to the Lord Justice 1422. whose Servants were on the Seventh of May attacked and defeated by the Irish Purcel Grant and five and twenty English more were slain and ten taken Prisoners and two hundred escaped to the Abby of Leix and to revenge this the Lord Justice invaded O Mores Country and defeated his terrible Army in the red Bog of Asby he relieved his own Men and burnt and preyed the Rebels Lands for four days until themselves came and sued for Peace And it seems O Dempsy notwithstanding his Oath of Obedience invaded the Pale and took the Castle of Ley from the Earl of Kildare which the Lord Justice had justly restored to the Earl whereupon Campion makes a severe Remark on the Irish That notwithstanding their Oaths and their Pledges they are no longer true than they feel themselves the weaker In the mean time Mac Mahon play'd the Devil in Vrgile and burnt and spoil'd all before him Camp 97. but the Lord Justice also revenged that Prank and forced Mac Mahon to submit and many other Noble Exploits did this good Governor for whose Success the Clergy of Dublin went twice every week in solemn Procession praying for his Victory over those disordered Persons which now in every Quarter of Ireland had apostatiz'd to their old Trade of Life and repined at the English And when I have mentioned a Deed made 9 Hen. 5. which is to be found Lib. GGG 24. at Lambeth whereby this Earl of Ormond constituted James Fitz-Girald Earl of Desmond his Seneschal of the Baronies or Signiories of Imokilly Inchicoin and the Town of Youghal during his Life I have no more to add but that this Victorious King after he had conquered France submitted to the common Fate on the last Day of August 1422 in the Flower of his Age and the Tenth Year of his Reign THE REIGN OF HENRY VI. King of England c. And LORD of IRELAND HENRY the Sixth was but nine Months old at the Death of his Illustrious Father 1422. and therefore the deceased King had by his last Will appointed John Duke of Bedford to be Regent of France Humphry Duke of Glocester to be Governour of England and Thomas Duke of Excester and Henry Bishop of Winchester to be Guardians of the Young King's Person All which was duly observed and the Infant King was proclaimed in Paris and the Nobility that were there swore Allegiance to him James Earl of Ormond continued Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and upon a Petition preferred by the House of Commons to the King about the manifold Murders Robberies Rapes Riots and other Misdemeanours committed by the Irish in England Lib. M. it was enacted there That all Persons born in Ireland should quit England within a time limited except Graduates in either University Clergymen beneficed those that have Land in England or are married there or those whose Parents are English and even such are to give Security of their good Behaviour And not long after came over Edmond Mortimer 1422. Earl of March and Vlster Lord Lieutenant He died afterwards of the Plague at the Castle of Trym which was his own Inheritance And in his stead came John Lord Talbot 1425. Lord Justice In whose time the Barretts a Family of good account near Cork did by Indenture covenant to be obedient to the Earl of Desmond who was exceeding Powerful and lorded it over great part of Munster with a high Hand This Governour resigned to James Earl of Ormond 1426. Lord Justice In whose time John Duke of Bedford 4 Instit 360. Regent of France obtained a Patent for all the Mines of Gold and Silver within England Ireland c. rendring to the Church the tenth Part to the King the fifteenth Part and to the Owner of the Soil the twentieth part And then Sir John de Gray 1427. Lord Lieutenant landed at Hoâ—th the thirty first of July and was sworn the next Day but no mention is made of any thing he did but that he went for England and left Edward Dantzy Bishop of Meath 1428. his Deputy He was for a time Treasurer of Ireland and dyed the fourth of January 1428. Upon Notice whereof Sir John Sutton Lord Dudly was sent over Lord Lieutenant He held a Parliament in Dublin Friday next after the Feast of All Saints 1429. at which it was enacted That the Sheriff upon Pain of Amercement should add to the Panel of Jurors the Place Estate and Mistery of every Juror And in the Preamble to this Act the Lord Lieutenant is Styled The Right Noble and Right Gracious Lord. And on the sixth of the same November the King was crowned at Westminster And soon after the Lord Lieutenant returned and left Sir Thomas Strange 1429. Lord Deputy in whose time the King was crowned at Paris 1431. and took the Oaths and Homage of the Nobility and People there And now happened the famous Case of the Prior of Lanthony which was That a Judgment in the Common Pleas being removed to the Irish Parliament was affirmed there Whereupon a Writ of Error was sent from England but the King's Bench in England would not take cognizance of a Judgment in the Parliament of Ireland to reverse it And therefore the Prior petitions the King That the Record may be transmitted to the House of Lords in England to be examined there Sir Thomas Stanly was made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1432. and it seems that he called a Parliament which enacted two Statutes that were afterwards repealed by 11 Jac. 1 cap. 5. And then he went to England leaving Sir Christopher Plunket Lord Deputy 1432. he was afterwards Baron of Killine in Right of his Wife Heir of the Cusacks and his second Son became Baron of Dunsany But Sir Thomas Stanly 1435. Lord Lieutenant returned and gave a Check to the Irish who were insolent beyond Measure and incroaching everywhere on the Pale making the best Advantage of the King's Minority and the Absence of the Military Men in France but the Lord Lieutenant with the Power of Meath and Vriel took Moyle O Donel Prisoner and slew a great many of the Irish And afterwards about Michaelmas he went again to England and left Richard Talbot Archbishop of Dublin 1436. Brother to the Earl of Shrewsbury Lord Deputy he was sometime Lord Chancellor of Ireland and was elected Primate of Armagh but he refused to change his Bishoprick Lion Lord Wells 1438. Lord Lieutenant in whose time a second Law was made in England Lib. M. obliging the Irishmen to return into their Native Country And another Statute was made in Ireland to stop the Passage of any more into England And on the twelfth of June 17 Hen. 6. Robert Fitz-Geofry Cogan granted all his Lands in Ireland being half the Kingdom of Cork to James Earl of Desmond and gave a Letter of Attorney to put him in Possession of Kyrrygrohanmore Lib. G. Downdrinane
Favour and consequently luxurious they always followed the Court and hated to be put in Frontier Garrisons or Places of Danger They were says Cambrensis great Talkers Boasters and Swearers very Proud and Contemners of all others greedy of Places of Places of Honour and Profit but backward in undertaking any hazardous and dangerous Action or performing any Service that might deserve them Moreover many of the English and Welch were dispossest of their best and safest Castles to make Room for the Normans and forc'd to take others in Exchange on the Frontiers by which means they were impoverish'd and discourag'd Add to this That several of the faithful Irish who had submitted to the English Government and lived within their Quarters and thereby became acquainted with the English Conversations Humors Strength Policies Seats and Habitations were likewise dispossess'd to make Room for the Normans and thereby forced to revolt to the Irish and became the most Dangerous of all the Enemies as being most Knowing and most Provok'd And thus it came to pass that after Earl John had wasted his Army in small and unprofitable Skirmishes and had staid eight months and done no other Good than that he built the Castle of Tybrach perhaps Typerary Lismore and Ardfinin the King sent for him and his Beardless Counsellors and in his Room substituted John de Courcy Earl of Vlster Lord Lieutenant of Ireland he brought over with him about four hundred Volunteers 1185. September And soon after his arrival he made a Progress into Munster and Connaught to put those Countries in order but it seems he fell into an Ambush or had some Skirmish with the Irish for it is said That he lost twelve Knights in his Return from Connaught 1186. On Midsummer-day the Prime of Limerick slew four Knights and a great part of the Garrison of Ardfinin And soon after by a Slight drew that Garrison into an Ambush by exposing a Prey to their View which they thought to have taken but he fell upon them and surprized and slew most of them But the Irish had not so good luck in Meath where they of Kenally had made Incursions and taken a Prey for William Petit rescued the Prey defeated them with great Slaughter and sent an hundred of their Heads to Dublin Old Lacy was now busie building his Castle of Derwath and himself working with a Pick-ax for Diversion when one of the malicious and ungrateful Workmen took the Opportunity whilst he was stooping Cambden 151. and with another Pick-Ax knock'd out his Brains And it seems there was an Insurrection thereupon for it is said That Courcy and Young Lacy revenged the Murder and reduced all things to quiet But it seems afterwards there grew some Distast between Courcy and Lacy so that Lacy who was the better Courtier supplanted Courcy who was the better Soldier and got himself into his Room This Courcy came from Stoke-courcy commonly call'd Stogussy in the County of Somerset I find that Robert de Courcy was made a Baron at Westminster 33 Henry 1. but whether he was the Ancestor of this Family I will not determine This Earl of Vlster had a natural Son John Lord of Kilbarrock and Raheny who was murdered by the Lacyes so that it is the Brother of this Earl John that was the Ancestor of the Noble Family of Courcy Lord Baron of Kingsale In the mean time King Henry died in Normandy on the sixth Day of July 1189. He was so well pleased with the Conquest of Ireland Davis 11. that he placed the Title of Lord of Ireland in his Royal Style before his Hereditary Estates of Normandy and Aquitain Baron Finglas M. S. And yet that Country was at that Time so inconsiderable or so little improv'd that there were not five Castles or Piles for Defence of Irish building in the whole Kingdom Dublin Cork and Waterford were built by the Easterlings and all the rest have been built since the Reduction of Ireland This King was both Wise and Valiant he was also Generous to the highest Degree so that he deserved to be ranked among the bravest Princes of that or any other Age and perhaps had made as great a Figure in History as any of them if the Undutifulness of Becket and the Rebellion of his own Sons had not interrupted his Designs However there are some who will never forgive him the Conquest of Ireland and therefore do load his Memory with many Malicious Aspersions equally Ridiculous and False Polichronicon l. 7. c. 21. They say his Grandmother could not endure the Mass and that her Husband ordered four Knights to hold her by Force whilst the Priest was celebrating but in spight of them she flew out of the Window with two of her Sons and was never seen after And that 't is no Wonder they that come of the Devil should go to the Devil And that King Henry's Embassador urging the King's Son to have Peace with his Father was answered That it was Natural to their Brood to hate one another That Henry was a Bastard and that S. Bernard the Abbot prophesied of him That from the Devil he came and to the Devil he should go That his Father had gelded a Bishop and that himself had murdered S. Thomas of Canterbury That his Father had Carnal Knowledge of Henry's Queen Elianor and abundance more of such silly Stuff THE REIGN OF John Earl of Moreton LORD of IRELAND Afterwards King of England Duke of Normandy c. RICHARD I 1189. for his Valour Sirnamed Ceur de Lyon by unquestionable Right Succeeded his Father on the Throne of England and was crowned at Westminster the third Day of September 1189 but his Style was no more than Speed 482. Rex Anglor dux Normannor Acquitan comes Andegavor For John Earl of Moreton youngest Son of the deceased King by virtue of the aforesaid Donation at the Parliament at Oxford anno 1177 succeeded his Father in the Sovereignty of Ireland And therefore we find the Pope's Legate had Commission to exercise Jurisdiction in Anglia Davis 19. Wallia illis Hiberniae partibus in quibus Johanes Comes Moretonii potestatem habet dominium For tho' it be a Fundamental Maxim of State That Ireland must not be separated from the Crown of England And tho' it be also an undoubted Maxim of Law That the King cannot alien any part of his Dominions yet neither of these were thought to be transgressed by the aforesaid Donation because it was made to the King's Son whose Interest and Expectations in England were thought to be sufficient Security for his Good Behaviour What Controulment Earl John might have met with in the Soveraignty of Ireland if the King Richard had been at Leisure to inspect that Matter is incertain But it is manifest That the King was so taken up with his Voyage to the Holy Land and so embarassed by the unfortunate Consequences of it that he never did
aut servitio dicto Comiti Tyrone suisque Haeredibus impendendo ac immediate parebit obediet Domino Regi sub ejus pace defensione perpetuo remaenebit suaeque Celsitudini de tempore in tempus solvet Bonagium Bonnaught caetera omnia Debita quoties ad id per Dominum Deputatum Concilium requisitus rogatus fuerit c. And on the eighteenth of July the like Order was made between O Donel and his Sons and several Proprietors of Tyrconel and O Donel's Authority was limited and both Parties were obliged to obey the Order on pain of forfeiting all their Estate And about the same time Brian Mac Mahon and Hugh Oge made their Submissions at Kilmainham and were pardoned the five hundred Marks they had forfeited by breach of their former Articles Lib. D. In the mean time the Scotch Islanders sent some Forces to the assistance of the Irish in Vlster but Andrew Brereton with five and thirty Horse met with two hundred of them and defeated them with great slaughter and by his good Conduct quieted Vlster and was therefore made General or Governor thereof But the Lord Deputy being recall'd took Shipping at Houth on the 16th day of December and being offered Testimonials of his good Government from the Council he modestly refused saying That if his Innocence would not defend him he would use no other Remedy than his Belief of the Resurrection of the Dead He was certainly a brave Man and an excellent Governor and would have been sent back with Honour if his Infirmities whereof he died the next year had not prevented it Sir Francis Bryan 1549. Lord Justice was chosen by the Council on the twenty 7th day of Decemb and sworn at Christ-Church in Dublin on the 29th but he enjoyed this Honour but a little while for the County of Typerary being infested by O Carol the Lord Justice made a Journy thither in favour of the young Earl of Ormond who was but twelve years old to protect the Country and on the second of February died at Clonmel whereupon Sir William Brabazon Lord Justice was elected by the Council he committed the Government of the County of Typerary to Edmond Butler Archbishop of Cashel and made a Journy to Limerick where Teig O Carol submitted and entred into Covenants of paying a yearly Tribute into the Exchequer and of serving the King with a certain number of Horse and Foot at his own charge and of renouncing his Pretences to the Barony of Ormond and afterwards the same Teig O Carol surrendred to the King his Country of Ely O Carol containing ninety three Plow-Lands and a half and the King re-granted the same to him and Created him Baron of Ely and by O Carol's means Mac Morough O Kelly and O Mlaghlin were now taken into Protection and Pardoned and by the Lord Deputy's Mediation the Earls of Desmond and Thomond who were wrangling about Bounds and the protection of each others Tories or Out-laws were reconciled on the eleventh of March Lib. D. and about the same time Dermond O Sullevan a great man in the County of Cork was together with his Castle or dwelling-House accidentally blown up by Gunpowder and his Brother Amalfus who succeeded him was likewise not long after killed But Bulloign being restored to the French on the twenty-fifth day of April 1550. the King was thereby enabled to send eight thousand Pound of the Money received there and four hundred men of that Garrison into Ireland which he did And thereby the Lord Justice was put into a Condition of pursuing Charles Mac Art Cavenagh Ware 188. who was again in Rebellion and was proclaimed Traytor and the Lord Justice acquitted himself so well in that Matter August that he killed many of Cave-nagh's Followers and burnt the Country But the French King hearing that the English marched an Army into Scotland lookt upon that Assault of his Ally as a Breach of the Peace with him and therefore sent an hundred and sixty small Vessels with Ammunition and Corn to assist the Scots it hapned that sixteen of them were shipwrackt on the Coast of Ireland however the King of England to obviate any Designs the French might have against his Dominions set forth a Fleet of twenty Ships and Pinnaces under the Lord Cobham which guarded two Harbors on the South and one in the North toward Scotland On the twenty third of October Richard Butler second Son of Pierce Earl of Ormond was Created Viscount Mountgarret and a little before that viz. on the tenth of September Sir Anthony Saintleger Ware 190. Lord Deputy returned to Ireland and Sir Thomas Cusack was made Lord Chancellor To this Deputy Mac Carty submitted in humble Manner and was pardoned and it seems that this Lord Deputy had Orders to call a Parliament but I do not find that there was any in Ireland during this King's Reign On the fourth of November Charles Mac Art Cavenagh made his Submission to the Lord Deputy at Dublin in presence of the Earls of Desmond Thomond Clanrickard and Tyrone the Lords Mountgarret Dunboyn Cahir and Ibracan and renounced the Name of Mac Morough and parted with some of his usurped Jurisdiction and Estate But let us cast an eye on the Affairs of the Church and we shall find that the Reformation made but small progress in Ireland since the same year produced Bishops of each sort for on the tenth of May Arthur Macgenis was by provision of the Pope constituted Bishop of Dromore and confirmed therein by the King and Thomas Lancaster a Protestant was on the third day of September made Bishop of Kildare However Bish Brown's Life 13. on the sixth of February the King sent the following Order for the Liturgy of the Church of England to be read in Ireland in the English Tongue EDWARD by the Grace of God c. Whereas our Gracious Father King Henry the Eighth of happy Memory taking into consideration the bondage and heavy yoke that his true and faithful Subjects sustained under the Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome as also the Ignorance the Commonalty were in how several fabulous Stories and lying Wonders misled our Subjects in both our Realms of England and Ireland grasping thereby the Means thereof into their hands also dispensing with the Sins of our Nations by their Indulgences and Pardons for Gain purposely to cherish all ill Vices as Robberies Rebellions Thefts Whoredoms Blasphemy Idolatry c. He our Gracious Father King Henry of happy Memory hereupon dissolved all Priories Monasteries Abbies and other pretended Religious Houses as being but Nurseries for Vice and Luxury more than for Sacred Learning Therefore that it might more plainly appear to the World that those Orders had kept the Light of the Gospel from his People he thought it most fit and convenient for the preservation of their Souls and Bodies that the Holy Scriptures should be Translated Printed and Placed in all Parish-Churches
Protestant Doctrines about Free-Will Predestination and Justification and illustrates the Doctrine of Justification by this plain Simile viz. As the Eye only sees yet if separated from the Body cannot see so Faith alone justifies yet if it be alone that is if it be separated from good Works it cannot justifie because saving Faith is always a fruitful Faith he shews that S. Patrick and Paladius opposed and confuted the Errors of Pelagius and Celestius about the Grace of God and both Claudius and Sedulius affirmed That no Man is without Sin except the Man Christ Jesus and that there is no Perfection in this Life and whatsoever Men have from God is of Grace because they have nothing of due The third Chapter treats of Purgatory and Prayer for the Dead and first he shews the Cheat of S. Patrick's Purgatory which that good Man never dream'd of his Treatise de tribus habitaculis relates to Heaven Earth and Hell and has not the least mention of Purgatory it was a later Invention of the Monks and so firmly believed by their Votaries that S. Caesarius a German Monk has the confidence to advise all those who doubt of Purgatory to go to Ireland to S. Patrick's Purgatory in Loghdirge and he shall be convinced And Doctor Tyrry assures us That it is famous over all Europe but O Sullevan has gone farther Sullevan 23 and in his Catholick History of Ireland has given us the description of the Rooms and Furniture in this Purgatory and the several sorts of Punishments inflicted there and has acquainted us with the Methods of getting in and safely getting out again But after all this has proved the most fulfom Cheat that ever was imposed on Mankind and being about the Year 1636 digged up by the Order of the Lords Justices this Purgatory was found to be a small Cave under Ground where the Damps arising from the Earth so influenced crazy Melancholy People as to make them dream or fancy whatever they were beforehand told they should see But to proceed the Primate quotes the Saying of Sedulius and the Canon of an ancient Irish Synod That after this Life either Life or Death succeedeth and that Christ has loosed our Guilt and finished our Punishment He shews the Forgery of a story on S. Brendan inserted into the new English Legend but not to be found in the Ancient Manuscript He observes That the Oblations made for the Dead in former times were Sacrifices of Thanksgiving and not of Propitiation because they were made for such as they were confident were in Heaven as for S. Brendon c. And he concludes with the Saying of Claudius and Colombanus That when we come to the Judgment Seat neither Job nor Daniel nor Noah can intreat for any one but every one must bear his own Burthen To which I add the Saying ascribed by the Synod to S. Patrick mentioned page 36. He who deserveth not to receive the Sacrifice in his Life how can it help him after his Death In the fourth Chapter he cites Sedulius telling us That 't is Impiety to adore any other but God and reproving the Heathen for Simplicity in thinking that the Invisible God would be worshipped by a Visible Image to which Claudius adds That God is not to be worshipped in Metal nor in Stone And S. Patrick assures us That no Creature is to be sworn by but only the Creator And as for the Liturgy there was no Uniformity therein but several Forms of Divine Service were used in divers Parts of the Kingdom that the Roman Use began to be introduced by the Pope's Legate in the twelfth Century and was perfected by Christianus Bishop of Lismore in the Synod of Cashel and confirmed by Henry II wherein it was ordered That all Divine Offices of Holy Church should thenceforward he handled in all Parts of Ireland according as the Church of England did observe them The Word Mass is synonimous to Liturgy and therefore used for Evening Prayer but it commonly signifies the Sacrament being the principle Part of Divine Service and the Word Sacrifice did import then what we understand by the Word Sacrament now and might be either offered to God or given to the People and not as the Mass is now wherein the Priest doth all He farther sheweth that they received the Sacrament in both kinds and instances Hildmer's Wife and S. Bridget and her Companions c. and particularly that the Popish Legends mention That one of S. Bridget's Miracles happened when she was about to drink out of the Chalice He shews that the Holy Men of those Ages did use the Phrase of Scripture and called the Sacrament the Body and Blood of our Saviour because they thought the Impossibility and Unreasonableness of Transubstantiation would secure Mankind from Mistake for Christ being alive in Heaven cannot be corporally in the Sacrament because he is there represented as Dead and his Body Broken and his Blood Shed and there is no such thing in rerum natura for Christ being Raised from the Dead dyeth no more Rom. 6. 9. He quotes Sedulius and Claudius Henry Crump and Johannes Scotus distinguishing between the Sacrament and the Body of Christ that was crucified In Chap. 5 he proves by the Epistle of Lanfrank to King Tiâ—lagh That the Irish did not use Chrism in Baptism and by the Testimony of S. Bernard That the Irish in his time did not understand or did neglect Confession Confirmation and Marriage he proves that Confession in former Times was Publick and that Penance was but a Testimony of Penitence and always preceded Absolution and cites Claudius to prove that Sacerdotal Absolution is declarative and ministerial and not absolute Sedulius calls Marriage a Gift but not Spiritual ergo 'tis no Sacrament the Synod attributed to S. Patrick prohibits the Incest of marrying a Brother's Wife which was the Case of Henry VIII and Kilianus suffered Martyrdom for dissolving such an Incestuous Marriage by Gozbertus Duke of Franconia and that Clemens Scotuâ— was condemned by the Council of Rome anno 745 as a bringer in of Judaism among Christians by maintaing such Incestuous Marriages which Cambrensis says were common in Ireland he proves by Sedulius and S. Patrick That no Divorces were to be made except for the Cause of Fornication and that Coelibacy was so far from being enjoyned the Clergy That S. Patrick's Father was Calphurnius a Deacon and his Grandfather Potitus a Priest There was Order taken in the Synod held by S. Patrick Auâ—ilius and Isserninus That the Wives of the Clergy should not walk abroad with their Heads uncovered and Gildas reprehends the Clergy for corrupting their Children by evil Example and he proves by the Epistle of Pope Innocent III That the Sons and Grandsons did use to succeed their Fathers and Grandfathers in Ecclesiastical Benefices To which I add That this was so true in the See of Armagh that they feared that Archbishoprick would be made hereditary no less than ten
the common sort are not only capable but also very apt to learn any thing that is taught them so that I do impute the Ignorance and Barbarity of the Irish meerly to their evil Customs which are so exceeding bad Davis 150. that as Sir John Davys says Whoever use them must needs be Rebels to all good Government and destroy the Commonwealth wherein they live and bring Barbarism and Desolation upon the Richest and most fruitful Land in the World But the Irish Capacities are not to be questioned at this Day since they have managed their Affairs with that dexterity and Courage that they have gotten the whole Kingdom of Ireland into their Possession and by wheedling some and frightning others they have expelled the Body of the English out of that Island However let us not be dismaid for they are but the same People our Ancestors have so often triumphed over and although they are not to be so contemned but that we may expect they will make one good Effort for their Estates and Religion yet we may still depend upon it That their Nature is still the same and not to be so changed but that they will again vail their Bonnets to a victorious English Army AN EPITOME OF S R WILLIAM PETTY'S LARGE SURVEY OF IRELAND Divided into its 4 Provinces 32 Counties and the Counties into Their Several Barronies wherein are Distinguished y e Archbishopricks Bishopricks Citty 's Places that Return Parliament Men. also the Roads Bogs and Bridges By Phillip Lea At the Atlas and Hercules in Cheapside near Fryday Street LONDON The History of IRELAND From The Conquest Thereof By the ENGLISH to this Time By RICHARD COX Esq r Printed For JOSEPH WATTS at y e Angell in S t Pauls Church Yard THE REIGN OF Henry Plantagenet FITZ-EMPRESS Conqueror and Lord of IRELAND HENRY the Second of that Name King of England a Brave and Powerful Prince ambitious of Glory and the Enlargment of his Empire cast his Eye upon Ireland as a Country most easie to subdue and of great Advantage to him when conquered There were not wanting some Learned Men who affirmed The King had very fair Pretences if not good Title to that Island Speed 472. for besides the Conquests which the Kings Arthur and Edgar had formerly made there Spencer's view 33. they alledged That it was by Leave of the British King Gurgunâ—â—s Campion 26 28. and under Stipulations of Tribute that the Irish were first permitted to settle themselves in that Kingdom Besides the first Inhabitants of Ireland were Britains and those People which the Irish Historians call Fir-bolg and Tuah de Danan i. e. Vir Belgus i. e. Populus Dannonius were no other than the Belga and Dannonit Ancient Inhabitants of England To which might be added That Bayon from whence the Irish pretend to come Lib. P. Lambeth 153. was part of the Kings Dominion So that either Way his Majesty was their natural Prince and Sovereign But however that were yet the King had 〈◊〉 cause of War against the Irish because of the Pyracies and Outrages they daily committed against his Subjects and the barbarous Cruelties they exercised on the English whensoever they fell into their Power buying and selling them as Slaves and using Turkish Tyranny over their Bodies Speed 473. so that the Irish themselves afterwards confessed That it was just their Land should be transfer'd to the Nation they had so cruelly handled Wherefore the King as well to revenge those Injuries as to recover that Kingdom put on a Resolution to invade it But first it was necessary to consult the Pope in that Matter because he pretended no less than three Titles to Ireland First the Universal Patent of Pascâ— Oves which by their Interpretation was Synonimous to Rege Mundum Lib. P. Lambeth 48. Secondly the Donation of Constantine the Great whereby the Holy See was entituled to all the Islands of the Ocean Thirdly The Concession of the Irish Ibid. 154. on their Conversion to Christianity by which they granted the Temporal Dominion of their Country unto S. Peter's Chair And tho' the Answers to these Frivolous Pretences were easie and obvious viz. to the First That whatsoever Spiritual Jurisdiction was given by those Words yet our Saviour's Kingdom not being of this World it is certain no Temporal Dominion is granted thereby And to the Second That Constantine had never any Right or Possession in Ireland and therefore could not give to another what he had not himself And to the Third That the Allegation is false and the Popes had never any Temporal Dominion in Ireland but the same remain'd under their own Native Kings and Monarchs But this Forgery is yet more manifest Because the Irish were not converted by any Emissaries from Rome as appears by the Ancient Difference between the Churches of Ireland and Rome in some Baptismal Rites and the Time of celebrating the Feast of Easter Nevertheless the Pope's Licence in those Superstitious Times would create Reputation especially with the Clergy and his Benediction would as they fancied facilitate their Success and therefore it was thought fit That the King should send his Embassador John Salisbury to the Pope 1156. Sullevan 59. who was by Birth an Englishman and by Name Adrian IV. And how fond soever the Holy See doth now pretend to be of Ireland since the English Government and Industry have rendred it considerable 't is certain the Pope so little regarded it at that time when he received but small Obedience and less Profit from it that he was easily prevailed with to issue the following Bull. ADrian the Bishop Hanmer 107. the Servant of the Servants of God to his most dear Son in Christ the Noble King of England sendeth greeting and Apostolick Benediction Your Magnificence hath been very careful and studious how you might enlarge the Church of God here in Earth and encrease the Number of his Saints and Elect in Heaven in that as a good Catholick King you have and do by all means labour and travel to enlarge and increase God's Church by teaching the Ignorant People the True and Christian Religion and in abolishing and rooting up the Weeds of Sin and Wickedness And wherein you have and do crave for your better Furtherance the Help of the Apostolick See wherein more speedily and discreetly you proceed the better Success we hope God will send for all they which of a fervent Zeal and Love in Religion do begin and enterprize any such thing shall no doubt in the End have a Good and Prosperous Success And as for Ireland and all other Islands where Christ is known and the Christian Religion received it is out of all doubt and your Excellency well knoweth they do all appertain and belong to the Right of S. Peter and of the Church of Rome and we are so much the more ready desirous and willing to sow the acceptable Seed of God's Word because we know
the same in the latter Day will be most severely required at our Hands You have our well-beloved Son in Christ advertis'd and signified unto us That you will enter into the Land and Realm of Ireland to the end to bring them to Obedience unto Law and under your Subjection and to root out from among them their foul Sins and Wickedness as also to yield and pay yearly out of every House a yearly Pension of one Penny to S. Peter and besides also will defend and keep the Rites of those Churches whole and inviolate We therefore well allowing and favouring this your godly Disposition and commendable Affection do accept ratifie and Assent unto this your Petition and do grant That you for the dilating of God's Church the Punishment of Sin the Reforming of Manners planting of Virtue and the increasing of Christian Religion do enter to possess that Land and there to execute according to your Wisdom whatsoever shall be for the Honour of God and the Safety of the Realm And further also we do strictly charge and require That all the People of that Land do with all Humbleness Dutifulness and Honour receive and accept you as their Liege Lord and Sovereign reserving and excepting the Right of Holy Church to be inviolably preserved as also the yearly Pension of Peter-Pence out of every House which we require to be truly answered to S. Peter and to the Church of Rome If therefore you do mind to bring your Godly Purpose to effect endeavour to travail to reform the People to some better Order and Trade of Life and that also by your self and by such others as you shall think meet true and honest in their Life Manners and Conversation to the end the Church of God may be beautified the True Christian Religion sowed and planted and all other things done that by any means shall or may be to God's Honour and Salvation of Men's Souls whereby you may in the end receive of God's Hands the Reward of Everlasting Life and also in the mean time and in this Life carry a Glorious Fame and an Honourable Report among all Nations Together with this Bull the Pope sent King Henry a Gold-Ring as a Token of Investiture and somtime after a succeeding Pope Alexander III confirmed the former Grant by the following Breve ALexander the Bishop Hanmer 141. the Servant of the Servants of God to his dearly beloved Son the Noble King of England greeting Grace and Apostolick Benediction Forasmuch as things given and granted upon good Reason by our Predecessors are to be well allowed of ratified and confirmed we well considering and pondering the Grant and Priviledge for and concerning the Dominion of the Land of Ireland to Vs appertaining and lately given by Adrian our Predecessor We following his Steps do in like manner Confirm Ratifie and Allow the same reserving and saving to S. Peter and to the Church of Rome the yearly Pension of one Peny out of every House as well in England as in Ireland provided also that the Barbarous People of Ireland by your means be Reformed and Recovered from that filthy Life and abominable Conversation that as in Name so in Life and Manners they may be Christians and that as that Rude and Disordered Church being by you reformed the whole Nation may also with the Profession of the Name be in Acts and Deeds Followers of the same But saith Rossus of Warwick and he was no Protestant The King of England is not bound to rely on the Pope's Grant for Ireland Speed 472. nor yet to pay that Tax because he had a Precedent Claim to that Kingdom by hereditary Right Others object against these Bulls in another manner and particularly Philip O Sullevan who says They are void for many Reasons First Because they were obtained on false Suggestions and the Infallible Popes were deceived in their Grants Secondly That Regal or Sovereign Power is not granted by them but only that the Kings of England should be Lieutenants or Deputies to the Pope and Collectors of his Peter-Pence Thirdly That they were on a twofold Condition of paying Tribute and converting the People which not being performed the Bulls are void But because it is scarce credible that any Subject should be so Malicious against his Prince you shall have it in his own Words Rex hoc Decretum impetravit falsa Narrans ut ex ipso Decreto ego colligo pag. 59. Non Dominum Hiberniae sed Praefectum causa colligendi Tributi Ecclesiastici pag. 59. b. And again pag. 60. Non ut Rex aut Dominus Hiberniae sed ut a Pontifice Praefectus sic ego accepi ut Exactor Collector Pecunâ—ae quae ad Sedem Apostolicam pertinebat pag. 61. Ac mihi quidem rem totam sollicita Mentis acie contemplanti nihil Juris esse penes Anglos videtur For besides says he their Title was founded in Adultery meaning Dermond Mac Morough's they have exercised Fraud and Cruelty against the Catholicks that entertained them kindly and the very Temples have not escaped them Hinc igitur nemo ignorabit Hiberniam non Jure sed Injuria Narratione minime vera Sullevan 61. fuisse ab Anglis primo obtenta pag. 61. b. Nor can any Body believe says he that the Pope ever design'd so great an Injustice as to deprive the Irish Kings of their Birth-right Ibid. 62. and give it to Strangers And then he tells us That Laurence O Toole Archbishop of Dublin did obtain of the Pope a Bull to deprive the English King of his Government in Ireland but he dyed in his Return in France and is since canonized But says he supposing the Popes Grant at first were good yet 't is forfeited by Breach of Condition since the English did neither propogate Religion nor pay the Peter-Pence Postea omni Jure plane exciderunt Conditiones a Papa dictas constitutasque transgressi Nam Pensionem Divi Petri de medio sustulerunt nullam certam Religionem nullam firmam Fidem habent pro Deo Ventrem Voluntatem Libidinem colunt By this and the Approbation this Scandalous and Lying Treatise met with in Spain and the Repetition of the same things by divers others in their bitter Libels on the English People and Government and particularly by the Author of Analecta Hiberniae it is manifest that there are some Enemies of the Crown of England so malicious and unjust that they would make use of the most frivolous Pretences in the World to wrest the Kingdom of Ireland from the Dominion of the English Kings But as God Almighty has hitherto even many times to a Miracle protected the British Interest in Ireland so I doubt not unless we are wanting to our own Preservation but that he will continue that Noble Island under the Jurisdiction of the Crown of England for ever In the mean time though we lay no stress on the Popes Bulls yet because they are Argumenta ad Hominem and
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
Earl of Cornwal and Odo Bishop of Bayeux half Brothers to the Conquerour Robert had Issue William Earl of Cornwall who had Issue Adelm and John Adelm had Issue this William Fitz-Adelm and John had Issue Hubert de Burgo that was Chief Justice of England and Earl of Kent and one of the greatest Men of his Time And this William Fitz-Adelm though he be represented as an ill Man by the Historians of that Age yet he founded one of the Best and Noblest Families in Ireland viz. that of the Burks which has yielded many Brave and Worthy Men that have proved eminently serviceable to their King and Country whereby their Name Estate and Family are preserved in great Honour and Reputation to this Day John de Courcy who marryed the Daughter of Gothred King of the Isle of Man had contracted an intimate and entire Friendship with Sir Armoricus Tristerum alias de Sancto Laurentio who afterwards married his Sister My Author says they were sworn Brothers in the Church of Roan but certainly there was such Kindness between them that Courcy was resolved to share his Conquests in Vlster with him And being troubled at the sordid Humour of Fzadelme and simpathizing with the Wants and Grievances of the Souldiery in February 1177 1177. he led forth twenty Knights and three hundred Foot-Soldiers besides Servants and marching through Vriel in four Days or rather early the fifth he came to the City of Down which without Resistance he took and rifled for the Citizens were not in any Posture of Defence because they had not the least Fear or so much as a Thought of an Enemy The Lord or Governour Dunlenns or O Donel perceiving the Amazement and Irresolution of his People was necessitated to withdraw leaving the Legate Vivianus to negotiate in his behalf with Courcy and to offer him a Tribute if he would peaceably retire but Courcy was transported with some blind Phrophecies of Merlin and Columbus which he interpreted of himself and fancied nothing less than the entire Conquest of Vlster and therefore rejected all Overtures of Accomodation Whereupon O Donel This Battle at large Hanmer 150. with the Assistance of Rotherick and the rest of his Neighbours who made it a common Cause soon raised an Army of ten thousand Men and with them designed to besiege the City of Down But Courcy chose rather to fight a Battle in the Field than stand a Siege in the Town and the Success justified his Choice for he routed the Enemy with great Slaughter and took the Bishop of Down Prisoner but at the Intercession of the Legate he was released About Midsummer following the Ulster Men to the number of fifteen thousand fought another Battle with Courcy near Down and though it was very Bloody on both sides yet the Honour of the Day is by my Author given to Courcy His third Battle was in the Ferny against eleven thousand Irish the English not being above the tenth part of their number The Occasion of it was thus Sir John de Courcy had built many Castles in Vlster especially in that part of it called Ferny where Mac Mahon dwelt he was very observant of Courcy and made him his Gossip and had sworn Fidelity to him and had so far insinuated himself into Courcy's Favour that the Britain gave him two Castles with the Lands belonging to them but within a Month Mac Mahon demolished both the Castles And being asked the Reason why he did so he answered That he did not promise to hold Stones but Land and that it was contrary to his Nature to live within cold Walls whilst the Woods were so nigh Courcy was netled with this slight Answer and to revenge the Affront entred the Ferny and took so large a Prey of Cows that he was obliged to divide them into three Droves for convenience of Driving the Ways were boggy and also so narrow that the Prey filled the Road for three miles together The Irish observing these Circumstances set upon the English with such Briskness Noise and Clamour that forced the Cows back and made them run like Devils upon their Drivers so that they overthrew both Horse and Man and trod more underfoot than were slain by the Sword In a Word the English were routed and although they had slain nineteen score of the Irish and their General Mac Mahon himself yet they were forced to run for their Lives and much ado they had to recover an old Fort of Courcy's where they made a shift to secure themselves although the Irish were encamped vey near them About Midnight Sir Amorick went to view the Posture of the Irish who not in the least mistrusting that a baffled handful of Men would dare to attempt them were in a loose and negligent Condition most of them asleep even their very Guards and Centinels This being reported to Courcy they easily agreed to make use of this Advantage and immediately with all their Force fell upon the Irish and surprized them to that degree that they could make no Resistance so that they were all slain except two hundred who made their escape and of the English there were but two killed in this Encounter and four hundred the Day before About this Time the Legate Vivianus held a Synod at Dublin in which he published the King's Title to Ireland and denounced Excommunication against all that should oppose it He also gave Leave to the English to take out of the Churches and Monasteries such Corn and other Provision as they should at any time need paying the true Value thereof for the same He gave the People Indulgences and they gave him Money and so they parted very well pleased on both Sides Miles Cogan and young Fitz-Stephens invaded Connaugh as far as Tuam but could not make any Stay there for want of Victuals for the Inhabitants had removed or destroyed all their Provision and fled away upon the News of the Approach of the English And here let me observe once for all That want of Provision hath frustrated more great Designs and well-contrived Expeditions in Ireland than any other Defect or Accident whatsoever But Rotherick King of Connaugh having Notice of this March and knowing the English would be forced to return in a little Time for want of Victuals he placed an Ambush in a covenient Station which according to their Orders fell upon the English in their Retreat but did no greater Mischief than the killing of three English Men and that with the Loss of many of themselves This Governour Fitz-Adelm was very unkind to Reymond and all the Geraldines and indeed to most of the first Adventurers He forced the Sons of Maurice Fitz-Gerald to exchange their Castle of Wicklow for the decayed Castle of Fernes and when they had repaired that Castle of Fernes he found some Pretence or other to have it demolished He took from Reymond all his Land near Dublin and Wexford He delayed the Restitution of Fitz-Stephens to his Lands in
take any notice of Ireland and therefore we take no further notice of him than to give this brief Account of the Reason of our Silence in that Particular Hugh de Lacy was made Lord Justice of Ireland as aforesaid And as soon as he arrived he sent Imperious Letters to Courcy to discharge him of his Command and behaved himself so insolently that all was in Disorder Which the Irish perceiving and also that the King of England was preparing for a Voyage to the Holy Land they thought this an happy Opportunity to extirpate the English to which End they had a General Meeting and resolved unanimously to fall upon them Hanmer 169. and in order to it they entred into a League or Association and solemnly swore First To be true to one another and to the common Cause Secondly Never to yield any Obedience to the English again Ibid 162. And to begin the Business they fell upon Roger Poer Governour of Leighlin and barbarously murdered him and most of the Garrison Cormock O Connor Son of Rotherick King of Connaught commonly called Crove Darig because his Hand was red was the chief of the Conspirators he was an Active Valiant Gentleman and of so great Reputation that he was able to assemble twenty thousand Men of his own and the Confederates with which Army he designed first to clear Connaught then Vlster and afterwards the whole Kingdom In the mean Time Courcy Lord of Connaught and Earl of Vlster considering that he should have no Aid nor Help from the Lord Justice endeavoured to strengthen himself the best he could and to that End sent for his Brother S. Lawrence who made more Haste than good Speed for he came away with thirty Horse and two hundred Foot and at Knockmoy in the County of Galway fell into an Ambush the King of Connaught had laid for him and tho' they fought so valiantly that they killed one thousand Irish Men yet the Issue was That this small Army was totally destroyed not one escaping And tho' O Connor in Remembrance and Ostentation of this Victory did there build the Abbey de Colle Victoriae yet when he had well considered the prodigious Valour of that Handful of Men and his own Loss he thought himself necessitated to sue to Lacy for Peace which he soon obtained upon reasonable Conditions About this Time Robin Hood and Litle John were Famous Robbers in England but their Company being dispersed and Robin Hood taken Litle John fled to Dublin and shot an Arrow from Dublin-Bridge to the litle Hill in Oxman-Town thence called Litle John's Shot He was called Litle John Ironically for he was not less than fourteen Foot long believe it who will Hector Boetius affirms The Hole of his Huckle Bone was so big that he could thrust his Hand through it He fled from Dublin to Scotland where he dyed This Year Isabel 1189. only Daughter of Strongbow by Eva Prencess of Leinster was married to William Lord Maxfield Earl Marshal of England He was a great Favourite to King Richard and at his Coronation carried the Regal Scepter whereon was a Cross of Gold He was afterward by King John Hanmer 177. created Earl of Pembrook and had five Sons who were successively Earls and all died without Issue and he had five Daughters among whom his Estate was divided viz. to Joan the County of Waxford to Matilda the County of Caterlough to Isabel the County of Kilkenny to Sybilla the County of Kildare and to Eva the Mannor of Downmass in Leix now the Queen's County in all which they exercised Palatine Jurisdiction Of this Family Thomas Mills in his Catalogue of Honour gives this Account That Richard Earl of Chepstow was nick-named Strongbow because of his exceeding Strength so that he drew an traordinary Srong Bow his Arms were so long that he could stand upright and with the Palms of his Hands touch his Knees That his Daughter Isabel was fourteen Years a Ward to Henry II That her Husband William Earl Marshal was created Earl of Pembrook 27 May 1199 and that she dyed anno 1221 and was buried at Tintern Abbey and that he dyed 16 March 1219. They had five Sons and five Daughters William married Elianor Sister of Henry III and died the sixth of April 1231. Richard died the sixteenth of April 1234. Gilbert married Margaret Daughter of William King of Scotland 1235 and died by a fall from his Horse the twenty eighth of May 1242. Walter died 1245 in Wales and Anselm died the same Month viz the twenty first of December Maud successively married Hugh Earl of Norfolk William Earl of Warren and Walier Lord Dunstanvil Joan married Warren Lord Montchensy the richest Baron in England Isabel married Gilbert Earl of Glocester and afterwards Richard Earl of Cornwal King of the Romans Sybil married William Earl of Ferrers and Darby and Eve married William de Brees Lord of Brecknock and Partition was made between these Noble Coparceners at Woodstock Lib. G. May 3. 31 Hen. 3. About this Time 1190. viz. Anno 1190 the City of Dublin was burnt by Accident 1191. so that it was almost totally destroyed and the Kingdom was governed by William Petit Burlace 11. who held it a very short Time before William Earl of Pembrook and Earl Marshal of England came over Lord Justice or Governour of Ireland he was the third of the Temporal Assistants King Richard had left to the Bishop of Ely for the Government of England he was a Valiant Man and had a great Estate in Ireland 1191. and therefore was thought the fittest Governour for that Country in this Critical Time whilst King Richard was Prisoner in Austria and Earl John was engaged in Troublesome and Ambitious Designs in England In the Year 1194. the Reliques of S. Malachy Bishop of Clareval Cambden 151. were brought into Ireland and with great Reverence and Devotion deposited in the Abby of Mellifont and other the Monasteries of the Cistersian Order It seems the Reputation or Power of this Noble Governour was sufficient to keep Ireland quiet 1197. for we read of little or no Disturbance there during his Time which was about six Years And then he resign'd to Hanno de valois a Gentleman of Suffolk Lord Justice of Ireland who continued in that Government until the Death of King Richard which happened at Chalons in France on the sixth Day of April anno 1199. John Earl of Moreton and Lord of Ireland did on the Death of King Richard without Title ascend the Throne of England Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury was a great assistant to this Usurpation he told the People That John had the Crown by Election which the King did not then gain-say it being no fit Time to dispute the MANNER so he had the THING he aimed at but the Right was in his Nephew Arthur whom he afterwards got into his Hands and caused him him to be murdered as was at that Time generally reported
publickly opposed the King's Alienation or Resignation of his Dominions to the Pope 1213. He governed the Kingdom very well but at the end of two Years he went to Rome either to solicit Aid for the King against the Barons or to be present at a General Council He left Geofry de Marisco 1215. Lord Keeper of Ireland to whom nevertheless Sir Edmond Butler was Assistant or Coadjutor It was about this Time the Citizens of Dublin obtained a Licence to build a Bridge over the Liffy where they pleased And not long after they also got a Fee-Farm of the City of Dublin from the King at a certain Rent but I take that to have been anno 1217. and if so the King here meant must be Henry III. It seems these Times were very Quiet for I find no mention of any War or Rebellion except some small Stirs in Connaught which were not so Great or Considerable as that the Particulars should be transmitted to posterity In the mean Time William Earl Marshal who came to Ireland anno 1207. was employed in building his Castle of Kilkenny and the Abbey of Black-Fryers there He also incorporated that Town by the Name of Sovereign Burgesses and Communalty and granted them a Privilege to be quit of Toll Lastage and Pontage and all other Customs throughout Leinster and afterwards went to England And thus stood the Government of Ireland during the Life of King John who died at Newark the nineteenth Day of October 1216. 1216. THE REIGN OF HENRY III. King of England And LORD of IRELAND c. HENRY the Third not then Ten years old succeeded his Deceased Father in all his Titles and Estates 1216. and in the presence of the Popes Legate William Earl Marshal and others he was declared King and Crowned at Glocester by the Bishops of Winchester and Bath and at the same time he did Homage to Pope Innocent and the Church of Rome Brady 522. for the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and swore to pay yearly the Thousand Marks which his Father had promised to the Holy See William Earl Marshal who was also Earl of Pembrook was Protector of the King and Kingdom Ib. 523. and by Proclamation encouraged the Nobility Gentry and other the Kings Subjects to continue faithful to him which they were the more easily perswaded to because Lewis Prince of France and his Party began to decline and were solemnly excommunicated or rather the same Excommunication was published and denounced every Sunday and Holy-Day There likewise issued a Writ to the Kings Subjects in Ireland in haec verba REX Archiepiscopis Prin 250. Episcopis Abbatibus Comitibus Baronibus Militibus libere tenentibus omnibus fidelibus suis per Hibern constitutis Salutem Fidelitatem vestram in Domino commendantes quam Domino Patri nostro semper exhibuistis nobis estis diebus nostris exhibituri Volumus quod in signum Fidelitatis vestrae tam praeclarae tam insignis libertatibus Regno nostro Angl. Ã Patre nostro nobis concessis de gratia nostra dono in Regno nostro Hibern gaudeatis vos vestri Haeredes in perpetuum quas distincte in Scriptum redactas de communi consilio omnium fidelium nostrorum vobis mittimus signatas Sigillis Domini nostri G. Apostolicae Sedis Legati fidelis nostri Com. W. Maresc Rectoris nostri Regni nostri quia Sigillum nondum habuimus easdem processu temporis de majori Consilio proprio Sigillo signaturi Teste apud Glouc. 6 die Februar And the Entry on the Roll is Homines Hiberniae habent libertates Angliae And another Writ Brady Append. 143. under the Test of the Earl Marshal was sent to Hugh de Lacy to invite his Return in this Writ which runs in the Name of the King his Majesty condescends to expostulate with Lacy that he the King ought not to be blamed for his Fathers unkindness to Lacy and assures him that he shall have Restitution and Protection if he would come back and upon Receipt of it Lacy did readily comply with the Kings Desire Geofry de Marisco continued Lord Justice or Governor of Ireland Burlace 15. to whom on the 16th of April following Henry de Londres was added as Assistant or Co-adjutor at least in Ecclesiastical Matters 1217. and for the Reformation of the Church The King sent a Writ to the Lord Justice giving him thanks for his faithful Service to the deceased King John and desiring that he would persevere in the like to himself especially during his Monority when he stood in need of the Lord Justices assistance and advice Prin Hist H. 3. fol. 38. and requires him to take the Oath of Fealty of the Nobility of Ireland and all others that are obliged thereto and assures them they shall enjoy the same Liberties in Ireland as he hath granted to his Subjects in England There was also another Writ sent to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal to assist the Lord Justice in the Kings Service And there was yet another Writ for a thousand Bacons Lib. GGG Lambeth two Ship-load of Corn and a Ship-load of Oats Mandatum est Justiciario Hiberniae quid mittet in Angliam mille Bacones duas Navatas Frumenti unam Navatam Aveni So that England must not deny but that it has at some time been beholden to us About this time William Earl Marshal incorporated the Town of Calan and gave it the following Charter COncessi Burgensibus meis de Calan omnimodas Libertates quas decet Burgenses habere mihi licet conferre viz. quod nullus Burgensis trahatur in causam vel respondeat de ullo placito quod proveniat infra Metas Burgi in Castello Lib. in Lambeth vel alibi nisi in hundredo villae exceptis placitis quae sunt de hominibus hospitii mei Concessi etiam eisdem Burgensibus Matrimonium contrahere sibi filiis filiabus viduis sine licentia Dominorum suorum nisi forte forinseca tenementa teneant de me in capite extra Burgum Lucas de Netervil was chosen by the Chapter Archbishop of Armagh 1217. and went to the King for Confirmation but could not obtain it Ware de Fresul 17. because the Election was made without the Kings License Whereupon the Monks compounded with the King for three hundred Marks of Silver and three of Gold and so they took out a Conge de esâ—ier and repeated the Election and then Netervil was consecrated by Langton Archbishop of Canterbury About this Time viz. 2 Hen. 3. the King wrote to Ireland for Aid to pay off a Debt due from him to Lewis Son of the King of France Soon after Henry de Londres was by Pope Honorius the Third made Legate of Ireland and held a Synod at Dublin which made many good Canons But the Lord Justice had displeased the King by his male-administration of Affairs in Ireland or perhaps had
Popes Familiar and Kinsman and both Bastards saith Bale fill'd in like sort his Fardles in Scotland These Nuncio's were so crafty that they needed no Brokers they secretly understood by Posts and Cursitors the State of the Court of Rome which quailed them full sore that the Pope was either gone or panted for Life secretly by the conduct of the Monks of Canterbury they were conveyed to Dover where they took Shipping and crost the Seas The Emperor Frederick against whom this Provision was made having intelligence thereof and secretly acquainted with the Popes state wrote to the King of England to apprehend such Prollers wherein he also reprov'd his Cowardize The Emperor when he understood that the Birds were flown away made search for the Nest yet overtook them in Italy where to be short he imprison'd them their Kindred and Favourites rifled them of their Money and sent them to Rome to sing for more He that will read the Story more at large let him repair to Matthew Paris In the Year 1242 1242. the Lord Justice built the Castle of Sligo in Connaught and plac'd in it able Warders and the next Year died Richard de Burgo and the famous Hugh de Lacy Earl of Vlster 1243. whose Daughter and Heir was married to Walter de Burgo in her Right Earl of Vlster The King sent to the Lord Justice for Aid against the Welsh 1244. which it seems was long a coming but at length it did come under the Conduct of the Lord Justice and Phelim O Connor they Landed in the Isle of Anglesey and pillaged the Island and were hastning to the Ships with their Prey but it seems the Welshmen overtook them and forced them to leave their Burdens behind However they afterwards joyn'd the Kings Army and did the Work they came for for the King discomfited the Welsh victualled his Castles and victoriously returned into England The Lord Justice being come back to Ireland 1245. found Vlster over-run by O Donel who took advantage of the Death of Lacy and the absence of the Lord Justice but by the assistance of Cormock mac Dermond ma◠Rory the Lord Justice invaded Tirconnel routed the Irish and slew many of the chief of them on the English side was lost William But by Cambden and others call'd Sheriff of Connaught and his Brother Cambden does also mention several Expeditions but the Issue of them all was this That the Lord Justice Manned his Castle of Sligo forced O Neal to give Hostages and then gave half Tyrconnel to the said Cormock ma◠Dermond and return'd with great Booty But the King was displeased with the Lord Justice for his slowness and delay in bringing Aid to him in Wales and therefore remov'd him from the Government Novemb. 4. 1245. and appointed Sir John Fitz Geofry de Marisco I suppose Lord Justice who receiv'd a Writ that the Executors of the Bishop of Ossory should be suffered to administer and dispose of the Testators Goods and Chattels the Debts due to the King being first Levied thereout and in September 1247. Prin H. 3. 107. the King directed a Writ to the arch-Arch-Bishops and others in Ireland That the Laws of England should be strictly observed there as his Father King John had formerly commanded QVia pro communi utilitate Terrae Hiberniae Prin 254. unitate Terrarum Regis Rex vult de communi Concilio Regis provisum est quod omnes Leges Consuetudines quae in Regno Angliae tenentur in Hibernia teneantur eadem Terra eisdem Legibus subjaceat per easdem regatur sicut Dominus Johannes Rex cum ultimo esset in Hibernia statuit fieri mandavit Quia etiam Rex vult quod omnia Brevia de communi jure quae currunt in Anglia similiter currant in Hibernia sub novo Sigillo Regis Mandatum est Archiepiscopis c. quod pro pace tranquilitate ejusdem Terrae per easdem Leges eosdem regi deduci permittant eas in omnibus sequantur in cujus c. Teste Rege apud Wodestoke nono die Septembris anno Regni 30. Which Writ is imperfectly cited 1 Inst 141 b. Theobald Butler 1247. Lord of Carrick and John Cogan Lords Justices in whose Time the Popes Agent Johannes Refus was sent into Ireland clothed with Authority to collect the Popes Money Hanmer 198. my Author says that though he was not clad in Scarlet for fear of giving Offence yet he was such a Sophistical Legate and plied his business with that diligence that he extorted Six thousand Marks out of Ireland and by help of the Clergy transported it safely to London John Fitz Geofry was again Lord Justice 1248. in his time the King sent the following Writ Lib. P. Lambeth REX Justiciario Hibern Salutem Monstravit nobis Mamorch Offerthierun Rothericus Frater ejus quod antecessores sui ipsi licet Hibernenses semper tamen firmiter fuerunt ad fidem servitium nostram Prin 255. predecessorum nostrum it should be Nostrorum Regum Angl. 1253. ad conquestum una cum Anglicis faciendum super Hibernenses ideo vobis mandamus quod si ita est tunc non permittas ipsos M. R. repelli quin possint terras vindicare in quibus jus habent sicut quilibet Anglicus quia si ipsi antecessores sui sic se habuerunt cum Anglicis quamvis Hibernenses injustum esset licet Hibernenses sint quod exceptione qua repelluntur Hibernenses à vindicatione terrarum aliis repellantur c. By which Writ it appears that the King did design that all the Irish who would live as Subjects should have the benefit of the English Laws but that such of the Irish as were Enemies or Rebels and would not be Amesnable to Law should not have any Advantage by the Law But now the King to qualifie his Son for a Marriage with the Infanta of Spain Davis 22. amongst other things gave the Kingdom of Ireland to Prince Edward and his Heirs Lib. G. Lambeth in as ample manner as himself enjoyed it except the Cities of Dublin and Limrick nevertheless with this express Condition in the Patent 1254. Ita quod non separetur à Corona Angliae Whereupon Ireland was called the Land of the Lord Edward and the Officers there were stiled the Officers of Edward Lord of Ireland and the Writs did also run in the Name of the Prince In the same Year but I suppose before the Donation to the Prince the King sent a Writ to the Nobility of Ireland Prin 255. most earnestly desiring their Assistance with Men and Ships for his Wars in Gascony But the Prince had issued a Writ of Entry out of the Chancery of Ireland against the Bishop of Lismore which was illusory to the Laws of England established by the King and King John and therefore upon Complaint the King sent
recorded of the Battel of Glandelory or Glinbury as to the Captains Numbers or other Circumstances save that the English suffered a great Defeat there and that William Fitz Roger Prior of the Kings Hospitallers and many others were taken Prisoners Hanmer 203. and a great number slain which ill Success was somewhat ballanced by a sore Battel which Ralph Peppard and O Hanlon gave to the great O Neal. Thomas de Clare and O Bryan Roe King of Thomond were likewise at odds 1277. and the Briton had tho' the better of it at first so that he took O Bryan and beheaded him yet afterward the Irish drove Thomas and his Father-in-Law into the Mountains of Slevebloom M. S. Fragment 2. and kept them there till for want of better Victuals they fed upon Horse-flesh and thereupon they yielded themselves Prisoners and to obtain their Liberty were forced to give Hostages that they would make satisfaction for O Bryan's Death and surrender the Castle of Roscomon And as if some malignant Star had influenced all the Inhabitants of Ireland to contention the Irish also quarrelled with one another and Mac Diarmund of Mylurg encounter'd the King of Connaught and slew him and two thousand of his Men. Wherefore the Lord Justice was sent for over to give account of this Bustle and why he permitted it as also to answer why he did not in person assist Thomas de Clare against the O Bryans To the first he answered that it was no damage to the King that one Rebel destroy'd another and to the second he gave such an Answer as was satisfactory Stephen de Fulborne 1279. Bishop of Waterford was left Lord Justice till his Return In his time were coyned in England several round Pieces of Money viz. the Penny the Half-penny and the Farthing which by Proclamation were made current in England and Ireland and yet the old Money was not cried down About this time the Irish Petitioned the King that they might have the Benefit of the Laws of England extended to them which produced the following Writ REX Archiepisc Prin 257. Abbatib Comitib Baronib Militib omnibus Anglicis de terra Hiberniae Salutem Ex parte Hibernicorum de terra praedicta nobis extitit humiliter supplicatum quod sibi de gratia nostra concedere dignaremur ut eisdem Legibus Consuetudinibus communibus uti gaudere possint in terra quibus Anglici ibidem utuntur gaudent secundum easdem Leges Consuetudines deduci valeant in futurum Nos autem quia hujusmodi concessionem absque Conscientia vestra eis ad praesens non duximus faciendam Vobis mandamus quod ad certos dies quos ad hoc provideritis viz. citra Festum Nativitatis Beatae Mariae Virginis in aliquibus locis oportunis conveniatis inde diligentem tractatum inter vos habeatis Vtrum sine prejudicio vestri Libertatum Consuetudinum vestrarum etiam sine damno vestro dictam concessionem facere possumus eisdem necne de omnibus aliis circumstantiis hujusmodi concessionem contingentibus de hoc quod inde feceritis nobis citra proximum Parliamentum nostrum quod erit apud Westminster à die Sancti Michaelis in unum Mensem sub Sigillo Justic nostri Hiberniae vel ejus locum tenentis Sigillo dilecti fidelis nostri Roberti Baggot distincte aperte una cum concilio vestro constare faciatis hoc propter absentiam quorundam de paribus vestris quos ibidem interesse non contigerit vel illorum qui sunt infra atatem in custodia nullatenus omittatis ut nos ex tunc habita super hoc deliberatione pleniori inde provideri faciamus quod nobis concilio nostro magis videbitur expedire c. It is certain the Answer to this Writ was in the Negative and I suppose the Reason was That since the Irish generally were not amensnable to the Law but still used and would use their own Brehon-Law and Tanistry it was not fit they should have a general Benefit of the Laws of England but rather that every Person Family or Sept who would give some Assurance or at least Promise of Allegiance and Submission to the English Laws should by Special Writ be admitted to the Benefit of them and therefore we find a Multitude of such Writs and Licences from this time forward and many of them are in this Form viz. Quod ipse liberi sui de corpore suo legitime procreati hanc habeant libertatem And sometimes it is to Them and Their Heirs and sometimes to Them and Their Heirs of such a Sirname But the most memorable Writ of this Sort is that which follows REx omnibus ad quos Prin 258. 6. Rich. 2. c. Salutem sciatis quod de assensu concilii nostri concessimus pro nobis haeredibus nostr ad supplicationem Cornelii de Clone de Hibernia dicto of Fynatha militis Hibernici pro suo bono gestu erga nos pro bono servitio quod nobis impendit tempore praeterito tam praedicto Cornelio qui est de Natione Hibernica quam omnibus aliis de praedicta Natione qui sunt erunt ad obedientiam nostram de sanguine ipsius Cornelii existunt gerunt illud cognomen de Fynatha quod ipsi tempore quo ipsi sic obedientes nobis vel haeredibus nostris existunt uti gaudere possint omnimodis haereditatibus beneficiis libertatibus in Terra nostra Hiberniae predicta prout ligei nostri Anglicani obedientes nostri ibidem gaudent utuntur aliquo statuto vel ordinatione in contrarium edito non obstante c. Robert de Vfsord 1280. Lord Justice returned from England and kept all things in such good Order that nothing is recorded of the two following Years but the unfortunate burning the City of Waterford But he being removed Stephen Fulborn 1282. Bishop of Waterford afterwards Archbishop of Tuam was Lord Justice it seems he had been also Lord Treasurer And then the Irish made great Stirs in Connaught Arlow and Vpper Ossory which cost many Lives but the Loss fell heaviest upon the principal Rebels Mortagh and Art mac Morough were slain by Penquir◠at Arclow and Mac Gilpatrick also met with an untimely Death in Connaught And these Publick Contests were accompanied with Private Quarrels so that Adam Cusack slew William Barret and his Brethren about some Lands they contended for in Connaught It is to be remembred That the Oastmen or Easterlings had generally the benefit of the English Laws by Charters from King Henry to each City That of Waterford is to be seen in Sir John Davis his excellent Discourse pag. 94. And it was this Year confirmed by King Edward Great part of the City of Dublin was this Year burnt 1283. and the Steeple and Chapter-House of Christ Church did not escape the
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
York Second Son of Edward the Fourth to whom the Crown did really belong if he were living and this Perkin did personate him so well that there remains some doubt to this day whether he were an Impostor or not but supposing he was it was cunningly contrived to let him first appear in Portugal as a Child that had in a skulking manner fled from the Cruelty of his usurping Unkle besides Portugal was a Place with which the Duchess of Burgundy had not much Correspondence and therefore it could not be suspected that she had a hand in the Cheat but however that be young Perkin set Sail from Lisbon and arrived safely at Cork where he was kindly received by the Citizens and particularly by John Walters an eminent Merchant of Cork who probably was then Mayor and whose Apprentice Perkin had been as they say he wrote Letters to the Earls of Kildare and Desmond for their Assistance against King Henry but before he received their Answers he received Letters from the French King inviting him thither and so to France he went and was royally received and entertained until that King made Peace with King Henry and then Perkin made a seasonable Retreat into Flanders where he was exceeding welcome to his supposed Aunt the Duchess of Burgundy and there we will leave him for a while and return to our â—ord Deputy He held a Parliament at Dublin 1493. on Friday after Midsummer which it seems vacated some Indictments and Inquisitions that had formerly been made to the prejudice of this Lord Deputy by the Means of the Lord Portlester and now the Tables being turn'd and the Votaries of the House of Lancaster at Helm the Lord Portlester himself was questioned in the Exchequer for the miss-management of his Office of Treasurer This Parliament did also repeal a former Act made against the City of Waterford and restored that City to all its ancient Liberties and Priviledges and it is probable that there was also an Act of Parliament now made for the general Resumption of all the Crown Lands that were alienated or granted away since the first year of King Henry the Sixth but none of the Acts of this Parliament are Printed except one for the cleansing of the Water-Course in St. Patrick-street in Dublin and so this Parliament being dissolved in August the Lord Deputy on the sixth of September following resigned to Robert Preston Viscount Gormanstown Lord Deputy to the Duke of Bedford who it seems had not Commission to call a Parliament nevertheless he did call one which met at Drogheda and made several Statutes which were absolutely void for the Defect aforesaid however they were expresly repeal'd by 10 Hen. 7. cap. 23. And these farther Reasons were given for it 1. That the Lord Lieutenant had surrendred his Patent before the Summons And 2. Because the Parliamentary Summons did not issue to all the Shires but to four Shires only On the Twelfth of September this Lord Deputy called several of the Nobility to Trim where they subscribed Articles for the Peace of the Kingdom viz. That no man should make War without the Deputies Consent and that several Extortions and Tributes that were used and demanded should be abrogated and suppressed and that Murderers Thieves and Vagabonds should be punished c. There were present at this Assembly Alexander Plunket L. Chancellor Girald Earl of Kildare the Bishops of Meath Kildare the Lords of Slane Delvin Killeen Houth Trimletston and Dunsany c. And they gave Recognizanse and Hostages for the observation of those Articles and after this he called the Parliament aforesaid In October the late Lord Deputy Fitz-Symons went into England to give the King a full Account as well of his own Government as of the present State of the Kingdom of Ireland and not long after viz. in November following the Earl of Kildare hearing he was impeach'd in England went also thither to justifie himself before the King but the L. Deputy leaving the Government in the Hands of his Son followed the Earl to England and by the Assistance of Sir James Ormond Lord Treasurer of Ireland he so far prevailed that Kildare's Justification was rejected and himself sent over Prisoner to Ireland to the end the Matter might be more fully examined upon the place 1494. by Sir Edward Poynings Knight of the Garter Lord Deputy whose chief Errand was to suppress the Abettors of Perkin Warbeck he came over the thirteenth of September and immediately made great Alterations amongst the Ministers of State Henry Dean Bishop of Bangor he constituted Lord Chancellor Sir Hugh Conway was appointed Treasurer Thomas Bouring was made Chief Justice of the Kings Bench as John Topcliff was of the Common Pleas and Walter Ever was made Chief Baron of the Exchequer all which were Englishmen born and good Lawyers and were sworn of the Privy Council of Ireland This Deputy brought over with him about one thousand Souldiers and resolved to invade Vlster to pursue some of Perkins's Friends that fled thither it is strange he should use the Earl of Kildare's assistance in this Expedition however together they went accompanied with Sir James Ormond who had resigned the Office of High Treasurer they did great Execution on the Irish and harass'd the Territories of O Hanlon and Mac Genis and others It was suggested That Kildare did secretly treat and conspire with O Hanlon to destroy the Lord Deputy for which he was Attainted as shall be shewn hereafter but it seems he was innocent of that Matter not only because O Hanlon cleared him upon Oath two years after but also because he was acquitted in England upon full hearing before the King Nevertheless Kildare's Brother did at this time seize on the Castle of Caterlogh whereupon the Lord Deputy was necessitated to clap up a sort of a Peace with O Hanlon and Macgenis and so having taken their Oaths and Hostages he immediately marched to Caterlogh which after ten days Siege 1494. was surrendred unto him And so in November on Monday before the Feast of St. Andrew sate that famous Parliament at Drogheda which Enacted I. That the Treasurer might appoint his under-Officers here as is used in England and shall account once a year here before the Barons of the Exchequer and such of the Council as the Lord Deputy shall appoint and the same Accounts to be certified into England and finally determined and setled there II. That no Minister of Justice viz. The Chancellor Treasurer Judges Clerk or Master of the Rolls nor any Officer Accomptant shall have their Places but during the King's Pleasure III. An Act adnulling a Prescription which Traytors and Rebels claimed in Ireland The Reason of this Act was because Richard Duke of York at his last being in Ireland did Cause an Act to be made That Ireland should be a Sanctuary for Refugees and that it should be Treason to disturb any body there by any Writ Privy Seal or other Matter from England and
Resumption of all the Grants made by the Crown since the last day of the Reign of King Edward the Second Lib. G. except some Particulars mentioned in the Act and another Act Rot. Parl. c. 41. attaints the Earl of Kildare and his Brother James for High Treason for corresponding with O Hanlon and seizing the Castle of Caterlogh for extorting Coyn and Livery and for treating with the King of Scotland however he was afterward acquitted in England and received into favour and perhaps there was another Act to dissolve the Fraternity of S. George for it is certain that about this time that Brotherhood fell and so I have done with this Famous Parliament when I have told you that it is a Mistake in the Printed Statute-Book to place it anno 1495 because it is manifest That November 1494 was in the tenth Year of this King's Reign It is scarce worth mentioning Ware 43. That during this Parliament the Lord Deputy made another Expedition into Vlster because the Irish fled into their Fastnesses so that he reaped but small Fruit for his Journey In his Absence he left a Commission with the Chanchellor to continue adjourn prorogue or dissolve the Parliament as he saw cause About this time Cormock mac Teige mac Carthy of Muskry 1495. was basely murdered by his Brother Owen Ancestor of the Mac Carthyes of Cloghroe and was buried in the Abby of Kilcrea which he himself had founded But let us return to Perkin Werbeck who set sail from Flanders with about six hundred Men and arrived on the Coast of Kent but he found ill treatment there for one hundred and sixty of his Men were taken Prisoners and afterwards executed Thence he sailed to Ireland where he staid some time in Munster probably at Cork but finding the Irish unable to give him any considerable Assistance and fearing the Forces of the Lord Deputy he went thence into Scotland and by that King's Consent married the Earl of Huntly's Daughter who was nearly related to the Crown of Scotland The King of Scots did invade England in favour of Perkin but finding that none of the English came to assist the Impostor he wasted Northumberland and returned And thus Sir Edward Poynings drove Perkin out of Ireland and suppressed his Abettors and established many good Laws which though for the present they extended no further than the Pale yet their Effect and Influence increased and inlarged as fast as the King's Authority did so that those Statutes are at this day in full force over all the Kingdom And the King finding Ireland in so quiet a condition recalled the Lord Deputy and for his good Service made him Knight of the Garter And in his place appointed Henry Dean 1495. Bishop of Bangor Chancellor of Ireland and afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury 1496. to be Lord Justice and on the twenty sixth of April William Ratcliff was made Vice-Treasurer and John Pimp Treasurer at War and on the twenty fifth of June the Lord Delvin was made General for defence of the Pale and in July Octavianus Archbishop of Armagh held a Synod at Droghedah the Acts whereof are not to be found and in August Hugh O Donel being returned out of Scotland encountred and defeated O Connor near Sligo Whereupon he besieged the Castle of Sligo but without Success for being frightned with the News of the Approach of the Burks of Clanrickard he raised the Siege and retired in hast towards Tyrconnel But Burk was not so satisfied but burnt and destroyed all the adjacent Territories that belonged to O Donel's Partisans But the Earl of Kildare was still kept in Prison in England for Grief whereof his Countess died The Earl was accused of burning the Church of Cashel and many Witnesses were ready to prove it when contrary to all their Expectations he readily confessed the Fact and swore by Jesus That he would never have done it but that he thought the Archbishop was in it Which being uttered with a bluntless peculiar to this Lord did exceedingly work upon the King for whilst the Earl did so earnestly urge that for his Excuse which was the greatest Aggravation of his Crime the King easily perceived That a Person of that Natural Simplicity and Plainness could not be guilty of those Finesses and Intrigues that were objected against him It is reported of this Earl That he desired the King to permit him to have Council to manage his Cause since he was altogether unqualified to deal with such cunning Knaves as his Adversaries The King told him He should have what Counsel he would choose and that it concerned him to get Counsel that were very good for that he doubted his Cause was very bad The Earl replied That he would pitch upon the best Counsel in England Who is that said the King Marry even your Majesty quoth the Earl Whereat the King laughed But nevertheless he so requited Kildare for his Complement that when the Adversary concluded his Oration That all Ireland could not govern this Man the King took that occasion to make reply That therefore he was the fittest Man to govern Ireland Ware 49. And so for his Jest-sake made him Lord Lieutenant of that Kingdom by his Letters Patent of the sixth of August and restored him to his Honour and Estate Nevertheless the King kept the Earls eldest Son Girald as Hostage of the Father's Fidelity which proved to be a matter of Caution rather than of Necessity for no body could behave himself with more Loyalty to his Prince nor more Vigor against the Irish than the Earl of Kildare did from henceforward But to proceed Girald Earl of Kildare 1496. being made Lord Lieutenant in a short time after he had received the Sword marched towards Thomond against O Brian he went through the City of Limerick and took the Castle of Feyback from Finin Mac nâ—marra and afterwards took and rased the Castle of Ballyniti or Ballynice and so returned to Dublin and was reconciled to the Archbishop of Armagh to their mutual Ease and Quiet and to the great Advantage of Publick Affairs which often suffer especially in Ireland by the private Animosities of the Grandees But the Bishop of Bangor was recalled into England and Walter Archbishop of Dublin was made Lord Chancellor in his stead This good Archbishop in a Synod at Dublin anno 1492 procured a Pension for a Divinity-Reader there to be paid by him and his Suffragans and their Successors for ever And it is reported of him That being present when a famous Orator made a most eloquent Speech to the King his Majesty asked the Archbishop How he liked the Oration The good old Man replied That he saw no other Fault in it but Flattery As God shall love me quoth the King That is the very Fault I my self espied The King by advice of the Lord Lieutenant resolved to pardon those great Men that had been concerned with Perkin Warbeck lest Despair might induce
And so having wasted that Country he marched into Tyrone where he took and burnt the Castle of Dungannon and preyed and burnt all the Country thereabouts But the Citizens of Dublin had not so good luck for a Company of them thinking that the very Name of the King's Forces could obtain Victories over the Irish made an Incursion into Imaly but being as we say Fresh-Water Soldiers upon the Slaughter of a few of them the rest were frightned back to their Shops The Winter this Year was exceeding Cold and the Ice strong enough to bear all manner of Carriages which is very unusual in Ireland And this Winter Queen Mary was born whose Superstitious Zeal proved as extream Hot as the Weather was Cold. The Fortune and Victories of the Lord Deputy influenced the Irish to be quiet this Year and the Reputation of the Government was somewhat augmented by the Honourable Peace which the King made with the French 1518. in September which was afterwards proclaimed in Dublin In the mean time Ware 54. places this Anno 1597. but is mistaken great were the Dissentions in Ireland between Sir James Ormond a Man of great Courage and Reputation and Sir Pierce Butler a valiant Gentleman about the Earldom of Ormond the former was a Natural Son of John by some called Earl of Ormond elder Brother of Thomas the last Earl and the other was Son of Sir James Butler Son of Sir Edmund Son of Sir Richard Butler who was Brother to James the Fifth Earl of Ormond so that Pierce his Grandfather Sir Edmond was Cozen German to the Deceased Earl Thomas Hereby it appears that the Right to that Earldom was in Sir Pierce who had married the Lady Margaret Fitz-Girald the Lord Deputies Sister nevertheless Sir James having formerly been Lord Treasurer and a very popular Man and probably the Manager of this Estate for his Unkle Thomas who always resided in England by the help of the Tenants got into possession and by the same assistance and his own vigor he kept what he had got without allowing any thing to the right Heir towards his maintenance whereby that Noble Pair Sir Pierce and his Wife were reduced to great extremity It is scarce credible that Persons of that Quality and so well allied should be forced to lurk in Woods and want a Bottle of Wine for their Refreshment Holingsh 84. and yet Stanyhurst reports a formal Story That the Lady Margaret Fitz-Girald Wife of Sir Pierce Butler being great with Child complained to her Husband and their Servant James White that she could no longer live on Milk and therefore earnestly desired them to get her some Wine whereto Sir Pierce replied That she should have Wine enough within twenty four hours or feed alone on Milk for him and immediately he went away with his Page to lie in wait for his Competitor whom he met the next day riding with six Horsemen Attendants between Drumore and Kilkenny March 17. and upon a sudden Sir Pierce rushed in upon him and kill'd him with his Spear and thenceforward enjoyed the Estate in quiet This Year Rokeby Archbishop of Dublin who was likewise Lord Chancellor held a Provincial Synod at Dublin the Canons whereof are to be found in the Registry of the Bishop of Clogker And this Year or the next Art O Neal invaded and wasted O Dogherty's Island of Inisowen in the County of Donegal The Enemies of the Earl of Kildare had the last year done what they could underhand to disgrace him in England but he had so well defended himself by his Friends there 1519. that their Design was ineffectual wherefore they address'd themselves to Cardinal Wolsey and by his means procur'd Kildare to be recalled to answer Articles exhibited against him for Male-administration First Ware 98. That he had enriched himself and Followers by the King's Revenue and Land Secondly That he had Alliance and Correspondence with several Irish he had the King's Leave to substitute a Deputy so he appointed Sir Thomas Fitz-Girald of Lackagh a Knight of his own Family Lord Justice in the mean time Kildare marries in England with Elizabeth Grey Daughter of the Marquess of Dorset by whose means he got favour in England and was dismiss'd but Cardinal Wolsey suggesting the King had neglected Ireland too long and that some worthy man ought to be sent over that was impartial to any Faction or Party and was able to keep them not only more peaceable amongst themselves but also more serviceable to the King to the end that the Blood and Vigor which else would be spent in their Civil Dissentions might be opposed to the common Enemy he procured to be sent into Ireland Thomas Howard Earl of Surrey Lord Admiral of England Wales and Ireland Knight of the Garter Lord Lieutenant 1520. he came over the Wednesday before Whitsontide with an hundred of the Guards and a thousand others Horse and Foot by this the Cardinal obtained a double Advantage first In disappointing his Enemy the Earl of Kildare of the Government of Ireland and secondly In removing the Earl of Surry from the Court of England where he was a great Favourite On Whitsunday the Lord Lieutenant was alarum'd with a Report That Con Buckah O Neal who by Popular Election succeeded his Brother Art had invaded Meath with four thousand Horse and twelve thousand Foot says Paulus Jovius but falsly Surry was in haste to encounter the Rebel not doubting but that the Victory would be an honourable and happy Omen of his future Government and therefore adding to his small Army such of the Militia called The Risings out of City and Country as he could get on so short warning he marched to Slane but O Neal was frightned with the Name of this General and retir'd so fast that the Lord Lieutenant could neither find him nor his Army but not long after O Neal sent Letters to implore Pardon which was granted him on promise of future Obedience On the sixth of September the Lord Lieutenant wrote to the Cardinal That some Soldiers had seized on a Boat with design to be Pyrates but being prevented and apprehended they continued in Gaol because they could not be capitally punished by the Common Law and he had no Clause of Martial Law in his Commission as indeed he had not nor of conferring Knighthood which is strange and the better to ingratiate with the Cardinal he added That the Earl of Kildare will be found guilty of sending Letters to O Carol to raise a Rebellion and that if Kildare should be suffered to come to Ireland the whole Kingdom will be undone and he concludes That there is so great a Scarcity and Dearth in Ireland that the Soldier cannot live on four pence a day and therefore desires that a penny a day may be added to their Pay In October Lib. CCC the King wrote to the Lord Lieutenant That there will never be a thorough Reformation in Ireland until all
days But go too suppose he never be had What is Kildare to blame for it more than my good Brother of Ossory who notwithstanding his high Promises having also the Kings Power is yet content to bring him in at leisure Cannot the Earl of Desmond shift but I must be of Council Cannot he hide him except I wink If he be close am I his Mate If he be befriended am I a Traytor This is a doughty kind of Accusation which they urge against me wherein they are gravell'd and mir'd at my first denial You would not see him say they Who made them so familiar with mine Eye-sight Or when was the Earl within my view Or who stood by when I let him slip Or where are the Tokens of my wilful Hoodwink But you sent him word to beware of you Who was the Messenger Where are the Letters Convince my Negatives see how loose this idle Gear hangeth together Desmond is not taken well you are in fault Why Because you are Who proveth it No body What Conjectures So it seemeth To whom To your Enemies Who told it them They will swear it What other Ground None Will they swear it my Lord Why then of like they know it either they have my hand to shew or can bring forth the Messenger or were present at a Conference or privy to Desmond or some body bewrayed it to them or they themselves were my Carriers or Vicegerents therein Which of these Parts will they chuse For I know them too well To reckon my self convict by their bare Words or heedless Sayings or frantick Oaths were but meer Mockery My Letters were soon read were any such Writing extant my Servants and Friends are ready to be sifted Of my Cozen Desmond they may lie loudly since no man here can well contrary them Touching my self I never noted in them so much Wit or so fast Faith that I would have gaged on their silence the Life of a good Hound much less mine own I doubt not may it please your Honours to oppose them how they came to the knowledge of these Matters which they are so ready to depose but you shall find their Tongues chained to another mans Trencher and as it were Knights of the Post suborn'd to say swear and stare the utmost they can as those that pass not what they say nor with what face they say it so they say no truth But on the other side it grieveth me That your good Grace whom I take to be wise and sharp and who of your blessed disposition wisheth me well should be so far gone in crediting these corrupt Informers that abuse the ignorance of your State and Countrey to my peril Little know you my Lord how necessary it is not only for the Governor but also for every Nobleman in Ireland to hamper the uncivil Neighbors at discretion wherein if they waited for Process of Law and had not those Lives and Lands you speak of within their reach they might hap to lose their own Lives and Lands without Law You hear of a Case as it were in a Dream and feel not the smart that vexeth us In England there is not a mean Subject that dare extend his hand to fillip a Peer of the Realm In Ireland except the Lord have Cunning to his Strength and Strength to save his Crown and sufficient Authority to take Thieves and Varlets when they stir he shall find them swarm so fast that it will be too late to call for Justice If you will have our Service take effect you must not tie us always to those judicial Proceedings wherewith your Realm thanked be God is inured Touching my Kingdom I know not what your Lordship should mean thereby If your Grace imagine that a Kingdom consisteth in serving God in obeying the Prince in governing with Love the Commonwealth in supporting Subjects in suppressing Rebels in executing Justice in bridling blind Affections I would be willing to be invested with so Vertuous and Royal a Name but if therefore you term me a King in that you are perswaded that I repine at the Government of my Sovereign or wink at Malefactors or oppress civil Livers I utterly disclaim that odious Term marvelling greatly that one of your Graces profound Wisdom would seem to appropriate so sacred a Name to so wicked a thing But howsoever it be my Lord I would you and I had changed Kingdoms but for one Month I would trust to gather up more Crumbs in that space than twice the Revenues of my poor Earldom But you are well and warm and so hold you and upbraid not me with such an odious Term. I slumber in a hard Cabin when you sleep in a soft Bed of Down I serve under the King's Cope of Heaven when you are served under a Canopy I drink Water out of my Skull when you drink Wine out of Golden Cups my Courser is train'd to the Field when your Jennet is taught to Amble when you are Graced and Belorded and Crouched and Kneeled unto then find I small Grace with our Irish Borderers except I cut them off by the Knees Hereupon the Cardinal finding that Kildare was no Fool adjourned the Cause till farther Proof could be produced however being fretted at this Speech he remanded the Earl to the Tower contrary to the Opinion of most of the Council Speed 775. it seems he was afterwards Bayl'd on the Recognizance of the Duke of Norfolk and was again imprisoned upon some Light the Cardinal had gotten of the Message to O Neal and O Connor which Kildare had sent by his Daughter the Lady Slane It is reported That whilst the Earl and the Lieutenant of the Tower were at Play together at Slide-groat a Mandate was sent by the Cardinal to execute Kildare the next day Whereupon he changing Countenance the Earl swore by S. Bride That there was some mad Game in that Scroll but fall how it will this Throw is for a huddle says he Speed 775. And being told of the Contents of the Letter he desired the Lieutenant to know the King's Pleasure therein which he did and the King was surpriz'd at the thing for he knew nothing of it and to controll the Sawciness of the Priest as he phrased it gave the Lieutenant his Signet for a Countermand whereat the Cardinal stormed But it seems to me that this Story is a meer Fiction because I find not one Word of Kildare's Trial and it is not credible that they would execute a Man of his Quality before he was legally Tried and Condemned Afterwards this Earl was again enlarged out of Prison on very considerable Bayl viz. the Marchioness Dowager of Dorset Ware 119. the Marquess of Dorset the Lords Fitz-Walter and Mountjoy the Bishop of S. Asaph Richard Lord Grey John Lord Grey Leonard Lord Grey Sir Henry Gilford Sir John Zouch and John Abbot of Vale-Royal and was not long after restored to the King's Favour When the Earl of Kildare went to England
until Fitz Girald could come to relieve it But the perfidious Governor Christopher Parese Fitz-Girald's Foster-Brother a white-Liver'd Traytor resolved to purchase his own security with his Lord's Ruine and to that end got Letters conveyed to the Lord Deputy importing that he would surrender the Castle upon certain Articles by him propos'd all which concerned only his own Profit without mention of his Safety The Lord Deputy readily accepted of the Offer and agreed to the Conditions required Whereupon Parese after some small Advantage they had got in a Sally caus'd the Garrison to rejoyce and carouse to that degree that they were all dead drunk and then upon a Signal given the English scaled the Walls and entred the Castle Captain Holland being one of the first hapned to leap down into a Pipe of Feathers and there stuck and Sir William Brereton being got in cried out S. George S. George whereat one of the Garrison awakened and shot at Captain Holland but he being rescued out of the Feathers by his Companions killed the Souldier After that there was little or no resistance and Sir William Brereton soon advanced his Standard on the Top of the Turret The Spoil and Plunder of this Castle was exceeding great and rich this being accounted the best furnished House belonging to any Subject in the Kings Dominions The Lord Deputy entred in the Afternoon before whom two Varlets James de la Hide and Hayward both Choristers prostrated themselves warbling a sweet Sonnet call'd Dulcis Amica their Melody sav'd their Lives which at the request of Chief Justice Ailmer the Deputy pardoned Parese expecting some great Reward with abundance of Confidence and Familiarity presented himself before the Deputy who told him That he was to thank him on the King's behalf for his Service which saved much Charge and many Lives and doubted not when the King was acquainted therewith he would provide for him during his Life and the better to advise the King how to reward him he desired to know what Fitz-Girald had done for him Parese set agog with this Discourse recounted the most minute instances of Fitz Girald's Liberality to him upon which the Deputy reply'd And how Parese couldst thou find in thy heart to betray the Castle of so kind a Lord And turning to his Officers he bids them pay him the Mony and then to chop off his Head Had I known this quoth Parese your Lordship should not have had the Castle so easily Whereupon one Mr. Boyse being by cried out Auntraugh i. e. too late which occasion'd the Saying often us'd in Ireland Too late quoth Boyse In the mean time Fitz-Girald by the aid of O Connor and others had got an Army of seven thousand Men with which he design'd to raise the Siege of Minooth but upon News of its Surrender his Army deserted him daily and mouldred away almost to nothing Reputation as I observed before much governing the Irish and perhaps all the World beside with the few that were left he marched to Clane and the Deputy leaving Brereton Governor of Dublin marched to Naas where he took sevenscore of the Rebel Gallowglasses whom upon notice of Fitz-Girald's Approach the Deputy commanded to be slain only Edmond Oleme escaped stark naked to his Master Fitz-Girald There was a Bog between both Armies so that the Horse could not skirmish but the Deputy with his Artillery easily broke and scattered Fitz-Girald's inconsiderable Troops put them to flight slew many and took some Prisoners After this Defeat 1535. Fitz-Girald never appeared at the Head of any considerable Army but by small Parties would now and then make some slight Excursions and particularly after the Surrender of Rathingan which hapned in the beginning of the Year he caused a Drove of Cattel to appear near the Town early in the Morning and the English believing that the Cattel strayed that way and might easily be made Booty most of the Garrison sallied to that intent and were intercepted by an Ambush and slain Another time he burnt a Village near Trim and sent two or three of his Men clad like the English Soldiers to Trim and pretending that they were Captain Salisbury's Men they told the Garrison that the Rebel Fitz-Girald was burning the Village Whereupon most part of the Soldiers sallied out and were killed On the 11th of May the Lord Butler was created Viscount Thurles and Admiral of Ireland and on the twenty first his Father the Earl of Ossory and he were made Governors of the Counties of Kilkenny Waterford and Typerary and the Territories of Ossory and Ormond and they promised to do their utmost endeavour to recover the Castle of Dungarvan and to resist the Vsurpations of the Bishop of ROME Lib. H. Lambeth which is the first Engagement I have met with of that kind It seems that the Lord Grey had been sent to England for Supplies and that he now returned with Horsemen and Archers under Sir William Senlo Sir Rice Mansel and Sir Edward Griffith who were conveniently garrisoned in the Pale for I find by a Letter of the twenty first of August to the Lord Cromwel from Chief Justice Ailmer and Allen Master of the Rolls that the Lord Grey Landed the twenty ninth of July and that they came on shoar the first of August and were exceedingly surpriz'd at the alteration they found in the Country for that six of eight Baronies in the County of Kildare were burnt and depopulated and so likewise was part of Meath and that Sir William Brabazon at the Naas was the Man that prevented the total Ruine and Desolation of the Country That Powerscourt which cost five thousand Marks was ruin'd by the Birns and Tools That Fitz-Girald had regain'd Rathingan by the Treachery of the Ward but that he quitted it upon approach of the Army and the Lord Deputy might have surpriz'd him in it if he would or had been as diligent as he ought That O More who joyn'd with the English had so posted his own Men and the Kings that the Rebels were surrounded and Fitz-Girald could not have escaped if a Brigade of the English had not quitted their Station however Burnel of Balligriffin was taken and was afterwards hang'd at Tyburn That the Pestilence raged at Dublin and that the Lord Deputy designed to quarter a thousand Kerns for three Months on the Pale which would ruine it but their Arrival with Money alter'd that to a Cess for this Expedition only whereunto the People chearfully consented That they had engaged Cahir O Connor against his Brother by allowing him twelve Horse and one hundred and sixty Kerns in his Majesties Pay That the Deputy is sick and not able to defend Minooth where he lodges but suffers his own Cattle to be taken from the very Gates That there is no hope of O Neal's Loyalty since he gave no Hostages and finally this Letter highly extols Sir William Brabazon the worthy Ancestor of the Earl of Meath as the Saviour of the
and after half a years abode there they went to Kilbritton in the County of Cork where Elianor Fitz-Girald Mac Carty Riagh's Widow then lived Soon after she married with O Donel and made it one of the Articles of her Agreement That he should protect her Nephew the young Fitz-Girald which he faithfully promised and thereupon they went together to Vlster but they were not there a Twelve-month before the Lady understood that her perfidious Husband had agreed to betray her Nephew and therefore she sent him privately into France and gave him sevenscore Pieces of Gold call'd Portugueses to bear his Charge and afterwards upbraided O Donel with his Treachery and told him That as nothing but the Preservation of her Nephew could have prevailed with her to marry such a clownish Curmudgen so since he villanously endeavoured to betray her in that Particular she would stay with him no longer and so away she went and never saw him more But the Young Fitz-Girald arrived safely at S. Maloes and being sent for up to Paris the English Embassador there demanded him of the French King by virtue of the Peace lately concluded The French King gave him a dilatory Answer and in the mean time Fitz Girald escaped to Flanders at Valencienes he was overtaken by James Sherlock whom the Embassador sent to pursue him but the Governour of that Town committed Sherlock and so Fitz-Girald got safe to Brussels but the English Embassador demanded him there also so that he was forced to remove to Leige and was by the Emperor recommended to the Bishop of Leige and allowed a hundred Crowns a Month for his Expence But he staid there not above half a Year before his Kinsman Cardinal Poole sent for him to Rome and placed him successively with the Bishop of Verona the Cardinal of Mantua and the Duke of Mantua and allowed him an Annuity of three hundred Crowns per annum and the Duke of Mantua gave him the like Pension With them he staid a Year and a half and then removed to Cardinal Poole's Palace in Rome where he continued three Years The next Year after he spent in Service with the Knights of Malta and behaved himself exceeding valiantly Then he became Master of the Horse to the Great Duke of Tuscany and continued in that Office three Years One Day as he was hunting Holingshead 99. in the company of Cardinal Farneze he fell into a Pit twenty nine Fathom deep and had the good Luck within two Fathom of the Bottom to quit his Horse and take hold of some Roots or Bushes that were on the Side of the Pit and by degrees he let go his Hold and gently descended upon his Horse which was dead in the Bottom of the Pit and there he stood three Hours up to the Ankles in Water until his Grey-hound called Griff-hound missing his Master hunted him to the Pit and there fell a howling till the Company came in and with a Rope and a Basket drew him up alive and well to all their Admirations to mine too if I did not think this part of the Story to be a little Monkish And since I am upon Digressions Analecta Hib. Sullevan Cath. Hist. 71. it will be fit to remember That Doctor Traverse who was an active Man in Fitz-Girald's Rebellion and was therefore executed at Tyburn as the Traytor well deserved has nevertheless found a Room in the Irish Martyrology and is mentioned as an Instance of the English Cruelty by the Irish Historians And so we will conclude the Year 1535 with the Consecration of George Brown Archbishop of Dublin Ware de Praesulibs which was performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops of Rochester and Salisbury on the nineteenth or rather twenty ninth of March he had formerly been Provincial of the Fryers of the Order of S. Augustine Bish Brown's Life in England And whilst he was so he used to Preach That Salvation was to be obtained by the Merits of Christ and advised to make Application to him only for which Doctrine he was much taken notice of He became the first Protestant Convert of the Clergy in Ireland and was an exceeding Charitable and Meek Man He was the first that caused Images and other Superstitious Reliques to be removed out of the two Cathedrals in Dublin and out of the rest of the Churches within his Diocess And he caused the Ten Commandments the Lord's Prayer and the Creed to be placed in gilded Frames about the Altar in Christ-Church Dublin It seems that the King did send Commissioners into Ireland to remove the Pope's Authority thence and to reduce it to conformity with England if so undoubtedly Archbishop Browne was one of the Commissioners as will appear by the following Letter sent by him to Cromwel Lord Privy Seal who was the chief Mannager of that Matter My Most Honoured Lord YOVR humble Servant receiving your Mandate Septemb. 4. 1535. as one of His Highnesses Commissioners hath endeavoured almost to the Danger and Hazard of this Temporal Life to procure the Nobility and Gentry of this Nation to due Obedience in owning of his Highness their Supreme Head as well Spiritual as Temporal and do find much oppugning therein especially by my Brother Armagh who hath been the main Oppugner and so hath withdrawn most of his Suffragans and Clergy within his See and Jurisdiction He made a speech to them laying a Curse on the People whosoever should own his Highness's Supremacy saying That this Isle as it is in their Irish Chronicles Insula Sacra belongs to none but the Bishop of Rome and that it was the Bishop of Rome's Predecessors gave it to the King's Ancestors There be two Messengers by the Priests of Armagh and by that Archbishop now lately sent to the Bishop of Rome Your Lordship may inform his Highness That it is convenient to call a Parliament in this Nation to pass the Supremacy by Act for they do not much matter his Highness's Commission which your Lordship sent us over This Island hath been for a long time held in Ignorance by the Romish Orders And as for their Secular Orders they be in a manner as ignorant as the People being not able to say Mass or pronounce the Words they not knowing what they themselves say in the Roman Tongue The common People of this Isle are more Zealous in their Blindness than the Saints and Martyrs were in the Truth at the beginning of the Gospel I send to you my very good Lord these things that your Lordship and his Highness may consult what is to be done It is feared O Neal will be ordered by the Bishop of Rome to oppose your Lordships Order from the King's Highness for the Natives are much in Numbers within his Powers I do pray the Lord Christ to defend your Lordship from your Enemies On the twenty eighth of April the King sent Orders to the Town of Galway to use the English Order 1536. Lib. H. Habit
Souls paid Tribute to Caesar though no Christian greater Honour then surely is due to your Prince His Highness the King and a Christian one Rome and her Bishops in the Fathers Days acknowledged Emperors Kings and Princes to be Supreme over their Dominions nay Christs own Vicars and it is much to the Bishop of Rome's shame to deny what their precedent Bishops owned Therefore his Highness claims but what he can justifie the Bishop Elutherius gave to S. Lucius the first Christian King of the Britains so that I shall without scrupling vote his Highness King Henry my Supreme over Ecclesiastical Matters as well as Temporal and Head thereof even of both Isles England and Ireland and that without Guilt of Conscience or Sin to God and he who will not pass this Act as I do is no true Subject to his Highness XIII That the King and his Heirs and Successors for ever shall have the twentieth part of the yearly Profits Revenues Rents Farms Titles Offerings and Emoluments Spiritual and Temporal belonging to any Archbishoprick Bishoprick Abbacy Monastery Priory Arch-Deaconry Deanry Hospital Comandry College House Collegiate Prebend Cathedral-Church Collegiate Church Conventual Church Parsonage Vicarage Chantry or Free Chappel or other Promotion Spiritual whatsoever And the King was so well pleased with this Act Lib. H. that he sent a particular Letter of Thanks to the Lords Spiritual for granting him the twentieth part of their Livings yearly for ever XIV That no Subject shall be shaved above his Ears or wear Glibbs or Crom-meals i.e. Hair on the upper Lip or Linnen died in Saffron or above seven yards of Linnen in their Shifts and that no Woman wear any Kirtle or Coat tucked up or embroydered or garnished with Silk or couched ne laid with Usker after the Irish Fashion and that no Person wear Mantles Coats or Hoods after the Irish Fashion except Women Horse-boys Cow-boys and Soldiers at the rising out and Hostings all which may wear Mantles And that every body shall endeavour to learn the English Language and conform to the English Fashion c. XV. And that Benefices shall not be given to any that cannot speak English unless after four Proclamations in the next Market-Town to the Benefice on four several Market-Days a Person that can speak English cannot be got and that then an honest able Irishman may be admitted on his Oath that he shall do his utmost endeavour to learn the English Language and observe the English Order and Fashion and teach those under him to do the like and shall keep an English School in his Parish to that purpose c. XVI An Act for the Suppression of Abbies XVII An Act against transporting of Wool and Flocks XVIII An Act about the Proof of Testaments XIX The Act of Faculties prohibiting the Subjects from paying any Pensions Cences Portions Peter-pence or any other Impositions to the use of the Pope and extinguishing and suppressing them for ever and authorizing Commissioners appointed by the King to grant Faculties and Dispensations as the Archbishop of Canterbury may do in England by vertue of the Act of Faculties there which is made of Force in Ireland XX. That Poyning's Act be suspended pro hac vice XXI An Act for Limitation of Actions on Penal Statutes viz. That Actions in the King's Name be commenced within three years after the Offence and Actions Popular within one year XXII An Act for prostrating the Wares on the River Barrow c. XXIII An Act for uniting and annexing the Parsonages and Vicarages of Dungarvan c. to the Crown XXIV That no body presume to leaze Corn whilst there be any Stacks or Reeks of Corn in the Field And that every man that cannot keep his Child at School do at ten years of Age put him to Handicraft or Husbandry XXV That the Leases made or to be made by the King's Commissioners viz. Saintleger Pawlet c. shall be good and valid any defect of Inquisition or Office c. notwithstanding Lastly An Act for the first Fruits of the great Abbies and Monasteries c. which were not vested in the King by the above Act ch 16. But this Statute is become useless by a subsequent Act that gives all the Abbies c. to the King And these are all the Acts of this Parliament to be found in the printed Statute-Book which I do not pretend to have critically or exactly abridged because I think it necessary for every man that will be nicely instructed in any Statute-Law to read the Statute at large and not to trust to an Abridgment but I have endeavoured to give such an Historical Account of these Acts as may illustrate this Collection and give the Reader some Light into the Affairs of those times Nor must it be forgotten that many of these Statutes are made in the later Sessions of this Parliament Anno 1537. And besides these Printed Acts there was another Law made at this Parliament against Fosterings and Marriage with the Irish and it was thereby made Treason to marry with the Child of any Man who had not swore allegiance and entred into Recognizance to observe it but this severe Law was repeal'd 11 Jac. 1. cap. 5. But whilst the Nobility and Gentry were at the Parliament O Connor made use of the opportunity as he used to do and invaded the Pale his Fury lighted most on the Barony of Carbry in the County of Kildare which he preyed and burnt and to revenge it the Lord Trimletstown and the Vice-Treasurer Brabazon with such men as they could on the sudden get together made an Incursion into Offaly and in like manner wasted and destroyed that Country which obliged O Connor to return home as fast as he could Sir William Brereton was likewise sent to the Confines of Vlster to parly with O Neal who complained That the League made between the Lord Deputy Skeffington and him was not duly observed on the English side so after some Expostulations upon that Point the same Agreement was renewed and confirmed And about the same time the King to reward the City of Waterford for its Loyalty and firm adhesion to the Crown sent to that City a gilt Sword and a Cap of Maintainance But John Earl of Desmond being dead the new Earl James who was a very active or rather a turbulent man began new Disturbances in Munster but he was timely opposed by the Lord Butler who wasted his Lands in the County of Limerick and repair'd and Garrison'd the Castle of Loghguir and it seems that the Lord Deputy came to Kilkenny the twenty fourth of July and having adjourned the Parliament Lib. D. as aforesaid he came to Loghguir the last of July and the next day he went to Carrigonel and took it the second of August and they say for some private Advantage redelivered it to the former Owner on the sixth of August they marched to Bryans-bridge and took the Castles and broke the Bridge but by the improvidence of
the Ordinances already mentioned The Seventh Article is That if any of their Followers break the Peace they will prosecute and pursue him till he make amends And the Eighth is That they will not exact any Black Rents for the future from the Inhabitants of Cork Youghal or Kingsale And it seems that about this time Commissioners were appointed in every Province to decide the Controversies instead of Brehons viz. in Connaught the Bishops of Tuam and Clonfert and the Captains Wakely and Ovington in Munster the Bishops of Cork and Waterford and the Mayors of Cork and Youghal and in Vlster the Archbishop of Armagh and Lord of Louth And it is to be noted Davis 215. That these Submissions were so universally made all over the Kingdom that there was not a Lord or Chieftain of any note in Ireland but submitted in this or the like Form for they made no scruple to renounce the Pope when once they had resolved to obey the King And by these Means the Kingdom was so quiet and there was so great a Prospect of a Settlement that several of the Principal Lords of the Irish took Patents for their Estates and desired Titles of Honour according to the Law of England which hitherto they had despised But alass Ireland is an unfortunate Country that cannot be happy any considerable time and notwithstanding these dawnings of Felicity it must expect nothing but War and Desolation and this fourth general Submission of the Irish will be as vain and ineffectual as the other three and will manifest to the World That that Kingdom is not to be governed by Kindness but by Force But let us not anticipate our Misery by dreadful Prognostications of War but rather enquire into the management of Affairs during the short interval of Peace And first we shall find the great O Neal in September sailing toward England accompanied with the Bishop of Clogher and attended with many Gentlemen his Followers He came to the King at Greenwich where he was well received and having surrendred his Estate to the King and covenanted 1. To renounce the Name of O Neal. 2. That he he and his Followers should use English Habit Language and Manners 3. That their Children should learn English 4. That they should build Houses and husband their Land in English manner 5. That they should obey English Laws and not Cess their Tenants nor keep more Gallowglasses than the Lord Deputy allows And 6. That they should answer all general Hostings as those of the Pale do and shall not succour any of the King's Enemies On the first of October his Estate was regranted to him by Patent and he was created Earl of Tyrone for Life with remainder to his Son Matthew who for the present was made Baron of Dunganon in Tayl and two of his Followers Denis and Art Mac Genis were knighted and the Bishop of Clogher was confirmed and the Earl after his return was on the seventh Day of May sworn one of the Privy Council of Ireland In like manner the Earl of Desmond pursuant to his Promise repaired into England where he was graciously received and having made his Submission he returned with Orders likewise to be of the Privy Council In the mean time the Lord Deputy on the twenty fourth Day of May made an Order of Agreement between the Macgenis's and did the like between the O Carols on the second of July And on the fourth of July the O Birnes did submit by Indenture and granted the Town and Castle of Wicklow to the King and also surrendred to his Majesty the Castle of Mac Eningham and all spiritual Livings in their Possession Lib. D. They also covenanted to find one hundred and twenty Gallowglasses and their Servants for three Months when the Counties of Carlow and Kildare do so and twelve Horse and twenty four Foot at every Hosting and to raise their whole Force and keep them three days on any emergency And it is allowed by the Deputy that O Birn shall have twenty four Kerns called Kerne Tee for this year at the Charge of the Country as is usual wherewith he promises to aid the Sheriff and if O Birn misbehave himself the Lord Deputy may give the Kerns next year to whom he pleases And 't is agreed That no body shall keep Idlers but in his own House and concludes Quod si posthac ad morem Hibernicorum resilierit vel cum Hibernicis aliis susurraverit confederaverit vel consentierit impedire vel obstare Reformationi Hiberniae quam Dominus Rex intendit that then they will forfeit all And it seems that at the same time they proposed to have their Country made a County Davis 104. by the Name of the County of Wicklow and that in consideration thereof they would divide it into eight Plow-Lands and pay ten Groats per annum for ever to the King out of each Plow-Land On the 19th of November Thomas Butler was made Baron of Cahir and in the beginning of the next year Maurice O Bryan 1534. and Vlick Burk induced by the Example and Success of the Earl of Tyrone went to wait upon the King in England and having made their Submissions and surrendred their Estates O Brian obtained a Grant of all his Lands in Thomond and all the Abbies and Patronage of Benefices in the King's Gift within his Precincts to him and his Heirs Males and he was made Baron of Insiquine to him and his Heirs and Created Earl of Thomond for Life with a remainder to Donough O Bryan and his Heirs for ever who for the present was made Baron of Ibracane but whether this Donough were Nephew or Natural Son of the Earl's is not very plain This Lord of Ibrahcan had also an Annuity of twenty Pounds per annum granted to him in Tail and the Abby of Insula Canonicorum and half the Abby of Clare and the King bore the Earl of Thomond's Charges and gave him an Order to be of the Privy Council As for Vlick Burk he had likewise his Charges born and was Created Earl of Clanrickard and his Estate was regranted to him and the Abbies and Patronage of all Benefices within his Precincts The Cocquets of Galway were excepted in the Patent but in lieu of them the Earl had a Pension of thirty Pound per annum and the third part of the First-Fruits and the Abby of Via Nova or Confert And about the same time the Lord of Upper Ossory obtain'd a Grant for Fairs and Markets and the House of the Friars at Haghevo and the Monastery of Hackmacart and to each of these four Noblemen Davis 219. viz. the Earls of Desmond Tyrone Thomond and Clanrickard the King gave a House and a Parcel of Land near Dublin to encourage them to make their Appearance frequently at Court And it is to be noted Council Book of Ireland fol. 73. That many times the chief Governors of Ireland instead of Risings out and
within his Dominions for his faithful Subjects to increase their Knowledge of God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ We therefore for the general Benefit of our well beloved Subjects Vnderstandings whenever assembled or met together in the said several Parish-Churches either to Pray or hear Prayers read that they may the better joyn therein in Vnity Hearts and Voice have caused the Liturgy and Prayers of the Church to be Translated into our Mother-Tongue of this Realm of England according to the Assembly of Divines lately met within the same for that purpose We therefore Will and Command as also Authorize you Sir Anthony Saint-Leger Knight our Vice-Roy of that our Kingdom of Ireland to give special Notice to all our Clergy as well Arch-Bishops Bishops Deans Arch-Deacons as others our Secular Parish-Priests within that our said Kingdom of Ireland to perfect execute and obey this our Royal Will and Pleasure accordingly But before Proclamations were issued out Sir Anthony Saint-Leger upon receipt of this Order call'd an Assembly of the Archbishops and Bishops together with the then Clergy of Ireland in which Assembly he signified to them as well his Majesties Order aforesaid as also the Opinions of those Bishops and Clergy of England who had adhered unto the Order saying That it was his Majesties Will and Pleasure consenting unto their serious Considerations and Opinions then acted and agreed on in England as to Ecclesiastical Matters that the same be in Ireland so likewise celebrated and performed Sir Anthony Saint-Leger having spoken to this effect George Dowdal who succeeded George Cromer in the Primacy of Armagh stood up and through his Romish Zeal to the Pope laboured with all his power and force to oppose the Liturgy of the Church that it might not be read or sung in the Church saying Then shall every illiterate Fellow read Service or Mass as he in those Days termed the Word Service To this Saying of the Archbishop's Sir Anthony replied No your Grace is mistaken for we have too many illiterate Priests amongst us already who neither can pronounce the Latin nor know what it means no more than the Common People that hear them but when the People hear the Liturgy in English they and the Priest will then understand what they pray for Upon this Reply George Dowdal bid Sir Anthony beware of the Clergy's Curse Sir Anthony made Answer I fear no strange Curse so long as I have the Blessing of that Church which I believe to be the true one The Archbishop again said Can there be a truer Church than the Church of St. Peter the Mother Church of Rome Sir Anthony return'd this Answer I thought we had all been of the Church of Christ for he calls all true Believers in him his Church and himself the Head thereof The Archbishop replied And is not St. Peter's Church the Church of Christ Sir Anthony return'd this Answer St. Peter was a Memher of Christ's Church but the Church was not St. Peter's neither was St. Peter but Christ the Head thereof Then George Dowdal the Primate of Armagh rose up and several of the Suffragan Bishops under his Jurisdiction saving only Edward Staples then Bishop of Meath who tarried with the rest of the Clergy then assembled on the Kalends of March 1550. Sir Anthony then took up the Order and held it forth to George Brown Archbishop of Dublin who standing up received it saying This Order good Brethren is from our Gracious King and from the rest of our Brethren the Fathers and Clergy of England who have consulted herein and compared the Holy Scriptures with what they have done unto whom I submit as Jesus did to Caesar in all things just and lawful making no question why or wherefore as we own him our true and lawful King And it seems that on Easter-Sunday the Liturgy in the English Tongue was read in Christ-Curch according to the King's Order and the Archbishop Brown Preached an excellent Sermon on these Words Open mine Eyes that I may see the Wonders of thy Law Psal 119. ver 18. But whether the Lord Deputy were not zealous in propagating the Reformation or what other Differences there were between him and the Archbishop I cannot find but it is certain the Archbishop sent Complaints against him into England Ware 190. and thereupon he was recalled and Sir James Crofts was made Lord Deputy by Patent 1551. Dated the twenty ninth day of April and the Instructions to him and the Council were 1. To propagate the Worship of God in the English Tongue and the Service to be translated into Irish to those places which need it 2. To prevent the Sale of Bells Church-Goods Chantry-Lands c. and to Inventory them 3. To execute the Laws justly collect the Revenue carefully and muster the Army honestly 4. To get the Ports into the King's possession that his Customs may be duly answered 5. To search for a Mine of Allum 6. To Lett the King's Lands especially Leix and Offaly for one and twenty years to such as will live upon them 7. To enquire into the Conveniency of Building Ships in Ireland 8. To endeavour to perswade the Nobility to exchange some Irish Land for the like value in England 9. That the Soldier be not sued except before the Deputy or Marshal but if Justice be not done in three Months then to remit them to the Common Law 10. To allow Trade to all Foreigners though Enemies 11. Above all to reduce the Birns and Tools and their Country When the Lord Deputy Landed he was informed That his Predecessor Saint-Leger was gone to Munster and thereupon he rode directly to Cork and on the twenty third of May he was sworn and received the Sword there and one of the Cavenaghs or Mac Moroughs for some Crime was there hanged The Lord Deputy who was a zealous Protestant endeavoured all he could to perswade the Primate Dowdal to observe the King's Order about the Liturgy but he continued obstinate and therefore the King and Council of England on the twentieth day of October deprived him of the Title of Primate of all Ireland and annexed it to the See of Dublin for ever whereupon Dowdal withdrew beyond the Seas and Hugh Goodacre was made Archbishop of Armagh in his room being together with John Bale Bishop of Ossory consecrated in Christ-Church Dublin by the Archbishop of Dublin and the Bishops of Kildare and Down on the second day of February 1552. About which time the English Liturgy with Orders and Rules for Ecclesiastical Habits and Ceremonies was reprinted at Dublin by Humyhry Powel But it is time to return to the Army which under the Command of the Lord Deputy marched into Vlster against the Scotch Islanders the English invaded the Isle of Raghlin but were forced to retreat with the Loss of one Ship and several Men Captain Bagnal also was taken Prisoner but he was afterwards exchanged for Surly buy Mac Donald who was then Prisoner at Dublin in
is made in England and so the English Statute of 35 Hen. 8. was in effect a Repeal of the Irish Statute of 28 Hen. 8. cap. 2. as it was actually a Repeal of the English Statute of the same tenor and effect But to proceed Sir Thomas Cusak Lord Chancellor and Girald Aylmer Lord Chief Justice continued Lords Justices and to them the Council of England on the twentieth Day of July sent an account of the Succession of Queen Mary together with a Proclamation wherein she was stiled Supreme Head of the Church 1553. which was read in Dublin and other Cities and Towns of Ireland as is usual and Orders were soon after sent to continue all Officers in their Places and another Proclamation To give Liberty of the Mass to all that would was likewise sent over and afterwards the Queen was crowned by Gardiner Bishop of Winchester Ware 204. on the first day of October and she gave a General Pardon to both her Kingdoms of England and Ireland In the mean time O Connor and his Complices were busie about the Invasion of Offaly but by the Prudence of the Lords Justices they were easily suppressed September Nor had O Neal better Success in the County of Lowth for though he did abundance of Mischief there yet the Lords Justices with the Militia of Dublin and such others as they could on a suddain scrape together gave him a great Defeat near Dundalk where he lost many of his Men. And on the eleventh of November Sir Anthony Saintleger Lord Deputy arrived at Dalkye and on the nineteenth he took the usual Oath and received the Sword in Christ Church Dublin and the Lord Chancellor Cusack's Patent was also renewed Cormack Mac Coghlan with the Aid of the Baron of Delvin made War against Mac Coghlan and invaded his Territory and though little more was done at first than the burning of some few Villages yet this was the beginning of a Contest so fierce and so tedious that at length the Territory of Delvin was entirely ruined Owen Macgenis was by the Lord Deputy admitted to be Chief of his Sept and Captain of his Country on the sixth of December upon his Oath of Fidelity to the Queen and her Successors and upon these Conditions following viz. 1. That he should not admit any Provisions from Rome Lib. D. but oppose them all he could 2. To serve the Queen with all his Power when Occasion required 3. To maintain twenty four Horse and sixty Foot and a Company integr prelium of Gallowglasses at every Northern Expedition of the Deputy for three Days going and three Days returning at his own Charge 4. To have no Correspondence with the Scots 5. To give the Wife and Daughter of Donel Macgenis their due 6. That he should not oppress the Queen's Subjects but assist them and the Queen would assist him against any of his Followers that should rebel 7. That he should pay one hundred Cows but this last was remitted him by the Deputy George Dowdal Archbishop of Armagh who fled beyond Seas in the Reign of King Edward was now recalled and restored to the Title of Primate of all Ireland and had the Priory of Athird given him for Life He held a Provincial Synod at Tredagh where they made some Progress towards restoring Popery 1554. and depriving the married Clergy but in April it went farther and the Primate and Dr. Walsh elect Bishop of Meath received a Commission to deprive them and accordingly Staples Bishop of Meath was for that reason deprived on the twenty ninth Day of June and in the latter end of the same Year the like was done to Brown Archbishop of Dublin Lancaster Bishop of Kildare and Traverse Bishop of Leighlin and the two other Protestant Bishops viz. Bale Bishop of Ossory and Casy Bishop of Limerick fled beyond the Seas In the room of these Protestant Bishops Popish Prelates were substituted Doctor Walsh was made Bishop of Meath and afterwards died in Exile in Queen Elizabeth's Reign Hugh Curvin succeeded in the See of Dublin as Thomas Levereuse did in that of Kildare Thomas O Fihely was by the Pope made Bishop of Leighlin Hugh Lacy was constituted Bishop of Limerick and John Thonory got the Bishoprick of Ossory but his Leases were afterwards avoided because Bale was never deprived and therefore he being alive at the time the Lease was made 2 Cro. 553. continued Bishop in Law and so Thonory had no power to dispose of any thing belonging to that See and in that case it was likewise adjudged that the King of England may nominate and appoint Bishops in Ireland without the Formality of a Conge de Eslâ—â—â— and that the Statute of 2 Elizabethae is for so much in Affirmance of the Common Law The Popish Bishops did take an Oath to the Queen in these Words Ware de Praesulibus 188. Ego A. B. Episcopus D. electus Consecratus profiteor me habere tenere ownes temporales Possessiones dicti Episcopatus de manibus vestris Successoribus vestris Angliae Regibus ut in jure Coronae Regni vestri Hiberniae vobisque Successoribus vestris Angliae Regibus fidelis ero ita me Deus adjuvet sancta Dei Evangelia But how well they kept that Oath I need not relate because it is notorious In November came over Girald Earl of Kildare who was restored the thirteenth of May before and Thomas Duff Earl of Ormond and Brian Fitz-Patrick Lord of Upper Ossory all which had behaved themselves exceeding well against Sir Thomas Wiat This Fitz-Patrick is famous for extraordinarily loving and being beloved of King Edward the Sixth and on the ninth of February Charles Mac Art Cavenagh was created Baron of Balian for Life and after his Death his Brother Dermond had the same Title The Queen ordered that the Army should be reduced to five hundred but that was not thought reasonable in Ireland However to comply as far as they could with her Majesties Orders they did reduce the Army to six hundred Foot and four hundred and sixty Horse and a few Kerns but were forced in a short time afterward to raise more and to send for fresh Supplies out of England In the mean time Lib. D. Daniel O Bryan claiming by Tanistry had great Contests with the Earl of Thomond about that Estate he had before this murdered the Earl's Father and though for the present they were reconciled by the Mediation of the Lord Deputy and Council about Michaelmas yet it was not long before their Dissentions broke out again But the Irish Historian Mr. Sullevan gives a very different Account of this Matter and tells us That the Lord President Fitton got Daniel O Bryan into Limerick upon his Oath that he would give him free and safe egress out of the Gates but the Sophistical Englishman turn'd him out of the wrong Gate so that there was the River of Shenin between him and his Army which was
Kerry to the Sheriff and the Lord of Lixnaw with the Lord President of Munster he returned to Dublin the 9th of August 1584. In his way he took Pledges from Pheagh Mac Hugh and appointed Sir Henry Harrington to take the like from O Birne O Toole and the Septs of O More and O Connor and committed the Kings County to the care of Sir George Bourcher and of the Queens County to Sir Warham Saint Leger he also appointed Commissioners to take Hostages of the Cavenaghs and when he came to Dublin he decided a Controversy between Philip and Sir John O Reyley to both their Satisfaction About this time the Lord Deputy published Orders to be observed by Justices of the Peace one whereof was lodged with every Custos Rotulor Lib. C. the most material of them were to keep Sessions Quarterly to enquire into Penalties of Statutes forfeited Recognizances Contempts Breach of Peace winking at Malefactors Confederacies and Parlies with Tâ—â—ytors or notorious known Theives that all Men and Women from Sixteen to Seventy be Booked and Sworn to Allegiance else committed to Goal to have General Musters every year and see the People are Armed according to Law to have Buts and common Pounds to make two High-Constables Substantial Gentlemen in every Barony and printed Books of their Duty to be sent them and also two petty Constables in each Barony to send to Goal all Spies Carrows Bards and Idlers c. To appoint two Searchers for every Parish to Search the Houses and Persons not Gentlemen for Beef Pork or Mutton and if any such be found and no notice was given to the Searcher of the Killing thereof the Party shall be punished by Fine and to cause all Cattle to be marked with Pitch or Ear-mark on pain of Forfeiture On the 25th of August The Deputy with One thousand Foot some Kearns and the Risings out of the Pale and some Lords of Munster and well accompanied with Officers and Persons of Quality set out from Dublin and came the 29th to Newry where Turlogh Lynogh submitted and put in Pledges as did also soon after Macgenis Mac Mahon Turlogh Brasilogh and others The Lord Deputy having thus secured the Country ordered some Ships to Loghfoyle to attack the Scots that way which they got notice of and immediately retired and went off to Scotland almost in sight of the English Ships and their escape was imputed to the negligence of the Sea-Commanders However the Deputy proceeded to the Ban himself Ormond and the Nobility kept Clandeboy side and General Norris and the Baron Dungannon kept Tyrone side The Deputy spoiled Brian Carrows Country and forced him and Surleboy to fly to Glancomkeane with their Creights and Cows Norris took a prey of 200 Cows from Ochane which gave great relief to the Army but 100 of his stragling Boys and Servants were cut off by Brian Carrows men and some that came to their Rescue were wounded and soon after Mr. Thomas Norris was wounded in the Knee with an Arrow and Oliver Lambert was taken Prisoner in Ochanes Country nevertheless the Rebels fled from the English and were worsted in most encounters so that Captain Meriman brought a good Prey from their fastness and Norris scour'd Glancomkene-wood preyed Brian Carrows Country and slew them that were put to defend it Hereupon Ochane submitted and put in Hostages and was the first Rebel in Arms that was pardoned since the Deputy came over then went the Deputy to besiege Dunluce and sent Artillery by Sea to Skerries portrush and thence by men it was drawn two miles it soon brought the Ward to parley and to surrender this impregnable place and the fame of this Exploit made the Warders desert Donfert and these losses forced Surleboy to submit and put in Hostages and to beg Pardon which was granted him Whilst the Deputy abode in Vlster O Donell and O Toole submitted themselves unto him and there happening some Controversies between Turlogh Lynogh and others of the O-Neals he caus'd them to implead one another by Bill and Answer that so those Contests might be regularly decided he also gave them an Oath of Allegiance and drew the Grandees of Vlster to a Composition for the maintenance of 1100 Soldiers at their own charge the Queen allowing every 100 men 250 Pounds Lib. M. per annum also they agreed to surrender their Estates and take new Patents and in like manner the Lady Camphell and Donell Gorme made their Submismissions at the Camp near Dunluce on the 18th of September and obtain'd a Grant of that part of the Glinns formerly Massets paying 50 Bieves yearly and supplying 80 Soldiers to serve the Crown when required And so the Deputy left 200 Foot and 50 Horse at Colrain and came to Newry on the 28th of September to which place Turlogh Lynogh brought Henry Son of Shan O Neal and delivered him prisoner to his Lordship Con mac Neal Oge was forc'd to content himself with the upper Clandeboy and the Lieutenancy or Government of Vlster was divided between Turlogh Lynogh the Baron of Dungannon and Sir Henry Bagnall and this great Service being thus effected the Deputy return'd to Dublin the 11 of October Hence the Deputy gave an account to the Lords of the Council in England of his great Success and proposed that for 50000 per annum added to the Revenue for three years he would wall seaven Towns Athloan Dingle Colrain Liffer Sligo Newry and Mayo and build seaven Castles at Black-water and Ballishannon Bellick Broad-water in Munster Castlemartine in the Routs Galin in the Queens County and Kilcomane and erect seaven Bridges at Colrain Liffer Ballishannon Dundalk Fermoy Veale near Slevelogher and Kells in Clande-boy and with the help of the Vlster Composition he would likewise maintain 2000 Foot and 400 Horse during that time he desired 600 Soldiers and a Chief Justice might be sent over that Tamistry might be abolished and the Irish Lands pass'd in Patent to the Proprietors on English Tenures to all which he received a smooth but dilatory Answer and therefore wrote again to the Parliament of England the 17 of January 1584. to the same effect and with like success Nevertheless this active Governour proceeded to doe what he could to repair the broken and miserable Estate of Ireland he encouraged the Bishops to the Repair of Churches and wrote to England that no more Bishopricks might be granted in Comendam and he also divided Vlster into Counties and placed Sheriffs Justices of Peace Constables and other Officers in them And then he summoned a Parliament to meet the 26th of April 1585. at Dublin and caused the Irish to conform to the English Habit to which they have a great aversion because they esteem it a mark of Subjection The Irish Lords were obliged to wear Robes and the better to induce them to it the Deputie bestowed Robes on Turlogh Lynogh and other principal men of the Irish which they embraced like fetters so that one of
he was one of the forwardest in disturbing the Lord Deputy with importunate and impertinent Petitions and refused to carry the Sword before him to Church he had formerly mis-behaved himself before the Lord Duputy at the time of the Gun-powder-Treason and he quarrelled with the Lord Barry in the Deputies Presence and the Lord Roch Delvin Trimletsowne and Slane were not less troublesome Sir Walter Butler Girald Nugent Sir Thomas Burk John Moore Richard Wadding and Boetius Clancy had their share in these Seditions and Thomas Lutterell had the Confidence to make Comparisons with the Earl of Thomond even in the Lord Deputies Presence But it will be pertinent to our Design O Sullivan 237. and not unpleasant to the Reader to hear O Sullivan give an Account of this Parliament which he says was observable for the Cruelty of the Protestants and the Civil resistance of the Catholicks And first he tells you That when the Senate meddles with Religion it becomes a wicked Conventicle rather then a Parliament that the Old Irish Grandees had Hereditary Voices in Parliament long before the English Conquest but are now denied them unless they have English Titles which alone makes the English Parliament in Ireland void since the principal Members are excluded The Catholick Bishops are serv'd in the same manner and the Heretical Usurpers of their Sees and Titles vote in Parliament in their stead The Protestants thought the Advancement of those Laws which they had made against Christ in England to be the readiest way of suppressing the Catholick Religion in Ireland if they could get them Enacted here but knowing the Catholicks would be most numerous in Parliament they us'd all imaginable Artifices of force and fraud to get Protestants unduly return'd they Elected their new Colonies into Burroughs and Counties to encrease the number of Heretical Parliament men they made small Villages into Corporations and made Porters Barbers and Strangers Burgesses for those Corporations and caused four Ministers to represent the Clergy of every Diocess nevertheless many Irish Gentry were chosen whom the People Men Women and Children desir'd to take Care of Religion assuring them That all should be void that should be Enacted against the Catholick Faith and when the day came most of the Irish Gentry thô not Parliament men came to Dublin that they might be ready there upon the place where their highest Concern viz. Religion was to be debated least perhaps any thing should happen contrary to Expectation The Catholicks were troubled because they could not find out what was to to be treated of in Parliament till at length they got sight of a Bill to expel the Catholick Clergy and the Titles of eleven Bills more viz. 1. For the building a convenient Prison for Noble Men in the Castle of Dublin 2. For disarming Idlers 3. About O Murroughs Lands 4. Against Marriage between Irish and Scots I suppose says he for fear they should joyn against the English 5. For banishing Hamilton and Wart if they refuse the Oath of Supremacy 6. That the Sallaries be continued to the new Pensioners tho' they refuse the Oath 7. For the distribution of the Money forfeited by Recusants 8. That the Children of Noble Men be sent into England 9. That stubborn Corporations shall loose their Franchises 10. The Recusants shall pay two Shillings a Sunday 11. For the more Cautious issuing of Excommunications for before that Sullivan 241. English would kill an Excommunicated Catholick says he But the Cathalicks resolving to resist even to Death thought of two ways First To hinder the meeting of the Parliament if possible and Secondly If it met not to receive or admit of the Heretick Parliament men because not Inhabitants in the Towns that chose them And with this Design they went to Dublin where all the Catholick Clergy also went to encourage the Gentry in this Holy Resolution On 18th May 1619. Caecos diaboli ministros The Parliament met at the Castle of Dublin and first the Lord Botevant carried the Sword before the Deputy to Church to hear the blind Ministers of the Devil and that being over when they came to the Castle the Guard disarmed the Nobility and Gentry as they entered but some resisted and did not part with their Arms and others that did â—ad other Arms secretly about them No sooner they State but the Soldiers were drawn into a Body in the Yard to terrifie the Catholick Members who in the upper House were less in number then the Protestants however resolv'd rather to dye which they expected then to forsake the Catholick Religion but if they had died for it The Gentlemen and Citizens then in Dublin assembled from all parts of the Kingdom had certainly reveng'd their Deaths and now the Eyes even of the English Irish were open and they cursing their former Folly in helping the Heretick would have repair'd it by a hearly Conjunction with the Old Irish now 〈◊〉 And afterwards he says That when the Papists refus'd to sit in the Parliament the Deputy did not dare to proceed without them not did he dare to force them because the Papists had many Friends in Town ready armed and the Deputy feared a General defection if he had proceeded my farther and then he says the SOUNDER part of the Clergy always oppos'd the Attaindâ—re of O Neal O Donell c. And the Archbishop of Tuam wrote a notable Letter against it but the worser part of the Clergy he means those of English Extraction perswaded the Popish Members to Consent to that Act but it is time to leave this whilsting Fellow and return to the true History of this Affair The Lord Deputy having Notice that several Papists that were not duly chosen Lib. C. nor return'd Members of Parliament did nevertheless intend to intrude into the House did on the 17th day of May being the last day of the Term cause Proclamation to be made in the four Courts that all those who knew themselves to be duly Elected Parliament then should attend the Lord Deputy and Council at Three a Clock that Afternoon at the Castle and accordingly most of them came Whereupon the Lord Deputy and Council sitting in the open Court of the Castle caused the Chancery Clerk of the Crown to call over the Names of those that were returned to serve in the approaching Parliament and that being done they caused Proclamation to be made that no Body should presume to come into the Parliament House but such as were return'd as aforesaid And 〈◊〉 on the next day 1613. being the 18th day of May the Parliament met and the Lords House was supplyed by the Earls of Kildare Ormond Thomâ—â—â— and Clanrickâ—â—dâ— and Viscounts of Buttevant Formâ—â— Gormanstoâ—â—â—â— Mountgarrets and Tullagh and the Barons of Athenry Kingsale Kerry Slane Killeen Delvin Dunboyn Houth Triâ—â—etsowne Poer Cahir Dunsany Louth Uppâ—r Ossery Castle Connel and 〈◊〉 Besides Twenty five of Protestantâ— Archbishops and Bishops that were present and the
for Sir William Saintleger to be Lord President of Munster And on the Fifteenth of March he ordered the Vice-Treasurer to pay what the Lord Deputy and Eight Privy-Counsellors should think fit for the Charges of the Lord Deputy's Progress On the Ninth of May 1627. upon Complaint of the Lord Courcy That Sir Dominick Sarsfeild had obtained the Title of Viscount Kinsale it was referred to the Lord president of the Council the Steward of the Houshold Earl of Totness Viscount Grandison and Chancellor of the Dutchy who report That the Lord Courcy and his Ancestors were Lords Courcy and Barons of Kinsale and Ringrone And thereupon the Defendant endeavor'd to carry the Barony to another Line and also alledged an Attainder but made out neither and then he propos'd That both Titles were consistent one to be Baron and the other to be Viscount of Kinsale But that being not thought convenient his Majesty orders That Sir Dominick quit the Title of Kinsale but retain the Name and Precedency of Viscount Sarsfeild and chuse some other Place to denominate his Honour and afterwards he did so and was created Viscount Killmallock And on the 24th of July the King orders That Nathaniel Catlin his second Serjeant at Law should have Precedence of the Attorney-General and Sollicitor-General and in February following his Majesty likewise gave Orders to make a new Examinator for the Court of Chancery there being but one Examinator in that Court before that time But in order to make the Papists the more willing to bear the great Charge of the Army and to consent to a constant Tax for its Support certain Propositions were set on foot in their favour viz. to suspend all Proceedings against them for Marriages and Christnings by Priests and to give them liberty of Suing out Liveries and Ouster le mains without taking the Oath of Supremacy with design to introduce a more Publick Toleration of Religion for which a good Sum of Money should be paid to his Majesty to maintain the Army to which end a Great Assembly of the Nation was Convok'd by the Lord Deputy But the Protestant Archbishops and Bishops abhorring this gross and scandalous Proposal did on the 26th day of November 1626. at the Lord Primate's House unanimously vote and subscribe the following Protestation viz. The Judgment of divers of the Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland Life of Archb. concerning Toleration of Religion Vsher 28. THe Religion of the Papists is Superstitious and Idolatrous their Faith and Doctrine Erroneous and Heretical their Church in respect of both Apostatical To give them therefore a Toleration or to consent that they may freely exercise their Religion and profess their Faith and Doctrine is a grievous Sin and that in two Respects For First It is to make our selves accessory not only to their Superstitions Idolatries and Heresies and in a word to all the Abominations of Popery but also which is a Consequent of the former to the Perdition of the seduced People which perish in the Deluge of the Catholick Apostacy Secondly To grant them a Toleration in respect of any Money to be given or Contribution to be made by them is to set Religion to sale and with it the Souls of the People whom Christ our Saviour hath redeemed with his most precious Blood And as it is a great Sin so it is also a Matter of most dangerous consequence the Consideration whereof we commit to the Wise and Judicious beseeching the God of Truth to make them who are in Authority zealous of God's Glory and of the Advancement of True Religion zealous resolute and couragious against all Popery Superstition and Idolatry Amen Ja. Armachanus Mal. Casellen Anth. Medensis Tho. Ferns Leghlin Ro. Dunensis Georg. Derensis Richard Cork c. Andr. Alachadens Tho. Kilmore Ardagh Theo. Dromore Mic. Waterford Lismore Fra. Limerick This zealous Protestation of the Bishops against Popery which Downham Bishop of Derry read to the State in the midst of his Sermon at Christchurch on the 23th day of April 1627. drew on a Remonstrance from the House of Commons in England to his Majesty to this effect That the Popish Religion was publickly profest in every Part of Ireland and that Monasteries and Nunneries were thsre newly erected and replenished with Votaries of both Sexes which would be of evil Consequence unless seasonably repress'd These two extraordinary Actions put a stop to any farther Endeavors for the publick Exercise of Popery at that time Nevertheless because the Irish Agents in England did consent to the payment of 120000 l. in three Year it was thought reasonable that the King should signifie his Gracious Acceptance thereof by conferring some extraordinary Favours on the Agents and Contributors And therefore the King did on the 24th day of May not only grant them the following Graces which were transmitted to Ireland by way of Instructions to the Lord Deputy and Council but also sent with it a Letter recommending the Lord of Killeen and the Lord Poer and the rest of the Irish Agents to the Lord Deputy's Favour desiring that he would order such Moneys to be paid them by the Country as they were promis'd for their Agency and that he should issue necessary Warrants and Directions for levying the same Instructions to be observed by Our Right Trusty and Well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor Henry Lord Viscount Falkland Our Deputy-General of Our-Realm of Ireland and by Our Council there and by the Deputy or other Chief Governor or Governors and Council there which hereafter for the time shall be and by all other Our Officers and Ministers whom it may severally or respectively concern I. AT the humble Requests presented unto Us on the behalf of Our Subjects of Ireland upon mature Consideration had thereof and by the Advice of Our Privy-Council We are graciously pleased in the first place to order and direct for the better Preservation and Ease of our said Subjects that Our Soldiers there be called in and limited to the most Serviceable Garrisons and that they be not called from thence upon any Pretence but against the Enemy or Rebel that makes Head II. For the Collection of Our Rents in case of Default That first a Summons Process shall issue Secondly That a Purâ—uivant be sent and Lastly If this be not sufficient in case the Sum be of value that then Our Vice-Treasurer by Warrant from Our Deputy and Council shall appoint a competent Number of Soldiers of the next adjoyning Garison to collect Our said Rents at the Charge of the Parties complained of having care that any Man be not burdened with a greater number of Soldiers than the Service shall necessarily require III. And when Necessity requires the Marching of Our said Soldiers against the Enemy or Rebel That the Officers imploy'd shall give Ready Money or Ticket to be defalked out of their Entertainment and duly paid into the Country upon demand without taking Money Pawns or Distresses but such Meat and
of his Lands granted to any other the Barons of the Exchequer are to discharge the same upon sight of a Certificate That the Outlawry is reverst without any further Plea paying only Five shillings Sterling for entring the Certificate and Discharge LI. No Person is to be compelled to plead to any new Charge upon the Lands in his possession unless any Inquisition or other Matter of Record besides the New Patent appear to charge the Land therewith and the New Charge to be past insuper upon the New Patentee and Process to issue against him and his Lands and not against the other But the Protestants who bore above a third part of the Publick Charge were not a little troubled that they should buy Graces and Immunition for the Irish And on the other side the Papists did not at all â—â—â—der the Protestants part of the Contribution but valued themselves as if they had paid all and ascribed the whole Merlt of that Largess to themselves and upon that and the aforesaid Condescensions made them by the King they grew so insolent and troublesom that the Lord Deputy was necessitated to mortifie them by a Proclamation against the Popish Regular Clergy which issued the First day of April Bishop Vsher's Letters 407. 1629. and imported That the late Intermission of Legal Proceedings against Popish pretended Titulaâ— Archbishops Bishops Abbats Deans Vicars-General Jesuits Friars and others of that sort that derive their pretended Authority and Orders from the See of Rome in contempt of His Majesty's Royal Power and Authority had bred such an extraordinary Insolence and Presumption in them as he was necessitated to charge and command them in His Majesty's Name to forbear the Exercise of their Popish Rites and Ceremonies Hereupon they grew uneasie and complain'd that the Tax was too heavy and at length they gain'd their Point and in stead of 10000 l. Quarterly the Government condescended to take 5000 l. per Quarter from the First of October 1629. until the rest of the aforesaid 120000 l. should be paid But the Proclamation against the Popish Regular Clergy was baffled and ridiculed every where It was read in Drogheda by a drunken Soldier in such a ridiculous manner that it seemed like a May-game and was rather Sport than Terror to the Auditors It was so despised and contemned by the Popish Clergy that they nevertheless exercised full Jurisdiction Bishop Vsher's Letters 423. even to Excommunication and they not only proceeded in Building Abbies and Monasteries but had the confidence to erect an University at Dublin in the Face of the Government which it seems thought it self limited in this Matter by Instructions from England Nor was the Beauty of the Protestant Church sullied by its avowed Enemies only Bishop Bedel's Life 44. it was more defaced by its pretended Friends and Members Things Sacred were exposed to â—ale in a most sordid and scandalous manner Parsonages and Episcopal Sees were impoverished and their Revenues were alienated and incumbred to that degree that both the Bishopricks of Kilmore and Ardagh were not sufficient to support a Bishop that would not use indirect Means to get Money and the Churches were generally out of Repair Nevertheless Complaints were made by the Irish against the Lord-Deputy for Mal-Administration of the Government and though the Earl of Strafford his Successor Rushw 160. has assured us that this Lord-Deputy proceeded as honourably justly and nobly as any Man could do and though the Council did on the 28th of April 1629. write a kind and true Letter in the Vindication of his Innocence yet he was soon after removed and ADAM LOFTUS Viscount ELY Lord Chancellor And RICHARD Earl of CORKE 1629. Lord High Treasurer were Sworn Lords Justices on the 26th day of October and were allowed by the King One hundred pounds apiece every Kalendar Month They immediately directed that the Papists should be prosecuted for not coming to Church and accordingly the Statute of 2 Eliz. was given in charge at the Assizes but by Directions from England that Prosecution was superseded Nevertheless these Lords Justices 1630. being exceeding zealous against Popery caused St. Patrick's Purgatory in a small Island called Ilan de Purgadory in Logh Dirge in the County of Donegall to be digged up and thereby discovered that notorious Cheat to the World to the great loss and disgrace of the Popish Clergy who made vast Advantages of that ridiculous Sham. But there are a restless sort of Men in the World who are not to be daunted or put out of Countenance by any mischance whatsoever and therefore notwithstanding the aforesaid disaster and although the Popish Clergy were so debauched and ignorant that the bitterest Sarcasm that ever was put upon the Protestants was by an Irish-man Bishop Bedel's Life 76. who said That the King's Priests were as bad as the Pope's Priests yet did this unquiet Generation begin to rant it again in Ireland to that degree that a Priest being seized in Dublin was rescued by the People so that by their Insolencies they put a Necessity upon the Lords Justices to humble them Whitlock's Memoirs 15. and by Direction from the Council of England to seize upon 15 of their new Religious Houses to the King 's Use and their principal House in Back-lane in Dublin was Anno 1632 disposed of to the University of Dublin who placed therein a Rector and Scholars and maintained a weekly Lecture there which the Lords Justices often countenanced with their presence but afterwards in the Lord Strafford's time the House was disposed of to the former Use and became a Mass-house again In the Year 1631 the Earl of Castlehaven was tryed 1631. condemn'd and Beheaded in England Whitlock's Memoirs 16. for strange and prodigious Crimes not fit to be particularized or related of so Ancient and Noble a Family And this Year the King taking Notice of the increase of Popery in Ireland sent a Gracious Letter of Admonition to the Bishop of Armagh Bishop Vsher's Life p. 38. to be communicated to the rest of the Bishops thereby exhorting them to the careful Exercise of their Duty and to avoid all Abuses in disposing of Benefices And in the Year 1632 the aforesaid Subsidies or extraordinary Contribution being determined the Countrey finding the necessity of paying the Army to prevent their paying themselves did consent to continue the levying of Twenty Thousand Pounds per Annum quarterly for two Years more But the Irish valuing themselves upon this Bounty and thinking the Army could not he supported without their Contribution began to be very unruly again and though the Broils they made were soon appeased yet it was thought necessary to send over the new Lord-Deputy Wentworth and accordingly Conveniencies were prepared for him both in Ireland and England For on the Tenth of April 1632. 1632. he obtain'd an Order for making a new Great Seal new Signet and new Seals for all the Courts and on
not to be named did very much scandalize the Patrons of his Preferment Nevertheless his unparallel'd Repentance and the most Pious manner of his Death hath obtain'd for himself the Pity of all good Men and undoubtedly the Mercy of God And it is observable 1637. that the Earl of Cork and this Bishop Atherton did on the 27th of June 1637. joyn in a Petit on to the Lord Deputy and Council to appoint Arbitrators to decide their Controversies and accordingly the Bishop of Derry and the Master of the Court of Wards were Assigned to that purpose and in their Adward which I have seen they recite that the Bishopricks of Waterford and Lismore by the Alienations of former Bishops were left worth but Fifty pound per Annum Revenue in Land and that the Earl had not purchased any thing immediately from the Church but from other Persons for valuable Considerations near Forty years before yet out of Love to Religion and the Professors thereof he was contented to part with some of his Right and so they Adwarded Lismore c. to the Earl and Ardmore c. to the Bishop and this Adward was afterwards confirm'd by the Lord Lieutenant and Council and after that by the King Anno 1638. 1638. Doctor Bedell Bishop of Killmore held a Synod in his Diocess which was a thing very strange and unusual in Ireland Nevertheless it made excellent Cannons or Constitutions which are to be sound in Bishop Bedell's Life pag. 237. But Matters growing high in Scotland and England the Lord Deputy went over to the King and left ROBERT Lord DILLON of KILLKENNY WEST Sir CHRISTOPHER WANDESFORD Mr. of the Rolls Lords Justices who were Sworn on the 12th of September 1639. and soon after call'd a Parliament which met on the 16th day of March but did little or nothing until THOMAS Earl of STRAFFORD returned Lord Lieutenant on the 18th of March 1639. and on the 20th the Irish Parliament met again and Granted four entire Subsidies to the King and were on the 17th day of June prorogued to the First day of October following having first made the Twelve Acts to be found at large in the Printed Statutes 15 Car. 1. The first of these four Subsidies was Assessed at 46170 l. but the Second and Third of these Subsidies being in the absence of some Protestant Members with the Army at Caricfergus upon the Motion of Nicholas Plunket Assess'd in another manner did not together amount unto more then 23768 l. 15 s. 0 d. and the Fourth Subsidy was never Taxed at all by reason of the Rebellion that ensued And it is to be Noted that the Protestants paid more than one Third of the Commons part of the Subsidies besides 26480 l. 6 s. 0 d. Granted in Fourteen Subsidies by the Protestant Clergy only and above Three fourths of the Nobilities part of these Subsidies or more for the Nine Subsidies on the Nobility came too 52850 l. 18 s. 4 d. whereof the Confederate Lords paid but 10620 l. 18 s. 4 d. and it is very remarkable that foreknowing the Rebellion as undoubtedly they did they paid not one Penny of the Second or Third Subsidies and the Commons paid so little that of the Three Subsidies on them there was in Arrear when the Rebellion broke out 23855 l. 9 s. 7 d. And yet these Gentlemen or their Advocates have bragged in some of their Libels That they gave the King near a Million of Money But to proceed The Lord Lieutenant upon the Credit of these Subsidies and the annual Revenue which now was improv'd to above 80000 l. per Annum was enabled to raise Eight thousand Foot and One thousand Horse additional to the Veteran◠〈◊〉 they cost the Kingdom in raising clothing and paying them 204057 l. and were design'd to sudue the Rebells in Scotland and awe the Mutineers in England but being mostly Papists who were thereby Train'd to the use of Arms this Army was so offensive to all moderate and thinking Protestants that it brought great dis-repute and prejudice on the Kings Affairs and in the end cost the Lord his lieutenant his Head The Lord Lieutenant was exposed to the Hatred of the Presbyterians Husbands Collections 2 part 245. for imposing a new Oath on the People hereafter mentioned which was so much abhorr'd by many that they quitted the Kingdom rather then take it and he was open also to the Jealousies of the Protestants by bringing over with him Sir Toby Mathews a Jesuited Priest and by the Correspondence that was known to be between Paul Harris another plotting Priest and Sir George Ratcliff the Lord Lieutenant's intimate Friend and by suffering Publick Mass-houses at the Naas so near his own House and by permitting Fryars to dwell in a House of his own which he had built to other Uses But notwithstanding all this it is certain he was no Friend to Popery but only temporiz'd until he should meet with a more proper Season to go through with that Work as himself expresses it About this time Archibald Adair who had been Bishop of Killalla since the Year 1630 was deprived of his Bishoprick upon this Occasion One Corbet a Clergy-man that fled from Scotland for writing a Satyrical Book against the Covenanters called Lysimachus Nicanor was sent to this Bishop for Preferment but he being a moderate Man and perhaps too indulgent to his own Nation did not approve of Corbet that had handled the Scots so severely and therefore he gave no countenance to him but on the contrary told him That it was a bad Bird that foul'd his own Nest which was the sharper because Corby in Scotch signifies a Raven And when Corbet told him That he had hardly escaped with Life but had left his Wife to try the Humanity of the Scots the Bishop replied That he had left her to a very base Office And other things he said which the Government thought too favourable to the Govenanters and tho' they would not be much considered at another time yet now was thought a sufficient Cause of Deprivation and Doctor John Maxwell was made Bishop in his room but the next Year after the Execution of Atherton Bishop of Waterford Adair was made Bishop of that See Nor should it be omitted That this Bishop Maxwell a most excellent Preacher and a hearty Royalist was nevertheless wounded stript naked and left amongst the Dead by the Irish Rebels whose Skeins never distinguished between a Prelate and a Fanatick But the Bishop was accidentally preserved by the Earl of Twomond who travelled that way towards Dublin and afterwards went to the King to Oxford and was the first Man that convinced the King of the innate Hatred the Irish Rebels bore to all those of the Protestant Religion But let us return to the Lord Lieutenant who went again to England to give the King an Account of the good Posture of Affairs in Ireland leaving in his stead Sir CHRISTOPHER WANDESFORD Master of the Rolls
was taken at such a day and hour with all the circumstances at large and Letters to that purpose dated from Drogheda by the Rebels that that besieged it That Dublin was taken and being infinitely Ambitious of gaining the Earl of Ormond to their Part for the greater countenance to their Cause giving out that he was their own which was so long believed by the said followers until that Noble Earl giving daily those Honorable Testimonies to the contrary and they finding it to their cost tho' with the hazard of his own Person further than his place might well allow they are now otherwise satisfied and place him in the rank of their mortal Enemies together with that terror to them Sir Charles Coot and others And thus have I laid down all that I have heard to me related omitting what I find others more largely to insist upon All which their Treacherous vain and Airy projects God disappoint As for my own private sufferings by the present Rebellion I refer them to another Schedule this being so far taken up Hen. Jones Deposed before us March 3d. 1641. Roger Puttock John Stern John Watson William Aldrich William Hitchcock Appendix X. An Abstract of the Examination of Doctor Robert Maxwell afterwards Bishop of Kilmore THAT he observed Sir Phelim O Neal and other Irish overjoy'd at the Scots Invasion of England and as much dejected at the Pacification calling the English base degenerate Cowards and the Scots dishonorable Bragodochios that merchandiz'd their Honor for Mony and being asked the reason of their joy at bad news and their sorrow at good answered That if the Fewd had continued they hoped the Earl of Strafford would have perished in the Combustion That the Irish had frequent meetings Two or Three thousand in a company before the Rebellion and borrowed great Sums of Mony of the English without any apparent necessity but paid little or none that one Mac Case a Priest being disoblig'd by Sir Phelim inform'd the Lord Deputy Wandesford of a Plot but either he was not believ'd or said nothing to the purpose That Phelim O Neal brought home two Hogsheads of Powder under colour of Wine a little before the Rebellion and the Powder was bought by small parcels Ten or Twelve pound at a time in the Names of several Gentlemen and he brag'd that his Servants James Warren and Paul O Neal were in the Plot and apprehended but contrary to his expectation were dismiss'd at Council Table and that some Lord or other spoke for them there That Sir Phelim O Neal said that the Plot was in his Head Five or Six years before he could bring it to maturity and dissembled himself as a Fool to bring it about but since it was concluded on by the Catholick Members of the Parliament he was one of the last it was communicated to That Tirlogh O Neal Sir Phelim's Brother said that the business was communicated by the Irish Committee to the Papists in England who promis'd their Assistance and that by their advice some things formerly resolved on were alter'd and that it was a good Omen and Sign of Divine Approbation that the major part of the Irish Committee were Papists and that whilst the Protestants retir'd to a separate meeting at Chichester-Hall the remaining Papists sign'd a Combinatory writing of this Rebellion in the Tolsel which that Session drew on sooner than was at first intended That Sir Phelim said That if the Lords and Gentlemen of the other Provinces then not in Arms would not rise but leave them in the Lurch for all he would produce their Warrant Signed with their Hands and Written in their own Blood that should bring them to the Gallows and that they Sate every day at Council Board and whispered the Lords Justices in the Ear who were as deep in that business as himself That the Earl of Antrims Sister said Her Brother had taken Dublin Castle being removed thither to that purpose and her Brother Alexander had taken Carigfergus and that all Ireland was in the same Case with Vlster That the British should be preserv'd as long as it was consistent with publick safety and when not ' t is better an Enemy perish than ones self That Alexander Hovenden half Brother to Sir Phelim told him that the Fryers of Drogheda by Father Thomas Brother to the Lord of Slane had the Second time invited Sir Phelim and offered to betray the Town to him and Sir Phelim said of the same Fryer that he said Mass at Finglass on Sunday morning and in the afternoon did beat Sir Charles Coot at Swords and the Fryar being by answered that he hoped to say Mass at Christchurch Dublin within eight Weeks That several of the Irish Officers and Fryers said Why may not we as well fight for Religion which is the Substance as the Scots fight for Ceremonies which are but Shadows and that Straffords Government was intollerable and being answered that it lay no heavier on them than on the British they replied the British were no considerable part of the Kingdom and besides they were certainly inform'd that the Parliament of England had a Plot to bring the Papists to Church or cut them off viz. in England by English and in Ireland by the Scots that they were sure of aid next Spring from the Pope France and Spain and that the Clergy of Spain had already contributed Five thousand Arms and Powder for a whole Year then in readiness That the Priests and Fryers were their best Agents especially Paul O Neal upon whose arrival with advice from Spain the War broke out and since that he had gone to Spain with Letters and return'd back again with instructions in a Month. That being asked why they pretended a Commission from the King and at other times from the Queen they answer'd That it was Lawful for them to pretend what they could in advancement of their Cause and that in all Wars Rumours and Lies served to as good purpose as Arms. That Sir Phelim at first pretended only to Liberty of Conscience but as his Success so his Demands increased viz. To have all Offices of State and Justice in Irish hands and no Army Tithes and Church-Lands be restor'd to the Papists all Plantations since 1 Jacobi Dissanul'd no payment of Debts nor restitution of Goods to the Protestants all Fortiffcations in Popish hands British to be restrain'd from coming over Poynings Act and all Statues against Papists repealed and the Irish Parliament made Independent and even all this would not reduce Sir Phelim without a grant of the Earldom of Tyrone and the Priviledges of O Neal. That Sir Phelim pretended to a Prophesie that he should drive King Charles and his whole Posterity out of England to be profugi in terta aliena in aeternum and that several great Men drank a Health on the Knee to Sir Phelim O Neal Lord General of the Catholick Army in Vlster Earl of Tyrone and King of Ireland That he was informed That
be duly examined and it will be found that their Sentence is most unjust So that as their Tribunal is usurped their Judgment is Erroneous And as to the Preamble Concerning their Motives of taking up Arms in the Year 1641 The Answer to the Preamble we shall say nothing But since they begin so high with their Narrative as the Year 1641 it will not be amiss to mind them that betwixt that and the Year 1648 there was by Authority from his Majesty and our Ministration several Cessations and at length a Peace concluded with the Confederate Roman-Catholicks in the Year 1646 which Peace was shamefully and perfidiously violated by the Instigation and Contrivâ—ment of most part of these Arch-Bishops Bishops Prelates and others of the Secular and Regular Clergy and that not in slight and strained Particulars such as We are now charged with by them but by coming with two powerful Armies before the City of Dublin upon no provocation from Us unless they esteemed the continuance of a Cessation for about three Years with them and the bringing them a Peace to their own Doors such a Provocation as deserved their bending their united Power against Us leaving other Parts that neither had nor would have Peace or Cessation with them unmolested and at liberty to waste their Quarters whilst they devoured Ours and sought our Ruin This is a particular blotting their Name and Memory with the everlasting Infamy of Perfidy Ingratitude and undeniable Disloyalty They have reason to leap over their Preamble lest they should awaken the Curses of those Multitudes of People who being seduced into so horrid a Violation of Publick Faith by their impious Allurements and hellish Excommunications are thereby become desolate Widows helpless Orphans and miserable Exiles from the Place of their Birth and Sustenance True it is that his late Majesty and his now Majesty then Prince of Wales overcoming their just Indignation with a pious compassion of their seduced People commanded Us over to treat and conclude a Peace with the Roman-Catholicks of this Kingdom In obedience whereunto and in humble imitation of their great Example forgetting the ungrateful usage We had met with We undertook the hazard of that Voyage and at length concluded the Peace in this Preamble mentioned We are unwilling to say any thing that might seem to lessen the Loyalty and Affection of the Assembly that concluded the Peace Nor is it to that End that We shall answer to those Men that though his then Majesty was in restraint and his now Majesty and his Royal Mother not in condition to send Supplies and Relief into this Kingdom yet there wanted not apparent Motives of Advantage to induce the Roman-Catholicks to consent to the Peace which was thankfully acknowledged by a more Authentick Representative of the Nation than these arch-Arch-Bishops Bishops c. and even by as many of them as really or from the Teeth outward for such we find now there were that consented to it Upon what Conditions the Confederate Roman-Catholicks could have agreed with those in this Declaration called the Parliament of England we know not nor do believe they are able to prove their Assertions if they be put to it Though if it should appear it were not to be wondred at that Usurpers and such as make almost as little Conscience of breaking Public Faith as these Declarers are more liberal in the Dispensation of their unlawful Acquirings by way of Brokeage than a just Monarch whose Purpose it is to keep as well as it is in his Power only to grant Conditions to a People in the State the said Confederates were in Next in their Preamble they say That after the concluding of the Peace the Catholick Confederates came sincerely and cheerfully under his Majesty's Authority in Us plentifully providing vast Sums of Money well nigh half a Million of English Pounds By which they seem to insinuate first That all the Roman Catholicks of Ireland came thus cheerfully under his Majesty's Authority whereas Omen O Neil with his whole Army and divers of the County of Wickloe with others were and continued in Rebellion long after the Conclusion of the Peace as is well known to many of the Declarers who were of their party as also that our first Work was to reduce places held by them lying in our way to Dublin as Mariburough-Athy c. They mention next after their providing plentifully vast Sums of Money adding also these Words viz. near half a Million of English Pounds to have it believed we were set forth with such a Sum and all the following Provisions of Corn and Ammunition though it is notoriously known that for all the half Million of English Pounds the Army we had brought together could not march from about â—loghgregan till upon our private Credit we had borrowed eight hundred English Pounds of Sir James Preston which is yet owing him and for which we have lately written to you to see him satisfied by means whereof and of a little Meal not yet paid for neither as we believe we took in Talâ—olstown Castle-Talbot and Kildare But there our Money and Meal failing us and having borrowed about one hundred Pounds from twenty several Officers to give the Souldiers Sustenance we were forced to stay on the West-side of the Liffy and thereby lost an Opportunity of engaging Jones who with a much less Force than ours was drawn forth of Dublin as far as Johnstown And in what continual Want the Army was from our setting forth even to the Defeat at Rathmines being about three Months is so notoriously known having during all that time been very meanly supplied in Money and that in small inconsiderable Sums as by the Receiver-General's Accompts may appear that if we be to be blamed it is for undertaking an Expedition so meanly provided and which we can only answer with the Necessity of attempting Dublin and those parts before they should receive Supplies out of England and upon Discovery destroy such as were faithful to his Majesty and importuned us daily to advance For Magazines of Corn Ammunition and Materials for War the Stores we found so inconsiderably furnished or rather so absolutely unfurnished that till we with the Assistance of the Commissioners procured some Supply thereof in Waterford Limerick and Kilkenny it was not possible for us either to reduce the Fort of Mariburough and Athy held by Owen O Neil's party nor to march as we did towards Dublin And for Ammunition we were forced to bargain with Patrick Archer and other Merchants for a Supply thereof engaging the King's Customs and Tenths of Prizes else that want of Ammunition had absolutely hindred our March nor is the said Archer yet satisfied for his Ammunition The Truth of this is referred to the Knowledg of many a Viz. Loghreagh there met who can witness with us herein and in many other Distresses and Difficulties we met with for want of Money which we cannot call to mind How much
during the want of Judicatures every Man's Power would have been his Judg in his own Cause What the Presidency or President have done irregularly or contrary to the Articles of Peace they shall be brought to answer when they or he shall be particularly charged That Inns of Court have not been erected according to the Articles of Peace Posterity may tell us as loud as they please but if they have Schools to learn English enough to read the Articles of Peace they will find that his Majesty was only to enable the Natives of this Kingdom to erect one or more Inns of Court in or near the City of Dublin or elsewhere as should be thought fit by his Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant or other chief Governour or Governours for the time being Whereby by the scope of the Article which is for removing of Incapacities it is plain the said Inns of Court were not to be erected at his Majesty's Charge And sure no Man will have the impudence to say that We who had the honour to govern under his Majesty did give the least interruption to the erecting of them or that it was ever proposed to Us to give way to the erection of the said Inns. Whereof We confess there was never more need if their Property be to instruct the People in their Duty of Obedience and Government with this addition That to charge Us with want of doing Justice without instancing the particular Cases wherein We failed thereby taking from Us the means to vindicate our Self from so high a Crime is suitable to the Justice and Practices of these Declarers In the Fifth Article The Answer to the 5th Article We are again charged in general with disheartning Adventurers Undertakers and Owners and no Man named but Capt. Antonio nor the particular wherein he was disheartned set down We are further charged with reversing of Judgments legally given and definitively concluded before Our coming to Authority but no particular Judgment so reversed is or indeed can be instanced So that all We can answer to this part is That it is not true And for what remains We say That We placed the Power of the Admiralty in this Kingdom according to the Assemblies Instance and from time to time gave Commissions to such Persons as the Commissioners desired in several Parts to hear and determine Maritime Causes And as to the Sixth Article The Answer to the 6th Article is the same with the Answer to the first of the Grievances We must refer you to our Answer to the First Article of the pretended Grievances which was as followeth First We deny that they if thereby be meant the Roman-Catholick Clergy were not suffered to enjoy the Churches and Church-Livings which at the time of perfecting the Articles of Peace they possessed or that by the Articles of Peace they ought to possess And as to the Instances made in the Margent the Composers of this Article do very well know that their Possession of those Churches and Church-Livings were statly denied by the Protestant-Clergy And it is very well known to the Commissioners who followed that Business with diligence and earnestness enough that We never refused nor delayed to afford them any just means of bringing that Controversy to a final End till at length by Treachery and the Rebels Power the things controverted were lost to both Parties Nor was there any Complaint made unto Us since the conclusion of the Peace till now that the Romish Prelates or Pastors or any of them have been hindred from exercising their respective Jurisdictions and Functions amongst their Flocks except one Complaint made of the Governour of Dungarvan wherein we were ready to have given Redress upon hearing all Parties as should have been found fit if the said Complaint had been prosecuted We know of no Grant made by his Majesty of any Bishoprick whatsoever since the conclusion of the Peace nor can we find any Article of the Peace that restrains his Majesty from making such Grants so the Roman-Catholick Bishops be not thereby dispossessed of what they were possessed of upon conclusion of the Peace until his Majesty declare his Pleasure in a Free Parliament in this Kingdom And whatever his Majesty might intend to declare the making of Protestant Bishops could be no anticipation thereof to the Prejudice of the Roman-Catholicks since Bishops are held essentially necessary to the Exercise of the Religion of the Church of England And as to the Seventh Article We Answer The Answer to the 7th Article That it was conceived by the Ministers herein mentioned that where they had possession of the Church-Livings the Obventions here mentioned were also due to them But whether it were or not sure we are there was never any Complaint made to Us in this Particular till our coming to Tecroghan after the loss of Drogheda and that within a very little time after before the Truth of the Allegation could be examined the Towns of Munster revolted and the Business was so decided at least if any Difference of this kind continued in the County of Kerry which was longer held We never after Our being at Tecroghan heard of it that We remember To the 8th Article The Answer to the 8th Article we answer That no Complaint of any such Slavery imposed by the Lord President or Presidency was made to Us but on the contrary upon his Lordship's instance We directed our Letters to him to swear and admit of the Council of that Province the Lord Viscount Roch of Fermoy the Lord Viscount Muskery Major General Patrick Purcel Lieut. Col. Gerard Fitz-Morrice and others all which were written unto by the Lord President to come to him to be sworn accordingly whereof the Lord Muskry Major General Partick Pureell and Lieut. Col. Fitz-Morrice were sworn but the rest not coming according to the Letters could not be sworn For the improvidence of the Conduct of the Army The Answer to the 9th Article We shall only answer That it was as provident as We had means and skill to conduct it and for the Misfortune We ascribe that to the good Pleasure and Justice of God But how far forth the Disaster at Rathmines was shameful beyond any thing that ever hapned in Christianity as they express themselves We refer you to the Relation of what We have said upon that Subject in our Answer thereunto in what concerns the same in the pretended Grievances and to the Testimony of divers now there that were upon the place with us Concerning the Defeat at Rathmines This was in answer to the Grievances it is as with all Misfortunes of that Nature in War every Man at his pleasure making himself Judg of the Causes of them and many times without looking into or having knowledg of the true Condition of the beaten Party deliver their Judgments upon mistaken Grounds and for the most part are guided by their Passions either of Envy or Self-conceit of their own Abilities to judg