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
and are of better credit than any Monks story that during the Reign of King Edward the third the Revenue of the Crown of Ireland both certain and casual did not rise unto Ten thousand pound per annum though the Medium be taken of the best seven years that are to be found in that Kings time The like Fable hath Hollingshead touching the Revenue of the Earldom of Vlster which saith he in the time of King Richard the second was thirty thousand Marks by the year whereas in truth though the Lordships of Conaght and Meath which were then parcel of the inheritance of the Earl of Vlster be added to the accompt the Revenue of that Earldom came not to the third part of that he writeth For the Accompt of the profits of Vlster yet remaining in Breminghams Tower made by William fitz-Warren Seneshal and Farmour of the Lands in Vlster seized into the Kings hands after the death of Walter de Burgo Earl of Vlster from the fifth year of Edward the third until the eight year do amount but to nine hundred and odde pounds at what time the Irishry had not made so great an invasion upon the Earldome of Vlster as they had done in the time of King Richard the second As vain a thing it is that I have seen written in an ancient Manuscript touching the Customs of this Realm in the time of King Edward the third that those duties in those days should yearly amount to Ten thousand Marks which by mine own search and view of the Records here I can justly control For upon the late reducing of this ancient Inheritance of the Crown which had been detained in most of the Port-Towns of this Realm for the space of a hundred years and upwards I took some pains according to the duty of my place to visit all the Pipe-Rolls wherein the Accompts of Customs are contained and found those duties answered in every Port for two hundred and fifty years together but did not finde that at any time they did exceed a thousand pound per annum and no marvel for the subsidy of Pondage was not then known and the greatest profit did arise by the Cocquet of Hides for Wool and Wool-fels were ever of little value in this Kingdom But now again let us see how the Martial affairs proceeded in Ireland Sir William Winsor continued his government till the latter end of the Reign of King Edward the third keeping but not enlarging the English borders IN the beginning of the Reign of King Richard the second the State of England began to think of the recovery of Ireland For then was the first Statute made against Absentes commanding all such as had Land in Ireland to return and reside thereupon upon pain to forfeit two third parts of the profit thereof Again this King before himself intended to pass over committed the Government of this Realm to such great Lords successively as he did most love and favour First to the Earl of Oxford and chief Minion whom he created Marquess of Dublin and Duke of Ireland next to the Duke of Surry his half Brother and lastly to the Lord Mortimer Earl of March and Vlster his Cosin and Heir apparent Among the Patent Rolls in the Tower the ninth year of Richard the second we find five hundred men at Arms at twelve pence a piece per diem and a thousand Archers at six pence a piece per diem appointed for the Duke of Ireland Super Conquestu illius terrae per duos annos For those are the words of that Record But for the other two Lieutenants I do not find the certain numbers whereof their Armies did consist But certain it is that they were scarce able to defend the English borders much less to reduce the whole Island For one of them namely the Earl of March was himself slain upon the borders of Meath for revenge of whose death the King himself made his second voyage into Ireland in the last year of his Reign For his first voyage in the eighteenth year of his Reign which was indeed a Voyage-Royal was made upon another motive and occasion which was this Upon the vacancy of the Empire this King having married the King of Bohemiahs Daughter whereby he had great alliance in Germany did by his Ambassadors solicite the Princes Electors to choose him Emperor but another being elected and his Ambassadors returned he would needs know of them the cause of his repulse in that Competition They told him plainly that the Princes of Germany did not think him fit to Command the Empire who was neither able to hold that which his Ancestors had gained in France nor to rule his insolent Subjects in England nor to Master his Rebellious people of Ireland This was enough to kindle in the heart of a young Prince a desire to perform some great enterprize And therefore finding it no fit time to attempt France he resolved to finish the Conquest of Ireland and to that end he levied a mighty Army consisting of four thousand men at Arms and thirty thousand Archers which was a sufficient power to have reduced the whole Island if he had first broken the Irish with a War and after established the English Laws among them and not have been satisfied with their light submissions onely wherewith in all ages they have mockt and abused the State of England But the Irish Lords knowing this to be a sure pollicy to dissolve the forces which they were not able to resist for their Ancestors had put the same trick and imposture upon King John and King Henry the second as soon as the King was arrived with his army which he brought over under S. Edwards Banner whose name was had in great veneration amongst the Irish they all made offer to submit themselves Whereupon the Lord Thomas Mowbray Earl of Nottingham and Marshal of England was authorized by special Commission to receive the homages and Oaths of fidelity of all the Irishry of Leinster And the King himself having received humble Letters from Oneal wherein he stileth himself Prince of the Irishry in Vlster and yet acknowledgeth the King to be his Soveraign Lord perpetuus Dominus Hiberniae removed to Droghedah to accept the like submissions from the Irish of Vlster The Men of Leinster namely Mac Murrogh O Byrne O Moore O Murrogh O Nolan and the chief of the Kinshelaghes in an humble and solemn manner did their homages and made their Oaths of fidelity to the Earl Marshal laying aside their girdles their skeins and their Caps and falling down at his feet upon their knees Which when they had performed the Earl gave unto each of them Osculum pacis Besides they were bound by several Indentures upon great pains to be paid to the Apostolick Chamber not only to continue loyal subjects but that by a certain day prefixed they and all their Sword-men should clearly relinquish and give up unto the
Henry the second in the Kingdom of England had less reason to bend his power towards the Conquest of this Land which was given in perpetuity to the Lord John his Brother And therefore went he in person to the Holy War by which journey and his Captivity in Austria and the heavy ransome that he paid for his liberty he was hindred and utterly disabled to pursue any so great an action as the Conquest of Ireland And after his delivery and return hardly was he able to maintain a Frontier War in Normandy where by hard fortune he lost his life KIng John his Brother had greatest reason to prosecute the War of Ireland because the Lordship thereof was the portion of his inheritance given unto him when he was called John Sans-Terre Therefore he made two journeys thither one when he was Earl of Morton and very young about twelve years of age the other when he was King in the twelfth year of his Reign In the the first his own youth and his youthful company Roboams Counsellors made him hazard the loss of all that his Father had won But in the latter he shewed a resolution to recover the entire Kingdom in taking the submissions of all the Irishry and settling the estates of the English and giving order for the building of many Castles and Forts whereof some remain until this day But he came to the Crown of England by a defeasible Title so as he was never well settled in the hearts of the people which drew him the sooner back out of Ireland into England where shortly after he fell into such trouble and distress The Clergy cursing him on the one side and the Barons Rebelling against him on the other as he became so far unable to return to the Conquest of Ireland as besides the forfeiture of the Territories in France he did in a manner lose both the Kingdoms For he surrendred both to the Pope and took them back again to hold in Fee-farm which brought him into such hatred at home and such contempt abroad as all his life time after he was possest rather with fear of loosing his head than with hope of reducing the Kingdom of Ireland DUring the infancy of Henry the third the Barons were troubled in expelling the French whom they had drawn in against King John But this Prince was no sooner come to his majority but the Barons raised a long and cruel war against him Into these troubled waters the Bishops of Rome did cast their Nets and drew away all the wealth of the realm by their provisions and infinite exactions whereby the Kingdom was so impoverished as the King was scarce able to feed his own houshold and train much less to nourish Armies for the conquest of Forraign Kingdoms And albeit he had given this Land to the Lord Edward his eldest son yet could not that worthy Prince ever find means or opportunity to visit this Kingdom in person For from the time he was able to bear armes he served continually against the Barons by whom he was taken prisoner at the battel of Lewes And when that rebellion was appeased he made a journey to the Holy Land an employment which in those dayes diverted all Christian Princes from performing any great actions in Europe from whence he was returned when the Crown of England descended upon him THis King Edward the first who was a Prince adorned with all vertues did in the managing of his affairs shew himself a right good husband who being Owner of a Lordship ill husbanded doth first enclose and mannure his demeasnes near his principal house before he doth improve his wasts afar off Therefore he began first to establish the Common-wealth of England by making many excellent Laws and instituting the form of publick Justice which remaineth to this day Next he fully subdued and reduced the Dominion of Wales then by his power and authority he setled the Kingdom of Scotland and lastly he sent a Royal army into Cascoigne to recover the Dutchy of Aquitain These four great actions did take up all the raign of this Prince And therefore we find not in any Record that this King transmitted any Forces into Ireland but on the other side we find it recorded both in the Annals and in the Pipe-Rolls of this Kingdom that three several Armies were raised of the Kings subjects in Ireland and transported one into Scotland another into Wales and the third into Cascoigne and that several aids were levyed here for the setting forth of those armies THe Son and Successor of this excellent Prince was Edward the second who much against his will sent one small army into Ireland not with a purpose to finish the Conquest but to guard the person of his Minion Piers Gaveston who being banished out of England was made Lieutenant of Ireland that so his exile might seem more honourable He was no sooner arrived here but he made a journey into the Mountains of Dublin brake and subdued the Rebels there built New-Castle in the Birnes Country and repaired Castlekeuin and after passed up into Mounster and Thomond performing every where great service with much Vertue and Valour But the King who could not live without him revokt him within less than a year After which time the invasion of the Scots and Rebellion of the Barons did not only disable this King to be a Conqueror but deprived him both of his Kingdom and life And when the Scottish nation had over-run all this land under the conduct of Edw. le Bruce who stiled himself King of Ireland England was not then able to send either men or mony to save this Kingdom Only Roger de Mortimer then Justice of Ireland arrived at Youghall cum 38. milit saith Friar Clinn in his Annals But Bremingham Verdon Stapleton and some other private Gentlemen rose out with the Commons of Meth and Vriel and at Fagher near Dondalke a fatal place to the enemies of the Crown of England overthrew a potent army of them Et sic saith the red Book of the Exchequer wherein the victory was briefly recorded per manus communis populi dextram dei deliberatur populus dei a servitute machinata praecogitata IN the time of King Edward the third the impediments of the Conquest of Ireland are so notorious as I shall not need to express them to wit the war which the King had with the Realms of Scotland and of France but especially the Wars of France which were almost continual for the space of forty years And indeed France was a fairer mark to shoot at than Ireland and could better reward the Conqueror Besides it was an inheritance newly descended upon the King and therefore he had great reason to bend all his power and spend all his time and treasure in the recovery thereof And this is the true cause why Edward the third sent no army into Ireland till the 36. year of his
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
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
had no colour or shadow of Title to that great Lordship but only by grant from the Crown and by the Law of England for by the Irish Law he had been ranked with the meanest of his Sept yet in one of his Capitulations with the State he required that no Sheriff might have Jurisdiction within Tyrone and consequently that the Laws of England might not be executed there Which request was never before made by O Neale or any other Lord of the Irishry when they submitted themselves but contrariwise they were humble sutors to have the benefit and protection of the English Laws THis then I note as a great defect in the civil policy of this Kingdom in that for the space of three hundred and fifty years at least after the Conquest first attempted the English laws were not communicated to the Irish nor the benefit and protection thereof allowed unto them though they earnestly desired and sought the same For as long as they were out of the protection of the Law so as every English-man might oppress spoil and kill them without controulment how was it possible they should be other than Out-laws and Enemies to the Crown of England If the King would not admit them to the condition of Subjects how could they learn to acknowledge and obey him as their Soveraign When they might not converse or Commerce with any Civil Men nor enter into any Town or City without peril of their Lives whither should they flye but into the Woods and Mountains and there live in a wilde and barbarous manner If the English Magistrates would not rule them by the Law which doth punish Treason and Murder and Theft with death but leave them to be ruled by their own Lords and Laws why should they not embrace their own Brehon Law which punisheth no offence but with a Fine or Ericke If the Irish be not permitted to purchase Estates of Free-holds or Inheritance which might descend to their Children according to the course of our Common Law must they not continue their custom of Tanistrie which makes all their possessions uncertain and brings Confusion Barbarism and Incivility In a word if the English would neither in peace Govern them by the Law nor could in war root them out by the sword must they not needs be pricks in their eyes and thorns in their sides till the worlds end and so the Conquest never be brought to perfection BUT on the other side If from the beginning the Laws of England had been established and the Brehon or Irish Law utterly abolished as well in the Irish Countries as the English Colonies If there had been no difference made between the Nations in point of Justice and protection but all had been governed by one Equal Just and Honourable Law as Dido speaketh in Virgil Tros Tyriusvè mihi nullo discrimine habetur If upon the first submission made by the Irish Lords to King Henry the second Quem in Regem Dominum receperunt saith Matth. Paris or upon the second submission made to King John when Plusquam viginti Reguli maximo timore perterriti homagium ei fidelitatem fecerunt as the same Author writeth or upon the third general submission made to King Richard the second when they did not only do Homage and fealty but bound themselves by Indentures and Oaths as is before expressed to become and continue loyal subjects to the Crown of England If any of these three Kings who came each of them twice in person into this Kingdom had upon these submissions of the Irishry received them all both Lords and Tenants into their immediate protection divided their several Countries into Counties made Sheriffs Coroners and Wardens of the peace therein sent Justices Itinerants half yearly into every part of the Kingdom as well to punish Malefactors as to hear and determine causes between party and party according to the course of the Laws of England taken surrenders of their Lands and Territories and granted Estates unto them to hold by English Tenures granted them Markers Fairs and other Franchises and erected Corporate Towns among them all which hath been performed since his Majesty came to the Crown assuredly the Irish Countries had long since been reformed and reduced to Peace Plenty and Civility which are the effects of Laws and good Government they had builded Houses planted Orchards and Gardens erected Town-ships and made provision for their posterities there had been a perfect Union betwixt the Nations and consequently a perfect Conquest of Ireland For the Conquest is never perfect till the war be at an end and the war is not at an end till their be peace and unity and there can never be Unity and Concord in any one Kingdom but where there is but one King one Allegiance and one Law TRue it is that King John made twelve shires in Leinster and Mounster namely Dublin Kildare Meth Vriel Catherlogh Kilkenny Wexford Waterford Corke Limerick Kerrie and Tipperary Yet these Counties did stretch no farther than the Lands of the English Colonies did extend In them only were the English Laws published and put in Execution and in them only did the Itinerant Judges make their circuits and visitations of Justice and not in the Countries possessed by the Irishry which contained two third parts of the Kingdom at least And therefore King Edward the first before the Court of Parliament was established in Ireland did transmit the Statutes of England in this form Dominus Rex mandavit Breve suum in haec verba Edwardus Dei gratia Rex Angliae Dominus Hiberniae c. Cancellario suo Hiberniae Salutem Quaedam statuta per nos de assensu Praelatorum Comitum Baronum Communitat regni nostri nuper apud Lincolne quaedam alia statuta postmodum apud Eborum facta quae in dicta terra nostra Hiberniae ad Communem utilitatem populi nostri ejusdem terrae observari volumus vobis mittimus sub sigillo nostro mandantes quod statuta illa in dicta Cancellaria nostra Custodiri ac in rotulis ejusdem Cancellariae irrotulari ad singulas placeas nostras in terra nostra Hiberniae singulos Commitatus ejusdem terrae mitti faciatis ministris nostris placearum illarum Vicecomitibus dictorum Comitatum mandantes quod statuta illa coram ipsis publicari ea in omnibus singulis Articulis suis observari firmiter faciatis Testè meipso apud Nottingham c. By which Writ and by all the Pipe-Rolls of that time it is manifest that the Laws of England were published and put in execution only in the Counties which were then made and limited and not in the Irish Countries which were neglected and left wilde and have but of late years been divided in one and twenty Counties more Again true it is that by the Statute of Kilkenny enacted in this Kingdom in the fortieth year of King Edward the Third the Brehon Law was
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
or read that it was in that use or reputation in any other Countrey Barbarous or Civil as it hath been and yet is in Ireland where they put away all their children to Fosterers the potent and rich men Sellings the meaneri sort Buying the alterage of their Children and the reason is because in the opinion of this people Fostering hath always been a stronger alliance than Blood and the Foster-Children do love and are beloved of their Foster-Fathers and their Sept more than of their own natural Parents and Kindred and do participate of their means more frankly and do adhere unto them in all Fortunes with more affection and constancy And though Tully in his Book of Friendship doth observe that children of Princes being sometimes in cases of necessity for saving of their lives delivered to Shepherds to be nourished and bred up when they have been restored to their great fortunes have still retained their love and affection to their Fosterers whom for many years they took to be their Parents yet this was a rare case and few examples are to be found thereof But such a general custom in a Kingdom in giving and taking children to Foster making such a firm alliance as it doth in Ireland was never seen or heard of in any other Countrey of the World besides THE like may be said of Gossipred or Compaternity which though by the Canon Law it be a Spiritual affinity and a Juror that was Goship to either of the parties might in former times have been challenged as not indifferent by our Law yet there was no Nation under the Sun that ever made so Religious account thereof as the Irish Now these two Customs which of themselves are indifferent in other Kingdoms became exceeding evil and full of mischief in this Realm by reason of the inconveniences which followed thereupon For they made as I said before strong parties and factions whereby the great men were enabled to oppress their Inferiors and to oppose their Equals and their followers were born out and countenanced in all their lewd and wicked actions For Fosterers and Gossips by the common custom of Ireland were to maintain one another in all causes lawful and unlawful which as it is a Combination and Confederacy punishable in all well-govern Commonweals so was it not one of the least causes of the common misery of this Kingdom I omit their common repudiation of their Wives their promiscuous generation of Children their neglect of lawful Matrimony their uncleanness in Apparel Diet and Lodging and their contempt and scorn of all things necessary for the civil life of man These were the Irish Customs which the English Colonies did embrace and use after they had rejected the Civil and Honorable Laws and Customs of England whereby they became Degenerate and Metamorphosed like Nebuchadnezzar who although he had the face of a man had the heart of a beast or like those who had drunk of Circes Cup and were turned into very Beasts and yet took such pleasure in their beastly manner of life as they would not return to their shape of men again Insomuch as within less time than the age of a man they had no marks or differences left amongst them of that Noble Nation from which they were descended For as they did not onely forget the English Language and scorn the use thereof but grew to be ashamed of their very English Names though they were Noble and of great Antiquity and took Irish Sirnames and Nick-names Namely the two most potent Families of the Bourks in Conaght after the House of the Red Earl failed of Heirs males called their Chiefs Mac William Fighter and Mac William Oughter In the same Province Bremingham Baron of Athenrie called himself Mac Yoris Dexecester or De'exon was called Mac Jordan Mangle or de Angulo took the name of Mac Costelo Of the Inferior families of the Bourkes one was called Mac Hubbard another Mac David In Munster of the great Families of the Geraldines planted there one was called Mac Morice chief of the House of Lixnaw and another Mac Gibbon who was also called the White Knight The chief of the Baron of Dunboynes house who is a branch of the House of Ormond took the Sirnames of Mac Pheris Condon of the County of Waterford was called Mac Maioge and the Arch-deacon of the County of Kilkenny Mac Odo And this they did in contempt and hatred of the English Name and Nation whereof these degenerate families became more mortal enemies than the meer Irish And whereas the State and Government being grown weak by their defection did to reduce them to Obedience grant them many Protections and Pardons The cheapness whereof in all ages hath brought great dishonor and damage to this Commonweal they grew so ungrateful and unnatural as in the end they scorned that gâ—ace and favour because the acceptance thereof did argue them to be sâ—bjects and they desired rather to be accounted Enemies than Rebels to the Crown of England Hereupon was that old Verse made which I finde written in the White Book of the Exchequer in a hand as ancient as the time of King Edward the third By granting Charters of peas To false English withouten les This Land shall be mich undoo But Gossipred and alterage And leesing of our Languge Have mickely holp theretoo And therefore in a Close Roll in the Tower bearing this title Articuli in Hibernia observandi we finde these two Articles among others 1. Justiciarius Hiberniae non concedat perdonationes de morte hominis nec de Roberiis seu incendiis quod de caetero certificet dominum regem de nominibus petentium 2. Item Quod nec Justiciarius nec aliquis Magnas Hiberniae concedat protectiones alicui contra pacem Regis existent c. But now it is fit to look back and consider when the old English Colonies became so degenerate and in what age they fell away into that Irish Barbarism rejecting the English Laws and Customes Assuredly by comparing the ancient Annales of Ireland with the Records remaining here and in the Tower of London I do finde that this general defection fell out in the latter end of the Reign of King Edward the second and in the beginning of the Reign of King Edward the third And all this great Innovation grew within the space of thirty years within the compass of which time there fell out divers mischievous accidents whereby the whole kingdom was in a manner lost For first Edward de Bruce invaded Ireland with the Scottish Army and prevailed so far as that he possessed the Maritime parts of Vlster marched up to the walls of Dublin spoiled the English Pale passed thorough Leinster and Munster as far as Limerick and was Master of the field in every part of the Kingdom This hapned in the tenth year of King Edward the second at what time the Crown of England was weaker and suffered more dishonour in