ADMINISTRATION OF FITZWILLIAM, 1588-1594.
[Sidenote: Ulster after the Armada.]
[Sidenote: Case of Sir John O'Gallagher.]
When the danger was over, it was not unnatural that Fitzwilliam should
wish to chastise those who had favoured the invaders, or at least to
reduce them to submission. His enemies said he only wanted to convert
some of the Spanish treasure to his own use; but it is clear that he
got none of it, either for himself or for the Queen. On two miles
of strand in Sligo 'there lay,' he says, 'more wrecked timber in my
opinion (having small skill or judgment therein) than would have built
five of the greatest ships that ever I saw, besides mighty great boats,
cables, and other cordage answerable thereunto, and some such masts,
for bigness and length, as in mine own judgment I never saw any two
could make the like.' But there were no doubloons. The castles of
Ballyshannon and Belleek were in possession of Tyrone's father-in-law,
Sir John MacToole O'Gallagher, who had formerly enjoyed a good service
pension of 100_l._, of which he had been deprived by Perrott. He
was now in close alliance with Ineen Duive, the mother of Hugh Roe
O'Donnell, and it was dangerous to oppose her, for she murdered at
this time another O'Gallagher whose independent bearing annoyed her.
Neither O'Rourke nor any of the smaller chiefs who had befriended the
Spaniards came to Fitzwilliam, and the cattle were driven off into the
mountains. O'Donnell did come, and so did Sir John O'Gallagher and Sir
John O'Dogherty. Fitzwilliam's enemies said O'Gallagher came under safe
conduct, but the annalists do not allege this. The Deputy himself says
he persuaded him to come by courteous entreaty, and that O'Dogherty
came of his own accord. He treated them as sureties for Perrott's
tribute, of which 'not one beef had been paid,' and carried them both
prisoners to Dublin; but the 2,100 cows remained in Donegal. Whether
word was broken with these chiefs or not, Fitzwilliam's policy was
certainly bad. How were O'Rourke and MacSwiney punished by imprisoning
O'Gallagher or O'Dogherty? There could be no result except to make
Irishmen very shy of the Viceroy. O'Dogherty remained in Dublin Castle
for a year or more, and the deputy Remembrancer of the Exchequer said
he was only released then because certain hogsheads of salmon were
sent to the Lord Chancellor's cellar. O'Gallagher remained six years
in prison, Fitzwilliam saying he was too dangerous to liberate, and
his critics maintaining that he only wanted to be bribed. The wretched
chief, who was old and infirm, was released by Sir William Russell, but
died soon after.[187]
[Sidenote: O'Donnell politics.]
Fitzwilliam, who went from Donegal to Strabane, made Donnell O'Donnell
sheriff. He was O'Donnell's eldest son by an Irish wife or mistress,
and it was supposed that he would do good service against the Scotch
party, who thirsted for his blood. It was hoped that Tyrone would help
to get the promised rent from Tyrconnell, but he contented himself with
entertaining the army sumptuously at Dungannon, and he afterwards made
the treatment of Sir John O'Gallagher one of his principal grievances.
The redoubtable Ineen soon afterwards burned down her husband's house
at Donegal, lest it should serve to shelter a garrison, and at the same
time her son Hugh, who was a prisoner at Dublin Castle, was betrothed
to the Earl's daughter. The Lord Deputy's journey to the North had no
results of importance, but he could boast of not losing one man in
seven weeks.[188]
[Sidenote: The Desmond forfeitures.]
[Sidenote: Opposition to the undertakers.]
In order to clear up some of the claims made upon the forfeited
Desmond estates, it was thought wise to send over no less a person
than Chief Justice Anderson. His law could not be gainsaid, and he
was not likely to err on the side of leniency. The English lawyers
joined in commission with him were Sir Robert Gardiner, Chief Justice
of Ireland, Thomas Gent, Baron of the Exchequer in England, and
Jesse Smythe, Chief Justice of Munster; and upon these four fell the
principal part of the work. Of eighty-two claims only one was allowed,
a conveyance from Desmond being produced in that case, of a date prior
to his first treasonable act. In the absence of such proof, the Queen
was held to be seised in fee of all the Earl's estate. The materials
exist for a detailed account of the Munster settlement, but they are
more properly available for histories of Cork, Kerry, Limerick, and
Waterford than for that of Ireland. One of the suitors aggrieved by
the decision of the commissioners was Lord Roche, and his case is
especially interesting because of its connection with Spenser. He
made seven distinct claims, and on the first being dismissed, because
he had 'sinisterly seduced' the witnesses, he refused to proceed
with the others, and threatened to complain to the Queen, whereupon
the commissioners sent him to gaol. The imprisonment was short, but
he declared that one of the undertakers had shot an arrow at him,
professed to be in fear of his life, and begged Ormonde to lend him
some house on the Suir, where he might be safe for a time. In the
meantime he managed to make the country very unsafe for some other
people.
[Sidenote: Spenser.]
Spenser had Kilcolman and 4,000 acres allotted to him, but he
complained that the area was really much less. Less or more, he was
not allowed to dwell in peace, and his chief enemy was Lord Roche,
who accused him of intruding on his lands, and using violence to
his tenants, servants, and cattle. The poet retorted that the peer
entertained traitors, imprisoned subjects, brought the law into
contempt, and forbade all his people to have any dealings with Mr.
Spenser and his tenants. An English settler named Keate asked Morris
MacShane, one of Lord Roche's men, why he had no fear of God; and it
was sworn that he answered, 'he feared not God, for he had no cause;
but he feared his Lord, who had punished him before and would have his
goods.' Lord Roche was charged with many outrages, such as killing a
bullock belonging to a smith who mended a settler's plough, seizing
the cows of another for renting land from the owner of this plough,
and killing a fat beast belonging to a third, 'because Mr. Spenser
lay in his house one night as he came from the sessions at Limerick.'
Ultimately the poet's estate was surveyed as 3,028 acres at a rent of
8_l._ 13_s._ 9_d._, which was doubled at Michaelmas 1594, making it
about five farthings per acre. Spenser maintained himself at Kilcolman
until 1598, when the undertakers were involved in general ruin.
Troubles with Lord Roche continued to the end, and it may be doubted
whether even the happy marriage which inspired his finest verses ever
reconciled him to what he has himself described as--
My luckless lot
That banished had myself, like wight forlore,
Into that waste, where I was quite forgot.
[Sidenote: Raleigh.]
[Sidenote: Fatal defects of the settlement.]
Raleigh, whose society was one of Spenser's few pleasures in Munster,
settled a very large number of English families upon his great estate
in Cork and Waterford. Passing afterwards into Boyle's skilful hands,
this settlement became of the greatest importance, but it was overrun
like the rest in 1598. Ten years before the crash came, Raleigh could
see that Thomas of Desmond and his son James were dangerous neighbours.
Sir Richard Grenville and Fane Beecher had the whole barony of
Kinalmeaky between them, and at the end of 1589 there were only six
Englishmen there, upon land estimated at 24,000 acres. The hero of
Flores had a very poor opinion of the prospect unless questions which
proved insoluble could be speedily settled, and the English settlers
found their position everywhere very disagreeable. Grenville and St.
Leger planted a considerable number in the district immediately south
of Cork, and Arthur Hyde did pretty well on the Blackwater; but, as
a rule, the newcomers were greatly outnumbered by the natives. Nor
can it be doubted that many returned to England when they found that
Munster was not Eldorado. Irish tenants were easily got to replace
them, and even to pay rents to the undertakers until it was possible to
cut their throats. When the day of trial came, the remaining settlers
were easily disposed of; they cried, and there was none to help
them.[189]
[Sidenote: The Clancarty heiress;]
[Sidenote: secretly married to Florence MacCarthy.]
Among other devices for balancing the Desmond power in Munster,
Elizabeth had made Donnell MacCarthy More Earl of Clancare, and
Shane O'Neill had spoken very sarcastically of this attempt to turn
a foolish chief into a 'wise earl.' His only legitimate son ran away
to France, where he died, and all hereditary rights were then vested
in his daughter Ellen, who became an important figure in the eyes
of English and Irish fortune-hunters. It appears that Clancare sold
his daughter to Sir Valentine Browne as a wife for his son Nicholas,
Sir Thomas Norris having first given up the idea of wooing her. Sir
Valentine was a mortgagee, for the earl had wasted his substance
in riotous living, and in the hands of a family of undertakers and
land-surveyors every claim of that sort would have its full value.
In the eyes of the MacCarthies and of the heiress's mother, who was
a Desmond, the proposed match was a disparagement, and early in 1589
a private marriage was celebrated between Lady Ellen and Florence
MacCarthy, who had probably come from London on purpose. Sir Nicholas
Browne afterwards married a daughter of O'Sullivan Bere. The heiress
does not seem to have been much consulted, and a marriage which began
so romantically was not in the end even moderately happy. In 1599 she
distrusted her husband, who called her 'foolish and froward,' and not
long afterwards she was practically a spy upon his actions.
[Sidenote: Mac Carthy politics.]
[Sidenote: Florence and Donnell MacCarthy.]
Florence was Tanist of Carbery, which had passed to his uncle, and
the result of his runaway match would be to unite the territories of
MacCarthy Reagh and MacCarthy More in one hand. Now that the Desmonds
were gone, a MacCarthy on this scale would be the strongest man in
Munster. To break up these great estates was a fixed object with the
English Government, and Florence was sent as prisoner to England,
where he remained for several years. His wife escaped from Cork, hid
for a long time among her people, and then joined her husband in
London. The clans generally acknowledged him as MacCarthy More, but
there was another claimant in the person of Clancare's illegitimate
son Donnell, who had many friends among the people, and who was
probably his father's favourite. A peaceable inhabitant was murdered
by this spirited young man, whom he had ventured to reprove for his
Irish extortions, and who supported himself and his band of followers
by promiscuous robbery. 'It is thought,' said St. Leger, 'that this
detestable murder was committed by the Earl's consent, for that the
party murdered would not relieve him with money, to bear out his
drunken charges at Dublin.' Florence, on the contrary, was a scholar,
and a man who, notwithstanding his gigantic stature, used his pen
more readily than his sword. His accomplishments, and the very hard
treatment he received, have made him interesting, but there was nothing
heroic about him. He was an astute Irishman, and while English writers
could rightly accuse him of treasonable practices, his rival Donnell,
called him 'a damned counterfeit Englishman, whose only study and
practice was to deceive and betray all the Irish in Ireland.'[190]
[Sidenote: Fitzwilliam and the MacMahons.]
In June 1589 Sir Ross MacMahon, chief of Monaghan, died without heirs
male. He held of the Queen by letters patent, and was regarded as
MacMahon, and also as feudal grantee of the whole country, except the
districts comprised in the modern barony of Farney, which had been
granted to Walter, Earl of Essex. He was liable to a rent of 400
beeves and to certain services. His brother Hugh Roe at once claimed
his inheritance. Fitzwilliam's great object was to break up these
principal chiefries into moderate estates, and he thought this a good
opportunity. Brian MacHugh Oge also claimed to be MacMahon, but upon
purely Celtic grounds, and very much upon the strength of 500 or 600
armed men whom he found means to pay. Fitzwilliam persuaded Hugh Roe
that he had not much chance of success, and brought him to agree to a
division, but his kinsmen refused, since each gentleman of the name
claimed to be the MacMahon himself. Fitzwilliam then acknowledged
Hugh Roe as chief, and sent him 400 foot and 40 horse. Brian MacHugh
was in possession of Leck Hill and of the stone upon which MacMahons
were inaugurated, and was supported by Tyrone and by Hugh Maguire,
who had just become chief of Fermanagh upon the death of his father
Cuconnaught. On the approach of the Queen's troops he fled into
O'Rourke's country, and left Hugh Roe in possession. Returning a few
days later with help from O'Rourke or Maguire, he drove his rival from
Clones, and killed a few soldiers, but without coming into collision
with the main body. Hugh Roe did, however, maintain himself, but
soon showed that he had no intention of abandoning native customs.
He rescued prisoners from the sheriff of Monaghan, drove cattle in
Farney, burned houses, and behaved himself generally like a spirited
Irish chieftain. These offences legally involved a forfeiture of his
patent, and Fitzwilliam found means to arrest him. Tyrone looked upon
the cattle-stealing merely as 'distraining for his right according
to custom,' but Fitzwilliam saw another chance of effecting the much
desired partition. The Queen was inclined to think that MacMahon
had committed nothing more than 'such march offences as are ever
ordinarily committed in that realm,' that great caution should be used
in punishing a man who undoubtedly depended on the Crown, and that
Brian MacHugh in particular was not to be preferred. In the end Hugh
Roe was tried and executed at Monaghan. In 1591 the country, with the
exception of Farney, was divided between six MacMahons and MacKenna,
the chief of Trough. The rent reserved to the Queen was 7_s._ 6_d._ for
every sixty acres. An ample demesne was assigned to each, and those
holding land under them, at a rent of 12_s._ 6_d._ for every sixty
acres, were called freeholders. A seneschal was appointed to represent
the Crown. Brian MacHugh was established in Dartrey, and Ever MacCoolie
in Cremorne. The church-lands, and only the church-lands, were leased
to private speculators, but the settlement was not destined to remain
unquestioned.
[Sidenote: Charge of corruption.]
Fitzwilliam has been accused of acting corruptly in this matter; but
such charges were matters of course, and his own strong denial ought to
prevail, since there is no evidence against him. 'I did it,' he said,
'to the profit of her Majesty and good of this State, nothing regarding
mine own private; I speak it in the presence of God, by whom I hope to
be saved... if ever there were such a motion or meaning for me, or for
any of mine, let God wipe us all out of his book.'[191]
[Sidenote: Bingham in Connaught.]
[Sidenote: Jones Bishop of Meath.]
Bingham had treated the Spaniards very severely, as well as those who
harboured them. The consequence of allowing them to draw together on
Irish soil would have been serious, and in Walsingham's eyes at least
he had done no more than his duty. But the chiefs who already hated
him now hated him worse than ever, and when the danger was over plenty
of Englishmen were ready to censure his proceedings. Among them was
Thomas Jones, Bishop of Meath, and afterwards Archbishop of Dublin,
a Lancashire man, who had been admitted to the Council at the same
time as Bingham, in accordance with the Queen's instructions to Sir
John Perrott, and who had afterwards been sharply rebuked by her for
proposing severe measures against recusants, and for openly and without
notice blaming that Deputy's remissness in the matter. He now gave
out that Ustian MacDonnell, a noted leader of gallowglasses, had been
unadvisedly executed by the Governor of Connaught. Bingham replied
that the court-martial was quite regular, and the sentence just. He
had, he said, 'never a foot of land in the world as his own, nor yet
anything else, and had always been the worst man in all these parts of
his time.' The chief charge against him was that of combining with the
Devil's Hook's son and other Burkes to receive Alonso de Leyva when he
was driven upon the Erris shore, and for preventing the country people
from supplying the troops, while they readily gave their cattle to the
Spaniards. The Bishop of Meath, with John Garvey, Bishop of Kilmore, a
Kilkenny man, who was immediately afterwards translated to Armagh, the
veteran Sir Nicholas White, Sir Robert Dillon, Chief Justice of the
Common Pleas, and Sir Thomas Lestrange, were appointed commissioners
for the pacification of Connaught. They may have let their hostility
to Bingham be known, or--as was so often the case--their mere presence
seemed to show that he was distrusted. The result was not satisfactory,
for they found the Mayo Burkes in open rebellion, and they left them in
no better case. White thought these people desired peace, and that it
was prevented by a revengeful disposition in some of his colleagues to
lay all the blame on Bingham.[192]
[Sidenote: Murder of John Browne in Mayo.]
John Browne, the founder of a great Connaught family, had been in the
service of Sir Christopher Hatton, and was attached politically to
Walsingham. He arrived in Ireland in 1583, and Sir Nicholas Maltby
appears to have been his first patron there. His original project, in
which he was associated with Robert Fowle and others, was to rebuild
and people the deserted town of Athenry; but this proved impracticable,
and at a hint from Walsingham, the adventurers took all Connaught
for their province. Browne established himself at the Neale, near
Ballinrobe, and prided himself on being the first Englishman who had
settled in Mayo. When Bingham came into Maltby's room, he recognised
a congenial spirit, and in 1586 Browne was employed by him with much
effect against the Burkes and Joyces. In 1589 he received a commission
to harry the Burkes and all their maintainers with fire and sword,
and a few days afterwards they killed him. Daniel Daly, sub-sheriff
of Mayo, who was also employed by Bingham, was murdered at the same
time.[193]
[Sidenote: Bingham and the Mayo Burkes.]
[Sidenote: A rebellion.]
The reason or pretext given for their rebellion by the chiefs of
Western Connaught was that Bingham's tyranny was intolerable. They
declared that they had paid for protections which proved no protection,
and for pardons which were not regarded, and that they never would
be quiet until there was a radical change. It is always very hard
to decide whether complaints such as these were really genuine and
well-founded, or whether the mischief was mainly caused by the jealousy
of chiefs who saw their authority disregarded, and their power of
levying endless exactions curtailed. They spoke of liberty, but most
Englishmen considered that they only wanted licence to oppress. Their
power to give trouble was at least not doubtful. William Burke,
called the Blind Abbot, was chief of the Lower Burkes, and aspired
to be MacWilliam Iochtar. Another leader was Richard MacRickard,
called the Devil's Hook, or the Demon of the Reaping-hook. 400 of
the Clandonnel gallowglasses joined the Burkes. Sir Morrogh ne Doe
O'Flaherty dismantled his castles in Galway, ferried 600 men over
Lough Corrib, and entered Mayo in company with his neighbours, the
Joyces. The outbreak had been a long time hatching, and was violent
in proportion. Sixteen villages were burned, and 3,000 cattle driven
away. All who were not with the insurgents were held to be against
them, and peaceable husbandmen had a bad time of it. One housewife
was called upon to feed 100 men, and particularly observed that they
gave her no thanks. In another poor dwelling six barrels of ale were
drunk or spoiled, and the owner was threatened with personal violence.
It was Lent, but a Spanish priest who was with O'Flaherty, gave them
all absolution for eating flesh, and there was much feasting at other
people's expense. Sir Morrogh was fond of money, and a promise of
500_l._ was supposed to have reconciled him to the probable execution
of his son, who was a hostage for his good behaviour. On the whole, the
number of men in rebellion was thought not to fall short of 200, and
they had some pieces of ordnance and stores taken from three ships of
the Armada. There were about twenty Spaniards with them, who did not at
all relish the conditions of Irish warfare.[194]
[Sidenote: Royal Commission in Connaught.]
Bishop Jones and his fellow-commissioners came to Athlone on April
11, about three months after the murder of Browne. The O'Flaherties
had in the meantime been very thoroughly beaten by Lieutenant Francis
Bingham and other officers, assisted by Gerald Comerford, the martial
attorney-general for Connaught. They lost something like 200 men, while
only one soldier fell. Bishop Garvey was sent first into Mayo, while
Jones and his other colleagues went straight to Galway. Sir Murrogh
refused to come into the town without a protection, and this the mayor
refused to grant in opposition to Comerford, lest Bingham should take
him nevertheless, and so destroy the credit of the corporation. Sir
Richard was at little pains to hide his dislike of the whole inquiry.
The Bishop of Meath laid down the principle--and with this at least it
is impossible not to agree--that loyal men should keep their words, no
matter how much rebels broke theirs. 'What!' said Bingham, 'would you
have us keep our words with those which have no conscience, but break
their word daily? I am not of that opinion.' Chief Justice Dillon's
reading of his commission was that he was to make peace; Sir Richard
commanded the troops, and might fight if he pleased. Bingham said he
would hold his hand until the commissioners had done their best, or
worst, and he let them see that he had no belief in their doings. The
Bishop of Kilmore succeeded in bringing the leaders of the Burkes to
Galway; and the Blind Abbot, as soon as he came within sight, held out
the commission which had been found on Browne's person at the time of
his murder, and declared he would send it to the Queen. The knowledge
that this document existed, said another Burke, was the real cause of
the crime.[195]
[Sidenote: Bingham too strong for the commissioners,]
[Sidenote: who become ridiculous.]
Bingham was at Galway during the visit of the commissioners, though
he did not conceal his disgust, and he had a considerable force with
him. He declared that soldiers were necessary for the safety of the
commissioners, and perhaps they were; but their presence brought
danger of another sort. In the town the governor had many enemies
and the rebels many friends, and brawls took place between them and
some of Bingham's men, who were probably indignant at the treatment
of a chief whom they trusted, and who habitually led them to victory.
'Nay, sirs,' said Sir Richard to two of the Burkes who were stating
their grievances, 'would you not be clean rid of a sheriff, or would
you not have a MacWilliam established among you?' The commissioners
professed themselves unable to detect any such intention, but the
event showed that Bingham was right. Sir Morrogh O'Flaherty and the
Blind Abbot refused altogether to come into Bingham's presence,
and the commissioners agreed to meet them outside the town. The
trysting-place was an abbey beyond the river, probably the dissolved
friary of the Dominicans, and Bingham blamed the commissioners for
trusting themselves in a place where violence was easy, while some of
his followers illustrated this opinion in a very curious way. Two men,
dressed like nuns, or at least like women with 'mantles and caps,' and
a third in a black gown, which may have been intended to represent the
garb of St. Dominic, passed through the church while the commissioners
were in the choir. 'Let us go and tarry no longer,' said Jones, 'for I
see they do begin to mock us already,' and accordingly they regained
their boat and went back to the town. The masqueraders, who were joined
by others, took their place in the choir and went through the farce of
a parley. Afterwards they paraded the streets, 'I am the Bishop of
Meath,' said one. Another said, 'I am the Justice Dillon; reverence
for the Queen's Commissioners,' and so on. In the end, after several
abortive discussions, Jones and his colleagues left Galway without
concluding peace. It is evident that Bingham's discontented subjects
distrusted each other quite as much as they did him. Sir Morrogh
O'Flaherty was ready to make separate terms for himself, and the Burkes
feared to promise anything, lest others should take advantage of them.
Bingham's hands were untied, and he proceeded to restore order in his
own way.[196]
[Sidenote: O'Connor Sligo's case.]
[Sidenote: Bingham defeats his claim.]
Sir Donnell O'Connor of Sligo had surrendered his possessions to
the Queen and taken out a fresh grant with remainder to the heirs
male of his father. The castle and Dominican friary were originally
founded by the Kildare family, and the O'Connors were technically
their constables; but attainders intervened, and the claim was too
antiquated to weigh much with Elizabethan statesmen. Sir Donnell died
about the beginning of 1588, and his nephew Donough claimed to succeed
him. According to Bingham, both Donough and his father Cahil Oge were
illegitimate, and he was anxious to have the castle of Sligo in safe
hands, because it commanded the passage from Ulster into Connaught.
Donough, who was attached to Leicester, declared that the governor's
real object was to get all for his brother George; but Bingham's
proposal was that the barony of Carbury, on account of its strategic
importance, should be retained for the Queen, and that all O'Connor
Sligo's lands in the neighbouring districts should be regranted to
Donough. A commission, consisting of the Bishop of Meath, Sir Robert
Dillon, and others, was appointed by Perrott to inquire into the
matter, and they decided in favour of Donough. Bingham declared that
they were quite wrong, and that he gave up Sligo under compulsion,
for fear of disobeying the Lord Deputy, and in plain defiance of the
Queen's real interest. After Perrott's departure from Ireland a
further inquiry into Donough's title was made, the commissioners being
Bingham himself, with Chief Justice Sir Robert Gardiner and Mr. Justice
Walshe. The jurors were substantial men, but it was alleged that
Bingham had taken one of them by the beard, and threatened to punish
him as a traitor if he persisted in finding Donough legitimate. After
five days a verdict was obtained for the Crown, and the Chief Justice
particularly stated that the trial was impartial, that all O'Connor's
challenges were allowed, and that Bingham did not use a harsh word to
any witness or juror. Sligo remained in safe hands during the time the
Armada was on the coast. Walsingham wrote a stinging rebuke to Bishop
Jones for his corrupt conduct in the matter, and for his malice to
Bingham. 'It was told me at what time you were in England that I should
in the end find you a hypocrite. And what better reckoning can I make
of you... this practice of yours, though not by Sir Richard Bingham, is
sufficiently discovered already from Ireland, and the gentleman I doubt
not will stand upright there, in despite of all your malice.' Others
accused Jones of acting entirely under Dillon's guidance, and the
latter of receiving bribes. William Nugent, the ex-rebel of the Pale,
said that he received 100 cows for making a false record.[197]
[Sidenote: Walsingham supports Bingham.]
Bishop Jones was profuse in apologies both to Walsingham and Burghley;
and, though Swift calls him a rascal, there is no proof that he acted
corruptly in the matter, while it might not be safe to say as much of
Sir Robert Dillon. On June 10, Fitzwilliam himself arrived at Galway,
whence Bingham departed at his urgent request, and on the following
day the Blind Abbot and Sir Murrogh ne Doe O'Flaherty made their
submissions openly in the church of St. Nicholas, and remained on their
knees for nearly three-quarters of an hour. The Lord Deputy received a
statement of their grievances in writing, and lost no time in advising
Burghley that he thought they would never trust their lives under
Bingham's government. A few days later, Sir Richard told Walsingham
that Fitzwilliam only impoverished Connaught by the cost of his train,
that he had done nothing in three weeks, and that the province was
a prey to rebels whom he, the governor, was forbidden to chastise.
Hostages had been given, Archbishop Garvey's eldest son among them,
for the chiefs lately received on submission--'a couple of doating old
fools,' who were amply protected by the garrison. O'Rourke was the
real head of the rebellion, and he was shielded by the spite of Jones
and the corruption of Dillon. The Queen's representatives, he added,
had, in fact, sued for peace, and it was not worth having, for the
other parties were beggars and wretches. The terms were that the chiefs
should disperse their forces and go home, that they should surrender
any foreigners among them, that they should make such reparation for
their rebellion as the Lord Deputy should appoint, and that they should
pay for all the harm they had done since the first appointment of the
Commissioners.[198]
[Sidenote: The attack on Bingham fails.]
[Sidenote: The O'Flaherties.]
Fitzwilliam refused to let Bingham confront his accusers at Galway,
lest the terror of his presence should silence them. The result was
that their uncontradicted statements were sent over to England, and
Walsingham's wrath was hot within him. The unfairness of the procedure
was evident, the reason for it much less so. 'It may fall out, my Lord
Deputy, to be your own case, for it is no new thing in that realm to
have deputies accused.' Considering Walsingham's evident prejudice
against him, Fitzwilliam suggested that the Queen should give him a
successor. The trial of the case was removed to Dublin; and the Lord
Deputy foretold that no Connaught chief would go there to accuse
Bingham. If fear did not prevent such a journey, poverty would. And so
it turned out. Much was proved against inferior officers, and there
can be no doubt that the Governor of Connaught was apt to shield
useful underlings under almost any circumstances. That he was guilty
of extreme severity, and that he executed children who were retained
as hostages, is probably true. But he managed the province well, and
got a large revenue out of it. And it is certain that he had friends
among the Irish as well as enemies. Among these was Roger O'Flaherty,
grandfather of the author of _Ogygia_. This Roger owned the castle
and lands of Moycullen, and had long complained of Sir Murrogh's
usurpations. It seems that he was satisfied, for he wrote strongly
in the Governor's favour, who also befriended him with the English
Government. Sir Murrogh was an enterprising man, and never made the
impossible attempt to prove his title to land. 'Why, man,' he told his
own counsel, 'I got it by the sword; what title should I say else?'
Bingham was an absolute ruler. Opposition he checked ruthlessly, and he
cared little for constitutional forms. He took no pains to conciliate
anyone, and was of course accused of provoking men to rebel. Nor did he
care to disguise his opinion that many of the Irish ought to be rooted
out. Perhaps the worst charge against him is that made by Fitzwilliam,
who called him an atheist, 'for that he careth not what he doeth, nor
to say anything how untrue soever, so it may serve his turn.'[199]
[Sidenote: Bingham and Bishop Jones.]
Fitzwilliam and Jones acknowledged that William Burke, the Blind Abbot,
was a fool, and on the whole the person who suffered most from the
inquiry into Bingham's conduct was the Bishop of Meath. Sir Richard
said his lordship blamed intemperate language, while he himself
exclaimed at cards, 'God's wounds! play the ten of hearts.' He was so
busy preparing a case against him that he found no time to preach once
during the three weeks that he spent at Galway, though he would go to
church in the morning to hear an exercise and again in the afternoon
to hear a play. He was superseded in the Connaught commission, and
Walsingham rebuked him for not attending to his own proper duties. The
Bishop's apology was almost abject, and he promised to give up temporal
business. He had, he said, not neglected his own diocese, though
thinking it unnecessary to preach in Dublin more than once a term.
Fitzwilliam defended him, and he was employed again during Walsingham's
life, but not in business connected with Connaught. Loftus, whose
wife's sister he had married, considered him as one of his own family,
and urged that the Papists had taken great advantage of the Bishop's
disgrace.[200]
[Sidenote: Sir Brian O'Rourke.]
The composition in Connaught had been favourable to the power of Sir
Brian O'Rourke, the chief of Leitrim. Nominally, his jurisdiction over
the people of his country was restrained; but so large a share of land
was given to him absolutely that he found himself stronger than ever,
and refused to acknowledge the Governor of Connaught, maintaining
that he was under no man except the Lord Deputy himself. In the
original scheme for shireing Leitrim made in 1583 a considerable part
of Fermanagh was included, but the arrangement did not hold for the
purposes of the composition agreed upon two years later. O'Rourke's
country, as then defined, is contained within the modern county of
Leitrim. Its contents were roughly estimated at some 75,000 acres. Of
this nominal area more than 8,000 acres were allowed to O'Rourke in
demesne. Out of about 50,000 more he was permitted to receive a rent
of 300_l._ a year, and the rest he was to hold by three knights' fees.
The smaller freeholders were required to pay ten shillings a year out
of each quarter of 120 acres, and to supply eight horsemen and forty
footmen on general hostings. Old MacMurry, one of these subordinate
chiefs, wept with joy and blessed the good Queen. 'We have,' he said,
'heretofore paid O'Rourke better than ten marks, or a quarter; and
shall we indeed escape now for a trifle of twenty shillings!' But
O'Rourke refused to pay his rent to Bingham, and was friendly to the
intruding Scots. After their overthrow at Ardnaree it was no longer
possible to despise the Governor, but O'Rourke persuaded Perrott to
remit part of what he owed, and it was not until after that Deputy's
departure that Bingham found himself really master. When the Spaniards
came, Sir Brian did what he could to help them, and his rent was soon
again in arrear. The King of Spain sent a friar with letters of thanks
for his services to the Armada, and early in 1589 he was reported to be
in open rebellion, and to be acting under the secret advice of Tyrone.
His sons and brothers, with more than 400 men, swept the northern part
of Sligo to the Moy, and drove off 3,000 cows and 1,000 mares. O'Rourke
kept so many armed men among the bogs and hills of Leitrim that it was
said he could not feed them without spoiling a neighbouring county.[201]
[Sidenote: O'Rourke defies the Queen.]
O'Rourke had struggled hard to prevent a sheriff from being established
in his country, and it was natural that he should wish to retain his
autonomy. But his unwillingness to obey any authority lay much deeper
than any mere dislike to Sir Richard Bingham. About a month after the
slaughter of the Scots at Ardnaree in 1586 the Serjeant-at-arms for
Connaught saw a wooden figure of a woman set on wheels near MacClancy's
house on Lough Melvin. The bystanders told him it was meant for a
hag who lived over the water, and who had denied a carpenter milk.
This seems to have been the same effigy as that on which O'Rourke
caused the words 'Queen Elizabeth' to be written, and upon which he
showered abuse, while the gallowglasses hacked it with their axes. A
halter was placed round the neck of the mutilated figure, and it was
then dragged through the dirt by horses. This was an incident in the
Christmas festivities which Sir Brian kept 'according the Romish and
Popish computation'--that is the Gregorian calendar--and he took the
opportunity of announcing that her Majesty was 'the mother and nurse
of all heresies and heretics.' Bingham did not hear of the matter
until after his return from the Low Countries; but it was reported to
Perrott, and his refusal to order O'Rourke's arrest was brought against
him at his trial.[202]
[Sidenote: Fitzwilliam gives Bingham his way.]
Sir Brian O'Rourke was lawfully married to Lady Mary Burke, and her
only son Teig had a grant of the family estates in the next reign. But
he had an elder son by the wife of John O'Crean, a merchant of Sligo,
and it was to him that the chiefry was likely to fall. The work of
chastising O'Rourke was entrusted by Bingham to Clanricarde, and it
seems to have been a labour of love, either because the Earl resented
wrongs done to his sister, or because he hated her former misdeeds,
or because he felt that his nephew's case had some resemblance to
what his own had been. With thirty horsemen and some kerne of his
own, and two regular companies, he set out from Elphin and marched
to Ballinafad, where news came that O'Rourke was at his house near
Lough Gill. Clanricarde asked Captain Mordaunt if his soldiers could
go another fourteen miles the same night, and was told that they
would do their best. The daylight overtook them at some distance from
O'Rourke's house, and they had to fight after their long night's
march. The O'Rourkes fell back into a bog, and Clanricarde insisted
on following them with his horse. He was dismounted, and a spur torn
from his heel. The bullets flew thickly about him, and Mordaunt's
men came up only just in time, his gallantry exciting the admiration
of the English officers. O'Rourke was never able to make head again,
but he probably fancied himself safe in his own country. When the
Lord Deputy held sessions at Sligo a few months later, he refused to
attend, on the ground that the Binghams had something to do with them.
The result was that Fitzwilliam accepted Bingham's policy as against
O'Rourke, though he was always ready, and often with very good reason,
to testify against the Governor's harshness and against the tyranny of
his brothers, cousins, and followers.[203]
[Sidenote: Bingham subdues the Burkes.]
While it was still uncertain whether Bingham or his enemies would get
the upper hand, the Burkes continued in rebellion. They went about
in bands of 500 or 600, openly celebrated the Mass, and robbed all
who were not with them. The Blind Abbot was made MacWilliam, with all
the ancient ceremonies, and in virtue of his office he proceeded to
assault and capture a castle garrisoned by Attorney-General Comerford's
men. When Bingham had gained his cause in Dublin, it became evident
that his policy must prevail; and a letter from the Queen herself,
whom the creation of a MacWilliam touched in her tenderest point,
probably decided Fitzwilliam's course. He made arrangements to have
a strong force at Galway, and went there himself, to make a last
effort for peace. Sir Murrogh ne Doe came in, but failed to find
acceptable pledges, and was lodged in gaol. The Burkes did not appear,
and some thought their contumacy was caused by the wording of the
proclamation, which gave safe conduct to come, but not to return. It
may be remembered that no less a personage than Shane O'Neill had been
detained in virtue of a quibble of this kind. At all events the time
of grace was allowed to pass, and Bingham went to work in earnest.
With about 1,000 men, of whom more than three-quarters were regular
soldiers, he swept Tyrawley from end to end. Only once, in a defile of
the Nephin range, did the rebels make a stand, and they burned their
own villages without waiting to be attacked. The poor MacWilliam had
cause to rue his blushing honours, for he had a foot cut off by one of
Thomond's soldiers, with a single blow of his sword. That Earl marched
on foot through the mountains, and Clanricarde was also very active.
The wounded chief lay for several days, without meat or drink, in an
island in Lough Conn, and was afterwards drawn on a hurdle from place
to place, to seek the alms of his clansmen. 'It is not,' said Bingham,
'a halfpenny matter what becomes of him now.' The Burkes all submitted,
on Sir Richard's own terms, and peace was concluded with them.[204]
[Sidenote: O'Rourke is expelled,]
[Sidenote: surrendered by James VI.,]
[Sidenote: and hanged.]
O'Rourke's turn had now come. He may have supposed that his country
was unassailable, but was quickly undeceived. Bingham had no doubt
about being able to subdue him in ten days, but refused to move without
written orders from the Lord Deputy, lest he might be disavowed
afterwards. The order was given, and the Governor, who was suffering
from dysentery, sent four divisions of soldiers into Leitrim under his
brother George and Sir Henry Duke. Some malcontent O'Rourkes helped
the English, and much damage was done. The mere presence of so large a
force was enough to exhaust the district, and the subordinate chiefs
were glad to make their peace, and perhaps glad to free themselves
from O'Rourke, who fled to the MacSwineys in Donegal. Cuellar's friend
MacClancy was hunted down, and killed as he tried to swim to one of
his islands. He had still fourteen Spaniards with him, and some of
these were taken alive. O'Rourke remained during the rest of the year
in Donegal, and then escaped to Scotland, but James gave him up to the
English Government. In thanking her dear brother for this, Elizabeth
wondered how his 'subjects of Glasgow should doubt the stop of their
traffic for so poor a caitiff, who was never of ability to make or give
traffic.' In London O'Rourke justified Sidney's assertion as to his
being the proudest man he had ever dealt with, for he demanded that
the Queen herself should judge him. His refusal to surrender Spaniards
after the proclamation was treason, and he was told the indictment
was sufficient if he refused to plead. 'If it must be so,' he said,
'let it be so,' and he was accordingly condemned and hanged at Tyburn,
with all the usual barbarities. He was attended on the scaffold by
Miler Magrath, but refused his ministrations and upbraided the old
Franciscan as an apostate. He had previously refused to bend the knee
before the Council. 'I have always thought,' he said, 'that a great
distance separated you from God and the Saints, whose images alone I am
accustomed to venerate.'[205]
[Sidenote: Mutiny in Dublin.]
Experience had shown the many evils of an ill-paid soldiery, but
efforts at reform were not always wisely directed. New-comers and raw
levies were sometimes better treated than the old garrison. Those
whose services were yet to come got all the available money, while
veterans, 'who passed all the soldiers in Europe in the travel and
hard diet they had endured,' had to put up with scanty and irregular
payments on account. Old soldiers saw their boys receive a shilling a
day in punctual weekly payments while their own sevenpence was often
in arrear. In May 1590, in the absence of their commander and without
the knowledge of their officers, Sir Thomas Norris's company of foot
suddenly left Limerick, and appeared in Dublin with drums and fifes
playing. At eight in the morning they assembled on the bridge at the
Castle gate, and clamoured for their pay and allowances, many months
in arrear. Fitzwilliam, whose passage was obstructed by them, at first
thought of a whiff of grape-shot, but changed his mind, and sallied
forth among the mutineers. Sir George Carew bore the sword before
him. 'Rather than let it go,' said Archbishop Loftus, 'your lordship
may be sure he will do as the Mayor of London did.' The services of
a Walworth were not required, and, indeed, the poor soldiers seem to
have had no evil intentions. They besought Fitzwilliam to be good to
them, and only one man used some offensive expression. The Lord Deputy
turned his horse upon him, calling him baggage and mutinous knave,
and drew his blade when the man held up his piece in self-defence.
Gentlemen and servants streamed out of the Castle and drew their
swords, and Fitzwilliam cried out, 'Disarm these villains!' They
made no resistance, but fell upon their knees, and sixty-one out of
seventy-seven were imprisoned. Many of the arms were stolen in the
confusion. Fitzwilliam soon pardoned the mutineers, and sent them back
to Munster. 'The choler,' says Carew, 'that his lordship was in was
very exceeding abundant, yet so tempered that any man might discern
that his valour did appear unspotted either with fear or cruelty, for
he thrust himself into the midst of them all without respect of his
person, and struck many with the flat of his rapier, yet hurt none
saving one of them a little in the head, and holding the point of it
at sundry of their breasts, forebore to thrust any of them into the
body.'[206]
[Sidenote: Tyrone and Tirlogh Luineach.]
[Sidenote: Tyrone hangs one of Shane O'Neill's sons,]
[Sidenote: and aims at supremacy in Ulster.]
The part of Tyrone lying north and west of the Mullaghcarne mountains
had been retained by Tirlogh Luineach in 1585, when he agreed to take
1,000 marks a year for the rest. The lease was for seven years, but
O'Neill had reserved and wished to exercise the power of taking back
the territory in three, which expired at Michaelmas 1588. Fitzwilliam,
who had a strong bias in the Earl's favour, obtained the remaining
four years for him, but on condition of paying 300 fat beeves a year
in addition to the rent. The two chiefs continued nevertheless to
quarrel, and it is curious to note how the English officials sided with
Tyrone. The mere fact that he represented the settlement by patent was
enough for many of them, and they did not see the danger of making
him supreme in the North. Shane O'Neill's sons were giving trouble,
and the ghost seemed more terrible than the reality. Con MacShane had
long been a prisoner with Tirlogh Luineach, but was now released and
taken into his confidence. A brother, Hugh Gavelagh, who had been two
years in Scotland, now returned to Ulster, and was supposed to have
incurred Tyrone's enmity by giving information to the Government. He
had promised Perrott to bring over no Scots, and he kept his word; but
it was known that he might have plenty if he wished, and his popularity
in the North was very great. Hugh Gavelagh was seized by some of the
Maguires, sold to Tyrone, and by him hanged on a thorn-tree, and it
was reported all over Ireland that the Earl could find no executioner,
and had to do the business himself. This he denied, giving the names
of the actual operators, and defending his conduct strenuously. Hugh
Gavelagh, he said, had murdered many men, women, and children, and
there was no regular law in Ulster, 'but certain customs ... and I hope
her Majesty will consider that, as her Highness's lieutenant under
the Deputy (as I take myself within my own territory), I am bound to
do justice upon thieves and murderers; otherwise, if I be restrained
from such-like executions, and liberty left to O'Neill, O'Donnell,
and others to use their ancient customs, then should I not be able to
defend my country from their violence and wrongs.' In this sentence we
have the whole difficulty of Tudor rule in Ireland briefly expressed.
The Government was not strong enough to enforce equal justice, and
practically confessed its impotence by allowing authority to lapse into
the hands of Tyrone and such as he. From Fitzwilliam downwards, nearly
all the officials seemed to think that they could keep things quiet by
strengthening a man who aimed at being O'Neill in the fullest sense
of the word, but who was quite ready to play at being an earl when it
suited him, and to remember his English education. Walsingham saw more
clearly from a distance, and wished to make Tirlogh Luineach Earl of
Omagh, with an estate of inheritance in his part of Tyrone, and with a
superiority over O'Cahan for life. To his rival he was willing to give
the rest, including a perpetual superiority over Maguire. But Tyrone
was determined to have all, and the men immediately responsible for
order found it convenient to support the younger, the abler, and, as it
turned out, the more ambitious and dangerous man.[207]
[Sidenote: Rival O'Neills.]
[Sidenote: The MacShanes.]
In order to understand the history of Ulster during the last decade
of Queen Elizabeth, it may be well to define the position of parties
there just before Tyrone entered upon his last struggle. Besides the
Earl himself, who was for a long time looked upon as the representative
of English ideas, and who was probably not an O'Neill at all, there
were three families who claimed to be at the head of the ruling race.
Tirlogh Brasselagh, Shane O'Neill's uncle, claimed to be the eldest of
the house, and, according to ancient Celtic notions, he had perhaps
the best right. His lands lay to the south of Lough Neagh, and he
had many sons; but his party was, on the whole, the weakest. Tirlogh
Luineach, the actual chief, represented the family of Art Oge, who had
long been excluded from the supremacy, and he was thought to hold his
position more by force and policy than by right. His eldest son, Sir
Arthur, seems not to have been legitimate, but was fully acknowledged
as his heir male both by Tyrone and by the Government: his influence
was greatest in what are now the baronies of Strabane. The third set
of pretenders were Shane O'Neill's seven sons, known as the MacShanes.
Their legitimacy is not worth discussing; but they were favourites with
the Irish, and by them generally thought to have the best right. Hugh
Gavelagh, Con, and Brian were at this time the most formidable. Tyrone
says he made an agreement with Tirlogh Luineach that one of these three
should always remain with him as hostage, that Hugh Gavelagh's neck was
specially pledged for its performance, and that the breach was the
cause of his death. The other brothers were Henry, Arthur, Edmund,
and Tirlogh. With a score or so of fighting O'Neills, all trying to
be first, it is not surprising that Ulster was turbulent, or that its
reduction by the strong hand was only a question of time.[208]
[Sidenote: Rival O'Donnells.]
The actual chief of Tyrconnell was Sir Hugh O'Donnell, the husband of
Ineen Duive, whose own son, Hugh Roe, was in prison. Donnell, an elder
and seemingly illegitimate son, by an Irish mother, was made sheriff
by Fitzwilliam in 1588, and was a thorn in Ineen's side. Calvagh's son
Con died in 1583, but he in turn left nine sons, of whom Nial Garv was
the most formidable, and their claims under the patent could hardly be
denied. A third set of pretenders were the descendants of Hugh Duff,
who were of the eldest blood, and who appealed to Celtic law. But the
favourite of the clansmen was young Hugh Roe. All the tribes of the
North depended more or less upon O'Donnell and O'Neill, and the lesser
chiefries were in dispute as much as the greater.[209]
[Sidenote: Hugh Roe O'Donnell.]
[Sidenote: Kidnapped by Perrott, 1587.]
There was a prophecy that Ireland should be delivered by the O'Donnells
when Hugh succeeded lawfully to Hugh. Its fulfilment was expected in
Henry VIII.'s time, and now again it was in men's mouths. Perrott, who
had small regard for such fancies, noticed the boy's importance, and
decided that he would be a good pledge. In the winter of 1587, he sent
a ship laden with wine and manned by fifty armed men round to Lough
Swilly, where the master, John Bermingham of Dublin, traded freely with
the natives. Hugh Roe came to hunt in the neighbourhood, or to visit
MacSwiney Fanad, near whose castle of Rathmullen the false merchantman
lay. As soon as the strangers heard of his arrival they went on board
and kept careful watch. In due course messengers came from MacSwiney,
who wanted wine to entertain his distinguished guest. Bermingham
answered that he had sold all he had to spare, but would be most happy
to entertain MacSwiney and the gentlemen with him. They came on board
accordingly, and when they had caroused for some time in the cabin, the
seamen quietly got under way, shut down the hatches, and carried the
whole party out to sea. Pursuit was impossible, for the natives had no
boats; and Hugh Roe was lodged in Dublin Castle, where he found many
companions in misfortune, and where prisoners 'beguiled the time only
by lamenting to each other their troubles, and listening to the cruel
sentences passed on the high-born nobles of Ireland.'[210]
[Sidenote: First escape of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, 1591.]
Although not more than fifteen or sixteen years old, Hugh Roe was
married to Tyrone's daughter, and the whole North was thus interested
in his safety. Perrott refused 2,000_l._ for his release, and he
remained in prison until Fitzwilliam's time. His brother Donnell, who
married a daughter of Tirlogh Luineach, would have seized the chiefry,
had he not been killed in resisting a force raised by Ineen Duive on
behalf of her husband and son. Hugh's fellow-prisoners were hostages
from every part of Ireland: among them being Henry and Arthur, sons of
Shane O'Neill, and Patrick Fitzmaurice, afterwards Lord of Kerry. The
seneschal of Imokilly died in the Castle early in 1589. After more than
three years' confinement, Hugh Roe found means to escape with some of
his friends. A wet ditch at that time surrounded the Castle, and the
approach was over the wooden bridge, where the Lord Deputy had lately
come into collision with the mutineers. The favour, almost amounting
to subservience, which Fitzwilliam showed to Tyrone made people think
that he was ready to connive at his son-in-law's escape; but this is
very hard to believe. 'Upon my duty,' he said when supporting one of
the Earl's numerous applications for Hugh's release, 'no reward maketh
me write thus much.' Friendly partisans were numerous in Dublin, and
the soldiers who kept the gate always wanted money, and were often
under female influences. A rope was conveyed into the Castle, and Hugh
slipped on to the bridge in the dusk of evening. The sentry was for the
moment inside the gatehouse, and the prisoners managed to chain the
gate on the outside. Art Kavanagh, 'a renowned warrior of Leinster,'
was near with swords hidden under his Irish mantle, and the whole
party slipped out of the town, and across the mountains to a wood near
Powerscourt. Hugh's companions here left him, for his shoes had fallen
to pieces with the wet, and his feet were lacerated by the furze.
Felim O'Toole, the lord of the neighbouring castles, was appealed to;
for he had lately visited Hugh in prison, and was supposed to be his
friend, the rather that he had married the sister of Feagh MacHugh
O'Byrne. Fearing to offend the Government, or believing that escape was
hopeless, O'Toole decided to gain credit for loyalty, and he gave up
the fugitive, who was taken back to Dublin and loaded with irons.[211]
[Sidenote: Tyrone elopes with Mabel Bagenal,]
[Sidenote: which her brother resents.]
A plot in private life may have great public consequences, as every
generation can testify. The Helen of the Elizabethan wars was Mabel
Bagenal, daughter of Sir Nicholas and sister of Sir Henry, whose charms
were at least one principal cause of the Ulster revolt. Tyrone had
been first married to a daughter of Sir Brian MacPhelim O'Neill, from
whom, according to his own account, he was 'divorced by the orders of
the Church.' As to the validity of this divorce there were certainly
doubts at the time, but the repudiated wife married again and had
children. Tyrone's second venture was with an O'Donnell, and he talked
of discarding her too, though possibly without intending to do it.
She died, and he then fell in love with Miss Bagenal, whom he might
see at Newry as often as he pleased. Bagenal would not consent to the
match, and his objections had some weight: the possible opposition of
the Queen, 'the incivility of the Earl's country not agreeing with his
sister's education, and the uncertainty of a jointure to be allotted
for her maintenance after the Earl's death,' being those which seemed
important to the Irish Government. Tyrone was a much more civilised
being than Shane O'Neill, and Mabel Bagenal was more accustomed to
Irish ways than Lady Frances Radclyffe; but Bagenal hated the proposed
alliance as much as Sussex. 'I can,' he told Burghley, 'but accurse
myself and fortune that my blood, which in my father and myself hath
often been spilled in repressing this rebellious race, should now be
mingled with so traitorous a stock and kindred.' To keep her out of
harm's way, he sent Mabel to her sister, who was married to Sir Patrick
Barnewall, and who lived at Turvey near Swords; but Tyrone invited
himself to the house for a night, obtained a secret promise of her
hand, and presented her with a gold chain worth a hundred pounds. A
few days after this he came to Turvey to dine with several friends,
and after dinner the young lady slipped away on horseback behind one
of them. 'When I understood,' he said, 'that my prey (the language of
cattle-lifting) was well forward in her way towards the place where we
had agreed upon, I took my leave of Sir Patrick Barnewall and his lady,
and followed after, and soon after I was gone, the gentlemen which were
in company with me took their horses and came away privately.'[212]
[Sidenote: Tyrone's marriage, 1591.]
Tyrone was fifty and Mabel twenty, which makes the romance rather
less romantic, and Bagenal may have been right in saying that he did
'by taking advantage of her years and ignorance of his barbarous
estate and course of living, entice the unfortunate girl by nursing
in her through the report of some corrupted persons an opinion of his
haviour and greatness.' At all events she probably liked the idea
of being a countess. Tyrone's intentions were so far honourable, in
spite of Bagenal's insinuations to the contrary, and the marriage was
celebrated at William Warren's house near Dublin, by no less a person
than the Bishop of Meath, who declared that he was chiefly actuated
by regard 'for the gentlewoman's credit.' And, as Tyrone well knew,
regard for Bishop Jones's credit would prevent the marriage from
being seriously questioned. But Bagenal's hostility was unabated, and
even in his sister's presence Tyrone openly declared that he hated no
man in the world so much as the Knight Marshal. There is no evidence
that he ill-treated her, as Shane ill-treated his victim, but there is
some that she was not altogether happy in the wild life which she had
chosen, or with her crafty and unscrupulous mate. She died after less
than five years of matrimony, and so did not live to see her brother
killed in conflict with her husband.[213]
FOOTNOTES:
[187] Fitzwilliam to the Privy Council, Dec. 31, 1588; to Burghley,
Aug. 20, 1590; Robert Legge to Burghley, Feb. 17, 1590; _Four Masters_,
1588; Fynes Moryson, 1589; compare Captain Lee's account in _Desiderata
Curiosa Hibernica_, i. 129. Sir John O'Gallagher is called Sir Owen
O'Toole in some English accounts, but this is wrong and misleading; the
Christian name is _Eoin_ not _Eogan_. Fynes Moryson was not in Ireland
in 1588, and very probably copied Lee's story.
[188] Fitzwilliam to the Privy Council, Dec. 31, 1588; Tyrone to
Walsingham, Feb. 5, 1589; Patrick Foxe to Walsingham, Feb. 12.
[189] Book of the proceeding of Commissioners for 'aryer' claims in
Munster, Sept. 3, 1588, of which there is a copy or rather a version
(Aug. 29-Sept. 14) at Hatfield, with many details. Most of the facts in
this and the two preceding paragraphs are from Mr. Hamilton's Calendar
1588-1592. See also No. 128, 1591, in _Carew_. In 1597 Sir Nicholas
Browne prophetically described the settlers as 'fowls fatted in mews,
to be spoiled at the pleasure of the country people' (MS. _Cotton_,
privately printed by Mr. Hussey.)
[190] Everything about Florence MacCarthy may be read in his _Life
and Letters_ by Daniel MacCarthy, a book of much research, but
unfortunately even more chaotic than the common run of family histories.
[191] The documents are collected in Shirley's _History of Monaghan_,
pp. 80-91. The notes in O'Donovan's _Four Masters_ are very incorrect
in this case, though they have often been copied. Essex was much
pressed to surrender his patent for Farney, but steadily refused.
[192] Sir N. White to Burghley, April 7 and May 9, 1589; report by
Bingham, April 10, and his answer to charges in November (No. 39).
[193] Among many papers concerning Browne, see his letter to
Walsingham, June 10, 1585; Bingham to Perrott, July 30, 1586; Patrick
Foxe to Walsingham, Feb. 26, 1589. The murder took place between the
last date and Jan. 13, when Bingham's commission to Browne was signed.
For Walsingham's views see Morrin's _Patent Rolls_ 26 Eliz. (No. 39).
The _Four Masters_ make out that Browne and Daly were killed in battle,
but this was clearly not the case.
[194] Bingham to Burghley, April 6, 1589; Fitzwilliam to Burghley,
April 9, with fourteen enclosures.
[195] Report of the Commissioners in Fitzwilliam's letter to Burghley
May 14, 1589.
[196] Bishop of Kilmore to Burghley, May 10, 1589; Bishop of Meath to
same, May 13; Fitzwilliam to same, May 14, with enclosures; Bingham to
Walsingham, May 23.
[197] Bingham to Burghley, Feb. 24, May 15 and 28, Aug. 26, 1588;
Perrott to Walsingham, March 18, 1588; Gardiner, C.J., to Walsingham,
Jan. 31, 1589; case of O'Connor Sligo, Feb. (No. 53); Walsingham to the
Bishop of Meath, June 24; Kildare to Nottingham, May 31, 1590; and a
paper dated Feb. 21, 1592; William Nugent's Articles, Aug. 14, 1591.
[198] Fitzwilliam to Burghley, July 19, 1589; Bingham to Walsingham,
July 24 and Sept. 4; the Articles are printed from a Cotton MS. in
O'Flaherty's _Western Connaught_, p. 396.
[199] Walsingham to Fitzwilliam, July 8, 1589; Fitzwilliam to Burghley,
Aug. 9, Sept. 2, Oct. 6, and Dec. 19; Summary of rebellion by John
Merbury, Aug. 1. Fitzwilliam calls Bingham 'atheist,' but Bishop Jones
(to Burghley, May 13) said he was 'a gentleman of great value, and
one that feareth God.' The Bishop sums up the causes of his great
unpopularity under four heads:--1. Hanging gentlemen by martial law.
2. Commissions to prosecute protected persons by fire and sword. 3.
Dispossessing men from their land by 'provincial orders' without legal
trial. 4. Oppression by the soldiers.
[200] Bingham to Walsingham, June 24, 1589; Bingham's answer to
charges, Nov.; Sir N. White to Burghley, Dec. 5; Bishop Jones to
Burghley, Dec. 6, and to Walsingham, Dec. 8; Loftus to Walsingham, Dec.
8; Fitzwilliam to Burghley, Dec. 13.
[201] The composition with O'Rourke, and much else concerning Leitrim,
may be read in Hardiman's notes to O'Flaherty's _Western Connaught_,
pp. 346-352; Bingham's Discourse, July 1587; Bingham to Burghley, May
15 and 28, 1588; John Crofton and others to Bingham, Oct. 19, 1588;
Bingham to Fitzwilliam, March 6, 1589; Fitzwilliam to Burghley, with
enclosures, April 30; John Merbury to Burghley, Sept. 27, 1589.
[202] Bingham to Burghley, April 6, 1589; Fitzwilliam to Burghley,
April 9, 1589, and Oct. 31, 1591; John Ball's declaration, April 1590
(No. 96); John Bingham to Burghley, Aug. 8, 1591.
[203] Captain Nicholas Mordaunt to Fitzwilliam, May 11, 1589;
Fitzwilliam to Burghley, Oct. 6; Account of O'Rourke's country by
Fenton and Burghley, Feb. 1592 (No. 43).
[204] Theobald Dillon to Burghley, Oct. 18, 1589; Edward Whyte to Sir
N. White, Oct. 20; the Queen to Fitzwilliam, Nov. 19; Fitzwilliam to
Burghley, Dec. 19; to the Privy Council, Jan. 27 and March 2 and 24,
1590, with enclosures; Bingham to Burghley, April 7.
[205] Fitzwilliam to Burghley, March 24, 1590, with enclosures;
Bingham to Burghley, April 23; Camden. Bruce's _Letters_ of Elizabeth
and James VI., April 1591. The charges against O'Rourke are detailed
in the _Egerton Papers_; O'Sullivan Bere, tom. iii. lib. ii. cap. 1;
_Four Masters_, 1590 and 1591. It is stated in O'Donovan's notes to the
Annals, and in many other places, that O'Rourke begged to be hanged
with a withe, and Bacon's essays are given as an authority; but this is
not what Bacon says. His words (No. 39, 'Of Custom and Education') are:
'I remember in the _beginning_ of Queen Elizabeth's time of England, an
Irish rebel condemned put up a petition to the _Deputy_ that he might
be hanged in a withe and not in a halter, because it had been so used
with former rebels.'
[206] Relation by Carew, May 28, 1590, and his letters of May 31 and
July 26 to Burghley, Raleigh, and Heneage, all in _Carew_. The Master
of the Ordnance evidently sympathises with the poor soldiers. See also
Loftus to Hatton and Burghley, May 31.
[207] Walsingham's opinion and other papers in April 1587; Lord Deputy
and Council to the Privy Council, March 31 and May 15, 1589; Kildare to
Burghley, May 31, 1590; Tyrone's answer to Articles, March 19, 1590.
All Fitzwilliam's letters during this period bear out the text; see
the _Four Masters_, who say Hugh Gavelagh was greatly lamented, and
O'Donovan's notes under 1590.
[208] Archbishop Magrath's report to the Queen, May 30, 1592; for Sir
Arthur O'Neill see Tirlogh Luineach's petition, July 1, 1587; for the
MacShanes see Tyrone's answer to Articles, March 19, 1590, and the
opinion of Coke, S.G., Aug. 13, 1592.
[209] The O'Donnell tangle may be understood from Archbishop Magrath's
report, May 30, 1592, and from the Appendix to O'Donovan's _Four
Masters_ See also Fitzwilliam, Loftus, and Fenton to the Privy Council,
Dec. 31, 1588.
[210] _Four Masters_, 1587; Perrott's _Life_, p. 278; Tyrone to
Walsingham, Dec. 10, 1587.
[211] _Four Masters_, 1590; Note of pledges in Dublin Castle, Aug.
1588; Fitzwilliam to Burghley, Nov. 29, 1589, and to Sir G. Carew in
_Carew_, Jan. 15, 1591.
[212] Lord Deputy and Council to the Privy Council, Aug. 21, 1591; Sir
H. Bagenal to Burghley, Aug. 13; Tyrone to the Privy Council, Oct. 31.
[213] The documents are collected in the _Irish Arch. Journal_, N. S.
vol. i. pp. 298-314. One of Tyrone's main grievances against Bagenal
was that he would not pay him the 1,000_l._ reserved to his sister by
her father's will; and he continued to clamour for this money even
after poor Mabel's death.