work in the third year of his raign made the Lord Thomas of Lancaster his second son Lieutenant of Ireland Who came over in person and accepted again the submissions of divers Irish Lords and Captains as is before remembred and held also a Parliament wherein he gave new life to the Statutes of Kilkenny and made other good Laws tending to the Reformation of the Kingdom But the troubles raised against the King his Father in England drew him home again so soon as that seed of reformation took no root at all neither had his service in that kind any good effect or success After this the State of England had no leisure to think of a general reformation in this Realm till the civil dissentions of England were appeased and the peace of that Kingdom setled by King Henry the seventh For albeit in the time of King Henry 6. Richard Duke of York a Prince of the blood of great wisdom and valour and heir to a third part of Kingdom at least being Earl of Vlster and Lord of Conaght and Meath was sent the Kings Lieutenanr into Ireland to recover and reform that Realm where he was resident in person for the greatest part of ten years yet the troth is he aimed at another mark 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 means to please them and by popular courses to steal away their hearts to the end he might strengthen his party when he should set on foot his Title as is before declared Which pollicy of his took such effect as that he drew over with him into England the Flower of all the English Colonies especially of Vlster and Meath whereof many Noblemen and Gentlemen were slain with him at Wakefield as is likewise before remembred And after his death when the wars between the Houses were in their heat almost all the good English blood which was left in Ireland was spent in those civil dissentions so as the Irish became victorious over all without blood or sweat Only that little Canton of Land called the English Pale containing four small Shires did maintain a bordering was with the Irish and retain the forme of English Government But out of that little Precinct there were no Lords Knights or Burgesses summoned to the Parliament neither did the Kings Writ run in any other part of the Kingdom and yet upon the Marches and Borders which at that time were grown so large as they took up half Dublin half Meath and a third part of Kildare and Lowth there was no law in use but the March-Law which in the Statutes of Kilkenny is said to be no law but a leud Custom So as upon the end of these civil wars in England the English Law and Government was well nigh banisht out of Ireland so as no foot-step or print was left of any former Reformation THen did King Henry 7. send over Sir Edward Poynings to be his Deputy a right worthy servitor both in war and peace The principal end of his employment was to expel Perkin Warbecke out of this Kingdom but that service being performed that worthy Deputy finding nothing but a common misery took the best course he possibly could to establish a Common-wealth in Ireland and to that end he held a Parliament no less famous than that of Kilkenny and more available for the reformation of the whole Kingdom For whereas all wise men did ever concur in opinion that the readiest way to reform Ireland is to settle a form of Civil Government there conformable to that of England To bring this to pass Sir Edward Poynings did pass an Act 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 provided 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 be first transmitted into England and approved by the King and Council there as good and expedient for that Land and so returned back again under the Great Seal of England This Act though it seem Prima facie to restrain the liberty of the Subjects of Ireland yet was it made at the Prayer of the Commons upon just and important cause For the Governors of that Realm specially such as were of that Country Birth had laid many oppressions upon the Commons and amongst the rest they had imposed Laws upon them nor tending to the general good but to serve private turns and to strengthen their particular factions This moved them to refer all Laws that were to be passed in Ireland to be considered corrected and allowed first by the State of England which had alwayes been tender and carefull of the good of this people and had long since made them a Civil Rich and Happy Nation if their own Lords and Governors 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 four shires onely and for that cause specially he caused all the Acts of a Parliament lately before holden by the Viscount of Gormanston to be repealed and made void Moreover that the Parliaments of Ireland might want no decent or honorable form that was used in England he caused a particular Act to pass that the Lords of Ireland should appear in the like Parliament Robes as the English Lords are wont to wear in the Parliaments of England Having thus established all the Statutes of England in Ireland and set in order the great Council of that Realm he did not omit to pass other Laws as well for the encrease of the Kings Revenue as the preservation of the publick peace To advance the profits of the Crown First he obtained a Subsidy of 26 shillings eight pence out of every six score acres manured payable yearly for five years Next he resumed all the Crownland which had been aliened for the most part by Richard Duke of York and lastly he procured a Subsidy of Pondage out of all Merchandizes imported and exported to be granted to the Crown in perpetuity To preserve the publick peace he revived the Statutes of Kilkenny He made wilful Murther High-treason he caused the Marchers to book their men for whom they should answer and restrained the making War or Peace without special Commission from the State These Laws and others as important as these for the making of a Common-wealth in Ireland were made in the Government of Sir Edward Poynings But these Laws did not spread their Vertue beyond the English Pale though they were made generally for the whole Kingdom For the Provinces without the Pale which during the War of York and Lancaster had wholly cast off the the English Government were not apt to receive this
HISTORICAL RELATIONS OR A DISCOVERY Of the true causes why IRELAND Was never intirely Subdu'd nor brought under obedience OF THE CROWN OF ENGLAND UNTIL The beginning of the Reign of King James of happy memory By Sir John Davis Knight His Majesties Attorney General of Ireland The third Edition corrected and amended Dublin Printed for Samuel Dancer Bookseller in Castlestreet 1666. THE PRINTER TO THE READER THE former Edition of this Book being rarely now to be got and much sought after by many for the worth thereof I procured from the Honourable Sir James Ware one of the former printed Books according to which I now publish this second Edition The Author of the Work was Sir John Davis a Learned man and an excellent Orator who for his great Abilities was by King James first made His Solicitor and afterwards his Attorney-General in this Kingdom of Ireland Which Place he discharged for divers years and having access to the Records from them for the most part as from the purest Fountains he gathered these his Observations A DISCOVERY OF THE True causes why Ireland was never entirely subdued and brought under obedience of the Crown of England until the beginning of His Majesties happy Reign DUring the time of my Service in IRELAND which began in the first year of His Majesties Reign I have visited also the Provinces of that Kingdom in sundry journeys and circuits Wherein I have observed the good Temperature of the Ayre the Fruitfulness of the Soyl the pleasant and commodious seats for habitation the safe and large Ports and Havens lying open for Traffick into all the West parts of the World the long Inlets of many Navigable Rivers and so many great Lakes and fresh Ponds within the Land as the like are not to be seen in any part of Europe the rich Fishings and Wilde Fowl of all kinds and lastly the Bodies and Mindes of the people endued with extraordinary abilities of Nature THe observation whereof hath bred in me some curiosity to consider what were the true causes why this Kingdom whereof our Kings of England have borne the Title of Soveraign Lords for the space of four hundred and odde years a period of time wherein divers great Monarchies have risen from Barbarism to Civility and fallen again to ruine was not in al that space of time thoroughly subdued and reduced to Obedience of the Crown of England although there hath been almost a continual War between the English and the Irish and why the manners of the meer Irish are so little altered since the days of King Henry the second as appeareth by the description made by Giraldus Cambrensis who lived and wrote in that time albeit there have been since that time so many English Colonies planted in Ireland as that if the people were numbered at this day by the poll such as are descended of English race would be found more in number than the ancient Natives AND truly upon consideration of the conduct and passage of affairs in former times I find that the State of England ought to be cleared of an imputation which a vulgar errour hath cast upon it in one point namely That Ireland long since might have been subdued and reduced to Civility if some Statesmen in policy had not thought it more fit to continue that Realm in Barbarism Doubtless this vulgar opinion or report hath no true ground but did first arise either out of Ignorance or out of Malice For it will appear by that which shall hereafter be laid down in this Discourse that ever since Our Nation had any footing in this Land the State of England did earnestly desire and I did accordingly endeavour from time to time to perfect the Conquest of this Kingdom but that in every age there were found such impediments and defects in both Realms as caused almost an impossibility that things should have been otherwise than they were THe Defects which hindred the Perfection of the Conquest of Ireland were of two kindes and consisted first In the faint prosecution of the war and next In the looseness of the Civil Government For the Husbandman must first break the Land before it be made capable of good seed and when it is thoroughly broken and manured if we do not forthwith cast good seed into it it will grow wilde again and bear nothing but weeds So a barbarous Country must be first broken by a war before it will be capable of good Government and when it is fully subdued and conquered if it be not well planted and governed after the Conquest it will eft soons return to the former Barbarism TOuching the carriage of the Martial affairs from the seventeenth year of King Henry the second when the first overture was made for the Conquest of Ireland I mean the first after the Norman Conquest of England until the nine and thirtieth year of Queen ELIZABETH when that Royal Army was sent over to suppress Tirones Rebellion which made in the end an universal and absolute conquest of all the Irishrie It is most certain that the English forces sent hither or raised here from time to time were ever too weak to subdue and master so many warlike Nations or Septs of the Irish as did possess this Island and besides their weakness they were Ill paid and worse Governed And if at any time there came over an Army of competent strength and power it did rather terrifie than break and subdue this people being ever broken and dissolved by some one accident or other before the perfection of the Conquest FOR that I call a Perfect Conquest of a Countrey which doth reduce all the people thereof to the Condition of Subjects and those I call Subjects which are governed by the ordinary Laws and Magistrates of the Soveraign For though the Prince doth bear the Title of Soveraign Lord of an entire Countrey as our Kings did of all Ireland yet if there be two third parts of that Countrey wherein he cannot punish Treasons Murthers or Thefts unless he send an Army to do it if the Jurisdiction of his ordinary Courts of Justice doth not extend into those parts to protect the people from wrong and Oppression if he have no certain Revenue no Escheates or Forfeitures out of the same I cannot justly say that such a Countrey is wholly conquered FIrst then That we may judge and discern whether the English Forces in Ireland were at any time of sufficient strength to make a full and final Conquest of that Land let us see what extraordinary Armies have been transmitted out of England thither and what ordinary Forces have been maintained there and what service they have performed from time to time since the seventeenth year of King Henry the second IN that year Mac Murugh Lord of Leinster being oppressed by the Lords of Meath and Connaught and expelled out of his Territory moved King Henry the second to invade Ireland and made an overture unto him for
middle time between these two attempts the great alteration which he made in the State Ecclesiastical caused him to stand upon his guard at home the Pope having sollicited all the Princes of Christendom to revenge his quarrel in that behalf And thus was King Henry the eighth detained and diverted from the absolute reducing of the Kingdom of Ireland LAstly the infancy of King Edward the sixth and the Coverture of Qu. Mary which are both Non abilities in the Law did in fact disable them to accomplish the Conquest of Ireland SO as now this great work did remain to be performed by Queen ELIZABETH who though she were diverted by suppressing the open rebellion in the North by preventing divers secret Conspiracies against her person by giving aids to the French and States of the Low-Countries by maintaining a Naval war with Spain for many years together yet the sundry rebellions joyned with forraign invasions upon this Island whereby it was in danger to be utterly lost and to be possessed by the Enemies of the Crown of England did quicken her Majesties care for the preservation thereof and to that end from time to time during her Reign she sent over such supplies of men and treasure as did suppress the Rebels and repell the invaders Howbeit before the transmitting of the last great army the forces sent over by Queen Elizabeth were not of sufficient power to break and subdue aâ—l the Irishry and to reduce and reform the whole Kingdom but when the general defection came which came not without a special providence for the final good of that Kingdom though the second causes thereof were the faint prosecution of the War against Tyrone the practises of Priests and Jesuites and the expectation of the aids from Spain Then the extream peril of loosing the Kingdom the dishonour and danger that might thereby grow to the Crown of England together with a just disdain conceived by that great minded Queen that so wicked and ungratefull a Rebell should prevail against Her who had ever been victorious against all her enemies did move and almost enforce her to send over that mighty army and did withall enflame the hearts of the Subiects of England chearfully to contribute towards the maintaining thereof a Million of sterling pounds at least which was done with a purpose only to Save and not to Gain a Kingdom To keep and retain that Soveraignty which the Crown of England had in Ireland such as it was and not to recover a more absolute Dominion But as it faileth out many times that when a house is on fire the Owner to save it from burning pulleth it down to the ground but that pulling down doth give occasion of building it up again in a better form So these last Wars which to save the Kingdome did utterly break and destroy this people produced a better effect than was at first expected For every Rebellion when it is supprest doth make the subject weaker and the Prince stronger So this general revolt when it was overcome did produce a general Obedience and Reformation of all the Irishry which ever before had been disobedient and unreformed and thereupon ensued the final and full conquest of Ireland And thus much may suffice to be spoken touching the defects in the martial affairs and the weak and faint prosecution of the war and of the several Impediments or employments which did hinder or divert every King of England successively from reducing Ireland to their absolute subjection IT now remaineth that we shew the defects of the Civil Policy and Government which gave no less impediment to the perfection of this Conquest THe first of that kind doth consist in this That the Crown of England did not from the beginning give Laws to the Irishry whereas to give Laws to a conquered people is the principal mark and effect of a perfect Conquest For albeit King Henry the second before his return out of Ireland held a Council or Parliament at Lissemore Vbi Leges Angliae ab omnibus sunt gratanter receptae Juratoria Cautione praestita confirmatae as Matth. Paris writeth And though King John in the twelfth year of his Reign did establish the English Laws and Customes here and placed Sheriffs and other Ministers to rule and govern the people according to the Law of England and to that end Ipse duxit secum viros discretos legis peritos quorum communi consilio scatuit praecepit leges Anglicanas teneri in Hibernia c. as we finde it recorded among the Patent Rolls in the Tower 11 Hen. 3. m. 3. Though likewise King Henry the third did grant and transmit the like Charter of Liberties to his Subjects of Ireland as himself and his Father had granted to the Subjects of England as appeareth by another Record in the Tower 1 Hen. 3. Pat. m. 13. And afterwards by a special Writ did command the Lord Justice of Ireland Quod convocatis Archiepiscopis Episcopis Comitibus Baronibus c. Coram eis legi faceret Chartam Regis Johannis quam ipse legi fecit jurari à Magnatibus Hiberniae de legibus Constitutionibus Angliae observandis quod leges illas teneant observent 12 Hen. 3. Claus m. 8. And after that again the same King by Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England did confirm the Establishment of the English Laws made by King John in this form Quia pro Communi utilitate terrae Hiberniae ac unitate terrarum de Communi Consilio provisum sit quod omnes leges consuetudines quae in regno Angliae tenentur in Hiberniâ teneantur eadem terra ejusdem legibus subjaceat ac per easdem regatur sicut Johannes Rex cum illic esset Statuit firmiter mandavit ideo volumus quod omnia brevia de Communi Jure quae currunt in Anglia similiter currant in Hibernia sub novo sigillo nostro c. Teste meipso apud Woodstock c. Which Confirmation is found among the Patent Rolls in the Tower Anno 30. Hen. 3. Notwithstanding it is evident by all the Records of this Kingdom that onely the English Colonies and some fews Septs of the Irishry which were enfranchised by special Charters were admitted to the benefit and protection of the Laws of England and that the Irish generally were held and reputed Aliens or rather enemies to the Crown of England insomuch as they were not onely disabled to bring any actions but they were so far out of the protection of the law as it was often adjudg'd no felony to kill a meer Irishman in the time of peace That the meer Irish were reputed Aliens appeareth by sundry Records wherein Judgement is demanded if they shall be answered in Actions brought by them and likewise by the Charters of Denization which in all ages were purchased by them In the Common Plea Rolls of 28 Edward the third which
he intended was to reform the degenerate English Colonies and to reduce them to obedience of the English Law and Magistrate To that end in the fortieth year of King Edward the third he held that famous Parliament at Kilkenny wherein many notable Laws were enacted which do shew and lay open For the Law doth best discover enormities how much the English Colonies were corrupted at that time and do infallibly prove that which is laid down before That they were wholly degenerate and faln away from their obedience For first it appeareth by the Preamble of these Laws that the English of this Realm before the coming over of Lionel Duke of Clarence were at that time become meer Irish in their Language Names Apparel and all their manner of living and had rejected the English Laws and submitted themselves to the Irish with whom they had many Marriages and Alliances which tended to the utter ruine and destruction of the Commom-wealth Therefore alliance by Marriage Nurture of Infants and Gossipred with the Irish are by this Statute made High-Treason Again if any man of English race should use any Irish Name Irish Language or Irish Apparel or any other guise or fashion of the Irish if he had Lands or Tenements the same should be seized till he had given security to the Chancery to conform himself in all points to the English manner of living And if he had no Lands his body was to be taken and imprisoned till he found Sureties as aforesaid Again it was established and commanded that the English in all their Controversies should be ruled and governed by the Common Law of England and if any did submit himself to the Brehon Law or March Law he should be adjudged a Traytor Again because the English at that time made War and Peace with the bordering Enemy at their pleasure they were expresly prohibited to levy War upon the Irish without special Warrant and Direction from the State Again it was made paenal to the English to permit the Irish to Creaght or graze upon their Lands to present them to Ecclesiastical Benefices to receive them into any Monasteries or Religious Houses or to entertain any of their Minstrels Rimers or News-tellers to impose or sess any Horse or Foot upon the English subjects against their wills was made felony And because the great Liberties or Franchises spoken of before were become Sanctuaries for all Malefactors express power was given to the Kings Sheriffs to enter into all Franchises and there to apprehend all Felons and Traytors And lastly because the great Lords when they levied Forces for the Publike Service did lay unequal burthens upon the Gentlemen and Freeholders it was ordained that four Wardens of the Peace in every County should set down and appoint what Men and Armor every man should bear according to his Freehold or other ability of esate THese and other Laws tending to a general reformation were enacted in that Parliament And the Execution of these Laws together with the Presence of the Kings Son made a notable alteration in the State and Manners of this people within the space of seven years which was the term of this Princes Lieutenancy For all the Discourses that I have seen of the Decay of Ireland do agree in this that the presence of the Lord Lionel and these Statutes of Kilkenny did restore the English Government in the degenerate Colonies for divers years And the Statute of the tenth of Henry the seventh which reviveth and confirmeth the Statutes of Kilkenny doth confirm as much For it declareth that as long as these Laws were put in â—ure and execution this Land continued in prosperity and honor and since they were not executed the Subjects rebelled and digressed from their Allegeance and the Land fell to ruine and desolation And withal we finde the effect of these Laws in the Pipe-Rolls and Plea-Roâ—ls of this Kingdom For from the 36 of Edw. 3. when this Prince entred into his Government till the beginning of Richard the second his Reign we finde the Revenue of the Crown both certain and casual in Vlster Munster and Conaght accounted for and that the Kings Writ did run and the Common Law was executed in every of these Provinces I joyn with these Laws the personal presence of the Kings Son as a concurrent cause of this Reformation Because the people of this Land both English and Irish out of a natural pride did ever love and desire to be governed by great persons And therefore I may here justly take occasion to note that first the absence of the Kings of England and next the absence of those great Lords who were inheritors of those mighty Seigniories of Leinster Vlster Conaghtâ— and Meath have been main causes why this Kingdom was not reduced in so many ages TOuching the absence of our Kings three of them onely since the Norman Conquest have made Royal journeys into this Land namely King Henry the second King John and King Richard the second And yet they no sooner arrived here but that all the Irishry as if they had been but one man submitted themselves took Oathes of fidelity and gave pledges and hostages to continue loyal And if any of those Kings had continued here in person a competent time till they had settled both English and Irish in their several possessions and had set the Law in a due course throughout the Kingdom these times wherein we live had not gained the honor of the final conquest and reducing of Ireland For the King saith Salomon dissipat omne malum intuitu suo But when Moses was absent in the Mount the people committed Idolatry and when there was no King in Israel every man did what seemed best in his own eyes And therefore when Alexander had conquered the East part of the World and demanded of one what was the fitest place for the seat of his Empire he brought and laid a dry hide before him and desired him to set his foot on the one side thereof which being done all the other parts of the hide did rise up but when he did set his foot in the middle of the hide all the other parts lay flat and even Which was a lively demonstration that if a Prince keep his residence in the border of his Dominions the remote parts will easily rise and rebel against him But if he make the Centre thereof his Seat he shall easily keep them in peace and obedience TOuching the absence of the great Lords All Writers do impute the decay and loss of Leinster to the absence of these English Lords who married the five Daughters of William Marshal Earl of Pembroke to whom that great Seigniory descended when his five Sons who inherited the same successively and during their times held the same in peace and obedidence to the Law of England were all dead without issue which hapned about the fortieth year
11 Hen. 3. pat m. 3. 30 H. 3. pat m. 20 The meer Irish not admitted to have the benefit of the Laws of England The meer Irish reputed Aliens Archiu in Castro Dublin Archiu in Castro Dublin Archiu in Castro Dublin Archiu in Castro Dublin Archiu in Castro Dublin Archiu in Castro Dublin That the meer Irish were reputed enemies to the Crown Archiu in Castro Dublin Archiu in Castro Dublin Archiu in Castro Dublin Archiu in Castro Dublin Stat. de Kilkenny c 2. 3.10 Hen. 6. c. 1.28 Hen. 8 c. 13. The Irish did desire to be admitted to the benefit and protection of the English Laws but could not obtain it 2. Ed. 3. claus 17. The Council Book of Ireland 34 Hen 8 What mischief did grow by not Communicating the English Laws to the Irish What good would have ensued if the meer Irish had been governed by the English Laws Three general submissiof the Irish The English Laws were executed only in the English Colonies Archiu in Castro Dublin Statut. de Kilkenny c. 4. The Romans did communicate their laws to the nations which they conquerred Tacitus in vita Agricolae William the Conqueror governed both the Normans and the English under one Law Camden in Norfolke K. Edw. 1. did communicate the English laws to the Welshmen Giraldus Cambrensis l. 2. de Hibernia expugnata 2. The Lands conquered from the Irâ—sh were not well distributed The proportions of Land granted to the first Adventurers were too largeâ— Giraldus Cambrensis l. 2. de lâ—â—bernia expugnata In Arch. Tur. 5 Ed. 3. escheat numero 104. 2 Johan Chart. m. 15. m. 38. 6 Johan Chart. m. 1. 7 Johan Chart. m. 12. n. 109. 6 Edw. 1. Chart. m. 19.18 Ed. 1. m. 29. Girald Cambr. l. 2. de Hibernia expug All Ireland distributed to ten persons of the English Nation 6 H. 3. Chart. m. 2. Hovend in H. 2. fol. 302. Archiu tur 17 Johan Chart. m. 3. 6 Johan Claus m. 18. Matth. Paris in Henry the third 3 Hen. 3. The liberties granted to the first Adventurers were too great Eight Counties Palatines in Ireland at one time Annales Hiberniae in Camden In Archâ—uâ— 1â— Eâ—w 3. 〈…〉 Five Counties Palatines in Leinster Archiu in Castro Dublin Archiu Tur. pat 3. E. 3. m. 28. Archiu in Castro Dublin The inconveniences which grew by the large grants of lands liberties The English Lords in Ireland made war peace at their pleasure The war and dissention of the English Lords one with another Annales Hiberniae in Camd. Annal Hiber in Caâ— Annales Johan Clyn. Manusc Baron Finglas Manusc Stat. 10 H. 7. c. 4. Rot. Parl. in castro Dublin Baron Finglas Manuscript Archiu Tur. 5. Ed. 3. claus m. 4. Archiu tur 15. Ed. 3. claus m. 4. Annales Hiberniae in Camden The first Adventurers obtained these liberal Grants because the Kings of England dâ—d not prosecute the war at their own charge How the State of Rome rewarded their men of war William the Conqueror Camden in Chester Wales distributed to the L. Marchers The English Lords did not reduce the woods and wasts in Forrests and Parks Chart. de forest c. 2. 3. The English Colonies rejected the English laws and customs and embraced the Irish The Nature of Irish Customs The Irish laws and customs differing from the laws and customs of all civil Nations The Irish law in criminal causes The Irish custom of tanistry The Irish Custome of Gavel-kind The mischiefs that arise by these two customs The wicked customs of Coigne and Livery The mischiefs that did arise by Coigne and Livery The cause of idleness in the Irish Why the Irish are Beggars in forreign Countrys Why the Irish are reputed a crafty people Why the Irish are inquisitive after news Cosherings Sessings Cuttings Gossipred How the English Colonies becaâ—â—e degenerate Alb. libr. Scacc. Dubl 5 Ed. 3. m. 25. When how the English Colonies became degenerate The Scots overrun Ireland Annales Hiberniae in Camden Desmond chief commander in the war against the Scots When and how the extortion of Coign and Livery began among the English The rising Mac Murrogh and O Mâ—re in Leinster Annales hiberniae in Camden Annales Johan Clynne Manus The defect and loss of a great part of Leinster The Earl of Vlster murdered Annales Johan Clynne Manus The Earldom of Vlster recovered by the Irish Abridgement of Salus populi mascript Baron Finglas Manus Annales Hiberniae in Camden The defection of Conaght Baron Finglas Manus Annales Hiberniae in Camden What courses have been taken to reform this Kingdom since the English Colonies became degenerate Edw. 2. K. Edw. the third did first endeavour a reformation Archiu Tur. 2. E. 3â— clau pers 1. m. 16. Sir Anthony Lucy Annales Hiberniâ— in Camden Resumption of liberties Annales Hiberniae in Camden Sir Raphe Vfford Annales Joâ—an Manus Clynn Annale Hibernâ— in Caâ—deâ— Maurice Fitz-Thomas the first Earl of Desmond the author of the great oppressions and dissentions which destroyed the English Colonies The fortune of the house of Desmond The Council-book of Ireland 32 H. 8. The course Reformation pursued by Lioâ— Duke Clareâ— Archiu in Castro Dublin Statutes of Kilkenny C. 2. C. 3. C. 4. C. 10. C 12. C. 13. C. 15. C. 17. C. 22. C. 24. The Statutes of Kilkenny did much reform thâ— degenerate English Stat. 10 H. c. 8. The presence of the Kings son did much advance the reformation Absence of our Kings great English Lords a chief cause why the Kingdom was not reduced Abseâ—â— of oâ—â— King The absence of the great English Lords Baron Finglas Manusc Baron Finglas Manusc Arch Tur â— parliâ— n. 42. Arch in Oâ— Remâ— Dublâ— Act of Absentees 28 H. 8. The reformation intended by K. Ricâ— 2. Archiâ— Tur. 3 Rich. claus 3. Riâ— 2. Rotâ— Parlâ— 11.42 9 Riâ— 2. cl Walsiham â— Rich 349. Plac. coram Regâ— in Hibernia Hillar 18. Richâ— 2. The reformatâ—on intâ—â—ded by Hen. â— The course of reformation held by Sir Edward Poynings in the time of K. Hen 7. Poynings Act. The Coâ—â— Booâ— Irelâ— 16 â— The Reformation intended by the L. Leonard Gray 28 H. 8. Annalâ—â— Hiberâ—â— Manuâ— The Counâ—â— Book◠〈◊〉 Irelaâ—â— 2â— â—â— The câ—ursâ— Reforâ—â—tion â—sued Sir Aâ—thony S. Lâ— Four neraâ— submâ—ons the Iâ— The Couâ— Booâ— Irelâ— 32 3â— 34 â— The and genâ— Eaâ— renâ— the The Council Book of Ireland 33 H. 8. The course of reformation prosecuted by Tho. Earl of Sussex in the time of Queen Mary Liâ—x and Offaly made two Countiâ—s 3. 4. Phil. Mariae The course of reformation followed by Sir Henry Sidney in the time of Queen Elizabeth 〈◊〉 reâ—â—â—matiâ—â— adâ—â—â—ced 〈◊〉 Sir â—ohn â—errot The service of William Fitz-Williams tending to reformation How the Defects and errors in the government of Irel. have been supplied and amended since the beginning of his Majesties Reign Errors â—n the carriage of the martial affairs amended How the defects in the Civil Government have bin supplied â— By establishing the publick peace 2 By establishing the publick Justice in every part of the Kingdom The good effects which followed the execution of the Law throughout the Kingdom 3. The setling of the states and possessions of the Irishry as well as of the English How the commissions for Surrenders and defective Titles have been pâ— in execution No granâ— of Irish Captain-ships oâ— Sâ—neschaâ—ships since â—iâ— Majestie Reign The plantation on of Vlster
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 he gave those Irish Lords the Title and stile of Kings King John likewise did grant divers Charters to the King of Conaght which remain in the Tower of London And afterwards in the time of King Henry the Third we find in the Tower a grant 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 nobis usque ad aetatem nostram And in the pipe Rolls remaining in Bremighams Tower in the Castle of Dublin upon sundry Accompts of the Seneshall of Vlster when that Earldom was in the Kings hands by reason of the minority of the Earl the entry of all such charges as were made upon Oneale for Rent-Beeves or for aids towards the maintainance of the Kings wars are in this form Oneal Regulus 400. vaccas pro arreragio Reddit Oneal Regulus 100. â—i de Auxilio Domini Regis ad guerram suam in Wasconia sustinendam And in one Roll the 36. of Henry the third Oneal Rex 100 li. de auxilio Domini Regis ad guerram suam in Wallia sustinendam Which seemed strange to me that the Kings civil Officer should give him that stile upon Record unless he meant it in that sense as Maximilian the Emperor did when speaking of his disobedient Subjects The Title said he of Rex Regum doth more properly belong to me than to any mortal Prince for all my Subjects do live as Kings they obey me in nothing but do what they list And truly in that sense these Irish Lords might not unfitly be termed Kings But to speak in proper terms we must say with the Latin Poet Qui rex est Regnum maxime non habeat But touching these Irish Kings I will add this note out of an ancient Manuscript the black book of Christ-Church in Dublin Isti Reges non fuerunt ordinati solemnitate alicujus ordinis nec unctionis Sacramento nec jure haereditario vel aliqua proprietatis successione sed vi armis quilibet Regnum suum obtinuit and therefore they had no just cause to complain when a stronger King than themselves became a King and Lord over them But let us return to our purpose and see the proceeding of the Martial affairs King Henry the second being returned into England gave the Lordship of Ireland unto the Lord John his youngest son sur-named before that time Sans Terre And the Pope confirming that gift sent him a Crown of Pea-cocks feathers as Pope Clement the eighth sent the Feather of a Phoenix as he called it to the Traitor Tirone This young Prince the Kings Son being but twelve years of age with a train of young Noblemen and Gentlemen to the number of 300. but not with any main army came over to take possession of his new Patrimony and being arrived at Waterford divers Irish Lords who had submitted themselves to his father came to perform the like duty to him But that youthful company using them with scorn because their demeanours were but rude and barbarous they went away much discontented and rraised a general rebellion against him Whereby it was made manifest that the Submission of the Irish Lords and the Donation of the Pope were but slender and weak assurances for a Kingdom Hereupon this young Lord was revoked and Sir John de Courcy sent over not with the Kings Army but with a company of Voluntaries in number four hundred or thereabout With these he attempted the conquest of Vlster and in four or five encounters did so beat the Irishry of that Province as that he gained the Maritime Coasts thereof from the Boyne to the Bann and thereupon was made Earl of Vlster So as now the English had gotten good footing in all the Provinces of Ireland In the first three Provinces of Leinster Mounster and Conaght part by the Sword and part by submission and alliance And lastly in Vlster by the invasion and victories of Sir John de Courcy From this time forward until the seventeenth year of King John which was a space of more than 30. years there was no army transmitted out of England to finish the Conquest Howbeit in the mean time the English Adventurers and Colonies already planted in Ireland did win much ground upon the Irish Namely the Earl Strongbow having married the Daughter of Mac Murrogh in Leinster the Lacies in Meth the Geraldines and other Adventurers in Mounster the Audleyes Gernons Clintons Russels and other Voluntaries of Sir John de Courcies retinue in Vlster and the Bourkes planted by William Fitz-Adelme in Conaght Yet were the English reputed but Part-Owners of Ireland at this time as appeareth by the Commission of the Popes Legate in the time of King Richard the first whereby he had power to exercise his Jurisdiction in Anglia Wallia ac illis Hiberniae partibus in quibus Johannes Moretonii Comes potestatem habet dominium as it is recorded by Mat. Paris King John in the twelfth year of his Reign came over again into Ireland the Stories of that time say with a great army but the certain numbers are not recorded yet it is credible in regard of the troubles wherewith this King was distressed in England that this army was not of sufficient strength to make an entire Conquest of Ireland and if it had been of sufficient strength yet did not the King stay a sufficient time to perform so great an action for he came over in June and returned in September the same year Howbeit in that time the Irish Lords for the most part submitted themselves to him as they had done before to his Father which was but a mear mockery and imposture For his back was no sooner turned but they returned to their former Rebellion and yet this was reputed a second Conquest And so this King giving order for the building of some Castles upon the Borders of the English Colonies left behind him the Bishop of Norwich for the civil Government of the Land but he left no standing army to prosecute the conquest only the English Colonies which were already planted were left to themselves to maintain what they had got and to gain more if they could The personal presence of these two great Princes King Henry the second and King John though they performed no great thing with their armies gave such countenance to the English Colonies which encreased daily by the coming over of new Voluntaries and Adventurers out of England as that they enlarged their Territories very much Howbeit after this time the Kings of England either because they presumed that the English Colonies were strong enough to root out the Irish by degrees or else because they were diverted or
Irish did not exceed the number of twelve hundred men as appeareth by the Treasurers Accompt of Ireland now remaining in the Exchequer of England With these Forces did Sir Henry Sidney then Lord Deputy march into the farthest parts of Tirone and joyning with Captain Randal did much distress but not fully defeat O Neal who was afterwards slain upon a meer accident by the Scots and not by the Queens Army TO prosecute the Wars in Munster against Desmond and his Adherents there were transmitted out of England at several times three or four thousand men which together with the standing Garrisons and some other supplies raised here made at one time an Army of six thousand and upwards which with the Vertue and Valour of Arthur Lord Gray and others the Commanders did prove a sufficient power to extinguish that Rebellion But that being done it was never intended that these Forces should stand till the rest of the Kingdom were settled and reduced onely that Army which was brought over by the Earl of Essex Lord Lieutenant and Governor General of this Kingdom in the nine and thirtieth year of Queen Elizabeth to suppress the Rebellion of Tirone which was spread universally over the whole Realm That Army I say the command whereof with the Government of the Realm was shortly after transferred to the command of the Lord Montjoy afterwards Earl of Devonshire who with singular wisdom valour and industry did prosecute and finish the War did consist of such good men of War and of such numbers being well-nigh twenty thousand by the Poll and was so royally supplied and paid and continued in full strength so long a time as that it brake and absolutely subdued all the Lords and Chieftains of the Irishry and degenerate or rebellious English Whereupon the multitude who ever loved to be followers of such as could master and defend them admiring the power of the Crown of England being bray'd as it were in a Morter with the Sword Famine and Pestilence altogether submitted themselves to the English Government received the Laws and Magistrates and most gladly embraced the Kings Pardon and Peace in all parts of the Realm with demonstration of joy and comfort which made indeed an entire perfect and final Conquest of Ireland And though upon the finishing of the War this great Army was reduced to less numbers yet hath His Majestie in his Wisdom thought it fit still to maintain such competent Forces here as the Law may make her progress and Circuit about the Realm under the protection of the Sword as Virgo the figure of Justice is by Leo in the Zodiack until the people have perfectly learned the Lesson of Obedience and the Conquest be established in the hearts of all men THus far have I endeavoured to make it manifest that from the first adventure and attempt of the English to subdue and conquer Ireland until the last War with Tyrone which as it was Royally undertaken so it was really prosecuted to the end there hath been four main defects in the carriage of the Martial Affairs here First the Armies for the most part were too weak for a Conquest Secondly when they were of a competent strength as in both the journeys of Richard the second they were too soon broken up and dissolved Thirdly they were ill paid And fourthly they were ill governed which is always a consequent of ill payment BUt why was not this great work performed before the latter end of Queen Elizabeths Reign considering that many of the Kings her Progenitors were as great Captains as any in the World and had elsewhere larger Dominions and Territories First who can tell whether the Divine Wisdom to abate the glory of those Kings did not reserve this Work to be done by a Queen that it might rather appear to be his own immediate work And yet for her greater Honor made it the last of her great actions as it were to Crown all the rest And to the end that a secure peace might settle the Conquest and make it firm and perpetual to Posterity caused it to be made in that fulness of time when England and Scotland became to be united under one Imperial Crown and when the Monarchy of Great Britany was in League and Amity with all the World Besides the Conquest at this time doth perhaps fulfil that prophesie wherein the four great Prophets of Ireland do concur as it is recorded by Giraldus Cambrensis to this effect That after the first Invasion of the English they should spend many ages in crebris conflictibus longoque certamine multis caedibus And that Omnes fere Anglici ab Hibernia turbabuntur nihilominus orientalia maritima semper obtinebunt Sed vix paulo antè diem Judicii plenam Anglorum populo victoriam compromittunt Insula Hibernica de mari usque ad mare de toto subacta incastellata If S. Patrick and the rest did not utter this Prophesie certainly Giraldus is a Prophet who hath reported it To this we may adde the Prophesie of Merlin spoken of also by Giraldus Sextus moenia Hiberniae subvertet regiones in Regnum redigentur Which is performed in the time of King James the sixth in that all the paces are cleared and places of fastness laid open which are the proper Walls and Castles of the Irish as they were of the British in the time of Agricola and withall the Irish Countreys being reduced into Counties make but one entire and undivided Kingdom But to leave these high and obscure causes the plain and manifest truth is that the Kings of England in all ages had been powerful enough to make an absolute Conquest of Ireland if their whole power had been employed in that enterprize but still there arose sundry occasions which divided and diverted their power some other way Let us therefore take a brief view of the several impediments which arose in every Kings time since the first Overture of the Conquest whereby they were so employed and busied as they could not intend the final Conquest of Ireland KIng Henry the second was no sooner returned out of Ireland but all his four Sons conspired with his Enemies rose in Arms and moved War against him both in France and in England This unnatural Treason of his Sons did the King express in an Emblem painted in his Chamber at Winchester wherein was an Eagle with three Eglets tiring â—n her breast and the fourth pecking at one of her eyes And the troth is these ungracious practises of his Sons did impeach his journey to the Holy-Land which he had once vowed vexed him all the days of his life and brought his gray hairs with sorrow to the grave Besides this King having given the Lordship of Ireland to John his youngest Son â— his ingratitude afterwards made the King careless to settle him in the quiet and absolute possession of that Kingdom RIchard the first which succeeded
Lord of Desmond and Kerry within that County All these appear upon Record and were all as ancient as the time of King John onely the liberty of Tipperary which is the onely Liberty that remaineth at this day was granted to James Butler the first Earl of Ormond in the third year of King Edward the third These absolute Palatines made Barons and Knights did exercise high Justice in all points within their Territories erected Courts for Criminal and Civil Causes and for their own Revenues in the same form as the Kings Courts were established at Dublin made their own Judges Seneshals Sheriffs Coroners and Escheators so as the Kings Writ did not run in these Counties which took up more than two parts of the English Colonies but onely in the Church Lands lying within the same which were called the Cross wherein the King made a Sheriff And so in each of these Counties Palatines there were two Sheriffs One of the Liberty and another of the Cross As in Meath we find a Sheriff of the Liberty and a Sheriff of the Cross And so in Vlster and so in Wexford And so at this day the Earl of Ormond maketh a Sheriff of the Liberty and the King a Sheriff of the Cross of Tipperary Hereby it is manifest how much the Kings Jurisdiction was restrained and the power of these Lords enlarged by these High Priviledges And it doth further appear by one Article among others preferred to King Edward the third touching the Reformation of the state of Ireland which we find in the Tower in these words Item les Francheses grantes in Ireland que sont Roialles telles come Duresme Cestre vous oustont cybien de les profits Come de graunde partie de Obeisance des persons enfrancheses en quescum frenchese est Chancellerie Chequer conusans de pleas cybien de la Coronne Come autres communes grantont auxi Charters de pardon sont sovent per ley et reasonable cause seisses en vostre main a grand profit de vous leigerment restitues per maundement hors de Englettere a damage c. Unto which Article the King made answer Le Roy voet que les franchese que sont et serront per juste cause prises en sa main ne soent my restitues auant que le Roy soit certifie de la cause de la prise de acelles 26 Ed. 3. claus m. 1. Again these great Undertakers were not tied to any form of Plantation but all was left to their discretion and pleasure And although they builded Castles and made Free-holders yet were there no Tenures or Services reserved to the Crown but the Lords drew all the respect and dependancy of the common people unto Themselves Now let us see what inconveniences did arise by these large and ample Grants of Lands and Liberties to the first Adventurers in the Conquest ASsuredly by these Grants of whole Provinces and petty Kingdoms those few English Lords pretended to be Proprietors of all the Land so as there was no possibility left of settling the Natives in their Possessions and by consequence the conquest became impossible without the utter extirpation of all the Irish which these English Lords were not able to do nor perhaps willing if they had been able Notwithstanding because they did still hope to become Lords of those Lands which were possessed by the Irish whereunto they pretended Title by their large Grants and because they did fear that if the Irish were received into the Kings protection and made Liege-men and Free-Subjects the State of England would establish them in their Possessions by Grants from the Crown reduce their Countreys into Counties ennoble some of them and enfranchise all and make them amesueable to the Law which would have abridged and cut off a great part of that greatness which they had promised unto themselves they perswaded the King of England that it was unfit to communicate the Laws of England unto them that it was the best policy to hold them as Aliens and Enemies and to prosecute them with a continual War Hereby they obtained another Royal Prerogative and Power which was to make War and Peace at their pleasure in every part of the Kingdom Which gave them an absolute command over the bodies lands and goods of the English Subjects here And besides the Irish inhabiting the lands fully conquered and reduced being in condition of Slaves and Villains did render a greater Profit and Revenue than if they had been made the Kings Free-Subjects And for these two causes last expressed they were not willing to root out all the Irishry We may not therefore marvel that when King Edward the third upon the Petition of the Irish as is before remembred was desirous to be certified De voluntate magnatum suorum in proximo Parliamento in Hibernia tenend si sine alieno praejudicio concedere possit quod per statut inde fact Hibernici utantur legibus Anglicanis sive Chartis Regiis inde Impetrandis that there was never any Statute made to that effect For the troth is that those great English Lords did to the uttermost of their power cross and withstand the enfranchisement of the Irish for the causes before expressed Wherein I must still clear and acquit the Crown and State of England of negligence or ill policy and lay the fault upon the Pride Covetousness and ill counsel of the English planted here which in all former ages have been the chief impediments of the final conquest of Ireland AGain those large scopes of Land and great Liberties with the absolute power to make War and Peace did raise the English Lords to that height of Pride and Ambition as that they could not endure one another but grew to a mortal War and Dissention among themselves as appeareth by all the Records and Stories of this Kingdom First in the year 1204. the Lacies of Meath made War upon Sir John Courcy who having taken him by treachery sent him prisoner into England In the year 1210. King John coming over in person expelled the Lacies out of the Kingdom for their Tyrannie and oppression of the English howbeit upon payment of great Fines they were afterward restored In the year 1228. that family being risen to a greater heighth for Hugh de Lacy the younger was created Earl of Vlster after the death of Courcy without issue there arose dissention and War between that house and William Marshal Lord of Leinster whereby all Meath was destroyed and laid waste In the year 1264. Sir Walter Bourke having married the Daughter and Heir of Lacy whereby he was Earl of Vlster in right of his Wife had mortal debate with Maurice Fitz-Morice the Geraldine for certain Lands in Conaght So as all Ireland was full of Wars between the Bourkes and the Geraldines say our Annals Wherein Maurice Fitz-Morice grew so insolent as that upon a meeting at Thistledermot he took the Lord Justice himself
Grants of extraordinary Honours and Liberties made by a King to his Subjects do no more diminish his greatness than when one Torch lightet◠another for it hath no less light that it had before Quis vetat apposito lumen de lumine sumi Yet many time◠inconveniences do arise thereupon and those Princes have held up their Soveraignty best which have been sparing in those Grants And truly as these Grants of little Kingdoms and great Royalties to a few private persons did produce the mischiefs spoken of before So the true cause of the making of these Grants did proceed from this That the Kings of England being otherwise employed and diverted did not make the Conquest of Ireland their own work and undertake it not royally at their own charge but as it was first begun by particular Adventurers so they left the prosecution thereof to them and other voluntaries who came to seek their fortunes in Ireland wherein if they could prevail they thought that in reason and honour they could do no less than make them proprietors of such scopes of Land as they could conquer people and plant at their own charge reserving only the Soveraign Lordship to the Crown of England But if the Lyon had gone to hunt himself the shares of the Inferiour Beasts had not been so great If the invasion had been made by an army transmitted furnished and supplyed only at the Kings charges and wholly paid with the Kings Treasure as the Armies of Queen Elizabeth and King James have been as the conquest had been sooner atchieved so the serviters had been contented with lesser proportions For when Scipio Pompey Caesar and other Generals of the Roman Armies as Subjects and Servants of that State and with the publick charge had conquered many Kingdoms and Commonweals we find them rewarded with Honourable Offices and Triumphes at their return and not made Lords and proprietors of whole Provinces and Kingdoms which they had subdued to the Empire of Rome Likewise when the Duke of Normandy had conquered England which he made his own work and performed it in his own person he distributed sundry Lordships and Mannors unto his followers but gave not away whole Shires and Countreys in demeasne to any of his servitors whom he most desired to advance Only he made Hugh Lupus County Palatine of Chester and gave that Earldom to him and his Heirs to hold the same Ita liberè ad gladium sicut Rex tenebat Angliam ad Coronam Whereby that Earldom indeed had a royal Jurisdiction and Seigniory though the Lands of that County in demeasne were possessed for the most part by the ancient Inheritors Again from the time of the Norman Conquest till the raign of King Edward the first many of our English Lords made war upon the Welshmen at their own charge the Lands which they gained they held to their own use were called Lords Marchers and had Royal Liberties within their Lordships Howbeit these particular Adventurers could never make a perfect Conquest of Wales But when King Edward the first came in person with his army thither kept his residence and Court there made the reducing of Wales an enterprize of his own he finished that work in a year or two whereof the Lords Marchers had not performed a third part with their continual bordering war for two hundred years before And withall we may observe that though this King had now the Dominion of Wales in Jure proprietatis as the Statute of Rutland affirmeth which before was subject unto him but in Jure feodali And though he had lost divers principal Knights and Noblemen in that war yet did he not reward his servitors with whole Countries or Counties but with particular Mannors and Lordships as to Henry Lacy Earl of Lincolne he gave the Lordship of Denbigh and to Reignold Gray the Lordship of Ruthen and so to others And if the like course had been used in the winning and distributing the lands of Ireland that Island had been fully conquered before the continent of Wales had been reduced But the troth is when Private men attempt the Conquest of Countries at their own charge commonly their enterprizes do perish without success as when in the time of Queen Elizabeth Sir Thomas Smith undertook to recover the Ardes and Chatterton to reconquer then Fues and Orier The one lost his Son and the other Himself and both their Adventures came to nothing And as for the Crown of England it hath had the like fortune in the Conquest of this land as some purchasers have who desire to buy land at too easie a Rate they finde those cheap purchases so full of trouble as they spend twice as much as the Land is worth before they get the quiet possession thereof And as the best pollicy was not observed in the distribution of the conquered Lands so as I conceive that the first Adventurers intending to make a full Conquest of the Irish were deceived in the choise of the fittest places for their plantation For they sate down and erected their Castles and Habitations in the Plains and open Countries where they found most fruitful and profitable Lands and turned the Irish into the Woods and Mountains Which as they were proper places for Out-Laws and Thieves so were they their Natural Castles and Fortifications thither they drave their preys and stealths there they lurkt and lay in wait to do mischief These fast places they kept unknown by making the wayes and Entries thereunto impassible there they kept their Creaghts or Heardes of Cattle living by the milke of the Cow without Husbandry or Tillage there they encreased and multiplied unto infinite numbers by promiscuous generation among themselves there they made their Assemblies and Conspiracies without discovery But they discovered the weakness of the English dwelling in the open plains and thereupon made their sallies and retreats with great advantage Whereas on the other side if the English had builded their Castles and Towns in those places of fastness and had driven the Irish into the Plains and open Countries where they might have had an eye and observation upon them the Irish had been easily kept in Order and in short time reclaimed from their wildeness there they would have used Tillage dwelt together in Town-ships and learned Mechanical Arts and Sciences The woods had been wasted with the English Habitations as they are about the Forts of Mariborough and Philipston which were built in the fastest places in Leinster and the wayes and passages throughout Ireland would have been as clear and open as they are in England at this day AGain if King Henry the Second who is said to be the King that Conquered this Land had made Forrests in Ireland as he did enlarge the Forrests in England for it appeareth by Charta de Foresta that he afforrested many woods and wasts to the grievance of the Subject which by that Law were disaforrested or if those English Lords
seed of Reformation because they were not first broken and mastered again with the sword Besides the Irish Countreys which contained two third parts of the Kingdom were not reduced to Shire-ground so as in them the Laws of England could not possibly be put in execution Therefore these good Laws and provisions made by Sir Edward Poynings were like good Lessons set for a Lute that is broken and out of tune of which Lessons little use can be made till the Lute be made fit to be plaid upon And that the execution of all these Laws had no greater latitude than the Pale is manifest by the Statute of the thirteenth of Henry the eighth cap. 3. which reciteth that at that time the Kings Laws were obeyed and executed in the four shires onely and yet then was the Earl of Surrey Lieutenant of Ireland a Governor much feared of the Kings Enemies and exceedingly honored and beloved of the Kings subjects And the Instructions given by the state of Ireland to John Allen Master of the Rolls employed into England neer about the same time do declare as much wherein among other things he is required to advertise the King that his Land of Ireland was so much decayed as that the Kings Laws were not obeyed twenty miles in compass Whereupon grew that By-word used by the Irish viz. That they dwelt By-west the Law which dwelt beyond the River of the Barrow which is within thirty miles of Dublin The same is testified by Baron Finglas in his Discourse of the decay of Ireland which he wrote about the twentieth year of King Henry the eighth And thus we see the effect of the Reformation which was intended by Sir Edward Poynings THE next Attempt of Reformation was made in 28 year of King Henry the eighth by the Lord Leonard Gray who was created Viscount of Grane in this Kingdom and held a Parliament wherein many excellent Laws were made But to prepare the mindes of the people to obey these Laws he began first with a Martial course For being sent over to suppress the Rebellion of the Giraldines which he performed in few moneths he afterwards made a victorious Circuit round about the Kingdom beginning in Offaly against O Connor who had aided the Giraldines in their Rebellion and from thence passing along through all the Irish Countreys in Leinster and so into Munster where he took pledges of the degenerate Earl of Desmond and thence into Conaght and thence into Vlster and then concluded this Warlike Progress with the Battel of Belahoo in the borders of Meath as is before remembred The principal Septs of the Irishry being all terrified and most of them broken in this journey many of their chief Lords upon this Deputies return came to Dublin and made their submissions to the Crown of England namely the O Neals and O Relies of Vlster Mac Murrogh O Birn and O Carrol of Leinster and the Bourks of Conaght This preparation being made he first propounded and passed in Parliament these Laws which made the great alteration in the State Ecclesiastical namely the Act which declared King Henry the eighth to be supreme head of the Church of Ireland The Act prohibiting Appeals to the Church of Rome the Act for first-fruits and twentieth part to be paid to the King the Act for Faculties and Dispensations And lastly the Act that did utterly abolish the usurped authority of the Pope Next for the encrease of the Kings Revenue by one Act he suppressed sundry Abbies and Religious Houses and by another Act resumed the Lands of the Absentees as is before remembred And for the Civil Government a special Statute was made to abolish the Black-rents and Tributes exacted by the Irish upon the English Colonies and another Law enacted that the English Apparel Language and manner of living should be used by all such as would acknowledge themselves the Kings Subjects This Parliament being ended the Lord Leonard Gray wâ—s suddenly revokt and put to death in England so as he lived not to finish the work of Reformation whâ—ch he had begun which notwithstanding was weâ—l pursued by his Successor Sir Anthony Saint Leger unto whom all the Lords and Chieftains of the Irishry and of the degenerate English throughout the Kingdom made their several 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 the second the second to King John the third to K. Richard the second and his last to Sir Anthony Saint Leger in 33 H. 8. IN these Indentures of Submission all the Irish Lords do acknowledge King Henry the eighth to be their Soveraign Lord and King and desire to be accepted of him as Subjects They confess the Kings Supremacy in all causes and do utterly renounce the Popes Jurisdiction which I conceive to be worth the noting because when the Irish had once resolved to obey the King they made no scruple to renounce the Pope And this was not onely done by the meer Irish but the chief of the degenerate English Families did perform the same as Desmond Barry and Roche in Munster and the Bourks which bâ—re the title of Mac William in Conaght These Submissions being thus taken the Lord Deputy and Council for the present Government of those Irish Countreys made certain Ordinances of State not agreeable altogether with the Rules of the Law of England the reason whereof is exprest in the Preamble of those Ordinances Quia nondum sic sapiunt leges Jura ut secundum ea jam immediate vivere regi possint The chief points or Articles of which Orders registred in the Council Book are these That King Henry the eighth should be accepted reputed and named King of Ireland by all the Inhabitants of the Kingdom that all Archbishops and Bishops should be permitted to exercise their Jurisdiction in every Diocess throughout the Land that Tythes should be duely set out and paid that Children should not be admitted to Benefices that for every Man-sâ—aughter and theft above fourteen pence committed in the Irish Countrys the offendor should pay a fine of forty pound twenty pound to the King and twenty pound to the Captain of the Countrey and for every theft under fourteen pence a fine of five marks should be paid forty six shilling eight pence to the Captain twenty shillings to the Tanister that Horsemen Kearn should not be imposed upon the common people to be fed maintained by them that the Master should answer for his servants and the Father for his children That Cuttings should not be made by the Lord upon his Tenants to maintain war with his neighbours but onely to bear his necessary expences c. These Ordinances of State being made and published there were nominated and appointed in every Province certain Orderers or Arbitrators who instead of these Irish Brehons should hear and determine