Ireland under the Tudors Part 10

The influence of Kildare was not much shaken by his complicity in Simnel's adventure, and it was not till 1492 that he was deprived of the office of Deputy. It was conferred on Walter Fitz-Simons, Archbishop of Dublin. About the same time Rowland Fitz-Eustace, Baron of Portlester, the Earl's uncle, who had been Lord Treasurer for thirty-eight years, was suddenly removed and threatened with a hostile inquiry into his accounts during the whole period. Sir James Ormonde, knighted by Henry in person, for his services against Lambert, was appointed in his room, and another Butler was made Master of the Rolls. The quarrel between the two Houses blazed up fiercely; and Kildare, to rea.s.sert his influence, summoned a great meeting of citizens on Oxmantown Green.

The two factions came to blows, some lives were lost, and Kildare attempted to seize the city by a sudden movement. The gates were, however, shut in time; but Ship Street, then outside the walls, was burned. The Geraldines wasted the Butler territory, and the Butlers in their turn ravaged Kildare and encamped in great force on the southern side of Dublin. A meeting of the two chiefs in St. Patrick's Cathedral was then arranged. A riot took place in the church, a flight of arrows was discharged, and Sir James, suspecting treason, barred himself into the Chapter-house. The Earl came to the door with offers of peace, and a hole was cut in the timber through which the rivals might shake hands.

Sir James hesitated to risk his hand, but Kildare settled the question by putting in his own. The door was then opened, they embraced each other, and peace followed for a time. To make amends for the desecration of the church, the Pope ordered that the mayor should go barefoot through the city on Corpus Christi day, and this practice was continued till the Reformation. The door with the hole in it is still preserved, or was so until very lately.[57]

[Sidenote: Perkin Warbeck lands 1491, but leaves the next year.]

'Ireland at this time,' says Ware, 'was as it were a theatre or stage on which masked princes entered, though soon after, their visors being taken off, they were expulsed the stage.' Perkin Warbeck landed at Cork late in 1491, or early in 1492, and was entertained by John Walters, an eminent merchant and future mayor. The citizens from the beginning insisted on regarding him as a royal personage, first as a son of Clarence, afterwards as a b.a.s.t.a.r.d of Richard III., and finally as Richard, Duke of York, Edward IV.'s younger son. Having adopted the latter character, Perkin wrote letters, extant in Ware's time, in which he sought help from the Earls of Desmond and Kildare. The former at once espoused his cause; the latter, according to his own account, would have nothing to do with 'the French lad.' Desmond joined Perkin in soliciting the aid of James IV. of Scotland, and he remained for about a year at Cork, learning English, but apparently without exciting any anxiety in England. Towards the close of 1492 he withdrew to France, where Charles VIII. received him as a prince, and where he was joined by disaffected Yorkists. Henry having made a successful campaign in France, Perkin was dismissed and went to Flanders, where Margaret of Burgundy acknowledged him as her nephew, and no doubt instructed him how to fill the part.[58]

[Sidenote: Parliament of 1493.]

In 1493 the Archbishop of Dublin held a Parliament, where many things were done unfavourable to the Geraldine faction; and on August 12, John Walters and other accomplices of the pretender were summoned to surrender. The Archbishop shortly went over to England, where he made Henry clearly acquainted with the state of affairs in Ireland, and was followed by Kildare, who had an opportunity of telling his own story. In consequence of what he had learned, the King resolved to appoint a Deputy unconnected with any Irish party; and fixed upon Sir Edward Poynings, whom he had already employed as envoy to the Archduke Philip, when remonstrating against the countenance given to Perkin in Flanders. While Archbishop Fitz-Simons was in England, Viscount Gormanston filled the office of Deputy, and even ventured to summons a Parliament; but the Duke of Bedford having in the meantime resigned the lieutenancy, his subst.i.tute's action was afterwards declared null and void.

[Sidenote: Sir Edward Poynings Deputy, 1494.]

Poynings landed at Howth on October 13, 1494, with 1,000 men. He was accompanied by Henry Dean, Bishop of Bangor and afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, as Chancellor, by Sir Hugh Conway as Treasurer, and by three other Englishmen appointed to the chief places in the three common law courts. Joining his forces with those of Kildare and of Sir James Ormonde, Poynings immediately undertook an expedition to Ulster, with a view of chastising O'Donnell, who had lately been honourably received in Scotland, and was probably implicated in Perkin's project. When the army reached O'Hanlon's county, Sir James Ormonde persuaded the Deputy that Kildare was plotting with the Irish against his life, and some colour was given to the charge by the conduct of the Earl's brother James, who seized Carlow Castle, mounted the Geraldine banner, and refused to surrender when summoned in the King's name. Having with difficulty reduced Carlow, Poynings repaired to Drogheda, where he held a Parliament, whose legislation was destined to have a momentous effect on Irish history. The invasion of Ulster was abandoned, and Bacon, with the experience of the next century, summarily disposes of it as 'a wild chase on the wild Irish.'

[Sidenote: Parliament of Drogheda, 1494.]

The Acts of this Parliament of 1494 are numerous, many of them being intended to make the administration more directly dependent on the Crown.

Thus, the judges and other high officials were made to hold at the King's pleasure, instead of by patent as had been customary heretofore. It was made illegal for great men to retain free citizens and burgesses in their pay, or for anyone to make war without the governor's licence, or for anyone to stir up the Irish against the English. It was made unlawful to keep firearms without the Deputy's licence. The Statutes of Kilkenny were confirmed or re-enacted, with the exception of those against using the Irish language and those obliging every subject to ride in a saddle.

Family war cries, such as 'Butleraboo' and 'Cromaboo,' were strictly prohibited. Coyne and livery were visited with severe penalties; but advantageous terms were fixed, upon which the King might obtain provisions for his soldiers. All Acts against papal provisions theretofore made, either in England or Ireland, were declared to be in full force, though the Government had no means whatever of preventing them, or of making other arrangements for the vast majority of Irish benefices.[59]

[Sidenote: Poynings' Acts.]

The statutes known in after days as Poynings' Acts were two in number. By the first it was enacted that no future Parliaments should be held in Ireland, 'but at such season as the King's Lieutenant and Council there first do certify the King under the great seal of that land (Ireland), the causes and considerations, and all such acts as them seemeth should pa.s.s in the same Parliament.' Should the King in Council approve them, then the Irish Parliament should be summoned under the great seal of England, and not otherwise. By the second Act it was provided that all public statutes 'late made within the said realm of England' should be in force in Ireland. The lawyers decided that this applied to all English Acts prior to the tenth year of Henry VII. And thus the dependence of the Irish Parliament on that of England was established in the fullest degree.[60]

[Sidenote: Attainder of Kildare.]

Kildare was attainted by the Drogheda Parliament, the Act stating that he had provoked Irish enemies and English rebels to levy war against the King, that he had conspired with O'Hanlon to kill the Deputy, that he had caused his brother James to seize Carlow and hold it against the King, that he had used coyne and livery, and that he had conspired with the King of Scots and the Earl of Desmond for an invasion of Ireland. The Earl was arrested and sent to England, there to await Henry's own judgment on these and other matters. The chief of the southern Geraldines had in the meantime again given his adhesion to the cause of Perkin Warbeck.[61]

[Sidenote: Second visit of Perkin Warbeck. Siege of Waterford, 1495.]

Less than three weeks after his disgraceful failure in Kent, Perkin was with Desmond in Munster. Eleven ships, of which some were Scotch, attacked Waterford from the river, while Desmond and his Irish allies with 2,400 men threatened the city from the southern side. Poynings marched against the invaders in person; but the real work was done by the mayor and citizens, who dammed the stream called John's River, so as to prevent Desmond from joining Perkin: while they battered the fleet with cannon planted on Reginald's Tower. They made several sallies, killed their prisoners, and stuck their heads on stakes in the market-place.

When the siege had lasted eleven days one of Perkin's ships was sunk by the fire from the town, and the adventurer then fled precipitately. At least three vessels fell into the hands of the besieged or their allies, and the citizens followed Perkin to Cork, where his friends protected him. Afterwards he made his way to Scotland, where James IV. received him with the honours due to a prince, and gave him the hand of his cousin, Lady Catherine Gordon. James, who was of an ambitious and visionary turn of mind, may perhaps have thought it possible to restore the days of Bruce, and to conquer some part of Ireland for himself. Two successive O'Donnells acknowledged themselves his subjects, and with their help and that of sailors like the Bartons, Scotland might have disputed with England the possession of Northern Ireland at least. The elder Hugh O'Donnell, who died in 1505, was a man of considerable ability, the annalists, with their usual magniloquence, styling him the 'Augustus of the North of Europe;' and with more truth a.s.serting that he was the most powerful person in the North of Ireland.[62]

[Sidenote: Poynings leaves Ireland, 1496.]

Poynings quitted Ireland in January 1496, leaving the government in the Bishop of Bangor's hands. Important as was the recent legislation, it cannot be said that Henry had made any real change in the system of government. His great idea, like that of his descendants, was to make Ireland pay her own expenses, and for that purpose he sent over two able officers, with instructions to overhaul the entire system of government.

Plenty of zeal seems to have been shown, but the result was not encouraging. No year pa.s.sed in Ireland without some small war, and the established custom of hiring native mercenaries tended to prevent any improvement. Sir James Ormonde and other leaders found their account in constant disturbance, and expense always more than kept pace with revenue.[63]

[Sidenote: Friars employed by the Government.]

The accounts of Vice-Treasurer Hattecliffe, to whom Henry committed the control of Irish finance, seem to show that Poynings and others found a difficulty in obtaining the aid of subordinate officers. They had, however, a resource which Elizabeth lacked, in the power of employing priests and friars. Thus we find a Franciscan of Dublin sent to spy out the manners of the people inhabiting the marches of the Pale, and again acting as a messenger between the Council in Dublin and the Deputy in the field. A canon named John Staunton was sent to act as a spy 'in Munster and elsewhere about the Earl of Desmond, Perkin Warbeck, and other rebels.' On another occasion a Carmelite was the means of communication between the Government and Sir James Ormonde, and it is probable that many more of the messengers were clergymen, though the fact is not so mentioned.[64]

[Sidenote: Turbulence of the Geraldines. Restoration of Kildare, 1496.]

That there was no peace, and consequently no diminution of expense, is not to be altogether attributed to the rapacity of Sir James Ormonde and other leaders of kerne and gallowgla.s.ses. The Geraldines took care that the country should be disturbed during the Earl's absence, as we find by the following significant entry:--'Two shillings to Philip Messanger for carrying the Lord Justice's letters directed to Richard Paynteneye of Carbury, Edward Dowdall of Slane, to the sovereign of Athboy, and others, ordering them to have sundry fires made on sundry mountains--viz. the mountains of Tara, Lyons, Athboy, and Slane, to warn the King's lieges in case James, the Earl's son, and others the King's Irish enemies, should bring a power to invade the English districts.' Several other payments were made to the same messenger for services in connection with these Geraldine inroads, and Henry came gradually to think that Kildare did more harm as a prisoner than he could possibly do if he were at liberty. Whether the account of the Earl's behaviour at Court, which has been copied from the 'Book of Howth' into most histories, be true or not, there can be little doubt that Henry thought it better that he should rule all Ireland, than that he should have further opportunities of showing that all Ireland could not rule him. The gravest charge against him was that of conspiring with O'Hanlon to murder Poynings, and this was disposed of by the evidence of O'Hanlon. Prince Henry became t.i.tular Lord-Lieutenant, the attainder was reversed by the English Parliament, and Kildare received a commission as Lord Deputy under the King's son.

His first wife, Alison Eustace, is said to have died through the agitation caused by his imprisonment, and he now added to his influence by marrying Elizabeth St. John, the King's first cousin. Leaving his son Gerald as a hostage at the English Court, he returned to Dublin as soon as possible, received the sword from Deane, successfully invaded the O'Briens and Macnamaras, and was fully reconciled to the Archbishop of Armagh. The Great Seal was given to Fitzsimons, Archbishop of Dublin, a prelate who had the courage to tell Henry that a certain courtly orator flattered him too much. 'Our father of Dublin,' replied the King, 'we minded to find the same fault ourselves.'[65]

[Sidenote: Warbeck's third visit, 1497.]

On July 20, 1497, Perkin Warbeck again made his appearance at Cork. He got no help this time from Desmond, who had been pardoned, and who had perhaps made up his mind that the adventurer was an impostor. Sir James Ormonde was accused of favouring him. The citizens of Waterford at once gave Henry notice, and with four ships fitted out by themselves gave chase to Perkin, who found no encouragement in Ireland, and lost no time in going to join the Cornish malcontents. Narrowly escaping capture at sea, he managed to raise a force of 6,000 or 7,000 men, besieged Exeter and Taunton unsuccessfully, and then ran away without striking a blow, and took sanctuary at Beaulieu in Hampshire. The inglorious close of his career is unconnected with Ireland, and he seems on this last occasion to have had no Irish allies. The citizens of Waterford received from the King a cap of maintenance to be borne on certain occasions before the mayor, and the t.i.tle of _Urbs intacta_, in which the city still glories.

The sum of 1,000 marks which he had promised for the capture of Perkin was not, strictly speaking, earned by the Waterford men; and their loyal and, doubtless, very costly exertions, received no money recompense from the frugal King.[66]

[Sidenote: Considerations as to Simnel and Warbeck.]

The modern historian, whose fortune it has been to clear up all doubts about Perkin Warbeck, takes Lord Bacon to task for overrating the excellence of the pretender's acting. But Bernard Andreas, the princ.i.p.al if not the only contemporary writer, certainly gives one to understand that he played his part very plausibly.

'Carried to Ireland by a fair wind he suborned with his very cunning temptations a great part of the barbarians of that island. For he unfolded and retold from his ready memory all the times of Edward IV., and without book repeated the names of all his familiars and servants as he had been taught them from a boy. He habitually added circ.u.mstances of time, place, and person, with which he very easily persuaded the levity of those men. And with the help of such figments the matter grew so important, that men of prudence and high n.o.bility were induced to believe the same. What followed? Certain prophecies concerning him were scattered far and wide by false prophets, which completely blinded the mental perceptions of the common people.'

It must be admitted that Lord Bacon did not speak without considerable authority. A contemporary French poem, which was probably also written by Bernard Andreas, gives a very unflattering account of Ireland as a cave of robbers, 'where is neither peace, love, nor concord, but only treasons and the foulest deeds.' Such material help as the pretender received was entirely among the Anglo-Irish. The native annalists do not mention him, whereas Simnel is, at least by one writer, spoken of as an undoubted prince of the blood royal.[67]

[Sidenote: Sir Piers Butler kills Sir James Ormonde, 1497.]

Sir James Ormonde, whose mother was an O'Brien, used the help of his Irish connections to oppress Sir Piers Butler, whom he imprisoned, but afterwards released at Desmond's request, 'upon trust that he should have married the Earl's daughter.' One of Kildare's first acts after his restoration was to summon Sir James to Dublin, and to proclaim him outlaw on his refusal. But this scarcely lessened his power in the Butler country, and did not even prevent him from a.s.suming the t.i.tle of Earl of Ormonde. Driven to great straits, Sir Piers a.s.serted that his rival had imprisoned him 'contrary to his oath and promise made upon the holy cross and other great relics ... and that the same Sir James, not pondering his said oath and promise, showed openly that wheresoever he would find me he would kill me.' After this Sir James, for the second time, refused to appear before the King. The two Butlers met accidentally in the open field between Dunmore and Kilkenny, and after a short struggle Sir James was slain.[68]

[Sidenote: Consequent peace between Butlers and Geraldines.]

According to some accounts this encounter or murder, whichever it may be thought, was caused by Lady Margaret Butler's complaint that she could get no wine, though in delicate health. 'Truly, Margaret,' he answered, 'thou shalt have store of wine within this four and twenty hours, or else thou shalt feed alone on milk for me.' One writer says that there were desperate odds against Sir Piers; and if this be true, and considering the then state of Ireland, the guilt of murder can hardly attach to him.

The death of Sir James was decidedly beneficial to Ireland, for it made peace between the Houses of Kildare and Ormonde.[69]

[Sidenote: Parliament of 1498.]

In 1498 Kildare received a commission to hold a Parliament which was not to last for more than six months. The first Act of this Parliament was to confirm the reversal of the Lord Deputy's attainder, who by a singular anomaly thus exercised viceregal authority, notwithstanding the corruption of his own blood; the last to attaint Lord Barrymore and John Waters for their dealings with Perkin Warbeck. Waters was caught, found guilty by a Westminster jury, and hanged at Tyburn, alongside of the pretender. Lord Barrymore escaped arrest, but was murdered by his brother, the Archdeacon of Cork. Kildare visited and garrisoned Cork, forcing the chief inhabitants to take the oath of allegiance to Henry, and to give bonds for future good behaviour. Of the other Acts pa.s.sed, the most important was one for the discouragement of Irish habits and weapons. Henceforth dwellers within the Pale were enjoined to wear only English dress, and to wield only 'English artillery,' such as swords, bucklers, pavesses, bows, arrows, bills, crossbows, guns, or such hand weapons--darts and spears being prohibited; and they were to ride in saddles in the English fashion.[70]

[Sidenote: Kildare's wars in Ulster. Cannon are used.]

It was Kildare's fortune not only to give trouble himself, but to be the progenitor of those who were to give trouble in future. The rebellion of his grandson Thomas Fitzgerald was to cause the eclipse of his house. The descendants of his daughter Alice were to be the chief disturbers of the Elizabethan monarchy in Ireland. She had married Con More O'Neill, who was naturalised by Act of Parliament, and this gave her father a fair excuse for interfering in the affairs of Ulster. Con More had been treacherously killed by his brother Henry in 1493, and the murderer fought for supremacy with his brother Donnell. Henry was at first successful, and Donnell, whom Lady Alice appears to have favoured, could only keep up a desultory opposition. In 1497 a peace or truce was made, but in the following year Tirlough and Con, Lady Alice's two young sons, killed Henry in revenge for their father's death, and invited Kildare to come himself into Ulster. Besides his grandsons, the Lord Deputy had the help of Donnell O'Neill, of Maguire, of O'Donnell, and of most of the neighbouring clans against Henry O'Neill's sons and partisans. Cannon were brought against Dungannon, which soon surrendered. Omagh was afterwards taken, and Donnell was established as chief of Tyrone.

Firearms were perhaps first brought to Ireland in 1483, when six muskets, considered a great rarity, were sent from Germany as a present to Kildare, and were borne by his guards more for show than for use. In 1487 an O'Donnell was killed by a cannon or musket shot in a local broil, and in the following year Kildare brought ordnance against Balrath Castle. In 1495, as we have seen, heavy guns were successfully used for the defence of Waterford, and the mention of firearms in the Act of 1498 shows that their importance was quickly recognised. Cannon came in time to be the peculiar weapons of the King, their great expense putting them out of the reach of private combatants, and no doubt it was gunpowder that caused the downfall both of the feudal and of the tribal systems.[71]

[Sidenote: Kildare's wars in Connaught and Ulster.]

In 1499 the Lord Deputy, who acted pretty much as if there were no King in England, made an excursion into Connaught, and garrisoned certain castles. About the same time Piers Butler was defeated in battle by the O'Briens, but the causes of neither quarrel have been handed down to us.

It was the policy of the Anglo-Norman n.o.bles in Ireland to make themselves allies among the Irish, and in pursuance of this idea the Earl gave up his son Henry to be fostered by his late ally, Hugh Roe O'Donnell, who came to visit him in the Pale. Kildare afterwards held a Parliament at Castle Dermot; but its acts had no political significance, unless the punishment of certain n.o.bles for not wearing Parliament-robes, and for not using saddles, be considered an exception.

Donnell O'Neill and his nephews did not long remain at peace, and O'Donnell, siding with the latter, expelled Donnell from Dungannon.

Kildare again invaded Tyrone, in conjunction with O'Donnell, and took Kinard Castle, which he handed over to his grandson Tirlough; but six weeks later it was retaken by Donnell O'Neill. For more than two years after this no event of any importance is recorded; there were ceaseless wars among the Irish, but the Lord Deputy does not seem to have interfered with them.

[Sidenote: Kildare in England, 1503.]

In 1503 Kildare visited England by the King's orders, and remained there three months. Having licence from Henry to appoint a subst.i.tute, he selected his old antagonist the Archbishop of Dublin to act as Lord Justice in his absence. The Earl remained three months in England, and was allowed to bring back his son Gerald, who had been a hostage for eight years. Gerald, who was accompanied by his bride, Elizabeth Zouche, received his appointment as Lord Treasurer of Ireland a few months later.[72]

[Sidenote: Battle of Knocktoe, 1504.]

In 1504 a quarrel arose between Kildare and Ulick MacWilliam Burke, Lord of Clanricarde, who had married his daughter, Lady Eustacia. The only cause a.s.signed by any of the authorities is, that MacWilliam ill-treated his wife. He had, however, seized the town of Galway, and that might be provocation enough for a Lord Deputy. Two great armies were collected--MacWilliam having the O'Briens and Macnamaras, the Connaught O'Connors, and the MacBriens, O'Kennedys, and O'Carrolls on his side.

With the Deputy were a portion at least of the O'Neills, O'Donnell, MacDermot, Magennis, O'Connor Faly, O'Ferrall, MacMahon, O'Reilly, O'Hanlon, and some of the Mayo Burkes, the Mayor of Dublin, the Earl of Desmond, and the Lords Gormanston, Slane, Delvin, Killeen, Dunsany, Trimleston, and Howth. Notwithstanding this formidable array of names, Kildare's army was far inferior to MacWilliam's in point of numbers. Both bishops and lawyers appeared at the council of war which preceded the battle: Art O'Neill objecting to the former and O'Connor Faly to the other. The one declared that the bishops' duty was 'to pray, to preach, and to make fair weather, and not to be privy to manslaughter;' and the other expressed great contempt for pen and ink and for 'the weak and doubtful stomachs of learned men.' 'I never,' he said, 'saw those that were learned ever give good counsel in matters of war, for they were always doubting, and staying, and persuading, more in frivolous and uncertain words than Ector or Launcelot's doings.' Lord Gormanston was unwilling to risk so much without first knowing the King's pleasure; but Lord Howth, as represented by the family chronicler, saw that good advice might come too late, and that being in the field they must fight. He proposed that they should conquer or die, having first placed their sons in safety, so as to secure vengeance in case of defeat. This plan was frustrated by young Gerald's refusal to retire. MacWilliam's army made certain of victory, and spent the night drinking, playing cards, and arranging about the custody of prisoners. The battle took place at Knocktuagh or Knocktoe, now generally written Knockdoe, a hill near Clare Galway. Kildare is said to have reminded his followers that the enemy, though very numerous, were ill-armed, many with one spear only and a knife, and 'without wisdom or good order, marching to battle as drunken as swine to a trough.' When the fighting began 'Great Darcy'--the man who had borne Lambert Simnel on his shoulders--appeared as one of the chief champions on the Deputy's side. Kildare gained a complete victory. The 'Book of Howth' represents the gentry of the Pale as sustaining the brunt of the battle, while the 'Four Masters' tell the story as if both armies consisted of aboriginal Irishmen only. According to the former authority, Lord Gormanston made the following speech to the Lord Deputy:--'We have done one good work, and if we do the other we shall do well. We have for the most number killed our enemies, and if we do the like with all the Irishmen that we have with us, it were a good deed.'

Galway and Athenry were occupied without difficulty after the battle, and the Lord Deputy's Irish allies withdrew to their own countries. The arduous task remained of persuading Henry VII. that all had been done in his interest. Kildare sent his old antagonist the Archbishop of Dublin to Court, who performed his mission so well that the King professed himself quite satisfied, and soon afterwards made his Deputy a Knight of the Garter. Perhaps Henry was not really deceived, but thought it good policy to make his great subject's victories his own. Sixty years afterwards, when Sir Henry Sidney solicited a garter for another Earl of Kildare, he urged his suit in these words:--'King Henry VII. made his grandfather, and wist full what he did when he did so; he enlarged the Pale, and enriched the same more than 10,000_l._ worth.'[73]