CHICHESTER'S GOVERNMENT TO 1613
[Sidenote: Optimism of Sir John Davies.]
[Sidenote: Establishment of circuits]
In the course of a very thorough investigation Carew found that
while much had been done by the settlers, much still remained to do.
There were indeed many surveys and inquiries yet to come, before the
outbreaks which he foresaw. He knew Ireland thoroughly, and was not
to be deceived by false appearances of quiet and contentment. Davies,
whose acquaintance with the island was of much later date, remained
optimistic. 'When this plantation,' he wrote in 1613, 'hath taken root,
and been fixed and settled but a few years ... it will secure the peace
of Ireland, assure it to the Crown of England for ever; and finally
make it a civil, and a rich, a mighty, and a flourishing kingdom.'
He had been one of the first commissioners of assize who ever sat in
Tyrone and Tyrconnel, and the justice which he administered, 'though
it was somewhat distasteful to the Irish lords, was sweet and most
welcome to the common people.' Davies has left a pretty full account of
some of his various circuits. He visited every part of Ireland, and as
his power of observation and description were unusually great it may
be as well to follow him in his journeys. General peace having been
made possible, first by arms and afterwards by an Act of Oblivion, it
was from the establishment of justice that the greatest good was to be
expected, and it was necessary to make it visible by regular assizes
held in every county. 'These progresses of the law,' Davies wrote,
'renew and confirm the conquest of Ireland every half year, and supply
the defect of the King's absence in every part of the Realm; in that
every judge sitting in the seat of justice, doth represent the person
of the King himself.'[82]
[Sidenote: Leinster Assizes, 1604.]
[Sidenote: King's and Queen's Counties.]
[Sidenote: Carlow and Wexford.]
[Sidenote: Churches in ruins.]
[Sidenote: Poverty of priests and people.]
Davies's first assize appears to have been in Leinster in the spring of
1604. The country was on the whole quiet, and the gaols only half full
of petty thieves. As for the King's and Queen's counties, the O'Mores
and O'Connors had been nearly rooted out by the war: 'the English
families there begin to govern the country, and such of the Irishry
as remain, such as M'Coghlan, O'Molloy, O'Doyn, O'Dempsey, they seem
to conform themselves to a civil life, and gave their attendance very
dutifully.' Carlow and Wexford, however, were infested by a band of 100
kerne, Donnel Spaniagh Kavanagh and the sons of Feagh MacHugh O'Byrne
being at the bottom of the mischief. Pardons had always been granted
so easily that the outlaws had little to fear. At Carlow it appeared
that there had lately been a conference between Tyrone, Mountgarret,
Phelim and Redmond MacFeagh O'Byrne and Donnel Spaniagh. There was much
drinking and swords were drawn. Davies did not know the object of the
meeting, but dared affirm that it was not that religion and peace might
be established in this kingdom.' As for religion, indeed, there would
be good hope of filling the churches if they were first repaired. In
fact he found them everywhere in ruins, and the State clergy were lazy
and ignorant, which did more harm than could be done by the diligence
of priests and Jesuits whose object was political and not religious,
but only 'to serve the turn of Tyrone and the King of Spain. They would
be glad to be banished by proclamation, for they that go up and down
the Cross of Tipperary get nothing but bacon and oatmeal, the people
are so poor.'[83]
[Sidenote: Justice in Connaught.]
[Sidenote: In Ulster.]
[Sidenote: In Munster.]
[Sidenote: Assizes at Waterford]
[Sidenote: At Cork, 1606].
Later in the year Davies was with Lord Clanricarde at Athlone, where
he held his presidential court. Clanricarde, though he had but a weak
council, not only did his business very well, but kept house in a very
honourable fashion. It had been reported on both sides of the Channel
that Lady Clanricarde, the daughter of Walsingham, the widow of
Sidney and Essex, was not satisfied with her position, but he found
her 'very well contented and every way as well served as ever he saw
her in England.' Davies was in London during part of the following
year. He was on circuit as commissioner of assize in Ulster before
leaving Ireland, and in the spring of 1606 after his appointment
as Attorney-General he was associated with Chief Justice Walshe as
circuit-judge in Munster. The arrangement was contrary to modern ideas,
but no doubt it was convenient to have a judge who could draw bills of
indictment himself and afterwards pronounce upon their validity. He
rightly thought Munster the finest province of the four, but it had one
thing in common with Ulster, and that was the readiness of the people
to accept the services of the judges. The poor northern people were
glad to escape from the lewd Brehons who knew no other law but the
will of the chief lords, and the Munster men, though not dissatisfied
with the President, felt that the local justices might have interested
motives, and were 'glad to see strangers joined with them, and seemed
to like the aspect of us that were planets, as well as that of their
own fixed stars.' At Waterford, where they held their first sittings,
the judges found very few prisoners that were not 'bastard imps of
the Powers and Geraldines of the Decies.' They always had cousins on
the jury, and no convictions could be had unless the evidence was
absolutely clear, when threats of the Star Chamber generally produced
a verdict. The 'promiscuous generation of bastards' he believed
due to slack government both civil and ecclesiastical. They were
considered just as good as the lawful children, and commonly shared
the inheritance as well as the name. 'I may truly affirm,' he said,
'that there are more able men of the surname of the Bourkes than of any
name whatsoever in Europe.' And so it was with all the great families,
whether Anglo-Norman or Celtic. To scatter and break up these clannish
combinations appeared to Davies an excellent policy. The judges slept
at Dungarvan and Youghal, where they saw the chief people, dined with
Lord Barrymore on their way to Cork, and found the gaols there pretty
full. They lectured the chief gentry upon their addiction to 'coshery
and other Irish occupations,' in spite of the King's proclamation.[84]
[Sidenote: Assizes for Limerick]
[Sidenote: and Clare.]
At Mallow Davies stayed at Lady Norris's house 'by a fair river in a
fruitful soil, but yet much unrepaired and bearing many marks of the
late rebellion.' From Mallow the judges went by Kilmallock through 'a
sweet and fertile country to Limerick, where the walls, buildings,
and anchorage were all that could be wished; yet such is the sloth
of the inhabitants that all these fair structures have nothing but
sluttishness and poverty within.' They held first the assizes for
Clare, of which Lord Thomond was governor. He and Lord Bourke had
provided a large house on the right bank of the Shannon, so that
Limerick served as quarters for both counties. In Clare, said Davies,
'when I beheld the appearance and fashion of the people I would I had
been in Ulster again, for these are as much mere Irish as they, and in
their outward form not much unlike them,' but speaking good English
and understanding the proceedings well enough. He found the principal
gentry civilised, but the common people behind those of Munster, though
much might be hoped from Lord Thomond's example. Having delivered the
gaols, the judges considered how they might cut off Maurice McGibbon
Duff and Redmond Purcell, 'notorious thieves, or, as they term them,
rebels,' who were allied to and protected by the White Knight and by
Purcell of Loughmoe in Tipperary. Purcell was enticed into a private
house and given up to the Lord President, who promptly hanged him, as
well as 'many fat ones' who sheltered Maurice McGibbon, but the latter
seems to have escaped for the time, though snares were laid for him on
all sides.[85]
[Sidenote: Assizes at Clonmel.]
From Limerick by Cashel, 'over the most rich and delightful valley,'
the judges came to Clonmel, the capital of Ormonde's palatinate, and
'more haunted with Jesuits and priests' than any place in Munster.
There was evidence to show that some of them were privy to the
Gunpowder Plot, and yet all the principal inhabitants refused any
indulgence founded upon a promise to exclude them from their houses.
A true bill for recusancy was found with some difficulty against 200
of the townsmen, and the chief of them were handed over to the Lord
President 'to be censured with good round fines and imprisonment.' From
Clonmel Davies went to rest on Easter Sunday at Ormonde's house at
Carrick-on-Suir. The old chief, who was blind and ill, insisted on his
staying over St. George's day, 'when he was not able to sit up, but had
his robes laid upon his bed, as the manner is.'[86]
[Sidenote: Grand jury and petty juries at Monaghan]
[Sidenote: How the gentry lived.]
[Sidenote: Assizes for Fermanagh,]
[Sidenote: and Cavan, 1606.]
On July 21 Chichester, accompanied by the Lord Chancellor and the
Chief Justice, and by Davies, who was again joined in commission with
the judges, left Drogheda for Monaghan. Fifty or sixty horse and as
many foot soldiers were now considered escort enough where a thousand
were formerly necessary. At Monaghan, which was only a collection of
cabins, the grand jury found true bills without any difficulty, but
when it came to the trial of prisoners the petty juries 'did acquit
them as fast and found them not guilty, but whether it was done for
favour or for fear it is hard to judge.' The whole county was inhabited
by three or four clans, and every man was tried by his relations, who
were naturally very unwilling to serve as jurors. If they convicted
any one they were in danger of being killed or robbed, and of having
their houses burned. The only plan suggesting itself to the judges was
to fine and imprison those who had given verdicts manifestly against
the evidence, and two notorious thieves were then found guilty and
executed. The principal gentlemen of the district lived upon beef
stolen out of the Pale, 'for which purpose every one of them keepeth
a cunning thief, which he calleth his Cater.' Two of these gentlemen
were indicted as receivers, but were pardoned after confession upon
their knees, 'so that I believe stolen flesh will not be so sweet unto
them hereafter.' In Fermanagh, being further from the Pale, this system
of purveyance was not so perfectly established, but there was no lack
of malefactors. The assizes were held at Devenish near Enniskillen,
but all prisoners were acquitted, owing to the careless way in which
the evidence had been prepared by the sheriff and the local justices.
At Cavan better order was kept, and several civil suits were decided,
and the circuit through the three counties was completed in a month.
While the Chief Justice and the Attorney-General were delivering the
gaols and hearing causes, the Lord Deputy and the Lord Chancellor were
occupied with inquiries into the tenure of land. The inhabitants were
invited to say what lands they actually possessed, and to set forth all
their titles. The evidence thus collected was carried back to Dublin,
where it could be sifted and compared with the records.[87]
[Sidenote: The Act of Supremacy at Waterford, 1606,]
[Sidenote: at New Ross,]
[Sidenote: at Wexford,]
[Sidenote: and at Wicklow.]
[Sidenote: Rival hierarchies.]
In September, 1606, Davies accompanied the Chief Justice to Waterford,
where the chief business was to impose fines for recusancy. Aldermen
were prosecuted in the presidency court, the total sum exacted being
less than 400_l._ Others were indicted under the statute of Elizabeth
to recover the penalty of one shilling for absence from Church, and
about 240_l._ was raised in this way. A special jury was empanelled
and a sort of commission to inquire into the ecclesiastical state of
the county, and the judges then proceeded to New Ross, where they
found that occasional conformity was practised, and that there was
sometimes riotous brawling to 'disturb the poor minister from making
a sermon which he had prepared for his small auditory,' and even in
celebrating the Sacrament. The sovereign of the town was foremost on
these occasions. The leaders were cited before the Star Chamber, and
the common people were prosecuted for the shilling fine. At Wexford
there were many prisoners, and one was condemned and executed for
burning down the Protestant vicar's house. There were 300 civil bills,
and even Donell Spaniagh showed an inclination to substitute litigation
for cattle-stealing. At Wicklow assizes were held for the newly made
shire, and two 'notable thieves in the nature of rebels' were hanged.
Here, as at Wexford, there seemed a general inclination to accept the
new system, and Feagh McHugh's son was as litigious as Donell Spaniagh.
Here, as at Waterford, an inquisition was ordered into the state of
the church, but Davies could not see how fitting incumbents were to be
provided. The bishoprics were 'supplied double,' one by the King and
one by the Pope, but the result was not to advance religion.[88]
[Sidenote: Compulsory church-going, 1607.]
In the following summer Davies made a circuit in Meath, Westmeath,
Longford, King's County and Queen's County. The country was peaceful
and the relentless enforcement of the shilling fine for every Sunday's
and holiday's absence from service had the effect of filling the town
churches, but this reformation was 'principally effected by the civil
magistrate,' for ruined churches and absentee incumbents were general
throughout the country. The flight of Tyrone and Tyrconnel soon after
made no difference at all in the state of the country generally, and
the courts in Dublin were crowded with suitors from all parts of the
kingdom.[89]
[Sidenote: The Act of Uniformity in Ulster, 1611.]
[Sidenote: Andrew Knox.]
[Sidenote: The rival churches in Dublin.]
One of the most active promoters of uniformity was Andrew Knox, Bishop
of the Isles, who was appointed to Raphoe in the summer of 1610, but
without resigning the first see. After visiting his new diocese, he
went to Court and gave such an account of Ulster as to bring on one
of the King's hot fits in the matter of enforced conformity. In his
old age Knox learned that Protestants in Ireland could not afford
to be divided, and was ready to stretch a point so as to include
his Presbyterian fellow-countrymen in the ministry. But in his more
pugnacious days he was intent on the impossible task of driving the
Roman Catholic population to conform. The result of his representations
was an order from James himself directing that the Ulster bishops
should meet for the purpose of suppressing Papistry and enforcing
uniformity. Each prelate was to visit every parish in his diocese
annually, to administer the oath of allegiance to all persons of note,
whether spiritual or temporal, to have Jesuits, seminary priests,
and friars arrested and brought to the Lord Deputy, and to let no
ecclesiastic of foreign ordination enjoy benefice or cure unless he
would use the book of Common Prayer. The bishops were to be active
in teaching and catechising for the purpose of reclaiming recusants,
to repair ruined churches, and to appoint fit pastors, 'or at least
for the present such as can read the service of the Church of England
to the common people in the language which they understand'--that
is to say, for the most part in Irish. The exact method was left to
Chichester's discretion, and only four days after the date of James's
letter the Council informed the Lord Deputy that his Majesty had
considered how the people were blinded by the Jesuits, and that he
might introduce reforms gradually. The latter letter reached Chichester
long before the other, but a meeting of bishops not confined to
those of the northern province was held in Dublin in June, and while
waiting for the arrival of his brethren Knox preached in the Dublin
churches. He found that congregations of several hundreds had been
reduced to half a dozen, that the clergy of the Establishment, with
few exceptions, were careless and inefficient, and that the Papal
clergy were active and well supported. The cargoes of ships unloading
in Dublin harbour seemed to consist principally of 'books, clothes,
crosses, and ceremonies.' And still he had good hopes of banishing all
these things out of Ulster. Chichester, who was better informed and
therefore less sanguine, reported that he had carried out the King's
orders as far as possible, and he republished the proclamation of June
1605. The oath of allegiance he had no legal power to administer. The
only practical result of it all was the execution of Bishop O'Devany
and some other priests, which certainly did not help the cause of the
Reformation.[90]
[Sidenote: Chichester deports Irishmen to Sweden, 1609-1613.]
[Sidenote: The Swedish service unpopular.]
[Sidenote: Others are sent to Poland.]
When giving an account of his stewardship in 1614, Chichester took
credit for having sent 6,000 disaffected Irishmen to the wars in
Sweden. In the main these were the Ulster swordsmen, for whom it
was found impossible to find room in Ireland, but some masterless
Englishmen and not a few town idlers were included contrary to the
Lord Deputy's orders, and privates sought the ranks as an alternative
for the gallows. The majority were partly coaxed into going and partly
pressed, nor was the transfer effected without disorder. In the autumn
of 1609 three ships left Lough Foyle with 800 men, and another was
ready with a full cargo at Carlingford, but the Irish mutinied at the
instigation of Hugh Boy O'Neill, ran the vessel on a bank, smashed
the compasses, and would have done more mischief if troops had not
been soon at hand. Three or four mutineers were ordered for 'exemplary
punishment,' and were probably hanged, but Hugh Boy escaped and is no
more heard of. The ship was got off, but was still unlucky, losing all
her rigging in a storm and being with difficulty towed off the coast of
Man into a Scotch harbour. There another craft was hired and the voyage
continued, but it is not likely that all the men got to Sweden, for the
captain in charge wrote from Newcastle to describe their misdoings.
Chichester, however, was able to report that before the end of 1609
900 of those who troubled the quiet of Ulster had been got rid of. For
example's sake he had begun with his own territory of Inishowen, and
sent away thirty tall fellows who had been in O'Dogherty's rebellion.
Many hundreds were also sent from Leinster who were either loafers in
the Pale or belonging to the Kavanaghs, O'Byrnes and O'Tooles, 'and
to speak generally they were all but an unprofitable burden of the
earth, cruel, wild, malefactors.' Among the penniless young men of
good Irish family who knew no trade but fighting some were willing
enough to serve Sweden as they or their fathers had served Queen
Elizabeth. Some had acquired a taste for camp life in Flanders, and
others volunteered with a wild idea of joining Tyrone on the Continent,
or because their position at home was desperate. Such men had their
personal followers, but there seems little doubt that the rank and
file were for the most part pressed. The Swedish service had not a good
name, perhaps because the discipline was too severe, and the priests
from abroad, 'all lusty able young men, always well armed,' did what
they could to make it unpopular. Some said that it was intended to
throw all the Irish swordsmen overboard; others with better reason
maintained that it was 'altogether unlawful to go to such a war, where
they should fight for a heretic and an usurper agains a Catholic and
a rightful King.' The description might apply to Charles of Sweden
first and later to the Elector Palatine. Chichester persevered, but
assuming that he actually sent off 6,000 there were still plenty left
in Ireland. Sir Robert Jacob, the Solicitor-General, said there were
2,000 idle men who had no means 'but to feed upon the gentlemen of the
country ... he is accounted the bravest man that comes attended with
most of those followers.' There were 4,000 of the same sort still in
Ulster, 3,000 in Leinster, and as many in Munster. In 1619, St. John
thought 10,000 might well be spared to any foreign prince. There are no
better soldiers than disciplined Irishmen, but there seem to have been
difficulties in Sweden with these wild men, for Gustavus Adolphus, the
year before his death, declined the services of an Irish regiment as
not being trustworthy. Irish friars dressed like soldiers were often
busy in persuading their comrades to desert Sweden or Denmark and join
the Spanish forces in the Netherlands. The King of Poland was, however,
allowed a little later to raise men in Ireland. The religious question
did not arise in this case, yet the Lord Deputy was ordered to watch
the recruits lest they should run away, 'as it has been ofttimes in
such case,' as soon as they had received their first pay. When the
Spanish match was broken off it was thought that the Poles would exert
themselves to prevent the northern powers from interfering in case the
Spaniards and their allies were to invade King James's dominions.[91]
[Sidenote: Prevalence of piracy.]
The preamble of the Act of 1614, against piracy, sets forth that
'traitors, pirates, thieves, robbers, murderers, and confederators
at sea' often escaped punishment through defects in the law, and
alterations were made which may have abated the evil but without curing
it. The weak and corrupt administration of the navy, which was long
sheltered by Nottingham's great name, had made the sea unsafe, and the
harbours of Munster lay open to the rovers. Before the end of 1605 a
pirate named Connello was imprisoned in England for robbing some Exeter
merchants, but was saved by the intercession of the Howard faction,
some of whom were very probably paid. Those who had been active in
apprehending him were threatened with vengeance, and Connello attacked
a Barnstaple vessel and carried the oil and wool which she contained
to the neighbourhood of Wexford, where he was captured. The captain,
master, and one other old offender were sent to England and there
hanged, though they hoped to escape through the same help as before;
but Devonshire, who was still Lord-Lieutenant, probably prevented this.
They could all read well, but Chichester begged that such offenders
might be deprived by law of 'the benefit of their book.'[92]
[Sidenote: Weakness of the navy.]
Chichester was willing to hang a thousand pirates if he could catch
them, but this was not at all easy. Englishmen and Flemings infested
the Spanish coast and fell back upon Ireland for provisions. In one
year they robbed more than 100 fishing boats on the Munster station,
and all trade was unsafe; but the Admiralty gave very little help.
Sometimes there was a King's ship at hand and sometimes there was
not, and the Irish Government had to do as best they could with the
help of private craft, or, Chichester wrote in the summer of 1607,
'to descend to such little acts and strategems as of late has been
done at Youghal.' There were two Bristol vessels in that harbour
together, one commanded by Captain Coward, who was supposed to be a
pirate. Captain Hampton, instigated by the acting vice-admiral, hid
eighty men under hatches, and seizing his opportunity, took possession
of Coward's and killed some of his crew. Coward's guns fell into the
hands of authority, and Chichester would have sent him over to England
for trial, but Lord Thomond 'found it more expedient to cherish him
for his better part, being a good seaman and an excellent pilot upon
this coast.' It is no wonder that the Privy Council found it hard to
understand such proceedings, and that they were at their wits' ends 'to
satisfy the ambassadors of foreign princes.' Coward naturally relapsed
into his old courses in the following year, but at last he was captured
with a scarcely less formidable comrade named Barrett, on the Connaught
coast, by fishermen under the command of a Dutch engineer in the
service of the Irish Government. These pirates appear to have been sent
to England for trial, but Chichester was now in favour of pardoning
them lest their allies should carry out their threat of burning the
Newfoundland fishing fleet. Hitherto they had attacked foreigners
chiefly, but if driven to desperation they would certainly not spare
Englishmen. Whether Coward and Barrett were hanged or not, they appear
no more in the Irish correspondence, but there were plenty of others to
do the work.[93]
[Sidenote: Land thieves and water thieves.]
[Sidenote: Settlement at Baltimore.]
Baltimore, the scene of a terrible tragedy in the next reign, was at
first thought of as a suitable haven for the pirates, but the vigilance
of Mr. Thomas Crooke made it unsafe for them. Their many allies and
abettors on land accused Crooke of complicity in their misdeeds, but
of this there was no evidence at all. Were he never so guiltless,
the Privy Council wrote, his accusers would never believe it, and he
was therefore sent to London, where he was triumphantly acquitted.
Like other energetic men who have helped to root English power in
distant lands, Crooke had no want of detractors, but Lord Danvers,
the President of Munster, was instructed to help him, and he was very
willing to do so, being determined to prevent the coast of his province
from being 'like Barbary, common and free to all pirates.' He had been
specially charged by Salisbury and other ministers to look after a
Spanish ship which had been seized by some rovers and was likely to
reach Ireland. She was in fact brought or washed into Baltimore, and
Danvers, 'knowing she was no better than Drake's monument at Deptford,'
was ready to believe that she had gold hidden among her rotten timbers,
and undertook to save her from being broken up by the pirates or their
sympathisers on land, 'who would not leave the gates of hell unripped
open in hope of gain.' As to Crooke, the Lord President enclosed a
letter from the Bishop of Cork and others which shows how precarious
the position of the best English settlers was. The bishop was William
Lyon, a man of the highest character and a shining light among Irish
Reformation prelates, who knew the district thoroughly. In two years
Crooke had 'gathered out of England a whole town of English people,
larger and more civilly and religiously ordered than any town in this
province that began so lately, which has made him to be violently
opposed and accused by divers persons who would weaken him in his good
work.' He had been constantly employed against the pirates and both
Brouncker and Danvers had acknowledged the value of his services. When
Baltimore was incorporated with a view to the Parliament of 1613,
Crooke became a burgess, and was its first representative in the House
of Commons.[94]
For long after the battle of Lepanto, the Spanish galleys had been
supreme in the western half of the Mediterranean. The Armada proved
that in a rough sea oars could do but little against sails, and in the
winter the rovers had it all their own way. In summer they sought the
Irish coast, where there were plenty of quiet harbours and of people
who were willing to receive stolen goods.
[Sidenote: The Lord President blockaded by pirates.]
[Sidenote: A penitent corsair.]
At the beginning of 1609, Lord Danvers was afraid to leave Cork harbour
without the protection of a man of war, and after that date pirates
continued to multiply. Their principal resort was Long Island Sound,
to the west of Schull in the county of Cork. It was a fine anchorage
for the largest ships then afloat, and the estuary now called Croagh
harbour was available for careening. A squadron of eleven ships with a
thousand men appeared on the coast in command of Edward Bishop, whom
the pirates had chosen admiral, and as many more were expected to
join them. Bishop was an able man, who was perhaps sorry for having
chosen such a dirty trade, and it was thought possible to reclaim and
employ him. He did not like siding with Turks against Christians in
the Mediterranean, and he hated the ruffian John Ward, who had seduced
so many English sailors from their allegiance. The Venetians hung
thirty-six men at Scio, which may have increased Bishop's dislike to
the work. When his fleet appeared off Ireland negotiations were soon
opened, and after a while he submitted, and seemed really repentant,
for he twice refused to accept the very lucrative command of all the
corsairs in the Mediterranean at the Duke of Florence's hands, saying
'I will die a poor labourer in mine own country, rather than be the
richest pirate in the world.' He did some service, but was unable to
prevail with most of his late comrades, and incurred the enmity of the
more desperate. 'Our intent,' said Peter Easton, 'when we went hence
was not to rob any man, much less our countrymen, but only to find out
and fight with the Hollander ships of war, who had of late carried
themselves so insolently to his Majesty as to come into his harbour
and seize on Bishop and his ship, being then under his Majesty's
protection.' He had some quarrels with traders who did not understand
this reasoning, and lives were lost. 'I told the merchants,' Easton
added, 'that I would surrender up their ship and goods if I might have
any pardon; but now in respect of the Duke of Florence's offer and the
greatness of this wealth, I am otherwise resolved.' A little later
Easton and his consorts had nine ships with 500 men and 250 guns. Many
of them had wives and children living in comfort at Leamcon, and the
'land pirates' thereabouts supplied the rovers with provisions. Spanish
and Moorish money was current, and it was believed that treasure had
been buried on land. Quarrels among these rascals were frequent, and
Easton made away with a noted colleague named Salkeld or Sakewell,
but he himself continued to give trouble, though there were hopes of
reclaiming him at times. In the summer of 1613 he was surprised by the
Dutch at Crookhaven, and carried to Holland, where he was most likely
hanged.
Bishop retired from business himself, but he did not altogether break
with the rovers, for one Fleming who had murdered a Dutch merchant was
taken in his house in 1617. St. John described him as 'an old pardoned
pirate that lives suspiciously near Leamcon and Schull haven, ever
plotting with and relieving of pirates.'[95]
[Sidenote: Some notable pirates.]
Another noted pirate was John Jennings, who came boldly into the
Shannon towards the end of 1609, his ship laden with spoil and with a
richly freighted Dutch prize which he had taken after losing sixty men
in action against a French man of war. Danvers tried to stamp out the
pirates by preventing the land carriage of corn, but he harassed honest
men without much hurting the thieves. He believed that the pirates
could always land 300 men at any point they thought fit, for it was
impossible to have a man of war everywhere, and the King's ships could
not keep the seas for more than three months without refitting, the
sailors being but too ready to go home on the least excuse. There were
several other piratical vessels at hand, the crews of which quarrelled
with Jennings about the division of the Dutchmen's goods. Under these
circumstances, and perhaps remembering Coward's case, Jennings applied
to Lord Thomond for a pardon, and offered to give up the ship, but
the latter had learned by experience, and preferred to surprise the
pirate with the help of his discontented comrades. They were all ready
to betray each other. Chichester was inclined to think that Jennings
really intended to reform, and at all events he had not plundered the
King's subjects. Some diamonds came into the hands of the Government,
but the valuable 'small ends' (perhaps of tobacco) had been 'carried
away in the shipmen's great breeches.' Both Thomond and Chichester were
inclined to mercy, but the English Council remembered its ill-success
in Coward's case, and Jennings was duly hanged.[96]
[Sidenote: No part of the coast safe.]
[Sidenote: French, Dutch, and Moors.]
The south-west coast was the chief but by no means the only resort
of the pirates. Three were captured in Ulster in 1613, and three in
the following year, and executed 'upon the strand at low-water mark,
by Dublin.' In the latter case the pirates had stolen a Chester ship
lying off Dalkey and taken her to Lough Swilly, where they were
apprehended by the help of one called 'bishop O'Coffie,' but probably a
Roman Catholic vicar-general of Derry or Raphoe. In 1610 they waylaid
but failed to intercept the ship which brought the Londoners' money
to the new settlement at Coleraine. Blacksod Bay and other remote
harbours in Mayo were used by Jennings and his contemporaries, and
long afterwards the inhabitants were reported to be 'so much given to
idleness that their only dependence is upon the depredation and spoils
of pirates, brought in amongst them by reason of the convenience and
goodness of their harbours; for there is their common rendezvous.'
Even Carrickfergus sometimes served as an anchorage for rovers, who
robbed small vessels between Holyhead and Dublin. Dutch and French
merchants suffered more than the English, and the States Government,
with the King of England's sanction, sent a special squadron to
Ireland, whom the pirates seem to have dreaded much more than their own
sovereign's cruisers. The French sometimes acted against the pirates,
and there were negotiations with Spain, but the Government admitted
towards the close of 1612 that the evil could only be checked in the
West of Ireland 'by laying the island and sea coast waste and void of
inhabitants, or by placing a garrison in every port and creek, which
is impracticable.' In the autumn of 1611 nineteen sail of pirates
were sighted on the west coasts, most of whom drew towards Morocco at
the approach of winter, when the Spanish galleys were not much to be
feared. This was their constant practice, and in the then state of
European politics they were as sure to find employment on the sea,
as their congeners the 'bravi' were to find it on land. The pirates
continued to give trouble until Strafford's time.[97]
FOOTNOTES:
[82] Davies's _Discovery_, 1613. It appears, however, from his letter
to Salisbury, December 1, 1603, that Chief Baron Pelham held the first
assize in Donegal without his help, and before his arrival in Ireland.
The contemporary letter must prevail against the treatise written ten
years later.
[83] Davies to Cecil, April 19, 1604.
[84] Davies to Salisbury, December 8, 1604 and May 4, 1606.
[85] Davies to Salisbury, May 4, 1606; Brouncker's letter of September
12, 1606.
[86] Davies to Salisbury, May 4, 1606; Brouncker's letter of September
12, 1606.
[87] Davies to Salisbury, written at Waterford in September 1606, and
printed in Davies's _Tracts_.
[88] Davies to Salisbury, November 12, 1606.
[89] Davies to Salisbury, August 7 and December 11, 1607.
[90] The King to Chichester, April 26, 1611, sent by Knox and delivered
June 15; Lords of the Council to Chichester, April 30; Bishop Knox to
Abbot, July 4; Report by Chichester and Archbishop Jones, October 7.
O'Sullivan has a full account of Knox's proceedings, violent in tone
but not substantially disagreeing with the official correspondence.
He says the Catholics were bound to place in all parish churches at
their own expense 'biblias corruptæ, mendosæque versionis in vulgarem
sermonem traductas.'--_Compendium_, 221.
[91] Jacob, S. G., to Salisbury, October 18, 1609; Davies to same,
October 19; Chichester to same, October 31; Captain Lichfield to same,
December 31, Lords of the Council to Chichester, June 8, 1610; Richard
Morres ('a poor soldier to my lord') to Salisbury, 1611, No. 353;
Note of Lord Chichester's services calendared at May 1614, No. 825;
Vice-Treasurer Ridgeway's minute, August 1615, No. 166; Lord Esmond to
Dorchester, June 20, 1631. _Court and Times of Charles I._, ii. 135.
For the Polish element in the matter see the State Papers, _Ireland_,
calendared at September 29, 1619, August 1621, No. 773, and June 17,
1624.
[92] Chichester to Devonshire, January 2, 1606; to Salisbury, April 13,
1608.
[93] Wilmot's letter, January 16, 1606; Chichester to the Council,
July 16, 1607; Lords of Council to Chichester, March 8, 1608, and his
answer, March 30; Chief Baron Winch to Chichester, April 2; Council to
Chichester, April 27, 1609; Chichester to Salisbury, July 19, 1610; to
Salisbury and Nottingham, September 21; Council to Chichester, July 31.
[94] Lords of Council to Chichester, March 8, 1608, and his answer,
March 30; James Salmon (afterwards first Provost of Baltimore) to
Thomas Crooke, June 23; Danvers to Salisbury, November 20, enclosing
the letter from Bishop Lyon and others; Privy Council to Danvers,
November 20; _Liber Munerum Publicorum_, vii. 50, where Crooke is
described as 'armiger in legibus eruditus.'
[95] Danvers to the Council, January 19, 1609; Sir R. Moryson to
Salisbury, August 22; Henry Pepwell to Salisbury, August 22; Chichester
to Salisbury and Nottingham, September 21, 1610; Captain Henry Skipwith
(deputy vice-admiral) to Chichester, July 25, 1611; Roger Myddleton
to Salisbury, August 23; Petition of Robert Bell to the King, July
1616, No. 277; Skipwith to Sir Dudley Carleton, August 24; St. John to
Winwood, April 4, 1617, in _Buccleuch Papers_, Hist. MSS. Comm. Leamcon
is now the name of a house and watch-tower opposite Long Island, but in
the time of James I. it was given to the whole of the sheltered water
between Castle Point and Schull Harbour.
[96] Danvers to the Privy Council, January 19, 1609, and to Salisbury,
February 24; Chichester's letters of February 5 and April 7; the
Council to Chichester, April 27; Chichester to Salisbury, Northampton,
and Nottingham, April 11, 1611.
[97] Chichester's letters of January 29 and June 27, 1610, _Desiderata
Curiosa Hibernica_, i. 206, 314; Lords of the Council to Chichester,
September 9, 1611, January 31, and November 18, 1612; Lord Carew to
Salisbury, September 6, 1611. The international importance of the
pirates will be best understood from the early chapters of Mr. Julian
Corbett's _England in the Mediterranean_.