indifferent value; but if Fitzgerald's engagements had been as sure as
they were false and fleeting, they would have weighed little with this
gallant old nobleman. Ormond replied, that, if the rebels would lay down
their arms and sue for mercy, they might perhaps find it; but for
himself, "if his country were wasted, his castles won or prostrate, and
himself exiled, yet would he never shrink to persevere in his duty to
the king to the death."[344] Failing here, and having at the same time
received a check in a skirmish, Fitzgerald next endeavoured to gain
time. The Irish clans were gathering, but they were still at a distance,
and his own presence was instantly required elsewhere. He offered a
truce, therefore; and to this Ormond, being hard pressed by the Earl of
Desmond, was ready to consent. But it was only treachery. Ormond broke
up his camp, and his people were scattered; and within three days,
O'Neile having joined Fitzgerald, he was taken at a disadvantage; his
son, Lord James, was severely wounded; and a cordon of Irish being drawn
round him, to prevent him from relieving Dublin, the rebel army hastened
back to renew the siege.[345] They had the cannon with them which
Kildare had taken from the castle,[346] but were happily ill-provided
with ammunition, or resistance would have been desperate. The siege
opened at the beginning of September. The month passed away, and the
place was still untaken. If the deputy would only arrive, there was
still time to save it. Each hour he was looked for, yet through these
priceless days he was loitering at Beaumaris. From the fatality which
has for ever haunted the dealings of English statesmen with Ireland, an
old man past work, weak in health, and with all the moral deficiencies
of a failing constitution, had been selected to encounter a dangerous
rebellion. The insurrection had broken out in June; every moment was
precious, the loss of a day might be the loss of the whole country; yet
it was now the fourth of October; the ships were loaded; the horses were
on board; they had been on board a fortnight, and were sickening from
confinement. The wind was fair, at that critical season of the year a
matter of incalculable importance. Yet Skeffington was still "not
ready."[347] All would have been lost but for the Earl of Ormond. The
city was at the last extremity, when he contrived to force his way
through the Irish into Kildare; he again laid waste the country, and
destroyed the newly-gathered harvests.[348] On the 14th of October
Fitzgerald was forced finally to raise the siege, that his followers
might save the remnant of their property from destruction. The relief
was but just in time, for the resources of Dublin were exhausted. Before
retreating, the rebel lord exacted from the corporation an engagement
that at the end of six weeks they should either have procured his pardon
from the king, with the deputation of Ireland for his life, or else
should surrender the city. For the fulfilment of these insolent terms he
took as pledges sixteen of the children of the most important families
of the city, with three of the corporation themselves.[349]
[Sidenote: The English army sails at last.]
And now, at length, on the same 14th of October, the English anchors
were finally raised, and the deputy, with Sir William Brereton and Sir
John Salisbury, several hundred Northumberland horse trained in the
Border wars, and a number not specified, but probably from two to three
thousand archers and men-at-arms,[350] were under way. Whether the blame
of the delay lay with the incompetency of Skeffington, or the contempt
of the English, which would not allow them to make haste into the
presence of an enemy who never dared to encounter them in the field, but
carried on war by perjury, and pillage, and midnight murder--whatever
the cause was, they were at length on their way, and, through the
devotion of Ormond, not too late to be of use.
[Sidenote: They cross in a single night.]
[Sidenote: Council of war at Lambay Island.]
The fleet crossed the Channel in a single night, and the next morning
were under Lambay Island,[351] where they had run in for shelter. Here
news was brought them that Dublin Castle was taken. They did not believe
it; but a council of war was held, and Skeffington resolved that for
himself he might not risk the attempt to land; Brereton and Salisbury
might try it, if they could do so "without casting themselves away"; the
deputy would go on to Waterford with the body of the army, and join Sir
John St. Loo, who had crossed to that port in the week preceding, from
Bristol.
[Sidenote: Sir William Brereton with 500 men enters the Liffey.]
Accordingly, on the morning of the 17th of October, Sir William
Brereton, with five hundred men, sailed into the mouth of the Liffey;
and running up the river, instead of an enemy drawn up to oppose his
landing, he found the mayor and corporation waiting at the quay, with
drums, and flags, and trumpets to welcome him as a deliverer.[352]
[Sidenote: An English detachment cut off through Skeffington's
imprudence.]
Skeffington was less successful; he remained under Lambay waiting for a
wind for Waterford, and in the meantime Fitzgerald, hearing of the
arrival of the fleet, was in force upon the hills overlooking the
anchorage. The English commander, though aware that the insurgents were
in the neighbourhood, allowed himself, with extreme imprudence, to land
a detachment of troops, with directions to march to Dublin. He himself
went with the fleet to the Skerries,[353] where he conceived, under
false information, that a party of the rebels were lying. He found
nothing there but a few fishing-boats; and while he was engaged in
burning these, Fitzgerald attacked the division which had been sent on
shore, and cut them off to a man. Nor was this the only misfortune. The
pirate ships which had been watching Dublin Bay hovered round the fleet,
cutting off straggling transports; and although one of them was chased
and driven on shore, the small success poorly counterbalanced the injury
which had been inflicted.[354]
[Sidenote: October 21. Skeffington lands in Dublin,]
[Sidenote: November. And resolves, the season being late, to do
nothing.]
After a week of this trifling, Skeffington consented to resign his
intention of going to Waterford, and followed Brereton into Dublin. Why
he had delayed a day after discovering that the river and the city were
open to him, it is impossible to conjecture. But his presence was of
little benefit, and only paralysed his abler subordinates. As soon as he
had brought his army into the city, he conceived that he had done as
much as the lateness of the season would allow. The November weather
having set in wild and wet, he gave up all thought of active measures
till the return of spring; and he wrote to inform the king, with much
self-approbation, that he was busy writing letters to the Irish chiefs,
and making arrangements for a better government; that Lord Thomas
Fitzgerald had been proclaimed traitor at the market-cross; and that he
hoped, as soon as the chancellor and the vicar-general could come to an
understanding, the said traitor might be pronounced excommunicated.[355]
All this was very well, and we learn to our comfort that in due time the
excommunication was pronounced; but it was not putting down the
rebellion--it was not the work for which he was sent to Ireland with
three thousand English soldiers.
[Sidenote: Fitzgerald burns Trim and Dunboyne, within six miles of
Dublin.]
[Sidenote: He again writes to the emperor.]
Fitzgerald, as soon as the army was landed, retired into the interior;
but finding that the deputy lay idle within the walls, he recovered
heart, and at the head of a party of light horse reappeared within six
miles of Dublin. Trim and Dunboyne, two populous villages, were sacked
and burnt, and the blazing ruins must have been seen from the
battlements of the Castle. Yet neither the insults of the rebels nor the
entreaty of the inhabitants could move the imperturbable Skeffington. He
lay still within the city walls;[356] and Fitzgerald, still further
encouraged, despatched a fresh party of ecclesiastics to the pope and
the emperor, with offers of allegiance and promises of tribute,[357]
giving out meanwhile in Ireland that he would be supported in the spring
or summer by the long talked-of Spanish army. Promises costing Charles
V. nothing, he was probably liberal of them, and waited for the issue to
decide how far they should be observed.
[Sidenote: Skeffington ventures an expedition to Drogheda, and brings
back the army in safety.]
If this was so, the English deputy seemed to be determined to give the
rebellion every chance of issuing as the emperor desired. The soldiers
were eager for employment, but Skeffington refused to give his officers
an opportunity for distinction in which he did not share,[358] and a few
ineffectual skirmishes in the neighbourhood were the sole exploits which
for five months they were allowed to achieve. One expedition, as far as
Drogheda, the deputy indeed ventured, towards the end of November; and
in the account of it which he sent to England, he wrote as if it were
matter of congratulation that he had brought his army back in safety.
Nor were his congratulations, at least to himself, without reason, for
he owed that safety to God and to fortune. He had allowed the archers to
neglect the old precaution of taking cases for their bows. They were
overtaken by a storm, which wetted the strings and loosened the feathers
of the arrows; and thus, at disadvantage, they were intercepted in a
narrow defile,[359] and escaped only because the Irish were weak in
numbers.
[Sidenote: He excuses himself on the ground of bad health.]
[Sidenote: Consequence of the deputy's inaction.]
He excused himself for his shortcomings on the plea that he was in bad
health--an adequate apology for his own inaction, but none for his
appointment on a service so dangerous. Yet perhaps his failure is
explained by the scene of it. Elsewhere, Sir William Skeffington may
have been a gallant soldier and a reasonable man; but the fatal
atmosphere of Ireland seems at all times to have had a power of
prostrating English intellect. The Protector Cromwell alone was cased in
armour which could defy its enchantments. An active officer might have
kept the field without difficulty. The Master of the Rolls, to prove
that the country, even in mid-winter, was practicable without danger,
rode to Waterford in November with only three hundred horse, through the
heart of the disturbed districts, and returned unmolested.[360] The Earl
of Ossory, with Sir John St. Loo, made an appointment to meet
Skeffington at Kilcaa,[361] where, if he brought cannon, they might
recover the castles of the government which were held by the Geraldines.
He promised to go, and he might have done so without danger or
difficulty; but he neither went nor sent; only a rumour came that the
deputy was ill;[362] and in these delays and with this ostentation of
imbecility, the winter passed away, as if to convince every wavering
Irishman that, strong as the English might be in their own land, the
sword dropped from their nerveless hands when their feet were on Irish
soil. Nor was this the only or the worst consequence. The army, lying
idle in Dublin, grew disorganized; many of the soldiers deserted; and an
impression spread abroad that Henry, after all, intended to return to
the old policy, to pardon Fitzgerald, and to restore him to power.[363]
[Sidenote: February 16.]
The clear pen of the indefatigable Allen lays the state of affairs
before us with the most painful distinctness. "My lord deputy," he wrote
to Cromwell on the 16th of February, "now by the space of twelve or
thirteen weeks hath continued in sickness, never once going out of his
house; he as yet is not recovered. In the meantime the rebel hath burnt
much of the country, trusting, if he may be suffered, to waste and
desolate the Inglishry, [and thus] to enforce this army to depart. Sirs,
as I heretofore advertised you, this rebel had been banished out of all
these parts or now, if all men had done their duties. But, to be plain
with you, except there be a marshal appointed, which must do strait
correction, and the army prohibited from resorting to Dublin (but
ordered to keep the field), the king shall never be well served, but his
purpose shall long be delayed."[364]
[Sidenote: The wages are ill-paid. The army is mutinous.]
[Sidenote: The military stores worthless.]
The wages, also, were ill-paid, though money in abundance had been
provided. The men were mutinous, and indemnified themselves at the
expense of the wretched citizens, whose houses they pillaged at will
under pretence that the owners were in league with the rebels.[365] The
arms, also, which had been supplied to the troops, were of the worst
kind: they had been furnished out of ordnance which had been long on
hand, and were worthless.[366]
[Sidenote: The Irish council desire the recal of Skeffington. The king
refuses.]
[Sidenote: The army leave Dublin, and commence work.]
The conduct of the king, when the representations of Allen were laid
before him, was very unlike what the popular conception of his
character would have led us to expect. We imagine him impatient and
irritable; and supposing him to have been (as he certainly was) most
anxious to see the rebellion crushed, we should have looked for some
explosion of temper; or, at least, for some imperious or arbitrary
message to the unfortunate deputy. He contented himself, however, with
calmly sending some one whom he could trust to make inquiries; and even
when the result confirmed the language of the Master of the Rolls, and
the deputy's recal was in consequence urged upon him, he still refused
to pass an affront upon an old servant. He appointed Lord Leonard Grey,
brother-in-law of the Countess of Kildare, chief marshal of the army;
but he would not even send Grey over till the summer, and he left
Skeffington an opportunity of recovering his reputation in the campaign
which was to open with the spring.[367] The army, however, was ordered
to leave Dublin without delay; and the first move, which was made early
in February, was followed by immediate fruits. Two of the pirates who
had been acting with Fitzgerald were taken, and hanged.[368] Several
other offenders of note were also caught and thrown into prison; and in
two instances, as if the human ministers of justice had not been
sufficiently prompt, the higher powers thought fit to inflict the
necessary punishment. John Teling, one of the archbishop's murderers,
died of a foul disorder at Maynooth;[369] and the Earl of Kildare, the
contriver of the whole mischief, closed his evil career in the Tower of
London "for thought and pain."[370] He was attainted by the parliament
which sat in the autumn, and lay under sentence of death when death came
unbidden to spare the executioner his labour.
[Sidenote: Death of the Earl of Kildare.]
[Sidenote: March 14. Skeffington takes the field. Siege of Maynooth
Castle.]
Meantime, the spring opened at last, and affairs further improved.
Skeffington's health continued weak; but with the advance of the season
he was able to take the field; and on the 14th of March he appeared
under the walls of Maynooth. This castle was the strongest in the
possession of the Geraldines. Vast labour had been recently expended on
its fortifications, for which the king's subjects had been forced to
pay. It was defended by the ordnance from Dublin, and held by a small
but adequate garrison. It was thought to be impregnable, and in the
earlier stages of the science of gunnery it might possibly have defied
the ordinary methods of attack. Nay, with a retrospective confidence in
the strength of its defences, the Irish historians have been unable to
believe that it could have been fairly taken; they insist that it
resisted the efforts of the besiegers, and was on the point of being
saved by Fitzgerald,[371] when it was delivered to the English commander
by treachery. A despatch to the king, which was written from the spot,
and signed by the deputy and all the members of the Irish council,
leaves but little remaining of this romance.
[Sidenote: The walls are bombarded.]
[Sidenote: March 23. The castle is stormed.]
[Sidenote: Thirty-seven prisoners taken.]
An authentic account of an attack by cannon on a fortified place at that
era, will scarcely fail to be interesting. The castle, says this
document, was so strongly defended both with men and ordnance, "as the
like had not been seen in Ireland since the Conquest." The garrison
consisted of a hundred men, of which sixty were gunners. On the third
day of the siege the English batteries opened on the north-west side of
the donjon, and destroying the battlements, buried the cannon on that
part of the wall under the ruins. The siege lines were then moved "to
the north side of the base court of the castle, at the north-east end
whereof there was a new-made, very strong, and fast bulwark, well
garrisoned with men and ordnance." Here a continual fire was sustained
for five days, "on that wise that a breach and entry was made there."
Whereupon, continues the despatch, "The twenty-third day, being Tuesday
next before Easter day, there was a galiard assault given before five
o'clock in the morning, and the base court entered; at which entry there
were slain of the ward of the castle about sixty, and of your Grace's
army no more but John Griffin, yeoman of your most honourable guard, and
six others which were killed with ordnance of the castle at the entry.
Howbeit, if it had not pleased God to preserve us, it were to be
marvelled that we had no more slain. After the base court was thus won,
we assaulted the great castle, which within a while yielded."
Thirty-seven of the remaining garrison were taken prisoners, with two
officers, two Irish ecclesiastics who had distinguished themselves in
promoting the insurrection, and one of the murderers of the archbishop.
The place was taken by fair fighting, it seems, without need of
treachery; and the capture by storm of a fortified castle was a
phenomenon altogether new to the Irish, who had yet to learn the effect
of well-served cannon upon walls.[372]
The work at length was begun in earnest, and in order to drive the
lesson home into the understanding of the people, and to instruct them
clearly that rebellion and murder were not any longer to be tolerated,
the prisoners were promptly brought up before the provost-marshal, and
twenty-six of them there and then, under the ruins of their own den,
were hung up for sign to the whole nation.[373]
[Sidenote: The Pardon of Maynooth. The effect of it upon the people.]
[Sidenote: The rebellion vanishes.]
A judicial operation of this kind had never before been witnessed in
Ireland within the known cycle of its history, and the effect of it was
proportionately startling. In the presence of this "Pardon of Maynooth,"
as it was called, the phantom of rebellion vanished on the spot. It was
the first serious blow which was struck in the war, and there was no
occasion for a second. In a moment the noise and bravado which had
roared from Donegal to Cork was hushed into a supplication for
forgiveness. Fitzgerald was hastening out of Thomond to the relief of
his fortress. When they heard of the execution, his army melted from him
like a snowdrift. The confederacy of the chiefs was broken up; first
one fell away from it, and then another; and before the summer had come,
O'Brien of Inchiquin, O'Connor, who had married Fitzgerald's sister, and
the few scattered banditti of the Wicklow mountains, were all who
remained of the grand association which was to place the Island of
Saints at the feet of the Father of Christendom.
Sadder history in the compass of the world's great chronicle there is
none than the history of the Irish: so courageous, yet so like cowards;
so interesting, yet so resolute to forfeit all honourable claims to
interest. In thinking of them, we can but shake our heads with Lord
Chancellor Audeley, when meditating on this rebellion, and repeat after
him, "they be a people of strange nature, and of much inconstancy."[374]
[Sidenote: Fitzgerald retreats into Thomond, intending to sail for
Spain.]
[Sidenote: O'Brien persuades him to remain.]
Lord Fitzgerald was now a fugitive, with a price upon his head. He
retreated into Thomond, intending to sail for Spain, and to attempt with
his own lips to work persuasion with the emperor.[375] There was an
expectation, however, that the Spaniards might be already on their way:
and O'Brien persuaded him to remain, to prevent the complete
disintegration of his party. Sir James de la Hyde was therefore sent to
Charles; and the wretched young nobleman himself wandered from place to
place, venturing, while Skeffington still lay at Maynooth, into the
neighbourhood of his home, among his own people, yet unable to do more
than evade the attempts which were made to capture him. The life of the
rebellion was gone from it.
[Sidenote: Fidelity of the people.]
There was no danger that he would be betrayed. The Irish had many
faults--we may not refuse them credit for their virtues. However
treacherous they were to their enemies, however inconstant in their
engagements, uncertain, untrue in ordinary obligations, they were
without rivals in the world in their passionate attachments among
themselves; and of all the chiefs who fell from Fitzgerald's banner, and
hastened with submission to the English deputy, there was perhaps not
one who, though steeped in the blood of a hundred murders, would not
have been torn limb from limb rather than have listened to a temptation
to betray him.
[Sidenote: Arrival of Lord Leonard Grey. Fitzgerald writes to him with
an offer of surrender.]
At length, after a narrow escape from a surprise, from which he rescued
himself only by the connivance of the Irish kerne who were with the
party sent to take him, the young earl, as he now called himself, weary
of his wandering life, and when no Spaniards came, seeing that his cause
was for the present hopeless offered to surrender. It was by this time
August, and Lord Leonard Grey, his father's brother-in-law, was present
with the army. To him he wrote from O'Connor's Castle, in King's County,
apologizing for what he had done, desiring pardon "for his life and
lands," and begging his kinsman to interest himself in his behalf. If he
could obtain his forgiveness, he promised to deserve it. If it was
refused, he said that he "must shift for himself the best that he
could."[376]
[Sidenote: Grey suggests an interview.]
[Sidenote: August 18.]
[Sidenote: Fitzgerald meets him,]
[Sidenote: And surrenders on a dubious promise of pardon.]
In reply to this overture, Grey suggested an interview. The appointment
of so near a relative of the Kildare's to high office in Ireland had
been determined, we may be sure, by the Geraldine influence in the
English council. The marshal was personally acquainted with Fitzgerald,
and it is to be observed that the latter in writing to him signed
himself his "loving friend." That Lord Leonard was anxious to save him
does not admit of a doubt; he had been his father's chief advocate with
the king, and his natural sympathy with the representative of an ancient
and noble house was strengthened by family connexion. He is not to be
suspected, therefore, of treachery, at least towards his kinsman. The
interview was agreed upon, and on the eighteenth of August, Grey, with
Sir Rice Mansell, Chief Justice Aylmer, Lord James Butler, and Sir
William St. Loo, rode from Maynooth into King's County, where, on the
borders of the Bog of Allen, Fitzgerald met them. Here he repeated the
conditions upon which he was ready to surrender. Lord Grey said that he
had no authority to entertain such conditions; but he encouraged the
hope that an unconditional surrender would tell in his favour, and he
promised himself to accompany his prisoner to the king's presence.
Fitzgerald interpreting expressions confessedly intended "to allure him
to yield,"[377] in the manner most favourable to himself, placed himself
in the hands of the marshal, and rode back with him to the camp.
[Sidenote: Embarrassment of the government.]
[Sidenote: If Fitzgerald was spared, the government of Ireland was
impossible.]
[Sidenote: Yet, were the English entitled to reap the benefit of his
capture?]
The deputy wrote immediately to announce the capture. Either the terms
on which it had been effected had not been communicated to him, or he
thought it prudent to conceal them, for he informed Henry that the
traitor had yielded without conditions, either of pardon, life, lands,
or goods, "but only submitting to his Grace's mercy."[378] The truth,
however, was soon known; and it occasioned the gravest embarrassment.
How far a government is bound at any time to respect the unauthorized
engagements of its subordinates, is one of those intricate questions
which cannot be absolutely answered;[379] and it was still less easy to
decide, where the object of such engagements had run a career so
infamous as Lord Thomas Fitzgerald. No pirate who ever swung on a
well-earned gallows had committed darker crimes, and the king was called
upon to grant a pardon in virtue of certain unpermitted hopes which had
been held out in his name. He had resolved to forgive no more noble
traitors in Ireland, and if the archbishop's murder was passed over, he
had no right to affect authority in a country where he was so unable to
exert it. On the other hand, the capture of so considerable a person was
of great importance; his escape abroad, if he had desired to leave the
country, could not have been prevented; and while the government
retained the benefit which they derived from his surrender, their honour
seemed to be involved in observing the conditions, however made, by
which it had been secured.
[Sidenote: The Duke of Norfolk advises delay of punishment.]
[Sidenote: Fitzgerald is hanged the following year at Tyburn.]
It is likely, though it is not certain, that Lord Leonard foresaw the
dilemma in which Henry would be placed, and hoped by means of it to
secure the escape of his kinsman. His own ultimate treason throws a
shadow on his earlier loyalty; and his talent was fully equal to so
ingenious a fraud. He had placed the king in a position from which no
escape was possible that was not open to grave objection. To pardon so
heavy an offender was to violate the first duty of government, and to
grant a general licence to Irish criminality; to execute him was to
throw a shadow indirectly on the king's good faith, and lay his generals
open to a charge of treachery. Henry resolved to err on the side on
which error was least injurious. The difficulty was submitted to the
Duke of Norfolk, as of most experience in Irish matters. The duke
advised that execution should be delayed; but added significantly, "quod
defertur non aufertur."--Pardon was not to be thought of; the example
would be fatal.[380] Immediate punishment would injure the credit of
Lord Grey, and would give occasion for slander against the council.[381]
The best course would be to keep "the traitor" in safe prison, and
execute him, should it seem good, at a future time.[382] This advice was
followed. Fitzgerald, with his uncles, who had all been implicated in
the insurrection, was committed to the Tower; and in the year following
they were hanged at Tyburn.
So ended the rebellion in Ireland; significant chiefly because it was
the first in which an outbreak against England assumed the features of a
war of religion, the first which the pope was especially invited to
bless, and the Catholic powers, as such, to assist. The features of it,
on a narrow scale, were identical with those of the later risings.
Fostered by the hesitation of the home authorities, it commenced in
bravado and murder; it vanished before the first blows of substantial
resistance. Yet the suppression of the insurrection was attended by the
usual Irish fatality: mistake and incompleteness followed the
proceedings from the beginning to the end; and the consciousness
remained that a wound so closed would not heal, that the moral temper of
the country remained unaffected, and that the same evils would again
germinate.
NOTES:
[277] "Panderus, or the author of a book, _De Salute Populi_, flourished
in the reigns of Edward IV., Edward V., Richard III., and Henry VII.;
perhaps also in the reign of Henry VIII."--Sir James Ware, _Writers of
Ireland_, p. 90.
[278] State of Ireland, and plan for its reformation, 1515: _State
Papers_, Vol. II. p. 11.
[279] Some men have the opinion that this land is harder to be reformed
now than it was to be conquered at the first Conquest; considering that
Irishmen have more hardiness and policy and war, and more arms and
artillery than they had at the Conquest. At that time there was not in
all Ireland, out of cities, five Castles ne Piles, and now there be five
hundred Castles and Piles.--Baron Finglas's _Breviate of Ireland_,
written circa 1535. Harris's _Hibernica_, p. 88.
[280] In every of the said five portions, Ulster, Connaught, Leinster,
South Munster, and West Munster, that was conquered by King Henry
Fitz-Empress, [there were] left under tribute certain Irishmen of the
principal blood of the Irish nation, that were before the Conquest
inhabitants within every of the said portions; as in Leinster, the
Cavanaghs of the blood of M'Morough, sometime king of the same; in South
Munster, the M'Carties, of the blood of the Carties, sometime kings of
Cork; in the other portions of Munster, west of the river Shannon
(Clare), where O'Brien is, which was never conquered in obedience to the
king's laws, O'Brien and his blood have continued there still, which
O'Brien gave tribute to King Henry Fitz-Empress, and to his heirs, by
the space of one hundred years. In Connaught was left under tribute
certain of the blood of O'Connor, sometime king of the same; certain of
the Kellies, and others. In Ulster were left certain of the Neales, of
the blood of the O'Neale. In Meath were left certain of the blood of
O'Melaghlin, sometime king of the same; and divers others of Irish
nations.--Baron Finglas's _Breviate_. Harris, p. 83.
[281] Thomond seems to have been an exception.
[282] See Finglas's _Breviate_. 23 Hen. VI. cap. 9: _Irish Statute
Book_. 28 Hen. VIII. cap. 3: Ibid. It seems in many cases to have been
the result of accident, Irish lands descending to heiresses who married
into English families. In other instances, forfeited estates were
granted by the crown to English favourites. The receiving rents,
however, even though by unwilling absentees, was treated as a crime by
Henry VIII.; and English noblemen, to whom estates in Ireland had
fallen, either by marriage or descent, on which they were unable to
reside, were expected to grant such estates to other persons who were
able to reside upon them, and willing. The wording of the Act of
Absentees, passed in 1536, is very remarkable. "Forasmuch as it is
notorious and manifest that this the king's land of Ireland, heretofore
being inhabited, and in due obedience and subjection unto the king's
most noble progenitors, hath principally grown unto ruin, dissolution,
rebellion, and decay, by occasion that great dominions, lands, and
possessions within the same, as well by the king's grants as by course
of inheritance and otherwise have descended to noblemen of the realm of
England, who having the same, demouring within the said realm of England
... taking the profits of their said lands and possessions for a season,
without provision making for any defence or keeping thereof in good
order ... in their absence, and by their negligence have suffered the
wild Irishrie, being mortal and natural enemies to the Kings of England,
to enter and hold the same without resistance; the conquest and winning
whereof in the beginning not only cost the king's noble progenitors
charges inestimable, but also those to whom the land was given, then and
many years after abiding within the said land, nobly and valiantly
defended the same, and kept such tranquillity and good order, as the
Kings of England had due subjection of the inhabitants thereof, and the
laws were obeyed ... and after the gift or descent of the lands to the
persons aforesaid, they and their heirs absented themselves out of the
said land of Ireland, not pondering nor regarding the preservation
thereof ... the King's Majesty that now is, intending the reformation of
the said land, to foresee that the like shall not ensue hereafter, with
the consent of his parliament," pronounces FORFEITED the estates of all
absentee proprietors, and their right and title gone.
[283] "The MacMahons in the north were anciently English, to wit,
descended from the Fitz-Ursulas, which was a noble family in England;
and the same appeareth by the significance of their Irish names.
Likewise the M'Sweenies, now in Ulster, were recently of the Veres in
England; but that they themselves, for hatred of the English, so
disguised their names." Spenser's _View of the State of Ireland_. So the
De Burghs became Bourkes or Burkes; the Munster Geraldines merged their
family names in that of Desmond; and a younger branch of them called
themselves M'Shehies.
[284] _Statutes of Kilkenny._ Printed by the Irish Antiquarian Society.
Finglas's _Breviate_.
[285] The phenomenon must have been observed, and the inevitable
consequence of it foreseen, very close upon the Conquest, when the
observation digested itself into a prophecy. No story less than three
hundred years old could easily have been reported to Baron Finglas as
having originated with St. Patrick and St. Columb. The Baron says--"The
four Saints, St. Patrick, St. Columb, St. Braghan, and St. Moling, many
hundred years agone, made prophecy that Englishmen should conquer
Ireland; and said that the said Englishmen should keep the land in
prosperity as long as they should keep their own laws; and as soon as
they should leave and fall to Irish order, then they should
decay."--Harris, p. 88.
[286] Report on the State of Ireland, 1515: _State Papers_, Vol. II. pp.
17, 18.
[287] Some sayeth that the English noble folk useth to deliver their
children to the king's Irish enemies to foster, and therewith maketh
bands.--_State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 13.
[288] "Harpers, rhymers, Irish chroniclers, bards, and ishallyn (ballad
singers) commonly go with praises to gentlemen in the English pale,
praising in rhymes, otherwise called 'danes,' their extortions,
robberies, and abuses as valiantness; which rejoiceth them in their evil
doings, and procures a talent of Irish disposition and conversation in
them."--Cowley to Cromwell: Ibid. Vol. II. p. 450. There is a remarkable
passage to the same effect in Spenser's _View of the State of Ireland_.
[289] State of Ireland, and plan for its reformation: _State Papers_,
Vol. II. p. 28.
[290] Report on the State of Ireland: _State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 22.
[291] Baron Finglas, in his suggestions for a reformation, urges that
"no black rent be given ne paid to any Irishman upon any of the four
shires from henceforward."--Harris, p. 101. "Many an Irish captain
keepeth and preserveth the king's subjects in peace without hurt of
their enemies; inasmuch as some of those hath tribute yearly of English
men ... not to the intent that they should escape harmless; but to the
intent to devour them, as the greedy hound delivereth the sheep from the
wolf."--_State Papers_, Vol. II. pp. 16, 17.
[292] _Eudoxus_--What is that which you call the Brehon Law? It is a
word unto us altogether unknown.
_Irenaeus_--It is a rule of right, unwritten, but delivered by tradition
from one to another, in which oftentimes there appeareth great show of
equity in determining the right between parties, but in many things
repugning quite both to God's law and man's. As, for example, in the
case of murder, the Brehon, that is, their judge, will compound between
the murderer and the friends of the party murdered, which prosecute the
action, that the malefactor shall give unto them or unto the child or
wife of him that is slain, a recompence which they call an Eriarch. By
which vile law of theirs many murders are made up and smothered. And
this judge being, as he is called, the Lord's Brehon, adjudgeth, for the
most part, a better share unto his Lord, that is the Lord of the soil,
or the head of that sept, and also unto himself for his judgment, a
greater portion than unto the plaintiffs or parties grieved.--Spenser's
_View of the State of Ireland_. Spenser describes the system as he
experienced it in active operation. Ancient written collections of the
Brehon laws, however, existed and still exist.
[293] By relation of ancient men in times past within remembrance, all
the English lords and gentills within the pale heretofore kept retinues
of English yeomen in their houses, after the English fashion, according
to the extent of their lands, to the great strength and succour of their
neighbours the king's subjects. And now for the most part they keep
horsemen and knaves, which live upon the king's subjects; and keep in
manner no hospitality, but live upon the poor.--The Council of Ireland
to the Master of the Rolls, 1533: _State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 163.
[294] _State Papers_, Vol. II. pp. 1, 5, 6.
[295] _State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 14.
[296] The deputy useth to make great rodes, journeys, and hostings, now
in the north parts of Ulster, now in the south parts of Munster, now in
the west parts of Connaught, and taketh the king's subjects with him by
compulsion oft times, with victual for three or four weeks, and chargeth
the common people with carriage of the same, and giveth licence to all
the noble folk to cesse and rear their costs on the common people and on
the king's poor subjects; and the end of that journey is commonly no
other in effect, but that the deputy useth to receive a reward of one or
two hundred kyne to himself, and so depart, without any more hurt to the
king's enemies, after that he hath turned the king's subjects and the
poor common folk to their charge and costs of two or three thousand
pounds. And over that, the deputy, on his progress and regress,
oppresseth the king's poor common folk with horse meat and man's meat to
all his host. And over that, in summer, when grass is most plenty, they
must have oats or malt to their horse at will, or else money therefor.
The premises considered, some saith the king's deputy, by extortion,
chargeth the king's poor subjects and common folk, in horse meat and
man's meat, by estimation, to the value of a hundred pound every day in
the year, one day counted with another, which cometh to the sum of
36,000 pounds yearly.--_State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 13. Finglas says that
coyne and livery would destroy hell itself, if it was used
there.--Finglas's _Breviate_.
[297] The wretchedness of the country drove the Irish to emigrate in
multitudes. In 1524, twenty thousand of them had settled themselves in
Pembrokeshire; and the majority of these had crossed in a single
twelvemonth. They brought with them Irish manners, and caused no little
trouble. "The king's town of Tenby," wrote a Welsh gentleman to Wolsey,
"is almost clean Irish, as well the head men and rulers as the commons
of the said town; and of their high and presumptuous minds [they] do
disobey all manner the king's process that cometh to them out of the
king's exchequer of Pembroke."--R. Gryffith to Cardinal Wolsey: Ellis,
first series, Vol. I. p. 191, &c.
[298] Leland, Vol. II. p. 110.
[299] Campion's _History of Ireland_. Leland, Vol. II. p. 111.
[300] Campion. Leland.
[301] The earl married Elizabeth, daughter of Oliver St. John, while in
London.
[302] Report to Cromwell, apparently by Allen, Master of the Rolls:
_State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 175.
[303] Henry VIII. to the Earl of Surrey: _State Papers_, Vol. II. pp.
52, 53.
[304] This is one of them, and another of similar import was found to
have been sent to O'Neile. "Life and health to O'Carroll, from the Earl
of Kildare. There is none Irishman in Ireland that I am better content
with than with you; and whenever I come into Ireland, I shall do you
good for anything that ye shall do for me; and any displeasure that I
have done to you, I shall make you amends therefore, desiring you to
keep good peace to Englishmen till an English deputy shall come there;
and when an English deputy shall come thither, do your best to make war
upon Englishmen then, except such as be toward me, whom you know well
yourself."--_State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 45.
[305] _State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 62.
[306] Surrey to Henry VIII.: _State Papers_, Vol. II. pp. 72-74.
[307] Council of Ireland to Wolsey: _State Papers_, Vol. II. pp. 92, 93.
[308] Campion says Kildare had a friend in the Duke of
Suffolk.--_History of Ireland_, by Edward Campion, p. 161.
[309] Act of Attainder of the Earl of Kildare: _Irish Statute Book_, 28
Hen. VIII. cap. 1. An account of this negotiation is to be seen in a
paper in the British Museum, Titus, B. xi. fol. 352.
[310] Act of Attainder of the Earl of Kildare: Ibid.
[311] The elder sisters of the "fair Geraldine" of Lord Surrey.
[312] The emperor's chaplain, Gonzalo Fernandez, was the agent through
whom the correspondence with Desmond was conducted.--_State Papers_,
Vol. VII. p. 186. And see _Cotton MS._, Vespasian, c. iv. fol. 264, 276,
285, 288, 297.--" He sent unto the emperour, provoking and enticing him
to send an army into this said land."--Act of Attainder of the Earl of
Kildare. See also Leland, Vol. II. p. 136.
The account given by Gonzalo Fernandez of his visit to Desmond is among
the Archives at Brussels, and supplies a curious picture of the state of
the country.
_Report of Gonzalo Fernandez._
"April 28, 1529.
"On arriving at the coast of Ireland we touched at a port belonging to
the King of England named Cork. Many of the Irish people came on board
the ship, and told me that the gentleman of the Earl of Desmond had just
returned from Spain with presents from the Emperor to the earl.
"Leaving Cork, we were driven by bad weather into another harbour called
Beran,[A] from whence I sent one of my servants to inform the earl of my
arrival. In four days the earl's answer came, telling me that I was
welcome, and that he was at a place called Dingle, where he hoped to see
me. He addressed his letter to me as 'Chaplain of our Sovereign Lord the
Emperor;' and this, I understand, is his usual mode of expression when
speaking of his Majesty. He had also sent to some of the other noblemen
of the country, with whom he proposed to form a league, to tell them of
my arrival.
[A] Beerhaven, perhaps.
"I set out again, and on the way five of the earl's people came to me to
say that their master had gone to a harbour a few miles off to capture
some French and English vessels there, and would be glad of my
assistance. This I declined, and the earl, I understand, was satisfied
with my excuses.
"The day after, the 21st of April, we reached the said harbour of
Dingle, and were honourably received by the townspeople, and by a party
of the earl's attendants. About four o'clock the earl returned himself,
attended by fifty horse and as many halberdiers. He came at once to my
quarters, and asked after the welfare of 'our Lord the Emperor.' I
replied that, by the grace of God, his Majesty was well, and I had sent
his commendations to his lordship.
"We then dined; and afterwards the earl and his council repaired to my
chamber, where we presented him with his Majesty's letter. He read it
and his council read it. His Majesty, he said, referred him to me. I was
commissioned to make known his Majesty's pleasure to him. I at once
declared my instructions, first in English to the earl, and afterward in
Latin to his council; which I said were to this effect.
"'One Godfrey, a friend of their lord, had lately presented himself to
the Emperor with their lord's letter, in which their lord, after
speaking of the good-will and affection which he entertained towards the
Emperor's Majesty, had expressed a desire to enter into close alliance
with his Majesty, as friend to friend and enemy to enemy, declaring
himself ready, in all things and at all times, to obey his Majesty's
commands.
"'Further, the said Godfrey had requested the Emperor to send a
confidential person to Ireland, to learn more particularly their lord's
intentions, and his resources and power; and further, to negotiate a
treaty and establish a firm and complete alliance. For these purposes
the Emperor commissioned myself. I was the bearer to them of his
Majesty's thanks for their proposals, and I said I was so far in my
master's confidence that I was assured their lord might expect all
possible assistance at the Emperor's hands.'
"When I had done, the earl spoke a few words to his council. He then
took off his cap, and said he thanked his Majesty for his gracious
condescension. He had addressed himself to his Majesty as to his
sovereign lord, to entreat his protection. His Majesty was placed in
this world in his high position, in order that no one prince might
oppress or injure another. He related his descent to me. He said that,
between his family and the English, there had ever existed a mortal
enmity, and he explained the cause to me.
"I replied that his Majesty never failed to support his allies and his
subjects, and should he claim assistance in that capacity, his Majesty
would help him as he helped all his other good friends. I advised the
earl to put in writing the words which he had used to me. He thought it
would be enough if I repeated them; but when I said the story was too
long, and my memory might not retain it with accuracy, he said he would
do as I desired.
"We then spoke of the support for which he was looking, of his projects
and resources, and of the places in which he proposed to serve. He said
he wanted from his Majesty four large vessels, two hundred tons each,
six pinnaces well provided with artillery, and five hundred Flemings to
work them. I said at once and earnestly, that such a demand was out of
all reason, before he, on his part, had achieved something in his
Majesty's service. I remonstrated fully and largely, although, to avoid
being tedious, I omit the details. In the end his council were satisfied
that he must reduce his demands till his Majesty had more reason to know
what was to be expected from him, and he consented, as will be seen by
his own memoir.
"Of all men in the world the earl hates most deeply the Cardinal of
York. He told me he had been in alliance with France, and had a relation
called De Quindel, now with the French army in Italy. In future, he said
he would have no dealings with the French. As your Majesty's enemies,
they were his enemies.
"Your Majesty will be pleased to understand that there are in Ireland
four principal cities. The city of Dublin is the largest and richest in
the island, and neither in the town nor in the neighbourhood has the
Earl of Desmond land or subjects. The Earl of Kildare is sovereign in
that district, but that earl is a kinsman of the Earl of Desmond, and
has married his cousin.
"The Earl of Kildare, however, is at present a prisoner in the Tower of
London.
"Of the other three cities, one is called Waterford, the second Cork,
the third Limerick; and in all of these the Earl of Desmond has
lordships and vassals. He has dominions, also, among the wild tribes; he
has lords and knights on his estates who pay him tribute. He has some
allies, but not so many, by a great deal, as he has enemies.
"He has ten castles of his own, some of which are strong and well built,
especially one named Dungarvan, which the King has often attempted to
take without success.
"The earl himself is from thirty to forty years old, and is rather above
the middle height. He keeps better justice throughout his dominions than
any other chief in Ireland. Robbers and homicides find no mercy, and are
executed out of hand. His people are in high order and discipline. They
are armed with short bows and swords. The earl's guard are in a mail
from neck to heel, and carry halberds. He has also a number of horse,
some of whom know how to break a lance. They all ride admirably without
saddle or stirrup."
* * * * *
After the report of Gonzalvo Fernandez, Desmond himself continues in
Latin.
"Hereunto be added informations addressed to the invincible and most
sacred Caesar, ever august, by the Earl of Desmond, Lord of Ogonyll and
the liberties of Kilcrygge.
"I, James Earl of Desmond, am of royal blood, and of the race of the
Conqueror who did lawfully subdue Britain, great and small, and did
reduce Scotland and Ireland under his yoke.
"The first cause of the enmity between myself and the King of England is
in ancient prophecy or prediction, believed by the English nation, and
written in their books and chronicles, that all England will be
conquered by an Earl of Desmond, which enterprise I have not yet
undertaken.
"The second cause is that, through fear of this prophecy, the King of
England has committed his powers to my predecessors who have borne rule
in Ireland; and when Thomas Earl of Desmond, my grandfather, in
peaceable manner attended Parliament in Ireland, no cause being alleged
against him, but merely in dread of the prophecy, they struck off his
head.
"The third cause is that, when Richard, son of the King of England
[_sic_], heard that there were ancient feuds between the English and my
predecessors, he came to Ireland with an army and a great fleet in the
time of my father; and then did my father make all Ireland to be subdued
unto himself, some few towns only excepted.
"The fourth cause is that, by reason of the aforesaid feuds, the King of
England did cause Gerald Earl of Kildare, my father's kinsman, to be
destroyed in prison [_destrui in carceribus_] until that my father, by
might and power, did liberate the said Earl of Kildare, and did obtain
his own purposes, and did make his kinsman viceroy of Ireland.
"The fifth cause is that, when peace was hardly begun between my
aforesaid father and the King of England, a certain sickness fell upon
my father, I myself being then eight years old.
"The King, when he heard this, made a league of Irish and English to
kill my father; he being then, as they thought, unable to take the
field. They, being banded together, made war against my father for
twenty-four years, wherein, by God's grace, they had small success.
"The sixth cause is that, when peace was made at last between the King
that now is and myself, I, in faith of the said peace, sent certain of
my servants to the parts beyond the seas to Flanders and France, and the
attorneys of the King of England did despoil my servants of the sum of
9000l., and threw them into prison, where they now remain.
"Hereon follows my supplication:--
"These things premised, I, the aforesaid earl, do implore and entreat
the invincible and most sacred Majesty of Caesar Augustus that he will
deign to provide me with remedy, and I, with all my horses and people,
do devote myself to your Majesty's service, seeing that your Majesty is
appointed for the welfare of the oppressed, and to be lord paramount of
all the earth.
"To revenge the injuries done to myself and my family by the King of
England, I have the following powers; that is to say, 16,500 foot and
1500 horse. Also I have friends, confederate with me, whose names be
these--
"1. The Prince O'Brien, who can make 600 horse and 1000 foot.
2. Trobal de Burgh " 100 " 600 "
3. Sir Richard Poer " 40 " 200 "
4. Lord Thomas Butler " 60 " 240 "
5. Sir John Galty " 80 " 400 "
6. Sir Gerald Fitzgerald " 40 " 200 "
7. The White Knight " 400 " 800 "
8. O'Donnell, Prince of Ulster " 800 " 4000 "
9. The Knight of the Valley " 40 " 240 "
10. Baron MacMys " 40 " 500 "
11. Captain Macguire " 30 " 200 "
"With divers others whose names be here omitted.
"Moreover, I, the aforesaid James Earl of Desmond, do make known to the
Majesty of Caesar august, that there is an alliance between me and the
King of Scotland, and, by frequent embassies, we understand each other's
purposes and intentions.
"Finally, divine grace permitting, I intend to gather together my own
and my friends' powers, and lead them in person against Piers Butler,
deputy of the King of England, and against Limerick, Wexford, and
Dublin, the cities which the King holds in Ireland.
"For the aid for which I look from your Majesty, I desire especially
cannon available for land service and fit for breaching castles. May it
please your Majesty, therefore, to send me cannon, that I may be the
better able to do your Majesty service.
"And for myself, I promise on my faith to obey your Majesty in all
things. I will be friend of your friends; enemy of your enemies; and
your Majesty's especial and particular subject. If ever I chance to
displease you, I will submit myself to your correction and chastisement.
"Written in my town, this 28th day of April, 1529, in the presence of
Gonzalvo Fernandez, Denys Mac D----c, Doctor of Arms and Medicine, Denys
Tathe, Maurice Herly.
JAMES OF DESMOND."
--_The Pilgrim_, pp. 171-175.
[313] "You remember how the lewd earl your kinsman," he said to him,
"who passeth not whom he serve, might he change his master, sent his
confederates with letters of credence to Francis the French King, and to
Charles the Emperor, proffering the help of Munster and Connaught
towards the conquest of Ireland, if either of them would help to win it
from our king. What precepts, what messages have been sent you to
apprehend him? and yet not done. Why so? Forsooth I could not catch him.
Yea, sir, it will be sworn and deposed to your face, that for fear of
meeting him, you have winked, wilfully shunned his sight, altered your
course, warned his friends, stopped both eyes and ears against his
detection. Surely this juggling and false play little became an honest
man called to such honour, or a nobleman put in such trust."--Campion,
p. 165.
[314] _State Papers_, Vol. II. pp. 146, 147.
[315] Norfolk to Wolsey: Ibid. p. 135.
[316] _State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 146.
[317] It had been partially subdued by Lord James Butler.--Irish
statute, 28 Henry VIII. cap. 1.
[318] O'Brien of Thomond to Henry VIII.: _State Papers_, Vol. II.
[319] Report of 1533: _State Papers_, Vol. II. pp. 163-179.
[320] _State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 180.
[321] Ibid. p. 177.
[322] _State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 192.
[323] _State Papers_, Vol. III. p. 10.
[324] It is remarkable that, as I believe, there is no instance of the
act of heresy having been put in force in Ireland. The Irish Protestant
church counts many martyrs; but they were martyrs who fell by murder in
the later massacres. So far as I can learn, no Protestant was ever tried
and executed there by form of law.
[325] 28 Hen. VIII. cap. 1. Irish statutes.
[326] Cowley to Cromwell: _State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 198.
[327] Act of Attainder of the Earl of Kildare: 28 Hen. VIII. cap. 1. The
act is explicit that the rebellion was in consequence of Kildare
discovering that the king would not again trust him; and that he had
carefully prepared for it before he left Ireland.
[328] Cork and Waterford continued loyal. The mayor of the latter place
wrote, on the 12th of July, to Cromwell as follows: "This instant day,
report is made by the Vicar of Dungarvan, that the emperour hath sent
certain letters unto the Earl of Desmond, by the same chaplain or
ambassador that was sent to James the late earl. And the common bruit
is, that his practice is to win the Geraltynes and the Breenes; and that
the emperour intendeth shortly to send an army to invade the cities and
towns by the sea coasts of this land. This thing was spoken by a
Spaniard more than a month agone to one of the inhabitants of this city;
and because I thought it then somewhat incredible, I forbare at that
time to write unto your wisdom thereof. The chaplain arrived more than
fifteen days past at the Dingle, in the dominion of the said Earl, which
Earl hath, for the victualling of his castle of Dungarvan, taken a ship
charged with Spanish wines, that was bound to the town of Galway; and
albeit that his years requireth quietness and rest, yet intendeth he as
much trouble as ever did any of his nation."--William Wise, Mayor of
Waterford, to Cromwell, July 12, 1534: _State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 198.
[329] On the 21st of July, O'Brien of Thomond wrote the following
characteristic letter to Charles:--
_Corny O'Brien, Prince of Ireland, to the Emperor Charles V._
"July 21, 1534.
"To the most sacred and most invincible Caesar, Charles Emperor of the
Romans, Most Catholic King of Spain, health with all submission.--Most
sacred Caesar, lord most clement, we give your Majesty to know that our
predecessors for a long time quietly and peacefully occupied Ireland,
with constancy, force, and courage, and without rebellion. They
possessed and governed this country in manner royal, as by our ancient
chronicles doth plainly appear. Our said predecessors and ancestry did
come from your Majesty's realm of Spain, where they were of the blood of
a Spanish prince, and many Kings of that lineage, in long succession,
governed all Ireland happily, until it was conquered by the English. The
last King of this land was of my blood and name; and ever since that
time our ancestors, and we ourselves, have ceased not to oppose the
English intruders; we have never been subject to English rule, or
yielded up our ancient rights and liberties; and there is at this
present, and for ever will be, perpetual discord between us, and we will
harass them with continual war.
"For this cause, we, who till this present, have sworn fealty to no man,
submit ourselves, our lands, our families, our followers, to the
protection and defence of your Majesty, and of free will and deliberate
purpose we promise to obey your Majesty's orders and commands in all
honest behests. We will serve your Majesty with all our force; that is
to say, with 1660 horse and 2440 foot, equipped and armed. Further, we
will levy and direct for your Majesty's use 13,000 men, well armed with
harquebuss, bows, arrows, and swords. We will submit to your Majesty's
will and jurisdiction more than a hundred castles, and they and all else
shall be at your Majesty's disposition to be employed as you shall
direct.
"We can undertake also for the assistance and support of our good
brother the Earl of Desmond, whose cousin, the daughter of the late Earl
James, your Majesty's friend, is our wife.
"Our further pleasure will be declared to you by our servants and
friends, Robert and Dominic de Paul, to whom your Majesty will deign to
give credence. May your Majesty be ever prosperous.
"Written at our Castle at Clare, witness, our daughter, July 21, 1534,
by your humble servant and unfailing friend,
"CORNY O'BRIEN, Prince of Ireland."
--MS. Archives at Brussels: _The Pilgrim_, pp. 175, 176.
[330] Cowley to Cromwell: _State Papers_, Vol. II p. 198.
[331] Campion's _History of Ireland_, p. 175. Leland, Vol. II. p. 143.
[332] _State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 168.
[333] Thomas Finglas to Cromwell: _State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 200.
[334] Agard to Cromwell: _State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 245.
[335] Leland, Vol. II. p. 145.
[336] Leland, Vol. II. p. 145.
[337] Act of Attainder of the Earl of Kildare: 28 Henry VIII. cap. 1.
The Prior of Kilmainham to Henry VIII.: _State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 501.
Campion, p. 178
[338] Call McGravyll, or Charles Reynolds: Act of Attainder, 28 Henry
VIII. c. 1. Campion, p. 176.
[339] Such, at least, one of Fitzgerald's attendants, who was present at
the murder, understood to be one of the objects of the archdeacon's
mission. (_State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 201, note.) The act of attainder
says merely that he was sent to beg for assistance.
[340] Rawson, one of the Irish Council.
[341] _State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 201.
[342] Leland, Vol. II. p. 146.
[343] Instructions to Walter Cowley to be declared to the King's
Highness in behalf of the Earl of Ossory: _State Papers_, Vol. II. p.
250.
[344] Ibid. Campion, pp. 177, 178.
[345] M'Morrough, O'More, O'Connor, O'Brien, in September, with the
greatest part of the gentlemen of the county of Kildare, were retained
and sat at Carlow, Castledermot, Athye, Kilkea, and thereabout, with
victualls during three weeks, to resist the Earl of Ossory from invading
of the county of Kildare.--_State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 251.
[346] The rebel chiefly trusteth in his ordnance, which he hath of the
king's.--Allen to Cromwell: Ibid. p. 202.
[347] Allen, Master of the Rolls, had gone over to quicken his sluggish
movements, and wrote from Chester to Cromwell, in despair: "Please your
goodness to be advertised, that as yet the deputy is at Beaumaris, and
the Northern men's horses have been on shipboard these twelve days,
which is the danger of their destruction. They have lost such a wind and
fair weather, as I doubt they shall not have again for this winter
season. Mr. Brereton (Sir William Brereton, Skeffington's second in
command) lieth here at the sea side in a readiness. If their first
appointment to Dublin had been kept, they might have been there; but now
they tarry to pass with the deputy. Sir, for the love of God, let some
aid be sent to Dublin; for the loss of that city and the castle were the
plain subversion of the land."--Allen to Cromwell, Oct. 4: _State
Papers_, Vol. II. p. 202.
[348] Instructions to Walter Cowley on behalf of the Earl of Ossory:
Ibid. p. 251.
[349] Sir William Brereton to Henry VIII.: Ibid. p. 204.
[350] Two thousand five hundred was the smallest number which Lord
Surrey previously mentioned as sufficient to do good.--_State Papers_,
Vol. II. p. 73.
[351] Fifteen miles north of Dublin; immediately off Malahide.
[352] Sir William Brereton and Sir John Salisbury to Henry VIII.: _State
Papers_, Vol. II. p. 203.
[353] A small harbour near Drogheda.
[354] Skeffington was prudently reserved in his report of these things
to Henry. He mentions having set a party on shore, but says nothing of
their having been destroyed; and he could not have been ignorant of
their fate, for he was writing three weeks after it, from Dublin. He was
silent, too, of the injury which he had received from the pirates,
though eloquent on the boats which he burnt at the Skerries.--_State
Papers_, Vol. II. p. 205. On first reading Skeffington's despatch, I had
supposed that the "brilliant victory" claimed by the Irish historians
(see Leland, Vol. II. p. 148) must have been imaginary. The Irish
Statute Book, however, is too explicit to allow of such a hope. "He
[Fitzgerald] not only fortified and manned divers ships at sea, for
keeping and letting, destroying and taking the king's deputy, army, and
subjects, that they should not land within the said land; but also at
the arrival of the said army, the same Thomas, accompanied with his
uncles, servants, adherents, &c., falsely and traitorously assembled
themselves together upon the sea coast, for keeping and resisting the
king's deputy and army; and the same time they shamefully murdered
divers of the said army coming to land. And Edward Rowkes, pirate at the
sea, captain to the said Thomas, destroyed and took many of them."---
Act of Attainder of the Earl of Kildare: 28 Hen. VIII. cap. 1.
[355] Skeffington to Henry VIII.: _State Papers_, Vol. II. pp. 206, 207.
[356] Accompanied with the number of sixty or eighty horsemen, and about
three hundred kerne and gallowglass, the traitor came to the town of
Trim, and there not only robbed the same, but also burnt a great part
thereof, and took all the cattle of the country thereabouts; and after
that assaulted Dunboyne, within six miles to Dublin; and the inhabitants
of the town defending themselves by the space of two days, and sending
for succour to Dublin ... in default of relief, he utterly destroyed and
burnt the whole town.--Allen to Cromwell: _State Papers_, Vol. II. p.
220.
[357] He hath sent divers muniments and precedents which should prove
that the king held this land of the See of Rome; alledging the king and
his realm to be heretics digressed from the obedience of the same, and
of the faith Catholic. Wherefore his desire is to the emperour and the
Bishop of Rome, that they will aid him in defence of the faith Catholic
against the king, promising that he will hold the said land of them, and
pay tribute for the same yearly.--Ibid. p. 222.
[358] My lord deputy desireth so much his own glory, that he would no
man should make an enterprise except he were at it.--Ibid. p. 227.
[359] Skeffington to Sir Edmund Walsingham: _State Papers_, Vol. II. p.
233.
[360] Allen to Cromwell: Ibid. p. 220.
[361] In Kildare county, on the frontiers of the pale.
[362] The captains and I, the Earl (of Ossory) directed letters to the
deputy to meet us in the county of Kildare, at Kilcaa, bringing with him
ordnance accordingly, when the deputy appointed without fail to meet. At
which day and place the said Earl, with the army (of) Waterford failed
not to be, and there did abide three days continually for the deputy;
where he, neither any of the army, came not, ne any letter or word was
had from him; but only that Sir James Fitzgerald told that he heard say
he was sick.--Ossory to W. Cowley: _State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 251.
[363] Allen certainly thought so, or at least was unable to assure
himself that it was not so. "My simple advice shall be," he wrote, "that
if ever the king intend to show him grace (which himself demandeth not
in due manner) and to pardon him, to withdraw his charges and to pardon
him out of hand; or else to send hither a proclamation under the Great
Seal of England, that the king never intends to pardon him ne any that
shall take part with him, but utterly to prosecute both him and them to
their utter confusion. For the gentlemen of the country hath said
plainly to divers of the council, that until this be done, they dare not
be earnest in resisting him, in doubt, he should have his pardon
hereafter, as his grandfather, his father, and divers his ancestors have
had; and then would prosecute them for the same."--_State Papers_, Vol.
II. p 222.
[364] Allen to Cromwell: _State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 226.
[365] "Restraint must be had that this army shall not spoil ne rob any
person, but as the deputy and council shall appoint; and that the
captains be obedient to their orders, or it shall not be well. Ne it is
not meet that every soldier shall make a man a traitor for to have his
goods. They be so nusselled in this robbery, that now they almost will
not go forth to defend the country, except they may have gain."--Allen
to Cromwell, Feb. 16.
[366] "The bows which came out of the stores at Ludlow Castle were
naught; many of them would not hold the bending."--_State Papers_, Vol.
II. p. 228.
[367] The king, a few months later, wrote to him a letter of warm thanks
for his services, and admitted his plea of ill-health with peculiar
kindness.--Henry VIII. to Skeffington: _State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 280.
[368] Brabazon to Cromwell: Ibid. p. 224.
[369] Allen to Cromwell: Ibid. p. 230.
[370] Campion, p. 179.
[371] Leland, Coxe, Ware.
[372] Henry VIII. was one of the first men to foresee and value the
power of artillery. Sebastiani mentions experiments on the range of guns
which were made by him, in Southampton water; and it is likely that the
cannon used in the siege of Maynooth were the large-sized brass guns
which were first cast in England in the year of its capture.--Stow, p.
572. When the history of artillery is written, Henry VIII.'s labours in
this department must not be forgotten. Two foreign engineers whom he
tempted into his service, first invented "shells." "One Peter Baud, a
Frenchman born," says Stow, "and another alien, called Peter Van Collen,
a gunsmith, both the king's feed men, conferring together, devised and
caused to be made certain mortar pieces, being at the mouth from eleven
inches unto nineteen inches wide, for the use whereof they [also] caused
to be made certain hollow shot of cast iron, to be stuffed with
fire-work or wildfire; whereof the bigger sort for the same had screws
of iron to receive a match to carry fire kindled, that the firework
might be set on fire for to break in pieces the same hollow shot,
whereof the smallest piece hitting any man would kill or spoil
him."--Stow, _Chronicle_, p. 584.
[373] _State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 237.
[374] _State Papers_, Vol. I. p. 446.
[375] Ibid Vol. II. p. 253.
[376] Lord Thomas Fitzgerald to Lord Leonard Grey: _State Papers_, Vol.
II. p. 273.
[377] The Lord Leonard repayreth at this season to your Majesty,
bringing with him the said Thomas, beseeching your Highness most humbly,
that according to the comfort of our words spoken to the same Thomas to
allure him to yield him, ye would be merciful to the said Thomas,
especially concerning his life.--The Council of Ireland to Henry VIII.:
_State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 275.
[378] _State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 274.
[379] The conditions promised to Napoleon by the captain of the
_Bellerophon_ created a similar difficulty. If Nana Sahib had by any
chance been connected by marriage with an English officer, and had that
officer induced him to surrender by a promise of pardon, would the
English Government have respected that promise?
[380] It were the worst example that ever was; and especially for these
ungracious people of Ireland.--Norfolk to Cromwell: _State Papers_, Vol.
II. p. 276.
[381] Ibid.
[382] Ibid. The duke, throughout his letter, takes a remarkably
businesslike view of the situation. He does not allow the question of
"right" to be raised, or suppose at all that the government could lie
under any kind of obligation to a person in the position of Fitzgerald.