Ireland under the Tudors Part 9

Cases occur of bishops, priors, and temporal peers being fined for non-attendance in this reign, and there is good reason to believe that those who were summoned to Parliament generally came. In 1311 writs for a Parliament to be held at Kilkenny were issued by the justiciary Wogan to Richard, Earl of Ulster, and eighty-seven other men of name, to the prelates and ecclesiastical magnates, and to the sheriffs. The sheriffs were ordered to summon two knights from every county, and two citizens or burgesses from every city or borough, who were to have full power to act for their several communities in conjunction with the magnates, lay and clerical. Owing probably to the shape which Bruce's invasion gave to the English colony, the Parliaments of Edward III. are more strictly confined to the districts where the King had real as well as nominal authority.

The murder of the last Earl of Ulster in 1333, and the conversion of the De Burghs into Irishmen, almost completed the work of destruction which Bruce had only just failed to effect. To the Parliament of 1360, the Archbishops of Dublin and Cashel, the Bishops of Meath, Kildare, Lismore, Killaloe, Limerick, Emly, Cloyne, and Ferns, and the Abbots of St. Mary's and St. Thomas's at Dublin were the only prelates summoned. The Earls of Kildare and Desmond and eight knights were called up by name. Writs for the election of two knights were issued to the sheriffs of the counties of Dublin, Carlow, Louth, Kildare, Waterford, Limerick, and Cork, and of the crosses of Meath, Kilkenny, Wexford, and Tipperary; and to the seneschals of the liberties of Kilkenny, Meath, Tipperary, and Wexford.

Writs for the election of citizens and burgesses were no longer directed to the sheriffs, but the mayor and bailiffs of Dublin, Drogheda, Cork, Waterford, and Limerick, the sovereign and bailiffs of Kilkenny and Ross, and the provost and bailiffs of Clonmel and Wexford were ordered to return two members each. The sheriff of Kildare and the seneschal of the liberty of Kilkenny were told what individuals they were expected to see elected. The House of Commons was then supposed to consist of twenty-eight knights and twenty-four citizens and burgesses; but the counties of Dublin and Carlow were 'justly excused' on account of the war, and the members for Drogheda, who omitted to come, were summoned before the Council under a penalty of 40_l._[42]

[Sidenote: Parliament of Kilkenny.]

The famous Parliament which Lionel, Duke of Clarence, held at Kilkenny in 1367 was probably attended by representatives from a very limited district; for there were but forty members of the House of Commons in March 1374, and of these four came from the county of Dublin. But in November 1374 the number was fifty-four; in 1377 it rose to sixty-two; and in 1380 and 1382 it was fifty-eight. We may, therefore, take the number of county and borough members at the close of the fourteenth century as about sixty. The counties generally represented were Dublin, Kildare, Carlow, Meath, Louth, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, and Wexford, the liberties of Ulster, Meath, Tipperary, Kerry, and Kilkenny, and the crosses of Ulster, Tipperary, Kilkenny, and Kerry. The cities were Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Kilkenny, and Limerick, and the towns were Drogheda, Youghal, Ross, Wexford, Galway, and Athenry. Longford was a county in 1377, but was not maintained as shire ground. Many Parliaments met during the fifteenth century, but their action was more and more confined to the district round Dublin, which about the middle of the century came to be called the Pale.[43]

[Sidenote: Hereditary peers.]

1295 will probably be accepted as the date when English barons who had once sat in Parliament claimed an hereditary right to their writs of summons. It would seem that the origin of the Irish peerage, using the word in its modern sense, must be referred to a somewhat later date; for eighty-seven persons, who were perhaps all tenants of the Crown, were summoned by name to the Kilkenny Parliament in 1311. The subject is not of great historical importance, because the period of transition coincides with that in which the encroachments of the natives reduced feudal Ireland to its lowest estate. In the sixteenth century the t.i.tle of baron was still popularly given to the heads of some families who had formerly been barons by tenure, but who had lost all Parliamentary rights. As in England, the knights of the shire had become the proper representatives of the gentry, and peerage grew to be the special creation of the Crown. In the Parliament of 1560 there were twenty-three temporal peers, and of these eight had been created within the century.

It will be safe to a.s.sume that the number of temporal peers sitting in the Irish Parliament at any time during the one hundred years preceding Elizabeth's accession was well under thirty.[44]

[Sidenote: Spiritual peers.]

The number of spiritual greatly exceeded the number of temporal peers.

There were four archbishops from the first sending of the palls in 1151.

If we take the year 1500, after some unions had been effected and before the great quarrel between King and Pope, we find that there were twenty-six bishops in Ireland. Some of the more distant ones were perhaps never summoned to Parliament, and long before the close of the fifteenth century we cannot doubt that many had ceased to attend the shrunken legislature of the Pale. In 1293 John, Bishop of Clonfert, an Italian and the Pope's nuncio, was fined for non-attendance; and similar penalties were imposed on Bishops of Ferns, Ossory, Cork, Ardfert, Limerick, Down, and Emly, during the reigns of Edward II., Edward III., and Richard II.

There were thirteen mitred Abbots of the Cistercian order, ten mitred Priors of Augustinian canons; and the Grand Prior of Kilmainham, who represented the wealth and importance of the proscribed Templars as well as of the Hospitallers, had always a seat in Parliament. The Prior of Kilmainham was so important a person that upon the suppression of the order of St. John, Henry VIII. made its last chief a peer. The Abbot of St. Mary's and the Prior of St. Thomas's were always summoned, but it is clear that in earlier days all the mitred heads of houses were considered real as well as nominal spiritual peers. The Prior of Atha.s.sel was fined for non-attendance in 1323, the Abbot of Owney in 1325, and the Abbot of Jerpoint in 1377. Much obscurity hangs over the mediaeval House of Lords in Ireland; but it must generally have rested with the Viceroy whether the temporal or spiritual peers should be most numerous in any particular Parliament.[45]

[Sidenote: The clergy as a separate estate. Proctors.]

The existence of the clergy as a separate estate in Ireland is less clear than in England; but they had the right of taxing themselves, for in 1538 the Lords Spiritual were thanked by Henry VIII. for granting him an annual twentieth of all their promotions, benefices, and possessions.

Proctors of the clergy attended the Lower House, and when Henry VIII.

undertook his ecclesiastical innovations, they claimed the right to veto bills. It was, however, easily shown that their consent had not formerly been held necessary; and in 1537 an Act was pa.s.sed declaring the proctors to be no members of Parliament. The preamble states that two proctors from each diocese had been usually summoned to attend Parliament; but that they had neither voice nor vote, and were only 'counsellors and a.s.sistants upon such things of learning as should happen in controversy to declare their opinions, much like as the Convocation within the realm of England.' Their pretensions to a veto were formally p.r.o.nounced baseless, and it was declared once for all that the a.s.sent or dissent of the proctors could have no effect on the action of Parliament.[46]

[Sidenote: The Viceroy.]

The representative of the King in Ireland was generally styled justiciar for a long time after the first invasion. His powers were a.n.a.logous to that of the great officer of State in England who had the same t.i.tle, and who acted as regent during the frequent absences of the kings. The t.i.tle of justiciar continued to be given to the Irish viceroys long after the English justiciarship changed its character--that is, about the close of Henry III.'s reign. The first person who had the t.i.tle of Lord Lieutenant, if we except the early case of John de Courcy, appears to have been Lionel, Earl of Ulster and Duke of Clarence, who was sent to Ireland in 1361. Afterwards it became a common practice to make one of the royal family Lord Lieutenant, the duties being usually performed by a deputy. But the t.i.tle of Lord Lieutenant, though considered higher than any other, was not confined to princes. In time the t.i.tle of Deputy was given to Governors of Ireland, even when no Lord Lieutenant intervened between them and the King. Richard of York was the last Lord Lieutenant of royal blood who actually ruled at Dublin. After his time the real government was in the hands of the Earls of Kildare, who were Lords Deputy, with but brief intervals, from 1478 to 1526. During that period the t.i.tle of Lord Lieutenant, but the t.i.tle only, was enjoyed by Edward, Prince of Wales, by John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, by Jasper, Duke of Bedford, and by Henry VIII. before his accession to the Crown. In the meantime, the word justiciar, or Lord Justice, had come to mean a temporary subst.i.tute for the Deputy or Lieutenant. When a sovereign died, or when a viceroy suddenly left Ireland, it became the business of the Council to elect some one in his room. When giving leave to a governor to leave his post, the sovereign sometimes named the Lord Justice. Lord Capel, who was appointed in 1695, was the last chief governor who had the t.i.tle of Deputy. Since the Revolution, the head of the Irish Government has always been a Lord Lieutenant, and during his absence one, or two, or three Lords Justices have been appointed by the Irish Privy Council.[47]

FOOTNOTES:

[39] Stubbs's _Const. Hist._, chap. xv.; Lynch's _Feudal Dignities_, chaps. iii. and xi.

[40] Sweetman's _Calendar of Doc.u.ments_, 1289; Lynch, _supra_.

[41] The record is printed from the Black Book of Christ Church, in the _Miscellany_ of the Irish Archaeological Society.

[42] Lynch, _ut supra_.

[43] Lynch, _ut supra_; Lodge's _Register_; Hardiman's _Statute of Kilkenny_.

[44] The names of those summoned to the Parliament of 1311 are printed by Lynch, chap. ii.; the names of those who attended in 1560 are in _Tracts Relating to Ireland_, vol. ii., Appendix II.

[45] Cotton's _Fasti_; Alemand's _Histoire Monastique_; Lynch, chaps.

iii. and vii.

[46] _Irish Statutes_, 28 Hen. VIII. cap. 12.

[47] See the list of chief governors in Harris's Ware; Borlase's _Reduction of Ireland_; Lodge's _Patentee Officers_; and Gilbert's _Viceroys_.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE REIGN OF HENRY VII.

[Sidenote: Accession of Henry VII., 1485.]

Ireland was destined to give the victor of Bosworth much trouble, but his accession made little immediate difference to the Anglo-Irish community.

Kildare continued to act as Chief Governor, and on the nomination of Jasper, Duke of Bedford, to the Lord Lieutenancy, he was formally appointed Deputy under him. His brother Thomas was allowed to retain the Great Seal. While thus leaving the administration of the island to the Yorkist Geraldines, Henry lost no time in restoring the rival House, which had suffered in defence of the Red Rose. Sir Thomas Butler was by Act of Parliament at once restored in blood, became seventh Earl of Ormonde, and was taken into high favour. The practical leadership of the Irish Butlers was, however, never held by him, and the disputes concerning it had no doubt great effect in consolidating Kildare's power.

[Sidenote: The Ormonde family. Sir Piers Butler.]

John, sixth Earl of Ormonde, who never lived in Ireland, appointed as his deputy his cousin, Sir Edmund Butler. Earl John dying in Palestine, his brother Thomas succeeded him, and continued Sir Edmund in the custody of the Irish estates. Sir Edmund by will granted to his son Piers the same power as he had himself held, but it does not appear that this curious bequest was acknowledged either by the Earl of Ormonde or by the people of Kilkenny and Tipperary. Sir James Ormonde, as he is called, a b.a.s.t.a.r.d son of the fifth Earl, became the real chief of the Butlers, and is often called Earl by Irish writers; the rules of legitimate descent being then very lightly regarded in Ireland. Sir James received a regular commission from Thomas, Earl of Ormonde, as his deputy, supervisor, 'and general and special attorney' in Kilkenny. Strong in the confidence of the rightful Earl and in the estimation of the people, Sir James became Kildare's chief opponent; who to weaken him espoused the cause of Sir Piers, to whom he gave his daughter Lady Margaret in marriage. 'By that means and policy,' says the 'Book of Howth,' 'the Earl of Wormond (_i.e._ Sir James) was so occupied in his own country that he could not attend to do any damage to the Earl of Kildare nor any of his friends.' And the chronicler Stanihurst, a Geraldine partisan, would have us believe that the successful career of Sir Piers was wholly due to the 'singular wisdom' of his wife. An eminent modern antiquary tells us that her fame still lives among the peasantry of Kilkenny, while the Red Earl is forgotten; that she is remembered as Magheen, or little Margaret, and that she is the traditional castle-builder of the district.[48]

[Sidenote: Kildare suspected of plots. Lambert Simnel.]

It has been generally stated that Henry, before he had been a year on the throne, heard that Kildare was plotting against him. From what happened later, it is likely that such a report would not have been without foundation. Perhaps there was some evidence of his complicity in Lord Lovel's abortive insurrection, and it is highly probable that he was a party to the plot which the d.u.c.h.ess of Burgundy was hatching against the King of England.[49] Except on the supposition that he had already been admitted to the conspirator's confidence, it is hard to see how Kildare can have received Lambert Simnel and his promoter, a young and undistinguished priest, without hesitation or inquiry. There was no Lancastrian party in Dublin, and Henry's politic exhibition of the real Earl of Warwick had no effect upon men who were determined to accept the counterfeit. In common with almost every temporal grandee, the Archbishop of Dublin and the Bishops of Meath and Kildare espoused the pretender's cause; but Octavian, Archbishop of Armagh, a Florentine, and well informed, remained firm, and was supported by the Bishop of Clogher.

Henry afterwards asked the Pope to excommunicate the prelates who had favoured the pretender, and it is remarkable that he mentions the Archbishop of Armagh as one of them. Among the temporal peers, Lord Howth had the sense to see that Henry would be victorious, and he kept him well informed of all that went on in Ireland.[50]

[Sidenote: Simnel is crowned King.]

Simnel remained in Ireland, and published acts were done in his name as King until the arrival of Lincoln and Lovel, with Martin Swart, an experienced German leader, and 2,000 veterans of his nation, sent by Margaret of Burgundy. Lambert was crowned in Christ Church with a diadem borrowed for the occasion from a statue of the Virgin, and was shown to the people borne aloft on the shoulders of Darcy of Platten, the tallest man of his time--details which bespeak the poverty of the country. A coronation sermon was preached by the Bishop of Meath.[51]

Kildare ordered the citizens of Waterford to join him with all their forces, but the mayor, who was a Butler, filled the town with the va.s.sals of the House of Ormonde, and the clans depending on it, and returned for answer that they held all as traitors who had taken any part in the mock coronation. Kildare hanged the poor groom who had brought this message, an act of barbarity with which the Archbishop was much offended, and then repeated his summons. The herald, who bore the Geraldine arms on his tabard, was refused admission to Waterford, and summoned the citizens from a boat, ordering them instantly to proclaim King Edward VI. on pain of being hanged at their own doors. With becoming spirit the chief magistrate replied, that they would not give the Earl so much trouble, that they looked on all his partisans as traitors, and that they were ready to give him battle thirty miles away. Kilkenny, Clonmel, Callan, Fethard, and other towns followed the example of Waterford.[52]

[Sidenote: Battle of Stoke, 1487.]

There was some division of opinion between the partisans of Simnel as to whether England should be immediately invaded. Two reasons in favour of this course prevailed over those for establishing a separate government in Ireland. The country was too poor to support 2,000 German mercenaries, and the Irish followers of Kildare, who cared little for either rose, promised themselves much pleasure from fighting and plundering in hated England. Accordingly, just a month after the mock coronation, Lambert and his friends left Dublin and landed at Foudray in Lancashire, where they were joined by Sir Thomas Broughton and some of his tenants. 'But their s...o...b..ll,' in Bacon's phrase, 'did not gather as they went,' and they advanced as far as Newark without materially increasing their force. The popularity which Henry had gained during his late stay at York, and the general pardon which he had given, went far to break up the Yorkist party in the North, 'and it was an odious thing to Englishmen to have a King brought in to them upon the shoulders of Irish and Dutch.' At Stoke, the pretender's motley host came into collision with the far more numerous royal army. The Germans fought well, and so did their few English allies; 'neither did the Irish fail in courage or fierceness, but being almost naked men, only armed with darts and skeans, it was rather an execution than a fight upon them.' At least 4,000 of the pseudo-Yorkists fell, including Martin Swart, the Earl of Lincoln, and Kildare's brother, the Irish Chancellor, Thomas Fitzgerald. Lord Lovel and Sir Thomas Broughton may have escaped for a time, but they were never heard of again. It appears from a pa.s.sage in the 'Annals of Ulster,' where Henry VII. is contemptuously mentioned as 'the son of a Welshman,' that the native Irish believed Simnel to be what he pretended to be--the last prince of the blood royal.[53]

[Sidenote: Loyalty of Waterford.]

The loyalty of Waterford deserved special thanks, and Henry sent a letter to the mayor and citizens, in which he expressed his hearty grat.i.tude. To show his perfect confidence he commanded them to pursue and hara.s.s the Earl of Kildare and the citizens of Dublin, both by sea and land. The trade of the Irish capital was placed at their mercy, and they were exhorted not to desist from hostilities until 'our rebel, the Earl of Kildare,'--who was also our Deputy--and his Dublin allies were brought to due obedience. Kildare sent messengers to England to make his peace, and the citizens of Dublin did likewise. 'We were daunted,' said the latter plausibly enough, 'to see not only the chief governor, whom your Highness made ruler over us, to bend or bow to that idol whom they made us to obey, but also our Father of Dublin, and most of the clergy of the nation.' After some hesitation, Henry resolved to pardon all the Irish conspirators, and even allowed Kildare to remain in the office of Deputy.

In return for their pardons the n.o.bility were required to take the oath of allegiance; and to secure its proper administration the King resolved to send a special commissioner to Ireland. Sir Richard Edgcombe, Controller of the Household, whom he had already employed on a diplomatic mission to Scotland, was the person chosen for this delicate duty.[54]

[Sidenote: Mission of Sir Richard Edgcombe, 1488.]

Sir Richard sailed from Fowey with a squadron of four vessels containing 500 men; and having tried in vain among the Scilly Islands and in the Bristol Channel to surprise certain pirates who infested those seas, he reached Kinsale on the fifth day, where he again failed to apprehend a notable pirate. Lord Barry Oge came on board to take the oath of allegiance. Edgcombe then landed, was met by Lord Courcy and the townsmen of Kinsale, received the keys of the town, and administered the oath to all persons of importance. Having granted a royal pardon, he sailed for Waterford, where he was loyally welcomed. Hearing that he had brought a pardon for Kildare, the citizens reminded him that the Earl was their bitterest enemy, and begged to be exempted from any jurisdiction which he or any other Irish lord might claim as Deputy. Sir Richard promised to advance the interests of Waterford at Court, and then went on to Dublin.

Kildare kept the royal commissioner waiting for eight days, during part of which time he was entertained at Malahide, by a lady of the Talbot family. At last the Earl came to Thomas Court with 200 horse, and sent the Bishop of Meath and the Baron of Slane to conduct Sir Richard thither. On entering the room Edgcombe made no bow to the Lord Deputy, but bluntly delivered the King's letters. Five days more were given for the rest of the lords to make an appearance, and Kildare retired to Maynooth to digest the letters and verbal messages. On the fourth day Sir Richard came by pressing invitation to Maynooth, and the Earl promised that he would do everything required of him; but he continued to interpose delays in coming to any official decision. Sharply reprimanded by the royal commissioner, the lords at last agreed to take the oath of allegiance; but refused to enter into recognisances for the forfeiture of their estates in case they should again lapse from their duty, plainly declaring that they would rather become Irishmen, every one of them. With an oath of allegiance Sir Richard was fain to be content, and he drew one in very stringent form, Henry being specially described as the 'natural and right-wise' King of England. To prevent tricks, the host, upon which the oath was taken, was consecrated by Edgcombe's own chaplain. The n.o.bility present, and the princ.i.p.al ecclesiastical dignitaries about Dublin, were sworn or did homage, and particularly bound themselves to support and execute the censures of the Church, as p.r.o.nounced by the Bull of Innocent VIII. upon those who should rebel against the King of England. In that instrument the Pope had declared his belief that the Crown belonged to Henry by inheritance, by conquest, and by election, independently of, and in addition to his claim in right of Elizabeth of York. Among the commoners whom it was thought necessary to swear specially was Darcy of Platten, the tall man who had borne Lambert on his shoulders. The civic authorities of Dublin, Drogheda, and Trim, having been sworn before him in their own towns, Sir Richard embarked at Dalkey on the thirty-fourth day after his arrival at Kinsale. Of all Simnel's partisans, Keating, Prior of Kilmainham, was the only one who did not receive a pardon.[55]

[Sidenote: The Irish n.o.bility summoned to England, 1489.]

Kildare sent the Bishop of Meath to England to watch his interests, and Octavian also sent an agent to procure for him the custody of the Great Seal. The Primate complained that Kildare, despite his recent oath, had begun plotting against him before Edgcombe had reached the English sh.o.r.e.

'I know,' he said, 'for certain that if the said Earl of Kildare obtains the government of Ireland by royal authority, and has the Chancellor of Ireland also at his back, that I have no hope of quiet in Ireland.' Henry did not give the seal to the Archbishop, but he summoned all the Irish n.o.bility to Court; and all obeyed except Desmond and Fitzmaurice of Kerry. 'My masters of Ireland,' said the King, when giving them audience, 'you will crown apes at length.' Afterwards at dinner he gave point to this remark by ordering Lambert Simnel to hand wine to those who had so lately crowned him King. 'None would have taken the cup out of his hand, but bade the great devil of h.e.l.l him take, before that ever they saw him.' 'Bring me the cup if the wine be good,' said the Lord of Howth, being a merry gentleman, 'and I shall drink it off for the wine's sake, and mine own sake also, and for thee, as thou art, so I leave thee, a poor innocent.' Henry kept the lords at Court long enough for them to feel the expense burdensome, and then despatched them, making Lord Howth, who had alone remained loyal, a present of 300_l._ in gold, and the robe which he wore at the reception. Some of the others had expected little less than the axe for their reward.[56]

[Sidenote: Kildare Deputy till 1492. Butlers and Geraldines.]