FROM THE YEAR 1536 TO THE YEAR 1540.
[Sidenote: Lord Leonard Grey Deputy, 1536.]
Grey was immediately chosen Lord Justice by the Council, and his patent
as Deputy was not long delayed. He began badly, his temper involving him
in one of those personal difficulties which led to his ruin. He had never
been on good terms with his predecessor, and was at no pains to make a
decent or politic show of regret. Less than a month after her husband's
death Lady Skeffington wrote to Anne Boleyn, declaring that she was
overwhelmed with debt through his liberality in advancing money for the
public service. She had already complained to Cromwell of Grey's
harshness, and her son-in-law Anthony Colley went so far as to accuse him
of shortening the late Deputy's life. Aylmer and Alen, afterwards Grey's
most unrelenting enemies, were included in Lady Skeffington's complaint.
The Council now sustained Grey, but it was not in official documents that
the politicians of Dublin were wont to assail a chief governor whose hand
might after all be heavy against them. Verbal messages and innuendoes
contained in private letters seldom failed to undermine a man whom it
might be neither safe nor decent to accuse openly. Grey now contented
himself with saying that the late Lord Deputy had died in debt, and that
his property was held in pledge for his creditors. But Lady Skeffington
replied, and no doubt truly, that the official salary had never been
paid, and that she could do nothing without it. Cromwell at least
believed her, for he gave orders that her goods should be delivered to
her, and that she should be sped on her homeward journey. Grey complied
in the most ungracious manner, and had all the luggage and furniture
turned out of Maynooth Castle before carts could be provided to carry it
away. It was stored in a church, and there further detained by the new
Deputy for a debt to the Crown. Lady Skeffington was unable to leave for
eight or nine months after her husband's death, and obstacles were placed
in her way to the last. There may have been faults on both sides, but had
Grey been either a good-natured or a politic man he might have found
means to smooth matters for a widowed lady whose chief desire was the
very general one of wishing to get out of Ireland as quickly as
possible.[171]
[Sidenote: Parliament of 1536.]
Grey was commissioned to summon a Parliament, which accordingly met on
Monday, May 1, the day before Anne Boleyn was sent to the Tower. In less
than three weeks a number of important bills were passed, of which drafts
carefully settled by Audeley himself had been sent from England. The
succession was secured to the issue of Anne Boleyn, as Brabazon wrote
only two days before that unfortunate lady's execution. Before the letter
reached London Jane Seymour had already been Queen a full fortnight, and
Cromwell's concern was, if possible, to stop the passing of an Act which
would have to be repeated so soon. It was too late to do this, but the
Parliament made no difficulty about enacting the same stringent rule of
succession for the third as they had done for the second wife. They thus
achieved the unique distinction of passing two contradictory Acts of
Settlement within eighteen months. This remarkable performance does not
adorn the printed statute book, because that compilation was made when
Elizabeth was firmly seated on the throne.[172]
[Sidenote: The royal supremacy.]
The bill declaring the King to be supreme head of the Church encountered
some opposition from the proctors of the clergy, two of whom were
summoned to Parliament from each diocese. The proctors had only
consultative voices, but they now claimed not only to be full members of
Parliament, but to form a separate order whose consent would be necessary
to every change in the law. An Act was passed declaring them no members
of the body of Parliament, as they had 'temerariously assumed and
usurpedly taken upon them to be.' In spite of their opposition and of
much secret discontent, a series of Acts were passed to emancipate the
Irish Church from Roman influences, or rather for subjecting her to King
Stork instead of to King Log. All dues hitherto paid to Rome were
forbidden, and the election and consecration of bishops were withdrawn
from papal control. Appeals were transferred from the Pope to the King.
The payment of first-fruits was imposed on all secular dignitaries and
beneficed clergymen, abbots and priors being for the time exempted. The
abrogation of this heavy and oppressive tax was reserved for the energy
of Swift or the piety of Anne. By Audeley's advice the English heresy
laws were not copied in Ireland. An Act was passed to validate the
proceedings of this Parliament, though it had been held contrary to
Poyning's law, but the spirit if not the letter of that famous measure
had been observed by preparing the bills in England. Indeed, the
Parliament was as subservient as any official could wish. 'The Common
House,' wrote Brabazon, 'is marvellous good for the King's causes, and
all the learned men within the same be very good; so that I think all
causes concerning the King's grace will take good effect.'[173]
[Sidenote: The Act of Absentees.]
The weakening of the English power in Ireland by the non-residence of
great proprietors had long been recognised. Edward III., on the occasion
of his son Lionel's mission, announced by proclamation that the lands of
absentees would be granted to Englishmen willing and able to defend them
against the Irish. An English Parliament under Richard II. provided that
in case of absenteeism the Viceroy and Council might divert two-thirds of
the rents and profits to the defence of the country in ordinary cases;
one-third in the case of students, of persons absent on the King's
service, or of those who had leave of absence under the great seal.
Whether or not this English law was ever re-enacted or obeyed in
Ireland, forfeiture was considered an incident of non-residence, and
special Acts were passed to protect those who left Ireland on the public
service. Henry VI. made a law ordering his subjects of Ireland to return
to their own country. By Poyning's Act the statute of Richard II.
obtained full force in Ireland, and it was shortly afterwards provided
afresh that all licences of absence should be under the great seal of
England, exceptions being made in favour of the religious orders and of
students. The momentous Act now passed declared that many great
proprietors had notoriously failed to defend their lands, whereby the
King was forced to incur great expense in bringing an army to Ireland.
The persons specially mentioned were Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, and
his coparcener Lord Barkley, who claimed and held the seigniories and
lordships of Carlow, Old Ross, &c.; George Talbot, Earl of Waterford and
Salop, who held the seigniory of Wexford; and the heirs general of the
Earl of Ormonde, who held divers possessions and lands. To these were
added the Abbots of Furness, Bristol, Osney, and Bath; the Priors of
Canterbury, Lanthony, Cartmel, and Keynsham; and the master of St. Thomas
of Acon in London. All this property was resumed to the Crown, saving the
rights of residents in Ireland, who held under the dispossessed lords.
Wexford was at once placed under a royal seneschal, and was so governed
till the reign of James I. The Crown thus became one of the greatest of
Irish landlords, and the foundations of a reconquest were laid.[174]
[Sidenote: The O'Neills.]
While Parliament was sitting Phelim O'Neill, chief of Clandeboye, came to
Dublin and covenanted with the Lord Deputy to attend all great hostings
and to make war upon all enemies of the Government within a day's march
of his own country. He promised not to aid or harbour rebels, and to
submit all differences between his people and the King's subjects to
peaceful arbitration. The great Leinster chief, Cahir MacEncross
Kavanagh, also came to terms, agreed to supply twelve horsemen and twenty
kerne in all hostings, and to employ his whole force on journeys of not
more than three days' duration. He promised to submit disputes to the
arbitration of Ossory and his son. Redmond Savage, the chief of an
English family in Down which had long conformed to Celtic usages, made a
similar agreement, and also promised to pay the Lord Deputy for his
friendship 100 fat cows and a good horse, or fifteen marks Irish. Grey
went himself to Dundalk, where Con O'Neill met him. The chief of Tyrone
renewed the promises made to Skeffington, binding himself to attend all
hostings and do his best against Scotch intruders, but he gave no
hostages, and an invasion of his country was not believed to be
practicable. The Lord Deputy then returned to Dublin, where a new and
very serious danger demanded his presence.[175]
[Sidenote: Want of money. Mutiny.]
'Lack of money,' as Grey expressed it, 'after the late robbing and
spoiling,' was the great difficulty of the English in Ireland during the
whole Tudor period. The King now sent 7,000_l._, but that sum still left
the soldiers' pay three months in arrear. There were many differences
among the members of Council, but they all agreed in demanding more
money. The northern spearmen, on the report that they were not to be paid
in full, mutinied openly, declaring that they would have all or none.
They refused to hear the King's letter read, threatened the lives of the
Vice-Treasurer and Chief Justice, declared that they would not serve
without wages, and that if they were not paid they would 'board with the
Council at their houses, in spite of their hearts.' The astute borderers
carried their point, for they received full payment, while Grey's own
retainers were sent empty away. Saintloo's men at Waterford also showed a
mutinous spirit, but they were silenced for a time by receiving part of
what was due to them.[176]
[Sidenote: Grey travels southward.]
Parliament having adjourned to Kilkenny, Grey followed it thither, the
army being victualled for a month. Having made arrangements for restoring
the fortifications at Powerscourt, Woodstock, and Athy, Grey left the
defence of the Pale to Brabazon, adjourned the Parliament to Limerick,
and himself set out for Desmond's country. Besides Ossory and his son and
the usual force of the four shires, O'Carroll, MacMurrough, O'Byrne, Lord
Roche, and the gentlemen of Wexford and Waterford, accompanied the Lord
Deputy. He was also attended by William Body, a confidential servant whom
Cromwell had sent over to gather information, and whom he afterwards
mentioned in his will. Body travelled to Ireland with George Browne, the
new Archbishop of Dublin, and first busied himself in trying to arrange
Grey's dispute with Lady Skeffington. He had particular instructions to
inquire as to the possibility of increasing the Irish revenue.[177]
[Sidenote: The Desmond country. Carrigogunnell.]
Marching unopposed across the central plain, Grey found the great Desmond
stronghold on Lough Gur undefended, the doors and windows having been
carried off and the roof purposely burnt. It was handed over to Lord
Butler, who undertook to repair and garrison it at his own expense. Grey
then marched to Carrigogunnell, an immense fortress standing in a
commanding position over the Shannon. Matthew O'Brien surrendered the
place on condition, as was alleged by Body, that it should be garrisoned
only by Englishmen. An order was nevertheless given to hand it over to
Donogh O'Brien, Ossory's son-in-law. This chief came to Grey and renewed
the offers made to Butler. He was ready to serve the King against his
father and all others, provided he might have Carrigogunnell; and the
Council considered his services more important to them than the castle
could be to him. But the English guard restored the place to Matthew
O'Brien. Donogh was certainly not an Englishman, and George Woodward, 'an
honest and an hardy man,' may have thought himself bound in honour to
restore the original situation, or he may have thought one O'Brien as
good as another. Grey merely says that Matthew held out boldly until the
battering train was in position, when he was content to depart with bag
and baggage.[178]
[Sidenote: Grey attacks the O'Briens, August, 1536.]
The next undertaking was an attack on O'Brien's Bridge, which had long
laid Limerick and Tipperary open to attack. The bridge was of wood, with
a castle at each end built in the water. That near the Limerick shore was
the strongest, and was of hewn limestone or marble, twelve or fourteen
feet thick, and armed with an iron gun carrying shot as big as a man's
head, and two small pieces, of which one belonged to some ship, and the
other was of Portuguese make. The garrison had also some muskets and
hand-guns, and the work was skilfully strengthened with wooden barriers
and with hogsheads full of sand. Under Donogh O'Brien's guidance the Lord
Deputy marched along the hilly bank of the great river by devious paths,
untravelled hitherto, as he believed, by Englishmen or by wheels. The
four land-arches had been broken down, and the castle was thus surrounded
by water. The royal artillery consisted of one culverin, six falcons, and
one half-saker, but these were not heavy enough. In a day and a half all
the shot had been fired away, and the walls were almost as sound as ever.
No baggage train had been brought, provisions were scarce, and two nights
had been spent on the bare ground; it was necessary to retire or to take
the castle. Brushwood was abundant, and Grey set his men to make fascines
and to throw them into the channel. Ladders were also made, but it became
unnecessary to use them; for Saintloo's men advanced along the frail and
shifting path and carried the castle with a rush. The garrison ran out at
the other side, and the bridge was then broken down with such tools as
were at hand. The army then returned to Limerick, and Lord Butler went to
Carrick-on-Suir for more cannon before undertaking the recovery of
Carrigogunnell, which the Irish had again seized by stratagem.[179]
[Sidenote: William Body. His report to Cromwell.]
Body, with the insolence of a great man's favourite, had throughout this
expedition assumed the character of a Royal Commissioner, to which he had
not a shadow of title. He associated with the loosest of boon companions,
who disturbed the camp by night and day and swore, with the truth born of
alcohol, that he was no Commissioner. At O'Brien's Bridge he blamed Grey
for not providing sapping tools, which must have tired out the soldiers,
and which would have been quite useless. He was very indignant at having
to sleep on the ground 'from Friday inclusive until Tuesday exclusive,'
but no one else was better off. Grey, a thorough soldier, was at no pains
to conceal his contempt:--
'I desired him to be contented, for I had seen better men than he was, or
should be, or any that was there, lodged worse. He was displeased
therewith, desiring me not to judge what his fortune might be. Then I
said, I was sure he should never be so good as the Duke of Norfolk, and
Suffolk, and my lord my brother (the Marquis of Dorset), whom I had seen
lodged worse. Whereat he took a great fume for that I should judge any
impossibility what he might be; and thereupon leaving us at our coming to
Limerick, departed towards Dublin in a great anger. But of his gests by
the way the folly of it is such, I will not commit to writing, but, I
assure you, like no Commissioner.'
This short experience of Irish campaigning was enough for Body, who
returned to Dublin and busied himself in undermining Grey's influence.
Few seem to have had his good word, except Ossory and his son, who took
care to be civil to Cromwell's confidential man. But Body was perhaps a
better judge of a country than of a general's qualifications. 'As far as
I have seen it,' he wrote, 'that is to say the counties of Dublin,
Kildare, Carlow, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Ormond, Ossory, Desmond, Limerick,
and Thomond, if there be any paradise in this world, it may be accounted
for one among them, both for beauty and goodness.'[180]
[Sidenote: The soldiers refuse to go beyond Shannon.]
The army which Grey had at Limerick did not much exceed 2,000 men,
including the Butlers and their not very trustworthy Irish allies. The
Pale had been much exhausted by the Kildare rebellion, and it was
purposely spared, much to the indignation of Body, who, like many other
casual visitors, fancied he understood Ireland better than men who had
studied it for years. The Lord Deputy had only 700 men of his own and had
no money to pay them. Saintloo's company had received some part of their
money at Waterford, but broke out again soon after leaving that city; and
it was supposed that two subalterns, Gerbert and Powell, were the true
ringleaders. Grey's gunners stood firm, and by threatening to use the
guns he kept the mutineers quiet for a time. They behaved, as we have
seen, with great gallantry at O'Brien's Bridge; but they refused to go
beyond the Shannon, and the idea of a pursuit into Clare was therefore
given up. The Council thought Grey's person in danger, and he owned to
more peril from his soldiers than from the Irish enemy. He could depend
only on his own immediate followers, 100 horse and as many foot, and upon
one officer, that Stephen Parry whom we have met before. Whenever the
bulk of the troops were called upon to perform a service they all
answered together, 'Let us have money, and we will do it.'[181]
[Sidenote: The Butlers and O'Briens. Carrigogunnell.]
The troops being pacified for the moment and Lord Butler having arrived
with another battering piece, the garrison of Carrigogunnell, consisting
partly of Desmond men and partly of O'Briens, were summoned to surrender
on promise of their lives, and warned that if the castle had to be taken
by force no quarter should be shown to man, woman, or child. They
detained the messenger and returned no answer. A breach was soon made,
and, after more than one failure and the loss of thirty men killed and
wounded, the castle was taken by storm. Seventeen of the defenders were
killed in the fight, and of forty-six survivors all were put to death on
the spot, except certain gentlemen of the O'Briens, for whom large
ransoms were refused, and who were taken to Limerick, tried for high
treason, and immediately executed. Chief Justice Aylmer accompanied the
army for such purposes. The castle was handed over to Lord Butler, who
placed it in his brother-in-law's charge, and Donogh, having gained his
great object, became a scourge to the citizens of Limerick.[182]
[Sidenote: Grey cannot pay his army.]
The troops positively refused to go into Clare without receiving their
arrears, and Grey had nothing to give. He therefore proposed to leave
them at Limerick, Cork, and Kilmallock; giving his own and the Council's
security for their victualling until the King should think proper to send
money. They refused; and Butler's men, after twenty days' trial of Lough
Gur, would stay there no longer unless the towns had English garrisons.
James Fitz-Maurice, whom the King acknowledged as Earl of Desmond, and
who had a party in the country, was not at hand, and as no one could take
his place the castle was abandoned. The artillery was left at Limerick
and Clonmel, and the Lord Deputy went back to meet Parliament at Dublin.
His expedition had shown that a small army well led and well paid could
go anywhere and do anything in Ireland, and that feudal castles could do
nothing against a proper siege train; but it had also shown that the
necessary conditions were not likely to be fulfilled under a King who
gave away priories while crossing passages, and who staked one of the
finest peals of bells in London upon a single throw of the dice.[183]
[Sidenote: The Duke of Richmond dies, 1536.]
The death of the Duke of Richmond, whom his father no doubt intended to
advance and whom Charles V. even thought, or professed to think, destined
to succeed him, made no difference to the country which he nominally
governed. It was indeed at first supposed that Acts of Parliament passed
after his death would be invalid, but the lawyers seem to have decided
that this was not the case.[184]
[Sidenote: The revenue. Abuses.]
The actual revenue of Ireland, derived partly from forfeitures and partly
from a parliamentary grant, amounted at this time to about 5,000_l._, of
which 1,000_l._ was not paid. Henry, who was of course obliged to
supplement this, complained that he got very little for his money, and
wished to reduce the Irish establishment. He declared that he valued an
increase of income less for himself than for the common good of Ireland.
'A great sort of you,' he wrote to the Lord Deputy and Council (we must
be plain), 'desire nothing else but to reign in estimation and to fleece
from time to time all that you may catch from us.' He announced therefore
that he was about to send an independent person with ample powers to
inquire into Irish affairs. He gave Brabazon detailed instructions for a
survey of marsh lands, and bade him go to war no more but apply himself
wholly to financial affairs. No salary was to be paid to any officer who
acted by deputy, and none but customary fees exacted. Henry said he was
determined to reform Ireland, and would value his servants there
according to their merits in that behalf. 'If anyone,' he wrote,
'directly or indirectly devised and practised the let, hindrance, or
impeachment of this our purpose for any respect, whereunto we will not
fail to have a special eye, we shall so look upon him what degree soever
he shall be of, as others shall, by his example, beware how they shall
misuse their Prince and sovereign Lord, and transgress his most dread
commandment.'[185]
[Sidenote: Ireland cannot be governed without money.]
To this formidable letter Grey and his Council answered that the army had
never been properly paid, and had in consequence often mutinied, that
they had spent every farthing of revenue on public objects, and had
raised large additional sums on their own credit, that credit was now
quite exhausted, and that without money to pay off the men it was
impossible further to reduce the military establishment. Brabazon had
accounted or was ready to account for every penny, 'and as to our desire
to reign in estimation, it is to be thought that among civil people there
can no name of dignity or honour be in estimation, unless thereunto be
annexed rule and riches. Would to God his Majesty did know our gain and
riches, which is so great that we of the mean sort of this Council,
being his Grace's officers among us all, we suppose be not worth in money
and plate 1,000_l._ Irish, which is a small substance for us all, being
in the rooms that we be under his Grace. We be no such purchasers of
possessions, builders, dicers, nor carders, neither yet pompous
householders whereby we should consume our profits and gain if we had
them.'[186]
[Sidenote: Grey attacks the O'Connors, 1537.]
Those best acquainted with the country at this time believed that the
necessary precedent to its reduction was a thorough conquest of Leinster.
The overthrow of the Kildare Geraldines was necessary, but had its
inconveniences. They had been a standing menace to the Government, but
they had kept the Irish at bay, and their fall left the marches quite
open. Without security either of life or title no one would work the
forfeited lands, and the margin of waste grew broader every day. Grey's
temper and talents made him prefer war to diplomacy, and he resolved to
strike at O'Connor, whose hostages were in his hands, and who was under
recognizance to deliver 800 cows to the King, but who had regained
complete possession of Offaly. His brother Cahir had suffered the not
uncommon fate of those who support Irish governments, and had been an
exile for two years. Grey, Brabazon, and Aylmer took fourteen days'
provisions from Dublin, and were joined on the march by Lords Delvin,
Slane, and Killeen, and by William Saintloo, now seneschal of Wexford,
with his own company and 100 kerne. They passed along the southern edge
of Westmeath to MacGeohegan's country, the modern barony of Moycashel,
and took hostages from that chief and from O'Molloy, whose district lay
further south. On the same day Brabazon got possession of Brackland
Castle through the treachery of an inmate, who acted in Cahir O'Connor's
interest, and who was pardoned while the rest of the garrison were
beheaded. The soldiers destroyed all that lay in their path, and on the
fifth day arrived before Dangan, afterwards Philipstown, which had been
fortified with some skill. The march was only of five or six miles, but
the ground was boggy, and a road had to be made with fascines and
hurdles. The ditches about the castle were filled in the same way, and
the courtyard was forced before nightfall. Three days were spent in
waiting for one large and two small pieces of artillery, and on the
bright May morning following their arrival fire was opened upon the keep.
After four hours' cannonade, resulting as usual in those days with the
disabling of the principal gun, a breach was made and the castle at once
stormed. The walls were dismantled, and the heads of their twenty-three
defenders set on poles 'for a show to the O'Connors.' On the next day
Ossory's second son Richard, afterwards created Viscount Mountgarret,
came to excuse his father, who had been kept away by ill-health. O'Connor
in the meantime had fled into O'Carroll's country, 'which O'Carroll,'
Grey carefully notes, 'is the Earl of Ossory's friend.' The punishment of
O'Carroll for harbouring the fugitive was nevertheless entrusted to
Richard Butler, partly to punish his tardiness, and partly because Grey's
fifteen days' provisions were almost gone. It was an absurd expedient,
and before the end of the year O'Connor was back and Cahir had fled the
country. The sole result of the expedition was to show the force of
artillery; yet Henry, unless his language be thought ironical, calls it a
notable exploit. 'If, however,' the King added, 'he should be suffered to
enter again, it should but add a further courage to that traitorous
malice which by all likelihood is so entered, that it will not be
removed.'[187]
[Sidenote: Grey makes many enemies.]
Grey had many enemies, for he was not conciliatory, and his relationship
to the Geraldines laid him open to the suspicions of all who had risen on
the ruins of the House of Kildare. With Brabazon, the ablest man about
him, he had long been on cold terms, and many supposed that the
Vice-Treasurer thought he ought to have been Deputy himself. Thomas
Agard, Vice-Treasurer of the Mint, a sour but apparently honest Puritan,
hated Grey for his attachment to old religious forms, and Archbishop
Browne lost no opportunity of attacking him on the same grounds. Alen,
Master of the Rolls, a useful public servant, but with an inborn love of
intrigue, gave trouble to every successive chief governor. Robert Cowley
and his son were devoted to the House of Ormonde, which Grey thought too
powerful. The Deputy did not favour the innovations in religion, and took
no pains to hide his dislike to Browne and Agard; but with the rest he
was always ready to co-operate. The King, however, found it hard to
reconcile conflicting accounts, and resolved to send over Commissioners
unconnected with Irish factions to report upon the actual state of
affairs. The persons selected were Anthony St. Leger, of Ulcombe in Kent,
one of the wisest statesmen who ever represented the English Crown in
Ireland; George Paulet, a younger brother of the astute courtier who is
best known as Marquis of Winchester, but not equally endowed with
prudence; Thomas Moyle, of Gray's Inn, Receiver-General of the Court of
Augmentations, and afterwards Speaker of the English House of Commons;
and William Berners, auditor of the same court. The Irish Government was
directed to treat them with as much deference as if the King were
present; and they were ordered to treat Grey with much consideration, and
to take his advice when possible. The latter instruction, so well
calculated to soothe the Lord Deputy's wounded pride, was not directly
made known to him. The Commissioners were ordered to present their
credentials to the Lord Deputy as soon as they reached Dublin, and then
to summon the Council and read the King's letter, in which he promised to
remember their good services. 'If, on the other side,' he added, 'we
shall not find you now faithful officers, ministers, and good
councillors, but men given more to your own affectes, commodities, and
gains, than earnestly bent to our satisfaction, we shall again so look
upon the best of you so misusing himself for it, as shall be little cause
to rejoice at length of his doings in that behalf.'[188]
[Sidenote: The King sends a special Commission.]
The first duty imposed on the Commissioners was the reduction of
expenditure and the increase of revenue. As a cheap defence to the Pale,
hostages were to be generally taken, and the army was, if possible, to be
cut down to 340 picked men, inclusive of garrisons. Horsemen were to
receive 8_l._ yearly, footmen 4_l._, constables of castles 13_l._ 6_s._
8_d._, gate-keepers 6_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._, under-warders 4_l._ 13_s._
4_d._--all in Irish currency, or about two-thirds of the sterling
amounts. The Vice-Treasurer was in future to visit all garrisons
quarterly, to see that deserving men received commands, and to provide
for frequent musters of all borne on the books. All soldiers in excess of
the new establishment were to be paid off with money specially provided,
and the King, with a touch of his daughter's temper, gave orders that
they should be induced if possible to take less than their due. The
Commissioners were to survey waste lands and were authorised to give
leases for twenty-one years, with a clause of forfeiture for
non-observance of the laws as to English dress and for alliance with
Irish rebels--the penalties provided by law being also enforced. After
this all offices and officers were to be subjected to rigid scrutiny,
with a view to increased efficiency and reduced expense. Detailed
instructions were given as to public accounts, and Brabazon was to be
repaid all he had spent in annoying the King's rebels.
[Sidenote: Powers of this Commission.]
The control of legislation was also given to the Commissioners, who were
to see various Acts for the establishment of royal authority in Church
and State duly passed. They were to inquire as to the claims of clerical
proctors to interfere in Parliament, were themselves to have a right of
entry as the King's councillors, and were to expound the royal policy
'with all their wit and dexterity, and with such stomach, where they
shall perceive any man frowardly, perversely bent to the let and
impeachment of the King's purpose in the same, as they may the rather by
their wisdom both conduce the thing to effect and reconcile the parties
that before would show themselves so wilful and obstinate.' Messages to
this effect were sent to both Houses, both Wolsey and Cromwell relying
upon a species of intimidation of which Charles I.'s attempt on the five
members is the last recorded example. The Commissioners afterwards
exercised the power of dissolving Parliament.
[Sidenote: The King has vague good intentions.]
The Commissioners were to examine charges of taking money from the rebels
which were brought against many men highly placed in Ireland; Henry
rightly supposing that many nominal subjects connived at treason, as in
the case of O'Brien's Bridge, which had cost much to take and to
demolish, and which was now as strong and as troublesome as ever. But he
did not choose to see that want of money was the chief cause of this
failure. He was indeed, he said, determined to make a full reformation
some day, and the information now collected would be very useful when the
convenient season arrived. In the meantime, the Commissioners were to
reduce the garrison to 340 men.
[Sidenote: The Commissioners arrive in Ireland, 1537. Grey's activity
against the Irish.]
St. Leger and his companions set out early in August, but were detained
by adverse winds about Holyhead, and did not arrive at Dublin till the
middle of September. Grey had unusually strong reasons for exertions, and
he begged hard for money and artillery. The pay of the army was twelve
months in arrear. O'Connor was coshering among his friends 'more liker a
beggar, than he that ever was a captain or ruler of a country,' and
making vain suits daily to the Government. But Grey had not caught him,
and he could be submissive enough until what was left of his corn had
been saved; his neighbours, English and Irish, thinking it more prudent
to shelter an enterprising rebel than to run risks for a Government which
could not protect its friends. Grey, who habitually used strong language,
characterises these prudent people as 'having as much falsehood remaining
in them as all the devils of hell.' Having, as he supposed, made O'Connor
'as low as a dog were for the bone,' he applied himself to the Kavanaghs,
whose chief, Cahir MacArt, had married a Geraldine. It had been often
proposed to extirpate them and to colonise the country. The Lord Deputy
now entered Carlow, burned some castles of the O'Nolans between
Newtownbarry and Tullow, forced Cahir MacArt to give hostages, and then
turned sharply upon Ely O'Carroll, where O'Connor had first found a
refuge. He had now the help of Ossory, who was always glad to weaken a
neighbour, and of Cahir O'Connor, who was as anxious as his brother to
divert attention from the Offaly corn. He passed unopposed through the
lands of the Fitzpatricks, O'Mores, O'Molloys, and MacGeohegans, received
O'Carroll's submission, and then entered Tipperary, where he took a
castle belonging to O'Meagher, the chief of Ikerrin. O'Connor came in on
safe-conduct, and paid 300 marks for his son, who was given up to him.
Grey refused to trust him, and begged Cromwell never to allow his
restoration; and the event proved Grey right, though he soon forgot his
own advice. He now announced to the minister that he was beginning to
understand the Irish nature, and that the King needed only to be in
earnest. He was right in blaming constant changes of policy, but like
most soldiers he failed to see the real difficulties of the Irish
problem.[189]
[Sidenote: The O'Donnells. Death of Hugh Oge, 1537.]
It was now just a quarter of a century since Hugh Oge O'Donnell, then on
his return from Rome, had been received with honour at the Court of Henry
VIII. Deeply impressed by what he saw there, and aware of the
impossibility of uniting all Irish tribes against the stranger, he had
always striven to keep English intruders at bay by remaining on good
terms with the Government, and had exerted his strength only to subdue
his neighbours on the side furthest removed from the Pale. He had thus
extended his sway over the modern counties of Roscommon and Sligo, and
over great portions of Fermanagh, Mayo, and Galway, and even of Down and
Antrim. He had forced or persuaded the O'Neills to acknowledge his claims
to the disputed sovereignty over Innishowen, Raphoe, and Fermanagh; and
the Irish generally were so much impressed by his wisdom and prowess that
they supposed him to be Hugh the Valiant, the promised Celtic Messiah,
who was to redress or avenge the wrongs of Erin. When it seemed clear
that this was not so, the dreamers of dreams declared that as he had
failed the deliverer would never come. His panegyrists reckon among his
titles to fame that 'the seasons were favourable, so that sea and land
were productive:' it is more to the purpose that he executed strict
justice and repressed thieves. Like most Irish chiefs, he had
difficulties with his children, and his valiant son Manus was discarded
at the instance of a mistress whom the old chief had brought into his
house. For this and for other sins he made such reparation as he could by
a late repentance, donned the cord and cowl of St. Francis, and died in
the odour of sanctity. He was buried in his religious dress in the
monastery which his father had built at Donegal for friars of the strict
observance; and Manus was at once acknowledged both by the tribesmen and
by O'Neill, and was inaugurated at Kilmacrenan with the usual
ceremonies.[190]
[Sidenote: Disturbances in the North.]
The new chief at once took up the thread of his father's policy by
invading Connaught, and at the same time making loyal professions to
Grey. He had, he wrote, been tempted to rebellion by all the disaffected
lords in the South and West, but was determined to take no advice but
that of the King and his Deputy. As soon as he heard of Hugh O'Donnell's
death, Grey at once repaired to the borders of Ulster. The galleys of
O'Neill and his Scotch allies had threatened a fortified settlement at
Ardglass on the coast of Down, and the Deputy burned to invade Tyrone;
but the Council dissuaded him, and the receipt of Manus O'Donnell's
letter gave hopes of settling the North by peaceful means. Some thought
Grey too fond of making aimless raids, and Alen made some sensible
remarks on the subject. 'I would not,' he wrote to St. Leger, 'have the
Deputy representing the King's Majesty's person and estate be a common
skurrer for every light matter; but, when he should begin a war, begin it
upon a just good ground, and when it were so begun, to be so profoundly
executed, that all other should take example thereby.' But the King
thought only of increasing the revenue and diminishing the army.[191]
[Sidenote: Grey is baffled by the O'Connors.]
Grey had been sanguine enough to believe that his work in Offaly would be
lasting, but, as Henry had partly foreseen, O'Connor's return had undone
it all. Cahir was a fugitive, and the floods protected Offaly, where the
corn had been safely garnered in. At last the waters subsided, and Grey
reached Brackland by the old road through Westmeath. O'Connor escaped
into O'Doyne's country, the modern barony of Tinnahinch, which Grey and
Richard Butler proceeded to ravage. While thus employed the scattered
troops were surprised by O'Connor, and some were killed. The Lord Deputy
was just able to destroy or carry away the corn stored at Geashill, and
to return to Dublin without having seen the enemy. To gain time till the
season of long days came round again, Grey gave a safe-conduct to
O'Connor, who proposed to visit Dublin. 'But shortly herein to conclude,'
as Brabazon puts it, 'the said traitor and his brother Cahir fell to
agreement and concord, so that at this presents they both remain in
Offaly.' St. Leger, who had a cooler temper than Grey, saw the
impossibility of subduing even a single clan by desultory hostings. 'The
country,' he said, 'is much easier won than kept.' To overrun Offaly was
a small thing, but it could only be united to the Pale by the costly
expedient of fixed garrisons. O'Connor had got back his son, and indeed
neither he nor any Irishman had much regard for promises or for the fate
of hostages.[192]
[Sidenote: He continues to attack them.]
The O'Connors were weakened by repeated blows, and Alderman Herbert, who
had long advised a colonising policy, proposed that Offaly should be
peopled with Englishmen once for all. Grey again invaded the doomed
district with 800 men, and O'Connor at once declared himself willing to
treat, though he utterly refused to trust himself within the Pale. Grey
halted at Kinnafad, where a castle built by the Berminghams still
overhangs the ford of the Boyne. Having taken precautions against
treachery, the Lord Deputy passed about half his men over the river, and
then advanced with twelve horsemen to an open field about a quarter of a
mile off, where O'Connor met him similarly attended. The chief submitted
to the King's clemency, begged Grey's intercession, and promised to come
to Dublin in three days. Cahir sent word that he would come too, but
broke his promise. O'Connor kept his tryst, acknowledged himself the
King's liegeman, abjured the authority of the Pope for himself and his
tribesmen, renounced all Irish exactions, and gave up his black-rents,
including a pension of sixty marks from the King. Thanks were in future
to be his only reward for service; and he offered to hold legally of the
King 'that portion of lands in Offaly which he held by partition after
his country's fashion,' undertaking that his brothers and other holders
of land there should become entitled in the same way. These lands were to
be subject to impositions at so much per ploughland, as if they were
situated in the Pale, assessments for the defence of the King's subjects
being made as occasion might arise at the Lord Deputy's discretion. For
himself he solicited the honour of Baron of Offaly, and begged for such
protection as the Government habitually gave to Englishmen. He agreed
that the Lord Deputy and all the marchers might cut passes where they
pleased, and gave up his son again pending the King's final decision. The
crafty Cahir was hunted down, apparently with his brother's help, and
brought to Dublin, where he agreed to similar terms and also gave up his
son. Yet many sceptics thought the O'Connors would slip the yoke at the
first opportunity, and it is evident that nothing had occurred to change
their nature, or to attach them to English habits or to English
government.[193]
[Sidenote: Seizure of the five Geraldines.]
A main object of Grey's attack both on the O'Connors and the O'Briens may
have been to get possession of the heir of Kildare, whose half-sister was
married to the chief of Offaly. It is difficult to avoid the thought that
Grey had a private as well as a public object in persecuting to the death
all members of the fallen family except the children of his own sister.
The rebel Earl had five uncles, all men of fair ability and great
influence, and Brabazon seems first to have suggested that they ought to
be kept in England. Grey asked Sir James Fitzgerald and his brothers
Walter and Richard, all of whom had opposed the rebellion, to dine with
him at Kilmainham, and in the middle of dinner they were all seized and
handcuffed. Sir John and Oliver were arrested before they had heard of
their brothers' capture, and the five were lodged in the castle. Grey
always plumed himself on this exploit, though he admitted that some of
the prisoners were innocent. The Irish Council approved the deed and
applauded its secret handling, but none of the Irish officials knew that
they were sending these men to the scaffold; the guilt of that must rest
on Henry and Cromwell. Aylmer and Alen accompanied them to England, and
the chronicler tells us that Richard, who had literary tastes, relieved
the tedium of a sea-voyage by singing songs and repeating apophthegms.
When he heard that the ship was called 'The Cow,' he was much dismayed,
for there was a prophecy that five Earls' brethren should be carried to
England in a cow's belly, and should never return. 'Whereat,' says
Stanihurst, 'the rest began afresh to howl and lament, which doubtless
was pitiful, to behold five valiant gentlemen, that durst meet in the
field as sturdy champions as could be picked out in a realm, to be so
suddenly terrified with the bare name of a wooden cow, or to fear like
lions a silly coxcomb, being moved (as commonly the whole country is)
with a vain and fabulous old wives' dream.' On reaching London they were
at once sent to the Tower, and left it only to take the last sad journey
to Tyburn.[194]
[Sidenote: Survivor of the Kildare family. The 'Fair Geraldine.']
But the family was not destined to extinction. Lady Kildare had
accompanied her husband to England, and had her three daughters with her.
The eldest was deaf and dumb, and of the youngest nothing particular is
recorded, but the second, Lady Elizabeth, has by a strange chance been
immortalised as the 'Fair Geraldine.' While yet a child she became maid
of honour to the Princess Mary, at whose house at Hunsdon Henry, Earl of
Surrey, saw her. She was then only twelve. Four years later she was
married to Sir Anthony Browne, Master of the Horse and Knight of the
Garter, but also a widower of sixty, whose daughter by his first marriage
became her brother Gerald's wife. The unequal match was solemnized in the
presence of the King and of the Lady Mary, and Ridley preached on the
occasion which drew forth Surrey's sonnet. The situation of the bride's
family and the apparent sacrifice of herself sufficiently account for the
poetry, and there is no reason to suppose that the poet, who was married,
had any regrets for himself. The study of Italian models would naturally
lead to rather high-flown language, and poets were always privileged. The
romantic fable of the magic mirror in which Cornelius Agrippa, an
alchemist living at Florence, showed him the fair one reclining on a
bridal couch and reading his sonnet, would not be worth noticing but that
it found its way into the 'Lay of the Last Minstrel.' It is refuted by
the fact that Surrey never was in Italy. After the death of Browne, who
outlived Surrey, Lady Elizabeth was married to the Lord Admiral Clinton,
who had been twice a widower. She left no children by either marriage,
but her influence at Court may have had much to do with her brother's
restoration. A portrait remains to show that she had a sweet face, and
that she was not fairer than many who have had no poet. But canvas, and
especially the canvas of Holbein's school, seldom preserves the charm of
grace and motion. Three letters remain, creditable so far as they go, and
written in a clear, bold hand which contrasts strikingly with the crabbed
characters often affected by public men, characters which drew a sarcasm
from Shakespeare, and still trouble the historian. A portrait, three
letters, and fourteen pretty lines would have hardly preserved the fair
Geraldine's memory had it not been for the tragic fates of her father,
her brother, and her poet.[195]
[Sidenote: Edward Fitzgerald.]
Less than two years after her husband's death, and while her rash stepson
was lying in the Tower, Lady Kildare came to live at her brother
Leonard's house at Beaumanoir in Leicestershire. She found there her son
Edward, aged eight, who had been brought by some devoted but unknown
friends 'without word, token, nor letter.' With touching humbleness she
begged to be allowed the custody of him 'because he is an innocent, to
see him brought up in virtue.' The prayer was granted, and the child thus
strangely rescued lived to be Lieutenant of Queen Elizabeth's pensioners,
and ancestor of the Dukes of Leinster.[196]
[Sidenote: Gerald Fitzgerald.]
The King was most anxious to get Lady Kildare's eldest son into his
power, and St. Leger avers that the King had no object 'but to cherish
him as his kinsman in like sort as his other brother is cherished with
his mother in the realm of England.' Having disposed of all who were old
enough to be dangerous, it was doubtless Henry's intention to bring up
the children in English ways and in dependence on him. But Lady Mary
O'Connor had other views, and the adventures of Gerald show how
inextricably the Geraldines were intermingled with Celtic families. He
was ten years old when his half-brother was taken, and was then lying in
small-pox at Donore in Kildare. As soon as he could be moved his tutor,
Thomas Leverous, who was his father's foster-brother, carried him off in
a basket and brought him safely to his sister in Offaly. Lady Mary
procured him a three months' shelter among the O'Doynes, and he was then
removed to Clare and placed under the charge of James Delahide. O'Brien,
who had the Kildare plate and jewels as well as the heir in his power,
refused all offers of the Government; and Leverous and Delahide were
allowed to take Gerald to Kilbrittain Castle, and give him up to his
aunt, Lady Eleanor MacCarthy, widow of the late and mother of the actual
chief of Carbery. Had James Fitzjohn of Desmond wished to surrender the
boy MacCarthy could hardly have resisted; but they agreed to amuse the
Government with evasive answers, while Gerald employed himself in
visiting the old tenants of his family about Adare and Croom. James
Fitzjohn offered to take those manors on lease, the real object being to
keep off grants to strangers. But Lady Eleanor feared the issue of this
unequal contest, and agreed to marry Manus O'Donnell, whom she had
rejected some years before. The marriage was desired by the whole
Geraldine connection, and Lady Eleanor, accompanied by Leverous,
Delahide, and the chaplain Walshe, brought her nephew safely through
Thomond, Clanricarde, and Mayo, into Tyrconnell. All the O'Briens and
Burkes welcomed and sped them on their journey. As the travellers
approached Sligo they were joined by a rhymer named M'Cragh, a native of
Tipperary, who was studying his craft in those parts, and through him
many details became known to Ormonde. After her marriage with O'Donnell,
Lady Eleanor busied herself in forming a confederacy of the Northern
chiefs with Desmond and her friends in Leinster and Munster.[197]
[Sidenote: Gerald escapes to France, 1540.]
But Irish plots are commonly woven in sand, and Grey's activity
disconcerted her schemes. Fearing that O'Donnell might be bribed, as
Brabazon suggested, to give up the boy, she determined to send him to
France. Allen Governor, an English shipowner of St. Malo, happened to be
trading in Donegal, and agreed to take the precious passenger. A contract
was drawn up before a notary, in which Governor bound himself to land
Gerald and his companions safely in France. Bareheaded, and wearing only
the saffron shirt of a humble native, Gerald stole out in a small boat by
night and committed himself and his fortunes to the chances of the sea.
His aunt had provided him with 140 moidores, and he had also some plate,
with part of which his passage was paid. His companions were Leverous,
Robert Walshe, a faithful ally but a stern disciplinarian, who did not
even spare the rod in the interests of his noble charge, and a young
gentleman whose name is not recorded. They arrived safely at Morlaix,
where the military governor received Gerald and led him through the town
by the hand, taking especial care that no English trader should come near
him. Henry's ambassador was nevertheless well informed as to the boy's
movements. He re-embarked on the same vessel with a pilot named Jacques
Cartier, who brought him to St. Malo, where he was hospitably treated by
the Lieutenant-Governor.[198]
[Sidenote: Gerald abroad, 1540.]
When Chateaubriand, the Governor of Brittany, heard the news, he sent a
special messenger to bring the refugees to Rennes. The gossips there
would have it that Gerald was the rightful King of Ireland, and that
Henry was a mere usurper; and neither he nor his friends could correct
them: for they spoke no French. Chateaubriand treated his guest well and
forwarded him to Court, where Wallop demanded his surrender as a treaty
obligation. Francis did not deny this, but quietly removed the boy to the
imperial town of Valenciennes. The faithful Leverous still attended him
to watch against English kidnappers who were hanging about, and for
greater security sent him to the Emperor at Brussels. But English
diplomacy was importunate, and Charles transferred him to the
Prince-bishop of Liège, with an allowance of one hundred crowns a month.
After six months' residence with the Bishop, his kinsman Reginald Pole
sent him to Italy, pensioned him, and provided the best education the
peninsula afforded in the houses of the Bishops of Verona and Mantua, and
of Gonzago, Duke of Milan, who gave him a further pension. His last
patron in Italy was Cosmo de' Medici, who allowed him three hundred
crowns annually; and a three years' residence at Florence doubtless made
him a proficient in the arts of courtly dissimulation. Leverous was
admitted to the English monastery at Rome, and in Mary's reign became
Bishop of Kildare; Robert Walshe went back to Ireland, but I do not find
that his attainder was reversed or that he was ever pardoned.[199]
[Sidenote: Geraldine pride.]
O'Donnell soon made his submission, and was restored to favour. Lady
Eleanor had some reason to be afraid, for Alen had proposed to invade
Tyrconnell by sea and land with all the forces at the King's disposal.
But she had now secured her nephew, and cared nothing for her new husband
or his dangers. She called him traitor and many other hard names, said
that the only object of her marriage was now gained, and that she had no
further occasion for his company. She returned to her son's relations in
Munster, but was not pardoned till 1545, seemingly because she did not
ask sooner. The Irish Government refused to plead her cause as long as
she remained obstinately among the MacCarthies. She came therefore to
Malahide on safe-conduct, and thence forwarded a petition to which, as if
the Geraldine pride scorned the Irish strain, she affixed her maiden
name. After this the frequent reports of a Geraldine invasion ceased, but
the head of the family thought it prudent to remain abroad until the
death of Henry VIII.[200]
FOOTNOTES:
[171] Lady Skeffington to Anne Boleyn, Jan. 26, 1536; to Cromwell, Aug.
1. Anthony Colley to Cromwell, in _Carew_, Feb. 13, 1536; Lord Deputy and
Council to Cromwell, Nov. 23.
[172] 28 and 29 Henry VIII. The contemporary Schedule of Acts is in the
S.P. ii. 526. Brabazon to Cromwell, May 17, 1536; Cromwell to the Lord
Deputy and Council, June 3.
[173] _Irish Statutes_, 28 and 29 Henry VIII. Brabazon to Cromwell, May
17; Grey to Cromwell, May 21.
[174] 25 Henry VI., c. 5 and c. 9, and see Hardiman's _Statute of
Kilkenny_, p. 129; 17 Henry VI., see _Carew_, vol. iv. p. 457; 12 and 13
Henry VII. For the earlier legislation, see Gilbert's _Viceroys_, pp.
216, 244. The Act of Absentees is 28 Henry VIII., cap. 3. For the
preparation of Bills in England, see Audeley to Cromwell, S.P. vol. ii.
p. 439.
[175] Grey to Cromwell, June 24, 1536, for the treaty with Con O'Neill.
The other treaties are in _Carew_, May 4, May 12, and May 31.
[176] Lord Deputy and Council to Cromwell, June 1, 1536; Council of
Ireland to Cromwell, June 30; William Wise to Cromwell, July 12.
[177] The Council of Ireland to Cromwell, Aug. 9; Grey to Cromwell, Aug.
10.
[178] The Council of Ireland to Cromwell, Aug. 9; William Body to
Cromwell, Aug. 9, in _Carew_; Grey to Cromwell, Aug. 10.
[179] Same authorities; also Lord Butler to Cromwell, Aug. 11.
[180] Body to Cromwell, Aug. 1536, in _Carew_; Grey to Cromwell, Nov. 24;
Lord Butler to Cromwell, Aug. 11.
[181] Grey to Cromwell, Aug. 10; Body's letter, as above; Lord Deputy and
Council to Cromwell, Nov. 23; Grey to Cromwell, same date.
[182] Council of Ireland to Cromwell, Aug. 22, 1536, and the notes; Grey
to the King, Aug. 19.
[183] Council of Ireland to Cromwell, Aug. 22. This session of Parliament
began Sept. 15, 1536.
[184] See the _State Papers_, vol. ii. pp. 366, 367. The Duke of Richmond
died Aug. 22, 1536.
[185] The King to the Lord Deputy and Council, Feb. 25, 1537.
[186] Lord Deputy and Council to Cromwell, April 20, 1537; to the King,
same date.
[187] Grey and Brabazon to Cromwell, June 11, 1537; Council to Cromwell,
June 26; Thomas Alen to Cromwell, June 12, in _Carew_.
[188] The King to St. Leger and others, with the Commission of July 31,
1537; to the Lord Deputy and Council, same date; to Grey, same date.
[189] Lord Deputy and Council to Cromwell, Aug. 12. Grey to Cromwell,
Aug. 16, 1537, wrongly printed under 1539 in the S.P.; same to same,
Sept. 1.
[190] _Four Masters_ and _Annals of Lough Cé_, 1512 and 1537. Manus
O'Donnell to Grey, Aug. 20, 1537. Ware says that Donegal Friary contained
a famous library.
[191] Grey to Cromwell, Sept. 1, 1537; J. Alen to St. Leger and others,
No. 183 in the printed S.P.
[192] Brabazon to Cromwell, Dec. 31, 1537. St. Leger to Cromwell, Jan. 2,
1538.
[193] From the light it throws on the land question O'Connor's prayer is
worth transcribing:--
'Humiliter petit, quatenus Dominus Rex, ex suâ gratiâ, dignetur concedere
sibi, per literas suas patentes, quod ipse, et exitus sui, sint liberi
status, et homines legales, more Anglicorum; et quod sit Baro de Offaly,
atque habeat sibi et heredibus suis ex regia donatione portionem terrarum
in Offaly, quas nunc illic possidet per partitionem, more patriæ,
tenendam de Domino Rege secundum leges Anglicanas; ac quod simili
auctoritate, fratres sui, et alii possessionarii terrarum ibidem, terras
quas nunc possident habeant sibi et heredibus suis; ipse et omnes alii et
heredes sui, reddendo Dominio Regi, annuatim, de qualibet carucata terræ,
tres solidos et quatuor denarios; et quod carucatæ terræ in Offaly,
quotiens Domino Deputato visum fuerit, ac necessitas emergerit, onerantur
et assidentur belligeris pro defensione subditorum Domini Regis, eodem
modo sicut cæteræ carucatæ terræ inter regios subditos onerantur et
assidentur. Igitur humiliter petit, quod Dominus Rex, et Deputati sui,
pro tempore existentes, suscipiant suam protectionem et defensionem
contra omnes alios, prout suscipiant defensionem Anglicorum.' Submission
of O'Connor, March 6, 1538.--Grey to Cromwell, March 17, 1538; Francis
Herbert to Cromwell, March 21, 1536, to Norfolk, Jan. 24, 1538; Grey to
Cromwell, April 1, 1538.
[194] Brabazon to Cromwell, Sept. 10, 1535; Council of Ireland to
Cromwell, Feb. 14, 1536; Stanihurst; Ware; _Four Masters_, 1535.
[195] Nearly all that is really known about her is contained in a memoir
by the Rev. James Graves. See also Hallam's _History of Literature_ and
Lodge's _Lives of the Earls of Surrey and Kildare_.
[196] Lady Kildare to Cromwell, July 16, 1536. Articles by St. Leger and
others, Dec. 10, 1537.
[197] St. Leger and others to Cromwell, Jan. 2, 1538; Ormonde to the
Irish Council, S.P., vol. iii. p. 44; Stanihurst.
[198] Brabazon to Cromwell, May 26, 1539; Stanihurst.
[199] Sir John Wallop to Essex, April 18, 1540, S.P., vol. viii.; Lord
Deputy and Council to the King, July 12, 1542, and Henry's unfavourable
answer; Bartholomew Warner to Wallop, May 22, 1540.
[200] Lady Eleanor O'Donnell to the King, May 4, 1545.