LAST YEARS OF CHICHESTER'S GOVERNMENT, 1613-1615
[Sidenote: The Ormonde heritage.]
[Sidenote: A new Earl of Desmond.]
[Sidenote: The palatinate of Tipperary.]
Interference with property was not limited to the ancient Irish,
but was extended by James to the greatest and most loyal of the
Anglo-Norman families. The tenth Earl of Ormonde, known as Black
Thomas, who played so great a part in Elizabeth's time, had been blind
ever since the King's accession. During these years his chief care was
to keep the estates and the title together, and he took every possible
precaution both by will and deed. Having no son living, he married
his only daughter Elizabeth to her cousin Theobald, Lord Tullophelim,
who was the nearest male heir, and who was in great favour both with
the King and Chichester, but not with the old Earl, who accused him
of ill-using his wife and of keeping bad company. Tullophelim died
childless early in 1613, and a son of Lord Thomond's immediately
sought the widow's hand; but the King insisted on her marrying Richard
Preston, a Scotch gentleman of the bedchamber, who, had been about him
from his childhood, accompanied him to England, and was knighted at the
coronation. The marriage took place, and the favourite, who in 1607
had been created Lord Dingwall in Scotland, became Earl of Desmond in
Ireland in 1619. It was actually the intention of James to endow the
new coronet with everything that had belonged to the old Desmonds; but
little came of this, for the forfeited lands were already occupied by
others. Dingwall was with his father-in-law when he died in 1614, and
was immediately involved in litigation which lasted longer than his
life. In announcing Ormonde's death, Chichester pointed out that there
was now an opportunity of abolishing the palatinate of Tipperary 'so
long enjoyed by that house to the offence of most of the inhabitants
of that county and of the neighbouring counties adjoining.' No doubt
it was very desirable to get rid of such an anomaly, provided it were
done openly on public grounds, and with some reasonable compensation
for the financial loss. But that was not James's way of doing things.
The political advisability of dividing the great Ormonde heritage went
for something with him, but the really important matter was to secure a
large part of it for a Scotch courtier.[127]
[Sidenote: Litigation about the Ormonde estates.]
[Sidenote: James I. as an arbitrator.]
[Sidenote: Harsh treatment of the Earl of Ormonde.]
The heir to the late Earl's title was his nephew, known for his
devotion as 'Walter of the beads and rosaries,' and to make everything
safe this had been secured to him by fresh letters patent. He married
a daughter of Lord Mountgarret, and her brothers, after Earl Thomas's
death, plotted to carry off his widow and to secure her jointure by
marriage to one of themselves; but this plan was frustrated, and she
married Sir Thomas Somerset. The estates were all carefully entailed
upon the new Earl; but Lady Desmond was heir general, and lawyers in
those days could generally find flaws in titles if those in authority
wished it. In this case James did wish to give much of the property
to his favourite; but it was always possible that the courts of law
might act independently, and Earl Walter was induced to give a bond for
100,000_l._ to abide by the King's personal decision in the matter.
Perhaps he was forced to this by his difficulties for want of money,
or by an exaggerated belief in James's wisdom, or he may have been
simply a bad man of business. When James made his award, the Earl found
that he would not have enough to support his dignity, and declined
to submit. The result was that he spent eight years under restraint,
chiefly in the Fleet prison, where he endured extreme poverty and
misery. The King seized the revenues of that portion which he had
adjudged to the prisoner, as well as the palatinate of Tipperary, which
belonged to him as heir male. Taking advantage of his adversary's
distress, Desmond even set up a claimant to the Earldom of Ormonde,
but the imposture was too absurd to have any chance of success. After
his death his daughter and heiress married Earl Walter's grandson, the
future Duke of Ormonde, but this did not take place until the next
reign.[128]
[Sidenote: The MacDonnells in Antrim. Sir Randal MacDonnell.]
[Sidenote: MacDonnells and O'Neills.]
[Sidenote: Tortuous policy of Sir Randal.]
Randal MacDonnell, Sorley Boy's eldest surviving son, had accompanied
Tyrone to Kinsale; but deserted the falling cause in good time,
brought a useful contingent to Mountjoy, and was knighted by him.
While Elizabeth lived, the close connection between the MacDonnells
in the isles and in Ulster had always been a source of danger, and
one of James's first cares was to secure the allegiance of the Irish
branch. The northern part of Antrim, including the coast from Larne to
Portrush, was granted to Randal by patent. From this grant, estimated
to contain 333,907 acres, the castle of Dunluce was at first excepted,
but this was afterwards thrown in with the rest, as were the fishery
of the Bann and the island of Rathlin. MacDonnell married Tyrone's
daughter, which no doubt strengthened his position; but he realised
clearly that parchment, and not steel, would in future decide the
fortunes of families. He was in England in 1606, and Salisbury, when
saying good-bye, advised him not to be his own carver. Chichester
thought the grants to him were improvident, and was never quite
satisfied about his loyalty, but he was able to clear himself of all
complicity when Tyrone fled the country, and he took care not to
obstruct the settlement afterwards. Before O'Dogherty's outbreak he
was on equally good terms with that unfortunate chief and with his
opponent, Bishop Montgomery, and he was received at Court in 1608
and 1610. In 1614 he was one of those who went security for Florence
MacCarthy in London.[129]
[Sidenote: Sir Randal's schemes in the Hebrides.]
[Sidenote: Macdonalds and Campbells.]
While strengthening his position in Ireland, Sir Randal did not give
up all hold on the Western Islands, for he obtained a lease of Isla
and attempted to govern it along with, and according to the rules of,
his Irish estate. He was never able to make much out of it, for his
tenants disliked novelties, and so did the Scotch Privy Council. The
strong castle of Dunyveg was entrusted by the Government to Bishop
Knox of the Isles, but his weak garrison was surprised by one of the
bastard Macdonalds, who in his turn had to surrender it to Angus Oig,
brother of Sir James Macdonald, lord of Isla, who was a prisoner at
Edinburgh. Angus professed to hold the castle for the King; but refused
nevertheless to give it up to the Bishop, who had all the authority
that the Government could give him. Well informed people at Edinburgh
thought Argyle was at the bottom of the whole disturbance, 'and the
matter so carried that it was impossible to deprehend the plot.'
Bishop Knox, who was well versed in Highland politics, and who would
have liked to settle the Hebrides with lowlanders on the Ulster plan,
considered it 'neither good nor profitable to his Majesty, nor to this
realm, to make the name of Campbell greater in the Isles than they are
already; nor yet to root out one pestiferous clan, and plant in another
little better.' The offer of a good rent by Sir John Campbell of Calder
was nevertheless accepted, and Isla was granted to him, with the
authority of King's lieutenant, and orders to root out the Macdonalds.
No notice was apparently taken of Sir Randal's rights or claims. Sir
James Macdonald's proposals were disregarded, and in November 1614 Sir
John Campbell carried a strong force to Duntroon, where he awaited
assistance from Ireland. Archibald Campbell, Argyle's representative in
Cantire, was sent over to explain matters to Chichester.[130]
[Sidenote: Irish expedition to the Isles.]
[Sidenote: Siege of Dunyveg,]
[Sidenote: which is taken,]
[Sidenote: and given to the Campbells.]
[Sidenote: Isla worth four times as much as Inishowen.]
The King's orders to Chichester were to send 200 men, under an
experienced commander, to join the laird of Calder. He remembered
former trouble in Isla, and had heard that the walls were thirty-six
feet thick and would require the best cannon that Chichester could
get in any Irish forts, as well as petards, and a skilful engineer.
Sir Oliver Lambert, who had seen much fighting in Spain and the
Netherlands, as well as in Ireland, offered his services, which were
at once accepted. Archibald Campbell came to Dublin in November, and
accompanied Lambert when he sailed on December 7. The troops were
conveyed in two men of war, and a hoy carried the cannon and stores.
On December 14 the expedition reached the sound of Isla; but there was
no sign of Sir John Campbell, from whom Lambert was to take orders.
Letters came at last, but the weather was so bad that Sir John could
not come until January 1. It took another month to provide a platform
for the 'two whole cannon of brass, and one whole culverin of brass,
fair and precious pieces,' which composed Lambert's battery. Captain
Crawford, a brave officer, died from the effects of a chance shot, and
little or nothing could have been done without Captain Button and his
sailors. Button, who had been to Hudson's Bay, and was a discoverer as
well as a seaman, found the land-locked harbour now called Lodoms. The
walls of Dunyveg turned out to be eight feet thick and not thirty-six,
and three days' cannonade was enough for the defenders, who, however,
made their escape to a boat which they had hidden among the rocks,
and so got away by sea to another part of the island. Their leader,
Coll Keitach McGillespie, afterwards went to Ireland. The result of
the whole transaction was to give Isla to Sir John Campbell, and so
to increase the power of his clan. Sir Randal MacDonnell was strictly
forbidden by the King to go to Isla before July 1, when he might sue in
the courts at Edinburgh for anything that remained due to him. Lambert
gave James a very good account of Campbell, and advised that trained
soldiers should be assigned to him. 'One hundred such Irish as with
little charge we can bring are able to suppress island after island,
reckon what they will of their numbers. Your Majesty's ships will add a
great countenance with such business, being well acquainted now where
to harbour.' He praised Isla, which was free from snow when Cantire,
Jura, and the hills of Ireland were all white, and it was worth four
times as much as Inishowen 'that you gave my Lord Deputy of Ireland.'
... The Irish never readily answered your Majesty's laws till they
were disarmed, compelled to eat their own meat, and live by their own
labours.' The Highlanders were fine men, and might easily be made
soldiers if placed under proper government, their present rule being
'yet more barbarous than the rudest that ever I saw in Ireland.'[131]
[Sidenote: Ulster affected by Highland politics.]
[Sidenote: The Islanders conspire with the Irish,]
[Sidenote: who are encouraged by a friar.]
[Sidenote: A son of Tyrone's.]
The last struggle of the Macdonalds to drive the Campbells from Isla
and Cantire had some connection with the movements of the discontented
in Ulster, but these intrigues are very obscure, and perhaps scarcely
worth unravelling. Sir James Macdonald escaped from Edinburgh in May
1615, and by the end of the year was a fugitive in Spain, his flight
having been facilitated by Jesuits in or about Galway. After evacuating
Dunyveg, Coll _Keitach_ wandered from island to island, and penetrated
in Ireland as far as Lough Neagh, whence he returned to Ballycastle
Bay, with Sir Randal's nephew Sorley and with other Macdonnells
and O'Cahans. At first he merely intended to hide from the Scotch
Government in Isla and Cantire, but after conference with his Irish
friends he took to piracy, in which Sorley MacJames was his active
abettor. In the meantime the Irish Government detected a conspiracy
which had been brewing for two years among the landless men unprovided
for in the settlement, who were always a source of danger. Alexander
Macdonnell, Sir Randal's nephew, was to head the insurrection, with his
brother Sorley, and an illegitimate cousin named Lother or Ludar. In
their case the grievance was that Sir Randal had obtained too much and
his kinsmen too little, but there were plenty of O'Neills, O'Donnells,
O'Cahans and others who were ready to join, and some of them for the
sake of religion as well as for land. Cormac Maguire, acting as a
sheriff's officer in Fermanagh, was charged by a friar named Edmund
Mullarkey to join Brian Crossagh and Art Oge O'Neill, who were among
the chief conspirators. 'And though thou shouldst die in this service,'
he added, 'thy soul shall be sure to go to heaven; and as many men as
shall be killed in this service all their souls shall go to heaven. All
those that were killed in O'Dogherty's war are in heaven.' The friars
great object was to get possession of Tyrone's illegitimate son Con, a
boy of fourteen, who was in Sir Toby Caulfield's charge. The eyes of
the Irish being upon him, he was sent to Eton for safety, and in 1622
to the Tower, where he may have died, for nothing more appears to be
recorded of him.[132]
[Sidenote: Rory O'Cahan's plot to surprise Coleraine,] 1615.
[Sidenote: Londonderry,]
[Sidenote: and all the settlement towns.]
[Sidenote: The plot is frustrated.]
One of the ringleaders, and perhaps the originator of this hopeless
plot, was Rory Oge O'Cahan, Sir Donnell's eldest son, who hated Sir
Thomas Phillips for apprehending his father and hoped to win Limavady
from him. A witness swore that he had seen a written plan signed by all
the conspirators, and that the undertaking was to this effect: that
first they were to attack Coleraine, where Rory Oge and others would
be drinking all day, and that he by a friend could 'command the guard
to betray the town, as by letting them in, and that then, being in,
they would burn the town and only take Mr. Beresford and Mr. Rowley
prisoners, and to burn and kill all the rest, and to take the spoil
of the town, and so if they were able to put all the Derry to death
by fire and sword.' Lifford, where Sir Richard Hansard alone was to
be saved, would come next, a like fate being intended for Massereene,
Carrickfergus, Mountjoy and all other English settlements. They
proposed to hold the three gentlemen as hostages for the restoration
of Neil Garv and his son, of O'Cahan, and of Sir Cormac MacBaron. Help
was to be expected from Spain and the Hebrides, until which they could
hold out and 'not do as O'Dogherty did.' Rory O'Cahan drank freely and
bragged of his intentions, and the whole affair is important mainly
as showing that the Ulster Irish were anxious to do then what they
actually did do in 1641, and what Carew foretold they would do much
sooner. The evidence of informers is never satisfactory, but in this
case there is a mass of evidence which cannot be resisted. Winwood's
correspondents Blundell and Jacob made light of the plot, and they
may have known that the secretary thought Chichester had been viceroy
long enough. Six or seven of those implicated were executed, including
the friar Mullarkey and a priest named Laughlin O'Laverty, with Rory
O'Cahan and Brian Crossagh O'Neill, who was an illegitimate son of Sir
Cormac MacBaron; Alexander MacDonnell was acquitted.[133]
[Sidenote: Chichester recalled,]
[Sidenote: and made Lord Treasurer.]
[Sidenote: Jones and Denham, Lords Justices, 1616.]
There seems to be no evidence as to any special reason for recalling
Chichester, and perhaps we may take the King's words as the whole
truth. He had been Lord Deputy for over eleven years, which was
unprecedented, and James, declaring that he had no wish to wear out
good subjects in such hard service, gave him leave to retire to his
government at Carrickfergus or to go to court, whichever seemed best to
him. And there were many expressions of gratitude and good will. The
Lord Treasurership of Ireland was vacant by the death of the old Earl
of Ormonde, and it was conferred as a mark of honour upon the retiring
viceroy. Chichester might probably have been an earl had he been
willing to pay court to Somerset, but he excused himself to Humphrey
May on the ground that his estate would only support a barony. James
admired his letters so much that he advised the favourite to model his
style upon them. Somerset's fall does not seem, however, to have had
anything to do with Chichester's recall. The Chancellor-Archbishop,
Thomas Jones, and Chief Justice Sir John Denham were appointed Lords
Justices, and were instructed to report either to Winwood or Lake, but
matters directly concerning the King were to be referred to Winwood
only, 'because it is likely that he will more usually attend his person
than his colleague.' They had the customary powers of a viceroy, except
that they were forbidden to meddle with wardships or intrusions, or
to make knights without direct orders from his Majesty, 'because
former Deputies have taken to themselves such liberty as to confer
that honour upon needy and unworthy persons, and thereby have done the
King's authority and that calling too much wrong.' The interregnum
lasted nearly six months without any incident of importance, but
Bacon afterwards declared that Denham had done good service as Lord
Justice. About six weeks after surrendering the sword, Chichester went
to England and joined the King at Newmarket. Ellesmere had warned him
that he had ill-wishers among the Council, and he had answered that he
desired to be judged by his actions rather than by vague and malicious
detractors.[134]
[Sidenote: Chichester's position in Irish history.]
[Sidenote: In principle a persecutor,]
[Sidenote: but tolerant in practice.]
[Sidenote: Vacillation of the English Government.]
[Sidenote: Chichester made few mistakes.]
Experience teaches most men, whether statesmen or not, the value of
Walpole's _quieta non movere_, and they learn to let sleeping dogs
lie. There are always plenty of things which will not wait. One of
Chichester's first acts as Lord Deputy was to advise a proclamation to
'cut off by martial law seminaries, Jesuits, and such hedge priests
as have neither goods nor living, and do daily flock hither.' He must
therefore be taken as a consenting party to the famous proclamation
issued less than four months later, in which James indignantly
repudiated the idea that he could be guilty of toleration, and ordered
the whole population of Ireland to attend church on Sundays and
holidays according to the tenor and intent of the laws and statutes,
upon the pains and penalties contained therein, which he will have
from henceforth duly put in execution.' As to the numerous 'Jesuits,
seminary priests, or other priests whatsoever made and ordained by any
authority derived or pretended to be derived from the See of Rome' who
ranged about seducing the people, they were to leave Ireland before
the end of the year on pain of incurring all statutory penalties, or
to conform openly. It is just conceivable that this drastic treatment
might have succeeded if it had been ruthlessly and consistently
applied, but Chichester had neither the wish nor the power to do
so, and in less than six months the English Government had veered
completely round. Toleration, indeed, was not to be thought of, but
admonition, persuasion, and instruction were to be tried before the law
was enforced, and as to the priests the Lord Deputy was to 'forbear to
make a curious and particular search for them.' After a decade of this
vacillating policy Chichester may well have given up the enforcement of
conformity as hopeless. He was succeeded by a money-making Archbishop,
who would naturally magnify his office in a persecuting direction, and
an English judge who was likely to care more for the letter of the law
than for political considerations. After them came a new Deputy, who
was a soldier like his predecessor, but with much less ability and
without his long training in civil affairs. Chichester's character may
be estimated from his actions. He was not more tolerant in principle
than other public men in his time, but in practice was as little of a
persecutor as possible. His integrity is unquestionable. He has been
blamed for acquiring Inishowen; but it was clearly forfeited, and might
easily have been put into much worse hands. If his advice had been
taken, O'Dogherty would never have risen, and perhaps the rebellion
of 1641 would have been averted. On the whole he must be considered
one of the greatest viceroys that Ireland has had, and if he was less
brilliant than Strafford, at least his work lasted longer.[135]
[Sidenote: Tyrone and Tyrconnel in exile.]
[Sidenote: Death of Tyrconnel, 1608.]
[Sidenote: Death of Tyrone, 1616.]
Tyrone and Tyrconnel deserted Ireland in September 1607, and their
return was for a long time hoped and feared. Chichester thought they
might return and make trouble with very little foreign help. Tyrone
himself was not quite so sanguine, but he thought he could drive all
the English out of Ireland with 12,000 Spanish troops. But Philip
III. remembered Kinsale too well, and even Paul V. sometimes tired of
the expense of supporting the exiles, and was fain to believe, much
to Parsons' disgust, that James no longer persecuted the Catholics.
Tyrconnel and others died within a year of leaving Ireland. It was said
that they were poisoned, but the real cause of death was doubtless
Roman fever contracted during a riotous excursion to Ostia in the hot
season. The settlement of Ulster was for a time delayed by rumours
of Tyrone's return, but gradually they ceased to frighten tolerably
well-informed people. A mysterious Italian proposed to poison the chief
of the Irish exiles, and Wotton, though he gave him no encouragement,
expressed no indignation, merely saying that his King was less given
to such practices than other monarchs. Late in 1613 a Franciscan friar
found his account in telling the Ulster Irish that Tyrconnel was about
to return with 18,000 men from the King of Spain, and that there was
a prophecy in a book at Rome that the English should rule Ireland for
only two years more. Similar rumours about Tyrone were circulated in
the summer of 1615, and he sometimes used to brag himself of what he
would do. Except for a short visit to Naples he never left the papal
territory; neither France, Spain, nor Flanders would receive him, and
Cosmo II. of Florence, who wished to stand well with England, would not
even allow him to come as far as Monte Pulciano. He died on July 20,
1616, and was buried near Tyrconnel in San Pietro in Montorio, but it
is doubtful whether their bones still lie there.[136]
FOOTNOTES:
[127] St. John to Winwood, October 23, 1614; Chichester to the King,
November 25. Ormonde died on November 22 at Carrick-on-Suir. Lady
Desmond died October 10, 1628, and her husband eighteen days later;
he was drowned between Dublin and Holyhead. Their daughter Elizabeth,
afterwards Duchess of Ormonde and Lady Dingwall in her own right, was
born in 1615.
[128] Introduction to Carte's _Ormonde_; Lodge's _Peerage of Ireland_
(Archdall), art. Mountgarret; Morrin's _Calendar of Patent Rolls_, Car.
I. p. 12 &c.; Fourteenth _Report_ of Historical MSS. Commission, Appx.
vii. p. 6; several notices in the last vol. of the Calendar of State
Papers, _Ireland_, Jac. I.
[129] James's first and chief grant was of date May 28, 1603. Hill's
_MacDonnells of Antrim_, State Papers, _Ireland_, 1603-1614, and Erck's
_Patent Rolls_.
[130] Gregory's _Western Highlands_, chap. viii.; Burton's _History
of Scotland_, chap. lxiv. Avoiding the mazes of Celtic nomenclature,
I have called the Scottish clansmen Macdonald, as Burton and Gregory
do. The Irish branch of the same tribe I have called MacDonnell, as is
usual in Ulster.
[131] The King to Chichester, October 14, 1614; St. John to Winwood,
November 28; Lambert to Somerset, and to the King, February 7, 1615,
the latter in _Carew_. Gregory's _Western Highlands_, _ut sup._
[132] The Friar Mullarkey's part is detailed in State Papers, _Ireland_
1615, Nos. 70-72. For young Con O'Neill see Meehan's _Earls of Tyrone
and Tyrconnel_, and for the Scotch element see Gregory's _Western
Highlands_ and Hill's _Macdonnells_, p. 226 _sqq._ See also Chichester
to Winwood, November 22, 1615.
[133] The evidence of witnesses is in the _Irish Cal._, 1615, April to
June, pp. 29-82. Chichester's report is No. 69, Blundell's and Jacob's
89 and 91, Teig O'Lennar's examination, 71. No. 144 shows that torture
was used in one case, being headed 'The _voluntary_ confession of
Cowconnaght O'Kennan upon the rack ... by virtue of the Lord Deputy's
commission.' O'Kennan, whom Lodder MacDonnell calls Maguire's rhymer,
was a priest according to O'Sullivan Bere, who wrongly asserts that
there was only one witness, whom he calls 'lusor' and 'aleator.' This
may have been suggested by the fact that, according to Brian Crossagh
(No. 143), a _carrow_, or professional gambler, was mixed up in the
plot. O'Sullivan also says that the jury consisted of English and
Scotch heretics, who had property in Ulster, and therefore desired the
death of native gentlemen.--_Hist. Cath._ IV., iii. 2.
[134] The King to Chichester, November 27-29, 1615; instructions to
the Lords Justices, December 19; Chichester to Ellesmere, January 12,
1616; Winwood to the Lords Justices, March 1. Both Gardiner (ii. 302)
and Spedding (_Life of Bacon_, v. 376) suggest that Chichester was
superseded because he was disinclined to be hard on the Recusants, but
of this there is no evidence.
[135] Chichester to Cranbourne, March 12, 1605; Proclamation against
toleration, July 4; Lords of Council (including Bancroft, Ellesmere,
and Salisbury) to Chichester, January 24, 1606.
[136] Chichester to Northampton, February 7, 1608 (printed in _Ulster
Journal of Archæology_, i. 181); to Salisbury, April 15, 1609; to
Winwood, June 15 and November 22, 1615; Wotton to Salisbury, July 11
and August 8, 1608; Wotton to James I., April 24 (calendared as No.
902), giving an account of the poisoning project. Examination of Shane
O'Donnelly, October 22, 1613. See Mr. Dunlop's article on Tyrone in
_Dict. of Nat. Biography_.