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
that Land and to go personally thither and an Army was design'd for him and he was created Duke of Ireland in order to that Expedition and notwithstanding all this on the twenty third of July 1393. the King sent him a Letter to stop his Voyage because his Majesty intended to go to that Kingdom in person For the King was netled with an Answer his Ambassadors received in Germany when they were solliciting for the Imperial Crown that they did not think him fit to be their Emperor who could not keep what his Ancestors had gain'd in France nor rule his insolent Subjects in England nor tame his rebellious Vassals in Ireland and therefore partly to vindicate his Reputation and partly to divert the Melancholy which had seiz'd him on the Death of his Wife he undertook a Royal Voyage to Ireland with four thousand Men at Arms and thirty thousand Archers under S. Edwards Banner It seems that Sir Thomas Scroop was sent before him to prepare for the Kings Reception for I find him named Lord Justice on the 26th of April 1394. 1394. But however that be it is certain that on the Second Day of October Richard the Second King of England Landed at Waterford with a mighty Army whereof he made but small use for the Irish betook themselves to their old Stratagems of feigned and crafty Submissions wherewith they had deluded and abused King Henry the Second and King John in former times However Mowbray Earl of Notingham and Marshal of England had a special Commission to receive the Homage and Oaths of Fidelity of all the Irish of Leinster by vertue whereof Girald O Birne Donald O Nolan Malachias O Morough Rory oge O More Arthur Mac Morough Morough O Connor and others made their humble submission by an Interpreter in the open Field at Baligory near Carlow on the 16th of February They did Homage in solemn manner and made their Oaths of Fidelity to the Earl Marshal laying aside their Girdles Skeins and Caps and falling down at his Feet upon their Knees which being performed the Marshal gave each of them Osculum Pacis Moreover they were bound by several Indentures upon great Penalties to be paid to the Apostolick Chamber viz. O Birne twenty thousand Marks O Nolan ten thousand pounds c. not only to continue Loyal Subjects but that by a certain day prefix'd they and all their Sword-men should clearly relinquish and give up unto the King and his Successors all the Lands and possessions which they held in Leinster and taking with them only their moveable Goods should serve him in his Wars against his other Rebels In consideration whereof the King was to give them Pay and Pensions during their Lives and to bestow the inheritance of all such Lands upon them as they should recover from the Rebels in any other part of the Realm And thereupon a Pension of eighty Marks per annum was granted to Art Mac Murrough Chief of the Cavenaghs which was continued to his Posterity till the time of Henry the Eighth although they did nothing for it But the King having received Letters from O Neal wherein he stiles himself Prince of the Irishry in Vlster and yet acknowledgeth the King to be his Sovereign Lord and Dominus perpetuus Hiberniae removed to Drogheda to take the Submissions of the Irish of Vlster Thither came to him O Neal O Hanlon O Donel Mac Mahon and others who with the like humility and ceremony as aforesaid performed their Homage and Fealty to the Kings own Person in these or the like Words mutatis mutandis Ego Nelanus O Neal Senior tam pro meipso quam pro filiis meis tota Natione mea Parentelis meis pro omnibus Subditis meis devenio Ligeus Homo vester c. And in the Indenture between O Neal and the King he is bound not only to remain faithful to the Crown of England but also to restore the Bonaught of Vlster to the Earl of Vlster as of right belonging to that Earldom and amongst other things usurped by the O Neals These Indentures and Submissions with many more of the same kind for there was not a Chieftain or Head of an Irish Sept but submitted himself in one Form or other the King himself caused to be enrolled and testified by a Notary Publick and with his own hands delivered the Enrolments to the Bishop of Salisbury who on the 25th of June delivered to the Court of Exchequer two Hanapers one containing thirty nine and the other thirty six Instruments which were all there recorded or enrolled so that they have been carefully preserved and are now to be found in the Remembrancers Office and the Copies of them all are to be seen at Lambeth Libro D. In the mean time Lib. G. Lambeth on the first of February the King wrote a Letter to his Unkle the Duke of York who it seems was his Deputy in England signifying that there were three sorts of People in Ireland viz. Irish Savages or Enemies Irish Rebels and English Subjects and that perhaps the Rebels had cause and provocation to do as they have done and that therefore he has given them Truce till Easter and designs to pardon them generally and concludes with a Desire of his Advice in this Particular The Duke and the Council on the 19th of March return an Answer Lib. M. That they had formerly given their Opinion to prosecute the Rebels but that his Majesty being on the Place best knew what was fit to be done and that they did not mislike his Intention provided the Rebels did pay some considerable Fines towards the Charge of the Kings Voyage and also took out their particular Pardons within a limited Time Lib. G. and not long after finding that the King had accepted the Irish Submissions and valued himself upon the Atchievement they send him a congratulatory Letter and humbly pray his Majesty to return to England Several of the Irish Historians one of them misleading another say that the King did call a Parliament at Christmas and about Shrovetide return'd to England but as I am sure he did not return in many Weeks after Shrovetide so I believe he held no other Parliament in Ireland at this time than that there being a great Concourse of the Chief Men of the Land to Dublin to attend the King it is probable the King consulted with them about the publick Affairs and that they complained to his Majesty of such Grievances as needed to be redress'd Lib. G. and particularly That whereas the Chancery us'd to pay into the Exchequer two thousand Marks per annum for the Great Seal besides defraying the Charge of that Court it now hardly pays its own Officers their Salaries because Grants for which the Parties formerly paid an hundred pound are now made for ten shillings and Secondly That James Cotenham Deputy Admiral of Ireland to the Earl of Rutland committed great Abuses and exacted a Tribute of
twenty pence or two shillings from every one that passed the Seas On the twenty fifth Day of March the King knighted four Irish Kings 1395. Selden tit hon 842. and some other great Lords whereof Mr Selden out of Froisart gives the following Account Four Kings of several Provinces in Ireland that submitted themselves to Richard II were put under the Care of Henry Castile an English Gentleman who spake Irish well in order to prepare them for Knighthood by the Kings Command he informed them of the English Manners in Diet Apparel and the like He asked them If they were willing to take the Order which the King of England would give them according to the Customs of England France and other Countries They answered They were Knights already and that the Order they had taken was enough for them and that they were made Knights in Ireland when they were seven Years Old and that every King makes his Son Knight and if the Father be dead the next of Kin does it and that the manner is thus The new Knight at his making runs with slender Lances against a Shield set upon a Stake in a Meadow and the more Lances he thus breaks the more Honour continues with his Dignity But Mr. Castile told them They should receive a Knighthood with more State in the Church and afterwards being perswaded and instructed especially by the Earl of Ormond they did receive Knighthood at Christ-Church Dublin after their Vigils performed in the same Church and a Mass heard and some others were knighted with them but the four Kings in Robes agreeable to their State sate that Day with King Richard at the Table And so Davit 202. when the King had supplied the Courts of Justice with able Men particularly with Sir William Hankford Chief Justice who was afterwards Chief Justice of England and done his Endeavor to establish a Civil Plantation in the Mountains of Wicklow he returned to England about Midsummer 1394. as I suppose for on the fourth of July 1394 Roger Mortimer Earl of March was sworn Lord Lieutenant Pryn. 294. And not long after the aforesaid excellent Ordinances of 31 Edw. 3. were ratified revived and exemplified and sent into Ireland to be more duly observed than hitherto they had been But the Scene was changed and the Irish despising the weak Forces the King had left behind him began to lay aside their Mask of Humility and to make Incursions into the Borders of the Pale Nevertheless the English were not daunted their Valour supplyed what was wanting in their Number Cambd. particularly Sir Thomas de Burgh and Walter de Birmingham with their Forces slew six hundred of the Irish and their Captain Mac Con and the Lord Lieutenant and the Earl of Ormond wasted the County of Wicklow and took O Birnes House whereupon the Lord Lieutenant made seven Knights But this Victory was much overballanced by the Loss of forty principal Englishmen slain by the O Tools on Ascension-day and not long after by the Death of the Lord Lieutenant himself who was slain at Kenlis in Ossory by the O Birnes on the twentieth of July 1398. And thereupon Roger Gray was chosen Lord Justice 1398. pro tempore until the King sent over his half Brother Thomas Holland Duke of Surry Lord Lieutenant 1398. who landed at Dublin the seventh of October 1398. but did not long continue in that Office before the King pretending a Resolution to revenge the Death of his Cousin and Heir the Earl of March who was slain by the Irish as aforesaid He left the Government of England in the Hands of his Vnkle the Duke of York And on the first Day of June Richard 1399. King of England landed at Waterford with a good Army which he marched to Dublin through the wast Countries of Murroughs Kinshelaghs Cavenaghs Birns and Tooles but the Army was much distressed for want of Victuals and Carriages in those Deserts so that he performed no memorable Exploit save that he cut and cleared the Paces in the Cavenaghs Country and knighted Henry the Duke of Lancaster's Son afterwards Henry V for his briskness against the Irish On the sixth of June being the Friday after the King's arrival Jenico de Artois his faithful Gascoign slew two hundred Irish at Ford in Kenlis in the County of Kildare And the next Day the Citizens of Dublin made Incursions into Wicklow and killed thirty three Irishmen and took eighty Prisoners And on the twenty sixth of June the King came to Dublin and received the Submission of many Irish Lords But whilst he was consulting how to proceed he received the unwelcome News of the Duke of Lancaster's Progress in England whereupon he imprisoned his and the Duke of Glocester's Sons in the Castle of Trym and though he sent the Earl of Salisbury before him to gather an Army in Wales yet the King followed after so slowly that the Army was disperst before he arrived in England with which Misfortune his Courage fell so that on Michaelmass day he tamely surrendred the Crown and gave a just occasion for this true Remark Baker 152. That never any Man who had used a Kingdom with such Violence gave it over with such Patience He was afterwards deposed by Parliament and several Articles exhibited against him one of which was That he forced divers Religious Persons in England to give Horses Arms and Carts towards the Irish Expedition And another was That he carryed into Ireland the Treasure Reliques and other Jewels of the Crown which were used to be kept in the King's Coffers from all Hazard The King created Edward Plantagenet Earl of Cork in the twentieth Year of his Reign And the same Year gave a Licence under the Privy Seal to William Lord Courcy to buy a Ship to pass and repass to and from England And in this Reign happened this famous Case One Thomas a Clerk in England obtained a Judgment at Westminster against Robert Wickford afterwards Archbishop of Dublin and upon Affidavit That the Defendant lived in Ireland and had Goods and Lands there and the Sheriffs Return That he had no Lands nor Goods in England the Plaintiff had a Writ against the said Archbishop in haec verba IDeo vobis mandamus quod de terris catallis ejusdem Roberti Lib. M. jam Archiepiscopi in Terra nostra Hiberniae fieri facias praedict decem libras illas habeatis coram c. This Archbishop died anno 1390 so that this Writ must issue before that time THE REIGN OF HENRY IV. King of England c. And LORD of IRELAND HENRY Duke of Lancaster eldest Son of the famous John of Gaunt fourth Son of King Edward the Third upon the Resignation of King Richard procured him to be deposed in Parliament and himself to be elected King and the Crown to be entailed on him and the Heirs of his Body His Claim was as Heir to Henry III but finding that
Pretence was Ridiculous because there were others of the same Lineage before him in the Pedigree and it was notorious That the Right of Succession was in Ann Daughter of Roger Mortimer Earl of March Son of Philippa Daughter of Lionel Duke of Clarence third Son of King Edward III. and accordingly her Grand-son afterwards possest the Kingdoms by the Name of Edward IV. And also finding that it was more vain to claim by Conquest when there was no fighting he was at last forced to rely on the Consent and Election of the People which was the Title his Embassadors insisted upon in the Courts of Foreign Princes Thus was the Foundation laid of those tedious and bloody Wars that afterwards ensued between the Houses of York and Lancaster commonly distinguished by the Appellations of the Red-Rose and the White that being the cognizance of the House of Lancaster and this the Badge of the Family of York This King was crowned on the thirteenth Day of October anno Dom. 1399. 1399. and Ireland was committed to the Care of Sir John Stanly 1399. Lord Lieutenant who came over thither Cotton's Records 390. on the tenth Day of December In his time the King obtained a Subsidy in England for three Years to provide for the Affairs of Ireland c. And about Whitsontide the Constable of Dublin-Castle and others near Strangford in Vlster encountred the Scots at Sea 1400. but with very ill Success for many Englishmen were there slain and drowned About this time the Town of Kilkenny was walled by Robert Talbot 1401. And about May the Lord Lieutenant repaired to England leaving his Brother Sir William Stanly Lord Deputy who on the twenty third Day of August surrendred unto Stephen Scroop Lord Deputy to the King's Son Thomas Duke of Lancaster who it seems came over only to provide and prepare for the Reception of Thomas Duke of Lancaster Seneschal of England and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland who landed on S. Bines-Day And on the fifth of July John Drake Mayor of Dublin with a Band of Citizens encountred and defeated four thousand Irish Outlaws near Bray in the Borders of Wicklow and slew four hundred ninety three of their best Men. This Lord Lieutenant held a Parliament in Dublin 1402. in September during which Sir Bartholomew Verdon James White Christopher White and Stephen Gernon slew John Dowdal Sheriff of Louth in Vrgile and committed sundry other Felonies and Robberies for which they were Outlawed and their Estates disposed of by Custodiam Cotton's Records 431. but afterwards the King pardoned them their Lives and restored them their Estates during their respective Lives only In October Daniel O Birne Lib. D. for him and his Sept or Nation submitted to the Lord Lieutenant and promised Allegiance and good Behaviour and to manifest his Sincerity he granted to the King the Castle of Mackenigan with the Apurtenances And on the thirteenth of December the Lord Lieutenant by Indenture set the Ferny in the County of Louth except the King's Castle to Aghy mac Mahon for Life Davis 48 at the Rent of ten Pound per Annum and Mac Mahon covenanted to be a good Subject And in February following O Reyly covenanted with the Lord Lieutenant and also swore to perform to the King during the minority of Mortimer all the Covenants he was obliged to perform to Roger Mortimer Earl of March and Vlster In May Sir Walter Betterly Steward of Vlster 1403. and thirty English were all slain And on the eleventh of November following the Duke returned to England and left Sir Stephen Scroop Lord Deputy 1404. who on the twenty sixth Day of October resigned to James Earl of Ormond 1405. Lord Justice who in April 1405 held a Parliament at Dublin and there the Statutes of Dublin and Kilkenny were confirmed as also the Charter of Ireland And this good Act was followed by good Success for in May two Scotch Barks were taken near Greencastle and another near Dalkye with their Captain Macgolagh Moreover the Merchants of Droghedae made Incursion into Scotland and brought thence both Pledges and Preys And the Dublinians also entred Scotland at S. Ninian and behaved themselves valiantly They also did the Welsh much harm and brought from thence the Shrine of S. Cubins which they placed in Christ-Church Dublin However the Irish burnt Oghgard and on the sixth of September the Lord Justice died at Gauran and was succeeded by Girald Earl of Kildare 1406. who probably was chosen Lord Justice by the Council In his time the Dublinians and their Neighbours on Corpus Christi-Day vanquished the Irish Enemies and took three Ensigns and brought to Dublin the Heads of those they had slain And the Prior of Conal had as good Success in the Plains of Kildare for with twenty Englishmen he defeated two hundred Irish and killed many of them But after Michaelmas came over Sir Stephen Scroop Lord Deputy He held a Parliament at Dublin in January which in the Lent after ended at Trim And about the latter end of February Meyler Birmingham slew Cathol O Connor About May the Lord Deputy 1407. accompanied with the Earls of Ormond and Desmond the Prior of Kilmainham and other Captains and Gentlemen of Meath set out from Dublin and invaded the Territory of Mac Morough at first the Irish had the better but at length the Constancy and Resolution of the English prevailed and O Nolan and his Son and others were taken Prisoners and after this was done they marched speedily to Calan in the County of Kikenny upon some Intelligence they had of the Rebels being thereabout and they so surprized them that the whole Party was routed and O Carol and eight hundred Men slain upon the Place But in June the Lord Deputy went to England and the Nobility and Council elected James Earl of Ormond Lord Justice In whose time a barbarous Tory called Mac Gilmore who is reported to have destroyed forty Churches and was never Christened had taken Prisoner Patrick Savage a Gentleman of great Esteem in Vlster they agreed upon his Ransome to be two thousand Marks and his Brother Richard was to become Hostage for it But this Subtle Barbarian managed the matter so that he received the Ransome according to Agreement and afterwards he murdered both the Brethren This Lord Justice held a Parliament at Dublin 1408. which confirmed the Statutes of Dublin and Kilkenny and also the Statute against Purveyors And on the second of August Thomas Duke of Lancaster came over Lord Lieutenant It seems that the Terms on which he undertook the Government were these First Lib. G. He was to hold the Place for seven Years Secondly He was to have five hundred Men at Arms and one thousand Archers for three Years Thirdly To have a Years Pay in Hand and afterwards to be paid every half Year Fourthly One thousand Marks per annum for himself and to be paid the Charge of Transportation
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
discourage the Transportation of Bullion the King shall have twelve Pence Custome out of every Ounce Upon his Return to England the Lord Lieutenant accused the Earl of Ormond of Treason Burlace 78. before the Duke of Bedford Constable of England in the Marshal's Couâ—t but the King abolished the Accusation Richard Talbot 1447. Archbishop of Dublin Lord Deputy he wrote a Tract de Abusu Regiminis Jacobi Comitis Ormondiae dum Hiberniae esset locum tenens Caâ—ton chron And it seems Thomas Fitz-Thomas Prior of Kilmainham was on the Archbishops side for he accused the Earl of Ormond of Treason and the Combat was appointed between them at Smithfield in London but the King did interpose and prevent it Hitherto the English had made but a bordering War in Ireland and that it self but very unluckily and the small Army that was kept on foot was ill paid and therefore more hurtful to the Subject by their Oppression than to the Enemy by their Valour so that it was necessary to send some great Man thither and no Body so fit for it as Richard Duke of York Earl of Vlster March Rutland and Cork Lord of Conagh Clare Trim and Meath for besides his Quality and Valour he had a great Estate in that Kingdom and it answered another Design of the Cardinal of Winchester who did then in effect govern England which was to remove this Duke from the Regency of France to make room for the Duke of Somerset and so he was made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1449. and landed at Hoath the fifth of July 1449. But the Duke of York who fathomed their Designs and had other Intrigues of his own would not accept of the Government of Ireland Davis 51. but upon very advantagious Conditions which were reduced to Writing by Indenture betwixt the King and him and are recorded by Act of Parliament in Ireland and were to this effect I. That he should be the King's Lieutenant in Ireland for ten Years II. That to support the Charge of that Country he should receive the whole Revenue certain and casual without Account III. That he should be supplied with Treasure out of England in this manner viz. four thousand Marks the first year whereof he should be imprested two thousand Pounds before-hand and for the other nine years he should receive two thousand Pounds per annum IV. That he might let the Kings Lands to Farm and place and displace all Officers at his Pleasure V. That he might Levy and Wage what Number of Souldiers he thought fit VI. That he might make a Deputy and return at his Pleasure I do not find that this Lord brought over any considerable Forces with him or that he was able to keep any such on foot here not only because his Allowance was but small but also because that small Allowance was ill paid as appears by his passionate Letter to his Brother-in Law the Earl of Salisbury which is to be found Registred by Mr. Campion pag. 99. At his first coming 1450. the Irish were very insolent but he won upon them strangely Lib. M. partly by force and partly by their own Art of Wheedling He held a Parliament at Dublin in October Friday before S. Lukes Day and the Bishops of Leighlin Ossory Down and Limerick were fined for not coming to it This Parliament Enacted many good Laws viz. 1. That no Marcher or other keep more Horsemen or Foot than they can maintain and will answer for and that they give in a List of their Names to the Sheriff c. 2. It suppresseth Coynees Rep. 11. Car. 1. c. 6. Cuddies and Night-suppers and well sets forth the Grievances of those Times 3. That the Accuser shall give Security to pay the Damages of the Defendant if the Impeachment be found untrue 4. That every man may kill Robbers and notorious Thieves and shall have a Penny out of every Plow-land and a Farthing from every Cottage for his Reward 5. That the great Officers of the Kingdom shall not give Protections to any other than their Menial Officers and Attendants This Lord Lieutenant also held another Parliament at Drogheda in April on Friday before S. Mark 's Day which Enacted 1. That if the Remembrancer issue Process against any body that is discharg'd on Record in the Exchequer he shall forfeit his Office and treble Damage 2. That the Chancellor Treasurer and Judges or one of them be present at all Commissions of Oyer and Terminer in the Counties of Dublin Kildare Meath and Vriel 3. That no body shall sell Liquor but by Sealed Measures It seems that some of these Statutes were occasioned by a doleful Letter sent from Cork which the Irish Historians place in the Reign of Henry the Fourth and yet direct it to the Earl of Rutland and Cork and therefore it will be more properly applied to this Time when he was Lord Lieutenant and follows in haec Verba IT may please your Wisdoms to have pity of us Camp 94. the Kings poor Subjects within the County of Cork or else we be cast away for ever for where there was in this County these Lords by Name besides Knights Esquires Gentlemen and Yeomen to a great number that might dispend yearly eight hundred pounds six hundred pounds four hundred pounds two hundred pounds one hundred pounds one hundred Marks twenty pounds twenty Marks ten pounds some more some less to a great number besides these Lords following First The Lord Marquess Carew his yearly Revenues were besides Dorsey-Haven and other Creeks two thousand two hundred pounds sterling The Lord Barnewale of Bear-haven his yearly Revenues were besides Bear-haven and other Creeks sixteen hundred pounds sterling The Lord Uggan of the great Castle his yearly Revenues were besides Havens and Creeks one thousand three hundred pounds sterling The Lord Balram of Emforle his yearly Revenues were besides Havens and Creeks one thousand three hundred pounds sterling The Lord Courcy of Kilbreton his yearly Revenues besides Havens and Creeks one thousand five hundred pounds sterling The Lord Mandevil of Barnhely his yearly Revenues besides Havens and Creeks one thousand two hundred pounds sterling The Lord Arundel of the Strand his yearly Revenues besides Havens and Creeks one thousand five hundred pounds sterling The Lord Baron of the Guard his yearly Revenues besides Havens and Creeks one thousand one hundred pounds sterling The Lord Sleynie of Baltimore his yearly Revenue besides Havens and Creekss eight hundred pounds sterling The Lord Roche of Pool Castle his yearly Revenues besides Havens and Creeks one thousand pounds sterling The Kings Majesty hath the Lands of the late young Barry by Forfeiture the yearly Revenues whereof besides two Rivers and Creeks and all other Casualties is one thousand eight hundred pounds sterling And at the end of this Parliament your Lordship with the Kings most Noble Counsel may come to Cork and call before you all these Lords and other Irishmen and bind them in
pain of loss of Life Lands and Goods that never any of them do make War upon another without Licence or Commandment of you my Lord Deputy and the Kings Council for the utter destruction of these parts is that only cause and once all the Irishmen and the Kings Enemies were driven into a great Vally called Glanehought betwixt two great Mountains called Maccorte or the Leprous Island and there they lived long and many years with their White-Meat till at the last these English Lords fell at variance among themselves and then the weakest part took certain Irishmen to take his part and so vanquished his Enemy and thus fell the English Lords at variance among themselves till the Irishmen were stronger than they and drave them away and now have the whole Country under them but that the Lord Roch the Lord Courcy and the Lord Barry only remain with the least part of their Ancestors Possessions and young Barry is there upon the Kings Portion paying his Grace never a penny of Rent wherefore We the Kings poor Subjects of the City of Cork Kinsale and Youghal desire your Lordship to send hither two good Justices to see this Matter ordered and some English Captains with twenty Englishmen that may be Captains over us all and we will rise with them to redress these Enormities all at our own Costs and if you do not we be all cast away and then farewel Munster for ever and if you will not come nor send we will send over to our Liege Lord the King and complain on you all However I will not pretend to be exact in the timing of this Letter This Lord Lieutenant had a Son born at Dublin well known afterwards by the Name of George Duke of Clarence to whom the Earls of Ormond and Desmond were Godfathers and thereupon Desmond grew so insolent and haughty that his Oppressions were the chief Cause of the aforesaid Letter from Cork but it is probable that the Lord Lieutenant return'd to England and left James Earl of Ormond afterward Earl of Wiltshire 1451. and Lord Treasurer of England Lord Deputy in whose time Sir John Talbot was made Lord Chancellor of Ireland and it seems Complaint was made against him because he put in a Deputy in his room absque Regis licentia Lib. CCC This Lord Deputy was made Lord Lieutenant and went for England leaving John Mey Archbishop of Armagh Lord Deputy 1453. wherewith the Government of England being dissatisfied a Writ was sent to the Earl of Ormond commanding him Quod circa praemissis intenderet I suppose the Reason might be because there was a Necessity for the Presence of a Military Governour of Power and Authority in that Kingdom to repel the daily Incursions of the Irish into the Pale and therefore Ormond not being willing to come over the Government was committed to Thomas Earl of Kildare 1454. Lord Deputy who held it only until the arrival of Sir Edward Fitz-Eustace Lord Deputy to the Duke of York Who held a Parliament in Dublin at which it was enacted I. That all Statutes against Provisors in England or Ireland should be held in Force II. That Inquests before Coroners shall be discharged after a second Verdict that they do not know the Felon III. That no Appeals shall be to England except for Treason against the King's Person and in all false Appeals the Plaintif shall pay Damages and twenty Pound and one hundred Shillings Fine In the mean time the Duke of York in England obtained a famous Victory over the King's Forces at S. Albans where the Duke of Somerset was slain and the King himself was wounded in the Neck and afterwards on the ninth of July he was made Protector of the King's Person by Parliament And in Ireland Thomas Earl of Kildare was Lord Deputy to the Duke of York 1455. and held a Parliament at Dublin wherein it was enacted I. That no Exigents nor Outlawries be made by Commissioners II. That the Recorder of Dublin and Drogheda shall have but two Pence for every Plaint III. That every Man shall answer for his Sons and waged Men. IV. An Act about Escheators V. That a Parliament should be held every Year And he held another Parliament at the Naas Lib. M. 48. Friday after All Saints which enacted I. That all Strangers pay forty Pence per Pound Custom for transporting Silver II. That every Man shall answer for his Sons except in Cases Capital III. That no Person not amesnable to Law shall distrain without Licence on pain of forfeiting his Title And he held another Parliament at Dublin Friday after the Purification at which it was established I. That Beneficed Persons should reside II. That the Inhabitants to enclose the Village might remove the High-way forty Perch Richard Duke of York 1459. upon the Revolt of Andrew Trollop and the Callicians broke up his Army and fled first to Wales and afterwards to Ireland where he was kindly received and by his Deputy the Earl of Kildare he held a Parliament at Dublin the third of February which enacted That Warrants to the Chancellor bear the Date of the Delivery and that the Patents be of the same Date or else be void And the same Day twelve month he held another Parliament at Drogheda 1460. wherein it was enacted That no Man should sue in the Exchequer but a Minister of that Court on pain of ten Pound This Duke and his Abettors were in a Parliament at Coventry declared Traytors and thereupon the Earl of March came to his Father into Ireland and soon after returned to Calice and thence invaded England at Sandwich and on the ninth of July he fought and defeated the King at Northampton and took him Prisoner whereupon the Duke of York went to England and called a Parliament in the King's Name and in that Parliament boldly claimed his Title and so it was enacted That King Henry should keep the Crown during his Life and the Duke should be declared Heir apparent and in case of Opposition or farther Bustle about it should have present Possession But not long after the Duke was defeated and slain at the Battle of Wakefield This Duke behaved himself exceeding well in Ireland he appeased the Tumults there and erected Castles on the Borders of Louth Meath and Kildare to stop the Irish Incursions and was so well esteemed in that Kingdom that Multitudes of the Irish Subjects attended him into England to pursue his Claim to the Crown Nevertheless the Publick Revenue was but very low because the whole Kingdom was in Possession of the Irish except the Pale and some few Places on the Sea-Coast in Vlster and even that was so far from being quiet that they were fain to buy their Peace by yearly Pensions to the Irish and to pay Tribute and Contributions to them for Protection which nevertheless was but very ill observed to the English It cannot be expected I should give the Reader an exact
them to new Disturbances And accordingly the Earl of Desmond the Archbishop of Cashel the Bishops of Cork and Waterford and many other of the principal Men of Munster were pardoned and the Liberties and Charters of Youghal were restored and confirmed and their Priviledges enlarged In the mean time dyed Rowland Fitz-Eustace Baron of Portlester who at several times had been Deputy Chancellor and Lord High Treasurer of Ireland which last Place held thirty eight Years And about the same time died Cnoghor mac Trelagh O Brian Chief of Thomond and was succeeded by his Brother Gil duff by Popular Election according to the Custom of Tanistry But it is time to return to Perkin Warbeck whom we left in the Arms of a fair Lady in Scotland that King had already made several Essays in favour of this supposititious Prince but now his Affairs pressed him to make a Peace with the English which King Henry would not hear of unless Perkin were delivered up It was therefore necessary for the Impostor to seek new Quarters 1497. And therefore being secretly supplied by the King of Scotland with Necessaries for his Voyage he embarqued with his Wife and Family and landed safely at Cork the twenty sixth of July he could not have pitcht upon a Place more prone to Rebellion at that time but curst Cows have short Horns and their Ability was not suitable to their Inclinations however he listed one hundred and twenty Soldiers and by the Aid or at least Countenance of the Earl of Desmond he got Conveniences for their Transportation And so finding the Earl of Kildare so firm and potent that no good was to be done in Ireland and receiving an Invitation from the Cornishmen he sailed directly to Cornwal in September and landed safely at Whitsand-bay The City of Waterford which for its loyalty to the Crown against Lambert Symnel had received great Favours and Priviledges from his Majesty was now altogether as vigorous against Perkin and by its discreet behaviour in this Affair well deserved the Motto Intacta manet Waterfordia That City manned out four Ships and sent them in pursuit of Perkin but Fortune did not favour that Generous and Loyal Design This Impostor being thus arrived in England took upon him the Name of Richard IV King of England and as such behaved himself and acted his Part so well that he would often lament the Destruction of his People and would frequently bemoan the Tyranny and Oppressions they lived under which sort of Deportment took with the common People exceedingly insomuch that some thousands of them came to him at Bodmin with them he besieged Excester and assaulted the City with great vigour and Resolution which the Couragious and Loyal Citizens by the help of some of their Country Neighbours as valiantly defended Hereupon Perkin raised the Siege and marched to Taunton and although the Cornishmen continued resolute to conquer or dye yet Perkin perceiving their Courage was greater than their Strength and finding that the King's Army did daily increase whilst his did decrease he privately withdrew to the Sanctuary of Beaulieu in Hampshire and afterwards surrendred himself and being imprisoned in the Tower he made his escape once and attempted it the second time and was therefore together with his Friend John Waters Mayor of Cork hanged at Tyburne where he confirmed the Confession he had formerly made which was to this effect I Being born in Flanders Campion 104. in the Town of Turney put my self in Service with a Britton called Pregent Meno the which brought me with him into Ireland and when we were there arrived in the Town of Cork they of the Town because I was arrayed with some Cloaths of Silk of my said Masters threeped upon me That I should be the Duke of Clarence's Son that was before time at Divelin and forasmuch as I denyed it there was brought unto me the Holy Evangelists and the Cross by the Mayor of the Town called Ino Lavallin and there I took my Oath That I was not the said Duke's Son nor none of his Blood After this came to me an Englishman whose Name was Stephen Poytow with one John Walter and sware to me That they knew well that I was King Richard's Bastard-Son to whom I answered with like Oaths That I was not and then they advised me not to be afraid but that I should take it upon me boldly And if I would so do they would assist me with all their Power against the King of England and not only they but they were assured That the Earls of Desmond and Kildare should do the same for they passed not what part they took so they might be avenged on the King of England and so against my Will they made me to learn English and taught me what I should do and say And after this they called me Richard Duke of York second Son to Edward IV because King Richard's Bastard-Son was in the Hands of the King of England And upon this they entred into this false Quarrel and within short time after the French King sent Embassadors into Ireland viz. Lyot Lucas and Stephen Frayn and so I went into France and thence into Flanders and thence into Ireland thence into Scotland and so into England again But let us return to the Affairs of Ireland 1498. which were briskly managed by the Lord Lieutenant He called a Parliament at Trim which met on the twenty sixth of August in the fourteenth Year of the King's Reign which must be anno 1498. and not 1499. as it is mistaken in the printed Statutes for the King began his Reign the twenty second Day of August 1485. There is but one Act of this Parliament extant and that is To make all the Statutes in England about the Officers of the Custom-house to be of force in Ireland after Proclamation at Dublin and Drogheda A very needless Law certainly since it could have but four Years retro-spect all former English-Statutes being ratified here by Poyning's Act of 10 Hen. 7. cap. 22. In the mean time Henry O Neal who had murdered his Brother Con was this Year served in the same kind by Tirlagh and Con Sons of the former Con And not long after the Lord Lieutenant invaded Vlster in favour of the aforesaid Tirlagh O Neal who was his Nephew by the Mother he was joyned by O Donel Macguire and all Tirlaghs Friends and effectually besieged Dungannon took the Castle and set at Liberty all the Prisoners that Neal mac Art O Neal kept there and forced Neal mac Art himself to submit and give Hostages The Vlster Expedition being over the Lord Deputy in October marched to Cork where he placed a Garrison and forced the Inhabitants of that City and of Kingsale to swear Allegiance and to bind themselves thereunto both by Indentures and Hostages which it seems he thought were stronger Obligations upon them than their Oaths After his return in the beginning of March Ware 's Annals he held
their Solicitations and Attempts with an unshaken Steadiness It was pity so true a Nobleman should not fall into better Times and among a better People he might then have been as Eminent for doing of Good as now he appears Valuable in the resisting of Evil. And thus we are come to the End of a War which as it was rashly and cruelly begun so was it by the Confederates with such Cowardise and Folly carried on that excepting One Defeat given to the Scots they never had Advantage in any One Pitch'd Battel over the British And what could be more Tragical and Infamous to them at last than that they should from the Hands of those they always villified be compell'd to beg and glad to accept the worst of all Terms namely Transplantation to such as staid and of Banishment and Transportation to the rest But how surprising are the Revolutions of this World that from these Ashes and thus scatter'd to the Four Winds there should be a Foundation laid for that Fortune which the wandring Irish found by meeting in Foreign Parts the succeeding King and the Duke of York and by their Indulgence to be able not only to set up again but as at this day to expel their Conquerors and even to menace the Tranquillity of England The Links of this Mysterious Chain are so wonderful that I can hardly forbear a short Prospect of them in the Particulars following As first to observe How the Monarch of Three Kingdoms King Charles the First sat peaceably here at Home when Scotland began to Invade him How a great Number in England siding with the Scots put His Majesty into some Straits How the Irish taking advantage hereof fell to the murthering of His Protestant Subjects in that Kingdom How his Majesty sent presently His Authority and Commissions to suppress those Rebels while He at home was by others opprest and at last overthrown and His Children driven into Banishment How in consequence hereof the same Usurpers pass into Ireland and there compleating what His said Majesty's Commission could not they there subdue and drive the Irish into the like Banishment Here then the Crysis began That both Prince and Rebel-Subjects being forced to depend on Strangers and both driven by the same Hand into a State of Common Misery it was natural enough to forget how Things before had stood between them and only to look forward either how to be reveng'd or how to subsist King Charles the Second being at the Usurper's Instance expelled also from France he makes Conditions with Spain and calls to Him from other Services all His scattered Subjects and in this it must be allow'd the Irish made a Considerable Part. But if it be true that with these New Friends He then secretly grew reconciled unto their Religion also 't is no wonder if they got farther into Favour than what before they had deserv'd 'T is also easie to believe That as His Majesty's Restauration drew nigh the Irish obtain'd from Him all the good Words imaginable so that when He came into England He lay under this Contradiction of having promis'd to the Protestants of Ireland whose Commissioners met Him at Breda the Security of all they had gotten as to the Irish before the Re-possession of all they had lost The English spared not on their part to fortifie the Promise they had by a Charge of general Guilt on the Irish And the Irish were as lowd in the Justification of their Innocence So that to reconcile this Perplexity there was Advantage taken from what Both averr'd in persuading the English to restore what might belong to an Innocent and the Irish to forego their Hopes if upon Trial they should appear to be Guilty However to make this go easier down on either side there was a Notion set up and strangely imbib'd of a prodigious Stock of undisposed Acres which were sufficient to satisfie not only the Disappointments of some but even the Expectations of all Upon this an Act is fram'd by the English and tho' by the Tenor and Contexture of it nothing was more improbable than the Qualifications of Innocence yet by Favour in a Majority of Commissioners sent and instructed how to execute that Law the Irish prov'd fortunate beyond all expectation The Duke of York was always more open and avowed in his Patronage of them from the beginning and frequent Essays were made by his Power with the King to advance and distinguish them by Marks of Favour But the King was so cautious of His own Safety and He Reigned so long that the English had time to flourish For there was an Army kept up of Seven thousand Protestants and all the Commands and Offices both Civil and Military were in the Hands of the English However as His Royal Highness drew nigher to the Throne and as his Influence with the King increas'd so began this Flourishing State of the Protestants to be undermin'd And no sooner had he gotten the Scepter but he began openly to execute what surely was before intended and the whole Frame and Contexture of the English Government was subverted and dissolv'd However we live to see as at this day how dearly King James hath paid for that Experiment and for the Hopes He had and the Attempts he made of an equal Success in England And this also is worthy of some Remark That those very Protestants in the Army of Ireland who were driven out by His Command and took Refuge in Holland should so soon return under the Prince of Orange out now Happy King and assist in driving Him not only out of England but to take Refuge in Ireland Where these Windings and Revolutions will end God Almighty only knows but since we have so hopeful a Prospect that they may determine to the Honor of His Majesty to the Advantage of the English Nation the Restauration of the Irish Protestants and the Re-establishment of True Religion in that Kingdom I see no Reason to doubt but that I may be able to give you a joyful Account of all these Things in my Third Part. AN APPARATUS OR Introductory Discourse TOUCHING The Controverted Points in this HISTORY BECAUSE contrary Interests have perplexed this Affair and prevailed with a Party sometimes to stifle and sometimes to disguise the Truth and because the Papists have represented several Parts of this History not only in another manner and in a more soft and palliating Stile than I have done but have reported sundry considerable Matters of Fact quite contrary to what I have related it will be necessary to make a particular Examination of their most material Allegations and a strict scrutiny into my Assertions and the Proofs of them or Reasons for them and because I would not interrupt the Series of the History with these inquiries I thought it convenient to insert them here by way of Introduction But before I descend to particulars it is necessary to settle this great Preliminary that will run through the whole and
conceived they were greatly distressed and wished That he could use Means whereby they might be eased Hence he discoursed with Trueman who was but a silly Fellow and got from him Words whereby he discovered a Good-will to the Scotch Nation and some Discourse about the Castle of Carigfergus insomuch that he got Trueman's Letter to recommend him into Scotland whither he pretended a Desire to go to serve under their Command Upon this Giles produced the Letter in Evidence against him and so he was condemned and executed And this I take to be the Substance of what was offered for or against the Earl of Strafford On the Eleventh of May the Irish Parliament sat again 1641. and the Colonels John Barry Taaf Garret Barry and Porter having Orders from England to transport Four thousand of the Irish Forces to Spain some of the Popish Members of the Lower House did urge divers Arguments to hinder that Design As First That the Irish might gain Experience abroad and return to be evil Instruments at home Secondly That Ireland wanted Men for Husbandry Thirdly That Spain was an Hereditary Enemy to England and therefore might infect these Men with dangerous Principles concluding That they did not know how soon those very Regiments acquainted with every Creek in the Kingdom might be returned on their own Bowels having naturally a Love to their Religion which such an Incendiary as Spain might inflame with the highest prejudice So shamelesly did they cloak their Designs ' of stopping these Soldiers to assist in the following Rebellion under these Cobweb pretences of the Publick Good However their Project succeeded to their mind and notwithstanding the Contract with the Spanish Ambassador for their Transportation the Soldiers were from time to time delay'd and Garret Barry and his whole Regiment and most of the rest did afterwards joyn in the Irish Rebellion This Session of Parliament was spent by the Papists who were the most numerous Party in the House in fruitless Declarations and Protestations private Petitions and Votes upon needless Queries These last together with the Judges Answers to them are to be found at large Burlace Append. 1. 2. I shall only recite one of them viz. Quere 15. Whether the issuing of Quo Warranto's against Burroughs that anciently and recently sent Burgesses to Parliament to shew Cause why they did so be Legal And if not What Punishment ought to be inflicted upon the Occasioners Procurers and Judges of and in such Quo Warranto's To which the Answer is That the Proceedings in such Quo Warranto's are coram non Judice illegal and void and the Right of sending Burgesses to Parliament is questionable in Parliament only and the Occasioners Procurerâ— and Judges in such Quo Warranto's and Proceedings are punishable as in Parliament shall be thought consonant to Law and Justice Moreover some Members of this Parliament who had the following Rebellion in their Design did in order to inform themselves of the Quantity of the Stores Ammunition and Provisions and the Place where they were deposited suggest That there was a Plot by some of the Lord Stafford's discontented Servants to destroy the Parliament and therefore procured a Committee of both Houses to be appointed to search the Rooms under the Place where they sat which they did but sound no Powder there Then they desired to see where the Stores were but the Lord Justice Burlace who was Master of the Ordnance denied them that Request which they took very ill The Popish Party did also oppose the Disbanding of the new Army raised by the Earl of Strafford however it was at length effected on the Tenth day of * Rather July quaere August and the Arms and Ammunition were carefully brought into His Majesty's Stores In the mean time it being convenient to give the Members a short Recess to attend their Harvest and their other Occasions and there being no sudden expectation of the Irish Committee's Return from England the Parliament by their own Consent was on the Seventh of August adjourn'd to the Ninth of November which for want of greater cause of Complaint was afterwards reckon'd amongst their Grievances But contrary to all Mens expectation the Irish Committee of Parliament in the latter end of August return'd loaden with Graces and Favours for that Kingdom particularly in reference to the Customs especially of Wooll and Tobacco whereof the Lords Justices sent immediate notice to the several Ports of the Kingdom and in this short Interval of Parliament busied themselves in framing such Bills to pass the next Session as the Committee had obtain'd His Majesty's Consent unto And in this quiet and serene Condition was the Kingdom of Ireland not suspecting the least Disturbance from the Papists who were not under any Persecution upon the account of Religion their Clergy exercising their Functions as safely and almost as publickly as the Protestants They were obliged to the King by the easiest of Governments and the Graces and Concessions he had lately vouchsafed unto them and they were fastned to the English by all the Ties of Interest Friendship Marriage and which is more in their esteem Gossipping and Fostering And they were engaged to propagate the Publick Peace by their own happy free and flourishing Condition for now the Papists without taking the Oath of Supremacy freely enjoyed the Offices of Sheriffs of Counties Magistrates of Corporations c. But all this was over-ballanced by their Bigotry and National Malice which opened one of the bloodiest Scenes that ever was seen in the World For on Saturday the Twenty third of October 1641. being a Day dedicated to St. Ignatius Temple 16. a fit Patron for such a Villany broke out a most desperate and formidable Rebellion an universal Defection and general Revolt wherein not only all the mere Irish but almost all the Old English that adher'd to the Church of Rome were openly or secretly involved The Conspirators pitched upon the Day because it was Market-day at Dublin and therefore a Concourse of People would the less be perceived or suspected and they chose the time of Year because Harvest was in and the Half-years Rent generally in the Tenants Hands and because the Season of the Year would hinder Relief from England until the next Spring before which time they hoped to have effected all their Designs It was a premeditated Rebellion Lord Justices and Councils Letter foretold by Sir Henry Bedingfeild a Roman Catholick of Norfolk in April before and suspected by the King as appears by Sir Henry Vane's Letter ante pag. 64. And it was in contrivance partly at home and partly abroad before the Troubles either of England or Scotland began Memoirs 22. It was communicated to the English Papists by the Popish part of the Irish Committee then in England Husbands 2. part 247. And it was finally concluded and resolved on at the Abby of Multifernam and the * Dr. Jones's Examination Appendix 9. Scheme of the Government
and Garrisons of Inniskilling Culmore Cloghouter Castlejordan Carlingford Monaghan c. they made no considerable Resistance And in Munster Sir Henry Ingolsby went with a party to block up Limerick in July and had the good fortune to rout 4000 Irish that came to relieve it whereof 900 were slain and many taken Prisoners and Colonel Phair in August not only disturbed the Lord Insiquin's Levies in Kerry but also took in the Castle of Kilmurry and was very troublesome to the Lords Roch and Muskry But Ireton having refreshed his Army at Waterford marched through Wicklow and having taken a prey of 1600 Cows he sent Sir Har dress Waller with half of them to re-inforce the Blockade of Limerick and Waller in his march did take the strong Castles of Balliglaughan Ballycubane and Garygaglan and on the 9th of September summoned Limerick but it was in vain for the same Hugh O Neil that made the brave Resistance at Clonmell was now Governour of that City Ireton himself marched on to Sir Charles Coot and being joyned they went to Athlone but the Bridge being broke and the Town on Leinster side burnt Ireton left Coot there and having in his way taken two Castles in Mac Coghlan's Country together with Bi r which the Irish had deserted and burnt he came before Limerick but finding the Year too far spent and that Limerick could not be forced unless it were attacked on both sides the River he endeavoured to get Killaloo pass and so having taken Nenagh Castletown and Dromaneer he went into Winter-quarters to Kilkenny on the 10th of November In the mean time part of the Marquess of Clanrickard's Forces had retaken Bi r and the other two Castles in Mac Coghlan's Country and pretended to relieve Athlone if it should be distressed Whereupon Colonel Axtell Govenour of Kilkenny being joyned with the Wexford and Typerary Forces at Roscrea encountered them near Meleak-Island on the 25th day of October and gave them a sore Defeat killing 1500 Men and taking 200 Horse and all their Baggage In the mean time the Duke of Lorrain not having finished his Negotiations at Rome which I formerly mentioned continued his Dissimulation of Zeal for Religion and of concern for the Roman Catholick Irish whereupon the Lord Taaf whom Ormond had sent to the King to get forreign Supplies if possible finding that the King was in Scotland so that he could not get access to him made such importunate Application to the Duke of Lorrain that he procured the Abbot of Saint Catharines with some small Supplies to be sent to the Clergy and Catholick Nobility and Gentry of Ireland Ormond being then in France This Agent or Ambassador landed in the latter end of February 1650 at Galway and as soon as he understood that Clanrickard was left Lord-Deputy he gave his Excellency notice of his Arrival and afterwards shewed him his Credentials and assured his Excellency that the Duke his Master had so entire an affection to the King of England the prefervation of whose Interest in that Kingdom was the chief motive to him to offer his Assistance that if he had known any person had been intrusted there with his Majesty's Authority he would have Addressed himself unto him and no other and that he finding his Lordship invested with that power did what he knew his Master expected at his hands apply himself unto him with and by whose Directions he would alone steer himself through that Negotiation He told him the Duke had already disbursed 6000 Pistols for the supplying them with those things he heard they stood most in need of which were brought over by a Religious Person who came with him and that he was ready to be informed of what they would desire from his Highness that might enable them to resist their Enemy and that he would consent to any thing that was reasonable for him to undertake Hereupon a Committee of the Commissioners of Trust and some Prelates was appointed to Treat with him but as the Abbot varied from his first Proposals so the Popish Clergy did change and very from the Lord-Deputy's Instructions and turned out some of the Committee who would not comply with them and put in others in their room and though the Lord-Deputy prohibited their further progress in the Treaty upon such dishonourable Terms as the Abbot now propos'd yet they would go on to conclude it and thought they had excused their presumption well enough by saying That the Abbot would not consent to any other and that it was better to submit to hard Conditions than to break of the Treaty Whereupon the Lord. Deputy was so disgusted that he left the Town and refused to receive a Visit from this Ambassador that had so manifestly prevaricated from his first pretences By this stifness in the Lord Deputy the concluded Treaty vanished into smoak but the Abbot knowing his Master's design would not totally break off the Correspondence but on the contrary began to talk more mildly and as if the Duke would do very kind things if Agents were sent unto him Which being made known to the Lord-Deputy he appointed Sir Nicholas Plunket and Jeffery Brown for that Embasie and gave them such Instructions as he thought fit But the Prelates did not like that a matter of this importance should be managed without them and therefore under pretence of solliciting the Archbishop of Mecklin the Bishop of Leige and other Ecclesiasticks for Assistance they * Episcopi clerus multi alii precipui nobiles ac Magistratus earum Duarum civium quae Catholicis restabant Vindiciae Eversae 21. Vide the Commission Appendix 47. drew in some of the bigotted Nobility and Gentry and together impowered the busie Bishop of Ferns to interest himself in the Treaty with the Duke of Lorrain which he did with that Confidence and Rashness that was peculiar to him and spoiled whatever he meddled with and particularly the Negotiation in hand And that the World may know P. W. 585. they regard Clanrickard no more than Ormond that this Bishop and those of his party had no more regard to the King's Authority in the Roman Catholick hands of the Marquess of Clanrickard than whilst it remained with the Heretick Marquess of Ormond it is necessary to add the Bishop of Ferns's Letter to these Agents Plunket and Brown who were then in the same City with him viz. Brussels I Do with all sincerity offer mine own Opinion what is to be done by you in this Exigent which is to the end the Agreement you are making with his Highness the Duke of Lorrain become profitable to the Nation and acceptable in the Eyes of God that you would immediately with humble hearts make a Submission unto his Holiness in the Name of the Nation and beg the Apostolical Benediction that the Light of Wisdom the Spirit of Fortitude Victories Grace Success and those Blessings of God we one time enjoyed may return again to us The necessity of doing
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
the preposterous Courses they took For they were taught That the Pope was by Divine Right Universal Monarch and Governor of the World P. W. Remonstrance in Preface 6 7. and had Independent Sovereign Authority over Kings and Subjects in Temporal as well as Spiritual Concerns That he might Deprive and Dethrone Kings and had Power of both Swords to which every Soul upon pain of eternal Damnation was bound to give Obedience That he had power to absolve from all Oaths and that those who are slain in the Quarrel of the Church against an Excommunicated Prince die true Martyrs of Christ and their Souls fly to Heaven immediately So that it is no wonder that a People for the most part abounding in Ignorance and Bigotry tempted by the Hopes of Profit in the Plunders and Success of the War and stimulated by a National Malice against the British should be guilty of all that Cruelty and Treachery which they thought Meritorious and was in their Opinion conducive to their main Design of Extirpating the Protestants This tedious and bloody War which was at first begun by the Papists against the Protestants to support the King's Prerogative and suppress the Puritans as they pretended met with such prodigious Turns and Vicissitudes in the Progress of it that the most virulent Faction of the Papists joyn'd with the Puritans and fought for them against the King and against one another and all the Parties in the Kingdom which were * King Ormond Parliament Cooâ— Covenanters Lord of Ardes Supreme Couucil Preston Nuncio Owen Roe Five did one time or other in the War fight against the Faction it had formerly sided with But because this War was on the King's part managed by the Marquis since Duke of Ormond first in the Quality of Lieutenant General and afterwards as Lord Lieutenant it is necessary that according to my former Method I give some Account of Him which perhaps cannot be better done than from a MS. I accidentally met with wherein there are some short memorable Strokes of Him and his Family not unfit to be communicated to the Reader and therefore I have transcribed it as followeth 1. He was born at Clerkenwell in London on the Ninteenth of October 1610. and died at Kingstonhall in Dorset-shire on the 21th of July 1688. This was the 78th Year of his Age in which time he had seen Four Kings and served Three of them for 57 Years with an unshaken Zeal to the Crown 2. That he had seen Three Generations above him as maâ—â—ely his Father Thomas Viscount Thurles his Grandfather Walter Earl of Ormond and his great great Uncle Thomas Earl of Ormond who being a Black Man was commonly called by the Irish Thomas Duff This Thomas who was also Earl of Ossory was a Man of high Courage and Endowments and much favoured by Queen Elizabeth as being also Kinsman to her Mother He was Knight of the Garter Lord Treasurer of Ireland and General of the Army there He lived to the Age of Eighty seven Years and in the Reigns of Five Kings and Queens and died in 1614. So also had his Grace seen Three Generations below him as namely his Son Thomas the Renowned Earl of Ossory his Grandson James the present Duke and his great Grandson Thomas who was playing in the Room before him but a few Hours before his Death 3. That he had for some Years sat with Two of his Sons the said Thomas Earl of Ossory and Richard Earl of Arran in the House of Peers in England and his eldest Son was Knight of the Garter at the same time with Himself 4. That if the Siding and Partaking with the House of Lancaster in the Ancient Quarrels with the House of York which divided and at one time or other involved the whole Nation may pass for nothing it will not appear in all the Records that any Staln of Disloyalty was ever imputed to any that were the Chief Branch of this Family for Five hundred Years 5. That his Grace not to count what Titles they had before was the Twelfth Earl of Ormond and the Seventh of that Name of James He who was the Second James and styl'd The Noble Earl as being by his Mother de Bohun Great Grandson to King Edw. I. was thrice Lord Justice of Ireland And the Fifth James being by Hen. VI. made also Earl of Wiltshire Knight of the Garter and Lord Treasurer of England was Five times made Lord Deputy and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and had a Patent of it for Twelve Years His late Grace the Seventh James was Lord Lieutenant Four times which in all took in about Twenty four Years And if we shall reckon how many of this Family and how often they have been concern'd in that Government it thus appears That from the 31 Hen. 3. 1247. when Theobald Butler Lord of Carrick was made one of the Lords Justices to 1 Jac. 2. 1684. that his Grace was dismist from being Lord Lieutenant there have in the space of Four hundred thirty seven Years been Ten of this Family who have Seven and twenty times been either Lords Justices Lords Deputies or Lords Lieutenants of that Kingdom These Instances are perhaps sufficient to give the Reader some farther Curiosity to know by what Steps this Great Man grew up into the World who had a various and difficult Part in those Revolutions that befel Three Kingdome and the Monarchs thereof And inasmuch as they seem to reflect some Light on part of the following Story I will venture to add what I also found in the same Manuscript as followeth That the said Thomas Duff having no other Issue than his Daughter the Lady Elizabeth he first married her to his Nephew Theobald Viscount Tullough who was a Protestant as well as himself But he soon dying Childless and the young Widow being made very considerable in her Fortune by the Father's Indulgence there came Sir Richard Preston a Scotchman who being much favoured by King James and fortified by His Credentials he obtain'd the Lady and was made thereupon Lord Dingwell in Scotland and Earl of Desmond in Ireland This Earl soon began to stretch and enlarge his Pretensions to the Estate But Earl Walter the Heir at Law opposed him King James was pleased to take upon Him the Arbitration between them but did it with such partiality as Earl Walter thought that he chose rather to be thrown into the Fleet as for Contempt than to submit There he lay a Prisoner for Eight years together his whole Estate Sequestred and Extended his County Palatine of Tipperary which had been Three or Four hundred years in the Family seised by Quo Warranto into the King's Hands and he reduced to a shameful Want The Duke of Buckingham was active in this Oppression but the Cry of it grew so lowd at last that the King relented for what he had done In these Troubles it was that his Grace's Father Thomas Viscount Thurles coming over to prosecute in
went into England to give his Majesty a full account of his happy and successful Administration of the Government for I find he was created Lord Baron of Belfast on the 23th of February 1615 and perhaps then made Lord High Treasurer THOMAS JONES Archbishop of Dublin Lord Chancellor Sir JOHN DENHAM Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench were Sworn Lords Justices on the 11th of February 1615. The Archbishop was the worthy Ancestor of the Lords of Ranelagh And Sir John Denham was the first that raised any Profit to the Crown from the Customs in Ireland which were Lett for Five hundred Pounds the first Year and before his Death which happened the 6th of January 1638 they were improved to that degree that they were farmed at Fifty Four thousand Pounds per Annum But the Papists beginning again to grow very insolent it was necessary to hasten the new Lord-Deputy thither and therefore on the 30th of August 1616. Sir OLIVER SAINT JOHN afterwards Viscount Grandison 1616. was sworn Lord-Deputy he behaved himself briskly against the Papists who were at that time very high in Ireland Mr. Sullivan says He was a Bloody Man and that he swore he would in two Years banish all the Priests and that he levied 600000◠from the Papists for Fines and Forfeitures for not going to Church and that in Dublin only he imprisoned Ninety Citizens for denying the King's Supremacy all which is notoriously 〈◊〉 And about the same time a most Scandalous lying Book was published Entituled Annalecta Hiberniae written by David Rooth Vicar Apostolick at the Instigation and Charge of the Lord M And stuffed with innumerable Lyes and malicious Accusations of the King's Government in Ireland and yet dedicated to the Prince of Wales which is a high strain of Impudence and Folly to dedicate to the Son Reflections and Scandals upon the Father and as if that Author intended to mock the Son as well as to abuse the Father and that his Dedication to him should pass for nothing he has added another Dedication by way of Appeal to all Foreign Emperors Kings and Princes wherein he avers That the Irish look for nothing but that the King would use them like a King i. e. not like a Tyrant and when I have added that he compares the King to Julian the Apostate and Cajus Caligula and the English-men to Dogs and Wild-Beasts I have said enough of the Spirit and design of that malicious Author The Exorbitances of the Papists did indeed at this time oblige the Government to keep a stricter hand over them than hitherto they had done and two things were resolved on to humble them one was to banish all their Regulars which did in great numbers swarm almost every where in that Kingdom And the other was to suffer no Magistrates or Officers but what should take the Oath of Supremacy according to Law and in order thereunto there did issue a Proclamation against the Popish Clergy on the 13th of October 1617. Anno Dom. 1617. And afterwards on the 5th of March 1617 Donogh Earl of Twomond Lord President of Munster and Sir William Jones Lord Chief Justice of Ireland did by Virtue of a Commission under the Great Seal bearing date the 23d of January 1617 seize on the Liberties of Waterford and all their Rent Rolls Ensigns of Authority and their publick Revenues which amounted to Three Hundred and Four Pounds Ten Shillings per Annum and kept Assizes in the City for the County of Waterford The cause of this Seizure was because Nicholas White who from Michalmas 1615. to the 20th of October then next following did exercise the Office of Mayor of Waterford did on the 20th day of October 1615. refuse the Oath of Supremacy being then tendered to him by the Lord President by Virtue of a special Commission to that purpose and that upon his refusal the City Elected John Skiddy who Acted as Mayor till the 1st of May 1616. and then refused the same Oath being tendred to him by the Lord President whereupon the City chose Alexander Cuffe and swore him Mayor on the 27th of May who likewise on the 8th of July refused the aforesaid Oath of Supremacy before the Lords Justices whereupon he forbore to Act any farther in the Mayoralty and so it stood till the 1st of April 1617. at which time Walter Cleer was sworn Mayor and so continued Moreover the City had no Recorder since the Death of Nicholas Walsh Anno 1615 and yet in January 1616 there was a Goal Delivery held before the said John Skiddy without any Recorder and one William Person was then Condemned before him and afterwards by his Order executed for Felony And it appeared that the Statute of Elizabeth of Uniformity had not been given in Charge in their Sessions at Waterford for Two years past and all this was found by Inquisition taken the 5th day of September 1617. In the mean time there were sharp Contests between several great Families in Ireland about their Inheritance Lib. F. F. F. 199. the one was between Katherine Lady Power who was Heir General to the Deceased Lord Barry and the then Lord Barry Viscount Buttivant and that was happily Compos'd by the Kings Mediation and the Marriage of the Lord Barry with the Lady Power 's Daughter and the other was between Walter Earl of Ormond and the Lady Dingwell Heir General of Thomas Duff Earl of Ormond who died Anno 1614. Their Case is to be found the very last Case in my Lord Hobert's Reports and was refer'd to the King who Anno 1618. made his Award and divided the Estate between the contending Parties but the Earl of Ormond thought that Distribution so unequal that he refused to submit to it and therefore endured a long Imprisonment and many other Hardships from the Court but after his Death that Controversie was also happily Compos'd by the Marriage of his Grandson the young Earl of Ormond with the sole Daughter and Heir of the Lady Dingwell and that happy Couple improved that divided and shattered Estate to be the greatest and best belonging to any Subject in the Kings Dominions and are well known to the World by the Names of the first Duke and Dutchess of Ormond In the Year 1620. 1620. The famous Doctor Usher was made Bishop of Meath and not long after there arose a Dispute between the Archbishop of Armagh and the Bishop Elect of Clogher about the Exercise of Jurisdiction before Consecration but after some Expostulations the Controversie was peaceably Compos'd The Year 1621. 1621. was famous for the Congregation de Propaganda fide then Erected at Rome the influence whereof the Subjects of Great Britain and Ireland have felt to the purpose and in the same Year Thomas Viscount Thurles Father of the first Duke of Ormond was drowned It was in this Year that the King to mortifie some of the most active Members of the House of Commons that had fallen under his
World upon whose Loyalty and Conduct in the Affairs of Ireland His Majesty did most depend But there is yet a greater Mystery in the matter and it was thus Whilst Ormond was in England the Scots * Earl of Lanerick Earl of Lauderdale 〈…〉 Commissioners finding what usage was design'd to the King did endeavour to retreive the Honour of their Nation by doing something extraordinary in his Favour and the Presbyterians every where finding the prevailing Independents did despise the Sanctity of the Covenant and the Supporters thereof began to be Alarm'd so a proper Juncture of doing Service to the King was suddenly expected hereupon Ormond by the Kings Order met the Scotch Commissioners near Marlow and they for Scotland and he for Ireland undertook to promote His Majesties Service and in order to it he went to France and so into Ireland to prosecute this Design and not in Answer to the Irish Ambassy as they sancied and the same Reason prevailed upon Insiquin to joyn with him and it was pursuant to this Treaty that the Earl of Lanerick then Duke Hamilton invaded the Kingdom of England But as soon as the Parliament Commissioners in Ireland understood 27th July that the Marquiss of Ormond intended to return to that Kingdom they did all that was possible to prevent his Design and upon bare Suspicion seized upon Sir Maurice Eustace Sir John Gifford Sir Francis Willoughby Colonel William Flower the Lieutenant Colonels Ryves Capron and Smith Major John Stephens and Captain Peirce and kept them Prisoners in the Castle for some days and then sent them in Custody to Chester and they also kept Sir Thomas Lucas and Colonel Byron Prisoners at Tredagh As for the Military Motions this Year tho' they were not many nor in many Places Munster being entirely quiet and very little either of Leinster or Ulster disturbed yet they may be esteemed very considerable because they were between the Irish themselves for Insiquin had managed his Affairs so prudently by assisting the weaker side and the Nuncio had Acted so rashly in Excommunicating the Supream Council and their Adherents that Owen Roe and Preston and their Followers were engaged in as * Quod quidem ille acrius quam unquam fecerat in communes Religionis Regni hostes in Confederatos presecutus est Beling 118. fierce and as spiteful a War as any that had been since the Rebellion broke out so that Preston assisted by the Marquiss of Clanrickard took Athâ—one and besieged Athy and Insiquin in favour of the Supream Council besieged Fortfalkland and tho' Owen Roe came to relieve it and posted his Army so advantagiously between Insiquin and Munster that the English had certainly been starved if the generous Bounty of the Marquiss of Clanrickard had not supplyed them with Necessaries yet at length Owen Roe was forced to a retreat not much different from a Flight and the Fort was surrendered to Insiquiâ— and with these Losses November and this Disgrace Owen Roe was so netled that he ravaged over the whole County of Roscomon and took Jamestown and so obstinately Stormed Carigdrumrusk that Rory Macguire and most of his Regiment were there slain and in revenge of it the Garison being all Papists were put to the Sword And by this Campaign Owen Roe was so weakned that he offered a Cessation to Colonel Jones and to carry his Army to Spain if Jones would give him Liberty to do so And it seems That the Marquiss of Antrim had some Highlanders in the Counties of Wicklow and Wexford which being joyned with the Birnes and Cavenaghs who were of the Nuncio Faction and rejected the Peace gave such Disturbance to the Supream Council that they were fain to send Sir Edmond Butler and Sir Thomas Esmond to suppress them which at last they effected tho' not without considerable Slaughter on both sides In the mean time Jones took Ballysannon Nabber and Ballyho and many of the Scots being gone to assist Duke Hamilton's Invasion of England Colonel Monk by the means of Sir Price Coghrun and Lieutenant Colonel Cunningham surprized Carigfergus and in it Monroe September whom he sent Prisoner to London and then had an easie Conquest of Belfast and Colerain and Sir Charles Coot had no very hard one of the Fort of Culmore and for those good Services the Parliament Presented Colonel Monk with 500 l. and made him Governour of Carigfergus But in November the Irish Ambassadours to the Pope returned to Ireland and brought with them abundance of Relicks but no Money Beling 196. as may be easily gathered from the following Letter from Sir Richard Blake to Sir Robuck Linch Sir THIS day the Lord Bishop of Fernes and Mr. Plunket gave an account of their Negotiation to the House they made a full Representation to his Holiness of the desperate Condition of the Kingdom that without present and good Supplies which they expected from his Holiness there was no hope of the Preservation of the Catholick Religion or Nation That his Holiness was bound in Justice to do it his Nuncio here having in a General Assembly of the Confederates undertaken That the Sum promised Sir Kenelm Digby for the Wars of England upon good Conditions for Catholicks would be applied to the Service of the Catholick Confederates of Ireland but after four Months attendance their Answer was there being no Intelligence then of our Distance or Divisions with the Lord Nuncio or Owen O Neal That his Holiness hath sent by the Dean of Firmo a considerable Help unto us and that he had no account how that was disposed of That the Turks were in Candia and threatened Italy That there was great Scarcity of Corn in Rome and the adjoyning Territories and that a great Sum of Money must be issued to satisfy the Commoners That his Predecessor Pope Urban had left the Treasury empty and the See deeply charged with Debt That the Cardinals and others who had Pious Intentions to advance our Holy Cause were Poor and hardly able to maintain their own Ports so that nothing could be expected from them And for the Conditions the Agents expected from his Holiness for Religion upon our Treaty with the Queen and Prince he said that it was not proper for the See Apostolick to grant any Articles to Hereticks though it be true that Catholick Princes in Germany and other Kingdoms do it As for the Nuncio's Engagement That the Catholicks of Ireland should be Supplied by his Holiness in their Maintenance of the War that he had no such Commission though it was true that his Holiness would give Money for Conditions of Religion but none upon the Event of War Our Agents heard not of our Disunion and Raptures in this Kingdom until after their taking leave of his Holiness and then when the same was known and published in Rome they heard from some eminent Persons That what his Holiness was resolved to give for our Support he knew not to what Party he
Displeasure resolv'd to send them into Ireland and therefore a Commission under the Great Seal of England was directed to Sir Dudly Digs Rushworth 55. Sir Thomas Crew Sir Nathaniel Rich and Sir James Perrot and others to inquire of sundry Matters concerning his Majesties Service in Ireland as well in Point of Government Ecclesiastical and Civil as of Revenue and to inspect the State of the Kingdom and propagate Religion settle the Government and improve the Exchequer The Pretence of this Commission was the many Complaints of the Irish against the Lord Deputy not that there was any just occasion for those Accusations but that it is always their Custom to complain of any Governour That is a good Protestant and a good Englishman as this Lord Deputy was in perfection and is therefore to the last Degree hated and scandaliz'd by the Irish Papists and it is no wonder it should be so for their Interests are Diametrically opposite to that of an English Protestant and therefore it does necessarily follow that whoever Is faithful to the English will be odious to the Irish and subject to their Clamours and Contempts However the Lord Deputy was not wanting to his own Vindication and therefore wrote to the King that he met a Cloud of malicious Enemies instead of good Subjects and that even some of the Privy Council were Spies upon him and took occasions to lessen him tho' they had no other Provocation for doing so but his Examination of a certain Patent according to his Majesties special Order and his righting the Church against their Depredations And tho' the King in Answer August 1621. assur'd him That his Reputation stood without blemish and that his Majesty had sent him some Propositions which he was ordered to observe yet the Deputies Enemies not only prevail'd to have the aforesaid Commission of inspection issued but having gain'd that Point they urged that the Commission could not have any considerable Effect whilst the Lord Deputy continued in the Government and therefore procured that a Successor should be nam'd and that being also accomplish'd in the Choice of the Lord Viscount Falkland The Lords of the Council on 25th of January did advise the King by Letter to re-call the Lord Deputy immediately and to appoint Justices till the new Deputy could go over but the King from Nâ—wmarket on the 28th of January Answers That it were dishonourable to serve one in that eminent Station so unkindly without a Crime and that the new Deputy will be there before the Commissioners can be ready to enter on Business and with his own Hand adds this Postscript It was never wont to be my Fashion to disgrace any Ancient Minister of mine before he were heard To this the Lords of the Council on the Tenth of February reply That they design no Disgrace to the Lord Deputy nor do propose but what is usual and what was done on the removal of the Lord Chichester The King answer'd again That it was so done in the Case of the Lord Chichester because he had not resolv'd who should be the Successor However the Lords of the Council prevail'd and tho' the Lord Deputy did on the Ninth of February 1621. write to the Duke of Buckingham That he is content Publick Proclamation should be made That if he had done any wrong he might suffer for it so confident he was of his Innocency yet he suspected the Design of the intended Commission was to scandalize him and to that end the Commissioners were partial and therefore desires that iâ— the Bent of that Commission be against him then indifferent Men should be employ'd and if only Publick Good were design'd by it that then he might be one of the Commissioners yet he could not prevail in any of his Requests but was in May following remov'd tho' he was afterwards found not only Innocent but so deserving that he was soon after his Return created Viscount Grandison of Limbrick in Ireland Baron Trogose of Highworth in England Lord High Treasurer of Ireland and Privy-Counsellor of both Kingdoms ADAM LOFTUS Viscount ELY 1622. Lord Chancellor RICHARD WINGFIELD Viscount POWERSCOURT were sworn Lords Justices on the Fourth day of May and soon after received a Letter of the 29th of May from his Majesty ordering them to allow the new Lord Deputy Falkland his full Entertainment and all Perquisits c. from the day the Lord Grandison surrendred the Sword abating thereout for themselves at the Rate of 2000 l. per Annum for the time till he receives the Sword and that the House and Grounds of Kilmainham and the Port Corn be likewise reserved for the New Lord Deputy And it seems that these Lords Justices had seised the Lord Grandison's Papers after his removal for on the Eighteenth of June the King sent them a Letter to restore the Papers to that Lord's Servants and another Letter of the Twenty fourth of October was sent to the new Deputy to pay the Lord Grandison 230 l. for the Charges of his Voyage to England And on the 24th of July the King reciting That by a former Patent of the Second of November 1620. he had granted unto Sir William Irwing Two third parts of the forfeited Recognizances of Alehouse-keepers which his Majesty did intend to resume he therefore orders the Lords Justices to accept of Sir William's Surrender and in lieu thereof and for his Services to grant him the Fifth part of all the Profit of Ale-Licences for Twenty one Years commencing from the making of the Act of State for paying Three shillings six pence for every Licence But these Commissioners that went to Ireland were very busie in inquiring into the Misgovernment that was so loudly and bitterly complain'd of but they found by experience Rushw 17â— that too many of the Irish will complain without Cause However they publish'd new Instructions in print for the more orderly Government of the Courts of Justice and did declare That for the future the Council-Table should not administer an Oath in Matters of Interest or Title or in Complaints between Party and Party but should keep it self within its proper Bounds and afterwards November 7. 1625. a Proclamation was published to the same Effect These Commissioners did also make an Estimate of the Revenue and thought that it might be improved to 17067 l. 6 s. 8 d. more than it was in Harps i.e. Nine-pence pieces stamped with a Harp on one side which passed for a Shilling in Ireland so that Twenty shillings Irish was but Fifteen shillings Sterling but how much they were mistaken in their Computation will appear by a Table of their Estimate and an Account how the Revenue stood Anno 1632. 1622. 1632. First They supposed that the Officers of the Presidency might be paid out of the Profits of their respective Courts and so there would be saved per Annum 2657 l. 6 s. 8 d. But the Profits of those Courts do not amount to near that Sum and whatever they