IRELAND UNDER THE TUDORS
VOL. III.
2 vols. 8vo. 32_s._
IRELAND UNDER THE TUDORS.
WITH A SUCCINCT ACCOUNT OF THE EARLIER HISTORY.
By RICHARD BAGWELL, M.A.
VOLS. I. and II.
From the First Invasion of the Northmen to the year 1578.
London: LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO.
IRELAND UNDER THE TUDORS
WITH A SUCCINCT ACCOUNT OF THE
EARLIER HISTORY
BY
RICHARD BAGWELL, M.A.
IN THREE VOLUMES
VOL. III.
LONDON
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
AND NEW YORK: 15 EAST 16th STREET
1890
_All rights reserved_
PREFACE
TO
THE THIRD VOLUME.
By a mistake which was not the author's, the title-pages of its first
instalment described this book as being in two volumes. A third
had, nevertheless, been previously announced, and this promise is
now fulfilled. The Desmond and Tyrone rebellions, the destruction
of the Armada, the disastrous enterprise of Essex, and two foreign
invasions, have been described in some detail; and even those who
speak slightingly of drum and trumpet histories may find something of
interest in the adventures of Captain Cuellar, and in the chapter on
Elizabethan Ireland.
A critic has said that your true State-paper historian may be known
by his ignorance of all that has already been printed on any given
subject. If this wise saying be true, then am I no State-paper
historian; for the number of original documents in print steadily
increases as we go down the stream of time, and they have been
freely drawn upon here. But by far the larger part still remains in
manuscript, and the labour connected with them has been greater than
before, since Mr. H. C. Hamilton's guidance was wanting after 1592.
Much help is given by Fynes Moryson's history. Moryson was a great
traveller, whose business it had been to study manners and customs,
who was Mountjoy's secretary during most of his time in Ireland, and
whose brother held good official positions both before and after.
Much of what this amusing writer says is corroborated by independent
evidence. Other authorities are indicated in the foot-notes, or have
been discussed in the preface to the first two volumes. Wherever no
other collection is mentioned, it is to be understood that all letters
and papers cited are in the public Record Office.
It has not been thought generally necessary to give the dates both in
old and new style. The officials, and Englishmen generally, invariably
refused to adopt the Gregorian calendar, but the priests, and many
Irishmen who followed them, naturally took the opposite course. As a
rule, therefore, the chronology is old style, but a double date has
been given wherever confusion seemed likely to arise.
It has often been said that religion had little or nothing to do with
the Tudor wars in Ireland, but this is very far from the truth. It was
the energy and devotion of the friars and Jesuits that made the people
resist, and it was Spanish or papal gold that enabled the chiefs to
keep the field. This volume shows how violent was the feeling against
an excommunicated Queen, and, whether they were always right or not,
we can scarcely wonder that Elizabeth and her servants saw an enemy of
England in every active adherent of Rome.
At first the Queen showed some signs of a wish to remain on friendly
terms with the Holy See, but she became the Protestant champion even
against her own inclination. Sixtus V. admired her great qualities,
and invited her to return to the bosom of the Church. 'Strange
proposition!' says Ranke, 'as if she had it in her power to choose; as
if her past life, the whole import of her being, her political position
and attitude, did not, even supposing her conviction not to be sincere,
enchain her to the Protestant cause. Elizabeth returned no answer, but
she laughed.'
The Elizabethan conquest of Ireland was cruel mainly because the
Crown was poor. Unpaid soldiers are necessarily oppressors, and are
as certain to cause discontent as they are certain to be inefficient
for police purposes. The history of Ireland would have been quite
different had it been possible for England to govern her as she has
governed India--by scientific administrators, who tolerate all creeds
and respect all prejudices. But no such machinery, nor even the idea of
it, then existed, and nothing seemed possible but to crush rebellion
by destroying the means of resistance. It was famine that really ended
the Tyrone war, and it was caused as much by internecine quarrels among
the Irish as by the more systematic blood-letting of Mountjoy and
Carew. The work was so completely done that it lasted for nearly forty
years, and even then there could have been no upheaval, but that forces
outside Ireland had paralysed the English Government.
My best thanks are due to the Marquis of Salisbury for his kindness in
giving me access to the treasures at Hatfield, and to Mr. R. T. Gunton
for enabling me to use that privilege in the pleasantest way.
MARLFIELD, CLONMEL,
_March 17, 1890_.
CONTENTS
OF
THE THIRD VOLUME.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
REBELLION OF JAMES FITZMAURICE, 1579.
PAGE
Papal designs against Ireland 1
James Fitzmaurice abroad 3
The last of Thomas Stukeley 6
Defencelessness of Ireland 8
Ulster in 1579 9
Fitzmaurice invades Ireland 10
Manifestoes against Elizabeth 13
Attitude of Desmond 17
Nicholas Sanders 17
Murder of Henry Davells 20
The Geraldines disunited 22
Death of Fitzmaurice 23
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE DESMOND REBELLION, 1579-1580.
English vacillation 25
Progress of the rebellion 26
Last hesitations of Desmond 28
Desmond proclaimed traitor 31
Youghal sacked by Desmond 33
Ormonde's revenge 35
The Queen is persuaded to act 38
Irish warfare 40
Pelham and Ormonde in Kerry 42
Maltby in Connaught 43
State of Munster 44
Ormonde's raid 48
Rebellion of Baltinglas 51
A Catholic confederacy 52
Results of Pelham's policy 54
Low condition of Desmond 57
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE DESMOND WAR--SECOND STAGE, 1580-1581.
Arrival of Lord-Deputy Grey 59
The disaster in Glenmalure 60
Consequences 63
Spanish descent in Kerry 65
Siege and surrender of the Smerwick fort 72
The massacre 74
State of Connaught 79
An empty treasury and storehouses 79
The Earl of Kildare's troubles 80
Confusion in Munster 83
Raleigh 85
Ormonde superseded 87
Death of Sanders 89
CHAPTER XXXIX.
THE DESMOND WAR--FINAL STAGE, 1581-1582.
Partial amnesty--William Nugent 91
Maltby in Connaught 92
John of Desmond slain 93
Savage warfare 96
Recall of Grey 97
William Nugent's rebellion 99
Ormonde is restored 101
How ill-paid soldiers behaved 102
Desmond's cruelty 103
General famine 104
Abortive negotiations 105
The rebels repulsed from Youghal 107
Ormonde shuts up Desmond in Kerry 107
Last struggles of Desmond 108
Ormonde and his detractors 110
Death of Desmond 113
The Geraldine legend 114
CHAPTER XL.
GOVERNMENT OF PERROTT, 1583-1584.
Case of Archbishop O'Hurley 116
Spanish help comes too late 118
Murder of Sir John Shamrock Burke 119
Trial by combat 121
First proceedings of Perrott 122
Sir John Norris and Sir Richard Bingham 124
The Church 125
Munster forfeitures 126
The Ulster Scots 127
A forest stronghold 131
Proposed University 131
Hostility of Perrott and Loftus 134
State of the four provinces 135
CHAPTER XLI.
GOVERNMENT OF PERROTT, 1585-1588.
The MacDonnells in Ulster 138
Perrott's Parliament 140
Composition in Connaught 147
Perrott's troubles 148
The Desmond attainder 149
The MacDonnells become subjects 150
Bingham in Connaught 151
The Scots overthrown in Sligo 154
Perrott's enemies 157
Irish troops in Holland--Sir W. Stanley 161
The Irish in Spain 163
Prerogative and revenue 165
Bingham and Perrott 166
Perrott leaves Ireland peaceful 168
The Desmond forfeitures 169
CHAPTER XLII.
THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA.
Unprepared state of Ireland 172
Sufferings of the Spaniards--Recalde 173
Wrecks in Kerry, Clare, and Mayo 174
Wrecks in Galway 176
Alonso de Leyva 177
Wrecks in Sligo 180
Adventures of Captain Cuellar 183
Spanish account of the wild Irish 185
Summary of Spanish losses 188
Tyrone and O'Donnell 190
Wreck in Lough Foyle 191
Relics and traditions 192
The Armada a crusade 193
The last of the Armada 194
CHAPTER XLIII.
ADMINISTRATION OF FITZWILLIAM, 1588-1594.
Ulster after the Armada 196
O'Donnell politics 197
The Desmond forfeitures--Spenser 198
Raleigh 199
Florence MacCarthy 200
The MacMahons 201
Bingham in Connaught 203
O'Connor Sligo's case 208
Bingham and his accusers 210
Sir Brian O'Rourke 212
Mutiny in Dublin 217
Tyrone and Tirlogh Luineach 218
Rival O'Neills 220
Rival O'Donnells 221
Hugh Roe O'Donnell 222
Tyrone and the Bagenals 223
CHAPTER XLIV.
ADMINISTRATION OF FITZWILLIAM, 1592-1594.
Escape of Hugh Roe O'Donnell 226
O'Donnell, Maguire, and Tyrone 227
Trial and death of Perrott 228
Spanish intrigues 233
Fighting in Ulster 234
Recall of Fitzwilliam 236
Tyrone's grievances 237
Fitzwilliam, Tyrone, and Ormonde 238
Florence MacCarthy 240
Remarks on Fitzwilliam's government 241
CHAPTER XLV.
GOVERNMENT OF RUSSELL, 1594-1597.
Russell and Tyrone 242
Russell relieves Enniskillen 244
Tyrone generally suspected 245
The Wicklow Highlanders--Walter Reagh 246
Feagh MacHugh O'Byrne 247
Recruiting for Irish service 248
Soldiers and amateurs 250
Sir John Norris 251
The Irish retake Enniskillen 252
Murder of George Bingham 253
Tyrone proclaimed traitor 254
Quarrels of Norris and Russell 255
Ormonde and Tyrone 255
Bingham, Tyrone, and Norris 256
Death of Tirlogh Luineach O'Neill 258
Tyrone's dealings with Spain 258
A truce 259
O'Donnell overruns Connaught 260
Liberty of conscience 261
Confusion in Connaught 263
Elizabeth on the dispensing power 264
Norris and Russell 265
Story of the Spanish letter 267
Spaniards in Ulster 268
Bingham in Connaught 268
Bingham leaves Ireland 271
Crusade against English Protestants 272
Disorderly soldiers 273
Death of Feagh MacHugh 274
Dissensions between Norris and Russell 276
Bingham in disgrace 278
CHAPTER XLVI.
GOVERNMENT OF LORD BURGH, 1597.
Last acts of Russell 280
Norris and Burgh 282
Burgh attacks Tyrone 283
Failure of Clifford at Ballyshannon 285
Gallant defence of Blackwater fort 286
Death of Burgh 287
Death of Norris 288
Belfast in 1597 289
Disaster at Carrickfergus 290
Tyrone and Ormonde 291
Brigandage in Munster 292
Florence MacCarthy 293
CHAPTER XLVII.
GENERAL RISING UNDER TYRONE, 1598-1599.
Bacon and Essex 294
The Blackwater fort 295
Battle of the Yellow Ford 297
Panic in Dublin 300
The Munster settlement destroyed 301
The Sugane Earl of Desmond 302
Spenser, Raleigh, and others 305
The native gentry and Tyrone 307
Religious animosity 308
Weakness of the Government 309
O'Donnell in Clare 310
Tyrone in Munster 311
CHAPTER XLVIII.
ESSEX IN IRELAND, 1599.
Essex offends the Queen 313
His ambition 315
Opinions of Bacon and Wotton 316
Great expectations 318
Evil auguries 320
Sir Arthur Chichester 321
Essex in Leinster 323
In Munster 324
Siege of Cahir 325
Deaths of Sir Thomas and Sir Henry Norris 326
Harrington's defeat in Wicklow 328
Failure of Essex 331
Anger of the Queen 332
Death of Sir Conyers Clifford 336
Essex goes to Ulster 339
Essex makes peace with Tyrone 340
The Queen blames Essex 342
Who goes home without leave 343
Harrington's account of Tyrone 344
Reception of Essex at court 346
Negotiations with Tyrone 347
Folly of Essex 348
Liberty of conscience 349
CHAPTER XLIX.
GOVERNMENT OF MOUNTJOY, 1600.
Raleigh's advice 351
Tyrone's Holy War in Munster 352
Arrival of Mountjoy and Carew 353
Tyrone plays the king 354
Ormonde captured by the O'Mores 355
Carew in Munster--Florence MacCarthy 360
Docwra occupies Derry 361
Carew in Munster 363
O'Donnell harries Clare 365
Mountjoy and Essex 366
James VI. 368
The Pale 369
The midland counties 370
Mountjoy bridles Tyrone 372
Progress of Docwra 373
Relief of Derry 375
Spaniards in Donegal 376
Carew reduces Munster 377
The Queen's Earl of Desmond 379
The end of the house of Desmond 384
CHAPTER L.
GOVERNMENT OF MOUNTJOY, 1601.
Mountjoy and the Queen 386
Final reduction of Wicklow 387
Mountjoy and Essex 388
Confession of Essex--Lady Rich 389
The last of the Sugane Earl 391
Mountjoy in Tyrone 392
Plot to assassinate Tyrone 393
An Irish stronghold 394
Brass money 395
CHAPTER LI.
THE SPANIARDS IN MUNSTER, 1601-1602.
The Spaniards land at Kinsale 398
Mountjoy in Munster 399
The Spaniards come in the Pope's name 400
The siege of Kinsale 401
O'Donnell joins Tyrone 403
Spanish reinforcements 404
Irish auxiliaries 406
Total defeat of Tyrone 408
Kinsale capitulates 411
Importance of this siege 414
Great cost of the war 415
CHAPTER LII.
THE END OF THE REIGN, 1602-1603.
The Spaniards still feared 417
The Queen's anger against Tyrone 418
Carew reduces Munster 419
Siege of Dunboy 421
Death and character of Hugh Roe O'Donnell 425
Last struggles in Connaught 426
Progress of Docwra in Ulster 427
The O'Neill throne broken up 428
Last struggles in Munster 429
O'Sullivan Bere 430
Submission of Rory O'Donnell 432
Tyrone sues for mercy 433
Famine 434
Tyrone and James VI. 435
Death of Queen Elizabeth 437
Submission of Tyrone 438
Elizabeth's work in Ireland 439
CHAPTER LIII.
ELIZABETHAN IRELAND.
Natural features 441
Roads and strongholds 442
Field sports 444
Agriculture 445
Cattle 445
Fish 447
Trade and manufactures 447
Wine, ale, and whisky 448
Descriptions of the people 450
Tyrone's soldiers 451
Costume 452
Conversion of chiefs into noblemen 453
Bards and musicians 454
Tobacco 455
Garrison life 456
Spenser and his friends 457
CHAPTER LIV.
THE CHURCH.
Elizabeth's bishops 459
Forlorn state of the Church 460
Zeal of the Roman party 461
Bishop Lyon 463
Position of Protestants 464
Papal emissaries 465
Protestant Primates 466
Miler Magrath 468
The country clergy 469
Trinity College, Dublin 470
Irish seminaries abroad 472
Early printers in Ireland 473
Toleration--Bacon's ideas 474
Social forces against the Reformation 475
INDEX 477
_MAPS._
MUNSTER _To face p._ 24.
ULSTER _To face p._ 244.
_Errata._
Page 18, line 12 from bottom, _for_ provided to Killaloe _read_
provided to Killala.
Page 56, bottom line, _before_ Sanders _insert_ and.
Page 384, line 4 from bottom, _for_ Butler _read_ Preston.
IRELAND UNDER THE TUDORS.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
REBELLION OF JAMES FITZMAURICE, 1579.
[Sidenote: Papal designs against Ireland. Stukeley.]
Sidney's departure had been partly delayed by a report that Stukeley's
long-threatened invasion was at last coming. The adventurer had been
knighted in Spain, and Philip had said something about the Duchy of
Leinster. The Duke of Feria and his party were willing to make him
Duke of Ireland, and he seems to have taken that title. At Paris
Walsingham remonstrated with Olivares, who carelessly, and no doubt
falsely, replied that he had never heard of Stukeley, but that the
king habitually honoured those who offered him service. Walsingham
knew no Spanish, and Olivares would speak nothing else, so that the
conversation could scarcely have serious results. But the remonstrances
of Archbishop Fitzgibbon and other genuine Irish refugees gradually
told upon Philip, and the means of living luxuriously and making
a show were withheld. 'The practices of Stukeley,' wrote Burghley
to Walsingham, 'are abated in Spain by discovery of his lewdness
and insufficiency;' and he went to Rome, where the Countess of
Northumberland had secured him a good reception. 'He left Florida
kingdom,' said Fitzwilliam sarcastically, 'only for holiness' sake, and
to have a red hat;' adding that he was thought holy at Waterford for
going barefooted about streets and churches. 'It is incredible,' says
Fuller, 'how quickly he wrought himself through the notice into the
favour, through the court into the chamber, yea, closet and bosom, of
Pope Pius Quintus.' An able seaman, Stukeley was in some degree fitted
to advance the Pontiff's darling plan for crushing the Turks. The old
pirate did find his way to Don John of Austria's fleet, and seems to
have been present at Lepanto. His prowess in the Levant restored him
to Philip's favour, and he was soon again in Spain, in company with a
Doria and in receipt of 1,000 ducats a week.[1]
[Sidenote: Thomas Stukeley on the Continent.]
There was much movement at the time among the Irish in Spain, and
the air was filled with rumours. Irish friars showed letters from
Philip ordering all captains to be punished who refused them passages
to Ireland, and the Inquisition was very active. One Frenchman was
nevertheless bold enough to say that he would rather burn than have a
friar on board, and those who sought a passage from him had to bestow
themselves on a Portuguese ship. In 1575 Stukeley was again at Rome,
and in as high favour with Gregory XIII. as he had been with his
predecessor. The Pope employed him in Flanders, where he had dealings
with Egremont Radcliffe. That luckless rebel had bitterly repented; but
when he returned and offered his services to the queen, she spurned
them and bade him depart the realm. From very want, perhaps, he entered
Don John's service, and when that prince died he was executed on a
trumped-up charge of poisoning him. Stukeley was more fortunate, for
he had then left the Netherlands, and Don John took credit with the
English agent for sending him away. Wilson was equal to the occasion,
and said the gain was the king's, for Stukeley was a vain 'nebulo'
and all the treasures of the Indies too little for his prodigal
expenditure. It would be interesting to know what passed between the
two adventurers, the bastard of Austria and the Devonshire renegade;
between the man who tried to found a kingdom at Tunis, and talked
of marrying Mary Stuart, conquering England, and obtaining the crown
matrimonial, and the man who, having dreamed of addressing his dear
sister Elizabeth from the throne of Florida, now sought to deprive her
of the Duchy of Ireland. Like so many who had to deal with this strange
being, perhaps the governor of the Netherlands was imposed upon by his
vapourings and treated him as a serious political agent. After leaving
Brussels he went to Rome, well supplied with money and spending it in
his old style everywhere. At Sienna Mr. Henry Cheek thought him so
dangerous that he moved to Ferrara to be out of his way. At Florence
the Duke honoured Stukeley greatly, 'as did the other dukes of Italy,
esteeming him as their companion.' But he was without honour among his
own countrymen, and they refused a dinner to which he invited all the
English at Sienna except Cheek.[2]
[Sidenote: Fitzmaurice on the Continent.]
James Fitzmaurice was already at Rome. He had spent the best part of
two years in France, where he was well entertained, but where he found
no real help. He received supplies of money occasionally. The Parisians
daily addressed him as King of Ireland, but nothing was done towards
the realisation of the title. Sir William Drury's secret agent was in
communication with one of Fitzmaurice's most trusted companions, and
his hopes and fears were well known in Ireland. At one time he was sure
of 1,200 Frenchmen, at another he was likely to get 4,000; and De la
Roche, who was no stranger in Munster, was to have at least six tall
ships for transport. De la Roche did nothing but convey the exile's
eldest son, Maurice, to Portugal, where he entered the University of
Coimbra. Sir Amyas Paulet had instructions to remonstrate with the
French Court, and the old Puritan seems to have been quite a match for
Catherine de Medici; but there was little sincerity on either side. The
Queen-mother's confidential agent confessed that all was in disorder,
and that the French harbours were full of pirates and thieves, but
she herself told Paulet that De la Roche had strict orders to attempt
nothing against England. Having little hope of France, Fitzmaurice
himself went to Spain, where his reception was equally barren of
result. The Catholic King was perhaps offended at the Most Christian
King having been first applied to, and at all events he was not yet
anxious to break openly with his sister-in-law.[3]
[Sidenote: Fitzmaurice and the Pope.]
But at Rome, Fitzmaurice was received by Gregory with open arms. He was
on very friendly terms with Everard Mercurian, the aged general of the
Jesuits, who was, however, personally opposed to sending members of the
order to England, Ireland, or Scotland; a point on which he was soon
overruled by younger men. What the life of a Jesuit missionary was may
be gathered from a letter written to the General about this time.
'Once,' wrote Edmund Tanner from Rosscarbery, 'was I captured by the
heretics and liberated by God's grace, and the industry of pious
people; twelve times did I escape the snares of the impious, who would
have caught me again had God permitted them.'
But the harvest, though hard to reap, was not inconsiderable. Tanner
reported that nobles and townsmen were daily received into the bosom of
Holy Church out of the 'sink of schism,' and that the conversion would
have been much more numerous but that many feared present persecution,
and the loss of life, property, or liberty.
This chain still kept back a well-affected multitude, but the links
were worn, and there was good hope that it soon would break.[4]
[Sidenote: Fitzmaurice expects to free Ireland.]
We know from an original paper which fell into the hands of the English
Government, what were Fitzmaurice's modes and requirements for the
conquest of Ireland. Six thousand armed soldiers and their pay for six
months, ten good Spanish or Italian officers, six heavy and fifteen
light guns, 3,000 stand of arms with powder and lead, three ships of
400, 50, and 30 tons respectively, three boats for crossing rivers, and
a nuncio with twenty well-instructed priests--such were the instruments
proposed. He required licence to take English ships outside Spanish
ports, and to sell prizes in Spain. Property taken from Geraldines was
to remain in the family, and every Geraldine doing good service was
to be confirmed by his Holiness and his Catholic Majesty in land and
title. Finally, 6,000 troops were to be sent to him in six months,
should he make a successful descent.
As sanguine, or as desperate, as Wolfe Tone in later times, he fancied
that England could be beaten in her own dominion by such means as
these. Sanders, who was probably deceived by his Irish friends as to
the amount of help which might be expected in Ireland, had no belief in
Philip, whom he pronounced 'as fearful of war as a child of fire.' The
Pope alone could be trusted, and he would give 2,000 men. 'If they do
not serve to go to England,' he said, 'at least they will serve to go
to Ireland; the state of Christendom dependeth upon the stout assailing
of England.'[5]
[Sidenote: Fitzmaurice and Stukeley.]
Stukeley appears to have got on better with Fitzmaurice than with
Archbishop Fitzgibbon, which may have been owing to the mediation of
Sanders or Allen. The Pope agreed to give some money, and Fitzmaurice
hit upon an original way of raising an army. 'At that time,' says an
historian likely to be well informed about Roman affairs, 'Italy was
infested by certain bands of robbers, who used to lurk in woods and
mountains, whence they descended by night to plunder the villages,
and to spoil travellers on the highways. James implored Pope Gregory
XIII. to afford help to the tottering Catholic Church in Ireland, and
obtained pardon for these brigands on condition of accompanying him
to Ireland, and with these and others he recruited a force of 1,000
soldiers more or less.' This body of desperadoes was commanded by
veteran officers, of which Hercules of Pisa (or Pisano) was one, and
accompanied by Sanders and by Cornelius O'Mulrian, Bishop of Killaloe.
Stukeley kept up the outward show of piety which he had begun at
Waterford and continued in Spain, and he obtained a large number of
privileged crucifixes from the Pontiff, perhaps with the intention of
selling them well. It must be allowed that an army of brigands greatly
needed indulgence, and fifty days were granted to everyone who devoutly
beheld one of these crosses, the period beginning afresh at each act of
adoration. Every other kind of indulgence might seem superfluous after
this, but many were also offered for special acts of prayer, a main
object of which was the aggrandisement of Mary Stuart.
Stukeley was placed in supreme charge of the expedition, which seems to
have been done by the desire of Fitzmaurice, and the titles conferred
on him by Gregory were magnificent enough even for his taste. He took
upon himself to act as mediator between some travelling Englishmen
and the Holy Office, and having obtained their release he gave them a
passport. This precious document was in the name of Thomas Stukeley,
Knight, Baron of Ross and Idrone, Viscount of Murrows and Kinsella,
Earl of Wexford and Carlow, Marquis of Leinster, General of our Most
Holy Father; and the contents are certified 'in ample and infallible
manner.' Marquis of Leinster was the title by which Roman ecclesiastics
generally addressed him.[6]
[Sidenote: Battle of Alcazar, 1578. Death of Stukeley.]
Stukeley left Civita Vecchia early in 1578, and brought his ships,
his men, and his stores of arms to Lisbon, where he found nine Irish
refugees, priests and scholars, whom Gregory had ordered to accompany
him. He called them together, and, with characteristic grandiosity,
offered a suitable daily stipend to each. Six out of the nine refused,
saying: 'They were no man's subjects, and would take no stipend from
anyone but the supreme Pontiff, or some king or great prince.' This
exhibition of the chronic ill-feeling between English and Irish
refugees argued badly for the success of their joint enterprise. After
some hesitation, Sebastian of Portugal decided not to take part in
this attack on a friendly power, and he invited the English adventurer
to join him in invading Morocco, where dynastic quarrels gave him a
pretext for intervention. Secretary Wilson was told that Stukeley had
no choice, 'the King having seized upon him and his company to serve
in Africa.' Sebastian had also German mercenaries with him. There
was a sort of alliance at this time between England and Morocco,
Elizabeth having sent an agent, with an Irish name, who found the
Moorish Emperor 'an earnest Protestant, of good religion and living,
and well experimented as well in the Old Testament as in the New, with
great affection to God's true religion used in Her Highness's realm.'
Whatever we may think of this, it is easy to believe that the Moor
despised Philip as being 'governed by the Pope and Inquisition.' But it
is not probable that this curious piece of diplomacy had much effect on
the main issue. Stukeley warned Sebastian against rashness, advising
him to halt at the seaside to exercise his troops, who were chiefly
raw levies, and to gain some experience in Moorish tactics. But the
young King, whose life was of such supreme importance to his country,
was determined to risk all upon the cast of a die. The great battle of
Alcazar was fatal alike to the Portuguese King and the Moorish Emperor.
Stukeley also fell, fighting bravely to the last, at the head of his
Italians. It may be said of him, as it was said of a greater man, that
nothing in his life became him so much as his manner of leaving it.[7]
[Sidenote: Result of this battle.]
The Geraldine historian, O'Daly, says Fitzmaurice landed in Ireland
entirely ignorant of Stukeley's fate, but this statement is
contradicted by known dates. Nor can we believe that if Stukeley had
come with his Italian swordsmen while Fitzmaurice lived, it would have
fared ill with the English--that a little money and less blood would
have sufficed to drive them out of Ireland. Yet it is probably true
that the battle of Alcazar was of great indirect value to England.
Sebastian left no heir, and the Crown of Portugal devolved on his
great-uncle, Cardinal Henry, who was sixty-seven and childless. The
next in reversion was Philip II., whose energies were now turned
towards securing the much-coveted land which nature seemed to designate
as proper to be joined with Spain. For a time, however, it was supposed
that he would heartily embrace the sanguine Gregory's schemes, and
rumours were multiplied by hope or fear.
[Sidenote: Ireland ill-prepared to resist invasion.]
Lord Justice Drury knew that the lull in Ireland was only temporary,
but Elizabeth made it an excuse for economy, and disaffected people,
'otherwise base-minded enough,' were encouraged to believe that the
government would stand anything rather than spend money. By refusing
to grant any protections, and by holding his head high, Drury kept
things pretty quiet, but he had to sell or pawn his plate. He hinted
that, as there was no foreign invasion, her Majesty might continue
to pay him his salary, and save his credit. Meanwhile, he had some
small successes. Feagh MacHugh made his submission in Christ Church
cathedral, and gave pledges to Harrington, whom he acknowledged as his
captain. Desmond and his brother John came to Waterford and behaved
well, and a considerable number of troublesome local magnates made
their submissions at Carlow, Leighlin, Castledermot, and Kilkenny;
twenty-nine persons were executed at Philipstown, but the fort was
falling down, and this was little likely to impress the neighbouring
chiefs. Drury's presence alone saved it from a sudden attack by the
O'Connors. But a son of O'Doyne's was fined for concealment, and his
father took it well, so that it was possible to report some slight
progress of legal ideas. Meanwhile there was great danger lest the
Queen's ill-judged parsimony should destroy much of what had been done
in Sidney's time. Thus, the town of Carrickfergus had been paved and
surrounded by wet ditches; the inhabitants had, in consequence, been
increased from twenty to two hundred, forty fishermen resorted daily
to the quay, and sixty ploughs were at work. But over 200_l._ was owing
to the town, the garrison were in danger of starving, and it was feared
that 'the townsmen came not so fast thither, but would faster depart
thence.'[8]
[Sidenote: Ulster in 1579.]
Tirlogh Luineach O'Neill was now old and in bad health. It was again
proposed to make him a peer; but this was not done, since it was
evident that a title would make fresh divisions after his death. There
were already four competitors, or rather groups of competitors, for the
reversion; of whom only two were of much importance. Shane O'Neill's
eldest legitimate son, known as Henry MacShane, was supported by one
legitimate and five illegitimate brothers, and Drury's idea was 'by
persuasion or by force of testoons' to make him a counterpoise to the
Baron of Dungannon, whose ambitious character was already known. The
bastardy of the baron's grandfather had been often condoned by the
Crown, but was not forgotten and might be turned to account. Against
the advice of his leeches old Tirlogh was carried forty miles on men's
shoulders, to meet Bagenal at Blackwater, and said he was most anxious
to meet Drury. Dungannon, who expected an immediate vacancy, begged
hard for 200 soldiers, without which the MacShanes would muster twice
as many men as he could. He promised not to go out of his own district
as long as the old chief lived. Drury temporised, since he could do
nothing else, and tried what effect his own presence in the North
might have. The suddenness of his movement frightened Tirlogh, who got
better, contrary to all expectation, and showed himself with a strong
force on the top of a hill near Armagh, refusing however to come in
without protection. This Drury refused on principle, and Tirlogh's
wife, who was clever enough to see that no harm was intended, tried
in vain to bring her husband to the Viceroy's camp. Meanwhile he and
the Baron became fast friends, and the latter proposed to put away
O'Donnell's daughter, to whom he was perhaps not legally married,
and to take Tirlogh's for his wife. Drury made him promise not to
deal further in the match; but his back was no sooner turned than
the marriage was celebrated, and the other unfortunate sent back to
Tyrconnell. At the same time Tirlogh gave another of his daughters to
Sorley Boy MacDonnell's son, and the assistance of the Scots was thus
supposed to be secured. There were rumours that Fitzmaurice would land
at Sligo, and a general confederacy was to be looked for. Fitton, who
had been long enough in Ireland to know something about it, saw that
the Irish had great natural wits and knew how to get an advantage quite
as well as more civil people, and that Tirlogh, like the rest of his
countrymen, would submit while it suited him and no longer.[9]
[Sidenote: Fitzmaurice and Sanders sail for Ireland.]
After Stukeley's death James Fitzmaurice continued to prepare for a
descent on Ireland. After his return from Rome he went to France, where
he joined his wife, son, and two daughters. He then spent nearly three
months at Madrid with Sanders, and obtained 1,000 ducats for his wife,
who was then in actual penury at 'Vidonia' in Biscay. But he could not
see the king, and professed himself indifferent to help from Spain or
Portugal. 'I care for no soldiers at all,' he said to Sanders; 'you
and I are enough; therefore let me go, for I know the minds of the
noblemen in Ireland.' Some of Stukeley's men, with a ship of about 400
tons, had survived the Barbary disaster. O'Mulrian, Papal Bishop of
Killaloe, came to Lisbon from Rome with the same men and two smaller
vessels, and by the Pope's orders Stukeley's ship was given to them.
Sanders accompanied the bishop, and there seem to have been about 600
men--Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, Flemings, Frenchmen, Irish,
and a few English. It was arranged that this motley crew should join
Fitzmaurice at Corunna, and then sail straight to Ireland. A Waterford
merchant told his wife that the men were very reticent, but were
reported to be about to establish the true religion. When questioned
they said they were bound for Africa, but the Waterford man thought
they were going to spoil her Majesty's subjects. Meanwhile Fitzmaurice
was at Bilbao with a few light craft. The largest was of sixty tons,
commanded by a Dingle man who knew the Irish coast, but who ultimately
took no part in the expedition. William Roche, who had been Perrott's
master gunner at Castlemaine, and James Den of Galway, were also
retained as pilots. A little later Fitzmaurice had a ship of 300 tons,
for which he gave 800 crowns, several small pieces of artillery, 6,000
muskets, and a good supply of provisions and trenching tools. The men
received two months' pay in advance.
Fitzmaurice's one idea was to raise an army in Munster, and he told
an Irish merchant who thought his preparations quite inadequate, that
'when the arms were occupied' he made no account of all the Queen's
forces in Ireland. He was accompanied by his wife and daughter and
about fifty men, who were nearly all Spaniards. Sanders went to Bilbao
after a short stay at Lisbon, and two merchants, one of Waterford
and one of Wexford, who came together from the Tagus to the Shannon,
reported that a descent was imminent. 'The men,' they said, 'be
willing; they want no treasure, they lack no furniture, and they have
skilful leaders.' To oppose a landing the Queen had one disabled ship
in Ireland, and there were no means of fitting her out for sea.[10]
[Sidenote: The voyage.]
The French rover, De la Roche, in spite of Catherine de Medici's
assurance, seems to have co-operated with Fitzmaurice. John Picot, of
Jersey, bound for Waterford with Spanish wine, was warned at San Lucar
by a Brest man that De la Roche and Fitzmaurice spoiled everyone they
met. To avoid them Picot kept wide of the coast; nevertheless he fell
in with eight sail 60 leagues N.W. of Cape St. Vincent. They fired
and obliged him to lower a boat, and then robbed him of wine, oil,
raisins, and other things of Spain. Picot saw twelve pieces of cannon
in De la Roche's hold, but was warned significantly not to pry under
hatches again. The Jerseymen were beaten, the St. Malo men spared,
and all were told, with 'vehement oaths and gnashing of teeth,' that
if they had been Englishmen they would have been thrown overboard--a
fate which actually befell the crew of a Bristol vessel two or three
days later. Finding that Picot was going to Ireland, his captors said
they would keep company with him; but thick weather came on, and by
changing his course, he got clear within twenty-four hours. A few days
after Fitzmaurice was in Dursey Sound with six ships, and others were
sighted off Baltimore. He picked up a fisherman and bade him fetch in
Owen O'Sullivan Bere, but that chief refused, and three days later the
invading squadron cast anchor off Dingle.[11]
[Sidenote: Fitzmaurice and Sanders reach Ireland.]
The portreeve and his brethren went off to speak with the strangers
next morning. Some Spaniards whom they knew refused to let them come
on board, and they sent at once to Desmond for help. The preparations
for resistance were of the slightest. The constable of Castlemaine
reported that he had only five hogsheads of wheat, two tuns of wine,
three hogsheads of salmon, and some malt; and that he was dependent
for meat upon such bruised reeds as Desmond and Clancare. There were
neither men nor stores at Dublin, and no hope of borrowing even 500_l._
Cork had but five barrels of inferior powder, and no lead. At Waterford
there were only 2,000 pounds of powder. All that Drury could do was to
write letters charging the Munster lords to withstand the traitors, but
a fortnight passed before he himself could get as far as Limerick.[12]
[Sidenote: They land at Dingle.]
Mr. James Golde, Attorney-General for Munster, writing from Tralee,
thus describes the manner of Fitzmaurice's landing, which took place on
the day after his arrival at Dingle:--
'The traitor upon Saturday last came out of his ship. Two friars were
his ancient-bearers, and they went before with two ancients. A bishop,
with a crozier-staff and his mitre, was next the friars. After came
the traitor himself at the head of his company, about 100, and went
to seek for flesh and kine, which they found, and so returned to his
ships.'[13] On the same day they burned the town, lit fires on the
hills as if signalling to some expected allies, and then shifted their
berths to Smerwick harbour, taking with them as prisoners some of
the chief inhabitants of Dingle. At Smerwick they began to construct
a fort, of which the later history is famous. It was believed that
Fitzmaurice expected immediate help out of Connaught. 'Ulick Burke is
obedient,' said Waterhouse; 'but I believe that John will presently
face the confederacy.' Drury could only preach fidelity, and commission
Sir Humphrey Gilbert to take up ships and prosecute the enemy by sea
and land.[14]
[Sidenote: Proclamation of Fitzmaurice.]
Fitzmaurice brought to Ireland two printed proclamations--one in
English for those who spoke it and were attached to the English crown,
the other in Latin for the Irish and their priests.
The first paper sets forth that Gregory XIII. 'perceiving what
dishonour to God and his Saints, &c.... hath fallen to Scotland,
France, and Flanders, by the procurement of Elizabeth, the pretensed
Queen of England; perceiving also that neither the warning of other
Catholic princes and good Christians, nor the sentence of Pope Pius
V., his predecessor, nor the long sufferance of God, could make her to
forsake her schism, heresy, and wicked attempts; now purposeth (not
without the consent of other Catholic potentates) to deprive her
actually of the unjust possession of these kingdoms, &c.' Any attack
on the Crown of England is disclaimed; the usurper was alone aimed
at, and the help of the English Catholics was considered certain. The
Catholics were everywhere, but 'Wales, Chestershire, Lancastershire,
and Cumberland' were entirely devoted to the old faith, and their
proximity to Ireland increased their importance. Throughout England
the husbandmen--the raw material of every army--were 'commonly all
Catholics.' Elizabeth had a few friends indeed, but she would be afraid
to send them away from her, and if Ireland remained united, all must go
well. One great crime of Queen Elizabeth was her refusal to declare an
heir-apparent; by espousing the cause of that heir, whose name is not
mentioned, the reward of those who worship the rising sun might fairly
be expected. Fitzmaurice explained that the Pope had appointed him
general because he alone had been present at Rome, but that he intended
to act by the advice of the Irish prelates, princes, and lords, 'whom
he took in great part for his betters.' And his appeal ends thus: 'This
one thing I will say, which I wish to be imprinted on all our hearts,
if all we that are indeed of a good mind would openly and speedily
pass our faith by resorting to his Holiness' banner, and by commanding
your people and countries to keep no other but the Catholic faith, and
forthwith to expel all heresies and schismatical services, you should
not only deliver your country from heresy and tyranny, but also do that
most godly and noble act without any danger at all, because there is
no foreign power that would or durst go about to assault so universal
a consent of this country; being also backed and maintained by other
foreign powers, as you see we are, and, God willing, shall be; but now
if one of you stand still and look what the other doth, and thereby the
ancient nobility do slack to come or send us (which God forbid), they
surely that come first, and are in the next place of honour to the said
nobility, must of necessity occupy the chief place in his Holiness'
army, as the safeguard thereof requireth, not meaning thereby to
prejudice any nobleman in his own dominion or lands, which he otherwise
rightfully possesseth, unless he be found to fight, or to aid them
that do fight, against the Cross of Christ and his Holiness' banner,
for both which I, as well as all other Christians, ought to spend our
blood and, for my part, intend at least by God's grace, Whom I beseech
to give you all, my lords, in this world courage and stoutness for the
defence of His faith, and in the world to come life everlasting.'[15]
[Sidenote: Continuity of some Irish ideas.]
The whole document is a good example of the sanguine rhetoric in which
exiles have always indulged, and of the way in which the leaders of
Irish sedition have been accustomed to talk. The part assigned to
continental powers and to English Catholics in the sixteenth century,
was transferred to the French monarchy in the seventeenth, and to the
revolutionary republic in the eighteenth; and now, in the nineteenth,
it is given to the United States of America, and to the British
working-man.
[Sidenote: A second proclamation.]
A translation of the shorter paper may well be given in full:--'A just
war requires three conditions--a just cause, lawful power, and the
means of carrying on lawful war. It shall be made clear that all three
conditions are fulfilled in the present case.
'The cause of this war is God's glory, for it is our care to restore
the outward rite of sacrifice and the visible honour of the holy altar
which the heretics have impiously taken away. The glory of Christ is
belied by the heretics, who deny that his sacraments confer grace, thus
invalidating Christ's gospel on account of which the law was condemned;
and the glory of the Catholic Church they also belie, which against the
truth of the Scriptures they declare to have been for some centuries
hidden from the world. But in the name of God, in sanctification by
Christ's sacraments, and in preserving the unity of the Church, the
salvation of us all has had its chief root.
'The power of this war is derived first from natural, and then from
evangelical, law. Natural law empowers us to defend ourselves against
the very manifest tyranny of heretics, who, against the law of nature,
force us, under pain of death, to abjure our first faith in the primacy
of the Roman Pontiff, and unwillingly to receive and profess a plainly
contrary religion; a yoke which has never been imposed by Christians,
Jews, or Turks, nor by themselves formerly upon us. And so since Christ
in his gospel has given the help of the kingdom of heaven--that is,
the supreme administration of his Church--to Peter, Gregory XIII., the
legitimate successor of that chief of the Apostles in the same chair,
has chosen us general of this war, as abundantly appears from his
letters and patent (diploma), and which he has the rather done that his
predecessor, Pius V., had deprived Elizabeth, the patroness of those
heresies, of all royal power and dominion, as his declaratory decision
(sententia), which we have also with us, most manifestly witnesseth.
'Thus we are not warring against the legitimate sceptre and honourable
throne of England, but against a she-tyrant who has deservedly lost her
royal power by refusing to listen to Christ in the person of his vicar,
and through daring to subject Christ's Church to her feminine sex on
matters of faith, about which she has no right to speak with authority.
'In what belongs to the conduct of the war, we have no thoughts of
invading the rights of our fellow-citizens, nor of following up
private enmities, from which we are especially free, nor of usurping
the supreme royal power. I swear that God's honour shall be at once
restored to Him, and we are ready at any moment to lay down the sword,
and to obey our lawful superiors. But if any hesitate to combat heresy,
it is they who rob Ireland of peace, and not us. For when there is talk
of peace, not with God but with the Devil, then we ought to say, with
our Saviour: I came not to bring peace on earth, but a sword. If then
we wage continual war to restore peace with God, it is most just that
those who oppose us should purchase their own damnation, and have for
enemies all the saints whose bones they spurn, and also God himself,
whose glory they fight against.
'Let so much here suffice, for if anyone wishes to understand the
rights of the case he need but read and understand the justice and
reasonableness of the fuller edict which we have taken care should be
also published.'[16]
[Sidenote: How Fitzmaurice understood liberty of conscience.]
In these papers the arguments derived from the right to liberty of
conscience, which all Protestants should respect, and from the Papal
claims which all Protestants deny, are blended with no small skill;
but Fitzmaurice, while demanding liberty of conscience for himself,
expressly denies it to those who disagree with him.
[Sidenote: Desmond and Fitzmaurice.]
There can be no doubt that Desmond was jealous of James Fitzmaurice;
and historians well-affected to the Geraldines have attributed the
latter's rebellion to the ill-feeling existing between them. It is
said that Lady Desmond, who was a Butler, had prevented her husband
from making any provision for his distinguished kinsman. It was
reported to Drury that Fitzmaurice had called himself Earl of Desmond
on the Continent, and that this would be sure to annoy the Earl, whose
pride was overweening. But this does not seem to have been the case.
Fitzmaurice is not called Earl either in his own letters or in those
written to him. The general of the Jesuits addresses him as 'the
most illustrious Lord James Geraldine'; the Pope speaks of him as
James Geraldine simply, and so he calls himself, sometimes adding 'of
Desmond.' But that he should have been appointed general of a force
which was to operate in Desmond's country was quite enough to excite
suspicion. No sooner did the news of his arrival reach the Earl than
he wrote to tell Drury that he and his were ready to venture their
lives in her Majesty's quarrel, 'and to prevent the traitorous attempts
of the said James.' He had nevertheless been in correspondence with
Fitzmaurice, and had urged his immediate descent upon the Irish coast
some eighteen months before.[17]
[Sidenote: Nicholas Sanders, the Jesuit.]
Not less important than Fitzmaurice was Dr. Nicholas Sanders, who
acted as treasurer of the expedition. He was known by the treatise _De
Visibili Monarchia_ which Parker said was long enough to wear out a
Fabius, and almost unanswerable, 'not for the invincibleness of it, but
for the huge volume.' Answers were nevertheless written which no doubt
satisfied the Anglican party, but the Catholic refugees at Brussels
thought so highly of Sanders that they begged Philip to get him made a
cardinal.
[Sidenote: Making the best of both worlds.]
The English were then in disgrace at Rome, where the appointment of a
Welshman as Rector of the new college had caused a mutiny among the
students, and Allen doubted whether his own credit was good, but it
was upon him that the red hat was at last conferred. To Sanders must
be ascribed most of what was written in Fitzmaurice's name, and that
was a small part of what fell from his prolific pen. Queen Elizabeth,
said the nuncio, was a heretic. She was childless, and the approaching
extinction of Henry VIII.'s race was an evident judgment. She was
'a wicked woman, neither born in true wedlock nor esteeming her
Christendom, and therefore deprived by the Vicar of Christ, her and
your lawful judge.' Her feminine supremacy was a continuation of that
which the Devil implanted in Paradise when he made Eve Adam's mistress
in God's matters.' When a knowledge of Celtic was necessary Sanders's
place might be taken by Cornelius O'Mulrian, an observant friar, lately
provided to the see of Killaloe, or by Donough O'Gallagher, of the same
order, who was provided to Killala in 1570. Letters in Irish were
written to the Munster MacDonnells, Hebridean gallowglasses serving
in Desmond, whom Fitzmaurice exhorts to help him at once--'first,
inasmuch as we are fighting for our faith, and for the Church of God;
and next, that we are defending our country, and extirpating heretics,
barbarians, and unjust and lawless men; and besides that you were never
employed by any lord who will pay you and your people their wages and
bounty better than I shall, inasmuch as I never was at any time more
competent to pay it than now.... We are on the side of truth and they
on the side of falsehood; we are Catholic Christians, and they are
heretics; justice is with us, and injustice with them.... All the
bonaght men shall get their pay readily, and moreover we shall all
obtain eternal wages from our Lord, from the loving Jesus, on account
of fighting for his sake.... I was never more thankful to God for
having great power and influence than now. Advise every one of your
friends who likes fighting for his religion and his country better than
for gold and silver, or who wishes to obtain them all, to come to me,
and that he will find each of these things.'[18]
[Sidenote: Fitzmaurice appeals to Desmond.]
In the letter written by Sanders to Desmond in Fitzmaurice's name, the
Earl is reminded that the latter 'warfareth under Christ's banner,
for the restoring of the Catholic faith in Ireland.' Then, flying
into the first person in his hurry, he says His Holiness 'has made me
general-captain of this Holy War.' There are many allusions to Christ's
banner and to the ancient glories of the Geraldines, and the epistle
ends with a recommendation to 'your fellows, and to all my good cousins
your children, and to my dear uncle your brother, longing to see all
us, all one, first as in faith so in field, and afterwards in glory and
life everlasting.'
A like appeal was made to the Earl of Kildare, and we may be sure
that none of the Munster lords were forgotten. Friars were busy with
O'Rourke, O'Donnell, and other northern chiefs, and the piratical
O'Flaherties brought a flotilla of galleys, which might have their own
way in the absence of men-of-war. Three of Fitzmaurice's ships sailed
away, and were expected soon to return with more help. Thomas Courtenay
of Devonshire happened to be at Kinsale with an armed vessel, and was
persuaded by his countryman Henry Davells, one of the Commissioners of
Munster, to come round and seize the remaining Spanish ships. Courtenay
seems not to have been in the Queen's service; like so many other men
of Devon, he was probably half-pirate and half-patriot. To cut out the
undefended vessels from their anchorage was an easy and congenial
task, and thus, to quote another Devonian, 'James Fitzmaurice and his
company lost a piece of the Pope's blessing, for they were altogether
destituted of any ship to ease and relieve themselves by the seas,
what need soever should happen.' The O'Flaherties sailed away with
the two bishops on Courtenay's arrival, but Maltby afterwards found
their lair upon the shores of Clew Bay. One was promptly hanged by
martial law; a second, who had property to confiscate, was reserved
for the sessions, and a third was killed for resisting his captors;
the rest were to be hanged when caught. Fitzmaurice had with him at
Smerwick but twenty-five Spaniards, six Frenchmen, and six Englishmen,
besides twenty-seven English prisoners whom he forced to work at the
entrenchments. Provisions were scarce, and the whole enterprise might
have collapsed had it not been for a crime which committed the Desmonds
irretrievably.[19]
[Sidenote: Murder of Davells and Carter.]
On hearing of the landing in Kerry Drury had despatched a trusty
messenger to confirm the Earl and his brother in their allegiance.
The person selected was Henry Davells, a Devonshire gentleman who had
served Henry VIII. in France, had afterwards seen fighting in Scotland,
and had long lived in Carlow and Wexford, where he was well known and
much respected. His countryman Hooker, who knew him, says he was not
only the friend of every Englishman in Ireland, but also much esteemed
by the Irish for his hospitality and true dealing. 'If any of them had
spoken the word, which was assuredly looked to be performed, they would
say Davells hath said it, as who saith "it shall be performed." For
the nature of the Irishman is, that albeit he keepeth faith, for the
most part, with nobody, yet will he have no man to break with him.'
The same writer assures us that the mere fact of being Davells' man
would secure any Englishman a free passage and hospitable reception
throughout Munster and Leinster. He was equally valued by Desmond and
Ormonde, an intimate friend of Sir Edmund Butler, and on such terms
with Sir John of Desmond, whose gossip he was and whom he had several
times redeemed out of prison, that the latter used to call him father.
Davells now went straight to Kerry, saw the Earl and his brothers, whom
he exhorted to stand firm, and visited Smerwick, which he found in no
condition to withstand a resolute attack. Returning to the Desmonds
he begged for a company of gallowglasses and sixty musketeers, with
whom and with the aid of Captain Courtenay, he undertook to master the
unfinished fort. Desmond refused, saying that his musketeers were more
fitted to shoot at fowls than at a strong place, and that gallowglasses
were good against gallowglasses, but no match for old soldiers. English
officers afterwards reported that sixty resolute men might have taken
Smerwick, and were thus confirmed in their belief that Desmond had
intended rebellion from the first, and that Fitzmaurice, whose ability
was undeniable, would not have taken up such a weak position without
being sure of the Earl's co-operation. But religious zeal might account
for that.
Davells, who was accompanied by Arthur Carter, Provost Marshal of
Munster, and a few men, started on his return journey, prepared no
doubt to tell Drury that nothing was to be expected of the Desmonds.
John of Desmond, accompanied by his brother James and a strong party,
followed to Tralee, surrounded the tavern where the English officers
lay, and bribed the porter to open the door. Davells and Carter were
so unsuspicious that they had gone to bed, and allowed their servant
to lodge in the town. When Davells saw Sir John entering his room with
a drawn sword he called out, 'What, son! what is the matter?' 'No more
son, nor no more father,' said the other, 'but make thyself ready, for
die thou shalt.' A faithful page cast himself upon his master's body;
but he was thrust aside and Sir John himself despatched Davells.
Carter was also killed, and so were the servants. In a curious print
the two Englishmen are represented as sleeping in the same bed.
Sir John holds back the servant with his left hand and transfixes
Davells with the right, while Sir James goes round, with a sword
drawn, to Carter's side. Outside stand several squads of the Desmond
gallowglasses, and armed men are killing Davells' followers, while
Sanders appears in two places, carrying the consecrated papal banner,
hounding on the murderers, and congratulating the brothers on their
prowess. According to all the English accounts Sanders commended the
murder as a sweet sacrifice in the sight of God, and two Irish Catholic
historians mention it. But Fitzmaurice was a soldier, and disapproved
of killing men in their beds. There is no positive evidence as to
Desmond. Geraldine partisans say he abhorred the deed, but he never
punished anyone for it, and Sir James was said to have pleaded that he
was merely the Earl's 'executioner.' Desmond accepted a silver-gilt
basin and ewer, and a gold chain only a few days after the murder.[20]
[Sidenote: Fitzmaurice and John of Desmond.]
'Landed gentlemen,' says Sidney Smith, 'have molar teeth, and
are destitute of the carnivorous and incisive jaws of political
adventurers.' The Munster proprietors held aloof with the Earl of
Desmond, 'letting "I dare not" wait upon "I would,"' while the landless
men followed his bolder and more unscrupulous brother. When Fitzmaurice
disembarked, Desmond had 1,200 men with him; shortly after the murder
of Davells he had less than 60; but Sir John was soon at the head of
a large force. The activity of Maltby not only prevented any rising
in Connaught, but also made it impossible for Scots to enter Munster.
He lay at Limerick waiting till Drury was ready, and when the latter,
who was ill, came to Limerick at the risk of his life, it was Maltby
who entered the woods and drove the rebels from place to place. For
a time Fitzmaurice and his cousin kept together, though it may be
that the latter's savagery was disagreeable to the man who had seen
foreign courts, and who was evidently sincerely religious, though the
English accused him of hypocrisy. According to Russell, who gives
details which are wanting elsewhere, the two marched together unopposed
into the county of Limerick, where one of Sir John's men outraged a
camp-follower. Fitzmaurice ordered him for execution, but Sir John,
'little regarding the Pope's commission, and not respecting murder or
rape,' refused to allow this, and Fitzmaurice, seeing that he could not
maintain discipline, departed with a few horsemen and kernes, nominally
on a pilgrimage to Holy Cross Abbey, really perhaps to enter Connaught
through Tipperary and Limerick, and thus get into Maltby's rear. In
doing so he had to pass through the territory of a sept of Burkes, of
whom some had been with him in his former enterprise. Fitzmaurice was
in want of draught animals, and took two horses out of the plough.
The poor peasants raised an alarm, and at a ford some miles south of
Castle Connell the chief's son Theobald, who was learned in the English
language and law, and who may have had Protestant leanings, appeared
with a strong party. He was already on the look-out, and had summoned
MacBrien to his aid.
[Sidenote: Death of Fitzmaurice.]
Fitzmaurice urged Burke to join the Catholic enterprise; he answered
that he would be loyal to the Queen, and a fight followed. Burke had
but two musketeers with him, one of whom aimed at Fitzmaurice, who was
easily known by his yellow doublet. The ball penetrated his chest, and
feeling himself mortally wounded, he made a desperate dash forward,
killed Theobald Burke and one of his brothers, and then fell, with or
without a second wound. 'He found,' says Hooker characteristically,
'that the Pope's blessings and warrants, his _agnus Dei_ and his
grains, had not those virtues to save him as an Irish staff, or a
bullet, had to kill him.' The Burkes returned after the death of their
leader, and, having confessed to Dr. Allen, the best of the Geraldines
breathed his last. Lest the knowledge of his death should prove fatal
to his cause, a kinsman cut off Fitzmaurice's head and left the bare
trunk under an oak--an evidence of haste which shows that there was
no great victory to boast of. The body was nevertheless recognised,
carried to Kilmallock, and hanged on a gibbet; and the soldiers
barbarously amused themselves by shooting at their dead enemy. 'Well,'
says Russell, 'there was no remedy--God's will must be done, punishing
the sins of the father in the death of the son. Fitzmaurice made a
goodly end of his life (only that he bore arms against his sovereign
princess, the Queen of England). His death was the beginning of the
decay of the honourable house of Desmond, out of which never issued
so brave a man in all perfection, both for qualities of the mind and
body, besides the league between him and others for the defence of
religion.'[21]
[Illustration: _To face page 24._
MUNSTER with ADJACENT DISTRICTS
_London: Longmans & Co._ Edwd. Weller, _lith._]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Strype's _Annals_, Eliz. lib. i. ch. i. and ii. i. Walsingham to
Cecil, February 25, 1571, and Burghley to Walsingham, June 5, both in
Digges's _Complete Ambassador_. Lady Northumberland to Stukeley, June
21, 1571, in Wright's _Elizabeth_. Answers of Martin de Guerres, master
mariner, February 12, 1572; Examination of Walter French, March 30;
report of John Crofton, April 13.
[2] Stukeley to Mistress Julian (from Rome) October 24, 1575, in
Wright's _Elizabeth_, Motley's _Dutch Republic_, part v. ch. v.;
Strype's _Annals_, Eliz. book ii. ch. viii.; Wilson to Burghley and
Walsingham, February 19, 1577, and to the Queen, May 1, both in the
Calendar of S. P. _Foreign_; Henry Cheek to Burghley, March 29, 1577;
Strype's _Life of Sir John Cheek_. Stukeley left Don John at the end of
February, 1577.
[3] Intelligence received by Drury, February 19, 1577, and April 16;
Examination of Edmund MacGawran and others May 10; Paulet to Wilson,
August, 1577, in Murdin's _State Papers_.
[4] Edmundus Tanner Patri Generali Everardo, October 11, 1577, in
Hogan's _Hibernia Ignatiana_.
[5] Sanders to Allen, Nov. 6, 1577 (from Madrid) in Cardinal Allen's
_Memorials_; James Fitzmaurice's instruction and advice (now among the
undated papers of 1578) written in Latin and signed 'spes nostra Jesus
et Maria, Jacobus Geraldinus Desmoniæ.'
[6] This passport, given at Cadiz in April, 1578, 'by command of his
Excellency,' is in _Sidney Papers_, i. 263. O'Sullivan's _Hist. Cath._
lib. iv. cap. xv. O'Daly's _Geraldines_, ch. xx. Strype's _Annals_,
Eliz. book ii. ch. xiii.
[7] Letter signed by 'Donatus Episcopus Aladensis,' David Wolf the
Jesuit, and two other Irish priests, printed from the Vatican archives
in Brady's _Episcopal Succession_, ii. p. 174. Edmund Hogan to Queen
Elizabeth (from Morocco) June 11, 1577; Dr. Wilson to----, June 14,
1578, in Wright's _Elizabeth_.
[8] Drury to Walsingham, Jan. 6 and 12, 1579; to Burghley, Sept. 21,
1578; Drury and Fitton to Burghley, Oct. 10, 1578; Fitton to Burghley,
Feb. 22, 1579. Note of services &c., town of Knockfergus in _Carew_,
ii. p. 148.
[9] Drury to Walsingham, Jan. 6, 1579 (enclosing an O'Neill pedigree);
to Burghley, Jan. 6 and Feb. 11, 1579; to the Privy Council, March 14;
Fitton to Burghley, Feb. 12, 1579.
[10] Patrick Lumbarde to his wife (from Lisbon) Feb. 20, 1579; Nic.
Walshe to Drury, Feb. 27; Declaration of James Fagan and Leonard
Sutton, March 23; Drury to Walsingham, March 6; Desmond to Drury, April
20; Examination of Dominick Creagh, April 22, and of Thomas Monvell of
Kinsale, mariner, April 30.
[11] July 17, 1579. Examination (at Waterford) of John Picot of Jersey,
master, and Fr. Gyrard, of St. Malo, pilot, July 24; Lord Justice and
Council to the Privy Council, July 22; Sir Owen O'Sullivan to Mayor of
Cork, July 16; Portreeve of Dingle to Earl of Desmond, July 17. The
story of the Bristol crew is told in Mr. Froude's 27th chapter, 'from a
Simancas MS.'
[12] Lord Justice and Council to the Privy Council with enclosure, July
22, 1579; Waterhouse to Walsingham, July 23 and 26; Mayor of Waterford
to Drury, July 25.
[13] James Golde to the Mayor of Limerick, July 22, 1579.
[14] Desmond, abp. of Cashel (Magrath), and Wm. Apsley to Drury, July
20, 1579; Waterhouse to Walsingham, July 23 and 24; Commission to Sir
H. Gilbert, July 24; James Golde to the Mayor of Limerick, July 22.
[15] The signature is 'In omni tribulatione spes mea Jesus et Maria,
James Geraldyne.'
[16] These two declarations are at Lambeth. In the _Carew Calendar_,
they are wrongly placed under 1569, when Pius V. was still alive. They
are printed in full in the Irish (Kilkenny) _Archæological Journal_,
N.S. ii. 364.
[17] Desmond to Drury, July 19, 1579; Russell. The letter from
Desmond's servant, William of Danubi, to Fitzmaurice, calendared under
July 1579 (No. 37) certainly belongs to the end of 1577, just after
Rory Oge had burned Naas.
[18] James Fitzmaurice to Alexander, Ustun, and Randal MacDonnell,
July, 1579; these letters, with translation, were printed by O'Donovan
in Irish (Kilkenny) _Archæological Journal_, N.S. ii. 362; Strype's
_Parker_, lib. iv. cap. 15, and the appendix; Sanders to Ulick Burke
in _Carew_, Oct. 27, 1579. In Cardinal Allen's _Memorials_ is a letter
dated April 5, 1579, in which Allen calls Sanders his 'special friend.'
[19] Fitzmaurice to Desmond and Kildare, July 18, 1579; Waterhouse to
Walsingham, July 24; notes of Mr. Herbert's speech, Aug. 3; Maltby's
discourse April 8, 1580; Hooker in _Holinshed_.
[20] Hooker and Camden for the English view of Desmond's conduct;
Russell and O'Daly for the other side, and also O'Sullivan, ii. iv.
15. The picture is reproduced in the Irish (Kilkenny) _Archæological
Journal_, 3rd S. i. 483. In his 27th chapter Mr. Froude quotes
Mendoza to the effect that Davells was Desmond's guest; but Hooker
says distinctly that he 'lodged in one Rice's house, who kept a
victualling-house and wine tavern.' In a letter of Oct. 10, 1579,
Desmond says his brother James was 'enticed into the detestable act.'
E. Fenton to Walsingham, July 11, 1580; Lord Justice and Earl of
Kildare to the Privy Council, Aug. 3, 1579. Examination of Friar James
O'Hea in _Carew_, Aug. 17, 1580. Collection of matters to Nov. 1579.
[21] Irish _Archæological Journal_, 3rd S. i. 384; _Four Masters_;
Camden; Hooker; O'Sullivan, ii. iv. 94. Waterhouse to Walsingham, Aug.
3 and 9, 1579. Fitzmaurice fell shortly before Aug. 20. O'Sullivan
calls the place _Beal Antha an Bhorin_, which may be Barrington's
bridge or Boher. This writer, who loves the marvellous, says a
Geraldine named Gibbon Duff, was tended among the bushes by a friendly
leech, who bound up his eighteen wounds. A wolf came out of the wood
and devoured the dirty bandages, but without touching the helpless man.
The Four Masters, who wrote under Charles I., praise Theobald Burke and
regret his death.