in the Confession was Ecclesiastical Whereupon the Attorny General Learnedly descanted upon the words Ecclesiastical and Spiritual and exposed the Knavery and Silliness of the Prisoners Equivocation and then Mr. Justice Sarsfeild pronounced the Sentence of the Law against him which nevertheless was never Executed upon him that I can find However to attone for this seeming Severity and to quiet and oblige the Irish the King issued out a Commission of Great under the Great Seal of England to confirm the Possessors of Estates in Ireland against all Claims of the Crown by Granting new Patents to them But the Irish are a People that seldom beaâ— good Fortune with any Moderation or Temper and the King and Council of England were mightily deceived when they thought that Lenity and Commissions of Grace would oblige them to Loyalty and Obedience on the contrary it always makes them think the Government weak and never fails to put them upon Action So true is that of the Poet Unguentem pungit pungentem Hibernicus Ungit And just so it happened after this Commission of Grace for on the 7th of May a Letter directed to Sir William Usher Clerk of the Council was dropt in the Council Chamber Temple 2. which discovered a Conspiracy of the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel Macguire O Cahan the Lord of Delvin and almost all the Irish of Ulster to surprize the Castle of Dublin and Murder the Lord Deputy and Council and to set up for themselves Lib. C. They had sent a Baron to the Arch-Dukes to sollicite Assistance and probably had employed some Body else to Spain but as soon as they had Notice that their Plot was discovered the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel and the Lord Macguire fled beyond Seas to get Spanish Aid 1607. and the rest did shift for themselves as well as they could but some were taken and executed And not long after Justice Sibthorp and Baron Eliot attended by some of the Kings Council were sent into the Counties of Donegall and Tyrone with a Commission of Oyer and Terminer and so Indictments were found against these Conspirators and all those that fled were Out-law'd thereupon But because those Earls did alledge Lib. M. that they were persecuted for Religion and had been injuriously dealt with the King on the 15th of November 1607. published a Declaration wherein he affirms That they had not their Creations or Possessions by any Lineal or any lawful Descent from Ancestors of Blood or Virtue but were for Reasons of State preferred before others of better Quality and Birth in their Countrey and Protests they had not the least shadow of Molestation nor was there any purpose of proceeding against them in Matters of Religion their Condition being to think Murder no fault Marriage of no use nor any Man valiant that does not Glory in Rapine and Oppression and therefore 't were unreasonable to trouble them for Religion before it could be perceived by their Conversation they had any and that in all Matters of Controversie they were favoured except in such Cases where they design'd to Tyrannize over their fellow Subjects that they did stir up Sedition and intestine Rebellion in the Kingdom and sent their Instruments Priests and others to make Offers to Foreign States for their Assistance And that under the Condition of being made free from English Government they resolved also to comprehend the EXTIRPATION of all those Subjects now remaining alive within that Kingdom formerly descended of English Race In December 1607. The Lord Deputy and Council sent Sir Anthony Saintleger Master of the Rolls to the Lords of the Council in England to inform them that the Omores would by next May be transplanted from Leix into Munster and that it was fit the O Connors should be so too that the Lord Delvin must be severely persecuted because frequent Pardons do encourage Irish Rebellions that his Castle of Cloghouâ—er is taken and so is his Son and himself left as desolate as a Wood Keâ—n and to desire to be instructed what to do with those that refuse the Oath of Supremacy and to inform that they have stopt the Quo Warranto's because the Corporations will submit to the Customs if their Arrears be forgiven that there is a great Propensity in the Irish at this time to Rebel and that it were fit to send over Twenty thouthousand Pounds to lye dead for such an Accident and that the King would be pleas'd to decide the great Controversie between the Earl of Kildare and Sir Robert Digby which is now ready for Sentence in the Castle-Chamber and also to represent the State of that poor Kingdom c. But notwithstanding all the Care that was taken to keep the Kingdom quiet 1608. the Hopes and Expectations of Aid from Spain easily put the Rebellious Spirits in a ferment insomuch that Sir Cahir O Doharty Proprietor of Inisowen a Gentleman of great hopes but of few years not exceeding One and twenty was by Assurances from the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel of speedy and effectual Aid perswaded to begin the War his main Design was upon Derry which he surprized and burnt Sullevan 210. he also Murdered the Governor Sir George Pawlet and all the Protestants except the Bishops Wife that was ransomed he also surprized Culmore and the Magazine there Spretis centum argenti libris quibus pseudo Episcopus eos redinere Cupiebat and burnt Two thousand Heretical Books as he call'd them refusing to let them be redeem'd for an hundred pound And this Rebellion became the more formidable because it was fomented and encouraged by the Priests who affirm'd That all were Martyrs that died in the Service But for the better understanding of this matter it is necessary to inform the Reader that Queen Elizabeth finding it convenient to plant a Garison at Loghfoyle made several Attempts to that purpose but they all miscarried until Sir Henry Dockwra Landed at Kilmore or Culmore and erected a small Castle there and a Month after he took Derry without Resistance and built two Forts and a good House there but afterwards viz. Anno 1617. that place was built by the Londoners and became a fair and strong City well known by the Name of London-Derry This Sir Henry Dockwra also built the Castles of Dunalong and Lifford and afterwards assigned the Government of Derry to Sir George Pawlett a Hampshire Gentleman and the Command of Culmore to Captain Hart a Man of great Courage After Sir John O Dogharty's Death his Son Cahir shewing great Inclinations to the English and being a Youth of great hopes was not only Graced with Knighthood and made a Justice of Peace and a Commissioner in most of the Commissions that came to that Countrey but was also treated with all due Respect upon all occasions and he on the otherside contracted an intimate Friendship with the Chief of the English and particularly with Captain Hart Governour of Culmore to whose Son he was
recorded of the Battel of Glandelory or Glinbury as to the Captains Numbers or other Circumstances save that the English suffered a great Defeat there and that William Fitz Roger Prior of the Kings Hospitallers and many others were taken Prisoners Hanmer 203. and a great number slain which ill Success was somewhat ballanced by a sore Battel which Ralph Peppard and O Hanlon gave to the great O Neal. Thomas de Clare and O Bryan Roe King of Thomond were likewise at odds 1277. and the Briton had tho' the better of it at first so that he took O Bryan and beheaded him yet afterward the Irish drove Thomas and his Father-in-Law into the Mountains of Slevebloom M. S. Fragment 2. and kept them there till for want of better Victuals they fed upon Horse-flesh and thereupon they yielded themselves Prisoners and to obtain their Liberty were forced to give Hostages that they would make satisfaction for O Bryan's Death and surrender the Castle of Roscomon And as if some malignant Star had influenced all the Inhabitants of Ireland to contention the Irish also quarrelled with one another and Mac Diarmund of Mylurg encounter'd the King of Connaught and slew him and two thousand of his Men. Wherefore the Lord Justice was sent for over to give account of this Bustle and why he permitted it as also to answer why he did not in person assist Thomas de Clare against the O Bryans To the first he answered that it was no damage to the King that one Rebel destroy'd another and to the second he gave such an Answer as was satisfactory Stephen de Fulborne 1279. Bishop of Waterford was left Lord Justice till his Return In his time were coyned in England several round Pieces of Money viz. the Penny the Half-penny and the Farthing which by Proclamation were made current in England and Ireland and yet the old Money was not cried down About this time the Irish Petitioned the King that they might have the Benefit of the Laws of England extended to them which produced the following Writ REX Archiepisc Prin 257. Abbatib Comitib Baronib Militib omnibus Anglicis de terra Hiberniae Salutem Ex parte Hibernicorum de terra praedicta nobis extitit humiliter supplicatum quod sibi de gratia nostra concedere dignaremur ut eisdem Legibus Consuetudinibus communibus uti gaudere possint in terra quibus Anglici ibidem utuntur gaudent secundum easdem Leges Consuetudines deduci valeant in futurum Nos autem quia hujusmodi concessionem absque Conscientia vestra eis ad praesens non duximus faciendam Vobis mandamus quod ad certos dies quos ad hoc provideritis viz. citra Festum Nativitatis Beatae Mariae Virginis in aliquibus locis oportunis conveniatis inde diligentem tractatum inter vos habeatis Vtrum sine prejudicio vestri Libertatum Consuetudinum vestrarum etiam sine damno vestro dictam concessionem facere possumus eisdem necne de omnibus aliis circumstantiis hujusmodi concessionem contingentibus de hoc quod inde feceritis nobis citra proximum Parliamentum nostrum quod erit apud Westminster à die Sancti Michaelis in unum Mensem sub Sigillo Justic nostri Hiberniae vel ejus locum tenentis Sigillo dilecti fidelis nostri Roberti Baggot distincte aperte una cum concilio vestro constare faciatis hoc propter absentiam quorundam de paribus vestris quos ibidem interesse non contigerit vel illorum qui sunt infra atatem in custodia nullatenus omittatis ut nos ex tunc habita super hoc deliberatione pleniori inde provideri faciamus quod nobis concilio nostro magis videbitur expedire c. It is certain the Answer to this Writ was in the Negative and I suppose the Reason was That since the Irish generally were not amensnable to the Law but still used and would use their own Brehon-Law and Tanistry it was not fit they should have a general Benefit of the Laws of England but rather that every Person Family or Sept who would give some Assurance or at least Promise of Allegiance and Submission to the English Laws should by Special Writ be admitted to the Benefit of them and therefore we find a Multitude of such Writs and Licences from this time forward and many of them are in this Form viz. Quod ipse liberi sui de corpore suo legitime procreati hanc habeant libertatem And sometimes it is to Them and Their Heirs and sometimes to Them and Their Heirs of such a Sirname But the most memorable Writ of this Sort is that which follows REx omnibus ad quos Prin 258. 6. Rich. 2. c. Salutem sciatis quod de assensu concilii nostri concessimus pro nobis haeredibus nostr ad supplicationem Cornelii de Clone de Hibernia dicto of Fynatha militis Hibernici pro suo bono gestu erga nos pro bono servitio quod nobis impendit tempore praeterito tam praedicto Cornelio qui est de Natione Hibernica quam omnibus aliis de praedicta Natione qui sunt erunt ad obedientiam nostram de sanguine ipsius Cornelii existunt gerunt illud cognomen de Fynatha quod ipsi tempore quo ipsi sic obedientes nobis vel haeredibus nostris existunt uti gaudere possint omnimodis haereditatibus beneficiis libertatibus in Terra nostra Hiberniae predicta prout ligei nostri Anglicani obedientes nostri ibidem gaudent utuntur aliquo statuto vel ordinatione in contrarium edito non obstante c. Robert de Vfsord 1280. Lord Justice returned from England and kept all things in such good Order that nothing is recorded of the two following Years but the unfortunate burning the City of Waterford But he being removed Stephen Fulborn 1282. Bishop of Waterford afterwards Archbishop of Tuam was Lord Justice it seems he had been also Lord Treasurer And then the Irish made great Stirs in Connaught Arlow and Vpper Ossory which cost many Lives but the Loss fell heaviest upon the principal Rebels Mortagh and Art mac Morough were slain by Penquir◠at Arclow and Mac Gilpatrick also met with an untimely Death in Connaught And these Publick Contests were accompanied with Private Quarrels so that Adam Cusack slew William Barret and his Brethren about some Lands they contended for in Connaught It is to be remembred That the Oastmen or Easterlings had generally the benefit of the English Laws by Charters from King Henry to each City That of Waterford is to be seen in Sir John Davis his excellent Discourse pag. 94. And it was this Year confirmed by King Edward Great part of the City of Dublin was this Year burnt 1283. and the Steeple and Chapter-House of Christ Church did not escape the
the Lord Dunsany who had a Company of Kernes in the Queens Pay at Liscannon a Fort in the Brenny took a Prey of 1600 Cows from Macmahon but being pursued by 140 Men they left their Prey and ran away to the Fort in this small Skirmish about 50 of each side were slain but never a good Subject amongst them But much better did Sir Henry Dockwra behave himself in Vlster for he not only regain'd the Castle of Derry which some of his Irish Soldiers had betray'd to the Rebels but he also surpriz'd Donegal and tho' O Donel besieg'd it full thirty days using many horrible Howlings and Outcries to terrifie the Garison and altho' the Abby by accident was burnt yet did the English Soldiers manfully defend it until O Donel drew off to the Relief of Kingsale and then Sir Henry marched to Donegal by land and Edward Diggs with two Companies quartered at a place called Asherow had the good fortune to surprize and take Ballyshannon a place very much coveted by the English for the advantage of its situation On the 29th of August the Deputy came to Trim where the Privy-Council from Dublin met him Camb. Eliz. 638. to consult of Affairs in general and particularly how to deal with Tyrrel who projected an Incursion into Munster In September the Lord President receiv'd 2000 fresh Men landed at Waterford and Cork from England and thereof gave account to the Deputy whereupon Mountjoy went to Kilkenny with one Troop only on the 13th of September in order to confer with the President about the Queens Service but the President was then hindred by the noise of the Spanish Invasion but that being cooled again the President leaving Sir Charles Wilmot in Cork met the Lord Deputy at Leighlin on the 19th of September There were Posts newly erected for the more speedy conveying of Intelligence so that on the 22d of September sitting at Council in Kilkenny they received News by the Post that the Spaniards were discover'd near the Old-head of Kingsale and on the 23d another Letter from Sir Charles Wilmot was brought them signifying That they were landed at Kingsale but they were not landed when the Post came away but landed that very day being the 23th of September 1601. Hereupon the Marshal Wingfield was sent to the Pale to assemble those Forces Sept. 24. and to get what Necessaries the Council could supply the Army with and Sir Henry Danvers was sent for the Garrison of Armagh and Sir John Berkly for that of Navan and the Deputy and President rode that night to Kiltenan my Lord of Dunboyn's Castle and the 25th to Clonmel the 26th to Glannor and 27th to Cork where they found a large Magazine of Victuals preserv'd by the President 's fortunate providence against this time of great necessity Captain Slingsby 24. with his Foot-Company and some of Sir Anthony Cook 's Horse march'd to view the Enemy and entertain'd a small Skirmish with them Capt. Flower 28. with some Companies went to view the Enemy who sallied and were beaten back by the English The Deputy 29. President and Council went to view Kingsale Fortescue and Berry brought two Companies to Cork Octob. 3. The Marshal and Sir John Barkly came to Cork with more Forces 8. Danvers 10. Folliot and Blany also came and the Marshal and Berkly went to view a fit place to encamp in Proclamation against assisting the Invaders 15. and the great Cities sent some Militia to the Army The Deputy encamp'd at Owneboy 16. At Knockrobin 17. Sir John Berkly alarum'd Kingsale 19. and beat the Spaniards into their Trenches A Sally of 1000 Spaniards repell'd by 200 English 20. The Lord of Muskry and his rising on 't 21. was order'd to skirmish with the Spaniards and were effectually assisted from the Camp Capt. Button's Ship keeps the Harbour of Kingsale 22. Sir John Berkly made a successful Attack on the Spaniards 25. and beat them out of their Trenches The Camp remov'd to Spittle-hill 26. and Capt. Harvy went eight miles about over the River of Bandon and recovered a Prey from under Castlenipark The Artillery was mounted against Rincorran-Castle 29. the Spaniards attempted to relieve it by Sea but were hindred by Capt. Button's Ship The Spaniards mounted Artillery 30. which played into the Camp and did some mischief in the Lord Deputy's Quarter The Spaniards attempted with 500 men to relieve Rincorran 31. but could not though they entertain'd a smart Skirmish with the English The Castle of Rincoran was surrendered Nov. 1. Four Barks with Ammunition Victuals arrived for the English at Kingsale 5. The President with two Regiments of Foot 7. and 250 Horse march'd to intercept Tyrone he afterwards met with Saint Laurence's Regiment and tho' he was once within four miles of the Irish yet they marching 32 miles in one day were too nimble for him so that he could never engage them The President had Notice â— that the Lord of Muskry had undertaken to Don John that he would send him the President alive or dead and that all the Irish being half the Army would turn Renagadoes when a fit opportunity presented Yet he manag'd this matter so wisely that neither of them found opportunity of executing their devilish Designs The Spaniards made a resolute Sally Nov. 10. and were beaten back with loss Sir Anthony Cook 11. and Patrick Atthur landed with 2000 Foot at Waterford and some Horse Levison and Preston with 10 Ships of War 12. and 2000 Foot arrived at Cork They came into Kingsale Harbour 14. The English attempted Castlenipark ineffectually 17. Earl of Thomond with 100 Horse 18. and 1000 Foot arrived at Kingsale Harbour Castlenipark surrendred 20. and Don John's House shot thorough The Deputy went to Castlenipark 21. Four Men in the Market-place slain by the Artillery from the Camp 22. The Artillery plaid on the Town 23. and more Guns were planted at Castlenipark Also the Ships came between Castlenipark and the Town Earl of Clanrickard and his Regiment came to the Camp 25 26 And So did the President And the Spaniards made an ineffectual Sally Spent in playing the Artillery 27. Kingsale was summon'd And St. Lawrence beat the Spaniards out of their Trenches 28. The Artillery plaid with success 29. The Marshal viewed the Town 30. to find a place of Battery and made a Breach Berkly with 2000 Foot sent to view whether the Breach was assaultable Decemb. 1. and found that it was not That Night a Camp was planted near the Town on the West side of it Nine English killed ten Spaniards in the Trenches 2. and that Night the Spaniards made a furious Sally on the new Camp but were repulsed with the loss of 200 Men. News of a supply of Spaniards landed at Castlehaven 3. Sir Charles Wilmot and his Regiment
Antrim himself confesses to be a Trustee and therefore we may be sure the King wrote sincerely to him ORMOND THough I am sorry for this Occasion I have to send unto you which is the sudden and unexpected Rebellion of a great and considerable Part of Ireland yet I am glad to have so faithful and able a Servant as you are to whom I may freely and confidently write in so Important a Business This is therefore to desire you to accept that Charge over this which you lately had over the former Army the which though ye may have some Reason to excuse as not being so well acquainted with this Lord-Lieutenant as ye was with the last yet I am confident that my Desire and the Importance of the Business will easily overcome that Difficulty which laid aside for my sake I shall accept as a great renewed Testimony of that Affection which I know ye have to my Service So referring what I have else to say to Captain Weemes Relation I rest Edinb 31 Octob. 1641. Your most assured Friend CHARLES R. Lastly The Credential which Burk had was not until the 8th day of February 1641. And that the Reader may see the bottom of this Intrigue I have added it verbatim copied from the Original ORMOND BEing well satisfied of the Fidelity of this Bearer Mr. Burk I have thought fit not only to recommend him to you but also to tell you that I have commanded him to impart to you what I have not time to write which I think will much conduce to the reducing of the Rebels which I know none desires more than your self and so I rest Windsor Feb. 8 1641-42 Your most assured Friend CHARLES R. FINIS ERRATA In the Apparatus Page 2. in margine for tanquam read tantam p. 3. l 28. f. 1643. r. 1642. In the History PAge 12. line 50. for dead read ready p. 21. l. 51. dele of p. 28. l. 23. dele besides p. 29. l. 40. r. returned to p. 44. l. 32. r. May 1628. p. 60. l. 23. f. was r. were p. 66. l. 9. f. his r. this p. 72. l. 42. f. 64. r. 65. p. 73. l. 49. f. trot r. go p. 75. l. 51. f. December r. November p. 77. l. 45. f. their Religion likewise persecuted by the Parliament r. of the same Extraction with themselves p. 86. l. 30. f. October r. December p. 95. l. 46. f. he r. the. p. 98. l. 42. f. alias r. Mac. ibid. l. 39. dele also p. 115. l. 6. f. hundred r. thousand p. 130. l. 6. f. A r. the. ibid. l. 44. r. they will p. 139. l. 37. r. and relieve p. 148. l. 49. f. Jany r. Inny p. 156. f. on r. in p. 175. l. 52. dele the. p. 177. l. 16. f. fifteen r. five p. 192. l. 39. r. for p. 193. l. 20. r. 38. p. 196. l. 30. l. 〈…〉 dele part of the 15th and all the 16th 17th and 18th Lines The Reign of King Charles the Second PAge 3. in margine r. Temerarie p. 6. l. 49. f. Batalia r. Readiness p. 136. l. 51. for all r. good part of the. In the Appendix Page 165. l. 40. f. 1641. r. 1648. p. 209. l. 29. f. was r. were Books printed for and sold by Joseph Watts at the Angel in St. Paul's Church-Yard THE History of Ireland from the Conquest to the End of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth By Richard Cox Esquire the first Part. Folio Chardyn's Travels into Persia and the East-Indies Folio The Trial of the Lord Russel c. Folio Diary of the late Expedition of his Majesty into England Quarto Representation of the threatning Dangers Impending over Great Britain before the coming of their Majesties King William and Queen Mary Quarto Treatise of Monarchy in two Parts By Hunton Quarto Discourse of the Opposition of the Doctrine Worship and Practice of the Roman Church to the Nature Designs and Characters of the Christian Faith By Gilbert Lord Bishop of Salisbury Quarto The True Test of the Jesuits or the Spirit of that Society disloyal to God their King and Neighbour 4 o. Sure and Honest means for the Conversion of Hereticks Published by a Protestant 4 o. The present Settlement vindicated and the late Misgovernment proved In Answer to a seditious Letter from a pretended Loyal Member of the Church to a Relenting Abdicator with the said Letter Quarto Journals of the House of Commons in 1680 and 1681. Octavo Treatise of the Corruption of Scriptures Councils and Fathers By the Prelates and Pastors of the Church of Rome for the maintenance of Popery By Thomas James 8 o. The True Nature of the Divine Law Octavo A Discourse of the Nature Use and right managing the Baroscope or Quick-silver Weather-Glass With the true Equation of Natural Days for the better ordering Pendulum Clocks and Watches By John Smith Octavo Reform'd Devotions in Meditations Hymns and Petitions for every Day in the Week By Theophilus Dorrington Twelves An Earnest Invitation to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper By Jos Glanvill The 7th Edition 12 o. The Mystery of Iniquity By Dr. Burnet Octavo Serious Reflections on Time and Eternity By John Shower 12 o. Expostulation with the Whigs in Scotland 4 o. The Earl of Rochester's Funeral Sermon 〈◊〉 Likewise Acts of Parliament Proclamations Declarations Orders of King and Council Speeches of the Kings c. in Parliament Pamphlets of all sorts Sermons on all Occasions Trials Narratives and Gazettes c. are sold by the said Joseph Watts A Table of the most Material Passages of this Book Note C 2. signifies that part of this History which contains the Reign of King Charles the Second A. Pag. ANalecta Hiberniae when published 33 Army encreased to 5000 Foot 500 Horse 41 and quartred upon the Country 42 and encreased to 8000 Foot and 1000 Horse more 51 but this Addition disbanded 71 Atherton Bp of Waterford executed 58 Adair Bishop of Killalla deprived and why 60 Athlone surpriz'd by Friar Dillon 170 Assembly General of the Irish sit 123 and make Orders 163 and declare against the Peace of 1646. 185 their Declaration previous to the Peace of 1648. 205 B. Baronets instituted 17 Bishops their Protestation against Toleration of Popery 43 Battel at Gelingston Bridg 82 in County of Wicklow 83 at Swords 87 of Kilrush 106 of Tymachoo 109 of Raconell ibid. of Ross 111 of Ballintober 114 of Rapho 115 of Killworth 129 of Castlelyons 158 of Bemburb 165 of Dunganhill 195 of Knocknanoss 197 of Rathmines C. 2. 7 on Wexford-strand 11 at Macrâ—ome 16 at Skirfolas 24 Knocknaclashy C. 2. 68 C. Cities of Munster rebel 4 5 and submit 7 8 have their Charters renewed 15 Cary Sir George Lord Deputy 9 Chichester Sir Arthur Lord Deputy 9 goes to England 25 and returns successfully 29 and is made Lord of Bellfast 33 Commissioners sent to inspect the Affairs of Ireland 36 their Computation mistaken 37 City of Cork made a distinct County 10 destroyed by Fire 39 Customs
make them seek Peace yet he was in no wise able to reduce them to the Obedience of Subjects or enlarge the Limits of the Pale however what he did was held so considerable that the Lords and Gentlemen of the Pale made Certificate of this great Service in French to the King Nevertheless the Army was so ill paid in this March that the Subject suffered more from the Cess of the Souldier than they gained by this small and temporary mortification of the Irish and this was the common Calamity from hence forward so that Necessity revived Coyn and Livery again by degrees notwithstanding that it remained Treason by Act of Parliament In August the Parliament met at Dublin 1415. and sate six weeks during which time the Irish followed their usual Course of falling upon the English and killed Thomas Ballymore of Ballyquelan and many others and on the 22th day of October the King obtained a most glorious and entire Victory over the French at the Battel of Agincourt But the Parliament was adjourned to Trym 1416. and there it sate on the 11th of May and continued seven days and gave the King a Subsidy of four hundred Marks in Money and the next year the Prior of Kilmainham with sixteen hundred Irish went to aid the King in France 1417. they Landed at Harslew in Normandy and did the King very good Service But I should have remembred That the King and Parliament at Westminster anno 1413. did Enact That for the Peace and Quietness of England and for the encrease and enstoring of Ireland That all Irishmen Irish Clerks Beggars and Chamberdekins be voided out of England before All-Saints next Lib. M. except Graduates in Schools Sergeants and Apprentices at Law and such as be Inheritors in England and Religious Persons professed and Merchants of good Name and Apprentices now dwelling in England and those whom the King will dispense with and that all Irishmen who have Offices or Benefices in Ireland shall dwell in Ireland for the defence of the Land And now 4 Hen. 5. Lib. M. It was likewise Enacted in England that all Archbishops Bishops Abbots and Priors of the Irish Nation Rebels to the King that shall make any Collation or Presentment to Benefices in Ireland or bring with them any Irish Rebels among the Englishmen to the Parliament Councils or other Assemblies within the same Land to know the Privities or States of the Englishmen their Temporalities shall be seized till they fine to the King and that the Governors of Ireland be defended and restrained to grant such Benefices or Pardons in the case to Irish Persons not English and that such Licenses shall be void There is very little recorded of the Year 1418 1418. and it is scarce worth mentioning That the Lord Lieutenant did spoil the Tenants of Henry Crus and Henry Bethel probably for some Misdemeanor by them committed against the Government But the Year 1419. 1419. will afford us more Matter for on the last Day of May the Lord Lieutenant accompanied by the Archbishop and Mayor of Dublin razed the Castle of Kenun having a little before in the same Month taken Prisoner Mac Morough the chief Captain of his Nation and on the 20th of June the Lord William de Burgh took O Kelly and slow five hundred Irish in Connaught but the Lord Lieutenant was sent for to England and substituted his Brother Richard Talbot Archbishop of Dublin Lord Justice or Deputy He held a Royal Council i. e. a Parliament at the Naas which gave a Subsidy of three hundred Marks On Maundy-Thursday O Tool took four hundred Kine from Ballymore and so broke the Peace contrary to his Oath but it fared worse with the Irish at Rodiston where thirty of them were slain by the English under the Command of the Lord Justice but on the 4th day of April Landed at Waterford James 1420. Earl of Ormond Lord Lieutenant His Commission is very large and beareth Date the 10th of Febr. 7 Hen. 5. and is to be seen Pryn 412. He held a Council at Dublin the 23th of April and summoned a Parliament to meet the 7th of June which did accordingly then meet and sate sixteen days and gave the King a Subsidy of seven hundred Marks and adjourned to Monday after S. Andrews Day and at that Session they gave another Subsidy of three hundred Marks and the publick Debts contracted by the Lord Talbot were paid and then they were Adjourned to the Monday after S. Ambrose's Day But it will be convenient to shew the Reader who paid these Subsidies and what their respective Proportions were and thereby he will perceive the vast Alteration for the better that is made in the State of Ireland since those Days This Subsidy was called Tertium Subsidium and was applotted thus Lib. CCC Â Lib. s. d. The Clergy of the County of Wexford 13 06 08 The Commons of Kildare 34 10 05 The Clergy of Kildare 04 02 10 Commons of Typerary 08 11 04 Clergy of Cashel 00 19 04 Commons of Limerick 02 03 00 Clergy of Limerick 00 08 01 Kingsale 01 16 08 Â Mar. s. d. Meath Liberty 83 00 00 Clergy of Meath 40 00 00 Clergy of Dublin 11 11 08 Drogehda 04 03 00 Commons of Carlow 04 01 04 Clergy of Ossory 02 00 11 Commons of Kilkenny 18 05 11 Commons of Louth 25 12 05 Clergy of Ardes 08 08 09 Commons of Dublin 40 10 00 City of Dublin 06 10 00 Clergy Cathedral of Dublin 11 11 08 Cork 02 02 00 On the 28th of October Thomas Fitz-Girald took Colmolin Castle and the Parliament met again according to Adjournment on Monday after S. Ambrose's Day and ordered that the Archbishop of Armagh Sir Christopher Preston and others should go Commissioners to the King to desire a Reformation of the State of the Land At this Parliament John Gese Bishop of Lismore and Waterford accused Richard O Hedian Archbishop of Cashel of Thirty Articles the Principal of which were First Ware de Praesul 170. That he loved none of the English Nation nor gave any Benefice to any Englishman and that he counselled other Bishops to do the like Secondly That he had counterfeited the Great Seal Thirdly That he designed to make himself King of Munster Fourthly That he had taken a Ring from the Image of S. Patrick which the Earl of Desmond had offered and gave it to his Concubine c. There was also a Contest between Adam Pory Bishop of Cloyne and another Bishop but it is probable that the former Accusation was suppressed because we find no farther Proceedings upon them and because the Archbishop seems to have been a more generous sort of Man for he not only repaired the Cathedral of Cashel and a Mansion-House or two for his Successors but also was otherwise a great Benefactor to that See and liberal to Pious Uses and the later Contest was transmitted to Rome But we should return
of Fingal which was wholly a Stranger to Depredations now lay exposed to the Tools and other Irish wherein they were assisted by John Burnel a Gentleman of good Estate in Fingal who favoured this Rebellion But the City of Dublin could not suffer this without their own Destruction for Fingal was their Granary and most of their Provision came from thence wherefore a Body of the Citizens sallied to intercept a Prey at the Bridge of Kilmainham but in the Skirmish near the Wood of Salcock overpowered either in Number or Valour they were beaten and fourscore of the Citizens killed Fitz-Girald makes the best of this Victory and whilst the Consternation is on the City he sends them word that although he could destroy their City yet he will do them no harm if they will permit him to besiege the Castle The Citizens wisely send one of their Aldermen Francis Herbert to the King to know his Pleasure and another to the Constable of the Castle to have his Advice The Constable made a virtue of Necessity and not thinking it possible to defend the City consented to the Demand provided he were first furnished with Men and Victuals which was done and Alderman John Fitz Symons sent into the Castle twenty Tun of Wine twenty four Tun of Beer two thousand dry Ling sixteen Hogsheads of Beef twenty Chambers and an Iron Chain for the Draw-Bridg But the unfortunate Archbishop afraid of the Success of this Siege got on board a Ship that Night near Dames gate in order to pass for England but the Vessel was stranded at Clantarfe and the Archbishop was forced to a Village hard by called Tartain thither came Thomas Fitz-Girald and his Unkles John and Oliver Sir James Delahide and many others early the next Morning having first had notice of the Archbishops being there The Lord Thomas commands John Teling and Nicholas Wafer to bring out the Archbishop whom they haled out of his Bed naked in his Shirt as he was bare-footed and bare-headed The poor Bishop on his Knees and with a pitiful Voice and Countenance begged Pity for the Love of God on a Christian and an Archbishop The Noble Fitz-Girald was too generous to behold that Spectacle without Compassion and therefore turned aside saying Ber owm a Buddagh which is Take away the Clown intending to imprison him but the Servants wilfully misconstruing their Master's Words knockt out the Bishop's Brains and left a Revenge on themselves which overtook them all for Teling afterwards Died of the Leprosie and Wafer of the French Pox and Fitz Girald and all his Unkles were publickly executed by the Common Hangman Nor is it to be omitted that all the Murderers were excommunicated and in the Excommunication are these strange Passages That no man may be merciful to them but their Memory to be forgotten That God would rain Flames of Fire and Sulphur on them That they may cloath themselves with the Malediction and high Curse as they daily put on their Garments That the Water of Vengeance may be in their inner Parts as Marrow in their Bones Be they girded with the Girdles of Malediction and Partakers with Pharoah Nero Herod and Judas the Proditors of Jesus Christ and with Dathan and Abiram descend into Hell quick Good Lord send them Hunger and Thirst and strike them with Pestilence that they may be consumed and their Generation clear eradicate Strike them with Leprosie Madness Blindness c. And we Interdict all the Places where they go and the Place where the Archbishop was murdered But to proceed The Rebels took Prisoners from their own Houses the Lord of Howth and Luttrel Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and the Castle being furnished the Citizens of Dublin consented to Fitz Girald's former Demands Of Liberty to besiege the Castle Whereupon he sent James Field of Lusk Teling Wafer Broad Rouks and Purcel with one hundred Soldiers each attending on them as their Captains they planted two or three Falcons near Preston's Innes over against the Castle and entrenched themselves with strong Ramparts threatning to place the Youth of the City thereon if they in the Castle should shoot that way In the mean time Fitz-Girald accompanied with O Neal Sir Richard Walsh Parson of Loughsewdy Burnel of Ballygriffin and several others invaded and burnt the County of Kilkenny even to Thomas Town The Earl of Ossory and his Party were at the same time near Jeripont consulting what to do and during their Consultation one of the Butlers stole away with sixteen Horse to make a Bravado Fitz-Girald espying them sent an equal number which were soon followed with one hundred and forty Horse the Butlers retreated to their main Body which was surprized by this unexpected Accident and easily scattered The Lord Butler was hurt but made shift to escape to Dunmore where he was cured In the mean time Alderman Herbert returned with an Answer from the King encouraging the Citizens to a manly Defence and promising Aid immediately Whereupon it was resolved by the Citizens That Faith was not to be kept with Traytors That their League with Fitz-Girald was void And they ordered their Gates to be shut And that the Traytors that besieged the Castle should be apprehended Captain Field and his Companions having Notice hereof began to shift for themselves some swam over the River but the most of them were taken Prisoners Immediately Fitz-Girald leaves Kilkenny and summons the Pale to meet him with all their Power near Dublin And in his way he seized upon several Dublin-Children that were at School in the Country and particularly Fitz-Simons and Stainhurst and sent Doctor Traverse Peter Linch of the Knock and Oliver Grace to the Citizens to expostulate the Breach of the League and to require That it might be renewed or at the least the Prisoners enlarged but they met with a cross Answer to all their Demands Whereupon Fitz-Girald began in Sheep-street to besiege the Castle but was driven thence by the Ordnance and the Houses being thatcht were burnt by Wild-Fire cast in from the Castle he stopt all the Rivers about the Town and removed to Thomas-Court pulled down that Street and made a sort of a Gallery to shelter his Men he also burnt the New Street and planted a Gun against Newgate which pierced that Gate and killed an Apprentice of Alderman Stephens's fetching Water from the high Pipe Richard Stanton Goaler of Newgate being an excellent Marksman did great Damage to the Enemy and particularly perceiving one of the Rebels level his Gun at the Loop-Hole where he stood he was so nimble that he prevented him and shot the Rebel in the Forehad and was so hardy as to issue out at the Wicket and to strip the Varlet and brought in with him his Gun and his Cloaths This enraged the Rebels and excited them to Revenge wherefore they immediately brought Fire and Faggot to the Gate in hopes to burn it The Citizens wisely considered That Expectation of Spoil would encourage the
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-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
to repeal Poyning's Act shall be certified into England until first it be agreed upon by a majority of the Parliament of Ireland IX That the rest of the Kingdom be divided into Shires X. That no Wool Flocks Flax Yarn Sheep-Skins Goat-Skins Calve-Skins or Deer-Skins unwrought nor Beef Tallow Wax or Butter shall be transported until it pay the Custom in the Act mentioned and the petty Duties to Coporations in the Act likewise mentioned on the Penalties therein contained provided Prosecution be made within nine Months after the Offence committed XI An Act for the Impost on Wines XII That the Earl of Kildare's Brother and Sisters be restored in Blood The Parliament was Adjourned to the twelfth of May and then they met and Enacted 1. That Schools be erected in the Shire-Town of every Diocess at the Costs of the whole Diocess by the direction of the Bishop and the Sheriff and the chief Governor shall nominate an English School-master and appoint his Salary whereof the Bishop shall pay one Third and the Clergy the other two Parts the Bishops of Armagh Dublin Meath and Kildare and their Successors shall name English School-Masters for their respective Diocesses 2. That all Exemplifications under the Great Seal and the Seals of the King's Bench Common Pleas and Exchequer subscribed by the Lord Chancellor both Chief Justices and Chief Baron shall be as effectual in all Courts as the Original Record but it must contain a Clause that all those Seals are to it 3. An Act about the Standard of Measures for Corn. 4. An Act impowering the chief Governour and Council to grant Patents to such of the Irish as the Queen shall direct And then the Parliament was Adjourn'd to the fifth of December 13 Eliz. At which Session the Earls of Thomond and Glencar who had reconciled themselves to the State were present and the Parliament made five Acts of no great importance recited in the Statute-Book from pag. 267. to pag. 279. But whilst the Lord Deputy and the Parliament were endeavouring the Prosperity and Peace of Ireland by enacting good and wholsom Laws others were as busie to countermine them and to put all into Disorder and Confusion for some of the looser sort of the Irish Lords were distasted to that degree at the loss of their Captainries and Irish Extortions as also at the Impost on Wine that they resolved by force to rescind those Laws or at least prevent the execution of them and so making Religion their Pretence they confederated together James Fitz-Morris was the Bell-weather of this Flock and the Ringleader of all this Mischief he added to the general Grievances the particular Injuries done to his own Family by the imprisonment of the Earl of Desmond and his Brother Sir John and he inveigled the Earl of Glencar by telling him That the Queen was to be married to the Earl of Leicester and that thereupon the Lord Deputy who married that Earl's Sister was to be King of Ireland and when the Earl of Glencar was once engaged Mac Donogh and many more of the Cartyes came in of course and Fitz Girald commonly called Seneschal of Imokilly was as forward in this Rebellion as any of them and although Sir Edmond Butler who was Seneschal to his brother the Earl of Ormond and consequently hated all the Family of Desmond and had formerly pretended to serve against James Fitz-Morris Yet partly because he did not dare to appear before Commissioners sent by the Lord Deputy to Kilkenny to examine and redress the grievous Complaints made against him and partly for Zeal to the Catholick Cause and Fondness of the Irish Usurpations he sacrificed his private Resentments to the publick Concern and joyned with the rest of the Rebels The Confederates being resolved to make something of this Rebellion if it were possible sent the Titular Bishops of Cashel and Emly Hooker 130. and the youngest Brother of the Earl of Desmond as their Ambassadors to the Pope and the King of Spain to implore Aid and Assistance to rescue their Religion and Country from the Tyranny and Oppression of Queen Elizabeth But the Lord Deputy was not idle but assoon as he had notice of this Confederacy he proclaimed them Traytors and ordered Sir Peter Carew Governor of Leighlin to begin the War which he did and being accompanied by the Captains Malby Gilbert Basnet and others he took Sir Edmund's Castle of Cloghgriman and gave the Spoil to the Soldiers and thence he marched to Kilkenny and upon intelligence that three thousand Men were within three Miles of that City Sir Peter Carew sent Henry Davels to discover them and being satisfied by him that they were not above two thousand he resolved to attack them Captain Gilbert and Davels and twelve more began the Charge which was well seconded by Carew Malby and Basnet and the Success was accordingly four hundred Gallowglasses being slain without the loss of any English Man Captain Malby's Servant only excepted Not long after James Fitz-Morris besieged Kilkenny but both Garrison and Citizens behaved themselves so well that Fitz-Morris was fain to execute his Malice on the Country-Villages and smaller Towns and those he did not spare particularly he robbed old Falco Quiverford of Galan who had been Servant to three Earls of Ormond of two thousand Pounds in Money Plate and Houshold-stuff besides Corn and Cattel Another Party went to the County of Wexford and at a Fair at Iniscorthy committed most vile Outrages ravishing Women and killing or imprisoning every body they met with nor did the Queens County and Ossory fare any better The Lord Power 's Estate and the whole County of Waterford were in the same condition and even the very County of Dublin had its share of Desolation But the Confederates finding no Effects of their former Ambassy sent new Messengers to the Pope and King of Spain and also sollicited Turlogh Lynogh to procure the Aid of the Scots and were so diligent that nothing was left undone that might tend to subvert the Government and clear the Country of all English Men and English Laws The Earl of Ormond then in England troubled at the Disloyalty of his Brethren offered his Service against them and undertook to reclaim them by Perswasion or Force and to that end he arrived at Wexford the fourteenth Day of August being the very Day of the aforesaid Fair at Iniscorthy I should have mentioned That Sir Warham Saint Leger was anno 1566 made President of Munster and now the Lord Deputy having notice that Sir Warham's Lady was in her Husband's absence much distressed at Cork and daily threatned by the Irish he resolved to march that way to relieve her and with six hundred Men only he set out from Kilkenny and came to Clonmel and thence he sent to Waterford for a few Citizens for three days to assist him in his Passage over the Mountains but that City obstinately insisted upon its Privileges and refused to send any Men however Mr. Wise
and a few Volunteers and some Sea-men came to the Deputy and were very kindly received and the Disloyalty of the City was remembred at another time In Clonmel the Lord Deputy was nobly Treated in the Town-House which he requited by a most excellent Speech in commendation of Loyalty and thence marched to Cashil and in his March took a Castle held by Sir Edmond Butler and restored it to one Cantrel who was the right Owner 1569. and so he came to Cork where he found four hundred Soldiers newly arrived out of England under the Command of the Captains Shute and Ward as by his Letters to England he had desired From Cork the Lord Deputy made a step into Kirricurry and took the Castle of Carigoline and afterwards he marched into Orrery and took Butâ—ivant and so designed for Kilmallock but James Fitz-Morrice got there before him and took the Town by the help of scaling Ladders and finding that he could not keep it he burnt and destroyed as much of it as he could However the Lord Deputy marched thither and having given all the Encouragement that he could to repair and reedifie Kilmallock he setled a Garrison there of an hundred Horse four hundred Foot and some Kern under Colonel Gilbert who was made Governor or Colonel of Munster and so having taken the Oaths and Hostages of the Lords Roch Courcy Decyes Power and of Sir Cormock Mac Teige and many other Gentlemen and Freeholders of the Counties of Cork and Limerick he marched directly to the City of Limerick The Earl of Ormond came to the Lord Deputy at or near Limerick and brought with him his Brother Sir Edmond Butler who in the open Camp submitted to Mercy acknowledging his Follies and craving Pardon and thereupon he was set at Liberty upon the Earl's Recognisance for his appearance at Dublin and accordingly he did appear there on the sixteenth day of October together with Pierce Butler another Brother of the Earl's and both of them were indicted of High Treason However it seems that Pierce was afterwards bailed but Sir Edmond being a Cholerick Man did reflect upon the Lord Deputy and attributed all to his Partiality and alledged that the Lord Deputy did threaten him and would do him no Justice and vented many more such passionate expressions and therefore had not the favour of being bailed but was committed close Prisoner to the Castle of Dublin from whence in a very short time after he made a strange and hazardous escape by the help of a small Rope which broke within three yards of the ground and so bruised him that he could not go far so that he was forced to stay all that cold Winter-Night up to the Chin in the Water to prevent his Discovery However about three Months after viz. on the last of February the Earl of Ormond did again bring Sir Edmond and the rest of his Brothers before the Lord Deputy and Council at Dublin and there after a short Commitment and humble Submissions they were all pardoned for the sake of the Earl and perhaps by special Orders from the Queen who by the Mother was related to this Noble Family Cambd. Eliz. 138. and used to boast of the untainted Loyalty of the House of Ormond In the mean time Colonel Gilbert behaved himself so well in Munster that the Earl of Glencar and his Follower Mac Donogh were forced to come to him and to submit on their Knees craving Pardon for what was past and offering Hostages for their future Behaviour and afterwards that Earl came to Dublin to a subsequent Session of the Parliament and in the Presence-Chamber and in Christ-Church made most Pathetical Submissions on their 〈◊〉 and were Pardoned but the Collonel Gilbert being 〈◊〉 his good Service Knighted at Drogheda the first of January 1569 got leave to go to England and there he 〈…〉 a rich Widow and was not long afterwards drowned and thereupon Sir John Penott was Lord President of Munster In Leinster Sir Peter Carew had reduced the Cavenaghs to that low Condition that they were forced to submit to Mercy simply and without Stipulation and in Connaught Sir Edward Fitton by valour in the Field and severe Justice in the Courts did so quail the stubborn Hearts of the Rebels that his Province had but very little disturbance except what was given by the Earl of Thomond who could not brook the Severity of the President it seems he complained to the Lord Deputy before he entred into Rebellion for on the twenty third of April 1570. Lib. H. the Earl of Ormond was sent to treat with him but that Treaty proving ineffectual there ensued a smart Battle or rather Skirmish wherein the Earl of Thomond was worsted Contra Barkers Chron. 343. and Cambd. and thereupon he fled into France where he met with the English Ambassador Norris by whose means the Earl was pardoned Eliz. 153. and afterwards proved a very good Subject and did considerable Services to his Queen and Country Turlogh Lynogh whom I have already mentioned to have assumed the Name of O Neal was about this time shot in the Belly with two Bullets out of a Caliver by one of the Doniloghs who was a kind of a Jester he was at Supper with his Wife Aunt to the Earl of Argile when he received this Misfortune and though the Wound proved not to be Mortal yet it was so near it that the Auxiliary Scots began to think of deserting him 1570. and his own Country were in Factions about the choice of a new O Neal Lib. H. however he at length recovered and made an attempt to invade the Pale but the Scots dispersed for want of Pay so that O Neal was glad to treat with Justice Dowdall and the Dean of Armagh the Queens Commissioners and they came to an Agreement in O Neal's Camp at Dungannon on the twentieth day of January Lib. H. which was afterwards ratified by the Lord Deputy on the thirteenth day of March. On the eleventh of February the O Feralls or Ferells surrendred their Interest in the Annaly or County of Longford and took part of it back again at the Yearly Rent of an Hundred Marks c. The publick Expence for three Years viz. From Michaelmass 1565 to Michaelmass 1568 paid out of the Exchequer amounted unto Eighty eight Thousand nine Hundred thirty eight Pounds nine Shillings and eleven Pence whereof I suppose at least one half was remitted from England and yet the Lord Deputy was so Industrious in the Collection of the Revenue that he got twelve Hundred Pound of Hugh O Donell for the Arrears of Rent due for many Years past and the Queen was so intent on the Reformation and settlement of Ireland that she sent over Robert Leeth a Surveyor about the Year 1568 to make a true Survey and an exact Map of that Kingdom But Pope Pius the Fifth having by his Bull of the fifth of March 1569. Cambd. Eliz. 146. â—ulminated
Rebellion than ever had been in Ireland to that time For the Lord Deputy having sent Proclamations of the King's Succession to all Cities and Burroughs not doubting but that they would be chearfully published in every place to his great amazement received this Account from Cork That Captain Morgan came thither with the Proclamation on the Eleventh of April and immediately Sir George Thornton one of the Commissioners of Munster went with it to Thomas Sarsfeild then Mayor who answered That by their Charter they might take time to consider it Sir George replied That since they knew the King's Right and that he was proclaimed in Dublin it would be taken ill if they delayed it The Mayor answered That Perkin Warbeck was also proclaimed in Dublin and that nevereheless much Damage hapned to the Country by their precipitation therein Whereupon Saxy Chief-Justice of Munster said That they ought to be committed if they refused But William Mead the Recorder told him That no body there had Authority to commit them Hereupon the Mayor and his Brethren c. went to the Court-house to consider of so important a Matter Sir George Thornton in the mean time staying in the Walk to expect their Resolution After an hours stay there he sent to know their Mind they put him off for an hour more and when that was expired they plainly told him They could not give their Answer till the next day Whereupon he said He would proclaim the King without them But they let him understand That he had no Authority within their Liberties to do so neither would they permit him to do it And so they put it off till the Thirteenth of April and then Sir George Thornton and the Lord Roch and about 800 Soldiers and others proclaimed the King in the North Suburbs near Shandon-Castle but the Mayor and Citizens deferr'd it till the Sixteenth and then wrote a sawcy Letter to the Lord Deputy importing That they had receiv'd the Proclamation on the Eleventh of April but had delayed publishing it till the Sixteenth for the greater Solemnity and they desired that Halbowling Fort not being in the Hands of a sufficient Commander to secure it might be put into the Hands of the Mayor and Citizens for whose Defence it was made But the Citizens not expecting an Answer to their minds from the Lord Deputy designed to set up their Religion by force and to that end they kept strong Guards on their Ports and Gates and stopt the King's Boats going with Victuals to Halbowling so that the Commissioners were forced to relieve that Fort with Ammunition and Victuals from Kinsale they also carried the Cross in Procession about the City and forced People to reverence it they also defaced Sentences of Scripture that were written on the Church-walls and painted the places with Pictures they re-consecrated the Churches and went daily in Procession they also took the Sacrament to spend their Lives in defence of the Roman Catholick Religion they disarm'd such Protestants as were in their Power and rejected the mixt Moneys and refus'd to suffer the King's Provisions to be taken out of the Store until they should be assured that the Soldiers should be sent out of the Liberties of the City they also endeavoured to get the South Fort into their Hands so that Sir George Thornton was forced to shelter himself in Shandon Castle Upon notice of these Proceedings Sir Charles Willmot who was besieging Mac-Morris in Ballingary Castle immediately repair'd to Cork and finding that no good was to be done by Treaty he sent 600 Men over the Ford by Gillabby into the South Fort and thô two of them were kill'd in their Passage by Shot from the Walls yet the rest got in safe and secur'd the Fort However the Citizens mounted some Guns and shot at the Bishop's Palace and Shandon Castle thô the Lord President Carew his Wife was in the one and the Commissioners of Munster in the other Nevertheless on the 28th of April the Lord Deputy wrote a kind Letter to the City of Cork and required them to suffer the King's Stores to be issued out to the Army but they excus'd themselves and answered That they did not know but those Stores if delivered out might be made use of against the Town Whereupon the Lord Deputy wrote a smart Letter to them on the First day of May but before it came to their Hands the Citizens under the Conduct of Christopher Murrough had removed the King's Stores into their own Cellars Morison 291. and being taught by a Seditious Priest That he could not be a Lawful King who was not approved by the Pope nor sworn to maintain the Catholick Religion they took a Resolution in Publick Council to excite the other Cities and Towns to Confederate with them for the Preservation of the Catholick Faith and resolved to defend themselves by Force It hapned that some few were slain on either Side and particularly a Minister was kill'd by a Shot from the Town and one of the Bishop's Servants was wounded and taken Prisoner and was told by them That the Traytor his Master should not escape Death if they could get him within their Power But their Insolence will best appear by their own Letter to the Lord Deputy the Substance of which is to be found here Appendix 1. In the mean time the Commissioners of Munster finding that they wanted Artillery sent for some to Halbowling but the Citizens having notice of that Design Mann'd out some Boats under William Terry to intercept them Nevertheless they arrived safely and thereupon the Citizens being frightned with the noise of the Great Guns agreed to a Cessation until the Lord Deputy should come But the City of Cork was not the only Place that was Rebellious at this Junctuâ—e Waterford was altogether as ill inclined tho' it had not an Opportunity of doing so much Mischief However they did their Share and first they pulled down Sir Nicholas Welsh their Recorder from the Cross where he was reading the Proclamation of the King's Succession They also broke the Doors of the Hospital and admitted Dr. White to preach a Seditious Sermon in St. Patrick's Church wherein amongst other inveterate things he said That Jezebel meaning Queen Elizabeth was dead They also took the Keys of the Cathedral from the Sexton and caused a Priest to celebrate Mass there Nor were the Towns of Clonmell and Wexford free from the like Insolencies but they being the weaker and the less populous Places were sooner sensible of their Faults than were other Towns where Tumult and Noise gave less opportunity of Thinking and Number and Fortification encourag'd to Obstinacy and therefore these Corporations restored the Churches and submitted to the Lord Deputy's Commands before the Army approached their Walls whilst on the contrary Limerick which has seldom been backward in an Irish Rebellion was one of the forwardest in this and gave their Priests the Possession of all their Churches where they erected Altars
Parsons by Owen O Conally an Irishman but bred a Protestant by Sir John Clotworthy and he being drunk told his Story so odly and delivered this surprizing Information so incoherently that small regard was had to what he said and therefore he was dismissed with Directions to make farther Discoveries if he could Nevertheless the Lord Parsons went to his Collegue Burlace at Chichester-house to communicate Conally's Intelligence unto him and whilst the Lord Justice Burlace was fretting that Conally should be so slightly dismiss'd Vide his Examination Append 2. behold about Ten a Clock at Night he came again and confirm'd his former Story Whereupon several of the Conspirators were that Night apprehended and tho' James Warren and Paul Neale found means to escape out of Custody yet the Lord Macguire in whose Lodgings were found many Hatchets Skeins and Hammers and Mac Mahon were taken and kept safe until their Execution It was about Five a Clock in the Morning 23d of October when Mac Mahon was Examined and Confessed That on that very day all the Forts and strong Places in Ireland would be taken that he with the Lord Macguire Hugh Brine Captain Bryan O Neale and several other Irish Gentlemen were come expresly to surprize the Castle of Dablin and that Twenty men out of each County were to be here to joyn with them That all the Papist Lords and Gentlemen in the Kingdom were engaged in this Plot That what was to be done in other parts of the Country was so far advanced by that time as it was impossible for the Wit of Man to prevent it that they had him in their Power and might use him as they pleased but he was sure be should be revenged And it is observable that Mac Mahon's Fancy was so full of the Bloody Tragedy which was to be Acted that day that during Owen O Conallies Examination as he walked in Chichester-Hall he drew with Chalk several postures of Men some on Gibbets and some groveling on the Ground so much was he delighted with what he thought or rather knew would soon be the Condition of the miserable English Nor is it to be omitted that Sir William Cole upon the Information of John Cormuck and Flagharty Mac Hugh that the Irish did design to seize on the Castle of Dublin and murder the Lords Justices and Council and the Protestants there did on the 21. of October send Letters with an Account of that Matter to the Lords Justices but how they mis carried is not known but it is certain those Letters never came to hand On this First day of the Rebellion the Irish surprized the Lord Blaney's House his Wife and Children and seized the Newry and the Magazine there See it Burlace 22. wherein were Seventy Barrels of Powder they also took Dungannon Fort Mountjoy Charlemont Tonrage Carrickmacross Cloghouter in the County of Cavan and Castlemonaghan and committed many Murders and the Lords Justices issued a Proclamation to encourage the English to defend themselves which were immediately Printed and sent to several places by Expresses and from this time forward there was not a day and scarce an hour wherein the dismal Tidings of some new Outrage or Barbarity did not arrive On the 24th the Alarms and Fears were so great at Dublin that the Castle Drawbridge was once let down and some of the State went to the Platform of the Castle to view the Irish Army which was falsly said to be approaching The Lords Justices being in this deplorable Condition did turn themselves to all the Methods of preserving the Kingdom which so great a Danger did require and their small Materials would allow but tho' their Industry was great their means were inconsiderable the whole standing Army did not exceed Two thousand ninety seven Foot and Nine hundred Horse Officers included and these were scattered in Single Troops and Companies or small Parties into places remote from Dublin and far distant from one another so that some of them were cut off by the Enemy and more of them being Irish Papists did revolt to the Rebels however they did send Potents for as many as they thought could safely March and particularly for the Earl of Ormond's Troop which came with himself to Dublin on the Second day of December and they made Sir Francis Willoughby Commander of the Castle These Letters are at large Temple 25. and Sir Charles Coot Governour of the City and on the 25th of October sent Owen O Conally with Letters to the Lord Lieutenant and Sir Henry Spotswood with an Express to the King But their main hope was that the Papists of the Pale who were of English Extraction and had signalized their Loyalty in all former Rebellions would also stand firm to the Crown in This and therefore the Lords Justices and Council sent Letters to the Sheriffs of those five Counties to make their best defence against the Rebels and to do all that was necessary for their own Preservation And to encourage as well as enable those Papists that the State had a good Opinion of the Lords Justices dispersed Seventeen hundred Arms to the Lords of Fingall Gormanstown Dunsany Slane Netervill Merion Hoath and other Roman Catholick Gentlemen for the Guard of the Pale and Arms were likewise sent to the Towns of Waterford Wexford and Trim with a Licence to import more they issued also Commissions of Martial Law for the more speedy Execution of the Rebels and thereby the more Expeditious Suppressing of the Rebellion Temple 55. and these Commissions were directed to Papists viz. to Henry Talbot for the County of Dublin John Bellew Esquire for the County of Louth Richard Dalton and James Tuit in Westmeath and James Talbot in the County of Cavan They also gave Commissions of Government of the respective Counties to several Roman Catholicks viz. the Lords Mountgarret Gormanstown Mayo Costilo Walter Bagnall Sir James Dillon Sir Robert Talbot Sir Christopher Bellew Sir Thomas Nugent and Mr. Nicholas Barnewall and by these Commissions these Lords and Gentlemen in their respective Districts had power to Levy and raise Forces to Arm and Array and conduct them and to prosecute the Rebels with Fire and Sword to use Martial Law and to Pardon and receive into his Majesties mercy as they should think fit as may be seen more at large in the Lord Gormanstowns Commission Postea Appendix 8. But the Lords and Gentlemen of the Pale were deeper in this General Conspiracy than the Lords Justices suspected and therefore were so far from being wrought upon by these Kindnesses and the Confidence the State placed in them that on the contrary from the very beginning they industriously sought for Pretences to break out into Action Their first Essay was on the 27th day of October at which time they picked a Quarrel at the words Irish Papists in the Proclamation against the Rebels as being Terms so General and Comprehensive that themselves might seem included and tho' they being Old English
ordering the Country People to bring in their Corn to Market or else that their Haggards should be put under Military Execution by which means the Market was pretty well supplied And on the last day of December Sir Symon Harcourt with his Regiment of Twelve hundred Foot from England landed at Dublin But whilst these things were doing Sir Thomas Carey and Doctor Câ—le a Sorbonist offered from the Rebels some Propositions whereupon a Treaty for Peace might be founded viz. 1. Toleration of Religion 2. That Papists shall have admittance to all Employments as well as Protestants 3. The Wrongs of Plantations since 1610. to be repair'd 4. The Titles of Rebels and Traitors should be taken off the File by Proclamation But these Terms were too dishonorable and therefore were rejected Nevertheless some Popish Priests that pretended to more Moderation and Humanity than the rest were permitted to Treat with the Rebels and Doctor Cale obtain'd a Commission from the State to do so and promis'd great Success of his Negotiation But the Rebels were elevated with their Fortune insomuch that Sir Philemy O Neal refused to Treat unless Macgulre and Macmahon were set at Liberty and so that Affair determined And now Sir Simon Harcourt being made Governor of Dublin Sir Charles Coot on the Tenth of January was sent abroad to remove the Enemy from Swords a Village Six Miles from the City The Irish had barricadoed the Avenues to the Town and did what they could to defend themselves but Coot despising their weak Opposition valiantly forced the Passage and routed the Party with the slaughter of Two hundred of them and returned to Dublin with little or no Loss except that of Sir Lorenzo Cary who was killed in this Action On the Eleventh of January the Parliament was by Proclamation prorogued to the Twenty first of June 1642. But the Speakers declared to both Houses ☜ That notwithstanding the Prorogation it was not His Majesty's Intention to depart from or wave any thing he had formerly promis'd for the Confirmation of their Estates to such of his Subjects as should continue Loyal On the Fourteenth of January the Lords Justices and Council issued a severe Proclamation against Pillagers and Vagrants that were not Listed under any Commander and on the Eighteenth published another Proclamation prohibiting Soldiers from returning to England without Licence on pain of Death And on the Twenty fourth of January there landed at Dublin the Lord Lieutenant's Regiment of Foot under Lieutenant Colonel Monk afterward Duke of Albemarle Sir Michael Earnly's and Colonel Cromwell's Regiments likewise of Foot and the Lord Lisle's and Sir Richard Greeâ—vill's Regiments of Horse which enabled the Lieutenant-General Ormond with Two thousand Foot and Three hundred Horse to march out into the Country where he burnt Newcastle and Lyons and got a cosiderable Booty at the Naas and by this Joâ—â—ny removed the Enemy farther off See this Proclamation Burlace Append 6. and on the Eighth of February the Government issued a Proclamation against the Rebels prizing Sir Philemy O Neal's Head at a thousand Pounds and the rest at proportionable Rates against which the Lords of the Pale framed a false and scandalous Protestation But it is time to return to Tredagh which by the importunity of those of the Pale was become the Rebels chief Aim and next to Dublin the chief Care of the State It was the principal Scene of Action during the Months of December January and February and therefore I have preserved the Relation of that Siege intire without mixing it with other Affairs Tredagh in Irish Drogheda in Latin Pontana is an ancient Walled Town situate on both sides the River Boyne and united by a Stone Bridge from which the Town derives its Name It is about two Miles in Circuit and about three Miles distant from the Sea It had neither Bulwark nor Rampire nor any other Fortification than an ordinary Ditch and the old Wall The Haven is not good the Entrance being very narrow and difficult by reason of a Bar in the Mouth of the Harbor which is not passable but at Full Sea and then especially on Spring-tides a Ship of Sixty Tuns may sail to the Key of Tredagh Finally This Town is Governed by a Mayor Aldermen and Sheriffs and is a County of it self and stands in a plain open fruitful and Champion Country To this Town came the Lord Moor with his Troop of Horse from his House at Mellefont upon the first notice of the Irish Rebellion even on the Twenty third of October about Midnight and being alarm'd by the dismal Stories of some which had escaped the Cruelties of the Rebels he caused the Mayor and Aldermen to be awakened and excited them to a speedy and vigorous Preparation for their Defence They promised fairly but acted slowly insomuch that altho' many hundreds of the Townsmen well armed used to appear on Muster-days yet now they could not get above Forty Men together and those but very ill armed but afterwards the Number encreased to Two hundred However this Noble Lord was not discouraged but having got some old Guns out of a Dungeon and Four more and some Powder out of a Ship in the Harbor he scowred the Ditch and repaired the Walls and mounted his Artillery and reviewed Captain Nettervill's and Captain Rockby's half Companies each consisting of Forty four Men of the Standing Army and did every thing else in his power that was necessary for the Defence of the Place Nevertheless finding that all this would not do without farther Succour he went to Dublin in a dark Night and effectually represented to the Government the Weakness and Importance of Drogheda and offered to augment his own Troop of Sixty to a hundred and to raise a hundred Foot at his own Charge But what he obtained was a Promise That Succours should be speedily sent And in the mean time Captain Seafoul Gibson had a Commission and Arms for a hundred and twenty Men which he raised in Tredagh in two Hours time and that very Night they were set on the Watch and were kept to so hard Duty that this Captain and the Lord Moor did watch Ten Nights together in their own Persons which was the more troublesom to them because they were frequently on every day especially at Church-time disturb'd with Alarms purposely made by the Popish Inhabitants to distract them And altho' the Lord Moor had the good Success in several Sallies and Excursions to kill Two hundred of the Rebels and to take Eighty Prisoners whereof Six only were hang'd yet the Popish Townsmen finding that no Supply was come to the Town nor as they thought likely to come and that on the contrary the Rebels had taken Dundalk and Drâ—miskin formed several Contrivances to give up the Town One Night when they design'd it they were prevented by a Rumour That the Protestants had re-taken Newry and another Night Captain Nattervill who had form'd his half Company to his mind and was in
Assistance of the Lord Digby they brought the matter so far to bear that on the 12th of November the Lord Digby writes thus to the Lord Lieutenant Yesterday the Lord Clanrickard and I finished our Negotiations to which Preston and his Army and Sir Philem O Neal and part of Owen Roes Army will submit You may depend on this Engagement of Preston and his Army since it cannot be violated without such a Perâ—idy ☞ as certainly the Profession of Soldiers and Gentlemen hath never been guilty of The most that will be expected from you is a Declaration to this effect That whereas it is well known even by His Majesties Printed Letters that His gracious Intentions were to secure His Catholick Subjects of this Kingdom in the free Exercise of their Religion by repeal of the Penalties of the Law against them which in the last Articles was left out by the Subtilty of some of their own Party who intended to found this late mischief upon it that it was far from His Majesties intention or Yours to take advantage of that Omission but that they may rest as secure of His Majesties Favour in the repeal of the said Penalties as if it had been positively exprest in the Articles and that for matter of their Churches and Ecclesiastical Possessions it being referred to the King it was far from Your intentions to molest them therein till you knew His Majesties Pleasure in that particular As for your Engagement to obey His Majesties free Commands the Queen and Prince of Wales and my Significations to the advantage of the Catholicks during His Majesties want of Freedom and that you will not obey such Commands to the prejudice of what is undertaken as shall be procured by advantage of His Majesties want of Freedom Your Letter to the Marquis of Clanrickard will suffice you must proceed frankly c. And this was the Posture of Affairs when on the 14th of November Commissioners arrived from the Parliament with Fourteen hundred Foot and other Necessaries for the Preservation of Dublin which they expected to be given up to them upon the Terms proposed In what Condition was the Marquiss of Ormond now he had two inconsistent Treaties upon his hands and both well nigh concluded and he was in Danger least his own Army who abhorred any farther Correspondence with the Irish would with the Assistance of the Fourteen hundred Men newly come Deliver up both Dublin and him to the Parliament of England It is certain he had need of all that Dexterity and Presence of mind that he was Master of to extricate himself out of these Difficulties as he afterwards did It was never a Doubt with him whether he should preserve the Kingdom for his Majesty or submit it to the Parliament but the Question was whether an Union with the Irish would do the former since their Levity was such as that there could be no dependance upon them I have seen all the dispatches between Ormond and Digby upon this occasion and can assure the Reader that the Lord Lieutenant was prevailed upon against his own Judgment by the Lord Digby's importunity and when he did Consent he foretold the issue of that Reconciliation But we will first give an Account of the Treaty with the Parliament Commissioners and then discover the farther Proceedings with the Irish The Lord Lieutenant and Council being pressed by Enemies without and Necessities and intolerable Wants in the City did on the 26th day of September by Letters to the King and to the Lord Mayor of London represent the miserable Condition they were in and did also send over the Lord Chief Justice Lowther Sir Francis Willoughby and Sir Paul Davis in one of the Parliaments ships to the Parliament of England with Instructions from himself and the Council and other Instructions from the Council only The Instructions from the Lord Lieutenant and Council were 1. That a Difference ought to be made the between those that were Contrivers and first Actors of the Rebellion and those that by the Torrent of that Rebellion were afterwards accidently engaged therein and that the Confiscatitions of the former were sufficient to satisfie the Adventurers 2. That they demonstrate the necessity of making the late Peace for the Preservation of the Protestants for tho' the Protestants do survive the breach of the Peace the Reason is because the Irish are now divided and their Frame of Government dissolved 3. That before the Peace they the Lord Lieutenant and Council did enter into a Treaty with the Parliament Commissioners in Ulster to prevent it but by the Departure of the Marquis of Argile into Scotland and of Sir Robert King into England that Treaty fell for want of a sufficient number of the Commissioners and that misfortune was followed by the defeat of Monroe and the Scots at Bemburb 4. That England has receiv'd advantage by the Peace First by their experience of the perfidiousness and Treachery of the Irish ☞ And Secondly by obtaining just cause to use them severely 5. That the Covenant may not be impos'd until it be done by Act of Parliament that nothing of it may be now imposed lest it divide the Protestants and hinder them from a joynt prosecution of the War and for the same Reason the Book of Common Prayer be not suppressed but let those use the Directory that will 6. To â—ustifie the Goverment and Conduct of His Majesties Servants and to wipe off all Scandals 7. To preserve the Estates Persons and Imployments of all those that went hence to serve His Majesty in England and did not joyn with the Rebels at least to get them Liberty to compound or to transport themselves and their Goods 8. That it be immediately published we have free Commerce and Traffick with the Parliaments Towns and Allies and that three or four Ships be sent to Guard our Coasts from the Rebels 9. That Magazines of all sorts be speedily prepared at Liverpool Chester c. 10. To advise them that if Succours be not immediately sent all will be lost and the recovery of it will cost ten times as much Blood and Treasure as it will to keep it now 11. That if the Soldier be not constantly Paid he will revolt to the better Pay-master and that the Revenue here does not keep the publick Persons and Clergy from want 11. That Directions be sent to the Parliaments Forces in Ulster Munster and Conaught to correspond and joyn with Us. 12. That if they send Forces under their own Officers Care be taken to Pay ours equally with theirs to prevent Difference and Mutiny 13. That Sir Francis Butler Colonel Richard Gibson Colonel Henry Warren Colonel Monk and Lieutenant Colonel Gibs now Prisoners with the Parliament Being Men that know the Country and are experienced in the Service may be rather sent than Novices and Strangers or any others Lastly Men without Money and Victuals will do us more harm than good And if as soon as you are
not obtain license for their Transportation from the Parment tho it seemed to be their Interest to get so easily rid of so many Enemies But it is time to attend the new Governors and see how they handle the Irish and manage their Affairs One of the first things they did was to reduce the eleven old broken Regiments to seven under the Earl of Kildare the Lord Moor and the Colonels Titchburn Borlace Willoughby Bayly and Flower and then they made Colonel Michael Jones Governor of Dublin and Commander in chief of the Province of Leinster and on the 20th of June they did by their Proclamation strictly prohibit the Exactions and Free Quarter of the Army whereupon the Soldiers grew so mutinous that Mr. Annesley and Sir Robert King were obliged to quit the Kingdom for a time for fear of Violence and by another Proclamation of the same date they prohibited the use of the Common Prayer which occasioned an excellent Petition or Declarat on from the Episcopal Clergy to be found at large Burlace Appendix 94. And it is fit we should also enquire how the valiant Confederates who did insult so sawcily on the Necessities of an Imprisoned King did behave themselves against the more powerful Parliament and indeed they began pretty well at first though they paid dear for it afterwards for General Jones having marched some Men out of Dublin was met by General Preston within 12 miles of the City and beaten back again whereupon Preston whose Army was 10000 strong possessed himself of most of the Out-Garisons even to within 8 miles of Dublin and then went to besiege Trim wherein lay a Regiment of Foot and some Horse under Colonel Fenwick To relieve this place by diversion Jones on the 17th of July marched out of Dublin with 1000 Foot and 400 Horse and burned Castlemartin and took good Prey from Castlebawne but the Irish fell upon his Rear near Johnstown and killed Captain Meredith a Gentleman of clear Valour and great Hopes and several others and had destroyed them all if this Retreat had not been managed with excellent Conduct and extraordinary Courage And though some Men's Courage like a Fever proceeds rather from Distemper than Constitution and acts distractedly whilst it is in ferment but is soon allayed and suppressed yet true Valour is like Fire the more Oyl is cast upon it the more it flames and true Fortitude is so far from being daunted by Adversity that it is rather thereby stimulated to new Encounters And thus it was with Jones who disdained these Baffles he had received from the Irish and was resolved to regain his Reputation and retrieve the Glory of his Nation or dye and accordingly on the first day of August he drew out two Regiments of Horse and 3800 Foot half starved Soldiers that were ready to mutiny for want he had also some Artillery and what else he thought requisite to relieve Trim. But Preston having notice of this March raised the Siege and designed to get between the English and Dublin and so to have surprized that City whilst the other relieved Trim but Jones being reinforced by Sir Henry Tichbourn from Tredagh and Colonel Moor from Dundalk Colonel Conway and some Scots and others from Newry Carling ford c. amounting in all to 700 Horse and 1200 Foot followed Preston who besides what the Lord Dillon of Costilogh and the two Nugents brought him had effectually 7300 Foot and 1047 Horse and overtook him at Dungan Hill Battel of Dungan Hill where it came to a fair Battel on the 8th of August and Jones by plain Valour and downright Blows obtained the greatest and most entire Victory that had been gained during the War for there were slain on the place 5470 Men besides many that were gleaned up afterwards amounting in all to 6000 and there were 5 Colonels and 4 Lieutenant Colonels 6 Majors 32 Captains 23 Lieutenants 27 Ensigns 2 Cornets 22 Sergeants 2 Quartermasters 2 Gunners the Clerk of the Store 13 Troopers and 228 Common Soldiers taken Prisoners the Cannon and Carriages and 64 fair Oxen for the Train were also taken and which is most strange there were not above 20 English men slain in this fierce Encounter which happened that very day Twelve-month the Nuncio and Clergy at Waterford had broken the Peace of 1646 and therefore Mr. Beling reckons this Defeat as a Judgment on the Irish for their perfidious breach of that Peace The reason of so great a Slaughter was because the Irish Foot fled to a Bog and the English surrounded it and so had the killing of them all and indeed the extraordinary Valour of Major James Clotworthy ought not to be forgotten for he not only killed the Cannonier just as he was ready to fire but also tought so desperately that his Horse received 17 wounds and was killed and himself had two Shot in his Armour Upon this Defeat the Irish quitted and burnt Naas Sigginstown Collanstown Castlewarding and Moyglare and had been forced to quit more but that Pay and Provision grew so scant that the Army was fain to return to Dublin where 1500 l. was newly arrived and not long after greater Supplies were sent over together with 1000 l. for a Present to General Jones for his extraordinary good Service But that which is prodigiously Strange and almost Incredible is That the Nuncio the Clergy and the old Irish did rather rejoyce than grieve at this Misfortune of Preston's for his Army were old English of the Pale and but half-pac'd Nuncioâ—ists so that they could hardly be trusted And now the Clergy were rid of them by this Defeat and Owen Roe who was their Darling became General of the three Provinces and under him Sir Thomas Esmond commanded the Foot and Colonel Peirce Butler the Horse in Leinster Lieutenant General Farrel and Henry O Neal in Conaught and Major General O Neal and Sir Philem O Neal in Ulster And though Preston did pretend to recruit his Forces yet it was so faintly and slowly that small regard was had of him Owen Roe being thus qualified marched to visit his Province of Leinster and Jones being recruited at Dublin and afterwards joyned with Monk at Trim In October marched forward to face him but the Irish General was more cunning than to fight and lose all his Army at once as Preston had done and for which Owen Roe often laughed at him and therefore suffered the English to take Ashboy and Portlester and some other small places even whilst he looked on and so being loaden with Prey and Pillage Jones and Monk returned the one to Dublin any the other to Ulster And not long after Jones marched with Borlace's and Willoughby's Regiments into the County of Wicklow November 24. to settle them in Wicklow and Newcastle but in his absence Owen Roe burnt the Country from Castleknock to Drogheda and so near to Dublin that 200 Fires were discerned from St. Ann's Steeple in that City But it is time
him And having setled the Civil and Military Affairs at Dublin and mustered and rested his Army he committed that City to the Government of Sir Theophilus Jones and on Friday the 30th of August marched out with 10000 Men and on Munday the 2d of September he came before Tredagh This Town being very considerable and esteemed pretty strong was the chief care of the Lord-Lieutenant who omitted nothing that was possible to fit it for a Siege the Garrison he put in it was part of his own Regiment under Sir Edm. Venry 400 Coll. Birn's Regiment 400 Coll. Warren 900 Coll. Wall 800 Lord of Westmeath 200 Sir James Dillon 200 and Horse 200 amounting in all to 2900 Foot and 200 Horse besides 500 Foot that he sent in under Lieutenant-Collonel Griffin Cavenagh together with 500 l. in Money whilst Cromwell lay before the Town And over these he placed a Governour beyond exception Sir Arthur Aston formerly Governour of Reading and afterwards of Oxford a Souldier of great Reputation and Experience It is needless to make a long story of a short Siege and therefore it will be enough to say That altho' the Governor had assured the Lord-Lieutenant That he would find the Enemy play and that the Garrison being select Men was so strong that the Town could not be taken by Assault and therefore advis'd Ormond then at Trim to hazard nothing by precipitating to his Relief Yet Cromwell who besieged the Town but on one side and without the formality of regular Approaches began his Battery on the 9th of September and the very next day at five in the evening stormed it and altho' his Men were twice beaten off and Collonel Cassels slain yet he led them on himself the third time and carried the Town and put most of the Garrison to the Sword and the rest being not above thirty he sent to Barbadoe's This terrible Execution so frightned the rest of the Garrisons that Dundalk immediately submitted and so did some other Castles near Trim and then Cromwell returned to Dublin But one thing is very remarkable and ought not to be omitted and that is That tho' there were several Protestants in the Town yet were the Popish Souldiers so insolent and so unjust to their Protestant Companions even in the midst of their Adversity that on Sunday the 8th of September they thrust the Protestants out of St. Peter's Church in Drogheda and publiquely celebrated Mass there tho' they had Monasteries and other convenient places besides for that purpose And suitable to this is that which the Bishop of Derry in his Letter of the 9th of October affirmed to the Lord-Lieutenant viz. That the Earl of Roscomon being then dead at Limerick they were fain to be very private in their Devotions and doubted whether they should be permitted to use Funeral-Rites even privately in the Chamber But why do I instance such Trifles after the Earl of Orrery has assured us that an Irish General told the Lord-Lieutenant at Kilkenny That if the King came there in person he should not be allowed a Church to celebrate his Devotion in To which his Excellency replied That he hoped to see all of that mind without a Church to say Mass in Ireland In the mean time the King who from the Hague had written the 2d April 1649 that he designed speedily for Ireland and had accordingly been preparing for that Voyage did now by his Letters of the 29th of August assure the Lord-Lieutenant That he is not discouraged by the Defeat at Rathmines but still designs for that Kingdom if his Lordship thinks fit And his Majesty did also by his Letters of the 17th of July from St. Germans order 800 l. per an out of the forfeited Estates to be setled on General Preston and to create him Viscount Taragh and accordingly that General did pass Patent for the Estate of Francis Viscount Mountnorris Father of the late Earl of Anglesey and on the 2d day of July 1650 he pass'd Patent for his Honour But Cromwell having Cashiered the seven old Regiments form'd by the Parliament Commissioners Anno 1647 and setled Affairs in Dublin to his mind left Collonel Hewson Governor of that City and marched South-ward through the County of Wicklow and having taken Arklow Fernes Insscorfy and some other lesser places and a good quantity of Provisions in a Monastery deserted by the Fryers he came before Wexford on the first day of October and immediately Summon'd the Town The Governour Collonel David Synot did thereupon send out a Messenger with Proposals of Surrender but indeed so high and extravagant as manifested his design was but to gain time by the Parly as he did until the Earl of Castlehaven found means to put a Regiment of Foot into the place and within three days after the Marquess of Ormond sent in Sir Edmund Butler and 1000 Men more all Papists for the Town 's Men would admit no other Nevertheless it so happened that within two hours after these last Recruts were come in and whilst more were wafting over the Ferry Captain James Stafford a Papist surrendered the Castle of Wexford to Cromwell upon Articles whereupon the Guns thereof were immediately turn'd upon the Town at which both Souldiers and Inhabitants were so frightned that they quitted the Walls and endeavoured to escape over the River But the Cromvelests perceiving their Cowardize presently clapt Scaling-ladders to the Walls and took the Town by Storm and put all they found in Arms to the Sword to the number of 2000 Men and Sir Edmond Butler himself was shot in the head as he was swiming over the River But we must attend the Lord-Lieutenant and enquire what he did towards the Defence of the Kingdom and we shall find that he did all that was possible for one in his circumstances his main dependance was upon the Conjunction of Owen Roe's Forces and the bravery of the Lord of Insiquin's Horse and in expectation of some good effects from these he staid at Trim during the Siege of Tredagh designing as soon as Owen Roe should come up to endeavour to raise that Siege but that General did not come in time the Agreement with him not being finished until the 12th day of October upon the Tearms mentioned by P. W.'s Remonstrance 597 and Insiquin's Cavalry being most of them English-men did not care to fight against their Friends and Country-men and therefore daily revolted to Cromwell even by Scores and Squadrons which drew that Lord back again to secure his Garrisons in Munster which about this time began to Mutiny However after Tredagh was taken Ormond put a good Garrison into Trim and endeavoured to Rendezvouz his Forces at Kilkenny he press'd Wexford to accept of a Garrison but they would have none except a few Companies of their own chusing under Lieutenant-Collonel Synot who was a Creture of their Bishop of Fernes Nevertheless the Lord-Lieutenant omitted nothing within his power for their Defence but as he heard of Cromwell's
Name of ourselves and the rest of our Brethren the Archbishops and Bishops of this Kingdom whereby we avow testify declare and protest before GOD and the World That since our General Meeting at Clanmacnoise or here we have omitted nothing that did occur unto us tending to the advancement of his Majesty's Interest and the Good of the Kingdom generally but have there and then ordered and decreed all to us appertaining or which was in our power necessarily conducing to the publick Conservation of his Majesty and his Subjects Interest And also do and have endeavoured to root out of Mens hearts all Jealousies and sinister Opinions conceived either against your Excellency or the present Governmen as by our Acts there conceived maâ— appear And aster our parting from thence in pursuance of our unanimous Resolution taken in that place we have accordingly declared to our respective Flocks our happy Agreement amongst ourselves and our earnest desire to labour with them to those ends and made use of our best perswasions for the purchasing of their Alacrity and chearful Concurrence to the Advantage of that Service So that if any thing was wanting of due Correspondence sought by your Ezcellency we conceive it cannot be attributed to any want of care or diligence in us And for further intimation of our hearty desires on all occasions to serve our King and Country we declare That we are not yet deterred for want of good Success in the Affairs of the Kingdom but rather animated to give further Onsets and try all other possible Ways Wherefore we most humbly entreat your Excellency to give us some particular Instructions and to prescribe some Remedies for and touching the Grievances presented by us to your Excellency for pacifying of Discontented Minds and put us in a way how to labour further in so good a Cause And we do faithfully promife that no Industry or Care shall be wanting in us to receive and execute your Conditions And in conclusion We leave to all impartial judicious Persons sad and serious Considerations to think how incredible it is that we should fail to oppose to the uttermost of our power the fearful and inceasing Potency of a Rebellious and Malignant Murderer of our late Soveraign King Charles to which Enemy also nothing seemeth more odious than the Names of Kings and Bishops and who aims at nothing so much as the Dethroning of our now Gracious King Charles the Second and the final Extirpation of our Natives in case as God forbid Events and Successes would fall suitable to his most wicked Designs So far we thought necessary to declare to your Excellency from ourselves as the sence likewise and true meaning of the rest of our Brethren other Bishops of this Kingdom Dated at Loghreogh the 28th of March Anno Domini 1650. Jo. Archiepiscopus Tuamensis Wa. Episcopus Confert Fran. Aladensis Rob. Corcagen Cluanensis Fr. Hugo Episcopus Duacensis But notwithstanding the specious pretences and fair promises in this Declaration they verified Cromwell's observation of them That they prefer'd their own Interest before the King 's and that their professions in favour of Protestants were hypocritical For although they desired Instructions so earnestly as if they meant to observe them yet having received Instruction to bring the City of Limerick to a better temper they did nothing effectually in it though they did colourably send Sir Richard Everard and Doctor Fennell to treat with that City and they carried with them Letters from the Commissioners of Trust to the Mayor and from the Bishops to the Archbishop of Cashell and Bishop of Limerick which if sincerely wrote could not in reason fail of producing some effect But the cause of suspecting their sincerity did not proceed barely from the unsuccessfulness of their Endeavours but also from a discovery of the dishonest manner of their proceedings with the Lords of Ormond and Insiquin whilst they were at Limerick for whilst some of the Prelates and leading Men of that City came to his Excellency under shew of Friendship and Respect and informed him That the Waywardness and Dissatisfaction of the People proceeded from their Aversion to Insiquin who had always prosecuted the War against them with Rigour and Animosity and had defiled himself with the Blood of the Religious at Cashel and of whom they could have no Assurance since his Principal Confidents betrayed the Towns of Munster but if his Excellency would dismiss that Lord and disband his Troops that then the whole Nation as one Man would be at his disposal Another party of Popish Bishops and other leading Men addressed themselves to Insiquin and assured him That they expected no Success under the Conduct of Ormond because he was not of their Nation and was so indulgent to English Interest and English-men that he little regarded them or theirs But if his Lordship who was of the most Ancient and Noble Extraction of Ireland had the Supreme Command then all would be well But these two Lords compared Notes and thereby discovered the bottom of the Contrivance which was to create a Quarrel between them that so they might the easier get rid of them both And indeed from that time forward Ormond had so small hopes of the Irish that he employed the Bishop of Derry to treat with some forreign Prince about transporting 5 or 6000 Men into their Service at usual Rates and he designed to go with them himself and having no means to support Insiquin's Army he did at the importunity of the Commissioners of Trust who were as weary of the Engling as the English were of them disband Insiquin's Forces except Collonel Buller's Regiment which was designed to be sent to the King from Galway And on the first of May Dean Boyle now Lord Primate was employed by Ormond and Insiquin to treat with Cromwell Upon what Terms the Protestants of their Party might be received into Protection In the mean time the King by his Letter of the 11th of March from Beauvois informs the Lord-Lieutenant That one Rochfort from Lieutenant-General Farrell and one Daly disguised under the Name of Dominico de Rosario were with his Majesty and represented Ormond as backward in granting Graces and Favours to the Irish But the King advises him to persevere and if need be rather to exceed in Concessions about Civil Matters than in Matters of Religion and that if there must be farther Concessions in Religion that thâ—n they should be made in general Terms with reference to a future Parliament and gives him full power to do as he sees fit and desires to know whether if he fail with the Scots he may conveniently come for Ireland And indeed this had been the proper time for his Majesty to have come thither and the Marquess of Ormond did invite him to do so and the Queen Mother on the 10th of March 1649 sent the Lord Byron on purpose to press him to the Voyage and to get the Scotch Commissioners consent thereunto And it
and Garrisons of Inniskilling Culmore Cloghouter Castlejordan Carlingford Monaghan c. they made no considerable Resistance And in Munster Sir Henry Ingolsby went with a party to block up Limerick in July and had the good fortune to rout 4000 Irish that came to relieve it whereof 900 were slain and many taken Prisoners and Colonel Phair in August not only disturbed the Lord Insiquin's Levies in Kerry but also took in the Castle of Kilmurry and was very troublesome to the Lords Roch and Muskry But Ireton having refreshed his Army at Waterford marched through Wicklow and having taken a prey of 1600 Cows he sent Sir Har dress Waller with half of them to re-inforce the Blockade of Limerick and Waller in his march did take the strong Castles of Balliglaughan Ballycubane and Garygaglan and on the 9th of September summoned Limerick but it was in vain for the same Hugh O Neil that made the brave Resistance at Clonmell was now Governour of that City Ireton himself marched on to Sir Charles Coot and being joyned they went to Athlone but the Bridge being broke and the Town on Leinster side burnt Ireton left Coot there and having in his way taken two Castles in Mac Coghlan's Country together with Bi r which the Irish had deserted and burnt he came before Limerick but finding the Year too far spent and that Limerick could not be forced unless it were attacked on both sides the River he endeavoured to get Killaloo pass and so having taken Nenagh Castletown and Dromaneer he went into Winter-quarters to Kilkenny on the 10th of November In the mean time part of the Marquess of Clanrickard's Forces had retaken Bi r and the other two Castles in Mac Coghlan's Country and pretended to relieve Athlone if it should be distressed Whereupon Colonel Axtell Govenour of Kilkenny being joyned with the Wexford and Typerary Forces at Roscrea encountered them near Meleak-Island on the 25th day of October and gave them a sore Defeat killing 1500 Men and taking 200 Horse and all their Baggage In the mean time the Duke of Lorrain not having finished his Negotiations at Rome which I formerly mentioned continued his Dissimulation of Zeal for Religion and of concern for the Roman Catholick Irish whereupon the Lord Taaf whom Ormond had sent to the King to get forreign Supplies if possible finding that the King was in Scotland so that he could not get access to him made such importunate Application to the Duke of Lorrain that he procured the Abbot of Saint Catharines with some small Supplies to be sent to the Clergy and Catholick Nobility and Gentry of Ireland Ormond being then in France This Agent or Ambassador landed in the latter end of February 1650 at Galway and as soon as he understood that Clanrickard was left Lord-Deputy he gave his Excellency notice of his Arrival and afterwards shewed him his Credentials and assured his Excellency that the Duke his Master had so entire an affection to the King of England the prefervation of whose Interest in that Kingdom was the chief motive to him to offer his Assistance that if he had known any person had been intrusted there with his Majesty's Authority he would have Addressed himself unto him and no other and that he finding his Lordship invested with that power did what he knew his Master expected at his hands apply himself unto him with and by whose Directions he would alone steer himself through that Negotiation He told him the Duke had already disbursed 6000 Pistols for the supplying them with those things he heard they stood most in need of which were brought over by a Religious Person who came with him and that he was ready to be informed of what they would desire from his Highness that might enable them to resist their Enemy and that he would consent to any thing that was reasonable for him to undertake Hereupon a Committee of the Commissioners of Trust and some Prelates was appointed to Treat with him but as the Abbot varied from his first Proposals so the Popish Clergy did change and very from the Lord-Deputy's Instructions and turned out some of the Committee who would not comply with them and put in others in their room and though the Lord-Deputy prohibited their further progress in the Treaty upon such dishonourable Terms as the Abbot now propos'd yet they would go on to conclude it and thought they had excused their presumption well enough by saying That the Abbot would not consent to any other and that it was better to submit to hard Conditions than to break of the Treaty Whereupon the Lord. Deputy was so disgusted that he left the Town and refused to receive a Visit from this Ambassador that had so manifestly prevaricated from his first pretences By this stifness in the Lord Deputy the concluded Treaty vanished into smoak but the Abbot knowing his Master's design would not totally break off the Correspondence but on the contrary began to talk more mildly and as if the Duke would do very kind things if Agents were sent unto him Which being made known to the Lord-Deputy he appointed Sir Nicholas Plunket and Jeffery Brown for that Embasie and gave them such Instructions as he thought fit But the Prelates did not like that a matter of this importance should be managed without them and therefore under pretence of solliciting the Archbishop of Mecklin the Bishop of Leige and other Ecclesiasticks for Assistance they * Episcopi clerus multi alii precipui nobiles ac Magistratus earum Duarum civium quae Catholicis restabant Vindiciae Eversae 21. Vide the Commission Appendix 47. drew in some of the bigotted Nobility and Gentry and together impowered the busie Bishop of Ferns to interest himself in the Treaty with the Duke of Lorrain which he did with that Confidence and Rashness that was peculiar to him and spoiled whatever he meddled with and particularly the Negotiation in hand And that the World may know P. W. 585. they regard Clanrickard no more than Ormond that this Bishop and those of his party had no more regard to the King's Authority in the Roman Catholick hands of the Marquess of Clanrickard than whilst it remained with the Heretick Marquess of Ormond it is necessary to add the Bishop of Ferns's Letter to these Agents Plunket and Brown who were then in the same City with him viz. Brussels I Do with all sincerity offer mine own Opinion what is to be done by you in this Exigent which is to the end the Agreement you are making with his Highness the Duke of Lorrain become profitable to the Nation and acceptable in the Eyes of God that you would immediately with humble hearts make a Submission unto his Holiness in the Name of the Nation and beg the Apostolical Benediction that the Light of Wisdom the Spirit of Fortitude Victories Grace Success and those Blessings of God we one time enjoyed may return again to us The necessity of doing
Peck full of Charms some of which had it thus written upon them This is the print of our Lady's Foot and whoever wears it and says twenty Ave Maries shall be free from Gun-shot And the like Charms were to free them from Pike or Sword as the party desired it And lastly that a bold Horse of the Lord Broghill's being ' twice wounded in this Battle became afterwards so cowardly that he was fit for nothing but the Coach But 't is time to return to Ireton who signified his Joy at this Victory by three Vollies of Shot throughout his Camp Nevertheless he found no likelihood of taking the City but on the contrary received many brisk Sallies from them in one of which they slew three hundred of his Men so that probably he had gone without it for that Year if the Town 's Men who had been always mutinous had not continued in the same humour still and pressed for a Parly Whereupon the Clergy threatned to Excommunicate them if they offered to Treat with the Enemy which in effect was they said To give up the Prelates to be slaughtered And they did actually fix a perpetual Interdict upon the Church-doors and other publique places but alass those Fulminations had been too loosely and impertinently used to retain any vertue now in time of need So that without any regard to them Colonel Fennell seized on St. John's Gate and the Mayor supplied him with Powder and countenanced him in the resolution to give up that Post to the Enemy unless the Garrison would consent to Capitulate In fine they did on the 29th day of October surrender that strong and important City upon severe Articles wherein the Governour the Bishop of Limerick and twelve more were excepted by Name as to Life and some of them particularly the Bishop of Emly and Alderman Dominick Fanning were executed it was computed that they lost 5000 People in the City during the Siege mostly by the Plague and other Sickness nevertheless after the surrender there marched out 1300 Souldiers and there still remained in the City 4000 Irish-men able to bear Arms. Limerick being thus taken and Sir Hardress Waller being made Governour of the City Ireton on the Fourth of November march'd towards Galway and being joyn'd with Sir Charles Coot they took Clare from whence Ireton sent a Message to the Town of Galway offering them good Conditions if they submit without putting him to farther trouble and severely threatning them if they refused the proffered Articles and it is probable these Comminations might have made impressions upon them if Ireton's Death which hapned at Limerick on the Twenty-sixth of November had not given them respite But it must not be forgotten that during the Siege of Limerick Sir Charles Coot encountered a Party of Fitz-Patrick's and O Dwir's Forces that had retaken Meleke Island and tho' they behav'd themselves so well that they bafled his Foot two or three times yet by the bravery of his Horse he worsted them at last and killed and drowned 300 of them and made the same Number accept of Quarter for Life But Ireton being dead the Parliament Commissioners at Dublin appointed Lieutenant-General Ludlow Commander in Chief of the Army until further Order should be taken in England in that matter And in the mean time Sir Charles Coot blockt up Galway at a distance and when Ludlow came to him they drew so near that the Assembly which sat there did in February importune the Lord Deputy to permit them to Treat with the Enemy about Conditions for the Settlement of the Nation protesting That they would insist upon advantagious and profitable Terms but the Lord-Deputy knowing it was more proper for him than for them to Treat for the Nation did on the Fourteenth of February write to the Commander in Chief of the Parliament's Forces upon that subject but he had no grateful Reply the English being resolv'd not to admit any Treaty for the Nation in general but those that would Capitulate should do it onely for themselves or the Towns and Places they respectively belong'd unto The Year 1652 began with the Surrender of Galway to Sir Charles Coot which happened on the Twelfth of May before any Storm or Assault was attempted and without consulting the Lord-Deputy tho' he was within half a days Journey of the place but indeed they had better Conditions than they could have had if the Parliaments Commissioners had been made acquainted with the matter and perhaps there was reason for it because the Town was exceeding strong and the loss thereof carried with it the Fate of Ireland and the determination of the Rebellion for what little Contests happened from henceforward do hardly deserve the Name of A Tory War Roscomon and James-Town were Surrendered to Col. Reynolds on the 27th of April and in Munster there was not a Garrison left them but Ross in the County of Kerry which being a Castle in an Island was thought impregnable but Ludlow caused a small Ship to be made and had it carried over the Mountains and set a float in the Lough at the sight of which the Irish were so astonish'd that they yielded up the place on the 27th of June and Inchylough was also surrendered to Col. Zanky on the first of August and about the same time the Lords of Westmeath and Muskry O Connor Roe Sir William Dungan Sir Francis Talbot and others submitted upon these Conditions ☞ That they should abide a Tryal for the Murders committed in the beginning of the Rebellion and those that onely assisted in the War were to forfeit two Thirds of their Estates and be Banished And tho' the Lord-Deputy did on the 16th of May take Ballishannon and the Castle of Donegal yet both those places together with Sligo and Ballymote were soon regain'd by Coot and Venables and the Lord-Deputy forc'd to shelter himself in the Isle of Carrick and having no part to friend nor any Party he could trust he also submitted upon very honourable Conditions Of not having any Oath imposed upon him and of having liberty to transport 3000 Men into the Service of any Prince in Amity with England And so on the 16th of March he was transported to England in a Parliament Ship and not long after died in London In the mean time Col. Charles Fleetwood who had married Ireton's Widdow was made Commander in chief of the Forces in Ireland he landed in the latter end of August and found the Military Service of the Kingdom in a manner finish'd so that what remain'd to manage were the Civil Affairs which were committed to him and the rest of the Commissioners of Parliament And they began their Administration of those Matters by Erecting a High Court of Justice to try those that were accus'd of the barbarous Murders committed in this Rebellion The first Court of this sort that was held in Ireland was upon the 4th of October at Kilkenny before Justice Donelan President and Commissary-General Reynolds
England in sending for and impeaching one of the Members then sitting and that it was declared in Print by their order that Ireland if nam'd is bound by an English Statute which is against Law and Custom for Four Hundred Years past and though they had notice of the Protestation made by the English Parliament against Catholicks and their Intention to make Laws for the extirpation of that Religion in the Three Kingdoms and had notice of the cruel and bloody Execution of Priests in England meerly for being Priests and that his Majesty had not power enough left to save one condemned Priest and that the Catholicks of England being the Parliaments own Flesh and Blood must either suffer or depart the Land and much more must the Irish being not so nearly related to them if they should once get Jurisdiction in Ireland yet all this did not prevail with the Remonstrants to take Defensive much less Offensive Arms they still expecting that His Majesty in a short time might be able to yeild them Redress 7. That the Lords Justices c. by untrue Informations and other malicious Contrivances did endeavour to hinder His Majesty from granting Graces to the Irish Committee of Parliament but not prevailing in that they endeavoured to delay and stop them and by misconstruction and misrepresentations of the Irish Parliament endeavoured to possess His Majesty with an ill Opinion thereof and That it had not Jurisdiction in Capital Causes thereby aiming at the Impunity of those Impeached and the Destruction of the Parliament to which that power is essential and that the Lords Justices and their Adherents with the height of Malice envying their Union endeavour'd to sow Dissention in the Irish Parliament and to raise distinction of Nation and Religion and thereby made a Faction which to prevent the Graces passing into Acts Tumultuously cryed to Adjorn the House but being over-voted the Lords Justices said that if they did not Adjorn the Saturday themselves would Prorogue or Adjorn the Parliament on Monday by which means and the multitude of Proxies from Lords that have no Estate in Ireland which is destructive to the Liberty and freedom of Parliament here the Parliament was Adjorn'd on the 7 th of August and tho' the Graces were brought over soon after and the Committee desired the Lords Justices would give notice of them to the People to prevent misunderstanding or despair and an instrument was provided accordingly yet the Lord Justices willing to add Fuel to the Fire of the Subjects discontent did forbear to make such-Publication 8. That many Petitions containing matters Destructive to the Lives Estates and Religion of the Catholicks and directed to the House of Commons in England were promoted at publick Assizes to get hands unto them by Sir William Parsons Sir Adam Loftus Sir John Clotworthy and Arthur Hill Esq and others of the Malignant Party which were the more dreadful because of the said Clotworthy's power in the Parliament of England and his Barbarous and Inhuman expressions in that House against Catholicks and soon after an Order made by that Parliament Not to bow at the name of Jesus came to the knowledge of the Catholicks as also that the Malignant Party there did contrive and Plot to extingish the Irish Religion and Nation Hence some of them considered the deplorable condition they were in by a Statute of 2 Eliz. found amongst the Records but never executed in the Queens time nor discovered till most of the Members of that Parliament were dead which if executed no Catholick could enjoy his Life Liberty or Estate and yet nothing hindred but the Kings Prerogative which the Malignants endeavoured to destroy and then the Plot of Destruction by an Army out of Scotland and another of the Malignant Party in England must be executed the fear of these twofold Destructions and their ardent desire to assert the Prerogative Necessitated some Catholicks to take Arms in maintainance of Religion His Majesties Rights their own Lives Liberties and Estates and immediately thereupon took a solemn Oath and sent several Declarations to the Government and offered to submit to the Parliament of Ireland but the Offers were slighted and the Parliament Prorogued and a Declaration Issued on 23 October Accusing all Catholicks of Disloyalty but upon Application of Catholicks of Quality that the Prorogation was against Law and that a Session of Parliament was the only means to compose matters the Lords Justices knowing that but few would appear yielded to a short Session but limited it so that no Act of Grace or any thing for the Peoples satisfaction might pass that the few that met tho' disarm'd and not permitted a Servant and awed with Muskets presentto their Breasts yet desired leave to sit a short time to expect their fellows and to quiet the Insurrection and that the Graces might be Enacted but this was denied and instead of it a Declaration was propounded that these DISCONTENTED Gentlemen took Armâ— in Rebellious manner which was much resented by the best affected in both Houses but being informed that the Musqueteers had Order to shoot some of them at their going out they through terror gave way to that Declaration 9. However the greater part of the Catholicks and all Cities and Corporations and whole Provinces stood quiet and yet the Lords Justices knowing that many powerful Members of the English Parliament stood in opposition to his Majesty they sent their Addresses to that Parliament stuffed with Calumnies and propos'd to send over Forces to Conquer the Kingdom and they also Arm'd the Malignants in Ireland and the Catholicks even in Dublin and other Cities were not only denyed Arms for their Mony but also Disarm'd and when the Parliament had ordered a Pardon to all that should submit by a day limited Sir William Parsons contriv'd it so that it was publish'd only in two Counties and a short day prefix'd and Freeholders were therein excepted whereby it was manifest the Estates of Catholicks were first aimed at and then their Lives Moreover Sir Charles Coot was sent into Wicklow where he destroy'd Man Woman and Child that had neither Will nor Power to do hurt and others at Santry near Dublin Murdered innocent Husbandmen some whereof were Protestants mistaken for Catholicks meerly to force Fingal to Arms And tho' Complaint was made yet no Redress could be had and therefore the fear of being Murdered oblig'd the Catholicks to quit their Houses and to stand together in their own defence unprovided of Arms as they were hereupon a Proclamation issued 13 December not published till the 15 th requiring George King and others to come in and promising them Protection and another to summon the Lords of the Pale to meet at Council the 17 th But to prevent the effect of these Proclamations the same 15 th of December Sir Charles Coot was sent to burn Clantarf Mr. Kings House and use all acts of Hostility which he performed and this breach of Faith discourag'd the Lords of
superciliously or malitiously of those Actions whereunto they are willing Strangers And this being a Disadvantage whereunto all Commanders have been and ever will be subject we have no Reason to expect an Exemption from it and might therefore pass by this Grievance reserving Our self for an Account of Our Actions till it were required from Us by him to whom only in this Case We are obliged to render one But such is our desire to satisfy those that are faithful to the Cause We have laboured in and may have been stumbled at that Chance of War that We shall give them the Reason and Grounds of Our Undertaking and of the supposed Omission recited in what remains of these Grievances And first it is necessary it should be understood that a little before the time of that Defeat the Condition of Affairs in this Kingdom stood thus The Provinces of Leinster Munster and Connaught were entirely reduced to his Majesty's Obedience except the City of Dublin and Balishannon which were block'd up with a small Number of our Men. But in Vlster the Rebels by the Assistance of Owen O-Neil and the Interruption given to the Lord Viscount Mountgomery by the Scotish Clergy had raised the Seige of London-Derry and were become Masters of the Field About the same time also We had certain Intelligence that Cromwel with a very strong Army a vast Sum of Money and great plenty of all Provisions was ready ship'd for this Kingdom And it was from good Hands intimated unto Us that he purposed his Descent in Munster and that he had Intelligence with some Governour of the Sea-ports there Hereupon it was taken into Consideration at a Council of War whether the blocking up of Dublin should be continued or whether We should not retire from thence to Drogheda Trym and the Garisons adjacent and prepare our selves for securing Munster and making a defensive or offensive War as occasion should afterwards be offered And of this Opinion We were the rather because it was there also concluded that the Lord President of Munster with a good Party of our best Horse should go into Munster to secure it and that the very Day we rose from Finglass and marched to Rathmines Reynolds landed with 600 Horse and 1500 Foot Hereunto it was strongly objected That if We sent away Our heavy Cannon which we proposed should be done the more to facilitate an orderly Retreat the People would despair of the taking of Dublin that they would accompt all that was done as good as nothing unless that City were reduced That they would not consider that the City was to be reduced by distressing it by blocking up which might have securely been done the way We proposed but taking the Matter to be given over and consequently despairing of the Ease they expected by the total Reduction of the Kingdom would grow more and more backward in their Contribution and perhaps be seduced to a Conjunction with Owen O-Neil and a Rejection of the Peace and his Majesty's Authority thereby established over them which even then We found was though under-hand privately and under other Pretences aimed at by some that since have taken the Advantage of the time to declare themselves without Disguise It was also objected that unless Dublin were reduced before Cromwel's Landing with the Force and Treasure we were sure he had in Readiness at the Water-side that it was to be feared he would be able to corrupt many of the English which considering the Treasure he brought with him and the want We were in might as reasonably be apprehended as that Owen O-Neil and his Party should have become Mercenary to Sir Charles Coot Perswaded by these Arguments delivered by the whole Council of War We were resolved to continue before Dublin and to endeavour to approach near unto it to the end to take from them within the Conveniency of grazing betwixt Our Camp and their Works which if it had been effected their Horses being 1200 must in three days have starved and then the Benefit of the Sea would have been with much ease taken from them which would so much have discouraged all their Souldiers that it was probable they would in a few Days more have forced their Officers to a Treaty and Surrender of the City It was then conceived that Baggatrath was the fittest Place to be fortified But before We gave Order for it We sent the Earl of Castle-haven General Preston Sir Arthur Ashton and Major General Purcel to view it who returned unto Us approving the Place as in all Respects fit for our Purpose We then gave the Major General Order to command thither in the beginning of the Night 1500 Foot with Materials to fortify which was the Number advised to be sent by those Persons that had seen it In the Morning at Day-break we went thither and finding the Work not advanced to Our Expectation found fault therewith The Major General told Us That he was so misguided from the Camp thither which was not an English Mile that he came not to the Place till an Hour before Day Yet such was the natural Strength of the Place that being helped with a few Hours Work We conceived it might very well be made good against any Attempt of the Enemy But the better to secure it We put the whole Army in Arms and appointed it to be drawn down near Baggatrath shewing every General Officer where his Charge was and appointing the drawing down some Cannon to an Eminency of Ground commanding the same and some of the Fields leading from Dublin thither And then having been up all Night partly in writing of Dispatches and to be in the better Readiness in case the Enemy upon discovering Our Men marching should sally We retired to take a little Rest which was about nine of the Clock About ten We wakened with the Noise of Shot and before we could get on Horseback Our 1500 Men were beaten out of Baggatrath and soon after was Sir William Vaughan kill'd and the Horse with him routed Whereupon all those in the left Wing except Our Brothers and Colonel Miles Reyly's Regiments ran away without once facing the Enemy and as was alledged which we have not heard disproved against their Officers uttermost Endeavour In short The Rebels gained Field after Field till they came up to the Ordnance and thence into the Rear of Us standing in a Field with a Party of Foot commanded by Colonel Gifford who gave very good Fire upon them for a while but upon Discovery of another Party of the Rebels marching up to their Front some called for Quarter others threw down their Arms and some continued Shooting Then We quitted the Field and endeavoured but in vain several times to rally the Horse These are the Grounds for continuing the blocking up Dublin and this is briefly as much of the manner of the Defeat as We were Witness of and can readily call to mind That his Majesty's Army on that side the River attempted by