Ireland under the Tudors Part 30

[307] Abstracted from Hogan's _Hibernia Ignatiana_, p. 4, where Paul's letter may be also read in the original Latin.

[308] Hogan's _Hibernia Ignatiana_, pp. 3-9. Paul III.'s letter to Con O'Neill is dated April 24, 1541. The Jesuits were in Ireland in February and March, 1542. O'Sullivan Beare, lib. iii. cap. 8. James V. to the Irish chiefs, in S.P., vol. v. p. 202; Paget to Henry VIII. from Lyons, July 13, 1542, in S.P., vol. ix. p. 106.

[309] _Calendar of Patent Rolls_, p. 73; Grey to Cromwell, Feb. 4, 1537.

The last session began Oct. 13, 1537; a detailed account is given by Brabazon in a letter to Cromwell in S.P., vol. ii. p. 524, and in the note there.

[310] Grey and Brabazon to Cromwell, May 18, 1537. The King to the Lord Deputy and Council, S.P., vol. ii. p. 425. Harris's _Ware_ under Staples, Bishop of Meath. For the names of the dissolved houses, see the Statute, 28 Henry VIII. cap. 16, and _Calendar of Patent Rolls_, p. 38. There were twenty-five mitred abbots and priors in Ireland, ten of Canons Regular, one of Benedictines, one of Hospitallers, and thirteen of Cistercians.

Ware, in his _Annals_, says the heads of St. Mary's and St. Thomas's, Dublin, of Kilmainham, and of Mellifont were regularly summoned to Parliament--the more distant ones very seldom. The Augustinians were the most numerous and probably the richest of the sedentary orders. Their rule was adopted by most of the ancient Irish monasteries, the small residue becoming Benedictine. Alemand, who was originally a Huguenot and who was Voltaire's countryman, remarks that in order to become quickly a bishop in Ireland, it was necessary first to be a Regular Canon.

[311] Chiefly from Alemand; the words of John's grant are 'ante adventum _Francorum_ in Hiberniam.' For the final grant, see Archdall's _Lodge_.

Art. Earl of Drogheda.

[312] Alemand. Sidney to Queen Elizabeth, April 20, 1567, in the _Sidney Papers_.

[313] Alemand and Archdall. As to the intended combat, see _Carew_, miscellaneous vol., pp. 446, 447.

[314] Most of the pensions mentioned in the text are traceable in Morrin's _Calendar of Patent Rolls_. For Cahir, see Archdall's _Monasticon_. Queen Mary's instructions to Lord Fitzwalter, April 28, 1556, in _Carew_.

[315] Alemand, _pa.s.sim_; Doc.u.ments in the supplementary volume of _King's Primer_, No. 66; the Waterford doc.u.ment is in Brennan's _Ecclesiastical History_, p. 459.

[316] Sir John Davies's _Discovery_.

[317] In Mant's _Church History_ is an estimate of the monastic property founded on the Loftus MS.; but such calculations must be very rough. R.

Cowley to Cromwell, Oct. 4, 1536.

[318] Agard to Cromwell, April 4, 1538. James White to Cromwell, March 28. _Spicilegium Ossoriense_, vol. i. p. 437. _Hibernia Dominicana._

[319] In recommending a grant of Dusk to Ormonde the Council say they 'cannot perceive, as it is situated, that any man can keep it for the King, but only the said Earl or his son.' For Toem and Dunmore, see _Calendar of Patent Rolls_, pp. 73 and 84. Browne to Cromwell, May 21, 1538.

[320] Ware's _Antiquities_, by Harris, chap. x.x.xvii., sec. 3. Lord L.

Grey to Cromwell, Jan. 19, 1538.

[321] The King to Browne in S.P., vol. ii. p. 174; Browne's answer, Sept.

27, 1537; Staples to St. Leger, June 17, 1538; Ware's _Life and Death of Browne_.

[322] Ware's _Bishops_; Staples to St. Leger, June 17, 1538; Devices by Travers for the Reformation in 1542, S.P., vol. iii., No. 382. The King's rebuke was in 1537, see S.P., vol. ii. p. 174, note.

CHAPTER XVI.

FROM THE ACCESSION OF EDWARD VI. TO THE YEAR 1551.

[Sidenote: Accession of Edward VI. Ormonde and Desmond.]

The death of Henry VIII. made no immediate difference to Ireland, for St.

Leger continued to govern as before. There was such a tendency to depress the Ormonde interest that the widowed countess thought it wise to go to London, where she pleaded her own cause with much success. She was supposed to have designs upon the heir of Desmond's hand, and the English statesmen, who naturally dreaded such an alliance, encouraged her to marry Sir Francis Bryan, who was in favour with Somerset as he had been with Henry VIII. The new government directed their attention to economy and the repression of jobbery among the Dublin officials. It was discovered that many who drew the King's pay were serving in the houses of councillors, 'some in the place of a cook, some of a butler, housekeeper, and other like,' so that they were practically useless when called to arms. This was strictly forbidden for the future. The Irish Council were earnestly charged finally to put down 'that intolerable extortion, coyne and livery, having always respect to some recompense to be given to the lords and governors of our countries for the defending of the same.' Desmond was thanked for his services, and the young king offered to have his eldest son brought up as his companion, 'as other n.o.blemen's sons whom we favour are educated with us in learning and other virtuous qualities, whereby hereafter, when we come to just age, we, in remembrance of our childhood spent together, may the rather be moved to prosecute them with our wonted favour, and they all inclined to love and serve us the more faithfully. We shall consent and right glad to have him with us, and shall so cherish him as ye shall have cause to thank us, and at his return to think the time of his attendance on us to be well employed.' If this offer had been accepted, and if the same results had followed as in the cases of the young Earl of Ormonde and of Barnaby Fitzpatrick, the unspeakable miseries of the Desmond rebellion might have been avoided.[323]

[Sidenote: The b.a.s.t.a.r.d Geraldines.]

The Pale was at this time much disturbed by the depredations of a gang of freebooters, headed by some of the b.a.s.t.a.r.d Geraldines who had lost their lands. They overran the southern half of Kildare and the northern half of Carlow, plundering and burning Rathangan, Ballymore Eustace, and Rathvilly. At first they acted with O'Connor, but he was forced to go to Connaught to look for reinforcements, and the MacGeohegans and others were induced by St. Leger to kill his men and drive his cattle. The Fitzgeralds, after defying the Government for a year, were crushed at Blessington in the autumn of 1547. The O'Tooles sided with the English, and thus justified Henry VIII.'s policy towards them. The Irish generally fell away from O'Connor and O'More, to whom they feared to give food and shelter; and the chiefs were obliged to make such a peace as was possible with the Government. The annalists dwell strongly on the strength of the English at this time, on the unexampled bondage in which they held the southern half of Ireland, and on their complete victory over the man who had been 'the head of the happiness and prosperity of that half of Ireland in which he lived, namely, Brian O'Connor.'[324]

[Sidenote: Bellingham's first visit to Ireland, 1547.]

Sir Edward Bellingham, a gentleman of the bedchamber, was sent over for the first time in the summer of 1547, in charge of reinforcements. This able soldier had been Governor of the Isle of Wight, and had served at Boulogne in 1546. He had also held diplomatic appointments in Hungary, and at the Emperor's Court. The Privy Council, who expressed themselves satisfied of his military ability, directed the Irish Government to be guided by his advice, and to pay him the unusual salary of forty shillings sterling a day. He was employed by the borderers of the Pale against the O'Mores and O'Connors, and seems to have made his mark from the first. After a short stay Bellingham with difficulty obtained leave to return to England. He must have succeeded in impressing his views on Somerset, to whose religious party he belonged, for St. Leger was recalled in the following spring, and Bellingham was appointed in his stead.[325]

[Sidenote: Butlers and Kavanaghs. Bellingham Deputy, 1548.]

Bellingham landed at Dalkey on May 18, 1548, and the state of Leinster at once engaged his attention. Moryt Oge Kavanagh had taken a horse and other property from a neighbour, and Bellingham called upon Cahir MacArt to restore it, and to punish the thief. The chief denied all responsibility, on the ground that the culprit was in Sir Richard Butler's suite, and that he could not in any case hang a man for stealing, but only enforce rest.i.tution according to the Brehon law. We can now see that in this at least Cahir MacArt was more nearly right than the English lawyers. Moryt Oge had grievances, and said that he was oppressed by one Watkin Powell, but he restored the horse, subject to the Lord Deputy's opinion as to whether he had a right to it as a set off against his own losses. He came to Carlow to plead his own cause, but Sir Richard Butler, who had promised to meet him, did not appear. Butler was accused of showing a bad example in the country by plundering houses, wounding men, and taking gentlewomen prisoners. If this, or even a small part of it, were true of the Earl of Ormonde's brother, it is not surprising that robberies should have been things of every-day occurrence.[326]

[Sidenote: The Pale constantly threatened.]

The defenders of the Pale were fully occupied. Having consulted such men in England as understood Irish affairs, the Privy Council concluded that the princ.i.p.al damage was done 'skulkingly in the winter's nights.' If the Lord Deputy's presence near the border was not enough to prevent incursion, soldiers accustomed to the country were to be quartered there permanently, and nightly watch to be kept, especially on O'Connor's side.

Truces were not to last beyond the winter. This border service must have been very disagreeable. John Brereton, who held the office of seneschal of Wexford, of which the duties were very ill discharged by Watkin Powell, was stationed at Kildare, and complained bitterly that he was hara.s.sed to death. He could get no leave because he had no second captain, and even in May and June he could scarcely enjoy an undisturbed night. At one time he was roused from his bed by shouts, at another by the announcement that some alarm beacon was blazing. On foot or on horseback he had to march at once, and yet he was unable to answer every summons. A proprietor at Rathangan, who is called Raymond Oge, had his haggard burned by some of the O'Connor kerne. Two English troopers were with him by chance and helped to defend his castle, but the fires which they lit on the roof were not answered. Horses left out in a bog near a wood were carried off and the keepers killed. Nothing was safe unless shut up in a bawn, or fortified courtyard. Owen MacHugh O'Byrne, who was retained permanently by the Government as a captain of kerne, was inclined to do good service, but his men would not advance beyond Lea Castle, saying that 'if Captain Cosby wanted wilfully to lose his life, they did not set so little by their lives.' Cosby was a man of great personal courage. The Constable of Lea, the same James Fitzgerald whose allegiance in Grey's time had been so elastic, required a letter from Bellingham to encourage him. The Lord Deputy himself spent some time at Athy, where eighteen beds were provided for him and his suite; but the border was never quiet for a moment. Fitzgerald and Cosby had no official authority, and their orders carried no weight. If a cow strayed an alarm was raised, and while soldiers were sent on a fool's errand in one direction, the rebels or brigands had their time to themselves. O'More came to the Barrow and carried off horses and sheep. Owen MacHugh skirmished with him, but the hostile chief, 'like a jolly fellow,'

offered the royal kerne 6_s._ 8_d._ a fortnight to serve him, and pay to their leaders in proportion. Before Cosby could get his men together the O'Mores had vanished.[327]

[Sidenote: Lord Dunboyne.]

Other loyal and half loyal partisans were less energetic than Cosby. Lord Dunboyne complained that his manor of Fishmoyne in Tipperary had been plundered by the O'Carrolls and O'Meaghers, and this because he had discharged his men by the Lord Deputy's orders. Bellingham retorted that his lordship lied in his throat; for he had bidden him to entertain true men instead of rebels, and to discharge no one unless it could be done safely. He had particularly cautioned him against 'rashly discharging such as have been malefactors as your gallowgla.s.ses were, and naturally as their captains were.'[328]

[Sidenote: Pirates.]

While the frontiers of the Pale were hara.s.sed by robbers, the loyal ports of the south were in constant dread of pirates. A rover named Eagle blockaded Kinsale, which was half depopulated by an epidemic, and another, named Colley, established himself in a castle belonging to Barry Oge, whose aunt he married, so that the poor town was quite shut up.

Cork, the citizens told Bellingham, was so well defended by marshes and waters, 'besides walls and towers which we do build daily, that we do not fear all the Irishmen in Ireland and English rebels also, if there be any such, until such time as your wisdom would repair hither for our refuge.'

John Tomson, a noted rover, visited both Cork and Waterford. According to the authorities of the latter city he had 'one saker of 16-foot long, having four chambers, so that we do not see how he may be apprehended.'

In an affray between the citizens and an armed French vessel Tomson took part with the foreigner, and the pursuit of them cost Waterford 1,000_l._ This formidable water-thief was taken by O'Sullivan Bere, who made him pay a large ransom. Afterwards Bellingham rather oddly allowed the Cork men to trade with Tomson, because it seemed possible that he had received pardon, and because the goods then on board did not appear to be stolen.

Wine, figs, and sugar were, however, the wares offered by Tomson and his ally Stephenson, and it is most likely that they had been stolen at sea from the Portuguese. Tomson used the occasion to refit and to repair his weapons, and the Waterford men called upon the Mayor of Cork to apprehend the pirates; but that prudent official refused to do so without special orders from Bellingham. Pirates were unpleasant people to deal with. A gang confined at Waterford broke their gyves, nearly murdered a fellow-prisoner, and with many 'cracks' and menaces threatened to burn the gaol.[329]

[Sidenote: Their daring outrages.]

A pirate named Smith sailed into Youghal, but seems to have taken nothing but loose rigging and spars. He had long infested these waters, seemingly with no more than six men, armed with guns and bows. The Youghal fishermen took heart, and by a combined attack succeeded in capturing Smith. Other pirates named Cole, Butside, and Strangwych are mentioned as active about this time. They were all English, but the trade was by no means confined to any one nation; for Sir Philip Hoby, the English amba.s.sador at the imperial court, was instructed to apply for help to suppress a squadron of twenty sail, manned by lawless desperadoes of all countries, who infested the Irish coast, and robbed the Emperor's subjects. Logan, a Scotch professor of the art, and a survivor from Lennox's expedition, haunted the coast about Howth, and took several vessels. Power and Gough, who robbed a Portuguese ship in Waterford harbour, and ruined the foreign trade of that port, were probably of Irish birth. Desmond, on whom the honorary office of Lord Treasurer, held by the late Earl of Ormonde, had already been conferred, received a commission from Lord Admiral Seymour to exercise his jurisdiction along the coast from Dungarvan to Galway. The men of the latter town said they could defend themselves against all Irishmen coming by land, but that they had not a single piece of artillery to resist attacks from the sea.

They professed unswerving loyalty, as did their neighbours of Limerick, and Bellingham thanked the latter for their efforts to keep the Burkes quiet, 'in whom,' he said, 'the obstinacy is found to break this order, you the King's our own most dear sovereign lord's and master's subjects, the mayor, brethren, and council of Limerick shall proceed to the first and lawful redress and punishment thereof.'[330]

[Sidenote: Bellingham's campaign in Leix, 1548.]

Before Bellingham came to Ireland a hosting into Leix had been proclaimed, and he carried it out promptly. The men of Drogheda were required to furnish a strong contingent, having 'caused to be mustered all such as are meet for the war without partiality.' They had also to furnish carts, of which it seems the town could only boast three, and there were complaints of the stringency of Bellingham's requisitions; but he said he would rather they were unfurnished than he. The Drogheda men did very good service, and the carts, which were duly paid for, were employed to carry pioneers' tools. The soldiers were thus enabled without excessive fatigue to cut pa.s.ses through woods, and make causeways over bogs. After a thirty days' campaign in Leix, Bellingham resolved that a town should be built in Leix, and in the meantime was erected Fort Governor or Protector, in the place where Maryborough now stands. The citizens of Dublin were required to a.s.sist in making it practicable for soldiers to act upon the border of Kildare; but they made excuses, saying that men could not carry arms and tools as well. Bellingham sarcastically refuted their argument, 'in which your experience bitterly condemneth my ignorance.' Let them send carts as the Drogheda men had done, and then one man could do the work of two.[331]

[Sidenote: Bellingham routs the O'Connors.]

In August 1548 Cahir O'Connor, who still kept some force about him, invaded Kildare. Nicholas Bagenal, Marshal of the army, fell in with the marauders, and rescued the cattle taken, though his men were in the proportion of one to sixteen. Cahir retreated with his troop, and with a mult.i.tude of camp followers and 'slaves,' who carried their food to what was considered an una.s.sailable position. Bellingham was not far off, and he ordered Saintloo to attack them wherever he could find them.

Accompanied by Travers, Brereton, and Cosby, Saintloo tracked them to a spot surrounded by a bog. The soldiers struggled manfully through the moss until they reached hard ground, and a great butchery followed. The oldest man in Ireland had, as Bellingham supposed, never seen so many wood-kerne slain in one day. Such was the slaughter, says this precursor of Cromwell, that none escaped but by mistake, or hiding them in ambush, 'such was the great goodness of G.o.d to deliver them into our hands.' The Old Testament in English was beginning to make its mark upon language and upon habits of thought.[332]

[Sidenote: Disturbances in Munster. Foreign rumours.]

Munster was much disturbed. Edmund Tyrry, the King's bailiff at Cork, had a dispute with some of the Barries about land. The Earl of Desmond was appealed to, and he took Tyrry to Lord Barrymore, desiring the latter to do him justice. Barrymore took the bailiff with him to his court-baron, or 'parliament,' and the case was partly heard and adjourned to a future day. On his return journey towards Cork, Tyrry was waylaid and murdered.

Bellingham demanded justice, and Lord Barrymore, after some months'