six Persons free from all just exception and presuming to offer three of their own naming to our Election After this followed the breaking open our Trunks of Papers there the forcing of the Stores of Corn laid up for his Majesty's Army and therein some Corn belonging to ourself and disposing of all to such uses as they thought fit All which we passed by until that Murtagh O Bryen going unto that City with his Regiment and being there received and continued contrary to our Orders to multiply his Affronts unto us which rendred him the more acceptable to that City came forth with the said Men into the County of Clare and drive away the Cattle of divers of the Inhabitants of the Country who had formerly paid their Contribution unto such as were appointed to receive it Upon whose Sufferance and Complaint thereof we sent our Order unto the Mayor of Limerick to send to us the said Murtagh O Bryen in the condition of a Prisoner by a party of Horse and Foot that we sent thither to receive him To the Commander of which Party we gave order to seize upon the Cattle of the said City and in case Obedience would not be given to our said Warrant to drive them away The Officer did accordingly seize upon the said Cattle but could get no other answer than that the Mayor would send us his answer which came not to us at least in a week after neither did it then shew any thing of Obedience the substance of it being That the Government of that City was committed to Major-General Hugh O Neil and therefore that he would not intermeddle therein Whereas they made the Governour a Cypher and suffered him to act nothing but what they pleased who return'd us that answer unto our Command unto him to send us the said Murtagh O Neil Prisoner And whether the least of the said Offences deserved not worse Usage than Limerick had from us at least if all did not let any indifferent or moderate Men judge What ground we had for giving the like Commissions against Galway will presently be spoken of That the purpose of those Corporations was not to submit unto us is doubtless well known to and infused into them by those Bishops and their Instruments whom we admit not as competent Judges of the Faithful Actions of those Places to the Crown X. That no forreign Nation will Trade with us under his Government for the hard Usage of Captain Antonio and other Owners of Adventurers and especially of the Hollander the Owner of the Ship called the Seven Stars and so we must soon give up to the Enemy for want of Ammunition Eleventhly The vast Sums of Money and the Stock of the People consumed more being spent to lose the Kingdom than the Enemy bestowed to conquer us not accompted for tho' often demanded doth disanimate the People to come again under his Government Twelfthly The Event of War being uncertain if the Nation shou'd be reduced to the Condition of agreeing with the Enemy his Excellency were not a fit Man to agree for the Exercise of our Religion Churches Altars or any thing concerning the same Conclusion The best way offered unto us in this pressing Exigent for the Union of the Nation and keeping them from agreeing with the Enemy is that â—he Marquess of Clanrickard in whom according to the Sense of the Congregation at James-Town we desired the King's Authority should be left before the coming of the King's Declaration may Govern the Nation with the consent of all Parties and the King's Authority from the Lord-Lieutenant which he conceives is in him until an Assembly and to that end that a free and lawful Assembly be made to sit to judge upon the People's preservation and to decree and order what shall be best and safest for the Defence of the Nation touching the King's Authority to be kept over them the Peace to be asserted and made good or to renew the Association or any thing else they shall find best and most expedient Part of this is answered in our Answer to the fifth Article of their Declaration As to the ground of seizing the Hollander here mentioned it was amongst others for these Reasons First For that the Corporation of Galway this last Summer did unwarrantably assume to itself the Power of Judicature in Maritine Affairs and that the Mayor for that time being with what Assistance we know not adjudged and accordingly disposed of a Ship and her Lading as Prize notwithstanding our Inhibition to him at that time and our requiring him to shew upon what pretence he assumed such Power there being upon the place proper Judges deriving Authority from His Majesty to give Judgment in such Cases and notwithstanding that even in the time of Confederacy the like Power was never assumed by them but all Prizes were adjudged by Commission from the Supream Council of the Confederate Catholicks Secondly That notwithstanding we some time the last Summer having first made tender of Farming the Customs to the said Corporation and they refusing it Farmed the same to certain Persons who were at a day long since in part of Payment of the Customs to have delivered us a good proportion of Ammunition wherewith to defend this His Majesty's Kingdom and People against the Rebels yet the said Corporation pretending there was Money due of the Loan-Money promised by them in the beginning of the Year before which they can never make good as appears by their backwardness to come to Accompt gave or suffered violent interruption to be given to the said Farmers in receiving the benefit of their said Bargain and notwithstanding their Application to the Mayor and our Letters in their favour there was no Redress given them nor Punishment inflicted on the Disturbers Whereby we have wanted the Ammunition contracted for and lost many Opportunities of Service against the Rebels and many Places were taken by them for want of the said Ammunition and the remaining part of the Kingdom in apparent hazard of becoming a Prey to the said Rebels Thirdly That the said Corporation when it appeared necessary to us to the Lord Marquess of Clanrickard their Governour and to the Commissioners Authorized in pursuance of the Articles of Peace that for the Defence thereof a Garrison and Governour should be placed in the said Town refused and do still refuse to receive any such Garrison or Governour as by the Articles of Peace they were ☜ and are to receive Which is a breach of the said Peace and Disobedience of a high and criminal nature Fourthly That in the Month of September last there was Published and Declared in the Town of Galway a False Scandalous and Traiterous Excommunication and Declaration against any that shou'd Obey or Adhere unto His Majesty's Government and Authority in us who are onely therewith trusted as Lord-Lieutenant of this His Majesty's Kingdom and another Power and Government without and against His Majesty 's said Government ☜
Fastnesses of that Country at a Place called the Earls Pace he was briskly assaulted by O Rian and his Followers but O Rian being slain by an Arrow shot at him by Nichol the Monk the rest were easily scattered and many of them slain It was here that Strongbow's only Son a Youth about seventeen Years old frighted with the Number and Ululations of the Irish run away from the Battle and made towards Dublin but being informed of his Fathers Victory he joyfully came back to congratulate that Success but the severe General having first reproach'd him with Cowardize caused him to be immediately executed by cutting him off in the Middle with a Sword so great an Abhorrence had they of Dastardliness in those Days that in imitation of the Old Romans they punish'd it with a Severity which how commendable soever it may be in a General was nevertheless unnatural in a Father The Tomb both of Father and Son is yet to be seen in the Body of Christ-Church in Dublin whereon formerly was this bald Epitaph alluding to this Story Nate ingrate Hanmer 147. mihi pugnanti Terga dedisti Non mihi sed Genti Regno quoque Terga dedisti When Strongbow came near Wexford he received the ill News of Fitz-Stephens his Misfortune as also that the Irish had burnt Wexford and were retired to the Island Begory or Betherni and were resolved to kill Fitz-Stephens if they were farther pursued Wherefore he turned aside towards Waterford and march'd to that City where he met Hervy who was returned with Letters from the King wherein the Earl was ordered immediately to repair into England Strongbow presently obeyed and met the King at Newnham near Glocester on his Journey towards Ireland with an Army The Earl behaved himself so dutifully that the King was soon appeased for Strongbow did not only renew his Fealty but did also surrender to the King the City of Dublin and two Cantreds adjoyning and all Forts and Towns bordering on the Sea And on the other side the King was contented that the Earl should enjoy all the rest to him and his Heirs to be held of his Majesty and his Successors and so they marched by Severn-side through South Wales to Pembrook August 1172. and at length embarqu'd at Milford Haven In the mean time O Rorick and the King of Meath took Advantage of Strongbow's Absence in England and Reymond's at Waterford and with their united Forces besieged Dublin But Miles Cogan had the Courage to sally and the Good Fortune to defeat them with the Slaughter of Orourk's Son and many of his Followers On the eighteenth of October Regan M. S. King Henry arrived at Waterford with four hundred Knights and four thousand Soldiers The People of Wexford came with the first to make their court and complimented him with their Prisoner Fitz-Stephens whom the King continued in Prison and smartly chid him for invading Ireland without his Majesties special Licence But this was but a piece of King-craft to ingratiate with the Irish and to get the City of Wexford which Fitz-Stephens was forc'd to part with and to make his humble Submission and then at the King 's second coming to Waterford he was restored to his Liberty and the rest of his Estate To the King at Waterford came Dermond Mac Carthy King of Cork and voluntarily submitted and swore Allegiance He also agreed to pay a certain annual Tribute which being done the King marched to Lismore and thence to Cashel near which on the Banks of the Shure came Daniel O Bryan Prince of Limerick who in like manner submitted and swore Allegiance Whereupon Garrisons were sent to Cork and Limerick and the King returned to Waterford In like manner submitted Daniel Prince of Ossory O Phelin Prince of Decyes and all the great Men of Munster And the King gave each of them a Present and to all of them gracious and kind Reception All the Archbishops Brady 360. Bishops and Abbots of Ireland came unto the King of England at Waterford and received him as King and Lord of Ireland and sware Fealty to him and his Heirs and from every Archbishop and Bishop he received a Chart by which they acknowledged and constituted him King and submitted unto him and his Heirs as their Kings for ever And according to their Example the foresaid Kings and Princes received him as King and Lord of Ireland and became his Men and swore Fealty to him and his Heirs against all Men. These Charters were transcrib'd and the King sent the Transcripts to Pope Alexander who confirm'd by Apostolick Authority to him and his Heirs the Kingdom of Ireland according to the Form of those Charters as aforesaid The King left Robert Fitz-Barnard and his Houshold at Waterford and marched to Dublin through Ossory by the way he received the Submissions of the Prince of Ossory O Carol O Rurk O Chadess O Toole and several others but Rotherick the Monarch came no nearer than the Shannon-Side where Hugh de Lacy and William Fzadeline by Commission received his Oath of Allegiance and agreeed with him for a Tribute and as the rest did he likewise gave Hostages for his Performance so that there was no Prince or great Man in any part of Ireland except Vlster but by his Deputies or in Person did submit to the King Then did the King command to assemble a Synod at Cashel whereunto the Archbishop of Armagh consented afterwards though by reason of his great Age he was not present at the Synod Where after Christmas appeared Christianus Bishop of Lismore the Pope's Legate Donagh Archbishop of Cashel Laurence Archbishop of Dublin and Catholicus Archbishop of Tuum with their Suffragans and Fellow Bishops with divers Abbots Archdeacons Priors Deans and other Prelates And the King sent thither Ralph Abbot of Buldewais Ralph Archdeacon of Landaff Nicholas the Chaplain and divers other good Clerks and they made these following Canons First Cambrensis cap. 35. It is Decreed That all Good Faithful and Christian People throughout Ireland should forbear and shun to marry with their near Kinsfolk and Cousins and marry with such as lawfully they should do Secondarily That Children shall be Catechiz'd without the Church Door and Baptiz'd in the Font appointed in the Churches for the same Thirdly That every Christian Body do Faithfully and Truly pay yearly the Tithes of his Cattle Corn and other his Increase and Profits to the Church or Parish where he is a Parishioner Fourthly That all the Church-Lands and Possessions throughout all Ireland shall be free from all Secular Exactions and Impositions and especially that no Lords Earls or Noblemen nor their Children nor Family shall extort or take any Coyn and Livery Cosheryes nor Cuddyes nor any other like Custom from thenceforth in or upon any of the Church-Lands and Territories And likewise That they nor no other Person do henceforth exact out of the said Church-Lands Old Wicked and Detestable Customs of Coyn and Livery
Annum for the other two parts saving and reserving to the King two Cantreds with the Inhabitants and liberty of building Castles therein The King liked the Proposal well enough and communicated it to the Lord Justice and referr'd it to him adding That it would do well if the Lord Justice could squeeze a Fine of four hundred Marks from the King of Connaught together with a yearly Tribute of Cows 1208. to supply such Castles as should be built in those Cantreds Hugh de Lacy was made Lord Deputy upon the Lord Justice his going to England and soon after viz. the Eighth of November the King by Patent Dated at Woodstock whereunto Meyler Fitz-Henry Lord Justice is Witness did confirm to William Fitz Philip Barry the three Cantreds of Olethan Muskry Dunegan and Killedy which Fitz Stephens had given his Father in the Kingdom of Cork 4 Inst 359. to be held of the King by Ten Knights Fees Lib. GGG and he also granted to William Marshal the Marshalship of Ireland in Fee as also the Cantred of Kilkenny About this time Jeofry Morison or Mac Moris was troublesome in Munster wherefore the Lord Deputy invaded Typerary Hanmer 186. and took Thurles he also took Castlemeyler and demolished it but the Irish say he lost more men in this Expedition than he brought back And now the King finding many Complaints of Thieves Tories and Robbers which were become a Nusance in Ireland sent the following Writ for their expulsion REX Meyler Prin 250. fil Henr. Justic Hiberniae c. omnibus aliis Baron fidelibus suis Hibern c. Sciatis quod ad voluntatem consilium dilectorum fidelium nostrorum Com. W. Maresc Walteri de Lacy aliorum Baronum nostrorum Hibern qui nobiscum fuerunt in Angl. per consilium fidelium nostror Angl. volumus statuimus quod Latrones Hibern expellantur de Terra nostra Hibern quod ipsi receptores eorum deducantur secundum Legem Angl. ideo vobis mandamus quod ita fieri faciatis in hujus rei testimonium has Literas nostras Patent vobis mittimus Teste Meipso apud Southhampt 23 Die Martii But Lacy was so elevated with the aforesaid Victories how dear soever they were bought that he look'd on all below him with Contempt and became so impatient of Competition that he was outragious against all his Enemies and particularly against John de Courcy Lord of Raheny and Kilbarrock Natural Son of the great John de Courcy whom the Lacies basely and barbarously caused to be murdered whereupon great Stirs and Dissatisfactions arose in Ireland even among the British Temple 6. whereof the Irish made their advantage Hanmer 187. and under pretence of being burdened with Taxes there was a general Defection throughout all the Realm Dublin was inhabited mostly by a Colony of Bristol Men 1209. and it was customary with them for love of Sport and Air to walk abroad toward Cullenwood every Easter-Monday but now being unarmed they were surprized by the Mountaneers of Wicklow the Birnes and Tooles c. who murdered three hundred of the Citizens wherefore that Day is ever since called Black Monday and for a long time after was solemnly observed by the Mayor Sheriffs and Citizens of Dublin in a brave and splendid manner and to supply this Loss the City of Bristol sent a new Colony to replenish Dublin But the King as well to secure his goverment from the ambition of Lacy whereof he grew exceeding jealous as also to suppress the Rebellion of the Irish found it necessary to make a Voyage to that Countrey and therefore with a considerable Army he sailed thither and on the Eighth Day of June landed at Waterford 1210. where O Neal and above Twenty other Irish Potentates came and made their humble Submissions and did Homage and Fealty unto him The Lacies conscious of their Demerits durst not abide the Arrival of the King but secretly fled into France where in Disguise they served the Abbot of St. Taurin in the quality of Gardeners till their unskilfulness manifested they were not educated in that way which gave the Abbot some suspicion of them and that led him into so strict an Enquiry that to satisfie the Abbot they were obliged to discover the Truth Speed 508. The good man did so sympathize with their Misfortunes and pitied their Distress that he effectually interceded with the King for their Pardon which at length he obtain'd Walter paying for Meath 2500 and Hugh for Vlster 4000 Marks Cattalus or rather Carolus O Conner alias Crovederg the Valiant and Active King of Connaught was the only Man of Note that opposed King John but he was an unequal Match for the King of England Cambden 152. and therefore was easily subdued and taken Prisoner Wherefore the King having no more of Military Matters to execute in Ireland seriously set himself to mend the Civil State of that unfortunate Country and first he caused Money to be Coyned ad Pondus Nummi Angliae and made it currant in both Kingdoms by his Proclamation which was the first Sterling Money that was Coyned in Ireland Lib. M. 25. and this done he set himself to establish the English Laws in that Kingdom For though King Henry had done as much to introduce the English Laws there as that Season and other Circumstances would permit yet partly for want of Sheriffs and the Distribution of the Kingdom into Counties but chiefly because of the unsetledness of the Country and the rebellious humour of the Irish it could not at that time be fully effected Wherefore King John to supply those Defects as far as he was able divided Leinster and Munster the only part he had in quiet and actual possession into the Counties of Dublin Kildare Meath Vriel Caterlogh Kilkenny Wexford Waterford Cork Limerick Typerary and Kerry and appointed Sheriffs and other Officers for them after the manner of England He also caused an Abstract of the English Laws and Customs to be drawn in writing Inst 141. b. 4 Inst 349. whereunto he affixed his Seal and left it in the Exchequer in Dublin and by general consent in Parliament and at the instance of the Irish he ordained that the English Laws and Customs should thenceforward be observed in Ireland Temple 6. and in order to it he erected Courts of Judicature at Dublin But the Brehon Law and the other Irish Customs indulged more to the Tyrannie of the great Men and yet did not hold the Commons to a strict and regular Discipline as the Laws of England did and therefore the very English were so corrupted by ill Example that the English Laws were not regarded nor had in Estimation as they ought but were look'd upon both by the Irish and degenerate English Davis 90. lib. M. as a Yoke of Bondage so that Henry III was necessitated oftentimes to enjoyn the Observation of them In
the following Order to stop any farther Proceedings upon the aforesaid illegal Writ which I do the rather recite at large because it justifies my Assertion that Ireland is inseparable from the Crown of England since we find the King effectually interpose to rectifie Miscarriages there notwithstanding the aforesaid Donation to the Prince which was as full as it could be worded REX Thesaurario Baronibus de Scaccario Dublin Ibid. 255. Salutem Quia de assensu voluntate Praelatorum Magnatum Terrae Hiberniae dudum fuit provisum concessum quod eisdem Legibus tenerentur in Terra illa quibus homines Regni nostri utuntur in Regno nostro Angliae quod eadem Brevia quoad terras tenementa recuperanda teneant in terra illa quae tenentur in regno praedicto sicut justa Et dicta provisio concessio omnibus retroactis temporibus fuerunt obtenta approbata miramur quamplurimum quod sicut ex insinuatione venerabilis patris Thomae Lismorensis Episcopi accepimus emanare permisistis ex Cancellaria Edwardi filii nostri in Hibernia contra consuetudinem obtentam formam Brevium in regno nostro usitatam Breve infra-scriptum contra praefatum Episcopum in haec verba EDwardus Illustris Regis Angliae primogenitus ad Vic. Waterford Salutem Praecipe Thomae Lismorensi Episcopo quod juste sine dilatione reddat Waltero Episcopo Waterford Maneria de Archmurdeglan Kilmurdri Motha cum pertinentiis quae clamat esse jus Ecclesiae suae in quae idem Episcopus non habet ingressum nisi per Alanum quondam Lismorensem Episcopum cui Griffinus quondam Lismorensis Episcopus qui inde injuste sine judicio disseisivit Robertum quondam Waterford Episcopum predecessorem Episcopi post ultimum reditum c. QUia vero dictum Breve tam dissonum est Stat. Marlbridge cap. 30. contra Leges Consuetudines in regno nostro tentas formas Brevium nostrorum ibidem approbatas praesertim cum Breve ingressus non transeat tertiam personam nec ratione intrationis in terram aliquam post mortem alicujus comperat actio alicui de terra illa nisi illi cui per mortem illam jus debetur in eadem Nec enim dicitur intrusio qui jure haereditario vel ratione Ecclesiae suae succedit Predecessori suo in hiis de quibus idem Predeces fuit seisitus in Dominico suo ut de feodo die quo obiit Vobis mandamus quod si dictum Breve a Cancellaria praedicta in forma praedicta emanaverit executionem ejusdem Brevis supersedeatis revocantes sine dilatione quicquid per idem Breve actum fuerit in Curia praedicti Filii nostri Teste apud Windsor 27 die Januar. Et eodem modo scribitur Adamo le Sole Justiciario Hiberniae intellige de Banco Regis Waleranno de Willesby Sociis suis Itinerantibus ut supra Alan de la Zouch 1255. who had been Chief Justice of the Kings Bench in England Hanmer 199. 34. Hen. 3. was now made Lord Justice of Ireland he had the Misfortune to be slain in Westminster-Hall by John Earl of Warren and Surrey half Brother to the King In his time some Rebel Irishmen were coming to aid the Earl of Chester against the King but Prince Edward with the English Navy had the good Fortune to meet with the Irish Fleet and to sink most of their Ships so that few of the Men were left alive to return Now flourished that famous Mathematician Johannes de Sacrobosco who was born at Holywood in Fingal not far from Dublin and thence had his Name de sacrobosco i.e. Holy wood It seems that the Prince 1258. by Virtue of the aforesaid Grant would have removed the Lord Justice and put another in his Room But the King by the Advice of the Barons of England wrote to the Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priors Barons Brady 674. Knights c. That he heard his Son designed to make a new Justice in Ireland and to put his Castles into such Hands as it might be great Damage and not without fear of their disinheriting and therefore commands them not to obey such Justice Constables or Keepers of Castles made or appointed without his Letters Patents by Advice and Assent of his Council After the same manner he wrote to all the Mayors and Communities of Cities and Towns in Ireland and to the Constables of Castles and also commanded Alan de la Zouch his Justiciary not to obey or give up his Authority to any new Justiciary or Constable that should come without his Letters Patents But it seems this Matter was setled for the next Year we find Stephen de long Espee 1259. Lord Justice some call him Earl of Salisbury and Burlace stiles him Earl of Vlster but I think there is no Ground for either of the Titles he encountred O Neale and slew him and three hundred fifty two Irishmen in the Streets of Down 1260. but not long after the Lord Justice was betrayed and murdered by his own People And thereupon William Den was chosen Lord Justice In whose Time the Mac Carthyes plaid the Devil in Desmond they are the Words of my Author and by Ambuscade surprized and slew Thomas Fitz-Girald and John his Son 1261. at Calan in Desmond together with many Knights and Gentlemen of that Family whereupon the Carthyes grew so high that for the space of twelve Years the Giraldines durst not put a Plow in the Ground in Desmond Hanmer 201. until some Fewds arose between the Irish of Carby and Muskry and between the Carthyes Driscols Donovans Mahonyes and Swinyes so that they also weakned and destroyed one another and the Giraldines began to recover their Power and Authority again But the Lord Justice died this Year and Richard de Capella or Capel was made Lord Justice In his Time arose a great Contention between the Prior and Convent of Christ-Church and the Corporation of Dublin about the Tith-Fish of the River Liffy The Burks and the Geraldines quarrelled about some Lands in Connaught to that degree that they filled the whole Kingdom with War and Tumult and Maurice Fitz-Maurice Fitz-Girald not the Earl of Desmond but the same that afterwards anno 1272 was Lord Justice and John Fitz-Thomas afterwards Earl of Kildare at a Meeting at Castle-Dermond seized upon the Lord Justice and Richard Burk Heir apparent of Vlster afterwards called the Red Earl Theobald Butler 1264. Miles Cogan c. and imprisoned them in the Castle of Ley. But soon after a Parliament met at Kilkenny and ordered them all to be released which was done accordingly In the mean Time the King wrote to the Arcbishop of Dublin the Bishop of Meath his Treasurer Walter de Burg or Burk 1265. Maurice Fitz-Maurice Fitz-Girald That he heard there was like to be great Dissention between the great Men of Ireland and therefore ordered
Pound six Shillings and eight Pence per annum Lib. G. and obtained an Order from the King and Council That all those who had Lands in Ireland should repair thither or send sufficient Men in their Room to defend the Country on Pain of forfeiting their Estates Nevertheless this Lord Justice was so far from subduing the Irish that he confessed he could never get access to know their Countries or Habitations and yet he had spent more time in the Service of Ireland than any Englishman then living So finding he could do no good he resigned to James Earl of Ormond July 24. 1376 Lord Justice In whose time the Counties Cities and Burroughs of Ireland sent Commissioners to the King to Treat and Advise about the Affairs of that Kingdom and not to the English Parliament as some have mistaken it Pryn. 305. And the King did Issue a Writ to the Lord Justice and the Chancellor requiring them to levy the reasonable Expences of these Commissioners from the respective Places that chose them by Writ under the great Seal of Ireland And accordingly John Draper who served for Cork had a particular Mandate to the Mayor and Bayliffs of that City to pay him his reasonable Expences as aforesaid It will not be unuseful to recite this Lord Justice his Commission because the Reader will thereby perceive what Authority he had and will also note the Difference between this brief Commission and the prolix Forms that are now used REX omnibus ad quos Ibid. c. Salutem Sciatis quod commisimus dilecto consanguineo nostro Jacobo le Bottiler Comiti de Ormond officium Justic nostr Hibern Terram nostram Hibern cum Castris aliis pertinentiis suis custodiend quamdiu nobis placuerit percipiend per ann ad Scac. nostrum Hibern quamdiu in Officio illo sic steterit quingent libras pro quibus Officium illud terram custodiet erit se vicessimus de hominibus ad arma cum tot equis coopertis continue durante commissione supradicta c. But by a subsequent Patent the sixth of August he had Power to Pardon all Offences generally or to particular Persons and by consent of the Council to remove or displace any Officer those made by Patent under the great Seal only excepted Ibid. 307. And by another Writ of the same date the former Commission was explained not to extend to the Pardon of any Prelate or Earl for any Offence punishable by loss of Life Member Lands or Goods And the same time Alexander Bishop of Ossory was made Treasurer of Ireland and a Guard of six Men at Arms and twelve Archers at the King's Pay allowed him I have seen a Copy of a Commission to Maurice Fitz-Thomas Lib. G. 13. Earl of Kildare to govern Ireland till Sir William Windsor's return it bore date the sixteenth of February 50 Edw. 3. and Stephen Bishop of Meath was appointed to oversee Munster but because I find no other mention of his being in the Government about this time I have therefore omitted to name him as Lord Justice And so we are come to the twenty first Day of June 1377. 1377. on which Day this victorious King died at Shene in Surry in the sixty fourth Year of his Age and of his Reign the one and fiftieth Lib. M. His Revenue in Ireland did not exceed ten thousand Pound per annum though the Medium be taken from the best seven Years of his Reign THE REIGN OF RICARD II. King of England c. And LORD of IRELAND RICHARD the Second only Son of Edward commonly called the Black Prince Eldest Son of King Edward the Third was by his Grandfather declared to be his Heir and lawful Successor and accordingly succeeded him in the Throne on the 21st of June and was Crowned at Westminster the 16th of July following 1377. His tender Age being but eleven years old required a Protector and because it seemed dangerous to commit that great Authority and Power to a single Person it was given to the Kings Unkles the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl of Cambridge and others who thought fit to continue in the Government of Ireland James Earl of Ormond Lord Justice he kept the Kingdom in as good order as those dangerous and troublesom Times would admit of Baker 141. for both the French and the Scots took advantage of the Kings Infancy to disquiet his Dominions but especially the Realm of England This Lord Justice according to the Usage in those days held Pleas of the Crown Lib. G. Lambeth and Gaol-delivery at the Naas on Monday after Valentines Day 1378. and not long after surrendred to Alexander Balscot Bishop of Ossory Lord Justice who continued in the Government until November following Lib. G. and then gave place to John de Bromwick 1379. Lord Justice in whose time Beauchamp Earl of Warwick was by the Parliament of England made sole Protector of the King and Kingdom And then was made that first Act or Ordinance against Absentees Lib. M. Lambeth 138. by the Assent and Advice of the Lords and Nobles of England Davis 38. 199 being in Parliament Whereby it is Ordained That all that have Lands 4th Instit. 356 360. Rents or Offices in Ireland shall return thither but if they have reasonable cause to absent that then they shall send sufficient Deputies to defend their Castles and Estates or contribute two Thirds of the yearly value towards the defence thereof but that Students and those in the Kings Service and those absent for reasonable Cause by Licence under the Great Seal of England shall be excused for one Third of the yearly Profit of their Estates This Act was confirmed afterwards Lib. F. 19 Edw. 4. and by vertue hereof the Mannor of Ballymaclo in Meath was seiz'd into the Kings Hands for the absence of William de Carew but was the next year restor'd to him on his Petition Prin 308. Septemb. 27. 1380. And it is to be remembred That this Act was occasioned by a Petition from Ireland and that it is mentioned in the Body of the Act that the Loss of Ireland would be a Disinherison to the King and his Crown of England Ibid. At the same Parliament at Westminster there was another Irish Petition for Mine and Coigne which I take to be a Liberty to dig Mines and a Mint to coyn Money For the Kings Answer is That for six years to come every one may dig in his own Grounds for any Mineral whatsoever even Gold and Silver paying the Ninth part thereof to the King and sending the rest to the Kings Mint at Divelin for the Coynage of which they shall pay the usual Rates but must transport none to any place except England on pain of forseiting it if it be seized or the Value if he be convict of it unless the Party had special Licence under the Great Seal of
BROTHERHOOD of St. George But to proceed William Sherwood 1475. Bishop of Meath was Lord Deputy to the Duke of Clarence he held a Parliament at Dublin Friday after the Feast of St. Margaret which makes it Treason to bring Bulls or Apostiles from Rome and orders the Lords of Parliament to wear Robes on pain of one hundred Shillings and enjoyns the Barons of the Exchequer to wear their Habits in Term-time and Enacts That if any Englishman be damnified by an Irishman not amesnable to Law he may reprize himself upon the whole Sept or Nation And that it shall be Felony to take a Distress contrary to Common Law which was a very necessary Act in those Times and is the only Act of this Parliament that is printed and though it be an English Case yet it may be useful in other Countries and therefore we will mention That George Nevil Duke of Bedford was this Year degraded 4th Instit. 355. because he had not any Estate left to support the Dignity Henry 1478. Lord Grey of Ruthen Lord Deputy held a Parliament a Drogheda which repeal'd all the Acts of the aforesaid Parliament of 12 Edw. 4. and then he resigned to Sir Robert Preston Lib. G. Lord Deputy who on the 7th of August was created Viscount Gormanston but he held the Government but a little time before he surrendred to Girald Earl of Kildare Lord Deputy he held a Parliament at Naas Friday after the Feast of St. Petronilla which Enacted 1478. 1. That Distresses taken for Rent might be sold And 2. That Non-Residents might be chosen Parliament-men 1480. but on the twelfth of August the Earl of Kildare was made Deputy to the Kings Son Richard Duke of York for four years from the fifth of May following Lib. M. by the Dukes Patent under the Kings Privy Seal quod nota and the Earl by Indenture with the King did Covenant to keep the Realm surely and safely to his power and was to have eighty Archers on Horse-back and forty other Horsemen called Spears and six hundred pound per annum to maintain them and if the Irish Revenue cannot pay it it shall be sent out of England This Lord Deputy held another Parliament on Monday after the Translation of St. Thomas at which it was Ordained 1. That no Hawks should be carried out of the Kingdom without great Custom And 2. That the Pale should have no correspondence with the Irish and it seems this Parliament Naturaliz'd Con O Neal Davis 93â— who had married the Lord Deputy's Daughter What the incomparable Spencer in his View of Ireland relates of the Duke of Clarence and Moroughen Ranagh O Brian is not to be placed in the Reign of Edward the Fourth because George Duke of Clarence was never actually in Ireland whilst he was Lord Lieutenant of that Kingdom but always managed that Province by Deputies and therefore I suppose that what Spencer has related will better suit with the Government of Lionel Duke of Clarence in the Reign of Edward the Third who did indeed marry the Heiress of Vlster and performed the other Atchievements Mr. Spencer writes of It was in this Kings Reign that the Jubile which before was every Fiftieth Year was by Pope Sixtus the Fourth brought to be every five and twentieth year and that the Primacy of Scotland was setled upon the Archbishop of St. Andrews And thus stood the Government of Ireland during the Reign of King Edward the Fourth who between the French King the troublesome Earl of Warwick the discontented Lords and the Attempts of the Wife and Friends of Henry the Sixth found so much work at home that Ireland was in a manner neglected and left to the Protection of the Fraternity of St. George when on the ninth Day of April 1483 the King died in the two and fortieth Year of his Age and of his Reign the three and twentieth THE REIGN OF RICHARD III. King of England c. And LORD of IRELAND UPon the Death of King Edward his Son the Prince of Wales being then at Ludlow was Proclaimed King by the Name of Edward the Fifth and in his way to London was perswaded by the means of his Unkle the Duke of Glocester to dismiss great part of his Guards as well to save the Charge as to avoid giving Cause of Suspicion and Reasons of Jealousie to such as doubted that so numerous an Attendance was entertain'd upon Designs prejudicial to them And so having luckily mounted this first step to the Throne the Duke of Glocester proceeded to confederate with the Duke of Buckingham and the Lord Hastings and by their assistance he first seized on the Earl Rivers and others of the Kings Relations and Friends and then got the King himself into his power and brought him to London using a thousand Artifices to make the People believe that the Queen-Mothers Kindred designed the extirpation of the Ancient Nobility the Slavery of the People and the Ruine of the Kingdom This Duke of Glocester wheedled or bribed to that degree that he was chosen Protector by the unanimous Consent of the Council and afterwards got the Kings Brother out of Sanctuary at Westminster and under specious Pretences of their Security both the Princes were conveyed to the Tower of London in a most pompous and splendid manner and there they were afterwards murdered by the Appointment if not by the Hands of their Unkle King Richard took upon him the Regal Office on the 18th day of June 1483. and before the Murder of his Nephews and he was Crowned together with his Queen on the 6th day of July 1483. and being very busie in England to establish the Crown he had usurped he did not think it advisable to make any Alterations in Ireland but continued in that Government Gerald Earl of Kildare Lord Deputy to Edward the Kings Son who held a Parliament at Dublin wherein it was Enacted That the Mayor and Bayliffs of Waterford might go in Pilgrimage to St. James of Compostella in Spain leaving sufficient Deputies to govern that City in their absence 2. That the Corporation of Ross might reprize themselves against Robbers and that no Persons should alien their Free-hold in Ross to a Foreigner without the Licence of the Portriff and Council of that Town but these being private Acts are not Printed It seems that the next Year the Earl of Kildare as Deputy to the Earl of Lincoln 1484. Lord Lieutenant did hold another Parliament at Dublin wherein six private Acts only were made and not long after conven'd another Parliament at Trim which either did nothing at all or nothing worth mentioning but a subsequent Parliament at Dublin gave a Subsidy of Thirteen shillings and four pence out of every Plow-Land to the Deputy towards his Charges in the Service he did against the Irish wherein O Connor it seems was a Partner or Co-adjutor for he also had ten Groats out of every Plow-Land in Meath for
Monasterpheoris in the King's County And this Year began the Lateran Council under Julius II which ended under Leo X anno 1518. Kildare having the last Year put himself into a Condition of appearing early and formidably abroad this Spring 1512. undertook an Expedition into Vlster the Castle of Belfast which he had demolished nine Years since was now again repaired but unable to resist the Power of the Deputy it was again the second time taken and destroyed It is not recorded that Kildare met with much opposition so that he had little to do but to burn and waste the Country and to gather the Preys together most part whereof he divided among his Soldiers Rokeby Archbishop of Dublin held a provincial Synod at Dublin but what they did non constat for the Canons are lost And the Lord Deputy built the new Chappel in the Choir of Christ Church Dublin where himself was afterward buried About this time the Citizens of Dublin did assault the Earl of Ormond in S. Patrick's Church and shooting at random defaced Images c. For which Sacrilege they were enjoyned this Penance by a Legate sent on purpose viz. That the Mayor should go barefoot through the City before the Eucharist on Corpus Christi Day which was performed accordingly But because of the manner of Expression used in those Days and some other Curiosities in the Story I will insert it at large in the Words of Holingshead Between Gerald Earl of Kildare and James Butler Hâ—â—ingshead 82. Earl of Ormond their own Jealousies â—ed with Envy and Ambition kindled with certain lewd factious Abetters on either side as generally to all Noblemen so especially to both those Houses very incident ever since the ninth Year of Henry the Seventh bred some trouble in Ireland The Plot of which mutual Grudge was grounded upon the factious Dissention which was in England between the Houses of York and Lancaster Kildare cleaving to York and Ormond relying to Lancaster to the upholding of which Discord both these Noblemen laboured with Tooth and Nail to overcrow and consequently to overthrow one the other And for so much as they were in Honour Peers they wrought by Hook and by Crook to be in Authority Superiors The Government therefore in the Reign of Henry the Seventh being cast on the House of Kildare James Earl of Ormond a deep and far reaching Man giving back like a butting Ram to strike the harder Push devised to inveagle his Adversary by Submission and Courtesie being not then able to over-match him with Stoutness or Preheminence Whereupon Ormond addressed his Letters to the Deputy specifying a Slander raised on him and his That he purposed to deface his Government and to withstand his Authority And for the clearing of himself and his Adherent so it stood with the Deputy his Pleasure he would make his speedy Repair to Dublin and there in an open Audience would purge himself of all such odious Crimes of which he was wrongfully Suspected To this reasonable Request had the Lord Deputy no sooner condescended than Ormond with a puissant Army marched towards Dublin incamping in an Abby in the Suburbs of the City named S. Thomas Court The approaching of so great an Army of the Citizens suspected and also of Kildare's Counsellors greatly disliked Lastly the Extortion that the lawless Soldiers used in the Pale by several Complaints detected These three Points with divers other suspicious Circumstances laid and put together did minister occasion rather of further Discord than of any present Agreement Ormond persisting still in his humble Suit sent his Messenger to the Lord Deputy declaring That he was prest and ready to accomplish the Tenor of his Letters and there did attend as became him his Lordship his Pleasure and as for the Company he brought with him from Munster albeit suspicious Brains did rather of a malicious craftiness surmise the worst than of charitable Wisdom did judge the best yet notwithstanding upon Conference had with his Lordship he would not doubt to satisfie him at full in all Points wherewith he could be with any Colour charged and so to stop up the Spring from whence all the envious Suspicions gushed Kildare with this mild Message intreated appointed the Meeting to be at S. Patrick his Church where they were ripping up one to another their Mutual Quarrels rather recounting the Damages they sustained than acknowledging the Injuries they offered The Citizens and Ormond his Army fell at some jar for the Oppression and Exaction with which the Soldiers surcharged them with whom as part of the Citizens bickered so a round knot of Archers rushed into the Church meaning to have murthered Ormond as the Captain and Bell-Wether of all this lawless Rabble The Earl of Ormond suspecting that he had been betraied fled to the Chapter-House put too the Door sparring it with Might and Main The Citizens in their Rage imagining That every Post in the Church had been one of the Soldiers shot hab nab at random up to the Rood-Loft and to the Chancel leaving some of their Arrows sticking in the Images Kildare pursuing Ormond to the Chapiter-House-door undertook on his Honour That he should receive no Villany Whereupon the recluse craving his Lordships Hand to assure him his Life there was a Clift in the Chapiter-House-Door pierced at a trice to the end both the Earls should have shaken Hands and be reconciled But Ormond surmising that this Drift was intended for some further Treachery that if he would stretch out his Hand it had been percase chopt off refused that Profer vntil Kildare stretch'd in his Hand to him and so the Door was opened they both embraced the Storm appeased and all their Quarrels for that present rather discontinued than ended In this Garboil one of the Citizens surnamed Blanchfield was slain This latter Quarrel being like a green Wound rather bungerly botcht than soundly cured in that Kildare suspected That so great an Army which the other alledged to be brought for the Guard of his Person to have been of purpose assembled to outface him and his Power in his own Country and Ormond mistrusted That this tracherous Practice of the Dublinians was by Kildare devised These and the like Surmises lightly by both the Noblemen misdeemed and by the continual twatling of Fliring Clawbacks in their Ears whispered bred and fostered a Malice betwixt them and their Posterity many Years incurable which caused much Stir and Unquietness in the Realm until the Confusion of the one House and the nonage of the other ended and buried their mutual Quarrels Ormond was nothing inferior to the other in Stomach and in reach of Policy far beyond him Kildare was in Government mild to his Enemies stern to the Irish such a Scourge that rather for despite of him than for Favour of any part they relyed for a time to Ormond came under his Protection served at his Call performed by Starts as their manner is the Duty of good Subjects Ormond was
H. Lambeth to this effect That the Irish were not to be reduced but by Conquest and that if the Army undertook but one Province at once then two thousand five hundred Men would suffice but their Conâ—ederacies would make it necessary to attack them in several Places at once and then less than six thousand would not do the Business all which must be paid and victualled out of England That Ireland is five times as big as Wales and therefore the Conquest would not be perfected in ten Years And that when it is conquered it must be inhabited by a new Colony of English for the Irish will relapse do what you can In Munster there were great Fewds between James Earl of Desmond and Cormock Oge Lader Mac Carthy of Muskry Ware 's Annals 104 says Mac Carty Riagh but is mistaken the Archbishop of Dublin and other Commissioners went to Waterford to appease them but in vain for Desmond persisted to burn and prey Mac Carthy's Lands And Cormock Oge was not backward to revenge the Injury for being Confederate with Sir Thomas Desmond the Earl's Unkle and yet implacable Enemy they fought a Battle with the Earl in September killed one thousand of his Men put himself to Flight and took two of his Unkles John and Gerard Prisoners But the Lord Lieutenant January 1521 Lib. H. being weary of the Government or indisposed in his Health obtained the King's leave to return and left behind him a good Reputation and by the King's Orders his intimate Friend Pierce Earl of Ormond February Lord Deputy who fearing the Defection of the Irish because the Earl of Surry had carryed with him all the Forces he brought out of England whereby the Army was left exceeding weak And being also doubtful of an Invasion from the Scots he desired of the Cardinal That six of the King's Ships might be ordered to cruise between Ireland and Scotland I have seen a Patent of Denization to Charles Mac Carthy of Castlemore too long here to be recited though there are many things observable in it particularly the Proviso Quod idem Cormacus homagium ligeum nobis faciet ut est justum And I suppose the like Proviso was in all other Patents of that sort and imported that the should have the Benefit of the Law no longer than they persisted in their Allegiance But though the King's Army was not in Action 1522. yet O Neal's and O Donel's were for the last Years Injury manet alta mente repositum However they managed their Wars rather like Tories than Soldiers for after some light Skirmishes O Neal pretending a Retreat on a sudden rushed into Tyrconnel where he burnt and demolished all he could find and particularly O Donel's best Castle of Ballyshanon Which he in the mean time revenged by an incursion into Tyrone and thence returned loaden with Prey and Prisoners And thus these valiant Princes made War almost fatal to both sides without Blows or Battle But let us leave the Camp and a while turn to the Court Lib. H. where we shall find an Irishman sent by Mac Gilpatrick Chief of Vpper Ossory to the King to complain against the Deputy He met the King going to Chapel and delivered his Embassie in these Words Sta pedibus Domine Rex Dominus meus Gillapatricus me misit ad te jussit dicere Quod si non vis castigare Petrum Rufum ipse faciet bellum contra te This Year was fatal to Ireland no less by the Plague than the Sword it raged especially at and about Limrick the Mayor whereof died of that Distemper And about this time died the famous Poynings and at Christmas the City of Rhodes was forced by the Turk The Earl of Kildare who returned in January last got leave of the Deputy to invade the Country of Leix 1523. and being accompanid with Jons Fitz-Simons Mayor of Dublin and some Citizens he entred the Country and burnt a few Villages but he was intercepted by an Ambush and lost a great many of his Followers and with some Difficulty made his Retreat And now Jealousies and Discords began to arise between the Earls of Ormond and Kildare which were so maliciously fomented by evil Instruments that the Affinity between them was little considered nor did their Animosities determine otherwise than by the Ruine of one Family and the Infancy of the other Among all their Followers James Fitz Gerald had most Credit with Kildare and Robert Talbot of Belgard was the chief Favorite of Ormond This Talbot was going to keep his Christmas at Kilkenny with the Deputy but being met by James Fitz Gerald near Ballymore was by him slain or rather murdered which so exasperated the Earl of Ormond that he immediately sent to England an Impeachment against Kildare Hereupon a Commission issued to Sir Ralph Egerton 1524. Sir Anthony Fitz-Herbert and James Denton Dean of Litchfield to examine that Matter with Instructions That if the Earl of Kildare purged himself of the Crimes objected that then they should depose the Deputy and place Kildare in his room This Commission and Instructions were procured by the Marquess of Dorset Kildare's Father-in-Law and the Success was according to his Desire for after a slight Enquiry into this Affair the Commissioners made a formal Agreement between both Earls by an Indenture dated the twenty eighth of July and in a little time after deprived Ormond of the Government and placed in his stead Gerald Earl of Kildare Lord Deputy It seems that his Patent and other necessary Circumstances were prepared beforehand for the Indentures made between the King and this Earl bear date the fourth of August 16 Hen. 8. and import That he took the Government as from Midsummer before and that the Earl of Ormond should receive the Revenue till that time That the Earl shall support the Government of Ireland with the Revenue of the Country and shall not take Coyn and Livery Lib. H. but at Hostings and then his Soldiers shall be content with Flesh Bread and Ale on Flesh-Days or two Pence in lieu of it and Fish or Butter on Fish-Days or two Pence in lieu of it the Foot Soldiers shall be content with three half Pence a Day in lieu of the said Allowance and Boys shall be content with what they can get or a Penny in lieu of it and each Trooper shall take but twelve Sheaves of Oats a Night or two Pence in lieu thereof The Day this Lord Deputy was sworn Con O Neal carried the Sword before him to Thomas-Court where he entertained the Commissioners at a splendid Banquet And so these Commissioners having determined this great and some lesser Controversies returned into England and according to their Instructions carried with them the aforesaid James Fitz-Gerald as a Prisoner The Cardinal Wolsy the implacable Enemy of the Giraldines was glad of this occasion to affront that Noble Family and therefore caused this James Fitz-Gerald to be carried through the
But it may be that I am some frantick Cassandra being Partner of her Spirit in telling the Truth and Partaker of her Misfortune in that I am not when I tell the Truth believed of your Lordship whom God defend from being Priamus Weigh therefore my Lord the Nobility of your Ancestors remember your Father's late Exhortation forget not your Duty to your Prince consider the Estate of this poor Country with what heaps of Curses you shall be loaden when your Souldiers shall rifle the poor Subjects and so far endamage the whole Realm as they are not yet born that shall hereafter feel the smart of this Uproar You have not gone so far but you may turn home the King is merciful your Offence as yet not over-heinous cleave to his Clemency abandon this headlong Folly which I crave in most humble wise of your Lordship for the Love of God for the Duty you ow to your Prince for the Affection you bear the Country and for the respect you have to your own Safety whom God defend from all traiterous and wicked Attempts Having ended his Oration which he set forth with such a lamentable countenance as his Cheeks were all blubber'd with Tears the Horsemen namely such as understood not English began to divine what the Lord Chancellor meant with all this long Circumstance some of them reporting that he was preaching a Sermon others said that he stood making some Heroical Poetry in the praise of the Lord Thomas And thus as every Ideot shot his foolish Bolt at the wise Chancellor's Discourse who in effect did nought else but drop precious Stones before Hogs Holingsh 91. one Bard de Nelan an Irish Rithmer and a rotten Sheep able to infect a whole Flock was chatting of Irish Verses as though his Tongue had run on Pattens in commendation of the Lord Thomas investing him with the Title of Silken Thomas because his Horsemens Jacks were gorgeously embroidered with Silk and in the end he told him That he lingred there over-long Whereat the Lord Thomas being quickned did cast his Eye towards the Lord Chancellor and said thus My Lord Chancellor I come not hither to take Advice what I should do but to give you to understand what I mind to do It is easie for the sound to counsel the sick but if the Sore had smarted you as much as it festereth me you would be percase as impatient as I am As you would wish me to honour my Prince so Duty willeth me to reverence my Father Wherefore he that will with such Tyranny execute my innocent Parent and withal threaten my destruction I may not nor will not hold him for my King And yet in truth he was never our King but our Lord as his Progenitors have been before him But if it be my hap to miscarry as you seem to prognosticate catch that catch may I will take the Market as it riseth and will chuse rather to die with Valiantness and Liberty than to live under King Henry in Bondage and Villany And yet it may be as strong as he is and as weak as I am I shall be able like a Flesh-worm to itch the Body of his Kingdom and force him to scratch deeply before he be able to pick me out of my Seam Wherefore my Lord I thank you for your good Counsel and were it not that I am too crabbed a Note in descant to be now tuned it might be that I would have warbled sweeter Harmony than at this instant I mean to sing With these Words he rendred up the Sword and flung away like a Bedlam being guarded with his bruitish Drove of Brain-sick Rebels Mr. Sullevan blames him very much for surrendring the Sword Sullevan 78. and says it was foolishly done for under pretence of Authority had he kept it he might have held what Castles and Fortifications he pleas'd and put in what Governours he would he might have seduced many of the King's Subjects and have cut the Throat of Alan and the rest of his Enemies but I suppose that Author did not duly consider the Perfidiousness and Treachery of the Action he advises The Council sent private Orders to the Mayor to apprehend the Lord Thomas but the City being depopulated by the Plague was too weak for such an Attempt and therefore Archbishop Alan and Chief Baron Finglass for their security got into the Castle under the Protection of the Constable thereof John White who was afterwards Knighted for his Service in this Uproar Now was the Sword drawn and the Scabbard flung away and no room left for an Accommodation and therefore Fitz Girald did all he could to strengthen his Party and thinking that if his Cozen the Lord Butler could be perswaded to enter into the Confederacy that all the Kingdom would either side with them or fall before them he wrote a pressing Letter stuffed with large Premises to invite the Lord Butler into the Association to which the Loyal Butler returned this unexpected Answer Taking Pen in hand to write you my resolute Answer Holingsh 9â— I muse in the very first Line by what Name to call you My Lord or My Cozen seeing your notorious Treason hath distain'd your Honour and your desperate Lewdness shamed your Kindred you are so liberal in parting Stakes with me that a man would ween you had no Right to the Game so importunate in craving my company as if you would perswade me to hang with you for good Fellowship Do you think that James was so mad as to gape for Gudgeons or so ungracious as to sell his Truth for a piece of Ireland Were it so as it cannot be that the Chickens you reckon were both hatched and feathered yet be thou sure I had rather in this Quarrel die thine Enemy than live thy Partner For the Kindness you proffer me and good Love in the end of your Letter the best way I can propose to requite that is in advising you though you have fetch'd your Feaze yet to look well ere you leap Ignorance and Error with a certain Opinion of Duty have carried you unawares to this Folly not yet so rank but it may be cured The King is a Vessel of Bounty and Mercy your Words against his Majesty shall not be counted Malicious but rather belched out for Heat and Impotence except your self by heaping Offences discover a mischievous and wilful meaning Netled with this round Answer Fitz-Girald designs to invade the County of Kilkenny but first he forces an Oath of Fidelity on the Inhabitants of the Pale and those who refused he imprisoned as fast as he caught them and sends Charles Rynold Arch Deacon of Kells his Ambassador to Pope Paul the Third and Dominick Poer to the Emperor Charles the Fifth to whom he sent twelve great Hawks and fourteen fair Hobbies but these Ambassadors came too late and not till their Master was executed And so great was this Rebellion and the King's Authority so weak that even the Territory
those in Authority there was so great scarcity of Victuals that a halfpeny Loaf was worth a Shilling And within four or five days the strong Castle of Carrigonel was lost by treachery but it was presently retaken with the Slaughter of sixty Rebels however the Wants of the Army occasioned a Mutiny so that the Soldiers refused to march for want of Pay and the Garrison of Loghguir deserted and a thousand other Inconveniences hapned On the twenty third of April 1537. the Lord Deputy began his Expedition into Offaly against O Connor to revenge the Insolencies of the last year but he was hindred by the abundance of Rain that fell at that time from doing the Execution he design'd Ware 147. so that he was fain to end this Quarrel by a dishonourable sort of Arbitration for although the Damages which O Connor had done were estimated at five thousand Marks yet the Lord Deputy compounded for eight hundred Beeves or six shillings and eight pence apiece in lieu of them but not long after he attack'd the Cavenaghs and O Carol with better Success and forced them to submit and give Hostages It seems that the Lord Deputy had new Instructions to oblige all the Irish by Indenture to own the King's Supremacy and to renounce the Popes Usurpations and to contribute something towards the support of the Government and to send a Quota of Men to every Hosting and to effect this the Lord Deputy marched to Offaly the seventeenth of June and on the eighteenth encamped in O Mulmoyes Country and took the Castle of Eglis on the nineteenth he took Bi r and Modrimye in O Carols Country on the twenty fourth O Kenedy submitted to him in Ormond and the twenty fifth Mac Brian Arra likewise submitted On the twenty sixth the Lord Deputy came to Abby Owny where O Mulrian Vlick Burk of Clanrickard and Tybot Burk Mac William made their Submissions and so on the twenty eighth he came to Limerick where the Mayor and Aldermen took the Oath of Supremacy and swore to renounce the Bishop of Rome's usurped Authority and the Bishop of Limerick did the like without scruple or hesitation and Order was left for the Clergy and Commonalty of that City to follow that Example and that Certificates of their performance be returned into Chancery And it is observable that here one of the O Bryans made Peace for a year and promised to do Service against his Brother Mortagh On the fourth of July the Army came to Bryans-Bridge and had a Skirmish with the Rebels without any Loss and on the sixth demolished the Castles and Bridge and on the eighth the Lord Deputy marched into Thomond and took the Castles of Clare and Ballycolome and on the ninth he came into Clanrickard and took the Castle of Ballyclare and delivered it to Vlick Burk and on the eleventh he came to Galway where the Corporation treated the Lord Deputy and all the English Soldiers gratis for seven days and Vlick Burk did the like to the Irish and the Mayor and Aldermen followed the example of Limerick and took the Oath of the King's Supremacy and renounced the Pope's usurped Authority And here O Flaherty O Maddin and Mac Yoris made their Submissions On the twenty first the Lord Deputy removed to O Kelly's Country where O Connor Mac Henry submitted and thence he went to Mac Coughlan's Country where he took a Castle because Mac Coughlan had not kept his Word with him and so on the twenty fifth he returned to Minooth And it is to be noted That all those that submitted were bound by Indenture as well as Oath to own the King's Supremacy and to renounce the Popes Usurpations but when the King had an Account of what was done be answered by his Letter to the Lord Deputy That their Oaths Submissions and Indentures were not worth a Farthing since they did not give Hostages and so it afterward proved The Earl of Desmond mollified by the Misfortunes of the last Year Ware 147. and fearing the Power of the Lord Deputy who was in the Field with his Army as I have already related sent Letters to the Deputy with Offers of Submission upon Terms but the Expostulations about it were so tedious that the Army for want of Provisions was forced to return however Commissioners were employed to continue the Treaty and conclude an Agreement if they could and in order to it they went to Clonmel but the Earl of Desmond refused to come into a walled Town insisting upon a Fantastical Priviledge which he claimed and thereupon the Commissioners forgetting the Dignity of their Character and the Royal Person they represented dishonourably condescended to go to Desmond's Camp and there they took his Oath of Fidelity and received his Bastard Son Thomas Roe as a Hostage for his performanoe But now the Jealousies between the Lord Deputy and the Earl of Ossory broke out into open Hostility and the Deputy was so extravagantly transported that he sent part of the Army to spoil the Territories of the Butlers he also quarrelled with Archbishop Brown and Allen Master of the Rolls and although Lib. D. by the King's Order their Complaints were heard before the Council of Ireland and the new Commissioners hereafter named and a Reconciliation made between them at least in appearance yet some of them stuck so close to him that at length they procured his Ruine But it should have been remembred that on the first of May Fylemy Roe submitted and on the twelfth of May Cavenagh alias Mac Murrough did the like but O Neal was so far from it that despising the Agreement he had not long before made with the Lord Deputy he undertook to reduce Arglass and in order to it sent an Army under his Son to attack that Town and Castle but assoon as he understood the Lord Deputy was ready to take the Field he immediately proposed a Treaty and on the fifteenth of June he made an Agreement with the Lord Chancellor the Bishop of Meath and Chief Justice Ailmer Commissioners appointed for that purpose and he swore to fight for the King contra omnes homines Mundi Ibid. and not long after died Sir Hugh O Donel Lord of Tyrconnel and was succeeded by his Son Manus who was according to Custom inaugurated on the Rock near Kilmacronan Church But in September there came over four Commissioners viz. Sir Anthony Saintleger Sir George Pawlet Sir Thomas Moyle and Sir William Barnes their business was to enquire into the Abettors of the late Rebellion and afterwards to give a General Pardon And though they were very moderate yet it fell heavy on many of the Pale who were compelled to joyn with the Rebels they had also Authority to assist the Lord Deputy and Council in setling the Revenue and to set the Crown Lands for one and twenty Years for a yearly Rent It was to these Commissioners that Bernard Fitz Patrick made his Submission October 8. and they
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
Enemy's Camp and it succeeded according to his Desire for O Neal's Army being over-confident of their Numbers and despising the Weakness of their Adversaries had made no preparation to resist an Assault which they did not suspect and wanting such Scouts Out-guards and Centinels as Martial Discipline required and as was usual in all well-governed Armies they were easily surprized and defeated and Shane O Neal himself was forced to make use of his Heels As to Ecclesiastical Affairs there was a Provincial Synod held at Dublin Anno 1555 which made some Constitutions about the Rites and Ceremonies to be used in the Church and afterwards the Church-Goods and Ornaments were restored and particularly those belonging to the Churches of Dublin and Drogheda and although many Gleabs continued Lay-Fees during all the Reign of Queen Mary yet at the Request of Cardinal Poole her Majesty restored the Possessions of the Priory of Kilmainham and Oswal Messemberg was confirmed Prior by Patent dated the eighth of March 1557. but afterwards he fled beyond Seas and the Possessions of that Priory and of that Order in Ireland were by Act of Parliament annexed to the Crown in Queen Elizabeth's Reign There was also a Provincial Synod held at Drogheda this Year by Archbishop Dowdal and therein Leave was given to Husbandmen to work certain Days in Harvest The Lord Justice having on the twenty fifth Day of April received the Submission of O Reyly and his Fealty or Oath of Allegiance 1558. did on the twenty seventh surrender the Sword to Thomas Earl of Sussex Lord Deputy who brought over with him five hundred Soldiers and an Order to coyne Brass-Money and to make it currant by Proclamation which he did On the fourteenth of June he began his March to Munster against Daniel O Brian he came to Limerick and advanced forwards into Thomond he scattered the Rebels and took the Castles of Bunratty and Clare and then restored the Country to the Earl of Thomond who together with the Freeholders of that Country did on Sunday the tenth day of July swear on the Sacrament Lib. NNN and by all the Relicks of the Church as Book Bell and Candelight they are the very Words of the Herald's Certificate to continue Loyal to the Queen and to perform their Agreements with the Lord Deputy On the twenty first of June the Earl of Desmond made his Submission to the Deputy at Limerick and on the twenty sixth the Lord Deputy was God-father to the Earl's Son whom he named James Sussex and gave the Child a Chain of Gold and gave another Chain and Pair of gilt Spurs to Dermond Mac Carthy of Muskry whom he also knighted The Lord Deputy caused a Soldier to be nailed to a Post for drawing his Sword in the Camp contrary to Proclamation and then marched to Galway where he was well received especially by the Archbishop of Tuam and the Bishops of Clonfert and Clonmacnoise who with the Clergy met him in Procession On the fifteenth day of September the Lord Deputy shipped his Army at Dalky and sailed to Raghline and though he lost one Ship in the Storm yet he pursued his Design and took the Island and placed a Colony and a small Garrison in it and thence he invaded and wasted Cantire in Scotland Nor did the Islands of Aran and Comber escape the like Desolation and he intended as much against the Island of Ila but he was by ill Weather forced to put in at Carigfergus and so having burnt many Villages which were possest by the Scots in Vlster he returned to Dublin on the eighth day of November Sir Henry Sydny was sworn Lord Justice on the eighteenth of September by virtue of a Patent dated at Richmond the fourth of August and now when the Earl of Sussex return'd he was sworn anew on the tenth of November and had a new Patent bearing date the seventeenth day of August 1558. The Lord Deputy had a new Great Seal sent him out of England and also new Seals to the other three Courts which he delivered to the Lord Chancellor Chief Justices and Chief Baron in the Council Chamber and about the same time a Party of the Islander Scots that came into Connaught to the Assistance of one of the Burks was defeated by the Earl of Clanrickard and most of them slain And because the Author quotes the Most Reverend and Learned Primate Vsher and the Memorials of the Most Noble and Industrious Richard Earl of Cork for the following Story I will insert it verbatim as it is already printed in the Life of Archbishop Brown Queen Mary having dealt severely with the Protestants in England about the latter end of her Reign signed a Commission for to take the same Course with them in Ireland and to execute the same with greater Force she nominates Dr. Cole one of the Commissioners Sending the Commission by this Doctor who in his Journey coming to Chester the Mayor of that City hearing that her Majesty was sending a Messenger into Ireland and he being a Church-Man waited on the Doctor who in discourse with the Mayor taketh out of a Cloak-Bag a Leather-Box saying unto him Here is a Commission that shall lash the Hereticks of Ireland calling the Protestants by that Title the good Woman of the House being well affected to the Protestant Religion and also having a Brother named John Edmunds of the same then a Citizen in Dublin was much troubled at the Doctor 's Words but watching her convenient time whilst the Mayor took his Leave and the Doctor complementing him down the Stairs she opens the Box and takes the Commission out placing in lieu thereof a Sheet of Paper with a Pack of Cards the Knave of Clubs faced uppermost wrap up The Doctor coming up to his Chamber suspecting nothing of what had been done put up the Box as formely The next day going to the Water-side Wind and Weather serving him he sails towards Ireland and landed on the seventh of October 1558. at Dublin then coming to the Castle the Lord Fitz-Walters being Lord Deputy sent for him to come before him and the Privy Council who coming in after he had made a Speech relating upon what account he came over he presents the Box unto the Lord Deputy who causing it to be opened that the Secretary might read the Commission there was nothing save a Pack of Cards with the Knave of Clubs uppermost which not only startled the Lord Deputy and Council but the Doctor who assured them He had a Commission but knew not how it was gone Then the Lord Deputy made answer Let us have another Commission and we will shuffle the Cards in the mean while The Doctor being troubled in Mind went his way and returned into England and coming to the Court obtained another Commission but staying for a Wind at the Water-side News came unto him That the Queen was dead And thus God preserved the Protestants in Ireland This Queen died on the seventeenth day of
and publickly celebrated Mass This City is seated in an Island surrounded with the River Shenin and joyned to the Continent by two stately Bridges of Stone it is fortified with good Walls and a strong Castle and is justly esteem'd the most Impregnable Town in Ireland and certainly its Strength and Reputation has often prov'd a Snare to the Inhabitants and prompted them to such Acts of Disloyalty as otherwise they would not have dared to perpetrate And tho' at this time Limerick did submâ—t without a Siege because all its Accomplices had first done so yet in the succeeding Rebellion it not only defied all His Majesty's Forces abus'd His Herald and affronted His Lord Lieutenant but at last put the whole Power of England to the Necessity of making a Second Tedious and Bloody Siege before they could reduce it which I have observed in this place because I would lose no Opportunity to put the English in mind how much it does import them upon a new Settlement that care be taken that those Strong Places should be inhabited only by a People faithful to the Crown But to proceed The Religious at Kilkenny were not less precipitate and insolent than their Brethren elsewhere Edmond Raughter a Dominican headed the Sedition in that City and broke open the Black-Friers which had for some time been used as a Court-house and pulled down the Seats and erected an Altar and forced the Keys of his House from one Mr. Bishop that lived in part of that Abby and gave Possession of the whole Abby to the Friers altho' by Act of Parliament it was turned to a Lay-Fee and by Legal Conveyances became the Propriety of other Men. These Rebellious Proceedings in so many principal Cities and Towns necessitated the Lord Deputy to undertake a Progress to Munster and on the Fifth of May he came to Gracedea near Waterford and summon'd the Mayor and his Brethren to open their Gates and receive him into the City with His Majesty's Army and tho' at first they refused to admit any Forces into the Town except the Lord Deputy and his Retinue alledging some Privilege or Exemption to that purpose by vertue of an Ancient Charter from King John yet when the Lord Deputy had told them That no King could give that Privilege to his Subjects whereby his Successors should be prejudiced in the due Obedience they were to expect from them and that if they did not open their Gates immediately but put him to the Necessity of entring by Force he would cut King John ' s Charter with King James ' s Sword and ruin their City and strew it with Salt they tamely opened their Gates notwithstanding their former boasting and the Lord Deputy and the Army march'd into the City But whilst he was in his Camp at Gracedea the Mayor at his Excellencies Request sent out Doctor White and a young pert Dominican Frier to discourse with his Lordship in Matters of Religion and to shew him the Grounds and Reasons of these Proceedings which his Lordship thought so temerarious and unaccountable And the Friers had the confidence to come in their Habits with the Crucifix exalted before them Sullivan 199. and to tell the Deputy That the Citizens of Waterford could not in Conscience obey any Prince that persecuted the Catholick Faith This led them into Discourse wherein at length Doctor White cited a Passage in St. Austin for the Proof of something he asserted and it hapning that the Lord Deputy had the Book in his Tent he caus'd it to be sent for and publickly shew'd to all the Company that the Words cited by the Doctor were not St. Austin's Opinion but were quoted by him as an Objection which in the same place he opposes and confutes and inferr'd That it was highly disingenuous in the Doctor to quote that Sentence as St. Austin's Judgment when he knew that his Opinion was directly contrary to it Whereupon the Doctor was confounded the Citizens were ashamed and the Conference ended In the mean time the Lord Deputy to prevent farther Mischief at Cork and to humble them with the certain notice of his Approach sent the Mayor of that City the following Letter FOr the dispatch of Your Messenger and not to omit any thing that lieth in me to make you understand your dutiful Obedience to His Majesty and the great Errors and insolent Demeanour you have of Self-will or Malice entred into I am content to write unto you tho' I know not well in what sort to write For by your Courses I cannot take you for Subjects and out of my desire to interpret your Actions to the best I could wish not to have cause to repute you Rebels To deal plainly with you for any thing that your selves inform or I can otherwise learn I see not that Sir Charles Wilmot hath done but as in his Duty he was tied to do But I am presently drawing down to the City of Cork and having reserved one Ear for any your just Complaints will judge of your Proceedings as I shall find them I have let you understand my Pleasure by my Letters one sent by Master Meade which if he have not delivered he is more to blame and I assure my self some of them came to your Hands and in all I have charged you upon your Allegiance as again by these I do to desist from Publick Breach of His Majesty's Laws in the Celebration of the Mass prohibited by the same and to yield due Obedience to His Magistrates and especially upon your extreamest Perils not to presume to make any stay of His Majesty's Victuals and Munition left upon especial Trust on your Fidelity within the Walls of that City but to suffer it by His Majesty's Commissioners of that Province to be issued to the Forts or where they shall think meet for the present Service I shall be glad to find that you conform your selves to due Obedience in all these and other Duties of Good Subjects if otherwise you obstinately persist in the contrary I must needs hold you for Enemies to the King and the Peace of these His Realms and as such think you fit to be prosecuted by the revenging Sword of these and other His Majesty's Forces From the Camp at Gracedea near Waterford the Fourth of May 1603. And on the Eleventh of May the Lord Deputy came with his Forces to Cork which had for some days been blocked up by the Commissioners of Munster Nevertheless he had immediate admittance into the City without any previous Capitulation whereby it is manifest That some who have but small regard to Dangers that are remote have a delicate sense of those that are near Would any Man believe that these insolent Rebels that refus'd to proclaim the King and seiz'd on His Stores threatned to murder the Bishop and shot at the Lord President 's Lady and the Commissionerâ—s and had kill'd a Minister and several others of the King's Subjects so that Mr. Sullivan brags That they
went into England to give his Majesty a full account of his happy and successful Administration of the Government for I find he was created Lord Baron of Belfast on the 23th of February 1615 and perhaps then made Lord High Treasurer THOMAS JONES Archbishop of Dublin Lord Chancellor Sir JOHN DENHAM Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench were Sworn Lords Justices on the 11th of February 1615. The Archbishop was the worthy Ancestor of the Lords of Ranelagh And Sir John Denham was the first that raised any Profit to the Crown from the Customs in Ireland which were Lett for Five hundred Pounds the first Year and before his Death which happened the 6th of January 1638 they were improved to that degree that they were farmed at Fifty Four thousand Pounds per Annum But the Papists beginning again to grow very insolent it was necessary to hasten the new Lord-Deputy thither and therefore on the 30th of August 1616. Sir OLIVER SAINT JOHN afterwards Viscount Grandison 1616. was sworn Lord-Deputy he behaved himself briskly against the Papists who were at that time very high in Ireland Mr. Sullivan says He was a Bloody Man and that he swore he would in two Years banish all the Priests and that he levied 600000◠from the Papists for Fines and Forfeitures for not going to Church and that in Dublin only he imprisoned Ninety Citizens for denying the King's Supremacy all which is notoriously 〈◊〉 And about the same time a most Scandalous lying Book was published Entituled Annalecta Hiberniae written by David Rooth Vicar Apostolick at the Instigation and Charge of the Lord M And stuffed with innumerable Lyes and malicious Accusations of the King's Government in Ireland and yet dedicated to the Prince of Wales which is a high strain of Impudence and Folly to dedicate to the Son Reflections and Scandals upon the Father and as if that Author intended to mock the Son as well as to abuse the Father and that his Dedication to him should pass for nothing he has added another Dedication by way of Appeal to all Foreign Emperors Kings and Princes wherein he avers That the Irish look for nothing but that the King would use them like a King i. e. not like a Tyrant and when I have added that he compares the King to Julian the Apostate and Cajus Caligula and the English-men to Dogs and Wild-Beasts I have said enough of the Spirit and design of that malicious Author The Exorbitances of the Papists did indeed at this time oblige the Government to keep a stricter hand over them than hitherto they had done and two things were resolved on to humble them one was to banish all their Regulars which did in great numbers swarm almost every where in that Kingdom And the other was to suffer no Magistrates or Officers but what should take the Oath of Supremacy according to Law and in order thereunto there did issue a Proclamation against the Popish Clergy on the 13th of October 1617. Anno Dom. 1617. And afterwards on the 5th of March 1617 Donogh Earl of Twomond Lord President of Munster and Sir William Jones Lord Chief Justice of Ireland did by Virtue of a Commission under the Great Seal bearing date the 23d of January 1617 seize on the Liberties of Waterford and all their Rent Rolls Ensigns of Authority and their publick Revenues which amounted to Three Hundred and Four Pounds Ten Shillings per Annum and kept Assizes in the City for the County of Waterford The cause of this Seizure was because Nicholas White who from Michalmas 1615. to the 20th of October then next following did exercise the Office of Mayor of Waterford did on the 20th day of October 1615. refuse the Oath of Supremacy being then tendered to him by the Lord President by Virtue of a special Commission to that purpose and that upon his refusal the City Elected John Skiddy who Acted as Mayor till the 1st of May 1616. and then refused the same Oath being tendred to him by the Lord President whereupon the City chose Alexander Cuffe and swore him Mayor on the 27th of May who likewise on the 8th of July refused the aforesaid Oath of Supremacy before the Lords Justices whereupon he forbore to Act any farther in the Mayoralty and so it stood till the 1st of April 1617. at which time Walter Cleer was sworn Mayor and so continued Moreover the City had no Recorder since the Death of Nicholas Walsh Anno 1615 and yet in January 1616 there was a Goal Delivery held before the said John Skiddy without any Recorder and one William Person was then Condemned before him and afterwards by his Order executed for Felony And it appeared that the Statute of Elizabeth of Uniformity had not been given in Charge in their Sessions at Waterford for Two years past and all this was found by Inquisition taken the 5th day of September 1617. In the mean time there were sharp Contests between several great Families in Ireland about their Inheritance Lib. F. F. F. 199. the one was between Katherine Lady Power who was Heir General to the Deceased Lord Barry and the then Lord Barry Viscount Buttivant and that was happily Compos'd by the Kings Mediation and the Marriage of the Lord Barry with the Lady Power 's Daughter and the other was between Walter Earl of Ormond and the Lady Dingwell Heir General of Thomas Duff Earl of Ormond who died Anno 1614. Their Case is to be found the very last Case in my Lord Hobert's Reports and was refer'd to the King who Anno 1618. made his Award and divided the Estate between the contending Parties but the Earl of Ormond thought that Distribution so unequal that he refused to submit to it and therefore endured a long Imprisonment and many other Hardships from the Court but after his Death that Controversie was also happily Compos'd by the Marriage of his Grandson the young Earl of Ormond with the sole Daughter and Heir of the Lady Dingwell and that happy Couple improved that divided and shattered Estate to be the greatest and best belonging to any Subject in the Kings Dominions and are well known to the World by the Names of the first Duke and Dutchess of Ormond In the Year 1620. 1620. The famous Doctor Usher was made Bishop of Meath and not long after there arose a Dispute between the Archbishop of Armagh and the Bishop Elect of Clogher about the Exercise of Jurisdiction before Consecration but after some Expostulations the Controversie was peaceably Compos'd The Year 1621. 1621. was famous for the Congregation de Propaganda fide then Erected at Rome the influence whereof the Subjects of Great Britain and Ireland have felt to the purpose and in the same Year Thomas Viscount Thurles Father of the first Duke of Ormond was drowned It was in this Year that the King to mortifie some of the most active Members of the House of Commons that had fallen under his
and the Measures of the Rebellion were concerted and setled there tho it seems by the Lord Macguir's Examination that the Day was appointed at Loghross But as the Lords Justices and Council in their Letter express it none of the former Rebellions could parallel this either in the dangerous Original the unexampled Cruelty and extreme Hatred to the British Nation in the barbarous Progress or in the terrible Consequences aimed at therein being no less than to wrest from His Majesty His Scepter and Sovereignty to destroy and root out the British and Protestants and every Species of English out of the Kingdom to suppress God's Truth and set up Idolatry in the stead of it and finally to Invade the Realm of England And in another Letter they affirm That the barbarous and execrable Cruelty of the Irish exceeded any that ever was exercis'd by Turks or Infldels against Christians And even the Earl of Castlehaven Memoirs 25. P. W. Remonstrance 594. tho' a Papist and Peter Walsh tho' a Franciscan Friar do confess That the barbarous Design of this bloody Conspiracy was no less than to extirpate the Protestants and totally to root them out of that Kingdom And they intended to effect this by the most inhuman Methods Declaration of Parliament 21. viz. a General Massacre and Universal Plundring Nor did they come much short of attaining their End Dr. Maxwell's Examination for in the first Three Months of this Rebellion they murdered and otherwise destroyed One hundred fifty four thousand Protestants Lord Justices Letter of 16 March 42. Men Women and Children as the Priests themselves computed it and as one of their own Writers by way of ostentation hath published Bishop Bedell's Life 179. And without doubt Temple 16. no Nation can parallel the horrid Cruelties and abominable Murders without Number or Mercy committed on the British throughout the Land without distinction of Quality Sex or Age Memoirs Epist 1. and certainly it was bad enough when the Earl of Castlehaven himself confesseth That all the Water in the Sea cannot wash away the Guilt of the Rebels the Rebellion being begun most bloodily in a Time of Peace and without Occasion given They destroyed the Soul as well as the Body forcing many weak Christians to turn Papists and then murder'd them whilst they were in the Right Faith See Append. 10. as they said And the cruel Manner of their Torturing the English was more detestable than the Murder it self some being starved till they eat Pieces of their own Flesh broil'd upon Coals and others were used worse At Kilkenny the Lord Mountgarret and the Mayor and Aldermen and Three hundred Citizens in Arms stood by whilst the Protestants were plundered in that City Lord Justices Letter of 14 December And at Longford when the Castle was surrendred upon Quarter the Priest with his Skein in his Hand watched at the Gate till the Minister came forth and then stabbed him into the Guts and ripped up his Belly which Signal was observed by the rest who in like manner murdered all the English of that Garison Men and Women were stript stark naked and in that bitter Winter exposed to the Extremities of Hunger and Cold whereof many thousands died Sucking Children were haled from their Mothers Breasts Remonstrance of Dr. Jones pag. 8 9. and one of them was murdered whilst it was sucking its deceased Mother Nor were Women in Labor used any better One was delivered upon the Gallows another ript up and two Children she went with taken out of her Belly and thrown to the Swine who eat them Burlace 72. and a third the Wife of Mr. Oliphant a Minister being delivered on her Journey in the High-way was nevertheless forced to trot on and draw after her the Child and the Concomitants of so sad an Accident until she died But it would be endless to recount all the Instances of their wanton Cruelty and impossible to frame an Idea in the Mind of the Reader as horrid as their Actions Dr. Maxwell's Examination Appendix 10. which were rendred the more inhuman by the Mirth and Sport they made at the unspeakable Torments and Sufferings of the English And lest some amongst them should have more Bowels of Compassion than the rest Lord Justices and Councils Letter 22 November the Confederates did prohibit to harbour or relieve any Protestant on pain of Death and declared they would not lay down Arms whilst there was the Seed of an Englishman in Ireland And to leave no room for Reconcilation they put to death in Ulster a Messenger sent to them by the State The Motives to this Conspiracy were First The happy Conjuncture for such a Design whilst England and Scotland were embroil'd Secondly The Example of the Scots who had reaped Advantage by their Mutiny and the Irish expected as much at least And Thirdly The Number of able Men ready to enter into this Rebellion which they computed to be Two hundred thousand or more But the Pretences for this Rebellion were exceeding weak and such as manifest that they will rise as often as they get opportunity and in effect do upbraid the English with Stupidity that after so much Experience they should suffer them to be in a Condition to Rebel any more Memoirs 9. and they are briefly these 1. That the Irish were looked upon as a Conquered Nation 2. That the Six Counties in Ulster escheated to the King were disposed for the most part to British 3. That there was a Rumour that Seven Counties more would be seised by the King 4. That the Popish Religion was persecuted in England and they were afraid would be so in Ireland Thus Rumors and Fears tho' without Cause are by the Popish Advocates thought sufficent Justifications of an Irish Rebellion and the Author of the Bleeding Iphigenia assures us Pag. 23. That this War is justified by a Learned Pen and he wonders it should be called a Rebellion as if says he our taking up Arms for our necessary Defence of Lives and Religion against the Protestants our Fellow-Subjects were a Rebellion He argues from the Principle of Self-preservation and the Law in the Case of Homicide se defendendo That it is lawful to make War for Defence of Life or Estate and à fortiori for Religion and concludes That it may be done to prevent a Danger that is foreseen i. e. rumoured or feared And that was the Case of the Papists says he they were necessarily to be destroyed by the Presbyterians and therefore they did wisely to begin first But whoever considers the three Antipathies of Nation Interest and Religion already mentioned will easily find that the true Design of this Universal Rebellion was 1. To destroy the English 2. To regain their Estates And 3. To establish Popery And all other Pretences are without Foundation and vain This horrid Conspiracy was on the Twenty second of October discovered to the Lord Justice
it was before The Protestants considered the necessity of this Tax and patiently submitted to it but the Papists made all the opposition they could but in vain for there was no other way left and this it self was not sufficient to prevent the mutiny and the ruin of the Army All these things tended to draw on the Cessation which the Marquess of Ormond by His Majesties Letter of the Twenty third of April was ordered to make with the Irish and was by a Second Letter from His Majesty of the Third of May brought to him by Mr. Brent pressed to hasten and by a Third Letter of the Second of July and a Fourth of the Seventh of September he was farther importuned in that Matter nevertheless there was a Party in the Council upon whom the Villanies of the Rebels had made so deep an Impression that they could not endure to hear of any Treaty with the Confederates and therefore the Marquess of Ormond on the Twenty second of June made a Motion in Council which is Entered in the Council-Book as followeth viz. By the Lords Justices and Council Jo. Borlace Hen. Tichburne THE Lord Marquess of Ormond this day moving at this Board that if Ten thousand Pounds may be raised whereof the one half to be in Money and the other in Victuals and to be brought in within a Fortnight that his Lordship would in such Case proceed in the War and immediately endeavour to take in Wexford and forbear to prooceed in the intended Treaty of Cessation of Arms with the Rebels It was thought fit to call before Us the Mayor of this City of Dublin and others who appearing We had Conference with them at this Board concerning the same and find that such is the Poverty of this Place and People as that Sum of Money or Proportion of Victual cannot be raised Given at His Majesties Castle of Dublin 22d June 1643. La. Dublin Roscommon Edw. Brabazon Char. Lambert Adam Loftus William Parsons Thomas Lucas Francis Willoughby G. Wentworth But whether they thought that Supplies would be sent from England or that they were willing to struggle with any Extremities rather than to have Correspondence with the Murderers of their Friends and Relations and the Plunderers of themselves it is certain that Part of the Council still continued averse to the Cessation Hereupon Sir Robert Meredith Sir William Parsons Sir John Temple and Sir Adam Loftus were Committed to Prison by His Majesties Order on the Second of July and on their Petition they were refus'd to be Bayl'd but they had the Liberty of the Castle with a Keeper But on the 4th of July the Lords Justices and Council received a smart Letter from the two Houses of Parliament in England taxing them with Publishing That their present Difficulties were occasioned by the Failures of the English Parliament To which they returned as Tart an Answer on the Twenty eighth of October importing That they gave full frequent and seasonable Notice of all their Wants from time to time to the English Parliament and therefore did not know where else to lay the blame In the mean time there hapned a pleasant Passage on the Eighth of July at which time the Lords Justices and Council sent a Message in writing to the Confederates Purporting that if the Rebels would release Captain Farrer they would exchange Captain Synot for him but the Confederates were so distasted at the word Rebels that they sent back this Answer We do not know to whom this Certificate is directed and we will avow Our selves in all Our Actions Bur. 128. to be His Majesties Loyal Subjects neither shall it be safe henceforth for any Messenger to bring any Paper to Us containing other Language than such as Suits with Our Duty and the Affections We bear to His Majesties Service wherein some may pretend but none shall have more real Desires to farther His Majesties interest than His Majesties Loyal and Obedient Subjects Mountgarret Muskery Fr. Thom. Dublin Malachias Tuamen Castlehaven Audley R. Bealing Torlo O Neile Patr. Darcy And it is observable Lords Justices Letter of 29. July 4â— that Sir John Netervill being indicted of Treason Petitioned the King setting forth that his Witnesses were forced by the Rack to swear more than was true and instances Cornelius Moran and that his own Examination was mutilated of all Matters that might excuse or lessen his Crime but upon Search it appeared that Cornelius Moran was not made use of as an Evidence against him at all and that the Clauses he mentioned to be expung'd were found uncancell'd in his Examination It seems that the Treaty about the Cessation so influenced the Army that it did little this Summer only Colonel Monk on the 27th of June issued out with a Party of Thirteen hundred Foot and 140 Horse and he had the good Fortune at a Pass on the Boyne near Castlejordan to encounter Four thousand Irish Foot and Six hundred Horse under General Preston and to get the better of them however for want of Provisions he was fain to march to Wickloe and was afterwards Commanded thence into Meath to attend Owen Roe O Neal whose Army was near Portlester and there he joyned the Lord Moor who was Commander in chief of this Party and tho' it did not come to a Battel yet the valiant Lord Moor was unfortunately Slain by a Shot from a great Gun not many days before the Cessation was concluded Neither was there much done in the rest of the Provinces for the same Reason but the little that was done ought to be mentioned before we touch the Cessation that so we may take that Treaty entire And first in Munster the Lord of Insiquin divided his Army in the beginning of May and himself marched westward Battel of Killworth whilst Sir CHARLES VAVASOR went Eastward and took Mac Thomas's Castle and other Castles in the County of Waterford But on the Twenty seventh of May the Army to the number of Four hundred Horse and Four thousand Foot rendevouzed at Bottivant from whence Lieutenant Colonel Story with Two hundred Horse and Twelve hundred Foot was detached into Kerry where they got a Considerable Prey and also rescued some English and on the Twenty eighth the Lord Insiquin with the rest of the Army marched to Killmallock and ranged to and fro thereabouts whilst on the Thirty first of May Sir Charles Vavasor with another Detachment attacked the strong Castle of Cloghleagh which he took on the Third of June but on the Fourth of June by great negligence and want of Conduct he was well beaten by the Earl of Castlehaven on the Plain between Formoy and Killworth and Six hundred English were there slain and Sir Charles and others were taken Prisoners which was a just Judgment upon them for suffering some inferiour Officers to violate the Quarter they had given to the Garrison of Cloghleagh and by this Considerable Victory the Rebels were so elevated that they made a brisk
it to a General Assembly to be immediately called To this Declaration and these Propositions the Supreme Council on the 10th of September returned the following Answer viz. To the First That they will Print and Publish Glamorgan's Articles and insist on them as being Obligatory to the King and get them confirmed next Parliament and no interruption shall be given them in the mean time That the Repeal of the Penal Laws was purposely omitted in the Peace as being less than Glamorgan's Concessions and therefore might derogate from them and the Suspension of Poyning's Act was by unanimous Consent omitted for saving of Time To the Second That they shall be sufficiently provided for To the Third No constant Garisons shall be put into Corporations c. nor Levies made but for Publick Service and proportionably to the rest of the Country and some of the Members of the Corporation shall be privy thereunto To the Fourth 'T is implyed else how can they be for the use of the Catholick Youth if the Discipline be not Catholick To the Fifth It is done already and if not shall be taken care of And you shall have Security to have the Penal Laws repealed the next Parliament and shall not be molested in your Religion or Ecclesiastical Possessions till then This Answer so baffled the Congregation that all the Reply they could make was That the Lord Lieutenant was gone out of their Quarters and that the Supreme Council being part of the Confederate Body could be no Security to the rest for what they promised and that the Peace being once rejected could not be reassumed or revived but by a General Assembly And to manifest that they were in earnest they had prevailed with the Bishop of Ossory long before this to Publish a very extraordinary Instrument in form following WHEREAS We have in publick and private Meetings at several times declared to the Supreme Council and others whom it may concern That it was and is unlawful and against Conscience the implying Perjury as it hath been defined by the Special Act of the Convocation at Waterford to both Commonwealths Spiritual and Temporal to do or concur to any Act â—ending to the Approbation or countenancing the Publication of this unlawful and mischievous Peace so dangerous as it is now Articled to both Commonwealths Spiritual and Temporal And whereas notwithstanding our Declaration yea the Declaration of the whole Clergy of the Kingdom to the contrary the Supreme Council and the Commissioners have actually proceeded to the Publilication yea and forcing it upon the City by Terror and Threats rather than by any free Consent or Desire of the People We having duly considered and taken it to heart as it becometh us how enormous this Fact is and appears in Catholicks even against God himself and what a publick Contempt of the Holy Church it appeareth beside the Evil it is like to draw upon this poor Kingdom after a mature Deliberation and Consent of our Clergy in detestation of this heinous and scandalous Disobedience of the Supreme Council and others who have adhered to them in matters of Conscience to the Holy Church and in hatred of so hurtful and abominable an Act do by these Presents according to the prescription of the Sacred Canons Pronounce and Command henceforth a General Cessation of Divine Offices throughout all the City and Suburbs of Kilkenny in all Churches Monasteries and Houses in them whatsoever Given at Our Palace of Nova Curia the 18th of August 1646. David Ossoriensis The Peace being thus rejected the Nuncio like a true Son of Thunder prepares for War and in order to it he borrowed a good Sum of of Money from the Spanish Agent Don Diego de la Torres and he recalled Preston out of Conaught and ordered Owen Roe to intercept the Lord Lieutenant in his return to Dublin In the mean time the Marquis of Ormond who did not suspect that there could be so much Perfidiousness and Treachery amongst Christians went forward from Kilkenny to Carrick and so to Clonmell and though he was denyed entrance into that Town and had notice that Colonel Peirce Butler alias Mac Thomas from whom he expected better things was ready with 500 Horse to disturb his March nevertheless he went towards Cashell but the Mayor of that place sent him word That Owen Roe had threatned that City with utter Destruction if they should Receive or Entertain his Excellency and at the same time he had from the Lord Dilâ—on of Costilo full information of the whole Design to intercept him and thereupon he marched that night to Calan and the next day to Loghlinbridge before Owen Roe who was within 6 miles of Kilkenny could overtake him and so he gotâ— safely to Dublin where he was received with all that Joy which Friends usually express at the arrival of those they gave for lost From Calan his Excellency sent the Lord Digby to Kilkenny to acquaint the Supreme Council with his Return and the Reasons of it and to stay Leiger with them and he also sent some of his Servants for some Necessaries he had left at his own house in Kilkenny but when they came there they found this Inconstant City which few days before had received the Lord Lieutenant with Acclamations of Joy pulling down the Monuments of his Entertainment viz. the Devices on the Gates and Market cross and other Matters of Pageantry and expressing so much Passion and Malice against him that most of his Servants were forced to withdraw and those few that staid were oblig'd to remain incognito However the Supreme Council ordered Sir Lucas Dillon and Doctor Fennell by Letters to assure his Excellency That notwithstanding what had hapned there should be no farther Hostilities us'd whereof Ormond took hold and desir'd them to ascertain a competent Time of Cessation that they might come to a right Understanding Whereunto they made no Reply but in stead of that Ormond had certain Advice from other Hands That Owen Roe had fallen into the Queens County with great violence and had taken several Castles from the King's Party and destroy'd all that oppos'd him and particularly that his Soldiers had in Cold Blood murdered Major Piggot and Fifty others at Disert to whom they had promised Quarter And about the same time the Castle of Athlone was surprized by George Dillon a Friar Uncle to the Lord President and that Place being the Key and principal Fortress of Conaught was a great accession of Strength to the Confederate Party And so the Triumphant Nuncio not doubting but that all was his own came in State to Kilkenny where he caused all the Supreme Council except Plunket and Darcy to be imprison'd and immediately he instituted a new Supreme Council of his own Creatures who to requite his Kindness did in effect commit to him the entire and absolute Power of Governing and Commanding as he pleas'd as well in Temporal as Ecclesiastical Matters But that which was most strange in this
stupendious Revolution was That General Preston and his Army being mostly of the Pale and in whom English Blood and Honor should have had more prevalence than to suffer them to be guilty of so manifest and perfidious Violation of a Peace so lately made with their own King should be persuaded to joyn with Owen Roe and the Ulster Irish in so ill a Cause and even against his Interest and yet it is certain that they were tainted so early that tho' Owen Roe march'd through their Quarters to intercept Ormond yet none of them sent him the least notice and when the Marquis sent to Preston to come to him to consult about those Affairs Preston excused it with a Pretence of Sickness Nevertheless the Nuncio would not trust him until he had tied him by an Engagement to oblige his Honor and an Oath to bind his Conscience both which are recited Appendix 32. And upon the noise of Preston's Defection the Lord Lieutenant sent him an Expostulatory Letter to which he return'd the following Canting Answer May it please your Excellency IN Answer to Yours of the Eighth of this Instant I return That finding the Peace that was Concluded and Published destructive to my Religion and Liberty of the Nation to the Maintenance of which together with His Majesty's Just Prerogatives I had formerly sworn and associated my self I called together my Regiments and issued new Commissions for reinforcing of my Army my Intention being therein no other tha◠complying with my former Resolution and Engagement which I desire may be accorded with Assurance whereby we may be the better enabled to comply with His Majesty's Necessities in serving Him Which is the only Ambition of My Lord Your Lordships most humble Servant T. PRESTON Kilka 10 October 1646. But let us return to the Nuncio who by the Artifice and Industry of the Popish Clergy was become the Generalissimo of Two Armies which being united made up 16000 Foot and 1600 Horse with which he marched towards Dublin and was so confident to take it by a General Assault at his first Approach and express'd it with such Arguments of Probability that it was generally believ'd in his Camp so that Colonel Fitz-Williams pretending Kindness to Ormond did by his Letter of the 22th of September give him notice of the Danger and advis'd him to prevent it by confirming Glamorgan's Concessions and concludes That then Preston will live and die for His Majesty And to this Advertisement the Marquis on the 26th of September return'd the following Answer SIR IF I could have assured the Clergy my Lord of Glamorgan's Conditions I had not retired hither they are Things I have nothing to do with nor will have If they be valid in themselves they need no Corroboration if invalid I have no Power to give them Strength I cannot believe General Preston so regardless of his Honor as to appear in a way of Hostility before Dublin which were in the highest degree to violate the Loyalty he professeth the many Assurances given me by himself and in his behalf by others and above all the Honor of his Profession But if all that can be called Faith between King and Subject and betwixt Man and Man shall be so infamously laid aside together with all hope of Reconciliation Nature will teach us to make the best Resistance we can and God the sure Punisher of Treachery and Disloyalty at last will bless our Endeavors with Success or our Sufferings with Patience and Honor. Your Servant ORMOND But we must leave this mighty Army on their March and visit the Marquis of Ormond who was so enraged at this unexcusable Perfidy of the Confederates that he resolved to think no more of Treating with them but on the contrary prepared for the utmost Resistance And he was likewise very much confirmed in those Resolutions by the Opinion of the Lord Digby whom he had left Resident at Kilkenny and who in his Letter of the 24th of September hath this Passage My Lord there is no dealing with this People but by Force You see by the short Letter how they forge large Offers and improve others for their Ends. Hereupon Resolutions were unanimously taken in Council to Address to the Parliamet for Succors as shall be hereafter related at large in its proper place And the Lord Lieutenant and Council did write to the King ☞ That the Irish having perfidiously violated the Peace had begun a new War to wrest the Kingdom from His Majesty and transfer it to the King of Spain or the Pope to avoid which they were forced to apply themselves to the Parliament And the same day they wrote to the Lord Mayor and City of London for Assistance and assur'd them that the City Debts seiz'd in the beginning of the War were but borrow'd in extremity and that an exact Account are kept of them and they will be justly repaid by the King in due time And hereupon the Captain of the Parliaments Ship that carried the Commissioners over furnish'd the Lord Lieutenant with Thirty Barrels of Powder There was nothing more could be done for the Preservation of Dublin but to invite the Parliament Forces of Ulster to its Assistance which was not neglected and many of them were passionately inclin'd to the Service as knowing that the whole Kingdom would suffer very much in the Loss of that City But the Chief Commanders and the Parliament Commissioners would not consent unless Tredagh might be put into their Hands To which Ormond replied That he was in Treaty with the Parliament and therefore could not part with Tredagh till that were finished but desires them to reinforce his Garisons or divert the Common Enemy by taking the Field However the Irish were afraid of this Conjunction and therefore Owen Roe from Athy on the Ninth of October invited the Lord Lieutenant thither to treat with the Nuncio but Ormond knew there was no good Musick to be made upon that String and therefore the next day from Trim he return'd an Expostulation Why they were in Arms and desired them to restore Athlone and Athy To which Owen Roe replied the same day from Kilka That those Garisons are in surer Hands for the King now than they were in before whilst they were kept by Men inclined to the Parliament But tho this Irish General was so high being the Favorite of the Nuncio and his Party yet General Preston was not so but foreseeing the Fate and Scandal of the perfidious Breach of the Peace both he and his Army were somewhat cold in the Affair Besides this there was a National Emulation between the Two Armies O Neal's being Old Irish as the others was of the Old English and this was increas'd by the Insolence of the former and the Envy of the latter For Owen Roe and his Party who had been lately Victorious at Bemburb and had never submitted to the Peace because the Nuucio did reject it thought themselves justly entitled to the Reputation of
being the better Soldiers and the better Catholicks Whilst the other being the Civiliz'd Inhabitants of the Pale look'd upon the Northern Army as a sort of Barbarians And therefore the Lord Digby writes thus to the Lord Lieutenant from Grangemelan 13 October All here of the Nuncio and O Neal ' s Parties is the height of Insolency and Villanies O Neal ' s and Preston ' s Armies hate one another more than the English hates either of them O Neal has Eight thousand Foot whereof Five thousand well Armed and Eight hundred Horse the worst in the World he designs on Naas Matters standing thus General Preston On the Nineteenth of October made some Proposals to the Lord Digby to which he return'd this Answer by Sir Nicholas White That if Preston would submit to the Peace the Lord Lieutenant would break off the other Treaty but cannot do it after the Provisions and Country are destroy'd because then he will be tied by the Teeth to the Parliament on whom he must depend for Bread That he shall have reasonable Security of Religion but must decline the extravagant Expectations of the Nuncio That they shall have the Penal Laws repeal'd and not be disturb'd in the Possession of the Churches they now have until His Majesty's Pleasure cut of Restraint be known And for security hereof they shall have the Engagement of the Queen the Prince of Wales of the Crown of France and of the Marquis of Clanrickard and that Preston shall have a considerable Command and so shall as many of Owen Roe's Officers as will comply But an Answer must be sent before the Lord Lieutenant be necessitated to destroy his own Quarters And this General Preston did also send Sir James Dillon to offer the Command of his Army to the Lord of Clanrickard and that they would submit to the Peace if they might be secur'd in their Religion But as Clanrickard would not meddle without Ormond's Consent so Ormond began to be shie of Preston and not to regard what he said because he had promis'd him not to shoot a Gun at any English Garison and yet he did now assault and take Castlejordan which breach of his private Promise more sullied his Reputation with Ormond than did his Contravention of the General Peace Moreover whilst they pretended fairly and talk'd of Peace they nevertheless march'd on and destroy'd the English Quarters and therefore when the Lord Tâ—â—f on the 23th of October sent a healing Message to the Lord Lieutenant in behalf of Preston and in order to revive the Peace he smartly answered That now they had destroyed his Quarters and taken several of His Majesty's Castles and murdered His Subjects without any cause of Complaint they begin to talk and but to talk of Accommodation And when Preston replied That the Peace was disadvantagious to the Catholicks and was therefore rejected the Marquis answered That Oaths are not necessary to bind one to his Benefit and therefore are useful only when they oblige to Disadvantage and if they may for that Reason be violated all Faith amongst Men is destroy'd Whereupon on the Thirtieth of October Preston writes That he will send the Lord Lieutenant Propositions in two or three days which accordinly were sent on the Second day of November and were signed by both the Generals together with a Letter as followeth viz. May it please your Excellency BY the Command of the Confederate Catholicks of this Kingdom who offer the inclosed Propositions we have under our Leading Two Armies Our Thoughts are best to our Religion King and Country our Ends to establish the First and make the Two following secure and happy It is the great part of our Care and Desires to purchase your Excellency to the effecting of so blessed a Work We do not desire the effusion of Blood and to that purpose the inclosed Propositions are sent from us We pray to God your Consideration of them may prove fruitful We are commanded to pray your Excellency to render an Answer to them by Two of the Clock in the Afternoon on Thursday next be it War or Peace We shall endeavor in our Ways to exercise Faith and Honor and upon this Thought we rest Your Excellencies most humble Servants T. PRESTON OWEN O NEILE 1. That the Exercise of the Romish Religion be in Dublin Tredagh and all the Kingdoms of Ireland as free and as publick as it is now in Paris in France or Bruxels in the Low-Countries 2. That the Council of State called ordinarily the Council-Table be of Members true and faithful to His Majesty and such of which there may be no fear or suspicion of going to the Parliament Party 3. That Dublin Tredagh Trim Newry Carlingford and all Garisons within the Protestant Quarters ☞ be Garison'd by Confederate Catholicks to maintain and keep the said Cities and Places for the use of our Sovereign Lord King Charles and his Lawful Successors for the Defence of this Kingdom of Ireland 4. That the present Council of the Confederates shall Swear truly and faithfully to keep and maintain for the use of His Majesty and His Lawful Successors and for the Defence of the said Kingdom of Ireland the above Cities of Dublin and Tredagh and all other Forts Places and Castles as above 5. That the said Council and all General Officers and Soldiers whatsoever do Swear and Protest to fight by Sea and Land against the Parliamentarians and all the Kings Enemies And that they will never come to any Convention Agreement or Article with the said Parliamentarians or any the Kings Enemies to the prejudice of His Majesties Rights or of this Kingdom of Ireland 6. That according to Our Oath of Association We will to the best of Our Power and Cunning defend the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom the Kings Rights the Lives and Fortunes of the Subjects His Excellency is prayed to make Answer to the above Propositions at furthest by Two of the Clock in the Afternoon on Thursday next But it seems that these Proposals were thought so insolent and unreasonable that it was not fit to Countenance them with an Answer In the mean time the Lord Lieutenant had sent to the Lord Clanrickard to come to him with what Assistance he could and this Lord who was always Loyal and abhorred the violation of the Peace did his Endeavour to bring a considerable Party with him but as he words it in his Letter of the Second of November The sharp Sword of Excommunication had so cut his Power and means that he could bring with him but one Troop of Horse to Tecroghan however his Presence was very considerable and as it gave great Comfort to the Lord Lieutenant so it gave mighty hopes to Preston who believed that Clanrickard who for his exemplary Loyalty would be confided in by one side and for his Religion might be trusted by the other was a fit Mediator to reconcile both Parties and accordingly he applyed himself to that Lord and by the
and Scandalous Book entitled Disputatio Apologetica de Jure Regni Hiberniae pro Catholicis Hibernis adversus Haereticos Anglos written by one Cnoghor Mahony P. W. Remonstrance 587 667 737. a Native of Muskery in the County of Cork and a Jesuit disguised under the Name of Cornelius de Sancto Patricio the main Design of it is to prove That the Kings of England never had any Right to Ireland and he advises the Irish to kill all that adhere to the Crown of England tho' Papists and to chuse a * * Elegiâ—e vâ—bis regem vernacuâ—um Native King and avers That if the King Charles the First had originally a Right yet being a Heretick he ought to be depriv'd And tho' this Book was burnt by Order of the Supreme Council for Form sake yet it was suffered privately to be disperst and was never condemn'd by the Popish Clergy in Ireland to this day altho it was proposed by P. W. in the famous Congregation at Dublin Anno 1666. that it should be so The Year 1648. 1648. began with the Treaty between Insiquin and the Confederates about a Cessation which met with many Difficulties by the means of the Nuncio for altho' he had given his Consent formerly Beling 128. that the Confederates should make a Cessation either with Insiquin or the Scots as they should find most convenient yet now when he found it was near a Conclusion and saw that Insiquin by deserting the Parliament had shut the Door against farther Succors from England he began to play over his old Tricks again and sent a Letter to the Supreme Council advising them against the Cessation 1. Because Insiquin's Successes had given him the Possession of many Popish Estates and Churches which must be left so by this Truce 2. Because Insiquin was their most inveterate Enemy and was stain'd with the Blood of the Religious at Cashell and elsewhere And 3. Because Insiquin can have no Supplies from England and therefore must restore all their own to the Catholicks if he be prosecuted and therefore should have no Cessation But the Council replied Beling 65. They had so many Enemies in every Province that they could not fall upon Insiquin and if they did he had Walled Towns and Forces enough to defend himself That it would be scandalous to prosecute him that had as good as declared for the King and at the same time to neglect the Parliaments Forces that were His Majesty's Enemies and that if they did so they could expect no Fruit of their Embassie to the Queen and Prince c. The Nuncio replied and they rejoyned but at length he came to Kilkenny and when after many Expostulations he found they were resolved to proceed to conclude the Cessation on the Seventh of May he withdrew privately from Kilkenny to Owen Roe's Camp at Killminch in the Queen's County and sent a Letter to the Supreme Council to inform them of this Flight and the Reasons of it Many Messages and Letters past between them and all imaginable Endeavors were used to get him back and reconcile him but in vain for having notice that they had published the Cessation the Twentieth of May he together with the Bishops of Clogher Ross Cork and Down on the 27th of the same Month issued an Excommunication against all the Adherents to this Cessation from which as being very erroneous both in Matter and Form the Supreme Council made an Appeal to the Pope on the 31th of May and on the Fourteenth of June they propos'd some Queries about it to the Bishop of Ossory who gave them Answers to their satisfaction all which are to be found at large in the Appendix of Instruments annexed to Peter Walsh's Loyal Remonstrance It is almost incredible what Execution a Popish Excommunication can do amongst an ignorant bigotted People that are led by an implicit Faith to a blind Obedience Nevertheless 't is certain that the Supreme Council were at their Wits end how to manage the People and the Nuncio And yet it is the more strange that his Excommunications should find so much regard because he did notoriously abuse the Power of the Keys and did fulminate his Anathema's upon the slightest Occasions and even in his own Temporal Affairs as appears by his * * 11 Febr. 1646. Excommunication of Colonel Edmund Butler and all his Officers if within two Hours they did not deliver up the Castle of Kilkenny to the Mayor and Aldermen of that City and the following Excommunication of James Gough in a Plea of Debt or Account in his own Case for the ††Haec Fregata ipsius Reverendissimi Nuncii proprii erat Beling 38. Frigat was his JOannes Baptista Rinuccinus Dei Sanctae Sedis Apostolicae gratia Archiepiscopus Princeps Firmanus ac in Hiberniae Regno Nuncius Apostolicus extraordinarius tibi Jacobo Gough salutem Tenore presentium precipâ—nus ac mandamus ad instantiam petitionem Domini Ludovici Gedeon Capitanei Fregatae Sancti Petri Sociorum Militum Nautarum quatâ—nus infra totam diem sequentem Lunae quae erit 17 currentis Mensis Augusti debeas reddere computa fidelia realia cum effectu sine mora de omnibus pecuniis rebus Spectantibus ad ipsos alios pro praeda capta a dicta fregeta ad effectum quod statim ipse supradictus Capitaneus alij interesse habentes debitam justam habeant Satisfactionem pro integra illorum quorumcunque parte hoc sub paena Excommunicationis nobis reservata de facto incurrendae si per te ex parte vel defectu tuo totum id non perficiatur non obstantibus quibuscumque c. in quorum fidem c. Datum Waterfordiae Die 15th Augusti Anno. 1646. Joannes Baptista Archiepiscopus Firmanus Nuncius Apostolicus Nor is it unfit to be observed that these Prelates who were so forward to Excommunicate those that made a Cessation with the Kings Party could yet suffer their Darling Owen Roe to make Leagues and Cessations with the Parliament Officers viz. Coot Jones and Monk without issuing an Excommunication or so much as giving him a reproof for it And that it may appear how little regard this Apostolick Nuncio had for Religion it is necessary to add that when he understood that a blasphemous Wretch had drank a Health to the Trinity viz. God Owen Roe and the Nuncio and said that whoever would not Pledge it was a Heretick he was so well pleased with that Prophane and Irreligious Zeal that he rewarded it with a * * Decanatus insignis cujusdam in Hibernia Ecclesiae Titulum consecutus Est Beling in pref p. 18. Deanry Propino vobis inquit Salutem Trinitatis Dei scillicet Eugenij O Nellij D. Nuntij quam quisquis bibere recusaverit pro Heretico habendus erit And this is reported by Mr. Beling who was himself an eminent Roman Catholick and a Learned man and
Cromwell's Army was much harassed and but very small perhaps not exceeding 5000 Foot 2000 Horse and 500 Dragoons when he came before Waterford yet the fame of this General had so frightned the Irish that the Mayor and Governour of Waterford hearing of his approach did on the 28th of October send a Letter to the Marquess of Ormond to consult about the Terms to be insisted on at the Rendition of the City But Ormond the next day by his Letter chid them for their forwardness to Parly with the Enemy before any Battery was begun and assured them that if they did their Duty Cromwell should be baffled before that place as indeed it happened for he lost a 1000 Men with Sickness before it and went away without it And it was about this time in the Month of October that Mr. Seymour arrived in Ireland and brought with him the Garter to the Marquess of Ormond And it was by him that Ormond gave the following Account to his Majesty 30 Octob from Clonmell viz. That Ireland cannot be preserved without Succours that no People in the World are more easily drawn by Reward or forced by Fear than the Irish That he could not draw into the Field above 5000 Foot and 1300 Horse nor keep them long together for want of Necessaries That nevertheless there is no want of Men but of Maintenance for them that the Plague is in Conaught that the Irish and English in his Army cannot agree That no Trust can be put in Owen Roe's Army longer than their own Interest obliges them And therefore if his Majesty comes he ought to bring Ammunition and Money with him and land them at Galway And soon after from Waterford on the 15th of November his Lordship wrote again to his Majesty That the Irish are so fickle that for Trade's sake they will correspond with the Towns in the Rebels possession That the Irish Clergy are mutinous and by means of the Lord of Antrim will probably do some foolish and fatal thing From Waterford Cromwell marched to Dungarvan which he took and there on the 18th of November died Michael Jones Lieutenant-General of the Army a Man of clear Valour and excellent as well as fortunate Conduct and not inferiour to any body in a sincere passion for the good of his Country In the mean time the Towns of the Country of Cork being inhabited and garrison'd with English-men could not endure the thoughts of joyning with the Irish against their own Country-men they considered how the Lord-Lieutenant was not only limited in his Authority by the Commissioners of Trust and was but partially and precatiously obeyed by the Irish They knew the Irish aim'd at their Destruction in the end and continued the War to that purpose Finally they remembred the reasons of surrendring Dublin to the Parliament two Years before and they thought they had the same motive to submit now and therefore by the means of the Lord Broghill Collonel Countny Sir Percy Smith and the Collonels Townsend Jeffor'd and Warden they revolted all at once and about 2500 Men were drawn out of those Garrisons and they met Cromwell at Whitechurch not far from Dungarvan This Revolution dissolved all confidence between the English and Irish and as well for that reason as in other respects proved advantagious to Cromwell for otherwise he must have been forced to endure a long and dangerous March to Dublin or to have embark'd his Men on board the Fleet that coasted all along as he marched to attend him but by this Revolt he got excellent Winter-quarters in Cork Bandon Kinsale and Youghall which last place was made his Head-quarters and there we will leave him and enquire into the Motions of the Marquess of Ormond For although the Motions of that Lord could not be very considerable as well because of the Season of the Year and his want of Money and all other Necessaries as also because his Men did daily desert him in such numbers as that of all the Conaught Horse he had but nine and thirty left with him yet he so struggled with all these Difficulties that he still kept some Forces together hovering between Clonmell and Waterford And it hapned one day that he ferried over to Waterford with about fifty Horse in hopes to perswade that City to all that was necessary for its own preservation and the common good but when he came there he found that the Governor Lieutenant-General Farrel and Collonel Wogan from Duncannon had formed a design upon Passage-Fort and though Ormond much doubted the success yet it was not fit for him at that time to disswade the Attempt And so Farrell marched out but he was not long gone before a Party of the Enemies Horse was discovered to march towards Passage whereupon Ormond desired the Mayor to permit a Regiment or two of his Horse which were on the other side of the River to be wafted over and to march through the City but all his Commands and Intreaties were in vain although the Citizens saw the danger their Souldiers were in and the necessity of the proposed Relief However the Marquess marched out with his fifty Horse such as they were and met Farrell's Foot flying towards Waterford and Collonel Zankey's Horse in pursuit of them hereupon he drew up in a place of advantage and the Enemy thinking he had a greater Body of Horse with him than in truth he had lessened their pace till by advanced Parties they should discover the truth but Ormond pickeer'd so long with them that the remainder of the Foot being about one half had time to escape which else had been cut in pieces or taken Prisoners as their Companions were This very Accident shewed the necessity of the retaking Passage-Fort which else would be a continual Nusance to the City of Waterford and therefore the Lord-Lieutenant propos'd that he would transport his Forces over the River to accomplish that Undertaking if the City would permit his Army to Quarter in Huts under their Walls where they should be no ways burdensom but should have Pay and Provisions from the Country But the Citizens were so far from consenting to this that it was moved by one in the City-Council That they should seize on Ormond ' s person and fall on those that belonged to him as Enemies So that it was time for the Marquess to depart and because the principal Towns like so many petty Republicks stood so stifly upon their pretended Priviledges that they paid no farther Obedience to the Lord-Lieutenant than they thought fit and refused to receive his Army into Garrisons he was forced to disperse his Forces to provide for themselves as they could Luke Taaf went to Conaught and Insiquin into the County of Clare and the Lord Dillon into Westmeath only Major-General Hugh O Neil and 1600 Ulster-men were admitted into Clonmell and his Excellency return'd to Kilkenny And it was from hence that by his Letter of the 24th of December he acquainted his
seems the King did intend it for some of his Goods were sent into Ireland and whatever it was that hindred him it is certain that in his Letter of the 15th of October 1650 he lamented his misfortune in not coming to Ireland when Ormond invited him But to proceed the Ulster Army by their Capitulations had power to chuse their own General and accordingly they did elect the Titular Bishop of Clogher and the Lord-Lieutenant being acquainted with it sent him a Commission on the first of April and the same day the true Paper of Grievances indited by the Bishops at Cluanmacnoise and signed by their Secretary the Bishop of Clonfert already mentioned was given to his Excellency Whereupon he summoned a General Assembly to meet at Loghreagh on the 25th of April and then he gave them an Answer to those Grievances and imparted to them his Majesty's Letter of the 2d of February To withdraw himself when he should think fit Whereupon on the 30th of April they Address to him respectfully as Appendix 46. And the next day his Excellency resolving to rely no more on General Protestations sends them smart Observations upon that Address as Appendix 46. Whereunto they make answer â—n the 2d of May in a very dutiful manner with many fair promises and actually sent the Archbishop of Tuan and Sir Lucas Dillon with pressing Letters to Limerick to receive a Garrison and obey his Excellency's Orders Whereupon Ormond was once again cajoll'd by their fair Pretences and dismis'd the Frigat he had provided for his Transportation and resolved to stay in the Kingdom And though the Answer these Agents brought from the City of Limerick was imperfect yet it was such as gave hopes to the Lord-Lieutenant so that he drew near the City to be ready to embrace the critical Opportunities of their good Humour And accordingly on the 12th of June he received from the Mayor the following Letter May it please Your Excellency THE City-Council have given me in Command to signifie and humbly to offer unto your Excellency That it was expected by them that you would being so near the City yesterday bestow a Visit upon it the which is no way doubted had been done by your Excellency if your greater Affairs did not hinder you from the same and yet do expect when those are over your Excellency will be pleased to step hither to settle the Garrison here the which without your presence cannot be as is humbly conceived so well done or with that expedition as our Necessity requires The particulars whereof we refer to Alderman Peirs Creagh and Alderman John Bourke their relation to whom we desire Credence may be given by your Excellency and humbly to believe that I will never fail to be Limerick the 12th of June 1650. For his Excellency the Lord-Lieutenant General and General Governour of Ireland Your Excellency's Most Humble Servant Jo. Creagh Mayor Limerick And to that Letter his Excellency returned the following Answer AFter Our hearty Commendations We have received Your Letter of this day's date by the conveyance of Alderman Piers Creagh and heard what Alderman John Bourke and he had to say as from that Corporation In answer whereunto We imparted some particulars unto them wherein We expect satisfaction which if you send Us to the Rendezvouz to morrow where We intend to be We shall visit that City and employ our uttermost Endeavours in setling the Garrison necessarily desired thither both for the Defence and satisfaction of that City And so We bid you heartily Farewell From Clare the 12th of June 1650. For Our very Loving Friend the Mayor of the City of Limerick These Your very Loving Friend ORMOND The Particulars mentioned in the abovementioned Letter were these I. To be received in like Manner and with such Respect as Lord-Lieutenants heretofore always have been II. To have the Command of the Guards the Giving of the Word and Orders in the City III. That there be Quarters provided within the City for such Guards of Horse and Foot as he should carry in who are to be part of the Garrison whereof a List shall be given at the Rendezvouz And so not doubting of their Compliance to such reasonable and necessary Articles his Excellency came to the place of Rendezvouz where the two Aldermen waited on him and told his Excellency That the City had agreed to all his Proposals but that of admitting his Guards Whereupon his Lordship sent back this Message That he carried his Guards because of the Dignity of his Place and to prevent any popular Tumults that might happen from loose People and not from any Disgust or Jealousy of their Loyalty or Affection of the Magistrates of the City However his Guards should not exceed 50 Horse and 100 Foot all Roman Catholicks and such as had been of their Confederacy And so believing they would not reject any thing that was so reasonable he marched on towards the City but when he came near the Gates the same Aldermen that invited him in were sent out to let his Excellency know that one Wolf a seditious Fryer had raised such a Tumult in the Town that it was not safe for him to come in until it should be appeased Whereupon he retired to Shanbuolly and from thence sent the following Letter to which he could never get any satisfactory Answer On the contrary they broke open his Trunks of Papers which his Excellency had left in that City and seized upon the Stores of Corn he had laid up there for himself and the Army And though they afterwards refused to receive his Excellency even whilst Ireton was before the City yet they readily entertained some Troops that had contrary to Orders deserted the Army and they forced Contribution from those that had punctually paid it before to the use of the Army and according to Order And when the Lord-Lieutenant wrote to the Mayor for Redress that Magistrate did reply That Hugh O Neal was Governour And when he wrote to O Neal he did more truly answer That he was but a Cipher and the power was in the Corporation And so he could get no satisfactory Answer from either of them AFter Our hearty Commendations According to Our promise in Our Letter of the 12th of this Month from Clare We came yesterday to the Rendezvouz with intent to have gone into that City for the purpose desired by you in your Letter of the same day's date but upon our coming to the place we received a Message from you by Alderman Peirs Creagh and Alderman John Bourke importing That you consented to all we had formerly proposed to you except the admitance of our Guards Hereupon we returned the said Messengers with answer That we intended not the drawing in of our Guards out of any mistrust we had of the Loyalty of the Magistrates of that City to his Majesty or of their Affection to us but for the Dignity of the Place we â—old and to prevent any popular Tumult that
might be raised by desperate uninterested Persons against us or the Civil Government of that City whereunto we had cause to fear some loose People might by false and frivolous Suggestions be too easily instigated And to take away all possibility of suspition from the most jealous that we could have any other end to the prejudice of that City the Guards we proposed were but one hundred Foot and fifty Horse and those to consist entirely of those of your own Religion and such as by having been constantly of your Confederacy are interested in all the benefits of the Articles of Peace To this we received no positive reply but in an uncertain manner were told by the said Aldermen of some Uproar raised by a Fryer in opposition to the desires and intentions of the Mayor and principal Citizens touching our coming thither Whereupon we thought not fit to subject his Majesty's Authority placed in â—s to a possibility of being affronted by a wild Rabble of mean People but rather to expect the issue of more setled Councils Wherein we hope will be taken into consideration not only by what power you were first made a Corporation and by whose protection you have since flourished but also what solid foundation of Safety other than by receiving the Defence we offer is or can be discovered to you by the present Disturbers of your Quiet To conclude We expect your present Answer that in case we be encouraged to proceed in the ways we have laid down of serving the King and preserving that City from the Tyranny of the Rebels we may immediately apply ourself thereunto or failing in our desires therein we may apply ourself and the Forces we have gathered to that purpose to some other Service And so we bid you heartily Farewel From Shanbuolly the 14 of June 1650. To Our very loving Friend the Mayor of the City of Limerick These Your Loving Friend ORMOND But we must leave this rebellious City for a while to attend the Popish Bishop of Clogher who was so considerable a Man and so zealous in the Interests of the Church that by help of the Nuntio Party he expected to be made Generalissimo of all the Confederates and the better to fit himself for it he revived the National Distinction between old and new Irish and thâ—se latter being of English extraction he turn'd out of his Army and left none in but Macs and Oâ—s and then he thought himself so powerful that he gave his Forces the Name and Title of The Confident Victorious Catholick Army of the North Nevertheless on the 20th of May he and all his Officers had published a Declaration to wheedle such of the Scots and British as opposed the Parliament wherein they pretended great Loyalty And that as misconstruction and mistake made the Scots at first to rise against his Majesty who was their own flesh and blood so it was likewise misunderstanding that occasioned the falling out between the Irish and the Scots in the beginning of these Wars and therefore all should be forgotten and all distinctions of Nation and Religion should be postpon'd and sacrificed to his Majesty's interest and service But I suppose few of the Protestants were so simple as to be cajolled with that hypocritical Declaration for though many upon the principles of Loyalty did still continue their desires to serve the King yet they would by no means joyn with those that had purged their Army even of such Papists as were of English extraction And that the Reader may know that Confidence in Ireland is no certain symptom of Success I will make what hast I can to bring this Confident Victorious Catholick Army of the North to their total Defeat at the Battle of Skirfolas It was on the 14th of April that Sir Charles Coot being in the Lagan sent to Collonel Venables then in Claneboy to meet him at the Rendezvouz near Charlemont with what speed he could but the Bishop of Clogher having about the same time surprized Toom and passed over some Horse and Foot into the County of Antrim Venables was countermanded and was ordered to retake the Castle of Toom and Coot at the same time marched into the Barony of Loghinsolin to countenance that Attempt and to keep three Irish Regiments of Foot and five Troops of Horse that were in that Barony so employed that they might not disturb Venables and it succeeded according to expectation for Venables had Toom surrendred to him and Coot got good store of prey and returned to Dungannon but for want of Provisions he was forced to march to Omagh and the Irish Army came to Charlemont so that they were in the middle between Coot and Venables Hereupon Coot after several ineffectual experiments to get the Bishop from his ground or to joyn with Venables was necessitated to pass the River of Loghfoil so that the Bishop ravaged over the whole Country and though he was manfully repulsed at Lemavaddy by Major Dudly Phillips yet he took Dungeven by Storm after a gallant defence made by Lieutenant-Collonel Beresford and had Bally-castle pittifully surrendered to him Nevertheless he was sometimes disturbed by Major King who had three Troops of Horse and three hundred Foot at Inniskilling but that was not so considerable as to hinder the Bishop's resolution of passing over Clody-foard to fall upon Sir Charles Coot's party which he performed with great dexterity and courage but Coot who was aware of this had provided another retreat at Breagdough behind the River that runs into Loghswilly and though the Irish strove hard for that pass yet it was in vain for Coot maintained the pass and by this means Venables had an opportunity to march from Colerain to Derry and thence might ferry over to the Camp The Bishop who was a Man of great parts soon perceived his Error and saw there was no way to remedy it but either to fight or return over the River before Venables could come up and accordingly he put his Army in Battallia and faced the English but Coot who had with him but his own Regiment of Horse and four Troops of Coll. Richard Coot's and 300 Country Horse under Coll. Sanderson and about 2000 Foot had no reason to fight until Venables should arrive however they continued pickeering for many hours and in the evening the Bishop drew towards the pass but being disturbed by Coot's Horse and having lost sixty Men he posted himself at Litterkenny having before sent a party to take in Castle-Doe and to bring in Provisions Whereupon Coot being re-inforced with a 1000 of Venables's Foot wafted over from Derry took advantage of that opportunity and faced the Bishop and resolved to fight Battle of Skirfolas in short it came to a Battle at Skirfolas two mile above Litterkenny on the 21st of June the English being 800 Horse and 3000 Foot and the Irish 4000 Foot and 400 Horse but the ground was so rough that the Horse could do little service on either side
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
to excuse my self from communicating to you such Observations as I have made On the contrary I have herewith sent you what I have already collected and will as often as you desire impart to you whatever shall fall under my Notice or Observation that is pertinent to your purpose The Interval between the end of the War and Cromwell's Death affords but little matter for an Historian for it was a time of profound Peace and spent in setting out of Lands setling of Titles in Building and Improvements and in transplanting the Irish into Connaught and imposing the Engagement The Government was managed by Commissioners of Parliament viz. Charles Fleetwood Lieutenant-General of the Army Edmond Ludlow Lieutenant-General of the Horse Miles Corbet John Jones and John Weaver Esquires but the Army was under the sole Conduct of Fleetwood In November 1653. the Commissioners of Delinquency sate at Athlone to determine the Qualifications of the Irish for Transplantation into Connaught and they continued eight Months but did not dispatch Business as was expected and therefore Judg Cook was fain to supply their Defect and some of the other Commissioners removed to Loghreogh to set out Lands to the Irish pursuant to Cook 's Decrees But in Anno 1654. Fleetwood was made Lord Deputy and so continued until August 1655. and then Henry Cromwell was made Commander in Chief of the Army and in the Civil Government Matthew Thomlinson Miles Corbet and Robert Goodwin were in Commission with him and to them Mr. Steel the Chancellor was afterwards added And it was in the year 1655. that the Civil Authority which had been discontinued in Cork since the year 1644. was revived and Sir William 〈◊〉 Maurice Roch Christopher Oliver John Morly John Hodder and other ancient Freemen of the City met and elected John Hodder Mayor and William Hodder and Philip Matthews Sheriffs And in the same year the City and County of Londonderry were restored to the Society of the Governour and Assistants of London of the new Plantation in Ulster within the Realm of Ireland this County being the forfeited Estate of O Cahan and other Irish Septs was by King James granted to this Society under certain Covenants of Improvement whereupon they laid out vast Sums of Money in the Management of that Plantation by building Derry Colerain and twelve Mannor-houses c. But Anno 1636. they were prosecuted in the Star-Chamber on pretence of breach of Articles and their Estates sequestred and Anno 1637. Sir Thomas Fotherly and Sir Ralph Whitfield were Commissioned by the King to make new Leases thereof And tho there did pass a Vote of Parliament Anno 1640. to null the Decree of the Star-Chamber yet by reason of the Irish Rebellion following so soon after they were not restored until this year but Anno 1662. King Charles II. gave a new Charter to this Society under which it flourished till of late But to proceed After Oliver's Death the new Protector made his Brother Henry Cromwell Lord Lieutenant and so he continued until the 7th of May 1659. and then the Parliament sent over Ludlow Jones Thomlinson Corbet and Berry to Govern that Kingdom but Ludlow returned in September so that he was not in Ireland when the following Revolution happened For the People being weary of so many Alterations and Changes and despising the Unsteadiness of the Government were generally inclined to the King's Restauration And this humour being fomented and discreetly managed centred in what they desired The Lords of Montgomery and Broghall Sir Charles Coot Captain Robert Fitz-Gerald Sir Theophilus Jones Sir Oliver Saint-George Sir Awdly Mervin Collonel Mark Trevor Collonel Warren and several others were concerned in this Affair January 1659. They surpriz'd the Castle of Dublin and Jones in it and they seized on Corbet and Thomlinson at a Conventicle in St. Warbert-street and they forced or persuaded Major-General Sir Hardress Waller to comply and so they declared for a Free Parliament The Government being thus in the hands of the Army was managed by a Committee or Council of Officers who upon the Petition of the a Alderman Dee Mayor and Aldermen of Dublin did as they had before design'd summon a Convention By this time the Lord Broghill and Sir Charles Coot were come to Dublin and they projected to suspend the Convention until they had modell'd the Army to their mind and got rid of Sir Hardress Waller But he suspecting their Design seized upon the Castle of Dublin so that they were fain to besiege him and in five days forced him to surrender and then they sent Him Jones Thomlinson and Corbet Prisoners to England But the Victorious Confederates were like to Clash amongst themselves one Party being for Articling with the King for the Confirmation of the Estates of Adventurers and Soldiers and the other Party being for His Majesties Restoration without any previous Condition but at length they agreed in this latter Sentiment and the Convention met on the 7 th of February Sir James Barry being their Chair-man Their first Act was to order a Fast and Humiliation for their Sins amongst which the Murder of the King was Enumerated and all their Actions were suitable to this beginning so that they seemed to contend with England which should be most forward in Restoring the King On the 16 th of February The Council of Officers published their Memorable Declaration for a full and free Parliament and the Re-admission of the Secluded Members in the Parliament of England And pursuant to it the Convention published a Declaration on the 12 th of March to the same purpose and afterwards viz. the 14 th of May they accepted of His Majesties Declaration of the 14 th of April from Breda and cheerfully concurr'd to His Restoration And as soon as this was done the Irish Papists who had fat still all this while and contributed nothing to this great Revolution thought to reap all the Benefit of other Mens Merits insomuch that several of them took Possession of their former Estates and this Grievance was so general that the Convention was necessitated on the 20 th day of May 1660. to issue a Declaration for preserving the Peace and quieting Possessions and on the first of June His Majesty in England issued a Proclamation to the same purpose This Convention gave His Majesty 20000 l. the Duke of York 4000 l. the Duke of Glocester 2000 l. and then leaving a standing Committee to Govern the Nation Adjourn'd till the first day of November following On the 18 th of October His Majesty be Letter approv'd of this Convention and so on the 22 d of January it met again Sir William Dumvill being Chairman and so continued until its Dissolution in May 1661. In the mean time the Government was in the Hands of Sir Charles Coot and Major William Bury who were sided Commissioners of Government and Management of Affairs in Ireland but not long after Sir Maurice Eustace Lord Chancellor Roger Earl of
Protestant Subjects And that all the Laws and Statutes established in that Kingdom against Popery and Popish Recusants may continue of Force and be put in due Execution 3. That Restitution be made of all our Churches and Church Rights and Revenues and all our Churches and Chappels re-edified and put in as good Estate as they were at the breaking out of the Rebellion and as they ought to be at the charge of the Confederate Roman-Catholicks as they call themselves who have been the occasion of rhe Deftruction of the said Churches and possessed themselves of the Profits and Revenues thereof 4. That the Parliament now sitting in Ireland may be continued there for the better settlement of the Kingdom and that all Persons duly Indicted in the said Kingdom of Treason Felony or other Heinous Crimes may be duly and legally Proceeded against Outlawed Tryed and Adjudged according to Law and that all Persons lawfully Convicted and Attainted or to be Convicted and Attainted for the same may receive due Punishment accordingly 5. That no man may take upon him or execute the Office of a Mayor or Magistrate in any Corporation or the Office of a Sheriff or Justice of Peace in any City or County in the said Kingdom until he have first taken the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance 6. That all Popish Lawyers who refuse to take the Oath of Supremacy and Allegiance may be Suppressed and Restrained from Practice in that Kingdom the rather because the Lawyers in England do not here practise until they take the Oath of Supremacy and it hath been found by Woful Experience that the Advice of Popish Lawyers to the People of Ireland hath been a great cause of their continued disobedience 7. That there may be a present absolute Suppression and Dissolution of all the Assumed Arbitrary and Tyrannical Power which the said Consederates exercise over your Majesties Subjects both in Causes Ecclesiastical and Temporal 8. That all the Arms and Ammunition of the said Confederates be speedily brought into your Majesties Stores 9. That your Majesties Protestant Subjects Ruined and Destroyed by the said Confederates may be Repaired for their great Losses out of the Estates of the said Confederates not formerly by any Acts of this present Parliament in England otherwise disposed of whereby they may the better be enabled to re-inhabit and defend the said Kingdom of Ireland 10. That the said Confederates may Rebuild the several Plantation-Houses and Castles Destroyed by them in Ireland in as good state as they were at the breaking out of the Rebellion which your Majesties Protestant Subjects have been bound by their several Patents to Build and Maintain for your Majesties Service 11. That the great Arrears of Rent due to your Majesty out of the Estates of your Majesties Protestant Subjects at and since Michaelmas 1641 may be paid unto your Majesty by such of the Consederates who have either received the said Rents to the uses of the said Confederates or destroyed the same by disabling your Majesties Protestant Subjects to pay the same and have also destroy'd all or the most part of all other Rents or means of support belonging to your said Protestant Subjects And that your said Protestant Subjects may be discharged of all such Arrears of Rents to your Majesty 12. That the said Confederates may give satisfaction to the Army for the great Arrears due unto them since the Rebellion and that such Commanders as have raised Forces at their own charges and laid forth great Sums of Money out of their own Purses and engaged themselves for Money and Provisions to keep themselves their Holds and Soldiers under their Commands in the due necessary defence of your Majesties Rights and Laws may be in due sort satisfied to the encouragement of others in like times and cases which may happen 13 That touching such parts of the Confederate Estates as being forfeited for their Treasons are come or shall duly come into your Majesties Hands and Possession by that Title your Majesty after the due satisfaction first made to such as claim by former Acts of Parliament would be pleased to take the same into your own Hands and Possession And for the necessary encrease of your Majesties Revenue and better security of the said Kingdom of Ireland and the Protestant Subjects living under your Gracious Government there to plant the same with British and Protestants upon reasonable and honourable Terms 14. That one good Walled Town may be Built and kept Repaired in every County of the said Kingdom of Ireland and Endowed and Furnished with necessary and sufficient means of Legal and Just Government and Defence for the better security of your Majesties Laws and Rights more especially the true Protestant Religion in time of danger in any of which Towns no Papist may be permitted to Dwell or Inhabit 15. That for the better satisfaction of Justice and your Majesties Honour and for the future Security of the said Kingdom and your Majesties Protestant Subjects there exemplary Punishment according to Law may be inflicted upon such as have there Traiterously Levied War and taken up Arms against your Majesties Protestant Subjects and Laws and therein against your Majesty especially upon such as have had their hands in the shedding of Innocent Blood or had to do with the First Plot or Conspiracy or since that time have done any notorious Murder or Overt Act of Treason 16. That all your Majesties Towns Forts and places of Strength destroyed by the said Confederates since the said Rebellion may be by them and at their Charges Re-edified and delivered up into your Majesties hands to be duly put into the Government under your Majesty and your Laws of your good Protestants and that all Strengths and Fortifications made and set up by the said Confederates since the said Rebellion may be slighted and thrown down or else delivered up and disposed of for Protestant Government and Security as aforesaid 17. That according to the Presidents of former times in cases of general Rebellions in Ireland the Attainders which have been duly had by Outlawry for Treason done in this Rebellion may be established and confirmed by Act of Parliament to be in due form of Law transmitted and passed in Ireland and that such Traitors as for want of Protestant and indifferent Jurors to Indict them in the proper County are not yet Indictd not Convicted or Attainted by Outlary or otherwise may upon due proof of their Offences be by like Acts of Parliament Convicted and Attainted and all such Offenders forfeit their Estates as to Law appertaineth and your Majesty to be adjudged and put in possession without any Office or Inquisition to be had 18. That your Majesties Protestant Subjects may be restored to the quiet Possession of all their Castles Houses Mannors Lands Tenements Hereditaments and Leases and to the quiet possession of the Rents thereof as they had the same before and at the time of the breaking forth of this Rebellion and from whence