THE CHURCH IN IRELAND DURING THE REIGN OF THE STUARTS
(1604-1689)
See bibliography, chap. vii.-ix. /Calendar of State Papers,
Ireland/ (James I.), 5 vols., 1872-80. Idem (Charles I.), 5 vols.
/Calendar of the Clarendon Papers/, 2 vols., 1869-72. Carte,
/History of the Life of James, Duke of Ormonde/ (1610-88), 3
vols., 1736. French, /Historical Works/, 2 vols., 1846. /Report on
the Franciscan MSS./, i., 1906. Russell-Prendergast, /Report on
the Carte Papers in the Bodleian Library/, 1871. Gilbert,
/Contemporary History of Affairs in Ireland/ (1641-52), 1879-80.
Bagwell, /Ireland under the Stuarts/, 2 vols., 1909. Prendergast,
/Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland/, 2 ed., 1875. Lecky, /History
of Ireland in the Eighteenth Century/, new imp., 1913. Coffey,
/O'Neill and Ormond/, 1914. Dunlop, /Ireland under the
Commonwealth/, 2 vols., 1913. Murray, /Revolutionary Ireland and
its Settlement/, 2 vols., 1911. Boulger, /The Battle of the
Boyne/, 1911. Burke, /The Irish Priests in the Penal Times/ (1660-
1760), 1914.
The news of the death of Queen Elizabeth and of the accession of James
I. came as a welcome relief to the great body of the Catholics of
Ireland. As the son of Mary Queen of Scots, and in a sense, the
descendant of the Irish Kings of Scotland[1] he was regarded with
favour both within and without the Pale. While King of Scotland he had
been in communication with the Pope, with the Catholic sovereigns of
the Continent, and with O'Neill, and even after he had been proclaimed
in London he promised some of the leading Catholic lords that they
might expect at least toleration. Without, however, waiting for any
such promises the Catholics in the leading cities of the East and
South made open profession of their religion. In Kilkenny, Thomastown,
Waterford, Wexford, Cashel, Cork, Limerick, etc., they took possession
of the churches, abolished the Protestant service wherever it had been
introduced, and restored the Mass. James White, Vicar-general of
Waterford, made himself especially conspicuous as the leader in this
movement in the south-eastern portion of Ireland.[2]
Lord Mountjoy was in a difficult position. He was uncertain as to the
religious policy of the king, but in the end he determined to suppress
the Catholic movement by force. He marched South to Kilkenny and
thence to Waterford, where he had an interview with Dr. White.
Everywhere the churches were restored to the Protestants, though it
was hinted that the Mass might still be celebrated privately as in the
days of Elizabeth. In Cork the condition of affairs was much more
serious, and it was necessary to bring up the guns from Haulbowline
before the mayor and citizens could be induced to submit. Reports came
in from all sides that the country was swarming with Jesuits and
seminary priests, that they were stirring up the people to join hands
with the King of Spain, and to throw off their allegiance to James I.
These rumours were without foundation, as is shown by the fact that
most of the towns and cities in Leinster and Munster which were noted
as specially Catholic, had not stirred a finger to help O'Neill in his
war against Elizabeth. But they were put in circulation to prejudice
the mind of King James against his Irish Catholic subjects, and to
wean him away from the policy of toleration which he was said to
favour. Loftus, Archbishop of Dublin, and Jones, Bishop of Meath,
hastened to warn the king against a policy of toleration. They threw
the whole blame of the late war on the Jesuits and seminary priests,
and cast doubts upon the loyalty of the Catholic noblemen of the Pale.
They called upon his Majesty to make it clear "even in the morning of
his reign," that he was ready "to maintain the true worship and
religion of Jesus Christ," to let the people understand that "he will
never permit and suffer that which in his godly zeal he so much
abhors, to devise some means of preventing the plots and aims of
Jesuits and seminary priests, who "come daily from beyond the seas,
teaching openly that a king wanting the Pope's confirmation is not a
lawful king," to send over some "learned and discreet preachers" to
the principal cities and towns, and to compel the people "by some
moderate co-actions to come to church to hear their sermons and
exhortations."[3]
As a means of spreading the new gospel amongst the Irish people it was
recommended that "a learned ministry be planted, and that the abuses
of the clergy be reformed;" that all bishops, Jesuits, seminary
priests, and friars should be banished from the kingdom, that no
lawyers be admitted to the bar or to the privy council unless they
attended the Protestant service, and that all sheriffs, mayors,
justices of the peace, recorders, judges, and officials be forced to
take the oath of supremacy. Loftus and Jones insisted, furthermore,
that Catholic parents should be forbidden to send their children to
Douay and Rheims, and should be compelled to send them to the
Protestant diocesan schools. They reported that although the Bishop of
Meath had opened a school in Trim at great expense to himself, only
six scholars attended, and that when the teachers began to use prayers
in the school and to show themselves desirous of bringing their pupils
to church, the pupils departed, and the teachers, though graduates of
the University, were left without any work to do.[4]
As James showed great reluctance to take any active measures against
the Catholics, Brouncker, the President of Munster, Lyons, Protestant
Bishop of Cork, and the other members of the Council of Munster issued
a proclamation (14 Aug. 1604) ordering "all Jesuits, seminaries, and
massing priests of what sort soever as are remaining within one of the
corporate towns of the province" to leave before the last day of
September, and not to return for seven years. Any persons receiving or
relieving any such criminals were threatened with imprisonment during
his Majesty's pleasure and with a fine of £40 for every such offence,
and "whosoever should bring to the Lord President and Council the
bodies of any Jesuits, seminaries, or massing priests" were promised a
reward of £40 for every Jesuit, £6 3s. 4d. for every seminary priest,
and £5 for every massing priest. Fearing, however, that his action
might be displeasing to the king, Brouncker took care to write to
Cecil that the cities of the South were crowded with seminary priests
who said Mass publicly in the best houses "even in the hearing of all
men," and that he had delayed taking action till they began to declare
boldly that his Majesty was pleased "to tolerate their idolatry."[5]
Sir John Davies, a native of Wiltshire, who was made Solicitor-General
for Ireland on account of his poetical talent, was not opposed to the
policy of repression, but at the same time he held firmly that until
the Protestant Church in Ireland was itself reformed there could be no
hope of converting the Irish people. Writing to Cecil (Feb. 1604) "he
is informed," he says, "that the churchmen for the most part
throughout the kingdom are mere idols and ciphers, and such as cannot
read, if they should stand in need of the benefit of their clergy; and
yet the most of those whereof many be serving men and some horseboys,
are not without two or three benefices apiece, for the Court of
Faculties doth qualify all manner of persons, and dispense with all
manner of non-residences and pluralities. . . . The churches are
ruined and fallen to the ground in all parts of the kingdom. There is
no divine service, no christening of children, no receiving of the
sacraments, no Christian meeting or assembly, no, not once in a year;
in a word, no more demonstration of religion than among Tartars or
cannibals." In his opinion there was no use in asking the bishops of
the Pale to hold an inquiry into the abuses, for they themselves were
privy to them. "But if the business is to be really performed, let
visitors be sent out of England, such as never heard a cow speak and
understand not that language, that they may examine the abuses of the
Court of Faculties, of the simoniacal contracts, of the dilapidations
and dishersion of the churches; that they may find the true value of
the benefices, and who takes the profits and to whose uses; to deprive
these serving men and unlettered kern that are now incumbents, and to
place some of the poor scholars of the College who are learned and
zealous Protestants; to bring others out of that part of Scotland that
borders on the North of Ireland, who can preach the Irish tongue, and
to transplant others out of England and to place them within the
English Pale."[6]
At last, yielding to the advices that poured in on him from all sides,
James I. determined to banish the Jesuits and seminary priests in the
hope that when they were removed the people might be induced to
submit, and to insist on compliance with the terms of the Act of
Uniformity. He issued a proclamation (4 July 1605) denying the rumour
that he intended "to give liberty of conscience or toleration of
religion" to his Irish subjects, and denouncing such a report as a
libel on himself, "as if he were more remiss or less careful in the
government of the Church of Ireland than of those other churches
whereof he has supreme charge." He commanded "all Jesuits, seminary
priests, or other priests whatsoever, made and ordained by any
authority derived or pretended to be derived from the See of Rome," to
depart from the kingdom before the end of December. All priests who
refused to obey or who ventured to come into Ireland after that date,
and all who received or assisted such persons were to be arrested and
punished according to the laws and statutes of that realm, and all the
people were exhorted "to come to their several parish churches or
chapels, to hear divine service every Sunday and holiday" under threat
of being punished for disobedience.[7]
The royal proclamation produced little or no effect. The Jesuits and
seminary priests remained and even increased in numbers by new
arrivals from the Continental colleges and from England where the law
was more strictly enforced. Nor could the leading citizens, the mayors
and the aldermen of the principal cities, be forced to come to church,
because they preferred to pay the fine of twelve pence prescribed in
the Act of Uniformity for each offence. The government officials
determined, therefore, to have recourse to more severe if less legal
remedies. They selected a certain number of wealthy citizens of
Dublin, addressed to each of them an individual mandate in the king's
name ordering them to go to church on a certain specified Sunday, and
treated disobedience to such an order as an offence punishable by
common law. Six of the aldermen were condemned to pay a fine of £100,
and three citizens £50, one half of the fine to be devoted to the
"reparing of decayed churches or chapels, or other charitable use,"
the other half to go to the royal treasury. In addition to this, they
were condemned to imprisonment at the will of the Lord Deputy, and
declared incapable of holding any office in the city of Dublin, or in
any other part of the kingdom (22 Nov. 1605). A few days later other
aldermen and citizens of Dublin were brought before the Irish Star
Chamber, and having been interrogated "why they did not repair to
their parish churches," they replied "that their consciences led them
to the contrary." They were punished in a similar manner. Thus, two
methods were adopted for enforcing obedience to the Act of Uniformity,
one the infliction on the poor of the fine of twelve pence prescribed
for each offence by the law of 1560, the other, the promulgation of
individual mandates, disobedience to which was to be punished by the
Court of Star Chamber. The noblemen of the Pale, alarmed by such high-
handed action, presented a petition against the measures taken for the
suppression of their religion, praying that the toleration extended to
them hitherto should be continued. In reply to their petition the
Viscount Gormanston, Sir James Dillon, Sir Patrick Barnewall, and
others were committed as prisoners to the Castle, and others of the
petitioners were confined to their houses in the country, and bound to
appear before the Star Chamber at the opening of the next term (Dec.
1605). Sir Patrick Barnewall, "the first gentleman's son of quality
that was ever put out of Ireland to be brought up in learning beyond
the seas" was the ablest of the Catholic Palesmen, and was sent into
England at the request of the English authorities.
The appeal of these Catholic lords, backed[8] as it was by the danger
of a new and more general rebellion, was not without its effects in
England. In January 1607 the privy council in England wrote to Sir
Arthur Chichester, Lord Deputy, that although "the reformation of the
people of Ireland, extremely addicted to Popish superstition by the
instigation of the seminary priests and Jesuits, is greatly to be
wished and by all means endeavoured, still, a temperate course ought
to be preserved." There should be no question of granting toleration,
but at the same time there should be no "startling of the multitude by
any general or rigorous compulsion." The principal men in the cities
who show themselves to be the greatest offenders should be punished;
the priests and friars should be banished, but no "curious or
particular search" should be made for them; Viscount Gormanston and
his companions should be released under recognisances, except Sir
Patrick Barnewall who was to be sent into England; the Dublin aldermen
should be treated in a similar manner but should be obliged to pay the
fines, and the Protestant clergy should be exhorted to take special
pains to plant the new religion "where the people have been least
civil."[9]
But Chichester, Davies, Brouncker, and their companions had no
intention of listening to the counsels of moderation. They continued
to indict the poorer classes according to the clauses of the Act of
Uniformity and to cite the wealthier citizens before the Star Chamber
for disobedience to the royal mandates.[10] In Waterford Sir John
Davies reported "we proceeded against the principal aldermen by way of
censure at the council table of the province for their several
contempts against the king's proclamations and the special
commandments of the Lord President under the council seal of Munster.
Against the multitude we proceeded by way of indictment upon the
Statute of 2 Elizabeth, which giveth only twelve pence for absence
from church every Sunday and holiday. The fines imposed at the table
were not heavy, being upon some £50 apiece, upon others £40, so that
the total sum came but to £400; but there were so many of the
commoners indicted that the penalty given by the statute (twelve
pence) came to £240 or thereabouts."[11] Punishments of a similar kind
were inflicted in New Ross, Wexford, Clonmel, Cashel, Youghal,
Limerick, Cork, and in all the smaller towns throughout Munster. In
Cork the mayor was fined £100, and in Limerick more than two hundred
of the burgesses were indicted, the fines paid by these being given
for the repair of the cathedral.[12] Steps were also taken in
Connaught to enforce attendance at the Protestant service. Five of the
principal citizens of Galway were summoned before the court and fined
in sums varying from £40 to £20, and punishments of a lesser kind were
inflicted in other portions of the province. In Drogheda "the greatest
number of the householders together with their wives, children, and
servants," were summoned and fined for non-attendance at church. In
Meath, Westmeath, Longford, King's County, and Queen's County the
government officials were particularly busy.
But though here and there a few of the prominent citizens and of the
poorer classes were driven into public conformity by fear of
punishment, the work of winning over the people to Protestantism made
little progress. In Cashel the Commissioners reported (1606) that they
found only one inhabitant who came to church, and even "the
Archbishop's (Magrath) own sons and sons-in-law dwelling there" were
noted as obstinate recusants."[13] Brouncker, President of Munster,
was particularly severe in his repressive measures, so much so that on
his death (1606) his successors were able to announce "that almost all
the men of the towns are either prisoners or upon bonds and other
contempts," but they added the further information that many of those
who had been conformable in his time had again relapsed. The
Protestant Bishop of Cork complained (1607) that in Cork, Kinsale,
Youghal, and in all the country over which he had charge no marriages,
christenings, etc., were done except by Popish priests for seven
years, that the country was over-run by friars and priests who are
called Fathers, that every gentleman and lord of the country had his
chaplains, that "massing is in every place, idolatry is publicly
maintained, God's word and his truth is trodden down under foot,
despised, railed at, and contemned of all, the ministers not esteemed
--no not with them that should reverence and countenance them." "The
professors of the gospel," he added, "may learn of these idolators to
regard their pastors."[14] Sir John Davies with his usual keen insight
placed the blame for the comparative failure of the Protestant clergy.
"If our bishops, and others that have care of souls," he wrote (1606),
"were but half as diligent in their several charges as these men [the
Jesuits and seminary priests] are in the places where they haunt, the
people would not receive and nourish them as now they do. But it is
the extreme negligence and remissness of our clergy here which was
first the cause of the general desertion and apostasy, and is now
again the impediment of reformation."[15] The Catholics had protested
continually against the proceedings under royal mandates as illegal,
and their protests were brought before the English privy council by
Sir Patrick Barnewall, who had been sent over to London as a prisoner.
The judges in England condemned the proceedings in Ireland as
unwarrantable and without precedent. Barnewall was allowed to return
to Ireland in 1607, and the new method of beggaring or Protestantising
the wealthier class of Irish Catholics was dropped for the time.
The king had been advised, too, to enforce the oath of supremacy in
case of all officials of the crown. Though in the beginning of the
reign of Elizabeth something had been done in that direction, yet, in
later times, owing to the dangerous condition of the country Catholic
officials were not called upon to renounce the Pope. As a result, when
James ascended the throne many of the judges were Catholic, as were,
also, the great body of the lawyers. In response to the advice from
Ireland that judges who refused to attend church and to take the oath
should be dismissed, and that "recusant" lawyers should be debarred
from practising in the courts, James instructed the council to induce
John Everard, a Justice of the Common Pleas, to resign or conform. The
mayors and aldermen of the cities, too, had never taken the oath of
supremacy. In 1607 the Lord Deputy and council of Ireland informed the
privy council in England that, "most of the mayors and principal
officers of cities and corporate towns, and justices of the peace of
this country birth refuse to take the oath of supremacy, as is
requisite by the statute, and for an instance, the party that should
this year have been Mayor of Dublin, avoided it to his very great
charges, only because he would not take the oath." The contention
apparently was that the mayors not being crown officials were not
bound to take the oath, but the lawyers decided against such a view,
and steps were taken to imprison those mayors who refused, and to
destroy the charts of recusant corporations. Still in spite of the
attempted banishment of the clergy, the enforcement of attendance at
church by fines, and the punishment inflicted on the officials who
refused to take the oath, the Deputy and council were forced to admit
that they had made no progress. "The people," they wrote (1607), "in
many places resort to Mass now in greater multitudes, both in town and
country, than for many years past; and if it chance that any priest
known to be factious and working be apprehended, both men and women
will not stick to rescue the party. In no less multitudes do these
priests hold general councils and conventicles together many times
about their affairs; and, to be short, they have so far withdrawn the
people from all reverence and fear of the laws and loyalty towards his
Majesty, and brought their business already to this pass, that such as
are conformed and go to church are everywhere derided, scorned, and
oppressed by the multitude, to their great discouragement, and to the
scandal of all good men."[16]
Although the persecution of James I. was violent the Catholics were
well prepared to meet the storm. The Jesuits had sent some of their
best men to Ireland, including Henry Fitzsimon, who was thrown into
prison, and after a long detention sent into exile, Christopher
Holywood, James Archer, Andrew Morony, Barnabas Kearney, etc., and,
although there were complaints that their college in Salamanca showed
undue favour to the Anglo-Irish, this college as well as the other
colleges abroad continued to pour priests into Ireland both able and
willing to sustain the Catholic religion. The Dominicans and
Franciscans received great help from their colleges on the Continent
so that their numbers increased rapidly, and they were able to devote
more attention to instructing the people. As in England, the young
generation of priests both secular and regular, sent out from the
colleges in France, Spain, and the Netherlands were much more active
and more determined to hold their own than those who had preceded
them. They were in close touch with Rome where their agents kept the
Papal Court informed of what was going on in Ireland. Clement VIII.
hastened to send his congratulations to James I. on his accession to
the throne, and to plead with him for toleration for his Catholic
subjects. James White, Vicar-general of Waterford, wrote (1605) to
inform Cardinal Baronius of the measures that had been taken to
suppress the Catholic religion and to offer his good wishes to Paul V.
The latter forwarded a very touching letter in which he expressed his
sympathy with the Irish Church, commended the fidelity of the Irish
people, and exhorted them to stand firm in the face of
persecution.[17] The only weak point that might be noted at this
period was the almost complete destruction of the Irish hierarchy.
O'Devany of Down and Connor, Brady the Franciscan Bishop of Kilmore,
and O'Boyle of Raphoe were the only bishops remaining in the province
of Ulster since the murder of Redmond O'Gallagher of Derry. Peter
Lombard had been appointed Archbishop of Armagh (1601), but he never
visited his diocese. In the province of Leinster Matthew de Oviedo, a
Spanish Franciscan, had been appointed to Dublin (1600), and had come
to Kinsale with the forces of Spain. He returned to plead for a new
expedition to Ireland. Another Spanish Franciscan, Francis de Ribera,
had been appointed to Leighlin (1587), but he died in 1604 without
having done any work in his diocese. The rest of the Sees in Leinster
were vacant. In Munster, David O'Kearney was named Archbishop of
Cashel (1603), and soon showed himself to be a man of great activity
and fearlessness. Dermod McCragh of Cork had been for years the only
bishop in the province, and had exercised the functions of his office
not merely in the South, but throughout the province of Leinster. In
the province of Tuam all the Sees were vacant. Wherever there was no
bishop in residence care was taken to appoint vicars. In Dublin
Bernard Moriarty who acted as vicar was arrested in the Franciscan
convent at Multifernan in 1601, and died in prison from the wounds he
received from the soldiers. Robert Lalor who acted in the same
capacity was arrested, tried, and banished in 1606.[18]
Although the Earl of Tyrone had been restored to his estates and had
been received graciously by the king (1603), he was both distrusted
and feared by the government. Sir Arthur Chichester, who had come to
act as Lord Mountjoy's deputy in 1605, and who was appointed Lord
Lieutenant on the death of the latter (1607), was determined to get
possession of Ulster either by driving O'Neill into rebellion or by
bringing against him some charge of conspiracy. New and insulting
demands were made upon O'Neill; the Protestant Archbishop of Armagh
and the Protestant Bishop of Derry and Raphoe claimed large portions
of his territories as belonging to their churches, and some of the
minor chieftains were urged on to appeal against him to the English
authorities. Having learned in 1607 that he stood in danger of arrest,
he and Rory O'Donnell determined to leave Ireland. In September 1607
they sailed from Rathmullen, and on the 4th October they landed in
France. After many wanderings they made their way to Rome, where they
received a generous welcome from Paul V. O'Donnell died in 1608, and
O'Neill, who had cherished till the last a hope of returning to
Ireland, died in 1616.[19] Both chieftains were laid to rest in the
Church of St. Pietro di Montorio. Although the flight of the Earls
caused a great sensation both in England and Ireland, and although
James I. was said to have been pained by their departure and even to
have thought for a time of granting religious toleration, Chichester
and his companions were delighted at the result of their work. The
flight of Tyrone and Tyrconnell, the attempted rebellion of Sir Cahir
O'Doherty, and the trumped-up charges brought against some of the
other noblemen in the North opened up the prospect of a new and
greater plantation than had ever been attempted before. Tyrone,
Fermanagh, Donegal, Derry, Armagh, and Cavan were confiscated to the
crown at one stroke, and preparations were made to carry out the
plantation in a scientific manner. The greater portion of the
territory was divided into lots of two thousand, one thousand five
hundred, and one thousand acres. The Undertakers who were to get the
largest grants were to be English or Scotch Protestants and were to
have none but English or Scotch Protestant tenants, those who were to
get the one thousand five hundred acres were to be Protestants
themselves and were to have none but Protestant tenants, while the
portions of one thousand acres each might be parcelled out amongst
English, Scotch, or Irish, and from these Catholics were not excluded.
Thousands of acres were appropriated for the support of the Protestant
religion, for the maintenance of Protestant schools, and for the
upkeep of Trinity College. A small portion was kept for a few of the
old Catholic proprietors, and the remainder of the population were
ordered to leave these districts before the 1st May 1609. Many of them
remained, however, preferring to take small tracts of the mountain and
bog land from the new proprietors than to trust themselves among
strangers; but a great number of the able-bodied amongst them were
caught and shipped to serve as soldiers in the army of Sweden.[20]
For some time after the flight of the Earls there seems to have been a
slight lull in the persecution, the king and his advisers fearing
perhaps that their action was only a prelude to a more general
rebellion in the course of which O'Neill might return at the head of a
Spanish force. But once it was clear that no danger was to be
apprehended the Irish officials began to urge once more recourse to
extreme measures. Fines were levied on Catholic towns, some of which,
however, were remitted by the king. It was represented to Salisbury
(1609) that the Catholics had grown much more bold even in Dublin,
that in the country they drew thousands to "their idolatrous
sacrifices, and that the Jesuits stir up the forces of disloyalty."
The writer of this letter recommended that the fine of twelve pence
should be exacted off the poor every time they absented themselves
from religious services, that so much should be levied off the rich as
would suffice to repair all the churches and build free schools in
every county, and he himself undertook to pay £4,000 a year for the
right to collect the fines of the "Recusants" in Munster, Leinster,
and Connaught, provided only that he could count on the support of the
ecclesiastical and civil authorities.[21] In the following year
Chichester informed the authorities in England that "the mayors of
cities and towns for the most part refused to take the oath of
supremacy, as did also the sheriffs, bailiffs, etc.," and he inquired
in what manner he should act towards them. To put an end to this state
of affairs Andrew Knox was sent over to Ireland as Bishop of Raphoe,
and was commissioned to take measures to stir up the Protestant
bishops and to suppress Popery. On his arrival he found that he had a
heavy task before him. In a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury
(1611) he wrote that there were only four men in the ministry "who
have knowledge or care to propagate the Evangell." "The defection," he
wrote, "is so great of those who sometime professed the truth, that
where hundreds came to several churches before, there resort now
scarce six; the gathering and flocking in great numbers of Jesuits,
seminary priests, friars, and gidding Papists of all sorts are so
frequent from Rome and all parts beyond the seas, that it seems to him
the greatest lading the ships bring to this country are burdens of
them, their books, clothes, crosses, and ceremonies; natives and
others in corporate towns publicly profess themselves their
maintainers. There is no diocese but it has a bishop appointed and
consecrated by the Pope, nor province that wants an archbishop, nor
parish without a priest, all actually serving their time and the
Pope's direction and plenteously maintained by the people, so that the
few ministers that are, and bishops that profess to do any good,
profit no more than Lot did in Sodom. And sure it may be expected that
if God, the king, and his Grace prevent not this unnatural growth of
superstition, the face of the kingdom will be shortly clad with this
darkness."[22]
He lost no time in summoning a meeting of the bishops (1611), most of
whom, according to him, were not very reliable. The Archbishop of
Dublin (Jones) was "burdened with the cares of state;" the Archbishop
of Armagh was "somewhat old and unable;" the Archbishop of Cashel
(Magrath) was "old and unable, whose wife and children would not
accompany him to the church;" the Archbishop of Tuam was "well willed
and best learned, but wanted maintainers and helpers," and the Bishops
of Waterford and Limerick were described as "having no credit." In
accordance with the instructions that had been forwarded to them by
the king, they agreed that they would take common action for "the
suppression of papistry and the plantation of religion;" that they
would observe the law of residence in their several dioceses; that
they would make visitations every year of their parishes, and inquire
into the condition of the churches and the behaviour of their
ministers; that by authority of his Majesty's commission they would
"carefully tender the oath of allegiance to every nobleman, knight,
justice of the peace, and other officers of corporate towns," and make
a return to the Lord Deputy of those who took the oath as well as of
those who refused it; that they would admit no cleric "to any
spiritual promotion" who would not willingly take the oath of
supremacy, and that they would inquire in every deanery "what persons
receive or harbour trafficking priests, Jesuits, seminaries and
massing priests, and friars, and will present their names together
with the names of the said priests and Jesuits to the Lord
Deputy."[23]
A royal proclamation was issued (1661) ordering all Jesuits and
priests to depart from the kingdom immediately; the laity were
commanded to attend the Protestant service under threat of severe
penalties, students in foreign colleges were ordered to return at
once, and Catholic schoolmasters were forbidden to teach within the
kingdom. Backed by all the powers of the crown, Knox and his fellow
bishops set up a terrible inquisition in every part of the country,
and spared no pains to hound down the clergy and those who entertained
them, to drive the poorer classes by brute force into the church, to
harass the better classes by threats and examinations, and to wipe out
every vestige of the Catholic religion. Cornelius O'Devany, a
Franciscan, who had been appointed Bishop of Down and Connor (1582),
was arrested together with a priest who accompanied him, was tried in
Dublin, and was hanged, drawn, and quartered (1612).[24] Almost at the
same time the Protestant Bishop of Down and Connor was accused of
"incontinence, the turning away of his wife, and taking the wife of
his man-servant in her room, subornation of witnesses," and alienation
of the diocesan property. He fled from his diocese, was arrested,
degraded, and died in prison. The Archbishop of Glasgow and Bishop
Knox of Raphoe, himself a Scotchman, hastened to London to secure the
appointment of one of their countrymen as his successor; but
Chichester wrote that though he would not say that Scotchmen were not
good men, he could aver that they were "hot-spirited and very griping"
and "such as were not fit for these parts."[25] Several attempts were
made to arrest Dr. Eugene Matthews or MacMahon, who had been
transferred (1611) by the Pope from Clogher to the Archbishopric of
Dublin. He was detested especially by the government, because it was
thought that he owed his promotion to the influence of O'Neill, who
was also suspected of having had a voice in the appointment of the
learned Franciscan, Florence Conry to Tuam (1609).[26] During the
course of these years jurors were threatened by the crown lawyers with
the Star Chamber unless they found a verdict of guilty, and were sent
to prison for not returning a proper verdict against those accused by
the Protestant ministers of not attending church; wards of court
though Catholic were committed to the guardianship of Protestants, and
in every grant a special clause was inserted "that the ward shall be
brought up at the college near Dublin (Trinity College) in English
habit and religion;" the Irish were excluded from all offices; men of
no property were appointed as sheriffs; and the fines for non-
attendance at church were levied strictly. Instead of being applied to
the relief of the poor they found their way, according to the Catholic
Lords of the Pale, into the pockets of the ministers. In reply to this
last charge Chichester asserted that they were not given to the poor,
because all the poor were recusants, but they were employed "in the
rebuilding of churches, bridges, and like charitable purposes."[27]
Yet Knox did not succeed in uprooting the Catholic faith in Ireland.
According to a report furnished (1613) to the Holy See by Mgr.
Bentivoglio, Internuncio at Brussels, whose duty it was to superintend
affairs in Ireland, heresy had made little progress even in the
cities, while the nobility and gentry were nearly all Catholic. There
were then in Ireland about eight hundred secular priests, one hundred
and thirty Franciscans, twenty Jesuits, and a few Benedictines and
Dominicans, of whom the Franciscans were held in special esteem. The
best of the secular clergy were those who came from Douay, Bordeaux,
Lisbon, and Salamanca.[28] In the following year (1614) Archbishop
Matthews of Dublin held a provincial synod at Kilkenny at which many
useful regulations were made regarding the conduct of the clergy,
preaching, catechising, the celebration of Mass, the administration of
the sacraments, the relations between the secular and regular clergy,
the reading of controversial literature, and the observance and number
of fast-days and holidays.[29] In the province of Armagh Dr. Rothe,
acting under authority received from Peter Lombard, convoked a
provincial synod at Drogheda (1614). It was attended by vicars from
the several dioceses and by representatives of the various religious
orders, and passed regulations somewhat similar to those enacted at
Kilkenny. In both synods the clergy were warned to abstain from the
discussion of state affairs and from disobedience to the civil rulers
in temporal matters. At Drogheda the new Oath of Allegiance framed by
James I. was condemned as being opposed to faith and religion;
Catholics were commanded not to have recourse to prevarication or
wavering in regard to it, but to reject it openly, and were warned
against attendance at divine worship in Protestant churches even
though they had previously made a declaration that they meant only to
pay a mark of respect to the civil rulers.[30] At the same period the
Franciscans and Dominicans founded new colleges on the Continent, at
Douay and Lisbon, to supply priests for their missions in Ireland.
During the later years of Elizabeth's reign the disturbed condition of
the country made it impossible to convene a Parliament, and after the
accession of James I. his advisers feared to summon such a body lest
they might be unable to control it. Still, they never lost sight of
the advantage it would be to their cause could they secure
parliamentary sanction for the confiscation and plantation of Ulster,
and for the new methods employed for the punishment of recusants.
These for so far had behind them only the force of royal
proclamations, and their legality was open to the gravest doubt. The
great obstacle that must be overcome before a Parliament could be
convoked was the fact that both in the House of Commons and in the
House of Lords the Catholics might find themselves in a majority. To
prevent such a dire catastrophe it was determined to create a number
of new parliamentary boroughs so that many places "that could scarcely
pass the rank of the poorest villages in the poorest country in
Christendom" were allowed to return members, provided only that it was
certain they would return Protestants. Nineteen of the thirty-nine new
boroughs were situated in Ulster, where the plantations had given the
English and Scotch settlers a preponderance. In the House of Lords the
situation was also critical, but it was hoped that by summoning all
the Protestant bishops and also certain peers of England who had got
grants of territory in Ireland the government could count on a
majority, especially as some of the Catholic lords were minors, and as
such not entitled to sit. For months the plans for packing the
Parliament and for preparing a scheme of anti-Catholic legislation
were being concocted, and the Catholic lords, knowing well what was
going on, felt so alarmed that they lodged a solemn protest with the
king against the erection of towns and corporations "consisting of
some few poor and beggarly cottages" into parliamentary boroughs,
against the wholesale exclusion of Catholics from office on account of
their religion, and conjured the king "to give order that the
proceedings of Parliament may be conducted with moderation and
indifferency." In spite of this protest the new boroughs were created,
and the elections were carried out in the most high-handed manner, the
sheriffs hesitating at nothing so long as they could secure the
nomination of Protestant representatives.
On the day preceding the opening of Parliament (fixed for 18th May
1613) the Catholic Lords of the Pale addressed a protest to the Lord
Deputy. They asserted that while several of the Irish Catholic nobles
entitled to sit in the House of Lords were not summoned, English and
Scotch lords "already parliant in other kingdoms" had been invited to
attend, that new corporations had been created, many of them since
Parliament was summoned, without any right or title except to assure a
Protestant majority, that the sheriffs and returning officers had
acted most unfairly during the election, and that a Parliament sitting
"in the principal fort and castle of the kingdom," surrounded by
"numbers of armed men," could not be regarded as a free assembly. When
the House of Commons met on the following day the Catholics proposed
that Sir John Everard, who had been dismissed from his office of judge
because he refused the oath of supremacy, should be elected speaker,
while the Protestants proposed Sir John Davies for this position. The
Catholics, knowing well that if the returns of the sheriffs were
accepted they would find themselves in the minority, maintained that
the members against whose return objection had been lodged should not
be allowed to vote. On this being refused, they tried to prevent a
vote being taken, and when the supporters of Davies left the chamber
to take a count, the Catholics installed Sir John Everard in the
chair. The Protestants, claiming that they had a clear majority, one
hundred and twenty-seven out of a possible two hundred and thirty-two,
removed Sir John Everard by force, and adopted Sir John Davies as
speaker. The Catholics then left the chamber, and both Lords and
Commoners refused to attend any further sessions until they should
have laid their grievances before the king. In consequence of their
refusal it was necessary to suspend the parliamentary session, and
both parties directed all their attention to an appeal to the king.
The Catholics sent to London as their representatives, Lords
Gormanston and Dunboyne, Sir James Gough and Sir Christopher Plunkett,
William Talbot and Edward FitzHarris, and a general levy was made
throughout the kingdom to raise money to pay their expenses. A great
deal of time was wasted in inquiries in London and in Ireland. James
found it difficult to decide against the Lord Deputy, while at the
same time he could not shut his eyes to the justice of several of the
claimants brought under his notice by the Catholics. At one time he
promised their delegates that he would not interfere with the free
exercise of their religion provided they admitted it was not lawful to
deprive him of his crown or to offer violence to his person, but when
the Lord Deputy wrote warning him of the effect this speech had
produced in Ireland, James, while not denying that he had used the
words attributed to him, issued a proclamation announcing that he
would never grant religious toleration, and ordering all bishops,
Jesuits, friars, and priests to depart from the kingdom before the
30th of September (1614). In April 1614 the king decided to annul
thirteen of the returns impeached by the Catholics, but in regard to
the other matters of complaint he gave judgment in favour of the Lord
Deputy. In a personal interview with the Catholic lords he pointed out
that it was his privilege to create as many peers and parliamentary
boroughs as he liked. "The more the merrier, the fewer the better
cheer." He informed them, too, that they were only half subjects so
long as they acknowledged the Pope, and could, therefore, expect to
have only half privileges, and expressed the hope that by their future
good behaviour in Parliament they might merit not only his pardon but
"his favour and cherishing."
In October 1614 Parliament was at last ready to proceed with its
business. During the course of the negotiations it would appear that
the plan of passing new penal legislation against Catholics was
abandoned. It was intended at first to enact a very severe measure for
the expulsion of Jesuits and seminary priests, and another framed with
the intention of making the laws against Catholics in England binding
in Ireland. But these clauses were struck out, probably as a result of
a bargain between the Catholic lords and the king. In return for this
toleration the Catholic lords agreed to support the Act of Attainder
passed against O'Neill and O'Donnell, together with their aiders and
abettors, and to approve of the wholesale confiscation that had taken
place in Ulster. In vain did Florence Conry, Archbishop of Tuam, call
upon the Catholic members to stand firm against such injustice. His
warning, that if they consented to the robbery of their
co-religionists of the North their own turn to be robbed would surely
come, fell upon deaf ears. Their loyalty to England had nerved them to
draw their swords against O'Neill, and it nerved them also to assist
Chichester and Davies to carry on the Ulster Plantations. Well might
the latter boast in his letter to the Earl of Somerset that the
service performed by this Parliament was "of such importance, as
greater has not been effected in any Parliament of Ireland these
hundred years. For, first, the new erected boroughs have taken place,
which will be perpetual seminaries of Protestant burgesses, since it
is provided in the charters that the provost and twelve chief
burgesses, who are to elect all the rest, must always be such as will
take the Oath of Supremacy. Next, all the states of the kingdom have
attainted Tyrone, the most notorious and dangerous traitor that ever
was in Ireland, whereof foreign nations will take notice, because it
has been given out that Tyrone had left many friends behind him, and
that only the Protestants wished his utter ruin. Besides, this
attainder settles the Plantation of Ulster."[31]
Chichester, who had planned the Plantation of Ulster, and who had
enriched himself out of the spoils of the Northern princes, was
removed from office in 1615, and was succeeded by Sir Oliver St. John,
who came to Ireland determined to support the anti-Catholic campaign.
In a short time more than eighty of the best citizens of Dublin were
in prison because they refused the oath of supremacy, and throughout
the country, jurors who refused to convict the Catholics were
themselves held prisoners, so that the jails were soon full to
overflowing. Immense sums were levied off both poor and rich for non-
attendance at Protestant religious service. In the County Cavan, for
example, the fines for one year amounted to about £8,000,[32] while
large sums were paid by the Catholic noblemen for protection from the
Protestant inquisitors. New plantations were undertaken, on the lines
of the Ulster Plantation, in Wexford, Longford, King's County, and
Leitrim, though, not having been carried out so thoroughly or so
systematically as the former, they had not the same measure of
success. All Catholic noblemen succeeding to property were obliged to
take the oath of supremacy, though apparently they could procure
exemption from this test by the payment of a fine, but the Court of
Wards took care that minors should be entrusted to Protestant
guardians, and should be sent if possible to Trinity College. By means
such as these Elizabeth and James succeeded in Protestantising a
certain number of the heirs to Irish estates. Proclamations were
issued once more against the clergy, both secular and regular, and so
violent was the persecution that the Bishops of Ireland addressed a
petition to the Catholic rulers of Europe, and especially to the King
of Spain, asking them to intercede with James on behalf of his Irish
Catholic subjects (1617).[33]
The negotiations for the marriage of Prince Charles to a Spanish
princess made it necessary for the king to be more guarded in his
religious policy in Ireland. Oliver St. John, who had shown himself to
be such a bitter enemy of the Catholics, was removed from office, and
Lord Falkland was sent over as Deputy in 1622. Rumours were afloat on
all sides that his policy was to be one of toleration. The Protestants
were alarmed and at the installation of the new Deputy (Sept. 1622)
James Ussher, then Protestant Bishop of Meath, taking as his text, "He
beareth not the sword in vain," preached a violent sermon in favour of
religious persecution. Primate Hampton wrote immediately to the
preacher, reproving him for his imprudence, asking him to explain away
what he had said about the sword, and advising him to spend more of
his time in his own diocese of Meath, where matters were far from
being satisfactory.[34] On the return of Charles from Spain a new
proclamation was issued (1624) ordering all "titulary popish
archbishops, bishops, vicars-general, abbots, priors, deans, Jesuits,
friars, seminary priests, and others of that sect, made or ordained by
authority derived from the See of Rome or other foreign parts to
depart from the kingdom within forty days under pain of his Majesty's
indignation and penalties. If any of these dared to remain, or if any
persons dared to receive them, the offenders were to be lodged in
prison, "to the end such further order may be taken for their
punishment as by us shall be thought fit."[35]
A full account of the position of the Catholics of Ireland is given in
a letter written from Dublin in 1623. Catholic minors were compelled
to accept the oath of supremacy before they could get letters of
freedom from the Court of Wards (established 1617); all mayors,
magistrates, officials, etc., of corporate towns were commanded to
take the oath under penalty of having their towns disenfranchised;
priests were arrested and kept in prison; laymen were punished by
sentences of excommunication and by fines for non-attendance at
Protestant worship; they were summoned before the consistorial courts
for having had their children baptised by the priests and were
punished with the greatest indignities; Catholics were forbidden to
teach school and Catholic parents were forbidden to send their
children abroad; the Catholic inhabitants of Drogheda were indicted
before a Protestant jury, and having been found guilty of recusancy,
they stood in danger of having all their property forfeited; in Louth
the juries were ordered to draw up a list of Recusants; when three
Catholic jurors refused they were thrown into prison and obliged to
give security to appear before the Dublin Star Chamber; and in Cavan
proceedings of a similar kind were taken.[36]
Amongst the distinguished bishops of the Irish Church at this period
were Peter Lombard, Archbishop of Armagh (1601-25), a native of
Waterford, who studied at Oxford and Louvain, was appointed a
professor at the latter seat of learning, took a very prominent part
in the /Congregatio de Auxiliis/, published some theological treatises
together with an ecclesiastical history of Ireland, entitled, /De
Regno Hiberniae, Sanctorum insula, Commentarius/,[37] but who on
account of the danger of stirring up still greater persecution never
visited his diocese; Eugene Matthews or MacMahon, Bishop of Clogher
(1609) and Archbishop of Dublin (1611) who did splendid work for the
Irish Church by the decrees passed in the provincial synod at Kilkenny
(1614) as well as by his successful efforts for the foundation of the
Pastoral College at Louvain; David O'Kearney, appointed to Cashel
(1603) as successor to the martyred Archbishop O'Hurley, who though
hunted from place to place continued to fill the duties of his office
till about the year 1618, when he went to Rome; and Florence Conry,
Archbishop of Tuam, a Franciscan, who served with the army of the
Northern Princes, and who was specially detested by the English
government on account of his loyal defence of O'Neill. Not being
allowed to return to Ireland, he devoted himself to the study of
theology, and was the author of several very important works, some of
which were not, however, free from the suspicion of something akin to
Jansenism. By far the most useful book he composed was his celebrated
Irish Catechism published at Louvain in 1626.[38]
During the opening years of the reign of Charles I. (1625-49) the
persecution was much less violent, and as Charles was married to a
French Catholic princess and as he had promised solemnly not to
enforce the laws against Catholics, it was hoped that at long last
they might expect toleration. The distinguished Franciscan Thomas
Fleming, son of the Baron of Slane, who had received his education in
the Irish Franciscan College at Louvain, was appointed Archbishop of
Dublin (1623), and arrived in Ireland two years later. He was able to
report that the conduct of the Catholics not only in Dublin but
throughout Ireland was worthy of every praise, and to point to the
fact that many who made the pilgrimage to St. Patrick's Purgatory in
Lough Derg were obliged to return without satisfying their pious
desires because the island was so crowded that there was no room for
them to land. Chapels were opened in some of the less pretentious
streets in Dublin; communities of religious orders took up fixed
residences in the capital; and the Jesuits summoned home some of their
ablest teachers to man a Catholic University which they opened in Back
Lane (1627). The government stood in need of money to equip and
support a new army, then considered necessary on account of the
threatening attitude of France, and in order to obtain funds a large
body both of the Protestant and Catholic nobility were invited to come
to Dublin for discussion. They were offered certain concessions or
"Graces" in return for a subsidy, and to placate the Catholic peers it
was said that the fines for non-attendance at church would not be
levied, and that they might expect tacit toleration.
The very mention of toleration filled the Protestant bishops with
alarm, and, considering the fact that they were dependent upon
coercion for whatever congregations they had, their rage is not
unintelligible. James Ussher, who had become Protestant Primate of
Armagh, convoked an assembly of the bishops. They declared that: "The
religion of the Papists is superstitious and idolatrous, their church
in respect of both, apostatical. To give them, therefore, a
toleration, or to consent that they may freely exercise their
religion, and profess their faith and doctrine is a grievous sin, and
that in two respects. For it is to make ourselves accessory, not only
to their superstitions, idolatries, and heresies, and in a word, to
all the abominations of Popery; but also, which is a consequent of the
former, to the perdition of the seduced people, which perish in the
deluge of Catholic apostacy. To grant them toleration, in respect of
any money to be given, or contribution to be made by them, is to set
religion to sale, and with it, the souls of the people, whom Christ
our Saviour hath redeemed with His most precious blood."[39] The Irish
deputies arrived in London to seek a confirmation of the "Graces" at
the very time that the third Parliament of Charles (1627) was
petitioning him to put in force the laws against the Recusants. The
members of the English House of Commons complained that religious
communities of men and women had been set up in Dublin and in several
of the larger cities, that Ireland was swarming with Jesuits, friars,
and priests, that the people who attended formerly the Protestant
service had ceased to attend, that in Dublin there were thirteen mass-
houses, and that Papists were allowed to act as army officers, and
Papists were being trained as soldiers."[40] In these circumstances
the Catholic members of the deputation consented to abandon their
claims for full toleration, though it was understood that the fines
levied on account of absence from Protestant service would not be
enforced, but they were promised that Catholic lawyers would be
allowed to practise without being obliged to take the oath of
supremacy. In return for the promised "Graces," which were to be
ratified immediately in Parliament, the Irish nobles promised to pay a
sum of £120,000 for the support of the new army.
The promised Parliament was not held, nor were the "Graces" conceded
either to the Irish generally or to the Catholics. Still, there was no
active persecution for some time. The provincial of the Carmelites in
Dublin was able to report to the Propaganda (1629) that "all the
ecclesiastics now publicly perform their sacred functions, and prepare
suitable places for offering the holy sacrifice, and that with open
doors; they now preach to the people, say Mass, and discharge all
their other duties without being molested by any one." The Carmelites,
he wrote, "had a large church, but not sufficient to contain one-sixth
of the congregation; the people flocked in crowds to Confession, and
Holy Communion; the Franciscans, Dominicans, Capuchins, and Jesuits
were hard at work; and the parishes were supplied with parish priests
who resided in their districts and were supported by the voluntary
offerings of the people."[41] From a report of the year 1627, it is
clear that the Dominicans had over fifty priests of their Order in
Ireland, together with several novices and students.[42]
But already the enemies of the Catholic religion were at work, and, as
a result, a proclamation was issued by Lord Falkland in 1629
commanding that all monasteries, convents, colleges, and religious
houses should be dissolved, that all religious and priests should
cease to teach or to perform any religious service in any public
chapel or oratory, or to teach in any place whatsoever in the kingdom,
and that all owners of religious houses and schools should apply them
to other uses without delay (1629). At first no notice was taken of
this proclamation in Dublin or in any of the cities of Ireland. Ussher
wrote to complain of the "unreverend manner" in which the proclamation
was made in Drogheda. "It was done in scornful and contemptuous sort,
a drunken soldier being first set up to read it, and then a drunken
sergeant of the town, making the same to seem like a May-game." The
priests and friars merely closed the front doors of the churches, he
said, but the people flocked to the churches as usual by private
passages.[43] Lord Falkland does not seem to have made any determined
effort to carry out the royal proclamation in Dublin, but
unfortunately he was recalled in 1629, and in the interval from his
departure till the arrival of Sir Thomas Wentworth (1632) Loftus,
Viscount of Ely, and Lord Cork were appointed as Lords Justices.
Immediately the persecution began. The Protestant Archbishop of
Dublin, accompanied by a body of soldiers, made a raid upon the
Carmelite Church in Cook Street while Mass was being celebrated on St.
Stephen's Day, destroyed the altar and statues, and seized two of the
priests; but the people set upon the archbishop and the soldiers, and
rescued the prisoners. The troops were called out at once, and several
of the Dublin aldermen were lodged in prison. Most of the churches
were seized, and the Jesuit University was given over to Trinity
College. Attacks of a similar kind were made on the houses and
churches of the regular clergy in Cork, Waterford, Limerick, and in
various other parts of the country. An order was issued by the Lords
Justices that St. Patrick's Purgatory together "with St. Patrick's bed
and all the vaults, cells, and all other houses and buildings should
be demolished, and that the superstitious stones and material should
be cast into the lough." Catholic deputies hastened to London to lay
their grievances before the king, but, though he was not unwilling to
help them, he found it difficult to do much for them on account of the
strong anti-Catholic feeling in England. Queen Henrietta Maria did
appeal to the new Deputy to restore St. Patrick's Purgatory, but, as
it was situated "in the midst of the great Scottish Plantation," he
feared to grant her request at the time. Lord Cork reported that "he
had set up two houses of correction in dissolved friaries, in which
the beggarly youths are taught trades." But soon the king and
Wentworth grew alarmed about the storm that the justices were creating
in Ireland. The Catholic lords threatened that unless an end were put
to the persecution, which was contrary to the "Graces" that had been
promised, they would refuse to pay the subsidy they had promised, and
letters were sent both by the king and Wentworth throwing the blame on
Loftus and Lord Cork, and reproving them for what they had done.[44]
In 1632 Sir Thomas Wentworth, afterwards Earl of Strafford, arrived in
Ireland as Lord Deputy. He was a strong man, intensely devoted to the
king, and determined to reduce all parties in Ireland to subjection.
In religion he was a High Churchman of the school of Laud, and opposed
to the Scotch Presbyterians of the North of Island almost as much as
to the Irish Catholics. From the beginning he was determined to raise
the revenues of the crown in Ireland, to establish a strong standing
army, and to secure the future peace of the country by carrying out a
scheme of plantations in Connaught and Munster along the lines
followed by the advisers of James I. in case of Ulster. One of his
first acts after his arrival in Ireland was to commission Dr. John
Bramhall, afterwards Protestant Bishop of Derry and Primate, to hold
an inquiry into the state of the Protestant Church. The latter, after
having made some investigations, informed Archbishop Laud that he
found it difficult to say "whether the churches were more ruinous and
sordid or the people irreverent in Dublin," that one parochial church
in Dublin had been converted into a stable, another had become a
nobleman's mansion, while a third was being used as a tennis-court, of
which the vicar acted as keeper. The vaults of Christ's Church had
been leased to Papists "as tippling rooms for beer, wine, and
tobacco," so that the congregation stood in danger of being poisoned
by the fumes, and the table for the administration of Holy Communion
was made "an ordinary seat for maids and apprentices." "The inferior
sorts of ministers were below all degrees of contempt, in respect of
their poverty and their ignorance," and it was told him that one
bishop held three and twenty benefices with care of souls.[45]
Wentworth lost no time in trying to raise money for the army, but many
of the lords, both Catholic and Protestant, were so annoyed at the
refusal to confirm the "Graces" and at the delay in calling the
Parliament that had been promised, that Wentworth was forced to make
some concession. Parliament was convoked to meet in 1634, and the Lord
Deputy nominated his own supporters in the boroughs, so as to counter-
balance the representation from the counties, which representation he
could not in all cases control. The Catholics were strong in the Lower
House particularly, but care was taken that they should be in a
minority. The main question was the granting of subsidies, but several
of the Protestants and all the Catholics demanded that the "Graces"
should first be confirmed. Both Protestant and Catholic landowners
were interested in safeguarding the titles to their property by having
it enacted that sixty years' possession should be regarded as a
sufficient proof of ownership. As such an enactment would have upset
all Wentworth's plans for a wholesale plantation, he succeeded in
resisting such a measure, and partly by threats, partly by underhand
dealings with particular individuals he obtained a grant of generous
subsidies without any confirmation of the "Graces." In April 1635
Parliament was dissolved, and almost immediately the Lord Deputy made
preparations for acting under the commission for inquiring into
defective titles granted to him by the king. "All the Protestants are
for plantations," he wrote, "and all the others are against them. If
the Catholic juries refuse to find a verdict in favour of the king,
then recourse must be had to Parliament, where a Protestant majority
is assured." Portions of Tipperary, Clare, and Kilkenny were secured
without much difficulty, but nothing less than the whole of Connaught
would satisfy the Deputy. Roscommon was the first county selected, and
the Commissioners, including the Lord Deputy, arrived in Boyle to hold
the inquiry (July 1635). The jury, having been informed by Wentworth
that, whether they found in his favour or not, the king was determined
to assert his claims to their county, and that their only hope of
mercy was their prompt obedience, delivered the required verdict.
Sligo and Mayo also made their submission. In Galway, however, the
jury found against the king. In consequence of this the sheriff was
fined £1,000 and placed under bail to appear before the Star Chamber,
and the jurymen were threatened with severe punishment. They were
fined £4,000 each and ordered to be imprisoned till they should pay
the full amount. In this way the whole of Connaught, with the
exception of Leitrim which was planted already, together with a great
part of Clare, Tipperary, and Kilkenny was confiscated to the crown.
But Wentworth postponed the plantation of Connaught to a more
favourable period, and before any such period arrived he had lost both
his office and his head. The danger to Charles I. from the Scotch
Covenanters was already apparent, and Charles urged his Deputy to
raise an army in Ireland. During the years 1639 and 1640 the work of
training the army, many of the officers of which and most of the
soldiers, were Catholics, was pushed forward, but the triumph of the
Scots and the execution of the Earl of Strafford in April 1641 made it
impossible to use it for the purpose for which it was designed. Acting
on the instigation of the English Parliament, Charles sent an order
that the Irish troops should be disbanded, and added that he had
licensed certain officers to transport eight thousand troops to the
aid of any of the sovereigns of Europe friendly to England. For one
reason or another very few of the soldiers left Ireland, as both their
own leaders and the king knew well that their services would be soon
required at home. Parliament had met in Ireland in March 1640,[46]
and, having voted several subsidies to aid the king, it adjourned.
When it met again in 1641 the Catholics were actually in the majority,
and seemed determined to hold their own. The king wrote to confirm the
"Graces," and to suggest that a bill should be introduced to confirm
defective titles in Tipperary, Clare, and Connaught, but the
obstructive tactics of the Earl of Ormond, and the unfavourable
attitude of the Lords Justices, Sir William Parsons and Sir William
Borlase, towards Catholic claims, prevented anything being done.
Parliament was adjourned till the 9th November, but before that date
arrived the issues had been transferred to another and a different
court.[47]