'Du treshaut et puissant Seigneur Con, Conte de Tyrone, en le +Royaulme d'Irlande.' + +[261] The heraldic account is printed in S.P., vol. iii. p. 473, from the +Cotton MSS.; the O'Brien and Burke patents are in Rymer, Conatius being +by mistake printed for Donatus; see the King to the Lord Deputy and +Council, July 9, 1543; MacWilliam submitted much in the same terms as +O'Neill. + +[262] Hill's _MacDonnells of Antrim_, chaps. i. and ii.; Archdall's +_Lodge's Peerage_, Earl of Antrim and Baron MacDonnell; Burton's _History +of Scotland_, vol. iii. p. 149. For the antiquarian controversy in 1617, +see _Carew_, vol. vi., Nos. 183, 188, 189, 190. 191. + +[263] Hill, p. 37; John Travers's Devices in S.P., vol. iii. p. 382. + +[264] Hill, p. 41; St. Leger to the King, June 4, 1543; Lord Deputy and +Council to the King, June 5. + +[265] St. Leger to the King, July 18, 1543, and the notes; see also +_Carew_, July 15 and 16. + +[266] Lord Deputy and Council to the King, May 15, 1543; same to same, +Dec. 7, 1542, and the King's answer. + +[267] St. Leger to the King, April 6, 1543; the King to the Lord Deputy +and Council, Aug. 9; Lord Justice Brabazon and Council to St. Leger, +March 24, 1544. + +[268] Lord Justice Brabazon and Council to the King, May 7, 1544; same to +St. Leger, March 24, where the kerne are first mentioned in the S.P.; +Privy Council to Lord Justice and Council, March 30; Ormonde to the King, +May 7. In a letter to the King printed in S.P., vol. iii., No. 437, +O'Reilly complains that his contingent cost him 600_l._, that eight weeks +of their wages remained unpaid, and that his chaplain had been taken +prisoner in Scotland, and had paid eight nobles for his ransom. This +shows that some of the 1,000 kerne went to Scotland. + +[269] Stanihurst. + +[270] For these rumours, see the S.P. from May 20, 1544, till May 11, +1545, vol. iii., Nos. 407, 408, 411, 414, 415. + +[271] St. Leger to Wriothesley, Feb. 26, 1545, with Lord Upper Ossory's +letter in a note; to the Privy Council, April 14. + +[272] Hill, p. 43. In a letter printed in S.P., vol. v. p. 483, Donnell +Dhu speaks of himself as 'in materno utero inimicorum jugo et captivitati +astricti, et in hoc pene tempus carceris squalore obruti, et +intolerabilibus compedibus truculentissime ligati.' The notarial +instrument between the islemen is in S.P., vol. v. p. 477. Lord Deputy +and Council of Ireland to the King, Aug. 13, 1545. + +[273] Privy Council to Lord Deputy and Council of Ireland, in S.P., vol. +iii., No. 422. See S.P., vol. v. pp. 505-7. + +[274] Ormonde to Russell, Nov. 15, 1545; Lord Deputy and Council to the +King, Nov. 19. Donnell Dhu died before Jan. 20, 1546, the date of a +letter from James MacDonnell in S.P., vol. iii. p. 548. Dowling. + +[275] Lord Deputy and Council to the Privy Council, Feb. 15, 1546, and a +letter in a note from 'Ewyne Allane of Locheld.' James MacDonnell is +called Lord of the Isles 'by consent of the nobility,' 'apparent heir,' +'worthy to succeed,' and 'Lord elect.' + +[276] Ormonde to Russell, Nov. 15, 1545. + +[277] Cusack to Paget, March 28, 1546. See the S.P. from Feb. 20 to March +28, vol. iii., Nos. 431, 433, 434, 435, 438, 439, and 440. + +[278] See S.P. 1546, vol. iii., Nos. 441 to 448. No. 439 is a letter from +certain Irish chiefs to the King in St. Leger's favour, and they make the +reflection, 'Oh si majoribus nostris tales contigissent moderatores.' + +[279] Alen's Answer to St. Leger in S.P., vol. iii. No. 446, and W. +Cowley's Letter to the Privy Council, No. 448; Alen to Paget, April 21, +1549; St. Leger to Cecil, Dec. 5, 1550. + +[280] Stanihurst; Morrin's _Patent Rolls_, p. 168. + + + + +[Illustration: IRELAND + +(ECCLESIASTICAL)] + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE IRISH CHURCH UNDER HENRY VIII. + + +[Sidenote: King and Pope.] + +During the quarter of a century which elapsed between Henry's accession +and his final breach with Rome, the King showed great submission to the +papal chair. The wishes of such a faithful son could not be lightly +regarded, and royal nominations to English bishoprics were invariably +confirmed by the Pontiff. Capitular elections still took place; but they +had ceased to be free, and preferment was really given by the joint fiat +of the Crown and the Tiara. In Ireland the King was less absolute. The +popes had not forgotten their original gift of the island; and the +clergy, more especially in remote regions, would naturally look to them +for promotion, rather than to a King whose power was uncertain and to +whom they had a national antipathy. In the year 1520 the united sees of +Cork and Cloyne became vacant. Surrey, then Lord-Lieutenant, was besieged +with applications, but preferred the claims of Walter Wellesley, head of +the great Augustinian house of Conal in Kildare. In right of his priory +Wellesley had already a seat in the Irish House of Lords, and Surrey +recommended him to Wolsey as 'a famous clerk, noted the best in the +land--a man of gravity and virtuous conversation and a singular mind +having to English order.' Wellesley was not nominated on this occasion, +either because he preferred his priory to a bishopric, or because the +Cardinal had other views. In the following year the Bishop of Limerick +died, and the Lord-Lieutenant and Council again strongly recommended the +Prior of Conal; but the Pope nevertheless provided John Quin, a Dominican +friar, and Wellesley did not become a bishop till 1529. He was then at +last consecrated to Kildare, and allowed to keep his monastery, as in +that situation he might very fairly do.[281] + +[Sidenote: Case of Clonfert.] + +The points at issue between King and Pope are well illustrated by the +case of Clonfert, which fell vacant at the moment of separation. Clement +provided the Dean, Roland de Burgo, and Henry appointed Richard Nangle +Provincial of the Irish Austinfriars. Nangle was consecrated and took +possession of his see. Relying on his family influence, and probably +upheld by popular opinion, the Papal prelate, who was armed with the +power of granting indulgences and dispensations, defied the royal +nominee, and Nangle was afraid to appear in public. It was proposed to +bring the Burkes to their senses by laying an embargo on the trade of +Galway, but this does not seem to have been done. Ten years after his +original provision, and probably after the death of Nangle, De Burgo was +confirmed by the King and allowed to hold his deanery and other +benefices, of which he had all along kept possession, on condition of +renouncing the Pope's bulls and acknowledging that he held from the +Crown. The Bishop, who must have had an elastic conscience, died in +harness in 1580.[282] + +[Sidenote: Armagh.] + +The more important bishoprics were generally given to men whom the +English Government could trust, and it is not likely that they were ever +filled up in defiance of the King until after his rupture with Rome. +Armagh, Dublin, and Meath were rarely entrusted to any but men of English +birth. In 1513 John Kite, a Londoner, was appointed by provision to +Armagh, but the nomination was certainly agreeable to Henry, who had +before employed Kite as a diplomatist in Spain. The temporalities of the +diocese were almost immediately restored to him, and he was soon +afterwards present in London at the grand reception of Wolsey's red hat. +Kite, who received many tokens of royal favour, was translated by the +Pope to Carlisle. The Holy See claimed very full rights in the case of a +translation; but George Cromer, an Englishman, was appointed to Armagh +at the King of England's supplication. Such was the form preferred by the +Pope, but the supplication was in fact a nomination.[283] + +[Sidenote: Dublin.] + +William Rokeby, a Yorkshireman, was translated from Meath to Dublin in +1512. Henry made him his chancellor, and he also was present at the hat +ceremony. After his death a Somersetshire man, Hugh Inge, was translated +by the Pope from Meath to Dublin. There can be little doubt that this was +done with the King's full consent, for Inge acknowledged that he owed all +to Wolsey. As a special favour the tax on this occasion was reduced from +1,600 to 1,000 florins, on the suggestion of Campeggio, who reported that +certain noblemen had intruded into the diocesan lands and greatly +diminished the income. Inge also held the office of chancellor, which at +this time was almost invariably given to an archbishop. When Inge died, +John Alen, one of Wolsey's chaplains, was provided to Dublin at the +King's instance, or supplication as the Pope called it, and immediately +received the Great Seal. Alen had been employed by the Cardinal in the +suppression of the lesser monasteries, and had incurred great odium in +that office.[284] + +[Sidenote: Meath.] + +The see of Meath, which has the singular distinction of having never +possessed a cathedral, was from its position of especial importance. +After being successively filled by Rokeby and Inge, it was given by the +Pope, but probably at Wolsey's instigation, to Richard Wilson, Prior of +Drax in Yorkshire. It is remarkable that Wilson, who does not seem ever +to have resided in his see, fully acknowledged that the Cardinal's +legatine authority extended to Ireland. This was vehemently denied by +Primate Cromer and his suffragans, who were able to make their objections +good; the whole province of Armagh, except Meath, being situated among +the Irishry. On the resignation of Wilson, Edward Staples, a Lincolnshire +man, was provided by Clement on the King's nomination. He was allowed to +hold St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London, and other benefices, along +with his bishopric, and he had a special Papal dispensation for filling +offices with incompatible duties. Staples fully embraced the Reformation, +and was a principal instrument in carrying out the changed religious +policy of the English Crown.[285] + +[Sidenote: Cashel.] + +In 1524 Edmund Butler, Prior of Athassel, a natural son of Sir Piers +Butler, was appointed by the Pope to Cashel, and by him recommended to +the King, who addressed letters in his favour to the Irish Government. +Kildare alleged that Butler was opposed by his father, and there was +certainly a contest between them. The Archbishop's object was to prevent +his father, as acting Earl Palatine of Tipperary, from raising a revenue +in that county, the larger part of which was in his diocese. The citizens +of Waterford complained that his Grace used every kind of Irish +extortion, and his opposition to the palatinate jurisdiction clearly +arose from no wish to leave the people untaxed. In one respect indeed the +prelate bettered the instruction of the temporal magnates, for he +'retained Dermond Duff for his official and counsellor or commissary, +which so entertaineth the King's people by colour of canon law that there +can be no more extortion committed by any Irish Brehon, and polleth the +King's subjects as he lists, and taketh for fee of sentence of a divorce +10_l._ or more.' He openly robbed a boat laden with merchandise, and held +the owners to ransom. Butler's consecration was delayed for three years: +it is not easy to say why, as there is no trace of a dispute between the +Crown and the Pope. Ultimately he became a very important person, and +generally acted with the other Butlers in support of the King's +authority. He accepted the royal supremacy, and surrendered his monastery +when called on to do so.[286] + +[Sidenote: Tuam.] + +The western province was so entirely Irish that the King could hardly +have interfered effectually with Papal nominees. On the death of the +learned Maurice O'Fiehely in 1513, Thomas O'Mullally was provided to +Tuam, and lived unmolested by Henry till 1536. But Christopher Bodkin, +who had been preferred to Kilmacduagh at the King's request, was +translated purely by royal authority to Tuam. The breach with Rome had at +this time become irreparable; and Bodkin, whom the Vatican regards as a +schismatic but not as a heretic, acknowledged the royal supremacy and +held the temporalities of both his sees, as well as the minor ones of +Enaghdune and Mayo, until his death in 1572. His astuteness far exceeded +that of the Vicar of Bray, for he seems to have kept his preferments and +his opinions as well. A rival archbishop was appointed by Clement in +1538, and is now considered the true one by writers on the Papal side. +The double line has continued ever since.[287] + +[Sidenote: Remoter sees.] + +To the less important and more distant bishoprics appointments were +probably very often made by the popes without the King's interference, +and even without his notice. But when he did make a recommendation it is +hardly likely to have been neglected at Rome. Thus the sees of +Clonmacnoise, Clogher, Ardagh, and Kilmore were on particular occasions +filled by the King, and the appointments confirmed by the Pope at his +request. The case of Clogher is the more remarkable in that a provision +of Julius II. had lately declared that church to be immediately subject +to the Holy See. In the yet more remote districts of Down, Dromore, +Raphoe, and Derry, the King does not seem to have interfered at all. In +providing Edmund O'Gallagher to the see of Raphoe, Clement VII. observed +that the diocese was vacant because the King had neglected to nominate +any one for seventeen years.[288] + +[Sidenote: Leinster.] + +In Leinster the King must generally have had power to prevent any bishop +from enjoying the profits of his see. The patronage was very laxly +managed, for Kildare lay vacant from 1513 to 1526. In 1523 the Earl of +Kildare tried to get the preferment for the dean, Edward Dillon, whom he +recommended to Wolsey as of virtuous living and of English name and +condition. The application failed, but Thomas Dillon was at last +appointed both by King and Pope. This promotion was probably effected in +Kildare's interest; for Cowley, a partisan of the Butlers, called Dillon +an Irish vagabond, without learning, manners, or other good quality, and +not fit to be a holy water clerk. This Irish vagabond had, however, been +educated at Oxford. Thomas Halsey was persuaded by Wolsey to accept the +bishopric of Leighlin, and Maurice Doran was, at the King's request, +provided to the same see. There may be no positive evidence as to Ossory +and Ferns, but there is no reason to doubt that the persons appointed +were acceptable to the Government.[289] + +[Sidenote: Munster.] + +In Munster it is not likely that bishops would be appointed without the +consent of the Crown, except perhaps to the remote sees of Killaloe and +Kilfenora, in which the succession at this period is almost hopelessly +confused. In filling the scarcely less completely Irish bishopric of +Ross, the King took a direct part. He called upon the Pope to accept the +resignation of Edmund Courcey, and to appoint as his successor the +Cistercian John O'Murrilly, with leave to hold the Abbey of Maur in +addition. Leo X. complied in every particular; but when O'Murrilly died +two years later, the Pope took the strong step of uniting Ross with +Dromore in the distant north. We may infer from this that Henry did not +always choose to interfere, but that when he did the Pope paid the +greatest attention to his wishes; and that this rule applied to Munster +generally. At Waterford and Cork, the strongholds of English law, it was +hardly possible for a bishop to enjoy his revenues in defiance of the +Government.[290] + +[Sidenote: Connaught.] + +In Connaught the popes seem to have provided bishops as a general rule; +but they generally avoided a collision when the King's wish was openly +expressed. As late as 1533 Christopher Bodkin was appointed to +Kilmacduagh at Henry's request; and this is a very strong case, because a +purely papal nominee seems to have resigned in his favour. In Elphin John +Max was appointed by the Pope; but as he held the abbeys of Welbeck or +Tichfield, or both, along with his bishopric, he can hardly have been +distasteful to Henry. The case of Burke and Nangle, already mentioned, +shows King and Pope openly at variance. But even at the beginning of that +contest the schism was almost complete.[291] + +[Sidenote: Bad state of the Irish Church.] + +In the 'Description of Ireland,' written early in Henry VIII.'s reign, +there is a story of St. Brigid, who inquired of her good angel of what +Christian land most souls were damned. He showed her a land in the west +part of the world, where was continually root of hate and envy, and vices +contrary to charity, for lack of which souls kept continually falling +down into hell as thick as hail showers. It is inferred that the angel +spoke of Ireland, 'for,' says the writer, 'there is no land in this world +of so long continual war within himself, nor of so great shedding of +Christian blood, nor of so great robbing, spoiling, preying, and burning, +nor of so great wrongful extortion continually as Ireland.' Among the +various causes of this state of things the bishops and clergy are blamed, +'for there is no archbishop nor bishop, abbot nor prior, parson nor +vicar, nor any other person of the Church, high or low, great or small, +English or Irish, that useth to preach the Word of God saveing the poor +friars' beggars ... Also the Church of this land use not to learn any +other science but the law of Canon, for covetyce of lucre transitory; all +other science whereof grows none such lucre, the parsons of the Church +doth despise. They hold more by the plough rustical than by lucre of the +plough celestial, to which they have stretched their hands, and look +always backwards. They tend much more to lucre of that plough, whereof +groweth slander and rebuke, than to lucre of the souls, that is the +plough of Christ. And to the transitory lucre of that rustical plough +they tender so much, that little or nought there chargeth to lucre to +Christ, the souls of their subjects, of whom they bear the cure, by +preaching and teaching of the Word of God, and by their good ensample +giveing; which is the plough of worship and of honour, and the plough of +grace that ever shall endure.'[292] + +[Sidenote: State of Ardagh, Ross, Clonmacnoise, and Enaghdune.] + +This is a heavy indictment, but it is sustained by very many facts which +have come down to us. The state of many important churches shows how ill +religion was supported. A report to Leo X. on Ardagh Cathedral states +that there was no sacristy, no bell nor belfry, no proper appliances for +service; and that the walls of the church itself were but just standing. +There was only one altar, which was exposed to the weather. Mass was +rarely celebrated, and then by a single priest, and the scanty vestments +and utensils were kept in a chest in the church. The town consisted of +four thatched cabins; and there were few inhabitants, owing to continual +wars caused by the conduct of the late Bishop, William O'Ferrall, who had +excited the animosity of his neighbours by attempting to exercise +temporal power. The bishopric of Ross was in rather better case. The town +of 200 houses was walled, and the cathedral church was built of stone in +regular cruciform fashion, and with a tiled roof. There was decent +provision for the mass. On the other hand, the church was unpaved, and +the income of the see no more than sixty marks. At Clonmacnoise, one of +the most famous ecclesiastical places in Ireland, things were scarcely +better than at Ardagh. The town could boast but twelve houses, built of +wicker and straw. The church was roofless, and half ruined; with a single +altar protected by a thatched shed, one vestment, and a cross made of +brass. Mass was rarely celebrated, but the body of St. Ciaran was +preserved and reverenced. The Pope's informant was an Irishman, but the +saint's name was unknown to him. The ancient see of Enaghdune or +Annaghdown on Lough Corrib was in a deplorable state. The church was in +ruins, the clergy far out of order, and the revenue not more than 20_l._, +which could only be collected by a steward who had the favour of the +country.[293] + +[Sidenote: Corruption among dignitaries.] + +The above cases are all of bishoprics situated in remote parts among the +Irishry. The state of the Church in the Pale and other obedient districts +was of course better, but even in Dublin the metropolitan crozier +remained in pawn for eighty years, from 1449 until Archbishop Alen +redeemed it by paying one hundred ounces of silver. The clergy were +charged with seeking money more than souls; and many acts of violence and +extortion are reported on oath against the Archbishop of Cashel and the +Bishops of Ferns, Ossory, Leighlin, Waterford, and Limerick; against the +Abbots of Tintern, Jerpoint, Kilcooley, Holy Cross, Dusk, and +Innislonagh; against the Priors of Kilclogan, Knocktopher, Inistiogue, +Kells, Cahir, and Lady Abbey; and against the Prioress of Moylagh. In +general bishops and heads of houses were not less extortionate than other +gentlemen. They exacted coyne and livery and the other multifarious Irish +imposts with neither more nor less severity than the laity. But it should +not be forgotten that these ecclesiastical dignitaries were also great +landowners, and that they were forced to provide the means of defence in +the only possible way. The Archbishop of Cashel and the Bishops of +Waterford and Ossory had other means of taxing the people peculiar to +their offices; they took excessive fees in all matrimonial and probate +cases, and appropriated a portion of every dead man's goods. The +Archbishop's lowest charge for a divorce was 5_l._, and it was generally +double that or more. The citizens of Waterford declared that the +canonists were as burdensome as the Irish Brehons.[294] + +[Sidenote: Parochial clergy no better.] + +The parochial clergy were no better than the dignitaries. They made +charges varying from sixpence to two shillings for all weddings, +christenings, churchings, and burials; and at the death of any married +person, man or wife, they exacted five shillings, or one-fifth of the +personalty, or the best article of apparel, from the survivor. In many +places divine service was neglected or was only performed at irregular +intervals. The Earl of Kildare, who was not impartial but who probably +spoke truly, declared that the churches in Tipperary and Kilkenny were +generally in ruins through the system of Papal provisions, 'so as, and if +the King's Grace do not see for the hasty remedy of the same, there is +like to be no more Christianity there, than in the midst of Turkey.' +Henry was just beginning to quarrel with the Pope, and would be ready +enough to believe that provisions had ruined the churches. No doubt many +bad appointments were thus made, but it may have been impossible to get +fit men; for Browne reports the clergy as unlearned persons, who repeated +the Latin offices like parrots and without understanding them.[295] + +[Sidenote: Evils of Papal patronage.] + +Piers, Earl of Ossory, also adopted the doctrine that the Papal system of +patronage had been the chief cause of the utter ruin and destruction 'of +cathedral churches, monasteries, parish churches, and all other regular +and secular.' Murderers, thieves, and 'light men of war' obtained +provisions, ousted the rightful incumbents, ignored the rightful patrons, +held livings by force, and wasted them in riotous living. Violence indeed +was the rule. John Purcell, Bishop of Ferns, was in close alliance with +the dangerous rebel and freebooter, Cahir MacArt Kavanagh, was present +when his men sacked the town of Fethard, and himself called loudly for +fire to burn the houses. Milo Baron, Bishop of Ossory, was said to be as +bad as the Bishop of Ferns, and to 'have no virtuous quality nor +obedience to any good laws.' Archbishop Butler was accused of riotous +conduct and of at least one highway robbery, a richly laden boat having +been plundered by him on the Suir within four miles of Waterford. Amid +the general corruption a bright example was shown by the Franciscan +Maurice Doran, Bishop of Leighlin, a learned theologian, an eloquent +preacher, and a man of blameless life. Being advised to increase the +burdens of his clergy, he replied that he had rather shear his sheep than +flay them. Doran was allowed to tend his flock for twenty months only. +Having corrected the irregularities of his Archdeacon Maurice Kavanagh, +he was treacherously murdered by him. It is some satisfaction to know +that Kildare afterwards caught the Archdeacon and his accomplices, and +hanged them in chains on the scene of the Bishop's murder.[296] + +[Sidenote: The Regulars not exempt from censure.] + +The Regulars by no means escaped censure. The Prior of the Hospitallers +of Kilclogan in Wexford was as bad as Bishop Purcell, and 'kept fire in +the steeple door of St. John's, until such time as he had out the ward +that was within.' James Butler, Cistercian Abbot of Innislonagh and Dean +of Lismore, attained a bad eminence. The citizens of Waterford +represented him as a man of odious life, who neglected every duty, gave +himself up to voluptuosity, and wasted the property of his house to +provide for his open and scandalous immoralities. The people of Clonmel +repeat the charge, and extend it to the other monks. The Augustinian +Canons, in the great monastery of Athassel, of which Archbishop Butler +was Prior, were no better. Nor were the mendicants blameless. The +Carmelite Prior of Lady Abbey, near Clonmel, which was a parish church, +kept a mistress and provided no divine service. The Prior of Knocktopher, +also a Carmelite, and the Cistercian Abbot of Dusk, had sons. That +secular priests should be fathers of families was of course common both +in England and Ireland; and they may be defended on the ground that they +were really married, and that such unions, though condemned by the +Church, were not repugnant to the public feeling of the age. But this can +hardly be pleaded in favour of monks, and perhaps still less of friars. +The Prior of Cahir neglected divine service, but was not accused of +immorality. Many enormous crimes were objected against the Abbess of +Kilclehin. The canons of St. Catherine's at Waterford had fallen out +among themselves, and divided the revenues. All these houses were in +south-eastern Ireland, but from what has been said of the state of +cathedral churches in Irish districts it may be inferred that +proportional irregularities existed elsewhere. The fact that priests were +often the sons of priests rests upon less partial evidence than that of +Bale, and it was condoned by the Holy See. Leo X. even showed special +favour to a monk of Monasterevan, notwithstanding that he was a priest's +son. Dispensations on account of defective birth are very common in the +Papal correspondence, and were a source of income to the Curia. +Archbishop Browne believed that in the Irishry not one parson in five was +of legitimate birth. He cannot be considered impartial, but legitimacy +was little regarded by the Irish.[297] + +[Sidenote: The good side of the monastic system.] + +That some monks were immoral or useless is doubtless true. There were +critics who represented them as in every way worse than their English +brethren, but some of these were men who desired the destruction of the +abbeys that they might divide their lands, and whose indignation had not +been excited by abuses until the wishes of the English Court were known. +Robert Cowley, for instance, accused them generally of loose living and +of 'keeping no hospitality save to themselves.' There is ample evidence +that the monks were not all bad. The education of children was almost +entirely in their hands. Six houses in Dublin, Kildare, and Kilkenny are +mentioned as the only places where the rising generation might be +brought up in virtue, learning, and good behaviour. The boys were cared +for by the Cistercians of St. Mary's, Dublin, and of Jerpoint, and by the +Augustinian canons of Christ Church, Dublin, and of Kells and Conal. The +girls were brought up by the canonesses of Gracedieu, near Swords. St. +Mary's was also noted for its hospitality, being the only inn fit for men +of rank; and the doors of Christ Church were always open for Parliament, +Council, or Conference. To escape dissolution all the monks of these +houses were ready to don secular habits. As to the services of the friars +in holding stations, in visiting the sick, and in preaching, there can be +no doubt whatever. Religion in Ireland was in fact only maintained by +them. Most of the friaries had been founded or beautified by great +families, who still continued to befriend them, and who reserved a last +resting-place within their walls. The Franciscans were especially +favoured in this way. Thus, the MacDonnells of Antrim were buried at +Bunamargy, the Desmonds at Youghal and Tralee, the O'Briens at Ennis, the +O'Donnells at Donegal, the Macnamaras at Quin, the Burkes at Athenry, and +the MacCarthies at Irrelagh or Muckross. The Franciscan dress was often +assumed in death and burial, and was thought to bespeak the favours of +heaven. The Dominicans were planted and cherished in the same way. The +Augustinian hermits and the Carmelites had many houses, but were much +less important than the other two orders.[298] + +[Sidenote: Parliament of 1536.] + +When the Irish Parliament met for the despatch of business in May 1536 +many important bills passed without any great difficulty. The proctors of +the clergy, who had voices and claimed votes in the Lower House, objected +to the King being declared supreme head of the Church; but their +opposition was little regarded. Appeals to Rome were forbidden, the +jurisdiction of the Pope abolished, and first-fruits vested in the Crown. +Grey then prorogued Parliament, first to Kilkenny, and afterwards to +Dublin again. In the meantime Archbishop Browne had landed, and lost no +time in recommending the royal supremacy to the people. He had but little +success, and incurred some personal danger. Primate Cromer, who was in +communication with Rome, took the other side, laying a curse on all who +should accept the new system, and reminding his clergy that Ireland was +the Pope's gift to England. Browne is said to have made a speech to +Parliament, in which he appealed to the example of Christ, who paid +tribute to Cæsar, and of the earliest popes, who acknowledged the +supremacy of emperors and kings. A bill was then brought in for the +suppression of twelve religious houses, and for giving the King a +twentieth of all ecclesiastical revenues. A formidable opposition at once +arose in both houses, and particularly in the Commons under the +leadership of the King's sergeant, Sir Patrick Barnewall, who declared +openly that the King's supremacy gave him power to reform abbeys but not +to secularise them. He then went to England to lay his views before +Henry, and Parliament was again prorogued for nearly four months.[299] + +[Sidenote: The Reformation makes no progress.] + +After eighteen months residence in Ireland Browne could report scarcely +any progress. The new Head of the Church, by the mouth of his Archbishop, +gave the people orders for their spiritual conduct; but they were not +well received. All true Christian subjects were ordered to repudiate the +Bishop of Rome, and to erase him from their service-books and manuals; +but this was never done unless Browne sent his own servants to see to it. +The power of binding and loosing and the system of indulgences were +called juggling, and the people were reminded that God only could forgive +sins. There was no Mediator but Christ, and the so-called Pope's 'great +thunderclap of excommunication' could hurt nobody. These exhortations +were in vain, while a conditional general indulgence was eagerly taken +advantage of. A copy of the paper was even hung up openly in Kilmainham +Church. Pilgrimages to Rome were never commoner, and bishops and priors +appointed by provision were received with open arms. The circular which +spoke so contemptuously of the Holy See was Browne's composition, but it +inculcated at least two doctrines which all modern Protestants +reject--the invocation of the Virgin and prayers for the dead.[300] + +[Sidenote: Troubles of Archbishop Browne.] + +Lord Deputy Grey was opposed to doctrinal changes, and made no secret of +his dislike to Browne, whom he suspected of traducing him. The Archbishop +had little help from other officials, and the lawyers opposed him +strongly. Lord Butler, Brabazon, Alen, and one or two others of small +importance, constituted the whole innovating party. They arrogated to +themselves the title of Catholic; they were the right Christians, and +their opponents were sectaries. But Browne's antagonists were active and +numerous. The Observants took the lead everywhere, and they relied on the +support of Grey to defy the Archbishop's authority. Browne had imprisoned +one of his own prebendaries. 'Howbeit, spite of my beard, whiles that I +was at an house of Observants, to swear them, and also to extinct that +name among them, my Lord Deputy hath set him at liberty. I think the +simplest holy water clerk is better esteemed than I am.' Most of the +clergy were unwilling to acknowledge the royal supremacy, or to denounce +the Pope's authority, and they refused to preach at all. The most active +preachers now contented themselves with holding forth in corners to +select knots of sympathisers, and took no notice either of threats or +exhortations. The oath of supremacy had as much effect as oaths taken +under pressure usually have. Now and then some bold spirit would openly +defy Browne. James Humfrey, the prebendary whom he imprisoned and Grey +released, officiated at High Mass in St. Andrew's Church, and omitted to +read the Archbishop's circular. The parish priest ascended the pulpit, +and began to read the paper; but Humfrey gave a signal to the choir, and +the reader's voice was drowned by those of the singers.[301] + +[Sidenote: He cannot agree with Bishop Staples.] + +By the admission of so zealous a reformer as Brabazon, Staples promoted +the Word of God; but the effect of his eloquence was much lessened by the +ill-feeling existing between him and the Archbishop. A report of one of +Browne's sermons, which, as he alleged, was fabricated by Humfrey, had so +excited the wrath of Staples that he denounced it from the pulpit. The +Archbishop himself was present, and thought 'the three-mouthed Cerberus +of hell could not have uttered it more viperiously.' The scene was in the +church of Kilmainham, which was an exempt jurisdiction under the sole +charge of Rawson the Prior. Browne also accused Staples of indulging in +other 'rabulous revilings' against him, of denying that men should search +the Scriptures, and of allowing his suffragan to pray first for the Pope, +then for the Emperor, and lastly for the King, in the words, 'I pray God +he never depart this world, until that he hath made amends.' Browne +imprisoned the suffragan, whom Grey seems to have released without trial. +Staples, on the other hand, reported that everyone was weary of the +Archbishop's demeanour, and that he himself had never said a word against +the King's supremacy, or in favour of the Pope. After an inquiry by +Paynswick, Prior of Christ Church, and two others, the quarrel was +patched up; but the relations existing between the two chief supporters +of the Reformation were not at all conducive to its success.[302] + +[Sidenote: Lord Leonard Grey obnoxious to both parties.] + +It was bad enough to be called a heretic by the Bishop of Meath, but +worse to be called a poll-shorn knave friar by a Lord Deputy who had +soldiers and prisons. Browne said it was no safer to speak against Papal +usurpations before Grey than if the Pope had been present. Lord Butler +agreed with the Archbishop that Grey had a special zeal for popery, +allowed the new system to be openly impugned in his presence, and in fact +headed the reactionary party. According to Browne, he went so far as to +maintain a bishop appointed by the Pope against the King's nominee; but +this is scarcely credible. Grey, however, had the Corporation of +Limerick, and the Bishop and clergy there solemnly sworn to maintain the +new order, and renounce the usurpations of Rome. He is said to have +burned Down Cathedral, and defaced the tombs of the three saints there; +and he was accused on his trial of turning the church into a stable, of +pulling down the tower, and of sending the famous peal of bells to +England: 'had not God of His justice prevented his iniquity by sinking +the vessel and passengers wherein the said bells should have been +conveyed.' Grey has himself recorded his proceedings at the Franciscan +friary of Killeigh, whence he carried off the organ, the glass windows, +and other valuable things. On the other hand, he spared Armagh; and, +being at Trim shortly before the destruction of the miraculous Virgin +there, 'very devoutly knelt before the idol, and heard three or four +masses.' This may have been done from devotional feeling, or through +sheer inconsistency, or to annoy Browne, Brabazon, and Alen, who were +present, and who refused to enter the chapel, by way of showing an +example to the people.[303] + +[Sidenote: Images, relics, and pilgrimages.] + +Browne had a conscientious hatred to images, which he called idols, and +destroyed them wherever he could. In this case coming events had cast +their shadow before, and he at one time thought it prudent to disclaim +iconoclasm. 'There goeth,' he wrote in June 1538, 'a common bruit among +the Irishmen, that I intend to pluck down our Lady of Trim, with other +places of pilgrimages, as the Holy Cross, and such like, which indeed I +never attempted, although my conscience would right well serve me to +oppress such idols.' Even more celebrated than the miraculous Virgin was +the crozier with which St. Patrick had banished the snakes, and which had +been brought from Armagh to Dublin. This wonder-working staff was said to +have been delivered by Christ Himself to a hermit in a Mediterranean +island, with directions to take it to Ireland, and hand it over to the +saint. It was compared to the rod of Moses, and was the chief of a large +tribe of croziers upon which people swore in preference to the gospels. +The staff was burned publicly, and so was the Virgin of Trim, and a +crucifix of peculiar sanctity kept at Ballibogan in Westmeath. The holy +cross of Tipperary was probably spared for a time. Browne and his +successors nearly put an end to relics, which are now so scarce that a +learned member of Parliament in our own times is said to have imported +the bones of a more or less authentic foreign saint. But it was beyond +the power of Government to put down pilgrimages, which were numerous down +to the present century. Of the holy places still remaining, Croagh +Patrick in Mayo is probably the most remarkable.[304] + +[Sidenote: Conformity of Munster Bishops.] + +When the four Protestant members of Council--Browne, Brabazon, Alen, and +Aylmer--visited Clonmel early in 1539, two archbishops and eight bishops +took the oath of supremacy before them. The archbishops were Butler of +Cashel and Bodkin of Tuam--the first regularly appointed, the second not +acknowledged at Rome, but both in undisputed possession. Of the eight +bishops, Milo Baron or Fitzgerald of Ossory, Nicholas Comyn of Waterford +and Lismore, John Coyne or Quin of Limerick, Thomas Hurley of Emly, +Matthew Sanders of Leighlin, and James O'Corrin of Killaloe, appear to +have been regularly appointed. The submission of O'Corrin seems to have +been resented at Rome; for a Papal administrator was appointed to oust +him eighteen months afterwards. He found it necessary to make his peace, +and his resignation in 1542 was accepted by the Pope. No attempt was +made to displace Baron, Comyn, Quin, Hurley, or Sanders. The remaining +prelates present at Clonmel were probably Dominick Tirrey of Cork and +Cloyne, and Richard Nangle of Clonfert. Tirrey was the King's nominee, +and continued to hold the temporalities till his decease in 1556. Lewis +Macnamara, a Franciscan, was set up against him at Rome, but he soon +died, and the Pope did not again interfere for a long time. Nangle, being +kept out of Clonfert by his rival, whom Grey was accused of favouring, at +this time acted as Browne's suffragan or coadjutor. It is expressly +stated that all the Bishops of Munster were present at Clonmel, and all +have been mentioned but three. Ross was vacant, and probably Kilfenora. +Young James Fitzmaurice, who had been lately provided to Ardfert, may +have kept away in Kerry, or very probably he was not in Ireland at all. +We must guard against hastily supposing that all, or even any, of these +prelates were Protestants. Like Gardiner, Bonner, and Tunstal, they +accepted the formulation of the old English principle of national +independence, but they had not therefore necessarily any sympathy with +the doctrines of Luther.[305] + +[Sidenote: The Pope makes Wauchop Primate.] + +Primate Cromer opposed the royal supremacy, but he was none the less +accused of heresy at Rome, and Robert Wauchop, a priest of St. Andrews, +was appointed to administer the see until the Archbishop should purge +himself. Wauchop was a noted theologian, and, in spite of his imperfect +sight, had the singular reputation of riding post better than any man in +Europe. He had lived chiefly at Rome, and was employed by the Holy See on +many missions, including attendance at the diets of Worms, Ratisbon, and +Spires. The choice of a purblind man to persuade the sharp-eyed Germans +gave rise to a proverb, and the reputation for riding post may have been +gained by the rapidity with which he went from place to place. After +Cromer's death Wauchop received the pall, and bore the title of Primate +at the Council of Trent, where he attended for eleven sessions, and where +he shared with the Archbishop of Upsala the distinction of having never +seen his church. In the meantime George Dowdall was appointed by the King +on St. Leger's recommendation, and it must be supposed that he took the +oath of supremacy. In spite of Dowdall's zeal against the reformed +doctrines, he was never acknowledged by the Pope until after Wauchop's +death. The latter does not appear to have landed in Ireland, and his +bolts were shot from Scotland or France. When preparing at last in 1551 +to visit his diocese, he met a most edifying death in the Jesuit Church +at Paris.[306] + +[Sidenote: The Jesuits sent to Ireland, 1542.] + +It was by Wauchop's advice that the disciples of Loyola began their work +in Ireland. Paul III. addressed a brief to Con O'Neill, as prince of the +Irish of Ulster, acknowledging the receipt of letters which he had sent +to Rome by the hands of Raymond O'Gallagher, 'by which letters,' wrote +the Pope, 'and by his fuller verbal communications, our mind has been +variously affected; for we have learned with the pain it calls for how +that island is cruelly ravaged by the present King, and to what a pitch +of impiety he has brought it, and with what savage ferocity he has +spurned the honour of God Almighty. But when, on the other hand, we +learned from thy letters and Raymond's words that there existed in thy +person a champion of God, and of the Roman Church and of the Catholic +religion, we rejoiced greatly in the heavenly Father's love. We praise +thee then, beloved son, as thou hast deserved, and commend thee in the +Lord; and we give Him thanks for granting thee to us and endowing thee +with such virtue and piety for the preservation of that island at the +present time, and we pray Him long to prosper thee, and to preserve thee +to us unchanged. We have taken such care as we were bound, and as thou +hast asked us to take for thee and for the other champions of the +Catholic Faith. We therefore exhort your lordship, and all the peoples of +Ireland who follow your authority and piety, to preserve you all as +becomes faithful servants of the True Christ, in the Catholic Faith which +you have received from your fathers, and preserved with the greatest +constancy to this day. For we who embrace that island with singular +affection and desire to preserve it in its ancient attachment to the Holy +Faith, will never be wanting to your lordship or to your followers in +piety.' + +[Sidenote: The first Jesuit missionaries.] + +John Codure and Alphonso Salmeron were selected by the Pope as nuncios to +Ireland, and another brief was sent to the clergy of Ireland exhorting +them to receive the Jesuits with honour and goodwill. Codure died before +he could visit Ireland, and Paschal Broet accompanied Salmeron in his +stead. Francesco Zapata, not yet admitted to the society, was their +secretary. Broet, whom Loyola called the angel of his society, was a +native of Picardy. Salmeron was a Spaniard, and one of the original seven +companions who took the momentous vow upon the hill of Montmartre. +Ignatius himself gave directions to the mission:-- + +[Sidenote: Loyola's instructions to them.] + +1. They were to use caution in talking, especially with inferiors and +equals, to 'take each man's censure but reserve their judgment.' When +they could not avoid expressing an opinion, it was to be delivered +briefly and with a careless air, so as to avoid further argument. + +2. They were to be all things to all men, like St. Paul. An angry man was +to be treated with great circumspection. + +3. The precept of Basilius was to be observed, that the devil must be +fought with his own weapons. To gain favour at first they were to praise +virtues rather than denounce vices. Medicine might then by degrees be +administered. Morose men might be won by cheerfulness. + +4. In public and private, and especially when performing the duty of +peacemakers, they were to remember that 'all their words and deeds might +become known, and that the things done in darkness would be brought to +light.' + +5. Appointments were to be anticipated rather than deferred, so that +there might be plenty of time for the business in hand. + +6. In money matters they were to meddle as little as possible. Even the +fines which they took for dispensations should be given in alms by the +hands of others, so that they might be able to swear that they had not +touched one penny. + +7. Paschal was to be chief speaker in dealing with great men. In doubtful +cases there was to be a consultation, and the opinion of two was to bind +the other. + +8. They were to correspond with Rome frequently on their journey, +immediately on their arrival either in Ireland or Scotland, and at least +once a month afterwards.[307] + +[Sidenote: Their adventures in Scotland and Ireland.] + +After narrowly escaping imprisonment in France, the three emissaries +reached Scotland and saw James V., who gave them a commendatory letter to +the Irish nobility and a special one to O'Neill, whom he exhorted so to +receive the strangers that they might feel the advantage of his +introduction. A brother of Bishop Farquharson of the Isles accompanied +them to Ireland, where they found nothing to their liking, either civil +or ecclesiastical. The people were savage and the clergy negligent, and +neither bishoprics nor parishes were properly served. All the chiefs but +one were not only sworn to the royal supremacy, but had declared their +readiness to burn the Pope's letters and to deliver his messengers bound +to the King or his Deputy. The single exception was about to follow the +general example. The Irish chiefs were all afraid to confer with the +nuncios, or even to secure them a safe passage out of the island. The +Jesuits also complained that the Scottish King had not performed his +promises. But if Paschal and his companions could do nothing with the +chiefs, they were successful with the people. They changed their place of +abode constantly, exhorting men everywhere in private, hearing +confessions, and celebrating the Mass as often as possible. Indulgences +were sparingly granted, but they gained goodwill by varying burdensome +vows, and by remitting fines and dues. Their personal virtue was evident; +they never spared themselves, and they asked for nothing. Any money that +came within their reach they diverted through the debtor himself, or +through the bishop, to such good work as the repair of churches, the +relief of widows, and the care of unprotected girls. After thirty-four +days thus spent the pursuit waxed too hot. Rewards were offered for their +apprehension, and they escaped to Scotland, where they vainly hoped to +find a quieter people. The Scotch chiefs seemed as bad as the Irish, and +the foreigners were fain to sail to Dieppe, whence they reached Paris on +foot. Zapata remained there for study, and the two Jesuits pursued their +journey to Rome in rags, and almost penniless. They were arrested as +spies at Lyons, but rescued by Cardinals Tournon and Gaddi, who were +passing through and who recognised them. Thus, in apparent, but only +apparent, failure ended the first descent of the Jesuits upon +Ireland.[308] + +[Sidenote: The royal supremacy opposed by the friars.] + +In the days of Henry VIII. the majority of Irish chiefs seem to have +cared greatly for land, much less, but still a great deal, for titles and +gold chains, and very little for religion. They were, therefore, ready +enough to accept the King's ecclesiastical polity; the rather that they +hoped to go on exactly as they had done before. But with the people it +was different. It was not for their interest that tribal lands should be +turned into private estates, nor could they hope for special marks of +royal favour. They were barbarous, but they could appreciate virtue, and +in the austere self-denial of some friars they could discern glimmerings +of a higher light. Against the friars Henry had no available weapon; they +could not even be prevented from preaching. Under the very shadow of +Dublin Castle the King could give no peace to his reformed Church, of +which the only sincere supporters were a few new comers from England. +Except Browne and Staples, who, as we have seen, did not agree, there was +no one to preach what Henry wished the people to learn. And neither of +them could speak a word of Irish. The lawyers in Dublin heard and +disliked the expounders of the new ideas, but the great mass of the +population did not even hear them. The friars had it all their own way, +and every feeling, national and sentimental, predisposed the Irish to +believe their statement of the case. The people were told that Ireland +was a fief of the Holy See, and that the vassal had forfeited all by +treason to his sovereign lord. The Defender of the Faith had become its +assailant, and he was manifestly no longer a Catholic. These were the +arguments used daily and never answered. 'In the Irishry,' Staples +reported, 'the common voice runneth that the supremacy of our sovereign +lord is maintained only by power, and not reasoned by learning.' He +recommended that all Irish clerks should have safe-conduct to come and +go, and to dispute with himself. 'I trust then,' he added, perhaps with a +side cut at the Archbishop, 'to do my master good service, without +railing or "frasing," which doth well nowhere, but least in a good +cause.' And he strongly urged the assumption of the royal title, as at +least one means to disabuse the popular mind. In the meantime the counter +reformation had begun. The official Church was to be defended mainly by +power, by a few English-speaking ecclesiastics, and by the self-seekers +who sought preferment where the sceptre was strong enough to protect +them. On the side of Rome was ranged every popular feeling and prejudice, +and it was to have the support of crowds of devoted men who could exhort +the people in their own tongue, and whose example was sometimes more +eloquent than their words. + +[Sidenote: Irish view of Henry's innovations.] + +The 'Four Masters' describe Henry's reformation as 'a heresy and new +error in England, through pride, vain-glory, avarice, and lust, and +through many strange sciences, so that the men of England went into +opposition to the Pope and to Rome. They at the same time adopted various +opinions and the old law of Moses, and they styled the King the chief +head of the Church of God in his own kingdom. New laws were enacted by +the King and Council according to their own will. They destroyed the +orders to whom worldly possessions were allowed ... and the four poor +orders ...; and the lordships and livings of all these were taken up for +the King. They broke down the monasteries, and sold their roofs and +bells, so that from Arran of the Saints to the Straits of Dover there was +not one monastery that was not broken and shattered, with the exception +of a few in Ireland, of which the English took no heed. They afterwards +burned the images, shrines, and relics of the saints of Ireland and +England.... They also appointed archbishops and sub-bishops for +themselves; and though great was the persecution of the Roman emperors +against the Church, scarcely had there ever come so great a persecution +from Rome as this; so that it is impossible to narrate or tell its +description, unless it should be narrated by one who saw it.' There can +be no doubt that these were the ideas prevalent in Ireland in the +sixteenth century, and they remain essentially unchanged in the +nineteenth. That the annalists tell but a small part of the whole truth +must be plain to candid students; but it is the only part which the +native Irish have ever accepted. In England Anglicanism was the outcome +of national independence; in Ireland it was the badge of conquest. + +[Sidenote: The King resolves to dissolve the religious houses.] + +Barnewall's mission failed; but he did not lose the King's favour, and +was soon promoted: had he been an English lawyer he would have lost his +head. While denying the King's right to dissolve monasteries, he made no +objection to receiving a grant of their lands, and accepted that very +nunnery of Gracedieu where all the young ladies of the Pale had been +educated. When the houses met again the clergy opposed all legislation, +being perhaps excited by rumours of a Geraldine restoration. The proctors +insisted on their right to vote as an estate, and the bishops and abbots, +who formed a majority in the Lords, declined to entertain any business +until the point was decided. The Council gave a decided opinion that the +claim of the proctors was unfounded, and the spiritual peers at last +agreed to proceed to business with or without their consent. The Lords +threw out the Bill for confirming the King's title to certain abbeys, +most of which had already been suppressed; making an exception only in +the case of St. Wolstan's. The Bill for giving the King a twentieth part +of all spiritualities was also rejected. After a further prorogation for +four months this resistance was at length overcome. An Act was passed +declaring the proctors to be no members of Parliament, the first-fruits +of abbeys were given to the King, the suppressions were confirmed, the +much desired twentieth was granted, and the questions of faculties and +testamentary dispositions were arranged in a sense hostile to Rome. As +far as an Act of Parliament could do it, the Church in Ireland was now +placed on the same footing as the Church in England.[309] + +[Sidenote: First convent dissolved, 1535. Relative strength of different +orders.] + +The first Irish religious house dissolved by Henry VIII. seems to have +been the nunnery of Grane, which gave a title to Lord Leonard Grey; but +the nuns were quartered on other houses: this was in 1535. In the latter +half of 1536 a commission under the Great Seal not now extant was issued +for the suppression of eight Irish abbeys named therein. The earliest +victim of the batch was probably St. Wolstan's near Leixlip, a house of +canons of the congregation of St. Victor, which was granted to John Alen, +the Master of the Rolls. The necessary inquiries into the condition and +property of the doomed institutions were too slow for Henry, who chided +the Irish Council for remissness. They promised to proceed as speedily as +was consistent with his Highness's profit. Before the end of 1537 fifteen +more houses had fallen, all within the Pale or in the immediate +neighbourhood of walled towns. After this the process of surveying and +suppressing went on rapidly, so that by 1541 all, or very nearly all, the +houses in Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Louth, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, +Tipperary, Waterford, and Limerick city had been surrendered. A careful +calculation makes the whole number about seventy-eight, of which +thirty-eight were Canons Regular, eleven Crutched Friars, fifteen +Hospitallers, two Benedictines, and twelve Cistercians. Only ten of the +number were nunneries, all belonging to Regular Canonesses. To these may +be added a few in other districts, such as Aghmacarte in +MacGillapatrick's country, and Midleton in the county of Cork.[310] + +[Sidenote: The Cistercians. Mellifont.] + +Some monasteries deserve particular mention, and of these Mellifont, the +oldest of the Cistercian houses, is perhaps the most famous. It is said +to have contained 140 monks, and was called Monastermore, or the Great +Monastery. The Cistercians were introduced about 1142 by Donough +O'Carroll, Prince of Oriel, at the instance of Malachy, the friend of +Bernard of Clairvaux, who wrote his life and in whose arms he died. St. +Bernard supplied the new foundation with monks from his own monastery, +under the leadership of Christian O'Conarchy, afterwards Bishop of +Lismore and papal legate, who presided in that synod of Cashel where the +Irish Church was first formally subjected both to Rome and to England. +King John afterwards confirmed all grants made before the conquest, and +several later sovereigns were benefactors of Mellifont. The abbot was +always summoned to Parliament, where he took precedence of all his mitred +brethren, and ranked immediately below the bishops. The buildings, of +which there are still some remains, are said to have greatly resembled +those of Clairvaux. The rich estates were granted by Elizabeth to Lord +Drogheda's ancestor as a reward for defending the northern border of the +Pale against the Ulster Irish.[311] + +[Sidenote: Holy Cross.] + +Another famous Cistercian abbey was that of Holy Cross on the Suir, whose +beautiful ruins recall, though they do not rival, Fountains, Furness, and +Rivaulx. This monastery was founded by Donald O'Brien, King of Limerick, +shortly before the Anglo-Norman invasion. A fragment of the true cross +preserved here attracted many pilgrims, and is thought by some to have +been contained in a richly sculptured shrine which still stands. Long +after the dissolution pilgrimages continued, and Sir Henry Sidney noted +the 'detestable idolatry used to an idol called the Holy Cross, whereunto +there is no small confluence of people daily resorting.' The abbots had +seats in Parliament, and from the extent of their territorial power were +sometimes called Earls.[312] + +[Sidenote: Dunbrody and Tintern.] + +Two Cistercian abbeys near one another in Wexford are remarkable from the +circumstances of their foundations. Dunbrody was built by the ruthless +conqueror, Hervey de Montmorenci, who sought to expiate his cruelties by +becoming its abbot and endowing it with all his property. Tintern was +founded in fulfilment of a vow made during a storm at sea by William +Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, who brought monks and a name from Wales. +Tintern was the only Irish abbey which retained the original black dress +of Citeaux, thus acknowledging the foundation of Stephen Harding rather +than that of Bernard. + +[Sidenote: Hospitallers. Kilmainham.] + +Strongbow founded a preceptory for Templars at Kilmainham in 1174, and it +became rich and powerful. Under Edward II. the order was suppressed in +Ireland with as little pretence of justice as elsewhere, and its +possessions granted to the Hospitallers, who showed less charity to the +really poor, though their doors were always open to strangers and +travellers of importance. The priors of Kilmainham were often chosen +from the greatest families--Talbots, Butlers, and Fitzgeralds--were +always summoned to Parliament, and became very important personages. +Being exempt from episcopal jurisdiction they sometimes acted almost like +independent princes. In 1444 the Prior, Thomas Fitzgerald, espoused the +cause of Archbishop Talbot in his quarrel with the White Earl of Ormonde, +and he challenged the latter to trial by combat. The fight was appointed +to take place at Smithfield, and both champions were kept in close +custody; the Earl being confined in the Tower, of which the Duke of +Exeter, inventor of the rack and other gentle instruments, was then +constable. The Duke was authorised to allow his distinguished prisoner +exercise enough to keep him in good fighting condition, his swordsmanship +being evidently thought adequate. The representative of the Church +militant was considered wanting in skill, and was detained in the city to +receive instructions at the royal expense from Philip Treherne, +fishmonger and fencing master. Ormonde's friends cleared his character, +and the combat never took place. Many acts of turbulence were charged +against Fitzgerald; but he was far outstripped by James Keating, who +became prior in 1461, and who defied the King, the Deputy, and his own +Grand Master for thirty years. Marmaduke Lumley was sent to supersede +him, but died of the ill-treatment which he received. In 1511 Sir John +Rawson, the last prior, was appointed. He was an able man and a chief +supporter of the Government, but did not think it necessary to observe +his vow of chastity. At the dissolution Rawson was created Viscount of +Clontarf, where there was a cell of his house, and enjoyed a pension of +500 marks till his death in Edward VI.'s time. Sir William Weston, the +English Provincial, was less fortunate, for he was forced to leave his +priory and died the same day. The great possessions of Kilmainham were +granted to different persons, and the site of the commandery is now fitly +occupied by a military hospital, which owes its foundation to the great +Duke of Ormonde.[313] + +[Sidenote: Pensions to monks.] + +Pensions were generally granted to the heads of the dissolved houses and +sometimes to the other monks. Thus the Abbot of Mellifont received +40_l._, and several of the monks from 3_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._ to 20_s._ The +Prior of Fower in Westmeath and the Abbot of St. Mary's, Dublin, received +each 50_l._; the Prior of St. Thomas's, Dublin, 42_l._; and others were +paid in proportion to the importance of their convents. In a few cases +priors received as little as 3_l._, and monks as little as 13_s._ 4_d._ +The ejected brethren often got other preferment. Edmond O'Lonergan, Prior +of Cahir, who received a pension of 3_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._, was made vicar of +the parish, and William Walsh, Prior of Ballydrohid, had a pension of +6_l._ 8_s._ 4_d._ till he should receive a benefice of greater value. +Hugh Doyne, one of the monks of Conal, who had received a pension of +40_s._, surrendered it on being presented by the Crown to a vicarage. +Pensions were charged on the lands of the dissolved houses, and power of +distress was sometimes given. The absence of complaints may justify a +supposition that payments were pretty regularly made. Great numbers of +monks doubtless withdrew to the Continent. Mary herself grumbled at the +numerous pensions payable to clerks, and directed her Deputy to make them +the first objects of his patronage, so that the pensions might be +gradually absorbed.[314] + +[Sidenote: Titular abbots still appointed. Cistercians.] + +In the case of the Cistercians at least titular abbots were sometimes +appointed for many generations. Alemand, the French historian of Irish +monasteries, says that the learned Nicholas Fagan, Bishop of Waterford, +was Abbot of Innislonagh, and was buried in the abbey in 1617. According +to the same author, who wrote towards the end of the seventeenth century, +there were in his time Abbots of Mellifont, Tintern, and Boyle, living in +the neighbourhood of their abbeys, but dressing like laymen. They were +probably chiefly occupied in receiving novices for education in foreign +convents. An important paper drawn up at Waterford in 1646 bears the +signature of one prior of Augustinian canons, and of four Cistercian +abbots, to say nothing of Jesuits and mendicants, but some of these may +have been appointed after the breaking out of the rebellion. In the reign +of James I. some Cistercians certainly lurked in Ireland. The nuncio +Rinuccini, who had the charge of Irish patronage from 1645, apologised +for preferring so many regulars on the ground that men of family seldom +became secular priests.[315] + +[Sidenote: The dissolution not carried out in remote districts.] + +In 1541 a commission was issued to the Earl of Desmond and others to +survey and dissolve all religious houses in Cork, Limerick, Kerry, and +Desmond. In these districts and in the purely Irish regions of Connaught +and Ulster, the process of dissolution was slow and uncertain. The title +of the Crown was theoretically acknowledged, but in some cases nothing +was done for many years. As the native nobility were subdued or +reconciled, Henry VIII.'s policy was gradually carried out. In the +wildest parts of Ulster the consummation was delayed until after the +flight of the Earls in the reign of James I.[316] + +[Sidenote: Number and wealth of religious foundations.] + +[Sidenote: Many are losers by the dissolution.] + +Without counting the mendicant orders, about 350 religious houses can be +traced in Ireland. Many of these had disappeared before the reign of +Henry VIII., having become parish churches, or been absorbed in episcopal +establishments. Others were dependent on English foundations, and were +destroyed by the Act of Absentees; others, again, were cells to more +important houses, and followed their fortunes. A yearly income of +32,000_l._, with personalty to the amount of 100,000_l._, has been +attributed to the Irish monasteries, and their possessions must certainly +have been considerable. The monks, and especially the Cistercians, +generally chose fertile situations near a river or on the coast, for the +sake of fish and water carriage. The most beautiful and convenient sites +were in their hands, and their system of cultivation was much superior to +that of lay proprietors. The ceaseless wars of Ireland did not entirely +spare the religious houses, but they escaped better than other kinds of +property. The spoiling of the Church could never have been considered a +great or glorious work. The wealth of the monks is not to be measured by +the extent of their lands. It is in the vast number of their houses, +orchards, gardens, fishing-weirs, and mills, that we must seek the +evidence of accumulated capital. The immense circuit of the walls at +Kells or Athassel seems to show that great numbers of artificers and +labourers were sheltered within the enclosures, and that the monks knew +how to defend their own. The system of corrodies or resident pensions +probably reconciled the great nobles, and opposition to the dissolution +came partly from those who were impoverished by their abolition. It is to +these pensions, which were perhaps often abused, that Cowley probably +alludes when he accuses the monks generally of immorality and of showing +no hospitality save to themselves and 'certain bell-wedders, which +ringleaders have good fees, fat, profitable farms, the finding of their +children, with other daily pleasures of the abbeys, and fearing to lose +the profit thereof, repugn and resist the suppressing of abbeys, +surmising it should be prejudicial to the common weal, which is +otherwise.'[317] + +[Sidenote: The Friaries suppressed. Not before 1541.] + +In 1541 a commission was issued to Sir Anthony St. Leger and others to +survey and suppress all the friaries in Ireland. The total number was +rather under two hundred, of which the Franciscans had more than half, +the Dominicans forty-three, the Augustinian hermits twenty-four, and the +Carmelites twenty-one. As in the case of the older monasteries, the +houses within reach were at once dissolved, and the rest were perforce +respited. Their possessions were not large, and the friars managed to +exist without them. The Dominican historian says there were about six +hundred members of his order in Ireland just before Cromwell's conquest, +and the Franciscans were probably much more numerous. The houses of Grey +Friars had been very generally reformed by the Observants, and it is with +these stricter votaries that we generally meet. They swarmed everywhere, +and to them is due the preservation of the Roman tradition until the +Jesuits made head in Ireland. Archbishop Browne is never tired of +testifying against them, and Thomas Agard, his enthusiastic supporter, +calls them crafty bloodsuckers. Almost the only open opposition to the +dissolution came from a Franciscan, Dr. Sall, who boldly preached against +it at Waterford. During the Cromwellian war and subsequent persecution +the Franciscans claim thirty-one martyrs, which shows that they must have +been very numerous. In 1645 the Carmelites reckoned twenty-seven houses +in Ireland, but most of these were doubtless desecrated and deserted. No +candid Protestant can altogether sympathise with Browne and Agard, for we +have the most overwhelming proof that but for the friars a large part of +the population would have been altogether debarred from the exercise of +religion.[318] + +[Sidenote: All kinds of men share the plunder.] + +Most of the men who had been useful in carrying out the suppression +received a share of the spoils. Brabazon, St. Leger, Sir John Alen, Chief +Justice Luttrell, Edmund Sexton, Sir Thomas Cusack, and Robert Dillon, +were all enriched in this way. Prime-serjeant Barnewall denied the King's +right to dissolve the monasteries, but profited largely by the measure. +Celts, Normans, and Saxons, Papists and Protestants alike, showed a fine +appetite for the confiscated lands. Desmond had a lease of part of St. +Mary Abbey, perhaps to induce him to spend some of his time in Dublin. +Three at least of the new peerages--Upper Ossory, Carbery, and Cahir, +were partially endowed from similar sources. Edward Power, bastard +brother of the first baron of Curraghmore, was granted the possession of +Mothel, of which he had been prior. In some cases, as in Clanricarde and +Thomond, the Government made a virtue of necessity, and gave monastic +lands to lords or chiefs who would have had the power to seize them in +any case. It is scarcely necessary to say that the House of Ormonde +profited enormously by the dissolution. Sometimes the plunder was too +small to excite much cupidity, and then the monks might be spared. Thus +the Austinfriars of Dunmore in Galway, who had 'neither land nor profit, +but only the small devotion of the people,' were respited during the +King's pleasure, on condition of assuming a secular habit. A like +indulgence was given to the canons of Toem in Tipperary, which the +O'Meaghers had been able to prevent the Royal Commissioners from +visiting. Many houses were reasonably granted to the founders' kin, for +the dissolution must have been a heavy loss to some families. Most of the +corporate towns had founded or fostered monasteries, and Waterford, +Drogheda, Kilkenny, Galway, Limerick, Clonmel, and Athenry received a +portion of the spoils. All Saints was specially granted to the citizens +of Dublin in compensation of their loss during the Geraldine siege. As a +general rule, monastic lands were at first let only on lease, and in +succeeding reigns large fines were obtained by the Crown. At the first +threat of dissolution some houses hastened to let their lands for long +terms, and to cut down their woods and sell their jewels, and thus the +plunder actually realised often fell below expectation. I have met with +but one case of a charitable foundation being laid immediately upon the +ruins of a monastery, and that was owing to private liberality. Henry +Walshe, son of a Waterford merchant, bought the Grey Friars from the +King, and founded a hospital for sixty or more sick persons. This +institution received a royal charter, and still exists on a reduced +scale.[319] + +[Sidenote: No university in Ireland.] + +No care was taken to supply the place of the monasteries which were +devoted to education. There had been three attempts to found a university +in Ireland before the reign of Henry VIII. In 1310 John Lech, Archbishop +of Dublin, obtained a bull from Clement V., who ordered the establishment +of the desired institution, which would, he hoped, 'sprinkle the said +land, like a watered garden, to the exaltation of the Catholic faith, the +honour of the mother church, and the profit of all the faithful.' Lech +died soon after, and his project was buried with him; but his successor, +Alexander de Bicknor, actually made a foundation in connection with St. +Patrick's Cathedral, and under the patronage of John XXII. Bicknor's +University maintained a very precarious existence till the time of Henry +VII., when it finally disappears. The institution was not crushed by the +weight of its endowments, for it does not seem to have had any. In 1465 +Bicknor's work was ignored by the Parliament of Drogheda, which founded a +new university on the ground that there was none in Ireland. But it was +not enough to declare that Drogheda should be as Oxford: there was no +endowment and no popular support, and this scheme also failed. Very near +the end of his reign Henry VIII. made up his mind that one cathedral was +enough for Dublin, and he suppressed St. Patrick's. Christ Church had +already been acknowledged as the metropolitan church. But it was not till +the next reign that Archbishop Browne propounded his abortive plan for +restoring the University which had once faintly glimmered.[320] + +[Sidenote: Archbishop Browne.] + +The principal instrument by which Henry carried out his ecclesiastical +revolution was George Browne, Provincial of the English Austinfriars, who +was appointed Archbishop of Dublin in 1535 after regular election by the +two chapters. He was consecrated by Cranmer, Fisher, and Shaxton of +Salisbury, who were significantly commanded to invest him with the pall. +Browne's appointment is ignored at Rome, but no rival prelate was at +first set up. He had already distinguished himself by preaching strongly +against the invocation of saints, and, whatever his faults were, he was +certainly a sincere Protestant. 'The common voice goeth,' said Staples, +who had not quite made up his own mind, 'that he doth abhor the Mass.' +Browne was married, but whether before or after his consecration does not +appear. He zealously promoted the King's supremacy and the destruction of +images, and complained bitterly of being thwarted by his colleague of +Armagh, by the Irish generally, and even by Lord Deputy Grey. Cromer was +in communication with Rome, and circulated a sort of Papal oath of +allegiance among the clergy, in which obedience to heretical powers was +denounced and all their acts declared null and void. The old jealousy +between Armagh and Dublin may have had something to say to this; for +Browne, if we may believe Staples, claimed authority over all the clergy +of Ireland. The new Archbishop did not bear himself meekly in his great +office, and he received a stinging rebuke, which the writer was pleased +to call a gentle advertisement, from the King himself. Henry accused his +nominee of neglecting the instruction of the people and the interests of +the Crown. 'Such,' he added, 'is your lightness in behaviour and such is +the elation of your mind in pride, that glorying in foolish ceremonies, +and delighting in _we_ and _us_, in your dreams comparing yourself so +near to a prince in honour and estimation, that all virtue and honesty is +almost banished from you. Reform yourself therefore ... and let it sink +into your remembrance that we be as able for the not doing thereof to +remove you again and to put another man of more virtue and honesty in +your place, both for our discharge against God, and for the comfort of +our good subjects there, as we were at the beginning to prefer you.' Well +might Browne answer that the King's letter made him tremble in body for +fear. He defended himself at length, and invoked the fate of Korah should +he fail to advance the King's service. His defence seems to have +satisfied Henry, but he continued to make many enemies and to excite much +criticism. 'His pride and arrogance,' said Staples, 'hath ravished him +from the right remembrance of himself.'[321] + +[Sidenote: Bishop Staples.] + +Edward Staples, originally a Cambridge man, and afterwards parson of +Tamworth and a canon of Cardinal College, was appointed to the see of +Meath in 1530 by Papal provision. Either as Bishop or Privy Councillor he +incurred the hatred of the Geraldine faction, and fled to England on the +breaking out of the rebellion in 1534. Early next year he returned, and +was one of the commissioners for suppressing the nunnery of Grane. +Staples did not at first fully embrace the reformed doctrines, for he +accused the Archbishop of Dublin of heresy, and appears to have been +attached to the Mass; but he was as zealous as Browne for the royal +supremacy, and his conversion to thorough Protestantism was gradual like +Cranmer's. Staples was a noted preacher, and was promoted for that +reason; but the King at one time accused him of slackness and threatened +to remove him.[322] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[281] Surrey to Wolsey, Sept. 6, 1520, and the notes; Pace to Wolsey, +April 7, 1521, in _Carew_; Stubbs, _Const. Hist._ ii. 317. + +[282] Ware's _Bishops_; Richard Culoke to Brabazon, Nov. 10, 1537; the +King to the Lord Deputy and Council, July 10, 1543. + +[283] Ware. + +[284] Brady's _Episcopal Succession_, vol. i. p. 325; Ware. Roy's satire +against Wolsey, printed in the 9th vol. of the _Harleian Miscellany_, has +the following: + + _Wat._ And who did for the show pay? + + _Jeff._ Truly many a rich abbaye + To be eased of his visitation. + + _Wat._ Doth he in his own person visit? + No, another for him doth it, + That can skill of the occupation. + A fellow neither wise nor sad, + But he was never yet full mad, + Though he be frantic and more. + Dr. Alen he is named, + One that to lie is not ashamed + If he spy advantage therefore. + + _Wat._ Are such with him in any price? + + _Jeff._ Yea, for they do all his advice, + Whether it be wrong or right. + + +[285] As to the legatine authority, see _Brewer_, vol. iii., No. 2838, +and iv., No. 5131; John Alen to Wolsey, June 1, 1523, in S.P. + +[286] Clement VII. to Henry VIII., Oct. 21, 1524, in _Brewer_ and in +_Rymer_; Kildare's Articles against Ormonde in S.P., vol. ii. p. 123; and +see _Brewer_, vol. iv., No. 4277; R. Cowley to Wolsey in 1528, S.P., vol. +ii. p. 141; _Presentments of Grievances_, edited by Graves, p. 203; +Council of Ireland to Cromwell, Feb. 8, 1539. + +[287] _Brady_, vol. ii.; Council of Ireland to Cromwell, Feb. 8, 1539. + +[288] Theiner's _Vetera Monumenta_, pp. 515, 516, 521; _Brady_, Arts, +Kilmore, Clogher, and Raphoe. + +[289] Kildare to Wolsey, Feb. 8, 1522; R. Cowley to Wolsey, S.P., vol. +ii., No. 53; Ware. + +[290] For the Ross case, see _Theiner_, p. 520; for the union of Ross and +Dromore 'propter tenuitatem utriusque ecclesiæ,' see _Brady_, vol. ii. p. +109. + +[291] See _Brady_, under Elphin and Kilmacduagh. + +[292] S.P., vol. ii. pp. 11, 15, and 16. + +[293] For Ardagh, see _Theiner_, p. 521; for Ross, p. 529; for +Clonmacnoise, p. 518. For Enaghdune, see Ossory to Cromwell in 1532, +_Carew_, vol. i. No. 37. + +[294] _Presentments of Grievances_, ed. Graves; particularly pp. 192 and +203. + +[295] Kildare's Articles against Ormonde in 1525, S.P., vol. ii. p. 123; +his statement is partially confirmed by the _Presentments of Grievances_, +and see Ossory's own statements in 1534, _Carew_, vol. i. p. 55; Ware's +_Life and Death of Archbishop Browne_. + +[296] Indenture of Remembrance for the Earl of Ossory and Lord Butler, +May 31, 1534, in _Carew; Presentments of Grievances_, pp. 48 and 204; +_Four Masters_, 1525; Dowling's _Annals_, 1522:--'Mauritius Doran +episcopus in jocando ejus adventu quibusdam persuadentibus duplicari +subsidium cleri respondit: melius radere oves quam destruere.' + +[297] _Presentments of Grievances_, especially pp. 100, 202, 204, and +248; for the sons of clergy, &c., see Kildare's Articles in S.P., vol. +ii. p. 122. In _Brewer_, Feb. 25, 1521, Leo X. authorises a priest's son +to govern the Cistercian Abbey of Rosglas; Browne to Cromwell, Nov. 6, +1538, in S.P.; for Kilclehin (wrongly calendared as Kilcullen), see +_Hamilton_, Oct. 9, 1539. + +[298] For the educating monasteries, see Lord Deputy and Council to +Cromwell, May 21, 1539, and the petition from St. Mary's, July 31. The +value of the friars appears from the whole history of the time. See in +particular _Presentments of Grievances_, p. 130; R. Cowley to Cromwell, +Oct. 4, 1536. + +[299] Browne to Cromwell, July 15, 1536 (?), in Browne's _Life and +Death_, in _Ware_, p. 148, and in the _Phoenix_; R. Cowley to Cromwell, +Oct. 4, 1536. + +[300] Browne to Cromwell, Jan. 8, May 8, and Aug. 10, 1538. The Form of +the Beads in S.P., vol. ii., No. 214; R. Cowley to Cromwell, July 19, +1538 and Aug. 5. + +[301] James White to Cromwell, March 28; Lord Butler to the King, March +31; again to Cromwell, April 5; Brabazon to Cromwell, April 30; Browne to +Cromwell, Jan. 8, May 8 and 20, 1538. + +[302] This quarrel may be traced in detail in the _State Papers_. Browne +to J. Alen, April 15, 1538; to Cromwell, May 8 and 21, and June 20 and +27; Staples to St. Leger, June 17; to Cromwell, June 10 and Aug. 10; +Thomas Alen to Cromwell, Oct. 20; Brabazon to Cromwell, April 30. + +[303] Grey to Cromwell, Dec. 31, 1537; J. Alen to Cromwell, Oct. 20, +1538; Browne's Letters in S.P. from 1538 to 1540; R. Cowley to Cromwell, +July 19, 1538; Lord Butler to Cromwell, Aug. 26. Butler says that at the +Lord Deputy's table the vicar of Chester said the King had commanded +images to be set up, worshipped, and honoured as much as ever. 'We held +us all in silence to see what the Lord Deputy would say thereto. He held +his peace, and said nothing; and then my Lord of Dublin, the Master of +the Rolls, and I said that if ... he were out of the Deputy's presence, +we would put him fast by the heels.... His lordship said nothing all the +while. Surely he hath a special zeal to the Papists.' For Down Cathedral, +see Stanihurst. + +[304] Ware places the destruction of relics in 1538: it was perhaps a +little later. For Our Lady of Trim and the Baculum Jesu, see the _Four +Masters_, under 1537, and O'Donovan's notes; also Giraldus Cambrensis, +_Top._ Dist. iii. cap. 33 and 34, and _Expug._ lib. ii. c. 19, Record +Edition. The notice in Campion is perhaps only an echo of Giraldus. + +[305] The above paragraph is founded on a careful comparison of the data +in Ware, Cotton, and Brady. R. Cowley to Cromwell, Aug. 5, 1538; and see +S.P., vol. iii. pp. 110, 117, and 123. A letter from Staples to St. +Leger, June 17, 1538, throws some light on Henry's relations with Rome +before the divorce question arose: 'Appoint some means how that such +bishops as had their bulls of the Bishop of Rome by our sovereign lord's +commandment may bring in their bulls, cancelling the same, and to have +some remembrance from his Highness, which shall stand them in like effect +with the same.' + +[306] There are notices of Wauchop in Ware, Brady, Sarpi, ii. 34 (French +translation and Courayer's notes), and Moran's _Spicilegium Ossoriense_, +vol. i. p. 13. Twelve letters of Wauchop printed in the last-named work +have nothing particular to do with Ireland. He must be regarded as +founder of the titular hierarchy in Ireland. + +[307] Abstracted from Hogan's _Hibernia Ignatiana_, p. 4, where Paul's +letter may be also read in the original Latin. + +[308] Hogan's _Hibernia Ignatiana_, pp. 3-9. Paul III.'s letter to Con +O'Neill is dated April 24, 1541. The Jesuits were in Ireland in February +and March, 1542. O'Sullivan Beare, lib. iii. cap. 8. James V. to the +Irish chiefs, in S.P., vol. v. p. 202; Paget to Henry VIII. from Lyons, +July 13, 1542, in S.P., vol. ix. p. 106. + +[309] _Calendar of Patent Rolls_, p. 73; Grey to Cromwell, Feb. 4, 1537. +The last session began Oct. 13, 1537; a detailed account is given by +Brabazon in a letter to Cromwell in S.P., vol. ii. p. 524, and in the +note there. + +[310] Grey and Brabazon to Cromwell, May 18, 1537. The King to the Lord +Deputy and Council, S.P., vol. ii. p. 425. Harris's _Ware_ under Staples, +Bishop of Meath. For the names of the dissolved houses, see the Statute, +28 Henry VIII. cap. 16, and _Calendar of Patent Rolls_, p. 38. There were +twenty-five mitred abbots and priors in Ireland, ten of Canons Regular, +one of Benedictines, one of Hospitallers, and thirteen of Cistercians. +Ware, in his _Annals_, says the heads of St. Mary's and St. Thomas's, +Dublin, of Kilmainham, and of Mellifont were regularly summoned to +Parliament--the more distant ones very seldom. The Augustinians were the +most numerous and probably the richest of the sedentary orders. Their +rule was adopted by most of the ancient Irish monasteries, the small +residue becoming Benedictine. Alemand, who was originally a Huguenot and +who was Voltaire's countryman, remarks that in order to become quickly a +bishop in Ireland, it was necessary first to be a Regular Canon. + +[311] Chiefly from Alemand; the words of John's grant are 'ante adventum +_Francorum_ in Hiberniam.' For the final grant, see Archdall's _Lodge_. +Art. Earl of Drogheda. + +[312] Alemand. Sidney to Queen Elizabeth, April 20, 1567, in the _Sidney +Papers_. + +[313] Alemand and Archdall. As to the intended combat, see _Carew_, +miscellaneous vol., pp. 446, 447. + +[314] Most of the pensions mentioned in the text are traceable in +Morrin's _Calendar of Patent Rolls_. For Cahir, see Archdall's +_Monasticon_. Queen Mary's instructions to Lord Fitzwalter, April 28, +1556, in _Carew_. + +[315] Alemand, _passim_; Documents in the supplementary volume of _King's +Primer_, No. 66; the Waterford document is in Brennan's _Ecclesiastical +History_, p. 459. + +[316] Sir John Davies's _Discovery_. + +[317] In Mant's _Church History_ is an estimate of the monastic property +founded on the Loftus MS.; but such calculations must be very rough. R. +Cowley to Cromwell, Oct. 4, 1536. + +[318] Agard to Cromwell, April 4, 1538. James White to Cromwell, March +28. _Spicilegium Ossoriense_, vol. i. p. 437. _Hibernia Dominicana._ + +[319] In recommending a grant of Dusk to Ormonde the Council say they +'cannot perceive, as it is situated, that any man can keep it for the +King, but only the said Earl or his son.' For Toem and Dunmore, see +_Calendar of Patent Rolls_, pp. 73 and 84. Browne to Cromwell, May 21, +1538. + +[320] Ware's _Antiquities_, by Harris, chap. xxxvii., sec. 3. Lord L. +Grey to Cromwell, Jan. 19, 1538. + +[321] The King to Browne in S.P., vol. ii. p. 174; Browne's answer, Sept. +27, 1537; Staples to St. Leger, June 17, 1538; Ware's _Life and Death of +Browne_. + +[322] Ware's _Bishops_; Staples to St. Leger, June 17, 1538; Devices by +Travers for the Reformation in 1542, S.P., vol. iii., No. 382. The King's +rebuke was in 1537, see S.P., vol. ii. p. 174, note. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +FROM THE ACCESSION OF EDWARD VI. TO THE YEAR 1551. + + +[Sidenote: Accession of Edward VI. Ormonde and Desmond.] + +The death of Henry VIII. made no immediate difference to Ireland, for St. +Leger continued to govern as before. There was such a tendency to depress +the Ormonde interest that the widowed countess thought it wise to go to +London, where she pleaded her own cause with much success. She was +supposed to have designs upon the heir of Desmond's hand, and the English +statesmen, who naturally dreaded such an alliance, encouraged her to +marry Sir Francis Bryan, who was in favour with Somerset as he had been +with Henry VIII. The new government directed their attention to economy +and the repression of jobbery among the Dublin officials. It was +discovered that many who drew the King's pay were serving in the houses +of councillors, 'some in the place of a cook, some of a butler, +housekeeper, and other like,' so that they were practically useless when +called to arms. This was strictly forbidden for the future. The Irish +Council were earnestly charged finally to put down 'that intolerable +extortion, coyne and livery, having always respect to some recompense to +be given to the lords and governors of our countries for the defending of +the same.' Desmond was thanked for his services, and the young king +offered to have his eldest son brought up as his companion, 'as other +noblemen's sons whom we favour are educated with us in learning and other +virtuous qualities, whereby hereafter, when we come to just age, we, in +remembrance of our childhood spent together, may the rather be moved to +prosecute them with our wonted favour, and they all inclined to love and +serve us the more faithfully. We shall consent and right glad to have him +with us, and shall so cherish him as ye shall have cause to thank us, +and at his return to think the time of his attendance on us to be well +employed.' If this offer had been accepted, and if the same results had +followed as in the cases of the young Earl of Ormonde and of Barnaby +Fitzpatrick, the unspeakable miseries of the Desmond rebellion might have +been avoided.[323] + +[Sidenote: The bastard Geraldines.] + +The Pale was at this time much disturbed by the depredations of a gang of +freebooters, headed by some of the bastard Geraldines who had lost their +lands. They overran the southern half of Kildare and the northern half of +Carlow, plundering and burning Rathangan, Ballymore Eustace, and +Rathvilly. At first they acted with O'Connor, but he was forced to go to +Connaught to look for reinforcements, and the MacGeohegans and others +were induced by St. Leger to kill his men and drive his cattle. The +Fitzgeralds, after defying the Government for a year, were crushed at +Blessington in the autumn of 1547. The O'Tooles sided with the English, +and thus justified Henry VIII.'s policy towards them. The Irish generally +fell away from O'Connor and O'More, to whom they feared to give food and +shelter; and the chiefs were obliged to make such a peace as was possible +with the Government. The annalists dwell strongly on the strength of the +English at this time, on the unexampled bondage in which they held the +southern half of Ireland, and on their complete victory over the man who +had been 'the head of the happiness and prosperity of that half of +Ireland in which he lived, namely, Brian O'Connor.'[324] + +[Sidenote: Bellingham's first visit to Ireland, 1547.] + +Sir Edward Bellingham, a gentleman of the bedchamber, was sent over for +the first time in the summer of 1547, in charge of reinforcements. This +able soldier had been Governor of the Isle of Wight, and had served at +Boulogne in 1546. He had also held diplomatic appointments in Hungary, +and at the Emperor's Court. The Privy Council, who expressed themselves +satisfied of his military ability, directed the Irish Government to be +guided by his advice, and to pay him the unusual salary of forty +shillings sterling a day. He was employed by the borderers of the Pale +against the O'Mores and O'Connors, and seems to have made his mark from +the first. After a short stay Bellingham with difficulty obtained leave +to return to England. He must have succeeded in impressing his views on +Somerset, to whose religious party he belonged, for St. Leger was +recalled in the following spring, and Bellingham was appointed in his +stead.[325] + +[Sidenote: Butlers and Kavanaghs. Bellingham Deputy, 1548.] + +Bellingham landed at Dalkey on May 18, 1548, and the state of Leinster at +once engaged his attention. Moryt Oge Kavanagh had taken a horse and +other property from a neighbour, and Bellingham called upon Cahir MacArt +to restore it, and to punish the thief. The chief denied all +responsibility, on the ground that the culprit was in Sir Richard +Butler's suite, and that he could not in any case hang a man for +stealing, but only enforce restitution according to the Brehon law. We +can now see that in this at least Cahir MacArt was more nearly right than +the English lawyers. Moryt Oge had grievances, and said that he was +oppressed by one Watkin Powell, but he restored the horse, subject to the +Lord Deputy's opinion as to whether he had a right to it as a set off +against his own losses. He came to Carlow to plead his own cause, but Sir +Richard Butler, who had promised to meet him, did not appear. Butler was +accused of showing a bad example in the country by plundering houses, +wounding men, and taking gentlewomen prisoners. If this, or even a small +part of it, were true of the Earl of Ormonde's brother, it is not +surprising that robberies should have been things of every-day +occurrence.[326] + +[Sidenote: The Pale constantly threatened.] + +The defenders of the Pale were fully occupied. Having consulted such men +in England as understood Irish affairs, the Privy Council concluded that +the principal damage was done 'skulkingly in the winter's nights.' If the +Lord Deputy's presence near the border was not enough to prevent +incursion, soldiers accustomed to the country were to be quartered there +permanently, and nightly watch to be kept, especially on O'Connor's side. +Truces were not to last beyond the winter. This border service must have +been very disagreeable. John Brereton, who held the office of seneschal +of Wexford, of which the duties were very ill discharged by Watkin +Powell, was stationed at Kildare, and complained bitterly that he was +harassed to death. He could get no leave because he had no second +captain, and even in May and June he could scarcely enjoy an undisturbed +night. At one time he was roused from his bed by shouts, at another by +the announcement that some alarm beacon was blazing. On foot or on +horseback he had to march at once, and yet he was unable to answer every +summons. A proprietor at Rathangan, who is called Raymond Oge, had his +haggard burned by some of the O'Connor kerne. Two English troopers were +with him by chance and helped to defend his castle, but the fires which +they lit on the roof were not answered. Horses left out in a bog near a +wood were carried off and the keepers killed. Nothing was safe unless +shut up in a bawn, or fortified courtyard. Owen MacHugh O'Byrne, who was +retained permanently by the Government as a captain of kerne, was +inclined to do good service, but his men would not advance beyond Lea +Castle, saying that 'if Captain Cosby wanted wilfully to lose his life, +they did not set so little by their lives.' Cosby was a man of great +personal courage. The Constable of Lea, the same James Fitzgerald whose +allegiance in Grey's time had been so elastic, required a letter from +Bellingham to encourage him. The Lord Deputy himself spent some time at +Athy, where eighteen beds were provided for him and his suite; but the +border was never quiet for a moment. Fitzgerald and Cosby had no official +authority, and their orders carried no weight. If a cow strayed an alarm +was raised, and while soldiers were sent on a fool's errand in one +direction, the rebels or brigands had their time to themselves. O'More +came to the Barrow and carried off horses and sheep. Owen MacHugh +skirmished with him, but the hostile chief, 'like a jolly fellow,' +offered the royal kerne 6_s._ 8_d._ a fortnight to serve him, and pay to +their leaders in proportion. Before Cosby could get his men together the +O'Mores had vanished.[327] + +[Sidenote: Lord Dunboyne.] + +Other loyal and half loyal partisans were less energetic than Cosby. Lord +Dunboyne complained that his manor of Fishmoyne in Tipperary had been +plundered by the O'Carrolls and O'Meaghers, and this because he had +discharged his men by the Lord Deputy's orders. Bellingham retorted that +his lordship lied in his throat; for he had bidden him to entertain true +men instead of rebels, and to discharge no one unless it could be done +safely. He had particularly cautioned him against 'rashly discharging +such as have been malefactors as your gallowglasses were, and naturally +as their captains were.'[328] + +[Sidenote: Pirates.] + +While the frontiers of the Pale were harassed by robbers, the loyal ports +of the south were in constant dread of pirates. A rover named Eagle +blockaded Kinsale, which was half depopulated by an epidemic, and +another, named Colley, established himself in a castle belonging to Barry +Oge, whose aunt he married, so that the poor town was quite shut up. +Cork, the citizens told Bellingham, was so well defended by marshes and +waters, 'besides walls and towers which we do build daily, that we do not +fear all the Irishmen in Ireland and English rebels also, if there be any +such, until such time as your wisdom would repair hither for our refuge.' +John Tomson, a noted rover, visited both Cork and Waterford. According to +the authorities of the latter city he had 'one saker of 16-foot long, +having four chambers, so that we do not see how he may be apprehended.' +In an affray between the citizens and an armed French vessel Tomson took +part with the foreigner, and the pursuit of them cost Waterford 1,000_l._ +This formidable water-thief was taken by O'Sullivan Bere, who made him +pay a large ransom. Afterwards Bellingham rather oddly allowed the Cork +men to trade with Tomson, because it seemed possible that he had received +pardon, and because the goods then on board did not appear to be stolen. +Wine, figs, and sugar were, however, the wares offered by Tomson and his +ally Stephenson, and it is most likely that they had been stolen at sea +from the Portuguese. Tomson used the occasion to refit and to repair his +weapons, and the Waterford men called upon the Mayor of Cork to apprehend +the pirates; but that prudent official refused to do so without special +orders from Bellingham. Pirates were unpleasant people to deal with. A +gang confined at Waterford broke their gyves, nearly murdered a +fellow-prisoner, and with many 'cracks' and menaces threatened to burn +the gaol.[329] + +[Sidenote: Their daring outrages.] + +A pirate named Smith sailed into Youghal, but seems to have taken nothing +but loose rigging and spars. He had long infested these waters, seemingly +with no more than six men, armed with guns and bows. The Youghal +fishermen took heart, and by a combined attack succeeded in capturing +Smith. Other pirates named Cole, Butside, and Strangwych are mentioned as +active about this time. They were all English, but the trade was by no +means confined to any one nation; for Sir Philip Hoby, the English +ambassador at the imperial court, was instructed to apply for help to +suppress a squadron of twenty sail, manned by lawless desperadoes of all +countries, who infested the Irish coast, and robbed the Emperor's +subjects. Logan, a Scotch professor of the art, and a survivor from +Lennox's expedition, haunted the coast about Howth, and took several +vessels. Power and Gough, who robbed a Portuguese ship in Waterford +harbour, and ruined the foreign trade of that port, were probably of +Irish birth. Desmond, on whom the honorary office of Lord Treasurer, held +by the late Earl of Ormonde, had already been conferred, received a +commission from Lord Admiral Seymour to exercise his jurisdiction along +the coast from Dungarvan to Galway. The men of the latter town said they +could defend themselves against all Irishmen coming by land, but that +they had not a single piece of artillery to resist attacks from the sea. +They professed unswerving loyalty, as did their neighbours of Limerick, +and Bellingham thanked the latter for their efforts to keep the Burkes +quiet, 'in whom,' he said, 'the obstinacy is found to break this order, +you the King's our own most dear sovereign lord's and master's subjects, +the mayor, brethren, and council of Limerick shall proceed to the first +and lawful redress and punishment thereof.'[330] + +[Sidenote: Bellingham's campaign in Leix, 1548.] + +Before Bellingham came to Ireland a hosting into Leix had been +proclaimed, and he carried it out promptly. The men of Drogheda were +required to furnish a strong contingent, having 'caused to be mustered +all such as are meet for the war without partiality.' They had also to +furnish carts, of which it seems the town could only boast three, and +there were complaints of the stringency of Bellingham's requisitions; but +he said he would rather they were unfurnished than he. The Drogheda men +did very good service, and the carts, which were duly paid for, were +employed to carry pioneers' tools. The soldiers were thus enabled without +excessive fatigue to cut passes through woods, and make causeways over +bogs. After a thirty days' campaign in Leix, Bellingham resolved that a +town should be built in Leix, and in the meantime was erected Fort +Governor or Protector, in the place where Maryborough now stands. The +citizens of Dublin were required to assist in making it practicable for +soldiers to act upon the border of Kildare; but they made excuses, saying +that men could not carry arms and tools as well. Bellingham +sarcastically refuted their argument, 'in which your experience bitterly +condemneth my ignorance.' Let them send carts as the Drogheda men had +done, and then one man could do the work of two.[331] + +[Sidenote: Bellingham routs the O'Connors.] + +In August 1548 Cahir O'Connor, who still kept some force about him, +invaded Kildare. Nicholas Bagenal, Marshal of the army, fell in with the +marauders, and rescued the cattle taken, though his men were in the +proportion of one to sixteen. Cahir retreated with his troop, and with a +multitude of camp followers and 'slaves,' who carried their food to what +was considered an unassailable position. Bellingham was not far off, and +he ordered Saintloo to attack them wherever he could find them. +Accompanied by Travers, Brereton, and Cosby, Saintloo tracked them to a +spot surrounded by a bog. The soldiers struggled manfully through the +moss until they reached hard ground, and a great butchery followed. The +oldest man in Ireland had, as Bellingham supposed, never seen so many +wood-kerne slain in one day. Such was the slaughter, says this precursor +of Cromwell, that none escaped but by mistake, or hiding them in ambush, +'such was the great goodness of God to deliver them into our hands.' The +Old Testament in English was beginning to make its mark upon language and +upon habits of thought.[332] + +[Sidenote: Disturbances in Munster. Foreign rumours.] + +Munster was much disturbed. Edmund Tyrry, the King's bailiff at Cork, had +a dispute with some of the Barries about land. The Earl of Desmond was +appealed to, and he took Tyrry to Lord Barrymore, desiring the latter to +do him justice. Barrymore took the bailiff with him to his court-baron, +or 'parliament,' and the case was partly heard and adjourned to a future +day. On his return journey towards Cork, Tyrry was waylaid and murdered. +Bellingham demanded justice, and Lord Barrymore, after some months' +delay, gave up the murderers, who were doubtless duly executed. But the +Barry country continued to be the scene of frequent outrages. Lord +Barrymore went out one day in the early winter to drive the cattle of +some wild Irishmen, and met with certain other wild Irish who were going +to spoil his tenants. A fight followed, and the Barries 'killed +incontinently little lack of fourscore of them,' wherewith, said the +Corporation of Cork, 'we be glad, and so is the Earl of Desmond.' But +Bellingham was not satisfied with Desmond's conduct, nor easy about the +future. James Delahide, always the herald of a storm, was in Ireland, and +probably with the Earl. Gerald of Kildare might appear again; and there +were rumours that the French meditated a descent and the establishment of +a fortified port at Skerries to command the passage to Scotland. These +fears were not realised; but there were frequent communications between +Desmond and the O'Briens, and Bellingham took steps to have everything +reported to him. This vigilance perhaps prevented the Munster chiefs from +moving.[333] + +[Sidenote: Anarchy in Connaught. Garrison at Athlone.] + +The death of the newly-created Earl of Clanricarde revived the normal +anarchy of Connaught. Ulick Burke was acknowledged as captain by the +Government and by some of the inhabitants during the minority of the +Earl's son Richard. But another Richard, the heir's illegitimate brother, +gave so much trouble that Sir Dermot O'Shaughnessy, and other +well-disposed chiefs, demanded that the young Earl should be settled in +possession, and that Commissioners should be sent to Galway for the +purpose. The false Richard was, however, allowed to rule his own +immediate district, but not without strong hints from Bellingham that +what the King gave the King could take away. Burke was reminded that he +had apprehended no notable malefactor, and that the Lord Deputy would +quarrel with no honest Irishman for his sake. Bellingham had neither time +nor force to give to the West, and the towns of Limerick and Galway had +very indifferent success in their efforts to keep the peace. But the +chief governor's reputation for justice was not without effect even in +Connaught. 'Your lordship's famous proceedings,' wrote the Archbishop of +Tuam, 'being divolgated throughout all Ireland, to the great fear of +misdoers and malefactors all through the country hereabouts now needing +reformation, more than heretofore, all for lack of justice among them to +be observed.' Bellingham established a garrison at Athlone, which +overawed the O'Kellys and O'Melaghlins; but little progress was made +beyond the Shannon. Robert Dillon, the lawyer, was the Lord Deputy's +civil substitute, but the sword was necessarily in the Baron of Delvin's +hands, who did all he could to prevent Dillon from sending messengers to +Dublin. The central districts of Ireland between the Pale and the great +river were at this time the theatre of constant war, and in this an +English, or Anglo-Norman, adventurer figures conspicuously.[334] + +[Sidenote: Edmond Fay.] + +Edmond Fay, who seems to have had property at Cadamstown, in the King's +County, and to have claimed more than the natives were willing to allow +him, was called into Westmeath by O'Melaghlin to aid him against his +enemies. The confederates gained some successes, and occupied, among +other places, the historic castle of Kincora. 'Edmond,' say the 'Four +Masters,' 'then continued to conquer Delvin in the King's name in +opposition to O'Melaghlin; and thus had O'Melaghlin brought a rod into +the country to strike himself, for Edmond a Faii expelled and banished +himself and all his tribe out of Delvin, just as the young swarm expels +the old.' Fay, who was to some extent supported by the Government, and +who had soldiers with him, drove the MacCoghlans across the Shannon, and +made himself master of most of the country between Athlone and +Slievebloom. Not satisfied with this he proposed to attack the +O'Carrolls, who joined the MacCoghlans, and expelled him from his recent +conquests. Fay called on the Government for help, and the whole county, +on both sides of the Brosna, was burned and plundered by the troops, to +whom no resistance was attempted. The Irish demolished Banagher and +other castles to prevent their being occupied, and this became a general +practice in like cases. Cadamstown was afterwards taken by the +O'Carrolls, and Fay returned to his original obscurity. He seems to have +had the keep of Thady Roe, or the Red Captain, a noted leader of +mercenaries, who held possession of Nenagh. The O'Carrolls burned the +monastery and town, but the castle defied their power.[335] + +[Sidenote: The Pale is freed from rebels.] + +Towards the close of 1548 Alen was able to report that there were only +about a dozen rebels on the borders of the Pale. O'Connor had surrendered +at discretion, and his life was spared in the hope of inducing O'More to +follow his example. Alen advised that they should be removed from +Ireland, and that work should be found for them at Calais or Boulogne. +'There are in all,' he told Paget, 'not twelve persons wherewith your +honour to make a maundie, for when Christ ministered at His last supper +there were twelve, of whom one was a traitor, and of these ye may have +twelve together at one table.'[336] + +[Sidenote: The coinage. A mint.] + +The Plantagenet kings had made no difference in the coinage of England +and Ireland; but in 1460--when Richard, Duke of York, was Lord +Lieutenant--the Parliament of Drogheda, with the express intention of +loosening the tie between the two islands, declared that coins +intrinsically worth threepence should be struck in Ireland and pass for +fourpence. There was afterwards a further degradation, and the money +struck by Henry VIII. consisted at last of one-half, or even two-thirds, +alloy. 'New coins were introduced into Ireland,' say the 'Four Masters,' +with pardonable exaggeration, 'that is, copper, and the men of Ireland +were obliged to use it as silver.' Dishonesty had its proverbial reward, +for trade was thrown into confusion and general discontent engendered. +The Corporation of Galway more than once besought Bellingham to force the +new money on the captain of Clanricarde and Donnell O'Flaherty. The +Corporation of Kinsale made the same request as to the Courcies, +Barries, and MacCarthies. This was, of course, beyond Bellingham's power, +and the Protector went on coining regardless of Irish complaints. Thomas +Agard was Treasurer of the Dublin Mint, and exercised his office +independently of the Lord Deputy. He was originally in Cromwell's +service, and his position not unnaturally brought him into collision with +Lord Leonard Grey, who accused him of making mischief. Agard, however, +said that Grey, 'which is my heavy lord,' oppressed him out of spite, +because he opposed the Geraldine faction, and prevented him from setting +up broad looms and dye-works in Dublin. With the politic St. Leger he got +on better, but Bellingham, whose temper was quite as despotic as Grey's, +was much disgusted at the independence of the Mint. Agard leaned to the +Puritan side, and praised Bellingham's godly proceedings. God is with +you, he wrote to him, and with all good Christians who love God and their +King, with much more of the same sort. But the Lord Deputy was not +conciliated, and accused Agard of cooking his accounts, and of embezzling +2,000_l._ He was not superseded, and was entrusted with the congenial +task of melting down chalices and crosses, and of turning them into bad +money. The home authorities chose to make Agard independent in his +office; but the stronger nature triumphed, and the King's auditor +reported that the Treasurer of the Mint dared not for his life speak of +his business to any but the Lord Deputy. The debased currency caused much +speculation of an undesirable kind. Thus, Francis Digby, who had a +licence to export Irish wool, found it pay much better to buy up plate +with the current coin and sell it in England for sterling money. Others +took the cue, and it became necessary to issue a proclamation. It was, of +course, no more possible to prevent the exportation of silver than to +change the ebb and flow of the tides.[337] + +[Sidenote: Bellingham's haughty bearing.] + +[Sidenote: His rash letters to Somerset,] + +In November Bellingham paid a short visit to Dublin, where he found Lady +Ormonde with her new husband, Sir Francis Bryan, who had a commission as +Lord Marshal of Ireland. Bryan, 'the man of youthful conditions,' as +Roger Ascham called him, was particularly recommended by the Privy +Council to Alen, who could not understand what Henry VIII. had seen in +him worthy of great promotion. Bellingham hated him from the first, and +Alen thought he would have the same feeling to any one who had married +Lady Ormonde. We have no means of knowing whether he was in love with +her, or whether he hated her, or whether he merely disliked the alliance +as likely to clip his own wings. His idea of the rights and dignity of +his position was high and even excessive, and was asserted with a fine +disregard of prudence. To Somerset he complained that his credit was bad, +and that he was despised in Ireland because he was thought to have no +power to reward those who had done good service. He begged that they +might be 'fed with some thereof, which no doubt it is great need of, for +the wisest sort have ever found that good service in Ireland has been +less considered of any place.' + +[Sidenote: to Warwick,] + +[Sidenote: and to Seymour.] + +In writing to Warwick his words were still stronger, and he complained +bitterly at the slight put on him in the matter of the mint. 'I am,' he +said, 'at your honourable lordship's commandment; but in respect I am the +King's Deputy, your good lordship may determine surely that I will have +none exempt from my authority in Ireland's ground, but sore against my +will.' He had not spent the King's treasure in gambling or riotous +living, nor in buying land for himself. The King's responsible servants +in Ireland were neglected, and credit given to backstairs' suitors +'coming in by the windows,' which did more harm than all the rebels and +Irishry in the realm. Some of Warwick's letters had hurt him, whereas the +true policy would be to let men 'know that I am the King's Deputy, so +that they shall think when they have my favours things go well with them, +and the contrary when they have them not.' These letters, and another to +Seymour, gave great, and not unnatural offence, so that Bellingham was +fain to beg the admiral's pardon and intercession with Warwick. Some +measure of the serpent's wisdom is necessary to those who fill great +offices.[338] + +[Sidenote: Bellingham and the Irish.] + +If Bellingham could thus treat the most powerful men in England, he was +not likely to mince matters with those whom he could touch. 'Bring +yourself,' said the Lord Deputy to O'Molloy, who had wrongfully detained +the property of a kinswoman, 'out of the slander of the people by making +prompt restitution, or have your contempt punished as to your deserts +shall appertain.' To the Earl of Thomond, who had promised to bring in +Calough O'Carroll but had not done so, he wrote a noble letter, but a +very imprudent one, considering the character and position of the chief +whom he addressed. Calough O'Carroll, he said, had brought his troubles +on himself by allowing his men to plunder, and by refusing to give them +up; he should be well plagued for it according to promise, until he and +his brother found means to come and seek their own pardon. The O'Carrolls +submitted and were pardoned.[339] + +[Sidenote: Bellingham and his Council.] + +Bellingham was above all things a soldier, and he treated his Council, +consisting for the most part of lawyers, in a very high-handed manner. +His old friend Alen remonstrated, and there is no reason to doubt him +here, though he had a way of quarrelling with successive Deputies. Alen +admitted that Bellingham was quite free from pecuniary self-seeking, but +thought he had more than his share of the other sin which beset chief +governors, ambition namely, and the longing to rule alone. He had said +that it would be a good deed to hang the whole Council, and he kept the +members waiting for hours among the servants in the ante-room. Alen he +accused personally of feigning sickness when bent on mischief. Others he +threatened to commit if they offended him, reminding them that he could +make or mar their fortunes. When angry he frequently sent men to a prison +without any warrant of law; 'and I myself,' said the Chancellor, 'except +I walk warily, look for none other but some time with the King's seal +with me to take up my lodging in the castle of Dublin.' The Council had +become a lifeless, spiritless corpse, for Bellingham could hear no advice +without threats and taunts. It is not surprising that Privy Councillors +feared to speak frankly, and forced themselves to wait until this tyranny +should be overpast.[340] + +[Sidenote: Bellingham seizes Desmond.] + +To a Lord Deputy so jealous for the dignity of his office nothing could +be more distasteful than the power of the House of Ormonde, which was now +wielded by the Countess and her husband. The Sheriff of Kildare gave a +most galling proof of this power by begging that his communications with +Bellingham might be kept secret for fear of Lady Ormonde's displeasure. +She claimed the right to keep gallowglasses in Kilkenny, and the Lord +Deputy infinitely disliked this practice, which had prevailed for +centuries. He wished to keep the young Earl in England, lest by living at +home he should imbibe exaggerated notions of his own importance. 'His +learning and manners,' he said, 'would be nothing amended, and the King's +authority thereby be nought the more obeyed.' By remaining in England +till he was of discreet years, he might learn willingly to abandon his +'usurped insufferable rule, which I trust he will do yet in time to +come.' Any assumption of independence on the part of a subject irritated +Bellingham excessively; and when Desmond, whose manners he stigmatised as +detestable, neglected his summons, he set out quietly from Leighlin with +a small party of horse, rode rapidly into Munster, surprised Desmond +sitting by the fire in one of his castles, and carried him off to Dublin. +He set himself to instruct the rude noble in civilisation and in the +nature of the royal authority, sometimes, if we may believe the +chronicler, 'making him kneel upon his knees an hour together before he +knew his duty.' This discipline, accompanied doubtless with kind +treatment in other ways, seems to have answered so well, that, according +to the same authority, Desmond 'thought himself most happy that ever he +was acquainted with the said Deputy, and did for ever after so much +honour him, as that continually all his life at every dinner and supper +he would pray for the good Sir Edward Bellingham; and at all callings he +was so obedient and dutiful, as none more in that land.'[341] + +[Sidenote: Ireland quiet. Garrison at Leighlin Bridge.] + +At the beginning of the year 1549 the Privy Council thanked Bellingham +for having brought Ireland to a good state. They charged him to aid +Tyrone against the Scots, and to be on his guard against French +enterprises undertaken under colour of trading. The forts erected where +Maryborough and Philipstown now are kept Leix and Offaly quiet. Breweries +were at work under the shadow of both, and it was proposed to start a +tan-yard at Fort Protector, as Maryborough was for the moment called. +Bellingham established another post, which became very important, to +command the road from Dublin to Kilkenny, and thus make the Government +less dependent on the House of Ormonde. The suppressed Carmelite convent +at Leighlin Bridge required but little alteration, and the Barrow ceased +to be a serious obstacle. The Lord Deputy kept twenty or thirty horses +here with the greatest difficulty, the hay having to be brought from +Carlow through a disturbed country. Irishmen were willing to settle and +to make an example of peaceful cultivation, but they were in great fear +of Lady Ormonde. Walter Cowley, formerly Solicitor-General and fomenter +of discord between St. Leger and the late Earl, had little good to say of +the no longer disconsolate widow, but praised Sir Francis Bryan for +saying that he would not 'borrow of the law as my Lord of Ormonde did.' +The expression was called forth by the action of the Idrone Ryans, who +were frightened by the inquiries into tenure, and came to Lady Ormonde +offering to convey their lands to her and her heirs; the object being to +defeat the Act of Absentees. No doubt the cultivators would have been +glad to pay an easy rent to a powerful neighbour, rather than have an +active new landlord such as Cosby thrust upon them. Sir Richard Butler, +some of whose misdeeds have been already mentioned, built a castle in +O'More's country without any title, and overawed the whole district of +Slievemargy.[342] + +[Sidenote: Progress of the Reformation. Browne and Staples.] + +Doctrinal Protestantism was not formally promulgated in Bellingham's +time; but the recognition of the royal supremacy was pretty general, for +he would allow no disobedience. The Treasurer of St. Patrick's, who was +refractory, was severely reprimanded, and threatened with condign +punishment. A Scot who preached at Kilmainham condemned the Mass, and +Archbishop Browne, whose opinions were not perhaps quite fixed, was +accused of inveighing against the stranger, and of maintaining that those +who sided with him were 'not the King's true subjects.' Means were, +however, taken to spread the order of service which Browne had set on +foot. The Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and the _Ave Maria_ were +read and circulated in English, but the Mass was retained; a confused +arrangement which could not last. Still, the men who controlled the +Government and the young King were known to be favourable to the new +doctrines, and the Scots emissary soon found a distinguished follower in +the Bishop of Meath. Staples had at one time certainly held opinions less +advanced than those of Browne, but he now went to Dublin and preached a +strong Protestant sermon against the Mass. On returning to his own +diocese he found that he had incurred universal hatred. An Irishman, +whose infant he had christened and named after himself, desired to have +the child re-baptized, 'for he would not have him bear the name of a +heretic.' A gentleman refused to have his child confirmed 'by him that +denied the sacrament of the altar.' The gossips in the market-place at +Navan declared that if the Bishop came to preach there they would stay +away, lest they should learn to be heretics. A lawyer in the +neighbourhood told a crowd of people that Staples deserved to be burned, +'for if I preached heresy so was I worthy to be burned, and if I preached +right yet was I worthy that kept the truth from knowledge.' 'This +gentleman,' Staples quaintly adds, 'loveth no sodden meat, but can skill +only of roasting.' Another lawyer, a judge, said it should be proved +before the Bishop's face that he preached against learning. The following +is too interesting to omit:--'A beneficed man of mine own promotion came +unto me weeping and desired me that he might declare his mind unto me +without my displeasure. I said I was well content. My Lord, said he, +before ye went last to Dublin ye were the best beloved man in your +diocese that ever came in, and now ye are the worst beloved that ever +came here. I asked why? "Why," saith he, "ye have taken open part with +the State that false heretic, and preached against the sacrament of the +altar, and deny saints, and will make us worse than Jews: if the country +wist how they would eat you;" and he besought me to take heed of myself, +for he feared more than he durst tell me. "Ye have," he said, "more +curses than ye have hairs of your head, and I advise you for Christ sake +not to preach at the Navan as I hear ye will do." I said it was my charge +to preach, and because there was most resort (God willing) I would not +fail but preach there. Hereby ye may perceive what case I am in, but I +put all to God.' The Bishop spoke as became his office, but he was +'afraid of his life divers ways.'[343] + +[Sidenote: Bellingham and Dowdall.] + +Bellingham had information of what was going on in England by private as +well as official correspondence. John Issam, a strong Protestant, who was +afterwards made seneschal of Wexford, wrote from London an account of the +variations of opinion upon the all-important question of the sacrament. +'There is great sticking,' he said, 'about the blessed body and bloode of +Jesus Christ, howbeit, I trust that they will conclude well in it, by the +help of the Holy Spirit, without which such matters cannot well be tried; +but part of our bishops that have been most stiff in opinions of the +reality of His body there, as He was here in earth, should be in the +bread, they now confess and say that they were never of that opinion, but +by His mighty power in spirit, and leaveth His body sitting on the right +hand of His Father, as our common creed testifieth; but yet there is hard +hold with some to the contrary, who shall relent when it pleaseth God.' +Bellingham certainly did what he could to spread the reformed doctrines, +but this was, perhaps, not much. His letter to Primate Dowdall, who had +acknowledged the royal supremacy, but was inflexible on the question of +the sacrament, is instinct with the spirit of Christian sincerity. + +'My Lord Primate,' he says, 'I pray you lovingly and charitably to be +circumspect in your doings, and consider how God hath liberally given you +divers gifts, and namely, of reputation among the people ... Let all +these in part be with the gratuity of setting forth the plain, simple, +and naked truth recompensed, and the way to do the same is to know that +which, with a mild and humble spirit wished, sought, and prayed for, will +most certainly be given, which I pray God grant us both.'[344] + +[Sidenote: Bellingham advances the royal supremacy.] + +Bellingham could do nothing with Dowdall; but in the spring of 1549 all +the priests in the Kilkenny district not physically incapable of +travelling were summoned to meet the Lord Deputy and Council. It was +ordered that the Attorney-General should exercise jurisdiction in +ecclesiastical matters, and 'abolish idolatry, papistry, the Mass +sacrament, and the like.' The Archbishop of Cashel seems to have had no +great zeal for the work. Nicholas Fitzwilliam, Treasurer of St. +Patrick's, received a stinging rebuke for his hesitation to carry out the +royal commands. The innovations were distasteful to most men in Ireland, +but Bellingham was recognised as one who would use his patronage +conscientiously, and not job in the usual style. John Brereton, a decided +Protestant, recommended to him 'for the love of God and the zeal that you +have for the education of Christ's flock,' a poor priest who was willing +to go into a certain district where he had friends, and where there was +no one to declare the true worship. The suppliant, who was both learned +and earnest, could expect favour from no nother's (_sic_) hand, because +he 'is but poor and has no money to give as his adversaries do.' Auditor +Brasier told Somerset that 'there was never Deputy in the realm that went +the right way, as he doth, both for the setting forth of God's Word to +His honour, and to the wealth of the King's Highness' subjects.' But +these praises did not serve to prolong his term of office, and he left +Ireland without effecting the reforms which he had at heart.[345] + +[Sidenote: Bellingham leaves Ireland, 1549. His character.] + +Bellingham's departure from Ireland followed pretty closely on the +Protector's eclipse, though it is not quite certain that it was caused by +it. Warwick may have borne malice for past lectures, but the Lord Deputy +seems to have defended himself successfully, and might have been sent +back had he not excused himself on account of ill-health. The malady +proved fatal, but he seems to have retained office till his death. There +has been a tendency among those who find their ideal realised in a strong +man armed, to represent Bellingham as a model ruler. It appears from his +letters and from general testimony that he was honest, brave, loyal, and +sincerely religious; but his incessant wars were very burdensome, and it +is noted that he exacted the unpopular cess more stringently than its +inventor St. Leger had done. But he was a true-dealing man, took nothing +without punctual payment, and 'could not abide the cry of the poor.' From +the love of gain, that common vice of provincial governors, he was +absolutely free, and made a point of spending all his official income in +hospitality, saying that the meat and drink in his house were not his +own, but his dear master's. For the King's honour he paid his own +travelling expenses, and insisted on doing the like even when Lord +Baltinglass entertained him sumptuously. Alen, who criticised his +official conduct so sharply, could not but allow that he was 'the best +man of war that ever he had seen in Ireland.' The figure of the Puritan +soldier has its charms; but the sword of the Lord and of Gideon is not a +good instrument of civil government. Absolutism may be apparently +successful under a beneficent despot, but who is to guarantee that his +successor shall not be a villain or a fool? Bellingham's forts did their +own work, but his ascendency over lawyers in Dublin and ambitious chiefs +in the country was purely personal, and had no lasting effect. There was +much to admire in his character, but distance has lent it enchantment, +and in practice not much permanent work could be done by a governor of +whom the most striking fact recorded is that 'he wore ever his harness, +and so did all those whom he liked of.'[346] + +[Sidenote: Bryan, Lord Justice. Mischief brewing.] + +As soon as Bellingham had left Ireland the Council unanimously elected +Bryan Lord Justice. The Irish, though overawed by the departed Deputy, +had been plotting in the usual way, and after all that had passed Lord +Thomond and O'Carroll were sworn allies. The Kavanaghs were known to be +meditating mischief, and Desmond was not to be depended on. Lady Ormonde +had been quarrelling with Lady Desmond, and Alen took credit to himself +for having made a truce between them. To the usual elements of discord +were added many rumours of Scotch and French invasions. O'Neill, +O'Donnell, O'Dogherty, and others proposed to become subjects of France, +in consideration of help from thence, and of the most Christian King's +good offices with the Pope. Monluc, Bishop of Valence, returning from his +mission to the Scottish Court, was directed by Henry to take Ireland on +his way, and to gain all the information possible. Sir James Melville, +then a boy, accompanied him. 'Before our landing,' he says, 'we sent one +George Paris, who had been sent into Scotland by the great O'Neill and +his associates, who landed in the house of a gentleman who had married +O'Dogherty's daughter, dwelling at the Loch edge. He came aboard and +welcomed us, and conveyed us to his house, which was a great dark tower, +where we had cold cheer--as herring and biscuit--for it was Lentroun.' +One De Botte, a Breton merchant, was also sent on secret service to +Ireland apparently about the same time.[347] + +[Sidenote: Death of Bryan, 1550. Lady Ormonde meditates a third +marriage.] + +At this juncture Bryan died at Clonmel under circumstances apparently +somewhat suspicious, for there was a post-mortem examination. He had +refused to take any medicine, and the doctors, who detected no physical +unsoundness, prudently declared that he died of grief; we are not told +for what. 'But whereof soever he died,' says Alen, who was present both +at the death and the autopsy, 'he departed very godly.' Lady Ormonde, who +must have had a rooted dislike to single life, immediately recurred to +her plan of marrying Gerald of Desmond, and the Chancellor had to +remonstrate on the scandal of so soon supplying the place of two such +noble husbands. The danger of putting both the Ormonde and Desmond +interests in the same hand was obvious. The Geraldines were already too +powerful, and what might not be the consequence of throwing the weight of +the Butlers into the same scale, and making them more Irish and less +loyal than they had been before? In the end she promised to remain sole +for one year. 'Nevertheless,' said Alen, 'I would my lords (if they take +her marriage of any moment) trusted a woman's promise no further than in +such a case it is to be trusted!' Her marriage took place in the end with +beneficial results: for Lady Ormonde was able to keep some sort of peace +between her husband and her son, and thus saved much misery and +bloodshed. Immediately after her death the quarrel broke out anew, and +ended only with the extinction of the House of Desmond.[348] + +[Sidenote: Brabazon, Lord Justice. Dowdall and Wauchop.] + +On the day of Bryan's death the Council elected Brabazon to succeed him, +and the new Lord Justice soon afterwards went to Limerick to arrange +disputes among the O'Briens and between Thomond and Desmond. Before the +complicated complaints had been all heard his presence was required in +Dublin on account of the disturbed state of the North; a most dangerous +visitor having landed in Tyrconnel. This was the Papal Primate, Robert +Wauchop--Dowdall, who had acknowledged the royal supremacy, though +without accepting any of the new doctrines, not being acknowledged at +Rome. The actual Primate kept himself well informed as to the movements +of his rival, whom he understood to be a 'very shrewd spy and great +brewer of war and sedition.' There were many French and Scotch ready to +attack Ireland, and the former had already manned and armed two castles +in Innishowen. Tyrone gave Dowdall letters which he had received from the +French king, and the Archbishop, with his consent, forwarded them to the +Council. Tyrone swore before the Dean and Chapter of Armagh that he had +sent no answers, and that he would remain faithful to the King. He did +not acknowledge Wauchop's claims, but merely reported that he called +himself Primate, and that he was accompanied by two Frenchmen of rank, +who were supposed to be forerunners of countless Scotch and French +invaders. The Council warned Tyrone that the French wished to conquer +Ireland, and to reduce him and his clan to slavery and insignificance. He +was reminded that they had been expelled from Italy and Sicily for their +more than Turkish ferocity and rapacity. French messages were also sent +to O'Donnell, but no letters, as he had transmitted some formerly +received to the Government. He professed his loyalty, and declared that +he would not recognise Wauchop unless the Council wished it.[349] + +[Sidenote: Foreign intrigues. George Paris.] + +In all these intrigues we find one George Paris, or Parish, engaged. He +was a man whose ancestors had held land in Ireland, of which they had +been deprived, and he was perhaps related to the traitor of Maynooth. +This man came and went between France and Ireland, and though the +threatened attack was averted by the peace concluded by England with +France and Scotland, his services were not dispensed with. Henry said +that the intrigues had ceased with the peace, but the English ambassador +knew that his Majesty had had an interview with Paris less than a week +before. Paris told everyone that all the nobility of Ireland were +resolved to cast off the English yoke for fear of losing all their lands, +as the O'Mores and O'Connors had done. He boasted that he himself had +begged Trim Castle of the French king to make up for the lands which the +English had deprived him of. The Constable spoke as smoothly and not much +more truly than the King. Monluc was still employed in the matter, had +interviews with Paris, and gave him money.[350] + +[Sidenote: St. Leger again Deputy. Alen displaced, 1550.] + +After Bellingham's death it was determined to send St. Leger over again, +though he disliked the service, and though the Irish Chancellor continued +to indite bulky minutes against him. It was felt that the two could +hardly agree, and Alen was turned out of the Council and deprived of the +great seal, which was given to Cusack. His advice was nevertheless +occasionally asked. A year later he received 200 marks pension from the +date of his dismissal, though he had only asked for 100_l._ Many charges +were made against him, the truest, though he indignantly denied it, being +that he could not agree with others. But after careful search no fault of +any moment could be found in him, and he had served very industriously in +Ireland for twenty-two years. With all his opportunities he declared that +he had gained only nine and a half acres of Irish land. St. Leger and his +friends, who were for conciliating rather than repressing the Irish, +naturally disliked Alen. He had a decided taste for intrigue; but if we +regard him as a mere English official, diligent and useful, though narrow +and touchy, he must be allowed to have had his value.[351] + +[Sidenote: St. Leger adopts a conciliatory policy.] + +The new Lord Deputy's salary was fixed at 1,000_l._ a year from his +predecessor's death, though St. Leger, who alleged that he was already +500_l._ the poorer for Ireland, fought hard for 1,500_l._ He retained his +old privilege of importing 1,000 quarters of wheat and 1,000 quarters of +malt yearly, to be consumed only in Ireland. The appointment was +evidently intended to restore some confidence among the natives, who had +been scared by Bellingham's high-handed policy. St. Leger having +suggested that Irishmen should be 'handled with the more humanity lest +they by extremity should adhere to other foreign Powers,' he was directed +to 'use gentleness to such as shall show themselves conformable,' that +great Roman maxim of empire which has been so often neglected in Ireland. +Encouraging letters were to be sent to Desmond, Thomond, and Clanricarde; +and to MacWilliam, the O'Donnells, O'Reilly, O'Kane, and MacQuillin. +Pieces of scarlet cloth and silver cups to the value of 100_l._ were to +be distributed to the best advantage among them. Particular instructions +were given for reforming the military establishments, and officers were +not to be allowed to have more than 10 per cent. of Irish among their +men. Coyne and livery, the most fertile source of licence and disorder, +was to be eschewed as far as possible. Irish noblemen were to be +encouraged to exchange some of their lands for property in England, and +thus to give pledges for good behaviour. In Leix and Offaly leases for +twenty-one years were to be given; and religious reform was everywhere to +be taken in hand. One very curious power was given to the Lord Deputy. +When England was at war with France or the Empire, he was authorised to +license subjects of those Powers to import merchandise under royal +protection, excepting such articles as were under a special embargo.[352] + +[Sidenote: Hesitation about pressing the Reformation forward.] + +St. Leger was ordered to set forth the Church service in English, +according to the royal ordinances, in all places where it was possible to +muster a congregation who understood the language. Elsewhere the words +were to be translated truly into Irish, until such time as the people +should be brought to a knowledge of English. But small pains were taken +to carry out the latter design, and the Venetian agent reported, with +practical accuracy, that the Form of Common Prayer and Administration of +the Sacraments was not enforced in Ireland or other islands subject to +England where English was not understood. The book still remains that of +the English colony, and of no one else in Ireland. Cranmer and Elizabeth +both saw the necessity of attempting to reach the Irish through their own +tongue, but neither were able to do it. When Bedell, at a later period, +threw himself heart and soul into the cause, he received not only no +encouragement, but positive opposition, from the Government; and in any +case the breach was probably then past mending. Protestantism had become +identified in the Irish mind with conquest and confiscation, a view of +the case which was sedulously encouraged by Jesuits and other foreign +emissaries.[353] + +[Sidenote: Bad state of the garrisons.] + +St. Leger lost no time in visiting the forts in Leix and Offaly, and he +found there the disorder natural to, and perhaps pardonable in, an +ill-paid soldiery. Bellingham had complained more than a year before that +so many women of the country--Moabitish women he would have called them +had he lived a century later--were received into Fort Protector. Some +officers indignantly denied this, 'and as to our misdemeanour in any +point,' they added, 'we put that to the honestest men and women in the +fort.' If this report was true, discipline had been much relaxed in a +year and nine months, for St. Leger found as many women of bad character +as there were soldiers in the forts. Divine service there had been none +for three years, and only one sermon. Staples, who was the preacher on +that solitary occasion, 'had so little reverence as he had no great haste +eftsoons to preach there.' There was also a want of garrison artillery; +and eight pieces of cannon, with forty smaller pieces called bases, were +demanded by the Master of the Ordnance. He also asked for 400 +harquebusses, and for bows, which the Dugald Dalgettys of the day had +not yet learned to despise. There were rumours of a French invasion, and +it was proposed to send a strong expedition to Ireland--six ships with +attendant galleys, 1,000 men, including many artificers to be employed in +fortifying Baltimore, Berehaven, and other places in the south-west, and +the mouths of the Bann and of Lough Larne in the north-east. The +Constables of Carrickfergus and Olderfleet were ordered to put those +castles in order for fear of Scots. Lord Cobham was designated as leader +of the expedition, and the Irish Government were directed at once to +survey Cork, Kinsale, and other southern harbours.[354] + +[Sidenote: St. George's Channel unsafe. Want of money.] + +Martin Pirry, Comptroller of the Mint, who brought over bullion collected +in France and Flanders, had to stay seven days at Holyhead for fear of +five great ships which he saw drifting about in the tideway. In the end +he secured a quick and safe passage by hiring a twenty-five ton pinnace +with sixteen oars, into which he put twenty-five well-armed men. St. +Leger had been complaining bitterly that he could get no money out of the +mint, although 2,000_l._ was owing. Pirry seems to have had only a +limited authority, for though over 7,000_l._ was delivered by him on the +Lord Deputy's warrant, St. Leger still objected that he had to make +bricks without straw, and to put port towns in a posture of defence +without being allowed to draw for the necessary expenses.[355] + +[Sidenote: Abortive scheme for fortifying in Munster. Apprehensions of +French invasion.] + +The expedition did not take place, but Sir James Croft was sent over with +instructions to inspect all the harbours between Berehaven and Cork, to +make plans of the most important, and to select sites for fortification; +utilising existing buildings as much as possible, and taking steps for +the acquisition of the necessary land. He was then to extend his +operations as far east as Waterford, acting in all things in concert with +the Lord Deputy. It is evident that things were in a state quite unfit to +resist a powerful French armament; but the weather as usual was on the +side of England, and of eighteen French vessels laden with provisions, +more than one-half were lost in a storm off the Irish coast. This fleet +was, no doubt, destined only for the relief of the French party in +Scotland, and there does not seem to have been any real intention of +breaking the peace with England. But the Irish exiles were unwilling to +believe this. George Paris, who had been despatched from Blois about +Christmas 1550, returned to France in the following spring, bringing with +him an Irishman of importance. The Irish offered Ireland to Henry, and +begged him to defend _his own_, saying that Wales would also rise as soon +as foreign aid appeared. Their avowed object was 'the maintenance of +religion, and for the continuance of God's service in such sort as they +had received from their fathers. In the which quarrel they were +determined either to stand or to die.' It would be better to invade +England than Ireland; for the English Catholics would receive an invader +with open arms. Paris spoke much of the frequent conquests of England. No +outward enemy, once landed, had ever been repulsed, and the thing was +easier now than ever. The sanguine plotter talked loudly of all that had +been promised him, and professed to believe that the Dauphin would soon +be King of Ireland and Scotland at the very least. 'With these brags, and +such others, he filleth every man's ears that he chanceth to talk +withal.' He had constant interviews with the Nuncio, but the French grew +every day cooler. The English ambassador perceived that the Irish envoy +was 'not so brag,' and at last reported that he had been denied help. He +attributed this change of policy entirely to the fear of increasing the +difficulties in which the Queen Dowager of Scotland already found +herself.[356] + +[Sidenote: Difficulties in Ulster. Andrew Brereton.] + +While Scots and Frenchmen threatened its shores, Ulster furnished more +even than its normal share of home-grown strife. Captain Andrew Brereton, +who seems to have been a son or grandson of Sir William Brereton, held +Lecale as a Crown tenant at will. He was a man singularly unfit to deal +with a high-spirited race like the O'Neills. When Tyrone, according to +ancient Irish custom, sent a party to distrain for rent among the +MacCartans, Brereton set upon them and killed several men, including two +brothers of the Countess. To the Earl's remonstrances he replied by +calling him a traitor, and threatening to treat him as he had treated +O'Hanlon--that is, to spoil him, slay his men, and burn his country. It +is clear that Brereton was not actuated by any special love of the +MacCartans, for he beheaded a gentleman of that clan--without trial. He +forcibly expelled Prior Magennis from his farm on the church lands of +Down; and Roger Broke, a congenial spirit, shut up the Prior in Dundrum +Castle. Tyrone went to Dublin to welcome St. Leger on his arrival, and +Brereton openly called him a traitor at the Council Board, in the +presence of the Lord Deputy and of the Earls of Thomond and Clanricarde. +The proud O'Neill of course took the accusation 'very unkindly.' St. +Leger was of opinion that such handling of wild men had done much harm in +Ireland; and the Council, while admitting that Tyrone was 'a frail man, +and not the perfectest of subjects,' thought that this was not the way to +make the best of him. Brereton had no better justification for his +conduct than the gossip of one of MacQuillin's kerne, who said that +Tyrone had sent a messenger to the King of France to say that he would +take his part against King Edward, and would send him Brereton and +Bagenal as prisoners. Brereton was very properly relieved of his command +in Lecale, on the nominal ground that he had refused to hold the Crown +land there upon the Lord Deputy's terms; which St. Leger evidently +thought more likely to have weight with the English Council than any +amount of outrages committed against the Irish. He was afterwards +restored, and gave trouble to later governors.[357] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[323] Lord Protector and Privy Council to Lord Deputy St. Leger and +Council, March 25, 1547; the King to the same, April 7; King Edward VI. +to the Earl of Desmond, Oct. 6. In a letter dated Lambeth, July 6, to her +'assured loving friend Mr. Cecil, Master of Requests,' Lady Ormonde begs +that Abbeyleix may not be granted to Barnaby Fitzpatrick to her son's +detriment, and she refers to Cecil's 'former friendship.' Here we see the +beginning of a most important connection. + +[324] _Four Masters_, 1546, 1547. + +[325] Introduction to _Carew_, vol. ii. p. lxxxv.; Archbishop Butler to +the Lord Protector, Feb. 25, 1548; _Calendar of Patent Rolls_, p. 154. + +[326] _Calendar of Patent Rolls_, p. 66. For Butler and Powell, see three +letters calendared under April and May 1548, Nos. 16, 17, and 19. + +[327] Privy Council to Lord Deputy and Council, Nov. 2, 1547; John +Brereton to Bellingham, May 1548 (No. 20), and July (Nos. 44 and 45); +Cosby to Bellingham, July (Nos. 48 and 50). Bellingham dated a letter +from Athy, Aug. 19, 1548. The eighteen beds are mentioned by John Plunket +and Thomas Alen in a letter to him of the 18th. + +[328] Lord Dunboyne to Bellingham, June 21, 1548, and the answer (No. +25). + +[329] Sovereign and Council of Kinsale to Bellingham, July 15, 1548; +Mayor, &c., of Cork to same, July 24, Aug. 27, Dec. 29, and the answer, +Jan. 10, 1549; Mayor, &c., of Waterford to Bellingham, Sept. 5, 1548. + +[330] Mayor, &c., of Youghal to Bellingham, July 8, 1548; Deputy Mayor +and Council of Galway to same, Aug. 13; Bellingham to Limerick, Aug. (No. +63); John Goldsmith to Bellingham, Aug. 22; Kyng to Wyse, Sept. 5. Sir +Philip Hoby's letter is calendared among the foreign S.P., April 17, +1549. + +[331] Bellingham to Alen, July 1548 (No. 39); Mayor, &c., of Drogheda to +Alen, Aug. 8; Bellingham to Privy Council, Aug. (No. 84), and to the +Mayor of Dublin (No. 67). For the fort, which became Maryborough, see the +notes to O'Donovan's _Four Masters_ under 1548 and 1553. + +[332] Bellingham to the Privy Council, Aug. 1548 (No. 84). + +[333] Bellingham to the Mayor of Cork, Aug. 1548 (No. 80); Mayor, &c., of +Cork to Bellingham, Nov. 18; Alen to Somerset, Nov. 21; Bellingham to +Arthur, Dec. (No. 145). + +[334] Archbishop Bodkin to Bellingham, July 25, 1548; Bellingham to +Richard Burke, Aug. (No. 83), and to the Mayor of Limerick, Sept. 18; +Ulick Burke to Bellingham, Sept. 22. + +[335] _Four Masters_, 1548 and 1549. + +[336] Alen to Paget, Nov. 21, 1548. + +[337] Harris's _Ware_, pp. 211-217; S.P., vol. iii. p. 534; _Four +Masters_, 1546; Mayor, &c., of Galway to Bellingham, July 27 and Aug. 13, +1548; Sovereign and Council of Kinsale to same, July 16; Agard to same, +Sept. 23; Richard Brasier to same, Oct. 8; Memoranda by Bellingham, Nov. +14; Bellingham to Warwick, November (No. 132, i.); Privy Council to +Bellingham, Jan. 6, 1549. + +[338] Bellingham to Somerset, Nov. 22, 1548, which encloses a copy of the +letter to Warwick; to Issam, Dec. (No. 163). + +[339] Bellingham to O'Molloy, Nov. 24, 1548; to O'Carroll (No. 138); to +Thomond (No. 137). + +[340] Alen to Paget, April 1549 (No. 32). + +[341] Bellingham to John Issam, Nov. 1548 (No. 140). Hooker's _Chronicle_ +in Holinshed. The capture of Desmond was about Christmas 1548. + +[342] Richard Brasier to Somerset, Nov. 14, 1548; John Moorton to same, +April 15, 1549; Anthony Colcloght to same, Feb. 1 and 13, and to Cahir +MacArt, Jan. 27; Walter Cowley to Bellingham, March 14; Brian Jones to +same, April (No. 35). + +[343] Staples to ---- between Dec. 22 and 29, 1548. The letter is not +addressed to Bellingham, but he must have seen it, as it is endorsed by +his clerk. See also Walter Palatyne to Bellingham, Nov. 23, 1547, and +Interrogatories for Archbishop Browne at the end of that year. The first +Book of Common Prayer was not printed till 1550. + +[344] Bellingham to Dowdall, Dec. 1548; John Issam to Bellingham, Dec. +22; Richard Brasier to Somerset, Nov. 14. + +[345] Sovereign of Kilkenny to the Lord Deputy, April 26, 1549; Walter +Cowley to same, June 25; Brasier to Somerset, Nov. 14, 1548; John +Brereton to Bellingham, 1548 (No. 174). + +[346] _Book of Howth_; Ware; Hooker in Holinshed; Lodge's Patentee +Officer in _Liber Hiberniæ_. Bellingham embarked at Howth, Dec. 16, 1549. + +[347] Patrick Fraser Tytler's _England under Edward VI. and Mary_. He +quotes Melville's _Memoirs_. See in particular the letter of Sir John +Mason to the Privy Council, June 16, 1550. The 'Loch' mentioned by +Melville must be Lough Foyle or Lough Swilly. + +[348] Instructions from Lord Chancellor Alen to Thomas Alen, Feb. 1550. +Bryan died, Feb. 2, 1550. + +[349] Lord Chancellor and Council to Tyrone, March 17, 1550:--'Tam ferox +est illius nationis nobilitas ut sub Turcâ (quantumvis barbaro) mitius +viveres quam sub illorum regimine ... summo conatu libertatem patriæ, +sanguinis libertatem et personæ vestræ dignitatem abolebunt.' Dowdall to +Alen, March 22; Brabazon to the Privy Council, March 26, with enclosures. + +[350] Sir John Mason to the Privy Council, June 14, 1550; Foreign +Calendar and Fraser Tytler, _ut supra_. + +[351] Letters of Croft and the two Bagenals, July 31, 1551; Alen to +Cecil, April 5, 1551, and to the Privy Council, Aug. 10. The grant is +calendared after the latter date. Having been chief of the commission for +the dissolution of abbeys, Alen thought it prudent to go to England +during Mary's reign, but made his peace, became again a member of +Council, and lived to congratulate Cecil on becoming once more Secretary +of State. + +[352] Instructions to Lord Deputy St. Leger, July 1550; Mr. St. Leger's +Remembrances for Ireland, same date. He was sworn in on Sept. 10. + +[353] Instructions to St. Leger; Barbaro's 'Report on England' in 1551, +in the _Venetian Calendar_. + +[354] St. Leger to the Lord High Treasurer, Sept. 27, 1550; Henry Wise +and John Moorton, officers at Fort Protector, to Bellingham, Jan. 6, +1549; Articles for an expedition into Ireland, Jan. 7, 1551; St. Leger to +Somerset, Feb. 18; Privy Council to Lord Deputy and Council, Jan. 26. + +[355] Martin Pirry to the Privy Council, Feb. 21, 1551; St. Leger to the +same, March 23. + +[356] Instructions to Sir James Croft, Feb. 25, 1551, in _Carew_; Sir +John Mason to the Privy Council, April 18, printed by Fraser Tytler. + +[357] Articles against Andrew Brereton, Nov. 1550; St. Leger to Cecil, +Jan. 19, 1551. The Council in Ireland to the Privy Council, May 20. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +FROM THE YEAR 1551 TO THE DEATH OF EDWARD VI. + + +[Sidenote: The Reformation officially promulgated, 1551.] + +No Parliament was held in Ireland during Edward VI.'s reign; and the +official establishment of Protestantism is generally supposed to date +from a royal order, dated Feb. 6, 1551, and promulgated by the Lord +Deputy on the first day of the following month. But the new Liturgy had +been already introduced, and copies had been forwarded to Limerick, and +perhaps to other places. St. Leger, who felt that the Communion Service +was the really important thing, had it translated into Latin for the +benefit of those who had some tincture of letters, but who could not read +English. The citizens of Limerick made no difficulty about receiving the +new formulary; but the Bishop, John Quin, refused, and was therefore +forced to resign. Quin, who was old and blind, had been willing to +acknowledge the royal supremacy, but very naturally refused to embrace a +new faith. It has often been stated that Quin accepted the Reformation; +but it is not easy to see how this can be reconciled with the facts. His +successor was William Casey, whose consecrators were Archbishop Browne, +Lancaster of Kildare, and Devereux of Ferns. The two last had been +consecrated by Browne and by Travers of Leighlin. Travers had only just +been appointed himself, and was probably in pretty nearly the same +condition.[358] + +[Sidenote: Doctrinal conference in Dublin.] + +Immediately after the arrival of the momentous order, St. Leger summoned +the clergy to meet him in Dublin. To this assembly the royal mandate was +read, as well as the opinions of certain English divines in favour of the +proposed changes. Primate Dowdall at once protested. 'For the general +benefit of our well-beloved subjects,' the King was made to say, +'whenever assembled and met together in the several parish churches, +either to pray or hear prayers read, that they may the better join +therein in unity, hearts and voices, we have caused the Liturgy and +prayers of the Church to be translated into our mother tongue of this +realm of England.' 'Then,' observed the Primate, 'shall every illiterate +fellow read Mass?' 'No,' answered St. Leger with much force, 'your Grace +is mistaken; for we have too many illiterate priests among us already, +who neither can pronounce the Latin nor know what it means, no more than +the common people that hear them; but when the people hear the Liturgy in +English, they and the priest will then understand what they pray for.' +This last observation might be true enough in Dublin, but it was +singularly inapplicable to Ireland generally. The key-note of the +controversy had, however, been struck, and it was clear that the Primate +and the Lord Deputy occupied very different standpoints. Finding St. +Leger a formidable antagonist, and seeing that the case was virtually +prejudged, Dowdall somewhat forgot his habitual dignity, and threatened +the Viceroy with the clergy's curse. 'I fear,' was the answer, 'no +strange curse, so long as I have the blessing of that Church which I +believe to be the true one.' There was some further altercation about the +Petrine claims to supremacy; and Dowdall, finding that he made no +impression, left the hall with all his suffragans except Staples, and +repaired to his own diocese. St. Leger then handed the King's order to +Browne, who received it standing. 'This order, good brethren,' said the +Protestant Archbishop, 'is from our gracious King, and from the rest of +our brethren, the fathers and clergy of England, who have consulted +herein, and compared the Holy Scriptures with what they have done; unto +whom I submit, as Jesus did to Cæsar, in all things just and lawful, +making no question why or wherefore, as we own him our true and lawful +King.'[359] + +[Sidenote: St. Leger, Browne, and Dowdall.] + +The above proceedings show that St. Leger was at least in general +agreement with the Protestant party, but he had certainly no wish to +force the reformed doctrines on the reluctant Irish. Browne complained +that he had publicly offered the sacrifice of the Mass in Christ Church, +'after the old sort, to the altar then of stone, to the comfort of his +too many like Papists, and the discouragement of the professors of God's +Word.' The Archbishop found it convenient to forget that this was +strictly according to law; and that the royal order, even admitting that +it had all the power claimed for it, had not yet gone forth to alter the +state of things established under Henry VIII. Browne could not deny that +the Lord Deputy had made due proclamation of 'the King's Majesty's most +godly proceeding;' but alleged that it was only for show, 'while massing, +holy water, Candlemas candles, and such like, continued under the Primate +and elsewhere,' without let or hindrance from the chief governor. +Dowdall, he said, was 'the next father in word and deed of Popery;' the +Viceroy a Gallio who did not scruple to say, 'Go to, your matters of +religion will mar all.' St. Leger seems in good truth to have been +laughing at the ex-friar. 'My Lord of Dublin,' he said, 'I have books for +your Lordship.' Browne found them on examination 'so poisoned to maintain +the Mass with Transubstantiation, and other naughtiness (as at no time I +have seen such a summary of Scriptures collected to establish the +idolatry), clean contrary the sincere meaning of the Word of God and the +King's most godly proceedings.' The Archbishop had copies taken, which he +sent to the Privy Council. St. Leger was angry at this, and Browne says +he threatened to do him harm, even should it cost 1,000_l._ The +Archbishop intimated that the 1,000_l._ would be nothing to him, for that +he had enriched himself by peculation, and attributed to him a degree of +vindictiveness which does not seem really to have belonged to his +character. Browne admits that the Lord Deputy called Dowdall before the +Council for practising the old ritual, 'who came and disputed plainly the +massing and other things, contrary the King's proceedings; and that he +would not embrace them: whereat the Deputy said nothing.' Sir Ralph +Bagenal called the Primate an arrant traitor. 'No traitor, Mr. Bagenal,' +said Lord Chancellor Cusack, who was Dowdall's cousin; and the Primate +continued in his old ways as long as St. Leger held the reins of +government. The Lord Deputy even recommended Tyrone to 'follow the +counsel of that good father, sage senator, and godly bishop, my Lord +Primate, in everything, and so ye shall do well.' He made indeed no +secret of his regard for Dowdall, whose high character was admitted by +all but fanatics. 'He is,' he declared openly before more than a dozen +persons in the hall of Dublin Castle, 'a good man, and I would that all +the Irishmen in Ireland spake so good English as he, and if they do no +worse than he the King had been the better served.'[360] + +[Sidenote: St. Leger has some idea of toleration.] + +It was impossible that any secret policy could go on without Alen having +a hand in it. St. Leger told him that the danger from both France and +from the Emperor was much increased by the religious sympathies of the +Irish, who, in civil matters, would like foreigners only in so far as +they could profit by them. He ridiculed the notion of France annexing +Ireland, though he thought it possible that Henry II. might make a +diversion there to prevent England from interfering with him in Scotland +or on the Continent. He thought the Emperor would be friendly for old +acquaintance sake, but that he disliked the new fashions in religion; +'and no wonder, seeing that in that matter daily at home among ourselves +one of us is offended with another.' St. Leger, in short, was a statesman +who could admire moral excellence in men of different opinions; and +Browne was a fanatic. 'God help me!' said the Deputy. 'For my own part, +knowing the manners and ignorance of the people, when my lords of the +Council willed me to set forth the matters of religion here, _which to my +power I have done_, I had rather they had called me into Spain or any +other place where the King should have had cause to make war, than +burdensome to sit further here. I told my lords no less before my coming +away.' Alen had refused to put this conversation in writing, though +urged to do so by Browne; saying that he wished St. Leger no harm, though +he had lost all through him. He said as little as might be against him +even when questioned afterwards by the Council. After his interview with +the Lord Deputy, Alen went to sup with Lockwood, Dean of Christ Church, +and found there the Archbishop and Basnet, late Dean of St. Patrick's. +When the servants had gone the conversation turned upon St. Leger, whom +Browne attacked on the grounds already mentioned, saying that he was but +a 'dissimular in religion.' He was, in fact, a thoroughly secular +politician, wise and resolute, and willing to carry out orders from the +Government; but not pretending to like the plan of forcing an +English-made religion upon the Irish, and administering it in practice as +gently as possible. He was really in advance of his time, and had formed +some notion of religious liberty. That he sympathised with the old creed +there is not the smallest reason to suppose. 'They name me a Papist,' he +said. 'I would to God I were to try it with them that so nameth me;' and +he was accused in Mary's reign of writing satirical verses against +Transubstantiation, which shows that his opinions were not supposed to be +anti-Protestant. He would have had things stay as they were under Henry +VIII; the royal supremacy acknowledged, and doctrinal changes left to the +action of time, persuasion, and increased enlightenment.[361] + +[Sidenote: These views not in favour in England.] + +But these ideas did not recommend themselves to the English Council, +which had now come under Warwick's influence. Neither the bishopric of +Leighlin nor that of Ossory was granted to St. Leger's chaplain, James +Bicton; though his patron strenuously defended him against the charge of +Papal leanings, declaring that there was no more competent man in +Ireland, nor one who had better set forth God's Word. Bicton, who had +been formerly chaplain to the Earl of Ormonde, was of Irish birth, +though educated at Oxford, and was at all events not one of the very +ignorant priests whom St. Leger cast up against his friend the Primate. +He became Dean of Ossory, and had a large chest of books at Kilkenny, +besides a wine cask full at Bristol, for which he had paid 40_l._; and he +seems to have supported a poor Irish scholar at Oxford. It would be +difficult to say anything so good of Travers, who was preferred before +him at Leighlin. Travers owed his promotion to his cousin the Master of +the Ordnance, whose chaplain he had been; but he did no credit to his +blood, scarcely anything being recorded of him but that he oppressed his +clergy and made money out of his see.[362] + +[Sidenote: Sir James Croft succeeds St. Leger, 1551.] + +Whatever was the exact cause of St. Leger's recall, it is likely that he +was glad to escape from the thankless Irish service. Sir James Croft, his +successor-designate, was already in Ireland, and he handed him the reins +without waiting for his patent. Croft was directed to put the seaports of +Munster and Ulster into a defensible state; but the English Government +showed a bad example, for though Argyle was plotting in the North and +MacCarthy in the South, the artillery was sent over in charge of a clerk +only. MacCarthy was to be apprehended if possible, and also George Paris, +who was 'a common post between Ireland and France,' sailing in French +ships which were to be overhauled in search of him. When the thousand men +who had been promised arrived at Cork there was no money to pay them. +Croft and his advisers begged and borrowed till both credit and +provisions were well-nigh exhausted in the barren wilds of West Cork. +Soldiers unpunctually paid could not but be dangerous, and there was no +sort of justice to be obtained in the country districts. 'If in England,' +said Crofts, using an apt illustration, 'the place of justice were +appointed only at Dover, I think no man doubts but the people would soon +grow out of order.' A thorough reform in the official circle, head and +members, was necessary before any great improvement could be expected in +the people. Before leaving Cork, Croft did what he could to secure local +justice by drawing up regulations for maintaining the peace of the +district under Desmond's general superintendence, not greatly differing +from those already supposed to be in force, but with a clause which shows +how the Puritan spirit was working. The Earl and those joined in +authority with him were to have a special care to 'set forth divine +service according to the King's proceeding, and diligently to look for +the punishment of harlots, for which purposes they may call for the +bishops and ministers within their circuit, giving them warning of their +duties to see them punished according to the orders taken in that +behalf.' MacCarthy More, who had submitted, was required with his +clansmen to swear allegiance to Edward VI. as King, and also as 'supreme +head of the Church in England and Ireland, and clearly to renounce the +Bishop of Rome and all his authority,' and take his 'oath on the Bible' +to obey all laws, civil and ecclesiastical, set forth by the King and his +successors. + +[Sidenote: Croft proposes to colonise in West Munster.] + +Archbishop Browne, having got rid of St. Leger, was loud in praise of his +successor's activity, who was the first governor to visit Baltimore +(Ballagheyntymore). Crofts proposed to the Council that a colony of +married Englishmen with their wives and families should be planted in +this remote place, who, after serving as soldiers for a time, would be +able to protect themselves as others had done at Calais. But the King +blamed Croft for visiting Baltimore at all, since he had not the power to +do anything there. In August the time for fortifying was already past; +and there was a danger that Spanish fishermen might discover the Lord +Deputy's intentions, and even find means to forestall them.[363] + +[Sidenote: The Ulster Scots attacked. Failure at Rathlin, 1551.] + +The affairs of Ulster next engaged the attention of Croft. The Scots had +lately made themselves supreme from the Giant's Causeway to Belfast; and +it was determined to attack them there, and, if possible, to capture the +island stronghold of Rathlin, whither the MacDonnells had transported all +the cattle and horses taken by them in their late raid. A hosting was +accordingly proclaimed for thirty-one days, and the army mustered at +Carrickfergus. The roads being impassable for carts, everything had to +be carried on pack horses or by sea. The Lord Deputy himself went by land +through the country of several Irish chiefs, of whose intelligence +Chancellor Cusack, who tells the story, formed a favourable opinion. Some +of them joined the expedition. Meat was abundant throughout the four +days' journey, at the rate of 10_s._ a beef and 16_d._ a mutton; much +less than the prices of the Pale. Leaving the heavy baggage at +Carrickfergus, Croft advanced to Glenarm, where he encamped. No Scots +appeared, and but few cattle; but immense stores of corn were found. +There lay at Ballycastle four small vessels which the English men-of-war +had captured, and some of the prisoners from the Scots were brought +before the Lord Deputy. The result of their examination was a resolution +at once to attack Rathlin, where James MacDonnell and his brethren were. +It was found that the captured boats would only carry 200 men, and it was +therefore resolved not to risk a landing unless some more of the Scots +vessels could be taken, or unless the men in the island yielded to the +fear of the cannon upon the English ships. Sir Ralph Bagenal and Captain +Cuffe approached the island with about 100 men, but the galleys which +they wished to seize were at once driven in shore, and a threatening +crowd of Scots hung about the landing-place, and took no notice of the +fire from the ships, which was probably too vague to endanger them much. +The tide was ebbing, and the invaders seemed to run no great risk; but +the Race of Rathlin, even in the finest weather, is never quite calm, and +a sudden reflux wave lifted Cuffe's boat high and dry on to the rocks. +The men, about twenty-five, were slain on the spot, the officers taken +and held by James MacDonnell as pledges for the return of the goods taken +from him about Glenarm, and for the release of his brother Sorley Boy, +who was a prisoner in Dublin. Croft was obliged to yield on both points, +and the whole expedition ended in failure. The threat of complaining to +the Scots Government was not likely to weigh much with MacDonnell, who +was on good terms with the anti-English party.[364] + +[Sidenote: Disturbed state of Ulster.] + +[Sidenote: The O'Neills consider wheat a dangerous innovation.] + +Most of the chiefs of Ulster, who feared the Scots more than they hated +the English, paid their respects to Croft at Carrickfergus, and were glad +to submit their grievances to his arbitration. Tyrone, O'Donnell--with +his two rebellious sons, Calvagh and Hugh--Maguire, the Baron of +Dungannon, MacQuillin, O'Neill of Clandeboye, MacCartan, the Savages, +Magennis, and others, had complaints to make, and the Lord Deputy patched +up their differences for a time; most of them agreeing to pay some rent +or tribute to the King for their lands, and not to employ Scots +mercenaries. Maguire was declared independent both of O'Neill and +O'Donnell, and sheriffs were appointed both in Ards and Clandeboye, +which, being part of the Earldom of Ulster, had once had a feudal +organisation. A garrison was left in Carrickfergus, and a commission +charged with abolishing the Irish laws, 'so as by God's grace,' says the +sanguine Cusack, 'that country since the time of the Earl of March was +not so like to prosper and do well as now.' A garrison was also left at +Armagh, under command of the Marshal Nicholas Bagenal, who was joined in +commission with the Baron of Dungannon for the purpose of re-establishing +order in Tyrone, which was utterly wasted through the dissensions of the +Earl and his sons. There were not ten ploughs in the whole country. +Hundreds had died of hunger in the fields. The Baron's lands were better +off; for he felt that he owed his position to King Henry's patent, and to +please the English Government he had caused wheat to be largely sown. +Tyrone did his best to burn the Saxon crop, and the people declared that +they would grow it no more; 'for that was the chief cause (as they said) +that the Earl did destroy their corn, for bringing new things to his +country other than hath been used before. And what the Earl will promise +now, within two hours after he will not abide by the same.' Most of this +unstable chief's fighting men had gone over to his son Shane, who abused +his powers dreadfully. Cusack thought the people would prefer to have the +Baron over them, 'for that he is indifferent, sober, and discreet, and is +a hardy gentleman of honest conversation and towardness,' whose country +was as well ordered as the Pale. Tyrone had no capacity for government, +and was ruled by his wife; but he so far yielded to the Deputy's +persuasion as to accept a garrison for Armagh, and to go first to +Drogheda and then to Dublin. Having been once enticed into the Pale, +Tyrone was detained there against his will. This was done by Cecil's +advice, who agreed with Cusack that Tyrone was quite useless in his own +country, and quite unable to control Shane.[365] + +[Sidenote: Shane O'Neill and his brother Matthew.] + +Tyrone had, or might have had, a son by Alison Kelly, the wife of a smith +in Dundalk. The mother brought her boy Matthew at the age of sixteen to +the chief, who acknowledged him as his own, and thus, according to the +ancient Irish law, made him equal with his children of less doubtful +origin. Shane, on the other hand, was the offspring of an undisputed +marriage. Matthew was certainly acknowledged as an O'Neill when he was +made Baron of Dungannon and heir to the earldom, but Shane explained the +difficulty by saying that his father was a gentleman, and never denied +any son that was sworn on him, and that he had plenty of them. Whether +there was any election to the chieftainship we do not know, but Shane +was, by the practical adhesion of the clansmen, in a better position than +most Irish tanists. Thus it strangely happened that Matthew, who was +confessedly born in adultery, was heir to the feudal title, while Shane, +who was certainly legitimate, claimed the reversion of the tribal +sovereignty. The influence of the clergy had probably weakened or +destroyed the old Irish principle that an adulterine bastard could be +brought into the real father's lawful family by acknowledgment, nor could +English law have been altogether without effect; but it is strange to see +one in such a position as Matthew O'Neill, or Kelly, maintained by +statesmen and lawyers against Shane and his brothers.[366] + +[Sidenote: Invasion of Tyrone.] + +Whether O'Neill or Kelly, the Baron of Dungannon was a man of resolution +and ability. He accompanied Bagenal on an expedition against Shane, which +the Dean of Armagh, Terence Daniel, or O'Donnell, tried to prevent by +exaggerated accounts of the distance. The bridge over the Blackwater was +broken down, and the castles at Dungannon were also dismantled. This +became a regular practice in Irish warfare, in order to prevent the +English from placing permanent garrisons in strong places; and any +disposition on their part to repair such a building was generally +frustrated by the length of time necessary, the difficulty of obtaining +labour, and the want of provisions. When the danger was past the chief +would re-occupy his stronghold, and soon made it serviceable for raising +a revenue, or resisting sudden attacks of neighbouring tribes. Bagenal +met with little resistance during his raid. Shane appeared on a hill with +eighteen horsemen and sixty kerne, and the Baron of Dungannon advanced +against him with only four followers. 'An the King were there where thou +art,' said Shane, 'he were mine.' The Baron, nothing daunted, answered, +'I am here but the King's man, and that thou shalt well know,' and +spurred his horse forward. Shane, who was never remarkable for dashing +courage, retired into the wood closely followed by his brother, who was +prevented by the thick covert from using spear or sword, and who tried to +close, but was caught by a branch at the critical moment, and nearly lost +his own seat. Shane escaped on foot, leaving his horse and arms to the +Baron, and afterwards came to Bagenal on parole, when a truce was patched +up.[367] + +[Sidenote: The Scots attempt a settlement in Down.] + +Emboldened by success, the Scots extended their operations to the south +of Belfast, slew John White, landlord of Dufferin, and proposed to make a +settlement on the western shores of Lough Strangford. Hugh MacNeill Oge, +who held the district between that inlet and Belfast Lough, took their +part, and the Prior Magennis and his kinsman, the Bishop of Dromore, were +authorised to make large offers with a view of detaching him from his +allies; but he refused to come to Bagenal. The Baron of Dungannon had +some trifling success against the Scots, and another officer drove some +of their cattle through Ards to Strangford, apparently crossing the ferry +there, and thence into the Pale. One thousand cows were also taken from +Hugh MacNeill Oge; but he promptly recouped himself from the herds of his +neighbours on every side, so that the balance was soon again in his +favour. The expedition was evidently a failure, and the 'Four Masters' +represent it as a disastrous one; the English and their allies losing 200 +men.[368] + +[Sidenote: Another doctrinal conference.] + +The general directions to Croft for his conduct in ecclesiastical matters +was much the same as those given to St. Leger. Public worship in English +was to be made general, and a translation to be made into Irish for use +in such places as required it. He was sworn in on May 23, and on June 16 +he wrote to Dowdall, who was at St. Mary's Abbey, inviting him to take +part in a conference concerning the disputed points in religion. The Lord +Deputy said much about what was due to Cæsar, hinted that he should be +sorry to see the Primate removed from his great office, and entreated an +answer by the hands of the Bishop of Meath, who, as chief of his +suffragan, seemed the fittest intermediary. Dowdall answered very truly +that no discussion could bring about agreement between those who differed +as to fundamentals, and excused himself from waiting on his lordship, as +he had for some time withdrawn from public affairs. Mohammed decided to +go to the mountain, and the discussion took place in the hall of St. +Mary's Abbey, Croft being supported by two bishops, Staples of Meath, who +conducted the case for the Crown, and Lancaster of Kildare. The debate +first turned on the new liturgy, Dowdall treating it as an innovation, +and his opponent as the Mass purified from gross corruptions. The +following is the most remarkable part of what was said:-- + +_Dowdall._ Was not the Mass from the Apostles' days? How can it be proved +that the Church of Rome has altered it? + +_Staples._ It is easily proved by our records of England. For Celestinus, +Bishop of Rome, in the fourth century after Christ, gave the first +introit of the Mass which the clergy were to use for preparation, even +the psalm, _Judica me, Deus_, &c., Rome not owning the word Mass till +then. + +_D._ Yes, long before that time; for there was a mass called St. +Ambrose's Mass. + +_S._ St. Ambrose was before Celestinus; but the two prayers, which the +Church of Rome had foisted and added unto St. Ambrose's works, are not in +his general works; which hath caused a wise and a learned man lately to +write that these two prayers were forged, and not to be really St. +Ambrose's. + +_D._ What writer dares write or doth say so? + +_S._ Erasmus, a man who may well be compared to either of us, or the +standers by. Nay, my lord, no disparagement if I say so to yourself; for +he was a wise and a judicious man, otherwise I would not have been so +bold as to parallel your lordship with him. + +_Lord Deputy._ As for Erasmus's parts, would I were such another: for his +parts may parallel him a companion for a prince. + +_D._ Pray, my lord, do not hinder our discourse; for I have a question or +two to ask Mr. Staples. + +_L. D._ By all means, reverend father, proceed. + +_D._ Is Erasmus's writings more powerful than the precepts of the Mother +Church? + +_S._ Not more than the Holy Catholic one, yet more than the Church of +Rome, as that Church hath run into several errors since St. Ambrose's +days. + +_D._ How hath the Church erred since St. Ambrose's days? Take heed lest +you be not excommunicated. + +_S._ I have excommunicated myself already from thence. + +Opposite opinions were then given about the Virgin and her power to +mediate; and the Primate finally appealed to the consecration oath, which +Staples had taken as well as he. The Bishop of Meath said he held it +safer for his conscience to break it than to keep it, and he praised the +oath of supremacy. And thus, without any approach to an understanding, +but with many mutual expressions of courtesy and goodwill, the champions +of Rome and of England measured swords and parted.[369] + +[Sidenote: Dowdall goes away. The Primacy removed to Dublin.] + +A few days after this the Primate disappeared, and it was understood that +he had gone abroad like a traitor, as Browne said, who with indecent +haste demanded that the old contest between Armagh and Dublin should be +finally decided in his favour. Dowdall, he said, claimed by the 'Bishop +of Rome's bulls and I by the King's majesty and his most noble +progenitors' grants and gifts.' He recounted the services of his +predecessors in supporting the Government of the Pale, and asked not only +for the empty title and honours of Primate of all Ireland, but for 'all +and every the spiritual profits, living, and commodities,' belonging to +Armagh. The King granted the chief place to Browne, who in the Anglican +succession remained Primate of all Ireland till deprived by Queen Mary. +Those who adhere to Rome of course ignore the interruption in Dowdall's +primacy, but his withdrawal beyond seas was considered as a resignation +by the English Government.[370] + +[Sidenote: Church patronage. Bale.] + +The sees of Armagh, Cashel, and Ossory being vacant, Croft recommended +that they should be filled with peculiar care. The negligence of the +Bishops and other ministers allowed the old ceremonies to remain in many +places. It was necessary to send over good, zealous men to fill up the +bishoprics as they fell vacant. If this could not be done, Croft begged +that at least he might have a competent adviser in ecclesiastical matters +to enable him to direct the bishops, who were blind, obstinate, +negligent, and very seldom learned. For Armagh it would be well to choose +a divine with some property in England, who might act as a commissioner +for deciding the daily quarrels arising in the North. For the bishopric +of Ossory, Croft, Protestant as he was, ventured to recommend Leverous, +Gerald of Kildare's old tutor, who had been pardoned for his offence in +carrying him out of the realm. For learning, discretion, and decorous +life there was no one superior in Ireland, and Croft had heard him +'preach such a sermon, as in his simple opinion he heard not many years.' +Personally unobjectionable, Leverous was known to be attached to the old +doctrines, and Croft's advocacy failed, as he himself expected. The see +of Ossory was conferred after some delay upon John Bale, a Carmelite +friar, born in Suffolk and educated at Jesus College, Cambridge. The +arguments of a layman, Lord Wentworth, according to his own account, +enforced by the charms of a young lady, according to the account of his +enemies, converted Bale to the Reformation. He married a wife, who was +his companion in all his wanderings and vicissitudes, and became a +professed Protestant. It was not in his nature to hide his light under a +bushel; he preached openly against the Roman doctrine, and suffered +imprisonment in consequence. Having been released through Cromwell's +intercession, he spent eight years in Germany. Returning to England on +Edward's accession, he became Poynet's chaplain, and obtained the living +of Bishopstoke. The King happening to see and hear him at Southampton, of +his own accord promoted him to Ossory. Bale was a multifarious writer, a +man of learning and eloquence, and unquestionably sincere; but coarse and +violent, with no respect whatever for the feelings of others, and +remarkably unfit for the task of persuading an unwilling people to +embrace the Reformation. + +[Sidenote: Edward's opinions about patronage.] + +Though partially shorn of its glories, the see of Armagh, claiming as it +did to be founded by the national apostle, was still of great importance. +Pending an appointment in England, Croft proposed that Basnet, late Dean +of St. Patrick's, should enjoy the first-fruits of the vacant see along +with the revenues of his old deanery. The Lord Deputy was moved to this +by the curious practical consideration that Basnet was 'experimented in +the wars of the country.' Make it worth his while to live at Armagh, and +he would be most useful to Bagenal and the Baron of Dungannon. But the +young King, who had already opinions of his own, was scandalised at the +idea, and shrunk from making bishops of any but ministers earnest in +setting forth God's glory. He directed that Deans and Chapters should +maintain divine service and preach the gospel in vacant sees, declaring +that he minded the education of his people above all things. If the +dignitaries proved negligent the Lord Deputy might appoint occasional +ministers to do the duty.[371] + +[Sidenote: Cranmer's difficulties about Irish patronage.] + +Cranmer named four persons as fit for the archbishopric of Armagh, but +none of them were in haste to go to Ireland. Of these the King selected +Richard Turner, a Staffordshire man, but vicar of Chartam in Kent. +Cranmer described him as an earnest preacher, merry and witty withal, who +wanted nothing, loved nothing, dreamed of nothing but Christ only. He had +shown courage in the late Kentish insurrection, and that would be a +useful quality in Ireland. 'He preached,' says Cranmer, 'twice in the +camp that was by Canterbury; for the which the rebels would have hanged +him, and he seemed then more glad to go to hanging, than he doth now to +go to Armachane, he allegeth so many excuses, but the chief is this, that +he shall preach to the walls and stalls, for the people understand no +English. I bear him in hand Yes, and yet I doubt whether they speak +English in the diocese of Armachane. But if they do not then I say, that +if he will take the pain to learn the Irish tongue (which with diligence +he may do in a year or two) then both his doctrine shall be more +acceptable not only unto his diocese, but also throughout all Ireland.' +But Turner would not go. Perhaps he estimated more correctly than Cranmer +the difficulty of learning Irish, and his wit and liveliness would only +enable him to forecast the misery of a man who should preach to unwilling +congregations in halting and uncertain language. Cranmer's other three +nominees also failed him; and he then recommended Hugh Goodacre, who was +induced to accept the unenviable post. The archbishopric of Cashel had +not even the dignity of Armagh to make it attractive, and it remained +vacant during the rest of Edward's reign.[372] + +[Sidenote: Pluralities.] + +The King had a reasonable dislike to pluralities, and resisted the union +of Clonfert and Elphin in the hands of Clanricarde's uncle, Rowland +Burke. 'A good pastor,' he said, 'cannot nourish two flocks at once, and +it agreeth not with our religion.' But he gave in when it was proved to +him that the sees were small and poor, and that their union would be +likely to further rather than to hinder religion.[373] + +[Sidenote: The coinage.] + +It would have been well if Edward or his advisers had paid as much +attention to honesty in civil government. The attempt to give a forced +course to bad coin had had its usual evil effects. The Irish currency had +always been less pure than that of England, but practically little +difficulty had occurred until the late changes. An English groat was +worth sixpence Irish, and everyone understood what he was doing. But now +the country was flooded with base coin of uncertain value, and men +bargained, as they do still at Cairo, for sterling money, foreign crowns, +and livres Tournois. Trade with England was necessarily conducted by +means of a reputable currency; and the whole of the new Irish coinage +being only available for local use, felt the effects of inflation as well +as of its own intrinsic baseness. There was great confusion in every +trade, and all was attributed to the coin, which every one thought would +be cried down, and therefore feared to have in possession. 'Being put to +sale of all men,' said Croft, 'and no man desirous to buy it, it must +needs be good cheap.' It was urged that, coins being only counters for +exchange, they should be taken at the proclaimed price, but Croft rightly +argued that gold and silver had been chosen on account of their fitness +for the purpose and also for their intrinsic value. The effect of laws +against usury is to raise the rate of interest, and the effect of putting +an artificial value on coin, in conjunction probably with other causes, +was to raise necessaries to a famine price. Corn that had been worth +6_s._ 8_d._ had risen to 40_s._; leather, iron, boots and shoes, wine and +hops, had all become dear. Six herrings sold for a groat. Englishmen, and +especially officials with fixed salaries, could not live in Ireland. The +native Irishman was somewhat better off, for 'he careth only for his +belly, and that not delicately.' 'We that are stipendiaries,' said the +Lord Deputy, 'must live upon our stipends, and buy with our money which +no man esteemeth.' The native lords used coyne and livery, and did what +they could to make their vassals keep all provisions in the country, so +that the markets were unsupplied, and the Government had scarcely any +alternative but to practise like extortions.[374] + +[Sidenote: Evils of a debased currency.] + +The inhabitants of Dublin, Waterford, Limerick, Cork, Drogheda, and +Galway were consulted, and they all attributed the state of trade to the +currency. A petition signed by the attorneys of those communities, by +seven peers, and by many others of high position was sent to the King; +and the petitioners prayed that the coin might be of the same weight, +value, and fineness in both kingdoms. 'By the whole consent of the +world,' said the Lord Deputy and Council, 'gold and silver have gotten +the estimation above all other metals, as metest to make money and be +conserved as a treasure, which estimation cannot be altered by a part or +little corner of the world, though the estimation were had but on a +fanciful opinion, where indeed it is grounded upon good reason, according +to the gifts that nature hath wrought in those metals whereby they be +metest to use for exchange, and to be kept for a treasure. So as in that +kind they have gotten the sovereignty, like as for other purposes other +metals do excel; and so is everything good, as God said at the beginning, +whereof followeth that the thing which we count naught cometh of the +misuse.' No laws or proclamation could prevent the value of money from +depending on the quantity of bullion it contained, and without money +exchanges could not be made. Men saw that an artificial scarceness was +created, and blamed the Government for not taking the obvious step of +crying down the coin. Croft apologised for his importunity in pressing +the currency question, observing that one string would put a harp out of +tune, and that the tuner would naturally strike that the oftenest. The +King's advisers did not deny the facts, but hesitated to make the +necessary sacrifice. Next year, however, they found it absolutely +necessary to act. Two of the despised groats were proclaimed equivalent +to fourpence English, and an immediate revival of trade was the +result.[375] + +[Sidenote: The Revenue. Attempts at mining.] + +The hope of making some profit out of Ireland to set against the cost of +governing her had attracted the attention of Henry VIII.'s ministers to +her mineral resources. Traces of lead, tin, copper, iron, and alum had +been found, and St. Leger hoped to turn them to account. In the last year +of his reign Henry authorised an advance of 1,000 marks sterling, and it +was thought that the mines would soon be self-supporting. The only +serious attempt made was at Clonmines, near Bannow, in Wexford. Silver +was found mixed with lead, and much expense was incurred. Germans were +employed in the work under the direction of Joachim Gundelfinger, and a +large mass of ore was raised. A smelting-house was built at Ross, both +wood and coal being used, and there were stores at Newtown Barry and +Ballyhack. There was some jealousy of the foreigners, who received very +high wages, and it was thought that Englishmen would be better and +cheaper. The English surveyor reported that the strangers cost 260_l._ a +month, and scarcely earned 40_l._, and he proposed to dismiss them, at +least until the work of sinking deep shafts had been completed by less +expensive labour. The Germans retorted that the surveyor himself was to +blame. But there was sickness among the miners, and some of them died; +and after some further trial the Germans were sent home and the works +stopped. It was found that the King had lost nearly 6,000_l._ in two +years.[376] + +[Sidenote: French and Scotch intrigues. The O'Connors. 1552.] + +The early part of the new year was disturbed by rumours of invasion. +Wauchop had just died at Paris, but his spirit still animated Ulster, and +help was confidently expected from Scotland. The French were trying to +recruit in Ireland, and some of those who held the seaports might as well +have been Frenchmen or Spaniards so far as the State was concerned. Old +O'Connor, who had received messages and tokens from the ubiquitous George +Paris, managed to escape from the Tower, but was caught near the border +and brought back. Walter Garrett, a soldier of Berwick, probably an +Irishman, who had deserted and gone as far south as Newcastle, was taken +trying to cross the Tweed or the Solway in a boat without oars. He +confessed his knowledge of O'Connor's movements, and this roused +suspicion as to the fidelity of the great frontier garrison. Leix and +Offaly were still unleased, the forts cost 7,000 marks yearly without any +return, and a rising among the friends of the old chief might undo the +little that had been done. The garrisons were most oppressive, taking +1_l._ worth of wheat for five shillings, and 4_l._ of beef for twelve +shillings, and the people were ready to rebel on the mere chance of +shaking them off.[377] + +[Sidenote: Tyrone is detained in Dublin.] + +Tyrone and his countess were detained in Dublin, while Shane continued +his fire-raisings in Ulster. The Earl complained bitterly of his own +treatment, of Bagenal's incursions, and of Cusack's intrigues. The +Marshal had taken 1,000 kine and 300 mares from him, and had billeted +himself and his army at Armagh. O'Donnell had suffered from similar +extortions. In St. Leger's time, he said, all had been quiet, and he sent +a statement of his grievances to the late Lord Deputy, who, very wisely, +sent it to Northumberland with the seals unbroken. Against the Chancellor +Tyrone could find no better accusation than that he had twice dissuaded +him from sending hawks as presents to the King. Cusack maintained that +Tyrone's arrest was justified by his negligent and savage behaviour. 'If +there were but one plough in the country,' the candid barbarian had +boasted, 'he would spend upon the same, with many other indecent words +for a captain of a country to say.'[378] + +[Sidenote: Anarchy in Connaught.] + +The fort at Athlone remained a memorial of Bellingham's military plans, +and under its shelter Westmeath submitted to the government of a sheriff; +but it cannot be said that the garrison kept Connaught quiet, either by +force or example. They sacked Clonmacnoise, and took away the bells from +O'Rourke's Tower, and left neither bell, image, book, gem, nor +window-glass in the whole place. 'Lamentable was this deed,' say the +annalists, 'the plundering of the city of Ciaran, the holy saint,' and by +no means calculated to increase the popularity of the King's religion. +Whether on account of this outrage or not, Croft found it necessary to +visit Athlone himself, and try to establish some order in Connaught. The +dissensions of the young Earl of Clanricarde with his kinsman Ulick, who +was loth to part with his authority, had laid the whole country waste. +Cusack with a small force succeeded, after a few executions, in placing +the Earl quietly, and swearing the gentry of the district to obey him. +Agriculture again flourished, and Cusack boasted that he had increased +the ploughs in use from 40 to 200, and that both ploughs and cattle could +be left safely in the open field. Clanricarde made use of his new power +to seize Roscommon, about which O'Connor Roe and O'Connor Don were +disputing, and to hand it over to Cusack for the reception of a garrison. +The warlike Chancellor brought O'Kelly to terms, and then succeeded in +getting a promise from the chiefs that they would assemble a force of +1,500 men to support the Earl in chastising MacDermot of Moylurg, who had +been plundering the O'Connors' cattle. Cusack thought there should be a +president to govern Connaught in conjunction with Clanricarde and +MacWilliam of Mayo, who was well disposed.[379] + +[Sidenote: Government of Leinster. Gerald of Kildare comes to England.] + +Leaving Cusack in the West, the Lord Deputy went into Leinster, and made +successful arrangements for maintaining peace there. He gave a lamentable +account of the state of the country. The Kavanaghs were indeed quiet, and +the O'Byrnes supported soldiers without grumbling; but the poor in the +towns were starving, and their cry sounded continually in his ears. They +were too wretched even to state their own grievances, and this was done +for them by the neighbouring gentry. Croft's regulations for the +garrisons at Carlow and Leighlin show considerable forethought. The +constables were prohibited from levying contributions themselves, but +might obtain the necessary supplies from the country through four +'cessers,' chosen by the freeholders for each garrison. No kerne were to +be quartered on the people, except thirty, which William Keating +covenanted to keep always ready for police purposes, and these were to be +billeted as the 'cessers' should appoint. Under the circumstances the +young Earl of Ormonde's rents were not very well paid, but Croft managed +to send him 400_l._ The state of the currency was such that the Earl +would lose one half if it were paid in Ireland. Gerald of Kildare, who +was now in England, was less fortunate, and the Lord Deputy declared that +he could get nothing for him. At a masque given by the King this +adventurous young man, who was now twenty-seven years old, and very +handsome, had met Mabel Browne, step-daughter to the fair Geraldine. +According to the family historian she fell in love with him. They were +married, and her father's influence procured the honour of knighthood for +the returned exile, and a patent restoring his estate. He did not, +however, come to Ireland till the next reign.[380] + +[Sidenote: Cusack's attempts to conciliate the Irish.] + +Passing eastwards again, Cusack found the O'Farrells peacefully paying +rent and supporting soldiers, but O'Reilly, who had seven warlike sons +and 1,600 men, was less submissive. With 1,200 followers he met the +Chancellor, who had only 200, and agreed to give hostages for the +restoration of spoils taken out of the Pale, and to pay a fine of 200_l._ +Cusack made it a rule to impose a fine, since the Brehon code required +restitution only; but as the fines were seldom paid, the chiefs made +little real concession. O'Reilly refused to go to Dublin, lest he should +be imprisoned like Tyrone, but admitted that that chief deserved his +bonds if he had behaved as Cusack reported, and that he should deserve +them also in like case. The MacMahons and the O'Hanlons were found +equally well disposed, and Magennis kept house like an English gentleman, +and exercised the office of sheriff of Down. From this point the Scots' +handiwork began to be visible. John White, the farmer of Dufferin, had +been murdered by them, and the murderers kept possession of the district. +The fertile lands of Lecale seemed to invite settlers, but the +neighbouring region of Ards warned them off, being laid waste by the +invasions of the islanders. Hugh MacNeill Boy, the chief of Clandeboye, +had agreed to meet Cusack, but, hearing of the landing of some six or +seven score Scots archers, he broke his appointment. Through his frequent +conflicts with Bagenal there was scarcely anything left in the country +worth destroying, and the Chancellor was fain to leave a small party of +soldiers behind him, and to await the action of the Council in Dublin. +Permanent garrisons at Belfast and Castlereagh were the means he proposed +for bridling this part of the North. The O'Cahans and MacQuillins in +northern Antrim were willing to obey the Baron of Dungannon, but were +coerced by the Scots, who disposed of their force as they pleased. Cusack +had a fruitless interview with the formidable Shane O'Neill, and Shane +went straight from the meeting to burn his father's house at Dungannon, +which was only four miles off. Led by the light, Cusack's horsemen were +able to save the building, and he afterwards succeeded in capturing 700 +of Shane's kine, and many horses. The Baron of Dungannon took charge of +the castle, and 300 gallowglasses were quartered on the county, but +Cusack saw plainly that nothing permanent could be done without a +resident governor. The Chancellor was somewhat more successful with +O'Donnell and his rebellious son Calvagh, both of whom came to Dublin and +bound themselves to keep the peace.[381] + +[Sidenote: Unsuccessful attack on the Ulster Scots. Death of Brabazon.] + +Soon after this the Lord Deputy made another attempt to punish the Scots +for the Rathlin disaster, and Hugh Oge O'Neill for supporting them. +O'Neill attacked the advanced guard at Belfast, then 'an old castle +standing on a ford,' and killed Savage of Ards, with fifty others. The +main body crossed the Laggan safely, and proceeded to fortify the old +stronghold. Meanwhile the Baron of Dungannon had brought up his forces, +but incautiously encamped in the open field before effecting a junction +with Croft. There he was set upon by the sleepless Shane, and utterly +routed, so that the whole expedition ended in failure. Sir William +Brabazon, the Vice-Treasurer, who had served so long and so well in +Ireland, died on the march. His body was buried in Christ Church, Dublin, +but his heart, according to the annalists, was 'sent to the King, in +token of his loyalty and truth towards him.'[382] + +[Sidenote: Tyrone is released.] + +Tyrone complained to the King of his continued detention. His country, he +said, suffered by his absence, and he offered either to plead his own +cause in England, or to submit unreservedly to Commissioners sent from +thence. Danger was still feared from Scotland, but the English party +there procured the arrest of George Paris, on the information of one of +O'Connor's sons. On the whole it was thought better to release Tyrone, +his countess and her son remaining as pledges for him, and Shane's +brother for that troublesome person. The Earl bound himself in 6,000_l._ +to keep the peace towards the King's adherents, the Baron of Dungannon, +Calvagh O'Donnell, Maguire, and Tirlogh Luineach O'Neill.[383] + +[Sidenote: Desmond.] + +The Corporation of Waterford praised Desmond for visiting remote parts of +his district, and training the wild people; a task for which few, if any, +of his ancestors had shown any taste. Cusack wrote in the same strain, +and advised that Dungarvan should be taken from the Butlers, and restored +to him. The Chancellor's pet idea was to have a President at Limerick, +less as a governor than as a general referee in all disputes, and he +believed that by such peaceful means permanent civilisation might be +cheaply attained.[384] + +[Sidenote: Croft recalled, 1552.] + +At this time the King granted leave of absence to Croft, whom he +apparently intended to send back; but the O'Connors became uneasy, and +Sir Henry Knollys was sent to stop the Lord Deputy. The clouds blew over, +and Croft was able to go before the end of the year, leaving the +government to Cusack and Chief Justice Aylmer. Tyrone was released a few +days later, and followed Croft to London; and Hugh O'Neill submitted, +apologising for the past, and making promises for the future. The latter +chief received certain monastic lands rent free, especially stipulating +for the friary at Carrickfergus, where his ancestors were buried. Belfast +Castle was restored to him. The Government had in fact been unable to +chastise him, and put the best face they could upon matters. It can +hardly be doubted that the three secular priests whom Hugh intended to +maintain at the family burying place were not likely to advance the +King's views in religion.[385] + +[Sidenote: Character of Croft. St. Leger returns to Ireland.] + +Sir James Croft bears a fair character among Irish governors. He did +nothing very striking, nor did he contribute much towards a final +pacification; but he was considered a just man, and he made no personal +enemies. He was at least no bigot, for he received warm praise from +Archbishop Browne, though he did not hesitate to recommend Leverous for a +bishopric. It was, however, decided that St. Leger should return to +Ireland in his stead. Sir Anthony's government had been cheap, and not +ineffectual. During the last five years of Henry's reign there had been a +small annual surplus; but since his death there had been a constantly +growing deficit, which could only be met by increasing the taxation of +the obedient shires, by employing Irish soldiers almost exclusively, and +by maintaining such troops as were necessary at free quarters upon the +country. Miserable expedients certainly; but the English Government could +devise nothing better, and they were determined to keep down the +expenses. It was resolved not to increase the existing force of 2,024, +and to make no attempt at a thorough conquest. The arrangement with +Tyrone was dishonourable, but was to be adhered to, lest a breach of +faith should lead to war, and consequent expenditure. The King's death +prevented a full return to his father's policy, and those who had lately +governed in his name immediately lost all influence.[386] + +[Sidenote: Protestant Bishops.] + +Goodacre was consecrated to Armagh and Bale to Ossory on the same day by +Browne, Lancaster of Kildare, and Eugene Magennis of Down. Where Bale was +there was sure to be controversy, and a fierce one arose about the ritual +proper to the occasion. The Archbishop would have postponed the ceremony, +and Bale, who frequently denounces him as an epicure, declares that his +object was to 'take up the proxies of any bishopric to his own gluttonous +use.' Lockwood, Dean of Christ Church, was supreme in his own cathedral, +and his timidity led him to wish for the pontifical order. Bale +accordingly stigmatises him as an ass-headed dean, a blockhead who cared +only for his kitchen and his belly. But Lockwood had the law on his side; +for King Edward's first book only had been proclaimed in Ireland, and it +contained no form for consecration. Browne and Cusack also wished to +stand on the old way. Goodacre was for the form contained in the second +book, and now used in England, but he was willing to waive his own +opinion. Bale, however, positively refused to be consecrated according to +the old usage, boldly maintaining that one king makes one law, and that +Ireland must necessarily follow England. His vehemence carried the day, +and the consecrations took place according to the new Anglican use. The +Communion Service followed, and Bale rejected the consecrated wafer, +successfully arguing that common bread should be used. He afterwards +preached twelve strong Protestant sermons in Dublin, insisting +particularly on the marriage of priests; and he flattered himself that he +had established the people 'in the doctrines of repentance, and necessary +belief in the gospel.'[387] + +[Sidenote: Goodacre.] + +Goodacre seems never to have seen his cathedral, to which access was +barred by Shane O'Neill. Bale says he was a man of remarkable sincerity +and integrity, and a zealous and eloquent preacher. He also informs us +that he was poisoned by the procurement of certain priests of his +diocese, 'for preaching God's verity, and rebuking common vices.' This +contemporary statement has been doubted, on account of Bale's prejudices, +but it is repeated by Burnet on the authority of Goodacre's fourth lineal +descendant. Burnet's informant received the story from his grandfather, +who was Goodacre's grandson. According to this tradition the actual +murderer was a monk, who pledged Goodacre in poisoned wine, and died +himself of the effects. Bale says he was himself warned by letter to +beware of the Archbishop's fate. Whether the joint authority of Ossory +and Sarum is to be rejected or not will much depend upon the reader's +opinion of two learned, and in some respects not dissimilar divines. + +[Sidenote: Bale.] + +Bale soon proceeded to Kilkenny. On his journey from Waterford to Dublin +he had already passed through part of his diocese, and had been much +scandalised by what he saw and heard. The parish priest of Knocktopher +boasted that he was a son of William, late prior of the Carmelites +there--not the legitimate son, as he was careful to point out. The +marriage of a friar would have been a heinous offence, but an irregular +connection was venial, and it was thought honourable to be the offspring +of a spiritual man, whether bishop, abbot, monk, friar, or secular +priest. Bale, who had himself been a Carmelite, and who had married a +wife, rebuked this candid ecclesiastic, and resolved to set himself as +bishop to the work of reform. He admits that he had no success; and none +could be expected where public opinion sanctioned the pleasant vices of +the clergy.[388] + +[Sidenote: Proceedings of Bale.] + +Far more questionable was Bale's zeal against images, the destruction of +which will never make men Protestants. His opinions were hopelessly at +variance with those in vogue in Ireland, as may be judged from the +following autobiographical passage:-- + +'Many abominable idolatries maintained by the epicurist priests, for +their wicked bellies' sake. The Communion or Supper of the Lord was there +altogether used like a popish mass, with the old apish toys of Antichrist +in bowings and beckings, kneelings and knockings; the Lord's death after +St. Paul's doctrine neither preached nor yet spoken of. There wawled they +over the dead, with prodigious howlings and patterings, as though their +souls had not been quieted in Christ and redeemed by His passion; but +that they must come after and help at a pinch with requiem æternam to +deliver them out of hell by their sorrowful sorceries. When I had +beholden these heathenish behavers, I said unto a senator of that city +that I well perceived that Christ had there no bishop, neither yet the +King's Majesty of England any faithful officer of the mayor in suffering +so horrible blasphemies.' + +This was at Waterford. At Kilkenny things were no better, and on his +arrival Bale proceeded to show his zeal for reform. All the statues of +saints were turned out of St. Canice's Cathedral, but the Bishop had the +good taste to preserve the fine painted windows erected in the fourteenth +century by his high-handed predecessor Ledred. The less artistic +Cromwellians afterwards destroyed what Bale had spared, and some +fragments were dug up in 1846. Bale had some supporters, chiefly laymen. +The clergy, whose moral failings he had lashed so mercilessly, were not +convinced by hearing the host called a 'white god of their own making,' +nor easily persuaded that the lucrative practice of saying masses for the +dead was useless, nor inclined to admit a liturgy which condemned all +that they most valued. The deanery was in the hands of Bishop Lancaster, +who could give no help, and among the prebendaries there was either +obstructive apathy or violent opposition to change. Bale was certainly +wrong in trying to impose King Edward's second book without legal +warrant; but he had gained his point with Browne, and disdained to yield +to the inferior clergy. The latter pleaded that they had no books, and +quoted the Archbishop against their own diocesan, who says he was 'always +slack in things appertaining to God's glory.' Bale's sincerity is +unquestionable, but he had set himself an impossible task, and his +violence made him enemies who showed no quarter when their turn came. The +most patient of men might have done nothing in such a position, but his +reputation would have been better had he shown some Christian moderation. +Bedell afterwards fell into the hands of his opponents, but his +imprisonment was relieved by expressions of sympathy and admiration from +the most unlikely quarters, and he must have felt that he had not worked +in vain. Bale could have no such consolation.[389] + +[Sidenote: Catholic reaction at Edward's death.] + +On the first rumour of Edward's death it became evident that the Bishop +of Ossory's authority was at an end. Oddly enough the priests hastened +amid general rejoicing to proclaim Queen Jane. They were eager for +change, and probably knew little of the fair saint whose innocent life +was sacrificed to the ambition of others. Justice Howth, who had been +Bale's strongest opponent, censured him for not being present at the +ceremony; 'for indeed,' says the Bishop, 'I much doubted that matter.' In +order, he adds, to 'cause the wild people to bear the more hate to our +nation,' the priests also propagated a report that the young Earl of +Ormonde and Barnaby Fitzpatrick had been slain in London. The forts were +attacked, and many Englishmen killed. Mrs. Matthew King, the clerk of the +check's wife, was robbed 'to her very petticoat' on the highway by the +Fitzpatricks and Butlers. But rumour and uncertainty were soon at an end, +and the priests and people of Kilkenny learned that Catherine of +Arragon's daughter was Queen of England.[390] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[358] St. Leger to Cecil, Jan. 19, 1551; Brady's _Episcopal Succession_. + +[359] This conference is detailed in Mant's _Church History_, pp. 194, +199. See also Ware's _Life of Browne_. The conference was held in St. +Mary's Abbey, the residence of Dowdall, he having refused to attend the +Lord Deputy at Kilmainham. + +[360] Browne to Warwick, _ut supra._ Examination of Oliver Sutton, March +23, 1552. + +[361] St. Leger to Cecil, Jan. 19, 1551. Deposition of Sir John Alen, +March 19, in the deponent's own hand. 'The Bishop of Kildare +(Lancaster),' he says, 'came to me persuading me on his behalf to put in +writing the words Mr. St. Leger spoke to me in Kilmainham, to whom I made +this answer, "Show my lord that albeit I love his little toe better than +all Mr. St. Leger's body, yet I will do nothing against truth."' + +[362] Bicton's curious will is printed in Cotton's _Fasti_, vol. ii. +Appendix. + +[363] Croft to Warwick, May 1551; Instructions to Desmond and others July +1; Archbishop Browne to Warwick, Aug. 6. + +[364] Cusack to Warwick, Sept. 27, 1551. + +[365] Cusack to Warwick, Sept. 27, 1551; Instructions to Mr. Wood, Sept. +29, with Cecil's notes, 'Keep him (Tyrone) still, participating the cause +thereof to the nobility;' Hill's _MacDonnells of Antrim_, chap. iii. + +[366] _Ancient Laws and Institutes of Ireland_, vol. iii. p. 146; Maine's +_Early History of Institutions_, p. 53. + +[367] Bagenal to Croft, Oct. 27, 1551. + +[368] Bagenal to Croft, Nov. 11, 1551; Sir Thomas Cusack's Book, May 8, +1552; _Four Masters_, _ad ann._ 1551. + +[369] Mant, pp. 209-210, from a Clarendon MS. The letters which passed +between Croft and Dowdall are given by Mant from the Harris MSS. + +[370] Browne to Warwick, Aug. 6, 1551; Ware's _Browne_. + +[371] Instructions for Mr. Thomas Wood, July 28, 1551; and the King's +answer, Aug. 17. + +[372] Strype's Cranmer, book ii. chap. xxviii., and Appendices 65 and 66. + +[373] Instructions for Mr. Wood, Sept. 29, 1551. Cecil wrote on the +margin 'denied for the King liketh no union.' The King's amended answer, +Nov. 26. + +[374] Croft to Cecil, March 14, 1552; to the Marquis of Winchester, March +22. + +[375] W. Crofton to Cecil, April 12, 1551; Lord Deputy and Council to +Privy Council, Aug. 30, and the answer in Nov.; Croft to Northumberland, +Dec. 22; Lord Deputy and Council to the Privy Council, Jan. 27, +1552--'idleness decayeth nobility, one of the principal "kayes" of a +commonwealth, and bringeth magistrates in contempt and hatred of the +people,' and the petition enclosed. Croft to Cecil, March 14, and to +Winchester, March 22. Ware's _Annals_. + +[376] Wicklow tinstone has never been thought workable, see Kane's +_Industrial Resources_, p. 210. Dr. Kane does not seem to have known +anything of the Clonmines venture. Lord Deputy St. Leger and Council to +Henry VIII., Oct. 24, 1541, and June 4, 1543. St. Leger acted on the +advice of Thomas Agard, a mining expert. Minute of Council in S.P., 1546. +St. Leger, Croft, and others to the Privy Council, May 20, 1551; Robert +Record, surveyor of mines to the Privy Council, Feb. 1552. Harman's +certificate, same date. Joachim Gundelfinger to the Privy Council, May +15. Reports on the mines, Aug. 1552, and Feb. and April, 1553. +Instructions to St. Leger in _Carew_, July 1550, p. 228, as to alum. The +MSS. contains many details interesting to specialists, especially the +certificate of Gerrard Harman, a German. + +[377] Privy Council to Croft, Feb. 23, and May 29, 1552. Sir Thomas +Cusack's 'Book,' in _Carew_, 1553, p. 241. + +[378] The Earl of Tyrone's articles, Feb. 9, 1552; St. Leger to +Northumberland, March 10. Sir Thomas Cusack's 'Book,' in _Carew_. + +[379] Cusack's 'Book' in _Carew_. _Four Masters_, 1552. + +[380] _Earls of Kildare._ The patent of restoration is dated April 25, +1552. Orders for Leighlin and Carlow in _Carew_, April 30. Croft to the +Privy Council, April 16, May 1, and May 31. + +[381] Cusack's 'Book' in _Carew_, No. 200. It is there wrongly dated +1553. + +[382] The facts of this expedition (June and July 1552) are given by the +_Four Masters_; and see Ware's _Annals_. + +[383] Tyrone's complaint, July 1552; Privy Council to George Paris, Oct. +25; to Croft, Dec. 10; Cusack to Privy Council, Dec. 22; Memorandum +concerning Tyrone, Dec. 30, in _Carew_. + +[384] Mayor, &c., of Waterford to the Privy Council, Dec. 18; Cusack and +Aylmer to the Privy Council, Dec. 22 and 30; Declaration of Desmond's +title, Dec. 30; Cusack in _Carew_, _ut supra._ + +[385] Northumberland to Cecil, Nov. 25, 1552; Cusack's 'Book' in _Carew_, +vol. i. p. 236; King's letter in Lodge's _Patent Officers_; Ware's +_Annals_. + +[386] A paper calendared under Jan. 1553 (No. 75) calculates the average +expenses from 33 to 38 Hen. VIII. at 8,500_l._ a year. In the six years +of Edward's reign they rose by regular gradation from 17,000_l._ to +52,000_l._ The average revenue for the former period was 9,000_l._, for +the latter, 11,000_l._ See also No. 83, 'a device how to keep Ireland in +the stay it now remaineth upon the revenues only.' + +[387] The consecrations took place on Feb. 2, 1553. + +[388] Bale's 'Vocation,' in the _Harleian Miscellany_. + +[389] Church histories of Mant, Killen, Brennan, and Reid. Graves's +_History of St. Canice_. They all derive their chief inspiration from +Bale's own 'Vocation.' Fuller has preserved the nickname of 'biliosus +Balæus,' given to the Bishop in contemporary controversy. + +[390] Browne and Bale were friars; yet Protestants will not blame them +for entering the holy estate of matrimony, any vows to the contrary +notwithstanding. To modern England a married clergy seems quite natural, +but the scandal was great during the transition period, and Queen +Elizabeth felt the awkwardness herself. The following statement of +Harpsfield may be true or false, but it shows what could be said by a +contemporary. It should be remembered that Harpsfield was Archdeacon of +Canterbury. 'Against these kind of marriages, and maintenance of the +same, King Henry, in his latter days, made very sharp laws, whereupon +many so married put over their women to their servants and other friends, +who kept them at bed and board as their own wives. And after the death of +King Henry they received them again (as love money) with usury; that is, +the children in the mean season begotten by the said friends, whom they +took, called and brought up as their own, as it was well known, as well +in other as in Browne, Archbishop of Dublin. It would now pity a man at +the heart to hear of the naughty and dissolute life of these yoked +priests,' &c. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE REIGN OF MARY. + + +[Sidenote: The succession to the crown.] + +Lawyers and casuists might dispute about the succession. Logically, Mary +and Elizabeth could not both be legitimate; but the people of England +swept these cobwebs away. Catherine had for twenty-two years borne the +title of Queen, and in that great place she was not known to have done +anything worthy of blame, but much deserving the highest praise. And then +there was the will of Henry VIII. Its execution had perhaps been +informal, but the people cared nothing for that; it was his will, and he +had been authorised by Parliament to make it. The sick-room fancies of a +boy of sixteen were not to be allowed to alter such a settlement. + +[Sidenote: Mary proclaimed.] + +The struggle for the crown was short, and was little felt at the distance +at which Ireland then was, though the Dudley party took care that Queen +Jane's accession should be officially known there. On the thirteenth day +after her brother's death Mary was proclaimed by the Council in London, +on the fourteenth the baffled Northumberland renewed the proclamation at +Cambridge, on the fifteenth the grand conspirator himself was arrested. +On the very day of the Cambridge proclamation the Privy Council wrote to +Aylmer, the acting Lord Justice cancelling the former communication, and +directing that Mary should be proclaimed 'Queen of England, France, and +Ireland, Defender of the Faith, and on earth supreme head of the churches +of England and Ireland.'[391] + +[Sidenote: St. Leger is Deputy, 1553.] + +Besides twelve Privy Councillors, six individuals connected with Ireland, +who happened to be in England, signed these letters--Cusack, the +Chancellor; Lord Gormanston; Staples, Bishop of Meath; Thomas Luttrell, +Chief Justice of the Common Pleas; James Bathe, Chief Baron; and the +veteran John Alen. The object probably was to show the men in Dublin that +this time at least there was no mistake as to which Queen they were to +obey. Cusack, Aylmer, Luttrell, and Bathe were confirmed in their offices +with increased emoluments, and no immediate change was made in the +general management of Irish affairs. Some disturbances amongst the +O'Connors were easily put down, and the citizens of Dublin repulsed a +raid of the O'Neills near Dundalk. In the meantime Northumberland had +expiated his crimes on the scaffold. Gardiner, Bonner, Tunstall, and +others had been restored, and Cranmer, Latimer, and Hooper imprisoned; +and there was time to think of the affairs of Ireland. In October, soon +after the coronation, St. Leger was appointed Lord Deputy in fulfilment +of the late King's intention. He landed at Dalkey on November 11, and on +the 19th took the oath and received the sword in Christ Church. + +[Sidenote: His instructions.] + +St. Leger's instructions show the policy which Mary had adopted. As +regards temporal affairs it did not greatly differ from that of her +father. The Scots in Ulster were not to be molested unless they gave +fresh trouble. The army was to be reduced to 500 regular soldiers, of +which not more than ten per cent. were to be Irishmen. Extraordinary +garrisons were to be discharged at the next general pay day, and if +possible induced to go back to England without raising riots. The Lord +Deputy might employ kerne and gallowglasses where necessary, and the +usual private bands were to be continued; but coyne and livery were to be +eschewed as much as possible. St. Leger found it impossible to carry out +the reduction of the army lower than 1,100 men, besides kerne. The +question as to the desirability of a Presidency for Munster was to be +carefully considered in all its bearings. Leix and Offaly being in great +measure waste, the Lord Deputy was to grant lands in fee simple at a +small quit-rent either to Englishmen or Irishmen, binding them to erect +and maintain farm buildings, and to till a certain portion of land. By +this means it was hoped that these unfortunate districts would soon be +made like the English Pale. Leases for twenty-one years were to be given +to Crown tenants generally, including holders of monastic lands. Goodacre +had just died, so that there was no difficulty about Armagh, to which, as +well as to the Primacy of all Ireland, Dowdall was immediately restored, +with the additional grant of the priory of Ards rent free for life. The +Mass and the rest of the old religion was to be restored as nearly as +possible.[392] + +[Sidenote: Mary maintains the rights of the Crown.] + +But Mary, though zealous for orthodoxy, had no intention of yielding the +rights of the Crown to the Pope, and this was no doubt well understood. +One of St. Leger's earliest duties was to go to Drogheda and place the +government of Eastern Ulster in the hands of Eugene Magennis, who +specially covenanted not to admit any provisor from Rome. An Irish-born +priest named Connor MacCarthy asked Mary for a letter of licence to go to +Rome, there to obtain certain benefices from the Pope, fearing lest some +should be in the Queen's gift, 'and also considering the statute of +Premunire.' Nor was the fear an idle one, for when Tyrone afterwards +obtained a Papal bull for the appointment of his chaplain to the restored +priory of Down, the Queen sharply reminded him that she intended to +maintain the prerogative in that behalf which she had received from her +progenitors. MacCarthy was not the only Irish ecclesiastic of the reign +who thought it necessary to petition for relief from the consequences of +the dreaded statute.[393] + +[Sidenote: Catholicism restored. Bale refuses to give way.] + +[Sidenote: Bale's religious dramas.] + +In some places the old religion was restored without waiting for any +formal order. As soon as Edward's death was known Justice Howth and Lord +Mountgarret, the Earl of Ormonde's uncle, went to Kilkenny and desired to +have the sacrament celebrated in honour of St. Anne. The priest said the +Bishop had forbidden celebrations on week days; 'as indeed I had,' says +Bale, 'for the abominable idolatry that I had seen therein.' The learned +judge, who seems to have had no commission, then discharged the clergy +from obedience to their Bishop, and commanded them to proceed in the old +way. On August 20 Mary was proclaimed at Kilkenny with much solemnity. +Bale strongly objected to wear cope or mitre, or to have the crozier +borne before him; not from any opposition to the Queen's title, but from +dislike to vain ceremonies. Taking a New Testament in his hand, he went +to the market-cross followed by a great crowd, to whom he preached from +the 13th chapter of Romans, on the reverence due to magistrates. But the +clergy of the cathedral, who had no sympathy with the Bishop's doctrines, +provided two disguised priests to carry mitre and crozier before him +against his will. The people were amused, instructed, or scandalised, as +the case might be, by the representation of a tragedy concerning God's +promises in the old law, and by a comedy of St. John the Baptist. The +baptism and temptation of Christ were brought upon the stage, and the +young men of the town acted both at the morning and evening performance. +Both dramas were written by Bale himself, and in a literary point of view +they are far from contemptible. They mark the transition between the +mystery plays of the middle ages and the compositions of Shakespeare's +immediate precursors. Personified abstractions as well as historical +characters appear on the stage; nor did Bale shrink from a representation +which seems impossible to us, for he boldly introduces the first person +in the Trinity under the name of Pater Cælestis. Justification by faith +is the great doctrine inculcated, and where the author speaks in person +he loses no opportunity of attacking the Church of Rome. In an epilogue +he exhorts the people to + + 'Hear neither Francis, Benedict, nor Bruno, + Albert nor Dominic, for they new rules invent, + Believe neither Pope nor Priest of his consent, + Follow Christ's gospel,' &c. + +In another play on the instructive story of King John, 'Ynglond vidua' +says:-- + + 'Such lubbers as hath disguised heads in their hoods, + Which in idleness do live by other men's goods, + Monks, chanons, and nones.' + +In his other works Bale throughout shows the same spirit. Thus he calls +that very questionable hero, Sir John Oldcastle, 'a blessed martyr not +canonised by the Pope, but in the precious blood of his Lord Jesus +Christ.' St. Paul is the great object of Bale's admiration, and he seems +to have thought that he was like him. The points of resemblance are +similar to those which Captain Fluelen discovered between himself and +Alexander the Great. Thus, Paul was tossed up and down between Candia and +Melita, Bale between Milford and Waterford. There was a river in Monmouth +and a river in Macedon, and there were salmon in both.[394] + +[Sidenote: Opposition to Bale in his diocese.] + +Sir Richard Howth, Treasurer of St. Canice's, and his friend Sir James +Joys, were among Bale's most energetic opponents. To annoy him they +suggested solemn exequies and prayers for the soul of Edward VI. The +Bishop argued that it would be better to wait for orders from Dublin. The +ceremony had already once been postponed to see the devil dance at +Thomastown--a Sunday amusement which the mob perhaps preferred to the +Bishop's plays. Bale found another enemy in one whom he calls Bishop of +Galway, and who was probably John Moore, Bishop of Enaghdune, the ancient +diocese in which Galway stands. This Moore was commissioned, along with +other prelates not acknowledged in the Roman succession, to consecrate +Patrick Walsh Bishop of Waterford. He was no credit to the Reformation, +for Bale represents him as spending his nights in drinking and his days +in confirming children at twopence a head. A gallowglass brought a dog in +a sheet with twopence hanging round his neck to be confirmed with his +neighbours' children; in this, says Bale, 'noting this beastly Bishop +more fit to confirm dogs than Christian men's children.' The soldier may +have regarded him as a schismatic, but it is not easy to understand how +such a man can have attained episcopal orders.[395] + +[Sidenote: He is forced to fly.] + +Ten days after the proclamation of Mary there was a general revolt +against Bale, incited by Howth, whose position in legal circles gave him +ample means of knowing how the wind blew at Court, but who was rather +horrified at the length to which the clergy and their adherents went. In +Bale's absence they rang the bells of St. Canice's and of all the other +churches, flinging their caps to the battlements of the cathedral with +shouts of laughter, but doing no actual violence. A little later the mob +was not so good-humoured. The Fitzpatrick and Butler kerne, and +especially the 'furious family of Mountgarret,' annoyed Bale in many +ways. Barnaby Bolger, an enterprising tradesmen who had formerly aroused +great indignation by forestalling Kilkenny market, and whose young +daughter was married to 'Grace Graceless,' an adherent of the +Fitzpatricks, headed a tumultuous attack on the Bishop's house outside +the town. He and his friend Mr. Cooper, the parson of Callan, were robbed +of all their horses, and thus deprived of the means of escape. Five of +Bale's servants, one of them a girl of sixteen, were caught haymaking, +and all murdered. He managed to close the portcullis and defend himself +until rescued by Robert Shee, the sovereign of Kilkenny, 'a man sober, +wise, and godly, which is a rare thing in this land.' Shee, who could +command the services of 100 horse and 300 foot, sent Bale by night to +Dublin, and no doubt he thought of St. Paul's journey under somewhat +similar circumstances. But there was no safety in the Irish capital, and +the Bishop escaped by sea in a sailor's dress. He was captured at St. +Ives and brought before the justices, but was released when nothing was +found to connect him with Wyatt's or any other plot. He was again +captured by pirates and had to pay a ransom, but ultimately succeeded in +reaching Holland. For five years he lived at Basel, where he continued to +write with an acrimony which had not been lessened by his recent +troubles. When Elizabeth became Queen, Bale made no attempt to regain his +bishopric. At sixty-three he was disinclined to face the Kilkenny people +again, or perhaps he had learned that he was unfit to govern men. He +became a prebendary of Canterbury, and devoted his remaining years to +literature. His hurried flight from Ireland had forced him to leave books +and manuscripts behind, and the Queen ordered them to be sent over to +him. 'He had,' she said, 'been studious in the search of the history and +antiquities of this our realm,' and might probably do something for their +illustration. Whether Bale ever got back his library or not, he was +certainly not silenced for want of materials; for the extent and variety +of his learning were considered most remarkable.[396] + +[Sidenote: Wyatt's rebellion. Croft, Cheeke, and Carew, 1554.] + +The abortive insurrection of Wyatt had the usual effect of setting Mary +more firmly on the throne, and at the same time of exasperating her +against some whom she might have been willing to spare. Sir James Croft, +the late Lord Deputy, was arrested before he had time to raise his +tenants in Herefordshire: he was convicted, but afterwards pardoned. Sir +Peter Carew, who afterwards played an important part in Irish affairs, +was also accused of complicity, and thought it prudent to go abroad, +where his companion was no less a personage than Sir John Cheeke. +Venturing to Brussels, where Paget was ambassador, they were led to +suppose that there was no danger, but that crafty diplomatist had them +kidnapped near Antwerp, and carried to England in a fishing boat. Their +captors were the Flemish and Spanish officials; and Philip, while +expressing becoming indignation at the breach of hospitality, took care +not to hear of it until the prisoners were safe beyond seas. The passage +can hardly have been pleasant, for they were blindfolded and chained, one +at each end of the boat. Poor Sir John Cheeke, who afterwards showed his +unfitness for the crown of martyrdom, and who perhaps saw a vision of the +stake, did not conceal his misery. 'Although very well learned, but not +acquainted with the cross of troubles, he was still in great despair, +great anguish, and heaviness, and would not be comforted, so great was +his sorrow; but Sir Peter Carew, whose heart could not be broken nor mind +overthrown with any adversities, and yielding to no such matter, +comforted the other, and encouraged him to be of a good stomach, +persuading him (as though he had been a divine) to patience and good +contentation.' The man of action, as is not seldom the case, showed that +he had more philosophy than the philosopher. Sir Peter, whose guilt, if +he was guilty, was much less clear than that of Croft, was pardoned by +the Queen, and afterwards served her well at St. Quentin. Sir John Cheeke +lived to undergo a worse humiliation than that of Cranmer, to be made an +instrument in the persecution of those with whom he secretly agreed, to +suffer in the few months which his pusillanimity had gained him a +thousand martyrdoms of grief and shame, and then to die heart-broken and +dishonoured. Sir Nicholas Arnold, afterwards employed by Elizabeth in +Ireland, was another of the conspirators. Lady Jane, the innocent victim +of so many intrigues, laid her beautiful neck upon the block, and +fivescore Kentishmen suffered death for their zeal to the Reformation or +their hatred of Spanish influence. Gerald of Kildare and the young Earl +of Ormonde both served with distinction against Wyatt, and the orthodox +Queen rewarded both with goodly grants of abbey lands. Ormonde had been +captain of one of the bands of Whitecoats sent by the city into Kent, +where many of his men deserted to the insurgents.[397] + +[Sidenote: The primacy is restored to Dowdall.] + +The insurrection being at an end, the Queen lost no time in forcing +Browne to surrender his patent of precedence, and restoring Dowdall to +the primacy, and a commission was issued to him and to Drs. Walsh and +Leverous for re-establishing the old religion, and punishing those who +had violated the law of clerical celibacy. Browne, who had a wife, was +accordingly deprived, and, pending the appointment of a successor, the +temporalities of his see handed over to Lockwood, the pliant Dean of +Christ Church. Staples of Meath, who was likewise married, and was +besides personally obnoxious to Dowdall, was also deprived in favour of +one of the Commissioners who sentenced him, the learned William Walsh, +formerly a Cistercian monk of Bective Abbey. Curiously enough, Walsh, who +was appointed by Pole in virtue of his legatine authority, did not +receive a Papal provision till 1564, some time after Elizabeth had +expelled him from his see. The same treatment for the same offence was +inflicted on Lancaster, Bishop of Kildare, who was succeeded by Leverous, +already Bishop of Leighlin by Papal provision. A fourth married bishop +was Travers of Leighlin, who was succeeded by Thomas O'Fihel or Field, an +Augustinian friar. A fifth, Casey of Limerick, had to make way for his +aged predecessor Quin. On Bale, who had left the field clear, no legal +sentence of deprivation was passed; but his successor, John Thonory, was +already appointed. Thonory has an evil name for having corruptly wasted +the property of his see, and is said to have died of grief at the loss of +some of his ill-gotten gains. Of the deprived prelates, Lancaster lived +to be Archbishop of Armagh, and Casey, who survived two successors, and +saw another expelled, regained his see in 1571. Browne, Travers, and +Lancaster are supposed to have died before the accession of Elizabeth, +and Staples soon after it.[398] + +[Sidenote: Kildare returns to Ireland, 1554.] + +This year was memorable for the return of Gerald of Kildare, whose titles +and estates were restored to him. The attainder, however, was not renewed +till 1569. Old Brian O'Connor was released from the Tower, and allowed to +revisit Offaly, an indulgence which he owed to the exertions of his +daughter Margaret, who was Kildare's aunt, and who relied upon the number +of her connections at Court, as well as her own knowledge of the English +language. Barnaby Fitzpatrick, Lord of Upper Ossory, King Edward's bosom +friend, returned about the same time, and so did a far more important +personage, the young Earl of Ormonde. 'There was great rejoicing,' say +the 'Four Masters,' 'throughout the greater part of Leath-Mhogha because +of their arrival; for it was thought that not one of the descendants of +the Earls of Kildare, or of the O'Connors Faly, would ever come to +Ireland.' + +[Sidenote: Constant war among the Irish.] + +While the obedient shires were busy with the restoration of the ancient +religion, the native Irish made war among themselves, with but little +interference from the Government. Donough O'Brien, the second Earl of +Thomond, and a firm friend of the Crown, was killed in April 1553 by his +brother Donnell, leaving the earldom to Connor, his eldest son, by Lady +Helen Butler, who survived him. Donnell, however, assumed the title of +O'Brien, and the clansmen were divided between the representatives of the +old and new order. Donnell petitioned that, having been nominated +according to the ancient custom, he might be acknowledged as chief. St. +Leger was unable to grant this, but offered to write to the Queen in his +favour. In the meantime other controversies were submitted to the +arbitration of O'Carroll, O'Mulrian, and MacBrien Arra, on the part of +Donnell; and of the barons of Mountgarret, Cahir, and Dunboyne, all +Butlers, on the part of the Earl. The umpires in case of disagreement +were the Lord Deputy, the Lord Chancellor, and the Earl of Desmond. It is +very hard to make out the exact sequence of events, but either just +before or just after this negotiation, Donnell attacked one of his +nephew's castles, and was driven off by the arrival of the Earl of +Ormonde. He then turned his attention to the plunder of Clanricarde. The +Baron of Delvin continued to ravage MacCoghlan's country, and one of the +Nugents, who was foster-brother of Kildare, being killed, the newly +restored Earl, who lost no time in showing that he meant to keep up the +family traditions, exacted 340 cows as an _eric_. The O'Carrolls in the +south, the MacSweenys in the north, killed each other in the old fashion. +Shane O'Neill persuaded the Earl of Kildare and the Baron of Delvin to +take his part in a quarrel with one sept of his name, and old Tyrone was +defeated by another sept, supported by the MacDonnells, who were also +intriguing with Calvagh O'Donnell.[399] + +[Sidenote: The Pope and the 'Rex Hiberniæ,' 1555.] + +We have seen that the Queen had no intention of yielding any part of the +dignity which had belonged to her predecessors. Notwithstanding the Papal +pretension to suzerainty, she had as a matter of course assumed the +royal title created by her father in Ireland. The Holy See found it +necessary to respect accomplished facts, and had not Julius III. +abandoned all claims to the monastic lands, Pole would never have been +allowed into England. Paul IV.'s pretensions were boundless, but he could +not afford to quarrel about a mere trifle both with England and Spain. He +considered it a great glory for his pontificate that its opening should +be signalised by the arrival of an English ambassador. Whether he wished +it or not, Philip and Mary were, and would remain, King and Queen of +Ireland. He therefore ignored all that Henry had done, and, as if of his +own mere notion, erected Ireland into a kingdom. The world might perhaps +suppose that Mary took it from his hand, and not in right of blood. 'The +Popes,' says the sarcastic Venetian, 'have often given that which they +could not take from the possessors, and, to avoid contentions, some have +received their own goods as gifts, and some have dissembled the knowledge +of the gift, or of the pretence of the giver.' But in Ireland, where +distance cast a halo of enchantment over Papal politics, and where +Franciscans and Jesuits swayed the popular mind, the bull which announced +the gracious gift was taken by many for what it pretended to be, and not +for what it really was.[400] + +[Sidenote: The Queen maintains her prerogative.] + +Mary gave evidence of her desire to restore the splendour of religion by +re-establishing St. Patrick's as a cathedral. Leverous was the first Dean +of the new foundation, and was allowed to hold the preferment along with +the see of Kildare. The man selected to undo Browne's work was Hugh +Curwin, Dean of Hereford, a native of Westmoreland, and one of the +Queen's chaplains. He had become known as a preacher in favour of Henry's +marriage with Anne Boleyn, in opposition to the Franciscan Peto. The +deanery of Hereford had been his reward. Peto, on the other hand, had +become the Queen's confessor, and was the chosen instrument of Paul IV., +when that Pope in a fit of anger appointed a legate to supersede Pole. +Mary so valued the royal authority that she resented the irregular honour +intended for her confessor, though he had been the champion of her own +legitimacy, stopped the red hat at the gates of Calais, and never allowed +Peto any benefit from the Pope's irritability. On the whole, Anne's +advocate fared better than Catherine's. Curwin, whose first article of +belief enjoined submission to principalities and powers, no doubt knew +how to turn the Queen's love of power, as he had done her father's, to +his own advantage. He was treated with exceptional favour, and gained +practical control of the temporalities even before his consecration, +which was performed in London by Bonner, Thirlby, and Griffin. +Immediately afterwards he received the Great Seal of Ireland. Curwin had +the pall from Rome, and in the Papal record of his appointment Philip and +Mary are said to have supplicated for it, Browne being ignored, and +Curwin made successor to Alen. But the King and Queen only acknowledged +that Curwin was preferred on their recommendation, and he had to renounce +on oath all things prejudicial to the Crown, whether contained in the +Papal bull or not. Curwin held a provincial synod soon after his arrival +in Ireland, at which the principal business was the restoration of the +ancient rites.[401] + +[Sidenote: No progress made in Ulster. St. Leger has no money, 1555.] + +Ulster was in a state of more than usual confusion. Manus O'Donnell, who +had been constantly at war with his father, was opposed by his son +Calvagh, who had the help of the Scots. They addressed him as illustrious +lord, and he went over to Scotland to claim the proffered aid. Returning +with a large force, and with a piece of ordnance which the annalists +inexplicably call a crooked gun, he entered Lough Swilly, took his father +prisoner, and battered Greencastle and another fortress on Lough Foyle. +Calvagh thenceforth assumed practical control of his clan. The Scots slew +Hugh MacNeill Oge, and St. Leger divided his territory between Phelim +O'Neill and the sons of Phelim Bacagh. The hardy interlopers had even +designs on Carrickfergus, which St. Leger says were frustrated 'by the +help of God and Mr. Parker;' but in a campaign of six weeks the Lord +Deputy could gain no real advantage. As in the case of most Irish +governors, his detractors, among whom Sir William Fitzwilliam was +conspicuous, were busy at Court. They accused him, among other things, of +falsifying estimates in favour of Andrew Wyse, the late Vice-Treasurer, +whose accounts had been found unsatisfactory. 'I am now in case,' he +said, 'as the poet's fame. I have meat to the surlip and drink to the +netherlip, and can reach neither of them.' His position made it +impossible for him to economise, and no money came to pay his hungry +retinue. A friendly chronicler has remarked that St. Leger, like all +other Irish governors, was hated chiefly for his good deeds; like a good +apple tree, which, the more fruit it bears, the more stones are thrown at +it.[402] + +[Sidenote: Lord Fitzwalter (Sussex) Lord Deputy, 1556.] + +The Lord Deputy's entreaties for release were heard at last, and the +government was conferred on Sir Thomas Radcliffe, Lord Fitzwalter, +afterwards created Earl of Sussex, who, but for his Irish service, would +bear one of the fairest characters in our history. Mary rejoiced that the +true Catholic faith had by God's great goodness and special grace been +recovered in England and Ireland, and she directed her representative 'to +set forth the honour and dignity of the Pope's Holiness and See Apostolic +of Rome, and from time to time to be ready with our aid and secular +force, at the request of all spiritual ministers and ordinaries there, to +punish and repress all heretics and Lollards and their damnable sects, +opinions, and errors.' Cardinal Pole, she added, was about to send over a +legatine commission to visit the Irish Church, and official assistance +was to be given 'in all and everything belonging to the function and +office legatine, for the advancement of God's glory and the honour of the +See Apostolic.' The new governor was reminded that he lay under an +obligation to execute justice, and was exhorted at much greater length to +exert himself for the improvement of the revenue. A Parliament was to be +held, chiefly as a means of restoring religion according to the Queen's +ideas, of settling her marriage and succession, and of voting a subsidy. +Sir Henry Sidney, who now makes his first appearance in Irish history, +accompanied the Lord Deputy as Vice-Treasurer. He brought with him a sum +of 25,000_l._[403] + +[Sidenote: A warlike mayor of Dublin.] + +About the time of the new Lord Deputy's arrival, the Kavanaghs made a +raid into the neighbourhood of Dublin. Sir George Stanley took command of +the citizens, and drove 140 of the assailants into Powerscourt, where +they had to surrender at discretion. Seventy-four were hanged. John +Challoner, who was Mayor of Dublin at the time, provided the civic force +with arms, which he had brought at his own expense from Spain. This +martial magistrate was offered knighthood, but he excused himself. 'My +Lord,' he said, 'it will be more to my credit and my posterity's to have +it said that John Challoner served the Queen upon occasion, than to say +that Sir John Challoner did it.'[404] + +[Sidenote: Sussex makes a journey into Ulster, 1556.] + +Sussex landed at Dublin towards the end of May, and received the sword +from St. Leger's willing hands. The religious ceremonies were of a kind +entirely satisfactory to the Queen. After a month's stay in the capital +he set out for the North, and appeared in church both at Drogheda and +Dundalk. The force mustered on this occasion was very considerable, for +besides the regular soldiers and Ormonde's followers, the gentlemen of +the Pale were called on to serve with from one to six horsemen each. The +Plunkets contributed twenty-four horse, the Nugents eighteen horse and +twenty-four foot. Dublin sent sixty horsemen and gunners, and Drogheda +forty men well appointed. 'The Byrnes and the Tooles' wastes' in Wicklow +were expected to send twelve horse each, and other Irish contingents +joined on the march. The first Sunday was spent at a mill beyond Newry, +where Dowdall said Mass, and where O'Hanlon, whose chiefry seems to have +been disputed, was solemnly proclaimed. Mention is made of a great hill +of stones, which was, perhaps, the traditional spot for the election of +an O'Hanlon. Passing along the right bank of the Newry river, which he +crossed near Tanderagee, Sussex reached the Laggan valley near Moira, and +passing Belfast, reached Carrickfergus on the ninth day after leaving +Dublin. From this the army marched across the central districts of +Antrim, and, at last, on the twenty-fourth day from Dublin, Sussex +reached Glenarm, and found that James MacDonnell had fled before him into +Scotland. The fugitive sent to France for help, but his envoy's +proceedings were counteracted by Paget's vigilance. A quantity of cattle +were captured, besides butter and other produce hid in a cave. This seems +to have been the only result of an expedition which lasted thirty-seven +days. Sussex dismissed his allies at their old rendezvous near Newry, and +on the very next day, as if in ridicule of his efforts, a messenger +arrived to say that the Scots had attacked the rear guard. Sidney +afterwards said that he had slain James MacConnell, a mighty Scots +captain, during this expedition. Some Scots of name were certainly +killed, and one of them may have been called James; but the real James +MacDonnell was back at Glenarm before the end of the year.[405] + +[Sidenote: His failure.] + +The moral which Sussex drew from this inglorious expedition was that the +North could only be held by a chain of forts along the coast from Dundalk +to Lough Foyle. Some part at least of the expense would be paid by the +salmon fisheries of the Foyle, the Bann, and the Bush; and by the +herring, cod, ling, and hake fisheries, of which Carlingford was the +chief seat. A good English bishop would also, he thought, be a means to +civilise the country. It had not yet been discovered that making the +Church a badge of conquest only served to make religion itself odious. +The dislike of the Irish to English ecclesiastics had been marked +throughout the middle ages, and even if England had remained in communion +with Rome, bishops who were Government officials first and chief pastors +afterwards, could scarcely have ministered successfully to the wants of +O'Neills and O'Donnells.[406] + +[Sidenote: The King's and Queen's Counties.] + +[Sidenote: The natives.] + +The settlement of Leix was in outward form completed, and Sussex received +the Queen's thanks for it. The arrangements were not without a show of +equity; but the old inhabitants could not reconcile themselves to the +intrusion of a colony, and their pertinacious opposition forced the +Government to treat them with far more rigour than had been at first +intended. The western half of the new Queen's County was originally +reserved for the O'Mores, each head of a sept becoming a landlord holding +an estate in tail by knight-service. The chiefs were prohibited from +keeping any idlemen except of their own sept, or more than one for every +100 acres. They were to attend the constable of the fort when required, +to repair bridges, and at all times to keep the passes open between their +districts and those occupied by the English. They were to dress like +Englishmen, except when riding, and to teach their children to speak +English, to attend the Deputy annually, and to use only the Common Law. +All above twelve were required to take the oath of allegiance. Forfeiture +was prescribed for a persistent refusal to keep the passes open; for +retaining superfluous idlemen; for keeping more than one set of harness; +for interrupting communication with the English; for making a private +way; for marrying and fostering with the Irish, and for absenteeism. The +Deputy's licence removed the penalty in all these cases. For keeping +unlicensed firearms the first offence was to be punished by forfeiture, +and the second by death. + +[Sidenote: The settlers.] + +The eastern district was assigned to the English, to hold on similar +terms, and twelve places, among which Stradbally and Abbeyleix are the +best known, were to be kept in a defensible state as satellites to the +royal fort of Maryborough. The duties of the settlers were in general the +same as those assigned to the O'Mores; but whereas the latter were +restrained in the matter of arms, the possession of them was made +obligatory on the former. A good bow and sheaf of arrows, or one +hand-gun at least, was to be kept in every house. Forfeiture was to be +incurred in the same way as by the Irish, and in addition for falling +away from the use of the English tongue, for holding more than 300 acres +in demesne, or for entertaining Irishmen, except so far as they were +necessary for husbandry. A few natives, whose services as captains of +kerne had deserved special recognition, were to have grants in the +English territory, and it was suggested that a large territory should be +offered to the Earl of Kildare. A constable, resident at the fort, was to +have the same powers locally as the Lord Deputy had generally. Stringent +rules were made as to free quarters and purveyance. The constable or +president on his annual circuit was to have his own expenses and those of +four men and five horses borne for one night only by each town; and each +sept of the O'Mores was to bear the like burden, and no more. Finally, a +church was to be built in each of the twelve settlements within three +years, and a parson, of English birth, was to have the tithe.[407] + +[Sidenote: The natives cling to their land.] + +Whatever the intentions of the Queen or her Deputy might be towards Leix +and Offaly, there was sure to be plenty of opposition on the part of the +natives, who were, however, as usual, divided among themselves. The old +chief, Brian O'Connor, was still alive, and his son Donough carried on +the old feud and killed his cousin, the son of Cahir Roe. Both Donough +and Connell O'More, the chief of Leix, fell into the hands of Sussex in +the course of the year, but to the surprise of the Irish in general were +released in deference to Kildare and Ormonde, who had become in some +measure responsible for them. The O'Mores remained quiet for a time on +the lands reserved to them. Donough and others of the O'Connors afterward +came to Sussex at Philipstown, as the fort of Offaly must henceforth be +called, and made their submission, giving promises of good behaviour, +which they immediately broke.[408] + +[Sidenote: They are again attacked, 1557.] + +After the meeting at Philipstown, Sussex and his Council repaired to +Leighlin, where the principal O'Connors neglected to appear as they had +promised. A leader of the Kavanaghs, who had not taken warning by the +recent fate of his clansmen, was executed, and Connel O'More, who had +once more broken into rebellion, was hanged in chains at Leighlin about +the same time. Offaly was next invaded and hostages taken, who were +executed on a further outbreak taking place, with the exception of +O'Connor himself, who was detained prisoner in Dublin.[409] + +[Sidenote: Parliament of 1557. The monastic lands are not restored.] + +The Parliament, from which Mary expected much for the Church of which she +was so faithful a daughter, met at last and enacted all the laws made in +England against the Protestants. The old statutes against Lollardry, +which prescribed death by fire as the punishment for obstinate or +relapsed heretics, were declared to be in full force. A communication +from Pole was read by Curwin as Chancellor, kneeling down in open +session, in which the Cardinal urged the assembly to restore Ireland to +full communion with the Church. All Acts derogatory to the Pope which had +been passed since the twentieth year of Henry VIII. were accordingly +repealed. The Queen was declared a legitimate, absolute sovereign, and +all laws and sentences to the contrary were abrogated. On the other hand, +grants of monastic land were confirmed. There could be no doubt of Mary's +wish to restore the religious houses, but this does not appear to have +been done except in the single case of Kilmainham. Oswald Massingberd, +who during the Puritan ascendency had led a wandering life in the woods, +was appointed Prior by Pole, and the nomination was confirmed by the +Queen. Massingberd was sworn of the Council, and assumed the position of +his predecessors; but he seems to have had no belief in the stability of +the new system. He gave long leases and sold all that was saleable, and +he took no thought for the morrow. There appears to have been no +intention of specially favouring the obsolete order of St. John, for no +attempt was made to restore it in England; but in Ireland it happened +that the Crown had not parted with the house and lands. In the same way, +since it could be done without offending vested interests, Mary +re-established the Benedictines at Westminster, the Carthusians at Sheen, +and the Observants at Greenwich. There are indications that she wished to +examine titles closely, and to restore the monks where defects appeared; +but she granted and confirmed grants of abbey lands as freely as her +father and brother. Ninety years later, when the confederate Catholics +had military possession of the greater part of Ireland, and the Nuncio +Rinuccini was apparently all-powerful, the claim of the regulars to their +old possessions was met by the nobility and gentry with anger and +scorn.[410] + +[Sidenote: Sussex makes an abortive expedition westward;] + +When released from his Parliamentary duties, Sussex marched westward +against the O'Connors, who, under Donough, had possessed themselves of +Meelick Castle, on the Shannon. The line of march lay through Offaly, by +Killeigh, Ballyboy, and Cloghan, no opposition being offered by the +O'Molloys or O'Maddens. The Shannon was reached on the third day. +Clanricarde must have been in a tolerably peaceful state, for Athlone +pursuivant seems to have had no difficulty in going to Galway to seek +ammunition and provisions. Cannon were brought by water from Athlone and +planted in the grounds of the friary, on an island or peninsula on the +Galway side of the stream. The castle was summoned, and a cautionary shot +fired without effect. Next day the cannonade began, and at the sixteenth +shot a large piece of the courtyard wall fell down. The O'Connors escaped +by a postern gate, and were proclaimed traitors. Clanricarde, Thomond, +O'Carroll, and other chiefs, came to pay their respects to Sussex, and +may well have laughed at the small results achieved by the display of +irresistible force. A garrison was placed in the castle, and, hostages +having been taken from the neighbouring clans, the army returned through +MacCoghlan's country, led by the chief himself. The Lord Deputy had the +pleasure of seeing the night lit up by fires which the rebels kindled +within a mile of his camp. The outlying buildings at Philipstown were all +burnt, and arrows shot into the fort itself. Such was the practical +outcome of a nine days' expedition, during which, as the annalists say, +it is not easy to state or enumerate all that was destroyed.[411] + +[Sidenote: and another into Ulster.] + +An expedition into Ulster, undertaken three months later, had the same +lame and impotent conclusion. The annalists say compendiously that Armagh +was burned twice in one month by Thomas Sussex. His horsemen encamped in +the cathedral, and no enemy opposed the destroyer, who returned after a +week to Dundalk only to hear that Shane O'Neill was burning and +plundering within four miles of the town. Being pursued, Shane retreated +to his woods, whither those who knew the country declined to follow him. +Sussex then returned to Dublin; the Queen being richer by a few cows, and +Sir James Garland poorer by the village which O'Neill had burned.[412] + +[Sidenote: The central districts still disturbed.] + +Not much impressed by the late invasion, the O'Connors who had escaped +from Meelick stationed themselves at Leap Castle, about which there had +been so much fighting in bygone days. Sussex took the castle without +trouble, but Donough again escaped by the speed of his horse, and the +stronghold was seized by O'Carroll as soon as the army had left. Sidney +afterwards made two separate inroads into the same district. O'Molloy was +proclaimed a traitor, and everything destroyed. It is not easy to see how +there could be anything combustible left in the devoted country. The +O'Carrolls were also engaged about this time in opposition to the +Government, and in support of the O'Mores and O'Connors, and the +annalists are again at a loss to enumerate the preys and slaughter which +were made from the Shannon to the Nore.[413] + +[Sidenote: War between the O'Neills and O'Donnells.] + +A local war of considerable importance took place this year between the +O'Neills and O'Donnells. Manus, the old chief of Tyrconnel, had been kept +a prisoner for the last two years by his son Calvagh, who assumed the +leadership. This claim was disputed by his brother Hugh, who, with his +immediate adherents, had deserted to Shane O'Neill. Shane was delighted +at the opportunity of interfering, and declared that not one cow should +escape, though the O'Donnells should carry away their cattle into +Leinster or Munster. He himself would in future be the sole King of +Ulster. Shane pitched his camp at Carriglea, near Strabane, just above +the junction of the Finn and the Mourne. It was more a fair than an +encampment, and the time was gaily passed in buying, and no doubt in +drinking wine and mead, as well as fine clothes and merchandise. Calvagh, +who lay five miles off with a few followers, sent two trusty spies to the +camp, who mingled boldly with the throng of camp followers and soldiers +belonging to many different clans. In front of Shane's tent they found a +great central fire, and a huge torch as thick as a man's body blazing +brightly. Sixty gallowglasses with their axes, and as many Scots, with +heavy broadswords drawn, stood ready to guard the chief. When the time +came for serving out supper, the spies claimed their share with the rest, +and received a helmet full of meal and a corresponding quantity of +butter. Not staying to make cakes, they carried back the trophy to +Calvagh, who immediately got his men under arms. He had but two companies +of the MacSweeney gallowglasses and thirty horsemen. No look-out was +apparently kept at the camp, which they entered at once. There they had +little to do but to kill till their arms were tired, the deficiency of +force being much more than counterbalanced by the totally unprepared +state of the O'Neills. Shane, whose reputation for courage is not high, +slipped out at the back of his tent with only two companions, leaving his +men to their fate. The three fugitives threaded the passes of the +neighbouring mountains, and passed the Finn, the Deel, and the Derg by +swimming. At Termonamongan, near the latter river, Shane bought a horse, +and never rested till he reached the neighbourhood of Clogher. Calvagh +remained in possession of the camp, and his men spent the rest of the +night in drinking the wine which the O'Neills had provided for +themselves. The extent of the plunder may be estimated from the fact that +Con, Calvagh's young son, who had given up his horse to his father and +fought on foot, now had eighty steeds for his share, including a +celebrated charger of Shane's called the Eagle's Son.[414] + +[Sidenote: Sidney, Lord-Justice. No money.] + +Sussex had not been very long in Ireland before he asked for a holiday, +and he was allowed to spend Christmas at home; Curwin and Sidney, and +afterwards Sidney only, being appointed Lords Justices. War had been +declared with France at midsummer, and one of the first letters received +by the new governor announced the loss of Calais, and the Queen's vain +hope of recovering it. In the storm of St. Quentin and the defence of +Guisnes, English soldiers had shown that they were made of the same stuff +as the victors of Agincourt, but the war was unpopular. Mary's subjects +felt that they were sacrificed to Philip, and this jealousy of Spain both +caused the fall of Calais and prevented its recovery. But the national +vanity was sorely hurt, and Sidney thought it a good opportunity to point +out that James MacDonnell was expected in Ulster with many French and +Scots allies, and that the natives would join him or fall upon the Pale, +which was itself heartily sick of English rule, of soldiers at free +quarters, and of purveyors, who paid, if they paid at all, something very +much less than market prices. The army was reduced to a little over 1,000 +men, and the people of the Pale, though well disposed, could afford no +effective help. Credit was extinct, and the bad money caused great +misery. Yet even bad coin was scarce. 'Help us, my lord,' he wrote openly +to Sussex, 'help us to money at this pinch, though it be as base as +counters.' + +Men, money, and provisions were alike wanting, and the outlook was as +dark as could be. Desmond proposed that the Queen should send special +commissioners, independent of the Government, to inquire into the state +of Ireland, and point out means of reformation. He himself had perhaps +sinned through ignorance, and he thought justice and fair dealing more +likely to do the work of civilisation than a new conquest. 'We neither +think it meet, nor intend,' answered Mary, with a touch of her father's +humour, 'to make any new conquest of our own, nor to use any force when +justice may be showed.' She proposed to do all that was necessary by fair +means.[415] + +[Sidenote: Hatred of the English Government.] + +Sidney's fears of foreign complications were not unfounded. He had no +ship of war at his disposal, and he feared that Dublin might be +blockaded. George Paris was in France, declaring that the wild Irish were +quite ready to transfer their allegiance, and Sidney had reason to +believe that Kildare was playing his hereditary game. There can be no +doubt that this great nobleman, whose estates lay between the capital and +the disturbed midland districts, was a thorn in the side of each +successive governor. It was thought he wanted to be Deputy himself, and +all the principal lawyers in Dublin had a retaining fee from him. William +Piers, Constable of Carrickfergus, the vigilant guardian of the North, +was told by one of his men who was present, that Sorley Boy MacDonnell, +in the careless after-supper hour, said plainly 'that Englishmen had no +right to Ireland, and they would never trust Englishmen more, but would +trust the Earl of Kildare, "who," quoth Sorley, "hath more right to the +country...." The nature of these people is they will speak what is in +their hearts when the drink is in their heads.' The love of claret, +inherent both in Scottish and Irish chiefs, tended to keep up constant +communication with France. The hereditary hatred of England might at any +moment counterbalance the jealousy which Scotland felt for the French +regent and king matrimonial, and an invasion of Ireland might seem less +dangerous than that from which the caution of the Scots lords had just +saved England. The recollection of Dundalk was not so fresh as that of +Flodden.[416] + +[Sidenote: Attempts at conciliation.] + +Lady Tyrone had been closely imprisoned, apparently by Shane, for urging +her husband to hold fast to his allegiance. 'I will not,' says Sidney's +informant, 'you make this known to the Primate, or Kildare, or any +Geraldine in Ireland.' To the Queen the Lord Justice wrote that the coast +was infested by hostile cruisers, that he dreaded a French attack on +castles which could not resist artillery, and that he could scarcely be +answerable for the defence of the country. The effect of Sussex's advice +while at Court may be gathered from the number of letters which Mary +addressed to great men in Ireland. Tyrone and O'Reilly were thanked for +past services, the former being charged to help the Deputy with a +contingent, and the latter to dismiss the Scots in his pay. Calvagh +O'Donnell was reminded of his duty, and encouraged to hope for a peerage +and other rewards. Barnaby Fitzpatrick, whose courtly education was not +forgotten by his friend's sister, was exhorted to behave like one who +regards the service and weal of his natural country. His neighbour +O'Carroll might look forward to a peerage for life if he would give help +in season. Desmond and Clanricarde were directed to put Thomond in +possession of his earldom and estates, the care of the coast being +particularly recommended to the former. Desmond and Ormonde were thanked, +and advised to refer all their differences to the arbitration of the Lord +Deputy and Council.[417] + +[Sidenote: A spirited policy.] + +The Queen did not limit her care for Ireland to writing letters. She +doubled the army; 800 men being sent over, and directions given for +raising 200 more in Ireland. Every foot soldier was to receive twopence a +day, and every horseman threepence a day, in addition to the old wages. +The Deputy's salary was raised from 1,000_l._ to 1,500_l._, with the +usual allowances, and he was directed to move constantly to and fro, +residences being maintained for him at Roscommon, Athlone, Monasterevan, +Maryborough, Philipstown, Ferns, Enniscorthy, and Carlow. The O'Mores and +O'Connors were to be still further chastised, and as much as possible +effected against the Scots. In most other matters the former instructions +were to remain in force. The restored Deputy was not expected to make +bricks without straw, more than 200_l._ having been spent on the carriage +of munitions to Chester for the Irish service.[418] + +[Sidenote: Sussex returns to Ireland, 1558.] + +Sussex left London on March 21, and we are told that he travelled post; +but he did not leave Holyhead till the 26th of the following month. The +actual passage only occupied a few hours. Detraction, the usual lot of +Irish governors, followed him on his journey, his accuser being no less a +person than Primate Dowdall, who was summoned over to tell his own story, +and who died in London some three months before the Queen. Sidney and his +Council declared that the Archbishop was actuated by personal malice, and +that there was no foundation for his statements. There was, however, some +excuse for a prelate who saw his metropolis and three churches burned by +the viceregal army. Sussex believed that Dowdall was in league with his +predecessor. Were it not, he said, for his set purpose to serve the +Queen, he might find occupation enough in avoiding the nets spread on all +sides, the catch line whereof he could not prove but by looking into Mr. +St. Leger's bosom.[419] + +[Sidenote: The O'Connors still troublesome. Sussex goes to Munster.] + +Sussex had left Leix and Offaly in confusion, and he returned to find +them in the same state, his brother, Sir Henry Radecliffe, being actually +besieged in Maryborough by the natives, under Donogh and another +O'Connor, accompanied by Richard Oge, one of the bastard Geraldines who +had so long been troublesome. The garrison beat off their assailants +after a hard fight, Richard Oge falling by the hand of Francis Cosby; but +Donough again escaped. The first matter which demanded the personal +attention of Sussex after his return was the state of Thomond, where Sir +Donnell More O'Brien--who had slain his brother, the second Earl, five +years before--was now disputing the title of his young nephew Connor, +whose principal castles he held. Ormonde, whose aunt was the young lord's +mother, was of course interested in his favour, and the same reason was +enough to make Desmond incline to Sir Donnell. It became necessary for +Sussex himself to go in force and establish some kind of order. Taking +the familiar line through Offaly and Ely, Leap Castle being abandoned at +their approach, the Lord Deputy and his troops, strengthened on the route +by the adhesion of Barnaby Fitzpatrick and a considerable force, marched +across North Tipperary by Newport and Cahirconlish to Limerick, which was +reached on the seventh day after leaving Dublin. At a point a few miles +from the city Ormonde and his brother Edmund appeared with a large party. +The young lord of Cahir, Gerald the heir of Desmond, with all the forces +of his house, MacCarthy More, who received the honour of knighthood and a +gold chain and gilded spurs, and William Burke, chief of the district, +joined on the same day. At the gate of Limerick the mayor and aldermen in +scarlet robes delivered to Sussex the keys and mace, which he returned to +the mayor. With the civic insignia and sword of state borne before him, +the Lord Deputy rode to the door of the cathedral, where the Marian +bishop, Hugh Lacy, met him, and where he was censed and sprinkled with +holy water. Sussex kissed the cross both here and at the rood, where the +same ceremonies were repeated, and knelt devoutly at the high altar while +the _Te Deum_ was sung. Salutes were fired after church. + +[Sidenote: The Desmonds at Limerick.] + +The Lord Deputy rested ten days at Limerick, during which time was +performed the rite of 'bishoping' Desmond's youngest child, the old Earl +being present himself. This was a first or second baptism, for the little +Fitzgerald was not old enough to be confirmed, and the Lord Deputy stood +sponsor and gave his god-child his own name, and presented him at the +same time with a gold chain. The career of James Sussex Fitzgerald thus +auspiciously begun was destined to end in a traitor's death on the +scaffold. + +[Sidenote: The O'Briens.] + +Sir Donnell O'Brien failed to appear, and was thrice proclaimed traitor +at Limerick. Sussex then issued forth into Thomond. Clare Castle and +Ennis made no resistance, but a few cannon shot had to be fired at +Bunratty before it surrendered. The Earl of Thomond, having been placed +in possession of his country, was sworn upon the sacraments and on the +relics of the Church with bell, book, and candle, to forsake the name of +O'Brien, and to be true to the King and Queen. All the freeholders of the +district swore in the same solemn way to obey him as their captain. + +[Sidenote: O'Shaughnessy.] + +On his journey westward from Limerick, Sussex spent a night with +O'Shaughnessy at Gort, where he 'dined so worshipfully as divers wondered +at it, for the like was not seen in an Irishman's house.' At Galway he +was received with the same civic, military, and religious ceremonies as +at Limerick, and, after staying four or five days, returned by Athenry +and Meelick into Offaly, and thence to Dublin.[420] + +[Sidenote: Expedition against the Hebridean Scots. It ends in failure.] + +Sidney's apprehensions were partially realised, for James MacDonnell +landed before Sussex with 600 islemen and two guns. But Carrickfergus had +been reinforced, and the greater part of the Scots returned to their own +country. Colla MacDonnell, one of the chief's five brothers and the +resident guardian of his clan's Irish interests, died soon afterwards, +and, his brother Angus having refused to take his place, Sorley Boy, the +youngest and ablest of the family, filled the vacant post. It was decided +to attack the Redshanks in their own islands, and a fleet assembled at +Lambay from which great things were evidently expected. Sussex urged +despatch; but the delays of the supply service were inveterate, and +nothing was done for nearly three weeks. The Lord Deputy landed first in +Cantire, and began operations by burning James MacDonnell's 'chief house +called Sandell, a fair pile and a strong.' + +[Sidenote: The fleet is in danger,] + +He boasted that in three days he burned everything from sea to sea in a +district twenty miles long, and this without meeting any opposition worth +notice. Isla was the great object of the expedition; but the wind was +unfavourable, and the incendiary's work could be carried on elsewhere. +Arran was accordingly devastated, the army dividing into two, so as to +make the damage more complete. Isla being still inaccessible, the same +fate was intended for Bute, but just as the boats were about to be manned +a sudden gale sprung up, 'and that being then the weather shore the wind +wheeled suddenly and made it the lee shore, whereby we being very near +the shore were forced to ride it out for life and death in such a place +as if any tackle had slipped or broken the ship whose tackle had so +slipped or broken must needs have perished.' The cable of a Dublin +transport parted, and she foundered with a loss of twenty-eight men. Most +of the small vessels got into harbour, 'but the masters of H.M.'s ships I +think thought scorn thereof.' The fine gentlemen who commanded men-of-war +in those days were unwilling to take advice from the old seamen who acted +as their sailing masters or pilots. With loss of boats, running rigging, +and anchors, the fleet escaped, and the captains, whose courage was +'somewhat cooled,' were content after this to be controlled by their +professional associates. + +[Sidenote: and is forced to retire.] + +The poor little Cumbrays having been ravaged, the disabled vessels were +just able to reach Carrickfergus after a dead beat against a stiff +north-wester. Sussex landed, and was nearly lost in regaining his +flag-ship, the 'Mary Willoughby.' A council of war was then held, and it +was found that there were provisions for only three weeks more, and that +damages could not be properly repaired in Ireland. Only three ships were +at all fit for service; and, moreover, 'the new bark is a ship of such +length and unwieldliness in steerage as she is not to be ventured among +the isles in such stormy weather, where there be many deep and narrow +channels and strong tides.' It was feared that the ships might be +becalmed or otherwise delayed in the isles, there was now no spare tackle +in case of future storms, and it was by no means impossible that the +crews and troops might starve. The hope of visiting Isla was therefore +abandoned, and Sussex landed the soldiers with the less ambitious +intention of attacking the Scots in the Route. An English fleet and army +carefully equipped and commanded by many gallant gentlemen had just +succeeded in burning some barren islands, not without considerable loss +to themselves, and had returned disabled without striking a blow. Sussex +was conscious of his failure, and begged the Queen 'not to impute any +lack in me, but to consider that whatever I wrote of was feasible, is +feasible, and shall with grace of God be put in execution with a great +deal more than I wrote of,' &c. The expedition is not even noticed in the +Scots correspondence of the time, nor was anything done to retrieve +matters on land. Out of 1,100 soldiers, but 400 were fit for service, the +rest being prostrated by illness caused by the foul water on board +ship.[421] + +[Sidenote: Activity of Sussex. He leaves Ireland at Mary's death.] + +Want of activity at least could not be charged against Sussex, who +carried out strictly the spirit of the Queen's instructions, which +desired him to be constantly on the move. He was at Leighlin a few days +after his return from Scotland, and then returned to Dublin, where the +affairs of Munster occupied his attention. The old Earl of Desmond was +dead, and his son Gerald, destined to a disturbed life and a miserable +death, succeeded to the splendid but troublesome inheritance of the +Southern Geraldines. He promised fair, and was knighted by the Lord +Deputy's hands, who went to Waterford to receive his homage and to admit +him to the earldom. Sir Maurice Fitzgerald of Decies, who ruled about one +half of the county of Waterford, also made his submission, promising to +obey the law and make others obey it, to give his help to all judges, +commissioners, and tax-gatherers, and to secure free admission for all to +the markets at Waterford, Dungarvan, and elsewhere. The news of Mary's +death reached Ireland soon after this, and Sussex, who had already +obtained leave to go to England, hurried away to pay his court to the new +sovereign. He left Ireland tolerably quiet.[422] + +[Sidenote: Story as to an intended Marian persecution in Ireland.] + +Mary did all she could to efface her father's anti-Roman policy; but no +Irish persecution took place. This may have been less from the Queen's +want of will than from the insignificance of the Protestants in Ireland. +It is said that many people fled from the western parts of England in +hope of sharing the comparative immunity enjoyed by the small Protestant +congregation in Dublin. One story seems to show that this had attracted +attention, and that Dublin would not have long escaped. It rests on the +testimony of Henry Usher, one of the fathers of Trinity College and +afterwards Archbishop of Armagh, and was repeated by his more famous +nephew James Usher, and by other public men of repute. Henry Usher died +at a great age in 1613, and was Treasurer of St. Patrick's as early as +1573. In the absence of anything to rebut it, such evidence can hardly be +rejected. The story is that a Protestant citizen of Dublin named John +Edmonds had a sister living at Chester married to one Mattershed, who +kept an inn or lodging-house in which Cole, Dean of St. Paul's, slept +when on his way to purge the Irish Church. 'Here,' said Cole, in the +hearing of his hostess, 'is a commission that shall lash the heretics of +Ireland.' The good woman watched her opportunity, possessed herself of +the doctor's wallet, and substituted a pack of cards for the +commission--a service for which she received a pension of 40_l._ from +Queen Elizabeth. On reaching Dublin, Cole went straight to the Castle, +where the Lord Deputy, who had just returned from his Scotch expedition, +was sitting in council. Cole declared his business in a set speech; but +when the secretary opened his wallet he found only the cards, with the +knave of clubs uppermost. Sussex had conformed to the dominant creed, but +had probably no wish to be a persecutor, and may have rejoiced at Cole's +discomfiture. 'Let us have another commission,' he said, 'and we will +shuffle the cards in the meanwhile.' A new scourge for the heretics was +despatched, but before it came to hand Mary's unhappy career had +closed.[423] + +[Sidenote: Death of Mary and Reginald Pole.] + +The weak enthusiast who, far more than Gardiner or Bonner, must share the +responsibility for the persecution with which this Queen's name is +inseparably connected, was not long divided from her in death. Reginald +Pole survived his kinswoman some twenty-two hours, and almost the last +sounds to reach his ears were the cheers with which a people that +breathed freely once more greeted the accession of Queen Elizabeth. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[391] Morrin's _Patent Rolls_, p. 304. + +[392] Instructions for Sir A. St. Leger, Oct. 1553; Morrin's _Patent +Rolls_, pp. 300-304. + +[393] Petition of Connor MacCarthy, 1553. The Queen to Sussex, July 6, +1558. Orders taken at Drogheda, Dec. 6, 1553, in _Carew_. + +[394] Bale's select works, Parker Society; _King Johan_, a play, ed. J. +Payne Collier, Camden Society; 'God's promises in all ages of the old +law,' in Dodsley's _Old Plays_, vol. i.; a brief comedy or interlude of +John Baptist in _Harl. Misc._ vol. i. + +[395] Bale's _Vocation_; Cotton's _Fasti_, vol. i. p. 123. + +[396] Bale's _Vocation_; Ware's _Annals_. Queen Elizabeth to the two St. +Legers, calendared under 1559 (No. 85). Dr. Reid printed the following +contemporary epigram:-- + + 'Plurima Lutherus patefecit, Platina multa, + Quædam Vergerius, cuncta Balæus habet.' + + +[397] Hook's _Life of Pole_, vol. iii. p. 359, note; Machyn's _Diary_, +Jan. 27, 1554; _Life of Sir Peter Carew_, ed. by Macleane, and also +printed in _Carew_, vol. i. + +[398] Brady; Cotton. Dowling says of Thonory: 'Pro dolore amissionis +thesauri sui per fures mortuus. Fures confitebantur et executi.' + +[399] Indentures with the O'Briens, Sept. 1554, in _Carew_; _Four +Masters_, 1554. + +[400] Sarpi's _Council of Trent_, trans. by Courayer, lib. v. cap. 15, +and the _notes_. Dr. Lingard, vol. v. end of chap. v., objects to Fra +Paolo's account, but I cannot see that his own much differs. + +[401] Brady; Hook's _Life of Pole_; Ware's _Life of Curwin_; Rymer, Feb. +22, and April 25, 1555; Morrin's _Patent Rolls_, p. 339. + +[402] Hooker in Holinshed; St. Leger to Petre, Dec. 18, 1555; _Four +Masters_, 1555. James MacDonnell's agents to Calvagh O'Donnell, +calendared under 1554 (No. 7). + +[403] Instructions to Lord Fitzwalter, April 28, 1556, in _Carew_. +_Sidney Papers_, i. p. 85. + +[404] Ware's _Annals_. + +[405] Sussex's Journal, Aug. 8, 1556, in _Carew_; Sidney's Relation, in +_Carew_; 1583; Lord Deputy Fitzwalter to the Queen, Jan. 2, 1557; +_Calendar of Foreign State Papers_, Oct. 28, 1556. + +[406] Opinions of Lord Fitzwalter, Jan. 2, 1557. He mentions hake as 'a +kind of salt fish much eaten in Ireland.' + +[407] Privy Council to Lord Deputy, Sept. 30, 1556; Orders for Leix, +Dec.; Lord Deputy to the Queen, Jan. 2, 1557. An Act of Parliament was +passed in 1557, entitling the Crown to Leix and Offaly, and authorising +the Lord Deputy to make grants under the Great Seal. + +[408] Proceedings of the Deputy and Council, Feb. 25, 1557, in _Carew_. +_Four Masters_ for 1555 and 1556. + +[409] _Four Masters_, 1555 and 1556. Proceedings of Deputy and Council, +Feb. 25, 1557, in _Carew_. Dowling says Connel O'More was 'apud pontem +Leighlin cruci affixus.' Ware's _Annals_. + +[410] Thomas Alen to Cecil, Dec. 18, 1558; Letters of Queen Mary, +calendared under 1557 (Nos. 63 and 64), and petitions (Nos. 65 and 66). +For grants of abbey-lands, see Morrin's _Patent Rolls_, passim. Mary's +only Irish Parliament (3 and 4 Phil. et Mar.), met June 1, 1557, in +Dublin. There were adjournments to Limerick and Drogheda. See Stuart's +_Armagh_, p. 244, and Rymer, Dec. 1, 1556. + +[411] July 1557; Journal by Sussex of that date in Carew; _Four Masters_, +1557. + +[412] October; _Four Masters_, 1557. + +[413] _Four Masters._ This was towards the end of 1557. + +[414] _Four Masters_, 1557. + +[415] Lord Justice Sidney and Council to the Privy Council, Feb. 8, 1558; +Desmond to the Queen, Feb. 5 and Feb. 23, and her answer, April 19; +Sidney to Sussex, Feb. 26, and to the Queen, March 1. + +[416] Piers to Curwin, Feb. 14, 1558; Sussex to Boxoll, June 8; Articles +by an Irishman, 1558 (No. 15). + +[417] The Queen's letters are all dated March 12. + +[418] See instructions in _Carew_, March 20; Estimate for munitions, +March 13. + +[419] Machyn's _Diary_; Sussex to Privy Council, April 7, with +inclosures; Dowdall to Heath, Nov. 17, 1557. + +[420] This tour is in _Carew_, i. 274-277; the date in the end of July +1558. + +[421] For the expedition to the isles, see Sussex to the Queen, Oct. 3, +Oct. 6, and Oct. 31, 1558. + +[422] Journeys by the Earl of Sussex, July and Nov. 1558, in _Carew_; +oath of Gerald Earl of Desmond, Nov. 28. + +[423] Ware's _Life of Browne_. In their instructions to the Lord Deputy +and Council, Philip and Mary say:--'Lord Cardinal Poole, being sent unto +us from the Pope's Holiness and the said See Apostolic Legate of our said +realms, mindeth _in brief time_ to despatch into Ireland certain his +commissioners and officials to visit the clergy _and other members_ of +the said realm of Ireland,' &c., _Carew_, April 28, 1556. + + + + +INDEX + +TO + +THE FIRST VOLUME. + + + Abbeyleix, 399 + + Abertivy, 41, 42 + + Adamnan, St., 6, 15 + + Adare, 191, 218, 229, 267 + + Adrian IV., Pope (Nicholas Breakspeare), his bull, 37-39, 49, 260 + + Aedh, or Hugh, King, 29 + + Æneas Sylvius; + _see_ Pius II. + + Agard, Thomas, Vice-Treasurer and Treasurer of the Mint, 207, 208, + 319, 320 + + Aghmacarte monastery, 314 + + Agricola, 1, 2 + + Aidan, St., 6 + + Alban's, St., 34 + + Alemand, L. A., his history of Irish monasticism, 314-316, 318 + + Alen, or Allen, John, Archbishop of Dublin (1529-1534), 163; + murdered, 165, 166, 171, 172, 290-296 + + Alen, Sir John, Master of the Rolls (1533-1538), Lord Chancellor + (1538-1546 and 1548-1550), 156, 158-160, 162, 164, 171, 193, + 195, 208, 212, 233, 235-237, 244, 259, 267, 283-285, 304, 305, + 313, 320, 335, 337-339, 345, 346, 348, 357, 358, 385 + + Alexander II., Pope, 33 + + -- III., Pope, 37, 49, 54 + + Aline, Strongbow's daughter, 50 + + Allen, Bog of, 176 + + All Saints', Dublin, 321 + + Ambrose, St., 366 + + Amlaf, 18, 19; + and _see_ Olaf. + + Andreas, Bernard, his works on Henry VII., 116, 117 + + Andrew's, St., in Scotland, 306 + + -- -- in Dublin, 302 + + Angareta, mother of Giraldus Cambrensis, 41 + + Angevins, 11 + + Annaghdown; + _see_ Enaghdune. + + Anne, Queen, 197 + + -- -- _see_ Boleyn. + + -- St., 386 + + Anschar, St., 31 + + Anselm, St., 34, 35 + + Antrim, 66, 77, 237, 272 + + Aquitaine, 40, 45 + + Arabic coins in Ireland, 30 + + Ardagh, see of, 292-295 + + Ardee, 222, 240 + + Ardfert Abbey, 51 + + Ardfinnan, 47 + + Ardglass, 212 + + Ards, in Down, 263, 265, 376; + priory of, 386 + + Ardscull, 66 + + Argyle, 67, 134, 272, 273, 280-282, 359 + + Arklow, 72, 146, 156 + + Armagh, 237, 263, 403 + + -- County, 56 + + -- church, abbacy, and see of, 14, 17, 18, 25, 34, 45, 104, 289, + 367, 369, 386; + for Archbishops (called by the Irish Successors of St. Patrick), + _see_ Cellach, O'Toole, Octavian, Kite, Cromer, Dowdall, + Wauchop, Goodacre. + + Artane, 165 + + Aryan race, 11 + + Ascham, Roger, 337 + + Aslaby, John, 188 + + Assaroe, 239 + + Athassel Abbey, 70, 73, 99, 291, 319 + + Athboy, 115, 222 + + Ath-Cliath (the Celtic name for Dublin), 34 + + Athelstane, 21, 32 + + Athenry, 69, 78, 122, 228, 300, 321, 410 + + Athlone, 17, 60, 77, 84, 125, 334, 374, 402, 408 + + Athole, Earl of, 271 + + Athy, 54, 88, 130, 167, 200, 328 + + Audeley, Thomas Lord, Lord Chancellor of England, 178, 179, 196, + 197, 253 + + Aughrim, 228 + + Augustine, St., Canons Regular of, 99, 314, 317 + + Augustinian Hermits or Austin Friars, 289, 300, 319, 320, 392 + + Aylmer, Sir Gerald, Chief Justice of the King's Bench (1535-1559), + 215, 223, 233, 237, 303, 378, 384, 385 + + Aylmer, Richard, of Lyons in Kildare, 223 + + + Bacon, Francis, 105, 111, 116 + + Bagenal, Sir Nicolas, Marshal of the Army (1546-1553, and + 1565-1590), 332, 353, 364, 368, 373 + + -- Sir Ralph, 357, 361 + + Baldoyle, 19 + + Bale, John, Bishop of Ossory (1552-1553), 299, 368, 379, 380-383, + 386-390 + + Balgriffin, 177 + + Ballibogan, 305 + + Ballinaclogh, 224 + + Ballinskelligs, 188 + + Ballinure, 251 + + Ballyboy, 402 + + Ballycastle, in Antrim, 272, 361 + + Ballydrohid, 317 + + Ballyhack, 372 + + Ballymore Eustace, 91, 129, 238, 326 + + Balrath, 119 + + Balrothery, 123 + + Baltimore, 88, 351 + + Baltinglass, 130, 251 + + -- Viscount, Sir Thomas Eustace, Baron of Kilcullen, 161, 163, 170, + 178, 254, 344 + + Banagher, 228, 335 + + Bangor, in Down, 17 + + Bann River, 266, 351, 398 + + Bannockburn, 65 + + Bannow, 42, 372 + + Barbaro, a Venetian, 350 + + Barbarossa, 39 + + Barkley, Lord, 198 + + Barnesmore Gap, 140, 141 + + Barnewall, Sir Patrick, 249, 301, 312, 320 + + Barnewalls, the, 76 + + Baron, Milo, Bishop of Ossory, (1527-1551), 297, 305 + + Barretts, the, 71 + + Barrow River, 113, 130, 167, 264, 329, 340 + + Barry, David, Archdeacon of Cork, 118 + + -- Gerald; + _see_ Giraldus. + + -- William de, 41 + + Barrymore, Barons of, and Viscounts from 1405, 76 + + -- John, Viscount, 76, 118, 191, 242, 268, 332, 333 + + -- William, Viscount, murdered in 1499, 118 + + Barry Oge of Kinalea, 242, 268, 329 + + Barry Roe, 242, 268 + + Barrys, the, 41, 64, 76, 242, 268. In the 16th century they were all + settled in the County of Cork. + + Bartholomew's, St., in London, 291 + + Basel, 389 + + Basilia, Strongbow's sister, 50 + + Basilius, 308 + + Basnet, Edward, last Dean of St. Patrick's of the old foundation, + 358, 368 + + Bath Abbey, 198 + + Bathe, James, Chief Baron, 385 + + Bearhaven, or Berehaven, 351 + + Beaton, Cardinal, 271, 273, 276, 285 + + Beaumanoir, 217 + + Beaumaris, 169 + + Becket, Thomas, 48, 86 + + Bective Abbey, 392 + + Bedell, William, Bishop of Kilmore, 350 + + Bedford, Jasper, Duke of, Lord-Lieutenant, 100, 102, 111 + + Belfast, 125, 360, 364, 376-378, 398 + + Belfast Lough, 143, 281 + + Belgard, near Dublin, 142 + + Bellahoe, battle of, 240 + + Bellingham, Sir Edward, Viceroy (1548-1549), 88, 286; + sent to Ireland with troops, 326; + Lord Deputy, 327; + his ceaseless activity, 328; + his treatment of the disloyal, 329, 330; + he projects the town of Maryborough, 331; + his dealings with Galway, Limerick, and Drogheda, 331; + with Dublin, 332; + he routs the O'Connors, 332; + his dissatisfaction with Desmond, 333; + establishes a garrison at Athlone, 334; + frees the Pale from rebels, 335; + his dealings with the currency, 336; + his impolitic self-assertion, 337; + his treatment of the Irish, 338; + he cannot agree with his council, 338; + his jealousy of the Ormondes, 337, 339; + he seizes Desmond, 339; + he establishes a garrison at Leighlin Bridge, 340; + a Protestant, 341; + well informed, 342; + his dealings with Primate Dowdall in furtherance of the royal + supremacy, 343; + the darling of the Protestant party, 343-344; + recalled, 344; + his death and character, 344-345, 348, 349, 350; + his fort at Athlone, 374 + + Benbulben, 141 + + Benedictines, 314 + + Berehaven, 351 + + Berengaria, Queen, 58 + + Berengarius, 33 + + Bergagni, Francis de, 181 + + Bermingham, Baron of Athenry, 228 + + -- John de, Earl of Louth, 67 + + -- Patrick, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, 150, 155, 199 + + -- Richard de, 69 + + -- William, created Baron of Carbury in Kildare, 226, 258, 320 + + Berminghams, the, 69, 71, 213 + + Bermingham's Tower, 233 + + Bernard, St., 15, 314, 315 + + Berners, William, 208, 230 + + Berwick, 373 + + Betagh, Robert, 241 + + Bicknor, Alexander de, Archbishop of Dublin, 322 + + Bicton, James, 358 + + Bigot, Hugh, 63 + + Birr, 157, 224, 226, 227 + + Biscayans, 188 + + Bissett, or Missett family, 71, 271 + + Blackwater River in Ulster, 237 + + -- -- -- Munster, 242 + + Blessington, 326 + + Blois, 252 + + Blore Heath, 90 + + Bobbio, 6 + + Bodkin, Christopher, Archbishop of Tuam (1537-1562), 228, 292, 294, + 305, 334 + + Body, William, 200, 202, 203 + + Boleyn family, how related to the Butlers, 126, 142 + + -- Mary, 149 + + -- Queen Anne, proposed as a wife for Ormonde, 149, 156, 190, 195, + 196, 394, 395 + + -- Sir Thomas, 125, 126, 149, 156 + + -- Sir William, 126 + + Bolger, Barnaby, 389 + + Bonner, Edmund, Bishop of London, 306, 395, 413 + + Boulogne, 277, 335 + + Bourbon, the Constable, 181 + + Boyle, 125, 317 + + Boyne River, 85, 213 + + Boys, James, 175 + + Brabazon, Sir William, Vice-Treasurer (1534-1553), Lord Justice + (1543, 1545, and 1549), 176-178, 193, 194, 196, 197, 199, + 205-207, 209, 213, 218, 232-233, 235-237, 244, 254, 268, 275, + 304, 305, 320, 346, 377 + + Brackland, 206, 213 + + Braose, William de, 60, 63 + + Brasier, Richard, first auditor of the Irish Exchequer (1547-1550), + 344 + + Bray Head, 130 + + Breakspeare, Nicholas; + _see_ Adrian IV. + + Brefny, 39; + _see_ O'Rourke and O'Reilly. + + Brehons, 3-5, 7, 12, 143, 186, 221, 273, 277, 291 + + Brereton, Andrew, 353 + + -- John, 328, 332 + + -- Sir William, Lord Justice in 1540, 169-171, 173, 174, 243, 244, + 247, 352 + + Brian Borumha, King of Ireland, 22-31, 33 + + Brictius, 36 + + Brigid, or Bride, St., 13, 294 + + Bristol, 147, 170, 359 + + Bristol Abbey, 198 + + Brito, 186 + + Brode, a pirate, 166, 169, 170, 173 + + Brodir, 26 + + Broet, Paschal, 308-310 + + Broke, Roger, 353 + + Brosna, River, 334 + + Broughton, Sir Thomas, 105 + + Browne, George, Archbishop of Dublin (1553-1555), 200, 207, 208; + his tour in the South, 235-237, 255, 299; + his quarrels with Staples and others, 301-305, 311; + his hatred of the Franciscans, 320; + account of him, 322-324, 341; + his conference with Dowdall, 354-357; + his relations with St. Leger, 357-358; + with Croft, 360, 378; + with Dowdall, 367, 379; + with Bale, 379 and 381; + story of him told by Harpsfield, 383 + + Browne, Mabel, Countess of Kildare, 375 + + -- Sir Anthony, 216 + + Bruce, Edward, 66-68 + + -- Robert, 66-68, 272 + + Brunanburgh, 21 + + Brussels, 219, 390 + + Bryan, Sir Francis, Viceroy, Lord Marshal of Ireland, 337; + married to Lady Ormonde, 337; + disliked by Bellingham, 337; + in practical command of the Butler influence, 339; + Lord Justice after Bellingham's departure, 345; + his death under suspicious circumstances, 346 + + Bulmer, Sir John, 137, 138 + + Bunamargy, 300 + + Bunratty, 77, 300 + + Burgo, Hubert de, 6, 61 + + Burgundy, Margaret, Duchess of, 103, 104 + + Burkes, Bourkes, De Burghs, or De Burgos; + _see_ MacWilliam, MacDavid, MacPhilbin, MacRaymond, MacShoneen, + MacWalter, and FitzAdelm. + + -- of Clanricarde, 75, 93, 120-122, 173, 227, 241, 256, 289, 300, + 331; + _see_ MacWilliam Uachtar and Clanricarde. + + -- or De Burghs, Earls of Clanricarde; + _see_ Clanricarde. + + Burke, or De Burgo, Rowland, Bishop of Clonfert, 289, 294, 370 + + -- of Clanwilliam in Limerick, 227, 409 + + -- of Mayo; + _see_ MacWilliam Iochtar. + + -- -- -- Sir William, 69 + + -- -- Richard, 61, 74 + + -- -- -- Earl of Ulster, 27 + + -- Ulick, of Clanricarde, son of the first earl and captain during + the minority of the second, 333, 374 + + Burnell, John, 166, 177 + + Burnet, Bishop, 380 + + Burntchurch, 155 + + Bush River, 266, 398 + + Bute, 411 + + Butler, Edmund, Archbishop of Cashel (1524-1561), natural son of the + eighth Earl of Ormonde, 183, 241, 255, 261; + account of him, 291; + his oppressive conduct, 296; + state of his monastery, 298; + takes the oath of supremacy, 305; + not a zealous reformer, 343 + + -- Earls of Ormonde; + _see_ Ormonde. + + -- Lady Helen, daughter of the eighth Earl of Ormonde, married to + Donogh O'Brien, second Earl of Thomond, 191 + + -- Richard, son of the eighth Earl of Ormonde, created Viscount of + Mountgarret; + _see_ Mountgarret. + + -- Sir Edmund, first Baron of Dunboyne; + _see_ Dunboyne. + + -- Sir Edmund, Viceroy in 1312 and 1314, 66, 70 + + -- Sir Thomas, first Baron of Cahir; + _see_ Cahir. + + -- Thomas, Prior of Kilmainham, 89 + + -- Thomas, son of the eighth Earl of Ormonde, 160, 225 + + Butleraboo, the Ormonde war cry, 112 + + Butlers, the, 64; + origin of name, 72, 93, 125-127; + and _see_ Ormonde, Ossory, Carrick, Mountgarret, Dunboyne, and + Cahir. + + Butside, a pirate, 330 + + + Cadamstown, 334, 335 + + Cade, Jack, 90 + + Cæsar, 301 + + Cahir, 182, 227, 258, 317 + + -- Sir Thomas Butler, first Baron of, 189, 227, 236, 255, 276, 320, + 393, 409 + + Cahirconlish, 409 + + Calais, 83, 335 + + Caledon, 154 + + Callan, 74, 189, 388 + + Cambridge, 384 + + Campbell, Lady Agnes, married to James MacDonnell of Cantire and + Antrim, 273, 281 + + Campbells, the, 280, 282; + _see_ Argyle. + + Campeggio, Cardinal, 290 + + Camus, 182 + + Candolle, Francis de, 181 + + Canice's, St., 388, 389; + _see_ Kilkenny. + + Cannon, Thomas, 163 + + Canterbury, its connection with Ireland, 32-36; + the Prior had lands in Ireland, 198, 389 + + Cantire, 410 + + Cantoke, name of, 64 + + Cantuarian succession, 35 + + Cantwell, William, 284, 285 + + Canute, 21, 32 + + Capel, Henry Lord, Lord Lieutenant in 1695, 101 + + Cappys, or Kate, a merchant, 239 + + Carbery, in Cork, 36, 124, 191, 218 + + Carbury, in Kildare, Baron of; + _see_ Bermingham. + + Carew, Sir Peter, 390, 391 + + Carews, the, 41 + + Carlingford, 241, 398 + + Carlisle, 289 + + Carlow, 63, 65, 83, 167, 231, 235, 327, 340, 375, 408 + + -- Castle, 111 + + -- County, 158 + + Carmelites, 114, 300, 319, 320, 340, 368, 380 + + Carrickbradagh, 237, 247 + + Carrick, Edmund Butler, Earl of, 72 + + -- on Suir, 72, 201 + + Carrickfergus, or Knockfergus, 59, 60, 66, 70, 122, 142, 143, 273, + 281, 351, 361, 362, 378, 395, 398, 410, 411 + + Carrigogunnel, 60, 186, 192, 200, 203 + + Carrol, Lord of Ossory, 19 + + Cartier, Jacques, 219 + + Cartmel, 198 + + Casey, William, Protestant Bishop of Limerick (1551-1556 and + 1571-1591), 354, 392 + + Cashel, 47; + synod, 48 and 314, 50, 66, 81, 193, 214, 242, 254, 265 + + -- see of, 16, 291, 367, 369; + _see_ Butler, Archbishop. + + Castle Connell, 124 + + -- Dermot, 54, 84, 120, 155, 156, 167 + + -- Island, 78 + + -- Jordan, 177, 251 + + -- Kevin, 253 + + -- Martyr, 76 + + Castleknock, 66 + + Castlemaine, 124 + + Castlereagh, 376 + + Castletown Roche, 76 + + Cavan, 262 + + Cavendish, William, 250 + + Cecil, William, afterwards Lord Burghley, 326 + + Celestinus, Pope, 366 + + Cellach, or Celsus, Bishop or Archbishop of Armagh (1106-1129), 34, + 35 + + Cerberus, 303 + + Challoner, John, Mayor of Dublin in 1556, 397 + + Chamberlayne, name of, 222 + + Charlemagne, 172 + + Charles I., 209, 279 + + Charles V., Emperor and King of Spain, 7, 136, 172, 173, 175; + negotiates with Desmond, 184-186, 192, 219, 274 + + Charles VIII., King of France, 110 + + Chateaubriand, Governor of Brittany, 212 + + Cheeke, Sir John, 390, 391 + + Chepstow, 41 + + Chester, 54, 128, 161, 408, 413 + + Christ Church, Dublin, 32, 385 + + Ciaran, St., 13, 296, 374 + + Cistercians, 16, 99, 267, 293, 314, 317, 318, 392 + + Citeaux, 315 + + Clairvaux, 314 + + Clandeboye (Clan Hugh Boy), 76, 77, 129, 142, 198, 258, 266, 376 + + Clandonnell, gallowglasses, 140 + + Clane, 175 + + Clangibbon, 76 + + Clanricarde (the south-eastern portion of Galway), 218, 335, 402 + + -- Earldom of, 71, 271 + + -- Ulick Burke, or De Burgh, first Earl of, 120, 140, 227, 228, 238, + 256-258, 270, 271, 275, 335 + + -- Richard Burke, or De Burgh, second Earl of, called 'Sassenagh,' + son of the last named, 333, 349, 353, 374 + + Clanwilliam, the Burke district in Limerick, 227, 409 + + Clare Castle, 227, 411 + + -- Richard de; + _see_ Strongbow. + + -- a later Richard de, and others, 65, 70 + + Clare, or Thomond, 124, 172, 203, 204, 219, 271; + _see_ Thomond. + + Clarence, Lionel, Duke of, 70, 80, 100, 197 + + -- George, Duke of, 90, 92 + + Clement V., Pope, 321 + + -- VII., Pope, 153, 289, 292 + + Clifford; + _see_ Rosamond. + + Clinton, Lord, 216, 271 + + Clogher, 154, 405 + + -- see of, 293 + + -- Bishop of; + _see_ Courcy. + + Clonfert, see of, 289, 370 + + Clonlisk, 262 + + Clonmacnoise, church of, 13, 18; + sacked by the troops, 374 + + -- see of, 292; + its forlorn condition, 295 + + Clonmel, 73, 105, 127, 133, 189, 193, 204, 236, 237, 242, 305, 321, + 346 + + Clonmore, 254 + + Clontarf, place and battle, 15, 27-32, 165, 169 + + -- Viscount; + _see_ Rawson. + + Cloyne, Bishop of, in 1367; + _see_ Swaffham. + + -- see of, 288 + + Clyde, the, 281 + + Clyn, John, the Franciscan annalist of Ireland, 67, 70, 77, 84 + + Cobham, Lord, 308 + + Codure, John, 308 + + Cogan, Milo and Richard de, 45, 46, 56 + + Cogans, the, 41, 72 + + Cole, a pirate, 330 + + -- Dean of St. Paul's, 413 + + Coleraine, 85, 266 + + Colley, a pirate, 329 + + -- Anthony, 195 + + Colman, St., of Lindisfarne, 15 + + Columba, or Columkille, St., 6, 12-15, 53, 86 + + Columbanus, St., 6 + + Comyn, Nicholas, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore (1519-1551), 305, + 306 + + Conal Abbey, 317 + + Cong, 58 + + Connaught, 61, 175, 262, 294, 374 + + Constantine, forged donation of, 39 + + Conway, Sir Hugh, 111 + + Coolock, 123 + + Coonagh in Limerick, 265, 266 + + Cooper, Mr., 389 + + Copeland Islands, 30 + + Cork, 17, 47, 74, 85, 110, 118, 181, 187, 190, 241, 242, 273, 329, + 330, 351, 359, 371 + + -- County, 278, 359 + + -- Richard Boyle, Earl of, 286 + + -- see of, 36, 288, 294 + + Cormac Cas, 22 + + Cornelius Agrippa, 216 + + Corrib, Lough, 296 + + Cosby, Francis, 328, 329, 332, 340, 408 + + Courcy, Edmond, Bishop of Clogher (1484-1494), 104, 293 + + -- John de, 53, 55-59, 64 + + -- Lord, 106 + + Courcies, the, 338 + + Cowley, Robert, Clerk of the Crown (1535), and Master of the Rolls + (1539-1542), an adherent of the house of Ormonde, 145, 152, 208, + 236, 284, 285, 293, 299, 319 + + -- Walter, son of Robert, joint Clerk of the Crown (1535), + Solicitor-General (1529-1546), 208, 245, 284, 285, 340 + + Coyne, Bishop of Limerick; + _see_ Quin. + + Cranmer, Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury, 253, 322, 350, 369 + + Creçy, 83 + + Croagh Patrick, 305 + + Croft, Sir James, Viceroy, a Herefordshire man, sent over to fortify + in Munster, 351; + Lord Deputy, 359; + proposes to plant colonies in Munster, 360; + attacks Rathlin unsuccessfully, 360-361; + persuades Tyrone to tolerate a garrison at Armagh, 363; + his doctrinal conference with Dowdall, 365-366; + his ideas about ecclesiastical patronage, 367; + desires a warlike Primate, 368; + has enlightened ideas about the currency, 370-372; + visits Connaught, 374; + gives a lamentable account of Leinster, 375; + makes another unsuccessful raid into Ulster, 377; + recalled, 378; + character of his government, 378-379; + implicated in Wyatt's rebellion, 390-391 + + Cromer, George, Archbishop of Armagh (1522-1543), Lord Chancellor + (1532-1534), 156, 163, 289, 291, 301, 306 + + Cromwell, Thomas, created Earl of Essex, 155, 158, 161, 189, 194, + 196, 202, 209, 211, 215, 234, 241, 336 + + -- Oliver, 44, 47, 319, 332 + + Cromwellians, 381 + + Cromwellian war, 320 + + Crook, 47 + + Croom, 218, 229, 267 + + Crovan, Godred, King of Man, 33, 46 + + Cuffe, Captain, 361 + + Curlew Mountains, 125, 141 + + Cumbray Islands, 411 + + Cummian, St., 15 + + Curraghmore, 75 + + Curwen, or Curwin, Hugh, Archbishop of Dublin (1555), translated to + Oxford (1567), Lord Chancellor (1555-1567), 394, 401, 405 + + Cusack, Sir Thomas, Master of the Rolls (1542-1550), Lord Keeper + (1546), Lord Chancellor (1550-1555), 258, 278, 279, 320, 348, + 357, 361, 373-379, 384, 385, 393 + + + Dacre of the North, Thomas, and others of his name, 176, 194 + + Dalcassians, or Dal Cais, 22 + + Dalgetty, 351 + + Dalkey, 108, 129, 327, 385 + + Danes in Ireland, Chapter II. _passim_ + + -- of Dublin, Cork, Waterford, and Wexford after the Anglo-Norman + invasion, 44-47, 50 + + Dangan, 206 + + Daniel, Danyel, or O'Donnell, Terence, Dean of Armagh, 364 + + Darcy of Platten, called 'Great Darcy,' 104, 108, 121 + + -- John, 226 + + Darcies, the, 144 + + David's, St., 42 + + Davies, Sir John, Attorney-General (1606-1618), 8-10, 65, 83, 84, 89 + + Dean, Henry, Bishop of Bangor, and afterwards Archbishop of + Canterbury, Lord Justice in 1495, 111, 113, 115 + + Dearg, or Derg, Lough, 17 + + Decies, 76, 186, 236, 412 + + Delahide, Sir Walter, married to Janet Eustace, 161 + + -- James, son of Sir Walter, 161, 163, 172, 175, 218, 239, 273, 333 + + Delvin, granted to the Nugents, 54, 76 + + -- Richard Nugent, seventh Baron of, Vice-Deputy in 1528, 120, 150, + 178, 206; + one of his sons mentioned, 226 + + -- -- -- eighth Baron of, grandson of the seventh Baron, 255, 334, + 393 + + Denton, James, Dean of Lichfield, a Royal Commissioner in Ireland in + 1524, 145 + + Dermod, King of Leinster; + _see_ MacMurrough. + + Dermod Duff, 291 + + Derry, church and see of, 12, 14, 237, 293 + + Derrick, or Dethyke, John, 158 + + Dervorgil, 39 + + Desmond, Earls of, 7, 65, 72; + their burial place, 300 + + -- Maurice Fitzgerald, first Earl of, 76, 78 + + -- James Fitzgerald, seventh Earl of, 90 + + -- Thomas Fitzgerald, eighth Earl of, executed, 92 + + -- Maurice Fitzgerald, tenth Earl of, 110, 120, 121, 131 + + -- James Fitz-John Fitzgerald, eleventh Earl of, his treatment of + the MacCarthies, 133, 144, 147, 148, 151-153; + defeated by the MacCarthies, 180; + intrigues with France, 181; + besieged in Dungarvan, 182; + his partisans in South Wales, his intrigues with Charles V., + 184-188; + calls the emperor his sovereign lord, 185; + his death, 190 + + -- Thomas Moyle Fitzgerald, twelfth Earl of, 163, 180, 190 + + -- James Fitz-Maurice Fitzgerald, thirteenth Earl of, 190, 191, 192; + Henry VIII. acknowledges him, 204; + at Court, 241; + returns to Ireland and attempts to seize the estates, 241-242; + murdered, 248 + + -- John Fitz-Thomas Fitzgerald, sometimes called fourteenth Earl of, + 190, 191; + his speech at Adare, 192 + + -- James Fitz-John Fitzgerald, fifteenth Earl of, 218; + called Earl by Lord L. Grey, 227; + seizes Croom and Adare, 229; + refuses to come to Clonmel, 236; + in alliance with O'Neill and O'Donnell, 237; + expected to attack the Pale, 238; + expected to rebel, 240; + threatens Tipperary, 241; + defies Grey, 242; + pardoned and acknowledged as Earl, 248; + acknowledges the royal supremacy, 255; + a Privy Councillor, 256; + wears English clothes, 257; + attends Parliament, 258; + Commissioner for Munster, 261, 264; + puts down brigandage, 265; + at Court, 267; + represents the Crown, 268; + gives St. Leger a character, 283; + Edward VI. offers to make a companion of his son, 325; + appealed to in a dispute at Cork, 332; + Bellingham suspects his loyalty, 333; + Bellingham carries him off to Dublin, 339; + his love for Bellingham, 340, 346; + to be encouraged, 349; + an umpire between the O'Briens, 393, 407, 409; + his death, 419 + + Desmond, Gerald Fitzgerald, sixteenth Earl of, to be educated in + England, 255; + Edward VI. proposes to make a companion of him, 325; + Lady Ormonde has designs on his hand, 325; + she marries him, 346, 409, 412 + + -- Lady, 345; + _see_ Honora MacCarthy. + + -- -- Lady Joan Fitzgerald, widow of the ninth Earl of Ormonde, and + of Sir Francis Bryan, first wife of the sixteenth Earl of + Desmond, 346; + _see_ Lady Joan Fitzgerald. + + Devonshire, 189 + + Dexter, name of, 71; + _see_ De Exeter. + + Diarmid, sons of, 280; + _see_ Campbell. + + Dieppe, 310 + + Digby, Francis, 336 + + Dillon, Edward, Dean of Kildare, 293 + + -- Thomas, Bishop of Kildare (1523-1529), 293 + + -- Robert, Attorney-General (1535-1553), Justice of the King's Bench + (1554-1559), made Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in 1559, + 320, 334 + + Disert O'Dea, 70 + + Dominicans, 300, 319 + + Donat, or Dunan, an Ostman, first Bishop of Dublin, 32, 33 + + Donegal, 212, 300 + + -- County, 12, 218, 239; + _see_ Tyrconnel. + + Donncadh, or Donough, 31 + + Donnell, King of Leinster, 21 + + -- Dhu, Lord of the Isles, 279-281 + + Donore, 217 + + Doran, Maurice, Bishop of Leighlin (1523-1525), 146, 293, 298 + + Dorset, Grey, Marquis of, 142, 202 + + Dover, 359 + + Dowdall, Edward, 114 + + -- George, Archbishop of Armagh (with an interval, 1543-1548) 307, + 343; + his conference with St. Leger, 355; + his relations with Browne and other Protestants, 343, 355-359; + his conference with Croft and Staples, 365-367; + leaves Ireland, 367; + restored, 386, 391, 397, 408 + + Dowling, Thady, Chancellor of Leighlin (1591-1628), author of + 'Annals,' _passim_ + + Down or Downpatrick, church and see of, 53, 293; + cathedral burned by Lord L. Grey, 304, 386 + + -- County, 66, 199 + + Doyne, Hugh, 317 + + Drax monastery, 291 + + Drogheda, origin of, 73, 92, 108; + Parliament of, 123, 154, 161, 170, 222, 240, 263, 281, 321; + University of, 322, 331; + Parliament of, 335, 371, 386, 397 + + Dromana, 76, 268 + + Dromaneen, 242 + + Dromore, see of, 293 + + Drumcliff, church of, 12 + + Dublin, Danish Kingdom of, Chapter II., _passim_ + + -- called Ath Cliath by the Irish, 34, 59, 73, 81, 108; + the Mayor at Knocktoe, 120; + the O'Byrnes break into the castle, 158; + siege of, 166-168, 170, 187, 198, 223; + the Mayor dubbed knight at Bellahoe, 240, 259, 331, 371, 385 + + -- church and see of, 32-36, 289, 290; + primacy removed to, 367; + for Archbishops, _see_ Donat, Gillapatrick or Patrick, O'Haingly, + Gregory, O'Toole, Lech, Bicknor, Minot, Talbot, FitzSimons, + Rokeby, Inge, Alen, Browne, and Curwin. + + -- Robert de Vere, Marquis of, 85 + + Dufferin, 364 + + Duleek, 50 + + Dumbarton, 281 + + Dunamase, 77 + + Dunan; + _see_ Donat. + + Dunboyne, Sir Edmund Butler, first Baron of, 258, 277, 329, 393 + + Dunbrody Abbey, 130, 315 + + Duncadh, Abbot of Iona, 15 + + Dundalk, 13, 67, 129, 199, 222, 231, 237, 247, 263, 363, 397, 403 + + Dundrum, in Down, 127, 232, 353 + + Dungannon, 63, 119, 120, 127, 243, 264 + + Dungannon, Matthew O'Neill, or Kelly, first Baron of, 269, 363, 364, + 368, 376, 377 + + Dungarvan, 182, 183, 187, 189, 193, 331, 379, 412 + + Dunkellin, Barony of, created, 271 + + Dunlavin, 23 + + Dunmore, in Kilkenny, 117, 167 + + -- in Galway, 320 + + Dunsany, the Plunkets of, 76 + + -- Edward Plunket, first Baron of, 120 + + Durrow, 12, 13, 56 + + + Eagle, a pirate, 329 + + Ebric, a Norman at Clontarf, 27 + + Echingham, Sir Osborne, Marshal of the army, 268 + + Edenderry, 135 + + Edgar, John, 272 + + Edgcombe, Sir Richard, 106-108 + + Edinburgh, 247 + + Edmonds, John, 413 + + Edward I., 62 + + -- II., 65 + + -- IV., 71, 116 + + -- Prince of Wales, 100 + + Eglish, 226 + + Elbric, or Eric, 36 + + Elizabeth Woodville, Queen, 92 + + -- of York, Queen, 108 + + Elphin, see of, 294, 370 + + Ely O'Carroll, in King's County, 125, 127, 136, 210, 223, 226, 262, + 409 + + Elyans, the, _i.e._ the O'Carrolls, 157 + + Ely House, Holborn, 285 + + Emly, church and see of, 18, 255 + + Empire, the, 47, 86, 187, 192, 349 + + Empson, Richard, 194 + + Enaghdune, now Annaghdown, at one time a bishopric, 296, 388 + + Ennis, 300, 410 + + Enniscorthy, 408 + + Eoghanachts, or Eugenians, 22, 31 + + Erasmus, 366 + + Erigena, 15, 33 + + Eugenius III., Pope, his constitution for the Irish Church, 16, 35, + 52 + + Eures, Ralph de, Archbishop of Canterbury, 33, 34 + + Eustace, Alison, first wife of the eighth Earl of Kildare, 115 + + -- family of, 53; + _see_ Baltinglass. + + -- Janet, sister of the last named, married to Sir Walter Delahide, + 164 + + Eva Mac Murrough, wife of Strongbow, 41, 44 + + Exeter, de; + _see_ Dexter. + + -- Duke of, 316 + + + Fagan, Nicholas, 317 + + Farney, or Ferney, 133, 222, 240, 245 + + Farquharson, Bishop of the Isles, 309 + + Faughard, 67 + + Fay, Edmond, 334 + + Faye, Melour, 152 + + Fercullen, 252 + + Ferdinand, Emperor, 7 + + Ferdinand the Catholic, 188 + + Fergraidh, King of Munster, 22 + + Fermanagh, 162, 211, 263 + + Fermoy, 76, 248 + + Fernandez, Gonzalo, 184-188, 190 + + Ferns, church and see of, 40, 42, 293, 297, 408 + + Fethard, in Tipperary, 74, 297 + + -- in Wexford, 297 + + Field, James, 166, 167 + + Fieldston, 249 + + Finbar, St., 36 + + Fingal, 17, 29 + + Finglas, Patrick, Chief Baron of the Exchequer in 1535, 130, 164 + + Fisher, John, Cardinal and Bishop of Rochester, 322 + + Fishmoyne, 329 + + FitzAdelm de Burgo, William, Viceroy in 1177, 47, 51-53, 58 + + FitzAnthony, 72 + + -- Margery, ancestress of the Desmonds, 76 + + FitzEustace, Rowland, Baron of, Portlester, 109 + + Fitzgerald, Maurice, son of Nesta and ancestor of all the + Fitzgeralds, 41, 65, 71, 76; + _see_ Geraldines. + + -- Raymond le Gros; + _see_ Le Gros. + + -- John FitzThomas, first Earl of Kildare, 72 + + -- Maurice FitzThomas, first Earl of Desmond, 72, 78 + + -- Sir Thomas, brother of the eighth Earl of Kildare, Lord + Chancellor in 1487, 102; + killed at Stoke, 105 + + -- Thomas, half-brother of the ninth Earl of Kildare, 133, 151, 160 + + -- Sir James, brother of the ninth Earl of Kildare: Vice Deputy in + 1526, 142, 150, 158, 161, 176, 215 + + -- Oliver, half-brother of the ninth Earl of Kildare, 171, 215 + + -- Richard, half-brother of the ninth Earl of Kildare, 215 + + -- Sir John, half-brother of the ninth Earl of Kildare, 156, 171, + 215 + + -- Walter, half-brother of the ninth Earl of Kildare, 215 + + -- Lady Eleanor, sister of the ninth Earl of Kildare, married first + to Donnell MacCarthy Reagh, and afterwards to Manus O'Donnell, + 218, 219, 238, 239, 247, 278 + + -- Lady Margaret, called 'Magheen,' sister of the ninth Earl of + Kildare, and married to the eighth Earl of Ormonde, 103, 117, + 126 + + -- Lady Alice or Alison, sister of the ninth Earl of Kildare, + married to Con More O'Neill, 118, 119 + + -- Lady Eustacia, sister of the ninth Earl of Kildare, married to + MacWilliam Burke of Clanricarde, 120 + + -- Edward, son of the ninth Earl of Kildare, half-brother of the + tenth, and brother of the eleventh, 217 + + -- Lady Alice, half-sister to the last named, married to James + Fleming, Lord Slane, 152, 153 + + -- Lady Mary, sister to the last named, married to Brian O'Connor of + Offaly, 215, 217, 218, 219 + + -- Lady Elizabeth, the 'fair Geraldine,' half-sister to the last + named, married to Sir Anthony Browne, and afterwards to Edward, + Earl of Lincoln, 216, 217, 375 + + -- Bartholomew, 165 + + -- James, of Osbertstown, 240, 328 + + -- Joan, daughter of the White Knight, and mother of James + Fitzmaurice, 190 + + -- Lady Alice, daughter of the twelfth Earl of Desmond, married to + Connor O'Brien, chief of Thomond, 227 + + -- Lady Joan, daughter and heiress general of the eleventh Earl of + Desmond, married successively to the ninth Earl of Ormonde, to + Sir Francis Bryan, and to the sixteenth Earl of Desmond, 325, + 337, 339, 340, 345, 346 + + Fitzgerald, Maurice, of Lackagh, 128 + + -- of Decies, Sir John, Lord of, 182 + + -- -- Sir Gerald MacShane, Lord of, son of Sir John, 152, 160, 189, + 236, 237, 242, 268 + + -- -- Sir Maurice, Lord of, son of Sir Gerald, 412 + + -- -- Sir Thomas, brother of Sir John, 182, 183 + + -- Thomas, Prior of Kilmainham, 316 + + Fitzgeralds, Earls of Desmond; + _see_ Desmond. + + -- Earls of Kildare; + _see_ Kildare. + + -- Knight of Kerry; + _see_ Kerry. + + -- or Fitzgibbons, White Knights; + _see_ White Knight. + + Fitzgibbon, or MacGibbon; + _see_ White Knight. + + FitzGilbert; + _see_ Strongbow. + + FitzGriffith, Rice, 42 + + FitzHenry, Robert and Meiler, 41 + + Fitzmaurice, Lord of Lixnaw in Kerry, 163 + + -- James, Bishop of Ardfert, 306 + + Fitzmaurices, the, 56 + + Fitzpatrick, or MacGillapatrick, chief of Upper Ossory in Queen's + County, 151, 211, 226, 257 + + -- Dermot, 160 + + Fitzpatricks, Barons of Upper Ossory; + _see_ Upper Ossory. + + FitzSimons, Walter, Archbishop of Dublin (1484-1511), Lord + Chancellor in 1496, 1501, and 1509, 109, 115, 120 + + -- John, 166 + + FitzStephen, Robert, 41, 43, 47, 56, 57, 64 + + FitzThomas, name of, 64 + + Fitzwalter; + _see_ Butler. + + -- Lord; + _see_ Sussex. + + Fitzwilliam, Nicholas, 343 + + -- Sir William, Revenue Commissioner in 1554, afterwards Vice + Treasurer and Lord Deputy, 396 + + -- Lord, 286 + + Flanders, 186, 351 + + Flemings, 27, 54, 76, 163, 186 + + Florence, 220 + + Flosi, 29 + + Folan, John, Bishop of Limerick, 288 + + Fore; + _see_ Fower. + + Formorian race, 67 + + Fountains Abbey, 315 + + Fower, or Fore Abbey, 317 + + Fox, Richard, Bishop of Winchester, 194 + + Foyle, Lough, 17, 395, 398 + + France, 186, 274, 347, 349, 351 + + Francis I., 136, 181, 187, 219 + + -- St., of Assisi, 212 + + French, name of, 75 + + -- the, 27, 89, 127, 181, 273, 276, 333, 340, 345, 347, 351, 352 + + Furness Abbey, 198, 315 + + + Gaddi, Cardinal, 310 + + Gaedhill, the, _i.e._ the Irish, 34, 36 + + Gaill, the, _i.e._ the Scandinavians, and by later usage the + Anglo-Normans and English, 36 + + Gall, St., 6 + + Galway, 65, 74; + tribes of, 75, 85, 120, 122, 228; + rectory of, 267, 321, 331, 333, 335, 371, 402, 410 + + Galway, Bishop of, 388; + _see_ Moore. + + -- County, 211 + + Gardiner, Stephen, Bishop of Winchester, 306 + + Garrett, Walter, 373 + + Garrold, a form of the name Fitzgerald, 178 + + Garth, Captain, 160 + + Gascony, 64 + + Geashill, 213 + + Gentiles, Black and White, 18 + + George, St., 93, 174, 254 + + Geraldine, 'the Fair;' + _see_ Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald. + + Geraldines, a generic name given to the descendants of Maurice + Fitzgerald, Nesta's son, including all the Fitzgeralds of + Ireland, and sometimes extended to collaterals, 71, and _passim_ + + Gerbert, Lieutenant, 203 + + Germain-en-Laye, St., 187 + + Germans at Stoke, 104-105; + miners, 372 + + Germany, 119 + + Gillapatrick, or Patrick, Bishop of Dublin, 33 + + Gillebert, 15, 35 + + Giraldus Cambrensis, 41, 55, 57 + + Glenarm, 361, 398 + + Glencairne, Lord, 281 + + Glendalough in Wicklow, ancient see of, 35, 223, 251 + + Glenmalure, 238 + + Glennama, 23 + + Glin, 76 + + Gloucester, Earl of, 87 + + Godred; + _see_ Crovan. + + Gonzago, Duke of Milan, 219 + + Goodacre, Hugh, Protestant Archbishop of Armagh in 1553, 369, 379, + 380, 386 + + Gordon, Lady Catherine, wife of Perkin Warbeck, 113 + + Gordons, the, 282 + + Gorm; + _see_ Horm. + + Gormanston, the Prestons Viscounts of, 76 + + -- Sir William Preston, second Viscount of, 120, 121 + + -- Jenico Preston, third Viscount of, 384 + + Gormflaith; + _see_ Kormlada. + + Gort, 410 + + Governor, Fort; + _see_ Maryborough. + + -- Alan, 218 + + Gowran, 282, 285 + + Grace, called 'Graceless,' 389 + + Gracedieu nunnery, 300, 312 + + Granard, 60 + + Grandison, Otho de, 74 + + Grane, 213 + + Greencastle in Donegal, 395 + + Greenwich, 269 + + Gregory the Great, Pope, 34 + + -- VII., Pope; + _see_ Hildebrand. + + -- Archbishop of Dublin, 34 + + Grey, Marquis of Dorset; + _see_ Dorset. + + -- Lord Leonard, son of Thomas, Marquis of Dorset, and + brother-in-law to ninth Earl of Kildare, Lord Deputy, 1536-1540; + complains to Henry VIII., 145; + Marshal of the army, 177, 178, 179; + Kildare his prisoner, 189; + Viscount Grane, 193, 194; + Viceroy, 195; + his harshness to Lady Skeffington, 196; + his Parliament, 196-198; + in want of money, 199; + his campaign in Western Munster, 200-204; + the King reproves him unjustly; + his activity, 206-207; + his enemies, 208; + active against the Irish, 210-211; + goes towards Ulster, 212; + baffled by the O'Connors, 213-214; + seizes the five Geraldine brethren, 215; + his raid in Ulster, 222; + falls out with the Butlers, 223; + his treatment of the O'Mores, 225; + his rash expedition to Connaught, 226-229; + the Council reconcile him with the Butlers, 231; + goes into Ulster, 232, 235; + in Ulster, 237; + in Wicklow, 238, 239; + his victory at Bellahoe, 240, 241; + in Munster, 242; + in Ulster, 243; + recalled, 243; + executed, 245, 247, 248; + confusion after his recall, 243, 251, 275, 286, 336 + + Grey, Lady Elizabeth, sister of Lord Leonard, second wife of the + ninth Earl of Kildare, 142, 161, 216 + + -- Lady Jane, 300, 391 + + -- John de, Bishop of Norwich, 59, 60 + + Griffin, Maurice, Bishop of Rochester, 395 + + Griffiths, Edward, 243 + + Guienne, 40 + + Gundelfinger, Joachim, 372 + + Gur, Lough, 200, 204 + + Gwyn, name of, 188 + + + Halidon Hill, 83 + + Halpin, or Halfpenny, Robert, 240 + + Halsey, Thomas, Bishop of Leighlin, 293 + + Hamerton, Captain, 169 + + Harding, Stephen, 315 + + Harman, Gerard, 273 + + Harold, Bishop of Limerick, 36 + + Harold Harfager, 19 + + Hasculph, 45 + + Hattecliffe, William, 114 + + Hebrideans, or Redshanks, 271, 272 + + Hebrides, 32, 67; + West isles, 279; + South isles, 280 + + Henry, I., 41 + + -- II., 11, 37, 45, 46, 51 + + -- III., 62 + + -- IV., 87 + + -- V., 86 + + -- II., King of France, 345, 353, 357 + + Herbert, Francis, 166-168, 213 + + Hertford, Edward, Earl of; + _see_ Somerset. + + Hervey de Montmorency, 42, 44, 49, 64, 315 + + Hildebrand, Pope Gregory VII., 33 + + Hoby, Sir Philip, 330 + + Holbein, Hans, 217 + + Holland, Captain, 174, 389 + + Holy Cross Abbey, 304, 315 + + Holyhead, 210, 273, 351, 408 + + Honorius I., Pope, 14 + + Hooker, John, the chronicler, 47 + + Horm, or Gorm, 18 + + Hospitallers; + _see_ St. John. + + Howth, 273, 330 + + -- family (St. Lawrence), 53 + + -- Nicholas St. Lawrence, sixteenth Baron of, 104, 108, 120, 121 + + -- Christopher St. Lawrence, seventeenth Baron of, 169 + + -- Justice, 382, 386; + perhaps the same person as Thomas St. Lawrence, _q.v._ + + -- Sir Richard, 388 + + Hrafn the Red, 28 + + Hubert, 61; + _see_ De Burgo. + + Humfrey, James, 302, 303 + + Huntley, Gordon, Earl of, 280 + + Hurley, Thomas, Bishop of Emly, 305, 306 + + Hy Neill, the O'Neills and their correlatives, 33 + + + Iar-Connaught, 75 + + Ibracken or Ibrickan, in Clare, 271 + + Iceland, 11 + + Icelanders, 32 + + Idrone, 250, 340 + + Ikerrin in Tipperary, 211 + + Imaile, 251 + + Imokilly 76, 242, 248 + + Inchiquin, Barony of, 270 + + Inge, Hugh, Bishop of Meath (1512-1521), Archbishop of Dublin + (1521-1528), 150, 290, 291 + + Ingulf, 32 + + Innishowen, 211, 274 + + Innislonagh Abbey, 296, 298, 317 + + Innocent III., Pope, 59 + + -- IV., Pope, 62 + + -- VIII., Pope, 107 + + Iona, 13, 15, 17, 21, 280 + + Ireland, Duke of, 85 + + Irishtown, origin of name, 73 + + Irrelagh or Muckross, 300 + + Isla, 273, 411 + + Isles, Lord of the; + _see_ Donnell Dhu. + + Issam, John, 342 + + Italy, 219, 290 + + Ivar, 19, 22, 23 + + Ives, St., 389 + + + James I. of England and VI. of Scotland, 318 + + James IV. of Scotland, 113 + + -- V. of Scotland, 247, 271, 309 + + James's Park, St., 277 + + Jerpoint Abbey, 99, 300 + + Jesuits in Ireland, 259, 287; + their first mission, 307-310, 318, 320, 350 + + Jocelin, 53 + + John, King, 54, 55, 58, 65, 314, 387 + + -- XXII., Pope, 68, 70 + + -- of Salisbury, 37 + + -- the Mad (by some chroniclers called John 'Wood'), 45, 46 + + -- St., of Jerusalem, Order of, 254, 314-316 + + John's, St., at Wexford, 298 + + Joinville, 95 + + Joys, Sir James, 388 + + Julius II., Pope, 188, 292 + + -- III., Pope, 394 + + + Karl, a Norman, 27 + + Kate, or Cappys, a merchant, 239 + + Kaupmannaeyjar, or Copeland Islands, 30 + + Kavanagh, Cahir MacEncross, the MacMurrough, called the last King of + Leinster, 175, 199, 200, 221; + _see_ MacMurrough. + + -- Cahir MacArt, the MacMurrough, created in 1553 Baron of Balian + for life, 210, 231, 258, 298, 327 + + -- Donnell MacCahir, 250 + + -- Maurice, Archdeacon of Leighlin, 146, 298 + + -- Moryt Oge, 327 + + Kavanagh, origin of the name, 42; + _see_ MacMurrough. + + Kavanaghs, the, 86, 87, 167, 210, 221, 231, 235, 250, 375, 397; + _see_ MacMurrough. + + Keating, James, Prior of Kilmainham, 108, 316 + + -- William, Captain of Kerne, 177, 375 + + Kells, or Kenlis, in Meath, 12, 66, 129 + + -- in Kilkenny, 319 + + Kelway, John, 222, 223, 226, 238 + + Kent, Ormonde in, 391 + + Kerry, 56, 163, 186, 188 + + -- Fitzgerald, Knight of, 76 + + Kerrycurrihy, in Cork, 242, 248 + + Kerthialfad, 28 + + Keynsham, 198 + + Kilbrittain, 218, 242 + + Kilclogan Priory, Wexford, 298 + + Kilcooley Abbey, 296 + + Kilcullen Bridge, 129, 163 + + -- Lord; + _see_ Baltinglass. + + Kildare, 13, 244 + + -- County, 97, 122, 128, 130, 167, 177, 332; + _see_ Pale. + + -- family (Fitzgeralds), 72, 76, 93 + + -- John Fitzthomas Fitzgerald, first Earl of, 72 + + -- Thomas Fitzgerald, seventh Earl of, 91, 92, 93, 254 + + -- Gerald Fitzgerald, eighth Earl of, Deputy, 102, 103, 104, 105, + 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111; + attainted, 112; + Deputy, 115, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 124, 125; + his son chosen Lord Justice at his death, 125; + his widow, 128 + + -- -- -- ninth Earl of, marries Elizabeth Zouche, 120; + present at Knocktoe, 121; + Deputy, 125; + his sister, 126, 127; + superseded, 128, 130, 132, 134, 139, 140; + marries Lady Elizabeth Grey, 142, 143; + Deputy, 144, 145, 146; + goes to England, 147; + in the Tower, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153; + returns to Ireland, 154; + in England again, 155; + Deputy, 156, 157, 158, 159; + forced to go to England, 160; + makes his son Deputy, 161; + in the Tower, 162, 163; + dies in the Tower, 172; + seeks preferment for Dean Dillon, 293, 297 + + -- Thomas Fitzgerald, tenth Earl of, called 'Silken Thomas,' Deputy, + 161, 162; + rebels, 163, 164; + his people murder an Archbishop, 165; + besieges Dublin, 166, 167, 168, 169; + proclaimed traitor, 170, 171; + seeks foreign aid, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176; + surrenders, 177, 178; + in the Tower, 179; + attainted and executed, 180 + + -- Gerald Fitzgerald, eleventh Earl of, 216, 217; + escapes to France, 218, 219, 220, 230, 231, 237, 240, 242, 243, + 245, 247, 248, 273, 278, 333; + his estates restored, 375; + serves against Wyatt, 391; + returns to Ireland, 392, 393, 400, 407 + + -- see of, 288, 293; + for Bishops, _see_ Lane, Dillon, Wellesley, Lancaster, Leverous. + + Kilfenora, see of, 293, 306 + + Kilkea Castle, 125, 167, 170 + + Kilkenny, 59, 73; + a mock Parliament there, 78; + Parliament and statute of, 80-83, 93, 97, 105, 111, 155; + Parliament adjourned to, 200, 235, 261, 300, 321, 340, 359, + 380-383 + + -- County, 61, 63, 65, 72, 97, 145, 146, 150, 155, 156, 165, 167, + 221, 266, 297, 300, 321, 339 + + Killaloe, see of, 81, 293 + + Killarney, 124 + + Killeen, Plunkets, Barons of, 76, 120, 206 + + Killeigh friary, 304, 402 + + Killybegs, 127 + + Kilmacduagh, 292, 294 + + Kilmacrenan, 212 + + Kilmainham, the chief house of the Hospitallers in Ireland, 89, 99, + 155, 166, 169, 178; + a viceregal residence, 215, 229, 258; + the church, 301, 341; + the priory restored, 401 + + Kilmallock, 191, 193, 256 + + Kilmore, see of, 292 + + Kinard, 120 + + Kincora, 25, 334 + + King, Matthew, 383 + + Kinnafad, 213 + + Kinnegad, 251 + + Kinsale, 74, 106, 181, 242, 329, 335 + + Kite, John, Archbishop of Armagh (1513-1521), 128, 251, 289 + + Knights of Kerry and White Knights, Fitzgeralds, _q.v._ + + Knockinlossy, 141 + + Knockmoy Abbey, 267 + + Knocktoe, 120-122, 144 + + Knocktopher Monastery, 381 + + Knollys, Sir Henry, 378 + + Kormlada, or Gormflaith, 24-26 + + + Lacy, Hugh, Bishop of Limerick (1556-1571), 409 + + -- Hugo de, 47, 49, 52-54, 55-57 + + -- -- the younger, 58, 59, 61 + + -- Maude, wife of the first Earl of Clanricarde, 275 + + -- Walter de, 59, 61 + + Lady Abbey, near Clonmel, 296 + + Laggan, or Lagan River, 398 + + Lambay Island, 17, 170, 273, 410 + + Lancaster, Thomas, Bishop of Kildare (1549-1554), and afterwards + Archbishop of Armagh, 365, 382, 392 + + Lancastrians, 91-93, 103 + + Lane, Edward, Bishop of Kildare in 1487, 104 + + Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, 313, 314 + + Lansdowne family, 76 + + Lanthony, 198 + + Larne, 66, 351 + + Lateran Council, 35, 36 + + Lawrence O'Toole, St.; + _see_ O'Toole. + + Lawrence, St., Sir Almaric, ancestor of the Howth family, 53 + + Lea Castle, 328 + + Leap Castle in King's County, 127, 146, 409 + + Leath Mhoga, the southern half of Ireland, 392 + + Lecale, 129, 232, 352, 370 + + Lech, John, Archbishop of Dublin (1311-1313), 321 + + Ledred, Richard, Bishop of Ossory (1318-1360), 381 + + Le Gros, Raymond, 44, 45, 49, 56, 64, 76 + + Leicester, Robert Dudley, Earl of, 286 + + Leighlin, 54 + + -- see of, 293, 358; + for Bishops, _see_ Tatenhall, Northalis, Halsey, Travers, + O'Fihely. + + -- Bridge, or New Leighlin, 189, 339; + the suppressed Carmelites there, 340, 375, 401, 412 + + Leinster, Dukes of, 72, 217 + + Leix, the modern Queen's Co., without Upper Woods, Tinnahinch, or + Portnahinch, 224, 313, 349, 350, 373, 385, 399, 400 + + Lennox, Earl of, 279-282, 330 + + Leo X., Pope, 293, 295, 299 + + Leverous, Thomas, Bishop of Kildare (1554-1559), and in the Papal + succession till 1577, 217-219, 239, 367, 368, 379, 391, 392, 394 + + Liège, 219 + + Liffey River, 160, 170 + + Limehouse, 219 + + Limerick, 17, 18, 47, 50, 51, 56, 58, 66, 73, 85, 187, 191; + Parliament adjourned to, 200-202, 204, 228, 256; + Parliament prorogued to, 260, 265, 304, 321, 331, 333, 346, 378, + 409 + + -- County, 201 + + -- see of, 35, 255, 288, 354, 392; + for Bishops, _see_ Gillebert, Patrick, Harold, Turgeis, Brictius, + Folan, Quin, Casey, Lacy. + + Lindisfarne, 15, 17 + + Lisle, Viscount, 270 + + Lismore, 47 + + -- see of, 35, 81; + for Bishops, _see_ Malchus, O'Conarchy. + + Lixnaw, 76 + + Lockwood, Thomas, Dean of Christ Church, Dublin (1543-1565), 358, + 379, 391 + + Logan, a pirate, 330 + + Lomond, Loch, 17 + + Londonderry, 167 + + Longsword, William, 59 + + Louth, 67, 156, 170, 222, 240; + _see_ Pale. + + -- John de Bermingham, Earl of, 67 + + -- Barony of (Plunket), 76 + + -- Oliver Plunket, first Baron of, 258, 263 + + Lovel, Lord, 103, 105 + + Loyola, Ignatius, 307, 308 + + Lucius III., Pope, 54 + + Ludlow Castle, 171 + + Lumley, Marmaduke, 316 + + Lusk, Co. Dublin, 29, 166 + + Luttrell, Sir Thomas, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas (1534-1554), + 169, 223, 320, 384, 385 + + Luxueil, 6 + + Lynch, John, 239 + + -- name of, 75 + + Lyons in France, 310 + + -- in Kildare, Richard Aylmer of, 310 + + + MacAlister, Rory, Bishop of the Isles, 280 + + MacAndrew, or Barrett, 71 + + MacArtane, or MacCartane, chief of Kinelarty, in Down, 78, 90, 353, + 362 + + MacAveely, or Staunton, 71 + + MacBaron, or Fitzgerald, 71 + + MacBrien, chief of Arra, in Tipperary, 227, 242, 393 + + -- chief of Coonagh, in Limerick, 265 + + MacBriens, the, 120 + + MacCarthies, the, 50, 72, 124, 220, 300 + + MacCarthy, Dermod, chief of Desmond and Cork, 47, 55, 56 + + -- More, chief of Desmond, 268, 359, 360, 409 + + -- Cormac Oge, chief of Muskerry, 133, 134, 180, 188, 190-192 + + -- Teig MacCormac, son of Cormac Oge, chief of Muskerry, 268 + + -- Reagh, chief of Carbery, 133, 180, 191, 218, 242, 268 + + -- MacDonough, chief of Duhallow, 268 + + -- Lady Eleanor; + _see_ Fitzgerald. + + -- Mary, wife of the thirteenth Earl of Desmond, 242 + + -- Honora, wife of the fifteenth Earl of Desmond, 345 + + -- Connor, a priest, 386 + + MacCostello, or Nangle, 71 + + MacCragh, a rhymer, 218 + + MacDavid, or Burke, 71 + + MacDermot, chief of Moylurg (the northern half of Roscommon), 60, + 69, 120, 140, 239, 374 + + MacDonnells, the, of Western Scotland and Antrim, 67, 147, 266, + 271-274, 300, 360, 393, 410 + + MacDonnell, Alaster, chief of the Irish branch, 272 + + -- James, chief of Antrim and Cantire, son of Alaster, 361, 398, 410 + + -- Colla, brother of James, 410 + + -- Angus, brother of James, 410 + + -- Sorley Boy (yellow-haired Charles), 361, 410 + + MacEdmond, or Fitzgerald, 71 + + MacEgan, a chief in North Tipperary, 266 + + MacFabrene, or Wellesley, 71 + + MacFeoris, or Bermingham, 71 + + MacGeohegan, chief of Moycashel, in Westmeath, 90, 206, 211, 226, + 326 + + MacGibbon, or Burke, 71 + + -- _see_ Fitzgibbon and White Knight. + + MacGillapatrick; + _see_ Fitzpatrick. + + MacJordan, or Dexter, 71 + + Maclean, Patrick, 280 + + MacMahon, chief of Irish Oriel or Monaghan, 63, 69, 90, 120, 133, + 140, 263, 376 + + MacMaurice, or Prendergast, 71 + + MacMorris, David, 181 + + MacMurrough, Dermod, King of Leinster, 39-48 + + -- Art, considered as King by the Leinster Irish, 85-87 + + -- Cahir MacEncross, and Cahir MacArt, chiefs of their name; + _see_ Kavanagh. + + MacMurroughs, the, 57; + _see_ Kavanaghs. + + Macnamaras of Clare, the, 115, 271, 300, 306 + + MacOwney, Murtagh (an O'More), 155 + + MacPaddin, or Barrett, 71 + + MacPhilbin, or Burke, 71 + + Macquillin (of Welsh origin), chief of the Route, in Antrim, 77, + 154, 266, 349, 353, 376 + + MacRaymond, or Burke, 71 + + MacRobert, or Burke, 71 + + MacRory, King of the Hebrides, 67 + + MacShane, Sir Gerald; + _see_ Fitzgerald. + + MacShoneen, or Burke, 71 + + MacSwiney, Edmond, captain of gallowglasses, 221, 230 + + MacSwineys, three septs in Donegal, 140, 393 + + MacThomaisin, or Fitzgerald, 71 + + MacThomas, or Fitzgerald, 71 + + MacThomin, or Barrett, 71 + + MacWalter, or Burke, 71 + + MacWilliam Uachtar, of Clanricarde, 71, 75, 85, 120, 140, 238, + 256-258; + _see_ Burke and Clanricarde. + + -- Iochtar, or Burke, of Mayo, 71, 140, 349, 375 + + Maelmordha, King of Leinster, 24-26 + + Magennis, chief of Iveagh, in Down, 90, 120, 127, 136, 232, 239, + 240, 247, 263, 376 + + -- Arthur and Donnell, knighted by Henry VIII., 270 + + -- Arthur, Bishop of Dromore, 364 + + -- Connor, Prior or Dean of Down, 353, 364 + + Magnus, King of Norway, 29 + + Maguire, chief of Fermanagh, 119 + + -- Cuconnacht, chief of Fermanagh, 154, 162, 187 + + -- Shane, chief of Fermanagh, 239, 377 + + Mahon, King of Munster, 22-23 + + Makeon, or Bisset, 71 + + Malachi, St., Archbishop of Armagh, 15, 35, 314 + + -- King of Meath in 845, 18 + + -- King of Meath and of Ireland, 21, 23; + deposed by Brian from the chief sovereignty, 24; + restored after Clontarf, 31 + + Malahide, 107 + + Malchus, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, 35 + + Mallow, 180, 191 + + Malo, St., 218 + + Malta, Knights of, 278 + + Mandeville family, 70 + + Man, Isle of, 28, 30, 33, 46 + + Mantua, 240, 241 + + Mape, name of, 240, 241 + + March, Edmond Mortimer, Earl of, 84 + + -- Roger Mortimer, Earl of, 86 + + Marshal, William Earl, and Earl of Pembroke, 61, 63, 315 + + Maryborough, 331, 340, 399, 409 + + Mary of Lorraine, Queen Dowager of Scotland, 352 + + Mary's Abbey, St., 163, 317, 320 + + Massingberd, Oswald, 401 + + Mattershed, name of, 413 + + Maude, Empress, 37 + + Maunsell, Sir Rice, 171, 173, 178 + + Maur Abbey, 293 + + Maynooth, 107, 169, 173-175, 177, 195, 225, 229, 238, 284, 347 + + Mayo, 24, 71, 218 + + Max, John, Bishop of Elphin, 294 + + Meath, kingdom and county (including Westmeath before the sixteenth + century), 3, 24, 49, 65, 170, 239; + _see_ Pale. + + -- see of, 289, 290; + for Bishops, _see_ Payne, Rokeby, Inge, Wilson, Staples. + + Medici, Catherine de', 219, 279 + + Meelick, 402, 410 + + Mellifont Abbey, 40, 314, 316 + + Melville, Sir James, 345 + + Melvin, Lough, 141 + + Messanger, Philip, 114 + + Midleton, 190 + + Milan, Gonzago, Duke of, 219 + + Milford Haven, 42, 46, 55, 59 + + Minot, Thomas, Archbishop of Dublin in 1367, 81 + + Missett; + _see_ Bissett. + + Modreeny, 208, 227, 231, 242 + + Moira, 397 + + Monaghan, 154 + + Monaghan County, 56, 240 + + Monasterevan, 408 + + Monastermore, 314 + + Monasteroris, 226 + + Monluc, Bishop of Valence, 345, 348 + + Montmorenci, Hervey de; + _see_ Hervey. + + Moore, John, Bishop of Enaghdune, called Bishop of Galway, 388 + + Morlaix, 219 + + Morris, Sir John, Deputy in 1341, 78 + + Mortimer, Roger, 63, 66, 77, 86 + + Mothel, 320 + + Mountgarret, Richard Butler, created Viscount, second son of the + eighth Earl of Ormonde, 207, 213, 221, 327, 386, 389, 393 + + Mountjoy, 271 + + Mount Norris, Lord, 286 + + Mourne Abbey, 133, 180 + + Mourne Mountains, 247 + + Moycashel, 206 + + Moylagh nunnery in Tipperary, 374 + + Moyle, Thomas, 208 + + Moyrie Pass, 78 + + Muckross, 300 + + Mull, Island of, 273 + + Munster Bishops, 293 + + -- nobles, 267-268 + + -- President proposed for, 378 + + -- regulations for, 261 + + Murrough, Brian Borumha's son, 25, 28 + + Musgraves in Ireland, 169, 176 + + Muskerry, 124, 180 + + Mynne, John, 250 + + + Naas, 59 + + Nangle, or MacCostello, 71 + + -- Richard, Bishop of Clonfert, 238, 289, 294, 306 + + Narragh, Castle and Barony of, 54, 87 + + Narrowater, 247 + + Navan, 240, 341 + + Neagh, Lough, 18, 164 + + Nenagh, 224, 335 + + Nesta Tudor, 41, 50, 71, 76 + + Newark, 105 + + Newcastle, in Wicklow, 83 + + Newcastle-on-Tyne, 373 + + Newport, in Tipperary, 409 + + Newry, 247, 297 + + Newtown Barry, 54, 210, 372 + + Nial Glundubh, 19 + + -- of the nine hostages, 3, 19, 270 + + Nore River, 44 + + Norfolk, Hugh Bigot, Earl of, 63 + + -- Thomas Howard, Duke of; + _see_ Surrey. + + Northalis, Richard, Bishop of Leighlin in 1290, 85 + + Northampton, 91 + + Northmen, Chapter II. _passim_ + + Northumberland, John Dudley, Duke of, and Earl of Warwick, 286, 337, + 358, 373, 384, 385 + + Northumbrians, 37 + + Norwegians, Chapter II. _passim_ + + Nugent, William, grantee of Delvin, 54 + + Nugents, the, 76, 144, 393, 397 + + -- Barons of Delvin; + _see_ Delvin. + + + O'Bogan, Laurence, 91 + + O'Boyle, chief of Boylagh in Donegal, 140 + + O'Brien, Donald or Donnell More, King of Limerick and North Munster, + 50, 55, 315 + + -- Donough Carbreach, son of Donnell More, 60 + + -- William Carragh, 77 + + -- Brian, chief of Thomond, 86 + + -- Tirlogh Don, chief of Thomond, 181 + + -- Connor, chief of Thomond, son of Tirlogh Don, 162, 173, 179, 191, + 192, 200, 218, 227, 228, 249 + + -- Tirlogh, son of Connor, 227 + + -- Murrough, Donough, and Connor, first, second, and third Earls of + Thomond; + _see_ Thomond. + + -- Teig, 142, 182 + + -- Matthew, 200 + + -- Sir Donnell More, son of Connor and brother of the second Earl of + Thomond, 393, 409, 410 + + -- Tirlogh, Bishop of Killaloe in 1522, 140 + + O'Brien's Bridge, 201-203 + + O'Briens, the, of Thomond or Clare, 70, 77, 115, 141, 151, 172, 181, + 182, 239, 257, 258, 265, 300, 346 + + O'Byrne, Owen MacHugh, captain of Kerne, 328 + + O'Byrnes, the, of Wicklow, 57, 80, 90, 158, 160, 167, 200, 221, 244, + 266, 375, 397 + + O'Cahan or O'Kane, in Londonderry County, 62, 239, 272, 349, 376 + + O'Caharney; + _see_ O'Kearney. + + O'Callaghan, of Duhallow in Cork, 242, 268 + + O'Carroll, Donough, Prince of Oriel in 1142, 314 + + -- Mulrony, chief of Ely, 132, 135, 146, 151, 156, 157 + + -- Fergananim, son of Mulrony, chief of Ely, 157, 200, 207, 223, + 224, 226, 231, 242, 262 + + -- Donough, brother of Mulrony and claiming the succession, 157, + 207, 262 + + -- John, 262 + + -- Teig, son of Fergananim, 262 + + -- Teig, son of Donough, 262 + + -- Calvagh, chief of Ely, 262, 338, 345, 393, 402, 403, 407 + + O'Carrolls, the, of Ely in King's County, 69, 86, 120, 127, 157, + 207, 329, 334, 335, 393, 403 + + O'Conarchy, Christian, Bishop of Lismore and papal legate, 314 + + O'Connor, Tirlogh, King of Connaught and Ireland, 40 + + -- Roderic, King of Connaught and Ireland, son of Tirlogh, 40, 43, + 45, 47, 52, 54, 55, 58, 68 + + -- Cathal Crovdearg, chief of the Connaught O'Connors, brother of + Roderic, 58-61 + + -- Honora, ancestress of the White Knights, 76 + + -- Brian, chief of Offaly, 135, 136, 150-153, 163, 177, 207, 210, + 211, 213, 214, 221, 222, 224, 226, 227, 229, 251, 256, 326, 328, + 335, 373, 392, 400, 401 + + -- Cahir Roe, brother of Brian, 151, 177, 207, 211, 213, 214, 251, + 332 + + -- Donogh, son of Brian, 400, 402, 403, 408 + + -- Lady Mary, wife of Brian; + _see_ Lady Mary Fitzgerald. + + -- Margaret, daughter of Brian, 392 + + -- Roe, in Roscommon, 140, 228, 374 + + -- Don, in Roscommon, 140, 374 + + O'Connors, the, 56, 57, 61, 62, 69, 86 + + -- of Offaly, the, 86, 120, 121, 129, 130, 175, 177, 213, 348, 385, + 401-403 + + O'Corrin, James, Bishop of Killaloe, 305 + + Octavian de Palatio, Archbishop of Armagh (1480-1513), 104, 108 + + O'Dempseys, the, of Clanmalier (Portnahinch in Queen's Co. and Upper + Philipstown in King's Co.), 251 + + O'Dogherty, chief of Innishowen in Donegal, 140, 274, 345 + + O'Donlevy, chief of Uladh, 53 + + O'Donnell, chief of Tyrconnel, 62 + + -- Donnell Oge, chief of Tyrconnel, 63 + + -- Hugh Roe, chief of Tyrconnel, 111, 113, 119, 120 + + -- Hugh Oge (called also Hugh Dhu), son of Hugh Roe, chief of + Tyrconnel, 124, 125, 132, 136, 140, 141, 147, 154, 211, 212, 253 + + O'Donnell, Manus, grandson of Hugh Roe, chief of Tyrconnel, 140, + 147, 212, 218-220, 237, 239, 247, 262, 263, 345, 347, 373, 395 + + -- Roderic, Bishop of Derry, 237 + + -- Lady Eleanor, wife of Manus; + _see_ Lady Eleanor Fitzgerald. + + -- Calvagh, son of Manus, chief of Tyrconnel, 377, 393, 395, 405, + 407 + + -- Con, son of Calvagh, 405 + + -- the, 120, 257, 272, 300, 349, 399 + + O'Doyne, of Iregan or Portnahinch in Queen's Co., 213, 218, 251 + + O'Driscoll, of Baltimore in West Cork, 88 + + O'Duffy, Keyly, Archbishop of Tuam, 51 + + O'Dwyer, of Kilnemanagh in Tipperary, 242, 266 + + Offaly (greater part of King's Co. and part of Queen's Co.), 206, + 211, 213, 218, 349, 350, 373, 392, 399, 400, 401, 408, 409 + + -- Barony of, in Kildare, 251 + + O'Fihely, Maurice, Archbishop of Tuam, 292 + + O'Gallagher, Edmund, Bishop of Raphoe, 293 + + -- Raymond, Bishop of Killala (Papal), and afterwards of Derry, 293, + 307 + + O'Gallaghers, the, of Donegal, 140 + + O'Grady, chief of a district near Killaloe in Clare and Galway, 271 + + O'Gunnell, _i.e._ Carrigogunnell in Limerick, 186 + + O'Haingly, Donat and Samuel, Archbishops of Dublin, 34 + + O'Hanlon, chief of Orior in Armagh, 111, 112, 115, 120, 263, 353, + 376, 397, 398 + + O'Hanmire, Maelisa, Bishop of Waterford, 35 + + O'Hara, of Leyny in Sligo, 60, 69 + + Oisy; + _see_ De Candolle. + + O'Kane; + _see_ O'Cahan. + + O'Kearney, or O'Caharney, called 'the Fox,' of Kilcoursey in King's + County, 56, 69 + + O'Kellies, the, of the tribe of Hy-Maine, much scattered, but in + this work chiefly between Tuam and Roscommon, 69, 75, 172, 334, + 374 + + O'Kelly, Hugh, 266 + + O'Kennedy, of Ormonde in Tipperary, 120, 224, 227, 242, 266 + + Olaf Cuaran, 21, 24, 25, 32 + + -- Sitricson, 29 + + -- Trygvesson, 32 + + Oldcastle, Sir John, 388 + + Olderfleet (Larne), 351 + + Olfin, 18 + + Olioll Olum, 22 + + O'Lonergan, Edmund, 317 + + O'Madden, of Longford in Galway, 69, 228, 402 + + Omagh, 119, 122 + + O'Meagher, of Ikerrin in Tipperary, 211, 242, 321, 329 + + O'Melaghlin (commonly corrupted into MacLoughlin), of Clonlonan in + Westmeath, 39, 52, 228, 334 + + O'Molloy, of Fercall (including Ballyboy and Ballycowan) in King's + County, 206, 211, 226, 262, 338, 402, 403 + + O'More, Lysaght, 77 + + -- Connell, chief of Leix, 132, 175-177, 224 + + -- Peter, brother of Connell, 224, 225 + + -- Lysaght, son of Connell, 224, 225 + + -- Kedagh, son of Connell, 224-226, 266 + + -- Rory, son of Connell, 224-226, 266, 275, 329, 335, 341 + + -- Connell Oge, 400, 401 + + O'Mores, the, of Leix, 88, 125, 127, 130, 135, 140, 146, 167, 176, + 177, 211, 258, 348, 399, 403, 408 + + O'Mullally, Thomas, Archbishop of Tuam, 292 + + O'Mulrian, or Ryan, of Owney in Tipperary and Limerick, 227, 266, + 393 + + O'Murrilly, John, Bishop of Ross, 293 + + O'Neill, Donnell, 68 + + O'Neill, Con More, chief of Tyrone, 118 + + -- Henry and Donnell, brothers to Con More, 118-120 + + -- Art Oge, son of Con More, chief of Tyrone, 121 + + -- Con Bacagh, son of Con More, by Lady Alice O'Neill, and + half-brother to Art Oge, whom he succeeded as chief (he was + created Earl of Tyrone), 119, 132, 134, 136, 137, 140, 142, 147, + 163, 167, 176, 199, 221, 222, 231, 232, 237-240, 243, 247, 259, + 263, 264, 268; + _see_ Tyrone, Earl of. + + O'Neill, Tirlogh, brother to Con Bacagh, 119, 120 + + -- Shane, son of Con Bacagh, 270, 376, 377, 403-405, 407 + + -- Matthew Ferdoragh, reputed son of Con Bacagh; + _see_ Dungannon, first Baron of. + + -- Tirlogh Luineach (so-called from having been fostered with the + O'Loonies), nephew of Con Bacagh, and afterwards chief of + Tyrone, 377 + + -- Phelim Roe and Neill Connelagh, nephews of Con Bacagh, 263 + + -- Hugh Boy, founder of the Clandeboye branch, 62, 76 + + -- Phelim Bacagh, chief of Clandeboye, 198 + + -- of Clandeboye, Phelim Roe, 258 + + O'Neills, the, of Clandeboye, 129, 142, 239, 362 + + -- the, 40, 120, 211, 212, 239, 385, 399 + + -- of Tyrone, 62, 66, 86, 90 + + O'Nolans, the, of Forth in Carlow, 57, 86, 210 + + Oransay, 13 + + O'Reilly, Farrell, chief of Brefny-O'Reilly (this consisted of + Cavan, except Tullyhaw and Tullyhunco), 154 + + -- Malachias, brother and successor to Farrell, 221, 222, 238, 349, + 375, 376 + + O'Reillys of Cavan, the, 90, 120, 127 + + Oriel, 32 + + Orkney, 32 + + Ormonde, James Butler, first Earl of, 72 + + -- -- -- second Earl of, 79 + + -- -- -- third Earl of, 84 + + -- -- -- fourth Earl of (the 'White Earl'), 89, 90, 316 + + -- -- -- fifth Earl of, 91 + + -- John Butler, sixth Earl of, 102 + + -- Thomas Butler, seventh Earl of, 102 + + -- Sir Thomas Boleyn, sometimes called Earl of; + _see_ Boleyn. + + -- Piers Butler, eighth Earl of, and first Earl of Ossory (called + Roe, 'The Red'), 102; + marries Lady Margaret Fitzgerald, 103; + kills Sir James Ormonde, 117; + claims the earldom of Ormonde, 126; + co-operates with Surrey, 132, 133, 136; + Deputy, 139, 140, 141, 142; + superseded, 143; + sends his son to London, 145; + his disputes with Kildare, 146; + in England, 147; + created Earl of Ossory, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, + 157, 160, 164, 165, 167, 170, 173, 182, 183, 187, 189, 190, 193, + 200; + on good terms with Cromwell, 202, 207, 210; + Earl of Ormonde after Boleyn's death, 218; + his attempts at civilisation, 221; + he quarrels with Grey, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229; + hollow reconciliation with Grey, 231; + entertains the Council at Kilkenny, 235; + his death, 241, 245; + supposed falsification of records in his time, 279; + in opposition to his son, the Archbishop of Cashel, 291 + + Ormonde, James Butler, ninth Earl of, and second Earl of Ossory, + called 'The Lame,' 139; + at Court, 145; + escapes marrying Anne Boleyn, 149; + his influence among the Irish, 151, 152; + made Lord Treasurer, 156; + his loyalty, 164, 165; + wounded, 167, 177, 178; + at the siege of Dungarvan, 182; + at the second siege, 189; + his journey in Munster, 190-193, 199, 200, 201, 202; + at the siege of Carrigogunnell, 203, 204, 218; + falls out with Grey, 223, 229, 231; + his head in danger, 234; + entertains the Council at Carlow, 235; + becomes Earl, 241, 242, 248; + risks his person in the Desmond country, 249; + attacks the Kavanaghs, 250, 254; + attends St. Leger in Munster, 255; + his claims on the Desmond estates, 256; + addresses Parliament in Irish, 258; + at Court, 271; + furnishes a large contingent for Scotch war, 276; + his quarrel with St. Leger, 278-286; + proposed for Deputy, 279; + chosen to command the contingent in Scotland, 280; + sails to the Clyde, 281, 282; + he is poisoned, 285, 331, 341; + his chaplain Bicton, 359 + + -- Thomas Butler, tenth Earl of, called 'Black Thomas,' succeeds his + father at the age of fourteen, 286, 325, 326; + in England, 339, 346; + receives part of his rents, 375; + his death reported, 382; + his uncle, 386; + returns to Ireland, 392, 393, 400, 409 + + Ormonde, James Butler, Duke of, 316 + + -- Sir James, 102, 103, 109, 114, 117, 118 + + -- the northern part of Tipperary, 266 + + -- Joan, Countess of; + _see_ Lady Joan Fitzgerald. + + O'Rourke, Tiernan, prince of Brefny, 39, 46, 47, 49 + + O'Rourkes, the, of Brefny (Brefny-O'Rourke was Leitrim with Tullyhaw + and Tullyhunco in Cavan), 63, 140, 239, 266 + + Osbertstown, 240 + + O'Sealbhaigh, Augustine, Bishop of Waterford, 35, 52 + + O'Shaughnessy, seated at Gort in Galway, 271, 410 + + -- Sir Dermot, 333 + + Osney, 198 + + Ospak, 26-28 + + Ossory, Ossorians, 43, 47, 81 + + -- Earldom; + _see_ Piers, eighth Earl of Ormonde. + + -- see of, 293, 358, 367 + + -- Upper; + _see_ Upper Ossory. + + O'Sullivan, Beare or Bere (in West Cork), 268 + + O'Toole, St. Lawrence, Archbishop of Dublin, 35, 45, 51, 251 + + -- Tirlogh, chief of Imaile, 222, 238, 252, 253, 265, 287 + + -- Art Oge, brother to Tirlogh, 253 + + O'Tooles, the, of Imaile (Upper Talbotstown) in Wicklow, 57, 70, 80, + 86, 154, 166, 221, 223, 238, 244, 251-253, 326, 397 + + Overy, William, 91 + + Owel, Lough, 18 + + Owney, in Tipperary, 99, 227 + + -- Beg, in Limerick, 99 + + Oxford, 284, 293, 322, 359 + + -- Earls of, 85, 150, 270 + + Oxmantown, 109, 160, 164, 173 + + + Paget, Sir William, afterwards Lord, 335, 390, 398 + + Pale, the, 71, 76, 80, 123, 129-132, 171, 200, 203, 209, 254, 335 + + Palestine, 271 + + Paparo, Cardinal, 35 + + Paris, 310, 373 + + -- Christopher, 173-175 + + -- George, 345, 347, 348, 352, 359, 373 + + Parry, Stephen ap, 189-193, 203, 224, 395 + + Patrick, St., 4, 12, 14, 17, 18, 32, 33, 35, 305 + + -- Bishop of Dublin; + _see_ Gillapatrick. + + -- -- -- Limerick, 36 + + Patrick's day, St., 282 + + -- Cathedral, St., 109, 158, 173, 281, 322, 341, 394 + + -- purgatory, St., 127 + + Paul, St., 308, 381, 388, 389 + + -- III., Pope, 307 + + -- IV., Pope, 394 + + Paulet, William, Marquis of Winchester, 208 + + -- George, brother to the Marquis, 208, 229, 234 + + Payne, John, Bishop of Meath (1483-1506), 104 + + Paynswick, Robert, Prior and first Dean of Christ Church, Dublin, + 303 + + Payntenye, Richard, 114 + + Pembroke, Earl of; + _see_ Marshal. + + Pembrokeshire, 183 + + Peter, St., 28 + + -- the Pope called Coarb of St., 14 + + Peto the Franciscan, 394 + + Philip II., 7, 394, 395 + + Philippa, Countess of Ulster, 84 + + Philipstown, 206, 340, 400-403, 408 + + Pirry, Martin, 351 + + Pius II. (Æneas Sylvius), Pope, 92 + + Plantagenets, 11, 70, 78, 84 + + Plunkets, 76, 397 + + Poer, Le Poer, De Poer, De Poher, Power, 53, 64, 70, 75, 85, 88, + 258; + _see_ Power. + + Pole, Reginald, Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury, 181, 219, 401, + 413, 414 + + -- John de la, 100 + + Portuguese, 201, 330 + + Powell, an officer, 203 + + -- Watkin, 327 + + Power, a pirate, 330 + + -- of Curraghmore, Richard, first Baron by creation, 236 + + -- Peter, second Baron, son of the last named, 276, 277 + + -- Edward, bastard brother of Peter, 276 + + -- Dominick, 172, 175 + + Powerscourt, 200, 238, 251, 252, 397 + + Poynet, John, Bishop of Winchester, 368 + + Poynings, Sir Edward, Lord Deputy (1494-1496), 110-115; + first Parliament held under his 'Act,' 118, 160, 198, 279 + + Prendergast, Maurice de, 42 + + -- name of, 71 + + Prestons, family of, 76 + + Protector, Fort; + _see_ Maryborough. + + Puebla, Rodrigo de la, 188 + + Purcell, a pirate, 166, 169, 173 + + -- John, Bishop of Ferns, 297, 298 + + -- name of, 64 + + + Queen's County; + _see_ Leix. + + Quentin, St., battle of, 391 + + Quin or Coyne, John, Bishop of Limerick (1521-1551), 300, 305, 306, + 354 + + + Radclyffe; + _see_ Sussex. + + -- Sir Henry, brother to Sussex, 408 + + Ragnal, name, 29 + + -- son of Ivar, 19 + + Ragnar Lodbrok, 17, 19 + + Ralph, Archbishop of Canterbury; + _see_ Eures. + + Randon Castle, 65, 77 + + Raphoe, church and see of, 12, 211, 293 + + Rathangan, 176, 177, 326, 329 + + Rathbreasil, 15, 34 + + Rathlin Island, 271, 272, 360, 361, 377 + + Rathmore, 222 + + Rathvilly, 326 + + Ratisbon, 306 + + Rawson, Sir John, created Viscount of Clontarf, 155, 160, 178, 258, + 316 + + Raymond, Le Gros Fitzgerald; + _see_ Le Gros. + + -- Oge, 328 + + Rede, Sir Richard, Lord Chancellor in 1546, 284 + + Redman, Robert, 89 + + Redshanks, 272, 273 + + Ree, Lough, 17, 65 + + Reginald's Tower, 47, 113 + + Rennes, 219 + + Renteria, 184 + + Reyley, Robert, 165 + + Rice; + _see_ Tudor. + + Richard, Earl; + _see_ Strongbow. + + -- I., 58 + + -- II., 42, 272 + + -- III., 93 + + -- Duke of York; + _see_ York. + + Richmond, Henry, Duke of, natural son of Henry VIII., Lord + Lieutenant (1529-1536), 153, 204 + + Riddlesford, Walter de, 251 + + Ridley, Nicholas, Bishop of London, 216 + + Rinuccini, Giovan Battista, 318, 402 + + Robert II., King of Scotland, 272 + + Roche, Lord, 200, 268 + + Rocheford, name of, 64 + + Roderic, King; + _see_ O'Connor. + + Rokeby, Sir Thomas, 84 + + -- William, Bishop of Meath, (1507-1511), Archbishop of Dublin + (1512-1521), 131, 290, 291 + + Romans, King of, 4, 7, 39 + + Rome, 35, 211, 220, 238, 288 + + Rookes, a pirate, 166, 169, 172, 173 + + Rosamond Clifford (Fair Rosamond), 59 + + Roscommon, 77, 125, 408 + + -- County, 95, 211 + + Roscrea, 18, 224, 242, 374 + + Rosen, General, 167 + + Ross, or New Ross, in Wexford, 59, 74, 85, 235, 285, 373 + + -- Old, in Wexford, 198 + + -- in Carbery (West Cork), church and see of, 293, 295, 306 + + -- Earl of, in Scotland, 279 + + Rouen, 89 + + Route, the, 77, 266 + + Russell, John, first Earl of Bedford, 282 + + Rutland, Thomas Manners, first Earl of, 150 + + Ryans, the, of Idrone in Carlow, 340 + + -- the, of Tipperary; + _see_ O'Mulrian. + + + Sadleir, Sir Ralph, 253 + + St. John, Elizabeth, wife of the eighth Earl of Kildare, 115 + + St. Lawrence, Thomas, a Judge of the King's Bench, 231; + _see_ Howth. + + St. Leger, Sir Anthony, of Ulcombe, Lord Deputy (1540-1547, + 1550-1551, and 1553-1556); Royal Commissioner in Ireland, 208; + detained by weather at Holyhead, 210, 212; + correctly appreciates the Irish question, 213; + arrives in Ireland, 232; + labours of his Commission, 232-3; + his opinion of Cromwell, 234; + Viceroy, 249; + Revenue Commissioners associated with him, 250; + determines to begin with Leinster, 250; + proposes to ennoble O'Connor, 251; + befriends O'Toole, 252, 253; + his caution, 254; + Desmond submits to him, 255, 256; + goes to Munster, 257; + holds a Parliament, 258; + makes Henry VIII. King of Ireland, 259; + meets O'Donnell at Cavan, 262; + chastises the O'Neills, 263; + invents winter campaigns, 264; + his success as a governor, 265; + treats the Irish mildly, 266; + regulates the Desmond country, 267; + Munster chiefs flock to him at Cork, 268; + procures the submission of O'Neill, 269; + his successes in Ulster, 273; + sick of Ireland, 275; + in England, 276; + returns to Ireland, 278; + his negotiations with Scotch malcontents, 280; + raises Irish troops for foreign service, 281; + on bad terms with Ormonde, 282-286; + in England, 283; + restored to his Irish government, 285, 286; + recommends Dowdall for the primacy, 307; + profits by the dissolution of the monasteries, 320; + his dealings with the Irish, 326; + recalled, 327; + a conciliatory man, 336, 340; + considered inventor of the cess, 344; + reappointed Deputy, 348; + adopts a conciliatory policy, 349; + finds the garrisons utterly demoralised, 350; + cannot get the necessary funds, 351; + welcomed by Tyrone, 353; + has the communion service translated into Latin, 354; + his conference with Dowdall, 355; + is compared by Browne to Gallio, 356; + has ideas of toleration, 357; + repudiates the name of Papist, 358; + recalled, 359, 365; + his mining projects, 372; + O'Donnell quiet in his time, 373; + reappointed Deputy, 378; + lands, 385; + conforms to Mary's religious plans, 386; + hated chiefly for his good deeds, 396; + superseded, 397; + Sussex is jealous of his influence, 408 + + St. Leger, Sir James, 126 + + St. Leger, Robert, 255 + + Saintloo, Sir John, Marshal of the Army (1535), 170, 178, 189, 193 + + -- Captain William, seneschal of Wexford, 199, 201, 203, 206, 221, + 231, 232, 235 + + Salisbury, John of, 37 + + -- Robert of, 54 + + -- Captain John, 169-171, 178 + + Sall, Dr., 320 + + Salmeron, Alphonso, 308-310 + + Sanda Island, 282 + + Sandal Hill, 91 + + Sandell, in Scotland, 410 + + Sanders, Matthew, Bishop of Leighlin, 1527-1549, 305, 306 + + Sandford, John, Archbishop of Dublin and Viceroy in 1290, 95 + + Sarpi, Fra Paolo, 394 + + Savages, a family settled in Ards, Co. Down, 77, 129, 199, 232, 263 + + Scandinavians, 15 + + Scattery Island, 23, 27 + + Scotland, Scots, Scotch, 64, 66, 199, 230, 232, 237, 239, 241, 247, + 271-274, 282, 309, 310, 333, 341, 345, 347, 352, 360-362, 364, + 365, 376, 377, 385, 395, 398, 408, 410; + _see_ MacDonnell. + + Sebastian, St., 184, 188 + + Senanus, St., 23, 27 + + Seymour, Queen Jane, 196 + + -- Thomas Lord, Lord Admiral, 331, 337 + + Seymours, the, 286; + _see_ Somerset. + + Sexton, Edmund, 228, 320 + + Shakespeare, 89, 217, 387 + + Shannon River, 47, 124, 182, 200, 203, 228, 256, 265, 334, 402 + + Shaxton, Nicholas, Bishop of Salisbury, 322 + + Shee, Robert, 389 + + Sheehy, Clan, 140 + + Shetland, 32 + + Sidney, Sir Henry, several times Lord Deputy, 88, 122, 243, 286, + 315, 397; + his first service in Ulster, 398, 403; + Lord Justice, 405-407; + sides with Sussex against Dowdall, 408 + + Sigurd, Earl of Orkney, 26, 28 + + Simnel, Lambert, 90, 103, 108 + + Sitric, 19, 24, 32, 33 + + Skeffington, Sir William, called 'The Gunner'; Viceroy, 153, 154, + 155; + recalled, 156, 158; + hostile to Kildare, 160, 161, 162, 163; + Viceroy, 165; + arrives in Ireland, 169, 170; + his inactivity, 171; + takes Maynooth, 173-175; + relapses into inactivity, 176-177; + thanked by Henry VIII., 178-179; + takes Dungarvan, 189; + his jealousy of Lord Butler, 190, 191; + cannot agree with Lord Leonard Grey, 193-194; + death and character, 194; + his widow, 195-196, 200, 247 + + Slane, 114, 115 + + -- Christopher Fleming, Baron of, Lord Treasurer, 152 + + -- Flemings, Barons of, 54, 76, 107, 163, 276 + + -- James Fleming, Baron of, 240 + + Slievebloom, 334 + + Slieve Margy, 341 + + -- Phelim, 265 + + Sligo, 24, 127, 218, 263 + + Smith, a pirate, 330 + + Smithfield, 316 + + Solloghead, 22 + + Somerset, Edward, Duke of, Protector, 270, 281, 286, 327, 337 + + Somersetshire, 290 + + Sorley Boy; + _see_ MacDonnell. + + Spain, 175, 289, 357 + + Spaniards, 187, 273 + + Spires, 306 + + Stanihurst, Richard, the Chronicler, 103, 175, 240 + + Stanley, Sir George, 397 + + Staples, Edward, Bishop of Meath (1530-1554), 153, 259, 303, 311, + 322-324, 341, 350, 365, 366, 384, 391, 392 + + Staunton, name of, 71 + + -- John, 114 + + -- Richard, 168 + + Stephen, King, 37 + + -- castellan of Abertivy, 41 + + Stephenson, a pirate, 330 + + Stile, Sir John, 194 + + Stirling, 280 + + Stoke-on-Trent, 105 + + Stradbally, 399 + + Strafford, Earl of, 286 + + Strangford Lough, 127, 365 + + Strangwych, a pirate, 330 + + Strongbow, 41 _sqq._, 51, 61, 63, 64 + + Stuart, Queen Mary, 271 + + Stuarts, the, 70 + + Suck River, 228 + + Suffolk, 202 + + Suir River, 44, 47, 130, 182 + + Sullivan, Dr. W. K., notes to Chapter I. + + Sumercote, Laurence, 62 + + Surrey, Thomas Howard, Earl of, afterwards Duke of Norfolk, Viceroy, + 128; + lands at Dublin, 131; + wars with the Irish, 132; + O'Donnell visits him in Dublin, 132; + more wars, 133; + his difficulties, 135; + his activity, 136; + his Parliament, 137; + recalled, 138; + character, 139; + his opinion as to Butlers and Geraldines, 152; + his tenants in Carlow, 158; + recommended for the Viceroyalty, 160; + his advice, 179; + affected by the Act of Absentees, 198; + befriends the O'Tooles, 252; + recommends a scholar for a bishopric, 288 + + -- Henry Howard, Earl of, 216 + + Sussex, Thomas Radclyffe, Earl of, Viceroy; + _see_ Fitzwalter. + Lord Deputy, 396; + installed with the old religious ceremonies, 397; + goes into Ulster, 397; + his failure, 398; + his attempts to settle the King's and Queen's Counties, 399; + imperfect success, 400; + holds a Parliament in 1557 which restores the old Church, 401; + makes an abortive journey into Connaught, 402; + and another into Ulster, 403; + harries the central plain, 403; + takes a holiday, 405; + returns to Ireland, 408; + is jealous of St. Leger, 408; + makes a progress in Munster, 408-409; + and in Connaught, 410; + undertakes an invasion of the Hebrides, 410; + but returns without effecting anything, 411; + his activity, 412; + leaves Ireland at Mary's death, 412 + + Swaffham, John de, Bishop of Cloyne (1363-1376), 81 + + Swart, Martin, 104, 105 + + Swedes, 31 + + Swift, Jonathan, 31 + + Swilly, Lough, 398 + + Swords, 12 + + + Talbot, George, 198 + + -- Richard, Archbishop of Dublin (1417-1449), 316 + + -- Robert, 142 + + -- Sir John, 88, 89 + + -- Thomas, 240 + + Tallaght, 123, 129 + + Tanderagee, 398 + + Tara, 1, 21, 114, 238, 239 + + Tassagard, 123 + + Tatenhall, John of, Bishop of Ossory in 1376, 81 + + Teeling, John, 165, 166, 172 + + Templars, 65, 99, 315 + + Tenby, 183 + + Teviotdale, 281 + + Thady Roe, 335 + + Thames River, 173 + + Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, 36 + + Thierri, 6 + + Thirlby, Thomas, Bishop of Norwich, 395 + + Thomas, son of Henry IV., viceroy, 87 + + -- St., of Dublin (Thomascourt), 317 + + -- St., of Acon, 198 + + Thomastown, 59, 167, 388 + + Thomond, or Clare, 63, 65, 124, 172, 175, 203, 204, 218, 219, 227, + 261, 271 + + -- Murrough O'Brien, first Earl of, son of Tirlogh Don, 227, + 256-258, 270, 271, 338, 345, 346, 349, 353 + + -- Donough O'Brien, second Earl of, son of Connor, 173, 191, 192, + 200, 201, 204, 227, 228, 256, 258, 270, 271, 393 + + -- Connor O'Brien, third Earl of, son of Donogh, 393, 402, 409, 410 + + Thorstein, 28 + + Thurles, 50, 59, 242 + + Tibraghny, 47 + + Tichfield Abbey, 294 + + Timahoe, 54 + + Tinnahinch, 213 + + Tintern Abbey, 296, 315, 317 + + Tipperary Castle, 22 + + -- County, 144, 146, 150, 165, 167, 182, 186, 201, 218, 221, 224, + 227, 236, 261, 265, 266, 278, 297, 305 + + Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, 92 + + Tirlogh, King of Ireland, 33 + + Tirrey, Dominick, Bishop of Cork and Cloyne (1536-1556), 306 + + Toem, 321 + + Toledo, 184 + + Tomson, a pirate, 329, 330 + + Tory Island, 12 + + Tosti, 35 + + Tournon, Cardinal, 310 + + Townsend, Lord, 286 + + Towton, battle of, 91 + + Tralee, 300 + + Travers, Sir John, first Master of the Ordnance (1539-1558), + 242-244, 255, 266, 268, 273, 332 + + -- Robert, Bishop of Leighlin (1550-1555), 359 + + -- Doctor John, 173 + + Treherne, Philip, 316 + + Trent, Council of, 307 + + Trim, 50, 108, 171, 176, 304, 305, 348 + + Trimleston, Barnewalls, Barons of, 76 + + Tuam, see of, 81, 292; + for Archbishops, _see_ O'Fihely, O'Duffy, O'Mullally, Bodkin. + + Tudor, Rice ap, 41 + + Tuke, Sir Brian, 194 + + Tullahogue, 141 + + Tullow, 156, 167, 210, 225 + + Tunstal, Cuthbert, Bishop of Durham, 306 + + Turgeis, or Turgesius, 17, 18, 36 + + Turkey, 297 + + Turks and French compared, 347 + + Turner, Richard, 369 + + Tynemoor, battle, 19 + + Tyrconnel, or Donegal, 12, 136, 218, 220, 239, 263, 347 + + Tyrone (sometimes held to include part of Armagh), 62, 119, 154, + 176, 263 + + -- Con Bacagh O'Neill, first Earl of, 268-270, 274, 307, 340, 345, + 353, 362, 363, 373, 374, 376, 379, 386, 395; + _see_ under Con Bacagh O'Neill. + + Tyrry, Edmund, 332 + + + Ufford, Robert de, Viceroy in 1276, 64 + + -- Ralph de, Viceroy in 1344, 78 + + Uladh (ancient name for Antrim and Down), 53 + + Ulcombe, 208 + + Ulster, Earldom and Earls of, 61, 62, 64, 66, 71, 76, 78, 81, 83, + 86, 135, 271 + + -- princes of, 269; + _see_ O'Neill. + + Upper Ossory, Barnaby Fitzpatrick first Baron of, 257, 258, 275, + 279, 283 + + -- -- Sir Barnaby Fitzpatrick, second Baron of, son of the above, + 326, 383, 393, 409 + + + Valenciennes, 219 + + Valladolid, 184 + + Valley, Knight of the, 76 + + Verdon, de, 66 + + Vere, de, 85 + + Verona, 219 + + Vesci, de, 72 + + + Wafer, Nicholas, 165, 166, 172 + + Wales and the Welsh, 10, 27, 57, 283, 352 + + Wallop, Sir John, 219 + + Walsh, or Walshe, Henry, 321 + + -- -- Patrick, Bishop of Waterford (1551-1578), 388 + + -- Robert, 175, 218-220 + + -- -- Thomas, Baron of the Exchequer in England, 250 + + -- -- William, Papal Bishop of Meath (1554-1557), 391, 392 + + -- -- William, 317 + + Walters, John, 110, 118 + + Warbeck, Perkin, 90, 109-118 + + Ward, Hill of, 49 + + Warwick, Edward, Earl of (Clarence's son), 103 + + -- Dudley, Earl of; + _see_ Northumberland. + + Waterford, 19, 21; + its position in Danish times, 29-30; + taken by the Normans, 44, 47, 74; + its private wars, 87-88, 104; + its siege by Warbeck, 113, 116, 119, 170, 187, 235, 236, 291, 297, + 321, 329, 330, 351, 371, 378, 380, 412 + + -- County, 47, 60, 81, 144, 236, 237, 412 + + Wauchop, Papal Archbishop of Armagh (1543-1541), 306, 307, 347 + + Welch, Nicholas, 278 + + Wellesley, or Wesley, name of, 71 + + -- Walter, Bishop of Kildare (1529), 15, 288 + + Wentworth, Lord, 368 + + Wessex, 32 + + Westmeath, 49, 66, 173, 206, 213, 334, 374 + + -- Nugents, Earls of, 54 + + Weston, Sir William, 316 + + Wexford, 42, 43, 46, 49, 235, 237 + + Wexford, County and Liberty, 63, 88, 65, 95, 97, 198, 206, 231, 236, + 298, 328, 342, 372 + + Whitby, synod of, 15 + + White, John, 166, 168 + + -- another John, 364, 376 + + -- Knights (Fitzgerald), 76, 190, 236 + + Wicklow, 130, 397 + + Wilfred, St., of York, 15 + + William the Conqueror, 37 + + -- III., 85 + + Wilson, Richard, Bishop of Meath (1523-1529), 29 + + Wiltshire, Earl of, Butler, 89 + + -- Earl of, Boleyn, 149 + + Winchester, 35 + + -- William Paulet, Marquis of, 208 + + Windsor, 54, 83 + + -- Gerald de, 41 + + Wogan, Sir John, several times Chief Governor under Edward I. and + Edward II., 64, 95, 96 + + Wolsey, Cardinal, 126, 142, 145, 148-150, 152, 153, 158, 184, 187, + 188, 194, 209, 289, 290, 293 + + Wolstan's, St., Monastery, 313 + + Woodstock, 200 + + Woodward, George, 200 + + Worcester, Tiptoft, Earl of, 92 + + Worms, 306 + + Wriothesley, Thomas, created Earl of Southampton, 286 + + Wyatt, Sir Thomas, 389-391 + + Wyse, Andrew, Vice-Treasurer (1550-1553), 396 + + + Youghal, 66, 74, 181, 183, 190, 192, 241, 248, 300, 330 + + York, Richard, Duke of, 90, 335 + + Yorkists, in Ireland, 90 _sqq._ + + + Zapata, Francesco, 308-310 + + Zouche, Elizabeth, married to the ninth Earl of Kildare, 120, 128 + + +END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. + + PRINTED BY + SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE + LONDON + + + +TRANSCRIBERS' NOTES + +Page iii: Two volumes as in original; number of volumes may have been + revised after original publication + +Page xxii: Errata have been applied to the text and index + +Page 10: Hyphenation of re-conquered standardised to reconquered + +Page 13: Text has Oronsay, index has Oransay, as in original text + +Page 20: Inconsistent hyphenation of earth-works as in the original. + Left as in the original as part of a quotation + +Page 23: Text has Glenmama, index has Glennama, as in original text + +Page 26: Machnordha's corrected to Maelmordha's + +Page 31: Text has Donnchadh, index has Donncadh, as in original text + +Page 34: Text has St. Albans, index has St. Alban's, as in original text + +Pages 34, 416, 422: Inconsistent hyphenation of Ath-Cliath/Ath Cliath as + in original index + +Page 44: siezed corrected to seized + +Page 48: Hyphenation of handmills standardised to hand-mills + +Page 59: Text has Long-sword, index has Longsword as in original text + +Page 73: Text has Irish town, index has Irishtown, as in original text + +Pages 89, 118: Hyphenation of cross-bows standardised to crossbows + +Page 90: Hyphenation of re-conquest standardised to reconquest + +Page 114: Text has Paynteneye, index has Payntenye, as in original text + +Page 140: Text has Clan-Donnell, index has Clandonnell, as in original + text + +Page 144: Text has Darcys, index has Darcies, as in original text + +Page 148: he corrected to be in "than could be bought" + +Page 188: Text has Ballinskellig, index has Ballinskelligs, as in + original text + +Page 190: gallowglasess corrected to gallowglasses + +Page 210: Duplicate in removed from sidenote "The Commissioners arrive + in in Ireland ..." + +Page 212: gallies corrected to galleys + +Page 218: Text has M'Cragh, index has MacCragh, as in original text + +Page 218: Text has Allen Governor, index has Alan Governor, as in + original text + +Page 224: Text has Ballynacloch, index has Ballinaclogh, as in original + text + +Pages 237, 247: Text has Carrick Bradagh, index has Carrickbradagh, as + in original text + +Pages 250, 255: Hyphenation of vice-regal standardised to viceregal + +Page 257: viscounty as in the original + +Page 267: Hyphenation of good-will standardised to goodwill + +Page 268 [Footnote]: signataries corrected to signatories + +Page 271: Text has Bissets/Missets, index has Bissett/Missett, as in + original + +Page 286: collison as in the original. "collision" may be intended + +Page 290 [Footnote]: Speakers as in the original. Other copies of this + work have Watkin's speech ending at "... own person visit?" and + Jeffrey responding from "No, another for him doth it ..." onwards. + +Page 292: Text has O'Fiehely, index has O'Fihely, as in original text + +Page 333: Bnt corrected to But + +Page 341: Text has Slievemargy, index has Slieve Margy, as in original + text + +Page 351 [Sidenote]: Appehensions corrected to Apprehensions + +Page 365: Dowdale corrected to Dowdall after "fittest intermediary." + +Page 373: Hyphenation of sea-ports standardised to seaports + +Page 392: Text has Leath-Mhogha, index has Leath Mhoga, as in original + text + +Page 408: Text has Radecliffe, index has Radclyffe, as in original text + +Page 421: Reference for Daniel, Terence, Dean of Armagh corrected from + page 361 to 364 + +Page 422: In entry for Dublin, Archbishops of, Leck corrected to Lech as + elsewhere in index and text + +Page 439: Tony Island corrected to Tory Island + +Various: Variable spelling of recognisance/recognizance as in the + original text + +Various: Text has MacQuillin, index has Macquillin, as in original text + +Various: Erratic capitalisation and hyphenation of Fitz names as in the + original + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ireland under the Tudors, Volume I (of +II), by Richard Bagwell + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42046 *** |