Elizabeth the Seventh Daughter of K. Edw. the First and was at the Parliament at Northampton Created Earl of Ormond And yet I have seen a Patent Dated 6 Edw. 3. Lib. G. Lambeth and exemplified 38 Edw. 3. Whereby James Butler is Created Earl of Ormond and Ten Pound per annum out of the Fee-Farm of Waterford granted to him for Creation-Money And now the Lord William Burk and Arnold Poer returned into Ireland and a Parliament was call'd at Dublin to compleat the Reconciliation between them on the one side and the Butlers Geraldines and Birminghams on the other which it seems was begun at the aforesaid Parliament at Northampton and now effected at this Parliament in Ireland Whereupon the Earl of Vlster made a great Feast in the Castle of Dublin and the next day after the Lord Maurice Fitz-Thomas did the like at St. patricks-Patricks-Church although it was in the time of Lent But a strange Accident fell out at this Parliament for the Lord Justice was forc'd to purge himself of Heresie Camb. 182. which the Bishop of Ossory laid to his Charge because he had abetted one Sir Arnold Poer whom the Bishop had condemned of certain Heretical Opinions But the Lord Justice made appear that the Bishops Proceedings were partial and unjust in favour of a Kinsman of the Bishops who began the Quarrel with Poer and that therefore he the Justice supported the Cause of the Oppressed and so after a very solemn Purgation the Lord Justice was acquitted and declared a true Son of the Church whereupon he made a great Feast for all Comers Nevertheless the unfortunate Poer who had been taken by the Kings Writ De Excommunicato capiendo grounded on the Bishops Certificate died in Prison before this Matter was fully adjusted and his Carcass was a long time kept above ground and unburied because he died unassoiled Sir John Darcy 1329. Lord Justice in whose time Macoghegan of Meath and other Irishmen of Leinster O Bryan of Thomond and his Confederates in Munster broke out into Rebellion and yet this common Calamity could not unite the English although their own Experience had taught them and frequent Instances have convinced the succeeding Ages since that the English never suffered any great Loss or Calamity in Ireland but by Civil Dissentions and Disagreement amongst themselves June 10. 1329. when the Earl of Louth and many other of the Birminghams Talbot of Malahide and an hundred and sixty Englishmen were murdered by the Treachery of their own Countreymen the Savages Davis 135. Gernons c. at Balibragan in Vrgile and when the Barryes and Roches in Munster did as much for James Fitz-Robert Keating the Lord Philip Hodnet Fragm 10. and Hugh Condon with an hundred and forty of their Followers what wonder is it if Macoghegan defeated the Lord Thomas Butler and others August 8. near Molingar to their loss of an hundred and forty of their Men Or if Sir Simon Genevil lost seventy six of his Soldiers in Carbry in the County of Kildare or if Brian O Bryan ravaged over all the Country and burnt the Towns of Athessel and Typerary However Holingsh 70. the Irish grew so Insolent and Outragious upon these small Victories that they shewed but little regard to God or Man In the Church of Freinston they found about fourscore People at their Devotions Cambden ad annum it seems the miserable Wretches well acquainted with the cruelty of these ungovernable Soldiers did not expect to escape their Fury 1331. and therefore made it their only Petition to save the Life of the Priest Lib. P. Lamb. but these Ruffians were deaf to all Supplications for Mercy the Priest was the first Man they wounded and after they had spurned the Host with their Feet they compleated their Sacrilege by burning the Church Priest People and all Nor did they regard the Ecclesiastical Censures nor the Pope's Interdict which afterwards issued against them on the contrary in all their Actions they manifested an entire contempt both of Ethicks and Christianity so that one would think the Poet prophesied of these Men when he said Nulla fides pietasve viris qui castra sequuntur But Pride will have a fall and Providence will certainly triumph over the Wickedness of Men in a proper Season and commonly Methods unexpected whereof this unruly Multitude is one Instance For the Men of Wexford by their imminent Ruine rendred desperat entertain'd a Skirmish with this formidable Rabble Cambd. 185. and had the good Luck to kill four hundred of them and the rest surprized with a pannick Fear on this unexpected Defeat ran away in such a confused and hudling manner that most of them were drowned in the River Slane and have left a just Occasion for this true Remark That huffing and insolent Men are always Cowards and if this be true any where in the World it is true in Ireland Camb. 183. Sir Philip Stanton had the ill Luck to be slain by the Irish and Sir Henry Traherne by the Means of Onolan was surprized in his own House at Kilbeg But in Revenge of it the Earl of Ormond burnt Foghird in Onolan's Country and the Lord Justice prosecuted the O Birnes so effectually that after the Slaughter of some of the best of them they were forced to submit But the Lord Justice finding himself too weak to deal with such a vast number of Rebels as were now in Arms in all parts of the Kingdom he invited Maurice afterwards Earl of Desmond to take the Field and promised him the King's Pay January 1329 Maurice came accordingly with a very considerable Army Fragment 9. and advanced against the Onolans he routed them and burnt their Country so that they were forced to submit and give Hostages He did the like to the O Morroughs and took the Castle of Ley from the O Dempsâ—es But the Lord Justice was not ablâ— to pay so great an Army being near ten thousand Men 〈◊〉 therefore he was fain to connive at their extorting Coyn anâ— Livery which now was first practised by the English But the Irish had used that barbarous Oppression long before and perhaps from the beginning as appears by the fourth Constitution of the Synod of Cashel Ante pag. 23. I have seen the Copy of a Patent Lib. CCC dated March 1. 3. Edw. 3. Lambeth constituting the Earl of Ormond Lord Lieutenant of Ireland but I find nothing more of it any where else But the same Year Typerary was made a Palatinate The Irish had again petitioned the King for a general Liberty to use the English Laws Davis 103. whereupon the King sent a Writ to the Lord Justice 22 Aug. to consult the Parliament in Ireland 2 Edw. 3. and to advise him of their Opinions in that Matter And by another Writ of the same Date the King orders the Justice and the Chancellor to supervise the Exchequer twice every
Ireland they proceeded to crown this Impostor at Christ-Church in Dublin with a Crown which they took from the Statue of the Virgin Mary in S. Mary-Abby and this Ceremony was rendred more solemn by a Sermon preached by the Bishop of Meath on the occasion and by the Attendance of the Lord Deputy the Chancellor Treasurer and other the great Officers of State And after he was crowned they carried him in Triumph upon the Shoulders of Great Darcy of Platten But the good Archbishop of Armagh refused to be present at this ridiculous Pageantry for which they gave him all the Trouble they could But it seems they were conscious of their Misdemeanour in this Matter and they knew how to purchase Absolution and therefore they called a Parliament or Assembly in the Name of their new King and the Clergy gave the Pope a Subsidy to absolve them So eager were these People to follow the Fortunes of this Mock-King that Thomas Fitz-Girald resigned the Chancellorship to the Lord of Portlester the better to be at liberty and so together they went for England and landed in Lancashire where Sir Thomas Broughton and his Party joyned them they marched through Yorkshire to Newark and being stopt there they turned aside to Notinghamshire and near the Village of Stoke 1487. on the the eleventh of June after a desperate Fight for three Hours they were totally defeated and all the Commanders and four thousand Soldiers slain and Lambert and his Master Symon were taken Prisoners and the latter was imprisoned and the former made one of the King's Falconers In December James Fitz-Thomas Decemb. 7. Earl of Desmond in the twenty eighth Year of his Age was murdered at Rakele by his Servant Shane Maunta and others who were all taken and executed for it by Maurice his Brother and Successor in that Earldom The Earl of Kildare and the other Ministers of State that were Faulty sent Messengers to the King to implore his Pardon which after some exprobration and reprimand was obtained and he was still continued in his Office of Lord Deputy Ware 14 And the same Year the Inconveniences of Sanctuaries were somewhat lessned by the Pope's Bull for the better Regulation of them It seems strange That hitherto the King did not send any Soldiers into Ireland to suppress the remainder of the Faction of York perhaps he knew That if he took any severe course with them it would utterly destroy the Pale and by weakning the small Colony of English would turn to the Advantage of the Irish and therefore he contented himself with the Submission of those that had been Faulty and sent over Sir Richard Edgcomb to take new Oaths of Allegiance of the Nobility and Gentry and to bind them in Recognizance to performance and thereupon to give them a Pardon He brought with him five hundred Men which was rather a Guard than an Army and he arrived at Kingsale with five Ships on the twenty seventh Day of June he did not intend to come on Shoar there and therefore the Lord Thomas Barry i.e. Barry oge came on Board and there did his Homage for his Barony and took his Oath of Allegiance but the next Day Sir Richard Edgcomb at the Importunity of James Lord Courcy and the Inhabitants of Kingsale did come into the Town and in their Parish Church dedicated to S. Multotius the Lord Courcy did Homage and he and the Townsmen swore Allegiance and entred into Recognizance for the Observation of it whereupon they were pardoned And so after Dinner Edgcomb sailed toward Waterford where he arrived the last Day of June and having applauded the Loyalty of that City and assured them That the King would liberally remunerate their Fidelity he set Sail for Dublin and there he arrived the fifth Day of July and was received by the Mayor and Citizens in most humble and submissive manner at the Gate of the Abby of the Friers Preachers where he was to lodge The Earl of Kildare was then upon some Exploit against the Irish so that he did not come to Dublin until the twelfth of July and then he sent the Bishop of Meath the Lord Slane and others unto Edgcomb to conduct him to S. Thomas-Court where the Lord Deputy lay Thither did Sir Richard come and with a stern Countenance delivered the King's Letters to the Lord Deputy after which they had a Private Conference but many of the Nobility being absent nothing more was done at that time and so they departed the Lord Deputy went to Minooth and Sir Richard Edgcomb returned to the Abby The next Day being Sunday Edgcomb caused to be read in Christ Church after Sermon the Absolution of the former Excommunication which the Pope had lately granted at the King's Request unto all those that should thenceforward continue loyal to his Majesty and after some time and many Expostulations between the Commissioners and the Nobility they did at last agree on the Form of an Oath to be found at large in Sir James Wares Annals p. 17. Wherein this is observable that they swore not to hinder or disturb the excommunication of all such as should oppose the King of what Quality soever they should be And in the Oath of the Clergy it was added that they should publish the Popes Excommunication against all the Kings Rebels or Enemies in Ireland as often as they should be thereunto required Salvo Ordine Episcopali c. And so on the 21st of July the Earl of Kildare being first absolved from the former Excommunication after the usual manner in time of Divine Service did Homage to the Kings Commissioner in the great Chamber in Thomas Court and swore Allegiance and entred into Recognizance for the due Observation of it and then Edgecomb gave him his Pardon and put a Gold-Chain about his Neck which the King had sent him for a Present to signifie his Majesties entire Reconcilation to him The like Oaths and Recognizances were made by Rowland Eustace Baron of Portlester Lord High Treasurer Robert Preston Viscount Gormanstown James Fleming Baron of Slane Nicholas St. Laurence Baron of Houth Christopher Barnewal Baron of Trimletstown John Plunket Baron of Dunsany Walter Archbishop of Dublin John Walton who had resigned that Archbishoprick reserving the Mannor of Swords to live upon during Life John Bishop of Meath Edmond Bishop of Kildare John Purcell Abbot of St. Thomas Abby Walter Champflour Abbot of St. Maryes and James Cogan Prior of Holm-Patrick and then Sir Richard Edgecomb entertain'd them all at a splendid Banquet at his Lodgings and the next day the Mayor and Citizens of Dublin took their Oaths at the Tolsel and remitted a Copy of the Oath under the City-Seal to the King to certifie His Majesty that they had taken it And so on the 23d day of July Edgecomb went to Drogheda and thence to Trim and both those Towns as also the Prior of St. Peters near Trim and the Abbots of Navan and Beclif did in like manner
Title of Captain General brought over six hundred Horse and four hundred Foot whose Pay came to twelve hundred and twenty six Pound per Month viz seven hundred and seventy Pound for the Horse and four hundred fifty six Pound for the Foot and about Midsummer they landed at Waterford and being joyned by the Lord Deputy they invaded the Countries of Leix and Offaly and proclaimed O More and O Connor Traytors and having dispersed the Forces of the Rebels the Lord Deputy repaired the Fort of Dingen and built the Fort of Campaum alias Prolector now called Maryburgh whereupon O More and O connor were forced to submit and Bellingham was knighted and made Marshal of Ireland The Castle of Athloan was likewise repaired and garrisoned by Special Orders from England and the Vice-Treasurer Brabazon had the Care and management thereof and performed it effectually in spight of the great Opposition he met with from Dominick O Kelly and other Great Men of Connaught And this auspicious Year did also produce the mighty Victory which the English obtained over the Scots at Mussleburgh But as the Reformation proceeded in England 1538. so the Popish Zeal and Superstition increased in Ireland Ware 180. and the Pale it self began to be disturbed with it for Richard Fitz-Eustace and Alexander his Brother Sons of the Viscount Baltinglass were busie forming a Rebellion in the County of Kildare but the Presence of the Lord Deputy without Blows brought them to a Submissiom and stifled this Infant Conspiracy in the Cradle and it was well it did for this rebellious Distemper was very infectious and in a little time would have spread over the whole Kingdom the Lord of Baltinglass himself was a little tainted with it but by the means of Sir Edward Bellingham when Lord Deputy the Viscount was pardoned In the mean time the Lord Deputy Saintleger was sent for to England and carried with him O More and O Connor as Prisoners but upon their Submission they were received into Favour and honoured with a Pension of one hundred Pound per annum out of the Exchequer during their Lives which O More enjoyed not very long for he died within the Year suddainly at London Sir Edward Bellingham who had been sent into England with an Account of the Submission of the County of Kildare was now sent back Lord Deputy he landed at Dalkye on Whitson-Eve and two Days after he received the Sword at christ-Christ-Church according to Custom He was a Zealous Protestant and a brave Soldier and by his means Sir John Allen was again made Lord Chancellor As soon as he was setled Davis 62. he marched into Leix and Offaly against Cahir O Connor and others that were brewing new Treasons there and forced them to submit and brought the Country to that degree of Subjection that he is said to be the first Man since Edward the third's time that enlarged the English Borders beyond the Pale and from Offaly the Lord Deputy marched to Delvin against Mac Coughlan whose Country he totally destroyed The Lord Deputy had express Orders to set up a Mint at Dublin which he did but it continued but a very little time for want of Bullion And this Year on the twenty second Day of April the City of Dublin which at first was governed by a Provost and by King Henry the Third subjected to a Mayor and Bayliffs and by Henry the Fourth was honoured with a Sword obtained their Bayliffs to be changed into Sheriffs and John Rians and Robert Eyons were the first two Sheriffs that were chosen or appointed for that City In the mean time Sir Francis Bryan who had married the Countess Dowager of Ormond and was made Marshal of Ireland and Governour of the Counties of Typerary and Kilkenny could by no means agree with the Lord Deputy their Differences grew at length to that height that Sir Francis impeached the Lord Deputy in England and prevailed to have him sent for to answer the Accusation But whilst that affair was transacting Ware 182. Teige O Carol plyed his own Business diligently and after a stout Defence he took and demolished the strong Castle of Nenagh and drove the English out of that Country In Vlster Manus O Donel quarrelled with his Son Calvagh and at length it came to Blows so that on the seventh Day of February Calvagh was routed and Manus Mac Donough O Cahan and many of his Followers were slain In the Lower Delvin Teige Mac Mlaghlin and Edmond Fahy with their united Forces did all the Mischief they could and almost totally destroyed that part of Mac Coughlans Country Nevertheless the Lord Deputy sent an Irish Brigade under the command of Donough O Conner accompanied with the Sons of Cahir O Connor to aid the King in his War against Scotland On the eighteenth of November Cormock Roe O Connor who was proclaimed Traytor came to Dublin and with Tears in his Eyes begged Pardon of the Lord Deputy and Council in Christ-Church and had it But being of a turbulent Spirit he soon after relapsed into Rebellion and being taken by the Earl of Clanrickard he was sent to Dublin and hanged so true is that Observation of Caesar Williamsons Nec gentem ullam reperies Cui peccare slere magis naturale est It is worthy Observation Holingsh 109. That though the Earl of Desmond for his Quality and vast Estate was made Lord High Treasurer yet he was not of the Privy Council nor indeed qualified to be so for he was Rude and Savage both in Apparel and Behaviour he had neither Learning nor Manners but lived after a barbarous fashion in the Country among the Wild-Irish and perhaps had not so much as a Glass-Window to his Houses and yet he was the best landed Subject in the King's Dominions About Christmas the Deputy sent for him to Dublin but he refusing the Lord Deputy himself with about twenty Horse made that haste to Munster that he took the Earl sitting by the Fire in his own House not at all suspecting that Expedition And it was well for him that he was so surprized for he was not only brought to Dublin and instructed in his Duty to his Prince and in good Manners and Civility towards his Fellow-Subjects but was also by the Lord Deputy's means pardoned and restored to the King's Favour so that he continued a good Subject ever afterwards during his Life and was so grateful to his Benefactor the Lord Deputy that he would pray for him constantly after every Meal And now it happened that the Earl of Tyrone Macguire Fylemy Roe O Neal 1549. and others referr'd all their Differences to the Lord Deputy and Council who on the twentieth day of June made their Decree wisely ordering Independency on O Neal. Therere are Copies of all these Decrees at Lambeth Lib. D. And they are to the same effect as that of Macguire's viz. Quod erit liber Ware 184. exemptus ab omni subjectione
aut servitio dicto Comiti Tyrone suisque Haeredibus impendendo ac immediate parebit obediet Domino Regi sub ejus pace defensione perpetuo remaenebit suaeque Celsitudini de tempore in tempus solvet Bonagium Bonnaught caetera omnia Debita quoties ad id per Dominum Deputatum Concilium requisitus rogatus fuerit c. And on the eighteenth of July the like Order was made between O Donel and his Sons and several Proprietors of Tyrconel and O Donel's Authority was limited and both Parties were obliged to obey the Order on pain of forfeiting all their Estate And about the same time Brian Mac Mahon and Hugh Oge made their Submissions at Kilmainham and were pardoned the five hundred Marks they had forfeited by breach of their former Articles Lib. D. In the mean time the Scotch Islanders sent some Forces to the assistance of the Irish in Vlster but Andrew Brereton with five and thirty Horse met with two hundred of them and defeated them with great slaughter and by his good Conduct quieted Vlster and was therefore made General or Governor thereof But the Lord Deputy being recall'd took Shipping at Houth on the 16th day of December and being offered Testimonials of his good Government from the Council he modestly refused saying That if his Innocence would not defend him he would use no other Remedy than his Belief of the Resurrection of the Dead He was certainly a brave Man and an excellent Governor and would have been sent back with Honour if his Infirmities whereof he died the next year had not prevented it Sir Francis Bryan 1549. Lord Justice was chosen by the Council on the twenty 7th day of Decemb and sworn at christ-Christ-Church in Dublin on the 29th but he enjoyed this Honour but a little while for the County of Typerary being infested by O Carol the Lord Justice made a Journy thither in favour of the young Earl of Ormond who was but twelve years old to protect the Country and on the second of February died at Clonmel whereupon Sir William Brabazon Lord Justice was elected by the Council he committed the Government of the County of Typerary to Edmond Butler Archbishop of Cashel and made a Journy to Limerick where Teig O Carol submitted and entred into Covenants of paying a yearly Tribute into the Exchequer and of serving the King with a certain number of Horse and Foot at his own charge and of renouncing his Pretences to the Barony of Ormond and afterwards the same Teig O Carol surrendred to the King his Country of Ely O Carol containing ninety three Plow-Lands and a half and the King re-granted the same to him and Created him Baron of Ely and by O Carol's means Mac Morough O Kelly and O Mlaghlin were now taken into Protection and Pardoned and by the Lord Deputy's Mediation the Earls of Desmond and Thomond who were wrangling about Bounds and the protection of each others Tories or Out-laws were reconciled on the eleventh of March Lib. D. and about the same time Dermond O Sullevan a great man in the County of Cork was together with his Castle or dwelling-House accidentally blown up by Gunpowder and his Brother Amalfus who succeeded him was likewise not long after killed But Bulloign being restored to the French on the twenty-fifth day of April 1550. the King was thereby enabled to send eight thousand Pound of the Money received there and four hundred men of that Garrison into Ireland which he did And thereby the Lord Justice was put into a Condition of pursuing Charles Mac Art Cavenagh Ware 188. who was again in Rebellion and was proclaimed Traytor and the Lord Justice acquitted himself so well in that Matter August that he killed many of Cave-nagh's Followers and burnt the Country But the French King hearing that the English marched an Army into Scotland lookt upon that Assault of his Ally as a Breach of the Peace with him and therefore sent an hundred and sixty small Vessels with Ammunition and Corn to assist the Scots it hapned that sixteen of them were shipwrackt on the Coast of Ireland however the King of England to obviate any Designs the French might have against his Dominions set forth a Fleet of twenty Ships and Pinnaces under the Lord Cobham which guarded two Harbors on the South and one in the North toward Scotland On the twenty third of October Richard Butler second Son of Pierce Earl of Ormond was Created Viscount Mountgarret and a little before that viz. on the tenth of September Sir Anthony Saintleger Ware 190. Lord Deputy returned to Ireland and Sir Thomas Cusack was made Lord Chancellor To this Deputy Mac Carty submitted in humble Manner and was pardoned and it seems that this Lord Deputy had Orders to call a Parliament but I do not find that there was any in Ireland during this King's Reign On the fourth of November Charles Mac Art Cavenagh made his Submission to the Lord Deputy at Dublin in presence of the Earls of Desmond Thomond Clanrickard and Tyrone the Lords Mountgarret Dunboyn Cahir and Ibracan and renounced the Name of Mac Morough and parted with some of his usurped Jurisdiction and Estate But let us cast an eye on the Affairs of the Church and we shall find that the Reformation made but small progress in Ireland since the same year produced Bishops of each sort for on the tenth of May Arthur Macgenis was by provision of the Pope constituted Bishop of Dromore and confirmed therein by the King and Thomas Lancaster a Protestant was on the third day of September made Bishop of Kildare However Bish Brown's Life 13. on the sixth of February the King sent the following Order for the Liturgy of the Church of England to be read in Ireland in the English Tongue EDWARD by the Grace of God c. Whereas our Gracious Father King Henry the Eighth of happy Memory taking into consideration the bondage and heavy yoke that his true and faithful Subjects sustained under the Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome as also the Ignorance the Commonalty were in how several fabulous Stories and lying Wonders misled our Subjects in both our Realms of England and Ireland grasping thereby the Means thereof into their hands also dispensing with the Sins of our Nations by their Indulgences and Pardons for Gain purposely to cherish all ill Vices as Robberies Rebellions Thefts Whoredoms Blasphemy Idolatry c. He our Gracious Father King Henry of happy Memory hereupon dissolved all Priories Monasteries Abbies and other pretended Religious Houses as being but Nurseries for Vice and Luxury more than for Sacred Learning Therefore that it might more plainly appear to the World that those Orders had kept the Light of the Gospel from his People he thought it most fit and convenient for the preservation of their Souls and Bodies that the Holy Scriptures should be Translated Printed and Placed in all Parish-Churches
is made in England and so the English Statute of 35 Hen. 8. was in effect a Repeal of the Irish Statute of 28 Hen. 8. cap. 2. as it was actually a Repeal of the English Statute of the same tenor and effect But to proceed Sir Thomas Cusak Lord Chancellor and Girald Aylmer Lord Chief Justice continued Lords Justices and to them the Council of England on the twentieth Day of July sent an account of the Succession of Queen Mary together with a Proclamation wherein she was stiled Supreme Head of the Church 1553. which was read in Dublin and other Cities and Towns of Ireland as is usual and Orders were soon after sent to continue all Officers in their Places and another Proclamation To give Liberty of the Mass to all that would was likewise sent over and afterwards the Queen was crowned by Gardiner Bishop of Winchester Ware 204. on the first day of October and she gave a General Pardon to both her Kingdoms of England and Ireland In the mean time O Connor and his Complices were busie about the Invasion of Offaly but by the Prudence of the Lords Justices they were easily suppressed September Nor had O Neal better Success in the County of Lowth for though he did abundance of Mischief there yet the Lords Justices with the Militia of Dublin and such others as they could on a suddain scrape together gave him a great Defeat near Dundalk where he lost many of his Men. And on the eleventh of November Sir Anthony Saintleger Lord Deputy arrived at Dalkye and on the nineteenth he took the usual Oath and received the Sword in Christ Church Dublin and the Lord Chancellor Cusack's Patent was also renewed Cormack Mac Coghlan with the Aid of the Baron of Delvin made War against Mac Coghlan and invaded his Territory and though little more was done at first than the burning of some few Villages yet this was the beginning of a Contest so fierce and so tedious that at length the Territory of Delvin was entirely ruined Owen Macgenis was by the Lord Deputy admitted to be Chief of his Sept and Captain of his Country on the sixth of December upon his Oath of Fidelity to the Queen and her Successors and upon these Conditions following viz. 1. That he should not admit any Provisions from Rome Lib. D. but oppose them all he could 2. To serve the Queen with all his Power when Occasion required 3. To maintain twenty four Horse and sixty Foot and a Company integr prelium of Gallowglasses at every Northern Expedition of the Deputy for three Days going and three Days returning at his own Charge 4. To have no Correspondence with the Scots 5. To give the Wife and Daughter of Donel Macgenis their due 6. That he should not oppress the Queen's Subjects but assist them and the Queen would assist him against any of his Followers that should rebel 7. That he should pay one hundred Cows but this last was remitted him by the Deputy George Dowdal Archbishop of Armagh who fled beyond Seas in the Reign of King Edward was now recalled and restored to the Title of Primate of all Ireland and had the Priory of Athird given him for Life He held a Provincial Synod at Tredagh where they made some Progress towards restoring Popery 1554. and depriving the married Clergy but in April it went farther and the Primate and Dr. Walsh elect Bishop of Meath received a Commission to deprive them and accordingly Staples Bishop of Meath was for that reason deprived on the twenty ninth Day of June and in the latter end of the same Year the like was done to Brown Archbishop of Dublin Lancaster Bishop of Kildare and Traverse Bishop of Leighlin and the two other Protestant Bishops viz. Bale Bishop of Ossory and Casy Bishop of Limerick fled beyond the Seas In the room of these Protestant Bishops Popish Prelates were substituted Doctor Walsh was made Bishop of Meath and afterwards died in Exile in Queen Elizabeth's Reign Hugh Curvin succeeded in the See of Dublin as Thomas Levereuse did in that of Kildare Thomas O Fihely was by the Pope made Bishop of Leighlin Hugh Lacy was constituted Bishop of Limerick and John Thonory got the Bishoprick of Ossory but his Leases were afterwards avoided because Bale was never deprived and therefore he being alive at the time the Lease was made 2 Cro. 553. continued Bishop in Law and so Thonory had no power to dispose of any thing belonging to that See and in that case it was likewise adjudged that the King of England may nominate and appoint Bishops in Ireland without the Formality of a Conge de Eslâ—â—â— and that the Statute of 2 Elizabethae is for so much in Affirmance of the Common Law The Popish Bishops did take an Oath to the Queen in these Words Ware de Praesulibus 188. Ego A. B. Episcopus D. electus Consecratus profiteor me habere tenere ownes temporales Possessiones dicti Episcopatus de manibus vestris Successoribus vestris Angliae Regibus ut in jure Coronae Regni vestri Hiberniae vobisque Successoribus vestris Angliae Regibus fidelis ero ita me Deus adjuvet sancta Dei Evangelia But how well they kept that Oath I need not relate because it is notorious In November came over Girald Earl of Kildare who was restored the thirteenth of May before and Thomas Duff Earl of Ormond and Brian Fitz-Patrick Lord of Upper Ossory all which had behaved themselves exceeding well against Sir Thomas Wiat This Fitz-Patrick is famous for extraordinarily loving and being beloved of King Edward the Sixth and on the ninth of February Charles Mac Art Cavenagh was created Baron of Balian for Life and after his Death his Brother Dermond had the same Title The Queen ordered that the Army should be reduced to five hundred but that was not thought reasonable in Ireland However to comply as far as they could with her Majesties Orders they did reduce the Army to six hundred Foot and four hundred and sixty Horse and a few Kerns but were forced in a short time afterward to raise more and to send for fresh Supplies out of England In the mean time Lib. D. Daniel O Bryan claiming by Tanistry had great Contests with the Earl of Thomond about that Estate he had before this murdered the Earl's Father and though for the present they were reconciled by the Mediation of the Lord Deputy and Council about Michaelmas yet it was not long before their Dissentions broke out again But the Irish Historian Mr. Sullevan gives a very different Account of this Matter and tells us That the Lord President Fitton got Daniel O Bryan into Limerick upon his Oath that he would give him free and safe egress out of the Gates but the Sophistical Englishman turn'd him out of the wrong Gate so that there was the River of Shenin between him and his Army which was
proved disadvantagious to the State and that lenity to the Irish Rebels has produced no other Effects than that it has encouraged them to relapse and others to follow their Example And of this Shane O Neal affords us one Instance for notwithstanding this Submission it was not long before he rebelled again and Rory O Connor and Donough O Connor followed the same Copy for though they submitted at Dingen and put in Hostages for their Loyalty yet they rebelled once more and therefore were on the twenty fifth Day of February proclaimed Traytors and at length were slain and their Country wasted 1557. In like manner William Odare O Carol was made Governour of Ely O Carol under certain Conditions one of which was To send a certain number of Soldiers to every Hosting but this Condescention and Kindness could not oblige him but that the ungrateful Traytor rebelled next Year and was routed and Thady O Carol was put in his Place And so we are come to the Parliament which began the nineteenth day of June and on the second day of July was adjourned to the tenth day of November to Limerick and then was adjourned to the first day of March to Drogheda but the Lord Deputy who by the Death of his Father was Earl of Sussex went to England on the fourth day of December and not returning before the first day of March the Parliament by his Absence became dissolved It seems that besides the Statutes that are in Print this Parliament enacted 1. That the Queen was Legitimate 2. That the Royal Power was vested in her 3. That her Issue should inherit the Crown and Kingdoms of England and Ireland 4. That Heresies should be punished and three Statutes to that effect were revived 5. That all Acts against the Pope made since 20 Hen. 8. be repealed 6. That the Grants made by Archbishop Brown be void and cap. 12. that First-Fruits be released But afterwards by the Act of the second of Elizabeth cap. 1. the Act of Repeal was repealed and the revived Statutes against Heresie were suppressed the Jurisdiction of the Pope was abolished and cap. 3. the First-Fruits and twentieth Part were restored to the Crown There was also an Act to give the Queen a Subsidy of thirteen Shillings and four Pence out of every Plow-land for ten Years And another to make it Treason to introduce or receive armed Scots into Ireland or to marry with a Scot without Licence under the great Seal The printed Acts of this Parliament are I. For the Disposition of Leix and Offaly II. For making the King's County and Queens County Shire-Ground and entituling their Majesties thereunto III. For making other Counties into Shire-Ground IV. To explain Poynings Act that new Bills whilst the Irish Parliament sits may be transmitted into England for Approbation as well as if they had been sent before the Parliament met V. That Labourers or Cottiers shall not buy Horses more than is absolutely necessary VI. That the Owners of stolen Goods using their best Endeavours to prosecute the Felon shall be reprized out of the Felons Goods if they cannot get their own again VII That no Body shall make Aquavitae without Licence under the great Seal except Noblemen Gentlemen and Freemen of Towns that send Members to Parliament And it is to be noted That this Act which was designed to spare Corn and prevent a Dearth was necessary at that time Yet now the Kingdom is better improved and consequently abounds in Corn this Act though not repealed is become obsolete and a quite contrary Act viz. To encourage the Making and Exportation of Aquavitae would tend very much to the Advantage of Ireland In July the Lord Deputy made an Expedition against the O Maddens whose Country called Silanchia now the Barony of Longford in the County of Galway was last Year on the Murder of John O Madden divided between Malachy Modhar and the Murderer Brasil Duff the Deputy sent a Summons to the Castle of Melik but the valiant Warders not only boasted how stoutly they would defend it but also believing that every Summons was an Affront and as it were a Suspicion of their Courage they assured the Herald That it should not be safe for him to come with any more such Messages to them It is hardly credible That after all this Ostentation these Men of War should desert the Castle the very next Night however they certainly did so and the Lord Deputy placed a Garrison in it and returned On the tenth of August the Lord Deputy advanced into Vlster Ware 220. being accompanied by the Lords of Kildare Ormond Baltinglass Delvin Dnnboyne and Dunsany his Design was against the Scots but they sheltered themselves in the Woods and Bogs so that he did them no other Mischief than that he took some Preys however some of them were thereby perswaded to submit and Daniel Mac Conel and Richard Mac Guilliam received the Honour of Knighthood On the twenty second Day of October the Lord Deputy made another Journey into Vlster And on the twenty fourth day he came to Dundalk and on the twenty fifth he took a Prey and came to Armagh the Rebels still flying before him on the twenty seventh he burnt Armagh except the Church and marched to Newry and so on the thirtieth day of the same Month returned to Dublin And being ordered to attend the Queen in England he first obliged O Carol O Molloy Macgehogan O Doyne Mac Coughlan the two O Maddens and Fylemy Duff to gives Hostages of their Good Behaviour And then on the fourth of December he set sail for England leaving Hugh Curvin 1557. Lord Chancellor and Sir Henry Sydny Treasurer at Wars Lords Justices by Patent dated at Westminster the twelfth of November after they were censed and sprinkled with Holy Water and Mass was celebrated they were sworn at Christ-Church on Sunday the fifth of December and received the Sword from Sir John Stanly the Marshal with whom it was left to that Purpose and they continued in their Office until Sir Henry Sydny Ware 222. Lord Justice was sworn on the sixth of February by the Queen's Command and by virtue of a Commission bearing date the eighteenth day of January he attacked Arthur O Molloy Chief of Fercalia who was brewing new Treasons and favoured and cherished those that were in Rebellion But the Lord Deputy did soon over-run his Country and made Theobald O Molloy Governour thereof and took his Son for a Hostage of the Father's Fidelity and then by Cess in the Pale the Deputy furnished the Forts of Maryburgh and Philipsburgh with Victuals and returned to Dublin where he made Proclamation That no Corn should be carried out of the Pale In the mean time Shane O Neal invaded Tyrconnel designing to reduce it to the former Tribute and Dependance it paid to his House Calvagh O Donel being too weak to resist by Force betook himself to his Politicks and made an Essay by Night on the
and to grant Leix and Offaly to English Undertakers Lib. H. and the Queen promised him that besides the Irish Revenue twenty thousand Pounds per annum should be punctally remitted him out of England quarterly And Sydny undertook for that Sum to fortifie Carrigfergus and to build some Bridges and to keep the whole Kingdom in Subjection The Lord Deputy found Vlster in a Flame Surleboy had assaulted Carrigfergus and kill'd Captain Baker and forty Men and though by the Valour of the rest of the Garrison the Scots were repelled and the Prey rescued yet this small Victory gave the Rebels such Reputation that the Lord Deputy found it necessary to leave the Custody of the Pale with certain Gentlemen of Note and to march with his small Army of six hundred Men into Vlster he found all the Country ruined except the Newry where Marshal Bagnal dwelt and the Glins and Routs 〈…〉 which Surleboy and the Scots possest and some part of Killultagh but it happened luckily that Turlogh Lynogh and Surleboy could not agree so that they came to Blows with various and alternate Success Hereupon both Parties address'd themselves to the Lord Deputy who finding Turlogh to be more high and extravagant in his Demands than the other came to an Agreement with Surleboy which was followed by the Submission of Mac Mahon and one of the Macguires And O Donel and the Chief of the Macguires did also by their Letters offer to pay their Rents and Services due to the Queen by former Agreements provided they might be secured under the Queens Protection and be delivered from the Exactions of O Neal. By these Means and the diligent prosecution of the War against him Turlogh Lynogh was reduced to extremity so that first he sent his Wife a well bred Lady Aunt to the Earl of Argile to the Lord Deputy at Armagh who in her Husband's behalf Petitioned him that Turlogh might be Nobilitated and his Estate setled by Law that so for the future he might live in order in the sence of his Duty and Gratitude to her Majesty but whilst these things were under consideration Turlogh himself without any previous Provision for his Security came to the Lord Deputy and submitted simply without Capitulation or Conditions and so having staid two days he had liberty to return home Vlster being thus quieted the Lord Deputy Marched to Dublin and having setled things there he visited Leinster and found the County of Kildare almost waste and the King's County and Queens County groaned under the Tyranny of Rory Oge but by the perswasions of the Earl of Ormond Rory came to the Lord Deputy and publickly made his Submission in the Church of Kilkenny The Lord Deputy was very well received by the Townsmen of Kilkenny and nobly treated by the Earl of Ormond but while he staid there he received the unhappy News of Sir Peter Carew's Death to whose Burial at Waterford on the fifteenth of December the Lord Deputy was invited and went This Sir Peter Carew whose Ancestors had been Marquesses of Cork Lib. F. laid claim to a mighty Estate in Munster being half of the ancient Kingdom of Cork viz. Imokilly Trybarry Muskry Kinalea Trycoursy Carbry Kinalmeaky Collymore Collybeg Ivagh Synnagh O Donovan Wintervary Bantry Bear Clandonough Cleighboigh Iveragh Kirricurry Clanmorris Iraghticonnor Duhallow and Coshbride And he sent his Agent John Hooker to Cork Hooker 13â— where he had a solemn meeting with Mac Carty Riagh Cormock Mac Teige of Muskry Barry Oge O Mahon O Driscoll O Daly and others and they made this Proposal that they would advance three Thousand Kine with Sheep Hogs and Corn proportionable for the present and that if Sir Peter would live amongst them they would annually pay what should be reasonable and to his good liking whereupon Hooker did take a House for Sir Peter at Cork and another at Kingsale but as Sir Peter was going that way he died on his Journey at Ross in the County of Wexford the 27th day of November 1575. The Lord Deputy was magnificently received and treated at Waterford and from thence he marched to Dungarvan where the Earl of Desmond met him and so by easy Journeys they went together to Cork and there he stayed six Weeks during which time the Soldiers for half their Pay had Lodging Diet and Firing to their content and without the grumbling of the Citizens The Earls of Thomond and Glencar and the principal Gentry of the Province came to wait on the Lord Deputy at Cork and there they kept their Christmass and as soon as that was over the Lord Deputy began his Sessions and sat in Court almost every day from the seventh day of January to the one and thirtieth Condom and a younger Son of the Lord Roch were Condemned and though they were Reprieved yet there were twenty three other notorious Malefactors Executed and the better to discover Vagabonds and Tories every Gentlemen was commanded to give in a List of his Dependants and to answer for them and Proclamation was made That every Iâ—ler that was not named in one of those Lists should be punished as a Felon and a Vagabond to which the Irish Lords and Gentlemen gave their Consents with seeming Joy and every one of them gave in Pledges of his Loyalty to the Lord Deputy Whilst the Deputy was at Cork he had information of the Disloyalty of the Seneschal of Imokilly and of the Depredations and Violences he daily committed and thereupon being attended by two Hundred Citizens of Cork besides his own Forces the Deputy marched to Ballymarter and took that strong Castle and had taken Fitz Girald himself but that he narrowly escaped through a Hole in the dead of the Night There was abundance of Victuals found in the Castle besides other things of value but all the Spoil was given to the Soldiers and so a Garrison of twenty Men under Jasper Horsy being left in the Castle the Lord Deputy returned to Cork The Lord Deputy was so well pleased with Sir Cormack Mac Teige of Muscry that he gave him this Character in a Letter of his sent to England That for his Loyalty and Civil disposition he was the rarest Man that ever was born of the Irishy and in another Letter to the Lords of the Council he observes that the Lord Poer lived more plentifully than those that had far more Land and that his barren Land yielded more Rent than the richer soil of Kilkenny and Decyes and the reason was because he kept his Territory in order and free from Idlers and Vagabonds whereas on the contrary the Lord of Decyes was scarce able to subsist because his Country harboured more bad Men than it fed good Cattle From Cork the Deputy went to Limerick where he was entertained with more Pomp than any where else there he kept Sessions and observed the same Methods as he did at Cork and then he marched into Thomond which formerly belonged to the English Lords of Clare
May 〈◊〉 requiring him to stay till the Lord Chancellor Gerard to whom the Queen had granted Licence to transport Yarn non obstante the Statute and whom she commends exceedingly should arrive which hapning in August the Deputy by the Queens Orders surrendred to Sir William Drury on the twelfth of September and had Leave to go for England Henry the Eighth was this Godfather and Edward the Sixth his Companion and so fond of him that he died in his Arms And undoubtedly he was Cambd. Eliz. 231. as Cambden says One of the most commendable Deputies that ever was in Ireland Sir William Drury Lord Deputy was sworn in Christ-Church Dublin on the fourteenth day of September and on the twenty ninth he began his Journey to Munster being accompanied by Sir Edward Fitton and others of the Council and by their Letter to the Queen of the twentieth of November they shew the necessity of a President of Munster and that upon the 〈◊〉 of its Suspension the Irish Lords thought they lost time if they did not immediately resort to their former Tyranny Lib. S. S. S. they give some Instances and particularly of the Lord Roch who kept a Freeholder who had eight Plow-lands Prisoner and Hand-locked him until he had surrendred or released seven Plow-lands and an half of them upon agreement to keep the remaining half Plow-land free but when this was done the Lord Roch extorted as many exactions from that half Plow-land as from any other half Plow-land in his Country and that both the Lords Barry and Roch without Right or Process that very Harvest took away all the Corn from the Farms of those Tenants they had Controversy with or spight to and even the great Men were under the same Oppressions from the greater for the Earl of Desmond forcibly took away the Seneschal of Imokilly's Corn from his own Land although he was one of the most considerable Gentlemen in Munster which I observe to shew the difference between English Government and Irish Tyranny And it must not be forgotten that in October Matthew Sheyn Bishop of Cork burnt St. Dominick's Image at the high Cross of Cork to the great grief of the superstitious People there The Lord Deputy in his way to Limerick lay at Castleton Roch but the Earl of Desmond being at odds with the Lord Roch would not got go thither and the Deputy was afterwards troubled that he went thither when he understood that the Lorch Roch cessed his Tenants for the Deputies Entertainment The Deputy found the Earl of Desmond and the Earl of Glencar at so great difference that they were almost ready to draw into the Field as was usual their contest was about the Bounds of Kerry viz. Whether Macarty's Lands were within the County Palatine of Kerry or not Neither were the feuds between the Butlers and Giraldines any thing less than the other October 1578. both sides had made great Preparations for Battle but the Lord Deputy interposed effectually to determine or at least suspend these Controversies and he also perswaded Desmond to take a certain Rent of his Tenants instead of Coin and Livery and he Executed twenty two Criminals at Limerick and thirty six at Kilkenny one of which was a Blackamoor and two others were Witches and were condemned by the Law of Nature for there was no positive Law against Witchcraft in those Days Moreover the Lord Deputy bound several Citizens by Recognizance of forty Pound to come to Church to hear divine Service every Sunday pursuant to the Queen's Injunctions and he advised the Bishop of Ossory to make a Rate for the repair of the Church and to distrain for it and so having punished some Townsmen of Cork and Kilmallock for abusing the Soldiers and having received the Submission of Sir James Desmond Sir Pierce Butler and all the Cavenaughs he returned to Dublin In the mean time that indefatigable Rebel James Fitz-Morris nowithstanding his Oath of Allegiance taken before Sir John Perrot at Kilmallock went over to France Camb. Eliz. 236. and having two Years sollicited that King in vain he made a more successful Address to the Pope and the King of Spain by whom being furnished with a few Men and some Money 1579. he came accompanied with the Jesuits Allen and Sanders who was also Legate and out of his three Ships Landed fourscore Spaniards and some Irish and English Papists at Smerwick in Kerry in the latter end of July 1579. Immediately they built a small Fort and drew up their Ships under it and the Legate Sanders hallowed the place and promised them success but Captain Thomas Courtny being at Kinsale with one of the Queens Ships at the perswasion of Henry Davells doubled the Point and took the three Ships in the Bay and put the Spaniards into a Pannick Fear notwithstanding the Pope's Blessing However Sir John and James of Desmond as soon as they had not notice of the Invasion hastned to their Cozen James Fitz Morris and were at first kindly received but Sir John easily perceived a coldness towards him and that the Rebels entertained some Jealousies of him because of his Familiarity with his old Friend Henry Davells and therefore to establish his Reputation with them Sullevan 95. Camb. Eliz. 237. per aliquod facinus dignum as Mr. Sullivan phrases it he basely and perfidiously Murthered his Bosom-Friend Dâ—vells and one Carter at Traley and left a fair Caution to Posterity which has been simply and fatally neglected by those that pay dear for it at this Day however the Legate Sanders commended the Fact and said it was a sweet Sacrifice in the Sight of God The Earl of Desmond was as deep in this Rebellion as any body as is manifest from the following Confederacy WHereas the Right Honourable Garret Lib. C. Earl of Desmond hath Assembled us his Kinsmen Followers Friends and Servants about him after his coming out of Dublin and made us privy to such Articles as by the Lord Deputy and Council was delivered 〈…〉 eighth of July 1579. To be performed as also his 〈…〉 the said Articles which said Answers we find so 〈…〉 with one accord do counsel and advise the said 〈…〉 nor yield to any more than in his Letter is 〈…〉 and further the said Earl declared unto us that if he do not yield presently to the Performance of the same Articles and put in his pledges for observation thereof that then the Lord Deputy will bend his force and make War against him We the Persons underwritten do advise and Counsel the said Earl to defend himself from the violence of the said Lord Deputy that doth ask so unreasonable a Demand as in the said Articles is contained and for to defend and stick to this our Advice and Council we renounce God if we do spare Life Body Lands and Goods but will be aiding helping and assisting the said Earl to maintain and defend this our Advice against the said Lord Deputy or any
of his Lands granted to any other the Barons of the Exchequer are to discharge the same upon sight of a Certificate That the Outlawry is reverst without any further Plea paying only Five shillings Sterling for entring the Certificate and Discharge LI. No Person is to be compelled to plead to any new Charge upon the Lands in his possession unless any Inquisition or other Matter of Record besides the New Patent appear to charge the Land therewith and the New Charge to be past insuper upon the New Patentee and Process to issue against him and his Lands and not against the other But the Protestants who bore above a third part of the Publick Charge were not a little troubled that they should buy Graces and Immunition for the Irish And on the other side the Papists did not at all â—â—â—der the Protestants part of the Contribution but valued themselves as if they had paid all and ascribed the whole Merlt of that Largess to themselves and upon that and the aforesaid Condescensions made them by the King they grew so insolent and troublesom that the Lord Deputy was necessitated to mortifie them by a Proclamation against the Popish Regular Clergy which issued the First day of April Bishop Vsher's Letters 407. 1629. and imported That the late Intermission of Legal Proceedings against Popish pretended Titulaâ— Archbishops Bishops Abbats Deans Vicars-General Jesuits Friars and others of that sort that derive their pretended Authority and Orders from the See of Rome in contempt of His Majesty's Royal Power and Authority had bred such an extraordinary Insolence and Presumption in them as he was necessitated to charge and command them in His Majesty's Name to forbear the Exercise of their Popish Rites and Ceremonies Hereupon they grew uneasie and complain'd that the Tax was too heavy and at length they gain'd their Point and in stead of 10000 l. Quarterly the Government condescended to take 5000 l. per Quarter from the First of October 1629. until the rest of the aforesaid 120000 l. should be paid But the Proclamation against the Popish Regular Clergy was baffled and ridiculed every where It was read in Drogheda by a drunken Soldier in such a ridiculous manner that it seemed like a May-game and was rather Sport than Terror to the Auditors It was so despised and contemned by the Popish Clergy that they nevertheless exercised full Jurisdiction Bishop Vsher's Letters 423. even to Excommunication and they not only proceeded in Building Abbies and Monasteries but had the confidence to erect an University at Dublin in the Face of the Government which it seems thought it self limited in this Matter by Instructions from England Nor was the Beauty of the Protestant Church sullied by its avowed Enemies only Bishop Bedel's Life 44. it was more defaced by its pretended Friends and Members Things Sacred were exposed to â—ale in a most sordid and scandalous manner Parsonages and Episcopal Sees were impoverished and their Revenues were alienated and incumbred to that degree that both the Bishopricks of Kilmore and Ardagh were not sufficient to support a Bishop that would not use indirect Means to get Money and the Churches were generally out of Repair Nevertheless Complaints were made by the Irish against the Lord-Deputy for Mal-Administration of the Government and though the Earl of Strafford his Successor Rushw 160. has assured us that this Lord-Deputy proceeded as honourably justly and nobly as any Man could do and though the Council did on the 28th of April 1629. write a kind and true Letter in the Vindication of his Innocence yet he was soon after removed and ADAM LOFTUS Viscount ELY Lord Chancellor And RICHARD Earl of CORKE 1629. Lord High Treasurer were Sworn Lords Justices on the 26th day of October and were allowed by the King One hundred pounds apiece every Kalendar Month They immediately directed that the Papists should be prosecuted for not coming to Church and accordingly the Statute of 2 Eliz. was given in charge at the Assizes but by Directions from England that Prosecution was superseded Nevertheless these Lords Justices 1630. being exceeding zealous against Popery caused St. Patrick's Purgatory in a small Island called Ilan de Purgadory in Logh Dirge in the County of Donegall to be digged up and thereby discovered that notorious Cheat to the World to the great loss and disgrace of the Popish Clergy who made vast Advantages of that ridiculous Sham. But there are a restless sort of Men in the World who are not to be daunted or put out of Countenance by any mischance whatsoever and therefore notwithstanding the aforesaid disaster and although the Popish Clergy were so debauched and ignorant that the bitterest Sarcasm that ever was put upon the Protestants was by an Irish-man Bishop Bedel's Life 76. who said That the King's Priests were as bad as the Pope's Priests yet did this unquiet Generation begin to rant it again in Ireland to that degree that a Priest being seized in Dublin was rescued by the People so that by their Insolencies they put a Necessity upon the Lords Justices to humble them Whitlock's Memoirs 15. and by Direction from the Council of England to seize upon 15 of their new Religious Houses to the King 's Use and their principal House in Back-lane in Dublin was Anno 1632 disposed of to the University of Dublin who placed therein a Rector and Scholars and maintained a weekly Lecture there which the Lords Justices often countenanced with their presence but afterwards in the Lord Strafford's time the House was disposed of to the former Use and became a Mass-house again In the Year 1631 the Earl of Castlehaven was tryed 1631. condemn'd and Beheaded in England Whitlock's Memoirs 16. for strange and prodigious Crimes not fit to be particularized or related of so Ancient and Noble a Family And this Year the King taking Notice of the increase of Popery in Ireland sent a Gracious Letter of Admonition to the Bishop of Armagh Bishop Vsher's Life p. 38. to be communicated to the rest of the Bishops thereby exhorting them to the careful Exercise of their Duty and to avoid all Abuses in disposing of Benefices And in the Year 1632 the aforesaid Subsidies or extraordinary Contribution being determined the Countrey finding the necessity of paying the Army to prevent their paying themselves did consent to continue the levying of Twenty Thousand Pounds per Annum quarterly for two Years more But the Irish valuing themselves upon this Bounty and thinking the Army could not he supported without their Contribution began to be very unruly again and though the Broils they made were soon appeased yet it was thought necessary to send over the new Lord-Deputy Wentworth and accordingly Conveniencies were prepared for him both in Ireland and England For on the Tenth of April 1632. 1632. he obtain'd an Order for making a new Great Seal new Signet and new Seals for all the Courts and on
our Reign 1641. Appendix XIV The Oath of Association taken by the Irish Rebels The Preamble WHereas the Roman Catholicks of this Kingdom have been inforced to take Arms for the necessary Defence and Preservation as well of their Religion plotted and by many foul Practices endeavoured to be quite supprest by the Puritan Faction as likewise their Lives Esttates and Liberties as also for the Defence and Safeguard of His Majesties regal Power just Prerogatives Honour State and Rights invaded upon and for that it is requisite that there should be an unanimous Consent and real Union between ALL the Catholicks of this Realm to maintain the Premises and strengthen them against their Adversaries It is thought fit by them that they and whosoever shall adhere unto their Party as a Confederate should for the better Assurance of their adhering Fidelity and Constancy to the Publick Cause take the ensuing Oath The Oath of Association J. A. B. do profess swear and protest before God and his Saints and his Angels that I will during my Life bear true Faith and Allegiance to my Sovereign Lord Charles by the Grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland and to his Heirs and lawful Successors and that I will to my Power during my Life defend uphold maintain all his and their just Prerogatives Estates and Rights the Power and Priviledges of the Parliament of this Realm the fundamental Laws of Ireland the free Exercise of the Roman Catholick Faith and Religion throughout this Land and the Lives just Liberties Possessions Estates and Rights of all those that have taken or shall take this Oath and perform the Contents thereof and that I will obey and ratifie all the Orders and Decrees made and to be made by the Supream Council of the Confederate Catholicks of this Kingdom concerning the said publick Cause and that I will not seek directly or indirectly any Pardon or Protection for any Act done or to be done touching this general Cause without the Consent of the Major part of the said Council and that I will not directly or indirectly do any Act or Acts that shall prejudice the said Cause but will to the hazard of my Life and Estate assist prosecute and maintain the same Moreover I do further swear that I will not accept of or submit unto any Peace made or to be made with the said confederate Catholicks without the Consent and Approbation of the General Assembly of the said confederate Catholicks And for the preservation and strengthening of the Association and Union of the Kingdom that upon any Peace or Accommodation to be made or concluded with the said confederate Catholicks as aforesaid I will to the utmost of my Power insist upon und maintain the ensuing Propositions until a Peace as aforesaid be made and the matters to be agreed upon in the Articles of Peace be established and secured by Parliament So help me God The Propositions mentioned in the aforesaid Oath 1. THAT the Roman Catholicks both Clergy and Laity to their several Capacities have free and publick Exercise of the Roman Catholick Religion and Function throughout the Kingdom in as full Lustre and Splendor as it was in the Reign of King Henry the Seventh or any other Catholick Kings his Predecessors Kings of England and Lords of Ireland either in Ireland or England 2. That the secular Clergy of Ireland viz. Primates Arch-Bishops Bishops Ordinaries Deans Deans and Chapters Arch-Deacons Prebendaries and other Dignitaries Parsons Vicars and all other Pastors of the Secular Clergy and their respective Successors shall have and enjoy all and all Manner of Jurisdictions Priviledges Immunities in as full and ample Manner as the Roman Catholicks Secular Clergy had or enjoyed the same within this Realm at any Time during the Reign of the Late Henry the Seventh Sometimes King of England and Lord of Ireland Any Law Declaration of Law Statute Power and Authority whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding 3. That all Laws and Statutes made since the Twentieth Year of King Henry the Eighth whereby any Restraint Penalty Mulct Incapacity or Restriction whatsoever is or may be laid upon any of the Roman Catholicks either of the Clergy or of the Laity for such the said free Exercise of the Roman Catholick Religion within this Kingdom and of their several Functions Jurisdictions and Priviledges may be repealed revoked and declared void by one or more Acts of Parliament to be passed therein 4. That all Primates Archbishops Bishops Ordinaries Deans Deans and Chapters Archdeacons Chancellors Treasurers Chaunters Provosts Wardens of Collegiate Churches Prebendaries and other Dignitaries Parsons Vicars and other Pastors of the Roman Catholick Secular Clergy and their respective Successors shall have hold and enjoy all the Churches and Church-Livings in as large and ample Manner as the late Protestant Clergy respectively enjoyed the same on the First Day of October in the Year of our Lord 1641 Together with all the Profits Emoluments Perquisites Liberties and the Rights to their respective Sees and Churches belonging as well in all places now in the Possession of the Confederate Catholicks as also in all other places that shall be recovered by the said Confederate Cathollcks from the adverse party within this Kingdom saving to the Roman Catholick Laity their Rights according to the Laws of the Land Appendix XV. The Pope's Bull to the Irish HAving taken into our serious consideration the great Zeal of the Irish towards the propagating of the Catholick Faith and the Piety of the Catholick Warriers in the several Armies of that Kingdom which was for that singular fervency in the true worship of God and notable care had formerly in the like case by the Inhabitants thereof for the maintenance and preservation of the same Orthodox Faith called of old the Land of Saints and having got certain notice how in imitation of their Godly and Worthy Ancestors they endeavour by force of Arms to deliver their thralled Nation from the Oppressions and Grievous Injuries of the Hereticks wherewith this long time it hath been afflicted and heavily burthened and gallantly do what in them lieth to extirpate and totally root out those workers of Iniquity who in the Kingdom of Ireland had infected and always striven to infect the Mass of Catholick Purity with the pestiferous Leaven of their Heretical contagion We therefore being willing to cherish them with the gift of those Spiritual graces whereof by God we are ordained the only disposers on Earth by the mercy of the same Almighty God trusting in the Authority of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and by vertue of that power of binding and loosing of Souls which God was pleased without our deserving to confer upon us To all and every one of the faithful Christians in the aforesaid Kingdom of Ireland now and for the time Militating against the Hereticks and other Enemies of the Catholick Faith they being truly and sincerely penitent after Confession and the Spiritual refreshing of themselves with
married Men and some of them not in Orders succeeding each other in that See from the Year 966 to the Year 1130 so that S. Bernard says They were Episcopi but not Clerici The sixth Chapter shews That Monks formerly lived by their Labour and eat their own Bread they thought Idleness a sin whereas the later Monks and Fryers do rather extort than beg since their Importunity is so great that no body can deny them unless he cast away natural shame as S. Richard of Dundalk affirmed anno 1357 at the Synod of Avignion as also that such voluntary Beggery is sinful and was not known in the Church for the first 1200 Years He shews That in Fasts they eat nothing at all till Evening but did eat Eggs in Lent and Sunday was always excepted from Fasting and that it is infinitely more Christian to abstain from Vice than from Meats and that the later is vain if it be not in order to the former The seventh Chapter yields many Testimonies of Claudius Sedulius c. That the Church contains the Tares and the Wheat the Erroneous and the Orthodox That the Church may be brought so low that she will seem for a time as if Christ had utterly forsaken her that the Enemies of the Church shall be able to do many Jugling Miracles and Lying Wonders Sedulius warns us against these seeming Miracles such as Simon Magus his flying in the Air and says That the Faith having increased Miracles were to cease That Miracles are not a certain Sign of Grace since many will say That in Christ's name they have cast out Devils c. which yet are not of Christ Matth. 7. 22. and that Miracles are not to be done in vain As to the Papacy Sedulius assures us By the Word Foundation is meant Christ and that the Apostles who sometime are intended by that Word are nevertheless to be accounted the Ministers of Christ and not the Foundation because says Claudius other Foundation can no Man lay besides that which is laid which is Jesus Christ Claudius interprets Christ to be the Rock Matt. 16. 18. but allows Peter a Primacy over the Circumcision and also avers the like Primacy in S. Paul over the Gentiles and concludes That one was not inferior to the other he says The Power of the Keys was given to all the Apostles and so was the Holy Ghost and that the Church was founded on S. John as well as S. Peter S. Sachlin says the Church was built as well on S. Patrick as on S. Peter and that Christ chose him for his Vicar on Earth Ardmagh is called the Apostolick City the Bishop of Kildare is called Summus Pontifex summus Sacerdos the Bishop of Cahors in France is stiled Papa Apostolicus so that these Titles were not peculiar to the Pope in those Days but were common to him and other Bishops and promiscuously used to any of them Chap 8. he tells us That though Palladius and S. Patrick did receive their Ordination at Rome and probably were sent thence to preach the Gospel which Vincentius l. 8. c. 7. tells us was planted first in Ireland by S. James yet they did not come as Emissaries or Agents from the Pope to promote or establish his Jurisdiction there Nor did their Success give the Pope any Authority in Ireland any more than the Apostles that went from Jerusalem to propagate Christianity in other Countries did thereby give Jurisdiction to the Bishops of Jerusalem over the Places or People they converted or than the Irish Bishops Aidan and Finan did give their Successors in Ireland Jurisdiction over those Parts of Britain they converted and in this Sense the Reader must understand the Word Emissary postea pag. 2. And in truth that Universal Dominion the Popes have since usurped or at least challenged was not then thought of neither did the Popes for some Ages afterwards send any Legate or Deputy to exercise Jurisdiction in in Ireland Gilbertus was the first of that sort that was sent and he was contemporary with S. Bernard in the twelfth Century and therefore although Ireland so abounded with Holy Men that it was called The Island of Saints and also had several Archbishops yet we hear neither of Pall nor Canonization till the same twelfth Century and the Primate proves They had Archbishops in Ireland before the use of the Pall was known there and he shews That Bishops were sometimes ordained by one Bishop alone that S. Patrick ordained three hundred sixty and five Bishops and three thousand Presbyters and that the Number of Bishops so increased that sometimes there were two or three in a Town and some had no certain Diocess at all Emely was appointed to be the Archiepiscopal See of Munster and Fernes of Leinster and S. Bernard testifies That in his Time the Primate of Armagh did constitute another Archbishoprick perhaps Tuam subject to the Primacy whereupon Primate Vsher infers That the Church of Ireland had no dependance upon Rome at that time since it managed Matters of such great Importance without consulting the Papacy He shews further That in those Days the King Clergy and People chose the Bishop and the Pope did not put them in by Provision and that the Bishops of Dublin Waterford and Limerick which Cities were inhabited by Oestmen used to be consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury and that the Walls and Diocess of Dublin were of equal extent and that the first Bishop was Donatus anno 1074 And afterward the People of Waterford erected a Bishoprick there I must not omit the Writ King Henry I. sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury recited by the Primate in haec verba HEnricus Rex Angliae Radulpho Cantuariens Archiepiscopo Salutem Mandavit mihi Rex Hiberniae per breve suum Burgenses Dubliniae quod eligerunt hunc Gregorium Episcopum eum tibi mittunt consecrandum unde tibi mando ut petitioni eorum satisfaciens ejus consecrationem sine dilatione expleas Teste Raâ—ulpho Cancelar c. But as soon as the Palls were setled in Ireland this Correspondence with the Arcbishop of Canterbury determined As for the Quotation out of the Old Book of the Church of Armagh That if any Cause be too hard for the Primacy let it be referred to the See Apostolick if it be not forged yet it proves no more than that they had a great Regard to the Piety and Learning of the Bishops of Rome in those Days but does not prove that they fancied an Infallibility in that Church On the contrary the Irish rejected the Pope's Judgment as often as they thought they had Reason on their Side particularly the Irish adhered to the Council of Chalcedon against the fifth Synod and the Pope's Determination in condemning the tria capitula It seems that Pope Gregory's Epistle to the Bishops of Iberia was directed to Spain and not to Ireland but 't is no great matter which Chap. 9 and 10 shews That the Irish differed from
Fastnesses of that Country at a Place called the Earls Pace he was briskly assaulted by O Rian and his Followers but O Rian being slain by an Arrow shot at him by Nichol the Monk the rest were easily scattered and many of them slain It was here that Strongbow's only Son a Youth about seventeen Years old frighted with the Number and Ululations of the Irish run away from the Battle and made towards Dublin but being informed of his Fathers Victory he joyfully came back to congratulate that Success but the severe General having first reproach'd him with Cowardize caused him to be immediately executed by cutting him off in the Middle with a Sword so great an Abhorrence had they of Dastardliness in those Days that in imitation of the Old Romans they punish'd it with a Severity which how commendable soever it may be in a General was nevertheless unnatural in a Father The Tomb both of Father and Son is yet to be seen in the Body of christ-Christ-Church in Dublin whereon formerly was this bald Epitaph alluding to this Story Nate ingrate Hanmer 147. mihi pugnanti Terga dedisti Non mihi sed Genti Regno quoque Terga dedisti When Strongbow came near Wexford he received the ill News of Fitz-Stephens his Misfortune as also that the Irish had burnt Wexford and were retired to the Island Begory or Betherni and were resolved to kill Fitz-Stephens if they were farther pursued Wherefore he turned aside towards Waterford and march'd to that City where he met Hervy who was returned with Letters from the King wherein the Earl was ordered immediately to repair into England Strongbow presently obeyed and met the King at Newnham near Glocester on his Journey towards Ireland with an Army The Earl behaved himself so dutifully that the King was soon appeased for Strongbow did not only renew his Fealty but did also surrender to the King the City of Dublin and two Cantreds adjoyning and all Forts and Towns bordering on the Sea And on the other side the King was contented that the Earl should enjoy all the rest to him and his Heirs to be held of his Majesty and his Successors and so they marched by Severn-side through South Wales to Pembrook August 1172. and at length embarqu'd at Milford Haven In the mean time O Rorick and the King of Meath took Advantage of Strongbow's Absence in England and Reymond's at Waterford and with their united Forces besieged Dublin But Miles Cogan had the Courage to sally and the Good Fortune to defeat them with the Slaughter of Orourk's Son and many of his Followers On the eighteenth of October Regan M. S. King Henry arrived at Waterford with four hundred Knights and four thousand Soldiers The People of Wexford came with the first to make their court and complimented him with their Prisoner Fitz-Stephens whom the King continued in Prison and smartly chid him for invading Ireland without his Majesties special Licence But this was but a piece of King-craft to ingratiate with the Irish and to get the City of Wexford which Fitz-Stephens was forc'd to part with and to make his humble Submission and then at the King 's second coming to Waterford he was restored to his Liberty and the rest of his Estate To the King at Waterford came Dermond Mac Carthy King of Cork and voluntarily submitted and swore Allegiance He also agreed to pay a certain annual Tribute which being done the King marched to Lismore and thence to Cashel near which on the Banks of the Shure came Daniel O Bryan Prince of Limerick who in like manner submitted and swore Allegiance Whereupon Garrisons were sent to Cork and Limerick and the King returned to Waterford In like manner submitted Daniel Prince of Ossory O Phelin Prince of Decyes and all the great Men of Munster And the King gave each of them a Present and to all of them gracious and kind Reception All the Archbishops Brady 360. Bishops and Abbots of Ireland came unto the King of England at Waterford and received him as King and Lord of Ireland and sware Fealty to him and his Heirs and from every Archbishop and Bishop he received a Chart by which they acknowledged and constituted him King and submitted unto him and his Heirs as their Kings for ever And according to their Example the foresaid Kings and Princes received him as King and Lord of Ireland and became his Men and swore Fealty to him and his Heirs against all Men. These Charters were transcrib'd and the King sent the Transcripts to Pope Alexander who confirm'd by Apostolick Authority to him and his Heirs the Kingdom of Ireland according to the Form of those Charters as aforesaid The King left Robert Fitz-Barnard and his Houshold at Waterford and marched to Dublin through Ossory by the way he received the Submissions of the Prince of Ossory O Carol O Rurk O Chadess O Toole and several others but Rotherick the Monarch came no nearer than the Shannon-Side where Hugh de Lacy and William Fzadeline by Commission received his Oath of Allegiance and agreeed with him for a Tribute and as the rest did he likewise gave Hostages for his Performance so that there was no Prince or great Man in any part of Ireland except Vlster but by his Deputies or in Person did submit to the King Then did the King command to assemble a Synod at Cashel whereunto the Archbishop of Armagh consented afterwards though by reason of his great Age he was not present at the Synod Where after Christmas appeared Christianus Bishop of Lismore the Pope's Legate Donagh Archbishop of Cashel Laurence Archbishop of Dublin and Catholicus Archbishop of Tuum with their Suffragans and Fellow Bishops with divers Abbots Archdeacons Priors Deans and other Prelates And the King sent thither Ralph Abbot of Buldewais Ralph Archdeacon of Landaff Nicholas the Chaplain and divers other good Clerks and they made these following Canons First Cambrensis cap. 35. It is Decreed That all Good Faithful and Christian People throughout Ireland should forbear and shun to marry with their near Kinsfolk and Cousins and marry with such as lawfully they should do Secondarily That Children shall be Catechiz'd without the Church Door and Baptiz'd in the Font appointed in the Churches for the same Thirdly That every Christian Body do Faithfully and Truly pay yearly the Tithes of his Cattle Corn and other his Increase and Profits to the Church or Parish where he is a Parishioner Fourthly That all the Church-Lands and Possessions throughout all Ireland shall be free from all Secular Exactions and Impositions and especially that no Lords Earls or Noblemen nor their Children nor Family shall extort or take any Coyn and Livery Cosheryes nor Cuddyes nor any other like Custom from thenceforth in or upon any of the Church-Lands and Territories And likewise That they nor no other Person do henceforth exact out of the said Church-Lands Old Wicked and Detestable Customs of Coyn and Livery
Earl of Cornwal and Odo Bishop of Bayeux half Brothers to the Conquerour Robert had Issue William Earl of Cornwall who had Issue Adelm and John Adelm had Issue this William Fitz-Adelm and John had Issue Hubert de Burgo that was Chief Justice of England and Earl of Kent and one of the greatest Men of his Time And this William Fitz-Adelm though he be represented as an ill Man by the Historians of that Age yet he founded one of the Best and Noblest Families in Ireland viz. that of the Burks which has yielded many Brave and Worthy Men that have proved eminently serviceable to their King and Country whereby their Name Estate and Family are preserved in great Honour and Reputation to this Day John de Courcy who marryed the Daughter of Gothred King of the Isle of Man had contracted an intimate and entire Friendship with Sir Armoricus Tristerum alias de Sancto Laurentio who afterwards married his Sister My Author says they were sworn Brothers in the Church of Roan but certainly there was such Kindness between them that Courcy was resolved to share his Conquests in Vlster with him And being troubled at the sordid Humour of Fzadelme and simpathizing with the Wants and Grievances of the Souldiery in February 1177 1177. he led forth twenty Knights and three hundred Foot-Soldiers besides Servants and marching through Vriel in four Days or rather early the fifth he came to the City of Down which without Resistance he took and rifled for the Citizens were not in any Posture of Defence because they had not the least Fear or so much as a Thought of an Enemy The Lord or Governour Dunlenns or O Donel perceiving the Amazement and Irresolution of his People was necessitated to withdraw leaving the Legate Vivianus to negotiate in his behalf with Courcy and to offer him a Tribute if he would peaceably retire but Courcy was transported with some blind Phrophecies of Merlin and Columbus which he interpreted of himself and fancied nothing less than the entire Conquest of Vlster and therefore rejected all Overtures of Accomodation Whereupon O Donel This Battle at large Hanmer 150. with the Assistance of Rotherick and the rest of his Neighbours who made it a common Cause soon raised an Army of ten thousand Men and with them designed to besiege the City of Down But Courcy chose rather to fight a Battle in the Field than stand a Siege in the Town and the Success justified his Choice for he routed the Enemy with great Slaughter and took the Bishop of Down Prisoner but at the Intercession of the Legate he was released About Midsummer following the Ulster Men to the number of fifteen thousand fought another Battle with Courcy near Down and though it was very Bloody on both sides yet the Honour of the Day is by my Author given to Courcy His third Battle was in the Ferny against eleven thousand Irish the English not being above the tenth part of their number The Occasion of it was thus Sir John de Courcy had built many Castles in Vlster especially in that part of it called Ferny where Mac Mahon dwelt he was very observant of Courcy and made him his Gossip and had sworn Fidelity to him and had so far insinuated himself into Courcy's Favour that the Britain gave him two Castles with the Lands belonging to them but within a Month Mac Mahon demolished both the Castles And being asked the Reason why he did so he answered That he did not promise to hold Stones but Land and that it was contrary to his Nature to live within cold Walls whilst the Woods were so nigh Courcy was netled with this slight Answer and to revenge the Affront entred the Ferny and took so large a Prey of Cows that he was obliged to divide them into three Droves for convenience of Driving the Ways were boggy and also so narrow that the Prey filled the Road for three miles together The Irish observing these Circumstances set upon the English with such Briskness Noise and Clamour that forced the Cows back and made them run like Devils upon their Drivers so that they overthrew both Horse and Man and trod more underfoot than were slain by the Sword In a Word the English were routed and although they had slain nineteen score of the Irish and their General Mac Mahon himself yet they were forced to run for their Lives and much ado they had to recover an old Fort of Courcy's where they made a shift to secure themselves although the Irish were encamped vey near them About Midnight Sir Amorick went to view the Posture of the Irish who not in the least mistrusting that a baffled handful of Men would dare to attempt them were in a loose and negligent Condition most of them asleep even their very Guards and Centinels This being reported to Courcy they easily agreed to make use of this Advantage and immediately with all their Force fell upon the Irish and surprized them to that degree that they could make no Resistance so that they were all slain except two hundred who made their escape and of the English there were but two killed in this Encounter and four hundred the Day before About this Time the Legate Vivianus held a Synod at Dublin in which he published the King's Title to Ireland and denounced Excommunication against all that should oppose it He also gave Leave to the English to take out of the Churches and Monasteries such Corn and other Provision as they should at any time need paying the true Value thereof for the same He gave the People Indulgences and they gave him Money and so they parted very well pleased on both Sides Miles Cogan and young Fitz-Stephens invaded Connaugh as far as Tuam but could not make any Stay there for want of Victuals for the Inhabitants had removed or destroyed all their Provision and fled away upon the News of the Approach of the English And here let me observe once for all That want of Provision hath frustrated more great Designs and well-contrived Expeditions in Ireland than any other Defect or Accident whatsoever But Rotherick King of Connaugh having Notice of this March and knowing the English would be forced to return in a little Time for want of Victuals he placed an Ambush in a covenient Station which according to their Orders fell upon the English in their Retreat but did no greater Mischief than the killing of three English Men and that with the Loss of many of themselves This Governour Fitz-Adelm was very unkind to Reymond and all the Geraldines and indeed to most of the first Adventurers He forced the Sons of Maurice Fitz-Gerald to exchange their Castle of Wicklow for the decayed Castle of Fernes and when they had repaired that Castle of Fernes he found some Pretence or other to have it demolished He took from Reymond all his Land near Dublin and Wexford He delayed the Restitution of Fitz-Stephens to his Lands in
Lord Justice was not less active in Leinster for he defeated O Morrough at Bally lethan and made a great Slaughter of the Rebels at Tristle Dermond and slew about four hundred of the Irish of Omayle There is a Writ in Mr. Prin's Animadversions on the 4th Institute Prin 261. too long to be here recited whereby it appears That an Englishman was punishable by Death for Killing Burning Theft or Robbery committed against an Englishman but an Irishman was only punishable at the discretion of the Brehon for Theft or Robbery of an Englishman but that in time the chief Governors did commute the punishment of any Felony even Murder of an Englishman for Money and thereby Witnesses were discouraged to testifie the Truth lest the surviving Felon might revenge it Therefore the Writ requires to assemble the Lords and COMMONS to advise c. In the same Writ is mentioned that the Irish petitioned for an Annual Parliament and because it is certain there were not Parliaments every year even in this Kings Reign Prin 263. Mr. Prin conceives that my Lord Cooke mistook that Petition for an Order for an Irish Annual Parliament which he says was at this time made but the Manuscripts M. and GGG at Lambeth 4 Insl 350. do agree with my Lord Cooke that there was such an Order But let us return to Bruce who on Midsummer-Day summoned Carigfergus and though eight Ships were sent thither from Tredagh yet the Garrison were reduced to the extremity of eating Leather and of feeding on eight Scots who were their Prisoners and so were at length forced by Famine to surrender in the latter end of August Nor did better News come from Connaught where O Connor defeated a Party of the English and slew the Lord Stephen of Exester Miles Cogan and eighty of the Barryes and Lawleys But this Misfortune was not long unrevenged Frag. 6. for on the fourth Day of August William de Burgo and Richard de Bremingham encountred Fylemy O Connor King of Connaught and a numerous Army of Irish near Athenry with prodigious Success for they slew the King of Connaught and eight thousand of his Men Aug. 1316. The Valour of Hussy a Butcher of Athenry was very remarkable on this Occasion for he fought with O Kelly and his Squire together and slew them both for which he was knighted and is Ancestor of the reputed Barons of Galtrim They say Athenry was walled with the Plunder of this Battle Cambd. 172. and that the brave Brimingham was made Baron of Athenry for this noble Service and his Heir is now the first Baron in Ireland About the same time viz. in August 1316. O Hanlon came for Contribution to Dundalk but the Townsmen under Robert Verdon who lost his Life in the Service entertained them so valiantly that O Hanlon was forced to leave two hundred of his Followers behind him About the end of August died the Noble Earl of Kildare Ibid. 173. and was succeeded by his Son Thomas On the fourteenth of September Ibid. Burk and Briminghan got another Victory in Conaught and slew five hundred Irish and their Captains Connor and the Mac Kelly and in the latter end of October John Loggan and Hugh Bisset routed the Scots in Vlster and slew one hundred with double Armour and two hundred with single Armour besides many of their naked Followers and sent Prisoners to Dublin Sir Alen Stewart Sir John Sandale Ibid. and other Scotchmen In December the Lacies procured themselves to be Indicted and Acquitted of introducing the Scots into Ireland and then had the King's Charter of Pardon Ibid. whereupon they renewed their Oath of Fealty and took the Sacrament to corroborate the same The Scots being joyned with the Irish of Vlster gathered a numerous Army computed to be near twenty thousand Men and in Lent they marched as far as Slane destroying the Country as they went The Earl of Vlster was then at S. Mary Abbey near Dublin but some Misunderstanding hapning between him and the Citizens 1316. Robert Notingham then Mayor of Dublin caused the Earl to be imprisoned in the Castle of Dublin and in the Fray seven of the Earl's Servants were slain and the Abby was spoiled and some of it burnt Hereupon Bruce marched toward Dublin Febr. 24. and took the Castle of Knock and the Lord Hugh Tyrrel in it who with his Wife were afterwards ransomed for a piece of Mony The Dublinians burnt the Suburbs to secure the City some Churches were destroyed in this Hurry and the Cathedral of S. Patricks did not escape But Bruce understanding the City was well walled and that the Citizens resolved to defend it he turned aside to the Naas being conducted and advised by Lacy notwithstanding his aforesaid Oath At the Naas they staid two Days spoiled the Churches opened the Tombs to search for Treasure and at last burnt the Town and thence marched to Castledermot Gauran and Callan destroying the Country as they went And what better could be expected when the King's Authority was so little regarded in Ireland that his Writ to bail the Earl of Vlster was disobeyed by the Mayor of Dublin Some of the Vlster-Men pretended an Aversion against the Scots Camb. 174. and desired Aid and Commission from the King they had the Commission at last and the King's Standard was delivered to them but they did more harm with it than the Scots had done they so behaved themselves if you believe my Author that they purchased the Curse of God and Man Bruce marched near Limerick to Kenlis in Ossory and about Palmsunday he came to Cashel and thence marched to Nenagh wasting all the Lord Justice's Estate in the Counties of Kilkenny and Typerary In the mean time the English Lords were Assembled at Kilkenny Davis 169. says Desmond was General and had gathered a numerous Army consisting of all sorts of thirty thousand Men and under the Conduct of the Lord Justice and Earl of Kildare designed to pursue the Scots 1317. when on Thursday in Easter-week there arrived at Youghal Roger Mortimer Lord Justice cum triginta octo Militibus who immediately sent word to the English Generals not to fight till he came but Bruce upon notice of his Arrival marcht toward Kildare and so to Naas and tho' he lurkt almost a week in the Woods near Trim to refresh his Men yet afterwards he made such haste that in the beginning of May he got into Vlster The Lord Justice seeing Bruce had retreated suffered his voluntary Army which the Irish call a rising out to return to their own homes the better to refresh themselves till a new Summons and went himself to Dublin and with the Lord Wogan Sir Fulk Warren and thirty Knights more he held a Parliament at Kilmainham where the deliverance of the Earl of Vlster was the chief thing treated of and it was at last effected at a second Meeting of the Parliament about
secret and of great forecast very staid in Speech dangerous of every Trifle that touched his Reputation Kildare was open and plain hardly able to rule himself when he was moved to Anger not so sharp as short being easily displeased and sooner appeased being in a Rage with certain of his Servants for Faults they committed one of his Horsemen offered Master Boice a Gentleman that retained to him an Irish Hobby on condition That he would pluck an Hair from the Earl his Beard Boice taking the Profer at rebound stept to the Earl with whose good Nature he was throughly acquainted parching in the Heat of his Choler and said So it is and if it like your good Lordship one of your Horsemen promised me a choice Horse if I snip one Hair from your Beard Well quoth the Earl I agree thereto but if thou pluck any more than one I promise thee to bring my Fist from thine Ear. But after all this simple Story is founded on a Mistake for the Earl of Ormond whose Name was Thomas lived in England in great Repute all the Reign of Henry the Seventh and afterwards until his Death anno 1515 and therefore the Person intended by the Story must by Sir James Ormond formerly Lord High Treasurer whom I have often mentioned in the Reign of the last King But this digression has been too long 1513. let us therefore return to the Lord Deputy whom we shall find animated with the last Years Success and resolved to invade Ely O Carol early in the Summer but his Preparations being great took up more time than he thought they would require but at last they were got ready and he began his March in August but at Athy he fell sick and from thence was removed to Kildare where on the third Day of September he died and was buried in Christ Church in Dublin to which he had been a liberal Benefactor And thus were the great Designs of this mighty Lord defeated even in the midst of his Career and at the very time when he promised himself most Glory and Success Gerald Earl of Kildare Son of the deceased Earl and Lord Treasurer was by virtue of the Act of Parliament formerly mentioned anno 10 Hen. 7. and by reason of his Place of Treasurer Spelm. Glos 334. made Lord Justice by assent of the Council But it seems that afterwards viz. 32 Hen. 8. there was a Statute made intituled An Act for the electing of the Lord Justice which restrained the Council from electing any body but an Englishman born and not in Orders The Lord of Slane was made Lord High Treasurer and Sir William Crompton Lord Chancellor and all other publick Matters were ordered as well and expeditiously as they could nevertheless so much time was taken up in these Alterations and in the Formalities of State that the Season was too far spent for any military Action this Year so that Daniel Mac william met with little Interruption in taking the Castle of Dunluce nor did the rest of the Irish find any Opposition this Winter but ravaged over the Country as they pleased However they paid dearly for it the next Spring For the valiant Earl of Kildare 1514. who was Heir to his Fathers Courage as well as to his Honour grew impatient at the Insolencies of O More and O Reyly and therefore resolved to attack them successively He began with O More and invaded the county of Leix and beat that Rebel and his Party into the Woods which being done he turned aside into the Brenny and took the Castle of Cavan and having slain Hugh O Reyly and many of his Followers he chased the rest into their inaccessible Fastnesses and then burnt and destroyed the Country and returned loaden with Booty William Viscount Gormanstown was the thirteenth of June made Lord Justice 1515. probably in the Absence of the Earl of Kildare who might then go to England to confer with the King about the Parliament designed to be holden in the Spring But however that be it is certain That Girald Earl of Kildare was by the King made Lord Deputy and on the twenty fifth Day of February held a Parliament at Dublin which by several Prorogations continued until the Thursday after Michaelmas 1517. Ware 92. This Parliament gave the King a Subsidy and made one good Act for those times viz. That no Man shall be compelled by Privy Seal to answer any Complaint in England until the Accuser enters into Recognizance in the Chancery of Ireland to pay the Defendant his Costs and Damages if he be acquit which very much abated that vexatious Course of Proceeding so that it is now obsolete and quite out of use On the third Day of August Ware 93. died Thomas Earl of Ormond at London he had been Embassador into France Privy-Counsellor in England and had Place in the English Parliament above all the Barons He was the richest Subject the King had and left forty thousand Pound in Money besides Jewels and as much Land to his two Daughters in England as at this Day would yield thirty thousand Pound per annum but he left no Issue Male to enjoy his Irish Estate which therefore descended to his Kinsman Sir Pierce Butler Earl of Ormond The Lord Deputy to repress the Incursions of the bordering Irish 1516. and to shew himself as fit for War as Peace invaded Imaly and slew Shane O Toole in Battle and sent his Head to the Mayor of Dublin Thence he marched into Ely O Carol where he was joyned by several Noblemen of Munster and Leinster of English Extraction and particularly by Pierce Earl of Ormond and James eldest Son of the Earl of Desmond and being strengthned with this Supply he undertook the Seige of Lemevan-Castle which the Garrison defended for a Week and then by Night deserted and left it to be demolished as it was by the Lord Deputy With this good Success he was encouraged to attempt the Town of Clonmel which he did with so much celerity that the Townsmen being surprized immediately surrendred upon Conditions And so the Deputy ended this Campeign and returned loaden with Hostages Prey and Glory It is worthy observation That the Irish had great Expectations of Advantage this Year by reason of a blind Prophecy generally believed among them Ware 95. That the poorest and weakest Sept in Ireland should this Year prove the most Powerful and Warlike It is probable that they were encouraged thereby to provoke the Lord Deputy to the aforesaid Expedition But however that be this is certain That Superstition hath been often fatal to the Irish Nation But Kildare finding it necessary to advance his Victorious Arms in Vlster 1517. reinforced his Troops and marched into Lecale where he took the Castle of Dundrum which had been very offensive to the neighbouring English thence he marched against Fylemy Macgenis whom he easily conquered and took Prisoner with the Slaughter of many of his Followers
the Regality of S. Peter I do Vow and Swear to Maintain Help and Assist the just Laws Liberties and Rights of the Mother Church of Rome I do likewise promise to confer defend and promote if not personally yet willingly as in Ability able either by Advice Skill Estate Mony or otherwise the Church of Rome and her Laws against all whatsoever resisting the same I further vow to oppugn all Hereticks either in making or setting forth Edicts or Commands contrary to the Mother Church of Rome and in case any such to be moved or composed to resist it to the uttermost of my Power with the first Convenience and Opportunity I can possible I count all Acts made or to be made by Heretical Powers of no force or to be practised or obeyed by my self or by any other Son of the Mother Church of Rome I do further declare him or her Father or Mother Brother or Sister Son or Daughter Husband or Wife Unkle or Ant Nephew or Neece Kinsman or Kinswoman Master or Mistriss and all others nearest or dearest Relations Friend or Acquaintance whatsoever accursed that either do or shall hold for time to come any Ecclesiastical or Civil above the Authority of the Mother Church or that do or shall obey for the time to come any of her the Mother Church's Opposers or Enemies or contrary to the same of which I have here sworn unto so God the Blessed Virgin S. Peter S. Paul and the Holy Evangelists help c. His Highness the Vice-roy of this Nation is of little or no Power with the Old Natives therefore your Lordship will expect of me no more than I am able This Nation is poor in Wealth and not sufficient now at present to oppose them It is observed That ever since his Highness ' s Ancestors had this Nation in Possession the Old Natives have been craving Foreign Powers to assist and rute them and now both English Race and Irish begin to oppose your Lordship's Orders and do lay aside their National old Quarrels which I fear will if any thing will cause a Foreigner to invade this Nation I pray God I may be a false Prophet yet your good Lordship must pardon mine Opinion for I write it to your Lordship as a warning And about Midsummer one Thady Birne a Franciscan Fryer was apprehended and was to be sent Prisoner into England to the Lord Privy Seal but the cowardly Sophister being told That he would certainly be hanged was seized with such a pannick Fear that he murdered himself in the Castle of Dublin on the twenty fourth Day of July and among other Papers the following Letter was found about him My Son O Neal THou and thy Fathers were all along faithful to the Mother Church of Rome Life of Bishop Brown 11. His Holiness Paul now Pope and the Council of the Holy Fathers there have lately found out a Prophecy there remaining of one S. Laserianus an Irish Bishop of Cashel Wherein he saith That the Mother Church of Rome falleth when in Ireland the Catholick Faith is overcome Therefore for the Glory of the Mother Church the Honour of S. Peter and your own Secureness suppress Heresie and his Holiness's Enemies for when the Roman Faith there perisheth the See of Rome falleth also Therefore the Council of Cardinals have thought fit to encourage your Country of Ireland as a Sacred Island being certified whilst the Mother Church hath a Son of Worth as your self and those that shall succour you and joyn therein that she will never fall but have more or less a holding in Britain in spite of Fate Thus having obeyed the Order of the most Sacred Council we recommend your Princely Person to the Holy Trinity of the Blessed Virgin of S. Peter S. Paul and all the Heavenly Host of Heaven Amen Episcopus Metensis And it is not to be doubted Ware 151. but the Irish had Solicitations from many others besides the Bishop of Mets for in the beginning of the following Year O Neal began to declare himself the Champion of the Papacy and having entred into a Confederacy with O Donel Macgenis Ocahane Mac William O Hanlon and others they joyntly invaded the Pale and marched to Navan burning that and Athirde and all the Country as they marched and thence they came to the Hill of Taragh where they mustered their Army with great Ostentation and so having taken a vast Prey and done abundance of Mischief they designed to return home But the Lord Deputy who foresaw this Storm 1539. had sent to England for Aid Holingsh 101. and Sir William Brereton who was newly returned to England was immediately sent back with two hundred and fifty Cheshire-Men It is reported of him That he broke his Thigh in two Places by a Fall from his Horse as he was exercising his Men and that nevertheless he was so Valiant and Zealous that he caused himself to be halled into the Ship by Pullies that the Succours might not be detained any longer In the mean time the Deputy Ibid. with the Forces of the Pale and the Mayors and Citizens of Dublin and Drogheda in May marched to Bellahoa where O Neal was encamped on the other side the River they marched all Night to surprize the Enemy and came to the River by break of Day The valiant Baron of Slane led the forlorn and having first substituted Robert Betoa his Standard-bearer instead of the cowardly Robert Halfpenny who declined the Adventure because of the Danger he rushed into the River and being well seconded by Mabe of Mabestown who was there slain though the Inconveniencies of passing the River were very great yet they at length got over routed the Gallowglasses slew Macgenis defeated O Neal and recovered all the Prey of the Pale and continued the Pursuit till Sunset The Deputy exceeded the rest as much in Courage as Authority and behaved himself exceeding bravely and after the Battle knighted Chief Justice Ailmer Talbot of Malahide Fitz-Simons Mayor of Dublin and Michael Cursy Mayor of Drogheda in the Field and well they deserved it for their good Service in obtaining so great a Victory which broke the Power of the North and quitted the Borders for some Years and yet there were not above four hundred of the Rebels slain But whilst the Deputy was in Vlster O Connor and O Toole made Incursions into the Pale and though they did much Mischief yet the Country suffered more by unseasonable Weather for the Summer was so hot that even some Rivers were almost dried up and the Autumn was very Sickly and Unwholesome and the Winter so excessive cold that multitudes of Cattle perished by reason thereof And now began the Abbots and Priors upon Assurance of Pensions Ware 152. during their respective Lives to surrender their Abbies and other Religious Houses to the King it would be too tedious to give a Catalogue of all that did so but these following should not be pretermitted because
within his Dominions for his faithful Subjects to increase their Knowledge of God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ We therefore for the general Benefit of our well beloved Subjects Vnderstandings whenever assembled or met together in the said several Parish-Churches either to Pray or hear Prayers read that they may the better joyn therein in Vnity Hearts and Voice have caused the Liturgy and Prayers of the Church to be Translated into our Mother-Tongue of this Realm of England according to the Assembly of Divines lately met within the same for that purpose We therefore Will and Command as also Authorize you Sir Anthony Saint-Leger Knight our Vice-Roy of that our Kingdom of Ireland to give special Notice to all our Clergy as well Arch-Bishops Bishops Deans Arch-Deacons as others our Secular Parish-Priests within that our said Kingdom of Ireland to perfect execute and obey this our Royal Will and Pleasure accordingly But before Proclamations were issued out Sir Anthony Saint-Leger upon receipt of this Order call'd an Assembly of the Archbishops and Bishops together with the then Clergy of Ireland in which Assembly he signified to them as well his Majesties Order aforesaid as also the Opinions of those Bishops and Clergy of England who had adhered unto the Order saying That it was his Majesties Will and Pleasure consenting unto their serious Considerations and Opinions then acted and agreed on in England as to Ecclesiastical Matters that the same be in Ireland so likewise celebrated and performed Sir Anthony Saint-Leger having spoken to this effect George Dowdal who succeeded George Cromer in the Primacy of Armagh stood up and through his Romish Zeal to the Pope laboured with all his power and force to oppose the Liturgy of the Church that it might not be read or sung in the Church saying Then shall every illiterate Fellow read Service or Mass as he in those Days termed the Word Service To this Saying of the Archbishop's Sir Anthony replied No your Grace is mistaken for we have too many illiterate Priests amongst us already who neither can pronounce the Latin nor know what it means no more than the Common People that hear them but when the People hear the Liturgy in English they and the Priest will then understand what they pray for Upon this Reply George Dowdal bid Sir Anthony beware of the Clergy's Curse Sir Anthony made Answer I fear no strange Curse so long as I have the Blessing of that Church which I believe to be the true one The Archbishop again said Can there be a truer Church than the Church of St. Peter the Mother Church of Rome Sir Anthony return'd this Answer I thought we had all been of the Church of Christ for he calls all true Believers in him his Church and himself the Head thereof The Archbishop replied And is not St. Peter's Church the Church of Christ Sir Anthony return'd this Answer St. Peter was a Memher of Christ's Church but the Church was not St. Peter's neither was St. Peter but Christ the Head thereof Then George Dowdal the Primate of Armagh rose up and several of the Suffragan Bishops under his Jurisdiction saving only Edward Staples then Bishop of Meath who tarried with the rest of the Clergy then assembled on the Kalends of March 1550. Sir Anthony then took up the Order and held it forth to George Brown Archbishop of Dublin who standing up received it saying This Order good Brethren is from our Gracious King and from the rest of our Brethren the Fathers and Clergy of England who have consulted herein and compared the Holy Scriptures with what they have done unto whom I submit as Jesus did to Caesar in all things just and lawful making no question why or wherefore as we own him our true and lawful King And it seems that on Easter-Sunday the Liturgy in the English Tongue was read in Christ-Curch according to the King's Order and the Archbishop Brown Preached an excellent Sermon on these Words Open mine Eyes that I may see the Wonders of thy Law Psal 119. ver 18. But whether the Lord Deputy were not zealous in propagating the Reformation or what other Differences there were between him and the Archbishop I cannot find but it is certain the Archbishop sent Complaints against him into England Ware 190. and thereupon he was recalled and Sir James Crofts was made Lord Deputy by Patent 1551. Dated the twenty ninth day of April and the Instructions to him and the Council were 1. To propagate the Worship of God in the English Tongue and the Service to be translated into Irish to those places which need it 2. To prevent the Sale of Bells Church-Goods Chantry-Lands c. and to Inventory them 3. To execute the Laws justly collect the Revenue carefully and muster the Army honestly 4. To get the Ports into the King's possession that his Customs may be duly answered 5. To search for a Mine of Allum 6. To Lett the King's Lands especially Leix and Offaly for one and twenty years to such as will live upon them 7. To enquire into the Conveniency of Building Ships in Ireland 8. To endeavour to perswade the Nobility to exchange some Irish Land for the like value in England 9. That the Soldier be not sued except before the Deputy or Marshal but if Justice be not done in three Months then to remit them to the Common Law 10. To allow Trade to all Foreigners though Enemies 11. Above all to reduce the Birns and Tools and their Country When the Lord Deputy Landed he was informed That his Predecessor Saint-Leger was gone to Munster and thereupon he rode directly to Cork and on the twenty third of May he was sworn and received the Sword there and one of the Cavenaghs or Mac Moroughs for some Crime was there hanged The Lord Deputy who was a zealous Protestant endeavoured all he could to perswade the Primate Dowdal to observe the King's Order about the Liturgy but he continued obstinate and therefore the King and Council of England on the twentieth day of October deprived him of the Title of Primate of all Ireland and annexed it to the See of Dublin for ever whereupon Dowdal withdrew beyond the Seas and Hugh Goodacre was made Archbishop of Armagh in his room being together with John Bale Bishop of Ossory consecrated in christ-Christ-Church Dublin by the Archbishop of Dublin and the Bishops of Kildare and Down on the second day of February 1552. About which time the English Liturgy with Orders and Rules for Ecclesiastical Habits and Ceremonies was reprinted at Dublin by Humyhry Powel But it is time to return to the Army which under the Command of the Lord Deputy marched into Vlster against the Scotch Islanders the English invaded the Isle of Raghlin but were forced to retreat with the Loss of one Ship and several Men Captain Bagnal also was taken Prisoner but he was afterwards exchanged for Surly buy Mac Donald who was then Prisoner at Dublin in
incamped in Thomond and immediately sent the young Earl to take possession of the Country which he did and Daniel who was so brave a man that many of the old and new Irish courted him to be King of Ireland was forced to lie that tempestuous Night in a Cabbin but when according to the Irish fashion he thought to lead his Horse to stable in the same House with himself the proud Beast scorned to stoop until the Foot-boy whispered the Horse in the Ear and told him that his Master O Bryan would lodge that Night in that Cabbin Sullevan 80. and desired that he would lower his Crest and his Crupper and creep into the House to keep his Master company ut tu quoque equus suus capite dorso demisso inclinato Tygurium introeas and the Horse being well bred did very civilly comply in Matters of Ceremony but when he came to Supper he was at a loss for he was used to feed on Wheat and could not conform to Countryâ—entertainment until the Foot-boy whispered him once more that his Master O Bryan who fed on Oaten Cake did command Rosinante to be contented with the same Fare O Bryan Dominus tuus qui hac nocte Avenaceum panem comedit imperat ut tu quoque Avena vescaris and then he fell to it But to return Charles O Carol who had murdered Teig O Carol was himself murdered by William O Dar O Carol who thereupon took possession of that Signiory and held it for four years The Earl of Kildare and the Baron of Delvin at the request of Shane O Neal went into Vlster to aid him against Fylemy Roe O Neal they did no great Exploits but took a few Preys with the Loss of fifty of their own Men but a little after there was a smart Conflict between the Earl of Tyrone and Hugh Mac Neal of Clandeboy wherein the Earl was beaten and lost three hundred Men besides Prisoners In October Lib. CCC Sir William Fitz-Williams Sir John Allen and Valentine Brown were sent over Commissioners to assist the Lord Deputy in managing the Crown-Lands and afterwards in Queen Elizabeths Reign this Brown being a Protestant much employed by the Queen wrote a notable Tract for the Reformation of Ireland which I have seen and is to be found at Lambeth wherin there is nothing blame-worthy saving that he advises the extirpation of the Irish Papists and particularly of the Fitz-Giralds and therefore certainly did not foresee that his own Heir would degenerate into an Irish Papist and ungratefully oppose that English Interest upon which his own Estate is founded It is said That the Spaniards agreed to pay two thousand pound per annum for one and twenty years for leave to Fish on the Irish Coast but it seems there are no such Accounts in the Exchequer And now we are got there we ought to remember the Clerk of the Pipe Walter Hussy who died about this time at the Age of an hundred and seven years Bryan O Connor obtain'd so much Favour with the Queen that he had leave to come for Ireland Ware 211. and nevertheless to retain his Pension in England but he was not long at home before he was arrested upon Suspicion of new Combinations and imprisoned in the Castle of Dublin from whence he was not enlarged before he gave his Son Rotherick Hostage for his good Behaviour The Year 1555 1555. began with the Restoration of St. Patrick's Church in Dublin and Thomas Levereuse was made Dean thereof and held it in Commendam with the Bishoprick of Kildare And on the third of July Sir William Fitz-Williams was made Keeper of the Great Seal until the thirteenth of September Hugh Curvin who was Consecrated Archbishop of Dublin the Week before was made Lord Chancellor In Vlster the Scots Islanders besieged Carrigfergas in vain but Calvagh O Donel with another Party of Scots under Gilaspick Maccaline invaded Tirconel and took his own Father Prisoner at Rosragh and kept him in restraint till his Death he also took and demolished the new Castle of Inisowen and the Castle of Enagh and in the middle of May the next year he sent back his Auxiliary Scots Another Party of the Scots kill'd Hugh Mac Neal of Claneboy in a Skirmish whereupon that Territory was on the fifteenth of September divided by the Lord Deputy and Council between Fylemy Duff O Neal and the Sons of Fylemy Buckagh In May the Cavenaughs and their Complices invaded the North Part of the County of Dublin but the Citizens of Dublin with the Slaughter of many of the Rebels drove one hundred and forty to Powerscourt-Castle 1556. which they pretended to defend but upon the appearance of Sir George Stanly with Supplies they surrendred at Mercy and seventy four of them were hanged at Dublin and the rest were pardoned But the Lord Deputy's Enemies suggested at Court That he had formerly made some Rhymes ridiculing Transubstantiation and thereupon for that or for some other Reason he was soon after recalled and Thomas Ratcliff Lord Fitz-Walter Lord Deputy arrived on Whitsunday and on Tuesday after took the usual Oath at the Altar in Christ-Church on a Mass-book and Saintleger on his Knees surrendred the Sword and the Lord Deputy continued kneeling until Te Deum was sung He brought over with him Sir Henry Sydny Vice-Treasurer and twenty five thousand Pound in Money to provide against the Scots Islanders and the Irish Rebels The Instructions to the Lord Deputy and Council begin at the top Mary the Queen although she was married long before that to King Philip Lib. SSS 53. and the first Article is by their Example and all good means possible to advance the Honour of God and the Catholick Faith to set forth the Honour and Dignity of the Pope's Holiness and See Apostolick of Rome and from time to time to be ready with their Aid and Secular Force at the Request of all Spiritual Ministers and Ordinaries there to punish and repress all Hereticks and Lollards and their damnable Sects Opinions and Errors and to assist the Commissioners of the Legate Cardinal Poole which he designed to send into Ireland to visit the Clergy On the first Day of July the Lord Deputy marched to Vlster against the Scots Ware 216. and on the eighteenth of the same Month he defeated them with the slaughter of two hundred of them Sir Henry Sydny killed James Mac Connel with his own Hand and the Earl of Ormond and Sir John Stanly behaved themselves exceeding well and so the Lord Deputy having left Necessaries at Knockfergus and Stanly the Marshal Governour of Vlster returned to Dublin and not long after made a Journey to Munster where he received many English and Irish to Mercy Hereupon Shane O Neal came to the Lord Deputy to Kilmainham upon a Promise of Protection and made his humble Submission But since that time frequent Experience has convinced the Government That Protections have always
Enemy's Camp and it succeeded according to his Desire for O Neal's Army being over-confident of their Numbers and despising the Weakness of their Adversaries had made no preparation to resist an Assault which they did not suspect and wanting such Scouts Out-guards and Centinels as Martial Discipline required and as was usual in all well-governed Armies they were easily surprized and defeated and Shane O Neal himself was forced to make use of his Heels As to Ecclesiastical Affairs there was a Provincial Synod held at Dublin Anno 1555 which made some Constitutions about the Rites and Ceremonies to be used in the Church and afterwards the Church-Goods and Ornaments were restored and particularly those belonging to the Churches of Dublin and Drogheda and although many Gleabs continued Lay-Fees during all the Reign of Queen Mary yet at the Request of Cardinal Poole her Majesty restored the Possessions of the Priory of Kilmainham and Oswal Messemberg was confirmed Prior by Patent dated the eighth of March 1557. but afterwards he fled beyond Seas and the Possessions of that Priory and of that Order in Ireland were by Act of Parliament annexed to the Crown in Queen Elizabeth's Reign There was also a Provincial Synod held at Drogheda this Year by Archbishop Dowdal and therein Leave was given to Husbandmen to work certain Days in Harvest The Lord Justice having on the twenty fifth Day of April received the Submission of O Reyly and his Fealty or Oath of Allegiance 1558. did on the twenty seventh surrender the Sword to Thomas Earl of Sussex Lord Deputy who brought over with him five hundred Soldiers and an Order to coyne Brass-Money and to make it currant by Proclamation which he did On the fourteenth of June he began his March to Munster against Daniel O Brian he came to Limerick and advanced forwards into Thomond he scattered the Rebels and took the Castles of Bunratty and Clare and then restored the Country to the Earl of Thomond who together with the Freeholders of that Country did on Sunday the tenth day of July swear on the Sacrament Lib. NNN and by all the Relicks of the Church as Book Bell and Candelight they are the very Words of the Herald's Certificate to continue Loyal to the Queen and to perform their Agreements with the Lord Deputy On the twenty first of June the Earl of Desmond made his Submission to the Deputy at Limerick and on the twenty sixth the Lord Deputy was God-father to the Earl's Son whom he named James Sussex and gave the Child a Chain of Gold and gave another Chain and Pair of gilt Spurs to Dermond Mac Carthy of Muskry whom he also knighted The Lord Deputy caused a Soldier to be nailed to a Post for drawing his Sword in the Camp contrary to Proclamation and then marched to Galway where he was well received especially by the Archbishop of Tuam and the Bishops of Clonfert and Clonmacnoise who with the Clergy met him in Procession On the fifteenth day of September the Lord Deputy shipped his Army at Dalky and sailed to Raghline and though he lost one Ship in the Storm yet he pursued his Design and took the Island and placed a Colony and a small Garrison in it and thence he invaded and wasted Cantire in Scotland Nor did the Islands of Aran and Comber escape the like Desolation and he intended as much against the Island of Ila but he was by ill Weather forced to put in at Carigfergus and so having burnt many Villages which were possest by the Scots in Vlster he returned to Dublin on the eighth day of November Sir Henry Sydny was sworn Lord Justice on the eighteenth of September by virtue of a Patent dated at Richmond the fourth of August and now when the Earl of Sussex return'd he was sworn anew on the tenth of November and had a new Patent bearing date the seventeenth day of August 1558. The Lord Deputy had a new Great Seal sent him out of England and also new Seals to the other three Courts which he delivered to the Lord Chancellor Chief Justices and Chief Baron in the Council Chamber and about the same time a Party of the Islander Scots that came into Connaught to the Assistance of one of the Burks was defeated by the Earl of Clanrickard and most of them slain And because the Author quotes the Most Reverend and Learned Primate Vsher and the Memorials of the Most Noble and Industrious Richard Earl of Cork for the following Story I will insert it verbatim as it is already printed in the Life of Archbishop Brown Queen Mary having dealt severely with the Protestants in England about the latter end of her Reign signed a Commission for to take the same Course with them in Ireland and to execute the same with greater Force she nominates Dr. Cole one of the Commissioners Sending the Commission by this Doctor who in his Journey coming to Chester the Mayor of that City hearing that her Majesty was sending a Messenger into Ireland and he being a Church-Man waited on the Doctor who in discourse with the Mayor taketh out of a Cloak-Bag a Leather-Box saying unto him Here is a Commission that shall lash the Hereticks of Ireland calling the Protestants by that Title the good Woman of the House being well affected to the Protestant Religion and also having a Brother named John Edmunds of the same then a Citizen in Dublin was much troubled at the Doctor 's Words but watching her convenient time whilst the Mayor took his Leave and the Doctor complementing him down the Stairs she opens the Box and takes the Commission out placing in lieu thereof a Sheet of Paper with a Pack of Cards the Knave of Clubs faced uppermost wrap up The Doctor coming up to his Chamber suspecting nothing of what had been done put up the Box as formely The next day going to the Water-side Wind and Weather serving him he sails towards Ireland and landed on the seventh of October 1558. at Dublin then coming to the Castle the Lord Fitz-Walters being Lord Deputy sent for him to come before him and the Privy Council who coming in after he had made a Speech relating upon what account he came over he presents the Box unto the Lord Deputy who causing it to be opened that the Secretary might read the Commission there was nothing save a Pack of Cards with the Knave of Clubs uppermost which not only startled the Lord Deputy and Council but the Doctor who assured them He had a Commission but knew not how it was gone Then the Lord Deputy made answer Let us have another Commission and we will shuffle the Cards in the mean while The Doctor being troubled in Mind went his way and returned into England and coming to the Court obtained another Commission but staying for a Wind at the Water-side News came unto him That the Queen was dead And thus God preserved the Protestants in Ireland This Queen died on the seventeenth day of
his Excommunication against Queen Elizabeth and as Mr. Sullevan says pag. 70. deservedly deprived her of her Kingdoms we must not expect any more quiet during her Reign but that the bigotted Rebels like Virginal Jacks will start up one after another to disturb the Government of the Heretick Queen and to rescue themselves from the English Laws and the Protestant Religion which are the two things they chiefly hated and abhorred In Munster they met with their Match Sir John Perrot the President was one that knew them well he had experienced that they were like nettles which stung most when they were gently handled and therefore he squeezed them to purpose and so haunted them from one fastness to another 1571. that he gave them no rest so that in a little time he brought James Fitz Maurice himself who was the most valiant and most zealous of all the Confederates to submit simply to Mercy without any Conditions and on his Knees at Kilmallock to confess and lament all his Disloyalties and the Lord President by keeping Itinerant Courts of Justice and using necessary Severity soon brought Munster to that pass that the white Sheep kept the black and the Traveller might safely keep his Road without Arms or Company he also forced the Irish to conform to English Habit and to leave off several of their barbarous Customs and Fashions and he also brought the Irish Lords to contribute to the charge of the War So that on the twenty sixth day of September 1571. Lib. L. The following Lords and Gentlemen Covenanted with him to supply their respective Quota's for six Months viz.  Hor. Shot Gallowgl Kern Mac Cartymore 6 24 126 100 The Lord Barry 6 10 030 020 Mac Carty riah 8 10 040 050 Sr. Donough Mac Teige of Muscry 6 10 020 040 The Lord Courcy 2 04 006 008 Mac Donough 4 08 020 030 And the Earl of Glencar was to command them and in his Absence the Lord Barry they were to divide what Preys they should get proportionably with respect to their Contribution and if there should be need of it they were obliged to encrease their Forces It happened once Hooker 134. that Captain George Bourchier third Son to the Earl of Bath who served under Sir John Perrot in Munster was invited to a Gentlemans Castle to Supper under pretence of Parly and to use Bourchier's Mediation for his Pardon The Captain not at all suspecting any Treachery went thither according to the Invitation but the Perfidious Host thinking that the President would give him better Conditions for Bourchier's Liberty than he would for his Intercession detained him Prisoner and hand-locked him for some time and probably until he obtained his Pardon and what else he desired The Lord-Deputy received Letters of the thirteenth of December giving him leave to return to England and ordering him to substitute in his Place his Brother-in-Law Sir William Fitz Williams and accordingly he did set Sail on the 24th day of March and left Sir William Fitz Williams Lord Justice who was Sworn in April 1572. in St. Patricks Church in Dublin and in January following had a new Commission to be Lord Deputy In his time Brian Mac Cahir Cavenagh was very unruly and under pretence of revenging some Injuries done him by Robert Brown of Malrenkam Hooker 135. he killed Brown and insulted over all his Neighbours but Sir Nicholas Devereux and the People of Wexford not enduring his Insolence resolved upon their own Defence and at length it came to a smart Skirmish wherein thirty Gentlemen of Devereux's side were slain but about two Years after Brian submitted to the Government and was Pardoned and became a follower to Sir Peter Carew and was not only Faithful to him but also loved him to that degree that on Sir Peter's Death Brian pined away and in a little time died also he was the honestest and bravest of all the Cavenaghs and was a younger Son of Cahir Mac Art who was made a Baron for Life by King Henry the Eighth Conaught was disordered by the troublesome Sons of the Earl of Clanrickard Hooker 135. who could by no means endure the severe Government of Sir Edward Fitton President of Conaught and therefore broke out into Rebellion and hired one Thousand Scots to their Assistance The Earl himself was then Prisoner in Dublin and desired Liberty to suppress his Sons and quiet the Country and by advice of the Council it was granted him but he did not perform what he had promised however the same thing was in a great measure effected by a stupendious Victory obtained by Captain Collier who with one Company of Foot defeated and killed most part of the thousand Auxiliary Scots Camb. Eâ—iz 502. The Earl of Kildare for a certain sum to be paid by the Queen had undertaken to prosecute the O Mores and to defend the Pale against them but he did not so effectually perform it but that the O Mores Cambd. Eliz. 201. assisted by the O Connors made several Incursions into the Pale and burnt Athloan and did abundance of Mischief and in Vlster Bryan Mac Fylemy took and burnt Carrigfergus and to these Misfortunes was added a greater than either of them by the Death of the Lord Chancellor Weston on the twentieth day of May 1573. 1573. On the ninth of July the Queen granted unto Walter Devereux who not long before was made Earl of Essex the Moyety of the Signiories of Clandeboy Ferny c. And the Earl was by Indenture obliged to go thither before Michaelmas with two hundred Horse and four hundred Foot and to maintain them for two years and afterwards he was to keep as many Soldiers as the Queen should keep for the Defence of her Moyety not exceeding six hundred and no more and it was agreed that for the first two years the Queen would likewise keep two hundred Horse and four hundred Foot under the Command of the Earl and that every Horse-man Voluntier that will serve gratis for two years shall have four hundred Acres of Land and a Foot-Soldier two hundred Acres at two pence an Acre Quit-Rent and if any of them die within two year the Heir may supply his room in six Months It was farther agreed between them That necessary Fortifications should be made at the equal Charge of the Queen and the Earl and afterwards division should be made by Commissioners and 〈◊〉 division each might for twenty years build on her or his respective share as they pleased And the Earl was to have Timber out of Killulta Woods and might for seven years transport the growth of the Country without paying Custom and for twelve years more should pay no more Custom than is paid in England and he had liberty to transport Arms Money and all Necessaries out of England Custom-free giving notice thereof to the Officers of the Ports Each might dispose of five thousand Acres as they please but more than that quantity
had a skirmish with Tyrone wherein both the Norrises were wounded and though Tyrone was forced to retreat yet the success of this encounter is not much to be boasted of for if the Rebels lost most Men the English lost most Horses But Connaught being also enflamed some Forces were sent thither to the valiant Governour Sir Richard Bingham and that the Deputy might be nearer to assist either in Connaught or Vlster as the Exigency of their respective Affairs should require he removed to Kelles where he staid some time but Norris having reliev'd and recruited Monaghan the Army was dispersed into Winter Quarters and both the Deputy and the General returned to Dublin the 11th of October How averse soever the Queen was in her own mind from pardoning Tyrone because she was taught by long experience of him that he was not to be retain'd in obedience any longer than the necessity of his Affairs oblig'd him to it yet upon the importunity and advice of Ormond Norris and others she did give a Commission to treat with him and several ineffectual Parleys were had thereupon but at length Camb. Eliz. 510. on the 27th of October they made a Truce to the first of January in expectation of his Pardon and he made a conditional Submission In the mean time Pheagh Mac Hugh came in and submitted to the Deputy upon his Knees and was pardon'd and the next day Captain Richard Wingfield was Knighted in christ-Christ-Church 9. November 1595. and was the worthy Ancestour of the Viscounts of Powerscourt On the 10th of November the Deputy set out toward Galway to receive the Submission of the Burks and hear the Complaints against Sir Richard Bingham but O Donell full of expectations of aid from Spain dissuaded the Burks from coming but they sent their Complaints in writing as did many others and the Deputy returned to Dublin the 15th of December But let us return to the most hypocritical Traitour that ever was in the World the famous Tyrone who in his last submission had offered to renounce the name of O Neale and to be a good Subject for the future if he might have a Pardon for what was past but being now puft up with hopes of Spanish assistance he did not only neglect sueing out his Pardon but also suffered his Son Con and O Donell and Mac Mahon to break the Truce he and they had so lately made by surprizing the Castle of Monaghan however on the eighth of January a new Commission issued to Sir Robert Gardiner and Sir Henry Wallop to conclude a peace with them This Treaty was very solemn and all the Irish Potentates made their Complaints and Petitions Camb. Eliz. 511. which are recited at large by Fienes Morison pag. 113. The Commissioners were very desirous to establish a Peace if possible and therefore offered to relieve them in their real Grievances and to redress their just Complaints but the Irish interpreting this condescention to be the effect of Weakness and the ill condition of the English Affairs insisted upon very unreasonable Terms viz. 1. A general Liberty of Conscience although none of them had ever been prosecuted or disturbed about Religion before that time 2. A general Pardon for all 3. That no Garison Lib. M. Lam. Sheriff or Officer should remain in any of their Countries Newry and Carigfergus excepted Nay they were so stiff that they refused to come to Dundalk on the Oaths and Protection of the Commissioners so that five of a side were necessitated to meet in the open Field their respective Troups being half a mile distant and two of the adverse Party between the Commissioners and the several Troups to prevent Treachery so that all this trouble and charge produced nothing but a Truce to the first of April 1596. But Tyrone would not drop his design so his aim was to spin out the time in fruitless Treaties whereby the Queen's Army and Treasure would be wasted in Garison to no purpose and his own Forces be better disciplin'd and encourag'd and as he hoped supplied and increased by the Accession of the Spaniards he therefore wheedled the General to that degree that Norris procured a new Commission to himself and Fenton Secretary of State to make a final end with all the Rebels which bears date the Ninth day of March 1595. In the mean time Surlyboy came to Dublin and submitted to the Deputy on the 11th of February and on the 22d the Lord Deputy and Council gave him a Velvet Mantle laid with Gold lace and the controversy between the Earl of Ormond and Sir Charles Carâ—ll was then debated at the Council Board Connaugh was now in an ill condition and the Abbey of Boyle besieged by the Irish and Scots who were so numerous that 400 of them passed the Shenin and prey'd and spoil'd Mac Coghlan's Country so that the Deputy was oblig'd on the sixth of March to draw part of the Army that way on the tenth his Lordship sent 100 Shot and some Kerne to attack a party of Scots that were burning the Country in view of the Army and they had the good luck to kill sevenscore of the Rebels and the next day the Deputy summoned O Madden's Castle of Losmage and received for answer That if all the Army were Deputies they would not surrender however the next day he took the Castle with the slaughter of six and forty Rebels and returned to Dublin the 24th On the 18th of April 1596. The Lord Deputy and Council made very good and necessary Orders for the Army viz. 1. That on their march they shall not stay above one night in a place and then without exaction give money or ticket for their diet 2. That there shall be but six Women and they Soldiers Wives permitted to be Landresses to a Company and but one Boy to two Soldiers and that neither Women or Boys be any charge to the Country 3. No false Musters or any charge on the Country for more men than really are 4. That they shall be content with such Food as is reasonable and with a Breakfast and Supper without exacting Capury encreason or Capury ne hairk And 6. They shall not take up the Country Garons without order or payment nor depart from their Garison without leave And lastly Shall have their Quarters assigned by the Civil Magistrate but General Norris was not pleased with the strictness of these orders and therefore refus'd to sign them On the 19th of April Norris and Fenton began their Journey towards Tyrone and at Dundalk concluded a Peace with him on the 24th on these Conditions Morison 37. That he should desist from aiding the Rebels or intermedling with the nighbouring Lords and make his Country a Shire and admit of a Sheriff and upon his Pardon confess his foreign Intelligences and rebuild the Fort and Bridg of Black-water and relieve the Garison for ready Money at all times and dismiss his Forces and give in sufficient
the Eighteenth of May there was an Order of Reference to him in the Controversie between the City of Dublin and the Merchants-Strangers from whom that City demanded Three pence per Pound Custom And on the Eighteenth of July he got an Order to the Lord Willâ—ot 〈…〉 General of the Army in Ireland to surrender that Office to him He had also the King's Letter of the Sixteenth of October to the Lords Justices That the Port-â—orn and Tithes belonging to the Chief Governor should be given to his Servants And he also obtain'd his Majesty's Commission of the Seventeenth of October to levy what Forces he should think fit or find necessary and an Order of the same Date to be paid the Charge of such Journeys and Progresses as he should think fit to make And Matters being thus fitted to his mind THOMAS Viscount WENTWORTH was on the Twenty fifth day of July sworn Lord Deputy 1633. to whom the Bishop of Kilmore and two other Bishops and the Inhabitants of the County of Cavan sent a Petition Bishop Bedel's Life containing some Complaints against the Army and some Proposals for the Regulation of it which was very ill resented at that time and interpreted to be a Mutinous and Insolent Attempt and brought the Bishop of Kilmore who was supposed the Author and Promoter of it under his Excellency's Displeasure until that Prelate afterwards explain'd himself averring That he did not intend by lessening or discountenancing the Army to expose with the Publick Peace his own Neck to the Skeins of the Romish Cut-throats But the Contribution or Tax of 20000 l. per Annum to which the Country had consented for two Years was now almost expired so that it was necessary to call a Parliament wich met the Fourteenth day of July 1634. 1634. at Dublin and granted Six entire Subsidies but not without the opposition of some Papists one of which moved That the Matter concerning the Subsidies might be put off to another time and then be again considered of This Parliament also passed an Act for the Confirmation of Patents afterwards to be past on the * Dated 29 June 1634. Commission of Defective Titles and then was Prorogued to the Fourth day of November following At the same time there was also a Convocation of the Clergy and preparatory to it the Precedency of the Archbishop of Armagh before the Archbishop of Dublin was determin'd and setled by his Majesty's definitive Sentence And this Convocation to manifest their Agreement with the Church of England did receive the Thirty Nine â—â—â—â—cles of that Church into the Confession of Faith of the Church 〈◊〉 Ireland nevertheless without aâ—rogating any of the Canons of the Convocation held Anno 1615. And a New Book of Canons for the most part agreeing with that of England was then compiled for the better Government of the Church of Ireland By vertue of these Six Subsidies which amounted to above 240000 l. and were payable Half-yearly the Lord Deputy was enabled to pay a Debt of 80000 l. due from the Crown and to support the Charge of the Kingdom without any Supply of Money from England This Lord Deputy had formerly obtain'd his Majesty's Order of the Sixteenth of January 1633. for the free transportation of so many Horses and Mares out of England as he the Lord Deputy should give Licence for by which means he changed Five hundred Foot of the Army for Six hundred Horse which were extraordinary good ones his own Stables exceeding that of any former Governors And indeed generally the whole Army was neither so well paid nor so well disciplin'd in any other time as it was in his On the Twenty fourth of September 1634. the King reciting That King James had by his Commission of the Tenth of August 1603. renewed or revived the Court of Castle-chamber as himself likewise had done by his Commission of 5 October 1625. and that now some Disputes are arisen whether that Court can sit out of Term or more than twice a Week His Majesty Orders That it it may sit when and as often as the Commissioners please and that a new Commission issue to that Purpose And about this time Emerus Mac Mahon afterwards Titular Bishop of Clogher discovered to Sir George Ratcliff a Plot for a general Insurrection in Ireland and Confess'd that himself had been imploy'd for some years in foreign Courts to solicite Aid to carry on a Rebellion which it seems they thought fit to adjourn to a more proper Season But on the 14th of November the Parliament met according to the Prorogation and sate till the 14th of December and were then Prorogu'd to the 26th of January from which time they sate till the 21st day of March and then it was again Prorogu'd to the 24th day of the same Month and sate from thence to its Dissolution which was on the 18th day of April 1635. I need not mention the Acts made in these several Sessions of Parliament because they are many and are to be found at large in the Printed Book of Statutes it is enough to say That they cull'd out all the choice Statutes that were made in England since the 20th of Henry the 8th that were proper for the Kingdom of Ireland and added to them some good new Laws that were peculiar to that Countrey The Parliament being thus ended and closed with an Act of Indemnity the Lord Deputy and Council made a Progress into Conaught to inquire into his Majesties Title to several Lands in that Province and on the 11th of July at Abby-boyle to still the Jealousies and Alarms the People were under at this great Inquisition they published an Act of Council 1635. That it was not his Majesties intention to take any thing from his People that was justly theirs and therefore that those who had effectual Letters Patents should have the full benefit of them as if they were found Verbatim in the great Office then to be taken provided the Patents or the Enrolment thereof were shewn to the Council-board before Easter Term next and by it approved to be good and effectual in Law and the like was done in other Counties of Conaught and so this great Inquisition which was one of the Spring-heads and Fountains of the succeeding Rebellion was with great Diligence and Success carried on and effected and the Kings Title was found to most part of that Province and a noble English Plantation was design'd Whereupon the Patentees and particularly the Lord Dillon of Costilo produced their Patents to the Council-board and it appearing those Patents were Granted by Virtue of a Commission 4 Jac. 1. wherein there was no direction about the Tenure it grew to be a Question whether the Patents to hold by Knights Service as of the Castle of Dublin were warranted by that Commission or valid in Law and after much debate it was solemnly adjudg'd That those Patents were void And this Case is well known to the Lawyers by the
conceived they were greatly distressed and wished That he could use Means whereby they might be eased Hence he discoursed with Trueman who was but a silly Fellow and got from him Words whereby he discovered a Good-will to the Scotch Nation and some Discourse about the Castle of Carigfergus insomuch that he got Trueman's Letter to recommend him into Scotland whither he pretended a Desire to go to serve under their Command Upon this Giles produced the Letter in Evidence against him and so he was condemned and executed And this I take to be the Substance of what was offered for or against the Earl of Strafford On the Eleventh of May the Irish Parliament sat again 1641. and the Colonels John Barry Taaf Garret Barry and Porter having Orders from England to transport Four thousand of the Irish Forces to Spain some of the Popish Members of the Lower House did urge divers Arguments to hinder that Design As First That the Irish might gain Experience abroad and return to be evil Instruments at home Secondly That Ireland wanted Men for Husbandry Thirdly That Spain was an Hereditary Enemy to England and therefore might infect these Men with dangerous Principles concluding That they did not know how soon those very Regiments acquainted with every Creek in the Kingdom might be returned on their own Bowels having naturally a Love to their Religion which such an Incendiary as Spain might inflame with the highest prejudice So shamelesly did they cloak their Designs ' of stopping these Soldiers to assist in the following Rebellion under these Cobweb pretences of the Publick Good However their Project succeeded to their mind and notwithstanding the Contract with the Spanish Ambassador for their Transportation the Soldiers were from time to time delay'd and Garret Barry and his whole Regiment and most of the rest did afterwards joyn in the Irish Rebellion This Session of Parliament was spent by the Papists who were the most numerous Party in the House in fruitless Declarations and Protestations private Petitions and Votes upon needless Queries These last together with the Judges Answers to them are to be found at large Burlace Append. 1. 2. I shall only recite one of them viz. Quere 15. Whether the issuing of Quo Warranto's against Burroughs that anciently and recently sent Burgesses to Parliament to shew Cause why they did so be Legal And if not What Punishment ought to be inflicted upon the Occasioners Procurers and Judges of and in such Quo Warranto's To which the Answer is That the Proceedings in such Quo Warranto's are coram non Judice illegal and void and the Right of sending Burgesses to Parliament is questionable in Parliament only and the Occasioners Procurerâ— and Judges in such Quo Warranto's and Proceedings are punishable as in Parliament shall be thought consonant to Law and Justice Moreover some Members of this Parliament who had the following Rebellion in their Design did in order to inform themselves of the Quantity of the Stores Ammunition and Provisions and the Place where they were deposited suggest That there was a Plot by some of the Lord Stafford's discontented Servants to destroy the Parliament and therefore procured a Committee of both Houses to be appointed to search the Rooms under the Place where they sat which they did but sound no Powder there Then they desired to see where the Stores were but the Lord Justice Burlace who was Master of the Ordnance denied them that Request which they took very ill The Popish Party did also oppose the Disbanding of the new Army raised by the Earl of Strafford however it was at length effected on the Tenth day of * Rather July quaere August and the Arms and Ammunition were carefully brought into His Majesty's Stores In the mean time it being convenient to give the Members a short Recess to attend their Harvest and their other Occasions and there being no sudden expectation of the Irish Committee's Return from England the Parliament by their own Consent was on the Seventh of August adjourn'd to the Ninth of November which for want of greater cause of Complaint was afterwards reckon'd amongst their Grievances But contrary to all Mens expectation the Irish Committee of Parliament in the latter end of August return'd loaden with Graces and Favours for that Kingdom particularly in reference to the Customs especially of Wooll and Tobacco whereof the Lords Justices sent immediate notice to the several Ports of the Kingdom and in this short Interval of Parliament busied themselves in framing such Bills to pass the next Session as the Committee had obtain'd His Majesty's Consent unto And in this quiet and serene Condition was the Kingdom of Ireland not suspecting the least Disturbance from the Papists who were not under any Persecution upon the account of Religion their Clergy exercising their Functions as safely and almost as publickly as the Protestants They were obliged to the King by the easiest of Governments and the Graces and Concessions he had lately vouchsafed unto them and they were fastned to the English by all the Ties of Interest Friendship Marriage and which is more in their esteem Gossipping and Fostering And they were engaged to propagate the Publick Peace by their own happy free and flourishing Condition for now the Papists without taking the Oath of Supremacy freely enjoyed the Offices of Sheriffs of Counties Magistrates of Corporations c. But all this was over-ballanced by their Bigotry and National Malice which opened one of the bloodiest Scenes that ever was seen in the World For on Saturday the Twenty third of October 1641. being a Day dedicated to St. Ignatius Temple 16. a fit Patron for such a Villany broke out a most desperate and formidable Rebellion an universal Defection and general Revolt wherein not only all the mere Irish but almost all the Old English that adher'd to the Church of Rome were openly or secretly involved The Conspirators pitched upon the Day because it was Market-day at Dublin and therefore a Concourse of People would the less be perceived or suspected and they chose the time of Year because Harvest was in and the Half-years Rent generally in the Tenants Hands and because the Season of the Year would hinder Relief from England until the next Spring before which time they hoped to have effected all their Designs It was a premeditated Rebellion Lord Justices and Councils Letter foretold by Sir Henry Bedingfeild a Roman Catholick of Norfolk in April before and suspected by the King as appears by Sir Henry Vane's Letter ante pag. 64. And it was in contrivance partly at home and partly abroad before the Troubles either of England or Scotland began Memoirs 22. It was communicated to the English Papists by the Popish part of the Irish Committee then in England Husbands 2. part 247. And it was finally concluded and resolved on at the Abby of Multifernam and the * Dr. Jones's Examination Appendix 9. Scheme of the Government
Prisoners but he had not so good luck in his next attempt for a Party of his going to plunder the great Island were by Major Power who had not at first above 30 Horse but afterwards was reinforced by two Companies of Foot so handled that they left five hundred of their Companions dead upon the place however he afterwards took Castle-Lions Cony-Castle and Lismore which last place was bravely defended by the same Major Power and 100 of the Earl of Cork's Tenants to the Slaughter of 500 of the Besiegers until their Powder being spent they surrendred upon honourable Conditions After this Castleâ—aven went to besiege Youghall a weak and untenable place and lay before it many weeks and having received several considerable Baffles by the handful of Men that were within the Town he was at last forced to raise the Siege and close the Campagne with that misfortune And thus Matters stood in Munster till the latter end of the year at which time Inâ—iquin sent 500 Foot and 100 Troopers to seize upon the Castle of Bunratty which they performed and there found Horses enough to mount their Cavalry And as for Conaught it was under a Triumvirate of Presidents the Lord Dillon of Câ—stilo was the King's President and Sir Charles Coot was the Parliaments and the Titular Archbishop of Tuam was commissioned by the Confederates But Coot was too hard for both his Rivals and being united with the Lagan Forces under Sir Robert 〈◊〉 Colonel Awdly Mervin c. they made up in all 〈◊〉 Regiments with which they marched through Conaught and burnt the Country to within 6 miles of Galloway without meeting an Enemy in the Field they also took Sligo with the loss of Twenty of their own Men and the Slaughter of One hundred and twenty of the Rebels and Colonel Mervin being chosen by a Council of War to be Governour of Sligo as he well deserved was nevertheless by means of the Scots put by that Command which was given to Sir Robert Stewart whereupon Colonel Mervin came away discontented and notified to the Lord Lieutenant his Design of adhering to the King Hereupon the Confederates gave the Lord Taaf the Command of an Army to relieve Conaught and he issued forth a terrible Declaration That whoever did not submit to his Majesties Commission conferred on him within two days after Notice should be treated as an Enemy and on the 4th of August he summoned Castlecoot which returned this Answer That they neither broke the Cessation noâ— used Hostility at any time but when the Irish began That their misbehaviour forced them to correspond with the Scots whom they did not know or believe to be declared Enemies of the King That they would always submit to the Kings Pleasure but may not in any sort confide in such breach of Faith at they always find from the Irish Nation to their Party and instanced the burning of their Hay even then in the time of the Treaty and they desire a Copy of his Commission which his Lordship pretended was from the Lord Lieutenant And so his Lordship finding no good to be done upon Castlecoot at that time marched to Tulak which he took by Assault the 17th of August and having besieged Abby Boyle in vain after the Garison for their better defence were forced to burn the Town he agreed that upon an Oath of Fidelity and to observe the Cessation they should be no farther molested and the like Agreements were made with the Castles of Cambo and Lissidarne and it seems that afterwards the Irish Army returned to the Siege of Castlecoot and forced it to surrender about the 10th day of September In the mean time 1645. on the 16th of August the Bishop of Elphin and his Son Captain Tilson by Letter submitted to the Lord Dillon President of Conaught and on the 19th the Lord President at the Head of the Army came thither accompanied with the Lord Taaf and told the Bishop that Captain Tilson and his Foot Company must quit the Castle of Elphin within two hours and tho' they offered to take any Oath of Fidelity to His Majesties Service and the Bishop offered to stand obliged for the performance of what they should Promise or Swear yet all would not do but the Lord President and Lord Taaf having at length condescended to Sign some Articles for their Security they marcht out of the Castle into the Village and the Lord President and his Guard lodged in the Castle that Night and afterwards left it under the Command of Captain John Brown who admitted Boetius Egan the Titular Bishop of Elphin into the Castle on the 7th of September being accompanied with Sir Lucas Dillon and they made a Guard for the Bishop on the Knee from the Gate to the Church where the Bishop Rung one Bell and one of the Six Fryars accompanying him Rung another I suppose by way of Livery and Seizin they also burnt Incense and sprinkled Holy water and the next day being the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin they said several Masses in the Cathedral Church and the Bishop preached there and he was so vain and confident in his present Possession that he sent word to the Protestant Inhabitants That if they would continue his Tenants he would use them no worse than the former Bishop had done But that which the poor Bishop Tilson complained of in his Letter the 29th of December to the Lord Taaf is That none of the Conditions made with him and his Son were observed but that the Titular Bishop kept his Books and some of his Goods and turned out his Servant so that he was damnified to the value of Four hundred Pounds and it appears by another Letter of the Bishops that when the Titular Bishop was urged with the aforesaid Agreements and Articles He reply'd That that was past and out of date Upon complaint of these Matters to the Lord Lieutenant and that the Irish refused to permit the Clergy of the Diocess of Elphin to Levy any of their Dues alledging that the Bishop was outed by His Majesties Commission his Excellency did send positive Orders to restore the Bishop to the Castle of Elphin but in vain for the Lord President writes back That he had used his utmost indeavours with the Lord Taaf but could not prevail because of some Dangers he pretended from Sir Charles Coot and the Scots In the mean time the Titular Archbishop of Tuam was not idle but with Two thousand Foot and Three hundred Horse he surrounded and endeavoured to retake the Town of Sligo but there being about Two hundred Horse got into the Town under Captain Richard Coot and Captain Cole they Sallied out on the 17th of October and being well Seconded by Colonel Sanderson and a good Party of Foot they got a considerable Victory and by the help of Sir Francis Hamiltons Troop which came in the nick of time they did great Execution the Archbishop himself was slain and all the Baggage was taken