GOVERNMENT OF PERROTT, 1583-1584.
[Sidenote: Sir John Perrott is made Lord Deputy.]
As early as December 1582, Sir John Perrott had been spoken of as
Grey's successor. His actual appointment was, however, deferred for
more than a year, Loftus and Wallop continuing to act as Lords Justices
till June 1584. They were fortunate in seeing the end of the Desmond
rebellion, but less so in having to deal with those who had been
engaged in it. Lady Desmond, in her poverty, subsisted upon a pension
allowed her by Ormonde, until the Queen's pleasure should be known;
and the protections which he had given to the seneschal of Imokilly,
Patrick Condon, and other leaders, were respected. Wallop did not like
the Lord-General, but he did not thwart him seriously. Piers Grace,
an old and notorious offender in the Kilkenny district, was pardoned
at the Earl's intercession, and the Lords Justices observed that they
would not have done it for anyone else.[107]
[Sidenote: Archbishop O'Hurley.]
[Sidenote: His treatment at Rome.]
In 1581, after the death of Fitzgibbon, Gregory XIII. appointed Dermod
O'Hurley to the Archbishopric of Cashel. He had spent fifteen years
at Louvain and four at Rheims, and he was deeply engaged in the plans
of Irish exiles against Elizabeth's government. We get a glimpse of
him at Rome not long after his appointment, and find him, like his
predecessor, occupied in schemes for the invasion of Ireland. The
caution of the Italian ecclesiastic is, as usual, contrasted with the
sanguine temper of the exiles. Christopher Barnewall, who had been sent
to the Continent by Baltinglas, was introduced by O'Hurley to Cardinal
Como, and informed him that Kildare and Delvin were in prison, though
both had served against the Wicklow rebels. 'Who,' said the Cardinal,
with an expressive shrug, 'would trust an Irishman? The Earl promised
to take our part.' O'Hurley thought he had not gone so far. 'Wilt thou
tell me?' answered the Italian angrily, and produced a letter from
Kildare and a document signed by most of the Lords of Ulster, Munster,
and Connaught, which made his view good. 'Do you think,' he said, 'that
we would have trusted to James Fitzmaurice and Stukeley, or to all
these lords which subscribed the great letter, unless we had received
this letter from the Earl of Kildare? The Pope has no money for any of
your nation.'[108]
[Sidenote: O'Hurley reaches Ireland,]
[Sidenote: where he is tortured]
[Sidenote: and hanged.]
O'Hurley landed at Drogheda in September, 1583, bringing letters from
Rome with him. He was harboured by Lord Slane, whose daughter was
married to Ormonde's natural son Piers, and in the latter's company
he went into Munster after a few days' rest. The Archbishop, who was
soon hunted down, with Ormonde's help, made no secret of having been
engaged in the work of the Inquisition, and charged Kildare and Delvin
with the late insurrection--thus showing that Barnewall had spoken
truly. Walsingham recommended the use of 'torture, or any other severe
manner of proceeding, to gain his knowledge of all foreign practices
against Her Majesty's states.' The Lords Justices objected that they
had no rack nor other such instrument of terror, and that the Tower
of London would be a fitter place for the experiment. Walsingham then
advised them to toast the prisoner's feet at the fire with hot boots.
A commission was accordingly made out to Fenton and Waterhouse, and
the ordeal was applied with frightful severity. The letters brought
by O'Hurley had been intercepted, and could not therefore be denied,
but nothing of importance was elicited. A letter which he had written
to Ormonde was produced, and the Lords Justices took care to hint
at the Earl's complicity, but without effect. The lawyers held that
an indictment for treasons committed abroad would not lie, and in
any case a trial by jury was not to be risked. The Lords Justices
suggested martial law, to which, as they grimly observed, the landless
Archbishop could not fairly object. Seeing that further torture would
be useless Walsingham agreed to this course, and noted the Queen's
'good acceptation of their careful travail in this matter.' Throughout
the correspondence it is evident that Elizabeth and all her servants
looked upon O'Hurley mainly as a traitor and not as a recusant; and
that defence of their conduct may stand for what it is worth. The
torture is indefensible; but it was only too common in those days, and
O'Hurley himself had been an Inquisitor. The Archbishop was hanged
privately in the Castle early on June 19, after the arrival of Perrott,
but before he had been sworn in.[109]
[Sidenote: Help comes from Spain,]
[Sidenote: but it is too late.]
There can be no doubt that the court of Rome had urged upon that of
Spain the necessity of relieving Desmond. But Philip II. was never in
time, and his energies, such as they were, were absorbed by Portuguese
affairs. It was not until the final defeat of Strozzi's expedition to
the Azores that Irish exiles could get their business attended to.
The Cardinal of Como became friendly once more, and sent for William
Nugent almost as often as the post arrived from Spain, saying that
he remembered him at every turn of his beads. The Pope saw Nugent
every six weeks, and the intervals were spent in making interest with
Gregory's son Giacomo, whose influence over the aged Pontiff had become
very great. It was confidently reported that the whole Spanish fleet
would sail for Ireland on its return from the Azores, but only two
ships actually arrived. The papal bishop of Killaloe, Cornelius Ryan,
had been sent by Desmond to Spain towards the end of 1582. In the
spring of 1583 it was announced that help was coming, but it may have
been delayed until the return of Santa Cruz and his fleet. Desmond had
been dead nearly two months when the tardy succour arrived. Bishop Ryan
appeared on the west coast with one large ship laden with artillery.
Another, also with munitions of war, anchored in Ringabella Bay outside
Cork harbour, and sent a boat, which brought off a countryman. Of those
on board the chief spokesman was a friar named Shane O'Ferrall, who
wept bitterly on hearing of Desmond's death. A Spaniard wrote down all
the particulars. 'Is there none of the Earl's name,' he asked, 'that
will take upon him to follow and maintain that enterprise? You say
none. Well, if any had continued it until now, we had brought here to
furnish them treasure and munition good store, and shortly they should
have had more, and aid enough.' There were three bags of silver and
two of gold, each as much as a man could carry. A present was sent
by O'Ferrall to a lady living close by--marmalade, lemons and figs,
a poignard, and a taffeta scarf--and then finding their occupation
gone, the strangers left the coast. Don Antonio and Philip Strozzi
had not saved Portugal, but they had destroyed Spanish influence in
Ireland.[110]
[Sidenote: Murder of John Burke;]
[Sidenote: his popularity.]
[Sidenote: Clanricarde is pardoned.]
Within a week of Desmond's death the newly made Baron of Leitrim came
to a violent end. Public opinion attributed the deed to his brother,
and no doubt he profited largely by it. Clanricarde himself said that
he had intercepted a band of traitors in the Baron's company, and
that he fell in the scuffle. His sister, Lady Mary, clamoured loudly
for vengeance, but the Earl found means to silence her. A competent
English observer tells us that 'Sir John of the Shamrocks,' as the
Irish called him, was the best beloved man in Connaught, perhaps in all
Ireland. 'He was very well spoken, he was courteous, he was liberal
to every man that had occasion to try him, in his house he was very
bountiful, and he wrote better than any Irishman whose letters I have
seen.... First he would speak fair to every man, and mean no truth to
any man that was honest. He had always a treasonable mind, and did ever
thirst after blood. He was betrothed to one woman, and, leaving her, he
was married to two others; they are all three alive. He was a common
haunter of women, and men say he had a child by his own sister, and a
great maintainer of thieves he was.... The Earl will not steal from one
to give to another. He will not spare the offender for any respects; I
mean thieves: other offenders are seldom punished in Ireland, and never
among the Irish.' The Earl offered to prove the incest by irrefutable
witnesses. The Lord Justice thought the simplest plan was to attribute
the murder to the mutual hatred between the half-brothers since their
cradles. They advised that Clanricarde's future good conduct should be
secured by a pardon, 'especially in those remote parts where so many
heinous facts contrary to the laws of God and man have been infinitely
borne with in all ages.' Three years before, when Clanricarde was ill,
it was generally supposed that his brother had poisoned him. To avoid
further confusion the English Government thought it better to allow a
pardon. The murdered man had no legitimate children, and the peerage
died with him. This long-standing faction fight was now at an end; the
Earl was undisputed master over all the possessions of his house, and
became the mainstay of English law and order in the West.[111]
[Sidenote: Trial by combat.]
The once mighty tribe of the Leinster O'Connors had fallen very low,
but even the miserable remnant could not keep from internecine war.
Teig MacGilpatrick, who led one party, was accused by Connor MacCormac
of killing men who were under protection. Connor retorted that they
had broken into rebellion since protection was granted. The Lords
Justices persuaded Connor, and Sir Nicholas White persuaded Teig to
appear and accuse each other. An appeal of treason was thus technically
constituted, and for this they were told that trial by battle was
the proper remedy. Fearing, it would appear, that the courage of the
litigants might ooze away, the combat was fixed for the next day. The
Lords Justices and Council sat solemnly in the inner Castle yard, the
display being made more impressive by a large attendance of military
officers. The proper ceremonies were observed, and the Lords Justices
were careful to excuse any possible want of accuracy by pleading the
shortness of the time. The combatants who were allowed only sword,
target, and skull-cap, were stripped to their shirts and searched by
Secretary Fenton himself. They then took their seats on two stools
at opposite ends of the lists, and the pleadings having been read a
trumpet sounded the onset. Connor, who was wounded twice in the leg and
once in the eye, attempted to close, but his adversary was too strong
for him. Having stunned and disarmed his accuser, Teig, who was himself
seriously wounded, 'but not mortally, the more was the pity,' cut off
his head with his own sword and presented it on the point to the Lords
Justices, one of whom, be it remembered, was the Archbishop of Dublin.
Fenton sent the sword to Leicester, 'wishing her Majesty had the same
end of all the O'Connors in Ireland.' 'We commend,' they said, 'the
diligent travail of Sir Lucas Dillon and the Master of the Rolls, who
equally and openly seemed to countenance the champions, but secretly
with very good concurrence with us and between themselves for her
Majesty's service.'[112]
[Sidenote: A second trial goes by default.]
The Lords Justices hoped to make more O'Connors kill one another, but
a second combat arranged to take place two or three days later was
frustrated by the non-appearance of the accused, a brother of the
victorious Teig, who had accepted the challenge for him. His adversary,
Morrogh-ni-Cogge, came into the lists and made proclamation for two
hours with drums and trumpets. Morrogh was adjudged victorious, but the
absent man described him as 'readiest to fight with those that he knew
were farthest off from him.' He urged that his brother had no right to
promise for him, that Morrogh was too base a fellow to place in the
balance with him, and that he could not be spared until his brother had
recovered. 'Notwithstanding,' he added, 'when my brother is whole of
his wounds and able to take charge of his men, if it shall please the
Lords Justices to call Morrogh and me face to face, that I may know
upon what ground and quarrel I am to fight, I will then make it openly
known how little able that vain boaster is to stand in my hands, who at
the very sound of my name was wont to trot over whole countries.'[113]
[Sidenote: Arrival of Perrott--his instructions.]
Sir John Perrott was in no great hurry to take up his government, and
five months elapsed between the date of his patent and his arrival in
Ireland. It was rumoured in Dublin that he would not come at all. In
England and in Ireland, his choleric temper involved him in frequent
quarrels, and it is probable that delay was caused by some of these.
His instructions did not greatly differ from those which Elizabeth was
wont to give to her representatives. To increase the revenue without
oppressing the subject, to reduce the army without impairing its
efficiency, to punish rebels without driving them to desperation, and
to reward loyal people without cost to the Crown--these were the usual
orders, and they were easier to give than to carry out. Perrott had
already tasted the misery of Irish official life, and his half-brother,
Sir Henry Jones, warned him that he would now be envied more than ever,
and truly prophesied that he would never see him again.[114]
[Sidenote: Perrott and Ormonde.]
The settlement of Munster was, of course, the most important part
of Perrott's work, and he was probably chosen because he knew that
province well. He was ordered to take Ormonde with him, and to give his
opinion due weight. The Earl was directed to come to England as soon
as he had given all the information in his power. Tired of the delay,
and fearing lest he should be undermined at court, Ormonde slipped over
to Wales and met the new Lord Deputy, who handed him a gracious letter
from the Queen. This somewhat reassured him, but he complained of hard
dealing in being displaced before he had made known in England in how
good and quiet order he had left his late charge. At Carew Castle he
received orders to accompany his host to Ireland, and complied, though
he always hated a sea-passage. He felt that his personal interests were
safe in the hands of his old companion in arms, but thought it a little
late to consult him about Munster. The journey would only increase his
debts, unless, as he hinted to Burghley, the Queen made it worth his
while; 'but over I will, God willing, and back again, seeing you wish
it should be so.'[115]
[Sidenote: Perrott makes a speech,]
[Sidenote: which is generally admired.]
Perrott made a speech to the great crowd assembled at his installation.
He said that the Queen held her subjects of Ireland equal with those
of England, and that her care, as well as his own, was to make them
equally happy by means of good government. Among other sayings it
was noted as worthy of remark, that he wished to suppress 'the name
of a churl and crushing of a churl,' and to substitute such terms as
husbandman, franklin, or yeoman. 'This,' says Secretary Fenton, 'was
so plausible to the assembly, that it was carried from hand to hand
throughout the whole realm in less time than might be thought credible
if I should express it.'
[Sidenote: No respecter of persons.]
Next day the Lord Deputy ordered a general hosting, according to
the ancient custom, for six weeks, beginning on August 10. Tara was
assigned as the place of meeting, and Tyrone, Ormonde, Barrymore, and
Mountgarret were among those who signed the order. Perrott devoted a
few days to the Council, whose help was necessary to enable him to
gather up the reins. Fenton found him 'affable and pleasing, seeking
by good means to recover the hearts of the people that were somewhat
estranged, quick and industrious, careful of her Majesty's profit,
sincere, just, and no respecter of persons.' Indeed, he did not respect
persons enough. Wallop, whose office of Vice-Treasurer made him the
most important man next to the Viceroy, and who had been virtual chief
governor for nearly two years past, was on the point of quarrelling
with him at the outset, but forced himself to make allowance for
the Deputy's passionate disposition. With Loftus, who had lately
been Wallop's colleague in the government, and who was still Lord
Chancellor, Perrott was at open war in a very short time.[116]
[Sidenote: John Norris governor of Munster, and Bingham of Connaught.]
John Norris, the most famous of Lord Norris of Rycot's six good
sons, had been appointed Lord President of Munster. Bingham, whom
Perrott knighted at his installation, was, at the same time, made
Chief Commissioner of Connaught in Maltby's room, but with inferior
emoluments. The Lord Deputy proposed to settle the two provincial
governors in their places at once, and to return in time for the
hosting at Tara. Norris went straight to Munster, and Bingham
accompanied Perrott to the West. All the chief men of Connaught
and Thomond flocked dutifully to the Viceroy, and he decided
controversies to their satisfaction. The sheriffs maintained great
trains of followers, who became a scourge to the country, and this
abuse was sternly repressed. Clanricarde and the rest were ready to
make some permanent arrangement with their tenants, 'so as I,' said
Perrott, 'would take a time among them to perform it, which, if I
have quietness, I will do hereafter.' He was not fated to have much
quietness. Bingham's first impression of his province was that the
Irish should be won by plausible means. It was, he said, their habit
to acknowledge their duty to her Majesty on the arrival of a new Lord
Deputy, 'more for fashion than for faithful obedience.' The fashion and
the want of faithful obedience have both continued to our own time.
Bingham saw clearly that the Queen's government would never be really
popular--'the people, for every small trifle, are daily suggesting that
they are intolerably oppressed and extorted upon.' His advice was to
keep them down by steady but gentle pressure, 'so that by having too
little the country may not be waste, and by having too much the people
may not rebel. Nevertheless, my meaning is rather to better their
estate than to make it worse.' He understood the problem, but he was
not much more successful than others in finding the solution.[117]
[Sidenote: State of the Church.]
John Long, a Cambridge man and a Londoner, was consecrated Primate
on the day on which Perrott left Dublin. As a special mark of favour
the new Deputy had been allowed to fill the vacant see. Loftus
desired the appointment of Thomas Jones, Dean of St. Patrick's, who
ultimately succeeded him in Dublin. Not much, either good or bad, is
recorded of Archbishop Long, but he became the chief pastor of a most
forlorn flock. 'There are here,' says an English visitor to Ireland,
'so many churches fallen down, so many children dispensed withal to
enjoy the livings of the Church, so many laymen--as they are commonly
termed--suffered to hold benefices with cure, so many clergymen
tolerated to have the profit of three or four pastoral dignities, who,
being themselves unlearned, are not meet men, though they were willing,
to teach and instruct others, as whoso beholdeth it must not choose but
make it known.'[118]
[Sidenote: Munster thoroughly cowed.]
Many of the chief men of Munster came to Perrott at Limerick, and the
rest signified their intention of attending him at Cork. But news
arrived that Scots had landed in Ulster, and the Lord Deputy, who liked
fighting better than anything, turned aside from Limerick, crossed
Tipperary, and returned by Kilkenny to Dublin. Ormonde and Norris,
together with all the late rebels whom the Earl had pardoned, were
ordered to make ready for the northern enterprise. Malachi O'Moloney,
Papal Bishop of Kilmacduagh, was suspected of having a hand in the
Ulster plot; he came to Perrott, renounced the Pope, and took the
oath of supremacy; but there can be little doubt that this conversion
was insincere. A messenger from Tirlogh O'Neill had certainly been in
Munster, but found it impossible to stir up the embers of the Desmond
rebellion. Lord Fitzmaurice told him plainly that no one would stir
as long as Perrott and Ormonde were in Ireland. The Lord Deputy could
therefore turn his back safely on Munster, and he hastened to Dublin
to make preparations for repelling what he believed to be a serious
invasion.[119]
[Sidenote: Escheated lands in Munster.]
[Sidenote: Difficulties of the survey.]
Far more important than the perennial but limited trouble with the
Scots, was the question of surveying and resettling the attainted lands
in Munster. In June 1584, a commission for the purpose was directed to
Vice-Treasurer Wallop, Sir Valentine Browne a man of long experience
in English revenue business, Surveyor-General Alford, and auditors
Jenyson and Peyton. Their survey began early in September, and they did
not return till the end of November, having found a great part of the
province waste; and Kerry in particular seemed impossible to re-people
except by importation from England. Sir Valentine Browne, who was an
elderly man, was active and zealous, but he found the work very hard.
'He hath,' says his colleague the Vice-Treasurer, 'been sundry times
bogged, yet hath gone better through with it than might be imagined
so corpulent a man of his years would have been able.' Rivers and
mountains had to be crossed, and provisions could hardly be procured
at any point between Limerick and Dingle. One hundred persons fed at
the Commissioners' table, who had to supply it on credit. Wallop was
struck by the great fertility of the land, and estimated that the Queen
would have a new revenue of 6,000_l._ within three years. But the
difficulty in making an accurate survey was very great. It was supposed
that land worth more than 1,000_l._ a year had escheated in parts of
Tipperary, outside of Ormonde's jurisdiction; but what he had once
claimed no one dared to inhabit in spite of him. The Earl's palatinate
was originally a matter of grace and favour, but he tried to extend it
to the whole county, and it seemed doubtful whether any subject ought
to be so great. The difficulty of arriving at the truth proved even
more serious than Wallop at first supposed. Many months passed without
anything being decided, and in the meantime Munster was in the utmost
misery. Vice-President Norris could not prevent his starving soldiers
from running after his brother into Flanders, and the towns, which
truly pleaded poverty, could neither be forced nor persuaded to support
them.[120]
[Sidenote: Scots in Ulster.]
Ormonde, who was in a hurry to get to London, deferred his journey that
he might accompany Perrott to Ulster. The young Earl of Thomond, who
had been educated in England, and who lived to be called 'the great
Earl,' was glad to take part in the expedition. His great object was
to have the county of Clare acknowledged as part of Munster, and freed
from the jurisdiction of the Connaught government; and in this he
ultimately succeeded. Clanricarde also gave his services, and so did
Lord President Norris. Perrott had 2,000 trained men with him, besides
Irish allies, and he thought they would all be necessary. It had been
his intention to govern plausibly, and 'to look through his fingers at
Ulster as a fit receptacle for all the savage beasts of the land;' but
the Scots were said to be 4,000, and there were the usual reports about
Spanish ships. Norris, who had a cooler head than Perrott, afterwards
said that he thought the Scots were bent 'only on their customary
fetching of meat.' They took 3,000 cows from Tyrconnell, but their
numbers were larger than usual. Macleans, as well as MacDonnells, were
engaged, and the whole movement had probably more to do with Hebridean
politics than with any intention of hurting Queen Elizabeth. The Scots
disappeared as quickly as they had come, and when Perrott reached
Newry, he found that no foeman worthy of his steel awaited him. He
resolved, however, to go on, and to show that Ulster was within his
reach.[121]
[Sidenote: The Scots clans,]
[Sidenote: and the Ulster Irish.]
Secretary Davison was in Scotland at this time, and he ridiculed
Perrott's fear of Scottish invasion. The obscure politics of Isla
and Cantire were not well understood even at Edinburgh, and the
Englishman's judgment may have been warped by the contempt which he
certainly felt for Arran. The whole thing, he said, had been greatly
exaggerated. But, notwithstanding his opinion and that of Norris, it
seems clear that the uneasiness among the western clans had something
to say to the fall of Gowrie, and to Arran's short-lived triumph. The
islanders would hardly move for king or regent, unless they saw some
advantage to themselves. Some of them at least were paid by cattle
taken from the O'Donnells, and all were willing to make interest at
court if it could be done cheaply. Perrott's ships just failed in
intercepting the Scots at Lough Foyle, and he could only speak from
report. 'Yet truly,' he maintained, 'although they ran away thus
cowardly, howsoever Mr. Davison was abused by his intelligence, they
were in number little fewer, their training and furniture no worse,
and their purpose no better, than I wrote.' Tirlogh Luineach was not
minded to oppose Perrott, and he came to him at Newry without pardon
or protection. The old chief's adhesion proved of little value, for,
like other Irish leaders before and since, 'the better subject he
became, the weaker he waxed, and the less regarded of his followers.'
In fact he required help against his own people. But O'Cahan and the
crafty Baron of Dungannon also came in, and Perrott proceeded to invest
Dunluce Castle.[122]
[Sidenote: Slight connection of the western clans with Edinburgh.]
[Sidenote: Perrott takes Dunluce.]
The legal government of Scotland accepted no responsibility for the
raids of Macleans and MacDonnells in Ulster. Formerly attempts to
retaliate on the Hebrides had not been successful, though Perrott
wished to repeat them; but James and Elizabeth were at peace, and the
Queen was quite justified in treating the intruders as filibusters.
Whether or not they were partly moved by Catholic intriguers in Mary
Stuart's interest really mattered very little, for they could not
influence seriously the fate of creeds or kingdoms. But they were a
constant source of expense, and the officer who dealt them a crushing
blow would deserve well of his sovereign. This honour was, however,
denied to Perrott, and reserved for Bingham. The Scot who commanded
the garrison of Dunluce declared that he held the castle for the King
of Scots' use, and would defend it to the last. He can, however, have
had no valid commission. The position of this place was at once its
strength and its weakness. Situated on a precipitous rock rising out of
a stormy sea, and connected with the mainland by a narrow ledge, it was
almost unapproachable by any enemy. On the other hand it could scarcely
be relieved, and it was impossible for the garrison to escape. The fire
of three pieces converging on the small castle soon made it untenable,
and the forty men whom it contained surrendered at discretion on the
second or third day.[123]
[Sidenote: Claims of the MacDonnells.]
The MacDonnells had always rested their Irish claims upon their
relationship to the extinct Bissetts. The extent of the lands once
held by that family was very uncertain; but Sorley Boy never ceased
his efforts to get rid of the MacQuillins, who had long held the
Route, and upon whom the garrison of Coleraine habitually depended for
provisions. Lady Agnes O'Neill, on the other hand, had the Campbell
instinct for annexation, and endeavoured to set up her own son Donnell
Gorme Macdonnell against his uncle. As the elder brother's son he had
perhaps the better legal right; but Sorley was supported by the clan.
Tirlogh Luineach was under his wife's influence, but had enough to do
to hold his own against Shane O'Neill's sons, and against the Baron of
Dungannon. Norris said Tirlogh could do nothing without the Queen's
help; but even he seems to have been persuaded by Lady Agnes that
Sorley's followers resented his tyranny, and were ready to leave him.
After the loss of Dunluce Sorley went to Scotland for help, and Perrott
agreed that Donnell Gorme should have a grant of the Bissetts' lands in
consideration of reasonable service. Donnell, on his part, undertook to
entertain none but Irish-born Scots, to book the men of his country and
be responsible for them, and to serve against his uncle or any other
foreign Scot. MacQuillin made a contract for victualling Coleraine,
and O'Donnell, whose wife was Donnell Gorme's sister, made a treaty
with Tirlogh Luineach, who agreed to maintain 300 English soldiers and
to perform other services. Magennis and the Clandeboye O'Neills also
made terms, and Perrott, finding no enemy in the field, returned to
Dublin.[124]
[Sidenote: Perrott, Ormonde, and Norris lift 50,000 cows.]
[Sidenote: The forest of Glenconkein.]
The war being at an end for want of an enemy, Perrott thought that
Scottish raids could best be prevented by clearing the country of
cattle. Norris and Ormonde entered Glenconkein, now the south-western
portion of Londonderry, but then considered part of Tyrone, and
50,000 cattle were collected in what was then an almost impenetrable
stronghold. Twenty-five years later Sir John Davies described
Chichester's march though the district, 'where the wild inhabitants
wondered as much to see the King's Deputy as the ghosts in Virgil
wondered to see Æneas alive in hell.' The woods were then said to be
among the best in Ireland, and to be as extensive as the New Forest;
but they had been wastefully treated, and it was feared that they would
soon be exhausted. So completely was the work of destruction carried
out that a report written in 1803 declared the county of Londonderry to
be the worst wooded in the King's dominions. In the sixteenth century
a considerable population inhabited Glenconkein, who tilled such
portions as were fit for tillage, and who looked upon the O'Neills as
their superior lords. As had been the case in Kerry, fires marked the
course of Ormonde's march. Norris took much the same view of the Ulster
problem as Sidney had done. Permanent garrisons must be maintained, and
this would be the cheapest way in the long run. 'Ireland,' he said,
'is not to be brought to obedience but by force; and albeit that some
governments have been performed with fewer men, yet have these times
served for nothing but to give breath for a further trouble, and then
the country ruled by entreaty and not by commandment.'[125]
[Sidenote: Perrott proposes to dissolve St. Patrick's,]
[Sidenote: and to endow a university.]
Among the private instructions given to Perrott by the Privy Council
was one directing him to consider 'how St. Patrick's in Dublin, and
the revenue belonging to the same, might be made to serve, as had been
theretofore intended,' for the erection of a college. This old plan
of Archbishop Browne's had been revived in 1564, and again abandoned
in deference to the remonstrances of the threatened foundation; but it
was very much to Perrott's liking, and he adopted it with additions.
The dean, Thomas Jones, had just been promoted to the see of Meath,
and a principal obstacle had thus been removed. The Courts of Justice
were at this time held in the Castle over the powder magazine, but
the lawyers had also claims upon the house of Black Friars, on the
left bank of the Liffey, where the Four Courts now stand. Ormonde and
others had conflicting interests, but the Judges and Bar petitioned
that they might be otherwise compensated, and that the law might be
permanently lodged by the riverside. This was the plan favoured by the
late Lords Justices, but Secretary Fenton, with whom Perrott agreed,
cast eyes on the Friars as a convenient landing-place, and wished to
turn it into a Government victualling-store. The Lord Deputy's idea
was to combine the two schemes; to let the judges sit in St. Patrick's
church, to convert the residence of the chapter into inns of court, and
to found a university with the revenues. The two cathedrals, he urged,
were too near together to be both useful, and St. Patrick's was 'held
in more superstitious veneration' than the one named after Christ. He
thought 2,000_l._ might suffice for the erection of two colleges, and
the surplus, which he estimated at about 700_l._, could go to eke out
the revenue of Christ Church. 'For the conversion of the whole church
of St. Patrick,' he told Burghley, 'whatsoever shall or can be said to
the contrary, it proceedeth from particular covetous humour without
regard to the general good. I could name the sink if I listed whereinto
the whole profit falleth under the colour of maintenance of a few bad
singers.' A reformer who begins in this way, though he be a king and
not merely a viceroy, very seldom succeeds in effecting reforms.[126]
[Sidenote: Loftus and Jones are too fond of money.]
Adam Loftus was fond of money. He begged so unblushingly for himself
and his relations, that the chapter of Christ Church, on granting one
of his requests, made him promise, before them all, not to ask for
anything more. Even this promise he afterwards tried to evade. He was
accused of jobbing away the revenues of St. Patrick's, and the late
dean, who was married to his sister-in-law, earned a very bad name
for wasting the substance of his deanery first, and afterwards of
his bishopric. One extant deed in particular bears Swift's indignant
endorsement, made in 1714, as 'a lease of Coolmine, made by that rascal
Dean Jones, and the knaves, or fools, his chapter, to one John Allen
for eighty-one years, to commence from the expiration of a lease of
eighty years made in 1583; so that there was a lease of 161 years of
253 acres in Tassagard parish, within three miles of Dublin, for 2_l._
per annum... now worth 150_l._, and, so near Dublin, could not then
be worth less than 50_l._ How the lease was surrendered, I cannot yet
tell.'
[Sidenote: St. Patrick's rescued;]
[Sidenote: though Loftus liked a university in the abstract.]
[Sidenote: Archbishop Bancroft.]
Loftus was accused of being interested in many such leases, and it
was said that in defending St. Patrick's he was really defending his
own pocket. He had been dean himself, too, and very possibly he was
not anxious for the inquisition which must have taken place had the
cathedral been dissolved. On the other hand, the Archbishop could give
good reason why Perrott's plan should not take effect. St. Patrick's,
he said, was the only place in Ireland where a learned man, and
especially a learned Englishman, 'could, without imminent danger,
thrust his head.' There were twenty-six dignitaries, some of them very
slightly endowed, and of these fifteen were university graduates. With
the exception of one bishop, there were no good preachers in Ireland
but those furnished by St. Patrick's, and amongst them were Dean Jones,
Thompson, the treasurer, Conway, the chancellor, and Henry Ussher, the
archdeacon, who lived to be Archbishop of Armagh. Of three bishops
who could preach, two had been promoted out of St. Patrick's, and
Christ Church neither had done nor could do anything in that way. He
was ready to give what help he could towards the establishment of a
university, but a university could not be maintained long if there were
no benefices to bestow upon fellows. The prebends did not depend upon
temporalities, but were all attached to parishes. Kildare was patron of
two, but the others were in the Archbishop's gift, and they were all
opposed to Perrott's scheme. Loftus himself was ready to resign rather
than leave himself 'a perpetual blot and infamy' to his successor,
for having consented to the destruction of his cathedral. Archdeacon
Ussher was sent to England, and Loftus also employed Richard Bancroft,
one of the prebendaries, to plead the cause of St. Patrick's at Court.
Bancroft became Archbishop of Canterbury, and gained lasting fame for
his services in connection with the authorised version of the Bible,
but appears to have resided very little in Dublin, though he held his
preferment there for at least thirty years.[127]
[Sidenote: The scheme makes Perrott and Loftus enemies.]
Whatever may be thought of Loftus's character, his arguments on
this occasion were good, and Burghley felt them to be unanswerable.
The thing could not be done, he said, without the consent of the
prebendaries, and he asked Perrott how he would like to have his own
salary diverted to some other use. Preaching was necessary as well
as teaching, and there was no greater abuse in the Church of England
than the transfer of livings to abbeys and colleges. Tithes had been
instituted for the service of parishes, and he would never do evil
that good might come. Perrott answered that the idea had not been
originated by him, and that his instructions from the Privy Council,
signed by Burghley himself with many others, would have warranted him
in proceeding far more roughly than he had done. Where he seems really
to have done wrong was in not showing this order of the Privy Council
to Loftus, and in letting him suppose that he was acting of his own
motion. Even after Burghley had given his opinion, he was unwilling to
give up the scheme, and the Archbishop begged for a letter signed by
the Queen herself. This was granted, and the royal missive was read to
Perrott in the presence of Waterhouse and Sir Lucas Dillon. Even then
the Lord Deputy was not silenced, and the result was bitter hostility
between the Queen's representative and the Chancellor Archbishop, who
should have been his chief adviser.[128]
[Sidenote: Three hundred executions in Munster.]
While Norris was absent in the North, Sir William Stanley governed
Munster, and improved the occasion by 300 executions. 'This,' he said,
'doth terrify them so that a man now may travel the whole country, and
none to molest him.' The Lord President on his return declared the
country was waste and depopulate. Even malefactors were scarce, and
there was no chance of resettling the province but by importing people.
[Sidenote: State of Connaught.]
[Sidenote: Forty-eight executions in Leinster.]
[Sidenote: Feagh MacHugh a prosecutor of thieves.]
In Connaught Bingham complained that he was denied means to maintain
the strict government necessary for a people who were not naturally
inclined to civility. He hoped nevertheless to increase the revenue
in time. From Leinster alone was there anything like a good report.
The Master of the Rolls went circuit, and 48 prisoners out of 181 were
executed on verdicts found by their own clansmen. Among them were
two landowners of the Kavanaghs, who had regularly preyed upon the
Barrow navigation, and whose property near Leighlin thus escheated to
the Crown. White settled some dispute between chiefs and sheriffs,
and visited Feagh MacHugh O'Byrne at Ballinacor, 'where law never
approached.' Nor was the reconciliation with the notable partisan
altogether hollow. About three months afterwards, fifty head of cattle
were lifted in the Pale, and 'carried with a pipe to the mountain.'
Feagh MacHugh followed, brought back the cows, and sent three of the
reivers' heads to Perrott. The piper and another were sent alive, and
speedily hanged, and O'Byrne declared his willingness to send his own
son, who had been implicated in the robbery. 'Your lordship,' said
Perrott, 'perhaps will marvel to hear that Feagh is such a prosecutor
of theft, and will think it a great change that the O'Connors are ready
to do good service; and the O'Mores, having put in pledges, do live
without doing harm. In Munster only one of the Burkes is abroad in
Aherlow woods with a 20 or 30 swords.'[129]
[Sidenote: State of Ulster.]
[Sidenote: Perrott addresses the Parliament of England.]
[Sidenote: The Queen spares both money and thanks.]
Exhaustion or despair had for a time quieted East, South, and West, but
the North was still unsubdued, and Perrott felt that only permanent
garrisons could secure it. He asked for 600 men, 25 to be levied in
each of the 24 handiest counties of England and Wales. In common years
the Queen had hitherto spent 30,000_l._ or 40,000_l._ a year over and
above the Irish revenue, and the average expense was considerably more.
If he might have 50,000_l._ for three years only, he would at the end
of them hand over Ireland provided with a trained garrison of 2,000
foot and 400 horse, with seven walled towns of a mile in circumference,
with seven bridges, and with seven castles; and the whole country
might then be governed infinitely better and more cheaply than it had
ever been before. He went so far as to write a letter to the English
Parliament, addressing it as 'most high and noble assembly.' The
malice of the Pope was urged, and also the certainty that foreign
princes would again attempt Ireland, and make it a noisome neighbour to
England. 'Choke up the sink at once,' he exclaimed, 'make one charge
of all, conceiving you do but lend so much upon large interest.'
But even Perrott was not rash enough to address Parliament without
Elizabeth's leave, and the despatch was forwarded through Walsingham,
who consulted Burghley and promptly suppressed it. The Queen, they
said, would certainly resent anyone but herself moving Parliament. She
had now resolved to help the Dutch, and was the more determined to
spare treasure in Ireland. No real danger was to be apprehended from
the Scots, about whom she meant to deal roundly with King James. But
Perrott was thanked for his services, and some minor requests were
granted. A few weeks later, fearing perhaps lest he should be puffed
up, she wrote with her own hand as follows:--'Let us have no more such
rash, unadvised journeys without good ground as your last journey in
the North. We marvel that you hanged not such saucy an advertiser as
he that made you believe so great a company was coming. I know you do
nothing but with a good intention for my service, but yet take better
heed ere you use us so again.'
He could only reiterate, what seems to have been the fact, that
thousands of Scots had really landed, and had run away before he could
reach them.[130]
FOOTNOTES:
[107] Birch's _Memoirs_, i. 27; Ormonde to Burghley, Jan. 26, 1584;
Lords Justices to Ormonde, Dec. 31, 1583.
[108] Second examination of Christopher Barnewall, Aug. 12, 1583.
[109] The text is taken from the official correspondence, Lords
Justices to Robert Beale, Oct. 8, 1583; to Walsingham, Oct. 20, Dec.
10, March 7 and 8, 1584, April 14, and July 9; Walsingham to the
Lords Justices, April 28, 1584. It appears from the Catholic accounts
that combustibles were poured into the boots. That of the Jesuit
Holing, who died in 1599, may be taken as contemporary; it is printed
in _Spicilegium Ossoriense_, i. 87. 'Tormenta nova illi parantur;
nam ejus pedibus atroces hæreticorum ministri ocreas, butiro, oleo,
et sale oppletas, ac--quod longe crudelius fuit--crudo ex corio
conditas subjecerunt; postea, vero, catenis simul et compedibus
alligatum, aperto in loco, nempe in medio castri--ubi spectaculum
mundo, hominibus, et angelis--ubi ab omnibus videri potuit, lento igne
apposuerunt, illicque detinuerunt, donec ipso corio consumpto, butiro,
oleo, et sale ferventibus, ossa non cute pro carne tecta verum etiam
omnino munda fuerint relicta.... Postea in ergastulum et obscurissimum
carcerem reducitur, et post sex menses tanquam traditor et reus
criminis læsæ majestatis, ab iniquo judice ad mortem condemnatus est.
Ad extremum, post inaudita tormenta et carceris molestias, albescente
cælo, ne forte tumultus fieret in populo qui ejus exemplo, doctrina,
et constantia permotus ad ejus defensionem perveniret, ignorantibus
civibus patibulo suspensus martyrium consummavit Dublinii circa
annum 1585, mense Maio.' Other accounts, which agree in essentials,
are collected in Brady's _Episcopal Succession_, ii. 11, 599. The
Valicellian MS. there quoted, says a withen rope was used to protract
his agony; but Bacon tells us that this kind of halter was generally
used in Ireland, and that a rebel objected to any other.
[110] Ormonde to the Privy Council and to Burghley, Jan. 11, 1584, with
enclosures; Wallop to Walsingham, Jan. 21.
[111] John Browne to Hatton and Walsingham, Nov. 19, 1583; Clanricarde
to the Privy Council, Jan. 31, 1584; Lords Justices to the Privy
Council, March 28, 1584; Wallop to Leicester, Jan. 26, 1581, in
Wright's _Elizabeth_. The _Four Masters_ bear out Browne's statement as
to John Burke's popularity; see also a damaged paper calendared under
Nov. 1583 (No. 99). The Earl's pardon passed the Irish Council, June
28, 1584. Lady Mary married O'Rourke. 'That honest woman,' Bingham
wrote some years later, 'is deceased in childbirth' (to Gardiner, June
10, 1589).
[112] Lords Justices to the Privy Council, Sept. 12, 1583. Fenton to
Leicester and Warwick, Sept. 13, in _Carew_; Hooker. This is one of the
last, if not the very last trial by combat in the British Islands. Lord
Reay's case, in 1631, is in Howell's _State Trials_, vol. iii., with a
minute account of the ridiculous ceremonies proper to such a mode of
trial; but in that case the fight did not actually take place.
[113] Reasons of Brian MacGilpatrick O'Connor &c. (translated out of
Irish), Oct. 15, 1583. The brothers seem to have subsided, or as some
would say risen, into farmers.
[114] The memorial of the Privy Council and the Queen's instructions
are both printed in _Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica_; see also Perrott's
_Life_, and Ormonde to Burghley, March 13, 1584. Perrott landed at
Dalkey, June 9, and was sworn in by Loftus in St. Patrick's on the 21st.
[115] Ormonde to Burghley, March 13, 1584 (from Carrick); docquet of
letter, April 4; Ormonde to Burghley, May 19 (from Abermorles); June 4,
(from Carew).
[116] Order for a hosting, June 22, 1584; Wallop to Walsingham, July 9;
Fenton to Walsingham, July 10.
[117] Henry Sheffield to Burghley, July 12, 1584; Memorial for Mr.
Edward Norris, Aug. 6; Bingham to Burghley, Aug. 7.
[118] William Johnes to Walsingham, July 14, 1584.
[119] Perrott's Memorial for Mr. Edward Norris, Aug. 6, 1584.
[120] Wallop to Burghley, Sept. 17, 1584; to Walsingham, Oct. 14
and Dec. 4; Sir V. Browne to Burghley and Walsingham, Oct. 18; to
Walsingham, Dec. 11; Waterhouse to Walsingham, Nov. 28; Lord Thomond
to Burghley, July 14, 1585; Vice-President Norris to Perrott, Dec. 30,
1585.
[121] Fenton to Burghley, Aug. 19, 1584; Perrott to the Privy Council,
Aug. 21; Bingham to Walsingham, Aug. 30; John Norris to Burghley, Oct.
16.
[122] Walsingham to Hunsdon, Aug. 24, 1584, in Wright's _Elizabeth_;
Privy Council to Perrott, Aug. 31; Perrott to Privy Council, Sept. 15.
[123] Perrott to Privy Council, Sept. 15 and 17.
[124] Norris to Burghley, Oct. 16, 1584. The various agreements are in
_Carew_, from Sept. 18 to Oct. 7. Perrott returned to Dublin within
a few days of the latter date. On the 20th he sent Walsingham 'Holy
Columkill's cross, a god of great veneration with Sorley Boy and all
Ulster.... When you have made some sacrifice to him, according to the
disposition you bear to idolatry, you may, if you please, bestow him
upon my good Lady Walsingham or my Lady Sidney, to wear as a jewel of
weight and bigness, and not of price and goodness, upon some solemn
feast or triumph day at the Court.'
[125] Norris to Burghley, Oct. 16, 1584. See also (in Russell and
Prendergast's Calendar) Sir John Davies to Salisbury, July 1, 1607, and
Aug. 5, 1608, and the second conference about the Plantation, Jan. 12,
1610; and J. C. Beresford's report in the _Concise View of the Irish
Society_, p. ccxxii. In the Irish _Archæological Journal_, vol. i. p.
477, Ormonde's contemporary panegyrist, who is an unconscious satirist,
says:
Twice he set Glenconkein on fire,
This wealthy and tender-hearted chieftain;
He left no herds around Lough Neagh,
This seer so provident and bountiful.
According to O'Donovan (_Four Masters_, 1526) Glenconkein originally
composed the parishes of Ballinascreen, Desertmartin, and Kilcronaghan.
[126] Sir J. Cusack to Cecil, Feb. 2, 1564; Memorial for Perrott in
_Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica_; Fenton to Burghley, Jan. 31, 1584;
Petition to the Judges, Feb. 16; Perrott to Walsingham, Aug. 21; and to
Burghley, Oct. 22.
[127] Loftus to Walsingham, Oct. 4, 1584; and March 21, 1585;
to Burghley, March 18, 1585; Petition of the prebendaries (with
enclosures), Dec. 1584. See also Ware's _Bishops_, arts. 'Jones' and
'Loftus,' and Cotton's _Fasti_. Writing to Burghley, Jan 10, 1585,
Loftus says the only great abuse was the non-residence of prebendaries,
some of them by her Majesty's express command, and he proposes to
remedy this by calling on them to reside, or resign. Bancroft was one
of these privileged absentees. For Swift's remark see Monck Mason's
_Hist. of St. Patrick's_, book ii. chap. iii. sec. 8, where another
disgraceful lease made by Jones is also mentioned. Loftus was an
accomplice in this later case.
[128] Burghley to Perrott, Nov. 6, 1584; Loftus to Burghley, June 7
and 11, 1585. Writing to Burghley on the previous 10th of Jan., Loftus
says Fenton had dealt earnestly for the overthrow of St. Patrick's.
'After all,' says Monck Mason, 'the opposition made by Loftus must be
considered as quite reasonable. Had the scheme taken effect there would
scarcely have remained a single benefice in the gift of the Archbishop;
the Crown presented to all the dignities in the other cathedral, and
the Chapter to all the prebends.'--_Hist. of St. Patrick's_, book i.
ch. 14.
[129] Stanley to Walsingham, Sept. 17, 1584; Norris to Burghley, Nov.
20; Sir N. White to Perrott, Sept. 16; Bingham to Walsingham, Nov. 24
and Dec. 21; and to Burghley, Dec. 24; Perrott to Burghley, Dec. 4.
[130] Perrott to the Privy Council, Oct. 25, 1584; to Walsingham
(enclosing that to the High Court of Parliament), Jan. 17, 1585; to the
Queen, April 1; Walsingham to Perrott, Feb. 1; the Queen to Perrott,
April 14. Perrott's proposed towns were Athlone, Coleraine, Sligo,
Mayo, Dingle, Lifford, and Newry; bridges at Coleraine, Lifford,
Ballyshannon, Dundalk, the Munster Black Water, the Feale, and Kells
in Clandeboye; castles at Ballyshannon, Meelick, Castle Martin in the
Route, at Gallen in King's County, Kilcommon in Wicklow, and on both
the Blackwaters.