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.