Henry 7. For albeit in the time of King Henry 6. Richard duke of York a Prince of the blood of great wisedome and valour and heir to a third part of the Kingdome at least being Earle of Vlster and Lord of Conaght and Meth was sent the Kinges Lieutenant into Ireland to recouer and reforme that Realme where he was resident in person for the greatest part of 10. yeares yet the troth is he aymed at another marke which was the Crown of England And therefore he thought it no pollicy to distast either the English or Irish by a course of reformation but sought by all meanes to please them and by popular courses to steale away their hearts to the end hee might strengthen his party when he should set on foot his Title as is before declared Which policy of his tooke such effect as that he drew ouer with him into England the Flower of all the English Colonies specially of Vlster and Meth whereof many Noblemen and Gentlemen were slain with him at wakefield as is likewise before remembred And after his Death when the warres between the Houses were in their heat almost al the good English bloud which was left in Ireland was spent in those ciuill dissentions so as the Irish became victorious ouer all without Bloud or Sweat Only that little Canton of Lande called the English Pale containing 4. small Shires did maintain a bordering war with the Irish and retaine the forme of English Gouernment But out of that little Precinct there were no Lordes Knights or Burgesses summoned to the Parliament neither did the Kings Writt run in anie other part of the kingdome and yet vpon the Marches Borders which at that time were growne so large as they tooke vp halfe Dublin half Meth and a third part of Kildare and Lowth there was no law in vse but the MarchLawe which in the Statutes of Kilkenny is said to be no Law but a leud Custome So as vpon the end of these ciuill warres in England the English Law Gouernment was well banisht out of Ireland so as no foot-steppe or print was left of any former Reformation THen did King Henry 7. send ouer Sir Edward Poynings to be his Depuputy a right worthy seruitor both in war and peace The principall end of his employment was to expel Perkin warbecke out of this kingdome but that seruice beeing perfourmed that worthy Deputy finding nothing but a common misery tooke the best course he possibly could to establish a Common-wealth in Ireland and to that end he held a Parliament no lesse famous then that of Kilkenny and more auaileable for the reformation of the whole Kingdome For whereas all wise men did euer concur in opinion that the readiest way to reform Ireland is to settle a forme of Ciuill Gouernment there conformable to that of England To bring this to passe Sir Edward Poynings did passe an Acte whereby all the Statutes made in England before that time were enacted established and made of force in Ireland Neither did he only respect the time past but prouided also for the time to come For he caused another Law to be made that no Act should be propounded in any Parliament of Ireland but such as should bee first transmitted into England and approued by the King and Counsell there as good and expedient for that Land and so returned backe againe vnder the Great Seale of England This Act though it seeme Prima facie to restrain the liberty of the subiects of Ireland yet was it made at the Prayer of the Commons vpon iust and important cause For the Gouernors of that realm specially such as were of that Contry Birth had layd many oppressions vpon the Commons and amongst the rest they had imposed Lawes vppon them not tending to the generall good but to serue priuate turnes and to strengthen their particular factions This moued them to referre all Lawes that were to be passed in Ireland to be considered corrected and allowed first by the State of England which had alwaies bin tender carefull of the good of this people and had long since made them a Ciuill Rich and Happy Nation if their own Lords and Gouernors there had not sent bad intelligence into England Besides this he took special order that the summons of Parliament should go into all the shires of Ireland and not to the foure shires only and for that cause specially hee caused all the Acts of a Parliament lately before holden by the Viscount of Gormanston to be repealed and made voide Moreouer that the Parliamentes of Ireland might want no desent or honorable forme that was vsed in England he caused a particular Act to passe that the Lords of Ireland should appeare in the like Parliament Robes as the English Lords are wont to weare in the Parliaments of England Hauing thus established all the statutes of England in Ireland and set in order the great Counsell of that Realme he did not omit to passe other Lawes aswell for the encrease of the Kings Reuennue as the preseruation of the publick peace To aduaunce the profites of the Crown First he obtained a subsidy of 26. s. 8. d. out of euery sixe score Acres manured payable yearely for 5. years Next he resumed al the Crown land which had been aliened for the most part by Richard Duke of Yorke lastly he procured a subsidy of Pondage out of all Merchandizes imported exported to be granted to the Crown in perpetuity To preserue the publicke peace he reuiued the statutes of Kilkenny He made wilfull murther High-Treason he caused the Marchers to book their men for whom they should answere and restrained the making Warre or peace without speciall Commission from the State These Lawes and others as important as these for the making of a commonwealth in Ireland wer made in the Gouernment of Sir Edward Poynings But these Lawes did not spread their Vertue beyonde the English Pale though they were made generally for the whole Kingdome For the Prouinces without the Pale which during the warre of Yorke and Lancaster had wholly cast off the English Gouernement were not apt to receyue this seed of reformation because they were not first broken and maistered againe with the sword Besides the Irish Countreyes which contained two third parts of the Kingdome were not reduced to Shire-Ground so as in thē the Lawes of England could not possibly be put in execution Therefore these good Laws prouisions made by Sir Edward Poynings were like good Lessons set for a Lute that is broken and out of tune of which Lessons little vse can be made till the Lute bee made fit to be plaid vpon And that the execution of al these Lawes had no greater Latitude then the Pale is manifest by the Statute of 13. of Henry 8. c. 3. which reciteth that at that time the Kings Lawes were obeyed and executed in the four shires onely and yet then was the Earle of Surrey Lieutenant of
allegiance of al the Nobility Gentry and Cittizens of this kingdom which sernice he performed fully and made an exact returne of his Commission to the King And immediately after that the King sent for all the Lordes of Parliament in this realme who repayring to his presence were first in a Kingly manner reprooued by him for among other things he told them that if their King were still absent frō them they would at length Crowne Apes but at last entertained them and dismissed them graciously This course of clemency hee held at first But after when Perkin warbecke who was set vp and followed chiefely by the Giraldines in Leinster and the Cittizens of Corke in Mounster to suppresse this counterfaite the King sent ouer Sir Edward Poynings with an Army as the Histories call it which did not consist of a thousand men by the Pol and yet it brought such terrour with it as all the Adherents of Perkin warbecke were scattered and retyred for succour into the Irish Countries to the Marches whereof hee marched with his weake forces but eft-soones returned held a Parliament Wherin among many good Lawes one Act was made That no subiect shold make any warre or peace within the Land without the speciall License of the Kings Lieutenant or Deputie A manifest argument that at that time the bordering Warres in this kingdome were made altogether by Voluntaries vpon their own head without any pay or entertainement and without any Order or Commission from the State And though the Lords and Gentlemen of the Pale in the 19. yeare of this Kings raigne ioyned the famous battel of Knocktow in Conaght wherein Mac william with 4000. of the Irish and degenerat English were slaine yet was not this iourny made by warrant from the King or vppon his charge as it is expressed in the Booke of Howth but only vpon a pri◅ quarrell of the Earle of Kildare so loosely were the martiall affaires of Ireland carried during the raigne of King Henry the seuenth IN the time of King Henry the eight the Earle of Surrey Lorde Admirall was made Lieutenant and though he were the greatest Captain of the English Nation the liuing yet broght he with him rather an honorable Guard for his person then a competent armie to recouer Ireland For he had in his retinue 200. tall Yeomen of the Kings Guard But because hee wanted meanes to performe any great action hee made meanes to returne the sooner yet in the meane time he was not ydle but passed the short time he spent heere in holding a Parliament and diuers iournies against the Rebels of Leinster insomuch as he was hurt in his own person vpon the borders of Leix After the reuocation of this honourable personage King Henry the eight sent no forces into Ireland till the rebellion of the Giraldines which hapned in the 27. year of his raigne Then sent he ouer Sir william Skeuington with fiue hundred men onely to quench that fire and not to enlarge the border or to rectifie the Gouernment This Deputy dyed in the midst of the seruice so as the Lord Leonard Gray was sent to finish it who arriuing with a supply of 200. men or thereabouts did so prosecute the Rebels as the Lord Garret their Chiefetaine and his fiue Vnckles submitted them-selues vnto him and were by him transmitted into England But this seruice being ended that actiue Nobleman with his litle army and some ayds of the Pale did oftentimes repell O Neale and O Donel attempting the inuasion of the Ciuill Shires and at last made that prosperous sight at Belahoo on the Confines of Meth the memory whereof is yet famous as that he defeated well-nie all the power of the North so quieted the border for many yeares Hitherto then it is manifest that since the last transfretation of King Richard the second the Crowne of England neuer sent ouer either numbers of men or quantities of treasure sufficient to defend the small Territory of the Pale much lesse to reduce that which was lost or to finish the Conquest of the whole Island After this Sir Anthony S. Leger was made chiefe Gouernor who performed great seruice in a ciuill course as shall be expressed heereafter But Sir Edward Bellingham who succeeded him proceeded in a Martiall course against the Irishry and was the first Deputy from the time of K. Edward the third till the raign of king Edward the sixt that extended the border beyond the limits of the English Pale by beating and breaking the Moores and Connors and building the Forts of Leix and Offaly This seruice he performed with sixe hundered horse the monthly charge whereof did arise to 770. li. And 400. foote whose pay did amount to 446. li. per mensem as apeareth vpon the Treasurers accompt remaining in the Office of the Kinges Remembrauncer in England Yet were not these Countries so fully recouered by this Deputy but that Thomas Earl of Sussex did put the last hand to this worke and rooting out these two rebellious Septs planted English Colonies in their roomes which in all the tumultuous times since haue kept their Habitations their Loyalty and Religion And now are we come to the time of Queene ELIZABETH who sent ouer more men and spent more treasure to saue and reduce the Lande of Ireland then all her progenitors since the Conquest DVring her raign there arose three notorious and maine Rebellions which drewe seuerall armies out of England The first of Shane O Neale the second of Desmond the last of Tyrone for the particular insurrections of the Vicount Baltinglasse and Sir Edmund Butler the Moores the Cauanaghes the Birnes and the Bourkes of Conaght were all suppressed by the standing forces heere To subdue Shane O Neal in the hight of his rebellion in the yeare 1566. Captaine Randal transported a Regiment of 1000. men into Vlster planted a Garrison at Loughfoile Before the comming of which supply viz in the yeare 1565. the List of the standing army of horse and foot English and Irish did not exceed the number of 1200. men as appeareth by the Treasurers accompt of Ireland now remaining in the Exchequer of Eng land With these forces did Sir Henry Sidney then Lord Deputy march into the farthest parts of Tirone and ioyning with Captaine Randal did much distresse but not fully defeate O Neale who was afterwards slain vpon a meere accident by the Scottes and not by the Queenes army TO proseeute the Warres in Munster against Desmond and his Adherents there were transmitted out of England at seuerall times three or four thousand men which together with the standing Carrisons and some other supplies raised heere made at one time an army of six thousand vpwards which with the Vertue and lour of Arthur Lorde Gray and others the Commanders did proue a sufficient power to extinguish that rebellion But that
Ireland a Gouernor much feared of the Kings Enemies and exceedingly honored and beloued of the Kings subiects And the instructions giuen by the state of Ireland to Iohn Allen Maister of the Rols employed into England neere about the same time doe declare as much wherein among other things hee is required to aduertise the King that his Land of Ireland was so much decayed as that the Kings Lawes were not obeyed twenty miles in compas Whereupon grew that By-word vsed by the Irish viz That they dwelt By-west the Law which dwelt beyond the Riuer of the Barrow which is within 30. Miles of Dublin The same is testified by Baron Finglas in his Discourse of the decay of Ireland which hee wrote about the 20. yeare of King Henry 8. And thus we see the effect of the Reformation which was intended by Sir Edward Poynings THE next Attempt of Reformation was made in the 28. yeare of King Henry 8. by the Lorde Leonard Gray who was created Viscount of Garny in this Kingdome and helde a Parliament wherein many excellent Lawes were made But to prepare the mindes of the people to obey these Lawes he began first with a Martiall course For being sent ouer to suppresse the Rebellion of the Giraldines which he performed in few months he afterwards made a victorious Circuit round about the Kingdome beginning in Offaly against O Connor who had ayded the Giralà ines in their Rebellion and from thence passing along through all the Irish Countries in Leinster and so into Mounster wher hee tooke pledges of the degenerate Earle of Desmond and thence into Conaght and thence into Vlster then concluded this warlicke Progresse with the Battell of Belahoo in the Borders of Meth as is before remembred The principall Septs of the Irishry beeing all terrified and most of them broken in this iourney manie of their chiefe Lords vppon this Deputies returne came to Dublin and made their submissions to the crown of England Namely the O Neales O Relies of Vlster Mac Murrogh O Birne and O Carrol of Leinster and the Bourks of Conaght This preparation being made he first propounded and passed in Parlament these Lawes which made the great alteration in the State Ecclesiastical Namely the Act which declared King Henry the eight to bee supreame Head of the Church of Ireland The Act probibiting Apeales to the church of Rome the Act for first fruites and twentith part to be paid to the King the Act for Faculties and Dispensations And lastly the Act that did vtterly abolish the vsurped Authoritie of the Pope Next for the encrease of the Kings Reuennew By one Act he suppressed sundry Abbeyes and Religious Houses and by another Acte resumed the Lands of the Absentees as is before remembred And for the Ciuill Gouernment a speciall Statute was made to abolish the Black-Rents and tributes exacted by the Irish vpon the English Colonies and another Law enacted that the English Apparrell Language manner of liuing should bee vsed by all such as would acknoledge themselues the Kings Subiects This Parliament being ended the Lord Leonard Gray was suddenly reuokt and put to death in England so as hee liued not to finish the woorke of Reformation which he had begun which notwithstanding was well pursued by his successors Sir Anthony Saint-Leger Vnto whom all the Lords and Chiefetanes of the Irishry and of the degenerate English throughout the Kingdome made their seueral submissions by Indenture which was the fourth general submission of the Irish made since the first attempt of the Conquest of Ireland whereof the first was made to King Henry 2. the second to k. Iohn the third to K. Richard 2. and his last to Sir Anthony Saint-Leger in 33. of Hen. 8. IN these Indentures of submission all the Irish Lords do acknowledge K. Henry the eight to be their Soueraign Lord and King and desire to bee accepted of him as subiects They confesse the Kings supremacy in all causes do vtterly renounce the Popes Jurisdiction which I conceiue to bee worth the noting because when the Irish had once resolued to obey the king they made no scruple to renounce the Pope And this was not only done by the meere Irish but the chiefe of the degenerate English Families did perfourme the same as Desmond Barry and Roche in Mounster and the Bourkes which bore the Title of Mac william in Conaght These submissions being thus taken the Lorde Deputy and Counsell for the present Gouernment of those Irish Countries made certaine Ordinances of state not agreeable altogither with the Rules of the Law of England the reason whereof is exprest in the preamble of those Ordinances Quia nondum sic sapiunt leges Iura vt secundū ea iam immediatè viuere regipossint The chiefe points or Articles of which Orders registred in the Counsel Booke are these That King Henrie the eight shold be accepted reputed and named King of Ireland by all the Inhabitants of the Kingdome that al Archbishops and Bishops should bee permitted to exercise their Iurisdiction in euery Diocesse throughout the Land that tithes should be duely set out and paide that Children should not be admitted to Benefices that for euery Manslaughter and theft aboue 14 d committed in the Irish Contries the offender shold pay a fine of 40. li. twenty pound to the King and 20. li. to the Captaine of the Country and for euery thefte vnder 14. d. a fine of fiue markes should be paid 46. s. viij d to the Captaine and 20. s. to the Tanister That Horsemen and Kearn shold not be imposed vppon the Common people to beefed and maintained by them That the Maister shold answer for his seruants and the Father for his Children That Cuttinges should not be made by the Lorde vppon his Tenants to maintaine war with his neighbors but only to beare his necessary expences c. These ordinances of state being made and published there were nominated and appointed in euery prouince certaine Orderers or Arbitraters who instead of these Irish Erehons should heare and determine all their Controuersies In Conaght the Arch-Bishop of Tuam the Bishop of Clonfert Captaine wakeley and Captaine Ouington In Munster the Bishop of VVaterford the Bishop of Corke and Rosse the Maior of Corke and Maior of Yough-hall In Vlster the Archbishop of Ardmagh the Lord of Lowth And if any difference did arise which they could not end either for the difficultie of the cause or for the obstinacy of the parties they were to certifie the Lord Deputy and Counsell who would decide the matter by their authority Heereuppon the Irish Captaines of lesser Territories which had euer bin oppressed by the greater mightier some with Risings out others with Bonaght and others with Cuttings and spendings at pleasure did appeale for Iustice to the Lorde Deputy who vpon hearing their Complaints did alwayes order that they should all imediatly depend vpon the King and
that the weaker should haue no dependancy vpon the stronger Lastly he preuailed so much with the greatest of them Namely O Neale O Brien and Mac william as that they willingly did passe into England and presented themselus to the king who thereuppon was pleased to aduance them to the degree and honor of Earles to grant vnto them their seuerall Contries by Letters patents Besides that they might learne Obedience and Ciuility of maners by often repairing vnto the State the K. vpon the motion of the same Deputy gaue each of them a house and Lands neere Dublin for the entertainement of their seuerall traines This course did this Gouernour take to reforme the Irishry but withall he did not omit to aduance both the honor and profit of the King For in the Parliament which he helde the 33. of Henry 8. hee caused an Acte to passe which gaue vnto K. Henry 8. his heyres and successors the name stile and Title of King of Ireland whereas before that time the Kings of England were stiled but Lords of Ireland albeit indeed they were absolute Monarks thereof and had in right all Royall Imperial Iurisdiction power there as they had in the Realm of England And yet because in the vulgar conceit the name of King is higher then the name of Lorde Assuredly the assuming of this title hath not a litle raysed the soueraignty of the K. of England in the minds of this people Lastly this Deputy brought a great augmentation to the Kings Reuenue by dissoluing of all the Monasteries and Religious Houses in Ireland which was done in the same Parliament afterward by procuring Min and Cauendish two skilfull Auditours to bee sent ouer out of England Who tooke an exact suruey of all the possessions of the Crowne and brought manie things into charge which had beene concealed and substracted for manie years before And thus far did Sir Anthony Saint-Leger proceed in the course of Reformation which though it wer a good beginning yet was it far from reducing Ireland to the perfect Obedience of the Crown of England For all this while the Prouinces of Conaght and Vlster and a good parte of Leinster were not reduced to Shire-Ground And though Mounster were anciently diuided into Counties the people were so degenerate as no Iustice of Assise durst execute his Commission amongst them None of the Irish Lords or Tenants were setled in their possessions by any Graunt or Confirmation from the Crowne except the three great Earles before named who notwithstanding did gouern their Tenants and Followers by the Irish or Brehon Law so as no treason murther rape or theft committed in those Countries was inquired of or punisht by the Law of England and consequently no Escheat Forfeiture or Fine no Reuenue certain or casuall did acrew to the Crowne out of those Prouinces The next worthy Gouernor that endeuoured to aduaunce this Reformation was Thomas Earle of Sussex who hauing throughly broken and subdued the two most rebellious and powerful Irish Septs in Leinster namely the Moores O Connors possessing the territories of Leix Offaly did by Act of Parliament 3. 4. Phil. Mariae reduce those Countries into two seuerall Counties naming the one the Kinges and the other the Queenes County which were the first two Counties that had beene made in this Kingdome since the twelfth yeare of King Iohn at what time the Territories thē possessed by the English Colonies were reduced into 12. Shires as is before expressed This Noble Earle hauing thus extended the Iurisdiction of the English Lawe into two Counties more was not satisfied with that addition but took a resolution to diuide all the rest of the Irish Countries vnreduced into seuerall Shires and to that end he caused an Act to passe in the same Parliament authorising the Lord Chancellour from time to time to award Commissions to such persons as the Lord Deputy should nominate and appoint to viewe and perambulate those Irish territories and thereupon to diuide and limit the same into such and so many seuerall Counties as they should thinke meete which beeing certified to the Lord Deputy and approued by him should bee returned and enrolled in the Chancery and from thenceforth be of like force and effect as if it were doone by Act of Parliament Thus did the Earle of Sussex lay open a passage for the Ciuill gouernment into the vnreformed partes of this Kingdome but himselfe proceeded no further then is before declared HOwbeit afterwardes during the raigne of Queen Elizabeth Sir Henry Sidney who hath left behinde him many Monuments of a good Gouernour in this Land did not onely pursue that course which the Earle of Sussex began in reducing the Irish Countries into Shires and placing therein Sheriffes and other Ministers of the Law for first hee made the Annaly a Territory in Leynster possessed by the Sept of Offerralles one entire Shire by it selfe and called it the County of Longford and after that he diuided the whole Prouince of Conaght into sixe Counties more namely Clare which containeth all Thomond Gallaway Sligo Mayo Roscomon and Leytrim But he also had caused diuers good Lawes to be made performed sundry other seruices tending greatly to the reformation of this Kingdome For first to diminish the greatnesse of the Irish Lordes and to take from them the dependancy of the Common people in the Parliament which he held 11. Eliz. Hee did abolish their pretended and vsurped Captain-ships and all exactions and extortions incident thereunto Next to settle their Seigniories possessions in a course of Inheritance according to the course of the Common Law he caused an Act to passe whereby the Lord Deputy was authorised to accept their Surrenders and to re-grant estates vnto them to hold of the Crown by English tenures and seruices Againe because the Inferior sort were loose and poore and not amesnable to the Law hee prouided by another Act that fiue of the best eldest persons of euery Sept should bring in all the idle persons of their sur-name to be iustified by the Law Moreouer to giue a ciuill education to the Youth of this Land in the time to come prouision was made by another Law that there should bee one Free-schoole at least erected in euery Diocesse of the Kingdom And lastly to invre and acquaint the people of Mounster and Conaght with the English Gouernment againe which had not been in vse among them for the space of 200. yeares before hee instituted two Presidency Courtes in those two Prouinces placing Sir Edward Fitton in Conaght and Sir Iohn Perrot in Mounster To augment the Kings Reuennew in the same Parliament vppon the attainder of Shane O Neale hee resumed vested in the Crowne more then halfe the Prouince of Vlster He raised the Customes vpon the principall cōmodities of the Kingdome He reformed the abuses of the Exchequer by many good orders and instructions sent out of England and lastly he
the Sea-coasts of Leinster and Mounster drew ouer the King in person the next year after cum quingentis Militihus as Giraldus Cnmbrensis reporteth who was present in Ireland at that time Which if they were but fiue hundered souldiers seemeth too smal a traine for so great a Prince But admit they wer fiue hundred knights yet because in those dayes euery Knight was not a Commaunder of a Regiment or Company but most of them serued as priuate men sometimes a hundered Knightes vnder a Speare as appeareth by the Lists of the ancient armies we cannot coniecture his army to haue beene so great as might suffice to conquer all Ireland being diuided into so many Principalities and hauing so manie Hydraes heads as it had at that time For albeit Tacitus in the life of Agricola doth report that Agricola hauing subdued the greatest part of Great Britaine did signifie to the Senat of Rome that he thought Ireland might also be conquered with one Legion and a few ayds I make no doubt but that if he had attempted the conquest thereof with a farre greater army he would haue found himselfe deceiued in his coniecture For a Barbarous Country is not so easily conquered as a Ciuill where of Caesar had experience in his warres against the Gaules Germaines and Britaines who were subdued to the Roman Empire with farre greater difficulty then the rich kingdoms of Asia And againe a Countrey possessed with many pettie Lordes and States is not so soone brought vnder entirely as an entire Kingdome Gouerned by one Prince or Monarch And therefore the late King of Spaine could sooner win the Kingdome of Portugall then reduce the States of the Low-Countries BVt let vs see the successe of King Henrie the second doubtlesse his expedition was such as he might haue said with Caesar veni vidi vici For vpon his first arriuall his very Presence without drawing his sword preuailed so much as al the Petty-Kings or Great Lords within Leinster Conaght and Mounster submitted themselues vnto him promised to pay him tribute acknowledged him their chiefe and Soueraigne Lord. Besides the better to assure this inconstant Sea-Nimph who was so easily wonne the Pope would needs giue her vnto him with a Ring Coniugio iungam stabili propriamque dicabo But as the Conquest was but slight and superficiall so the Popes Donation and the Irish Submissions were but weake and fickle assurances For as the Pope had no more interrest in this kingdome then He which offered to Christ all the kingdomes of the earth so the Irish pretend That by their Law a Tanist might do no Act that might bind his successor But this was the best assurance hee could get from so many strong Nations of people with so weake a power and yet he was so well pleased with this title of the Lordship of Ireland as he placed it in his Royall Stile before the Dutchies of Normandy Aquitaine And so being aduertised of somestirs raised by his vnnatural sonnes in England within fiue months after his first arriuall hee departed out of Ireland without striking one blow or building one Castle or planting one Garrison among the Irish neither left he behinde him one true subiect more then those he found there at his comming ouer which were onely the English Aduenturers spoken of before who had gained the Port Townes in Leinster and Mounster and possessed some scopes of land thereunto adioyning partly by Strongbowes alliaunce with the Lord of Leinster and partly by plaine inuasion and Conquest And this is that Conquest of King Henry the second so much spoken of by so many Writers which though it were in no other manner then is before expressed yet is the entire Conquest of all Ireland attributed vnto him But the troth is the conquest of Ireland was made peece and peece by slow steppes and degrees and by seuerall attempts in seuerall ages There were sundry reuolutions as well of the English fortunes as of the Irish some-whiles one preuailing somewhiles the other and it was neuer brought to a full period till his Maiesty that now is came to the Crowne As for King Henry the second hee was farre from obtaining that Monarchy Royall and true Soueraignetie which his Maiesty who nowe raigneth hath ouer the Irish. For the Irish Lords did onely promise to become Tributaries to King Henry the second And such as pay onely Tribute though they bee placed by Bodin in the first degree of Subiection are not properlie Subiects but Soueraignes For though they bee lesse and inferiour vnto the Prince to whom they pay Tribute yet they hold all other pointes of Soueraignty and hauing paide their Tribute which they promised to haue their peace they are quit of all other duties as the same Bodin writeth And therefore though King Henry the second had the title of Soueraigne Lorde ouer the Irish yet did he not put those thinges in execution which are the true markes and differences of Soueraignty For to giue Lawes vnto a people to institute Magistrats and Officers ouer them to punish and pardon Malefactors to haue the sole authority of making warre and peace and the like are the true markes of Soueraignetie which King Henry the second had not in the Irish Countreyes but the Irish Lords did still retaine all these prerogatiues to themselues For they gouerned their people by the Brehon Law they made their owne Magistrates and Officers they pardoned and punnished all Malefactours within their seuerall Countries they made warre and peace one with another without controulment and this they did not onely during the raigne of King Henry the second but afterwardes in all times euen vntill the Raigne of Queen Elizabeth And it appeareth what maner of subiects these Irish Lords were by the Concorde made betweene K. Henrie the second and Rodericke ô Connor the Irish King of Conaght in the yeare 1175. which is recorded by Houeden in this forme Hic est finis Concordia inter Dominū regem Angliae Henricū filiū Imperatricis Rodoricum Regem Conactae scilicet quod Rex c. Angliae concessit praedict Roderico Ligeo hominisuo vt sit Rex sub eo paratus ad seruitium suum vt homo suus c. And the Commission whereby King Henry the second made VVilliam Fitz-Adelme his Lieutenant of Ireland hath this direction Archiepiscopis Episcopis Regibus Comitibus Baronibus omnibus fidelibus suis in Hibernia Salutem Whereby it is manifest that hee gaue those Irish Lords the Title and stile of Kinges King Iohn likewise did grant diuers Charters to the King of Conaght which remaine in the Tower of London And afterwards in the time of King Henrie the third wee finde in the Tower a graunt made to the King of Thomond in these words Rex Regi Tosmond salutem Concessimus vobis terram Tosmond quam prius tenuistis per firmam centum triginta marcarum Tenendum de
imprisoned iudged as a Traitor And that heerafter there be no diuersity of ligeance betweene the English borne in Ireland and the English borne in England but that all bee called and reputed English and the Lieges of our Soueraigne Lord the KING c. This Law was made only to reforme the degenerat English but there was no care taken for the reformation of the meer Irish no ordinance no prouision made for the abolishing of their barbarous Customes and manners Insomuch as the Law then made for Apparrell and riding in Saddles after the English fashion is penal only to English men not to the Irish. But the Romaine State which conquered so many Nations both barbarous and Ciuill and therefore knewe by experience the best and readiest way of making a perfect absolute conquest refused not to communicate their Lawes to the rude barbarous people whom they had Conquered neither did they put them out of their protection after they had once submitted themselues But contrarywise it is said of Iulius Caesar Qua vicit victos protegit ille manu And againe of another Emperor Fecisti patriam diuersis gentibus vnam Profuit invitis te dominante capi Dumque offers victis proprij consortia Iuris vrbem fecisti quod priùs orbis erat And of Rome it selfe Haec est in gremium victos quae sola recepit Humanumque genus communinomine fouit Matris non dominae ritu Ciuesque vocavit Quos domuit nexuque pio longinqua reuinxit Therefore as Tacitus writeth Iulius Agricola the Romaine Generall in Brittany vsed this pollicy to make a perfect Conquest of our Ancestours the ancient Brittaines They were sayth he rude and dispersed and therfore prone vpon euery occasion to make warre but to induce them by pleasure to quietnesse and rest he exhorted them in priuate and gaue them helpes in common to builde Temples Houses and places of publique resort The Noblemens sonnes hee tooke and instructed in the Liberall Sciences c. preferring the wits of the Brittaines before the Students of France as beeing now curious to attaine the Eloquence of the Romaine Language whereas they lately reiected that speech After that the Roman Attire grew to be in account and the Gowne to be in vse among them and so by little and little they proceeded to curiosity delicacies in Buildings and furniture of Houshold in Bathes and exquisit Banquets and so beeing come to the heighth of Ciuility they were thereby brought to an absolute subiection LIkewise our Norman Conqueror though he oppressed the English Nobility very sore and gaue away to his seruitors the Lands and possessions of such as did oppose his first inuasion though he caused all his Actes of Counsel to be published in French and some legall proceedings pleadings to bee framed and vsed in the same tongue as a marke and badge of a conquest yet he gouerned Al both English and Normans by one the same Law which was the auncient common Law of England long before the Conquest Neither did he denie any English-man that submitted himselfe vnto him The benefit of that Law thogh it were againsta Norman of the best ranke and in greatest fauour as appeared in the notable Controuersie betweene VVarren the Norman and Sherburne of Sherburne Castle in Norfolke for the Conquerour had giuen that Castle to warren yet when the Inheritors thereof had alledged before the King that he neuer bore Armes against him that hee was his subiect aswell as the other that he did inherit and hold his Landes by the rules of that Law which the King had established among all his Subiects The King gaue iudgement against VVarren and commanded that Sherborn shold hold his land in peace By this meane him-selfe obtained a peaceable possession of the kingdom within few yeares whereas if he had cast all the English out of his protection and held them as Aliens and Enemies to the Crowne the Normans perhaps might haue spent as much time in the Conquest of England as the English haue spent in the Conquest of Ireland THE like prudent course hath bin obserued in reducing of Wales which was performed partly by King Edward the first and altogether finished by King Henry the eight For we finde by the Statute of Rutland made the 12. of Edward the first when the Welshmen had submitted themselus De alto Basso to that King he did not reiect and cast them off as Out-lawes and Enemies but caused their Lawes and Customes to be examined which were in many points agreeable to the Irish or Brehon Lawe Quibus diligenter audit is plenius intellectis quasdam illarū saieth the King in that Ordinance Consilio procerum dileuimus quasdam permissimus quasdam correximus ac etiā quasdam alias adijciendas et faciend de creuimus and so established a Commonwealth among them according to the forme of the English Gouernement After this by reason of the sundry insurrections of the Barons the Warres in France and the dissention betweene the houses of Yorke and Lancaster the State of England neglected or omitted the execution of this Statute of Rutland so as a great part of Wales grew wilde and barbarous again And therefore King Henrie the eight by the Statutes of the 27. and 32. of his raign did reuiue and recontinue that Noble worke begun by King Edward the first and brought it indeed to ful perfection For he vnited the Dominion of Wales to the Crown of England and deuided it into Shires and erected in euery Shire one Borough as in England and enabled them to send Knights Burgesses to the Parliament established a Court of Presidency and ordained that Iustices of Assise and Gaol-deliuerie should make their halfe yearly Circuits there as in England made all the Lawes Statutes of England in force there and among other Welsh Customes abolished that of Gauel-kinde wherby the Heyres-Females were vtterlie excluded and the Bastards did inherit aswel as the Legimate which is the very Irish Gauelkinde By means whereof that entire Country in a short time was securely setled in peace and Obedience and hath attained to that Ciuility of Manners and plentie of all things as now we finde it not inferiour to the best parts of England I will therefore knit vp this point with these conclusions First that the Kings of England which in former Ages attempted the Conquest of Ireland being ill aduised and counselled by the great men heere did not vpon the submissions of the Irish communicate their Lawes vnto them nor admit them to the state and condition of Free-subiectes Secondly that for the space of 200 yeares at least after the first arriual of Henry the secound in Ireland the Irish would gladly haue embraced the Lawes of England and did earnestly desire the benefite and protection thereof which being denied them did of necessitie cause a continuall bordering warre between the English and the Irish. And lastly if
established the composition of the Pale in liewe of Purueyance and Sesse of Souldiers These were good proceedinges in the worke of Reformation but there were many defects omissions withall for though he reduced all Conaght into Counties he neuer sent any Justices of Assize to visite that Prouince but placed Cōmissioners there who gouerned it onely in A course of discretion part Martiall and part Ciuill Againe in the Law that dooth abolish the Irish Captain-ships he gaue waie for the reuiuing thereof againe by excepting such as should be granted by Letters Patentes from the Crowne which exception did indeede take away the force of that Law For no gouernour during Queene Elizabeths raign did refuse to grant any of those Captain-ships to any pretended Irish Lord who would Desire and with his thankefulnesse Deserue the same And againe though the greatest part of Vlster were vested by Act of Parliament in the actuall and reall possession of the Crowne yet was there neuer any seisure made thereof nor any part thereof brought into charge but the Irish were permitted to take all the profits without rendering any dutie or acknowledgement for the same and though the Name of O Neale were damned by that act and the assuming thereof made High-treason yet after that was Tirlagh Leynnagh suffered to beare that Title and to intrude vpon the possessions of the Crown and yet was often entertained by the State with fauour Neither were these lands resumed by the Act of 11. of Elizabeth neglected onely for the Abbaies and religious Houses in Tirone Tirconnell and Fermannagh though they were dissolued in the 33. of Henry 8. were neuer surueied nor reduced into charge but were continually possest by the religious persons vntill his Maiestie that now is came to the Crowne and that which is more strāge the Donations of Byshopprickes being a flower of the Crowne which the Kings of England did euer retaine in all their Dominions when the Popes vsurped Authority was at the highest There were three Bishopprickes in Vlster namely Derry Rapho and Clogher which neither Queene Elizabeth nor any of her Progenitors did euer bestow though they were the vndoubted Patrons thereof So as King Iames was the first king of England that did euer supply those Sees with Byshops which is an argument eyther of great negligence or of great weaknesse in the State and Gouernours of those times And thus farre proceeded Sir Henry Sidney AFter him Sir Iohn Perrot who held the last Parliament in this Kingdome did aduance the Reformation in three principall points First in establishing the great composition of Conaght in which seruice the wisedome and industry of Sir Richard Bingham did concurre with him next in reducing the vnreformed partes of Vlster into seauen shires namely Ardmagh Monahan Tirone Coleraine Deuegall Fermannagh Cauan though in his time the Law was neuer executed in these new Counties by any Sheriffes or Iustices of Assize but the people left to be ruled still by their own barbarous Lords and Lawes And lastly by vesting in the Crowne the Lands of Desmond and his Adherents in Mounster and planting the same with English though that plantation were imperfect in many points AFter Sir Iohn Perrot Sir william Fitzwilliams did good seruice in two other points First in raising a composition in Mounster and then in setling the possessions both of the Lords and Tenantes in Monahan which was one of the last Acts of State tending to the reformation of the Ciuill Gouernment that was performed in the raigne of Queene ELIZABETH Thus we see by what degrees what pollicy and successe the Gouernors of this Land from time to time since the beginning of the raigne of King Edward 3. haue endeuored to reforme and reduce this people to the perfect obedience of the Crowne of England And we find that before the Ciuill Warres of Yorke and Lancaster they did chiefely endeuour to bring backe the degenerate English Colonies to their Duty and Allegeaunce not respecting the meer Irish whom they reputed as Aliens or Enemies of the Crowne But after King Henry 7. had vnited the Roses they labored to reduce both English and Irish together which worke to what passe and perfection it was brought in the latter end of Queen Elizabeths raign hath bin before declared Whereof sometimes when I doe consider I do in mine owne conceit compare these later Gouernors who went about to reforme the Ciuill Affairs in Ireland vnto some of the Kings of Israel of whom it is saide That they were good Kings but they did not cut downe the Groues and High places but suffered the people still to burne Incense commit Idolatry in them so Sir Anthony Saint-Leger the Earle of Sussex sir Henry Sidney sir Iohn Perrot were good Gouernours but they did not abolish the Irish Customes nor execute the Lawe in the Irish Countries but suffered the people to worship their barbarous Lordes and to remaine vtterly ignorant of their Duties to God and the King AND now am I come to the happy raigne of my most Gracious Lord Maister K. Iames in whose time as there hath been a concurrence of many great Felicities so this among others may be numbred in the first ranke that all the Defects in the Gouernment of Ireland spoken of before haue beene fully supplied in the first nine yeares of his raigne In which time there hath bin more done in the worke reformation of this Kingdome then in the 440. yeares which are past since the Conquest was first attempted Howbeit I haue no purpose in this Discourse to set forth at large all the proceedings of the State heere in reforming of this Kingdom since his Maiesty came to the Crowne for the parts and passages thereof are so many as to expresse them fully woulde require a seuerall Treatise Besides I for my part since I haue not flattered the former times but haue plainely laid open the negligence and errors of euery Age that is past woulde not willingly seeme to flatter the present by amplifying the diligence and true Iudgement of those Seruitours that haue laboured in this Vineyard since the beginning of his Maiesties happy raigne I shall therefore summarily without any amplication at all shewe in what manner and by what degrees all the defects which I haue noted before in the Gouernment of this Kingdome haue bin supplied since his Maiesties happy raigne beganne and so conclude these obseruations concerning the State of Ireland FIrst then touching the Martiall affayres I shall neede to say little in regard that the Warre which finished the Conquest of Ireland was ended almost in the instant when the crown descended vpon his Maiesty and so there remained no occasion to amēd the former errors committed in the prosecution of the warre Howbeit sithence his Maiesty hath still maintained an Army heere aswell For a Seminary of Martiall Men as to Giue strength and countenance to the Ciuil Magistrate I may iustly obserue that this
army hath not bin fed with Coigne Liuery or Sesse with which Extortions the souldier hath bin norished in the times of former Princes but hath bin as iustly and royally paid as euer Prince in the world did pay his Men of war Besides when there did arise an occasion of employment for this army against the Rebell Odoghertie neither did his Maiesty delay the re-inforcing thereof but instantly sent supplies out of England and Scotland neither did the Martiall men dally or prosecute the Seruice faintly but Did foorthwith quench that fire whereby themselues would haue bin the warmer the longer it had continued aswell by the encrease of their entertainment as by booties and spoile of the Countrey And thus much I thought fit to note touching the amendment of the Errors in the Martiall affaires SEcondly for the supply of the Defects in the ciuil Gouernment these courses haue beene pursued since his Maiesties prosperous raigne began First albeit vpon the end of the war whereby Tyrones vniuersall Rebellion was supprest the minds of the people were broken and prepared to Obedience of the Law yet the State vpon good reason did conceiue that the publicke peace could not be setled till the hearts of the people were also quieted by securing them from the danger of the law which the most part of them had incurred one way or other in that great and general confusion Therefore first by a generall Act of State called the Act of Obliuion published by Proclamation vnder the great Seale Al offences against the Crown and all perticuler Trespasses between subiect and subiect done at any time before his Maiesties raigne were to all such as would come in to the Iustices of Assise by a certaine day and claime the benefit of this Act pardoned remitted and vtterly extinguished neuer to be reuiued or called in question And by the same proclamation all the Irishry who for the most part in former times were left vnder the tiranny of their Lords and Chieftanies and had no defence or Iustice from the Crowne were receiued into his Maiesties imediate protection This bred such comfort and security in the hearts of all men as thereupon ensued the calmest and most vniuersall peace that euer was seen in Ireland The publicke peace beeing thus established the State proceeded next to establish the publick Iustice in euery part of the Realm And to that end Sir George Cary who was a prudent Gouernor and a iust and made a fair entry into the right way of reforming this Kingdome did in the first yeare of his Maiesties raigne make the first Sheriffes that euer were made in Tyrone and Tirconnell and shortly after sent Sir Edmund Pelham Chiefe Baron my selfe thither the first Iustices of Assise that euer sat in those Countries and in that Circuit wee visited all the shires of that Prouince Besides which visitation though it were some-what distastfull to the Irish lords was sweet and most welcome to the Common people who albeit they were rude barbarous yet did they quickely apprehend the difference betweene the tiranny and oppression vnder which they liued before the iust gouernment and protection which wee promised vnto thē for the time to come The Lawe hauing made her Progresse into Vlster with so good successe sir Arthur Chichester who with singular Industry Wisedome and Courage hath now for the space of 7. years and more prosecuted the great worke of Reformation and brought it well-neere to an absolute perfection did in the first year of his gouernment establish two other Newe Circuits for Iustices of Assise the one in Conaght and the other in Mounster I call them New Circuites for that although it bee manifest by manie Recordes that Iustices Itinerant haue in former times beene sent into all the shires of Mounster some part of Conaght yet certaine it is that in 200. yeares before I speake much within compasse no such Commission had bin executed in either of these 2. Prouinces But now the whole Realme being diuided into Shires and euerie bordering Territory whereof anie doubt was made in what County the same should ly being added or reduced to a County certaine among the rest the Mountaines and Glynnes on the South side of Dublin wer lately made a Shire by it self and called the County of wicklow wherby the Inhabitants which were wont to be Thorns in the side of the Pale are become ciuill and quiet Neighbors thereof the streams of the publicke Iustice were deriued into euery part of the Kingdome and the benefit and protection of the law of England communicated to all aswell Irish as English without distinction or respect of persons By reason whereof the worke of deriuing the publick Iustice grew so great as that there was Magna messis sed Operarij pauci And therefore the number of the Iudges in euery Bench was increased which do now euery halfe yeare like good Plannets in their seuerall spheares or Circles carry the light and influence of Iustice round about the Kingdom whereas the Circuits in former times went but round about the Pale like the Circuit of the Cinosura about the Pole Quae cursu niteriore breui conuertitur orbe VPon these Visitations of Iustice whereby the iust and honourable Law of England was imparted and communicated to al the Irishry there followed these excellent good effects First the Common people were taught by the Iustices of Assise that they were free subiects to the Kings of England and not slaues vassals to their pretended Lords That the Cuttings Cosheries Sessings and other Extortions of their Lords were vnlawfull and that they should not any more submit them-selues thereunto since they were now vnder the protection of so iust and mighty a Prince as both wold and could protect them from all wrongs oppressions They gaue a willing eare vnto these lessons and thereupon the greatnesse power of those Irish Lords ouer the people so dainly fell and vanished when their Oppressions and Extortions were taken away which did maintain their greatnesse Insomuch as diuers of them who formerly made themselues Owners of al by Force were now by the law reduced to this point That wanting meanes to defray their ordinary charges they resorted ordinarily to the Lord Deputy and made petition that by License and warrant of the State they might take some aid and contribution from their people aswel to discharge their former debts as for competent maintenance in time to come But some of them being impatient of this diminution fled out of the Realme to forraign Countries Whereupon we may well Obserue That as Extortion did banish the old English Free-holder who could not liue but vnder the Law So the Law did bannish the Irish Lord who could not liue but by Extortion Againe these Circuits of Iustice did vpon the end of the warre more terrifie the loose and ydle personnes then the execution of the martial law though it were more quicke and sodaine and