Ireland under the Tudors Part 37

About the time of the new Lord Deputy's arrival, the Kavanaghs made a raid into the neighbourhood of Dublin. Sir George Stanley took command of the citizens, and drove 140 of the a.s.sailants into Powerscourt, where they had to surrender at discretion. Seventy-four were hanged. John Challoner, who was Mayor of Dublin at the time, provided the civic force with arms, which he had brought at his own expense from Spain. This martial magistrate was offered knighthood, but he excused himself. 'My Lord,' he said, 'it will be more to my credit and my posterity's to have it said that John Challoner served the Queen upon occasion, than to say that Sir John Challoner did it.'[404]

[Sidenote: Suss.e.x makes a journey into Ulster, 1556.]

Suss.e.x landed at Dublin towards the end of May, and received the sword from St. Leger's willing hands. The religious ceremonies were of a kind entirely satisfactory to the Queen. After a month's stay in the capital he set out for the North, and appeared in church both at Drogheda and Dundalk. The force mustered on this occasion was very considerable, for besides the regular soldiers and Ormonde's followers, the gentlemen of the Pale were called on to serve with from one to six hors.e.m.e.n each. The Plunkets contributed twenty-four horse, the Nugents eighteen horse and twenty-four foot. Dublin sent sixty hors.e.m.e.n and gunners, and Drogheda forty men well appointed. 'The Byrnes and the Tooles' wastes' in Wicklow were expected to send twelve horse each, and other Irish contingents joined on the march. The first Sunday was spent at a mill beyond Newry, where Dowdall said Ma.s.s, and where O'Hanlon, whose chiefry seems to have been disputed, was solemnly proclaimed. Mention is made of a great hill of stones, which was, perhaps, the traditional spot for the election of an O'Hanlon. Pa.s.sing along the right bank of the Newry river, which he crossed near Tanderagee, Suss.e.x reached the Laggan valley near Moira, and pa.s.sing Belfast, reached Carrickfergus on the ninth day after leaving Dublin. From this the army marched across the central districts of Antrim, and, at last, on the twenty-fourth day from Dublin, Suss.e.x reached Glenarm, and found that James MacDonnell had fled before him into Scotland. The fugitive sent to France for help, but his envoy's proceedings were counteracted by Paget's vigilance. A quant.i.ty of cattle were captured, besides b.u.t.ter and other produce hid in a cave. This seems to have been the only result of an expedition which lasted thirty-seven days. Suss.e.x dismissed his allies at their old rendezvous near Newry, and on the very next day, as if in ridicule of his efforts, a messenger arrived to say that the Scots had attacked the rear guard. Sidney afterwards said that he had slain James MacConnell, a mighty Scots captain, during this expedition. Some Scots of name were certainly killed, and one of them may have been called James; but the real James MacDonnell was back at Glenarm before the end of the year.[405]

[Sidenote: His failure.]

The moral which Suss.e.x drew from this inglorious expedition was that the North could only be held by a chain of forts along the coast from Dundalk to Lough Foyle. Some part at least of the expense would be paid by the salmon fisheries of the Foyle, the Bann, and the Bush; and by the herring, cod, ling, and hake fisheries, of which Carlingford was the chief seat. A good English bishop would also, he thought, be a means to civilise the country. It had not yet been discovered that making the Church a badge of conquest only served to make religion itself odious.

The dislike of the Irish to English ecclesiastics had been marked throughout the middle ages, and even if England had remained in communion with Rome, bishops who were Government officials first and chief pastors afterwards, could scarcely have ministered successfully to the wants of O'Neills and O'Donnells.[406]

[Sidenote: The King's and Queen's Counties.]

[Sidenote: The natives.]

The settlement of Leix was in outward form completed, and Suss.e.x received the Queen's thanks for it. The arrangements were not without a show of equity; but the old inhabitants could not reconcile themselves to the intrusion of a colony, and their pertinacious opposition forced the Government to treat them with far more rigour than had been at first intended. The western half of the new Queen's County was originally reserved for the O'Mores, each head of a sept becoming a landlord holding an estate in tail by knight-service. The chiefs were prohibited from keeping any idlemen except of their own sept, or more than one for every 100 acres. They were to attend the constable of the fort when required, to repair bridges, and at all times to keep the pa.s.ses open between their districts and those occupied by the English. They were to dress like Englishmen, except when riding, and to teach their children to speak English, to attend the Deputy annually, and to use only the Common Law.

All above twelve were required to take the oath of allegiance. Forfeiture was prescribed for a persistent refusal to keep the pa.s.ses open; for retaining superfluous idlemen; for keeping more than one set of harness; for interrupting communication with the English; for making a private way; for marrying and fostering with the Irish, and for absenteeism. The Deputy's licence removed the penalty in all these cases. For keeping unlicensed firearms the first offence was to be punished by forfeiture, and the second by death.

[Sidenote: The settlers.]

The eastern district was a.s.signed to the English, to hold on similar terms, and twelve places, among which Stradbally and Abbeyleix are the best known, were to be kept in a defensible state as satellites to the royal fort of Maryborough. The duties of the settlers were in general the same as those a.s.signed to the O'Mores; but whereas the latter were restrained in the matter of arms, the possession of them was made obligatory on the former. A good bow and sheaf of arrows, or one hand-gun at least, was to be kept in every house. Forfeiture was to be incurred in the same way as by the Irish, and in addition for falling away from the use of the English tongue, for holding more than 300 acres in demesne, or for entertaining Irishmen, except so far as they were necessary for husbandry. A few natives, whose services as captains of kerne had deserved special recognition, were to have grants in the English territory, and it was suggested that a large territory should be offered to the Earl of Kildare. A constable, resident at the fort, was to have the same powers locally as the Lord Deputy had generally. Stringent rules were made as to free quarters and purveyance. The constable or president on his annual circuit was to have his own expenses and those of four men and five horses borne for one night only by each town; and each sept of the O'Mores was to bear the like burden, and no more. Finally, a church was to be built in each of the twelve settlements within three years, and a parson, of English birth, was to have the t.i.the.[407]

[Sidenote: The natives cling to their land.]

Whatever the intentions of the Queen or her Deputy might be towards Leix and Offaly, there was sure to be plenty of opposition on the part of the natives, who were, however, as usual, divided among themselves. The old chief, Brian O'Connor, was still alive, and his son Donough carried on the old feud and killed his cousin, the son of Cahir Roe. Both Donough and Connell O'More, the chief of Leix, fell into the hands of Suss.e.x in the course of the year, but to the surprise of the Irish in general were released in deference to Kildare and Ormonde, who had become in some measure responsible for them. The O'Mores remained quiet for a time on the lands reserved to them. Donough and others of the O'Connors afterward came to Suss.e.x at Philipstown, as the fort of Offaly must henceforth be called, and made their submission, giving promises of good behaviour, which they immediately broke.[408]

[Sidenote: They are again attacked, 1557.]

After the meeting at Philipstown, Suss.e.x and his Council repaired to Leighlin, where the princ.i.p.al O'Connors neglected to appear as they had promised. A leader of the Kavanaghs, who had not taken warning by the recent fate of his clansmen, was executed, and Connel O'More, who had once more broken into rebellion, was hanged in chains at Leighlin about the same time. Offaly was next invaded and hostages taken, who were executed on a further outbreak taking place, with the exception of O'Connor himself, who was detained prisoner in Dublin.[409]

[Sidenote: Parliament of 1557. The monastic lands are not restored.]

The Parliament, from which Mary expected much for the Church of which she was so faithful a daughter, met at last and enacted all the laws made in England against the Protestants. The old statutes against Lollardry, which prescribed death by fire as the punishment for obstinate or relapsed heretics, were declared to be in full force. A communication from Pole was read by Curwin as Chancellor, kneeling down in open session, in which the Cardinal urged the a.s.sembly to restore Ireland to full communion with the Church. All Acts derogatory to the Pope which had been pa.s.sed since the twentieth year of Henry VIII. were accordingly repealed. The Queen was declared a legitimate, absolute sovereign, and all laws and sentences to the contrary were abrogated. On the other hand, grants of monastic land were confirmed. There could be no doubt of Mary's wish to restore the religious houses, but this does not appear to have been done except in the single case of Kilmainham. Oswald Ma.s.singberd, who during the Puritan ascendency had led a wandering life in the woods, was appointed Prior by Pole, and the nomination was confirmed by the Queen. Ma.s.singberd was sworn of the Council, and a.s.sumed the position of his predecessors; but he seems to have had no belief in the stability of the new system. He gave long leases and sold all that was saleable, and he took no thought for the morrow. There appears to have been no intention of specially favouring the obsolete order of St. John, for no attempt was made to restore it in England; but in Ireland it happened that the Crown had not parted with the house and lands. In the same way, since it could be done without offending vested interests, Mary re-established the Benedictines at Westminster, the Carthusians at Sheen, and the Observants at Greenwich. There are indications that she wished to examine t.i.tles closely, and to restore the monks where defects appeared; but she granted and confirmed grants of abbey lands as freely as her father and brother. Ninety years later, when the confederate Catholics had military possession of the greater part of Ireland, and the Nuncio Rinuccini was apparently all-powerful, the claim of the regulars to their old possessions was met by the n.o.bility and gentry with anger and scorn.[410]

[Sidenote: Suss.e.x makes an abortive expedition westward;]

When released from his Parliamentary duties, Suss.e.x marched westward against the O'Connors, who, under Donough, had possessed themselves of Meelick Castle, on the Shannon. The line of march lay through Offaly, by Killeigh, Ballyboy, and Cloghan, no opposition being offered by the O'Molloys or O'Maddens. The Shannon was reached on the third day.

Clanricarde must have been in a tolerably peaceful state, for Athlone pursuivant seems to have had no difficulty in going to Galway to seek ammunition and provisions. Cannon were brought by water from Athlone and planted in the grounds of the friary, on an island or peninsula on the Galway side of the stream. The castle was summoned, and a cautionary shot fired without effect. Next day the cannonade began, and at the sixteenth shot a large piece of the courtyard wall fell down. The O'Connors escaped by a postern gate, and were proclaimed traitors. Clanricarde, Th.o.m.ond, O'Carroll, and other chiefs, came to pay their respects to Suss.e.x, and may well have laughed at the small results achieved by the display of irresistible force. A garrison was placed in the castle, and, hostages having been taken from the neighbouring clans, the army returned through MacCoghlan's country, led by the chief himself. The Lord Deputy had the pleasure of seeing the night lit up by fires which the rebels kindled within a mile of his camp. The outlying buildings at Philipstown were all burnt, and arrows shot into the fort itself. Such was the practical outcome of a nine days' expedition, during which, as the annalists say, it is not easy to state or enumerate all that was destroyed.[411]

[Sidenote: and another into Ulster.]

An expedition into Ulster, undertaken three months later, had the same lame and impotent conclusion. The annalists say compendiously that Armagh was burned twice in one month by Thomas Suss.e.x. His hors.e.m.e.n encamped in the cathedral, and no enemy opposed the destroyer, who returned after a week to Dundalk only to hear that Shane O'Neill was burning and plundering within four miles of the town. Being pursued, Shane retreated to his woods, whither those who knew the country declined to follow him.

Suss.e.x then returned to Dublin; the Queen being richer by a few cows, and Sir James Garland poorer by the village which O'Neill had burned.[412]

[Sidenote: The central districts still disturbed.]

Not much impressed by the late invasion, the O'Connors who had escaped from Meelick stationed themselves at Leap Castle, about which there had been so much fighting in bygone days. Suss.e.x took the castle without trouble, but Donough again escaped by the speed of his horse, and the stronghold was seized by O'Carroll as soon as the army had left. Sidney afterwards made two separate inroads into the same district. O'Molloy was proclaimed a traitor, and everything destroyed. It is not easy to see how there could be anything combustible left in the devoted country. The O'Carrolls were also engaged about this time in opposition to the Government, and in support of the O'Mores and O'Connors, and the annalists are again at a loss to enumerate the preys and slaughter which were made from the Shannon to the Nore.[413]

[Sidenote: War between the O'Neills and O'Donnells.]

A local war of considerable importance took place this year between the O'Neills and O'Donnells. Ma.n.u.s, the old chief of Tyrconnel, had been kept a prisoner for the last two years by his son Calvagh, who a.s.sumed the leadership. This claim was disputed by his brother Hugh, who, with his immediate adherents, had deserted to Shane O'Neill. Shane was delighted at the opportunity of interfering, and declared that not one cow should escape, though the O'Donnells should carry away their cattle into Leinster or Munster. He himself would in future be the sole King of Ulster. Shane pitched his camp at Carriglea, near Strabane, just above the junction of the Finn and the Mourne. It was more a fair than an encampment, and the time was gaily pa.s.sed in buying, and no doubt in drinking wine and mead, as well as fine clothes and merchandise. Calvagh, who lay five miles off with a few followers, sent two trusty spies to the camp, who mingled boldly with the throng of camp followers and soldiers belonging to many different clans. In front of Shane's tent they found a great central fire, and a huge torch as thick as a man's body blazing brightly. Sixty gallowgla.s.ses with their axes, and as many Scots, with heavy broadswords drawn, stood ready to guard the chief. When the time came for serving out supper, the spies claimed their share with the rest, and received a helmet full of meal and a corresponding quant.i.ty of b.u.t.ter. Not staying to make cakes, they carried back the trophy to Calvagh, who immediately got his men under arms. He had but two companies of the MacSweeney gallowgla.s.ses and thirty hors.e.m.e.n. No look-out was apparently kept at the camp, which they entered at once. There they had little to do but to kill till their arms were tired, the deficiency of force being much more than counterbalanced by the totally unprepared state of the O'Neills. Shane, whose reputation for courage is not high, slipped out at the back of his tent with only two companions, leaving his men to their fate. The three fugitives threaded the pa.s.ses of the neighbouring mountains, and pa.s.sed the Finn, the Deel, and the Derg by swimming. At Termonamongan, near the latter river, Shane bought a horse, and never rested till he reached the neighbourhood of Clogher. Calvagh remained in possession of the camp, and his men spent the rest of the night in drinking the wine which the O'Neills had provided for themselves. The extent of the plunder may be estimated from the fact that Con, Calvagh's young son, who had given up his horse to his father and fought on foot, now had eighty steeds for his share, including a celebrated charger of Shane's called the Eagle's Son.[414]

[Sidenote: Sidney, Lord-Justice. No money.]

Suss.e.x had not been very long in Ireland before he asked for a holiday, and he was allowed to spend Christmas at home; Curwin and Sidney, and afterwards Sidney only, being appointed Lords Justices. War had been declared with France at midsummer, and one of the first letters received by the new governor announced the loss of Calais, and the Queen's vain hope of recovering it. In the storm of St. Quentin and the defence of Guisnes, English soldiers had shown that they were made of the same stuff as the victors of Agincourt, but the war was unpopular. Mary's subjects felt that they were sacrificed to Philip, and this jealousy of Spain both caused the fall of Calais and prevented its recovery. But the national vanity was sorely hurt, and Sidney thought it a good opportunity to point out that James MacDonnell was expected in Ulster with many French and Scots allies, and that the natives would join him or fall upon the Pale, which was itself heartily sick of English rule, of soldiers at free quarters, and of purveyors, who paid, if they paid at all, something very much less than market prices. The army was reduced to a little over 1,000 men, and the people of the Pale, though well disposed, could afford no effective help. Credit was extinct, and the bad money caused great misery. Yet even bad coin was scarce. 'Help us, my lord,' he wrote openly to Suss.e.x, 'help us to money at this pinch, though it be as base as counters.'

Men, money, and provisions were alike wanting, and the outlook was as dark as could be. Desmond proposed that the Queen should send special commissioners, independent of the Government, to inquire into the state of Ireland, and point out means of reformation. He himself had perhaps sinned through ignorance, and he thought justice and fair dealing more likely to do the work of civilisation than a new conquest. 'We neither think it meet, nor intend,' answered Mary, with a touch of her father's humour, 'to make any new conquest of our own, nor to use any force when justice may be showed.' She proposed to do all that was necessary by fair means.[415]

[Sidenote: Hatred of the English Government.]

Sidney's fears of foreign complications were not unfounded. He had no ship of war at his disposal, and he feared that Dublin might be blockaded. George Paris was in France, declaring that the wild Irish were quite ready to transfer their allegiance, and Sidney had reason to believe that Kildare was playing his hereditary game. There can be no doubt that this great n.o.bleman, whose estates lay between the capital and the disturbed midland districts, was a thorn in the side of each successive governor. It was thought he wanted to be Deputy himself, and all the princ.i.p.al lawyers in Dublin had a retaining fee from him. William Piers, Constable of Carrickfergus, the vigilant guardian of the North, was told by one of his men who was present, that Sorley Boy MacDonnell, in the careless after-supper hour, said plainly 'that Englishmen had no right to Ireland, and they would never trust Englishmen more, but would trust the Earl of Kildare, "who," quoth Sorley, "hath more right to the country...." The nature of these people is they will speak what is in their hearts when the drink is in their heads.' The love of claret, inherent both in Scottish and Irish chiefs, tended to keep up constant communication with France. The hereditary hatred of England might at any moment counterbalance the jealousy which Scotland felt for the French regent and king matrimonial, and an invasion of Ireland might seem less dangerous than that from which the caution of the Scots lords had just saved England. The recollection of Dundalk was not so fresh as that of Flodden.[416]

[Sidenote: Attempts at conciliation.]

Lady Tyrone had been closely imprisoned, apparently by Shane, for urging her husband to hold fast to his allegiance. 'I will not,' says Sidney's informant, 'you make this known to the Primate, or Kildare, or any Geraldine in Ireland.' To the Queen the Lord Justice wrote that the coast was infested by hostile cruisers, that he dreaded a French attack on castles which could not resist artillery, and that he could scarcely be answerable for the defence of the country. The effect of Suss.e.x's advice while at Court may be gathered from the number of letters which Mary addressed to great men in Ireland. Tyrone and O'Reilly were thanked for past services, the former being charged to help the Deputy with a contingent, and the latter to dismiss the Scots in his pay. Calvagh O'Donnell was reminded of his duty, and encouraged to hope for a peerage and other rewards. Barnaby Fitzpatrick, whose courtly education was not forgotten by his friend's sister, was exhorted to behave like one who regards the service and weal of his natural country. His neighbour O'Carroll might look forward to a peerage for life if he would give help in season. Desmond and Clanricarde were directed to put Th.o.m.ond in possession of his earldom and estates, the care of the coast being particularly recommended to the former. Desmond and Ormonde were thanked, and advised to refer all their differences to the arbitration of the Lord Deputy and Council.[417]

[Sidenote: A spirited policy.]

The Queen did not limit her care for Ireland to writing letters. She doubled the army; 800 men being sent over, and directions given for raising 200 more in Ireland. Every foot soldier was to receive twopence a day, and every horseman threepence a day, in addition to the old wages.

The Deputy's salary was raised from 1,000_l._ to 1,500_l._, with the usual allowances, and he was directed to move constantly to and fro, residences being maintained for him at Roscommon, Athlone, Monasterevan, Maryborough, Philipstown, Ferns, Enniscorthy, and Carlow. The O'Mores and O'Connors were to be still further chastised, and as much as possible effected against the Scots. In most other matters the former instructions were to remain in force. The restored Deputy was not expected to make bricks without straw, more than 200_l._ having been spent on the carriage of munitions to Chester for the Irish service.[418]

[Sidenote: Suss.e.x returns to Ireland, 1558.]

Suss.e.x left London on March 21, and we are told that he travelled post; but he did not leave Holyhead till the 26th of the following month. The actual pa.s.sage only occupied a few hours. Detraction, the usual lot of Irish governors, followed him on his journey, his accuser being no less a person than Primate Dowdall, who was summoned over to tell his own story, and who died in London some three months before the Queen. Sidney and his Council declared that the Archbishop was actuated by personal malice, and that there was no foundation for his statements. There was, however, some excuse for a prelate who saw his metropolis and three churches burned by the viceregal army. Suss.e.x believed that Dowdall was in league with his predecessor. Were it not, he said, for his set purpose to serve the Queen, he might find occupation enough in avoiding the nets spread on all sides, the catch line whereof he could not prove but by looking into Mr.

St. Leger's bosom.[419]

[Sidenote: The O'Connors still troublesome. Suss.e.x goes to Munster.]

Suss.e.x had left Leix and Offaly in confusion, and he returned to find them in the same state, his brother, Sir Henry Radecliffe, being actually besieged in Maryborough by the natives, under Donogh and another O'Connor, accompanied by Richard Oge, one of the b.a.s.t.a.r.d Geraldines who had so long been troublesome. The garrison beat off their a.s.sailants after a hard fight, Richard Oge falling by the hand of Francis Cosby; but Donough again escaped. The first matter which demanded the personal attention of Suss.e.x after his return was the state of Th.o.m.ond, where Sir Donnell More O'Brien--who had slain his brother, the second Earl, five years before--was now disputing the t.i.tle of his young nephew Connor, whose princ.i.p.al castles he held. Ormonde, whose aunt was the young lord's mother, was of course interested in his favour, and the same reason was enough to make Desmond incline to Sir Donnell. It became necessary for Suss.e.x himself to go in force and establish some kind of order. Taking the familiar line through Offaly and Ely, Leap Castle being abandoned at their approach, the Lord Deputy and his troops, strengthened on the route by the adhesion of Barnaby Fitzpatrick and a considerable force, marched across North Tipperary by Newport and Cahirconlish to Limerick, which was reached on the seventh day after leaving Dublin. At a point a few miles from the city Ormonde and his brother Edmund appeared with a large party.

The young lord of Cahir, Gerald the heir of Desmond, with all the forces of his house, MacCarthy More, who received the honour of knighthood and a gold chain and gilded spurs, and William Burke, chief of the district, joined on the same day. At the gate of Limerick the mayor and aldermen in scarlet robes delivered to Suss.e.x the keys and mace, which he returned to the mayor. With the civic insignia and sword of state borne before him, the Lord Deputy rode to the door of the cathedral, where the Marian bishop, Hugh Lacy, met him, and where he was censed and sprinkled with holy water. Suss.e.x kissed the cross both here and at the rood, where the same ceremonies were repeated, and knelt devoutly at the high altar while the _Te Deum_ was sung. Salutes were fired after church.

[Sidenote: The Desmonds at Limerick.]

The Lord Deputy rested ten days at Limerick, during which time was performed the rite of 'bishoping' Desmond's youngest child, the old Earl being present himself. This was a first or second baptism, for the little Fitzgerald was not old enough to be confirmed, and the Lord Deputy stood sponsor and gave his G.o.d-child his own name, and presented him at the same time with a gold chain. The career of James Suss.e.x Fitzgerald thus auspiciously begun was destined to end in a traitor's death on the scaffold.

[Sidenote: The O'Briens.]

Sir Donnell O'Brien failed to appear, and was thrice proclaimed traitor at Limerick. Suss.e.x then issued forth into Th.o.m.ond. Clare Castle and Ennis made no resistance, but a few cannon shot had to be fired at Bunratty before it surrendered. The Earl of Th.o.m.ond, having been placed in possession of his country, was sworn upon the sacraments and on the relics of the Church with bell, book, and candle, to forsake the name of O'Brien, and to be true to the King and Queen. All the freeholders of the district swore in the same solemn way to obey him as their captain.

[Sidenote: O'Shaughnessy.]

On his journey westward from Limerick, Suss.e.x spent a night with O'Shaughnessy at Gort, where he 'dined so worshipfully as divers wondered at it, for the like was not seen in an Irishman's house.' At Galway he was received with the same civic, military, and religious ceremonies as at Limerick, and, after staying four or five days, returned by Athenry and Meelick into Offaly, and thence to Dublin.[420]

[Sidenote: Expedition against the Hebridean Scots. It ends in failure.]

Sidney's apprehensions were partially realised, for James MacDonnell landed before Suss.e.x with 600 islemen and two guns. But Carrickfergus had been reinforced, and the greater part of the Scots returned to their own country. Colla MacDonnell, one of the chief's five brothers and the resident guardian of his clan's Irish interests, died soon afterwards, and, his brother Angus having refused to take his place, Sorley Boy, the youngest and ablest of the family, filled the vacant post. It was decided to attack the Redshanks in their own islands, and a fleet a.s.sembled at Lambay from which great things were evidently expected. Suss.e.x urged despatch; but the delays of the supply service were inveterate, and nothing was done for nearly three weeks. The Lord Deputy landed first in Cantire, and began operations by burning James MacDonnell's 'chief house called Sandell, a fair pile and a strong.'

[Sidenote: The fleet is in danger,]