Mac Mahon others who with the like Humility and Ceremony did homage and fealtie to the Kings owne person the words of O Neales homage as they are recorded are not vnfit to be remembered Ego Nelanus Oneal Senior tam pro meipso quā pro filijs mels tota Natione mea Parentelis meis pro omnibus subdit is me is deuenio ' Ligeus homo vester c. And in the Indenture betweene him and the King he is not onely bound to remaine faithfull to the Crowne of England but to restore the Bonaght of Vlster to the Earle of Vlster as of right belonging to that Earledomc vsurped among other things by the Oneales These Indentures and submissions with many other of the same kinde for there was not a Chieftaine or head of an Irish sept but submitted himselfe in one forme or other the King himselfe caused to bee enrolled and testified by a Notary publique deliuered the enroulments with his owne hands to the Byshop of Salisbury then Lord Treasurer of England so as they haue beene preserued and are now to be found in the Office of the Kings Remembrancer there With these humilities they satisfied the young King and by their bowing and bending auoyded the present storme and so brake that Army which was prepared to breake them For the King hauing accepted their submissions receiued them in Osculo pacis feasted them and giuen the honor of Knight-hood to diuers of thē did breake vp and dissolue his armie and returned into England with much honor smal profit saith Froissard For though he had spent a huge masse of Treasure in transporting his army by the countenance whereof he drew on their submissions yet did hee not encrease his reuennew thereby one sterling pound nor enlarged the English borders the bredth of one Acre of Land neither did he extend the Iurisdiction of his Courtes of Justice one foote further then the English Colonies wherein it was vsed and exercised before Besides he was no sooner returned into England but those Irish Lords laide aside their maskes of humility and scorning the weake forces which the King had left behinde him beganne to infest the borders in defence whereof the Lord Roger Mortimer being then the Kings Lieutenant and heire apparent of the Crowne of England was slaine as I saide before Whereupon the king being moued with a iust appetite of reuenge came ouer againe in person in the 22. yeare of his raigne with as potent an armie as he had done before with a ful purpose to make a full Conquest of Ireland he landed at waterford and passing from thence to Dublin through the wast Countries of the Murroghes Kinshelaghes Cauanaghes Birnes and Tooles his great armie was much distressed for want of victuals and carriages so as he performed no memorable thing in that iourney onely in the Cauanaghes Countrey hee cut and cleared the paces and bestowed the honor of Knighthood vpon the Lord Henry the Duke of Lancasters son who was afterwards King Henrie the fifte and so came to Dublin where entring into Counsell how to proceede in the warre he receiued newes out of England of the arriuall of the bannished Duke of Lancaster at Rauenspurgh vsurping the Regall authority and arresting and putting to death his principall Officers This aduertisement suddainely brake off the kings purpose touching the prosecution of the warre in Ireland and transported him into England where shortly after hee ended both his raigne and his life Since whose time vntill the 39. yeare of Q Elizabeth there was neuer any armie sent ouer of a Competent strength or power to subdue the Irish but the warre was made by the English Colonies onely to defend their borders or if any forces were transmitted ouer they were sent only to suppresse the rebellions of such as were descended of English race and not to enlarge our Dominion ouer the Irish. DVring the raigne of king Henrie the fourth the Lorde Thomas of Lancaster the Kings second sonne was Lieutenant of Ireland who for the first eight yeares of that Kings raign made the Lord Scroope and others his Deputies who only defended the Marches with forces leuied within the Land In the eight yeare that Prince came ouer in person with a small retinue So as wanting a sufficient power to attempt or performe any great seruice he returned within seuen moneths after into England Yet during his personall abode there he was hurt in his owne person within one mile of Dublin vpon an incounter with the Irish enemy He tooke the submissions of O Birne of the Mountaines Mac Mahon and O Rely by seuerall Indentures wherin O Birne doth Couenant that the King shall quietly enioy the Mannor of New-Castle Mac Mahon accepteth a State in the Ferny for life rendering ten pound a yeare and O Reley doth promise to performe such duties to the Earle of March and Vlster as were contained in an Indenture dated the 18. of Richard the second IN the time of K. Henry the fift there cam no forces out of England Howbeit the Lord Furniual being the kings Lieutenant made a martial circuit or iourney round about the Marches Borders of the Pale and brought all the Irish to the Kinges peace beginning with the Birnes Tooles and Cauanaghes on the South and so passing to the Moores O Connors and Offerals in the West and ending with the O Relies Mac Mahons O Neales and O Haulons in the North. Hee had power to make them seeke the Kings peace but not power to reduce them to the Obedience of Subiectes yet this was then held so great and worthy a seruice as that the Lords chiefe Gentlemen of the Pale made certificate thereof in French vnto the King being then in France which I haue seen Recorded in the white Booke of the Exchequer at Dublin Howbeit his Armie was so ill paid and gouerned as the English suffered more dammage by the Sesse of his Souldiers for now that Monster Coigne and Liuerie which the Statute of Kilkenny had for a time abolished was risen againe from hell then they gained profit or security by abating the pride of their enemies for a time DVring the minority of King Henry the sixt and for the space of seuen or eight yeares after the Lientenants and Deputies made only a bordering warre vpon the Irish with small and scattered forces howbeit because there came no treasure out of England to pay the Soldier the poore English fubiect did beare the burthen of the men of warre in euery place were thereby so weakned and impouerished as the State of thinges in Ireland stood very desperate Whereupon the Cardinall of winchester who after the death of Humfrey Duke of Glocester did wholly sway the State of England beeing desirous to place the Duke of Somerset in the Regencie of Fraunce tooke occasion to remooue Richard Duke of Yorke from that gouernment and to send him into Ireland
comming to besiege Bonratty in Thomond which was then held by Sir Richard de Clare as his inheritance was againe taken prisoner all his Army consisting for the most part of English ouerthrown and cut in pieces by Sir Richard de Clare And after this againe in the yeare 1327. most of the great Houses were banded one against another viz The Giraldines Butlers and Breminghams on the one side and the Bourkes Poers on the other The ground of the quarrell beeing none other but that the Lord Arnold Poer had called the Earle of Kildare Rimer But this quarrell was prosecuted with such malice and violence as the Counties of waterford and Kilkenny were destroied with fire and sword till a Parliament was called of purpose to quiet this dissention Shortly after the Lord Iohn Bremingham who was not long before made Earle of Louth for that notable seruice which he performed vpon the Scots betweene Dundalke and the Faher was so extreamly enuied by the Gernons Verdons and others of the ancient Colony planted in the County of Louth as that in the year 1329. they did most wickedly betray murder that Earl with diuers principall Gentlemen of his name and Family vsing the same speech that the Rebellious Iewes are saide to vse in the Gospell Nolumus hunc regnare super nos After this the Geraldines and the Butlers being becom the most potent families in the Kingdome for the great Lordshippe of Leinster was diuided among Coparceners whose heires for the most part liued in England and the Earledom of vlster with the lordship of Meth by the match of Lionell Duke of Clarence at last discended vpon the Crowne had almost a continuall warre one with another In the time of king Henry the sixt saith Baron Finglas in his Discourse of the Decay of Ireland in a fight betweene the Earles of Ormond and Desmond almost all the Townes-men of Kilkenny were slaine And as they followed contrary parties during the Warres of Yorke and Lancaster so after that ciuil dissention ended in England these Houses in Ireland continued their opposition and feud still euen till the time of K. Henry the eight when by the Marriage of Margaret Fitz-Girald to the Earl of Ossory the houses of Kildare and Ormond were reconciled and haue continued in amity euer since Thus these great Estates Royalties graunted to the English Lords in Ireland begate Pride and Pride begat Contention among themselus which broght forth diuers mischiefs that did not only disable the English to finish the Conquest of all Ireland but did endaunger the losse of what was already gained And of Conquerors made them slaues to that Nation which they did intend to Conquer For whensoeuer one English Lorde had vanquished another the Irish waited and tooke the opportunity fell vpon that Country which had receiued the blow and so daily recouered some part of the lands which wer possessed by the English Colonies Besides the English Lords to strengthen their parties did ally themselues with the Irish and drewe them in to dwell among them gaue their Children to be fostered by them and hauing no other meanes to pay or reward thē suffred them to take Coigne and Liuery vppon the English Freeholders which Oppression was so intollerable as that the better sort were enforced to quit their freeholds and fly into England neuer returned though many Lawes were made in both Realmes to remaunde them backe againe and the rest which remained became degenerat and meer Irish as is before declared And the English Lords finding the Irish exactions to be more profitable then the English Rents and seruices louing the Irish tyranny which was tyed to no Rules of Law or Honor better then a iust and lawfull Seigniory did reiect and cast off the English Law and Gouernment receiued the Irish Lawes and Customes tooke Irish Surnames as Mac william Mac Pheris Mac Yoris refused to come to the Parliamentes which were summoned by the King of Englands Authority and scorned to obey those English Knights which were sent to commaund and gouerne this Kingdome Namely Sir Richard Capel Sir Iohn Morris Sir Iohn Darcie and Sir Raphe vsford And when Sir Anthony Lucie a man of great Authoritie in the time of King Edward the thirde was sent ouer to reforme the notorious abuses of this Kingdom the King doubting that he shold not be obeyed directed a speciall Writt or Mandate to the Earle of vlster and the rest of the Nobility to assist him And afterwards the same King vpon good aduise and Counsell resumed those excessiue Grants of Lands and Liberties in Ireland by a special ordinance made in England which remaineth of Record in the Tower in this form Quia plures excessi◠donationes terrarum et libertatum in Hibernia ad subdolam machinationem petentium factae sunt c. Rex deluserias huiusmodo machinationes volens elidere de consilio peritorum sibi assistentium omnes donationes Terrarum et libertatum praedict duxit reuocandas quovsque de merit is donatariorū et causis ac qualitatibus donationū melius fuerit informat et ideo mandatum est Iusticiario Hiberniae qd seisirifaciat c Howbeit ther followed vpon this resumptiō such a diuision faction between the English of birth the English of bloud and race as they summoned held seuerall Parliaments apart one from the other Whereuppon there had risen a general war betwixt them to the vtter extinguishing of the English Name and Nation in Ireland if the Earle of Desmond who was head of the faction against the English of birth had not beene sent into England and detained there for a time yet afterwardes these liberties beeing restored by direction out of England the 26. of Edw. 3. complaint was made to the King of the easie restitution whereunto the King made answere as is before expressed so as we may conclude this point with that which we finde in the Annalles published by Maister Camden Hibernici debellati consumpti fuissent nisiseditio Anglicorum impedivisset Wherunto I may adde this note that though some are of opinion that Grants of extraordinary Honours and Liberties made by a King to his subiects do no more diminish his greatnesse then when one Torch lighteth another for it hath no lesse light then it had before Quis vetat apposito lumen de lumine sumi Yet many times inconueniences doe arise thereuppon and those Princes haue held vp their Soueraignty best which haue beene sparing in those Graunts And truely as these Graunts of little Kingdomes and great Royalties to a few priuate persons did produce the mischiefes spoken of before So the true cause of the making of these Grants did proceede from this That the Kings of England beeing otherwise employed and diuerted did not make the Conquest of Ireland their own worke and vndertake it not royally at their owne charge but as it was first begun by perticular
residence in this Kingdom but managed their estates heere by their Seneschals and Seruants And to defend their teritories against the bordering Irish they entertained some of the Natiues who pretended a perpetuall Title to those great lordships For the Irish after a thousande Conquests Attainders by our law would in those daies pretend title stil because by the Irish Lawe no man could forfeit his Land These natiues taking the opportunity in weake and desperate times vsurped those Seigniories and so Donald Mac Art Cauanagh being entertained by the Earl of Norfolke made himselfe Lorde of the County of Catherlogh And Lisagh O Moore being trusted by the L. Mortimer who married the Daughter and Heire of the Lord Bruce made himselfe Lord of the Lands in Leix in the latter end of king Edward the seconds raigne as is before declared Againe the decay and losse of Vlster Conaght is attributed to this that the Lorde William Bourke the last Earle of that name died without issue Male whose Ancestors namely the Red-Earle and Sir Hugh de Lacy before him being personally resident helde vp their greatnesse there kept the English in peace and the Irish in aw But when those Prouinces discended vppon an Heire Female and an Infant the Irish ouer-ran Vlster and the yonger branches of the Bourkes vsurped Conaght And therfore the Ordinance made in England the 3. of Richard 2. against such as were absent from their Lands in Ireland and gaue two third parts of the profites thereof vnto the King vntill they returned or placed a sufficient number of men to defend the same was grounded vppon good reason of state which Ordinaunce was put in execution for many yeares after as appeareth by sundry seizures made thereupon in the time of King Richard 2. Henry 4. Henry 5. and Henry 6. whereof there remaine Recordes in the Remembrancers Office heere Among the rest the Duke of Norffolke himselfe was not spared but was impleaded vpon this Ordinance for two parts of the profits of Dorburies Iland and other Landes in the Countie of wexford in the time of K. Heury 6. And afterwards vpon the same reason of State all the Landes of the house of Norfolke of the Earle of Shrewesburie the Lord Barkley and others who hauing Lands in Ireland kept their cōtinuall residence in England were entirely resumed by the Act of Absentees made in the 28. yeare of king Henry the eight But now againe let vs look back and see howe long the effect of that reformation did continue which was begun by Lionel Duke of Clarence in the fortith yeare of K. Edw 3. and what courses haue bin held to reduce and reforme this people by other Lieutenants and Gouernors since that time The English Colonies beeing in some good measure reformed by the Statutes of Kilkenny did not vtterly fal away into Barbarisme againe till the warres of the two Houses had almost destroyed both these Kingdoms for in that miserable time the Irish found opportunity without opposition to banish the English Law and gouernment out of all the Prouinces and to confine it onely to the English Pale Howbeit in the mean time between the Gouernment of the Duke of Clarence and the beginning of those ciuill Warres of Yorke and Lancaster we finde that the State of England did sundry times resolue to proceede in this worke of reformation For first King Richard 2. sent ouer Sir Nicholas Dagworth to suruey the possessions of the Crowne to call to accompt the Officers of the reuennue Next to draw his English Subiects to manure defend their lands in Ireland he made that Ordinance against Absentees spoken of before Again he shewed an excellent example of Iustice vppon Sir Phillip Courtney being his lieutenant of that kingdome when he caused him to bee arrested by special Commissioners vpon complaint made of sundry greeuous oppressions and wrongs which during his Gouernment he had done vnto that people After this the Parliament of England did resolue that Thomas Duke of Glocester the Kings Vnkle should bee employed in the reformation and reducing of that Kingdome the Fame wherof was no sooner bruted in Ireland but all the Irishry were readie to submit them-selues before his comming so much the very Name of a great personage specially of a Prince of the blood did euer preuayle with this people But the King and his Minions who were euer iealous of this Duke of Glocester wold not suffer him to haue the honor of that seruice But the King himselfe thought it a worke worthy of his own presence pains and thereuppon Himselfe in person made those two royall iournies mentioned before At what time he receiued the submissions of all the Irish Lordes and Captaines who bounde themselues both by Indenture oath to become and continue his Loyall Subiects And withall laid a perticular proiect for a ciuill plantation of the Mountains and Maritime Counties betweene Dublin and wexford by remoouing all the Irish Septes from thence as apeareth by the couenants betweene the Earle Marshall of England and those Irish Septs which are before remembred and are yet preserued and remaine of Record in the Kings Remembrancers Office at westminster Lastly this King being present in Ireland tooke speciall care to supply and furnish the Courtes of Iustice with able and sufficient Iudges And to that end hee made that Graue and Learned Iudge Sir william Hankeford Chiefe Iustice of the kings bench heere who afterwards for his seruice in this Realme was made Chiefe Iustice of the Kings Bench in England by K. Henry 4. and did withall associate vnto him william Sturmy a well Learned man in the Law who likewise came out of England with the K. that the legal proceedings which wer out of order too as all other things in that Realme were might be amended and made formall according to the course and Presidents of England But all the good purposes proiects of this King were interrupted and vtterly defeated by his sodaine departure out of Ireland and vnhappy deposition from the Crowne of England HOwbeit King Henrie the fourth intending likewise to prosecute this Noble worke in the third yeare of his raigne made the Lord Thomas of Lancaster his second sonne Lieutenant of Ireland Who came ouer in person and accepted againe the submissions of diuers Irish Lords Captaines as is before remembred and held also a Parliament wherein hee gaue newe life to the Statutes of Kilkenny and made other good Lawes tending to the Reformation of the Kingdome But the troubles raysed against the King his Father in England drew him home again so soon as that seed of reformation tooke no roote at all neither had his seruice in that kinde any good effect or successe After this the State of England had no leisure to thinke of a generall reformation in this Realme till the ciuill dissentions of England were apeased and the peace of that kingdom setled by K.
yet remayning in Breminghams Tower made by william Fitz-warren Seneshall and Farmour of the Landes in Vlster seized into the Kings hands after the death of walter de Burgo Earle of Vlster from the fifth yeare of Edward the third vntill the eight yeare doe amount but to 900. and odde pounds at what time the Irishry had not made so great an inuasion vpon the earledome of Vlster as they had done in the time of King Richard the second As vaine a thing it is that I haue seen written in an ancient Manuscript touching the Customes of this realme in the time of King Edward the third that those dutics in those daies should yearely amount to 10000. Markes which by mine owne search and view of the Records heere I can iustly controll For vppon the late reducing of this ancient inheritance of the crown which had beene detained in most of the Port-Townes of this Realme for the space of a hundred yeares and vpwardes I tooke some paines according to the duty of my place to visâ— all the Pipe-Rolles wherein the Accompts of Customes are contained and found those duties aunswered in euery Port for 250. yeares together but did not find that at any time they did exceed a thousand pound Per annum and no maruell for the subsidie of Pondage was not then known and the greatest profite did arise by the Cocquet of Hides for Wooll and Wooll-fels were euer of little value in this Kingdome But now againe let vs see how the Martiall affayrs proceeded in Ireland Sir william winsor continued his gouerment till the latter end of the raign of King Edward the thirde keeping but not enlarging the English borders IN the beginning of the raigne of King Richard the second the State of England began to thinke of the recouery of Ireland For then was the first Statute made against Absentees commanding al such as had Land in Ireland to returne reside thereupon vppon paine to forfeite two third parts of the profit thereof Againe this King before himselfe intended to passe ouer committed the Gouernment of this Realme to such great Lordes successiuely as he did most loue and fauor first to the Earle of Oxford his Cheefe Minion whom he created Marquesse of Dublin and Duke of Ireland next to the Duke of Surrey his halfe Brother and lastly to the Lord Mortimer Earle of March and Vlster his Cosin and heyre apparant Among the Patent Rolles in the Tower the ninth yeare of Rich. the 2. we finde fiue hundred men at Armes at xij d. a peece Per diem and a 1000. A chers at vi pence a piece per diem appointed for the Duke of Ireland Super Conquestu illius terrae per duos annos for those are the wordes of that Record But for the other two Lieutenants I do not find the certain numbers wherof their armies did consist But certaine it is that they were scarse able to defend the English borders much lesse to reduce the whol Island For one of them namely the Earle of March was himselfe slain vpon the borders of Meth for reuenge of whose death the King himselfe made his second voyage into Ireland in the last yeare of his raigne For his first voyage in the eighteenth yeare of his raigne which was indeed a VoyageRoyall was made vpon another motiue and occasion which was this Vpon the vacancy of the Empire this King hauing married the King of Bohemiaes Daughter whereby hee had great alliance in Germany did by his Ambassadors solicit the Princes Electors to choose him Emperour but another being elected and his ambas sadors returned hee would needes know of them the cause of his repulse in that Competition they tolde him plainly that the Princes of Germanie did not thinke him fit to commaund the Empire who was neither able to hold that which his Ancestours had gained in France nor to rule his inso lent Subiects in England nor to Maister his rebellious people of Ireland This was enough to kindle in the heart of a young Prince a desire to performe some great enterprise And therefore finding it no fit time to attempt France he resolued to finish the Conquest of Ireland and to that end he leuied a mightie armie consisting of foure thousand men at Armes and 30000. Archers which was a sufficient power to haue reduced the whol Island if he had first broken the Irish with a warre and after established the English Lawes among them and not haue beene satisfied with their light submissions onely wherewith in all ages they haue mockt and abused the State of England But the Irish Lords knowing this to be a sure pollicie to dissolue the forces which they were not able to resist for their Ancestors had put the same trick and imposture vppon King Iohn and King Henry the second assoone as the King was arriued with his army which he brought ouer vnder S. Edwards Banner whose name was had in great veneration amongst the Irish they all made offer to submit themselues Whereupon the Lorde Thomas Mowbray Earle of Nottingham and Marshall of England was authorized by speciall Commission to receiue the homages Oaths of fidelity of all the Irishrie of Leinster And the King himselfe hauing receiued humble Letters from Oneale wherein hee styleth himselfe Prince of the Irishry in Vlster and yet acknoledgeth the King to be his Soueraign Lorde perpetuus Dominus Hiberniae remoued to Droghedab to accept the like submissions from the Irish of Vlster The men of Leinster namely Mac Murrogh O Byrne O Moore O Murrogh O Nolan and the cheefe of the Kinshelaghes in an humble and solemn manner did their homages made their Oaths of fidelity to the Earl Marshall laying aside their girdles their skeins and their Caps and falling downe at his feet vpon their knees Which whe they had performed the Earle gaue vnto each of them Osculum pacis Besides they were bound by feueral Indentures vpon great paines to bee paide to the Apostolique Chamber not onely to continue loyall subiects but that by a certaine day prefixed they and all their Sword men should clearely relinquish and giue vp vnto the King and his successors all their Landes and possessions which they held in Leinster and taking with them onely their mooueable goods shold serue him in his warres against his other Rebels In consideration whereof the King should giue them pay pensions during their liues and bestow the inheritance of all such lands vpon them as they shoulde recouer from the Rebels in any other part of the Realme And thereupon a pension of eighty Markes per annum was graunted to Art'Mac Murrogh chiefe of the Kauanaghes the enroulement whereof I found in the White Booke of the Exchequer heere And this was the effect of the seruice performed by the Earle Marshall by vertue of his Commission The King in like maner receiued the submissions of the Lords of Vlster namely O Neal O Hanlon Mac Donel
pretending that hee was a most able and willing person to performe seruice there because he had a great inheritance of his owne in Ireland namely the Earledom of Vlster and the Lordships of Conaght Meth by discent from Lionell Duke of Clarence We do not finde that this great Lord came ouer with any numbers of waged souldiers but it appeareth vpon what good termes hee tooke that Gouernment by the Couenants betweene the King and him which are recorded and confirmed by Acte of Parliament in Ireland and were to this effect 1. That he should be the Kings Lieutenant of Ireland for ten yeares 2. That to support the charge of that Countrey he should receiue al the kings reuennewes there both certaine and casual without accompt 3. That he should bee supplyed also with treasure out of England in this maner he should haue four thousand Markes for the first yeare whereof he should bee imprested 2000. li. before hand and for the other nine yeares hee should receiue 2000. li. per annum 4. That hee might Let to Ferme the Kings Landes and place and displace all Officers at his pleasure 5. That he might leuy and wage what numbers of men he thought fit 6. That he might make a Deputy and returne at his pleasure We cannot presume that this Prince kept any great army on foote aswell because his means out of England were so meane and those ill paide as appeareth by his passionate letter written to the Earl of Salisbury his brother in Law the Coppy whereof is Registred in the Story of this time as also because the whole Lande except the English Pale and some part of the Earledome of Vlster vppon the Sea Coasts were possest by the Irish. So as the Reuennew of the Kingdome which he was to receiue did amount to little He kept the Borders Marches of the Pale with much adoo he held many Parliaments wherein sundry Lawes were made for erecting of Castles in Louth Meth and Kildare to stop the incursions of the Irishrie And because the souldiers for want of pay were sessed and laide vppon the subiects against their willes vpon the prayer and importunitie of the Commons this extortion was declared to be High-Treason But to the end that some meanes might be raised to norish some forces for defence of the Pale by another Acte of Parliament euery twenty pound Land was charged with the furnishing and maintenance of one Archer on horsebacke Besides the natiue subiects of Ireland seeing the kingdome vtterly ruined did passe in such numbers into England as one Law was made in England to transmit them backe againe and another Law made heere to stop their passage in euery Port creeke Yet afterwards the greatest partes of the Nobility and Gentry of Meth past ouer into England and were slaine with him at wakefield in Yorkshire Lastly the State of England was so farre from sending an army to subdue the Irish at this time as among the Articles of greeuances exhibited by the Duke of Yorke against K. Henry the sixte this was one That diuers Lords about the King had caused his Highnesse to write Letters vnto some of his Irish enemies whereby they were encouraged to attempt the conquest of the said Land Which Letters the same Irish enemies had sent vnto the Duke maruailing greatlie that such Letters should be sent vnto them speaking therein great shame of the Realme of England After this when this great Lorde was returned into England and making claime to the Crowne beganne the Warre betwixt the two Houses It cannot bee conceiued but that the kingdome fell into a worse and weaker estate WHen Edward the fourth was setled in the kingdome of England he made his Brother George Du. of Clarence Lieutenant of Ireland This Prince was born in the Castle of Dublin during the Gouernment of his father the Duke of Yorke yet did hee neuer passe ouer into this kingdome to gouerne it in person though hee held the Lieutenancie many yeares But it is manifest that King Edward the fourth did not pay any army in Ireland during his raigne but the men of war did pay themselues by taking Coigne and Liuery vppon the Countrey which extortion grew so excessiue and intollerable as the Lord Tiptoft being Deputy to the Duke of Clarence was enforced to execute the Law vppon the greatest Earle in the Kingdome namely Desmond who lost his head at Drogheda for this offence Howbeit that the State might not seeme vtterly to neglect the defence of the Pale there was a fraternity of men at armes called the Brother-hood of S. George erected by Parlament the 14. of Edward the fourth consisting of thirteene the most Noble and woorthy persons within the foure shires Of the first foundation were Thomas Earle of Kildare Sir Rowland Eustace Lord of Port-lester and Sir Robert Eustace for the County of Kildare Robert Lord of Howth the Maior of Dublin and Sir Robert Dowdall for the County of Dublin the Vicount of Gormauston Edward Plunket Seneshall of Meth Alexander Plunket and Barna be Barnewale for the County of Meth the Maior of Drogheda Sir Lawraunce Taaffe and Riehard Bellewe for the Countie of Lowtb These and their successors were to meet yearely vpon S. Georges day and to choose one of themselues to be Captaine of that Brother-hood for the next yeare to come Which Captaine shold haue at his commaund 120. Archers on horsebacke 40. horsemen and forty Pages to suppresse Out-lawes and rebels The Wages of euery Archer should be vj. pence Per diem euery horseman v. d. Per diem and foure Markes Per annum And to pay these entertainments and to maintain this new fraternity there was granted vnto them by the same Act of Parlament a subsidie of Pondage out of all Marchandizes exported or imported thoroughout the Realme hydes and the goods of Free-men of Dublin Drogheda onely excepted These 200. men were al the standing forces that were then maintained in Ireland And as they were Natiues of the kingdom so the kingdom it selfe did pay their wages without expecting any treasure out of England BVt now the warres of Lancaster and Yorke being ended and Henrie the seuenth being in the actuall peaceable possession of the kingdome of England let vs see if this King did send ouer a Competent Armie to make a perfect Conquest of Ireland Assuredly if those two I dolles or counterfets which were set vp against him in the beginning of his raign had not found footing and followers in this Lande King Henrie the seuenth had sent neither horse nor foote hither but let the Pale to the Guard and defence of the fraternitie of Saint George which stood till the tenth year of his raigne And therefore vpon the erection of the first I doll which was Lambert the Priests Boy he transmitted no forces but sent ouer Sir Richard Edgecomb with Commission to take an Oath of
disquieted with popular Commotions and after that was more trobled with the factions that arose betweene his Minions the Princes of the bloud But at last he tooke a resolution to finish the Conquest of this Realm And to that end he made two Royall voyages hither Vpon the first he was deluded by the faigned submissions of the Irish but vpon the later when he was fully bent to prosecute the warre with effect he was diuerted drawn from hence by the return of the Duke of Lancaster into England and the generall defection of the whole realme AS for Henrie the fourth he beeing an Intruder vpon the Crowne of England was hindered from all forraigne actions by sundry Conspiracies and Rebellions at home moued by the house of Northumberland in the North by the Dukes of Surrey Exceter in the South and by Oxen Glendour in Wales so as he spent his short raigne in establishing and setling him selfe in the quiet possession of England and had neyther leisure nor opportunity to vndertake the final conquest of Ireland Much lesse could King Henry the fift perfourme that worke for in the second yeare of his raigne he transported an armie into France for the recouery of that kingdome and drewe ouer to the siedge of Harflew the Priour of Kilmaincham with 1500. Irish. In which great action this victorious Prince spent the rest of his life ANd after his death the two Noble Princes his Brothers the Duke of Bedford and Glocester who during the minority of King Henry the sixte had the Gouernment of the Kingdomes of England and France did employ all their Counsels and endeuors to perfect the Conquest of France the greater part whereof beeing gained by Henry the fift retained by the Duke of Bedford was againe lost by K. Henrie the sixt a manifest argument of his disability to finish the Conquest of this Land But when the ciuill Warre betweene the two Houses was kindled the Kings of England were so farre from reducing al the Irish vnder their Obedience as they drew out of Ireland to strengthen their parties al the Nobility and Gentry descended of English race which gaue opportunitie to the Irishry to inuade the Lands of the English Colonies and did hazard the losse of the whole kingdom For though the Duke of Yorke did while he liued in Ireland carrie himselfe respectiuely towards all the Nobility to win the generall loue of all bearing equall fauour to the Giraldines and the Butlers as appeared at the Christning of George duke of Clarence who was borne in the Castle of Dublin where he made both the Earle of Kildare and the Earle of Ormond his Gossips And hauing occasion diuers times to passe into England hee left the sworde with Kildare at one time and with Ormond at another when he lost his life at wakefield there were slaine with him diuers of both those families Yet afterwards those two Noble houses of Ireland did seuerally follow the two Royall houses of England the Giraldines adhering to the house of Yorke and the Butlers to the house of Lancaster Whereby it came to passe that not onely the principall Gentlemen of both those Sur-names but all their friendes and dependants did passe into England leauing their Lands and possessions to be ouer-run by the Irish. These impediments or rather impossibilities of finishing the Conquest of Ireland did continue till the Warres of Lancaster Yorke were ended which was about the 12. yeare of King Edward the fourth Thus hitherto the Kings of England were hindred from finishing this Conquest by great and apparant impediments Henrie the second by the rebellion of his sonnes King Iohn Henry the third Edward the second by the Barons warres Edward the first by his warres in wales and Scotland Edward the third and Henry the fift by the warres of France Richard the second Henry the fourth Henrie the sixt and Edward the fourth by Domestick contention for the Crowne of England it selfe BVt the fire of the ciuil warre being vtterly quenched and K. Edward the fourth setled in the peaceable possession of the Crowne of England what did then hinder that warlicke Prince from reducing of Ireland also First the whole Realme of England was miserably wasted depopulated impouerished by the late ciuil dissentions yet assoon as it had recouered it selfe with a little peace and rest this King raised an Army and reuiued the Title of France againe howbeit this Army was no sooner transmitted and brought into the fielde but the two Kings also were brought to an interview Whereupon partly by the faire and white promises of Lewes the 11. and partly by the corruption of some of King Edwards Minions the english forces were broken and dismissed King Edward returned into England where shortly after finding himselfe deluded and abused by the French he dyed with melancholy and vexation of spirit I Omit to speake of Richard the Vsurper who neuer got the quiet possession of England but was cast out by Henry the seauenth within two yeares and a halfe after his Vsurpation ANd for King Henry the seauenth himselfe thogh he made that happy vnion of the two houses yet for more then half the space of his raign there were walking Spirites of the house of Yorke aswell in Ireland as in England which he could not coniure downe without expence of some bloud and Treasure But in his later times hee did wholly studye to improue the Reuennues of the Crowne in both Kingdomes with an intent to prouide meanes for some great action which he intēded which doubtlesse if hee had liued woulde rather haue improued a iourny into Fraunce then into Ireland because in the eyes of all men it was a fayrer enterprize THerefore King Henry the eight in the beginning of his raigne made a Voyage Royall into France wherein he spent the greatest part of that treasure which his Father had frugally reserued perhaps for the like purpose In the latter end of his raign he made the like iourney being enricht with the Reuennewes of the Abbey Lands But in the middle time between these two attemptes the great alteration which hee made in the State ecclesiasticall caused him to stand vpon his guard at home the Pope hauing sollicited al the Princes of Christendom to reuenge his quarrell in that behalf And thus was King Henry the eight tained and diuerted from the absolute reducing of the kingdom of Ireland LAstly the infancie of King Edward the sixt and the Couerture of Qu. Mary which are both Non abilities in the Lawe did in fact disable them to accomplish the Conquest of Ireland SO as now this great worke did remaine to be performed by Queene ELIZABETH who though shee were diuerted by suppressing the open rebellion in the North by preuenting diuers secret Conspiracies against her person by giuing ayds to the French and States of the Low-Countries by maintaining a Nauall war with Spaine for
of Kildare to bee arrested and committed to the Castle of Dublin indited imprisoned manie other disobedient subiects called in and cancelled such Charters as wer lately before resumed and proceeded euery way so roundly and seuerely as the Nobility which were wont to suffer no controulment did much distast him and the Commons who in this Land haue euer bin more deuoted to their immediate Lords heer whom they saw euery day then vnto their Soueraigne Lord King whom they neuer sawe spake ill of this Gouernor as of a rigorous cruel man though in troth hee were a singular good Iusticer and if he had not dyed in the second yeare of his gouernment was the likeliest person of that Age to haue reformed and reduced the degenerate English Colonies to their natural obedience of the crown of England THus much then wee may obserue by the way that Maurice Fitz-Thomas the first Earle of Desmond was the first English Lord that imposed Coign and Liuery vpon the Kings subiectes and the first that raised his estate to immoderate greatnesse by that wicked Extortion and Oppression that he was the first that reiected the English Lawes and Gouernement and drew others by his example to do the like that he was the first Peere of Ireland that refused to come to the Parlament summoned by the Kinges Authority that he was the first that made a diuision and distinction betweene the English of bloud and the English of birth AND as this Earle was the onelie Authour and first Actour of these mischiefes which gaue the greatest impediment to the full Conquest of Ireland So it is to bee noted that albeit others of his ranke afterwardes offended in the same kinde whereby their Houses were many times in danger of ruin yet was there not euer any Noble house of English race in Ireland vtterly destroyed and finally rooted out by the hand of Iustice but the house of Desmond onely nor any Peere of this Realme euer put to death though diuers haue bin attainted but Tho Fitz-Iames the Earle of Desmond only and onely for those wicked Customes brought in by the first Earle and practised by his posterity though by seuerall Lawes they were made High-Treason And therfore though in the 7. of Edward the 4. during the Gouernment of the Lord Tiptoft Earle of worcester both the Earles of Desmond and Kildare were attainted by Parlament at Drogheda for alliance and fostering with the Irish and for taking Coign and Liuery of the Kings subiects yet was Desmond only put to death for the Earle of Kildare receiued his pardon And albeit the sonne of this Earl of Desmond who lost his head at Drogheda were restored to the Earldom yet could not the kings grace regenerate obedience in that degenerate house but it grew rather more wilde and barbarous then before For from thencefoorth they reclaimed a strange priuiledge That the Earles of Desmond should neuer come to any Parliament or Graund-Counsell or vvithin any walled towne but at their will and pleasure Which pretended Priuiledge Iames Earle of Desmond the Father of Girald the last Earle renounced and surrendred by his Deed in the Chancery of Ireland in the 32. of Henry the eight At what time among the meer Irishry hee submitted himselfe to Sir Anthony Saint-Leger then Lord Deputy tooke an Oath of Allegiance Couenanted that he would suffer the law of England to bee executed in his Countrey and assist the Kinges Iudges in their Circuits and if any Subsidies should be granted by Parlament he would permit the same to be leuied vppon his Tenants and followers Which Couenants are as straunge as the priuiledge it selfe spoken of before But that which I conceiue most worthy of Obseruation vpon the fortunes of the house of Desmond is this that as Maurice Fitz-Thomas the first Earl did first raise the greatnes of that house by Irish exactions and oppressions so Girald the last Earle did at last ruine and reduce it to nothing by vsing the like extortions For certain it is that the first occasion of his rebellion grew from hence that when he attempted to charge the Decies in the County of waterford with Coigne and Liuerie Blacke Rents and Cosheries after the Irish maner hee was resisted by the Earle of Ormond and vppon an encounter ouerthrowne and taken prisoner which made his heart so vnquiet as it easily conceiued treason against the Crowne and broght forth actuall and open Rebellion wherein he perished himselfe and made a final extinguishment of his house and honour Oppression and extortion did maintain the greatnesse and oppression and extortion did extinguish the greatnesse of that house Which may well be exprest by the old Embleme of a Torch turned downewards with this word Quod me alit extinguit NOw let vs returne to the course of reformation helde and pursued heere after the death of Sir Raphe Vfford which hapned in the twentieth yeare of K. Edward 3. After which time albeit all the power and Counsell of England was conuerted towards the Conquest of Fraunce yet was not the worke of reformation altogether discontinued For in the 25. yeare of K. Edward the third Sir Thomas Rookeby another worthy Gouernor whome I haue once before named held a Parlament at Kilkenny wherein many excellent Lawes were propounded and enacted for the reducing of the English Colonies to their Obedience which Lawes we find enrolled in the Remembrauncers Office heere and differ not much in substaunce from those other statutes of Kilkenny which not long after during the Gouernement of Lionell Duke of Clarence were not only enacted but put in execution This Noble Prince hauing married the Daughter and Heire of Vlster and beeing likewise a Coparcener of the County of Kilkenny in the 36. year of King Edward the thirde came ouer the Kings Lieutenant attended with a good retinue of martiall men as is before remembred and a Graue and Honorable Counsell aswel for peace as for warre But because this Armie was not of a Competent strength to breake and subdue all the Irishry although he quieted the borders of the English Pale and helde all Ireland in awe with his name and presence The principall seruice that hee intended was to reforme the degenerate English Colonies and to reduce them to obedience of the English Lawe and Magistrate To that end in the fortith yeare of King Edward the third he held that famous Parlament at Kilkenny wherein many notable lawes wer enacted which doo shew and lay open For the Law doth best discouer enormities how much the English Colonies were corrupted at that time and doe infallibly prooue that which is laide down before That they were wholy degenerate and faln away from their obedience For first it appeareth by the Preamble of these Lawes that the English of this Realme before the comming ouer of Lionel Duke of Clarence were at that time becom meere Irish in their Language Names Apparrell and all their maner of liuing and
had reiected the English Lawes and submitted themselus to the Irish with whom they had many Mariages and Alliances which tended to the vtter ruine destruction of the commonwealth Therefore alliaunce by Marriage Nurture of Infants and Gossipred with the Irish are by this Statute made High-treason Againe if anie man of English race should vse an Irish Name Irish Language or Irish Apparrell or any other guise or fashion of the Irish if he had Lands or Tenements the same should be seized til he had giuen security to the Chancery to conform himself in al points to the English maner of liuing And if he had no Lands his bodie was to be taken and imprisoned til he found Sureties as aforesaide Againe it was established and commanded that the English in all their Controuersies should bee ruled and gouerned by the common Lawe of England and if any did submit himselfe to the Brehon Law or March law he should be adiudged a Traitor Againe because the English at that time made warre and peace with the bordering enemy at their pleasure they were expresly prohibited to leauie warre vpon the Irish without speciall warrant and direction from the State Againe it was made paenall to the English to permit the Irish to Creaght or graze vpon their Landes to present them to Ecclesiasticall Benefices to receiue them into any Monasteries or Religious Houses or to entertaine any of their Minstrels Rimers or Newes-tellers to impose or sesse any Horse or Footvppon the English Subiects against their willes was made felony And because the great Liberties or Franchises spoken of before were become Sanctuaries for all Malefactours expresse power was giuen to the Kinges Sheriffes to enter into all franchises and there to apprehend all Fellons and Traitours And lastly because the great Lordes when they leuied forces for the publick seruice did lay vnequall burdens vpon the Gentlemen and Free-holders it was ordained that foure Wardens of the peace in euery Countie should set downe and appoint what men and Armour euery man should beare according to his Free-hold or other ability of estate THese and other Lawes tending to a generall reformation were enacted in that Parliament And the Execution of these Lawes together with the Presence of the Kings Son made a notable alteration in the State and Manners of this people within the space of seauen yeares which was the tearme of this Princes Lieutenancy For all the Discourses that I haue seene of the Decay of Ireland doe agree in this that the presence of the Lord Lionel and these Statutes of Kilkenny did restore the English gouern ment in the degenerate Colonies for diuers yeares And the Statute of the tenth of Henry the seuenth which reuiueth and confirmeth the Statutes of Kilkenny doth confirme as much For it declareth that as long as these Lawes were put in vve and execution this Lande continued in prosperity and honor and since they were not executed the Subiectes rebelled and digressed from their allegeance and the Land fell to ruine and desolation And withall wee finde the effect of these Lawes in the Pipe-Rolles and Plea-Rolles of this Kingdome For from the 36. of Edward 3. when this Prince entred into his Gouernment till the beginning of Richard the second his Raigne we find the Reuennue of the Crowne both certaine and casuall in Vlster Munster and Conaght accounted for and that the Kings Writ did run and the Common-Law was executed in euery of these Prouinces I ioyne with these Lawes the personall presence of the Kinges Son as a concurrent cause of this Reformation Because the people of this Land both English Irish out of a naturall pride did euer loue desire to be gouerned by great persons And therefore I may heere iustly take occasion to note that first the absence of the Kings of England and nexte the absence of those great Lords who were inheritors of those mighty Seigniories of Leinster Vlster Conaght and Meth haue bin maine causes why this kingdome was not reduced in so many ages TOuching the absence of our Kinges three of them onely since the Norman Conquest haue made royall iournies into this Land namely K. Henrie the second King Iobn and king Richard the second And yet they no sooner arriued heere but that all the Irishry as if they had bin but one man submitted them-selues tooke Oaths of fidelity and gaue pledges hostages to continue loyall And if any of those Kings hadde continued heere in person a competent time till they had setled both English Irish in their seuerall possessions and had set the Law in a due course throughout the Kingdom these times wherein we liue had not gained the honor of the finall Conquest and reducing of Ireland For the King saith Salomon dissipat omne malum intuitu suo But when Moses was absent in the Mount the people committed Idolatry when there was no king in Israel euery man did what seemed best in his own eies And therfore when Alexander had conquered the East part of the world and demaunded of one what was the fitest place for the seat of his Empire he brought and laid a dry hide before him and desired him to set his foote on the one side thereof which being done all the other parts of the Hide did rise vp but when he did set his foot in the middle of the Hide all the other parts lay flat and euen Which was a liuely demonstration that if a Prince keep his residence in the Border of his Dominions the remoate parts will eafily rise and rebell against him but if he make the Center therof his seat he shall easily keepe them in peace and obedience TOuching the absence of the great Lords All Writers doe impute the decay and losse of Leinster to the absence of these English Lords who maried the fiue Daughters of william Marshall Earle of Pembroke to whom that great Seigniory discended when his fiue sonnes who inherited the same successiuely and during their times held the same in peace obedience to the Law of England were all dead without Issue which hapned about the fortith yeare of King Henrie the third for the eldest beeing married to Hugh Bigot Earle of Norfolke who in right of his wife had the Marshalship of England The second to VVarren de Mountchensey whose sole daughter and heire was matcht to william de Valentia halfe Brother to K. Henrie 3. who by that match was made Earle of Pembroke The third to Gilbert de Clare earl of Glocester The fourth to william Ferrers Earle of Darby The fift to william de Bruce Lord of Brecknocke These great Lordes hauing greater inheritances in their owne right in England then they hadde in Ireland in right of their Wiues and yet each of the Coparceners had an entire Countie allotted for her purparty as is before declared could not bee drawne to make their personal
established the composition of the Pale in liewe of Purueyance and Sesse of Souldiers These were good proceedinges in the worke of Reformation but there were many defects omissions withall for though he reduced all Conaght into Counties he neuer sent any Justices of Assize to visite that Prouince but placed Cōmissioners there who gouerned it onely in A course of discretion part Martiall and part Ciuill Againe in the Law that dooth abolish the Irish Captain-ships he gaue waie for the reuiuing thereof againe by excepting such as should be granted by Letters Patentes from the Crowne which exception did indeede take away the force of that Law For no gouernour during Queene Elizabeths raign did refuse to grant any of those Captain-ships to any pretended Irish Lord who would Desire and with his thankefulnesse Deserue the same And againe though the greatest part of Vlster were vested by Act of Parliament in the actuall and reall possession of the Crowne yet was there neuer any seisure made thereof nor any part thereof brought into charge but the Irish were permitted to take all the profits without rendering any dutie or acknowledgement for the same and though the Name of O Neale were damned by that act and the assuming thereof made High-treason yet after that was Tirlagh Leynnagh suffered to beare that Title and to intrude vpon the possessions of the Crown and yet was often entertained by the State with fauour Neither were these lands resumed by the Act of 11. of Elizabeth neglected onely for the Abbaies and religious Houses in Tirone Tirconnell and Fermannagh though they were dissolued in the 33. of Henry 8. were neuer surueied nor reduced into charge but were continually possest by the religious persons vntill his Maiestie that now is came to the Crowne and that which is more strāge the Donations of Byshopprickes being a flower of the Crowne which the Kings of England did euer retaine in all their Dominions when the Popes vsurped Authority was at the highest There were three Bishopprickes in Vlster namely Derry Rapho and Clogher which neither Queene Elizabeth nor any of her Progenitors did euer bestow though they were the vndoubted Patrons thereof So as King Iames was the first king of England that did euer supply those Sees with Byshops which is an argument eyther of great negligence or of great weaknesse in the State and Gouernours of those times And thus farre proceeded Sir Henry Sidney AFter him Sir Iohn Perrot who held the last Parliament in this Kingdome did aduance the Reformation in three principall points First in establishing the great composition of Conaght in which seruice the wisedome and industry of Sir Richard Bingham did concurre with him next in reducing the vnreformed partes of Vlster into seauen shires namely Ardmagh Monahan Tirone Coleraine Deuegall Fermannagh Cauan though in his time the Law was neuer executed in these new Counties by any Sheriffes or Iustices of Assize but the people left to be ruled still by their own barbarous Lords and Lawes And lastly by vesting in the Crowne the Lands of Desmond and his Adherents in Mounster and planting the same with English though that plantation were imperfect in many points AFter Sir Iohn Perrot Sir william Fitzwilliams did good seruice in two other points First in raising a composition in Mounster and then in setling the possessions both of the Lords and Tenantes in Monahan which was one of the last Acts of State tending to the reformation of the Ciuill Gouernment that was performed in the raigne of Queene ELIZABETH Thus we see by what degrees what pollicy and successe the Gouernors of this Land from time to time since the beginning of the raigne of King Edward 3. haue endeuored to reforme and reduce this people to the perfect obedience of the Crowne of England And we find that before the Ciuill Warres of Yorke and Lancaster they did chiefely endeuour to bring backe the degenerate English Colonies to their Duty and Allegeaunce not respecting the meer Irish whom they reputed as Aliens or Enemies of the Crowne But after King Henry 7. had vnited the Roses they labored to reduce both English and Irish together which worke to what passe and perfection it was brought in the latter end of Queen Elizabeths raign hath bin before declared Whereof sometimes when I doe consider I do in mine owne conceit compare these later Gouernors who went about to reforme the Ciuill Affairs in Ireland vnto some of the Kings of Israel of whom it is saide That they were good Kings but they did not cut downe the Groues and High places but suffered the people still to burne Incense commit Idolatry in them so Sir Anthony Saint-Leger the Earle of Sussex sir Henry Sidney sir Iohn Perrot were good Gouernours but they did not abolish the Irish Customes nor execute the Lawe in the Irish Countries but suffered the people to worship their barbarous Lordes and to remaine vtterly ignorant of their Duties to God and the King AND now am I come to the happy raigne of my most Gracious Lord Maister K. Iames in whose time as there hath been a concurrence of many great Felicities so this among others may be numbred in the first ranke that all the Defects in the Gouernment of Ireland spoken of before haue beene fully supplied in the first nine yeares of his raigne In which time there hath bin more done in the worke reformation of this Kingdome then in the 440. yeares which are past since the Conquest was first attempted Howbeit I haue no purpose in this Discourse to set forth at large all the proceedings of the State heere in reforming of this Kingdom since his Maiesty came to the Crowne for the parts and passages thereof are so many as to expresse them fully woulde require a seuerall Treatise Besides I for my part since I haue not flattered the former times but haue plainely laid open the negligence and errors of euery Age that is past woulde not willingly seeme to flatter the present by amplifying the diligence and true Iudgement of those Seruitours that haue laboured in this Vineyard since the beginning of his Maiesties happy raigne I shall therefore summarily without any amplication at all shewe in what manner and by what degrees all the defects which I haue noted before in the Gouernment of this Kingdome haue bin supplied since his Maiesties happy raigne beganne and so conclude these obseruations concerning the State of Ireland FIrst then touching the Martiall affayres I shall neede to say little in regard that the Warre which finished the Conquest of Ireland was ended almost in the instant when the crown descended vpon his Maiesty and so there remained no occasion to amēd the former errors committed in the prosecution of the warre Howbeit sithence his Maiesty hath still maintained an Army heere aswell For a Seminary of Martiall Men as to Giue strength and countenance to the Ciuil Magistrate I may iustly obserue that this
according to the examples before recited they had reduced as well the Irish Countries as the English Colonies vnder one forme of ciuil gouernment as now they are the Meres Bounds of the Marches and Borders had beene long since worne out and forgotten for it is not fit as Cambrensis writeth that a King of an Islande should haue any Marches or Borders but the foure Seas both Nations had beene in corporated and vnited Ireland had beene entirely Conquered Planted and Improoued and returned a rich Reuennew to the Crowne of England THE next error in the Ciuill pollicy which hindered the perfection of the Conquest of Ireland did consist in the Distribution of the Landes and possessions which were woonne and conquered from the Irish. For the Scopes of Land which were graunted to the first Aduenturers were too Large and the Liberties and Royalties which they obtained therein were too great for Subiects though it stood with reason that they should be rewarded liberally out of the fruites of their owne Labours since they did Militare proprijs stipendijs and receiued no pay from the Crowne of England Notwithstanding there ensued diuers inconuiences that gaue great impediment to the Conquest FIrst the Earle Strongbow was entituled to the whole Kingdom of Leinster partly by Inuasion and partly by Marriage albeit hee surrendred the same entirely to King Henrie the second his Soueraigne for that with his license hee came ouer and with the Ayde of his Subiects hee had gayned that great inheritance yet did the K. re-grant backe againe to him and his heyres all that Prouince reseruing onely the Citty of Dublin the Cantreds next adioyning with the Maritime Townes and principall Forts Castles Next the same King granted to Robert Fitz-Stephen and Miles Cogan the whole Kingdome of Corke from Lismore to the Sea To Phillip le Bruce he gaue the whole Kingdome of Limericke with the Donation and Byshopprickes and Abbeyes except the Citie and one Cantred of Land adioyning To Sir Hugh de Lacy all Meth. To Sir Iohn De Courcy all Vlster to william Burke Fitz-Adelm the greatest part of Conaght In like manner Sir Thomas de Clare obtained a graunt of all Thomond and Otho de Grandison of all Tipperary and Robert le Poer of the territory of VVaterford the Citty it selfe and the Cantred of the Oastmen only excepted And thus was all Ireland Cantonized among tenne persons of the English Nation And thogh they had not gained the possession of one third part of the whole Kingdom yet in Title they were Owners and Lords of all so as nothing was left to bee graunted to the Natiues And therefore we do not find in any Record or storie for the space of three hundred yeares after these Aduenturers first ariued in Ireland that any Irish Lorde obtained a grant of his Country from the Crowne but onely the King of Thomond who had a grant but during King Henry the third his Minority and Rotherick O Connor King of Conaght to whom King Henrie the second before this distribution made did graunt as is before declared Vt sit Rex sub eo moreouer Vt teneat terram suam Conactiae it a bene inpace sicut tenuit antequam Dominus Rex intravet Hiberniam And whose successour in the 24. of Henrie the third when the Bourkes had made a strong plantation there had welny expelled him out of his territory he came ouer into England as Matth. Paris writeth and made complaint to King Henrie the third of this inuasion made by the Bourkes vppon his Land insisting vppon the gâ—auntes of King Henrie the second and King Iohn and affirming that he had duely paide an yearely tribute of fiue thousand marks for his Kingdome Whereupon the King called vnto him the Lord Maurice Fitz-Girald who was then Lorde Iustice of Ireland and President in the Court and commanded him that he should roote out that vniust plantation which Hubert Earle of Kent had in the time of his greatnesse planted in those parts and wrote withall to the greatmen of Ireland to remooue the Bourkes and to establish the King of Conaght in the quiet possession of his Kingdome Howbeit I doe not read that the King of Englands commandement or direction in this behalfe was euer put in execution For the troth is Richard de Burgo had obtained a graunt of all Conaght after the death of the King of Conaght then liuing For which he gaue a thousand pounde as the Record in the Tower reciteth the third of Henry 3. claus 2. And besides our great English Lords coulde not endure that any Kings should raigne in Ireland but themselues nay they could hardly endure that the Crown of England it selfe should haue any Iurisdiction or power ouer them For many of these Lordes to whome our Kings had granted these petty kingdomes did by Vertue and colour of these Grants claime and exercise Iura Regalia within their Territories insomuch as there were no lesse theÌ„ eight Counties Palatines in Ireland at one time For VVilliam Marshall Earle of Pembroke who married the daughter and heyre of Strongbow being Lord of all Leynster had Royall Iurisdiction thoroughout al that Prouince This great Lord had fiue sonnes and fiue daughters euery of his sonnes enioyed that Seigniory successiuely and yet al died without Issue Then this great Lordship was broken and diuided pertition made betweene the fiue daughters who were married into the Noblest Houses of England The Countie of Catherlogh was allotted to the eldest VVexford to the second Kilkenny to the third Kildare to the fourth the greatest part of Leix nowe called the Queenes County to the fift In euery of these portions the Coparceners seuerally exercised the same Iurisdiction Royall which the Earle Marshall and his Sonnes had vsed in the whole Prouince Whereby it came to passe that there were fiue County Palatines erected in Leinster Then had the Lord of Meth the same Royall libertie in all that Territory the Earle of Vlster in all that Prouince and the Lorde of Desmond and Kerry within that County All these appeare vppon Record and were all as ancient as the time of King Iohn onely the liberty of Tipperarie which is the onely Liberty that remaineth at this day was granted to Iames Butler the first Earle of Ormond in the third yeare of King Edward the third These absolute Palatines made Barons Knights did exercise high Iustice in all points within their Territories erected Courts for Criminall and ciuill Causes and for their owne Reuennews in the same forme as the Kings Courts wer established at Dub lin made their own Iudges Seneshals Sheriffes Corroners and Escheators so as the Kinges Writt did not run in those Counties which took vp more then two partes of the English Colonies but onely in the Church Lands lying within the same which were
first hauing bin Generall of the Irish forces not only in this kingdom but in the Wars of Scotland wales and Gascoigne And therefore Maurice Fitz-Thomas of Desmond beeing then the most actiue Nobleman in this realm tooke vpon him the chiefe command in this Warre for the support whereof the Reuennue of this Lande was farre too short and yet no supply of Treasure was sent out of England Then was there no mean to maintain the Army but by Sessing the soldiers vppon the Subiect as the Irish were wont to impose their Bonaught Whereupon grewe that wicked Extortion of Coigne and Liuerie spoken of before which in short time banished the greatest part of the Free-holders out of the County of Kerrie Limerick Corke and waterford Into whose possessions Desmond and his Kinsmen Alies and Followers which were then more Irish then English did enter and appropriate these Lands vnto themselues Desmond himselfe taking what scopes hee best liked for his demesnes in euery Countrey and reseruing an Irish Seigniory out of the rest And heere that I may verifie maintaine by matter of Record that which is before deliuered touching the Nature of this wicked Extortion called Coigne and Liuery and the manifolde mischiefes it did produce I thinke it fit and pertinent to insert the preamble of the Statute of the 10. of Henry 7. c. 4. not printed but recorded in Parlament Rols of Dublin in these words At the request supplication of the Commons of this Land of Ireland that where of long time there hath bin vsed and exacted by the Lords and Gentlemen of this Land many and diuers damnable customes vsages which bin called Coigne and Liuery and Pay that is Horsemeat and Mansmeat for the finding of their Horsemen and Footmen and ouer that 4. d. or 6. d. daily to euery of them to be had and paide of the poore Earth-Tillers and Tenants inhabitants of the saide Land without any thing doing or paying therefore Besides manie Murders Robberies Rapes other manifold extortions oppressions by the saide Horsemen and Footmen dayly and mightily committed done which bin the principall causes of the desolation destruction of the said Land hath brought the same into Ruine and Decay so as the most part of the English Free-holders and Tenants of this land bin departed out thereof some into the Realme of England and other some to other strange Landes whereupon the foresaide Lordes and Gentlemen of this Land haue intruded into the saide Free-holders and Tenants inheritances and the same keepeth and occupieth as their owne inheritances and setten under them in the same Land the Kings Irish Enemies to the diminishing of Holie Churches Rites the disherison of the King his obedient subiects and the vtter ruine and desolation of the Land For reformation whereof be it enacted That the King shall receiue a Subsidie of 26. s. 8. d. out of euerie 120. acres of arrable land manured c. But to return to Tho Fitz-Maurice of Desmond By this extortion of Coigne and Liuery he suddenly grewe from a meane to a mighty estate insomuch as the Baron Finglas in his discourse of the Decay of Ireland affirmeth that his ancient inheritance beeing not one thousand markes yearely he became able to dispend euery way ten thousand pounds per annum These possessions being thus vnlawfully gotten could not bee maintained by the iust and honorable law of England which would haue restored the true Owners to their Land againe And therefore this Greatman found no meanes to continue vphold his ill-purchased greatnesse but by reiecting the English Law Gouernment and assuming in lieu therof the barbarous customs of the Irish. And heereupon followed the defection of those foure shires containing the greatest part of Munster from the obedience of the Law In like manner saith Baron Finglas the Lord of Tipperary perceiuing how well the house of Desmond hadde thriued by Coigne and Liuerie and Other Irish exactions began to holde the like course in the Counties of Tipperary and Kilkenny whereby he got great scopes of Land specially in Ormond and raised many Irish exactions vpon the English Free-holders there which made him so potent absolut among thē as at that time they knew no other Lawe then the will of their Lord. Besides finding that the Earle of Desmond excluded the ordinary Ministers of Iustice vnder colour of a Royall Liberty which he claimed in the Counties of Kerry Corke and waterford by a graunt of King Edward the first as appeareth in a Quo warranto brought against him Anno 1. Edw. 1. the Record wherof remaineth in Breminghams Tower among the common Plea-Rolles there This Lord also in the third of Edward the thirde obtained a Graunt of the like Liberty in the County of Tipperary whereby he got the Lawe into his owne hands shut out the Common Law and Iustice of the Realme And thus we see that all Munster fell away from the English Lawe and Gouernment in the end of King Edward 2. his raigne and in the beginning of the raigne of King Edward the third Againe about the same time viz in the 20. yeare of King Edward the second when the State of England was well-ny ruined by the Rebellion of the Barons and the Gouernment of Ireland vtterly neglected there arose in Leinster one of the Cauanaghes named Donald Mac Art who named himselfe Mac Murrogh King of Leinster and possessed himselfe of the Countie of Catherlogh and of the greatest part of the County of wexford And shortly after Lisagh O Moore called himselfe O Moore tooke 8. Castles in one Euening destroyed Dunamase the principall house of the L. Mortimer in Leix recouered that whole Countrey De seruo Dominus de subiecto princeps effectus saith Friar Clynne in his Annalles Besides the Earle of Kildare imitating his Cosin of Desmond did not omit to make the like vse of Coigne Liuery in Kildare and the West part of Meth which brought the like Barbarisme into those parts And thus a great part of Leinster was lost and fell away from the Obedience of the Crowne neere about the time before expressed Againe in the seauenth yeare of King Edward the third the Lord VVilliam Bourke Earle of Vlster and Lorde of Conaght was treacherously murdered by his owne Squires at Knockefergus leauing behinde him Vnicam vnius annifiliam saith Friar Clynne Immediately vpon the murder committed the Countesse with her yong daughter fledde into England so as the Gouernment of that Countrey was wholly neglected vntil that young Ladie beeing married to Lionell Duke of Clarence that Prince cam ouer with an Army to recouer his wiues inheritance and to reforme this Kingdom Anno 36. of Edward the third But in the meane time what became of that great inheritance both in Vlster Conaght Assuredly in Vlster the Sept of Hugh Boy O Neal then possessing Glaucoukeyn and Killeightra in Tyrone tooke the
opportunity and passing ouer the Banne did first expell the English out of the Barony of Tuscard which is nowe called the Rout and likewise out of the Glynnes and other Lands vp as farre as Knockfergus which Countrey or extent of Lande is at this day called the lower Clan Hugh-Boy And shortly after that they came vp into the great Ardes which the Latine writers call Altitudines Vltoniae and was then the inheritaunce of the Sauages by whom they were valiantly resisted for diuers yeares but at last for want of Castles and fortifications for the saying of Henrie Sauage mentioned in euery Story is very memorable That a Castle of Bones was better then a Castle of Stones the English were ouer-run by the multitude of the Irishry So as about the thirtith of K. Edw. 3. some few yeares before the arriuall of the Duke of Clarence the Sauages were vtterly driuen out of the Great Ardes into a little nooke of land neer the Riuer of Strangford where they now possesse a little Territory called the little Ards and their greater patrimony tooke the name of the vpper Clan Hugh-Boy from the Sept of Hugh-Boy O Neale who became Inuaders thereof FOr Conaght some yonger branches of the Family of the Bourkes being planted there by the Red-Earle his Ancestors seeing their Chiefe to bee cut off and dead without Heire-male and no man left to gouern or protect that Prouince intruded presently into all the Earles Lands which ought to haue bin seized into the kings handes by reason of the minoritie of the heire And within a short space two of the most potent among them diuided that great Seigniory betwixt thē the one taking the name of Mac william Oughter and the other of Mac william Fighter as if the Lord william Bourk the last Earle of Vlster had lefte two sonnes of one name behinde him to inherit that Lordship in course of Gauelkinde But they well knewe that they were but Intruders vppon the Kings possession during the minority of the heire they knew those lands were the rightfull inheritance of that young Lady and consequently that the Law of England woulde speedily euict them out of their possession therefore they held it the best policy to cast off the yoake of English Law and to become meere Irish and according to their example drew al the rest of the English in that Prouince to do the like so as from thenceforth they suffered their possessions to run in course of Tanistry and Gauel-kinde They changed their names language and apparrell and all their ciuil manners and Customes of liuing Lastly about the 25. yeare of King Edward the third Sir Richard de Clarè was slaine in Thomond and al the English Colonies there vtterly supplanted Thus in that space of time which was betweene the tenth yeare of king Edward the second and the 30. yeare of King Edward the third I speak within compasse by the concurrence of the mischieses before recited all the old English Colonies in Munster Conaght and Vlster more then a third part of Leinster became degenerat fell away from the Crowne of England so as onely the foure Shyres of the English Pale remained vnder the Obedience of the Lawe and yet the Borders and Marches thereof were growne vnruly and out of order too being subiect to Blacke-Rents and Tribute of the Irish which was a greater defection then when tenne of twelue Tribes departed and fell away from the Kings of Iuda But was not the State of England sensible of this losse and dishonour Did they not endeuor to recouer the Land that was lost and to reduce the subiects to their Obedience Truely King Edward the second by the incursions of the Scottish Nation and by the insurrection of his Barons who raised his wife and his Sonne against him and in the end deposed him was diuerted and vtterly disabled to reforme the disorders of Ireland But assoone as the crown of England was transferred to K. Edw. 3. though hee were yet in his minority the State there beganne to looke into the desperate estate of thinges heere And finding such a general defection Letters were sent from the King to the great men and Prelates requiring them particularly to swear fealty to the Crowne of England Shortly after Sir Anthony Lucie a person of great authority in England in those daies was sent ouer to work a reformation in this Kingdome by a seuere course and to that ende the King wrote expresly to the Earle of Vlster and others of the Nobilitie to assist him as is before remembered presently vpon his arriual he arrested Maurice Fitz-Thomas Earle of Desmond and Sir william Bremingham and committed them prisoners to the Castle of Dublin where Sir william Bremingham was executed for treason though the Earle of Desmond were left to Mainprize vpon condition hee should appeare before the King by a certain day and in the meane time to continue loyall AFter this the King being aduertised that the ouer-large Graunts of Lands and Liberties made to the Lords of English Bloude in Ireland made them so insolent as they scorned to obey the Law and the Magistrate did absolutely resume all such Crants as is before declared But the Earle of Desmond aboue al men found himselfe grieued with this resumption or Repeale of Liberties and declared his dislike discontentment insomuch as he did not only refuse to come to a Parliament at Dublin summoned by Sir william Morris Deputie to the L. Iohn Darcy the kings Lieutenant But as we haue said before he raised such dissention betweene the English of bloud and the English of birth as the like was neuer seen from the time of the first planting of our Nation in Ireland And in this factious and seditious humour hee drewe the Earle of Kildare and the rest of the nobility with the Cittizens and Burgesses of the principall Townes to hold a seuerall Parliament by themselues at Kilkenny where they framed certaine Articles against the Deputy transmitted the same into England to the King Heereupon Sir Raphe Vfford who had lately before married the Countesse of Vlster a man of courage and seuerity was made Lord Iustice who forth with calling a Parliament sent a speciall commandement to the Earle of Desmond to appeare in that great Councel but the Earle wilfully refused to come Whereupon the Lord Iustice raised the Kings Standard and marching with an Army into Munster seized into the Kings handes all the possessions of the Earle took and executed his principall followers Sir Eustace le Poer Sir william Graunt Sir Iohn Cotterell enforced the Earle himselfe to flye and lurke till 26. Noblemen and Knights became Mainpernors for his appearance at a certaine day prefixed But he making default the second time the vttermost aduantage was taken against his sureties Besides at the same time this Lord Iustice caused the Earle
Henry 7. For albeit in the time of King Henry 6. Richard duke of York a Prince of the blood of great wisedome and valour and heir to a third part of the Kingdome at least being Earle of Vlster and Lord of Conaght and Meth was sent the Kinges Lieutenant into Ireland to recouer and reforme that Realme where he was resident in person for the greatest part of 10. yeares yet the troth is he aymed at another marke which was the Crown of England And therefore he thought it no pollicy to distast either the English or Irish by a course of reformation but sought by all meanes to please them and by popular courses to steale away their hearts to the end hee might strengthen his party when he should set on foot his Title as is before declared Which policy of his tooke such effect as that he drew ouer with him into England the Flower of all the English Colonies specially of Vlster and Meth whereof many Noblemen and Gentlemen were slain with him at wakefield as is likewise before remembred And after his Death when the warres between the Houses were in their heat almost al the good English bloud which was left in Ireland was spent in those ciuill dissentions so as the Irish became victorious ouer all without Bloud or Sweat Only that little Canton of Lande called the English Pale containing 4. small Shires did maintain a bordering war with the Irish and retaine the forme of English Gouernment But out of that little Precinct there were no Lordes Knights or Burgesses summoned to the Parliament neither did the Kings Writt run in anie other part of the kingdome and yet vpon the Marches Borders which at that time were growne so large as they tooke vp halfe Dublin half Meth and a third part of Kildare and Lowth there was no law in vse but the MarchLawe which in the Statutes of Kilkenny is said to be no Law but a leud Custome So as vpon the end of these ciuill warres in England the English Law Gouernment was well banisht out of Ireland so as no foot-steppe or print was left of any former Reformation THen did King Henry 7. send ouer Sir Edward Poynings to be his Depuputy a right worthy seruitor both in war and peace The principall end of his employment was to expel Perkin warbecke out of this kingdome but that seruice beeing perfourmed that worthy Deputy finding nothing but a common misery tooke the best course he possibly could to establish a Common-wealth in Ireland and to that end he held a Parliament no lesse famous then that of Kilkenny and more auaileable for the reformation of the whole Kingdome For whereas all wise men did euer concur in opinion that the readiest way to reform Ireland is to settle a forme of Ciuill Gouernment there conformable to that of England To bring this to passe Sir Edward Poynings did passe an Acte whereby all the Statutes made in England before that time were enacted established and made of force in Ireland Neither did he only respect the time past but prouided also for the time to come For he caused another Law to be made that no Act should be propounded in any Parliament of Ireland but such as should bee first transmitted into England and approued by the King and Counsell there as good and expedient for that Land and so returned backe againe vnder the Great Seale of England This Act though it seeme Prima facie to restrain the liberty of the subiects of Ireland yet was it made at the Prayer of the Commons vpon iust and important cause For the Gouernors of that realm specially such as were of that Contry Birth had layd many oppressions vpon the Commons and amongst the rest they had imposed Lawes vppon them not tending to the generall good but to serue priuate turnes and to strengthen their particular factions This moued them to referre all Lawes that were to be passed in Ireland to be considered corrected and allowed first by the State of England which had alwaies bin tender carefull of the good of this people and had long since made them a Ciuill Rich and Happy Nation if their own Lords and Gouernors there had not sent bad intelligence into England Besides this he took special order that the summons of Parliament should go into all the shires of Ireland and not to the foure shires only and for that cause specially hee caused all the Acts of a Parliament lately before holden by the Viscount of Gormanston to be repealed and made voide Moreouer that the Parliamentes of Ireland might want no desent or honorable forme that was vsed in England he caused a particular Act to passe that the Lords of Ireland should appeare in the like Parliament Robes as the English Lords are wont to weare in the Parliaments of England Hauing thus established all the statutes of England in Ireland and set in order the great Counsell of that Realme he did not omit to passe other Lawes aswell for the encrease of the Kings Reuennue as the preseruation of the publick peace To aduaunce the profites of the Crown First he obtained a subsidy of 26. s. 8. d. out of euery sixe score Acres manured payable yearely for 5. years Next he resumed al the Crown land which had been aliened for the most part by Richard Duke of Yorke lastly he procured a subsidy of Pondage out of all Merchandizes imported exported to be granted to the Crown in perpetuity To preserue the publicke peace he reuiued the statutes of Kilkenny He made wilfull murther High-Treason he caused the Marchers to book their men for whom they should answere and restrained the making Warre or peace without speciall Commission from the State These Lawes and others as important as these for the making of a commonwealth in Ireland wer made in the Gouernment of Sir Edward Poynings But these Lawes did not spread their Vertue beyonde the English Pale though they were made generally for the whole Kingdome For the Prouinces without the Pale which during the warre of Yorke and Lancaster had wholly cast off the English Gouernement were not apt to receyue this seed of reformation because they were not first broken and maistered againe with the sword Besides the Irish Countreyes which contained two third parts of the Kingdome were not reduced to Shire-Ground so as in thē the Lawes of England could not possibly be put in execution Therefore these good Laws prouisions made by Sir Edward Poynings were like good Lessons set for a Lute that is broken and out of tune of which Lessons little vse can be made till the Lute bee made fit to be plaid vpon And that the execution of al these Lawes had no greater Latitude then the Pale is manifest by the Statute of 13. of Henry 8. c. 3. which reciteth that at that time the Kings Lawes were obeyed and executed in the four shires onely and yet then was the Earle of Surrey Lieutenant of
that the weaker should haue no dependancy vpon the stronger Lastly he preuailed so much with the greatest of them Namely O Neale O Brien and Mac william as that they willingly did passe into England and presented themselus to the king who thereuppon was pleased to aduance them to the degree and honor of Earles to grant vnto them their seuerall Contries by Letters patents Besides that they might learne Obedience and Ciuility of maners by often repairing vnto the State the K. vpon the motion of the same Deputy gaue each of them a house and Lands neere Dublin for the entertainement of their seuerall traines This course did this Gouernour take to reforme the Irishry but withall he did not omit to aduance both the honor and profit of the King For in the Parliament which he helde the 33. of Henry 8. hee caused an Acte to passe which gaue vnto K. Henry 8. his heyres and successors the name stile and Title of King of Ireland whereas before that time the Kings of England were stiled but Lords of Ireland albeit indeed they were absolute Monarks thereof and had in right all Royall Imperial Iurisdiction power there as they had in the Realm of England And yet because in the vulgar conceit the name of King is higher then the name of Lorde Assuredly the assuming of this title hath not a litle raysed the soueraignty of the K. of England in the minds of this people Lastly this Deputy brought a great augmentation to the Kings Reuenue by dissoluing of all the Monasteries and Religious Houses in Ireland which was done in the same Parliament afterward by procuring Min and Cauendish two skilfull Auditours to bee sent ouer out of England Who tooke an exact suruey of all the possessions of the Crowne and brought manie things into charge which had beene concealed and substracted for manie years before And thus far did Sir Anthony Saint-Leger proceed in the course of Reformation which though it wer a good beginning yet was it far from reducing Ireland to the perfect Obedience of the Crown of England For all this while the Prouinces of Conaght and Vlster and a good parte of Leinster were not reduced to Shire-Ground And though Mounster were anciently diuided into Counties the people were so degenerate as no Iustice of Assise durst execute his Commission amongst them None of the Irish Lords or Tenants were setled in their possessions by any Graunt or Confirmation from the Crowne except the three great Earles before named who notwithstanding did gouern their Tenants and Followers by the Irish or Brehon Law so as no treason murther rape or theft committed in those Countries was inquired of or punisht by the Law of England and consequently no Escheat Forfeiture or Fine no Reuenue certain or casuall did acrew to the Crowne out of those Prouinces The next worthy Gouernor that endeuoured to aduaunce this Reformation was Thomas Earle of Sussex who hauing throughly broken and subdued the two most rebellious and powerful Irish Septs in Leinster namely the Moores O Connors possessing the territories of Leix Offaly did by Act of Parliament 3. 4. Phil. Mariae reduce those Countries into two seuerall Counties naming the one the Kinges and the other the Queenes County which were the first two Counties that had beene made in this Kingdome since the twelfth yeare of King Iohn at what time the Territories thē possessed by the English Colonies were reduced into 12. Shires as is before expressed This Noble Earle hauing thus extended the Iurisdiction of the English Lawe into two Counties more was not satisfied with that addition but took a resolution to diuide all the rest of the Irish Countries vnreduced into seuerall Shires and to that end he caused an Act to passe in the same Parliament authorising the Lord Chancellour from time to time to award Commissions to such persons as the Lord Deputy should nominate and appoint to viewe and perambulate those Irish territories and thereupon to diuide and limit the same into such and so many seuerall Counties as they should thinke meete which beeing certified to the Lord Deputy and approued by him should bee returned and enrolled in the Chancery and from thenceforth be of like force and effect as if it were doone by Act of Parliament Thus did the Earle of Sussex lay open a passage for the Ciuill gouernment into the vnreformed partes of this Kingdome but himselfe proceeded no further then is before declared HOwbeit afterwardes during the raigne of Queen Elizabeth Sir Henry Sidney who hath left behinde him many Monuments of a good Gouernour in this Land did not onely pursue that course which the Earle of Sussex began in reducing the Irish Countries into Shires and placing therein Sheriffes and other Ministers of the Law for first hee made the Annaly a Territory in Leynster possessed by the Sept of Offerralles one entire Shire by it selfe and called it the County of Longford and after that he diuided the whole Prouince of Conaght into sixe Counties more namely Clare which containeth all Thomond Gallaway Sligo Mayo Roscomon and Leytrim But he also had caused diuers good Lawes to be made performed sundry other seruices tending greatly to the reformation of this Kingdome For first to diminish the greatnesse of the Irish Lordes and to take from them the dependancy of the Common people in the Parliament which he held 11. Eliz. Hee did abolish their pretended and vsurped Captain-ships and all exactions and extortions incident thereunto Next to settle their Seigniories possessions in a course of Inheritance according to the course of the Common Law he caused an Act to passe whereby the Lord Deputy was authorised to accept their Surrenders and to re-grant estates vnto them to hold of the Crown by English tenures and seruices Againe because the Inferior sort were loose and poore and not amesnable to the Law hee prouided by another Act that fiue of the best eldest persons of euery Sept should bring in all the idle persons of their sur-name to be iustified by the Law Moreouer to giue a ciuill education to the Youth of this Land in the time to come prouision was made by another Law that there should bee one Free-schoole at least erected in euery Diocesse of the Kingdom And lastly to invre and acquaint the people of Mounster and Conaght with the English Gouernment againe which had not been in vse among them for the space of 200. yeares before hee instituted two Presidency Courtes in those two Prouinces placing Sir Edward Fitton in Conaght and Sir Iohn Perrot in Mounster To augment the Kings Reuennew in the same Parliament vppon the attainder of Shane O Neale hee resumed vested in the Crowne more then halfe the Prouince of Vlster He raised the Customes vpon the principall cōmodities of the Kingdome He reformed the abuses of the Exchequer by many good orders and instructions sent out of England and lastly he
Ireland a Gouernor much feared of the Kings Enemies and exceedingly honored and beloued of the Kings subiects And the instructions giuen by the state of Ireland to Iohn Allen Maister of the Rols employed into England neere about the same time doe declare as much wherein among other things hee is required to aduertise the King that his Land of Ireland was so much decayed as that the Kings Lawes were not obeyed twenty miles in compas Whereupon grew that By-word vsed by the Irish viz That they dwelt By-west the Law which dwelt beyond the Riuer of the Barrow which is within 30. Miles of Dublin The same is testified by Baron Finglas in his Discourse of the decay of Ireland which hee wrote about the 20. yeare of King Henry 8. And thus we see the effect of the Reformation which was intended by Sir Edward Poynings THE next Attempt of Reformation was made in the 28. yeare of King Henry 8. by the Lorde Leonard Gray who was created Viscount of Garny in this Kingdome and helde a Parliament wherein many excellent Lawes were made But to prepare the mindes of the people to obey these Lawes he began first with a Martiall course For being sent ouer to suppresse the Rebellion of the Giraldines which he performed in few months he afterwards made a victorious Circuit round about the Kingdome beginning in Offaly against O Connor who had ayded the Giralà ines in their Rebellion and from thence passing along through all the Irish Countries in Leinster and so into Mounster wher hee tooke pledges of the degenerate Earle of Desmond and thence into Conaght and thence into Vlster then concluded this warlicke Progresse with the Battell of Belahoo in the Borders of Meth as is before remembred The principall Septs of the Irishry beeing all terrified and most of them broken in this iourney manie of their chiefe Lords vppon this Deputies returne came to Dublin and made their submissions to the crown of England Namely the O Neales O Relies of Vlster Mac Murrogh O Birne and O Carrol of Leinster and the Bourks of Conaght This preparation being made he first propounded and passed in Parlament these Lawes which made the great alteration in the State Ecclesiastical Namely the Act which declared King Henry the eight to bee supreame Head of the Church of Ireland The Act probibiting Apeales to the church of Rome the Act for first fruites and twentith part to be paid to the King the Act for Faculties and Dispensations And lastly the Act that did vtterly abolish the vsurped Authoritie of the Pope Next for the encrease of the Kings Reuennew By one Act he suppressed sundry Abbeyes and Religious Houses and by another Acte resumed the Lands of the Absentees as is before remembred And for the Ciuill Gouernment a speciall Statute was made to abolish the Black-Rents and tributes exacted by the Irish vpon the English Colonies and another Law enacted that the English Apparrell Language manner of liuing should bee vsed by all such as would acknoledge themselues the Kings Subiects This Parliament being ended the Lord Leonard Gray was suddenly reuokt and put to death in England so as hee liued not to finish the woorke of Reformation which he had begun which notwithstanding was well pursued by his successors Sir Anthony Saint-Leger Vnto whom all the Lords and Chiefetanes of the Irishry and of the degenerate English throughout the Kingdome made their seueral submissions by Indenture which was the fourth general submission of the Irish made since the first attempt of the Conquest of Ireland whereof the first was made to King Henry 2. the second to k. Iohn the third to K. Richard 2. and his last to Sir Anthony Saint-Leger in 33. of Hen. 8. IN these Indentures of submission all the Irish Lords do acknowledge K. Henry the eight to be their Soueraign Lord and King and desire to bee accepted of him as subiects They confesse the Kings supremacy in all causes do vtterly renounce the Popes Jurisdiction which I conceiue to bee worth the noting because when the Irish had once resolued to obey the king they made no scruple to renounce the Pope And this was not only done by the meere Irish but the chiefe of the degenerate English Families did perfourme the same as Desmond Barry and Roche in Mounster and the Bourkes which bore the Title of Mac william in Conaght These submissions being thus taken the Lorde Deputy and Counsell for the present Gouernment of those Irish Countries made certaine Ordinances of state not agreeable altogither with the Rules of the Law of England the reason whereof is exprest in the preamble of those Ordinances Quia nondum sic sapiunt leges Iura vt secundū ea iam immediatè viuere regipossint The chiefe points or Articles of which Orders registred in the Counsel Booke are these That King Henrie the eight shold be accepted reputed and named King of Ireland by all the Inhabitants of the Kingdome that al Archbishops and Bishops should bee permitted to exercise their Iurisdiction in euery Diocesse throughout the Land that tithes should be duely set out and paide that Children should not be admitted to Benefices that for euery Manslaughter and theft aboue 14 d committed in the Irish Contries the offender shold pay a fine of 40. li. twenty pound to the King and 20. li. to the Captaine of the Country and for euery thefte vnder 14. d. a fine of fiue markes should be paid 46. s. viij d to the Captaine and 20. s. to the Tanister That Horsemen and Kearn shold not be imposed vppon the Common people to beefed and maintained by them That the Maister shold answer for his seruants and the Father for his Children That Cuttinges should not be made by the Lorde vppon his Tenants to maintaine war with his neighbors but only to beare his necessary expences c. These ordinances of state being made and published there were nominated and appointed in euery prouince certaine Orderers or Arbitraters who instead of these Irish Erehons should heare and determine all their Controuersies In Conaght the Arch-Bishop of Tuam the Bishop of Clonfert Captaine wakeley and Captaine Ouington In Munster the Bishop of VVaterford the Bishop of Corke and Rosse the Maior of Corke and Maior of Yough-hall In Vlster the Archbishop of Ardmagh the Lord of Lowth And if any difference did arise which they could not end either for the difficultie of the cause or for the obstinacy of the parties they were to certifie the Lord Deputy and Counsell who would decide the matter by their authority Heereuppon the Irish Captaines of lesser Territories which had euer bin oppressed by the greater mightier some with Risings out others with Bonaght and others with Cuttings and spendings at pleasure did appeale for Iustice to the Lorde Deputy who vpon hearing their Complaints did alwayes order that they should all imediatly depend vpon the King and