Ireland under the Tudors Part 17

[Sidenote: Stephen Parry's tour in the south of Ireland. Siege of Dungarvan.]

Lord Leonard Grey was sent to England in charge of Kildare, but he left his company of 100 men, under a Welsh officer named Parry, with orders to attach himself to Lord Butler. Parry's despatch to Cromwell is one of the very few contemporary doc.u.ments which throw light on the state of the country. He and his men entered Ossory's district at Leighlin Bridge, where the people were glad to see them, and went on to Callan, where they found English fashions generally followed. They were so well received at Callan that they stayed there nine days, and they made a further halt of three days at Clonmel, which also entertained them hospitably. Thomas Butler, a man of great local influence, who had married Ossory's daughter, and was afterwards created Lord Cahir, met the troops at Clonmel and led them over the mountains to Dungarvan. He spoke very good English, and made himself most agreeable. Gerald MacShane Fitzgerald of Decies, who was also Ossory's son-in-law, joined them on the road. This gentleman could not speak a word of English, but he was very civil, professed great loyalty, and bound himself by hostages to act under the advice of the Council. Reaching Dungarvan about the middle of September, they met Skeffington, who had made up his mind to take the place, and who brought the artillery which was henceforth to play so great a part in Irish politics. The accidental presence of a Devonshire fishing fleet enabled the Lord Deputy to invest the castle completely. On being summoned the commandant answered boldly that he held the place for his master, and that he would do the best for him, as he was sure Skeffington would in like case do for his master. Two days were spent in preparing the battery, and at five o'clock on the morning of the third the cannonade began. A breach was made by eleven, and Sir John Saintloo wished to storm it at once, but Skeffington's practised eye detected an inner barricade. Lord Butler, who was a suitor for the castle, and had no mind to be at the expense of rebuilding it, here interfered to prevent a renewal of the fire. He sent in two of his men as hostages for the constable's safety, and the latter then came out. Partly by coaxing and partly by bullying, Butler persuaded him to surrender, and he and his men took the oath of allegiance and swore to maintain the succession of Anne Boleyn's child. The castle was handed over to Ossory's men.[165]

[Sidenote: Desmond dies in 1529. Disputed succession. Parry's journey.]

The Earl of Desmond whom Gonzalo Fernandez visited died in 1529, leaving no male issue, and his uncle and successor Thomas Moyle soon followed him. Thomas Moyle's son Maurice died before his father, having married Joan Fitzgerald, daughter of the White Knight, by whom he left one son, generally called James Fitzmaurice. James would have succeeded of course, but that the validity of his mother's marriage was disputed. Failing him the next heir would be his grand-uncle, John Fitz-Thomas, who was at this time a very old man. To settle this question, if possible, and also, as Skeffington wrote to the King, 'to execute the succession of your Highness and of your most excellent Queen' Anne Boleyn, the Lord-Deputy issued commissions for all the southern and western counties, and in each Lord Butler was named chief commissioner. But the old artilleryman would not give Butler a single gun, and he continued his journey without the means of taking castles. At Youghal the townsmen received him well, and Parry, who evidently liked good living, notes that claret sold there for fourpence a gallon. Next day they encamped near Midleton, where the Butlers mustered 202 horse, 312 gallowgla.s.ses, and 204 kerne, besides a due proportion of the rabble which invariably accompanied Irish armies.

Parry's contingent consisted of 78 spearmen, 24 'long boys,' and 5 musketeers--all well horsed. The next day they reached Cork, and Cormac Oge appeared with his host on a hill less than a mile from the city.

Drawing up his main body on rising ground fronting the MacCarthies, Butler descended into the hollow with a few followers, and the chief of Muskerry met him there similarly attended. The mayor and aldermen, all in scarlet gowns and velvet tippets, after the English fashion, were very glad to see so many Englishmen, and 'made us,' says Parry, 'the best cheer that ever we had in our lives.' Next day Cormac Oge came into the town accompanied by the young Earl, who had married his daughter, and who, having been brought up in England, dressed and behaved in approved fashion. He acknowledged that he held all from the King, whom he had never offended; and as a true-born Englishman he was quite ready to go to England and try his t.i.tle before his Majesty in council, provided his grand-uncle Sir John would do the same. Earl or not, he was at the King's disposal for any service, and to all this Cormac Oge agreed.[166]

[Sidenote: Journey of Parry and Lord Butler. The O'Briens.]

The youthful Lord Barry, who spoke very good English and was full of complaints against the MacCarthies for keeping him out of his lands, also came to Lord Butler at Cork. Cormac Oge was anxious to have all disputes referred to the Lord-Deputy; but his son-in-law MacCarthy Reagh, the chief of Carbery, who came in upon safe-conduct, said that he would do nothing of the kind, but would hold by the sword what he had won by the sword. Butler was very angry and told him he should repent, but MacCarthy doubtless knew that, however good the will, the power to pursue him into his own country was wanting. Mallow and Kilmallock, which Parry found a very poor town, were next visited; and as the army approached Limerick, O'Brien evacuated two castles in the neighbourhood and obstructed the pa.s.ses into Th.o.m.ond with felled trees. Hearing that the invaders had no cannon he restored his garrison, and encamped with a large force three miles from the city walls. At Limerick Parry also found very good cheer, 'but nothing like the cheer that we had at Cork.' They then encamped at Adare, where Donogh O'Brien, the reigning chief of Th.o.m.ond's eldest son and the husband of Lady Helen Butler, came to meet his brother-in-law.

The speech attributed to Donogh seems genuine, and is not without a rude pathos:--'I have married your sister; and for because that I have married your sister, I have forsaken my father, mine uncle, and all my friends, and my country, to come to you to help to do the King service. I have been sore wounded, and I have no reward, nor nothing to live upon. What would ye have me to do? If that it would please the King's grace to take me unto his service, and that you will come into the country, and bring with you a piece of ordnance to win a castle, the which castle is named Carrigogunnell, and his Grace to give me that, the which never was none Englishman's these 200 year, and I will desire the King no help, nor aid of no man, but this English captain, with his 100 and odd of Englishmen, to go with me upon my father and mine uncle, the which are the King's enemies, and upon the Irishmen that never English man were amongst; and if that I do hurt or harm, or that there be any mistrust, I will put in my pledges, as good as ye shall require, that I shall hurt no Englishman, but upon the wild Irishmen that are the King's enemies. And for all such land as I shall conquer, it shall be at the King's pleasure to set Englishmen in it, to be holden of the King, as his pleasure shall be; and I to refuse all such Irish fashions, and to order myself after the English and all that I can make or conquer. Of this I desire an answer.'

That Donogh in offering his services was going directly against his own family is plain from a letter which his father had written to Charles V.

not much more than a year before. 'We have,' he had then said, '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 hara.s.s them with continual war.' The O'Briens had never sworn fealty to anyone, but he offered full submission to the Emperor, with 100 castles and 18,000 men.[167]

[Sidenote: The Desmonds and the Irish.]

Old Sir John of Desmond, the rival claimant to the t.i.tle, also came to Adare and spoke plainly in very good English. 'What should I do in England,' he asked, 'to meet a boy there? Let me have that Irish horson, Cormac Oge, and I will go into England before the King.' Parry thought him as full of mischief as ever; but he agreed to meet the young Earl at Youghal, and also the obnoxious Cormac. It is curious to see how proud these Desmonds were of their Norman blood, and how they despised the Irish; while often straining every nerve against Henry II.'s successor, offering their allegiance to foreign princes, and boasting to them of their Irish allies.

[Sidenote: Parry's observations.]

Returning to Clonmel by Kilmallock and Cashel, Parry was despatched to bring Vice-Treasurer Brabazon and Chief Justice Bermingham to a conference with Ossory and his son at Youghal. During the whole long journey from Dungarvan he had met no one who had ever seen an English soldier in those parts. Some days they rode sixteen miles at a stretch over what had once been really, and still remained nominally, Englishmen's ground. The woods, the rivers, and the rich gra.s.s lands about them excited his admiration. Nor was there any want of ground suitable for corn, and the ridges showed that it had once been tilled, but not a blade of oats had grown there for twelve years. Parry, who had evidently been very well treated by him, seems to have formed a high idea of Lord Butler's qualifications. If the King would give him artillery there was scarcely any limit to his possible services; for his own marriage with a daughter of Desmond and the marriages of his sisters, no less than his personal character, gave him great influence throughout the South of Ireland.[168]

[Sidenote: Lord Leonard Grey made Marshal of the army. He and Skeffington disagree.]

Having determined to continue Skeffington in the government of Ireland, notwithstanding his age and bad health, Henry took means to supply him with efficient subordinates. First among them was Lord Leonard Grey, who had returned with a new commission as marshal and with the t.i.tle of Viscount Grane, which, however, he never chose to a.s.sume. The others were Sir John Saintloo, a brave soldier; the Vice-Treasurer Brabazon, who was already well tried; and John Alen, Master of the Rolls, who had been pushing his own interests at Court, and who was entrusted with the royal despatch. Honest musters leading to a reduction of expenses were the King's great object at this time; for Kildare was safe in the Tower, and it seemed that a great army was no longer necessary. Special care was taken to define Grey's position, and Skeffington, whose supremacy as Henry's representative was fully acknowledged, was reminded that royal blood flowed in the marshal's veins. Discipline had been much relaxed in Ireland, and no doubt reform was wanted; but Grey seems to have used his military authority with undue severity. Thomas Dacre, a member of the great northern family, who came in charge of some spearmen, was imprisoned for eight days, though nothing had been proved against him.

Another Dacre was confined for seven weeks without any apparent reason, and during a fortnight he had irons on both arms and legs. Such proceedings certainly gave some grounds for supposing that Grey was not disposed to favour those who had helped to overthrow his rebellious nephew.[169]

[Sidenote: Death and character of Skeffington, 1535.]

Skeffington died about two months after Grey's return. Though not very brilliant, he had been on the whole successful, and had shown that a private gentleman armed with the King's commission could be more than a match for the greatest of Irish n.o.bles. It was indeed part of Henry's policy, as it had been his father's, to rely much upon persons of far humbler birth. Fox and Wolsey were Churchmen, and the tonsure had been always powerful to counteract plebeian extraction; but Empson the pettifogger, Cromwell the clothier, Stile the scribe, and Tuke, who speculated in kerseys, with many others of no higher original pretensions, were often preferred for important affairs to the chiefs of the English aristocracy. The business was often better done, and the power of the Crown was brought into more prominent relief. Skeffington may be regarded as the first of that long line of able public servants who reduced Ireland to a tardy and unwilling obedience. 'He was,' said Brabazon, 'a very good man of war, but not quick enough for Ireland, and somewhat covetous.' The charge was made by others also, and is easier to make than to refute. But it is certain that Skeffington died in difficulties, and one fact may be set against many opinions.[170]

FOOTNOTES:

[126] Conossius Maguire to the King, Feb. 20, 1534, in _Carew_. Letter from the five Alens, May 17, 1534. R.O. _Ireland_.

[127] Examination of Robert Reyley, Aug. 5, 1536, in _Carew_. Stanihurst.

[128] Stanihurst. Finglas to Cromwell, July 21, 1534. Dowling says Offaly was commonly called 'Thomas sericus.'

[129] The King to the Earl of Ossory, No. 72 in the printed _State Papers_. Butler's letter is in Stanihurst.

[130] Examination of Robert Reyley in _Carew_, Aug. 5, 1536; Sir John Rawson to the King, Aug. 7, 1534; Dowling's _Annals_. Rawson says 'divers of his chaplains and servants' were killed with the Archbishop, and that the murder was in Offaly's presence and 'by his commandment.'

[131] Wine, 20 tuns; beer, 20 tuns; powdered beef, 16 hogsheads; 2,000 dried ling, &c. &c.

[132] Stanihurst.

[133] Stanihurst. Ossory to Walter Cowley, No. 93 in the printed _State Papers_.

[134] Stanihurst. Brereton and Salisbury to the King, Nov. 4, 1534.

[135] Stanihurst.

[136] _Ibid._; Dowling. According to Stanihurst, Salisbury and Brereton did not land until after the fight in which Musgrave fell, but their own letter seems to contradict this.

[137] John Alen to Cromwell, Oct. 4; Brereton and Salisbury to the King, Nov. 4; Skeffington to the King, Nov. 11; Ossory to Mr. Cowley, No. 93 in the printed _State Papers_.

[138] Brereton and Salisbury to the King, Nov. 4; Skeffington to the King, Nov. 11; Ossory to Mr. Cowley, as above.

[139] John Alen to Cromwell, Dec. 26, 1534, and Feb. 16, 1535; Vice-Treasurer Brabazon to Cromwell, Feb. 16, 1535; Skeffington to Sir Edmund Walsingham, March 13.

[140] The sentence of excommunication is printed in the _State Papers_, No. 81; see No. 84; Stanihurst. Kildare died Dec. 12, 1534.

[141] Stanihurst; Alen to Cromwell, Dec. 26, 1534.

[142] Ossory to Skeffington, Jan. 17, 1535.

[143] Alen to Cromwell, Feb. 16, 1535; Stanihurst.

[144] Stanihurst; Lord Deputy and Council to the King, March 26.

[145] Ware; Stanihurst; the Lord-Deputy and Council to the King, March 26. The official despatch does not mention the negotiation with Paris, but I see no reason to disbelieve Stanihurst. 'Too late, quoth Boys,'

became proverbial.

[146] 'Quae vulgariter dicitur a saulte.'

[147] Coyne and livery, cuddies, kernaghts, 'vel talia poculenta.'

[148] The indenture is dated July 26, 1535.

[149] Aylmer and Alen to Cromwell, Aug. 21.

[150] Grey to Cromwell, August 15. Aylmer and Alen to Cromwell, Aug. 21 and 26.

[151] Skeffington to the King, Aug. 24; the Council of Ireland to the King, Aug. 27.

[152] Audeley to Cromwell, i. S.P., p. 466; Stanihurst; _Four Masters_.

[153] The King to Skeffington, ii. S.P., p. 280; Audeley to Cromwell, i.

S.P., p. 146; Norfolk to Cromwell, September 9, 1535.

[154] Feb. 3, 1537. The letter to Rothe (enclosing that to O'Brien) is in S.P. ii., p. 402.

[155] Surrey to Wolsey, Nov. 3, 1520; Russell; O'Daly, chap. ix. The latter writer is hopelessly wrong, and makes Thomas Moyle fight on Desmond's side.