Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
cause_n king_n lord_n year_n 2,888 5 4.9547 4 true
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A37237 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 ... John Davis ... Davies, John, 1625-1693. 1666 (1666) Wing D402; ESTC R14019 94,006 270

There are 11 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

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
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
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 ●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-Ro●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 Conaght● 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
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 w●s suddenly revokt and put to death in England so as he lived not to finish the work of Reformation wh●ch he had begun which notwithstanding was we●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 b●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-s●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
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 Ir●sh were not well distributed The proportions of Land granted to the first Adventurers were too large● Giraldus Cambrensis l. 2. de l●●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 Arch●u● 1● E●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 Ca● 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 d●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 beca●●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 M●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. 3● clau pers 1. m. 16. Sir Anthony Lucy Annales Hiberni● in Camden Resumption of liberties Annales Hiberniae in Camden Sir Raphe Vfford Annales Jo●an Manus Clynn Annale Hibern● in Ca●de● 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 Lio● Duke Clare● 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 th● 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 Abse●● of o●● King The absence of the great English Lords Baron Finglas Manusc Baron Finglas Manusc Arch Tur ● parli● n. 42. Arch in O● Rem● Dubl● Act of Absentees 28 H. 8. The reformation intended by K. Ric● 2. Archi● Tur. 3 Rich. claus 3. Ri● 2. Rot● Parl● 11.42 9 Ri● 2. cl Walsiham ● Rich 349. Plac. coram Reg● in Hibernia Hillar 18. Rich● 2. The reformat●on int●●ded by Hen. ● The course of reformation held by Sir Edward Poynings in the time of K. Hen 7. Poynings Act. The Co●● Boo● Irel● 16 ● The Reformation intended by the L. Leonard Gray 28 H. 8. Annal●● Hiber●● Manu● The Coun●● Book● 〈◊〉 Irela●● 2● ●● The c●urs● Refor●●tion ●sued Sir A●thony S. L● Four nera● subm●ons the I● The Cou● Boo● Irel● 32 3● 34 ● The and gen● Ea● ren● 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 Li●x and Offaly made two Counti●s 3. 4. Phil. Mariae The course of reformation followed by Sir Henry Sidney in the time of Queen Elizabeth 〈◊〉 re●●●mati●● ad●●●ced 〈◊〉 Sir ●ohn ●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 ●n the carriage of the martial affairs amended How the defects in the Civil Government have bin supplied ● 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 p● in execution No gran● of Irish Captain-ships o● S●nescha●ships since ●i● Majestie Reign The plantation on of Vlster
the obtaining of the Soveraign Lordship thereof The King refused to undertake the War himself to avoid the charge as King Henry the seventh refused to undertake the discovery of the Indies for the same cause but he gave license by His Letters Patents that such of his Subjects might pass over into Ireland as would at their own charge become adventurers in that enterprize SO as the first attempt to conquer this Kingdom was but an adventure of a few private Gentlemen Fitz-Stephen and Fitz-Gerald first brake the ice with a party of three hundred ninety men The Earl Strongbow followed them with twelve hundred more whose good success upon the Sea-coasts of Leinster and Mounster drew over the King in person the next year after cum quingentis Militibus as Giraldus Cambrensis reporteth who was present in Ireland at that time Which if they were but five hundred Souldiers seemeth too small a train for so great a Prince But admit they were five hundred Knights yet because in those days every Knight was not a Commander of a Regiment or Company but most of them served as private men sometimes a hundred Knights under a Spear as appeareth by the Lists of the ancient Armies we cannot conjecture his army to have been so great as might suffice to conquer all Ireland being divided into so many Principalities and having so many Hydraes heads as it had at that time For albeit Tacitus in the life of Agricola doth report that Agricola having subdued the greatest part of Great Brittain did signifie to the Senate of Rome that he thought Ireland might also be conquered with one Legion and a few aids I make no doubt but that if he had attempted the conquest thereof with a far greater army he would have found himself deceived in this conjecture For a Barbarous Country is not so easily conquered as a Civil whereof Caesar had experience in his Wars against the Gau●es Germanes and Britaines who were subdued to the Roman Empire with far greater difficulty than the rich Kingdoms of Asia And again a Country possessed with many petty Lords and States is not so soon brought under entirely as an entire Kingdom Governed by one Prince or Monarch And therefore the late King of Spain could sooner win the Kingdom of Portugal than reduce the States of the Low-Countries BUt let us see the success of King Henry the Second doubtless his expedition was such as he might have said with Caesar veni vidi vici For upon his first arrival his very Presence without drawing his Sword prevailed so much as all the Petty-Kings or great Lords within Leinster Conaght and Mounster submitted themselves unto him promised to pay him tribute and acknowledged him their chief and Soveraign Lord. Besides the better to assure this inconstant Sea-Nymph who was so easily wonne the Pope would needs give her unto him with a Ring Conjugio jungam stabili propriamque dicabo But as the Conquest was but slight and superficial so the Popes Donation and the Irish Submissions were but weak and fickle assurances For as the Pope had no more Interest in this Kingdom than He which offered to Christ all the Kingdoms of the earth so the Irish pretend That by their Law a Tanist might do no act that might bind his successor But this was the best assurance he could get from so many strong Nations of people with so weak a power and yet he was so well pleased with this title of the Lordship of Ireland as he placed it in his Royal Stile before the Dutchies of Normandy and Aquitain And so being advertised of some stirs raised by his unnatural Sons in England within five months after his first arrival he departed out of Ireland without striking one blow or building one Castle or planting one Garrison among the Irish neither left he behind him one true subject more than those he found there at his coming over which were only the English Adventurers spoken of before who had gained the Port Towns in Leinster and Mounster and possessed some scopes of Land thereunto adjoyning partly by Strongbow's alliance with the Lord of Leinster and partly by plain invasion and Conquest And this is that Conquest of King Henry the second so much spoken of by so many Writers which though it were in no other manner than is before expressed yet is the entire Conquest of all Ireland attributed unto him But the troth is the conquest of Ireland was made by peice and peice by slow steps and degrees and by several attempts in several ages There were sundry revolutions as well of the English fortunes as of the Irish some-whiles one prevailing some-whiles the other and it was never brought to a full period till his Majesty that now is came to the Crown As for King Henry the second he was far from obtaining that Monarchy Royal and true Soveraignty which His Majesty who now reigneth hath over the Irish For the Irish Lords did only promise to become Tributaries to King Henry the Second And such as pay on●y Tribute though they be placed by Bodin in the first degree of Subjection are not properly Subjects but Soveraigns For though they be less and inferiour unto the Prince to whom they pay Tribute yet they hold all other points of Soveraignty and having paid their Tribute which they promised to have their peace they are quit of all other duties as the same Bodin writeth And therefore though King Henry the second had the title of Soveraign Lord over the Irish yet did he not put those things in execution which are the true marks and differences of Soveraignty FOr to give Laws unto a people to institute Magistrates and Officers over them to punish and pardon Malefactors to have the sole authority of making war and peace and the like are the true marks of Soveraignty which K. Henry the second had not in the Irish countries but the Irish Lords did still retain all these prerogatives to themselves For they governed their people by the Brehon Law they made their own Magistrates and Officers they pardoned and punished all Malefactors within their several Countries they made war and peace one with another without controulment and this they did not only during the Reign of King Henry the Second but afterwards in all times even until the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and it appeareth what manner of Subjects these Irish Lords were by the Concord made between King Henry the Second and Roderick ô Connor the Irish King of Conaght in the year 1175. which is recorded by Hoveden in this form Hic est finis Concordia inter Dominum regem Angliae Henricum filium Imperatricis Rodoricum Regem Conactae scilicet quod Rex Angliae concessit praedict ' Roderico Ligeo homini suo ut sit Rex sub eo paratus ad servitium suum ut homo suus c. And the Commission whereby King Henry the Second made William
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
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
amongst whom the whole Kingdom was divided had been good Hunters and had reduced the Mountains Boggs and Woods within the limits of Forrests Chases and Parks assuredly the very Forrest Law and the Law de Malefactoribus in parcis would in time have driven them into the Plains and Countries inhabited and manured and have made them yield up their fast places to those wilde Beasts which were indeed less hurtful and wilde than they But it seemeth strange to me that in all the Records of this Kingdom I seldom find any mention made of a Forrest and never of any Parke or Free-warren considering the great plenty both of Vert and Venison within this Land and that the chief of the Nobility and Gentry are descended of English race and yet at this day there is but one Parke stored with Deer in all this Kingdom which is a Parke of the Earl of Ormonds neer Kilkenny It is then manifest by that which is before expressed that the not communicating of the English laws to the Irish the over large Grants of Lands and Liberties to the English the plantation made by the English in the Plains and open Countries leaving the Woods and Mountains to the Irish were great Defects in the Civil pollicy and hindered the perfection of the Conquest very much Howbeit notwithstanding these Defects and Errours the English Colonies stood and maintained themselves in a reasonable good estate as long as they retained their own ancient Laws and customs according to that of Ennius Moribus antiquis res stat Romana virisque But when the civil Government grew so weak and so loose as that the English Lords would not suffer the English laws to be put in execution within their Territories and Seigniories but in place thereof both they and their people embraced the Irish customs Then the estate of things like a Game at Irish was so turned about as the English which hoped to make a perfect Conquest of the Irish were by them perfectly and absolutely conquered because Victi victoribus leges dedere A just punishment to our Nation that would not give Laws to the Irish when they might and therefore now the Irish gave Laws to them Therefore this Defect and failing of the English Justice in the English Colonies and the inducing of the Irish customs in lieu thereof was the main impediment that did arrest and stop the course of the Conquest and was the only mean that enabled the Irishry to recover their strength again FOr if we consider the Nature of the Irish Customs we shall find that the people which doth use them must of necessity be Rebels to all good Government destroy the commonwealth wherein they live and bring Barbarisme and desolation upon the richest and most fruitfull Land of the World For whereas by the just and Honourable Law of England and by the Laws of all other well-governed Kingdoms and Commonweals Murder Man-slaughter Rape Robbery and Theft are punished with death By the Irish Custom or Brehon Law the highest of these offences was punished only by Fine which they called an Ericke Therefore when Sir William Fitz-Williams being Lord Deputy told Maguyre that he was to send a Sheriff into Fermannagh being lately before made a County your Sheriff sa●d Maguyre shall be welcome to me but let me know his Ericke or the price of his head afore hand that if my people cut it off I may cut the Ericke upon the Countrey As for Oppression Exto●tion and other trespasses the weaker had never any remedy against the stronger whereby it came to pass that no man could enjoy his Life his Wife his Lands or Goods in safety if a mightier man than himself had an appetite to take the same from him Wherein they were little better than Cannibal who do hunt one another and he that hath most strength and swiftness doth eat and devour all his fellowes Again in England and all well ordered Common-wea●s Men have certain estates in their Lands and possessions and their inheritances descend from Father to Son wh●ch doth give them encouragement to build and to plant and to improve their Lands and to make them better for their posterities But by the Irish Custom of Tanistry the Chieftanes of every Country and the chief of every Sept had no longer estate than for life in their Cheefe●ies the inheritance whereof did ●est in no man And these Cheeferies though they had some portions of Lands allotted unto them did consist chiefly in cuttings and Cosheries and other Irish exactions whereby they did spoile and impoverish the people at their pleasure And when their Chieftanes were dead their Sons or next heirs did not succeed them but their Tanistes who were Elective and purchased their elections by strong hand And by the Irish Custom of Gavel-kinde the inferiour Tennanties were partible amongst all the Males of the Sept both Bastards and Legitimate and after partition made if any one of the Sept had dyed his portion was not divided among his Sons but the chief of the sept made a new partition of all the Lands belonging to that Sept and gave every one his part according to his antiquity THese two Irish Customs made all their possessions uncertain being shuffled and changed and removed so often from one to another by new elections and partitions which uncertainty of estates hath been the true cause of such Desolation and Barbarism in this Land as the like was never seen in any Countrey that professed the name of Christ For though the Irishry be a Nation of great Antiquity and wanted neither wit nor valour and though they had received the Christian Faith above 1200 years since and were lovers of Musick Poetry and all kinde of Learning and possessed a Land abounding with all things necessary for the civil life of man yet which is strange to be related they did never build any houses of brick or stone some few poor Religious Houses excepted before the Reign of King Henry the second though they were Lords of this Island for many hundred years before and since the Conquest attempted by the English Albeit when they saw us build Castles upon their borders they have onely in imitation of us erected some few piles for the Captains of the Countrey yet I dare boldly say that never any particular person either before or since did build any stone or brick house for his private habitation but such as have lately obtained estates according to the course of the Law of England Neither did any of them in all this time plant any Ga●dens or Orchards inclose or improve their Lands live together in sett●ed Vi●lages or Towns nor made any provision for posterity which be●ng against all common sense and reason must needs be imputed to those unreasonable Customs which made their estates so uncertain and transitory in their possessions For who would plant or improve or build upon that Land which a stranger whom he knew not
Egypt in Pharaohs Dream devouring the fat of England and yet remaining as lean as it was before it will hereafter be as fruitfull as the land of Canaan the description whereof in the 8. of Deutronomy doth in every part agree with Ireland being Terra Rivorum aquarumque fontium in cujus Campis Montibus erumpunt fluviorum abyssi Terra frumenti hordei Terra lactis mellis ubi absque ulla penuria comedes panem tuum rerum abundantia perfrueris And thus I have discovered and expressed the defects and Errors as well in the managing of the Martial Affairs as of the civil which in former Ages gave impediment to the reducing of all Ireland to the Obedience and Subjection of the Crown of England I have likewise observed what courses have been taken to reform the Defects and Errors in Government and to reduce the People of this Land to obedience since the beginning of the raign of King Edward 3. till the latter end of the raign of Queen Elizabeth And lastly I have declared and set forth How all the said errors have been corrected and the defects supplyed under the prosperous Government of His Majesty So as I may positively conclude in the same words which I have used in the Title of this Discourse That untill the beginning of His Majesties Raign Ireland was never entirely subdued and brought under the Obedience of the Crown of England But since the Crown of of this Kingdom with the undoubted right and Title thereof descended upon His Majesty The whole Island from Sea to Sea hath been brought into his Highness peaceable possession and all the Inhabitants in every corner thereof have been absolutely reduced under his immediate subjection In which condition of Subjects they will gladly continue without defection or adhaering to any other Lord or King as long as they may be Protected and justly Governed without Oppression on the one side or impunity on the other For there is no Nation of people under the Sun that doth love equal and indifferent Justice better than the Irish or will rest better satisfied with the execution thereof although it be against themselves so as they may have the protection and benefit of the Law when upon just cause they do desire it FINIS Two main impediments of the conquest The faint prosecution of the war What is a perfect Conquest How the war hath been prosecuted since the 17 year of Henry the second In the time of Henry the second Giraldus Cambrensis The first attempt but an adventure of private Gentlemen With what forces the King himself come over Archiu Remem Regis apud West What manner of Conquest K. Henry the second made of Ireland Bodin de Repub. The true marks of Soveraignty Hoveden in Henrico secundo fol. 312. 6 Johannis Claus membrana 18.17 Johannis Chart. m. 3. 6. Hen. 3. chart m. 2. Archiu in Castro Dublin ●2 Hen. 3. Co●po●●● Will de la Zouch 36. H●n 3. ●om●●tus Huberti de Rouly How the war● was prosecuted in the time of King John Giraldus Cambrensis Giraldus Cambrensis Geraldus Cambrensis Matth. Pacis in Richardo primo ●● 15 19. Matth. Paris This Charter yet remaineth perfect with an entire Seal in the treasury at Westminster Archiu in Castro Dublin Archiu Turr. 52● Hen. 3 patent m. 9. How the martial affairs were carried from the 12 year of King John to the 36. year of King Edward the Third Archiu in Castro Dublin Stat. 10. H. 7. c. 4. rot Parliam in Castro Dublin Annales Hiberniae in Camden Baron Finglas Manus Stat. 10. H 7. cap. 4. Rot. Parli in Castro Dublin Stat. 11. H. 4. c. 6. Baron Finglas M. S. The Army transmitted with Lionel Duke of Clarence the 36 of Edw. 3. Archiu Remem Regis apud Westm The manner of levying Souldiers informer ages What service Lionel Duke of Clarence performed Archiu Tur. 36. Edw. 3 Claus m. 21. in dorso m. 30. ●●r Will. Winsor Lieutenant 47 Ed. 3. his forces service 47 Ed 3. Claus m. 1. Stow in Rich 2. The state of the revenue of Ireland in the time of Edw. 3. Walsingham in Rich. 2. Archiu Turr. 11 H. 3. patent m. 3. 21 Ed. 3. m. 41. 47 Ed. 3. claus pers 2. m. 24. 26. Archiu in Castro Dublin Hollingshead in R. 2. Archiu in Castro Dublin 5 Edw 3. How the war proceeded in the time of King Richard the second 3 Rich. 2. Archiu Tur Rot. Parl. 42. Pat. 2. pars 9. Rich. 2. m. 24. Walsingham in Rich. 2. Annales Tho. Otterbourne Manuscript Stow in Rich. 2● Archiu in officio Rememorat regis apud Westmon Hollingshead in Richard the 2. Henry 4. The Lord Thomas of Lancaster his service Archiu Rememorat regis apud Westm Henry 5. The Lord Furnival his service Alb. libr. Scacc. Dublin Henry 6. Richard Duke of York his service Archiu in Castro Dublin Hollingshead in Henry the sixth Rot. Parl. in Castro Dublin Archiu Tur. 17. Hen. 6. Clausam 20. Manuscript of Baron Finglas Hollingshead in Hen. 6. Edw. 4. How the War was maintained in the time of King Edw. 4. Hollingshead in Edw. 4. Book of Howth M●rus The fraternity of Saint George in Ireland 14. of Edw. 4. Rot. Parl. Dublin Henry 7. How the war was prosecuted in time of K Hen. 7. Ar●●●● Remem Regis apud West The book of Howth Manus Holinshead in Hen. 7. Sir Ed Poynings service Rot. Parl. in Castro Dublin The book of Howth The battle of Knocktow Henry 8. How the war was carried during the reign of King Henry the eight The Earl of Surries service The Lord Leonard Grayes service The fight at Belahoo Book of Howth Manus Sir Anthony St. Leger Sir Edw. B●llingham in the time of King Edw. 6. Archiu Remem Regis apud West ' Tho Earl of Sussex in the time of Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth How the war was prosecuted in the time of Qu Elizabeth Shane O Neales Rebellion Archiu Remem Regis apud Westm Desmonds Rebellion Tyrones Rebellion Four main defects in the prosecution of the War Why none of the Kings of England before Qu. Elizabeth did finish the conquest of Ireland Giraldus Cambrensis How the several Kings of England were diverted from the Conquest of Ireland King Henry 2. The book of Howth Manus Rich. 1. K. John Henry 3. Edw. 1. Archiu in Castro Dublin Annales Hiberniae in Camden Edw. 2. Annales Hiberniae in Camden Archiu in Castro Dublin Manuscript of Friar Clinn Rubr. libr. Scac. Dublin Edw. 3. Annales Hiberniae in Cam den Rich. 2. Henry 4. Henry 5. Annales Hiberniae in Camden Henry 6. Hollingshead in Hen. 6. Manuscript of Baron Finglas Edw. 4. Rich. 3. Henry 7. Henry 8. King Edward 6. and Qu. Mary Qu. Elizabeth 2. The defects in the Civil Policy government 1. The Laws of England were not given to the meer Irish Matth. Paris Hist major fol. 121. Matth. Paris Histor major 220 b.
Reign when the Lord Lionel brought over a Regiment of 1500. men as is before expressed which that wise and warlick Prince did not transmit as a competent power to make a full conquest but as an honorable retinue for his son and withall to enable him to recover some part of his Earldom of Vlster which was then over-run with the Irish But on the other part though the English Colonies were much degenerate in this Kings time and had lost a great part of their possessions yet lying at the siege of Callis he sent for a supply of men out of Ireland which were transported under the conduct of the Earl of Kildare and Fulco de l● Freyn in the year 1347. AND now are we come again to the time of King Richard the second who for the first ten years of his Reign was a Minor and much disquieted with popular Commotions and after that was more troubled with the factions that arose between his Minions and the Princes of the blood But at last he took a resolution to finish the Conquest of this Realm And to that end he made two Royal voyages hither Upon the first he was deluded by the faigned submissions of the Irish but upon the latter when he was fully bent to prosecute the war with effect he was diverted and drawn from hence by the return of the Duke of Lancaster into England and the general defection of the whole Realm AS for Henry the Fourth he being an Intruder upon the Crown of England was hindered from all Forraign actions by sundry Conspiracies and Rebellions at home moved by the house of Northumberland in the North by the Dukes of Surrey and Exceter in the South and by Owen Glendour in Wales so as he spent his short Raign in establishing and setling himself in the quiet possession of England and had neither leisure nor opportunity to undertake the final conquest of Ireland Much less could King Henry the fifth perform that work for in the second year of his Reign he transported an Army into France for the recovery of that Kingdom and drew over to the siege of Harflew the Prior of Kilmaineham with 1500. Irish In which great action this victorious Prince spent the rest of his life AND after his death the two Noble Princes his Brothers the Duke of Bedford and Glocester who during the minority of King Henry the sixth had the Government of the Kingdoms of England and France did employ all their Counsels and endeavours to perfect the Conquest of France the greater part whereof being gained by Henry the fifth and retained by the Duke of Bedford was again lost by King Henry the sixth a manifest argument of his disability to finish the Conquest of this Land But when the civil War between the two Houses was kindled the Kings of England were so far from reducing all the Irish under their Obedience as they drew out of Ireland to strengthen their parties all the Nobility and Gentry descended of English race which gave opportunity to the Irishry to invade the Lands of the English Colonies and did hazard the Loss of the whole Kingdom For though the Duke of York did while he lived in Ireland carry himself respectively towards all the Nobility to win the general love of all bearing equal favour to the Giraldines and the Butlers as appeared at the Christning of George Duke of Clarence who was born in the Castle of Dublin where he made both the Earl of Kildare and the Earl of Ormonde his Gossips And having occasion divers times to pass into England he left the sword with Kildare at one time and with Ormonde at another and when he lost his life at Wakefield there were slain with him divers of both those families Yet afterwards th●se two Noble houses of Ireland did severally follow the two Royal houses of England the Giraldines adhering to the house of York and the Butlers to the house of Lancaster Whereby it came to pass that not only the principal Gentlemen of both those Sur-names but all their friends and dependants did pass into England leaving their Lands and possessions to be over-run by the Irish These impediments or rather impossibilities of finishing the Conquest of Ireland did continue till the Wars of Lancaster and York were ended which was about the twelfth year of King Edward the fourth Thus hitherto the Kings of England were hindred from finishing this Conquest by great and apparent impediments Henry the second by the rebellion of his Sons King John Henry the third and Edward the second by the Barons Wars Edward the first by his Wars in Wales and Scotland Edward the third and Henry the fifth by the Wars of France Richard the second Henry the fourth Henry the sixth and Edward the fourth by Domestick contention for the Crown of England it self BUT the fire of the civil war being utterly quenched and King Edward the fourth setled in the peaceable possession of the Crown of England what did then hinder that war●ick Prince from reducing of Ireland also First the whole Realm of England was miserably wasted depopulated and impoverished by the late civil dissentions yet as soon as it had recovered it self with a little peace and rest this King raised an Army and revived the Title of France again howbeit this Army was no sooner transmitted and brought into the field but the two Kings also were brought to an interview Whereupon partly by the fair and white promises of Lewis the 11. and partly by the corruption of some of King Edwards Minions the English forces were broken and dismissed and King Edward returned into England where shortly after find●ng himself deluded and abused by the French he dyed with melancholy and vexation of spirit I Omit to speak of Richard the Usurper who never got the quiet possession of England but was cast out by Henry the seventh within two years and a half after his Usurpation AND for King Henry the seventh himself though he made that happy Union of the two houses yet for more than half the space of his Reign there were walking spirits of the house of Yorke as well in Ireland as in England which he could not conjure down without expence of some bloud and Treasure But in his later times he did wholly study to improve the Revenues of the Crown in both Kingdomes with an intent to provide means for some great action which he intended which doubtless if he had lived would rather have proved a journey into France than into Ireland because in the eyes of all men it was a fairer enterprize THerefore King Henry the eighth in the beginning of his raign made a Voyage Royal into France wherein he spent the greatest part of that treasure which his Father had frugally reserved perhaps for the like purpose In the latter end of his Reign he made the like journey being enricht with the Revenues of the Abby Lands But in the