Ireland under the Tudors Part 29

[Sidenote: The Friaries suppressed. Not before 1541.]

In 1541 a commission was issued to Sir Anthony St. Leger and others to survey and suppress all the friaries in Ireland. The total number was rather under two hundred, of which the Franciscans had more than half, the Dominicans forty-three, the Augustinian hermits twenty-four, and the Carmelites twenty-one. As in the case of the older monasteries, the houses within reach were at once dissolved, and the rest were perforce respited. Their possessions were not large, and the friars managed to exist without them. The Dominican historian says there were about six hundred members of his order in Ireland just before Cromwell's conquest, and the Franciscans were probably much more numerous. The houses of Grey Friars had been very generally reformed by the Observants, and it is with these stricter votaries that we generally meet. They swarmed everywhere, and to them is due the preservation of the Roman tradition until the Jesuits made head in Ireland. Archbishop Browne is never tired of testifying against them, and Thomas Agard, his enthusiastic supporter, calls them crafty bloodsuckers. Almost the only open opposition to the dissolution came from a Franciscan, Dr. Sall, who boldly preached against it at Waterford. During the Cromwellian war and subsequent persecution the Franciscans claim thirty-one martyrs, which shows that they must have been very numerous. In 1645 the Carmelites reckoned twenty-seven houses in Ireland, but most of these were doubtless desecrated and deserted. No candid Protestant can altogether sympathise with Browne and Agard, for we have the most overwhelming proof that but for the friars a large part of the population would have been altogether debarred from the exercise of religion.[318]

[Sidenote: All kinds of men share the plunder.]

Most of the men who had been useful in carrying out the suppression received a share of the spoils. Brabazon, St. Leger, Sir John Alen, Chief Justice Luttrell, Edmund s.e.xton, Sir Thomas Cusack, and Robert Dillon, were all enriched in this way. Prime-serjeant Barnewall denied the King's right to dissolve the monasteries, but profited largely by the measure.

Celts, Normans, and Saxons, Papists and Protestants alike, showed a fine appet.i.te for the confiscated lands. Desmond had a lease of part of St.

Mary Abbey, perhaps to induce him to spend some of his time in Dublin.

Three at least of the new peerages--Upper Ossory, Carbery, and Cahir, were partially endowed from similar sources. Edward Power, b.a.s.t.a.r.d brother of the first baron of Curraghmore, was granted the possession of Mothel, of which he had been prior. In some cases, as in Clanricarde and Th.o.m.ond, the Government made a virtue of necessity, and gave monastic lands to lords or chiefs who would have had the power to seize them in any case. It is scarcely necessary to say that the House of Ormonde profited enormously by the dissolution. Sometimes the plunder was too small to excite much cupidity, and then the monks might be spared. Thus the Austinfriars of Dunmore in Galway, who had 'neither land nor profit, but only the small devotion of the people,' were respited during the King's pleasure, on condition of a.s.suming a secular habit. A like indulgence was given to the canons of Toem in Tipperary, which the O'Meaghers had been able to prevent the Royal Commissioners from visiting. Many houses were reasonably granted to the founders' kin, for the dissolution must have been a heavy loss to some families. Most of the corporate towns had founded or fostered monasteries, and Waterford, Drogheda, Kilkenny, Galway, Limerick, Clonmel, and Athenry received a portion of the spoils. All Saints was specially granted to the citizens of Dublin in compensation of their loss during the Geraldine siege. As a general rule, monastic lands were at first let only on lease, and in succeeding reigns large fines were obtained by the Crown. At the first threat of dissolution some houses hastened to let their lands for long terms, and to cut down their woods and sell their jewels, and thus the plunder actually realised often fell below expectation. I have met with but one case of a charitable foundation being laid immediately upon the ruins of a monastery, and that was owing to private liberality. Henry Walshe, son of a Waterford merchant, bought the Grey Friars from the King, and founded a hospital for sixty or more sick persons. This inst.i.tution received a royal charter, and still exists on a reduced scale.[319]

[Sidenote: No university in Ireland.]

No care was taken to supply the place of the monasteries which were devoted to education. There had been three attempts to found a university in Ireland before the reign of Henry VIII. In 1310 John Lech, Archbishop of Dublin, obtained a bull from Clement V., who ordered the establishment of the desired inst.i.tution, which would, he hoped, 'sprinkle the said land, like a watered garden, to the exaltation of the Catholic faith, the honour of the mother church, and the profit of all the faithful.' Lech died soon after, and his project was buried with him; but his successor, Alexander de Bicknor, actually made a foundation in connection with St.

Patrick's Cathedral, and under the patronage of John XXII. Bicknor's University maintained a very precarious existence till the time of Henry VII., when it finally disappears. The inst.i.tution was not crushed by the weight of its endowments, for it does not seem to have had any. In 1465 Bicknor's work was ignored by the Parliament of Drogheda, which founded a new university on the ground that there was none in Ireland. But it was not enough to declare that Drogheda should be as Oxford: there was no endowment and no popular support, and this scheme also failed. Very near the end of his reign Henry VIII. made up his mind that one cathedral was enough for Dublin, and he suppressed St. Patrick's. Christ Church had already been acknowledged as the metropolitan church. But it was not till the next reign that Archbishop Browne propounded his abortive plan for restoring the University which had once faintly glimmered.[320]

[Sidenote: Archbishop Browne.]

The princ.i.p.al instrument by which Henry carried out his ecclesiastical revolution was George Browne, Provincial of the English Austinfriars, who was appointed Archbishop of Dublin in 1535 after regular election by the two chapters. He was consecrated by Cranmer, Fisher, and Shaxton of Salisbury, who were significantly commanded to invest him with the pall.

Browne's appointment is ignored at Rome, but no rival prelate was at first set up. He had already distinguished himself by preaching strongly against the invocation of saints, and, whatever his faults were, he was certainly a sincere Protestant. 'The common voice goeth,' said Staples, who had not quite made up his own mind, 'that he doth abhor the Ma.s.s.'

Browne was married, but whether before or after his consecration does not appear. He zealously promoted the King's supremacy and the destruction of images, and complained bitterly of being thwarted by his colleague of Armagh, by the Irish generally, and even by Lord Deputy Grey. Cromer was in communication with Rome, and circulated a sort of Papal oath of allegiance among the clergy, in which obedience to heretical powers was denounced and all their acts declared null and void. The old jealousy between Armagh and Dublin may have had something to say to this; for Browne, if we may believe Staples, claimed authority over all the clergy of Ireland. The new Archbishop did not bear himself meekly in his great office, and he received a stinging rebuke, which the writer was pleased to call a gentle advertis.e.m.e.nt, from the King himself. Henry accused his nominee of neglecting the instruction of the people and the interests of the Crown. 'Such,' he added, 'is your lightness in behaviour and such is the elation of your mind in pride, that glorying in foolish ceremonies, and delighting in _we_ and _us_, in your dreams comparing yourself so near to a prince in honour and estimation, that all virtue and honesty is almost banished from you. Reform yourself therefore ... and let it sink into your remembrance that we be as able for the not doing thereof to remove you again and to put another man of more virtue and honesty in your place, both for our discharge against G.o.d, and for the comfort of our good subjects there, as we were at the beginning to prefer you.' Well might Browne answer that the King's letter made him tremble in body for fear. He defended himself at length, and invoked the fate of Korah should he fail to advance the King's service. His defence seems to have satisfied Henry, but he continued to make many enemies and to excite much criticism. 'His pride and arrogance,' said Staples, 'hath ravished him from the right remembrance of himself.'[321]

[Sidenote: Bishop Staples.]

Edward Staples, originally a Cambridge man, and afterwards parson of Tamworth and a canon of Cardinal College, was appointed to the see of Meath in 1530 by Papal provision. Either as Bishop or Privy Councillor he incurred the hatred of the Geraldine faction, and fled to England on the breaking out of the rebellion in 1534. Early next year he returned, and was one of the commissioners for suppressing the nunnery of Grane.

Staples did not at first fully embrace the reformed doctrines, for he accused the Archbishop of Dublin of heresy, and appears to have been attached to the Ma.s.s; but he was as zealous as Browne for the royal supremacy, and his conversion to thorough Protestantism was gradual like Cranmer's. Staples was a noted preacher, and was promoted for that reason; but the King at one time accused him of slackness and threatened to remove him.[322]

FOOTNOTES:

[281] Surrey to Wolsey, Sept. 6, 1520, and the notes; Pace to Wolsey, April 7, 1521, in _Carew_; Stubbs, _Const. Hist._ ii. 317.

[282] Ware's _Bishops_; Richard Culoke to Brabazon, Nov. 10, 1537; the King to the Lord Deputy and Council, July 10, 1543.

[283] Ware.

[284] Brady's _Episcopal Succession_, vol. i. p. 325; Ware. Roy's satire against Wolsey, printed in the 9th vol. of the _Harleian Miscellany_, has the following:

_Wat._ And who did for the show pay?

_Jeff._ Truly many a rich abbaye To be eased of his visitation.

_Wat._ Doth he in his own person visit?

No, another for him doth it, That can skill of the occupation.

A fellow neither wise nor sad, But he was never yet full mad, Though he be frantic and more.

Dr. Alen he is named, One that to lie is not ashamed If he spy advantage therefore.

_Wat._ Are such with him in any price?

_Jeff._ Yea, for they do all his advice, Whether it be wrong or right.

[285] As to the legatine authority, see _Brewer_, vol. iii., No. 2838, and iv., No. 5131; John Alen to Wolsey, June 1, 1523, in S.P.

[286] Clement VII. to Henry VIII., Oct. 21, 1524, in _Brewer_ and in _Rymer_; Kildare's Articles against Ormonde in S.P., vol. ii. p. 123; and see _Brewer_, vol. iv., No. 4277; R. Cowley to Wolsey in 1528, S.P., vol.

ii. p. 141; _Presentments of Grievances_, edited by Graves, p. 203; Council of Ireland to Cromwell, Feb. 8, 1539.

[287] _Brady_, vol. ii.; Council of Ireland to Cromwell, Feb. 8, 1539.

[288] Theiner's _Vetera Monumenta_, pp. 515, 516, 521; _Brady_, Arts, Kilmore, Clogher, and Raphoe.

[289] Kildare to Wolsey, Feb. 8, 1522; R. Cowley to Wolsey, S.P., vol.

ii., No. 53; Ware.

[290] For the Ross case, see _Theiner_, p. 520; for the union of Ross and Dromore 'propter tenuitatem utriusque ecclesiae,' see _Brady_, vol. ii. p.

109.

[291] See _Brady_, under Elphin and Kilmacduagh.

[292] S.P., vol. ii. pp. 11, 15, and 16.

[293] For Ardagh, see _Theiner_, p. 521; for Ross, p. 529; for Clonmacnoise, p. 518. For Enaghdune, see Ossory to Cromwell in 1532, _Carew_, vol. i. No. 37.

[294] _Presentments of Grievances_, ed. Graves; particularly pp. 192 and 203.

[295] Kildare's Articles against Ormonde in 1525, S.P., vol. ii. p. 123; his statement is partially confirmed by the _Presentments of Grievances_, and see Ossory's own statements in 1534, _Carew_, vol. i. p. 55; Ware's _Life and Death of Archbishop Browne_.

[296] Indenture of Remembrance for the Earl of Ossory and Lord Butler, May 31, 1534, in _Carew; Presentments of Grievances_, pp. 48 and 204; _Four Masters_, 1525; Dowling's _Annals_, 1522:--'Mauritius Doran episcopus in jocando ejus adventu quibusdam persuadentibus duplicari subsidium cleri respondit: melius radere oves quam destruere.'

[297] _Presentments of Grievances_, especially pp. 100, 202, 204, and 248; for the sons of clergy, &c., see Kildare's Articles in S.P., vol.

ii. p. 122. In _Brewer_, Feb. 25, 1521, Leo X. authorises a priest's son to govern the Cistercian Abbey of Rosglas; Browne to Cromwell, Nov. 6, 1538, in S.P.; for Kilclehin (wrongly calendared as Kilcullen), see _Hamilton_, Oct. 9, 1539.

[298] For the educating monasteries, see Lord Deputy and Council to Cromwell, May 21, 1539, and the pet.i.tion from St. Mary's, July 31. The value of the friars appears from the whole history of the time. See in particular _Presentments of Grievances_, p. 130; R. Cowley to Cromwell, Oct. 4, 1536.

[299] Browne to Cromwell, July 15, 1536 (?), in Browne's _Life and Death_, in _Ware_, p. 148, and in the _Phoenix_; R. Cowley to Cromwell, Oct. 4, 1536.

[300] Browne to Cromwell, Jan. 8, May 8, and Aug. 10, 1538. The Form of the Beads in S.P., vol. ii., No. 214; R. Cowley to Cromwell, July 19, 1538 and Aug. 5.

[301] James White to Cromwell, March 28; Lord Butler to the King, March 31; again to Cromwell, April 5; Brabazon to Cromwell, April 30; Browne to Cromwell, Jan. 8, May 8 and 20, 1538.

[302] This quarrel may be traced in detail in the _State Papers_. Browne to J. Alen, April 15, 1538; to Cromwell, May 8 and 21, and June 20 and 27; Staples to St. Leger, June 17; to Cromwell, June 10 and Aug. 10; Thomas Alen to Cromwell, Oct. 20; Brabazon to Cromwell, April 30.

[303] Grey to Cromwell, Dec. 31, 1537; J. Alen to Cromwell, Oct. 20, 1538; Browne's Letters in S.P. from 1538 to 1540; R. Cowley to Cromwell, July 19, 1538; Lord Butler to Cromwell, Aug. 26. Butler says that at the Lord Deputy's table the vicar of Chester said the King had commanded images to be set up, worshipped, and honoured as much as ever. 'We held us all in silence to see what the Lord Deputy would say thereto. He held his peace, and said nothing; and then my Lord of Dublin, the Master of the Rolls, and I said that if ... he were out of the Deputy's presence, we would put him fast by the heels.... His lordship said nothing all the while. Surely he hath a special zeal to the Papists.' For Down Cathedral, see Stanihurst.

[304] Ware places the destruction of relics in 1538: it was perhaps a little later. For Our Lady of Trim and the Baculum Jesu, see the _Four Masters_, under 1537, and O'Donovan's notes; also Giraldus Cambrensis, _Top._ Dist. iii. cap. 33 and 34, and _Expug._ lib. ii. c. 19, Record Edition. The notice in Campion is perhaps only an echo of Giraldus.

[305] The above paragraph is founded on a careful comparison of the data in Ware, Cotton, and Brady. R. Cowley to Cromwell, Aug. 5, 1538; and see S.P., vol. iii. pp. 110, 117, and 123. A letter from Staples to St.

Leger, June 17, 1538, throws some light on Henry's relations with Rome before the divorce question arose: 'Appoint some means how that such bishops as had their bulls of the Bishop of Rome by our sovereign lord's commandment may bring in their bulls, cancelling the same, and to have some remembrance from his Highness, which shall stand them in like effect with the same.'

[306] There are notices of Wauchop in Ware, Brady, Sarpi, ii. 34 (French translation and Courayer's notes), and Moran's _Spicilegium Ossoriense_, vol. i. p. 13. Twelve letters of Wauchop printed in the last-named work have nothing particular to do with Ireland. He must be regarded as founder of the t.i.tular hierarchy in Ireland.