nobis vsque ad aetatem nostram And in the pipe Rols remaining in Bremighams Tower in the Castle of Dublin vpon sundrie Accompts of the Seneshal of Vlster when that Earledome was in the Kings handes by reason of the minority of the Earle the entry of all such charges as were made vppon Oneale for RentBeeues or for aids towards the maintenance of the Kinges warres are in this forme Oneal Regulus 400 vaccas pro arreragio Reddit Oneal Regulus 100 li de Auxilio Domini Regis ad guerram suam in wasconia sustinendam And in one Rol the 36. of Henry the third Oneale Rex 100 li. de auxilio domini Regis ad guerram suam in VVallia sustinendam Which seemed strange to me that the Kings ciuill Officer should giue him that stile vpon Record vnlesse he meant it in that sense as Maximilian the Emperour did when speaking of his disobedient Subiects The Title saide he of Rex Regum doth more properly belong to mee then to any mortall Prince for all my subiects do liue as Kings they obey me in nothing but do what they list And truely in that sence these Irish Lords might not vnfitly be tearmed Kings But to speake in proper termes wee must say with the Latine Poet Quirexest Regem Maxime non habeat But touching these Irish Kings I will adde this note out of an ancient Manuscript the blacke Booke of Christ-Church in Dublin Isti Reges non fuerunt ordinati solemnitate alicuius ordinis nec vnctionis Sacramento nec iure baereditario vel aliqua proprietatis successione sed vi armis quilibâ—t RegneÌ„ suum obtinuit and therefore they had no iust cause to complaine when a stronger King then themselues became a King and Lord ouer them But let vs returne to our purpose and see the proceeding of the Martiall affaires King Henry the second being returned into England gaue the Lordship of Ireland vnto the Lord Iohn his youngest sonne sur-named before that time Sans Terre And the Pope confirming that guift sent him a Crowne of Pea-cockes feathers as Pope Clement the eight sent the Feather of a Phoenix as he called it to the Traitor Tirone This young Prince the Kings sonne being but twelue years of age with a traine of yong Noblemen and Gentlemen to the number of 300. but not with any maine army came ouer to take possession of his new Patrimony and being arriued at VVaterford diuers Irish Lords who had submitted themselues to his father came to performe the like duty to him But that youthfull company vsing them with scorne because their demeanors were but rude and barbarous they went away much discontented and raised a generall rebellion against him Whereby it was made manifest that the Submission of the Irish Lords and the Donation of the Pope were but slender and weake assurances for a kingdome Heereupon this young Lord was reuoked and Sir Iohn de Courcy sent ouer not with the kings armie but with a company of Voluntaries in number foure hundered or thereabout With these he atempted the conquest of Vlster and in foure or fiue encounters did so beate the Irishry of that Prouince as that he gained the Maritime Coasts thereof from the Boyne to the Bann and thereupon was made Earle of Vlster So as now the English had gotten good footing in all the Prouinces of Ireland In the first three Prouinces of Leinster Mounster and Conaght part by the sword and part by submission and alliance And lastly in Vlster by the inuasion and victories of Sir Iohn de Courcy From this time forward vntill the seuenteenth year of King Iohn which was a space of more then 30. yeares there was no army transmitted out of England to finish the Conquest Howbeit in the meane time the English Aduenturers and Colonies alreadie planted in Ireland did winne much ground vpon the Irish Namely the Earle Strongbow hauing married the Daughter of Mac Murrogh in Leinster the Lacies in Meth the Giraldines and other Aduenturers in Mounster the Audeleyes Gernons Clintons Russels and other Voluntaries of Sir Iohn de Courcies retinue in Vlster and the Bourkes planted by william Fitz-Adelme in Conaght Yet were the English reputed but Part-Owners of Ireland at this time as appeareth by the Commission of the Popes Legate in the time of King Richard the first whereby he had power to exercise his Iurisdiction in Anglia wallia ac illis Hiberniae partibus in quibus Iohannes Moretonii Comes potestatem habet et dominium as it is recorded by Mat. Paris King Iohn in the twelfth year of his raigne came ouer again into Ireland the Stories of that time say With a great army but the certaine numbsrs are not recorded yet it is credible in regard of the troubles where-with this King was distressed in England that this army was not of sufficient strength to make an entire Conquest of Ireland and if it had bin of sufficient strength yet did not the King stay a sufficient time to performe so great an action for he came ouer in Iune returned in Septem the same yeare Howbeit in that time the Irish Lords for the most part submitted theÌ„selues to him as they had done before to his Father which was but a meere mockery imposture For his backe was no sooner turned but they returned to their former rebellion yet this was reputed a second Conquest And so this King giuing order for the building of some Castles vpon the Borders of the English Colonies left behinde him the Bishop of Norwich for the ciuill gouernment of the Lande but he left no standing army to prosecute the conquest onely the English Colonies which were alreadie planted were left to themselues to maintaine what they had got and to gaine more if they could The personall presence of these two great Princes King Henry the second and King Iohn though they performed no great thing with their armies gaue such countenaunce to the English Colonies which encreased dayly by the comming ouer of new voluntaries and aduenturers out of England as that they enlarged their Territories verie much Howbeit after this time the kings of England either because they presumed that the English Colonies were strong enough to roote out the Irish by degrees or else because they were diuerted or disabled otherwise as shall bee declared heereafter neuer sent ouer any Royall armie or anie numbers of men worthy to be called an army into Ireland vntill the thirty six yeare of king Edward the thirde when Lionell Duke of Clarence the kings second sonne hauing married the daughter and heyre of Vlster was sent ouer with an extraordinary power in respect of the time for the warres betwixt England and Fraunce were then in their heate aswell to recouer his Earledome of Vlster which was then ouer-run possest by the Irish as to reforme the English Colonies which were become strangely degenerate throughout the whole kingdome FOr though
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
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
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
allegiance of al the Nobility Gentry and Cittizens of this kingdom which sernice he performed fully and made an exact returne of his Commission to the King And immediately after that the King sent for all the Lordes of Parliament in this realme who repayring to his presence were first in a Kingly manner reprooued by him for among other things he told them that if their King were still absent frō them they would at length Crowne Apes but at last entertained them and dismissed them graciously This course of clemency hee held at first But after when Perkin warbecke who was set vp and followed chiefely by the Giraldines in Leinster and the Cittizens of Corke in Mounster to suppresse this counterfaite the King sent ouer Sir Edward Poynings with an Army as the Histories call it which did not consist of a thousand men by the Pol and yet it brought such terrour with it as all the Adherents of Perkin warbecke were scattered and retyred for succour into the Irish Countries to the Marches whereof hee marched with his weake forces but eft-soones returned held a Parliament Wherin among many good Lawes one Act was made That no subiect shold make any warre or peace within the Land without the speciall License of the Kings Lieutenant or Deputie A manifest argument that at that time the bordering Warres in this kingdome were made altogether by Voluntaries vpon their own head without any pay or entertainement and without any Order or Commission from the State And though the Lords and Gentlemen of the Pale in the 19. yeare of this Kings raigne ioyned the famous battel of Knocktow in Conaght wherein Mac william with 4000. of the Irish and degenerat English were slaine yet was not this iourny made by warrant from the King or vppon his charge as it is expressed in the Booke of Howth but only vpon a pri◅ quarrell of the Earle of Kildare so loosely were the martiall affaires of Ireland carried during the raigne of King Henry the seuenth IN the time of King Henry the eight the Earle of Surrey Lorde Admirall was made Lieutenant and though he were the greatest Captain of the English Nation the liuing yet broght he with him rather an honorable Guard for his person then a competent armie to recouer Ireland For he had in his retinue 200. tall Yeomen of the Kings Guard But because hee wanted meanes to performe any great action hee made meanes to returne the sooner yet in the meane time he was not ydle but passed the short time he spent heere in holding a Parliament and diuers iournies against the Rebels of Leinster insomuch as he was hurt in his own person vpon the borders of Leix After the reuocation of this honourable personage King Henry the eight sent no forces into Ireland till the rebellion of the Giraldines which hapned in the 27. year of his raigne Then sent he ouer Sir william Skeuington with fiue hundred men onely to quench that fire and not to enlarge the border or to rectifie the Gouernment This Deputy dyed in the midst of the seruice so as the Lord Leonard Gray was sent to finish it who arriuing with a supply of 200. men or thereabouts did so prosecute the Rebels as the Lord Garret their Chiefetaine and his fiue Vnckles submitted them-selues vnto him and were by him transmitted into England But this seruice being ended that actiue Nobleman with his litle army and some ayds of the Pale did oftentimes repell O Neale and O Donel attempting the inuasion of the Ciuill Shires and at last made that prosperous sight at Belahoo on the Confines of Meth the memory whereof is yet famous as that he defeated well-nie all the power of the North so quieted the border for many yeares Hitherto then it is manifest that since the last transfretation of King Richard the second the Crowne of England neuer sent ouer either numbers of men or quantities of treasure sufficient to defend the small Territory of the Pale much lesse to reduce that which was lost or to finish the Conquest of the whole Island After this Sir Anthony S. Leger was made chiefe Gouernor who performed great seruice in a ciuill course as shall be expressed heereafter But Sir Edward Bellingham who succeeded him proceeded in a Martiall course against the Irishry and was the first Deputy from the time of K. Edward the third till the raign of king Edward the sixt that extended the border beyond the limits of the English Pale by beating and breaking the Moores and Connors and building the Forts of Leix and Offaly This seruice he performed with sixe hundered horse the monthly charge whereof did arise to 770. li. And 400. foote whose pay did amount to 446. li. per mensem as apeareth vpon the Treasurers accompt remaining in the Office of the Kinges Remembrauncer in England Yet were not these Countries so fully recouered by this Deputy but that Thomas Earl of Sussex did put the last hand to this worke and rooting out these two rebellious Septs planted English Colonies in their roomes which in all the tumultuous times since haue kept their Habitations their Loyalty and Religion And now are we come to the time of Queene ELIZABETH who sent ouer more men and spent more treasure to saue and reduce the Lande of Ireland then all her progenitors since the Conquest DVring her raign there arose three notorious and maine Rebellions which drewe seuerall armies out of England The first of Shane O Neale the second of Desmond the last of Tyrone for the particular insurrections of the Vicount Baltinglasse and Sir Edmund Butler the Moores the Cauanaghes the Birnes and the Bourkes of Conaght were all suppressed by the standing forces heere To subdue Shane O Neal in the hight of his rebellion in the yeare 1566. Captaine Randal transported a Regiment of 1000. men into Vlster planted a Garrison at Loughfoile Before the comming of which supply viz in the yeare 1565. the List of the standing army of horse and foot English and Irish did not exceed the number of 1200. men as appeareth by the Treasurers accompt of Ireland now remaining in the Exchequer of Eng land With these forces did Sir Henry Sidney then Lord Deputy march into the farthest parts of Tirone and ioyning with Captaine Randal did much distresse but not fully defeate O Neale who was afterwards slain vpon a meere accident by the Scottes and not by the Queenes army TO proseeute the Warres in Munster against Desmond and his Adherents there were transmitted out of England at seuerall times three or four thousand men which together with the standing Carrisons and some other supplies raised heere made at one time an army of six thousand vpwards which with the Vertue and lour of Arthur Lorde Gray and others the Commanders did proue a sufficient power to extinguish that rebellion But that
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
liues deliuered to Shepheards to be nourished and bred vp when they haue bin restored to their great fortunes haue still retained their loue and affection to their Fosterers whom for manie yeares they tooke to be their Parents yet this was a rare case and few examples are to be found thereof But such a generall Custome in a Kingdome in giuing and taking children to Foster making such a firme Alliance as it doth in Ireland was neuer seene or heard of in any other Countrey of the world besides THE like may be said of Gossipred or or Compaternitie which though by the Canon Law it be a spirituall affinity and a Iuror that was Gossip to either of the parties might in former times haue bin challenged as not indifferent by our Law yet there was no nation vnder the Sun that euer made so Religious accompt thereof as the Irish. Now these two Customs which of themselues are indifferent in other Kingdomes became exceeding euill and full of mischiefe in this Realm by reason of the inconueniences which followed thereupon For they made as I saide before strong parties and factions wherby the great men were enabled to oppresse their Inferiours and to oppose their Equals and their followers were borne out and countenanced in all their lewde and wicked actions For Fosterers Gossips by the common Custome of Ireland were to maintaine one another in all causes lawful and vnlawfull which as it is a Combination and Confederacy punishable in all well-gouerned Common-weales so was it not one of the least causes of the common misery of this Kingdome I omit their common repudiation of their Wiues their promiscuous generation of Children their neglect of lawfull Matrimony their vncleannesse in Apparrell Diet Lodging and their contempt and scorne of all thinges necessary for the Ciuill life of man These were the Irish Customes which the English Colonies did embrace and vse after they had reiected the Ciuill and Honorable Lawes and Customes of England whereby they became degenerate and metamorphosed like Nabuchadnezzar who although he had the face of a man had the heart of a Beast or like those who had drunke of Circes Cuppe and were turned into very Beasts and yet tooke such pleasure in their beastly manner of life as they would not returne to their shape of men againe Insomuch as within lesse time then the Age of a man they had no markes or differences left amongst them of that Noble nation from which they were discended For as they did not only forget the English Language scorne the vse thereof but grew to bee ashamed of their very English Names though they were Noble and of great Antiquity and tooke Irish Surnames and Nicke-names Namely the two most potent families of the Bourks in Conaght after the house of the Red Earle failed of Heyres-males called their Cheefes Mac william Eighter and Mac william Oughter In the same Prouince Bremingham Baron of Athenrie called himselfe Mac Yoris Dexecester or De'exon was cald Mac Iordan Mangle or de Angulo took the name of Mac Costelo Of the Inferior families of the Bourkes one was called Mac Hubbard another Mac Dauid In Munster of the great Families of the Geraldines planted there One was called Mac Morice chiefe of the house of Lixnaw and another Mac Gibbon who was also called the white Knight The chiefe of the Baron of Dunhoynes house who is a branch of the house of Ormond tooke the Surnames of Mac Pheris Condon of the Countie of waterford was called Mac Maioge and the Arch-Deacon of the County of Kilkenny Mac Odo And this they did in contempt and hatred of the English Name and Nation of these degenerate families became more mortal enemies then the meere Irish. And whereas the state and Gouernment beeing growne weake by their defection did to reduce them to Obedience grant them many protections and Pardons The cheapenesse whereof in all ages hath brought great dishonor and damage to this Commonweal they grew so vngratefull and vnnatural as in the end they scorned that grace fauour because the acceptance thereof did argue them to be subiects and they desired rather to bee accounted Enemies then Rebels to the Crowne of England Heereupon was that olde Verse made which I finde Written in the White Booke of the Exchequer in a hand as auncient as the time of King Edward the third By graunting Charters of peas To false English withouten les This Land shall be mich vndoo But Gossipred and alterage And leesing of our Language Haue mickely holp theretoo And therefore in a close Roll in the Tower bearing this Title Articuli in Hibernia obseruandi we finde these two Articles among others 1. Iusticiarius Hiberniae non concedat perdonationes de morte hominis nec de Roberijs seu incendijs quod de caetero certificet dominum regem de nominibus petentium 2. Item Quod nec Iusticiarius nec aliquis Magnas Hiberniae concedat protectiones alicui contra pacem Regis existent c. But now it is fit to looke backe and consider when the old English Colonies became so degenerate and in what Age they fell away into that Irish barbarisme reiecting the English lawes and Customes Assuredly by comparing the ancient Annalles of lrelaud with the Records remaining heere in the Tower of London I do find that this generall defection fell out in the latter end of the raign of king Edward the second and in the beginning of the raigne of King Edward the thirde And all this great innovation grewe within the space of thirty years within the compasse of which time there fell out diuers mischieuous accidents whereby the whole kingdome was in a maner lost For first Edward de Bruce inuaded Ireland with the Scottish Army and preuailed so farre as that he possessed the Maritime parts of vlster marched vp to the walles of Dublin spoiled the English Pale passed thorough Leinster and Munster as farre as Limericke and was Maister of the field in euery part of the kingdom This hapned in the tenth yeare of King Edward the second at what time the Crowne of England was weaker suffred more dishonor in both kingdomes then it did at any time since the Norman Conquest Then did the State of England send ouer Iohn de Hotham to be Treasurer heere with commission to call the great Lords of Ireland to gether and to take of them an Oath of Assoacition that they should loyally ioyne together in life death to preserue the right of the King of England and to expell the commonenemy But this Treasurer brought neither men nor money to performe this seruice At that time though Richard Bourk Earle of Vlster commonly called the Redde-Earle were of greater power then any other subiect in Ireland yet was he so farre stricken in yeares as that hee was vnable to mannage the martiall affaires as he had done during all the raigne of King Edward the
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
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
A DISCOVERIE OF THE TRVE CAVses why IRELAND was neuer entirely Subdued nor brought vnder Obedience of the Crowne of ENGLAND vntill the Beginning of his Maiesties happie Raigne Printed for Iohn Iaggard dwelling within Temple Bar at the Signe of the Hand and Star 1612. Dedicated TO THE KING By his MAIESTIES Atturney Generall of IRELAND PRINCIPIS EST VIRTVS MAXIMA NÔSSE SVOS A Discouery of the true causes why IRELAND was neuer entirely subdued and brought vnder Obedience of the Crowne of ENGLAND vntill the beginning of his MAIESTIES happy raigne DVring the time of my Seruice in IRELAND which began in the first yeare of his Maiesties raigne I haue visited all the Prouinces of that Kingdome in sundry iournies and circuits Wherein I haue obserued the good Temperature of the Ayre the Fruittâ—iness of the Soyle the pleasant and commodious seats for habitation the safe and large Ports and Hauens lying open for Trafficke into all the West parts of the world the long Inlets of many Nauigable Riuers and so many great Lakes and fresh Ponds within the Land as the like are not to be seene in any part of Europe the rich Fishings and Wilde Fowle of all kinds and lastly th Bodies and Minds of the people endued with extraordinarie abilities of Nature THe obseruation whereof hath bred in me some curiositie to consider what were the true causes why this Kingdome whereof our Kings of England haue borne the Title of Soueraign Lords for the space of foure hundred and odde yeares a period of time wherein diuers great Monarchies haue risen from Barbarisme to Ciuillitie and fallen againe to ruine was not in all that space of time thoroughly subdued and reduced to Obedience of the Crowne of England although there hath been almost a continuall warre between the English and the Irish and why the maners of the meere Irish are so little altred since the dayes of King Henry the second as appeareth by the description made by Giraldus Cambrensis who liued and wrote in that time albeit there haue bin since that time so many English Colonies planted in Ireland as that if the people were numbered at this day by the Poll such as are descended of English race would bee found more in number then the ancient Natiues AND truly vpon consideration of the conduct and passage of affaires in former times I find that the State of England ought to be cleared of an imputatioÌ„ which a vulgar error hath cast vpon it in one point namely That Ireland long since might haue beene subdued and reduced to Ciuility if some statesmen in policy had not thoght it more fit to continue that Realme in Barbarisme Doubtlesse this vulgar Opinion or report hath no true ground but did first arise either out of Ignorance or out of Malice For it will appeare by that which shal heereafter be laide downe in this Discourse that euer since Our Nation had any footing in this Land the State of England did earnestly desire and did accordingly endeuour from time to time to perfect the Conquest of this kingdom but that in euery age there were found such impediments defects in both Realmes as caused almost an impossibility that thinges should haue bin otherwise then they were THe Defects which hindred the Perfection of the Conquest of Ireland were of two kinds and consisted first in the faint prosecution of the warre and next in the loosenesse of the ciuill Gouernment For the Husbandman must first breake the Land before it bee made capeable of good seede and when it is thoroughly broken and manured if he do not forth with cast good seed into it it will grow wilde againe and beare nothing but Weeds So a barbarous Country must be first broken by a warre before it will be capeable of good Gouernment and when it is fully subdued and conquered if it bee not well planted and gouerned after the Conquest it wil est-soones return to the former Barbarisme TOuching the carriage of the Martiall affaires from the seuenteenth yeare of King Henry the second when the first ouerture was made for the Conquest of Ireland I meane the first after the Norman Conquest of England vntill the nine and thirtith yeare of Queene ELIZABETH when that Royall army was sent ouer to suppresse Tirones Rebellion which made in the end an vniuersall and absolute conquest of all the Irishrie it is most certaine that the English forces sent hither or raised heere from time to time were euer too weake to subdue and master so many warlike Nations or Septs 〈◊〉 the Irish as did possesse this Island and besides their weakenesse they were Ill paide and worse Gouerned And if at any time there came ouer anarmy of competent strength and power it did rather terrifie then breake and subdue this people being euer broken and dissolued by some one accident or other before the perfection of the Conquest FOr that I call a Perfect Conquest of a Country which doth reduce all the people thereof to the Condition of Subiects and those I cal Subiects which are gouerned by the ordinary Lawes and Magistrates of the Soueraigne For though the Prince doth beare the Title of Soueraign Lord of an entire country as our Kings did of all Ireland yet if there bee two third parts of that Countrey wherein he cannot punish Treasons Murders or Thefts vnlesse he send an Army to do it if the Iurisdiction of his ordinary Courts of Iustice doth not extend into those parts to protect the people from wrong oppression if hee haue no certaine Reuennew no Escheats or Forfeytures out of the same I cannot iustly say that such a Countrey is wholly conquered FIrst then that wee may iudge and discerne whether the English forces in Ireland were at any time of sufficient strength to make a full and finall Conquest of that Land let vs see what extraordinary armies haue bin transmitted out of England thither and what ordinarie forces haue beene maintained there and what seruice they haue performed from time to time since the seauenteenth yeare of King Henry the second IN that yeare Mac Murugh Lord of Leinster beeing oppressed by the Lords of Meth and Conaght and expelled out of â—…s Territorie mooued King Henry the second to inuade Ireland and made an ouerture vnto him for the obtaining of the Soueraigne Lordship thereof The King refused to vndertake the Warre himselfe to auoide the charge as King Henrie the seuenth refused to vndertake the discouery of the Indies for the same cause but he gaue license by his Letters Patents that such of his Subiects might passe ouer into Ireland as wold at their owne charge become aduenturers in that enterprize SO as the first attempt to conquer this Kingdome was but an aduenture of a few priuate Gentlemen Fitz-Stephen Fitz-Girald first brake the yce with a party of three hundred ninety men The Earle Strongbow followed them with twelue hundered more whose good successe vpon
being doone it was neuer intended that these forces should stand till the rest of the kingdome were setled and reduced onely that army which was brought ouer by the Earle of Essex Lorde Lieutenant and Gouernor generall of this kingdom in the 39. yeare of Queen Elizabeth to suppresse the Rebellion of Tirone which was spred vniuersally ouer the whole Realme That armie I say the command whereof with the gouernment of the Realme was shortly after transferred to the commaund of the Lord Montioy afterwards Earl of Deuonshire who with singular wisedom valour and industry did prosecute finish the Warre did consist of such good men of warre and of such numbers being wel-ny 20000. by the Pol and was so royally supplied and paid and continued in ful strength so long a time as that it brake and absolutely subdued all the Lordes and Chiefetaines of the Irishry and degenerate or rebellious English Whereupon the multitude who euer loued to bee followers of such as could master and defend them admyring the power of the Crownc of England being brai'd as it were in a Morter with the Sword Famine Pestilence altogither submitted themselues to the English gouernment receiued the Lawes and Magistrates and most gladly embraced the Kings pardon and peace in all parts of the Realme with demonstration of ioy and comfort which made indeede an entire perfect and finall Conquest of Ireland And thogh vpon the finishing of the warre this great armie was reduced to lesse numbers yet hath his Maiestie in his wisedome thought it fit stil to maintaine such competent forces heere as the Law may make her progresse Circuit about the Realme vnder the protection of the sword as Virgo the figure of Iustice is by Leo in the Zodiack vntill the people haue perfectly learned the Lesson of Obedience the Conquest bee established in the hearts of all men THus farre haue I endeuoured to make it manifest that from the first aduenture and attempt of the English to subdue and conquer Ireland vntill the last warre with Tyrone which as it was royally vndertaken so it was really prosecuted to the end there hath bin foure maine defects in the carriage of the martiall affayres heere First the armies for the most part were too weake for a Conquest Secondly when they were of a competent strength as in both the iournies of Richard the second they were too soone broken vp and dissolued Thirdly they were ill paide And fourthly they were ill Gouerned which is alwayes a consequent of ill payment BVt why was not this great worke perfourmed before the latter end of Queene Elizabeths raigne considering that many of the Kings her Progenitors were as great Captaines as any in the world and had else-where larger Dominions and Territories First who can tell whither the Diuine Wisedom to abate the glory of those Kings did not reserue this Worke to be done by a Queen that it might rather appeare to be his owne imediate worke And yet for her greater Honor made it the last of her great actions as it were to Crowne al the rest And to the end â—hat a secure peace might settle the Conquest and make it firme and perpetuall to posteritie caused it to bee made in that fulnesse of time when England and Scotland became to be vnited vnder one imperiall Crowne and when the Monarchy of Great Britainy was in league amity with all the worlde Besides the Conquest at this time doth perhaps fulfill that prophesie wherin the four great Prophets of Ireland do concur as it is recorded by Giraldus CambreÌ„sis to this effect That after the first inuasion of the English they shold spend many ages in crebris conflictibus longoque certanime multis coedibus And that Omnes fere Anglici ab Hibernia turbabuntur nihilominus orientalia maritima semper obtinebunt Sed vix paulo anté diem Iuditij plenam Anglorum populo victoriam compromittunt Insula Hibernica de mari vsque ad mare de toto subacta incastellata If S. Patrick and thâ—… did not vtter this prophesy certainly Giraldus is a Prophet who hath reported it To this we may adde the prophesy of Merlin spoken of also by Giraldus Sextus moenia Hiberniae subuertet regiones in Regnum redigentur Which is performed in the time of King Iames the sixt in that all the paces are cleared and places of fastnesse laid open which are the proper Wals Castles of the Irish as they were of the British in the time of Agricola and withal the Irish Countries beeing reduced into Counties make but one entire and vndeuided kingdome But to leaue these high obscure causes the plaine and manifest trueth is that the Kings of England in al ages had bin powerfull enough to make an absolute conquest of Ireland if their whole power had been employed in that enterprize but still there arose sundry occasions which diuided and diâ—…ted their power som other way Let vs therefore take a briefe view of the seuerall impediments which arose in euery Kinges time since the first ouerture of the Conquest whereby they were so employed and busied as they could not intend the finall Conquest of Ireland KIng Henrie the second was no sooner returned out of Ireland but all his foure Sonnes conspired with his enemies rose in Arrnes and moued warre against him both in France and in England This vnnaturall treason of his sons did the King expresse in an Embleme painted in his Chamber at winchester wherein was an Eagle with three Eglets tyring on her brest the fourth pecking at one of her eyes And the troth is these vngracious practises of his sonnes did impeach his iourney to the Holy-Land which he had once vowed vexed him all the dayes of his life and brought his gray haires with sorrow to the graue Besides this king hauing giuen the Lordship of Ireland to Iohn his youngest sonne his ingratitude afterwards made the king carelesse to settle him in the quiet and absolute possession of that kingdome RIchard the first which succeeded Henrie the second in the kingdom of England had lesse reason to bend his power towardes the Conquest of this Land which was giuen in perpetuity to the Lord Iohn his brother And therefore went hee in person to the holy warre by which iourney his captiuity in Austria and the heauy ransome that he paid for his libertie hee was hindred and vtterly disabled to pursue any so great an action as the Conquest of Ireland And after his deliuery and returne hardly was he able to maintaine a frontier warre in Normandy where by hard fortune he lost his life KIng Iohn his Brother had greatest reason to prosecute the Warre of Ireland because the Lordship thereof was the portion of his inheritance giuen vnto him when hee was called Iohn Sans-Terre Therefore hee made two iournies thither one when he was Earle of Morton and very yong about twelue
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
many years together yet the sundry rebellions ioyned with forraign inuasions vpon this Island whereby it was in danger to be vtterly lost to bee possessed by the enemies of the Crowne of England did quicken her Maiesties care for the preseruation thereof and to that end from time to time during her raigne she sent ouer such supplies of men and treasure as did suppresse the Rebels and repell the inuaders Howbeit before the transmitting of the last great army the forces sent ouer by Queene Elizabeth were not of sufficient power to break and subdue all the Irishry and to reduce and reforme the whole Kingdome but when the generall defection came which came not without a special prouidence for the final good of that kingdome though the second causes thereof were the faint prosecution of the Warre against Tyrone the practises of Priests and Iesuites the expectation of the ayds froÌ„ Spaine Then the extreame perill of loosing the Kingdome the dishonor danger that might thereby growe to the Crowne of England together with a iust disdaine conceiued by that great-minded Queene that so wicked and vngratefull a Rebell should preuayle against Her who had euer been victorious against all her enemies did moue and almost enforce her to send ouer that mighty army and did withall enflame the hearts of the Subiects of England chearefully to contribute to wardes the maintaining thereof a Million of sterling poundes at least which was done with a purpose only to Saue and not to Gaine a kingdom To keep and retaine that Soueraignetie which the Crowne of England had in Ireland such as it was and not to recouer a more absolute Dominion But as it falleth out many times that when a house is on fire the Owner to saue it from burning pulleth it downe to the ground but that pulling downe doeth giue occasion of building it vp againe in a better forme So these last warres which to saue the Kingdome did vtterly breake distroy this people produced a better effect then was at first expected For euery Rebellion when it is supprest dooth make the subiect weaker and the Prince stronger So this general reuolt when it was ouercom did produce a generall Obedience Reformation of al the Irishrie which euer before had beene disobedient vnreformed thereupon ensued the finall and full conquest of Ireland And thus much may suffice to bee spoken touching the defectes in the martiall affayres and the weake faint prosecution of the warre and of the seuerall Impediments or imployments which did hinder or diuert euery King of England successiuely from reducing Ireland to their absolute subiection IT now remaineth that wee shew the defects of the Ciuil Pollicy Gouernment which gaueno lesse impediment to the perfection of this Conquest THe first of that kinde doeth consist in this That the Crown of England did not from the beginning giue Lawes to the Irishry whereas to giue Lawes to a conquered people is the principall marke and effect of a perfect Conquest For albeit King Henrie the second before his returne out of Ireland held a Counsell or Parliament at Lissemore Vbi Leges Angliae ab omnibus sunt gratanter receptae Iuratoria Cautione Prastita confirmatae as Marth Paris writeth And though King Iohn in the 12. yeare of his raigne did establish the English Lawes and Customes heere and placed Sheriffes and other Ministers to rule and gouerne the people according to the Law of England and to that end Ipse duxit secum viros discretos legis peritos quorum communi consilio statuit praecepit leges Anglicanas teneri in Hibernia c. as wee finde it recorded among the Patent Rolles in the Tower 11. Hen. 3. m. 3. Though likewise King Henrie the third did graunt transmit the like Charter of liberties to his subiects of Ireland as himselfe and his Father had graunted to the Subiects of England as appeareth by another Recorde in the Tower 1. Hen 3. Pat. m. 13. And afterwards by a speciall Writ did commaund the Lord Iustice of Ireland Quod conuocatis Archiepiscopis Episcopis Comitibus Baronibus c. Coram eis legi faceret Chartam Regis Iohannis quam ipse fecit iurari à Magnatibus Hiberniae de legibus Constitutionibus Angliae obseruandis quod leges illas tencant obseruent 12. Hen. 3. Claus. m. 8. And after that againe the same King by Letters Patents vnder the great seale of England did confrime the establishment of the English Lawes made by King Iohn in this forme Quia pro Communi vtilitate terrae Hiberniae ac vnitate terrarum de Communi Consilio prouisum sit quod omnes leges consuetudines quae in regno Angliae tenentur in Hiberniâ teneantur eadem terra eiusdem legibus subiaceat ac per easdem regatur sicut Iâ—hanes Rex cumiliuc esset Statuit firmiter mandauit ideo volumus quod omnia breuia de Communi Iure quae currunt in Anglia similiter currant in Hibernia sub nouo sigillo nostro c. Teste meipso apud woodstocke c. Which confirmation is found among the PatentRolles in the Tower Anno 30. Hen. 3. Notwithstanding it is euident by all the Records of this Kingdome that onely the English Colonies and some few Septs of the Irishry which were enfranchised by special Charters wer admitted to the benefit and protection of the Lawes of England and that the Irish generally were held and reputed Aliens or rather enemies to the Crowne of England insomuch as they were not only disabled to bring anie actions but they were so farre out of the protection of the Lawe as it was often adiudged no fellony to kill a meere Irish-man in the time of peace That the meere Irish were reputed Aliens appeareth by sundrie Records wherein Iudgement is demanded if they shall be answered in Actions brought by them and likewise by the Charters of Denization which in all Ages were purchased by them In the common plea-Rolles of 28. Edward the third which are yet perserued in Breminghams Tower this case is adiudged Simon Neal brought an action of trespasse against william Newlagh for breaking his Close in Claudalkin in the County of Dublin the Defendant doth plead that the plaintiffe is Hibernicus non de Quinque sanguinibus and demandeth iudgement if he shall be answered The Plaintiffe replieth Quod ipse est de quinque sanguinibus viz De les Oneiles de Vlton qui per Concessionem progenitoruÌ„ Domini Regis Libertatibus Anglicis gaudere debent vtuntur proliberis hominibus reputantur The Defendant reioyneth that the Plaintiffe is not of the Oneales of Vlster Nec de quinque sanguinibus And thereupon they are at yssue Which being found for the Plaintiffe he had Iudgement to recouer his dammages against the Defendant By this Record it apeareth that fiue principal blouds or Septs of the Irishry were
per interfectionem praedict ā cōmittere non potuit quia dicit praedict Rogerus Hibernic est et nō de libero sanguine dicit etiā qd praedict Rogerus fuit de Cognomine de Ohederiscal et non de cognonime de cautetons et de hoc ponit se super patriam c. Et Iurati dicunt super Sacram. suum quod praedictus Rogerus Hibernicus fuit et de cognonime de Ohederiscall pro Hibernico habebatur tota vita sua Ideo praedict Willielmus quoad feloniam praedict quietus Sed quia praedictus Rogerus Ottederiscall suit Hibernicus Domini Regis praedict Willielmus recommittatur Gaolae quovsque plegios inuenerit de quinque marcis soluendis Domino Regi pro solutione praedicti Hiberntci But on the otherside if the Iurie had found that the party slaine had beene of English race and Nation it had bin adiudged fellony as appeareth by a Record of 29. of Edward the first in the Crowne-Office heere Coram Waltero Lenfant et socijs suis Iustitiarijs Itinerantibus apud Drogheda in Comitatu Louth Iohannes Laurens indictat de morte Galfridi Douedal venit non dedicit mortem praedictam sed dicit quod praedict Galfridus fuit Hibernicus et non de libero sanguine et de bono et malo ponit se super patriam c. Et Iurat dicunt super Sacram. suum quod praedict Galfridus Anglicus fuit et ideo praedict Iohannes culpabilis est de morte Galfridi praedict Ideo suspend Catalla 13. s. vnde Hugo de Clinton Vicecom respondet Hence it is that in all the Parliament Rolles which are extant from the fortith yeare of Edward the thirde when the Statutes of Kilkenny were enacted till the raigne of King Henry the eight we finde the degenerat and disobedient English called Rebelles but the Irish which were not in the Kings peace are called Enemies Statute Kilkenny c. 1. 10. and 11. 11. Hen. 4. c. 24. 10. Hen. 6. c. 1. 18. 18. Hen. 6. c. 4. 5. Edw. 4. c. 6. 10. Hen. ◠c. 17. All these Statutes speak of English Rebels and Irish Enemies as if the Irish had neuer bin in condition of Subiectes but alwaies out of the protection of the Law and were indeede in worse cafe then Aliens of any forren Realme that was in amity with the Crowne of England For by diuers heauie paenall Lawes the English were forbidden to marry to foster to make Gossippes with the Irish or to haue anie Trade or commerce in their Markets or Fayres nay there was a Law made no longer since then the 28. yeare of Henrie the eight that the English should not marry with any person of Irish blood though he had gotten a Charter os Denization vnlesse he had done both homage and fealty to the King in the Chancery and were also bound by Recognisaunce with sureties to continue a loyall subiect Whereby it is manifest that such as had the Gouernment of Ireland vnder the Crowne of England did intend to make a perpetuall separation and enmity betweene the English and the Irish pretending no doubt that the English should in the end roote out the Irish which the English not being able to do did cause a perpetuall Warre betweene the nations which continued foure hundered and odde yeares and would haue lasted to the Worlds end if in the end of Queene Elizabeths raigne the Irishry had not beene broken and conquered by the Sword And since the beginning of his Maiesties raigne had not bin protected and gouerned by the Law BVt perhaps the Irishry in former times did wilfully refuse to be subiect to the Lawes of England and would not be partakers of the benefit thereof though the Crowne of England did desire it and therefore they were reputed Aliens Out-lawes and enemies Assuredly the contrarie doth appeare aswel by the Charters of Denization purchased by the Irish in all ages as by a petition preferred by them to the King Anno 2. Edward the third desiring that an Act might passe in Ireland whereby all the Irishrie might be inabled to vse and inioy the Lawes of England without purchasing of particular Denizations Vppon which petition the King directed a speciall Writ to the Lorde Iustice which is found amongst the CloseRolles in the Tower of London in this forme Rex dilecto fideli suo Iohannis Darcile Nepieu Iustic suo Hiberniae Salutem Exparte quorundam hominum de Hibernia nobis extitit supplicatum vt per Statutum inde faciendum concedere velimus quod omnes Hibernici qui voluerint legibus vtatur Anglicanis ita quod necesse non habeant super hoc Chartas alienas à nobis impetrare nos igitur Certiorari volentes si sine alieno praeiudicio praemissis annuere valeamus vobis mandamus quod voluntatem magnatum terr illius in proximo Parliamento nostro ibidem tenendo super hoc cum diligentia perscrutari facias et de eo quod inde inueneritis vna cum Consilio et aduisamento nobis certificetis c. Whereby I collect that the great Lordes of Ireland had informed the King that the Irishry might not be naturalized without damage and preiudice either to them selues or to the Crowne But I am well assured that the Irishrie did desire to bee admitted to the benefit of the Law not onely in this petition exhibited to king Edward the third but by all their submissions made to King Richard the second and to the Lord Thomas of Lancaster before the warres of the two Houses and afterwards to the Lord Leonard Gray Sir Anthony Saint-Leger when K. Henry the eight began to reforme this kingdome In particular the Birnes of the Mountaines in the 34. of Henrie the 8 desire that their Countrey might bee made Shire-ground and called the County of wicklow And in the 23. of Henry the eight O Donnel doth Couenant with Sir VVilliam Skeffington Quod si Dominus Rex velit reformare Hiberniam whereof it should seeme hee made some doubt that hee and his people would gladly bee gouerned by the Lawes of England Onely that vngratefull Traitour Tirone though hee had no colour or shadowe of Title to that great lordship but only by grant from the Crowne and by the Law of England for by the Irish Law he had beene ranked with the meanest of his Sept yet in one of his Capitulations with the State hee required that no Sheriffe might haue iurisdiction within Tirone and consequently that the Lawes of England might not be executed there Which request was neuer before made by O Neale or any other Lorde of the Irishry when they submitted themselues but contrariewise they were humble sutors to haue the benefit and protection of the English Lawes THis then I note as a great defect in the Ciuill policy of this kingdom in that for the space of 350. yeares at least after the Conquest first attempted the English lawes were not communicated to the
imprisoned iudged as a Traitor And that heerafter there be no diuersity of ligeance betweene the English borne in Ireland and the English borne in England but that all bee called and reputed English and the Lieges of our Soueraigne Lord the KING c. This Law was made only to reforme the degenerat English but there was no care taken for the reformation of the meer Irish no ordinance no prouision made for the abolishing of their barbarous Customes and manners Insomuch as the Law then made for Apparrell and riding in Saddles after the English fashion is penal only to English men not to the Irish. But the Romaine State which conquered so many Nations both barbarous and Ciuill and therefore knewe by experience the best and readiest way of making a perfect absolute conquest refused not to communicate their Lawes to the rude barbarous people whom they had Conquered neither did they put them out of their protection after they had once submitted themselues But contrarywise it is said of Iulius Caesar Qua vicit victos protegit ille manu And againe of another Emperor Fecisti patriam diuersis gentibus vnam Profuit invitis te dominante capi Dumque offers victis proprij consortia Iuris vrbem fecisti quod priùs orbis erat And of Rome it selfe Haec est in gremium victos quae sola recepit Humanumque genus communinomine fouit Matris non dominae ritu Ciuesque vocavit Quos domuit nexuque pio longinqua reuinxit Therefore as Tacitus writeth Iulius Agricola the Romaine Generall in Brittany vsed this pollicy to make a perfect Conquest of our Ancestours the ancient Brittaines They were sayth he rude and dispersed and therfore prone vpon euery occasion to make warre but to induce them by pleasure to quietnesse and rest he exhorted them in priuate and gaue them helpes in common to builde Temples Houses and places of publique resort The Noblemens sonnes hee tooke and instructed in the Liberall Sciences c. preferring the wits of the Brittaines before the Students of France as beeing now curious to attaine the Eloquence of the Romaine Language whereas they lately reiected that speech After that the Roman Attire grew to be in account and the Gowne to be in vse among them and so by little and little they proceeded to curiosity delicacies in Buildings and furniture of Houshold in Bathes and exquisit Banquets and so beeing come to the heighth of Ciuility they were thereby brought to an absolute subiection LIkewise our Norman Conqueror though he oppressed the English Nobility very sore and gaue away to his seruitors the Lands and possessions of such as did oppose his first inuasion though he caused all his Actes of Counsel to be published in French and some legall proceedings pleadings to bee framed and vsed in the same tongue as a marke and badge of a conquest yet he gouerned Al both English and Normans by one the same Law which was the auncient common Law of England long before the Conquest Neither did he denie any English-man that submitted himselfe vnto him The benefit of that Law thogh it were againsta Norman of the best ranke and in greatest fauour as appeared in the notable Controuersie betweene VVarren the Norman and Sherburne of Sherburne Castle in Norfolke for the Conquerour had giuen that Castle to warren yet when the Inheritors thereof had alledged before the King that he neuer bore Armes against him that hee was his subiect aswell as the other that he did inherit and hold his Landes by the rules of that Law which the King had established among all his Subiects The King gaue iudgement against VVarren and commanded that Sherborn shold hold his land in peace By this meane him-selfe obtained a peaceable possession of the kingdom within few yeares whereas if he had cast all the English out of his protection and held them as Aliens and Enemies to the Crowne the Normans perhaps might haue spent as much time in the Conquest of England as the English haue spent in the Conquest of Ireland THE like prudent course hath bin obserued in reducing of Wales which was performed partly by King Edward the first and altogether finished by King Henry the eight For we finde by the Statute of Rutland made the 12. of Edward the first when the Welshmen had submitted themselus De alto Basso to that King he did not reiect and cast them off as Out-lawes and Enemies but caused their Lawes and Customes to be examined which were in many points agreeable to the Irish or Brehon Lawe Quibus diligenter audit is plenius intellectis quasdam illarū saieth the King in that Ordinance Consilio procerum dileuimus quasdam permissimus quasdam correximus ac etiā quasdam alias adijciendas et faciend de creuimus and so established a Commonwealth among them according to the forme of the English Gouernement After this by reason of the sundry insurrections of the Barons the Warres in France and the dissention betweene the houses of Yorke and Lancaster the State of England neglected or omitted the execution of this Statute of Rutland so as a great part of Wales grew wilde and barbarous again And therefore King Henrie the eight by the Statutes of the 27. and 32. of his raign did reuiue and recontinue that Noble worke begun by King Edward the first and brought it indeed to ful perfection For he vnited the Dominion of Wales to the Crown of England and deuided it into Shires and erected in euery Shire one Borough as in England and enabled them to send Knights Burgesses to the Parliament established a Court of Presidency and ordained that Iustices of Assise and Gaol-deliuerie should make their halfe yearly Circuits there as in England made all the Lawes Statutes of England in force there and among other Welsh Customes abolished that of Gauel-kinde wherby the Heyres-Females were vtterlie excluded and the Bastards did inherit aswel as the Legimate which is the very Irish Gauelkinde By means whereof that entire Country in a short time was securely setled in peace and Obedience and hath attained to that Ciuility of Manners and plentie of all things as now we finde it not inferiour to the best parts of England I will therefore knit vp this point with these conclusions First that the Kings of England which in former Ages attempted the Conquest of Ireland being ill aduised and counselled by the great men heere did not vpon the submissions of the Irish communicate their Lawes vnto them nor admit them to the state and condition of Free-subiectes Secondly that for the space of 200 yeares at least after the first arriual of Henry the secound in Ireland the Irish would gladly haue embraced the Lawes of England and did earnestly desire the benefite and protection thereof which being denied them did of necessitie cause a continuall bordering warre between the English and the Irish. And lastly if
Aduenturers so they left the prosecution thereof to them other voluntaries who came to seeke their fortunes in Ireland wherein if they could preuayle they thought that in reason honor they could doe no lesse then make them proprieters of such scopes of Land as they could conquer people plant at their owne charge reseruing only the Soueraigne Lordshippe to the Crowne of England But if the Lyon had gone to hunt himselfe the shares of the Inferiour Beastes had not beene so great If the inuasion had been made by an army transmitted furnished supplyed only at the kings charges wholy paid with the Kings Treasure as the Armies of Queene ELIZABETH and King Iames haue been as the conquest had beene sooner atchiued so the seruitors had beene contented with lesser proportions For when Scipio Pompey Caesar and other Generals of the Roman Armies as Subiectes and Seruants of that State and with the publicke Charge had conquered many Kingdomes Commonweales wee finde them rewarded with Honorable Offices and Triumphes at their returne and not made Lords and proprieters of whol Prouinces and Kingdoms which they had subdued to the Empire of Rome Likewise when the Duke of Normandy had conquered England which he made his owne work and performed it in his owne person hee distributed sundry Lordships and Mannors vnto his followers but gaue not away whole Shires and Countreyes in demesne to any of his seruitors whom he most desired to aduance Only he made Hugh Lupus County Palatine of Chester and gaue that Earledome to him and his heyres to hold the same It a liberè ad gladium sicut Rex tenebat Angliam ad Coronam Whereby that Earledome indeed had a royal Iurisdiction and Seigniory though the Landes of that Countie in demesne were possessed for the most part by the auncient Inheritors Again from the time of the Norman Conquest till the raigne of King Edward the first many of our English Lords made warre vpon the Welshmen at their owne charge the lands which they gained they held to their owne vse were called Lords Marchers and had Royal Liberties within their Lordshippes Howbeit these particular Aduenturers could neuer make a perfect Conquest of Wales But when King Edward the first came in person with his army thither kept his residence and Court there made the reducing of wales an enterprize of his owne hee finished that worke in a yeare or two whereof the Lords Marchers had not performed a third part with their continuall bordering warre for two hundred years before And withall we may obserue that though this King had nowe the Dominion of Wales in Iure propriet atis as the Statute of Rutland affirmeth which before was subiect vnto him but in Iure feodali And though he had lost diuers principall Knights Noblemen in that Warre yet did he not reward his seruitors with whol Countries or Counties but with particular Mannors and Lordships as to Henrie Lacy Earle of Lincolne hee gaue the Lordship of Denbigh and to Reignold Gray the Lordship of Ruthen and so to others And if the like course had beene vsed in the winning and distributing of the Landes of Ireland that Island had beene fully conquered before the continent of wales had beene reduced But the troth is when Priuate men attempt the Conquest of Countries at their own charge commonly their enterprizes doe perrish without successe as when in the time of Queene Elizabeth Sir Thomas Smith vndertooke to recouer the Ardes and Chatterton to reconquer then Fues and Orier The one lost his Sonne and the other Himselfe and both their Aduentures came to nothing And as for the Crowne of England it hath had the like fortune in the Conquest of this Land as some purchasers haue who desire to buy Land at too easie a Rate they finde those cheap purchases so full of trouble as they spende twice as much as the Land is woorth before they get the quiet possession thereof And as the best pollicy was not obserued in the distribution of the conquered Lands so as I conceyue that the first Aduenturers intending to make a full Conquest of the Irish were deceiued in the choyse of the Fittest places for their plantation For they sate downe and erected their Castles and Habitations in the Plaines open Countries wher they found most fruitfull and profitable Lands and turned the Irish into the VVoods Mountains Which as they were proper places for Out-Lawes and Theeues so were they their Naturall Castles and Fortifications thither they draue their preyes and stealths there they lurkt and lay in waite to doe mischiefe These fast-places they kept vnknowne by making the wayes and Entries thereunto impassable there they kept their Creaghts or Heardes of Cattle liuing by the Milke of the Cowe without Husbandry or Tillage there they encreased and multiplied vnto infinite numbers by promiscuous generation among themselues there they made their Assemblies and Conspiracies without discouery But they discouered the weaknes of the English dwelling in the open plaines and thereupon made their sallies and retraites with great aduantage Whereas on the other side if the English had builded their Castles and Towns in those places of fastnesse and had driuen the Irish into the Plaines and open Countries where they might haue had an eye and obseruation vpon thē the Irish had beene easily kept in Order and in short time reclaimed from their wildnesse there they woulde haue vsed Tillage dwelt together in Towne-ships learned Mechanicall Arts Sciences The woods had bin wasted with the English Habitations as they are about the Forts of Mariborough and Phillipston which were built in the fastest places in Leinster and the wayes and passages throughout Ireland would haue boene as cleare and open as they are in England at this day A Gaine if King Henry the second who is said to be the K. that Conquered this Land had made Forrests in Ireland as he did enlarge the Forrests in England for it appeareth by Charta de Foresta that hee afforrested many woods and wasts to the Greeuance of the Subiect which by that Lawe were disaforrested or if those English Lordes amongst whom the whole Kingdome was deuided had beene good Hunters and had reduced the Mountaines Bogges and woods within the limits of Forrests Chases and Parkes assuredly the very Forrest Law and the Law de Malefactoribus in parcis would in time haue driuen them into the Plains Countries inhabited and mannured and haue made them yeeld vppe their fast places to those wilde Beastes which were indeede lesse hurtfull and wilde then they But it seemeth straunge to mee that in all the Recordes of this Kingdome I seldome find any mention made of a Forrest neuer of anie Parke or Free-warren considering the great plenty both of Vert and Venison within this Land and that the cheefe of the Nobility and Gentry are discended of English race and yet at this day there is
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.
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
the raigne of King Edward 3. til the latter end of the raigne of Q. Elizabeth And lastly I haue declared set forth How all the said Errors haue bin corrected and the Defectes supplied vnder the prosperous Gouernment of his Maiesty So as I may positiuely conclude in the same words which I haue vsed in the Title of this Discourse That vntill the beginning of his Maiesties Raigne Ireland was neuer entirely subdued and brought vnder the Obedience of the Crown of England But since the crown of this kingdom with the vndoubted right and Title thereof discended vpon his Maiesty The whol Island from Sea to Sea hath bin brought into his Highnes peaceable possession and all the Inhabitants in euery corner thereof haue bin absolutely reduced vnder his immediate subiection In which condition of subiects they wil gladly continue without defection or adhaering to any other Lord or King as long as they may be Protected and Iustly Gouerned without Oppression on the one side or Impunity on the other For there is no Nation of people vnder the sunne that doth loue equall and indifferent Iustice better then the Irish or will rest better satisfied with the execution thereof although it bee against themselues so as they may haue the protection benefit of the Law when vppon iust cause they do desire it FINIS Errata FOl. 16. Linea 6. dele c. fol. 18. for regnem read regnum fol. 54. for offerals O Farals for Haulon Hanlon fol. 62. for Gormauston Gormanston fol. 86. for Gliun Clinn fol. 95. for improued proued fol. 102. for illuc illie fol. 103. for Clandalkin Clan-dalkan fol. 109. for Cautetan Canteton fol. 120. for mediate immediate fol. 134. for donation and donation of fol. 166. for Fermaunagh Fermannagh fol. 183. for Mangle Nangle for the Archdeacon Arohdeacon fol. 191. for mightely nightly fol 231. for well banisht welny banisht fol. 238. for Garny Grany fol. 256. for Deuegal Dongall fol. 265. Read Prouinces besides Two maine impediments of the conquest The faint prosecution of the warre What is a perfect Conquest How the war hath bin prosecuted since the 17. yeare of Henry the second In the time of Henry the second Giraldus Cambrenfis The first attempt but an aduenture of priuate Gentlemen With what forces the K. himselfe came ouer Archiu Remem Regis apud Westm. What maner of Conquest King Henrie the second made of Ireland Bodin de Repub The true markes of Soueraignty Houeden in Henrico secundo sol 312. 6. Iohannis Claus. membrana 18. 17. 〈◊〉 Chart. m. 3. 6. Hen. 3. chart m. 2. Archiu in 〈◊〉 Dublin 42. Hen. 3. Compotus Will. de la Zouch 36. Hen. 3. compotus Huberti de Rouly How the war was prosecuted in the time of King Iohn Giraldus Cambrensis Giraldus Cambrensis Giraldus Cambrensis Matth. Paris in Richardo primo so 1519. Matth Paris This Charter yet remaineth perfect with an entire Scale in the Treasury at Westminster Archiu in Castro Dublin Archiu Turr. 52 Hen. 3. Patent m. 9. How the martiall affayres were carried from the 12. yeare of king Iohn to the 36 yeare of King Edward the 3. Archiu in Castro Dublin Statut. 10 H. 7. cap. 4. Rot. Parliam in Castro Dublin Annales Hibernie in Camden Baron Finglas Manus Stat. 10. H. 7. cap. 4. Rot. Parliam in Castro Dublin Statut. 11. H. 4. cap. 6. Baron Finglas M. S. The Armie transmitted with Lionell Duke of Clarence the 36. of Edw. the 3. Archiu Remcm regis apud westm The manner of leuying Souldiers in former ages What seruice Lionel Duke of Clarence performed Archiu Turr. 36. Edw. 3. Claus. m. 21 in dorso m. 30. Sir William Winsor Lieutenant 47. Ed. 3. His forces and seruice 47. Edw. 3. Claus. m. 1. Stow in Rich. 2. The State of the Reuennue of Ireland in the time of Edward the 3. Walsingham in Richard the 2. Archiu Turr. 11. H. 3. patent m. 3. 21. Ed. 3. m. 41 47. Ed. 3. claus pers 2. m. 24. 26. Archiu in Castro Dublin Hollingshead in R. 2. Archiu in Castro Dublin 5. Edw. 3. How the war proceeded in the time of K. Richard the 2 3. Rich. 2. Archite Tâ—… Rot. Parliam 42. Pat. 2. pars 9. Rich. 2. m. 24. Walsingham in Richard the 2. Annales Tho. Otterbourne Manuscript Stow in Rich. 2. Archiu in officio Remcmorat regis apud Westmon Hollingshead in Richard the 2. Henry 4. The Lord Thomas of Lancaster his seruice 〈◊〉 Rememorat regis apud westm Henry 5. The Lorde Furniuall his seruice Alb. libr. Scacc. Dublin Henry 6. Richard Duke of Yorke his seruice Archiu in Castro Dublin Hollingshead in Henry the sixt Rot. Parliam in Castro Dublin Archiu Tur. 17 Hen. 6. Claus. m. 20. Manuscript of Baron Finglas Hollingshead in Hen. 6. Edward 4 How the war was maintained in the time of King Edward the 4 Holling shead in Edward the 4 Booke of Howth Manus The fraternity of Saint George in Ireland 14. of Edw. 4. Rot Parliam Dublin Henrie 7. How the war was prosecuted in the time of King Henry the 7. Archiv Rimem Regis apud Westm. The Booke of Howth Manus Hollingshcad in Henry the 7. Sir Edward Poynings seruice Rot. Parliam in Castro Dublin The Booke of Howth The battell of Knoctow Henrie 8. How the war was carried during the Raigne of K. Henrie the 8. The Earle of Surries seruice The Lord Leonard Grayes seruice The sight at Bealahoo Booke of Howth Manus Sir Anthonie Stliger Sir Edward Bellingham in the time of K. Edw. the 6. Archiu Remem Regis apud westm Tho Earle of Sussex in the time of Qu. Mary Queen Elizabeth How the War was prosecuted in the time of Qu. Elizabeth Shane O Neales Rebellion Archiu Remem Regis apud Westm. Desrnonds Rebellion Tyrones Rebellion Foure maine defects in the prosecution of the warre Why none of the Kinges of England before Queene Elizabeth did finish the conquest of Ireland Giraldus Cambrensis How the seuerall Kings of England were diuerted from the conquest of Ireland King Henrie 2. The Booke of Howth Manus Richard 1 K. Iohn Henrie 3 Edward 1 Archiv in Castro Dublin Annales Hiberbinae in CamdeÌ„ Edward 2 Annales Hiberâ—… Camder Archiu in Castro Dublin Manuscript of Frier Cliun Rubr. libr. Scac. Dublin Edward 3 Annales Hibernâ—e in Camden Richard 2 Henrie 4. Henrie 5. Annales Hiberniae in Camden Henrie 6. Hollingshead in Hen. 6. Manuscript of Baron Finglas Edward 4 Richard 3 Henrie 7. Henrie 8 K. Edward 6. and Qu. Marie Quee Elizabeth 2. The defects in the ciuill poilicy gouernment 1. The Lawes of England were not giueÌ„ to the meere Irish. Matth. Paris Histor. maior fol. 121. Matth. Paris Histor maior 220. b. 11. Hen. 3. pat m. 3. 30. H. 3. pat m. 20. The meere Irish not admittedto haue the benefit of the Lawes of England The meere Irish reputed Aliens Archiu in Castro Dublin Archiu in Castro Dublin